Having Some Success

Today was my weekly mile repeats session.  It didn't go quite as planned, but it wasn't a complete disaster like last week either.  I was hoping to be able to do 6 mile repeats under a 7 minute pace this time.

I have run both the North and South ends of the D&L Half Marathon course.  I haven't been in the middle yet though.  Therefore, I decided to drive up the road about 4 miles from the Cementon Trail head.  I had run to just a little past the Cove Road trailhead and knew there was parking there.  I didn't quite no how to find it, other than it was under the Route 145 Bridge.  It was on a back road off of 145, but easy to find thanks to a sign on 145.

I started off going north.  I have run about a mile out from this part before.  This is a tough mile because it is an uphill climb.  I did it right before turning around a couple weeks ago.  I was successful at that time, but it wasn't easy.

I cruised along in the opening warmup mile.  Usually I can tell how good my run will be from this warmup.  Today, I wasn't so sure just because I was going uphill.  Of course my legs wouldn't feel great.

It rained all day yesterday and still was drizzling and foggy today.  I wore my hat again and was glad I did with all the constant mist.  It was also a little humid.  Not the best conditions, but I have dealt with much worse.

I picked it up on the first fast mile.  I got into a nice rhythm, but still had to work a bit to achieve my goal.  The last half mile of each repeat is just always so difficult.  Since I was under pace for this one, I was able to slow up slightly at the end.  I finished the mile in 6:48.

I needed all of the recovery I could get.  My legs continued to feel like they were running uphill.  The trail sure looked like it kept climbing.  I was certainly much higher above the river than in the Cementon section. 

The second hard mile was tough too.  Both of these still weren't as bad as some days, including last week.  They took some work though, especially with me climbing or at least thinking I was still climbing.  The worst elevation change was clearly at the start of this run, but things weren't getting easier.  Again, I was able to back off a little after this one.

I knew the third repeat would be difficult.  I was banking on there being a lot of downhill on the way back after that.  This mile continued to force me to work.  I thought about turning around a few times, but decided to stick with it.  I had to push more on this than I would've liked, but I figured this would be the last hard mile.  I could relax a little more on the last 3 repeats, like I did a few weeks ago.  My legs were definitely tiring and feeling it, but I kept battling.  After back to back 6:48 miles, I ran this one in a slightly slower 6:52.  I was still under goal.

I turned around right after the 3rd hard mile.  I then got some recovery.  My legs were screaming and I felt like I didn't really get enough recovery by the time I started back up.  Only having a quarter mile to recover is a challenge.  It just seems to fly by.

I was puzzled as I started the 4th hard mile.  I thought for sure I'd be going downhill now.  Up to this point, it looked and felt like I was going uphill.  I guess maybe that wasn't the case.  Regardless of whether I was ascending or descending, it still felt extremely hard.  At times, I was around a 7 minute pace.  I kept battling on.  By now, every tenth of a mile seemed like an eternity.  Every time I would look down at my watch again, it seemed like almost no distance had elapsed.

I was hoping that the last two repeats would be downhill and I could coast.  I just focused on getting through this one.  Late in the mile, my pace was hovering around 6:55.  When I'm been well under goal pace, I'm able to coast in the end of each mile.  This time, there was no time to let up.  I had to keep battling all the way to the end of the mile.  I finished this one in 6:55.

I never needed the recovery period more than after that segment.  My legs were beat and it didn't seem to be getting any easier.  I knew I didn't have enough left to complete another hard mile under goal pace, unless I really killed myself.  My only option was to back off a little and hope that I would be cruising downhill and still hit goal pace.

Early on in the 5th repeat, I could see that that wasn't going to happen.  My pace already slid to 7:17 and I was only about .15 miles into this one when I shut it down.  If this was my last planned repeat, I probably would've somehow pounded it out.  Instead, I felt it was just better to save my legs and go on cruise control.  I've been close to overdoing it lately, so there was no point in going too far at this point.  I had a solid 4 repeat miles in.

The only problem with quitting at this point was that I was so far out from my car.  I wasn't quite sure how far I had to go, but I knew it was 3 or 4 mile miles.  When I finally starting doing all the math in my head, I realized that it was 3 miles left.

These slow miles are so dreadful after running fast.  Running fast is uncomfortable, but it does keep me focused and makes the run fly by.  These slower miles make it drag on forever.  I never was able to get my legs to recover much.  Almost all of the rest of the run felt downhill.

I was so focused coming up that I didn't even notice too much of the trail.  There was a weird house along there and I never saw the old kid's bike next to the trail on the way out.  I noticed everything on the way back.  With a mile and a half left to go, I wasn't sure how I would finish, but I just plugged away and eventually did.

It was nice having the trail almost all to myself on this dreary day.  I was startled when I biker yelled and passed me a couple miles into the run.  That was the first person I encountered.  The only other person I saw was a guy walking his bike right before I turned around.  When I did turn around, I was past the point where I ran when I came from Lehigh Gap and ran South a few weeks back.  I was about a mile from the Slatington trailhead.  I know have run the entire Half Marathon course, except for the beginning section through Northampton.

It was only drizzling and I was amongst the trees, but when I slowed down, I was surprised at how wet I was.  I was soaked from head to toe.  It was like I had jumped in the river.  The rain was only mist, but I guess over an hour of running in it eventually gets you wet.  I'm sure there was a lot of moisture in the air with the fog and humidity too.  When I had a great run two weeks ago, conditions were perfect.  I guess that is what I need.  Hopefully they will be ideal on raceday.

Overall, I'm happy that I didn't quit early.  I am pleased that I put in 4 good hard miles and still ran 9 total miles.  I'm am just disappointed that I couldn't get the last two in.  These mile repeats are tough and don't seem to be getting any easier.  I was always nailing my goal as I increased half mile repeats in the summer, but I'm missing out on it now with mile repeats.  I am so sensitive to any change in conditions.  I haven't run with a partner since Kelley and I ran the half mile repeats and that is probably a huge issue.  That would certainly be helpful.  I've trained on my own before though.

This was definitely the most difficult section of the race course.  I'm glad that I now found that out.  I just need to get through the whole thing.  It probably would've been better if I just ran this on an easy day to get familiar with it.  It is what it is though.

After running this section, I'm not changing my race goals.  I now realize that I have to run a bit more cautious through this section.  This race course might not be as easy as I originally thought it would be.  I would like to get more mile repeats in, so perhaps I'll back off the pace to 7:10 or 7:15 next time and see if I can't get 7 or 8 mile repeats in that way.  Maybe that will help me improve better than this has.  Perhaps my body just needs to recover from all the hard weeks that I put in lately.

I already have 25 miles in this week with 3 days to go.  I'd like to get to 55 miles or so.  I want to at least make it to 50 miles.  I'm not sure yet whether I'll run a 17 mile long run or a 10k race on Saturday.  Tomorrow, I plan on doing a double session though.  The morning will be 4 easy miles.  Then I don't know what the pace will be for the 6 miles of the group run with the LVRR.

9 miles - 1:09:02 (7:40 pace)