Amherst Trails

Time: 52:25
Distance: 7.5

I was finally feeling decent and ready to sweat it out. It has been annoying to be in Amherst the last few days and not get in a good run, so I went right to some of the trails around the Bike Path and Amherst College. I even jumped in the river near Stanley Street.

I was feeling very positive and my lungs weren't too congested, which was nice. My left hip flexor was again worse than I would've liked it, but I did stretch it out well after the run. I'm assuming everything is no faster than 7:00 right now. I timed the first mile in months for the last bit of this run and (admittedly picking up the pace a little bit) ran just under 6:30.

UMass, Amherst College

Time: 68:40
Distance: 10.25 mi.
Map

Finally feeling decent by the afternoon to get a run in. I ran out to UMass on the bike path and then ran back through the center of town and Amherst College. I felt okay throughout the run and it was good to sweat it out a bit and cough my throat clear. Unfortunately, by the evening it was clear that I was starting to feel pretty sick again.

Today's release of Chinese Democracy inspired me to listen to some classic Guns N' Roses on Live Era: '87-'93 during the run. It is clear why there were serious tensions in the band during the Use Your Illusion tour even beyond strong personalities and drug addiction. The 8-minute version of "Move to the City," one of GNR's oldest songs, features full big band backing, including long horn and sax solos--clearly a reflection of Axl's interest in moving the band in a more grandiose direction. A lot of the rest of the material compiled for the rest of the album is GNR at their best, though, including a rousing sing-along version of "Knockin' on Heaven's Door." I was two years old when they formed... I'm not sure if that makes me really old or them really old.

Amherst College Mile Repeats

Time: 75:00 (approximate)
Distance: 11.5 mi.

Target: 5 x mile starting at 5:20-25, descending with 4:00 rest, more intervals?
Workout: 5:21.7, 5:20.2, 5:19.9, 5:25.0, 5:14.2; rest between 4:00 and 5:00

Afternoon workout with the ARHS guys. This workout is a staple, going back to before my time in high school. The guys set out for five by one mile loop on the Amherst College trails and I figured that this wouldn't be a decent back-to-it workout, maybe with more miles or some 300s on the track added on. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but some combination of the lingering cold and workout stomach pretty early made me lethargic and I was only good to hang in (and help push) the guys for their target paces. It was also humid and the afternoon. It looks like they've got a pretty good top 3-4 for sure, but will need someone to step up for the 4-7 spots.

Left this not feeling great about where I'm at, but I just need to get rested and get better.

Groff Park, AC Trails Loop

Time: 51:38
Distance: 7 mi.

Easy morning run out the bike path to the Misty Bottom trail and Groff Park, back to the Amherst College trails.

Amherst Loop

Time: 71:30
Distance: 10.5 mi.


Fields near the Amherst College trails

I made a pretty good loop through Amherst College and the center of Amherst. The run started on the bike path and went out the Misty Bottom trail to Groff Park and up RT-116. I cut back to the bike path near Amherst College, ran through the campus and then around the center of town and the high school. I came back to the Amherst College trails on Dickinson Street. After messing them up a little bit, I popped out on South East Street and came back via Wentworth Farm.

Overall it was a good run. The top of my left foot is a bit sore, but not too bad.

Originally I was going to do a medium-hard effort, either a tempo or steady run today, but I have been recruited to a 8k in Maryland tomorrow, which will take care of that.

Amherst College Hills

Time: 54:00 
Distance: 8.25 mi.
Map



Target: 8-12 relatively short intervals with 100% jogging rest
Workout: 8 x 325m(?) hills with consistent effort and keeping the jog at a decent tempo; ran 73 (85), 72 (83), 71 (88), 75 (87), 72 (86), 73 (88), 73 (87), 69

I'm trying to get back into a harder effort / workout schedule, which means shorter faster efforts (exaggerated strides, at this point) on Tuesdays and hopefully steady state runs on Fridays or Saturdays. I started out the door thinking I was going to do something like a 30/30 (30 sec hard, 30 sec easy) fartlek. When I was getting close to starting and approached the hill near the Amherst College trails just off South East Street, I decided to give myself some sort of tangible goal and do some hill repeats.

The hill starts flat, gets steep, then gets flat again, which I knew from running it during distance runs many times. I had no idea how far it would be, but after running the first hill in 73 sec., I decided to try to keep them all under 75 with no more than 90 seconds for the downhill. I was hurting pretty quickly but got through it, despite not recovering very quickly. I need base base base.

Stanley Street Loop, Trails Loop

Time: 93:00
Distance: 13.5 mi.

I met Ian and Tyson again, in the morning this time. I got out to do the Stanley Street loop before meeting them both at Ian's house, which got me 32 minutes. We then connected a bunch of trails segments together in Amherst Woods, over Mount Castor, by Groff Park and back by Amherst College and Stanley Street. Back to my house that was just over 60 minutes. I felt surprisingly good running over 60 minutes during the run, but afterwards am definitely tired. Happy about getting a longer effort in, and I will probably shoot for something similar on Sunday.

Misty Bottom, AC Trails

Time: 50:00
Distance: 7.5 mi.

Easy morning run... much cooler than yesterday, luckily. Ian is back in town after graduating from Dartmouth on Sunday. Great to have some company. A little general soreness, but overall felt good.

Bike Path, AC Trails, Stanley St.

Time: 36:00
Distance: 5.25 mi.
Map

Easy afternoon run. My hamstrings are both VERY tight still. This is a good loop.

AC Trails, Mill River

Time: 56:00
Distance: 8 mi.

Easy loop around the AC trails and through the Mill River trail. Legs are very stiff these days.

Bike Path, South Amherst Trails

Time: 50:00
Distance: 7.5 mi.

Easy run from our house in Amherst to on the Bike Path (which some guy told me is closed for the next few weeks? yeah, right). I went to the Amherst College trails, and then down to the trails off Shays and near Pomeroy and Potwine. Pretty beat when I got back, but I wasn't running too slow.