Big Lake 1/2 Marathon Up Next

I'll be heading up to Alton Bay tomorrow morning for the 7th Big Lake 1/2 Marathon, one of my favorite races of the year. This should have been one of my 'goal' races for the year but I ran the Seven Sisters Trail Race last Sunday and STILL haven't recovered. What a brutal race that was. I've been struggling with 'dead' legs all week.
Although I wouldn't consider Big Lake a PR course, I don't believe it's as hard as some make it out to be. It does have some hills, including a long gradual one in the early miles but it also has a gradual down hill finish for the last 3 miles. A bigger concern this year might be the forecast for high winds from the north (the direction of the first 1/2 of the race). Nearly all of the first 6-7 miles are along RT11 which is HIGHLY exposed. I"ll have to find one of those big fat fast guys and draft I guess :-)

Seven Sisters Race Report

Although I had been warned not to run this race in wet conditions (risk of injury HIGH), as usual I ignored the recommendation and did the race anyways (in wet conditions). Plenty of rain fell the night before and probably the morning of the race but by race time the rains had subsided, leaving only nice wet rocks and muddy trails.
No warm up required for this one. Unfortunately no course review or checkout either. The trail starts right on RT116 and then heads immediately up a very steep hill, climbing something like 500+ feet in about 1/4 mile or so. No need to verify, I can visualize that one in my head. Too bad the RD didn't have a course map with elevation profile posted: that would be really handy, or at least it would be a topic of discussion. In the grand scheme of things, probably doesn't change much but I like information and I had no idea what this course was like. Zero, zip, zilch, nada.

The start was kind of like speed hiking with 200 of your closest friends...on a single track...with rocks...up a steep slope....in wet conditions....all trying to be the first one to the top. It took quite a while to thin out the crowd (hard to do when it's a single track). On the way out it never really thinned, and I always had runners in front and behind me along the trail. I just followed the guy/girl in front of me. This race is either climbing or descending, and most of the time doing both steeply. When we did come to a 'flat' section, it was quite a relief and felt nice to actually run. Most of the climbing required walking or fast hiking. A good portion just wasn't runnable...by anybody. The descents were another story. I am a lousy downhill runner on good conditions, with these conditions I am even worse. I generally 'ran' very conservative on the downhills. I have a number of races coming up and didn't want to risk injury. I was amazed how fast some runners actually run down these hills. I have no idea how they do it.

As mentioned to some friends earlier, I think basalt rock is geologist-speak for 'sharp pointy rocks'. If the trail didn't have rocks everywhere, it had slippery mud or both. Mental concentration was in full operation on this one, at least on the way out. There was a bit of a break around the 4 mile mark when we ran up the stairs,around the wrap-around porch of the Summit House and back down the stairs on the other side, heading back out onto the trail.
The turn around point was after a toe-jamming descent that I read was about 850ft in about 1 1/2 miles. It was kind of non-eventful, come racing down the hill and see a table of Gatorade along with some volunteers and a tent. At first I thought it was an aid station but then someone said 'you're all set', race slang for 'we got your number now turn around and head back'. I grabbed a cup of Gatorade, topped off my water bottle and headed back up the trail. I hit the turn at about 1:14 and was happy with my time so far. Up until this point I hadn't eaten a single thing on the trail. Heck, I barely had time to drink since you're always so focused on where to put your next foot. On the way back up to the Summit House I grabbed a Powerbar from my carrier and managed to have about 1-2 bites. It was just too hard to eat (hard and cold). I probably should have packed a couple of Gu's looking back now. The lack of fuel really hurt on the return trip. I was definitely slowing down and losing energy. Some guy was following me closely for the last 2-3 miles and actually kept me going. I HATE being passed so I kept pushing the pace just to stay in front. He did eventually pass and then mistakenly kept saying 'this is the last hill'...about 3-4 times in a row. I finally gave up listening to him. Heck, by that time I could hear the traffic on Rt116 so I knew I was close. Now I was trying to fend off someone gaining behind me. I picked up the pace as best as I could on the final downhill to the finish. He was gaining but I managed to hold him off and finished strong (easy to do on a downhill finish!).

Official Results: 2 hrs 38 min 52 sec, 71st overall out of 241.

I felt awful though. Actually, I was nauseous. I had a cup of orange juice and a cookie but that was about it. I just wanted to lie down. I walked around for a while to make sure nothing was going to cramp up and then I got in my car for the nearly 2 1/2hr drive home.

I'm glad I did this one, although it was a brutally tough race. I'd prefer a race that I could actually run more though but who knows, I might do this one again.

Northern End of the Wapack Trail

On Saturday I decided to run the northern section of the Wapack Trail as a warm-up for the Seven Sisters Race next weekend. The Wapack Trail is about 21 miles end to end, starting in Asburnham, MA to the south and ending in Greenfield, NH in the north.
I did an out and back from Mountain Rd in Greenfield to Rt 101A in Temple, crossing over North Pack and Pack Monadnock Mountains...twice. The trail signs indicated a 5.4 mile one way trip but some of the online Wapack Trail info indicated this might be closer to 5 miles.
I planned an early start and was on the trail by 7am. Weather was great, although a little chilly at the start (mid 30's). I wore a 40 ounce Camel Back pack and carried a cell phone (for safety and pictures). The plan was to run as much of the trail as possible although this got a little challenging only after about a mile on the trail. The trail is marked by yellow triangles but it wasn't always easy picking up the trail, especially when running. There was some pretty steep ledge heading up to the summit of North Pack so running wasn't always an option but the view of Mount Monadnock at the summit was worth the climb. After a brief pause to snap a photo, I headed south towards Pack Monadnock. Most of trail to Pack Monadnock was runnable so I continued on at a comfortable trail pace being careful with my footing. I summited Pack Monadnock, looked briefly for the trail and headed done to Rt 101a. This part of the trail had some steep sections which made running difficult at times, including some serious ledge right near the bottom where the trail crosses the auto road at the entrance of Miller State Park. I continued down all the way to Rt 101a, turned around and headed back into the park. I stopped briefly to eat a PowerBar and checked my 1/2 way time (1:36). The elevation gain so far was just under 1800 ft of climbing and I was a little tired but generally felt pretty good and was happy with the effort so far. Although the return trip started with a steep climb up the ledge from the auto road, it was generally a much easier run then the way out. I also passed several large groups of hikers on my return trip, but most were nice enough and moved to the side to let me run by. I'm glad I went with the 40 oz Camel Back, because I sucked it dry after about 2 1/2 hours of running. Thankfully the run back was MUCH quicker, finishing the return leg in about 1:02. Return elevation gain was roughly 1600 ft of climbing.
I have no idea how this will compare with Seven Sisters but I had a good time and was pleased with my effort. I ran somewhere between 10 and 10.8 miles, took 2 hrs and 38 minutes and climbed nearly 3,400 ft. Not a bad days work.

Seven Sisters Trail Race

Seven Sisters in next for me on the race calender. This will be the first time running this event. I've talked to a couple of friends and read a bunch of race reports on the web and they all seem to be in agreement on this race: probably the hardest trail race in New England. Now that's the kind of description that gets me excited about a race!
Seven Sisters is an out and back 12 mile race along the ridge line of the Mt. Holyoke range in Amherst, MA. Starting at the Notch Visitor Center it follows the Seven Sisters Trail (part of the longer Metacomet-Monadnock Trail) over Bare Mt, Hitchcock Mt and eventually Holyoke Mt before turning around and repeating the trail back to the finish. I'm still not clear what the reference to Seven Sisters actual is but I believe it has something to do with the seven peaks (hills, mountains, etc) you go up and down along the ridge.
The race states on their website: "Extremely hilly with 3,700 feet of climb consisting of many steep hills with hazardous footing in places due to the many sharp basalt rocks the comprise the elevated ridge of Mt. Holyoke".
Looking forward to this one on May 4th.

Muddy Moose 14M Trail Race Postponed

The next race in the Xterra Trail Series was supposed to be this Sunday (4/20) but was postponed until May 11th due to snow. Yep, mid-April and the trail is 90% snow covered. That's what happens when you get over 10ft of snow for the season I guess.
Of course the new date creates a dilemma for me (maybe). I'll be on the other side of Lake Winnipesaukee on Saturday May 10th running the Big Lake 1/2 marathon. This is one of my favorite races of the year so my focus will be on this one. However, I really, really, really want to run the Muddy Moose as well. It's probably wishful thinking on my part to think I can do both. Obviously if I did the Muddy Moose I'd have to go easy on that one. Being a trail race through the muddy trails of Wolfeboro may help with that as well. Heck, if nothing else it would be good practice for the Jay Marathon in July (50k+ trail race).
For now I'll focus on Big Lake.

Xterra Merrimack River 10M Trail Race

When I got up Saturday morning it was pouring rain and I told myself I wouldn't race in the rain (any excuse to give me a way out since my legs were still tired). A couple checks of the weather though indicated the rain would most likely clear up by race time so I headed on down to Andover.
The race is an out and back 10m race along the Merrimack River. The trail follows the river pretty closely for the first 2-3 miles and is relatively flat. I couple of water crossings (ankle deep stuff) and a little mud but generally decent single track trails. I hit the 3 mile mark at 20 minutes even. The next 2 miles were considerably harder with several water crossings (one which was nearly knee deep for about 20-30 ft), lots of mud and roots and some pretty steep up and down crossings of ravines where brooks and streams feed into the Merrimack. We also climbed a pretty steep section at the power lines which had you sucking for oxygen by the time you got to the top. At the 5 mile mark I snagged a cup of water and made a u-turn and returned on the same trail, trying to avoid the slower runners still coming out. On single track, this isn't always that easy (but it was fun). More than a few runners took some spills. The mud was slick, the hills were slick from the rain and the bridges felt like they were iced over at times. I was able to navigate all the hard stuff but couldn't figure out how to get through a mud puddle without hurting myself. At mile 7 I was running through one of the muddy, wet sections when I stepped on a board and rolled my right ankle all the way over (and yes, this is the same ankle I've been having problems with). I kept on running (with a slight limp) but my ankle was really sore. I managed to complete the last 3 miles in about 20:30 and finished with an overall time of 1:13:49, 28th overall out of 183. It was a good effort and I felt pleased with my results. I ran the 5 mile out and 5 mile back in nearly the same times (+/- 30 sec or so).
Video of the Start

I kept thinking if this was an easy one the other ones must really suck! You definitely have to be sure footed when it comes to trail running, taking much more mental effort than road racing. I was constantly looking where the next step would be, all while running nearly as fast you can go. Overall, it was a good time and look forward to the next trail race. Race summary reports can be found at the Xterra site and on Coolrunning. Time to ice my foot...

Tired Week of Running

The 1/2 marathon last Sunday really slowed down my running for the week. I haven't run that hard for that long in a really, really long time and my body reminded me of that fact...often. I was pretty sore for a couple of days but only took one day off from running. My legs were tired and heavy all week.
So, like any sane runner would do I signed up for another race. This time I would enter the crazy world of trail running (finally). I entered the Xterra Merrimack River 10M Trail Race in Andover, MA on Saturday 4/12. By trail racing standards I was told this would be one of the easier ones.