I've been doing whatever I felt like this week. Yesterday, I never got around to running due to some storms. Therefore, I decided to hit the track today.
It was quite nice out when I started in the afternoon. It was actually a little cloudy and cool. It was definitely as good as could be expected this time of year. I decided on 200 meter repeats. Those are certainly out of my comfort zone.
I ran a comfortable warmup mile. There was a woman walking the outside lane, but she finished before I ran the core of my workout. I noticed that the backstretch had a headwind, so I started on that turn. That meant carrying my gear out there. I also took off the singlet for this faster stuff.
There was a hose in lane 1, so I ran in lane 2. That works fine for short, half lap repeats like this. The plan was for 8 of them with 200 meter active recoveries in between. I took off for the first one. That was a little hard, but very controlled. It took 35.56 seconds. It was a solid start.
I tried to keep the recoveries slow, so that I could get my breathing relatively under control for the next repeat. The second one was good too at 34.71. I recovered somewhat well again. My body seems to like these short repeats. I thought I'd hate them, but I don't.
The third one was a 34.72. I was running pretty consistent. The fourth one ended up being the fastest at 33.92. I began to start struggling toward the end of these.
The other thing that made it tough is I felt like I had to go to the bathroom. I'd get that urge after the hard repeat was over, but by the time I did the recovery segment, I felt good again. I continued on.
The fifth repeat slipped a little to 35.72. My legs were falling off slightly in the final 100 by now. I tried to be as smooth and consistent as I could be. The sixth one was run at 37.50. This was easily my worst one.
I was starting to get a side stitch somewhere in these final two. I thought about drinking in between the fourth and fifth ones, but they were so short that I kept going. I only drank before and after.
The seventh one was a struggle, but I got it done at 36.87. Finally, I was to the last one. This time I was really going to push, even though I was tired. It was the only one that I really pushed super hard on. The others were quick, but not all out. This one was run at 35.03.
I ran .93 miles to cool down. It was a great workout. I went outside my comfort zone. It was short though and my body recovered pretty well. It didn't beat me up too much. I actually felt great afterward. Maybe next time, I'll do the same thing, but give myself some recovery and then run a second set.
Since I felt good, I decided on an evening trail run. That would put me up over 30 miles of running for the week. I decided to head to South Mountain on Lehigh's campus to run.
It was very cool by then. This time, I wore a shirt. Since I ran pretty fast, it was soaked by the end. I can't complain though.
I went hard at the start. I was running under a 7 minute pace on the pavement, before I hit the trail. I had fun flying down the trail in the beginning. I knew the descending wouldn't last, so I wanted to take advantage.
I crossed the road and shortly after that, I was ascending. This is the steepest and toughest climb. It had me breathing heavy, but I wasn't stopping or slowing too much. Mile 1 was an 8:15, with a mix of pavement and trail.
The trail was slightly overgrown, so that was a little annoying. I had fun though. There's a gradual climb after things flattened out. That was tough, but I kept at it because I knew after that would be a lot of downhill. Finally, after over a mile of ascending, I was onto some flat sections. Knowing this course so well was a big help.
I crossed the road again. I was glad to have no cars on the roads. On the hill, I noticed my pace at 9:07, but it began to drop like crazy.
I opened up my stride on the downhills and I was flying. I tried to tell myself to be careful, but I really didn't listen to myself. Instead, I flew downhill and watched the pace get quicker.
I went so fast that I almost ran off the trail completely. I was onto the road for a short segment. I saw a couple people at the lookout. Those were the only people that I had encountered.
The short climb was tough after the road crossing. Then, it was flat or descending. I flew through this section, trying to take advantage of it. I was breathing pretty heavy. I was trying to figure out if I could recover at all.
I knew the last mile to mile and a half would be tough. While it isn't a steep ascent, it is was difficult because I was pushing so hard. I was trying to run it under 40 minutes. I've never done the loop that fast.
Since I couldn't get my breathing to recover, I just decided to walk briefly. It probably wasn't even a tenth of a mile. That was great to get my breathing back to normal. I then hammered up the rest of the climb.
Everything was going good and I was just flying. I was nearly at the end of the run. Then, BOOM, I took just my third fall ever. It hurt like hell. I scraped my right knee and left hand. The weird thing is that a woman was coming the other direction right at that time. She checked on me. I didn't see a single person on the trail the whole time.
I was pretty beat up from that, so I just stopped my watch and walked back. I was at 3.97 miles. I was nearly done with the route. I probably had another tenth of a mile on the trail and some fast pavement running after that (although an uphill finish).
I was more pissed that I didn't get to finish the run than anything. I wanted to set a personal best on this route. I was hurting too though. I guess I don't fall often because I don't push much on trails. I was definitely pushing this time around. I did trip on a couple rocks prior to the fall, but I made it through those.
I'm still a little sore, but I should be alright. I'll likely run in the morning. Phil wants me to run with him. We'll see if I feel good and if I get enough sleep. I need to start adding more morning runs.
Track Workout 4 miles - 28:35 (7:09 pace)
Trail Run 3.97 miles - 34:44 (8:45 pace)
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