I took yesterday off and recovered very well from all the weekend trail running. Since I was feeling good, I wanted some speedwork. It is going to be a rainy week, so went right after work and tried to beat the rain. I was unsuccessful with that, as it began to rain as I was driving to the D&L at Cementon.
Since I was planning to run fast, I wore shorts and a short sleeve shirt. I had on a hat, to keep the rain away. That was a huge help.
I didn't exactly have a plan. I was just going to run 800 repeats. I would've loved to had made it a full Yasso 800 and done 10 repeats. I haven't done 800s in a long time though, so I wasn't sure what I could handle.
The warmup felt good as I headed out. The raindrops were light. There was some wind, but it wasn't too bad. It ended up being worse in the other direction.
Perhaps the hardest thing when doing a workout like this is that I don't have a great sense of pace. I usually don't run this fast. It's not something that I can't handle, but it is out of my comfort zone. The first repeat was a little fast at 2:54. I was hoping to run most, if not all of these under 3 minutes.
The recovery felt good and it was over quick. The second repeat wasn't as fast as I would've liked. I think there might have been some slight uphill. I could've pushed more in the end and got under 3 minutes, but it was too early for that. I was simply trying to be consistent. My 3:01 time was good enough.
I recovered again and was back at it for repeat #3. The rain was coming down heavier. I decided that this would be my final repeat going out. I was starting to feel it. I got back under 3 minutes with a 2:52.
I turned around right near a house along the trail. I recovered okay again and took off for the 4th repeat. My legs began to feel it and I felt off toward the end. It was still a 2:56. I was pretty happy with that.
By the time I started my 5th one, I was running into a very big headwind with a lot of rain blowing in my face. It wasn't ideal, so that made it a perfect challenge. I was good in the beginning of this repeat, but everything took it's toll. I felt off toward the end. I was gassy and felt like I had to go to the bathroom. I still ended up with a 3:02 repeat.
I was close to my limit and now that I had to go to the bathroom, I had no choice but to quit after that one. It go so bad that I had to start walking during the recovery. I began looking for spots along the trail. Luckily, walking helped make it go away. The only problem was I had to walk over a mile back to the car in the freezing cold of the rain.
I would've liked a few more repeats, but I'll take 5 of them considering the conditions. I probably could do 7 or 8 of them at that pace on a good day. This will give me something to build on. I pushed myself and hopefully some more speedwork can make me faster. I signed up for a July marathon, so I need to get a little faster.
Since I only ran 4.92 miles and felt good afterward, I wanted more. It looked like the rain might subside in the evening. It didn't, but I thought a trail run at Jacobsburg would be fun anyway. I headed there just before 7 PM.
It was raining more than earlier and it got colder too. I questioned whether to wear a jacket. I put the heavier one on with the hood. That worked out well. I was freezing early on and even put it over my hands, but I was comfortable by the end of the run.
I decided to run the Sober's Run area. I didn't want to run up the powerline early, so I ran it in reverse of my usual direction. That meant some fun, muddy singletrack early. There was some mud, but it was actually more of puddles.
As I was going through this fun section, some deer ran from down below. They went through the creek. I think there were 5 of them. After running hundreds and hundreds of miles there without seeing any deer, I've now had two fairly recent sightings. Right after that, a big bird flew off the trail. It almost seemed like the size of a turkey. Maybe it was. I didn't get a good look at it.
Normally, I do enjoy playing in the mud, but I have to admit, this rain was too cold. It wasn't a lot of fun. I saw a guy with two fish walking the main trail back to his car. I then headed to this singletrack along the creek. This is a fun section that was very flooded.
I was back to the main trail shortly and over 1.5 miles into the run. I headed up the gradual hill. This might be tougher than the other direction. I then turned down a trail, looking for another singletrack section. This turned out to be wrong though, so I ended up going back downhill.
I did find the singletrack, but was on the wrong end of it. I headed back up the hill and got back on to the main trail. The gradual climb seemed to take forever. I was over 3 miles into the run now.
I got to the horse stable at the top of the hill and the horses were out. Around this time, I looked at my watch and the overall pace was 9:22. I didn't care too much about pace, but was curious where I was at.
Going downhill was enjoyable. I thought I'd have fun and do the short singletrack loop along both sides of the creek. That was a blast and I lost track of where I was at. I didn't feel as cold now and it seemed like the rain had slowed down. I was happy with that.
I crossed over the bridge and came back on the other singletrack section. This is often wet, so I knew it would be today. It was soaked. I cruised along and my pace dropped. As I got near my car, I realized that I was around a 9 minute pace.
I eventually went under that pace. I was almost at 5 miles at my car. I opted to run out a little past that and make it 10 total miles for the day. It was a fun day in the rain, with two very different runs.
Tomorrow, it is supposed to pour again. I'd love to run another 10 miles or more. Maybe I can do that with one run. It would sure be nice if it was a warmer rain tomorrow. If I don't run much, then I guess I'll pick it up on Thursday.
800 repeats 4.92 miles - 33:56 (6:54 pace)
Splits 2:54, 3:01, 2:52, 2:56, 3:02 (2:57 average)
Jacobsburg 5.08 miles - 45:23 (8:56 pace)
No comments:
Post a Comment