I didn't want to get up this morning, but I woke at 3:12 AM just 8 minutes shy of my alarm clock going off at 3:20 AM. I got up, checked the weather and happily threw on shorts and dri-fit tee. I put both my ankle brace (on right foot) and the brace for the Achilles that I got in the mail yesterday (on my left foot) as I think I might be feeling some soreness there but wasn't sure. I heated up some coffee, and was out the door.
The plan was 6-8 miles on the muddy trails at Angel Mounds with Rocky, and boy was it muddy and slow and wet. Some spots that had water Thursday morning had only mud this morning, but still nasty. Suffice to say, both braces need to be washed AND my shoes are on the front porch drying so I can brush them off (I do not wash them, just let the mud dry and use a tough brush to get as much dirt off.....).
To cut it short, I had to cut through the woods for about 20 feet after mile 3. The trail I was on was getting close to joining the other trail but I hit a spot that was extremely flooded and looked like it went on for 20 feet or more so I said screw it and just cut through and found the other trail. Then I had to maneuver around a very flooded section that is normally the last to dry completely up (normally around July or August). It was pretty muddy and nasty, and I only ran half of the trails, skipping I think 1-2 miles of trails that are either flooded are lead to flooded sections. I love these trails, but I get so sick of them taking months to dry up.
Around mile 7, I had stomach issues like severe hunger than normal but it went away after a while. My legs held up, though a little tired but not bad and I feel really good about my ankle and whatever the issue is with my other leg but I am seriously wondering if the new shoes are the issue. I bought them back in March just before Two Lakes Loop and my ankle started acting up after Two Lakes Loop. I guess we'll just have to see, won't we.
I decided to go for 10 after mile 7, figuring I will just take it easy tomorrow and run the 6 miles then. It was a slow 10 miles let me tell you, I think my slowest in a long, long, long time. We ran 10 miles in 1:51:28 with an average pace of 11:08 min/mile. Temperature was 54 degrees, and don't even ask about what the GPS said the elevation gain was. Any lap that was close to 12 min/mile or over was during very muddy or flooded sections that I had to slow down at.
Laps/splits were:
Mile 1 - 11:17
Mile 2 - 11:01
Mile 3 - 12:21
Mile 4 - 12:16
Mile 5 - 10:27
Mile 6 - 10:27
Mile 7 - 11:30
Mile 8 - 10:58
Mile 9 - 10:57
Mile 10 - 10:11
I think running the trails and cutting my runs in half has definitely helped my legs, along with icing and the braces. Hopefully I can overcome this issue, my next big cutback week is after June 14 which was supposed to be Indian-Celina Challenge but since they cancelled it I am going to run the John James Audubon trails - 13-15 miles of them and then the following week will be a cutback week before I start training for the marathon.
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