I've said many times that Trexler Nature Preserve is my favorite place to run and that I need to get there more often. Once I was finally able to complete the 8.5 mile loop in the summer, I said that I would be going there a lot. Instead, I have only been there once since then. It is a half hour drive to get there with no traffic, but I still should run there more often.
There was a group run there last week. I knew that I wouldn't be able to even come close to doing the whole loop if I went. It would've required a lot of walking. I'm just not back to form yet from the three weeks that I took off. Finally, I headed over there today for my run.
I had no set plan, I had hoped that I could run 3-5 miles, but I know that I never know what to expect from the hills of Trexler. I wanted to make sure to get there today because the temperature was in the mid 30s with a wind chill in the mid 20s. Tomorrow, the temperature is supposed to drop into the teens with the wind chill around zero. It is going to be very cold.
I did struggle with what to wear today. I probably could've just opted for a ColdGear top to go with my tights. Instead, I went with a lighter long sleeve shirt and a fleece vest. That allowed for my core to remain warm and also gave me a place to stash my gloves and hat. Additionally, the shirt was orange so I would stand out just in case people can still hunt there. It was a fairly good choice of attire.
It definitely was a bit cold and a little windy, but nothing that isn't expected this time of year. It certainly isn't something I can't handle. I knew that my lungs aren't that strong and they would really struggle in the cold air. Not only was the air cold, but the group was frozen too, making the dirt hard.
The fun part about starting at the Environmental Center is that you get to fly downhill. I wore my GoPro camera here. Running with it on this awesome trail is one of the big reasons that I bought the camera. Senic runs and also running in groups will be fun to document. The downhill was fun and the first reasonably short uphill wasn't bad either.
I got to the second uphill and that was a different story. This is one of the 5 toughest hills on the course and it is always difficult because it is so early on. You have no chance to get warmed up. I didn't actually expect to be able to run all the way up the hill. It goes on and on. To my surprise, I nearly made it to the top. If it wasn't so early in the run, I could've kept going to the summit.
Here is the video link to that portion of the run.
Uphill at Trexler
I walked for a short distance to the top. Then, I could cruise downhill again. Before long, I was at the bison area. I've probably run this trail about 15 times over the years and only once before have I seen the bison out right along the trail. I was very happy to see them today. I tried to lean my body that way, so the camera would pick up their presence, but it didn't show up on the video.
I made it up the next hill past the bison. This one is tough too, but at least it isn't too long or steep. Those are the two things that always get me at Trexler. There are a lot of hills and they can wear you down, but it is the 5 or so really long or steep hills that will do you in.
Even with all of the walking, my first mile was still a surprisingly quick 9:37. I had fun going downhill again and was then out of the Lehigh Valley Zoo area. Right beyond this point, the trail heads into a fun little rocky section. It is a joy to try to navigate through there. I like to fly through this section and not pick my spots. Some of the rocks are sharp and can be tricky. I have some video of this section as well.
After that was a road crossing and the long uphill section. This section goes on and on, but it isn't too steep. I was hoping I could make it all the way to the top. I quickly found out that I wasn't conditioned well enough to do it. I got to 1.5 miles from the start and just decided to turn around.
Going back downhill and through some of the flat sections was fast and fun. I was cruising along. Then, I hit the gradual uphill paved section. This isn't too bad, but I knew the upcoming trail section was very steep. I made it to the trail and quickly just decided to give up on this run at the 2 mile point. Trexler had won this round. I'm just not in the shape to handle this place right now.
My 2nd mile was still a pretty quick 8:29. Although it was only 2 miles, my pace through this section looks to be significantly quicker than it was during Quadzilla in July. I'm impressed with the speed I have. My lungs just need to stop limiting me.
I probably should've just walked whenever I had to and completed around 5 miles. I just hate to walk, unless it is on the super tough hills. I walked a good part of the way back. I tried taking some pictures of the bison, but they were too far away for my camera to get a good shot.
After the bison area, I decided to start running a little more. I made this like a separate run. The beginning was uphill. I still had some energy now that I was recovered thanks to some walking. I flew down the really big hill and passed some people walking a dog as I did that. I thought about going up the next hill, but I knew it would just beat me down. When I realized that another trail goes the other way, I opted to take that.
It was flat or slightly downhill for a while. Sometime around .5 miles into this segment, I turned around. The trail was starting go downhill a lot. I didn't want to climb back up too steep of a hill. When I got back to the big hill that I avoided, I elected to stop for good. I got another .65 miles into the run.
This run wasn't what I had hoped for from a distance standpoint. The other problem is that it wasn't much of a workout for my legs. It just beat down my lungs. This is always a good place to gauge your fitness level though and I did that. It is always such a humbling experience to run here. You certainly can't fake it. Even if I would've slowed down, it still takes a lot of work to get up the hills and I likely wouldn't have made it.
Chances are that I won't go anywhere tomorrow with how cold it will be out. Since I didn't accomplish too much today, I'm not ruling out going to Trexler again and running some hill repeats. I need to mix in some hills to get stronger. This is certainly a good place to improve fitness as well as gauge it.
I keep saying that I'm going to go to Trexler more often and I never do. I think once March rolls around, I'm going to set a goal to go there at least 3 or 4 times a month. I really need to make it a mainstay this spring and summer. One of my two big goals for 2013 is to place in the Top 20 in Quadzilla in July. That will require a lot of miles on these trails. I want to know this place inside and out. I also want to be able to run the entire loop without any walking. There are couple hills that make it very tough to do that. I also hope that I can run double loops there a couple times.
If I don't run or bike tomorrow, then I definitely plan on getting out and riding on Wednesday. Thursday is the LVRR Group Run, so I'll be leading that. Hopefully, I can get to the BCR Group Run on Saturday. It might depend on where they are running, in addition to whether or not I can get out of bed.
2 miles - 18:06 (9:04 pace)
.65 miles - 5:34 (8:36 pace)
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