Boston Strong

Watching conclusion of NYC marathon, details later

Drove 25 minutes to Little Mulberry Park for a little variety in terrain ... was going to meet some friends there who were planning on 12 miles.  My 'smart phone' turned the clock back 2 hours instead of one ... so I liesurely got ready in the morning, and as soon as I got in my car, I realized I was going to be an hour late & miss them.  Decided to go anyway, as I have run there once before & there are some awesome trails.

 I figured I probably would not get in 12 on my own ... but I got lost ... and was just over 12 by the time I got back to my car!  Guess that worked out good.  Great variety ... started out with a 2 mile loop on the asphalt path around a lake, figuring I might see my friends.  No such luck, so I veered off on a hilly trail into the woods for a few miles.  Came out to a pasture on top of a huge hill, where there was a cross country course that seemed to go on forever ... basically it was just a winding path mowed through the fields & there were spectactular views.  After doing this path for several miles, I headed back into the woods.  When I came back out to an asphalt path, I asked directions back to the parking lot, they said I was close ... well, they sent me to a lot on the opposite side of the 900 acre park from my car.  I was studying the maze of trails on a map when thankfully another runner came by & told me the simplest way to get there.  Great place to run, will head back soon!

Went to Sims Lake Park, which has a great 1.2 mile paved loop around a lake with rolling hills, and mileposts every 0.1 miles.  I did a mile warmup, then did (10) 0.1 mile strides with equal distance recoveries.  After this took a brief water break & ran one fast mile at 5:55 ... then rounded out my hour of running with some recovery miles.  Good workout.

Hilly route from gym, turned around at 45 minutes.  Cooled down with Spin class when got back to gym.

Sims Lake Park ... Ran for an hour ... planned on some intervals ... but didn't really feel up to it ... mentally, physically, whatever.  Decided to do a 40 minute warmup, so I got my hour in without suffering too much!  lol  After a quick water break, I ran a 6:00 mile, then cooled down for a couple miles to round out the hour.  Threw in some short sprints, but nothing worth recording, just a little soccer running simulation.  Overall, workout felt great ... after taking the first few steps ... which always seem to be the hardest.

 PM - Rogers Bridge - Went out again because it is such an awesome day out!  This is a street just down the road from where I live, which is closed to vehicuar traffic, and I recently discovered as a new training ground.  It is short (0.8/1.6 rt), but scenic as it just goes between fields & dead ends at the river.  It is great for intervals, including one short hill which is good for hill sprints, but then it is flat for the rest of the way.  I wanted to measure out a 1/4 mile & 1/2 mile for intervals ... the 1/4 is perfectly flat & straight, and the half just goes a little uphill (15') at the end ... or I guess it could be downhill at the start!  lol

After measuring out these out & my legs feeling good, I decided to do an interval in each direction ... not all out ... but a hard sustained effort.  Uphill 1/2: 5:43 pace.  Downhill 1/2: 5:33 pace.  With warm up & cool down, got in 4 miles total.

LMP - varied terrain/surface, hilly, windy ... but nice fall day ... ran 1 hour.

A progression run run in honor of all those who have made sacrifice for our freedom!

Split 1:  5.53 miles    47:20

Split 2   5.58 miles    42:20

Sims Lake Park