Training 01-02 - 01-08

Weekly Wrap Up: 43.4 miles on 6 days.  Good first week up here at the lake. One rest day because it was another end to end busy day on the road, closing on our place and getting the heck outta there.  I am so happy to be up in the mountains now and am really looking forward to exploring trails and country roads up here.  My calf hasn't been that great, but it really hasn't prevented me from doing anything yet.  It was also cool having some folks to run with on Saturday, as the Rochester Runners just happened to be doing their Lovell Lake run this weekend.  All in all, I am happy w/ this week and look to build up this coming week.



Above: the first part of the trail up Moose Mountain - Brookfield, NH.

01-08 - Sunday: 7 miles (mountain, snowmobile trails, ski slopes).  Brookfield, Middleton, NH.  Started out at Moose Mountain Recreation Area in Brookfield and ran straight up one of the ski slopes to the summit of Moose Mountain (1742 ft) and then around the top for a while and back down the other side via snowmobile trails (Evergreen Valley Snowmobile Trails).  Eventually wound back up and around and back down to the lodge. [58:00].  Great day for a run and it was awesome to explore what looks to be miles and miles of trails that wind up and over and around the Moose Mountains Reservation.  Calf was horrible at first, but loosened up a bit as I went.  Very slippery in spots with lots of ice on the rocks. I recorded the entire thing on my new GoPro Hero 2 headcam. I'll be editing and posting some stuff soon.

01-07 - Saturday: 12 miles (paved, dirt, icey roads) with Nate Huppe.  Met Nate and a group of Rochester Runners at the Poor People's Pub in Sanbornville (5 miles from my  house) at 8am. Nate and I ran around Lovell Lake on a very nice and very hilly lake bang over snowy dirt roads and nice rolling paved back country roads.  Beautiful morning out along the lake. Not one car passed by on the lake loop until we got out on the main road section, and even then, only a couple. I could get used to this ;).  We then hooked left and headed out across Rt. 16 into Brookfield, NH (bagged Brookfield) and down to the what I think are the Evergreen Valley snowmobile trails but we had to turn around at that point a we were over 10 miles out.  Ended up with a solid 12 miles before breakfast.  Haven't done that in ages.  Calf was bothering me but wasn't awful. As long as it isn't awful, I'm going to deal with it. Not sure about racing, but these runs are going 'ok' for now. [1:21:50].

01-06 - Friday: Off. Closed on my condo in Salem, NH.  On the road from E.Wakefield to Salem at 6:30am and didn't get back until 9pm after a long day of legal stuff, bank stuff, errands, DMV, etc.  Hopefully this is the last end-to-end busy day I have for a while...

01-05 - Thursday: 8 miles (icey dirt roads, paved roads, logging roads, train tracks). Exploratory run from house in E.Wakefield.  From house, out and up Perkins Hill Road to top of Perkins Hill and then explored the many logging roads around the north side of Perkins Hill.  Back out and down 153 to the train tracks that go to Ossipee Aggregates but headed south on the tracks back to Acton Ridge Rd.  Turned up Acton Ridge Rd. and headed back up (doing a small loop around Deboer Ln) to the lake for one lake bang back to the house. [54:14].  Starting to feel like a runner again (almost). I am liking the fact that I left at 3:50pm and even when I got back, it was still light enough to run without the headlamp. I am also liking the fact that it feels like I almost have the world to myself up here while on a run.  Even on the main roads there's no one around.  My stress level is at an all time low.

01-04 - Wednesday: 8 miles (icey dirt roads and snowmobile trails). E.Wakefield, NH from house. Ran south to Great East Lake on small section of snowmobile trail.  Many small bridges and very swampy/boggy as it goes into Great East.  The ground was frozen completely, as was the ice but I wasn't about to continue on the lake with no snow on it.  Turned and headed north and around Ivanhoe and picked up the trail north off of Acton Ridge Rd. and went up to Balch Pond and ran up around the area where the trail cuts across Balch and then back down and out to Ivanhoe again. Ran back around the lake and down Wansor Rd. all the way to Great East again on the dirt roads and did the big loop back on Dearborn and back to the house.  Again, didn't see a soul anywhere.  Very quiet, very peaceful.  Cold as hell.  Starting to enjoy running again.  Calf and hammies were sore but I'm looking ahead and need to start getting serious about this.  Will go and see how far I can push it eventually before I have issues again.  It's been months and rest hasn't helped.  Need to start building up some miles but need to do it gradually. Strange to see all the snowmobile trails marked with arrows, signs, tape, etc. yet almost no snow at all except pushed up from the plow on the side of the main roads. [56:00]

01-03 - Tuesday: 6.3 miles (icey dirt roads) around the lake again in E.Wakefield, NH from house.  Alternated direction on loops (3 bangs). Headlamp run for most of it.  Very dark. Not a soul around.  Heard a dog barking a couple times but that was it.  Orocs again.  Very icey and cold.  Calf is a little suspect. [44:47]

01-02 - Monday: 2.1 miles (icey dirt roads) around the lake in E.Wakefield, NH from the house.  1 dark lake bang w/ headlamp.  Frigid and icey and slow.  Couldn't get out until late after being gone all day down in Salem for some last minute cleaning of the now empty condo.  We are closing officially on Friday but had to go back down to clean and paint.  Didn't get back up to Wakefield until 8pm or so.  Went out and did one lake bang to basically avoid a zero.  It is DARK here at night.  Not that many year-round residents on the lake and almost no cars to speak of.  The road is all ice.  Wore the Orocs and was fine.  15 weeks until Boston.  Awful. [15:40]