Weekly Log: 11.24.-14 - 11.30.14

The last week of November?  How did that happen?  With a four day weekend on the horizon I hope to maybe get a decent longish run but we'll see.  Will my endurance be as shaky as my speed?

Monday - 0 miles

My knee was pretty sore from the Mews race yesterday so I decided it was best to just rest it.

Tuesday - Charlestown, RI - 4.8 miles

P90X Chest & Back (25 minutes)

I started off the day with good ol' Chest & Back, figuring the warm-up/stretching routine at the beginning would help since I had tweaked my elbow doing pull-ups a few weeks back.  I was only a few sets in when I felt a twinge in my back doing pull-ups.  Great.  I cut it short and within a few hours it hurt to turn my neck.  This kind of twinge usually abates within a few days and then I'm good to resume but it's frustrating nonetheless (especially on my commute when I need to turn my head to merge.)

I left work early for my yearly physical (hearty as an ox) and then went over to Charlestown beach for a short run before dark.  I battled the wind down to the breachway and then took the dirt road back to the car for my gloves.  Then I followed the beach down to Green Hill.  The waves were huge and with the wind at my back the going was easy.  The return trip - not so much.  But the sky was salmon and pink as the sun set and I found myself smiling as I pushed into the wind.

Wednesday - 0 miles

Nasty noreaster outside - luckily it was mostly rain for my work/home though there was some sleet coming down up in East Providence.  At any rate, between the nasty conditions and the boss letting us go home early to enjoy the four day weekend, there was no running today.

Thursday - Charlestown, RI - 5 miles

I took the dog out on a Turkey Day trail loop.  We parked at Browning Woods, ran the trail clockwise to the Heart trail and took that over to Sand Trail Road.  We explored the trails along the sand pits briefly - I've said it before but it's a shame that everyone uses this like a dump.  There is no hope for people.  Then we followed the dirt road back to Gravelly Hill Rd.  A nice five mile loop.  We encountered two people with dogs on the run and amazingly Oliver did not have a barking freak-out with either one.  I'm going to chalk it up to his being exhausted as he doesn't normally run this far.

Friday - Charlestown, RI - 8 miles

I met up with Jonny, Muddy and Jeff for an early morning Black Friday beach run.  We started at the Breachway Grille parking lot and ran down to the Breachway.  From there we took the beach down to Green Hill.  Pace was good but the knee began to ache as we approached Green Hill.  I opted to bail at this point to give the knee a break.  Plus Amanda was waiting for me at home to take Em to get her driver's permit.  I took the roads back to the car, making a brief detour for the tiny trail loop in Green Hill park.  Turns out the rest of the guys only went a little bit farther and made it a 10 mile loop.  Guess I could have stuck with them after all.  But the knee was plenty sore later in the day so it's probably best I quit when I did.  This was my longest run since Bimbler's.

Saturday - 0 miles

Knee is definitely sore from yesterday's run.

Sunday - 0 miles

190 push-ups (standard/wide/military) 30/40/25/25/40/30

Shame to waste a gorgeous final November day but I wasn't getting up early to run and in the afternoon Amanda and I grinded out several hours of necessary yard work.  The raking was enough to irritate my knee.

Weekly Mileage: 17.8 miles
Year to Date: 1,650 miles

A couple good runs this week but it's clear that my knee just isn't getting better.  I suppose a long rest is needed to make this right.  I have an appointment with a sports medicine doc in a couple weeks but until then I guess I'll just play it by ear and listen to my body.