21MAR2011
Mon-PM: 11.5 miles (1:15) Oaks-Betzwood-Sanctuary loop, 348'
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/74398977
Trail wet from rain all morning. Don't know what got into me running this fast for a "recovery" week, but it felt pretty good.
22MAR2011
Tues-PM: 10.5 miles (1:13) LL-GWHQ-JOY lollipop loop, 753'
Met up with Ben for easy run on trails. Legs felt a little tired on hills, but all in all getting through it. Ran two parking lot loops before Ben arrived.
23MAR2011
Wed-PM: 9.65 miles (1:12) LL-GWHQ-Joy lollipop loop, 753'
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/74954056
Raining and 39 degrees, but didn't feel cold. Ran Joy with some passion, could have went longer, but it was getting late.
24MAR2011
Thurs-PM: 11 miles (1:27) Joy-Misery X2, 1604'
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/74954047
Cold day in the afternoon. Ran from Waynes Woods parking lot to Mt. Joy, then Mount Misery. Repeat. Then run up Joy and back to lot.
25MAR2011
Friday-OFF
26MAR2011
Saturday-AM: 31 miles (4:33) Joy-Misery X8, 5306'
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/75168070
The Joy-Misery Loop is a loop consisting of two east coast "mountains" in Valley Forge Park, which measures ~700ft of vertical gain for a total distance of 3.85 miles. From the Knox's HQs Parking lot, head up the paved path toward Mount Joy. Take a left onto the trail after the tree stump. Mt. Joy is relatively devoid of rocks, however, does have some sections on the climbs. There are also two fallen trees which test your agility. After Joy, the loop heads over to Mt Misery after crossing Rt 252. You are only on the road for about 0.1 mile, then you start the 370' climb up the very, rocky side of Misery on the start of the Horseshoe-Trail (a 141 mile trail that leads to the Appalachian Trail). The climb lasts about 0.8 miles at which point, you shoot down another less rocky section with many log steps, joining up with Yellow Springs Road. Taking a left on Yellow Springs head through the Covered Bridge and up Rt 252 to finish the loop at Knox's HQs.
Started running at 5:45am and completed 2 loops with headlamp. Met Jason (winner of St. Croix 50 miler) at 7:00am and ran 6 more loops with Jason. Jong showed up during my 4th loop. Very nice run. Temperatures were 21F at the start and 36F after run completed. Refueled with 2 bottles of Ensure, 1 bottle after loop 4 (15.5miles), and 1 bottle after loop 6 (23.3 miles). Ran with fuel belt to see how this would feel for Vermont 100. Felt really good and you can pack alot of stuff in it. Today, I used a water bottle with Endurox and refilled it with water after loop 7. All in all, felt really great the whole time. We reversed the loop on loops 5 and 8. Those climbs are tougher, but I didn't power walk/hike at all. Kept the body moving.
We ran into Alex on loop 5 and chatted for about 5 minutes. It will be nice expanding the running group with Alex and Derek. We just need to get on similar pages. I think these Joy-Misery loops would do them well, especially with Highland Sky (Alex) and Pine to Palm (Derek) coming up. There just aren't any other places close-by that offer this type of climbing (i.e. Western States-ish climbing).
27MAR2011
Sunday-AM: 20 miles (2:31) Betzwood-Sanctuary, 747'
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/76677293
Met up with Jason at LL parking lot and ran 3+ miles with him, then headed back to LL to meet Terry and Patrick. Went out easy along Betzwood trail, up Sanctuary, and back along SRT. Ran the last couple miles of SRT at faster clip (6:40; 5:55). Felt pretty good, surprisingly. Patrick dropped the hammer even more with 0.5 miles to go. I think he hit 5:43 or so. Couldn't get my legs to move that fast after yesterday.
Pretty good week of running and will serve as a good base for training leading to Ice Age and Vermont. Who knows, if things go well at Ice Age, maybe Western States too! Acquired over 9000' vertical this week, but will need to focus on getting more vertical in my daily running routine, so probably means more Joy-Misery Loops
Mileage = 93
Vertical = 9511'
Days off = 1
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