rough patch
while i began the month with a 15 day running streak, i fell off the proverbial wagon and recorded zero’s for five of the next six days. honestly, i felt like garbage and needed some down time. (notice i didn’t say “rest”) i eased back into training with a few shorter runs and ended up with a two solid efforts this past weekend.
after reading some race results on facebook, i headed out on saturday afternoon and pointed myself westward on the Glacial Drumlin trail. sixty two minutes later i was in the next town west of us with 7.5 uphill miles logged and 7.5 downhill miles to go. on my return effort, i began clipping off 7:40 to 7:50 miles as i enjoyed a tailwind in addition to a slowly sloping elevation drop. then, i began to slow. it was like a car that had the needle leaning up against the letter “E” on the dashboard. all i could do was to sputter my way through the last 2.5 miles home. when i arrived home, i began shotgunning cans of soda to get my blood sugar back up. even with the “bonk”, my return route was a minute faster than my outbound effort and would have easily been more than three minutes faster if i had been a bit smarter.
sunday afternoon brought overcast skies and a brisk wind together with temps in the mid-forties. additionally, the radar indicated that some rain was moving in. essentially, perfect conditions for a trail run out at the Retzer Nature Center. i’ve figured out a one mile loop on their trails, which i normally reserve for my winter snowshoe running. as i began my run, it began to rain very lightly…just enough to be annoying. as i completed my third loop, the light rain had turned steady and stayed steady for my fourth and fifth loops. i caught a break in the action and decided to roll a sixth loop but on my seventh the rain had returned with even more intensity. with seven trail miles logged in sixty minutes, i decided to head home for a hot shower and then park my rear end on the couch to watch some football.
halloween morning left me four miles short of one hundred fifty miles for the month. being a bit…well…”goal-oriented” i geared up and rolled an easy four miles before work. i was a bit sore at first but as i was rolling home my legs began to wake up a bit.
MTD – 150 miles (24 days)
YTD – 1371.75 miles (216 days)
Odometer – 32,478 miles