A 14K Asphalt Run

Last night was warm (8C/46F), but windy and rainy. I had 14K/8.7 on the schedule at an easy pace. I decided to stay out of the mud and run a couple towns away to Untergrombach. This town is at the base of a nice forest-covered hilly training area that I am considering for my Ultra training. Last week I tried to find a short-cut over the fields to this town, but pretty much eliminated any possibility. Last night I stuck to the asphalt paths that parallel the highways to the town.

I ran for about 45 minutes and just barely reached the edge of the town. I knew from running through the town a few years ago that it would be another 15 minutes from this point before I actually got the first hill and the forest. So I turned around and head back the way I came, finishing my run in about 1:25:00, for roughly 14K.

In any case I have pretty much ruled out running from my house to this hilly area and then doing a hill workout, as this would be limited to just the longer runs and would mean 1 ½ - 2 hours of running on asphalt. I will probably end up taking my bicycle, motor scooter, or car to the base of the hilly region and then doing my training runs. Once I am in the forest I can run for hours and never see asphalt (yeah!).

My ankle was a little stiff as I started my run last night, but after the first 5 minutes or so it loosened up and felt just fine. I think the pain and stiffness that I experienced was a result of the rapid increase in mileage that I have made over the last 3-4 weeks. I hope this will go away once I start tapering next week.