I biked once this week: 21.25 miles.
Sunday, 5/27/2017: 21.25 miles on the bike, 1:35:21, 13.4 mph average, 20.9 mph max, 57F, 88% RH, 4 mph ESE wind, mostly sunny.
I decided to get on "Black Beauty" (the Strava nickname for my Trek) for a bicycle ride. I wore my padded bicycle shorts, another pair of shorts and a long sleeve tech shirt. I was a little cold on my legs initially but I warmed up. I got out early so that traffic wasn't a problem. It was a nice change of pace. I saw some high water on Edgemere Drive and had to ride through a bit of water. I was passed by a faster bicyclist on the LOSP trail which startled me.
I put my feet and had my usual 2 mugs of coffee and a bagel when I got home. I caught up on Facebook and thought of all the Buffalo Marathon (both half and full) runners with its 6:30 AM start, results here. Score-this.com had live results. All told, 2979 finished the half and 1184 finished the full, news link here. Rochester's Kip Tipsia won (for the third time) in 2:21:04 (he also won the Cleveland Marathon last week in 2:20:24!), Jason "Jmac" broke 2:55 with a 2:54:34, Tim Dwyer ran a 3:13:58 and so many others did well. Maybe next year! A road marathon does beat me up though.
Monday, 5/28/2017: 9.35 miles, 1:18:03, 8:21 pace, 75F, 44% RH, 19 mph W wind, mostly sunny.
I could have gotten out earlier but I got a bit more done around the townhouse. I vacuumed the carpet, cleaned the bathroom a bit and swept the back porch. But the important thing is that I did get out. I muttered "run don't get done by themselves" as I stepped out the door. It was a bit windy and I struck up a nice and easy pace on my usual LOSP & IC 15K route. I thought about adding Janes to push to 13 miles but I knew that my darling wife, Christine, was cooking ribs plus I didn't think I had enough energy nor water. I stopped for a sip of water at mile 3 and 6. I could feel sweat drop on my hands which kind of distracted me a bit. My splits were: 8:13, 7:58, 7:58, 8:24, 8:21, 8:21, 8:44, 8:44, 8:35 and 8:21 over the last 0.35 mile.
Sure enough, the ribs were done when I got home. I wasn't really hungry so soon after a run ... but forced myself. Mmm!
Tuesday, 5/30/2017: Rest day ... needed after 3 days in a row.
Wednesday, 5/31/2017: 7.05 miles, 1:07:39, 9:36 pace, 73F, 33% RH, 14 mph W wind, partly cloudy.
I needed hills since Many on the Genny is coming up. So I headed to Cobbs Hill after work. I took it really nice and easy with 3 switchbacks, 3 grassy Vs and 3 Ys. It was a bit warm so I drank all of my 20 ounce water bottle by the time I was done. My splits were: 11:13, 9:50, 10:25, 9:19, 9:01, 9:16 and 8:12.
Stats for the month on May: I ran 16 times for 148.06 miles, 9.25 miles/run. I ran 2 races: Mind the Ducks and Dirt Cheap #2. Stats for 2017 so far: I have run 97 times for 705.46 miles, 7.27 miles/run.
Thursday, 6/1/2017: 4.32 miles, 34:50, 8:04 pace, 64F, 39% RH, 14 mph NW wind, overcast.
First ... a look ahead. I have 4 races on my schedule during the month of June: the McMullen Mile on 6/9, Dirt Cheap #3 on 6/14, Medved 5K on 6/18 and Many on the Genny (MOTG) on 6/24. The 40(!) mile MOTG down in Letchworth State Park is the big one staring me in the face. I need to get my trail shoes on and get trail ready. I have been running long enough to know that there is road ready and there is trail ready. Trail running requires training on ... gasp! ... trails. So I need to run on more trails but also keep some speed since I also have a fast 1 mile race and 5K coming up. My lovely wife, Christine, is terrified of MOTG. She is worried that she won't be able to hike down to the last 2 aid stations on FLT when I am on the late stages of MOTG. I can't say I blame her since I have a 50% success rate on Sehgahunda on the east side of Letchworth and have never run on the west side. Though I do have a 100% success rate (knock on wood) at the Dam Good Trail Race (again on the east side of Letchworth). She surprised me this morning by telling me that we should drive down to Letchworth tomorrow morning so that she could let me run on the west side while she waits for me at the first 3 designated aid stations of MOTG. It sounds like a good idea that I should probably do this weekend and maybe next weekend.
Anyway ... today I shifted gears. I wanted to run fast but it was windy. Wind even with it being 64F can make it feel cold and raw. I thought of heading over to Cobbs Hill and running the reservoir but couldn't pull the trigger so I headed home a bit dejected. I called Christine on the way and she suggested that I run the track at Greece Arcadia. She even went to their website and saw that the athletic fields were unused. So I went home, dressed (I put on shorts and a long sleeve tech) and headed over. I wore my old Garmin Forerunner 310XT since it had a dedicated lap button that I knew how to work. I didn't want to waste time and try to figure out how to do it on my Garmin Forerunner 220. It was desolate except for a lone walker. I ran a slow 440 and then began my workout. I ran 4 440s of 1:41, 1:38, 1:32 and 1:34 with slow 440s in between. Then I ran 2 880s of 3:40 and 3:26. I ran another mile at a slow pace to cool down. Running flat out for a 440 is certainly a LOT different than a nice and easy road pace! Though I guess I could get faster if I really worked at it. It would involve work ... just like all things.
Friday, 6/2/2017: Rest day
I looked up the MOTG directions for runners and crew, put them in a Word document and then printed them out. Hopefully, we will be able to figure out when to do down in Letchworth tomorrow. Then I crashed early and was asleep shortly after 10 PM.
Saturday, 6/3/2017: 15.68 miles, 3:44:09, 14:17 pace, 57F, 67% RH, 5 mph NNW wind, sunny
I was up at 5: 45 AM and Christine was up a bit earlier. Did we get started early? Err ... no. But we did get started and got down to the east entrance of Letchworth State Park by 8:41 AM, a scant 19 minutes before they started charging $10 per car so it was a win.
We parked at the dam viewing area. I wore my green Brooks shorts, calf sleeves, Darn Tough socks, an orange long sleeve tech and my orange Fleet Feet hat. I even put on a bit of sunscreen. I carried my 20 ounce water bottle, 3 Hammer Gels and my instructions. The weather was sunny and about 60F with mild winds. My plan was to run down to Aid Station (AS) #3 or about 20 miles. I kissed Christine for luck and asked her to meet me at AS #1 (and maybe where I crossed Park Rd.
My instructions to AS #1 said: "Start to High Banks aid station - 7.5 miles. Starting at the Dam Overlook, runners will take Trail 20 along the gorge. Trail 20 will turn into beautiful single-track, then it ends at a road crossing. Trail 19A picks up on the other side of the road. **Cars have the right-of-way here. Please be cautious when you cross the road.** 19A turns right onto Trail 19. You will run past an old Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) barracks (all that’s left is the chimney!) and down to the Silver Creek Outlet. Cross the creek, pass by a beautiful waterfall and take Trail 18 up across a bridge and out to the road. Make a left onto Park Road and continue along the road for about 1 mile to the camping check-in entrance road and your first aid station. There are bathrooms behind the camper check-in building."
Well ... I soon found that the trails were largely unmarked except at the trail head. Trail 20 had a few trees marked with a yellow hash with a 20 inside it but that was about it. So ... I was mostly on my own. Trail 20 wasn't marked initially so I just followed a mostly paved path that led along the fence for a mile. Eventually, there was single track. I had to search for Trail 20 a few times. I crossed the road to Trail 19A. I saw the trailhead marker but couldn't find the trail for about 5 minutes. I flushed out a fawn when I was looking though, lol! It turned out that Trail 19A was right next to the sign, The path was quite narrow and easily missed. I passed the CCC barracks and crossed the creek right away ... big mistake. The creek there was about shin deep and other side was quite steep with no obvious trail. What did I do? Did I turn around? Well ... no, of course. I proceeded to climb the hill hand over hand in spots and look for the trail. I spent about 15 minutes climbing up and up before I quit and climbed back to the creek. Now I had to find where I crossed in the first place. I had to wade through the creek to get back. I found the trail and got to running again. I never did find Trail 18. I made it up to Park Rd and ran the mile to the High Banks AS#1 (which was Christine sitting in the Equinox). Luckily she was sitting near the road. I had a few choice words about my runners instructions when I saw her. Christine had similar words about her crew instructions. She told me that she had driven up and down Park Rd looking for trailhead signs but with little luck figuring out if they were the correct ones.
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| A falls I saw on the way to AS #1 |
My instructions to AS #2 said: High Banks to St. Helena aid station - 7.8 miles. Take Trail 17 down and it will connect with Trail 15, which will eventually loop back up toward the road (via a huge climb). This section will take about 2.75 miles. Go left on Park Road for another 2.5 miles —Again you will be running this section alongside the road, but not ON the road. Cross the road at trail #11. Stay on trail 11 (for about 1.5 miles) all the way back to Park Rd. Crossing it, making a right and entering Trail #13. Make a left on Trail 13(for about 1 mile) which will cut down to Trail 1 and the St. Helena Picnic Area, where Aid Station 2 is located. There are also bathrooms here.
I didn't have much trouble with the instructions to AS #2. Trail 17 did go down and flatten out. I didn't see where Trail 15 came in but did find the HUGE and LONG hill that Trail 15 took to get back to Park Rd. This hill was the hill that "time forgot". It seemed to take forever. The 2.5 mile run/walk on Park Rd to Trail 11 was quite long and monotonous. Trail 11 was an old overgrown paved path up to a road, turned left and went back down. I crossed Park Rd and found Trail 13. There was no trailhead marker for Trail 1 and had to backtrack to it when Trail 13 went back to Park Rd. Trail 1 went to a dirt road. Which direction to take? Well ... left went to the Genesee River bank. Two guys I met told that the other direction went to a parking area. So I turned around. I was walking up a hill when a guy in a park truck stopped and asked me if I was thirsty. I told him "yes". He pointed me to a bag of bottled water in the back of his truck. I eagerly accepted a bottle and said "Thanks. My wife is around here somewhere." Well ... Christine was really close because she heard me say that. I walked about 50 feet before I had a couple of honks from the Equinox. Christine said that she was just starting to get worried.
I walked over and told her "I'm done" ... as in 15.68 trail miles done. I didn't see the need to run onward to AS #3. I took a break while I changed my shirt and had a lunch of a PB&J sandwich and an orange. I also changed from my wet trail shoes to a dry pair of running shoes. A little TMI but I also discovered that my green Brooks shorts had a hole in the crouch. Oops if I have actually been unexpectedly flashing anyone!
Then ... we played tourist and visited the Lower, Middle and Upper Falls. We took pictures until all our cell phones were dead. My personal cell had died while I was running to AS #2.
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| Christine and I at one of the many overlooks |
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| Lower Falls |
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| Middle Falls |
We exited LSP and took the long way home up Routes 246 and 19 to I-490 at LeRoy. We were famished so we stopped at MacGregor's on W Ridge Rd for some meat: Charbroiled Steak Burgers (Cow vs Pig for me and Cobb for Christine). Mmm!
I caught up on Facebook. There were other awesome events going on: the Cayuga Trails 50M and Marathon down in Ithaca and the Fast &the Furriest 5K in Rochester (324 finishers, results here) and 10K (210 finishers, results here). There was some chatter on Facebook about what trail marathons are the toughest in our area. The consensus was that in order of easiest to hardest: Sehgahunda, Ontario Summit and Cayuga Trails. I have run two of them (Sehgahunda and Ontrario Summit) and I would agree ... but Sehgahunda can racket up in difficulty very easily if it is muddy. Running a trail marathon (for me at least) is an exercise in conserving your energy, doing your hydration and nutrition correctly and running/walking smart. I will need all of that when I run MOTG in three weeks.
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