Training Day 1 with Likhaya, Academy to Foothills

Profile of today's run

So this afternoon was my first run with Likhaya. I was obviously nervous to run with such a good runner but also excited for the opportunity. He met me at work and we headed to the foothills. On the way we talked about goals, methods, rest days, etc.

Map of today's run

We parked on the west side of Tramway on Academy and ran the trail under Tramway and up the hill to just before the entrance shack at Elena Gallegos. When he said we were going to park on Academy and run up I was afraid we would be on the road but we followed the trail all the way. Just before the shack we turned right and headed south, the same route I had run a few weeks earlier. But with Likhaya following closely behind me I stepped it up a notch or two.

To my dismay I did have to take a few periods of walking on the long uphill start but that is one of my goals, to NOT walk on a run unless it's over 10 miles. I knew if I pushed and didn't walk a little I would be burned at the end and my pace would suffer badly.

One of my favorite parts about trail running, and one of the things I do pretty well at, is attacking a hill in front of me. Once I've warmed up well and caught my second wind if a hill isn't too long or too steep I like to just hit it hard instead of dragging it out. He told me that one of the things he plans to work on is me picking up my feet higher behind me to greatly help my speed. After he saw me attach a few hills he told me he could see that I had it in me to do just what he was talking about. That boosted the confidence for sure.

If you've ever been in the foothills you know the trails offer a lot of quick, short rolling hills with few long climbs so the pace is fairly easy to maintain. I felt I had done pretty good, better than expected, and was pretty pleased with the run. Then I asked the distance and pace (he wore a Nike Sportswatch, I didn't want any extra weight at all so I didn't carry GyPSy). And was even more pleased!! He said he took out the walking and said we averaged about a 10:15 pace. I was thrilled!! I've only done close to 10 minute miles a few times so this proved how right I was about needing to be pushed my a strong runner. He didn't verbally push me, just by him being there I pushed myself. And I was pleased when he said we had done almost 5 miles.

Profile of my ultimate goal

We talked more about my goals and I know seeing me run will help him in laying out my training plan. His first race for me is the Zoo Run and I told him I definitely want to do the 10K! I am STOKED!!!! He knows my ultimate goal is the Valles Caldera run and said that he thinks I will be ready this year. I told him I have no delusions of winning or even being close to the front, I told him I just do not want to finish last and be an embarrassing 15 minutes behind next to last.

Looking forward to next week. He invited me to run with his group Saturday morning but if the Lovelace Team, or some members thereof, want to I would like to run with them. Either way I will run Saturday. Game on!