Sunday, 02/05/12 Green Mountain

Up/Down front

4.07 miles/2,277 vert./1:05:43 (45:40 up)/160 avg. HR  Garmin Data

Was eager to head up Green and take advantage of the trench we worked on last night and bust out the new Microspikes for the occasion.  Snow falling off of the trees made the footing a little looser than I had hoped and made for a good bit of spinning out.  Not sure which option might have been best for today, running snowshoes, Microspikes, or perhaps Kahtoola running crampons (kind of wish I had remembered the running crampons).

I put in a solid effort, but was definitely not very efficient, as my legs were a bit tired and sore in unusual places from the snowshoeing the day before.  My back was also a bit sore from the 3+  hours of snow shoveling and those reasons excuses, combined with the loose snow made for a bit of a slog and I was often just simply governed by the inefficient footing.  Was surprised to be recognized on the trail by John R. who reads the blog and ran with GZ, Tim and I a few years back.

Pressed for time, I was hoping to make up a bit on the descent, but took it pretty slow and cautious on the upper 1/3 of the mountain (it was like running a balance beam at times and one mis-step would sink you in knee deep or deeper), then picked up the pace little by little as I descended.  I was moving reasonably well at times as I got lower, but was barely able to eek out a 19:58 descent with some hard work and sprinting at the very end.

Overall I am enjoying these conditions MUCH more than the mixed conditions prior to the storm and find it to be quite fun running in the fresh snow.  Hopefully things pack down a bit over the next few days, once they do, it will be absolutely epic.