tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78358644823863563542024-03-13T19:37:40.311-04:00HAV2RUNRambling running experiences from southern New Hampshire with a focus towards road, trail, mountain, relay, track, snowshoe, triathlon, adventure, hiking or anything else that interests me....hey look, a chicken.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger284125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7835864482386356354.post-71706897177575939922012-10-02T14:21:00.003-04:002012-10-04T09:45:20.231-04:00Vermont 50<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2iGeH7aZJNT2HW8VJ_N6dwwNUhc4bBcH9uGte8nhbdOuxZX409GFQr0qn08guTLdH9CB86IZxD4t0p6YO3aNS5iBP31Asw8EuuGTVIJz8eZ7ZsTtyqliL1pXxrQHwDgoAWfJfWDehEJI/s1600/vt50+logo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2iGeH7aZJNT2HW8VJ_N6dwwNUhc4bBcH9uGte8nhbdOuxZX409GFQr0qn08guTLdH9CB86IZxD4t0p6YO3aNS5iBP31Asw8EuuGTVIJz8eZ7ZsTtyqliL1pXxrQHwDgoAWfJfWDehEJI/s1600/vt50+logo.JPG" /></a></div>
When I signed up for this race back in May, I didn't put a whole lot of thought into it. It's incredibly popular (700 mountain bike slots filled in about 40 minutes) but I'm not entirely sure why. It's one of those races I just can't figure out (like Stonecat). Not quite a bucket list race but it was on my radar so fast forward to this past weekend.<br />
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<a href="http://www.vermont50.com/">VT50 </a>is actually a unique race (at least I think so). They have a 50m mountain bike race <i>and </i>a 50m trail race on the same course, at the same time. To add to the excitement, they also throw in a 50k trail race which runs on the back half of the 50m course. Surprisingly, it seemed to work. Runners and bikers sharing the trail. Who knew?<br />
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A forecast of "<i>cloudy, chance of rain late morning, then clearing later in the day</i>" in Vermont apparently means heavy, misty fog to start, followed by rain, heavy at times, ending with more rain. At least it was a <strike>warm </strike>cold rain. If it wasn't for the non-stop hill climbing to keep me warm, I would have froze to death in some Vermont town that had more cows than people.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The best dirt roads are in Vermont</td></tr>
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I'll be honest, I didn't take this race too serious. I had a lot of other races and events between when I signed up and when I had to actually race (it was nearly 5 months!). I kind of lost track (and focus) and it got lost in the weeds. My last bike race (Hampshire 100) was in mid August and since then I've ridden less than 90 miles total. Probably not the best way to head into the VT50. Since I have the excuse book out, I might as well throw in I did zero recon on the course. Didn't look at a course map, didn't have any idea where the aid stations were (or how many), didn't look at previous results, didn't look at previous race reports and didn't know the terrain (although I was confident the race was in Vermont). Yep, I was ready!<br />
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A 3am wake up, a little less than 2hrs driving and I was checking in at 5am for a 6:20am start (I think?). All I knew was I was in the last wave (novice, tandems, wheelchairs, Big Wheels and the rest of the less fortunate riders). I opted for a light to start, and I was glad I did. Surprisingly, not many did. With a dark start, overcast skies (aka rain) and dense woods, the light came in handy for the first hour of the race. I'd recommend a light for those considering this race in the future.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another muddy climb</td></tr>
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I don't remember a lot about the course. I have a terrible memory, I didn't have a GPS and I have a terrible memory. Things that I remember:<br />
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<ul>
<li>There was a LOT of climbing. Somebody said it was like doing hill repeats for 7+hrs. Pretty much sums it up.</li>
<li>Nearly 1/2 the course was on dirt roads. These are some of the nicest dirt roads I've ever ridden on. Some were so smooth, it was hard to tell if they were paved or dirt. </li>
<li>Beautiful country, lots of time to take in the view since you spend so much time in your granny gear.</li>
<li>I may have seen 3 rocks on the course all day. Maybe. This course was not technical.</li>
<li>Most of the dirt roads were in the first half. Most of the single track was in the second half.</li>
<li>Single track sections were mostly smooth, loamy trails. However, with 500 riders starting before me, and a constant rain, these trails became incredibly slick and muddy. </li>
<li>Aid stations seemed well stocked.</li>
<li>Volunteers were supportive and friendly.</li>
<li>The lead 50m runners passed me about 45 minutes in (and they started 5 minutes after me). I would leap frog the top 4-5 runners all the way to Gavin Hill aid station (about 20m), before they finally dropped me.</li>
<li>Passed a ton of Sport riders (who started 5 minutes before me). </li>
<li>Although there were always riders and runners around me throughout the day, passing was never an issue. </li>
<li>I never rode alone. </li>
<li>The first aid station I stopped at was Gavin Hill (~20mi).</li>
<li>My quads showed signs of cramping after 3hrs. I slowed considerably to avoid cramping.</li>
<li>I bonked around 4hrs. I was dizzy, weak and shaking and had to pull over and rest for a few minutes. Had a Stinger bar and some ClifShots and continued on. Climbing.</li>
<li>I stopped at most of the remaining aid stations for PB&J and Coke.</li>
<li>Did a lousy job refueling. I was hungry all day.</li>
<li>Trail conditions got worse throughout the day.</li>
<li>Stayed on my bike all day. No falls.</li>
<li>A Camelback is unnecessary. The aid stations are so close a 20oz water bottle would have been fine.</li>
<li>My triceps are the sorest muscles on my body today.</li>
<li>My drive train was so muddy at times, I had to stop and remove handfuls of mud from my bike.</li>
<li>My Trek ex8 worked perfectly. Never missed a shift.</li>
<li>After 5hrs I was very cold.</li>
<li>Around the same time I was sort of hoping for a major mechanical so I could drop out. It was becoming not fun.</li>
<li>Sort of got my second wind after 6hrs and was feeling better (less worse). </li>
<li>Finished fairly strong, had a good last 10 miles or so.</li>
<li>Definitely what I'd call a roadie course.</li>
<li>If I do it again I'd move up the Sport category just to start ahead of a couple hundred novice riders.</li>
</ul>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Putting on my best "happy" face after the race.</td></tr>
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I can't say it was my favorite race, but part of that I'm sure was related to the crappy weather and part of it was related to me not being prepared. 8 months from now I may consider signing up again. At least I have some idea what to expect next time. I really need to figure out how to fuel up on these longer bike races.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7835864482386356354.post-50156499274477034712012-09-20T14:56:00.001-04:002012-09-21T08:58:24.333-04:002012 RTB - Mine Falls Milers Edition<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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203 miles from Cannan Mt to Hampton Beach NH (it must be downhill, right?). 12 fairly competitive, injury-free (at the moment) 40+ year old guys (most with years of experience running this relay). Defending Super Masters champ (with the runner up team returning with hopes of knocking us off the podium). Near perfect weather. <i>Zero </i>confidence.<br />
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I blame the lack of snow last winter. Please explain, you say? Here goes - snow means snowshoe racing. Snowshoe racing means strength and speed work in the winter. Winter strength and speed work means great fitness early in the running season. Great fitness means decent racing results early in the season. Decent racing results leads to more racing. More racing leads to better run fitness. Better run fitness lets me coast through the summer (because I HATE running in the heat), even with less weekly miles (while maintaining decent run fitness). Finally, a late summer ramp up to get in RTB shape is generally quite doable.<br />
<br />
Until this year. No snow = no snowshoe racing = no early fitness = awful early results = no racing in spring and summer. Add in what seemed like weeks of 90 degree days and you get a person with <i>zero </i>confidence signed up for a 24hr 200+ mile relay and <i>expected </i>(according to Capt Mike) to avg 6:30 min/mile pace.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2012 Mine Falls Milers at the Finish</td></tr>
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Sometimes all you need is a goal (and a van full of nagging masters) to run to your potential. Really, I had no business running anywhere near 6:30 pace. June - 90 miles, July - 55 miles, August 60 miles. These are totals for the <u>month</u>. So 2 weeks before RTB I hung up my mountain bike and got serious about running, <i>hammering </i>out 25 and 30 mile weeks.<br />
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Well, a funny thing happened on the way to the beach. My <i>magic </i>spreadsheet had predicted me to run my 3 legs (15.4 miles total) in 1:40:13, for an average pace of 6:31. In the end, I finished in 1:39:55 with an average pace of 6:30. Well how about that, maybe Capt Mike wasn't so dumb after all!<br />
<br />
Overall, we had a great team this year (our 7th, my 6th with MFM) with everyone right around the 6:30 pace +/- 10 seconds. No injuries, no mishaps, nothing. After 7 years this team really does run pretty smoothly and is all business once the race starts. Ok, maybe not <i>all </i>business but we at least take our running serious (not much else though). As the team gets faster, the less time we have to eat, sleep and screw up. 2012 was our fastest year to date as we finished 6th overall (out of 425 teams) and 1st in the Super Masters division (<a href="http://nh.rtbrelay.com/results/2012results.html">results</a>) with a time of 21:45:48 (avg team pace of 6:26). I guess technically I slowed the team down but I'm still happy with my effort. Next year I really need to train a bit more.<br />
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I thought the tables below were interesting (in a trivial sort of way). Kind of a different way to look at the relay (by van and by leg). Pretty even legs and pretty even vans. Of course, one of the penalties of being a "fast team" is the total lack of downtime between legs. The average downtime we had between legs was about 3hrs and 50min. During this time we had to drive to the next VTA (35+ miles), eat, sleep and get ready for our next run. Needless to say, most of us didn't sleep at all during this relay.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mine Falls Milers Magic Data</td></tr>
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I want to personally thank Mike Wade for being the yearly whipping boy (I mean Captain) for 6 of the 7 years. Sure he had some copilots helping along the way but we generally gave him the crap jobs nobody else wanted. Thanks for picking up the slack. According to Mike, he is retiring from RTB. The Mine Falls Milers will continue without him...unless we're all too lazy to step up.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7835864482386356354.post-7666569265932354402012-08-24T16:00:00.000-04:002012-08-24T16:00:04.153-04:00Hampshire 100 (Shorty Race)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I headed back to Greenfield NH this past weekend for my 2nd attempt at the <a href="http://www.hampshire100.com/">Hampshire 100</a>, a challenging 100k single loop mountain bike race. This was my first ever mountain bike race last year, and surprisingly, I managed a 3rd place finish in the Novice VET II class. My goal this year was to break 8hrs (last year's time was 8:26). <i>Training </i>doesn't creep into my mountain biking routine so the only thing that would make me faster would be riding harder, longer. Simple enough.<br />
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This year they also included a 100 mile option (no thanks!), which included a lot of pro's from all over the country. I stuck with the 64 mile option (and they call it the <i>short </i>race?) This race probably doubled in size (entries) from last year, and had over 400 riders on the line for the 6:45am start. They started us in waves (fastest to slowest basically), with the Novice class starting last. The waves were only 1 min apart so it was enough to spread things out but short enough so you could actually catch the tail end of the previous wave if you pedaled real hard!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Waiting for our wave to start</td></tr>
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We had absolutely PERFECT weather (near 50 at the start, warming to mid 70's near the end) but there had been some serious rain in the days leading up so there was mud and water out there. I love how this race starts, mostly on dirt roads (downhill) for the first 5 miles, then a mix of trails with minimal climbing for the next 10 before reaching the first <i>real </i>aid station. It gives you plenty of time to warm up and get all that adrenaline out (fast riding). Some new (freshly cut) single track was added around Crotched Mt Ski area which was pretty sweet! I reached aid station #2 in 1hr 24min (16.25m).<br />
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My least favorite section was the 5 miles of perfectly flat rail trail between miles 16 and 21. Awful. To add to the misery was a section called the 'beach', a 1-2 mile section of loose sand that drained the energy out of your legs. To add to the joy, some clown drafted me the entire length of trail, staying right on my wheel all 5 miles. I switched sides, slowed, sped up, did everything but stop. Not once did he offer to pull. Whatever. Drafted the novice, must be proud.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The course</td></tr>
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Around mile 21 we hit the first significant climb, a ridiculously steep climb up Hedgehog Mt Rd. As with most climbs, they were not only steep but a lot of times fairly technical (loose, rocky, etc..). I tried to ride this climb, and <i>might </i>have cleaned it but there were too many riders (aka walkers) on the trail, and too dug up with cleat marks and loose rocks. I ended up walking the middle section before jumping back on and riding to the top. For whatever reason, my climbing was 10x better than last year. I'm not really any faster, but definitely much stronger.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5GWAoelLFmAaky6ciYaGulusxMopOhnON3T6xiUot5WZJH-tF_yLMx-fhG5p3bQXSZYYWn2VyLfXpptQM5cIKt_i8ImqIXaU6dKcIfanDi2mWHPA4i1WNHXgjhqlgDypOuKqchjOi8iM/s1600/530244_460387037328609_635758966_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5GWAoelLFmAaky6ciYaGulusxMopOhnON3T6xiUot5WZJH-tF_yLMx-fhG5p3bQXSZYYWn2VyLfXpptQM5cIKt_i8ImqIXaU6dKcIfanDi2mWHPA4i1WNHXgjhqlgDypOuKqchjOi8iM/s320/530244_460387037328609_635758966_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Somewhere between Hedgehog and the Powerlines</td></tr>
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The next major climb would be in just a few miles, a section called the powerlines (mostly because the trail goes up the powerlines, duh). A few short, steep punchy climbs, a few real muddy sections and a steep section near the top that I have never seen anyone ride. I rode what I could, but walked a good deal on this part. I wasn't alone (see pic).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJEZJ_8UFZyaPJLGvzbYcvm4nrBtsEwXehpHLcwPsJNSu7FRP7Fq82rw7pIC0y66agRkkmmgpzwSygzf2JI9YdQkUa-cHpnj4_jEnmCiz7nVUUGOMnYto9ldthvgh0bJetVfAABeVUn14/s1600/523185_460387060661940_1759147998_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJEZJ_8UFZyaPJLGvzbYcvm4nrBtsEwXehpHLcwPsJNSu7FRP7Fq82rw7pIC0y66agRkkmmgpzwSygzf2JI9YdQkUa-cHpnj4_jEnmCiz7nVUUGOMnYto9ldthvgh0bJetVfAABeVUn14/s320/523185_460387060661940_1759147998_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Near the top of the Powerline Climb</td></tr>
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A steep technical downhill followed the powerline climb, with more freshly cut single track added just prior to aid station #3 (25.86m, 2hr 30min). At most of the aid stations, I usually just topped off my 40oz Camelback, took 2 Endurolyte pills, had some Coke and was off (1-2 minutes).<br />
<br />
The next 25+ miles were definitely the hardest, most challenging part of the course. This section was a grind with lots of climbs, lots of technical stuff, and generally fairly slow riding. It's hard on the bike and harder on the body. Aid station #4 was a long 15.46 mile ride from the previous aid station, and took nearly 2hrs to reach (41.32m 4hr 27min).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh48yaX91Px8VKheu_e0Rn2YLw0P9ZOgbSO7hXt7JaLb2YnqJhLp3T7CKsxJ8H9NoOh-GBKQMqxbfdhpjAgeQs_7PaZXaZymGlR7anklre0eMUDmeVQcY4Mh_g21uAsCGKsjh6VdtU6Qgw/s1600/3413_460387073995272_1744387556_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh48yaX91Px8VKheu_e0Rn2YLw0P9ZOgbSO7hXt7JaLb2YnqJhLp3T7CKsxJ8H9NoOh-GBKQMqxbfdhpjAgeQs_7PaZXaZymGlR7anklre0eMUDmeVQcY4Mh_g21uAsCGKsjh6VdtU6Qgw/s320/3413_460387073995272_1744387556_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2' deep puddle around mile 50</td></tr>
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They made some changes over last year with the aid stations, adding a new one after #4. This section was the slowest part of the course all day so it was a welcomed change. Rolled in to aid station #5 (48.18m 5hr 34min), repeated my routine from previous stops and off I went. Ugh, getting tired but thankfully no cramping. My last stop would be aid station #6 (53.63m 6hr 26min) for about a minute. It was probably the first time I looked at my watch and started thinking about whether I could actually break 8hrs or not. I remembered from last year that part of the last 10 miles was pretty tough, with a long, rocky climb followed by a steep rocky descent. I roughly remembered the last 4-5 miles being mostly single track with a gradual downhill ride to the finish. They may have added a little more single track at the end but it generally seemed the same as last year.<br />
<br />
I passed another rider in the last mile or so (even though I was trying <i>not </i>too). I was riding the climbs and he was walking them so it was hard to avoid. However, I really didn't want to pass anyone in the last mile of a nearly 8hr day so I told him I'd wait for him and he could finish first. He seemed generally grateful and honestly, it didn't really change anything. He was in a different class (starting before me) so technically I was still in front of him even though I was behind him (make sense?). It was all good at the end, and I finished right behind him.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijDXSyb_VY0VeyuMzjBCucpNH7DYjc_KfTwyreSEHlxz5_VO0ju4ME9zciMgyMLn6KUSVStQzA5nyESD39cCjSsahzqZ7TCQdMWlDoHQTVTMCmEucIJcFDBYx-EJRR25IctsTiXZYAJYU/s1600/405562_460387090661937_14918001_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijDXSyb_VY0VeyuMzjBCucpNH7DYjc_KfTwyreSEHlxz5_VO0ju4ME9zciMgyMLn6KUSVStQzA5nyESD39cCjSsahzqZ7TCQdMWlDoHQTVTMCmEucIJcFDBYx-EJRR25IctsTiXZYAJYU/s320/405562_460387090661937_14918001_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">D.O.N.E.</td></tr>
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64.45 miles in 7hr 53min, good enough for 2nd in the Novice Vet II class. It was a tough day of riding but I had such a great time. Love this race!<br />
<br />
For the second weekend in a row, I had to strip my bike down to its bones to clean the mud and dirt out of every nook and cranny. My clean bike is now hanging out in my shed, taking a break while I do a little running over the next few weeks. Reach the Beach is up next (Sept 14-15).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFTIdtwL5QzxrYAKL7s9ZBQe0c7kSddmu3sgc_BxkIGTNl_7ByfKpA3BA6pksRvbQorinVRwuT_DeflrqFaRES0GL5iR7kGGA0y246xOjn3lGve_1P_q80-eucH59SlYh0dL_u3Z1WI1Q/s1600/2012-08-20+2012+ben%2527s+birthday+003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFTIdtwL5QzxrYAKL7s9ZBQe0c7kSddmu3sgc_BxkIGTNl_7ByfKpA3BA6pksRvbQorinVRwuT_DeflrqFaRES0GL5iR7kGGA0y246xOjn3lGve_1P_q80-eucH59SlYh0dL_u3Z1WI1Q/s320/2012-08-20+2012+ben%2527s+birthday+003.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trek bones</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7835864482386356354.post-38805734927251888252012-08-14T15:02:00.000-04:002012-08-14T15:02:39.917-04:0024 Hours of Great Glen (Rain Edition)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVnsJXv-7UBvJ2hc_djvdJYU3GDStd1W3ZK8LPHF59MRWzEkT7mOD-B6ewxfh0pIIp87Qa-9o-6cv8riLMfYqD0PXzbjm0kRbAiAgtO7YYyefaYnjz7i02xG2hCgqdMi2jEQ4aSdnhsQw/s1600/2012-08-12+2012+24hrs+of+great+glen+017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVnsJXv-7UBvJ2hc_djvdJYU3GDStd1W3ZK8LPHF59MRWzEkT7mOD-B6ewxfh0pIIp87Qa-9o-6cv8riLMfYqD0PXzbjm0kRbAiAgtO7YYyefaYnjz7i02xG2hCgqdMi2jEQ4aSdnhsQw/s200/2012-08-12+2012+24hrs+of+great+glen+017.jpg" width="200" /></a>This would be my 4th year doing 24HOGG, which is essentially the mountain bike version of Reach the Beach but logistically a bit more challenging. The work is harder but the down time is more enjoyable. In each of the previous three years, the weather over the 3-day weekend has been near perfect. The key being zero rain. The first year there was some serious mud in sections but trail improvements over the years had pretty much eliminated most of the junk stuff. Over the last 2 years I'd say the course has been nearly 100% ridable for a decent novice rider (aka me). The one thing I've said at the end of the race (every year) was if it ever rained this race would blow.<br />
Oh did it blow.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihyDldbH0d_2bWme9nvtZ9F-L2nUlo38NqOeZlMZEk-NjrnCYIPdJifJWAJKwzrrg7DiHiOaZP6P_5DHBAUhyphenhyphenaBum1M5uvNNNIF861m2AwdcATu0I576nt-ttfuGa_MeS-diEhyphenhyphengR2C7o/s1600/2012-08-10+2012+24hrs+of+great+glen+003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihyDldbH0d_2bWme9nvtZ9F-L2nUlo38NqOeZlMZEk-NjrnCYIPdJifJWAJKwzrrg7DiHiOaZP6P_5DHBAUhyphenhyphenaBum1M5uvNNNIF861m2AwdcATu0I576nt-ttfuGa_MeS-diEhyphenhyphengR2C7o/s200/2012-08-10+2012+24hrs+of+great+glen+003.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Camp Wolfe</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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Of course just 'rain' would have been a blessing. What we got on Friday and Saturday was some of the hardest sustained rain I've ever seen. Flash flooding rain. I did manage to get my tent setup within seconds of the first downpour and surprisingly my stuff managed to stay dry all weekend (thanks to a water proof tent, screen room setup over my tent and two 10ft tarps over my screen room).<br />
A group of us headed out late Friday afternoon to pre-ride the approximately 9 mile course during a break in the rain. The course would be a mix of carriage roads (~60%) and single track trails (~30%) and grass fields (~10%). We were only a couple of miles in when the skies opened up again and it pretty much poured the rest of the ride. The trails went from bad to awful fairly quickly. Very muddy, lots of standing water and extremely slick (and these would be the best conditions all weekend).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixQOj0dyvwUC921MkkOi8VAQ0Xy00Fms90TK3B5j-CaUFxKrBPtp3-ser0QBAOKXvEzuMU304J6oxboN4mapr0KEgwA57T3UKifE3FHe4lD4FKApLZqAwMib0_DeY6dXhEdqk63ve1RLM/s1600/7778592550_81eb1cd3ed_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixQOj0dyvwUC921MkkOi8VAQ0Xy00Fms90TK3B5j-CaUFxKrBPtp3-ser0QBAOKXvEzuMU304J6oxboN4mapr0KEgwA57T3UKifE3FHe4lD4FKApLZqAwMib0_DeY6dXhEdqk63ve1RLM/s200/7778592550_81eb1cd3ed_o.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">aR-Black</td></tr>
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My teammates this year would be Brayden Dunn, Kevin Tilton and Scott Mason. Kevin and Scott would be first time 24HOGGers (maybe last time after this weekend). I would lead off with the le mans start (approximately 1/2 run around the pond) before heading out on the bike. A few of us decided to start in the back, run easy and not get caught up in the bottleneck that happens on Blueberry Hill less than a 1/2 mile into the race. I should say we did not want to <i>be </i>the bottleneck. I guess we didn't think about all the other folks willing to step up and take this job from us. Sure enough, no sooner did we mount our bikes and we were all riding a conga line up Blueberry Hill (slowly). A little patience and eventually it opened up and crowded trails would become a non issue.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQULujWwclK0nK_O3F7r1Nr5LOEBM-aLsVeEstnTC-Rxa7ldYsZ6-KKAZwTRaq6RqqqFp6Z14au9fjDv8rlt0_vZ0gBjs4brSB17tfKEEJaZ6EYrfKZ4pY8XJmep9a0Vr-HB7wtVWt77k/s1600/7778633876_41faa200df_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQULujWwclK0nK_O3F7r1Nr5LOEBM-aLsVeEstnTC-Rxa7ldYsZ6-KKAZwTRaq6RqqqFp6Z14au9fjDv8rlt0_vZ0gBjs4brSB17tfKEEJaZ6EYrfKZ4pY8XJmep9a0Vr-HB7wtVWt77k/s200/7778633876_41faa200df_o.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Heading up Blueberry Hill</td></tr>
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Although the rain would hold off (mostly) for the next 24 hours, the presence of hundreds of mountain bikers riding lap after lap for 24 hours did unbelievable damage to the single track sections. By my second lap, most of the single track would be practically unridable. The course became 5 miles of speedy carriage roads mixed in with 3 miles of pushing a 26lb mountain bike through the mud. Serious mud. Fun was done.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqQYcZ4lXoNdJjZrwf9x596wZ9xy6T6iM3wkF4Y_oCncl8gx1oCAjXLWFYkQyy0IpfdPc2BtBWTs6q2Tllxpzu3cehkMw_lrFzl8iyE8hq_yQbNqC8mMdsuQ8zuogzVIPVvElfzTx_DfA/s1600/7778693234_47df9fa5be_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqQYcZ4lXoNdJjZrwf9x596wZ9xy6T6iM3wkF4Y_oCncl8gx1oCAjXLWFYkQyy0IpfdPc2BtBWTs6q2Tllxpzu3cehkMw_lrFzl8iyE8hq_yQbNqC8mMdsuQ8zuogzVIPVvElfzTx_DfA/s320/7778693234_47df9fa5be_o.jpg" width="214" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Finishing Lap 1</td></tr>
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Riding back to back laps at night (to give folks more time to rest) was a painfully long experience. Riding at night, with fog, light rain, slick trails and miles of mud really takes all the fun out things (really?). To top it off I flatted coming down a steep technical muddy section (at night of course) and had to fix a flat with my bike mostly submerged in mud. With all the mud that was <i>inside </i>my tire after I installed the tube, it's amazing I even made it back to the start/finish line. Joy. After a little midnight maintenance, I was off to bed for some much needed sleep. <br />
<br />
I wouldn't ride again to nearly 7am, mostly due to my teammates having as much fun as me while riding at night (thanks guys, appreciated the sleep!). My 5th lap would be my last, and surprisingly would be one of my best. Some early morning trail work had removed several inches of mud from a few sections and actually made the course a bit more ridable. I probably rode 95% of the last lap and actually had some fun. Not enough fun to ride another lap but fun still the same. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP1pZLlXMg24aShNZxBuBOWEoPsC1KL2xNsydnWJaDvQVZQijTB1mSRjFb4fjMv1nXqbuj4hvavlkXjg5oefzsRYmnrZ_ByQWBwgAZIupAzbo5Pcx5sgXiLYe70fv1M5HdDNNiTx7lTzo/s1600/7778895648_d63f9965fb_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP1pZLlXMg24aShNZxBuBOWEoPsC1KL2xNsydnWJaDvQVZQijTB1mSRjFb4fjMv1nXqbuj4hvavlkXjg5oefzsRYmnrZ_ByQWBwgAZIupAzbo5Pcx5sgXiLYe70fv1M5HdDNNiTx7lTzo/s320/7778895648_d63f9965fb_o.jpg" width="211" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Last Lap</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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24 hours of hike-a-bike wasn't really what I was hoping for but now I know what it's like when it rains. For the record, I was right.<br />
<br />
Thanks to Gianna Lindsey for most of the pics.<br />
Next up: Hampshire 100 this Sunday (100k mountain bike race).<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7835864482386356354.post-31684128126954329392012-08-01T19:43:00.002-04:002012-08-01T19:43:25.085-04:00Carrabassett Backcountry Challenge<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgrgCjAy9xzha6zH_suTj5Ul6VwdPk8FiT1NsR0rrmpUKfuMEcxsfSAh-SnDsUN_vlBC2tJ4c9lAKNl_rbA18t-_uuuLXqcgvKb218FFbqn_gNaJ-B4pgHburdQo861lejgmu3PNaeM-U/s1600/logo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgrgCjAy9xzha6zH_suTj5Ul6VwdPk8FiT1NsR0rrmpUKfuMEcxsfSAh-SnDsUN_vlBC2tJ4c9lAKNl_rbA18t-_uuuLXqcgvKb218FFbqn_gNaJ-B4pgHburdQo861lejgmu3PNaeM-U/s200/logo.JPG" width="183" /></a></div>
I decided to do the <a href="http://nemba.bengreeley.com/carrabassett-backcountry-cycle-challenge-cbcc/">Carrabassett Backcountry Cycle Challenge</a> pretty much at the last minute. I figured a 50-60 mile endurance mountain bike race would be a good <i>practice </i>race to get the kinks out so I'd be ready for <a href="http://www.24hoursofgreatglen.com/">24hrs of Great Glen</a> and the <a href="http://www.hampshire100.com/">Hampshire 100</a>, both coming up in August. The only real negative was the 4+hr drive to nowhere Maine (Sugarloaf Mountain, in the Carrabassett Valley).<br />
<br />
Not a lot of intel on the course other than it would be between 50-60 miles with 6,000ft of climbing. <i>Challenging </i>they say! I drove up Saturday afternoon, checked in and setup a tent within sight of the start line. I chatted with a couple of NH folks at the pasta dinner and met up with aR teammate Geoff shortly after. He really wanted to go for a course preview ride, I did not. I should mention before driving nearly 4 1/2hrs to Sugarloaf I had to drive 3hrs to pick up my kids from camp. Needless to say I was tired and in no mood to ride. I opted for a quick mechanical check and setup of my bike and hoped to get to bed early.<br />
<br />
Oh sure, I got to bed early. I was exhausted. It was quiet, dark, not hot, pretty much perfect sleeping conditions. The only problem was I wasn't sleeping. Not a wink. I just laid there looking at the inside of my tent. I wasn't stressed or nervous, I wasn't <i>anything, </i>especially not sleeping. This happens from time to time for me, almost always after I stay up past the point of when I <i>should </i>have gone to bed. So I just laid there, waiting for the sun to come up, wondering how the heck I was going to ride 7+hrs (and then drive home). It was a long, boring night.<br />
<br />
I finally ended my misery at 5am and got up, got ready and had some breakfast (and coffee) at the Outdoor Center. Although tired, I actually felt <i>ok </i>and was looking forward to a good day of riding (not necessarily racing). I had a 100oz Camelback but would only fill it 1/2 full (with Nuun/water) at the start. I had various snacks in the Camelback and a couple of packages of Shot Bloks in my shorts. <br />
<br />
I wisely opted for the Novice class (which started last at 7:15am) and headed off with about a dozen other Novice riders. I rode easy and relaxed and still lead the group right from the start. It was fairly easy riding and social for the first hour before I had dropped all other Novice riders. So, for the next 5+hrs I would ride alone. Occasionally I'd catch a Sport rider (the next class up which started 5 minutes before us). I was expecting more of a mix of trails though. Sometimes you need a break from the technical to semi-technical single track to give your body a break. Double track and dirt roads usually do the trick. They said it was about 30% single track but a lot of the trails (which I'm sure they called double track) were basically single track rails cut through cross country ski trails, or old logging roads or just wider openings in the forest. Single track means there's only one trail. Double track means there's more than one line to take. I'd say at least 60% was single track. Although I LOVE single track, it's not something you want to do for 4 or 5 or even 6hrs of riding. It can be exhausting, and it was.<br />
<br />
Overall it was a good course. About 54 miles in the end. Yes, I'd call it challenging but I was able to ride nearly all of it (including some fairly significant climbs up the side of Sugarloaf Mountain). Probably only a handful of hike-a-bike sections, including a few stream crossings. Surprisingly there was a fair amount of mud out there. Kind of shocking actually since it's been so dry everywhere. I still have a hard time calling what I do <i>racing</i>. I probably don't ride much harder than an average daily ride, I just do it longer. I clearly don't take this sport seriously. I love mountain biking and I'd like to keep it that way. I don't want to worry about training or racing. I always ride to have fun. Every ride. Period.<br />
<br />
For what it's worth, my 6hr 52min effort was good enough for the top spot in the Novice class. I can only race against the folks who show up so I'm happy with my time and effort. This race was nearly twice as long (time wise or mileage wise) as any ride I've done all year (all of which has been on a mountain bike),so no complaints. Heck, considering I had zero sleep, it's a miracle I even finished!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7835864482386356354.post-66737667497782663492012-07-16T15:30:00.000-04:002012-07-16T15:30:03.540-04:00Hills, Hills and More HillsGeoff and I were getting a little bored with our regular mountain biking routes so we opted for a couple of new rides this past weekend. First up was Pawtuckaway State Park on Friday night. I had only been to PSP once (and that was to volunteer at the Vulcan's Fury Trail Race) so this definitely qualified as 'new'. We had a good 2hr ride on what I would call fairly technical trails with lots of climbing. I think we followed a good portion of the Vulcan's Fury course if I'm not mistaken. It was a tough ride for sure. Afterwards we drove down to the beach for a little cooling off in the lake. Of course the water temp was probably near 80 degrees so it wasn't exactly refreshing but we did get cleaned up a bit.<br />
<br />
Saturday morning we planned to meet up again for a pretty challenging ride in North Conway. Geoff had done a similar ride back in early May (when it was 50-60 degrees) that hit 3 mountain summits with over 5,000ft of climbing. I wasn't exactly looking forward to it but I was up for a challenge. As an added bonus, it was 90 degrees even before we started. Yippie! <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGyNHLbfTat3Ba5ON_M4Hf309yTuuR_6hyphenhyphenK_jgZ8EjK6vX16SzXhxlTASOQQJr5M30AF2opskde9soY__Ur7ubmgViV0DfDVnxomUapa7Em_li7Qxac2V-jvu-y2aWJ6aorC16REmTzDY/s1600/rough+trail+map.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="333" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGyNHLbfTat3Ba5ON_M4Hf309yTuuR_6hyphenhyphenK_jgZ8EjK6vX16SzXhxlTASOQQJr5M30AF2opskde9soY__Ur7ubmgViV0DfDVnxomUapa7Em_li7Qxac2V-jvu-y2aWJ6aorC16REmTzDY/s400/rough+trail+map.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Approximate route we took</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Summit #1 - We started near the gate on Hurricane Mountain Rd and headed up the Red Tail Trail and then onto the summit of Black Cap. I'd call Red Tail a technical climb to say the least. Lots of switchbacks but plenty of steep sections. I was able to ride 99% of the climb with just a couple hike-a-bike sections near the summit of Black Cap. I think it was around 3 miles to the summit. The trip up to Black Cap took just about an hour of riding and I was already over-heating (as evident by my bright RED face in every picture).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisuHfzF1WY6a8bEf-3TQ-zzFobN-gVo6tg0uTXRVRNLPI3r5qWwWSb3teTncaKrOATmGr98oWEvCRjpSpGVLpDb0q_mJxyJw-xyvspCvtJHLnZdCvjL-dFLPZLmle3bTWuoOmznMU9Rus/s1600/2012-07-14+north+conway+mountain+biking+004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisuHfzF1WY6a8bEf-3TQ-zzFobN-gVo6tg0uTXRVRNLPI3r5qWwWSb3teTncaKrOATmGr98oWEvCRjpSpGVLpDb0q_mJxyJw-xyvspCvtJHLnZdCvjL-dFLPZLmle3bTWuoOmznMU9Rus/s320/2012-07-14+north+conway+mountain+biking+004.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Black Cap Summit</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After spending about 10 minutes on the summit (catching my breathe and lowering my body temperature to just under boiling), we jumped on the Black Cap Connector Trail which took us over the entire Green Mountain ridge over to Middle Mountain and back down to the powerlines behind Pudding Pond. The ride over the ridge was a punishing grind of short ups and downs and the eventual descent that tested my brakes and my nerves. My fillings are somewhere up on that mountain. It smoothed out nicely (the bumps, not the terrain) near the end on a section appropriately called Pump Track, which brought us down to a couple of sweet sections of single track. One was called Sticks and Stones and the other one wasn't even on the map but flowed behind Pudding Pond for a couple of miles before kicking us back out on the powerlines again.<br />
<br />
Summit #2 - Next up was Cranmore. We rode the powerlines all the way down to the back side of Mt Cranmore and stumbled upon something resembling a dump. In fact, as we rode in we scared off some guy rummaging around the collection of mostly ski resort type stuff. That's when we came across this little gem and couldn't resist the photo op. Looking back, he was probably there to warn us not to climb Cranmore. Too bad I don't speak gremlin.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX89zrD8iAY06uULGqzamsoPWXO_kTaYr7E4LzbqtxN-AvutA8_A-VCdUvkiOexuAzPZolcDusKEdSWmbXolevH5ZfG-P0qzrRznmjW-a5LK333fpexvITTT3sCnGWd96XbRVTxMMIJFk/s1600/2012-07-14+north+conway+mountain+biking+006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX89zrD8iAY06uULGqzamsoPWXO_kTaYr7E4LzbqtxN-AvutA8_A-VCdUvkiOexuAzPZolcDusKEdSWmbXolevH5ZfG-P0qzrRznmjW-a5LK333fpexvITTT3sCnGWd96XbRVTxMMIJFk/s320/2012-07-14+north+conway+mountain+biking+006.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gremlin guarding the Cranmore Access Road</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We headed over to the base of Mt Cranmore and began the hardest climb of the day (IMHO) up the Cranmore access road. At least Red Tail had switchbacks to recover on. The access road had nothing, just a continuous climb up a loose gravel road. All my distances are guesses (mostly) since our GPS refused to pick up a signal for most of the day. I'm pretty sure this climb was roughly 3 miles too and took nearly 38 minutes if I recall correctly. We spent less time on the summit this time, just enough time to take a couple of photos and add a few ounces of water to my Camelback. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5bTQfltngcRhQFT_abQVF6z4dpqod89qtuaTSjlz-acvJd1gNc_-k4kQWbYfRUuXXlEpRBxyPIl1ggCmWR-KyTZjb7gYPAyyvTp-4mNG04P05ZEb1Ln7msomXXHXQzoJUFmAYa4BewxE/s1600/2012-07-14+north+conway+mountain+biking+011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5bTQfltngcRhQFT_abQVF6z4dpqod89qtuaTSjlz-acvJd1gNc_-k4kQWbYfRUuXXlEpRBxyPIl1ggCmWR-KyTZjb7gYPAyyvTp-4mNG04P05ZEb1Ln7msomXXHXQzoJUFmAYa4BewxE/s320/2012-07-14+north+conway+mountain+biking+011.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Red face on the Summit of Mt Cranmore</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We left Cranmore and headed across the Cranmore Connector Trail which brought us back to Black Cap. I'm pretty sure this entire connector trail went up. Great, more climbing. I came dangerously close to bonking on this trail, barely grinding my way back to the Red Tail junction. I told Geoff it was unlikely I would do the final climb of the day up Hurricane Mt Road. I was out of food, my hands were shaking, my face was still red and we had to pass our cars before heading up Hurricane. There wasn't a chance I would ride past my car. We headed back down the Red Tail Trail, back to the car.<br />
<br />
<br />
Summit #3 - Well it turns out a 20 minute descent was enough of a distraction to actually get me to ride right past my car and head up the 2 mile climb Hurricane Mt Road. If I had stopped, even for a second I would not have continued, so we rode right by. We'd been riding nearly 4hrs already but I wanted to finish what we planned. Let me just say this ain't an easy climb. There were several sections I just wanted to unclip (or not unclip) and just lay down. I wanted to quit so bad. I kept telling myself around each corner HAD to be the summit. I was wrong about 37 times. Geoff was kind enough to come back down (after reaching the summit) and ride with me the last 1/3 mile or so. I think it took around 27 minutes to ride the 2 miles to the summit, then less than 5 minutes to get back down.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfhBToKpK87b3wKGttDLqV4TWZ5da_z68T-9PXHhuYg2wMYC5kex9zpgsHR_CBI2QaDsZM0mPQQ0oPi61ZmGKuAztg7T49eJW8VfvYtYGZ9NW8Iwd0sZSQIG-_HuL92ENhj6KS1mqjKe4/s1600/2012-07-14+north+conway+mountain+biking+014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfhBToKpK87b3wKGttDLqV4TWZ5da_z68T-9PXHhuYg2wMYC5kex9zpgsHR_CBI2QaDsZM0mPQQ0oPi61ZmGKuAztg7T49eJW8VfvYtYGZ9NW8Iwd0sZSQIG-_HuL92ENhj6KS1mqjKe4/s320/2012-07-14+north+conway+mountain+biking+014.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Red face on Hurricane Mt Road</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Several people have asked me if I had fun. No, I did not have fun. This was hard, probably the hardest ride I've done. It was somewhat satisfying being able to ride 99% of the climbs (although slowly). For a guy who doesn't particularly like <i>any </i>climbing, I'd say I held my own today. Just don't ask me to do this ride again anytime soon.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7835864482386356354.post-28146997372614346372012-06-27T15:30:00.000-04:002012-06-27T19:57:22.791-04:00FOMBA - Bear Brook - FOMBA RideI was looking for something a little different (and longer) on Saturday so I decided a solo FOMBA to Bear Brook State Park ride was in order. I did this last year (one way) for the first time with a group but felt confident I could find my way back. Plus, I've ridden at BB quite a bit this year and figured I could find my way around once I got there. <br />
A late afternoon start had temps in the low 90's so I loaded up the new Camelback and headed out. The main connector trail from FOMBA (near Lake Massabesic in Auburn) to Bear Brook (Allenstown) is called Trail 15 (or corridor 15), a north/south snowmobile trail that goes all the way to Canada I think. The trail is 'generally' easy to follow (if you pay attention to the arrows). It seems to have more uphill on the way over, was dry as a bone but the deer flies were out in force. I almost turned back a few times in the first 30-40 minutes. Relentless. <br />
You actually hit Bear Brook State Park in less than an hour but it's out on the far edges where most mountain bikers don't actually ride. Mostly snowmobile/ATV type trails (with lots of water). I followed Ferret Trail past Bear Hill Pond, down to Podunk Rd and then went up a ways to jump onto Chipmunk (singletrack). I've come <u>up </u>Chipmunk many times but never rode it down. Totally different trail going down, seemed more technical (if that is possible?). Next up Bobcat, over to Little Bear and 1hr 47min later I was at the Podunk parking lot. Actually ran into a couple of aR riders in the lot (Geoff and Alex).<br />
After chatting for a while (and fueling up) I decided to head back to FOMBA as the sky was getting darker (thunderstorm dark). Decided on a more direct route back (up Podunk Rd) due to the weather. I didn't even make it to the Ferret Trail before the storms rolled in. Steady, heavy rain for about 45 minutes (along with plenty of thunder/lightning). My previously dry trail was almost completely flooded the entire way back. Temps dropped by 20 degrees too! At least it kept the bugs away. 1hr 22min ride back to the car. Nice ride. Guessing total miles around 30-32 miles (I don't use a GPS).<br />
I kind of like this connector trail.<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7835864482386356354.post-13749182240313992762012-06-04T11:30:00.000-04:002012-06-04T11:30:03.319-04:002012 Pineland Farms 25k<br />
<a href="http://trailmonsterrunning.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Pineland-2012-TMR-site.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="156" id="il_fi" src="http://trailmonsterrunning.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Pineland-2012-TMR-site.jpg" style="padding-bottom: 8px; padding-right: 8px; padding-top: 8px;" width="200" /></a>I know, Pineland Farms (<a href="http://www.coolrunning.com/results/12/me/May27_Pinela_set1.shtml">results</a>) was so 'last month'. What's the point writing about it over a week later? Not sure. I wasn't even going to post anything but I figured since I pay big money for this blog I should at least get my monies worth out of it. It doesn't mean I'm going to put quality effort into it though.<br />
My race report in bullet form:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Drove up with Denis Tranchemontagne on Sunday morning. (note, I spelled that without looking it up. I'm not sure what that means) Uneventful 2hr ride.</li>
<li>No warm up, no pre-race routine. Someone mentioned it was almost 10 and it didn't even register they were referring to the start of the race. Weird.</li>
<li>Averaging 30 mpw with essentially no long runs apparently makes me smarter. I seated myself way back, not tempted by my common foes (who were all in front of me).</li>
<li>The first 5k should have felt easy. It did not. I had stomach cramps almost immediately after starting. Only 24k more to go! Yippie.</li>
<li>Kept Mike Wade (GCS) and Chris Dunn (aR) in sight (maybe 20 seconds ahead of me) for the first 10k. They weren't falling back and I wasn't gaining. </li>
<li>Stomach feeling better. </li>
<li>Kurt Berna (GCS) was literally my shadow for first 15k of the race.</li>
<li>Sunny, mid 70's but much drier (humidity wise) than previous years. The breeze was refreshing in the woods. The sun was depressing in the fields. Zero sum game.</li>
<li>Caught up to Mike in the 3rd 5k section (before the grove). No Chris though. Chris had 1:30ish on us as we passed by the grove.</li>
<li>Tried to separate from Mike as we left the grove and crossed the road. Had a good gap (so I thought) but the bum caught me (and flew by me) on one of the screaming downhill sections. He looked like he got his second wind. I thought he was gone.</li>
<li>Feeling better, running better in the 4th 5k section. Caught up to Mike (again). Worked hard on separating from him (again). Dropped the bum (again).</li>
<li>Continued to work the last 5k section hard. I know it's either short or fast. I like to think fast but I know it's short. Doesn't matter. It's the same as last year.</li>
<li>Caught a glimpse of Capt Dunn midway through the last 5k. He had no idea I was behind him until I was nearly next to him. He was hiding his pain well. I thought he looked good.</li>
<li>We were side by side as we entered the last field. I was still pushing the pace but shortly after we entered the field I thought I was done. Dizzy, tired, hungry, legs were heavy. Chris was worse.</li>
<li>I separated from Chris just a little in the last 2k, finishing just a head of him with a time of 1:57:37. Totally exhausted. No complaints.</li>
<li>Still waiting for Mike to finish. </li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM_0iLUVTSgF8pcpeg_1NiMwwZ_3MsZzMJ9YqtUwIKerY4OuEgTXDt4tvWNBHUAmoOGxBCM8_g1GiD4JECNeTxUTXNdheFHpqLGbqOR61Mp1sxKsHq-Lf-OAHu0sRFMGHwmXWQioXcGqc/s1600/pineland2012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM_0iLUVTSgF8pcpeg_1NiMwwZ_3MsZzMJ9YqtUwIKerY4OuEgTXDt4tvWNBHUAmoOGxBCM8_g1GiD4JECNeTxUTXNdheFHpqLGbqOR61Mp1sxKsHq-Lf-OAHu0sRFMGHwmXWQioXcGqc/s320/pineland2012.jpg" width="210" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the grove - photo credit Gianna Lindsey</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Gianna aR pictures located here --> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gianinal/sets/72157629927755844/">2012 Pineland Pics</a><br />
<br />
<br />
Comparison to last year.<br />
Conclusion - you get slower when you get older OR you get slower when you run less.<br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 290px;"><colgroup><col style="width: 48pt;" width="64"></col>
<col span="2" style="mso-width-alt: 2962; mso-width-source: userset; width: 61pt;" width="81"></col>
<col style="width: 48pt;" width="64"></col>
</colgroup><tbody>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt; width: 48pt;" width="64"><br /></td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 61pt;" width="81"><b>2012</b></td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 61pt;" width="81"><b>2011</b></td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 48pt;" width="64"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15pt; text-align: center;">5k Split</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">22:15</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">21:09</td>
<td class="xl65" style="color: red; text-align: center;"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15pt; text-align: center;">10k Split</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">24:50</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">24:17</td>
<td class="xl65" style="color: red; text-align: center;"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15pt; text-align: center;">15k Split</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">25:04</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">25:02</td>
<td class="xl65" style="color: red; text-align: center;"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15pt; text-align: center;">20k Split</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">24:21</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">24:32</td>
<td class="xl66" style="color: lime; text-align: center;"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15pt; text-align: center;">25k Split</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">21:07</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">20:27</td>
<td class="xl65" style="color: red; text-align: center;"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15pt; text-align: center;"><b>FINISH</b></td>
<td class="xl63" style="text-align: center;"><b>1:57:37</b></td>
<td class="xl63" style="text-align: center;"><b>1:55:27</b></td>
<td class="xl65" style="color: red; text-align: center;"><br /></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7835864482386356354.post-29581322771260106942012-04-30T16:00:00.000-04:002012-04-30T16:00:03.078-04:00Muddy Moose - Trail Racing has Begun!I'll be honest. I didn't see that coming.<br />
I went into yesterday's 14m trail race (<a href="http://www.coolrunning.com/results/12/nh/Apr29_MuddyM_set1.shtml">results</a>) in Wolfeboro,NH a <i>wee </i>bit nervous. I ran just under 100 miles <i>total </i>for the month of March and just over 100 for the month of April. Banging out 20+ mile weeks just isn't the kind of mileage I was hoping for leading into this season.<br />
Last year at this time I was running nearly 50 miles/week and riding 30-40 miles on the bike and ran the Muddy Moose 14m race in 1:51:34. So, being a data-driven guy, I was pretty sure I was in for a 2+hr hurtfest this year. Bring it on!<br />
<br />
It was sunny but cool (mid 40's) and windy as all heck. Without the wind I'd go with just a singlet but the wind was COLD standing around at the start. After waffling for a few minutes I finally decided to go with a singlet and what <a href="http://raceacidotic2.blogspot.com/">Chris Dunn</a> called "arm pants". I'm sure it's some sort of fashion faux pas but it was just enough to keep from getting frost bite (at least at the starting line). I told Deb I'd probably be around 2hrs, lined up a couple of rows deep with <a href="http://rocknrunner.blogspot.com/">Mike Wade</a> and waited for the start.<br />
<br />
The mostly out and back course starts out on the road and heads downhill pretty quickly for about a half a mile or so before heading into the woods. Knowing I had absolutely <i>no </i>long runs under my belt was <b>always </b>on my mind. So, with that little nugget always present, I was very careful not to go out too fast. The initial trail was heavily logged since last year, with lots of branches, sticks and other sharp objects just waiting to impale you if you stumbled. Fancy footwork was a must. Of course one of the problems with going out a little slower is you get caught up in the crowds, which makes it a bit more challenging picking out obstacles (like sticks, rocks, and shoe-sucking mud pits). You tend to get funneled into directions you might not choose on your own (like the middle of a shoe-sucking mud pit). Most of the serious mud is in the first 2 miles (and the last 2 miles) so it's hard to avoid (because there's so much of it) but if you can navigate around it (especially if you're running 14 miles) you'd be better off. Some sections it's just not possible. I got bogged down (pun intended) pretty early on in the mud and <a href="http://trailmonsterrunning.blogspot.com/">Ian Parlin</a> (<a href="http://trailmonsterrunning.com/">TMR</a>) nearly ran me over trying to get by me. He was gone in a flash.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTt5XBSPoLTtfm-OrfUByWNUT8OvpBObXEnRVk-ijjgiPL9Iho7HByPvFuVHNW_2EhsyTB0aZ9WzYNTlM8mOmvsHB7nVue2rvT3hAINkamKybAESraULVUWVe-p_Pkd40w8Fb5lnQiHwg/s1600/muddy+moose.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTt5XBSPoLTtfm-OrfUByWNUT8OvpBObXEnRVk-ijjgiPL9Iho7HByPvFuVHNW_2EhsyTB0aZ9WzYNTlM8mOmvsHB7nVue2rvT3hAINkamKybAESraULVUWVe-p_Pkd40w8Fb5lnQiHwg/s320/muddy+moose.jpg" width="210" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">photo credit - Josh Spaulding</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Eventually the crowds thin out around the 2 mile mark (as the 4 milers go right and the 14 milers go left). The course heads down a dirt/gravel road for about 1 1/2 miles and gives you a chance to open up the stride, loosen up the legs and bang off some of the mud collected over the previous few miles. By this time I was running in a small group with Mike Wade & Kurt Burna (GCS) and fellow <a href="http://www.acidoticracing.com/">aR</a> member Leslie Beckwith. The pace felt comfortable but I was still worried about bonking in the later miles. The next section of the course is called escarpment and is the only section of single track we 'run' on all day. It's a very steep (but short) climb and we all walked most of it. The ridge run on top is short and then it drops down quickly on the back side over a boulder field before returning to the more traditional double track. The next mile mostly heads downhill, and I was reminded how bad I am at running downhill. Nearly everyone in my group would go by me on the downhills and I'd catch back up on the ups. Somewhere in this section Mike dropped out with a calf injury but I didn't know it until after I finished. A short while later the 2nd o/a female went flying by (on a downhill) but I would catch her a little while later around the 5 mile water stop. We would trade places for the rest of the race. I was still feeling pretty good so I picked up the pace just a bit as we made a slow climb to the lollypop turn around loop.<br />
<br />
The lead runner (<a href="http://kltilton.blogspot.com/">Kevin Tilton</a>) passed me on the climb, a few minutes sooner then the place he passed me last year. I assumed I was running slower but in reality he was flying to a new CR. The lollypop can be run in either direction but for the second year in a row I went right (or counter-clockwise). This section, although not muddy, is VERY wet, with deep, cold water everywhere. My feet hurt they were so cold. I got around most of the beaver dam water by running over the top of the dam. I checked my watch for the only time all day at the end of the loop (1hr exactly). By this time my 'arm pants' had turned into 'wrist shorts' as the temperature was quite comfortable.<br />
The next few miles were mostly a gentle down hill. Last year this section was a little wet, this year not so much. I was still feeling strong and tried to stay with the 2nd o/a female. I never looked back but I always assumed Mike, Leslie and Kurt were right there. The course loops back around to the 5 mile water stop (now at mile 9ish) and turns left. The rest of the course is the same as the way out.<br />
<br />
I passed the 2nd o/a female on the climbs and held her off until the steep descent on the escarpment where once again she went flying by. During this section I got my first glimpse of another aR runner, Ri Fahnestock. Ri looked like was struggling a bit so I was hoping I could catch him on the dirt road section. About a mile onto the dirt road I could now see Ian Parlin as well. I was slowly closing on both of them but I wasn't sure if I was closing fast enough. Just before the last water stop at mile 12ish I passed Ri and encouraged him to stick with me. I was motoring pretty good and now had my sights on Ian. The mud in the last couple of miles (with 200+ runners going through it already) was much harder to navigate on the way back. More than once I almost came to a stop as I got stuck in the mud. I got close to Ian but not close enough that I thought I could make a legitimate move as we left the woods and hit the last uphill road section before the finish. I finally made a quick peek over my shoulder to see if anyone was nearby and then just held my position until the finish, finishing 20 seconds behind Ian and 4 seconds behind the 2nd o/a female.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixiaVx19zIQZgGK5X6nFHpOZFQMNGbSS2ifxvSqCDE7OEePs0-YnkgmPcWVNNGEloWJNKUVU87QE4A9wf0qTw_56nLA9CYrhf8fH16G8-hv_O2AOSEaUSrVSkU0w8oPXPUszQXqbUxeo4/s1600/muddy+moose2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixiaVx19zIQZgGK5X6nFHpOZFQMNGbSS2ifxvSqCDE7OEePs0-YnkgmPcWVNNGEloWJNKUVU87QE4A9wf0qTw_56nLA9CYrhf8fH16G8-hv_O2AOSEaUSrVSkU0w8oPXPUszQXqbUxeo4/s320/muddy+moose2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">me and Ian after the race</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I was shocked that my time (1:50:29, 18th o/a) was over a minute faster than last year. How the heck was that possible? Heck, I actually felt pretty good, probably running the second half faster then the first half. Kids, I wouldn't necessarily recommend running 20 miles a week and then signing up for a 14 miler but maybe this race was the spark I needed to get motivated and hopefully PR at the Pineland Farms 25k this year.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7835864482386356354.post-34878320765467659552012-03-21T15:30:00.000-04:002012-03-21T16:39:40.079-04:00Guilt PostBlogs are more fun when you have something to say, and it probably helps if it's interesting, upbeat or at least moderately useful to one of the 3 readers that I'm aware of. Unfortunately I've been a little frustrated over the last 2-3 months and have not been in a happy place when it comes to my running (and I'm not even injured).<br />
I feel like I've been a human HEPA filter, attracting every virus floating around. Good news for my friends and families (you're welcome, BTW), bad news for me. I've been sick more times than I can count (actually, I <i>can </i>count to 4 but that didn't sound as impressive).<br />
I run a week, I take a week off. I run a week, I take week off. Repeat, often.<br />
The latest round (pneumonia) has been the hardest and longest. It's been dragging on for nearly 2 weeks and doesn't show any signs of clearing up anytime soon. I started running a couple of days ago (mostly because I'm bored out of my mind) and surprisingly it's been slow and difficult. I'm guessing it's not normal for my heart rate to be above 150bpm at 9min+ pace. <br />
On a positive note, mountain biking isn't nearly as taxing on my respiratory system and I've almost enjoyed it the last couple of days. Yippie!<br />
So, if I can stitch together a couple of weeks of running, I might be up for a trail race in the near future. That's the plan anyways.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7835864482386356354.post-25674682154170153382012-01-17T12:00:00.000-05:002012-01-17T12:32:07.577-05:00Smuttynose Palooza Indoor Half Marathon<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsevRdq-bzfU__KYv7UZbZmtvoW5n5IQ9UDQbrOURYgAql5_BEaMx5Nsx6EoY5ktt6VNxlaaeUr5iZxAxzAhiHMc_l4w5geQAvsZ6aeXWH6LtxR1ZcGQXata_cteWyKhUBTELUQnktjfM/s1600/dome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsevRdq-bzfU__KYv7UZbZmtvoW5n5IQ9UDQbrOURYgAql5_BEaMx5Nsx6EoY5ktt6VNxlaaeUr5iZxAxzAhiHMc_l4w5geQAvsZ6aeXWH6LtxR1ZcGQXata_cteWyKhUBTELUQnktjfM/s320/dome.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
During the winter months, the Gate City Striders have indoor track workouts at the Hampshire Dome in Milford,NH. I am told it's one of the larger indoor tracks around (roughly a 1/5th mile per lap). Even though it's the only indoor track I've run on, it's my favorite. The 2-lane rubberized track has fairly sharp corners (which are slightly banked), but it doesn't seem to affect your stride too much (at least in track workouts). The banked corners seem to help with the transition in and out of the turns. So why is this important? Well, the track is great for doing 400m or 800m repeats. When we start doing mile repeats it gets a bit <i>repetitive</i>, and becomes <i>mentally </i>tough....and that's only 5 laps.<br />
<br />
Last year the folks at Loco Running put on an indoor half marathon at the Hampshire Dome. I thought they were nuts and the runners who signed up even nuttier. Jump forward to this year and I start seeing the ads for the <a href="http://www.smuttynose-palooza.com/">Smuttynose Palooza Indoor Half Marathon</a> (<a href="http://www.coolrunning.com/results/12/nh/Jan14_Smutty_1_set3.shtml">results</a>). This time it intrigued me. It must have been the name change (kudos to the marketing guys). In a year that I'm looking to branch out and try some new things, I decided <i>why not</i>. From the start I figured this was more of a mental challenge than a physical challenge. I was mostly right.<br />
<br />
Since the track is so small, the race was broken up into two 50-person heats, one at 2pm and one at 4pm. I was in the 4pm heat (as a side note, this might be the only race I've ever done at 4pm). Chip timing was a must (and even that wasn't foolproof). The RD had the track wheel measured this year and determined we had to run <b>68</b> full laps plus a little more for the 13.1 miles. Last year they ran <b>66.5</b> laps for the same race (more on that later). They also had a flat screen TV setup which displayed the runners lap time and # of laps run. In addition, Andy Schachat was there announcing names, lap times and laps run throughout the race. Thankfully he would do this sparingly and not on every lap.<br />
<br />
To me, the best way to run this race would be to figure out my goal pace, convert it to lap time and then run <i>every </i>lap at that pace. I looked at some race reports from last year, and even last years website and found several references to the track being 317 meters. As it turns out, 66.5 laps * 317m = 13.1 miles. Apparently this is what they used last year. So my goal was to run around 6:30 to 6:35 min/mile pace or 1:17 to 1:18 lap times. Unfortunately, I forgot what lap time I was supposed to run by the time I got to the Dome. I thought it was 1:15 laps but couldn't remember. I guess I would have to run on how it felt instead. We were told we'd record 69 laps on the monitor (the first lap recorded was only a few feet based on where we started on the track). Andy would announce when we had a few laps to go so we'd know when we were finished. Seemed pretty straightforward. <br />
<br />
Since there was a race going on before our 4pm start, we couldn't warm up on the track (and I wasn't dressed to run outside). I had zero warmup. When we finally lined up a little after 4pm, I went from resting to half marathon pace in one lap and stayed that way for nearly 1 1/2hrs. <br />
<br />
It took a few laps to figure out a comfortable pace. It was pretty clear 1:15 laps weren't going to happen so I backed off ever so slightly and targeted 1:17 laps instead. The race itself was pretty uneventful. I would only get passed by one person (Jason Porter). He would lap me every 4 laps or so. Every once in a while Andy would call out my splits and tell me how many laps I'd run, counting down the last 3-4 laps as I got close to 69 laps. I picked up the pace near the end hoping to finish strong and crossed the line in <b>1:28:48</b>. What? That doesn't sound right. Oh well, I grabbed a beer and a slice of pizza (no cool down run either), relaxed for a few minutes and eventually went home. Later that evening when the results were posted my time was changed to <b>1:27:37</b>. Better but still not what I expected. <br />
<br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 512px;"><colgroup><col span="8" style="width: 48pt;" width="64"></col>
</colgroup><tbody>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl66" height="20" style="height: 15pt; text-align: center; width: 48pt;" width="64"><u><b>Lap</b></u></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: center; width: 48pt;" width="64"><u><b>Split</b></u></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: center; width: 48pt;" width="64"><u><b>Lap</b></u></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: center; width: 48pt;" width="64"><u><b>Split</b></u></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: center; width: 48pt;" width="64"><u><b>Lap</b></u></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: center; width: 48pt;" width="64"><u><b>Split</b></u></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: center; width: 48pt;" width="64"><u><b>Lap</b></u></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: center; width: 48pt;" width="64"><u><b>Split</b></u></td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl64" height="20" style="height: 15pt; text-align: center;">1</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">00:11</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">19</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:18</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">37</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:18</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">55</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:17</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl64" height="20" style="height: 15pt; text-align: center;">2</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:14</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">20</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:20</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">38</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:18</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">56</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:17</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl64" height="20" style="height: 15pt; text-align: center;">3</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:13</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">21</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:17</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">39</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:17</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">57</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:16</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl64" height="20" style="height: 15pt; text-align: center;">4</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:14</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">22</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:18</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">40</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:17</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">58</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:16</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl64" height="20" style="height: 15pt; text-align: center;">5</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:16</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">23</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:18</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">41</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:19</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">59</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:17</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl64" height="20" style="height: 15pt; text-align: center;">6</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:16</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">24</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:18</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">42</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:18</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">60</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:16</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl64" height="20" style="height: 15pt; text-align: center;">7</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:15</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">25</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:18</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">43</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:17</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">61</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:17</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl64" height="20" style="height: 15pt; text-align: center;">8</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:16</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">26</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:19</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">44</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:18</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">62</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:17</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl64" height="20" style="height: 15pt; text-align: center;">9</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:15</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">27</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:19</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">45</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:18</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">63</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:18</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl64" height="20" style="height: 15pt; text-align: center;">10</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:16</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">28</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:18</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">46</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:19</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">64</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:16</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl64" height="20" style="height: 15pt; text-align: center;">11</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:16</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">29</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:17</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">47</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:19</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">65</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:16</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl64" height="20" style="height: 15pt; text-align: center;">12</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:17</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">30</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:16</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">48</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:18</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">66</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:14</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl64" height="20" style="height: 15pt; text-align: center;">13</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:17</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">31</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:19</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">49</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:19</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">67</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:17</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl64" height="20" style="height: 15pt; text-align: center;">14</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:18</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">32</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:18</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">50</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:17</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">68</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:15</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl64" height="20" style="height: 15pt; text-align: center;">15</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:21</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">33</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:17</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">51</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:18</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">69</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:13</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl64" height="20" style="height: 15pt; text-align: center;">16</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:18</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">34</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:16</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">52</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:15</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">70</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:10</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl64" height="20" style="height: 15pt; text-align: center;">17</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:20</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">35</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:18</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">53</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:18</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl64" height="20" style="height: 15pt; text-align: center;">18</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:17</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">36</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:20</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;">54</td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: center;">01:19</td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td>
<td class="xl64" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
So what are my thoughts on running an indoor half marathon on a 311m track?<br />
<ul>
<li>Although the weather was better than outdoors, the air is stagnant. A little warm and no breeze. Not awful, just different. Hard to explain.</li>
<li>There are 272 turns. Unlike an outdoor track, the corners are square so you notice the turns more. The banked turns helped but the turns do a number on your feet. My feet were constantly sliding in my shoes on the turns and friction created numerous blisters on the bottoms of my feet and between a few of my toes. </li>
<li>50 people running on an indoor 311m track is crowded. Traffic rules were in effect, runners were instructed to stay on the inside lane unless passing. Unfortunately, people don't follow rules. Every lap was spent weaving in and out of people, sometimes even running off the track entirely because of the crowds of runners.</li>
<li>I bet I passed nearly 1000 runners throughout the race. That would never happen outdoors.</li>
<li>I ran alone the entire race.</li>
<li>Here's the deal on the track length. Last year they called it 317m. This year they called it 311m. That's a difference of nearly 3 laps when running 13.1 miles. So which is correct? Both, sort of. The 311m is the measurement of the inside of lane 1. The 317m is the measurement of the inside of lane 2. If you run just outside of lane 2 it's 325m around. It doesn't sound like much but when 5 laps make up a mile, the extra distance starts to add up. </li>
<li>They had signs scattered around the track indicating the various mile markers along with how many laps made up each mile. In my opinion, the mile markers were not helpful. It was very hard to keep track what lap you were on (even with a TV monitor and announcer).</li>
<li>The TV monitor displayed your lap time and recorded how many laps you had run. However, the distance between the timing mat and the monitor was just a tad too close. The purpose of the monitor was so you could see your lap time and # of laps run. However, as I ran by, my name would show up just as I was running by and I couldn't see my lap time or laps run. Thankfully Andy would call out this info once in a while.</li>
<li>I thought miles 5-10 were the hardest. The fun of running on the track had worn off and you didn't have enough laps done to know the end was near. </li>
<li>The discrepancy of my initial finishing time to the posted time was because I actually ran 70 laps (instead of the 69 required). It seems the TV monitor was hooked up to a different timing mat then the official timing mat. The TV mat said I ran 69, but the official mat said I ran 70. Not a huge deal since they corrected it but it did affect the last couple of laps. In fact, it negated my fastest lap of the day, which turned out to be my 70th. </li>
<li>Running a consistent pace is definitely the way to run this race.</li>
<li>I don't think running indoors is faster than running an outdoor half. Sure it's flat, but sometimes hills are good. They force you to use different muscles and work harder and they also have downhills which allow you to run faster.</li>
<li>You cannot run the tangents indoors. </li>
<li>I spent most of the time running in lane 2 (or further out) so there's no doubt I ran further than 13.1 miles. I'm pretty sure my pace was closer to 6:30-6:35 pace, as opposed to my official pace of 6:42. This is not a complaint. I'm ok with the official time. They measured the track correctly (this time). But if you're looking to run a PR, indoor is not the place to do it. </li>
<li>It is truly a mentally tough race. I had fun. I'm glad I did it....once. I probably would not do another indoor half marathon though.</li>
</ul>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7835864482386356354.post-68193071400430971832012-01-04T15:11:00.001-05:002012-01-04T15:11:13.252-05:00Time to Get Serious!Time's up. I don't do serious.<br />
<br />It's a new year so I figured I'd blog about running, mostly because I didn't want to change my blog name. I've been in a running funk lately and wasn't really enjoying my runs.
Thankfully I seem to be over it now and I'm looking forward to some running
(and racing) in the next few months. Contrary to popular belief, I HAVE been running and even managed a couple of races recently.<br />
<b>RACING </b><br />
The most recent was the <a href="http://www.coolrunning.com/results/12/nh/Jan1_Peanut_set1.shtml">Peanut Butter Chip Chase 5k</a> in Temple, NH on New Years Day. This was my 9th year running this race (no doubt the most I've run the same race). A nice, low-key, small town race and a moderately difficult course. In eight attempts, I've yet to break 19 minutes. This year was no different. Not a great race (time wise) but I did manage to run negative splits for each mile so that's something positive to take away from this one.<br />
<b>TRACK</b><br />
Yesterday was the first day of indoor track practice at the <a href="http://www.hampshiredome.com/">Hampshire Dome</a>. The coached workouts put on by the Gate City Striders goes for 10 weeks and is something I look forward to each year. As I probably mention every year, I LOVE this track. Of course, I don't have much experience with indoor tracks but I do know this is a big one (nearly 1/5th mile per lap). The opening workout was 6 x 800 repeats @ 5k pace. Once I figured out a pace, I managed to run fairly consistent laps (2:52, 2:56, 2:54, 2:54, 2:54, 2:54). Overall, a good, solid workout.<br />
<b>2011</b> <b>REVIEW</b><br />
I think last year I skipped the ole "Year in Review" post so I'll think I'll start a trend and skip it this year too. Honestly, there wasn't much to review anyways.<br />
<b>2012 PREVIEW</b><br />
So, what's in store for 2012? Well, I have a few surprises this year. I plan to venture a bit outside my comfort zone and try a few new races and of course stick with a few of my favorites. The first one is coming up in 2 weeks. It's an<a href="http://www.smuttynose-palooza.com/"> indoor half marathon</a> (at the Hampshire Dome) put on by LOCO Running. This one seems more of a mental challenge than a physical challenge. We'll see if I still like this track after 68 laps.<br />
As far as snowshoe racing: well, I guess the weather speaks for itself. The longer we go without snow, the less interested I become. I'm <i>almost </i>to the point of writing this season off all together, even if it does snow....eventually.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7835864482386356354.post-65227636942029791002011-12-06T12:58:00.001-05:002011-12-06T13:48:17.742-05:00Competitive FireProbably the <i>biggest </i>thing I missed during my running hiatus this summer was the <b>competition </b>that comes with racing. I don't mean the actual competitors (although I'm sure I missed some of them too!), but the actual act of competing. I love to race. Not because I'm an elite athlete. Not because I need to win. Not because I need another t-shirt or medal. But because I have a constant desire to push myself. To work harder. To get faster. When I sign up for yet another race, Deb usually says "I can't help myself" but I think we're on the same page. I think she know I <i>need </i>to race.<br />
The lack of running didn't bother me nearly as much as the lack of racing. I can always find something else to do to stay in shape or fill the time (mostly). I got used to not running. I mountain biked. I had fun. But I wasn't racing. It's amazing how annoying social media can be when you can't do what you like to do (especially when 90% of my FB friends are runners). Man, did you guys bug me!<br />
<br />
I've now been running for about 3 months. I can't say I've got that competitive fire yet, but at least I have the pilot lit. I've taken it real slow (a little gun shy about getting injured again), maybe even too slow. I generally average about 30 miles a week. That's fine for staying in shape but it's not enough if you want to get faster. I have been racing a bit, which can be tough this time of year. It seems the rest of the running world is winding down and I'm trying to ramp up. Not a lot of races to choose from but I found a few. I ran a couple of 5k trail races in November on the familiar trails of Mine Falls. I ran The Great Gobbler 5k Trail Race on Thanksgiving (only the second time I've ever run a race on Thanksgiving, believe it or not). Finally, this past weekend I had the lead off leg of one of our Mens Masters team at the Mill Cities Relay. Considering I averaged nearly 6:40's for a 5k in September (might be a PW), I guess I should be happy with 6:15's for 5.4 miles. I am not complaining. I'm just happy to be running again and more importantly, racing again. Time to ramp up the miles. Watch your back, I might be right behind you!<br />
<br />
RANDOM NOTE: I took some pictures on legs 3, 4 and 5 after running my leg on Sunday. Feel free to share with anyone who ran the Mill Cities Relay.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://nhwolfe.smugmug.com/Events/Team-Activities/2011-Mill-Cities-Relay/20416491_jrX3vx#1615900007_ZB4fVxS">2011 Mill Cites Relay Pictures</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7835864482386356354.post-70753122372327003352011-10-14T12:10:00.002-04:002011-10-14T12:17:30.953-04:00Pinnacle Challenge - Solo Edition<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglwdKxQOPoExSZDo8aFszkiyCZdApUJaS3ax3BEnIiw5aZPKTkOla1jqQPeazotCJfruCh9oYJIdjG5MXOIcSshtFwTSVTZ9_90ne2ipG4mgXuBWUpWo1zOM1Z_2xzlEhoXu8dieRR88k/s1600/6206024360_77f901d182_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="130" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglwdKxQOPoExSZDo8aFszkiyCZdApUJaS3ax3BEnIiw5aZPKTkOla1jqQPeazotCJfruCh9oYJIdjG5MXOIcSshtFwTSVTZ9_90ne2ipG4mgXuBWUpWo1zOM1Z_2xzlEhoXu8dieRR88k/s400/6206024360_77f901d182_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Team acidotic RACING</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The <a href="http://www.team-pinnacle.org/pinnacle_challenge.php">Pinnacle Challenge VII</a> in Newport,NH is probably the biggest team event of the year for acidotic RACING (30+ this year!). The unique double duathlon event (5m road run, 5.4m mountain bike, 13.75m road bike, 3.65m trail run) offers something for everyone. For the past couple of years I was on a 4-person men's team, running the 5m road leg and 3.65m trail leg previously. Early on in 2011 (before I got injured surprisingly) I decided to do it solo.<br />
<br />
Fast forward to September of this year. I hadn't run in nearly 3 months due to a nagging injury. Thankfully I kept busy with a ton of mountain biking and some tolerable road biking, but no running. So I had roughly one month to ease back into running <i>just enough </i>so I wouldn't embarrass myself at Pinnacle. I needed every day.<br />
<br />
Teammate Jason Massa (who has done this race solo every year I believe) offered some advice - do each leg as hard as you can and hope to hang on at the end. Ok, I'm sure I'm paraphrasing a bit but I liked his advice. It is a race after all. My brain doesn't have a 'go easy' gear during a race. I guess the point was you'd probably over-think each leg too much if tried to pace yourself along the way. The other (more important) piece of advice was to make sure you eat and drink, primarily on the road bike. Noted.<br />
<br />
I lined up with teammates Liz Hall and Austin Stonebreaker for the 5m leg. I think we all stayed within a few seconds of each other for the entire out/back run. Surprisingly, this was the leg I was most worried about and I was quite pleased with the results. I ran hard, finishing the run in 31:47 (6:21 pace). I quickly swapped shoes, threw on a helmet and headed out on the mountain bike for leg #2.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Finishing the 5m leg</td></tr>
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Ok, a couple of things to note if you plan to do this solo. First, it's much harder going from running to biking then biking to running (like in a triathlon). Second, wear gloves. Finally, carrying a 30lb mountain bike up a gazillion stairs on the side of a ski jump (after running 5 miles) is tiring.You've been warned.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4mLRQJk8Lm_FXxI9Yo0E0giOS4ayiLavMsHA0oSaEl40DBNeBfJYuRnxpueSCL3dhBuYqTwhf-oCLl4DMbHwllHpZD_w37OFOHqiKfmQtQnqq1UKqSlGrD2JPXk-x7T2bqK-zYc5fIWw/s1600/img_2066.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4mLRQJk8Lm_FXxI9Yo0E0giOS4ayiLavMsHA0oSaEl40DBNeBfJYuRnxpueSCL3dhBuYqTwhf-oCLl4DMbHwllHpZD_w37OFOHqiKfmQtQnqq1UKqSlGrD2JPXk-x7T2bqK-zYc5fIWw/s320/img_2066.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Evil stairs</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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Yes, both the mountain bike and the trail run legs go up these stairs, located about a 1/4 mile into the leg. My legs were <i>burning </i>when I made it to the top with my bike. And it doesn't get much easier, with nearly ALL the climbing located in the first half of the bike (and run for that matter). I could do no better than ride the entire climb in my granny gear but at least I was able to ride the entire thing. A few days of heavy rain had left the course very wet and very muddy. By itself it's probably a fun course. Throw in a 5m run for a warm up and the fun kind of goes away. No complaints. It was a nice course. Tough, fairly technical but rideable. Once over the summit I was pushed pretty hard by another rider and we flew on the way down, eventually teaming up with fellow aR teammates Mike Sallade and Amanda House on the screaming descent. We swapped positions a few times before reaching the transition in 42:49, completely covered in mud.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Heading out on the mt bike</td></tr>
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The next transition was easy. All I had to do was swap bikes and go. This would be my least favorite leg. The course was a straight 6 mile shot out, followed by a fairly intimidating 1 mile hill and then back to the transition area. As instructed, I drank and ate as much as I could on the ride. I'm sure I went <b>way </b>easier than I should have on this leg. I never really pushed myself. By this point in the race I was looking at it more like a recovery ride. I battled aR teammate Robin Allen-Burke up the monster hill before she put the hammer down and crushed my on the way back. Overall it was a lackluster performance on my part as I finished up in 45:55, a fairly slow 18mph avg. Glad that's done...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Muddy me on the road bike</td></tr>
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Generally I had been transitioning fairly well (although there are probably some improvements I could have made to speed things up a bit). I put my trail shoes on, grabbed a bottle of water and headed out on the run. I was tired but felt pretty good but did walk the evil stairs. Like the mountain bike course, the trail run course is all climbing in the first half. In fact, the run course was about 90% of the mountain bike course. I shuffled up the hills, running behind another runner most of the way up. Near the summit I passed and led for a while as we began the descent. Somewhere near the top I made an attempt to jump over a small tree that crossed the trail. As soon as I jumped my right hamstring cramped severely, stopping me in my tracks. The runner went by, asked if I was ok and then continued on. I tried several times to continue on and couldn't even take a single step. Darn it. I had about 2 miles of downhill to go and I couldn't move. I tried to stretch my hamstring as best I could (I do not stretch very well). After several minutes of stretching I was finally able to slowly walk. Eventually I managed to turn my walk into a slow jog and then into a fairly decent run. I was completely paranoid about my hamstring seizing up again, especially running downhill but it held up enough for me to finish the run in a somewhat painful 32:52.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the finish line...finally!</td></tr>
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My 2:35:51 finishing time was good enough for 8th overall in the solo division, 3rd in the masters division (behind Jason Massa in 2nd). I was more than happy with the results , all things considered. It was hard, it was mostly fun but next year I'm pretty sure I'm going back to team competition!<br />
<br />
Photo credits - Gianina LindseyUnknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7835864482386356354.post-66865682985687288652011-09-26T15:30:00.000-04:002011-09-27T10:40:31.047-04:00FOMBA to Bear Brook RideI was talking to a fellow mountain bike rider in Horse Hill a few weeks ago and he mentioned riding from <a href="http://www.fomba.org/">FOMBA </a>in Auburn to <a href="http://www.nhstateparks.org/explore/state-parks/bear-brook-state-park.aspx">Bear Brook State Park</a> in Allenstown. I've seen the snowmobile trail signs around FOMBA, some mentioning Bear Brook but I never really paid attention to them. I pretty much just rode the mountain bike specific single track that FOMBA is famous for. After doing a little research and recruiting a few riders (Chris, Brayden and Dan), I put together a rough plan.We'd drop a vehicle at Bear Brook and start the ride at FOMBA. I had planned 3-4hrs of riding based on pretty much nothing. Originally I had planned to ride a few miles of single track at FOMBA first but Chris astutely pointed out we could ride there anytime. Lets save the riding for Bear Brook instead. Shortly before 10am we headed out.<br />
<br />
So, how do you get there you ask? Well, turns out those snowmobile folks have quite the trail network, and do a decent job with signage (but lack in posting online maps). Starting from the Depot Rd parking lot at FOMBA, we rode the fire roads northeast until it crosses the Rockingham Rail Trail. The primary reason for this was to check out all the signage at this intersection. It's here that you'll see a sign saying "Bear Brook" this way. Otherwise, if you just ride up Depot Rd for a 1/4 mile or so, the trail actually crosses there, saving some riding time.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">FOMBA to Bear Brook Map</td></tr>
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The main corridor (aka trail) going north/south is called Trail 15. We picked it up on the north side of Tower Hill Pond. There were lots of snowmobile trails along the way. The problem was they were just numbers (Trail 6, Trail 12, etc..). Without a snowmobile trail-specific map, they were useless (and like I said earlier, they apparently don't publish their maps online). So we kept riding until we saw the sign for Trail 15N (about 4.5miles in).<br />
<br />
Trail 15N would take us all the way into Bear Brook (and Canada if you kept on following it north). For the most part it was very easy to follow. We got hung up for a few minutes when we came across the only paved road we had to cross (Rt27, about 7.5 miles in) because we missed a turn on the powerlines and came out on the road, but not where the trail actually crosses. A little local help got us back on track.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elevation Profile from FOMBA to Bear Brook</td></tr>
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There was some standing water on the trails from a few days of heavy rain but generally the trail offered some great riding (but it does climb steadily going north). Around 9.5miles Trail 15N turned left onto the Chester Turnpike. It was neither in Chester nor a Turnpike (but is on the map). I'd call it a very rugged dirt road at best. After about a mile though we'd finally make the right turn into the southwest corner of Bear Brook (roughly 10 miles into our ride). Although not signed, this section on the <a href="http://www.nhstateparks.org/uploads/pdf/BearBrookTrailsMap_2011-web.pdf">Bear Brook Trail Map</a> was called Lost Trail Extension. From there we followed the Ferret Trail around the west side of Bear Hill Pond. After 13 miles of riding, we would finally hit our first section of single track in Bear Brook State Park!<br />
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<br />
<br />
The first trail we hit was the Ledges Hedgehog trail. An excellent, scenic trail through some incredible boulder fields. <i>Seriously </i>technical however. Lots of stone steps to ascend and descend. From there we took a dreadful trail called the Lowland Trail ( I think). Lots of blowdowns, and huge sections completely submerged. It was wet, slow and not much of anything. It eventually brought us around Hayes Marsh (about 15 miles of riding).<br />
At Hayes Marsh we decided on the Carr Ridge Trail. After looking at the map, we came up with a rough plan to head north until we hit the Bear Brook Trail, and then head southeast to our car on Podunk Rd. Up and over what I would guess was Carr Ridge. A somewhat technical but <i>excellent </i>single track trail. The descent was a nicely flowing, fast switchback ride all the way down to the Bear Brook Trail.<br />
Another excellent trail, and as the name implies, the trail followed right along Bear Brook. I think we got off trail a few times near the water but we eventually would pick it up again and continued all the way to the hiker/biker lot on Podunk Rd. It was a solid 2 miles of nice single track riding. <br />
In total we rode for 2hrs 40 minutes, covering roughly 18 miles. This was my first time into Bear Brook and I can't wait to go back!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7835864482386356354.post-35678578764233075142011-09-16T08:44:00.001-04:002011-09-16T08:44:09.005-04:00A Running Post...Finally!Alert the media. I'm running again! After 3 months of nearly <i>no </i>running due to injury, I've finally been able to piece together a couple of decent weeks. It's slow and it's hard but I'm glad to be back out on the roads and trails. I really missed racing.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7835864482386356354.post-32867732795444290272011-08-24T16:33:00.002-04:002011-08-25T12:17:44.117-04:00Hampshire 100 Mountain Bike Race<b>Note: LONG POST </b><br />
When I signed up for this <i>race </i>a few months ago, it seemed like a good way to get my endurance <i>fix </i>in. A 100k single loop mountain bike race through the hills of Greenfield, Francestown and a few other hilly New Hampshire towns. True, I've been cycling a lot (for a runner), but not enough to consider myself a cyclist or biker or whatever they call themselves. So for my first mountain bike race ever, why not go big? Honestly, I <i>never </i>looked at the Hampshire 100 as a race. I just wanted the experience to ride 100k on a mountain bike. Just finishing would be good enough the first time out.<br />
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With the venue only about 40 minutes from home, the ability to sleep in my own bed was a huge plus. Deb was nice enough to get up at 4:30am and drop me off (thank you!), and after a quick DD stop for coffee and a sausage-egg-cheese sandwich (breakfast of champions), we arrived just before 6am. We met up with fellow acidotic RACING teammate Andy Corrow, who would be riding in the same class (Novice Veteran II - 40-49) as me. After a brief pre-race meeting, we settled into the 5th wave and waited patiently for our turn. Shortly after 7am we were off.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Waiting for wave 5 to start</td></tr>
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We were warned the first 20 miles were fairly easy and fast (whatever that means). Although I generally don't ride very long (my longest ride all year was around 50 miles), I wasn't really worried about the 62.5 miles we had to cover. I was more concerned about how much time it would take. My guesstimate at the start was 8-9hrs based on well, pretty much nothing. My longest ride in the history of riding was probably only 1/2 that. Not to worry, no negative thoughts entered my mind. I would not be fooled into thinking this was a race so at the 'go' command I just rode easy. Probably too easy. Even starting with a huge novice group, I basically got passed by nearly everyone in the first few miles (at least it seemed that way). I rode with Andy for about 10 minutes but then he was gone too. Sure, I could have ridden a lot faster, but on a hot and humid day, on a course with probably 7000ft of climbing, I decided to take it out easy.<br />
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The first few miles were mostly on dirt roads before hitting some ATV type trails and eventually riding down the side of some rail road tracks. There's something a bit unnerving about riding single file at 15mph along side exposed RR ties, with your pedal just inches from taking you and everyone behind you down. Soon enough we were back on same real trails again. I rode by the first Feed station around mile 10 since I had my Nathan pack with about 40oz of water. I was adding Gu Brew electrolyte tablets (lemon lime) to my water to hopefully keep the cramps at bay. At about 12 miles we rode into the base of Crotched Mt Ski area. It was a bit intimidating considering I thought we were going to the top. Thankfully after a brief climb we circled back down a fairly steep slope, crossed the parking lot and headed back into the woods. I heard one of the guys near the front crashed hard on this hill (I was told he broke his back, yikes). As of today, he was still in the hospital. Around mile 16 we came into Feed station #2 (which was well stocked). I stopped and filled my pack, had 1/2 a banana and a handful of chips and was off in maybe 2-3 minutes.<br />
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In a few minutes (after a screaming tar downhill ride) we jumped on probably the worst section of the entire course (IMHO): 5 miles of flat, straight rail trail. It just wasn't any fun, especially the 3 miles of soft sand in the middle section. Oh, but the fun stuff was just around the corner! Shortly after the rail trail, we turned onto a dirt, loose gravel road that appeared to go straight up (Hedgehog Mt). Steep doesn't do it justice. I rode as much as I could without hurting and then <i>decided </i>to walk. I heard the average grade was &gt;14%, with sections approaching 25%. I figured it was a good time to call home and give an update. About 1/2 was up I saw Emily Trespas hiking down. I think we were both surprised to see each other out there! Andy was already more than 5 minutes ahead.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hedgehog Hill - photo credit Emily Trespas</td></tr>
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22 miles in about 2hrs and I guessed the <i>easy </i>part was done. I was feeling pretty good (as I continued to ride well within my limits) and was drinking plenty. I wasn't eating much though and that would be a problem.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Power Line Trail - photo credit David Alden St Pierre</td></tr>
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I saw the fiddler around mile 23, just before the power line trail. I'm pretty sure the entire field walked sections of this trail. Incredibly steep, wet and muddy and that doesn't even include the total exposure to the sun. Needless to say, it was a tough grind up the power lines. From the top it was mostly downhill all the way to Feed Station #3 at approximately mile 25. Again, I refilled my bladder, had a 1/2 a banana, some Coke and some chips. It was one of two drop stations (stations where you could have bags sent in advance with whatever you wanted). I just put a spare tube (in case I flatted early) and a spare pair of socks in case I got wet in my bag. I never even looked for it since it wasn't needed. I was tiring of the Lemon-Lime flavored water and grabbed a coconut water as I left the aid station. The trail immediately climbed again (what a shock). A long slow, steep (but rideable) climb up a dirt road before cutting across some fields at the top and eventually heading back down the trails. The next 15 miles were mostly a blur, good solid riding, more climbing and definitely hot. If I remember, it was also pretty slow, I'm guessing because the course was getting a bit more technical. I was still drinking plenty of GU Brew though and generally felt good.<br />
<br />
I arrived at the Feed Station #4 (~40 miles) around 4hrs and 30 minutes. I finally caught up with Andy too. I had another banana, a candy bar, more Coke and refilled my bladder...again. I also called home once again with another update. The next 10 miles went by so slow. The riding was hard, lots of technical single track, lots of climbing. I'm sure the single track would have been more fun if I hadn't been riding for nearly 5hrs already. All in all I was doing well. No pains, no cramps, butt didn't hurt, nothing. Feed Station #5 (and the second bag drop) was around mile 50. I grabbed a couple of Honey Stingers out of my bag, refilled my water (and added a couple of Gu Brew tablets), had some Ginger Ale, M&amp;M's and a couple of Figs. Generally I only stayed at the feed stations long enough to fill my bladder (2-3 minutes). I think I caught up with Andy again and would trade places with him over the next 10 miles. The next 7-8 miles to Feed Station #5 (~ mile 57) were some of the hardest and slowest. More climbing, more single track, more climbing and more climbing. I'm so thankful I didn't go out hard in the first 20 miles. I was beginning to walk more of the hills but even that was hard. It ain't easy pushing a 30lb bike up a hill either you know!. For a while thought I could break 8hrs but this course just gets harder and harder (and slower and slower). I think I may have called home one more time but honestly I don't remember. I do remember I was tired of drinking Lemon Lime flavored water. I also remember my nutritional choices weren't the best. I KNOW I didn't eat enough. I'll have to work on that next time. I also need to mix up the fluids (maybe carry a bottle of Coke). In any case, at some point I switched to just water in my bladder (no GU Brew mix). I think this helped a bit.<br />
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Somewhere in the mile 50's the thunderstorms came in. It got very dark in the woods and then it poured. It would pour all the way to the finish. I think I passed Andy around mile 60 for the last time. For 60 miles I've been out for a ride generally (never considered it racing). However, once I passed Andy and a couple of other riders around mile 60, my demeanor changed. Finally, I felt like I was racing. I picked up the pace, rode hard and generally felt like I was racing for the first time all day. At this point, I was more concerned with not getting passed in the last few miles as opposed to beating anyone in particular. The last 5 miles were mostly smooth flowing single track but the combination of pouring rain and 8+hrs of riding made it not so much fun.<br />
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After a very long day, I finally crossed the road by Greenfield State Park and was on the track around the field for the finish. 8hrs 26minutes of riding and I was done. That wasn't so hard (ok, maybe a little hard).<br />
Andy finished just a few minutes back in 8:31 I think. We both did well in our group, finishing 3rd and 4th in the Novice Veterans II category. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">So happy to be done!</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Novice Vet II Podium</td></tr>
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Although I was tired and hungry, I wasn't really sore and I never cramped up. Of course, it helps not riding hard for most of the day. I'm pretty sure I'd do this race again. I learned a lot (I think) and I'm pretty sure I would ride it a bit differently (faster) next time. If I can figure out a better nutrition plan I'm also confident I could ride under 8hrs as well (assuming similar conditions). If it rains, all bets are off.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7835864482386356354.post-223089097180615142011-08-19T13:00:00.000-04:002011-08-20T07:19:49.352-04:0024 Hours of Great Glen - 2011 VersionI am so thankful I got involved with this race 3 years ago. It is by far the event I <i>most </i>look forward to each year, and that's saying a lot considering I'm more of a runner than a rider. This is as close as it gets to being relaxed and stress-free in a 24hr race (if that's even possible). Most of that is due to my incredible friends and teammates who joined me for 3 days of camping and racing at the base of Mt Washington. Of course it also helps to have near perfect weather once again!<br />
I have to admit, acidotic RACING is pretty close to a well oiled machine when it comes to preparing for this event. From our reserved primo campsite, dedicated camp cook and sponsors galore, we generally have our act together. Everyone is supportive, everyone contributes something to the experience and everyone has fun, no matter how much experience you have riding. With three 4-person teams entered, there were always acidotic riders somewhere on the course and our presence was clearly visible to all.<br />
So if you've never done this race, pencil it in for next year and I promise you won't be disappointed. Ok, I'll step down off my soapbox and put down the acidotic RACING flag for a while.<br />
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I'll start off by saying the only negative thing that I can think of all weekend was my <u>total </u>lack of sleep. When I say total, I mean from Friday when I woke up until Sunday night when I went to bed, I probably slept less than 2hrs (and I think even that is a stretch). Fortunately (I guess), I'm used to very little sleep (4-5hrs per night is typical). Yes, I was tired even before the race began but all things considered, it went pretty well.<br />
<br />
My teammates on aR-GOLD were Steve Sprague, Brayden Dunn and Jay Dunn. I was the 4th rider my 1st year, 3rd rider last year so it was only natural I take up the 2nd position this year. (I guess next year I'll ride lead-off?). Of course riding early also increases your chances of riding additional laps (which was ok with me). On paper going into this race, I thought we could squeeze out 26 laps (meaning everyone would ride 6 lap and Jay and I would ride 7). <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">acidotic GOLD (Steve S, me, Brayden, Jay D)</td></tr>
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In the past I've raced the first lap pretty hard (my standards). My goal this year was to ride hard but leave some in the tank. I'd rather have 7 fairly consistent laps than one fast and every subsequent lap slower and slower. I was pleased to be able to ride the entire 8.3 mile lap (with nearly 1,100ft of climbing each lap). No hike-a-bike this year if I could help it. A couple of changes to the course made it a little easier to ride (Blueberry Hill up to the Honeymoon Cabin, Whiplash and the final single track leading to the "plunge"). The key being 'easier to ride', but not necessarily 'easier'. These were hike-a-bike sections for me in the past. I rode Whiplash every lap but it was a slow, rough ride (aka organ grinder). Same with the last single track section. I rode the new switchback section nearly every lap but it was a lot of climbing on tight switchback turns. The rest of the course was in great (albeit dusty) shape with no mud to speak of (until the last lap.....more on that later).<br />
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My first lap was <b>51:23</b>, which turned out to be faster than any lap I've raced in the last 3 years. I was perfectly happy with it until I realized it was the 10th <i>slowest </i>opening lap of our 3 teams! Yikes! These guys are serious!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Exiting the 'plunge'</td></tr>
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My second lap was <b>51:53</b>, with consistency paying off so far and I continued to ride 100% of the course. My next two laps would be the beginning of the night laps. I chose to do my double night laps early because honestly, I was exhausted from a total lack of sleep. I just wanted the chance to lie down and hopefully get some sleep (or at least rest). So for the next 2hrs (and 16.6 miles) I rode in the dark. My first lap was a respectable <b>59:00</b> and the second just a tad slower at <b>1:01:44</b>. I continued to ride 99% of the course, only getting off my bike a couple of times for some short sections.<br />
When I got back to the campsite, I decided to see if I could rest in my truck (as opposed to the camper). The camper was 'base camp' and saw a lot of action, being near the food and fire pit, and was where most folks hung out between laps. I really needed some peace and quiet so I thought the truck would be a good choice. Turns out, not so much. For starters, even my small frame couldn't fit in the backseat. The awkward fetal position turned out to be incredibly painful when both my hamstrings (at the same time) cramped up. As I struggled out of my truck and wobbled around the campground clutching both hamstrings I could only imagine what the other campers were thinking when they saw me. This painful hamstring dance repeated itself for the next 1/2hr or so and there was nothing I could do to stop it. When they finally settled down, I climbed back in the truck to lie down. Unfortunately, now my hamstrings <i>and </i>calves were twitching almost nonstop. I laid there for the next couple of hours waiting for something to cramp up. Thankfully it never happened. At 2am Brayden knocked on the window. I was on deck for my next ride so I got up and got ready. Having just gone through hours of painful cramping, I had <i>no </i>idea how I was going to ride another lap....at night no less.<br />
So at 4am sharp, I headed out on my 5th lap and 3rd night lap. Surprisingly I felt good. Really good. I was riding everything. Blueberry Hill, Whiplash, 'Jeep road', the final single track and even the plunge (which is tough at night). In fact, I rode 100% of the course and finished in a time of <b>53:49</b>! Heck, I was so fast, Steve S wasn't even ready! Only Austin and David had faster night laps.<br />
The 'race' between aR-BLACK and aR-GOLD was fairly close near the end but we couldn't keep the gap closed. I finished my 6th lap in <b>51:30</b>, my 2nd fastest lap of the day. Although tired, I was feeling surprisingly well. Not sore at all. Just tired.<br />
For 25 laps we had great weather. All that changed on the last lap. Just prior to me going out for my 7th lap the skies opened up. It poured. Since it was my last lap and Austin had a 9 minute lead and it was raining and I was tired, I decided I wasn't going to kill myself on the last lap. Enjoy it as much as possible, ride as much as I could and don't get hurt. The rain made the course <i>considerably </i>harder. The roots and rocks were slick as ice, the trails turned greasy and the 'plunge' turned into a muddy slip and slide. Thankfully I managed to get around without injury (only wet and muddy) and finished up in <b>58:38</b>. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPMf-vt5xi3PqK04Z7Xv69jivZ39kERbtzJosfDeGUav7-uPX3bRDQuygsEyIlSo2LFOZdaPy7oGhMeZVc0IJVPD2H6qOs7nJpMSC62WE9eiorrdFDaBHJ2KC_QZx9-XdG3sWuMFNDoLA/s1600/steve4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPMf-vt5xi3PqK04Z7Xv69jivZ39kERbtzJosfDeGUav7-uPX3bRDQuygsEyIlSo2LFOZdaPy7oGhMeZVc0IJVPD2H6qOs7nJpMSC62WE9eiorrdFDaBHJ2KC_QZx9-XdG3sWuMFNDoLA/s320/steve4.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me and Austin waiting for the boys on the 6th lap</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In the end team aR-BLACK finished in 34th overall and aR-GOLD a few minutes back in 35th overall (out of 180+ teams). Awesome weekend!!<br />
<br />
Here's a few <a href="http://81311/">pics</a>, mostly from the start that I took.<br />
Here's some more <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gianinal/sets/72157627314120893/">pics </a>from Gianina.<br />
And here's some <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150257470168148.325993.81296773147&type=1">pics </a>from Great Glen.<br />
<br />
Next up: Hampshire 100 this weekend, a 100k single loop mountain bike race. Yeeha!<br />
<br />
photo credits - Gianina Lindsey<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7835864482386356354.post-62543178312157974872011-08-16T15:45:00.000-04:002011-08-16T15:45:00.399-04:00Let there be Light!I had a small glimmer of hope today regarding my <i>running</i>. Ok, technically I haven't run since early June (probably some sort of new injury record but I don't keep stats like DD). In the past week I've been to two doctors; a sports medicine doctor and a physiatrist regarding my side pain while running. Technically it hurts <i>more </i>while running but the pain has been in my side (between the top of the iliac crest to the bottom of my 12th rib) nonstop for over 2 months. So much for rest healing all aches and pains.<br />
<br />
The physiatrist was excellent. She was very patient and described in detail the area that's been hurting. She suspects some sort of bursitis with one of the gluteus muscles (medius I think?). I got a cortizone shot in my side and will wait a week before attempting to run.<br />
<br />
She also commented that the distance between my bottom rib and the iliac crest is very small (ie they are very close together). This could be aggravating the muscles in my side. Weak ab muscles would lead to a more hunched over running posture which would lead to my rib and iliac crest being even closer. Apparently my 12 pack abs weren't very impressive. So, work on the abs and run with a more upright 'taller' posture. Got it.<br />
<br />
I'm far from cured but for the time being I have some hope. Now, back to the bike!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7835864482386356354.post-35560680543767797002011-07-11T15:32:00.005-04:002011-07-18T13:17:15.732-04:00Running (not) and Biking<b>Quick running update:</b> In the last 28 days I've run exactly 3 miles, and that was a failed attempt during a track workout. 18 Consecutive zero's since then (a new record no doubt).I still have pain in my left hip so I'm afraid <i>any</i> run will produce another setback....so I wait. So far, I've waited patiently. However, I am aware of some key running events on the not so distant horizon (primarily Reach the Beach and the Pinnacle Challenge). My patience is running thin.<br />
<br />
On a positive note, I've been able to spend a lot of time on the bike (road and mountain). I can't wait to put all this riding to some good use. Only 5 weeks until <a href="http://24hoursofgreatglen.com/">24 Hours of Great Glen</a>! My guess is my cycling miles will eclipse my running miles for the year sometime later this week. I've been able to increase my bike mileage each week for the last 5 weeks, topping out at 142 miles last week. Not bad for 5 days riding!<br />
<br />
Yesterday I decided to get some extra miles on the mountain bike since I have a <a href="http://www.hampshire100.com/">100k </a>(62 mile) mountain bike race coming up the week after 24 HOGG. 47 miles on the mountain bike was by far my most ever.<br />
<br />
<br />
Finally, I like to work on my own bikes and I'm not afraid to take them apart and most times I even manage to put them back together. Well, I finally met my match. <b> </b><br />
<br />
<b>Consider this a public service announcement</b>. Don't take a part the shifters. I have two road bikes, a 1996 Cannondale R800 and a 2006 Guru Cron Alu (tri bike). Recently my STI shifers (dual control index shifting & brakes) on my Cannondale stopped working, first the left shifter (which I fixed) and then the right shifter. I did some research online (which is hard to come by for 15 year old shifters). I carefully took it apart. Then I gave up. Wow is this thing complicated!<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9MgPu4H7EAeVKCn4gB1f-qP_CNEofvaZyZnEiBxvt7kDIZ7nvCCbjr0w7OZquRJHeraVFESYOJMTHRVK5FbXj4TEo5W94qCvT31uvkPs-tRXstkeKbSxFg8jmjoGJPR3QEhUveEyOF_g/s1600/shifter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9MgPu4H7EAeVKCn4gB1f-qP_CNEofvaZyZnEiBxvt7kDIZ7nvCCbjr0w7OZquRJHeraVFESYOJMTHRVK5FbXj4TEo5W94qCvT31uvkPs-tRXstkeKbSxFg8jmjoGJPR3QEhUveEyOF_g/s320/shifter.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Inside a Shimano STI Shifter</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Thankfully I found a guy online who rebuilds these. Really? Whatever floats your boat I guess. Hopefully I'll have it back in a few days. In the meantime I ride the Guru which <i>really </i>wants to go fast, even when I don't.<br />
<br />
UPDATE (7/18) - I got my Shimano STI shifter back this weekend - fixed, greased and fully assembled. Installed with 2 new cables yesterday. Works like new and worth the $30 (plus shipping). Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7835864482386356354.post-32804892498367527262011-06-29T11:30:00.000-04:002011-06-29T11:30:01.765-04:00Top 10 Reasons Not to Run Mt Washington<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 649px;"><colgroup><col style="width: 48pt;" width="64"></col> <col style="mso-width-alt: 20792; mso-width-source: userset; width: 439pt;" width="585"></col> </colgroup><tbody>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt; width: 48pt;" width="64">10</td> <td style="width: 439pt;" width="585">The lottery is fixed. To me a lottery implies an equal chance for all. I'm not convinced.</td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">9</td> <td>Running back down shouldn't be faster than driving down.</td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">8</td> <td>The weather can be brutal (see horizontal rain, 50mph winds).</td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">7</td> <td>One year they actually had purple shirts. Really? Sorry, not a good color for race shirts.</td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">6</td> <td>Too many people are OBSESSED with this race. You know who you are.</td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">5</td> <td>If you don't finish in the top 20 nobody cares.</td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">4</td> <td>I don’t care about the endless stats, streaks & records. (see #5)</td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">3</td> <td>$80 entry fee. Enough said.</td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">2</td> <td>Walking shouldn't be as fast (or faster) than running.</td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">1</td> <td>There's only one hill.</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td> </tr>
</tbody></table>
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With that being said, If you're a runner in New England, I'd still recommend you do this race....once.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7835864482386356354.post-47709940944596493692011-06-23T13:05:00.001-04:002011-06-23T16:41:41.646-04:00Crash and BurnAfter 8 days of no running I finally decided to give it a go. Looking back it was a really dumb decision (really?). For some reason I thought doing a 12 x 400 track workout at 5k pace in the pouring rain was a good way to ease back into running.<br />
Two more decisions hopefully limited the damage - 1) I dropped back and decided to run with the cool kids in group 2 and 2) I quit after running 8 repeats. Unfortunately it was probably 8 too many. Too many left turns which didn't help my left side pain.<br />
A <i>major </i>setback indeed. I can't even walk without pain and I can barely make it up stairs. I'll be changing my blog name to <b>HAV2BIKE </b>shortly.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7835864482386356354.post-26708961044009992852011-06-21T14:34:00.000-04:002011-06-21T14:34:11.099-04:00ZilchZip, zero, nada. That's how many miles I've run in the last 7 days. Surprisingly I'm ok with it (so far). I had a familiar pain during my last run (which happened to be a 5k trail race). The last time I had a similar pain I didn't run for 5-6 weeks so I decided <b>rest </b>was <b>best</b>.<br />
My self diagnosis, by the way, was some sort of QL (quadratus lumborum) strain. Kind of like a lower back strain...but it's not. A little deeper and off to the side.<br />
On a more positive note, I got a TON of mountain biking in over the last week. Woohoo! Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7835864482386356354.post-19534019989536728592011-06-16T11:30:00.001-04:002011-06-16T11:30:02.112-04:00Bike TalkLast year I added a 2010 Trek ex8 full suspension mountain bike to my collection and have been loving it ever since. I consider mountain biking the 'trail running' equivalent for cycling, and for the <u>exact </u>same reasons. I don't care about pace or mileage and I barely consider it 'training'. It's just plain fun!<br />
<br />
The one thing I have learned is mountain biking requires you to know and learn a lot more about bike maintenance. These bikes are ridden hard and take a beating (plus I tend to fall off on occasion). Sometimes I learn by trial and error, but mostly I learn by the internet :-)<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhECkkU-NVnaXGZqZ3KkDMXXgcicKSlaF-2Vy2LIk_jSVLMIRXaUF5p1R9_khKZQ3hSh-82bfud9JRHTeeq7RkZL9L0Af-pjeTqUeOHLd6tiot4OB49fMa6zWpJU2MBDCtWq0Ea8t0GDo/s1600/product.image.%252Bmedia%252Bimages%252Bcycling%252Bproducts%252Bbikecomponents%252BFC%252BFC-M770_600x450_v1_m56577569830636938_dot_jpg.bm.512.384.gif.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhECkkU-NVnaXGZqZ3KkDMXXgcicKSlaF-2Vy2LIk_jSVLMIRXaUF5p1R9_khKZQ3hSh-82bfud9JRHTeeq7RkZL9L0Af-pjeTqUeOHLd6tiot4OB49fMa6zWpJU2MBDCtWq0Ea8t0GDo/s200/product.image.%252Bmedia%252Bimages%252Bcycling%252Bproducts%252Bbikecomponents%252BFC%252BFC-M770_600x450_v1_m56577569830636938_dot_jpg.bm.512.384.gif.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Deore XT Crankset</td></tr>
</tbody></table>As my collection of bike-specific tools continues to increase so does my confidence in maintaining, repairing and upgrading my own bike. Yesterday I finished upgrading my birthday present: a Deore XT crankset and Deore XT 11-34 cassette. Not only are they spanky, but with a 22t chainring up front and a 34t in the back, I can just about climb vertical walls now! The only negative (sort of) was after I installed the rear cassette I noticed a little play in the rear axle/freewheel. After trying the trial and error method the first day (and failing), I went back last night armed with knowledge from the internet and rebuilt my rear hub. Good as new! Bike shop is now open for business.<br />
I think my next upgrade may be converting to tubeless tires.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjRE93-xalyx24UyfQ6CbDJIrwi_qgI6Ul-ayyP_kDAwZEehWLd_JAVKdVQT9QUQ61pLHzmyHfZyKoAU1I932b1d915PKeTfS6aZVukoNk-oMru_xFic7JZU8GT6amwSFFUwap_Gi3mUM/s1600/IMG_3662.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjRE93-xalyx24UyfQ6CbDJIrwi_qgI6Ul-ayyP_kDAwZEehWLd_JAVKdVQT9QUQ61pLHzmyHfZyKoAU1I932b1d915PKeTfS6aZVukoNk-oMru_xFic7JZU8GT6amwSFFUwap_Gi3mUM/s400/IMG_3662.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New bling</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</tbody></table>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7835864482386356354.post-10614540650717135082011-06-12T09:57:00.000-04:002011-06-12T09:57:21.233-04:002011 Bow Lake Dam 15kFor the 3rd year in a row I decided to run the Bow Lake Dam 15k (<a href="http://www.coolrunning.com/results/11/nh/Jun11_BowLak_set4.shtml">results</a>) in Stafford,NH. I think the course is turning into one of my favorite road courses - scenic and challenging. As a bonus this year the weather was just about perfect for running: 60, with a light rain throughout the race. It never rained hard enough to get your singlet or shoes wet, at least during the race. Of course it poured right after finishing, making the post race food and awards less than pleasant. Other than that, a great day.<br />
<br />
A handful of familiar faces at the start, including a 1/2 dozen folks from the <a href="http://www.srr.org/">Somerville Road Runners</a>. Their yellow singlets would come in handy during the race. My splits have been a little schizophrenic over the first 5 miles in the past so I was hoping to run a bit more steady this year early on. At the gun a very large group decided to go out pretty fast. I did not get sucked in ran my own race and patiently waited to reel them back in. At the 2 mile mark I was probably 10th o/a and by mile 4 I had probably slipped as low as 14th o/a. No worries....yet. I could see quite a few runners in front of me and most were either holding steady or slowly coming back to me. Around mile 5 I finally began passing runners for the first time all day. The stretch from mile 5 to 7 includes a brutally steep climb for nearly a mile followed by a gradual climb for another 1/2 mile. I ran this section HARD, passing another 4-5 runners on the climb. By mile 7 I was in 6th o/a, trailing a couple of SSR runners. I caught the first one around 7.5 and about a mile later caught the 2nd SSR runner. I continued to pick up the pace all the way to the finish (I did not want to get passed in the last 1/2 mile!!). After dodging a few 5k runners from an earlier race, I crossed the line 4th o/a in 59:10, a 35 second PR.<br />
Next year I might even put this race on my calendar!<br />
<br />
Splits from the last 3 years:<br />
<br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 256px;"><colgroup><col span="4" style="width: 48pt;" width="64"></col> </colgroup><tbody>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"> <td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt; text-align: center; width: 48pt;" width="64"><b>Mile</b></td> <td style="text-align: center; width: 48pt;" width="64"><b>2009</b></td> <td style="text-align: center; width: 48pt;" width="64"><b>2010</b></td> <td style="text-align: center; width: 48pt;" width="64"><b>2011</b></td> </tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"> <td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt; text-align: center;"><b>1</b></td> <td class="xl25" style="text-align: center;">6:24</td> <td class="xl25" style="text-align: center;">6:19</td> <td class="xl25" style="text-align: center;">6:23</td> </tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"> <td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt; text-align: center;"><b>2</b></td> <td class="xl25" style="text-align: center;">6:17</td> <td class="xl25" style="text-align: center;">6:11</td> <td class="xl25" style="text-align: center;">6:22</td> </tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"> <td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt; text-align: center;"><b>3</b></td> <td class="xl25" style="text-align: center;">6:29</td> <td class="xl25" style="text-align: center;">6:27</td> <td class="xl25" style="text-align: center;">6:21</td> </tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"> <td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt; text-align: center;"><b>4</b></td> <td class="xl25" style="text-align: center;">6:41</td> <td class="xl25" style="text-align: center;">6:36</td> <td class="xl25" style="text-align: center;">6:23</td> </tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"> <td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt; text-align: center;"><b>5</b></td> <td class="xl25" style="text-align: center;">6:33</td> <td class="xl25" style="text-align: center;">6:24</td> <td class="xl25" style="text-align: center;">6:20</td> </tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"> <td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt; text-align: center;"><b>6</b></td> <td class="xl25" style="text-align: center;">7:58</td> <td class="xl25" style="text-align: center;">7:31</td> <td class="xl25" style="text-align: center;">7:17</td> </tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"> <td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt; text-align: center;"><b>7</b></td> <td class="xl25" style="text-align: center;">6:50</td> <td class="xl25" style="text-align: center;">6:36</td> <td class="xl25" style="text-align: center;">6:35</td> </tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"> <td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt; text-align: center;"><b>8</b></td> <td class="xl25" style="text-align: center;">6:29</td> <td class="xl25" style="text-align: center;">6:07</td> <td class="xl25" style="text-align: center;">5:52</td> </tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"> <td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt; text-align: center;"><b>9</b></td> <td class="xl25" style="text-align: center;">6:07</td> <td class="xl25" style="text-align: center;">5:49</td> <td class="xl25" style="text-align: center;">5:46</td> </tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"> <td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt; text-align: center;"><b>0.3</b></td> <td class="xl25" style="text-align: center;">1:53</td> <td class="xl25" style="text-align: center;">1:45</td> <td class="xl25" style="text-align: center;">1:51</td> </tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"> <td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt; text-align: center;"><b>Finish</b></td> <td class="xl24" style="text-align: center;"><b>1:01:41</b></td> <td class="xl26" style="text-align: center;"><b>59:45</b></td> <td class="xl26" style="text-align: center;"><b>59:10</b></td> </tr>
</tbody></table>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1