Season’s Greetings! It might as well be Christmas with all the snow we’ve been getting!
Week 3 of my 50K training. I was shooting for 12 miles this week. But seeing as we had a nor’easter AGAIN a few days ago, I was sure the trails would be covered even more than last week. I knew that attempting to gain miles via the Tammany Fire Road was not a workable plan. Reaching 12 miles by doing Tammany loops (3.35 miles each) would mean up and down Mt. Tammany 4 times. When I got up at 4:30 AM I knew I didn’t have it in me to make it 4 loops, especially with increased snow on the trails.
When I arrived, I soon found that the snow was deeper on the trails as I suspected. It was mildly packed on the Red Dot Trail. It was less packed on the Blue Dot Trail. That made for a super fun descent on the mountain. Most of the rocks were well covered. Running on the narrow slightly packed single tracks was a breeze. The steeper sections of the trail were less packed and a lot of fun to careen through! I knew if I fell it wouldn’t matter. I would just land in deep snow. It felt like being a kid again! Plus, I set my fastest times ever on that trail. But I only had enough in me to do 2 loops, not nearly 12 miles.
Here are several photos.
The sun rising about Mt. TammanyAnother beautiful view of Mt. MinsiThis shirt makes me look like a 6-foot tall highlighter running through the woods.Sun and single track on the Blue Dot TrailPleasant single track over a very rocky stretch of the Blue Dot TrailNor’easter wreckage along Dunnfield CreekNor’easter wreckage along Dunnfield Creek
My training plan called for 9 miles this week. The plan starts at 6 miles and adds 3 miles each week. I know it’s not the best idea, but I’ve become a bit of a lunatic in my plans in order to get ready for a 50K on April 21 that I really do not want to miss. So I set out for the Gap with 9 miles in mind.
However, there are always things that challenge my accomplishment of all the miles I have in my mind. For one, a nor’easter covered northern New Jersey with several inches of snow a few days before. Also, my family’s schedule has gotten pretty hectic with a toddler in the house, both my wife and I working full time (she working two careers), and both of us needing time to run. The first challenge made the trails harder to run on. The second group of challenges means my time for exercise has decreased, which means my physical conditioning has decreased. I should add one other factor here. My weight has increased. Lugging myself up a mountain is no small feat at this point.
What follows are photos (and a video) and some comments in three sections: The Way Up, The Fire Road, The Way Down.
The Way Up
The snow made for gorgeous scenery. The Red Dot trail up Mt. Tammany was packed with snow, not too hard to navigate. The views were beautiful.
Looking through the Gap down the Delaware River, one third of the way up Mt. TammanyThe view from Mt. Tammany looking over the Delaware River, Mt. Minsi (PA) and the Poconos
The Fire Road
One aspect of my family’s tight schedule is that my wife often works on the weekends. Add a snowstorm into the mix and time becomes even more limited. Due to that snow, I postponed running until Sunday, but had to wait until the afternoon when my wife got home. Well, that added another challenge. By the time I got to the Gap, there were quite a few people on the trails. That just makes it hard to run while maneuvering around folks, something that contributed to badly injuring myself in 2016.
So, when I got to the head of the Tammany Fire Road trail, I decided to see how far I could make it along that route. The trail was covered by several inches of pristine untrod snow. It was irresistible, my pathway to solitude away from the crowds.
I stomped through that snow for 45 minutes making it almost a mile and a half. My toes were getting cold even in their wool socks. My thighs were on fire from marching nonstop. So I retraced my steps back to the Blue Dot trail.
The pristine untrod Tammany Fire RoadThe desecrated trod-by-Snyder Tammany Fire Road
The Way Down
The way down the Blue Dot trail was slushy and sloppy. My thighs were on fire but I had a good run down the mountain.
At the bottom I was surprised by the number of trees that had fallen in the storm along the Dunnfield Creek. It was quite a mess! Climbing over some of these obstacles was a challenge with my spent thighs.
I called it a day at 2 1/2 hours with 6 miles covered. I didn’t hit the 9 mile mark. The effort expended in the snow made up for the 3 missed miles.
View from the Blue Dot Trail looking North to the next ridge upon which the Appalachian Trail traversesThe Blue Dot Trail along Dunnfield Creek looking up toward the ATAlong the Blue Dot Trail near Dunnfield CreekOn the Blue Dot Trail with the bridge crossing Dunnfield Creek in the background
Is that a porta-potty on my shoulder or am I just happy to see you?
Since it has been decided by unanimous executive decision (by me, myself, and I) to prepare for the Hyner Challenge 50K as best as possible over the next two months, today was my first of 8 planned weekly “long” runs. The object of this plan is to build up my distance each week until I reach the goal of 31 miles at the race on April 21. This is the plan of a lunatic, but I won’t get into that now. Maybe I’ll address the lunacy as I move along in the plan.
If you peruse my blog posts over the past year, it quickly becomes evident that one of my favorite places to run is Mahlon Dickerson Reservation. It’s close to home. It has varied terrain. I usually do a 6 mile loop there. So it made sense to start with that loop on my return to training after my latest injury.
Below are some photos from the trail with a few more comments mixed in.
Of course, my ankle was bothersome while running. That’s my new norm. My legs where a bit tired. My aerobic capacity has declined due to inactivity. Weighing 226 pounds now doesn’t help anything.
Beaver Brook
While writing this post I learned that a beaver’s home is called a “lodge.” I guess you could say I relearned it, because when I looked it up I thought, I knew that. But that spoiled a pun I was going to make for the next 2 pictures. I was going to say, “Beaver Dam” for the first and then, “Damn Beaver” for the second. You know, because the damn thing is eating the hell out of that tree. But that bit of wit got “lodged” midstream by my reacquired knowledge.
A beaver lodgeBeaver damage
What is interesting about the next 2 pictures is that one half of the sky was covered by clouds and the other half was perfectly blue. There was a demarcation directly overhead. When I faced the direction of the clear sky, my surroundings appeared more colorfully and the blue of the sky was reflected off the wet trail. (The photo does not do it justice.). When I faced the opposite direction toward the cloudy sky, everything looked bland. If you had seen me at that point, turning 180 degrees back and forth, you would have sworn I was lost. I was simply amused by the color observations.
Facing the blue skyFacing the cloudy sky
And then there is graffiti on a tree. These letters were either sliced long, long ago and have expanded in width, or someone carved them with a spoon. Logic says it’s the former. I hope “JW” is still remembered.
Is that a “J” or a “V”? Did someone’s Volkswagen die here?
That’s a wrap until the next batch of photos from the woods.
I love running on trails. I enjoy the challenge of the uneven ground, negotiating the rocks and roots and mud and the occasional snake. I love the varied scenery, surrounded by trees and weeds and boulders and wildlife, snakes included. For the past 2 1/2 years, this has been my preferred running environment.
But then I tore a tendon in my ankle and had to have surgery. Several months after that I had tendinitis in the same ankle. Most recently I sprained ligaments near that very same ankle. (My whole right ankle has become my Achilles heel.) It’s been a long slow road back to trail running.
That road has begun here after each injury. Pictured is a flat and friendly course at a local recreation area. It loops around a lake and passes ball fields. This is where I go to start over.
Incidentally, this picture is of a section of the park called “Fishermen’s Lane.” I did a little research to find out why it was name that. It turns out that it is named in memory of two local young men who were walking along the railroad tracks to go fishing when they were struck and killed by a train in 1989. (I found this information at this link.)
Starting over here, this road needs to take me to a 50K in Hyner, PA on April 21, 2018. That’s right, just two months from now. The cutoff date to drop out and get a refund on my registration fee is in two days. But I’ve made up my mind to attempt to go the distance. It might not be the smartest thing given the shape of my ankle. But this ankle is going to be with me every step for the rest of my life. I better get used to it if I want to run long races. I’m sure today isn’t the only time I’ll be starting over.
I did my card game exercise trick again tonight. (Read “A Perfect Record” for details.)
The exercises were as follows:
Hearts = 1 minute hip/pelvis stretch using yoga blocks
Diamonds = 1 minute back stretch on an exercise ball (while praying the thing would not burst under my 226 pounds)
Clubs = 5 dumbell curls each arm (The heaviest dumbell we have is 15. There are weights in the garage out back. But I didn’t want to be a dumbell and walk in the cold to go use them.)
Spades = 5 sit-ups
The stretching was fantastic and sorely needed. I tend to run and not do much else. I never stretch before or after I run. I just like to run. That’s it. That’s why it takes some dorky trick like using a deck of cards to get me to do anything other than run. But I know that only running is a bad long-term plan. I guess the frigid weather has dealt me a good opportunity to see what other exercises suit me. (See what I did there? Two puns in one sentence.)
Tonight I went through the entire deck. So, 13 times through each exercise. That equals 65 sit-ups. But as I said yesterday, I hate math. So, I’ll stop all the fancy calculations right there.
