A friend mentioned that she knew about a great trail that was right by our church building. Today I needed an 11 mile run and I thought this would be a great place to try it out. I love not having big hills and running on a trail - as opposed to running on sidewalks around a neighborhood. It was a nice trail and I'll probably do it again sometime. For this long run, I took along some energy gels. I seriously need more exercise clothes that have pockets - how do you runners out there carry around all the stuff you need? I have an mp3 player, cell phone, car key, water bottle, and now energy gel packets. My only pants with a pocket have a tiny hidden one in front that fits one cell phone pretty well. I usually stick my mp3 player in there too. I have tried an armband, but the one I have rubs my arm raw by the time I am done with my run. Today I put 2 gel packets in there too - I just left my cell phone in the car, it wouldn't really fit with the packets in my pocket as well. I just carry my water bottle in my hand. Anyway, I waited until I had run for about 35 minutes, and took "sips" of the gel during my walk breaks. Man, that stuff is nasty. I didn't eat it all at once - just small amounts over the course of about 15 minutes. Then I started the other one at about 1 1/2 hours into the run. I think that it did help. Near the end of my run my head and my heart felt really good - it was just my legs/knees/feet that were killing me. I was able to keep up with the scheduled run periods, but I definitely slowed down on the last half of the run. I set up my watch for an interval workout - I tried 4 mins running and 1 min of walking. When you set up the workout on the watch, you have to say how many intervals you want to do. Since my goal was 11 miles, I had to guess how many intervals it would be. I entered 26 and that ended up being the perfect number. I completed 11 miles during my final walk break. I did better on this run than my last long one (12:22 average pace per mile) and hopefully I'll still improve a little.
Here's the map. I think this trail might connect to the Pikes Peak Greenway trail, but I couldn't be sure. A sign said the trail was ending. There was another established path that I took at the end of the Rock Island Trail - the Shooks run path.
All in all I felt pretty good on this run. I was still pretty tired for the rest of the day, but I guess that's pretty normal. Here is the link to the Garmin Connect data.
Garmin Connect July 11th Run
Amanda you need to get a belt pack for running. I run with a pack around my waist. It carries a water bottle, cell phone, mace, t.p.(you never know), cash for emergency, mp3 player and food. I don't even notice it is there. Maybe I will take a picture of it for you. I cannot imagine running with all that in my pockets. The brand name is Nathan. Just an idea. Nice run. Are you feeling amazing and strong! I bet you never knew you could do it.
ReplyDeleteWhen I worked at Nike I got a "hydration belt" which I eventually sold on ebay (a good place to look?) It had three small water bottles and another pouch that would probably hold the rest of your stuff. Also, lots of running shirts have small zippered pocket (maybe for a key or cash), but I usually just tie my key to my shoes...
ReplyDeleteAlso, I am usually totally not leary of posting anything on the internet, but I've been hesitant to post my garmin connect runs... just because it says the exact time you run and where (and for me that's usually time same most days) - probably not worth any concern, but it kind of freaked me out that someone could see when and where I. I wish it just posted your data, or even the route without the time of day.
ReplyDeleteSarah - I have actually thought about that. But, I never go running at the same time or place twice and I never post my future plans either. If it was a regular running route, I'd probably be cautious as well.
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