Setting: The date is Monday 19th July, 2021, I am living in Trinidad. Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, Trinidad has been on yet another lockdown since early May. This lockdown was a lot more restrictive than in 2020, with outdoor exercise being banned as well… Which probably sounds crazy ( and it is) but I can understand the rationale behind it. Essentially, it was just to prevent Trinidadian people from using exercise as an excuse to gather outside in groups.
Anyway, today was significant because this ban on outdoor exercise was finally lifted after what felt like an eternity. This meant that I could resume my trail running at the Lady Chancellor Pines (a.k.a. Breezy Hill). But I would have to start back at square one and build up my strength and endurance again. So I figured that now would be the perfect opportunity to document my trail running journey and also kickstart my Log writing .
Intro to Trail Running
What is trail running? I mean it’s pretty self explanatory… running on trails! haha
The terrain is typically very uneven with a mixture of dirt, rocks, branches and plant roots. Furthermore, due to my love for mountains and breath-taking views ( two things that go hand-in-hand), the trails tend to be very steep- adding to the difficulty quite significantly! That’s all i’ll say for now on this because I might write a separate post on trail running at some point and how I got into to it.
The Trail
This was my route (starting from the carpark at the top of Lady Chancellor road)
Detailed account of the my first run
Today’s run was actually somewhat okay. I expected it to be absolutely terrible because I knew that all my leg and glute muscles that I had built up prior to the lockdown were completely gone ( if you don’t use it you’ll lose it!) . I was also cognisant of the fact that my joints and connective tissue would need to be conditioned again. These expectations came to fruition very quickly as began my ascent.
Not even a minute into the run and I felt my calves and quads struggling. At this point a couple thoughts entered my mind… “How the hell did I do this before? ” … “Can I even make it halfway?” But I persevered through the discomfort and tried to silence the pessimistic thoughts by focusing on the breath. My past experience with pushing my body beyond it’s apparent limit certainly helped here.
Quick side note: Matthew, what do you mean by that? Well, when trail running (especially on hills/mountains ), your body will likely reach to a stage where it starts sending all sorts of signals to your brain. These signals may be pain, tingling sensations, muscle stiffness, stress due to the increased breath and heart rate, etc. I try to use mindfulness to observe these signals or stimuli as they come and I decide how I want to respond. As a general rule, I tend to ignore the signals from the muscles. All I care about is the breath. Although an elevated breath rate can seem scary at times, as long as I remain in control of it (even in the elevated state) I know that I am fine and I can continue to push forward.
As I passed the halfway point, I was pretty much ‘in the zone’ or the so-called ‘flow’ state. Mind you, my legs felt like rocks and I legitimately wondered if my feet were even coming off the ground or if I was just dragging them. I told my self to just keep going even if I had to take small steps. And so I did! I made it to the end without stopping a single time! For context, my time was about four minutes off of my personal best for that trail- which is honestly not bad… frankly, it’s probably the best outcome I could have hoped for.
Nearing the end, my breathing began to get quite stressed as I transitioned to the stage where you’re ‘gasping for air’ or you ‘feel like you’re dying’ . I think this stage is the most important part of any cardio activity because it signifies that you have truly worked hard and stressed out your cardiovascular system. Later, when you rest, your body will adapt to this stress and you will become stronger. The human body is incredible isn’t it?
Anywho… after doing my post-run stretches and celebrating my successful first run after the forced break . I sat on the ground and enjoyed the lovely scenery accompanied by the naturally soothing sounds of the wind, the birds and the trees.
P.S The way down was a living hell, the joints in my left leg were oh so painful. My ankles, knees and hip socket were clearly unaccustomed to the pressure. The weakened muscles around the joints likely contributed this pain as the muscles act as support for the joints. I look forward to documenting the alleviation of this pain and my overall progress with trail running.