I'm still good on the most important goals of the year (drug free, and working well towards the scorched sole and the fat dog). And I guess I now have a new alcohol related goal.
The fat dog race released their race schedule with all the details for the race and such on their website.
http://www.mountainmadness.ca/documents/Fat_Dog_100_Race_Guide.pdf
This will be my focus, and will be what I immerse myself in during my moments of uncertainty in other things in life. 195 kms. I will run it in under 36 hours.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Dependancies
So I was doing some reading and I thought I would post some 'journal' type posts that I had read.
interesting stuff...
Written on the wall of an abandoned home in my neighborhood, was the following little blurb: Whoever she was, she was certainly in a bit of a predicament. She writes…
There comes a time in life when one carefully examines all of the most monumental snapshots the mind saves. Like the first time you felt a puppy’s fur, the Scooby-doo birthday cake you had in 4th grade, the way it felt when piercing heat flushed your cheeks because C.E. snapped your bra, getting a driver’s license (their mistake), getting accepted into college, etc. Whether it’s to reaffirm your place in the world now, to understand where you’ve come from, or to satisfy the mood to reminisce- it happens to all of us for a purpose. This is where I’ve been for the past three weeks, and it’s been a strange place. And perhaps a bit different than all of the aforementioned reasons for picking apart the contents of the mind, I am looking for something lost. Because surely, I’m missing something. How the fuck I ended up to be a person that needs to be dizzy laden with drugs or alcohol in order to carry out a normal day is a bit of a mystery, and I’m a smart girl. I’m a smart girl who likes mysteries, and so here I am. Searching. Most ridiculously, however, is that what I’m searching for doesn’t exist. And that’s because I’m searching for a better way to understand, and maybe there is no “better” way. Maybe it is what it is, and like this fucking beer, maybe I just need to suck it up and swallow.
Journal excerpt
2/1/96
When glass drops from slippery fingers, it has a tendency to shatter. Both frantically and with precision, you take great caution into picking up the pieces because they are ever so small, sharp and quite difficult to see. Many times the broken glass (vase, gravy boat, etc.) becomes a distant memory until the day you find yourself rushing to a relentlessly ringing phone only to be abruptly stopped by the sudden sensation of piercing hot pain biting at the bottom of your foot. At that moment, the mind flashes you a quick picture of the glass before it had fallen, as if to say “Wait! Remember?! THIS is the culprit.” And then you understand the series of events that brought you to this pain, and then you react. At this moment—this very weary, bitter Monday morning, I am waiting for my mind’s eye to flash me a picture of what brought me to this pain so that I can react. And my reaction would be great, and fierce and unforgiving. This reckoning would serve as a release, and I’d be swept up in a whirlwind of wellness- physical, mental and spiritual wellness that would carry me into another reality where I can find comfort, courage, sanity (my god, bring me sanity) on a semi-daily basis without abusing some form of substance; because I should be able to live a fulfilling life without needing to feel numb or electric. I insist that this reckoning is necessary, and yet I know, I know, I know that it isn’t- or that it has already happened. I don’t know. Everything contradicts everything else, and I am part of that equation. I have drifted out to an oily sea and the only thing consistently reminding me that this will get better is a stranger in some part of the world whose name I don’t know. And I’m worse than he knows, and I’m worse than I know. Leaving behind the little spheres of man-made productivity hasn’t been that bad, but the realization of a bigger problem has caused my core to shake. To fucking shake, like fingers holding cigarettes in the winter.
Girl's journal entry:
2.15.99
She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned around to greet such surprising comfort, but nobody was there. Swirling, taunting thoughts colored her mind with possibilities- none of which seemed to be the proposed outcome of this most peculiar situation. Was anybody ever really there in the first place, or was it the familiar kiss of hope that more frequently than anything else just rings the doorbell and then runs? For the most part, I’m thinking that nobody was there. Words fill empty spaces and as they linger they allow people to find grace and comfort in things that are in fact, not really things at all. Just ideas, or intentions. Like, I intend to get clean- but I don’t.
interesting stuff...
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Titles are boring.
It's reading break at school, and I was out in the morning and it was the most gorgeous "tease you with it almost being spring" day so I just couldn't resist the urge to go for a run.... for six and a half hours. I went to Okanagan Mountain Park and decided to take the Wildhorse Canyon Trail. I had crazy notions of possibly making it all the way to a trail on the other side of the mountain which I could take to the top. Turns out My sense of distance on the trail maps was quite wrong. At one point I got lost just because I thought I was halfway further down the trail than I thought I was.
My excitement at the beauty of the weather in the bottom of the valley served me well in being naive about what the weather would be like in the mountains. I was greeted with sheeted ice, heavy thick snow (that kind that feels like it had melted earlier, but then froze again so it's rock hard stepping through it and even harder stepping back out of it), and lots of puddles! Huge puddles that I should have just run straight through because my feet were soaked at the end of the run anyway, but instead I chose to try and avoid that so I spent lots of time bivouacing through heavy fallen trees to avoid the unavoidable wet feet.
My excitement at the beauty of the weather in the bottom of the valley served me well in being naive about what the weather would be like in the mountains. I was greeted with sheeted ice, heavy thick snow (that kind that feels like it had melted earlier, but then froze again so it's rock hard stepping through it and even harder stepping back out of it), and lots of puddles! Huge puddles that I should have just run straight through because my feet were soaked at the end of the run anyway, but instead I chose to try and avoid that so I spent lots of time bivouacing through heavy fallen trees to avoid the unavoidable wet feet.
I wish I had come up here a month ago, with ice skates. Lots of small ponds perfect for hockey.
I'm not a very good photographer, or own a very good camera so I don't think I do the scenery justice. But sometimes running in the mountains where I live makes me feel like this is God's country.
The trail down to the lake had five massive trees that had fallen down, and the side trail was only about 800 metres long. I had to do some fancy balance beam action over fallen trees that were ten feet off the ground to get through.
But it sure does look nice once you get there. This is Buchan Bay, only accessible through trails in the park which will take the average person hiking at least 2 hours, or by boat.
The peak on the left has a trail that goes up it. Haven't been there yet, but I'm pretty sure once I get there I will be able to see to Kelowna and all the way south to at least Summerland. I'll probably go there Saturday.
I'm not a very good photographer, or own a very good camera so I don't think I do the scenery justice. But sometimes running in the mountains where I live makes me feel like this is God's country.
I wish I owned a chainsaw, so many burnt trees are fallen down that need to get moved.
The trail down to the lake had five massive trees that had fallen down, and the side trail was only about 800 metres long. I had to do some fancy balance beam action over fallen trees that were ten feet off the ground to get through.
But it sure does look nice once you get there. This is Buchan Bay, only accessible through trails in the park which will take the average person hiking at least 2 hours, or by boat.
The peak on the left has a trail that goes up it. Haven't been there yet, but I'm pretty sure once I get there I will be able to see to Kelowna and all the way south to at least Summerland. I'll probably go there Saturday.
.
In this section of the Canyon I came across a deer leg that had been eaten. Seeing that makes for an interesting dichotomy between the beauty of the nature, and the reminder of the lingering savageness that lurks in the mountains.
.
I didn't even get as far as 40 km running, but it sure was fun and felt like a lot of work. I was a little sore by the end, I don't think I had enough fluids and food for more than five and a half hours. I expected to be really sore the next morning. But I managed to pound out a solid 6 km in 28 minutes today. I intended on doing a timed mile on the track at the stadium, but my garmin died one lap in and I couldn't find my stopwatch, but it felt like a 6:00ish. I was so stoked that I was on the mountain moving for that long one day, and still felt good enough to run the next day even if it was a short run. I guess that means I need to run harder on the mountain next time.
.
During my long run I watched the sunset, and the moon come up...
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Maybe Friday I will try and time a run to watch the sun come up.
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You should definitely try and find the time to watch the sunrise, sunset, and moon rise at least once every couple months, just like going for a run, it's never something you regret after.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Sunday thoughts
Today I ran a 10 km road race for the first time in 15 months. I'd only ever participated in two other 10 km road races, the one I did my previous personal best in and the same race I was in today, and that was two years ago.
Previous personal best: 56:43
Two years ago in this same race: 57:04
Today: 43:11 (edit: race results list my time as 43:14)
13:32 faster than my previous best. Granted, I haven't made any attempt at beating my best in a timed event since then. I've run a lot since then, so it's pretty interesting to see that time. I mean I knew I would get around that, and in the summer I was regularly doing easy paced 45 min ten k runs. I might do another ten k before the longer races start up in the summer, maybe then I can have a race where I wasn't sick for a couple days the week before, and spent 12 hours driving the day before the race. I was pretty exhausted today, didn't feel like I was able to dig down to get all that I could have gave. But, still I'm pretty darn stoked to see hard numbers showing that I'm in much better shape than I was in 2007-2009.
I ran a 5:23 mile on the treadmill while running at the school gym the other day. It almosy feels like a lie to say that though, because it's the treadmill. I feel like I could go so much faster in a 1 mile distance on the treadmill, but it takes at least 30 seconds to get the machine up to 10 miles an hour. Let alone a pace I want to run at when I'm trying to push the limit. Just for no particular reason I want to see if I can get my treadmill one mile time down to 5:00. Then when the snow and ice finally melts I'll hit the track at the Apple Bowl and see if I can do a sub 6:00 mile outside.
Random thought...
Often when I talk to people after races they seem so dejected about their result, no matter how awesome it was. It often feels like people aren't able to appreciate their results in a race, or even in life in general, unless they achieve their main target goal. This is such a sad thing. My only guess is by fixating on one specific goal they lose sight of all other possible good achievements they could be creating.
Previous personal best: 56:43
Two years ago in this same race: 57:04
Today: 43:11 (edit: race results list my time as 43:14)
13:32 faster than my previous best. Granted, I haven't made any attempt at beating my best in a timed event since then. I've run a lot since then, so it's pretty interesting to see that time. I mean I knew I would get around that, and in the summer I was regularly doing easy paced 45 min ten k runs. I might do another ten k before the longer races start up in the summer, maybe then I can have a race where I wasn't sick for a couple days the week before, and spent 12 hours driving the day before the race. I was pretty exhausted today, didn't feel like I was able to dig down to get all that I could have gave. But, still I'm pretty darn stoked to see hard numbers showing that I'm in much better shape than I was in 2007-2009.
I ran a 5:23 mile on the treadmill while running at the school gym the other day. It almosy feels like a lie to say that though, because it's the treadmill. I feel like I could go so much faster in a 1 mile distance on the treadmill, but it takes at least 30 seconds to get the machine up to 10 miles an hour. Let alone a pace I want to run at when I'm trying to push the limit. Just for no particular reason I want to see if I can get my treadmill one mile time down to 5:00. Then when the snow and ice finally melts I'll hit the track at the Apple Bowl and see if I can do a sub 6:00 mile outside.
Random thought...
Often when I talk to people after races they seem so dejected about their result, no matter how awesome it was. It often feels like people aren't able to appreciate their results in a race, or even in life in general, unless they achieve their main target goal. This is such a sad thing. My only guess is by fixating on one specific goal they lose sight of all other possible good achievements they could be creating.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Ugh, swollen ankle.
I believe the snow covered mountain top is Little White Mountain, as seen from Okanagan Mountain Park.
In January I ran 22 times, and biked 6 times for a total of 228 km running and 45 km biking. I did lots of short runs, but had time to get in some nice long runs. Spent a few afternoons in Myra Bellevue Park running scared as I follow cougar tracks.
But it turns out there are just as many cougars around in Okanagan Mountain Park. I ran to the top of Okanagan Mountain Park for the first time, went all the way up to Divide Lake. I had always thought it would take longer, I'll probably start running it more often once the snow goes away. The climb up the main trail is 10 km long, with an elevation gain of 1200 metres.
Once you get to the top of the mountain you are greeted with a view of Penticton. Absolutely wonderful.
I was pretty excited for the amount I ran this month, I had wanted to run more total miles, while doing shorter long runs which I did. And injury free too, everything had felt great.
Once you get to the top of the mountain you are greeted with a view of Penticton. Absolutely wonderful.
On top of the trail sign near Divide Lake.
After jumping off the sign, I thought I would get a wicked sweet fall into a 3 ft deep snow... apparently the snow was super hard packed.... it hurt.
I was pretty excited for the amount I ran this month, I had wanted to run more total miles, while doing shorter long runs which I did. And injury free too, everything had felt great.
Until I walked home from the pub last night, and woke up with my left ankle swollen and hurting to put weight on it. And I don't even remember how this could have possibly happened last night.
Ugh.
Ugh.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Goal evaluation: 19 days in.
Goals one and two are going strong still...
Goals three and four are definitely seeming like they are attainable. Have been only doing one or two long runs per week since school started again. None of my long runs have been on anything other than snow, which is just so much fun to run on. I really think that the snow running is helping me maintain a better form, with a higher knee lift and a longer more aware stride. And I feel as though my pacing is better having to force myself to run up hills slower while running in the snow.
The scorched sole location has been changed from the Myra Bellevue Park to the Okanagan Mountain Park. It should make for an interesting change, I have run the trails in Myra Bellevue Park so I felt like no matter what route they made there for 50 miles I would have run the trails before at some point so it's nice that it will change. Having said that I can't think of how they will make 50 miles of route in Okanagan Mountain Park, I guess we'll be running on the old Kettle Valley Railway bed, it's nice and all but it's so flat.
Here's a picture of the view from Okanagan Mountain Park
The goal of running every day already failed. School got in the way of that one, and school definitely trumpss running when it comes down to it.
.
I was reading a blog and thought I would share some words that inspired me
.
"sometimes we get stuck in other peoples perception of ourselves. we act a certain way because that is how we believe other people see us and how we believe others want us to act.
sometimes we also get stuck in our own perceptions of ourselves. we cease to move forward because we become rooted to the only 'us' we have ever known, the one who is still trying to achieve their goals. still trying is great, but that's exactly all it is"
.
It really made me think about why we do things as individuals. My thoughts led me to no particularly useful thoughts, but I did some meditating on it. The part about ceasing to move forward made me think about the way I took Robert Pirsig to mean when he talked about 'static' vs. 'dynamic' quality in our lives.
.
When we run, or do anything else that is physically challenging, are we really doing anything other than trying to find our way to a new 'dynamic' form in ourself, and hoping that transition comes through some sort of transcendental moment which we think can only be achieved through breaking through some wall, or from achieving a certain 'high'.
.
Run!?!
.
Nazzer
Goals three and four are definitely seeming like they are attainable. Have been only doing one or two long runs per week since school started again. None of my long runs have been on anything other than snow, which is just so much fun to run on. I really think that the snow running is helping me maintain a better form, with a higher knee lift and a longer more aware stride. And I feel as though my pacing is better having to force myself to run up hills slower while running in the snow.
The scorched sole location has been changed from the Myra Bellevue Park to the Okanagan Mountain Park. It should make for an interesting change, I have run the trails in Myra Bellevue Park so I felt like no matter what route they made there for 50 miles I would have run the trails before at some point so it's nice that it will change. Having said that I can't think of how they will make 50 miles of route in Okanagan Mountain Park, I guess we'll be running on the old Kettle Valley Railway bed, it's nice and all but it's so flat.
Here's a picture of the view from Okanagan Mountain Park
The goal of running every day already failed. School got in the way of that one, and school definitely trumpss running when it comes down to it.
.
I was reading a blog and thought I would share some words that inspired me
.
"sometimes we get stuck in other peoples perception of ourselves. we act a certain way because that is how we believe other people see us and how we believe others want us to act.
sometimes we also get stuck in our own perceptions of ourselves. we cease to move forward because we become rooted to the only 'us' we have ever known, the one who is still trying to achieve their goals. still trying is great, but that's exactly all it is"
.
It really made me think about why we do things as individuals. My thoughts led me to no particularly useful thoughts, but I did some meditating on it. The part about ceasing to move forward made me think about the way I took Robert Pirsig to mean when he talked about 'static' vs. 'dynamic' quality in our lives.
.
When we run, or do anything else that is physically challenging, are we really doing anything other than trying to find our way to a new 'dynamic' form in ourself, and hoping that transition comes through some sort of transcendental moment which we think can only be achieved through breaking through some wall, or from achieving a certain 'high'.
.
Run!?!
.
Nazzer
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Goals for 2011
Last year I had one primary goal, that being the Death Race in the middle of the summer. That didn't work out so well for the months after the Death Race in terms of maintaining my fitness as well as a few other things in life, because I find that maintaining a runnin goal helps me keep the rest of my life balanced.
Yes I will have a few specific races which will be my primary goal races, but I will run more races with the intent of keeping myself occupied because idle hands seem to be the devil's playground.
So.... goals.
1. Finish my degree.
2. Don't do any drugs.
3. Finish the Schorched Sole 50 mile race in under 9:30
4. Finish the Fat Dog 100 mile race in under 32 hours.
5. Run every day.
Number one and two will be the hardest, but I think if I can manage to maintain those two goals I can be much more likely at succeeding at the other two and just be better off in general. And to do these things I am going to try and maintain a slightly different schedule of running for the year. I know that running helps me through my days, helping me have tike to reflect on the day that was and the days to come when I go running, it clears my head. So if I run more often I feel as though I will be more likely to be able to stay focused on my first two goals. This is where goal number five comes in, even if it's only going for a 5 minute run around the block I want to try and do that.
In terms of the 50 mile race I think I can quite easily achieve the time goal. I ran the race in 10:05 in 2010 and apparently the route will be slightly easier in 2011 so if I maintain a similar training plan leading up to it I should be good. Will probably add miles in to the training though.
The 100 mile race. It's only 35 km longer than the death race so it's very achievable, and there are several more palces for drop bags / aid stations on the course so I think it could be easier to plan nutrition and avoid similar mistakes I made during the death race.
In october I had stated that I planned a certain race calendar for the year which looked like this.
Mar: Half marathon
Mar: Dirty Duo 50 km
Apr: Diez Vista 50 km
May: Unknown
Jun: Scorched sole 50 mile
July: Fat Dog 100 mile
Aug: Stormy 100 mile (or 50)
Sept: Walk in the Park 54 km
Oct: Marathon
This plan seems far too heavy on the ultra races and I think I will burn myself out doing that. And I've decided to avoid long travel distances to get to races in an attempt to save money. So I've come up with a new schedule focusing on local, cheaper races.
Feb 13: 10 km race (Vernon)
Mar 6: 5 km race (Penticton)
Mar 27: half marathon (Kelowna)
April 10: 10 km (Oliver)
May 8: 10 mile (Penticton)
May 22: half marathon (Penticton)
Jun 12: Half Marathon (Summerland)
June 25: Scorched Sole 50 mile (Kelowna)
July 10: 8 km race (Kelowna)
July 23: Fat Dog 100 mile (Manning Park)
Aug 14: 10 km race (Salmon Arm)
Sep 4: Walk in the Park (Kamloops)
Sep 11: 10 km race (Penticton)
Sep 18: 16 km race (Kelowna)
Sept: Salmon Arm X Country
Oct: Summerland X country
Oct 9: Marathon (Kelowna)
Oct: Kelowna X Country
Oct: Penticton X country
Oct: Vernon X country
And for a completely arbitrary total km goal for the year I'm going to try and hit 2400 km for the year in running.
Yep, should be a good year. I think my goals are definitely acheivable.
Nazzer
Yes I will have a few specific races which will be my primary goal races, but I will run more races with the intent of keeping myself occupied because idle hands seem to be the devil's playground.
So.... goals.
1. Finish my degree.
2. Don't do any drugs.
3. Finish the Schorched Sole 50 mile race in under 9:30
4. Finish the Fat Dog 100 mile race in under 32 hours.
5. Run every day.
Number one and two will be the hardest, but I think if I can manage to maintain those two goals I can be much more likely at succeeding at the other two and just be better off in general. And to do these things I am going to try and maintain a slightly different schedule of running for the year. I know that running helps me through my days, helping me have tike to reflect on the day that was and the days to come when I go running, it clears my head. So if I run more often I feel as though I will be more likely to be able to stay focused on my first two goals. This is where goal number five comes in, even if it's only going for a 5 minute run around the block I want to try and do that.
In terms of the 50 mile race I think I can quite easily achieve the time goal. I ran the race in 10:05 in 2010 and apparently the route will be slightly easier in 2011 so if I maintain a similar training plan leading up to it I should be good. Will probably add miles in to the training though.
The 100 mile race. It's only 35 km longer than the death race so it's very achievable, and there are several more palces for drop bags / aid stations on the course so I think it could be easier to plan nutrition and avoid similar mistakes I made during the death race.
In october I had stated that I planned a certain race calendar for the year which looked like this.
Mar: Half marathon
Mar: Dirty Duo 50 km
Apr: Diez Vista 50 km
May: Unknown
Jun: Scorched sole 50 mile
July: Fat Dog 100 mile
Aug: Stormy 100 mile (or 50)
Sept: Walk in the Park 54 km
Oct: Marathon
This plan seems far too heavy on the ultra races and I think I will burn myself out doing that. And I've decided to avoid long travel distances to get to races in an attempt to save money. So I've come up with a new schedule focusing on local, cheaper races.
Feb 13: 10 km race (Vernon)
Mar 6: 5 km race (Penticton)
Mar 27: half marathon (Kelowna)
April 10: 10 km (Oliver)
May 8: 10 mile (Penticton)
May 22: half marathon (Penticton)
Jun 12: Half Marathon (Summerland)
June 25: Scorched Sole 50 mile (Kelowna)
July 10: 8 km race (Kelowna)
July 23: Fat Dog 100 mile (Manning Park)
Aug 14: 10 km race (Salmon Arm)
Sep 4: Walk in the Park (Kamloops)
Sep 11: 10 km race (Penticton)
Sep 18: 16 km race (Kelowna)
Sept: Salmon Arm X Country
Oct: Summerland X country
Oct 9: Marathon (Kelowna)
Oct: Kelowna X Country
Oct: Penticton X country
Oct: Vernon X country
And for a completely arbitrary total km goal for the year I'm going to try and hit 2400 km for the year in running.
Yep, should be a good year. I think my goals are definitely acheivable.
Nazzer
Looking back on 2010
I started this blog at the beginning of the year and if I remember correctly my one goal was completing the Death Race in August. Everything I did up to that was a planned slow progression leading up to that race and my primary goal of completing it. Well, I finished the Death Race in 22:44:27 so I guess I accomplished my goal.
As well this year I ran a half marathon, 2 marathons, 2 50k ultras, 1 50 mile ultra and 3 short cross country races. I even managed to place 3rd in my age group in the final standings of the local running associations cross country series (by default though because there were only three of us that ran enough of the races to qualify for the final points).
In February I increased my weekly running totals too quickly and injured my right leg, I believe the problem was a stress fracture on my fibula which put a damper on my running for much of March. Which lead to me running a local half marathon at the end of March when I was just barely comfortable enough to run again. I finished the race in 1:42:30, which is now my personal best but I feel I can do better as I hurt too much that day to put any kick in my race that day at all.
The beginning of May saw me take on a double back to back of a 50 km trail ultra on saturday May 1st and then the Vancouver marathon the next day on sunday. I did the 50 k in 4:47 and the marathon in 4:27. I viewed this double as a test to see how my endurance was. I'm not sure what I learned through this, other than not getting enough sleep before the second day wasn't a good idea. I could have run the 50 km in less than 4:30 possibly even less as I was purposely trying to hold back so I wasn't destroyed for the second race of the weekend. But even with holding back I totally hit a wall at the 30 km point in the marathon.
June was the scorched sole 50 mile race. Looking back on the race I think this was my best race all year. No injuries, no hydration issues, no cramping. Probably was helped by the fact that this race is on trails that I regularly train on. I so very much look forward to the 2011 race. I suppose one thing I should take from how easy this race seemed in relation to other races is that I need to prepare better for other races.
August long weekend was the Death Race. I really am happy that I finished this. The race itself was awesome and felt so good to be able to accomplish it, breathtaking scenery, super challenging hills. Yeah I made some mistakes on the run and I could probably do it faster if I were to do it again. But I probably won't do that race again.
I didn't do much running for a bit after the Death Race. It was rather hard to get inspired to run when I had just complete what was the one major goal of the year. So looking forward to this year I need to make sure I have a goal coming up soon after a real long race, even if its just to participate in a small race. I did a fair bit of biking to keep up my fitness. This lead to the 54 km Walk in the Park race on Labour day. I was running strong with the secondary group of runners and doing good but by the end of the race I had hurt my ankle somehow, and this injury lingered on until the Kelowna Marathon in October. I thought I had fully recovered as the week before the marathon I did a long run of 28 km without any pain. But apparently not. The marathon was a double loop of a half marathon course. I did the first half in 1:39, and then around the second half my ankle pain flared up like crazy and did a much slower second half split time of 2:15 for a total time of 3:55:46 which is still a personal best. But again, I think I can do better.
Overall for the year I ran 2035 km (1200 of those on the trails) and biked 1245 km (860 on the road bike, the rest on mountain bike). I only ran or biked 282 days of the year, meaning there was 75 days off. I feel like I could avoid injury better and train better if I were to run more often, that way when I hit long runs there is less likely to get injured, even if I am just adding in 5 km runs on the days I may have not run in the past.
All in all it was a good year for running. Next year I will spend more time on the trails than I did this year, and I will try and be more judicious about increasing my milage to avoid injury.
As well this year I ran a half marathon, 2 marathons, 2 50k ultras, 1 50 mile ultra and 3 short cross country races. I even managed to place 3rd in my age group in the final standings of the local running associations cross country series (by default though because there were only three of us that ran enough of the races to qualify for the final points).
In February I increased my weekly running totals too quickly and injured my right leg, I believe the problem was a stress fracture on my fibula which put a damper on my running for much of March. Which lead to me running a local half marathon at the end of March when I was just barely comfortable enough to run again. I finished the race in 1:42:30, which is now my personal best but I feel I can do better as I hurt too much that day to put any kick in my race that day at all.
The beginning of May saw me take on a double back to back of a 50 km trail ultra on saturday May 1st and then the Vancouver marathon the next day on sunday. I did the 50 k in 4:47 and the marathon in 4:27. I viewed this double as a test to see how my endurance was. I'm not sure what I learned through this, other than not getting enough sleep before the second day wasn't a good idea. I could have run the 50 km in less than 4:30 possibly even less as I was purposely trying to hold back so I wasn't destroyed for the second race of the weekend. But even with holding back I totally hit a wall at the 30 km point in the marathon.
June was the scorched sole 50 mile race. Looking back on the race I think this was my best race all year. No injuries, no hydration issues, no cramping. Probably was helped by the fact that this race is on trails that I regularly train on. I so very much look forward to the 2011 race. I suppose one thing I should take from how easy this race seemed in relation to other races is that I need to prepare better for other races.
August long weekend was the Death Race. I really am happy that I finished this. The race itself was awesome and felt so good to be able to accomplish it, breathtaking scenery, super challenging hills. Yeah I made some mistakes on the run and I could probably do it faster if I were to do it again. But I probably won't do that race again.
I didn't do much running for a bit after the Death Race. It was rather hard to get inspired to run when I had just complete what was the one major goal of the year. So looking forward to this year I need to make sure I have a goal coming up soon after a real long race, even if its just to participate in a small race. I did a fair bit of biking to keep up my fitness. This lead to the 54 km Walk in the Park race on Labour day. I was running strong with the secondary group of runners and doing good but by the end of the race I had hurt my ankle somehow, and this injury lingered on until the Kelowna Marathon in October. I thought I had fully recovered as the week before the marathon I did a long run of 28 km without any pain. But apparently not. The marathon was a double loop of a half marathon course. I did the first half in 1:39, and then around the second half my ankle pain flared up like crazy and did a much slower second half split time of 2:15 for a total time of 3:55:46 which is still a personal best. But again, I think I can do better.
Overall for the year I ran 2035 km (1200 of those on the trails) and biked 1245 km (860 on the road bike, the rest on mountain bike). I only ran or biked 282 days of the year, meaning there was 75 days off. I feel like I could avoid injury better and train better if I were to run more often, that way when I hit long runs there is less likely to get injured, even if I am just adding in 5 km runs on the days I may have not run in the past.
All in all it was a good year for running. Next year I will spend more time on the trails than I did this year, and I will try and be more judicious about increasing my milage to avoid injury.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Christmas Trees on the Mountains!
I've been running up Knox Mountain fairly regularly these days. Snow covered trails, not much ice. It usually takes me 36 minutes or so in good conditions and I'm getting up the mountain in 43ish minutes. But the best part is that someone has decided to decorate a few of the trees into Charlie Brown style Christmas trees.
It's awesome!
It's awesome!
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Snow running...
Even though I'm not running much these days I really do enjoy the days where I get time to do long runs in the snow covered mountain trails. Myra Bellevue Park is so beautiful right now.
I ran up Crawford trail to the KVR and then came back down the Lost lake trail. In total that's only about 21 km's. But the uphill to the KVR was pretty darn hard and didn't involve much running at all, mostly just hiking.
I don't know why, but I am really amused by taking pictures of how deep the snow is when I run in it.
This was right around lookout trail, such a nice view. I was lost, or rather I was "temporarily displaced from where I wanted to be", you can't really be lost when any time you don't know for sure where you are all you have to do is walk down the mountainside and you'lll eventually end up back in Kelowna somewhere.
I love this view.
This is at the crawford trail/ lost lake trail junction near the KVR. I was now in the mountain fog, feet were frozen, it was pretty rad. Took me just over three hours to get here.
This is on the way down lost lake trail. I did the 10 km stretch from the top of the KVR down the trail, downhill all the way, to my car in 47 minutes. It was so blissful running down the snowy trails, I'm pretty sure I've never gone that fast down that trail in good conditions.
I ran up Crawford trail to the KVR and then came back down the Lost lake trail. In total that's only about 21 km's. But the uphill to the KVR was pretty darn hard and didn't involve much running at all, mostly just hiking.
I don't know why, but I am really amused by taking pictures of how deep the snow is when I run in it.
This was right around lookout trail, such a nice view. I was lost, or rather I was "temporarily displaced from where I wanted to be", you can't really be lost when any time you don't know for sure where you are all you have to do is walk down the mountainside and you'lll eventually end up back in Kelowna somewhere.
I love this view.
This is at the crawford trail/ lost lake trail junction near the KVR. I was now in the mountain fog, feet were frozen, it was pretty rad. Took me just over three hours to get here.
This is on the way down lost lake trail. I did the 10 km stretch from the top of the KVR down the trail, downhill all the way, to my car in 47 minutes. It was so blissful running down the snowy trails, I'm pretty sure I've never gone that fast down that trail in good conditions.
Something that's nice about snow trail running is it seems to be forcing me to work on my stride, and making me lift my knee higher (due to having so much snow on the ground) which then gives me a longer stride, and makes it easier to land flat on my feet.
Nazzer
Thursday, November 18, 2010
So I quit quitting.
After the Kelowna marathon, where I realised my ankle injury wasn't quite recovered yet, I decided that I wasn't going to go on any long runs until at least January. Well, there is snow in the mountains and that plan went to hell real fast. I went running in Myra-Bellevue Park and by km 4 of the Lost Lake Trail this is how it looked.
I really like running in the snow, and the weather in Kelowna is fantastic for winter running. It's rarely reallly all that cold. Going uphill in the snow is quite the challenge, and a killer on the calves.
By this point I was the only thing leaving tracks on the snow. It feels neat knowing that I am the only living thing that's been on those trails since it last snowed.
I really like running in the snow, and the weather in Kelowna is fantastic for winter running. It's rarely reallly all that cold. Going uphill in the snow is quite the challenge, and a killer on the calves.
By this point I was the only thing leaving tracks on the snow. It feels neat knowing that I am the only living thing that's been on those trails since it last snowed.
Monday, October 18, 2010
So the Kelowna marathon...
On october 10 I did the Kelowna Marathon. Leading up to the race I had been sick for awhile and so in the three weeks prior to the race I had run much less than I wanted to, three road runs totalling 30 miles and I was on the treadmill a few times as well. Going into the race I thought this might be a good thing as in the walk in the park I had hurt my ankle and I seemed to be walking comfortably without pain so I hoped I could go the whole race without ankle pain.
Before the race I had put a couple water bottles full of gatorade in the course at around the 9/30 km point. But when I got to that point of the course they were gone (later I saw a homeless guy in the park with them in his backpack) so I was dependant on the course to provide with enough nutrition for the race. I did the first half in 1:39 which felt good and I thought I was pacing myself comfortably. Pretty soon after that my ankle started to bother me and I had shooting pains up my right leg from my ankle.
I had been taking two cups of water and a cup of gatorade at every aid station on the course ( think there was 6 in total for the 21 km loop) but that apparently wasn't enough. And I should have known this going into the race, when I train I definitely don't go more than 1 km without drinking from my water bottle. By the 24 km mark I was spitting solid water spit and was feeling dehydrated which meant it was too late and my water intake was too low for the day. I just couldn't keep myself running and I starting mixing in walking. Part of the course was along beach areas so I dipped into a bathroom and had a good half litre drink of water, 5 minutes later right by the next water station I had a massive cramp in my left leg, not so good.
For the rest of the day I felt like I couldn't run more than ten minutes at a time, and every opportunity I could I would fiind any water off the course I could to rehydrate but it felt like it was never enough.
The second half of the marathon I did in 2:16, total time of 3:55:42 which is the best marathon race time I've done so far but somewhat less than satisfying knowing that I've done marathon training runs in faster time, as well as I've done faster marathon times as part of longer races.
I still don't really know what is wrong with my ankle.
I've decided that in the future in any race I will assume they won't have enough water/gels for my needs. So I will be THAT guy wearing a 3 litre camelback for a marathon race.
I don't think other than the local weekly cross country races (all less than 10 km) I will be doing much running for the next while. Something definitely feels wrong in my ankle and I need to put as little pressure on it as I can for now.
Nazzer
Before the race I had put a couple water bottles full of gatorade in the course at around the 9/30 km point. But when I got to that point of the course they were gone (later I saw a homeless guy in the park with them in his backpack) so I was dependant on the course to provide with enough nutrition for the race. I did the first half in 1:39 which felt good and I thought I was pacing myself comfortably. Pretty soon after that my ankle started to bother me and I had shooting pains up my right leg from my ankle.
I had been taking two cups of water and a cup of gatorade at every aid station on the course ( think there was 6 in total for the 21 km loop) but that apparently wasn't enough. And I should have known this going into the race, when I train I definitely don't go more than 1 km without drinking from my water bottle. By the 24 km mark I was spitting solid water spit and was feeling dehydrated which meant it was too late and my water intake was too low for the day. I just couldn't keep myself running and I starting mixing in walking. Part of the course was along beach areas so I dipped into a bathroom and had a good half litre drink of water, 5 minutes later right by the next water station I had a massive cramp in my left leg, not so good.
For the rest of the day I felt like I couldn't run more than ten minutes at a time, and every opportunity I could I would fiind any water off the course I could to rehydrate but it felt like it was never enough.
The second half of the marathon I did in 2:16, total time of 3:55:42 which is the best marathon race time I've done so far but somewhat less than satisfying knowing that I've done marathon training runs in faster time, as well as I've done faster marathon times as part of longer races.
I still don't really know what is wrong with my ankle.
I've decided that in the future in any race I will assume they won't have enough water/gels for my needs. So I will be THAT guy wearing a 3 litre camelback for a marathon race.
I don't think other than the local weekly cross country races (all less than 10 km) I will be doing much running for the next while. Something definitely feels wrong in my ankle and I need to put as little pressure on it as I can for now.
Nazzer
Monday, October 4, 2010
Planning for next year already?
Is it too early to start planning for next year already? Sunday is the Kelowna Marathon. The cold I had hasn't bothered me for at least a week or two. That's definitely a good thing, it might be a slight problem that I didn't run much during the two weeks I was feeling not well. But I guess that just means I got a good taper in. I'm shooting for around 3:30, my ideal finish would be sub 3:20 and I think I could get under 3:45 if I'm not feeling so good.
I was thinking about next year and what I plan to do and this is what I've come up with so far.
Feb: 1/2 Marathon in Kelowna
Mar: Dirty Duo 50 km or Chuckanut 50 km
Apr: Diex Vista 50 km
May: unknown
June: Scorched Sole 50 mile (definite)
July: Fat Dog 100 mile (definite)
Aug: Stormy 100 mile or 50 mile
Sep: WITP 54 km
Oct: Kelowna Marathon:
Should be a gooder. Will focus primarily on building towards the 100 miler and then getting a personal best at the marathon.
I was thinking about next year and what I plan to do and this is what I've come up with so far.
Feb: 1/2 Marathon in Kelowna
Mar: Dirty Duo 50 km or Chuckanut 50 km
Apr: Diex Vista 50 km
May: unknown
June: Scorched Sole 50 mile (definite)
July: Fat Dog 100 mile (definite)
Aug: Stormy 100 mile or 50 mile
Sep: WITP 54 km
Oct: Kelowna Marathon:
Should be a gooder. Will focus primarily on building towards the 100 miler and then getting a personal best at the marathon.
Monday, September 13, 2010
DNSing a race feels kinda weird.
I had registered for a 10 km race on Sunday, paid a whopping 20 bucks in advance to register. On the Thursday before the race I worked with someone at work who was sit, and then surprise I got sick on Friday. Massive head cold. Pounding headache, aching everything and buckets of green mucous. Couldn't get my shift covered at work on Friday night so I was even worse on the Saturday. But I thought as I didn't work on Saturday I would drive to Penticton anyway, stay overnight and see if I felt good enough to race. Well I woke up a good hour after the race had started and felt absolutely awful still and didn't do the race.
I am so glad I didn't do it, I'm sure I would have managed to wobble my way to a 45-48 minute 10 km time but I would have felt absolutely ten times worse than I did. Even without running the race work on Sunday night was a mess, I'm pretty sure I blew a litre of mucous out my nose that night.
I've never not run a race that I was registered in before. I figured it would happen one day due to an injury, but instead it wsjust the common cold that knocked me out. I feel like I have a much more enlightened view on the DNS because of this. Pushing yourself to do something when it will only cause detriment to your body wouldn't be a wise decision.
I am so glad I didn't do it, I'm sure I would have managed to wobble my way to a 45-48 minute 10 km time but I would have felt absolutely ten times worse than I did. Even without running the race work on Sunday night was a mess, I'm pretty sure I blew a litre of mucous out my nose that night.
I've never not run a race that I was registered in before. I figured it would happen one day due to an injury, but instead it wsjust the common cold that knocked me out. I feel like I have a much more enlightened view on the DNS because of this. Pushing yourself to do something when it will only cause detriment to your body wouldn't be a wise decision.
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