Last week was a solid one, sprinkled with a couple runs that I've either never experienced before or it's been way too long since the last one. On Tuesday I got back to the hills for some repeats in Central Park with Josh and his crew, it took a couple for me to remember the ebb & flow of such a workout but the good news is I felt better and better the more we did. Will get another of these workouts in this week as well in addition to squeezing in some tempo miles later in the week. Tuesday was also the first double I've run in awhile although I anticipate many more. It's hard to run the mileage I'd like without the benefit of a 18-23 miler on the weekend and since I'm not training for any specific marathon-distance event right now, I don't really need that super LR. Thus more regular doubles during the week, wheee!
Saturday brought about a whole new animal of a run, trail running but in the snow and ice. Now I've run trails before and I really dig 'em but I have never run trails in the winter when a lot of ice and a lot of snow are covering the ground. My buddy Ben sent me a note earlier last week trying to set up a time for us to run together again, it had been much too long and mentioned he'd be running the Watchung Trail Marathon on Saturday. I thought why not, sounds like a good chance to catch up and run and try something I've not done before; I don't mind falling and as long as I didn't break a bone I knew it would be a good time. Going into it I didn't have any specific mileage goal but knew it was a loop course of 2 10+ mile loops and a 3rd shorter loop. I prepared myself by finally succumbing and buying some actual trail running shoes (all previous trail running was done in my regular running shoes) and by digging out the Camelback for easy access hydration. I should also mention that with approximately the same regularity I run on the West side, Ben runs trails so I knew it best to just suck it up and follow him. The trails required lots of concentration and focus on footing, our previous big snow had melted quite a bit but left deep icy footprints and with another wave of colder temps, froze over solidly before being covered by fresh snow of about 3-5 inches. The scenery was gorgeous when I was able to briefly look up without fear of busting ass but man, do you ever work harder on terrain like that. I was sweating my ass off for most of the loop, only towards the end did I put my hat back on and every once in awhile I'd have an incident of spazzing out. Spazzing out by my definition in this scenario was working at a crazy heart rate level, moving my legs as if I were Scooby Doo booking away from a bad guy and seemingly getting nowhere. All in all it was indeed a blast and I was pretty satisfied to have run the one loop (approx 10.9 mi) and call it a day while Ben continued on for a 2nd time around. My PF did not like that icy footing and I really didn't want to take myself out from running for several days b/c of this one run.
So long story short: fun stuff, hills, snow, ice, wind - repeat next week.
Monday - 8 mi ez
Tuesday - [a.m.] 7.7 mi ez, [p.m.] 8.3 miles w/6x hill repeats
Wednesday - 90 mins. yoga
Thursday - 6.7 mi ez
Friday - 5 mi ez
Saturday - 10.9 mi on the trails
Sunday - 9.35 mi ez
Total = 55.95 mi
6 comments:
Nice mileage! Was your 90 mins yoga Bikram? I'm so into it now - try to go once per week and love it!
Nah, haven't been to bikram in some time. I go to a vinyasa class downtown at Kula Yoga Project, the best 90 minutes always!
Glad you're loving the classes!
Awesome on the trail run!
I have done one real trail run in my life, I was running with guys way faster than me and terrified about falling the entire time (almost everyone went down but me!). I also showed up in a bra top and tiny shorts and was totally bloody by the time we were done from the branches.
Perhaps the most mentally exhausting run of my life!
maybe the best run report ever!
That trail run sounds fun. I'm such a fall-er to begin with that I'm certain I'd spend more time picking myself off the trail than running down it.
I miss trail running!! I'll just live vicariously through you :) At this point, with the snow we have out here I'm too afraid of a fall. At least I can still ski on my trails (for now!)
Post a Comment