Back to the Trails

I finally got on the trails this week! I’ll speak more on that later on. After knocking out 21 miles on Saturday I felt relatively fresh. I’m gaining my fitness slowly and recovering nicely. I’m thankful that it was a recovery week, I have allotted 2 recovery weeks in my total training block. I am still upping the miles but significantly lowering the elevation.

Monday, I started with an hour and a half run with a sprinkle of speed work. 8 min warmup followed by 13 minutes by 3 at 6:30 pace with a cool down. It is the first time I’ve added any real speed work since my injury. It hurt and by hurt, I mean felt good to clean the pistons and remind me of what speed work feels like. We had some ice come through the week before and somehow, on a 60* day, there was still ice on parts of the greenway. Added a nice twist to the run.

Razorback Greenway

I woke up fatigued and lightly sore. A recovery run was needed. I went out for an hour recovery run. After the run I, checking my HR, I noticed that I was more fatigued than I could feel. My HR was higher than normal (avg 161). I don’t train or use HR as a main tool, just a metric to keep everything balanced.

Next run was scheduled for 2 hours. Another round of KMRs for my elevation this week. At the top of KMR there is a trailhead that puts you right onto Kessler Mountain trail system. When I got to the top I was supposed to go back down and repeat that 5 more times. I am not sure what it was but when I got to the top I just had to get on the trails. Something was pulling me; something was telling me it was okay to get on the trails. I haven’t jumped on the trails because I don’t want to injure myself. Getting started on Trent Trail its smooth and flowy. I was being extra cautious, watching my every move. After Trent instead of turning around I pushed on to the newer trail the Fayetteville Traverse. This trail is just as flowy and fun as all the trails in NWA! Up and over in 40 min and then I decided to start heading back. I got back to my car, and had an hour left. I got a phone call from work that required me to cut my run 30 min short. Even though I was bummed out about not being able to get my time in but SUPER happy that I got on the trails again!!!

Trailhead / Trent Trail / Fayetteville Traverse

My last run of the week was around the house for 2 hours. I ran around the house and a nice little out-in-back that has a few dirt miles mixed with road. I was feeling great today. Everything is lining up just right and I’m seeing my fitness go up. The section of dirt also gives you a view of the White River. Today was just beautiful!

White River, Elkins, AR

I have a 25k this weekend. I will update everyone with a race recap next week!

Weekly Recap: 6 hours, 43 miles, and 2,339 feet of gain.

Here is my Strava link from my 2-hour run!

Run Arkansas!

Advertisement