I didn't run as much as I had hoped yesterday, even though it was a quality session. Therefore, I decided to do some extra running today. Originally, I was going to run after work. Then I thought, why run and then run again 5 hours later. Why not just grab some extra miles right before the LVRR Group Run. That is what I did. First, I went for a nice and easy half hour bike ride after work.
For work, I had to drive up to Jim Thorpe for the 2nd time this week. That was a pain in the butt. I do want to run there though, so at least I'm getting to know the area better. It is a beautiful area. It's a cool little town surrounded by spectacular mountains. As I was driving home, I thought of a killer route that would be fun for a special, long group run. When I got home, I mapped it out and it is just over 10 miles. I think it would be significantly tougher than the South Mountain 10 Miler. I have to drive it and maybe run it sometime too, but hopefully I can put something together for June.
There was some great weather for today's run. It was pretty warm and humid, but at least there was a nice breeze. I wore shorts and a short sleeve shirt. I wanted to have a fresh shirt for the group run, so I wore two different shirts. I changed in between runs.
I figured that for the group run we would just run the regular route through town. Therefore, when I started early, I decided I would run on the canal towpath along the Lehigh River. It is nice and flat, but starting from Steel Stacks was anything, but flat. First, I had to go uphill out of the steel area. Then I had to run up the Minsi Trail Bridge.
Although I didn't run a lot yesterday, I did run some tough hills at Trexler. That clearly took a toll on my legs. They felt like crap today. It seemed like I was going so slow in the beginning, especially as I headed uphill. I was actually surprised that it was an 8:24 mile. I didn't think it was that fast.
Shortly after the first mile, I had to go down steps off of the bridge to get to the canal path. That was interesting. I was then onto the path. I'm not a big fan of this path because it isn't consistent. Some is stone, some is dirt and some is rocky. I better start getting used to it though, because I plan on running a marathon there in the fall. I'm going to have to start practicing some running on it over the next few months.
I was planning on going out to 2.5 miles and then turning around and heading back. My legs still felt crappy through the 2nd mile. I was dreading the remainder of the run. Not too long after that, I started feeling better. The 2nd mile was an 8:20.
One thing that surprised me is all the women walking or running on this path. I saw quite a few of them and only one guy riding a bike. This area isn't dangerous, but it is a little shady. There is brush surrounding most of it. It is kind of a nice setting though, especially when the path is dirt. That did seem to help lessen the impact on my legs.
I turned around right before the bridge over to Freemansburg. It was 2.5 miles into the run. Coming back, I was running into the sun. Throughout the run, I had to be careful. There were a lot of gnats and I didn't want to swallow any of them. I didn't feel like I was pushing too hard, but my time was quite quick. It was a fast 7:46 3rd mile.
I continued on through the heat. I knew when I got to mile 4, I'd be back on the bridge. Going back up the steps was very tough. That was almost like a workout of its own. I was breathing heavy when I was at the top of the steps. Then, I still had some slight uphill to get to the top of the bridge. Because I was running up steps, the pace was thrown off for this 4th mile. It was an 8:19 mile.
It was all downhill from that point. I cruised down the bridge and back into the steel area. There was some wind at my face as I headed to the Steel Stacks. As I got there, I was around 5 miles. This 5th mile came in at 7:41.
I still had some time before the group run, so I went out and back for another mile. That all took place within the steel area. I cruised along nice and easy. I ran around the parking lot that my car was in, so that I could grab a shirt when I was done. I finished with a final mile of 7:56. It was a solid 6 miles.
I sent out an article on the LVRR page about how group runs are beneficial and how people think they are too slow to join them, but they usually aren't. It created some good discussion. I hoped it would translate into a bigger turnout for the group run. Instead, no one showed up on this nice night.
I didn't mind running alone again. I just wish I could've known that I would have to run alone. I would've just run 10 straight miles. I am hoping to run ultramarathons and when I do, I will have to learn how to run after stopping for a few minutes. This was sort of good practice for that. I had stopped for about 20 minutes.
My legs really felt dead as I started up again. I was running into the wind too. I felt so slow and my pace looked slow too. I just sputtered along. The goal was to just run 4 miles and finish the day.
I ran up over the Hill to Hill Bridge. I passed a guy that was walking a dog and it was unleashed. I was a little worried to be running by it, but it didn't do anything. The hills on Main Street and Broad Street were kind of tough at this point. They aren't very steep, but it was still difficult.
I got slightly faster and felt a little better as the run went on. I just looked forward to getting up the Minsi Trail Bridge. Going up that was tough, but it was good when I started coming down the bridge. I cruised downhill and enjoyed the finish. I ended the run right in front of Steel Stacks.
It was a good day. I got a solid 10 miles in. It would've been nice to have someone to run with during the group run, but oh well. Tomorrow, I will be off from running. I might bike if I have the time. I'll be spending a lot of the afternoon and evening at a track meet. I'm going run pretty long on Saturday. That may or may not be with the BCR. I'm also considering running at Trexler.
Pre Group Run: 6 miles - 48:26 (8:05 pace)
Group Run: 4 miles - 34:02 (8:31 pace)
Bike Ride: 6.25 miles - 28:16 (4:31 pace)
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