Exploring New Trails

So we went away this week to celebrate my grandma's 90th Birthday in NJ.  Mark was already in NJ/NY, so I flew out on Thursday to meet him.  While there, I got to wander around US Military Academy (West Point).  See photos here:  https://5byphoto.blogspot.com/2017/06/west-point-military-academy.html.
After Mark's meeting with the Superintendent on Friday, we hit Bear Mountain State Park in NY for what was originally to be an 11 mile loop.  Turns out they had the a portion of my planned loop closed off for fireworks that night, so after some bushwacking we made it an out-and-back.  Lots of rocks, roots and boulders.  We made it about 7 miles in the 2 hours I had planned.

We later drove down toward my grandma's in Piscataway.  While we woke up to rain, by the time we started running at Sourland Mountain Preserve it had cleared up.  We were quite surprised on how good of shape the trails were in.  Except of course where rivers where running down the trail.

(it's kinda funny that my shoes are blue and Mark's are red)

It was a down week, so I "only" ran 29 miles in just over 6 hours.  It was nice to run with Mark on some new trails.  While I like the variety, with the technical aspects of both of these trails, I'm not sure how much running I'd get if these were my normal training haunts.

Exploring the trails in FL

So I got to take 28GM to FL this week for a trip.  While looking for trails, I found the Florida National Scenic Trail that travels through the north of Eglin AFB.  I bought a pass and decided that I would be able to get there twice, once on Tuesday when I arrived and then again on Friday prior to departing on Sat.  However, when the meetings ended early and I was able to get home on Friday, I decided against the second run.  I'll be back to FL again in the future, so now I know where to find some trails.

The flying was pretty good, despite the delay caused by a flat tire.  Actually, the delay may have worked in my favor, as storms were moving through AL.  In fact, I was able to stay out of the storms for the most part the entire flight.

The FNST was pretty flat, but did have some roots and interesting features:

So this was my first week with Corrine Malcom as my coach.  I did intervals for the first time in a long time and remembered how much it hurt to do them.  Ouch.  I expect more of them are in my future for the time being.  I had to remind myself many times that this was all good mental training for the Bear in 15 weeks.

Totals for the week:
Miles: 42
Hours: 8
elevation: 2048 (doesn't help that I was in FL)

Back on the trails....

Sorry, I took the last 2 months off to recoup from Georgia Death Race.  I was mentally spent after that race and wanted nothing to do with training.  Run for fun was my motto.  I only ran with my gps when I needed to due to time constraints.  In the middle of May, I had a final dental surgery to fix my gum recession.  That put me with 2 weeks of "no run".  By Memorial Day weekend, I was ready to start training!

I started this week with a short shake-out run with Mark on Monday.  The next day, I headed to Ball State University to do a Metabolic Efficiency Test.  The point of this test was to see where I cross over from fat burning to carbohydrate burning.  Using this information, we can fine tune my nutrition plan for not only training, but also for racing. While I don't have the final results, it was clear that I am actually already a pretty efficient 'fat burner'.  That explains why I have don't tolerate food while running.  Now to get the details ironed out to help me during races.

I ran a few other times, to include a great run on Sat with Nettie.  Overall, I ran 41 miles this week and feel great. Not too bad.

The other thing that is new: I have a coach now.  Yes, I know I could finish Bear on my own training plan, but I also admit that I need some focus to help me.  I signed up with Carmichael Training Systems (CTS) for a trial coaching session.  Corrine Malcom is now my coach.  She's headed to the World Trail Ultra Championships in Italy this week to compete for Team USA.  I really enjoyed my discussion with her yesterday on goals and expectations. I even admitted to her my fears that a training plan would hurt my love for running.  She understood completely.  My first week's schedule was published a just a bit ago.  It's exciting, but also recognizes my limitations.  I am very hopeful at this point.

The Bear is in 16 weeks...we have bought our airline tickets and are planning a vacation of it.