A bunch of friends ran Boston yesterday. Trying to qualify has sort of been my focus over the last few months (even as I'm not sure when I'm going to race a marathon again). It sort of hit me last night that I should probably do some training for my first 50 miler in a few weeks.
I'm in good shape and putting in a lot of mileage. My endurance is good. Still, I haven't done anything specific to prepare for this big race. It's just sort of been an afterthought. I have barely been on any trails at all this spring. I have a lot of 10+ mile runs, but not much in the 17+ mile range lately. I've been running all flat stuff, so I've incorporated very few hills.
I think starting this week, I'm finally going to go to the trails more. I'm also going to do some longer, slower runs. I'll add hills as well. I still won't be prepared enough, since I'm kind of cramming this into just a few weeks. However, I'm only doing the race to finish and have fun. Still, it seems daunting because I fell apart in a 50k and now I have to figure out how to run 19 more miles. I know I'm more fit now, but that's a big task anyway. I'm glad that I have Angie running it with me.
I'm still kind of in between what I want to do though. Since I have a half marathon coming up in June as well, I was hoping to run a good quality workout today. Things didn't go too well.
The temperature has rose like crazy. It hit 70 degrees this afternoon and was muggy. I thought it felt nice, but that was before I began the run. I wanted to eat lunch and then run, but storms were coming in later in the afternoon. I had to get out right before the storms. I wore shorts and a singlet.
I headed to Riverview again. I took yesterday off, so I felt awesome in the beginning. Usually, I can tell when a fast run will be good because of the warmup. I thought for sure that that would be the case today. The legs were so fresh and I was cruising along. The warmup mile got faster and faster and ended up being a 7:13.
Maybe that was too fast. The plan was 4/4.5 miles at a sub 6:30 pace. Then, I'd run 2 miles easy and another hard segment like the first one. I picked it up when the fast segment started. In hindsight, I might've been running fast enough at the end of the warmup mile. This early part of the fast running was under 6:10.
I was feeling fast, but breathing hard and this certainly wasn't easy. I came through this fast mile at 6:20. I blew past some geese that I almost didn't see. I continued on.
I tried not to think too far ahead, but it was difficult not too. This pace shouldn't have felt this hard. I guess I was struggling with the humidity. I tried backing off, but it is hard to back off slightly. If I could've run these first two miles closer to 6:30, I might've done better.
I got to the part of the trail that goes under the bridge. A bunch of geese were blocking the path, so I turned around sooner than I wanted. It was less than 2 hard miles into the run at that point. This second fast mile ended up being a 6:22.
Heading back, there was some slight uphill. That made it challenging at this pace, but that was a good challenge. Since as storm was coming, I was running into some wind. I struggled to not fall apart. I was getting frustrated and this run was becoming so hard. At 2.5 hard miles, I started to do my recovery. That was 1.5 miles sooner than planned. My pace was slipping over 6:30 at that point and I was getting worse and worse. I could tell I overdid it.
I thought maybe some recovery would help. However, my foot had bothered me on the bottom again while I was running hard. Both of my feet were sore from the pavement. I thought it was probably wiser to not make it worse. I just decided to run easy for 1.5 miles. I quit at mile 5 overall.
This run was a huge disappointment. I wanted 8 or 9 hard miles, but only ran 2.5 of them. Some of it was the weather and some of it is my beat up feet. I definitely need to get to softer places for fast running. Maybe the next time I try a workout like this, I can go to the Nor-Bath Trail.
This is the second terrible run in a row. With warmer weather coming, I might have to readjust my training. I clearly struggle in this weather. Maybe if I'm going to run hard, I'll try getting up and running it super early in the morning before work. We shall see. I can't decide whether I'll run a summer marathon or not. I might do it with no expectations. That's easier said than done though.
After resting, I decided that I needed to get back out there in the evening. I wanted an enjoyable run. I headed to Jacobsburg for an easy 4 miler. I figured I'd run the loop by the main parking lot. I thought that was about 4 miles long. This time, I'd run it in reverse.
The earlier rain cooled it off, but only slightly. It was still muggy and humid. I wore shorts and a shirt again. Even with the easy run, I was soaked by the end.
I started off by the new building. Then, there were some uphills. I went super easy. I also felt so relaxed. I knew the hills would be kind of tough, but actually they weren't bad.
The biggest issue is that even with little effort, I wound up breathing heavy in the muggy air. I didn't look at my watch at all in the first mile. It was a 9:04 mile. With how slow I ran and the hills, I was surprised that it was that fast.
I cruised along. The miles seemed to take a long time. I was enjoying the scenery though. I noticed Wind Gap in the background. That was cool. I tried not to look at my watch until mile 2, but I accidentally took a peak around 1.6 miles.
I didn't even hear the watch beep for the second mile. That one was 7:54. I looked down and it was at 2.17 miles. Now, I had mostly downhill to enjoy. Before that, there was some gradual uphill that was slightly challenging.
I went easy downhill as well. This third mile seemed to take awhile. It was nice running alongside the creek. I realized that this route would be shorter than I thought though. Mile 3 was an 8:08.
I arrived back at my car at mile 3.4. I thought about beginning the loop again, to get to mile 4. Instead, I went across the road. That would give me some slight uphill too. I continued on. At 3.95 miles, I saw two people walking up ahead, so I turned around and got to mile 4. That was an 8:22.
This run was so relaxing and much needed after the terrible afternoon run. I need to get on to trails more. Even though everything is still dead, it is nice anyway. It saved my legs too. Oddly, it began to rain as I was walking back at the end of each run today.
Tomorrow, I'm meeting Kelley in the morning. We're doing a short 4 miles. Then, I want to run at Trexler in the afternoon. I really want to run 2 loops, even if they are super slow. The tricky part is that I often struggle to run 1 loop there on my own. Two might be very difficult. It is a good mental task though. I plan to walk a lot of of the hills.
Afternoon Run 5 miles - 34:33 (6:55 pace)
Evening Run 4 miles - 33:28 (8:22 pace)
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