Pooh Hill?

You'd think a snowshoe race with 'Pooh' in the name (Pooh Hill Snowshoe Scramble) would be a little different then what it was. Sort of like the bunny slopes of snowshoe courses. Awh, what a cute name for a 'hill'. How tough can it be???

Now....the rest of the story.

The 1st race of the Granite State Snowshoe Series took place at King Pine Resort in East Madison, NH. It was an absolute beautiful day: sunny, not a cloud in the sky, no wind and temps near 5 degrees. I arrived just before 9am after a 2hr-100mile drive from Merrimack. Compared to some of the WMAC races, a 2hr drive was a breeze. Lots of familiar faces (Jim Johnson & Kristin, Scott Graham, Bill Morse and crew) and even a few new ones. Kristin was nice enough to take some great photos of the race which can be seen here, and is credited with the one of me to the left taken around the 8.5k point.
As I was getting ready near my car a guy came up to me (after seeing my license plate HAV2RUN) and introduced himself....by his blog name "NikonRunner". The funny thing is I recognized his blog and thus the person, Scott Mason. Too funny!
I headed out to check the end of the course prior to the race. I like to check out the last mile or so of a snowshoe race to know how much longer I need to suck wind. The end of the race was all on freshly groomed crosss country ski trails and I easily ran the last 2k or so with just my trail shoes. I did note two things: 1) there's a killer (but short) hill about 100yds from the finish and 2) the 8k marker was at least 1/2k or more from the finish line which was surprising considering I thought this was an 8k race :-)
Jim Johnson has a nice write up on the course on his blog. It was an awesome course and thankfully most was on nicely groomed trails but Pooh Hill was a killer. It should have been called Satan's Summit or something more intimidating than 'Pooh'. It was definitely a climb but it went on for EVER. Kevin Tilton and Chris Dunn's dad were at the top and you could hear them talking so at least you knew when you were close. The uncontrolled bushwhack back down was a blast with gravity taking charge then it was back to the groomed trails for the remainder of the race.
I was trying to figure out if this hill was worse than the hill at the Cobble Mountain Snowshoe race last year (and the next race in the Granite State Series). In my mind I think Cobble was a tougher climb but that might be because Cobble was my 1st snowshoe race ever. I guess I'll find out for sure in a few weeks.
Somehow I managed a 2nd place overall with a time of 47:27 and results can be found here. I gave Jim Johnson a run for his money for the first 5 yards but he managed pull ahead in the next 8.499k to squeeze out a win with a time of 44:04. It was the longest I've snowshoed so far and I was definitely hurting at the end. I need to work on pacing a bit more or more importantly, effort. I feel like I go out at 5k effort and I really need to scale it back to a more manageable 10k or 1/2 marathon effort at the start. It is very hard to do since the pace seems so slow but I'm running out of gas near the end.
On a side note I wanted to mention what should be an excellent rivalry in the team competition of this series. The newly formed Dungeon Rock Racing team had a strong showing with 10 racers and was only outdone by the host team of acidotic RACING (which I am a member of) with 16 racers. The winning team takes home a case of Redhook. DRR's motives are clear: they are a drinking team with a snowshoeing problem. They did have nice racing singlets and a scary skull and crossbones team flag though :-)

Lampshade Racer

I admit it, I save nearly everything related to races. I can't help myself. This would include t-shirts, BIB's, race medals (if I'm lucky) and assorted other swag items.
T-shirts - I probably have enough t-shirts to clothe a small town and most reside quietly in one of many totes stored around my house. A small, sometimes rotating collection remains within reach for those special occasions. Cotton t-shirts have lost most of their appeal so if last minute entry means no t-shirt then I'll sign up at the last minute. The only real exception would be races that offer tech shirts. I LOVE tech shirts...
Race Medals - Every medal ever earned ends up on my lamp. It's probably a good thing I don't win much. As it is I may have to move onto a second lamp soon. My lampshade has so many medals hanging from it it barely serves its real purpose of providing light.
BIB's - I have every BIB from every race I've ever completed. Two things happen with every BIB I earn: 1) I write the date, time and avg pace on the back of each BIB and 2) I pin it on my cubicle wall(s) at work. I do have some rules. I start fresh each year. So anytime you come into my office you'll only see the races I've done so far this year. It does provide a conversation topic and at least the topic is something I like to talk about :-)
Misc Swag - Anybody need some Rasberry Gu? Chapstick? Bio-Gel? Yeah, me neither but I still keep a box full of the stuff....just in case.

What's This...More Snowshoe Races in NH??

I was scanning Coolrunning trying to fill the voids of a few race-free weekends and I stumbled across a couple new additions to the NH snowshoe racing scene. I had heard rumors of these previously but thought the Ice Storm of 2008 wiped out any chance of holding races at these two sites.
I guess all that snowshoe training Michael Amarello has been doing in HHNP must have changed his mind. Michael is the founder of 3C Race Productions in Merrimack, NH and produces a gazillion road and trail races all over NH, MA and ME and has now added snowshoe races to his resume. Along with the Horse Hill 7k Snowshoe Race on February 14th (part of the Granite State Snowshoe Series ), he's also producing the following NH races:

Beaver Brook 5k Snowshoe Race - Hollis, NH 1/17/09

Feel Good Farm 7k Snowshoe Race - Lyndeborough, NH 1/24/09


Thanks Michael!

Running vs Snowshoeing

So, what is the perfect balance between running and snowshoeing? How do you maintain (or preferably improve) your fitness in both without sacrificing either? Heck, is it even possible to do well in both? I have no idea. Not a very informative post, is it.

I did discover an interesting factoid while doing intensive research on the topic, however. Ok, I stumbled upon it while updating my running log. Without any conscious effort my weekly mileage breakdown over the last 3 weeks was as follows:

Run Miles	Snow Miles	Total Miles	Run %	Snow %	Weekly Increase
25.1	10.5	35.6	71%	29%	-
30.6	12.5	43.1	71%	29%	21%
36.7	14.8	51.5	71%	29%	19%

So without even trying I increased my weekly mileage by about 20% each week and still maintained an exact 71% - 29% split between running and snowshoeing. How about that? I have no idea what it means but I thought it was interesting regardless.
Of course now that I'm onto myself I'll totally skew the data this week, guaranteed.

A Quick 2008 Recap

Ok, I won't go into excruciating details of what I accomplished in 2008 (hence the title 'quick 2008 recap') but I will summarize what I consider to be the highlights (and sometimes lowlights) and what I came away with in 2008:

• Probably for the first time EVER, I ran the entire year injury-free. It's not like I took it easy, running my first race on Jan 1st, 2008 and my last race on Dec 28th, 2008. Having no data to back up my theory, I credit snowshoe racing and trail racing early in the year as the main reason(s) for this.
• Ran a total of 1,811 miles for an average of 5.9 miles per run. I had a secret goal of breaking 2,000 miles but I'll take injury-free over 2000 miles any day.
  
• Snowshoed a total of 120.3 miles in my first year on snowshoes. Maybe it's me but the miles never got any easier. Every time out felt just as hard as the previous one.
  
• Competed in 16 road races, 10 trail races, 4 snowshoe races and 1 triathlon.
• 9 races were 10 miles or greater.
  
• Completed two 200+ mile, 12-person relays (Madison-Chicago 200 and Reach the Beach) with two different teams. Both teams finished 5th overall.
• Best performance of the year: Baystate Marathon (2:58). Ran on pace, negative splits and recovered quickly.
  
• Worst performance of the year: Mt Washington Road Race (1:30). Started off slow, got slower, finished going backwards I think. For the first time ever I vowed never to run this stupid uphill race again. 7 months later I'm still on the fence.
• Best overall trail race: Soapstone Mountain 24k. I LOVED this course (dirt roads, single track, hills, river running, mud).
  
• Hardest trail race: Seven Sisters 12M (ugh) I was warned not to run this on a rainy day. Now I know why.
  
• PR'd in the half marathon (1:23) and marathon (2:58).

Now it's time to figure out what to do for 2009. I've made an early attempt at the 2009 race schedule and will modify as needed. Stay injury free everybody.

Peanut Butter Chip Chase 5k

I headed out to Temple, NH for the 31st annual "freeze your butt off" 5k on New Years Day, or what locals call the Peanut Butter Chip Chase 5k. It's a nice small town race (put on by the local Lions Club) on a somewhat challenging course (on a normal day) but a tad more difficult with snow covered roads and a wind chill waaaaay below zero. At least it wasn't snowing this year...
The race starts on West Rd near the center of town, climbing right from the start and continuing on for about 1.5 miles before turning back onto Hill Rd. Unfortunately for us today, West Rd surprisingly heads due west, right into the nice 20+mph winds coming in from the west. Uphill into the wind is not how I like to start a race! Thankfully we run DOWN Hill Rd for about a mile (with a tail wind), turn left on a dirt road at about 2.75 miles and then left again on RT 45 for a final 400m uphill push to the finish right in the center of town (near where we started).
I scanned the field at the start for familiar faces, spotted a bunch of Gate City Striders including my current arch nemesis Mike Wright. Mike has a habit of passing me in the last few seconds of a race. With a Ready, Set, Go we were off. 5 or 6 young guns immediately got out in front and I settled in close behind, running with local Temple resident Sean Radcliffe (also a masters). We ran side by side for 1.5 miles before I was able to put a little distance between us on the downhill section. I wore my screw shoes which worked great. Unfortuanetly I was not alone so no real advantage was gained.
I generally don't like to look behind me during a race, choosing to run 'scared' instead. I always assume someone is really close. I knew Mike Wright was back there but I didn't know how close. I have to admit I was a little nervous on the last uphill stretch to the finish. I was tired, cold and running out of gas (might have been those black and tans from New Years Eve!). With about 100m to go I finally took a peak and realized today I would win the battle with Mr Wright :-)

I managed a 6th place overall, 1st in the 40-49 division with a time of 19:43.I t was the toughest 19:43 5k I've run in a while, that's for sure...Results can be found here.

In addition to the table full of cookies plus bagels and gallons of soup for post race grub, they also give out unique chocolate chip cookie shaped medals. There seems to be a theme. Heck, the 1st Temple resident (Sean Radcliffe) also takes home a pizza sized chocolate chip cookie. Sweet.

Woodford (VT) Snowshoe Race

I headed out to Woodford, VT with Bill Morse for the 1st snowshoe race of the season (or is it the last race of last season???), the I Love Woodford 3.5 mile race. I'm not sure what 'drives' us to travel over 2 1/2hrs to race for less than 30 minutes but oddly we are not alone.
Jim Johnson has a nice write up on the race on his blog ( with links to pictures) so I won't repeat too much, although I will steal one of his pics :-)

Like most people, I wasn't sure what to expect with the first race. The few times I've been out were punishing (humbling) to say the least. After a fairly conservative start I decided to pick it up on the very first hill in order to get decent position going into the single track section (the rest of the race essentially). I got behind Abby Woods (eventual women's winner) and stayed there for most of the race, only passing her after I took her out right before the gated trail. It wasn't on purpose (and she helped) but the result was the same. At least I was able to beat one CMS runner/snowshoer today...

I haven't seen any results posted yet but I believe I ended up in 10th with a time of 27:50. I think styling Dave Dunham (what's up with the orange hair?) was the only 40+ guy ahead of me though. Overall not a bad day.

UPDATE (12/31) - Results can be found here -->Woodford Results