Bradbury Race Course Running

Today I decided to run a few of the courses for the races I am planning at Bradbury Mountain State Park this summer.

I began with the more difficult Bradbury Mountain Breaker 9 mile course which covers most of the trails on the west side of the park. The route starts with a very gradual climb on the wide, gravely Northern Loop Trail, then bears right onto the more hilly Boundary Trail. This section of trail is like a root festival, with so many wonderful opportunities to trip. A few hundred yards short of the mountain summit the course makes a sharp right onto the South Ridge Trail and then makes a steep descent to the "lower" parking lot and the lowest point in the race. After weaving through a few picnic sites comes the location of the first aid station at about 2.25 miles. This is a great place to catch your breath because the next 1/4 mile climbs 250' up the Summit Trail to the summit of Bradbury Mountain.

From the summit the course bears left onto the Tote Road trail which descends for about a mile before looping back uphill and bringing you back to the summit again. Just as the trail opens up towards the view from the top the course makes a sharp left and descends steeply down the Switchback Trail which - in typical trail naming obviousness - includes a series of hairpin turns to bring you back down to the starting point of the race and the second aid station. This is only half the race. The second loop of the race is the same as the first until you reach the summit from the Tote Road Trail, this time the course bears left onto the Terrace Trail which makes a pretty straight shot down gradual descent, which can be run extremely fast if you've got anything left in your legs at this point. The last 1/2 mile comes back along the Northern Loop Trail in the opposite direction as the start of the race where you should be able to maintain good speed to the finish.

time: 1:33:52
distance: 9.0 miles
pace: 10:25


After a few minutes to catch my breath I headed across the road the the east side trails to run the course of the Bradbury Scuffle 6 mile race. This course felt easier right away, mostly because it starts out downhill, but also because it's generally less technical than the Breaker course. I began on the Knight Woods Trail which is mostly double-track. This leads to the wide, gravely Snowmobile Trail that climbs very gradually to about the 1 mile mark. You then make a sharp right onto the Fox East Trail that begins a 2.75 mile stretch of a twisty, somewhat technical, single-track section that is definitely the most challenging part of this course (but still easier than the Breaker). There are some rolling hills and several wooden bridges to cross that make this section a lot of fun.

At about 3.75 miles the course bares left onto double-track trail at the location of the one and only aid station on the race course. From here the course climbs gradually for about 1/2 mile and has some great mud pits in the trail, then opens up to a wider and even less technical downhill section on the Snowmobile Trail that should make for a very fast mile. Just as you're getting sick of the easy running the course turns right onto the Knight Woods Trail for the last 1/2 mile which is a gradual uphill on somewhat narrower trails. The last few hundred yards of the race are the same as the Bruiser, and anyone who ran that race will be glad to bypass the entrance to the O-Trail on their way to finishing this one.

time: 58:58
distance: 6.0 miles
pace: 9:49

Stephen: if you're out there, I could really use the .GPX file from one of your runs on the Bruiser course last fall so I can add the elevation profile. Or maybe I'll go out and run it next weekend.

P.S. Congratulations to Emma for running her fastest time at the Muddy Moose 14 mile trail race today (2:00:00) and finishing 3rd woman!

BIG Pineland Run

Last week while I was running the 7 Sisters Emma ran with a big group at Pineland. She later suggested that we change our regular meeting place from the small parking lot next to the pond to the larger lot next to the YMCA since our group was outgrowing the small parking area. It was a good thing that we decided to make the move this week since we had a record turnout of runners to join us for a tour of part of the Pineland Farms Trail Challenge race course.

17 people showed up in all, and we stuck together pretty well for the first 3 miles. When we entered the Valley Farm loop the hills started to thin out the group and the numerous felled trees that blocked the trail really got everyone spread out. I have been assured that these trees will be removed before the race which is now only two weeks away. We decided to skip the field loops of the race course since the grass was starting to get a little bit longer. This brought us back to the Grove at about 8 miles and we crossed the road to the Oak Hill trail with the goal of tacking on an additional 2 miles to bring our run up to 10. Somewhere along the way we got distracted, missed a turn and ended up running a little over 11 miles.

It was great to see so many people out there running together, I hope everyone had a good time and found their way around o.k. after the group broke up.

time: 1:40:40
distance: 11.25 miles
pace: 8:57

How not to recover from a 50 miler

Week 1: 23 miles at Pineland

Week 2: 24 miles at Pineland

Week 3: 7 Sisters Trail Race

I did take 4 days off after the Bull Run Run 50 Miler, but then I remembered that I have a 100 miler to get ready for so I kinda jumped right back into training. The great thing about running really slowly on trails, even for 50 miles, is that the recovery time is a lot quicker than compared to road running.

Going into the 7 Sisters Trail Race this past weekend I was a little apprehensive because I knew I wasn’t well rested, and this has to be one of the most rugged trail races in New England. I know that there are plenty of trail races out there that I haven’t done, but I have never seen a race with more steeply rock infested hills than this. I’m sure Sherpa John will correct me, but mile for mile this has got to be one of the most rugged races around. When it rains all day and night before the race, and the rocks become slick there are fantastic opportunities for injury.

My goal was to beat my time from the only other time I ran this race, back in 2005, and to come away from it without a serious injury. My original plan was to run the first half of this out and back course conservatively and then push hard for the second half. What actually happened is that I ran hard for the first half and struggled through most of the second, pretty typical for me. Not that I’m blaming Jim for my lack of ability to execute a race plan, but his suggestion of starting out near the front of the crowd to make better time up the first climb lead me to run amongst a group that ultimately I couldn’t keep up with. One of the many unique challenges of this race is the start, where there are 250+ runners crowded along the shoulder of a well-travelled road all trying to squeeze into a single-track trail that ascends to the 1010’ summit of Bare Mountain in the first half mile. Jim realized last year that by starting nearer the front he could run most of the first climb without being stuck amongst the masses in the middle of the pack who are forced to walk because of the shear volume of people on the narrow rocky trail.

So the six miles going out went by pretty quickly and without any problems at all. I was working hard but having a good time. I couldn’t help but compare this to some of my recent longer runs, I also wondered how this compared to the course Erik recently ran at the TNF Bear Mountain 50 Miler. In the context of an ultramarathon there is no question that most runners would end up walking hills like those on the 7 Sisters course, but being in a 12 mile race I tried to run as much as I could. I’m glad that I wasn’t wearing my heart rate monitor, I don’t think I would have wanted to see it go over 200 bpm.

The first 2 aid stations on the course consisted of a few dozen 1-gallon jugs of water placed on the ground. At the turn-around point there was a bigger aid station with water, Gatorade, oranges and some other food items that I didn’t really notice. This is the lowest point of the race in terms of elevation, which means there is more uphill on the way back than on the way out. The second half of the race begins with a climb up from the level of the Connecticut River to the 940’ summit of Mt. Holyoke. If it weren’t for the fact that the sky was cloudy all day, and that it’s a very bad idea to take your eyes off the trail even for a second, there presumably would have been some great views from up on this ridge.

I knew that I was starting to slow down, my legs were getting tired and my form was getting a little sloppy. Every now and then I would get passed by another runner. Sometimes I gave up a good fight, other times I just stepped aside to let them go. One such moment came late in the race when I heard two way too cheerful women approaching: “oh my gawd, this is so much fun!” “I know, this is my first trail race and I love it!” I couldn’t listen to this shit so I gave them room and let them go past.

Coming into the last aid station at about 10 miles, which is the only flat non-technical part of the race, I leaned over to pick up a jug of water off the ground and my ankle rolled. I usually pride myself on the flexibility and resiliency of my ankles, but this time it didn’t roll back and I screamed out a very bad word. I was certain that this race, and perhaps my life as a runner, was over. I tried to walk but couldn’t support my weight, so I went through the list of all the bad words I know. This seemed to help and before I knew it I was off running again, first with a limp but it wasn’t long before I was back into that familiar tired stride.

I was definitely a little more cautious during the last two miles. I realized that I had narrowly escaped an injury on the trail, but the race was far from over and I still had to make the wet rocky descent down Bare Mountain, but not before another mile and a half of rugged ups and downs. Thankfully my ankle held out for the remainder of the race and I even managed to pick a few people off along the way. The fear, adrenaline, and profanity explosion gave me enough of an energy boost to pull out a relatively strong finish. Official results haven’t been posted yet, and I only caught a glimpse of the unofficial results, but it looked like I finished in about 2:32. That’s 10 minutes faster than the last time I did this race and I came away with only a minor injury. Not too shabby.

Official time: 2:33:28 (12:47 pace, that's slower than my 50 mile pace)

60/241

COMPLETE RESULTS

Preview of Bradbury Trail Races

Bradbury Scuffle - 6 Miles - June 15th
Bradbury Mountain Breaker - 9 Miles - August 10th
Bradbury Bruiser - 12 Miles - September 14th





Videos by Peter Buchanan

Presumpscot River Run

Tonight I ran at along the Presumpscot River in Portland from Summit Street. This is my favorite trail in Portland so it was great to get back out on it for the first time this year. The trails were remarkably dry, with only the occasional patches of snow/ice that were easy enough to avoid.

Water in the Presumpscot River was still pretty high from all the snow melt and the Presumpscot Falls were roaring. Portland Trails had clearly been out there recently creating drainage ditches, building bridges and filling in a few washed out areas. Nice work!

There was something a bit wrong with my Garmin tonight. I'm pretty sure the mileage was off because as I was running it told me I was doing close to 10 minute miles for most of my splits and I know it was a lot quicker than that. When I uploaded my data to SportTracks it also told me that I hit a point 350 ft below sea level, I don't think so. I also know that the first and last mile were run on exactly the same trail but there is a big deviation in the routes that were recorded. I hope it sorts itself out, maybe it got confused after the trip to Virginia.


time: 52:38
distance: 5.7 miles
pace: 9:11

First Pineland Run of 2008

Since not all of us are lucky enough to work at Pineland, like John, this Saturday was the first chance that many of us got to run there this year. James and Jamie started at 5 am, Emma and I met Jim, Jim, Shauna, Tom, Randy and Tom at 7 am. Emma's plan was to get in 31 miles as a training run for the Pineland Farms Trail Challenge 50 miler, and my plan was just to run for as long as I could. This was only my second run since completing the Bull Run Run 50 Miler last weekend so I wasn't sure how my legs would hold up.

There were still a few snowy/icy patches on the trials but for the most part we were running on dirt with a little mud thrown in. Most of the snow and ice was found on the steeper hills which made running up and down them pretty difficult for those of us without screw shoes. Emma and Jim were the only smart ones who came prepared to deal with the ice. So at an early stage in the run we found ourselves being forced to walk some of the steep hills in both directions. Conditions in the fields were good enough to allow us to run most of the Pineland race course, one complete loop of our run worked out to be a little over 14 miles (as opposed to the 15.5 mile/25 km race loop).


I didn't bring quite enough water/fuel to get me through a really long run so I decided to call it a day at about 4 hours after covering approximately 23 miles. Emma continued on with James and Jamie to get in 31.5 miles in just over 5.5 hours. James and Jamie both got in 40 miles, and this was the first time I ever heard anyone say "I only did 40 miles" with a genuine hint of disappointment.

Bull Run Run 50 Miler

This isn't much of a race report yet, mostly photos with a few brief descriptions.



I didn't run as fast as I had hoped, but with an average temperature on race day more than 40 degrees warmer than the average temperature of all my training runs, I'm just glad it didn't kill me. The Bull Run Run is a very well organized race, the course is beautiful and very hilly.

Pre-race photo. I'm happy because at this point it was only in the mid 60's and I couldn't see all the hills.

photo by Anstr Davidson
Bull Run River near the 9.4 mile upstream turnaround

The course runs upstream, turns at 9.4 miles, returns to the start at 16.6 miles, runs downstream with a few short loops thrown in and then back up to the start.

My Garmin (via SportTracks) tells me that there was over 9000 ft of elevation gain, and an equal amount of elevation loss over the course. This was more than I had expected and really took it's toll on my quads. For the last 10 miles I was walking the downhills and moving faster on the ups.

photo by Anstr Davidson

Near the 9.4 mile upstream turnaround, the flattest part of the course was found early on in the race. This image is not typical of the terrain.

photo by Anstr Davidson

Much of the first 1/3 of the race featured schemes like this with a carpet of bluebells.

photo by Anstr Davidson

The upstream turnaround point. Melissa, who is right ahead of me here, should be coming up to run Pineland with her friend Lisa. They both ran good races (finishing ahead me) and provided some good company during the run.

Fountainhead aid station at 37.9 miles. This is where I saw my cousin Jon for the first time during the race. He fed me one of my mother's delicious molasses sugar cookies and provided a much needed emotional boost.

Heading out of Fountainhead, with a little over 12 miles to go I decided (immediately after this picture was taken) to get rid of my hydration pack and just carry my handheld bottle for the rest of the run. A good decision because my back was getting seriously chaffed.

Coming into the Marina Aid Station at 44.9 miles.

The finishing stretch where I was able to fend off several runners who had been chasing me and even got ahead at one point during the last mile.

photo by Anstr Davidson

The last few strides to the finish line.

10:13:45
83 out of 265 finishers