NMTC Roughrider Trail Run

This past Sunday 75 or so brave souls met up just off of Beck's Road to tackle the NMTC Roughrider course.  I was hopeful this year as there was little precipitation in the previous day or so.  This would allow us the best opportunity to actually try to "run" the course as opposed to survive as we were doing last year.

I brought my Contour camera with me this year to try and capture what it is like to attempt to run up the power lines.

Note in the video below the following details:

• The camera is mounted on the right side of my visor...  At eye level...  Even when it appears it is a few inches off of the ground as I climb the power line section.
• While climbing the power line section I did not have to crawl this year, I was able to walk up all slopes, no matter how close to the ground the video makes it look.
• Yes, I do realize I sound like a dirty old man with my breathing while I run.  I think I will dub music over the next video I make...

So without further ado, here is a short chunk of the run I posted to YouTube.

Fall Running

NMTC Fall Trail Series

It is once again time for the weekly fall trail series put on by the Northern Minnesota Track Club.  So far, the weather has been wonderful every week with dry conditions and cool temperatures.  The schedule this year has been switched around a bit, and the races have changed a little also.

Lester Park

This year we started the series at Lester Park.  This is the longest of the fall races at 10.5k.  I had a good evening at Lester and put together a solid run.  This course did not see any changes from the last time I ran it, we still ran out and then did two loops before coming back to finish at the main park area.

Rolling Stone

With the flooding earlier this year, the start area at Spirit Mountain for the standard Rolling Stone course was washed out.  This year we started at the zoo and used a modified course.  The course started with a slight uphill to a service road that was flat.  We then took a left onto a singletrack trail.  I was lucky that on the road Connie passed me and I tucked in behind her for the singletrack section.  I simply trusted her skill as a trail runner and followed her through.  I did not have to pay attention for the flags to find the course or worry about the trees or rocks or roots.  Wherever she ran I followed.  When we popped out of the trail we were at the very bottom of Spirit Mountain and we turned right and were looking at a line of runners heading straight up the ski hill.  Great...  I was forced to walk for a portion of the hill, but was only passed by one runner.  We then headed across the hill and connected with the normal Rolling Stone course.  On the quick open downhill, I managed to pass the gentleman who passed me on the uphill and I held him off for the rest of the run.

Overall I was pleased with my run.  I kept a solid pace and did a better job on the second half of the race not slowing down too much.  Luckily I was not one of the folks to run through the bees that were a little riled up.

Brown's Point

We were back to the normal Brown's Point course that is a 2.5 mile out and back that has a series of steep up down portions that really test your climbing ability in short chunks.

Coming into Brown's Point my knee was bothering me a little and it was a little sore during the run.  This caused me a little concern, but it was not bad enough to slow down.  I just promised myself I would take a day off after the race.  The whole second half of this course I was doing everything I could to not slow down.  Each time up the short steep sections I concentrated on keeping the legs turning over.  When I would hit the flatter sections I worked on getting back up to speed quickly and then getting back into rhythm.  When we came out onto the road for the last 0.4 miles, I tried to pick up the speed as much as possible to make sure nobody would catch me.

Again I felt good overall with my run.  My knee was a little sore, but now a few days later it is fine.  I think the steep downhills were not doing it any favors.  I am now looking forward to Rock Hill next week.

Wrenshall Fall Fest 10K

I saw this race and figured it would be a good practice run prior to the TC 10 mile next weekend.  The conditions this morning were perfect for running.  With a 10:00 am start time, the sun was up and the air temps were in the low 50's.  There was a little wind, but nothing to worry about for running.  My goal was to stay sub 7:00 for all of the miles., which I talked about with Dave at the start.

I started a little quick with a 6:40 mile, but I then found my pace in the 6:50 range after that.  A lady runner that was by us at the start line stayed with me for the first mile, but then started falling back.  I was a little worried that she heard me say I was planning on running right around 7 flats and then tried to stay with me when I ran a 6:40 to start.  Good at pacing at the start has never been said about my running skill.  In the end she did not fall too far back so maybe she just runs like I do and starts too fast.

Overall I ended with a 42:30 for a 6:51 average per mile.  This was a PR for me at the 10K distance and I was very pleased. Also, my knee was fine.  It did not feel sore at all while running and throughout the day continues to be fine. Some friends I saw at the race also had good races; Dave finished just ahead of me in the low 40's, and Amanda crushed her goal of sub 1hr in her first 10k.  All in all a great last strong run prior to next weekend's 10 miler.  

NMTC Fall Series Finale - Pine Valley

Today marked the final race of the fall NMTC Trail series, and it was held at the ski trails of Pine Valley in Cloquet.  In a previous life I went around these trails a bunch of times on a couple of skinny pieces of finerglass.  So I had a pretty good feel for the layout of the trails and the location and size of the hills.  And yes, there were hills. 

What Goes Up, Must Come Down...

The very first thing this trail does is go straight up a hill.  Well after a short straight section of trail and a hard right turn.  When Jarrow gave his quick command to go the whole crowd lurched forward and veered to the right and up the service road for a second or two before some loud yelling from a helper got everyone back on track. 

After the first hill, there is a whole lot of the trail turning back on itself and some good rolling ups and downs.  More than once you will be running and see people ahead/behind you through the trees on your left or right.  The signs marking the kilometers are a nice touch on this trail so you have a good feel for how much running you have left until the finish. 

One Last Uphill

What I always will remember about Pine Valley from high school skiing is the final steep downhill with the sweeping left turn at the bottom.  Many skiiers did not look forward to this downhill as the tracks would be washed out very quickly and invariably a few folks would not quite make the corner and skid off into the snowbank on the right side of the trail.  Skiing, this was my favorite part of the course.  I really enjoyed the fast technical downhills as that was my strength (as opposed to being a strong or fit skiier...).

Running up this hill, and then down, was not nearly the same as it was on ski's.  The uphill side of the hill was similar to skiing, however the down portion of the hill was harder on foot than on ski.  It turns out you do not carry your momentum on foot very well when running down a steep hill. 

Summary

All in all, I had a fun race.  I was not very fast again today, but I felt good and had a faster time than last year.  Taking a look at the season as a whole, I was generally pleased.  I had some very good runs, and a few I felt I may have been able to do a little better.  I am glad I got to run the power lines that I missed in previous seasons. 

I am also ready for an off-season from racing.  From now until next spring I will be simply running for fun, riding my bike on the trainer from time to time, and getting to the gym once in awhile to swim and lift a weight or two.  Sometime in maybe February I will put together my plan of attack for next season.  Currently I have the Garry Bjorklund half marathon on my schedule, I will figure out the rest soon enough.

What the Hail?

Every spring and fall I participate in the trail running series in the Duluth area organized by the Northern Minnesota Track Club.  It is a series of races on various trails around the Duluth area on Wednesday evenings or Sunday afternoons. 

Tonights race was Zapp's loop.  It starts in the Fond du Lac area runs through the Mission Creek park.  The trail has some good hills, a couple of creek crossings and is through a very wooded area.  With the dark clouds that were headed our way as we prepared to start, it was inevitable that some form of precipitation would hit us while running.  Since it was in the low 40's, it happened to be hail.  Luckily it was only small hail, only fell for a short time and fell while we were running through a pretty tree covered part of the trail. 

The run starts with a nice uphill section.  The trail is basically single track and pretty easy to follow.  At the top of the hill we get thrown out on the paved Munger Trail for a short section.  With my legs still a feeling a little heavy from my triathlon this past weekend, I used the flat section to see how my pace felt.  After leaving the trail, we then head downhill.  The trail downhill is a little wider than the uphill section, but it has a lot of washout so I spent the whole section trying to pick the best line and not trip and fall on my face.  At the bottom of the hill you hit a couple of creek crossings.  They are not very deep so you can barrel right through them.  Then it is back up the hill again.  At the top we are back on a single track section and there are lots of tree branches hanging over the trail.  Since a lady had passed me on the uphill I was following her through this section for a bit.  After smacking into a few branches that appeared out of nowhere, I figured it would be smart to pass her before the coming downhill.  Onto the final downhill...  This section was a very fast downhill with very tricky footing that was not helped by the fact it was wet.  I managed to keep myself upright and crossed the creek one more time and hit the finish. 

Even with the wet conditions, I was able to cut over a minute from my time last year.  I would say that had a lot to do with having a decent idea of what was coming and being able to pace the run better.  Ended up being a great run and lots of fun.