Freeport 15

Sunday I needed to make up for Saturday's screw-up of a run, but with more snow and not a lot of time I ruled out exploring snowmobile trails. I wanted to get in 15 miles and that's just about how far it is from my house to my parents, and since I needed to go over there anyway it made sense to run (and have Emma come meet me). I didn't get out the door until almost 2:00 so I knew I had to run fast enough to get there before it got too dark. It would not be a good idea to be out on the roads during a snow storm after dark.

Apart from a little tightness in my right achilles, leftover from my "sprained" ankle a week ago, everything was feeling pretty good and the achilles loosened up after about a mile. Snow was falling steadily but the temperature was very comfortable and I was enjoying the run. There was a thick coating of snow/slush on the road shoulder which I had to do most of my running in to stay out of traffic. This slowed me down a little but kinda made it feel more like I was running off road which I consider a good thing.

The first 4 miles went by quickly but there was a gradual uphill theme to the next 5 miles that started to wear me down a bit. I didn't slow by much but I definitely felt like I was putting in a lot of effort to stay below an 8 minute pace. The last 6 miles is a subtle roller coaster so my splits were all over the place but I was still making good progress. I started to get concerned about making to my parents house before it got dark so I made sure not to let up too much on the uphills.

It turned out to be just under 15 miles to my parents house and for a few moments I considered going out a bit longer to bring it up to an even 15 but by now it had started to rain, I was wet, it was getting dark and I felt ready to stop. I'm going to attempt to run 50k next weekend with the fine folks of the GAC, but based on how this run felt I don't think I'm quite ready for that distance. I've been slacking since Stone Cat and I need to get back into the rhythm of training. If I don't manage the whole distance at the Fat Ass next weekend I'll need to find another opportunity later in the month to get in an ultra-distance training run.

time: 1:54:54
distance: 14.75 miles
pace: 7:47

weather: low 30's, mostly snowy, some light rain

conditions: roads, sloppy slushy shoulders

gear: Brooks Cascadia 3, Smart Wool socks, tights, t-shirt, long sleeve shirt, mittens, buff, Nathan HPL #20

Snowshoe Run Cut Short

I had plans for a 15 mile snowshoe run this Saturday, but because I was stupid I ended up with just over two miles of running, then turning around and walking back. Last week when I was running with Erik, Valerie and Nate we found a car key on the packed snowmobile trail about two miles out from the main parking lot at Bradbury. We picked up the key and turned it in to the Park Ranger, and hopefully it got back to the owner.

This week I was determined to get in a good long run despite the fact that we were in the middle of a substantial snow storm. The roads were pretty crappy first thing Saturday morning but the trails were good for snowshoeing with 3-4 inches of fresh snow on top of the previously packed base. Erik (with Django) and Lily (with Echo) braved the bad driving and joined me today. Everything was going good, slow, but good, until we got to that same spot where we had found the car key last week. This prompted me to double check that my car key was still zipped up tight in the front pocket of my Nathan vest. It wasn't. I stopped, panicked, checked all my pockets and panicked some more.

Erik and Lily were nice enough to walk back with me and help me look for my key, which was a futile task given the amount of powdery snow on the ground, the fact that it was continuing to fall quickly and that the two miles of tracks I made on the way out were totally churned up by the two people and two dogs behind me. I don't know why we even wasted our time, but we all walked back to the park with our eyes to the ground and me cursing (myself) under my breath.



After combing through the snow around my car for a few minutes I finally accepted that the one and only car key I have was lost I called AAA and waited. I figured I'd probably find the key next summer while out running the Scuffle course. Sonuvabitch. About 45 minutes after calling AAA they called back to let me know they weren't able to get a hold of a locksmith, but while I was on the phone, standing next to my car kicking up the snow I found my key. It must have fallen out of my pocket while I was putting on my snowshoes. What an idiot.

I felt guilty for spoiling Erik and Lily's run, and I really appreciate their help looking for my key. I suppose I could have gone back out and finished my run, but by this time I just wanted to get home. I'd save the long run for tomorrow.

time: 1:02:45
distance: 4.43 miles
pace: 14:09

weather: upper 20's, snowing

conditions: 3-4" of fresh powder over a packed base

gear: Atlas DT snowshoes, Brooks Cascadia 3, Smart Wool socks, OR gaiters, tights, 2x long sleeve top, mittens, buff, Nathan HPL #20

2010 Hangover Classic

There are very few road races that I have any interest in doing year after year, but the Hangover Classic is one of them. It has nothing to do with the course, and in fact the course got worse this year, it's about the beer and the beach.

This was the third time Emma and I have gone down to Salisbury, MA on New Year's day to do this race and the second year we've gone with Jim and Shauna. The weather was so much better than last year when it was 11 degrees with a ferocious wind, this time around it was warm enough to run in shorts.

As long as I've known about this race they've always offered a 5k and 10k and they have been different courses. But this year they had us 10k runners do two laps of the 5k course. What a lame cop out. If I hadn't run the old 10k course I probably wouldn't have cared about this change, but for a short distance race like this it just seems that the race director(s) is(are) trying to make it easier to organize rather than thinking of the enjoyment of the runners. Enough bitching...


One of the reasons I like to do this race is because at the aid station they serve beer. It's Bud Light, which I would normally never touch, but I appreciate the fact that on a day when many people are suffering from hangovers the race director(s) think it would be fun to offer runners beer. And it is fun for those who drink it, although Jim and I were the only ones I saw drinking, I'm sure there were many more.

Emma and I decided to run the race together today, although she didn't stop for beer along the way which meant I had a lot of work to do catching up to her after each of the two times I stopped for beer. Even though she isn't running at her best right now (damn Pineland knee!) she is as competitive as ever and put in a strong kick over the last 1/4 mile that I had a hard time keeping up with. Our finishing times weren't great but we were happy considering that we were both feeling the effects of the previous nights festivities. Emma placed high enough to come away with a beer glass (top 50 women) but I wasn't that high amongst men.

The real reason we do this race is for the ocean plunge at the finish line. Of course jumping in the ocean is optional, but for us it's what makes this race worth doing. Emma and I were just a little bit ahead of Jim and Shauna and we had enough time to run in the bar (at the finish line) to grab our towels and meet them on the beach (other side of the finish line). Unlike last year, with a windchill making it feel like -10 resulting in frostbite, it was actually a lovely day for jumping in the ocean. There were a few hundred people on the sandy beach when we arrived, more than half of them just spectating. We moved close to the waters edge, undressed quickly and ran for the waves. A great way to bring in the new year.

RESULTS

time: 44:48
distance: 6.2 miles
pace: 7:13
place: 109/425

weather: low 30's, mostly cloudy, no wind

conditions: wet roads, high tide, big waves

gear: Brooks Cascadia 3 with screws, Smart Wool socks, shorts, long sleeve shirt, singlet, buff

Windham Pipeline Trails

Earlier this year I thought I had run the wettest run ever. Today definitely beat that. Surprisingly for a late December day it wasn't really that cold, which is part of the reason it was so wet. Temperatures had been above freezing for about 16 hours prior to my run this morning, and it had probably been raining for about 6 hours, so that made for a lot of slush, running water and slippery ice.

Blaine had recently mentioned a run on the trails near where he lives in Windham and I wanted to check them out so I met him at 7 this morning for a run. We hoped to get in 15 miles but as soon as we hit the trails it became clear that 15 miles of slush and ice would not be fun. That's not to say that it was all bad running, but I knew that 15 miles would take a very long time in these conditions. I decided I'd be happy to get in a two hour run regardless of the distance.

After about a half mile of road we got onto a gas pipeline trail that had seen a fair amount of snowmobile traffic before the rain and Blaine assured me it was in good condition yesterday. We followed the pipeline trail southeast for almost 6 miles, had we stayed on it we could have gone into Westbrook (the pipeline crosses the Presumpscot River and runs into Portland). There were numerous trails branching off of the one we followed and in better weather it will be fun to explore this area, but for today we stuck to the relatively well traveled path.

I was glad to have some company for the run today, because had I been on my own I surely would have turned back early, gone home and crawled back into bed.

Oh, it's also worth mentioning that I had some pain in my right ankle after yesterdays run. Perhaps a mild sprain. I didn't notice anything during the run but last night it was sore, and then felt pretty tight this morning when I first got up. Everything was fine during the run today but I was in a fair amount of pain after, enough to ice my ankle and take some ibuprofen. Feels like a strain on the Calcaneofibular ligament, I'd never heard of that before but there is a label pointing to exactly the spot that hurts in this picture. I'm not too concerned, hopefully a day off from running tomorrow will help.

time: 1:55:01
distance: 11.63 miles
pace: 9:51

weather: mid 40's, steady rain

conditions: wet ice and slush, sloppy and slippery

gear: Inov-8 Roclite 315 with screws, Smart Wool socks, short tights, t-shirt, jacket, hat, gloves

Bradbury Powerline 10

December is always a weird month for trail running in Maine. We usually get a little snow, not enough for the snowmobiles to get out and create a network of trails for us to run on, just barely enough for snowshoeing, too much for "normal" trail running. We always see a drop in the size of our groups this time of year, and then they pick up again once we've had a few solid snowstorms.

I decided to run at Bradbury this morning, hoping that at least a few people would have been out packing the trails since I last ran there two weeks ago with Erik. Erik was back for more today along with Valerie and newbie Monster Nate. It was cold weather for standing around but once we got moving it felt a nice temperature and the wind we noticed in the parking lot seemed to disappear once we got into the woods. We headed off on the east side trails not really sure what to expect.

There had been good foot traffic on the Link Trail, and once we got to the Snowmobile Trail we followed ATV tracks that eventually lead north out of the park. No snowmobiles, but the ATV tracks did help to create a narrow lane of packed snow. Shortly after we left the park we hit a section of trail that had seen at least one snowmobile, probably two weeks ago, but it helped. With the recent thawing and freezing there was a fair amount of ice, and Nate quickly understood why the rest of us all had screws in our shoes.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the trails were in reasonably good shape all the way out to the power lines. It's exactly 5 miles from the park to the power lines, this often serves as the foundation for many of our winter runs and it was nice to be able to get all the way out there today. I really wanted to continue on the power lines but hadn't come prepared for a long run today so we turned around here (although Valerie had turned back a little earlier). It was nice to have Erik out running these trails again, we had done a lot of exploring together two years ago but he missed all of last winter due to injury. I'm glad you're back Erik!

On the way back I decided to pick the pace up just a little bit. i hate running positive splits, even though I do it all the time in races I hope that if I train enough with negative splits maybe one day it will pay off in a race. This is a rather difficult route to run a negative split on because it's mostly downhill on the way out and mostly up on the way back. But Nate and I did manage to run almost two minutes quicker on the way back, and we finished the same time as Valerie who (despite turning back early) took a longer way back to the finish.

Now I can't wait for the next snowstorm to get these trails in better shape, I've got some longs runs to do.

time: 1:32:39
distance: 10 miles
pace: 9:15

weather: low 30's, overcast, breezy

conditions: crusty, not well traveled snow

gear: Inov-8 Roclite 315 with screws, Smart Wool socks, tights, longs sleeve shirt, shirt sleeve shirt, buff, mittens

A Couple Night Runs

Tuesday nights at Twin Brook the group is getting a little smaller, but still a decent turnout. We're getting a bit wimpy these days and are skipping some of the muddiest trails and doubling up on the drier stuff. We're still getting wet feet so I don't know why don't just run the really wet trails.

This week Emma joined Jim, Erik and I for the first time in quite a while. Despite gooey trails we moved along at a good pace for the TNR, no sprint lines though, I think we were all feeling satisfied with the fast running from the weekend.

time: 50:20
distance: 5.55 miles
pace: 9:04

Thursday night I took advantage of the unseasonably warm temperatures by running in shorts and a t-shirt. Strange for an early December evening. I had one of those days at work where I came home feeling like I really needed a good hard run to work out some aggression. I decided upon the Mountain Loop (up Mountain Road, down Blackstrap). I think I actually went out a little too fast on the uphill side and didn't quite have the fast leg turnover I had hoped for on the downhill side of this loop. I ended up being 20 seconds slower than my best time on this loop despite having the fastest first two miles this evening. My right calf was complaining after the run, so I went for an easy mile cooldown and that helped shut it up.

A good run and a beer, then everything was fine.

time: 40:18
distance: 5.63 miles
pace: 7:12

plus 1 mile cooldown at about an 8:45 pace

Blackstrap Hell II - Race Report

Jeff claims that Blackstrap Hell is "the way running should be". I totally agree. He has managed to capture the essence of Trail Monster Running in an event right in our own back yard. This is a free race, on a course with some of the most varied and difficult terrain you could possibly pack into 10k. To make it even more interesting it's structured as a reverse pursuit where the slowest runners (or those who typically enjoy the trails the longest) start first and the fastest (or those who want to get it over with the quickest) start last based on estimated finishing times that Jeff calculated from previous races.

I have the advantage of being one of the few people who gets a sneak preview of the course since it's just down the road from where I live and I helped Jeff mark the course along with James and his daughter. Actually, I'm not sure that this is an advantage, sometimes it's better going into races like this not knowing how much more difficult things are going to get.

The night before the race Jeff revealed the start order, which predicted my finishing time at 57 minutes and had me setting off with Ryan, Chuck and Bob. This seemed about right to me, Chuck and I were very close at the Mountain Epic race in October, Bob was well ahead of me there but I did finish just ahead of him at the Bruiser, and Ryan has been working on shorter faster runs lately which I thought would help him put up a good fight.

There were 34 runners starting the race this year, up quite a bit from last year. I got to see a little more than 20 other runners set off before me, individually or in small groups. Emma was running today, but because she's still recovering from a long lingering knee issue she decided to help pace Linda through this race and the two of them were the first to set off. Running up and down big hills on technical, slippery trails is not usually considered good for knee problems, but Emma just could pass up the opportunity to run this race.

Shaun making his way up the long first climb

Similar to last year we had a major rain event just before the race, but I was a bit sad to see that water levels had dropped significantly the night before the race and it turned out to be drier than last year. We all still got wet feet just walking to the start line, but the stream crossings were definitely easier this year. Chuck set a quick but manageable pace at the start and I followed along the mostly flat single track. When we got the the first climb, which lasted about 1/2 mile and gained about 350 feet, there was a little back and forth as we negotiated the terrain. Ryan was still right behind us when we reached the "pinnacle" but on the first downhill section of the race, which is technical rocky terrain covered with wet leaves, Chuck and I pulled away. Faith in our feet and a lack of fear helped us open it up on the downhill stretches, Chuck usually gets ahead of me on stuff like this but I managed to stay close this time.

Sara, Erin and Christine demonstrating the correct technique for puddle running

Over the next few miles Chuck and I passed a few other runners, in theory no one should be passing during this race and we'd all finish together. A little more than 3 miles into the race we bumped into Bob who was running down the trail towards us. He was supposed to start with us but couldn't find the start area so he parked somewhere else and set off into the woods, without any idea of where he was going. I'm not sure if it was luck or skill that he managed to find us, but he ran with us for the second half of the race.

Linda on the roller coaster gas line trail

This was my first hard running effort since Stone Cat and I was very happy that everything seemed to be in fine working order. For a variety of reasons (including a messed up right calf) I hadn't been doing much running in the three weeks since my 50 miler, and none of it was fast so I wasn't sure what to expect. Actually what I did expect was for Chuck to run away from me and for a handful of people who started after me to come flying by at any moment but neither happened and I felt great throughout the race.

Erik and Django on the last long uphill

Last year's race finished with about a mile of fast downhill on wide power line trails, but Jeff had recently been building new single track trails off the power lines so he included this as the last mile of the race. Although not as cruel as the O-Trail there was a bit of that flavor about this new trail. Just when you think that you're almost to the bottom of the hill the trail takes a sharp turn and runs you back up again, or when you start thinking you're almost out of the woods you turn around and head back deeper in. Chuck and I passed a handful of runners on this stretch, it definitely felt like everyone was coming together at the end. At some point near the end I managed to sneak past Chuck on a corner, I could see Jim up ahead but he was trying just as hard to stay ahead of me as I was to catch him. Jim crossed the line 10 seconds ahead of me and Chuck was right behind.

The wicked steep course elevation profile

I finished with the fifth fastest time overall, although I'm sure I would have been further back if several other runners hadn't gone off course and ended up runner longer. I was very happy to run well and feel good, especially amongst the good company of my fellow Trail Monsters.

RESULTS

time: 55:59
distance: 6.23 miles
pace: 8:59
place: 5/31 finishers 34 starters

weather: sunny and warm (for November), mid 40's

conditions: slick mud, wet leaf covered rocks, stream crossings, big hills...

gear: Inov-8 Mudroc 280, wool socks, shorts, singlet, Moeben sleeves