Seven miles, 3H

Weather turned to real summer: hot, hazy and humid. Hit 95F on Sunday (yesterday), but I was determined to get a run in. We all went by car to the Quabbin and walked across the dam to look at the spillway. It was great, and there was a trace of breeze; then I took off on my run while the others went home. It's two miles from the spillway to the Tower; ran up the steps and then caught my breath at the top (but it was HOT under the perspex); then down and back out, down the hill again and across the dam, then head home by road. However, I was bushed -- partly heat, partly starting on a hill? and partly just not feeling very good (still not today). So I figured 7 miles or an hour depending on how I went. Hit seven miles with a minute to spare, and stopped. Then ran the 1.5 miles home at a leisurely pace.

Time: 59:06
Speed: 7.2 mph
Distance: 7.13 miles (and 1.5 miles jogged)

Comment: weather is a big factor, even more than hills. I'll adjust, I think, to the summer once settled in Sapporo. Morning runs are different too. Can't wait!

hurried ten-miler -- June 15

Time slipped by, what with getting ready for the trip and having (kya!) social obligations; ended up eating too much and feeling sluggish a couple of days in a row. But I also snagged a new pair of shoes, ASICS gel very basic from Dick's at the Mall; under $40, and nice and bright white (well, for now) -- visible for sure. Anyhoo, it was dry yestereve, so I took off after getting home for about an hour before picking up ninja girl from her class. Had planned to go up the Quabbin observation tower, but it was a bit too far. By the time I was crossing Winsor dam it was just over 30 mins, so I had to do the basic loop only, i.e. exit on to 9 and follow that all the way home.

Time: 1:15:27
Speed: 7.96 mph
Distance: 10.02 miles

Comment: nice variety of slopes and flats, and although it was all road I got to use a fair bit of verge. It was muggy but windy, and the water looked like the ocean, it was so dark and choppy. Great view of the spillway in full flow, spume rising from the waterfall under the bridge. I stopped there a bit and so the time is a tad incorrect. The shoes were fine, nice and soft, plenty of room but secure. I was very tired afterwards as I hadn't really gotten psyched up for a longer run. Soon it will be mainly short morning runs, with long ones only on weekends. One negative: knee soreness that reminds me I need to be x-training by riding a bike; fortunately that will be easy while I'm in Japan. Only a few runs left before the trip: probably shorter ones, it's so busy. But I'm at least pretty close to the prepped state I'd wanted. Almost 8 mph in this one, and that's probably it for me in solo runs; maybe 8.5 will have to be my fall target, when the competitive runs begin.

Quick 5 (miles) - June 11

Not sure I'd be able to run today, partly from general tiredness (busy weekend and early starts again) and partly from overeating with all the delicious food around (picnic season and end of school year, etc.). Also I got sunburnt at noon today, as the rain *finally* lifted and the sun arrived: it was cool, however, so I didn't remember sunscreen or avoidance. But at around 7:30, still lots of day light left, and after playing some frisbee with R, headed off for a 3-5 miler. Wanted different than my local 5K, so headed GeoHannum to trail, and then across Jackson to Howard and back up to town hall (2 miles); cross 202 and down Jabish to do a loop around Devon Lane dealership, then back up Jabish to E Walnut and to _that_ end of the common; right onto 202 and then home via GeoH again. Hit 5 miles after a final push up Dana Hill, stopped the clock and jogged a bit to cool off.

Time: 35:54
Speed: 8.37 mph
Distance: 5.02 miles

Comment: started gently but then figured it was worth pushing as it'd be short. The hills (up to town hall and then back up onto the common) made miles 2 and 4 slow: 6:30, 7:47, 6:44, 7:47, 6:32. It's like a two-speed engine, uphill and flat/down. Maybe that's just the way of it? Felt good and stretched at the end of it, training-sore. Maybe no time for a run tomorrow, so it's good I got out.

TGIF - 12 steady miles

Back into the swing, I guess. Left the office jonesing for a run: had two in mind (Harris Mountain & Amherst/Buffam Rds), but went for the home option. Haven't done a Harris Mt run for a good while, and never with the GPS, I think. So, after basic stretching, off on GeoHannum to Batchelor, following its various turns, then up Harris to Harris Mt; right on Bay to WW, dive down to Orchard and to Federal, then out onto 9 at Tilton's and home. Ran the stopwatch as far as Stop'n'Shop, when F drove by and I hopped in, having covered the desired 12 miles, thus:

Time: 1:34:19
Speed: 7.64 mph
Distance: 12.02 miles

Comment: beginning to feel like its meant to. warmed up at 3 miles, felt good at 5 and still fine at 7. The hills added variety, but after an hour I started to stiffen up; could have finished a half marathon but a bit sore; still need to increase average miles, I guess.
The pace tells a story:
6:41; 6:57; 7:09; 7:18; 7:34; 8:29 (the mountain); 7:46; 7:39; 0:53 (0.12 miles); 8:44 (Orchard Hill); 8:19; 9:19(Federal Hill); 7:24 (0.9 miles).

Maybe I should try it backwards -- and slow down more at the start...

making pace: 7 at over 8

Out yesterday evening after a very wet and cool day -- fortunately not rained on, but I did have two layers on top and my reflector vest. Wanted to do 6-8 miles, and decided on roads because all the trails are flooded: GeoHannum to 9, down to Allen, over the hump to 202 and across up the hill to Old Enfield; sweep down to cross 9 again and up to town common, over to Jackson and then back to Dana Hill the road way.

Time: 50:56
Speed: 8.31 mph
Distance: 7.06 miles

Comment: Stopped the timer about a half-mile short of home; wanted time to cool off, and I've made the seven miles. Felt definitely better going up hill after having done the track work; aiming for pace more than distance, but happy with both. For now, I've two weeks left to get both up a bit higher -- 8 at 8.5.

(read some coolrunning bloggers on training distances and realised I'm *way* short of serious; 35 miles per week was considered insufficient for half-marathon training. Meh - I still run as much for pleasure as effect, and there's not time in my schedule to do much more than 25 a week, and even that's not easy -- perhaps in Sapporo I can bump it a bit, maybe 30. . .)

Track Running!

Out with R to BHS track, a nice new 440 yd oval. We did a few warm-up laps (R joining me on alternate laps) and then did some sprint bursts (alternating straights and curves). Not really time to do much distance, though it was pleasantly warm (after some really cool wet days) and still - felt very limber, but not wanting to overtire RR, switched to sprints: 100 yd dash a couple of times each. R running 24s and me staggering to 16s. Then I finished with a full lap, but that was tough (1:25 or so). Overall it came to something like this:

Time: 35:08
Speed: 7.59 mph
Distance: 4.45 miles

Comment: Best sort of training running I've done since the winter 5 and 10k series. Must do it again when my legs recover.

Long Saturday run - June 3

Catching up now with the backlog of entries: I guess this means I'm back into the swing, and I need to keep entries shorter and more up to date. Saturday, despite hopeless weather, I had the time available and went for a long run. Aiming for 11-13, and I thiink it was probably a fair call: I'm sore now in new ways, which a 10 mile run wouldn't have brought on, but I want to get up to speed before going to Japan so I'll just put up with the stiffness (especially noticeable in the hamstrings). In shorts -- it was mild-- with t-shirt and jacket (it was not warm enough for just one layer; probably 50 degrees F?), I set out in sporadic heavy showers, and for the first four or five miles I was not totally drenched. Headed down the rail trail (direct entry) and followed straight to 181, crossed over and entered new gateway; this shortly became the snowmobile trail, which I was too wet to argue with; turned right on reaching Pine and rejoined 181 back up to the railtrail, then followed that home-but stopped the clock when I reached the momentary shelter of the railway bridge at 202. *So* wet I might as well have been swimming.

Time: 1:34:05
Speed: 7.77 mph
Distance: 12.19 miles

Comment: Felt good at 4 miles, warmed up and ready for the distance. In better weather maybe I'd have gone all the way timed and done a half-marathon. The surface was of course soft, but it's knackering to dodge puddles and the edges of the trail are stony/uneven. Eventually I gave up and splashed on through, but the cold was also a factor--in the heavy rain you get chilled. All in all a good training run, and not too shabby pace-wise, but tonight I'll do some careful stretches and maybe some track work at BHS. Must get the old bike set up too for some X-training.

backpost 2 - June 1

Thursday evenings are always good times to run: too many days had gone by, so I was thinking of an 8+ miler to catch up distance, but in the end I couldn't really do it. Weather didn't help: it was mild but raining, and as I was starting out from the office I didn't want to get drenched. So I shortened a potentially very large loop of the run, which went thus: office, round campus clockwise from Whitmore to the top right corner, then straight across and up the hill to East Pleasant; left and follow it to Pine, cross over onto Puffer Cir and down to the trail that leads back to the park off Montague; then to No Pleasant and finish the campus circuit. A sort of misshapen figure eight, with a couple off hills and nice variety (if still mainly road). Details thus:

Time: 46:03
Speed: 8.07 mph
Distance: 6.2 miles

Comment: ended up feeling bushed after the first couple of miles, but that's because I had speed in mind and really wanted to be at 8 mph or above. Just made it, but it's still uncomfortable. Keep at it, I guess.

backpost 1 - May 27

A Saturday run, just over a week ago now; aiming not for overall length but for toughness (and to check my estimated distances from a week earlier). I liked the mix of road and trail: starting with road route (Stop and Shop, Rt 9) to back of Tilton's and then up onto the old rail bed, following it fairly smoothly this time till it joins M and M, then out to Holland Glen.

Then the kicker -- did the Holland Glen loop, starting on the river side (east). It felt really tough, though it's only a mile all round, and the run back down (west side) was quite swift--though I was cautious, as per my pledge of a year back (yes, a painful anniversary some time soon I think). Then I ran back the same way, getting the following from the (more or less) trusty GPS:

Time: 1:10:53
Speed: 6.61 mph
Distance: 7.81 miles

Comment: I was reminded how far away I am from deep conditioning; an easy run is one thing, a challenge like this one just knocks me out. Keep working at it!