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
Monday, May 31, 2010
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Wildlife
Running in the mountains I tend to see some interesting things (and usually fail at getting a decent picture of them).
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'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
Thursday, May 20, 2010
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
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
Saturday, May 15, 2010
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
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
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
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:
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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.
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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.
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Keep on running.... and learn something from every time you run.
.
Nazzer
Monday, May 3, 2010
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.
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.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
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.
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.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
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
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
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Campus to Campus Half
This years Campus to Campus Half Marathon wasn't really a campus to campus, the University is no longer a sponsor It seems, so the race started at the college and ended at the college. The course was mostly flat except for a 3 km stretch heading from Clement to Cerise Rd to Mountain Rd. I was quite thankful it was a flat course as hills do not make my strained anterior tibularis muscle feel very special at all.
Coming into the race I had two goals. First, I wanted to beat 1:40 and second, I wanted to at least break my personal best of a half marathon time of 1:44:58. I know I can beat 1:40, and have done so on training runs several in the last three months, but beating that time today was going to be totally dependant on how my legs felt.
The course was flat for the first 5 km. I felt good and I did it in 23:18. Something I find neat about this race is that they have a relay race for the half also. So every 4 km or so all of a sudden there's a batch of runner with fresh legs to pace against. It pushes you a bit harder.
The next 4 km were still flat, followed by the beginning of the only uphill portion of the course. I think it was around the 8 km mark of the race I started running with someone. I feel kind of bad because I didn't even catch his name. His goal was to finish around the same time as my goal so we ran together. It's always nice to be pushing back and forth with someone else. At the 9 km mark the steep part of the hill started. Did this 5 km section in 24:18
There was 1.5 km of more hill, which took us to the first corner of the road on Knox Mountain. And then downhill followed by more flats. This flat section is probably the nicest section of the course taking us through the boardwalk on Okanagan Lake and Waterfront Park. Did this 5 km section in 24:33. The 5 km splits were starting to slow down, but that's ok. My leg started to hurt at the end of the climb around the 11 km mark, and around the 15 km mark I realized unless I was able to put in a nice kick at the end I wasn't going to break 1:40
The next 5 km were along lakeshore road and then back on Richter. Did this section in 25:17. I lost my running buddy at the 19 km mark. At a corner near one of the parks on Lakeshore there was a group of girls holding signs for the runners. One of the signs said "marathoners go further" I laughed and shook my head. Someone else told her the sign wasn't very nice. I thought it was awesome.
Did the last km in 4:30. The guy I was running with for most of the race finished in 1:41, and I finished in 1:42:30. Both of us beat our personal bests! I beat mine by 2 minutes and 20 seconds. And I beat last years time in the same race by 30 minutes! (The year leading up to that was not a good year for running). It would seem the 1 minute for every pound rule applied.
Overall, it was a good race. Always fun, I hope next year the University gets back on board.
1:42:30 HECK YEAH!
Nazzer
Coming into the race I had two goals. First, I wanted to beat 1:40 and second, I wanted to at least break my personal best of a half marathon time of 1:44:58. I know I can beat 1:40, and have done so on training runs several in the last three months, but beating that time today was going to be totally dependant on how my legs felt.
The course was flat for the first 5 km. I felt good and I did it in 23:18. Something I find neat about this race is that they have a relay race for the half also. So every 4 km or so all of a sudden there's a batch of runner with fresh legs to pace against. It pushes you a bit harder.
The next 4 km were still flat, followed by the beginning of the only uphill portion of the course. I think it was around the 8 km mark of the race I started running with someone. I feel kind of bad because I didn't even catch his name. His goal was to finish around the same time as my goal so we ran together. It's always nice to be pushing back and forth with someone else. At the 9 km mark the steep part of the hill started. Did this 5 km section in 24:18
There was 1.5 km of more hill, which took us to the first corner of the road on Knox Mountain. And then downhill followed by more flats. This flat section is probably the nicest section of the course taking us through the boardwalk on Okanagan Lake and Waterfront Park. Did this 5 km section in 24:33. The 5 km splits were starting to slow down, but that's ok. My leg started to hurt at the end of the climb around the 11 km mark, and around the 15 km mark I realized unless I was able to put in a nice kick at the end I wasn't going to break 1:40
The next 5 km were along lakeshore road and then back on Richter. Did this section in 25:17. I lost my running buddy at the 19 km mark. At a corner near one of the parks on Lakeshore there was a group of girls holding signs for the runners. One of the signs said "marathoners go further" I laughed and shook my head. Someone else told her the sign wasn't very nice. I thought it was awesome.
Did the last km in 4:30. The guy I was running with for most of the race finished in 1:41, and I finished in 1:42:30. Both of us beat our personal bests! I beat mine by 2 minutes and 20 seconds. And I beat last years time in the same race by 30 minutes! (The year leading up to that was not a good year for running). It would seem the 1 minute for every pound rule applied.
Overall, it was a good race. Always fun, I hope next year the University gets back on board.
1:42:30 HECK YEAH!
Nazzer
Monday, March 22, 2010
Duhr...
Running without a plan should be the plan. In life in general when you force rigid rules of who, what, where, when, why and how on to things you take the fun out of everything. The same can be said about running; when you complicate it you stray from the reasons that should be the driving force for why you run. Call it what you want; peace, harmony, an ordered soul, Zen, just for fun. Running itself should be the goal and the destination. Training plans do nothing but add clutter and distractions from the real joy of running. If you are not yet ready to run a certain distance you should not go sign up for a race of that distance, instead you should enjoy running until you happen to get physically capable of running that distance and then register for it.
Perhaps this is a very fine distinction, but a race should not be looked at as an opportunity to see if you can in fact do what you’ve been training for. But instead should be regarded as nothing more than a confirmation, a replication perhaps, of what you already knew you were capable of.
I was watching a documentary on youtube (actually I didn’t make it through more than fifteen minutes but apparently it’s quite good) called “The Spirit of the Marathon” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BRSw-B4-2E the movie says that it follows several runners of different abilities as they prepare and then run the Chicago marathon.
One person that they were following was an older man. Here is a quote from him “People ask me why I run marathons, I run it for the t-shirt . . . it’s my subtle way of saying I did something that most people can’t do”. This is wrong on so many levels. Running, sport, or any other activity is not something that should be done so that you can brag to other people. There is a reason the saying ‘humility is a virtue’ has stuck around. I pity the person that has run the amount of miles needed to prepare their body to the point that they are capable of running a marathon for no reason other than being a braggart. I can’t imagine how unhappy those runs must have been. Also, I really don’t like the notion that running a marathon is something that most people can’t do. Anybody can do it, it’s just that some people choose to other things with their time than running.
There are some better moments of the documentary though. There is a runner that has a particularly inspiring quote near the beginning about what finishing a marathon means. He says “when you cross that finish line, no matter how slow, no matter how fast, it will change your life forever”. Truer words have never been spoken. Being able to do run 42 kilometres is pretty amazing. Perhaps the reason that particular man was able to say something so nice was because he never won the prize of prizes in marathons, Boston, he only got second place. He never got the big bragging rights.
If people want to do a marathon that’s great and I respect the effort that they put in to complete it, however I just don’t understand why people would possibly want to start such a massive training program if the goal is achievement and not enjoyment.
Is it capitalism that taints our world so much that people turn to marathon running in an attempt to gain their piece of the pie? Capitalism, through its concept of the ‘American dream’, puts such a focus on being one of the “haves” in society and makes people feel worse if they fail to the point that they become one of the “have not’s”; and the gap between the rich and the poor in society keeps growing so we get more people becoming the “have not’s” which leads to people trying to find outlets to make them feel better about not getting to the top of the money pile. They failed at getting notoriety through money, which society tells them is the most important, so they turn to something else which seems to be running more often for people. Yes, it is super duper that they are running and exercising, but it is a meaningless pursuit if they are doing it for inharmonious reasons. Run for yourself; not to show off. Run because you enjoy it; not because you aren’t good enough at what you really wanted so you need something to lord over your friends with. Sure it’s a great accomplishment; but all you did was something that every single person in the world could do if they could be bothered to put in the training. Our bodies were designed to run.
Life should be about doing things you enjoy, not about receiving accolades. If your life is such that you need to turn stack up a pile of t-shirts to prove yourself then you need to rethink your value system. Maybe try some drugs to reacquaint yourself with your Zen or something.
“Something is done best when you do it with the reckless abandon of a child that hasn’t yet learned society’s limits of how it’s supposed to be done”
Keep on running
Nazzer
Perhaps this is a very fine distinction, but a race should not be looked at as an opportunity to see if you can in fact do what you’ve been training for. But instead should be regarded as nothing more than a confirmation, a replication perhaps, of what you already knew you were capable of.
I was watching a documentary on youtube (actually I didn’t make it through more than fifteen minutes but apparently it’s quite good) called “The Spirit of the Marathon” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BRSw-B4-2E the movie says that it follows several runners of different abilities as they prepare and then run the Chicago marathon.
One person that they were following was an older man. Here is a quote from him “People ask me why I run marathons, I run it for the t-shirt . . . it’s my subtle way of saying I did something that most people can’t do”. This is wrong on so many levels. Running, sport, or any other activity is not something that should be done so that you can brag to other people. There is a reason the saying ‘humility is a virtue’ has stuck around. I pity the person that has run the amount of miles needed to prepare their body to the point that they are capable of running a marathon for no reason other than being a braggart. I can’t imagine how unhappy those runs must have been. Also, I really don’t like the notion that running a marathon is something that most people can’t do. Anybody can do it, it’s just that some people choose to other things with their time than running.
There are some better moments of the documentary though. There is a runner that has a particularly inspiring quote near the beginning about what finishing a marathon means. He says “when you cross that finish line, no matter how slow, no matter how fast, it will change your life forever”. Truer words have never been spoken. Being able to do run 42 kilometres is pretty amazing. Perhaps the reason that particular man was able to say something so nice was because he never won the prize of prizes in marathons, Boston, he only got second place. He never got the big bragging rights.
If people want to do a marathon that’s great and I respect the effort that they put in to complete it, however I just don’t understand why people would possibly want to start such a massive training program if the goal is achievement and not enjoyment.
Is it capitalism that taints our world so much that people turn to marathon running in an attempt to gain their piece of the pie? Capitalism, through its concept of the ‘American dream’, puts such a focus on being one of the “haves” in society and makes people feel worse if they fail to the point that they become one of the “have not’s”; and the gap between the rich and the poor in society keeps growing so we get more people becoming the “have not’s” which leads to people trying to find outlets to make them feel better about not getting to the top of the money pile. They failed at getting notoriety through money, which society tells them is the most important, so they turn to something else which seems to be running more often for people. Yes, it is super duper that they are running and exercising, but it is a meaningless pursuit if they are doing it for inharmonious reasons. Run for yourself; not to show off. Run because you enjoy it; not because you aren’t good enough at what you really wanted so you need something to lord over your friends with. Sure it’s a great accomplishment; but all you did was something that every single person in the world could do if they could be bothered to put in the training. Our bodies were designed to run.
Life should be about doing things you enjoy, not about receiving accolades. If your life is such that you need to turn stack up a pile of t-shirts to prove yourself then you need to rethink your value system. Maybe try some drugs to reacquaint yourself with your Zen or something.
“Something is done best when you do it with the reckless abandon of a child that hasn’t yet learned society’s limits of how it’s supposed to be done”
Keep on running
Nazzer
Monday, March 15, 2010
Breaking Personal Best's!
I am running in the Campus to Campus Half Marathon on March 28. That's 13 days away, and on February 28 I strained a muscle in my lower leg. Other than a horribly painful 4km run/4 km walk I didn't run for 12 days. Then I fixed my bike and I'm easing my way back into exercising in the hopes that I will be fully healed by the time the race comes around. I told a friend, who knew about my injury, that I intended to break my personal best for the half marathon distance. His reaction seemed to be rather incredulous, telling me I was nuts. To which my reaction was;
"I would rather live a life pushing myself to the limits with reckless abandon than to sit around cautiously waiting for my body to heal".
On March 28th I will break my personal best for a half marathon of 1:44:58. I set this personal best three and a half years ago in the first race that I entered. When I ran this race I never trained with a fancy GPS wristwatch like I do now, I just ran. I didn't worry about how fast I was pacing when I trained, I just tried to keep up with my mother's dog who ran a hell of a lot faster than I did. During the race where I set my personal best I was running for myself, I didn`t think about anything negative during the race, I had no stupid thoughts in my head. And boy did I ever run faster than I should have been capable in the last 5 k of that race. I will do it all again in two weeks.
This was me in that race. Drenched with sweat the way I should be at the end of a race. I wore those same shorts while running today. And quite disturbingly I the shoes I was wearing in that picture haven`t yet hit the garbage bin. Perhaps I will take them to the store and buy an identical pair for good luck.
It is truly amazing how one`s body and physical abilities are affected by lack of happiness and stress. Very soon after that race I allowed my life to be led down a path that I shouldn`t have gone down. I was unhappy, making life decisions based on trying to please other people and ignoring my own wants, and I was getting fat. The last two years Campus to Campus half marathons have been times of 2:23:24 in 2008 and 2:12:59 in 2009. Only a year and a half after I ran a half marathon in under 1:45 I took 38 minutes longer to do it. One minute extra for every pound I added to my body through unhappiness.
This was me at the end of the 2008 Campus to Campus. You can see the fat around my belly. The shorts that I wore in 2006, and that I wear now... they didn`t fit me then I had got too big, I wore stretchy waist band shorts. You can see the look of disappointment on my face. The registration form for that race had a section asking for your expected finish time. I put down 2 hours, I figured even though I wasn`t in that good shape surely I couldn`t do that much worse than I had before. When I was crossing the finish line the announcer called out my name, and he said `just a little bit off of his goal time of 2 hours` ouch.
Since the 2009 Campus to Campus I have done a lot of running and biking. And I enjoy it again. I have run a sub 4 hour marathon, and the last race I ran in I ran at a sub 5:00 min per km pace. In total since the 2009 race last year I have run 1315 km and biked 1110 km. I feel great, I feel ready, and I am going to beat 1:45 in the half marathon, hopefully even 1:40.
Reckless abandon in pursuit of physical pleasures is super duper!
Keep on running... or biking.
Nazzer
"I would rather live a life pushing myself to the limits with reckless abandon than to sit around cautiously waiting for my body to heal".
On March 28th I will break my personal best for a half marathon of 1:44:58. I set this personal best three and a half years ago in the first race that I entered. When I ran this race I never trained with a fancy GPS wristwatch like I do now, I just ran. I didn't worry about how fast I was pacing when I trained, I just tried to keep up with my mother's dog who ran a hell of a lot faster than I did. During the race where I set my personal best I was running for myself, I didn`t think about anything negative during the race, I had no stupid thoughts in my head. And boy did I ever run faster than I should have been capable in the last 5 k of that race. I will do it all again in two weeks.
This was me in that race. Drenched with sweat the way I should be at the end of a race. I wore those same shorts while running today. And quite disturbingly I the shoes I was wearing in that picture haven`t yet hit the garbage bin. Perhaps I will take them to the store and buy an identical pair for good luck.
It is truly amazing how one`s body and physical abilities are affected by lack of happiness and stress. Very soon after that race I allowed my life to be led down a path that I shouldn`t have gone down. I was unhappy, making life decisions based on trying to please other people and ignoring my own wants, and I was getting fat. The last two years Campus to Campus half marathons have been times of 2:23:24 in 2008 and 2:12:59 in 2009. Only a year and a half after I ran a half marathon in under 1:45 I took 38 minutes longer to do it. One minute extra for every pound I added to my body through unhappiness.
This was me at the end of the 2008 Campus to Campus. You can see the fat around my belly. The shorts that I wore in 2006, and that I wear now... they didn`t fit me then I had got too big, I wore stretchy waist band shorts. You can see the look of disappointment on my face. The registration form for that race had a section asking for your expected finish time. I put down 2 hours, I figured even though I wasn`t in that good shape surely I couldn`t do that much worse than I had before. When I was crossing the finish line the announcer called out my name, and he said `just a little bit off of his goal time of 2 hours` ouch.
Since the 2009 Campus to Campus I have done a lot of running and biking. And I enjoy it again. I have run a sub 4 hour marathon, and the last race I ran in I ran at a sub 5:00 min per km pace. In total since the 2009 race last year I have run 1315 km and biked 1110 km. I feel great, I feel ready, and I am going to beat 1:45 in the half marathon, hopefully even 1:40.
Reckless abandon in pursuit of physical pleasures is super duper!
Keep on running... or biking.
Nazzer
Friday, March 12, 2010
February Summary
I decided I'm going to start tracking my running totals and such on a monthly basis. This is a bit after the fact for February. And my Garmin was malfunctioning the first half of February so I only have times for the last half of the month.
Longest Run: 46.10 km, Kelowna to Drought Hill near Peachland and back along the highway. 4:38:05
Longest Bike: 34 km, Lakeshore Road just past Bertram Park and back.
Hardest Run: 34 km run from The Greenway up to the start of Little White Forest Service Road. So many hills, pretty sure this was the final straw that messed up my calf muscles on my left leg.
Fastest Runs:
5 km: Feb 17 (24:27)
10 km: Feb 24 (50:30)
21.1 km: Feb 21 (2:02:28)
42.2 km: Feb 21 (4:13:57)
Run Totals: 271.44 km (15 runs) Average: 18.10 km
Bike Totals: 72.74 km (3 trips) Average: 24.25 km
Longest Run: 46.10 km, Kelowna to Drought Hill near Peachland and back along the highway. 4:38:05
Longest Bike: 34 km, Lakeshore Road just past Bertram Park and back.
Hardest Run: 34 km run from The Greenway up to the start of Little White Forest Service Road. So many hills, pretty sure this was the final straw that messed up my calf muscles on my left leg.
Fastest Runs:
5 km: Feb 17 (24:27)
10 km: Feb 24 (50:30)
21.1 km: Feb 21 (2:02:28)
42.2 km: Feb 21 (4:13:57)
Run Totals: 271.44 km (15 runs) Average: 18.10 km
Bike Totals: 72.74 km (3 trips) Average: 24.25 km
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Being injured is no good.
I have only run once so far in March. My last Saturday run of February I ran 34 km, much of which was uphill. The nest day I did a 12 km run where I really start to feel pain. The next day I woke up and I was limping. Shooting pain up the front of my left leg. Every time I walk up the stairs I can barely put pressure on my left leg. People have even commented to me how it looks like I am limping when I walk.
It took me a few days to figure out what was wrong with my leg (all the while I've been icing it while I'm at home). At first I thought it was the iliotibial band bothering me, but I've had that before and there was no pain above my knee, in fact the only time it feels like my knee is in pain is when I step.
So I think this is the problem.
This is the muscle that you use when you push off with your feet while running. After doing some research it would seem the list of possible ways to over exert this muscle includes:
-running too many hills (definitely did that)
-increasing weeky mileage too fast (possibly, I went from 150 km in December to 200 km in February to 275 km in February)
-pronating (I am a pronator)
-the more a pronator runs the more they are likely to get bothered by this as the pronating causes an extra usage of this muscle.
-not wearing motion control shoes (I was wearing older worn out shoes that I shouldn't have because they were more comfortable for shorter runs, rather than sucking it up and wearing shoes that are more comfortable on long runs).
In 16 days I'm running in the Campus to Campus Half Marathon. I hope my leg feels better by then.
I finally fixed my bike, took it for a spin around the block to make sure everything was working fine and it was. Even better was the fact that the lower impact exercise didn't bother my leg. So I think I will be safe to bike a little bit to keep my fitness level while my leg gets better.
Lesson learned: don't be a dumbass and wear the right shoes.
"No one ever drowned in sweat" - anonymous.
Keep on running... or biking.
Nazzer.
It took me a few days to figure out what was wrong with my leg (all the while I've been icing it while I'm at home). At first I thought it was the iliotibial band bothering me, but I've had that before and there was no pain above my knee, in fact the only time it feels like my knee is in pain is when I step.
So I think this is the problem.
This is the muscle that you use when you push off with your feet while running. After doing some research it would seem the list of possible ways to over exert this muscle includes:
-running too many hills (definitely did that)
-increasing weeky mileage too fast (possibly, I went from 150 km in December to 200 km in February to 275 km in February)
-pronating (I am a pronator)
-the more a pronator runs the more they are likely to get bothered by this as the pronating causes an extra usage of this muscle.
-not wearing motion control shoes (I was wearing older worn out shoes that I shouldn't have because they were more comfortable for shorter runs, rather than sucking it up and wearing shoes that are more comfortable on long runs).
In 16 days I'm running in the Campus to Campus Half Marathon. I hope my leg feels better by then.
I finally fixed my bike, took it for a spin around the block to make sure everything was working fine and it was. Even better was the fact that the lower impact exercise didn't bother my leg. So I think I will be safe to bike a little bit to keep my fitness level while my leg gets better.
Lesson learned: don't be a dumbass and wear the right shoes.
"No one ever drowned in sweat" - anonymous.
Keep on running... or biking.
Nazzer.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Hills make my calves turn to mush...
Today intended on running further than I did. But I think I pushed a little too hard while doing hills.
I had planned on running anywhere from 45-60 km today. I suppose I should have chosen to do mostly flat running for distance like that. Parked my car by the Greenway and started down the trail. The first two km were along the greenway on gravel/dirt and were flat. Because I wanted to run a long distance I was trying to maintain a slower than normal pace (6:00 min/km at most) but I'm not so good at this and ended up doing 5:00 min/km.
After that I hit the road and started my uphill climb. 12 km up paved rd. There were a couple spots were it flattened out for 200 metres at the most. Overall elevation change of 550 metres over the 12 km. I wanted to try and maintain a nice slow pace of a minimum of 7:20 min/km. But instead I ran this section at an average of 6:13 min/km.
I wanted to run up to the trestles, but the forest service road that led to them had far too much ice and snow on it to be comfortable to run uphill on. I made it a km before giving up and heading back down. Came back down a 6 km stretch of the road I had just ran up in 36 minutes (dropped 300 metres elevation). I only dropped my pace by 13 seconds / km coming back down. So strange. My calf muscles started to feel it here.
Rather than doing the smart thing and continuing down the road and heading back to my car the easy way when I could tell my calves were starting to feel it, I decided to do some more uphills. 3 km uphill along a road (18 min, 200 metres elevation change) and I was at Scenic Canyon Regional Park.
Scenic Canyon Regional Park is so nice. The last section (which is where I usually start) has hills up and down for 5 km. I started out still feeling okay here. It had snowed two days ago, and rained the day after that so the trails were rather muddy. And going up the hills on mud was no good, so I started walking up the hills. And then my calves started to scream at me. Did the 7 km section of the Park in 45 minutes. Stopped for awhile at the parking lot to stretch. And I just couldn't get going again.
I walked for 2 km, then ran for 2 more, then walked the last km to my car. 34 km total today. I think I found out how many hills I can comfortably run at that pace. I don't know how to slow down. For the last 5 years of running my goals have all been directed at going faster and faster. Now, I'm training for an ultra marathon and the death race and I want to slow it down. If I were to run the death race at the pace I ran today I would finish in 12 hours. Which is just incredibly impossible. So I really find myself unsure of where to slow down. Everywhere? Or just while going up hills?
Lesson learned today: I need to slow down going up hills if I want to be able to comfortably run 50 k + runs.
"The God’s will not do for man, what a man must do for himself."
Keep on running.
Nazzer
I had planned on running anywhere from 45-60 km today. I suppose I should have chosen to do mostly flat running for distance like that. Parked my car by the Greenway and started down the trail. The first two km were along the greenway on gravel/dirt and were flat. Because I wanted to run a long distance I was trying to maintain a slower than normal pace (6:00 min/km at most) but I'm not so good at this and ended up doing 5:00 min/km.
After that I hit the road and started my uphill climb. 12 km up paved rd. There were a couple spots were it flattened out for 200 metres at the most. Overall elevation change of 550 metres over the 12 km. I wanted to try and maintain a nice slow pace of a minimum of 7:20 min/km. But instead I ran this section at an average of 6:13 min/km.
I wanted to run up to the trestles, but the forest service road that led to them had far too much ice and snow on it to be comfortable to run uphill on. I made it a km before giving up and heading back down. Came back down a 6 km stretch of the road I had just ran up in 36 minutes (dropped 300 metres elevation). I only dropped my pace by 13 seconds / km coming back down. So strange. My calf muscles started to feel it here.
Rather than doing the smart thing and continuing down the road and heading back to my car the easy way when I could tell my calves were starting to feel it, I decided to do some more uphills. 3 km uphill along a road (18 min, 200 metres elevation change) and I was at Scenic Canyon Regional Park.
Scenic Canyon Regional Park is so nice. The last section (which is where I usually start) has hills up and down for 5 km. I started out still feeling okay here. It had snowed two days ago, and rained the day after that so the trails were rather muddy. And going up the hills on mud was no good, so I started walking up the hills. And then my calves started to scream at me. Did the 7 km section of the Park in 45 minutes. Stopped for awhile at the parking lot to stretch. And I just couldn't get going again.
I walked for 2 km, then ran for 2 more, then walked the last km to my car. 34 km total today. I think I found out how many hills I can comfortably run at that pace. I don't know how to slow down. For the last 5 years of running my goals have all been directed at going faster and faster. Now, I'm training for an ultra marathon and the death race and I want to slow it down. If I were to run the death race at the pace I ran today I would finish in 12 hours. Which is just incredibly impossible. So I really find myself unsure of where to slow down. Everywhere? Or just while going up hills?
Lesson learned today: I need to slow down going up hills if I want to be able to comfortably run 50 k + runs.
"The God’s will not do for man, what a man must do for himself."
Keep on running.
Nazzer
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