Trippin' on Traprock! Week of 2-29 to 3-6

Back at it!  With the family visit in the rear window, and the training schedule (and accompanying spreadsheet...eek!) looming large, it's time to take advantage of this effing awesome weather and hit the trails.  I do a lot of research on trails I'm thinking about, and working in Meriden right now is making it easy...the Hanging Hills are the call!  I'd like to think that, although I'm not particularly fast, I am a really good technical trail runner.  I'm confident on really tricky stuff, not at all afraid of heights or ridge running, and I absolutely LOVE descents...so the ups and downs and cliffside running of the Metacomet and Mattabesett Trails are my bread and butter right now.  Best training for Breakneck Point, 7 Sisters, and Cayuga I can get!

Monday - 4 Miles - Ragged Mountain Preserve, Berlin.  What a place!  I checked out the maps beforehand, and settled on a 4 mile loop with a couple of Strava segments to spice things up a bit.  I stopped on the way up and at the top to snap a couple pics, then bombed down the muddy, sketchy blue/yellow trail to return to the parking lot.  2nd fastest ascent, fastest downhill!  Sweet!  And running in shorts and a t-shirt on February 29 ain't bad either!

I like...

Great views!

Lookout below!

Top of Ragged Mountain

Tuesday - 3 Miles - Higby Mountain, Middletown.  More shorts and t-shirt weather!  I pass by a commuter lot every day that has a blazed connector trail to the Mattabesett, which ascends to the double camel hump ridge of Higby Mountain.  I had enough time for a 1.5 mile out, 1.5 mile back run, which netted me 900'+ of vertical gain, and a great workout on some awesome trail!

Views from the cliff

Mud = good

The least technical part of the trail...really!

7 Sisters, anyone? Paul???

Late afternoon awesomeness.

Wednesday - 2 Miles - Canfield Woods, Essex.  I actually wasn't going to run at all, as I was going to be late getting home, but a shitty commute required a diversion.  I pulled up Strava and hit segment explorer, and saw a bunch of red squiggly lines right off the highway that meant trails.  Got to a small parking area and set out up the hill, and did a few repeats before I found the main trail, and did a short up and back, stopping briefly to chat with a local who was walking her dogs.  Turns out, this is a pretty big place.  I'll be back after some research!

Thursday - 3 Miles - Mattabesett Trail out/back, Meriden/Middlefield.  I've been hitting the Higby Mountain side of Route 66 on my way home, but this time I opted to try a section on the other side, recommended by fellow runner Russ (aka Backpacking Engineer http://www.backpackingengineer.com/), who just completed the last piece of the New England Scenic Trail, which weighs in at a hefty 215 miles total...pretty badass.  So with enough time for 30-40 minutes of trails, I parked and got right to it.  1.5 out, and fantastic views (again) from the ridges, 1.5 back, and another 700' of elevation gain.  The steep, technical hills are getting easier...

Friday - 0.

Saturday - 6.5 Miles.  Trail warmup, Hare Hop 5k (30th of 212 in 22:27), and a Dog Jog with Henry.  My legs felt heavy after all the hills this week, so I had no expectations going into this race.  At this point, I really have no interest in running on roads at all, unless it's with friends, out of necessity, or it's a race with some special meaning.  In this case?  The Hare Hop, put on by friend/fellow runner/Kelley's Pace owner Jeff Anderson.  A bunch of friends were running so I signed up.  Chilly 8 a.m. start, I arrived early and did a warmup on the trails across the street.  I started the race conservatively, and my legs felt pretty good!  I gradually increased the pace, did great on the hill (141' of gain for a 5k race), and my last mile was a 6:40?  Nice!  Great to see lots of friends at this race, it was a lot of fun!

After the race, I met Beth at the corner of Shore/Noyes Neck road in Weekapaug to watch our friends come through at the other race going on, the Ocean's Run HM.  We were positioned right at mile 8-ish.  The first thing I noticed?  Major intersection for runners, no flaggers, and just a small directional arrow painted on the ground.  A small crowd of us gathered to cheer everyone on.  I'll keep my opinions mainly to myself so as not to stir shit up too much, but I'll say this:  one of my friends got screwed out of a podium finish due to poor course markings and a lack of volunteers, and some of the leaders went off course, and the distance of the race was wrong.  I'm not fast, so I don't give a shit if I run 13.1 or 13.5, but to a runner moving at a fast pace, it's kind of a big deal.  Shouldn't have happened, none of it.

Then I went home and ran trails with Henry!  Awesome!

Sunday - 11+ Miles.  Pachaug trails with Faith, and a short dog jog beforehand.  I was trying to decide where to go when Faith texted me and asked if I was running?  I said yes, and she mentioned wanting a 2 hour trail run.  I picked a good loop in Pachaug, with a mix of technical/non-technical trails, hills, and a couple of dirt forest roads thrown in to break things up.  Great day, perfect weather, and total fun!

Recap:  30 miles for the week, and 4000'+ elevation gain.  Not bad, and a big increase in degree of difficulty.  Feeling pretty good about my racing season right now...