26.2 Quest: Post Marathon Running in Indiana

It is ten days following the marathon and it is time for a workout. I am following Hal Higdon's Advanced Post Marathon Training Plan and it just happened to work out that my daughter's were supposed to run a workout today as well. We are currently in Indiana spending time with family for the holidays and so the running is a little bit different than what we are used to. Luckily, there is an asphalt trail system called The Sugar Creek Trail that starts/ends just a mile from the house that we have been able to use.

Yesterday we were dropped off at the far end of the trail near the bridge and the creek. We ran the trail system all the way back to the beginning and then the mile back to the house. The trail starts by running a couple miles down an old railroad bed and ends at a road. There is a sign but it is not very clear and we had to guess as to which way to go. The trail then runs about a mile on the country roads before meeting back up with the trails to finish off the last mile.

This morning when we walked out the door to run it was 35 degrees and 10 mph winds. This was a big difference from yesterday's nearly 70 degrees and 30 mph winds. As I mentioned, Ashlee and Payton were supposed to run a workout today as well, so I ran it with them.... sorta. We ran a mile warm up to get to the asphalt trails. Once we got there we ran a mile at 5k race pace. I tried to keep up with them, and for as old as I am I think I did pretty good :) The trails were marked at the 1/2 mile markers so this was good for this mile. I ran it all out and finished with a 6:35 pace - the fastest mile I have ever timed (at least as an adult - don't know what I used to run in high school) I was huffing and puffing, but my legs felt good and so did the run overall.

Following the mile they had two 400 repeats with 400 cool downs in between. Since we didn't have a track I used GPS and told them to give me a one minute head start. I got out a 1/4 mile which was easier to measure than a 400 with GPS and waited for them. These turned out really good for me and I ran a 1:41 for the first fast one and 1:45 for the second fast one. We finished off with an easy 1/4 mile and then a mile cool down to get back to the house. full splits

A great workout, and I felt great considering it was just a week after the marathon.