This summer and early fall I conducted an experiment where I was quite sure of the outcome before even starting. I decided to increase my volume of mountain biking at the expense of running miles. I have had success with cross training in the past, mostly with shorter distances than I typically run now. I knew that if I wanted to race the Blue2Blue Trail Race in CT in a few weeks, I needed to increase my mileage. That would have required exchanging rides for runs, and I was not interested or willing to do that. I joked with Steph that I was making a massive sacrifice for the sake of Gavin through coaching with his mtb team and going on additional rides throughout the week. She just laughed at me, but did actually thank me the next day. 

While I was definitely enjoying all the riding with Gav and his team, there were costs other than the running, such as the substantial loss of dermal tissue from my shins, hands and elbows and weekly orders of replacement parts. The maintenance was incredibly frustrating at times, and made me appreciate the simplicity of running. Apparently not enough to entirely ditch the bike for trail shoes, but Gavin did almost witness me throw my bike off a cliff following yet another snapped derailleur hanger. When I signed up for the Blue2Blue race, there was equal parts relief and dread. You see, I wasn’t easing back into trail racing. It had been almost an exact year since the Kilkenny 50 miler, and this 50k is not a walk in the park:

This 50k(+) is a Graduate Level run, meaning you will be on some of CT's most technical and gnarly trails: first the Regicides (West Rock's "Blue" trail) and then The Quinnipiac Trail (another of CT's famed Blue trails). Hence, the Blue 2 Blue Challenge (h/t Alex McDaniel for the idea). It is imperative that you have finished at least one (1) trail 50k in the previous 12 months- I will also consider you if you’ve completed something gnarly like Cat’s Tail or Breakneck or the like. This is definitely not a beginner’s race. There's a good 6,550 feet of climbing and the majority of it is extremely technical.

I do have a graduate degree, so I should have been all set. Thanks to the pics from Jake Koteen, who was all over the course, you’ll get a decent idea of the terrain. CT has some of the most deceptively rough and slow miles I’ve even slogged through. Even with moderate amounts of vert, the splits are just dirt slow. The other key ingredient to my disaster of a race was low 70’s and about 101% humidity after a couple nice weeks of cool fall weather. I don’t like the heat, and it doesn’t like me.

None of that mattered all that much, though, as it was just great to run with people, whether it was a race or not. I latched on to Dan Bates right at the start as we climbed up West Rock. The gnarr started immediately, and it was odd being so close to New Haven on such technical trails. I had never met Dan, but he and Justin Kousky in back of us had taken down several of my FKT’s and put up several other notable times. I knew Dan was in shape, and I had no intention of taking the lead to push the pace given the current state of my running. We both seemed comfortable with the pace, other than sweating early and often.

While there were some faster sections of the trail, they tended to be short and compensated for by shattered rock gardens that made it hard to run anything faster than a 10 minute mile as you don’t dare to look up from the 10 feet of trail in front of you. We were holding a steady conversation, which should have indicated that the pace was sustainable, but it was more an issue of heat and running specific conditioning that caught up with me. Dan and I reached halfway (16 miles) in about 2:50, and it was obvious to both of us that we were going to have to back off a bit to survive to the finish. A few miles later, Dan started to develop progressively worsening cramps. I slowed down to hang with him until they got so bad he had to stop and stretch. I continued on at the same pace, and did not expect to see Dan again given how severe the cramping was. I think Justin passed me at about 22 miles as if he had just started running. I was starting to struggle with leg cramps at point, and could not understand how he was maintaining such a quick cadence after so many miles of awkward rocks. The reality of my mtb cross training was setting in, and it was of amazing how I could spend twice the amount of time working out and be in worse shape. Running is so much more efficient, and you need a decent amount of mileage to condition the quads for tackling longer runs with punishing downhills.

Just as I was regretting signing up for this suffer fest, Dan came back from the dead to catch up with me as I inspected some questionable marking on the course. We were told not to follow pink ribbon, but there was clearly some pink ribbon on the correct trail. It was good to have someone to commiserate with again, and we worked together to try and take advantage of the downhill over the last few miles. He took off in the last mile, and I took a wrong turn at an unmarked intersection to add a 5-6 minute insult to my injured pride. Justin crushed the second half, somehow running negative splits to win in 5:48, with Dan running 6:12, and 6:18 for me.

My conclusion on the course is that it is probably around 35 miles with 8k of climb, based on comparing GPS data with other races and trails. This is a perfect example of a course where the GPS track is not going to pick up all the minor changes in elevation. If you are thinking of running either of these trails, I would recommend a sturdy protective shoe and make sure your ankles are flexible. I was very happy with grip, protection, and cushioning of my Inov-8 terra ultra G260’s, but my feet and ankles, as well as my hips, were still exhausted by the end. Kneepads might also be a good idea if you fall often, as there was a substantial amount of blood spilled at the finish, more than any race I can recall in recent memory. Those trails would be a horror show when wet. Thanks to Jim McCaffrey and all the volunteers for putting on such an awesome event in these trying times. It was awesome to meet CT friends new and old and compare notes on all the various blue blazed trails. I made plans to focus more on smooth trails covered in a bed of pine needles, as soon as I tripled my running mileage.

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