overtaking haynes

2hr 4 min trail run. yesterday my chin got frost bite a little b/c i didn't wear a mask while today i wore a mask but a different hat and the bottom of my left ear is peeling off a bit. really really cold today...but not horrible i guess. it can always get worse than a -5 degree wind chill. 

3hr 22 min run. I ran from my house for about 4 miles (1.1 on my favorite dirt road in town). I was thankful it was probably 25-30 today with only moderate wind. My hip belt was really annoying because the straps fell off at 1.4 miles and i struggled to fix the straps appropriately for about 5 minutes in part because of my ridiculously poor circulation in my hands but also in part because i was retarded. I got to huntington park and enjoyed the 1-2 inches of snow still on the ground with most of the ice underneath now gone or unnoticed. I proceeded to my favorite local trail, the 6 mile out and back that begins from the backside of the park. Saw only 1 person on the trail (which is why it is so awesome). I was glad he didn't wield a dog. At 11.5 miles I got to the turnaround point. I took 2 shot blocks which i realized become much too hard to eat when it's below freezing and a cliff bar which i hate eating but know are important to eat in order to have energy. I had 2 bottles of kona cola nuun which i like but no one else seems to. It is extremely gross i will admit when not consumed while running and when not cold, probably to dampen the unpleasant taste. My legs never hurt and I finished pretty strong. 3.2 miles on the road at the end.
Could have definitely gone farther but was glad to be done. I recommend books on tape for long runs. Songs get old too quickly.

1hr 30 min trail run. will hopefully be able to wake up early enough to run my 11.5 mile loop before work. it's interesting how i used to not be able to run in the morning and now i can't seem to run at night. at least i can run sometime still :) 

1hr 45 minutes or so, lost track of time on my iphone. left the house at 5:51am, the earliest of the year. was only 15 min late to work. kind of inevitable i think. no matter how early i wake up i just linger around the house longer. there had been freezing rain during the night and i didn't realize that that would mean almost falling the first step i took out the door on the stone steps. i also slid down the driveway and almost hurt myself. i'm glad i've been stretching or i would have definitely pulled something. i'm definitely probably more flexible than about 1% of the population that's my age. even though i stretch 30 min a night now. i should probably be warmed up when i stretch but every since i've devoted every night to it, my ankle has completely stopped hurting and nothing really ails me while running so it's doing enough. the roads weren't too bad because of all the sand on them from previous weather. i feel like i may be getting a little sick. can't put my finger on it yet. i hope not. 

11.5 mile loop. left at 5:51 am. got back at 7:36 and was only 10 min late to work instead of the 18 min i was late the day before :)

there is currently an ice storm overhead so running outside in the morning may be impossible. may try to do exercise bike in the morning, who knows...

when i was putting on my work boots this morning i happened to touch the top of my foot between where the bones intersect of the big toe and the next one over on my left foot. i would be more worried that it was a stress fracture but this has happened before about 6 months ago or so. A day off from running is probably a good thing though.

 just signed up for the north face endurance challenge 50 mile race in Bear Mtn, New York in May!

before work on the treadmill. 1hr 27 mins and 40 sec. not as horrible as i thought.

1hr 13min 30 sec on the treadmill after work. it was so hot running inside that i had to stop at 7.5 miles and take in some water. the treadmill is so much more efficient than running outside in regards to getting as many miles in as little time as possible. the roads are all icy in the morning, especially the dirt roads so i think i'm going to be running much more on the treadmill the next few weeks before it starts to be light in the morning. 

 i can't believe i took a full 4 days off from running. i went up to smuggler's notch in VT to ski with some friends on sat and sunday and i was too exhausted to run yesterday after the 6hr drive home sunday night. hopefully i can get back into it. I have so much less motivation to run when i can't achieve at least 70 miles a week on the running calendar. Without a number to work towards i just don't feel as motivated.
 

am, 7.5 miles on the treadmill, 61 minutes. 

pm, 3 miles on the treadmill, 24 minutes 

5 miles am on treadmill in just under 41 mins. quads were REALLY sore. I hope it's not b/c i'm out of shape from not running for 4 days. I'm guessing i'm just not used to the flatness and constant rhythm of the treadmill and perhaps even the speed which seems pathetic of going 7:30 miles :) 

5 miles pm in just under 40 mins. quads not as sore but ate dinner before the run which was no good. also the heat was turned up to 70 in the basement which was no good. had a little episode of spots in my head and dizziness like i used to have but i ran through it and 5 mins later was fine.

i'm going to a funeral tomorrow. someone's dad at work fell on some ice and hit his head and died from brain swelling. the son was there when it happened. terrible!  

1hr 5 mins on treadmill. decided to go until the machine said 1000 calories burned which was about 8 miles. 

about 8:05 pace on the treadmill. started really slow but sped up to about 7:30 by the end. felt ok. i have a goal to run 80 miles next week. we shall see if that pans out. tomorrow will be a key day and it needs to be above 10F when i start or i will wuss out. 

It was a warm 20F at the start of the run today with no wind. I waited for it to stop snowing. At first i thought wearing a three layers was a mistake but i didn't end up overheating. I ran 4.6 miles to Huntington park and then ran the ~9 miles through the park including the 6 mile out and back section which is my favorite. I stopped at 10.6 miles for 5 minutes-it took me that long to eat the hardened cliff bar which was just gross. I also hadn't drank anything yet and i drank almost 1 of the two water bottles i had brought with me. The snow was pretty crunchy with a hard annoying layer underneath the new inch or so of snow we got overnight. At 13.5 miles i came to the end of the trail and decided to retrace my path for 1.5 miles to take a more scenic road back. I saw a woman raking the snow off of a pond who i see almost every other time on the trail walking or skiing. I was always curious where she was coming from. 

I knew at mile 12 that i was going to be in a little bit of chaffing pain from the sub par lube i was using now that my body glide has been used up. this other stuff is deceptively good but completely wears out after 1.5-2hrs so you think it is fine until a long run. my left groin got a little tight at the end of the run but overall i was in fairly good shape after 3hrs and 46 minutes.
 

the goal was to get in 7.9 so i only have to avg 10 per day to reach 80mpw. my left knee didn't bother me at all outside yesterday but for some reason the treadmill aggravates it a bit. left quad was a little sore to start and running 8:57 on the treadmill felt bad. b/c my mom decided to start exercising at 5:15 when i got home i snacked on carrots and humus which is still making me sick to my stomach 2hrs later.

the chaffing from yesterday was quite horrible today. I had to stop 3 times to apply more of the crappy stuff that doesn't work well. Luckily i had good tv to watch. i saw roger federer win at the australian open and then #1 uconn playing #2 unc in women's basketball. It's annoying how some channels on the tv aren't as loud as others and i can't hear them at maximum volume over the treadmill. 

 night classes start tomorrow night. hopefully they won't make running on a treadmill even more unbearable!

69 minutes and 1000 calories exactly according to the treadmill.
 

5 before work on treadmill. right knee was really acting up to the point where it made me not want to run very fast. Took advil after and felt fine walking around until right after lunch when what i thought was my hip but most likely my left IT band made me start limping around. The treadmill is officially my enemy. Perhaps i have hit my limit and can't handle more than 75 miles per week. i did 79 in the last 7 days before today and apparently i can't handle it. The leg feels a bit better now after a 30 min ice. will definitely take at least 2 days off and use the time to STRETCH because the tightness was ridiculous. i've never felt anything like this and it was weird how it just crept up on me without warning. i guess i know what was causing the inner knee discomfort now. It's so annoying how just as i felt like my legs were handling the increased volume that something else has to go. i'm still hopeful i'll be ok in a few days. i'm kind of looking forward to the excuse to not run on the treadmill. 

I wouldn't say that all of the 23 easy miles were easy. The last 2 or 3 certainly hurt, especially because they were on the road after 10 miles of nice snow. 

 I was getting a bit nervous because of an IT band injury that sprung on me from what i blame as treadmill running. My left inner knee would act up and then hours later my IT band would kill me. So I took 3 days off and was a bit frustrated and contemplating how i could keep up training when running simply was no fun during the winter when you had to run in the dark or on a beastly and disgustingly lame human contraption.

i realized today that i actually like running when it's outside and on the trails and while listening to a book on tape which right now is dan brown's angels and demons. I have a 40 mile race in a month and i need to continue to get long runs in since i start to struggle as i approach 20. Simply running 70 miles or even 80 miles a week doesn't seem to help run 25 at once if the long runs are only 11 or 12 miles. When i was at my best long distance shape in 2005 i ran 3 times a week 3-5 hours a day.

 So my knee acted up rather early around mile 6, right when i got into the trails which was annoying but didn't get worse. i noticed the knee hurt much less going uphill. At mile 13.1 2hrs 18 minutes i took a 6 minute break to eat and drink since i had failed to do so earlier.

I saw my second coyote ever while running. it looked like a german shepherd in terms of size. Both times they just turn and bolt which gives me a feeling of power :)

 The knee didn't get worse, at mile 18.5 I had to ascend church hill which is not fun at all. it is a two stage climb of 325 feet total in 0.5 miles. All sorts of twingy pains started occuring after that but i got through the run and realize i'm not in good shape right now for the 40. perhaps if i was eating more frequently, but it appears that the legs and stuff just aren't game yet. i'll keep my fingers crossed that my IT band doesn't act up in a few hours. I preemptively took some advil and will now go apply some ice.

total running time 3hrs 59 minutes.

1hr 39 min trail run on packed hard snow. inner knee felt uncomfortable pre stretch but didn't get too bad. i took an advil and by the end of the run, there was virtually no pain. 

am run partly in the dark with falling snow. i prefer road running in snow before the plows and cars come out even to trail running. left knee wasn't too bad, just a little annoying. hopefully i can get my body back into things and adjust to running on at least mon or tues with the night classes. i may simply try to overdo it on sat and sun and take 2 days off b/c it's easier not to run those days. 

5:45 am start. roads were a bit icy. the dirt roads were REALLY icy. i don't know where my gps is right now so i wanted to know how many miles i did and chose to run on two different dirt roads for a bit. i only fell once. felt ok, knee pain seems to not be increasing which is good and no other problems to report.

am run, it's nice how it's getting lighter earlier out. snoozed a bit too much and then got engrossed in the nadal/verdasco tennis match. had to cut the loop short. 

around 8, will have to gps this route. 

3hr 59 minutes. about 15.5 on dirt roads and trails. The trails were pretty soft but packed down which felt really good. was super warm today and i quickly removed my jacket and wore a t-shirt. felt much better at the end than previous long runs and feel like i'm adapting although at mile 19 and up i have to sort of grit my teeth a little and pretend i have the eye of the tiger because i do start to break down. 3 water bottles with nuun mixed with gookinade. probably 150 calories in that. 2 whole wheat pitas 120 calories and 1 bag of shot block 200 calories. had plenty of energy left, the key was eating 2 bagels before the run. 

1hr 27 mins

1hr 21 mins. it was definitely cold this morning. it was 13F in the car when i drove to work and it was a bit windy. everything was fine mostly until i took a shower and then i had severe pain. i guess i need to wear like 5 layers of underwear. this is the 2nd time this year i wanted to throw up from frostbite to a certain area. 

now that the pain in my hip/ankle/knee is gone, pain has crept into my middle back randomly at about 11am today. i don't know what is wrong with me.
 

woke up at 5:30am checked the weather and saw that it was -1F outside and felt like -13F. NO WAY i said. I ended up running after work which actually was really nice for a change. 1h 10 mins.
 

am run 1hr 37 mins. will probably go skiing tomorrow and not run. 

only ended up skiing about 3hrs with my brother. we both decided that skiing was ok but not great and this allowed me to hit 70mpw for the first time in too long. i'm finally feeling pretty healthy again (with the help of advil) 1hr 13 mins.

was originally planning on hitting 25 today but i didn't get enough sleep over the past few days and thought i might even fall asleep. i decided i was only in the mood for 20. i had the intention of exploring a few trails along the road that i've come across or been on years ago and the first one turned out to be overgrown with prickers. i then wandered into a boy scout campground area and i remember there being some fields and trails. As it turned out there was over 3 miles of trails there. I saw another coyote. It was sprinting across in front of me, not even making eye contact. it didn't run directly away from me but came from the side and away. it wasn't as big as other ones i've seen. i also saw a large hawk and some deer. I guess this is where all the animals hang out. I then went to topstone pond and mtn which i knew would be overridden with dogs. all were friendly though. i took a break at mile 12 on top of the mtn and ate some pretzels and a fruit bar. Then ran back. Felt nothing at all till mile 17.5 but all in all it was pretty easy to get through. 3hrs and 15 mins. a "short" long run this weekend. Will hopefully do 25 next weekend and then start running no more than 20 until mt mitchell.   

am run. so hard to get up today...

1hr 23 mins. ended up being about 13 mins late to work in part because the trails i ran on were really icy. i didn't want to cut the run short though. joint in left toe felt off. 

1hr run. every day i wake up a little later and feel a little more tired...

woke up even later...no surprise. didn't plan on running long because i'm going to hopefully get a good long run in tomorrow of ~25 miles. we'll see. the weather should provide me with no excuse. i really like the brooks beast. maybe it's because they're new but i feel like they provide much better support. 

4hrs 17 mins. the trails were a bit icy in places but there were fewer people which was good. i didn't feel myself breaking down this week after mile 20 and i wonder how much of that is fitness vs having a pair of shoes that supports me better. i definitely could have run much farther today without much distress. i took about 450 calories on the run and began to feel hungry only in the last mile. this run bodes well for mt mitchell i think. now i have to worry about not getting sick.

3.78 mile hike in new york at storm king mountain state park by the hudson river. I was surprised at the beauty of the area so close to the city. i could easily see the catskills being only 25 miles north of new york city. the mountains rose well over 1000 feet from the river below. Trails were a bit icy although not enough to matter. There are lots of trails in the area both in the park and across the river in another park to explore. unfortunately there is at least one known rattlesnake sighting in the area which i found online which i'm not into. would have been great running today. wish i could have done more but i was with a friend who is new to hiking. i'm psyched my legs weren't sore at all from yesterday.

ran to huntington park and got to run almost 4 miles on trails. got back at 7:41 and was able to change and shower and be in my car going to work at 7:51. I was quite pleased with that performance. definitely a personal best, and as a result was only 5 min late to work. i probably would have only been 4 min late but there's this really creepy guy that glares at me and/or my brother every morning as he waits for the bus. i don't want to encourage any psychopathic urges he might have so i take the long way. 

It would figure that on friday it would be a day that i could barely wake up to get any miles in. i chose to explore a trail that turned out to be by a river and was super icy and slanted in parts on a hill making it very treacherous. i had to go back on this same trail due to time constraints. there are over 20 different trail systems or so in town but almost all of them are narrow and will be full of ticks in the summer. won't be back to this trail. 

3:36. This run was pretty interesting. i tried out some more new trails to modify my way to huntington park. they were a little hard to follow because they aren't well traveled and the patchy crusty snow and dead leaves look the same everywhere. didn't enjoy it too much but i got to the park and had a good run through there to the connector trail i always take. i explored a bunch of what looked like roads that i had vowed to explore but was always too focused on the mileage and knowing how far things were. today i took several of them and they kind of disappointingly dead ended. This one i took ended and i decided to just free run through the woods for what amounted to about 1.5 miles without seeing any houses. I made my way out and finished the run off without too much difficulty on only 1 cliff bar. i'm no longer nervous that i can't finish 40 miles pretty strong. 

I was sick since tuesday when i woke up with a really bad sore throat that lasted until friday morning. The throat stopped hurting but i was really stuffy. My plan was to just start off without pushing myself and see what happened. The weather was atrocious. The worst weather in the 12 year running of the race. The start was 45F and pouring rain. I didn't feel cold though in a long sleeve technical shirt and a sort of functional 6 year old rain jacket. I normally wouldn't have brought with me an extra jacket as a layer but because i was sick I strapped it to my hip belt in a plastic bag. I immediately regretting bringing the jacket and felt that i was already overheating during the first mile. It seemed like a hundred people were ahead of me in the first couple miles which started on pavement. After about 1hr i no longer felt warm but not cold either as i was completely soaked. i held my place into the trails at the 27 min mark for me. At the marathon turn around at just over 1 mile high in elevation i decided it was time for my spare jacket. i couldn't feel my fingers because of my annoying poor circulation problem and needed help getting my jacket on under my rain coat. It felt like i was at the aid station for a full 5 minutes. I felt immediately warmer and knew i wouldn't have any problems with hypothermia. At the next aid station i was told that we were one of the last runners to go through because they were turning people back because of the deteriorating conditions. I was glad to have made the cut. The last mile was more technical than the jeep road and easy trails to that point. There was some good icy patches and you had to go off trail a bit. I unfortunately had to poop and lost another several minutes. I felt much better though and in the last 100 ft of elevation it started to snow! There were wind gusts of over 50mph i'm told although i'd say 30-40 is more realistic. I would later learn that 20 people had to be driven down the mtn due to hypothermia. The visibility was about 10 feet and although i was now standing at 6684ft, the highest mtn in the east, i could see nothing. i have no idea what the mtns look like in NC. I reached the top in 3hrs 39 minutes. I felt ridiculously fresh and i started passing lots of people on the first mile of technical downhill before it mellowed out a bit. it was an amazing experience knowing there was over 4000ft of downhill. Unfortunately it felt like it was flat because it was so gradual. The race was definitely not technical at all but quite easy for an ultra. I started flying on the downhill but had to lay off the gas in one section because i started seeing spots. i hallucinated a person that was a log as well. I did take one good fall and thought i was in trouble with pulling something but ran it off. I passed about 10 people total on the way down and didn't really push it until it became clear that two of the people i passed were serious about beating me. A woman (who would win the women's race) and this other guy. The last bit of the trail with about 6 miles to go got really steep and i pushed it and my quads started to feel it. Then the road called appalachia way was the steepest road i've ever run down and that hurt too. i had dropped them. At the last aid station i was told there was 5k left and i lengthened my stride and was hoping i could break 6hrs but i couldn't. Near the finish we had to run one 1/2 mile or so loop around a lake and not only was there a posse of 8 mean looking canadian geese who i saw lunge at this runner in front of me doing the marathon but i saw the girl come out of nowhere. i was sure she wouldn't catch me but was surprised she was only a minute back. I would find out that the top 5 men got awards...i came in 10th, but only 10 mins out of 5th place, 20 mins from 3rd. the winner was 5hrs 10 min. overall an interesting experience. i think i'll have a good ultra season. am planning on taking a full week off to recover, and start running again on saturday.

drove to show my dad the really nice and flat part of the trail i run on a lot in town. after about 1.5 miles he turned around and i went exploring some of the trails that i determined don't loop and just lead annoyingly to nowhere even though getting to nowhere is nice. at mile 10 everything was good and then it just wasn't. i just started to tighten up and i was still about 6 miles from home. at mile 15, being about 1/2 a mile from home and major strain in several muscles i decided it was time to walk. would have walked earlier but was not cool with the lengthy amount of time it would take to get back. i guess i'm not super endurance man like i thought. it will unfortunately take probably a month to fully recover. or at the very least 2 more weeks. i was so pathetic out there today. 

6.7 mile hike. it took about 4hrs and i had a tick on me that i felt crawling on me and my friend also had a tick on her pants. later we found that she had a tick that had bit her but i pulled it out cleanly. the winter has its benefits. i need to start stretching again. will probably only run every other day 5-7 miles easy for awhile. it's so easy to loose the running spirit when your body just won't work right. 

not sure how far this run was exactly. i love this run though. decided to run despite my calf feeling strained walking around. a lot of times running won't make something feel worse. i needed to take out some frustration so i pushed it not too severely but enough to feel the burn. the first climb was 6.5 mins and gained 450ft. then a downhill before another 5.5 min climb to the summit, getting to the top in 19:45. On the return trip there was one climb of 3.5 mins. If i ever decide to put on a trail race, this would be my first choice. this week i hope to beat my time to the summit. since leaving Colorado i forgot how much fun time trialing is up mtns. or in this case a hill. 

feels good to run again. i was really depressed about my running because of how i took a week off and then strained my body running 15 the week after. i was less depressed today and felt quite strong today from the start for the first time in a while. the strain in my calf isn't too bad anymore. i know 41 minutes sounds real slow for pushing myself slightly faster than a marathon course but it is pretty hilly. at least 500 feet of elevation gain. i like the idea of ultramarathons but NOT the recovery time. i don't think i'll run more than 10 miles for another week because of the disaster that happened last week. it's fun to go for under 45 mins and know you can push yourself as much as you want.

found out i got into the knee knackering north shore trail run in vancouver july 11th. i feel bad though because i didn't realize it was then when i said i would pace a friend at hardrock this year. i'm definitely excited to go to vancouver though!
 

tendon in right leg behind the knee really tight when walking. hadn't had problems while running short the past few days. for frustration i've enjoyed running fast compared to my normal slow and long runs. i brought the gps and got to the 875ft summit in 17mins 30 sec, much faster than a couple days ago when i thought i was pushing myself. the first climb is from 425ft up to 775ft, climbing that in .5 miles then it drops 175ft in .25 miles to 600ft before climbing to the summit with a great view. almost 600ft vertical. then took it easy on a different trail down. such beautiful and challenging terrain.

6.6 mile hike up mt taurus by the hudson river. 

4.8 mile hike at bennet's pond and up pine mtn. 

was going to run early but definitely no motivation when my miles are so low. couldn't wake up and snoozed for over an hour. had a midterm and then did a tempo run half of it was dark.

33:44 on the 5 mile loop starting up limekiln. last mile was exactly 7 min pace. Don't know any other splits. Could have been stronger at the end but went out too fast i think. no warm up and no cool down. At least i can go under 35 mins still :)

it's pretty cool that the loop starting from my house and running up the dirt road first is EXACTLY 5 miles. i ran this in the morning before work so could only muster a 34:46. I don't think i got a minute slower in 2 days! and i don't think the run is harder in this direction, i'd say it was easier.

ran another mile after works and hiked some trying to get my friend into running.

ran at terre haute after work and re-explored the trails. going at an easy pace brings you to about 12+ mins/mile. it's pretty ridiculous. felt pretty good though and for the first time didn't feel any stiffness in my tendon. i could hit 30 this week!!!!!!! :)

 during the run i decided i'm NOT going to do a difficult 50 mile race i signed up for in May. It's just too devastating to have to take a month off and rebuild again. it seems like a lot of fellow ultra runners can recover quickly but in my experience from running ultras for in my 5th year now, i don't seem to be able to recover any faster. i should really only do 1 or 2 a year and not in the middle of racing season. my next race will be the knee knackering north shore trail run in vancouver in july! it's only 30m. need to get back in shape for that and hope i don't get sick again for race day.
 

1hr 26 mins for 6.7 miles :) 

 I keep exploring the trails behind the office park and there keep seeming to be more and more trails made by invisible motorbikes. I think i'm close to having a good trail racing course but there is one bad section that i need to find my way around. I somehow managed to get on a trail that disappeared suddenly after gaining 150ft in 0.1 miles. definitely a good workout. it's creepy when its getting dark and there's no one around and the trees creak.
 

1hr 5 min trail run at huntington

breakneck ridge trail hike. 3.1 miles features 1250ft vertical in 0.75 miles. probably the most fun trail i've ever been on! 

run after school. no warmup again, no time. had a much better showing than last week when i did the same loop in the morning. ran 33:09 instead of 34:46 with equal effort. can morning running really be that much worse? i wonder if i could ever break 30 on this loop? very doubtful. it's weird how i enjoy tempo runs as long as i'm not running very many miles. i actually look forward to them when i used to dread them before. 

am before work. 

am 5.5 miles

pm raced my 2 brothers down whortleberry rd. they stayed close for the first 1/2 mile but then i crushed them by 1.5 minutes. I ran 10:30 for the 1.6 mile road. I enjoy how my little brother who is 13 consistently dominates my other brother who is 24 by about 10-15 sec.

did a 2.5 mile hike up topstone mtn afterwards.

ran after work at tarrywhile park which i haven't been to in a long time. i used to go mtn biking there in hs and had a bad mtn biking accident. it's really good terrain though and really great when it's not crowded. it was raining tonight so i only saw a couple people. there's a pretty good sized mtn there and some beautiful lakes and fields. i pretty much ran all the trails and it got dark on me because i didn't have my watch. i have to estimate that i probably ran at least 10 min/mile and i ran 1hr 25mins. i saw at least 3 different herds of deer. one herd of 6 had 2 deer that weren't afraid of me. one of the deer actually started running toward me for about 50 ft which scared the crap out of me. i'm going to start running with this joggers mace i got last weekend so i don't have to worry about loose dogs and apparently deer!

legs a little tired from yesterday.

am run before hiking. 1.1 mile warmup then 5 mile tempo run starting up limekiln. an extremely poor 35:03 time. i wonder if i even get much benefit running 1.5 mins slower in the morning than i would in the afternoon? is it even worth it?

after, went hiking in the shawangunks. i thought last weeks hike on the breakneck ridge was interesting and had challenging scrambling. what i did yesterday was absolutely incredible! we hiked about 3 miles to the mohonk mountain house and did the labyrinth trail which consisted of crawling under rocks and up ladders. then we went up the crevice and possibly heard a rattlesnake. the crevice was ridiculous, there was this narrow set of ladders and i had to remove my tiny camelback to fit through. we then decided to try another side trail which was also closed, probably because there was still some snow and ice, though barely. we went down the giant's path which literaly you spiraled down like on a staircase, scrambling down and then under rocks. there was one section which was quite dark. the shawangunks in ny are apparently one of the most popular places to rock climb in the US. a very interesting place. 5hrs 3 min of hiking/scrambling. it's depressing to know that no hiking trail can surpass this day. it was literally hiking heaven. especially because there was no one on the trails because they were closed :)

5 mile trail run with little brother. i was impressed with how he handled the rough terrain and steep hills, both uphill and down. i better watch out since he's only 13! 

didn't wake up this morning as planned. but i should have known i wouldn't :) almost walked out of class at 5:40 because it was so painfully boring but stuck it out. only one more month. i knew i'd be all anxious to run after being pent up all day and knew it would make me run with more fire. i had run this 5 mile tempo loop in the same direction only 2 days ago in the morning and had an extremely humbling and disappointing 35:03. Tonight i ran a 32:28 which may be my fastest time ever on the loop but i could have been faster last year i don't know the numbers. all i know is that i was feeling very little confidence in my running since i've basically run only 1/3 to 1/2 the mileage i've been running for the past month. i just might run a local 1/2 marathon on sunday which goes within 1 mile of my house. the one thing i don't like is that i ran it in 2005 and i hope i can at least equal that time. we'll see. it will hopefully not be too horrible a time and i won't die after 10 miles. i'm extremely worried that haynes will beat me at northern nipmuck in 2 weeks even though i beat him by 9 minutes last year. i've even considered not trail racing until my mileage is back up. at least i feel 90% recovered now from the 40 miler. One more week and i should be back hopefully. any course less nice than nipmuck and i'd probably wuss out but i know i'll be mad at myself for being afraid. even if i do manage to pull out a miracle win, i know it will be too close to be enjoyable!

6:25 to top of limekiln, 11:05 to john read rd (1.65 miles), 14:30 to gallows hill, 19:05 to old stagecoach rd (3 mile mark), 26:00 to the dead end road i can't remember the name of (4 mile mark), 29:00 minutes to top of whortleberry dirt section.

run after class with headlamp. 5 mile loop + out and back 2.2 mile on dirt road. a racoon was very intrigued by the headlamp and didn't run off like i wanted him to. 

am 5.5, pm 1.6 miles on dirt road. raced my two younger brothers. Because i beat them both by about 1:30 last week I gave the 13 year old 1 minute and the 24yr old 1 minute 10 sec. i wanted to make sure i won easily and i did :) 

 I ran 10:22 or maybe 10:27, i was trying to keep track of their times. Next time i'm going to give them 1:25. we were all faster this week. I think this is going to be a season long racing series. next week will be interesting. it should come down to the last tenth of a mile.
 

had to stay at work later than i wanted to. ended up finishing the run in the dark. saw about 10 deer, 1 rabbit, and 3 bats! the first bat sighting of the year. not cool! calves felt incredibly tight, especially the right one. i need to force myself to stretch tonight. 

pm run up to end of john read rd and then did 1.6 down dirt road by myself. 

1hr 27 min trail run at aspetuck. it's strange how my calves don't feel tight when i trail run only on the road. oh well. one of the many reasons i like trail running more than road running. 

so i'm not going to call this a race report even though i paid $40 today. i guess i was hopeful that i wouldn't be pathetic and would be able to run close to 1:25. i was positive i wouldn't run 1:24 on this course like i did in '05 because there is a 250ft climb starting at mile 8 or so and my mileage has been non existent. i had been good with 5 mile temp runs. unfortunately that was about all i had in me! 

 at beginning of race i said hi to this 50yr old guy that lives on my road and who is faster than me. i hoped to not completely embarrass myself...

 the course started out pretty flat and the leaders didn't really take off. a bunch of kenyan looking runners vying for the $500 first place prize. i came through the first mile in 5:58 purposely slowing down after i saw the 1/2 mile split. one annoying thing was that every mile was 1.02 miles on my gps watch. i came through the 2 mile mark in 12:16 and still had no idea what lay in store. the next mile was similar. i noticed by mile four that i was down to about 6:25-6:30 pace....not good. came through the 5 mile in 31:37. not bad but that was pretty much it for me. i started hitting 6:52's for the next couple miles and then at mile 8 i was just done. i was a good sport about it as the 100's of people of all shapes and sizes and genders started passing me while i walked at times. the worst 1/2 marathon finish of my life by 6 minutes in 1:34 and change. my last mile was literally 11 mins on a downhill.

 lesson learned. if you have doubts, then you already know they're true. i will not be running many trail races this year because i am a long way off from being in shape to race more than a 10k.

 sorry you won't be beating me at the trail race this weekend haynes :)

 if you beat my time from last year you win though. i guess i need to decide whether i want to run 2 ultras a year or be able to run more consistently. my right leg is still a little strained from trying to run the weekend after the race over a month ago now.

am run, felt really tight and slow. 

4.7am and 3.8 mile hike pm

7 mile trail run pm

7.25 mile am trail run at terre haute, 5.2 mile hike at huntington, did just enough to beat brothers down and back whortleberry when i got back, 1.6 miles

ran in norwalk to cranbury park and back. very rainy and some dude who was also running disgustedly told me i needed more layers because it was too cold and raining too hard. i don't understand why people need to say there opinion about something like that. why can't i wear shorts and a t-shirt when i want? 

i think my montrails are pretty much done. they're still comfortable but i can tell they should only be used for hiking now. ran 5.3 at aspetuck with my younger brother. he could be a pretty good runner. already at 13 he doesn't hold me up on easy runs. he does have a tendency to trip though on the trails. decided to run when i got back 25 mins later to hit 10. ran on the old limekiln trails where i used to run all the time in h.s. not quite as good anymore since the housing development wiped out 160 acres but was still ok. i can be sure no one else will be there. 

 ate like a pig today.
 

1hr 44 min trail run at terre haute. got a loop that is now 8.75 miles long. very tiring but awesome. there were some sketchy dead animal smells at certain places along the trail along with the sound of rustling leaves. saw no one as usual. 

1hr 11 min trail run at huntington. found a new 2+ mile awesome mtn biker made trail that is now my favorite place to run. very twisty and my ankle hurt until i tightened up my shoes. 

5.5 mile am run, 2.8 mile pm hike. 

gps battery died so guessing about 6 miles. not less at least. ran at huntington

am run. was planning to do another 5.5 after work but ended up having to stay 2.5hrs late. 

1hr 17 min trail run. had to leave to go to a graduation at 9:30 or would have run longer. got to do a 5 mile hike behind bethel industrial park after. there was some archery competition that was going to happen the next day. there were all these animal targets which was neat. 

3hr 20 min hike up ramapo torne at bear mtn park in NY. need to stretch out my hip and it band!

4.3 miles am

 6.7 miles pm (ran down john read rd in the rain and on the way back got charged by a mean looking goose). there's a farm there and i guess he was protecting his pals. if i had pepper spray i would have zapped him but i gave it away. you run enough and the animals will get you!

am run. explored a trail i hadn't been on off the dirt road that goes 1.2 miles on a river bank. pretty nice and not too overgrown.

went for a hike at the bethel reservoir. On the way back i went on this person's driveway because it was easier and it was awkward that in the 1 minute i was on the driveway, the person drove up that driveway. what could i do but wave?

 

am 4.64 miles to and around bethel reservoir. saw a couple dogs and then the person who's driveway i walked down yesterday with his two husky dogs. what are the chances of that? 

 pm run at huntington. lots of mtn bikers out.
 

1hr 38 min trail run at huntington. 

1hr 30 min trail run at huntington. very hot today! still fun but i should probably start bringing water. local 10k trail race tomorrow, not expecting much.

I probably wouldn't have done this race if it didn't happen to be only 35 mins from where i live and have huge hype. you have to sign up the day it's open and there were 955 finishers which is absurd for a trail race! i wanted to see what all the hype was about. 

 i got to the race and there were already hundreds of cars, a bagpipe player and people everywhere! the race bibs were cool and actually had your first name on it. had it been last year i would have been aiming for a top ten finish but because of my training/perceived weakness i just wanted to have a good time and not embarrass myself. it was about 80 even at 9am in the morning.

 i saw a familiar face, a guy who has beaten me in a half marathon trail race (passed me in the last 5 miles) and i crushed him at a longer more rugged race last year. i expected to be crushed today and he did beat me.

 anyways, i lined up at the start in the front row. not many people seemed all that intimidating which was good. i found myself surprisingly in the top 10 across the large field and into the woods. it's always cool when the leaders are right there. the first half mile was about 5:40 pace which i knew was too fast. after about a mile we crossed an almost waste deep river which was pretty exciting and i started to settle in. i was passed at mile 2 or so by the guy i knew but he never got too far away. after about a half mile called the mud flats which were ridiculously muddy there was this huge sand hill with another bagpipe player which i was told i was in 10th place. there was a scrawny 17 yr old who for 1 sec overtook me but i shot by him once the hill was over. i put some distance on him but another guy came behind me and i could feel his breathing. i was pushing the whole time and i thought i would die because i had no confidence. i was passed after about a half mile and i stayed with him and he walked a few steps every once in a while on the hills and i caught up to him and passed him. we traded for a while and i had the lead on a long downhill which i knew he wouldn't pass me on. when it flattened out he passed me and i was sure he would surge away from me but i was able to hold on only about 5 sec back to the last field with about 0.5 miles to go. There was a tall grassy section and a bunch of people gathered and i thought  to myself i'm going to finish 10th, that's pretty awesome, i can't pass this guy. but the crowd of spectators were at the final water crossing! this crossing was also waist deep and the guy fell in and lost his footing. i saw him fall to his neck and i went around him on his right and surged ahead not looking back. i was sure the finish line was feet away! i'm going to win. much to my chagrin it was not and i had to go about a 1/4 mile uphill across the field beyond the original starting line. i had used up all my adrenaline and speed in the surge through the river and up the bank about a 100 feet. i was sure i was doomed, but i guess i had opened enough of a gap to hold on. it was pretty exciting and winning duels like that are always extremely rewarding!

i really needed this to feel good about running again.

3.4 mile hike after


 

trail run at centennial watershed starting on the easton side. beautiful river run. wish my legs had more in them so i could have run farther. 

am run up john read rd and back and added on whortleberry. wish i got to run in the evening also but had class. legs feeling a bit better but slow still. 

6.6 miles am, paced brother down our race course to get a PR. he kind of died coming back so only about .6 miles was tempo for me.

explored some more trails in town and found a nice 2.6 mile hiking loop after.

pm run after work. hadn't done a full centennial trail in a while and did the 6 miles out and ran on the road back. only 4 miles on pavement, 1hr 53 mins. legs felt tired and began to hurt a bit after about 10 miles. went a little hard yesterday and i guess i'm still not used to running that long. i still don't get why the body loses its ability to run distance in only a couple months after so consistently running 25 miles every week with ease. saw a milk snake on the road towards the end. 3rd snake of the year. at this rate i'll see 10 which i'm not looking forward to. i guess they're kind of cool though as long as they don't surprise you too badly. 

6.75 mile am run at aspetuck. went hiking after 6.6 miles after at mountain lakes camp park in ny. saw 3 water snakes! maybe it was the same one on the way back and i really saw only 2 different ones. snake count up to 6. the hike was kind of creepy, we explored an old abandoned kids camp with empty swimming pools and overgrown basketball courts. it was straight out of friday the 13 but far creepier even during the late afternoon.

6.6 miles am (half dirt)

5.5 mile trail run pm -forgot my running shoes. was ok because ground was wet.

am trail run on dirt. had to drive brother to school so couldn't run more. had last class tonight so i'm glad i'll have more time to run soon! 

1hr 41 min trail run am

paced brother down whortleberry and back pm. i'm trying to teach him pacing. he did the first 0.8 miles 17 sec slower than last week but only ended up 2 sec slower overall with lots more energy and he didn't collapse after.  

am trail run on centennial trail. out and back 9.6 miles hr 24.

pm trail run at huntington 4 miles

7.1 mile hike in clarence fahnestock park in NY. 

1hr 54 min trail run out and back centennial trail. after about mile 10.5 left shin started to hurt.

1hr 18 min trail run on centennial trail from easton. no left shin problems or ankle strain which was surprising since it's been bothering me for a month now. 

pm trail run

am road run

2hr pm trail run starting at huntington to centennial trail within 0.6 miles of the end before coming back. was raining so no one was at the park which was great. very nice temp and conditions. left shin started aching the last couple miles like it has started to do on runs over 10 miles. it's my own fault for being too lazy to stretch. 

trail run at huntington

3.5 hr hike at sleeping giant state park. unexpectedly awesome and challenging. 

paced brother for 1.6 mile out and back. he was trying to beat his 11:27 but sadly he ran 11:29 last time and 11:32 today. he keeps trying different strategies but none are working so far. After i went for a run on the roads/trails. more roads than trails today. i did see a coyote butt at the boy scout reservation. the only other time i was there i also saw a coyote. kind of weird to have seen 3 this year. there must be quite a number of them in town. shin started acting up at mile 11 as usual. stretched tonight though. 

pm trail run

1hr 54 min at huntington 

3 mile hike at huntington

trail run at huntington

9.6 mile trail run at huntington. 1hr 44 mins

3hrs 11 min. ran up and down sonoma mtn in jack london park in CA. Really beautiful. Didn't like seeing the mtn lion signs everywhere and not seeing many people early in the morning. 

5.5 miles am

1.6 mile pacing of my brother. he broke his best time by 26 secs.

ran 3.3 miles easy after

1hr40 min trail run at huntington. saw a coyote, it bolted but then started barking at me! didn't like that at all. 4th coyote sighting of the year. seems like way too many!

ran 1 hr in providence on my old running route. it was ok but i'm so glad i live where i do now because the running terrain is really flat and boring relatively.

hiked 4.2 miles after at purgatory chasm and douglas state forest in MA.  

hiking: went up indian head mtn 3576ft in the catskills (1500ft of climb)

and then down then up to jimmy dolan notch which was beautiful 3580ft.

found a machete on the trail which was extremely bizarre.

1hr 43 min trail run at huntington. pushed it a little bit and felt really good. 

1hr 20 min trail run at huntington. felt good.

ran whortleberry, started as a time trial with my brother but he blew up at about 0.5 miles or was close to it. took it easy then decided to time trial up the hill and after about 45 sec he blew up and started walking after passing me at first. i blew up about 10 sec later. it was kind of fun to run fast. tendon acting up though.

right tendon under knee really stiff all day today. took it easy and loosened up a bit. iced after. 1hr 54 min run at huntington

hiked in the catskills. trailhead started at 2000ft and i hiked up to twin mtn at about 3600. then down to 2700 and up to 3800ft to sugarloaf mtn. i surprisingly saw a snake poking its head out onto a rock outcropping which would have given him a beautiful view. surprising to find a snake at 3700ft at the top of a mtn! 7th snake sighting of the year. i hate the way the head on this one look, so evil and sinister.
the descent was 0.95 miles and lost 1200 ft. super steep. most of the hikes we've done have been along the devil's path so far which is extremely steep and challenging. total hike 8.1 miles, just over 5hrs.
 

didn't get a chance to start running until after 5pm and i was hoping to do 20 today. unfortunately that didn't quite happen. i went to huntington and my right tendon was tight to begin with but loosened up as usual. i didn't feel that slow but apparently according to the gps was. at 2.2 miles the watch lost sat connection and then found it again who knows when later only to lose it again. nothing more frustrating than not knowing how far you go for your long run. i ended up seeing some wildlife today. i saw a box turtle (i think) 3rd turtle of the year, a fox, and then a HUGE water snake! 8th snake of the year and 4th water snake. i can safely say this thing was massive. easily the largest snake i've seen on the east coast. it must have been 3.5 ft long and was very thick. so gross. luckily it slithered off the bridge i had to cross and i didn't have to throw stuff at it or make a run by it. the watch ended up reading 15.3 after reseting it. so at least 17.5 was recorded. i estimate 18.3 miles and about 3hrs 10 mins. left shin acted up then went away. stomach was unsettled after eating way too much pizza for lunch before the run at bertuccis. at least i don't feel fat now anymore :) 

ran with brother at huntington. we sprinted on this mtn bike trail multiple times until exhaustion. it was quite fun and exhilarating at times. we never managed to sprint more than 0.15 miles at a time. 

pm trail run at huntington

ran whortleberry road with my brothers and went all out up the hill which is 1/4 mile. did it in 1:29, brother was with me for the first 0.15 miles when he broke and scared me a bit. then we raced again (mostly downhill) but it wasn't really a race, i just run slightly under 6min pace to make sure the little ones didn't beat me. ran again on my own, time trialed up the hill again but only managed 1:39 with no competition. 

trail run at huntington

did breakneck ridge trail to underhill trail in ny. was a nice hike. saw what i think was a black racing snake. possibly a water snake but it looked a little different. 

ran first 10.1 miles at huntington with a camelback, became irritating so dropped it off. saw 10th snake of the year swimming in a shallow stream. it seems i've sort of overcome my snake phobia. no real pain so definitely a confidence builder. listened to long lost by harlan coben. pretty good book. ~3hrs 40 min run. 

pm trail run at huntington after the storm. no one was at the park which was nice. felt fine. 

trail run at huntington

paced brother to 10:58 out and back on whortleberry. his fastest time ever. 

wet trail run at huntington

was going to run 20 or 22 today but got a late start and was scared of thunderstorms. they didn't come but i wasn't mentally prepared and my legs were tired. ran on road. 

slow father's day trail run jog/walk. dad's knee hurt

2hr 10 min trail run at huntington. very wet!

1hr 31 min trail run at huntington in pouring rain. saw a young dead opposum. saw a dead bird a few days ago as well. 

road and dirt road run, 1hr 44 mins, saw 12th snake of the year on dirt road. 

last long run before 30m race in vancouver. i would have liked to have gotten in a longer than 12m run last weekend but the weather was questionable and yesterday was horrendous thunderstorms. it was about 75-80 and i decided to take one of my hip belts that could hold extra water bottles. i'm not really a fan of the camelback because it's too much to run with something covering your entire back and it's easier to get problem chaffing areas with so much surface area. i brought 5 water bottles, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, 2 cliff bars and a cliff shot. i got dropped off at huntington to start and i quickly realized how disastrous it was going to be until i drank 2 bottles worth. i was also carrying my iphone so holding 2 bottles was out of the question. i basically was running at 12min pace with the belt bobbing up and down and trying to navigate the muddy and rocky terrain. i knew it was going to be a long day. no shin or hip pain or anything for the start of the run which was good since i haven't been stretching. i ran out of water after 3hrs. at about mile 18 or so. the shin started to hurt (really the muscle) at 3hrs but i stretched it and it helped. no real problems until mile 20 and then it was kind of a death run. i ate the sandwich and one bar but i should have eaten more i guess. i got to mile 22 about 1.3 miles away from home and called for someone to pick me up. i was done. could i have run another 8 miles today. definitely not. i think i'll be fine though. not anywhere close to my best but fine enough to not have a bad time. i'm very glad the race is not 50m. saw 2 dead snakes. yet another water snake. making 14 for the year, 11 alive. 

hiked 2hrs 29 min at devil's den in weston, CT. was quite nice. saw ANOTHER large water snake. snake # 15 and then went in the pool after and saw a gardner snake, snake # 16, # 13 alive. this is starting to be ridiculous. i have definitely overcome my snake fear though for the most part. 

brooks shoes are shot after the long run i just noticed. they are ripped where the fabric meets the rubber several inches. they still feel good though. i hope the shoes i ordered last week come soon or i'll have to wear trail shoes that are falling apart. 

ran 5.75 miles and then started to run again with my girlfriend but we only managed 0.75 miles before the thunderstorm hit HARD. we were lucky and decided to turn around just in time. 

colorado running in ft collins. did not feel the altitude

in colorado

This race in north vancouver may be my favorite race of all time. maybe i'll right more later about it. 

paced little brother for 2 miles at nickerson park in cape cod then ran easy. felt fresh and pretty fast. 

ran at huntington

ran with kristin

ran at huntington

ran at terre haute

ran with kristin up and down john read road. her longest run ever. 

ran with kristin, then started off conservatively for the first couple miles then decided to try to go sub 9 min mile pace at the huntington loop. i just fell short of my goal by about 30 sec. this guy who i passed asked me a question about a landmark so he could see where he was on a map later. i still would have been 10 sec too slow. 

trail run at terre haute. i love this place. 

terre haute loop

ran with kristin 1.6 then ran another easy 1.1 down dirt road by house. 

terre haute loop. finally put gps data on computer. just the major climbs come out to 1650ft. there are 5 climbs total. 1hr 18mins. the most ridiculous is this part i call "the wall" in .06 miles the trail climbs 160ft (according to the gps). it's different every time but still...

ran with kristin on whortleberry

hiked 4hrs 40 min and 10.8 miles in shawangunks. went to sam's point (not that cool) then to the ice caves (ridiculously cool). literally cool. there was still ice in this one part of the cave. There was solar powered motion sensing lights and a door you went through. a really cool experience. then hiked to vanderkill falls which was pretty good. then hiked to high point (the highest point in the shawangunks) which wasn't very high. good day. 

ran with kristin 2x on dirt part of whortleberry. her longest run ever of 2.2 miles. 

went all out to howling pete's lookout at terre haute. I think this is

my fastest time ever but i need to check my previous times. I wiped out

on the short muddy flat section trying to go around a water pool.

Luckily the ground was soft. I felt really strong to the top of the

first climb of 400ft mostly in 0.55 miles. I enjoyed the 200ft descent

that followed and started hurting on the second big climb of 250 ft. At

least i know there is room for improvement. I touched the bench in 16

min 27 sec leaving me with the goal to break 16. 5 sec could be gotten

back by not falling. Sub 15 would be sick. I didn't really plan on

running hard. I was pretty tired after and suffered horribly on the

rest of the loop of huge, washed out hills. total vertical over 1700ft.

ran at huntington

ran 2 miles at huntington with kristin then time trialed whortleberry out and back. ran a personal best of 9:55 for the 1.60 mile course (6:12 pace). Would like to one day be able to break 6 pace but will be extremely hard considering the 1/2 mile hill that gains about 100ft. 

trail run at huntington. cooler out than normal

10.3 mile hike in adirondacks up algonquin mtn 5114ft. Ascent was about 3000ft. Descent was equally difficult. Did loop around avalanche lake, very awesome. drove up 4.5hrs that morning. Had to park 1mile away from trail because lot was full. Got in 1.9 miles of running in addition to the hike. 6hrs 45min hiking time

trail run at huntington.

trail run at huntington with kristin

trail run at huntington

trail run at huntington with kristin

Did Hunter mtn in the catskills via becker hollow trail. Ascent of 2200 ft in 2.05 miles to 4040ft. There was a cool fire tower up top. Did a loop down to the devil's path and then ran the 1.6 miles or so back to the car.