M.O.R.E.: 4.25 miles of Hills

Monday, March 30, 2009

4.25 miles of Hills

It was just Patty and me on our run today. I had a route mapped out beforehand in my mind and I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but I figured we would get through it one way or another. We started at our usual Cheese Park and headed into the bike path towards Decoro. This was the only flat or downgrade part of the run. Once we reached Decoro, we left the bike path and headed up the paseos toward Helmers. Mind you, this is all up hill towards Helmers. Once we got to Helmers, I was feeling pretty lousy. My legs were tired from the beginning and I was hot because I made the unwise decision to wear long sleeves. I was cold all day and thought it would continue that way. I should know better. Patty seemed up to the challenge of climbing that *#%! water tower hill and I didn't want to disappoint her so I climbed it with her. I say "climb" because running doesn't quite describe the way we're moving on the way up. This was Patty's first time making it to the top without stopping! Once we walked down, we still had the switchbacks to run up. I think I wanted to stop more than I care to admit during this run. I really felt lousy the whole way, but I didn't whine and complain about it until the very end. I was shocked to see that our overall pace was 9.34, even with the water tower because I felt like I was crawling today.

Lately we've been working on bringing our overall pace down. There is a study that suggests that there is an optimal pace for each person. On average for men it's 7.13 min/mi. and for woman 9.08 min./mi. The study is quite interesting. Here's the link.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/perfectrunningpacerevealed

2 comments:

Patty said...: I felt like today's run had highs ad lows. There were times I felt like I wanted to quit, and times (mostly on the downhill) that I felt like my legs were doing a good job. I know that neither one of us wanted to run up to the water tower today, but I also knew it would be the day I would not stop and walk! I feel good about our run today, the good and bad parts because we did more than we planned to do, and more than I could have done even a short time ago!; March 30, 2009 at 10:57 PM
Picture Lady said...: I liked the link; ~Perfect Running Pace Revealed~ I agree with their statement;"The legs are loose, the heart is pumping and it feels like you could run at this pace forever." I have no idea what my actual pace is at that point but it is revealed for me somewhere after that first 1/4 mile that I absentmindedly settle into it and feel comfortable. I even maintain it on shorter uphills and down hills.
Wish my hip bones would obey and do what I want. Oh, to be a little younger... but at this point I will take what I can get and enjoy!; March 31, 2009 at 8:19 AM

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Favorite Trails

South Fork 3.1: Start from dirt parking lot on Magic Mtn Pkway and run to the loop at Wiley Bridge and return the same way.

Tesoro 3.25: Start in Albertson parking lot and take sidewalk/trail until it ends and then enter the water tower road to the top two towers where the ends. Return the same way.

Chesebrough 3.25/4.60: From Chesebrough Park, N. to Copperhill, So. on Bike Trail, turn around at Decoro, back up trail to power lines to bridge at park. Turn around at Heritage will give you 4.6 miles.

Chesebrough 3.5: Chesebrough Park down to McBean, south to Northpark Dr., the paseo trailhead. Take the paseo to Helmers and back. Very hilly.

Bridgeport 4.0: Fairly flat, run toward Lowes and under Bouquet bridge to RiverPark community until you reach the closed gates and return. For a hilly run, go north into Helmers and run up the paseo switchbacks into Northpark where the paseo ends and return the same way.

Chesebrough 4.0: N. to Copperhill to west side of river trail, run S. on Bike Trail past Decoro bridge, across Decoro to the east side of river trail, up back to power lines trail, back to park.

Chesebrough 4.0: From park down power line trail to Heritage Park and back same way.

Bridgeport 4.0: From School, cross McBean via bridge or street and head into industrial center on Ave. Scott Bridge and enter bike trail going south toward the train bridge. Turn around at train bridge and return same way or cross the bridge and head toward Peet's after crossing train bridge and back onto the Lowes Trail.

Heritage 4.0: From park, run up bike trail to Decoro, over McBean Bridge into Helmers, and into Bridgeport through lake trail back to park. Can be done in reverse. Moderately hilly.

Chesebrough 4.25: Chesebrough north to Copperhill, left to Albertson side of bike trail. Run south on trail to Decoro and cross over bridge and head north all the way to Copperhill on east side of river trail and back to the park the same way as started.

Cheese/Decoro/Helmers 4.25: From the park, down dirt trail to bike path, south to Decoro. Leave bike path at Decoro and cross paseo bridge at McBean. Stay on paseo up hill towards Helmers. Run up water tower trail once then continue on to switchbacks and paseos back to park.

Heritage/Bridgeport 3.3: Heritage Park south to McBean Bridge @ Panera. Cross and head toward Lowes bike trail and head east toward Bridgeport Park. Halfway mark is at park bathroom, head back by entering trail along the lake and back onto the bridge.

Lowes 4.25: Lowe's parking lot to McBean, cross the bridge and to South Fork. At Valencia Bridge, enter trail behind Hart Baseball diamonds. Continue on trail to Bouquet and across the bridge on the east side and back under the bridge again towards Lowes.

Peet's & Decoro 5.2: Peet's Coffee to train bridge path; to Decoro and across bridge; back down McBean side of bike trail back to Peete's.

Peet's & Wiley 6.0: Start at Peet's Coffee and head east toward South Fork trail and past the Wiley Bridge. Keep running another 200 yards to where the trail forks left and right. Turn back same way.

Peet's & Copperhill 6.0: From Peet's to bike trail heading north to Copperhill and back.

Albertson 7.0: From the Albertson parking lot on Copperhill, enter the westside bike trail and head south until the train bridge. Return the same way.

Peet's 8.5: Run to Copperhill on east side of river trail and return via train bridge on other side.

Lowes 10: Start in the Lowes parking lot. Enter the bike trail heading west. At McBean, cross the bridge and head east toward SouthFork trail. Continue on trail until you come to the Wiley bridge and head back the same way.

McBean 14: This route can be done from anywhere along the trail route. Starting from McDonald's across the post office, run to the end of the South Fork trail and return the same way, cross the McBean bridge and run on the Lowes trail until you hit Bridgeport Elementary and then cross Newhall Ranch via the bridge or street and run back towards McBean. Continue north on McBean until you hit Copperhill. At Copperhill, cross McBean and enter San Francisquito bike trail and run south on the trail until you are back at McDonalds.