Here is Ben Nephew's recap from his strong 3rd OA placing in 1:51:24 last weekend at the 7 Sisters Trail Race.
7 Sisters 12m 2010
12m out and back
3700’ of climb
Footing is a bit rough…
For many New England runners, this year’s 7 Sisters was a car crash you could see coming. Many of us knew that race day was probably going to be very hot, and those of us that have run it before knew that 7 Sisters is an absolutely horrible race in the heat. In 1999, I ran 1:55, and then ran 1:52 in 2001. The 2000 race was a leafless oven, and I staggered home in just under 2:05. The combination of heat and 15-30% hills made my head feel like it was going to explode and my heart was practically splintering my ribs. That race was quite a while ago, and I’m a much stronger runner now, but I was very worried when I saw the forecast of a high of 85F. A number of runners, including Leigh Schmitt, a multiple winner of the race, decided to skip it this year. I seriously thought about not running when I got to the start and Leigh told me he wasn’t running, as we would both be running the North Face 50 miler 6 days after 7 Sisters. It’s not a great way to taper, at all, and Leigh was smart to skip it. I tried to convince myself to bag it, but it’s one of my favorite races, and I just couldn’t do it. So I did a good warm up, walked over to the start, and prepared myself for punishment.
Everyone was content to let me lead for about 400 meters, and then the guy with the poles went flying by. Yes, trekking poles. It may seem strange, but I was intrigued after getting crushed by a number of Europeans and Sherpas that were climbing with poles last summer in the French Alps. I couldn’t believe how he was managing to coordinate pole and foot placements on the jagged basalt of that first climb. My CMS teammate Andy McCarron went after him, followed by S. Granger Bevan, another guy with a Camelback, and Brian Rusiecki. Brian is also running the North Face 50 miler, and won the 7 Sisters last year. I settled into 6th with Greg Hammett and Ross Krause right behind. Neither Greg nor I really do well in the heat, so we both planned on trying to keep things under control for the first 6 miles of the out and back course. Greg and I had both beaten Brian at Northern Nipmuck a few weeks ago, and I was surprised that he was pushing the pace so early on. By a couple miles in, we lost sight of Brian and the rest of the top five, but I still felt like I was pushing a bit too hard. I was really struggling on the uphills in the hot, humid air, and trying to compensate by pushing the downhills, which is often a recipe for massive positive splits.
Greg was also struggling on the climbs, and it sounded like we were having twin asthma attacks on the particularly steep sections. Ross actually seemed to be doing well, and I thought he was probably going to have a good race. I wasn’t so sure about my own day. The first person we managed to reel in was the Quebecois with the poles at about 3 miles. While I wanted to pick off as many guys as possible, Greg and I both talked about how we hoped that Andy had a good day. Although his training has been going well, he hasn’t had good races this spring due to stomach issues. We both knew that we would probably not see him unless he ran into problems, so we didn’t want to see him.
We spotted the guy with the camelback around 4 miles, and he let us by at the top of a climb. Although I never carry water at 7 Sisters, I was wondering if I should steal the camelback as we went by. It seemed to be getting hotter each minute, and the sweat was dripping right off me whenever we would have to scramble up ledges. Most of the last mile to the turn around is downhill, which allowed my temperature to get down closer to normal. The air also seemed to be drying out, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up. Over the first half of the race, there were more trees down over the trail than I’ve ever seen, which led to some very interesting tactics. At one point, I had to hop from a three foot high boulder onto two 4 inch diameter logs spread 4 feet apart at the same height, and then back down to the rocky singletrack. A few minutes later, I had to scissor kick over a 4’ high tree over the trail, which is no easy feat when you aren’t much more the 5’ tall.
Despite the obstacles, our little train of three made it down to the turn without any major falls, and it was clear that Andy and Brian had pushed the first half pretty hard. I’m guessing Andy had about 3 minutes on us, and Brian was about a minute back. I hammered two cups of Gatorade, and started the mile long climb back up to the summit house. I was surprised when I soon started to gap Greg and Ross, although I was feeling noticeably better on the hills. It was still hot, but we were getting a good, dry breeze, and I finally felt like I could breathe. I thought I might be able to catch S. somewhat quickly, but I think he picked up the pace when he saw us just before the turn. It’s always nice to get encouragement from all the out-bound runners, and I offered my own words of support as we tried not to knock each other off the trail.
I ran most of the hills between miles 6-10, and caught S. around mile 9. As soon as I spotted him, I thought I would be able to catch and pass him on the next downhill, due to the Nike waffle racers he was wearing. To my surprise, he flew down the next downhill despite the thin shoes, and continued to tear down the trail. I stayed a couple seconds behind, wondering if he was going to be able to push the pace to the finish. When we reached a series of basalt columns that dropped about 30’ in a series of 5’ ledges, he stepped to the side and let me by. I proceeded to jump down, trip, sit backwards on the edge of column, save myself from a painful fall with my fingertips, and then try to run away. S. was still a few seconds back as we crossed the low place to the dreaded climb of Mt. Hitchcock.
In 2000, I was forced to completely stop moving on this climb to avoid passing out. I was definitely feeling better this year, and steadily pulled away from S. just by keeping moving, which takes considerable effort at this point in the race. I continued to run most of the last three climbs, and was pretty sure I was securely in third as I began the broken descent to the finish. I’m sure I lost some time to Andy and Brian on this stretch, as I backed off the pace to avoid a needless fall and/or further muscle damage. It’s not if you damage your quads, it’s how much. Andy managed to hold on for the win and get under 1:49 on a very slow day. Although I would’ve liked to get up with Brian and run under 1:50 again, I was happy with my 1:51:24. I put about 4.5 minutes on S. over the last 2 miles, and most of the field had similar struggles over the last few miles. Andy, Brian, and I appeared to have strong 2nd halves, but we all still ran 8-9 minute positive splits.
Full results are at: http://runwmac.com/gt2010/sisters2010.html
While 7 Sisters is always extremely hard, the first attempt is often a shocking experience, as vividly reported by Chris Dunn:
http://raceacidotic2.blogspot.com/2010/05/85f112carnage.html
Another account and some nice pics can be found at Steve Wolfe’s blog:
http://have2run.blogspot.com/
My 290’s worked great today, no blisters, no hotspots, and no toenail issues despite the fact that I like my race shoes small. Traction was unreal as always, and my only fall was due to a rolling log.
Now on to the North Face 50 mile….
12m out and back
3700’ of climb
Footing is a bit rough…
For many New England runners, this year’s 7 Sisters was a car crash you could see coming. Many of us knew that race day was probably going to be very hot, and those of us that have run it before knew that 7 Sisters is an absolutely horrible race in the heat. In 1999, I ran 1:55, and then ran 1:52 in 2001. The 2000 race was a leafless oven, and I staggered home in just under 2:05. The combination of heat and 15-30% hills made my head feel like it was going to explode and my heart was practically splintering my ribs. That race was quite a while ago, and I’m a much stronger runner now, but I was very worried when I saw the forecast of a high of 85F. A number of runners, including Leigh Schmitt, a multiple winner of the race, decided to skip it this year. I seriously thought about not running when I got to the start and Leigh told me he wasn’t running, as we would both be running the North Face 50 miler 6 days after 7 Sisters. It’s not a great way to taper, at all, and Leigh was smart to skip it. I tried to convince myself to bag it, but it’s one of my favorite races, and I just couldn’t do it. So I did a good warm up, walked over to the start, and prepared myself for punishment.
Everyone was content to let me lead for about 400 meters, and then the guy with the poles went flying by. Yes, trekking poles. It may seem strange, but I was intrigued after getting crushed by a number of Europeans and Sherpas that were climbing with poles last summer in the French Alps. I couldn’t believe how he was managing to coordinate pole and foot placements on the jagged basalt of that first climb. My CMS teammate Andy McCarron went after him, followed by S. Granger Bevan, another guy with a Camelback, and Brian Rusiecki. Brian is also running the North Face 50 miler, and won the 7 Sisters last year. I settled into 6th with Greg Hammett and Ross Krause right behind. Neither Greg nor I really do well in the heat, so we both planned on trying to keep things under control for the first 6 miles of the out and back course. Greg and I had both beaten Brian at Northern Nipmuck a few weeks ago, and I was surprised that he was pushing the pace so early on. By a couple miles in, we lost sight of Brian and the rest of the top five, but I still felt like I was pushing a bit too hard. I was really struggling on the uphills in the hot, humid air, and trying to compensate by pushing the downhills, which is often a recipe for massive positive splits.
Greg was also struggling on the climbs, and it sounded like we were having twin asthma attacks on the particularly steep sections. Ross actually seemed to be doing well, and I thought he was probably going to have a good race. I wasn’t so sure about my own day. The first person we managed to reel in was the Quebecois with the poles at about 3 miles. While I wanted to pick off as many guys as possible, Greg and I both talked about how we hoped that Andy had a good day. Although his training has been going well, he hasn’t had good races this spring due to stomach issues. We both knew that we would probably not see him unless he ran into problems, so we didn’t want to see him.
We spotted the guy with the camelback around 4 miles, and he let us by at the top of a climb. Although I never carry water at 7 Sisters, I was wondering if I should steal the camelback as we went by. It seemed to be getting hotter each minute, and the sweat was dripping right off me whenever we would have to scramble up ledges. Most of the last mile to the turn around is downhill, which allowed my temperature to get down closer to normal. The air also seemed to be drying out, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up. Over the first half of the race, there were more trees down over the trail than I’ve ever seen, which led to some very interesting tactics. At one point, I had to hop from a three foot high boulder onto two 4 inch diameter logs spread 4 feet apart at the same height, and then back down to the rocky singletrack. A few minutes later, I had to scissor kick over a 4’ high tree over the trail, which is no easy feat when you aren’t much more the 5’ tall.
Despite the obstacles, our little train of three made it down to the turn without any major falls, and it was clear that Andy and Brian had pushed the first half pretty hard. I’m guessing Andy had about 3 minutes on us, and Brian was about a minute back. I hammered two cups of Gatorade, and started the mile long climb back up to the summit house. I was surprised when I soon started to gap Greg and Ross, although I was feeling noticeably better on the hills. It was still hot, but we were getting a good, dry breeze, and I finally felt like I could breathe. I thought I might be able to catch S. somewhat quickly, but I think he picked up the pace when he saw us just before the turn. It’s always nice to get encouragement from all the out-bound runners, and I offered my own words of support as we tried not to knock each other off the trail.
I ran most of the hills between miles 6-10, and caught S. around mile 9. As soon as I spotted him, I thought I would be able to catch and pass him on the next downhill, due to the Nike waffle racers he was wearing. To my surprise, he flew down the next downhill despite the thin shoes, and continued to tear down the trail. I stayed a couple seconds behind, wondering if he was going to be able to push the pace to the finish. When we reached a series of basalt columns that dropped about 30’ in a series of 5’ ledges, he stepped to the side and let me by. I proceeded to jump down, trip, sit backwards on the edge of column, save myself from a painful fall with my fingertips, and then try to run away. S. was still a few seconds back as we crossed the low place to the dreaded climb of Mt. Hitchcock.
In 2000, I was forced to completely stop moving on this climb to avoid passing out. I was definitely feeling better this year, and steadily pulled away from S. just by keeping moving, which takes considerable effort at this point in the race. I continued to run most of the last three climbs, and was pretty sure I was securely in third as I began the broken descent to the finish. I’m sure I lost some time to Andy and Brian on this stretch, as I backed off the pace to avoid a needless fall and/or further muscle damage. It’s not if you damage your quads, it’s how much. Andy managed to hold on for the win and get under 1:49 on a very slow day. Although I would’ve liked to get up with Brian and run under 1:50 again, I was happy with my 1:51:24. I put about 4.5 minutes on S. over the last 2 miles, and most of the field had similar struggles over the last few miles. Andy, Brian, and I appeared to have strong 2nd halves, but we all still ran 8-9 minute positive splits.
Full results are at: http://runwmac.com/gt2010/sisters2010.html
While 7 Sisters is always extremely hard, the first attempt is often a shocking experience, as vividly reported by Chris Dunn:
http://raceacidotic2.blogspot.com/2010/05/85f112carnage.html
Another account and some nice pics can be found at Steve Wolfe’s blog:
http://have2run.blogspot.com/
My 290’s worked great today, no blisters, no hotspots, and no toenail issues despite the fact that I like my race shoes small. Traction was unreal as always, and my only fall was due to a rolling log.
Now on to the North Face 50 mile….
1 comment:
Great job, Ben!
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