I’m still operating the legs in “safe mode” after last week’s reboot.
Half #75!
After about a week off of running due to a questionable hamstring and a banged up toe, I ventured out for a cautious half along the south Bainbridge Island coast.
Half #74: Gazzam hill circuit, Kojima, and Lost Valley
Trail half-marathon across Gazzam Nature Preserve and extending into the Kojima and Lost Valley trails. I felt a concerning tightness in my hamstring, so may need to throttle it down for a bit.
Half #73: this one is special…
Special because this breaks my previous record for half-marathons in a calendar year!
Last year was a banner year, where I ran almost 1,000mi more than any other. The 72 half-marathons I managed partly inspired me to see how many I could do this year if I set that as a goal, and www.howmanyhalfs.com was the result!
Half #72: I sawed this marathon in half!
Using a half-marathon as a recovery run four days after my first 100K race, I had to laugh a bit at myself.
Half #67-71: Lumberjack 100K
For the second year in a row, I pushed for a personal distance record at the Lumberjack Endurance Runs in Port Gamble, WA. Last year, I ran the 50-mile distance (and somehow got first place!). This year, I went for the 100K distance (62.2mi), and managed to finish in 12:43, good for 3rd place overall, 2nd place male, and 1st place in my age group. When it was over, I pushed through another couple miles to complete the 5th half-marathon of the day!
Half #66: Mt. Zion via PNW Trail and South Ridge Trail with Mark
Mt. Zion is a smaller mountain in the Olympic National Forest, closer than the National Park and great for trail training runs. This was the third route Mark Goodro and I have used to the summit, and involved a little bit of bushwhacking and the exploration of a newer trail in the area, the South Ridge Trail to several viewpoints.
Half #65: hills first, then tempo
This is sort of the opposite, or complement, of Monday’s run (#63): this time starting with the slower hill sections and then picking it up for about 5k.
Half #64: Gazzam hill circuit x2
In this one, I ran the four named hill trails of Gazzam Nature Preserve–Peter’s Trail, Westwood Shore, Russ Knudsen, and Veterane–first in that order, and then in reverse order.
Half #63: intervals out, hills back
In the first part of this run, I completed 10 intervals of 2 minutes each at sub-6:15min/mi, with 1 min recoveries in between. Then I ran back over the four largest hills of the south end of Bainbridge Island: Toe Jam, Fort Ward, Blakely, and Baker Hills.