The last few weeks, I felt like I made progress. Today was a dose of Trexler reality. I wonder what it is like to truly conquer this place (if you ever actually do it). Any time it seems like it gets easier, I get my butt kicked the next time. I know if I ever finally do feel comfortable on a run there than I've made it pretty high up the fitness ladder.
I look forward to the day that I can run the whole loop without walking. Maybe that will come around summer, maybe later or maybe never. Some people do double loops and I love the idea of even trying triple loops whenever I get into ultra running. As this trail destroys me week after week, I can't imagine actually doing that. I've got to set some high longer term goals though.
The weather at Trexler is making things difficult. It is always the worst near the parking lot. The wind is brutal so it is usually cold. Most of the run is comfortable though. Since I always start at the coldest spot, I always wear too much. That was the case again today. I did have on a lightweight jacket over my shirt, but really I could've gone without it.
There are two tricky things about winter running. One is the wind and the other is the sun (or lack of sun). Sunday's run was perfect because it was sunny and there was no wind. Today with almost the same air temperatures it was brutal. The sun was behind the clouds in the beginning. Toward the end it was pretty hot because the sun was out.
My friend Gayle ran at Trexler on Sunday. I was curious how the trails were after a fairly significant snowfall over the weekend. The problem is that since she ran there, it was so warm out that her assessment wasn't up to date. The higher temperatures of the last couple days melted away some of the snow, but not all of it. That made for a sloppy mess.
I started out going the normal (counterclockwise) direction. I figured this section with more rocks would have more grip. Really I doubt it mattered too much. The partially melted snow just became slush. At first I thought it was great because I was going downhill and the snow was crunching under my feet and I wasn't slipping. That is until I started to feel the water in my shoe. There was ponding on top of the ice. I wasn't even a quarter of a mile into my run and my feet were already wet. I knew that wouldn't be good in the cold. I had to be extra cautious to avoid the snow from then on.
Luckily, most of the big hill is exposed to the sunlight. Almost all of the snow was gone and it had pretty good grip. The downhill parts of the trail on the other side, didn't do as well. I had to make sure to be careful and take the descending sections slowly. I ran on the grass next to the trail in a lot of places because it was the place with the best grip.
The short but steep section right before leaving the zoo area was very tough. It was snow covered and I almost slide down the hill. At least I didn't fall. The rocky section was interesting because it was partially covered rocks and partially exposed ones. With the wind made my eyes water in this area and that made it extra difficult to navigate. I managed to though.
After that section was the long uphill section. I was glad this part sees a lot of sun, so I didn't have to battle through the snow too much. I still had to battle though. I don't know what it was, but I was dead and exhausted early on in the run. Maybe it was inconsistent and messy terrain making me work too hard. Perhaps it was the hard trail run that I did on Sunday still lingering around. Whatever the case, I just felt very slow. I wasn't worried about the actually pace, so I just kept going.
I wanted to get out farther this week than I did last week. I'm just looking to make some sort of progress every week. Instead of turning around today, I hoped to make it to the zoo area and then cut across on one of the other trails. That would give me something over 5 miles of running and it could be a loop rather than an out and back.
My foot continues to bother me on trails. I don't know what it is, but it gets sore on the bottom when I'm going uphill. It is no problem going down hill or flats. I stretched a little, but maybe I should do that even more before a trail run.
Around 2.5 miles, I hit the sloped section of the trail. I'm glad it isn't too long. This is the most difficult section for footing. There was zero grip on the snow. I then went to what looked like grass alongside the trail, but it was even worse. It was muddy and slippery.
Finally, I made it over that section and into the view section. The short climb to there was tough and it was windy. This is about how far I made it last week before turning around. Today, I planned to go farther. Although I knew it wasn't realistic, I secretly wanted to complete the whole loop.
After the view section, it is into a more wooded type of section and mostly downhill. That is until you get to the bottom and have the two massive hills. Those are the most challenging ones on the whole loop. I figured I would have to walk them today, especially with the trail conditions.
As I was going down one hill, I saw a building near the trail. This didn't look familiar, so I went back up the hill, thinking that I was off the trail. I wasn't though, so I headed back down the trail. I had to be very cautious descending.
I was closing in on 3.5 miles when I hit the "false hill." I call it that because it is very steep and I always think it is one of the two massive hills. That is until I get to the massive hills anyway. I tried running up the "false hill" but with it so steep and snow covered, it quickly turned into walking. The issue was that it was so steep that it was difficult to even walk up. I had to make a decision quickly, so I went back down the trail and opted for a smoother yellow trail that I just passed over.
I didn't know where the yellow trail went, but it looked like the right direction. The issue was that this was a long uphill. My legs just didn't have it in me. I couldn't take more climbing, so when I got to 3.5 miles, I decided to stop and call it a day.
After about a minute of rest, it dawned on me that the road was right near by. I didn't want to run on pavement, but I knew it would be easier and I could get back to my car. I took that route. It was kind of depressing because I could often see the trail next to me, although it was higher up.
The road might have been easier, but it wasn't easy. There were still some hills. At least my pace was faster. I still felt like I was dragging along and being whipped. Some of that was the addition of the sun. Without the wind and protection from the trees, it felt blazing. I had to open my coat up to get some air circulating through.
I thought I was on the road next to the zoo, but apparently I wasn't. It seemed like I kept going and going on the road. I went over 1 mile on there and then 1.50 miles. Finally, at just around 5 total miles, I headed into the zoo area. When I saw that it was uphill, I decided to quit at 5.25 miles. That was it and I would live to see another day.
I thought I was done running, but I was so far away from my car at that point that I had to run again later. I was near the zoo and could see the Environmental Center where the car was. I saw a yellow trail and knew this one led to the area near the Ford. The Environmental Center didn't look too bad when I first saw it. That was because I was on top of one hill and it was on top of the next one.
Running from one to the other would be difficult. The yellow trail was very slippery going down. I didn't fall though. I then crossed over the Jordan Creek on the pedestrian bridge. I am glad that it is there because I wouldn't want to run through the creek.
I stayed on the road as long as I could. That wasn't very long though as the road goes nowhere near the Environmental Center. I had to take a trail back up the hill. This wasn't the steepest trail, but it again had no grip and I was so beat. I stopped way before I would've liked to. I barely ran over half a mile in this segment. At least I cut some time off of getting back to my car.
I ran a short untimed sprint up the last hill. It was good to be done. I didn't do as much as I hoped and I felt terrible, but at least I did enough to satisfy myself for the day. I always like to call this place Trexler the Humbler and it was that and more on this day. Maybe in better conditions in a few weeks, I'll fair much better. Who knows though. This trail never seems easy.
I'm not sure when I'll race again, but I am kind of interested in seeing what I can do at a 5K. The guy I ran with on Thursday, who fell behind me at the end of the group run, ran under 20 minutes at the Fast and Flurry-ous 5K on Sunday. I haven't done speed stuff recently, so I'm not sure I can break 20 minutes yet, but I must be close to that kind of shape. I won't find out until I actually run a 5K though. I haven't done so since early September. Hard to believe that was 5 months ago.
Tomorrow is an off day. Thursday is my LVRR Group Run. Since it is also Valentine's Day, I don't expect anyone to show up. Since I'm single, I'll be there. Maybe I'll promote it as some type of singles run and see if others will come. I don't know. We shall see.
5.25 miles - 48:18 (9:12 pace)
.58 miles - 5:46 (10:00 pace)
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