Ocular Proof of Trail Conditions

In case you didn’t believe me about the mud. The Salomon XAs (above) reached the 275 mile mark this past weekend. Realizing this, I quickly placed an order for the new Puma Trailfox II’s, and I’m excited. The good folks at Tortoise & Hare in Ann Arbor knocked ten bucks off the price, as a thanks for shopping locally when I could have bought it online. Word to the wise.

Mud & Muck

A snow-then-melt-then-rain-then-freeze-then-melt cycle has left our Southeast Michigan trails in interesting conditions. A quick 6 miler on Saturday dampened even my waterproof Solomon XA’s. I even managed to get mud on my upper body, don’t ask me how.

Sunday was my first trip to the Potowatomi Trail, and I’m happy to know with certainty what my Sunday plans will be for the foreseeable future. I did all 19 miles in a record slow time (3:40). I’m factoring in an extra 1.5 miles since I got lost three times (the signs/markers were knocked over or just missing in some spots), and I hiked a bit, stopped on a few of the very great bridges and just relaxed, absorbing everything. This is definitely the best trail I’ve run since the Keweenaw Trail Running Festival last year.

The path was ‘accented’ with ice, mud, almost sand, pretty commanding hills, a few overflowing ponds, and fully blocked by knocked down trees in other spots. Additionally, it rained for a solid hour – but I didn’t mind a bit. Things were just too good.

Next Sunday will be a 13 mile practice loop for the Running Fit Trail Half Marathon. Conditions permitting, hopefully a goal of 2 hours is not overly ambitious for someone as slow as me.

Trail Gods are Smiling

Logged about 24 solid trail miles this weekend. Feels great to be off both dreadmill and street, and finally getting the trail time I’ve been looking forward to. Here’s a weekend recap, if you’re bored and looking to waste a few minutes reading about my life.

Friday: Landed from NYC and swung by the office in Ann Arbor to pick up my two new movies from Zombie Runner, both of which I brought home and watched back-to-back as my weekend relaxation. First was their Western States 100 film, which was shot a few years ago at the beginning of Jurek’s domination of the race. Pretty cheap packaging but definitely a worthwhile purchase and an all around well-done film with numerous insights from some of the race’s veterans (Twietmeyer, Ansleigh, etc.). Next was Forever Running, a film about Yiannis Kouros – who holds an unbelievable amount of world records and who makes me feel as if I should just give up running altogether.

Saturday: 8 miles hard and fast (for me) through Heritage Park in Farmington Hills. First 4 mile lap done in 31:25 (7:51 minute miles). Second lap done in 35:27 (8:51 minute miles). On the second lap I stopped for a few minutes when I found that I had run directly into a family of Deer. There were 7 of them – and when I took notice all were staring at me. I stood still, kept my hands at my side and eventually they took their focus off me, just kept eating and acted as if I wasn’t even there. After a few minutes of reveling in this, I turned to continue running and noticed another three coming up on my right side from behind. They walked past me, then all three stopped and stared yet again. One of them kept her eyes on me, and kept bowing her head and tapping one foot on the ground. She slowly advanced toward me, seeming to check out my scent. To keep it on the safe side, I slowly backed away and continued my run. Pretty amazing to get that close and have them that comfortable, though.

Sunday: 16 snowy and slippery miles of Bald Mountain starting at 8:00am on this fine Easter. I took a nasty spill about three miles into it, losing grip on an icy downhill and using my kneecap to break my fall. The rest of the run was done considerably more carefully, and with slow jogs/walks on the uphills I only averaged 11:30 miles. The first 12 miles were done around a 9 minute pace, but I bonked pretty hard on the last quarter and had to walk a bit. This was my longest run since the marathon and my longest trail run to date. Despite the lackluster speed, it was a great day of running and a happy 1 year anniversary of my first trail run in the same spot. Good trails, but if next week’s 18 miler at the Potowatomi is anything like I think it should be, I’ll probably be going to Bald Mountain a lot less from now on.

Lastly, there as a coyote in my mother’s driveway this morning – right here in lovely Farmington Hills.

Road Race Idea

NYC is done with and it’s great to be home. We stayed at ‘The W’, the decor of which seemed to be directly stolen from a set of Total Recall; that kind of early 90’s vision-of-the-future that never fails to un-impress. Or maybe I’m just getting old.

The 8 mile loop around Central Park was a hidden gem in the midst of an exhausting trip. I was accompanied by our European Editor who is an accomplished but injury-recovering Triathlete (marathon PR of 3:30), and who kept apologizing for our slow pace of 9 minute miles. Everything is relative. Locals kept blowing past us at 6 and 7 minute paces, but we kept reminding ourselves that they’re probably not running the full loop. Based on the sparsity of runners in the northern portion of the park (the seedier part), I would think there’s some truth to that.

The run up to the park was an adventure in and of itself. 12 streets north from the hotel to get to Central Park, and an exciting ’slalom’ through crowds of tourists and rude taxi drivers. I had a great idea that’s probably been done; but how great would it be to organize a point-to-point race from the top to the bottom of Manhattan. It would be ‘organized’ in a very loose sense. No portion of the course would be blocked off from the rest of the world, and the runners could choose their routes – having to pick areas based on density and contend with the urban elements along the way. Could be as-challenging as a trail race of equal distance, if not more. Definitely more dangerous and dirty, I think.

I vowed in the past to do no more street races, but I would probably bend the rules for something like this.

Urban Trail Running

One pair of shoes stretched over three days and 20 miles isn’t the best-case-scenario, but I prefer to pack light. 2 pairs of running shorts, three running shirts, three pairs of Injinjis, one Timex Iron Man wristwatch and my RoadID. Also my Brooks HVAC gloves and a North Face touque just incase it’s not as warm as I’m anticipating.

Oh – and there’s the suits and ties for work. Plus a Nikon D200 and an array of high end lenses, flashes, whatnots and whathaveyous. Plus a MacBook and a copy of Jim Harrison’s Sundog. In case you were wondering.

I used to want to live in NYC. Now I want to live as far away from it as possible – in the spiritual and metaphysical sense. But a quick work trip there will be a welcome change of scenery – even if I am stuck behind a camera during the day and a laptop all night. Seeing some old friends will be great, even if just for a meal. I’m also hoping to get in a few good laps around Central Park.

Running through the streets of a place like New York isn’t completely dissimilar from trail running. I guess you could say it’s “technical” in its own right: replace the roots, rocks, puddles and mud with people, traffic, street vendors, cars, cesspools and smog and there you have it. It requires an equal amount of attentiveness and as much stop-and-go. Minus the hills, of course.

At 1:21 am I have a solid 2 more hours of work to do before I can call it a day. I’m trying my damnedest to prevent work from preventing my training, but tonight I lapsed and skipped out on some cross/weights. First hole in the schedule and not a good feeling.

What could I do but devour half a Buddy’s pizza to drown my sorrows?

Ultra Week #4 // Trail Running Anniversary

A relatively light week three comes to a close. This was a ‘down’ week to prep for next weekend’s 17 miler. I bumped up the weights and resistance training on account of the low mileage, and can feel things tightening up ever-so-slowly. The ‘chesticles’ I earned from a gluttonous holiday of overeating and under-running are now receding, and my legs feel alive again. Cross training has helped, and our Farmington Hills YMCA is a convenient 5 mile round trip run away. Throwing some weight training in the middle of a slow day helps me feel more productive.

Today’s run, the ‘long one’ of the week, was a 12.5 miler at a pretty slow pace, 10 minute miles more or less, all on very boring roads with traffic and polluted puddles. I’m trying to keep my 10+ mile runs at the pace I’d like to run the 50. Anything below and I’ll keep pushing for the 8 minute miles.

I’m finding that was probably my biggest mistake of last season, and likely why I never shed the weight I was aiming to. I ran often and I ran far, but I never really pushed myself the way I should have – averaging 12 minute miles on my 20 mile runs and 10 on my regular 10 milers. In retrospect, I was probably just getting used to becoming a ‘runner’ and still apprehensive about putting my body through all this. Plus, I just really liked the zen-like, mellowing out effect of a long, leisurely jog.

That all changes now.

After some thought and deliberation, I’ve decided to cave in and pick up a GPS watch. I heard this would be coming out soon, so I went online, did some research, and I liked what I saw; it’s not like wearing an iPhone on your wrist, like their earlier models. I’ll be pre-ordering mine on the next non-mortgage-payment paycheck.

Am anxiously awaiting next Sunday, which will mark the 1 year anniversary of my first trail run. A year ago this week, I was carbo-loading and tapering for (what was back then) a grueling 8 mile run through Bald Mountain. I still look back with fondness on that first run. I had no ‘running gear’ to speak of – just my New Balance 872s. On top was a pair of thermal underwear, crappy shorts and a long sleeve t-shirt. The trail was semi-frozen and muddy and had that soggy-leaf smell I’ve come to associate with springtime in Michigan. In my excitement I ran hard and carelessly, plowing through puddles on purpose and dirtying myself up just for the fun of it.

I do the same still, however I’m better equipped (actual trail shoes, body glide, Injinis, etc.).

In celebration of the 1 year mark, I’m heading back up to Lake Orion for a lovely 17 mile/double-loop around the park. This will be my longest trail run in as long as I can remember. In theory, I should be heading out to the Poto in preparation for the Running Fit Trail Marathon, but the more I think about that the more I think I should just run its half and not push myself too far off my training schedule. 26.2 isn’t on the menu for a few more weeks yet, and recovering from it will throw me off course.

That’ll make the year’s first Marathon the Grand Island, which I’m looking forward to almost as much as the 50.

Ultra Week #3 // Last Snow Run

Week two was capped off with a pair of long, leisurely trails – 8 miles on Saturday and 12 on Sunday. I fell a bit short on weekly mileage (high 30’s, I think), but got some time outside and on my feet. This was a welcome break from what was panning out to be a week of treadmills. Body is feeling fine – soreness isn’t half as bad as last week. Callouses are forming where blisters were. Weight is still the same but I dropped 1% body fat, which is encouraging.

Enough details. I took a camera along to the park, so let’s remember and enjoy what will hopefully be the last scenes of winter. Sure it was a good one, but I think I’m ready for spring.

The sound of snow melting was sweet and bitter. It’ll be great to run normal trails again, but part of me loves all this.


I got to chill by the river and get my “Chris McCandless” on.


Things like that make me happy.

The Solomons worked perfect. Waterproof, warm, and decent traction. I’d recommend them to a friend.

Odd tree formation. Lightning striking twice? Or just one huge bolt?

Orchard and Valley Trail intersection. Usually the start or end of the run.

The Scout Trail. I got about 20 feet from a family of 6 deer. They stood still, then just casually walked away. There are usually a few here and I’ve seen them this close more than once. No hunting allowed, so they probably know it’s safe. I often find their tracks and follow them for as long as they’re visible.

That’s about it for now. Goodbye winter. Maybe. . .

Ultra Training Week #2

And feeling “ultra weak”. It’s week 2 of the training plan, and I managed to surpass the goal and log 53 lovely miles last week. I’m sore everywhere, including restless legs that keep me up at night, black toes on my right foot and blistered toes on my left. All evidence of how out of shape I let myself get over the holidays (and I still have about 15 more pounds to shed before we hit the target).

The pain’s not a big deal if you view it as an indication of progress, though. So long as it’s not intolerable and I’m not having to mask it with Ibuprofen just to get a short run out the door, I’m assuming my body is OK with it.

I’ve cut cheese and dairy out of the diet to see if it makes any difference in healing times and energy levels. I’ve been experimenting with some interesting new vegan recipes (self-invented/improvised) such as Red Beans & Rice, which I haven’t had in the 14 years since I stopped eating meat.

Treadmill pace is whittling down into the low 8/high 7 minute mile range. Distances are getting back up there. It feels good to feel somewhat back in the game.

A nice long trail this weekend will be a good change of pace, and hopefully the last snowy run of the year. Sure I love them, but having to gear up like an Eskimo is getting tired.