Friday 6/27, Saturday 6/28, Sunday 6/29

Camping in the whites with Matt. All hiking and no running the past few days. I hope that doesn't hurt my running ....

Friday:

Drove up to NH early AM. Took the Kinsman Ridge Trail off I-93 - went up and over Mt. Cannon, then proceeded onto to North Kinsman, over to South Kinsman, and way way down to the Eliza Brook Shelter. It was a lot of up and down, the rocks were wet, and there were lingering thunderstorms that never seemed to hit us. Hot, humid, and hazy. Not ideal hiking weather, but a good day.

Total mileage for the day - 9.9 miles

Saturday:

I don't like backtracking. But since Matt and I decided to "wing it" without any semblance of a plan (only a map), out best option ended up being doing a significant amount of backtracking back up and over South and North Kinsman. We then headed east, stopped for a bowl of soup at Lonesome Lake Hut (I have mixed feelings about these full service AMC shelters, but the soup was good). We headed down into the valley, walking through Lafayette Campground then turned north. Winging it brings its benefits, as we decided to head back to the car and go out for dinner before returning to the woods. We walked about 2.5 miles back to the car, then drove to Twin Mountain for burgers and beer at a tiny family restaurant that we found. We think that the whole town was there that night (about 20 people). Then it was back to the car. We drove to the base of the Garfield Trail and walked into the woods about 1.5 miles. We set up camp a little ways down a snowmobile trail that intersected the hiking trail. Had a little fire, then crawled into the tent for a rainy night.

Total mileage for the day (estimated) -11.5 miles

Sunday:

An easier day. It rained all night but cleared (sort of) in the morning. The rest of the hike up Garfield was unbelievably humid. At some points we could see our breath (isn't that only supposed to happen when it's cold?) The trail for this mountain was quite simple and easy. Thogh Garfield is a respectable peak at 4500', the trail is long and steady, and only gets steep right at the end. We cruised up and spent over an hour (at least) at the summit, which was in and out of the clouds, offering a variety of interesting views. The last time I was on this mountain was a trip years ago with Bob and Owen. It was raining, windy, and perilously cold. That night, we ended up camping at the nearby Garfield Ridge Campsite, waking up to snowfall in early June. That sucked, this was much better. At the top of the mountain we surprised some AT thru hikers who we had camped with the first night at Eliza Brook Shelter. They were wondering how we got there before them (they left very early Saturday morning and didn't see us pass them). Of course, we got in the car and took an entirely different route to the peak.

We finally turned around for an easy descent back to the campsite, where we made dinner, packed up, hiked out to the car, and drove home.

Total mileage for the day (estimated) - 8.3

General thoughts: It was a successful trip, but I continue to be plagued by foot problems on my hikes. After having horrible luck with boots, I switched to my well broken in running sneakers this time, and I still got blisters (though not as bad). I was intrigued by one of the thru hikers, who was wearing things called "Chocos" which were basically heavy duty Teva sandals. He wore those and socks (which of course, were constantly soaked) and said they worked great. Something to think about. In anycase, I hope to go out for a short run today, but I may wait till tomorrow. We'll see.

Thursday 6/26

8 miles. Sunglass loop.

Started feeling extremely poor. Muscles hurt, lungs hurt, fell back behind Trev. At mile 3, I decided I didn't want to spend a lot of time feeling like crap, so I started running faster. For some reason, I started to feel MUCH better and ran the last 5 miles MUCH faster. Pulled ahead of Trev, then he caught up (not that we were racing) ....

For the next few days I'll be off hiking. Hopefully the cross training doesn't disturb my running. I don't think it will be a huge problem.

Wednesday 6/25

Unsatisfying track workout.

1.5 mile warmup
1 mile interval
600 meter recovery
1400 interval
400 meter recovery
800 interval

If that looks like it makes no sense, it's because it doesn't. Not the original plan. My body has lost its speed.

Tuesday 6/24

Went out feeling ambitious, but I think I needed a light day, and ended up running (and at times walking) for 4.5 miles.

Two factors limited my workout today ..

1) I ran at high noon on a sunny and warm day (dumb)

2) I've had a few higher mileage days in a row and my body needs a rest.

I'm not that displeased with the workout today. I think it gave me a bit of a rest, and hopefully I'll be up for a speed workout tomorrow.

Monday 6/23

8.85 miles

Ran in the rain on my own today ... used the iPod for the first time in a while. I had mixed feelings about this run. It lasted a while, and I went through phases where I felt quite good and phases where I felt quite bad. I particularly struggled towards the end ... I just felt like my whole body was getting heavier and heavier for the last two miles.

I shouldn't wear a shirt when it rains. I ended up taking it off, which is my customary habit, but this time I was lugging a shirt that weighed three times what it usually does. After 9 miles of that, my arm started to get sore.

There may be a point in the near future that I decide to take a day off from running. Also, I feel like I'm ready for another speed workout.

Onward.

Sunday 6/22

7 miles ...

I had planned on doing 10, and I'm disappointed with myself for not accomplishing it. I went out with Matt later than I had hoped (we hit the road around 10:30) ... it was hot and humid, and Matt was toast after the 7 mile loop we did ...

I was too lazy to continue since he was finishing, even though that had been my original plan. I need to stick to my original goals ...

That being said, it was a cool run in Westborough ... a lot of it was on trails ... the sheer number of bugs was unbelievable/unbearable .... but I still enjoyed it quite a bit. My lungs felt quite good. My legs felt sore, and I started to develop small blisters

New shoes could be in order ... ughh ... more money.

Saturday 6/21

3.65 miles.

The purpose of today's run was simply to keep me active and prepare me for my long run tomorrow. I must admit I felt pretty sluggish through the whole thing ... I ran on my own, which may have contributed. I think that the longer my distances get, the longer it takes me to get into a good rhythm. For example, I didn't feel like I hit a rhythm until 3 miles in yesterday. Interesting.

I also just noticed that if you tally my mileage for the past 7 day I've almost hit 50 ..... next week I'll be looking to hit it.

Friday 6/20

8.1 mile - sunglass loop

Planned on running 4 today, but ran 8 instead. Felt sluggish for the first 3 miles, but got much stronger as we went along. Last mile = downpour = felt awesome. 8 strides at the end.

Today was as close as I've come to the true, proverbial "runner's high." I felt like I was on drugs for an hour after the run. Or maybe it was all the drugs I did...

Just kidding ...

Tomorrow I need to take it easy ... 3 miles max so I don't get injured ...

10 on Sunday.

Bring it.

Thursday 6/19

7 mile bike path loop.

Today was good, in part because I called up Matt Offenbacher and invited him to join me and Trev for the run. Matt has always been a strong runner (much stronger than me), though he claimed to be very very out of shape. He took the first 2.5 miles quite strong, and I was worried that I wouldn't be able to keep up. Around mile 5 he hit a bit of a wall and in mile 6 he was clearly struggling. It was great to see him again, and this is probably the first time I've ever outrun him. I try not to judge myself on comparisons to other people ... after all, I have no control over others, and there will always be people out there faster than me ... but nonetheless it was a confidence booster.

Weather was great ... but my legs felt very sore from yesterday's intervals. Also did CORE after the workout. I felt soreness from CORE two days ago ... I found that to be odd because I didn't feel to bad yesterday. A bit of a lag. I have a long way to go before I'm satisfied with my upper body strength (and my fitness in general), but I'm making strides.

I'm probably going to be looking to do 4 or 5 tomorrow. Hopefully be up for a 10 miler come Sunday.

Note to self. Chinese food after a run is delicious. Also makes you feel dumb for running 7 miles and then eating it all back immediately.

Wednesday 6/18

Interval workout at Hudson HS track with Trev.

1.5 mile warmup

4 min hard
3 min recovery

repeat five times

1.5 mile cooldown

7.5 mile total.

First legitimate interval workout in a long long time. Felt good. Light rain, gave a couple local kids a one lap race on our cooldown. They reminded me of myself, about 11 years ago. I don't know if I took it out hard enough in the first couple of intervals. It's tough to judge. I also think that I felt more of a weakness with my leg muscles than with my lungs ... though both were hurting. My quads are sore tonight, we'll see how they feel tomorrow. Hoping to do another 7 ... we'll see.

Tuesday 6/17

7 miles - ran with Trev. Cookie loop. Started slow, felt better towards the end. Need to work on hydration and nutrition throughout day. I didn't drink enough throughout the day and ran most of the run with the headache. I didn't eat enough throughout the day and I felt weak ... especially early in the run. Post run-core workout was a first for me, but I can see how it will build muscle and make me strong enough to get through tough patches in runs.

Monday 6/16

30 minute recovery. Didn't feel great.

Sunday 6/15

7 Miles - AM workout after returning from camping. I went out thinking I would do about 4, but I was feeling good and quickly made the decision to do more. Towards the end I ramped up the pace so that I could average 8 minute miles. Just barely made that pace by the end (I started out slow). Cloudy, damp but no rain. Felt very good. The bike path in Marlborough/Hudson is great.

Saturday 6/14

Trails with Trev - Bear Brook State Park

Hard hills, 8 mile equivalent. Good weather. Jumped in lake afterwards. This was a solid workout which I thoroughly enjoyed. We only intended to do about five miles, but a crappy map led us astray, and we ended up doing a signficantly more. Some of the hill were 3/4 of a mile to a mile long. Felt great all around.