A long, long time in the Moosehorn
Did my 22 miles in the Moosehorn this morning. It felt good to be off the pavement - until the last 7.5 miles. Then the rocks and general unevenness of the road were getting to be a real pain. The course is sort of a figure eight- 2.7 mile loop in one direction then a 4.8 mile loop in the other. Do this three times and you get 22.5 miles.
I've posted about the Moosehorn before. It still is a wonderful place to run. No traffic, no people, just empty dirt roads winding their way through forests, meadows, brooks, ponds, and fields. The weather was misty this morning. And this mist turned into an absolute downpour for the final 4 miles. I was dragging.
The plan was the take it really easy for the first lap with an HR target in the 130's - which is basically recovery pace. The 2nd lap was to be in the 140's and the 3rd lap back to recovery pace. This worked pretty well. I needed the slower pace - especially in the beginning. The 2nd lap went well because it went about 7 minutes faster (it's always nice to be closer to being done). I slowed it back down for the final 7.5 miles to avoid any muscular fatigue etc. I was a little low on energy so I chewed on a bagel as I jogged along. Don't know if it made much of a difference but it gave me something to do.
The downpour matched my mood when the skies opened. I was dreaming of pavement and wondering why I hadn't noticed just how steep these hills were before. The little rocks I had cruised over twice before, now stuck there pointy edges into the soles of my feet. And to top it off, the downpour had the immediate effect of eroding deep pathways in the road so I had to pick my footing often. I was quite glad to be done.
The nice thing about the Moosehorn is the public restroom. It is large and clean and the perfect place to change out of soaked running gear and into warm clothes. This I did and speedily made my way into Calais to have a cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee. Once I drank that down, I headed back to Eastport for a hot bath.
This running thing can really eat up a day... 22.5 miles 3:15:22 HR 141.
I've posted about the Moosehorn before. It still is a wonderful place to run. No traffic, no people, just empty dirt roads winding their way through forests, meadows, brooks, ponds, and fields. The weather was misty this morning. And this mist turned into an absolute downpour for the final 4 miles. I was dragging.
The plan was the take it really easy for the first lap with an HR target in the 130's - which is basically recovery pace. The 2nd lap was to be in the 140's and the 3rd lap back to recovery pace. This worked pretty well. I needed the slower pace - especially in the beginning. The 2nd lap went well because it went about 7 minutes faster (it's always nice to be closer to being done). I slowed it back down for the final 7.5 miles to avoid any muscular fatigue etc. I was a little low on energy so I chewed on a bagel as I jogged along. Don't know if it made much of a difference but it gave me something to do.
The downpour matched my mood when the skies opened. I was dreaming of pavement and wondering why I hadn't noticed just how steep these hills were before. The little rocks I had cruised over twice before, now stuck there pointy edges into the soles of my feet. And to top it off, the downpour had the immediate effect of eroding deep pathways in the road so I had to pick my footing often. I was quite glad to be done.
The nice thing about the Moosehorn is the public restroom. It is large and clean and the perfect place to change out of soaked running gear and into warm clothes. This I did and speedily made my way into Calais to have a cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee. Once I drank that down, I headed back to Eastport for a hot bath.
This running thing can really eat up a day... 22.5 miles 3:15:22 HR 141.
posted by Andrew at 3:28 PM
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