Trailblazing Snow AT Run

Sunday was an awesome group run up the mountains and through the snow.  I knew I was taking Monday off.  I didn't plan on being lazy and taking Tuesday off too.  That is what happened though.  I had to get out and run today.

I headed to Wind Gap to run the AT.  Lately, I've gone southbound.  It has been awhile since I've gone northbound.  That climb is a bit more challenging, as it doesn't switchback.

It was a bit windy and chilly at the start.  I still went with a lightweight long sleeve shirt and fleece vest over top.  I had on tights and wore gloves and a headband.  I had no way to protect my feet from the snow.  I may need to start using gaiters.

There wasn't as much elevation in this run as Sunday's so I figured it would be easier.  I turned out to be very wrong.  They had a good amount of snow on the ground up there, but we have even more.  This was my first run in trail shoes (technically road shoes with MICROspikes) around here since the snow last week.  The really tough thing about our snow was that it is soft powder and kind of slippery.  It doesn't pack down like the snow in Central PA did.

I ran slowly up the mountain early on.  I got a couple hundred feet of elevation gain.  Then, the trail became too steep and combined with the snow, a real challenge.  I just had to hike up the mountain.  There had been a few hikers footprints and that helped a bit, but it wasn't great.

Even hiking upward was extremely hard.  My calves weren't warmed up and they were burning.  They were getting quite the workout.  My breathing was labored too.  I thought this might end up being a short day.  I continued to hike.

Even hiking slightly uphill along the ridge on the side of the mountain was interesting.  It was a struggle.  I knew I had to get to the top.  I really hoped things would get better up there.

That wasn't exactly the case.  Even as I was near the top, there was still some gradual uphill.  I had to alternate hiking and running.  It was a super slow go.  The terrain was uneven with the hidden rocks and such.  It was nearly unrunnable.

At this point, there was only one set of footprints remaining.  My feet were getting buried in snow and they were quite cold.  I just kept battling though.  Even if my time was slow, at least I was getting a good workout.  This was very hard.

I never expected this attempted run to be this difficult.  Finally, I started running slowly when the conditions permitted me too.  For whatever reason, it seemed to get better.  I still couldn't run well, but I could finally run.  There were some snow drifts in places and that made things interesting.

I ended up running almost the entire second mile.  Since I didn't have to hike any more, I continued on until that point.  It was so slow that these two miles took over 35 minutes.

I knew heading back would be much better, as it was almost all downhill.  That was the case.  I was so focused that the third mile flew by.  You have to really pay attention to every step in conditions like this.  At one point, I looked up to make sure that I was still on the AT.  I was just following footprints at that point.  There was really only one way to go.  If the hiker had hiked off trail before me, I would've too.

Coming back was also nicer because the trail was packed down a bit.  I could run along fairly well.  The descent was a lot of crazy fun.  I was flying down it and sliding around.  It was good practice.  I thought about how having a skiing background could help in these conditions.

I got to the bottom and was near mile 4.  I wanted some more elevation gain.  I turned around and slowly ran back up the hill.  Once I was forced to hike, I went down the hill again.

Again, I ran up.  I wanted to get over 1,000 feet of gain.  That would make for a quality run.  With the resistance from the snow, it was awesome.

I descended another time.  I had only run up the hill partway both of the last two times.  I realized that I'd be close to 5 miles when I finished up.  I turned around and ran about another tenth of a mile or two.  I then went downhill and finished with a solid 5 miles.

Although I would've liked more mileage, I ran for well over an hour.  I got some elevation gain.  I ran a tough route and got an awesome workout.  It got easier as I had made more and more tracks.  I now have a good place to run in the future.  I'll have to go out the other way and work on that too.

I'm not sure where I'm running tomorrow.  If I don't work, I'd like to go out to the Hamburg Reservoir.  I think they've had less snow out there.  I saw the Philly area barely has any snow.  That could be an option too, if I have the time.  I'd like a quality semi long run.  I might have to break out the snowshoes more often around here.

5 miles - 1:16:35 (15:18 pace) 1135 feet of elevation gain