Yesterday's strong wind hung around for another day. Nevertheless, I was off to Trexler for my weekly run there. That makes it 8 weeks in a row now. It is about 4 months until the Quadzilla 15K. I can't wait!
I was hoping for 4 miles of running, but with the wind and hills, I just wasn't sure. I planned on starting at the Environmental Center and heading the normal direction. I figured that I could at least make it 2 miles out and then head back. Coming back is much more hilly.
I knew going out wouldn't be too difficult. I am so used to the first couple miles at this point. I haven't run back all that often though. When I did, it was during the extreme winter conditions, with snow on the ground.
I headed out against the incredible wind. I wore shorts because it was actually sort of warm, especially when the sun was out. It was so windy that I need a long sleeve shirt and a jacket over it. I had on gloves and a headband too, but they came off quickly.
The wind was a pain, but it usually gets better after a short while. I got to the giant hill and was feeling good. The wind was making me breathing a little heavy, even on the downhill. Still, I was feeling alright in general.
The massive early uphill is always a challenge. That was especially the case throughout the winter with all the snow and ice. With the trail clear today, things were much better. I would still never call the big hill easy, but it was much easier than it has been. I really didn't struggle with it until the final third. Even then, it didn't bother me a lot. It just slowed me down. I haven't made it up this hill this well in a long time, if ever. Maybe I am getting stronger.
As usual, it took a while to recover. I slipped a little in sections where the trail was still muddy, but overall I did well. I got to the rocky section after the downhill and had fun there. I was impressed when I saw that mile 1 was 9:05. That is pretty fast, especially with the big uphill.
After the rocks, I was on to the long climb. I don't mind this section, except that in the winter there is always a strong wind. It was right in my face and made climbing difficult. I was nearly at 1.5 miles. I knew I had to keep plugging along.
After the first section, this hill does get easier. That is largely because the wind is gone. It also isn't as steep after the first part. I got to the top of that part and had some brief recovery.
I continued to climb gradually. I then came across two dogs in the yard above the trail. They were barking at me and running around like crazy. Luckily, they couldn't get over the fence. They were annoying and broke up this peaceful run. I continued on.
Shortly before hitting mile 2 and the turnaround point, I came to another house with 2 dogs. I guess that is a theme along the trail. These dogs could only bark too. I was very happy for that. I didn't need any dogs chasing after me. Mile 2 was an even faster 8:32. I'm impressed with how well I can run uphill on this course.
I turned around and encountered both sets of dogs again. Now, I was going downhill and away from the wind. It was great. I was sweating quite a bit though. Before I knew it, I was back over the rocks.
I knew that going back into the zoo area would be tough. From there to the Environmental Center is a lot of uphill running. The trickiest part is the short, but steep uphill right after the pavement. This is very short, but it had me increbily winded. I got to the top. It was a struggle though. Right at the top, I hit mile 3. This was an even more amazingly fast 8:15.
Three miles were now in the books. However, I knew as I climbed the hill that I was just about done. Knowing all the upcoming hills, I just threw in the towel. I did have more left in the tank, but I'm my own worst enemy. I don't like to quit in the middle of a mile. That would've surely happened if I continued on. I also don't like to walk. That left few other options. I just quit.
The good thing I did was run the remaining hills untimed. At least that allowed me to improve my breathing some and my legs hopefully got stronger. Most of the hills weren't too tough on their own, but together, I would've never made it over them. The last one by the Environmental Center was very difficult. I barely made it to the top of that one.
I have already run some fairly significant mileage and I wanted at minimum 3 miles today, so I got that accomplished. I didn't need to kill myself. At the same time, I should push on a little more, or at least give myself brief walking breaks.
On the plus side, I felt strong in those first 3 miles. I haven't felt that good at Trexler in so long. I'm getting faster and stronger. I need to keep building up more. I also shouldn't give in so easy. When the weather gets better, I need to run the entire loop (even if that involves some walking). I should do some faster runs there too. During the Quadzilla race, Angie and Stan were walking uphill and ran flats and downhills. I should consider doing the opposite, running uphill and flats, but walking downhill to recover. That could give me some strength.
It was a mixed day, but was happy to get out to Trexler and I feel like I'm doing better. I can't wait for winter to completely leave. It sounds like there could be some AM snow tomorrow. Maybe one day it will be nice out.
I'm hoping to get up in a few hours and run with the BCR group. I haven't been there in a couple weeks. They are running at the Route 33 Boat Launch. I'd like to run an easy 5 or 6 miles. We'll see how it goes. That would be my 3rd straight day running. Sunday will finally be an off day.
3 miles - 25:21 (8:37 pace)
No comments:
Post a Comment