Next up for the GSSS: Cobble Mt Snowshoe Classic

The second race of the Granite State Snowshoe Series takes place on Saturday (Jan 31) in Gilford, NH. To steal a phrase from the Boston Prep 16-miler, this 'moderately challenging' course has something for everybody: perfectly groomed Nordic trails, freshly cut bushwhack trails, single track snowshoe trails, fast descents and quad burning climbs. My guess is you'll be cursing Chris Dunn and acidotic RACING during the race and thanking him afterwords. It's that kind of course.
Now if you're part of the acidotic RACING team, read on. If you're part of the Dungeon Rock Racing team you can leave now :-)

Course Highlights:

• The course is slightly longer than last year, probably closer to 6k.
• The course climbs steadily over the first 2k, with a decent climb right at 2k before turning left for the first of three new bushwhack snowshoe trails.
• I'd guess 2/3 of the course is on groomed Nordic trails and 1/3 on single track snowshoe or bushwhack trails.
• For those of you who raced at Pooh Hill, you'd be interested to know that the climb up Cobble Mt is harder (in my humble opinion). It's about 350 ft of climbing in about 1/2 mile. You'll have plenty of time to admire the view off to your right on the way up. As you past by the big boulder at the summit you'll get a nice view of Gunstock off to your left.
• If you raced Cobble last year you probably remember the icy, straight line descent off the summit. This year the descent takes a right after you cross over the stone wall near the summit and then bushwhacks its way back down to the beautiful Nordic trails below(eventually).
• The last 1-2k is pretty close to last years course and is 'mostly' downhill and FAST, assuming you have any gas left in the tank.
• You will hit one little hiccup right before you exit the woods and race to the wide open, groomed finish area.
• My GPS recorded 1300ft of elevation gain. That's a lot of climbing. For the record, the same GPS recorded about 500ft of elevation gain at the Pooh Hill course.

If you're heading up for the first time the race starts across the street from the Nordic Center (which will be on your right) on the access road to the Gunstock Moutain Resort. Registration takes place in the small Nordic hut on your left, equipped with a wood stove.

I'd recommend members of DDR should 'celebrate' the forming of their new team by indulging in a few adult beverages on Friday night. I read on the internet that drinking alcohol before a race will improve your performance, and if it's on the internet it must be true!

Week in Review

Listing my workouts for the week probably isn't the most fascinating post so I'll try to offer something fresh to keep you awake (unless of course you read this to fall asleep, in which case I'm sorry).

I finally got my weekly mileage up over 40 (44 to be exact) for the first time since early November. It sure 'seems' like I've been running more and that probably has to do with the fact I track my snowshoe mileage separately. So in addition to the road mileage I also had 12 miles snowshoe running. Interestingly (or not), nearly all of my mileage during the week was done at night (snowshoe and roads). I don't do treadmills and I don't like to run at lunch. I like to eat at lunch.

I managed a 14 mile long run on Sunday right in the middle of the snowstorm. It actually wasn't a bad time to run since not a lot of cars were on the roads. Heck, in some towns (like Amherst), not even the plows were out.

We're in week 5 of a 12wk indoor track schedule and the workouts are getting a tad harder these last couple of weeks. This past week we did 3 sets of 200,200,400,400,600 with 1/2 recovery at slightly faster than 5k pace. In my case I probably ran 'slightly faster' than slightly faster than 5k pace, running consistently around 5:15 pace for all repeats. No wonder why I was tired. The Hampshire Dome is a great indoor track (and feels fast with the slightly banked corners) but I have a hard time pacing myself. My guess is it's because we're doing multiples designed for a 400m track and this track is just over 320m (I think) so our start and stop locations always move.

Finally, I had initially planned to do the Beaver Brook 5k Snowshoe race on Saturday but decided to help Chris Dunn layout the new Cobble Mountain Snowshoe course at Gunstock instead. Actually it was Chris, his Dad and Sarah Silverberg. Cobble Mt was my first snowshoe race ever last year. It was an awesome course so I was a little intrigued on what Chris had in mind for this year. Well I'm not going to give away too much (I'll take any advantage I can get) but I will tell you this:
- The course is slightly longer than last year, probably closer to 6k.

- The course climbs steadily over the first 2k, with a decent climb right at 2k before turning left for the first of three new bushwhack snowshoe trails.

- I'd guess 2/3 of the course is on groomed Nordic trails and 1/3 on single track snowshoe trails.

- For those of you who raced at Pooh Hill, you'd be interested to know that the climb up Cobble Mt is harder (in my humble opinion). It's about 350 ft of climbing in about 1/2 mile.

- The 2nd and 3rd of the new bushwhack snowshoe trails are off the summit of Cobble Mt. If you raced Cobble last year you probably remember the icy, straight line descent off the summit. This year the descent is totally different but should be similar to the descent off of Pooh Hill if you know what I mean.

- The last 1-2k is pretty close to last years course and is 'mostly' downhill.

- My GPS recorded 1300ft of elevation gain. That's a lot of climbing. For the record, the same GPS recorded about 500ft of elevation gain at Pooh Hill.

Up next for me will be the 'moderately challenging' Boston Prep 16-miler on Sunday and then the Cobble Mountain Snowshoe Race on January 31st.

NOTE: picture is around the 3k mark on the new Cobble Mt Snowshoe course, looking directly at Cobble Mountain. Yes, we need to climb to the top!