June 5 - 11, 2017 - Waterville Value Pack

Monday:
     AM: 3.1 miles, 210', 8:45 pace. Easy recovery jog in the rain trying to work out some hamstring tightness. I did about 10 minutes of foam rolling beforehand to try and loosen things up and prevent my sciatica issues from resurfacing.
     PM: 5.2 miles, 171', 8:22 pace. Easy run around Manchester with an old friend.

Tuesday: 3.1 miles, 213', 7:48 pace. Same deal as yesterday, foam roll and then an easy jog in the rain.

Wednesday:
     AM: 5.2 miles, 433', 8:27 pace. Easy run with 10 minutes of foam rolling the hammies. Still experiencing some sciatica.
     PM: Mountain biking, 22.5 miles, 1755', 3 hours. Easy evening ride in Bear Brook. Seemed to help with my hamstring issues.

Thursday: Zero. Trying to wrap up my family room renovation. It's not quite done, but close enough that I moved the table in so we could have dinner together.

Friday: 9.8 miles, 591', 7:41 pace. Easy morning run on local country roads. I ran across a tom turkey showing off in someone's yard.

Saturday: 15.4 miles, 1841', 11:07 pace. Easy trail run in Bear Brook with Mike and Cooper.

Sunday: 25.7 miles, 8825',  Waterville Value Pack, 7:03:28 elapsed time. I spent the day practicing some easy mountain endurance for UTMA and managed to cut 45 minutes off my best time on this route. I ran into a pretty gross dead moose, covered in flies on the North Tripyramid Slide. Later, I managed to jack up my back a bit when I took an awkward spill off a rock, but at least I didn't humpty-dumpty myself like the moose did. The heat got to me a bit on this one, as I experienced some nausea and a headache towards the end.

The WvVP is another favorite training staple of mine. It goes like this:

• Park at Livermore Road
• Climb Mount Tecumseh via ski trails.
• Descend the backside of Tecumseh to Tripoli Road on nice, soft, singletrack.
• Run up Tripoli road for a mile or two.
• Traverse Mount Osceola and East Osceola to Greeley Ponds.
• Descend Greeley Ponds Trail.
• Climb the abandoned Flume Brook Trail (hard to find, easy to follow) and Old Skidder Path to Livermore Road.
• Traverse the Tripyramids via the North and South Slides.
• Return to the car on Livermore road.

Totals: 67.6 miles, 12503', 12h 24m (plus 3 hours cycling). A satisfactory week, given the slow start. I was hoping to do a Hut Traverse but snowy, wet conditions on the Twinway last weekend and nagging to-do list made me opt out. I'd like to see what I can do with an aggressive effort but it may have to wait until I come back from Quebec.