Muddy Moose - Trail Racing has Begun!

I'll be honest. I didn't see that coming.
I went into yesterday's 14m trail race (results) in Wolfeboro,NH a wee bit nervous. I ran just under 100 miles total 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.
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!

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 Chris Dunn 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 Mike Wade and waited for the start.

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 no long runs under my belt was always 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 Ian Parlin (TMR) nearly ran me over trying to get by me. He was gone in a flash.

photo credit - Josh Spaulding

 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 aR 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.

The lead runner (Kevin Tilton) 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.
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.

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.

me and Ian after the race

 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.

Time to Get Serious!

Time's up. I don't do serious.

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.
 RACING
The most recent was the Peanut Butter Chip Chase 5k 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.
TRACK
Yesterday was the first day of indoor track practice at the Hampshire Dome. 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.
2011 REVIEW
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.
2012 PREVIEW
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 indoor half marathon (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.
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 almost to the point of writing this season off all together, even if it does snow....eventually.

Moose on the Loose 10 Miler

Yesterday I headed down to familiar stomping grounds for the Moose on the Loose 10 Mile 'trail' Race in Mine Falls Park. This was the 5th race of the New Hampshire Grand Prix series and our club really needed a boost to get back into the series lead. It is essentially the home turf of the Gate City Striders and the members did not disappoint with 50+ strong toeing the line. GCS took a 188-128 victory over the Greater Derry Track Club and now leads the series by 50 points!

Listed as a trail race (and relay), and technically it does run on trails, the race more closely resembles a road race. It is fast and flat and not technical at all. Fast guys win. Period. In fact, it was so not a trail race that I wore my racing flats. Not a complaint, just a fact. It was also one of the bigger Mine Falls races I've ever seen, with something like 388 runners (10 milers and relay runners) taking part. The course was a 2.5 mile loop (x4), with just over 1/2 in the shade with the last mile somewhat exposed along the canal.

Weather once again played a big factor in this race, with temps at or near 90 degrees. It was just plain hot. Thankfully there were TWO water stops on the 2.5 mile loop and I took advantage of each one, taking a small sip and dumping the rest on my head. I had no goal for this race and would run on feel alone (and I felt awful most of the time!). For the first time in a very long time I honestly had no idea what pace I was running and just focused on a comfortably hard effort instead. For the first couple of laps I ran with Mike Wright and maybe 30 yds behind Cathy Merra and 50 yds behind Tim Burke. Mike eventually dropped back but Cathy and Tim held their positions for most of the race. On the 3rd lap I finally noticed I was gaining a bit so they became my targets, I mean goal, for the 4th lap. I finally caught Cathy somewhere in the 1st mile of the last lap and now focused on Tim, catching him just after the high school bridge in the last mile of the race. I made sure to go by with as much authority as I could muster since I didn't want a sprint to the finish. I was hoping I could go by fast enough that he wouldn't try to hang on. Thankfully it worked...this time. I definitely worked hard on the last lap, clocking my fastest lap of the day and finishing 15th overall in 1:05:24. Complete results can be found here along with some pics taken by Ethan Platt.
(photo credit - Ethan Platt)

Lap Splits for the day:
lap 1 (2.5 mile) 16:07
lap 2 (2.5 mile) 16:30
lap 3 (2.5 mile) 16:48 ouch!
lap 4 (2.5 mile) 15:59

Ultimate Runner Night

Last night was Ultimate Runner Night (results) at track, a GCS only event that is both competitive and fun. Ultimate Runner is a multiple event competition which includes the 400m, 800m, 1 mile and finally a 5k trail race. Ah you say, the fast guy wins, end of competition. How is that fun for the rest of us? Well not so fast. On this night we used age-graded timing which is a way of leveling the playing field regardless of age or sex. Runners would be ranked based on their age-graded times for each event and the runner with the highest rank after 4 events would be named the Ultimate Runner.

Although most of us train at these distances regularly, not many of us actually race at these shorter distances. Trying to figure out how fast to run each event without blowing up in the next was a popular topic all night. When you add in the mystery of age-graded timing, all of a sudden how old you were was important again. The problem was I never really knew how close I had to be to the young guns or how far in front (if possible) I had to be to our senior runners, hence the mystery. That was the fun part.

The events:

400m
Due to the record number of participants this year, the 400m was run in 3 heats and I was in the last heat. My heat had a bunch of familar faces so I had an idea where I should fit in, theoretically. I quickly tucked in behind Mark Wimmer and decided to just pace off of him, finishing one second back in 67 seconds. Oooh, this would be a long day. One event down and my hammies were screaming already.

After one event my age-graded time (60 sec) placed my 4th overall. Hmm, not bad.

800m
This time we had 2 heats and once again I ran in the last heat. Same cast of characters though. Half way thru the 800 I could already feel the effects of the previous 400 event and slowed more than I had hoped and couldn't stay with the group in front of me, finishing in 2:31.

My new best friend age-graded timing mercifully adjusted my time to 2:16, 7th overall. This was not a good run. The 800m is my favorite track distance (in training, not racing) and I felt I should have done better. On to the next event!

(photo credit: Rich Blake)

1 Mile
The mile would be a mass start of all participants. This was easily my least favorite distance of the night. I'm a distance man (aka slow and easy!). My mistake on this one was going into the race without a plan. I had no idea what pace I was going to run, had no idea what splits I should check for, nothing. I was all over the board on splits, well not really all over, more like a steady decline as in crash and burn. Did I mention I hated this distance? Finished in 5:35, should have been closer to 5:20 in my little mind.

I placed 7th overall with an age-graded time of 5:05.

5k Trail
Finally, the last event. Going into the 5k I believe I was in 5th overall (combined events) but the top 5 were all pretty close in rankings, or at least that's what Steve Moland had us believe :-)
The 5k was a nearly pancake flat course in Mine Falls along the canal, finishing with one lap on the track. I was actually a little surprised that it didn't suck as much as I thought it would. I had some problems with footing (still had my racing flats on) on the trails but felt reasonably strong considering we'd already raced 3 events prior. My splits were ok as well (for me anyways):
mile 1 5:57
mile 2 6:18
mile 3 6:11
finishing in 19:05.

(photo credit: Dave Delay)

For the 5k my age-graded time was 17:44 placing me 5th overall in this event.

Ultimate Runner
So who was named the Ultimate Runner for 2009? Congrat's to Tim Burke with his come from behind win!

The top 5 runners were:
(Name, age, age-graded %)

1. Tim Burke 46 74.41%
2. Dan Moriarity 40 74.32%
3. John Lewicke 61 73.87%
4. Mark Wimmer 38 73.15%
5. Steve Wolfe 45 73.06%

Note on what the percentages actually mean:

These percentages can be interpreted as follows:
100% = Approximate World-Record Level
Over 90% = World Class
Over 80% = National Class
Over 70% = Regional Class
Over 60% = Local Class

One final note: 3 of the top 5 runners (Tim, Mark and myself) are all on the same Reach the Beach team this year.

Last Track Workout of the Season

Last night marked our last outdoor coached workout of the season. Technically it wasn't really a workout, more of a social event. GCS always does a relay in the dark of night on a track lit by nearly 150 luminaries. Club member Kevin Reynolds does an incredible job each year setting this up and it is truely appreciated. I'm sure tonight was more of a challenge than normal since it was cold AND windy to boot. The relay is really just a way to kill time prior to our "last supper"...the annual GCS social dinner at The Club National in Nashua. Heck, I don't even know what the relay is, although I think it's a team of 4 doing 8x400's. This year I decided not to run in the relay since it was only 3 days after the Baystate Marathon. My legs were still a little sore so I opted out this year, choosing to take a few pics instead. This turned out harder than I thought (poor planning on my part). Although I did have a tripod I did not have a flashlight and it was impossible to see what the camera settings were in the pitch black night. Oh well, lesson learned. Some day I'll actually figure out how to use this camera...

I'll miss track. I was never a big fan of speed workouts but this year was different. I actually saw noticeable improvement (imagine that). I hope we do indoor track workouts again this year at the Hampshire Dome.

Big Lake Race Report

It's been a couple of years since I last ran Big Lake (due to injuries) and it's still one of the best run races in NH. They do a fabulous job with organization and it keeps me coming back. We also had a decent break on the weather as well. It seems this race has quite a history of lousy weather. Not so this year, no rain to speak of, partly sunny (or is it partly cloudy?) skies, temps in the high 40's, low 50's at the start. The only weather negative was the pretty strong headwinds for most of the first 6-7 miles heading up Rt11. It definitely slowed you down and took more energy than it should have but overall it was a fine day for racing. I parked my car across from the finish area and then walked the 1.5 miles back to the start. Welcome to my warm up.
There were a number of GCS runners at the start, pretty much the same crew I run with at track on Wednesdays. Joe, Kevin, Brian , Raelyn , Trent . Joe and Kevin are in a different league but Brian, Rae and Trent are all about my speed so I was hoping for a nice race (on my part).
I also ran into Michelle from my Steamed Muscles team and Scott Graham from the snowshoeing series. Good to see everyone out racing again!
Most of us ran together through the 1st mile or so but then Brian, Rae and Trent started opening up a lead and by mile 3 were probably 20-30 seconds ahead of me. Unfortunately I couldn't find anyone to run with (or draft) for the entire time on Rt11. I was running alone the whole way, not what I had hoped. Although I recorded my splits on my watch, I never really checked them or paid attention the overall time. I wanted to run based on how I felt and not be pressured into running a particular pace or time.
Miles 4 and 5 saw the GCS pack open up an even bigger lead and they were still all running together. Hmm, maybe they are faster then me...
Finally, as we neared the top of the long climb up Rt11 around mile 6, I felt like the gap was closing on the GCS pack. This gave me a boost and I started to pick up the pace (thanks to the downhill for the next couple of miles). By miles 7 and 8 I was probably 10 seconds back. I felt good but I wanted to pass at the right time. I did not want anyone hanging on my heals when I went by. After a couple of tough little hills we hit a relatively flat section near mile 9. I picked up my pace and went by Brian, then Raelyn and finally Trent and kept the pace going, never looking back.
For the final 3-4 miles to the finish I pushed as hard as I could, catching a couple additional runners along the way. I had no idea where Brian, Raelyn and Trent were but I could hear the spectators cheering and had a rough idea 'someone' was back there but it didn't seem that close. I continued to record my splits and still had no idea what kind of pace I was running and never looked at the clocks at the mile markers. As I came across the finish line I finally saw the clock, 10 seconds off my 1/2 marathon PR! Not bad on a 'not really a PR course'.... It was my best Big Lake time to date as well.

Finished in 1:24:33, 20th overall out of about 1200.

Raelyn was next, maybe a minute back, followed by Trent around a 1 1/2 minutes back with Brian right behind him. Nice racing by everyone. I was very pleased with the results and it's good to be back racing again.

Mine Falls Park Ice Out

I've been running in Mine Falls for several weeks now. Mostly I've been running the 5 mile trail race course used by GCS during the summer trail series. Each time I go out the trails get a little better. A few weeks back I'd say about 80% was either pure ice or at least snow covered. Now it's down to about 10-20% ice and snow covered, a very doable trail run. I brought my camera along this time and stopped a few times to take some pics.

Gate House entrance to Mine Falls.


Main trail along the canal on Mill Pond coming in from Stello's Stadium. Most of the trail from the Gate House down to the 1st canal bridge is still snow covered.


Single track just east of RT3 which runs along the fence, down to the Nashua River. The river trail was in decent shape and most is easily runnable. The snow is gone in most spots with just a couple areas of snow which can easily be avoided.


River trail along the Nashua River on the north side of the park. One of the few areas along the river trail that is still snow covered.


Looking east from the Wipple St bridge. Trail appears to be clear although I haven't run the entire loop yet.