Training Log Archive: Ari-o

Nice but very windy run along the Charles. First day of "you don't have to wear a mask when running not that we've ever enforced anything" and most runners have figured this out.

Now everyone go get vaccinated!

Warm up jog around the neighborhood, finding somewhere to add some water to the landscape, and not hit too many raindrops.

Fun course at Edmands, enough terrain in there to make it fun despite not being very big. Nice and open, too.

Lost a few s to 1 when I went to punch the control in the pit and my legs slipped out and I fell on my back in the mud, so I was very muddy. Otherwise I'd taken a good route and would have been close to Keegan (who beat me by 4 minutes and—looks at his log—oh looks like he ran a 3:25 1200m this week too).

Spiked 2 off the terrain but slowly recovering from mudgate, and ran 3 well enough. 4 along the trail, 5 a nice bash through the woods (some unmapped mountain bike trails to confuse the matter) and then a big goof on 6, when I went to the wrong side of the stream and had to cross it and didn't really want to get too wet/muddy so I had to find a good spot.

Over the hill to 7 (only one extra contour) and running pretty well to 8 9 10, felt a bit lethargic to 11 and probably should have just taken the trail when I saw it and not tried to go through the white closer to the control. Danced along the stream to 12 and then finish.

A decent effort but I still wish I ran faster.

Hung around for a while and then went out to pick up the controls. Delivered 8 of them to an entrance up the road for Dean to grab by car. Could have gone earlier (the last person was finishing as I ran out and my first two controls were 1 and 2 on that course) and I was a bit chilly but warmed up running again.

Long-Sprint - Splits

Nice, cool, evening, ran the three thoroughfares of Charlestown; two trips over the hill.

Pre meeting Longfellow. Longer than planned, but in time for a listen-to meeting.

My watch seems to be reading 3-5% high for mileage, but still, a 91-96 mile week without injury is nothing to sneeze at.

Run, some stroller pushing. Calf blew up right at the end of the run. Maybe I need to stretch and take a minute off after a 96 mile week.

What to do for trail adventure this week?

Up north is snow or mud season. Something in Mass. There's a thing called the Tully Lake Trail I had never heard of but found online. It sounded nice. Mel brought a friend, and I called up a friend in mud-land to see if she wanted to do a 20 mile run on dry land about equidistant. Vaccines are a good thing and an Alex came along.

We shuttled back and forth (in a car, without masks on, with the windows up!) and then set off. The trail was generally well-marked but grabbing an Army Corps map before the run would have been helpful. Also, the Army Corps. They built this dam in the '40s for flood control, and point to a time when it worked saying it saved $3 million downstream. Nice work, gents, but how much did the dam cost? ROI. But it's a nice area.

Anyway, ran a dirt road, then up a mountain, which was steep but not very long. Sun out, leaves not out, and the day warmed up pretty quickly. There was about a mile on a road, but then we entered some lovely open woods which would make for very nice orienteering (but the state park is sort of narrow, still, yum), crossed some streams, didn't get very lost at any point until just before the car drop, when we overran a section of trail and wound up on a dirt road. I did have to stop at one point to handle a pre-blister, but tape fixed that. Plus side: we got to do a state line sprint since we edged into New Hampshire.

Then Alex had an aid station for us. In the car were chips, pickles, lots of water (needed) and other assorted goodness. This was mostly destroyed. (Thanks, Ed, for letting us raid your pantry.) We started down towards Royalston Falls, which got a lot more traffic and was steep, but then beyond the falls (lovely) was flatter and less-trafficked. The rest of the run was flat along the river, boring in places, and really nice along the lake. We skipped the climb up a power line for little reason other than, it seemed, to add a climb. Mel started walking more near the end so I hung back, until my legs needed to move more near the end. This cooled me down enough that I didn't want to jump in the lake at the end.

Not a bad run, would do again.

Figured with the people time this week I'd go for a run to get another test. Why not! Juice the average positivity down. Also Harvard isn't a bad run. Ran pretty hard there, beautiful, cool, sunny late afternoon. Tested. Then had some stomach issues home which slowed the pace, but made it … in time.

Park-O. Biked up and it was cold and windy.

Two mistakes, one not looking below the "bridge" and the other not reading the "clue sheet" (because it was windy and cold enough I could barely hold onto the map as folded), and my legs were still a bit tired from the start of the week. I couldn't find my dibbler (I think it's with my ski wax maybe) so borrowed a card and they are pretty annoying. Maybe I should just buy an SI-Air. One of the controls didn't register, so I MPed, but it was where I'd passed someone who said "yeah you were there."

Jogaroo up the hill from the train station to the bicycle.

Then whee bike downhill, but after chatting and downing a beer I was late for my train by 30 seconds.

But there is a burrito shop and another train in 30 minutes.

Ow.

So the RD at DRB said if I ran the Boston course I would be listed as a "doubler" with an asterisk.

Twist my arm …

I felt quite good after the 50k, probably because we walked the last 10m. The winning time was 6:01 and the guys we'd been running with through mile 18 or so finished 1:22 ahead of us, so I probably could have gotten close to the win if I'd wanted to push, hard. But then I definitely wouldn't have run Boston.

So, 4:05 train out to Ashland, bike up to the top of the hill, where a November Project person (from NY, temporarily living there with her aunt) lives. We discussed how in future years if things are normal we can have an NP pre-race hangout there, probably not in October, though, even if I get in (rolling start). So after some chatting and a quick use of the restroom, and some photographs, I set off.

I've never run that hill at an 8 minute pace, but given yesterday, that was the pace. My legs were tired but didn't hurt, and I jogged the first few miles, partially on a sidewalk, one hurdle of a guard rail when the crosswalk switched sides (I took a diagonal, hence, sidewalk) and some bits along the shoulder where there was no sidewalk. So, yes, it's nicer on race day.

It was at least cloudy and cool, but no rain aside from a few stray droplets. I passed through Framingham and Natick and into Wellesley, where right at the halfway point I went from 8s to 9s. I also stopped there to use a port-o-let in a park and eat some cheezits. Then down the hill and up the hills. It turns out the hills are way easier when you're plodding along at 9:30s than when you're trying to milk every second. They're not that steep! There's also a lot of scenery you see at L1 9:00 pace and not L3/L4 trying to stay under 7.

I had another NP friend leave me water and dates at Centre Street, which was a godsend. (Alex we miss you but have found a replacement.) I drained the water, ate the dates, and ran over heartbreak. Kept every mile under 10 (although my watch was 0.7 miles high at the end, some of which could have been not running tangents) and didn't hit too many lights in Brookline I couldn't scoot through. The longest wait was for half a dozen cars at the little side street past the Charlesgate ramp.

Then across Mass Ave, right on Hereford, left on Boylston. I was feeling pretty good and ran fast for the last few blocks, veering into the street for the finish line. Took some photos, drank the rest of my water. The nice thing is that on fake Marathon Monday the Copley T stop is open so I walked right downstairs for my ride home.

Now I get to go fetch my bike in Hopkinton. If I'm really dumb I'll ride it home (but I think my bike shorts are in Melrose).

Don't Run Boston. Seemed like a good year to do this, because, well, no Boston. Mel wanted to d her first 50k, and didn't look at the map before signing up (rookie error!). But it was a nice day, and not too wet. I maybe could have won but we went out running with the RD in a pack which was also nice. I think if we'd had to run together just the two of us for 50k Mel and I would have, uh, issues, any time I took a step ahead she would have thought I was trying to push the pace, and I might have been a bit resentful.

But running 11s with a group was great! Pretty nice running for the first few miles through some reasonably familiar terrain. Then there were holes in the fence to bypass the swamp. And then we hit Skyline, so the pace dropped just a bit.

We stuck with a pack of 6 or 7 through the aid (dropped the pack) and the 3 mile loop over Great Blue and back. It broke up over the next 10 miles, and our group slowed down a bit, but we wound up doing a bunch of running with the Mass Ultra guy, which was fun. Definitely chatty pace, but good miles and my legs really don't hurt too much. Grabbed my poles for the last bit. This would be a fun race to race but also was lovely to run on a beautiful day. I ate lots of cheez-its, drank enough water and stayed hydrated, and then we got BBQ on the way home at Blue Ribbon.

I may go for the double tomorrow …

Up to Melrose to go for a run with my sister pushing my nephew. He's a giant but luckily the bearings of the jogging stroller are okay.

We had a lot of words today! Especially when we ran through Pine Banks and saw ducks. Duck! Duck! (All birds are ducks, but these were actually ducks.)

C • Duck! 1

Jogaroo

Down to Canton to try to catch the new Amtrak train going over the oldest bridge in the world used for high speed rail (really!). Also, NERD!

Alas, hit a wall of traffic on I-93 and missed it by a few minutes. But off to the Blue Hills on the way home (which was the plan, anyway).

Running a bit better today. Lovely evening, magnolias out. The usual week when they are in bloom on the north side of Comm Ave and not on the south. Usually we'd be looking at a race next week on this stretch as well.

Yoga is trying to kill me, or at least give me back pain. They made us do a "eagle crunch" and my back did not like that. Running was slow but okay.

Long run in Connecticut (well, crossing back in to Mass for a short bit). Warm day, sunny, no leaves, and my get up and go was not that get up and go-ey. We ran for a while, and the trails were mostly quite nice and pretty empty, and not much more than an hour away (which took longer on the way home with stops at REI and Russo's).

Terrain in there looked excellent, lots of open forest, only some mountain laurel, and lots of terrain and features.

Trying and failing to find a lot of give-a-damn this week.

Evening jogaroo, I actually kind of like this loop.

Run to see the new Acela testing back and forth in Rhode Island. Saw it at South Station so it was going considerably slower than 160 mph.

Afternoon trail run with my sister in the Fells. Nice day, didn't have a ton of get-up-and-go.

Figured I should go get a test since I spent some time indoors and in proximity to people (mostly getting jabbed). So took a spin over to Cambridge. Saw a friend eating outdoors on the way. I remember running and seeing people like that!

Still feeling kind of meh post-vaccine. Went for a nice and reasonably long run, but felt like I was pushing harder than I was.

And then I went over and was the last vaccinee of nearly 1500 at Boston Medical Center! JNJ, we'll see how hard it hits.

Sisters! Where is dry and hilly and not super-nearby? The Holyoke Range! Parked at the visitor center and ran the 7 Sisters course out, which is always lots of fun, swooping up and down. Started cold but was down to a t-shirt at the top of the first hill. At the end, we took the southern low trails back, Melanie then got bonky (turns out, it's low salt bonky) so we slowed down as we cut over a pass and then I got to orienteer our way back. Used this map, it's basically a ski-o map. Definitely the best route choice. Still, I should have dug out my O map to bring along.

So, then, we recovered and Mel ate all the salt out of the bottom of a bag of cheez-its and we went off again. The idea was to go around Mount Norwottuck. She had the mostly-useless state park map up, and I had downloaded the Norwottuck Map (thanks, Alex, and I also found this great exchange about Earls). But I didn't look at it that well. We got to a junction and went left, and started to climb, and realized a bit too late—when I got out a good map—that we had not gone far enough and instead of going around the mountain we were going over it.

Oh well.

So we got to the top, then took the trail east to where we would have been, and jogged the lovely Robert Frost trail back to the start. And the woods looked amazing, too.

It also was a sneaky 1400m of vert. This place does that.

New CSU/DXC clubhouse?

So I was up at 4, and bikeshared over to BMC and got there at 4:45 and was 7th in line. The groups ahead of me had gotten there at 1:30, 3:15 and 4, and all said I was smart for coming when I did. I was prepared to wait as there were rumors the tickets wouldn't be passed out until 5:30, with a camping pad and 0˚ sleeping bag, but I only had to wait about 20 minutes. #7 for tonight!

Then I walked over to Southie, because I needed to pick up my November Project buff. It was cold (in the 20s) and windy and I got quite chilled, so I did some planks while waiting and ran round a couple of times to get warm(er).

My first NP in more than a year! I was talking to Capozzi about why I wasn't a Zoomer …

Well, first I was in San Diego and 3:30 wasn't happening. I guess I could have 6:30ed with a West Coast Zoom but that seemed odd.

Then I was in Maine and a) the internet wasn't great, especially for an outdoor Zoom and b) if I was up at 6, I was running up a mountain.

Then ski season. With the later Worlds, I wasn't getting home until 9, eating, dehydrated.

But there are now in-person small hill workouts around the city. Maybe I should start hosting one in Charlestown, there's a nice hill nearby. And core on Mondays, and things. Seems fun. Anyway, we ran up and down some hills. I had not used the facilities at 4:15 and the Indian food from last night was sitting real heavy. Not my fastest hills. There is an A Climb worth of climb on the hill, though, so I should invite Diggins who "lives" a couple blocks away.

Legs DOMS are gone at least.

So March is gone, April is here.

* 45 hours? <40. But two races that required some tapering. Hadn't planned either of these, both worthwhile.
* 100 miles running? Yup!
* Concerted efforts at core … I've been doing some planks during the day, so that's … something.

I did manage to ski 10 days, and averaged 29k each of those days. Of course, one of those days was 100k, which was great. So glad I did that.

We're on to April … and I signed up for the Don't Run Boston 50k. So that's dropping some miles. How about 200 miles. There's a law against rollerskiing, so I won't be on wheels, and spring skiing looks thin. Certainly some trails, and some longer weekday runs on road or trail. That should get me to 30 hours, but I should shoot to 40. Maybe some orienteering? Maybe riding bikes? And more core, keeping up some daily planks, adding other things in.

Oh and I would like to get a goddamn vaccine. If I had a goddamn vaccine, I would buy a ticket to Anchorage. Kincaid has 2 feet of snowpack, hasn't been above 41˚ since December 2, and looks like it won't get warm for a while.

So I've gotten into vaccine hunting.

1) Lots of (now-gone) availability at the Berlin Walgreens. I called and they said if you were an out-of-stater with an appointment they don't care. But that's 6 hours of driving, and the skiing up there looks decidedly meh.

2) A friend posted about some secret process for the extra vaccines at BMC. Basically it is as follows:

* Go to BMC at 5 a.m. to get a ticket
* Go back at 6 p.m. and they'll call you in order
* If they don't get to you, they'll give you a lower ticket for the next evening, so you only have to go in the morning once.

It's like getting concert or World Series tickets in 2004. The system is so dumb (although for this it's probably better than a big queue every afternoon). But … I'll participate.

I went today because sometimes they give out afternoon tickets, but there were none today. Still, I was able to observe the process, and confirm that there were few if any holdovers, so if I were to go Friday morning, I'd have a good shot.