Cold Workout

Double

Lighthouse

Cool Down

Suffolk 3K

First Failed FKT attempt. Got 3:24:25 on my watch, 36 minutes off the current record. This run can be broken up in two parts- the first 14 miles (prior to sleeping giant), and the last 5 in sleeping giant. The first 14 miles went mostly well, then I completed died the last 5 and walked most of the remaining miles (I'd occasionally run some of the downhills). 

After a short warmup to to get the start, I was off. Tried to get the road section in the low 6s which was challenging with a short uphill but was just sub-6 average going into the trail. I did pretty well on the first set of ups and downs which were steep and technical. I probably could have gone faster on some of the downs, but I didn't want to be risky on the more technical descents given that I had so much left. I think I was 2-3 mins ahead of the FKT pace where I took a wrong at mile 2.5, where I went down a red trail. I eventually noticed the lack of blue blazes and turned and back, asked a hiker where the blue trail was, and continued down the red trail again after he assured me I was going the right way. After I realized I had definitely was not on the Quinnipiac trail, I went back up the trail and eventually corrected myself. It looks like I lost about 4.5 minutes here based on the strava data. This intersection was well marked, this was mostly my fault (I don't think the trail direction was obvious and I didn't look up because it was really technical). This was extremely discouraging as I was now behind and I didn't want to have to make up time. I briefly considered just doing the trail as an easy long run and not going for the FKT but charged on. The run went well, aside from a hard fall to the shoulder, until Mile 11.5. Took another wrong turn on Shepard Ave, had to stop and check my phone for the route. I lost about 2 minutes here and I think that turn was very poorly marked/unclear. Another decent mile getting to sleeping giant, ran past the blue markings since I thought that was the spur which most people skip before realizing it wasn't, which lost another minute. I took a minute or so to pour water over my head in the river since I was starting to overheat. I had planned to walk the entire steep ascent up Sleeping Giant, but was not expecting it to completely destroy me. I thought the walk up would be a nice break, but I just got totally exhausted. Struggled to run up some up the ascents after that, and after making my 4th wrong turn of the day, realizing I'd have to backtrack back to find the trail, and that I was hot and now tired and weak, I completely gave up on the FKT. I ended up feeling horrible and running out of water at the tower, and I walked much of the rest of the run, only running a few sections of downhills. 

Turns out I was still a few minutes behind the FKT entering sleeping giant. The time is really strong, but I think it may be possible for me on a cool day, without navigation problems and with better hill/mountain training under my belt. I definitely want to do it again at some point. Curious as to how much of this blowup is due to heat versus how much to due to probably not being prepared for that much elevation gain. I think the combination of the heat, running out of water and having such steep and technical terrain is what make me bonk today.

Top Sports

Matthew Walker

Quinnipiac Trail Fail

4 Comments

Splits

Sign up to view more activities from Matthew Walker

Cold Workout

Double

Lighthouse

Cool Down

Suffolk 3K

Want to see more?

The #1 app for runners and cyclists

Sign Up for Free. Track your progress and reach goals. Join 100 million active people on Strava.

See More from Matthew