The Surge is Working

I met the GRC for an easy 10 on Saturday. The weather was quite pleasant and we were greeted with a slight breeze on Hains Point. I kept the pace easy in anticipation for the long run on Sunday. My left leg seems to have a few tweaks, but nothing of any significance, It's probably a result of the extra miles I've been running.

On Sunday I met Dickson, Dirk, Chris, Max, the other (evil) Jake and Murphy at B&N in Bethesda to run the always epic "CCT-RCP Loop". The distance varies depending on how you run it but is always over 20 miles (see map below). Today, the exact distance was closer to 21 to 21.5 since we omitted the hills on East/West & Grubb. We did include the rolling stretch of Ross Drive which always opens up the stride. The pace was pretty harmless for the first 8 miles, but it began to drop at the base of the Zoo. We stopped for Gatorade/water at the bottom of Tilden and bid farewell to sinister Jake and later PMurphy (both were running less). By the time we got to Ross we had picked up the pace. By the time we got back to Beach we began to surge ahead. I have no idea what pace we were running but my guess is about 5:40s. We stopped at The Line, grabbed some more nourishment and then Dirk and I continue to press up Beach before turning left on the Georgetown Branch Trail. We shut it down at Connecticut then jogged the last 10 minutes back to our cars.

I actually felt very good on the run...which I never seem to feel on 20+ mile runs. Aside from some leg pains, I felt as if I could have kept hammering along. It was my longest long run in well over a year, at the end of my second highest week of mileage ever on a sunny August morning. This is a positive sign. Additionally, I had a great workout on Wednesday. Things seem to be progressing nicely, so now I just need to keep at it. After the run I chugged water, Powerade, A Clayboy shaved ice then went home and had an ice bath while sipping a slushy coffee. Then I ate a small stack of chocolate chip pancakes and hearty helping of hashbrowns.

96 miles last week. I am not sure what to expect next week as I head west to explore the Wyoming bush. I will be at least a mile above sea level for most of the week and I hope I acclimate to the shift in altitude quickly. I am going to use my legs and feet to explore the Grand Tetons and Yellow Stone and might get in some high mileage days...though the pace will undoubtedly be slow and the runs broken up by taking in some beautiful sites.

Photo - Rock Creek Park circa 1930...when the water was clean?