I took off yesterday as I'm still recovering from my marathon attempt. The legs seemed pretty good walking around, so I was hopeful that I could run 10 miles. I wanted to stay off of roads though, so I decided to head to Sand Island in Bethlehem.
I figured this could be a messy run and that was fine by me. I put on my trail shoes, shorts and a lightweight long sleeve top. This morning was chilly, but by the time I got out there, it was in the 40s. It was pretty nice, even with the slight breeze. One guy ran by shirtless. That was taking it a bit far.
The plan was to run toward Freemansburg for a couple miles first and then head back and out in the other direction. It didn't take me long to figure out that 10 miles wasn't happening. The quads are still quite sore and stiff. Even the easy effort on the soft surface wasn't much help. I could run, but I realized I wasn't doing a lot of good.
Most of the path was runnable, but some of the snowmelt had caused serious ponding. I enjoyed it and ran through it like it was a trail run. The breeze felt good once I warmed up. They legs continued to struggle through an 8:53 first mile.
I decided at this point that I would simply run out 2 miles and then back. I still wanted to get near Freemansburg. That section was filled in with crushed stone late in the fall and I had not run there yet. I wanted to test it out. First, I had to get through the sloppy mud.
I arrived at the stone section around 1.75 miles. It was pretty nice. I'll have to run there more in the summer. This is a place that I need to run at more often. I like a lot of the dirt surface when it is dry. There was still some snow as I got to mile 2. That mile was faster at 8:10.
I was breathing easy and the pace was great. The soreness was never gone, but it did get gradually better. I cruised along and tried to enjoy the run. The mud was fun, but the scenery is so brown yet, so it isn't too interesting. At least spring is coming and warmer weather is sneaking out.
Mile 3 was an 8:05. I was gradually getting faster. I started to feel better and figured I could probably run to mile 5. However, I decided that that was pointless. It was good to just get out there today and do whatever the body was feeling.
My overall pace slowly dipped. This final mile was even under 8 minutes. It was a 7:58. That was a solid way to finish up. I took a less muddy route back to my car to end it.
I guess I have to be patient, but I can't believe how much those 16 miles on Saturday destroyed my quads. I hope I didn't push too far and that I don't end up having the issues that I had with them last year. At least this time around, I know some tricks to get them better.
Now that I can, I'm going to run trails and softer surfaces much more. That should save my legs and allow me to do more mileage. I'll hit the pavement from time to time. Tomorrow will hopefully be one of those times. Kelley and I are planning to run at Ironton in the morning. That would be good since I don't run with her much any more.
I've been looking at possibly running the Ocean Drive Marathon next Sunday. After today, I'm not sure if I'll be recovered enough by then. I guess I'll take it day by day and hope I get better. If not, then I'll run another marathon in the summer. I'd like to try a "no pressure" marathon before then though.
4 miles - 33:05 (8:16 pace)
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