Weekly Run Log - Jan. 02-08, 2011

01/05/2011: Skatutakee/Thumb loop. Gray ice and bare ground where people have walked on the trail. Several inches of crusty ice in the surrounding woods. Overcast but great views nonetheless. I think the strenuous run up Crotched was good training. The uphills seemed to fly by today! 1:08, 4.5 miles, 850' vert.

01/08/2011: Crotched by Link/Summit/L Link/Shannon's. The running was actually really good. Snowed a little bit while running. The trail itself was uneven, icy, and beat down but the Microspikes ate it up. He snow off the side of the beat down path was about four inches of breakable styrofoam which, besides a slick glissade surface, was the best downhill running surface I have ever run. Took the spikes off for the last mile and a half and it felt a little more squirrely underfoot but I still was able to do a Kenyan impression for a short while on the Link and felt good. A very fast day! 1:27, 6.8 miles, 1,300' vert.

Weekly Summary: 11.3 miles, 2,150' vert.

Though there is less variation in where I choose to run these days I am still finding adventure in the changes that I make to my equipment systems and the conditions that are changing frequently. With my equipment I feel that this week seemed to go better than previous weeks. I epoxied the screws into my shoes with Loctite plastic epoxy. I have done two runs now without losing a screw (though one seems to be backing out). I exchanged my medium size Kahtoola Microspikes for size small and they stayed on for the entire Crotched run. Both the screws and the Microspikes are on probation still.

This week I have discovered that I need to stretch more and drink more water. This will be the goal of the week. To stretch more before I get an injury. Should be easy to accomplish.

The New Year

I created this blog back in September (I think) as a way of documenting my adventures. I am not so sure that I have done that to the fullest extent that I could have. I have realized that this has become a weekly run log and nothing else despite having skied a few times. I had imagined this blog as a place to write about discoveries and rediscoveries. A place where I could process my learnings on skills, gear and on philosophical ideas. I called this blog "The Focus" because it is focus that I have and I had thought that this focus would manifest itself in hours of writing about my latest discoveries. I think it is time that I tried to get back on track. So I am going to pontificate a bit about a realization this week.

This week at the end of one of my shifts (around 7 am) I decided that I was not going to stay at the resort and ski and that I was going to drive home and run instead. The reason being that my knee could not handle the abuse of work followed by skiing and running with little recovery time before work started back up in the evening. I realized that for the first time in seven years I chose something over skiing!

For the last year or so I have been telling people that I am married to my skis and my running shoes are my mistresses. It would appear that for the moment my mistresses have more of my focus than do my skis. This was a big event in my life, chosing running over skiing. Is this a permanent change in my life or is this just temporary? I honestly don't know. I guess we will need to wait and see.

Happy New Year!

Weekly Run Log - Dec. 26, 2010 - January 01, 2011

12/26/2010: Crotched Mt. Town Forest. Link, Summit West, Lower Link to Shannon's and retraced. Overcast. Getting one last run while the snow is only a couple of inches deep. Before the "Big" storm. 1:01, 4.8 miles, 800' vert.

01/01/2011: The longest run I have run in a while. Summit Trail to Lower Link to Shannon's to the Summit and retraced. Made more difficult by the wet, ankle deep or greater snow. The snow was stomped down a little on The Link, Scot's Trail, and Shannon's Trail but not elsewhere. The running was surprisingly good though I had to slow to a walk pace a couple of time on the uphill. I don't know if that was from the extra exertion of the deep snow, the fact that I am running only two times a week for cardio, or that I was dehydrated from New Year's Eve. Either way it was nice to be out again and be able to extend the run until I hit the top. My right foot had some issues with the snow. I think I just need to strengthen the feet for running on the weirdness of snow.

I purchased a pair of Katoola Microspikes and was disappointed that the toes on the microspikes kept coming off the toes of my shoes. I think that they are not tight enough. I will go back and exchange them for smaller sized Microspikes tomorrow morning. 1:40, 6.8 miles, 1300' vert.

Weekly Summary: 11.6 miles, 2,100' vert.

Alright mileage. At least I got out and maintained enthusiasm for running. It was a big week for natural snow. We got a foot of good old New England high density powder in the woods and mountains around here. This created the next stage of challenge in my quest to run through the winter. Now I need to think about which trails are snowshoed the most frequently around here, which trails I will need to snowshoe myself to pack and which trails I will need to avoid. Also, I am looking at which dirt roads around here have the most vertical gain and length so that I can run around snow storms. It is a somewhat pivotal moment in my winter running. I am going to look at running snowshoes tomorrow. At least I am enjoying the new challenge of finding ways to run in snow.

The "screws in the shoes" experiment continues. I lose 4 to five screws each time out so I am thinking of epoxying them in there. Next time I am at home depot I will look at the epoxies they have.

Weekly Run Log Dec. 19-25, 2010

12/23/2010: Ran the McCabe loop down back the proper way. There were some cool ice bridges that made for easy passage over the brook. I wish I had more energy but I work nights - and I am quite dehydrated. At least I am still getting some trail running in! Screws worked well e en though I lost one. I am going to start removing them as I think I have too many in my shoes. 0:26, 2.2 miles, 100' vert.

12/25/2010: A fun Christmas run up Crotched by way of the Bennington Trail. Out to the ledges and back by Upper Link. Between 3 and 5 inches of snow. The studded shoes worked surprisingly well though I wonder if Microspikes would be slightly more appropriate. I would do it again with either. A good test. Let's continue. Beautiful views today although mildly overcast and crisp. Saw 2 mm Surface Hoar on much of the snow up top! I'm closer to Colorado than I thought! 1:04, 4.0 miles, 1,200' vert.

Weekly Summary: 6.2 miles, 1300' vert.

'Twas a short week mileage-wise. But I did work all days but Christmas Eve. I figure on any given night I might slog anywhere from 3 to 5 miles on gun runs.

Screws seemed to work well. I lost a few on Crotched Mountain. I will replace them and see if they come out again. I might need to use some sort of epoxy if need be. I am not worried about making some permanent winter shoes. These Vasque Transistors are too tight in the middle and too long anyway.

Weekly Run Log - Dec. 12-18, 2010

12/13/2010: Shannon's Trail from CMRC to the summit of Crotched. Then Upper Link, Summit Trail West, Lower Link and back on Shannon's. Actually it seems that Shannon's Trail  is closed right now but a new "accessible" trail called the Gregg Trail will take you to the top of the knoll where you can pick up an unmarked Shannon's Trail. The sign says it is closed to blueberry restoration. Either way it was a fun loop. Even if I left from Crotched Mountain Town Forrest I would rarther ascend Crotched by lower link than Summit West or Summit East. More things to think about: Going straight when I reach what I thought was the intersection of the Bennington Trail and Shannon's trail, a longer loop starting at CMTF and going Link, Summit West, Lower Link, Shannon's, Upper Link, Summit East, Link. 1:12, 4.5 miles , 1200' vert.

12/14/2010: Skatutakee and Thumb Mountain loop; Hariskat, Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down Trails. A little more than an inch of snow covered the ground and flurries were falling backlit by a bright sun and blue skies between the dark clouds.  Quite good running! I might be able to trail run this winter afterall. I will try screws in my shoes soon. We'll see how that goes. 1:07, 4.5 miles, 850' vert.

12/17/2010: McCabe Forrest behind the house. Stream was flooded with amazingly huge ice formations so I had to go out to the road and use the 202 entrance. It was cool running by the river again. Tested out new screws in the soles. Not enough ice/snow to really tell but at least the screws didn't jab into my feet. :30, 2.2 miles, 100' vert.

Weekly Summary; 11.7 miles, 2150' vert.

I read in Ultrarunning about putting screws in the soles of shoes to act as studs in icy and snowy conditions and was intrigued by the idea. I found sheet metal screws at the local hardware store for $3.99 for box of 175 screws. Sized 3/8" number 6 sheet metal screws, hex head they seemed a little long but actually installed well (a somewhat time consuming process). Now all I have to do is play with the pattern until I find a good balance of quantity to grip. In rereading the article it recommends about 8 or 9 per shoe. I have somewhere near 20. Might need to pare it down a little.

I signed up for the Wasatch 100 lottery this week as well. I think I stand a much better chance of making it into this one than either Western States or Hardrock. Also, it will be held in September so I will have ample time to train for it. I am crossing my fingers.

Weekly Run Log - Dec. 05-11, 2010

I worked the entire week and was not able to get out running even once. I was able to get out skiing twice at Sunapee (I got my pass!). I am actually impressed by this mountain. It has skiing with character and a sub-alpine coniferous forrest feel at the top. Snow quality was also good. We make good snow!

Weekly Run Log - Nov. 28 - Dec. 04, 2010

11/28/2010: Craig Road/Reed Carr Road with a little Liberty Farm Road to make it an even 6.0 miles. Next time I will run a little more of Liberty Farm Road to enjoy the North Branch of the Contoocook a little more. 1:00, 6.0 miles, 450' vert.

12/3/2010: Bennington Trail and Upper Link to the south ledges on Crotched. I still really enjoy this run! Views were easier to see today as it is overcast (I even could see Boston on the horizon). :57, 4.0 miles, 1,200' vert.

Weekly Run Summary: 10.0 miles, 1650' vert.

I didn't make it into the Western States run this week. My chances were worse than one-in-ten and I lost. My losing the lottery showed me how much I actually wanted to make it into the run. On the bright side I can now put my energy into the Hardrock lottery and now that I have entered and lost once I will be offered automatic entry in two years if I lose next year's lottery as well (I think there is automatic entry for two-time losers).