Week of 1/15 - 1/21 - 3 runs, 26 miles. I've been running with Faith a lot, as we're both looking toward ultras on our respective schedules, and have been roping others into our runs. The highlight of the week was a 9-mile group of 5 run in Pachaug on the dirt forest roads, great pace, conversation and enough climb to keep it challenging.
Bear!
Glorious day for a group run...
Finishing up!
Week of 1/22 - 1/28 - 3 runs, 35 miles. Did a 7-mile progression run at Bluff with Faith, who was not feeling it, and I subtly increased the pace until she ran her second-fastest Haley/Bluff out and back. Fun for me?
8-mile trail/road mixer on Mystic roads, felt really good to cruise trail, pick up the pace a bit on some short road sections, and pop back into the woods again. Local knowledge helps here!
20-mile treadmill run??? Yup. I was stuck at home on a shitty weather day waiting on a service call, and decided to lock myself in our office/workout room and do a long run on the treadmill. Put on a Billy Yang playlist and got to it...
Week of 1/29 - 2/4 - 3 runs, 20 miles. Finally got a solid snowshoe run in at Bluff at 3.6 miles, and averaged a 10:46 pace. Hard work on those things but it was a great day there!
Perfect for a snowshoe run!
13.1-mile Narragansett Trail run with Flyin' Brian R. and new guy Rob S. Gnarly stretch of trail, and with detours around two sections it took a bit longer than I expected, which got me into a bit of hot water with the family, who thought I'd either fallen off a cliff, or been eaten by a bear. What can I say, we were having a blast and I couldn't hear my cell phone buzzing until the end of the run. #sorrynotsorry ;)
Brian and Rob at High Ledge
Week of 2/5 - 2/11 - 5 runs, 30 miles (and two rides on the trainer). This week's highlights were getting a trail run in with Mr. Paul Gray, the OMF 5k and subsequent afterparty at the Mews Tavern, and a 12-mile run in Pachaug SF with Faith and new guy Jon! Oh, and two rides in Watopia on my new trainer!
Right behind CT Valley Brewing!
Week of 2/12 - 2/18 - 4 runs, 19 miles . High points? a 5k at Lantern Hill with 1000+' of vertical, a solid 7-mile progression run at Bluff Point, and a winter beach run in Watch Hill in shorts!
Lantern! My Lantern!
Stupid beach selfie. In February.
Week of 2/19 - 2/25 - 1 run, 19 miles. Here comes the weird stretch (from here to April)...So my boss, who'd decided to get his knees done and be dormant for work for two months, had one knee done and then decided NOT to do the other, AFTER I'd started to completely redo my father-in-law's master bathroom, and thereby totally fucking up my schedule. So I spend the next six weeks splitting my time between the paying gigs and the family job (which came out AWESOME, pics to follow). WTF.
Fortunately, my one run had real value! My buddy John P., Tuesday Night Turtle badass who got accepted into the Western States 100 race in CA (otherwise known as the Holy Grail of Ultramarathons), needed to get the ball rolling with some long runs. I met him and his friend Liz M. at Arcadia, and we banged out 19 miles on a glorious sunny winter day!
Week of 2/26 - 3/4 - 2 runs, 10 miles. Nothing great, except Faith and I explored a new trail system in Groton which has potential, and I did a short beatdown run at Long/Ell with Jim.
Week of 3/5 - 3/11 - 3 runs, 31 miles. The big highlight here? a 22-mile group run in Pachaug that started with me and JP cruising up to Mt. Misery and back, then combining a group of 5 for another 9 miles, then Faith, JP and I looping another 9. Great day in the forest with friends!
Week of 3/12 - 3/18 - 2 runs, 28 miles (and two rides on the trainer) . 22-miler with John, Faith and Colson, who's young and just getting into trail running but is a real trooper! The kid never complains, and we've subjected him to his longest runs ever every time he meets us. Awesome.
Week of 3/19 - 3/25 - 1 run, 21+ miles (and a 20-miler on the trainer). - My big loop fail. I mapped out a 30-ish mile monster loop in Pachaug State Forest, and rounded up JP to tackle it with me. Friends Liz and Rachel would join for the first part, the Southern 11 mile section. However, once we hit the singletrack it became obvious that all the recent storms had caused a massive amount of blowdowns and debris to obstruct the trails, and we were reduced to a crawl in places. Add to that the rather rugged nature of this area, and our designs on completing the big loop were dashed. However, John and I immediately moved to another part of Pachaug and had a much more enjoyable 10+ mile second half of the long run, and will try the loop another day!
Week of 3/26 - 4/1 - 1 run, 15 miles. Long-ish run with Faith, JP and Donnie. Pretty crazy when 15 miles only qualifies as long-ish, but my run was cut short for Easter family activities and I felt like I missed out on a good long run. We're all crazy here...
Finished my father-in-law's bathroom project, and it came out awesome! I'm posting pictures because goddamn it looks good, and I did the whole thing myself. Took longer than expected but he's very happy with the end result:
Start of demo, and yes that's a cast-iron tub :)
Walls and basin taking shape
Building a step-in curb
Shower walls going up
Done! 12x24 tile walls and 2x2 mosaic tile floors, custom niche, ADA-compliant grab bar and flip down teak bench, 3/8" glass sliding doors, and all brushed nickel hardware. 5x5 wall tile outside the shower, and 12x12 floor tile. Big job for a small room! Thank you Spotify for the assist, else I go mad!
So we're all caught up! I'm gonna say that amid all the ebb and flow of work and play, I have been able to get a number of very meaningful long runs in (and some trainer rides!), ranging from 15 to 22 miles, and those have been very consistent lately mainly due to my friends! I feel like I've rounded a corner with training/schedule, and as of 4/1 have started an 8-week training calendar to lead up to World's End, of my own design of course...so you know it's going to be "unconventional..."
Beth loves my training schedules, just ask her!
Weekly updates to follow!
Beth loves my training schedules, just ask her!
Weekly updates to follow!
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