If You Don't Like The Weather...

TMR about to do some trail maintenance.
Photo stolen without permission from Maureen Sproul.

... just wait a minute.

Or in this case a day.

Yesterday, our Trail Monster Running group did maintenance work on the new Bradbury-Pineland Corridor trail, which will connect two of our favorite running areas. That was a lot of fun and a rewarding experience. In fact, we had so much fun working on it, we didn't think twice about the temps in the upper 30s while a constant cold rain which mixed with snow fell upon us.

Fast forward 24 hours later to this morning, with the sun shining and temps already in the mid 50s by 9am. That's about when I was out the door and hit the trails in the woods out back. Simply incredible weather, especially in contrast to yesterday. It was in the mid-60s by the time I returned.

I took a different section of trail for the first few miles, and lost the trail for a bit but after some bushwacking I found it again. Not too much later, I came across a sign posted by the U.S. Forest Service and red tape strung across the trail. The signed said the trail was indefinitely closed because of "unauthorized trail maintenance", along with sternly worded warnings of fines for ATV'ers caught on the trail. Interesting. Clearly targeted at that group based on that and other language, but a bit vague for trail runners. I'll definitely avoid that section in the future, just to play it safe.

Run itself went well. I'd say my quads are 95% recovered from Boston, but was happy to keep the pace very easy and just enjoy being out in the woods. Looking ahead, will just play things very chill the next several weeks so I can maximize recovery for the Pineland Farms 50-Miler at the end of May.

My general mileage plan is the typically prescribed marathon recovery schedule:

First week after: 0-25%
Second week: 25-50%
Third week: 50-75%
Fourth week: 75-100%

The only "problem" is that there are six weeks total between Boston and Pineland, so a bit of a reverse taper going on as a whole, but all manageable by playing it by ear while leaning towards being cautious to ensure fresh legs for Pineland but also maintaining fitness levels. So, pretty chilled out between now and then, which will be a nice break mentally and physically after a pretty stringent regiment for Boston.

Ran 7.3 miles @ 10:00/mile pace.
AHR/MHR - N/A
Technical trails, fire roads.
Very hilly.
Mid 50s to mid 60s, sunny.
Adidas Adizero XT, shorts, short sleeved shirt.