Day three of running here and it just gets better every day. The weather has been beautiful although today was a little warmer. Still, no crazy humidity and no bugs. Each day, I have stretched out a little more trying to feel out my legs; and in the last two days I have been trying to expand my limited experience with trail running.
I have to say that the last couple days on the trail have made me realize why some runners never want to run on asphalt. The variance in terrain, the tactile feel of the ground and the constant mental and physical adjustments that are required as the environment around you is in flux takes running to a different place. The tree roots sticking up in the trail, the fire roads and single track trail, the squirrels and the robins have all made this a time that has completely recharged my batteries. Running is not a part of my routine right now, but rather an adventure.
Still...I like running on the road. The consistency of the surface and dodging cars has an appeal for me too. Does this show a schizophrenia in my running personality? I love pastures with the sweet organic smell of animal trails in the spring and I also enjoyed the hustle and compression of humanity when I was working in Manhattan. I feel comfortable everywhere. It's not a matter of adaption to an environment, I truly feel comfortable both places and I see that as a gift I have been given in life.
Also, to paraphrase a line from Christopher McDougall's Born to Run, I want to swim and bike and run anywhere at any time for any distance. I want to be a true athlete in the second half of my life. I want to be Tarzan.
The Run
I was excited as soon as I got out of the car today. It was just one of those days when I was truly looking forward to this from moment I stopped running the day before. Today I was back in the heart of Shelby Farms to try my hand at the Tour de Wolf Trail. This Mountain Bike track comes off the park's Visitor Center and makes a meandering loop to the east. After an initial jog up the road behind the Visitor Center, I find the trail marker that gets me started.
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| Leaving the road for the trail. |
While I'm sure it's entirely inappropriate, as soon as I hit the tree line I started thinking about the Battle of the Wilderness from the Civil War. I've never been to that part of Virginia and have no personal association between the two places - call it free association. I will say that if you are a reader of historical nonfiction, you must read Shelby Foote's account of this amazing time in our history...but I digress.
The woods here have a different quality from yesterday. They are fairly thick, but with a lot less undergrowth. The air does not have the damp density of yesterday. Today will be lakes as opposed to a river. I move through the landscape here without the same feeling of oppression that I had yesterday. I listen to the birds in the trees and enjoy the gentle breeze in the leaves.
The trees part for a clearing and Beaver Lake. How could you ever get tired of this? The small boat dock and the light playing across the water are so inviting. Moving down the lake I anticipate the tree line on the far side.
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| Looking down Beaver Lake |
Back into the woods again. Ducking under the occasional branch and skipping over the occasional standing puddle of water (now three days after the rain). The ground here has the same feel as it did along the Wolf River yesterday.
Cruising along through what is roughly mile 3, I come across a strange sight in a small clearing within the woods.
How many years ago was this left here?
Small undulations in the trail play with my personal gravity. I work on being light as I move from up to down and back. I try to make myself flow with the land. Taking advice from a small video done by Scott Jurek, I shorten my stride further and take extra steps through the exposed tree roots to help maintain my center of gravity and not over commit on my stride.
The trail breaks into a clearing that will take me the last two miles back to the Visitor Center. It feels like pasture land without the animals. The trail meanders along the contours of the slope and I follow it feeling the warmth of the sun on my back.
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| Looking back from the finish. |
I am supposed to run the last three miles at race pace today, but I normally to this kind of run on the street, where the circumstances are different. My goal in June at the Double Dipsea is to break 3:00:00 which would mean I have to run at a sub 13:00 pace, but that course is going to be tougher than here; I shoot for anything sub-11:00.
The final leg of the trail moves along a dirt road that takes you to a single track that follows the multi-use path around Patriot Lake on the back quarter. At the end of trail, I head left and make a lap around Patriot Lake to finish. I think about form and speed (to the best of my limited abilities). Mustn't disappoint the fishermen on the lake.
1:28:28 / 7.62 miles
What a great looking trail! I love the car photo. That's just one of those great discoveries of trail running. The other is the lack of people - great way to achieve your Zen.
ReplyDeleteWhile you were doing this one, I was doing a similar trail near my place. The weather is alternating between rain and snow now, so the trail was alternately mud, snow, or ice. It made for some difficult footing and you couldn't hypnotize your way through the run; you really had to pay attention to where you were. In that sense, good training for the Dipsea.
Mine was a 6 mile loop and while I don't track time right now, I have a 43 minute music loop I listen to and it finished just as I hit the end. Sounds somewhat fast, but there were no hills in my run and this is still the farthest distance I'm running. I'm more focused on fitting runs or exercise in 5-6 days/week than I am on total distance, at least for now.
Rob