Hot weather musings.

Today I ran a half marathon (didn't plan a specific distance but it turned out to be exactly 21.1 km). I ran with a horrible hangover, in 33 degree heat. Running in the heat is a great way to get rid of a hangover, and in general I just love running in the heat, it's like you're doing a cleanse by sweating everything out. Growing up in the Okanagan it's all I've ever known is the heat. Yeah you can't really do really long runs in the heat, and you often have to adjust your runs to make sure you can always refill your water bottle plenty of times (and even better if you can take a dip in the lake or a creek).

Yep, keep running.

Nazzer

My Soles are so Scorched! And snow covered...

Today after running the Scorched Sole 50 mile course (shortened by 4 km for safety reasons) I feel like I fell down into a pit of hell and slowly dug myself out of it and climbed all the way up to heaven, absolutely super duper!

The maps of the courses can be found on thescorchedsole website.

Here's a rough summary of the course. Starting at 530 m elevation, uphill for 4.8 km to elevation of 870 m (Aid Station 1). Then uphill another 4.9 km to elevation of 1225 m (aid station 2). Then 3.2 km along flat old rail bed to aid station 3. Then 6.1 km to elevation of 1760 m (aid station 4, water on the way up full aid on the way back). Then there was a 4 km bit up to the summit of Little White Mountain which was 2171 m (this is the section where a flat 4 km out and back loop was omitted on the Highland trail due to bad snow conditions. Next was a 6.1 km section with some elevation gains but an overall descent down to 1715 m, followed by a 16 km out and back with a loop along a forest service road which went from elevation of 1715 m to 1640 m to 2142 m down to 1472 m and back up to 1615 m. Then we climbed back up Little White Mountain on the other side back up to 2172 m, then 23 km downhill the way we came. So the total distance ended up being 75.2 km (I think).

I planned on doing lap times on my Garmin for every 10 km section. Except I forgot to start the thing for at least 1 km at the beginning, and I fell twice and both times I fell the power went out on the garmin and funny stuff happened, I ran before the signal came back blah blah... took forever to get signal so my garmin only has 71.2 km on it although the map on my garmin looks the same as the map for the course (except with a few gaps in it).

Start:

Race started at 6 am. Temperature was 10 degrees. 40 runners were lining up for the 50(ish) miler. Some lady named Ellie was in the race, she won, I wonder if she led from start to finish. Does it count as getting chicked if you never got passed if she led the whole time? Saw a few familiar faces from the local running club, chatted with a few other people I've met at Ultras. I was feeling good. I took Friday off of work, slept well on Thursday night (only 5.5 hours of nervous sleep Friday night). Ate well on Thursday and Friday. I felt ready.... for something. I had on my 3 litre water pack which was filled with water with 4 litres worth of powder perpetuem, 1 gu gel, 3 clif shots, 1 clif bar and an eat more in my bag. And I had one water bottle in my hand, really for not other reason than to be able to fill up on runoff water (which is delicious) in between aid stations.


km's 0(ish) - 10 km: All the km's following are what my messed up garmin displayed.

I started out middle of the pack not knowing what to expect out of who was there in terms of how fast everybody would be going out. Actually I think I might have started right at the back. So up Lost lake Trail we go. I think it was good that I started at the back, even though I passed half the feel within the first 2 km, I paced and chatted with a couple different runners at a medium pace which helped me ease my way into the long run. Felt good coming up to the KVR trail (about 10 km) just past aid station 2 in 1:13:42.

km 10-20: From around the second aid station on the KVR, through the third aid station to just past the fourth aid station. At 7 am it was 16 degrees around the start of this section.
Coming out of the second aid station I was doing what felt like an easy 5 min/km pace (for reference sake when I run roads, which is rarely, my easy running pace is 4:30 /km). I passed a couple older looking ladies as they stopped to pee in the bushes (I didn't look but I can only assume that's why they stepped to the side). The first three aid stations were nicely stocked with water, gatorade, fig newtons, jujubes, chips cookies and fruit. I would eat a bit, and refill my water bottle. I tried to use my water bottle and my perpetuem so that I could refill the bottle at the aid stations. At km 13ish we started another steep ascent, by this point the runners had spread out quite a but there was one guy close to me ahead. At this point I was alternating run/walking and caught up to him. We ran together for a bit, he was popping his 50 miler cherry also. This section has a 4-5 km stretch that is big boulder filled river runoff, it's my favourite downhill trail to run.... ever... of all time. So running up it brings joyful anticipation to me. The guy I was running with ran into a tree stump straight into his shoulder. He was ok though which was good. I took the lead between the two of us up the river and he dropped back soon. I was just leaving the aid station at 19 k as he was arriving and we chatted about the rest of the ascent up the mountain. The aid station only had unmanned water pumps, which was a slight disappointment but I was glad that I hadn't depended on the assumption that there would be food there and I had a full pack of supplies that would have to last me another 21 km. The last km of this stretch was some heavy mud. My foot would hit, turn, smoosh and leave prints an inch deep. This 10 km stretch was done in 1:20

km 20-30: Ascent of Little white... then descent down to the Canyon Lakes,

At km 20 I had a 3 km ascent up Little White mountain. The trail had lots of snow on it, but there was sections where there was cleared areas from melt and from the runoff clearing the snow. All in all the ascent of Little White was probably 50% 2 foot deep snowpack, 30% river run off (yeah wet), 10% big boulders and 10% mucky trails. the ascent took a long time, I realized that I wasn't going to be breaking any land speed records this run so I decided on power walk strides the whole way up (other than the few flats that I ran). There was two runners ahead of me on the ascent, they were jogging and it looked like it was incredibly painful. They were taking such short hard pounding strides on a super long steep ascent. I passed both of them with distance to spare on the ascent using nothing more than long powerful walking strides. The emergency aid station at the top of the mountain was only ever going to be water jugs with pumps... but they had no pumps in them (at least that I could see) and I wasn't going to try and tip over a 40 pound jugs to fill my bottle. So alas, a half full bottle and a hope that I wold come across a creek soon as I headed into the 30 km loop which was the only part of the course I'd never run on. I had already run on a good 3 km of snow, and now I was going to do another 5 km of snow. Shimmying along the top of a second ridge of the mountain with a cliff on the side while run/sliding on snow is scary... and I'm afraid of heights, but it sure was beautiful. There was some solid downhill here, it was even to the point that they set up two ropes tied to trees for you to use while going down the mountain on the snow. For large chunks of distance I was literally alternating between sliding down the mountain (imagine you have socks on a gym floor) and dropping two feet down through the snow pack. After the snow ended I came to the descent on highland trail down to the Canyon lakes. It was steep, and I wasn't ready to commit to running down the hills hard yet as I still had plenty of running to do. I found a rather large creek, so stopped to eat a bit (one of many eating stops along the way, scenery breaks are so wonderful) and filled my water bottle and drank some wonderfully cold mountain water. Around 28 km I tripped on absolutely nothing and slid, landing on my left shoulder, and face. Somehow I managed to take most of the face shot to the top of my head so my ball cap protected me. But my eye socket was sore for a bit. This lead to the 'THE WALL'. I had trouble restarting for a bit, mucked around with my garmin and was a little disorientated. Time on this portion: around 1:45, by the end of this leg the temperature was 21 degrees and I'd realized that I forgot to sunscreen my neck and only had done my arms.

km 30-40: Forest Service road, with some elevation gain over long distance and then drop over a short distance leading to the aid station where our drop bags were. I hadn't seen a single person since passing the last guy on the ascent of Little White. I was starting to feel a little lonely, the heat was starting to get to me and I was almost out of water. I pushed hard to the aid station. The older man and lady there were super nice (all the volunteers were but these two were extra wonderful). At the aid station I replenished my water pack with 3 litres of perpetuem mix, added the same amount of food I had at the start (I had eaten all of it), filled up my water bottle, ate some fruit, changed my socks and shoes (even though they would be wet again within 15 km it was still nice). The lady decided to tell me that I was 7th place and that the two guys in front of me had left 9 minutes ago and I could catch them. gee thanks lady, I'm taking a turn for the worse mentally right now and you're telling me to go faster, not happening! This stretch was done in 1:16. That felt good to see that time on my watch.

km 40-50: Uphill on the FSR for a few km, back to the canyon lakes trail, then to the ridge of the mountain before Little White. Definitely the hardest part of the course. Went from 1450 m or so, up to around 2000 m in 10 km. After seeing no one but two aid station volunteers I saw the first racers I'd seen in over 25 km. I saw what I imagine would end up to be the last 4 finishers as they were coming into the loop while I was leaving. I waved, clapped and said good job. At this time I was starting to feel a little loopy from the heat at the when I saw the other runners and it felt like I had come up against 'THE PIT" (the wall version 2). I jogged my way through it, but boy did I take a hit mentally. I got back to the Highland trail to begin the ascent back up Little White and didn't do anything faster than a speed walk the whole way to the summit. In the last 5 km of this section I stopped 5 times, these were the only times I completely stopped moving other than to open my bag for food (which I would eat while moving) or at aid stations. I had a long stretch where I was suffering mentally, but at this point the comment the lady at the last aid station made to me about being in 7th place kept me going. I was so proud to be in 7th place, amongst a group of runners who many of them have done these distances multiple times, and I was ahead on what I thought was a really hard course. I know every race is nothing but a race against yourself, but I was just using the fact I was in 7th place to self talk myself into thinking that it was ok to struggle because the fact that there were so many good runners behind me must have meant that it was a really hard race, so struggling was acceptable. So I pushed through. But there was still worse to come as this was only how I was feeling during the part of this section that was dirt trails. There was a 3 km ascent that was snow covered. Insanely hard! I had just self talked my way out of my little 'pit' only to come across snow that I had to climb up where I couldn't take more than a few steps without sinking in as it was now up to 25 degrees and it was getting softer. I lost all forward momentum and it turned into a step at a time affair. And then came the two rope sections. The first climb they had put a rope on was not so bad, it was just a short rope, but still difficult. A km later I got to the second rope, the climb was even more vertical, and even more loose snow, and the rope was a good 40-50 feet long. 3 of the 5 stops I mentioned happened on this rope, I was mentally frozen. I literally started screaming. Yelling nonsense like GRRRR, and other beastly sounds to motivate myself, pounded my chest a few times and finally pushed on through "THE ABYSS" with renewed vigour. At the end of the section the snow started to recede and I got to scale some large boulders, the summit was near. This section took over 2 hours.

km 50 -60: Just before the summit, past the 4th aid station and down the river runoff:

I made the top! I got some food out and slowly walked along my way as I enjoyed the view. It is just beyond words the beauty of being on the top of a mountain and being able to see the entire valley in a 360 degree view. Headed down the mountain with unbounded excitement that I was on my way to the finish, only 23 km to go! the 3 km down the mountain, and the 1 km of mud weren't as fast as they could have been but I wanted to make sure I came down the mountain safe. Aid station 4 was now fully stocked, stopped and got some food. The guys offered me a hot dog... seemed like a strange offer, I can't imagine any runner being able to have that feel good in their stomach. They told me I was now behind the runner ahead of me by only 9 minutues. I told them I didn't care as I just wanted to finish my own race. But I'm not sure if that didn't affect me more. As I then hit the downhills that include the river runoff with massive boulders at full speed. Perhaps I was subconcsciously inspired to catch the guy, or perhaps its just that this is my favourite stretch of trails to run ever that made me run full steam ahead, but I busted out. My legs were feeling good, I was feeling on a high and I was pumping out 5:15 min/km splashing through the river in not very safe footing.... I damn well love that bit, nice wet feeling to cool down, covered from the sun with the trees. Best 6 km stretch of trail EVER! I then got to aid station 3 and they told me that I was 3 minutes behind the guy. Holy gees I made up 6 minutes in 6 kms. I'm guessing he took the section of treacherous a whole lot more carefully than I do.... but reckless abandon is far more fun. Then came flat on the Kettle Valley Railway bed. And I could see the guy in front of me.

km 60 - finish: more failing of the garmin, descent down to the finish.
The second aid station is at the KVR trailhead to the Lost Lake trail. The guy in front of me left a minute before I got there and I only spent a minute there. I felt like I could catch him. I ran fast as I could at that point. I was running consistent 4:30 min/km until 1 km before the last aid station... and then proceeded to trip, land hard on my knee, muck up my garmin and it hurt. I got up, but I was limping. I think I was running too fast for my energy levels. I must have limped my way for a good 6 minutes before trying to fix my garmin (not sure why, didn't really matter, I was a little disorientated a bit). Then I started jogging to the aid station where I cleaned up the cut on my elbow. Then had a nice run in for the last 4.8 km, nice 5 min/km pace.

Finish:

finished in 10:05:09. 7th place.


I chatted with the guy that finished just ahead of me, he ended up 6 minutes or so in front. Apparently he looked back when he was at the bottom of descending Little White the second time and he saw me coming down, and he could see me several other times. So he felt me coming up, but he had a darn good kick at the end.



It turns out he is from Kelowna as well, so I just missed out on top local finisher which would have been kinda neat.



I brought along a 6 pack of beer, I only had 1 and shared the rest. Damn it tasted good after the race. There was hot dogs and such after the race. Stayed around and chatted with some of the other finishers. The guy that finished in 9th place was talking about the Death Race with me. He did legs 3,4,5 last year which was the same distance as we did today and he says that today was more difficult which was interesting. The guy thaht finished 6th place will be running the Death Race also. And then the 5th place finisher said that he had tried the Death Race twice now but didn't make the cut off on both times. It was an interesting conversation. Still feel like I'm preparing for the unknown with the Death Race though.

All in all, it was one fantastic day. The race course was awfully sadistically planned, and I'm awfully masochistic for appreciating that.

Keep on Running

Nazzer

Summitting Little White Mountain

On Saturday I run the 50 mile course of the Scorched Sole race in Kelowna. I've run the trails that make up the first and last 13 km many times, and have done the 13 km - 19 km section a couple times. But I wanted to summit Little White mountain to have that down to make sure I knew what I was up against. I figure why not considering I live in the city the race is in.

The course starts out with 9.7 km of trails that are pretty steep, (course starts at 470 metres elevation) but dry and with good footing. Followed by about 3 km along an old flat rail bed. Then we get to the Upper Crawford trail. (Upper Crawford trail starts around 1200 metres elevation)

The first 1.5 km are like above, dry trail. (In the picture is a hawk, my camera died the last time just before I could take a picture of the rabbit it killed).

Then up to the 19 km point is trails that are about half river runoff with boulders in it.

And the other hald is forest areas that was burned to a crisp from the forest fire in 2003.

Then we hit an area that was covered in snow just two weeks ago. So there is 1- 2 km of very solid muddy trail. (This is about 1700 metres elevation)

That is Little White mountain

Now we hit some snow, which there shall remain snow from 19 km or so until the peak of Little White which is 25 km.

Up we go.

Every third step I sunk knee high into snow.

The orange paint is markers for the course.

This is the Highland Trail that leads up to the summit.

At the Summit.

View from the Summit.

I think that's Crawford Lake in the distance. Which is part of the 30 km loop that is added onto the 50 km race to make the 50 mile race distance up.

The 30 km loop continues along that ridge. I didn't go there, but I imagine there will be more snow, rocks to be run on. The elevatioon drops down to 1600 metres at some point of the 30 km loop, and then back up to the summit to return back the way we came.

View of West Kelowna from the top, the trails we come up are viewable in the distance.

Don't need to worry about drinking water very much as there is plenty of running water along the course.

Back down we go.

If the river was any deeper here I would have crotched myself pretty badly.

Shoes are shiny and clean again thanks to the river.

Running down these rivers is so much fun!

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I don't really know what my goal is for the race right now. Run hard, run smart, pace myself so I have energy to run downhill strong the last 25 km, stay hydrated well, prevent my stomach from growling. That's about it really. In terms of a time... before I realized there was so much snow and mud on the course I thought I could shoot for around 8:30, but I don't see that happening now. Maybe 9:30 is a more realistic goal. Maybe my worst case time goal will be to finish before my Garmins battery dies which is around 10:15. We shall see. All I know is I'm gonna be so sore on Sunday, but oh man it's gonna be fun.

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Super Duper!!

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Nazzer

Snow Run!

I ran up Little White Mountain as far as I could before I hit the snow line! It kicked ass! Peeing your name in the snow in June is pretty awesome. On the way I saw a Hawk attack, kill and claw the head off of a rabbit. Pretty awesome stuff!

Once I left the KVR trail and headed up the Telegraph trail up Little White the trail basically turned into a run off river. So my run up consisted of jumping from rock to rock through a river. Pretty neat stuff. The run down was intense. Soaking wet by the end of it. I am nature and she is I and we are one. I think I'll start to taper for the 50 miler coming up soon, but I got Wednesday and Thursday off so I'm sure I'll do at least one more 5 hour run before I get around to tapering. It's so easy to procrastinate a proper off day.

Keep on Running.

Nazzer

Deer still scare me, a lot, a whole lot!

I only have a few different trail areas that I run.
-Knox Mountain (up and down gives a total elevation gain of 1580 ft, and is about a 11 km run total)
-Trails at Glenmore Mountain (only about 5.5 km long, a couple long hills, but mostly slow rolling hills)
-Myra Bellevue Park (my favourite place to be these days). So many trails, can go up and down different trails without touching the same place for a good 4 hours. Lots of elevation gain to be had here.

Even though I really enjoy the trails I run,, I am constantly seeking out more new (to me) trails. Earlier this week I went to Okanagan Mountain Park for the first time. It is a 25 minute drive so I probably won't go there very often. But it is a nice challenging run. Virtually every tree in the park was burnt down in the fire back in 2003. And it seems not many people hit the trails, either that or I just naturally gravitate to the less tread upon trails. In lots of areas of the park the trails are very narrow with very overgrown bushes, trees, and grass along the sides making it hard to watch my footing. Also, there is plenty of areas with large, loose boulders which make it a nice challenge to run on.


Here is a view of one of the wider trails. It really is like heaven running in trails like this. In many of the places the trails no longer were dirt trails, but merely a line in the grass that you could barely tell was less grown in than the grass on the side of it. I guess I need to do my part to maintain the trails by running on em more to make sure they don't grow over.

Some of the loose rock there is to run on. Not very stable.

The view of Okanagan Lake from one of the scenic lookouts on Wildhorse Canyon Trail. So wonderful; I often lose track of time staring at the scenery at moments like these. When I look back at the gps of my runs and see sections where I didn't move for five minutes or so, those are my Zen moments. I love it.

I run into so many deer on Knox and at Myra Bellevue Park, almost every single run in fact. Of course I never remember to take my camera with me there. I saw this doe running down the lookout point. She stared at me forever, I kept getting closer and she just kept staring. I was about twenty feet away when I took this picture. It chased me, it was a little scary.

There is still a little bit of run off in some sections of the park. I was staring at the lake when I came to this; and promptly fell on my ass and covered in mud. Rolling in the mud is so fun.

I was running along a trail that was had really over grown grass on each side and I stepped on this fawn! It started doing what I can only presume would be the fawn equivalent to screaming as loud as it can for its mother. Just the most awful noise I have ever heard. I was scared shitless; all I could think was "where's the mother, I bet the mother is the doe I had a run in with earlier, oh shit leave, run, get out before the doe gets back" but of course I stopped to take a couple pictures first! Then I got the hell out of dodge as fast as I could. The fact the fawn was clearly scared of me was no comfort with the thought of the doe coming to the rescue.

I'll probably be running the trails again soon, but like I said not very often as it takes so long to get there.

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I was thinking about running the High Rim Trail next time I get a couple days off in a row. If I get dropped off in Vernon it's a 50 km run to Hwy 33 near Rutland, the only problem is that the end of the trail is another 30 km away from home in Kelowna. Hope I get a chance to do this before the 26th, if not it'll be my last massive run before the Death Race.

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I fixed my road bike yesterday, so naturally I went for a nice ride. A nice 53 km in 1:50. I didn't push too hard but I could still feel it in my quads pretty good. Maybe wasn't a good idea to do that the day before a planned long run.

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Today I went running in Myra Bellevue Park. I wanted to do about six and a half hours of trails, I would've had to leave early to get that in as I had to be somewhere by 4 pm. I slept in and didn't hit the trails until 9 am, so I only got 5 and a quarter hours in for 44 km. Did a loop along the Fairlane trail and then to lost lake and back to my car, then a loop up Pink Hwy and back down to my car, up lost lake and down Fairlane back to my car and then a short loop halfway out Fairlane trail and up to Lost Lake. Total elevation gain of 6447 ft (which I'm beginning to question as I've been told by someone else that the garmin 305 doesn't accurately measure elevation change). This was a very hard run on my quads during the run, and I'm sure I'll feel it tomorrow. Around the 2 hour 45 minute point I was coming down big drop trail, which is a rather rocky trails with lots of overgrown bush which makes seeing where I need to step difficult; I saw a deer and was staring at it, all the while being an idiot failing to notice the turn coming in the trail. I stubbed my big toe on a massive boulder, tripped and slammed right into a tree, right into my chest. Ow! Forgetting to watch my feet... bad.

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"Give up hope once and for all. That way your expectations won't drive you crazy and you'll appreciate what you have now."

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Keep on running

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Nazzer

Pesticides

I ran up Knox Mountain and back today, my typical run when I don't have much time, it's so easy cuz it's pretty much right out my backdoor.

The park was eerily empty today, not one walker and no cars in the parking lot. When I got to the top of the mountain the park warden came up to me and told me the park was closed because they had sprayed the entire mountain with some sort of moth pesticide and that 40% of people get sick from it. I guess this will be a nice test of how my asthma is these days. Yay for pesticides.

Looking back on May

Totals:

Running: 380.28 km, 13 runs (29.25 km average)
Mountain Biking: 207.54 km, 8 trips (25.94 km average)

Races:

May 1, 2010: Elk/Beaver Lake 50 km (4:47:28)
May 2, 2010: Vancouver Marathon (4:27:26)

Longest run: 62 km from Penticton to Kelowna via the Kettle Valley Railway trail.
Longest mountain bike: 49.59 km bike up Lost Lake trail and then to the lake before Chute lake on the KVR.
Hardest run: Running to Penticton (well Naramata is where I got picked up). 52 km from Kelowna to Naramata after working a hard 8 hour shift at work and then having a massive storm hit me during the run for a solid hour of my time on my feet.
Second hardest run: Vancouver marathon. Running a marathon the day after running a 50 km race was very hard.
Most common run: I ran Knox mountain six times this month. Every time I went a little further and a little harder. I really like running up and down Knox Mountain. I am almost to the point where I can run non stop up the trails. I have been able to run up the road non stop for quite some time now, but I really can't stand running on the road, if at all possible I skip the road for the trail.

Elevation gain: If I run from my house up to the peak of Knox Mountain and back I get a total of 1400 feet elevation gain.
Gain of 1400 ft: six times.
Plus runs with gains of (in feet): 2598, 2982, 3091, 4478, 4823

I've experimented with a few different sports drinks, gels, and bars during my runs. And I also have gotten into the habit of making protein shakes for my post run eats. I've settled with a plan of running with Hammer's 'Perpetuem' (carbs and protein and electrolytes), Gatorade mix, Clif shot gels, and my 3 litre hydration pack, and taking cheap granola bars with me. And for after a run I make a shake consisting of (1 scoop soy protein which has about 26 g protein, 1 scoop of meal replacement which has 6 g protein 15 g carbs as well as other vitamins, a banana, 1/4 cup applesauce, 1 cup milk, and a tablespoon of peanut butter). It seems to work well. And of course pasta after a run, and the night before (well that means every night is pasta night but that means energy so yay for pasta).

I got around to buying a nice pair of spandex leggings from the running room. Which is really nice because when I wear them I no longer need to worry about using vaseline to prevent chafing down there. And I haven't gotten one wood tick while wearing them. The only piece of clothing that I can think of that I want is a comfortable hat, I wear my white skullcap that I got at a race last year, but It's cotton and a little too warm for the summer days although it does a nice job as sunscreen replacement.

My anterior tibularis muscle on my left leg is doing really well compared to how it felt in late February and early March. It hasn't hurt me during a run all month. It does occasionally give me weird shooting sensations if I've had a really hard day at work though. But never while running. It's strange.

This month I've had three encounters with bears (only one was within 30 metres), a dozen run ins with deer, seen wild rabbits, marmots, tonnes of squirrels, crows, blue jays, robins, a few hawks, and today I saw a couple cows on the trails that had escaped from a nearby farm (they were so scared when I came around the corner).

Next month I'm running the 50 mile Scorched Sole race in Kelowna. I plan on running everyday for the next two weeks (well if not a run at least a mountain bike) and ramping up the miles in those two weeks. Then a recovery week followed by a week of easy runs and rest to prep for the 50 miler.

Running is my Zen.

Nazzer

Wildlife

Running in the mountains I tend to see some interesting things (and usually fail at getting a decent picture of them).

I've run into bears on several different occasions. Last year when I biked to Penticton and back via the Kettle Valley Railway I was taking shelter from a storm under a canopy and was taking a picture when I noticed a black bear (I think it was black) and her two cubs approaching the shelter, I left and was suddenly able to bike through the storm real fast. This is the best picture I could manage taking before I left.

Yeah, I failed really badly at getting a good picture. Last week when I was running the same route to Penticton I was cutting through Rock Oven Park and was passing through a clearing of trees (it had been cleared for a power line, but enough grass had grown in that it looked half decent) and saw two bear cubs. They were about 100 metres away from metre eating the long grass. I stopped and stared at them like an idiot in a trance. I wish I had my camera with me, but I had far too much other stuff in my pack to be able to carry it too. When I came out of my stupor I realized the momma bear was nowhere in sight so it was best that I made like a tree and leave, fast.

As well, I've run into a bear twice while mountain biking in Myra Bellevue Park in the last couple months. Once while pissing I saw one walking through the bushes, which was very scary as I really didn't feel like running away with my shorts down; and the other time I was coming down a wide trail and saw one at the side of the trail and it didn't seem to see me. Rather than stop and have a stare down and hope that it would walk away I made the quick decision to bike past it as fast as I could in the hopes that it wouldn't see me, turn around, and accelerate to the speed I was going to catch me. I'm not dead... but I think that was the wrong plan.

Brown bears: most attacks occur in the months of July, August and September. You are less likely to get attacked if you make noise so the bear is aware of your presence. And in direct confrontations with a brown bear you are statistically more likely to be attacked if you run, as opposed to standing your ground. Also, a brown bear will stand on its hind legs, huff and growl before attacking you. You want to play dead for brown bears.

Grizzly Bears: I'm pretty sure they are not around my area. Grizzlies are too large to climb trees so when confronted they respond by standing they ground and warding off attackers. Like a brown bear if it begins to huff and growl it is getting ready to attack. It may 'pop' its head also. I've read that you shouldn't try to outrun a grizzly, they can reach speeds of 45 km/hr. You're supposed to back away slowly from the bear, and avoid eye contact. Don't fight back with grizzlies, play dead. They are probably only attacking out defensively.

Black bears: Are supposedly 'timid' compared to other bears. At first if you encounter a black bear you should stand tall, wave your arms, and slowly back away. But if they do attack, which is rare, fight back. Fuck their shit up!

So, play dead for brown bears and grizzly bears (grizzlies are a subspecies of brown bears), they can't climb too well so climbing a tree wouldn't be a bad idea, if you can get up there before the bear attacks you and fucks your shit up. And fight back for black bears... punch em in the face; they're like the bully at school, they huff and puff but once you punch em back they fuck right off.

I run into deer a lot. There's a herd of deer that live on Knox Mountain (I run there between 3 and 5 times a week these days), and there's lots of deer up in Myra Bellevue Park. Deer scare the crap out of me. They have these satanish black eyes that seem to stare at you empty and I can't imagine what they are thinking at all. And their heads don't swivel smoothly when they watch you move. I'm pretty sure the deer that live in the Okanagan are White-Tailed deer subspecies of some sort. Here's a picture of some that I came across on my way from Chute Lake to Kelowna last year.

Recently when I was biking in Myra Bellevue Park I saw what looked like signs that a buck had been rubbing its antlers against a tree to try and rub the fuzz off.

When I encounter deer I find that yelling at them in a deep voice gets them to move along, in the daytime at least. I have never gone for a run on Knox Mountain without running into at least one deer. I've done several night runs on Knox and find the deer very strange to run around at night. They seem to respect you less at night, and are harder to get to move. I can see them just fine with my headlamp on, but their eyes (which shine a light blue from my lamp) seem very disturbing at night. And sometimes they just don't move! It's ok if they are just lieing on the side of the mountain watching me, but when I have to run on a trail with several of them on each side of the trail it freaks me out. One time when I was running the lower trails at Myra Bellevue Park at night I ran through a herd of 15 deer (that's the number of eyes I counted) and none of them moved for me. I had to weave in and out and around them, I was within reaching distance of them and I swear I could have slapped them on the rear end if I was so afraid of them getting spooked and kicking me in the face.

I saw poo that looked like this on a recent run.

Actually I saw two different piles of it, and they were both steaming fresh. I have no idea what it is, because bear poo looks like pudding patty piles and deer poo looks like this...

I really wish I knew what type of animal it was from, I'd be a little less nervous running in those hills (not that I'd stop) but it would be nice to know.

And then of course there is the animals like marmots, squirrels and wild rabbits that move far too fast for me to get pictures of. Once I was attacked by something that I'm not sure if it was a wild rooster (is there even such a thing) or a really big quail. The thing had its feathers around its neck all puffed up and charged at me... I ran the other way, it was so sad.

I think I'll try and remember to take my camera with me more often to get more pictures of the wildlife I see.

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"Explore your limits and get to know yourself. You'll never feel more real than after the hardest workout, the longest run, the toughest week, or the best race of your life. Constantly make your own standards tougher" - Luke Watson

Keep on running.

Nazzer

Penticton and Back

All last week I had been planning in my head running to Penticton and back. I live in Kelowna and there is an old railway bed, the Kettle Valley Railway, that runs on the east side of Okanagan Lake. If I take the highway to Penticton it's about 65 km's, and about 72 km's to my mother's house which is generally the pit stop when I make this trek. And if I take the KVR trail it's only about 60 km. My goal was to do this run, there and back in one go. Originally I wanted to do it on Monday as I had both Monday and Tuesday off. I worked 8-4 on Sunday, and it was stupid busy and we didn't get breaks at work. I was tired but I still planned on doing it, so Monday I woke up at 6 am, looked at the weathernetwork online and noticed that there would be massive thunderstorms. So I sighed a big sigh and went back to bed.

Tuesday came and went and I still wanted to do the run. I had Thursday off so I planned on leaving for Penticton as soon as I was done work on Wednesday around 3:30 pm. I figured I would get to see the sunset and the sunrise. I took with me 4 bottles of homemade gatorade (2 for the trip and 2 to leave in the car for when I returned), 6 Clif shots, 6 granola bars, 2 apples, 9 of my home made energy bars and 2 apples, as well as my 3 litre water backpack.

I maintained a real slow pace. Averaging about 9 km per hour. But I quickly realized I was tired. Running after working an eight hour shift on my feet maybe not the best idea. I took my ipod with me and I made sure to have a drink of water at least every song. Tried to remember to east something every 40 minutes or so.

It rained a little bit around the lake before Chute lake, but only lightly and then it stopped. I was quite pleased with myself for not stopping to walk, but maintaining a nice easy pace. It was starting to get dark out so I made it my goal to get to Rock Oven Park before the sunset so I could scout the trail's shortcut while it was still light, as at that time I planned on returning in the dark.

While cutting through Rock Oven Park I was walking across a clearing and saw two black bear cubs... I was scared, but couldn't help but stand and watch them for a minute. They didn't even notice me, but I knew there would be a mama bear around so it was best to make like a tree and leave. I loathe bears and deer, they scare me; a lot. So out of spite I made sure throughout the run to save all my peeing needs for a time when I saw bear poo, and peed all over their shit. Take that bears!

As soon as I got out of the shortcut trails it started to rain. RAIN! Thunderstorms! Massive. The weather channel said there would be up to 1 cm of rain. Well I'm pretty sure that I got a centimetre of rain every 5 minutes. I still had 15 km to go before I got to my mothers house. My mom knew that I was coming, so within 30 minutes of the storm starting she called and offered to come pick me up, and like the idiot that I am I said "no, what would be the point of running if I got a ride" It took me about 40 minutes of running through even harder rain to call her back and ask for a ride. I was drenched; I could have rung a litre of water out of my shirt. I had worn a windbreaker, and not a waterproof jacket... oi. I was so glad to have a hot shower, warm dry clothes and a hot meal and a warm bed to sleep in.

The run on the way there ended up being 52 km, in 5:40. I felt good, wasn't sapped of energy and I stayed hydrated well enough that I kept having to go to the bathroom throughout the run.

Slept in until 10 am and decided I would leave around 11:30. I ran for the first 15 km back to Kelowna, and then decided because I was only running 6:30 min/km it would be easier to just walk at a brisk pace. So I walked around 8:15 min/km the rest of the way. Easier to walk a little slower than pounding the feet and knees for hardly any extra pace. On the way back I had about 30 minutes of hail, and about 45 minutes of light rain, then the sun came out. With about 15 km left before I got to the car the tendon of my right anterior tibularis started to really hurt, and I had developed a heel on the bottom of my left heel, and I was drained of energy as well. I was so ecstatic to see my car once I got there. The second run was 62 km, and 8:20.

I really don't think I had any problems with hydration or with maintaining energy. It's just that I don't think that using solid energy bars as my primary source of fuel was a good choice. It left me feeling very odd in the stomach, which is problem why I didn't eat enough. But I just can't maintain my energy levels with just using with just Clif shot gels. I need to figure out a new fuel plan for really long runs.

"Take time to smell the roses. Don't rush through each day or life. Force yourself to slow down and absorb the present moment., and actually notice your surroundings, the sights, the sounds, and of course, the smells. Life is about the journey, not the destination."

Keep on running

Nazzer

And this shall be day one.

I've decided to stop drinking alcohol, and this will be day one on my sober journey through life.

Didn't really do much the week after my double marathon. Took Monday, Tuesday off, Wednesday slept all day as I was strarting to get sick. Went on a 50 km mountain bike ride on Thursday, short 16 km mountain bike on Friday, followed by a 10 km trail run on Saturday. Didn't do anything on Sunday what with work and Mother's Day.

Because I rested on Sunday, I decided to go for a long run on Moonday. Did a nice easy paced 37 km trail run. Had a bit of an issue on the run. Ran out of both energy and water between km's 14 and 26. There was a section of the trail that was out and back 6 km. I stopped at a restroom for water and I filled up my one water bottle. Ran out of water 5 km into the stretch, and I had to resort to drinking out of mission creek, not good. So I need to do a better job of making sure I take enough water with me. And also, I only brought two clif shots with me for nutrition, wasn't enough.

So I decided to make some homemade protein/energy nars. I found a recipe online that seemed good.

Dry ingrediants: 3 1/2 cups quick oats, 1 1/2 cup powdered non fat milk, 4 scoops soy protein
Wet ingrediants: 1 cup sugar free syrup, 2 egg whites (beaten), 1/4 cup orange juice, 1/2 cup applesauce
Extra stuff I added: 1 cup ground flax seeds, 1/2 cup crushed white chocolate, 1/2 cup crushed walnuts, 1/2 cup peanut butter, 2 more scoops soy protein, 3 scoops nutri plan meal replacement mix, 1/2 cup flour, more appleasuce.

This made a total of 14 bars and cost me roughly 9 dollars to make. I'm pretty sure these bars have more protein, plus other good stuff than most other bars I've bought. And at about 70 cents a bar, I win!

-"All things in moderation" as advice on how to live and act is the reason for the pervasive mediocrity in our society today.

Nazzer

Two Days Later

Two days after my Ultra/Marathon weekend I feel both like crap and absolutely fantastic at the same time. Currently I have a massive head cold and my nose is dripping like the leaky faucet in my bathroom that my landlord doesn't seem to know how to fix. My sinus area feels like I imagine the concrete feels when it gets jackhammered, except the job isn't getting done so the jackhammering must continue. At work today I couldn't make it through more than one bill at a time without needing to run to the sink to sneeze and wash my hands. I haven't been able to get more than 5 hours sleep the last two nights. Working at 9 am in Kelowna when I was just leaving from Vancouver at 4 pm the day before after my running weekend was not a good idea at all. I couldn't drive more than 45 minutes at a time without needing to go for a walk or splash water on my face to keep myself awake, and then I couldn't sleep well and I didn't get enough sleep. On Monday my quads and every little muscle I didn't know I had in my ankles hurt like I had just had a balpeen hammer rammed into all of them over the entire area of them. Monday night, still couldn't sleep. Tuesday, went to work for a four hour shift at 8 am, and somehow ended up staying lat for someone else, boy did I regret that decision. I was like a zombie walking around.

I think perhaps running in hard rain in Vancouver wasn't the best. Every time I go to the coast I take Kelowna weather clothes, and I think I paid for that mistake with a cold this time.

But on the other side of the coin....

I was running up the stairs in my house today and had very, very, very little lingering muscle soreness!! Heck yeah! Even my tibialis anterior on my left leg isn't bothering me (knock on wood). The fact that I was able to complete the two races I did, and feel so great in my body after just floors me right now. I feel like I am on an extended runner's high. Just super duper!

A couple things to think about for next time I plan major races.... know the course and the details of the course in advance of the race. Don't assume anything. Not knowing that the picnic area at the start line of the race on Saturday would be used for nutrition was plain stupid; running on only gatorade for 50 km when I could have had insanely better nutrition was ridiculously silly of me. I shall not repeat that again. Prepare for all weather possibilities, if that means wearing layers that I am willing to shed and lose then so be it, I did that when I ran the Kelowna Marathon last year and for some reason forgot to do so in Vancouver, and yet it was worse weather in Vancouver.

A couple pictures from the Saturday race..... were meant to be posted at the end, but I can't for the life of my aching insides figure out how to put them where I want to.

I usually keep all my pictures from running races together and I was looking at some old ones. I realize in retrospect that I had some cankle action happening for a couple years recently, but no more. That really amuses me.

My April totals:

.

Running: 48 km (3 runs)

Road Biking: 20 km (2 trips)

Mountain Biking: 70.93 km (2 trips at Myra Bellevue)

Gym: 13 times at the University Gym. Mostly doing ellyptical, bike machine, rowing and weights on core and upper body.

.

April was spent trying to make sure that the bulk of my exercise was low impact to ensure my tibialis anterior recovered as much as possible in anticipation of this last weekends running. It was very difficult to force myself to slow down. Having a busy month with school work in six courses and having to study for final exams in five of those was helpful in forcing me to slow down. Now that summer is here I need to make sure to mix in trips to the gym for strength training or else I will just spend all my running and biking time up at Myra Bellevue park and completely neglect my muscle training which makes my running and biking so much more enjoyable.

.

Keep on running.... and learn something from every time you run.

.

Nazzer

Ultra Saturday + Marathon Sunday = Sore Monday

On Saturday May 1, I ran the Elk/Beaver Lake 50 km Ultra in 4:47:28. On Sunday May 2, I ran the Vancouver Marathon in 4:27:26.

The 50 km was five loops around Elk/Beaver Lake in Victoria, BC.

Times for each of the 10 k loops were: (I think I did the math right)

49:10
49:27
57:05
67:31
64:13

The weather started at 6 am with a light rain, continuing that way until around 8 am when the sun slowly start to come out. And then it stayed nice for the rest of the race.

I went out a little too strong. I intended to go out slower than I did and I didn't really realize it until the third lap so I slowed down by doing some 5 minute walk and 1 minute run for a bit. I ran t he same pace as the first two laps until the 23 km mark, I really do struggle with maintaining anything more than 5:00 min/km, even when my goal is to run dramatically slower than I want to I have such trouble doing it. The first lap I ran by myself. Second lap was by myself still. The first 3 km of the second lap was with the woman that ended up winning the 50 mile race in 7:47. Ran about 7 km of my third lap with a woman that was doing the 50 k while pacing her husband for the 50 mile race. And ran the last bit of the 4th lap and all of the final lap with a guy that ended up finishing at the same time as me. It was nice to have someone to push back and forth with at the end, even though we weren't exactly pushing a hard pace.

At the end of the race I felt pretty darn good. Groin muscles and quads were pretty tight but I think I stretched em out and walked them loose after the race. There was a shelter with picnic tables at the start area that apparently the runners were allowed to use to store their food and also had aid type food on hand for the runners between each laps; I didn't figure this out until lap four. Whoops. All in all it was a fun race, I know that if I had only been doing one race that weekend I could have cut at least 30 minutes off my time. Perhaps next year I'll do it again and shoot for a sub 4 hour time.

And look, the race director made a pretty neat video and out it on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtVEdanQNuo

I then had to get from Victoria to Vancouver by 5 pm, I left the race at Elk/Beaver Lake around 12:30 headed back to where I stayed in Vic, showered and headed to Nanaimo to catch the ferry. I only managed to get about 6 hours sleep before the Marathon on Sunday.

I arrived at the race start area in Vancouver around 6:30 and the race started at 7:30. I spend the first 30 minutes stretching and getting loosened up as I felt a little stiff from yesterdays run. Lined up for the porta potties around 7:05 foolishly thinking I could get that done before the start. I got out of the bathroom area at 7:29. I ended up starting near the 4:15 pace bunny.

The weather was the most rain I have ever run in. I used to think I enjoyed running in the rain, but I never run more than a couple hours in the rain. It would switch back and forth between light rain and really heavy rain.

My splits for the marathon were:

5 k: 29:41
10 k: 58:06
15 k: 1:27:15
21.2 k: 2:07:08
30 k: 3:02:54
35 k: 3:40:15
42.2 k: 4:27:26

I thought I felt good in the beginning of the race. I was succesfully maintaining a slow pace. Around the half way mark I was running with a nice group of folks near the 4:15 pace bunny. But around 30 k I absolutely got rocked! I had to go to the bathroom; I stood in line at a porta potty waiting to pee (it was the city part of the course and not the Stanly Park part of the course or I would have peed outside) and I tried to keep moving while waiting, but when I got out of the bathroom I was stiffer than my computer desk. I suppose the non stop rain didn't help my muscles to stay loose. After that I just couldn't get going again. Of the last 12.2 k I think I ended up walking 1 km, and shuffling along for the rest. It wasn't pretty but I was still smiling and high fiving people along the way.

Near the Burrard St bridge (the second time going over it) in the residential area leading up to it there was a sea otter running along the road in front of me!!!!

Looking back I don't know what I wanted to get out of doing an ultra and a marathon on back to back days. I feel damn good about doing it and knowing that I've done enough training that I've got to the point where my body can handle this sort of thing and only have minor expected muscles soreness the next day. There's a good chance that I'll do the Elk/Beaver Ultra again next year. I don't think I'll do the Vancouver Marathon again; far too many people and a little too expensive for my taste.

Next up... 50 mile Scorched Sole race in Kelowna on June 26. I live in Kelowna, so I think I'll have run the course at a slower pace than I intend to race it at least once, hike it a couple times, and I will probably do it tomorrow on my mountain bike.

Trail running is the bees knees.

After running only a few times in the last month due to my interior tibularis muscle in my left leg bothering me I had turned into the king of low impact exercising at the gym at school. Yeah it felt good to be able to exercise without aggravating my injury, but oh my is exercising inside at the gym the most boring thing ever! Ever!!! Doing an hour on the ellyptical at the gym is so mind numbingly tedious, especially when its 25 degrees out and sunny. It's shirtless running weather and I'm inside.

Last week I went for short run outside on the flat pavement and it felt good, made sure I iced and stretched super good after. Woke up the next day still feeling good in my legs. So a couple days later I went for another morning run of only 6 km, and felt good again. So fast forward to today (with daily trips to the gym in between) and I decided to do a longer run.

Heavenly! I parked my car at a park, figured I would stay on trails so it was easier on my legs. Run on the greenway along Mission Creek, stayed on the flat for the first 13 km, which was nice to start. The sun was shining, nothing but my shoes and running shirts. This is how I like to run. For the last 4 km I hit some easy trails across the creek. And I pushed hard, love it.

Now I just need to remember to take it easy and not go out for a run that long every day while my ant. tib. is still recovering. Must not let my excitement get the best of me.

May long weekend will be a test of endurance.

I found the website for the Elk Ultra (or some name like that) in Victoria on Saturday May 1st and was contemplating it, but I wasn't sure if I would do it, after all I could just do a 50 k run in the trails here in Kelowna. But then when I was running the half marathon in Kelowna someone reminded me of the Vancouver marathon. So I figured one race seemed like not enough of a reason to go to the coast, but if I did two races it would be a hell of a super duper weekend. So then my long weekend will look like this. Saturday May 1st, 50 km Ultra in Victoria. Sunday May 2nd, Vancouver Marathon (full).

The last time I did a 50 km run I did it in 4:45. The trails are apparently quite flat in the course in Victoria so I figure I can do a sub 4:30, but I'll be pushing for at least 4:20, which will mean maintaining a pace of no more than 5:12min/km which I think is very doable over that distance. I just need to make sure I don't push too hard and start out too fast. I'll try and stay around 4:50min/km for the first hour and see how it goes from there.

As for the marathong. My best race time for a marathon is 3:58:10. Barring a catastrophic amount of residual pain from the day before I'll definitely be setting a new personal best. I've run several sub 3:45 marathon distances on training runs since the 3:58:10 marathon time. My safe goal time for the race is to break 3:45, which means maintaining a pace of 5:19 min/km or better which is so doable. I think I'll push to try and maintain a 5:00 min/km time which would be very satisfying after doing 50 km the day before, and would mean a time of 3:31. So if I get under 3:40, I'll be very happy.

I didn't do very much running this in March. I was still feeling a lot of pain in my left leg around my interior tibularis. I only went on 4 runs and 6 bike rides. I went to physio 3 times and went to a massage therapist 4 times (thank you school for providing those free services). My leg is starting to feel better, it no longer hurts while walking, only mild pain when walking upstairs, biking is only slightly painful after the fact and running is still not so good. Having too much schoolwork this month was a blessing in disguise to help me recover from injury. And I was good enough to set a personal best in a half marathon. I can now maintain a pace of 30 km/hr on my road bike for an hour. Next month I'm gonna see if I could get that up to 32 km/hr. Well I'm sure I could do that quite easily if I avoided hills but that would be no fun.

March totals:

Run: 40.61 km, (average of 10.15 km)
Bike: 171.47 km, (average of 28.57 km).

Longest Run: Half marathon
Longest Bike: 50.07 km

"If you want to win something, run 100 meters. If you want to experience something, run a marathon. . . or two in a weekend."

Keep on running.

Nazzer