Training Log Archive: Fanatic

Back to New York to review more of the Escarpment Trail Race course.

Started on Storks Nest Road, which is east of Dutchers Notch, and just off Route 31. Climbed to Dutchers Notch and then on to Stoppel Point before dropping to North Point--the site of the water stop on the course.

Beautiful views of South Lake and North Lake, where the runs ends, from North Point. Met a couple of guys who were enjoying some sunshine and views from North Mountain, they had their cell phones, but more importantly, their beers. :-)

Turns out that one of them will be the sweep guy for the Escarpment Run--tld him I hoped I didn't see him on race day. ;-)

They had hiked up the same route that I followed.

While I hiked all the steep uphills, I did run the flats and slight uphills. I probably would have tried to run hard downhill at the end, but that trail from Dutchers to Storks Nest Road is all rocks and would have required more concentration and effort than I was willing to expend. Arrived safe and sound and felt surprisingly good after the run.

Back to Pittsfield State Forest to climb up the Turner Trail with Colette. She's had an injury recently and while she's back to running, she wasn't sure about a planned expedition to the Adirondacks later this summer--she wanted a test to see if her injury is healed or not. The Turner Trail is a good place for that test, so we did that. So far the results are encouraging--she blasted up the trail with no problem. Still, it isn't the Adirondacks, so more testing will be needed. :-)

And right after we finished the hike, I bid Colette adieu, and went for a run in Pittsfield State Forest.

Headed south to Hawthorne Trail, then over to Pine Mountain Trail, dropped down to Brickhouse Mtn. Trail and was heading toward Tilden Swamp, when I thought I wasn't really heading north (the hills were in the clouds, the sun not providing any clues) and took a right. Turns out that right was on Pine Mtn. Trail and had I kept going, I would have completed a loop--but I didn't do that as I realized that a sign I had seen earlier that read "TS" was really pointing the way to Tilden Swamp--sort of where I wanted to go, so I retraced my steps, which in hindsight, turns out to have been right over Pine Mountain, and eventually worked my way to Tilden Swamp.

If you want to see some nice beaver engineering, check out the dam that they built at the end of TS.

From there I worked my way over to Berry Pond and picked up a side trail that joined Turner Trail, where I got to enjoy the downhill once again. I will admit that my legs were feeling pretty tired, so no high-speed blasting down Turner Trail--just get me back to the car, please, pace. :-)

So three hours in the woods--hopefully good training for Escarpment.

Over to Kennedy Park for an easier, shortish run. Did the route that the Pioneer Running Club usually does on Thursday evenings in the summer--it is pretty close to 5 miles.

Needing to improve my hill running a bit, well, a lot actually, I headed over to Pittsfield State Forest, mainly because I love running down the Turner Trail which drops 885 in less than two miles. It is a mountain bike trail with tons of switchbacks, so running up it would be work, but nothing like a straight-line ascent would be.

Once that was done, I added on a few more miles by picking up the Taconic Crest Trail over to Tower Mountain and then returned on the same route. Didn't see a soul until the end, when I saw a couple of bikers about to head up the Turner Trail.

It was a nice, cool day, somewhat moist from the early morning rain, but not slippery.

My shoulder is still hurting, so I opted for a recovery hike up the Gorge Trail in October Mountain State Park. It is a beautiful area, although not very large--less than a mile from the bottom to the top. The Gorge Trail is actually two trails--one on each side of the brook. There are numerous small waterfalls and a couple of 5-7 meter tall cliffs next to the brook. I went up and down twice for my workout.