see ya

Leaving on Friday morning for 5 weeks.

My trip will include the White River 50 mile race in Crystal Mountain, Wa (near seattle), the Corner Canyon Ultra 50 km in Draper, Ut (near Salt Lake City), the Tamalpa HEadlands 50 km in Muir Beach, Ca (near San Francisco), and the Walk in the Park 54 km in Kamloops, BC

Week ending July 22 (taper?)

July 16 - July 22

Monday july 16: no run

Tuesday july 17: hiked bear creek; about 5 km's. We went up the trail on the one side and then decided to swim in a deep area of the creek, which was then followed up with the brilliant decision to come back down the creek. Only problem was that we both had forgotten just how big the waterfalls were. Further to the top of the creek was the smallest (about 5 metres high) and right below that was the bigger (about 30 metres high). We actually stood talking about trying to get down the smaller for ten minutes, not knowing how much bigger the larger was. I'm quite glad I won the discussion and we turned back... only to try and scale the cliff face instead of just going back teh way we came, that was probably equally as scary as we had wet running shoes on, and there was crap for handholds on the rock climb.

wednesday july 17::

am: 42.3 km road bike around town in 96 minutes

pm1: 8.1 km mountain bike on the greenway to meet up with the pace group

pm2: 10.9 km trail run in 62 minutes. Pace workout; 10 minute warmup, then did sprint pyramids, then cool down.

pm3: 9.5 km mountain bike home from pace run

thursday july 18: rest day: I had intened on running Little White mtn, but wednesday kicked my ass a bit, and it was way too hot out.

friday july 19: Little White! I parked my car at the parking lot near the top of little white fsr and biked to the bellevue trestle, then hiked/ran to top of little white, a little bit along the ridge and back, then biked back to my car. It was cool and cloudy, so great for running. There was still a little bit of snow at the top, so on the way up it was still a little mosquito infested, but thats alright. One of my favourite runs. Biked 13.6 km, ran 22.5 km with 1,116 metre elev gain.

The summit of Little White

A few shots of the valley from the top of Little White

Bellevue Trestle

the cliff face at Little White; lunch on top!

One of the two big reasons I'm no longer comfortable driving on the KVR

Saturday July 21: Okanagan Mountain Summit run with pace. Ran the divide lake trail to the summit and back. Another beautiful day. I tested perogies as a on the run food this day, seemed to work. Ran 28.2 km with 1,562 metre elev gain.

At the top of Ok Mtn beside Divide Lake

after running I stopped at the bike shop to pick up my road bike; so I couldn't resist going for a quick 14.2 km ride through the hills near home.

Sunday july 22: biked 15.9 km to knox mountain (uphill), then a short 4 km run to test out new shoes (mountain masochists, I like!) and then rode 12.6 km home (down).

Weekly totals:

Bike: 116.2 km

Run: 70.6 km with 3,127 metre elev gain

Total time: 14 hours 55 minutes.

Next week I'm going a 50 mile race, didn't really do much of a taper, but I didn't work this week so I guess I got more rest day. Overall, a fantastic week. I hit the summit of three of the local mountains and it was good.

Sinister race thoughts and photos

I don't know where to really start with this race. So  a few photos will start I guess.

Around 5 km

Around 12 km

Same shot, just after I passed through.

Around 35 km.

This is going to be a horrible race report. I don't feel like breaking down the race blow by blow, describing every intricate detail of what went down.

A few key things. I had a good day, running with old friends and new friends. I had a fantastic little holiday with family who came out to support me on my endeavour. I ended up dropping out of the 148 km race at 87 km. The day was super hot, reaching a high of 39 degrees celsius (103 F). I did start the race at what I thought was a slow enough speed to last. Around 34 km I got my first signs of trouble, with tightness coming and going in my legs, and stomach issues beginning. Even though the race was in the mountains, there was no shade, no clouds, and very little trees to block the sun. By 50 km in I was having real issues with my stomach, just felt horrible. Leaving the transition area heading up the hill at the beginning of leg 4 (around 67 km) I started to feel faint, and didn't make it up the hill well at all. By 70 km I was feeling like a real tonne of ass, the heat felt like it was destroying me. At 73 km, there was a river crossing, the runner I was with suggested taking the shoes off and walking through to keep dry as there was 15 km to go until the next crew spot and change of shoes. I sat down at the water station 100 metre later and when I tried to get up and was lightheaded, dizzy and fell back down into the chair. I didn't go on from that point until I could stand up without feeling faint; that took 30 minutes. When I kept going I decided to go to the next water station and re-asses, I felt basically the same, except worse. I was feeling off feelings in my toes and fingers, I hadn't peed in 11 hours, and as well as the light headedness I was feeling funny in the chest (maybe I was having asthma issues due to the elevation).

I decided to drop out at 87 km around 13.5 hours. I was well within the cut off times, but didn't feel moving on was the safest choice. I could possibly have walked it out to the finish and still beat the cut-off time. But finishing is not worth the possible risk. I knew the next leg included lots of deep water, and with the lightheadedness that wouldn't go away I didn't feel like risking falling in a deep puddle, or something worse. I'm totally ok with dropping. Running myself into possibly risky situations isn't worth the risk, just for the reward of being able to say I am a finisher, the risk vs reward ratio tipped in the favour of risk on that day. I enjoy running more than I used to, and seem to be less willing to destroy myself. So that was that.

Thinking more deeply about my DNF though, I think if I were in another race of that distance and feeling the same I will have learned from this and make a different choice. I came into the water station where I ended up dropping out at 87 km at 13 hours. Total cut-off time for the race was 27 hours for 148 km. To finish the race from that under the cut-off time I would have had to do the remaining 61 km in 14 hours, that's a pace of 13:45 min/km (22 min/mile) which is very doable in itself, as long as you can get your head past your current pain state. Also, the cutoff time for that leg was 18 hours for 99 km. I had to go 12 more km in 5 hours. Very doable.

Now here''s the thing; almost immediately (around 13.5 hours) after getting into the car of the volunteer who drove me from where I dropped to the arena, I started to feel better. Part of that was probably me mentally letting go of stress, but maybe I just needed a rest. And within a couple hours I felt tonnes better already. Maybe all I needed was a major rest, and some wicked food in me to be able to ramp it up. What if I had rested at the spot I had dropped for two hours and then kept going. Even with that much I could probably had run the remaining 61 km in under 12 hours. Or what if I had struggled two the next transition area where my crew was waiting, and then rested under the comfort of family and food. Maybe after that I could have even picked up the pace a bit and pushed on faster. So maybe, having pushed hard enough to work myself a buffer under the cut off times, I should have used thta buffer up to try and recover before dropping.

I think I may have just talked myself into doing this race again next year, wrong decisions that are fixable. I don't regret my decision to drop at all. But I think I have definitely learned something from it. After all, I have only been doing this whole ultra thing since 2010, and this was only my third attempt to run further than 100 km. Growing pains I guess.

Write out the thoughts of the race, and talk yourself into a bit of unfinished business.

Happy sighs.

And I'm a week away from a 5 week vacation. !!!!



Week ending July 15 (recovery and race)

July 9 - 15 recovery and race week

Mon: rest day; travelling back from sinister

Tue: 16 km road bike; to work and back after

Wed: 16 km road bike; to work and  back after

thu: 6.6 km in 36 mins; road running around home at night after work, very easy pace

Fri: no run

Sat: 15.9 km, 903 metre elev gain, 150 mins; easy pace run with pace in knox mtn trails

Sun: 2 km road run easy pace warm up
Sun: RACE!! 8 km road race in 32:05

Weekly Totals:
Running; 32.5 km and 965 metre elev gain
Biking: 48 km
Total time: 6 hours 22 minutes

I took it excessively easy this week to recover from sinister (I still need to get in writing my thoughts from that day) as I didn't want to push my body after having dropped out due to physical concerns. So I feel pretty good about the week in exercise and general health. By tuesday I was able to be fully functioning at work, so that was good.

Road race on sunday. I entered the race just a couple days prior just to see how I would compare to last year. Last year I ran the flat 8 km road race in 32:38 and this year I finished in 32:05 just shy of my 4 min/km pace, but I still feel pretty good about it. It was a fairly humid day out, so it felt harder than it should have been, and I don't think my body was fully recovered from sinsiter yet, as later that day at work I felt like a complete bag of crap all over my body.

Sunday was my last day of work for at least two months. I'm going travelling, and it' gonna be sweet. Starting with a 50 mile race in seattle on July 28, then a 50 km race in draper, utah on Aug 11 and then a 50 km race in Muir Beach, Ca on Aug 25. Plus I'll add in some time sightseeing around the states in between the races.

Another race DNF

I dnf'd at km 87 of 148 at sinister on saturday. Massive heat and zero clouds and zero shade on the course made for an ass kick of a day. I dropped when I was still well under the cut off times; fingers tingling, chest feeling funny with the first hints of asthma I've felt in a couple years (maybe due to elevation), body shakes were coming on their way, and I was feeling faint in the head.

In the past (at the death race for example) I would have pushed on walking to the finish. On saturday I dropped, the other possible options such as making my body worse, or even passing out and getting severely injured were too great a risk to continue. So I dropped. I'm ok with it.

It seems as though the more I run on a daily basis, and the more fun in my daily runs I have, the less I feel like I 'need' to finish a race. I feel like I'm quite deep in the middle of a process of transitioning my reasons for running. Going from running searching for a sense of purpose in life and to prove that I am capable of doing something tough; and now I'm very much moving heavily towards running for pleasure. I like where I'm heading, but still feel a few questions lingering as a result.

I'll write a probably excessively detailed race post later, just felt this thought was worth writing.

week ending july 1 - taper week

This week I only ran three times. Tuesday for 2.5 hours (which was not comfortable yet after my race saturday), wednesday for a evening workout, and saturday for a couple hours.

This year, for the first time in my brief time doing ultra running, I have been mindful of attempting a proper training plan. Doing build weeks, then tapering, and doing specific purposeful types of runs throughout the week. This has been made all the easier by the fact that I joined a running group and have the coach make a training plan for me. The hardest part of the training plan for me to stick to properly is the taper and the rest weeks. I always do much less than advised during the easier scheduled weeks, as though knowing that I will be runniing less and knowing that the purpose of the week is to recover allows me to be less diligant in getting out the door to run. I always feel fine once the shoes are on and I"m at it, but not doing it is harder. The little things, like sitting around after work socialising instead of running becomes an easier choice, and then I've missed a run.

I'm six days away from sinister 7; and I'm getting very very very excited. With getting time off for the race and for travel, I have to work my usual days off, which is making a little harder to try and follow my suggested training plan for the week of the race. The early weeks runs may be nixed in favour of finding time to pack and get ready to leave.

No matter how these last 5 days before the race go, I know I feel ready for it. I feel properly trained, and definitely mentally ready. Every aspect of my training has been with sinister in the back of my mind. I don't have any specific time goals for the race, or placing goals; primarily I have goals based around bodyfeel, nutrition, effort and mindfocus. Hit these goals, and I will be satisfied no matter how I do. But also, anything can happen in an ultra, and all is good no  matter what.

Are we there yet? I want to run it already.