Tappering... Or not!

So a very quick synopsis of this week's running. It basically didn't exist. Well I got in a nice 3 1/2 miles on Monday, and that ended up being the extent of my weekday workouts. I had a week long subbing job that had me quite busy, and I am always looking for an excuse to skip a workout :/

The good news (grumble) is that I made it up today! Met up nice and early with running group this morning! Had to leave the house at 6:15! It ended up being a PERFECT running day. Not too hot, not too cold, just sunny enough! We even had a photo op with my running pace crew!

We were told by coach that we were to do a 9.5 mile run today as a part of our taper before the race in 2 weeks. The problem was, we were on a course new to most of us, with now street signs, postings, etc. Welcome to trail running, the real deal! Warned to look out for deer, snakes, mountain bikers, and fellow runners! Luckily bikers and runners were all we saw this time! There were TONS of people out today, not surprising with the race coming up and the lovely weather.

After getting started, I had trouble getting into my stride. The course was pretty hilly, and very rocky. I have never experienced a trail run before, and it was VERY new and different!  I walked nearly half of the time for the first 4ish miles. I usually use my watch to guesstimate how far I have gone, but that was difficult today with such a different course. People kept telling us, "Just a bit further", so we kept going. Eventually, after 1 and 20 minutes of running, I frustratingly stopped to figure out how far we had gone. My running buddy checked her Garmin to find out we had gone too far, 5.5 miles. Oops. This set us up for just over 11.25 miles when all was said and done.

Fortunately, the second half I found my stride. We had more down hills, and a very apparent negative split (meaning our second half was run much faster than our first). Overall our pace was much improved from the last few weeks!

I am happy to report that, although this was clearly a challenging run, and almost 2 miles further than planned, I am not sore at all tonight! No ice, no limp, good to go! I am feeling a little nervous to do this terrain again race day, but so glad to get a feel for it today! Also looking forward to a true taper run, next week only 8 miles (and we WILL be sticking to course, lol)!