Moonset over Steiner Ranch (above)
Running water and a pool alongside the trail (left)
It’s the first full week of my 50K training plan and the long run for the week almost didn’t happen. And when it did, it was with an unexpected and difficult ending.
No surprise, on Thursday (the day of the week I picked for my long runs) I wouldn’t get out of bed to do the run. I couldn’t think of an indoor workout that would be the equivalent of staying on my feet for 10 miles–at least not one that wouldn’t bore me to death and that I’d finish–so I was going to move it to Saturday. Then I thought to check with my ultra-marathoner friend, GJ, to see if she was available Sunday. She was. Perfect! Not only would I have some accountability, I would have someone on the trail with me that I could follow. (There wasn’t any questions she could do the distance. She’s currently training for a 100-mile race in October!)
To help me with consistency in my long runs, GJ agreed to run with me on Thursdays, as often as she was available and I could make it to Austin. I’m planning on at least 3 weeks out of every 4.
Being my first long run in the training plan, I’m surprised that “Hal” (Run with Hal app) jumped me straight to 10-miles. I knew it was doable for me as I’d already completed two 8-mile training runs in the past 2 months. Just as a reminder my training runs are run/walk and right now, mostly walk. Although, my average pace is usually a little bit faster than what is in the plan.
I’m still very grateful GJ was available to accompany me and show me more of her local trails, Steiner Ranch Trails. This is a fairly large and varied trail system. I definitely needed the time on the trail and technical terrain, rather than the asphalt and concrete I’ve been running on. Totally different workout–which I apparently forgot despite having done 6 miles on this same trail in early Aug. I seriously misjudged my readiness for 10 miles on this trail. Seriously.
We got started around 6:30 rather than the 6:00 am we had planned. My fault, of course. Staying in bed to the last possible second, lack of attention in navigation forcing me to exit and back-track along Hwy 1, forgetting my headlamp…it adds up. You can see in the activity summary above it was 79F when we started. I expected to take a full 3 hours to do the distance and finish by 9:30 before it got above 85F or so. The summary shows a 6mph wind out of the north, but I swear the breeze on the trail was better than that. It was a very nice morning for an extended hike.
I felt great! Unlike the last few training runs I’d managed to roll out of bed for and my legs had felt like blocks of cement. I was light and full of energy. GJ was doing a great job of keeping me on a manageable pace. We were mostly hiking or power walking, of course, jogging a bit on the flat sections. There were plenty of short, but steep inclines to ascend and declines to descend. This was exactly the training terrain I needed.
Given that a lot of the vegetation along the trails was wilted, if not outright dying and browning from the heat and area drought, I was pleasantly surprised to see Steiner Ranch still had running water in the creek(s) that flowed alongside the trail. If I remember correctly, there were at least four water crossings (no wet feet, thanks to stepping stones and/or wooden bridges) on the short two mile loop we circled three times. The rest of the mileage was made up of distances to and from the trailhead, as well as the trail to and from the trailhead to the start of the loop.
First 7 miles I felt great! I was so excited to be on a wonderful trail with a friend, chatting, taking in the scenery and working toward the completion of my first long run on my training plan. By 7 miles, I was fatiguing slightly, of course, but felt I was maintaining a respectable pace along the trail given the technical terrain. (Here’s a good article on what constitutes a “technical trail.”) Then blam! I hit the wall marathoner’s talk about, except I slammed into it at about a third of the distance they do.
First I noticed I was breathing harder/faster and noted my heart rate was elevated, especially for the walking pace along fairly level terrain. When I did have to climb, it really jumped up. To be expected, except it wasn’t coming back down at the rapid rate it normally does and my breathing remained labored. I no longer had the air to speak while moving. Again, to be expected for a strenuous effort, but that it was persisting indicated I was starting to have a serious problem.
I started having to stop in the middle of a climb. My pace slowed significantly, of course. We hadn’t done any jogging since the first loop and first couple of miles. GJ was very patient and started enticing me along with the next bench locations, which I took advantage of at almost every opportunity. This was bad. We still had miles to go.
I think we were still in the eighth mile when I noted we had been on the trail for almost 4 hours, with at least another to go given my current state and pace. I felt the symptoms were manageable given that my HR was staying in the high 130s most of the time. That’s 80-90% of my 158 beats per minute (bpm) maxium heart rate (HRmax). When it jumped into the high 140s or 150s (90-100% HRmax), it took quite a while for it to return to the manageable 130s. There were also the other sporadic symptoms of heat stress: tingling up the nape of my neck and across my scalp, trembling limbs, throbbing head during a climb, persistent headache when not climbing, ringing in my ears. I continued sweating throughout and still had water in my pack, so I didn’t feel I was in extreme danger just yet.
By this time it was close to 11:00 am. The sun was almost directly overhead and when we walked through sections of direct sunlight, my HR jumped into the red zone. Didn’t matter that I was moving at a very slow walking pace. Just the increase in heat on my body spiked it. At that point I knew I was at risk if I tried walking on the exposed sidewalk for the half-mile back to GJ’s house. True friend and AMAZING endurance athlete that she is, she parked me on a large rock in the shade at the trailhead and jogged home to get her car and a jug of cold water full of electrolytes.
I was still shaking and struggling to keep my balance when she arrived back to pick me up. However, sucking down the electrolyte drink, sitting in the AC cooled air, and not having to move. It only took about 20 more minutes for me to recover and drive myself back home.
Activity time was 3 hours and 55 min. Elapsed time was 4 hours and 28 min! I got the 10 miles done, though, even if I didn’t make the half-mile back to start. I’d forgotten to restart my tracker after several of my many rest stops, so my tracker was missing some mileage along the route. I found the Steiner Ranch Trail map, which was helpfully marked with distances between intersections–just like the Texas State Parks trail maps are marked–and I was able to add back in the missing mileage. What I calculated was actually a little over 10 miles, so I’m comfortable saying I did my full 10 miles of the training “run.”
The take-away: I cannot underestimate the importance of ADEQUATE hydration, particularly when I’ll be training on technical terrain. I believe that was the biggest factor in my crash against into the proverbial runner’s wall. The ambient temperature being the second highest contributing factor. I believe if we had gotten started at the planned 6:00am or had planned for an even earlier start, I would have managed the distance without all the rest stops and the ride back to start.
As I told GJ, “You can tell I’m w-a-y out of practice.”
And a few more pictures from Steiner Ranch Trails
