Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Brook-side trail biking

This afternoon two other people from my lab and I went for trail biking by a brook near Haystack. Two of us from the group had done this before. The fall colors are now starting to show. Couldn't resist taking some pictures along the way.





Here's the map - notice Haystack (my lab) on the lower right corner (just above Terms of Use)


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Saturday, September 26, 2009

13.6 miles on Rail Trail

Well, we did it today, a little more than the half marathon distance. We did the entire Bruce Freeman trail end to end back and forth. We started at the Chelmsford center, went to the Lowell end that is 1.8 miles one way. I liked that those 3.6 miles felt like nothing more than a warm-up. Our pace still wasn't great - 15 minutes/mile, but that should improve. The last 2 miles were the hardest. I wasn't tired, but my legs were. I couldn't feel them by the end. But it feels good to have done the whole distance.



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Friday, September 25, 2009

The hills are...

...alive with the colors of foliage! It was the hill workout day. I used my downhill running to chase the falling leafs. So fun :)



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Sunday, September 20, 2009

10 mile Saturday

Another 10 mile run today on the rail trail. This time at the end we didn't feel like we were dying, but I wouldn't mind a little more variety than the straight line trail for such a long run. It seems to never end psychologically. Next time we'll try some other paths in Westford I think.

Run in the morning, work in the afternoon, here's the result !


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Saturday, September 19, 2009

Hills and fall colors

Yesterday was our hill workout day. We went to a hilly road that we've never been to before. It has pretty steep hills and there is grassland north of Keyes road. I don't know the reason, but all the trees in grasslands all around Westford have already turned colors. It makes for a spectacular sight. Our pace was okay, but in the hill workout we don't look for the overall time.


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Thursday, September 17, 2009

5 mile Nabnasset loop

Not a major improvement over yesterday, but it's getting better. The mornings are chillier and the fall colors are starting to show. The grassland on our root looks so different now than in the summer. I should post some pictures.

Not sure whether it was the 3 phys therapy sessions and stretches I did, or the rest I've had, or my technique has improved, or the fact that I've found it to be a rather mental phenomenon than a physical one and have decided to ignore it, or the combination of all of the above, but my knee/shin issues have entirely disappeared. Let's see if it stays that way.


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Wednesday, September 16, 2009

On the road again

After a hiatus last week due to a fall followed by a crazy work week followed by a sickness, we just started running again today. We did a short 3.7 mile run along the Nabnasset lake in brisk fall weather. I have to say I was quite impressed by our 13 minutes/mile pace today - an improvement from 15 minutes.


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Saturday, September 5, 2009

10 miles on the rail trail

Today we did our first 10 mile run on the Bruce Freeman rail trail. We went all the way to the Westford end of the trail. It was filled with bikers and runners of all kinds today and felt like some huge fun community exercise day. Two little kids even had a lemonade stand along the trail. I was a little annoyed though by bikers whizzing past me without announcing themselves.

The time on the first half of our run wasn't so good, but on the second half it was not worse than our regular weekday run, which I thought was reassuring in terms of being able to do that after already having run 5 miles. This time I took water and granola with me, which helped a lot, but I may have to find a better energy substitute. At the end of this I could barely feel that I was alive, but it was a good feeling overall.


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Friday, September 4, 2009

Hill workout

Today we did a hill workout. The Tenney road on the map is on a hill; the slope changes from easy to moderate. We ran a mile to warm up going there then did fast running up and down the hill 7 times.


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Thursday, September 3, 2009

6 miles around Nabnasset

This morning it was remarkable that we actually ran 6 miles, since we had no idea how much it was going to be in those little lanes and trails around Nabnasset.


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Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Back to school day run

Short 3 mile run in the morning. We were greeted by the kids going to school or waiting for their school bus. Getting pretty chilly out there. Our time still needs to improve.


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Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Evening run

A short 3.8 mile run today near Haystack. It was a new neighborhood to run in. I believe we're going to see the entire Westford this way :).


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