May 20th through May 26th

Sunday, May 20th
6 miles of jogging

On a beautiful Sunday morning, I found myself up in East Providence visiting Kelsey's Mom and Dad.  After a nice breakfast of eggs and waffles, we set plans to head out for a jaunt on the 10 Mile River Greenway.  As we headed outside, Kelsey's mom jumped on her bike, I checked Lulu's collar to make sure it was secure, and Kelsey and Dave were looking around in the yard.  In an instant without time to even see it coming, the neighbor's nasty Bullmastiff blasted into the yard and latched right on to Lulu's neck. Without even thinking about it, I jumped right right to the mix and did what I needed to do to save my dog.  Kelsey tried to help and got knocked into her mom's bike and scratched up by the dog.  Dave ended up having to kick the dog.  Luckily, Lulu was able to get out of the attack unscathed.  Kelsey and I took some scrapes, but ended up fine as well.  The neighbor, who was in her yard and witnessed the whole thing, came over after to tell us that everyone is okay and that the whole thing took place because Lulu is a "nervous" dog.  I was infuriated by the whole thing and did my best not to tell the neighbor what I really thought.  I'll certainly have my guard up the next time I run into that dog. After cleaning ourselves up, we left Lulu home and headed off for a very easy jaunt.

Monday, May 21st
6 miles.
I decided I need to get some "quality" work in today.  With the usual time limits, I knew I could get a quick, bang for your buck workout in so I decided to do a ladder workout.
I did a 5H-4H-3H-2H-1H-30sH-30sH-1H-2H ladder.

Overall, I felt pretty strong and efficient out there today.  I'm hoping to get one more workout in on Wednesday.  I'm hopeful that some quality work will improve my running economy and help me get some of those times down.

Tuesday, May 22nd
7 miles..Weekapaug Roads..first three with Kelsey down by the Overlook.  Next 4+ on my own, cranked the last couple of miles.  Back sore.

Wednesday, May 23rd
2 mile warmup
4X800 w/1 minute rest, 2X400 w/1 minute rest, 2X200 w/30 sec rest
236, 232, 233, 229, 71, 70, 32, 31
2 mile cooldown

Threw down another solid workout at HELL field.  Kept the rest short and tried to remain economical throughout the workout.  After the third 800, I started to feel the wheels come off.  At that point, I wondered if the workout was going spiral more and more downward.  Surprisingly I rebounded nicely and finished up on a positive note.  Crawled back home.

I will be dropping a big ole' 0 tomorrow.

Thursday, May 24th
0 Planned off day.
Coached my school's Unified Track Team at their big meet in Fairfield, CT.  Unified Track is mix of regular athletes and athletes with various disabilities.  Pretty cool and inspiring to see these kids perform.  It's even better to the smiles on their faces when they get medals and proudly wear them to school the next day.  Good stuff.

Friday, May 25th
8 miles with Gazelle in Champlain Trails and then shot down to Misquamicut Beach for a few more miles. It was very fun running the beach and neat to see people geared up for Memorial Day Weekend.  With Jeff racing on Saturday, I can honestly say we kept things in control.  "Gazellousquet" pace will have to hold tight for a few more days.  Great run and great conversation.

Saturday, May 26th
7 miles..I think today's run was really 6.89763234, but it is much easier just to call it 7.

I ditched my initial plan to hit up Grills bright and early to sleep in a bit.  I then did a bunch of chores and decided to take my run to the beach.  Ran down to Dunes Beach and proceeded to the Westerly Town Beach before retreating back to the roads and home.  I kept the pace under control again today with the hopes of saving energy for a solid 5k tomorrow morning. People were pouring out to the beaches in hope for some sun and summer.

Now it is on to mowing, more mowing, and house work..

Weekly Miles: 41
Even without a longer run in there, I was happy with my training this week.  Getting in more quality workouts will hopefully help me move towards my goal of some faster race times (times comparable or in the ballpark of my glory days).  As for next week, my plans are to run a fast 5k Sunday, long run Monday, and get a few quality efforts in later in the week.  Let's keep moving forward.