I wanted to get some more hills today. I was going to do repeats at Wind Gap yesterday. Instead, I made that today. I arrived at the AT lot in mid afternoon. I hoped to do 5 repeats.
It was fairly hot and sunny. Still, it was at least in the 80s. I can deal with that. I sure was soaked by the end of this run though. I was shirtless and my shorts looked like swimming trunks. I got it done though. I might be getting a little better with the heat. I guess if it jumps into the 90s, that would be the real test.
I started off going southbound on the AT. The plan was to run to the top, or at least the end of the switchback section. I did these in the winter, but that was with snow on the ground and much tougher and I had to hike. I wanted to run here because it is about my limit of running. I get close to wanting to hike and then the trail gets a little easier. It is perfect. Still, in the conditions and doing many repeats, I wasn't sure that I would keep running. I figured that I would either have to rest after each repeat or perhaps after every two repeats.
I started off nice and easy. I won't ever say any of these are a breeze, but the first one wasn't too bad. The steepest parts are near the powerline and right near the top. I know a lot of continuing to run is mental. It helps a lot that I've run this whole stretch in the past.
I made it to the top the first time. I went over a bit to a tree on a flat section. That gave me some recovery. I would've liked to have gone on the rocky trail up to the right, but that is right at the top and just too tough for me to keep going at that point. Maybe next time I am here. Each climb was just under 400 feet of elevation gain.
I ran back down nice and slowly. It is funny sometimes how that works. Going slow, I'm not as focused and stumble on some rocks. This trail isn't too technical, but it definitely has some technical spots to it. Going faster, I run smoother sometimes.
I went back up for the second repeat. I felt pretty good on this one too, other than a lot of sweat. I wove my way up. I went to a second tree this time. I headed back down. I was thinking that I might want to rest a bit after this one.
However, I recovered well on the steady downhill. I decided to push up it again. I don't remember on which repeats I ran into hikers, but I had quite a few. They were all kind and moved out of the way, but a few were probably annoyed by me. There were 4 together and they had to move for me 3 times. One older guy watched me run uphill as he was going down. I think he was impressed. I tried to beat him to the bottom, but he was move quickly and I didn't quite make it.
This third repeat might have been my toughest. I felt like I was falling apart. Oddly, I went back up for the 4th one and felt better. At this point, I knew it would be four repeats without a break. That was beyond thrilling for me, because I figured I'd need a rest.
There are two very short rocky stretches. I did hike them in the later repeats. I also stopped briefly at the top and bottom a few times. Overall though, I was basically running up or down the entire time. I was thrilled when I finished the 4th repeat.
I headed back up one more time. I thought about turning around if I saw a hiker. I did see a woman, but it was near the top, so I wanted to finish this final one. I was breathing so heavy and my legs were burning at the top, but I made it. I then caught the woman again, near the bottom.
I ran on back down and back to the road and to the parking lot. I was amazed that I finished up the five repeats and I ran every one of them. I parked next to the older guy and he talked to me briefly. On a funny note, the elevation profile for this looks like breasts.
This was a nice Friday workout. It is good to be able to go uphill on some runnable stuff. That said, my legs still weren't quite pushed. My breathing is really what limited me. I feel like I need almost 6,000 feet of gain for it to have any real impact on my legs. They are so strong right now.
Tomorrow, I'm hoping to run in the morning. I'll head to Trexler to run the longer, tougher loop. Some people are meeting at 7 AM. I was going to go at 8 AM. We shall see whether I can get up any earlier or not. I'll be at Mt. Tammany on Sunday doing loops there.
6.24 miles - 1:25:10 (13:38 pace) 1766 feet of elevation gain
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