Since my body has been beat up, I'm backing off now. I took the entire weekend off. That is super rare for me. I decided to run today, but it was rather warm for this time of year, so I waited until the evening.
I ate an early dinner and headed out to run around 6 PM. The plan was for 6 easy miles on the Nor-Bath Trail. I thought that the softer surface would help my beat up legs. It is getting dark earlier and earlier, so I knew I didn't have a big window.
It was still a little hot for a fall evening, but overall, I can't say that it was too bad. I wore a sleeveless shirt and wasn't sweating too much in the first two miles. My grey shorts weren't even that wet after 6 complete miles. It's still not the weather than I like, but it is much, much, much better than summertime.
I went to Bicentennial Park to start the run. I thought I'd run in both directions, but that didn't happen. I began by heading out toward Northampton. I figured I'd at least go a couple miles in that direction.
I thought two days off would make my legs feel great, but that wasn't the case in the early going. They weren't totally sluggish, but they weren't sharp either. It was kind of in between, with some minor soreness.
It was fun to watch the elevation gain and not worry too much about my actual pace. I did open with a 8:26 mile. That was decent, but not super quick. A squirrel ran across the trail and startled me in the early going.
I was thrilled to make it over Weaversville Road without stopping for traffic. Then, I was on to the section that I enjoy most. The trail was fairly busy. I encountered a couple runners and a huge group of families that were walking. Everyone was taking advantage of the nice night. I had no idea what mile 2 was, but it ended up being a 7:52.
I crossed over Savage Road too with no issues. There was a guy on a dirt bike that went by. I guess he was riding on the field next to the trial. I checked to make sure he didn't head on to the trail. I then went through the paved neighborhood section. That is a nice downhill.
Originally, I was thinking of going out like 2.5 miles. When I got to that point, I was feeling decent and figured that I might as well run to mile 3. I ran to the end of the trail and had less than a quarter mile to turn around. I ran on the road for that brief stint. That road is nice because it is lightly traveled. Mile 3 was 8 minutes flat.
I had no real goals for pace, but I certainly wanted to run under 8 minute pace anyway. I was going easy and wanted it to stay that way. Halfway through and I was still slightly over that pace. Coming back had the nice uphill segment. That was about half of the uphill of the entire run. I didn't try to pick up the pace, but I guess I did. Mile 4 was a much quicker 7:46.
Again, I crossed Savage Road with no issues. Then, it was back to my favorite section of the run. One moment was almost perfect. The leaves are changing along the trail and there was also an open part in the sky. The setting sun made the sky a mix of pinkish orange and blue. It was so relaxing. Plus, it was getting cooler too. Mile 5 was a solid 7:26. I crossed Weaversville Road easily again.
The last mile was starting to get kind of dark, especially amongst the thick trees. I had planned this run out perfectly. I finished up right where I started. I do need to work on stopping my new watch correctly. I stopped it at 5.99 miles. The pace for that final mile was 7:29. The legs felt awesome by the second half of the run. I cut off a lot of time in that half of the run too.
This was a nice and relaxing run. It's so much better when I just go out and run, instead of trying to force myself into a long, double digit mileage run. I need to do this more often. Maybe a couple weeks of backing off will mentally recharge me too. We shall see.
I might take the next two days off again. I really don't want to run more than 3 days this week. I may go into double digit mileage later in the week, if I feel good. Otherwise, it might be runs just like this one. Time will tell.
5.99 miles - 46:58 (7:50 pace)
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