I decided that I would run another double session today. I wanted a bit of a challenge, so I opted to run the 4 mile Schoeneck route and the hill from my high school days. That was my AM run.
Since school is in session, I had to park at one of the neighborhoods around the school rather than at the school itself. As usual, I started off nice and easy and was stiff. It was nice because I began with a short downhill. After that, it is a slight uphill until you get to the road crossing. Crossing the road twice in this course can often be tough and it took some time today.
Because of all the rain we had, I had to wear my minimalist shoes for a second straight day. Even with the insoles removed, my regular shoes haven't dried out from Tuesday's wet run. Today's weather wasn't all that great either. It was wet and humid. The rain was always light and off and on. The humidity was tricky and it caused me to sweat a lot.
I was just running at an easy pace and it was amazing at how easy this hill felt. It is about 3/4 of a mile long, but I guess I'm in such good shape that that doesn't matter much. I remember in high school when it used to kill me. Of course we did run up it faster than I was doing today. Sometime I should try to hammer up it. The one thing that is tricky is that the steepest grade does occur about 2/3 of the way up the hill. It still didn't bother me too much though. I wasn't breathing comfortably because after all it is still a hill, but it wasn't killing me either.
I wore my Quadzilla tech shirt. I says, "I eat hills for breakfast" on the back. That was quite appropriate. I didn't actually plan it that way, but things worked out I guess. At the top, a guy asked me if I saw his dog. He was out of luck. I hope he found it. At least I wasn't chased.
There is a short segment between the uphill and downhill roads on this course. That road goes uphill a little too. I was reminded as I came downhill why I love this run so much. I was just cruising along. I put in one easy mile at 7:58. I was actually somewhat surprised it wasn't even faster.
This course is a little short of 4 miles. The last mile seemed like it took forever. It was certainly slow by my standards. At the football stadium, I was only at 3.37 miles. I still had a short uphill alongside the school. When I got back to my car, I was at 3.83 miles. I did a short segment through the neighborhood by my car to get to the 4 miles.
In between runs, I went to the Nazareth Cross Country meet. I had to do a lot of running back and forth. Some of it was quite fast and with a camera in my hand. That took its toll before the group run.
The weather cleared out for the LVRR Group Run, but still no one showed up. It was just Akshay, Rob and I. I told Akshay to just take off and I would hang back with Rob.
As we started, a big group of women were beginning in the main road of the Parkway. I ran into the Women's 5k Classic group last year, so I assume it was them. They had over 30 women. I pushed the pace a little just to make sure we stayed ahead of them.
Akshay took off early and Rob stopped to tie both shoes at one point. I don't like to stop completely, so I stayed just ahead of Rob. More importantly, we just managed to beat the women to the Robin Hood Bridge. That was great because I didn't want to pass a huge pack. As I was going up the hill past the bridge, another runner asked me about the group run. I explained that I wasn't with the women, but told him about our group run. Maybe he will join us in the future.
At the first mile, I started to have some soreness. My right IT band bothered me a little. I realized that at my slow pace, I was running all of the time up on my toes. I tried to hit more of a midfoot strike after that. It seemed to help.
I dropped back and joined Rob again. We cruised along. For me, it was cruising anyway. For Rob, it was fast. So fast in fact that he had to start walking. I sputtered along ahead of him. I ran over a mile alone, hoping he would catch me. Instead, he actually lost ground. My IT band bothered me again, so I didn't want to slow too much. It seems better when I run a little faster.
I got to the big hill by the Fish Hatchery. It was a bit tough, especially when you factor in this morning's hill, but I managed it without too much trouble. What actually made it hard was that the rain had washed a lot of the stone away.
Aaron told me a couple weeks ago that the trail after the Fish Hatchery goes out a little. I have seen it before and it is another hill. I figured I would go up it as long as I could stand it and then I'd turn around and come back. That way, Rob would be coming down the big hill by then.
This other hill wasn't as steep as the big hill. It seemed longer and more gradual. I'm not sure that it is really longer. I felt okay climbing and as I was thinking about turning around, I thought I saw the top. I was correct. It was really only about .15 miles long. It made a nice extension to the run.
I timed everything pretty well. I could see Rob coming down the big hill as I came down this other hill. He was still a little behind me. I didn't want to wait too much, so I decided that I would turn around and go back to him. That would add some distance to the run.
We ran most of the end of the route together. Rob struggled some on the hills and even walked a little. I would have to slow down and wait for him. It was good to have someone to run with and it was also good practice for the slow pace that I'll be running as a pacer in the Runner's World Half Marathon.
It is getting dark earlier and earlier now. When we went through the wooded section at the end, you could barely see a thing. Some guy coming the other way almost missed me completely.
When I came down the last hill near the Clubhouse, I decided to take off my shirt. As I got next to the creek, I was amazed at how cool the air off of the water was. It was quite refreshing.
I got back to my car and still had over .6 miles to go to get in the extra mile. I threw my shirt on my car and continued on. Not only was it dark, but it was now foggy. I couldn't see more than a few feet in front of me as I was near the water.
This part of the run was awesome. For whatever reason, I felt so fast and free. I wasn't going hard, but I felt so good. That last mile was quite fast at just over 7:30. I turned around right before bumping into that guy that I ran with briefly earlier on. It was great when I finally finished up. Another solid 10 mile day in the books.
I felt pretty beat up afterward. I went easy, but I guess three runs within a 24 hour span is tough. I'm sure the fact that the first one is hard makes that more difficult too. In addition to my quads, my left calf is stiff.
All in all, it was a great day. I love doing double sessions. It is a good way to split up mileage. I will be running them more often in the future, especially as I increase mileage. For now, once a week will do.
Tomorrow will be an easy run again. I'm leaning toward running along the Bushkill Creek on the path. I haven't done that it awhile. I can also check out the construction of the trail at Penn Pump Park. I'm not sure yet whether it will be a 4 mile or 5 mile run. I am undecided on whether Saturday will consist of a race or just a long run. I guess I'll be figuring everything out tomorrow.
AM 4 miles - 33:27 (8:22 pace)
PM 6 miles - 57:05 (9:31 pace)
Nice report Brian.
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