On January 1, 2023, I drove 10 hours, moving from my temporary home in Cambridge, MA to Fort Valley, VA, partly (mainly) for trail running. Fort Valley is west of Shenandoah National Park in Virginia and is a valley surrounded by the Massanutten Mountains in the George Washington National Forest. There are lots of trails nearby, including the Massanutten trail, so my goal out here is to do LOTS of trail running.
My goal this winter is to increase my volume. I am currently a ~50 mile per week runner, only running on trails 1-2 times per week and averaging about 4,000 feet of gain. Even if I don’t significantly increase my mileage, I’d like to run on trails 4 times per week and increase my total time spent running. I’ll be doing lots of 10-12 minute miles on technical trail as I rack up more and more vert, which will lead to a lot more time on my feet. I consider this volume. Initially, this will lead to some fatigue, but hopefully my body adapts without injury.
Week in a Nutshell
- 61 miles / 100 km
- 11,300 feet / 3,450 meters elevation gain
- 10 hours, 40 minutes
This was a HEAVY week for me. Part of the reason mileage was so high was that, since I drove all day Sunday, I didn’t have time to put in a run and pushed my run until Monday (which is usually a rest day for me). Also, a lot of the loops around here start at 8 miles in distance. Often, my typical Tuesday/Thursday run is less than 8 miles. But I’d much rather do a loop than an out-and-back, so I’ve been just doing 8 miles on these days.
Bigger Elevation Changes
The mountains out here are not huge, usually less than 3,000 feet in elevation, so a typical straight climb is around 1,500 – 2,000 feet of elevation. This is TOTALLY different from the trails I’ve been running in for the past six months, where there are rolling hills and the max climb might be 200-300 feet. I also get similar elevation changes on descents, so I can focus on bomb-proofing my quads. This will be critical for Western States, a net downhill race. Obviously, the closer to the race I focus on the downhills, the more beneficial it will be, but it can’t hurt to get them stronger now.
Technical Trails
The trails out here are rocky and technical as they come. Sometimes, the Massanutten trail is a mine-field, strewn with rocks, making running perilous. If it was a race, maybe I’d try to rock hop quickly, but in training, especially in the off-season very far out from races, I’m content to walk these sections and stay injury-free. This also means I need to stay very focused, with my head down, measuring carefully where each foot strike will be. This week, there were many times where I rolled my ankles (especially in my new Nike Zegama’s for some reason), but luckily my ankles are fairly durable, and it never tripped me up too much.
I do notice though that I am running with a lot more supination than I’ve normally had. Supination means I am making first contact with the ground on the outside of my foot. This is in contrast to pronation, which is more popular in runners, and involves striking with the inside of the foot on first contact. I noticed this trend in my running during marathon training in the fall, but I feel it is more prominent as I head to the trails more. I bet that a lot of my current ankle rolling is due to this supination. To try to overcome this, I’ve got to focus on strengthening and stretching my Achilles tendon (and calves, which will help the Achilles). This is the limiting factor in my running and I often get some Achilles pain every once in a while that makes me take a 2-3 day running break to heal. Over the next few weeks, I want to try to strengthen my Achilles and try to start to fix this supination.
Running in the Dark
Since I am still commuting to work (which became a lot longer upon my move out west), I’ve got to get a lot of my running in while it’s dark out. My plan is to do most of my runs in the morning, getting them in starting at 5AM. We will see how that progresses. Hopefully I can do each route for the first time in the light, so I knew the navigation and the general flow of the trail.
It’s just a bit of a different experience running in the dark alone all the time. Very solitary and eeery. It is especially ‘scary’ when you shine your headlamp forward and see two eyes staring back at you. There are bears in the George Washington National Forest, so it is always something to be aware of. Luckily, I’ve only encountered deer and an opossum this week.
Something about the solitariness is nice. I like both running in groups and alone, but running alone is certainly my meditation. Just like Haruki Murakami in his book “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running”, I couldn’t tell you what I think about when running; I just think. It is this act of just thinking that is the meditative part. And often, I just think about running. Running in the dark brings this out even more, as long as I’m not freaking out over animals the whole time.
Cross Training
I won’t go super into depth here. I think I’ll make a separate post on my early experience with Zwift! I will say that I set up my Wahoo bike trainer this week, hooked it up to Zwift, and did my first real ride this week. I absolutely love it! More to come.
Views from the Trail
Since it is winter, you do get some beautiful views, as the leaves on the trees are gone!
