Prospect Park

Time: 71:30
Distance: 11.5 mi.


The boathouse at Prospect Park


The stately Brooklyn Museum, which I ran past on the way back to Eliot's place

Eliot and I ran in the afternoon from his house in Brooklyn. We ran over to Prospect Park and looped around on some trails and fields in the park for about 20 minutes before getting back to the entrance. He headed home and I kept going, this time on the ~3.5 mile road loop that runs around the park (check out the new "automatic" line drawing on gmap-pedometer... very cool). Now, I was planning on doing one loop, adding on a little more and calling it a day, but once I saw markings every 1/4 mile I took my general boredom out on the soles of my shoes and started to hammer. I did the first loop at 6:00 pace and just a bit under and went right into a second loop at 5:45-50 pace. I was over 10 miles by the time I got back to the entrance again, and starting to get pretty tired, so I headed back to his place.

My body felt okay, overall, though the pace did feel like a bit of an adjustment. When I finished I had some soreness behind my right knee, which I suspect is an extension of the right hammy issues.

Bike Path, Rosen Loop

Time: 115:42
Distance: 18.5 mi.
Map

Target: 5 miles steady warmup; 10 miles averaging 5:45; 3 miles recovery
Run: 6.5 miles steady warmup; 10 miles in 56:39 (5:40 pace) starting at 6:00 and working down around 5:30; 2 miles recovery


The wetlands along the bike path

I started this run pretty early so that I could get back in time to catch some Olympic track action on sketchy live online TV from Denmark. Eliot is in town for the weekend and volunteered to bike along for the run, which was particularly nice for this hard session. After running up to his house, we headed to the bike path near Amherst College. I was shooting to start 3 miles out and got to a decent pace, but missed the first mile mark (or there isn't one?) so I really started with 2 miles from Station Road.

The first few miles on the bike path were just getting into it, 5:59 and 5:52. Once I got onto the 7-mile Rosen Loop starting on Station Road I got a bit more on pace, even over the hills. I then did four miles in 22:45 (5:41 pace), two miles in 11:04 (5:32 pace) and the Station Road mile in 5:21. Because I missed the first bike path mile I was planning, I went back onto it for a final mile where I relaxed the pace to 5:38.

Overall, I was happy with how comfortable I felt, though it would be good for these runs to more steady throughout and less progression. I was able to take some water during the run, again, and some GU around 5 miles of the hard effort. My knee felt great, so hopefully the new shoes have saved me there.

Beach Drive, Maryland

Time: 91:00
Distance: 13.5 mi.
Map


Deer are about as common as squirrels in RCP

Mid-afternoon run, which was a pretty hot/humid decision. Went straight up and back on Beach Drive. Eliot was down from NYC and decided to accommodate me and ride a bike along, which was pretty nice. I was pretty tired and dehydrated by the end, but didn't feel terrible. Top of my left foot was pretty sore earlier in the day (I've been tying the new shoes pretty tight) but didn't bother me during the run.