Olentangy Trail

Today was beautiful!  Sunny and lower 60s. Val had a softball game on the west side of Columbus tonight, so I decided to run at OSU and shower at RPAC before heading to the game.  I find it difficult to run on campus because it's too small. Okay, yes, I know. I hear your exclamations and shouts of disbelief.  OSU is one of the largest schools in the nation. It is far from a small school. However, running more than 5 miles on campus requires venturing on some very busy streets and doing multiple loops. I wasn't feeling particularly loopy today, so I decided to do an out-and-back on the Olentangy Trail between OSU and the Park of Roses.

Overall, I was satisfied to complete 8 miles in 1:26:25. I felt pretty good throughout, although it was a little warm during a stretch of the trail with no shade. I suppose I should mention that I was off the clock about 5 minutes or so when I stopped at a portapotty (mile 4) and stretched a little before continuing the workout, so my actual time for the 8 miles was probably 1:30 or 1:35.  I hope we can find enough facility stops at the Poco Loco in Boston. I seem to have the bladder of a fly. 

I was scheduled to do a 7 mile run with 5 of it at tempo, but I couldn't hang on to the tempo today, so I settled for 8 miles with 3 of them at tempo and another quicker mile thrown in for good measure. My splits were 11:21, 9:39, 10:18, 9:41, 11:05, 10:14, 11:31, and 12:28.

I tried some new podcasts because I'm caught up with Steverunner, Geekgirlrunner, the Slow Runner's Club, and Run Run Live. I wish I would have downloaded some Extra Mile podcasts instead: I enjoy Kevin and hearing everyone call in with race reports.

Although I wasn't thrilled with the three podcasts I previewed on my run today, I did learn something new.  One runner complained that his legs get tight and won't relax during a marathon. He has learned to address the problem by walking a little at water stations and then running much faster for a hundred yards or so to catch back up with the pace group. He believes the longer stride and stronger push-off stretches his legs and helps them perform better as he relaxes back to marathon pace. Hmmm, that's a very good idea. I'm going to try it. I struggle with chronically tight calf and IT band muscles.  Sometimes they invite the lower back, hips, and hamstrings to participate in the fun too.