It's not like I haven't written a blog post before about how badly my Mount Washington Road Race went, but this year was simply just awful. Like I can't even believe it was as bad as it was. I wasn't expecting much, honestly. I figured I'd run 1:34-1:36 considering I haven't been road racing (or road running, for that matter) at all. The few road runs I've done in the past two months have been excruciatingly painful due to the plantar fasciitis so I've had to stay away from it for the most part. No road running makes it really hard to get faster so I did not go into this race in the shape I'd prefer to be in. If you look at all 9 MWRRs, my finish times all correspond with how good of road racing shape I was in. Of course this is obvious but interesting at the same time that mountain running shape really has little to do with how well you'll do at MWRR. I'm in good mountain running shape, but I am NOT in road running shape at all. In fact, this is probably the first time since 2010 that I haven't been in road racing shape at all. Which is why I went into this not expecting much for a time. What I didn't expect was to feel so extremely awful the ENTIRE race.
I started off in the elite women's group. Not because I'm an elite...especially at this race which has never been my strength. I was invited into the elite group as a courtesy nod by Paul Kirsch. The only reason I accepted it was because some of my closest running friends would be in it, too. And I just so happened to run almost the entire race with one of them, Regina Randazza (formerly Loiacano). We both had really bad days which was even harder for Regina since she has run this race in low to mid 1:20s every other time she's done it. We would play leap frog until mile 5 on the dirt before she disappeared into the fog. I'd be lying if I said I was happy to have caught up to her and passed her just before the wall. She's the LAST person I wanted to do that to, but we ended up finishing so close together which was cool.
Anyway, with the new start, there's no longer a downhill but a flat dirt road run to the base of the road climb. This only bothered me the most because I lost my Shoe to the Clouds Strava CR. Haha. (Sad that I only beat my own time by a little over 4 minutes on the dry road; I was wearing snowshoes for the other race). But anyway, I started off in the back with Sarah Canney (who had an awesome race, btw) and my friend, Tammy Richards.
The weather was absolutely disgusting with high humidity and warm temps. The sun didn't waste its time coming out as soon as we hit the road. And there was zero moving air. I knew before we started that I'd suffer badly since the same thing happened in 2017 (when I ran a "terrible" time of 1:33. Total eye roll at my past self). But I did NOT expect the extreme quad burn I felt the second we started up. I was like WTF. I had no idea why this was happening. I thought I took the week fairly easy leading up. I made sure my glutes were firing. I made sure I was upright. But nothing fixed it. I couldn't believe how awful it felt, and I had just started. I knew right away I going to suffer through the whole race, but I didn't know it would actually get worse.
I ran the first mile like I always do and then started my planned run/walk method. I tried this on a whim in 2019 and ran a 1:32, my 3rd fastest time. I had attempted to train for this year's race using Cathedral Ledge by doing repeats and 90/30 intervals. 90 seconds running hard, 30 second power hike. Unfortunately, I only did this 3 times. Running down the road really hurt my foot and then Friday Night Vertical started, and that was my training day. But I had no problem doing these intervals, and Cathedral Ledge Rd is actually steeper than the MW Auto Road in some places. But today, with the quad burn, I could only do 60/30 intervals. Luckily I was able to keep them going through mile 5 (some modifications on that if we hit a flatter section). My time through the half was just over 45 minutes. I was perfectly fine with that, but knowing how badly I hurt I knew I would be running the second half much slower, but I still was expecting 1:34-1:36 at this point.
Finally headed above treeline, we got some cool air. The wind was a bit strong, but I was so relieved. I never once got even close to cold the rest of the way, even in the strongest cold, wet wind. Not even my hands were cold, which is unusual. And I noticed around mile 4 that my fingers were extremely swollen. My ring was squeezing my finger tightly... and I had just loosened it at the start line (cheap adjustable ring). That cold brutal wind was the only thing that got me to the finish line, since the warm, humid weather almost caused me to quit in mile 3. By mile 5.5, I started feeling really off. I could barely run at all at this point. I was so drained and starting to feel super dizzy. Visibility was less than about 10ft, sometimes less. I started getting passed by more people at this point. I hated it, but there was nothing I could do but stumble my way to the finish even though I really felt like I was going to pass out.
I got to where Ryan was planning to be on the course. He wasn't there, but the weather was so terrible I assumed he had to go on up to the summit to get out of the elements. I didn't run much farther, though, before I saw his silhouette through fog. I was so happy to see him. The wind made it hard for me to cross the road to get close. I had snot and drool pouring off my face which made it hard to talk. I was so happy to see him and wished I could just stop there but it was less than a mile to go. I was never really sure where I was because visibility was so low, but I had a feeling I was getting close when I could hear cheering. A surprise very strong tailwind pushed me (literally) to the base of the wall. I did my best to push up it. I couldn't even see the clock because of the thick fog... and then I did. 1:38! Terrible, but I made it across the line. I could barely even breathe. I needed water badly and pulled the gatorade cup out of my sports bra and stumbled to the water. A nice volunteer made sure I found it ok. He noticed I was struggling and made sure I got to the drop bags that were outside soaking wet (haha). I was in a stupor. I could barely function. I couldn't even get my blanket around me. Luckily, Ryan was right there to save the day. He put my blanket on me and then directed me to the building. I was so out of it that I didn't even know where I was going. He was the only person I wanted to see up there, and here he was. I love him.
There were so many people inside and they started bombarding me so I made a beeline for the bathroom, ever so thankful to have a stall to myself for some peace as I started to come back to life. I slowly changed out of my soaking wet clothes. I changed into completely dry clothes for the run back down. My foot that hadn't bothered me once during the race (plantar fasciitis is extremely unpredictable) was now EXCRUCIATING so I came limping out of the bathroom. I hate that because it looked like I was making an excuse for my bad day when in reality it wasn't the foot at all!
I found Ryan. Have I said how happy it made me that he was there? Haha. Bought some Powerades and 50 cent peanut butter packs which made a world of difference. I'm assuming the humidity down low just sucked the life out of me. I needed electrolytes. We talked to Paul Kirsch and a few other people on our way out then immediately left the summit for Lion Head.
I was feeling pretty bummed about the race so the last thing I wanted to do was hangout and chat with everyone. A slower time was expected. Feeling so incredibly horrible was not, and that's what kept eating away at me so much. I'd end up finishing 27th overall (women only on Saturday) in 1:38:19 (my second worst time; my worst time was only a minute slower when I was injured and walked almost the entire way). Overall that's not horrible, but for me it was. Full Results for the Women's Race
Ryan had had a really good hike up that morning, hid behind a rock for 15 minutes out of the gusting wind and then waited for me on the road. He made everything so much better. For the first time, I ran down from the summit on the trail instead of the road since I had him there. It was beautiful once the sun came out. We talked the whole way down. If I had been alone I would have been over-analyzing things in my head the whole way...just making myself depressed, but I was able to talk it out and then we just talked about stuff like we always do. He really brightened my day. My foot hurt like a mofo the entire time down, but it didn't take away from an awesome time with Ryan.
Ryan drove me back to the Auto Rd from Pinkham so I could get my car. I did a quick clothes change and successfully avoided people. I just wasn't up for the chatting AT ALL. Not many people feel like being chatty after a bad race. Today was my turn for that. And there were people I could see whom I would have wanted to talk to but I just couldn't do it. No reason for me to be so disappointed because I didn't expect to do well, but I just was. I met Ryan at Wildcat where we had cell service. I needed to message John and we needed to decide where to go for food (I skipped Hart's Turkey Farm). We drove into the stifling "city" of North Conway and tried Barley & Salt first, but they weren't doing outdoor seating. It was way too nice out to be sitting in a crowded restaurant in the a/c so we went back to Jalisco (our now Tuesday night thing) for skinny margaritas and lunch. It was pretty fun car watching since were outside facing the road. Surprisingly entertaining. We got rained on but it felt good. Got John something to go and then went home where we vegged for the entire rest of the day. I was all done.
Other thoughts about the race... I did NOT like the women-only aspect. I was pretty much running with only one other person the whole and at times I could see no one. I thought the staggered (time-trial basically) start was unnecessary, but I understand why they did both. Having done this race 9 times in a row now, I'm still learning things. Haha. I swear this race is my nemesis. We fight every year. Sometimes I win. Most times I don't. I do know that I have to do road running and racing to do well here. I did zero of that. I set myself up for failure, but it was out of necessity for my foot. I can't beat myself up every time this race goes wrong. There's always something to learn from my bad races. Next year will be my 10th (consecutive) MWRR. My plan has been to take at least one year off from it after that. Will I actually follow through on that? We'll find out in 2023! Haha. Maybe I'll wait until I'm 50 to do it again, but that's 3 years in between. I doubt I'll keep myself away for that long. Haha.
We finished off the weekend on Sunday with domestic duties. A trip to the dump and then taking John for apply for a job that he got and started today! Yay! Then we headed out to the Wild River in Evans Notch for what seemed like an easy recovery 6-ish mile run up the Wild River Trail and back on the High Water Trail. We ran super easy and enjoyed the run out. This river is unique and has definitely earned its Wild title. The air was warm but far cooler than at home. The run was pretty enjoyable until we got to the High Water Trail for the way back. It really wasn't that bad, but on my dead legs it was A LOT of ups and downs. It seemed to take forever, but it was still a cool new-to-us trail run. And the quiet was much needed.
From there, we topped off the early evening on the paddleboards at the Basin. It was so gorgeous. Ryan was trying out his new paddleboard which is going to take some getting used to since it sits a little higher out of the water. We mostly just floated around, only paddling when the wind pushed us too far. We drank some Wannamango beers. Ryan towed me around. Crazy bullfrogs all around. It was the perfect end to our weekend.
I had a A-Ha! moment while out there. When I got my knees to paddle at one point, my quads started burning, and that's when I realized it. On Friday, my rest day before MWRR, instead of running, I took Phoenix paddleboarding on Conway Lake. It was so windy the entire paddle back that I had to drop down on my knees instead of standing. I noticed this really started to burn the quads and actually kept telling myself to be careful about burning out the quads for the race the next day. I didn't remember this at all until I felt it at the Basin. OMG I had burned out my quads on that hard paddle back against the wind! THAT was why my quads were burning the second I started up the Auto Rd. Motherfucker!! I can't believe I didn't think of that. It wasn't until I felt it on Sunday. I did this one other time when I actually ran my PR of 1:29 at MWRR in 2015. I had accidentally burned out my hip flexors the day before and immediately felt it as soon as I started up. Although I ran a good time, I should have run much faster than that. So I literally did almost the same exact thing. Ugh! I should have just run the day before! Yet another lesson learned... the hard way!
Enough about Mount Washington. Let's catch up since the last blog post. Not too much has happened really. We've been doing the usual mountain runs on the weekends. Ryan's work has gotten really, really busy with long days that he's struggling to get workouts in during the week. My work is about to wind down a bit when the Covid Testing Center at Memorial closes after July 2nd. I'm so ready to have my Fridays back. The hours have at least been cut back the last 3 weeks to 7:30a-12p so it's been tolerable. I can go for a run after my shift and still get stuff done before we head up to Friday Night Vertical at Black Mt.
We made it to the first 3 Fridays, only missing this past Friday because Ryan had to work until 7p for a long 12 hour day. I was just going to hike instead of run it with MWRR the next day so it didn't make sense for me to go up there by myself. I have to miss this week, too, since I'm working at Conway Fire, but Ryan will go on his own. I'll admit it was awkward going to the first one because we no longer associate with over half of the people there. Oh wait. I never really associated with them before. Haha. But it's definitely kind of shitty to be shunned for something you didn't do. But, whatever. I'm over it. They were just never my type of people to begin with. I love these "workouts", and we both need them to get in better race shape so we're going when we can. We still have people there whom we like to hang out with.
I'm really struggling with getting into race mode. I did ok last fall but after hardly running over the winter, I haven't been able to get that back. I just don't feel like it yet. At the first FNV, I accidentally ended up in the front of the pack when everyone else dropped back at the start. Pretty much destroyed myself in the first half mile. Haha. I made sure to start way in the back and run slowly for the next two Fridays. Just going hard enough to get in a good workout and not to race people. I'm actually bummed to miss two Fridays in a row and then miss another one on the 9th since I work at Conway again. So dumb that I picked those shifts up. Oh well. Here a few photos from FNV. Not too many this year.
Another addition to help us get more fit is the Whitaker Woods Summer Series. Skipped the first one because it was SO hot and I had already destroyed myself that morning on a run. So we've only done one so far. I couldn't believe how much running what was supposed to be a "tempo" pace hurt. Wow. I'm SO out of speedy shape. Like SO out of shape. The 8 extra pounds isn't helping, that's for sure. But the only way for me to get that weight back down is to race often. I'm not ready for that. And I can't go to the track or do fast road runs with my foot pain so it's going to be awhile before I can drop any weight AND run fast. I've decided to add in two days a week on my spin bike starting today. Only 20-30 minute HIIT rides. I feel like that might be my best bet for waking up some sort of fast twitch fibers in there without foot pain. At least Whitaker Woods will help some, too! By the way, I ran 21:57 for my first one last Tuesday. In 2019, I was down in the 20 minutes. Hoping I can get back to that by the end of the series. I can't say we're doing the Series just for the running, though. Definitely an excuse for Taco Tuesday at Jalisco afterward.
I got a new tattoo! My left arm has felt so bare the last year that I finally decided to get something else. It was stolen from my ambulance partner who showed me the idea. She had decided not to do it so I got it instead. It's taking a long time to fully heal but that's what happens on old lady skin. I went back to Mandy at White Mountain Tattoo. It was just one visit this time. Here's a pic of it half completed and then one the next day that I took from Table Mt. Haha. It's still dark and healing, but it will start to look less dark and more detailed. It usually takes months, though.
Ryan finally talked me into doing Owl's Head since I'm technically doing the NH48. On year 21 and counting. Haha. We tend to get out later in the day to avoid the crowds. Today meant a run in the cold rain, but we easily got a parking spot and hardly ran into any people after we got on the single track. The climb up Owl's Head was as described! Haha. Pretty slippery in the rain. I didn't push it at all. I think "pushing hard" and "normal pace" are the exact same thing on this climb. It was a really cool mountain, though!. All I have left are the Bonds and Zealand which we'll do soon. It's not super exciting to me to finish the 48. Just something I figured I should do since I've lived here so long.
Last weekend we left the bustling, hot, noisy city of Conway and headed up north for some new-to-me places. The Mount Washington Valley has gotten so crazy that I literally felt like I could breathe again when we got up in the Stark area. The sad thing is that's how I used to feel coming up to Conway from Mass in the late 90s, early 2000s. Like I could breathe. This place doesn't feel like that anymore, unfortunately. There was traffic then since North-South Rd wasn't built until 2002, but the congestion is totally different now; you can't escape it anywhere. I don't see the Valley as beautiful anymore which is so sad since I dreamed of moving up here, and when I finally did in 2003, I felt at peace. I still like living here, but it's just changed. Going north was the real breath of fresh air we needed. It was such an awesome day.
We decided to do two separate mountain runs. Mt Sugarloaf and North Percy Peak. Well, we also planned South Percy Peak but completely missed the turnoff for the trail to the summit. Once we realized it, we would have had to backtrack, and I wasn't feeling it. It wasn't a big mileage day, but damn, those are some steep climbs up there. Both mountains were super amazing, and we only saw a handful of people. This was such a great day. Drove to the Copper Pig in Lancaster after our runs for beer and dinner outside by the river.
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