Sidehiller Snowshoe Race

The 3rd race of the Granite State Snowshoe Series (Sidehiller 4-Miler)was in Center Sandwich, NH , a relatively short (in snowshoe racing terms) 1.5 hr drive north. Michael Amarello and I got an early start, arriving in this tiny town around 9:30am for the 11am race...and we weren't even the first ones there.
The weather report claimed a warm up was in store for today (supposedly 40+) but when I left my house it was 0 degrees and maybe 10 degrees at the race site. A whole lot of warming would have to take place to hit 40, that's for sure.
Michael and I chatted with fellow acidotic RACING teammates Chris, Steve and Scott for a few minutes and then Scott and I went for a warm up run on the course (in running shoes). We heard there was a hill and we wanted to see it for ourselves. Running Pooh Hill and Cobble Mt tends to make racers a little hill-phobic. The first mile or so was on a nicely groomed cross-country ski trail before crossing Squam Lake Rd and heading into a 2 1/2 mile loop on mostly single track snowshoe trails. We found the hill (Ha, you call this a hill????), thought 'this isn't so bad' and then looped back down to the road and onto the cross country trails to the finish. At the time the trails didn't seem that bad.
Weather be damned, I went with the short sleeve shirt. Surprisingly I was the only one. Come on people, the weatherman said it would be 40 degrees today, act like it!! Ok, so I was a little cold, but in a snowshoe race it's probably better than being a little warm.
Not only was Sidehiller a GSSS race, it was also a WMAC Dion Snowshoe series race AND it was also a regional qualifier for the USSSA (whatever that means). A major acronym race no doubt.
It was also stacked up front with Jim Johnson, Kevin Tilton, Dave Dunham, Tim Van Orden, Bob Jackman and a few other CMS guys I didn't know well. A top 10 finish would be a challenge.
At 11am a field of about 70 took off in a cloud of snow dust and you could tell immediately this would not be a fast day. Even the nicely groomed xc trails were slow. They 'looked' like they should be fast but your shoe would sink in the snow on nearly every step. Unfortunately this was the fast section...it would get much harder and much slower. With firm snow conditions (which we did not have) this would be a relatively fast course, no big hills, nice rolling terrain, decent single track and some snowmobile trails...a really nice course. But for whatever reason, today was not a fast day. The single tracks were more like running in sand. You just couldn't get any grip, sinking into the soft powdered snow on nearly every step. My position in the race was set early, around the 1/2 mile mark. After that point I passed no additional runners and nobody passed me. I followed Danny Ferreria (acidotic RACING) from a distance for most of the remainder but never really gained on him until the last 200 meters but not enough to actually catch him. In the end I finish just under 40 minutes in 9th place overall. I haven't seen any official results but will post a link once they become available. Another good team showing from acidotic RACING and Dungeon Rock Racing, this rivalry thing is pretty cool, especially when we beat them :-)
They may have spanky new DDR singlets but we've been getting the team wins (and now we have our own stylying acidotic RACING skully's).
The next race of the GSSS is tomorrow. I hope the legs recover in time.

Complete results can be found here.

Indoor Track

In hindsight it was probably not the smartest thing to do but I am a creature of habit and on Tuesday nights I have indoor track practice. Period, the end. Nothing bad happened so I guess in the end it all worked out.

Just prior to track Michelle Poublon (Gate City Striders President) made a surprise announcement and presented me with the GCS 2008 Comeback Runner of the Year award. She had some very nice things to say about me (all untrue of course) and rattled off some of my results from 2008. I have to admit, I was a bit embarrassed and generally do not take compliments well but it was nice to be recognized by my peers. It's no 'Major Award' (aka A Christmas Story) but it was a nice plaque nonetheless. Ok, enough about that...

Tonight's workout was not too stressful (6 x 800's at 5k pace, 400 rest). 800's are my favorite track distance but 6 didn't sound like enough. Well for tonight anyways I was grateful it was only 6. I ran hard but held back a bit on the first 3-4 to see how they would feel. I did the first one with Joe Rogers but he quickly tired of me and dropped me on the next 5. He was running 80 sec 1/4's and I was running 84 sec. Right behind me was Jerry Fitzgibbons and that's the way we stayed the rest of the night. Throw in a couple miles of warm up and COOL down runs and by 7pm I had 6.7 miles in the books. Snowshoe racing for the weekend is looking good!

Stumbling Back to the Track

It's been a week since I last went for a run, and I'm not even injured. Last Wednesday it all started with a stomach ache and went downhill fast shortly after that. I won't go into the gory details, but let's just say I lost nearly 6% of my body weight in just a couple of days. Yikes.
Tonight I'll head back to the track, stumbling of course.
I'll be good to be back.

2009 Grand Tree Trail Races

The Western Mass Athletic Club (WMAC) announced their race lineup for the 2009 Grand Tree Trail Series. The list includes 14 races in Massachusetts, 5 races in Connecticut, 4 races in New Hampshire and 1 race in New York. You can check out the complete list at:

WMAC 2009 Grand Tree Race Schedule

NOTE: the list doesn't include race #5 or #23.

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!

NE Snowshoe Rankings - Great Idea

Always the innovator and always looking to promote snowshoe racing in New England, Chris Dunn of acidotic RACING has just published a rankings system that attempts to compare racers throughout New England.
The top ten list (male and female) can be found at the following link:
2009 New England Snowshoe Rankings

It'll be interesting to see how it pans out the rest of the season.
One thought: maybe a masters ranking for those of us age-challenged (and I'm talking REAL masters, like over 40 masters not that 45 and over made up masters category!)


Wait until JJ finds out DD is ahead of him in the rankings....ouch.

Boston Prep 16-Miler

I headed over to Derry on Sunday for the 14th annual Boston Prep 16 miler. It was my 4th time running the race so I was familiar with the course but as always, I had a tough time (I thought) figuring out what pace to run. I mean, how many 16 mile races are there to compare to? Of course it would also be my longest run of the year (long runs are overrated).
Based on nothing but gut feel I decided I'd try to run between 6:30 and 6:40 pace. If if worked great, if not I'd death march in the last couple of miles. A plan was in place.
Although cold, with temps hovering around the low teens, there was practically no wind so I went with a 2-layer approach. For the most part I was comfortable throughout the race.
After a VERY conservative start (the 1st mile is mostly uphill) I settled into a comfortable pace and was feeling pretty good. Not long after mile 4 I remember getting a little cold and I started to feel some tightening in my lower back. I reached back a few times, trying to massage it as I ran but it didn't seem to help much. About 2/3 up the first significant hill on Kilrea Rd (mile 5 was at the top of the hill) my back went into full spasm which brought me to a screeching halt, bent over in pain, grabbing my back. It was one of those 'take your breath away' spasms, and it was hard to even breath. A group of 4 runners ran by and one asked if I was ok. I could not answer, I was in pain.....and then they kept on running. It was the thought that counts :-)
At the time I really thought I was done for the day. I was seriously looking for a volunteer, someone who could bring me back to the start. Ah but it was not to be. I was in between water stops and there were no volunteers stationed near mile 5. So I did what any runner would do, I started running again. As I would later tell my wife, I have a very high tolerance for pain (or a very small brain).
I tried to relax as best I could and focus on running (and catching the 4 guys who passed me), but it was a challenge. I obviously knew I had 11 miles to go PLUS the biggest hills were yet to come. Did the hill trigger the spasm? Was it the cold? Would the pounding downhills trigger another one? OK, I said I 'tried' to relax. In theory I spent the next 11 miles wondering when my back would spasm again.
I stopped looking at my splits and tried to keep pace with the group in front of me. I wasn't really gaining but I wasn't losing any ground either. The hills were brutal, first just after mile 9 and then a set of them between mile 10 and 12. I couldn't believe how slow I felt going up those *&*^! hills, but I knew once I hit mile 12 it would be mostly downhill all the way to the finish. Shortly after mile 12 I saw Scott Mason (photo credit) and of course picked up the pace for the photo op. Timing worked out well since I had gained on and then passed the group of 3-4 runners I'd been trailing since mile 5. One runner came back and stayed on my shoulder, pushing the pace pretty hard. I was in no mood to race anyone to the finish, especially for 4 miles so I finally asked him his age. Thankfully he wasn't in my age group. If I beat him great, if not, no big deal. He stayed with until the last mile and finally dropped back a bit. The last mile was my fastest of the day at 5:43 pace.
Except for my damn back, I had a great day. I placed 14th overall out of 655 finishers, I was 1st in the 40-49 age group (winning a nice 32oz jug of pure NH maple surup) and I beat my PR by more than 2 minutes.
Yesterday I ran 16 miles (20 if you include the warmup and cooldown runs with JJ)....today I can barely sit because my freakin back hurts so much. The good news is my legs feel great!

Splits for the day:

Mile 1: 6:54 (all up hill)
Mile 2: 6:20
Mile 3: 6:16
Mile 4: 6:21
Mile 5: 6:46 (back spasm)
Mile 6: 6:20
Mile 7: 6:28
Mile 8: 6:01
Mile 9: 6:34
Mile 10: 6:48 (hill)
Mile 11: 6:55 (hill)
Mile 12: 7:16 (hill)
Mile 13: 6:20
Mile 14: 6:08
Mile 15: 6:19
Mile 16: 5:43
Finish Time: 1: 43:35 (6:29 pace)

Complete results can be found here.

Fellow blogger Scott Mason made the trip up from RI to take some incredible photos of the race. Check out his work here.