Well ... a 4 hour adventure is not really what I had in mind when I ventured out this morning, but it is what I got! I headed to the Appalachian Trail, and when I arrived I realized I had forgotten my Garmin. So I looked at the trailhead map, complete with mileage markers & elevation chart, and decided to run down to the Susquehannah River & across the bridge as I figured there would be a place to refill my water bottle for the return trip. This would be 7.3 miles with about a 1,000' feet of drop, so I figured I would just get in a good long run & not worry about speed! RATNOT! This is the cuss word I made up in the first couple miles of the trail ... which I repeated throughout most of the run! Due to the RATNOT (rocky and technical nature of trail) it was really not conducive to running at all! I ran where I could, but every step required a dodge left or right to find suitable footing! Over 50% of the footstrikes where on stones, not dirt trail, and the ones that were on dirt required maneuvering to find it ... I felt like a tailback shaking defenders with left & right sidesteps for most of the run. Within the first half mile, I managed to strain my left calf, twist my right ankle, and narrowly avoid 2 faceplants with toe stubs ... so I slowed the pace & walked where necessary. The calf & ankle were minor & did not linger, so I was fine to continue. It was actually harder going down than up, as gravity gave fwd momentum, it was harder to find sound footing! I made it to the halfway point in about 1hr 45 min & the return in about 2 hrs. I managed to stay on my feet until the last mile where I managed to get both hands out in front of me to avoid a full faceplant when I took a dive. I was rewarded with some spectacular views of the Susquehannah valley, came up on a couple flocks of turkeys, and saw about a half dozen large hawks circling overhead, who I think were eyeing the turkeys for lunch. So call it what you want ... trail run, hike, rock climbing/jumping, cob web clearing, whatever ... it was a good 4 hour workout that benefited leg strength more than being much of an aerobic workout. I am pretty sure it will pay dividends for time on my feet for my fall marathon. Best part was about a mile down the road from the trail head was an ice cream stand, so I got to suck down a large chocolate shake on the drive back home! PM - went to track for a little speed work to flush legs out! 400m warmup, 6:14 mile, 400m recovery, 5:47 mile, 800m cooldown Focused on form & faster cadence
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