Traditionally at this time of year I’d be running long on a Sunday morning in preparation for a fall marathon. Of course, at this early stage in the post-stress fracture comeback, I’m definitely in no shape to run more than a few miles at a time. Today was a designated “rest from running” day, so I decided to hop on the mountain bike and see where I ended up.
Initially, my thoughts were to stay local, but I soon veered off along Dam Neck Road and ended up riding down to the oceanfront. Feeling pretty good, I headed along the boardwalk and then further north to First Landing State Park (venue of the inaugural Seashore Nature Trail 50k in December). At around 56th Street I could see Ally in the distance who was about 8 miles into her 15 miler — looking good and trotting along nicely. A few blocks later I coasted up next to her and waited for her to realize it was me.
We chatted for a couple of minutes before I continued the ride along the main Cape Henry trail and Ally made her way back to the car to complete her long run. The ride along the trail felt good — nice and cool and a good mix of gravel, dirt and mud from all the rain we’ve had this week. I ended up on North Great Neck Road, briefly stopped at 20 miles to have an Espresso Hammer Gel (my favorite) before turning around to head home. In typical fashion I had to fight a headwind all the way back to the house, but surprised myself with slightly negative splits.
Good ride, kept it in an easy gear the whole way and nice to be out and about for almost three hours burning some calories. Not exactly a substitute for a long run, but it’s about as close as I’m going to get at the moment.
Looking forward to another run/walk tomorrow…