Week of July 13th - 19th, 2015

Monday:
2:46 in the White Mountains with Ferenc and Matt Haley.  Great run/hike up Franconia Ridge. 

Tuesday:
5mi/34min in Friedsam solo.  Legs feel pretty good considering what I did for a run yesterday.
Hiked up Pitcher Mtn with Jen and Griffin.

Wednesday:
1mi.  I went fishing at the reservoir with MC.  He landed a nice 4lber and then I landed a 5lber.  Biggest largemouth of my life.  Awesome trip.  I'd put pictures on my blog but I'm too lazy.  I showed a lot of people the pictures already. 

Thursday:
8mi/54min in Pisgah solo.  Nice weather.  Feeling good.  Played some wiffle with Boj and he made me eat my words with a walk off grand slam.  I hate him.

Friday:
0mi.  Lazy day.  I had to take Griffin to the vet.  She's got another UTI poor old girl!

Saturday:
14mi*/1:36 - Run with the Beavers 10mi trail race - 1:04:22 (6:26) 2nd place.  There was a lot of excitement going into this year's race with the team competition between WTAC and Team Hambojaloob.  Wooley, Garvin and Galoob all ran much faster splits than me at Ragnar so I was thinking I'd probably finish in 4th.  I also realized I've gained a little fitness since then and this course paired up nicely with my strengths.  (Not much climbing, lot's of small ups and downs on semi-technical single track).  I took the lead with Wooley, Galoob and Garvin following closely as we entered the single track early into the race.  I wanted to push and make the race honest the whole time.  No tactical racing here.  After the water stop, Wooley came up along side me on the dirt road.  I kept brushing into him as I tried to run the tangents of the dirt road.  He probably thought I was being an aggressive jerk.  We entered back into the single track and I took the lead again with Wooley right behind me.  We had a very small gap on Galoob and Garvin.  We dumped back onto the dirt road and Wooley shot into the lead as we re-entered the single track.  He blasted the steep downhill and started to pull away.  I was feeling the effort and Galoob started to catch me after the bridge on the side-hill techy section.  He finally passed me and chased after Wooley up the steep hill.  I didn't lose much ground on the hill and kept the gap at about 3 seconds behind Galoob.  As we came around the field to finish the first lap, Wooley started to extend his lead and Galoob did the same to me.  Garvin was a few seconds back of me.  I hit the line in 31:25 for the first loop.  There was no way I was going to even split.  Time to hang on and try to rally. 

I felt tired but kept my cadence high climbing the dirt road hill that starts the second lap.  I gained a little ground on Galoob here.  We entered the single track and I started to reel in Galoob.  I made the pass soon after.  He said something like his head hurt and I was worried he was having a medical episode.  (Turns out he said his hip hurt).  I yelled at him that he could recover on the downhills after the water stop and still run fast.  I could see Wooley occasionally up ahead and this became my new motivation.  I looked back and could not see Galoob or Garvin so I went into hunt Wooley mode.  That was a good place to be in mentally rather than being scared of getting passed by the guys behind me.  I hit the water stop and the guy told me I was 20sec down to Wooley.  I tried to dig down, but I never saw him again.  He must have torched this last 1/4 of the course.  As I came into the woods near the finish of the field, I looked across and saw Ryan finishing in 1:03:40.  I dug down for the final field in crossed the line in a satisfying 1:04:22.  My second lap was 32:55.  This was my second fastest time on the course which I was happy with.  I waited to see if Galoob would beat Garvin to keep the team race close.  Garvin crossed next in 1:05 for a big pr.  Brightman and Bentley and Chris Fox all came in ahead of Jonny so I knew our team was having a rough day. (Turns out he lost a shoe in the mud).  I started to worry about Galoob and then I was told he dropped with a hip injury.  Seth ran a pr and then Boj came through with a pr as well.  Fun cool down with the guys after the race. 

This has me excited about where my fitness is at, if only I can get motivated to run a little more.  I'm also very much looking forward to the battle at Lil Rhody with all the same players. 

Sunday:
12mi/1:25 on the Pinnacle trails with Ferenc, Lena and Ellie.  Legs not really sore but very tired and sluggish today.  Hot and humid weather.  Dipped in the magical healing waters at the Putney culvert after the run.

Total for the week:
53mi.  Decent week.  Very pleased with my race and I caught a monster largemouth bass.  I need to get the mileage up to the 60's and get to the gym more next week.