Weekend Results

Team Roam/Inov-8 finished 6th OA (5th Co-ed) at the 24 hr Atomic AR. Unfortunately a 6 hour time penalty for not having a flare gun (mandatory gear) put them out of contention early on but they persevered and finished very strong. Speaking of perseverance, Todd Walker finished 7th OA (22:51) at the Massanutten 100 which had some pretty epic conditions this year with heat, humidity, wind, hail, lightening etc., you name it they had it. Todd missed some turns in the dark and rain and estimated he lost almost 2 hours of time very late in the race but he forged on for another strong finish. There were 101 finishers out of 173 entered this year. DeWayne Satterfield got 4th OA (1st Master) at the Twisted Ankle Trail Marathon under some pretty steamy conditions in GA.

Kevin Tilton finished 22nd OA (40:11) at the Bedford 12k with a speedy 5:24 pace per mile clip. Wynn Davis jumped into the 7th Annual SnoHawks "Uff Da" Trail Half Marathon in his F-lite 230's and bagged 2nd OA (1:15) and broke the CR. Amber Moran raced in Columbia , SC at the Providence Heart & Sole Women's 5 Miler. Amber was 3rd OA (29:49) in some pretty warm and steamy conditions which is nothing unusual for central SC. Aaron Saft tied for 1st OA at the Retro Run 4 miler in Fletcher, NC. Ben Nephew one week after a 50 mile ultra, raced strong at
the Soapstone Mtn 14.5 Trail Race in Stafford Springs, CT where he finished 2nd OA and has some great things to say about his shoes of choice the F-lite 230 pk in his race report attached below.

Soapstone Mountain 14.5 mile trail race 2009
Stafford Springs, CT

Active Rest

It probably isn’t a good idea to race one week after a hard 50 miler, but I enjoy Soapstone, and my legs felt good enough to race. Although it’s not the easiest race, it is one of the faster courses, and isn’t as abusive as some of the other New England races. It was actually an interesting week of training prior to the race. The 50 miler was on Saturday, and I could barely walk on Sunday. I took a one hour bath on Sunday night, and threw in some Epsom salts for the hell of it. I don’t know if they helped, but my legs felt much better on Monday, which was surprising (I was expecting a good deal of delayed onset muscle soreness). In the past, I’ve found that uphill running, even a hill workout, is better for your recovery than any other sort of running due to the decreased stress on pulverized muscles. Since I now have a treadmill in my garage, I figured I’d do a hill run Monday night. So I ran 9-10 minute miles for an hour at 13% grade, and it felt pretty good. When I tried to run on the trails on Tuesday, my quads got pretty sore on the downhills after about 30 minutes. Wednesday was another easy day on the trails, and then I went back to treadmill for a workout Thursday night. I ran another hour at 13%, but this time I ran under 9:00 pace for most of the workout, which was considerably more challenging. It probably wasn’t the best idea in terms of being fresh for Soapstone, but I race too often to taper for everything. I ran easy on Friday, and while my pace was relaxed on Saturday, I was out for 2 hours on hilly terrain in Blue Hills with Greg Lowe. Greg is a newly discovered neighbor of mine in Mansfield, and since I typically never have anyone to run with, I couldn’t pass up his request for a tour of the Blue Hills.

When I got to Soapstone Sunday morning, I was very surprised to see my CMS teammate, Jim Johnson, as he had raced a hard 12k in the low 40 minute range on Saturday up in NH. On top on this, his only other trail experience was a miserable 20 mile race which left him staggering through the woods eating berries. We were somewhat pressed for time, but I tried to give Jim a general idea of the course, and suggested that he could just run with me if he wanted. We started the race at a moderate pace, and the pack soon strung out on a half mile dirt road section. Brendan Callahan took the lead into the singletrack, and Jim and I followed a few seconds back. The course climbs a ridiculously steep hill about two miles in, and Brendan lengthened his lead by running sections that we were hiking. I picked up the pace on the following downhill, and was able to catch up with Brendan. I told Jim we were making good time, so there was no need to make a pass and try to force the pace. Just as Jim and I were getting comfortable with the pace, Brendan took off quite suddenly. He was definitely stronger on the uphills, and we had to work hard to gain back time on the technical descents. I started wishing that the trail was more difficult, as Brendan was rolling on the runable sections.

By the time we got to a one mile section that basically runs you down a stream bed, I knew that I needed to take advantage of the terrain and try to pull into lead. I managed to catch and pass Brendan pretty quickly, but he responded by staying right with me on the lower section, with Jim in tow. We took a hard left, and I led up the first uphill section after the stream. When the trail widened, Brendan continued to charge up the hill. We couldn’t match his pace, and he soon disappeared into the woods. Jim and I tried to accelerate as much as possible without blowing up, but didn’t seem to be cutting into the lead at all.

As we reached the last water stop, we were informed we were at 11 miles. If that was true, we ran the last 3.5 miles in 18 minutes, which includes 3 large hills! Jim continued to stay right on me with the exception of the last steep hill on the course, where I pulled a few seconds ahead. Since the Grand Tree Series scores depend on how close you are to the finisher’s time, I was trying to limit the damage as much as possible. I figured Jim would catch me on the road section after the hill, but I guess my legs felt a bit better than his at that point. I maintained a 10 second lead to the finish, where I was 1:20 in back of Brendan.

Although I would have liked to win, it’s important to put things into context. This was my third hard race in a row, I had a solid week of training, the time was good for the course, and I got beat by a guy who would absolutely destroy me on the roads (51 min 10 mile/1:08 half marathon). Most importantly, my legs were not too sore after the race, as I had been worried about doing more damage after the 50 mile last weekend.

My experiment for the day was my shoe selection, the 230PK. These are marketed as an urban assault shoe, but I thought they might work as a trail racer. This is yet another great racing shoe from Inov-8. The sticky rubber provided excellent traction on both wet and dry rock, the foot protection allowed me to run downhills aggressively, and the traction was good on everything except deep mud. The 230PK is a great all-around shoe that can handle road races, mountain races, shorter trail races, as well as a frontal attack on your favorite urban landmark!