Monday - East Providence, RI - 6 miles
205 push-ups (standard/military/wide/decline) 30/30/30/20/30/20/30/15I decided to head south from the office and scope out the area south of 195. The streets were crumbling and the buildings old and battered. The whole scene reminded me of something out of Grand Theft Auto 4 (guess that proves what I noob I am when it come to city living.) Checked out some "parks" near the harbor where a lot of people were sitting in their cars eating lunch (or doing who knows what.) From this sketchy waterfront property I ventured over to run a bit on the East Bay Bike Path. I hadn't been on it since the 2012 Providence Marathon and I could see myself doing a longer run here after work someday. Pace overall was fairly peppy considering yesterday's race.
Tuesday - Charlestown, RI/Seekonk, MA/West Greenwich, RI - 14 miles
16 pull-ups (standard/chin-up/wide) 3/4/2/2/3/2 (with equal number of assisted pull-ups)Today I had the opportunity to get some decent miles in, dividing it up into three runs. First up, 5:30 AM dog jog - we checked out a Narragansett trail near the house and then ran up Old Coach and back.
I'm enjoying my new job but the honeymoon is over and the work is piling up. Despite having an hour lunch it's tough to get out some days with all the conference calls. I shot over to the Seekonk Meadows for a quick 4 miles. I've used the New Balance MT00s both times I've been here. Really enjoying running these fast trails in the minimal shoes.
After work I hit up the west side of Big River. First I headed out along the Capwell Millpond. I had never been on this trail before. I enjoyed it and took it for a while. I had hoped it would veer towards the New London Turnpike but I sensed that it was going to just twist and turn and get me lost. I had to pick up Em in an 45 minutes and didn't want to chance it. I reversed course and made my way back to familiar territory. Took the Pine trail which is hilly fun and then explored a bit more before heading back. Couldn't resist a little extra pavement to make it an even 14 on the day.
Wednesday - East Providence, RI - 5.2 miles
195 push-ups (standard/military/decline/diamond) 30/30/20/15/30/25/30/15)Legs were lifeless from yesterday's miles and I had eaten lunch an hour earlier so today's run was slow and easy. Kind of just meandered about, checking out roads I was sort of familiar with and connecting them all together. It was the one point in the day when it wasn't raining so that was a nice bonus.
Thursday - East Providence, RI - 11.1 miles
Band practice night, which means a chance to stretch out a run after work. Decided to hit up the East Bay bike path and avoid the shitty gridlock leading out of the city. It had been raining earlier but by 5 PM the sun was out and it was beautiful (if slightly muggy.) As I mentioned on Monday I hadn't been on the bike path since I ran the marathon in '12 - back then the section over the water was under construction so the course was rerouted on the Veterans Memorial Parkway. I didn't realize what I was missing. This is a gorgeous bike path and the views along the water are wonderful.I wanted to work some speedwork into this run so after about at 3.5 miles I began to run 1/4 mile sprints with 1/4 miles jogs between. I did three, then briefly explored the trails of Haines Park. I turned around and churned out another three 400s (I know that a 1/4 is longer than a 400m but whatever.) Then another break as I navigated a few intersections before I hit the long stretch of bike path that runs along the water. I gutted out another three intervals and decided to throw in one more for good measure. After that I took it easy the rest of the way back to the car. It began to rain pretty heavily with a half mile to go which ended up being refreshing and wonderful. Good run!
Friday - Caratunk Wildlife Sanctuary, Seekonk, MA - 3.4 miles
P90X Chest, Shoulders & Triceps (60 minutes)Started off the morning with CS&T - always a fun workout. A little too much fun. I overdid it on the clap push-ups and tweaked my neck. Hurts to turn my head now. Dumb. Should be alright in a few days, it's just annoying - especially when I turn my head when driving.
At lunch I checked out the Carahunk Wildlife Sanctuary. This is actually maintained by the Rhode Island Audubon society even though it's in Mass. The place starts out as farmland but quickly becomes woodland trails crossing bubbling brooks. There were a lot of swampy sections and while some sections had bridges others had boards or just a bunch of sticks thrown into the muck. It was definitely a messy run. Passed a dude hitchin' up his draws in the woods and then a moment later came upon his girlfriend waiting for him. Awkward.
The sanctuary crosses over powerlines before another entering another swampy section. I decided to head back towards drier pastures and was suddenly feeling very tired. Perhaps all the miles this week were catching up with me. Ran around a cool muskrat pond getting pretty wet but had to turn around when the water hazards just got too immense.
Fun little place that I'll definitely explore gain. I'm mad at myself for tweaking my neck and the lethargy that overtook me leaves me feeling nervous about tomorrow's long run but I will persevere. On the plus side, I'm at 40 miles for the week and the weekend hasn't even started!
Saturday - Narragansett Trail - 20.4 miles
Separate write-up to follow.Sunday - This will be a rest day
Weekly Mileage: 60.4 miles
Year to Date: 727.5 miles
Lots of runs up at work and discovered some more trails up there. Got in a good amount of strength training (though I overdid it on Friday.) And the epic adventure on Saturday was grueling and worthy of it's own blog post. Also I hit 60 miles for the first time! All in all a great week.
I love the triple on Tuesday!
ReplyDeleteI'm enjoying the stories of your urban adventures. Just be careful whose segments you steal. 'Turf wars' has a different meaning in Providence than it does in the South County boonies.
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