Loon Mountain race

Loon Mountain Race

I was really looking forward to Loon Mountain this year after having to miss it last year with my calf injury.  Richard Bolt, Paul Kirsch and I had designed the course back in 2006 and this would be my sixth time racing it.  I have a pretty good mental picture of the course which is a definite advantage over the difficult (and varied) terrain on Loon.  There was no doubt that the women’s field would be good as Loon was hosting the U.S. team qualifier, but it was anyone’s guess how the men’s field would be.  I bumped into top master Mike Slinskey who’d driven 5 hours from New York to give Loon a try.  He was preparing for the Escarpment trail race and figured Loon would give him a good test.  Right after seeing Mike I saw Mark Mayall another top master.  Mayall can beat me by a minute in a road 5k and showed he could climb running a 1:09 last year at Mt Washington.  Along with Todd Callaghan, who is leading the master’s category in the mountain series, there was a solid master’s field on hand.

A big group of CMS guys and a couple of others headed out for a flat 3 mile warm-up.  It was already pretty warm but the humidity was reasonably low.  Jim Johnson was uncharacteristically quiet about any ailments, which probably boded well for his race.  I thought that fellow CMS runners Kevin Tilton and Ross Krause might give him a race.  Judson Cake and some fast younger runners (who were unproven on a mountain course) could also be in the mix.  We finished warming up and found out that the start was delayed by 15 minutes due to a record turnout at registration.  The women’s elite race went off on time at 9:15 so I used the extra time to jog over to catch them starting then cut across to see them go through the mile. 

Feeling good during the warm-up

It wasn’t surprising that most of the field was still in contention at that point, the first mile had very little serious climb in it.  I headed out for some more running and some strides, and just before the start I dunked my singlet in the river and soaked my head.

I lined up next to teammates Kevin Tilton and Dave Lapierre and was a bit shocked by the size of the field (over 250), but with the wide dirt parking lot we’d have plenty of room to sort things out.  We were off like a shot and Kevin and I weren’t in the top 25.  He noted something like ‘I went to a mountain race and a road race broke out’.  I wasn’t too worried; people always bust a nut in the first mile of this race and pay for it dearly later on.  Mostly I worked on staying on my feet through the first four 90 degree turns during the first half-mile before we hit the cat track and the first little climb.  I focused on cutting tangents (running the shortest possible route) and keeping some familiar faces in sight.  Even on a good day at Loon I’d give up as much as 30 seconds in that first mile.  I hit the mile mark and the first serious climb in 6:21.  Anything under 6:30 is VERY fast for me.  I was surprised that the leaders were only 10-15 seconds ahead and I was in 16^th place at that point.

I latched on to Matt Veiga right after the mile.  We’d been closely matched at a couple of the mountain races earlier this year and once the climbing started we started reeling in some of the pack.  Teammate Sam Wood was one of the first guys we caught, he tried to latch on as we went by but we’d got a good rhythm going and pulled away.  By the water stop I’d pulled clear of Veiga and reeled in a couple of other guys.  The climb continued through 2 miles and I could see a line of runners ahead of me.  I hit the 2 mile mark in 15:04 (8:43), anything under 9:00 is a good time for me over that mile.  I was close to the top 10 by the 2 mile mark and worked hard on the slight downhill.  I was a bit surprised at how close I’d gotten to Kevin Tilton, but once we hit the really tough grass climb he motored.  I followed his lead and moved into the top 10 during that climb.  I was feeling pretty good and kept my eyes focused on Mayall, and further ahead Callaghan.  I was thinking if I could keep them close I might have a shot at them on the final kilometer (a 30% sustained climb on a double-black diamond ski slope).

I checked my watch as Callaghan and Cake hit the 3 mile mark 13 seconds up on me.  I ran the third mile in 8:47 which was a fast split for me.  I was still feeling good and three to four is one long grind, just my kind of running.  I reeled in Callaghan and Cake and got around Mayall.  On the longer straight parts I could see Ross Krause up ahead in 3^rd place, Tilton was 5-10 seconds ahead of me and he’d just caught the fourth place runner.  I worked my way up and by the four mile mark (9:54 – 33:46) I was in 5^th place closely trailing Kevin.  Now I just wanted to get down the final ½ mile of downhill without major damage then work that last climb.  I was pretty confident that no one behind me was going to catch me on that climb…but you never know.  I passed Kevin about half-way down and kept the tempo as fast as I could.  I knew Mayall wasn’t that far behind and I really wanted to hold the position I’d worked hard for.

Kevin did not fold; he worked his way back and went right by me on the Upper Walking Boss climb.  My legs were burning and I was starting to worry about my calves, the last thing I wanted was to re-injure myself…of course I also was in the heat of a race and didn’t want to give an inch.  I kept a steady (if slow) pace and didn’t walk at all (I’ve never walked on this course) and slowly gapped Kevin.  I could see Ross up ahead but knew he was not catchable.  I snuck a look back and it is amazing how close people seem when you are all “running” at over 13 minutes per mile.  I finished that kilometer in 8:43 and ended up finishing in fourth place in 46:20.  This was the first time the course finished at the top of North Peak so it is hard to compare to previous results.  My best for the 5.5 mile version of the course is 49:46, so I would have been about a minute under that had we continued to the other finish line.  I like the new version of the course with the uphill finish and wouldn’t mind if they kept it there for future races.

CMS had a good day with five in the top six, Jim Johnson won the race by a minute, Martin Tighe was top 50+ by nearly 2 minutes, and I took the top spot in the 40+.  The final race in the six race USATF NE mountain series will be the Ascutney hill climb on 07-22.

Pl   Time   Name            Age       Div        Club      Points

1    43:16  Jim Johnson    35         M2039   CMS      100.00

2    44:15  Kris Freeman   31         M2039               97.78

3    45:06  Ross Krause    32         M2039   CMS      95.93

4    46:20  Dave Dunham  48        M4059   CMS      93.38

5    46:33  Phil Kreycik     28         M2039               92.95

6    46:49  Kevin Tilton    30         M2039   CMS      92.42

7    47:13  Mark Mayall    40         M4059   NBB       91.63

8    47:32  Peter Gurney  23         M2039               91.02

9    48:06  Todd Callaghan 42      M4059   GCS       89.95

10   48:28  Judson Cake   34        M2039   Acidotic 89.27

11   49:09  Isaac St Martin 32       M2039   GCS       88.03

12   49:13  Tristan Williams26        M2039               87.91

13   49:17  Mike Slinskey  43         M4059               87.79

14   49:28  Matt Zanchi    22         M2039   Redmen             87.47

15   49:42  Matt Veiga     25         M2039               87.06

16   49:54  Tim Mahoney 32         M2039   CMS      86.71

18   51:09  Sam Wood     26         M2039   CMS      84.59

30   54:27  Martin Tighe   54         M4059   CMS      79.46

86   1:07:29 David Lapierre 48      M4059   CMS      64.11

148 1:20:00 Walt Kuklinski  63      M6099   CMS      54.08

Sleepy Hollow Mountain race

Earlier this year I was having a lot of trouble deciding if I wanted to do ANY mountain running in 2012.  After hurting my calf at Mt Washington last year (and re-injuring it multiple times) I wasn’t sure if I wanted to chance getting injured again.  Somewhere along the line I changed my mind and did a 540 (a 360 then a 180) and decided that not only did I want to mountain race this year, but I want to attempt to do the entire USATF New England Mountain Series along with the National Championships (Mt Washington).  This weekend was the kick-off to the season here in New England.

I headed up on Saturday and Eric (Morse) and I grabbed Murdoch (his dog) and headed over to Huntington Vermont for another look at the course. 

Guess who is on the dog run!

The course was very well marked and we had no trouble navigating it.  We took it nice and easy and I just tried to picture how the race might play out.  The first climb looked fast (too fast for me) and the first descent looked to be the only one that was “tricky” with some of the steepest and roughest downhill.  The second climb was the longest and steadiest and the downhill looked to be smokin’ fast.  The final climb was tough!  My goal would be to move up and hopefully run that final up/down fast enough to pass some people.

We headed back on race morning and it was already hopping!  Great crowd!  Always fun to see all the familiar faces from the series.  I was mildly surprised to see teammates Jim Johnson and Kevin Tilton (I thought both would not be at the race).  Then I saw Michael Quintal, Tim Mahoney, Ross Krause, and Martin Tighe.  Wow, the CMS Mountain running team was out in full-force.

We headed out onto the last 1.5 miles of the course and everyone got a chance to see that last 1.5 during our 3 mile warm-up.  I switched into my Inov-8 shoes and headed out for another mile and some strides.  I felt pretty good, but a bit nervous.  The good field and worries about my calf had me on edge.  Of course that all disappeared as we took off up the hill.  I moved into the top 15 and felt like I was moving pretty quickly.  It takes me a few minutes to find a rhythm and as the field strung out in front of me I found my pace and settled in.  I only passed one guy on the climb (the very early leader) and hit the top of the 300 foot climb in 14^th place.

Chasing down the 6 guys in front of me at 2 miles

There was a group just a few seconds ahead of me that included Eli Enman and teammates Michael Quintal and Tim Mahoney.  I wanted to keep them in sight on the tricky descent and worked my way down the 500 foot drop (as they slowly pulled away).  The group of 6 guys was 10 seconds ahead when I passed the 2 mile mark.  I felt really good when we started to climb again and kept looking ahead.  I reeled in the group early in the climb but Mike had pulled ahead and for the first time I saw teammate Tim Van Orden up ahead.  I knew both of them had much better leg speed than me, so I’d need to really work the climb.

By the top of the 500 foot climb I’d caught Mike and TiVO and gapped them a little.  The short little single-track section had TiVO catching back up and then he really opened it up when we got on the wide trail.  I knew this would be a spot where I could air it out as the grade wasn’t too steep and the footing was quite good.  I worked as hard as I could and surprised TiVO (and myself) by staying with him on the 300 foot drop.  We came through four miles in the meadow where the finish was stride-for-stride.

My goal now was to get in front of Tim before the single-track climb and hopefully pull away during the next 300 feet of climbing.  I went by him just before the single-track and tried to work the uphill.  I gapped him but was surprised when I heard Mike catching up.  He had a strong final climb and I moved out of his way as we crested the final big climb.  We had a little single-track left and then we were back on the wide trail for the final mile to the finish.  On a little uphill I threw caution to the wind and put all I had into gapping him.  Then it was some very fast downhill running with 300 feet of drop until just before the finish.  I hoped to break away, but could still hear MQ back there (the wet ground splashing was a great give-away to how close he was).  I chugged up the final hill and then “went to the arms” to hold him off as we charged into the finish in 7^th and 8^th with TiVO a little bit back.

I was very happy with the race, I’m not very good at up/down courses and I felt I gave a good effort over this course.  It doesn’t help my lack of confidence for Wachusett (there will be some VERY lousy footing on that course), but I’ll keep my #1 goal in mind: Don’t get hurt!

Mile      Split      Climb/Drop

1          7:16      +340

2          6:05      -500

3          9:06      +500

4          6:17      -330

5          8:13      -100 & +300

6          5:32      -300 & +100

Results

1	39:19	Joshua Ferenc	Saxons River	VT	M	30
2	40:24	Kevin Tilton	NORTH CONWAY	NH	M	30
3	41:08	Jim Johnson	Madison	NH	M	35
4	41:33	Ross Krause	Easthampton	MA	M	32
5	41:44	Todd Callaghan	Beverly	MA	M	42
6	42:10	Patrick Johnson	Anchroage	AK	M	23
7	42:33	Dave Dunham	Bradford	MA	M	48
8	42:38	Mike Quintal	North Andover	MA	M	34
9	42:46	Tim Van Orden	Bennington	VT	M	43
10	42:52	Eli Enman	Huntington	VT	M	35

Great Bay 1/2 marathon

I don’t have much to say about the Great Bay ½ marathon.  I wasn’t sure how hard I wanted to run this considering it is not a “PR course”.  I also didn’t want to fall apart over the last 4 or 5 miles like I did at New Bedford.  My goal was to run somewhere between a race and a hard workout.

I met up with Double-J and Goupil and we did a nice easy 3 mile warm-up.  Jim sprinted for the Durham town line (and the Newmarket town line on the way back) getting no response from me or Jeff.  I felt a bit sluggish and was a little worried about my calf which had been feeling great up until Thursday when I had a couple of twinges.  I ran another ¾ mile in my racing flats but chose to not do any strides.  I figured I’d have plenty of time to loosen up during the race.

I went out conservatively and found myself around 20^th place in the early going.  The first 2+ miles has the half-marathon and the 5k running together so it was a little difficult to judge who was doing which race.  I missed the mile marker and was running a bit too relaxed as I hit 2 miles in 13:27.  I was hoping to run around 6:00 pace so I was already nearly 30 seconds behind pace.  I picked it up and on the straighter parts of the road I could see a line of guys in front of me.  I was in no rush but I wanted to finish in the top 10 (I was 18^th at three miles).

The course was interesting with lots of little ups/downs, there was very little flat ground but no killer hills either.  I upped the tempo but still tried to keep it right around 6:00’s.  Figuring if I felt good I could always pick it up in the last 3 or 4 miles.  By 9 miles I’d moved into the top 10 and I started thinking about pushing it.  I could see Brian Ruhm up ahead (40 seconds at 9 miles) and thought if I could run 10 seconds a mile faster than him I might have a shot before the finish.

After 10 miles I saw JJ in the lead on his way out of the keyhole section of the course.  He was running strongly on his way to a win.  I started closing on Ruhm as he caught Craig Widness.  They were both masters (40+) so I really wanted to get them.  I caught Widness on the final tough little hill before heading into downtown Newmarket.  Ruhm was only 5 seconds ahead, but he started to kick (and my calf was feeling “funny”) so there was no way I’d catch him.

I was pleased with the time (1:18:15) and especially pleased with how good I felt throughout the race.  I grabbed some water and headed out for another 3.5 miles so that I’d get a rare 20 mile day.  The biggest surprise of the day was the depth of the master’s field.  Six of the top eight were masters including teammate Jason Porter who was master’s champ in third place overall.

Great Bay Half Marathon

Newmarket, NH, 4/7/2012

   1   1/73          M3034  JIM JOHNSON                 34M  1451 Madison NH               1:14:17.8  5:39 1:14:17.9

   2   1/40          M0124  TIM MALLARD                 22M   805 Durham NH                 1:15:05.3  5:43 1:15:05.7

   3   1/101        M4044  JASON PORTER              42M  1057 Bedford NH                1:17:00.3  5:52 1:17:01.7

   4   2/101        M4044  RICH SMITH                   42M  1227 Enfield NH                  1:17:49.3  5:55 1:17:50.2

   5   1/85          M4549  BRIAN RUHM                  46M  1135 Nashua NH                 1:18:05.8  5:57 1:18:06.3

   6   2/85          M4549  DAVE DUNHAM               48M   354 Bradford MA               1:18:14.6  5:57 1:18:15.4

   7   3/101        M4044  CRAIG WIDNESS             41M  1387 Manchester NH           1:18:22.6  5:58 1:18:24.1

   8   3/85          M4549  CHRISTOPHER SMITH     46M  1219 Woburn MA               1:20:10.5  6:06 1:20:11.4

   9   1/85          M3539  VINNY JOHNSON             36M   656 North Berwick ME        1:20:24.1  6:07 1:20:24.1

  10   2/85         M3539  LARS SAUVOLA              37M  1160 Rindge NH                 1:21:37.1  6:13 1:21:39.7

1222 finishers

Mile      Split     Running time  

1          6:13      6:13      Estimated

2          6:14      12:27   

3          5:58      18:25   

4          6:04      24:29   

5          5:59      30:28   

6          6:07      36:35   

7          5:55      42:30   

8          5:57      48:27   

9          5:48      54:15   

10         6:00      1:00:15

11         5:45      1:06:00

12         5:58      1:11:58

13.1      6:17      1:18:15 (5:43)

NH Snowshoe champs

I headed up to Great Glen (at the base of Mt Washington) to close out this short season on snowshoes.  Acidotic King Chris Dunn was hosting the final race of the NH series which doubled as the Granite State snowshoe championships.  It has been a tough year for snowshoe racing in New England but a great year for training to run on the roads/trails/track etc.

I was a bit surprised to see Jim Johnson's vehicle on arrival at the race site.  JJ is recovering from a lingering calf injury and I could have sworn I read on his blog that he wouldn't be racing for a while.  I never bought it :-)  We headed out on route 16 for an easy 3 mile warm-up.  After that I changed into my Dion racing shoes and headed out for another mile to get loose.  It was over 40 degrees and bright sun, the view of Mt Washington was spectacular.

JJ took it out like a man posessed.  I hit the end of the first down hill and the start of the main loop in second pace with Chris Dunn right behind me.

Pic by Gianina Lindsey

It was a modified course of running twice over the Mt Washington side trails.  That was a bummer as the other side with the aqueduct loop had most of the big climbs.  The trail was solidly packed so it was fast underfoot, the fact that it was just "rolling" hills kept the pace very quick.  I hate quick paced snowshoe races, maybe hate is too strong a word.  I just don't like that style of racing because I'm better at the long slow grind.

Anyway, JJ was out of sight by a half-mile in and I was on my own and didn't hear any footsteps after 1 mile.  I got my final look at JJ when we looped the big field before heading into the 2nd loop.  He was almost exactly a two minutes ahead of me as we entered the second 5k loop.

My goal for the second loop was to not get caught and to hopefully run as close to even as possible.  I'd timed my split out to the Great Angel Station which was about half-way through the loop.  I was a little slower the second time around but within reason and kept it moving right to the finish.

kicking it in

After finishing, JJ and I hooked up with Keith O'b and headed out for an easy 3m back on the road.  We got back just in time to catch the award ceremony where basically everyone took home something!

Splits:
Downhill from the start to the loop    - 2:00
Start of loop to the Great Angel Sta - 10:50 (8:50)
Great Angel to end of loop 1            - 19:41 (8:51)     Loop = 17:41
Start of loop to the Great Angel Sta - 29:03 (9:22)    
Great Angel to end of loop 2            - 37:58 (8:55)     Loop 2 = 18:17 (36 seconds slower than loop 1)
Uphill from loop to the finish             - 40:37 (2:39)

Complete results:
    1 JIM JOHNSON          34 M   124 MADISON         NH CMS POLAR BEARS            37:30  6:03
    2 DAVE DUNHAM          47 M   119 BRADFORD        MA CMS POLAR BEARS            40:38  6:34
    3 CHRIS DUNN           43 M   113 STRAFFORD       NH ACIDOTIC RACING            42:56  6:56
    4 RICH LAVERS          35 M   126 CONCORD         NH ACIDOTIC RACING            44:03  7:07
    5 PHIL ERWIN           44 M   120 CALVERTON       NY ACIDOTIC RACING            44:26  7:10
    6 PETER KEENEY         45 M   117 BAR HARBOR      ME CROW ATHLETICS             44:44  7:13
    7 JASON MASSA          44 M   107 CONCORD         NH ACIDOTIC RACING            45:35  7:22
    8 KEITH O'BRIEN        47 M   123 CHELMSFORD      MA GREATER LOWELL RR          46:13  7:28
    9 DONALD FREDERICKSON  52 M   125 CONWAY          NH                            47:29  7:40
   10 LESLIE BECKWITH      36 F   101 NORTH CONWAY    NH ACIDOTIC RACING            48:00  7:45
   11 GABRIEL FLANDERS     36 M   129 KEARSAGE        NH                            48:06  7:46
   12 CHANDLER PELLOCK     30 M   105 CONCORD         NH WHITE MNT CROSSFIT         48:46  7:52
   13 SCOTT MITCHELL       43 M   115 NEW DURHAM      NH                            49:34  8:00
   14 PETER MALINOWSKI     57 M   110 BEVERLY         MA                            50:56  8:13
   15 STEVE SPRAGUE        42 M   116 BROOKS          ME ACIDOTIC RACING            51:05  8:15
   16 RICHIE BLAKE         43 M   121 TYNGSBORO       MA ACIDOTIC RACING            51:35  8:20
   17 MICHAEL RIVET        34 M   109 PORTSMOUTH      NH ACIDOTIC RACING            51:45  8:21
   18 SAL GENOVESE         46 M   128 MARBLEHEAD      MA DUNGEON ROCK RACING        53:01  8:34
   19 TIMOTHY LINDSEY      40 M   122 STRAFFORD       NH ACIDOTIC RACING            53:43  8:40
   20 CHRIS PETER          31 M   131 STRATHAM        NH GATE CITY STRIDERS         53:54  8:42
   21 BOB DUNFEY           60 M   127 CAPE ELIZABETH  ME TRAIL MONSTERS             57:59  9:22
   22 BRIAN GALLAGHER      62 M   104 ROCHESTER       NH ROCHESTER RUNNERS          58:15  9:24
   23 CRAIG POIRIER        42 M   103 BRENTWOOD       NH ACIDOTIC RACING            59:27  9:36
   24 ALAKA PELLOCK        35 F   106 BOW             NH WHITE MNT CROSSFIT       1:00:52  9:50
   25 GARY REUTER          72 M   108 KITTERY         ME ACIDOTIC RACING          1:02:06 10:01
   26 MARIANO SANTANGELO   42 M   102 DERRY           NH ACIDOTIC RACING          1:02:06 10:01
   27 DIANE LEVESUE        58 F   118 ROCHESTER       NH ROCHESTER RUNNERS        1:10:14 11:20
   28 ELLIE FERGUSON       51 F   111 NORTH HAVERHILL NH UPPER VALLEY RC          1:22:17 13:17

Whitaker Woods snowshoe race

Snowshoe double – part 1

I headed up to North Conway for the second annual Whitaker woods snowshoe race on Saturday.  It was the kick-off to the snowshoe season and the start of a long weekend of driving and racing.

It was 9 degrees when I arrived at the race site.  I met up with race director and teammate Kevin Tilton and we headed out on the course.  We ran the 4 miles putting the final touches on course markings to make sure everyone stayed on course this year.  The loop was very fast groomed snow with a little single-track that was also well packed.  It would be a good day for the fast guys.

At the start everyone bolted like it was a sprint.  I was hurting and in 5^th place in the first 200 meters.  I slowly caught up to Chris Dunn and passed him about ½ mile in, then got Danny F on the first climb.  At the same time Jim Johnson broke away from Judson Cake.  I caught Judson on the second climb and felt pretty good, but JJ was out of site now except on the long straights.  I gapped Judson but he came back on the descent and caught me with about 1 mile to go.  He really took off in the last mile and I didn’t have another gear.  I worked as hard as possible and was rewarded with a third place finish and over a minute improvement on my time from last year.

After a quick change I headed back out to clear the course.  JJ & Judson joined me which helped the time go by and made picking up the flagging a lot easier.  I was fully in “bonk” during the final mile of clearing the course and was glad when we were done (and JJ gave me a coffee before I collapsed).  12 miles on snowshoes was a heck of a way to start out the racing season!

Place     Time     Name                Gend     Age       Club                  Points

1          27:27    Jim Johnson       M          34         CMS                  100.00

2          28:25    Judson Cake      M          34         Acidotic             96.60

3          28:40    Dave Dunham    M          47         CMS                  95.76

4          29:49    Danny Ferreira   M          29         Acidotic             92.06

5          30:33    Chris Jasparro    M          44         TNT                  89.85

6          31:06    Chris Dunn         M          43         Acidotic             88.26

7          31:52    Ryan Welts        M          31         Acidotic             86.14

8          33:44    Dan Hayden       M          25                                 81.37

9          33:53    Scott Mason      M          54         TNT                  81.01

10        34:22    Jason Massa      M          44         Acidotic             79.87