Training Log - Friday, June 25, 2010

Today's training run was more one out of necessity rather than choice. Richard had decided to run into work and bike back, while James and Mike wated to bike into work and back. I, on the other hand, do not work at the sdame place, so I just chose to join Richard on his run to work and opted to run back once we got there. As it turned out, neither James nor Mike biked in, so they also joined us by running towards our direction from the office. As a result, today's 8 mile training run can be described as an "urban" run along some of the busier roads in and around the research park in Huntsville. After experiencing the humidity of Wednesdays trail run, I decided to carry two handheld bottles for fluid intake. I could have used one of my water bladders, but I wanted to see what it felt like to run with two handhelds in anticipation of our Laurel Valley Run in August. This race is self-supported, so I have to be able to carry enough water and some type of filtration/purification system to turn river water into drinking water during the run. That's why I am now experimenting with different setups to carry water on my runs. So far, the "camelbak" type vest is the most comfortable, but it could be very annoying trying to fill that thing up with purified water during the trail race. I'm just not sure yet and will continue to experiment. All that experimenting with equipment should allow me to write quite a few gear reviews in the near future, I know you are all excited about that;-) The temps this morning were bearable, but the humidity was quite high even at 5:30AM. I have a 5 mile race on the calendar for tomorrow and Sunday calls for another interesting training run on the Monte Sano Mountain trails. Let's see what Richard cooks up for us, maybe another run straight up the mountain followed by a Waterline Trail and MacKay Hollow Trail section? We shall see.