Saturday, March 6, 2010

Liberty Park monomania

Back in October or November, when the weather started looking more like winter, I decided that I didn't want to ride my rollers this year. SO, to hold me over until there was enough snow for skate skiing, I bought some running shoes and started running laps at Liberty park a couple of times a week. When the snow started falling, I stopped running at the park. And when I started running again in the middle of January, I didn't go back to the park. Until this week.

I was ready for a recovery run on Wednesday after my longer runs on Monday and Tuesday, so I ran over to Liberty Park after work and did a few easy laps on the cinder track (5.5 miles or so). And since I've been running a lot more lately than I was in the fall, I discovered that I like running in the park now more than I did then.

So the next morning I ran to the park from home, ran four laps, and ran back home for a total of nine miles. After that, I started thinking about doing a long run in the park. It sounded boring, but it also made a lot of sense. There are bathrooms (you never know when you may need one on a run), and the drinking fountains and the 7 eleven on the corner make it so you don't need to carry any supplies (gel, water, etc.).

So, this morning I decided to try it (I was on the treadmill on Friday). My plan was to run to the park, run 15 laps and then run home, for a total of 25 miles. I came up a little short (12 laps and 20.6 miles) but it was still a good run. As expected, it was boring. But it was also a perfect place to put in some long steady miles. And I think running on the cinder track (instead of the road) prepares the legs for running on trails.

As a side note, I was about to bonk by the end of the run, surprisingly. I guess easy access to food and water only helps if you use it. Oops.

Anyways, I'll be running in the park a lot more from here on out, but I don't think I'll be doing many more long runs there. It starts to get old after about an hour.

GPS Report - March 3, 2010

GPS Report - March 4, 2010

GPS Report - March 6, 2010

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I guess the problem with not carrying anything is you have to stop every time you drink or eat...so maybe not that convenient, huh?

Abominable's Main Squeeze said...

It does sound awfully boring, but I guess that gives you some good thinking time and it is nice having civilization right there at hand.