Epic week 1/9 - 1/15

Monday -Rest

Tuesday - Lunchbreak Hill, Bradbury, 8.5 miles.  Great run with Mindy up and down the mountain five times. The weather was once again seasonably warm and we were delighted with gorgeous views and relatively solid footing. Only a few icy spots slowed us down. We ran most of the repeats separately with a few together. At one point we attempted to clear a downed sapling that's been in the way for a while. We both got on one side and walked it off the trail a few feet before it snapped back and took us with it almost knocking us on our asses. So we trimmed it back as best we could and went on our lumberjack way.

Wednesday - Sebago to the Sea, 9.1.  Nice mellow run starting at Riverton Trolley Park continuing to the golf course, and heading back for a bit along the Presumpscot Trail past the park.  I was surprised to see a few golfers out and made sure to steer clear of them.

Thursday - Back Cove, 10.3.  Crazy epic run around the cove. With snow and sleet coming down hard and winds 25mph gusting who knows how much faster it made the intervals real tough. Did four one mile repeats with a jog in between after a two mile warm up and 3 mile cool down. Icicles were covering my glasses and hat and my clothes were frozen on me. At one point my eyelid even iced shut. It was awesome and super hard to get the speed I wanted for the workout. With visibility low already my glasses fogged and iced up so I could barely see, but I had to keep them on to avoid the stinging, horizontal precipitation.

Friday - Winnick Woods, 6.  Real humbling first snowshoe run in eight to ten inches of crusty snow and blazing trail most of the way. Planned on 8 miles but only managed 6. After the first mile I was slowed to a walk with fatigue in the deep snow and tuckered body. Ran and walked most of the way, and did the outer loop twice. Toward the end I got so cold from the snow kicking up on my back and melting that my entire body was soaked and close to hypothermic.  With 20mph winds picking up I called it a day.

Saturday - Beautiful Loop Bradbury, 15.4.  Ian, Zak, Alan, Ben, Nathan and I took off for the loop and quickly realized it was going to be a tough day.  With very little tracks already in the snow we post-holed three quarters of the run.  The crunchy crusty top layer over powdery loose snow made the going real challenging.  

Most of the way we ran single file stepping in each others footprints.  There was the occasional snowmobile track and truck tread that made the going slightly easier, but as soon as we'd get in a rhythm it was back to post-holing.  I got my right foot wet at one point early on but it didn't really matter because everything else was wet from the melting snow at the sock line and sweat from the hills.  The wind wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been, but it was strong enough to cool us down at the top of some of the rises.

With a barely frozen river crossing, slipping, sliding, falling in snow holes between railroad ties and getting our ankles cut up from the crusty top layer it was an epic day.  We had a few options to hit dirt roads and head home early, but all of us decided we'd tough it out for one more section and push hard through the snow.  It turned out that Val and Mindy were not too far behind us braving the elements as well.

By the end of the run I was cooked and really struggled to get up lunchbreak hill and finish the speedy end down Bradbury.  My ankles were bleeding, swollen, and quite bruised and I was ready for a delicious sandwich at E&L's.

Sunday - Scarborough, 16.1.  With wind chill temperatures around negative 7 and gorgeous blue sky's I headed out with a face mask and anxious intentions. The run went relatively well starting at my house and hitting the Eastern Trail until it became a bit too much of a post-hole fest. After having a full day of that yesterday I opted to hit an access road and head out to Rt. 1 where I did an out-and-back for a bit quicker and nicer pace. Only really got cold once stopping to pour Nuun down my throat from my bladder due to the fact the hose froze three miles in to the run. Besides not being able to see well due to foggy sunglasses with each breath the run went great.


65.4 miles for the week.