Hello Strangers

Spring is here, the weather is warming up, and it’s time to start writing my blog again.  The winter has been filled with treadmill work, and the writing muse has been hibernating.  She’s awoke, and spewing ideas out the wazoo! 

Not to duplicate effort, so I’ll start with what I wrote on FB about today’s run, then elaborate from there:

Today's long run FINALLY felt like Spring has arrived! I did 12 miles on the Baltimore-Annapolis Trail, my first time on this trail. I'm not a fan. It's paved vs crushed granite, runs through a town, so you see the backs of a bunch of businesses and rundown homes, and there are too many lighted intersections to cross. Not much different than running the main roads to me.
The run was great. Warm out with a nice breeze. One thing I did like were several decent overpass bridges where I was able to get in some more hill work. I'm sorely lacking in that department given the hilliness of Blue Ridge in two weeks. I'll survive. I'll be working on hills the next two weeks. Yeah, I'm not much for a taper anymore. I've just not seen that it makes a difference. Relax a couple of days before, that's about it. Oh, and I had only a faint hint of feeling in my knee (original issue, not ITBS) for a couple of minutes, then it was gone. :)

 

So yeah, I was dissapointed in this trail.  I’d heard it was similar to the NCR Trail, which I’ve not run on in a good six months, but alas, it was nothing similar.  Here are some photos taken today.

       

 

As you can see, nothing great.  There were two cool things.  They had a model of the solar system with signs to signify the scaled down distance from the Sun of each planet.  I made it past Uranus, I’m not sure if Pluto was represented or not.  Secondly, was this small memorial dedicated to all service members.  Other than that, it was trash and un-appealing.

I’ve got two weeks to go before the Blue Ridge Marathon, and the nerves are starting to kick in.  I’ve definitely not trained for the mountains as well as I should.  It’s going to be torture!  I’ve started doing some power walks on the treadmill at work.  Kicking up the incline to a whooping 15%!  Why am I not running, you ask?  Well let’s just say that a power walk of around 15 min pace at this incline shoots my heartrate as far as I’m wanting it to go.  Plus, I’m not doing any intervals, just keep on pushing away.  The incline for the mountains on the race maxes at 12%, from what I can tell, so pushing it higher will only help with my conditioning.  I plan to do it at least three times this week, then probably once more the following week.  I’m hoping it helps and isn’t too little too late.  We shall see.

My goal for Blue Ridge is to finish uninjured and not dead. :)  Simple as that.  Timing is always important, but I’ve got an 8 hour cut-off. That’s over 18 min/mile.  No worries.  I’m hoping for something in the 13:00s if the mountains don’t kill me first.  The unknown will be how I handle the down hills. 

Ok, that’s enough for today kiddos, time to relax and enjoy the last day of my five day break.