MDay-53 -- Wed. July 29

Schedule said long run. My body's not so sure -- felt okay, after the rest, but not cured, as it were. Ouf. Also a *very* muggy day, pretty much one of the first 3H (hot, hazy humid) days this summer. Still, no pain, etc.

Mapped out a compromise run, 17 miles, with room to add a bit if needed. VFW, 202 (stretch), Allen, 9, Federal, Orchard, Warren Wright, North, Station, then cross SoAmherst Common to Middle, on to Bay, then Old Bay, Hamilton, and Jackson to Stone Soup Farm, then back home. I took a quarter sandwich (PPB & butter) and a big water bottle. Ate at 10 miles, though it took a mile to actually chew up and swallow the bread, with lots of water. No problems, fortunately--hunger wasn't an issue. However, I was running pretty gently the whole time, with only one mile just sub-7:00. Quite a few short steep hills -- total of about 550 ft ascent and same descent. I stopped the clock three times, but only for 10-20 seconds (pee, eat, and at 17.5, consider stopping, but decide to continue). Here's the overall data:

Time: 2:24:32
Distance: 18.33 miles
Pace: 7:53s

Comment: completed 13.1 in 1:42 exactly, so similar to last week's long run there. Pace slowed down in the remaining miles, but that's fine with me. The distance, including a last mile run very slowly home, is a new PB. Woot. I was well bushed, however, and ended up chafed as well. Not a good time in the biocycle for me (maybe a virus?), but in the longer run, I hope it still serves as useful training. I even got numb-leg at about 5 miles, though this went after relieving bladder pressure (!).

MDay-54 -- Tue. July 28

Rest Day, hallelujah. Actually feeling pretty biorhythm low, with a cold sore to boot. Bad when I have a long run planned for tomorrow, but 仕方がない。

MDay-55 - Mon. July 27

Schedule (revised) has me doing an easy 5 today, so out I went: Rural Loop, clean and simple. Muggy day, but fine enough for running; still tired from yesterday, so kept effort low. Did stretches at the i mile mark, by the water treatment place.

Time: 41:43
Distance: 5.47 miles
Pace: 7:38s

Comment: this is fifth day in a row of running, and though short, it was enough (I felt sore): time for a rest day.

MDay-56 -- Sun. July 26

New week, the last before the bike trip (which is going to mess things up a bit, but bouf). Met others at D&D as usual: Bill, John and Nick, with Jay there for advice but still not running; also Maddie and her dad appeared. The latter two decided to run by themselves, using the track; I had an almost 12 miler mapped out, and the other three agreed to try it. Goal was more than ten miles, but low hill component (this one has about 300ft). Rail trail down to NoLib (at the underpass), then follow that road all the way down to Bardwell, to go left and follow that down to the three way intersection with Michael Sears and Pine; back up MSears, and then cross 181 and continue to Sabin, up to Cordner and then 181 all the way to town. Slow first section, then Bill and I moved ahead a bit, as he needed to stretch out. After the uphill on MSears, John caught up with us, and we stayed together until we hit 181, where we saw Nick had followed Cold Spring and cut ahead of us. I then pursued, towing the other two, and we were all together briefly, before Bill and I pulled on ahead again, working a bit on the hill up into town. Then straight back to D&D, and the young lads came in a minute of two later:

Time: 1:33
Distance: 11.85 miles
Pace: 7:51s

Comment: A bit risky to do this with no stretch, but spend a good portion of the p.m. barefoot in Holland Glen stream, getting a cool massage -- very therapeutic! During the run we got one sub-7:00 mile in, without any big downhill, so despite the overall easy pace, this was a good workout.

MDay-57 -- Sat . July 25

This is a donut day, just to reach weekly mileage. After a long run late yesterday, wait till midday to go out for this one, having rested a good bit (TGISaturday). Hot, muggy, but nice breeze and still good cool in the shade: headed out onto 9 and go right, crossing 202 and follow along to Jabish, stopping to stretch at about a mile. Then down to cross river and up to Johnson, along to Jensen and then left on 181 to Jabish canal: follow that to rail trail and back up all the way towards home, stopping the clock at entry back into development:

Time: 52:53
Distance: 6.89 miles
Pace: 7:41s

Comment: nice donut run, this, bringing in weekly mileage at 50:15 (goal was 50). Also, on reentering development, take off shoes and barefoot jog on the roads to the common, then across and so to home. More ankle, calf work, all to the good, I hope.

MDay-58 -- Fri. July 24

Schedule called for a 12 mile long run this week, and this is my last chance; plus, I need to get mileage in for the weekly goal. So, a reverse Gulf road, via Jucket hill; goal is easy pace and 13-14 miles. Went out late afternoon, having done an M.A. defense in the morning. Muggy but not too hot. Past VFW to 202, up to Allen and do stretches. Then on to Juckett, up and over (gloriously full streams all about!) and left on the access road to exit across 202 and along Packardville; then down at Gulf all the way (getting a quick cooling shower from one of the roadside springs) and across 9 to Federal, then up the hill into town and home:

Time: 1:53 exactly
Distance: 14.46 miles
Pace: 7:49s

Comment: only one mile, I think, on the downhill went sub-7:00. Otherwise very steady. Deliberately didn't attack the uphills, figuring correctly I'd pick up pace a bit on any downhills. Only when the horseflies got to me did I work hard for a bit, to get out of the area. Pace was on the high end of easy (which should be around 8:00 for me), but that'll do for now.

MDay-59 -- Thu. July 23

Schedule was for a basic run: chose to do it at close to marathon pace. Out on a modified Baggs Hill run: GeoHannum (stretches), Boardman, Eskett, 202, Chicopee to Baggs Hill, then back on School to Stebbins and GeoHannum. Stopped clock at ten miles, then stretched a bit and ran home from there (DPW).

Time: 1:15:24 + 8:23
Distance: 10.03 + 0.96
Pace: 7:31s (for long section only)

Comments: This was a morning run, v. muggy, feeling a bit the worse for wear after the bike sprint the night before. But good experimenting again with "ball of foot" running, and got a negative split (5 miles came up in 38:12, so quite a close one. No sub-7:00s; fastest was mile 8, a 7:16.

MDay-60 -- Wed. July 22

Schedule says this is a bike day, moved from Monday. Our long postponed bike trip 家族そろって to the Miss Florence diner. It's 17.5 miles each way, mainly on railtrail. Did the out trip at a gentle pace, probably about two hours, ate hugely, and then back also gently--as far as the mall. Then the Tall one and I bombed ahead to get the cars to pick up the rest at the end of the trail. I just went for it, 10 miles hard, with all the hills too. Good workout to finish the day, so I skipped a planned donut run.

BIKED 35 miles in about three hours

Extended cross-train -- got sprinting, hills, and endurance all in there

MDay-61 -- Tue. July 21

Initially aimed to do my postponed Sunday long run, but combination of rain all day and my having to be chauffeur (with van at garage again) meant I only had a limited slot, maybe an hour while LMD was at martial arts. Parked car there and set off with hat and rainjacket, though it wasn't exactly cold, aiming for a loop run over Summit, with two laps planned. Very clunky stiff feeling as I went down 202, but then started to loosen a bit; no chance to stop and stretch as there was no rain shelter, so just went gently. Tried the barefoot style, running on the balls of my feet a bit, but that's harder to do that you might think, running in shoes. Still, practice makes perfect. Summit Hill pleasantly not too long, and round to 21 and back to start lap two in good time. Keep pace a bit higher once I'm warmed up, not wanting to leave LMD in the rain, and do second lap fine, back to parking lot just in time, thus:

Time: 54:47
Distance: 7.57 miles
Pace: 7:14s

Comment: Good enough--this counts as a tempo run, with two sub-7:00 miles after a gentle start. Felt quite good on the uphills, too, which is encouraging. Running in rain is its own therapy, I suspect.

MDay-62 -- Mon. July 20

Rest day, after four straight days running. Definitely needed.

MDay-63 -- Sun. July 19th

After three days in a row and with a sore right achilles tendon I wasn't sure how things would go today, but I went off to the SRRC gathering as usual. Only Ken and the two highschool lads there, plus Jay with his foot in an immobility boot. He was advising the youngsters, who'd just done a 5K race, so were on for a short slow run today. Ken and I figured 10 would be about right, so we set off together on the Enfield route--the lads turned back at GeoHannum and we two went on to Hamilton. Took it gently, getting a twinge as we crossed 9 going up Allen, but seemed to be transient. Chated all the way with Ken, and went left on Enfield to go down to the water and loop around (needed to get to double digits). Quite hot and a bit muggy, but nice enough. Back up Jabish and round onto OldSpfld, then rail trail back to start, thus:

Time: 1:25:41
Distance: 10.24 miles
Pace: 8:22s

Comment: This was a good easy run, leaving me clear to do a long run later in the week. Hopefully a rest day will bring tendons back a bit ready for that.

MDay-64 -- Sat. July 18

Aiming more for a donut run today, and combining it with a bike ride and an outing with R. Biked roads to Quabbin, then parked and did stretches, leaving my bike and running up the road to the tower -- pushing R when he got tired, which was quite often, so it was an extra workout, and not fast. Paused at the top: tower was closed due to the rainstorm last night, so not much viewing as I didn't have a quarter for the binocular machine either; still, R got a break, and then we were on the way down again. Of course, this was fast: no pushing needed, and I slowly stretched out until I was making a good sub 6:00 pace -- one mile, most of which was downhill, came in at 5:43. Then kept stride long and pushed hard across the dam, keeping in the low 6:00s to end up with this (stopped clock back at the bike, by the state police place):

Time: 40 mins
Distance: 5.39 miles
Pace: 7:25s

Comment: rounds out a good three day end to the week, all at marathon pace (and 27 some miles, a three-part marathon!). Also, biked a total of 9 miles, at gentle pace.
Next week, back to the schedule!

MDay-65 -- Fri. July 17

Aiming again to get a double-digit run in, so out by 8:45 on a muggy day with some sun, still cool in places after a cool night. Aim for trail with minimal hills: on to rail trail and then through State school and back onto trail; all the way down to the underpass, then turn right over the tracks to Jabish canal and chug along that trail. Feeling quite comfortable, keeping pace at 7:30-40 ish, after realising a negative split would be tough (downhill all in the first half, though road in second makes for some compensation). Back up 21 (someone in a van honks in a friendly way and waves--Rob?)and then into Old Spfld as far as the high school, through there and across to Howard, then on to rail trail again into the development and stop clock at just over 10 miles, thus:

Time: 1:16:07
Distance: 10.27 miles
Pace: 7:25s

Comment: this felt brisk, though the pace is my marathon target, more or less; clearly more training needed! Once in the development, took shoes off and walked/jogged barefoot to feel how it was--indeed, invigorating and tough both. Nicest was on the grass, of course, still cool with dew.
Very tired later in the day, but at least I'm getting back to a reasonable mileage for the week.

MDay-66 -- Thu. July 16

First run back in the US. Rested enough to want to do a bit of a longer one, so aim for a Harris Mountain, but in reverse. Nice day for it, a bit warm, but out early enough that there's still some coolth in the shade. To 9, into Federal (stop for stretches by Tiltons), along to Orchard, straight on past Elf hill and then double back on Bay to Harris Mountain. Good climb up the steep bit, then keep a decent pace--aiming for a negative split. Down the other side to Batchelor, then Stebbins, and back on GeoHannum. Run to a lap end just by baseball field, stop clock, then jog on home for an extra four minutes of cooldown.

Time: 1:27:16
Distance: 11.71 miles
Pace/speed: 7:27s/8.05 mph

Comment: after a couple of easy days, and back on easier terrain (after Dorset!), this felt much more like a good run. Good negative split, as the first few miles (up to 5) were 7:45s or slower.

MDay-67 -- Wed. July 15

Extra rest day, recuperating from the extended flight.

MDay-68 -- Tue. July 14

No time for a real run, but had ot get out and stretch before the flight. Started by heading from Tim's flat to his office to deliver his keys, then looped home again with an extra run to the end of Marylebone High.

Time: 31:52
Distance: 3.56 miles
Pace: 8:57s

Comment: Slight rain, muggy day, and feeling pretty comfortable - a gentle donut run.

MDay-69 -- Mon. July 13

Rest day -- riding a train to London.

MDay-70 -- Sun. July 12th

This is going to be a tricky week, with the flight home again and a day spent travelling to London. Today, last Dorset run, so -- reluctantly letting Pilsdon and Lewesdon wait for my next trip -- headed out in the early evening for a Bo'hampton and Shipton run. Started along alleys through town, then up Crock lane and up path to Hyde hill, right up to the very top -- fantastic 360 view of the town and more -- and then down the old way past the Buglers' out onto Church Hayes; up round the church and out onto Long lane, and all the way, connecting via the bridlepath, to Shipton Gorge. Quite a tough trail, though pace pickes up a bit down the hill to the village, then up again as I head out to reverse the Uploders--Shipton route I did earlier this trip. Steady all the way through Uploders, Loders, Bradpole, then out across Beaminster road on to Gypsy lane, up and over and down to Victoria Grove, then home, thus:

Time: 1:13:12
Distance: 8.9 miles
Pace/Speed: 8:13s/7.3 mph

Comment: Muggy evening, and definitely feeling the efforts of the last few days. Took a deliberately easy pace, even before I started to feel tired. Still, *almost* a long run to start the week with. Achilles tendon definitely freshly sore after the two tough runs on Fri & Sat.

MDay-71 -- Sat. July 11th

Managed a race today, which is a first for me in England, and it was a suitably challenging intro to the scene. Point had been to get S along either to participate in or to see a race, but the weather was so awful that she stayed at home rather than spectate. Race was called the Maiden Castle Loop, and started in Dorchester at the leisure centre at 7 p.m. -- fine for a warm summer day, but as it was the rain poured and the wind gusted and drove into us, so, barring muggy warmth, the season was hard to determine. Drove over and after some false starts found the Hardy's, signed up (£9-, not too bad) and went out to warm up. Tried to stay dry, running on sidewalks with tree cover, and did stretches in a bus shelter. Got my 2 miles in, near enough, with stretches, then ready to start. Good sized crowd (70 or so?), very few women, and mainly club runners, apparently, and older end of the spectrum. Race is like a super-10K, 6.5 miles.

Off abruptly and quickly into a more or less single file footpath; decided to just follow along for the first mile and see how it looked. Pace was varied -- good crowd off ahead of me, maybe 30 runners, but I was happy with the chaps nearby: quite competitive, holding position doggedly. Mainly downhill-ish to lanes and across to muddy lane leading up to castle itself, then it gets a bit tougher, and already getting pretty solidly wet. Up to the eastern end of the ramparts and then down the other side, down and round through a field leaving the castle behind (so the course was the opposite of what I'd expected, with the run round the ramparts at the end). More of the single file stuff, with tight turns through gateways; good marshalling, people standing in the pouring rain cheerfully pointing the way. Out on to a country lane, past the one water stop (chap handing out cups was in a wet suit!), and then finally to the field where we're going back up to the ramparts: *steep* climb, again single file at the edge of a field, and then even steeper up on to the outer rim of the castle. At this point we're perfectly exposed to the full wind and blowing rain, and by this point my shirt is heavy with water and my race number is threatening to tear off and blow away.

But once chugging along the ramparts I had energy to go ahead, so (calling an alert as I did so) I passed one by one a few runners, each time briefly leaving the narrow path; somehow managed it without taking a tumble off the edge, and each time got to enjoy clear view of the footing ahead--until I reached the next person. At the other end we doubled back on to another rampart ring, and then round and down a box stairway set into the chalk (nearly came a cropper there, hard and slippery) and at last out of the castle and down another lane until we're back on the path we started on. By this point I'm feeling yesterday's run and trying to maintain position as I hear at least one guy approaching. Hold him off all the way up to town, and then as we enter the last half mile he's only steps away; take shirt off for a bit more comfort and a tiny spurt of speed, but then with a few hundred yards to go, he strides by, and I just try to stay close. Come in 23rd at a very modest pace, but bloody hell it was hard work!

Time: 45:49 (GPS)
Distance: 6.55 miles (GPS)
Pace/Speed: 7:00s/8.58 mph

Also: 1.95 miles in 15:13 as warm up; no warm down run, too wet!

Comment: Now I know why the times from last year looked slow -- it's a tough course, like x-country at school! At the line they handed out nice badges, though they were flustered I didn't have my shirt on! "We need to see the number!" Lovely spread of cakes and coffee in the hall, and the results were up very quickly (S's boss did much better, under 43 and placed maybe 12th?). Oh, also, it turned out the cakes, etc., were *for sale* not freebies. Yikes! I paid up, but what a surprise to this US schooled club runner... Next year, if I can get back for it, S said she'd do it too. I'll make sure to rest the day before!

MDay-72 -- Fri. July 10th

Not sure how I'll feel today, and plan on a donut run, but in the end get out for a longer one, with *hard* hills. . . running with heart, not head, to be sure. Late morning, out in just T-shirt on top, into town and right out to Symondsbury turn off; do stretches; then off again, following lane up (brief stop to run around a *grass* school sports-day track, lovely!) and then turn up past the church onto covered lane, up hill to a crossroads with Hell Lane on left -- go straight, and along more footpaths until coming out on a hill top, then go left down a concrete lane to Bright Hay, and out past the other end of Hell lane; head off Butt lane towards Ryall, but then turn back and go down to Chideock, cross main road and down to Seatown. Reach beach, then start up over cliffs. Hard going, and fade in places to walking, but keep mainly running; reach Beacon, then down the steep other side and on to Eype; again across beach stream and up other side (fading now) and along to West Bay. Down and along to pier, round harbor and up past Riverside and out on to West Bay road, right back up to South Street and stop clock at 10 miles, just by the old Fisherman's Arms. Then jog remainder home, thus:

Time: 1:23:55 + 6:10
Distance: 10.02 + 0.76
Pace: 8:23s

Comment: this was a hard one, my Twin Peaks for this trip, I think. A bot of a test for the tendons, but also I really just felt tired -- still, given the terrain, the pace was pretty solid. This counts a hill training workout, for sure!

MDay-73 -- Thu. July 9th

Feeling tired, and achilles tendons sore, so walk and bike today. Walk around town, then after gardening work in p.m. take out Tim's bike -- walk it through town to Sea Road petrol station, get air in tyres, then take off: Beaminster via Gore Cross, Pymore, Wooth, Elwell, Waytown, N'bury, and out to main road. In B'ster go to old coop and get batteries (camera) and drink, then back via bridleway to N'bury, up Silkhay lane and past the old places; out to Salway Ask road, and home that way.

BIKED 13.5 miles in about 1:30

Basic cross-train: quite good workout, and again a lovely route:-)

MDay-74 -- Wed. July 8th

First blighty run this trip. Decided to try a new route, not worrying too much about schedule, aiming for about 10 miles. Late morning run, sunny and breezy and cloudy; went out wearing long sleeved shirt, but ended up taking that off & carrying it. Head up to Pymore, across to Bradpole and the Loders, Uploders, and then take a right toward the main road, but lane goes *under* and connects through to Shipton Gorge. From there down to Burton, and head back on road, but too traffic-full, so go down to Freshwater and join footpath from there along between golf holes! Down back of cliff just short of West Bay, and then to beach, on to pier and round harbor to other pier, then onto West Beach and dip shoes in water, then back up and follow footpath home. Stop clock at 10 miles, feeling pretty tired, finish water bottle, then jog remainder, up through St Mary's field and home, for another 1.3 miles, thus:

Time: 1:21:38 and 10:35
Distance: 10.01 and 1.3
Pace: 8:09s and 8:08

Comment: This felt very tiring, and I was being careful on the few hills, given achilles soreness. But that's mainly post-flight weariness; a useful base run, and just glorious to be out in Dorset running.

MDay-75 -- Tue. July 7

On a plane and train and buses. Not enough sleep. "Rest" day.

MDay-76 -- Mon. July 6

Schedule is tricky this week, given the traveling, so broke normal routine and made a foray today -- basically a donut. Morning, sunny and breezy, and asked R to come along on his bike. Basically a Rural loop, with a stop at the water station to do my stretches:

Time: 43:47
Distance: 5.52 miles
Pace/Speed: 7:56s/7.56 mph (sic)

Comments: やっぱり a bit hard on the tendon to do this after two solid weekend days, but stretches helped. Made it round the standard Rural at a gentle pace, quite pleasant.

MDay-77 -- Sun. July 5

Schedule had been for the next long run, but can't risk it: changed schedule quite a bit, making this a recovery long run. Even so, didn't quite make it to the 10-12 miler distance. Several people away cos of the holiday, but four highschoolers there (John, Nick, Taylor & Savannah), plus Rob L. I'd had a late start (long phonecall home) so no time to run a warmup, but did the two part stretch routine while we chatted at DnD. Rob aiming for a shorter run, so we others all headed off on railtrail, down as far as the underpass, then right across road to Jabish canal; follow that still all together doing easy 8s; water still flowing over so we all get wet feet at that point, then at Bardwell decide to go straight back, maybe add distance at end. When we entered Spfld Taylor peeled off to head home (nearby) as the wet shoes had given her blisters; at that point I stretched out a bit, and John picked up, leaving Nick (cramp) and Savannah a little back. I proposed we go up into town instead of via the high school, and John agrees: when we get to the little uphill after the railway he feels it a bit, so trails as we head into town, but I slowed on common, then we headed down Jackson and Howard -- felt great, and opened stride on the downhill, kept it going on Howard, and then on 202, without sprinting, kept pouring it on a bit. John struggled but did close at the end.

Time: 1:11:14
Distance: 9.24 miles
Pace/Speed: 7:43s/7.78 mph

Comment: even the little uphill, and the faster longer strides at the end, were probably a bit much for the achilles tendon, but it felt so good to be running open! Ouf. We'll see tomorrow how it affected things. Last mile and a half were in the 6:50s and 5:50s respectively--we'd done 7.53 miles in one hour, but managed to up the average a lot with that fast finish. This counts as a tempo run, I think. Wore older trail shoes as they seem to work better with sore ankle...

MDay-78 -- Sat. July 4

Decided to implement the stretch and strengthen program I'd found for achilles tendonitis. Figuring my case is still pretty mild, I'll do stretches and start the strengthening, and keep a close watch on running: more biking and extra rest days as necessary.

Pleasant breezy if muggy morning, so set off to do a mile or so of warmup -- down GeoHannum, ran round the field and then on to DPW driveway = 1.25 miles. Stopped for stretches, and level one strengthening. Then jogged slowly on and took State School to Checkers, then on to the trail. Followed it on at a gentle pace, then at NoWash underpass took road down as far as Burt's used cars, then back into the trail (horse flies and hove flies out now, along with the usual mosquitos and gnats) and up to the underpass again, and off trail to road up into town center and down home. Get all the way to Greenwich before stopping clock, covering a round 10 (including warm up):

Time: 1:23:31
Distance: 10.03
Pace/Speed: 8:20s/7.21 mph

Comment: still feeling the twinges, and both ankles a bit sore--I guess part of the problem is left over strains from the Mt Greylock race. The gentle pace was nice, mainly, but still ended up feeling tired, and knees wanted a rest too. Even recovery is hard...

MDay-79 -- Fri. July 3

Still sore at tendons, but needing to get out, so do a bike ride with R. Long figure of eight down via rail trail and roads to ye olde grogge shoppe in Bondsville, then back via SoLib and NoLib and town common.

BIKE
Distance: 19 miles
Time: approx. 2+ hours riding
8-9 mph average

Comment: not really aerobic, but still good to be out being physical for a while. Hopefully good stretch for calf/ankle without stressing them. Counted as a recovery day.

MDay-80 -- Thu. July 2

Schedule was 6-8 miles, but: woke with worse than usual achilles pain, and felt danger signals. researched tendonitis and got into a bit of a funk about how long it might take. . . Today, of course, I also sent off my cheque for the marathon, so I felt in a real bind.

Hoping that rest will work some magic. . .

MDay-81 -- Wed. July 1

Schedule has 25 miles left for the week, and Jay + Bill (and Ken and John?) had a track workout planned for 6 p.m. I thought I might get there, but I was at work too late to get there. By about 7:30 I headed out for an 8-10 miler, deciding at the last moment to go up Mountain View. So, GeoHannum, Boardman, Eskett, across 202 and up the hill. Muggy evening, but not hot, and a bit of a breeze: quite nice. Take it very steady, aiming for 8:00s, but reaching the hill find I'm picking up a bit -- for the 2 miles from 202 to top first mile is 7:30, though second is slower. Then at top head across to Summit, back down to 202 and left to Eskett. Downhill feels a bit tough--seem to have got more vulnerable to that now. Back on same route (see Elaine and Alice E. out walking, say hi in passing) and keep good running up to 9 miles, at sewer station, then do one more mile slowly, heading up Jackson to railway. Stop clock at 10, then jog back via rail trail.

Time: 1:17:52
Distance: 10.05 miles
Pace/Speed: 7:45s/7.74 mph

Comment: A bit sore at end, but on the whole it felt like a comfortable mid length run, with the mild but long hill work a bonus.

MDay-82 -- Tue. June 30

One more NoHo race before I head to England. Not feeling very rested, but keen to get a race in again: aim to add more than the usual 4 miles warm up/cool down -- try parking at Fort Rd end, but no obvious spot, so park in usual place. Early enough, however, to try running a different way, and start off up lane into nearby field; unfortunately it deadends, and water all round, so after crossing heavily furrowed field run back along furrow -- hard going! Then go usual route to the start, pretty warmed up. Ends up being almost 3.5 miles, a bit too much probably. Noone there I know, so check in (leave camera w/ April) and line up: lots of tall highschoolers, it seems, a tough looking crowd. Make a slow start, feeling pretty blah, and the first mile goes by slowly: 6:46. Then pick it up a bit, and slog on, pretty much on my own the whole time. Grab water on way, and take off shirt at about half-way; tired by end, but able to keep pace steady (6:22s both miles), and finish okay. Come in 16th, 4 seconds outside my predicted time:

Time: 20:08
Distance: 3.11 miles (GPS)
Pace/Speed: 6:28s/9.27 mph

Comment: not sure why I felt so lacking in spark, really, though lots of little reasons. I'd really like to do this course at full tilt one time, but it won't be in the next two weeks (England trip!). After a few eats and drinks, did my "cool down" run back to car, taking a different route and taking pictures of chestnut tree in bloom on way; feeling a bit better for most of this part, so ended up making good time, and then last mile clicked up to around 7:00. Combined total of the two legs was 5.82 miles @ 46:36, so on average 8:00s at 7.49 mph. Achilles tendon (right) a bit painful at end, partly from the mosquito bites by it, I think.

MDay-83 -- Mon. June 29

Schedule said Bike, so I biked. Got home from work pretty late, so didn't have time for a long one: covered about 15 miles, quite a bit of mild trail, in just over an hour. Through state school to Checkers, then trial to Jabish cana; go right along to 21/Bardwell, then follow Bardwell and then right on to road down to Barrett, across as per the SRRC 10 miler and back up to NoWash, all the way back up into town, then to 9 and home.

BIKE
Distance: 15+ miles
Time: approx. 1:00
15 mph average

Comment: Overall felt a bit tired, no real attack, but a useful workout.