Latest / Run Mountain Peaks / NH Spring Trail Running Playbook

Transcript

NH Spring Trail Running Playbook · Run Mountain Peaks

0:00
OK guys today I am going to give you my New Hampshire Spring
0:06
trail running playbook. I love the White Mountains.
0:11
The White Mountains are awesome. I'm working on my grid.
0:14
Wouldn't say I'm a gridder but I'm working on the grid.
0:17
But in the spring, when conditions in the whites get
0:19
crazy post holy melty icy dirt, the mixed bag, you got to bring
0:26
in an REI store with you to get up and down the mountains.
0:30
I, I, I, I swerve a little bit. I swerve, I, I stay South.
0:36
So over the last few years, I've explored a lot of different
0:40
areas. Some of them are, most of them
0:42
are in New Hampshire. Some of them are in neighboring
0:44
states. But I want to give you my
0:47
playbook. Late March, definitely into
0:50
April, early May, where am I going to get good trail running?
0:56
Because right now I don't ski. And maybe this is the problem.
1:00
A lot of people ski so they like the snow and they get out in it.
1:03
And honestly, I love winter trail running in the White
1:06
Mountains. When you get nice packed snowy
1:09
trails, like winter trailing is awesome.
1:11
But I am, I'm over the snow, I'm over the pavement, I'm over the
1:18
treadmill, the indoor bike. I want we and we all want this.
1:23
We want rocks, we want roots and we want dirt.
1:27
So I'm going to give you the best spots I know of in the
1:30
spring that I just love getting out at.
1:33
I'll kind of do it's going to be like maybe kind of like a
1:36
review. A lot of these are pretty
1:38
popular spots, but yeah, I'm just going to give you my
1:42
rundown on where I go the next two months.
1:44
The best places because around me getting there's some dirt and
1:49
I'm I want to run on dirt. So there's some great places and
1:53
and we'll go through all of them.
1:56
At the end of the episode, we're going to do some trail race
1:59
results. So we got some a couple results
2:02
from last weekend and a preview to next weekend's race.
2:05
Last weekend we had the uphill will 24 hour ski event, not a
2:10
backyard style, but as many laps as you can do in 24 hours.
2:13
So that was a a a good event. And then the fit Rock trail race
2:18
that happened last weekend. We'll go through those results
2:21
and then next weekend on on the ultra sign up, it says one of
2:26
the gnarliest, I forget gnarliest, toughest ultras in
2:32
the Northeast. So big talk, the sleeping giant
2:36
trail race. There's actually a ton of people
2:38
sign up for this race. It sounds like a good one.
2:41
So we previewed that. That is all at the end of the
2:44
episode. The new format is going to be
2:47
we'll always record in the truck.
2:48
We need to get outside and do this podcast.
2:50
But to have the results, the race information in front of me,
2:55
I'm probably going to start recording that just indoors.
2:58
But I think it'll be it'll, it'll let me do better previews
3:01
because the goal is this year is to preview and talk about at
3:04
least all of the New England ultra marathons and all the the
3:08
big mountain stuff. So there's there's.
3:11
A ton of races like May, June, July, August, when the trail
3:14
season kicks off, there's going to be a ton of races.
3:16
And so to do it in an organized fashion, if you want previews,
3:20
if you want reactions to all the races, it's always going to be
3:23
at the end of the episode. So skip ahead if you're looking
3:26
for that, but stay tuned because we got some gems of of of
3:32
absolute gems of the trail scene, trail locations,
3:37
mountains, lots of good mountains in here.
3:40
And I will say like, yeah, this is more, I guess mountain
3:43
running, like looking for vert locations because every every
3:47
town forest, every local trail system is going to be melted out
3:51
and like on the weekdays, easy runs.
3:52
Beautiful. Get out there.
3:54
We're not going to highlight any town force in this.
3:57
This is going to be basically mountain running mountains that
4:00
you can go to that are on dirt and rocks before the Whites have
4:03
melted out during the shoulder season.
4:06
Because there's 2 two reasons why I like to do it.
4:09
One, go to these spots. 1 is just because we we want to get
4:14
off the ice and it's back additions.
4:16
You got to bring a bunch of stuff is 1.
4:18
We want dirt, one. But two, if you're preparing for
4:23
an ultra marathon or a mountain effort like June, in June in the
4:28
Whites, it's the longest, it's the best time.
4:30
I mean, we haven't had a had good White Mountain trails in a
4:33
while. So this is like the first
4:34
opportunity to go after a big effort FKT whatever it may be in
4:39
June once it melts out and longest, longest days of the
4:43
year. If you got long projects in the
4:46
whites, it's a good time for it. But to prepare for those
4:50
efforts, if you're going to take them on in June, you got to be
4:53
running on a rock at least all of May.
4:56
That's what I always say, at least one month of like
4:59
technical steep, rocky stuff. And so you're going to have to
5:03
go to some of these spots if you want to be adequately prepared.
5:07
I don't think running on rocks, I think it's a little bit of a
5:10
skill that you can carry over the winter, but it takes a few
5:14
runs to get up to speed on running on those just technical
5:17
gnarly sections. Every, every, every spring.
5:21
It is a shocker. Like, Oh yeah, this is harder
5:24
than I remember. This is slower than I
5:25
remembered. So to get your your technical
5:29
feet under you before we tackle any big efforts in June, you're
5:33
going to want to hit some of these spots.
5:34
So OK, we got the 62nd training tip.
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We're going to make it 20 seconds today, super short.
5:39
And then we're going to get into this.
5:41
No further ado. Is that the saying?
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No further ado. The 22nd training tip today is.
5:46
You. Should at least own you don't
5:49
have to wear it every day but at least own a heart rate monitor.
5:52
And don't go buy your watches wrist heart rate.
5:56
It's just not accurate even though the new ones are getting
5:59
pretty good. Get a chest strap.
6:00
I use a chest strap or get an arm strap.
6:03
There's some good arm straps that you can get that are less
6:05
uncomfortable to wear. But you should be tracking heart
6:10
rate and at least be familiar with where your heart rate and
6:13
what your zones are on different runs.
6:16
You got to be, you got to know if you're easy run is actually
6:19
easy or if you're it's harder than normal.
6:22
It's a good thing to track get into the zones.
6:24
Like I wouldn't advocate just staring at your heart rate every
6:27
run, but at least knowing what actually your easy runs,
6:31
moderate runs, temper runs, workouts are and your heart rate
6:35
at those at those efforts is very important for training.
6:39
This turned into 60 seconds really fast, but I think it's
6:42
important. Get yourself an actual strap so
6:45
you know where you're running. And every every few months,
6:48
check in and make sure you're running in the right heart rate
6:50
zones. It's going to help you out.
6:52
Any questions, send me a message.
6:55
OK, we're jumping into the episode now.
6:58
Without further ado. Did I say that before?
7:00
Yeah, I think I said that before.
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Was that the thing? I don't know if I mix it up a
7:03
little bit. Without further ado, the New
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Hampshire Spring Trail Running Playbook.
7:11
So I'll I'll give this is going to be an honorable mention.
7:15
This is probably past due, but one little local spot and I
7:19
actually hesitate. I can't believe I'm leaving the
7:21
episode with this, but I'll I will do it.
7:23
I kind of hesitate to say this, but one really good local peak
7:27
in New Hampshire is Fort Mountain in Epsom.
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It's kind of a you pull up, you're like, is this the
7:34
trailhead? I don't know.
7:35
Is this private? I don't know.
7:37
You can't hike it. It's a mile grade.
7:40
It's about 6-7 hundred feet of climbing.
7:42
But the reason why Fort Mountain is so good in the winter trails
7:48
can vary in in conditions. It gets plowed.
7:52
OK, so it's plowed all winter. So if you always want like a
7:55
very good runnable solid terrain for mountain repeats, go to Fort
7:59
Mountain. And then because it's plowed all
8:01
winter, in the spring, as soon as you get some warm days, boom,
8:05
you're on dirt. So it is like the first mountain
8:08
in New Hampshire, maybe don't quote me on that.
8:11
That is all dirt in the spring. And so that's like honestly,
8:15
like late February, early March, you can even have just dirt.
8:19
I love Fort Mountain. Go to Fort Mountain.
8:20
It's a good spot. So that's kind of like the
8:22
honorable mention that probably would help you guys out a couple
8:25
weeks ago, but I just thought of the video for this week.
8:28
So so use it next year. And one thing about Fort Mount
8:34
that I will say I it's a great little spot.
8:37
I've been there dozens of times if not more.
8:40
I had one run in one time with a couple dogs that were mean and
8:45
they kind of wanted to bite you 2 I was running 1 morning and
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two dogs just came out of nowhere.
8:50
A German shepherd in a in a in a mean looking lab just came out
8:54
fired up running through the woods out of nowhere at me.
8:57
No, nobody with them and they, they came up and they were hairs
9:02
on their back barking at me 5 feet and I just stood there and
9:05
I was like, Oh my God, don't light me up.
9:08
They didn't, they didn't like, but end up biting or nipping at
9:10
me or anything. But they're kind of mean.
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So what kind of kind of spooky? I don't like when when you're
9:16
running and a dog doesn't know you're there and then sees you
9:19
running and you're on it quick, they freak out.
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So I, I don't like that. I don't like running into dogs
9:25
that are untrained or off leash or don't you know, you're in the
9:27
secluded area and they kind of go at you.
9:29
So it's not fun. So I've never seen them before.
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This is just a note, but one of my buddies who goes, there's a
9:35
lot, he has seen the dogs a couple times.
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And this winter I've seen and he's seen you pull up the Fort
9:42
Mountain, a little bit of fresh snow and in the morning 2 sets
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of tracks come, come, come down and sniff out the beginning of
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Fort Mountain. And then they go off back to
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where they live. I think there was a house
9:53
nearby. So Fort Mountain's awesome.
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If you go in the morning, beware of dogs.
10:00
If you have a dog, keep your dog on a leash.
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Beware of dogs because there's a couple mean dogs over there.
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I'm not going to, I don't know, maybe they're just vocal, but
10:08
they were kind of mean. So that's the first thing, Fort
10:12
Mountain. And to preface this, do I have
10:15
to cut this out? Man, I still kind of stink at
10:17
podcasting sometimes, but OK. That was the honorable mention.
10:21
Before we get into the fullest I'll say this.
10:23
I am thinking of like the New Hampshire Spring Trail running
10:27
playbook I would assume. A a lot.
10:31
Of the people who listen to the podcast are from New Hampshire,
10:33
Massachusetts, kind of central New England, and that's where
10:36
the majority of people live. Boston, obviously very dense,
10:40
the suburbs of Boston, Manchester, Southern New
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Hampshire is very populated. And so that is going to be kind
10:47
of like the central range of probably an hour to two hours.
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Any direction from there. So if you're in northern New
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Hampshire, if you're in northern Maine, I kind of apologize.
10:57
You're probably not going to be able to get to these spots, but
11:00
some of them are probably accessible to most people in
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central New England. Without further ado, the first
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location we're going to go to Mass, Massachusetts location
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spots, the first being the Middlesex Fells reservation.
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I mean, this could be snow free all of winter just because it's
11:19
near Boston, depending on the snow this year, the snow in the
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winter, it's usually snow free very early.
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You get a couple warm days. There's usually no snow and the
11:30
Middlesex Fells, it's it's super popular.
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It this might be one of the most hiked spots in the world, right,
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Because Boston's so dense. Is that is that a thing 'cause
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Mananoc is one of the most hiked spots.
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Is this the most visited trail section?
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I don't know. Every time I go there's a
11:44
billion people. But the Skyline Loop in the
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fells, it's 7.5 miles, 1300 feet.
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They do the Tark races. They're they're the Winterfells
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race. A lot of people probably know of
11:57
it. That is a very, very good trail
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system to run on for vert. I mean, 1300 feet, it's not the,
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it's not the the most amount of vert, but for Boston, right
12:10
outside of Boston, that's beautiful for seven miles.
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You do it twice, you get almost 3000 feet of gain.
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And that thing is pretty technical.
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I remember the first time I went to the fells, I have been doing
12:22
a lot of stuff in the whites and I was like, oh, the fells should
12:24
be easy. You know, this is Boston, this
12:26
is easy trails. I'm going to be flying around
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out there. And I was like, oh man, this is
12:31
pretty Rocky, pretty technical. It is not your your classic town
12:37
forest, local trails like that loop.
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The Skyline Loop in particular is very has some very steep
12:43
sections, some short climbs, some short distance, but lots of
12:46
rocks. And so that's a good place to
12:48
get your feet comfortable on rocks.
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You're going to get some faster miles there.
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It's which is probably good after a winter of doing a lot of
12:55
who knows what you've been doing.
12:57
Turn the legs over a little bit. Go to the Middlesex Fells.
13:00
It's a great spot. I usually go from the north, the
13:03
North End, but there's like I think there's a bunch of
13:05
segments on where you can go from.
13:07
If you park at the north section of the Fells, it is not that
13:11
far. Like I drive to the Whites,
13:12
hour, 15 hour and a half. It's kind of like the shortest
13:15
drive. When I go to the fells, it's
13:16
like 45 minutes. It's pretty close because
13:19
there's so many highways on the weekend.
13:21
You got to hope there's not much traffic, but it's a great spot
13:23
to go to. Shout out to the Fells.
13:25
It's very popular. Like I said, a billion people.
13:28
I counted once, it was a billion.
13:29
Check me on it. Lots of people every time I go
13:34
there it feels like there's some sort of class trip or just a
13:38
million like of similar people. I, I don't know, it's so insane
13:42
how many people go there. Obviously it's outside of
13:44
Boston, so I wouldn't say it's the quietest area.
13:47
I'm sure regular fell goers know of like the better trails
13:53
because the trail system is just insane.
13:55
Like you could probably do like 200 miles there without touching
13:57
the same trail. Now it's a joke, but but there's
14:00
a ton of trails that weave him and meander.
14:03
So there's probably some quieter trails, but in general, there's
14:07
going to be a lot of people there, a lot of dogs again,
14:09
talking about dogs, There's some mean dogs out there.
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I've had some encounters of mean dogs in the skit fells because
14:14
when you're there, it's kind of like it's like when you walk in
14:17
New York City, Everyone there is so used to so many people that
14:20
they just ignore you. Like I think I like a trail
14:23
system where you don't see a lot of people, but everyone you see
14:27
you're saying hi to because it's, you know, kind of
14:29
friendly. It's good you don't, you know,
14:30
but when there's so many people you can't say hi to everybody.
14:33
It's that's a lot. But the fellow's a good spot to
14:37
get that first. Bit of dirt.
14:40
Next up the other Massachusetts location we're going to say is
14:42
Wachusett. I mean very popular.
14:45
It's very popular in the winter skiing.
14:47
I've only been there a couple times, but you can get 1000 foot
14:51
climb in and only a couple miles up Wachusett.
14:55
It's on the Mid States Trail. So it's very it's very well
14:58
maintained and Wachusett, the skiers and everyone goes there
15:01
so much. I'm sure all the other trails
15:03
are maintained too. Very popular but it's a good
15:06
option. I think they have an auto Rd.
15:09
I'm pretty sure they have an auto Rd.
15:10
I don't know if it's paved or if it's dirt, but they have a road
15:13
for faster miles. You can get some run more
15:15
runnable stuff in. What you say is a great option.
15:19
That is probably like central masses Perfect mountain for
15:26
repeats. And I'm sure lots of people go
15:27
out there and do repeats. So if you're going to Mass, if
15:31
it's very early in March, the 1st 2 plays are going to be the
15:34
Fells and Wachusett. You're going South.
15:37
And I always think like I just like going north and I'm not as
15:41
much of A city person. So sometimes I'm like, I don't
15:43
know if I want to go South. It's a shorter drive than if
15:46
you're going north. It's it is great trail running
15:48
down there. So don't don't knock it.
15:51
Go go South if you want that first dirt.
15:54
Those are the Massachusetts plays for the trail running
15:58
scene. Get some Verdant.
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OK, now we're going to move up to to New Hampshire.
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We're going to go to Southern New Hampshire.
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So obviously you do one or two weekends in Mass.
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By the time that those, you know, you do a couple weekends,
16:11
a couple weeks go by, you're going to migrate up a little bit
16:14
because the stuff is melted and now Southern New Hampshire is
16:17
all melted out. So we're going to go over some
16:18
of the best locations in Southern New Hampshire to get on
16:21
dirt, to get on mountain terrain.
16:25
The Unkanunix, I mean home turf, love the Unkanunix.
16:29
That's where I go. I mean, all times of the year,
16:31
but especially in the spring when they first melt out.
16:34
The Unkanunix are beautiful. You got White dot, which is off
16:37
of Mountain Rd. It's a little bit over a half
16:40
mile and you get 750 feet of climbing.
16:43
It's like 21% grade. It's technical, it's rocky, it
16:48
is good vert. That trail is amazing.
16:51
I don't know how many repeats I've done there, I've done a
16:53
bunch of them, but that trails amazing.
16:56
The white dot at the Uncanunics is awesome for vert and and
16:59
rocky stuff. If you prepper something in the
17:01
Whites that's as good of a trail as you got around that
17:04
Manchester area white dot, you can go Crescent Lane.
17:07
You go South Uncanunic and do the Crescent Lane climb.
17:11
That's more of loose gravel. It it was like an old railroad
17:14
better or something. I'm pretty sure I don't even
17:16
know if railroad can a railroad. I don't know what it is.
17:19
It's an old at least Rd. of some sort.
17:22
So it's kind of gravely. It's not as rocky.
17:25
It's a little steeper. It's more monotonous, I guess
17:29
than than white dot, but it's still good vert about the same
17:33
stats. So those are two very, very good
17:36
options if you want to get out in the Unkanunix and all the
17:40
other trails are awesome too. Like the Yonkanunix is a spot
17:43
where you can you got runnable, you have steep hikey, you have
17:47
rocky technical, non-technical off the beaten path, on the beat
17:52
beaten path. You want to see people.
17:55
There's lots of parking. You can park in the middle of
17:57
the two on Mountain Rd. You can park at white dot.
17:59
You can park at the South on Kanuna climb.
18:01
The Yonkanunix have the auto Rd. So they have I talked about it
18:06
last episode. That's the road that I ran that
18:08
had a lot of action in early May.
18:10
But the Auto Rd. is a mile climb, 500 feet of a a mile.
18:15
Yeah, it's a mile long, 500 feet of climbing.
18:17
So it's a great spot to go to to start getting that runnable
18:21
Verdin and and yeah, I mean, love the Yonkanoos.
18:24
Can't shout the Yonkanoos out. I'm enough.
18:27
Go to Yonkanoos. Give it a try.
18:29
In the same general region, same general time frame, we're going
18:33
to go to Pawtukaway State Park. If you haven't been to
18:37
Pawtukaway, Pawtukaway is a great place.
18:41
This is less vert like. I would say it's less vert
18:44
punchy than the Unkanunix, but you still get a good amount of
18:49
vert. So there's a loop that I do.
18:51
If you do the loop where you hit all three mountains, it's like
18:53
the north, middle and South and South has a fire tower.
18:57
You hit all the peaks and you do kind of like a big loop with a
19:00
little twist. When you hit the middle
19:01
mountain, you get 9 to 10 miles, 2000 feet of climbing.
19:05
And again, it's pretty rocky. It's pretty Rudy like the the
19:11
North Ridge, very technical. There are some sections where
19:14
it's like if you go in the fall, you get to watch out 'cause
19:16
there's leaves. There were rocks everywhere.
19:18
The up to the fire tower is fairly technical.
19:21
Middle Mountain is less technical but more runnable.
19:24
Kind of like easy grassy terrain, rolling hills terrain.
19:29
It's it's it's, it's incredible. It's a good spot.
19:32
It's very quiet. Every time I go there, I'm
19:35
extremely pleased. So if you're looking for a more
19:38
runnable spot where you can get like running vert in as opposed
19:41
to hiking vert, Pawtuckaway is a great option.
19:44
Do that full route. The fire tower.
19:46
Also, we'll talk a little bit of the fire tower.
19:50
It has, it's pretty cool. I don't know how many fire
19:52
towers have this, but it has a map.
19:55
I've heard if it's like on the top or on each of the sides
19:58
where it shows you what mountain peaks you can see from all
20:01
around the fire tower and there's a ton of them.
20:04
There's always more peaks to see.
20:06
So you got good views, you got good information.
20:10
It's a good spot to go again. I had a dog encounter there.
20:13
I mean, I, I don't want to make this like just you run into dogs
20:16
everywhere, but I feel like in the southern trails it's just
20:20
more. I don't know why, maybe more
20:23
walkers out more near populated areas so more people have dogs.
20:26
I don't know. No, the two dogs lived at the
20:28
barn that I went by. But there's one kind of like old
20:31
Logging Rd. that was running up in this big white puffy dog.
20:35
What do they call those dogs? I forget exactly what they call
20:38
those dogs, but this big white puffy dog came running at me and
20:42
he had a German. Shepherd as a.
20:43
Friend and that one, I actually, I remember they, they wanted to
20:47
nip me and I think I I think I stood behind a tree because
20:51
they're like coming at me. Oh, man.
20:53
Yeah, they were. Yeah, they were, they were.
20:56
They kept following me. Oh, man, I don't know.
20:57
I just, I don't mess with dogs like untrained dogs off leash.
21:01
I don't, I don't like them. Let me run.
21:03
Let me run. But OK, that was Pawtuckaway.
21:09
The resolution, the fire lap. Yeah, I think we hit all the the
21:12
big ones of Pawtuckaway. It's a good little spot that's
21:15
in. It's in What town is that in?
21:18
I don't know if it's off one O 1, if you're going down one O 1
21:21
between the coast, Portsmouth and Manchester.
21:23
And then one thing, I actually have never been here.
21:27
Oh, what is it? Tuckaway Tavern.
21:29
Tuckaway Tavern. I love a good burger.
21:32
I haven't had a good burger in a while.
21:34
I love a good burger and apparently they have some of the
21:37
best burgers. Guy Fietti went there.
21:39
That's how I know the guy. Fiat Diners drive in the Dives.
21:43
So it's got to be good. So if you're in the area and you
21:45
did a really long run, maybe you did a hard effort, go stop and
21:49
get a burger. I don't want to put bad thoughts
21:51
in your brain, but go stop and get a burger.
21:53
But Pawtuckaway is a great spot to go.
21:56
And then the last, the last of the three of these 3 Southern
22:02
New Hampshire, not super big, kind of more runnable stuff is
22:07
going to be the Wah pack range. A lot of people are already
22:11
getting out of the wah pack range anyway.
22:13
So if you're doing wah pack and back one of those races, the one
22:17
way or the out and back or the 50 Miller that race by Tark in
22:20
the in May very popular, you're probably training on the Wah
22:23
pack. But the Wah pack is a great
22:26
spot. I haven't been there a ton.
22:28
I've been there a handful of time a couple times.
22:30
I should say, no, not a handful. Only between the northern
22:33
terminus and Pacman ADNOC. That section, either going from
22:37
the northern terminus or from Pacman ADNOC, that section is
22:41
very punchy and very good. It kind of reminds me of the
22:44
Unkanunix, but instead of having to do repeats, you can just run
22:49
the range. The climbs aren't huge.
22:52
The climbs are not very big. I don't think they even Max out
22:55
of 1000 feet, so less than that. But they're pretty punchy.
22:59
So you get a little bit of steep stuff.
23:00
You get some running on slabs, which is super nice.
23:03
Like that's going to prep you for mountain stuff, rocky
23:06
technical. It's probably, I would say a
23:08
little bit more rocky and a little bit more technical than
23:10
the Unkanunix. So if you're reing for White
23:14
Mountain stuff and you want to get some more rock rocky stuff,
23:17
go there and it's very quiet. I would assume PAC Mananoc is is
23:23
pretty busy. Like the the parking there is
23:24
pretty big and a lot of people go there.
23:26
But if you go on the other sections of the Wapak range,
23:31
like I think with Tadek and PAC Mananoc are probably the
23:33
biggest, most popular mountains on that range.
23:35
But if you go to the other sections of it, it's punchy.
23:39
It's more quiet. It kind of has that White
23:41
Mountains feel of kind of mossy up top.
23:45
You got the Evergreens. It's a good time.
23:47
It's a very good time, and it's a little bit more quiet.
23:51
That is another go to spot in Southern New Hampshire.
23:55
So I would say late March, early April, early April, though,
23:59
that's where I'm staying in that range right there.
24:01
Southern New Hampshire. We're going to try Pawtuckaway
24:04
for a weekend. We're going to go to the Wapak
24:05
and we're to the Uncanoonix. And if you're just doing weekend
24:09
trips, excursions that pass a couple weeks, snow's melted, you
24:12
get to go next level up. So that is level 2 of the
24:16
playbook. I should have, I should have
24:17
said there's levels to this playbook.
24:19
I'm still not good at podcasting, but I'm trying to
24:22
get better. Third, I think it's maybe I just
24:25
don't have my brain just kind of rapid fires in different
24:28
directions. So I kind of jump in.
24:29
I'm like, oh, I should have set this up better, but it's OK next
24:33
level. So after you do that, by this
24:37
time and, and again, this is, I actually went there yesterday.
24:41
So we'll do a trip report the trail conditions at the, we'll
24:45
do the trail conditions as I speak about it.
24:47
But this is definitely a late April, early May kind of spot.
24:53
Mount Monadnock, the most popular, the most hiked mountain
24:58
in the US, one of the most hiked mountains in the world.
25:02
Everyone knows Mananok. It just rises up out of nowhere.
25:05
I always think the view from Mananok is crazy.
25:08
Usually when you're on these mountains and you're looking at
25:10
other mountains, you can see other mountains, you can see
25:13
other ranges. Mananok, you get up and it's
25:16
just flat all the way around it. It's like a tectonic plate just
25:20
came up with a big uppercut. Boom, Mount Mananok.
25:23
Done. I don't know.
25:25
I don't know how to happen, but Mount Mananok, pretty epic, good
25:30
views up there. That was one of my first hikes.
25:32
Should I do a first hike story? Yeah, I'll do a first hike
25:34
story. Me and a couple buddies go up
25:36
there for sunrise. I this might have been my second
25:39
hike. My first hike was Mananoc and I
25:41
remember asking my buddy, I was like, what do you see it?
25:42
Like what does it look like up there?
25:44
This is in high school, so I didn't hike before this.
25:46
And I was like, you can just see far.
25:48
I was like, hey, you just see far.
25:49
I'm like wow, that is so cool. So get up there and do that
25:52
hike. And then we're like, wow, guys,
25:54
we should do a sunrise hike on Monanoc.
25:57
So we plan to do a sunrise hike on Monanoc.
25:59
We sleep in the car for a little bit one night and we fly up
26:02
white dot. OK.
26:03
We're we're like, I don't know. We all played sports in high
26:05
school. We were fairly fit, but not like
26:07
running fit. But we boot up Matt Mount
26:10
Monanoc, maybe 45 minutes. We did not time it good.
26:14
We get up to the top of Monanoc and it's cold.
26:18
There's no sign of the sun. It's dark and we're freezing.
26:22
We don't even have sweatshirts. I remember we must have had long
26:25
sleeves maybe, but I remember in one of our packs and it must
26:29
have been like what it's one of these days where it's probably,
26:32
you know, below freezing wind chill in the middle of summer.
26:35
So we get up there and I remember there is this big, if
26:38
you if you go to Mananac a lot, a lot.
26:40
There's the summit nail or whatever you call it, the survey
26:44
mark or the survey, whatever. You, you pretty much if you jump
26:49
down from that, there's a big rock and it's kind of like a
26:50
wall where it's kind of a 90° right angle wall.
26:55
And all of us were huddled in that wall because the wind was
26:59
coming a certain direction and we're huddled 123 together.
27:03
I mean really trying to keep warm with each.
27:05
Other because you still want to see sunrise.
27:06
We could have just ran out of there.
27:07
It's not like. But we're huddled in there and I
27:11
remember that there was a rotation, so the inside person
27:13
was pretty comfortable. It was they didn't have any wind
27:16
and they got a little bit of body worth.
27:17
The second person was comfortable, a little less
27:20
comfortable, but they're in between two people.
27:22
The third person was freezing, so we had to cycle every few
27:26
minutes. The inside person had to go to
27:28
the outside. The outside person shifted, but
27:31
the outside person, we had one extra long sleeve shirt.
27:34
So the outside person put their long sleeve shirt over the
27:38
knees. So that was their one kind of
27:41
protection. Then you got to buddy up.
27:43
We ended up getting some cool pictures from that hike and I, I
27:46
remember it was fun. It probably wasn't like it
27:48
wasn't scary cold, but it was very cold.
27:50
And I remember we had to do that rotation up on Mount Monadnock
27:54
because it's a big mountain. Mount Monadnock is legit.
27:58
And so Speaking of the climb. So I think it's a little under 2
28:03
miles, 1.75 miles up white dot. You get seventeen, 1800 feet of
28:08
climbing. There's 4 main trails, you get
28:11
the white dot, you got white arrow, Marlboro, and Pompelli.
28:17
If you go to white dot that's the most popular trail.
28:20
It is shocking how popular that is.
28:22
I went yesterday on a Friday and there's a ton of people out.
28:25
I mean I'm assume most people know it's pretty.
28:27
It's pretty icy there with the conditions weren't great, but
28:30
there is still a ton of people there, which is crazy.
28:33
But anyway, you go to White dot, you're going to have to pay and
28:37
you're going to have a lot of people there.
28:39
So those are just kind of the the caveats.
28:41
But the White dot Trail is one of the steepest, most technical
28:47
trails outside of the Whites maybe anywhere.
28:51
Like every time I go to the White dot and some of the other
28:54
trails that we'll talk about, the technicality and the
28:57
steepness of the trail is is shocking how good it is and how
29:02
much it replicates the White Mountains.
29:04
Like it, it's even more technical than some of these
29:06
White Mountain trails. So it is an awesome spot to go.
29:11
No wonder why these Manana guys are so fast.
29:16
There is a crew of Manana guys and girls.
29:18
I mean, I'm just saying generally Monadnock crushers,
29:22
they all RIP. They can RIP if you, if you can
29:25
RIP it Monadnock you can RIP anywhere.
29:28
So I feel like Monadnock just breeds crazy good mountain
29:31
runners. But yeah, it's it's, it is not
29:35
shocking that you can get almost as good as anything you can get
29:39
in the whites. You don't have as long of a
29:41
climb. But the rocky technical is right
29:44
there. The white arrow is a little bit
29:46
less of a grade. The top is a little steeper.
29:48
It's a little technical up there, but I wouldn't say the
29:50
lower portion. It's kind of lower grade.
29:52
So it's not as technical, but it's still very rocky.
29:55
This is this is a step up over the Wapak on Canoe's Padakaway.
29:59
No doubt the Marlboro Trail is very steep and technical.
30:04
Again, I go over there and I'm like, wow, this trail is pretty
30:07
good. This is punchy over here.
30:10
I'm shocked because I'm like, I'm going to go to Mananac for
30:12
the day. Mananac for the day is not.
30:15
Mananac is legit and then pump Ellie is a longer, lower grade,
30:19
a longer approach. So if you want more runnable
30:22
stuff, you're trying to get a, you know, something runnable in,
30:24
but you got slabs, you got some good technicality in there.
30:28
It is good. I think pump Ellie and Marlboro,
30:31
you don't have to pay if you go to those trailheads.
30:33
I think white arrow, you don't have to pay longer than you
30:36
don't have to pay a white dot, but you eventually have to pay.
30:40
All good options. Mananok is awesome when I'm
30:44
training for an ultra in the Whites in June, see me at
30:48
Mananok in May that this Mananok is the best place to go to
30:53
replicate the White Mountains. Maybe in New England.
30:56
Like I'm, I'm serious. It is that good.
30:59
Like I said, you don't get the full, full climbs.
31:01
It's a little bit less of a climb, but it's not like you're
31:03
doing, you know, you're not doing a bunch of repeats like
31:05
the unconnected 607 hundred foot climbs, 1700 feet in a climb.
31:09
That's pretty good. You do two of those and that's
31:11
climbing up a big do the biggest mountains.
31:14
So Mananac is awesome. I mean, I just don't have as
31:17
much many I don't have. There's not enough things I
31:23
could say good about Manadoc is that there is a saying that I'm
31:28
trying to say, but I just couldn't say it.
31:31
So that was the Mananac and the trail conditions.
31:34
Oh, we'll do a quick trail report on the trail conditions
31:37
at Mananac. So I went yesterday, Friday, and
31:41
I was maybe just a little ambitious like this warm up, I
31:44
think just got everyone a little bit ambitious because it's
31:47
cooled right back down. I should have just went to the
31:50
whites. It it turned out the whites
31:52
truck conditions were actually pretty good.
31:54
I just didn't want all the post holes in the ice covered up by
31:56
that couple inches of snow they got.
31:58
But it they turned out pretty good.
32:00
But anywho, Mananac, I would say like 1/4 of the trail is still
32:05
ice. And it's not like it's not like
32:09
a monorail. It's like it's like ice for most
32:12
of it. I wore studded trail runners and
32:15
and it was enough. I definitely kind of had to
32:18
balance it, kind of make my way a handful of areas.
32:21
In some areas I just kind of had to run slowly on the ice.
32:25
But but yeah, still fairly good and still good to get out on the
32:30
rocks. My my thought process for going
32:32
to Mananaca and said the whites was I'd rather see the ice then
32:36
not see the ice slash post holes with the the couple inches of
32:40
snow. So that's why I went there and I
32:42
had to get had a good day. It was beautiful weather out
32:44
there. Yeah, but it's going to take, I
32:48
mean, it's going to be icy for a couple more weeks there.
32:50
Like yeah, I would, I would April probably until that trails
32:53
clear of ice. There's some big ice still and I
32:56
don't think it's going to get super warm.
32:57
That's a problem. It's melting a little bit, but
32:59
it's not melting enough. The next.
33:01
Two weeks are still pretty cold. So, but I'll definitely be going
33:05
back to Mananoc in the next couple months.
33:08
OK, we graduated from Southern New Hampshire.
33:12
Now we're going north. We go north with the weather,
33:16
with the snow, we're going north.
33:18
So the next spot that I want to highlight on the list of the
33:20
next game plan. So you get the southern southern
33:22
whites, you go, you go to Mananac a couple times.
33:26
Now the southern kind of area of the whites, the lakes region is
33:30
getting melted out. The first spot I'm going the
33:33
Ossipes Great mountains. Two of the mountains are on 52
33:37
with a view. So it's not these are these are
33:40
no secret mountains, but the Ossipee range is amazing.
33:45
I it's different than the white. So it's not steep and rocky.
33:49
It's not very technical, but it's low grade.
33:52
A lot of kind of snowmobile esque trails.
33:56
Just dirty rocky. No, not rocky, dirty grassy is
34:01
what I was trying to say. Not technical, but once in a
34:05
while that's awesome to run on. So I I love getting out there
34:08
like a once a spring is perfect. I think it melts out quicker
34:12
than the bell knaps, which is the next one I'm going to talk
34:15
about because I it's all most of the trails are S facing at least
34:19
the mountains and it's more hardwoods, so there's more sun
34:24
getting to the trail. So the ossipees usually melts
34:26
out before the bell knaps. That's why I go there.
34:28
First you have Mount Roberts and Mount Shaw.
34:31
These are both on the 52 with the view.
34:33
Mount Roberts is 2600 feet and Mount Shaw is 20/29/90, so
34:39
almost 3000. So if you go to Mount Robins,
34:43
you can park a castle in the clouds.
34:45
If you go up towards Mount Shaw, you could just drive further
34:48
down the road. There's a little parking area
34:50
with not a ton of parking, but it's still good.
34:52
And you can put together a 50K here with lots of vert runnable
34:58
vert in without touching this a a single trail twice.
35:03
It's a it's a big range. It's lots of that 10 to 15%
35:07
switch back E dirt and and I love running there.
35:11
There there's beautiful views out to the lake.
35:14
I, I always say this, but I love a view that's kind of in your
35:16
face. I don't like seeing a mountain
35:18
way off. I like a view in your face.
35:19
The lake is right in your face. You can see the Belknap
35:22
mountains. You can see up into the whites.
35:26
It's a great spot. It's a good spot to go.
35:29
It's a good mix up. Again, these are all kind of
35:31
like trying to get more runnable stuff in.
35:33
I wouldn't say these are super like it's not like a Monadnock.
35:36
It's kind of more like the Unkanunix very runnable stuff,
35:39
but it's good and and it's it's not super popular.
35:43
Like I'm sure the 52 with the views are pretty popular, but
35:47
the rest of the trails, if you go up Mount Roberts and then you
35:49
go off the backside, you're it's very quiet.
35:52
You only see a few people back there, which is awesome.
35:55
So the Ossapeas is where I'm going next.
35:59
And then with the Ossapeas kind of, you know, looped into the
36:04
same loop, put in the same bag here, I'm having a bad talkie
36:06
day. The bell knaps.
36:09
So this is a another one in the lakes region.
36:12
It's similar. You can get similar gain.
36:15
So I think the climbs are about the same vertical gain as the
36:19
Ossipees, but they're steeper. The Bellnaps are good.
36:24
I love the Bellnaps. The Bellnaps competes with the
36:27
Whites in terms of like some of my favorite trails.
36:31
I probably like them more than the Ossipees.
36:33
I probably like them more than Monadnock just because there's
36:36
more kind of range there. But the Bellnaps are awesome.
36:41
None of them are on 52 with a view right be I think.
36:45
I think they're not tall enough. Like all the mountains are
36:47
between two and two 22,000 and 2500 feet.
36:51
So gun stock, bell neck, Piper, sweat mount major, they're all
36:57
between, you know, just lower. So so they don't get as I don't
37:00
know, I guess they don't make the 52 with the view list, but
37:03
you get awesome views there. It's steep.
37:06
You have a mix of everything. I think the bell naps are like
37:09
the Uncanoonix on steroids. You get that like mossy
37:14
Evergreen top of a 4000 footer feel in the bell knaps.
37:18
But then you can also get runnable stuff.
37:20
You can get slabs like you have Monadnock.
37:23
You can get steep stuff. You can get some automobile,
37:25
road or roadie things, snowmobile trail.
37:29
You get some in between major and the the other big mountains.
37:33
You get some remote trails, some flatter stuff, some runnable
37:36
stuff. You have mount Major which is
37:38
like popular kind of like a Mount Monadnock.
37:40
It's a good steep trail with lots of technical.
37:43
The bellnaps are awesome and they're lesser known.
37:47
Everyone just drives past the bellnaps.
37:50
They're doing lists, they're doing whites and the bell knaps
37:52
are as close to as good as you can get for mountain running.
37:55
So every time I go there, that's probably one of my favorite non
37:58
White Mountains places to run. It's just awesome. 1500 feet in
38:02
a climb straight up, straight down.
38:04
You can do the chicken foot, you can go to gun stock and you can
38:07
run down the the the dirt Rd. there If you want to get faster
38:10
vert, good vert there on dirt. It's great they melt out a
38:14
little bit later than the Ossipees just because it is kind
38:17
of greener and you know, some of the big trails are not S facing,
38:22
which gets, you know, just sun a little bit later.
38:26
It's just more shady. I think it is.
38:28
It's steeper. So you don't want to get there
38:29
too early 'cause if you get in the bell mouse with lots of ice,
38:32
it's like you're in the ice the the whites with lots of ice.
38:35
But the Bellnaps are good. That's one where if you don't
38:39
care as much about no, I would say the Bellnaps.
38:43
That's going to prep you for White Mountain efforts.
38:45
Monanox definitely more technical.
38:48
So if you want that just pure, I'm just trying to run on rocks,
38:51
get prepped for the the summer, go to the Monanox.
38:54
But if you want kind of quieter, different range of trails, go to
39:00
the Bellnaps. Guys, the Bellnaps is amazing.
39:03
I mean I like all these spots but but the bellnaps really is a
39:07
gem. You got to check about if you
39:08
haven't done a bunch of time in the bellnaps, do a bunch of time
39:11
in the Bellnaps and that is that is the pre White Mountains
39:17
level. So what was that level you got?
39:19
Level 1 Massachusetts, level 2 Southern New Hampshire low low
39:24
peaks. Level 3 is Monadnock is solely
39:28
just Level 3 go to Monadnock. Level 4 is the Ossipees and
39:31
Bellnaps. Level 5 the White Mountains but
39:36
not the 4000 footers like the first thing in the whites.
39:39
You can run the moats. The moats is usually my first
39:44
White Mountains run back. S Moat is South facing.
39:47
It's mostly hardwoods. It melts out first.
39:50
It's I think 3 or 3500 feet. So it's on a 4000 footer but
39:53
pretty good. It's fairly popular, but it's
39:57
really good and if you do an out and back on the moats you get 10
40:00
miles, 4000 feet of gain. What, what more could you ask
40:04
for from a mountain run 10 miles, 10,000 feet of gain the
40:09
most of the best. I mean, that's like one of the
40:11
the best early White Mountains places to go.
40:13
And I always go there like usually that I feel like usually
40:16
I'll run at the, the, the, the moats and then after I go and
40:20
check out White Lake Sultra. So this is like an early May,
40:25
you know, an early May kind of spot.
40:27
Sometime in May, we'll go to the most.
40:29
I've been the most 2 weekends in a row, maybe even 3.
40:31
No, probably not 3, but I've been two weekends in a row.
40:34
It's that good. It's White Mountains.
40:36
I mean, in between South MO Minimo N mode is just you're
40:40
like I remembered mountain running is is the best.
40:43
This is this is awesome and it is tough.
40:45
It is steep and slow going. It's not it's definitely if you
40:48
haven't been on that stuff in a while, you're you remember.
40:51
Oh, this is hard to run on. So that's a good one.
40:55
And then we'll do two other level 5 White Mountain shout
40:58
outs. Table Mountain.
41:01
I have, I don't even know if I've actually been there in May,
41:05
so this is like fake news, but Table Mountain is one of my best
41:09
views in the favorite views in the whites.
41:11
I think it's on 52 with the view.
41:13
It's 2600 feet, so I'm assuming it's pretty.
41:16
I don't know. I would just assume that it's
41:18
pretty melted out at you know, one of the first ones melted
41:21
out. It's off of bare notch Rd. and
41:24
it's just a gem. And it's you could do if you're
41:26
if this is like all the jigger Johnson course, but you could do
41:30
the motes to big ad attached to table, do a traverse with a
41:33
buddy or do an out and back. If you're crazy and looking for
41:35
like a Pemi Loop esque 30 mile banger right from from the get
41:39
go in the trail season, go to Table Mountain.
41:43
And then the last one, Mount Shakora Southern, it's it's just
41:48
like a 4000 footer. It's classic White Mountains.
41:52
It melts out fairly quickly first like I've been up there,
41:54
which is small patches of snow in May.
41:57
Yeah, definitely. I think it May.
41:59
It's a good spot to go to Mount Shakora.
42:03
And once you've run at the moats in Mount Shakora, we know for a
42:06
couple weekends, it's almost June and the rest of the whites
42:09
are melted out and you have free rain in the White Mountain
42:13
Natural Forest. So that that is pretty much my
42:17
playbook of where I go in the spring seasons.
42:21
If you were to, I kind of do the same playbook in the fall.
42:25
I don't hopefully I shouldn't like repeat this.
42:27
If I really need some podcast ideas in the fall, maybe I
42:30
repeat this, but in the fall, the, the, the, the playbook
42:34
would just be this reversed, you know, during the shoulder
42:37
season. It's like, you know, November
42:40
you start getting to Ossibis Bellnaps, maybe December you're
42:44
more at the Southern New Hampshire on canoes, Manana,
42:46
maybe not even Manana because too long.
42:48
And then and then you get to and then once December you get some
42:51
good sound of the whites. You don't even probably have to
42:54
go to mass. The the the fall playbook is no
42:57
mass. The snow is already up north.
42:59
You go back up north and then it's winter trail running
43:01
season. But those are some of the gems
43:05
that I like to go to outside of the White Mountains.
43:09
I'm working on the grid, but I'm not a gridder.
43:11
I know I, I think some people definitely who listen to this
43:14
are probably hardcore list people are grid people.
43:16
So they're not going to get to enjoy this probably as much as
43:19
others. But I'm telling you, I urge you
43:21
get out on on the in these areas.
43:25
It's just a good I I don't know, I like going up to the White
43:28
Mountains. There's so many different trails
43:29
up there, but it's just good to check out different areas once
43:32
in a while when conditions aren't as good up north.
43:35
Like I just think if you pick days where conditions aren't
43:40
good, good up north and go to other areas on those weekends,
43:43
my trail running satisfaction is just off the charts, you know
43:47
what I mean? So Pikachu's up north in the
43:50
shoulder season. Go on New Hampshire trail
43:53
conditions.com. It's awesome.
43:54
I mean, people post there. I've been posting there this
43:59
winter and I'll just keep posting, posting there giving
44:01
people trail conditions. But look at the trail reports
44:04
and if if the conditions are good this spring, check out some
44:07
of these spots. Maybe you run into me, I'm going
44:10
to be there. This is like, I'm so excited.
44:12
The next month is the opportunities are endless.
44:16
Trail season is here. It's getting warmer.
44:19
We're running on dirt and rocks. It is just, I mean, it can't be
44:23
beat. So the other thing is don't
44:25
blink. Do not blink.
44:26
Folks. If you were listening to this,
44:28
don't blink because it's going to go by quick.
44:31
All winter I've been thinking of all I just want to grab my
44:34
shorts and my shoes and go for a run.
44:36
It is here. It is almost here.
44:39
We're going to be running on dirt.
44:40
The weather's getting better. The trails are opening up,
44:43
training blocks are coming together.
44:45
Races are getting here. You know, race plans are being
44:49
are being executed on. It's a great time.
44:53
And one PSA to everybody. This is like kind of like more
44:57
going at me too because I was it last year, the year before I did
45:00
this. No, I think it was last year.
45:03
If you have your snow brush or a small shovel or what's a little
45:09
scraper, an ice scraper, I don't know what is that called?
45:11
If you have that in your car right now, leave it in your car.
45:17
Do not touch it. Last year we had a good,
45:22
beautiful stretch of weather. And I remember I took that snow
45:25
brush, I took that ice thing out and we had snow for two weeks.
45:30
We had two weeks, you know, weeks of snow.
45:32
In April, it was snowing. Do not get cocky, do not get
45:35
greedy, and do not put any bad juju or any jinxes on this trail
45:41
season. I'm just going to repeat this
45:43
one more time. If you have your snow brush in
45:45
your car, leave it in your car until May.
45:47
It's just a tiny little thing. Put in the back, put it under a
45:50
seat. Don't move it because if you
45:52
move that snow brush and it snows, I'm just going to be sad,
45:55
OK? I'm sad.
45:56
I'm I'm, I'm good with snow for the year.
45:59
Snow has gone. We'll see you next year.
46:04
I'm actually, I'm actually almost fully serious, like I
46:07
feel like I don't know, am IA, am I superstitious or I'm a
46:13
little stitious? I'm definitely stitious.
46:15
For sure. I'm stitious.
46:17
But it does feel like, you know, you do some of those small
46:19
things like it doesn't really the universe that can't really
46:22
hear you and I, I think it does. So let's just all do a favor, No
46:26
keep the snow brush until May. We're going to hit some of these
46:29
great spots. And the next, I mean this is
46:31
this is we're here, we're on dirt for the rest of the year.
46:34
If you follow this playbook, you will be on dirt for the next
46:39
six, 7-8 months. That's beautiful.
46:43
OK, that is all I had for today as far as this talk.
46:48
We're going to bounce into the trail results.
46:50
There are some good races. There are some good results
46:52
here, so stick around. I'm excited to start going
46:56
through all these all these different events.
46:59
I think, like I said, we're doing a new format.
47:01
I'm going to get better of like how I go through events and how
47:04
I report on them. So bear with me as we start kind
47:07
of like ramping up the trail season here.
47:10
We're going to try to shout as many people as we can.
47:12
We're going to hopefully not snub a ton of people, but
47:14
ultimately it's going to happen. But here are the race results.
47:18
Boom. OK, guys.
47:21
I know I'm doing a little bit different of a set up.
47:24
This is how we're going to do the results and the race
47:26
previews going forward. I got to just have my, my laptop
47:31
in front of me so I, we can have all the results.
47:33
I can get the good info, all that jazz.
47:36
So this is not going to be outdoors, but we're always going
47:39
to do the first part of the podcast outdoors and then
47:41
interviews if that's if that's the case.
47:44
But yeah, let's let's jump into these these races.
47:48
So we got 2 results to go through and then we're going to
47:51
preview one race. So the first, the first race
47:55
we're going to talk about is, is the True strength uphill will 24
48:05
hour schemo race. So we did a preview for this.
48:11
It's kind of like last year standing, except instead of a
48:14
backyard style event, you just have 24 hours to go up and down
48:18
the mountain as fast as you can. So it's in Greenwood, Maine, I
48:22
think the same mountain I did. Does it say here Mount Abraham
48:28
in Greenwood? OK, so Mount Abraham in
48:30
Greenwood, Maine, a lot of people that go there to do
48:32
skinning and skiing and stuff. So I think it's a popular
48:36
destination. But so they had this vertical
48:38
challenge and we'll just get right into the results.
48:41
Again, I didn't know too much about this.
48:43
I don't, I think I did a quick preview and to be honest, I will
48:46
just give my myself credit here. I think I said, oh, there were
48:49
some big hitters from last year standing.
48:51
Justin Lagasse, one of the people that I saw in the list,
48:53
he had the course record. He came back this year and he
48:56
won it again. So Justin Lagasse wins, he goes
49:01
42 laps, so I believe each lap is 1000 feet, so 42,000 feet in
49:07
24 hours. I don't know how how long the
49:10
distance is, but each lap's 1000 feet.
49:12
So he did 42,000. His course record is 44,000 and
49:18
that was in 2022. So that was the first year it
49:21
started. This is the fifth year he still
49:23
has that course record, but Justin wins it second place.
49:28
Second and third place men is Mark Trahan, 49, shout out 40,
49:37
he went 40 laps. And then Chance Simonton, he's
49:41
from Plymouth, 33, he went 35 laps.
49:45
So that was oh, and OK, so three, OK, hold on.
49:50
Three people tied for three because I guess, yeah, they just
49:55
counted by how many laps that you did.
49:57
So three people did 35 laps. Chance Simonton, he's listed
50:01
first. Don't know what that means.
50:03
Lawrence Pereira and then Samson Alley, they all did 35 laps.
50:08
I know like in the White Lake Ultra races, if if you do the
50:12
same number of laps but you come in before the other person, they
50:17
get the priority spot. I don't know if that's how they
50:20
listed it, but they all got third place finishes in the
50:22
results. So it sounds like they just
50:24
tied. So that was the top three men
50:27
and then top three. So the female, TJ Farnham wins
50:30
it. She does 30 laps and she's 49.
50:34
Holy smokes. Shout out Milton town Maine.
50:38
A lot of these people are from Maine.
50:41
She did 30 and she wins it. Second place female does 25.
50:45
Tracy Thaner So this is, that's a, that's a, a decent gap, but
50:51
still, I mean, 25 laps over 1 an hour.
50:54
And then Brielle Weinstein from Philadelphia, PA, she does 20
50:58
laps. She's the 3rd place female.
51:00
I always, oh, actually there's a lot of people from PA in this
51:03
list, 12345671010 people from from Pennsylvania, most, a lot
51:12
of people from Maine. I mean, New Hampshire, Vermont,
51:14
Mass. There's always going to be
51:15
people from New England sprinkled in, but those were the
51:18
results and that was from the vertical challenge.
51:21
So apparently there were three different challenges, the
51:24
vertical challenge and then a four person relay and a two
51:27
person relay. So we'll go to the four person
51:30
rewrite relay results. Not much of A race here.
51:33
One team, hashtag LG Space MEC. They did a distance of 33
51:43
minutes and 41 seconds. That's how it's listed.
51:46
I have no idea what that means. It wasn't a tight race.
51:50
There's one person in the race, but shout out to the LGMEC.
51:54
And then the two person relay again, one team, the golden
51:59
goober and the forehead expansion project.
52:04
Yeah, that is that is crazy. Is one of those persons.
52:07
Yeah, one of them is potentially a golden goober and the other
52:09
one has a small forehead. Is that is that what the the
52:14
forehead expansion project? I don't know, but they did a
52:16
distance of 35 minutes, 6 seconds.
52:19
I have no idea what these what these mean, but that that was
52:23
the result. I mean, we could go to the
52:28
website and see if they explain the relay here, but I don't
52:32
know. I'm I'm noticing a lot of these.
52:35
Nah, it doesn't really say. A lot of these race websites are
52:39
very like old riggity. I don't know.
52:43
So, so yeah, we can't, we can't see that.
52:45
But those are the results. And and do they list?
52:50
OK, female. Whoa.
52:52
OK. A little bit of a little bit of
52:54
shocker here, people. So TJ Farnham wins it.
52:58
She won last year. So she goes back-to-back.
53:01
She won in 2025. She comes back and wins in 2026.
53:05
Last year she did 27. This year she did 30.
53:08
But she does not have the course record.
53:09
There's one person ahead of her that has the course record here
53:13
in 2023, Brianna Karboski, she did 32 laps.
53:19
So she has she has the course record last game standing and
53:25
the course record at the true strength uphill will 24 hour
53:28
schemo. I mean, just dominant, dominant
53:32
performance. I mean, TJ Farnham's on here
53:34
2024, she did 21. So wait, let's look at her
53:37
ultrasonic actually, yeah, she's won it three years in a row.
53:41
This is this I should OK, 2023 she comes in 3rd and then
53:45
2024-2025, 2026, TJ Farnham wins it a three peat, the hardest
53:51
thing to do in sports. A3 peat.
53:53
I'm going to get better at at going through these results, but
53:57
yeah, I'll learn about it. But OK.
53:58
Who? She came in fifths at the Jacora
54:01
Mountain race in 2019. Shout out.
54:08
Where is she from? Does it say TJ Farnham?
54:16
Oh, oh, milltop main. Any who she goes 3 peats.
54:21
Neil Clawson's in here. He's a he's a mountain running
54:27
stud and skiing stud. Yeah.
54:31
So I guess, I guess that was the relay and we are really just
54:34
whoop. Also, another thing that's
54:36
catching my eye right now. Another thing catching my eye.
54:40
Oh no, I was mistaken. Nevermind, scratch that, move
54:43
on. OK, this is the first.
54:46
This is the is this the first read results in the chair.
54:49
So I'm going to get I'm going to get better at this.
54:50
But all right, that was a true strength uphill will schema race
54:54
and then the other race I wanted to to go through it was the fit
54:58
rock 12 hour ultra marathon in Cumberland, RI.
55:04
It was a 5 KA five mile and an ultra marathon.
55:08
I just don't think I can go through every 5K and five mile
55:11
results in in the land. So we're just going to stick
55:13
with the ultra results here because there's there's just so
55:16
many of them. But first place man Martin
55:20
Mitchell, he wins it in a total time of 10 hours and 55 seconds.
55:29
OK, well, that's total time. But this is a this is all right.
55:33
Yeah. What do I have?
55:34
The fit rock? It's a 50K.
55:37
Is that right? We got to go back to info.
55:40
I'm doing this is I'm, I'm, I'm, I was not prepared for this.
55:44
I was not prepared for this. Yeah, it says 12 hour ultra.
55:50
OK, so all right, so I'm just going to go with my gut.
55:52
No, no, I'm going to see what I say.
55:54
It was listed as a 50K, but this just says ultra.
55:57
It's a 12 hour ultra, folks. OK, so he ran for 10 hours and
56:01
55 seconds, but he did 10 laps. So he is the winner, 1st place
56:07
female also did 10 laps. She only finished three seconds
56:11
behind Martin Mitchell. That is Katarina Kudelkova.
56:17
OK, so they're they're the two winners within 3 seconds of each
56:20
other. So this is like I was saying
56:21
with the the lapped like White Lakes Ultra, if you do the same
56:26
amount of laps when you come in first, you win.
56:28
So Martin and Katarina comes in first, first male, first female
56:33
and then second overall, Third overall, both male.
56:36
Ross Minkov and Peter Penagettis, they both did 10
56:42
laps but came at 11251136. And then the second and third
56:47
overall female, Farrah Douglas, she goes 8 laps, 9 hours, 16
56:53
minutes. And then Kylie Polkuk, she goes
56:56
6 laps. She did a little bit under six
56:59
hours. So that was the Fit Rock.
57:02
That was the Fit Rock results. And then also they had a team,
57:05
they had a team result as well. So here's the team for the Fit
57:09
Rock. Again, a one person teamed ultra
57:14
marathon race. So there was there was no race
57:16
here. The Mizzonis were going home
57:18
with the gold either way. But Krista and Craig Mizzoni,
57:22
they did a total time of 18 hours in a total lap count of
57:25
17. And so they win it.
57:28
No competition, they win it. Good job.
57:30
First place. That's the best.
57:33
If you sign up for a race with with three or less people in it,
57:36
guaranteed podium, guaranteed podium.
57:38
My first ultra, I mean, four people were signed up, but two
57:41
people ran it. I came in second.
57:45
Guaranteed podium. So that those are the Fit Rock
57:49
results. Boom, we got to that.
57:51
And then one more race I wanted to preview today, the Sleeping
57:58
Giant Trail races in Hamden, CT. They have a 50K and A25K.
58:05
It looks like this is a newer event.
58:07
OK, the the the first sentence of this ultra ultra sign up had
58:12
me intrigued. It said the Sleeping Giant Trail
58:15
runs will be one of the toughest, gnarliest races in the
58:18
Northeast. OK, Yep, say say say no more.
58:24
Considered one of the more iconic parks and popular trail
58:26
running hiking spots in Connecticut, it offers every
58:30
kind of kit trail imaginable. 30 plus miles in the park, rocky,
58:34
windy, single track beast course, 3000 feet of verb and
58:37
A25K loop. Wouldn't say it's an Arles, but
58:42
it's it's wouldn't say it's an Arles, but it's pretty good,
58:45
especially for Connecticut. That is pretty good.
58:48
If you think you can handle 2 loops then it's a 50K in
58:51
comparison to our difficulty Macedonia trail race 25 K this.
58:56
This will be harder with 250 registered entrance.
59:00
This one is a popular event. Don't miss out.
59:02
So there's actually a ton of people who signed up for this.
59:04
So I will say this is super popular.
59:06
Just looking at the IT has the 2025 results.
59:09
I see Justin Kowski's name up there.
59:11
Anytime I see Justin, Justin Kowski's name, I take notice.
59:15
I take watch. I think he's from Connecticut,
59:18
but he's just he's just a stud. So we got a we got a good time
59:22
to look at he didn't 512 the the 25, the 50K.
59:27
So this is the race. It's happening Sunday at March
59:30
29th. So you listen to this, it's
59:33
going to happen next weekend. And there is currently 111
59:37
people signed up for the 50K and 130 people signed up for the 25
59:41
K. Wait, this is.
59:42
This is. Pulling huge crowds.
59:45
I this was not on my radar. This is why we're doing this,
59:47
folks. We're going to get every race
59:49
in. So what is jumping out for me on
59:53
this ultra sign up list? 50K.
59:56
So we'll start with the 50 Ki. See a 100% age rank, 94% age
1:00:01
rank 20 to 25. Darius Parker from Heinz
1:00:04
Hinesburg, Vermont, which fit people come from Vermont.
1:00:08
OK, so he came in second in the Vermont 50K last year.
1:00:12
That's his only result. So you never.
1:00:15
When you see those high rankings, you got to see how
1:00:17
many results they have. Sometimes have a bunch,
1:00:18
sometimes they don't. OK, my lighting just went a
1:00:21
little bit dimmer because it's probably not charged.
1:00:23
And also I have no lights in here.
1:00:24
Guys, I'm moving out. I meant to say that at the
1:00:26
beginning of this, I'm I'm out of here.
1:00:28
So I have no lights. I have no couch.
1:00:30
There's nothing in here. But again, most people are just
1:00:33
listening to this. So we're going to get we're
1:00:35
going to just keep going here. Peter Benito is on this list,
1:00:40
guys. Peter Benito 31-O does
1:00:44
ultrasound up Say how many results you have now?
1:00:46
Is that, is that a new feature? Peter Benito?
1:00:49
Oh, no, no, I don't think that's a new feature. 31 results.
1:00:52
He's a 95-A dragging 90%. People know Peter Benito.
1:00:56
He's a he's a crusher. I mean, yeah, just go.
1:00:59
This guy's just crush a lot of races fast, puts up lots of
1:01:02
miles. He's in this race.
1:01:03
So this will be exciting to watch.
1:01:05
Chase Smith, He's got a bunch of results from Stanford,
1:01:08
Connecticut. Oh, he signed up for Javelina
1:01:10
this year. He came in fifth in the 100,
1:01:13
Vermont 100. Last year he won the Above the
1:01:15
Clouds 50K ultra in Colorado. He's run canyons, OK, he ran in
1:01:22
canyons in 2025, the 50K he came in 28th and that's like a super
1:01:27
competitive race. Grindstone by UTMB 100K tenth
1:01:31
and 2024. So this guy's a crusher.
1:01:33
He's fast, he's fast. Anything else jumping out the
1:01:37
page, it's going to be hard to like go through these results,
1:01:41
but I'll just see what I OK, so I'm seeing Tom stardage.
1:01:46
He ran the Jigger Johnson 100 maybe opening year.
1:01:49
So that's just always respect Somebody on here has 292
1:01:55
results. Chris Pabina.
1:01:57
Pabina, who is this guy? He he's 49.
1:02:03
Oh my God. Oh my gosh, if you guys saw what
1:02:07
I was seeing right now, Oh my gosh, who is this guy?
1:02:12
He's just, I mean, how? Oh my gosh, he's just crushing
1:02:17
races. He's run 1234 races already in
1:02:21
2026. Last year he ran.
1:02:24
Oh my. Gosh.
1:02:26
Now these aren't all like create.
1:02:27
I mean these are mostly ultra 5025 K 50 miles 60.
1:02:31
These are. This is his last year's
1:02:33
December. On the 6th he ran a 60 Miller.
1:02:36
On the 13th he ran a 50 Miller. The day after he ran A25K.
1:02:39
The next weekend he ran a 50 Miller, and that was December.
1:02:43
No, I mean, he's just running multiple ultras every single
1:02:46
month for the last few years. Yeah, he's 4948.
1:02:49
I'm still on 48. Guys, I wish we could count up
1:02:52
how many ultras this guy's done. All right, we'll scroll all the
1:02:54
way to the bottom. He started running, so 37 is his
1:02:59
first. It's always when you see someone
1:03:01
with 292 results, they have a long DNF list.
1:03:04
But but, but in shell, nothing in comparison to how many
1:03:08
they've done. So he started running ultras
1:03:11
when he was 37. And over the course of 12 years
1:03:15
he's run, he's signed up for 333 events.
1:03:20
That's 30 a year, 3, two or three every month since this guy
1:03:23
loves ultras. Chris Pavion from Pittsburgh,
1:03:27
PA, yet nobody else. Oh, Debbie Livingston.
1:03:31
Debbie Livingston is in this race, guys.
1:03:35
Oh, Debbie Livingston. She has 169 races.
1:03:39
We did a little Debbie Livingston deep dive on the FKT
1:03:43
episode and I think I, I realize I saw her ultra sign up and just
1:03:49
like started freaking out. So we, we did a little, we read
1:03:54
her website, but she's a crusher.
1:03:55
She's been doing this forever. She's still super fast.
1:03:57
She's won a ton of like huge races.
1:03:59
She's in it. So this this, I mean, this race
1:04:02
is just absolutely stacked, totally stacked.
1:04:08
And then there's a bunch of people with no results.
1:04:10
You never know. There's always going to be one
1:04:12
or two real fast people in there.
1:04:14
You'd never know if they don't have results.
1:04:16
All right, we'll go over to the 25 Ki don't I don't I think of
1:04:20
the the I don't know any no names jumping on to me, but
1:04:24
there's a handful of people in the 90 + 95 plus percent age
1:04:30
rank. David Martin, Colin Gibbons,
1:04:32
Daniel Rogazzo Christinaza, Jack Cozian.
1:04:39
Those are just some of the the top people.
1:04:45
Yeah, they don't do, they don't do gender on here.
1:04:47
So I don't know the females, but oh, I guess I can't sort by male
1:04:52
and female. Yeah, we'll get the hang of
1:04:54
this. And then female.
1:04:56
Oh, a couple of wait. Oh my God, there's like, wait,
1:05:00
there's a bunch of 100% female in this.
1:05:02
There's 1234, the 100% a bunch of 90s.
1:05:07
OK, 'cause the way that they do the yeah, the way that they do
1:05:12
the entry lists the female is based on like the course record
1:05:17
is how they list Pete things in the ultra sign up.
1:05:19
So all right, so we're full thing by female here.
1:05:21
Jolie Mooney, Bri Britney Telke, Siri Bohakam.
1:05:27
Siri is her name. That's crazy from from New
1:05:31
Haven, CT shout out University of New Haven, my alma mater.
1:05:36
I didn't online a master program there.
1:05:40
So yeah, this like I said, and then Debbie Livingston.
1:05:42
We already weird. Oh, that was a 50K.
1:05:44
Sorry, sorry, sorry. Get your head in the game,
1:05:45
Andrew, get your head in the game.
1:05:47
What are you doing so that that was the that was the results or
1:05:51
the Oh my gosh, guys, this is falling apart and my light shut
1:05:55
off. This is falling apart.
1:05:56
Oh, and this desk is super shaky.
1:05:57
So the camera's been shaking. This is please, I hope nobody
1:06:01
watched the last 20 minutes. No, so that's a it's a bit yes,
1:06:04
sleeping giant trail runs in in Connecticut.
1:06:08
This is intriguing with it. I'm very intrigued by this race.
1:06:11
So we'll see how the results go. Lot of a ton of people signed up
1:06:14
for that race. So it's going to be definitely
1:06:16
really competitive and that that was the race preview.
1:06:21
That was a race preview, race previews in results for this
1:06:26
week. Like I said this, the new format
1:06:27
will throw every we're going to do every ultra marathon in New
1:06:30
England. Hopefully I don't miss any this
1:06:32
year at the end. And it will kind of just be this
1:06:35
like me learning about it going how I go through the ultra sign
1:06:38
up list, like what jumps out at me.
1:06:40
This is not going to be a professional preview.
1:06:43
I'm, I'm going to snub a lot of people, but hopefully I'm
1:06:45
shouting out of way more people that I'm snubbing, you know what
1:06:48
I mean? That's, that's the hope.
1:06:51
And and yeah, that's that's. That's.
1:06:55
Pretty much what we got. So the trail season is coming
1:06:57
around. I was, I also am like making
1:07:00
sure like, OK, I need to figure out a way to to cover this
1:07:03
because we've only had a couple a couple races so far and it's
1:07:07
about to get nutty like May, June, July, August, September,
1:07:13
there's tons of races. So every week I'm going to be
1:07:16
doing this like right now I previewed you're going to be
1:07:20
listening to this during the week.
1:07:22
So I previewed the upcoming weekend's races.
1:07:25
I talked about results from a week and a half ago, but it's
1:07:29
going to be hard like if I get this podcast on on Sundays to do
1:07:33
race results from Saturday and or Sunday because I don't post
1:07:36
them. So I think ultimately the
1:07:38
results are going to be lagging a little bit, which I think
1:07:41
honestly is fine. I think the previews are
1:07:43
probably more exciting. Anything big, like any big
1:07:46
results, I'll just talk about upfront in the in the episodes
1:07:50
and then hopefully by previewing all of the races.
1:07:54
If you're interested, you want to see the results in real time,
1:07:56
like ever. Most of these races are on
1:07:58
social media, so go to their Instagram, Facebook and that'll
1:08:01
be, you know, the stories will probably tell like the winners
1:08:03
and all that stuff. So yeah, so this will be the new
1:08:07
format. If I miss anything, if you guys
1:08:08
have any tips or anything you want to send in like, hey,
1:08:10
you're, you're missing this race or hey, we got to cover this or
1:08:13
hey, you missed this, send them in and and I'll add it to the
1:08:16
list. I got a big Google sheet right
1:08:19
now of all these races. Send me any more races or info
1:08:22
or or fun things I should I'm missing and should be talking
1:08:26
about. So that's it, that's it for this
1:08:29
week. Hopefully you guys enjoyed,
1:08:31
we'll see you next time. Peace.