One of the nice things about running the LV, is that I'm starting to socialize more. I'm making important connections down the road, especially since I want my life and career to be centered around running. In addition to tonight's LVRR group run, we had a meet and greet social afterward. It was good to meet a bunch of people with the same interests. I was looking forward to meeting the women who runs the Lehigh Valley Running Scene website. She's very involved in running around here and that's what I want to be too. I don't normally socialize well, but with running as a common link it is much easier.
I also am pretty excited as I got one of the girls from the Finish Line running store to commit to running a nighttime trail run with me at Bear Creek. I know some people that would be crazy enough to do it, but I'm not sure if any of them would be fast enough. She's cute too, so that's a nice bonus.
On to the actual running. Since the group run easy last week, I decided to run a fartlek in the morning. My legs have been taking a pounding on the roads lately, so I decided to hit the trail. Since I was planning on running hard, I opted for Jacobsburg. That was a good decision.
I ran the typical loop starting at Henry's Woods and then added an out and back portion. I actually did turn left instead of right on the uphill portion of the loop. That made the loop a bit longer, but it came out at the same place. It could just be me, but that uphill part seemed more challenging than the normal route.
The first fast segment was for four minutes. I felt good and cruised along. I recovered for four minutes as well. The thing that was tough was the humidity. The hills aren't the most difficult that I've run on, but the pace was faster than I usually run on hills, so it presented a challenge as well.
The second four minute segment was at a blazing 6:57 pace. I didn't even realize I ran that fast. Some of it was downhill if I recall correctly. I wanted to do a minute shorter second recovery segment, but I didn't look at my watch close enough, so I ended up doing four minutes. That segment might've been too fast as the third four minute segment just killed me. I really slowed down.
After just a three minutes recovery, I closed it out this time with two minutes of fast running. That was challenging, but felt good. My legs felt great once I really starting going. The break from the roads was a huge advantage to them as well. I finished up with an easy half mile and felt good.
My biggest concern was the chafing problems that I had a day earlier. Before I started the run, I was so sore from chafing that I wondered how I could even run. The cream I put on definitely helped. I actually felt good after a mile and had no more problems. I had no issues with going to the bathroom in the morning, so that was great too.
Before the meet and greet, I ran with the run group. A few of the women came from last week and we added another guy as well. Our other run leader couldn't make it in time. We ran the same route as last time, except in reverse. I paced the guy and it was about a minute faster than last week. It was good chatting with him and I clearly gave him a good workout. We had to stop and take walk breaks several times throughout the workout. I was a little disappointed because I could've just slowed down the pace and we could've finished better. Hopefully next time I'll have a better feel for his pace. I want to be a good pacer on these runs.
This heavy week of running is almost complete. I have two more days left. Tomorrow is a very easy three miler. I think I'll like head to the Route 33 boat launch or Riverview Park and do a simple out and back. I do need to do some hill sprints and/or drills as well. I didn't concentrate on form as much today. Saturday will be a nine mile run (hopefully with the BCR). That will be my longest run to date during this comeback. Things are going pretty well.
5 miles - 45.22 (9:05 pace)
4.1 miles - 42:02 (10:16 pace)
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