Monroe Dunbar Brook Trail Race

This 10.5 mile trail race is very technical, have never seen so many runners at the trial side with twisted ankles. It draws a smaller field from what I can tell, in the sticks of Western Massachusetts very far from any beaten path. Last year I won my age group primarily due to the last two race conditions. I also won my age group becuase I tend to run faster as terrain worsens. There are just more reasons for my feet to stay off the ground and I just fly down the hills.



I hope I can pull this off again, but the statistics are not with me. Sunday, it will have been 8 weeks since my last run of 10 miles or greater. That was the disaster at Savoy, just a few miles down the road from Monroe. I love those woods in the north west corner of the state though, and won't stay away.

This past week I ran my first mountain run since Savoy. There are a few solid years of mountain running in these legs now, and two laps of Mt. Tom weren't that bad. I was in fact doing very well reaching the summit for the second time, and opened up my stride on the downhill for some serious speed.

It was a lot of fun. The next day, my legs were shot. Last night I had a nice casual run up to the summit of East Mountain, behind Ashley Reservoir in Holyoke. It went very well, my feet felt much more confident on the technical sections than they did 2 days earlier at Mt. Tom. till jittery at noises, every large shadow seemed like bear even though I only saw deer. I have had enough rocks under my feet to snap my central nervous system into focus. Hopefully, this means I won't break my neck Sunday and there will be a little bit more adrenaline to propel me.

On Second Thought ...

Breakneck, what a scary name for a race! I decided against this, it is far too early after my recovery to hit a trail so technical. The fastest times for that 12.4 mile race were 1:45-50. That told me there was a lot of mud or rocks or something, and my feet are not conditioned to that stuff at this point.

Instead, I opted for a shorter local race, the Fit Together 5k in Hadley. It was a nice little race, and may have been actually 3.1 miles. If not, it wasn't too much shorter, and I ran a 20:17. I didn't have much speed or energy toward the end, but I kept a steady pace. Skipping Breakneck, I believe I dodged a bullet. This weekend last year, I began running a sore foot into a stress fracture that took 6 months to heal. Today's choice is quite an improvement in my book.

Breakneck 20k

Great name for a Trail Race! Breakneck takes place in Union, CT, the same parkland as the Nipmuck Trail Races. The footing in those two races is notoriously difficult. I expect this to be great preparation for a shot at Monroe Trail Race the very next weekend. There is no goal time for me, this is a long run. It will be the longest I've run since being sent to the sideline at Savoy. The map below is approximate:

Over the past week I've taken time off due to some plantar fascitis pain. My calves and legs in general were very very tight. I've been very dilligent about ab workouts over the past few weeks, and wonder if there isn't some strength imbalance going on. My diet and sleep habits have been less than ideal, and changing that over the period of two days made a world of difference. I'm going to continue being as dilligent about recovery as I am about my workouts and slowly grow my mileage.

I have a goal race in mind, the Monson Memorial Classic 1/2 Marathon. There will be plenty of races in the meantime, mostly Grand Tree series races that I'll do more as general workouts than races. Of course, the temptation of Bastate Marathon is only 2 weeks away now. I've paid for it and the RD will not let me postpone till 2010 or transfer my entry, so it looks like the Half Marathon there will be the plan.