Mohonk 'Marathon'

Today I ended up running a marathon distance in my long run. I always pay much more attention to hours than miles because of the types of trails I normally run, but since I was on smoother stuff today I wanted to keep track of miles also. The Pineland Farms 50k in 4 weeks will be on smooth dirt roads, so that's why I headed up to Mohonk today.

I decided to do laps at the incredibly scenic overcliff-undercliff loop starting at the west Trapps parking area. I wasn't sure exactly how far it was, between 4 and 5 miles around the loop, so I would run and see how many I would do, probably 5 laps, over 3:50 for sure because that was my plan for the long run this week, and maybe hike the last part of it.

I loved the long slightly down overcliff trail running north, with the Catskill skyline 20 miles to the west resplendent. These are Mohonk carriage roads, which are very smooth crushed stone or cinder, not the fastest footing, but not slow.

As I was in the third lap I could see the way the main loop plus the side trip each time to the parking area to refuel would add up to over a marathon if I did 5 loops, so I decided to run all of it. Overall 26.51 GPS miles, 4:29:27 5.9mph 1620 feet of climb and descent, per garmin connect. Fun training run, but I was pretty stiff that 5th loop.

Considering it was a training run at heart rate 142 (74%max), and that I'm still at least 15 lbs over my race weight, I'm happy with that kind of time, and my legs are still slow from running tons of slow technical trails over the winter. I'll know if I overdid it by Friday or Saturday, when I plan to do some ~mile repeats.

The Catskill skyline

 

Overcliff carriage road

The head of the Overcliff-Undercliff loop

Across the valley nearby

 

Weekly Fun 4/29/12

This week was scheduled as a rest week, and so it was, with lower volume and nothing long. I even avoided doing more hiking this week - easy because it was cool and rainy early in the week, and, after some unseasonably warm weather recently, it was relatively cold and windy later in the week.

Feeling like I needed an intermediate goal, this week I signed up for the Pineland Farms 50k run in Maine on May 27th. While my training hasn't been specific for a 50k, I should have enough base to finish it without a problem, but most likely I will look at it as a fun run, and will run it according to how I feel that day, and of course the weather.

Mon 23-Apr    run    0:53    450    4    harriman
                        hike    0:34    180    2.5    harriman

An easy run up the creek valley with some hiking.

Tues 24-Apr    run    1:41    1230    4    141    ram park, 9 mins brisk (5k pace)
                       hike    0:18    50    2    ram park

As my fitness improves and I get a little faster, I can reach more trails, and I found some new trails within reach for this medium run. The trails turned out to be slower and more technical than I'd planned on, which was fine, but as I get fitter, the terrain is making it harder for me to get my heart rate up high enough, except of course up hills. More on that later.

Wed 25-Apr    run    0:20        1    new paltz rail trail
                       hike    0:30        2    new paltz rail trail

Just did a really easy recovery jog and the rest fast walking.

Thur 26-Apr    run    0:53    500    5.5    ram park, two tempo intervals
                       hike   0:10        2    ram park

My Achilles were feeling tight and my energy was lackluster as I dragged myself out for a 50ish minute run today. As I warmed up on the mud flats I started feeling good and ran up the hill to the reservoir, decided to do the secondary little lap up the orange trail, then looping back left to the res via the red and yellow trails.

I took off up the hill and felt good so I ran the hill harder than usual, and decided to run the loop at tempo pace, so I continued to push hard as I got onto the sweeping flats of the red trail. After similarly pushing around and down the switchbacks of the yellow trail I found I'd run that in 12:42. I figure it was about a 10k effort. Last time I clocked myself on this little loop it was 16+.

Then I was still feeling good, so I took off around the res and ran that in 10:47, but don't have anything to compare that to. It's a really technical little loop, and not one I normally like to run hard as it has lots of contouring, which can be hard on your ankles. This second effort I pushed at about 10 mile race pace. So I think I probably did my speed for the week right there.

Fri 27-Apr    run    1:17    540    5.5    144    harriman, down red trail brisk hr150
                     hike    0:18    40    2.5    harriman

Today I was scouting a familiar route to see if it would be appropriate for a bunch of repeats for my long run, so that I wouldn't have to carry much. I run this trail all the time, but after signing up for the Pineland Farms 50k, which is on faster dirt roads, I wasn't quite sure if this terrain at Harriman would be best for my last long run before that race. Upon closer inspection, even this easier trail is too slow = too technical and rocky, to be the best training for Pineland.

Sat 28-Apr    run    0:41    60    3    134    ram park
                     hike    0:10            ram park
Sun 29-Apr   off    -- rare day of complete rest!

Saturday I did a few easy laps around my little river/reservoir loop. 


Faster running and the need for faster surfaces:

A good sign is that I've felt like running faster in recent weeks, and last week tried running faster on the river/reservoir loop, which has a 0.88 mile section I can run faster on sandy trails, then a 0.37 shorter section on slower trails to recover, so I plan to do repeats there from time to time in the coming months. This week I did a few tempo pace intervals and felt pretty good.

My run Friday convinced me that I need to run on faster surfaces sometimes, including long runs. The best pace I could manage running moderately hard down the red trail was 11:28 per mile. For a similar effort on flat stuff, I would be running about 8:30 per mile. Most of those trails are even slower, even up to 50% or more slower than roads. Before Pineland Farms, I want to run on faster surfaces. Doing all my runs on slower technical trails is fine for strength, but the consequent lower stride rate and shorter stride length won't make me any faster.


I will likely do my ~4 hour long run next week on the carriage roads at Mohonk in New Paltz, as that terrain better matches race conditions, and it wouldn't hurt me to run on a faster surface once in a while, even though I don't enjoy carriage roads much at all compared to single-track.

Week Summary:
Rtime Rclimb Ltime Lclimb   Htime Hclimb Onfeet
5:45    2780    1:41    1230    2:00    270    7:45

That makes 100 hours for the year, a modest volume for most people, but for me that's good four months into the year, and it's a little ahead of my plan.

Goals:
5/27 Pineland Farms 50 km run
7/29 Escarpment trail 30 km mountain run
9/30 Vermont 50 km run

(no pictures this week)

Update

I signed up for a 50k on May 27th!
http://www.pinelandtrails.com/50-km/
Working on:
"Notes on tecnical running"
"Flipping the Psychological Switch"
"Catskills Off-Trail Backpacking"

Outdoor Week Ending 4/22/12

This week was pretty good, featuring a medium-long run, the secondary long run in my three week long run cycle. I delayed the run until Friday because last week's bigger long run was also Friday, instead of earlier in the week. Next week is all easy shorter running stuff, so maybe I add some more hiking. This weeks summary:

Run    Climb    Long   Climb  Hike  Climb  On feet
6:39    2855    2:35    1450    4:18  2230   10:57

Detail:

Date       type   h:mm  climb level (HR) description
16-Apr    run    1:29    605    4    harriman, very hot! 90f
16-Apr    hike    0:38    480    3    harriman,

Way too hot for April, and the hot weather seemed to bring some strange people out into the woods. I saw some things I'd rather not have seen.

17-Apr    run    0:43    600    4    ram park

Easy little loop up the silver then orange trails, to the red-yellow left loop, wearing the NB MT20s. Love wearing those minimal shoes once in a while to reconnect with the ground more.

18-Apr    run    0:33        3    harriman
18-Apr    hike    1:11   560    2    harriman

This was an easy hike up the valley and run down on the white trail. Another big advantage of doing run-hikes is that you can run whatever part of the terrain you want, and go easy on the other stuff. On this day I didn't want to do any uphill running at all, so didn't, but was still able to enjoy a great hilly technical trail.

19-Apr    run    0:36        8    ram park
19-Apr    hike    0:40    300    2    ram park

At Ramapo park a few times when I wanted really easy runs, I had done a short mostly flat loop around the small lower lake, along the river a little, then looping back to the other side of the lake. I had thought of doing intervals there since part of the loop is open running with decent footing on a somewhat-too-sandy road, not nearly as fast as asphalt, but for me much more enjoyable.

I'd seen natural starting and ending points for the work part of the interval, with a shorter section on slower trails, so I just kind of did it as a lark, but ended up working the second interval a little and the third I pushed more. I'm still carrying more weight than I want, and need to start doing more quality running soon, but I felt good opening it up a little, probably finishing at about 6:00 pace. Splits based on GPS:

Time     Dist     Pace         HR   %hrmax
7:14.0    0.81    8:55.8      136    71     MP
4:03.9    0.37    10:59.2    138    71.5  recovery
6:21.1    0.81    7:50.5      160    83     10 mile pace
3:53.8    0.37    10:31.9    152    78     recovery
6:03.2    0.82    7:22.9      169    88     10k pace
4:10.4    0.38    10:58.9    155    80     recovery

20-Apr    run    2:35    1450    4    145    harriman
20-Apr    hike    0:42    440    2    123    harriman

I detailed this medium-long run-hike where I saw a couple of rattlesnakes on another post, but will give some run stats here, as an example of how a run-hike can develop and can allow for a lightly longer route, and a somewhat more relaxed approach. I like to know how much I hiked and how much I ran, but the distinction blurs when I'm running and encounter a steep hill, which I will very often hike, but because of a higher sustained effort, I will still count that time as part of the 'trail running' time. For the most part I only mix run efforts with very easy hiking efforts, to make a distinction, and to shift my mind to that of a more relaxed approach to hiking.

 time     climb    avghr
  10:00    117    104   Hike as easy warmup
1:04:36    723    142  Run effort
  10:59    156    148   Hike, but hard terrain gets HR up
  10:55    39    148     Run more flat and downhill
  11:21    144    137   Hike With the European guy a bit
1:20:05    631    145  Finish the majority of the run here
  10:00       -        -     Easy cooldown hike


21-Apr    hike    0:40    300    1    hook, really easy

The day after even a moderately long run of 2:35 as yesterday, I will often just do easy hiking or a very short run of 30 minutes or less, just something to get out and moving for a little while.

22-Apr    run    0:43    200    4.5    harriman
22-Apr    hike    0:27    150    3    harriman

Wore the NB MT110s 'dream' shoes on my scamper up the red trail today, and then down the white trail in my favorite part of the stony brook valley. I got to test these shoes on wet rocks today, and generally practice running on wet rocks, since it’s been so dry this year, and my goal race the escarpment trail is most often wet and the rocks are steep. These shoes did well, but one still has to be more careful on wet days.

Some Photos from the week:

Had I been running faster and looking down or not forward enough, I might have almost stepped on this:

 View Southeast from Suffern-Bear mountain trail.

The east-west Kakiat trail.

Rustled loudly enough to make me jump a little to my left, then I saw it six feet away.

Chart of my run training progression and hiking activity:

Medium-Long Run Friday - Rattlesnakes!

On today's Medium-Long Run, I was running south on the Suffern-Bear-Mountain trail, and I saw a big curvy lump ahead in the trail. I stopped short about 10 feet away from this Eastern Timber Rattlesnake that was sunning itself in the middle of the trail. It was about 4.5 feet long, and nearly 3 inches in diameter. Notice the big nasty diamond head and the huge rattle. I'm just really lucky that it chose such an open area of trail to sun itself in, and not somewhere else amongst the plentiful rocks in so many other areas of the trails I'd run.

Now the Video!

Looking east from the Egg rock formation on Suffern-Bear Mountain trail. A European guy hiking north came up to me as I was sitting on top of Egg rock. He said he was visiting for a week, but sounded like he didn't know where he was going, and didn't have a map! He said he wanted to go to the lake, but didn't know which trail to take, and had already overshot the main lake trail, so since I was going south, I led him back to that trail and pointed him in the right direction.

 Springtime in full bloom despite drought conditions

Three-quarters of the way into my run-hike, I'm running on the black trail heading toward the lake, nearing my favorite view spot, and something down to my right moved with enough rustle to make me jump out of the way to the left. I looked down and saw a SECOND rattlesnake about six feet away, laying next to a rock curled up. Another pretty big one, but smaller than the first, this one was probably a little under four feet long, but still a very formidable snake.

I tried to get it to move so I could photograph it by tossing sticks near it, but it stayed put.

It was calm for a while but then it started to rattle quite loudly and slithered around right into a hole under the rock. It was really pissed off that I was still there and it didn't want to give away it's den location, so it rattled loudly the entire time it slithered into the hole. This den is right on the trail.

After the second snake, I resumed my run, but I began to wonder if I would see a third snake -- as the superstition goes, strange things sometimes seem to come in threes -- but when I got down to the lake, I thought I was unlikely to see another on busier trails.

I caught up to the European guy, who had come the other shorter way around the lake, and he had made it well on his way down the red trail. Then a bit later, as I realized I'd run my quota for the day, I switched to an easy hike for the last part of the red trail. I met some people who said they'd seen a black snake swimming in the lake (maybe the very same snake I took pictures of a couple of weeks ago), so maybe that was the third one. No, I don't believe that, but everything is finally coming out now that it's late April.

Outdoor Week Ending 4/15/12

RunHrs climb  Long  L.climb  Hike  H.climb OnFeet
 7:37    4000    3:43    3000    4:40    1950    12:17

All in all a better week than the last two, but I was sluggish early in the week and waited until Friday (partly because of the weather) to do the long run, where I explored some new trails. After an easy hike Saturday, I felt pretty good Sunday running a little on technical trails, and boulder hopping.

9-Apr    run    0:40    40    6    ram park, brisk at times

Feeling sluggish, just trying to get the legs moving a little.

10-Apr    run    1:11    500    5    152    harriman
10-Apr    hike    0:35    300    2.5    harriman

Another run-hike, feeling a little fresher, but still not ready for long run.

11-Apr    run    0:29    40    3.5    ram park
12-Apr    hike    1:33    650    5    harriman
12-Apr    run    0:57    420    6    149    harriman

Feeling good again, but postponed long run again. Should have rested more.

13-Apr    hike    0:18        3    ram park
13-Apr    run    3:43    3000        137    ram park

Long run in Ramapo park from from the eastern escarpment over to the western side, overlooking the Wangue reservoir. I felt pretty good overall, especially running new trails. The red-marked Ringwood-Ramapo trail is comical the way it weaves endlessly back and forth, leaving you feeling turned around and like you're not getting anywhere, but it was fun, and largely downhill running south on the ridge. When I finally got back to familiar trails after about 3 hours of running, I stopped again at the view on the yellow trail.

14-Apr    hike    1:10    400    1    ram park

15-Apr    hike    1:04    600    2    harriman
15-Apr    run    0:37    0    2.5    harriman (15m bouldering)

Photos from the week:

Tuesday I spotted a Black snake near the lake

 The rocky stream bed I've been bouldering on recently:

Long run, Friday the 13th, at the first view on the red-blazed Ramapo-Ringwood trail in northern NJ

Trail volunteers going crazy making numerous sections of rock trail bed similar to a little road on the red trail

A creative bridge crossing

Last view on the west ridge from the red trail

Back on familiar trails atop the ramapo ridge south of bear swamp lake

A fast erupting springtime at the lower lake

Shoe Review: New Balance MT110

These are minimalist trail racing shoes with design help from some of the top trail runners, and it shows! These shoes feel like slightly stiffer road racing flats, and they run really well on technical rocky trails. They have just enough cushioning to handle the bumps, a good-enough rock plate, and very good lateral stability with their lower ride.

If you like running in racing flats but you run trails, these are definitely worth a try! I had no problem at all adjusting to their ride and running 37 minutes in them on the first run. For now these are shorter and intermediate distance shoes, but I can see how running in them a while, I might be able to handle longer stuff in them. I have a whole bunch of other shoes, which I will still use, but these are closer to perfect: the lightest possible with very few drawbacks. They also handled running boulders in the creek (boulder hopping) really well, and my feet never felt stressed with sharp rocks or ankle torque.

*Update (9/1/12):  My first pair of MT110 lasted From April to August, running more and more in them. I'd estimate I ended up doing about 1/3 of my runs in them over that span of about 5 months. The upper in the front of the right shoe ended up tearing halfway across on a sharp rock. I may try to sew them for a few more runs, or just trash them. I love these shoes more now, even though durability could be better, my first pair lasted pretty well. These are my favorite shoes now: the best trail shoes I've ever worn by far. They could have better rock protection, and the uppers could be more durable, but overall a fantastic shoe. New Balance will come out with a second version of these shoes soon, and I look forward to trying them.