OK....aren't we all allowed to have a fantastic, fun filled weekend once in a while?
It all started Friday afternoon when I received an email from the Maine track club. My disappointment from not being picked in the Mount Washington Lottery suddenly turned into a Ya-Hoo moment as I read the email and realized I was in through the Maine Track Club lottery. All I needed to do was provide a volunteer.....OK, I will have to work at that.
Within milli seconds my Ya-hoo transcended into an OH-Nooo.......The realization of running uphill for 7.6 miles with a peak grade of 22% .......Well it suddenly became real. On top of that I found out I have to secure a ride back down....damn, didn't know that part.
Anyway, I am nervously happy about the whole thing, I better get training..HUH? My thoughts then shifted to my current problem, my left knee pain. I experienced the pain after running Pineland last weekend and in hopes of being a short term problem, I haven't run all week (other than my morning workouts).
I was cranked about the Mt Washington thing so Saturday morning I decided to run the treadmill on the max grade which would give me the hill work but also a controlled situation in case the knee acted up.
I ran 5.1 miles at the max of 10% at a comfortable pace of around 12 minutes per mile. Then I ran a mile at 5% grade at a slightly faster pace.......all with no noticeable knee pain. I was sure the injury was not a major one after all.
I then cranked up the pool filter after cleaning it.....funny how much it feels like summer when the pool is uncovered. I finished just in time for my wife to get home from work at noon and we jumped in the car to head for Mass......going to the Sox game! Our bestest Chrismas present from the kids this year.
OK...cool temps, periods of rain and wet seats are a minor setback, but hey it was a Sox game how could I possibly complain? Well...except for them losing I guess. We ended up with a treat (didn't I say it was a great weekend?) the Friday game was called in the bottom of the 9th so they were going to finish that game before the Saturday game.....kinda like a double header for the price of one.
The return ride to my son's apartment on the T was a bit of an adventure because the train apparently hit somebody as we were heading into Sullivan Station and they shutdown the train then kicked us all out of the station and onto the wet, dark, rainy streets. There were sirens, cops and rescue coming in from all directions and the whole scene was hectic.
Lucky for us that my son and his girlfriend were there because I had no idea where we were, what direction to head and surely no cabs were going to show up. We decided it was only a mile or so to the apartment so we put our rain hoods up and started treking the streets of Boston at midnight.
Though our mileage predictions were a bit off and some of the neighborhoods were kinda rough, it was actually an enjoyable 45 minute walk and we got back in one piece. We even came across a couple of wild rabbits....which surprised me, I guess I just didn't envision wild animals in Boston.
Sunday morning, though not quite rested up from Saturday night, we suited up for our planned run at The Fells in Winchester. What a fantastic run we had (while the girls hiked to the observation tower) The run was great, we started out somewhat slow and picked up the pace as we went along.
At about 4 or 5 miles we caught up to a few people running ahead of us and we raced them for about a half mile and beat them easily I must say....well they weren't really racing but it sure felt good to pickup the pace and leave them behind.....it was a psychological lift for me.
I absolutely enjoyed this run as my son and I caught up on many things while running. I had no knee pain whatsoever and it capped off a great weekend. I feel a little stupid though, I ran the whole 6.5 miles on a fairly technical trail with no difficulty but as we were walking our cool down I tripped, slipped and almost fell .....I guess walking must be more difficult than running, well at least for me.
OK.. now the boring stats....
Saturday
5.1 mile treadmill@ 10% 1:03:30 12:26 pace
11:04
10:58
11:31
11:28
9:37
8:21
1 mile easier run @ 5% grade 10:06 pace then half mile cool down walk
Saturday night (late) 2 mile (appr)walk through Boston neighborhoods
Sunday
6.5 mile trail run 1:09:10 @10:39 pace then 3/4 mile cool down hike.
10:53.....138-151
10:51.....141-151
9:59.....145-154
10:56.....147-156
9:38.....148-160
9:40.....151-162
8:42.....156-160 (kick 6:35 on road)
4 comments:
Kevin, so glad you got into Mt. Washington! As for a ride down, you hopefully won't have a problem... talk to Jeff or Ryan, and even if neither of them can help, you'll likely be able to hook up with someone for a ride. A driver needs to have 3 runners, I think, so there is almost always someone who needs another runner... I wish I was coming to watch this year, but alas, it is not to be and I have to work... otherwise you could drive down with me!
Nicely done Pathfinder!
Good too see the knee pain abating a little bit so you could enjoy some sweet trailing running in the fells! You heading to Pineland Farms this year?
Wow! Congrats on winning the lottery!
You don't need a ride, just run back down :-)
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