Tree Week

This week has been very choppy.  To aid recovery from last Saturday's 'ultra' I took Monday off and did my Sunday 'tempo' on Tuesday.  It was hot and difficult to run 3 miles at a 7:25 pace - but that is summer training.  I then attempted to move a tree with a 300 lb. root ball up a hill with the aid of a (very strong) 14 year old daughter.  Back and arms are pretty shot at this point. 

Followed that up with an 8 mile 'long' run in the heat Wednesday- walked at least 3 times.  More summer running!  Took Thursday off to go to Martha's Vineyard - first time!  Which was pretty cool.  Then did a real crap 4.5 miler on Friday afternoon.  Topped that off with a hike of Mount Monadonock today (1500+ feet vertical climb). 

Like I said - choppy week - just too much other crap (some fun, some not) going on.  I plan on getting my tempo/long pair in tomorrow and Monday.  Then another run in Wednesday before heading out on a 4 day trip down the Allagash river in Maine.  That may still not happen - but it's looking more likely. 

Quarantine Backyard Ultra

Yesterday I drove down to the Watertown section of the Charles river and took part in the Quarantine Backyard Ultra - an all online event that is still ongoing!  This race is a keep-going-until-you-cant format where you run 4.167 miles (100/24 hours) at the top of every hour - getting a nice rest of 20-25 minutes in between.  I really enjoyed this event - probably one of my favorite 'races' ever.

Having said that - yesterday was really hot and super humid to start.  I felt pretty slow and sluggish for the first two hours.  The break in between felt oddly nice and cool in the shade - and I really think this time in between runs is why I liked the event so much.  The 3rd loop started to feel really hot and hard - especially in areas when the sun exposure was high - which felt like more and more of the course as the sun go higher in the sky.  I realized after the 3rd loop that I was going to run out of the water after the 4th loop at the rate that I was chugging it.  This meant that I was probably done at 16.  The 4th loop felt really hard - I even stopped and walked twice!  So even if I had water - I was probably done. 

Nevertheless - a really nice way to spend half a day. Thanks, organizers!  I would love to do this again.  Maybe in the fall when it is a little cooler.  My goal would be to hit 29 (7 loops).  A bit more training and some cooler weather - definitely feel like that is doable. 

4 runs/day and an 11-miler

Since I last wrote, I did my first/only serious block of backyard ultra training.  I did 14 miles over 4 runs last Saturday.  4.6, 3.1, 3.1 and 3.2 milers.  I took 20 minutes after the first one - and only about 15 minutes for the others - in an attempt to get home a bit quicker.  Felt good - although the weather was almost too nice.  This weekend promises to be a bit different - rainy, hotter and super humid - could be a tropical depression.  I still hope to get at least 16 miles in - maybe 20 if the weather turns out ok. 

Earlier this week (Monday) I did 11.2 miles.  It was rough - but felt pretty good the next day.  Even rougher was a 3.5 mile tempo I did yesterday at 7:30 pace.  Again - super humid and it really crashed me for the rest of the day.  A little disturbing that such an easy pace felt so hard - but that's what humidity will do to you. 

Up next - rainy backyard ultra.  Should be interesting.