Saturday, December 02, 2006

Trail Run and Road Run

Ran 15.1 miles total.
Run #1: 8.2 miles @ 8:58/mile pace. Muddy, rocky trails. Extremely hilly.
Run #2: 6.9 miles @ 7:57/mile pace. Paved roads. Extremely hilly.
Weather: Sunny, windy, temps in the lower 40s.

Run #1:



I set out this morning to meet up with my running group to do a trail run just outside of Portland. Afterwards, the plan was to get in enough miles on the roads to bring me up to 15 for the day.

Ian, Emma, Jeff, Eric and I set off on the trails to find puddles the size of small lakes and deep mud covering much of the trails. It made it challenging and fun, albeit a bit treacherous. There were a total of four full-on fall downs. I won't say who they involved, but will say that none of them were me (I probably just jinxed myself for next time).

At the high point of one hill, we were afforded great views of Mt. Washington and the Presidential Mountains. The peaks were actually in the clouds, but an impressive sight nonetheless.

At the conclusion of the run, we hung out for a bit while rehydrating. I'd do the next run alone, but Jeff informed me of a good loop that was about 7 miles long that I could run, and I changed my shoes and was off 15 minutes later.

Run #2:

Jeff told me there would be a long hill climb, and he wasn't lying. It was a good workout, and I just kept my pace slow and steady and I enjoyed the ascent. I felt excellent throughout, and considered stopping at the Back Cove on the way home to get in another four miles but decided that would be a bit much. I'd like to save myself for tomorrow. Good day of running though, I'm quite pleased.

3 comments:

Andrew said...

It's great to run with friends. That graph of the hills looks pretty daunting.

MB said...

those are some killer hills on the graphs, quads burning? lungs searing?

I am checking out SportTracks, although I only have a FR201. What are your using?

Jamie Anderson said...

I have a Garmin 201. I hope to replace it with either the newer 205 or even the 305 in a few months. SportsTracks is awesome. Has some great features that the Garmin software I have (Sports Trainer) doesn't such as interlacing routes over google maps or satellite photos. Overall, it's just more aesthetically pleasing as well.

Those hills were indeed killer. Since the bulk of my running is on hills I'm probably more accustomed to them than lots of other runners, which is not to say they don't still kick my butt.