6.14m Trail Run (EZ)

6.14 miles @ 10.05 pace w/ Avg HR of 152 (Zone 2, 78.2% of MHR)

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9.32/141
9.75/150 - Entered the trail halfway thru this split
9.90/150 - Downhill trail portion
11.23/155 - Serious uphills on Trail
10.48/155 - More uphills
9.70/161
1.33/166 (9.29 pace)
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This was a run from my house, to the trailhead at H Forest, then the 3 mile loop, and then back to the base of my neighborhood.

I was determined to make this an "easy" pace and consequently keep my HR in the 150's or below. I significantly slowed down on the trails just for that reason.

Only saw 2 people on the trail this day: A jogger that joined in at the parking lot about half way through, she didn't pass me despite my sloooow pace in that section...and a mtn biker who I kept hearing behind me for a good quarter mile before he finally "on yo left" and passed me. He was really creeping me out just hanging around back there, but I suppose I could've heard him way in advance of his catching me. Still I kept an eye on him as he went by.

Running log shows this as my second best jaunt on this particular course yet according to my HR Efficiency score . I ran it 2 weeks ago "fast" and recorded my best showing, but running it slow this time wasn't far behind. I guess the ol' ticker is really shaping up.

8.50m at Lost Creek (LSD)

8.5 miles @ 9.34 pace w/ avg HR of 156 (Zone 2, 80.1% of MHRR)

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No splits here again, but suffice to say we slowed down on some of the hills in the middle and screamed down LC on the way home with the last full mile at 8.83 pace, with the last half mile at sub 8mm pace.
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When we awoke early Saturday morning, I checked the weather channel and saw that the the current temp was 75 (decent) with humidity at 94% (very bad). We were out of milk so I subbed my normal cheerios breakfast with a PB&J/H instead. Had a cup of coffee and off we went around 7am.

It was a decent enough run, I managed to keep the pace in check but the gravel roads in H Forest were more rough than normal and we had a lot of difficulty "finding a line" through it. I was glad to be out of it and up on Broad River before coming down LC. We took watered-down Gatorade at about 4 miles (half) and finished it at around 5.5 miles. We experimented with adding about 1/3 can of Red Bull to it this time and though I could still taste it, it wasn't too bad.

Eventually I'm going to get us to where we don't take fluids until every 45 minutes, but right now it's so hot, that I'm doing it at the roughly halfway point.

Jen did very well in this run and even kept up with me in that tempo-ish final mile and a half that we did.

Wildlife count: 5 thumpers and 1 bambi

8.04m LSD Lost Creek & Harbison Forest

8.05 miles @ 9.42 pace w/ Avg HR of 148 (Zone 2 or 76% of Max)

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Not gonna do splits here, but the run started out solid at 9.30, slowed down on the hilly gravel section in the middle (9.88 & 9.83), then finished up fast down the long downhill of LC with the last mile clocking at 8.62.
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This was the exact same course as last saturday (7/4), but a tiny bit slower (9.42 vs 9.37) but with a better HR average (148 vs 151). The temp was about the same both days, but the humidity on this run was higher.

I again carried a 22oz bottle at the small of my back, but chose the shorter version this time and had no trouble at all with it. We did the half-strength Orange gatorade again.

I was most proud of the wife though because she responded to my challenge at the end to push that last mile and she hung on with me all the way until we cooled down for the final stretch.

6m at 8.89 pace @ Harbison Forest

6 miles at 8.89 pace w/ avg HR of 169 (Zone 3) on half road and half trail.

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8.03/153
8.40/167 (entered the trail at the 1.5 marker)
8.65/170 (all trail)
10.28/170 (took some walk breaks so my HR wouldn't get out of hand)
9.42/174 (a few more walk breaks)
8.58/178 (all road downhill back home)
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This was a mid-morning run (around 930am) so it was starting to heat/steam up outside so I opted for a trail run, sacrificing pace for hopefully some cooler conditions. I started out way too fast though and paid for it on the trails. I had to take a few walk breaks as the steep trail hills were killing my HR (was hoping to stay in zone 3). I sweat a lot and it took me a long time to cool down at home while I watched the Roddick/Federer wimbledon final.

I don't think I saw a single other person on the trail on this run, which is rare on the weekend.

Independance Day Long Run - 8.02 @ 9.37

8.02 miles at 9.37 pace w/ avg HR of 151 (Zone 2)

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Not going to do splits as they were all pretty even with the last mile being a little faster at 8.72/154
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Jen and I left around 715am in order to avoid the heat. Ran up Lost Creek, then veered off onto a gravel road into Harbison Forest in order to add some distance to the normal 7m out-and-back. This was my first run on this particular course. Wasn't bad. There was a lot of gravel so you had to pick your lines to avoid the really rough sections but I'd do it again. We didn't see a single person, but did spy 1 deer, and 3+ rabbits. No snakes though. There's another offshoot of the main gravel road that we chose that we can use to add on even more distance next time.

I carried watered down gatorade in a 22oz bike bottle which was a mistake. We didn't really need the water (unusally cool and dry for July 4th in SC) and the bottle was so tall that it rubbed my back. I solved the problem by moving my wrist band to cover it, but that fell off once.

Pace felt fine and we actually did a little more distance than planned (7.75). Stopped short of home and walked the remaining mile or so to cooldown.

6 miles thru H Forest

6 miles, the first 1.50 was on the road from my house to the trailhead, then 3 on the trail, then 1.50 back home.

1st mile in 8.25 @ 143 HR - This was on the road and almost all downhill. Pretty easy going.

2nd mile in 8.85 @ 170 HR - The first half of this was on the road (uphill) and the 2nd half was on the trail. That's why the pace and HR spiked.

3rd mile in 9.40 @ 171 HR - Talk about pace spiking! All of this was on the trail. I didn't really expect it to slow me down this much, but wow.

4th mile in 10.47 @ 173 HR - More of the same, I was really slowing down and my HR was getting up there.

5th mile in 10.17 @ 174 HR - The second half of this mile was back on the road and downhill. That tells me that first half still on the trail was SLOW.

6th mile in 8.08 @ 175 HR - Fast road running. At least I had something left over, even though I'm pushing that HR pretty good there.

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Not sure what really happened here. I ran pretty much this same course last April with consistent 8.58 splits each mile. And that was all trail. Oh well, at least I got a good HR workout out of it. I'll skip the interval/repeat work tomorrow and count this as that instead.