Thursday, February 24, 2011

Fast Trails

The snowmobile trails in the woods out back were in great shape for running this morning. Very well packed down overall. Beautiful morning to boot, with it warming up to the mid-30s by the end of the run and the sun shining brightly. Different weather scenario tomorrow though, if the weather folks are right...

Overall pace was a moderate effort. In a way it underscored something that's been bugging me slightly about my training the past few weeks, which is I need to get in more marathon-paced runs. Interval work is great and all, but I need to do more medium-long runs in that 7:10-7:25/mile pace range. That'll be the goal the several weeks. But for the next few days, easy runs as I taper down a little for the Mid-Winter Late-Winter 10-Mile Classic on Sunday.

Also with the training, would like to do some more downhill running and get the quads more acclimated to what they'll be experiencing in Boston. Reverse hill repeats is one idea. Another is have somebody drive me up towards the foothills from my house or the school and run a long downhill back to my destination.

Ran 8.3 miles @ 8:53/mile pace.
AHR/MHR - N/A (didn't feel like wearing the strap)
Packed and fast snowmobile trails.
Very hilly.
Mid 20s to mid 30s, sunny.
Adidas Adizero XT (screwed), long pants, windbreaker, short sleeved shirt, beanie, gloves (shed halfway through)

3 comments:

R. Ian Parlin said...

A few years ago I was training for something, not sure what, and I wanted to get in some hill training both up and down. So I found a short loop in the West End of Portland where I could run fast downhill, have a short flat recovery, run hard uphill, another short flat recovery and then repeat.

Jamie Anderson said...

Sounds cool, let me know if you can remember where it was.

R. Ian Parlin said...

It was loops around the West End Cemetery, no street crossings so I didn't have to worry about stopping/slowing down (Western Prom, Vaughan St, Bowdoin St). It was a short loop but easy to get in lots of reps. There are bigger hills you could do this on, but I don't know of any that don't require you to cross streets.