Long Ride, Short Run

I've been slacking a bit this week, at least in the biking part of my workouts.  With two days left in the week, I was only up to 31 miles of biking and 33 miles of running.  The goal was to run 40 miles and bike 100 miles again this week, like I did two weeks ago.  I'm going to try to keep this level up for some time.

That meant I needed to bike and bike a lot.  The weather was pretty much perfect, so I headed out this afternoon to ride.  My longest ride to date was 31 miles.  The plan was to get 40 miles in today.  I knew that would be difficult for my body, but I was up for the challenge.

I thought about riding around Lake Nockamixon.  The roads there are pretty good, with wide shoulders.  The terrain is generally flat and you can make a nice long loop out of it.  I mapped it out and the loop came to 18 miles.  That would've been perfect.  However, I just didn't feel like driving that far to bike.  I'll have to go there with my dad sometime while he kayaks.

I opted instead to ride around the neighborhoods as I usually do.  Doing one loop around everywhere over there is typically about 15 miles.  That meant I had to do a lot of it over and over again.  It got kind of repetitive, but I got used to it.  I did go out a little farther than usual and rode a new section, but I usually wasn't too far from home.

I went the whole ride with nothing to eat and only 24 ounces of water.  I should've stopped back home and refueled, but I wanted to keep going.  I was starting to get a little crazy by the end.  I was singing Christmas songs and 80s songs to myself. 

It was great to finally be done with the ride.  I'm glad I was able to go that far.  I still have to put in 29 miles on the bike tomorrow.  Sometime in the fall, I think I want to try to do the bike leg and running leg for a Half Ironman.  That would be 56 miles on the bike followed by 13.1 miles of running.  That would be quite the challenge, but also fun.

I still had 7 miles to run this week.  I'm thinking about running with the BCR tomorrow morning.  They will be nearby at the Nor-Bath Trail.  I don't want to run 7 miles then, so I decided to do a short run at Jacobsburg this evening.

It was a great night for a run.  It was nice and cool.  I wish this weather would last, but I know it won't.  It'll probably be gone early next week.

I parked in the main lot and started out on the main path.  Since it was such a short run, I wanted to try to run the whole time.  My legs weren't great, but they weren't as bad as I thought they would be.  A 40 mile ride would tire me out no matter what.

The first mile was kind of slow.  I struggled some on the long uphill.  Then, I got into a groove.  I had so much fun flying over rocks and roots in the singletrack section, especially on the downhills.  I'm doing so many long runs lately, that I can't often run hard or fast.  Today, I just flew along.  It was starting to get dark out, so that was a little tricky.

It was still only a moderate pace.  The second mile was much faster than the first and I ran it well under 9 minutes.  I thought about turning and heading back, but I knew if I took nearly the same route, there would be a lot of up and down.  I figured that my legs couldn't handle it.

Instead, I ran out to the road.  I figured I could cruise along the road for about a half mile.  It was mostly downhill too.  I was back onto the trail in no time.

I knew this next section would be very difficult.  There is a pretty steep climb up behind the new building.  I had to just keep pushing.  I was going so hard that my overall pace dropped even while going uphill.

After the hill, it was all downhill or flat.  I was now inside the final mile of this 4 mile run.  I was cautious through the steep downhill section.  I didn't want to trip where I fell last week.  My pace dropped a bit because of that.

I then got back to the main parking lot and decided to do a short out and back on the main trail.  I was approaching 3.5 miles at this point.  I figured I'd either run out all the way until 4 miles or turn around when I got to the uphill part.

I came to the uphill at 3.7 miles and then headed back.  I was really flying and pushing now.  Most of the run was moderate pace, but this was closer to a fast pace now.  I finished up at the bridge and it was great to be done.

Tomorrow will be a busy one.  If I run with the BCR, I'll probably do 4 miles.  I was considering biking there and I haven't ruled it out, but it is unlikely.  I would have to get up earlier and getting up to drive there on time is hard enough for me to do.

Biking 40.13 miles - 2:49:13 (4:13 pace) 
Running 4 miles - 35:25 (8:51 pace)