NJ Winter Trail Series 10K

Ran the 10k at the 1st NJ Winter Trail Series event this weekend in Lewis Morris Park in Morristown. It was two loops of a 5k (really, 3-mile) course. A ran the first loop fairly hard and then waited for a friend and ran 2 miles with him and then ran the last (downhill) mile as hard as possible. Held off a 26-year old over the last 100 yards to the finish. Felt good to run hard again.

Watchung Winter (Not Quite) Ultra

A little over one year ago I came across the 1st Annual Watchung Winter Ultra (WWU) trail run while searching for trail races in New Jersey. Never having done a trail race I wanted to give it a try. The WWU came in two flavors: marathon and 50k. Both option way too long for me but they were both based on a main 10-mile loop course through the Watchung Reservation near where I grew up and that sounded like it would be within my range. When the day came, however, it had snowed a good amount the night before, was really cold and windy, and not having pre-registered or arranged to go with anybody else I opted to stay in bed.

This year I convinced a couple others to come along with me and do one loop of the course and so despite the snow and cold I got myself up around 5:00 a.m. and headed out to meet up with my group. The run had grown tremendously from the 1st year and there were something like 170 or so people registered. From the results page it looks like around 125 made it to the starting line... it was a pretty big group for 8:00 a.m. and 19 degrees on a Saturday morning in January in New Jersey.

The course started with a long downhill section over icy "steps" and other icy terrain. The first mile or so was pretty slow going. After that, though, the footing was much better, though still snowy trail going up and down quite frequently. The 10-mile loop turned out to be around 10.7. One of my friends had it at around 1,300 feet of up and down on his 705. I held things together pretty good for 8 miles running just behind one of my friends. After that, though I was good and bonked. Had to stop to stretch and recover several times in the last 2 miles and finished in 1:57 or so. I was guessing it would be between 1:50 and 2 hours. So I was pretty happy with the time given that I was sick between Thanksgiving and Xmas and didn't run at all and had just a couple of weeks of very easy running under my belt since then.

Overall it was a great experience. My fingers were quite cold for the first mile or so but then warmed up fine. At the end I took off my knit cap to find that it was encrusted with what seemed like a pound of ice -- but I hadn't even noticed that while running. I had so much fun, in fact, that yesterday I went out for 8 miles through the trails near my house. I've lived in the same place for 10 years and had never run those trails before. I guess I've got the trail bug now.

And I should mention that 10.7 miles is the furthest I've ever run. Ever. Maybe next year I'll be ready to do the whole Ultra thing. We'll see.

Back To It

After 4 weeks of colds, sinus infections, and hamstring issues I got back to some running this past week. I finally figured out that the hamstring thing was not a strain but spasms. I've been doing certain stretches as described on the Younger LEgs blog both pre- and post-running and it has helped reduce the problem. A couple more weeks of just "running" and I should be ready to get back to "training".

Downtime

After successful base-building and hill/resistance periods where I steadily progressed from the slow end of my training ranges to the fast end I began the anaerobic/sharpening phase. After my first tempo run I ended up with a sore quad during the following day's recovery run. A couple days of ice fixed that up. After the next week's tempo effort I came down with a cold. For a week. Coincidence? Now that the cold is over I tried an easy jog and my left hamstring tightened up. I need ot take next week off for other reasons so it's no going to be almost a month long or longer break at the least. I had planned on running a 5k on Thanksgiving morning but that was right in the middle of my week-long cold so I had to skip that. Based on my training and other factors I was hoping to run about 19:10. Hopefully I'll get back to some running mid-December and be able to start a new training cycle with the New year.

49th

With the return of Standard Time and light before 6:00 a.m. it was a lot easier than it has been to get out of bed and out for an early morning run. Did my recent standard 6.5 mile long run with a 0.7 mile hill just after mile 2. Pushed it pretty good and was appropriately leg heavy by the end.

Last week I did one session of hill springing that seemed to go very well. No issues with my feet. The workout itself was one of the more tiring things I've done in a while. It exhausts every muscle involved in running: calves, quads, hamstrings, and, perhaps most importantly, hip flexors. I ended up doing 3 circuits of my hill course. I only got in one session as we had torrential rains on the day I was going to first try this and springing up wet leave-covered pavement did not seem sensible, at least not for an initial attempt. This week I'll try to get in 2 sessions of 4 repetitions.

Chiropractic, Hill Bounding, and Recent Progress

Since soon after running in the 5th Avenue Mile four and a half weeks ago I've been seeing my chiropractor twice a week. I had been having discomfort in my very lower right back for some time and it seemed to have gotten worse. Turned out I had a very stressed out iliolumbar ligament due to a leftward tilt to my spine and a downward tilt on the right side of my pelvis. At this point it's about 95% corrected.

At my last visit he did something different: he adjusted my feet. I've always had tight ankles and I regularly do the stretch where you sit back on your ankles and press the soles of your feet to the ground to stretch your foot and ankle. I can only do this with shoes on though as the shoes provide a barrier and you have to press pretty hard to get some stretching. If I try it barefooted it's too much of a stretch and too painful right off the bat. The foot adjustment involved him digging his thumbs into various parts of my ankle and foot and then banging/slapping the foot on a padded board contraption thingy. My feet and ankles felt remarkably better immediately after. But still have a ways to go.

Also over the weeks since the 5th Avenue Mile I have moved through my new training paces starting at the tops of the ranges and progressing down to the bottoms of the ranges while maintaining a consistent HR profile. I've been doing a long run and two days of hill drills and the rest recovery pace or easy pace at most. I've done high knee repeats up the hill and hill bounding. It took until about the third session to get the bounding right. The first session I was striding too far up the hill rather then pushing off correctly. The second session I cut down the striding but didn't have the push off quite right. About the middle of the third session it seemed to suddenly all come together and I got the knack of it -- I think. I haven't tried hill springing yet. I'm a little leery of that one due to bunions of my big toes. Over flexing them can be quite painful. I will at least try a gentle version but these may just not be for me.

Based on recent progress I should just about be able to cover 2 miles in a 12-minute Cooper Test. Haven't tried to do that since college when we had to cover at least that during the first week of soccer practice each year. Back then I could cover very close to 2.25 miles in 12 minutes. Just getting to 2 would be great right now though. Perhaps I'll attempt a time trial in the next week or so... maybe on Monday... which is my 49th.

First 30-mile week... Ever

Sunday 5.0 Fartlek
Monday 6.5 Long and hilly
Tuesday 4.5 Recovery in 40 minutes on TM, HR @ 135
Wednesday 4.5 High knees uphill x 5 plus WU & CD
Thursday 5.0 Easy in 41:50 on TM, HR @ 145
Friday 4.5 Hill bounding x 4 + Wu & CD

Week 30.0