Longish Trail Run

Today I was supposed to do five miles. It's even hotter than yesterday, and I'm getting a little worried about how much time I am sending out in the sun during the peak times, so I opted for a trail run.

Hasn't rained for a few days so I figured the trails should be pretty dry. My shoes are dry now, too, but they were pretty mud-caked from the last trail race. I managed to get them on without having to clean them off. I'm so lazy.

I have a trail route that I figured would work out to about 2.5 miles, so i decided to just do that twice. While I was out there, I decided a good way to do it would be to run it in reverse for the second half. i don't know why I never thought of that before for the trail runs. It's what I always do when I am out running multiple laps of Lunken.

The first lap worked out to be 2.44 miles, which was not bad. I did not see a soul in the park. The trails were very dry. Just a tiny bit of mud in a couple of spots. Not like you'd even notice. Even the creek was bone dry.

I'm sitting out on the porch now icing my knee and hip, and I forgot to turn my stopwatch on. Oh well. 

I liked going in reverse for the second lap. I don't know if I would prefer that way over my normal route. it did mean downhill on the gravel trail, which is nice, and also uphill on the switchbacks, which is also preferable. I should like it better but I am such a creature of habit.

I saw a couple of old guys with a couple of fairly mellow Viszlas near the end of the second lap. The total distance worked out to be 4.88 miles. Trail running is so hard for me and it takes so much time that I am satisfied with that number.

There's a pic of my trail shoes on the floor of the side porch, where I guess they are just going to have to live from now on most of the time. Today's run did manage to shake most of the mud off them. I should have taken a before picture. These are great shoes, by the way. I wish I could get another pair when they wear out but this model is from two years ago.

That reminds me, I was maybe going to do some shoe shopping today..

 

Week 10 (Already?) Days 1 & 2

Just a couple of easy runs on the schedule at the start of this week. Yesterday I went for the 45-60 minute easy run. After the dog walk, I headed out around 11 am around the park/Kilgour route plus a little bit up Observatory and back on Pape. The GPS watch said it was 4.83 miles in 54 minutes, 11:09 pace but it is hard to run around the park.

Today I didn't go out until later in the afternoon because it was raining this morning. Decided to do my trail loop because it was a bit windy and cooler than I'm used to, and I was looking forward to the shelter from the wind that you get in the woods. Also, I wanted the freedom to just go nice and slow in a pretty place without having to worry about crossing any streets.

Trail route was 2.97 miles in 45:45, which is the ridiculously slow pace of 15:23, but it's on the trails. That is actually not any slower than usual for the trail route.

Tomorrow I am supposed to do the long run of 16-18 miles. Not sure if I will do it outside or on the treadmill.

Week 6, Day 5

Today the schedule called for another easy run. I'm still a little sore from yesterday's mishap, but since I am planning to race tomorrow I figured I'd better get out there and see how I felt.

I decided to go for a real slow one on my trail route, since tomorrow is a trail race. Wore the GPS watch, and finally figured out how to get it to sync with the shoe pod as well. The idea is that if you lose the GPS signal, the shoe pod fills in the gaps.

The dogs and I slept in until 7 am this morning. I decided to separate their walks because my arms are a little too sore to handle all three of them together. Plus by the time we got out it was lizard time. I walked Eddy & Maggie around the Observatory route, then took Zen around the park.

So it was around 10:45 or later by the time I hit the trails. It was nice and cool in there. The trails were very dry and dusty, which isn't the best for traction, but I managed. It was a good test to see if I am really injured, and also if my bandage will stay on my arm. Seems like I didn't do any real biomechanical damage to myself yesterday. My right hip is a little sore where I bruised it, but it doesn't affect the running. And the bandage stayed on my arm. So it's good.

The bad news, and not entirely unexpected, is that my trail run which I had been logging as 3.6 or so (based on the shoe pod) is not quite three miles according to the GPS. I figured it was about three, really, so this is not a big surprise. I have to find a way to make it just a tiny bit longer so it can be over three miles.

So, per the GPS, it was 2.94 miles in 47:12 or 16:02 pace. A little slower than usual on the trails but that was deliberate.

Tomorrow is the Powder Keg trail run up in Kings Mills. Two years ago I ran it in 37 something and won the age group. Last year Cyndi K. ran it in 33 something (I wasn't there) and she won the age group. So, my goal this year is try to get under 33 and beat Cyndi K. is she is there. I did not stick around for the awards last time but I will this time if I beat Cyndi or if I am otherwise suspecting that I might have won, since they did not mail the awards after.