Last Days of Training

Wednesday Zim and I hit up Mount Joy in Valley Forge Park for some last minute trail/pavement running. Plus we wanted to break in our new Brooks ASRs. We headed out around 2:30pm and it started to get quite dreary out. We started with a 1/2 mile of pavement and went right into 2.5+ miles into trail. A few minutes into the trail the skies opened up. It was kinda refreshing, but I felt I had to be even more careful not to slip. It rained for a good 5-10 minutes. I also ran with a water bottle belt for the first time. Not really a fan. I felt like it was about to fall off half the time and it moved around a little too much for my liking. It got frustrating. This run I did better on Mt. Joy than the first time I ran it, but I started losing confidence in the Cuckoo 15K. I feel my trail running pace is too slow and I'm too paranoid that I'm going to trip and fall. Plus the humidity after the rain had my struggling to catch my breath. And the humidity wasn't all that bad. Soon we came back up and down the mountain on to the pavement again. My legs were a bit tired, but I felt I got my regular pace back and some confidence. We ran about 2 and 1/2 miles on the pavement and made it back to the car. We ran a little less than 6 miles. I was pretty tired, but not spent. We ran for an hour. I've ran a lot longer before, but not with trail included. I saw that my pace wasn't all that bad, and that gave me a bit of a boost. I'm still quite anxious though. I wish I had another week to train for this. 

One thing that I was delighted about during my run, were the new Brooks ASR9s. They were totally worth the $120. They grabbed well to the rocks and gravel terrain. I barely felt any slippage. My ankle rolled at least once and was stabilized in less than a second. I could feel the terrain, but there was enough cushion to make my feet comfortable. On the pavement, they felt even better. Very cushiony. I felt like I was running in my Brooks Ravenna 3s. So far I'm more than happy with my purchase.

Thursday I went for a short 3 and a 1/4 mile run around my neighborhood. I ran in the ASRs to break them in a little more. My feet feel pretty good, and the tendinitis pain in my foot has been very little. I did upper body strength training with free weights right after. 30 minutes of shoulders, biceps, and triceps. And then I finished with 10 minutes of ab work.

Today, Friday, I took the day off. Probably best to give my body a good rest before tomorrow's 15K. Wish me luck!

Playlist: Foo Fighters shuffle