Ben's Mountain Double

Mount Washington

Living in Foxboro, it is tough finding long hills to train on for Mt. Washington. Although I did find a good 300ft hill in the Blackstone River State Park, I resorted to the treadmill to simulate the sustained grind of Washington. My treadmill workouts were simple: set it to 11.5% grade and about 8:30 pace, and stay on it for an hour. I would usually up the pace over the last 30 minutes, and I think I averaged about 8:20 pace for my best workout.

On race day, I was as ready as I could be. I was hoping to improve on my 18th from 2002, and possible creep into the top ten. It was obvious that the field was going to be tough. Five of the guys who beat in Vail two weeks ago were coming out to run, in addition to the strong East Coast contingent.

I'd like to take this opportunity to explain my shirtless running philosophy. My first priority when racing for CMS is to do the best I possibly can. I overheat pretty easily, so in hot weather, wearing my singlet is a handicap. In a mountain race, carrying extra weight is a handicap, and a wet singlet is going to cost me time. I also have serious chaffing issues with wet singlets which makes even easier to not wear one. Physiologically, the ideal running temperature is about 48 degrees. At this temperature, your body is producing enough heat to keep your muscles operating at maximum efficiency. In cooler weather, you will actually see me in a singlet, as it keeps me warm enough to run my best. I am amazed at how many people asked me if I was cold running shirtless at Mt. Washington. What is the first thing you do when someone has been exposed to cold, wet, weather and is hypothermic? You take off their wet clothes and put on dry clothes. Water has a high specific heat, which means that the water in a wet singlet is very effective at drawing heat away from the body. A wool singlet would be another story, but most singlets are more similar to a wet wash cloth on your head when you have a fever: very effective at absorbing body heat. I'll wear a singlet if it will help me do my best, but beyond that, my chest hair will have to do.

The race started surprisingly slowly, which was nice. I drifted as high as about 7-8th place, and then settled somewhere around 12th about a half mile in. Since Kevin Tilton and I had been a second apart at Wachusett, I was figuring we would be running close to each other. When he worked his way up to 4th place, I figured he would be coming back to me at some point. Andy Ames and Mark Werner went by at about the mile, and from that point on, I settled into a pack of three runners and things began to string out. I saw Kevin drift back some, but he basically drifted to back of the pack he had been leading, and stayed there.

While I was happy to see 5 CMS guys ahead of me, I wanted to be closer to Kevin and Rich, who were in a tight pack ahead of me. I was going as hard as I could without flooding my quads with lactic acid, so there wasn't much I could do about it. I was preoccupied with going back and forth with the two guys around me, so the time passed a little quicker. One the guys would walk a bit, and then pass us back when he started running again. I figured he would fade soon, as this is an inefficient way to race uphill, and hard to sustain.

I passed the finish of the 2002 race close to the time I ran that year, and halfway was about 32 flat. I am not one to fade badly at the end, so I was thinking that a 1:06 was possible. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate. The wind started to pick up after 4 miles, but I was lucky to have some help from my fellow competitors in blocking the wind for a mile or so. Just using hand motions, the guy who was walking from time to time and myself were alternating the lead to try and fight the wind.

By five miles, I was on my own. On the dirt road section, I could see the entire field except for Wyatt. Rich was coming back to me, and Kevin was still hanging to the back of the large pack. I was trying to reel in Rich and the guy between us, but wasn't making much progress. Around 6 miles I figured that I had solidified my position by breaking away from the two guys I had been running with. Suddenly, I heard loud wheezing in back of me. I was surprising that someone was moving up this late in the late, and very irritating.


Just before 7 miles, Bob Sweeney, an ultrarunner from NY, passed me as my wife was watching. I didn't really fight it, as it was very windy, and I wanted to draft for a while. Steph was yelling at me to get him, I was planning on doing exactly that. Bob and I were both being kicked around by the wind, and with about 500 meters to go, I passed him following a large gust and hammered as hard as I could. By the time I got the last ultrasteep climb to finish, I was empty. He passed me, and there was nothing I could do about it. When a strong gust hit me right before the finish, it stood me right up, and I almost came to a complete stop. It would have been faster if I had crawled the last 50 meters.



Mt. Greylock

The day after Washington, I drove from Foxboro to Adams, MA to run the Greylock half marathon. It was a pretty straightforward race for the most part. I went out with the guy running in the 5k race, got a bit confused by a lack of trail markings, and backtracked to the guy in second early in the race. Once I figured we were going the right way, I pulled away on the 35 minute climb to somewhere near the top of the mountain. The old course used to go all the way to the top, but this year was a new course. The rest of the race was mostly very runable downhill with some uphills interspersed. I figured on being alone for the rest of the race.

To my surprise, I heard what sounded like trees falling in back of me on the most technical descent. I am a pretty decent downhill runner, and I've only been passed on a downhill by few people in New England. It was obvious that I was going to be passed, but had no idea who it was behind me. I upped the pace, but this kid still kept coming, and passed me when the trail widened. I was annoyed at having my solitary run interrupted.

As suddenly as he passed me, the trail flatted out, and I passed him back. When we got to a slight uphill, he disappeared. However, I was still impressed by his downhill ability, and there were still some steep downhills to run before the finish. I spent the rest of the race working on my downhills, and peeking back to make sure I wasn't going to get "Ferenced" by some young punk at the end.

There was no need to worry, as the kid who passed me ended up third, and I won by 2:30 in 1:31:45. I put 2:45 on the guy who passed me in 28 minutes of downhill. My time was about 80 seconds off of Kevin McGovern's course record, but I lost at least that amount of time checking to make sure I was still on course 3-4 times during the race.