Sunday, April 16, 2017

Beach Reached!...Well Kinda

First off, Happy Easter and best of luck to my friends who will get zero sleep tonight in anticipation of running from Hopkinton to Copley this Patriots Day. I have a few predictions, but I will leave them on Facebook so I don't look like a fool here (I think whatever I type on Facebook disappears eventually anyway right? Either way here is a throwback to my 2014 post on this matter:

http://ultrabeastandbeyond.blogspot.com/2014/04/boston-2014.html

I have a love hate relationship with road marathoning, and may be retired from this distance, at least on pavement. Breakneck was this weekend, and that's a 26.2 I can get after. Unfortunately Breakneck was sold out when I decided to register so this weekend was another of double long runs in the Garden State. Today (Sunday) while I was waiting for Ashley and the kids to get here I decided to knock out my short term goal of reaching the beach on my heatmap. It was hot so the 13 1/2 mile out and back was uninspired and barely sub 8 minute pace. I think the distance was far to not carry water, and my legs were tired from my mountain run yesterday. Below are the tracks, and I know Barnegat Bay isn't EXACTLY the "beach". LBI is next and I'll cross that BRIDGE when I get there...



Warm Easter Sunday trek to Barnegat Bay


Heat Map Had a different meaning today


High Mountain Preserve (Saturday)

I left the Appalachian Trail alone this weekend and decided to check out a closer park in Wayne, NJ. High Mountain Preserve has a nice ring to it, but it's really not that "high". Despite leaving a bit to be desried on the vertica front, the trails were technical, and maintaining a steady pace was a solid interval workout with a lot of up and down. Despite learning the trails as I went, map in one hand it felt pretty good. I'm not sure if it was the varying terrain or the two VERY light days I had midweek, but carrying speed was neither difficult nor painful. I was able to pick up three or four course records on some of the climbs too. Overall 11 1/2 technical miles with 1,400' of gain seemed pretty easy at a little over 9 minute pace. Details and photos below:


Tried to touch all of this park



NYC Skyline From High Mountain 

That's it for me, HOPPY Trails.

Sunday, April 2, 2017

Elevation Synonymous With Toughness?

Today's long(ish) run was another section of the Appalachian Trail that I haven't touched yet. This added to a few of the of the many "lists" that I spoke about a few weeks ago. Today:

-Elongated my section run of the A.T.
-Added the NJ High Point
-Bolstered the Heat Map & added a couple of CR's

https://www.strava.com/activities/925645019

This workout had me thinking of a public conversation with my 2X Spartan Ultra Brother Todd Gothberg on Facebook. We talked about a blog post that discussed the "toughest" sections of the A.T. Naturally, I assume that the New Hampshire Presidential range or the Mahoosuc Notch area of Maine must be the hardest sections based on elevation, and more dramatic weather (Mount Washington today is 60+ MPH winds with a chill 20 degrees below zero according to MWOBS).  Does that make these sections the toughest? I can't speak on the matter short of an opinion because I probably have less than 200 A/T miles on my legs, but I do think New England is the toughest, because the terrain is also incredibly technical (again, from my own minimal experience). Today's run had me questioning what others thought on this topic. What do you think?


Current status of NJ/PA Appalachian Trail


NJ/PA
Over the last year or so I have been taking advantage of my Fort Dix assignment, and driving out to the nearest mountain range, the Kittatinny Range. While the views and overall elevation change are negligible the terrain is extremely frustrating. Speaking as a trail runner, the constant rock garden of bowling ball sized jagged rock coupled with the spring time running water make this section underrated on toughness in my opinion. Carrying any sort of speed here is just plain reckless. I think that this area of the A.T shouldn't be taken lightly, and is a formidable warm up to the New York and New England sections.

Obligatory feet up picture atop NJ's Highest Point


The trails were pretty crowded today since it was such a nice day, so I opted to return to my truck on the "Iris" trail in High Point State Park rather than do a double "out and back". The Iris trail was much less technical and the overall vertical gain was insignificant. The return run was a welcome break from the ankle twisting A.T. 
Today's route including the gentle return loop on the Iris Trail


Reach The Beach (The Budget Edition)

In keeping with the tradition of creative ways to get me off the treadmill, I have been slowly completing short "out and back" runs in an attempt to link Long Beach Island to my heat map. Stay tuned for more on that, as I just got to Barnegat, NJ. 

https://www.strava.com/activities/923588088

After several out and back trips I have almost "reached the beach"



 "OOH look snow!"

"Slop Foot" best describes the trails today, My X-Talons & Darn Tough Socks 
were in their element

Looking North towards the Shawangunks and Catskills from atop High Point, NJ  (1,804')



https://thetrek.co/appalachian-trail/hardest-sections-on-the-appalachian-trail/

https://www.mountwashington.org/experience-the-weather/higher-summit-forecast.aspx