Can't Get Enough

Back to Bradbury again today for another run, this time almost 10 miles. I feel pretty lucky to be running pain free right now without anything holding me back. After a stretch of low mileage in late December and January I'm finally getting back into a steady routine of solid runs. The weird this in I don't have any big race plans coming up this spring to focus my training on. After getting into running ultras two years ago it's feels strange not to have a big race to prepare for, but I'm still planning to put in a lot of long runs over the next few months, and I'm having a lot of fun.

I guess my spring goals will be to try to do well at a few "shorter" distance trail races, the Merrimack River 10 miler, Muddy Moose and 7 Sisters, and then look for something longer in the early summer.

As for today's run I met Jim, Danielle and Ryan at Bradbury without a specific plan. We eventually agreed upon an out and back to the powerlines to the northeast of the park. I seem to remember that it used to be 5 miles to the turnaround point, but this year I always come up a little short. I suppose it's possible the snowmobiles are taking a slightly shorter route this year, or maybe the Garmin is a little off. Either way, when we came to the powerlines and my watch said 4.8 miles I didn't feel like adding on to bring it up to 5, nor did anyone else so we turned there and headed back.

Trail conditions were pretty soft today and a few early rising snowmobilers actually seemed to fluff up the snow rather than pack it down.


I've departed from Emma's 50 mile training schedule, that I had been following for a while, by adding 10 miles onto one of the runs. Oops. This brings me up to a little over 50 miles for the week which is more than I've done in quite a while, but like I said, I'm feeling good so why hold back?

I'm definitely going to take it easy this week so I'm well rested for the TMR Fat Ass 50k next Saturday. 50k is a big step up for my long run, but as long as the pace is conservative I should be able to get through it okay. The big unknown for this event that will effect everyone's run is what kind of condition the trails are going to be in. Since we are dependant on snowmobiles to groom the trails for us any last minute snowfall could have a major effect on running conditions. Currently there is rain forecast for Friday night which may not be such a bad thing, as long as it's not too warm overnight the trails could be nice and firm first thing in the morning. I can't wait!

time: 1:38:12
distance: 9.72 miles
pace: 10:06

weather: 15-25 degrees, overcast, calm

conditions: loose packed snow

gear: Inov-8 Roclite 315 with screws, wools socks, tights, 2x long sleeve tops, gloves, mittens, buff

Grossest Feet?

Probably not. But it's worth a shot.

I received an e-mail newsletter from Inov-8 this week, they are holding a Grossest Feet contest:

Grossest feet contest Mail us a pair of your stinkiest socks or e-mail an image of your bruised and battered feet after a 10 mile run. Three lucky runners with the grossest feet will win a free pair of shoes. (The f-lite 300, flyroc 310, roclite 315, roclite 282, or terroc 308.) Also, inov-8's warehouse holds a number of shoes without boxes that we are selling at up to half-off rates. If you're interested in the range of styles available that may fit you, e-mail janine@inov-8.us with your shoe size.

I'm in need of some new shoes so I figured it's worth a shot at trying to get some free ones.

I wasn't sure what I'd be up for today since I did a long run on Thursday, and my knee has been bothering me a bit since slipping on the ice and falling on it earlier in the week. I came prepared to go long if need be but decided I would wait to see what other folks were up to. When I arrived at Bradbury at 8 Jamie, Stephen and Blaine, were already out running (4 miles). They returned in time to meet me and Lily and I think it was Stephen who suggested we head out on the 15-ish mile loop that we had run a few weeks before.


This time we decided to run the loop in a clockwise direction which meant a lot of steep ups and downs early in the run and more gradual hills at the end. We kept the pace pretty conservative, as would be expected for a long run. Lily turned at about 3 miles to bring Echo back to puppy class, Jamie turned at about 4 miles which would get him into double digits for the day, and I carried on around the loop with Blaine and Stephen.


It turned out to be a beautiful morning and we were lucky that snowmobiles had been out last night over the entire loop. Thursday's storm continued into early Friday and had it not been for our late night groomers this loop wouldn't have been possible to run.

My knee was sore during the middle portion of the run but by 11 miles it felt fine. Overall I had good energy and didn't feel like I was recovering from Thursday's long run. Not sure exactly what the point is of all this long running but I'm having fun so I'll keep it up.

time: 2:23:17
distance: 14.69 miles
pace: 9:45

weather: 9-24 degrees (didn't feel that cold), mostly sunny, calm

conditions: packed snow, soft in some places

gear: Inov-8 Roclite 315 with screws, wool socks, tights, t-shirt, 2x long sleeve tops, gloves, mittens, buff, Camelbak Magic

Muddy Moose Confirmed

Today I got an e-mail confirming the date of this year's Muddy Moose Trail Race (April 26th). This was the first trail race I ran in this country after moving back to Maine in 2004 and it has always been one of my favorites. I was also psyched to see that Emma is featured in one of the photos!

Xterra Xduro Muddy Moose Trail Races Announcement Newsletter- February 20, 2009 Dear Ian, Mark your calendar: The 2009 edition of the Muddy Moose Trail Races, sponsored by Xterra Xduro, are scheduled for Sunday, April 26 at 10 a.m. Online registration is now available. Please forward this notice on to your running buddies - click the "forward email" button at the bottom. The Crazy Things Runners Do for Fun... The 10th Annual Muddy Moose Trail Races are well-organized, but low frill. The races start and end at Kingswood Regional High School in Wolfeboro, NH. We are very proud to be sponsored again by XTERRA this year and to be part of the XTERRA New England Trail Series. Both the 4 mile and the 14 mile races start together, then two paths diverge in the woods, and which one you take makes all the difference. These are trail races, not road races. Dirt roads, logging roads, single track, and snowmobile trails. The 14 mile race involves short steep hills, logs, roots, water, and mud. The 4 mile race is on flatter (but uneven) and somewhat drier (but often still muddy) terrain. Water stops at 2, 5, 9, and 12 miles. Proceeds benefit the Kingswood Regional track and crosscountry teams. Awards (one deep in both races) in the usual age groups. Lots of baked goods following the race. Hoses and showers available after too. Directions to Kingswood Regional HS (396 South Main Street (Rt. 28) in Wolfeboro, NH): From Boston or Portsmouth, NH (about 1 hour from Portsmouth): Take I-95 North to Exit 4 to Rt. 16 North / Spaulding Turnpike. Continue on the Spaulding Turnpike to Exit 15 to Rt. 11 West, marked to Lake Winnipesaukee. At the Alton Traffic Circle, continue straight on Rt. 28 North to Wolfeboro. From Concord, NH (about 50 minutes from Concord): Take I-393 East to Rt. 4 East to the Epsom Traffic Circle, then go North on Rt. 28 through the Alton Traffic Circle and continue on Rt. 28 North to Wolfeboro. Kingswood Regional High School will be on your right as you come into Wolfeboro. Plenty of parking on the grounds of the school. Past Results Posted Here 2008 results 2007 results 2006 4M results 2006 14M results 2005 4M results 2005 14M results 2004 results 2003 4M results 2003 14M results Online Registration Now Available The online, pre-entry fee is $22 (and that includes all credit card fees, so you aren't going to get dinged extra for that). While we've always been generous about shirts I can't guarantee shirts for more than the first 100 finishers. To enter now, go here.

The run that almost didn't happen

My office has a few "floating" holidays which we are allowed to take on the traditionally observed day or any other day we choose. Emma had to work on President's Day/Washington's Birthday so I opted to work that day too and take today (Thursday) off instead so I could run with Emma on her day off. The original plan, before we knew about the nasty weather that descended upon us last night, was to go out to Bradbury and do a 16 mile run. When we learned that we were supposed to get 3-7 inches of snow overnight we decided to do an Erik* and run multiple laps of Back Cove. Certainly not the most interesting run but the BC is usually quite reliable even after a storm.

Not so much. I'm guessing we got about 4 inches of snow before the rain started, and then we got enough rain to turn that snow into 2 inches of slush. It was not fun to run in. After less than 1/2 mile we turned around and headed back to the car. We've both run through some pretty horrific conditions in our time but the idea of doing 16 miles in this crap was unbearable. So we went back home, put on dry shoes and clothes and headed to Maine Roasters Coffee in Falmouth for a run on the roads in hopes that they would be in better condition.

The roads were in better condition but still not good. The rain was falling steadily and the sides of the road were either covered in slush or puddles. We just gritted our teeth and got on with it. Once we got a few miles out of the way we were warmed up and got used to the conditions so it didn't seem all that bad.

I intentionally planned a long route that had several bail out points along the way in case we wanted to cut it short but we passed each of these by without much consideration. When Emma is following a training schedule nothing will stop her. After 8 miles headed north into a driving rain and headwind it was a relief to turn around and head back south to Falmouth. By this time the rain had turned to snow and was falling fast enough that it soon piled up in the road.

The uphills were a little slippery and sluggish but overall we maintained a pretty good pace considering the weather and even managed to pick it up for the last mile. Granted it was downhill but we were pleased to run our fastest mile of the day (7:45) for the last one. Immediately upon finishing we went inside the coffee shop for a few big mugs of dark roast to warm up from the inside out.


time: 2:16:24
distance: 16.24
pace: 8:23

weather: 35 degrees, constant rain and/or snow

conditions: wet, puddly, slushy, snowy, messy roads

gear: Brooks Cascadia 3, wool socks, short tights, t-shirt, long sleeve top, gloves, baseball hat, headband


* During his training for the 2008 VT100 Erik ran 14 laps of Back Cove in one day (50+ miles)

Should Have Worn Screw Shoes

Due to concerns over an unreliable car I decided not to drive to Twin Brook tonight, instead I ran from home and did a lap around Back Cove. Emma had been out around 4:00 and said everything was wet with the only stretch of ice being on the south side which is in the shade all day. I didn't get out until a little after 6pm and by that time the temperature had dropped to just below freezing and all the puddles Emma had been running through had turned to ice.


I didn't intend for the run to be a fast one but it turned out to be pretty quick.

Splits:

8:03 - getting warmed up, mostly downhill, one street crossing and one pedestrian encounter, some ice
7:32 - 2 street crossings, lots of ice
7:16 - first full mile on Back Cove, some ice
7:13 - very little ice
7:31 - tons of ice and 2 street crossings
8:07 - mostly uphill, one street crossing, some ice (enough to take me down)

In the last mile I was running uphill on Deering Ave, just as I started to reach the top of the hill I hit a patch of ice on a dark corner and went down pretty hard. I bounced back pretty quickly and kept running, but with a bit of a limp the rest of the way home. I hit my right knee pretty hard and bent a few fingers the wrong way. Ice on the knee helped keep the swelling down and it shouldn't be a problem, I think I sprained my middle finger though.

time: 45:46
distance: 6.01 miles
pace: 7:37

weather: 30 degrees, calm

conditions: many icy patches

gear: Brooks Cascadia 3, wool socks, tights, 2x long sleeve tops, gloves, buff

8 Hilly Miles

Emma and I, once again following her 50 mile training schedule, planned to do an 8 mile run at Bradbury on Sunday with Jim. Before leaving I noticed via Facebook that Danielle and Ryan were also planning an independent run at Bradbury so we agreed to run together.



I had worked out an out-and-back route to the west of the park on snowmobile trails that is filled with steep little hills. The icy conditions made it a bit tricky going both up and down but it was another beautiful day and we were having a lot of run. Near the end of the run I had an idea that I described as "cruel" but Ryan misheard as "cool" and decided it was worth doing. We left the well packed snowmobile trails and headed up a long climb on a snowshoe trail that took us to the summit of Bradbury Mountain. The climb was tough but the clear view from the summit certainly made it worth while. And the sprint downhill to the parking lot was a blast.

The elevation profile really doesn't do justice to the hilliness of the first 7 miles of the run since the climb up Bradbury at the end dwarfs the rest of the hills.

time: 1:23:20
distance: 8.2 miles
pace: 10:10

weather: 28-31 degrees,mostly sunny, breezy

conditions: crusty hard packed and icy snow

gear: Inov-8 Roclite 315 with screws, wools socks, tights, 2x long sleeve tops, gloves, buff

Sun and Ice

After last weeks solo run it was nice to have the company of Emma, Stephen, Alan, Chuck, Jim, Lily and Echo for this Saturday's run. The plan, based on Emma's 50 mile training schedule, was to do a 14 mile run from Bradbury to Pineland on the powerline/snowmobile trails. After the past week's warm weather and rain, then freezing temps the snowmobile trails were firm and great for running on. Icy, but manageable with screw shoes.

This was the first time trying out this route so I wasn't sure exactly how the distance would work out, but it turned out to be just right.


I was a little worried that the two rivers we would have to cross wouldn't be frozen enough, but we all made it safely across. I was glad though that we weren't returning on this route. We had all worked out various ways to get back from Pineland after the run there. Chuck and Alan each ran back home, taking different routes, Emma, Stephen and I stayed to watch Jeff's ski race. Jim, who only ran out with us for 25 minutes at the beginning of the run had driven to Pineland to participate in the race, gave Emma and I a ride back to Bradbury but not before meeting up with Mindy and Pete for breakfast at Stone's. Unfortunately they don't serve breakfast after 11:00 so we had to settle for lunch.

We managed to keep up a good pace for the run, although there were several short stops along the way. The last mile or so of the run was on paved road, mostly uphill to Pineland but we managed to churn out the fastest split of the run at 8:29.

time: 2:11:41
distance: 14.14 miles
pace: 9:18

weather: upper 20's, clear and sunny

conditions: crusty hard packed and icy snow

gear: Inov-8 Roclite 315 with screws, wools socks, tights, 2x long sleeve tops, gloves, buff, Camelbak Magic