Training Log Archive: Ari-o

Run down the hill, then back via a port o john. Cool morning. Nice.

Pisgar. Was slated to be a warm day, but dry. I've never had issues with that before. But it was cool at the start. Saw Amy and Brian, Jesse and then went to the start and go. First five miles flew by as usual. I was running with a pack of 8, but off the back, and couldn't keep up on the hills, plus, I wanted the distance, mostly, going fast was secondary. Went off in to the woods to avoid a bees nest approaching the first manned aid, then hands on knees up that hill.

The course is always nice, and mostly cool in the trees. Stopped to pee, tackled the ridge, and was on pace for a PR. But then it was warm. I ran down the Kilburn Loop fine, but when I turned to come up I realized I was overheating. I should have dumped more water on myself at the aid station (no ice there, apparently they don't have ice if the temperature isn't over 80, which seems like a high threshold) so I basically walked the whole hill up. Then at the aid again I dumped a lot of water on myself (I should have jumped in the lake on the way out) and was like a new person, running up the hill, passing someone, and holding off to the finish. But barely just enough water to keep from cooling down. (It also helped that they had cheez-its at the aid station and I had several handfuls and ran off with a handful. Not a bad way to get salt!)

Finished with a personal worst. But finished and didn't overheat, and got my miles in, and legs don't feel too bad.

Littleton. Classic focused on Double Pole. There were videos sent out about double pole technique, and 2006-era full body double poling (was it that recent?). Fine by me, still on skis with a bad ratchet.

Out with the big group, then a small group on the long loop (mostly to avoid the long chip seal downhill). But now Harvard chip-sealed another part of the downhill. Good lord. I really should write to the state and demand that state funds not be used for chip seal.

Wasn't too bad. Frank took us around Coventry Wood and when they went to do Neighborhoods I struck back on my own. I do have a 50k tomorrow.

Barometric thing on new watch is pretty useless, for this at least. Great. But Strava can correct.

Ran the same loop as yesterday, the other way around. Beautiful evening of running and watching traffic jams. The BU Bridge was crushed beyond imagination (concert at Fenway, which is apparently worse than ballgame). Ran the river doing 30 30s, because why not push two days before a 50k. Oh, wait.

I saw a bus coming down Pearl Street as I was running home. I tracked this bus as it tried to get through the rotary. It took it 55 minutes to go 0.7 miles. The passengers could have gotten off, walked to the other side of the river, and gotten on three buses before. What a junkshow.

C • BU Bridge 2

Loop along the river. Uneventful, stretching the tired legs mostly, saw sister walking to the T at the end!

So this was a new NP workout. And a hard NP workout.

In the past we've partnered and done groups of five stairs. Which is like running 800s with lots of rest, and running them hard but not all out.

This is like 400s, minimal rest, and going all out. Wish I'd had a HRM for this. Took the time from Strava moving time, which probably accounts for some hands-on-knees recovery still in L3 or L4.

My partner and I made it around in 18 minutes and back in 21. 18 still being slower than Tom Stark can run it on his own. I got the extra sections at the start and end. It was hard.

That's two hard workouts in two days, so maybe I'll taper a bit for Sunday.

Track! Sister birthday dinner in the evening, so morning track circles with November Project offshoot.

Small group today. I suggested we do drills and strides (because at 6:30 I need those) and they said "wow, a real warm up." Sort of, I guess?

Track was 4-4-4-4 8-8-8 4-4

That sounded … fun? Ran the first 400 in 75 seconds, which seemed fast. The next were 80, 78, 77, which seemed a bit more like it. Then the 800s in 2:51, 2:53, 2:53, so those were okay, but I wasn't feeling super fast. This group stands around after the interval, so I wound up running 200s between the 400s and doing every other one sort of on my own.

Then after the 800s, two more 400s. The first I wasn't that fast on: 79. But left it all out on the last one and came in 75 flat, which is not too bad for an 400 for me. And decided not to do another 800. 4000m of track last week, 4800m of track this week. Working back in to it. And the 800s felt a lot better.

Cool down, interstitials.

Decided to take a rest day today. Legs have been tired/sluggish-feeling, so maybe they just needed a day off.

Also returned the Garmin I've been whining about for the last couple of months. Did not hurt that I got a Suunto pro deal. But really, it was steps down from the 2014-era Garmin I had (still have, and might use this week) in GPS accuracy, elevation, and usability. Sure it had more features, but I'd rather not have it crap the GPS bed every couple of weeks.

Putting my trust in the Finns. I mean, I do it with rollerskis, so why not GPS watches too?