Monday's attempt at a long run in Jim Thorpe just destroyed my quads. Again, it left me rethinking how I train. It's frustrating because I'm really not even doing that much. I've trained far more and harder in the past, with less problems. I imagine that all the weight I've put on is a big factor. Whatever the case, I clearly have to adjust my training if I want to make any progress.
The thing I need to do right now is cut back on my running, but still keep a good fitness level. If I can recover better, hopefully I can have more quality workouts when I do run and I'll get faster. I don't think I'm going to run more than every other day for quite some time now. Instead, I'll cross train by biking. I actually did that on Wednesday. I had an awesome ride of over 16 miles in 1:30. I took it easy, but I guess that beat up the quads a little too, since they were pretty sore last night.
I woke up and at least felt better this morning. There was still definitely some stiffness while walking around. I was hoping for a tempo run. I wanted to build on my 4 miles at tempo pace from two weeks ago. I wanted to do that by either running faster or adding another tempo mile. I honestly didn't know if my body would allow me to run hard at all though.
When I was ready to run, I looked at a weather map. The radar showed a huge cell right over us already, but there was no rain at the time and the hourly forecast didn't show much rain either until the evening. It was cloudy and the temperatures were cool. I knew that would be a big help.
Even though it wasn't storming when I was ready to go, I decided to try to get in front of the storm more. I opted to head to High Bridge, New Jersey, and run on the Columbia Trail. There were a few reasons for this. First, was the weather. I also hoped some different scenery would help. The last reason was that the only time I went there was one of my best and most surprising workouts ever. I ran 10 miles there without trying to push myself and it felt so awesome and it was very fast.
I might've beat the rain, but I got lost getting there. I've been there and in the area a few times, so I actually wasn't completely lost. First, I ended up taking a shortcut, but I made the mistake of turning the wrong way and heading back on Route 31 North. Finally, a few miles later and I realized that I was originally on the correct road, so I backtracked. I then turned one road too soon before High Bridge and tried to find the main part of town that I knew, but I failed. Eventually, I did get to it.
I parked in a lot right at the beginning of the trail and walked a bit. Of course, pretty much right when I got out of the car, it began to rain. It was funny seeing about 3 different runners coming in and I assume finishing up their runs. I guess they were smart enough to pack it in when the rain comes. Not me, instead I was just starting my run. I did see a few walkers and runners throughout the run, so I wasn't alone.
The Columbia Trail has some nice scenery. It is an old rail trail. It goes through the woods and a lot of it runs on a ridge above a river. It is very beautiful and peaceful. It's not what you think of when you think of New Jersey
I think one of the problems I have with my quads is when the impact the ground more, they bother me more. I don't seem to have as much of an issue with them on faster runs as I do on slower runs. Therefore, I tried to start my warmup fairly fast today. The beginning was still kind of awkward because I wasn't landing with too much pressure. I was favoring the quads. Still, they felt much, much better than they had on Monday.
The rain was kind of refreshing when it did come. There were so many trees though that I didn't get hit by a lot of drops. Wearing a hat helped with that too.
Mile 1 was pretty good. I ran it at 8:21 and it was faster toward the end. It was perhaps a little faster than I had hoped to push it in the beginning, but oh well.
I knew the beginning of this run would be difficult. It is uphill at the start. That makes it tough on the way out and great on the way back. It is still a gradual climb, but I think it is significantly steeper than most rail trails that I run on.
One thing that was really frustrating was the surface. I didn't remember it having so much decent sized stone. Going uphill, it was tough to get any grip. I actually ran along the tire tracks that vehicles had made there. That had far less stone. One section in the beginning had new stone that wasn't packed down and it was awful. The type of stone used for these types of trails makes a big difference.
I was pushing pretty hard by the end of mile 2. That mile was run at a nice 7:42. Again, it was a little bit brisker of a warmup than I would've liked. It was actually more of a moderate paced first 2 miles, rather than an easy pace. Usually, I like to start out slower and build it faster. I didn't do it on this day though.
I picked it up a little more at the beginning of the 3rd mile. My pace wasn't too great. I couldn't get much grip. I was around 7 minute pace flat for awhile. I started feeling like my stomach was upset and that I might have to go to the bathroom. Therefore, I just decided to slow it back down to a moderate pace. It wasn't the tempo pace that I was hoping for in this segment, but it would have to do.
There's this really cool pedestrian bridge over the creek, which sits far below. Right before that, there was a steamroller that was compacting new stone. The parts that weren't compacted were awful. The compacted surface was interesting. It was very fine, almost like sand. It felt like good cushioning on impact, but I'm not sure if that hurt or helped with speed. I wasn't pushing too much at this point anyway. I was still running at a moderate pace.
I finished up mile 3 at 7:47. Now, I was heading back and knew it would be on to mostly downhill. I think the beginning of mile 4 might've been slightly uphill though. My legs weren't terrible at this point, but they sure weren't sharp either. I'm not sure I could've pushed myself at tempo pace for very long. It wasn't what I hoped for, but I could've felt worse.
At this point, I knew I wouldn't really be doing a cool down. Most of the run would basically end up being moderate paced. Some sections when I was heading back were awesome. I wasn't going too hard, but still felt like I was flying. I had taken my hat off because all the moisture in the air had made me quite wet and sweaty.
Mile 4 clicked off at 7:33. I tried to get myself to slow a little, but the downhill just made it easy to run. My legs didn't have much, but the speed was still pretty solid. I came through mile 5 even faster at 7:29.
I wanted to use the final mile as a slower mile, but again I just found myself pushing a little harder from time to time. That was especially the case within the final half mile and particularly the final couple tenths of a mile. At one point, mile 5's pace was around 8 minutes. It finished up at 7:38. With all the cloud cover, I'm not sure how accurate my GPS was throughout the run, but I would say it seems like it was fairly accurate.
The run wasn't quite what I wanted to be able to do, but I'm happy with it. I took what my body had and still put in a quality workout. I just need to keep getting more recovery, so that I can run stronger. I'm working on changing my diet, so that I can drop some weight. I also might try to do some strength training, specifically on my quads. I'd love to get a gym membership somewhere, but that would basically cost about half of what I make a week. I can't afford that. I'm now a low budget runner.
I still do have quite a few months left until my marathon in September. I'm not in an awful spot, the issue is that I need to get faster. Someone was telling me last night that I'm still it a good position to run the marathon. That would be all fine and dandy if I just wanted to run a marathon. I have no interest in that though. I've run 2 of them and neither one was much fun. If I'm going to be running a marathon, I want to be doing it to put in a good time and heading toward a BQ. Otherwise, I'd rather run a half marathon, where I can actually race. If I was looking for something just to finish and have fun, then I'd dip into ultramarathons. I want to do that some day, but not sure how I could since right now my body can't even handle this little training.
One fun event was last night's LVRR Summer Series 5K. I never run it, but always go to take photos and talk with friends. The socializing part is fun. I don't like people in general, but I always enjoy talking to fellow runners. After the race, they always have a picnic with food. I stayed pretty late and sat chatting with a bunch of friends. Stuff like that does make me enjoy running more.
It's also funny when I think about the social aspect of things. I'm so quiet and shy in everyday life. When I was in school, I was pretty much a mute. I've gotten better and the running community has definitely helped. I never used to get involved in organizations and such. In fact, I started running because I had zero activities that I did in high school, so I went out for track. Now, I'm involved in so much with the LVRR club or just other running activities and races in general. It is so much fun and I have so many friends and contacts now.
6 miles - 46:29 (7:45 pace)
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