Yesterday's 16 trail miles at Jacobsburg were definitely tough. I felt like I had recovered fairly well from them though, so I wanted to try running a long(ish) trail run again today. It does seem that riding my bike loosens up my legs too and makes my runs better. Therefore, I opted for an easy hour ride before today's run.
I didn't get out until later that I wanted to to begin my ride. By the time I was done with that ride, it was already after 6 PM. I had not had dinner yet, but that would have to wait. I was only able to get an hour of rest before my run.
I did want to run some in daylight, but also hoped to finish at night. Originally, I was thinking about heading to Lehigh to run the trails there. However, I just opted for Jacobsburg again. That is a little closer.
I want to run ultras sometime and when you train for longer ultras, you do so by having back to back long runs. It is hard to run 50 miles at once, so you'll run something like 30 miles on Saturday and 20 miles on Sunday. I wasn't going anywhere near that far, but I wanted to try back to back double digit days anyway and see how my body would handle it.
The park is actually closed after dark. There is a gate in the main lot, so I couldn't risk them closing it on me. I parked up the road a bit. All the other lots have "No Parking After Sunset" signs, but I didn't see one at this lot, so I went there. It is where I used to park as a kid when my dad and I went fishing in the creek.
This spot was actually a good starting place. It is right in between the Homestead Loop and the Sober's Run Loop. I could run each loop and then add some mileage as needed. I ran along the road briefly and into the Sober's Run Loop. The very beginning was awful, but I felt better shortly.
I turned right early on and ran through a true dirt trail section. A lot of this park has wide stone paths. This section is a dirt singletrack on a ridge above the creek. That meant it was mostly flat and the softness of the dirt felt great for my sore quads. The early miles were still a slow go.
The roads were wet, so I guess a storm came through there. The trail conditions seemed fine though. After the dirt section, I had to run around some overgrowth. They haven't trimmed the brush very well there. I tried not to brush up against anything, but that was basically impossible. It is the second day in a row that I went through that section. I'm just hoping I don't get poison ivy.
My legs were quite beat, so I walked briefly every now and then. I even did so on the flat sections from time to time. I passed a dad walking with his kids just before the powerline trail. They were cute. I walked up the powerline trail to save my body.
Just like yesterday, it was very humid. It didn't feel too bad when I was running, but it was awful whenever I began walking. With all this early walking, the pace was slow. I knew it wouldn't be long until I was cruising downhill though.
It was great to be able to descend. My pace was faster and I just stopped taking walking breaks. I had to cruise along until I got back to the car. I was only just over a 5K into the run and I was already pretty beat and my legs were struggling.
I figured that with this slow pace and all the walking I was doing, I could finish the 10 miles that I set out to do. It just might take a while. I finished the first loop at 3.25 miles. I really was hoping it would be a little longer. I knew the second loop was 3.9 miles yesterday. I was hoping each loop would be 4 miles and then I could do 2 short miles to finish up.
I rested at the car briefly and grabbed some more to drink. I wiped off with my towel. Being able to just focus on each loop was huge. Breaking down the run into smaller runs made it so much more manageable. I guess that is how people are able to get through ultras. They know they have a long way to go overall, but they just focus on getting to the next aid station.
Now, I was running the Homestead Loop. This time, I would go in the counterclockwise direction. That is the opposite of what I normally do. By doing this, I would start uphill and be able to mostly cruise downhill to finish.
I walked a fair amount in the early portion of this loop. This is the loop that is exposed to the sun. The nice thing is that today, it was cloudy. A saw a bunch of rabbits in this area. They seemed to really be around as darkness was approaching.
As I started coming downhill, I ran by some houses next to the trail. I heard barking dogs and was a little concerned. I heard them yesterday too. They would've had to run through a lot of brush to get to me, but I wouldn't be surprised by that. Thankfully, I had no issues.
I ran through the Boulton Historic Site. There are some cool buildings there. I usually run through there so fast that I don't take much time to look at them. At my slower current pace the last two days, I enjoyed them a little more.
I didn't feel terrible when I hit mile 5, but I didn't feel good either. I figured that I would finish the run, but it also wouldn't be easy. I enjoyed a lot of this fast section back to the main parking lot. When I got there, I refilled my water. I drank a lot of water today, but only used 1 electrolyte tablet.
I went up and down the hills around the new construction site and was back at my car. That was after exactly 4 miles on this loop. I was at 7.25 miles total. By now, it was really getting dark. There was still visibility, but I knew it would be short lived.
I rested again, but only briefly. The frustrating thing was that my shorts were just soaked by this point. I really hate the humidity. I grabbed my headlamp and headed out for the final 2.75 miles.
The bugs fly at the light of your headlamp. That took some getting used to. After some time, I didn't even notice it. This time, I wasn't doing a full loop. It would just be an out and back segment. I figured that I would just run on the main path. The problem was that I forgot how to get to it. I didn't go out far enough and I ended up on a narrow, dirt trail.
I knew where I was, but wasn't really sure when this would come out to the main trail. There was so much cover that it was tough to see more than a few feet in front of me, even with the light. At one point, I stumbled over a root that I thought I was past. At least I didn't fall. I decided then that when I found the smoother main path, I would follow it.
Eventually, I came out to that path and ran out along it. I was nearly to the parking lot when I turned around. This was 1.25 miles into this segment. That meant I would have to run an extra quarter mile at the end. However, this trail actually curves near the end, so that added some distance. I saw a small frog hop toward me on the trail. That was kind of cool.
It was now very dark and I looked forward to finishing the run, as I approached the final mile. This part was all flat, so I ran it. I was sputtering along, but still going. I ran most of these final 2.75 miles.
When I got back to my car, I had a tenth of a mile to go until I was done. I briefly ran up the Homestead Trail before turning around. I was beat, but glad to have 10 more trail miles under the belt.
Although I'm very sore, these last two days were a good test. I'm sure no ultra runner yet, but I'm working on it. I love being able to walk here and there and recover when I need it. Not worrying so much about pace and just enjoying the trail has been a big plus too. Bringing along water has helped as well.
Tomorrow, I might bike, but I definitely won't be running. I need to take it easy now with Quadzilla coming up on Sunday. To keep my Trexler streak alive before the race, I'll probably run there on Thursday. It will likely just be an easy 3 or 4 miles. I'll be quite busy with basketball games over the next week and a half, so fitting it workouts will be interesting.
10 miles - 1:53:18 (11:20 pace)
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