Week 13 (10/8-14): total ~38 miles (8.1/5.3/5.4/19.07) – posting on Monday so just one day late!
Avg resting HR: 57
Weight: 114
CityStrides coverage of Northampton: 74%
Long run: 19.07 miles; avg HR 157; time 3:57; average pace 12:25
I did the medium run on Tuesday because it was a “UMass Monday” to make up for Indigenous Peoples’ Day, so I didn’t have my Tuesday class. The sun rises so late now that it’s tough to get the 8 miles in, with shower etc, before catching a 9:20 bus. But my next 8 miler is the last weekday run like that—it’s gone so quickly! I picked up some roads in the Meadows, a huge agricultural area on the other side of Interstate 91but still part of Northampton. I saw wild turkeys and white-tailed deer (super-common back in Pennsylvania but a fairly rare sighting here) on Parsons Swamp Road, which lived up to its name because I hit a giant puddle that I couldn’t get around. I’ll have to finish it in another season. It was tremendously foggy. The potato fields on Webbs Hollow Road were being harvested. I’d heard (maybe from Charles Mann?) that commercially farmed potatoes are one of the most intensely pesticided crops and that nothing is left alive in the field—no weeds, no insects, no nothing. True, at a glance anyway—I’ve never seen a more apocalyptic landscape in person. Deserts and rocky peaks are full of life in comparison. Shrouded in the fog it made quite a sight.
The Sunday of my last long run was a perfect fall day, starting cold (almost frost) and then warming up. It took me a while to get out the door but I didn’t have a midday heat deadline. This was my chance to complete another corner of the map, this time the border with Westhampton, and also to test gels for the marathon, specifically GU Roctane (caffeinated, in Chai Latte and Cherry Lime flavors—verdict positive!) I pushed the pace slightly, aiming for “slow” but not “as slow as possible” (two-two vs three-three breathing), hoping to determine how fast I can go on marathon day during the first 20 miles (“the last training run”). It went well! Tired and somewhat sore when I got home, but I’m feeling like I’ll be totally ready after the taper.
I saw a red squirrel (blurry spot in the crotch of the hickory tree below), which reminded me of the one I tried to photograph carrying a black walnut in its mouth, barely clearing the ground—they seem to be less uncommon than usual this year. Then a fabulous raven spotting. I thought I heard a raven-like croak and then I saw it on a roadkilled raccoon and thought it was way too big to be a crow. It took off as I approached and I had a perfect view of the diagnostic wedge-shaped tail. Then it landed in a tree next to its mate and they both showed off their profiles! More notable birds: the goldfinches in the midst of changing from yellow to drab, specifically one that flew right in front of me so I saw that from the side it was brown but it still had a patch of yellow on its back and one on each side.
I won’t need my Camelback again! I never use it for 8 miles or under, and the only run coming up that’s longer is the Happy Valley Half Marathon next weekend where I’ll be relying on the course hydration. Exciting to be done with it—it’s great for what it does, but it’s so nice not to have something on my back!
