Monday, September 7, 2015

South Mountain (Lehigh) 15

Yesterday was a tough 30 miler.  I wanted to do 30 again today.  I definitely thought going to Jacobsburg would beat me up much less than it did.  In the evening, I was so sore that I wondered how I'd be able to run today.  However, I woke up feeling much better and was more encouraged by that.

Originally, I was going to go to the Delaware Water Gap.  However, I needed to get back for dinner.  I had to make sure work didn't call me, so I wasn't able to start until mid morning.  I slacked for a little bit too.  I decided that I would run loops at South Mountain (Lehigh).  That would give me some elevation, but also fairly runnable trails.  I began at 10:30 AM.

Even that early in the morning, it was already pretty humid.  The first loop felt worse than I felt at all yesterday.  By the end of the run in the afternoon, it was around 90.  I definitely suffered a bit.  My shorts got quite soaked.

The nice thing is that this starts with some downhill.  My legs, not surprisingly, were sluggish.  They clearly weren't recovered from yesterday.  I could tell early on that it would be a long day.  I figured that I would just see what happens.

I was conservative of course, walking any early uphill.  Even with that, I felt very slow.  My running portions sure weren't crisp.  I saw a couple deer early on and began to count them.  That kept my mind thinking of other things.  I counted 9 throughout the run (and one groundhog).

Most of the middle of this loop is a slow ascent.  It is runnable on a short run, but not today.  It was super hot too, as there isn't much shade and that was the sunny side of the mountain.  I also was breaking a bunch of spider webs.

I cruised along when I got to the downhill.  I was careful on the technical terrain, as my legs weren't sharp.  I also probably didn't come into the run with enough calories, although I was now taking Tailwind.  I was surprised to see another runner on the technical stuff.  It looked like a college student.

There was also another guy with a weed whacker.  I could tell most of the sections along the trail had recently been trimmed.  I was very thankful for him.

Instead of the normal route, I decided to try to run some of the loop across from a foot bridge.  I often get lost in this area and it seems like I run forever to get out of there.  However, I thought it might be flatter and more runnable.  It turns out it wasn't.  I hiked about a quarter of a mile and then ran back down.  At least I added on to this loop.

The top of my right foot bothered me on the downhills yesterday.  During this stretch, it started to bother me now.  It seemed like when I ran a straight line downhill, it was an issue.  If I went side to side, it wasn't as much of a problem.

I ran on the road by the lookout.  I then crossed the road and headed back up on the trail.  This is uphill and I mixed running and hiking.  I came out to the Mountaintop Campus and went across to my car.

I was at 5 miles and beat.  I knew there was little chance for 30 today, unless I recovered miraculously.  I toweled off, refilled my water and Tailwind and ate two pretzels.  It was actually breezy and chilly at the top.

That didn't last though, as I went out for the 2nd loop.  It was muggy again, especially when I climbed.  I hiked the uphills this time too.  I started trying to figure out how long I'd go.  I figured that since my goal race(s) are three straight days, maybe I could do less on this day, but do a decent amount on Tuesday.

I plugged away.  I felt like crap on the uphills, but enjoyed the descents.  My right calf was a little sore.  Since I was going so slow, I stopped paying attention to pace and just kept moving forward.

I finished the second loop, by adding some paved running around the top of the campus.  Actually, I walked a bunch of that too.  I got back to the car at over 10 miles.  I knew I had one more loop in me.

I had my usual pit stop and was on my way.  Things started off slow in the first loop and got even slower now.  I just concentrated on getting to the next mile.  I hiked even more now, although I could still run.  The technical sections had me very cautious though.

Near the disc golf course a bunch of college students were doing something.  It was nice to see some cute girls.  Most of this run was lonely.  Then, I saw some mountain bikers after crossing the road. 

I cautiously went down the technical section.  I was so wiped out by now.  The combination of the heat, humidity and fatigue were really getting to me.  I slogged along.

It was great to get to the final mile.  I then ran up through the campus again.  I had to add on about .4 miles to get to mile 15.  I did that on the hot pavement.  I finished right at my car, exhausted.

This was definitely a disappointing day, especially because I didn't really push myself like I could've.  I did that more yesterday.  Today, I quit earlier than I probably should've.  I was hiking so much and just gave in.  That said, this isn't the time to test my limits either.  That is next month.  I was hoping I could do more today.

If I can do 10-15 miles again tomorrow, I'll be much happier and more confident.  I had run back to back 20s before, but never tried this much on consecutive days.  I'd like to think with less heat, I could've pushed to at least 20-25 miles today.

My training hasn't been where I have wanted it to be.  I actually haven't run all that much, outside of the long races I've done.  I definitely should've done more going into the West Virginia Trilogy.  Of course, I also know this, but decided I would give it a go anyway.  I want to see where my limit is and how far I can push myself.  I may be able to run that whole thing in a month, but hitting that 50 mile cutoff could be very tough.  I will certainly have to feel better than I did today.

I don't know where I'll run tomorrow.  I'd like to get up to the DWG.  That would give me a tough 15 miles and leave me more satisfied with these three days.

15 miles - 3:36:16 (14:25 pace) 2044 feet of elevation gain

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