A Bash in the woods

Sunday was my first time running the Bimbler's Bash"10kish" trail run in Guilford's Westwoods.

The day was partly cloudy with temperatures in the low 50s but climbing, pretty good running weather. I arrived with plenty of time to get my race number (and technical shirt!), walk over the start/finish areas to help warm up, and stretch. While I was no expert on the course, I had walked and run portions of it on two occasions earlier in the year. I knew it could be waterlogged when wet and offered plenty of rugged terrain.

As this was my first race since last fall, and a longish run for me in any event, I started conservatively. The early going was congested and there were several forced stops for walking due to congestion of the single track trail. On the plus side, this kept someone like me from starting too fast, and I knew there were miles and hills yet to come.

And before long those constant ups and downs took their toll. The course would wind past some cool boulder caves (28:03) I had explored with my wife and kids earlier in the spring. I was working too hard, and watching the tricky footing, to notice too much of that on this day.

To avoid overtaxing my poor Achilles, I ran the hills very slowly (if "gentle"), or walked (if steep). This meant I would fall behind other runners for a time, but I found myself catching up steadily on the flats and downhills. The flags kept me on course throughout.

The scramble up to the Lost Lake aid station (about 54:30) left me gasping and I was grateful for some liquids. I staggered on, at times feeling I had nothing left, but found that a brief walk or pace reduction left me ready to press on. Despite the fatigue I was able to speed up my leg turnover on the flatter portions. Eventually the sound of bagpipes came floating through the the trees. The finish beckoned! I accelerated along the soccer field and into the finish (1:25:20). Pretty slow for a "10k" but this was not just any 10k. Once I could breathe again, I found some water and was glad to find PB&J, bananas, and mini chocolate bars available.

Any why 10kish? Rumor has it the course may not be exactly 10K. For more information I can only refer you to the Bimbler's Sound website, but I will say that was the longest and toughest 10K I've ever done. And I would return again next year for more.

I have to add that from beginning to end the volunteers were friendly and helpful, and their task was no easy one given the needs for marking the course and getting drinks to the fairly remote aid station. Great job, Mr. Bimble & co.!

Gear report: Brooks Cascadias felt fine throughout, and are clearly a step up from road shoes for the trails. I wore a hat and sunglasses to minimize glare, although it was not the brightest day. Wicking t-shirt was a good call.

Snow in Oswegatchie Hills

My first trail run of '09 was on the Oswegatchie Hills Preserve trails, which still had a couple inches of snow from around New Year's. It was slippery in some places and I couldn't see the smaller rocks but I had no mishaps. I really labored on the uphills and took two walk breaks. It was beautiful in the woods today though.

Later on I did a pushups test: 30. There's much work to do.

October colors

This is one of my favorite times of year in New England. The weather is very good for running - temperate and often dry. The trees are at their peak. It's been over a decade since I've seen the fall colors, and they're even better then I remember. I've made a concerted effort to get outdoors on the weekend to see the sights.

The last two weeks have seen encouraging progress on the running front. I'm doing walk/runs three morning a week, twice on roads and once on trails. I start with a walking warmup for ten minutes, then run a short distance several times with an equal walking recovery. I'm actually running for time, not distance, e.g. 1 min run, 1 min walk, repeat, or run 90 seconds, walk 90 seconds, run 90 seconds, etc. I conclude with a walk of ten minutes or more depending on how much time I have. In the morning before work, not much. My lungs are not where they were this spring, and I really feel the hills, though I'm doing minimal running on them to ease my Achilles back into running shape. One exception is that I am doing a little bit of downhill running to maintain, and improve, my ability to make use of gravity on the downhills. In retrospect I see that long running layoffs in Florida, and running mostly on flats, left me unable to cope with running down big or steep hills - my shins would get overwhelmed. I want to work towards preventing that. There are two sides to hills and you really need to train on both I think - uphills to strengthen legs and lungs, downhills to strengthen shins and allow one to use gravity instead of braking.

My weekly trail "run" is generally on fairly firm surfaces - I want to avoid the loose sands that may have contributed to my Achilles injury in Florida this past spring. Most of the trails in Connecticut are much firmer and can be quite rocky depending on the trail.

The trails at Bluff Point State Park are hardly a state secret - they seem to get a fair amount of use. They are wide and relatively smooth and can accommodate bikes, walkers and runners. I tried to get a few pictures of the fall colors but it was early in the morning and still shady.

In honor of Wordless Wednesday

Anne at Run DMZ has this terrific concept. Every Wednesday she posts a photo under the caption "Wordless Wednesday" and lets the photo speak for itself.

Under the idea that imitation is the sincerest flattery (except for photo quality - I'm not even going to try to match Anne in that category), here is an entry that captures a little bit of summer in CT. Oops - couldn't resist a few words.