9 Miler on the Greenway

(First of all, thanks to everyone who left such kind comments on the last post! I’ll try to keep it up in 2009! I don’t want to let you down!)

Yesterday, my left hamstring was still pretty sore from the 5000 stairs on Saturday (see Saturday’s post). But when I tried running on it, it was fine. So I figured I’d do my long run for the week: a 9 miler.

I drove to a spot about a mile into the Greenway trail to see how it looked. It was plowed, but still covered with a thin, slick layer of snow/ice:

I figured it was worth a shot, so I drove home and got ready to run. It was a nice day for a run, as it was 24 degrees with a wind chill of 16. Downright tropical!

I “layered up” and hopped in the car. A few minutes and about 2 miles later, I was at the start of the trail. I had a sheet inside one of my mittens with “mile markers” that I had written down from the Greenway website (basically, what cross-street was at each mile).

I hit the trail. Instantly, I was slipping. I was wearing my YakTrax for grip, but they only do so much. It’s not like they’re a miracle drug like Viagra (or whatever is keeping Keith Richards alive). I quickly found that running within 5 inches from the edge of the trail was my best bet. In the photos of the trail above, you can see a little more packed snow at the edges, and that’s great for running in YakTrax.

Mile 1: 6:34.

Mile 2: 6:54. Those were both MUCH faster than I normally start off. I wondered if a weeks worth of speed work (Tues: intervals, Thurs: track meet, Sat: stairs) with no long run was making me start too fast. I soon found out I was right. D’oh.

Mile 3: 7:01.

Mile 4: 7:05.

Mile 4.5 (turnaround): 31:23 total time. Near the turnaround, I saw the only other runner out there. And I saw him slip a little. I feel his pain.

Mile 5: 7:10.

Mile 6: 7:12. I’m not used to consistently slowing down like that. I knew this was the time to start kicking it in. I was also seeing my “YakTrax Tracks” from on my way out, and I could see where it was slippery. A good “YakTrax Track” looks like this:

But half my tracks looked like this:

That’s spinout. And spinout sucks. There was nothing I could really do about it at this point. So I just tried to pick up the pace. But I was hurting.

Mile 7: 6:59.

Mile 8: 6:57. The end of the trail is along a slow, easy curve. I couldn’t see where the end was, so I was kicking it in pretty hard a little sooner than I would have if I had known where the end really was (whew - that barely made sense!). It was tough, but I was trying to negative split the run.

Mile 9: 6:06. Sweet. But ouch.

Total: 1:02:02 (6:53.5 / mile)
First half: 31:23
Second half: 30:39

I was beat. It was a good run. I took the mile markers out of my mittens, and it was a covered in sweat:

I hopped in the car. I was nice and sweaty too (and a little red):

I got home and assessed the damage to my feet. Running in YakTrax is a MUST on the ice, but they add extra pressure points to the balls of my feet, so that’s why I get a little more beat up in the winter. Here’s how ole righty looked:

Part of it was tearing up to expose a blood blister beneath. And you can see a new little deflated blister at the bottom. Yum.

We’ll see how my legs feel - if they still feel good later this week, I hope to do a 10 miler just before the weekend. Then, an 11 miler next week. Then, a 12 miler on MLK day (Mon the 19). THEN, THE ST. PAUL WINTER CARNIVAL HALF MARATHON ON THE 24TH! A month ago, I KNEW I could PR at the half marathon, being I’m in MUCH better shape than last year. But after this extra snowy and icy winter we’ve had so far, I’m not as sure. The conditions have been taking a toll on my runs (I can do “cold,” but there’s only so much I can do about “ice”). I guess we’ll see...

Happy training everyone!