Vermont’s One And Only Roller Coaster

May 31st, 2009 Posted in Story, Training

The great state of Vermont is famous for many features - the Green Mountains, maple syrup, bark-chewing, granola-chomping residents, corn mazes, of course Vermont Teddy Bears (couldn’t pass up the opportunity for a product plug) and manure.  But what one doesn’t associate with VT are roller coasters…..until now.

C1, C2 and I decided to test our fitness and strength this past Friday by scheduling a 50 mile training run in the beautiful Green Mountains on a portion of the Vermont 100 course.  For C1 it was to see how well he managed his recovery from the prior week’s 50 mile Pinelands race he had finished - that would be 105 miles for him in 5 days.  C2 was testing his chronic IT band issues which has plagued him for several weeks.  This was also a chance for him to preview the hilliest portion of the VT100 which he would be running in mid-July; his inaugural 100 endurance run.  And for me, another step in my slow but steady recovery after the Achilles heel injury, following up on a 50K from last weekend but yet unable to run on the trails without pain.  So we all had business to attend to.

Our 5:30 am departure from Weston seemed early enough to get us up there in plenty of time (2 hour drive) drop water at a few spots along the 24 mile loop and then get going and finish before dark.  So we thought.

We arrived at the Ascutney Mountain campground at 8:00am and secured a

campsite for the night.  It was still raining, cold (43 degrees) and gray so we decided to not pitch a tent and move directly onto Camp 10 Bear where we would park the car after planting water jugs at three spots along the course.  We planned to run the C10B loop twice.  It’s the most consistently hilly section of the VT100 with few places to run the flats.  You’re either running down a long (1-2 mile) hill or walking up an endless climb with numerous false summits.

We decided to drive the course with my Pacifica (actually Marcy’s) which was loaded with our camping and running gear and water.  Almost immediately we got lost, and in very non-man behavior actually stopped to ask for directions from a friendly neighbor in which we had ended up in her dirt driveway :-).  She informed us the road we were seeking was a class something or other - in other works, “no way are you going to drive it with that car, or any 4 wheel drive vehicle for that matter.”

So onto Plan B.  We hopscotched ahead on the course and put H2O out at around mile 8, then drive deeper into the woods on a seemingly good quality dirt road.  That all changed suddenly and we were back to a potholed, rocky, swampy mess pretty quickly.  Cooler minds prevailed as we were able to navigate a “in-the-woods” three point turn and head back out to civilization.  We were able to put out two more jugs of water but not where we had originally intended due to the roads all being nearly un-driveable.  No matter, close enough.  But we had spent valuable daylight setting up and now were only on our feet starting the run at 10:30 am.  We knew we’d be getting in some night run training at this point.

Loop one was a bit on the chilly side and gray skies prevailed although somehow, we avoided any major downpours - though threatening.  C2’s IT band required frequent stretching during the first couple of hours which was a welcome reprieve as C1 and myself were glad to warm up slowly after last weekend’s long runs.  My heel seemed to be “there” but behaving.

We saw a fair bit of wildlife along the way - geese, cattle and calves, oxen, horses, quail, turkey, hawks, raccoons, deer, bulls and newts.  We of course were enamored with our first find of the red-spotted newt, believing we had discovered something rare and precise.  Maybe an omen of good luck?  After we stopped counting our numerous sightings 11 hours later, many of which were deceased after being crushed by vehicles during their long road crossings (so abandoned the omen thesis!), we realized the oxen we had seen - and C1 had grown accustomed to - were actually more rare than these fluorescent little fellas.

Lap one went off without incident.  We finished the loop after getting off course for a mile or two just once in about 5 hours and 35 minutes (25+ miles).  Our detour had us happen upon Yang Ting, a lovely VT farmer who was tending to the aforementioned apple-in-his-eye oxen that C1 has been drawn to …… and they to him….but I digress…and that’s no yoke…..actually it is…..:-).  She owned four border collies which greeted us enthusiastically.  “Bear” was the alpha and apparently one them was the mother of the other three.  Yang got us back on course quickly after tempting us with a shortcut.  “I’ll never tell anyone” she whispered to us with a grin.

We took about 15-20 minutes at the car to change socks, tape our feet, put on warmer clothing, grab headlamps and feed our faces.  We especially excelled at the feeding out faces part

We ambled out for loop deux with bellies full and muscles nicely stiffened up.  Once again we ran and walked with some stretching along the way for sometime.  Time did seem to go by more quickly in lap 2 as we now knew the course and didn’t carry with us the extra burden of the potentially of getting lost.  Now we could fully focus on the beautiful Vermont countryside and scenery that surrounded us as the sun actually broke through and a glimpse of blue skies could even be seen.  We also could focus on whatever ailed our bodies which were calling out to each of us with various aches, hot spots and atrophy.  We passed one of C1’s memorable spots which was a beautiful grassy meadow filled with colorful wild flowers with the Green Mountain in the background.  He called it the “Sound of Music” meadow and broke into a rugged attempt at “The hills are alive…..” - really rugged

We actually only had to run about an hour or so in the dark as it turns out since Mother Nature was kind enough to provide light to us until almost 9:00 pm.  We reached the car for the second and final time at about 10 PM so by my calculation we covered the 50 miles in 10:54 not counting the long aid station between lap 1 and 2 and actually negative split (lap 1 5:35 and lap 2 5:19).

We all felt pretty darn good all things considered and determined we’d head over to the nearby pizza joint for a greasy reward.  Foiled again (it was closed by the time we got there), we punted and returned to the campsite, quickly cooked up veggies burgers and downed local VT beer (Magic Hat #9 and Long Trail), dragged out the sleeping bags and hit the hay - well actually hit the wood floor of the lean-to - at about midnight.  None of us slept much as the floor was pretty hard and our various muscles were calling out for more comfort.  We arose at 4:00 am, showered and took off for a true ultra runner’s breakfast - Denny’s Grand Slam, in White River Junction.  Then headed home for the weekend.

Early reports back are everyone is recovering well - which is an excellent sign.  This was a great confidence builder for everyone.  C1 is ready to go and has three months to stay healthy and strong.  He is looking awesome.  C2 tested his IT band and performed exceptionally well.  He also had some issues with his stomach and some low spots along out run which he was able to fight through and overcome - all traits of a true ultra runner.  And for me, I continue to advance my recovery and feel that I’ve made the right choice in giving this injury time to mend and shifting my efforts to cross training.  I’m back on schedule as I prepare for the run of my life.

We determined this run required us to walk about 65-70% of the time due to the roller coaster nature of the hills.  We were constantly going up and down with little flat breaks in-between.  So we practiced our power walking and disciplined ourselves to walk every uphill, control our downhill running and pushing along a good pace (the ultra shuffle) when we did have flats.  And we continued to follow the slow and steady mantra with an average heart rate of around 65% of max.  Thanks to C1 and C2 for a great training run, encouragement and friendship.  This is really what it’s all about.