Disappointing Run in Jim Thorpe

Saturday's hard trail run at Jacobsburg took a lot out of me.  I wanted to get up and run Sunday morning, but was very stiff when I woke up.  I decided to wait until the evening.  I worked during dinner and it poured like crazy, so I passed on running then.  I thought about running around the neighborhoods in the dark, but figured that wouldn't be a good idea.

Finally, I got out this afternoon for my long run.  I was hoping I could run 20 miles.  I really need to start getting some of those done with my marathon approaching in 3 months.  I still have time, but I would like to get a few of those in.

I was struggling with where to run.  Since we got a lot of rain last night, I knew the stone trails might still be saturated.  That can make it tough on the legs.  I was going to go to Cove Road and run the D&L.  I wasn't looking forward to it though, so I thought running somewhere new would be a better idea.  I continued on to Jim Thorpe, to run the D&L there.

I ran on this trail briefly back in the winter.  A lot of it was snow covered, so I ended up running mostly on the long road into the Glen Onoko area.  That was my first speedwork session of the winter.  I drove down there today and was planning on running more of the trail.

I decided to head toward Jim Thorpe first.  My legs were still incredibly sore and just felt awful.  The first half mile to mile was like I wasn't even running.  It was almost more of a fast walk.  It is my upper quads that are a problem.  I notice that because the right one being sore, I favor it and land harder on my left leg.  I tried to concentrate on running evenly.

Things got slightly better for my legs as they got used to the run, but really it wasn't much better.  It seemed like a slow go, even with me running easy.  The one good thing was that it was cloudy.  There was a breeze along the river too.

I planned just to run out to Jim Thorpe, turn around and go back.  I saw a sign that said that that would be about 3 miles in each direction.  That seemed perfect.  I thought I would go about 5 miles total in each direction and do that twice.  Then, I could also go back to the car and rehydrate.

I passed two women on bikes and a couple walking their dogs as well as some other bikers in this stretch.  There are train tracks along this route and one cool section had old train cars in various states of disrepair.  Hopefully they will all get restored at some point.  Jim Thorpe does have a nice train downtown that they use.

There was actually some slight downhill just before the trail ended.  It stopped at 2 miles and then the parking lot continued on for another half mile.  Downtown Jim Thorpe is so cool.  It has neat old buildings and is a very charming small town.  It is also nestled in between some gorgeous mountains.  I do love going there.

The scenery and unfamiliarity of the trail did help.  It made the miles go by a little faster.  However, my hurting legs were counteracting that some.  I was so focused on them, that I didn't pay too much attention to the scenery.  There is a cool old bridge over the river right as the trail enters into the Lehigh Gorge State Park.

Turning around, I passed an older gentleman who was running slowly.  He had on a Run for the Diamonds shirt, so I told him how much I love that race.  It was a nice, brief conversation.  I was passed by the two women on bikes again.  They stopped on the bridge later and then I passed them again.  This would go back and forth.

Glen Onoko has a hiking trail and that seemed to be pretty busy, but the D&L itself was far from crowded.  I stopped at the car at mile 5 for a very brief drink.

I continued on, this time heading north.  I was hoping at some point, my legs might come around.  That sometimes happens around 5 miles into a run.  I was less than a mile out in this new direction and struggling a lot.  I decided to turn it around and call it a day.

When I went the other direction, I realized that it was much easier.  I figured that if I could turn around and go out a little farther in the uphill direction, I could run back with ease.  So, I changed directions again.  Once again, I was heading north.  It was good to battle and overcome this tough patch.

This was definitely difficult.  I just focused on half mile increments.  First, it was 6.5 miles, then 7, then 7.5 and so on.  I'm not really sure when, but at one point, my legs did start to feel better.  It seemed like I was still going uphill, so I was happy they were adjusting.

I continued to plug away.  There were beautiful mountains on both sides of me and a railroad track to my left, but not much else.  Very few people were out there.  The women on bikes passed me again and then I saw them stopped along the trail again.  Even with all the rain, the trail was in fairly good condition.  It is tough to tell if it was impacting my legs or not, but they sure didn't feel good.

I just kept pushing on, knowing that I would head back downhill.  When I got to mile 7.5, that was a big deal because I'd hit mile 10 after turning around and getting back to the car.  I continued on.  Going to 8 miles sounded good, but of course 9 was even better.  Sometime around then, a passed under a pipeline with a bridge above it.  That was neat.  There wasn't much else around after all.

As I approached mile 9, I looked over at the wall along the railroad tracks.  It looked like it could be going downhill.  That certainly would explain why things seemed easier.  I thought I felt good as I got to mile 9.  I had had a breeze at times and it wasn't too sunny.

I turned around and it almost instantly sucked.  My legs felt dead again.  This area was rough too.  There were a lot of tire tracks that had torn up the surface.  There weren't many good spots to run.  I was 4 miles from the parking lot and now realized that it would be a struggle to get back.

I just focused on getting to mile 10.  One of the park rangers drove by in his truck.  I saw him a few more times later on too as he stopped frequently.  I must've been running uphill now, because it was difficult. 

At mile 10, I just couldn't take any more.  I had thought about quitting earlier, but battled through it.  Now, it was just too much.  My legs were so sore and dead.  It was very frustrating.

I walked for half a mile.  I was still 2.5 miles out at that point.  I tried running again, but my legs didn't have it.  The biking women passed me once more as I was walking.  This would be a great place to ride far with a mountain bike.

I figured that when I had 1.5 miles to go, it was still a long walk back.  I was already exhausted and so thirsty.  I couldn't wait to get back.  I was glad that I went out so far, so that I forced myself to get back by any means necessary.

I started running again and it felt awful.  I knew I could muster over a mile of running though.  It did get better and better, but this mile still sucked.  I finished it up and had a short walk to my car.  The disappointing run was over.

I guess I just didn't recover from Saturday very well.  I thought having a day off after that would've done it.  I don't know what the issue is, but my quads really can't handle much right now.  Maybe it's the extra weight I'm carrying around.  Maybe the pills I am taking for Crohn's is having an impact.  Maybe I need new shoes.  Regardless of what the cause is, I'm struggling now and can't train as I'd like to.

I've been trying to be cautious too.  That is the frustrating part.  I'm really not doing much more than a standard marathon training program would be doing now.  My body just can't seem to handle it for some reason.  It is very frustrating.  If I could run on fresh legs, I would be faster now than I have been.  However, my legs are usually too beat up to put in the times that I'm capable of.

I guess I just have to run even less.  I need to make sure I'm well rested for my long runs and tempo runs, even if I need to cut out some of the easy runs.  I could always just bike.  I also need to continue to really work on the foam roller to massage the quads.  They are so sore after this run.

I was feeling good last week, but now I'm back to being terrible again.  I guess one thing I definitely can't do is run 4 straight days, like I did last week.  Maybe I'll even limit myself to only running every other day.  We'll see what I decide.

I'm going to try to give the legs plenty of rest. after this one  I'll do a tempo run on Thursday.  I won't run at all until then though.  I thought about doing a race on Sunday, but with how the legs are doing, that is probably out of the cards.  There is a group run at Trexler on Saturday morning, so I will probably do that.  Maybe I can try another long run (hopefully 20 miles) next Monday.  I need to recover better though. 

I feel like I'm 32, but running in a 50 or 60 year old's body right now.  It is very frustrating.  My goal for the marathon is pretty much out the window at this point.  I now don't know why I'm even signed up for the race and wish I hadn't done so.

11 miles - 1:38:25 (8:57 pace)