I've changed things up this week. Since my blister popped, my foot was quite sore yesterday. I decided to switch my off day to yesterday and get back to running today. Things were better by today.
Originally, I was going to do a long run today, after the change. Then, I decided to switch this week around and make it a cutback week. I ran 80 miles two weeks ago and 90 miles last week, so cutting back is probably a good choice. Next week will be my last big week before the marathon taper begins, so I'll probably try to hit 90 miles again. I'll have another long run too.
I wasn't sure where to run today. I decided to run at Merrill Creek, north of Phillipsburg, New Jersey. It is a scenic run, that is kind of like a stone trail and then some singletrack too. It is fast as far as trails go. I figured it would be relaxing. It was fun, but quite the challenge.
It was cloudy a lot of the run. Plus, I was under the trees for a good portion of it. It was still a little hot and humid. I went shirtless and my shorts were soaked by the end of the run.
The plan for today was just to open the week with 12 miles. The rest day was a huge help and the legs felt fresh early on. I had a decent stone trail and some views. It starts in the open, but shortly, goes into the woods.
I had several interesting encounters. One of them occurred in the woods in the first quarter mile. I came to a deer next to the trail. Instead of it running of, it kept walking toward me. I couldn't believe how close I was getting and I started to get a little worried. It was kind of like we were two runners passing each other in opposite directions. Finally, at the last minute, I moved over toward the grass and it flinched and went into the woods. I figured that it wouldn't attack, but it got closer than any deer I've ever seen.
After that, it was on to the first dam. That is fun running over it with the water right next to you. The only downside is that the stones are big and it is difficult to run on. Still, the pace is quite fast.
Before long, I was back into the woods and then to the second dam. This one is definitely the longest. It has a great views of the mountains on the opposite of the dam too. I enjoyed the view. Some women were hiking and one had a camera. I almost asked her to take a picture of me running over the dam.
I did like getting off of that stone trail though and on to the singletrack trail section through the woods. I entered the woods with a pace right around 8 minutes flat. I knew that I'd be slowing down.
This was fun for a bit. With the decent speed on the dams, I guess I was moving kind of quickly when I went through this singletrack. It seemed to go up and down, up and down. It's not the hardest trail run I've done, but it is more challenging that it seems and it always seems more challenging than I remember.
The singletrack felt more up than down. I was so happy to get to the third dam. Even though it sucked, at least it was flat and I could recover. I went over that and back into the woods briefly.
I was getting kind of tired and I still had around 2 miles left in this loop. I was through the 4th and final dam. Now, it was back to another fun singletrack section. This part wasn't as much up and down. Instead, it was more rocky and root covered. My pace had dropped to around 8:15.
I didn't wear trail shoes, so I had to be very careful on this technical section. A few rocks hurt my feet, but overall it wasn't too bad. My blister area had hurt a little earlier on, but now it was fine.
After crossing over a bridge, there was more climbing involved. That was a challenge. Finally, I got through that and some slightly open areas. I was back at my car at 5.20 miles, with 1 loop done. I was hoping for a little more distance, but I would take that.
I very briefly toweled off and drank some water. It wasn't too hot, so I didn't drink a lot. I couldn't believe how much the first loop took out of me. I was going to keep going though.
I began the second loop and the pace was faster on this flat early part. I still wasn't quite halfway done with this run. I went over the first dam.
Something interesting happened in the woods between the first and second dams. I came across more deer in the middle of the trail. This time, it was a mother with two babies. I was a little worried that she would protect them. Instead, she leaped over one of them and ran to one side of the trail, while they ended up on the other side. I looked back and they didn't reunite when I could see them.
I went over the second dam. These were getting to be tough. The uneven surface was beating up my legs. I headed back into the singletrack again. This was an uneventful up and down.
I was thrilled to make it to mile 8. I went over the next two dams and it was on to the rocky section. By now, my pace was around 8:10. I ended up pushing a bit. That almost caused me a problem. I tripped on a rocky, but luckily I didn't fall. It would've hurt a lot. My blistered toe was sore for awhile after that, but it went away.
I passed some hikers near the end of this loop. I was getting exhausted. I finished up with this loop slightly faster. I very quickly toweled off and dropped my handheld. I was at 10.44 miles.
I had just over 1.5 miles to go. I decided to run the road out of the park. It was tough because it went uphill. I ran out to 10.9 miles and turned around. I was quite a bit over 11 miles when I got back to the car. I decided to run on the trail again.
This first section of trail wasn't too bad and I ran it fairly fast. Before I knew it, I turned around and headed back. I finished up at 12 miles and had a short walk back. It was a tough run, but a lot of fun and very productive. I will certainly go back there plenty of times.
Tomorrow, I'd like to do some speedwork. Hopefully, I can run hard in the morning. I really need to get up and push myself a little. I'm not sure if I'd do a tempo run or repeats or what, but I need a few more faster runs. I might add a short evening run too. I don't really want to go over 65 miles this week. That would be a productive week.
12 miles - 1:38:20 (8:12 pace)
No comments:
Post a Comment