I ran a double yesterday! Amazing!

It wasn’t planned. My car broke down on Tuesday night, and I needed to take it in to the shop. I had no one to drive me, so I either had to take a bus or run home. So I ran. It was just a little over a mile, and almost entirely downhill, so it wasn’t bad. I don’t normally run so early in the morning (it was 9:00, that’s early for me), other than races. I hadn’t eaten anything yet, and I felt like my energy was flagging even on a short run, so I know I’m probably not one of those people who can do their long runs at like 5 am without a single morsel of food in their bellies. I’m sure for a short run I’d only need a little snack. My quadriceps weren’t quite ready for the pounding they took, but they can just suck it up.

My planned run was another set of 4 hill repeats at Chester Bowl, followed by a descent along the trail by the creek. Instead of trying to run parts of the ascent, I power-hiked all 4 reps, doing my best to try to keep my breathing under control. I only lost 5 seconds off my overall pace for the workout, and since I didn’t stop to take a picture during the run this time, I didn’t have any recovery before I started on the trail. That’s a pretty good argument in favor of the efficiency of power hiking. Small sample size, yes, but still relevant.

I like the idea of incorporating a morning run to add a little volume to my weekly mileage. I don’t like to get up early, and I’m slow, so I doubt these runs would get over 3 miles, but I think that’s good. I felt great after the run, and energized for the day, and I didn’t feel any negative effects during the evening’s hard workout. Once school starts and my schedule and workload will be all over the place, doubles might be the only way to ensure I’m getting in the mileage I need.