Tough Ten

Yesterday was a fun day off.  I did some hiking at the Lehigh Gap.  I got some pretty amazing winter scene photos.  It was a tough climb of probably somewhere around 1,000 feet in elevation change.  It was definitely worth the trip.

After that, I was back to running today.  I planned to run 10 miles, but I really had no idea what I'd be able to do.  The problem is that it hasn't been warm enough to melt the weekend snowfall, at least on the trails.  It is kind of weird because there is almost no snow on the grass and pavement, but the stone trails are pretty much covered.

I want to stay off of hard surfaces, so I just decided that I'd try running on the D&L.  Cementon is the easiest place for me to start at, but I can only head in one direction there.  I don't like that much for a long run.  Instead, I headed to the Cove Road Trailhead to give myself options.  I can get 6 miles in going to the south and I can go about as far north as I desire (probably close to 20 miles to be exact).

With so much snow on the trail, it made wearing trail shoes an easy decision.  It was in the 30s, which seems fairly warm compared to what we've had lately.  The wind wasn't all that strong either.  I opted just for pants, a long sleeve shirt and my jacket.  My fleece vest is kind of heavy, so I decided against that.  I wore light gloves and a headband too.

Normally, I like to head south from Cove Road.  That is because heading north is uphill.  Today, I decided to get the hard part out of the way first, so I went north and started climbing.  Later on, I was glad I chose this option.

The trail was snow covered and actually beautiful.  The sun isn't out too often in the winter, but it was shining bright today.  It made everything glisten.  The trail is cut into a lot of rock and there are huge ice crystal all over the rock walls.  That was definitely the coolest part of this run.

The snow on the trail wasn't too deep.  It was only a few inches.  There were some footprints.  A vehicle must've gone through there because there were fresh tire tracks.  I really struggled with where to run.  The tire tracks made for an even surface, but they were slippery.  The snow was uneven, but had more grip.  I went back and forth on this.  I never could decide.  Switching terrain frequently might have actually helped me.

I think my GPS was off in the first mile.  What else is new?  This time, it was on my wrist though instead of my pocket.  It did seem pretty accurate and my pace was fairly consistent after that first mile.

I was surprised at how many tracks were in the snow.  This trail normally is kind of lonely.  On the whole run I saw about 5 people and a couple dogs.  That's more than usual.  All of them were walking.

Running in the snow is just so much fun.  Between that and using my GoPro, time passed quickly.  It was a little windy at times, but early on I ended up taking off my gloves and headband.  The temperature was quite different in the sunny sections when compared to the shade.

This section of the trail is so nice and peaceful.  It is very remote with just a house here and there.  With so few landmarks it can get kind of monotonous, but it wasn't bad with all the snow.

Originally, I was planning to run about 2 or 3 miles at most to the north.  I normally like to go out a little farther on the first out and back.  I got to 2 miles and felt good so, I plugged along.

At around 2.5 miles, the vehicle tracks were gone.  Now, I had no choice but to run in the snow.  That was a struggle.  I passed a house with an adult horse and a pony.  That was cool.  I don't remember seeing them out there before.  A couple dogs barked at me in that area, but luckily none chased me.

I just kept on focusing on each half mile.  I finally got to mile 3, then 3.5 and finally 4.  I was struggling some by the time I got to 4 miles.  I figured that that would be a good time to turn around.  If I went out much farther, I might not make it back.

Almost immediately after turning around, I felt exhausted and start struggling.  I just concentrated on small steps.  I just tried to get through the next mile.  My legs still felt decent.  Hitting 5 miles was huge.  At that point, I figured I could do 6 or 7 miles and would walk a little bit if I needed too.

Breaking down the run into shorter segments always helps.  It makes the run more manageable.  I wasn't as strong as earlier, but I made it through miles 6 and 7.  Now, I knew I'd make it back to my car at least.  Even if I had to walk some, it was no more than a mile.  I kept going farther and farther early on because I knew that I'd have to come all the way back.  If I chose to stop running at any point, I would have to walk the distance back to the car.

Around 6 or 7 miles, I allowed myself to start thinking about getting in 10 miles.  The last time I ran 10 miles, it was on this trail in about mid December.  My body was very taxed that day.  Going slower, around an 8:30 pace for most of the run, saved me some on this day.  Even so, I didn't know if I could get more than 8 miles in.

When I finally arrived at the 8 mile mark and was back at the car, I felt like I had more in me.  I was slowing and feeling weaker, but I wasn't too bad.  My foot bothered me a little and my hamstring had some soreness, but most importantly, my quads were good.

The final 2 miles turned out to be by far the most difficult.  This is because the trail conditions changed.  This section was exposed to more sunlight and the snow had melted in spots.  I was glad that I had not started out in this direction.  The surface was so uneven with snow in some spots and clear trail nearby.  I couldn't find any good, consistent footing.

I just plugged along and focused on getting to mile 9.  Then I could turn around and make it back for 10 miles.  Mile 9 seemed to go on forever.  As I was at mile 8.9, I approached a house with barking dogs.  I decided it was time to turn around.  I've run by there before and they run to the edge of the yard and bark.  I didn't want to mess with them.

The final mile was not only uneven, but uphill too.  It was so difficult that I considered quitting.  I was too close to do so though.  Since 8 miles is the most I've done recently, and that was on good terrain, my legs were getting sore and my body was breaking down.  Finishing was all mental at this point though.

I had to run a little past the car to finish up.  That is because the dogs made me turn around early.  This wouldn't have been too bad, except that now I had to run up the steepest part of this trail.  It was a good feeling when I finally hit 10 miles and was finished.  I really didn't think I would make it that far, but mission accomplished.

I stretched a little, but wasn't too sore.  If I can tough it out in the snow like today, I'm good to go about anywhere.  It could be interesting because the 5K that I'm running on Saturday might have some bad conditions.  It is supposed to snow Friday night.  With an 11 AM start, hopefully it will be clear by then.

Tomorrow is my second week in a row with back to back running days.  Tomorrow is the usual LVRR Group Run.  I'm pretty excited because I noticed that there were 3 women already signed up for it.  At least I'll have some company.  Maybe some warm weather could actually make this a decent group run heading into the future.  Perhaps I'll be able to keep the run there when spring rolls around.

10 miles - 1:26:04 (8:37 pace)