Tuesday, February 14: Off – I had to take today off as I got out of work really late and didn’t have the time once I got home. I’m not really happy about having to take a zero but after six weeks without missing a day, one day off won’t kill me. It will probably throw my week off a little bit, but since I am planning to run the half course on Saturday I can probably make up the missed miles with a couple of extra miles later in the week.
Wednesday, February 15: Sweet Gum Trail – 7 miles – Ran two loops of the sweet gum & GEHC loop with an added loop of the homesite trail on each trip to get the extra mile. I felt really sluggish after not running yesterday.
Thursday, February 16: Ivy Creek Greenway – 8 miles – Ran the sweet gum trail up to and around the GEHC back down onto the greenway, out and back and added a loop on the homesite trail for eight miles. My legs still aren’t feeling great, but glad I got the extra mile in. I need to make up for taking Tuesday off if I want to stay up around 50-55 miles this week.
Friday, February 17: Gainesville State College – 11 miles – GSC was a staple run for me last year. With the amount of daylight we get in the later winter and spring I was able to hit two loops of this 5.5 mile trail nearly every day last year. Today was a little bit on the slower side of how I normally run this but it was still a solid run. It’s relatively flat but has a few sections with really tight turns. I was able to run it early, which was nice because in the afternoon it can get crowded with mountain bikers and other runners. It’s a good beginner mountain bike course, so I see a lot of beginning riders, but it’s also a pretty fast trail, so you have to be vigilant in some sections. I always cringe when I see people running there with headphones on…recipe for disaster if you ask me.
Saturday, February 18: Ft. Yargo State Park – 13.1 miles – Great run. With the Xterra Georgia trail half marathon coming up on the 25th I wanted to get a loop on the course under my belt to get reacquainted with the trail. I’ve run the 12.5 mile mountain bike trail a bunch of times but the race course has one key change. No monster mile. Instead of that mile the course switches to the inner (hiking trail) loop and runs along the lake for probably about a mile before rejoining the mountain bike trail as you make the climb up to what is the seven mile marker (it won’t be the seven mile mark for the race but it’s the landmark). Trail map
Typically, when I do the 12.5 mile mountain bike trail I’m coming in between 1:45 and 1:55 depending on the weather or what I did the day before, after races and on really hot days it’s usually a little slower. Today’s run was really encouraging because I ran the 13.1 mile half marathon course in 1:36. I felt pretty good and rolled most of the run at a decent clip. This run has me really excited for next week. I’m not sure how fast I will be able to run but I’m looking forward to the race. It should be fun and I know there are a couple of spots where I can really get rolling.
One of the things that I am interested in seeing is how the first two or so miles shake out. Normally when I run at Yargo, I run from the main mountain bike trail head, but this race starts about two miles before that. With the race being run clockwise, those first two miles are pretty hilly and feature some tight turns. After that it opens up a bit, but it will be interesting to see what happens at the start.
UPDATE: Upon further review, I cut off two small sections of the course on this run. Not suprisingly they both came on the area where the race course is different from the moutain bike trail. The part I goofed on adds a little bit of uphill but also add a little more running on the flat/downhill fast powerline trail.
Sunday, February 19: Harbins Park – 10 miles – Ran two loops of the hiking trail at Harbins Park for 10 miles. It was pretty wet out and raining lightly but it was a good day to get out and get another hour-plus run in. Today was quite a bit slower than the last time I ran here but I think that was a result of running 13 at a decent clip yesterday. Including today I ran 34 miles in the last three days, which is close to what I was running for an entire week earlier this month.
Weekly Total: 56 miles on six runs – Got my second straight week over 50 miles in, so I am happy about that. I was a little bit discouraged after not getting a workout in and having to take Tuesday off, but Saturday’s run at Yargo made up for a lot that disappointment. I was really encouraged by that run going into next weekend’s half marathon. I’m still a little bit nervous about it, having never raced that far before and still being at a point where I am working back towards getting in race shape…but I am sure it will be fun regardless.
Next week, I’m looking to stay between 50 and 55 miles for the week. I don’t really see any need to back off since I’m still trying to build my mileage up and I haven’t done any training specific to a half marathon. I’m just going to go out and run it and see what happens. Ideally, I’d like to be able to average 6 minute pace, but I since it’s a trail race and sometimes that can throw pace out the window, I guess we’ll just see what happens.
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