Well, week 5 is complete and week 4 is off to a great start. The goal for the week was 4 challenging runs, a day off, and then a run on the Appalachain Trail (AT). Monday and Wednesday were both 21+ mile runs at Fair Hill. I've increased the number of loops I do there from 4 to 5. With the cooler weather, both felt great. Tuesday and Thursday were hill repeats with some incline (11-15%) treadmill work immediately afterwards. They were less enjoyable, but successful.
Saturday was going to be my camping weekend in Western Maryland. Though my trail runs are incredibly hilly with probably <10% 'flat', the duration of these ascents and descents are brief. Nothing more than 5 or 6 minutes without changing direction up or down. I'm definitely building the leg strength that I need, but I'm worried about sustaining one direction for significant amounts of time. During a 4 hr run at FH, I might be ascending for 110 minutes but that is the culmination of, for instance, 35 3-minute ascents. How will I do if I have to do 110 minutes continuously? That is where the AT comes in. Looking at elevation profiles of the AT and looking for something relatively close, I found some terrain near the WV/MD border. Though not providing me with super long ascents and descents, I did get some that were in the 30 to 40 minute range...not 'up' the entire time, but some steep sections paired with gradually rolling upward/downward sections. A great test. Definitely more challenging than FH. FH's 'sprints' up and down only last 200-300' per shot. The AT peak to valley was closer to 1000' and it was repeated often. The most trying aspect of Saturday's run was how rocky it was. For probably 80% of the run, I had to watch every single footfall for fear of tripping over the rocks. I actually went down four times and probably came close 20 other times. My goal was to run about 3.5 hrs Saturday, camp, then run 2.5 Sunday. But Saturday felt so good that I went for 5:00:00 hours and 28.5 miles. Very satisfying. And, my legs weren't even that tired. It was my back, knees, wrists, and neck from the falls, as well as my ankles from turning them so many times. I definitely wanted to stay in my own bed that night and drove home.
Sunday morning I got up and went for a 'flat' 15 miler. Ironically, this 'flat' route is the one I used to consider really hilly! It was a piece of cake. My legs felt great, nothing like I had run for 5 hrs the day before. To think that for 3 or 4 days after running a marathon, my running would be horrible, and now I can go out and run 15 miles and feel great!? What the hell is going on with me? Is this really happening? Then, on Monday, I did 4 loops at FH...18.1 miles in 2:48:00. The temperature was 59 degrees with rain and cloud cover and it was spectacular. This pace (9:17) was 10 and 25 seconds faster than the last 2 times that I ran this course when I was better rested (though it was hotter). My legs felt fantastic and I could have done 6 loops had I not needed to return to work by 8:30am. At this point, I am EXTREMELY confident that my body will be able to take the pounding in the Rockies. Well, for the most part. I am still worried about the downhill pounding in the Rockies. One good sign, I think, is that prior to last week, the muscles that fatigued first and most severely were my 'downhill' muscles. But last week, this discrepancy disappeared and my downhill and uphill muscles fatigued equally. I just hope that this means my downhill muscles are getting stronger and not that my uphill ones are getting weaker/overtrained!
One more long FH run (hopefully 6 loops tomorrow), a hill/treadmill session on Thursday, off Friday, and then running some REALLY challenging terrain on the AT in Northern Mass on Saturday will wrap-up week 4 and begin my taper. Oh, how I can't wait for the taper!
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