L-Five Trail Run Report (06.4 Miles)

I had an awesome trail run today. I was concerned that I would be too sore or tired from my run yesterday, but that wasn't the case. I woke up feeling good and excited about running. Here's my L-Five report for today's run.

Northshore Trail

Length

My training plan called for a 4 mile run today. I was scheduled to take a rest day yesterday, or do some light cross-training. But I was invited to run with the North Texas Trail Runners and I couldn't pass on the opportunity. So I ran with them yesterday with the intention of taking a rest day today. But again, I couldn't do it... I had to get back out on the trails. I ended up running just over 6 miles. I thought about going longer but don't want to make the mistake of overtraining. Here's a map of my run today.

Legs

My legs felt strong today. Again, I was expecting them to be sore because of my eight miles yesterday. But instead, they felt solid and strong when I woke up. I was also concerned about my calf muscle, but it didn't bother me today. As I sit and write this, my calf muscle is a little stiff, but no pain. Maybe it is finally close to healed.

I will say about four miles into my run my legs started to feel a little tired. But after another half-mile, it was like they got their second wind. The energy came back and I finished strong. I wonder if the gels helped with it (more on this below).

Lungs

I struggled with my lungs a little bit more today than usual. I was coughing quite a bit at the start of my run, for about the first 2 miles. It isn't unusual for me to cough at the start of a run, but today it seems more so than other days. I know it will take some time to recover from quitting smoking. After I get past the coughing I am able to run pretty well without getting winded. But I am also only running at about a 14 mpm pace. I am in no rush while on the trail--I am focusing on distance right now, not speed. 

Laughs

When I woke this morning I really didn't intend on running. But after reading a few email messages and getting caught up on Twitter and Facebook, I couldn't resist it. I am quickly growing a passion for running. I absolutely love it when I am out on the trail, and miss it when I can't be there. My thoughts around running at this point are all positive. 

Learning

Over the last week or so I have been focusing on learning about hydration. Based on articles and comments from others I decided to follow the advice for sweat testing. Basically, you weight yourself before and after the run and use the information to help calculate your hydration needs. Well, I am happy to report that the last two runs that I calculated and tracked my hydration needs I nailed it dead on. I was exactly the same weight before and after the run. So I will continue using this approach and tracking my results. I realize that my hydration needs will change as the temperature fluctuates and as I become more fit. But as long as I am tracking it and adjusting as things change, I should be able to meet my hydration needs on each run.

That brings me to my next topic of study... electrolyte and calorie replacement. I know electrolyte and calorie replacement will become important as my distance increases. So I am going to shift attention to studying and experimenting in this area. I used e-Gel from Crank Sports on my run today and I felt an incredible boost in my performance. I will summarize my findings in another post.