The biggest shock this morning was seeing temps below 70º for the first time in quite a while. The humidity was still really high, but it was nice to get a break in the temperature.
My schedule called for 50-minutes at easy pace with 6 x 100m stride outs at the end. For the first time in a few weeks, Nathan and I decided to run trails, and met at the Deep Well Trailhead in Percy Warner Park…
We spent most of our 50-minutes on the red trail (Mossy Ridge Trail) and kept a very chill, but steady pace throughout. My legs were pretty tight on the steep hill at the start, but started to loosen up fairly quickly. By the end of the first mile I was feeling fairly strong on the steep climbs. Even though this trail is only 4.5-miles, there is over 1,500’ of cumulative elevation gain…
The weird thing today was that I felt pretty timid on the downhills. Being able to run fast on trails like this requires letting go, picking your spots, and trusting your footing. Well today my mind was just a little more hesitant than usual. I’m guessing this has to do with the fact that I fell twice during my last trail run, and that the Milwaukee Marathon is just a little over 8-weeks away.
All-in-all it was a tough, but enjoyable run on the trails with Nathan. The beauty of the park is amazing, and trails are definitely the best way to experience it. After finishing up our 50-minutes, we did the 6 x 100m stride outs on a section of the main drive by the trailhead. We both started off the strides fairly conservative, but picked up the pace considerably with each repeat. In total we finished just under 5.2-miles with an average pace of 10:42 per mile.
Beast Mode…ON!