Fri 8/19 - PM 80 minutes very easy plus 16 minutes in Walden

Lincoln woods. Put in the time but didn't get very far as I was moving quite slowly until after the dip in the pond, and even then the pace was nothing to write home about. Predictably stiff from the racing on pavement yesterday. Quite warm conditions but manageable, less humid than last weekend.

Thu 8/18 - 65 minutes incl. 10k road race

Having entered this event last year but not able to run after breaking my toe like an idiot two days before the race, this represented some form of redemption I suppose. Failed to recognize just how awful the trip there would be, 2+ hours of mostly bumper to bumper homebound commuting gridlock. All this between 3 and 5 PM, one can only imagine what the highway is like from 5-7. Arrived with about 45 minutes before the gun went off feeling quite frazzled and crispy. Warmup was fairly disinterested and inadequate as a result. While warm, the conditions were nothing like Saturday in Shelburne Falls thankfully. Combined with a flat course I figured the experience would be more palatable. As it turned out, stalled out a bit in the second half of the race which was about 20 seconds slower than the first half. At no point was I making anything resembling a stiff pace, but in light of the circumstances I'll take it. A shame this race is such a hellish drive on a weeknight for where I'm coming from.

Wed 8/17 - PM 65 minutes plus 20 minutes in Walden

Lincoln woods. After yesterday's day off, felt the need to put some amount of time in on the trails despite the race coming up tomorrow. Still muggy but not as bad as yesterday thankfully.

Tue 8/16 - off

Replaced the defective tube on the dork bike, got the new one back in place, tried to remove valve to top off air pressure and the entire valve blew off. A solid hour wasted. On top of that, disgusting humidity which had moderated somewhat yesterday came back with a vengeance. Went home and took a nap in the end, thoroughly beaten.

Mon 8/15 - PM 55 minutes easy plus 15 minutes in Walden

Lincoln woods. Dearly would have liked to use the elliptigo today but found to my chagrin that the rear tire had gone flat--again--since the last time I rode it. Went to Lincoln instead and shuffled through an easy jog to and from the pond. Dead on my feet.

Sun 8/14 - AM 85 minutes

Northfield/Winchester. Both the length and the route of this run changed on the fly, with the duration dropping from an ambitious 2+ hour goal to a much more modest hour and a half. Also skipped out on going up and over Burt Hill to Ashuelot in favor of starting out on the ridge in East Northfield wandering around the woods. Overall the run was far from impressive but it had to be edited as a result of the continued oppressive conditions. I did finish up with the climb up to the TV tower, so there was that, but at no point was I trying to do anything other than simply finish.

Sat 8/13 - double, 1:40 total incl. 10k road race

AM - Bridge of Flowers. Combination of horrendous humidity and being completely strung out from lack of sleep made for a fairly terrible experience. Felt the oppressive weight of the conditions the moment I arrived, and tried to hold something back early on as a result. Didn't matter one bit, as I cratered before cresting the big hill in the third mile (which took almost 8 minutes, probably a new personal worst). Spent the final five miles of the race getting passed by people one after the other and hoping it would end before heat exhaustion really took over. From the looks of the people who reached down deep and truly went for the gusto I think I made the right choice, there were some fairly frightening reactions to the conditions. Which to sum up, were 80 degrees at the start, 83 at the finish, and most importantly an 80 degree dewpoint. I might have done a little better with more sleep the past few days but sleep has been fitful at best, even more so than usual, and I found myself pre-waking the alarm by a good 45 minutes.

PM - 35 minutes very easy, rail trail from Hadley to Northampton with a bike ride back. No comfort to be had today outside of two places--a room with AC, and standing in the Connecticut river up to my neck at the end of the run. Doing the latter was by far the best ten minutes of the day by far. Legs stiff from the downhill pounding of the morning's effort.