Start time: 08/29/06, 7:00pm
Location: Clarendon and the Custis Trail
Distance: 3.75 miles
Average pace: 9:40min/mile
This was just another one of those “I’m not feeling it” runs. Chris and I were both struggling a bit today, and it was hard to say why. Still coming off my 14-miler from two days ago? Thick humidity? Strange planetary alignments? The only thing for certain was that things weren’t going well. I finally decided to stop half a mile from the end and just walk home; my left thigh was starting to feel a little tight and sore. Now it’s probably not ITBS—no knee pain, no sharp pain, just soreness—but why risk it? I figured it was smarter to just throw in the towel a little early, even if it was only another 5 or so minutes straight uphill that I was sacrificing.
I need to go back through my journal again and figure out exactly when I got these shoes, though; I’m thinking it might be time for a new pair. It’s hard to say, though; I wish I’d been smart enough to have written down when I got the last pair. (I know it was after my trip to Florida at the start of March. And I think it might’ve been before the National (Half) Marathon. I’ll do some more research though and figure it out.) I was already planning on skipping Thursday because of having bloodwork for next week’s physical in the morning and book club in the evening, but I dunno… I might bypass my 7-mile recovery run as well. We’ll see. Right now a week off from running just sounds nice.
Oh, and then there’s the whole “new type of shoe” dilemma. The Beast has been working well for me, but I’ve had several people (including Zen Running Guru Rick Weber whose opinion I trust very much) suggest getting a lighter shoe, and to be fair I was recommended the Beast back when I was 60 pounds heavier. But do I want to mess with something that’s been working? Hmmmmmm. Things to think about.
Oh yeah: 71 miles for the month of August, the highest total so far for 2006, narrowly beating out March with its 69 miles thanks to having a half marathon in there. Woohoo!
Knowing when to stop
Hello, I was searching information on Custis trail distance and Mt. Vernon Trail. I am training for the Marine Corp Marathon. On August 26th (Saturday) I ran the Custis Trail (starting at W&OD mile marker #4) and Mt. Vernon Trail. What is the total distance of Custis Trail?
Also, I like the GPS Pedometer that you are using. How much would a good GPS Pedometer cost? It was sort of frustrating not to know how much distance I have covered on the Custis Trail. Mt. Vernon had good mile markers.
Thank you for any information.
Regards,
Subbarao aka kleanchap
The Custis Trail’s markings are a bit of a mess unfortunately; there’s a “marker 0” on the Custis Trail but as you no doubt discovered, the span between it and where it hits the W&OD around its “marker 4” apparently doesn’t count! The entire length of the Custis Trail between the two connecting locations (W&OD and Mt. Vernon) is (according to one website I found) 4.36 miles.
I use a Garmin 301, which has both a GPS as well as a heart-rate monitor. It and the 201 (which is the same but minus the heart-rate option) are older models, so you can find them a bit cheaper than the newer and fancier ones (205 and 305). The 205/305 version is a little smaller on the wrist and is better about keeping a signal with the new design, but I am happy with them. Although I should be fair and point out that I plot out the things on the Gmap Pedometer manually; I’ve been told there’s a very easy way for me to upload what my Garmin captures into Google Earth and have it do the same thing that way, though!
Here are some links–as you can see, the 201/301 ones are a bit cheaper and I was feeling, well, cheap. But at times I wish I’d spent the extra for a 205/305 because I’ve heard such good things about the improvements.
And yay for Marine Corps Marathon! If I wasn’t training for the Florence Marathon in November I’d be sorely tempted to run it yet again. MCM is a great race.
Garmin 201
Garmin 301
Garmin 205
Garmin 305
custis trail
I have a love/hate relationship with the Custis trail. I dread running it beforehand, but am always grateful and glad I did afterwards. Love that long uphill from Rosslyn!
Btw, to the other commenter, a few runs on the DC Road Runners website (dcroadrunners.org) include the Custis Trail and have corresponding mileage.
Bex
bexgirl.blogspot.com