Thursday, April 19, 2012

Finding my Way

Last night I went back to the Fells in an attempt to regain my trail running stripes.  I took a few precautions this time to avoid the fiasco that happened last time; getting lost, coming out after dark without a light, no food or water.  This time I made a few changes:
  • Started and ended at Sheepfold, which cut about 2 miles total from the loop
  • Carrying my running belt with a map, flashlight, phone, and water
  • Planned out my route before starting and stuck to it
The run went pretty well, about 5.5 miles averaging around 11:30 miles on some fairly rough trails, but I did end up with the same pain in my left foot that I need to address.  Right now I'm resting and icing it, but some stretches and exercises are probably in order.  This run was on the new Asolo trail running shoes, but I'm not sure they're ideal.  They offer more cushioning than the Innov-8s but I don't think they fit as well.  More tinkering is in order.

The weekly trail run is a nice addition to my cross training.  I now have a 5.5 mile and a 7.5 mile loop so I can tune it to how much time I have or how I'm feeling. One thing I am not using for the trail running is my MP3 player.  It's nice to listen to the sounds of nature, and it's good to be able to hear the mountain bikers coming up behind me.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Losing my way

When hiking in the Whites I rarely take a map with me.  I know the trails quite well and most of the major intersections have good signs so getting lost isn't really an issue.  Above treeline in the fog or snow I can use a compass and know enough to not head blindly in a direction without cairns, blazes, or a trailbed to keep me on track.  I always carry two light sources, even on a simple day hike, along with extra food and water.  But for some reason I abandoned all that knowledge and preparation for a trail run within earshot of a major highway and it led to a pretty hairy adventure.

I was meeting Robyn at on the Belleview Pond parking area on South Border Road in the Fells for a 7 mile trail run, basically following the mountain bike loop which I have run several times.  We started on the trail at around 5:45 which would have been enough time for the loop.  I was dressing in shorts, a long sleeve top, and carried only my car key.  Just before starting I drank water and had some food. We ran the first 1.75 miles before Robyn said that her knee was bothering her (she'd been having some problems with it, so we knew this was a possibility) and she turned around and headed back to the car.  I continued over to Sheepfold on familiar trails and ran the first 2/3 of the loop without problems.

Ignoring the choice to run without my pack (food, water, light) this is where I made my first poor decision.  I elected to follow the Reservoir trail instead of my usual Mountain Bike loop, thinking that they essentially parallel each other. This was probably less than two miles from the car, so close.  The Reservoir trail was a little rougher than I expected, and didn't seem to be crossing familiar terrain.  As it happens, the trail keeps turning left (east) instead of going straight (south) so I was headed in the wrong direction.  At mile 7 I started getting some pain in my left foot, probably just a bruise but it made me stop running and I had to walk and jog slowly the rest of the run.  I was at a dirt road here, but decided to continue following the Reservoir trail, probably not a great decision either.

So, on I went.  It was getting darker now, and I had the first glimmer of doubt creeping into my mind.  Still no familiar terrain and I-93 seemed closer than it should be.  I came across a trail junction but it gave me no additional information.  There had been no other hikers or bikers for about 30 minutes now, and because I was walking now the chill began to sink in. I stopped at one point and made a decision to navigate by I-93, which I knew was east of me and I could reliably head south which is where I wanted to go.  This was a good decision, and it was accurate.  However, since I was a bit turned around it meant that I ended up back on the Reservoir trail, headed in the other direction!  This freaked me out a bit and I admit that I had a little bit of panic.  I couldn't understand how I ended up back on the trail, even though I thought I was headed in the right direction.  (I was.)

I regrouped a bit and headed out at a jog in the right direction on a dirt road for easier footing in the dark.  I did start seeing familiar sights again including a section of the Skyline trail I ran at around mile 3, so I knew pretty much where I was.  Finally I came across a trail sign that pointed to South Border Road, my destination!  A bit later there was a sign for Belleview Pond, even better!  After another 10 minutes (which seemed like an hour) I came to another dirt road that led to a gate on South Border Road and since I was having trouble seeing the ground on the Skyline Trail I elected to take that.  In two minutes I saw the cars on South Border, then the gate, turned left and soon came to my car parked alone and inviting.  It was now 8:10 PM, dark, and about 49 degrees.

It's a very unusual experience being truly lost, confused, and worried in the woods at night.  During the last hour of my run I could feel panic rising, could observe myself making snap decisions without stopping to reason, rushing around in the dark risking injury when I should have slowed down.  Even at the time part of me knew what I was doing and how I should calm down I really didn't act on those feelings. Headed down a trail I wondered if I had really read the last sign correctly, without heeding the desire to double check the signs and the intersection.  In retrospect I ended up making good decisions, but I could easily have made bad ones; a sobering thought.

Was I in danger of spending a night in the woods?  Possibly, but not likely unless I had gotten hurt.  You're never far from civilization in the Fells and there's always the sound of cars nearby.  My bigger concern was getting hurt by falling or twisting an ankle in the dark which could have led to an unpleasant night for sure. But seeing the cars on South Border road was still a huge relief; I could feel the built up tension release when I stepped out past the gate.  Even with the pain in my foot I was walking easier.

Lessons learned:
  1. Never underestimate the woods
  2. If you start out within 3 hours of sunset, bring a light source
  3. Don't assume you know where trails go, check the maps
  4. Don't panic - you have good woods skills so use them
  5. Explore new terrain earlier in the day
 Here's the GPS track for the run. Replaying it I can feel the anxiety when I realized that I was looping on the same trail and back tracked.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

It's spring, time for trail running

The last two weekends Monica and I have headed out to Great Brook Farm State Park in Carlisle.  She brings her spiffy new mountain bike, and I bring some trail running shoes.  I'll be getting a mountain bike soon so I can join her on rides, but for now I'm content to run some of the great double and single track available in GBF.  I haven't done too much trail running, but I'm enjoying it a lot these days.  The pace is generally slower, the ground is much more forgiving on my legs, and I don't have to deal with traffic lights.

I've been using my new small hydration pack, giving me some easily accessible water, a few Gu's, and a place to hold my wallet and phone. I've used a Nathan hip belt but with the twisty trails the backpack feels like it carries more smoothly and allows me to twist and turn more comfortably. It also looks cool.  For shoes I have two pair; Innov-8 and Asolo.  The Asolos are new and this past weekend was their first day out.  I bought the Innov-8s last year and they have been on a few long hikes and run in the Whites.  The only other trail running gear I use are my Dirty Girl Gaiters, in Lime Gatorade Hurl.  They also look cool.

The trails at Great Brook are a mix of farm roads, paths in fields, and single track.  I don't know the trails in detail but it's not very big and bordered by a few main roads so you can't get too far off.  The first time I ran there I just stayed on the wide paths and strung together a 4 mile loop without crossing my tracks.  The second time I tried more of the single track, such as Indian Hill (Tip: avoid trails with the word "Hill" in the name) and the Woodchuck Loop, then followed a trail I had never seen before which took me out to some town land called Thanksgiving Ground Forest.  It was just an out and back before hitting some more double track, crossing the road and taking the Tophet Loop, which is my favorite mountain bike single track, and working my way back to the car.  It rained for the second half of the loop but never too hard so it just made running in the woods more interesting.  People hurrying back to their cars under umbrellas gave me some odd looks.

The plan is to add at least one day of trail running a week, after work on my way home.  I can run a 7 mile loop in the Fells that offers some nice variety of single and double track, plus the occasional view of Boston from a tower.  That should add some variety to the week and make the longer runs easier on my knees.

Besides, anything that lets me wear the Dirty Girls is a good thing.