Training Week 5/9 - 5/15

If last week was an easy week, this week was the complete opposite. Not a big week in terms of mileage (are mine ever?), but plenty of intensity. In fact, my hamstrings and calves are on strike, specifically, the right leg. Same as before. Again, though, it shouldn't be an issue as long as I pay attention to them. With two weeks to go until Pineland, the plan is to take it relatively moderate this week and then easy the week before.

Onto the numbers...

5/9, Sunday: 3 - 23:10, Suck Loop. Ran the loop in the reverse direction for a change since I'm tired of running down the Highland Green Road into the wind—it seems to always blow in that direction. Felt great, which could in some way have been inspired by my sister-in-law and Jeff's performances at the the Sea Dogs Mother's Day 5k. Had a great time hanging out at the race, and then in the afternoon after my run, we took the Little Lady out for her first "hike" on the Cathance River trails.



5/10, Monday: 10 total, 3 x 2 mile on Mt. Ararat Trails. SO HARD. There's a natural loop within the Mt. Ararat trails that according to MapMyRun is .55 miles long, so 4 laps equals 2.2 miles. I warmed up on the loop to get an idea of what pacing would make sense based on the terrain, which includes a 50 yard stretch of pavement, hardpacked trail, rocky uneven ankle snapping trail, soft sand and a couple puddles. Oh, and it wasn't real flat. My hope was that I could pull off 7:00 pace, but after the first lap of the first interval, I knew that was a stretch. I ended up with 3, 2.2 mile repeats in 15:28 (7:02), 15:51 (7:12), and 15:54 (7:13). This was the hardest workout I've done since college. It hurt. After the first interval, I seriously considered shortening it, slowing it down, altering it, going home. After the second interval, I couldn't imagine running a third. But, in all honesty, I knew I'd be posting the workout here, so I didn't want to let my fan(s) down. That being said, I'm really glad I pushed through, but I clearly underestimated how hard it was going to be.

5/11, Tuesday: Off. Not based on how I felt after Monday, but more due to travel and time.

5/12, Wednesday: 6.5 - 57:11, Cathance River Trails with Jeremy. A little creaky from Monday's workout, but, overall, I felt good. Always nice to introduce someone to some trails.

5/13, Thursday: 6.75 total, Spring Trail Running Series at Great Glen Trails. What I like to call "forced speedwork" began for the season, and I was happy with my effort. My plan for this week was to "take it seriously." I wanted to put in a good, hard effort—treat it like a race. Although billed as 5k, the course is closer to 3.6, and I ran 26:36 (7:23). That was certainly slower per mile than I had hoped, but I took what the terrain gave me, which wasn't much. Although there is a fair amount of carriage road, the singletrack is tough, and the entire course is far from flat. (If I remember, I'll bring the Garmin next week to get a course layout and elevation.) I'm not going to go all out again on the course until sometime after Pineland but before Mt. Washington, so hopefully, I can improve that time before the season ends the first week of July.

5/14, Friday: 3 - 24:45, Suck Loop. Holy tight, Batman. I could really feel the effects of Monday and Thrusday, so I was happy to just take it easy.

5/15, Saturday: Trash Run! 5 - 43:36, from downtown Brunswick to the Commons, and return. Jeremy (with a very minor assist from myself) organized the inaugural run of the Maine Trash Runners, and we picked up trash along the main road (Rt. 123) that borders the Brunswick Town Commons. We had a dozen or so folks show up to help us clean up, and it was a lot of fun...you know...for picking up trash. It is truly amazing how much we picked in about a mile stretch of road: 18 bags. And, I didn't find this little bit particularly surprising, but 85% of the trash was either cigarette butts, cigarette packs or fast food waste (primarily McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts). If that's not a sociological marker, I don't know what is: if you're fat and smoke, you litter. We also found a whole bunch of car parts, a hockey stick and a gorgeous lighthouse motif welcome mat. Good times.

Totals:
Miles: 34.25
Trail: 23.25
Road: 11

Good week. Tough week. Fun week. That's the combination I'm looking for, and that should bode well moving forward.

Tunes! Look how depressed and arty I am!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ii8m1jgn_M