Sunday, September 14, 2014

Easy J-burg Recovery Run

I didn't initially feel too bad after my longest training run ever of 31 miles on Saturday.  However, I developed some soreness as the night went on and then was quite sore this morning too.  That ruled out racing the Double Trouble 15K/30K or doing the Jacobsburg morning group run that Gary setup.

Instead, I rested and watched football for most of the afternoon.  I knew I had to get some running in.  The legs got better as the day wore on.  I decided to go to Jacobsburg for a recovery run late in the afternoon.

The weather is starting to get much better.  I still ran shirtless and was sweating, but it felt a lot cooler.  I'll take this weather and look forward to when it gets even cooler.

I parked at the new Environmental Education Center.  No one ever parks there.  I decided that I would head the opposite direction as usual.  Initially, I was going to run the open field loop, but I changed my mind.

The legs were stiff and took a bit of slow going to loosen them up.  It didn't take long until I felt pretty good.  I decided to cross the road and loop around Sober's Run.  That would give me some fun singletrack to start.

I wasn't paying attention, so I missed the turn for the singletrack.  I back tracked and ran there.  I felt awesome on this flat and smooth ridge section.  I wish the trail had more parts like this.  It was very helpful for the legs.

That section is never long enough.  Before I knew it, I was heading toward the small parking lot.  A guy went flying by super fast on a mountain bike.  Luckily, we crossed paths at the right spot.  I'm not sure he could've stopped if he had to avoid me.  That section is open and very rideable, but you would think someone would be more concerned about people.  There are blindspots.

I then crossed the bridge and headed over to the powerline.  It was a little cooler there as I made the climb.  My legs were a little sore, but it wasn't too bad because I took it very slowly.  It was nice and easy.

I always look forward to the downhill part and it was awesome.  I was coasting along and dropping my time.  I didn't pay too much attention to my time though.  My watch is having trouble charging now, so I switched over to my FR10.

I was back on the flat main path in no time.  I was over 3 miles into the run at this point.  I came across to people on horses.  They didn't move over and I had to walk briefly to make sure I didn't startle the horses.

I was back on track in no time.  Then, I was on to the road and headed back to parking lot.  I went over 4 miles right before that.  I passed a few hikers coming the other way at this point.  My leg started bothering me slightly.

I had planned to run the open field section for 3.5 more miles.  However, with having some minor leg problems after a big day yesterday, I decided to play it safe.  I ran out to 4.35 miles and over 40 minutes and just called it a day.

It was a solid recovery run.  It would've been nice if I could've done some more mileage.  I probably could've handle a lot more, because I felt pretty well recovered.  However, I wasn't going to push the envelope and take too much of a chance.  I have a key half marathon next Sunday and I do need the rest.

I'm taking a rest day tomorrow.  That will be good to get things done.  I'm hoping to get on the road and do a fairly hard run on Tuesday.  I simply want to see where I'm at and about what pace I can expect to run on Sunday.  The remainder of the week will probably have a little climbing, but plenty of rest and shorter runs too.

4.35 miles - 40:14 (9:15 pace) 

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