I ate some cereal for lunch and went out a little later. I decided to run on the Nor-Bath Trail with my new shoes. The shoes are the same brand and style as my old shoes. They are just a different color. I wasn't quite sure how far I was going to run. I hoped for at least 8 miles, maybe 10.When I left the house, it seemed like good weather. Then I felt the wind. It was quite strong. I still wasn't too worried about the weather since I wasn't doing speedwork.
I decided to park at Bicentennial Park so that I could run an out and back in each direction. I began by going toward Northampton. This is the shortest route to a road crossing. With it being later in the day than I usually run, the road crossings were busier and occasionally I had to stop for cars.
My quads were stiff as usual early on. That was the only early problem though. With all the cushioning of my new shoes, my legs felt awesome. Every step felt so much better than with my old shoes. The shoes did feel heavier, so I slowed down. I couldn't believe how slow the first mile was. I came in at 9:22. That is fine though because I don't need to run too fast on days like today.
Around 1.25 miles, I came to the path that the race went through on Saturday. Before that, I had never run through there. I decided to run on this path. Before getting onto it, I had to cut in front of a woman who was coming from the other direction. She followed me onto the path.
This paved path starts downhill. That is a nice, although it has to come back up. The beginning of it wasn't bad, but as I got near the tunnel, the wind strengthened. It was blowing hard in my face. The Nor-Bath Trail is protected some from the wind, but this path was exposed.
Coming up the hill after turning around was a little tough, but not too bad. I was back on the trail before long. At that point, it was mile 2.75. I decided that I would run another mile out and then come back. That would allow me to get around 6 miles in this direction and then I could just run 2 miles in the other direction.
Some of the hills were a little tough as I went through the neighborhood section in Northampton. I was exposed to the wind here too. I got to mile 3.75 and decided to run another quarter mile to get to mile 4. Then I turned around, not far from the edge of the trail.
Coming back wasn't bad. My legs seemed to come in after 4 miles. It seems to always take 4 or 5 miles until they come around. I just watched the miles click off. At mile 5, I told myself that there was less than a 5k to go. I often do that.
When I got back to Bicentennial Park, I was at mile 6.6. I decided that I'd go out and back to get the 8 miles in. Trying to do 10 miles would've just been too much. I was starting to feel a little sore at this point.
As I was going out again, I came to some more wind. I guess this part of the trail wasn't as protected as the other parts. There were still trees around, so I'm not sure. I made it to 7.25 miles and turned around. I had to go back past the entrance to finish up.
I knew that I would have to run double sessions tomorrow to get 10 miles in. Those Thursday double sessions have been tough, especially when followed by a Friday morning session. Rather than go this route, I decided to run after dark. I ran 4 miles in the neighborhood near my house at 8 PM. I was going on less than 6 hours since my last run.
I thought the first run was windy, but this was even worse. The temperature was in the low 50s. It felt good whenever the wind wasn't blowing hard at me. That was only about half the time.
I went out with my headlamp and yellow shirt. That was good for alerting cars. They moved out of my way throughout the run. Usually when I've run at night through the neighborhoods, I've done so without the any light. This was much better and much safer.
Other than the wind, the run was peaceful. I love running at night, especially through neighborhoods. The early part had a lot of wind, but it was gone most of the way back.
I was disappointed when I looked down at my watch and thought I was past mile 2, but was only just before it. I guess the course isn't quite as long as I used to think it was. The good thing was that without light directly on my watch, I didn't look at it too often.
After the long hill in the run, I heard a dog barking. I was thrilled that I didn't come across any of these during the run. Dogs are a big reason that I don't run in neighborhoods much any more. I would assume that they would all be inside this late at night, but who knows. I was actually surprised that no one was out walking their dog.
It was great to get back to the school and finish up. I had to run around the parking lot to get to 4 miles. I was surprised at how great I felt during this run. I definitely wasn't as sore as I've been lately. I didn't have much rest since this afternoon's run either. Maybe the new shoes were a big help. I certainly broke them in with 12 miles today. I would've gone easier with new shoes, but these are the same ones as my old ones.
The shoes worked great and it was good double day. Now, I can take tomorrow morning off. I can get nearly 24 hours of rest until the next run. That is the regular LVRR Group Run tomorrow evening. I will run 6 miles again. On Friday, I'm looking to run another 6 miles. I'm hoping to do that one on the Runner's World 10k course. Saturday will close out my 60 mile week with an 18 mile run. This will be my longest run and my highest mileage week before the race. Although I'm beat up physically, I just have to get through it. I look forward to a good three final days of running this week.
Afternoon Run 8 miles - 1:08:33 (8:34 pace)
Night Run 4 miles - 33:34 (8:24 pace)
No comments:
Post a Comment