What a weekend. In fact I feel like its still going as I'm riding the Greyhound to Vernon from Kamloops to pick up a truck I looked at a couple weeks ago.
It all started on Thursday I suppose, bussing to Kamloops to stay with my cuz on account of having a job interview with the Secwepemc Health Directors Hub out on the rez. In short it has to do with coordinating the 17 Secwepemc communities in the transition of health authority for First Nations from the Feds and province to the First Nations Health Authority. A major undertaking. The interview went well and was offered the position later that day. So I'm stoked about that. After the interview I picked up the rental car and my travel companion and hit the road. Oh, I also finally heard from the owner of a truck I wanted to make an offer to, which also worked out, hence my current situation.
The race itself was a tough one for me because some problems I have long since conquered reared their ugly head but I'll start from the gun, or just prior to. I though we had left with lots of time to get to the race but were stuck in traffic turning into the parking lot which resulted in me getting to the start line just in time for the 5...4...3...2...1. Just enough time to check out the competition and then we were off.
I started out real easy being that I just jumped out of the car and watched to see what kind of pace we were going to run. Last year I ran with Brendan Lunty but this time around two guys I have never seen before headed out a bit quicker but not so fast that I thought they would be unable to sustain it. So, a threat. I decided I better keep an eye on them so ran a little quicker than I normally would but had nothing to worry about. Normally I'll get warmed up and settle into a pace around 7-8k and it turned out this pace was a bit quicker than these guys eventually passing them probably around 10k an then maybe 17-18k. As it tuned out they were running beyond themselves and I think both blew up.
Prior to passing them I had discovered my guts were going to become a big problem and every time I put a gel or water down, from about 10k onward I felt like I'd have to make a pit stop. I didn't want to however, because I still wasn't sure about the leader. So anyway I toughed it out till I passed him, pushed for another 5k and ended up putting a sizable gap into him. At around 23k I had suffered enough and pulled into the port-a-john. Needless to say it's a bit comical to pull off at a water stop and have the lead police motorcyclist and two lead cyclists wait for you outside the John!
Fortunately I had a big lead and even after the stop the second place guy was nowhere to be seen. So off I went. The rest of the race was fairly uneventful until about 32k when I heard the new second and third were battling it out. This is not so much something you want to hear because it's much harder to fight when you are out in no-man's-land. I picked it up anyway but that didn't last long with the heat and dehydration getting to me. In the end I was able to pull it off and come out a couple minutes ahead of Brendan for the win. Not fast and not pretty but a win :)
Now. What to do? Earlier last week as I recovered from my 40mi suffer fest I decided it wasn't a reasonable expectation to get fit enough to run fast at the Steve King Classic 100k. I was really looking forward to this but I just have too much on my plate to make a good go of it so I'm going to cancel that plan but keep the option in the back of my mind of going last minute and running just to get a 100k under my belt. The plan now will to get some solid training in before Victoria and try to run fast there.
A job, a win, a vehicle and some great visiting with friends made for an excellent unofficial long weekend. The summer is closing out great and the fall looks good and busy just the way I like it!
Mon - 70mins
Tue - off very tired
Wed - 2 x p-line hill (85, 91) some bounce but still tired + core
thurs - 50 mins feel okay
Fri - off, got a job! Drove to Edmonton
Sat - 20 mins jog
Sun - 26.2 mi - 2:36:40
- Ryan Day
- Secwécwpemc-ken ri7(I am Shuswap), Chief, Economist, Distance Runner, and Secwepemc Health Researcher/Co-ordinator/Policy guy. I've run a 30:24-10k, 1:06:23-half, and 2:19:55-full marathon but am most proud of the World Peace Prayer Day '06 relay run to Anchorage from Vancouver I participated in. This blog is primarily about running but I will post photos of the many places I like go on the tmícw of my maternal ancestors, Secwépemcul'ecw.
Monday, August 13, 2012
Sunday, August 12, 2012
W/E August 12 - Tortuous Rez Tour
Good week. Probably my best week in a while. I had aimed to do 2x4x Powerline hills but mentally and physically I shut down on the 7th one. I have more or less decided that if I slow by more than 10% of the first rep then its time to call the session. Overall the hill session was a success however. After that I headed to Vernon for a few days to get some school stuff sorted out and got to do a couple of gorgeous runs along Kalamalka Lake and around a park there. Coming back on friday I tried to load up on some carbs because it was time to get in a long run since I hadn't done one in a couple weeks.
So I picked a 40mile loop that I thought would be reasonably quick being that I am hoping to do this 100km race in September and I wanted to get it done at a decent clip. The route was from my place in Cache Creek, out to our reserve where the main village is, then south up a hill/mountain 1700ft to McLean's Lake another small reserve of ours, then down the far side of the hill to Upper Hat Creek, following the dirt road to highway 99, through our Upper and Lower Hat Creek reserves, and back along highway 97 through the village and back home. As I said I hoped it would be a pretty quick route; heading up a steep hill then a long gradual net downhill for 30miles. Not so. I guess between the 1hr uphill climb, and down the other side, my legs took more of a beating than I thought because by the time I hit the second half, which was all on pavement my legs were already hurting. My hip-flexors and adductors the most. Starting to "feel it" at 20miles into a 40mile run is NOT good! To add to this situation it was starting to get pretty warm, about 20 degrees and I had not realized how much I was drinking. Generally speaking I have a hard time drinking enough water when I use my water bladder, but on this run it wasn't the case and I ran out of water with 10miles to go and the temperature steadily rising. I had brought a 500ml waterbottle and 2L water bladder and burned through it in 30 miles. At probably ~25 degrees, hurting like hell and out of water I was a bit concerned about my ability to finish the run and considering calling for a ride but I really wanted to get through it. So I ground it out for another 6km and stopped where the highway crosses the Bonaparte river. I'm not sure what the water quality is like but at that point I didn't care and downed two bottles off water, filled up and was on my way. I felt marginally better but knew it was still going to be a tough grind back home. I finally dug my ipod out, cranked up the volume to drown out the traffic and started grinding. Agonizing. I'm really not certain why this run was so difficult. Yes it was longer than i've done in a while and yes a lot of it was on pavement but I just did not expect for it to be THAT hard. Over the last 10km I stopped probably a dozen times to walk a few steps then get jogging slowly again. I did eventually make it, but I felt worse than the first time I ran 50miles, and this was at a considerably slower pace. I suppose I just need to accept that this is the kind of shape I am in. Fortunately when you do a run that is this agonizing you know the training effect from it is going to be awesome! Lets just hope I recover enough in the next 7 days so I can have a good one in Edmonton next Sunday.
Mon - 70mins Back Valley Hill + core wkt
Tues - 7 x P-line hills (88, 87, 87, 85, 88, 90, 97)
Wed - 80mins Kalamalka Park
Thurs - off
Fri - 55mins Kalamalka Park
Sat - 40mi in 5:38. Brutal
Sun - 20mins jog
So I picked a 40mile loop that I thought would be reasonably quick being that I am hoping to do this 100km race in September and I wanted to get it done at a decent clip. The route was from my place in Cache Creek, out to our reserve where the main village is, then south up a hill/mountain 1700ft to McLean's Lake another small reserve of ours, then down the far side of the hill to Upper Hat Creek, following the dirt road to highway 99, through our Upper and Lower Hat Creek reserves, and back along highway 97 through the village and back home. As I said I hoped it would be a pretty quick route; heading up a steep hill then a long gradual net downhill for 30miles. Not so. I guess between the 1hr uphill climb, and down the other side, my legs took more of a beating than I thought because by the time I hit the second half, which was all on pavement my legs were already hurting. My hip-flexors and adductors the most. Starting to "feel it" at 20miles into a 40mile run is NOT good! To add to this situation it was starting to get pretty warm, about 20 degrees and I had not realized how much I was drinking. Generally speaking I have a hard time drinking enough water when I use my water bladder, but on this run it wasn't the case and I ran out of water with 10miles to go and the temperature steadily rising. I had brought a 500ml waterbottle and 2L water bladder and burned through it in 30 miles. At probably ~25 degrees, hurting like hell and out of water I was a bit concerned about my ability to finish the run and considering calling for a ride but I really wanted to get through it. So I ground it out for another 6km and stopped where the highway crosses the Bonaparte river. I'm not sure what the water quality is like but at that point I didn't care and downed two bottles off water, filled up and was on my way. I felt marginally better but knew it was still going to be a tough grind back home. I finally dug my ipod out, cranked up the volume to drown out the traffic and started grinding. Agonizing. I'm really not certain why this run was so difficult. Yes it was longer than i've done in a while and yes a lot of it was on pavement but I just did not expect for it to be THAT hard. Over the last 10km I stopped probably a dozen times to walk a few steps then get jogging slowly again. I did eventually make it, but I felt worse than the first time I ran 50miles, and this was at a considerably slower pace. I suppose I just need to accept that this is the kind of shape I am in. Fortunately when you do a run that is this agonizing you know the training effect from it is going to be awesome! Lets just hope I recover enough in the next 7 days so I can have a good one in Edmonton next Sunday.
Mon - 70mins Back Valley Hill + core wkt
Tues - 7 x P-line hills (88, 87, 87, 85, 88, 90, 97)
Wed - 80mins Kalamalka Park
Thurs - off
Fri - 55mins Kalamalka Park
Sat - 40mi in 5:38. Brutal
Sun - 20mins jog
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| From August 12, 2012 |
Sunday, August 5, 2012
W/E August 5 - Recovery in a big way
Recovery week. I didn't really plan for this week to be as much of a recovery week as it has turned out to be. I had decided to to take 2 days off then ease back into things but ended up not running until thursday. Then this weekend I went to Kamloops to visit my brother who was in town for the Powwow and forgot my running shoes so I didn't run on Saturday. THEN today I woke up with my guts not feeling very good so cancelled the run today. How about that for a recovery week. Two runs. It's really not ideal because I wanted to get in two full weeks of running before I took a few days easy before Edmonton. That isn't going to happen so i'm going go after it as much as I can over the next 10 days. That said, I have some running around to do out of town which might make that a problem, but we'll see how it goes. Going to try for a long run Tuesday, hills on Friday or Saturday, long run Sunday or Monday. Hard to say right now.
Mon - off
Tues - off
Wed - off
Thurs - 11mi Arrowstone
Fri - 9mi easy
Sat - off
Sun - off
Mon - off
Tues - off
Wed - off
Thurs - 11mi Arrowstone
Fri - 9mi easy
Sat - off
Sun - off
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