Week Ending Feb 26

Feb 20 - 26 Build week (last build leading up to first race of the year)

Feb 20: hiked 5.26 km at knox mtn in 1 hr 46 minutes with 500 metre elev gain. Was a beautiful day to go hiking at a friends pace, lots of detours and discovered some trails I've never run on that will be super fun to descend the mountain with.

Feb 21: 107 minutes, 115 metre elev gain, 21.83 km; ran to UBCO and back on the roads, raining and slushy road. Felt like a good run though at a easy/steady pace. Massage therapy appointment later that night, worked my groin muscles good, talked about more stretches to be done for that area as its feeling a little tighter than other areas, and was reminded to ice more post run.

Feb 22: 75 minutes, 174 metre elev gain, 15.17 km: hilly tempo 10 km in 44:18, with warm up and cool down runs after. Muscles still felt a little non-fully healed after massage, but not too bad. Forgot to make ice, so just had an insanely cold shower after running.

Feb 23: 78 minutes, 358 metre elev gain, 11.33 km; easy running in scenic canyon park. Didn't mean to go this long, but those trails are hard for me to go for just a short run on. Again, super cold shower in lieu of icing.

Feb 24: 39 minutes, 59 metre elev gain, 7.43 km; post work recovery run, definitely feels better to run after work. Again, icy cold shower in lieu of icing.

Feb 25: no run. Finally remembered to make room in the freezer for ice cube trays though.

Feb 26: 328 minutes, 1266 metre elev gain, 50.06 km; long run with pace. 8.5 km loops. First four loops in (55:28, 51:29, 48:22, 49:39) then 10.75 km in 1:13:54 (much slower pace on purpose) and a 5.39 km cool down in 50:23. Felt solid the whole way. The loops were much more enjoyable the first three times when I had company.



Weekly Totals: 12 hrs 13 minutes (1 hr 45 were easy hike though), 2378 metre elev gain, 111.08 km.


Fourth longest kilometre totals for a week ever, and I feel better than I did last week. Super excited about the possibilities for the 50 km race in 13 days. Six months ago I ran the Frosty 50 k in 6 hrs 5 minutes, and today I ran 50 km in 5 hrs 25 mins. Granted today was 350 metre elev gain less, but the conditions were rougher on the trails (snow), and today I felt like I had much left in the tank having purposely run slower than I felt capable the last 90 minutes and walking the last 15 minutes. I don't really have a time goal for the race, other than to do what feels right. I have started wearing a heart rate monitor though, and will try and keep myself from going above 160 bpm, and keep in the 145 range until at least aroun 38 km or so and see how I feel there and push hard to the finish or keep at the pace. Either way, I'm excited going into a race feeling properly prepared and I will have done a successful taper as well.

Was watching some tv show and there was a quote that's been on my mind; "Your dreams won't chase themselves". I don't know if my 'dreams' are necesarily based on running, but I know that by chasing passions built around running I will keep working towards something better than what I have been before.



I've really been enjoying this song. It's perfect for that moment of reflection when your sitting on the trunk of your car after a 50 km run, eating your double stack peanut butter and jam sandwich, and staring out at a view of the lake on a beautiful winter day.