11/24/2014 to 11/30/2014

November 24, 2014.

I wanted something short, fast, and brutal today, so I did 3 miles on Upper Campus pretty much all-out. It was dusk when I started. I charged off and was almost immediately doing sub-7s. I headed off to the trail in the woods at the end of the XC trail, where I had planned to go last week, but had ended up on the wrong trail. This time I got to the right trail and followed it through the woods. I slowed here since there were a lot of leaves on the trail and it was dark in the woods. Pretty soon I came to a backyard, so I backtracked and then headed on on the proper trail. That was pretty short too. It just dumped me out on a grassy area near the road to Upper Campus. I considered exploring the grassy area to see if the trail led any further, but decided against it and returned, taking a different route back to the trailhead. I then headed around the XC trail, going counter-clockwise for a change. When I got back to the soccer fields, it was dark and I didn't have too much distance left to go, so I did a loop around the upper soccer fields and then a quick sprint down the middle of the field, carefully avoiding a couple of loose dogs.

My first mile was slow thanks to the part where I ran on the trail in the woods: 7:58. The next two miles were 7:08 and 6:54. My time was 22:03 and my pace was 7:20/mile.

November 25, 2014.

4 miles on Upper Campus today. I started out on the soccer fields and then headed did Hopsital Hill and headed to the Mankiller trail. When I got to the bottom of that, I went straight and onto the offshoot instead of going back up the hill right away. There were leaves blanketing parts of the trail and the terrain was uneven. I slipped and fell shortly after the one mile point. It didn't hurt and there were only a couple of scratches, so I continued on my way after a minute or so, although I stopped a couple of times to make sure I wasn't bleeding to death or anything. I eventually got to the other offshoot that I had noticed a few days ago, but it was a major disappointment. It was barely a trail and it only went less than a hundred feet. I returned to the main offshoot and from there to the soccer fields. I crossed them and headed over to the eastern side of Upper Campus, where I did the main loop on the grass XC trails. As seems to be usual these days, instead of going straight and running into the parking lot at the end of the loop, I turned right and looped around to the start of the trail. As I ran back along the path that follows the powerlines, I took an offshoot that went down towards Arbutus Park Road. It was a nice little dirt and rock trail in the woods, but it soon approached private property and I couldn't tell whether I'd get shot at if I continued. So I turned back and ran along the trail following the power lines until I hit 4 miles. From there I walked the third of a mile or so back to the car.

My first two miles were 7:19 and 8:12 and my pace was 7:53/mile. Slow. I don't remember anything else about my pace. My feet did feel sore towards the end. It might be because I ran long two days ago and hard one day ago.

November 27, 2014.

Thanksgiving Day. I did 5 miles on Upper Campus in the morning; the tenth consecutive time that I've run on Thanksgiving. It was the first time in four years that I didn't run the Run for the Diamonds. That race is 9 miles on roads and I prefer to stay on trails these days. So I headed out on Upper Campus in six inches of snow that had fallen yesterday. I started off fast (considering all the snow anyway), but slowed within a few minutes I did Hospital Hill and then looped around the soccer fields and back to the parking lot. I then headed off to the XC trail. I looped around that and then back to the trailhead, at times following some ski tracks. When I got back to the soccer fields, I did one loop around them plus Hospital Hill. I was getting tired by this point thanks to the snow and the going was slow on the ascent up Hospital Hill. I picked it up some around mile 4 though. When I finished the loop, I did one smaller loop on the upper soccer fields, at one point running up a steep hill between two fields. Snowdrifts sometimes accumulate there in the winter, but apparently not today. From that hill, I cut across the soccer field at a fast pace towards where I started. When I finished, my mom and the dog greeted me. One of them greeted me in the normal fashion; the other twirled and danced in the snow for at least a minute before settling down.

My first mile was 8:41, my second mile was 9:16. My third mile was 9:52. Ouch. Pretty slow even considering the snow. The last mile was 8:50. My total time was 46:03 and my total pace was 9:12/mile.

November 28, 2014.

I had wanted to run at the Robbins Trail, but the timing didn't work out. So I ran at Upper Campus *again*. It gets boring after a while, but I need the miles. I did a 5k this time on a pretty plain course. There's not much to report. There was still snow on the ground, but for some reason I was running in shorts. They say that running in shorts when there's snow on the ground is the first sign of insanity.... It wasn't too bad though, especially since I was able to follow my footprints from  yesterday for much of it. I did the loop on the soccer fields plus Hospital Hill (yes, again) and then headed over to the XC trails (again). As I reached the XC trails, it occurred to me that I was ambling along at a lazy pace, but the snow had partly melted in places, so I could be going faster. I picked up the pace for the next half-mile, but then slowed as I entered a more snow-covered portion of the trail. When I got to the end of the trail, I continued straight onto the parking lot for once and from there ran back to the soccer fields. I reached 3 miles before I got there, but I continued on for a bit to make it a 5k. On the last tenth of a mile, I cut diagonally across the snow-covered soccer field, making a new path instead of running on already trodden-on snow. I ran fast and it was a nice finish. So there's that, at least.

My first mile was 8:44. I don't remember my second mile, just that it was over 9 minutes. The third mile was 7:54. My time was somewhere in the 26s and my pace was 8:31/mile. Slower than usual, but then again, I am running in snow.

November 29, 2014.

 3 miles today. Upper Campus. I started from the track this time, so at least there was something slightly different about it. I headed off to the soccer fields, doing a loop around Hospital Hill. I continued west past the Mankiller trails and to what I call the Westernmost Trails. They are a small (about a mile long total) network of trails which are so-named because they are on the western edge of Upper Campus. I rarely go there, but the trails are not bad. Supposedly there is nothing but forest and a steep hill west of those trails, but I decided to find out for sure. I looped around the outer edge of the trail system and eventually reached the westernmost part of the trails and began heading northwards. I kept a sharp eye out for trails to the left, but I saw nothing. At one point I had to leave the trail to walk around a fallen tree. I eventually got to what looked like a trail, but wasn't. I suspect it only looked like a trail because everything was covered in snow. I returned to the Westernmost Trails and from there to the Mankiller trails and from there to the soccer fields, and from there to the track. At the track, I did two laps, occasionally navigating through snowbanks and ice. I finished up with a 100-yard dash down the football field inside the track, for old time's sake.

My first mile was 7:59. I have no idea what the other two miles were, since my Garmin died on me about halfway through (I forgot to recharge it yesterday). 3 miles is only an approximation of my distance; I don't know exactly what it was.

November 30, 2014.

Today was the long run day. Six miles at the Robbins Trail in the melting snow. I started from the parking lot at Hess Field and headed north on the main trail. I started off at a spectacular pace: sub-7s and did the first mile in 6:58. I decided to aim for sub-7s for the whole run. I continued at the same pace on the second mile, along the bottom of the ridge and then down to the roads and across Mahoning Creek. My second mile was also sub-7s and I still felt strong. I continued on past the trailhead where I started for a few hundred meters and then turned onto the Mahoning Flats Natural Trail. The trail wasn't that bad, despite the snowmelt and I continued at a fast pace along the bank of Mahoning Creek. Once I got past Hess Field, the trail got muddier and snowier again and I slowed down a bit. At points, I slid and almost slipped in the mud, but I managed to keep my footing. At one point I had to leave the trail to walk around a fallen bush of some sort and another time I had to wait for a black cat to get out of the path. When I got to the power line right of way, I turned left and ran up to the road, kicking up mud and snow most of the way. When I got to the road, I turned around and continued along the Mahoning Flats Natural Trail. A short time later, I got up to the road. The muddy and snow leg of the trail had slowed me down, but not by that much. It wasn't great to run on such a hard surface, but I survived and I returned to the Robbins Trail pretty soon. I headed clockwise on the trail, which I don't believe I have ever done before. I was beginning to tire by this point and the climb up the hill at the Montour Street trailhead was slow. I sped up after that except for one brief stretch that was iced over. I was beginning to wonder if the end was near, but eventually I reached the pedestrian covered bridge over Mahoning Creek. At this point, I started sprinting pretty much all out. The six mile point was only a little over a quarter of a mile away. It was very close, but I didn't make sub-7s. I was two seconds too slow for that (total, not per mile). When I got to the end of the run (which turned out to be a couple minutes short of the trailhead where I started), I walked back to the car, where I found out that the backs of my legs and the backs of my shorts and shirt were caked in mud. Luckily I had an old blanket to sit on on the way home, so I didn't muddy up the car.

My time was 42:01, a 7:00/mile pace. 41:59 would've been a 6:59 pace. Oh well. My first mile was 6:58, my second mile was 6:59, and my third was 6:55. My fourth mile was the slowest: 7:16. That mile also had the muddiest terrain of the whole run. My fifth mile was 7:09. The sixth and final mile was the fastest: 6:40. My pace today corresponded to a 43:25 10K. I don't remember my 10K PR, but I'm pretty sure that I haven't done a 43:25 10K on the Robbins Trail ever.

There were a couple of trails that I was planning to explore, but didn't get around to today. Maybe next time.