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.