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| John at Heron Pond during a walk on Saturday |
Early in the week, I found myself fairly fatigued and even skipped Whitaker Woods because I was so exhausted. I was able to eventually catch up on sleep, though. So I don't think it was that. I wasn't tired that morning or the day before. One of the factors that I do believe affected my race and why I felt "off" was the same reason I felt off at Loon in 2017. PMS! I have literally run some of my worst races during the last 3-4 days of PMS. Extremely bloated and probably holding onto 5-6lbs of water weight. Some months aren't as bad as others, but when it's been hot and humid (just like before 2017 Loon) for some reason I'm far more affected by it. And wow. I really should have taken a photo of my stomach Friday and Saturday nights. It once again looked like I was 4-5 months pregnant. It's insane. It's not as obvious from the front but from the side, it definitely is. I'm lucky in that I've never had cramps like some women; I'll take the bloating/water retention any day over that. But it just sucks when races fall right in this small time window. And especially a race like Loon when I have to pull my weight up steep climbs. 3-4lbs makes a huge difference. It was the same with speedier road races I suppose, as well. I wrote basically this same thing in my 2017 Loon post. Haha. However, I actually felt really good run-wise during my race in 2017. I can't say the same exact thing about this year.
It wasn't that I felt bad. It wasn't that at all. I honestly can't even explain the weirdness of this year's race. It just felt off. The race itself. And this sentiment was felt by other women, as well. In the past, when Loon isn't a national championship race, both men and women have always raced together. I've enjoyed that since having men to race against helps recreate the competitive atmosphere of a national championship. But with huge increase in participants, the RDs had to make the decision to split up the genders. I don't disagree with this at all. I think it was definitely the right call. Just seeing the photos/videos of the crowds in the mid-to-back of the pack is enough to know having all of those people in one race would have been a nightmare. Here are a few photos I found on FB of the men's race alone. What a cluster it would be with all the women mixed in.
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| Start of the men's race |
I didn't expect for those of us in the top quarter of the pack to be so spread out, though. This is why I think my race just ended up being kind of blah. And why it wasn't injury or fatigue or even PMS (well maybe this one contributed) that had me running the same time as last year. It was so quiet at times. And past the first mile I was only around the same 2 women the entire way with brief moments near Christin and Haley. I had many moments where I felt I wasn't even racing and thought this in my head during the nordic section; that I felt like I was just out for a regular run. I wasn't really pushing hard because that race feel just wasn't there. I'd say the only moment I did feel it was on the first downhill of the nordic section and again on the long downhill to the base of UWB. So we're talking about maybe a mile out of the 6.4 miles where I felt like I was racing. Compare that to last year where I had the 3rd master right in front of me the ENTIRE race and Kara Haas less than a minute back. I had a rabbit to chase and a wolf to run from. I raced so hard last year to snag that 3rd master spot and got it. So basically today was all mental. Not that I wasn't dying up UWB or the other climbs, but there were many times I know I would have given more effort had the opportunity arisen . All that said, I'm not disappointed in my race. Not at all. It just was neither a great race nor a bad race. Nothing spectacular. I could say nothing it's nothing to write home about, but you know I won't let you down with my race report in way too much detail. Hahaha.
This was a very early morning for us even though I only live 45 minutes across the Kanc from Loon. With the women's race starting first this year, it meant getting there before 6am since I had also volunteered to work the women's bib pickup. (Thank you so much to the RDs for this, btw. The women so deserved this after racing second at the national championship races since 2016. There is a reason for this, though, and I do stand behind them for continuing to have the men's race first in championship year. After watching the top men weave around the many women racers in a video from Sunday, I've changed my tune from last year. However, in a non-championship year, I think they should continue to have the women start first).
I was mostly nervous about getting John out the door and then awake when we got there at 5:50am. He was working the water stop at the gondola and would need to be ready to go up at 7:30am. Not a huge deal normally, but when I was woken up at 2am by John in the kitchen getting a snack because he was still awake, I was pretty worried. Haha. Thankfully, it all went smoothly with no complaining from John. Phew. The drive across the Kanc started off just as every single early morning drive on the Kanc starts...I get behind the only other car on the road, and they're driving UNDER the speed limit. Haha. Without fucking fail. Every time. Fortunately I was able to pass them on a straightaway early on. Just past Bear Notch Rd, I saw massive bull moose that was spooked by the car just as he was about to cross. He turned around and ran quickly. It just so happens that prior to this morning, I had only seen one of other moose while driving the Kanc. It happened to be on the drive to my very first Loon Mountain Race in 2011. Haha! Also a massive bull moose. He actually waited on the side of the road until I stopped and then crossed the road in front of my car. He was huge, like a dinosaur. I found it funny that as much as I've traveled this road since 2003, I've only seen moose on the way to Loon. It was also on the way to Loon that both Kevin Tilton and I saw a completely unexplainable animal. Very large like the size of a wolf but with rear goat-type legs. I swear I'm not lying. I would have questioned myself on what I saw if Kevin hadn't brought it up in the gondola on the way down after the race not knowing I had seen it, too. Maybe it was a young moose with mange or something. Haha. I'll never know.
We got to Loon around 5:50am and parking ended up being the opposite of last year. We were parked down by the river, literally right by the start. This would be so convenient for me since I would only have 20 minutes after bib pick up to get in a warm up and get race ready. I totally lucked out with this. I even discovered a new woods area for a pre-race bathroom stop. Haha. I brought John up to the lodge with me and settled in to the A-D bib pickup space. John left with the gondola crowd a little before 7:30am. Christin arrived right after me and jumped in to help until she had to go warm up. Then Ashley Atkinson helped me. We moved the line through pretty well, I thought.
Around 7:35am, Ashley found someone to take our place. I ran my stuff to the car and then got in a mile warm up. By the time I was back to my car, I only had 8 minutes to the start, but luckily I was parked right there. I had to weave through the crowd to the get to the front. I lined up with Christin and Haley Heinrich behind a very unexpected large competitive group of women. I should have expected it, though, with the huge prize money increase for a non-championship year. Just from a quick look around I guessed about 10ish very fast looking women. In addition to those young women, I also had Christin and Kara to worry about as masters. Or so I thought. At the last second this Canadian woman stepped into the front line by Christin. I swear she had to be in her mid-40s. Christin thought she might be, too. (I kind of feel bad since I learned later she's only 35. Haha. Now I wonder how old I look. Good thing she was 35 because she ended up finishing 2nd woman). So even before the race started, I didn't expect to finish in the top 10 and thought for sure I wouldn't finish better than 3rd master at this point. 4th if I couldn't beat Kara, whom I only beat by a minute in 2017. This definitely took any pressure off, but that "pressure off" attitude certainly didn't help in the race.
After Chris Dunn's pre-race announcement, we were off from the river. I actually stuck to my plan to hold back for the first mile-ish. I spent too many early Loon years going out way too fast in the first mile before I learned to hold back until the nordic section. Roger Marcoux got a video of the women just past the start before exiting the river lot. I was 18th before we left the parking lot. I actually felt good with my pace at this point, but for some reason the first steep climb after we got up above the lodge hurt way more than usual. I think part of it was because Kara was in front me and I was trying to stay close. This is a climb I would be power hiking if it were later in the race so I think I pushed a little bit harder here. This isn't a bad place to do it, though, because you get a really good downhill right after it. I take any downhill at Loon hard. It's the only way I can get a jump on the good climbers.
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| Andrew Drummond got a shot of the downhill. Squall was with him. |
My plan was to either catch up to or pass Kara as soon as we got onto the nordic trail since it almost immediately starts a long, somewhat technical in parts downhill. I breathed a sigh of relief to pass Kara right at the first water bar. I was surprised that I actually passed about 3 other women here as well. About 30 seconds later I found myself very close to Christin. I knew that wouldn't last once we turned to head back uphill for a long, gradual climb. I completely expected all the women I had passed to pass me back here, but it didn't happen. Instead, I found myself pulling ahead of them and was pretty much running by myself. I could see Christin and another woman up ahead playing leap frog and only saw a small group of women, including Sarah Canney and Haley Heinrich, behind me when we made the right turn on a switchback. I couldn't see Kara at all. This entire next stretch was the point I mentioned where I felt like I was just out for a regular run and not racing. I didn't feel fast at all and wondered why Haley and Sarah weren't catching me. This was the 5th year the women have been racing the nordic section, and some of those years have been very wet and muddy. Today was fairly dry. I ran it the 4th slowest of all 5 years. 1.8 miles in 15:38, as opposed to 15:03 in 2016. My slowest time was in 2017 when it was the wettest, muddiest year in 16:12. 13 seconds slower than 2018, but like I said I was chasing down the 3rd master. So the feeling that I wasn't racing was actually pretty accurate. This just confirms that.
As soon as we hit the downhill, the woman Christin had been running near got ahead of her and I quickly started to catch up. Just before the bog bridge and the last part of the downhill I caught up to Christin. We chatted a bit for this stretch, and she said she just wasn't feeling today's race. I told her I felt the same way, that it just felt really quiet like we weren't racing. Our run together didn't last much longer as we started the climb up the service road. I knew I wouldn't catch her again after all of the upcoming climbing. I would see her up ahead for only about half of it due to her uphill climbing strength. She stayed in sight through the water stop and the next downhill, but this downhill wasn't long enough for me to catch her.
While Christin caught up to and passed the same woman she had been leap-frogging with, I surprisingly started making gains on this woman. I could hear a woman behind me making gains on me, as well. This is a long, mostly steep climb to the top of a lift so I powerhiked almost all of it. Andrew and Squall appeared here and got this photo.
I was caught off-guard to see Corey Dowe just up ahead on this section. The last time I saw her, she was leading the entire field out of the river lot. She shouldn't have been here right now, but it was obvious she was struggling. I somehow managed to pass the woman in front of me on the short downhill from the lift and caught Corey shortly thereafter on the next climb. I talked to her briefly. I could tell she was bumming out. She said she just wanted to finish so I told her she would and then moved on. Some days it just isn't your day, and it sucks. I felt bad that she was struggling, but like the rest of us, she'll bounce back.
Andrew and Squall reappeared after the next bend and I got in a quick Squall pet. I love petting Squall. He's a giant fluffball. I think this is when Andrew took the following photo, but I honestly can't remember. Both of the women behind me would pass me shortly after it was taken. The one in the colorful outfit is the same one Christin had been battling with.
The women both passed me just as we turned on the long climb up the service road to the gondola. I remember feeling strong and "fast" here last year even though I power hiked most of it both years. Power hiking is my strength though so I didn't lose much ground on them although I didn't expect to catch them again at all. I was relieved when the gondola came into view because...
1. I was about to see John.
2. I was parched.
3. The long downhill was close.
Relief didn't last long as we came around the bend to find the course rerouted. I literally was like WTF as I looked up at the old route. I was actually kind of annoyed that we weren't told about it. (When I learned it was a last minute decision the day before, it made sense why we weren't told, but I didn't know this at the time). Funny enough Roger Marcoux happened to snap a really awesome photo at this moment.
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| I love this because it's something different for a backdrop and I'm not looking at the camera. |
For some reason, the climb seemed harder than usual. I don't know why and maybe it's only because I forgot how it felt, but it just did. The sun was beating down on us at this point, too, and here I thought we'd have a much cooler race with the earlier start. I guess most of it was, but not here. I was power hiking as best I could when Haley hiked past me easily. She is a much better hiker than me. She got ahead fast. I assumed the others would, too. I turned around to walk backwards a few times and saw the two women and Sarah right behind me, but no Kara in sight. At this point, I knew I was going to finish at least 3rd master, but I still got a little bit competitive being so close to the end. I actually pushed a little bit harder and ran half of the first switchback and 1/4 of another. This actually helped me ensure those 3 wouldn't catch me. I tried like hell to run the steep straight-up climb to the finish but failed 3 times until the very last part when I jogged it in. I'll admit I was a bit disappointed to see the clock past 1:13 knowing that's what I ran last year, but at the same time, I was ok with it. I knew I hadn't raced as hard as last year so it honestly wasn't a surprise. I had no idea my place then, but I would end up finishing 13th female and 2nd master in 1:13:36.
Women's Results
So it wasn't until well after the race that I decided to compare my splits to last year. I ran the first the 3 miles 19 seconds slower this year than last. So my feeling that I was slower was accurate. The last 3.5 miles (or whatever is accurate) was only 4 seconds slower than last year, but with UWB slightly longer (probably just under 1/10th mile longer) and still having done it 1 second faster than last year, I'd say this last section wasn't as slow as I thought. Pretty close to the same time as last year but I put a lot more effort in last year than this year for the nearly same result. So I'm happy about that. This is from Strava since I have my auto lap on the watch turned off, and I didn't hit manual lap splits.
After the finish, a group of us hung out talking briefly until we couldn't stand the mosquitoes anymore. We walked back to the gondola where I parted ways to get my backpack by the water stop where John was. I went to the bathroom, changed clothes, then relieved John from his volunteer duties and helped with the water stop for over 2 hours since we had to wait for the last finisher and then break everything down. John hung out in the cafe after getting something to eat. I enjoyed watching the men's race there, but I did end up missing quite a few people when I left briefly to fill up an empty water jug. I was happy to help out, but I was ready to relax when it was all done. I had been going non-stop for the last 6 hours. I love helping out at races, but today might have been a little much. I still enjoyed it and will continue to help out next year as needed. Speaking of next year...it will be my 10th Loon Mountain Race! Crazy how time flies.
John and I took the gondola down which took awhile. Christin messaged me that I was missing the awards, and I totally forgot about the raffle, too. I didn't care. I was ready to go hang out at the river. John was dead tired and just wanted to nap in the car so I moved it under the bridge in the shade, left the windows open and then met up with the Brightman's, Rachel Flacksman, Fabienne Pattison and Jim Boule' for the traditional beers by the river. Everyone left for food after a beer, but Jim and I hung out for awhile chatting before we both had to leave. I was starving and needed the half bagel left over from the early morning.
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| Photo that John sent me from the cafe |
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| John being goofy on the gondola |
Got home. Found Chill wandering around the yard again. Good thing he doesn't run off from the yard anymore. Not understanding why Bryan keeps leaving him there and not putting him in the house or tying him up. He has a very long lead that we put him on if he wants to sit outside since he has a history of wandering the neighborhood when left unattended. Haha. But it seems like he might be able to be left loose in the yard now.
Laid back evening. Totally forgot to do my upper body and abs workout since I was tired from the early morning and long day.
Week Recap- I went backwards with the race report first so here's the rest of the week.
Total Mileage- 51.5 miles. 8,688ft of elevation gain. I'm going to stop worrying about mileage at this point. My weeks are going to vary for the rest of the summer. So many factors determine what I run and when so mileage isn't going to be a goal for me. Like this week, for example, I skipped Whitaker Woods because I was dead tired for some reason. I cut short my run on Friday due to the heat. And Saturday, I did very little mileage due to the next day's race. My hope is to hit at least 50 miles a week, but if that doesn't happen, I'm not going to worry about it. Running is not my whole life. And I'm not so fast road focused anymore so I don't care about getting in the road miles and speed work. Running complements my life; it doesn't control it. I'm enjoying racing every weekend again instead of training, especially through the summer and fall when snow isn't limiting what I do.
Monday, 7/1- 3 miles. No zero today. Still without a watch, I used my Strava app to record the run. On trails, my phone GPS is always far more accurate than the watch. So today's run pace actually matched feel. 22:47 for time. The actually mileage was 3.07, so avg pace was 7:24. I'm not sure why the phone GPS is so much better, but I watch the GPS watch lose mileage with every out and back on this run. With the phone, it doesn't. I'll probably keep using the phone for this run.
10 minutes of glute strengthening/activation also done during the day. Not sure how much I still need this, but 2 days a week of it definitely won't hurt anything.
Another month when the monthly truck check fell on us since our shift was on the 1st of the month. Annoying because when other crews don't do them on the months they're supposed to, we have double the grime to clean the following month. But nothing is done about the laziness here. It's unbelievable. It's across the board in this field; underpaid employees with a poor work ethic think they're entitled to slack off on their job duties. Being underpaid apparently gives one a pass at not doing your job. That whole blaming others for your problems mindset. It just leaves the few employees who do their jobs to pick up the slack. I fucking hate this private EMS field more and more every day.
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| Yes! Love it. |
Tuesday, 7/2- 13 miles. I purposely cut back on my elevation gain for the week due to Loon being on Sunday since I didn't want to totally destroy my legs. So I opted for trails that were completely runnable. I went right to the Mineral Site from work to do a longer loop of basically the same run I do most often. I just added in starting and finishing with the High School Loop which adds on 4 miles to the usual run. I felt pretty good during the run, but by the end all I could think about was drinking the cold jars of milk I had leftover from work in my car. Haha. I still got quite a bit of elevation gain, but 2,092ft isn't a lot over 13 miles.. 2:16:58 for moving time.
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| Thompson Falls has dried up quite a bit. |
I was still up for taking John to the Conway Lake Beach, though. We brought Phoenix along again, but this time we sat on the opposite side of the bridge since dogs are allowed over there. We had to put Phoenix in the water to cool her off so she was offended after that. Haha. John decided to try a front flip off the bridge for the first time ever. He used to do front flips on the trampoline at gymnastics and ninja class so it was easy for him. Now he can't stop doing them off the bridge. Some of the kids can do back flips, but he says he's not trying that.
Had enough energy to my upper body and abs workout after we got home from the lake even though I was sweating to death.
Wednesday, 7/3- Zero. I was still super tired today so I didn't run at work. Did the glute workout as usual, though. John sent me a photo of Phoenix on my bed when he got home.
I had brought clothes to do the Ordination Rock 5K again on the 4th, but I decided racing a 5K wasn't a good idea before Loon since I haven't been training for anything like that in months. I worried it would take more out of me than the Friday Night Vertical Race (since I'm in shape for this) so I decided to bag it and continue with my plan for a regular run.
Thurday, 7/4- 14.9 miles. After working the 4th last year and having such a miserable day, there was no way I was picking up a shift today. I did not want to deal with the stupidity of people today nor stage in an ambulance at Schouler Park for hours upon hours. I did my time with that last year and at the Ossipee fireworks 2 years ago. My goal for today was to stay out of North Conway, and I succeeded.
I had planned to run the Flat Mountain Pond loop in Sandwich after the 5k and still stuck with that part of the plan. It was going to be in the 90s today so I wanted to get all of my running done early. Skipping the 5K meant I would get a much earlier start on my trail run so it worked out. The weather was actually perfect for the entire run.
I chose this run because I remembered it being easy, a very gradual climb up to the pond. The last time I did this loop was in 2015, 2 days after the Whiteface Skymarathon (back when it was over 18 miles). I was SO sore. Probably the most sore I've ever been after a race except maybe my first marathon. Haha. I wrote that I ran it super slow. So I'm thinking, "Well, slow in 2015 would probably be fast today," so I expected to run about the same time, but once I got on the trail and realized how dry it was compared to my 2015 run I figured it would definitely be faster. Last time the trail itself was a rushing brook. Haha. So today's run was super pleasant. A perfect choice for this week.
The pond was just as beautiful as I remember, too. As I got up to the flat area, I stopped at a spot where 100s of dragonflies were swarming. This meant no mosquitoes so I probably stopped about 5 minutes. How could I not? Dragonflies started landing on me, and I managed to get a photo of 4 on my leg before scaring them away. Dragonflies are so calming so I came up a business idea. Dragonfly Therapy. Charge tourists for a half hour of sitting in a quiet room with dragonflies. Haha. If only that would work, I'd make bank off of those people. Haha.
I continued on. Bypassed the shelter area where I went skinny dipping in 2015. Haha. People were camped there this time. The trail from here followed an old logging railroad bed for about 2.5 miles before veering off onto the Bennett Street Trail that I followed down along the brook to the trailhead. Except this wasn't my trailhead. Like last time, I ran the last 2.5 miles on the road back to the other trailhead. It isn't bad since it's very pretty, quiet and flat, but I did have a deerfly swarm with me the whole way. I took a dip in the freezing cold brook when I was done then drove home. 12.1 miles total in 2:07:27, 24 minutes faster than 2015. Only 1,471ft of elevation gain.
As soon as I got home, I unloaded the car and immediately left again with Phoenix. I wanted to take her for a 3 mile run in the Albany Town Forest to get her some exercise before it got too hot. Well, it was already too hot. She ran with me fine for awhile, but after that, she stopped in the water as many times as she could and then tried to protest after a mile. I got her to finish off most of the run, but she adamantly refused to go an extra .2 miles to make it an even 3. So 2.8 miles was the total for our run. 29:09. Almost as slow as my first run, except this was completely flat. Granted, I had stiffened up on the drive home so I could barely run the first half mile of this.
We went right back home where I showered and then sat down with a bowl of cereal. I had literally just poured the milk in it when Steve Brightman messaged me that he and Jennifer and the kids were 20 minutes out from Hobb's Restaurant in West Ossipee. I put the bowl in the fridge, threw my stuff in the car and headed right for Hobb's. Lunch was fun hanging out with them. I got the very last pour of Salinity Now, their gose. So good. My meatloaf sandwich was way better than the bowl of cereal I had planned (Oh, and, yes, I still ate the cereal, but for dinner. And yes, it was completely soggy, but I'm in no financial position to ever waste food. People who don't take their leftovers with them from a restaurant are a mystery to me hahaha).
The Brightman's headed on to North Conway hell, and I drove to Silver Lake so I could get out on the water in my boat. The lake is the place to be on a hot day like today, and the paddle out to the other side of the lake had a nice cool breeze. It was awesome...until I turned around. Nothing but hot stifling air. I finally had to stop and get in the water to cool off and found an awesome oasis at the end of the point from East Shore Drive. I floated for awhile, and it felt so good. Then it was back in the boat to paddle back to the other side of the lake. Just over 5 miles of paddling. Took a little over an hour and a half.
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| My lake oasis |
Friday, 7/5- 8.7 miles. I had an easy run planned for this morning, but I stupidly got out after 10am when it was hot as hell. I attempted to take Phoenix up and down Heavenly Hill, but she once again refused. Only made it a quarter mile before turning around. I put her in the house then went back out to do a run up Heavenly Hill and through Tin Mountain. I had planned to run most of my course and come back via HH, but I was dying. Just way too hot so I ended up cutting it short and made a shortcut to the Waldorf School and back up the trail to my neighborhood. 4.8 miles in 55:09. Still a lot of elevation gain for a short distance. 877ft. The only nice part about this run was seeing the mountain laurel on the Laurel Loop in full bloom. So pretty!
Had to take a selfie as soon as I got home. My face was more red than the photo shows.
I got in my upper body and abs workout. Not much different than Tuesday's. Pouring in sweat. Surprised to see how much stronger I am again with pull-ups after only 5 workouts.
My watch arrived in the mail today! Thank you, Gabby, from eBay!
Just before 2:30, I took John to the library for the teen movie and pizza thing. I'm really glad they have this event for the kids. John really seems to like it. I drove over to Saco River Brewing to get some cans and stayed for one drink of the Old Course Porter. Sitting in the shade outside was nice. I drove back to the library, checked out a couple of books then sat in the kids room to read while I waited for John to finish up.
I couldn't convince him to come with me to Friday Night Vertical even though I really liked having him there. It was still 89 degrees in the parking lot when I got there, but once I got in the shade for a short warm up, it felt a little better. When I was done, I talked to Lydia Gill, who was back for another race, and Nick Aguila who came up with some friends from Connecticut for the weekend. He and 2 of his friends would end up crushing the course. So fast.
This was week 6 so it would be a repeat of week 3's course. This was the one race I've missed with Mt Washington the next day. I had studied the Strava of the course and it looked like it was a lot of switchbacks and only 1.4-1.5 miles. Hmmm. Switchbacks sounded too runnable for my taste. Haha. Sure enough, it was. This course ended up kicking my ass right from the start. Looking back, I wish I had let Lydia lead because I think I went way too fast at the start. She was right on my heels the whole way. The running was tough, just like I thought. Way too runnable. I still powerhiked, but they were never long enough for me to catch my breath. Plus it was still really fucking hot. Lydia never backed off so I knew it was only a matter of time before she passed me. Surprisingly, it was literally only about .2 before the finish that she did. But she still smoked me from here to the finish. What a difference for her from the week before. She seemed way stronger with her power hiking. Left me in her dust beating me by 14 seconds. Haha. I finished in 19:16 which was actually a really good time. I never would have pushed that hard without competition there so it was a good thing. Full Results. (No photos as of yet since Andrew hasn't posted any). Editing to add FNV photos ...
It took me a really long time to catch my breath after I finished. My heart rate must have been way too high from that effort in that heat. Hung out on the deck for a long time chatting and then ran back down with Lydia. Did the usual pizza, beer, raffle. I took a Tuckerman beer for the raffle. Stayed late tonight just talking to people. Didn't get home until after 9pm. Good way to finish the day, though. I love the Friday Night Vertical Series.
Saturday, 7/6- 4 miles. I had no shame opting for 4 flat miles on my treadmill in the basement in 60ish degrees with my power fan. I wanted to run short and flat anyway so it was the perfect decision. Of course I got one negative treadmill comment on my Strava post. Why do people do that? Outside was horrendous, and I had no desire to run in that again today. Some of us like the treadmill. Notice the difference in my happiness after today's run vs yesterday's.
Didn't put too much effort into this run, as planned. I wanted recovered legs for Loon the next day. 30:22. 132 avg HR.
Even though I didn't want to walk in the heat and bug hell, the dogs needed exercise, so John and I took them to the Bolles Preserve in Chocorua for a walk. I knew that would be our best bet with very few people. We did see two others, but we chose a different path so we wouldn't be close to them. Still ended up running into them at Heron Pond. This walk was literally bug hell, but the dogs loved it, and Chill got to cool off in the Pond. Only 1.7 miles since it was all we could tolerate. Haha.
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| Cloud rolling it. At first I thought it looked like a seahorse, but then my immature mind saw something else. Haha. |
Stopped at the store briefly then went home. Called it a night pretty early since I had to get up at 4am. And the rest of the story? Well, you already read it. 😊
Sorry no "official" Loon photos for this post. They are taking way too long to post. Not a criticism of the photographers, but more of a suggestion... I think people would prefer to see the photos sooner than have the bib search option. It's a very nice thing to have with so many racers, but it isn't necessary, especially if it causes the photos to be posted 5-6 days after the event.
So another good week overall. Nothing overly exciting. Nothing bad. No drama! Yay. Bryan and John are getting along pretty well still. I'm SO happy about that. I have quite a few race weekends coming up for the next month so it will be busy, but that's how I like summer. A lot of my fall race plans are actually pretty open. The only set plans I have are the Pisgah 50K, Lone Gull 10K, Waterville Valley Mountain Race, Pachaug 50, XC champs and Lil' Rhody Runaround. So not a lot going on as of yet for October. I'm trying to keep that month as open as possible right now. And I don't want to even think about that evil S word that will begin to appear on the ground around then.
That's worth probably 18:50, 18:55 at the absolute outside. You would be running about 19:30 here, which even for this runner-soaked locale would be a really good masters time. I hope the job that will soon be posted is somewhere in the Rockies.
ReplyDeleteI have no intentions of moving. It's a local job. And if I do move it won't be until John's 18 and I plan to stay in New England unless he goes somewhere else then I will try to follow him.
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