21 miles SLOWLY

I had my heart set on a long slow run for the end of last week. Friday I farted around all day and never got out for any run. The crapped weather played a part in that, altho I don't mind running in the rain too much. Then Saturday turned out to be a effed-up schedule because of all the rain storms over the past few days. Soooo, Sunday early a.m. I was ready to hit the trails for a maximum distance effort.

Decided to wear my new hydration pack for the first half. Ended up being 11 miles with pack, felt much better than before. Even stopped to stuff in an old bottle along the trail (yes, new hobby is bottle collecting. Sounds so olde fuddy duddy I know, but I like old crap, history, etc., and I've found a few spots in the woods with what I will call farm dumps (ok, so they're trash piles... but they're old trash piles so the stuff is like practically antiques!). Anyway, I'm getting comfortable with the hydration pack. And I came home with a circa 1940's ASCO brand vinegar bottle for me new collection.

21 miles never goes down too easy. Felt tired almost right away. Stopped back at the car every 3 to 6 miles for water, gatorade, Gu & cereal bars. Avoided most of the hills, total climbing over 21 miles was approx. 1200 feet. Time: 3:32 which is about exactly 10 minute pace. That includes a good 10 or 15 minutes of stoppage time for the car refueling pit stops. Quite muddy out there, but I purposely avoided the worst of it. Warm for mid-November; start 50 & end 60 degrees. Did a good bit walking - top of every steep hill plus a few short breaks in the last couple of miles.

My legs & feet feel remarkably good. The slower pace must really work for saving the body! Also I love these trail shoes - Asics Trail Sensor 3. Never dreamed I'd go back to Asics, but being forced into these shoes has worked out great. I am def buying another pair soon before they friggen change (i.e. screw up) them.

Overall impression: i don't know how the heck I'm going to do this 50k race that is now 6 weeks away. I hear the hills ain't too bad over at Fair Hill NRMA, but just the 31 miles itself is daunting. I didn't eat well the night before this 21 mile training run, so maybe I can get some energy there. Also, this is my longest effort since May, so maybe I can add to my endurance some more before taper begins. This run was 3:30 . . . I figure the race may take 5:30 so I really need to increase my 'time on the feet' over the next 30 days.

Anyone want to join me for a four & a half hour trail run next weekend? yeah, didn't think so! and I've got the last race of the year (Rothman 8k) so I guess that 4:30 LSD will have to wait 2 weeks.

Snake Pit Wednesday

I did a small easy trail run today. Kind of an unfocused week for my training, so I decided I'd explore every new trail I saw that I haven't been on yet. Plus I did my usual yellow trail loop & red trail loop both backwards. Woo - hoooo, living dangerously! Total mileage 6, 4 running & 2 hiking.

Funny, when going the opposite direction you really do see things differently. Some side trails that typically look so minor were like open invitations to run down. And I did. Kind of warm day, and I saw deer, squirel & chipmunks all busy and scampering wildly when interupted by random human running down their trails. Most interesting sighting: one new trail led past an old house foundation. I stopped for a few mins and explored around. Stone bldg, with 'newer' front & back patios of yellow brick. Those looked to be 1950's -ish add ons to an older (1920's ish??) house. Basically I suck at knowing how to date these things so I could be way off. House collapsed both into the basement and along the sides. Piles of stones, just a few bricks. Up & just a few feet away was an old hand dug, stone lined well (more in a sec on that). Down the path about 50 feet was another stone foundation that appears to me as a work house of some sort. More crudely built and it's right over a spring that runs out an arch at the one end. Still standing, some wood & hinges intact. But back to the well. I peered down for a moment - hard to guess the depth but maybe 20 feet. Lots of sticks down there, no water visible in the bottom. The 'drum' which used to hold the rope & bucket have been dropped down into the well. Cool stuff, i like to explore old sites like this. Anyway I thought I saw something like maybe made from leather stuck in the wall most of the way down. Maybe some kind of climbing gear that was left behind by someone? Would I dare to climb down there and trust that I could get out? I moved to the other side to get a better view - and damn if the thing didn't move!! It was a big black snake. Very thick and strong looking. Then my eyes focused on several more down there. 2 big ones and 2 smaller. Three appeared black, at least one of those with a white underside. The forth guy was maybe a garter with short stripe pattern (not lengthwise), or maybe even some other type of snake. Freaky snake pit ! I wonder if they were getting ready to hibernate of if they've fallen in there and can't climb out?

Anyway, it was way cool as I like to explore & discover stuff like that. When I got home I quick grabbed my boys and we went back with flashlights so I could show them. We were all Indiana Jones snake-pit exploring style. I try to instill them with a sense of adventure with stuff like that. In fact, we were having so much fun that I lost track of time and my son was late to soccer practice. Oops.
I did alot of exploring around when i was a kid. The best line of the day: my younger son said, "I wish I could invent a time machine so that Joey & I could go back in time to when you were a boy. Then we could do nature hikes & explore with you when you were a boy."

Awesome.

LSD for fun

I've decided to begin my long runs for January's 50k. I don't remember if I've even mention yet that I'm going to attempt a 50k trail run - this will be my longest run ever!

I've been racing quite a bit, and got some new PR's. The last race I've signed up for this fall is the Rothman 8k (same day as Philly marathon). After that I plan a phase of longer trail runs at easy pace. I just feel a bit burned out from the same old 5k / 10k race circuit so next year I want to focus on fewer races overall, with more trail races, and longer distances. Then maybe next fall I'll be ready for my marathon redemption.

The best of my recent racing was my PDR half marathon 1:31:13 in late Sept. This is a new PR by several minutes. That race was followed by an awesome 10 mile trail race, very challenging course. Next was the 15k which was a PR by about 30 seconds. Then Sunday - i haven't written the race report yet - I nailed another PR. This time it was 10k distance and only 9 seconds over the old PR. I ran some other races in the last few months, but those 4 are the highlites.

I like that the PR's came in order from longest distance to shortest. And the longest race was a PR by alot of time, and the short distance was a PR by only a few ticks. The race in the middle was PR'd by an amount in the middle. That's nice. It's not symmetry, what's the word for it? Fung shwei? NOT. Balance or harmony or something. Jeez, I wish I was better with the written word.

Anyway, I usually don't do long slow runs unless they're aimed at a speific target. Last Wednesday I headed out to the trusty woods for a scheduled 5 or 10 depending on how I felt. It was a crappy rainy morning, and I was very close to not running at all due to the weather. I didn't want to do the treadmill . . . but I wasn't really looking forward to the mud bath. I had actually mentioned to a few people in the morning that I was schedule to run long in the woods and was going to cancel. But I forced myself to get out there. I'm glad I did.

The rain was mostly over by lunchhour when I started. Light drizzle with huge puddles. Right away I felt good to be out there when nobody else was around. I planned to do a 5 mile loop back to the car and decide how I felt. I wore my new Coleman hydration backpack. After a few miles I was feeling much better about running in the weather. I purposely took the creekside trail. Wow, it was totally flooded. Some of the puddles were 8 or 10 inches deep, but i kept going. When I got to the creek crossing I had to turn back. The river had backed up so far that the creek was like 4 or 5 feet deep. No way was I going to try it. I was having fun but that was just too much to attempt. Not worth it. I could see the fallen tree that acts as a bridge. First of all it's grounded on the other side. Secondly, it just disappeared down into the murky water. So the prospect of jumping into there and hopefully landing on the log and then climbing up & out the other side was just too much. So I back tracked to get back up onto the ranger road.

Most of the rest of the run was uneventful. As the hours passed the sun did come out a few times. The warmth felt good. I ditched the back pack after just 5 miles. Pretty uncomfortable, will take some time to get used to running with that thing on. After 2 of the 5 mile loops and wanted to keep going. Luckily nothing scheduled for the afternoon that couldn't get done any other time. So I ate my 'after run' snack at 10 mile mark, and finished the last of my water ( I hadn't planned to go so far). And I headed back out. I saw a solitary deer. I felt the same as our paths crossed and we headed separate ways inthe woods. I found a light from a mountain bike. It was flashing on the side of the trail. Weird, but I couldn't get it to turn off. Later at home I took it apart, dried it out, and then it switched off.

In all it turned out to be 16 miles. Done in 2:41 - just about perfect 10 minute pace. About 2x3=6 minutes of that was refuel at the car. So actually running pace is closer to 9:30.

Followed up this LSD with a rest day on Thursday. Body feels good except for toes which took a pretty good beating. Then Friday 5 miles easy on flat trail in woods. Legs wiped out tired.

15k PR . . . and having fun!

Of course, by now you have figured out that life has become very busy for me, and blogging is taking a back seat to my other stuff. But the good news is that I've been insisting that running should not slip off my priority list.

Since my PDR half marathon PR i raced an amazing trail race, the Conestoga 10 Miler. http://www.lrrclub.org/Conestoga.html the course is approximately 3,000 feet of climbing in just ten miles. Think "steep ass hills" and then don't forget the downhills which were really kind-of dangerous in places. I had fun. My legs were completely shredded for a full week. Photo above is about half a mile till finish line.

But I managed to recover in time for this past weekend's Delaware Distance Classic 15k race. It's like the only 15k in Delaware and the whole Phila,PA region that I'm aware of so I try to do it every year. Result: a new PR @ 1:03:33 (6:50 pace). Also very interesting that in these last 3 races I've run side by side with fast women. And that seemed to motivate me greatly. All 3 cases I met these competitors during the race; the situation makes me think that maybe I should spend time with fast women more often! {PDR was Urszula, Conestoga = Marsha, and DDC I paced together with Mary. That's one amazing trio of hot chicks}

More later, I'm running late again...

Man vs. Mt Bike

Sunday I did get out into the woods for my planned 8 miles. Tried to take it easy on the pace. Had fun out there, lots of mud & downed branches. Several very large trees down including one huge oak that fell across trail (near the upper boulder area of Eden ridge). I like these obstacles to climb over, but i'm pretty sure they will clear them out quickly like always.

I did have a near miss head-on collision with a dingbat on a mtb bike. Crazy bee-otch! At the end I happened to see her & bf/hubby in parking lot. So I very nicely go over, strike up a conversation and steered topic to rules of trail/priorities. They were like immediately, "yeah, we know, but hadn't been out in a while and sort of forgot the courtesy of always letting hikers & runners take their line first. The dude was nice enough about it, but the girl never actually apologized. This is a perfect example why bikers should be banned from most single-track trails around here...too many users already...no manners (on & off the trails!)...and everyone knows the bikes do the most damage to the trails. It's losers like this lady that give mtb riders a bad name!

Slip & Fall

Not only have I fallen behind on the blogging yet again, but today I had a nasty fall while on a long hike along the Conestoga Trail. Took the wrong line thru a creek crossing and was on some slippery mossy boulders when I lost it. Actually went over a small (very small) water fall and down to the next level. Landed hard, bounced over a few other rocks and finally stopped in a sitting position - right in a mud puddle. Got up & climbed out of there to quickly get moving again. Then started assessing the damage. Could've been worse.

Fri-Sat-Sunday notes

Moving backwards to record my recent workouts:
Sunday - 6 miles trail run. Worked hard on the uphills. Started to feel really good after the half way point but resisted the urge to add on extra miles. Went out there to get 5 or 6 at medium hard effort and got it done. Weather 70 degrees & 95% humidity.

I'm just taking these workouts one or two days at a time. Not 'planning' or scheduling anything to far in advance. Enjoying it, and damn well hope it leads somewhere!

Saturday - 5 miles easy around neighborhood. Got out there early, weather pretty good after yesterday's massive thunderstorms. Surprised to see some of the splits were quick (in the 8:00 to 8:15 range) but the effort was easy.

Friday - 10 mile hike at medium pace with 3x 5 mins. breaks. This is my first official training hike in prep for the SSH challenge. Since I have a knack for getting lost in the woods, I hooked up with a few other hikers. I feel like I now know this half of the course pretty well and next time on these trails I'll be running (where possible - tough trails here). My legs were feeling a bit of a pump at the conclusion of this 10 mile hike.

The following is a detailed report of these trails. I do this as much for any others who plan to cover this ground as just for myself so that I can remember the tougher sections. We hiked S2N, so I'm reconstructing these notes because the race is the opposite direction.

Beginning from Otter Creek Campground: first of all, we skipped the the first mile loop up to Osprey Overlook thinking that any one of us could come back on our own to do that piece anytime. Sooo...
the trail literally goes right thru the campground. Blaze marks are blue. Uphill from 'lil store thru a few sites and goes into the woods toward Sawmill Run behind campsite 92 (or there about). Immediately you get some thorns & stinging nettles for a short patch, then woods along creek to wooden bridge. Nice view before steep short climb to logging road. This is State Game Lands(SGL) 83. Road is muddy, deep potholes/puddles to be avioded. About half mile run up to left turn where Furnace Run joins Sawmill. Now along different old road...more grassy/overgrown. This is about a mile long gradually climbing & changes from grassy to wooded alongside creek. Parts have slippery rocks.
In general, long stretches of this trail are rocky. And these rocks are often in speckled sunlight making them tough to see. And sometimes wet and/or mossy (i.e. tricky footing). Generally most the running is in the first half of the course (from stories I hear about 2nd half)...and on the first half I can see that most running is early - i.e. first quarter of this race will be faster whether you go out too fast or not!
Now the trail climbs very steep, then short flat ridge before coming out to an utility road. Turn left, this is easy running segment, third of mile, then thru gate, right onto paved road for 150 yards, crossing road into woods. Look for blue blaze mark, and big poison ivy patch. Short rocky/choppy section in woods, left turn to a total bitch of a section along the side of a corn field. Really overgrown with p. i. and some thorns. I sent a message to the local trail club that this section really needs to be cleaned up before race day; otherwise, maybe corn crop will be done and we can run where the first row used to be. You pop out at a "T" intersection and go str8 across onto Newcut Road (slight uphill). The next mile is roads: gravel (Newcut) then paved (Posey) then gravel (past Blaine jct). A right takes you into SGL 181. This is a wide grass/gravel road. Shade, uphill, nice.
This is mile marker 6, and first water stop here. Then thru gate & start downhill. Longgg steady downhill... old road now has become thick, high grass. Still very wide. This is like a beautiful old country road to nowhere. There's a bend in the road, and when you go around it then the grassy road looks like it just goes down down down forever. This should be the fastest running mile of the entire 25 mile course. No kidding this is almost a mile of steady downhill grassy old farm road with the last half mile straight as an arrow down into dark heavy woods and with woods lining both sides all the way down. Awesome! Wouldn't it be great to run downhill all the time? When you enter the woods at the bottom the trail goes left alongside a creek- this is Oakland's Run. It's like at least 15 degrees cooler in here compared to out in the sun. There's a huge rock I call the "Steamship Rock" which is practically all by itself on the forest floor and jutting out from a hillside toward the creek. (btw, there's a geocache find exactly here if u r so inclined). Anyway, you follow the creek down hill at least one mile toward the mighty river. At one point you cross creek and then climb several steep up & down sections. You're moving from a Hemlock stand, or grove, into what i can only describe as a Rhododendrum Forest. I've never seen so many rhodo's all together. Must be awesome in springtime. Rocky stretches & unsafe footing for running as you get to the bottom of the run and then turn right as the trail goes alongside the Susquehanna for about 1 mile. When you start to pass a few little cottages, the trail begins to change into another grassy old road. When there's a fork, stay left along the river. This didn't seem well blazed/signed...stay left. The road becomes more of a gravel road. You will pass the hydroelectic dam and a few DANGER signs - no swimming, duh. Just after the damn, look for a right turn off road up into the woods. This is well marked. Climbing uphill steady, then more steeply. Cross under 2 electric power lines - this area is steep with unsure footing and somewhat overgrown with p.i. and thorny patches. Finally levels out for a short piece, but then very steep downhill on some newly cut-in switchbacks. Loose footing - dangerous. At the bottom is Mill Creek. You hug the side of the creek for a few minutes. Rocky and slippery. At the bottom where the trail joins a gravel road is a great waterfall but you'll have to stop & turn around to look back up at it... just when the road offers the chance to run once again.
Big sections of this trail are not 'runable' because it's just too steep up (or down) or because of slippery rocks. You have to pick your spots. And be ready to slow down as soon as you see terrain changing. Be ready to walk/hike. If this was a shorter race you could attack every hill, but this is 25 miles amigo!
Take a right when the Mill Creek hits the gravel road. Almost immediately look for left down a short embankment. There's a very old looking stone foundation here, and a guardrail along this side of road. Short descent gets you onto trail alongside the big river. Slippery rocks for a half mile until the Historic Lock 12 area. Should be able to run along here, pay attention to trail...not views. Arrive at playground/restrooms/parking lot and this is water stop #2. Course is a bit of mystery after here, but assume you go uphill thru both parking lots, left on gravel road, left onto highway and then across Rt 372 big bridge. I don't see any other trail leading up onto bridge approach. Plus that would round up the mileage to make this side of the river 12 miles ( and other side will be 13). Other side is supposedly more challenging climbs & descents. Look forward to that next week. I may need to invest in a machette for the overgrown parts of this course!!

Legs are beat up

This is a recap of Sunday, Mon., Tues since I've been busy and not blogging.

Tues: whew, my legs are sore. Some aches & pains in feet & knees, but nothing too bad. Main problem is quads very beat up from Sunday's long trail run. Glad I did it, but paying the price of DOMS today. Rest day, no workout.

Mon: Legs tired & sore from yesterday's really long hard effort. But I really forced myself to get out there and put in a few miles. Alot of times Runner's World and/or other sources say to clear out the legs by running a few miles the day after a tough effort. We'll see if there's any truth to that. I've always taken the approach that easy 'junk' miles are counter productive and so instead will usually just take rest days totally off to recover. I can see the mileage benefits of a more active recovery... just hope the body holds up okay with this new approach. 5 miles ez.

Sunday: Great long trail run - done solo - with plenty of hills. 14 miles total, about evenly split with flat sections and hills. Some hills very steep. Really took my time, 10 minute pace. Also took 2 five minute breaks back at the car to refuel/hydrate. So that would make it more like 11 min.pace but I stopped my watch during these breaks. Total climbing approximately 700 - 1,000 feet. I just looked at the Topo maps and seems to be closer to 1,000 ft. Also add the same for downhills, some of which were very steep/not traditional trails.

I am toying with the idea of a very long trail race/hiking challenge in Sept. The Susquehanna Super Hike is a running and/or hiking event. It is 25 miles and features 4,200 of elevation gain (8,400 total up and down). Link is here. I came to find out about this by chance, but it's interesting. Problem is that the PDR 13.1 is 8 days later. However, I am increasingly doubtful that I can take a real shot at a new personal best because my workouts just don't seem to be showing me that I've got it right now. So the trail race is appealing in leiu of a PR attempt.

So I'm thinking about it. And the long long trail runs with tons of steep hills can't hurt no matter which way I decide ... right?

Damn Walk Breaks Again

Sunday morning I headed out for the planned 6 mile trail run. Was met by friend Ray who informed me that he needed to go 10. I wasn't sure that I could stomach it but figured that he would just tack a few onto the end...and I could go a few extra to help out.

It had rained very heavy late yesterday so the trails were really muddy immediately. The big puddles & slippery goey mess type of muddy. During the whole run neither of us fell, but there was some slidin going on! We had the trails almost totally to ourselves until we got to the park ranger road down along the river.

Uneventful run. Barely saw any wildlife - a lone chipmonk; then a turkey vulture getting breakfast from a way-past-expiration-date deer on the side of the road by Thompsons Dam Bridge. Water in river was very high. Nobody out in canoes/kayaks - thank God. (Last storm 2 idiots went out for a thrill and the authorities are still looking for the one guy's body.)

I felt like we were working a good 9:00 min pace but Ray wanted to go a bit faster. I need to run with faster folks more often. Around mile 5 we picked up the pace as we came back from the other side of the river. Almost immediately I started to have bad stomach issues. Probably the food from last night (baseball game fare - hot dogs/pretzels/ice cream). I felt stomach cramps & uncomfortably bloated. Just before this I had realized I hadn't drank any water for miles and maybe I chugged too much too quickly. Anyway, it worked out as we were on a straight section and Ray went ahead without me and then doubled back so that he got 2 or so while I got 1 or less with a good walk break. There's those damn walk breaks again. Since the mega-walk marathon I can't seem to shrug off these pesky walk breaks. Sad, very sad indeed.

I feel like I was working pretty hard, but only have 8 miles to show for 90 mins. Very humid, sweated out a ton. Took in extra salt dose with post run food. As this is my longest run post-marathon I'm considering this a 'long run'. Next weekend I should probably plan on a 10 or 12 miler so that my legs don't forget long runs. Made prelim plan to go up to Philly in August to run on the PDR course - I know that will help me have a good race day.

Recent Recap

Recent Recap:
Sat.- 8k race.
Mon. - 6 miles trails w/hills.
today - 6 miles total w/middle 3 as a tempo segment.

I see that I've gotten behind on blogging, again. Todays' workout didn't go all that well. But I like to think of rough workouts as progress reports or fitness tests. So I've got some work to do!

wanted to do a 3 mile tempo at 7:00 pace with 1.5 warm-up & cool-down. I could tell during the first mile that my legs were 'dead' from Monday's trail run/hill workout. (oops, never blogged on that. Recap: very hot & humid late afternoon run. I am supposed to lead a group trail run this weekend and haven't been on all sections of the planned route in some time, so I ventured into the woods. Good thing, took a wrong turn early. Don't want to do that on Sunday. Felt good and added an extra hill loop, but then by the end I was real exhausted and had to walk on the final hill. Checked weather channel when I got home, 80-82 degrees with 70-75% humidity. 6 miles total).

So back to today...I decided to start the tempo portion at speed & then slow down as needed on the fly. Mile 1 - uncomfortable but done in 7:03. Mile 2 - slowed it down immediately as the humidity was making me sweat like a pig! Very uncomfortable, even after backing off the pace some more. 7:22 still not soo bad. But then Mile 3 - I just couldn't keep going. Took a one minute walk break then slowly cranked it back up. Practically racing to try to break 8 on that last one, but couldn't. 8:10, first 100 yards was walking and next 200 was getting up to speed.

Disappointing . . . a little. But it tells me where I'm at.
1. Need to aclimate now that summer weather is full force.
2. I'm giving myself a break since I haven't done any tempo runs for like 2 mos.
3. This is basically 2 tough workouts in a row. I should've gone ez today and tempo friday.

Next week try again to hit the 3 x 7:00 tempo target. I've decided to try to put on some speed for some hot 5k racing in July. Then I'll go back to the long stuff for half marathon race (PDR) at the end of Sept. So training sets up like this: Fri - a few easy miles. Sun - trails, moderate. Tues - ez 5 or 6. Thurs - Tempo.

Lower ab muscle pull still annoying me, but it's getting better.

Gotta run... soccer dad shuttle to tryouts for travel team. have a good one!

New Group Runs at Brandywine Creek S.P.

This is from an email I sent out today:

New Group Runs for Pike Creek:
Because club members asked for more group runs, we are announcing the following dates for group trail runs at Brandywine Creek State Park (link). These groups runs are open to runners of all abilities, club members or not, so please invite friends & guests to come out and run with us!

Sunday June 14th - This run will be led by Dean. 6 mile trail run starts at 9 a.m. We will meet in the parking lot behind the TGIFridays on 202 Concord Pike (map) at 8:45. Water & light snacks will be provided. The trailhead is behind the hotel next door (Rocky Run Parkway). This run can be shortened to 4 miles, or you can add more trails to bring it up to 10 miles or longer. The restaurant mgr has agreed to open the TGIF front patio an hour early (10 a.m.) for our after run drink & food needs!

Sunday July 12th - 5 mile trail run starts at 8 a.m. Meet in parking lot behind the JCC off 202 on Garden of Eden Road (map). Trailhead is at back of lot. Similar mixed terrain, some flat wide sections along river, some single track with hills. Distance can be more or less. If anyone has a GPS pls bring because I've always wanted to get an accurate distance on this route. This trail features the mtn bike 'bridge' that some kids built last year. I've run up & over this contraption - something different. After running we'll meet at Janssen's Market Cafe (here) by taking Mt. Lebanon Road to Rockland Rd to Rt.52 in Greenville.

Sunday August 16th - location/time/distance TBD. Save the date & look for details to follow and/or I'm open to suggestions. If we meet in the park you have to have pay $3 per car or have the annual parking sticker.

Please RSVP so we can have an estimated headcount. Feel free to invite all runners to join us on these group runs. Arrive 15 minutes early to review trail maps; the run begins at scheduled time. If you need to start early (to run longer) contact me & I will meet you there early. For general info about Pike Creek Valley Running Club, and our group runs, follow this link.

Ten Miles - Hot Trails

My legs are pretty sore from yesterday's 10 miles on the trails in B.C.S.P. Very hot temps for this time of year. I'm thinking that will help get me ready for any race day weather up in Vermont. I carried some water & CarbBoom, plus stopped back at the car when ran dry. The woods themself were rather uneventful. No wildlife of note. Heard the friendly calls of Blue Jays & Piliated Woodpeckers, but never actually saw any. The Bluebirds weren't in the small meadow - and I was looking for them. The park service needs to add some nesting boxes at this location to attract these colorful little guys. No snakes, turtles, frogs. Plenty of fishermen in the small stream by the road - this was stocked a few weeks back. Wonder if any trout still swim there now? Doubtful. On first sight of the Brandywine I remembered the last visit here (has it been 6 wks?) when the river was frozen almost entirely with just the center channel still moving. Then it was frigid and distant. Now it looks refreshingly cool & inviting. A few men in waders in out in the current...but trout aren't stocked here so the fishing poles per water area ratio is dramatically different than the small stream.

This was the last trail run prior to the marathon. I almost bought the farm on the fast downhill section along Rocky's Run. It's fun counting down the last this, the last that. It's exactly 4 weeks to marathon day! One more 20 miler, a few weeks of taper. One very long day of car drives & seeing old friends. And then BAM - waking up at 5:30 in strange hotel room (it better be nice)...finding the best parking lot (no time to scout around the night before)...picking up my race packet on marathon morning (7 a.m. cut off with race starting at 8:05). I can sense that it's going to be a hectic & stressful 24 hours leading up to the gun. I'll just have to rest as best I can. Hydrate, carbo load, etc.

Yes, I've been totally out of blog postings for about 3 weeks. I'm committed to some catch up and definitely staying current from here on out!

Bluebird Run

I wanted to run trails today so that I could re-visit the "treasure hunt" location that my son & I found yesterday. More on that in a minute. Great weather, clear blue 'Carolina' sky, 12 noon, 45 degrees. Started from the trail head at Garden of Eden Rd. Took the first left so I could go up & over the mtn bike ramp - i dig cheap thrills!

I hit the correct turn off today for the R down tot he river. I've missed this several times over the winter ending up on the new gravel bike path which I don't like at all; however, the steeper downhill of this trail was interesting with lots of leaves covering it. At river road started towards Adam's dam first, then back upstream to Thompson's bridge. At the open meadow area near Adam's I saw what at first looked like a blue jay. But upon closer look it was a bluebird. Two in fact, flying together zig-zigging across my path in the bright sunshine. Very nice. Beautiful bright feathers, I suppose they're looking for a nesting sight along in there someplace...would be nice if somebody put a few boxes in there - I know they have numerous boxes on the other side of the river in the open fields.

The rest of the run: hawk flying above ridge over pine grove, same place i've seen before. A dead snake with head missing in Rocky Run meadow north. I moved it upside down into middle of trail...maybe a vulture will see it. But then further up the trail a dog off it's leash momentarily slowed me. I felt like spitting on the owner when he said "don't worry, he won't bite." F*ck these selfish bastards that let their dogs crap all over our park and interfere with other people's trail use.

Near the end of the run I detoured to the treasure area. I spent about 10 minutes re-inspecting the box & searching the nearby area for the addt'l boxes. Woods very quite. I hid the box a bit better so that it's still visible but you'll have to look more. I've found out that this is not actually a Geocache but rather it's a Letterbox. Who would know that? Only the folks that play these games. A nice Geocache lady, Michelle, told me to check the other website when there was no record of our box. Another nice lady, Suzanne, confirmed that the box is hers. It's one of four, plus the clues to bonus boxes - you have to get all 4 clues to figure location. Fun stuff, but a little pointless. I may take the boys back this weekend to search for the other boxes. Weekends have gotten soooo busy lately with little league practice, soccer, cub scouts, tennis, and I had races the last 2 weeks. You can read all about our "Into the Woods box #2" here.

Seeing Trails

Monday trail run felt like a good choice today, great weather for a run, not too wet, 45 & sunny breezy.

Started at JCC trailhead, decided on the fly to go down the right turn-blue/Friday- trail instead leaving it for uphill ending. That first downhill is steep, creek cross no problem, downhill through meadow = nice. End to end on the flat river section then started back up on the other side of the creek. Stopped & went back to take a side trail I've never been on before, it's a good day for exploring, wind is not a factor in the woods. Nice trail, used by bikes, saw hunting stand, there's a few logs to jump. This must parallel the blue/Friday but it's on the bottom of the ridge and more alongside the creek...sure enough, it bring me to the bottom of the blue/Friday hill so I do get to go up this one today afterall. This hill is a beast.

Made it back out to the car, I'm calling this 6 - intended to run 5 - but it might actually be a bit short. I need that Garmin 305! 55 mins. Went over to the Y for a stretch.

Attack of the Angry Groundhogs

Don't you think eventually these groundhogs would get sick n tired of being woken up from their winter's sleep and revolt against their overlords? Watch for headline soon: Angry Groundhogs Rebel And Attack At Dawn!

My legs are kind of hurting from yesterday's long run. A few times my feet slipped out from under me, almost falling but somehow staying upright. I'm feeling those strains & stretches today. Muscle soreness isn't really an issue. Also my right foot is achey, need to rest a few days this week.

But I'm feeling pretty darn good about the distance & terrain. The time ended up at 1:50 - so that's exactly half as much time on my feet that I need to be ready for come marathon day. I was happily exhausted at the end. Thinking about double the effort is still a long way away, but I'm moving in the right direction. I was also thinking that this long run was about 100 feet of elevation climbed per mile. That would already exceed the hills of my marathon. So I've got that. That's something.

Super Bowlin Prediction

Well on Super Bowl Sunday what better timing to make my postings today really really over the top testosterone loaded guy-stuff. Ladies, if you're faint of heart then please skip today's entries.
Not that my blog to date (yes - I've now cleared the one month hurdle) has been dainty or feminant, but today before my run *GREAT RUN TODAY* I had an idea for a grossly humorous post based on my pre-run ritual. Then while out in the woods I came across the evidence of one animal enforcing the food-chain pecking order onto another animal. Photo below shows the remains of the carnage.

Bottom line: Based on remains of chewed up cardinal - I'm going "out on a limb" to predict the the poor Cards will be utterly destroyed today by the Steelers. Second prediction, halftime score: I'll be high as a kite by then.

Here's the story: I'm running a 10 miler thru the woods and about half way in I spot a bird's leg & claw in the snow at the side of the trail. I go back and yep, sure enough it's one leg of a cardinal. I quickly scan around for more, but seeing nothing I take off again. I know for certain that there's Sharp-shin's & Coopers hawks in these woods. I've seen them flying so adeptly thru the branches. And I've seen them devourering their favorite meal of other birds. But I've never actually seen the moment of the catch and/or kill. But now I can say I've found the remains of the parts that these awesome birds can't digest. And let me tell you, there's not much that they leave behind.
After finding someone's bright red ski mask/hat in the cross paths of the open field, I decided to do my good deed of the day & take it up to the ranger's station. While there I decided to double back & explore around to see if I could find more scraps than just the leg & claw. This added about a mile to my run, but I also took a break looking around the area. About 20 or 25 yards off the path I found a half a skull of the cardinal, beak intact. Both these items were very fresh and right on top of the snow. I moved the skull fragment back over to the leg so that I could get a photo of both together.

Bad day for the cardinals!

5 days haze

Whoa, i gotta clear the cobwebs off of my keyboard here and get back to blog entries. I've been real busy (Yea, I know the joke, doing what??). Today was the most boring day in the last week, not sure why I didn't make time to get on here and write sooner. I did read my latest issues of both RW & RTimes today, and I've got tons of new ideas. . . just have to figure out which to incorporate into my training plan!

I will review yesterday's workout now, and go back to cover the other days later tonight or tomorrow. Did a nice 8 mile trail run at BCSP at around mid-day. It was cold, but not bad. There was no wind at all in the woods. I had to take my gloves off & unzip the jacket after a few miles. Several other folks on the trails. I saw some type of hawk, perched in wooded area. Didn't look like Sharp Shinned or Cooper. Really not sure what he was. Also saw big flock of robins that apparently didn't fly south this year. They were noisily searching thru leaves in a section where a few trees have come down across the path. I love those hurdles - I wish they would leave them where they fall, but those logs will be cleared out before too long.

The first 5 miles I felt great & was doing something like 8:30 or 8:45 pace. Especially the downhills were fun - with the cold air making my eyes water so much that it was difficult seeing the rocks n roots on the path. then during the 6th mile I just lost all my energy. So I guess that tells me something about my current fitness level. Each mile has 2 or 3 decent hill climbs. I'd guess that the pace translates into a 7:30 pace on flat pavement. It was getting increasingly tough on each hill and every mile was slower than the last. Mile 7 = 9:30. Mile 8 - i had to walk the top of the last 2 hill climbs and the final split was a sad 11:00 getting back to the car.

Even though the end was slow & sucked, I'm using this as a good gauge to my conditioning. I want to run Caesar Rodney (half marathon)(here) but it will be as a training run/long hard effort building toward the marathon. 7:30 seems like a good goal, but I may be too far out of shape. I'll be able to judge better as we get closer. I'd settle for 8 min pace if I have to, that's really more of a training pace rather than a racing pace anyway. Last year i did a 7:10 pace for a new PR. On a flat course that would probably come out to a 1:32:00 time. Gotta run a fast flat Half sometime this year. I've been dreaming about a 1:29:xx for about 10 years now. Used to seem way out of reach, but with all the miles I'll be running for marathon prep . . . maybe this will be my year!

Weekend Trail Run

I did a really great run yesterday, and haven't been able to blog on about it because I've just been busy with my weekend. But now everyone has gone to bed and I'm just watching the idiot tube so I can sign in.
As planned I went into BCSP. Since there was no snow I wasn't in any hurry to get out there...was actually hoping snow might arrive, but it didn't. Later we got the "wintery mix" of sleet, freezing rain, flurries, etc. Anyway it was cold and the woods were quiet and still. It's supposed to get colder this coming week with highs in the 20's for most of the week!

I hadn't been on these trails for like 2 months and there was tons of leaves covering the trail. I already know there's lots of rocks & roots so I took it easy, about a 10 minute mile pace. Somehow I missed the usual cut-off down to the river. I was almost to the south end where the trail meets the road at the old mill & damn when the trail suddenly became packed gravel. Yikes! When did this happen? I realized where I was, but they've ruined this stretch that used to be single track. WTF?!?! Then some bikers were coming up the trail as I was heading down toward the river. Now they're encouraging mtn bikes on this trail??
I took the river path down & back taking in the sights. I was running thru this area every week during the summer. Really can see so much more of the lay of the land with all the plants down & branches bare. I saw a few steep rock hills that were calling to me. I resisted, and usually don't like to blaze str8 into the woods. I stick to the paths. There is one very steep trail that goes up a 100 feet over boulders. I've taken that way once before and couldn't resist today.
This is the type of steep climb that you need to get your hands onto the rocks and lean into the hill. Grabbing roots and whatever hand holds you can get. I wish I had my camera - there were some icicles from a few rocks. And there were some ice crystals that had pushed up from the dirt and looked like stalks of ice arranged in patterns with small bits of dirt & pebbles on the top of each one. very cool. Anyway I made it to the top just in time to look back down and see another person going by on the path below - a long way down. I found the trail that leads thru the pine grove and then decided to alter my planned 5 mile route. I was getting into this run and didn't want it to end. I went uphill thru the 'rocky run' meadow. All the branches of the briars & berry thorns were shades of blue & purple which was really wild/trippy looking. I went by the big old beech that fell down in a storm last summer. My sons and I cut branches off of this mighty fallen giant. These are still drying in the garage and this spring we'll be making hiking staffs from these branches. My son's initials are carved into the fallen tree trunk. This tree was a great trail obstacle for about 2 weeks until the park cut a wide section of the trunk. bummer.
The biggest stream crossing here, stayed dry. Big uphill, then loop along mtn bike area. The final 1/4 mile back to my car is a constant incline which I couldn't help but to push the pace. I felt strong and I like to finish fast on most of my slow runs. I just can't resist the speed. Final time is exactly one hour. My estimate is 6 miles. Fully stretched immediately after. My calf muscles were really pumped from the final hill. They felt tired for the rest of the day and I anticipated PF pain today. Surprisingly I feel great, no pain! Maybe more running is better? Now I'm really guessing what the best course of action is for the situation. But for now I'm enjoying it. More runs like this one! A perfect blend of effortless while running and then happy exhaustion when done.