Friday, May 7, 2010

Avoid the Wind and Rediscover Trails

I woke up this morning concerned because I knew it was to be windy and even tho I had not been able to run in 2 days (life was going on) or maybe because I had not been running in 2 days, I was going to go out this morning.

I was pleasantly surprised to see the sun come out while I was driving the kids to school. I was dressed and ready to go, so the sun was a hint that I had to go right now and NOT go home. Home is that whole time-sucking black hole - I go in and can't get back out again and then time is gone and so is motivation. Avoid home. At least for now, while I am hating running from home.

Why am I hating running from home? Likely because there are unavoidable hills in every direction. I either run them starting out, or run them coming home; either way I go, there is WMR to contend with. Its long and its a hill and it is unavoidable.

anyway. Sun came out. Yay! I was thinking where am I going to go? I wanted at least 4 miles, and town is getting boring plus its windy so I dont really want to go somewhere too open and unprotected.

Interesting. The power just went out. Nice wind.

So here I am blogging from a new location because Ive nothing else to do. HEY DEB Im at your house! Wish you were here! lol

SO I remembered reading a friend's email yesterday and she and another runner had gone to the park and ran there; there are stairs and hills and it would make a nice hill workout if I went there PLUS the park is kind of a ravine so nicely protected from the wind. Reasonably so. Its not perfect but much better.

SO I ran in the woods. IN the park. On trails. Some very technical trails; mountain bikers use them. :) It was awesome!

Warmed up on the road first. Then I climbed Jacob's Ladder, a very high, very steep set of stairs. Had to walk some of them. The stairs are very open and honestly I get really dizzy. I got to the top and ran down the Serpentine, a steepish paved trail. Ran around the pool thinking to "rest" between hill repeats, then came back around and climbed the Serpentine and this was MUCH easier than Jacob's Ladder although it took longer. At the top I thought I would go down the Falls stairs but managed to miss a turn so I ended up on Vipert Trail which was SO Steep I walked up parts of it.
I spend a good long time on a bunch of these trails; since I was now up in that part of the park I might as well enjoy them. Time and km just flew by! It was quiet and less windy and really just so nice.

My time wasnt Great; I dont care! It was a good run. And I think I counted about 10 climbs, including another Jacob's Ladder; 3 of those were so steep I had to walk, 7 were steep, and 3 were significant long, gradual slopes. But since the whole park is a hill, there was almost no flat. So it was a good long hill workout lol. 10.6 km, 1:16:10 for time. And I stopped to check out maps a few times; I did get lost but never so much I wasnt sure how to get out; I just didnt always get where I wanted to be :):)

I will be repeating this park workout often; once a week would be nice. I would think it would be great training for a potential half Ultra.

And I actually looked at a full marathon training program this afternoon. Top run is only 20 miles; Im not sure that would be enough to complete 26.1 miles. Any thoughts?

Much to think about!

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