Recap and plans

I decided to do some racing in the spring mainly to try and bag a few bucks to help fund my move to Cache Creek come June. The plan was to get in decent shape for the Vancouver Marathon in early May then use the fitness gained from that to run well at the Calgary marathon at the end of May. I figured if I didn't do much running in between I could be recovered and strong for Calgary.

The marathon in Vancouver went really well. I had done a few hill workouts an some long tempo stuff out at Elk lake and was feeling pretty good about running sub 2:30. In your average Van Marathon this would get you in the running for a top three finish and potentially top spot for a local. To my dismay there were 4 Africans brought in along with Jason Loutitt, Graeme Wilson and David Jackson. I definitely had more of a race on my hands than I was expecting. Turns out Jason didn't show and David was actually running the half. So anyway the gun goes off and the four African guys take off and it's a handful of us also-rans running together. As we settled into a solid pace Greame and I traded off leads looking to run around 2:26 pace. I wasn't sure if I had that in me but figured I'd help Greame out as much as I could. For the first 10k or so there was an unknown wrestler guy in front of us but we weren't too worried about him and Anthony Palermo was tailing us as well. Things were reasonably uneventful until 15k in we're we saw the first Kenyan guy drop, so we were in 4th. Coming into 30k we were notified the third place Kenyan guy was looking rough too so I decided to push the pace when we hit the Seawall with Greame following suit. Shortly after I saw the 3rd place Kenyan dude standing by the second beach pool. So all of a sudden I was in third and potentially going to make a good payday. Time to get serious. With Greame a few steps behind I sped up a bit more and he covered the move so I decided to get up on my forefeet and really get moving. I had decided to wear my training shoes because of some calf sorenes, so getting up on my forefeet made a big difference. Greame couldn't cover this move and over 4-5k I was able to open up a considerable gap and maintain through the finish. 3rd place overall, first Canadian citizen and first BC resident netted me two much needed Gs. As we suspected after the race the course was long, so my 2:29:22 was for 42.195k + 382m. Somewhere around 2:28 I guess.

The following weekend I jumped into the Oak Bay Half and limped to a 72:11 for third. Then two weeks later headed to Calgary for another marathon. Calgary was uneventful as I had some gut issues and was unable to eat or drink. The lack of nutrition and legs that were only feeling okay going in resulted in an absolutely brutal last 12-15k and finished up 5th in 2:33.

In retrospect more care was needed to recover for Calgary but some other life stresses were unavoidable like moving. Anyhow it was a fun month that earned a month easy.

And that's how it's been, nice and easy but time to get back at it. I'm living in my traditional territory, secwépemcul'ecw (the land of the Shuswap) and loving every minute of it, particularly the running. There are dirt roads everywhere and hills in every direction not to mention little underbrush so you could run in a straight line in any direction so long as there isn't a rock bluff. I'll write more about this in time. It's planning time though. I've started mapping out some good loops and sketching a training plan to accommodate the races I'd like to do. Which are:
Kamloops Marathon - July 29
Edmonton Marathon - August 17
Steve King Classic 100k - September 15
Victoria Marathon - October 7
TNFEC 50mi - December 2(redemption!)

Pretty full slate. Victoria will depend on the recover from the 100k. Speaking of 100s, I've scheduled a few 100mi weeks. Never thought I'd say that again. Anyway that's all for now. Here's a photo of my backyard:

Testing

Just trying out the blogger app. Seems a bit limited but might give it a try. Finally getting back to fitness with a 2h15 run yesterday in the hills/mountains above Back Valley Road outside of Cache Creek. A location where my grandmother was raised for some time by her grandparents. My family lived in that valley for generations. It's occupied by a number of farmers now. Saw a couple of white-tail bucks and a few quail. Still no snakes :)

Victoria Marathon - 2:26:42

I have never been so sore after a race as I have been the last couple days. I expected my calves to be more sore than usual by wearing a 5k flat on my feet rather than a marathon flat, but my entire lower body is shattered.  Today, two days out i'm able to walk around a little easier, but yesterday I was a mess. I remember times the day after a marathon when I was able to go for a light jog, there was no way that was an option this time around. I suppose most people would take a couple of Ibuprofen but I stay away from them because I already have stomach acid problems and it wasn't life-or-death. Anyway I think the root problem, in concert with the shoes, was my ongoing hip/IT-band issues. A couple weeks ago when I was getting fed up with my left-side IT-band/hip I started doing some core-lateral-leg exercises which quickly relieved the acute hip soreness, BUT it also ended up tightening up my RIGHT-side ITband, in the normal way though, around the knee soreness.  Furthermore my calves didn't seem to want to loosen up completely. I took most of the week quite easy to let things recover, and did a bit of stretching and yoga to  help loosen things up, but I continued to feel a bit of imbalance right up to race day.  My hips just did not feel 'right' so when the race started I knew I would have to really concentrate on running as efficiently as possible so as to not fall into compensating one way or another.


I think by doing a reasonable amount of core work and consistently doing hill repeat work I was able to run with good form nearly the whole race. There were no point where I found that my form was falling apart and flailing around. I kept reciting in my head: "drop shoulders, arms down, tuck in elbows, pull hips forward, lift knees" throughout the run.  I actually started this around 7k when my right ITband started to tighten up because I was obviously worried I wasn't going to be able to make it through the race having soreness so early on. The pain never really got too bad, and I think it was due to concentrating on form the whole way. This didn't come without other pains however! As the race progressed my left hip and IT tightened up and calves of course were pretty beat by 30k. One new pain however was in my inner-left-quad. I can only attribute this to running further forward on my feet due to the light flats and forcing my legs to drive up and forward, but I suppose it was some kind of compensating pain for the IT-band/hip. This quad pain was actually what I was most worried about it would get progressively worse throughout.


So other than that the race went quite well, however it was a bit strange in that I ran alone for the entire distance. Alone as in without competitors, but I had my own official-cyclist(Gerry) for the whole race. Like the Edmonton marathon where I had a cyclist for the second half, Gerry and I chatted away most of the race which was greatly appreciated. He waved the early-start-walkers out of the way so I didn't have to deal with them wandering all over the road which was invaluable.  However running the tangent was still impossible for many parts on the course. Regardless the cheering by the other people out on the course was helpful even if I was concentrating hard and paying little attention to the spectators.   Running alone the whole race made it extremely uneventful, the most exciting part being the turnaround where I discovered the second and third place guys were not all that far in front of me and not looking that great. I also discovered that Aaron, Oliver, and Graeme were not too far back!  At this point I picked it up ever so slightly now that I was in the hunt for 3rd place, and also worried about the others catching me as they could work in a pack and there would surely be a breeze heading west.  There were a couple of long stretches on the way back so I could see I was gaining on the third place runner Gilbert Kiptoo. As I reeled him in he was looking over his shoulder quite often and when he realized the pass was imminent around 28k he just stepped off the course and quit.  I had expected this to happen, however for some reason I though't he'd wait till I caught up, but it makes more sense in retrospect, if he was certain I would catch him.  The reason he dropped of course is that the prize money goes 3 deep, so for him to finish 4th or less would be completely a waste of his energy, better saved for the next race.


At this point I had to make a decision to either go after the second place guy(whom I could not see) or to protect my lead on the 3 guys chasing me by easing up a bit and not risk my calves or quad cramping up/blowing apart.  I chose the conservative approach and kept up a good pace but not pushing too hard. My split at 30k was 1:42:29 I think, and my split at 10k was 34:18 I found out after. Shockingly even! I guess by concentrating so much on form I was also being extremely consistent. Anyway, things started getting tough as they always do towards the end of a marathon but with about 5k to go you can see for nearly a whole kilometer(it seems like) behind you, so I looked back, and asked Jerry to do the same, to see how far my chasers are, and neither of us could see them.  Heading into this stretch I could also not see the second place guy Philip Samoei so with this in mind, being firmly in "no man's land" I decided I would enjoy the rest of the race and slowed up a bit more, cruising into the finish. For those who saw me finish and said I made it look easy, well, its because I was going easy! It was really enjoyable to be able to just cruise into the the finish not having to worry about the others, or about your legs blowing up.  And that was that, 2:26:42.


I had thought I was in 2:25 shape, and I still stand by it! I feel like I could have run faster had I put out personal water bottles on the 'elite table.'  I had a really hard time getting enough fluids from the water stations and consequently didn't put my gels down as easy, and I did not take electrolyte tablets which would have likely helped my quad and calves from feeling so bad.  I didn't take them because without much water I was worried my stomach would freak out.  I guess the difference is that I told myself I was in 2:25 shape, but after the race it sunk in that 2:25 is pretty good! For the amount of time I have spent training I am very happy about running 2:26. It was really the perfect day for running, weather wise, and the event went off without a hitch yet again. Big thanks to Gerry, the volunteers and Jonathan for organizing all the elite stuff.


Oh! one last note. Change of plans. I have almost decided to scrap the TNF San Fran 50mi trail race plan, likely going to the Whistler 50 instead. Not 100% sure yet.

Race Week

Just a quick note. It's race week! I'm actually reasonably excited. I picked up some new kicks from Mark and Nick at Frontrunners Westshore out in Langford which i'm pretty stoked about, they're some ultra light road flats. I was worried about wearing my Brooks marathon flats which I wore in Edmonton, thinking they were too bulky and not allowing me to run as efficiently as I am used to, having been training in my minimalist trail shoes. So to have some ultra-light Adidas flats i'm feeling much better about the run. I'm going to take them out for a spin tomorrow morning.


As for last week.....well it didn't quite work out as I planned, and far from what I had set out in my last blog post. Since the post I decided to just do my regular two workout week, and it started out really well, i had a, dare I say, stellar hill session on wednesday.   I had done a strength session the night before so was feeling loaded up, in the sense that I felt very strong, anyway it went surprisingly well, more than 3 seconds per rep faster on average. Come the weekend however I was feeling pretty stiff from doing the core work I guess and when I set out to do another track workout I felt really flat and decided to call it quits after the first rep!  I wasn't feeling like working out on saturday and on sunday I was REALLY not feeling like a workout, so it was doomed from the beginning. Perhaps I should have just taken my good track workout from a couple weeks back and let it be. ANYWAY, its taper week now so i'm takin it pretty easy, going to do some yoga and stretching all week to get balanced and get rid of this stiffness. Tomorrow morning i'm going to take a few turns around the track at 3:20-25/km pace and see how that feels, see if running 2:25 is going to even be a reasonable expectation for Sunday. I hope so, I feel like i'm in good shape and have been quite consistent over the last few weeks. 80 mile weeks in singles isn't anything to write home about but its not too shabby either.  For those racing this weekend too, good luck. Next post, race report!

Beat Up

Feelin a little beat up this week. My IT band/hip area problem is persisting and i've generally felt pretty tired this week. I tend to feel like this at the changing of seasons and also get a perennial cold at the end of september-start of october. This added to the cumulative effect of sleeping on average 6.5 hours a night for the last few weeks has me feeling a bit run down. I decided to only do a half workout this wednesday because of this feeling and the fact that I had a good two weeks of training. Then on the long run on saturday I stopped after two loops of Elk/Beaver lake because my hip was getting really sore and to be honest I just "wasn't feeling it."  I still ended up running 26miles so its not a complete failure, and perhaps a blessing in disguise; if I had finished the run I might have dug myself a hole I couldn't get out of. I'll chock this up to a rest week.  I am a bit worried about my hip issue though. Typically I don't like to run with any sort of persistent aching or pain, but this has been right on the border so i've been running on it. I have admittedly been taking half-measures in treating it by just rolling on my nalgene bottle and a cue ball wrapped in electrical tape as well as doing some yoga but it is apparently not cutting it.  Today, even though I was feeling a bit tired and sore I decided to do a tough core/lower body workout. Relatively passive therapy doesn't seem to be doing the trick so i'll be putting some work into strengthening/lengthening the area, hopefully if I hit it hard over the next week or so i'll be relatively pain free for the marathon.  As for the next 2 weeks i'm going to do a workout every third day with hill reps being the first workout, mile repeats the second, and something marathon paced for the third, with a final half workout of again something around goal marathon pace a few days before race day. Other than that i'll be trying no to get sick!


Post script: going to stick to two workouts a week. Why mess with routine?

Need for Speed

Perhaps a sad day when 5 minute miles is considered speed work, but there it is.  Maybe three years ago halfway through an awful track session with Steve O and Richard Mosley I vowed to never set foot on a track again so when the idea of doing mile repeats sprang into my head earlier in the week I should have gotten my head checked out.  The track has always been the bane of my existence as a runner; I can count on one hand the number of good sessions i've had, and on no hands how many i've enjoyed. So, why on earth would I do it now, when i'm training for a 50mi race and an interim marathon?  Truth is, its exclusively for the marathon. I felt like I wouldn't have quite enough speed for the Edmonton marathon, which was maybe the case, but for the Victoria marathon this is definitely the case. I'll just say it: I want to run in the neighbourhood of 2:25 and thats going to require an ability to run at a decent clip. Thats 5:32/mi. I firmly believe you have to do some amount of work substantially below this pace in order to be capable of running it for a long period. That said, doing my original plan of 20-25km over and under race pace by maybe 5 seconds/km(8s/mi) wasn't really going to be as much of a differential as i'd like, hence the repeat miles.


It was a bit of gamble to allot a workout day for repeat miles because of the distinct possibility of getting pissed off and quitting halfway through, but in the end it worked out well. Heading down to the track at Oak Bay Secondary with my flats and water bottle in hand I was actually feeling ok about the whole prospect, planning to do 6 reps, 8 if I felt great. The aim would be to run 5mins for each 1600m(9meters short of a mile). Having no idea what kind of speed i'd have in my legs I felt this to be a reasonable expectation and wouldn't be surprised to be running as slow as 5:10.  So off I went in my T5s cruising around at 75 second laps to come in at 4:59.6 for the first one, feeling pretty good. As my track legs started coming back to me I was able to relax a bit and cruise through without killing myself to 4:59.4, 5:00.2. 4:58.9, 4:59.3, and 4:56.3.  All off 3 mins rest. Success! I didn't opt to do any more because after each one my left IT band/hip would tighten up making the first turn pretty uncomfortable, AND I peeled off a decent track workout!  Stoked. I realize 5 minute miles is not fast by any stretch of the meaning, but to be able to step on the track and do that workout was awesome and affirmed that doing hill repeats is every bit as good as track work to get fast and strong. Doing the actual fast paced work however is incredibly important to get the nerves and muscles firing, improving your efficiency at a quicker pace. In addition to this i'm doing some 'pick-ups' during my easy runs to get the legs moving on a regular basis.


In other news, alluded to earlier, my IT band/hip is causing me some grief. I can't really pin down the cause but it's likely the transition to running on pavement a lot more and thus not in my low-rise trail shoes, and the increased volume and consistency, as well as I suppose a lot more sitting around reading for school. I've been doing a couple yoga sessions a week but i'm going to have to probably add yet another and a couple of tougher poses directed at strengthening the stabilizers around the knee and hip. I really don't want any soreness going into the long run next weekend. That's about all for now. Two solid weeks in the books!

Week One in the Books

Week one of what? Of thirteen, of school, of my training for the TNF Endurance Challenge Championship 50mi trail race in San Francisco.


To be honest it was pretty great week, i'm super stoked about school; it appears to be everything I hoped it would be. Also as much reading as I expected. Though i'm not too practiced at it i'm enjoying that a lot of the learning process is based on discussion. Its been busy but it has also given me motivation, running wise. Every morning i've been up at 630 am ready to get out and run. It doesn't hurt that I am 10minutes away from running along the ocean while the sun is low in the sky and the tide is partially out so I can smell the ocean and someone's woodstove smoke laying low over the ground and water. The morning runs have been beautiful and serene. It brings back memories of camping on Haida Gwaii, more so than living near the ocean in Vancouver because you dont get as much of an ocean smell there; I suppose because there is more sea life clinging to rocks here when the ocean recedes. Regardless of the natural beauty here and the location of my residence I enjoy the early morning immensely. Not enough to turn me into a morning person however. My natural sleep cycle is to sleep in late and stay up late, but now that it is necessary to get up at dawn I get to see a part of the day I haven't spent much time in. Anywho, I am feeling on top of the world for the most part, and it incidentally is also the first week of the 30th year of my life.


SO, i've decided to do my first 50mile trail race and picked none other than The North Face 50mi, in San Francisco. It is a very competitive race held in the Marin Headlands. I've chosen it for a number or reasons, not the least of which is the prize purse. I'm not gonna lie, i'm a student and I could use a couple bucks so its as good a reason as any. Of course the money in the race draws some serious competition which should also be fun. Beside these points, I wouldn't normally travel all that way to gamble on running well in a race, but its also in my time zone, at the end of my semester, not at high elevation, and finally not any super long climbs which would handicap me, being that I have no access to mountains. Furthermore, its in the winter so I don't need to worry about allergies. So really, its the ideal race.


Now the reason i'm calling this 'week one' is because i'm taking this race seriously, all business. I have been pretty casual about my running this time around because I just want to enjoy it an do what I want but I want to be competitive in this race and that means training hard and being professional about it. So thats the plan. This week was the first week of that. I'm still sticking with only running once a day, even though i've felt motivated to double, doing a hill repeat workout mid week, and alternating a weekend long run and long workout. For example, this week I did hill reps on wednesday on Mount Tolmie, then today I did a 50mi long run. Next week i'll do hill reps again on wednesday or thursday depending on the recovery, then i'll do alternating 1000m, over and under marathon pace for 20-25k.  Then back to the original week the week after.  The reason i'm doing the marathon workout is so I can be ready to run well at the Vic marathon; once i'm done that i'll adjust that workout.  Fortunately I'm back to being a student so the consistency and routine required should complement each other.


The run today.  I'm not sure if i'm going to stick to my plan of doing a 50miler every other weekend. It was really tough(who knew?).  I headed out from my place with my hand held water bottle and enough fuel stuffed in my pockets for 6 hours. The plan was to run from my place to Elk/Beaver Lake park and do up to 6-10k loops, my house being 11.4km away it would be more than enough distance to potentially get a 50miler in. I headed out at around 7 I guess because when I was stashing my keys they fell down this hole which was almost inaccessible and fishing them out after the run was not gonna happen. Anyway, off I went ran out to the lake and started running loops of a great flat dirt trail which was very well marked so I didn't have to figure out where I was going. I rolled around the first loop in 42:01 and was a little worried it was too fast, but then ended up running with a new friend Tim for the second loop which felt easier but ended up being 42:08, so after he left I made an effort to slow down but failed running 41:06 for the third loop. My body forced me to slow down on the next loop which was good and bad. I slowed because my guts started acting up, but also couldn't stay on my nutrition plan of eating every 30mins. An hour later, around 4h30 I started to suffer. For my last 3 loops I ran 45:27, 44:46, and 49:00. The last loop I was relegated to a walk for 5mins while I ate a gel, drank water, and mentally regrouped. I made it through that loop, at a decent pace (not including the walk), partially because I told myself I would walk again for 5 mins after that loop as I started to run home. I stuck to this plan, again walking out of the park for 5mins, then running for 42mins to make the run end at 6 hours, hoping(and calculating) that it would be at least 50miles. The run into town was really tough because there was no shade whatsoever and the temperature was 23 degrees celsius, which for a dehydrated body feels much more. It turned out the run into town was potentially easier than the walk from my point of hitting 6hours to my house. Once I stopped my body just shut down and I could only walk a few houses at a time then had to sit down. It was an absolute sufferfest which I wasn't sure i'd be able to endure. Fortunately there was a convenience store on the way and I pulled out my emergency $5 and bought a coke, salt and vinegar chips, and a coffee crisp, saved! After eating my food and putting my legs up for a few minutes while digesting, the trip home was much easier(read: less excruciating).  And so that was my first 50mile run experience.  It ended up being decently quick at under 6 hours, but there is still a lot of work to do by December. Time to hit the books, happy trails!


Splits:
11.6km - 47:56
10k(21.6) - 42:01(1:29:57)
10k(31.6) - 42:08(2:12:05)
10k(41.6) - 41:06(2:53:11)
10k(51.6) - 45:27(3:38:38)
10k(61.6) - 44:46(4:23:24)
10k(71.6) - 49:00(5:12:24)(including 5mins walking)
9.1k(80.7) - 47:00(5:59:24)(including 5mins walking)