Upcomming Races

Since April of 2008, I have raced a whopping four times

Allen Park Memorial Hillclimb, Vermont October, 2008
CTS Cheyenne Cañon Time Trial, Colorado July, 2009
Cheyenne Cañon Mountain Race, Colorado July, 2009
CTS Sand Creek Series Race 3, Colorado August, 2009

OK, so I am no Bernie and I never will be but I am going to be racing a couple of times in the next several weeks. Here is a preview of the prestigious events that I have planned for the rest of the year. I will be keeping it low key for the rest of 2009 while I get back full strength before (hopefully) hitting a more aggressive race schedule in 2010.

Saturday October 24th Into the Darkness 4 Mile Night Trail Run Roanoke Metro, VA

This sounds like fun. It is a trail race. It is at night. It is not too far away (~52 miles). I will probably bike in on the morning of, chill out all day, run the race and then head back along the Blue Ridge Parkway part way and stop to camp for the night (I do not want to ride back the entire way in the dark). The race course is a mixture of singletrack specifically designed for mountain biking, fire roads, and gravel roads. I do way too much of my running at night and have done quite a bit of headlamp-assisted trail running at night as well. It will be interesting to see how that translates over into racing with a headlamp...

Sunday October 25th Hospice Hustle 5km, Lexington, VA

This is the day after Into the Darkness but it is not until 2:30pm, the course sounds like fun, and Hospice programs are certainly worthy of my support (in the form of my entry fee- not in the form of my celebrity running presence). Speaking of the course, it starts by the hospice in Lexington, heads through town (downhill) to Jordans Point park where it gets on the Woods Creek Trail and heads back uphill through campus (about one half of the course is on the trail) I will probably not make it out to this one but if I do not race Into the Darkness, I will definitely race here.

Saturday October 31 Living Waters 5K Race Lexington, VA

This race starts and ends at Jordans Point Park in Lexington which means that it will probably run out and back along the Woods Creek Trail- which is not a bad thing. According to the race information, the tiny $5.00 entry fee will go to support installation of water purification systems in Guatemala. If I do not go to race, I will at least go to volunteer as I am teaching a water resources course for the winter semester and I would like to speak with some of the people involved in the Maury River Mission Community.

Saturday, November 14 Domino's 50th Annual Lexington to Buena Vista 10K Lexington, VA

This is the oldest road race in Virginia (we are definitely not in New England any more) and one of the two big endurance contests in the area (the other being a road run - road bike - kayak or canoe - trail run quadrathlon called the Lexington Road & River Relay in May). As you may have discerned from the event title, the race begins in Lexington a few feet from my apartment, runs the hilly-but-flattest-road-around-here and scenic four-lane divided highway called Route 60 to Buena Vista.

GSA National Meeting

I am headed for the national annual meeting of the Geological Society of America GSA this weekend out in Portland (the western one). This is one of the two big meetings in the USA for people that study the Earth- the other being the even bigger December meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). I will be presenting a poster on what I believe to be the most interesting facet of the rocks that I have been studying for the past several years (peridotites from Nintyone Mile Creek Canyon in the Upper Granite Gorge of the Grand Canyon.) The nice thing about presenting a poster (as opposed to giving a talk) is that once the printing is done, you can sit back and relax (instead of worrying about and working on your talk). Granted, getting the poster together was exhausting but the finished product looks pretty good (that's the sound of me patting myself on the back) aside from the printer's unfortunate reinterpretation of some of my dashed lines- very odd.

Portland should be fun- I have Friday off from any official duties and I am going to relax, go to Powell's, and go for a run in Forest Park. Forest Park is reputed to be one of the world's great urban running experiences and, though I have been to Portland many times, my visits have either been for the purpose of attending a race (no need to run in the park) or using the airport (no opportunity to run in the park). My hotel is close by- not by accident.

Saturday, we headed up to Mount St. Helens for the day- also something that I have not been able to do before. Sunday, is my poster session so that will, of course be the focus of the day. Monday, I will be in meetings all day before catching a red-eye for parts East.

Course Records

A few days ago, doubleD noted on his blog that he had set 146 course records (CRs) of which 17 remain (see posts here, here, here, and here). As someone who has, for the past decade or so, committed my efforts to endurance events where comparisons between courses (PRs) are not particularly helpful, I really like CRs because they provide a means through which you can measure yourself against an event and its history. I did not count snowshoe races "CRs" as CRs because the conditions can vary so much from year to year that it is difficult to make comparisons of speed across a temporal section. While I certainly do not keep the comprehensive/ exhaustive/ meticulous records that doubleD does, here are the CRs that I have and have had from my record and off of the top of my head.

1999 McDonald's Forest 15K, Corvallis, OR (52:47, old CR 55:06, Eric Reed)
1999 Elephant's Perch Backcountry 16.5 Mile Sun Valley, ID (1:43:35, old CR 1:46:35, Carl VanCalcar)
1999 Mount Hood Ski Bowl Scramble Mount Hood Metro, OR (41:44, old CR 48:05 some guy)
2000 Salmon Run 10km, Bend, OR (31:11 new course)- probably subsequently broken
2000 Otley Chevin Fell Race, Otley, England (17:10, old CR Mick Hill 17:14)- subsequently broken by the legendary Ian Holmes
2000 Erringden Moor Fell Race, Mytholmroyd, England (58:14, old CR???)- probably subsequently broken
2001 Mt. Toby Trail Run Sunderland, MA (1:25:11, old CR ??? by ???)- subsequently broken by Michael Page (1:24:32) then Ryan Carrera (1:23:26)
2002 adidas 7sisters trail race Amherst, MA (1:43:17, old CR 1:46:xx by Matt Cull)
2003 Nike ACG 10k Beaver Creek, CO (42:19, new course)- tie with Simon Gutierrez- race no longer run
2003 Northfield Mountain Race Northfield, MA (national team trial race) (50:05, new course)- subsequently broken by (the infamous) Josh Ference-the first of three courses to be used for the 'Northfield' race
2003 Talking Turkey 6 Mile XC Race Holyoke, MA (30:04, old record 30:09? by Sandu Rubenic)- subsequently broken by Nate Jenkins (and others)
2004 Monson Memorial Classic Monson, MA (1:09:58, old record 1:10:26 by Byrne Decker)- current record 1:07:50 by Alene Reta (2006)
2006 7sisters trail race Amherst, MA (1:42:06, old CR 1:43:17 by Paul Low)
2006 Tha Rivah Andover, MA (56:30, old CR 56:42 by Dave Dunham)
2006 Borderland 16 Mile Trail Run Eston, MA (1:46:22, new course)- race no longer run

So, my total is:

14 total (including the only time that I have broken my own CR- at 7sisters in 2006)
7 current (including 2 one-time races- both of which offered prize money and not including two races where I think the record has been subsequently broken)

The photo to the right is the only pic that I could find of me actually setting a CR. It was taken by Gary Bridgman at the 2003 Northfield Mountain Race

Finally, a winter sport more obscure than snowshoeing

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you are probably familiar with the relatively obscure sport of snowshoeing (aka racket racing). If you were to rank competitive winter sports by how mainstream they are (in terms of overall popularity, media coverage, prestige of major titles, olympicness, et cetera) the list would probably look like this:

More mainstream

Downhill/freestyle skiing

Downhill/freestyle snowboarding

Figure skating (female and pairs)

Ice fishing

Drunken sledding (NCAA)

Cross-country skiing

Bobsledding

Ice dancing

Ski jumping

Skijoring

Luge
Skeleton racing
Ice sculpting (chainsaw division)
Curling
Speedskating
Sasquatch wrestling
Figure skating (male)
Short-track speedskating
Drunken sledding (non-NCAA)
Biathlon
Ice sculpting (non-chainsaw division)
Snowshoe racing

Less mainstream

Recently, the folks blogging for Outside Magazine have posted a video of a new sport called cross-country snowboarding which promises to dethrone snowshoeing as winter's most obscure sport. The video is a pretty good way to spend three minutes of your day and the comments section needs more input from people who do not realize that this is a mockumentary.

Above: the largest event (Curley's 2004) in the most obscure sport (snowshoe racing) in the center of the snowshoe racing universe (western Mass)

Training Update 16

Monday S21: AM 1:07 cycling- Valley and Ridge

Tuesday S22: PM 1:31 cycling- out to Glenn Maury Park in BV to recce a field stop and back- hammered and felt good

Wednesday S23: PM 0:59 running- laps around the practice fields after dark

Thursday: S24: PM 1:01 cycling- Valley and Ridge- got caught in the dark (again)

Friday S25: PM 1:50 running- out and back on the Chessie Trail (dead flat) and some roads in Lex (got too dark to continue on the trail...)

Saturday S26: AM 2:34 running- out and back on the Chessie Trail- felt good for about 2 hours, rough for the rest

Sunday S27: AM 1:05 cycling- just felt like $%!# and turned back way prematurely

Weekly Totals:
5:23 running (53% of total)
4:04 cycling (47% of total)
Total: 10:00

Comments: Not a good week at all. No quantity (10 hours?!?), no quality and messed up sleep. I wonder how much more of this I can take before I develop a Paper Street-style psychogenic fugue. The image above is a screen shot from Google Earth of the view from the pavilion at Glenn Maury Park in BV


Monday S28: AM 1:46 cycling- Valley and Ridge

Tuesday S29: PM 1:01 running- laps around the practice fields after dark

Wednesday S30: PM 2:30 cycling- out to the BRPW, South to a stop for tomorrow's lab (just before the tunnel) and back- felt good and hammered

Thursday O01: PM 1:05 running- laps around the practice fields after dark- legs felt good

Friday O02: PM 2:29 running- out and back on the Chessie Trail- felt good for the first 1.5 and pretty rough for the last hour

Saturday O03: AM 3:23 cycling- Valley and Ridge- up Goshen pass- felt good PM 1:01 running- back campus- leg felt tired

Sunday O04: AM 1:18 cycling- out to the Belfast trailhead- easy 2:43 running- up Belfast Trail past Devils Marble Yard and to the AT, left (north) on the AT down to the James River and back, - a very good run with two big climbs PM 3:02 cycling- up Petites Gap Road to the BRPW, North to 60, back to Lex (started about 20 minutes after finishing my run)

Weekly Totals:
8:19 running (41% of total)
11:59 cycling (59% of total)
Total: 20:18

Comments: A decent week- kind of like a few weeks back, though with a carp week followed by a really good weekend (F,S,S made a nice "hard work sandwich"). I am still having trouble sleeping and this is still affecting my ability to get out for AM workouts. Not only am I missing morning workouts, but I had to do two runs after dark this week- not good. The highpoint of the week was my 2:43 run on the AT. I was planning on going for two hours because I had a lot of cycling planned (getting there and back) but when it came time to turn around, I was not too far from the James River. I decided that I wanted to get out to the river crossing before heading back so that I would have a nice, long climb back up to the ridge during the second half of the run. The trail through here is fantastic, coming off of the ridge on the way out, you catch nice glimpses of the James- after the leaves fall, there will be miles of great views. The image above is of the Devils Marble Yard (the white scar on the side of the mountain) from the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Training Update 15

Monday A24: PM 1:02 running- 20 min WU, 3,2,1,3,2,1,3,2,1 hard with 2,1,1,2,1,1,2,1,1, easy- felt really good and knee felt pretty good, a promising run

Tuesday A25: AM 2:20 cycling- first ride on my new ride- a good time PM 0:33 running- out and back along the creek- felt not good

Wednesday A26: PM 1:10 running- Back Campus trails- felt ok

Thursday A27: PM 1:00 running- Back Campus trails- felt hot and slow

Friday A28: AM 1:11 running- Back Campus trails- felt good PM 2:02 cycling- out and back on 39- hammered the return trip

Saturday A29: AM 4:02 cycling- to the Blue Ridge Parkway, North along the parkway, then back- felt pretty good PM 0:54 running- Back Campus trail- knee felt good most of the time

Sunday A30: AM 2:24 cycling- to the Blue Ridge, 1:11 running- out and back on the AT south of the Lynchburg Reservoir- felt good despite the heat PM 1:51 cycling- back to Lex from the Blue Ridge

Weekly Totals:
7:01 running (36% of total)
12:39 cycling (64% of total)
Total: 19:40

Comments: An ok week with good consistency and a good workout on Monday and a good ride on Saturday. A good total for the week (although I really wanted 20 hours). The picture from this week is on the AT just south of the Lynchburg Reservoir (I saw it while out looking (unsuccessfully) for a certain formation of rocks that are no where near this location- I had left my map at home...


Monday A31: PM 1:02 running- Back Campus

Tuesday S01: PM 0:57 cycling- East of Lex

Wednesday S02: AM 2:13 cycling- east of town- had to hammer back in to be back in time for a meeting

Thursday S03: PM 0:52 cycling- east of Lex

Friday S04: AM 1:41 running- out and back on the Chessie Trail

Saturday S05: AM 4:24 cycling- up to the Blue Ridge and north and then back

Sunday S06: AM 1:02 cycling- out toward the Blue Ridge- felt so rough that I just tuned back in BV

Weekly Totals:
4:07 running (40% of total)
7:15 cycling (60% of total)
Total: 12:11

Comments: A rough week with my insomnia really taking a toll on my ability to get in my morning workouts and messing with my quality (when I do not get enough sleep, I seem to lose a lot of my strength…). This week's pic is from the underpass where RT-60 intersects the Blue Ridge Parkway. While I am not responsible for this act of graffiti, I do share the sentiment of its author.


Monday S07: AM 2:28 cycling- out to look at some phantom kimberlites and back felt good but my pedal was messed up PM 0:32 running- around campus

Tuesday S08: AM 0:47 cycling- errands around Lex on the Xootr PM 1:25 running- out and back on the Cassie Trail- felt really good and hammered

Wednesday S09: PM 1:02 running- two laps of the Back Campus Trails

Thursday S10: PM 1:02 running- on the Back Campus Trails

Friday S11: AM 0:59 running- around Back Campus

Saturday S12: AM 1:34 running- out and back on the Cassie Trail- felt ok

Sunday S13: AM 1:00 cycling- on the Xootr- headset is messed up.

Weekly Totals:
5:34 running (61% of total)
4:15 cycling (39% of total)
Total: 10:49

Comments: Even worse than last week with the sleep thing and my new bike broke- the pedal broke (more later when I write a review of how shitty the Crank Brothers MXR pedals are).


Monday S14: PM 0:58 cycling- Went out east of Lex with platform pedals on my new Moto- totally stripped out the crank by the end of the ride and had to walk it in in the final mile or so

Tuesday S15: AM 1:06 running- two laps around the back campus trails- felt pretty good

Wednesday S16: PM 0:59 cycling- around Lex- first day with the new cranks and pedals- got caught in the dark- damn you, fall.

Thursday S17: PM 0:56 cycling East of Lex

Friday S18: AM 0:54 running- Back Campus trails

Saturday S19: AM 4:06 cycling- up to the Blue Ridge and around and around PM 2:08 running- along the AT south to around the Lynchburg Reservoir- felt good

Sunday S20: AM 2:55 running- along the AT north to the top of Long Mountain- felt pretty good (while running pretty slowly) PM 2:10 cycling- back home over the Blue Ridge- felt tired and dehydrated!

Weekly Totals:
7:03 running (44% of total)
9:09 cycling (66% of total)
Total: 16:12

Comments: A bit better than the last two weeks with some really good stuff and the end of the week. Actually, a pretty crappy week except for a phenomenal weekend. My 2:55 run on Sunday was not the greatest but it felt good to get out on single track for almost three hours and my knee did not feel bad at all. This weeks pic is from the top of the Incline on the morning of the BTMR.

Preamble to A brief preview for the senior men’s team race… (below)

If you read my blog, you probably already realize that the biggest race on the mountain running planet is this weekend in Italy. The first ever World Mountain Running Championship (after 24 years of World Mountain Running Trophies) will go off on Sunday, September 6th. If you are unfamiliar, this is the race that most (not all) of the best mountain runners in the USA aim for as the big race of their season/career. Ever since I started racing on mountains back in 1998, up until knee problems got in the way of my being competitive, this was the most important race on my calendar and my goal for the last several of those years (starting in 2004) was to bring home a team medal. Medals go to the top three teams so they are quite difficult to come by- particularly since, as we will see below, the gold is usually reserved for the Italian team. From 2004 to 2007, the US senior men’s team was not able to finish on the podium though we were 'close' a few times. In 2004, every individual on our squad with four first-time team members ran well and we finished 8 (two points out of 6th and 27 points out of 3rd). In 2005, we improved to 6th (18 points out of third) but our team this time around had three athletes perform very well and three athletes perform poorly. Likewise, in 2006, we finished 5th (a healthy 52 points out of 3rd) with three athletes performing very well and three athletes performing poorly. In 2007, we fell back to 9th but, unlike back in 2004 where each individual on the team ran at or near their potential, only Payton ran what I would call a good race. I was the fourth and final scoring runner for both the 2005 and 2006 teams, and was in the poorly performing half of the team in both instances. In 2005, all that I would have needed was as fairly mediocre 30th place instead of my 50th for a spot on the podium; in 2006, however, I would have needed a 15th place- which would have tied my best finish (from 2003).

Since I feel fully responsible for our team’s failure to win a medal in Wellington and partially responsible for our lack of Bursa hardware, I was very excited when the senior men’s team finally won a medal in 2008. I knew that we (when I say ‘we’ I am referring to 'we' the American mountain running community) had a good team going into the race- Simon had two top ten WRMT finished on his cv and was running well, Joe and Rickey were posting excellent performances against established competition in Europe, and Eric always runs solid. Matt and Zac had run well on The Hill but you never know how well someone is going to run at their first worlds… For the first time since 2004, everyone on the men’s senior team ran at or near their potential at the 2008 WMRT. Rickey and Joe broke into the top-20 and Simon was the final scorer at 25th place! Over the past ten years, a place on the podium requires a team score of around 80 (4 runners averaging 20th place) and in 2008, things followed form with a score of 76 points good for 3rd place! (continue below)