Friday, Saturday

Friday:

10.2 mi / 73 minutes. After work I headed to the Ward reservation for 2 large perimeter loops. The GPS calls one loop exactly 5, so I'll go with that, although the effort certainly feels faster. This terrain is pretty technical with rocks and roots all over the place but I moved about as well as I ever have on it. Lots of fun. I pushed up the Turnpike St climb and snagged the Strava KOM from Joe Louriero who happens to live just down the street from me.

Saturday:

Last longish run in the books. 18 miles / 6:10 per mi. Ritchie arrived at 8am on the dot and we hung out for a couple minutes before heading out toward the north side of town We agreed on easing into it and then locking in at 6:00. Unfortunately Ritchie found himself in one of those low-energy states and was suffering keeping pace even though his breathing was fine. I've been there before, so I felt for him. I escorted him to the 11 mi mark where he could easily find his way back. There were some slower miles in there before we parted ways. Pretty quickly I settled back into MP rhythm for miles 11 to 16. Felt pretty comfortable to cruise along in the 5:40s. I was tempted to continue on but it just wouldn't have made sense with VCM 15 days away. 2 miles easy cooldown for 18 in the books. This run helps my confidence for VCM since I hadn't gone long in a couple weeks. I guess "real" tapering begins now?