trail run

I spent a perfect fall morning running on the greenbelt on Saturday. Im going to attempt an organized trail run next weekend, so I figured I should get some practice in. I set out to run to twin falls and back from zilker park. I had done a couple of runs when I was tri training and one in preparation for the human race, 3 miles and 6 miles respectively. Those are both on the easy, flat part of the trail. The weekend before we had hiked in from the other end in Westlake and scoped out the Hill of Life to Sculpture Falls portion. I would definately recommend that section for a vigorous hike on a recovery day. I did it after the Wurst Ride and found it to be quite pleasant. I mention all this background to reinforce that I had a bit of experience on the trail. I did not go out completely blind, which I think would be a bad idea.

There had been a freeze warning the night before and it was about 45 when we left. Of course, excited to be bundling up, I wore a hat and gloves and a thermal shirt, before I even got to campbells hole i had to take it all off and stash it. I'm always hot. I can pretty much exercise in shorts and a t shirt anytime anywhere, but I love to make hats and mittens wear tights and hoodies, so consequently, I am always overdressed. I had selected selected some appropriate fall trail running music: The Rolling Stones and Van Morrison. I had a bunch of snacks in my running belt and had a good amount of coffee.
It was fun to run in the brisk air The sunlight illuminated the fall leaves like stained glass. I kept turning down my music to listen to the thumping of my feet on the trail. I ran and ran, making the markers and keeping on the pace I had set for myself. For the whole first half of the run everything was super. To push it, at an hour out, I decided 10 more minutes... maybe I WILL make it all the way to Sculpture, clearly I was getting delusional so at and hour 10 minutes I flipped it around. On one of the creek crossings I was so busy hopping throught the rocks and singing Moodance I missed the turn and ascended on a very narrow, barely there, single track, mountian bike path and ran up the side of the hill until it evaporated in a stand of cedars. I was LOST. I called my trail buddy, freakin out. He was trying to ask me to describe where I was. Really, I had a pretty good idea, I was behind the shopping center and apartments by Hobby Lobby on South Lamar. I felt like I was in the woods where rapists hung out, but as far as features, it was pretty nondescript. Go out on the greenbelt and see how many places "I'm kinda on the top of a hill in the middle of a bunch of cedars." I'm on the far side of the creek and the last crossing had medium rocks." describes, really, its harder than you think. So 30 minutes in to part 2 of the run, I've wasted a bunch of time and energy running around in the woods cursing and tripping over shit. Finally I pulled my head out of my ass and followed the path back. I found my way in a matter of minutes, crossed the creek and went on my way. Thankfully I had covered a good bit of ground before I lost my momentum. I was about 3.5 miles out. I had to re-warm up and start over with tired legs. Having gotten lost and judging that the markers on the trail are far from accurate this was the furthest I had a ever run. I remembered how this happened when I ran my 10 miler. The first 8 miles we ecstatic and the last 2 on the trail downtown took me a brutal 45 minutes. I ate another goo and sipped my water. I had one bottle in my running belt, and with no other water access on the trail I was not adequately prepared. I was losing my legs, so I slowed to a walk in a few rocky patches I could have run, but might have twisted something. Thankfully as you near civilization the surfaces improve. I jogged past landmarks and mile markers, even the turnaround landmark on my well measured 3 mile run oblivious to my where abouts. I was really tired and tingly from lack of hydration. I kept on running. About 3 more times in the last mile I could have sworn I was gonna round the corner and see the skyline in the distance and the fence at Barton Springs, but really it was a mirage. Finally I was back at the car, sitting in the sun, gulping down water and snacking on a banana. The first 8 miles were grand, but the last 3 were hell. Next time I'll know to bring more water and snacks and maybe slow down my early pace even more. It was a great run, on a pretty day,

training log blog

So I am taking a stab at the whole blogging about my experiences as a new runner. I probably should have started chronicling this whole experience a little sooner, but this weekend was really pretty ridiculous and seems like a good place to start. I'm training for a marathon. The AT&T marathon in feb. I didn't really start running until this past June. I trained for the Human Race 10k all summer. Everyone else was off swimming and doing fun tris, and I was running. I achieved the goal I set for myself at the Human Race and wanted to keep running. I noticed that the marathon training groups had started, so I thought I might take a stab at it. I was already at their weekly ramp up distances.
Fast forward to this weekend. I've been running my weekly long run religiously on Saturday mornings, sometimes with a group, sometimes not. I was going to run with the Rogue group because their run was open to the public this week. I was supposed to run 9 miles, but when I got there they had 10, 12 and 14 mile options, which was wierd because I was expecting a 7 and 10 mile option. Either way, I was running the 10, a big step up from the 8 of my long run the week before.
The run was pretty rad. It was a nice cool morning. I had good tunes. I was running alone, but clicking along like a metronome, meeting each mile marker in exceedingly good time. I zippped up and down the hills on Exposition with some fast guys and was really enjoying myself. It was the run of a lifetime. Then I got to the hike and bike trail, and I fell in to a black hole. According to my splits I was running like 14+ min miles. I really suck at calculating distance on the trail. I hate running on the damn trail, and I am pretty convinced, had I stayed on lake austin and run straight across 5th street, I would have finished well ahead of my goal time. Sadly, it took me 45 min to lumber across the trail to the starting point. I missed the congress avenue bridge and had to run back around. It was really amazing to see how my body just started to say NO! No mas. I am done. Like when I take Buttercup on a run and she pulls to the side and tries to lay down. I was feeling pretty down and out about the whole thing, until I realized even with my crummy splits on the last 2 miles, I had been going all-out with no breaks, for longer than it took me to complete my last tri. No transition time, no time for coasting downhill on the bike... after looking at in that light, I felt a lot better about my effort, and how much it took out of me. I really wouldn't have minded a day just to lounge and recover, but some dark masochistic side of me had signed up for a yoga workshop at 3:30. Check the next blog for my report on THAT.