2011 Granite State Snowshoe Championship

I almost wasn't going to do a blog post on the GSSS Championship race (results), held on March 13th at the base of Mt Washington. No particular reason other than I wanted to move on from snowshoeing. However, since it was the best race (course and venue) in the Northeast, I figured I should at least mention it. The recent return to winter made me have a change of heart.

Great Glen Center

After a 2 1/2hr drive up through Franconia Notch and down through Jefferson (where it was snowing heavily), I thought for a moment we'd have a repeat of conditions from last year. No such luck, as the temps actually increased by 10 degrees as I approached Great Glen Center, directly across from the Mt Washington Auto Road entrance. It was a balmy 40 degrees and rising, warm for snowshoe racing. However, they were not lacking snow, with feets of it on the ground. The conditions looked pretty good. I checked in, chatted a bit and then headed out for a couple miles on the road to warm up.

Seeing this was the last snowshoe race of the season, all I really wanted to do was get it over with. However, I absolutely wanted to end the season on a positive note no matter what. So with no expectations other than ensuring I had a good time, I headed over to the start line and planted myself a couple of rows back, right in the middle of the line. I was going to race but I wasn't going to kill myself trying.

This was an awesome race last year, definitely one of the best courses all year. The 10k course had something for everyone, groomed trails, single track, climbing, fast descents, you name it. It really is a shame more people won't give it a go. Trust me, you are missing out on a great time. The first 5k is all on groomed rolling nordic trails before heading through the tunnel under Rt16 and over to the Great Glen side which generally had all the climbing and was 100% single track. This years course was very similar to last years, just a couple of slight changes. The snow conditions were also a bit slower this year.

me & Jeff heading up Blueberry Hill

As the gun (go command?) went off I found the first flaw in my plan. The middle was not a good place to be. The entire field slowly migrated towards the middle and a couple dozen snowshoers were kicking up some nice wet snow making it a tad difficult to see where the heck I was going. I survived and eventually settled in to a comfortable pace, doing my best to ignore who and what was going on around me. My plan was to run the first half a little easier than last year and not blow up on the 2nd half climb (like last year). The rolling hills were not taxing at all and I felt pretty relaxed even though I was getting passed by a few folks, including Capt Snowshoe. aR teammate Rich Lavers was right on my shoulder for most of the first 5k and I thought he was still with me as I hit the tunnel in 25:29, nearly 2 1/2 minutes slower than last year. Chris was probably about 1 minute ahead already. As we came by the Great Glen Center and began the climb up Blueberry Hill, I peeked back to see who was behind me and to also make sure I wasn't holding anyone up. Rich had dropped back a bit and Jeff Walker had replaced him. I told him to let me know if he wanted to get by and continued on. We kept this order to about 1/2 way up the Aquaduct trail and Jeff eventually tired of my company and took off without me. Mainers. By the time we hit the top of the climb he was almost out of sight, probably a minute or so up.


Last year I made up a ton of time on the nearly mile long downhill section. This year would be somewhat similar but much slower. I tried my best to open it up but the soft snow and constant threat of post holing (while running with snowshoes at near 5k pace) eventually slowed me down in order to maintain some control (and not break my leg). By the time we turned back on the single track I had closed the gap on Jeff to just about 10 seconds. It didn't last long. He knew I had gained on him and he turned on the jets once again and left me talking to myself once again.

Gnarly downhill near  the finish

The last mile is a great section of single track and has a killer climb along the power lines not too far from the finish. When I got to the power lines I was surprised to see Chris about 50m in front of me. He looked close enough to catch and for a second I thought about it. I soon realized this was 50m on the toughest hill on the course. Time wise I was still 20-30 seconds back. Oh well, time to settle in and at least make sure no one passes. I looked back a few times, just to make sure no one was going to sneak up on me in the last 1/4 mile and just tried to keep my balance over the last little tricky part of the course (thanks DRR!). I finished up in 58:18, 11th overall, 15 seconds back of Chris and 30 seconds back of Jeff.

Even though I was a full 5 1/2 minutes slower than last year, I think I actually had a better time this year. I had fun. Mission accomplished.
Unfortunately I couldn't take part in the festivities afterwords and needed to leave shortly after the race. I'm glad I ran but I'm also glad the season is finally over!

2011 New Bedford Half Marathon

Phew! I'm glad that's over (results).
I had been dreading this race for some time now (pretty much since the day I signed up). The jump up is I haven't exactly been in a happy place (with regards to my running) for some time now. Training has been work and not fun. I can't quite put my finger on it, I'm not injured but I don't feel quite right. I've been in a funk. Period.
The long run, which I used to love, has been non-existent. New Bedford would be my longest run of the year. No kidding. Not exactly the type of statement that instills confidence!

So standing at the start line I could honestly say I had no idea what pace I was going to run  My plan was to run comfortably at the start and not worry about any other runner. I really really really wanted to avoid a death march at the end if at all possible. The first couple of miles can be kind of fast since it's both the start of the race and slightly downhill. I was quite happy to see my first two splits (6:15 & 6:22), probably about 20-30 seconds slower than previous years, but more importantly it felt like a pace I could hold for a while.

Miles 3 and 4 are typically a bit slower since they both include a few hills. Denis T went by me in the 3rd mile and Rich Lavers joined for a bit during this stretch. My pace dropped a bit (6:28 & 6:31) but considering the hills, I can't really complain about the pace. The long, gentle downhill section from 4 to 7 did not seem as fast as previous years (6:09, 6:14 & 6:15). I think it was a combination of running a lot of it solo (no packs of runners to pull me along) and some sort of wind (either cross wind or head wind, hard to tell). I had stopped checking my watch after the 2nd mile or so and was running on feel alone, trying to keep the effort consistent. Looking back I think I may have held up a bit too much (trying to make sure I didn't blow up at the finish). No big deal. After all, I wasn't exactly going for a PR today, just trying to get some confidence back.

I was still feeling pretty good by mile 8 (6:19) but knew the wind would be an issue over the next few miles along the water. The 9th mile has generally been my slowest mile in each of my previous 3 attempts here. Mile 9 is totally exposed and there always seems to be a headwind. No different this year (6:37), followed by a 6:25 in the 10th mile. Ugh. Do we ever get a tail wind on this course????

Finally, as we made the turn away from the water and headed into the 11th mile (6:16), a tail wind! Joy joy joy!!! It was a little too late since parts of mile 12 and mile 13 make up the last significant hill on the course. A tailwind going uphill just doesn't cut it. Doesn't hurt though! For the first time all day I really felt like I was pushing the pace (6:08 & 6:16). This was no longer a comfortable pace, it was getting hard but the finish was near. The 6:08 12th mile, uphill, would be my fastest mile all day. There would be no death march today!

A bit of a sprint to the finish (to make sure I got under 1:23) and I was done, with a very respectable 1:22:53 finish. No complaints today. I was very happy I was able to finish quite strong and not fade at the end.This was not a 'leave everything out on the course' type of race, it was more of a 'don't do something stupid and make a fool of yourself out there' type of race. Just what I needed.

Hawley Kiln Snowshoe Race

I headed out to Hawley Kiln (results) for only my second time (the last back in 2009). This is relevant because it would only be the 2nd race all season which was run on the same course from the previous year(s). 11 races done so far this season and only the first (Woodford, back in December) and the last (Hawley Kiln) were on the same course from previous years.
Woodford started out well, a 2 1/2 minute PR on fast conditions. Yes, I know it's hard to compare snowshoe times season to season but it doesn't mean I can't try. Anyways, the season started well, and I felt good on the next race (Turner Trail) on a new course. Since then I've been a model of inconsistency. Some would say I've actually been quite consistent, consistently slower. Nearly a month of struggling with Bronchitis (without taking any race weekends off) probably didn't help either. I kept plugging away in spite of myself. So for most of the season I never really had a sense of how good or bad I was racing. Let me rephrase, I had a sense, I just didn't have any data since all races after Woodford were on new courses (nothing to compare to).

So what does any of this have to do with Hawley Kiln? Well, it would be the first race since Woodford run on the same course from previous years. As far as conditions go, I'd say the conditions were similar to 2009, maybe just a tad slower, maybe. Finally....I'd have something to compare to once and for all!

Roughly the 4 mile mark - (photo credit-Bob Birkby)

The first (and last) 7/10ths of a mile are run on a nicely groomed snowmobile trail. Going out it's a gentle climb for most of it before turning right onto a rustic single track. I went out fairly easy and probably hit the single track around 10th overall. The single track was not a well established trail (no rail) and the trail probably saw its first snowshoe tracks when the WMAC boys marked the trail. The snow was a mix of sugary snow and crusty snow. If you were light enough, you could probably stay on top of the snow and not break through. Generally I'd say I would have fallen into that category. However, running along in 10th place means there were a lot of people in front of me punching through the snow. This made the trail extremely uneven and broken up and kept me off balance for nearly the entire single track section (roughly 3 miles). It was also very tiring, at least for me. I could sense I was probably pushing a little too hard early on and had slowed considerably by mile 2 (which I hit in 20 minutes). Not long after that Abby Mahoney went by and a few minutes later, Ken Clark. My 3rd mile was 12:32....really. Looking back I think I may have slowed a bit too much. Granted, the 3rd mile was slow and hard (700ft of climbing along this course, a lot of it in the 3rd mile), but I was saving way too much for later. The 4th mile was a little easier to run and I was feeling pretty good (apparently since I was going so bloody slow earlier) so I started to pick up the pace. I passed Dave Merkt around mile 4 and was gaining on Abby and Ken (who were about a minute in front by the time we hit the snowmobile trail for the last 7/10ths of a mile to the finish). I managed to close the gap but it was too little, too late. Oh well.
So, what did I learn from running on a course I've run previously? Well, 2 years ago I ran the same course about 2 1/2 minutes faster. I think I've finally confirmed what I've been feeling for most of this season - slower.

Enough about the race. The real reason for doing this race is the pancake breakfast right after the race at the South Face Farm Sugar House. $15 for a snowshoe race and breakfast, what a deal. The place was packed as usual but I got seated pretty quick with Dave Boles (fellow snowshoe racer). I had a great time. Dave has been doing these races since the mid 90's. Not only that, I think I actually found someone who drives longer than I do to go to a snowshoe race. This weekend I only had to drive 2 1/2hrs. Dave routinely drives 3+ hrs (from the Hudson valley in NY).

Northeast Snowshoe Championships

At least I had fun before the race!

The first ever Northeast Snowshoe Championships, or Federation Cup or NSF Championship Race was held on Saturday at Northfield Mt in the aptly named town of Northfield, Ma (results). I was mentally checked out of this race long before showing up on Saturday morning. As someone else mentioned earlier this week on their blog regarding a different race, I too know what I like and this wasn't it. I find no pleasure in doing a mountain race on snowshoes. Period. Granted, I'm generally a weak climber to begin with and for whatever reason I was even weaker on Saturday. Like I said, I just wasn't into it. It's hard to put my finger on exactly what I didn't like with Northfield. I'm not against going uphill. In fact, my favorite race over the last couple years is still Turner Trail from last year (and that course had a TON of climbing).
Maybe the real problem was I wasn't prepared for Northfield. I wasn't rested. I had tired legs even before the start. The race started off bad and just got worse, which made for a long day. It's easier to blame the course than to blame me :-)

I think the other big reason I didn't like Northfield was due to a handful of snowshoers who were....well, jerks. I can't even think of a race where a single snowshoer did something during a race that I could actually remember more than a day later. At Northfield I can remember at least 3...still. To be honest, I'm sure the fact that I was having an incredibly bad day added to my mood but seriously, some people need to relax out there. It's a $10 snowshoe race, not the freakin Olympics. On the initial climb I got behind a guy who clearly went out too fast and was walking slowly (yes, slower than me!) I asked if I could go by and he said "go ahead" (with attitude) and just kept on walking right in the middle of the single track. His idea of go ahead meant "you can pass but I'm not getting out of the way, YOU step off the trail if you want to pass". Whatever. At the time it really irritated me. 4 days later I'm not sure what I think. Anyways, time to move on.

This entire season has been a Jekyll and Hyde type season. Good race, bad race, good race, bad race, sick, repeat. Honestly, I never know what to expect when I show up anymore. But I keep showing up :-)

Finally, some much needed downhill!!!

The season will be over soon and I'm sure I'll miss it ( I think).
Thanks to Scott Mason for great photos once again. Thanks!

Day/Night Doubleheader

Saturday was a long day.
I headed over to Beaver Brook in Hollis,NH a little before 9am to mark the course for the 11:30am Beaver Brook 5k Snowshoe race (results). On the way over I was thinking of an often (dd?) used line in snowshoe racing - "everything takes longer in the winter". In other words, give yourself plenty of time. The wind had been howling (30+ mph) for the better part of a day and there was a good chance there would be a few branches on the course. In addition we had  2-3 days of temps near 60 which had melted a ton of snow. Hopefully I had given myself enough time. Marking the course was easy, clearing the 100's of branches was a pain. They were everywhere, including 4-5 blowdowns across the trail. Luckily, you could easily step over all of them so no detours were necessary. Snow conditions were also pretty good. Mostly firm, soft on the edges and just a couple exposed rocks. Other than clearing branches, no additional trail work was required. 1 1/2 hrs later I was done. I headed back out with Mike Wade for a warm up on the backend of the course. I only had on running shoes and nearly killed myself a half dozen times. I eventually circled back after a couple of miles before I injured myself.

Me and Bob Jackman near the finish

The conditions were soft enough that I went with my deep cleats without a problem. The race was mostly single track, except for a short section at the start/finish and a short section right in the middle. My plan was to go out fast at the start and get on the single track quickly to avoid getting stuck behind anyone who might eventually slow down. Apparently this was the plan of about 20 other runners as well as they all took off like it was a 400m race. I tucked in behind Mike Wade and Danny Ferreira and stayed right on their heels for the first 1 1/2 miles or so (except for the one time I stepped off the rail and postholed to my knee, causing me to face plant). Danny and I eventually passed Mike but Danny took off and I got stuck wandering in no mans land. I was running ok but just felt flat. I could see Dave Principe and John Pajer not too far up front but I wasn't closing at all (no zip in the legs). The rest of the race was mostly uneventful. I caught up with a struggling Bob Jackman not too far from the finish and went by him with about 1/4 mile to go. I eventually finished in 8th overall (3rd masters) with a time of 24:29. Not a great race but not awful either. After a short break, I headed back out on the course to pick up all the flags. By the time I got back the entire parking area was empty except for the race crew (Mike and Alec). 11.3 miles in the bank. I headed home, showered & changed and headed over to Madbury to help Chris setup prior to my second race of the day.

'Rustic' conditions heading into the field

I arrived in Madbury around 3:30 for the Kingman Farm Moonlight Snowshoe race (results) and helped a bit setting up the inside (tables, chairs, etc..). After talking with Chris about course conditions and bumping into Danny and Geoff (who were just coming off the course after doing some trail work), it sounded like conditions would be a little different than Beaver Brook. I don't like surprises so I decided to put on the Katoola's and run the 3.5m course while the sun was still out. The conditions were very hard and icy. In fact, a snowmobile had gone over the first part of the trail and you could barely see any track. The course seemed well marked and was the same course as a couple of years ago except the field. I stopped and took a picture of the pot holed icy trail leading into the field. This section would come back to haunt me later.Chris must have been drinking when he came across the field, marking the course. Instead of heading straight across the field he zigged and zagged back and forth all over the place. The fresh rail he had punched through the previous day was now a solid single track. What should have been a 1/3 mile trip across now seemed closer to 3/4 of a mile.  Should be an interesting section at night! The trail up and over Hicks Hill seemed similar to previous years. It was apparent someone did a lot of work on the trails (something you wouldn't know or see at night). When I got back I changed out my deep cleats for my ice cleats and got ready to race.

Near the finish - photo credit Gianina Lindsey

In addition to my headlamp, I also carried a small LED flashlight. You can never have too much light when running at night. I lined up a couple of rows deep, close to Dave Principe, with Sean Snow directly behind me. At the 'go' command we all took off like we were shot out of a cannon. I think it was faster than a typical 5k road race start. The roughly 1 mile gentle downhill start helped. Heck, we didn't see anything that resembled a hill for nearly 2 miles!. I quickly settled in behind Dave and I could hear someone right on my heels. I never looked back but I knew it was Sean. We would stay this way the entire race (although the order would change twice). Surprisingly my legs were feeling great! Nothing like how they felt at Beaver Brook. As we headed into the field (see picture above), I apparently caught a cleat and went down hard, banging my right knee pretty good before sliding on the icy trail for a few feet. As Sean went by he asked if I was ok, I responded yes and got back up, hoping not to lose Dave and Sean. We would stay in this order, very close together, all the way up Hicks Hill. There were a couple of folks behind us but I'd guess no closer than 20-30 seconds. As our train descended down the back side of Hicks Hill, we apparently missed the first sharp left turn and instead went straight down the side of Hicks Hill....all the way to the bottom. In fact, we went all the way down to the main trail we initially started on. I had a feeling we were off course pretty quickly but we were flying and by the time I could react we were already at the bottom. Dave was about the follow the trail at the bottom when I told him we had to go back up...we were off course. As we headed back up to the point we went off trail I could see runners going by and more coming. I entered the trail again directly behind Amber Fereirra. After a few minutes I asked to pass and took off (knowing Sean and Dave were close by), hoping to make up a little time if possible. It was a little demoralizing, especially considering we had a good race going. I'm not sure how things played out behind me exactly but Dave finished 11 seconds back, and Sean was 15 seconds. My disappointing time was 28:31, good enough for 11th overall and 2nd masters.
Overall I had a great time. There's just nothing like racing on snowshoes at night. My knee was scraped up pretty good and a little stiff but I'll survive to race again! After hanging out for a little food, awards and raffles, I finally was ready to head home...and get some rest. 7 more miles done, 18+ miles for the day. Now that's one way to get a long run in!

Twice as much fun as last week!

It didn't take a lot of effort to have more fun this weekend than I had last weekend at the Exeter Slowshoe umm 'Race'. I still can't get over how ridiculously hard (and slow) that was. This weekend I was right back at it and if things went well, I'd be right back at it.....twice!. I had a little more confidence this week due to a much better week of training. I was generally feeling less sick (more better?). Unfortunately I've felt this way before and then blew up in the race so I wasn't getting too excited....yet.

First up was the Horse Hill race (results) in Merrimack, NH. Not only was this my hometown course, RD Michael Amarello allowed me to design a new course this year, taking advantage of a few new trails. The roughly 4.5 mile course would be about 75% single track with a few wider sections sprinkled in for passing and such. Over the past month I've run the course about 7 times so I was a wee bit familiar with it. After marking it in the morning with Michael, I also knew it would be very fast. I lined up as conservative as I could (I have limits you know) and immediately tucked in behind Amber Ferierra and Chris Dunn, with Michael Wade on my tail. I was in no hurry early on and almost fell off the pace near the summit of Blodgett Hill. I made up any loss on the downhill single track and got back in line behind Chris and Amber for the next 1 1/2 miles or so. We had a good pace going and we seemed to be pulling in a couple of runners up front so I was content with my place...at the moment. As we headed down towards the powerline I actually felt like Amber had slowed just a bit so instead of running up Chris' back, I made an unconventional pass on the right, mostly because Amber was running on the left. If I recall, Chris followed suit and also squeaked by Amber.

Feeling good! (photo credit - Gianina Lindsey)

Course knowledge helped at this point, I think. I knew we had some fairly easy (fast ) single track coming up, followed by a fast descent down the powerlines before finally heading up a tough climb on Horse Hill. So I picked it up a bit on the single track, hammered the powerline trail and made another pass, before tucking in behind Sean Snow (who clearly was not at 100%). Sean was nice enough to pull me up Horse Hill and I followed him on the short and fast descent down the backside. We'd spend the next 3/4 of a mile climbing back up Blodgett Hill on a very tight single track. My plan was to get onto this trail in front of anyone around me since passing would be virtually impossible. So, on the short section of snowmobile trail before the single track I made my last pass of the day and got in front of Sean. Of course now I had a couple of tough climbers right on my heels (Sean and Chris). If they caught up I would have stepped aside if asked but I wasn't going to volunteer my spot. I felt confident if I made it to the top of Blodgett Hill without getting passed, I could hold them off on the downhill to the finish. Thankfully that's the way it played out. I finished up in 8th place overall in a time of 36:01, just 14 seconds ahead of Chris. For the first time in a LONG time I felt pretty good about my race. I actually think the guys at the finish were more excited about my finish then I was. I guess I can be a grumpy, miserable, pain in the butt when I'm not racing well (or sick). Who knew?

Since Saturday went swimmingly well, I decided to double up the weekend and head over to Northwood, NH on Sunday for the inaugural running of the Bear Paw Classic (results), put on by Chris' daughter Madison. The roughly 3.7 mile course would have just about everything: tough sugary, loose snow, lightening fast single track, nicely packed snowmobile trails and even a descent hill to boot. It seemed just about everyone here had raced the previous day so there was no sense complaining about tired legs (although I may have mentioned them). Chris refused to line up in front of me so I took a spot behind teammate Ryan Welts instead. Both the start and finish were on a loop around the baseball field on the toughest snow on the course. Not exactly the way I would prefer to start or finish a race but oh well. After a few minutes of racing it was clear Chris and and I would be racing alone. The fast guys were gone up front and we didn't think there was anyone challenging us from behind. For the first half of the race I lead and Chris followed. We asked each other a few times why we were running so hard since it was clear we weren't going to catch anyone in front and we were fairly certain we would not be run down from behind. It was mostly talk though. Let up in a race? Are you serious? Ha!

This is how most of the race looked, except the finish

As we hit the powerline trail (the only serious climb of the day), Chris pulled up on my side and we ran shoulder to shoulder for a while before Chris took the lead on some of the steeper climbs. I was definitely struggling on the climbs and tried to stay close. As we headed back onto the single track at the roughly 1 mile to go point, Chris started talking about finishing together. I led the 1st half, he led the 2nd half, it's only fair. I had visions of Kevin Tilton and Jim Johnson finishing up in a 'tie' at the GSSS race last year (holding hands I think). Anyways, it wasn't a pleasant vision. Chis is a great teammate, but there ain't a chance in heck that I was going to stroll in side by side without putting up a fight. He can be first, or I can but this dog don't tie! Lucky for Chris I had no fight left. I was barely hanging on during the last 1/4 mile of very loose, sugary snow. The harder I tried, the slower I went. I just could not close the 3-5m gap Chris had on me and eventually finished up 6th overall in 31:31, just 3 seconds behind Chris. For the second time this weekend I finished up and felt pretty good (although tired). On the road to recovery! Good thing since the season is almost over.

Solid week of training (at least for me)

Looks like I'm finally over whatever has ailed me the last 3-4 weeks. What a relief. Now I just need to get some decent training in again and this week was a good start. I do feel like I lost a little fitness but I'm confident it'll come back quickly.

Some highlights for the week:

• 39.5 miles running
• 18 miles snowshoeing
• indoor track workout (8x800's @ 2:50 avg)
• 2 snowshoe races

Finally had some fun in a snowshoe race (actually two). More on that later.