Training on Trails

This morning Jim, Kathy and I went on a training run on the trails.  It was fabulous!  The temperature was in the 40s and it was sunny.

Kathy inspires me.  She spent the day in bed yesterday and goes out and runs 11.4 miles on trails with no problem.  She had an amazing ablilty to run through pain.

Jim is also amazing.  He did not run most the summer because his knee and hamstring bothered  him.  Now he is crushing these trail runs.

I feel I am finally getting my trail legs back.  I did not do many technical trails during marathon training.  The first time I went back to trails my legs were not ready for rocks and roots.  I am feeling more comfortable on the trails now.

Our average was 13:10 pace.  We did 3/2 run/walk on the up hills and 4/1 run/walk on the down hills.  This seems to work well.  I think we did about 2/3 of the elevation gain that we will do in the whole marathon but ran less than half the distance.

The marathon has an 8 hour time limit.  This is about an 18:19 pace.  We should be able to finish long before the 8 hour limit as long as the wheels don't fall off.

Here are some times:
Pace  13:00  Marathon Time  5:40
Pace  13:30  Marathon Time  5:53
Pace  14:00  Marathon Time  6:06
Pace  15:00  Marathon Time  6:33

It is hard to predict what pace we can maintain for a marathon.  This the the first trail marathon we have done.  It will be a learning experience.  The condition of the trails will have a big impact on the speed.

Most of all the race will be fun.