10 miles of trails

11/06/08
Saturday

I had an early start today as I planned a two hour trail run and still had a full plate besides. The decision was to go out and just enjoy the trails while getting some time on my feet. The tricky part was dressing right, the temp at 6:30 AM was a mere 15 degrees and there was no way of telling how much it might warm up in two hours.

I felt I might be overdoing it.....I wore under-armer, long sleeve running shirt, long sleeve heavy shirt, running vest, heavy winter running vest, long pants, gloves and hat. I felt surely I would be shedding some of this stuff and have to carry garments through the run. But if I didn't wear enough it I might be in a tough spot as I will be a long ways from the house.

Turns out that the sun didn't really break through the clouds much and the temps didn't gain but a couple degrees through the run. Speed was not a factor today so I brought some goodies to eat, my camera, I-pod and a power drink.

I had suspicions that an old dirt road across from the firebarn would allow me to connect with the powerlines and today was a perfect time to explore it. The only draw back was the elevation as it was a fairly steep climb. Turns out according to the garmen, a whopping 19% grade and an elevation of 519 feet. This was about a mile and a half total climb but funny thing,my pace was 12:57 but it was not my slowest mile.

My slowest mile was the decent as the ascent peaked at the trail end on the power lines and the decent was quite tricky. I hit ice on the rocks, running water, deep mud churned up by many 4 wheelers trying to climb this area which left huge endless puddles of standing water. I lost my footing many times as the stalagmite frost was 5 or 6 inches tall and would give way without notice. This was my ninth mile and once I reached the bottom I had gone from the highest point (519 feet) to my lowest point of 115 feet. This mile ended up 13:28 pace.

I took the picture above about 1/2 mile from my house. I thought it showed a majestic sillohette of a living thing withstanding all that nature can throw at it.
Unfortunately my camera went dead and I was reduced to carrying the darn thing for 10 more miles and no benefit. I would have loved to have a picture of the power line descent.

Overall, my 10:42 mile run had me experiencing a bit of everything (well except warm radiant sunshine) I ran on some dirt roads, on some sandy base material through a gravel pit, heavy wooded single and technical trails, along the rail road tracks, beside a beaver bog, through a grassy field, back to heavy woods, hills, valleys, a couple tar spots and of course the powerlines which always offer a large mix of technical running.

I was very happy wth this run and how I felt through out. I had exactally the right layers of clothing. My energy level and stamina was right on. I did't revert to walking at all and I actually managed to speed things up after the "hill" and pulled off a kick at the end. My last 1/2 mile was my fastest overall(8:38). In the end I walked a mile cooldown and can't think of a more enjoyable cup of coffee upon my return.

2:00:01 hour run 10.42 miles 11:30 average pace 145 av HR and 162 max.

mile ....pace ...av hr ...max HR
1 .....10:30 .....140 ....145
2 .....10:37 .....146 ....154
3 .....12:08 .....139 ....148
4 .....11:11 .....145 ....151 ..almost the lowest elevation 116 feet
5 .....10:43 .....148 ....159
6 .....13:05 .....140 ....156 ...elevation 289 feet.
7 .....11:40 .....150 ....160
8 .....12:57 .....150 ....162 ...elevation 519 feet 19% grade
9 .....13:28 .....142 ....154 ...elevation 115 feet
10 .....10:25 .....148 ....155
11 ......8:38 .....158 ....162