Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Repeats and Green Lane Park Trail Run

I didn't sleep enough and didn't make it to the track workout on Tuesday.  Since I'm in do whatever I feel like mode, I didn't run at all Tuesday.  I made it a rest day.

Jessica didn't make that run either.  She said she was going to do a track workout on Wednesday morning at 7:30 or 8.  That worked out much better for me and I knew I'd be there.  Since I thought she was the only one going, I was more committed to attending.

I got to the Nazareth track around 8.  It was pretty nice weather, but a little humid.  I ended up running with my singlet for the warmup, but it didn't last too long.  I ran the fast stuff shirtless

When I got there, Jessica was already running.  Her friend was there too.  They were doing mile repeats and I was planning on 400s with 200s of active recovery. 

It worked out well because Jessica's hard segment would be my warmup.  Those are both about the same pace.  We ran together for two laps anyway.  Then, she was done with her mile.  I sped up slightly.

I took off for my first 400.  The legs didn't feel good.  They sure aren't used to morning running and especially fast morning running.  I didn't expect this segment to be great, but I was very disappointed when it was over.  It was a 1:22.

Last week, I ran 1:12s consistently.  Now that I look at my results, I see that these were showing up as .28 miles, rather than less than .25 miles.  That actually makes a difference.  I wasn't running as bad as I thought I was.  I ran in lane 3, so that wasn't the best thing either.

I took a 200 recovery and didn't really recover.  I began the fast segment and flew by everyone.  Not only were Jessica and her friend running, but there was another runner and two different couples that were walking.  The second repeat wasn't bad at 1:21.

My legs weren't getting any better though.  They really seemed to be struggling with this early morning running.  I think giving them less recovery made it tough too (last week was 400 recovery segments).  The third repeat was run at 1:28.

My legs just felt awful.  I went for a fourth repeat.  I tried not to overdo it, so I worked on staying smooth and solid.  I slowed quite a bit to 1:34.

I was very frustrated and that became enough for me.  After that, I just stopped and began my cooldown.  That was a little over a mile.  I ran some of that with Jessica, before going on my own again.  I guess I didn't run as bad as I thought, now that I look at my times, but I was still falling off.  I should've just ran 2 more repeats anyway.

I wanted to bounce back from that run.  I decided to hit the trails.  I wanted to go somewhere new.  I went to Green Lane Park about 50 minutes south of my house.  It is a few trails around a reservoir.  I would've loved to have run the whole lake loop, but I didn't have time.

I got there at 7 PM.  I parked near the blue trail.  That was supposed to be the toughest trail in the park.  It started off nice and smooth, but that quickly changed.

While this trail wasn't overly challenging, it wasn't easy either.  It had a lot of rocks and roots and many short steep climbs.  It was somewhat fun.

I started off feeling terrible and didn't think I'd go too far.  The legs were just dead.  They came around though and I was grateful for that.

There were a bunch of warning signs about the trail being challenging.  These usually weren't too big of a deal though.  There were all these dry creeks that fed into the lake.  At every one of them, there was a short, but steep downhill and then uphill.  It was challenging, but at least it didn't last long.

In addition to this being, up and down and rocky and full of roots, it was narrow and turned a lot.  That made the first two miles quite slow.  I ran them at 10:00 and 10:18.

I thought about turning around at mile 2, but decided to keep going.  I figured that I'd go to 2.5 miles.  When I got there though, things really opened up.  The trail became straight, fast and smooth.  My time was improving like crazy and this was easy.  Therefore, I kept going.

Right before I hit mile 3, I came to the end of the blue trail.  It meets up with the red trail that goes on the other side of the lake.  I wanted to check that trail out, so I kept going.  Mile 3 was run at 8:49.

This part crossed over the lake.  It was a dedicated paved bike/pedestrian path and a road next to it.  They also had spots for fishing and a lot of people were fishing.  It was kind of cool, except that it was paved.

I was going to turn around at 3.5 miles, but decided that I wanted to see what the trail was like on the other side of the lake.  I guess this part is more runnable.  I saw a guy and woman stretching and shortly after hitting the trail, I saw two women running the other way.

This red trail was fun and fast.  It had some gradual elevation, but it was easy.  It was nothing like blue trail.  It was nice change after the blue trail.  I passed some kids and ran out to mile 4.  That mile was run at 7:53.

I checked the map in my pocket.  I would've loved to have run the whole loop, but it was just too long.  The sun was setting already and I was only at mile 4.  I think the whole loop is about 15 miles.  I'll have to try it some other time.

I headed back on the red trail.  This section was next to open fields.  It was very exposed and would sure suck on a hot day.  Tonight, it wasn't bad.  This whole trail system reminds me a lot of Blue Marsh in the Reading area.  They have different sections too.

I was happy to get over the bridge and off of the road.  I looked forward to getting to miles 6 and beyond.  Mile 5 was fast again, at 7:48.

My overall pace dropped to 8:55.  I knew with a very technical final 2 miles, that that wouldn't last.  I cruised along and pushed a little more on this next, smooth and fast mile.  Mile 6 was run at 8:53.

This next mile had the most up and down, in and out and was much slower.  I tried to push a decent amount.  I didn't want to go too hard though and end up falling again.  I wasn't looking to kill myself.  Mile 7 was a 9:42.

I was having a lot of fun by this point.  I didn't mind this section too much by now.  I felt better and was enjoying it.  The legs were okay.  The rocks were hurting my foot a bit, but I managed.  The pace had gone over 9 minutes now.  I finished pretty well though with an 8:51 final mile.

This run was a blast.  It was a good combination of different types of trails.  It might even be a good place for a semi challenging race.  I think there might be a little more pavement.  I'll have to check out the whole loop next time.  This was well worth the drive.

The day didn't start out too well, but a trail run always makes things better.  It ended on a good note.  Tomorrow, Gary is doing a Jacobsburg run in the evening.  I'm thinking I'll do 10-15 miles for that.  I'd also like to throw in an easy 5 miles in the morning around my neighborhoods.  That would be a productive day.

Track Workout 4 miles - 28:42 (7:11 pace)
Trail Run 8 miles - 1:12:14 (9:02 pace)

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