New Balance MT20 Shoe Review

I recently ordered 3 pairs of shoes:  Trekstas, Mountain masochists, and NB minimus MT20s, which were the first to arrive, so I didn't wait to try them out and took them out for a spin today. I figured that since I've been running in light shoes fairly often: Nike skylons, Saucony Kinvaras, and Saucony Peregrines, I would be able to adjust fairly easily to the New Balance MT20s, which was true.

The MT20s felt great, though my right knee felt a little weird at first. After I got warmed up and got more feel for the shoes, my knee was fine, and my form was starting to adjust. You definitely want to land mostly forefoot when running in shoes like this with no cushion, and it helped that I'd run in the Saucony peregrines enough times; the MT20s are just less shoe and more responsive.

Running 67 minutes in them the first time out probably wasn't necessary, especially when I decided the fit was perfect without socks, and I've always worn socks. But a couple of tiny blisters later, my feet and legs held up fine.

The MT20s have a 0.4 mm drop from heel to forefoot, which is why these are cheaper now: Everyone is drawn to minimalist shoes that are completely flat now. The newer MT00 has zero drop, but cost 109 instead of 70. But the .04 drop is fine for me because I run in other shoes with the same or a little more drop. I don't see myself entirely switching to something like the MT20s or MT00s anytime soon, but it was really fun running in them, and the feel is fantastic. The grip is really pretty good on rocks, maybe a little better than the mountain masochists, but not nearly as good as my Trekstas or my old la Sportivas were. You can feel every rock in the trail, but there's enough protection (if you place your feet precisely) to run on very rocky stuff, which I did today.

From rec.running: A good article about minimalist running

(Oh that's my current favorite after run snack: 3oz rice chips).

Training Week Ending 3/4/12: Hiker or Runner?

Week     Planned          Actual        Long   Long       Hiking       Time
Ends  Hours  Long  Hours Climb   Time  Climb  Time  Climb On Feet
  3/4    6:34    3:03    6:36    3380    3:30    2300    3:22    850    9:58

27-Feb run 0:37 380 2.5 ram park
28-Feb run 3:30 2300 4 142 southern harriman
29-Feb run 0:27 1 gym trd
1-Mar  run 0:49 400 1.5 ram park
1-Mar  hike 0:37 150 2 ram park
2-Mar  run 0:43 300 2.5 mohonk
2-Mar  hike 0:35 200 3 mohonk
3-Mar  run 0:30 4 gym HR lower ladder test
4-Mar  hike 2:10 500 3 stony brook

I wrote up Tuesday's long run on the blog as "Stony Brook to Pomona". I will only add here that I seemed to recover pretty well from that run, though I was very sluggish the next day and did the very minimum to get my legs moving. The only time I will do complete rest the day after a long run is when something is injured and not just a little sore. I recover better with some light activity, though usually no more than 30 minutes.

This week had me thinking more about hiking vs running. How does it change my approach to outdoor recreation that I consider myself primarily a runner? What if I considered myself more of a hiker who runs sometimes? It will probably be a natural transition to more hiking and less running as I get older anyway, but there is something more relaxed in the hiker's approach and attitude that I like and want to bring more to my running.

Both Thursday and Friday I did mixture run-hikes. I was still recovering my run endurance from the long run earlier in the week, so I wanted to limit my run durations, but I also wanted to be out there longer. By combining the two activities, I could do longer more interesting routes. I've done lots of these types of combined efforts before -- in fact most trail runs include some hiking up hills.

To time these run-hikes I use the stopwatch to log running time, stop it when I'm hiking, start it again when I'm running. Subtract the running time and any stoppage time from the overall elapsed time, and you get hiking time. Seems somewhat unnatural to log different times, but it makes sense to me right now.

When doing short trail runs, the experience is different than a hiking experience. Long trail runs can be much more like hikes in that I bring more food and stuff and take longer breaks at various spots, just like when hiking. I really enjoyed those run-hikes I did this week and will definitely do more of them, even for long runs where I might run for 4 hours and hike for 3.

I can see myself doing these in the future and not caring what I'm doing, just randomly running or hiking, but for now I'm still caught up in this concept of training for running, logging exercise time and all that, really for no other reason than it motivates me to do more and to get into better shape, and I enjoy running more when I'm in shape. The goal races are just there as somewhat arbitrary goals, but when the time comes around for them I still like to test myself, as most runners do in races.

Stony Brook to Pomona: Long Trail Run

Start: Red Trail to Blue:  50:57, HR 133

The temperature was about 40f when I headed up the red-blazed Pine Meadow trail, running at a leisurely pace at first, keeping my heart rate under 140 to ease into the run. I felt pretty good and was almost fully rested for the run, but one more day of recovery from my other recent long runs would have been perfect. after getting warmed up on the flatter red trail I crossed the creek at no-bridge crossing (got washed out) and soon was climbing steeply up the hill on the blue trail with some views south over the creek valley I'd just come up:

From the views south, the blue trail runs northeast across the mostly bare rock of Diamond Mountain before descending some and crossing the Red trail, which I then turned right on, heading more east. A view of Lake Sebago across seven lakes drive from Diamond Mountain:

With the training plan I made out at the beginning of the year, I'm doing these extra long runs about every 3 weeks, increasing slowly up to 4 hours in duration. This one was scheduled to be about 3 hours, so a couple of days before I began the process of looking for an interesting route to run, preferably on a longer loop route, with some trails new to me. When I've tried doing long out-and-back routes, it can be so uninteresting to retrace the same way going back that I avoid it whenever possible. With a loop route you have a fresh experience of the landscape the whole way.

Second Red Trail to Eagle Rock:  54:46, HR 140

Shortly after starting east on another red-blazed trail, the Tuxedo Mt. Ivy trail, I came to a quiet spot and decided to stop for my first  break about an hour into the run. I ate some protein bread and some regular bread, drank some water and half a small red bull, pouring the rest into my liter water bottle. Part of the planning is bringing enough food and water to be comfortable out there.

Ok, I admit it, my longer trail runs, and even some shorter ones these days are very much like hikes, just done faster. For gear, I carried in my smallish Golite Impulse pack my nylon jacket, a windproof hat, poly liner gloves, an 8oz red bull, liter and 26oz water bottles, about 4 slices of different breads, and 3oz of wheat crackers. I also had a tyvek map and a compass, and a lighter to make fire in an emergency. I wore my Montrail mountain masochists over smartwool socks with nylon zip-off hiking pants and a midweight top. I discovered this morning that my recent favorite shoes, the Trekstas, were both shredding on the outside, so I made a shoe change for this run. Even though those only lasted 5 months I will get another pair because they're the most comfortable shoes I've ever worn on technical trails.


After enjoying my break for a little while I heard voices and a few minutes later I saw people approaching, a big group of about 20 Korean hikers. I talked to the lead guy and understood through his limited English that they were heading for the shelter out on the Suffern Bear Mountain trail (SBM). Not wanting to have to pass 20 people on the single-track trail, I resumed my run ahead of them. Thinking about their hiking group, they were doing a pretty ambitious hike for a winter day, and at hiking speed, would be back much closer to dark than me.

I started to enjoy this second red trail that was new to me, finding it smooth running in many places, but with enough technical rocks to keep you concentrating. This trail section would lead me a few miles across the park to the yellow SBM trail, and I found it to be very nice running and worth coming back to run again. I paused where the white breakneck-mountain trail splits off to the left, considering for a moment doing that trail but thinking better of it when judging my time to that point in the route. I took note that the extra loop north on that white trail would be great for later when doing 4 hour runs. I came across some lingering snow:

After crossing Woodtown road, one of the many dirt roads that also crisscross the park, I knew the trail junction for the yellow-marked SBM trail would be coming up before too long so I made note to keep my eyes open for it after a little while. The trail was flowing so nicely and I was enjoying it so much that I somehow missed the trail junction even though I was looking out for it. I paused at one point in the trail and read the contours and thought to myself that it should be right there, but usually in such cases you're not as far along as you thought you were and you have to make sure you keep going far enough or you will stop and get confused, thinking you should be seeing it. So I kept going and came to another trail junction that didn't make sense at first unless I was much too far past the yellow trail. I decided to double check by seeing if the red trail started descending a little farther ahead, and indeed it did, so I had missed it.


Eagle Rock back to Yellow Trail: 11:55, HR 155

Backtracking and reading the map as carefully as I could I retraced the red trail and soon saw the ridge the yellow trail would be coming down from the north on, so when I got up to the apex of the saddle, there it was, marked clearly on the rock slab, but much higher up on the rock than the line I had run the first time, which is why I missed it. In a case like that, slower-moving hikers might have seen it when I didn't, but these things happen. Overshooting the yellow trail cost me an extra 23 minutes and a couple of hundred feet of vertical climb, and a little peace of mind because that was the farthest point away from my start. It didn't bother me much because I was feeling very good and had extra capacity today. The higher heart rate though shows that I didn't want to waste any more time finding my original route to make the turn south and head for home.
 
Yellow Trail (SBM) to Red Trail Turnoff: 28:22, HR 148

After settling onto the much more rugged SBM trail for a little while, I came to a couple of great views east, and I stopped at the second one for my second longer break about 2:10 into the run. I could see Pomona and hints of the sprawl of Rockland county to the east, so while I didn't run all the way to Pomona, I came within a short distance of it when I overshot on the red trail earlier. I ate most of my remaining food, drank more water, and relaxed for a few minutes, then took a couple of pictures:

After the break on the SBM trail, it crossed rocky Panther Mountain before a partial steep technical descent where it picked up the original red trail that crosses almost the entire park, the same Pine Meadow trail I had started on. It ran along with the yellow SBM trail for a ways up a fairly steep hill back onto the top of the ridge, before splitting off to the right.


Red Trail to Pine Meadow Lake: 19:19, HR 146, then Red Trail along Lake: 11:12, HR 149

I followed the red trail as it split off to the right and headed over toward Pine Meadow Lake, back southwest across the park. On the map you couldn't really see it, but the trail climbed up for a while and I realized the lake was at a higher elevation. Once I saw the lake I got to enjoy a little bit of downhill before the trail had several ups and downs on the various embankments along that northwest side of the lake. I stopped at the south side of the lake, finished the last of my food and water, and snapped a few pictures:

Red Trail Home from Lake: 33:33, HR 150

I was starting to get a little tired as I started home on the red trail, but I was then back on very familiar ground so I relaxed into it and worked my effort a little bit. Still, I thought better of taking the challenging white trail south and stuck to the red: you enjoy the hardest technical trails when you have fresher legs. Toward the end, I snapped a shot of stony brook and the final optional rock bed that's so fun to run on, right before the finish:

Overall it was yet another really fun long trail run for me, and I was still feeling pretty good at the end. I could have run for another hour without any major discomfort. The run took me 3:30 of moving time to complete, with probably 45 minutes of total stopped/break time on top of that. My goal had been to run for about 3 hours, and my estimation for the run would have been fairly close to that, had I not overshot the trail on the far side of the park. About 2300 feet of climb and descent, with an overall average heart rate for the run of 142, which is about where I want to be, even slightly lower until later in the season.

My plan of doing the big long run every 3 weeks (and then another somewhat shorter long run in between) seems to be working really well as so far I'm having no problem increasing my distance, and I felt fantastic for today's run. If you can time your key training efforts properly, which in my case means these long runs, your next effort will come exactly when you've fully recovered from your previous effort, and then you built a higher fitness on top of that with the next cycle. Three weeks seems to be perfect for me at this point.

Training Week Ending 2/26/12

Planned Planned    PerWeek    PerWeek    Long    Long
Hours      Long      Hours         Climb        Time    Climb
5:17        1:24         5:15           2820          2:15     1700  

20-Feb        run    1:01    600    5        stony brook

Red trail to orange up the hill then downhill on the blue trail back to red, then working it on the white trail back south, up the pipeline back to red to finish. Ran the creek bed 4 times, too much fun!

21-Feb        run    0:37    360    3        ram park, some jamming
22-Feb        run    2:15    1700    4    139    stony brook laps

Red trail up to no-bridge crossing, then white trail down. Second lap powered up red trail 4 mins faster than first time ~20 mins @ 80% 1 hour race effort. Then I decided to loop east on the white trail to black and then pine meadow lake, exploring there a little, then back on the red trail to white, climbing back to red after the bridge. A little tired, but very nice run. This was one of those days when I wanted to do more, but should have done less. No sooner than I had started on the white trail northeast that my left heel started feeling funny. Sometimes when you sit down and relax such tweaks like that will go away, and it largely did. By the time I got to the lake it was more relaxed and wasn't bothering me, but it told me I need to rest more.

23-Feb        run    0:27    160    2        ram park
23-Feb        hike    0:28    200    1        ram park
24-Feb        run    0:20        1        gym, trd
24-Feb        walk    0:15        2        gym, trd
25-Feb        run    0:35        3        gym, trd, speedplay
25-Feb        hike 0:45        2         ram park

This was another pretty good on-target week, but it was supposed to be a rest week (every 3rd week in my 3 week cycle is a somewhat lower volume week with nothing long), and I should have stuck to the plan and not gone longer on Wednesday. The tweak to my left heel area I felt in the middle of that run was a clear warning sign that I have to go easier sometimes, according to my plan, and that's particularly important because I was doing almost all my runs on the rougher trails prior to that.  But my legs (and heel) were fine on the treadmill yesterday, and I should be ready for another 3 hour run early this coming week.

Squirrels Frolicking

The squirrels are fun to watch sometimes. This was early June 2011.

Then later in the fall, in November.

Silly I know, just sharing.

Training week ending 2/19/12

Planned          Actual
Hours Long   Hours Climb Long LgCl
 5:31    2:01    6:15   3150   2:03  1100'

13-Feb        run    1:07    600   2.5  ram park


 Feeling pretty good, but still recovering a little from my long run 2/9, I did the blue/white trail loop then red/yellow-silver in Ramapo park. Good sunny weather.

 14-Feb        run    0:41       -      5    gym trd, light speedplay
15-Feb        run    0:20       -      2    mohonk, part of hike/run
15-Feb        hike   1:06    500    3    mohonk
16-Feb        run    1:21    1100    3    139    ram park

 It was snowing lightly, about 38 degrees. I was trying out a new trail combination. Did the silver trail up to the reservoir, then the orange trail all the way to bear swamp road, then down the road east and back on the yellow-sliver trail. This turned out to be a very nice running loop, with the first uphill on orange rocky and technical, but then fairly smooth to bear swamp road. The yellow-silver is steep and rocky at first, then smooth. I normally wouldn't do 80 minutes the day before a somewhat longer run, but that I wasn't concerned showed me that my training is going well.

 17-Feb        run    2:03    1050    4    135    stony brook

For this run I tried out a few new trails combined with familiar ones, and it turned out to be a great run. I blogged this one with some thoughts about training effort.

18-Feb        hike    1:15    360    1    ram park

Nice little recovery hike with company on a sunny day.

19-Feb        run    0:43    400     2     stony brook, white trail

This easy run today was a simple loop up the creek on the red trail at stony brook, crossing the creek with the white trail and then taking the white trail back south over some of the best technical rocky terrain I've ever run. The trail runs right along the creek over medium sized and then giant boulders that you have to navigate. That section is too short at just over 5 minutes, but it's the most fun of almost any trail in the area. When I got to the pipeline crossing I decided to sprint up the hill to the red trail -- over 80% sprint effort up 100 meters at 40+% grade, so very winded at the top -- so I could run some of the fun technical sections at bottom part, before finishing on the long rock bed that parallels the trail.

Goals: Escarpment trail July, VT 50k Sept.

Measuring Training Effort

Today I checked out a new loop route in south harriman on a few new trails, combined with ones I knew. The slow climb up the valley on the yellow trail from seven lakes drive was very rocky once it turned left away from the white trail. I went out slow, since I ran for an hour and twenty minutes yesterday, and I wanted to control my effort, especially early in the run.

I was reflecting on where I'm at in my training, happy to be feeling so good and following my plan this early in the year, and I'm thinking I can have a good year finally, after 5 years or so difficult years in my life. I also came through a fall that busted up my left knee, then an overcompensation injury to my right knee. So far the knees are feeling pretty good; a little more creaky than they used to be, but still, they haven't been anything close to a limiting factor in my training recently.

After a half hour warmup running up along the stony brook, I ascended the northern ridge of Diamond mountain to the east, my climbing legs getting into action and feeling capable, but I moderated my effort somewhat, changing over to a power hike when my heart rate went into the 140s, then switching back to a run when it dropped. The trees on the ridge were sparse, with exposed bedrock jutting out everywhere and only pockets of topsoil to hold trees and vegetation in between. I stopped for water before turning south on the blue trail, then came to the view (the * on the map) near the top of the mountain, but it was windy so I just had a look and didn't stop.

Over the years I've tried many different ways of measuring effort for my runs, the most empirical being average heart rate for the run and often for certain segments of the run. In recent years, in addition to recording heart rate for some runs, I was also recording perceived effort, using very easy, easy, moderate, hard, and very hard. The problem with perceived effort is it's very subjective, and on top of that, it lacks a defined range to which it applies. So I've occasionally been thinking about what range of effort should apply to a daily run, trying to keep it as simple as possible.

Since I'm a trail runner, the terrain varies so widely that speed is a very poor measure of effort, so I very rarely concern myself with speed or distance. For me what's important is how long a run will take me, and what kind of effort I'm putting into that run. Then I total up my weekly time to get some idea about my running. I estimate climb based on elevations, sometimes counting map contour lines, but mostly by experience. Obviously climb and descent are important in training for hilly or mountain races.

Today's run isn't extremely hilly, but it does have some general climb up the creek valley, then over two big ridges. Since this is my secondary long run, while some hills are good, I will probably use this one for harder efforts on slightly flatter ground later, leaving the main long run on more hilly technical terrain. That way I can get my legs moving a little faster sometimes. After the view on the blue trail, I found my way down the ridge steeply to the southeast on a connector yellow trail, which went down very steep bare rock for the most part, not a route to take when there is ice or snow, I noted. From there I ran over to the dirt road at the head of pine meadow lake, heading for the black trail on the other side.

In choosing a range of effort, one can consider using an absolute measure of heart rate, such as percentage of maximum heart rate (%maxhr), which is said to vary little from year to year. The problem with using %maxhr is that depending on where you are in your training cycle, you may not be ready to run anywhere near your maximum heart rate. The other problem is that for longer runs, you will obviously not be able to run as hard, which will limit your %maxhr, even though for that longer duration, you pushed very hard.

Then I considered looking at it in terms of what effort could be done for a given duration, given a certain level of fitness. For example, for a 5k race effort, I might be able to run at average HR of 185, but for a marathon I might only be able to achieve 170. But I would only be able to achieve these efforts when in peak rested condition, so I thought again about how the effort measure could apply more directly to my current fitness, whatever that might be at a particular point in the training season.

I decided to switch to using a scale of 0 to 10 for perceived effort, defined as follows. Level 0 is the easiest possible effort to maintain the activity. For running, this would mean a slow jog, but not a walk, except on hilly trails where some exception is given. The highest level, 10, represents the best possible race effort I could make for the given amount of time. So if I'm running for 30 minutes, I would compare my effort for the run in question to an all-out 30 minute time trial. The same would be true for a 2 hour run like I did today. How high an effort could I have made running for 2 hours today, as fast as possible, given my current fitness? I did a moderate run today of average 135 heart rate, but for my current fitness level, that run would rate a 4 on a scale of 0 to 10. Later this year when I will be fitter, this effort level might only rate a 2. The measure then is comparing the effort for a given duration to your best effort given your current fitness level.

Why even bother to consider effort level? This was the question I asked myself recently, because I'd been logging perceived effort for years, and aside from key workouts I didn't really use any of those 'perceived efforts' that I wrote down. I figured it would be more useful if it related directly to my current fitness instead of my goal fitness, or a higher level of fitness from years past. When your main metrics are duration, effort, and climb, some thought about effort can be helpful, at least for me.

For some reason I hadn't done this end part of the black trail before, which loops around from the lake, crosses the white trail, and then goes south into the highlands. I'd always turned left or right on the white trail instead of heading north into this little loop section. But today I was running it from the lake side in the opposite direction, and I found it to be a fun but very gnarly little trail, with nice views in a few spots. I stopped at one of them to have a snack, drink water, and absorb the rare warmth of a winter day with full sunshine and temps in the upper 40s.

This part of the Ramapo highlands is so rocky and difficult that it was only settled very sparsely, which is one reason why we have these vast wilderness parks today. The thought had occurred to me before, but sitting there on the black trail looking out into the jumbled landscape, I thought this very terrain, which reoccurs throughout the northeastern US, played a major role in the revolutionary war, because troops could hide in it anywhere. From where I was sitting there could have been 100 troops hidden within shooting distance of me. If the east coast was not forested and difficult topographically and locally feature-dense, the British troops would have flushed out the American troops much more easily, and history would have had to wait for thoughtful intellect to overtake might. Now though intellect is only another currency, subject to the usual motives. What was once a more open and honest intellect, with science at it's heart, has largely given way to an intellect of vested interests.

Ready to finish my run, I hit the white trail and followed it back into the second creek valley, finishing up on the red trail, and, feeling pretty good, I decided to push the pace a little on this somewhat faster more familiar trail. Keeping my longer runs at a low effort level this early in the year means I will be able to recover well and continue to slowly increase my weekly volume and long run duration. Today's 135 heart rate for a 2 hour effort is a good level to shoot for, and it left me totally under control to put in a harder effort for the last 30 minutes of the run, netting a 150 heart rate for the last section. In 10 days or so, I'll run over 3 hours and see what effort level makes sense.

Those Fun Local Trails

Watching the ESPN track and field from Saturday: Galen Rupp, gunning for the American record in the two mile run on the Arkansas indoor track, pushing the last mile on his own with his coach Alberto Salazar shouting splits out to him, ran a hard last 200 meters, with slobber hanging out of his mouth, to do it: 8:09.72, breaking Bernard Lagat's American record by a quarter second. Anything like that is inspiring for another runner to watch, even for a runner like me who runs nowhere near tracks or even roads most of the time.

At times in my life I did all my running on roads, and to me that feels like work, like a chore, but running trails is better, and more different a trail is from a road, the better it gets. The trails I'm running now are inspiring me. One park, Harriman, is very rocky and technical and very scenic, the other, Ramapo Reservation, is still rocky and technical, but more woodsy and smoother in places. Both of these parks are local and they keep drawing me back out to them, to explore farther, and to see what's out there.

I was taking a short break at the turn-around of a shorter run the other day, and I was wondering what was it about that terrain that was inspiring me so much. First, there's the technical footing, which after a lot of experience can become automatic but at the same time focusing and occupying a part of your mind, flowing over the landscape, but leaving a part of your mind to wander creatively, one that is normally blocked out by front-burner issues. Second, the land out there is so busy with rock formations, water features, trees and jumbled topography that you could really get lost out there. Sweeping open featureless hillsides have their place at times, but I'll take a densely interesting forest most days. This is probably why I will always love the northeast US so much; the terrain is just plain more interesting to me than what I've seen elsewhere.

Yesterday I was out in Ramapo Reservation on an hourish run, trying out lighter shoes again. Recently I've been doing all my trail runs in sturdy Treksta trail running shoes, which are so comfortable and matched to technical terrain that they have enabled me to adjust to the terrain. Before that my feet were always sore, running alternatively in Saucony Peregrines and Montrail mountain masochists, both excellent trail shoes, with the former being a very light racing shoes, and the latter rugged but but still light good all-arounders for trails. So yesterday I wore the Peregrines to see how my feet (and calves) would fare, and everything was ok. I plan to incorporate these lighter shoes into more runs as the year goes on so that I can strengthen my feet and race in them later.

With training going well so far this year, I will settle into my modest volume of between 6 and 7 hours of running per week (adding more cross training in the form of hiking and biking as the weather warms), and I will continue to increase the length of my long runs, as laid out in my 2012 training plan. But as I settle into my volume and running pattern, I will have plenty of room to improve in terms of slowly increasing the intensity of my runs, later doing specific speed runs and big hill workouts: running up and down a mountain to gain a mile of climb over 20 or so miles. I also have some weight to lose (about 180 now), which is fine because right now I'm carrying the weight ok, and when it comes off, hopefully down into the low 160s, I will not only be faster because I'm carrying less weight, I will have a stronger heart and lungs for having carried more weight. At least that's my positive spin on it!

Cheers.

From the Torne to Pine Meadow Lake

2/9/12 Run:  Ramapo Torne, Pine Meadow Lake, Stony Brook

The Stony Brook trailhead on seven lakes drive near Sloatsburg, NY is one of the most popular hiking spots in Harriman. The trails that parallel the scenic Stony Brook are unique and fairly easy relaxing hikes, but once you climb the ridges and get away from the main trails, you can be out on your own for the most part. On this winter weekday I didn’t see a single person for the entire run.

After moving to this area 6 months ago, I’ve finally gotten more used to running on the very rocky trails, and I’ve been doing weekly runs in this area of the park for several months. Now with my planned long runs increasing in duration, I can plan runs that venture farther out into the park and can do much longer loops. Loops are always much more fun than out-and-back runs.  This day the weather cooperated nicely with sunny skys, scant wind, and temps in the low to mid forties all afternoon.

(A) Start: Over and up Ramapo Torne (blue to orange trail)  39:50 HR 139

I tried this section of trail about 6 weeks ago on my birthday, and it’s a nice way to begin a run, as the trail is soft at first and rises gently up the escarpment before getting somewhat more rocky in the middle, then traversing a watershed before turning sharply left and straight up a steep hill rising up to the technical rocky outcroppings that make up Ramapo Torn. I felt good warming up on this section, but made it clear to myself that I was going to go out easy in anticipation of being out there a few hours. Still this was my best time so far on this section, showing perhaps that my fitness is improving, with plenty of room for improvement as I shed some more weight later this spring.

On such a beautiful day I stopped to take in the view for 10 minutes up at the top of Ramapo Torn. Despite the easy running, I had really smoked up at the top of that hill! My mind started to relax and let go of other things there, and I was enjoying that feeling of being out there in nature again. I was excited to soon be heading out on a new trail for me, but first time to drink some water and contemplate my last few days. While I like to keep moving on these runs, I don’t hesitate to stop and soak in a view or sit still for a few minutes to see what the locality is telling me.

(B) Over Russian Bear (orange to black trail)  41:17 HR 148  [1:21:07]

Running from Ramapo Torn towards Pine Meadow Lake is a series of scenic vistas at first, then descending and ascending steep smaller hills with increasing technical footing because of the rocks in the trail, to where the trail is on rocks and there is often no discernable trail at all but for the paint blazes on trees. With snow cover these sections of trail would be difficult even having run them several times before. When you come up the cascading rock formations of the Russian Bear, you find long sections of stone steps laid into the steep hillside, one section going down, another going up, put there by trail maintenance volunteers. When I first saw these I was amazed because they’re out in the middle of nowhere, and they must have taken some serious work to put in place.

Once you turn right onto the black trail here, the terrain is very up and down, with nice views south here and there before you cross the buried pipeline and finally begin descending into a watershed valley that feeds Torne brook to the south and Pine Meadow Lake to the north. I was feeling pretty good in here, but knew that my bad night’s sleep would catch up with me at some point. Still, I was looking forward to the new trail ahead, yet wondering slightly if this longer loop course would take much longer than I had planned.

(C) Traverse to Suffern-Bear Mountain Trail (white trail)  27:33 HR 147  [1:48:40]

Now into the unknown!  I was excited to be heading out onto what was a new trail for me, but I quickly found out it would be a challenging one. Here the rock slabs and rocky outcroppings jut out of the landscape and mix up the terrain as much as I have seen. Because the trail is almost all on rock with very little ground to form a trail to follow, it was difficult to follow and find the next trail marker in many places. At night it would be impossible, but there I was in still-strong afternoon winter sunlight, and I was having to stop to search where the trail went many times, even becoming disoriented. This is why I always bring my compass, but I didn’t quite have to fetch it out of my pack.

On top of the trail-following difficulties, I was getting tired and somewhat frustrated because the day was wearing on, and I didn’t want to be out this far in the park much later in the day. This section of trail is marked, but could be better marked. It’s one of those connector trails far out where not many people use it. I’d encountered these in the Catskills, farther away from the more popular trails, and some of them can be difficult to follow, little more than blaze marks on trees through the woods, which can be hard if those blaze marks are far apart, as on this white trail I was on. It was a difficult section, but one I didn’t want to retrace, so I did my best to read the map and I finally got my bearings concentrating on the map contours and my elapsed time on the section to make progress. Luckily I had seen the next trail junction before, having mounted the ridge on a short run from the southeast, so I knew what to look for, and finally finding it was welcome relief.

(D) Stint on Suffern-Bear Mountain Trail (yellow trail)  20:32 HR 151  [2:09:13]

At least this more famous park trail was well-worn and easier to follow, so I was relieved at that, but was then getting more tired, and there was a steep descent followed by a climb back up the ridge. The ups and downs were wearing on me a bit, but I was still running strong, and pushed harder in this section, happy to have no navigational challenges, and wanting to ‘turn for home’ at the white trail ahead. When I’d gotten up the ridge again, I came to a spectacular view east, and, a bit weary, I stopped and ate the last of my food and drank most of my second liter of water as well. I knew right where I was, at the * on the map, though it seemed at first I should have been further along, I knew it had to be that spot.

After my pause, I pushed hard over the rocky undulations on the ridge. I was now  following the map very closely because I had to find that next trail junction, the left turn onto the white trail. After my difficulties on the previous white trail, and knowing how hard new trail junctions were to spot sometimes out here, especially when running, I didn’t want to blow right by it. The backstop was a shelter a few clicks past the trail junction, but I didn’t want to have to backtrack, so I kept my focus. I was weary at that point, still feeling good running, but just wanting to get onto the turn home.

(E) Pine Meadow Lake , down Stony Brook (white to Red trail)  49:27 HR 147  [2:58:39]

Luckily the white trail was about where I thought it would be, and it was really well marked, so I felt relief and relaxation crossing over to the lake, where I was soon surprised by a serene setting in the later afternoon winter sunshine. What a great mild winter for outdoor adventuring. I found a spot to pause and finish my water, and take in the beautiful scenery at the lake. Got to get up here for a picnic or camping, I thought.

Once I was on the red trail I could follow it all the way back, so my mind could relax and enjoy the lake views, but my body was getting weary, and I was looking forward to the longer sections of slight downhill I knew awaited me farther down the trail. This was the easiest part of the run, still technical in places, but generally more run-able than the severe rock jumbles behind me. Thoughts of mounting the yellow to orange trail section passed and I continued on the red trail, finally hitting the most familiar sections and then running on the sections of rocks to the side of the trail despite weary legs, enjoying those as always. This was one of those runs I’ll remember, on such a vivid day, over so much complicated terrain. Not just training for bigger runs later, but a mini adventure, just the way I like it.

Summary:  Mixture of very rocky technical up-and-down terrain and somewhat more run-able but still rocky trails. Only about 11 miles, but mostly very tough miles. I ran the flats, downs and less steep uphills, hiking the steep parts hard, while trying to keep my overall effort moderate enough to finish still running somewhat strongly. With lunch and scenic stops, overall time was about 3:25, with stopwatch time of 2:58, though I have to subtract some from that for *lots* of pauses to find the trail, so call it 2:53 running time. An overall average heart rate for the run of 145 means I had to work, and that was a little harder than I would have liked for this run. I was aiming for something under 140, but the run required more effort just to keep up a running motion over the technical rocky terrain. It's very difficult to total the vertical climb on a run like this with so many smaller ups and downs, so I just used my experience and put it at about 2300 feet of climb and descent.

Escarpment Trail Run 2011

Sometimes the experience is more important than the time

This was my 7th time running the Escarpment trail run. It's a really unique event in many ways. There may be tougher longer races in the northeastern USA, but this one is run on very challenging hiking trails, through a dense forest along the northern escarpment of the Catskill Mountains, entirely on a single-track, following an 18+ mile section of the long path trail. Though a few might seek out multiple similar races every year, for me (and I would guess for most) one race as challenging as this is enough for one year. This is a race where you compete less with others and more with the course itself. See http://escarpmenttrail.com for information.

The race attracts runners from different parts of the country and other countries as well. I see familiar faces every year, have gotten to know some, and finally made it to the pre-race party at Dick Vincent’s house this year. I talked new and old runners, put names and stories with faces, and was surprised to see Steve Tarry, who I knew as a top notch orienteering champion racer from almost 30 years ago. It turned out Steve had won the race 30 years ago, and was back for the first time since then, bringing his son along for the race this time. Steve told me it was he who had introduced Eric Weyman, a former two time Escarpment winner, to the race. His son Kyle placed an excellent 8^th this year.

My training this year was going well into April, but got more difficult in May as we began to prepare our house for sale in a big way. I got in a single longer run of about 3 hours in late May, but then my training volume started to fall into June, as we had good luck with the house selling quickly in a bidding war, which is what you hope for but don’t expect in a sideways-down market. Then I got the flu in early July, and had just gotten back on my feet when I had to do a final push to clear out and prep the house for closing. I was beat from all that, and was putting in shorter runs here and there when I could, but didn’t have the time or energy for any kind of longer run. Eleven days before the race on July 20^th I finally had the time and energy for a longer training run, and I enjoyed it so much I wrote about it.

In the days before the race I seemed to recover well, doing a few runs and a few bike rides. But I was somewhat concerned how fully I would recover. I felt some discomfort in my right Achilles tendon in the last few days before the race. I rested completely Friday and Saturday to give my body more of a chance to heal and recover, but I worried that I wasn’t that well adjusted to my shoes of preference, the Saucony Peregrines. They are great shoes, but they’re very lightweight and have a low heel, and I thought they might not give me enough support in the race, especially with a potentially sore Achilles’ tendon. So I took a chance and did a last minute shoe change and went with the more rugged Montrail mountain masochists instead, which I had done very little running in. I also decided not to wear a watch this year.

It was predicted to be sunny with moderate temperatures of low 70s at the start and higher 70s during the day. One hopes for it to be cooler, even cold at the start, but that has rarely happened in recent years. But there were reports that the trail wasn’t as wet this year, and that turned out to be true: my feet didn’t get wet the entire run, and the rocks were less slippery this year, which was a welcome change for those of us who ran the last few years with wet trail conditions.

We lined up at the start for the long climb up Windham High Peak, about 3.5 miles and 1700 vertical feet up. Given my lack of training, my goals for this year were to finish in the time limit, enjoy the run, and save enough energy to enjoy last section of the race that I enjoy running so much. With these goals I started at the very back of the pack, with less than 20 runners behind me when the pack finally funneled onto the single-track trail. I didn’t feel particularly fresh or fully recovered, but I felt ok, and determined to start out very slowly.

After the initial ‘excitement to finally be running’ phase, our back-of-the-pack group settled into a power hike up the climb, with just a little running in the flatter sections. I generally felt comfortable on the early part of the climb, but my legs weren’t feeling very fresh and were taking time to wake up. I knew it would be a long day, at least 5 hours for me, and I wanted to enjoy it – I didn’t want to suffer miserably later in the race this time.

For grizzled long distance racers, suffering may be taken for granted and something to push oneself to the edge for, but I decided that I want to pick my battles from now on, and that if I’m going to suffer very badly in a race in the future, I want it to be for a good reason. Toward the top of Windham as usual I was tired of going uphill and wanted to get the climb over with, but at the more relaxed pace I was able to settle into the run more than usual, and didn’t feel particularly taxed at the top. My legs were already weary, but I felt that with careful management of my energy they would last the day.

I knew from experience that eating early in the race was smart for me for two reasons. First, it slows me down to a more reasonable pace because it’s hard to eat and get food down if you’re going hard, and second, I can use all the glucose I can get into my system to preserve the glycogen in my legs for later in the run. So I began eating about 30 minutes into the run, nibbling on a balance bar, and would eat fairly consistently through the rest of the run. Even though my normal diet is low carbohydrate, that’s mainly for health reasons, and I take a practical approach during extreme exercise and don’t shy away from the normal race foods: sugar, maltodextrin, and some fruit.

After Windham, I knew the course had miles of rolling hills before the steep climb up Blackhead, and I didn’t want to burn too much energy or tire my legs out too much in that section, so after naturally passing a bunch of people on the first technical downhill, I deliberately followed a couple of people who I felt were going a little too slow, but whose pace I knew would leave me fresher for later in the race.

A couple of miles later I needed to pee, so I took one of the short side trails out to a view south and had a nice little break, even pausing for a moment extra to take in Blackhead, Black Dome, and Thomas Cole mountains, still pretty far away to the south. Back on the trail it was refreshing to find myself alone for a while, which let me settle into my own pace and allowed me to flow on the trail better. Those trails are a pretty tight single-track, with rocks and roots and undulations, and the line and foot placements you choose determine your efficiency of travel. Following others messes that up.

I know from experience and having worn a heart rate monitor in the past that it takes much more energy even for an easy jog on those trails than it does on a normal flat running surface. It can translate into 20 or more extra beats per minute of your heart rate, so if you’re walking up some of the hills, that’s part of the reason: the terrain is slower and generally taxes you more just to keep running. Because of the constant line and foot adjustments you have to make, it takes more energy.

After a mile or so I had one of the guys I’d been following earlier in sight again, got closer to him slowly, and passed him as the terrain got technical again right before the Blackhead climb. I wasn’t trying to pass people at that point, and was still deliberately going slowly to preserve myself for later, mainly for the climb up Stoppell mountain beginning at 12 miles into the course.  

I’m always quick on the water stops and passed several people who were lingering at the base of Blackhead. I grabbed some food to eat on the way up, and put some water and Gatorade in my bottle. On the climb I just went slow, but felt better, and passed a person here and there, finally catching up to a small group of guys as I neared the top. The volunteers were again terrific, up there with fanfare and water. I took some and kept going, passing another 5 or 6 people who decided to hang out longer.

Just beginning the long and rolling descent from Blackhead into Dutcher Notch, one guy who had been just ahead of me on the climb came up behind me and I let him go by, but otherwise we were both passing people, more than 5 on the initial descent. People seemed to hesitate on the technical drops, and generally seemed to have weary legs. But I didn’t want to go hard, and just paced myself down, then settled into an easy jog across the flats at 3200 feet for a mile or so.

As the final steep descent into Dutcher came I caught up to a few other people, and passed them here and there on the way down. My legs felt ok, not too drained, not fresh enough to go hard, but seemed solid enough. At the water stop there several runners were milling around. I got water and food and kept going, starting up the climb using the old trick I learned a while ago, which is to take short quick steps instead of longer strides when going uphill.

The Stoppell climb is always the test for me in the race. It’s the last long climb, and comes after a hard downhill, so it takes time for your legs to transition to climbing again. If you’ve gone too hard at any point in the race until then and haven’t suffered yet, you will crack on Stoppell. So as I began climbing I really hoped my holding back earlier in the race would help me there, and it did: I felt pretty good on the first section, and was able to run the flats in the middle.

Stoppell is long though, and it seems to take forever. You just want to see the plane wreck and then run the ½ mile slightly uphill to the aid station, from where it’s about 4 miles mostly downhill to the finish. As I got to the steep second section of the climb I had passed a couple of people and had now caught up to a few others, but I was in no hurry to pass them and was happy just to hang on for a while, feeling tired but confident I wouldn’t crack and have to slow way down. After a while I had passed and left behind a few people and could see another group up ahead, but I was done with the steep part, and just after the plane wreck stopped and celebrated by taking a little break to pee again and then eat something for the final part of the race.

I felt pretty good at the aid station on Stoppell, with sore legs, but good energy from eating a lot. My quads were still in good condition and ready for the last part of the course, but I paced myself down to North Point and didn’t go hard: I would save that for the last part. On a 5+ hour race with only one long run under my belt, I was just happy to be feeling good, and didn’t want to push too hard at any point. I passed two people on the way to North Point, and was starting to feel confident that I could really enjoy the final section.

When you get to North Point it’s the most open and scenic part of the course. You have some views at other places, but most of the course until then is in the dense forest and you’re very focused on your footing and scoping the trail ahead. But you can’t help but look around a little and down at the lake near the finish at that point. I took a bit more water and Gatorade and continued, quickly passing 3 people who were hesitating down the first big ledge off of North Point.

Ok, now was the time to open it up a little and use up my quads, so I did. Where it was steep and technical I let myself go, and passed some people in various places. Where it was flatter I just worked at a steady pace and slowly caught up to others. I caught and passed about 20 in that final section, which was fun, but mainly I just love running the technical downhills and those rocky steep ledge sections that are 10 to 30 foot drops.

It was really great to actually feel good and have energy to run my favorite part of the course well, even if I went slowly for most of the race. In recent years I suffered badly on the Stoppell climb and was in rough shape and didn’t enjoy the race after that. If I ever get in shape and go for my PR again, I will gladly push and suffer some, but otherwise I want to run races like I did this year and enjoy the whole thing.

I was also happy that my knees felt good during the whole run this year, because I’ve had problems with them in the last few years. They’ll never be perfect again but the escarpment trail is a hard test, and they held up well. I was also glad I chose the Montrail shoes, which worked out perfectly: they saved my feet from many bumps and bruises and were the perfect shoe for my run this year. I had no problems with my Achilles and my quads held up well, but were sore and fully cooked by the end. The training run 11 days before the race worked well to wake up my body and remind it of the fact that I do these kinds of things sometimes. I had just enough recovery to get some benefit, especially for my quads.

In conclusion, I was able to gauge my effort well, loved the dry trail conditions, and met my goal of saving enough to really enjoy running the final technical section of the race.  Overall it was a good experience this year, but I didn’t like running the race for the 4^th year in a row without adequate training. How does one experience and rate a middling effort well into one’s running career? My answer is that if you’re not out there enjoying most or all of the experience, then you’re either doing the wrong thing or looking at it in the wrong way. But in particular, the Escarpment trail is always vivid and unique, and it can be very fun as well.

My time was 5:07, almost an hour over my PR set in 2006

The good:

- temps were in the 70s start to finish, and not too humid

- the trail was DRY and the best I’ve seen it

- I was very well heat acclimated

- my weight was just slightly over when I ran my PR

- I gauged my effort well and never suffered badly

- I enjoyed the last section and passed about 20 people there

- my single longer training run 11 days ago paid off well

The Bad:

- I wasn’t fit because my training in June and July fell off a cliff

- I couldn’t take full advantage of ideal trail conditions