Pace: 7:46 min./per mile avg. Weather: Partly Sunny, 60°F
Course: The two 4.5 mile loops are the same as the PowerBar Trail Race Course, just backwards.
Pre-Race Observations: I am looking forward to running today’s race as a training run for the trail ultra. While the Rochester Autumn Class Trail Race is only nine miles in distance (or 4.5 if I don’t feel so well!), it will provide me an opportunity to try a few new things, the least which is not my new pair of trail running shoes. I bought them this past Wednesday, but have been unable to “test drive” them until today. These are the first air of legitimate trail runners I’ve purchased that haven’t been Montrail shoes, the brand I had become accustomed to wearing. After looking for the make and model I prefer, I came up empty so opted to go with a less expensive offering from a reliable brand, the ASICS GEL-Kahana.
Today’s run will also be the first during which I’ll be wearing my hydration belt and loading it with an electrolyte replenishment drink rather than water. As a rule, I’ll use Clif Shot Blocks on very long runs, and supplement their use with regular H20. Following some recommendations I’ve read, I’m going to try some “stronger” fluids during my ultra and want to test out some flavors in advance...
Post-Run Reflections: The run itself went well, although I did screw up on the course by first, stopping to assess if I (and another runner) had gone off course because we hadn’t seen a pylon in nearly a mile, and secondly when I followed the wrong colored pylons (yellow instead of orange) at the end of loop 1. We had been directed at the start to follow yellow on the second loop, but what had been intended is that we follow the yellow after finishing the second loop. C’est la vie…
In the end, I did (I think) PR at the distance and surface, knocking almost a full minute from my previous best effort. I am comfortable with the knowledge that, while I could have done better (relative to my time), I did feel very strong, had a great opportunity to practice with fluids and blocs, and also reinforced for myself the need to find a better fitting hydration belt. I love the one I have now (a gift from my wife when I started running regularly), but between it’s being used loyally for almost three(!) years and my somewhat slimming gut, the combination of lost elasticity and bony ribs has rendered it somewhat ineffective… I seemed to spend quite a bit of time adjusting the bet when I ran—this is just one silly thing I’d rather not think too much about.
Breathe in, breathe out... YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!
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