I struggled with the heat this week, but summer rolls on. Foot was not terrible this week and knee held up okay (I guess). So glad to not have a race in this brutal weather.
Week - 85
Month - 105
Year - 2,544
Life - 169,544
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| Ate an apple straight from the tree at the Londonderry rail trail |
Tough week, with yet another migraine along with getting an eye injection (always stressful). I managed to keep the mileage up and my foot (which hurts quite a bit) isn't any worse. I'll take whatever I can get with some great running weather, a race, some biking, and some yummy dunks. :-)
Week - 86
Month - 315
Year - 2,369
Life - 169,369
Pretty happy about this week, may have turned around from the post-migraine. Got in a little workout, a race, and my third longest ride of the year. Also, got an MRI for my foot/ankle and hope to get results soon...
Week - 88
Month - 229
Year - 2,283
Life - 169,283
Reduced my biking this week and increased my running. Did not feel good. Apparently in an extended post-migraine. Don't recall ever having it last this long or feel this worn out during one. Started to feel a little better over the weekend (although still waking up at 3am with a screaming headache).
Week - 85
Month - 141
Year - 2,191
Life - 169,191
Taking some time to just relax...
I took it relatively easy again this week listening to my foot issues. I also had a migraine that slowed me up and spent a night in the waiting room of the hospital getting my ear checked (I couldn't hear out of one ear). I may need a few days to recover from that.
I dealt with the heat this week, mostly by doing a ride in the afternoon rather than run but still had morning runs with 90+ degree temps.
Totals for the week include running 11:04 (76 miles), biking 7:31 (122.6 miles), and hiking to two town high points and a geocache.
Week - 76
Month (July) - 56
Year - 2,110
Life - 169,110
My foot woes continued so started on prednisone and dropped mileage WAY down to see what might help. May be walking a little better? Foot still very tender, trying to muddle through. Finished the week with a rare 10 mile run and back to back days with outside rides of 50k (which is a lot for me). Not much running for the week but logged 221 miles on the bike over 12:27.
Week - 51
Month - 272
Year - 2,034
Life - 169,034
 |
| Made it through a 10m run during a tough week |
I took my podiatrists advice and backed off from running for 10 days following the shot. Good timing with vacation and my planned bike across VT. Ended up with 10:47 biking over 142.7 miles along with 76 miles of running. I was on the fence about doing the CARS race and ended up doing it. Foot was not good but made it through. Final activity of the weekend was another fantastic ride. Great company and perfect temperature. Can’t beat that!
Week – 76
Month – 221
Year – 1,983
Life – 168,983
Rough week with my foot/ankle feeling much worse. Saw my podiatrist on Thursday and got 3 cortisone shots. Xrays showed severe arthritis which wasn't a surprise but probably now at the point where I'll need to do something else. Hoping the shots offer some relief and will get an appointment with a rheumatologist. Also struggling with a huge (and deep) blister on my heel. So, with the shots I needed to back off a bit for at least a few days. I bumped up the biking as a result, which wasn't bad timing as I'd planned on a long ride this coming week. In addition to the running this week I got in 9.5 hours on the bike. Onward.
Week - 61
Month - 145
Year - 1,907
Life - 168,907
 |
| A rare ice coffee on Friday |
Another week of limping on an arthritic ankle. Haven't been able to shake it (yet). I reached the Mendoza line (8 min miles) near the end of the week. Felt very good running on the Rockingham rail trail and balanced that with feeling terrible the next day on the Freeman rail trail. Such is the way of things. Had another very nice ride on Sunday, really enjoying the time on the bike. Hoping to ride the Lamoille on vacation.
Week - 84
Month - 84
Year - 1,846
Life - 168,846
I made some modifications to my training this week (cutting out the afternoon run and mixing in a Ride & Go). My goal was to get over the calf strain that has slowed me down over the last couple of weeks.
Week - 80
Month - 246
Year - 1,678
Life - 168,678
Calf improved during the week as I closed in on 8 minute pace for my shorter runs.Got in 21 miles on the Go (1:30), 29.8 miles on the Spin bike (1:30) and 15.6 miles on the outside bike (1:06).
Week Ending 05/17/26
Not the week I was hoping for. I had a couple of days of improvement and was feeling a lot better on Wednesday, but may have pushed the calf too much and was very sore on Thursday (and really for the remainder of the week). I eased back on the mileage and mixed in some biking and ElliptiGo. I’ll probably skip the afternoon runs this coming week and stay on the Go/Spin bike. That doesn’t seem to bother the calf and I need to do some time in the saddle as the ride across Vermont is now less than a month away. Week featured 11:57 running, 2 hours outside bike, 1:30 on the Go, and 1:30 on the Spin bike.
Week – 80
Month – 166
Year – 1,598
Life – 168,598
Not the week I’d hoped for. Started off with great hope to do a fast workout on Wednesday but ended up taking my first day off (2) since August of last year. Ugh! Monday I had a quicker lunch run (3 in 730s) and felt good. Solid run Tuesday morning and a 718 pace for 3 at lunch, again feeling good. Went out for an afternoon 4m and after an 823 opening easy mile my right calf started to knot up. I eased up but by the end of the run I was limping. “Mild” strain of the calf so took Wednesday and Thursday off (well, no running…instead I hit the bike and ElliptiGO. I started back to running on Friday morning and it wasn’t too bad, so I was able to run over the weekend (8m each day).
Totals for the week, run 7:17, Go 2:30 (35 miles), Spin 4:00 (76.5 miles), Bike outside 2:46 (35.95 miles)
Running odometer:
Week – 50
Month – 86
Year – 1,518
Life – 168,518
Not a bad week, some quick running including a “tempo run” on Friday. I also got in my first Orienteering meet in a year (and paid the price with very sore ankles after). Closed out the week with a great 2 hour ride that included a visit to the farm with Highlands Cattle and a bunch of goats. Great fun!
Week – 92
Month – 327
Year – 1,378
Life – 168,378
How have I been doing with sticking to my 80 miles per week cap? Not so great recently. This was a 90 mile week but mostly due to the race on Friday which gave me a 19 mile day. Probably not the best idea to get to the starting line having run 14 miles that day, but I do enjoy running and like my pattern. Hopefully I won't have any more night races this year. Good week with the exception of the "bleh" race. Fun weekend with the race already done :-)
Week - 90
Month - 235
Year - 1,285
life - 168,285
Not exactly what I was expecting this week but a good week anyway. Plans to race in NY went by the wayside but I got a free entry into the SEA race (the kick-off for the CARS - Capital Area Race Series). Been struggling a bit with the sore to very sore knee but that isn't anything new, just need to ride it out. Got in decent mileage and my first road race of the year. Also, had an excellent 2 hour ride.
Week - 83
Month - 145
Year - 1,195
Life - 168,195
Last week of vacation. I took advantage trying to get some good rest (not so successful) and putting in decent mileage (better). My knee has been bugging me more than usual from the miles and from the long time spent in the car. I closed out the week with my fastest 10 mile training run in nearly a year and a great (drizzly) return to the Sunday ride.
Week - 91
Month - 62
Year - 1,113
Life - 168,113
No complaints about this week. I was on vacation, so a lot of miles (driven and run). Missed out on biking this week but had some fun exploring rail trails. Was evenly matched with dad going 2-2 in cribbage. The last time I was over 100 miles in a week was August of 2018 when I ran the Wonderland trail.
Week - 101
Month - 377
Year - 1022
Life - 168,022
Not a bad week all things considered, had a rough bit with a migraine on Tuesday but bounced back with a decent little workout Heading into vacation and hoping to do some running in a lot of new places!
Week - 90
Month - 276
Year - 921
Life - 167,921
Closed the book on the week with a run on the Middleton rail trail with Jim and Krissy.
Busy week and some fine t-shirt weather. Decent mileage and feeling better (except for my ankles which were sore all week - arthritis). Hoping to try a little workout soon to see exactly where my hamstring is. Closed out the week with a great (although cold) 2 hour ride.
Week - 85
Month - 186
Year - 831
Life - 167,831
30 years ago (March 1996): A bit of a mixed bag for the month with three races and I picked up two wins and two course records, but the one I didn’t win was probably the one I was most keyed up for. I was having trouble with my ankle/foot early on which required some PT and a cortisone shot. My hope was to kick-off the USATF grand prix with a good showing at the Stu’s 30km (03/03/96). It was windy and snowy with temperatures in the low 30’s. A big pack of fifteen passed through a slow opening two miles (11:21). From 5 miles to 10 miles the pace was upped (27:37 then 26:26) which reduced the pack to 10. From 10 to 13 (where the race used to start/finish) the tempo was upped again with miles of 5:25, 5:14, and 5:10 which narrowed it down to 7. Dave Marcus and George Luke forged ahead while I clung to the second group of Craig Fram and Mike Nahom. I dropped teammate Byrne Decker at 14 miles as I fell behind Fram & Nahom. We had near whiteout conditions the last few miles and I was happy to just hold on for fifth place. I took some time before racing again and was feeling pretty good after putting in 106 mile week while working in Ogden Utah. Next up was the Charbo’s run in Dorchester (03/24/96). I ran the course with Byrne Decker as a warm-up on this sunny but windy 40 degree day. I noted that I felt “okay but not great” over the hilly 5 miles. Tommy Lynch and Darrin Krug took it out and I hung behind through miles of 5:00 & 5:17 before taking the lead and dropping a 4:48 mile. I thought I shook myself free but Krug stuck with me and then pushed the pace at 3.5. I bided my time until 4.5 and then made a final move for a 2 second win (25:12 to 25:14). My final race of the month was the Merrimack River trail race. Petey (Steve Peterson) and I put out over 400 flags and streamers on the course on Friday, and we did it in under 2 hours. On race morning I did a 3 mile warm-up on the course then took off on a perfect sunny and 40 degree day. Dan Verrington stayed one step behind me as we went through as surprisingly fast first 3 miles in 16:06 (the first and last 3 are flat and fast, the 2 miles to the turn are HILLY). We hit the turn together in 28:48 and Dan continued to shadow my every move. I was pretty tired the last 2 miles (which I covered in 10:36) and felt especially beat when Dan flew by with ½ mile to go. I managed to stay with him and made a move as we started under route 93 when I went by Dan suddenly stopped and started puking. I did not wait around and ended up with the win and a course record. Dan came in a little less than a minute later.
Dan Verrington close behind as we hit the powerline for the first time at 4 miles in the Merrimack River Trail Race.
Alone at the finish (you would not recognize the woods at this location now, you can’t see more than a few feet).
