I'm pleasantly surprised on how good I feel this morning. Yesterday, my quads were worked and I felt them most of the day, so much, that I took an ibuprofen before bed so that I could fall asleep. The soreness reminded me of the 20+ mileage days last spring, training for my 50K. Yesterday, I was coming off of 4 consecutive days of running and a 43 mile week. I guess I should've expected to feel a little bit of soreness. Also, my long run on Saturday wasn't an easy run. I decided to do most of the Princeton half course, backwards. Backwards was interesting. Long steady uphills on Mt. Lucas and Springdale and then shorter, steeper descents on Washington, plus the long downhill on Herrontown. Overall, it looks like the backwards direction has 100 ft less of elevation gain, but there's definitely still a decent amount of climbing. Also, because I was doing run/walk, I was running the run portions quicker than I normally would. I still averaged about the same pace as what I did back in November of 2019 when I did the actual race and that was all running. There might actually be something to this run/walk thing. The Princeton half course is really beautiful and it was so peaceful. I started at 5:45, so only had to deal with about 30 minutes of darkness and then I got to watch the sun rise. The only really tricky part is down Herrontown and Snowden where there isn't much of a shoulder, but because I ran early, I only had to deal with stepping aside for a few cars.
Sunrise and quiet streets.
At about mile 6.5, my friend Aaron joined me. So great to have him back as a training partner. He's cautiously optimistic that his injury is moving in the right direction so gradually increasing mileage. It's always nice to have company. The miles just seem to click by a lot faster.
Yesterday's run was a slog. I had 8 miles and decided that I needed to go see Mountain Lakes. I miss the trails so much. However, I was met with ice yet again and had to pull the plug and ended up running back near and on campus instead. Running on roads is "easy" in a sense, but the pounding adds up. Halfway through the run, I was already feeling my ankle and my quads. Really had to push to get myself through.
Icy trails around Palmer Lake
This week is another build week. This morning, I was very grateful to be able to sleep in. It's the first time I haven't woken up in the dark in a long time. I'll savor today's rest day and then I'll be back at it for another 40+ miles week.
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