Springwater Corridor

Some time during the first few miles of last week's Peterson Ridge Rumble, I was talking to another woman about training and what was next, etc.  We were on our way to 20 miles that day and she was rather surprised to hear me say I had 20 planned again for the next week.  So soon?  Was I crazy?  My reasoning was get two 20 mile long runs in two weeks in a row then get a 3 week taper - or run 20-12-20 with a 2 week taper.  I opted for the prior but I wasn't sure how my body would hold up.

Julie met me for the first 4 miles of this run on the Springwater Corridor.  It is pretty flat and paved.  Of course I'm no fan of pavement but I know my body will hate me even worse after 26.2 miles on pavement if I don't do some pavement training.  So here we were.  Originally a commuter rail corridor, the trail runs about 21 miles from near downtown Portland to the outlying suburbs.  We started at milepost 6 in the midst of residential, commercial and industrial buildings.  Many of the first few miles reminded me of why I prefer to be running on trails.  The freeway underpass happens at about milepost 9.  Pretty no?

We continued on the trail to about milepost 10 where Julie left me to run 8 for the day.  Just less than a mile later the trail got much more interesting.  The freeway was gone.  So too were industrial and commercial buildings.  The houses that were found along this portion of trail were more like ranch properties and it was amazing how fast city living broke away to suburbs and quickly to what felt like remote rural areas.  The sheep in the first picture were around milepost 14 I think.  If you look real close you can see a tiny baby sheep.  It was much cuter in person :)

My body was feeling pretty good.  The main problem was my lower back which was sore from draining the hot tub the night before.  We were getting it ready for use and had to bail out some water with a bucket in order to clean out the bottom.  I'm happy to report that we got it cleaned, filled and working - and we are enjoying it!

Around mile 8 of my run the top of my right foot started to hurt.  Bad.  I thought about turning around there.  I was on a good pace for me which was about 11 minute miles (I'd be very happy if I could do that for the marathon and it would be a PR).   I decided to try and go at least another mile and see how I felt.  I walked a large portion of the next few miles.  I ended up turning around at about 9.5 miles into my run.  Around mile 12 my foot did start feeling better and I was able to run on it the rest of the way without any pain (or any recurring pain the next few days).

Though my eventual pace slowed to 11:30 for the entire 19 miles I was quite happy with my second 20ish  mile run in less than 8 days.  In fact, over the previous 7 day period I had run 43 miles.  My previous 30 days at that point put me at 101.  It is time to taper and definitely my biggest mileage numbers since training for Lake Tahoe.  My legs were a bit sore after my run but nothing horrible.  They feel pretty good today.  I'm planning on about 12 on the trail this coming weekend and looking forward to getting back to some dirt.  The current forecast for this weekend looks great.  I may have to get a Gorge run in Saturday with 70 degrees and partly cloudy skies.  Care to join me?

Happy Running & Dirty Feet,
Jessica

Comments

[Amy]

I did about 22 miles on trails between Friday & Saturday, and loved it so much that I almost talked myself into never running pavement again. And then I remembered that the PDX marathon might kill me if I don't do any non-trail runs b/w now & then! Springwater does get pretty! I've never run that far, will definitely have to try that again.

Way to go on the back to back 20 milers - that's pretty awesome! Where in the gorge are you running? (I'm doing the bridge to brews 10K saturday, so I promise not to runner-stalk you.)

[Tony]

Glad to hear your training is still going well! The Springwater Trail is definitely a nice thing to have around. If you get out to Boring it turns back into a dirt trail. I've always heard that the thing goes all the way to Estacada, but all I've ever done is the first section of dirt.

[Chris Barber]

I like the idea of running two 20 mile runs a week apart during training. I think the 2-3 week taper before a race is often the most important, and often ignored, part of a training plan. I would rather push my body hard during the intense training and likewise rest my body hard during taper time. For instance, I run an easy pace on easy distance runs and don't try to kill myself when the training does not call for it.
Also, most training plans call for only one day rest prior to a marathon. I take two days rest to be fully ready to run my best race possible. I don't find that it takes very much away from my training base either. If I really need to I can always do a long easy run the day after the race!