135 mile NPT Run in less than two weeks

**UPDATED**
We are closing in on less than two weeks for the NPT run!

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Date TBD between July 11-17, 2015 (Updated start on Friday June 10th 8-9am)
~135 miles from Lake Placid to Northville, NY Waterfront Park (Southbound)
Current Record 39 hr 16 min

The Northville-Placid Trail (NPT) was my first solo thru-hike back in high school.  I spend 6 days hiking from Upper Benson (near Sacandaga Lake) up to the TH on Averyville Rd., just outside of Lake Placid.  My sister dropped me off with my pack containing all of my provisions for nearly a week and my mom picked me up late in the morning at the end of the trail on the 6th day.  It was my first real test of endurance, both mental and physical, where I covered anywhere from 17-23 miles a day.  The trail is by no means super hilly.  It does not summit any peaks, but at the same time it is not a fast trail by any means due to the typical Adirondack rocks, roots, and mud!  It travels through some remote country, passes beautiful ponds, and a couple sections are over 30 miles between road crossings.

I am attempting a supported run on the NPT, which means that Hillary (and others!) can resupply me with nutrition, equipment (i.e. lights), or whatever along the way.  I can drop things off and grab what I need.  However, I will not have anyone 'mule' for me, which means no one will run beside me carrying what I may need at any moment.  I may have pacers, but will only resupply at the designated points on the trail.  With that said this trail is remote and there are not a lot of places to refuel.  I may be alone for up to 7 hours at a time, so I will need to carry enough calories and electrolyte (Nuun!) to supply me over that amount of time.

I will be attempting the record on the ENTIRE trail.  There is about 1.25 miles of road at the Lake Placid end of the trail and about 7 miles of road on the Northville end.  Some of the historical attempts have only included the trail portion of the trail, but there is a push by the NPT Chapter to construct the last few miles of trail to Northville in the near future.  In the last year they have already put in a number of trail miles and diverted the route around Upper Benson, which is the tradition trail section start.  Since I think the future attempts will be on a full trail, my attempt will also be on the full distance.  There have been many trail changes, reroutes, extensions over the life on the NPT, so I realize that any record is really on that specific configuration, which is bound to change again in the future.  The trail has been around for over 90 years, so there are bound to be changes.

As pointed out at fast known times the current record holder is Sheryl Wheeler in 2011 for both the trail portion (35 hr 13 min) and the entire trail (39 hr 16 min).  Since the NPT no longer passes through Upper Benson (the trail portion ending point of Sheryl's record setting run) I will attempt the entire trail.  I will also be going southbound as was pursued by most of the previous attempts.

I am looking at an 8am start on the day I see as a good weather window and hope to finish in under 35 hours if all goes well.  Below is a hypothetical table of road crossings and aid points if I finished in 30 hours, or a 13.6 minutes per mile pace.  Really who knows!  Start time may change.

A Start - Lake Placid (Mile 0)                    8 AM
B Trailhead Averyville Rd. (Mile 1.25)     8:20 AM
C Long Lake/Tarbell Rd (Mile 38)            4:35 PM
F Durant Lake CG Rte 28/30 (Mile 53)     8:00 PM
H Cedar River Rd (Mile 66)                      10:45 PM
I Piseco TH (Mile 97)                                6:00 AM (next day)
K Cross Rte. 8 (Mile 100)                          6:45 AM
L Whitehouse (Mile 107)                           8:00 AM
M End of trail, County Rte 6 (Mile 125)   12:20 PM
O Finish - Northville Bridge (135 miles)   2:00 PM



I encourage anyone that wishes to come out and run some distance with me, or just say 'hey' out on the trail.  I will try to keep the most up to date information on my facebook account and twitter feed @avermily


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For detailed information on the trail, including an interactive map see the NPT Chapter

Finally back on track

Well it has been a tough season so far.  Typically I am not a complainer, my body feels good and I just go!  Since April this season I have constantly had something bothering me.  Tendinitis in my quad, sore underfoot, twisted ankle, and even 5 weeks of an upset stomach that has limited my calorie intake and nutrition during runs.  Well I think it is all turning the corner.  My ankle injury is healing faster than I initially thought it would.  Just two weeks after I could barely walk I was back up to a 30+ mile weekend.  It is still slightly swollen, does not have all of its flexibility back, but is feeling pretty strong.  I just ran on it on non-technical trails and iced constantly for about two weeks,  My stomach is back to about 95% and my miles are finally back up.  Last week I was a bit tired and sore after not being able to run much for two weeks on my swollen ankle, but all in all things are good.

With this setback I will have to push my Northville-Placid Trail (NPT) attempt back a few weeks to mid-July, but I am again feeling confident about the outlook.  I was hoping to get an unsupported attempt on the Long Trail in before classes start again in August, but it appears the time frame is shrinking.  I need many more long mile weekends and time on the actual trail to be prepared for such an undertaking.

We will be traveling up to the Bay of Fundy marathon next weekend for Hillary to race.  Afterwards I will try to narrow in on a plan for the NPT attempt.

Oh yeah, I am two days in to my new shoes the Hoka Rapa Nui.  The anti-minimalist shoe that is lighter than my Salomon Speedcross 3 and loaded with cushion.  It cured my 4 week sore underfoot in just two days of wearing them around and so far they seem to be helping a bit with my outside foot striking.  They are super fast on the downhill.  I am looking forward to getting them out on some more technical trail to see how they handle the conditions.  They will be my new shoe until I am proven wrong by unmanageable conditions.  It is like having springs under your legs!

My first ultra DNF

On Saturday I was beaten down by The Endurance Society Infinitus Trail Ultra 88k‬! 

Unfortunately I had to pull out of the 88k trail race at mile 31.5 on Saturday. I was in second place at mile 18 when I rolled over my ankle pretty good. I recovered over the next 2.5 miles, lost my position then regained it, before another brutal blow to the same weakened ankle at mile 27.5 that threw me to the ground with a surprising yell. I knew I was done. I limped out of the woods the remaining 4 miles with the help of a hiking pole of some helpful folks. DNF at the 31.5 mile checkpoint still holding on to 5th at that point. Ankle swelled, couldn't put pressure on it, sucked up pride and am happy with the decision to not ruin my summer running plans by trying to finish. Recovery is already happening fast, got a swim in today, and will be on the trails again soon. 

The funny thing about this injury was that this course was on very lightly traveled 'trails' for much of the way and had loose footing all over the place, but both places I rolled my ankle the footing was actually pretty solid.  Obviously I still have some things to work on!  I have been working more recently on my hip strengthening exercises to prevent rolling my leg and foot, but obviously not enough.