After a fairly hard group run yesterday, it was time for an easy recovery run today. Because I have a 5k race tomorrow, I needed to make sure to get it out of the way somewhat early. I opted for 3 miles at Jacobsburg at around 11 AM.
At first, I was undecided what to wear. I was going to put on a singlet. It was a tough call because a lot of the running was in the shade of the woods. Eventually, I opted to go shirtless. I'm sure that looked great with my already short shorts too. It was definitely needed though.
I started off running along the Henry's Woods Trail like I normally do. This is the rare crowded section. Mostly it is people walking their dogs or taking their kids swimming. I passed a young woman running the other way. I was impressed because I don't usually see many runners there. Maybe it is just the time of day I usually run.
I went out farther than I usually do, because I wanted to try a new loop. I figured it would be around 3 miles. After some short climbing, I crossed the road near a barn structure. At this easy pace, I was surprised at how tough I found the hills to be.
My pace kept getting faster as I got stronger, so I tried to back off even more. The path was flat, wide and fast though. My time kept improving. Usually I pick the more hilly options when I have a choice, but not today. I took the same general direction that I always do, just a slightly different path. I usually go out to Sober's Run. This time, I came to a parking area I know and had to run along the road. I was hoping that maybe there would be another trail cutting across to the Sober's Run area, but I figured that there was only the one I know of up the road.
I was very happy to get off of the road and out of the sun. I would've tried a trail earlier on to stay away from the road, but I'm sure it would've required a creek crossing and I'm not sure where the trail is on the other side. I wasn't in the mood to play. A couple more rolling hills and I was done. I finished just past where I started. The loop was actually 2.95 miles. Damn close to 3 miles.
I was amazed how soaked I was afterward. The temperatures weren't even in the 90s yet, but it was brutally humid. I was covered from head to toe in sweat. Toweling off didn't help much. I had wondered if I was running or swimming for my workout. If the creek was deep anywhere, I'm might've jumped in.
I've been quite aggressive with massaging, stretching and strengthening my shin/calf. It seems to be responding okay. I need to keep it up. I'm a little worried because Musikfest is coming up and I'll be doing a lot of walking over the next week. I'll just have to stay aggressive with my treatment.
When I was doing the LVRR Family Hike yesterday, Laurie told me that they need pacers for the Runner's World Half Marathon. It is free and supposedly you get entry into that race plus the 10k and 5k. I signed up to pace the 2:15 group. That is a 10:17 pace. It shouldn't be too hard. It should be fun as well. I've never done that before, so I do want to practice it, especially since the course isn't flat. I was going to run back to back 17 milers and that would've been one of them anyway, so this will be a good tuneup for my half marathon a few weeks later. I think I might run the 5k as a training run and the 10k as a race. The half marathon pacing will be a good, long recovery run.
Tomorrow is the Blue Eagle 5k. It is one of my most important races of the year. It is really the only 5k that I care about. It is run to support my high school teams and run on the course that I've run over and over again next to my house. I ran it alone with my New Balance minimal shoes a few weeks ago, and did it in 22:27. I should be able to beat my goal of 21:45 and hopefully I'll do even better. It might be muggy though, so we'll see how things go. I'd really love to be in the low 21s. That would be some serious progress in less than 4 months.
3 miles - 29:15 (9:46 pace)
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