Ramblings of a rockhopper

Taking it to the next level!

2010-11-23T05:08:00.000-08:00

Since this is marking the end of my second season training and running ultra distances I am really excited that my body is not only handling what I'm throwing at for mileage and workouts but now it is telling me to go further. Last summer 50 to 60 miles a week was all I could tolerate and I would need 1 or 2 days to recover from long runs, big weekends in the Whites and races plus I was constantly dealing with some sort of nagging injury usually from over use or falling.
My 2010 season started out great setting a course record on the new course at Wapack 50 and only 12 minutes off the fastest time on the old course which was a mile shorter. After a summer of dealing with another IT band injury I only raced 3 times in England and finished once. Since recovering from my 100 mile attempt in the end of July. I've been focusing on proper form and making the transition to a more minimal shoe. I've been back in the states for two months now training hard and racing. I ran Virgil Crest 50 to cap off a 100 plus mile week that began with a 7;15 Pemi loop and even though my hamstrings were shot for the race and I was contemplating dropping at mile 36 for about 20 minutes I still ended up second.
I am now in the best shape of my life, injury free and only getting stronger, The only question is what to do with all this hard earned fitness now that the New England Ultra season is over? How about a stab at my own winter 48 record? That's how I came to decide to try and knock as close to 2 days off last winters time as I am able. So I will continue logging 100 to 130 mile weeks until just before the attempt and with a little good weather and decent trail conditions I think it is very doable and will only open the door to much harder and longer challenges.

See you on the trails!

A good way to turn 30

2010-10-29T05:51:00.000-07:00

The original plan was to do the first installment of the 48 from Lincoln Woods which consisted of 39.5 miles and 14100/ft elevation gain followed up with a 15.5 mile bike ride back to the car from Moosilauke. But the heavy rain the day and night before had me wondering if the conditions would wllow for timely excecution. So I recalibrated the plan and Came up with this.
Park at Mt Tecumseh run down the Pipeline cross country trail up livermore road then up to South Tripyramid via the south slide over to North Tripyramid then descend the Scaur ridge trail make right o the Livermore trail climb to the heigh of land and the descend to the Greeley Ponds trail via the Old Skidder path and Flume trail then make my way over the Osceolas down the other side to Tripoli rd run the road the 1.2 miles to the north then take the Mt Tecumseh trail up and then hop on the Sosman trail and descend the 3 mile work rd back down to the car.It would be 29.5 miles.
So what really happened was I made great time all the way to the Flume trail where I slipped on a mossy rock and strain my inner quad where it connects to the knee and in my newly found 30 year old wisdom and self control decided to skip the Osceolas and head back to the car. I was still moving good on the easy terrain and ran the whole climb on the Pipeline trail back up to the car. I hit the ski area pavement and decided my knee was feeling better so I should still do Tecumseh
I ate a couple handfuls of cheetos and threw my pack in the car.
My legs weren't quite fresh and I could feel the knee a bit now that I was straining with the rockier terrain but still made good time up to the summit even though I was wishing I had brought some food. Headed across the Sosman and took the work road back down to the car. So I ended up doing a little over 20 miles in 4 hours flat. I guess getting old isn't so bad (yet!)

Bimblers Bluff 50k

2010-10-29T05:17:00.000-07:00

I signed up for this race because A: I love running ultras and B: the website raved about how rocky and technical it was. So Sunday morning at 7 a.m. Rob, Rebecca and I pulled into the school in Guilford, CT after getting up at 4 to make the drive down from Rebeccas place in Charlestown. The rain had just let up and the temp was in the 50's. I went through all my pre-race formalities including a very succesful port-a-loo stop then it was time for the briefing and start. I didn't know any of the runners except Brian Ruseiki and Amy Lane. Not knowing anything about the course I planned to go out at a relaxed pace and see how the course unfolded.
After the starting loop around the soccer field we crossed the road and hit the singletrack less than a mile later i was in 5th or so position and we made a wrong turn. Turns out there was a plate with an arrow pointing the wrong way with a couple of ribbons heading the wrong way too.
So at a dead end we turned around and followed a frustrated Brian back onto the course. I was working a little harder than I wanted to be trying to get past some of the midpackers that had stayed on course because the trail was pretty narrow. By the time I reached the first aid station I had found a rythym and just ignored what everyone else was doing. I was beginning to notice that this course was darn flat and not at all technical. The hard part was a slightly slowed pace on descents due to the fallen leaves obscuring my view of the footing. All the way to mile 22 or so I was yo-yoing with same guys. I would pass them on the singletrack and then they would take it back on the flatter road sections. My hamstring were starting to feel a litttle spent but I didn't think cramping was going to be an issue. The course is a lollipop and the second time on the long rolling dirt road section was quite monotanus and less than enjoyable. At this point I was running with the guy who would eventually take third he only pulled away 2 miles or so away from the last aid station. My plan was to skip the last aid station since I still had some Heed left in my bottle and open it up the best I could for the last 2.8. I turned up the music and my heartrate and then the course markings vanished. What happened? I turned around and went back to where I saw a marker then turned back and couldn't find another. After about 5 minutes lost I made my way further backtracking and found the junction wher I had gone wrong. The SAME wrong turn we had taken less than 5 hours before. WTF how could I be so stupid then Amy Lane came prancing down the hill and I felt the endorphins kick in. I was off running sub 8's on hilly winding singletrack soon i saw two more runners and passed them like they were walking. I came down the last hill and crossed the finish only giving up one place due to my blunder. Although if I had not lost the time I believe I would have ended up in 4th. The big question is how do I tap into all that energy i had left without something going wrong?

Weekend summary

2010-10-19T07:08:00.000-07:00

The Belknaps for time:

Saturday Jason and I went to run the Belknaps. We spotted bikes at Gunstock and headed over to Mt Major trailhead to get started. We took the blue trail up which isn't the shortest way but it was a good way to uncork the legs after the car ride from Strafford. From Major we picked up a run and headed for Straightback the rock was wet in places and there were plenty of puddles. After Straightback we tooka right on the Quarry trail and headed for East and West Quarry. The running was good even though the footpath was hidden under the fallen leaves. After reaching West Quarry I was noticing that my stomach was quite upset from the gas station chicken sangwich's I had for breakfast. We turned around at the summit and headed back to the col where we picked up the overgrown and streamlike woodsroad that would take us down the the bushwhack route so we could go tag Ana. We had no trouble with the whack and we took a left on the trail to do the out and back to Ana. I was burping alot and felt like I was going to be sick. I forced my self to eat a Gel and after tagging the summit we headed back down towards our next destination, Mack. I stopped at a stream and put some water on my face and Jason kept going. I caught up to him on the climb up Mack he said he figured I must have stopped to puke. No such luck, I replied. After we topped out on Mack we had to examine the map to make sure we were headed the right way towards Klem. We made quick time to Klem but my nauseaus state was not improving. Summiting Klem involves the use of a flagged herdpath the we were able to follow pretty easily and then we began the sizable descent down to the pond before the climb back up toward Piper with a stop for the bushwhack to Suncook. Besides the gel I had only been able to drink water up to this point and my stomach wasn't improving. The whack up to Suncook is easy this time and we execute it perfectly and decide to take our first break after about 2:45 minutes of running. It was all I could do to eat a half a bag of peanut M&M's. On the climb up to the Piper, Belknap col Jason stopped to take his tights off and I went ahead slowly and waited for him at the Jct. I felt like shit as we headed for Piper and Whitface. My spirits were temporarily lifted on the descent when we passed a group of hikers and one of the girls made some comments that had defenite double meanings. :) At this point my stomach started to feel better but the damage was already done and I was bonking. We turned around at Whitface knowing after the climb up the slabs of Piper that we were on the home stretch. We wasted no time and just continued on hiking the climbs and running the flats and downhills. The summits came quickly Belknap, Gunstock, and a fun run over Rowe we then made a quick seven minute split down to the parking lot and walked over to our bikes. we spent about 15 minutes getting ready for 8.5 mile ride back to the car. The ride was fun but our wet feet got quite cold from the high speeds on the downhills. Run time 5:19:02 Total time 6:14:25

Tripyramids via N. and S. slides

Rob, Glen, the dogs an I headed out to gt the Tri's via the slides. It was Glens First time on the se peaks and he seemed to enjoy himself. I did have to help tuck up th N. slide quite a bit and the I made some preperations for the winter on the ridge with the bonesaw. Legs and stomach felt much better.

N. and S. Twin

Eve though Rob and I were tapering for the Bimblers Bluff 50k we planned a a loop of the Twins , Zealnd, Hale from Haystack rd. We arrived at the trailhead at 11:30 or so it was 42 degrees we had shorts, mesh Inov8's and microspikes. Our feet were wet within two minutes of leaving the car and we opted for the bushhack along the river to minimize our crossings w/ the dogs. I Helped Tuck across the river and both Rob and my feet were totally soaked.
We began the climb up north making good time in the soaking wet trail. The running water turned to snow and ice around 3000' and we put the microspikes around 3500' it was beautiful but temps were in the 30's and our feet were cold. We picked up a run up on the packed out ridge it felt good to be running through the winter scenery again. Our feet got warmed back up on the way to S Twin. We sumited in about 1:50 we headed down off towards Guyot and there had only been one or two people through the new snow and our shoes were filling in with the white gold. We assesed the situation and noted all the way to Guyot looked quite frosty and decided to turn around because frozen feet suck. We made it back to the car quickly. total time 3:27

Nancy Pond Trail

2010-10-14T08:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I headed up to Run the Nancy Pond trail with Robs dogs Carter and Tuck. This was my first time on the trail and I didn't study the map. I knew there would be 14.2 miles and 2000 ft of climbing with a turnaround at the Carrigan notch trail from reading the WMG. Well, let me say that this trail climbs right out of the gate in the usual NH style. The footing before reaching the cascades was good except for all the fallen leaves which made foot placement difficult. Once I reached the cascades I slowed to a hike and tackled the rocky and rooty switchbacks which climb steeply several hundred feet before you start to crest at the height of land. I was figuring on good runable terrain along the banks of Nancy and Norcross ponds but I was wrong. The trail is filled with elevated roots and some large rocks which make foot placement and finding a steady rythym very difficult. I stopped several times to admire the beautuful ponds and fall scenery. I turned around at the Jct and looked forward to the easier runnable section from the cascades out. Got back to the car at 2 hr 20 on the nose and only fell once. Next time I want to spot a bike and run in from the Carrigain notch trail and then ride back to Sawyer river rd.

I'll give you a good bloggin'

2010-10-05T09:03:00.000-07:00

After an adventurous summer abroad I have returned to NH so I might as well start writing things down again.

Upon my return I was concered that I had lost alot of my fitness. So I hit the trails hard with Rob starting with a 22.7 mile Techumseh, Osceolas loop on Fri then to easier hikes Sat and Sun Followed by a 7:15 Pemi loop on Mon. I ran a couple times and cycled once midweek and then did a one day taper for the Virgil Crest50 where I placed second. Some more Hard training this past weekend and I'm feeling bette than I ever have. I'm thinking my ability to sustain much higher levels of weekly mileage is a direct result of now using much lower profile shoes. I plan on training hard for the next race, Bimblers Bluff 50k, on the 24th and tapering for this one too.

A new womens w-48 record!

2010-03-22T08:29:00.000-07:00

So after hiking once in November with one of my original inspirations Sue Johnston. I was pleased to be invited along on a second chance to be part of a record breaking adventure of NH's 48 4000 footers in winter. After setting the overall record back in January. I was very eager to get back on the trail to push my limits on snowshoes. Winter hiking in the Whites is not fast. In fact maintaining 2mph in the varying conditions is considered fast. Instead of going into too much detail here I will post the link to Sue's report. http://www.viewsfromthetop.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35202&page=2 scroll down a bit to find out what Stinkyfeet had too say.

Although i pulled a quad muscle in the first 15 miles of the last 45+ mile day I managed to get through 47 out of the 48 summits for a second time this winter. Walking 30 + miles on a torn muscle adds a whole new perspective to winter hiking. But I would not have traded that pain for anything.

Although it is tough for me to reconnect to the world after being on an adventure like that,Ii do look forward to getting back to running on snow free trails. Next ultra is Wapack 50 miler may 8th.

The calm before the storm

2010-03-09T09:40:00.000-08:00

After a great weekend placing 2nd at the Pittsfield snowshoe marathon and hanging out with Rebecca on Sunday. I'm sitting here in Randolph, NH at Altopia with the warming spring sun shining throught the windows while admiring an amazing view of the presidential range. Originally i was planning to do some reconisance on the carters today but due to lingering quad fatigue, today is a day of rest. Tomorrow marks the beginning of a new mountain adventure. Which i'm not at liberty to discuss yet. But that doesn't make me any less excited. Hopefully the majority of the weather in the next 9 or so days is just like today.