Victoria Marathon - 2:26:42

I have never been so sore after a race as I have been the last couple days. I expected my calves to be more sore than usual by wearing a 5k flat on my feet rather than a marathon flat, but my entire lower body is shattered.  Today, two days out i'm able to walk around a little easier, but yesterday I was a mess. I remember times the day after a marathon when I was able to go for a light jog, there was no way that was an option this time around. I suppose most people would take a couple of Ibuprofen but I stay away from them because I already have stomach acid problems and it wasn't life-or-death. Anyway I think the root problem, in concert with the shoes, was my ongoing hip/IT-band issues. A couple weeks ago when I was getting fed up with my left-side IT-band/hip I started doing some core-lateral-leg exercises which quickly relieved the acute hip soreness, BUT it also ended up tightening up my RIGHT-side ITband, in the normal way though, around the knee soreness.  Furthermore my calves didn't seem to want to loosen up completely. I took most of the week quite easy to let things recover, and did a bit of stretching and yoga to  help loosen things up, but I continued to feel a bit of imbalance right up to race day.  My hips just did not feel 'right' so when the race started I knew I would have to really concentrate on running as efficiently as possible so as to not fall into compensating one way or another.


I think by doing a reasonable amount of core work and consistently doing hill repeat work I was able to run with good form nearly the whole race. There were no point where I found that my form was falling apart and flailing around. I kept reciting in my head: "drop shoulders, arms down, tuck in elbows, pull hips forward, lift knees" throughout the run.  I actually started this around 7k when my right ITband started to tighten up because I was obviously worried I wasn't going to be able to make it through the race having soreness so early on. The pain never really got too bad, and I think it was due to concentrating on form the whole way. This didn't come without other pains however! As the race progressed my left hip and IT tightened up and calves of course were pretty beat by 30k. One new pain however was in my inner-left-quad. I can only attribute this to running further forward on my feet due to the light flats and forcing my legs to drive up and forward, but I suppose it was some kind of compensating pain for the IT-band/hip. This quad pain was actually what I was most worried about it would get progressively worse throughout.


So other than that the race went quite well, however it was a bit strange in that I ran alone for the entire distance. Alone as in without competitors, but I had my own official-cyclist(Gerry) for the whole race. Like the Edmonton marathon where I had a cyclist for the second half, Gerry and I chatted away most of the race which was greatly appreciated. He waved the early-start-walkers out of the way so I didn't have to deal with them wandering all over the road which was invaluable.  However running the tangent was still impossible for many parts on the course. Regardless the cheering by the other people out on the course was helpful even if I was concentrating hard and paying little attention to the spectators.   Running alone the whole race made it extremely uneventful, the most exciting part being the turnaround where I discovered the second and third place guys were not all that far in front of me and not looking that great. I also discovered that Aaron, Oliver, and Graeme were not too far back!  At this point I picked it up ever so slightly now that I was in the hunt for 3rd place, and also worried about the others catching me as they could work in a pack and there would surely be a breeze heading west.  There were a couple of long stretches on the way back so I could see I was gaining on the third place runner Gilbert Kiptoo. As I reeled him in he was looking over his shoulder quite often and when he realized the pass was imminent around 28k he just stepped off the course and quit.  I had expected this to happen, however for some reason I though't he'd wait till I caught up, but it makes more sense in retrospect, if he was certain I would catch him.  The reason he dropped of course is that the prize money goes 3 deep, so for him to finish 4th or less would be completely a waste of his energy, better saved for the next race.


At this point I had to make a decision to either go after the second place guy(whom I could not see) or to protect my lead on the 3 guys chasing me by easing up a bit and not risk my calves or quad cramping up/blowing apart.  I chose the conservative approach and kept up a good pace but not pushing too hard. My split at 30k was 1:42:29 I think, and my split at 10k was 34:18 I found out after. Shockingly even! I guess by concentrating so much on form I was also being extremely consistent. Anyway, things started getting tough as they always do towards the end of a marathon but with about 5k to go you can see for nearly a whole kilometer(it seems like) behind you, so I looked back, and asked Jerry to do the same, to see how far my chasers are, and neither of us could see them.  Heading into this stretch I could also not see the second place guy Philip Samoei so with this in mind, being firmly in "no man's land" I decided I would enjoy the rest of the race and slowed up a bit more, cruising into the finish. For those who saw me finish and said I made it look easy, well, its because I was going easy! It was really enjoyable to be able to just cruise into the the finish not having to worry about the others, or about your legs blowing up.  And that was that, 2:26:42.


I had thought I was in 2:25 shape, and I still stand by it! I feel like I could have run faster had I put out personal water bottles on the 'elite table.'  I had a really hard time getting enough fluids from the water stations and consequently didn't put my gels down as easy, and I did not take electrolyte tablets which would have likely helped my quad and calves from feeling so bad.  I didn't take them because without much water I was worried my stomach would freak out.  I guess the difference is that I told myself I was in 2:25 shape, but after the race it sunk in that 2:25 is pretty good! For the amount of time I have spent training I am very happy about running 2:26. It was really the perfect day for running, weather wise, and the event went off without a hitch yet again. Big thanks to Gerry, the volunteers and Jonathan for organizing all the elite stuff.


Oh! one last note. Change of plans. I have almost decided to scrap the TNF San Fran 50mi trail race plan, likely going to the Whistler 50 instead. Not 100% sure yet.

Race Week

Just a quick note. It's race week! I'm actually reasonably excited. I picked up some new kicks from Mark and Nick at Frontrunners Westshore out in Langford which i'm pretty stoked about, they're some ultra light road flats. I was worried about wearing my Brooks marathon flats which I wore in Edmonton, thinking they were too bulky and not allowing me to run as efficiently as I am used to, having been training in my minimalist trail shoes. So to have some ultra-light Adidas flats i'm feeling much better about the run. I'm going to take them out for a spin tomorrow morning.


As for last week.....well it didn't quite work out as I planned, and far from what I had set out in my last blog post. Since the post I decided to just do my regular two workout week, and it started out really well, i had a, dare I say, stellar hill session on wednesday.   I had done a strength session the night before so was feeling loaded up, in the sense that I felt very strong, anyway it went surprisingly well, more than 3 seconds per rep faster on average. Come the weekend however I was feeling pretty stiff from doing the core work I guess and when I set out to do another track workout I felt really flat and decided to call it quits after the first rep!  I wasn't feeling like working out on saturday and on sunday I was REALLY not feeling like a workout, so it was doomed from the beginning. Perhaps I should have just taken my good track workout from a couple weeks back and let it be. ANYWAY, its taper week now so i'm takin it pretty easy, going to do some yoga and stretching all week to get balanced and get rid of this stiffness. Tomorrow morning i'm going to take a few turns around the track at 3:20-25/km pace and see how that feels, see if running 2:25 is going to even be a reasonable expectation for Sunday. I hope so, I feel like i'm in good shape and have been quite consistent over the last few weeks. 80 mile weeks in singles isn't anything to write home about but its not too shabby either.  For those racing this weekend too, good luck. Next post, race report!

Beat Up

Feelin a little beat up this week. My IT band/hip area problem is persisting and i've generally felt pretty tired this week. I tend to feel like this at the changing of seasons and also get a perennial cold at the end of september-start of october. This added to the cumulative effect of sleeping on average 6.5 hours a night for the last few weeks has me feeling a bit run down. I decided to only do a half workout this wednesday because of this feeling and the fact that I had a good two weeks of training. Then on the long run on saturday I stopped after two loops of Elk/Beaver lake because my hip was getting really sore and to be honest I just "wasn't feeling it."  I still ended up running 26miles so its not a complete failure, and perhaps a blessing in disguise; if I had finished the run I might have dug myself a hole I couldn't get out of. I'll chock this up to a rest week.  I am a bit worried about my hip issue though. Typically I don't like to run with any sort of persistent aching or pain, but this has been right on the border so i've been running on it. I have admittedly been taking half-measures in treating it by just rolling on my nalgene bottle and a cue ball wrapped in electrical tape as well as doing some yoga but it is apparently not cutting it.  Today, even though I was feeling a bit tired and sore I decided to do a tough core/lower body workout. Relatively passive therapy doesn't seem to be doing the trick so i'll be putting some work into strengthening/lengthening the area, hopefully if I hit it hard over the next week or so i'll be relatively pain free for the marathon.  As for the next 2 weeks i'm going to do a workout every third day with hill reps being the first workout, mile repeats the second, and something marathon paced for the third, with a final half workout of again something around goal marathon pace a few days before race day. Other than that i'll be trying no to get sick!


Post script: going to stick to two workouts a week. Why mess with routine?

Need for Speed

Perhaps a sad day when 5 minute miles is considered speed work, but there it is.  Maybe three years ago halfway through an awful track session with Steve O and Richard Mosley I vowed to never set foot on a track again so when the idea of doing mile repeats sprang into my head earlier in the week I should have gotten my head checked out.  The track has always been the bane of my existence as a runner; I can count on one hand the number of good sessions i've had, and on no hands how many i've enjoyed. So, why on earth would I do it now, when i'm training for a 50mi race and an interim marathon?  Truth is, its exclusively for the marathon. I felt like I wouldn't have quite enough speed for the Edmonton marathon, which was maybe the case, but for the Victoria marathon this is definitely the case. I'll just say it: I want to run in the neighbourhood of 2:25 and thats going to require an ability to run at a decent clip. Thats 5:32/mi. I firmly believe you have to do some amount of work substantially below this pace in order to be capable of running it for a long period. That said, doing my original plan of 20-25km over and under race pace by maybe 5 seconds/km(8s/mi) wasn't really going to be as much of a differential as i'd like, hence the repeat miles.


It was a bit of gamble to allot a workout day for repeat miles because of the distinct possibility of getting pissed off and quitting halfway through, but in the end it worked out well. Heading down to the track at Oak Bay Secondary with my flats and water bottle in hand I was actually feeling ok about the whole prospect, planning to do 6 reps, 8 if I felt great. The aim would be to run 5mins for each 1600m(9meters short of a mile). Having no idea what kind of speed i'd have in my legs I felt this to be a reasonable expectation and wouldn't be surprised to be running as slow as 5:10.  So off I went in my T5s cruising around at 75 second laps to come in at 4:59.6 for the first one, feeling pretty good. As my track legs started coming back to me I was able to relax a bit and cruise through without killing myself to 4:59.4, 5:00.2. 4:58.9, 4:59.3, and 4:56.3.  All off 3 mins rest. Success! I didn't opt to do any more because after each one my left IT band/hip would tighten up making the first turn pretty uncomfortable, AND I peeled off a decent track workout!  Stoked. I realize 5 minute miles is not fast by any stretch of the meaning, but to be able to step on the track and do that workout was awesome and affirmed that doing hill repeats is every bit as good as track work to get fast and strong. Doing the actual fast paced work however is incredibly important to get the nerves and muscles firing, improving your efficiency at a quicker pace. In addition to this i'm doing some 'pick-ups' during my easy runs to get the legs moving on a regular basis.


In other news, alluded to earlier, my IT band/hip is causing me some grief. I can't really pin down the cause but it's likely the transition to running on pavement a lot more and thus not in my low-rise trail shoes, and the increased volume and consistency, as well as I suppose a lot more sitting around reading for school. I've been doing a couple yoga sessions a week but i'm going to have to probably add yet another and a couple of tougher poses directed at strengthening the stabilizers around the knee and hip. I really don't want any soreness going into the long run next weekend. That's about all for now. Two solid weeks in the books!

Week One in the Books

Week one of what? Of thirteen, of school, of my training for the TNF Endurance Challenge Championship 50mi trail race in San Francisco.


To be honest it was pretty great week, i'm super stoked about school; it appears to be everything I hoped it would be. Also as much reading as I expected. Though i'm not too practiced at it i'm enjoying that a lot of the learning process is based on discussion. Its been busy but it has also given me motivation, running wise. Every morning i've been up at 630 am ready to get out and run. It doesn't hurt that I am 10minutes away from running along the ocean while the sun is low in the sky and the tide is partially out so I can smell the ocean and someone's woodstove smoke laying low over the ground and water. The morning runs have been beautiful and serene. It brings back memories of camping on Haida Gwaii, more so than living near the ocean in Vancouver because you dont get as much of an ocean smell there; I suppose because there is more sea life clinging to rocks here when the ocean recedes. Regardless of the natural beauty here and the location of my residence I enjoy the early morning immensely. Not enough to turn me into a morning person however. My natural sleep cycle is to sleep in late and stay up late, but now that it is necessary to get up at dawn I get to see a part of the day I haven't spent much time in. Anywho, I am feeling on top of the world for the most part, and it incidentally is also the first week of the 30th year of my life.


SO, i've decided to do my first 50mile trail race and picked none other than The North Face 50mi, in San Francisco. It is a very competitive race held in the Marin Headlands. I've chosen it for a number or reasons, not the least of which is the prize purse. I'm not gonna lie, i'm a student and I could use a couple bucks so its as good a reason as any. Of course the money in the race draws some serious competition which should also be fun. Beside these points, I wouldn't normally travel all that way to gamble on running well in a race, but its also in my time zone, at the end of my semester, not at high elevation, and finally not any super long climbs which would handicap me, being that I have no access to mountains. Furthermore, its in the winter so I don't need to worry about allergies. So really, its the ideal race.


Now the reason i'm calling this 'week one' is because i'm taking this race seriously, all business. I have been pretty casual about my running this time around because I just want to enjoy it an do what I want but I want to be competitive in this race and that means training hard and being professional about it. So thats the plan. This week was the first week of that. I'm still sticking with only running once a day, even though i've felt motivated to double, doing a hill repeat workout mid week, and alternating a weekend long run and long workout. For example, this week I did hill reps on wednesday on Mount Tolmie, then today I did a 50mi long run. Next week i'll do hill reps again on wednesday or thursday depending on the recovery, then i'll do alternating 1000m, over and under marathon pace for 20-25k.  Then back to the original week the week after.  The reason i'm doing the marathon workout is so I can be ready to run well at the Vic marathon; once i'm done that i'll adjust that workout.  Fortunately I'm back to being a student so the consistency and routine required should complement each other.


The run today.  I'm not sure if i'm going to stick to my plan of doing a 50miler every other weekend. It was really tough(who knew?).  I headed out from my place with my hand held water bottle and enough fuel stuffed in my pockets for 6 hours. The plan was to run from my place to Elk/Beaver Lake park and do up to 6-10k loops, my house being 11.4km away it would be more than enough distance to potentially get a 50miler in. I headed out at around 7 I guess because when I was stashing my keys they fell down this hole which was almost inaccessible and fishing them out after the run was not gonna happen. Anyway, off I went ran out to the lake and started running loops of a great flat dirt trail which was very well marked so I didn't have to figure out where I was going. I rolled around the first loop in 42:01 and was a little worried it was too fast, but then ended up running with a new friend Tim for the second loop which felt easier but ended up being 42:08, so after he left I made an effort to slow down but failed running 41:06 for the third loop. My body forced me to slow down on the next loop which was good and bad. I slowed because my guts started acting up, but also couldn't stay on my nutrition plan of eating every 30mins. An hour later, around 4h30 I started to suffer. For my last 3 loops I ran 45:27, 44:46, and 49:00. The last loop I was relegated to a walk for 5mins while I ate a gel, drank water, and mentally regrouped. I made it through that loop, at a decent pace (not including the walk), partially because I told myself I would walk again for 5 mins after that loop as I started to run home. I stuck to this plan, again walking out of the park for 5mins, then running for 42mins to make the run end at 6 hours, hoping(and calculating) that it would be at least 50miles. The run into town was really tough because there was no shade whatsoever and the temperature was 23 degrees celsius, which for a dehydrated body feels much more. It turned out the run into town was potentially easier than the walk from my point of hitting 6hours to my house. Once I stopped my body just shut down and I could only walk a few houses at a time then had to sit down. It was an absolute sufferfest which I wasn't sure i'd be able to endure. Fortunately there was a convenience store on the way and I pulled out my emergency $5 and bought a coke, salt and vinegar chips, and a coffee crisp, saved! After eating my food and putting my legs up for a few minutes while digesting, the trip home was much easier(read: less excruciating).  And so that was my first 50mile run experience.  It ended up being decently quick at under 6 hours, but there is still a lot of work to do by December. Time to hit the books, happy trails!


Splits:
11.6km - 47:56
10k(21.6) - 42:01(1:29:57)
10k(31.6) - 42:08(2:12:05)
10k(41.6) - 41:06(2:53:11)
10k(51.6) - 45:27(3:38:38)
10k(61.6) - 44:46(4:23:24)
10k(71.6) - 49:00(5:12:24)(including 5mins walking)
9.1k(80.7) - 47:00(5:59:24)(including 5mins walking)

Back on the Roads: Edmonton Marathon

I returned to the roads on Sunday, running the Edmonton Marathon, but it was a different experience than I remember that is for sure. Heading into the race I was fairly relaxed knowing it wasn't really a huge focus of mine to go out there and kill myself trying to win, being that I hadn't trained specifically for a road marathon. What little apprehension I had was due to not having the speed in my legs and thus expecting it to feel like I was sprinting the whole way. Fortunately this wasn't really an issue. The only real problem heading into the race was the decision by my friend Shawn and I at 1pm Saturday to make a day trip out to Fort McMurray to see the Oil Sands with our own eyes. Its 4+ hours one way, which ended up as a 12 hour journey once I picked up my race package. In the end I managed to get at most 2.5 hours of sleep in before the race, however I didn't stress out about it because I never count on getting sleep the night before a race because often its a fitful one anyway. I had made sure to get 10+ hours friday night. SO, other than 10 hours in a truck and 2.5 hours sleep everything else leading up went perfectly, aside from being hungry at the start.


I'm unsure of why I was so hungry at the start, I had my customary 2 slices of toast and jam an hour before the race started so I should have been ok. Nevertheless I wasn't worried because I had sewn an extra pocket into my shorts so it would be easy to pack away 2 gels and carry one in each hand, thus having enough calories for 2.5 hours of running wasn't a concern. We showed up 15mins before the race so I jogged around a bit on a not so cool morning, hopped the fence to get to the front of the line, said a couple of hellos and off we went. My plan was to go out real easy because I knew it would take a while to get warmed up so I just jogged away and in a few hundred meters settled in with 3 other guys as we watched the eventual winner jog off into the distance. Very early on it was a race for second. My companions were Brendan Lunty(last years winner), David Corbett, and Geoff Hopfner. Following Brendan's lead we started clicking off 3:30kms which felt comfortable so I just stuck in with them and took a turn at the lead around 6k, then gave it back up to Brendan till about 20k. Being the hometown favorite I figured i'd let him lead away and i'd happily use his wind-shadow! I think around 17 or 18k Brendan and I seemed to be dropping David and Geoff, then at the water station around 20k I came out 10meters or so ahead of Brendan. Waiting for him for a couple hundred meters it didn't look as though he was trying to catch up and run with me so I decided to just get going a bit. We had been running about 3:36/km since about 12k maybe so I dropped it down to sub 3:30s till about 27k, where I decided I would take it easy for 5k, then push it for the last 10.195km.  Running alone I was fortunate to have a volunteer cyclist to show me the way and we chatted away which helped to pass the time. Apparently last year Brendan closed out fast the last 10k which prompted my plan of pushing hard the last 10k. 


Throughout the first half of the race the weather had been pretty great but also deceiving. The first half was obviously cooler because of the time of day, but also there were a lot of trees lining the streets so there was a lot of shade. Heading into the second out and back we were out in the open most of the time so it actually got quite hot out, and when you combine this with a shortage of liquids, taking 5k easy was probably the best thing I could have done. I generally don't do well in the heat but it wasn't as debilitating as I have felt in other races. So taking the 5k easy was a great plan, however my nutrition discipline had wavered. My plan was to take on a gel on the half hour, but because I was feeling so good at halfway I figured I would only have one more gel after 45mins. This was also somewhat of a precaution because I hadn't been taking on as much water as I would have liked and was worried about stomach issues with too much sugar in my stomach and not enough water. In the end, well in the last 10k, this plan would come back to haunt me a bit. Anyway, back to the race, after my 5k relatively easy I punched the split button on my watch and started moving quickly again, I brought it back down to 3:30/km but it was short lived and I settled into 3:35-3:37 territory for a while. Unfortunately as I said earlier I should have stuck with my nutrition plan because once I reached the top of the hill at 36km I was starting to struggle a bit energy-wise. As things started to feel rough I was was close enough to the finish that I didn't care too much to grind out the rest of the run. In fact I ended up not even taking on any water for fear that I would get a cramp or something. Basically I just wanted to be done and so I focused on staying efficient and just got my grind on. The last couple of kilometers were in the neighbourhood of 4:10-4:15, maybe slower, which was getting pretty ugly but the cheers and knowing I was close, and constant updates on which turns were up next from my cyclist Pete helped me to push on to the end. I came through at 2:35.09 which I was pleased with at the time and still am. Thanks to Brendan for the early pace work, Pete for the directions and company, and Brian Torrance for the elite organizing. It was a stretch to be considering me 'elite' after my absence.


The question is really what to make of it all. I was happy to be out there and running again, it was a familiar feeling to be running down the middle of a closed road, cruising through water stations, and running in a pack at a more or less comfortable pace, but I didn't really have the competitive fire. Not to say that I have ever had a raging competitive fire, but I felt more like I was racing alone than probably any other time i've raced on the roads. It could have been a training run or time trial. I suppose the reason I feel this way is because I hadn't built the race up and wasn't "marathon fit," and the fitness I had was for runs much longer, making the distance of the marathon of secondary difficulty to the actual pace I would have to run it. Having said this, I did enjoy the whole experience and came away with motivation to participate in a race again, AND to be a bit more focused in my training. Well, maybe not more focused but do a bit more marathon specific work leading up to the Victoria Marathon. I'm by no means planning to get into hardcore training for road racing again that is for certain, but I am also not averse to the idea of running a road marathon now and again.


Once my friend Shawn sends me the photos i'll share my Fort McMurray/Oil Sands Experience. Although the trip may have adversely affected my race it was important for me to see this project with my own two eyes. I wasn't shocked or surprised, it just made my convictions more concrete.


Next up, one last epic north shore run next week before I move on Thursday to Victoria!

W/E August 21

mon - 10mi
tues - 6mi w/ 1k(3:24)
wed - 6mi w/ 1600m(5:38)
thurs - 10mi
fri - off
sat - off
sun - 26.2mi - 2:35.09
~ 58mi


Well, this week I took it easy leading into the race and it worked out reasonably well. My legs were taking a long time to come around after the last long run the previous Wednesday, and well the whole of that week being tiring. I tried to do a bit of pace work this week and it probably helped a bit as the group I ran half the race in was running 3:30-3:36 km pace. I'll write up a race report soon. Next up, Victoria Marathon on October 9th. I think i'll try and get a bit of speed going before that one, and maybe a few road miles....or miles in general, 70mi/wk can only get you so far!

W/E August 14

mon - 6mi around town
tues - Off, resting
wed - Buntzen-Sasamat Lakes loop: 40 miles or so
thurs - Off, headed over to Victoria again, lots of biking around
fri - 10mi around town in Vic, hours of biking
sat - 10mi w/ sprint up 'Mount' Douglas in Vic.
sun - 14mi w/ 15 km @ 2:40 marathon pace
'bout 80 miles


Decent week of running, but again, nothing special. The long run on wednesday was really frustrating because I was in an area I had never run in before and took  a lot of wrong turns, eventually ending the run early because I was pretty tired anyway. I'll have to map it out again but it was a good 40 miles. I was over in Victoria yet again to do a housing search and came up successful on Saturday so that is a relief but my nutrition sucked while I was there, then I had to come back and work night shift Saturday night. SO, my semi-workout today was pretty lackluster. I did loops around the park where I do my hill repeat workout so its not exactly a flat route, but either way I had hoped that I would be able to run closer to 2:30 marathon pace(3:33.3/km) rather than the 3:49.6/km pace that I did run but that's just where my legs were at today and i'm not too concerned about it. The effort was where I wanted it to be. So there it is. The hay is in the barn for this one.


Post script: This week i'll take it pretty easy and make sure I do a mile or so at marathon pace each day and some strides to get the legs moving, but really I just need to eat and sleep well and hope that my legs don't feel quite so blown out come next Sunday.  I have also decided that I won't be wearing my calf sleeves for the race which I had originally intended. On my run today I felt that they could potentially become annoying in the later stages of the race and make me feel bit less efficient/fluid when i'm running. I do maintain that they keep my calves from getting too beat up, which would be helpful post race but i'm not too concerned about that, so long as my calves survive the race itself. The second consideration is that if its warm I will prefer not to have more skin covered. Looking forward to toeing the line!

W/E August 7

Mon - Coliseum/Burwell Mountain Run
Tues - 80-90mins biking
Wed - 13mi
Thurs - 6.5 mi city run
Fri - 10mi w/ hill sprints
Sat - 10mi
Sun - Pitch'n Putt Hills(1:49, 1:55, 1:56, 1:52, 1:54, 1:55 off 2:15) 1:53.5 avg
'round 85miles this week


All things considered this week was satisfactory. I was really happy with the long run but for some reason I couldn't sleep after it then I had to work a night shift, and I had planned to go straight to Victoria afterward to start my housing search. It turns out on a tuesday morning after a long weekend the number of people going back to Victoria on the ferry is ridiculous and so I missed the bus(only two bikes at a time). I would still make the ferry if I took a different bus and biked from Ladner to the terminal, not just biked, but hammered for 20 odd minutes full out. Then toward the end of the ferry trip I fell asleep and they had to wake me up to kick me off the boat, so again, no chance of putting my bike on the bus. So, I opted to bike into town since it was a nice day and I had run it before so biking should be easy. Anyway, it made for a long day being up since 730am the previous day. This combo added to being out of town made for a tiring week and it took me until Sunday to work up the motivation to do a work out. It ended up going reasonably well but I decided on an abbreviated version mainly out of mental weakness because my legs were surprisingly strong. So thats that, planning on another shot at the Buntzen loop on Wednesday and possibly the Delta Half marathon on Sunday depending on the work schedule. Happy trails.

Coliseum Mtn/Mt Burwell Run

I've been wanting to do this run for a while so ambition nearly got the best of me on this one. I'd been sick for a few days but felt a bit of energy back in my body on Sunday and so I figured I'd wake up at a reasonable hour and head out for a long run if I felt alright.  This was the case so I packed up and headed out the door around 830am on Monday. Compared to the run to Vic my bag felt very light with only a liter of water and whatever fuel I had in the house, about 6 hours worth I figure. I was still a bit congested so I knew my body wasnt 100% which prompted me to head out at an easier pace than I usually do. The plan was to at best run up Coliseum and back, not knowing really how long it would take, or to run up then take the bus back from Lynn Headwaters park. So it took me a few minutes longer to get into the bush on the Seymour river than usual, but I was feeling alright and the climb from the west side of the river over to Lynn Headwaters park went reasonably well. Having taken on a decent amount of water I stopped and refilled my bladder in Lynn creek and continued my conservative jog out to the trail-head for Coliseum. A detailed map of Lynn Headwaters trails is here. It's about a 7k approach which has a very slight climb to it.

From the turn off it abruptly starts up hill roughly following the valley carved by Norvan Creek, which is actually pretty steep at points. The hike over all is apparently 10% grade, but there were many sections which reminded me of the BCMC(parallel to Grouse Grind). There were also some up and down sections which brought the average down. Unlike the ascent of Grouse and Seymour the trail is far less used and maintained, in fact, the "Trail Closed due to Unsafe Snow Conditions" sign was still up. Needless to say the trail was very technical and slow going at the best of times. There was a lot of mud, snow, creeks, rock chutes, steep root ladders, and the hardest climbs were in the snow where I had to kick my toes in so I didn't slide down. Despite the mud etc. below the alpine things went reasonably well but once I reached the alpine and snow my body was pretty much done. This wasn't a great point to get tired because the steep slog up the snow was going to be far more tiring that I had expected. Well, I knew it would be tiring but perhaps I thought i'd be tougher! Anyway, I followed the footsteps of some hikers who I passed on the way up, which helped with the traction, but the slipping in the snow was getting to me and I was very quickly running low on energy so I kept my eyes on the peak and slogged on. Once I reached what I had thought was the summit I quickly realized the true summit was behind this and I would have to head down the snow for about 50m or so(elevation) then up another 150m or so! This was pretty deflating but I wasn't about to stop now, I figured it would only be another 30mins, so off I went, and this time I had a couple of people to run after who were nearly up the true summit. Even though I was exhausted this part of the run was my favorite because I have been looking forward to running in the alpine for months now, among the mountain peaks. It was stunningly beautiful. Heading up the the main peak was absolutely brutal and the steep snow had me reduced to a slow hike, but at that point I just didn't care, the beauty was all that was keeping my will to live intact. I ended up making it alive.

SO, I tweeted that I set a new time-spent-on-the-legs PB of 6h51m, but that's a bit of a lie because when I reached the summit I ended up taking my shoes, socks and calf sleeves off, eating a powerbar and laying down/walking around for an hour. There weren't even many flies around, at least bite-y ones, which made it a great break. Anyone who hikes now and again can appreciate the serenity of being atop a mountain and more than anything I wanted to soak up the beauty and the feeling. It actually did take nearly an hour for me to get motivated to run back down, and when I did pack up and head out my legs were still feeling pretty done. As I ascended the lower peak again, I realized my legs pretty well had nothing in them and I probably would have to take the bus home as soon as I could find one. Not only were my legs cooked but on my way down I took a bit of a wrong turn and started on the trail down to the Seymour river. I was busy looking at my feet as I slid down the snow and didn't realize which footprints I was following. Rookie mistake! Always do your own trail finding and use footprints as confirmation, especially with snow melting rapidly! I wasn't interested in taking that route down so I did a bit of bush whacking/rock climbing to get back onto the trail I came up on. Energy I was not pleased about expending. Once I was back on trail I mentally regrouped and continued the quick decent, filling up my spent water bladder at a creek on the way. 

The descent, including the detour was only 20mins quicker than the ascent because the trail was so technical and the risk of falling was too great to get any kind of speed. In fact I did put my heel down first a couple of times and had it slip out from under me, nothing serious though.  I enjoyed the jog down quite a bit but as with any long descent after about 1000m your knees have had enough and you really just want to be done with it. Once I did reach the trail-head at 190m elevation(the peak was 1446m) I was pleasantly surprised by my legs coming back to me. On the run back to the Lynn Headwaters park entrance my legs felt quite good so I kept drinking lots of water and eating what was left of my fuel and kept the run going all the way to Dollarton Highway on the north side of the Second Narrows Bridge. I was and am super stoked about how good I felt for the last 90+mins of this run. I was having doubts about my ability to run really long distances but it appears(although not clear because of the hour break) that I can rebound and feel energetic and strong after being in the depths of despair. I mapped the run and the link is below however the distance is wrong. On the map-my-run that I did, the distance to the top of the mountain was 28km or so from my house, but on the Club Tread site the distance from the trail-head to peak, round-trip is 23.6km, which, would then make the 'out' portion of the run roughly 8km further. This distance of ~36km makes more sense to me because the peak was parallel to the Seymour Dam, which I ran before and was mapped on the road to be 28km. The way to Coliseum also has some switchbacks which the other route doesn't. ANYWAY, that probably sounds confusing but i'm gonna go with the longer estimate of 36km because it makes me feel better giving me a total distance of about 62km. 

Here's some photos I took along the way:

Wikkid run. Next week: another crack at the Buntzen loop I hope.



POST SCRIPT:  After looking at google earth again, it turns out the first summit was in fact the summit of Coliseum Mountain, and the final peak I went to was the summit of Mount Burwell(1541m). Oops!

W/E July 31

Mon - 7mi city run
Tues - Pitch'n Putt Hills(1:56, 1:55, 1:55, 1:56, 1:56, 1:57, 1:56, 1:56, 1:58 off 2:15) 1:56.1 avg
Wed - 10mi w/ hill sprints
Thurs - Off(Sick)
Friday - Off(Sick) + core workout
Sat - 10mi
Sun - 10mi w/ hill sprints
'Bout 50mi total


Kind of a lackluster week. I felt a cold coming on early in the week, which is why I did the hill workout a bit early, and it finally took hold after my second last night shift, then, I worked a double(more or less) and it came on with a vengeance. Fortunately it seems to be progressing very quickly and I MIGHT be able to do a long run tomorrow. It would be ideal since I have to head to Victoria and find a place to live on Tuesday. Legs had some 'go' in them today so i'm still feeling optimistic. Happy trails!

Death March to Vic

I can't even say 'it sounded like a good idea at the time.' Because I knew before embarking on this run that it was going to be pretty tough. I got it in my head that I would run to Victoria after my night shift on thursday night because I had plans to go to the island and why not pack light and run over. I knew it would be tough coming off a night shift but I didn't think too much of sleeping for a few hours then heading over. So anyway, the plan was to run from my house to the Massey Tunnel under the Fraser River and catch the bicycle shuttle through the tunnel(you can't bike or walk through), then run from the south side of the tunnel to the Tsawassen ferry terminal, and finally run from Swartz Bay ferry terminal into town. The trick would be to get to the tunnel by 9 am because the shuttle only went through every hour. I was off work at 7am, and the run was 17.5 km, so I figured I would need at most 80mins to get there and have enough time. Unfortunately I wasn't very organized and hadn't brought my bike to work, nor packed my bag, so I walked quickly home and packed, and was out the door at about 7:50. I had no interest in just barely missing the shuttle so I hammered it pretty hard out there knowing it would probably bury me for the rest of the run. I managed to run out there in 63mins, which is only 3:45/km, but wearing a backpack that was no less than 15lbs made it much harder than you'd expect.


After this stretch I realized I was in for a very long day, and that brining my Vans was a bad decision. They are pretty much just hunks of rubber and unnecessarily heavy. The weight of the bag, with jeans, two shirts, a sweater, track pants and jacket, spare socks and unders, fuel, glasses, water and the shoes, actually, when combined with all the pavement running, was making my knees fairly sore. Not too bad, but enough to worry about.  From the south side of the tunnel I eased off on the pace running about 4:25/km for that 16.5km. Getting to the ferry I hadn't consumed nearly enough fuel through the night at work nor the run out to the tunnel, and what I had tried to eat on the way to the ferry was not sitting well. I figured my guts would work themselves out while I slept on the boat so I ate a power bar and a couple of fruit bars and promptly passed out.


Waking up at Swartz Bay ferry terminal my legs were already sore, and I actually had thoughts of phoning my brother to pick me up but earlier in the run I had this thought that it was kind of neat to have a symbolic run to Vic being as i'm moving there in a months time. I hadn't thought of this before the run but there is something appealing about the idea of going on foot. Anywho, off I went feeling decently energized after some sleep, running Lochside Trail through the Saanich Peninsula into Victoria. It is a reasonably pretty run, but much of it was lost on me. I ran the first 10k fairly well, which was primarily on asphalt, then through the next 10k things got tougher with some nice soft trail but also some very low grade asphalt that was very hard on the feet. At this point the day was heating up as well and I was just starting to suffer. The last 10k I ran out of fuel stores and water. I tried to take on fuel with a touchy stomach, but without water this was hard so I ended up just giving up on trying to refuel. This meant the last few kms were going to be brutally slow. In fact I took numerous walking breaks of about 15 seconds just to mentally regroup. I even went so far as to check on my phone to see how much distance I had left, it was a miserable crawl toward my brother's house. In the end I made it though, I stopped at a convenience store close to my bro's house and had a water and the most satisfying Coca-Cola I have ever had. All told it was around a 65km day. The difficulty didn't come from the distance itself but from the lack of sleep and nutrition, the "heavy" backpack, and the 60+km worth of pavement pounding. 


In retrospect, well actually even at the time, I kind of figured it wasn't the best idea, and in the end maybe it wasn't as I think I might be coming down with a cold(that may or may not have to do with the rest of the weekend). My knees also took quite a beating. Though the knees are feeling better because I felt it appropriate to take a couple days off to let them heal up. Today they feel better and I had a pretty kick ass hill rep session averaging 3 seconds per rep faster than last week. So I would say physically it was an OK idea, but it was a good adventure so i'm gonna give it the thumbs up, but won't be doing that again.

W/E July 24

Mon - 10mi + 5x hill sprint
Tues - 10mi + core workout
Wed - Pitch 'n Putt Hills(1:55, 2:00, 2:01, 2:01, 2:02, 2:00, 2:02, 1:55 off 2:15)
Thurs - Off
Fri - Run to Victoria(~65k) report forthcoming
Sat - Off(shattered)
Sun - Off(much better)
Things didn't quite workout the way I hoped/planned, but it was still a good week of running. Somewhere in the neighbourhood of 65-70 miles.

I'm Training

There I said it.  Although i've been 'back at it' for a few months now I have maintained that I am not 'training,' in the sense that i'm just going running when I feel like it and not forcing any structure or getting stressed out about missing runs, and most of all allowing myself to cancel runs guilt free.  So what's different now, and why have I given that up? The main reason is that I have decided to head out to Edmonton and do the marathon on August 21. I haven't gotten out of town yet this summer and I have a couple of close friends in Edmonton so I decided it was a good opportunity to go out there and i'm familiar with racing there as well. I raced in Edmonton at Canadian Half-marathon championships in 2005, then again later that year at World Half-marathon championships, I had also started the half marathon in 2004 I think but dropped out, and placed 4th in the half marathon in maybe 2007, I really can't remember. So i've had mixed results out there but i'm looking forward to going and pounding out 42k, and seeing what I can do.


I'm interested to see how fast I can run because in the late summer early fall of 2008, I had retuned to school and was just getting in shape doing quite a bit of hill training. In fact it was one of the first times I really felt like I was a strong hill runner. Anyway, I jumped into the Victoria Half marathon with no expectations and I ended up winning in1:08:50. Now I realize the time is nothing to write home about but it was a surprise at the time and the ease at which I did it was a surprise. So, although for some reason I don't 'feel' like i'm a strong hill runner, the fact is i've been doing hill reps and running up mountains for at least a couple of months now, and I figure adding a little structure and honing some speed might surprise me again.


What i'm NOT interested in is being surprisingly slow, so i'm moving from a place of running casually with a few workouts and long hard runs, to being a little more disciplined to ensure i'm ready to run well. Even though i'm doing some over-distance and over-time runs, you still have to respect the marathon distance. The plan to achieve this is a relatively simple one and that is to make sure i'm doing a hill rep session and a long run at least every 10 days. The reason I say this is because I still intend on doing some very long runs, which naturally take a little more recovery, so every week might be a bit too much to ask. In addition to this i'm adding in hill sprints at the end of two off-day runs a week, which I feel are an excellent supplement to training by increasing efficiency. I will also be much more disciplined with the core workouts, doing two each week and run 7 times per week...there was a time when I ran 13 times per week so I feel like 7 is reasonable!  Of course doing some marathon specific stuff would be a good idea like some LT runs and so on, but i'm not willing to go that far. I still want to continue getting strong on long climbs. Lastly, i'm going to have to do a few runs on the roads to be sure my legs aren't too shocked come race day. Part of that plan will likely be to do the Delta half-marathon the week prior to Edmonton.


So, there it is, still a roadie for now I guess. I'll post a log on Sundays.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

I think the overarching reason my run yesterday failed was because I was far to casual about going for a very long run. But it's a good exercise to break it down into specifics as this is a learning process, getting into the longer stuff. I had planned this run for a few days but wasn't treating it with the respect it deserved. The weather was heating up, which should have prompted me to make sure I was well hydrated from the outset(well I suppose this is standard for any run), and I should have left early in the morning, I left at 10 AM. Granted it was only around 18 degrees or so, but this is plenty hot for me. I have been keeping up with Alex's Sweat Science blog so I have been trying to subscribe to the idea that the detriment of running in the heat is mostly in your head, so I kept telling myself this as I was running. The problem is the lack of acclimatization, not just from the summer finally starting but from having a foot of black hair on my head this summer as well! The other problem with heat regulation was the fact that I was wearing a shirt, where I would normally go shirtless. The reason for the shirt was because I didn't trust that my backpack wouldn't wear away my skin, I just didn't want to take the chance, so again I was warmer than I am used to.


The other aspect I did not give enough respect to was my body's recovery from work. Over the long weekend I worked 4 night shifts in a row which made my sleep patterns far from normal(particularly with the sunny weather) and took a lot more out of me than I thought. I didn't feel very good from the beginning of the run but expected to improve as things progressed. So in retrospect I should have scheduled the run after another day of rest/normal sleeping patterns, or at the very least paid closer attention to my nutrition since working over-night also wreaks havoc on that.


Those were the two major factors contributing to my abortion of the run after 2 hours and bussing back into the city from Port Moody. Fortunately I brought a change of clothes which mitigated the discomfort of the people around me. Although there ware a few stinky men on there whose smell was probably attributed to me. On a positive note, I ran some new trail on the bottom of Burnaby mountain and found the Trans-Canada Trail link-up to the Inlet Trail to be some pretty decent rolling single track, despite partially skirting the industry along the shore. I have since mapped out a more solid route for the rest of the run and plan to take another crack at this ~45mi loop out to Buntzen/Diez Vistas.


In other news, the fueling experiments continue. I had picked up some E-Load, E-disc electrolyte tablets to try out a few days ago. But once I got them home I compared the Sodium and Potassium levels to that of the FruitSource 'plus Veggie,' fruit leather bars I had picked up and discovered the fruit bar already contains two tabs worth of those elements in each bar! BUT as you would expect, these bars are considerably more dense than the ones without the veggie(which don't have near the amount of Sodium and Potassium).  SO, they appear to be a good source of these elements but after having one I was having issues with burping up my stomach contents.....so perhaps a little less water, or just stick with the non-veggie, and try the E-discs. Incidentally the 'plus Veggie,' is singular for a reason, its literally just Carrot added. The journey continues.

14.5min/mi

Awesome run. I had some things to do on the weekend so I decided to scrap the hill rep workout this week and go for a long run on Friday, rain or shine. It did both. My original plan was to do somewhat of an add-on to a run I did last Sunday with Adam Campbell, Ed and Tom McCarthy, where we went from Lynn headwaters up Grouse Mtn, around Mt. Fromme, across Lynn Creek, and back to the headwaters picnic/visitor info site. The add-on/change was, at most, going to be to run up Capilano road and Nancy Greene Way, up BCMC to the Grouse Chalet, down Mtn. Hwy, onto the mtn bike trails around Mt. Fromme, across Lynn Creek, take the upper-Lynn Headwaters trail to Lynn Peak Trail-head, up Lynn Peak and back, down to Twin Bridges across the Seymour River, up the powerlines, Mushroom connector to Old Buck, Perimeter and up to Mt. Seymour parking lot, then make my way back down to Deep Cove.  I decided running up the paved road was a boring idea so I scrapped the first part, and by the time I got to Mt. Seymour, though beautifully sunny, I scrapped the idea of going up to the parking lot feeling satisfied with the run. Here is a terribly inaccurate map of the run(click to enlarge).

So, apparently I only ran about 20miles. I'm not sure how to convert this to a reasonable distance, because a large portion of the run was very technical, how much further it makes the run I have no idea, nor does it really matter. But with a total time of 4 hours 51mins that makes for about 14.5 mins per mile, aka dirt slow! What an awesome run though.


So I ended up starting up the BCMC trail which more or less parallels the famous Grouse Grind trail but has much less stair climbing and more rock/root climbing. Needless to say my first mile took about 35minutes, not the best way to warm up legs. At this point it wasn't raining very hard so it wasn't as unpleasant as it could have been. Close to the top I took a small wrong turn and ended up running up the lower Ski run up the snow but that was exactly parallel to the trail, once I reached Mtn Hwy, or the road that ends at the Chalet I headed down the road for a bout 5mins but soon ran into a young black bear(3.5k mark), which incidentally we had run into last Sunday. Evidently this was its eating area and was unfazed by my presence, despite talking and ringing my bear(dinner) bell at it for 10minutes. It started to rain pretty good at this point and I was getting cold so I decided to concede the road and I climbed up the snow bank and cut through the bush across the small creek between Seymour and Fromme. I was a little annoyed that the bear couldn't share the road but in all fairness I was interrupting its snack time, in its home, and cutting through the bush is fairly easy when you are on 4-5ft of snow.


From here I ran the dirt road for about 3k, then headed into the Mtn Bike trails which skirt Mt. Fromme and continued around the base of the Mtn up the west side of Lynn valley for a couple of kilometers until you reach a big'ol cedar tree about 4 meters across(2hr point). This section of trail is really gorgeous despite the fact it was absolutely dumping rain at this point(which is why I didn't take a photo). Before heading down for the creek crossing I bagged up my phone and earphones just incase I fell into the drink, and off I went down to Lynn Creek. Compared to last week the creek was less shockingly cold, I think because I was sporting calf sleeves, however the after effects were the same; feeling like you are running on stumps then a strange very warm feeling in the feet and lower legs. The creek actually looked really cool with the pouring rain and mist hanging over, taking a minute wasn't really an option however! The creek woke me up a bit which was good because it was a bit of a slog to the base of the Lynn Peak trail, the rain was really coming down in Lynn valley, the trail was a muddy mess and was drenched head to toe and barely warm enough. I didn't want to go into my bag and put more clothes on because I was hoping to save the dry clothes for the bus ride home from deep cove. I figured I would start warming up more as I started the climb up Lynn Peak. Taking the upper trail along Lynn creek isn't exactly a walk in the park either so despite my legs feeling pretty decent, it was mentally quite tiring.


One of the reasons I ended up deciding not to go all the way up Seymour is because I severely underestimated the technical difficulty of the Lynn Peak climb. I had done this trail as a hike once before but didn't remember how difficult it was. It isn't extremely steep at 16.2%, decently long at 731m elevation gain, but the real issue was that the first 1/3 or more was essentially a rock garden, with everything from pebbles to large rocks, and the rest was very 'rooty' and combined with torrential rain it was challenging. Fortunately my legs actually felt much better than they did on the climb up Grouse, now that they were warmed up, but my thoughts were on the descent and how mentally sharp I would have to be not to slip and split a knee open. I reached the peak look-out at exactly 3 hours and took a couple of minutes to take in the great view of east Vancouver and Burnaby as the cloud cover was just above me and the clouds seemed to be breaking down the Seymour valley. After gathering myself I started the descent, eating a fruit leather to help with the mental alertness and kept a close eye on all the rocks and roots on the way down. Due to the level of technicality on the trail there was a lot of jumping and stomping around so my legs were pretty beat up by the time I reached the bottom, which made the well groomed path a welcome change from the trail-head down to the Twin-Bridges crossing of the Seymour River and to the turn off linking to the Powerline trail. Through this easy and mostly downhill section it was nice to be able to open up a bit and stretch the legs out so I ended up getting going pretty quick for once on this run!


Although I was moving well over the gravel path section I was also getting mentally prepared for the climb up Seymour. I had decided I would only go up the Powerline trail and turn off at Mushroom but I knew the climb would be tough anyway. To add to the difficulty my stomach had begun to turn because I was not being diligent enough with my water intake. Something about being rained on seems to make me think less about taking on water internally. Due to the lack of water the fruit leathers were not being digested properly and starting to give me problems. Fortunately as I descended to the Seymour the sun came out and it immediately turned into a beautiful day. The climb was fairly uneventful just about a 300m grind, and knowing it was the last major climb made it mentally easier than the others. I am also familiar with the rest of the route so I felt as though I was on the home stretch. I had one more stop however at 4h15 because I ran into an irresistible salmon berry patch. Although they were still a bit tart, after 4+ hours of running they were heaven, and the brief stop actually settled my stomach for a little while. From there I cruised in to deep cove feeling pretty good energy-wise despite not being able to eat much in the last hour due to stomach problems.


Reaching Deep Cove in the sun was a welcome sight and I promptly removed my shoes and calf sleeves and headed into the ocean to soak my legs, but after seeing some kids swim out to the dock I couldn't resist diving in myself. Unfortunately a cloud came and foiled my ability to dry off or warm up afterward. Critical mistake! After a paper towel dry, and getting changed I was pretty much shivering uncontrollably so I bought a large tea and drank it before it could even steep. Anyway, I survived in the end and am super stoked about having a pretty epic run.


Lessons learned:
1) Do some kind of warm up before a 850m climb at 30%
2) Do not expect a grazing bear to get out of your way
3) Make-shift calf-sleeves (from butchered compression socks) work great. My longest and most technical run yet and my calves felt great after(aka not terrible). Also good insulation for creek crossings.
4) Do not rely on thirst to cue hydrating when its pouring rain
5) Always stop for fresh berries
6) No matter how inviting the Ocean is, take a quick look at the cloud cover.


Looking forward to the next long run, I think I will pick a faster route next time so I can cover a few more miles and get some turnover.

Dam Run - 56km

Mt. Seymour

Back at it. I was a bit unprepared for this run but it turned out really well. I had a book to return to the SFU library so I was going to do a city route trail run and avoid any more late charges. At the last minute I thought better of it and sucked up the $1 charge, and headed to the north shore again. Due to this last minute change I had to just scramble to find some food to bring along since I wasn't stocked. Well, to be honest at this point I don't even know what I should be stocked with because I don't know what kind of food my stomach is going to be able to handle at this point other than Power Gels. So anyway I went to the Chevron convenience store and picked up some of those fruit leather things to try out. I also grabbed the last of my banana chips. I had thought earlier in the week that my long run would be to run over to and up Mt. Seymour and see how long it took me, that is, running from my house because I feel like bussing over to the Shore is pretty time consuming. My foot is still a bit sore so I decided to wear my Brooks Ghost trainers, they are decently light and seem to protect my foot problem, and I would be putting in a decent amount of road miles getting over to Tsleil-waututh territory.

Mt. Seymour from Second Narrows Bridge

So I filled up my water bladder and headed out the door snaking my way through east vancouver over to the Second Narrows or Ironworkers Memorial Bridge over to the Shore and up Riverside Drive to the trail. Luckily there was a gravel path all along the drive so I only had about 11k of pavement pounding. From there I headed up the trail that follows the Seymour River until the turnoff which follows the powerlines across the mountain. It takes me about 20mins to make the climb up and I decided I would follow the trail past Mushroom Trail down to the Old Buck intersection. It turns out this intersection is a fair bit lower than the connector so I lost some elevation there but the point of the run was to also get familiar with the trails. Heading up Old Buck I was feeling good and just grinding away, I had two of the fruit leather things and they went down really well which was a relief, but as I connected onto the Perimeter trail further up the mountain I ran into snow at I think around 800m elevation. Fortunately the trail markers were easy to spot because there was a some windfall/deadfall on the trail...

but not too much, just a few big trees. From about this point it was a bit of a scramble through the snow. 

There were some areas where the snow was hard enough that I could continue to run a bit but other parts where I would fall through the snow unexpectedly not to mention stepping in frigid water now and again. It was pretty fun actually but once I finally came out on one of the cross country ski trails I was getting pretty tired of slipping around and happy to get onto some more consistent footing. My foot was only sinking a couple of inches into the snow on the ski trails so it wasn't too bad.  Once I got to the top I decided I would take the road down part way to avoid the snow, although it was fun, it was more of a novelty I think! I had some tourists take a quick shot of me at the top, then I actually had to put my gloves on as I headed down the hills since it was a bit chilly up there.

Unfortunately I ended up running down the road further than I needed to because the trail actually comes very close to one of the road switchbacks whereas I was planning to get back on the trail where the connector crosses the road near Mushroom parking lot. Anyway, the road section was probably the least pleasant of the run but was only about a 20minute section. Getting back onto the trail the section from the road back down to the powerlines was a bit rocky and I had to be a little careful as the odd rock would get my foot in just the wrong spot but other than that my legs were feeling good and so was the energy level. The somewhat steep downhill of the powerlines wore on me a bit by the time I got down to the river but again it wasn't as bad as the descent I made down Elizabeth a few years ago(the mountain on the right).  From there I cruised along the river and back on to the pavement but things go tough there. Probably the combination of running out of fuel, the pavement, and no longer having the shade of the trees, along with the climb up the bridge got to me and I really had to get my grind on. Oh and having run longer than I ever have before...time-wise anyway.  But that only lasted another 20mins or so and I tapped-out about 3kms from my house, picked up some potato chips, coke and a protein bar and walked home, slowly.

It was definitely an excellent run and I learned a few things on it:

1) Fruit leather things are digestible and taste good

2) Banana chips are out, gave me upper GI gas

3) Bring a spare hair tie

4) Think about bringing a map next time

5) Bus there, run back. Running with 5lbs of water in a backpack on pavement sucks

I tried to do the Map My Run thing. The quality of the image is representative of my computer skills and patience for things computer related. It is also only roughly half-way, and in miles.

I realize it looks as though I ran to Dog Mountain but that one is just west of Seymour. I think i'll experiment more with this map my run stuff. 

Well thats it for this week. Very happy with the run and running for nearly 4 hours. My longest run before this was a 3 hour run I did a few years ago, however I also covered 30miles, so it is still my longest run distance wise.

Racing

Last week I said I was excited to race so that I could test myself and get a gauge on my fitness level but apparently that must have come from how I felt as a road racer or something. As things have tended to go in this return to running, the racing experience was not like I remember. Part of this change has come about because of personal development but a big part of the change is the fact that the race is on the trails, and the discipline, trail running, for me, and I think many people is really a different sport than road or track running, perhaps even cross-country running. I don't know that I can articulate it accurately but when I toed the line on Sunday and started racing it felt strange to me, perhaps its because I automatically got into road racing mode but was running through the forest and this clash didn't compute. Maybe it was the fact that I was wearing a number and this mass of people were going to be charging though to forest that seemed odd. Although the North Shore trails are very close to the bustling city, to me, it is still the Forest and distinctly separate, so being part of a large group of people, a mass of humanity charging through the bush with our numbers, water bottles, back packs, and other fancy equipment somehow felt 'off' to me.  This is possibly the small town boy in me talking. I did happen to grow up where I could run trails and dirt roads for miles and not see another human.  I don't mean to sound as though I have any contempt for such an event, it is just a very different experience between having a throng of people running through the streets and buildings and running through the trails and trees.

My race itself was cut short by my own choosing at about halfway, but I suppose i'll start from the beginning. We started off at Cleveland park and headed up to the Grouse Mountain Skyride parking lot via the road then headed down the powerline dirt road over to the Baden Powel trail. The first ~25mins was more or less up hill the whole way and I stuck with Mark Bennett through this section creating a bit of gap on him with the short downhills, while who I assumed was Adam Campbell was up ahead and a kid I recognized from the roads from UBC up ahead of him. Once I reached the top of this climb I let it go on the downhills which I discovered last week was a strength of mine and caught up with Adam 5 or 10mins before the Lynn Creek bridge aid station. We ran together and chatted for a bit but after crossing the bridge I stepped on a sharp piece of gravel right on the ball of my big toe. I actually don't remember the precise point but it was very sore and I found I couldn't really use my big toe much. I tried to keep the pace going for a while but once we passed the start line of the Tender Knee race, which is about halfway, I decided I had better throw in the towel since I could get a ride to the finish from there. The thought process was that I could grind out the second half of the race adjusting my stride and falling off the pace and potentially seriously injure myself, or I could drop out and be running again in a couple of days. Being that this race meant little to me and being able to simply go running on a daily basis means so much to me the decision was an easy one to make. Perhaps mostly because of this rationalization I actually didn't care much at all about dropping. However, after thinking about it, it is partly the different feeling about racing on the trails I described above and my very different mentality about running I now have which gave me this lack of disappointment with dropping out. I can't really say for sure because I really have this ongoing sense of discovery with running these days.


That said, I had a few goals in the back of my mind for the year but i've decided to throw them out the window for now, aside from the one of getting and staying healthy. I'll continue to do a hill repeat workout mid-week because in a masochistic way I enjoy it, and it is the biggest bang for your buck workout you can get, in my books anyway. On the weekends I am just going find some beautiful places to run. 

A Long Month

Its actually been well over a month since I first developed pain in my lower back area and its been a bit trying at times but it has also been a learning experience. I really had no idea how complicated the hip area is, and I guess that is because I had never thought about it before. We are the only bi-pedal animals out there so it makes sense that the area that keeps us upright and keeps our spine perpendicular to our hips/pelvis is fairly complicated. I spent a few bucks on massage treatment that managed to make me somewhat functional but it was really the hours spent rolling around on the floor with a tennis ball and looking up photos online which taught me the most about the area. As I loosened up the initial problem, then the secondary problem and so on, I discovered eventually that it was a combination of a groin issue I have had for a few years and an IT band issue i've had for a long time.  The groin is fairly easy to loosen up but the IT band takes a little more work and time. This time around its a different part of the IT band that is the problem. Where the discomfort used to be in the lower part around the knee, now the problem lies in the origin of the IT band in the external lip of the iliac crest. Anyhow, it's very much under control and getting better all the time, so much so that I am actually starting to feel efficient rather than fighting against my body. I noticed this the most on my hour run yesterday while quite sore all around from my Sunday run on the north shore.

In other news, I'm pretty fired up about the race next weekend. Upon returning to running my aim wasn't to get out racing again, but to get out and enjoy running far and on the awesome trails here in Vancouver, however I find myself looking forward to getting out and testing myself. By testing myself I mean getting a gauge on my fitness level by seeing how my time on a particular course measures up to current and past performances. I have never had a particularly competitive mindset, at least nothing like i've seen in other people, so its not the anticipation of a fight that has me excited but getting on the trails  without my backpack of gear wearing my New Balance Minimus Trail shoes I just bought.

I actually took these out on the trails on Sunday and they performed beautifully. It was difficult to purchase a pair of shoes since i've been lucky enough to have been given shoes from Brooks for a while, but wow, these shoes are great. They are essentially a racing flat with grip, but of course they are more than that because a racing flat would fall apart on the gnarly north shore trails in no time. About the only thing they wouldn't be good for is running down a rock garden, at least not for my feet at this point. They don't afford much protection on the mid-foot. Other than that i'm in love with them. Any shoe you can throw on bare foot and do a two hour run in and not get a single blister is a winner in my books. My lower legs are a little beat up today(two days out) but thats to be expected, and I also bombed the last 20 mins of the run which didn't help.  Hopefully they will be well enough to do a solid hill repeat workout tomorrow then i'll take it easy till Sunday and post a race report!