Short and Humid Run

I haven't ran much this week with my 50K coming up.  I only ran once in fact.  Because my regular Garmin won't last the entire race, I decided to get out there an test out the Garmin Forerunner 10.  I plan on using that for part of the race tomorrow.

I decided to get out to the Nor-Bath Trail for a short run.  The plan was just an easy 3 miles.  I wanted to get out with the BCR this morning, but as usual, that didn't happen.  That probably wasn't a bad thing though since they ran on pavement.

I started off at Bicentennial Park.  Instead of starting on the east end of the park, I began on the west end.  The plan was to do an out and back toward Northampton.  That meant one road crossing, but a relatively light one.

It is very hot and humid for October.  It isn't as bad as the summer was, but it was in the 80s by the time I started.  It wasn't too bad in the first mile, but by mile 3, I was soaked.  I signed up for this 50K partly because I figured the weather would be nice.  Instead, it'll be brutal tomorrow.  At least I trained in worse weather most of the summer.  I ran without a shirt today, but even that didn't help.

I zipped across the street in front of a motorcycle at the first road crossing.  Then it was smooth sailing.  There were some people out walking and biking, but as usual it wasn't crowded.  I ran by where they had a race this morning.  It was a race that I finished 2nd overall in last year.

I wanted to run to 1.5 miles, but I didn't want to cross Savage Road, so I wound up turning around at about 1.47 miles.  That was close enough.

The first 2 miles were very consistent.  Each one was run at 8:30.  I guess I was heading downhill on the last one, because it was much faster.  I wasn't running with more effort.  I even had to wait for a few seconds at the road crossing and I still ran that final mile at 8:01.

I was great to be done.  I'm looking forward to the race tomorrow, even though it'll be hot.  I was hoping to race some of it, but with the heat, it will now be very easy and cautious.  I just need to finish my first ultra.  I'm a little worried because my calf continues to be sore.  It bothers me initially and then things get better as I go on.  Hopefully running on trails will help.  I'm sure it will still bother me at the end after a lot of mileage.  I guess I'll know in another day.

3 miles - 25:02 (8:21 pace)