In the swing of things

This marked the final heavy volume week before Vermont 100.  After recovering slowly from Peaks 100 and increasing mileage even slower over a few weeks I suddenly felt that I needed to squeeze in a bit extra to feel the volume again.  The first 5 days of the week I finally felt back in the swing of things and had "control" over my workouts.  Then Saturday rolled around.

 

Monday - Stroudwater, 6 miles @10:28.  Today's easy run ended up being a night run in a thick fog. I wanted to go real easy as I was definitely still fatigued from Saturday's Mt. A run. Took it real nice and slow and hit the road to get in some safer, more tick-free miles rather than hit the power line extension. It's always gorgeous to hit that trail at night with the thousands of little spider eyes glowing in the headlamp light.

Tuesday - Blackstrap area, 9.2 @8:29.  After driving around Falmouth for a while looking for another hilly dirt road, or road option for a run I ended up finally back again at Hardy road for a Blackstrap revisit. I hit the road up the hill and continued down the third bitch, then along the power line route. About half way down the hill I slipped on a rock and gashed my hand open. Still not used to the lack of grip on the Terrafly 303's I guess. The remainder of the trail was basically under water and chocked full of deer flies, making a bit more of a speed workout than anticipated. I continued on Mast road, then Blackstrap and ended up at Hardy where a few hill repeats rounded out the sesh.  Great run.

Wednesday - Robinson Woods, 7.2 @9:23.  Slow run, nice and easy with a little pick-up along Fort Williams by the ocean.
Stroudwater, 7.1 @10:11.  Legs felt great at the start, but energy definitely dropped by the end. Feeling a bit creaky in the ankles.

Thursday - Blackstrap area, 9.2 @8:57.  I initially intended to hit a bunch of hill repeats at the Skillins Tree Farm but after a few loops the waist-deep grass, and swarming deer flies had me running scared toward the three bitches. I took a healthy spill on the far side of the biggest hill the other day so decided to focus on the other two, but the poor footing and water crossings made keeping a solid pace just too difficult. So opting for more similar conditions to what VT will have in store I just did repeats on the road/dirt road/trail to the blue barrel.  Felt real good, albeit a bit slow on some of the ascents.

Friday - Fore River, 8.1 @10:53.  Nice and humid, but a gorgeous day for a mellow run. Saw a huge fox right on the trail in front of me, (or a coyote?) a deer, and a bunch of various birds, all enjoying the weather. Didn't think to use lube today though and got chaffed pretty good...

Saturday - Bradbury, 26.5 @10:53.  Mindy and I drove up together to meet up with a healthy contingency of TM's.  Zak had already run for an hour and was working on a solid 50k for the day.  We headed out on the Scuffle course with, among others, Ian, Jeff, Don, Zak, and David.  I felt okay, but definitely lacked the energy I wanted, especially in the high heat and humidity increasing through the day.

Back at the vehicles we saw a few TM's coming back from their loop, we refilled and headed out on the Mountain side to hook up with the Pineland connector.  Tryon Mountain kicked my but, and this was yet another red flag that it was going to be a slog of a day.

After another pit stop at the parking lot Zak and I continued on up and around the mountain a few times and decided to finish off the run on the opposite side, hitting the snowmobile trails, dirt road, and continued on an out-and-back on the pavement for a little more heat training.  At this point I was absolutely toast, running sluggishly and definitely heat exhausted.  Zak seemed real strong, even with 6 miles more under his belt.  We both ran out of water though and began the slow descent to bonk land.

Forced to walk a few of the hills due to the oppressive heat we searched for a water source at the nearby houses.  Spotting a hose attached to a tree for someones garden I unhitched the coupling turned the valve and glorious warm water flowed out.  We bathed real quick, filled our bottles and continued on our way.  It wasn't till a few paces down the road that I realized the black hose attached to the tree came from the woods.  Most likely from a pond or swamp uphill somewhere.  Can you say Giardia?   So we switched from chugging it down to pouring it over our heads.

Shortly thereafter we found a nice gentleman on the side of the road that let us use his hose and were once again on our way.  I have to say I was very impressed with Zak's pace and determination finishing that run.  He is definitely motivated and super-focused for the VT100.

Sunday - Pineland, 8 @11:20.  Well the plan for 28 was obviously not going to happen today. It was just too much with all that's been packed on to the previous few weeks, as well as the quick jump in volume. So knowing this I headed to Pineland as early as I could (5:45) to at least beat the heat, and slogged through a painfully slow run. After two miles I could tell that the training, and heat had gotten to me and it was silly to try and shoot for another 100 mile week. It just wasn't necessary, or possible.  So I just figured I'd get in at least 8 or ten and be happy with it.

The deer flies were maddening. After a half hour I decided to count the ones I was killing and came up with an average of 1 a minute. I ran for 90 minutes... They were the worst I've ever seen or run in. Maddening!

Time:  13:50
Distance:  81.2
Elevation:   7000