Tonight I went for a trail run with my iPod. And no people -- very, very weird for me!
Bobby had a headache, so he bailed on me; jPod had a choir concert in which he had a solo, so he bailed. And of course Guy had to go with jPod because he's his DAD. But I actually enjoyed the solitude for a change. I'd loaded up a bunch of new songs and the time just flew by.
Much as I love marathoning, the rest of my run training will likely be on trails for the rest of the season because I am doing my first ultras this year - a 50K in July and a 50 miler in September... both on mountains, and both on trails. Anyway, trail running is NOTHING like road running. It's so much harder and so much slower! And any conditioning I thought I had on the roads does not translate to the trails. I went just over 8 miles and it took me about 1:22, for an average speed of 10:58.... and I though I was working hard!
But it is also prettier:
... and it smells nicer...
... and the creeks have little animals running around near them...
But it's just so technically foreign. Here are a few things I learned so far:
1). All your energy dissipates into the dirt or wood chips or grass, so you have to work harder for a push-off every step.
2). Going downhill is an exercise in lowering your center of gravity and using your big quad muscles to support you. If you allow your feet to take the impact... well, lets just say I didn't have to do that more than once or twice. (youch!!) You also have to LIFT your knees a little even though you are stepping LOWER. Hard to explain, but it softens your landing.
3). You trail shoes can't fit like your road shoes. All that roomy comfort I enjoy in my road shoes will leave me with blistery feet, I can tell that already.
4). Roomy shoes also means that you will actually step right out of your shoes on the uphills.
5). You can't take your eyes off the ground unless you're not afraid of tripping or jamming your toes ..... because you really don't know what's underneath all those leaves.
6). It's really pretty out there.
That's what I know so far. If I think of any other gems of trail running tips, I will pass them along!
Goodnight everybody. xoxoxo
