A Year of Long Distance - Race#1
Northern Nipmuck 16 Mile Trail Race
Saturday, April 15, 2006
Northern Nipmuck 2006 results
Northern Nipmuck 2006 Photo Slideshow
After more than a few years of riding and running, you'd think I'd have learned what could be referred to as the "hill code" - you know, when a course description or a guide book describes what the hills are like on the route. It goes something like this:
- "flat" = either flat or flat with small hills (which might still be steep)
- "rolling" = a whole bunch of hills, some long, some steep, and some both
- "hilly" = up and down mountains
7th ANNUAL NORTHERN NIPMUCK TRAIL RACE
16 Miles of Hills & Hollows
The course runs 8 miles south on the Nipmuck Trail to Boston Hollow Road in Ashford (the northernmost point of Nipmuck Marathon) and returns on the same trail. The terrain is constantly rolling, and although there are no monster hills, there are enough steep sections to test your anaerobic capacity. The total gain over the 16 miles is approximately 3,200 feet. The footing is usually decent, but there are some steep, rocky sections that demand caution. If it has rained recently, expect to get your feet wet in several of the low-lying areas. Snow and ice may be present on the course at this time of year.
OK, the "hills & hollows", "constantly rolling", and "steep sections" should have clued me in, and I should have ignored the "no monster hills", recognizing that this description was probably written by someone who has repeatedly run Greylock and Escarpment. Maybe I wouldn't have thought this course was all that tough back when I was regularly running in the Berkshires (prior to 1999 when I moved to Albany.) But for where I'm at today - this is one tough course, with some killer climbs and descents.
The alarm went off at 5 AM for a 7 AM departure... that would have been an easy race day last fall, but I've gotten out of practice. Grumble, grumble. Didn't help that I woke up at 3:30 or so to a thunderstorm (and had visions of running for 4+ hours in the pouring rain!) Anyway, got on the road without mishap and had a fairly pleasant drive along the Massachusetts Turnpike (which is mainly woods and mountains for the section I was on.) Arrived at Bigelow Hollow State Park in Connecticut, and fortunately saw some runners on the park road, since there were no signs or indications that a race was taking place! After checking in and gearing up, I headed down to the starting line, about half a mile from where I had parked (the race uses the park as a base, but actually starts across the road from it.)
This is one of the smaller Grand Tree events, probably a combination of the distance this early in the season and the terrain the race covers. Still, I saw a number of folks I recognized from last year's races. And since it's an out-and-back, I knew I'd be seeing them again, as they passed me on the way back! After a few words from the race director (including a warning to "Pay attention to the blue blazes and orange flagging tape! If you get lost, don't complain to us - we'll just laugh at you!") we got the command to go, and off we went.
Well... sort of. The first half mile was what I would consider a monster hill - a nonstop climb! Apparently many of the other runners thought the same thing, since there was a long line of folks trudging up the hill. 10 minutes later things flattened out a bit and we started running... for a few minutes until the next hill... and then a little more running... until the next hill... and so on. To add a little variety, some of the hills went down instead of up (my bad knees LOVE steep downhills... argh!) We did hit some sections where it was possible to run for a while - those were great!
Fairly quickly I found myself pretty much alone on the trail, except for one other young gal who was going pretty slowly. Turns out she'd never run trails before - for some reason her boyfriend wanted to run this race, so she came along with him and ran the first half just to see what it would be like. Running with her made me realize that I'm a grizzled old Trail Turtle - she was pretty clueless about trail running, and asked questions about whether or not there are special shoes for it (I guess her road shoes weren't providing the best traction!) and how fast the really good runners would be going. She also started to get lost on a number of occasions - admittedly, it takes practice to keep an eye on the trail (so you don't end up kissing the ground) and keep an eye out for blazes at the same time. To her credit, she never once complained, though she did say she thought she'd probably hike back to the start instead of running.
After an hour, we hit the first road crossing and aid station, at the 4 mile mark. That was reassuring, because it meant I was on target for a finish time of about 4 hours (little did I know what the second leg would be like!) Not long after that my trail buddy decided it was time to head back, so I wished her and her boyfriend well and continued on toward the turnaround. The trail wasn't bad for the first couple of miles, as it climbed up to the top of a ridge along a gradual incline (actually runnable!) And then it turned into a monster - steep downhills, steep uphills, running along rock outcroppings - absolutely killer. At that point the bulk of the other runners started passing me on the way back. At times we were on sections that could be run, and I ducked to the side of the singletrack to let them pass. Much of the time we were passing on sections I was staggering down (trying to keep my knees intact) and they were staggering up.
Finally made it to the turnaround, to find that I had to climb down a cliff only to climb back up it a few minutes later for the run back! But the folks at that aid station were really nice - they refilled one of my water bottles and repeatedly said they didn't mind being out there, because it beats running the course! I also got my picture taken running in; hopefully I'll be able to get a copy of it! My time to the turnaround was a bit longer - 1 hr 15 minutes - but I still hoped to finish in 4 1/2 hours... (foolish!)
So then it was time for the trek back, at which point the real challenge of an out-and-back became apparent - every hill I came down on the way out I had to climb on the way back, on legs that were rapidly giving up all semblance of wanting to run. My feet were really starting to hurt too, between pounding against rocks and my toes getting mashed into the toebox of my shoes on all those downhills (and doing the bulk of the work on the steep uphills.) There was one point where I was in a shady pine forest, listening to the birds, and I found myself thinking it would be really nice to just stay there and take a nap. But I persevered, going slower and slower and cursing the hills more and more, until finally I made it back to the aid station at the middle of the course. That took about 1 hr 30 minutes. Incredibly, the nice fellow there was very positive about the whole thing. We refilled my empty water bottles with a mix of water and Gatorade, and off I trudged for the last painful 4 miles.
Up, down, up, down. What running I did was fairly slow - more like a fast walk - and some sections I'd run when fresh I had to walk, simply because the trail was too rocky and rooty for me to risk stumbling and crashing. After what seemed like forever (but was actually a little over an hour) I came to the top of that original half mile long hill and "ran" (ie. slowly plodded) down it, to find folks still waiting at the finish - the fellow from the last aid station(who cheered and gave me five as I plodded by him) and the folks recording the times. The last four miles took me about 1 hour 20 minutes - I finished with a total time of 5 hours 8 minutes.
And then slowly walked the half mile back to the car...
The course was really beautiful - cool shady pine forests, mountain laurel (OK, those stretches were hot and sunny on the way back, since there were no leaves on the trees!) rocky ridges, and a variety of cool boulders dropped by glaciers ages ago. A few muddy sections, and three or four stream crossings, but since we've had a dry spring, it really wasn't particularly messy. (Just as well... by the time I was done, I had a number of blisters, and that was in spite of trying to keep my shoes dry!) At one point we ran alongside a pond, and at another point alongside a stream, all under shady pine trees. We crossed a field of big mossy rocks - a pain to run through (or stagger through, on the way back) but way cool all the same.
The volunteers at this race were fantastic - I'm planning to write the RD about that. I doubt any of them expected to be out there that long, but they were still positive and supportive - what a great group of people!
Afterwards, I chatted with two other runners (there were only three or four still there when I finally shuffled into the parking area) who tried to convince me that I should run Seven Sisters, a mountainous trail run at the beginning of May. Maybe next year - I have to get into much better shape for this kind of running before I tackle a 12 mile race that's like the Northern Nipmuck course but with worse footing and longer hills (their description!)
So, I'm glad I approached this as a training run - I would have blown up had I been trying to make good time on this course, for this distance! And, as a training run, it had a lot in common with my 1997 marathon training runs - slow times and blistered feet! It also showed me that I need to do more work on these kinds of trails to get ready for the Nipmuck Marathon - I suspect I will be spending time up near Thatcher on the Long Path over the next few weeks, and perhaps I can manage a trip down to Beartown. Albany just doesn't have much in the way of gnarly trails.
This also reinforces that another year of training before tackling Escarpment is probably a wise move, since Escarpment makes the Northern Nipmuck look like a walk in the park...
(And I'm NOT going to talk about the fact that I got my butt kicked today by a 76 year old man and a pregnant lady...)
Next up - the Rochester Spring Classic Duathlon in late May! And lots of distance work over the next few weekends to get ready for the Nipmuck Marathon...
JMH
2006 event totals
snowshoe – 3 miles, 59.5 min
running – 23.1 miles, 6 hr 25 min
riding - 12.4 miles, 1 hr 1 min
