Chocorua Mountain Race- Weekly Log: June 2 to 8

Week 1 of heavier training, with a weekend in the whites having the Chocorua Mountain Race on Saturday and a following mountain run Sunday. 

Monday: 8 Miles- Westerly, RI

Woody Hill with Dad and Brady, don't run there often.

Tuesday: 10 Miles- Charlestown, RI

Burlingame 10 mile loop.

Wednesday: 10 Miles- Westerly, RI

Fun Run #2, and first for me of the season. I think I was planning like 5:45-5:50 pace, but ended up just sitting on the leader through the first mile in 5:45, then once he slowed a bit after that, I made it a progressive run dropping about 10s/mile to ensure I had the win without having to kick. 17:37 FTW.

Thursday: 8 Miles- Westerly, RI

Watch Hill loop from Avondale - don't really remember this one.

Friday: 7 Miles- Groton, CT

Pre-race Haley/Bluff with Dad, before the drive up to the White Mountains. 

Saturday: 17 Miles- Tamworth, NH

Chocorua Mountain Race. I think I got 19th in like 3:05, not my best work. Some decent uphill and downhill running in there, but people here were absolute beasts on technical downhills which was definitely a limiter for me.

Sunday: 13 Miles- Lincoln, NH

2 4000 footers today- N and S Kinsman. For a while, I wanted to do a full traverse of the Kinsman Ridge Trail, but that's a really difficult route and hard logistically, so I made a loop instead to get the two, as most people do. Pretty runnable for 4 miles on Pemi trail and Lonesome Lake, then the Cannonballs sections of Kinsman Ridge trail was insane. Just crazy technical and steep, plus it rained so much the last few days so everything was really wet and ultra slippery. Slogged through that section, including rolling my ankle which didn't hurt for the rest of the run but swelled up a bit, fortunately the OAB to the two mountains was much easier. There would have been a great view off S Kinsman, but it was extremely hazy from wildfires in Canada.

I then thought the rest would be easy, but the Kinsman Pond trail descent was also insane. Wet, mossy, ultra slippery boulders at a significant downhill grade, many times with a stream running over it. Such a slow slog basically walking and then stopping to decide the best route as I'm not taking any bad chances of a fall. This weekend definitely confirmed my Salomon's aren't cutting it and I have to look into a grippier shoe. A huge plus was my endurance was great - even at the end of a hard weekend, my legs felt pretty good throughout the run. 

Weekly Total: 74 Miles

Weekly Highlight: Feeling pretty decent at the fun run, and holding up well over a hard weekend.

Weekly Lowlight: Just struggling with technical and traction confidence. I didn't have the latter in 2020, but felt so much quicker on technical trails then. Slipping and sliding all over the place and rerolling that ankle this weekend wasn't exactly a confidence booster. 

Movies Watched: Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, The Accountant