High and Dry in Kezar Falls

I have had a couple of very wet morning runs these past few days! Yesterday when I got back home, I saw on my Internet home page that a dam had broken here in the Kezar Falls area of Porter and a flash flood had resulted. Well, my house sits a few hundred feet from the biggest dam in Kezar Falls. I had just run past the river and it had looked high, but OK. I stood up and looked out my back door. I didn't see any water. It turned out that the flood was in Porter Village, about 5 miles from Kezar Falls. That's what you get for sending city reporters out to cover a story in the country. Anyway, a few people called to make sure we hadn't washed away in the big flood and I was happy to say our house is still high and dry!

I'm giving things a little time to dry out this morning and will run later in the day today. Starting Monday, I went back to twice a day workouts, with a run in the morning and a strength session or cardio session in the evening. This evening workout doesn't usually seem to help my running, but it makes me look and feel a lot better. I do P90X, but don't always do it daily. I'm trying to get back to doing it faithfully each evening. If you haven't tried P90X, it is one tough workout series! And it really makes a difference. When I do it regularly, people start commenting on how fit I look. That is always a good thing to hear! It does take away some strength that could be put to use in the next morning's run, so I probably wouldn't normally recommend it for during racing season. For my goals this year, I think it will fit in nicely.

Ponderings about Racing

The truth is, I'm not very motivated to race this year. I'm loving that my level of fitness is allowing me to have some great fun trail runs, but I seem to have lost my competitive drive. I don't care about racing the clock or anyone else at this point. I admit that am looking forward to the Vermont 100, as I think of a hundred miler as more of a personal journey than a race. I plan on running Northern Nipmuck next weekend, but I can't seem to think of it as anything more than a fun trail run on different trails than I usually run on. Am I sad to see my competitive spark leave after 35 years of racing track, cross country, road, and trail? No, I am quite happy! I am as strong and fit as ever. I plan to keep running as long as these legs will carry me, but I am finding different rewards for my efforts now.

I have seen other runners step aside after racing for years. Running friends and I have been heard to ponder, "what ever happened to ...?" Some of these people have reconnected with me and I have seen that they did not disappear off the face of the Earth after all. One former road racing rival of mine has moved on to climbing, which she does amazingly well. Several others have moved into the gentler-on-the-body sport of road cycling. Many have gone the popular route of triathlon. Several have discovered that a strenuous hike or backpack through the mountains is a fun weekend alternative. As long as it keeps you fit and active, do what you enjoy!

Quite a few who disappeared from the racing scene are out there running just as strong and fast as ever, but don't care to race anymore. Driving through a neighboring town, I often see a woman who used to race at a highly competitive level running down the road at what looks like about a six minute pace. She isn't racing anymore, so we can't call this training. I guess she just enjoys running fast for it's own sake!

Of course, hoards of old running acquaintances are still out there hitting the road races and trail races each weekend. I know some who race twice each weekend! I don't check the race results very often, but once in a while I glance at results and I am always happy to see that among the many new names, there are some veterans still taking their sport seriously and still running decent times. Somehow, it has not grown old to them and they are still finding it rewarding and fun, otherwise they wouldn't be doing it!

I am finding that my running is no longer about getting to the finish line as fast as I can. Right now, it seems to be more about the journey. I'll be putting the miles in and showing up at a few trail events this year. But, I am really looking forward to buying a season pass for mountain biking on the Kingdom Trails and spending enough time out there to get my money's worth!

The Ossipee Takes to the Woods

The River along my favorite running and riding trails has moved out into the woods. Remarkably, the trails are still open and runnable.


When Kevin laid these trails out last year, he really knew what he was doing! Normally the trail in this photo is much farther away from the river. Notice how the river comes right to the edge of the trail.



Running beside the raging river is very stimulating, much different than the relaxed and meditative feeling I get when the river is slow and calm.



There is one spot on the trail where there is a ramp for mountain biking that goes up and over a huge fallen tree. Now the end of the tree is in the swollen river. So when I stand at the top of the ramp I can feel the power of the river vibrating and swaying the entire tree. It is a very cool feeling! I wasted quite a bit of time standing there in the middle of yesterday's run.

Last evening I rode my bike one quick circuit of the Ossipee Trails alone and then a longer, more meandering circuit with Kevin when he got home from work. He has been a very patient and good instructor. Mountain biking does take a while to learn. And for me it involved a lot of time sprawled on the ground with bloody knees, legs, and arms. This is much different stuff than the easy riding I used to do on fire roads and logging roads before I met Kevin. Now it feels good to easily ride over things that stopped me or made me fall last year.

My biggest thrill last evening was on our return trip. I have been walking the bike over that ramp I talked about earlier. There just isn't any place to put a foot down if I run into trouble climbing the ramp or staying on the ramp. Whenever I thought about riding over the ramp, I had visions of a very nasty fall involving broken bones. But for some reason, maybe because of all the time I spent standing at the top of the ramp that morning, I rode right over without hesitating last evening!

Fun Long Run in the Rain

What do you wear when you are heading out into the mountains in torrential rain with temperatures hovering just above freezing? Everything you can find. I was dressed much the same. On a day like today, fashion isn't important. Oh, and that handful of cookies is to provide some calories to produce some extra heat.

Today, Mary and I ran an extremely hilly loop on dirt and paved roads in North Conway and Jackson, NH. This included a relentless climb up the entire length of Dundee Road, a little faster flatter running around Jackson, and a painful return trip over Thorn Hill. There are flood watches out all over the area. Streams look like rivers, rivers look like lakes, and places where there is usually no water at all are raging brooks with waterfalls. It was pretty incredible to see the power of nature today.

What happened to all those layers of clothes Mary started out with? She dropped pieces all along the length of Dundee Rd. Then she stopped in a claustrophobic panic in the middle of Jackson, where she had me yank her soaked outer layer of pants off over her running shoes. It was a struggle and we both almost landed in the mud. The things I'll do for a friend in need.

Being Creative

Phew! My busy work stretch is drawing to a close. 12 hour shifts and on-call nights gives way to a long stretch off at 8AM tomorrow morning! Training of any type has been hard to squeeze in over the last several days, but I managed to do a bit of quality running each day. Where there's a will, there's a way!

Friday evening found me sitting in my car in Sanford waiting for a phone call. For reasons I won't go into, I had to remain right where I was. I could be waiting for hours for all I knew. If there is one thing I hate, it's wasting time! Then I realized the high school track was right there! I could run some laps and still be ready to jump in the car, pull some work clothes on over my workout clothes, and be where I needed to be in a minute!

Well after one mile I was going nuts. Funny, because I have probably logged about a thousand miles on the track in my lifetime and used to actually enjoy it. Then I discovered trails and I guess there is no turning back. I decided to run up and down the bleachers, like I used to do in high school and college. Well, it was a good hard workout when I was in my teens and twenties, but it didn't take me many trips up and down those bleachers to discover that in my late 40's it is not a great workout, it is a suicide wish. Those slippery metal bleachers could kill someone! So I moved on down to a nice 50 yard steep dirt hill on the far end of the track. 25 repeats at top speed up and a slow jog down really felt hard...and good!

I wondered what to do next, then I saw a set of 31 steep narrow cement stairs beside the bleachers. I planned on 20 repeats. they were killers! On my 20th repeat, a runner on the track complimented me on the hard workout I was doing. I never knew I was a show off, but apparently I am. Because instead of stopping at twenty, I did two extra ones and the only reason I can come up with for this is that I was showing off.

By the time my phone call finally came, my thighs were feeling like jello and my calves were cramping. I felt great, knowing I hadn't made any excuses and had managed to fit a good workout in.

Water, Roots, Fallen Trees, and Hills At Vaughan Woods

This afternoon I took a jaunt around the trails of Vaughan Woods in South Berwick, since I was already in the general neighborhood for work. That last wind storm and the recent heavy rains have hit that area hard! I was surprised by all the water in the trails and even more so by all the big pines that were laying across the trail at odd angles. Those pines looked like they had all been snapped off about 3 feet from the ground. Park workers have a big clean up job ahead of them.

The trails there are tricky to run anyway, with lots of short steep hills, sharp curves, and roots sticking out all over the place. This isn't a very big area, but I can get about three miles of criss-crossing trails in before having to repeat sections. Today it was like running the steeple chase. I'd jump over a downed tree, climb under the next, leap across an over flowing stream, sprint up a steep little hill, wind around a sharp curve, and go flying down the next hill, jump another fallen tree at the bottom and land in a knee deep puddle. It was huge fun!

Pace? Let's not even talk about that! I worked hard for 45 minutes with my heart rate up near my lactate threshold. During a lot of that time I wasn't making much forward progress, but it was still excellent training! The high point was when two old guys who were out walking applauded my spectacular puddle jumping abilities. Now I've got to go get some of this mud off me and put my shoes out to dry.

Kind of Long Trail Run

Yesterday was a wash out. I was supposed to do my fast paced running but felt lousy and spent all day laying on the couch with my running clothes on (proving that I had good intentions when I got dressed in the morning). Today I stuck to my planned long run, figuring I'll do my pace work tomorrow on my cross train day.

I ran the ossipee River Trails and the Durgintown Woods Trails. After all the rain we had Sunday one would expect the trails to be a mess, but that wasn't the case! The trails Kevin built along the Ossipee are in fantastic shape for early Spring. He has an engineer's eye for mapping out and building single track. He has done a lot of mountain bike trail building and maintenance in Bear Brook and FOMBA in New Hampshire. When he moved to this area, he didn't waste any time getting to work on our local trails here in Kezar Falls. When I accompanied him to a trail day at Bear Brook last Fall, several people jokingly accused me of stealing him from them. Seeing the way the Ossipee trails drain water and stay sturdy and solid, and the way traveling them on foot or bike is such a pleasure, I can understand why they didn't like the idea of Kevin moving to Kezar Falls.

Across the South Hiram Road are the Durgintown Woods. These trails need some work and will be our project for this summer. There was some standing water and some mud on them, but it was still remarkably good running for mid- March. There are patches of ice left in the more sheltered areas, but I would estimate that about 85% of trail is now clear.

At this point in my training, my long run isn't all that long by ultra running standards, but I'm building up to the big runs in a sensible manner. I ran 12.7 miles in 2:05:15. How do I know this? Because I broke down and bought a Garmen to map out my routes through the woods. I didn't want to complicate a simple thing like trail running by adding unnecessary gadgets, but I was beginning to wonder if I was estimating distances correctly. I started thinking maybe I wasn't going as far or as fast as I guessed, since my road runs were so slow and miserable. But after trying out this new toy, I mean training tool, I have found that my 4 mile route is just over 4 miles, my 5 mile route is just over 5, my 8 mile out and back is 8 miles, and last week's 11 miles of repeated sections of River Run was exactly 11.2 miles. It seems I have a pretty good sense of distance on the trails.

The good news is that my run felt fantastic and I felt like I could have easily kept running for another 10 miles. The reason I have cut back on the distance of my long run is so I can build back up slowly and strengthen my muscles and joints and back slowly and steadily. I want to be able to run 5 and 6 hour training runs this summer and feel like I am not pushing my body over the edge. I really want to stay healthy and free of injuries this year!