Bitter Cold and Wind

Cold and wind have been the story of the winter.  Today might've been the most wind of the entire season.  It was so gusty.  Of course yesterday the weather was actually beautiful and it was my day off.  At least it wasn't as bad today as it was supposed to be.  We were expected to get some snow.  Of course the weather folks were wrong and we had none.

Since I was anticipating some possible snow, I didn't have high expectations for the run and the mileage.  That was especially the case because I was planning my weekly Trexler run.  It wasn't the best day to go there, but it was my only option to keep my weekly streak alive.  It is now up to 7 weeks in a row.

I didn't want to start in the killer wind, so I decided to begin near the Lehigh Valley Zoo entrance.  The wind was much better there.  That calmness didn't last very long.  Just a few minutes later, it was freezing.  I made sure to wear my fleece vest today with all the normal cold weather gear.

One tough thing about starting here is that it begins immediately with a hill.  It isn't the steepest or the longest, but it isn't easy either.  It is a solid 0.1 mile hill.  It got me breathing hard early.

After the top of the hill, I couldn't relax.  It did flattened out, but then I was on the mild hill on grass.  I hate running on grass, so it was frustrating.  It was more annoying at the end of the Quadzilla race, but it wasn't a picnic today.  This area is exposed to the elements and at the top of the hill, so it had a lot of wind.

They moved the trail and I wasn't even sure where to go across an open field.  Luckily I saw the signs.  I still didn't know where the trail actually itself actually was.  There was a lot of straw on the ground and that was rather annoying.

Shortly after the grass area, I was back into the wooded area.  Once I got there, things warmed up immensely.  I was now in a flat or downhill section for some time, so it was comfortable.  Of course I didn't bring my GoPro camera and I came to 6 deer long the trail.  That would've made for some great pictures. 

Most of the run was flat for a period of time.  Then there was some up and down at both the road crossing and going around the creek.  I was happy because the trail was muddy, but not as bad as I thought it would be.

One thing that is interesting is how they moved the trail around.  I'm not sure if it shortened the trail or not.  When I ran from the other direction a few weeks back, I came through this area.  I was at least sort of familiar with it.

I definitely struggled with some of the minor hills, but nothing was too bad on the way out.  I was pleased when I got past the 2 mile point.  I really hoped that I could get 4 miles or more by the time I was done.  Right before the long hill, the trail was very messy.  It is a low area and it is filled in with a lot of wood chips.  It is very muddy.

I ran up the long hill for quite a while.  I could only make it so far though before I had to turn around.  I was breathing heavy.  I might've been able to make it to the top, but if I did that, I would have to go all the way to the Environmental Center to do a loop rather than an out and back.  I wasn't sure I could do that without walking up a lot of the big hills near the Environmental Center.

When I turned around, I was at 2.2 miles.  I was very happy with that.  I did well for a while.  A lot of the first part was downhill, so now I faced some uphill.  That is where I struggled.  I got up a tough short hill that was muddy.  After that was a long hill and I just couldn't take it any more.  The hills finally took their toll.  I got part way up this long hill and just quit.  I was disappointed because I was only at 2.76 miles.  It was very frustrating.

The problem with running here and especially this back part of the course is that I don't know it well.  After a short walk, I reset my watch and began running again.  The hill really wasn't that tough or long, I just didn't know what was up ahead as I was running on it.  Now, I'm more prepared for next time.

I continued running along and was doing well.  I crossed the road again and had a short uphill.  For some reason I stopped at the top of it, like I was going to quit.  It was just a very short pause though, and then I continued on.  I came to some more hills and was battling up them for awhile.

When I got to the part where the Border Trail merges with a yellow trail, I decided to go downhill and take the yellow trail.  I just couldn't run any more hills.  I knew where I was at this point and after going downhill, I was on the flat stone path near the creek. 

I wasn't too far from the zoo, so I continued on.  I ran up a paved hill back toward the trail.  It was hard, but I was approaching 4 miles total.  Finally, when I hit that point, I was done.  Even though I stopped briefly, I was happy to at least get through 4 miles.

After walking back to the car, I was rested.  I decided that I would add some more to the workout.  I figured that I would run up the first hill twice.  It wasn't too long or steep.  At least it didn't seem that way.  It also didn't seem windy.

Of course after ditching my vest and taking off up the hill, I hit a headwind.  I saw a log at the top and decided to run until I got there.  It looked closer than it was.  The final part of the hill seemed to take forever.  I was exhausted and breathing heavy when I made it to the top.

I thought maybe this would be my only time up the hill.  Walking down it, I recovered well.  I figured why not run it again.  I did that, but this rep wasn't easy.  I battled and was finally done.  The hill was about 0.1 miles long.  The first time it took me 49 seconds and the second time 50 seconds.  I probably could've run up it a 3rd time, but I didn't want to press my luck.  The extra work was good enough.  I might try running this hill again in the future.

All in all, I had mixed feelings about the workout.  It was as much as I expected, although I didn't have high expectations because of the possible snow.  I was disappointed because I had to stop part way through it.  I need to learn to stop and walk a little if I have to and just keep my watch running.  There's no shame in doing that on this course.

I kind of feel like I'm not making much progress at Trexler.  I thought I could conquer the hills better by this point.  Maybe it is the weather or maybe I'm just not that fit.  I don't know.  The sloppy trail conditions sure aren't helping any.  We'll see what better conditions bring in the spring.

The thing with this place is you can't fake it.  Sometimes on normal routes, I can say to myself "just 1 more mile."  That usually works, but with this terrain, I never know how far I can go.  If there is a big hill up ahead, I can't go even 1/10 of a mile.  Getting to know the whole trail will be as important to being successful there as getting in shape will be.

I'm glad ran this area, since I don't know it that well.  I'll have to get out there more.  This is the start and finish area of Quadzilla.  I started off too slow and conservative last year.  I need to go out fast this year and then finish strong too.  Knowing the course inside and out will be a huge benefit and allow me to do well at Quadzilla.

I was pretty beat when I got home.  I took a short nap before dinner and that was great.  I'm hungry to run some more.  Since we didn't get any snow, I might run a double session tomorrow.  I am definitely running in the evening with the LVRR.  I may try to get a short 3 miler in in the morning as well.  Maybe I'll go to Mill Race Park or possiblly just run the Blue Eagle 5K course outside of my house.  It will be my last running day before the Warm Hearts 5K in town on Saturday.  I hope to get to 30 miles this week.

2.76 miles - 26:36 (9:39 pace)
1.26 miles - 12:13 (9:40 pace)
528 feet - 0:49 (8:17 pace)
0.1 miles - 0:50 (8:06 pace)