Manitou's Revenge - 6/21/14

"THIS IS NOT LIKE ANY OTHER ULTRA YOU’VE RUN BEFORE!"

So proclaims the Manitou's Revenge web page. They put it in capital letters so's you won't miss it, even if you're only semi-literate like I am. Hyperbole is a bit of a cliche in ultrarunning but, that being said, I'm going to put my next statement in it's own paragraph just so you don't miss it:

This race delivers.

I'm a believer in frame of reference. I once caught some flack for calling a Massachusetts 50k "flat and fast" and I suppose if your only experience was on roads then you might have felt sandbagged too. My benchmark has always been the White Mountains and few courses I've run have been able to match them for technical trail running and long steep climbs. I'll admit the possibility of some personal bias there, but I've always wanted to have a competitive race in my own personal brier-patch. Alas, the Man puts up red tape and we can't have such nice things... until Manitou's Revenge came along.

The Manitou's Revenge course is remarkably similar to the Hut Traverse in the Whites. It's a little over 50 miles long, has a solid 14000' feet of climbing, and features gnarly, rocky terrain over the Escarpment Trail and the Devil's Path in the Catskills of New York. Because it's on state, rather than federal land, the race director and his crew were able to work out a deal where the race would be permitted to take place. I think this makes a good example of what such an event can be. We as runners got to participate in a unique and challenging event with minimal impact on the natural resources and other users of the area.

To top things off, not only was the course what I've been looking for, but so was the competition. Denis Mikhaylov was returning after his win last year. Brian Ruseiki, one of the best ultrarunners in the northeast, would be starting as well. Additionally, the last four FKT holders for the Pemi Loop would be there; Ben Nephew, Jan Wellford, Ryan Welts, and myself. Credentials go deeper than that all around, but I'd like to think that any one of us six could have taken the win. Personally, I felt rather outgunned but held out hope that the difficult course would play to my strengths and my hundred miler experience would let me be a contender in the later sections of the race.

We started at a reasonable pace and it didn't take long for a lead pack of about eight guys to form, most of whom I expected with a couple unfamiliar faces. No sign of Denis, though. I was excited to finally check out the Escarpment Trail and it didn't disappoint. The running was technical and stimulating but nothing too crazy and we were periodically rewarded with views of the Hudson River Valley from clifftop overlooks. Denis had made it to the start late and must have been pushing pretty hard to catch us. He came barreling through kamikaze-style like he was running a 5k, made a few sketchy passes off-trail in the bushes, and was soon out of sight. Ben and Brian made a move to pick up the pace and I and a few others took the chance to follow.

 2014 Manitou's Revenge, leaders on the Escarpment Trail, mile 17 from MountainPeakFitness.com on Vimeo.

I lost contact with the lead group shortly after we passed through North Lake Campground at mile 17 and was surprised to pass an ailing Denis so soon on the long descent into Palenville where I joined up with Jan Wellford. It was nice to spend a few minutes with him in person after a couple years of sporadic email contact, though the conversation ended when Jan pulled away from me on the climb up Kaaterskill High Peak like I was standing still. At that point, around halfway through the race, I figured the finishing order was all but settled, with Brian and Ben being long gone. Picking my way along the muddy and rooty trail I was happy to have Ryan catch me and we ran together into Platte's Clove at 31.5 miles.

Up next was the infamous Devils Path. There were root ladders and numerous thirty foot ledges to scramble up and down, along with boulder fields to hop across. The rocks here are different than the Whites; much flatter with a smooth texture and they all move and shift underfoot. Ryan and I started catching glimpses of someone running up ahead of us through the trees and I thought it must be Jan. Imagine my surprise to discover a seventy year old man from New Jersey absolutely hauling ass down some difficult technical sections. Ryan and I professed our admiration for his strength and skill when we finally did feel ready to pass. I want to be like him when I grow up.

By the time we'd reached Mink Hollow at 38.5 Ryan had pulled away from me and I came into the aid station less than thirty minutes behind the leaders. This was something of a low spot as I was struggling with my usual mid-day bonk and my ankle that's been problematic this year was acting up. It wasn't painful but after eight hours of uneven footing the joint stiffened up and I had a limited range of motion. Strange how my ankle could be perfectly fine over seven hours on the Pemi-Loop but after hour eight it becomes a problem. I'll admit to feeling a little discouraged but it turns out I was not nearly so far behind as I thought at the time.

Despite slowing down, I was hoping to maintain my position in fifth but was caught by by Carlo from Italy just after Silver Hollow (mile 44). We were finally off the Devil's Path but my condition seemed to keep me at the same slow pace. Carlo tried to get me to stay with him, and I did for a while, but when we hit the Warner Creek crossing I stopped to cool off a little and he kept going. After that it was a long lonely walk up the final climb to the fire tower on Mount Tremper. Just before the top I heard some commotion off to the side in the woods and caught a glimpse a of a black bear crashing through the brush. I haven't seen a bear in the woods in a long time.

The last major aid station made a good excuse to sit down and indulge in a couple handfuls of Skittles, something I don't normally eat. Chatting with the volunteers, I was surprised to learn that Jan had come through in first place with over a fifteen minute lead. It sounds like he ran a smart race all day, hanging back early on and making his move in the later stages to earn the win in 10:50:34. I jogged slowly down the final descent into Phoenicia on an old jeep road to cross the finish in 12:28:15 for sixth place.

Manitou's Revenge as an event turned out to be everything I'd hoped it would be. It's the exact kind of course I've been wanting for a long time and I think it has a bright future. Superlatives are overused in ultrarunning, but I'm going to go ahead and call this the hardest race course of it's length that I'm familiar with.  It easily outdoes the Pittsfield Peaks 50 in Vermont, which has similar elevation gain but easier footing. Wapack 50 in New Hampshire would be next in line but it doesn't have the same kind of gain and the difficulty is not nearly as sustained. As for comparing Manitou's to the Hut Traverse, I think the Hut Traverse has the edge with its greater gain, bigger climbs, and footing that cuts you even fewer breaks. And then there's the elephant in the room, the race I've been invited several times to compare Manitou's to; Hardrock. All things considered, I'm going to call it about even with what a Hardrock 50 would be like. Sure, it's a crude comparison as the character of the landscape is totally different but based on finishing times I'm going to say they're in the same ballpark.

As for my own performance, I'm left a little disappointed. There wasn't much I could have done about the ankle issue, but fueling and pacing remains a persistent problem for me. I've been taking in 200-plus calories per hour in gel and I still run out of gas in most races. My muscles seem to be up to the challenge, I had no soreness in the following days, but I just couldn't seem to get them the energy they need. This weakness is probably the greatest barrier to improving my performance and I'll likely be looking into improving my fat metabolism rather than relying so much on carbohydrates, to gain an edge.

I want to express my huge thanks to my wife and daughter who crewed me, the race volunteers, and especially to Charlie Gadol who saw this race through. Charlie, if you ever do go through with that 100 mile version you mentioned, I'll be the first in line to sign up.

GPS track on Strava: http://www.strava.com/activities/157753279

All photos courtesy of Joe Azze at Mountain Peak Fitness.

Racing the Sun - AMC Huts Traverse - 6/16/2012

Gain is the name of the game. With the Hardrock 100 only four short weeks away, my training is going well but needs to be capped off with a couple long days in the mountains with plenty of power hiking. Running around town on lunch break or spending all day zooming around Bear Brook State Park is all well and good, but there's no substitute for specific training. While I could just run repeats up and down Mount Madison, racking up elevation gain 4,000 feet at a time, actually traveling somewhere is much more fulfilling (and the reason I like to do this stuff in the first place). The Hut Traverse, running East-West across the White Mountains for about 50 miles and 17,000 feet of gain, fit the bill perfectly. You can read more about the route here, here and here. While the variation I chose is considered to be the slightly easier "minimal" route, I find that it's the much more aesthetic of the two and I don't feel the need to include Pinkham Notch Visitor Center as a hut. Seriously, why would I spend less time above treeline in exchange for Pinkham, which has powerlines and a parking lot? Sounds like a raw deal to me.

So with the route chosen, I decided to make things a little more interesting. On my previous traverse back in 2010, I started at 2 am (in the dark) and took almost 17 hours to finish. Around these parts in June, the day is about 15 hours long. Why not start at Carter Notch Hut at dawn and race the sun West to Lonesome Lake Hut, trying to finish before sundown? This would allow me to start later (and get more sleep) as well do all of my running on the rocky trails in the daylight. Perfect! With a favorable forecast and a suitably novel plan, my weekend was set.

After a restful night under the stars, I set off on the Nineteen Mile Brook Trail to Carter Notch at 2:35 am, being careful to hike at an easy pace and save energy. It's always kind of cool being in the woods at this time of day; things are very quiet and I have the trail to myself. The sky begins to lighten and I'm left wondering why the birds seem to sing the most at dawn; I don't really notice them as much during the day or in the evening. After reaching the hut I lingered around for a little while, listening to the mice scurry about while a couple Appalachian Trail thru-hikers snored on the floor. I had intended to start at 5, but by 4:30 it was light enough to see well, so I signed the guest book and quietly slipped out the door.

The run back down to Route 16 passed by in a brisk 40 minutes and I was soon jogging up the Great Gulf Trail. This time around I decided to take the Madison Gulf Trail, which is very steep and winds its way up a drainage filled with boulders as big as trucks, then over a few third-class scrambles to emerge above treeline in the col between Mounts Madison and Adams. I took a second to look back toward Carter Notch, where I started, just right of the sign:

I hit Madison Hut at 2:23:36 (1:43:44 from Route 16), signed in and topped off my water. Whatever was being served for breakfast smelled really good, but I needed to boogie onward.

The next stretch on the Northern Presidentials is my favorite part, so I stopped now and again for a few pictures. The view to the north from Thunderstorm Junction:

The Gulfside Trail stretches ahead from cairn to cairn to Mount Washington - my route will then follow the descending ridgeline to the right:

The Cog Railway leading away towards Washington's summit:

Adams and Madison framed by the trestle - what a gorgeous day to be out!

My next stop, Lakes of the Clouds Hut (reached at 4:11:42 elapsed, 1:48:06 from Madison), seen below Mount Monroe in the left side of the picture. My final destination for the day is beyond the high point (Mount Lafayette) on the horizon, with many peaks, ridges, and valleys to cross in between:

The Westside Trail is always a pleasure and makes for some mighty fine runnin'.

At 5:18:37 I reached Mitzpah Hut, back below treeline, in 1:06:55 from Lakes.

Dropping down into Crawford Notch, I could see that I was on a pretty good pace with 5:52:43 elapsed and 34:06 from Mitzpah. While this is roughly the halfway point by distance, it certainly isn't by time. There are several big climbs and many miles of tough trail left go and I think the second half of the Hut Traverse is the harder section.

My roadside stash of goodies  - a smorgasbord of tooth decay!

Just like last time, the steep climb over the Willey Range was a hands-on-knees struggle in the heat of the day. I'd developed a bit of a headache and a couple times was reduced to leaning against a tree while my head spun. Finally cresting over the top of the ridge by Mount Tom, I could switch back to a run down the A-Z Trail and over its rotting bog bridges. It looks like they're planning to replace these soon, as a pile of chopper-delivered lumber was waiting off to the side.

I reached Zealand Hut, with it's nicely framed porch-view, in 7:29:40 and 1:36:57 from Crawford Notch:

The Twinway is another tough section for me and it took 1:26:05 to reach the trail junction on Mount Guyot, in 8:55:45 total time. I stopped for a quick picture of Galehead Hut from South Twin Mountain's summit. I'll need to navigate the tortured ridgeline over Mounts Garfiled (center-right) and Lafayette (center-left):

I finally arrived at Galehead in 9:51:44 and 55:59 from Guyot, quite a bit slower than when I run this section on a Pemi Loop. It was mid afternoon by now, hot and humid, my still head hurt, and I was losing focus enough that fooling around with the camera felt like a good idea:

The view from on top of Mount Garfield, sizing up the route to Lafayette across Garfield Ridge, the trail I love to hate:

Only a steady stream of sugar, salt, and water kept me moving up the last big climb to the crowded summit of Lafayette. Luckily, there was a cool breeze and I started to feel a bit better. Looking back to the East, I'd come so far I couldn't see where I started. Mount Washington was now in the clouds on the horizon:

And looking ahead to the West, over Greenleaf Hut (12:41:27 elapsed, 2:49:43 from Galehead), to my final destination at Lonesome Lake:

I plummeted down the Old Bridle Path, navigating around scrambly ledges and the Levis-and-Reebok-crowd alike, forgetting to hit the split button on my watch as I crossed under the highway in Franconia Notch. By this time it was quite obvious that I'd have no trouble getting to the last hut before sundown, but if I kept pushing I should be able to come in under 14 hours. That seemed like a good goal to focus on, so I alternated between running and hiking on the last section of trail, with a final sprint to reach Lonesome Lake Hut in 1:11:49 from Greenleaf. My final time was 13:53:16, a new personal best by almost 3 hours!

The Lonesome Lake Hut croo was busy preparing dinner and generously offered me a hot heaping helping of turkey and vegetables with a half loaf of bread that I ate so fast I got an upset stomach from not chewing enough. I ended up getting so wrapped up in eating and thinking back on the day that I forgot to take a finishing picture, or any pictures since Lafayette for that matter. After walking back down to the highway, my wife picked me up and we were able to begin the long, tired process of retrieving my car and ammo box before the drive home.

So, I ended up getting exactly what I wanted out of the day. It's one hell of a feeling standing on an open summit and knowing that the horizon is within reach, and a fix I keep coming back for. Additionally, the run was a fun way to engage with the mountains that are a huge part of my life - as well as great preparation and a confidence booster for Hardrock. I'm not too sore and should be able to continue training hard for another week before tapering for the race.