Nazzer Runs

One of those days

2012-02-07T18:43:00.000-08:00

Today in the shower after my run I had one of the moments of reflection where I feel so good about where I am, and how far I have come physically and mentally.

My training calendar was set for a 105 minute run today, and sitting at home with a friend chatting I was just not feeling excited about running today. Stress is creeping in from family concerns, I'm tired as just four days ago I had gone on a four hour run. But I finally dragged myself out to run, it was cold and as I didn't really feel it I just hit the flat section of the greenway.

I ended up running knocking 3 and a half minutes off my half marathon personal best time. I didn't feel like I was pushing too hard, lots left in the tank, and the first 4 km was on very tricky ice covered sections. That last bit feels a bit like a rationalization, but oh well. I'm stoked to see that with relative ease and poor preparation on the day in terms of nutrition I could pull that out. Makes me very excited about the upcoming year of race challenges I've set out for me.

It's been about 14 months since I last used drugs, and 2 months since my last drink, and 11 months since I first started trying to get to being able to stop drinking. And I feel like I'm seeing positive benefits of these decisions, in my body and mind with no regrets in these choices. I feel so much more energetic, my body looks better, and best of all people tell me I'm acting like a more positive person and I get treated as such.

I still have miles to go on my journey, but I feel like I'm no longer taking 2 steps back for every step forward and I feel like I'm actually going somewhere (not sure where exactly) but because I'm not sabotaging good efforts with horrible choices I feel like I'm progressing towards something.

Week Ending Feb 5

2012-02-05T18:18:00.000-08:00

Jan 30 - Feb 5: Build week

Jan 30: no run

Jan 31: 100 mins, approx 300 metre elev gain, approx 18 km; meant to do a loop around the trails at UBCO except I got distracted/lost/detoured

Meant to do the 1.7 km loop on repeats, I don't think I did it as a whole loop once. Golf courses, and gravel maintenance roads easily distract me apparently.

Feb 1: 10 km flat tempo road run in 41:28; new 10 km PB. So hard pushing the last 500 metres or so as the designated course was short of 10 km, but I wanted to get to 10 km.

Feb 2: no run

Feb 3: 239 mins, 1,015 metres elev gain, 37.58 km; long run through glenmore trails and knox mountain on a perfect weather day

Feb 4: 90 mins, 441 metres elev gain, 14.1 km; steady run through scenic canyon park. Definitely chose a wrong run location as the trails were pure ice for half the run.

Feb 5: 30 mins, 27 metres elev gain, 6.19 km; recovery run around the neighbourhood

Totals: 8 hrs 20 mins, 1,894 metres elev gain, 86.08 km.

This is my longest non-race week in terms of distance since Feb of last year. And that week last year cause me to get a stress fracture from over-use and I feel just fine right now as I've been building towards this. I'm already about 1/5 of my distance of last year for year total, that feels pretty good.

Inspiration

Motivation

Week ending Jan 29

2012-01-29T11:10:00.000-08:00

Jan 23 - 29: Recovery week:

Jan 23: no run

Jan 24: 75 mins, 361 metre elev gain, 11.95 km; steady run to mill creek trails, to the top of thw two tits peak, ran into a crazy dog, took some wrong turns, ended up bushwacking through bushes and the river and running back via the highway

Jan 25: no run, supposed to be tempo run, didn't do it due to lack of sleep induced by upstairs neighbour

jan 26: 47 mins, 166 metre elev gain, 11.03 km; 10 km tempo run in 42:10 (new PB) running on the roads above springield rd

jan 27: 63 mins, 253 metre elev gain, 10.9 km; steady run in mill creek trails. Dark, lost many times, while looking down at myself picking out weeds from my gloves I ran straight into a barb wire fence.... haha

jan 28: no run; extra rest day

jan 29: 120 mins, 550 metre elev gain, 11.97 km; long run with pace in glenmore highlands. Used extra traction on my feet for first time. Fantastic.

Totals: 5 hrs 5 min running, 1,330 metres elev gain, 45.85 kms. This rest week idea felt very strange, previously I would just keep running as hard as I can until I was forced into rest by lack of energy. I've run 45 km this week, and feel like I am ready to tackle another couple build weeks with ease. Just feel physically great. If only I was feeling less sleep deprived.

Currently marking out for this band. Not so much in this song, but they kick the crap out of the double kick on the bass drum. Just awesome.

In a course at school we aren't doing any tests or anything like that, two groups take a case study every week. One group acts as the proponents, the other acts as the opposition. Each presents a case to the rests of the students (the jury) to try to win the case. It really is an eye opener about how flawed our court system; the right answer often doesn't win. In our class we are talking about science papers, and the papers we are discussing are sound science. And yet, the opposition has managed to convince the jury of the side every time. Sadly, in real courts the truth gets lost due to the adversarial/jury system too often.

Common courtesy, tact, and a lack of sleep.

2012-01-25T17:42:00.000-08:00

If you live in a building where you live in close proximity to others (apartment, house divided into suites etc) what requirements do you have in regards to living in such a way that doesn't affect others that live within hearing distance?

Is it considered common courtesy to keep your noise down to a minimum after a certain hour, especially on weekdays? Am I, an exception to the average person, for thinking that after midnight one should shut the fuck up and not be loud enough for others to hear?

Tuesdays are a fairly long day for me, I go to school all day, and fit in a run of 60 - 100 minutes. Then wednesday morning I work early and then wednesday night I should be going to join up with others for a tempo 10 km run.

Lately, the guy who lives above me, who I can hear every footstep and every voice seems to be turning tuesday night into the loudest night of the week. And then once I do get to sleep, I get to be woken up by bedroom business at 3 in the morning. Last week I operated on wednesday with 4 hours sleep, and this week I got to go through wednesday with 3 hours sleep. Today I took a nap in the afternoon after work so I could have energy for the tempo run. Got 45 minutes of nap in, woke up feeling so week and tired. It's amazing how awful I feel when I string days together consisting of combinations of work/school/running/study and repeat in combinations while only getting less than 4 hours sleep.

week ending Jan 22

2012-01-22T16:45:00.000-08:00

Jan 16 - Jan 22, 2012

Jan 16: no run

Jan 17: 86 min, 364 metre elev gain, 14.54 km; steady run, roads to two tits mountain, up and down to mill creek trails and back via the rds

Jan 18: no run, tempo run cancelled due to cold, and with school presentation the next day it was easy to avoid the cold two days in a row and push off tempo until next day

Jan 19: 11.26 km tempo run in 47 mins on a treadmill at the Y

Jan 20: 32 mins, 6.15 km recovery run around the streets in my neighbourhood.

Jan 21: 227 mins, 1146 metre elev gain, 28.7 km; long run in kuipers peak park area. Got sidetracked and took chute lake rd up to kelowna mountain. Lots of thick snow, very slow going. http://classic.mapmyrun.com/run/canada/kelowna/930132718781023812

Jan 22: 92 mins, 369 metre elev gain, 19.02 km; steady run around the roads in the neighbourhood with some slight hills added in. Temps above freezing for the first time, nice way to end an excessively cold week.

Totals: 8 hrs 4 mins running, 1,955 metres elev gain, 79.67 kms. Felt like a good week, looking forward to the recovery week this coming week though.

Which version of this scene in todays society??

Is graffiti art? Must it be aesthetically pleasing for you to see street are as conventional art? or is rebellious statement of putting your art where you aren't supposed to make it art?

Week ending Jan 15

2012-01-15T15:55:00.000-08:00

Jan 9 - 15

Jan 9: no run

Jan 10: 95 mins, 519 metre elev gain, 13.05 km; Long steady run at Myra Bellevue Park. Up Lost Lake Trail and down a whole bunch of other trails I didn't mean to take cuz I get lost in the snow so easily. But I haven't seen the view from Horse trail for quite some time, so that was a beautiful surprise.

Jan 11: 10 km tempo run in 43:47, 222 metre elev gain. Road loop including Summit Rd. Thirty seconds off my fastest 10 km race time, and my fastest non race 10 km time I've done. Not really sure how to use that as a benchmark for my current fitness though.

Jan 12: no run

Jan 13: 181 mins, 1340 metres elev gain, 28.9 km; long runfrom home to the greenway to angel springs up partway and back. I actually really didn't want to be running by the end of this run, the greenway is solid ice right now and I slipped and fell several times on the stairs.

Jan 14: 27 min, 5.11 km recovery run. Loop around the streets by home. I always get a kick out of how many weird looks I get when I'm out running with shorts on while its snowing.

Jan 15: 87 min, 520 metre elev gain, 10.69 km steady run from Bottom of angel springs trail at mcculloch rd to the springs and back. Beautiful day out, perfect conditions on this trail with no ice (other than the ice that lets me cross the creek), so many beautiful spots that make me wish I had taken my camera, even though a picture wouldn't do justice to the scenery.

Totals: 7 hrs 14 mins running time; 2,653 metres (8,704 feet) elev gain, 67.75 kms.
Spent more time running, but went less distance than last week, which is just fine.

"Geist" - been thinking about this idea ever since it was discussed in one of my classes earlier this week. It's an idea mentioned by a guy named G.W.F. Hegel commonly tranlsated to the words 'mind' and 'spirit' where Geist combines the idea of 'spirit' with human beings ablity for self determination. He discusses Geist within the idea that we represent our geist through the works of art that we create.

Sometimes I wonder if people lack 'geist' in todays society. Wandering through their days with little passion, doing nothing but what they are told to do by media conglomerates. But then when you talk to individuals they do seem to have much geist, challenging themselves to do amazing things. And sometimes I wonder if I'm better off not thinking about these sorts for things....

Week ending Jan 8

2012-01-08T17:30:00.000-08:00

Jan 2 - 8

Monday: off

Tuesday: 45 mins, 7.55 km, 500 metres elev gain, knox mtn trails.

Wednesday: 45 min, 9.51 km, 273 metre elev gain, hartman rd (2x) and back

Thursday: 31 min, 7 km, treadmill, then rowing and elyptical, and some weights and wind sprints at gym

Friday: 1 hr 22 min, 16.53 km, 370 metre elev gain, hilly loop on the roads around home

Saturday: 2 hrs 58 min, 32,62 km, 417 metre elev gain, loop around the city mid snow storm

Sunday: off

Totals: 6 hrs 23 min, 73.34 km, 1610 metre elev gain.

Last week of running with my own plans, starting tomorow I'm on a plan made by someone else. Stoked!

Moments

2012-01-07T20:26:00.000-08:00

I love that moment, 90 minutes into a run, with a snowstorm pounding down on you and inches of snow beneath your feet, with your face dripping wet from the snow melting as it drips from my eyebrows, when I feel like I can fly.

Those moments of apprehension when I look over the long hours of running laid out for me in my training plan; followed by the moments of inner conquering when I believe I can do it.

The moments spent stretching, after three hours of running, when I realise my mosh pit induced ankle injury is fully healed.

Why I run?....

2012-01-02T21:15:00.000-08:00

I run from myself,

I run because I need to control something.

Chaotic environs lead to overwhelming desires for order,

This is Bad.

So I run, I channel all my desire for order into running, and leave the rest of my life as good as I can.

Nothing in the world should be controlled, so I try to exert control on the external worl I fail,

I must only attempt to control my physical limits.

---------------------------------

I wrote that sometime betweem 2009 and 2011, not sure when, I found it in an old notebook from school.

Weeks ending Jan 1, 2012

2012-01-01T21:35:00.000-08:00

Dec 19 - 25:

Wed Dec 21: 20.41 km; 689 metre elev gain, home to end of greenway, lots of nice fresh powder to run in.

Dec 25 - Jan 1:

Mon Dec 26: walking on the KVR in Penticton

Tue Dec 27: hiking in the hobo trails in Penticton

Wed Dec 28: 44 mins, 9.1 km, 205 metre elev gain, hartman rd and gibson rd to home

Sat Dec 31: 2 hrs 38 min, 18.18 km, 1131 metre elev gain, trepanier park and pin cushion trails in Peachland.

Sun Jan 1: 4 hrs 25 min, 37.42 km, 1575 metre elev gain, greenway to mcculloch road, up june springs rd, up Little White Forest Service Road, down angel springs trail, and back via the end section of the greenway.

I saw this picture on the net on a running site the other day, got quite a laugh out of it as I had just seen a runner doing the whole bounce thing, and me, I just stare at the lights until the opposite one turns yellow and get amped because I know that means its almost time to go.

Christmas week didn't get much running in, I even took all my running stuff with me, but late nights and sleeping in took the win.

Planned on doing some longer runs on the new years weekend, it worked well to keep me out of trouble this year.

I got so lost running in Peachland.

I had seen this map a couple days before I went, but didn't have internet the morning of, so didn't really look at the map well. Actually, I started at the elementary school, took the only path that seemed like a trail and ended up doing some nice climbs. Got lost, like really lost. There were pink flags attached to random trees on each side of the creek, didn't feel right. So I turned around and I ended up on some crazy trail skirting the side face of a mountain face with horrible footing looking straight down into the creek (from the wrong side of the creek according to the map) my fear of heights was not doing well. So I cross the creek at some random spot, climbing the rock on all fours and am shimmying up the side of the mountain, probably a bad idea. So I end up running up some nice trails on the other peak, see some more random flagging and end up scaling the side of that mountain, but that flagging I guess was marking for where to cut down trees or something for some new subdivision, cut through there and made it to the pin cushion trail and proceeded to climb to the top of that mountain scared as shit as I'm 'running' up a trail covered in ice as I'm staring down more cliffs.

yearly totals

Running:
2011: 2096 km
2010: 2020 km

Biking
2011: 488 km
2010: 1243 km

Didn't run or bike as much as I had wanted to this year. Looking back at 2010 its amazing how your body adapts to the damage you do to it, I exercised a good amount and did some solid races, while at the same ruining my body. In the first quarter of 2011 I decided to stopped treating my body that way, and doing this I lost so much time for running, and my body did not adjust well in the beginning.
I went the whole year without a running injury, probably my first ever, but I did get a mosh pit ankle injury that is still nagging me a bit, and ended the last couple months finally rebuilding my base again. I bought a nicer road bike at the end of the summer so next year I should get in more biking. I'm already signed up for two big races in the summer, Fat Dog and Sinister, and a 50 km in March. Wanted the early one to keep me focused in the beginning of the year. Idle hands are the devils playground after all. Joined a running clinic for the new year, just to push my comfort zone and to learn more. Should be good.

And I've already planned the next four months of my life....
eat, sleep, go to school, run, study, run, study, eat .... and repeat.

Improvements

2011-12-21T19:46:00.000-08:00

Almost 5 years ago, in my second half marathon road race ever I ran the race in 1 hr 54 min on a course that had a little bit of hills.

Today, I ran just under a half marathon in 1 hr 51 min on snow and ice covered trails with 2,260 metres elev gain feeling like I didn't really push myself past 75% race pace.

super duper

Weeks ending Sunday Dec 18

2011-12-18T19:42:00.000-08:00

Week ending Dec 11:

Monday: 2 hrs 8 min, 24.19 km (15.03 mi), 5:18 min/km (8:33 min/mi), hills. Home to the greenway, then to the end of scenic canyon park, back down the roads on McCulloch and back on the greenway. North end of greenway was quite icy. (No work)

Tuesday: 51 min, 12 km (7.46 mi), 4:18 min/km (6:56 min/mi), flat roads around the house, icy. (5 hours at work)

Wednesday: 55 min, 12 km (7.46 mi), 4:35 min/km (7:23 min/mi), hill repeats on Hartman rd, and then up Gibson and down to home. ( 6 hrs at work)

Thursday: Off. (5 hrs work)

Friday: Off. (5 hrs work)

Saturday: am, 2 hrs 50 min, 17.79 km (10.93 mi), 9:40 min/km (15:33 min/mi), run/hiking up divide lake trail with the sunrise, most of the trail was at least ankle deep in powder snow. 15 minutes of free weights at home after.

pm, 37 min, 7.99 km (4.96 mi), 4:43 min/km (7:35 min/mi), 97 metres (318 ft), elev gain, home to the greenway to scenic canyon park entrance and back. (no work)

Sunday: 42 min, 9 km (5.59 mi), 4:43 min/km (7:35 min/mi), 122 metres (400 ft) elev gain, home to rutland rd, to scenic park canyonj entrance and back via greenway. (6 hrs work)

Week totals: 8 hrs 23 min running, 82.75 km (51.43 miles)... (27 hrs work)

Week ending Dec 18:

Monday: 4 hrs 19 min, 43.34 km (26.93 mi), 5:59 min/km (9:38 min/mi), 1127 metres (3,698 ft) elev gain, rutland rd to the two t's hills, then hell hill trails after summit rd to knox mtn and then back via lakeshore and the greenway, end of the run sucked as I had planned to refill my pack with water at public washrooms at parks... but they were closed. (no work)

Tuesday: 23 min, 4.67 km (2.9 mi), 5:03 min/km (8:08 min/mi), 47 metres (154 ft) elev gain, loop on the roads around home. (11 hrs work).

Wednesday: off. (10 hours work)

Thursday: off. (13 hours work)

Friday: 1 hr 54 min, 19.44 km (12.08 mi), 5:52 min/km (9:28 min/mi), 684 metres (2,244 ft) elev gain, greenway to end of scenic canyon and back in solid pack snow and ankle deep powder. (5 hrs work)

Saturday: off. (7 hrs work)

Sunday: 57 min, 12.11 km (7.5 mi), 4:46 min/km (7:41 min/mi), 286 metres (938 ft) elev gain, greenway to the last bridge and back through rutland rd, icy conditions on the trails. (6 hrs work)

Week totals: 6 hrs 15 min running, 79.5 km (49.41 mi). 2,144 metres (7,034 ft) elev gain. (52 hrs work).

Thoughts on the year.

2011-12-18T00:08:00.000-08:00

On a whim I registered for the 148 km Sinister 7 trail race in July next year. I've already been registered for the Fat Dog 120 mile race in August (was cancelled last year and my registration carried over to 2012) and I just registered for the Dirty Duo 50 km trail race. Also, in the new year I've registered for a running clinic, which will be the first time I've ever paid to learn about running, should be fun.

Not quite what I had in mind for the year, but it seems like some good goals to keep me busy for the year.

Here's an interesting quote.

"Men do not attract that which they want, but that which they are. Their whims, fancies, and ambitions are thwarted at every step, but their inmost thoughts and desires are fed with their own food, be it foul or clean. The "divinity that shapes our ends" is in ourselves; it is our very self."

It's from this. http://wealthreader.com/book/as_a_man_thinketh

Last year I made some goals for 2011.

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.

Looks like I only managed one of those, and yet I still consider this year a great year.
5. Running every day lasted a whole 9 days, I push myself too hard sometimes to not include rest days in my exercise regime.
4. Race was cancelled due to snow.
3. Race was a much different course than the year before, finished in 13 hours, but a still very happy with that.
1. Still made a few too many life mistakes, didn't happen, but I'm ok with that.
2. YES! Not once. And this has been a wonderful achievement.

Goals are fun, but they always get made knowing that anything can happen and not acheiving your goals is ok, because sometimes other just as wonderful things come along, and as well sometimes shit happens and you deal with it and move on.

So onwards with the goals for next year which are totally ok if they don't get acheived and/or get changed within a short period of time anyway.

1. Finish degree.
2. Kick as much ass as possible in the running races I have planned, and the ones I register in.
3. Never drink so much that I get drunk. (This one may or may not get changed to something along the lines of 'only drink to the point of drunkeness on nights before days off work, that are also rest days from runs and limited to once a month) we shall see.
4. Volunteer at some races.
5. Have another year that is drug free.
6. Buy a piano.
7. Be more diligant in my 'daily practise'
8. Do some other stuff.
9. ________________________
10. ________________________

Youtube

2011-11-17T15:58:00.000-08:00

Lately I've become quite amused with making videos of some of the runs I've done. I find it a nice way to wind down from a long run. Here's my youtube channel.

http://www.youtube.com/user/nazzerchu?feature=mhee

A couple vids

2011-10-25T16:02:00.000-07:00

Haven't been running much, just taking it easy. I'm taking a bit of an 'off-season' to let the body recover.

Here's a couple vids.

First one is running in Myra-Bellevue Park in Kelowna. Coming down the Lookout Trail. I had strapped my camera on my chest under the straps of my pack. It stayed there, but a bit shaky picture from my chest moving slightly side to side as I run. And I didn't get some footage that I thought I got.

This next one is just a short video of pictures, plus a short vid clip from on top of a peak. Took the video at Big White ski resort.

keep on running...

2012 Race Plans

2011-09-29T21:54:00.000-07:00

Races:

Sun Mountain 50 mile: Winthrop, WA. (May 22?, 2012)
Scorched Sole 50 mile: Kelowna, BC. (June 30?, 2012)
Fat Dog 120 mile: Manning Park, BC. (July 21?, 2012)
Pine to Palm 100 mile: Williams, OR. (Sept 17, 2012)

That's it. Next year, I plan on not running any smaller races. Just commit to kicking ass in those races. Maybe I'll volunteer at the local short distance races I would otherwise do.

Uphill Mental Stamina

2011-09-29T21:30:00.001-07:00

I've decided that one of my goals throughout the winter is to work on my "uphill mental stamina" By this I mean my ability to run up an inclined trail without needing to stop, or change to a power walk. Even though I am relatively fast at power walking, and I think this is helpful during the last half of trail races, I think I can do much better/faster in the long term if I find a way to force myself to just run non-stop up the hills. So for now, I am going to slow down, and force myself to run the whole way up.

Today, I did a fairly steady incline (1640 ft elev gain over 3.7 km) and ran the whole way except for 20 strides of walking in a section that is 19% incline.

Frosty Thoughts

2011-09-18T21:51:00.000-07:00

3:16 am: Woke up with an incredible urge to go to the bathroom.

I didn't really get back to sleep after that, but I had gone to bed at 7 pm the night before and was planning on getting up at 5 am anyway for the 8 am race start. I had got at least 7 hours sleep for two nights in a row leading up to the race. I camped at Lightning Lake campground so I was relatively comfortable. I had made oatmeal, packed it into a cannister and ate cold lumpy oatmeal, a fruit smootie and an ensure shake for breakfast at 5:30 am, plenty of time for it to digest before the race start.

For no particular reason I had decided that my goal was to run the 50 km's in under 6 hours. The morning was fairly cold for my standards, probably got no more than 15 degrees at the base of the lake all day, so I wore my long sleave windbreaker. So glad I did, as it was windy, cold, and there was actually very minor snow at the top of Frosty Mountain.

The race took us to two mountain tops, the first was Frosty Mountain and the second was not really a mountain summit I guess, but it was the Skyline Trail and it was a pretty solid climb.

One of my goals in this race was to better manage my hydration and fuel intake. I think I did a good job at that, I only felt lacking in water for a couple kilometres before the last aid station at 43 km. I also wanted to try and minimize my time at aid stations; I kept my aid statioon down to 30 seconds or so at each station other than the last when where I was there for probably 2 minutes.

It felt really cool to be in a race with so many competitors, it felt so different than the smaller crowds of some other races I've done. In the beginning I was running somewhere around 6 - 12 place and there was a group of us running single file on the single track for a few kilometres, I couldn't really see the trails ahead of me because of the bodies in front of me, but I could see where the guy in front was going, matching his stride and avoiding roots and rocks that I would only get to see just before I got to them. This sort of running lasted for the first 5 km, and I found it exhilerating running with like minded people that were of similar running ability that I had to push to keep up with, and did so!

At around 5 km the up hill started. It was a steady climb, which I started out running but then it turned into my power walk alternating with bursts of running which ended up with me getting passed by some and passing others. During this stretch we passed the two volunteers carrying the supplies up to the first aid station. (Some runners took a wrong turn here) And we got to have some downhill fun, again I was bunched up with about 5 other runners running single file pounding out single track downhills in a group is pretty darn fun.

That didn't last long and we were greeted by an insane climb to the summit of Frosty Mtn. Imagine climbing up the side of a rock scree with a trail barely discernable set amongst the rocks. Looking down the mountain was a drop all the way down to the lake, 800 metres above the lake I stood clinging to rocks that I was hiking over desperately hoping the climb would be over so the queeziness in my stomach would go away. As per norm I caught up with and or passed people on the hike up the super steep incline of the mountain ascent. I still haven't quite figured out this style of mine, compared to other runners of similar finishing times I seem to be a much better hiker of really steep terrain. Conversely, I think this would also mean that I am running the downhill slower than these same folks and am running the slight inclines slower. So, I think those are two areas I want to work on if I want to cut times off my race times; my downhill speed and my ability to maintain running when doing long steady slight climbs.

Coming down the mountain at the top was even more scary than going up. There was still loose boulders to run on, but this time I was forced to have the cliff in my vision the whole way.

Not sure if I have any other major coherant thoughts from the race.

I only had to take one "nature break" during the race, compared to the seven that I needed during the 54 km race two weeks ago. Not sure what to attribute this to, probably having a meal in my stomach properly before the race helped.

Chatting with someone after the race that was telling me a story about muscle cramping and being given an ibuprofen by another runner I learned something great.... carry ibuprofen when running for cramps! Why I didn't realise this before I dont know, because I know that is what that drug is used for.

Also, strictly adhering to a hydration plan isn`t a good idea. I should just fill up as much as possible wherever possible, because when there are aid stations that aren`t as stocked as you expected or aren`t there your plan can go to shits real quick. I only had about 3 km where I was feeling the effects of running out of water, which is better than past races, but still feel like I can improve.

All in all, a fantastic race! Super amazing trails!

Here is a youtube video from a fellow runner from the 2009 race for scenery`s sake.

And here is the map from my garmin. Technology`s strange, my garmin read 49.85 km when I finished, 49.3 on my training centre when I downloaded the data and 48.9 when I uploaded it to mapmyrun. Overall my garmin read 11,319 ft elevation gain over the course! Wowsers.

I finished in 6 hrs and 4 minutes for 50 km and felt relatively good when I was done. Scrapped the idea of doing the planned 18 k race the next day when I woke up and stretched feeling a little too tense for a second race in two days.

Keep on running.

Post Race thoughts

2011-09-07T22:02:00.001-07:00

On Sunday I ran in the 54 km Walk in the Park race. I wasn't originally planning on doing the race, I was looking forward to doing the Frosty Mtn 50 k and then an 18 k race the next day. I had thought the race was on the monday of labour day weekend, so didn't think I would be able to get the day off work. On the Friday I ended up looking up the race online, saw that it was on Sunday got my shift covered for that day and tried to make plans. Found out there was no day of race entry for the race, so I got in touch with a friend that was going and asked them to sign me up at the package pickup the day before the race. On the friday I packed everything I needed. Saturday I worked until 10 pm, then drove to 2 hours to get to Kamloops (speeding the whole way) and then slept in the backseat of my car at the parking lot of the park where the race was. I tried to eat well the days leading up to the race, but I chose to sacrifice optimal nutrition for sleep. So I ended up eating sandwiches in the car during the drive and a shake for breakfast an hour and a half before the race.

On the Wednesday before the race I did a 66 km bike ride (longest bike of the year) and on the Thursday I did a 5 hour run up little white mtn, down the opposite to canyon lake and back. So, taper was not well done.

The race is 54 km on trails in a park. 3 laps of a 18 km loop up and down hills with total elevation gain of about 7800 ft. Last year during this race I had a major charlie horse during the third lap, and after the race had an ankle sprain. So even though I started out quite excited and was heading out fast I slowed down into a mid race decision to ensure that I did well, but didn't injure myself. I wanted to focus on nutrition, ensuring that I didn't get a cramp, which I think was from poor nutrition last time.

I made it through the race cramp and injury free, finishing in 6 hrs 13 min. 22 minutes faster than last year. During the second lap I think I stopped for a bit to chat with a runner I was lapping, and I would spend at least 2 minutes at each aid station. And I went to the bathroom 5 or 6 times during the race.

Lap times from this year: 1:48:03, 2:14:01, 2:11:47. Total: 6:13:51
Last years times: 1:50:04, 2:11:20, 2:33:58. Total: 6:35:22

I'm please with myself for coming out feeling so much better than last year, especially considering I'm doing a double race weekend on the 17th and 18th. After the second lap I said I wanted to finish strong, and ran a faster third lap than second lap so that felt good.

But there are some things I definitely feel I can improve on. One thing that I feel is easy to solve, how long I spend at aid stations. Right now all I carry is a camelback, I figure if I buy a pack with more pockets I can be more self reliant on the trails and not need to stop at aid stations as often. The deal with going to the bathroom so often, don't know at all. I think I can handle being over hydrated if it means I don't screw up my electrolytes and cramp up.

Sept 17th: 50 km trail race. Sept 18th: 18 km road race. Gonna be sweet.

Little White Mountain Run (videos)

2011-07-22T01:37:00.000-07:00

I ran to the top of Little White Mountain today. Just for kicks I took some videos and put them together with music.
I had to split the video in two parts or youtube didn't like how long it is.

go running...

Holy Scorcher, What a race!

2011-06-27T17:12:00.000-07:00

Sunday I ran this course (Scorched Sole is the best race ever)

50 miles (80 km's) with 14,000 ft elevation gain. The consensus opinion of the runners I spoke to after the race was that it was one of the hardest courses they've run on. And I agree.

It's been a strange year for running so far for me. I haven't done anywhere near as much long distance runs as I had last year leading up to this. But I find the short runs I do I am capable of faster speeds, and hills that I would be walking last year, I was running this year; so I wasn't sure what to expect of myself.

Leading up to the race I had thought about the idea of running shirtless, just because I find it so comfortable and carrying two bottles with a third in a waist pack. So glad I didn't do that, it wouldn't have been enough water. I decided to buy a 1.5 litre camelback the day before the race and carry a water bottle as well. I didn't want to be running with my massive 3 litre dakine pack.

I have run every section of this course before, but not all at once for 80 km, and some sections I had only run it in one direction. For the 50 mile race we were to run out from the park to commando bay, then continue along the wildhorse trail, and up the mountain goat trail to the top of okanagan mountain and back. I have only ever run the mountain goat trail coming back down, and that was in the spring.... it was so much different yesterday than when I ran it.

I only got 4 hours sleep the night before the race, my upstairs neighbour's 4 year old picked that night to be the only night ever to stay up all night throwing tantrums. So glad I slept well the night before that. I started the day by stabbing myself with the 'safety' pin while trying to get my race number on; it seemed like a fitting prelude to the pain I knew would follow.

My friend who had come down to run the race, and had never done a 50 miler before but has done quite well in 50 km races, had said to me that he thought my last years time was about what he was aiming for. So he was pacing off me for the first part of the race. We started out surprisingly close to the leaders. We ran the first 17 km to commando bay in just under two hours. At this point we were in third and fourth, and couldn't decide if we had run that section too fast, or if the leaders were going slower than we expected as they were just coming out of commando bay as we were heading in. I decided I would try and make it to the summit in 3 hours for the next quarter segment of the race. That turned out to be a very optimistic goal.

This section of the race (which I have only run once) was the most difficult. Going out was where most of the climbing would be happeneing. But the thing was, it was really tough terrain. The trail is a single track trail at best, and since I last ran it the bushes and weeds had grown a lot. The trees (?) that lined the trail had hard branches that you had to push aside to run through, they whipped at your shins, and you couldn't see what you were running on for many parts of this section of the course. My shins today are still a raw red colour with scratches all over them. When the conditions weren't like this, there were heavy rock sections to run on, or 5 feet tall weeds to run through. It was very challenging. Also, this section of the course ran 2 km longer than listed on the map (the race directors went off of provincal park listings to put together the distances; the course went from 80 to 86 km due to this). The weather that day: 26 degrees celsius, and not a cloud in sight. It was a scorcher, the name of the race was so appropriate that day. Between the 2nd and 3rd aid stations there was hardly any shade either, I was so t hankful for the 5 - 7 mountain creeks that were still there from runoff water to drink out of as well as to douse myself with water. At time I felt like I was overheating.

I had been running with my friend up until the 30 km point, stopped to take a bathroom break and he kept going. I know he was probably only walking ahead of me, but I just couldn't get back with him. So after that I was on my own for awhile.

Between the 3rd aid station and the summit was a really steep climb... I walked the whole thing on the way up. I was feeling like complete garbage on my way up. All the while I was wondering why I hadn't seen any of the trhee leaders. Right before getting to the forestry road that leads to the summit I had a chat with a woman that was waiting to cheer on her husand that was in the race, it was a nice break. I finally ran into my friend when I was heading up to the summit while he was on his way down. We chatted, and apparently the first two runners had went down the other side of the mountain and only done the 50 km route; not sure why, they are fantastic runners and I'm sure they are capable of doing this 80 km distance. My friend was just leaving the aid station as I was arriving. Halfway there and I felt like garbage. I spent at least 10 minutes at the aid station. The guy that was behind me at the time came in while I was still there (he planned on being at work that day ten hours after the race started, he had to get one of the volunteers to call for him and say he would be really, really late. I couldn't help myself from laughing at that). I managed to get myself psyched back up, and continued back down the mountain. It was rough running, but I ran many parts of the race on the second half. Coming down the mountain was pretty fun, I ran past all the 50 mile runners that were behing me, as well as the 50 km runners that had started 2 hours after the 50 mile race. So I was giving out high fives to anyone that looked like they had enough energy to lift their arm up. There were many faces that I ran passed that just looked exhausted. And of course seeing familiar faces and stopping to chat with people along the way when I ran into them on the trail, it was pretty nice.

I ended up finishing the race in 13 hours 16 minutes. 3rd place in the 50 mile race. 1st was 11:58 I think, and second was 13:05 I think. My time this year would have got me second last on the course from last year, it was so much harder. This was such a hard course, so many lows to fight through, so much pain to push through, but it was a fantastic race. All the volunteers at this race are just wonderful. I was pretty much out of it at the top of the mountain when I put my hand down my shorts to apply vaseline to my crotch (I can't believe I did that) and the ladies didn't even flinch. the second time through the commando bay aid station the volunteers had some air bubble sticks and they gave me a parade like send off, it was rad.

I had so many wonderful moments during the race. Many times I found myself getting lost just standing at the top of a trail staring out at the lake. It's just so wonderful out there.

This morning I counted 36 mosquito bites (all from one section of the course where we ran by a pond), two blisters on my left foot (first blisters in two years), and my shins are ripped to shreds. So much pain! So much more Zen!

The Runners Low

2011-06-21T00:48:00.001-07:00

I was watching this video on Geoff Roes

http://wpblogs.runningtimes.com/blogs/performancepodcasts/2011/06/video-geoff-roes-slogging-to-the-top/

(copy and past that cuz I don't know how to link to a site)

He talked about how a successful race isn't about managing your high performance parts of the race where you are on your 'runners high', but rather to train in such a manner where you are mindful about the few hours in a race where you may be experiencing your 'runners low'. Doing this he says will have a greater impact on the overall success on your race.

Even though I totally understand what he means by the runners low, I hadn't ever put much thought about the low. Interesting thought to ponder.

Why I run.

2011-06-17T22:55:00.000-07:00

I train, running on a regular basis, pushing myself as hard as I can whenever I can. I keep myself mindful of my body as much as I can. Why do I do this? I do this all so that I may keep myself in good enough shape so that on a few occasions throughout the year when time and planning permits I am capable of pushing myself so hard that my body will instictually keep going, and I will mentally transcend to a place that I think is beyond physical where I may attain a higher level of Zen.

Not sure if that makes sense. But it works for me.

It's why I run, for today at least.

June 11

2011-06-11T22:51:00.000-07:00

Um, forgot to update this for a couple weeks after intending to write once a week. The week that ended two weeks ago, I biked one day and that was it. Between work, and doing other stuff I just didn't have time.

The last week I didn't run at all. But biked three times. I was getting quite the kick out of doing the hardest hill routes I could on my road bike.

This week I've already run 11 hours, for 85 kms. Would have been more, but the friend I went with on Friday was more into hiking than running, which is just fine. Probably for the best anyway as it made for an easy day. Well, easy for me, it;s interesting how sometimes non runners don't quite see how much long term training it takes to be comfortable running distances without getting tired, so they think they could do it like its nothing, and then they get exhausted so quickly.

Maybe I've had more energy the last week, or maybe its something else, but I'm finding that on roads and trails that I've run for the last few years here in town that I'm able to run them faster, and further without stopping. And they feel so much less difficult.

Two weeks and 1 day until I do a 50 mile trail race in kelowna, getting stoked for it. I think I'll do a 50 km run on monday or tuesday then go easy until the race. I really don't enjoy carrying a heavy bag during races, and I especially don't enjoy the feeling of having a sweaty shirt clinging to me from my bag while running, especially in the heat that will probably be happening during the race (will prob be around 30 degrees celsius) so I was thinking of not carrying a pack, just carrying a water bottle on a belt, one in each hand, and a fanny pack for gels, no shirt, and getting down with the sunscreen. Running withoutr a shirt is just so much more comfortable.

Yep.

Week ending may 22

2011-05-22T21:01:00.000-07:00

Runs:

Monday May 16: 35 km Trail run in Ok Mtn Park; Wildhorse Canyon Trail to Commando Bay and Back.

Tues: Rest day
Wednesday: 15 km on the hilly section of the greenway.
Thursday, Friday: no running... silly life crap got in the way.
Saturday: 13 km on the Greenway hills.
Sunday: 10 km on the trails across from the EECO at Mission Creek.

I finally got my road bike ready to go for the summer. So now I have something I can do for exercise on days that I need to rest my running muscles. Too sweet.

84 days.

Super duper!

Week ending May 15

2011-05-15T20:48:00.000-07:00

I didn't do as much running this past week as I had planned. I ended up working my second job on both my days off from my first job. Mondays I didn't run because I go from working late to working early. Then I didn't run on Wednesday as I was anticipating to run hard and long on my days off. But never ended up doing so.

Runs:

Tuesday May 10: 12 km on the hilly section of the greenway.
Friday May 13: 9 km on the hilly section of the greenway, was dark and didn't have it in me to do night running this day.
Saturday May 14: 16.5 km up and down Lost Lake Trail. Was very nice, lots of run-off water to drink and cool down in.

Today I bought a new pair of running shoes.

They aren't exactly the same as my previous pair, the store I go to didn't have them. So I ended up with these. I finally found some new (to me) running shorts that were within my price range. I'm fully willing to pay 150 dollars for shoes, but 45 dollars for one article of clothing is beyond me. So I got some old school umbro shorts. No more running with board shorts that hang too low. I gotta go back to the store tomorrow to donate some of my old shoes . . . I knew there was a reason I was keeping them around.

77 days.

A couple months ago I heard someone say "Will the words you are about to speak improve upon the current silence?" And because of this I find myself being so much more mindful of what I say, and the results are definitely positive. We have two ears and one mouth for a reason, we should be listening more than we speak.

I`m pretty sure I will actually be able to get the time off work for the 50 mile race on June 26. So stoked!

Keep running.

Nazzer

Week Ending May 8

2011-05-08T19:18:00.000-07:00

Runs:

Monday, Tuesday: No running, tired from work. Sunday pulles a 13 hours shift so needed to rest.
Wednesday: Had time, and energy to run, but rested for the next day.
Thursday: 47 km of trails in Okanagan Mountain Park. I ran the 2011 Scorched Sole 50 km course backwards. It took me 8 hours. I left with a weather report of rain all day. The first but was rain, fantastic weather. I hit snow at 1250 m elevation, which lasted to the summit, and then down to 1300 m on the other side. It took 3 hours to trudge through 8 km of snow that was knee deep to waist deep. Very tough stuff for a while. Great run though, challenging downhills. I did a 20 km section of the trail that Ì`ve never been on before. So other than two trails that go down to the lake I`ve been on every trail in that park now. Sun came out for the last half, no hat... sunburn. Ouch.
Friday: 9 km easy paced run on flat roads and trails. Legs were a bit stiff.
Saturday: 8 km on the end of teh greenway, to the top of the second stairs and back. Could have gone longer, but I wasn`t sure I would make it back before they locked the parking lot.
Sunday: 9 km on the Lost lake Trail in Myra Bellevue Park. Beautiful suntanning weather for the second time this week.

In total I ran 72 km this week. which is the most I`ve run in one week since february. Next week I`ll probably run at least 5 days, and will prob do at least 80 km. It`s amazing how easy it is to run further when I don`t pull 13 hour days at two different jobs, it`s fantastic.

Week Ending May 1

2011-05-03T20:10:00.000-07:00

I only ran once this last week. It was 12 km on some hilly and stairy trails for just over an hour. Had other things occupying me during midweek, meetings and such. Then the weekend was spent visiting people, and Sunday was a super not fun 13 hour work day.

This week coming up I only work 5 days, which is sweet. So I will have time to do some running on my days off, and hopefully will be energetic to do some more on my other days as well. Going from running during the school year to running while working again is rough somtimes, those of you who have the energy are amazing.

Overheard at work during some awards get together for some organization: "In this business, if you're not going hard and fast you're going to get passed" Haha, I found it so funny, there were many other cliche phrases I overheard from that group but forgot.

To April 24

2011-04-25T21:31:00.000-07:00

So I've decided to do a weekly summary blog. I've been finding that the days are rolling into one right now, and if I force myself to take time to look back on my weeks and reflect perhaps I will better remember things and learn.

I can't remember what I did in terms of exercise for the beginning of the last week.

I finished school for the semester at some point in the last week; the semester was underwhelming. My asthma issues that had bothered me from mid March to early April are gone for another year, until next spring.

57 days.

Friday, April 22: Ran 7.25 km at the Angel Springs Trail that starts a km up Little White FSR. There was still snow on half the trail!!!!!!

Saturday, April 23: Ran 11.75 km at the hilly and stairy section of the Greenway. Very nice.

Both were very tired runs. Somehow I've gotten to where as soon as regular classes ended at school I went straight into working 50 hour weeks between the two jobs. Didn't run Thursday as I worked 14 hours the day before and was tired, no run on Sunday as went straight from work somewhere.

Super Duper!

Hardly thinking about running.

2011-03-24T21:17:00.000-07:00

On Sunday I will have been alcohol free for 28 days consecutively. Other than the first 14 years of my life this will be the second longest time I have gone without touching alcohol. On Sunday, I will run in a half marathon here in town. I've hardly put any thought into the coming race the last few weeks, and I think that's a good thing overall.

Two and a half weeks ago I went to a massage therapist appointment at school. I had hurt my ankle a couple months ago, and re-aggrivated it once since (both due to drinking and didn't even know how it had happened) and decided I should see what could be done about it. Well, the short answer from the, was that I had gotten myself an inversion ankle sprain and that I shouldln't do any impactful exercise until it doesn't hurt at all anymore. So I actually listened to them, also I got sick on the weekend and I will end up going into the half marathon having not run for 15 days. I have done some walking around, and that's it. I will do some stretching and yoga Friday and Saturday and that's it.

An interesting thing has happened since I stopped drinking; my left eye twitches. Out of nowhere it just starts twitching. It's the strangest thing.

I still think I can beat my last years time at the same race of 1:42:30 (it's my PB) comfortably. This will be my fifth year in a row running this race.

2007: 1:50:49
2008: 2:23:14
2009: 2:12:59
2010: 1:42:30
2011: less than 1:35 (asthma issues willing)

I've been doing lots of meditating about things lately and I think I may have come to the unfortunate decision of not participating in what was my main goal race of the coming year. I've just been hired at a new job (I start first weekend of April) I hope to move to a new apartment soon (will be my first time living without a girlfriend or a roomate in 13 years) and I'm excited about these things. The job is something I want to commit to and want to be able to say to them that I can commit for all that they need me for. And also, moving will cost money and I will be upping my expenses on a monthly basis. Thinking about a major multi day race; it will cost me 5-7 days lost wages, cost to stay somewhere for at least a day or two for the race, at least 2 tanks of gas, food and supplies for the race, food for while I'm away. I think it will cost a fair chunk of money, so alas, that whole money thing might get in the way. But also, I'm going to AA meetings at least 5 times a week and I like that, and right now I want to make that more of a priority than I want to make running. Yes I enjoy running, I will continue to do it, but looking at it I have used it as a crutch in dealing with life in general. I run from my problems by running longer and harder when I don't want to actually deal with things. I need to take a step back in my running, take a step up in my actually dealing with things, and find a better balance. I'm sure if I get the urge to run longer than 50 km I can do it here in town on the awesome trails I live by, and just use my car as an aid station. And I can just do local races where all I have to do is book the one day off work.

Oh yeah. Ran in a 5 km race in the Peach City at the beginning of March. 20:19! Almost beat 20 minutes. Was pretty close. I decided to wear my trail shoes that day because I wear them 9 out of 10 runs so I figured why not wear the shoe I'm most comfortable in, got a couple weird comments, but I felt good in them. Will wear them again on Sunday for the half. The first and last km's are along the lakeshore. I forgot how running right next to the lake makes my asthma feel strange, and maybe my constant running in the mountains in kelowna has made me even more not used to running by the lake. Felt like I didn't quite have all the air I wanted. This was only the second time I've done a 5 k race, and really the only one I've done where I felt like I was in good shape, so I probably could have planned the more strategically next time, but still super duper stoked about how I did. I placed 20th which was pretty neat, best finish ever in a road race for me.

Yep.

Focusing, goals.

2011-03-01T00:13:00.000-08:00

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.

Dependancies

2011-02-24T22:10:00.001-08:00

So I was doing some reading and I thought I would post some 'journal' type posts that I had read.

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...

Titles are boring.

2011-02-17T20:46:00.000-08:00

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.

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.

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...

Maybe Friday I will try and time a run to watch the sun come up.

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 thoughts

2011-02-13T13:58:00.000-08:00

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.

Ugh, swollen ankle.

2011-01-30T21:36:00.000-08:00

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.

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.

Goal evaluation: 19 days in.

2011-01-19T22:51:00.000-08:00

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 for 2011

2010-12-29T16:48:00.000-08:00

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

Looking back on 2010

2010-12-29T15:42:00.000-08:00

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.

Christmas Trees on the Mountains!

2010-12-20T22:15:00.000-08:00

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!

Snow running...

2010-12-09T14:48:00.001-08:00

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.

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

So I quit quitting.

2010-11-18T20:15:00.000-08:00

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.

So the Kelowna marathon...

2010-10-18T13:16:00.000-07:00

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

Planning for next year already?

2010-10-04T13:45:00.001-07:00

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.

DNSing a race feels kinda weird.

2010-09-13T22:56:00.000-07:00

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 went for a walk in the park...for 54 km.

2010-09-09T08:23:00.000-07:00

Sunday of the labour day weekend I participated in the 54 km "Walk in the Park" trail race in Kamloops. The event was held at Kenna Cartwright park and consisted of running an 18 km loop three times (there was also a 18 km and a 36 km race). During the 54 km there was 8,500 ft elevation gain. Most of the trails were single track with some double track mixed in as well. No sections with particularly technical footing, but the hills were fairly intense.

I stayed with family friends the night before the race. In fact, somehow managed to convince the runner of the house to join me on the run, he's a much faster runner than I having posted a 3:06 marathon time but he maintained that he would run my pace as he hadn't done any serious marathon training for 3 years.

We started out too fast for my liking on the first lap, but away we went. We did the first lap in 1:51. It felt good, the second lap is where pain started to creep into my feet, well just my right foot. I didn't realize it at the time, but during the race the ridge of my shoe was constantly rubbing against the area under the ankle bone of my foot, which made it hurt every time my foot struck the ground (I think thats what happened at least) and the next day I was limping around at work because of this. The second lap was slower 2:11 it didn't feel horrible but I just felt sluggish in general. At the end of the second lap my friend chose to drop out as he was experiencing some cramping that he'd never felt before and didn't want to risk it turning into something worse. I walked the first bit of the third lap (it was all uphill) and then found some energy to kick a little harder once I crested the mountain. I had come in to the end of the second lap just as the 18 km race was starting so I was catching up with some of them as well there was another 50 km racer that I could see. I felt great at this point so I started passing a few people. Then at the 42 km mark I had a massive charlie horse under my left ass cheek. I lost a good 5 minutes clutching my leg and then walked it off for the next 10 minutes. The last lap ended up being a 2:33 for a total 54 km race time of 6:35:22 which got me 7th place. In my three local ultras I've done I've been 7th place every time. If I were religious I would take this trinity of seventh places as some sort of sign.

I think I'm going to stop my short lived trail shoe experiment and go back to just doing all of my running in my asics. They've worked for the last 4 years so I might as well keep on with them. And I need to figure out how to fix my cramping issue that I've had in my last two races. Was a fun race, I'll definitely do it again next year and hopefully prepare better and maybe I can beat 6 hours.

On Sunday I'm running in a 10 km race. Well, I plan on it. I''m going to see how my ankle feels in the next couple of days and we'll see.

Keep on running.

Nazzer

Runing at night

2010-08-18T13:47:00.001-07:00

Daytime temperatures have been around 30-35 degrees lately; and with starting work at 3 pm every day I find it so much easier to run after work. So I`ve been doing some midnight runs after work. It is pure heaven! No more than 20 degrees, perfectly clear skies, so little traffic that on the side streets I could run in the middle of the road to avoid camber if I wanted to. When I'm running at night I feel like I'm a step away from heaven.

I get some odd looks though. Guys between the age of 16-25 seem to enjoy hanging out of their car windows to scream at me; little do they realize that while they drive by I can`t understand a word they say nor do I care what they have to say.

I seem to have scheduled myself into a busy September. On the 5th I`m running in a 54 km trail race in Kamloops, the 12th I`m running in a 10 km road race in Penticton, and then on the 19th I`m going to volunteer at the Peak to Beak in Kelowna. Should be fun.

I`m not really sure how I plan on approaching the race in kamloops. I`m not taking much time in front of it so I might not be well rested. I`l l probably still do a long runs the next two weekends and do a tiny bit of a taper. I`m running the race with a family friend. He`s older than I am but has been running much longer and has a much faster marathon time than I do. And yet he is telling me that he`s worried about keeping up with me for the distance; I feel the completely other way around that I`m worried about trying to keep up with him.

The 10 km run the week after will be my first 10 k race I`ve participated in since May of 2009. I will set a new personal best in that; two days ago I ran 10 km whicih included a steep 2 km uphill section and a 3 minute rest in 49 minutes so I`m pretty sure I`ll beat my best of 56 minutes.

Should be fun,

Keep on running.

Nazzer

Thoughts on now and later.

2010-08-14T12:40:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7X7sZzSXYs&feature=channel

Watch this video, it's pretty neat.

When I run in a race I like to run with and talk to other runners; perhaps because I am doing something that I have put so much work into and that I am happy that I have got to that point and I feel like it's the culmination of so much effort.

But when I am on a training run I like to be alone. I put myself through pain and suffering, I go out in conditions that I shouldn't and run harder than I should and I push my limits. There are days when I destroy myself. I have to go places deep within myself to get through the ways I push myself when I am training and I want those to be my alone moments.

Iin the two weeks since the death race I haven't done much running; I ran to the beach to swim once, did some treadmill running once, and then two days ago did a 33 k trail run which was rather rough considering there isn't running water on the mountains anymore. I've done a fair bit of biking though. Biked to the gym a couple times and then did a 40, 32, and 67 km bike in that time. The 67 km bike was really hot, like 33 degrees outrside hot; I wanted to go further but I didn't want to get sunburnt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpunQZ4cUyI&feature=related

I'm not sure if my body is still a little fatigued but now that my goal for the summer has been completed I am feeling underwhelmed and difficult to motivate myself to run. Going back to work the day after I got back from Grande Cache was not good at all; for the first time this summer I had thoughts about how much I hated my job. Yeah it's a bad job, but before I would aimlessly coast through my day happily able to distract myself with the thoughts of running 'running' through my head. But now that I am done the big goal it's as though I had, temporarily at least, purged all thoughts of running from my head and was left to face the reality of my life situation. And then there's the deal that University classes begin again soon and that isn't doing anything to make me feel motivated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bB4w_g1hMJ8&feature=related

I really do think I depend on running. It is very cleansing for me, and unfortunately I was left unable to run hard for a week (well I"m sure I could have but better judgement won out). Thursday I ran 33 km of trails, intending to go further but stopped by not enough water. I had no goals other than to push hard, stopping when I felt like it and enjoying the outside. It was wonderful. And then the next day I was on my road bike for just under 3 hours. Which is the longest I've been on my bike this year.

Next year I think I'm going to run at least one 100 mile race, perhaps two depending on the schedule. I think I need a goal to train towards, so that goal will be to do a 100 mile race in under 24 hours. I learned a lot from the death race and even though I am happy with finishing it, I know I can do better and push harder.

Now if only I could figure out what I want to do with my life that doesn't revolve around running. Oh well, I guess I'll keep stumbling my way through new paths. And I'll keep running while I do that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-e4rNp7vk5I&feature=related

Nazzer

Race Report

2010-08-04T13:33:00.001-07:00

Saturday July 31st I ran the Death Race in Grande Cache.

Here's the short summary: Took 10 hours to drive there, stayed in a tent, ran for 22 hours 45 minutes, struggled in the night, possibly should have dropped out from muscle cramping, finished!, and was really sore after for days. It was great!

I left Kelowna on Thursday morning and drove for ten hours to get to Grande Cache. It is an incredibly small town. We got into town and stopped in at the tourism centre hoping to find out where the tent city was located. It was closed, seemed a little odd for the biggest weekend of the year for the town. Ended up driving through town asking random people where to find tent city. Found it and got set up. We spent the Friday checking out the transition areas so my Dad would know where to find them on race day, packing up stuff for the race, meeting up with other racers, and kit pickup and all that jazz. Slept horribly nervous the night before. And woke up at 5:45 am the day of to get ready for the 8 am start time.

The race is 125 km long divided into 5 legs. Leg 1 is 19 km with relatively smaller climbs. Leg 2 is 28 km long up and down Flood and Grande mountains, up the mountains is horrendous footing and down the last mountain is super steep quad killer hills. Leg 3 is 21 km of flatter running, but again with some sections with difficult footing, this leg looked way easier on the map but due to the footing was harder than expected. Leg 4 is 36 km long climbing up Hamel mountain and then down. Leg 5 is 22 km of single track trail descending down to the river and then back up into town. There were several cut off times throughout the course, of which the one I had planned the most for was the 11 hour cut off time at the end of leg 3. I knew that according to past race results if you made it here safe, you were likely to finish.

Above is Flood and Grand Mountains which make up leg 2. Although leg 2 is shorter than leg 4, I would say it is much harder.

Pictured above is Hamel mountain.

This is where we stayed for four days. My Dad and I shared the tent on the far left, of the four nights in rained two of them. But it hardly rained long, being so close to the mountains the weather would change so quickly. The day before the race I had packed all my clothes, gear and food up into the back seat of the car and had written up lists of everything I wanted available to me at each leg for my Dad to use on race day.
Before the race we checked out the start line.

The race was supposed to start at 8 am. It started a few minutes late, at the time I had no idea what was happening. I was in the middle of the pack of the starters and couldn't hear a thing.

Later I found out this (I can't seem to be able to copy and paste, but check out "Purple Monkey Flash Mob" on youtube). Pretty cool.

Leg one started out with several km running through the streets of town. I had started out in the middle of the pack and had been told that once you got onto the trails there would be quite the bottle neck of runners and you would be better off to find yourself as far out to the front as you were comfortable with. By the first half of the leg was over I had run past several runners I recognized talking to them along the way and I was feeling good. I was power walking anything that was steeper than I was tall, I knew that I didn't want to burn out later in the race. The second half of the leg went through a trail that was very close to the highway; and there was quite a few spectators lining the trails. All the kids were putting out their hands for high fives, it was pretty rad! And then at the aid/exchange station there was a very big crowd, very cool! I finished the leg in 1:47:46. Which was 63rd amongst the soloists and 110th overall. My body felt good at this point.

On to leg two, climbing up Flood and Grande mountains. The first part of the climb was double track (maybe ATV track) at an easy incline. And then it turned into crazy footing that was impossible to pass, impossible to control your own pace, for several km it seemed like a stairway of tree roots. Very challenging.

And then we made it to the top of Flood mountain. I tried to take a picture of myself, but then someone asked to trade pictures. So they took mine and I took theirs. Ha! Maybe I should have been running faster instead of taking pictures, whoops. About 500 metres from the top of the mountain I got my first real bad muscle spasm in my left quads. Totally frozen for a couple minutes. Running downhills become very painful all of a sudden.

Up next was what the race calls 'the slugfest' which is the section that has the worst footing in the race, and considering what I had just been through getting to the top of the last mountain I was a little apprehensive of what was to come. And it was harder than they said. But at least I was feeling good to do uphills. My legs cramped up two more times in the 5 km stretch here.

We crested a hill on the course and were treated to this beautiful view; so it was snack/picture time. Rested up and felt a little better. By this point I was also starting to have stomach issues and was could tell I was not peeing enough. Later I came to the conclusion that the perpetuem I was drinking was the culprit of my stomach upsetness. I was the king of the massive burp this day and either I just shouldn't be using perpetuem or having it sit out warm in my cooler all day while waiting for me does somethiing bad to it. I'm not sure, but once I switched to gatorade only for my electrolytes and stopped using the perpetuem I started peeing more and started feeling better. But I still couldn't comfortably run anything downhill without massive pain.

Between the two mountains there was an aid station. You know it's a long race when you aren't surprised to hear the volunteer ask you "are you peeing regularly"

Felt damn good to make it to the top of Grande mountain! Awaiting us on the way down was the powerline trail. Very steep descent with not very good footing. It made trying to go down fast rather hard. If I am to try this race again I think I will definitely get poles to use. That way I could have comfortably built up speed and felt safe at the same time.

The second aid/exchange station was at the start finish line in town. Right before the aid station these two young boys said to me "man you gotta catch that girl, you can't let a girl beat you". It was Margaretha whom I would end up running the ascent of Hamel in leg 4 with... and she would beat me on the day by 2 hours. She did fantastic! I undressed, showered down with a water bottle, dried off, vaselined my moving bits which I had forgotten before, put sunscreen on, changed shoes, shirts and socks. All the while I was doing this two teenage girls were watching me with the strangest look of disgust; I felt like no one was watching and was in a world of my own at that moment getting ready to hit the trails again while thinking of my time goals (I had 4 hours to hit the 11 hour cutoff mark and was very comfortable but still nervous) and then all of a sudden I notice how many people were watching me. It was surreal. I did that leg (28 km) in 4:54:05 which was 97th amongst the soloists for that leg. At this point I had been on my feet for 6:41:51

About a km into leg three I started running with Laurie. She was doing the race as part of a two woman team. Her team mate had just told her to 'take her time' on the leg. So she ran with me and I am so thankful, having someone to run with helped me forget that I was in a fair amount of pain in my quads. At one point I remember saying to her that I felt we were running fast, but she thought it was slow! Too funny. About 75% way through the leg Laurie took off at a faster pace than I could maintain and I walked for a bit with Cyril, a guy I recognized from the races facebook page. We walked together for a bit. This leg had been extended by two km for some reason this year, and the last two were on a rail bed and I was tired at this point and very tired. I finished the leg in 3:05:50, which was 113th amongst the soloists.

I was now at 9:47:41 for the first 67 km. An hour and thirteen minutes under the cut off time for the end of leg three. I breathed a sigh of relief at this aid station, even though I felt rough I knew I could do it. I had only 58 km left and over 14 hours to do it.

Heading out onto leg 4 I megt back up with Margaretha and Cyril, we did the ascent up Hamel mountain together. We would take turns taking the leading hiking up the mountain. It was awesome, we pushed each other faster than I'm sure any of us could have gone individually and made up some great time, even passing some relay team runners (and having time to stop for snack/high five breaks). I couldn't have made it up the ascent without those two wonderful people.

Margaretha had powered on ahead of us just before the peak of Hamel. I took a picture of Cyril and I at the top of the mountain.

A volunteer at the top of the mountain told us that we were three km away from the next aid station (which would be at the Ambler loop and would also have our drop bags waiting for us). I took his words as truth and timed my water intake such that by about that distance I was almost out... the only problem was that it was actually 10 km to the next aid station. So I then had 7 km of climb left with hardly any water and I definitely felt like crap at the aid station as a result of this. I had hoped to get to the Ambler loop station before it was dark, but I missed that by about 30 minutes. At the station I put on my jacket and gloves, loaded up on food and water and was on my way. I took me a long time to get to feeling better, and I struggled mentally once I came out of the loop again and was in the dark alone. My mind was starting to feel tired; it was almost like I had gone a little bit loopy. I must have peed six times during the 9 km stretch from the Ambler loop to the fourth exchange area. I felt rather odd. I finished that leg (36 km) in 8:15:04, 110th amongst the soloists. Total time at this point was 18:02:45.

The last 2 km leading up to the aid station I was fighting thoughts of dropping out of the race. My Dad said I looked like hell; I rememeber telling him that I wasn't sure if I could make it. I guess that was where I hit the wall in this race, but I got through the exchange with fresh clothes on and headed out. I told my dad that I would be at least four - five and a half hours to the finish. I knew that I had just under 6 hours to go the last 22 km and I felt like I might not make it. I was destroyed mentally at this point, I just felt awful. But I couldn't give up. Even though I had been saying to myself that I would consider quitting, when it came to possibly do that it was no longer a real option in my mind. This was a thought that went through my head several times during the last leg also, when I felt like shit I thought about quitting, but when it came time to actually quit and hand over my timing stick to someone I just couldn't even get close to doing. I fail at quitting! Ha!

The first hil heading out onto the last leg was a very minor hill, but it took what felt like an eternity. I almost fell down going up it. Throughout the first several km I felt like i was disconnected from time. It was very strange. Time felt like it was standing still but I kept moving. A relay runner that had passed me told me to keep on plugging away because "the last seven km were a dream" as she said. Eventually I caught up with a couple soloists that I had chatted with at the end of Leg 4 (while it was still light). Lori and a guy that I had never caught the name of. I don't know how I managed to catch up with them, I think I had seen their headlamps and desperately tried to catch them knowing that I would feel so much more comfortably having the company of others. Lori was leading and keeping a great pace! I wish I could have kept with them further, but nature called and I was on my own again. Soon enough I was at the aid station before the river crossing, went right passed it and headed to the boat that took you across the river. It was magnificent! I don't know what it's called but where we crossed the river was a divide where each side of the river had a massive cliff/embankment on each side. It was so peaceful and beautiful on that 30 second boat ride.

Off the boat it was right back to climbing. 1000 ft uphill in about 5 km distance. Somehow I ended up catching up with a group of racers. I seem to go uphills faster than people that finish around the same times as I do; I guess that means I'm going slower than them on the downhills or the flats. I finished this leg in a time of 4:41:42 which was 140th amongsth the soloists. Only 150 soloists finished, so I was almost last amongst them for this portion. It's interesting looking at my time breakdowns at each leg of the race seeing where I lost and made up time around me. I fell apart a little bit physically during leg two, and fell apart mentally at the end of leg 4 and the first hald of leg 5.

I finished in 22:44:27!!!!

I was so happy to have finished this race. It was definitely the hardest thing I have ever done, and likely will be the hardest thing I do for quite some time. Never before have I ever thought about quitting during a race; although when it came down to it I was incapable of putting these 'quit' thoughts into action. I pushed myself through a tonne of pain; I'd like to say that was something I learned about myself but I already knew I could do that and that I would when the situation arose again. I thought that I was prepared for this race, I trained on mountains and thought that I was close to matching the elevation gain that the Death Race would give me. But I was wrong, and I don't think it was even the elevation change that was the most difficult part, it was the technical aspects of the footing that came along with it that made it so hard. There were absolutely no easy sections on this course. The parts that I thought would be 'break' sections from the topo maps had insane footing. The parts that were flat road came when it was dark out and so the ease went away. Nothing about this was easy; as advertised by the race "it's a killer" and I am proud just to have finished. My Dad did a fantastic job as my support, at the beginning he said he can't imagine that I would be running 125 km, and I still think he doesn't quite fathom it. Heck, sometimes I don't think I fathom it. I just ran/walked 125 km and was on my feet for around 23 hours. And yet I am not surprised, I am to the point in my training that I knew I could do it. Yes I thought I could do better, but I knew I could do it. And I did!

Keep on running.

Nazzer.

Clothes and gear for the race.

2010-07-22T23:36:00.000-07:00

Here is a list of all the gear/clothes that I will have for the race.

Mandatory:

-tuque, rain jacket, fingered gloves;

List:

- 3 under armour skin tight shirts
- 3 technical running shirts, + 1 long sleeved technical shirt
- 2 spandex running shorts - 1 full length spandex legging
- 1 pair running shorts
- 1 rain jacket - 1 wind breaker
- 2 tuques, 1 woolen skin tight skull cap
- 4 fingered pairs of gloves
- 1 hat
- 3 head lamps - spare batteries for each
- 1 watch - 1 garmin (only has a 10.5 hour battery life)
- 1 pair sunglasses - 1 pair clear glasses
- sunscreen - lip balm
- duct tape - band aids
- vaseline - mole skin
- bear spray

Carry at all times:
-1 under armour shirt, 1 technical shirt, undershorts, shorts, sockes shoes, hat, sunglasses (clear glasses at night), bear spray, watch, garmin, ipod, fingered gloves, tuque, rain jacket

Available at every aid station:
- sunscreen, lip balm, duct tape, band aids, vaseline, mole skin
-dry undershirt, dry shirt, dry under shorts and long leggings, dry socks

For aid station 3 (before leg 4):
-clear glasses, headlamps, batteries

Shoes:
-Road shoes for legs 1/3/5
-Trail shoes for legs 2/4... but I might just keep the trail shoes on once I get them on.

Food for the race

2010-07-22T21:52:00.000-07:00

Finally got around to planning my food for the race...

Leg 1 to Carry:

- 1 bottle perpetuem
- 1 granola bar
- 1 trail mix bar
- 1 clif bar - 3 clif gels
- 1 protein bar
- 2 litres water in pack, plus gatorade bottle of water

At first aid station:

- 2 gatorade, refill water (4 bottles)
- 1 protein bar
- 2 cookies - 50 g beef jerky

Leg 2 to carry:

- 1 bottle perpetuem
- 3 granola bar
- 1 trail mix bar
- 1 clif bar - 5 clif gels
- 1 protein bar

At second aid station

- 2 gatorade, refill water (4 bottles)
- 1 protein bar
- 2 cookies - 50 g beef jerky

Leg 3 carry:

- 1 perpetuem
- 2 granola bar
- 1 trail mix bar
- 1 protein bar
- 1 clif bar - 3 clif gels

At third aid station:

- 2 gatorade, refill water (4 bottles)
- protein bar
- 2 cookies - 50 g beef jerky

leg 4 carry:

- 1 perpetuem
- 1 protein bar
- 3 granola bar
- 1 trail mix bar
- 1 clif bar - 5 clif gel

Drop bag for 4th leg:

- power bar - clif bar - 1 gatorade - 1 clif gel

At fourth aid station:

- 2 gatorade, refill water (4 bottles)
- protein bar
- 2 cookies - 50 g beef jerky

leg 5 carry:

- 1 perpetuem
- 1 protein bar
- 1 trail mix bar
- 1 granola bar
- 1 clif bar - 3 clif gels

That should be enough, maybe even too much. I will make sure to eat all the granola, trail mix, gels, and perpetuem on each leg at minimum. The rest will be as I feel I need. At the aid station I will take in at least all the coookies, the beef jerky, one gatorade. More if I feel I need it.

It should be good.

Smoke... oh no!

2010-07-13T02:38:00.000-07:00

I work 3 pm - 11 pm most days now, and with it being so hot out I've decided to run at night after work. A couple nights ago I was running through some mountain trails and got scared out of my mind by some animal eyes that I couldn't see what they belonged to; but I didn't panic and kept running along the trail, hoping it was just a deer... that's all I ever see where I run. That night I ran the first mile of the run in 6:52

Today I was running and it was so smoky, I thought I had smelled smoke in the air earlier in the day when I was out shopping, and reading the news today it turns out there was a forest fire that started around Peachland. There are some pretty intense images of the flames right beside the highway on drought hill between Peachland and West Kelowna, one house was already destroyed. They said the fire is now considered 'contained' at 30 hectares, I hope they get it out; for the people living near it... and for my asthma.

Today I ran the roads (and in the middle of them cuz there's less camber there) for 17 km at night. Stopped and talked with a couple drunk folks that seemed amazed I was out running.

Ran the first mile in 7:36, hit 5 k at 22:42; did the second 5 k in 22:44 for a 10 k time of 45:26, and hit 10 miles at 1:12:40.

The 1 mile time from a couple days ago was the fastest I've timed myself at so far, and the 10 k and the 10 mile are the fastest that I've recorded. The ten mile time is 20 minutes faster than the race I did at that distance last May, that feels pretty rad. I'm pretty sure right now at this fitness level I could maintain that pace for a half marathon... maybe even a full marathon. I know it's a long way away, but I was thinking about the Kelowna Marathon in October and maybe, just maybe I could get under 3:30.

Keep on running

Nazzer

PB's

2010-07-08T23:38:00.000-07:00

Today while I was running I ran a half marathon in 1:53... in 33 degrees, and horribly hungover. It got me thinking about where I was as a runner a year ago. In March 2009 I ran a half marathon race in 2:12, and in May 2009 I did on in 2:02. I run a half marathon feeling like absolute crap in 1:53 today, heck I eve walked for at least 3 km from the heat today. It's amazing how much easier you run when you do it regularly... and I think doing so many hills helps my speedwork, but I don't really do any flat speedwork.

I think I will try and test myself at distances of 1 mile, 5 km, 10 km, 10 mile, half marathon, and full marathon at least once a month. Then I can use it as a barometer of my improvements. Until then I thought I would compile a list of pb's; for both races and training runs. The info for the training runs is skewed to more recent stuff as a month ago my garmin log got wiped clean somehow and I have to go off my runninglog which isn't very accurate sometimes.

Race Personal Bests: (number of races at that distance in parenthesis)

1 mile:
5 km: March 5, 2009 - 27:01 (1)
10 km: April 5, 2009 - 56:43 (2)
10 mile: May 11, 2009 - 1:32:44 (1)
Half marathon: March 28, 2010 - 1:42:30 (9)
Marathon: October 11, 2009 - 3:58:10 (3)
50 km: May 2, 2010 - 4:47:28 (1)
50 mile: June 26, 2010 - 10:05:09 (1)

Training Runs:

1 mile: July 8, 2010 - 7:02
5 km: June 6, 2010 - 22:05
10 km: January 31, 2010 - 48:30
10 mile: July 8, 2010 - 1:25:54
Half marathon: January 31, 2010 - 1:49:30
Marathon: February 21, 2010 - 4:05:02
50 km: May 20, 2010 - 5:40:04
50 mile:

Tomorrow or Saturday I will break a sub 7 minute mile, and will also try and do a sub 1:47 half.

Hot weather musings.

2010-07-08T18:42:00.000-07:00

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

Yep, keep running.

Nazzer

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

2010-06-26T21:14:00.000-07:00

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

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

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

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

Start:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Finish:

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

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

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

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

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

Keep on Running

Nazzer

Summitting Little White Mountain

2010-06-24T16:37:00.000-07:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

That is Little White mountain

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

Up we go.

Every third step I sunk knee high into snow.

The orange paint is markers for the course.

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

At the Summit.

View from the Summit.

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

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

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

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

Back down we go.

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

Shoes are shiny and clean again thanks to the river.

Running down these rivers is so much fun!

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

Super Duper!!

Nazzer

Snow Run!

2010-06-14T22:43:00.000-07:00

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

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

Keep on Running.

Nazzer

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

2010-06-09T21:24:00.000-07:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Keep on running

Nazzer

Pesticides

2010-06-04T21:54:00.000-07:00

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

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

Looking back on May

2010-05-31T18:17:00.000-07:00

Totals:

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

Races:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Running is my Zen.

Nazzer

Wildlife

2010-05-30T21:00:00.000-07:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

--------------------------------

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

Keep on running.

Nazzer

Penticton and Back

2010-05-20T22:56:00.000-07:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Keep on running

Nazzer

And this shall be day one.

2010-05-15T09:13:00.000-07:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nazzer

Two Days Later

2010-05-04T23:33:00.000-07:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

My April totals:

Running: 48 km (3 runs)

Road Biking: 20 km (2 trips)

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

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

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

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

Nazzer

Ultra Saturday + Marathon Sunday = Sore Monday

2010-05-03T23:26:00.000-07:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

My splits for the marathon were:

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

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

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

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

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

Trail running is the bees knees.

2010-04-20T22:05:00.000-07:00

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

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

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

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

May long weekend will be a test of endurance.

2010-04-04T18:10:00.000-07:00

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

Campus to Campus Half

2010-03-28T16:05:00.000-07:00

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

Duhr...

2010-03-22T23:50:00.000-07:00

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

Breaking Personal Best's!

2010-03-15T22:27:00.000-07:00

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

February Summary

2010-03-12T15:23:00.000-08:00

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

Being injured is no good.

2010-03-11T18:41:00.000-08:00

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.

Hills make my calves turn to mush...

2010-02-27T14:34:00.000-08:00

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

Pictures! Yay!

2010-02-22T15:49:00.000-08:00

I biked up Knox Mountain today and I thought I would take my camera and post pictures, figured I'd take a pre-emptive strike against anyone reading the blog and not knowing what places I'm talking about. I realized after the fact that I didn't really take any pictures of the Mountain itself, but instead of the view of Kelowna from the Mountain. And I intended on going to another high point in the city except I got a flat tire. So not impressed with that, but oh well.

That is the view from the top of Knox Mountain while standing underneath the gazebo. The trail to the right leads down the mountain and is super fun to run down. Across Okanagan Lake is Bear Creek Park.

That pic is standing at the same spot, except facing West rather than North. (I think).

That's a shot of downtown Kelowna, with WRB Bennet Bridge in the background. Last week I ran across the bridge and then ran to past West Kelowna and back, it was a rough and hilly 46 km run.

I live approximately between the tree in the foreground of the photo and the apartment building to the right of the tree. Living in the valley is nice and all, but it means I need to run at least 5 km to get to any hills. The snow capped hills at the top of the photo; the Kettle Valley Railbed is in there, I think it's part of the Trans Canada Trail. I can't wait for that snow to melt!!! Ran that to Penticton once in the summer, and biked to Penticton and back on that trail in the summer once too. I think next week I'll park closer to there and do a 50 k run up the hills into that area, perhaps if I take my camera and stop every 15 minutes to take a picture it'll force me to slow down my pace for my LSD's.

Not much of shot here, in fact it wasn't the best day for photos with the clouds. You can't see it very well at all, but hidden behind the tree on the right of the rockface on the left is Myra Canyon. It's a pretty nice run, and I guess that's where I hope to end up on Saturday. There's 18 trestles that have been rebuilt from the old railway. The hardest part about planning a long run like that for the weekend is staying hydrated when I plan on running somewhere that has absolutely no bathrooms or running water. I suppose in late February I'll probably be running in snow, and there should be plenty of running water to refill my bottles so it should be easier to stay hydrated than a summer run.

I love these videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgCZksn1nPw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bU8dWfi0l9M

Hidden deep within the recesses of our body's evolutionary past is a runner - free your natural spirit by running.

Keep on Running

Nazzer

Running too far? Whoops...

2010-02-21T23:00:00.000-08:00

Today I should have done A LOT of homework because I did a fair amount of procrastination all week. So I went to the library at school and made the mistake of sitting at a computer that had a view of outside. I was only able to fight the urge to go for a run for 4 hours, then I had to leave and go running. It was just too nice out to not run.

I got home and within half an hour I had jammed a PB & J sandwich down my throat, slammed a litre of water, taped my toes, changed and packed my backpack with water and gatorade.

I only intended to go for a short 20 k run, but somehow at the 13 k point I had managed to not do anything close to turning back towards home. And those first 13 were all uphill from downtown up KLO Rd and Up McCullock road to Scenic canyon regional park. And then of course the next 3 km in the park were some nice hills. I really should have limited my run to a max of 20 k or so, my pace heading out was far too fast to comfortably run more than 20.

A few km into the parl there was some constructioon happening on the trail which was nice because they were putting in a series of steps into the really steep sections. I'm glad it was still light out for that section though, because there was some rebar posts sticking out of the ground. That would not have been fun to run over in the dark, even with my headlamp. Right at the bottom of the canyon near Mission Creek I heard some violent coyote sounds. It sounded as though a pack of coyotes were fighting each other or were attacking some other animal. Scared the crap out of me, and the sun had just set and I was left hoping whatever animals I had heard were on the other side of the creek; although that would be little comfort as that section of the creek is shallow enough for any animal to run through. But I made it to the parking lot on East Kelowna Rd without seeing any animals. Whew!

I specifically plan mu runs to go by bathrooms near the parks so I can refill my bottles. But when I got there some security guard had just locked up the bathroom, and I had never seen it locked before. But he was easily convinced into unlocking it to let me fill up. What a pleasantly surprising man! He was rather amused by my headlamp, it made me chuckle. And then he sort of mocked me for running while EVERYONE else was inside their homes watching the Canada/USA hockey game.

Running the Mission Creek Greenway is SO nice at night with a headlamp. You really do lose track of time and distance while night running, which is a good thing. So I'd run 30 km by the time I finished on the Greenway (passing by all the portapottys on the trail) and was into residential area before realizing I desperately needed to relieve myself. When nature calls, any bush will do. Chose a tree at the front of somoenes yard, and I'm pretty sure their living room light was turned on while I was taking care of business; hope they enjoyed the view!

By the times I had hit 38 km I was really feeling it in my calves. Started to get the feeling that I should actually plan and properly prepare for longer runs by eating better the day before. Whoops. And perhaps I should do a better job working in some walking time considering my goal is adding distance to my runs, and not to run faster.

I'm fairly satisfied with my toe taping which I started againi last week. I only got one very small blister on my second toe today. Which will be gone tomorrow.

"Running long and hard is an ideal antidepressant, since it's hard to run and feel sorry for yourself at the same time. Also, there are those hours of clearheadedness that follow a long run."
-Monte Davis

Keep on Running

Nazzer

Barefoot Running

2010-02-17T20:21:00.000-08:00

Today I went barefoot running at a soccer field. It was pretty awesome. It was a little cold out (2 degrees celsius) so my feet got a little cold.

It felt so amazing to have my toes be able to hit the ground unencumbered by an annoying shoe, feeling the grass in between them at every step. The skin under the heels of my feet got a little frozen near the end.

When I put my shoes back on to run home from the park it felt rather strange. Perhaps the strangeness was from the numb feeling from my heels. But I felt like I wanted to rip off the shoes and just run barefoot again. If only I could have ran home on a trail rather than needing to run on pavement.

Nazzer

Mmm, Hills.

2010-02-14T21:52:00.001-08:00

Today I ran from Kelowna to a little ways before Peachland along Highway 97. I went to the bottom of Drought Hill and then came back. 46 km in total. Four hours and 35 minutes. The last three km were rather ugly, I was able to power through all the hills withouy stopping, but the bridge on the way back in to town did me in. I guess I just didn't have the juice to do that last climb.

The first 4 km were flat from my house to the bridge. Then I had the bridge, which has a short stepp climb. Followed by another short (probably 500 meters) steep climb up bridge hill. Then a good 4 km of medium incline. Gentle flatish areas for awhile leading up to Westbank, and then a 1 km climb up near the Glenrosa exit. Down Drought hill, turned around and cam back drought hill. That was about 4 km of steep climb. Then came back.

Kept fairly well hydrated throughout. Stopped at three gas stations and an A&W to fill up my water bottles. Stopped to stretch out my legs a couple times. Overall, only walked for about 1 km total out of 46 km. It was exhilerating.

Nazzer

Sometimes people are so pleasantly surprising.

2010-02-11T18:31:00.000-08:00

Today I went running and decided to do some hills. So I hit Knox Mountain. Knox has a paved road going up it that is 3.8 km long, as well as a series of trails running up and down the mountain sides. I think the elevation change on the road is around 900 ft.

Usually I just run up the paved road once, and then come down a trail, and then back up half way on a trail and home for a 10 k run. It makes for a nice short hour long easy run.

Today it was raining. And I just LOVE running in the rain, it cools you down so nice. Keeps the body heat down and it feels like I don't need to carry as much water with me when I run. All day when I was at school all I could do was stare out the window and the beautiful rain clouds forming.

So when I finally started running it was wonderful. When I was running up the road around the second turn some random guy that was walking down the road yells out to me "YOU RULE!". It just made my day. I ran up and down the mountain twice today without stopping once, felt so good. Thank you random dude for making my day and giving me encouragement.

Running; a self analysis.

2010-02-09T23:37:00.000-08:00

Today I intended to run a short 10 km run. But I ended up running 21 km, mostly through trails that ran along a decent sized creek. It was too tranquil to stop running. I beat the shit out of my legs running up and down hills, and it was awesome. After some solid uphills I got to glide down 5 km of downhill on roads on the way back to my car... which I subsequently couldn't find and ran around for a kilometre trying to figure out where it was. Such a beautiful night for a run. Reading break is coming up soon. I think I might do a massive run that week, and it will kick ass.

When I run I forget where I am, I forget the troubles of the day, I forget about the person that I no longer want to be; I leave the person I am ashamed of in my shadow as I run. Every moment I run is a new moment of Zen like enlightenment, pure quality.

My muscles ache, screaming at me that they’re not willing to go on, so I run further. My toenails fall off or turn black, but I don’t notice. My muscles cramp after hours of running, but I push through it and it goes away. I see the mountain, it may get the best of me the first time perhaps even the second or third time, but I kick that mountains ass eventually; I make it my bitch. I feel the pain through my body as I run further than I should, I ignore it, and then I conquer it and I glide. And then I push further, and harder; one peak turns into the next. And I overcome. Zen.

I see my breathe in the cold night’s air, and I see me. The hair on my arms stands up as I get goose bumps, and I feel me. My breathing makes a steady beat as I run, and I hear me. The sweat pours down my face, and I taste me. When I run through the mountain trails, I smell the world as it’s meant to be. As I run past the deer in the mountains at night they see me, and they don’t run from what they see. And I get to know my body. Zen.

As I run, I fly. When I push my body past the point of comfort, I fall back into the rhythm of what feels natural and I push harder. With less effort I kick harder, my feet feel the force of the unnatural pavement even less as they spend more time in the air. Free from the constraints of what I am forced to be on a daily basis, I fly. As I spend more time running, I become more able to fly, spending less time on the ground. Less and less restricted from the processes of itself, my body savours the moment. My normalized body tells me that I cannot run this far, that I should not do this; but I will not listen. I choose to fight the normalization. And I reconnect with my body. Zen.

When I run, I can run on anything. Running through mud, I feel it and my muscles know. My gait adjusts to whatever I require; be it gravel, pavement, rocky mountain slopes, puddles, sand. I can run on anything and my body will carry me through it without flinching. And I know my body will take me wherever I make it go. Zen.

As I run, I reconnect with my senses. I recollect The Form of Neil that I forgot. My body reminds me that there are no limits, that there are no bounds, normalization is not natural. And I remind myself as I run. When I am weary, I run and show myself that weariness is nothing more than an external standard placed upon me; and that my body will not accept weariness. When I think I am incapable, my body will show me that yes, I am. When I think that a distance not doable, my body will take me there. When I think there is no reason to smile, I am reminded that I am aware of myself and I smile. My body opens the door to connecting with my Form. Zen.

Drivers try and run me down when I run, and they wave at me and tell me I’m number one. And I know I am loved. Zen.

I’ve met my hero. And he is me. So I smile.

Zen.

Puzzles

2010-02-04T22:32:00.000-08:00

It would seem as though understanding yourself is like putting together a puzzle. Some people have a more difficult time than others, so for them their puzzle is a 10,000 piece puzzle with very few distinguishable pieces; and for others who find it easier to understand yourself their puzzle is like those 10 piece Disney puzzles you play with as a two year old.

There is a very satisfactory feeling when you finish putting together a puzzle, especially if you found that puzzle a challenging one. You get to take a step back and look at what you figured out, to marvel at yourself for putting it all together.

Other times you can’t figure out how to force the pieces of the puzzle to take the shape of the picture their supposed to. No matter how hard you try, it doesn’t work. Sometimes people give up on the puzzle in this situation, perhaps they take what they put together apart and store the pieces away and come back to put them all back together later.

But most frustrating when putting together a puzzle is when you think you put it all together only to find there are pieces missing. You spend so much time looking back and forth between the picture on the box and the pieces in your hand as you put them together to match the image you want to make of them. You applaud yourself for finishing the puzzle in anticipation of the coming cathartic feeling when you put that final piece in. Only to be left wondering: Did someone take some pieces of my puzzle? Did I give my pieces away? How did I lose the pieces to my puzzle without even realizing it? Have I lost the pieces completely and the puzzle is a lost cause? Or perhaps can I get the pieces back?

Today I went to the gym instead of running outside. Not a fan. If going to the gym is an ice cream cone then running outside is like a banana split with all the fixins on it, just so much better. I ran on the treadmill for 3 miles before doing some weights. It's amazing how much easier I find the treadmill now than I did a year ago. Perhaps its my efforts at maintaining a more positive outlook, or perhaps it's just the fact that I've been far more consistant in my running than last year; but I now feel like I'm going slow when I run on a treadmill at 9 miles per hour, whereas before I felt like I could barely handle going 7 miles per hour.

Nazzer

Deer Scare Me!

2010-02-01T22:31:00.000-08:00

I like to run, been running semi consistantly for 6 years now. I wasn't very good with maintaining my running through the winters or 07/08 and 08/09, but this winter I've been doing good and haven't added forty pounds of weight like the last two winters. In the last six years I slowly built up my distance and reduced my pace, only to lose much of that progress when I was too lazy to keep running through the winter semesters of school. Throughout all this I've managed to do a bunch of half marathons, a couple marathons and done a whole bunch of running on my own. But this year, after running real hard throughout the summer and continuing through the winter I've decided to pursue some rather extensive running goals for the coming summer.

My schedule for the coming year is tentatively like this. March: Campus to Campus Half Marathon, April: Peachland Half Marathon, May: Vancouver Marathon and Penticton Half Maraton, June: SCORCHED SOLE 50 MILE ULTRA!!!!, August: 125 km CANADIAN DEATH RACE!!!, September: Kamloops Walk in the Park (54 km), October: Kelowna Marathon.

Main goal is the Canadian Death Race. It will be EPIC! 125 km of trails up and down mountains in the rockies in Grande Cache, Alberta. To get ready the plain is to run, run, run , run, do lots of stairs, so lots of trail running, run more, run longer, run trails at night, and repeat. The training plan I'm going to follow will have me slowly building up my running base up to about at least 75 miles run per week. I don't know about the taper concept though, I'll have to figure that out later.

One of the things I need to get used to that I've never done before is learning to run with the equipment that the Death Race requires you to have. Things such as a headlamp for the inevitable night time run and poles. I bought a headlamp, and the closest thing I can for mountain like trails until the KVR trails melt in March/April is the trails on Knox Mountain. The trails on Knox are still a bit like loose mud, but it's still fun.

I don't know which is prefereable; running with a headlamp and being able to see the ground and have good footing or running without a headlamp and feeling like you are a part of nature. With a headlamp you can see all the deer and any other possible animals that are out there, and the deer's eyes look so weird with the LED light shining into them. And when you see the eyes of a wild animal in the dark you have that half second of hesitation when you try and figure out what animal it is; is it a deer? Or perhaps a bear? Or a coyote? If I were running without a headlamp I would just run right into the animal, and I would run like a scared little pre-schooler no matter what it was. But with headlamp, I get to know if I see a bear about to kill me. I think I would rather not know. And those deer sure sleep in funny places, they all seem to like to sleep resting on the steepest slopes of the mountainside, it's very strange.

Last week one of my runs was a 22 km run. Well actually I ran until 21.1 km and then walked the rest of the way home. I ran my fastest 5 k, and 10 k times I can remember timing. (24 minutes and 48:30) and I ran my fastest half marathon time in the last three years (1:49:30). So stoked! I probably won't try and run faster than that for awhile, instead just focusing on slowly increasing the distance that I can run comfortably, and you know... lots of stairs and hill climbs.

Nazzer