Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Fartlek Improv

I've run a lot of miles early in the week.  Today, was my planned speedwork session.  I want to run 10 X 800 meter repeats and see where I'm at.  The mileage and trail conditions took their toll though, so I had to change it up.

The weather was nice.  I needed only shorts and a short sleeve shirt again.  I could take this weather for awhile longer.  The plan was the usual run on the Nor-Bath Trail starting at Savage Road.

I walked a bit at the start to get past a section of trail that is sloppy.  I still can't believe how bad it is after a week since the last rainfall.  I started running the warmup mile once the conditions improved.  I could tell in the beginning that it would be a tough run.  My legs weren't too bad, but there was definitely some soreness and they weren't crisp.

There was another bad section shortly after I started.  It is surrounded by rock walls, so I guess it gets no sunlight.  To avoid this section in the fast segment, I ran out farther than I planned and then turned around.

I took off on the first fast segment.  For some time, I was around a 6:05 pace.  However, I was breathing way too hard too soon and it was taking a lot of work in the sloppy conditions.  Some times I ran around the muck.  Other times, I went through it and slid around.  It was really a mess by one of the bridges.  My pace dropped and I finished this first repeat at 3:08.

That one was solid, but I would've liked to have been a little faster.  I crossed Weaversville Road on the recovery segment.  That was good.  I started the second repeat and it was quite challenging.  The legs just didn't have much today.  I decided rather early in this one that it would be wiser to slow down and change the run up.  I've got a lot of time in the future for quality runs.  There was no point in trying to overdo it, especially in the crappy conditions.

I cruised around for awhile.  I decided to make this a fartlek.  That way I could just run hard whenever I felt like it.  If I was feeling good, I'd push it.  I ran hard a couple times on the way out.  One time, I saw a guy up ahead in the other direction and went into almost all out sprint mode until I got to him.

Crossing Airport Road was a pain in the butt both times.  I picked it up before a lot of the road crossings and afterward sometimes.  I ran over Jacksonville Road for awhile and decided to turn around at after mile 4.

I ran hard here and there, but the legs didn't have much.  It was good to break up the run a little bit though.  It didn't get boring.  Still, I got to mile 5 on dead legs and wondered how I'd do 5 more.  I thought about how I toughed it out during the 50k and finished, so this would be a walk in the park by comparison.

After mile 5 came my biggest issue of the run.  My nipple was starting to chafe thanks to the heaviness of the lettering on my shirt.  I wasn't sure what to do, so I actually ran holding my shirt out away from my body to prevent it from rubbing.  I probably looked ridiculous, but thankfully not too many people were on the trail.  I considered taking my shirt off, but figured it would be too cold.

I just focused on each upcoming mile.  Getting through 6 and 7 was big.  Around Bicentennial Park, I ran moderately for about a mile.  That felt good.  I crossed Weaversville Road again, but had to wait a little bit.

I ran back toward Savage Road and through my favorite section.  This part was the most sloppy.  I need to take note of that for future winter runs.  It was great to finally get back to my car at mile 8.25.

I changed into an extra winter shirt that I had.  The chafing problem was now a thing of the past.  I crossed Savage Road and decided I'd run in the neighborhood a bit to finish up.  That had a little uphill, but wasn't too difficult.  I then got back on the path and ran a short out and back.  I thought about running to the end of the trail and running 12 miles instead of 10.  In the end, I decided not to.  That was the better choice.

I finished up near my car and was glad to be done.  It wasn't what I was hoping, but you have to take everything in stride.  Not every day is going to be a good, productive run.  I've been asking a lot out of myself this week.  I'm already over 50 miles and have about 20 to go now.  I need to back off a little so that I can run a solid 5k on Saturday morning.

Tomorrow, I'm hoping to get to the Lehigh Gap Nature Center.  I have a group run planned there next Sunday and I need to figure out the exact route(s) and mileage of the run.  I need to see what we can and can't do.  I'm thinking it will be about 13 miles or so.  It is some tough terrain, so that will be interesting after the big start to the week.

10 miles - 1:19:13 (7:55 pace)

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