Nothing like trail running......

Now this is cross country!

The cliff.

This past weekend, I took a quick trip to Houghton, NY, the quaint western New York town of about 1,000 residents, where I grew up.  My brother, also an infamous runner, one of the trio of Running Raybucks, still lives there, in the house in which we grew up.  While there, I ran a 5 mile trail run, including a very steep climb up "Devil's Back."  I ran Devil's back in the summer once, and barely made it up without walking. This past time, I ran up it almost without strain, and then somewhat in an impromptu manner, did a 2.5 to 2.7 mile tempo run in the woods.  No Garmin, but pace for the tempo was likely 7 minutes per mile or less.  Overall, a great workout, and refreshing change of scenery from the flat trails and residential streets in my neighborhood.

Another Raybuck?

Next race:  Mendon Ponds 10K trail race, with over 1,100 feet of climb!  I actually won this race last year (only about 61 runners), so I suppose I am the defending title holder????  We'll see what happens!

Mark

GVH Mudslog 2011 Preliminary Results!

Today I ran the approximately 8.5 mile GVH Mudslog XC race.  A trail race of sorts, with steep hills, single track trails, swamps, deep mud, various obstacles, fences, climbing wooded trails/hills, and a very cold "swim" in an 8 foot deep pond!



Early in Race





Results:  9th overall out of 223 (compared to 17th last year out of 182); 1st in age group 50 to 59 (3rd last year), and time of 1:09:50 (1:13:27 last year).  Roughly the same course, but they change up the obstacles and course a bit each year, so hard to compare times directly.



Running creek, 1.5 miles to go.

 Overall, I was pleased, and I think it was an improvement over last year. Last year I was about 12 minutes behind the same guy that won the race this year, and this year I was only about 6 minutes behind him.

"Barrel crossing" - 1 mile to go!

Go Striders!

Full results are at the link below:

Click here for complete results.

Mark

Training accelerates!

This week ended as a record for 2011:  36.5 miles in 6 runs!!  The week culminated today with a 7.6 mile run in a hilly park, mostly paved, but some offroad work as well.  I ran this with a friend, at a slower pace than typical, but still a good workout.  I also did a tempo run on Thursday, so overall a good quality week.

8 days from now is the GVH Mudslog event, the annual 8.5 miler (well, the mileage changes every year), with single track trails, steep hills, mud, mud, mud, and a pond swim.

This week may be slightly fewer miles, but if I can keep it at upper 20s, I'll be happy.

Stay tuned!

First race over, back to training!

With the first "tune-up" race of the "season" over, it's back to work on the roads and trails.  The day after the race, I ran 7.3 slow, tired miles on the roads.  Monday I took off, Tuesday was 5.5 nocturnal road miles, Wednesday was 5 miles on flat trails, averaging about 8:26/mile, with a few fartleks, especially while chasing deer (yes, we have lots of deer in our area).  Last night I did the same trail run, but included a 2.6 mile "tempo" portion in the middle, averaging 6:52/mile for the tempo run portion.

Tonight may be 5 or 6 miles on trails again.  Would like to log some good miles this weekend, in advance of the October 16 8.5 mile cross country/trail/obstacle race.  My training is not overly conducive to longer races like this, with maximum "long" runs of about 7 miles.  I'll try to get one 8 miler in this weekend if I can.

Mark

5K Trail Race: I Won! (or did I)

Somehow, I have a knack for finding races where the finish is not so definite.  Last year, I "won" a 10K trail race, but noone told me at the finish that I had won.  I had to wait an hour until the results were posted, then tell the race director "I think I won".

In that case, it was in part because there were concurrent 5K, 10K, 20K and 50K races going on using the same course.

Saturday, there was only one race, and technically, I finished second out of 80 runners.  However, I came home with the first place overall male trophy, and a free 8-hour pass to a local ski slope!

The reason for this discrepancy?  The first place guy was on a Father Son team that won first place, so he was ineligible for the overall 1st place award.  Needless to say, it was just a bit embarrassing accepting the award!  However, I took it!

Now for the facts:  I ran 20:03 for a 5K hilly, muddy trail race.  (about 6:27 per mile).  4 years ago I ran the same race in 20:33 (3rd place) on a perfect, 60-degree, sunny day.  Saturday it was 40s, windy, and raining.


One positive note was that I did not feel particularly winded at the end.  In fact, I was immediately able to jog around.  I think I may not have fully pushed myself, although I kept trying to catch the first place guy, after I moved into 2nd just before 2 miles.  I wasn't getting exhausted, but simply felt I couldn't run any faster.


A summary of the results is located at the link here.  Full results are posted here.




This was the first race of the "season."  Next up, October 16, an 8.5 mile trail/obstacle race that I try to do each year.  It includes runs through swamps, mud, various man-made fences, obstacles, creeks, hay bales, and the infamous 50-meter swim through a cold pond at the half-way point!

Mark

Getting in shape?

Finished last week with 29 miles total, plus one indoor bike workout.  Saturday's workout was a good one, consisting of 3 one-mile intervals in a park, on trails, with good rolling hills:  6:28, 6:21, and 6:22, about 4 minutes rest between intervals.  Started this week with 6 miles on trails Sunday (slow, quite fatigued from Saturday's speed workout), then a solid 2 hours of tough tennis last night.  I'm never sure how much value tennis has a workout, but the way I play singles, there is a lot of running involved, much sweating, and significant weight loss after playing.  I guess I'll count it as a workout!

Tonight I hope to be back on the roads, but it will be nocturnal and after dinner.

I am tentatively planning on a 5K trail/cross country race this coming Saturday, so we shall see what Saturday brings..................

Mark

Back on Terra Firma

I was happily back on firm ground yesterday, running 8:28/mile for 7 miles on grassy trails, with rolling hills. This was the fastest I have run this course this year, and it felt very comfortable.  I may have to run nocturnally tonight, after dinner, so will probably only target 5 to 5.5 miles on roads.

The beach is nice for vacationing, but not so great for running!!

Beach Running: not what it's cracked up to be!

Beach running conjures up images of the initial scene from Chariots of Fire, with the Olympic team briskly and beautifully running along the beach, seeminly with no effort, and theme song playing in the background.  Not so in real life. I am at the beach this weekend, and decided to go for a nice 6 or 7 mile run.  Here are the problems with beach running:
1. beaches are sloped, in some cases fairly severely, causing some discomfort on the feet and knees.
2. sand is soft! and not meant for running.  To overcome this, I ran right at the water level, avoiding the incoming surf, where the sand is somewhat firmer, though still very inconsitent.
3.  People fish at the surf line.  A few times, I had to run around them onto the soft part of the beach.  Annoying!
4.  Beach running is slow!  I averaged 9:24/mile for 6 miles.  A comparable effort on a road or even trails would have been at least 1 minute per mile faster.  Just ran 8:01 per mile for 5 miles on trails a couple days ago.

Other than that, the beach scenery and salt air are great!  And being September, with temperatures in the low 60s, it was ideal running temperature.


Mark

Training update!

Training has been going well, including a record 34 miles last week, the highest thus far in 2011.  I have also done some good speed workouts in the recent past, including two 1-mile intervals in a hilly park on grass with times of 6:32, 4 minute rest, the 6:17.  Also have done two track workouts in the last two weeks.  This past one consisted of 7 quarters in about 83 to 84 seconds, 1 800 in 2:58, and 2 200s in 37 and 38.

Racing plans for the fall are primarily cross country and trail races.  I may run a flat 5K road race on Sept. 25 to gauge my fitness.  Then I hope to do a 5K trail race on Oct 1, the annual Jensens ultimate XC challenge 8.5 mile hilly trail/obstacle race on October 16 (includes a swim in a cold pond), a 5K national XC race on October 22, a 10K trail race on November 5, and then maybe one more 8K XC race after that.  If the snow holds off long enough, I would then like to finish of 2011 with an indoor mile right at the end of December, but we'll see!

Mark