Weekly Log 10-Jul to 16-Jul-2023: Triathlon & a Very Hot Week

Miscellaneous rambling:

• I finally got my entry link into XTERRA World Trail Championships (Sugarloaf, Maine in October), from qualifying at Pineland Farms 25K this spring, but I was told/mistakenly believed that the entry was free.  It's not; it's $100 plus Active fee, so less compelling to me.  We'll see ...

Pretty meager harvest,
but nice to have blueberries
off my race award from
winning last September's
Trails to a Cure (a blueberry
bush that I planted in our yard)

At Stop & Shop.  I'm just disgusted
by this "nips" problem and our state legislature
kicking the can down the road on any
type of legislative solution

• Amidst my complaining of the heat and humidity, one thing I do really like about the summer here in RI is the swimming.  We have the ocean, rivers, streams, ponds, etc, with numerous free choices to cool off in the water.  I plan many of my runs to end at a swimming hole.

Monday:  3

Charlestown, RI.  Run with Matthew, mostly on dirt roads.  Nice dunk in Watchaug Pond post-run, although the water temperature is already warmer than I prefer.

Tuesday:  2 walk, 10 run

AM:  Westerly, RI.  WLT summer mowing team, working today at Winnipaug Farm Preserve.  Pulled one tick off of me.

AM:  Westerly, RI.  7-mile run from Weekapaug Breachway.  I was doubtful that I would be able to get a free spot at 11am in July on a hot summer day, but lo and behold, there were a few spots left.  As I backed in, I recognized the person getting out of the car next to me:  Rose Buckingham.  She came over to give me a hug, and I warned I was pretty gross and covered in grass and weeds.  Good to catch up with her.  Out and back on the beach.  A little too crowded at Misquamicut State Beach as I had to dodge beachgoers, but it was just a small section near the pavilion as most don't venture far from there.  Refreshing dip in the ocean at finish.

PM:  Charlestown, RI.  3-mile run with Brady.  Loop from Kettle Pond Visitor Center, and a dip in Watchaug Pond with 1/2 mile to finish.

Wednesday:  10

AM:  Charlestown, RI.  Hottest run yet this year at 82°F.  Easy on roads from Burlingame Picnic Area.  Uncomfortably hot.  Sapped my energy and I bailed on plans for a swim as I just soaked in the pond.

PM:  Westerly, RI.  Fun Run week #7.  Hot.  1 mile warm-up solo, then ran and chatted with Chris for the Fun Run itself.  Average 6:18 pace.  That's about as fast as I can run and still carry a conversation.

Near end of first mile, with Chris
(Photo courtesy Robin Kerwin)

Thursday:

AM:  Exeter, RI.  Parked and ran from/to Arcadia Check Station.  Figured running the roads would eliminate the deerflies and ticks.  I was wrong, or at least on the first account.  16 DFKs.  Ugh.  Very humid and hot run with Brady.  Stopped at three rivers along the way, and then a long soak and short swim in the Wood River back at the check station.

PM:  Marlborough, CT.  Lake Terramuggus Tri.  This was part of a series of tris that they run every two weeks here.  This was #3 of 4 and the only one I'd be able to make based on scheduling.  The tris are no-frills (no food, no shirts, no bibs) but are amazing well run, professionally timed, and cost just $45 for the sprint tri ($35 for the shorter super-sprint tri).

I arrived at 5:30pm for a 6:15 start.  Another 15 minutes would have been good, but it was fine as there were no lines for check-in, bathroom facilities, etc.  Three very quick stations for check-in:  1) give your name and get your bib number (but no bib), 2) body-marking - just give your bib number, 3) pick up chip.

I quickly setup my bike and transition space (no assigned rack spaces; first-come, first-served), only to realize that I didn't bring a towel and I didn't bring a wetsuit.  I'm such a scatter brain.  Both were in my car, so I used that as an opportunity for a short warm-up.  Plenty of time for a final bathroom stop (real bathroom facilities!), listen to pre-race instructions, get my wetsuit on, and get into the water and catch up with Bob Kerwin.

Swim:  Just a 600 yard swim.  Water was very warm, with a lot of weeds until water got deeper.  What should have been clean 90-degree turns didn't end up that way.  It was only the final leg back that I just get kept drifting off course.  You can see it in my Strava post below.

At 4 o'clock or so, you can see
how I really kept drifting off course on 
final return.  I sight about every five strokes,
and had to correct often.

View of the swim finish

Bike:  Course was shortened to about 8 miles this evening, due to road construction work.  No complaints from me!  I gradually passed rider after rider, except for the one that blew by me.  Was he lapping me on second loop, or an even slower swimmer than me that was just catching up?

It was nice to see all ages out there,
including some very young triathletes

Run:  Finally in my element.  The only activity that I'm decently good at.  Passed runner after runner.  With less than 1/2 mile to go, I passed two runners, one who I recognized as being in my age group (John Minhervino).  The other runner was much younger, but yelled out to me, "Strong finishing pace!".  As I made the final turn off the road and headed downhill into the park, I heard someone coming close to me.  I figured it was one of the two I just passed, and was determined not to let them re-pass me.  Picked it up and kicked it in as fast I could, just staying seconds ahead of my suitor.  Only after crossing the finish line did I look back, and saw it wasn't either of the two that I passed but rather a 15-year old who had the fastest run of the day.  He congratulated me on my kick.  It's certainly not often that I hear that!

I am finished!  All tri photos courtesy of
Lake Terramuggus FB page.

Struggled getting started with 1st mile run split of 7:05, picked it up to 6:12 and 5:49 for Miles 2 and 3, respectively.

Final stats:  Full results here

So how did I do?  Awful in T1, not surprisingly pretty poor in both the swim (even for me) and
T2, decent on the bike, and really good on the run.

Friday:  9

AM:  Charlestown, RI.  Recovery run, with off-and-on light rain.  With Brady.  Mix of campground roads and trails.  Jump off the dock at the boat launch into Watchaug Pond.

PM:  Portsmouth, RI.  Possibly my first ever time running in this municipality.  This was entirely in support of my niece Lucy's Portsmouth Family Fun Run that she put on.  Much of it was modeled after our Westerly Fun Runs, but she also added her own twists, including a raffle and handwritten signs.   My assignments were to augment the spray-paint markings on the grass (the course was entirely on grass fields at Lucy's school) and then a course marshal.  Since my course marshal assignment was about 2 miles into the 2-loop course (2 different loops), I ran the 1-mile loop with Brady, and then we went to our assignment.

Start of the kids' 1/3 mile race.
(You can see the WTAC green flag at 3 o'clock)

The 1M / 5K run.  I ran 1M with Brady, before peeling off to
our assigned course marshal station.  Brady is just ahead of
Adam (owner of Run Newport store) pushing a double stroller.

So many young kids asked if they could pet Brady, and of course he was just fine with all the doting.

Saturday:  16

Westerly, RI.  Only a very short section in Westerly, before continuing onto a loop that would traverse parts of Hopkinton, Richmond, and Charlestown.  I really picked a bad morning for this weather-wise as it was about 75°F and 92% humidity.  Five decent but manageable hills (100' to 150') along the way.

I planned water stops at Miles 6 and 12 (where the rivers where) and drank from the rivers using my Salomon XA filter and flask.  I pushed every 4th mile, which helped to nicely break up the solo run into quarters and make it more manageable for me.  I saw John Ward on Woodville Road coming towards me on a bike, but otherwise just a few other bikers and one runner, none of whom I knew.

At Mile 6, I slid and went down hard on the road.  Who falls on the road?!  It was on a patch of slick mud that I didn't see, and it must have washed onto the road during last night's storm.  Ugh.  Turned out to be great timing with my river stop as I washed the road debris and blood out of my new leg cuts.

Started and finished at the kayak launch and fishing area on the Pawcatuck River in Bradford.  I can't remember ever swimming there before, but it sure was refreshing post-run today!  Repeatedly dove under the water and swam upstream against the current and floated downstream.

Glad I got this done, but the cost was that the rest of the day I just felt weak from heat sickness.

Sunday:  9

Charlestown, RI.  Recovery run with Brady on yet another soupy day.  76°F and 93% humidity.  Ugh.  Ran VG Trail CCW and added on down to North Camp Beach, as I wanted Brady to get a good cooling off halfway through.  17 DFKs for a season-to-date 114.

About the only good thing on this run is that with two miles to go, it started to rain steadily.  That not only felt good, but also when we got back to the boat launch area where we parked, both that area and the adjoining beach area were now completely empty in the rain!  Enjoyed swimming and frolicking in the pond in the rain and brought one of Brady's tennis balls for him to swim after.  Was engrossed in the water when I didn't even hear a MTB rider come up to the dock and ask how the water was.  He was watching Brady jump off the dock and swim, and said he had previously had Labrador Retrievers and missed having a swimming dog.

Weekly mileage:  69 run, 8 ride, 2 walk, 0.4 swim

Weekly synopsis:  For such lousy hot and humid weather, really a good running week.  8 out of 11 runs ended with a dunk in the nearby water!  Getting in a tri for practice was good as well, although I'm a long way from the distances I need for the Ironman.  Enjoying having some temporary downtime from running races, especially in this heat.  Not having races undoubtedly helped me get my highest mileage run week since early June, when I coincidentally also did not have a race.

One more weekend free from running races, and then I jump into the trifecta of hot summer races:  Blessing, Kerri, Doyle.

Weekly highlight:  Getting in a good 16-mile hilly training run in this soup.

Weekly lowlight:  Deerflies.  Just hate them.  So many bites and make me itch.  New patches should arrive early next week.  Hoping these work.

Summer Solstice 8M

 

Hebron, CT

Saturday, June 17, 2023

I last ran this race eleven years ago.  At that time the race featured two distances only, a 5K and 5-Miler, the latter distance which I ran and finished in 6th.  This year they had an 8-Mile distance, which also served as one of the USATF-CT MUT (Mountain/Ultra/Trail) races.

After a one-hour drive from Westerly, I arrived at Gay City State Park with plenty of time to spare.  I digress for a moment to satisfy my innate curiosity:  why the weird name?  I'm assuming it has more to do with the traditional meaning of the word gay being "happy" rather than the more modern usage of the term, but in turns out both guesses would be wrong.  Originally settled in 1796 by a religious sect, the surname "Gay" was more common than any of the other residents, and it gradually became known as Gay City and developed as a mill town in the 1800s before burning down post-Civil War and eventually turned over to the state of CT as a state park.  Huh ... who knew?

Big field was used for start, finish, registration, and awards.

Back to the race:  I was on a trail winding down my warm-up when I heard the national anthem play.  I kind of freaked out as I feared I'd miss the start.  Did I screw up?  Not really, as my watch showed 7:21am against a 7:30am start and I was only a quarter-mile away.  Turned around and quickly ran to the field with the start/finish line just as the national anthem was finishing.  No one was on the start line; this was weird but reassuring.

Start:  I was in the first of three waves, and made sure to get up close to the start line, in about the second row.  The first quarter-mile or so was on pavement before we split off onto single-track.  I entered the trail in about 10th place.  The lead woman passed me early on and I enjoyed watching her pass the two guys ahead of me, but it didn't last long.

I just ran my own race, but in doing so, gradually worked up my up in the pack.  The guy immediately in front of me was likely a faster road runner, but each time we got to a technical section he really slowed down.  Then the short technical section was over and he picked up the pace again.  Finally in one crazy section where we had to jump over a partially downed tree in the middle of a rocky trail section, I went past him and didn't look back.  Also caught up to teammate Dave Goodrich, who let me go by, and then on a downhill, re-caught and passed the lead woman.

Early on, behind lead woman.

The rest of the first loop was pretty uneventful and on pretty easy terrain.  I passed two more runners and then at five miles, the five milers peeled off to the finish and we started a second, shorter route.  Grabbed a water at the start of this loop and off I went.  

Start of second loop.

This second loop was not only shorter but also easier.  There was a fair amount of double-track and a long gradual downhill section early in the loop, where is where I ran my fastest mile of the race (Mile 6) in 6:38.  I felt good, the loop went by quickly, I passed two more runners, and I crossed the finish line in 4th place.

Finished!

Final result:  55:28, 4th out of 97 finishers overall, 1st in age group.  Full results here.

Age group award.  Top three got a pie;
just missed that one.

One teammate, Marc Olivier, won the race outright, and with Dave moving up to finish in 6th place, the three of us combined to win the men's open team race today!  This race wasn't particularly hard or technical, but had just enough variability to make it fun.  I would definitely run this again if it fit in my schedule.

(l-r):  me, Mark, Dave

Weekly Log 3-Jul to 9-Jul-2023: Low Mileage Recovery Week

Monday:  0.5 swim

Charlestown, RI

2 days post 52K.  Woke up in the middle of the night with searing pain in my legs.  Slept in and noticed one of my foot blisters had swelled and popped.  Decided to give the old, tired feet a day off and swam instead.  Easy (translation: very slow) swim, triangle from/to the boat launch.

Tuesday:  5

Charlestown, RI

Fourth of July!  With Matthew and Brady.  Plan was to run from the B-game Picnic Area, but it was already packed in the morning, even though there was light rain.  Ran from the Kettle Pond Visitor Center instead.  Very warm and humid.  Dip in Watchaug Pond post-run.

4th of July was quiet for us this year, having been away a lot recently.
But it's always a good time to grill.  Cajun swordfish, zucchini, and garlic bread.

Wednesday:  8

AM:  Charlestown, RI.  Five miles at Ninigret with Matthew and Brady.  Just super humid.  Singlet quickly drenched.

PM:  Westerly, RI.  Fun Run week #6.  Pretty miserable weather with the heat about 80° and humidity in the 80s.  Somehow ran about a 6-flat pace, so that was encouraging despite the weather and recovering from my 50K.

Thursday:  23 ride

Westerly, RI.  Very hot on my 2nd ride.  Incorporated some of the Charlestown hills.  My plan was to go from the bike immediately into a run, but I just felt awful in the heat and spent the rest of the day inside with air conditioning.

Friday:  6

Westerly, RI.  Early (6am) low-tide beach run with Brady.  Six miles seemed a good distance to start with, for my first barefoot run of the season.  Post-run ocean dip felt heavenly in the soupy air.

Spent the late afternoon and early evening running
Sailfest 5K packet pickup at Kelley's Pace.  As Race Director, I don't get
much time to talk to runners on race day.  So it's nice to talk to
runners here, including both those I know and catch up with, as well as
those that have questions.  There were a few first-time 5K'ers
that were looking for advice on different topics, and others that had
questions on nutrition, moving up to longer distances, chafing, etc.
---
Do you remember your first 5K race?  Ironically, mine was a
Kelley's Pace race (Hare Hop) twenty years ago.

Saturday:  11

Exeter, RI.  Arcadia trail run with Brady.  Just oppressive heat and humidity.  Stopped at every river possible for Brady, and joined him in many.  Dunked myself completely at the swimming hole in Breakheart Brook on Shelter Trail, and then back at the check station went in the Wood River for a long soak and swim.

The one issue, and in retrospect it was a big one, was the bugs.  52 DFKs, and three ticks taken off my legs in the Wood River when we finished up.  52 is a disgusting amount of deerflies, and who knows what the ratio is of ones buzzing around my head to the ones I actually kill, but it likely means hundreds were bothering me during the run. 

What was really surprising to me was that the deerfly patches I used FAILED to catch a single deerfly (all 52 kills were by hand, which is kind of disgusting in its own right).  Anyway, after getting home, I went online to check if efficacy of deerfly patches is lost over time.  On the manufacturer's website, it states that the shelf life is three years, and lo and behold, these are more than three years old.  They're only $11 for 12 patches, and a dollar less than that on Amazon, so I'll just get a few more.  (Note:  several reviews also suggested to wear a hat you don't care about as sticky residue can be left behind.  That was the case with me.  Yes, solvent can remove it.)

Here's a picture I posted on my blog 3 years ago,
so clearly they worked at one point.

The bigger problem was the other vile creature you encounter trail running.  Ticks!  Three on me was a price I was willing to pay, but not the 15 or so that we pulled off Brady after he got home.  I have no more trail races in the immediate future, so running roads and dirt roads may make sense for me now.

Sunday:   3

Westerly, RI.  Short and easy run with Brady on local roads at 5am.  After yesterday's deerfly and tick encounters, opted not to go into Winnapaug Farm or Champlin WLT properties.

Weekly mileage:  33 run, 23 ride, 0.5 swim

Weekly synopsis:  Easy recovery week after the longest duration race and likely hardest of my life.  Will pick it up from here.

Weekly highlight:  Barefoot beach run with Brady.  I do like beach running.  Not everyone does.

Weekly lowlight:  Unbelievably bad deerflies and ticks at Arcadia on Saturday.

Weekly Log 26-Jun to 2-Jul-2023: Quebec

Recently watched a clip of the Cheese Rolling Contest (above),
 held near Gloucester, England, where participants race down a
200-yard long hill chasing a wheel of Double Gloucester cheese.
Would be fun to watch, but bonkers to participate in!

Monday:  0

Complete day off.  Very sore and beat up from the weekend. 

Tuesday:  7 run, 2 walk

Westerly, RI

AM:  Short early morning run with Brady on local roads.

AM:  Morning break during an 8-hour WLT Strategic Planning session.  Had many of these during my working career; while this was productive, I don't miss them.  Took a walk around Barlow Preserve.

PM:  Afternoon break - repeat of above.

PM:  5-mile run at Grills at 4pm conclusion of Strategic Planning meeting.  No one out there.  Enjoyed the solitude.

Wednesday:  7

AM:  Hopkinton, RI.  Short early morning run with Brady at Canonchet.  Intended longer, but after 10 DFKs, bailed at two miles.

PM:  Westerly, RI.  Fun Run week #5.  Took it really easy with a big race coming up on Saturday.  20:47.

Thursday:  5

Groton, CT.  Bluff Point run with Brady.  Warm.  Mix of carriage roads and single-track.

Friday:  4

Hartford, VT.  Road run in the White River Junction village with Matthew and Brady, as we stopped here overnight to break up the trip to Quebec.  Roads kind of busy in the first half; second half was better.

Saturday:  32!

Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges, Quebec, Canada

Quebec Mega Trail 50K.   Race report to follow separately.

Sunday:  4

Beaupré, Quebec, Canada

Easy recovery run.  With Matthew and Brady.  To/from our hotel at Mt Sainte-Anne.  Unfortunately, the deerflies are bad up here too.  4 DFKs.

Weekly mileage:  58 run, 1 walk

Weekly synopsis:  After weeks of building up, we finally hit the crescendo, Quebec Mega Trail.  One week of recovery, and then refocus on what's next, including popular local road races in late July and August, and tri buildup.

Weekly highlight:  QMT 50.  Very difficult for me, but rewarding to complete this.

Weekly lowlight:  Deerflies at Canonchet.  Unbearable.

Weekly Log 19-Jun to 25-Jun-2023: From DC to NH

Monday:  0.5 swim, 6 walk

Charlestown, RI

Swim:  Knowing I would be going for a walk at 9am from VG trailhead on Kings Factory, I got there 35 minutes ahead of time to go for a pond swim.  New equipment today included a bright neon yellow swim buoy and a new pair of goggles (thanks Jana).  Swim felt really good.  Arms tired, but not as much as last time.  And time to throw the old goggles out, as I had to bail on the swim last time with leaking goggles, and today was perfect!

Walk:  Met up with John K, his son, and his friend George for a walk of Sammy C's, North Camp, and Vin Gormley back to start.  They all seemed to really enjoy Sammy C's (other than that I couldn't answer who is "Sammy C") and the view at North Camp beach.

On the way back home, stopped at Dave's Coffee
(one of my favorite coffee shops) and sat outside here.
Looks pretty simple to put together.  I'm sure I'm underestimating it,
but maybe this is something I could try at home.  Something about
flowing water is just so soothing to me.

And came home to find this in my driveway.  Probably
the opposite of soothing!

Tuesday:  1 walk, 6 run

AM:  Westerly, RI.  Final CCC before summer break.  Worked on white trail, on west edge of clearing.  Cleared a lot of overgrowth, so hopefully this will extend the trail a bit and pay dividends in the form of lighter maintenance in the fall.

PM:  Charlestown, RI.  Burlingame North with Brady.  First DFK of the season.  Ugh.

Wednesday:  3 walk, 10 run    

Washington, DC.  Down here in the nation's capital with Matthew for two days visiting potential grad schools that he has been accepted in.  Opted to take the train down as 1) I really didn't feel like driving the busy Northeast corridor, and 2) I cashed in a few Amtrak points to get free business class tickets.  I earned them from all the years commuting into Boston when I worked at Fidelity.

Leaving Boston en route to Washington, DC

Walk:  Walked 3 miles including a self-guided tour at George Washington University, then to the place where we'd leave our bags while going for run, from there to dinner, and then to the Metro station to head to the hotel.  Rainy; glad I brought a rain jacket at Jana's suggestion.

Washington's Metro system is one of the nicest in the country

Clean and stately

Run:  After stopping to cross a few busy streets, we ran in East and West Potomac Parks, managed by the National Park Service, and enjoyed about 4 miles of almost zero-traffic park roads.  This was perhaps the best part of the run, as we were on a scenic peninsula where we could just run right in the middle of the park road.  Certainly weather played a factor in the scant amount of cars and people out in the park, but no complaints here.

A few neat scenes along our run:
World War II Memorial

MLK, of course

The iconic Reflecting Pool

and our 16th President

The last part of the run was on the National Mall.  The rain had picked up and there were very few people out and about.  The only downside was how many times we had to stop here at road crossings and wait for a pedestrian signal to go.

Thursday:  13 run, 4 walk

College Park, MD.  Up relatively early (6am) to get in a run before a busy day of college visits and train travel.  I had planned out a 12-mile route to/from our hotel, and the route got expanded by about a mile due to trail closures/detours.  The route we ran broke down to about 4 miles of road and 9 miles of bike paths and trails.

We got most of the roads out of the way early, with 3 miles on mostly neighborhood roads.  We even crossed "Rhode Island Avenue" en route!  We ran through Buddy Attick Park, including along the shores of Greenbelt Lake.  After a short distance on roads, we ran next into the Greenbelt Park, owned and maintained by the National Park Service.  Unfortunately, part of the Perimeter Trail (which I had mapped out) was closed and a detour dropped us into the Greenbelt Campground and this is where the added mile came in.

Nice easy trails and greenway at Greenbelt Park

Note the deer alongside this double-track path

Greenbelt Lake, at Buddy Attick Lake Park

After one more short road stretch, the remainder of the run (~5 miles) was entirely on paved biked paths around a small airport (College Park Airport), around Lake Artemesia, and through a wooded canopy and greenway.  This section was really nice as it included dedicated tunnels under roads and really nice bridges.  Much of it reminded me of the paths I've run on in Rochester, MN.

Washington, DC.  Tour of Georgetown University

Philadelphia, PA.  Self-guided tour of Drexel University

Friday:  3

Charlestown, RI.  Short and easy run with Brady, practicing with canicross leash and harness.  Took me a few tries to get the hang of it.

Late afternoon we drove up to Bear Brook State Park in NH,
where the four of us camped for the night (note tent in background)
and enjoyed a campfire.

Saturday:  10

Gilford, NH.   Gunstock Trailfest.  Separate write-up to follow.

Sunday:  5

Charlestown, RI.  Easy run at Burlingame campground with Brady.  Body is really beat up, bruised, and sore.

Weekly mileage:  48 run, 16 walk, 0.5 swim

Weekly synopsis:  Quite the varied week.  I didn't quite hit my weekly mileage goal (55), but I also walked more miles than I have in a long time, so the combination fit well.

Weekly highlight:  Gunstock canicross run with Brady.  The Maryland run a close second.

Weekly lowlight:  Gunstock 10K. It was a good race course and well organized.  I just fell too much and got banged up and ended up running slow and cautious.  (more to come in race report)

Weekly Log 12-Jun to 18-Jun-2023: Coyote Chase & First Ride

Monday:  4

Westerly, RI.  Easy recovery run with Brady at Grills.  Legs pretty sore after an active weekend with 10-mile Black Fly in my Eye trail race Saturday followed by a 17-mile 5,000' elevation gain mountain run yesterday.  

Highlight of this run was when we were running on the Tom Moore trail (blue near cemetery) when what I thought was a dog was running towards us.  Hmmm, doesn't seem aggressive, but where is the owner, I thought.  It took only a few seconds for me to realize this was no dog.  At that same moment, the coyote (about Brady's height) made a 180° turn, and started running down the trail away from us.  Brady gave chase, and I had a front-row view to the coyote sprinting down the trail with Brady on his heels in hot pursuit.  Then I didn't see either one.  A couple of turns ahead, I caught up to Brady.  The coyote eventually ran off the trail into thick woods and Brady apparently had enough at that point.

Salomon Ultra Glide:  paid $56 for this $140 retail shoe,
direct from Salomon as they were looking to clear out inventory

Tuesday:  3 walk, 10 run

AM:  Westerly, RI.  Penultimate session of Westerly Land Trust's CCC (Coffee & Clearing Club) Tuesday volunteers.  Part of a team of five that cleared the overgrown blue trail from the road CCW to Polly Coon bridge, where my bladed weed-whacker ran out of gas.  Hopefully this will keep the trails open a little longer and also mitigate the work needed in September.

PM:  Charlestown, RI.  VG loop with Matthew, plus Burlingame Trail.  Warm and swampy in places.  Legs pretty sore two days after last weekend's mountain adventures.  Second run in the Salomon Ultra Glides.  They felt fine except for the lacing system.

Wednesday:  16 ride, 5 run

AM:  Westerly, RI.  1st ride of the season.  Got out my new bike computer to replace the one stolen at last year's Newport Tri.  Calibrated and attached it.  Will have to remember to remove it from tris, or at least the ones that don't have any security at transition and don't ask you to show your bib to remove a bike from transition.  Easy coastal spin which didn't feel so easy.  A long ways to go ...

PM:  Westerly, RI.  Fun Run week #3.  It downpoured ten minutes prior to start.  Fortunately we had set up a canopy at the finish line to protect the electronic clock.  The rain slowed during the kids run, and then stopped completely one mile into the 5K.  No matter, as I was already soaked, and the rain actually felt good.  Ran and chatted with Dave Goodrich for one mile, before running the last two solo.  19:58.

Thursday:  11 run, 3 walk

Exeter, RI.  Arcadia trail / dirt road loop from Midway, CCW including most of Breakheart and parts of Shelter.  With Matthew and Brady.

Westerly, RI.  Got back just in time for the final WLT Hike Series of the season.  Good group of 12 (including Brady and Jana) on the Cottrell -> Town Forest -> Whitely loop, with a picnic lunch at the Whitely field.  The weekly series now morphs into a kayak series.  I have the time, but not the kayak (unless I continue to borrow).

Good size group at today's final walk

Along the trails in Cottrell Preserve

Friday:  5 run, 1 walk

AM:  Charlestown, RI.  Very warm run in Ninigret Park with Matthew and Brady.  Stopped after five and played frisbee with Brady for a bit.

PM:  Westerly, RI.  Walk in the rain at Avondale with Brady.

Saturday:  10

Hebron, CT.  Summer Solstice 8M Trail Race.   Race report to follow.

Sunday:  8

Richmond, RI.  Carolina South and North recovery run, with Matthew and Brady.

Weekly mileage:  54 run, 7 walk, 16 ride

Weekly synopsis:  Decent mileage, plus a group "hike" and my first ride of the season.

Weekly highlight:  Summer Solstice trail race.

Weekly lowlight:  None.

Black Fly in my Eye

 

Green's Grant, NH

Saturday, June 10, 2023

Interesting historical note:  Unincorporated township Green's Grant was a grant of land in 1774 from the governor of the British colony of New Hampshire to a French and Indian War lieutenant by the name of Francis Green.

This race had been on my radar for some time.  I had run some of these trails at Great Glen Trails before, and it was interesting that there was a trail race comprising three distinct loops and a water crossing.  Matthew and I had come up the night prior and camped at Bear Brook State Park.  It had rained the previous afternoon, but for today the rain had held off thus far, but not for much longer today.

I had brought several shoe options and considering how everything was wet, I opted for my VJ Spark shoes, as they would be the grippiest in the wet weather.  Also went with my feetures Elite Ultra Light socks, as their tagline is blister free.

I was pretty unimpressed by the RD who during race remarks initially said our first loop would be on a red marked loop, but then recanted and said something like no, let me check with someone that really knows what's going on.  That person came on the scene and it confirmed, yes, red is the first loop.  Didn't exactly exude confidence, but I did look at the trail map (below) beforehand and we also saw the course splits on our warm-up.

Loop 1:  A light rain was falling as 67 runners toed the start line at 10am.  35 of us were running the 10-mile race, 25 the 3-mile race, and 7 in a 3-person 10-mile relay.  Loops 1 and 3 are on the other side of the road (Route 16) and we cross under the road via a tunnel.  About a half-mile in, I passed the lead woman to move into 7th place.  I looked ahead and saw Matthew for the last time, in 3rd place just behind two leaders.  About this time the rain intensified and was coming down pretty hard.

I had a fast Mile 1 at 6:42, partly because a slight downhill, but mostly because it was on manicured double-track.  About a mile in, I caught up to the kid in 6th place.  Seemed like age 15 or so.  Each time I caught him, he would surge ahead, and then we would repeat the sequence.  This isn't my first rodeo and in my experience this always ends poorly for the person (often a teenager) surging.  Such was the case here as well.  After four of these surges, he was done and I finally went past him with ease.

Ahead of me were two guys running side-by-side, one in a blue shirt and another in a yellow.  I slowly caught up to the two of them, and on a slight uphill, I went past yellow guy and for the remainder of Loop 1, it was blue guy, then me, then yellow guy, all pretty close together.  As we closed out Loop 1, I remember thinking I came all the way up to Great Glen to run easy, mostly flat and manicured trail loops?  But that would soon change ...

Loop 2:  The second loop winds behind the race start and Great Glen building, and then climbs 400'.  It was runnable, but uphills are not my forte, and this would be my slowest mile at 9:34.  At the base of the muddy hill climb, I remember thinking this is where I would get dropped and wouldn't see these two guys again.  I did get dropped by blue guy, but yellow guy didn't even pass me.  Hmm.  At the top of the hill climb, we made a hard left more than 90 degrees, so I glanced back.  Yellow guy not even in sight, but a guy in neon green is right on my tail.  Where did he come from?  

What goes up must go down, and we spent most of the next mile (Mile 5) going 400' back downhill at an average grade of 8%.  I didn't think I'd see blue guy again, but halfway down the hill, I caught and passed him!  This would be my fastest mile at 6:28.  Luckily I refrained from celebrating, as next would be a short uphill, only about 50', but enough for blue guy to catch and re-pass me.  And next someone comes right up on me and blows past me.  I figured this was green guy finally catching up again, but no, this guy is in orange.  And where did he come from?  Will everyone pass me?  Orange guy is quickly long gone, but I keep blue guy in sight as we come back to the start/finish to end Loop 2.

Loop 3:  OK, one to go.  We enter the tunnel to get to the other side of the road, continue on manicured dirt roads for a bit, and then split off to the final loop (yellow marked).  The first mile of this loop is easy and flat, and then we head uphill on some pretty muddy double-track.  Green guy does catch up to me here and passes me.  I watch him pass blue guy as well on a climb, and it isn't long before both of them and gone and out of sight.  Sigh.  

Continuing the gradual climb all alone now, after a couple more turns, I spy a woman ahead of me.  What the heck?  It's not that I think that a woman can't run faster than me and be ahead of me (many can and do), but it's that I was pretty sure I had already passed the lead woman back in Mile 1 and I knew exactly who was ahead of me (the two male leaders, Matthew, orange guy, green guy, and blue guy).  I gradually reeled in and passed the woman and was alone again as I finished my hill climb.  

Cresting the hill, two things came to mind:  I had less than two miles to go and with most of it downhill, and we still that river crossing that they promised in Loop 3.  I was hoping the river crossing would be close to the finish so that we could go back to it as part of a cool-down.  I enjoyed the long downhill, and towards the end of it, I saw blue guy again!  I gradually gained on him, and passed him just as the hill was leveling out.  My downhill advantage is now gone, and I know I need to give it all I have now and I'm not confident that will be enough to outlast him.  He's clearly much younger than me and not in my age group, but it's good to have someone to push me.  We enter a short, twisty, single-track section and then exit onto a big field where the Mt Washington Road Race starts.  

At the end of the field, I can finally see the river crossing ahead.  Yay!  The river is boulder strewn and swift moving, but probably only calf deep.  There is a rope on the right side of the river, but I just wing it, ignore the rope, and splash my way through the river as fast as I can.  As I enter the river, I see green guy ahead of me having just exited the river!  That gives me even more incentive to push.  Exiting the river, there is a steep "wall" that is the steepest terrain on the course.  To be clear, it's only about 30' high, but just is very steep and unexpected.  I'm within feet of green guy here, but it's misleading as that's only because he has already made it up the "wall".  After the wall, it's manicured gravel back through the tunnel and to the finish line as I chase green guy and finish 14 seconds behind him, but a full 24 seconds ahead of blue guy.

Very cool river crossing.
---
NOTE:  This pic is from Matthew during re-staged crossing post race,
and at request of race videographer (crouching behind my
right shoulder)

Final results:  1:11:24, 5th overall out of 35.  Full results here.

Start and finish of race

I was surprised to learn I was 5th and not 6th.  It turned out that orange guy (that blew past me in Loop 2) was part of a relay team and not running the full 10-mile race, so that me feel better.  And he handed off to the woman I passed in Loop 3, solving that mystery for me as well.

My race went well, and I'm happy with my results, along with the fun conditions out there in the rain and mud.  After the cooldown the rain stopped and the sun actually came out for a little while.

What I liked about this race:

• Ample parking close to the start.
• Quick and easy check-in.
• Beautiful area (at base of Mount Washington Auto Road).
• Sufficiently marked.  Not excellent, but enough that I had never concerns.
• Three separate and distinct loops, each with its own flavor.

What I didn't care for:

• Very small field size.  Not the race organization's fault.  Or is it?  Couldn't this be marketed better?  (Note:  I got lucky as I almost always within sight of someone, but it could have easily gone the other way, as the top three guys were seven minutes ahead of us, and the next guy after my little pack of 3 was ten minutes behind us.)
• No age group awards.  I don't go to races for awards, but I just like the competition being age-graded  for me to have something to shoot for and be able to gauge my projected time and results.
• Limited info in results.  No age or hometown.