Thursday, April 24, 2014

Weekly Log: 4.21.14 - 4.27.14

I finally pulled the trigger on my big spring race - the Pinelands 50k up in Maine over Memorial Day weekend.  We'll be staying with friends and making a Family Fun Trip out of it.  I haven't followed a training plan whatsoever but I feel I've done a pretty good job of upping my mileage in preparation for this.  I figure I have one more fifty mile week in me and hopefully a twenty miler in probably two weekends.  Then I'll ease off the gas through the rest of May.

The aim of this week's mileage will be either 40 or 50.  It depends on whether I run the State Police Hot Pursuit 5k over in Narragansett on Sunday.  I hope to do it but I have to wait and see how the weekend unfolds.

Monday - 0 miles

A planned rest day after a hard week of running.  And needed.  My calves are super tight!

Tuesday - East Providence, RI - 5.7 miles

Ab Ripper X (15 minutes)
12 pull-ups (standard/chin-up/wide) 3/3/2/2/2/2 (with same number of assisted pull-ups after each set)

Pleased as I was with my push-ups during last week's Chest & Back routine, my pull-ups were quite sad.  I'm going to try to hit the pull-up bar a few times a week and improve my numbers.  As you can see from the above numbers, I can only eek out a couple and then I put my foot on a chair to do assisted pull-ups.  Only consistency will make the numbers rise.

At lunch, I headed out to try to capture some nearby segments.  There's a stretch of road that runs along the bay next to Blackstone Park.  Segments ran in both directions - one was 3/4 of a mile and the other was a little over half mile.  I figured it would be a half-assed speed workout since they were a good distance.  It was warm and once I turned it on I began sweating.  There were two segments that overlapped each other so after I ran those I jogged through some fancy neighborhoods before turning around to attempt the other one.  This one was into the wind and I was huffing and puffing by the end.  Had to navigate around a couple parked cars but since there were no intersections it wasn't too bad.  Got back to the office and found that I was able to grab all three segments.  Nabbed the last one by 15 seconds which made me happy as that one hurt.


Wednesday - East Providence, RI - 5.7 miles

160 push-ups (standard/military/wide) 30/30/30/30/20/20

Decided to run a loop around the Turner Reservoir which I had partially explored last week.  It was cool and drizzly which was fine by me.  I'd much rather return to the office wet from rain than sweat.  The route around the pond began on a rooty trail which had plenty of standing water from the recent rain.  Took a page from the Gazelle Handbook for Intrepid Trail Runners (3rd edition) and charged right through 'em.  After this muddy affair the "trail" follows the road for a bit as you enter Massachusetts.  I had studied a map so I knew about this but I ended up missing the entrance back into the woods (I blame Massachusetts.)  When I hit the Seekonk High School I knew I wasn't quite where I wanted to be.  I was able to jump back on the trail proper near the school and finish the loop.

Even though it was wet and my legs didn't have much pep it was great being out there.  I've quickly fallen in love with these lunch runs.  Being able to get out and run for 40 minutes or so at midday really breaks up the day and gives me a boost of energy - I find that I'm not missing my afternoon coffee that I used to rely on.


Thursday - Charlestown, RI/ Seekonk, MA/North Kingstown, RI - 15.5 miles

Dog jog in the morning followed by some new trails up at work.  The Seekonk Meadows is located behind the Seekonk library.  Super crazy windy out there but in the woods it was muted (though I did worry about falling branches!)  This was a fun little network of trails that runs alongside a couple ponds.  Bunch of people out there hiking or fishing.  Found some side trails that were part of the official Meadows network and they ran alongside the Turner Reservoir (basically the opposite side of where I ran last week on the bike path.) I'm enjoying exploring all these little pockets of open space and figuring out how they all kinda, sorta intersect each other.



After work I decided to really pile it on by running a bunch more miles before band practice.  With the new job hours I'm able to get to Jay's house with plenty of time to run.  Took the roads over to Rome Point but after only a few miles I was really feeling the trashed legs.  Still I had set a goal of 8 miles in my head so I just stuck to the Rome Point trails, taking 'em this way and that until I was at about 6.5 miles.  Then I took the beach and sneaky powerline trail back to Jay's.  Legs were completely done by this point and the climb up Plum Point Road was a cruel bitch.


Friday - 0 miles

19 Pull-ups (standard/chin-up/wide) 3/4/3/2/3/2/2 (with same number of assisted pull-ups after each set)

President of the company stopped by and bought us all lunch today so no lunch run.  I ate a massive burrito which, while delicious, thwarted any desire to run after work.

Saturday - 0 miles

I was thinking I'd run a few easy miles as some point in the morning but I was pretty tired all day and I didn't have any interest in making it happen.  Looks like this will be a lower mileage week than I anticipated.  S'ok.  My legs can use a couple days off.  I signed up for the State Police 5k and I guess now I don't have any excuse not to run well.  PR?  We'll see.

Sunday - State Police 5k, Narragansett, RI - 7.1 miles

Official time: 17:55.  7th overall.  2nd in age group.  Report to come.

Weekly Mileage: 34.2 miles


Year to Date: 667.1 miles


Didn't quite hit the mileage I wanted this week but the weekend was a lot of fun (bottled beer, threw a birthday party for my wife and ran a good race.)  Now to ramp up my mileage for one more week before I begin to ease off in anticipation of the Pinelands 50k.

1 comment:

  1. Congratulations on the Pinelands 50K!!! Go Seth GO! Lunch runs are pretty awesome, I like how it breaks up the day. Looks like you have a lot of options too! Curiosity killed the cat but, no shower post run?

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