Heat Wave! Weekly Log 6-24 to 6-30

Summer is definitely here, and after spending a couple of muggy hours on Sunday tromping around the backwoods of Westerly, the temperature is now "Africa Hot."  That said, WhichWay? (Mike B.) should be in his glory, as he's mentioned once or twice his disdain for Winter.  Going to try to make some sensible decisions regarding training this week.




  Monday, 6-24 - 2+ Miles (Roads) - Weekapaug short run.  It's hot out!  After sweating through karate class in a full heavyweight gi, I decided that the beach area would be cooler for a run.  Wrong!  Just as hot, and I slogged through 20 or so minutes before calling it quits.  Then went over to my in-laws to get their window AC units set up.  Good times.  Have to get out earlier, or later this week so as not to pass out from the heat...

Tuesday, 6-25 - ? (Swim) - Late a.m. swim in my sister-in-law's pool.  And so it begins!  Apart from having to dodge the kids and the dog, I was able to swim a ton of laps in the pool, stay cool, and get some smart training in despite the heat.  Pool was perfect, and I'm starting to figure out my rhythm, if that makes sense.  Still hoping for a bike/run/whatever later if it cools down...

Wednesday, 6-26 - ? (Swim) - Laps in the pool works on hot day #3, but now I'm getting antsy, and the kids are less than motivated when "The Heat is On" (80's reference number 2)...going to have to get out early tomorrow a.m. and get some miles in.  Heat's supposed to ease a bit after today anyway, right?

Thursday, 6-27 - 0 Miles - Started to feel "off" on Wednesday, and it continued into Thursday.  I thought it was just bad air quality, but it ended up being more like a head cold, aggravated by the air quality?  Ah well, I suppose I was due for a low mileage week...

Friday, 6-28 - 4 Miles (Trails) - Long and Ell Ponds Preserve, Hopkinton RI.  This is a Nature Conservancy area, and I'd been meaning to hit this section of the Narragansett Trail at some point, which is within the "Seven Sisters" area on the CT/RI border.  Wow.  Finally feeling better from the last couple days, I decided drive down to the preserve, which is less than 10 minutes from my place, and started down the trail.  It immediately becomes very narrow here, with Rhododendron all around, and then gets seriously rocky, hilly and super technical.  Awesome!  I found myself climbing certain parts with my hands, using trees and rocks to pull myself up, or slow my descents.  Once I veered away from Long Pond toward Ashville Pond, the ground became less rocky and technical, but was still hilly in places.  Good stuff...got 4 miles in, and I was soaked from the climbs.  Took two spider webs to the face that fully wrapped around my head.  And scared the living snot out of a poor hiker named Brian...is there any way to not do that on narrow single-track?  Anyway, here's a couple shots from today's adventure:

Headed down...

Headed up!

Old school bridge...

Narrow pass

Good climb here...

This is an exceptional trail, and although it was quite slippery with last night's rain, I really enjoyed this section...a great test for anyone.  Any place that has signs warning against rock climbing is fine by me :)

Saturday, 6-29 - 4 Miles (Trails) - Long and Ell Pond Preserve Part 2.  Run/Climb/Hike with Jim H., who has Verizon, and comes up with completely different numbers than I do...another tropical day - we started at the small dirt lot on North Road and made the run to Ashville Pond and back.  Great time, and this is Jim's new favorite spot.  Cool...


Sunday, 6-30 - 8 Miles (Roads) - 8 mile loop from the house.  Very humid day, not too hot, just very humid...legs felt heavy after two days of trails, but I got some hilly miles in here:

Week of 6-17 to 6-23

Monday, 6-17 - 0 Miles - 1 hour karate, and a crapload of yardwork...

Tuesday, 6-18 - 0 Miles - 1.5 hours surfing waist-chest high glassy peaks at Matunuck.  Felt good to be in the water, and only one other guy out.  Caught a ton of waves in the short amount of time I was out there...

Surf's up, nobody out, just the way I like it...

Wednesday, 6-19 - 6 Miles (Trail) - Mt. Misery and Pachaug Forest Trails, CT.  Perfect day, cooler than the last few days, and just enough mud and water on the trail to get good and filthy.  Love Mt. Misery, and there were actually people on the trail today!  Went up and over, and went up past the Nehantic/Pachaug divergence for a bit.  Still thinking about a Nehantic Trail thru run at some point...Hopeville to Green Falls...

The mellow side of Pachaug Trail

                PM - Fun Run Mile in 7:20, and 3/4 mile run with Sophia.  Brought my daughter Sophia with me for the weekly fun runs in Misquamicut, which she thought was really cool, but did question why somebody would want to be called "Muddy Puddin'?",  I had no answer for that...I wasn't really planning on running, but decided to go out anyway, and asked her to do the mile with me.  She isn't down with the crowd thing, but wanted to do a run after with just me afterward.  I ended up doing the mile portion, and then we drove down to Weekapaug and did a short run together.  Awesome!  She even said she'd like to "train up" and do the Fun Run with me, which I couldn't be happier about :), so a very successful day all around...

Thursday, 6-20 - 0 Miles - First day of Summer vacation for the kids...great day, packed with my feeble attempts to keep them entertained.

Friday, 6-21 - 3.5 Miles (Trail/Dirt Road) - Narragansett Trail at Green Falls to the Rhode Island border loop.  OK, so my alarm went off at 4:15 and I just couldn't do it...and apparently I need lots and lots of beauty rest!  I was the tour leader for a beach day for Sophia and three of her friends today, so by 5 p.m. I was ready to get out in the woods for some trail time.  This is my new favorite "I have an hour end-to-end" loop; easy to get to, yet totally remote.  Water was too high to cross the stream on the first part up the gorge to the dam, so I had to go off trail and take a higher line.  The first 2/3 of this loop is gnarly, technical as Hell and so much fun.  The last third is dirt road and mostly downhill back to the car, so the pace is a bit faster.  Gorgeous scenery, including at least three waterfalls, and the Dinosaur Caves, which I can't properly describe and do them justice.  Nothing like taking a trail over massive boulders, and being able to look down 20+ feet into blackness in between them...wonder what lives down there?  Below is a picture of the first part of the run.  In the background, you can see a huge log across the stream that looks sort of stable, and I've as yet totally wussed out on crossing, even with my catlike reflexes and supreme sense of balance:

Had to stay to the left all the way up this time...

Must get some more trail time in this weekend, and make it good and epic...I mapped out a loop in Pachaug through Hell Hollow that'll come out to 8-10+ miles, and another loop that's going to be a bit more interesting, with a road/trail mix, but from my house and about 16 miles in total.  So many options...

Saturday, 6-22 - 3.5 Miles (Trails) - Yawgoog White Trails, RI.  Another late afternoon jaunt a few minutes up the road into Pachaug Forest, and just over the state line into the Yawgoog Scout Camp, which is gearing up for the season.  I call B.S. on the elevation assigned to this area, as I know from experience that the ups and downs here equal a lot more than what I got...decided on the White trail, as it's technical, involves some climbing and has awesome views.  Hidden Lake is fantastic, and I finally found the split to go across to the Dinosaur Caves...nice day though, and I got some more trail time once the temperature had cooled :)

White Trail goodness...

Headed down...

...and back up!

Sunday, 6-23 - 11 Miles (Trail/Road mix) - Woody Hill/Wahaneeta Preserves, and local roads.  Met up with Muddy, Gazelle and Mike B. at 6 a.m., much to their surprise, at Dunn's Corners and we set out for Woody Hill.  Warm morning, but once we hit the woods it was nice and cool, if a bit humid.  Swallowed a deerfly right after Muddy mentioned the notable lack of them so far this Summer;  Karma came back for him, though, as he swallowed two bugs further up the trail?  Great spot, though, and nice to have a guide as most of the trails are unmarked and I had no idea where we were.  I started running out of steam around the 7-8 mile mark, really don't think I fueled properly at all for this run.  Totally sucking wind by mile 10, but had a great time.  And we came up with a potentially awesome nickname for Mike B., who was ahead of us most of the time and asking "Which Way?"  That one might stick...

Westerly?  Really?

Morning calm on the lake

Hidden cabin - can't see it from the trail, and I'd have no idea how to ever find it...

Words to live by?

Niantic Bay 10K Road Race!

Result?  46:22 officially, 7:28 pace, 39th of 217 registered.  Everyone had the course as slightly long, and Strava had me down for a 10K PR at 45:56, or about 4 minutes faster than my previous best!!!  Sweet!

Never done this race before, but it was awesome.  Band playing, party atmosphere, and lots of WTAC runners there, some of whom didn't recognize me without my facial hair.  Paul Gray even introduced himself and shook my hand before realizing who I was.  That much of a difference, guys, really???  Some of my other running peeps were in attendance as well, including BLS, Don Weller, and Bob Buckingham.  Met up with Jonny, Jeff and Matthew for a warmup run, and did a little over a mile before the race started.  Lined up about middle of the pack with the Grays, where Paul told me I had to beat his time of 46:11.  Well, okay, it worked at Shad Bloom, so why not?  I suppose I could have been closer to the front, but the course allowed for passing so it was never a problem.

Getting ready to race, beautiful afternoon...

It was a bit warmer than I'd hoped, but I felt pretty good.  Just had to remember not to go out too fast.  Paul and I were back and forth in the first mile.  Mile 1 seemed long, and I was almost feeling like I was coming up on mile 2 when I got there.  My GPS was calling out every kilometer, and it takes my mind off the race when I have to constantly convert to miles.  Probably one of the most scenic races ever - out to Old Black Point along the water, where Katherine Hepburn used to live.  I think we even passed her home?  I looked for the "Go Away" sign but didn't see it...

When you get into Black Point, there is a short "lollipop" loop, and I was thinking I'd be doing pretty good if I made that before the leaders came out of it.  Sure enough, as I hit the lollipop, here comes the pace car rounding the corner, and who's in the lead?  Jonny miles, side by side with another runner and cruising, awesome!  I hit the mile 3 mark at 22:30, damn good pace for me and just off my 5K pace, which Jonny told me would be just right.

Reeled in a few more runners in the last couple miles, but I was basically by myself at that point.  I think I mentioned before the race that my goal was sub-46 minutes, and I was 45:56 according to Strava, so just made it!  Very happy with my results.  I'm progressing faster than I expected, and I think sub-7's at my next 5K is in the cards.  Talked to Don and Suzan post-race, and was able to scramble quickly to snap a picture of Beth as she crossed the finish line:

B-L-S! B-L-S!

Great activities after the race.  Chowder, pizza, watermelon, etc., band playing, and I found out I got second in my age group!  Not a big deal to some, but I've only ever scored medals for finishing races, never for placing in my age group...so here's my latest bling!

Ka-Chow!!!

Loved the race, and tentatively convinced the family to come out next time, as my wife (East Lyme class of '87) used to hang out at the park as a teenager.  Now, what's next???  Have to decide, as I have nothing scheduled before Camire's Firecracker on the 4th of July...

Niantic Bay 10K! Week of 6/10 to 6/16

Hey, now that the weather's warm, beaches are open and the Sun's out, what better way to enjoy it than with some evening races?  So this week's offerings include the Dogwatch Fun Runs on Tuesday, the Tom McCoy Fun Runs on Wednesday in Misquamicut, and the Niantic Bay 10K this Friday evening, which people are coming out of the woodwork for...looks like a flat course, and my 10K PR was on my local hilly roads at 49:43, with a vertical gain of 350 feet, so I'm going for a new personal best here...and hoping to see a slew of WTAC singlets there :)

Monday, 6-10 - 3+ Miles (Trail/Yard/Road) - I somehow ended up at the Parker Woodland Preserve, an Audubon property on the Coventry/Foster line?  So I did the blue blazed loop, which runs up and down along a stream, is super technical and somewhat hilly, muddy and awesome.  Cool place with cairns, old stone farmhouse foundations and a charcoal processing area.  The map says you can get 7 full miles out of the trails there, but I had to meet the Invisible Fence dude for our last dog training, so I did 3 and got outta there.  Squashed some ticks for Muddy, too...had the meeting, and after running some afternoon errands, stopped at the commuter lot off 95 and did some sprint/jog up-and-back runs, then did laps around my yard while waiting for the bus, to figure the distance of our property.  5 1/2 laps = 1 mile?  Cool...



Tuesday, 6-11 - 7.5 Miles (Trail) - Bluff Point trails.  After the rain we got last night, I figured it'd be muddy and wet, but there were tons of huge puddles, and one trail that was completely submerged for at least 1/2 mile.  Loved it, great run, and an increasing pace on the back half of the run.  Mike's got six weeks until the Leadville 50, so the more time he spends on trails between now and then, the better, I think:



Wednesday, 6-12 - 2 Miles (Road) - Short run in downtown Mystic.  Just a quick one between errands to kill a few minutes...

                               5+ Miles (Bike) - Quick bike ride while I waited for the kids' bus to get to the house.  I think I'm all set with my bike pace for the Crabman, but of course I'm slightly stressed about the swim now...



Thursday, 6-13 - 0 Miles - Planned zero day before the Niantic Bay 10K.  Have only taken two zeros in the last three weeks, so I'm due for one, I think...

Friday, 6-14 - 7+ Miles - Niantic Bay 10K (and warmup) - 46:22 officially, 39th place of 217 total, and a new PR!  --See separate writeup.

Saturday, 6-15 - 0 Miles - Beachin' with the family :)

Sunday, 6-16 - 3.5 Miles (Road), 14 Miles Bike - Short out and back run from my place, and a 14 mile ride that took me into Muddy Puddin' country, ticks be damned!!!...I screwed the last mile up by pausing Strava to answer a "When the Hell are you coming Home???" text from my wife, and forgetting to hit record again until I was in my driveway, thereby screwing myself out of about 120 feet of elevation gain on the last bit, but I felt pretty good, and was cruisin' on parts of it.  The hill in Clark's Falls headed into RI that Muddy holds the run CR for?  Not fun on a bike...I was slow, but didn't stop!  Good ride and my longest yet :)

Roads and Trails and Oceans, oh my!!! Week of 6-3 to 6-9

Monday, 6-3 - 6.4 Miles (Bike) - Local roads tester.  Really small window of opportunity for something before the bus came, so I finally busted out the bike for a ride...wet roads and skinny tires, and my not having really ridden a bike in years might seem like a recipe for disaster, but I did OK!  And apparently I'm really fast, because Strava had me down for a 51mph top speed..."Man, did you see that Critchlery dude?  He was flying down that hill!!!"  Really pumped to get out there again, and also have to get a couple of things tweaked on it (front brake, couple of gears not right), but so far, so good!



Tuesday, 6-4 - 6+ Miles (Trail) - Francis Carter Preserve trails with Jim and Tia.  Really nice set of trails in Charlestown, RI, had never been there but had printed out maps...so when we left my place, I had Jim grab some maps out of my glove box and that was what we settled on.  Best weather day I've ever seen for running?  Low 60s, cool breeze, low humidity, and not a cloud in the sky.  Wound our way through the preserve and ended up on a power line trail for a bit, and squeezed 10K+ out of the trails, which is Tia's longest run ever!  Great job!

Perfect trail day

Tuesday Morning Turtle, trucking up the trail...

Tia on a 10K trail run

Jim at the aptly named "Split Rock"

          P.M. - 3 Miles (Trail) - Cossaduck Hill portion of Narragansett Trail.  Round two, and a hilly, slightly bloody, technical one at that.  Had to go out and pick up the VW banner I'd hung as a halfway point for last weekend's race - I just now realized that this run was a 5K as well, so the banner was dead smack in the middle of this entire section...which means an out/back on this piece of trail would make one bitch of a 10K, for sure...hmmm.



Wednesday, 6-5 - 7+ Miles (Road) - Misquamicut Beach loop, RI.  Post karate run.  Hey, it's National Running Day!!!  Ran down to the beach to check the surf (flat as a lake), and decided to do the loop.  Very flat but very scenic, and a really nice day, although a bit warm with no shade the entire route...saw a few people out running and a ton of people out biking, great to see that!



Thursday, 6-6 - 11 Miles (Bike) - Local roads in NoSto.  Bike ride #2, and while I set any land speed records, I feel like I'm doing pretty well for having 2 rides in a week after a 20+ year layoff!



Friday, 6-7 - 0 Miles - Pouring rain and a lack of morning motivation derailed my attempt to finally join the 4:45 club, which I'll most likely never live down...

Saturday, 6-8 - 2 Miles - (Trail Hike/Run) - Short maintenance session on the Wintechog Hill portion of the Narragansett Trail.  Possibly the most overgrown section of the trail I manage.  The trickling streams were swollen, so I bit the bullet and plunged my feet into the first one, best to get it out of the way :), just did trimming and clearing today, but this is the section that needs blazing the most...so that'll be this week's project.  Can't have people getting lost on the trail!  Congrats also go out to friend Gary Hebert, who texted me to say that he completed a very, very tough Cayuga Trails 50 Mile race in 12:20...and given the elevation, conditions from the rain, and number of elites that dropped out, I'd say that is quite an achievement!!!  Great job!

Sunday, 6-9 - 3 Miles (Beach) - Misquamicut Beach run.  Nothing like running barefoot on the beach - hard packed sand, soft sections to make you work a bit harder, sun, surf, and a nice breeze...great day for a short run, with negative splits too!  Didn't quite hit my weekly goals, but I got my first two rides in and with hills, which is a huge confidence boost for the tri...and some trail maintenance, and good runs as well.  A good mix.  Shooting to go long on Tuesday, then hit the fun runs before Friday's 10K in Niantic...overall, a well-rounded week!