Weekly Log: 8.11.14 - 8.17.14

Running is back in session!  I need to start to put together an actual training plan (or at least my ramshackle version of one) because Bimbler's Bluff 50k is only 10 weeks away.  It will be here before you know it.

Monday - Ryan Park, North Kingstown, RI - 7.2 miles

290 push-ups (standard/decline/Pike's Press/wide) 40/40/20/40/40/40/20/50

Ezri was home with Amanda so I was able to get out of the house early and hit up one of my former haunts, Ryan Park.  Nice to be able to run before it got too hot and the trails were a welcome change from the roads of East Providence.

Tuesday - 0 miles

20 pull-ups w/ assists (standard/chin-up/close grip/wide) 4/6, 4/6, 3/5, 2/5, 3/5, 3/5, 1/4

Decided to take a break from the running in order to ease back into everything.  I only want to run 30+ miles this week.  Instead I went back to PPP for another lunch yoga session.  Lots of lunges and warrior poses - good stuff.

Wednesday - Carter Preserve, Charlestown, RI - 5 miles

Ab Ripper X (15 minutes)

Man, I took one week off from Ab Ripper and it kicked my ass today.  Wasn't even able to finish the mason twists to end the workout.  That almost never happens.

The weather is crappy all day and I was regretting my choice to take yesterday off.  Today would have been much better.  But I had some time before work and luckily a break in the weather allowed me to run over at Carter Preserve.  Saw a really cool little box turtle with an orange shell.  The thing was only the size of my fist.  I took the new trail over to the grassland loop and made my way back to my car via the red trail.  The rain started with about 10 minutes left but it was more refreshing than anything.

Damn rain ruined our plans to go the Washington County Fair in the afternoon.  My doughboy will have to wait until the weekend.

Thursday - East Providence, RI - 7.1 miles

Beautiful day out there.  Decided today was a good day to get over to the East Bay bike path and get a decent workout in.  Not too hot and some decent cloud cover throughout the run.  First 1.5 miles were easy and then I picked up the pace as I went.  I stopped at the halfway both in Riverside to stretch my calves (is that cheating?)  After the short rest, I was able to churn out two 6:09 miles but it was an effort.  Pleased with this run but now my left calf is very tight.  To the foam roller!

Friday - Caratunk Preserve, Seekonk, MA - 5 miles

P90X Chest & Back (50 minutes)

Five miles in Caratunk.  A couple groups leading packs of children around the initial grassland sections.  Stay out of my way, urchins!  Actually the kids were really enjoying the place.  Once I got in the woods I left the crowds behind and as I progressed farther it was clear that few people ventured east of the powerlines.  The trail was tough to make out at spots but I did see a deer and five turkeys.  I hit pretty much all the trails on this short, easy run.

Plenty of wide grass trails for the kiddos near the parking lot of Caratunk

Saturday - Hopkinton/Westerly, RI - 17 miles

Met up with Muddy on the Hopkinton side of Grills Preserve for an early AM long run.  We ran the trails on both sides of the river and the pace and conversation were both agreeable.  I had mentioned wanting to fit in a visit to Woody Hill so from there we ran about two miles of roads to get to the additional trails.  We were over an hour and twenty minutes into the run now and I was beginning to feel it.  I knew I'd be fine for a while but I thought the return trip might get ugly.

I was right.  The trails of Woody Hills began to wear at my reserves.  I started to drift farther and farther behind Muddy and became a listener more than an active participant in our conversation.  We did a loop (I need to spend more time in this place, it was only my second visit) and then returned to civilization via the same dirt road. The pavement should have provided some relief but it did not - my legs were toast.  I was completely exhausted and needed several rest breaks before I could complete the three mile journey back to our cars.  It was a pitiful slog and gave Muddy the opportunity to check off another HRG road while I shuffled on ahead.  It's been a while since I ran this far (on trails especially) and I paid for it in the end.

Sunday  - 0 miles

Hamstrings are oh so tight today.

Weekly Mileage: 41.4 miles

Year to Date: 1,209.5 miles

So I was aiming for low 30s but the long run pushed it over 40.  I suppose the suffering was good prep for Bimbler's.  Right?

Weekly Log: 8.4.13 - 8.10.13

The running hiatus continues...until the weekend.  Once we hit Saturday, I can lace up again.  It's an arbitrary break but hopefully I'll come back well rested and ready to work.  Looking forward to getting back out there.  Not to mention having a beer.  Sweet, sweet beer.  It's crazy - this has been my longest break from running since March 2011.

Monday - 0 miles

290 push-ups (standard/decline/diamond/wide) 40/30/15/40/40/40/15/40/30

Tuesday - 0 miles

22 pull-ups w/ additional assists (standard/chin-up/close grip/wide) 3/5, 4/6, 3/5, 2/4 , 3/5, 3/6, 2/4, 2/5

Originally I wanted to do another round of Legs & Back this morning but I had neither the moxie nor the time to get it done.  I decided to do a poor man's version, switching between pull-ups and some of the various squat/lunge moves, all the while puttering about the basement.  It worked out well.  I did two rounds of wall squats which truly are the devil.  Altogether I did five leg exercises which I consider to be a good compromise.  I think this is the way going forward - instead of trying to fit in the whole P90X routine, I'll take the choicest bits and make use of them when I can.

Wednesday - 0 miles

Not a damn thing done today.

Thursday - 0 miles

630 push-ups (military/standard/wide)

POWER HOUR!  Suggested by my buddy and fitness guru Ryan, I decided to do a push-up power hour this morning.  10 push-ups every minute for an hour.  I downloaded an interval app which beeped just before and on every minute.  I was doing dishes in between sets which made it hectic but also made the time pass quickly.  Every 20 minutes I switched the style of push-up.  Actually this wasn't that bad and while I was tiring towards the end I was still able to bang 'em out.  I did 'em to exhaustion for the last set and made it to 40.  Guess I should've gone for more - maybe 15 next time.

Friday - 0 miles

18 pull-ups w/ additional assists (standard/chin-up/close grip) 4/6, 4/6, 2/4, 3/5, 3/5, 2/4

At lunch time I did another 45 minute yoga session at Providence Power Yoga.  Good stretchin' for the legs.  They're ready to run!

Saturday - South Kingstown, RI - 3.5 miles

It was our first trip to the beach this summer, which is pretty sad considering we live three miles from the ocean.  But hey we've been busy.  Beautiful day at East Matunuck though.  I threw on the Vibrams and ran down the beach and jumped onto the roads to run past the Ocean Mist and over to S.K. Town Beach.  Legs felt great and the ocean dip upon my return felt even better.

At night we returned to the area to play a gig at Tara's.  The new deck really takes the pub to another level and people kept filing in all night.  Really good crowd and people seemed to like the music which made for a great gig.

Sunday - Charlestown/Westerly, RI - 8.2 miles

Did a loop of the Narragansett trail in the morning with Oliver.  I thought we'd be dealing with some miserable bushwacking off of Black Pond Rd but someone's been working on the trail back there and the going wasn't bad at all.

In the afternoon I went and saw Guardians of the Galaxy in Stonington (it kicked ass.)  Then I ventured over to the Champlin Glacier Park.  I had only been on these trails once before as part of a longer run so I was looking forward to exploring them in more detail.  It was hot and humid and the twisty climbs wore me out quickly.  Between the break from running and my switch to primarily road running I feel like I've lost a bit of endurance in the woods.  I'll need to make sure I hit the trails as often as I can in the weeks to come.

Weekly Mileage: 11.7 miles

Year to Date: 1,168.6 miles

Misadventures in Homebrewing - Summer 2014

It's not all sunshine and rainbows in the world of brewing, folks.  I learned this firsthand when a recent batch of brown ale we made at the band house took a turn for the worse.  And by worse I mean exploding all over the goddamn place.

About a week after we bottled it a couple of bombers blew up, sending beer and glass all over the basement.  After that the rest were put into plastic bags and we hoped for the best.  But more continued to explode.  It was clear that these things were way, way overcarbed and they foamed like a bastard when I tried to pour one.  The surviving ones were caked in sticky beer residue and tiny bits of glass.  Just a complete friggin' mess.  When I went over to the band house to help clean up and salvage what we could, things just got worse and more of 'em blew.  At least these blew up outside but it was a scary experience and now we found ourselves picking up shards of glass from the lawn.

We decided to dump the rest immediately.  Most of 'em were in swing tops which luckily hadn't blown and we spent the next 30 minutes wrapping 'em in towels and prying 'em open.

Back at home I still had another ten bottles in a box that was in a plastic tub.  I got decked out in long sleeve clothes and eye goggles and went to work, shaking the tub vigorously.  I felt muted "pops" as the bottles smashed into each other and burst.  Finally the deed was done and I was left with a tub full of beer and glass shards.  Great!

What a mess.  What a waste.

So that batch was a bust.  Luckily we also made five gallons of the 15 Minute Cascade Pale Ale which fared much better.

This past weekend I crafted up another couple batches.  I gave Amanda plenty of notice and she and the girls fled before I filled the house with the delicious scent of malt.  I made 2.7 gallons of Deadringer IPA (a Bell's Two Hearted Ale clone) and 1 gallon of Imperial Stout.  Neither hit the starting gravity I had planned which is somewhat of a bummer but whatever.  It's warm even in the basement so I put 'em in a sideways tub and have been replacing frozen water bottles every 12 hours or so.  Fermentation is well underway now.

With the lid in place, it's a decent fermentation chamber

So there you have it.  One batch brings destruction and sadness.  Yet new batches arise to bring fresh hope and joy.  Circle of Life.

Weekly Log: 7.28.14 - 8.3.14

Now we've come to it: my self-imposed two week hiatus from running.  I decided to up the ante by cutting out alcohol as well.  I don't plan to just sit around and do nothing, rather I hope to get in some cross-training and maybe fire up a couple of the ol' P90X discs.

At the conclusion of this hiatus I will begin to increase my weekly mileage, as I look towards another ultramarathon in the fall.  I had considered the Stone Cat 50 miler but failed to pull the trigger before registration closed.  In the end this was probably for the best as I think a 50 miler would be too much for my body to handle just yet.  So I'm looking at doing another 50k however the prospective dates aren't quite where I'd like them to be.  Most of the races I'm looking at are two weeks after NipMuck.  Another week and I'd be much happier.  Still if I can commit to treating NipMuck as a training run I think it should be workable.  Right now I'm looking at either Bimbler's Bluff or the Big Brad 50k.  Bimbler's a lot of closer but I was just up in Pownal, ME so there's some desire to get back up there.  Then there's the Chatfield Hollow 50k which falls on the right weekend but features five 10k loops.  I've already done the five loop format and not really jazzed about revisiting it.

Monday - 0 miles

290 push-ups (standard/wide/decline/military) 40/30/40/30/40/40/40/30

Tuesday - 0 miles

P90X Legs & Back (60 minutes)

It's been 11 months since threw on this workout.  Legs & Back had been a mainstay of mine for much of 2013 but after NipMuck last year I never revisited it and since then my P90X time has tapered off dramatically.  Part of the problem was that this workout usually leaves me with a serious case of DOMS and as my mileage increased I stopped trying to squeeze it into my schedule.  I figured this morning would be a good change to revisit it.  Definitely a wake-up call and those wall squats were brutal.  Tomorrow should be interesting.

Wednesday - 0 miles

Ab Ripper X (15 minutes)

Welp, I pull the trigger and signed up for Bimbler's Bluff 50k since the price is about to go up.  From the race reports I've read it sounds like it will be a much bigger challenge than the TARC Spring Classic or the Pinelands 50k.  There will be no PR at this one!

I've got a good case of DOMS from yesterday's workout but it's pretty manageable.  I'd love to make this a weekly occurrence again but I wonder if it'd take too much out of me for running.  We'll see.

Thursday - 0 miles

My coworker Blair often goes to a lunch yoga class throughout the week and today I joined her at Providence Power Yoga.  Some of the poses were a challenge but luckily my time spent with P90X Yoga at least made me recognize most of them.  The class was 45 minutes long and quite enjoyable.  I hope to incorporate it weekly into my routine.

Friday - 0 miles

P90X Chest & Back (50 minutes)

Saturday - 0 miles

Sunday - Yep, you guess it.  0 miles

Weekly Mileage: 0 miles

Year to Date: 1,156.9 miles

Fun fact: My last week with 0 mileage was the third week of 2012.