Time: 112:00
Distance: 16 mi.
Trail near Beach Drive in Rock Creek Park
Morning run with Ben from his house in Kalorama on the biggest trail loop in Rock Creek Park. It was a chilly morning, but I warmed up fairly quickly. It was great to have company and run a lot of the way on trails, which made the run fly by. It was good to bump the volume from last week's long run without raising the intensity, as my legs were pretty tired by the end, but not dead.
Time: 73:30
Distance: 11 mi.
The side of the Pierce Mill barn
Met up with Ben Peisch at the Klingle bridge for my last run in DC. A nice cool morning run, headed up the Western Ridge Trail for a bit then back down the middle trail. About 70 runs since I got here, and over 800 miles.
Time: 106:30
Distance: 15.5 mi.
Early morning run, got back together with Ben Peisch after his recovery from a bad foot burn. Luckily the "City of Hate" weather seems to have passed for the moment and the last few days have been pretty nice in the morning. Did a slightly altered version of the Superloop starting at the Klingle St. bridge which added on about 10 minutes... pace was fairly relaxed the whole time.
Hopefully the heat and humidity here has prepared me for Austin. I never thought of "heat acclimation" as so much a physical as a mental process. An yesterday's interesting article from the New York Times yesterday addresses this, though:
What will happen as the planet heats and more is asked of our sweat glands? No problem, experts say: the system can easily rev up into a high, efficient gear.And maybe if there was an inordinate amount of money in collegiate XC we'd get some core temperature monitoring pills just in case.
The process is called heat acclimation and is routinely seen in athletes training in hot weather. At first their internal temperatures climb, they sweat profusely, lose large quantities of salt in their sweat and feel miserable. But as the days pass they sweat even more, their salt loss diminishes, both skin and internal temperatures drop, and their endurance improves.
Time: 84:10
Distance: 12.5 mi.
Feeling quite a bit better this morning. Met Ben at the Klingle Bridge and headed north on the Western Ridge Trail. Crossed over the river to the Valley Trail to come back south. Could be a very nice loop if this was done a little bit higher up, though it includes the roughest section of the valley trail. Added on a bit at the end of the run up New Hampshire.
Lower legs are pretty dead from these shoes, which now have over 500 miles on them. Hopefully getting something new soon!
Time: 80:00
Distance: 11.5 mi.
Cathartic run after a long day at work. Met up with Ben Peisch on the Klingle bridge and headed north on some trails... ran into the Western Ridge Trail and took that back down south to the bridge. Feeling pretty good overall, beyond being tired.
Time: 80:35
Distance: 11.5 mi.
Feeling groggy out the door, but felt surprisingly good in the second half... met Ben Peisch on the Klingle St. bridge and headed north to the Valley Trail. Followed the trail (which is pretty slow-going pace wise, but the steep up-and-downs keep a decent effort going) up just a bit past the park police station before turning around.
Time: 70:30
Distance: 10 mi.
Morning run with Ben Peisch. My legs are still pretty shot, so we were running fairly slow. They warmed up a little bit, but still very stiff at the end.
Time: 77:00
Distance: 11 mi.
Easy morning run with Peisch. Have to be a little bit more realistic about the pace I'm running in RCP, regardless of effort. We took it pretty easy, and despite being dehydrated I felt pretty good. Came in on Park Rd., went on some of the west trails in the Hazen offshoot and then headed to some of the RCP northern trails. Returned home on the Pine Branch trail to Monroe St.
Time: 62:00
Distance: 9.5 mi.
Map
The view east towards the U.S. Capitol building
Post-work run from NGA. It was hot, but running around the Capitol and the National Mall is pretty amazing. This particular loop included the Capitol Building, the National Mall, the Washington Monument, the Jefferson Memorial, the FDR Memorial, the Korean and Vietnam War memorials, and the Lincoln Memorial. Ran into Ben Peisch mid-run and he finished up with me before heading back towards the Washington Post building. Feeling okay, but very dehydrated.
Time: 94:00
Distance: 14 mi.
Met up with the Saturday morning NESCAC group: Bogden, Reinauer, Peisch and Hughes. A bit tired from last night, but we kept things pretty chill, which felt good. Had a much better handle on where we were going this week. Added on a little bit to make it 14.
Time: 80:00
Distance: 11.5 mi.
Met Ben Peisch (now that all my training partners are NESCAC alums... not that that's a bad thing) for a run in RCP. Met at the Klingle Rd. bridge (10 mins in) and headed north on the trails... this was about 50% trails I've run before (75% of the run was soft surfaces). The pace was very chill the whole way... ~7 min pace, but legs felt great after 80 minutes, which was nice. Only a little stretching afterwards.
