Testing It Out

Ice has definitely become my magical comeback curer.  I did a lot of icing near the sore groin area last night and it was a huge help.  I was a little sore walking around, but not bad enough that I'd skip on a run.  I decided I'd head to the softer trails of Jacobsburg and test it out.

I was in a rush to get the run.  I was at the Nazareth baseball game, which they won on a walk off double.  By the time I got to Jacobsburg it was after 7 PM.  I had to change and get running before they locked the gate.  Luckily, I was only planning on two miles.

I ran the reverse direction of a route I often take out of the parking lot.  It was tough because the first half mile plus was an uphill climb.  Going the other direction it is more abrupt than this direction was.  It was a long and gradual climb.

I came up on another guy.  I was relieved when he turned off.  I saw him earlier and he had headphones on.  I didn't want to startle him when I passed him.  The first mile went well.  It was a nice and easy pace today and my groin and legs didn't bother me much at all. 

Thankfully, the sun had dropped below the trees for the most part while I was running.  That made it cooler, but it was still very humid.  I actually ended up a bit dehydrated. 

From the half mile point on, the run was mostly flat or downhill.  From half a mile out to the turn around and back was almost all flat and winding through the open field.  It was easy to just cruise. 

When I got back to the parking lot after the downhill portion, I decided I'd add half a mile onto my run.  I did a very easy out and back on the path along the creek.  That allowed me to get two and a half miles done after yesterday's two and a half miles.

I'm really becoming an expert on pacing and coming back.  The key is to run with the same effort I did when I was in better shape.  The times just won't be as fast as they were then.  Eventually, you make progress though and the times come down.  I've almost become machine like on knowing what pace to go out.  Although I was faster downhill and flat when compared to the uphill in this run, overall I was almost a minute off my pace for fast days.  That is right about where you should be on easy days.

I'm glad I'm not sore much at all after the run.  I really wanted to be able to get this workout in because we are traveling to Indianapolis for the Indy 500 tomorrow and I don't want to try squeezing a run in there.  I'll get back to running when I get out to Indy.  It is always cool running out there.

2.5 miles - 24:16 (9:43 pace)