Weekly Log: 9.8.14 - 9.14.14

This'll be an easy week as I dial back the mileage before ramping it up as we push towards October and race time.  The weather is finally cooling and hopefully I'll have more pep during my lunch runs.

Monday - 0 miles

270 push-ups (standard/wide/decline/Pike's Press) 40/40/35/20/40/40/35/20

No running today but I had a good Yoga session at lunchtime.

Tuesday - East Providence, RI - 6.5 miles

East Bay Bike Path for a progression run.  I wore my New Balance 890s instead of the 730s (which I usually wear during speedwork.)  I'm thinking that minimal 730s might be to blame for some aches I've been feeling.  They didn't have much cushion to begin with and now both of my pairs have about 250 miles on them.  Anyway, it was a beautiful overcast day and it was great running.   I managed to keep increasing the pace until I was sub-6 for the last 1/2 mile.  Felt good but I think I'm due to try to fit in longer tempo runs.

Wednesday - Seekonk, MA - 4.3 miles

Easy peasey trails over at the Seekonk Meadows.

Thursday - Providence, RI - 6 miles

27 pull-ups w/ assists (standard/chin-up/wide) 3/5, 5/3, 3/3, 4/3, 5/4, 2/3, 5/4
Ab Ripper X (15 minutes)

I ventured out at lunch without any real gameplan.  Ended up crossing the bridge to the East Side and running towards Butler, where I explored some woods around the hospital.  There were just a couple of newly cleared dirt roads but otherwise it just led down to the shitty shoreline (by shitty I mean filthy as hell.)  Then I ran back to work, taking the trails through Blackstone Park.  Kept the pace somewhat snappy at around 7 minute miles.

Friday - Charlestown/Smithfield, RI - 10.9 miles

160 push-ups (standard) 40/40/40/40

Dark and early dog jog.  I wanted to take the trail off Black Pond Rd over to the Narragansett Trail but the darkness made it difficult and I don't think Oliver appreciated getting whacked in the face by bushes.  Last time I was here I commented on the improvements made to the "trail" near Black Pond Rd.  What a difference a month makes.  The growth was back and it was tough locating the path with only the headlamp.

After work I headed back to Smithfield for another one of my favorite former haunts - Wolf Hill.   The trails showed signs of having recently been maintained and there were fresh blazes on all the trails.  I noticed they changed the trail colors for a lot of them.  After a mile of climbing I emerged at the power lines and promptly took a digger and cut my knee up good.  I continued on and was surprised how overgrown the powerline road was - at points I could barely see the path for the weeds.  I guess the power company doesn't travel up there much anymore.

Wolf Hill contains a WWII Memorial Trail and an a memorial rock for a plane of soldiers that crashed here during the war.  I was pleased to see that the nearby "No Trespassing" trail was finally bonafide and had become an extension of the WWII trail.   I hit most of the trails on the hill, saving a trip up the quarry for just before sunset.  I had made a challenging segment and decided to see if I could set the CR.  As I was running up the quarry I could see the shadow from the setting sun moving up the rock wall which gave me some extra motivation.  I pushed it pretty hard and shaved 19 seconds off my time which I'm psyched about.  With the sun just about down it began to get pretty dark in the woods so I meandered my way back down to the car.  Despite the banged up knee this was a great run.  If you've never been there you owe it to yourself to make a trip up.

This one's for Jeff

Beautiful trails as the sun sets

Long shadows at the top of the quarry

Saturday - 0 miles

We were going to camp in Burlingame but Ezri's been fighting a fever and with the rain forecast for the evening we didn't have much interest.  Instead a productive day around the yard.  I did manage a visit to Whaler's Brewing in Wakefield.  They're a very small operation but I highly recommend checking them out - their tasting had some tasty brews including a hazelnut stout and an apricot sour.

Sunday - Charlestown, RI - 5.5 miles

Just an easy like Sunday morning run up Old Coach Road.  I threw in a couple trail sections and kept the pace easy.  Weather was just about perfect and it looked like my fellow WTACers had some great races at the Surftown 1/2 Marathon.

Weekly Log: 33.2 miles

Year to Date: 1,374.5 miles