After a day off, it was time to get back at it again. I am trying to save my legs from a regular pounding, so I decided that I would head to Jacobsburg to run on trails. I haven't been there since the end of October. Today, it was cloudy and rainy, nothing like the beautiful colored leaves that greeted me there about a month ago.
When I arrived there was only 1 car in the parking lot. That's sure a lot different than the summer time when it was always crowded. A couple young guys showed up and started running right before me. They went up the tough part of the trail. They were wearing basketball shorts and standard attire, not running clothes. I figured they were amateurs and I guess they were since I saw them a short time later. They were probably finishing up a mile loop. At least they were out there running though. No one else was running today.
Although there was some light rain and it was foggy and cloudy, the temperature was great. It was warm enough to wear shorts and short sleeves. Since I think it is still hunting season, I decided to put on an orange vest. I'd rather be safe than sorry.
I started off on my usual path along the creek. It is relatively flat and makes for an easy beginning. My legs felt amazing on this softer surface. They were barely sore at all as I started out. I tested my new insoles. The results were so so. My feet still had some soreness.
After passing the young guys heading the other direction, I went over the bridge over the creek. After that, things got difficult. I went to the left and headed uphill. I didn't think this would be challenging, but it was much harder than I anticipated. I haven't been on hills or trails much lately. I figured that just being in pretty good shape would help me overcome the hills. That was far from the case. I was breathing heavily and struggling to climb.
Even when I was around 1.25 miles into the run, I was still climbing. It leveled off some, but was still uphill. I couldn't wait to get to the flat section. Finally I did. All throughout this section, I saw relatively fresh horseshoe prints. I had to make sure to watch for meadow muffins. That is a new favorite word that I learned recently.
With all the rain we have had lately and were having, some sections were quite muddy. The dirt part of the trail is rather narrow in this meadow section though. Sometimes I ran on the dirt. Other times, I stuck to the grass. I enjoyed myself much more once the trail flattened out.
The end of this loop got even better. I was now going downhill. This part of the run was longer than I thought. As I got to the turn off the trail, I was around 3 miles into the run. I used to loop back into the parking area from here, but they've now closed the trail there because they are putting up a new building.
Instead, I headed over the road and to some of the other sections of the park. I thought about going into the Sober's Run area, but I was so far into this planned 6 miler, that I figured I should just head up the road and little and work my way back. I was only on the pavement for less than half of a mile, but it was still difficult for my legs. That was particularly true because the road went uphill.
I finally was back on the trail and very happy. With all the climbing I had done, I opted for the flattest routes back. I could've added some distance as I was heading back, but that would've required ascending, so I took the shorter route. Even with this route, there was still some climbing involved.
I figured that I would at least get to 5 miles by the time I got back to the parking lot. Before 4.5 miles, I went straight, but saw that that led across the road (where I didn't want to go). I headed the other way on the trail that I usually take back to the parking lot. When I got back to the lot, I was somewhere under 5 miles into the run.
Normally when I have to add a little to the run, I'll go along the creek where I started this run. That makes for some easy mileage. Even though the hills had worn me out, I was inspired by the young guys earlier and decided to take the tough route above the creek.
This isn't the best way to go when it is raining. The trail is narrow and it is sort of a cliff. It wouldn't be too difficult to fall here, especially in wet conditions. I just made sure to lean away from the cliff. I climbed the stairs and continued along the path.
After going up for awhile, the trail heads down and back up again. This section was made even more difficult by fallen trees. They were all over the trail. I assume that they fell during the hurricane. It wasn't impassable, but I had to leap over trees in the rain on this narrow cliff. Not exactly fun.
When I hit mile 5, I looked down a my watch and it said that mile was run in 9:11. I though that that was an ironic number, since I was in a dangerous situation. After running along the top of the ridge, it was back downhill. That didn't get any easier. I had to make sure I controlled myself and didn't trip and fall off the cliff. Complicating the trail is that there are exposed roots from a few trees that are still standing. Those can be very slippery in the rain too.
I survived the cliff and was looking forward to finishing up. The up and down of that section did a number on my legs and feet. They were quite sore. It wasn't like the pounding of a road though. My left foot bothers me quite a bit and my right foot was sore going uphill. I'm a mess. I've been massaging my left foot a few times lately.
I finished up in the flat section along the bottom of the creek, near where I started. My pace was under 9 minutes, so that was good. I don't worry much about times on trails though, since they are so uneven.
I was relieved to be done. It was a tougher run than I thought. I definitely need to hit more hills this winter and spring. I'm just glad I didn't run at Trexler the other day. That probably would've killed me. I'm going to try to get on trails more to build strength and reduce the pounding on my legs. We'll see how that goes.
I didn't get a chance to run hill sprints today, so I might do those tomorrow. Otherwise, I will be off from running and will get back at it on Wednesday. Tomorrow, I'll likely get out and ride my bike if the weather isn't too bad. That should give me some more strength without any pounding. I have no idea where I will run on Wednesday, maybe Trexler.
6 miles - 53:33 (8:56 pace)
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