STRAVA Summary

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Fire Flies Everywhere

It was time for the 2nd annual night run to Orillia and back. It was looking like it would be a wet run, with heavy drizzle coming down when I went to pick up Rick downtown after dropping his car off. Rick was going to run with me and Joan from our house to downtown, Joan would then head back home to get in about 10k and Rick and myself would carry on with Brendan who would meet us down there. We tried to keep a nice easy pace, but kept noticing our pace getting quicker, so we'd slow down again. The goal was to maintain about a 7 minute k over the entire run. I no longer had a Garmin so I was winging it or relying on the others for input. Once we met up with Brendan dropped Ricks car keys with Roger and said goodbye to Joan, it was off we go. I was wondering how Brendan would make out trying to run slow. While almost always being slightly ahead of us, he never pushed the pace and if anything was able to keep us in line.
Catherine was to run down from her house at 6 to get a head start, meet Chris B. downtown to keep her company on the way out and have Bill for support. Bill would run back with her. apparently things didn't quite go as planned.
Even for our run, Theo was a last minute drop out, due to work commitments.
So the long journey began and it was rather uneventful on the way out. The rain was holding off, but it was very humid. Not long after we started I had found myself getting hungry already. So I stopped and had one of the almond butter and jam wraps that I had made, it went down well. With the overcast sky I figured it would get darker sooner and at about 9 to 9:30 we got our lights ready, I was going to try a waist light and a head lamp. But after trying the headlamp on it felt cumbersome and Rick's light was more than enough to light up the trail, so I stuck with the waist light only. Brendan had his head lamp to so we were well lit up.
We started with trying 20 minutes of running and 5 walking to see how that would work, and it seemed to be good, but switched to 15 minuted of running later. After crossing the 7th line we could se a light up a head and figured it was Catherine and Chris, but as we ran on we just didnt seem to be gaining any ground on them. When we crossed the 12th we knew we went far behind "them". THats when Bill texted us to say the "girls"(??) had just crossed the 14th. I thought ha had made a type on both Girls and 14th. coming up to the 14th we caught the individual, yes one runner and it was Chris!! Where was Catherine? She was ahead with Joan VH, who had come out to run with her. Chris had missed them at the start, because Catherines start had got delayed, there was a mix up in the times and he never did see them. He had run all that way by himself. So now he tucked in with us as we headed into Orillia. Through out the run and particularly as we approached Orillia fire flies were to be seen everywhere. It was like something magical. I didn't remember it being like this last year. We summized different environmental conditions had mad it much better for them.
Now with Chris running with us it was a matter of tracking down the girls, but as we got closer to the finish we figured it wasn't going to happen and they would get there first. A great run by them considering they hadn't started much earlier thean we had. Another twist was that Joan VH had to switch with Bill at 32k as she had injury issues.
We got to Home Hardware and the turn around at 11:50, about right on time. Roger and Steen were there too, Steen just showed for support. About as soon as we arrived, Catherine and Bill started back. I decided to change my shirt for a long sleeve (a mistake) and put on a pair of road shoes and thicker socks (both mistakes), refilled my camelback had a Glucerna and off we went, now with Roger. Roger had done this last year with me and was very keen on the whole run.
We hadn't been going long when I realized the mistakes I had made in changing. the shoes and socks especially were very uncomfortable. My feet felt like they were on fire. This was the start of a low point for me, I was struggling and by the time we go to the 11th line I had the sweats, was weak and just overall down. We walked from here for a while and soon were running again, not long after I seemed to get my second wind and was feeling much better. By the time we go to the 5th line we got word that Cath had called it a day, she was having ankle problems. She had managed to get about 52k in and was running well up to that point.
Once we crossed the 4th onto the other side of the road, we felt like we had crossed a milestone as we on familiar territory and close to Barrie. after the 3rd we saw alight on the trail ahead and assumed it was Bill stopping to offer support at the 2nd line, turned out to be Chris again. He had gone home after the run to Orillia, got cleaned up and changed refueled and ran back to meet us. He is crazier than me!!!
This did pick up our spirits adn we ran back into Barrie. On the rail trail we took a couple of breaks, but ran the marked kilometre and found we did a 5:20 k, after 73k of running. hmmm, not bad I'd say.
We finished at Hooters and said goodbye and thanks to Chris, who was still going to run home. Roger drove me home.
I had done 75k in 8:39:47, about 20 minutes faster than last year, although that wasn't important. Averaging just under a 7 min k. Right about on target.
Many thanks to all those who helped out and ran with us.

Friday, June 24, 2011

Night Run to Orillia...

Well tonight is the second annual night run to Orillia and back I’m assuming its an annual event now!! Its shaping up to be that way, I guess it depends on what races some of us will be doing in the future.
We had a lot of fun last year doing this and there are few different faces on board for this year’s event. Unfortunately Theo has had to back out as of last night, due to work commitments, but Catherine is doing the whole shebang this year and Bill will be out helping her on the run back. Brendan is running out with me, along with Rick who was with us last year. Roger will be my lone companion for the run back, but he is good company and enjoyed last years run.
The only difference this year maybe the weather. Last year it was clear and very mild, 18C was the low over night. This year it is looking like it may be wet and a little cooler. The forecast is for rain showers and a low of 15C, still not bad as long as it isn’t rain all night.
I just have to make sure I have all I need ready,. I haven’t prepared well for this. It was just night when I started putting together the items I would need. Let’s see, Shoes, clothes, a change of clothes both for the turn around and afterwards, hats, gels, SCaps, Camelback, mix my Clip-2 drink for the Camelback and extra for later, some food, lights, batteries…

Should be a good night. More to follow.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Take A Breath

It is forty days until I toe the line at the Burning River 100 mile Endurance Run, so I figured maybe it is time to reflect and see how I’m feeling and wear I stand in my training. There have been good days and not so good days in my training, slight injuries that have popped up and gone away or lingering ones that won’t go away, but are not bad enough to stop me. There is the same old injury that I have had for a number of years that is still there, but of which I have learned to live with and better yet run with. I have tried many different methods in my training and I would like to think I have learned a lot. Most importantly, over the past few months my confidence has grown, although I had a few low points, I’m feeling good mentally. I have a lot to learn on July 30th and 31st, but up for the challenge. It is amazing the amount of information that you can get off the internet and how it can inspire you and that’s what it has done. Whether it was reading others accounts of previous Burning River races or videos, they have all helped my mental state. The training run last month on the first part of the course was good and I’m looking forward to the next one on July 10th. Meeting and talking to others who will be there was great, they all feel the same way that I do and have the same hesitations.
The training has gone well and will the highlight (hopefully) will be next Friday when we do the annual run to Orillia and back over night run. We will leave Barrie at about 8 pm and hopefully arrive in Orillia at midnight, then back to Barrie by 5 am ish!
I have done most of the training I can do, with a few races thrown in to see how endurance is, it is now time to maintain and get ready to taper in a few weeks. The past two weekends I haven’t been able to get in the runs I would normally do, but were still successful runs none the less, although all on road. I should get a long trail run in soon too. Yesterday 37k on the road and I felt good, except for a bit of pain in the outside shin/calf just below the knee. So when I got home I took some Motrin and some cream on it, and it seemed better. Its good today.
One thing I have learned is that running slower definitely helps. It is hard to do and without a Garmin I have a hard time knowing how slow the pace is, but yesterday I was able to concentrate on slowing it down for a bit and was able to go much further with out a walk break. Eventually I was back to my usual “too fast” pace. Still other than the pain in my right leg it was a good run. Funny thing is with the pain is it only occurs for the first ten or so steps after a walk break. I’ll have to work on that one.
Latest from Burning River is a slight course change due to construction on the Boston 1 to Boston 2 section. A proposed change is supposed to be released some time this week. This will need some changing to my pace charts etc., but its just a little bit of work for an epic adventure.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Running, OUCH!!!! and shopping.

It wasn’t the best weekend, at least running wise. I did get some shopping accomplished for Kevin on Sunday.
Friday night I figured I’d get an extra distance in and run to the Running Room and back, it was a decent run except again, as usual, when running with the group which was too fast. Running home felt good. I t was a decent 19k in, but was it too much for my Saturday morning run.
I didn’t bother setting the alarm. I would just get up whenever and get ready and go for my run when I was ready. As has been the case recently I was up early anyway, but didn’t rush myself, but I was still out the door by 8 am. I had everything ready, camel back full with my Clip 2 drink, gels, S Caps and my phone for listening to tunes. I started with the Ferndale to Edgehill, Miller, 90, 27, Ardagh loop before heading down Patterson to Tiffin and around the lake. I wasn’t feeling to bad at this point and then headed via Tollendal to Hurst and Big Bay Point and Pine Drive. I was struggling to remember to take my gels and S Caps for some reason. But when I would feel tired or sluggish that would be enough to jog the memory. It was quite a bit warmer out than I had anticipated and with a long sleeve shirt on I was sweating profusely. I was tiring too, walking a lot more than I planned. I thought I’d run all the way along Mapleview and go to Bear Creek School and check out the track to see if it is suitable for speed work. Not that I am planning on it, but there isn’t a decent track in town and I thought while I’m out I’ll check it out. By the time I got there I was out of fluids (note to self, longer runs use larger camel back). The track wasn’t the best, but no worse than any of the others.
It was only 5k or so to home so the lack of fluids wasn’t too much of a problem and made it in just under 4 hours which was the plan, more or less. After measuring on google maps (Garmin is still dead) I figured it was just over 40k. So all in all it was a good run statistically speaking, but I hadn’t felt good about the feeling during the run. But we all have those days, at least I do. Some good, some not so good.
So Sunday morning would be a little shorter run and nice and easy, or so I thought!
I get up (again with out alarm) and start breakfast. Cup of tea ready to go, I take the tea bag out and go to put it in the green bag and reach down and… arghhhhhhhh. My back just about gave way as I had shooting pains through the lower back. I was in absolute pain. I managed to make it to the living room and get down to lay on the floor and that felt good, but I was still not quite comfortable. As much as it hurt and I was rather immobilized, I was still thinking about getting out for my run. It was another half hour before I realized, no, that ain’t gonna happen today! So maybe a rest day would be good.
I moped around the rest of the morning before getting Kevin up out of bed, so I could take him shopping for clothes that he most desperately needed and to get him ready for Craig and Kristin’s wedding next Saturday.
I took a Super Motrin after the back incident (later I would switch to Rabaxocette) and tried to keep comfortable, checking out what was new in the internet world and reading.
I eventually was able to get about enough to go and get gas at Costco, before coming home and making sure Kevin was ready.
We went out finally at about 2:30 and went straight to Moore’s got Kevin fitted with a suit and as it turned out it was 2 for 1, so I got one too. Shirts, ties and shoes and we were all set. Now on to the mall and got him some Jeans, to Old Navy for some shirts and then Payless shoes for new everyday shoes for him. All that done in about 2 hours.
Over all a successful weekend, except for the back, which is slowly getting better. I have a massage scheduled for tomorrow (Tuesday) so hopefully that will help.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Mosies Galore!!

I had forgotten what it was like to run through the woods on a hot day just prior to twilight and the hazards that lurk everywhere out there. The hazards being the bugs, mosquitoes, horse flies etc. Initially I hadn’t planned on going for a run last night, but with work commitments possible taking up the next few evenings I thought I should try and squeeze in a run. I had just bought a new pair of Wildcats so, it was time to try them out. Although as I already run in them, there shouldn’t be any surprises with them. So off I went and yes it was quite warm, but not too bad, the one advantage to running a little later. Initially I didn’t notice the bugs as I wasn’t stopping, but I knew they were out there waiting for me to drop my guard. I crossed Ferndale into the muddiest and darkest jungle around our parts and it was still muddy even though it had been drying up a bit. Only one great big puddle to get around, out of the bush and along Sommerset to the next wooded area to Ardagh, across the road to the gas right of way and back in to the woods again the first “hill”. This is where I noticed the bugs gnawing on me and thought I better get running again, from here on in it was keep running unless I hit an open area where the bugs won’t follow. I got to my turn around and decided to take a quick breather and a drink. Wow, the bugs were al over me in seconds, must be the rich English blood I guess. Voom, off I went again, being chased by the hoards. As I ran back I kept thinking that I have at least 4 good hills, which I haven’t run totally since last year, so I may have to sacrifice my body if I decide to walk part of the hills. But I didn’t and ran all of them rather than get eaten alive. Overall it felt really good to have done what I hadn’t done in a long while , but after shower I was zonked out. Extremely tired and showing a few good bites for merit.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

From One Extreme to the Other

Sunday was spent recovering from the Sulphur Springs run, but by the end of the day I figured I would take the advice of a recent article I had read about recovery. The article was basically one persons opinion that after a strenous race or hard long run, that person would go for a thirty minute run the day after no matter how he felt. It would help flush out the muscle soreness. So Sunday night I went for a nice short 3.5k run, it was very humid and the first part of the run were rather dificult, but when I was done I was glad I had done it.
On Tuesday I would take part in the Relay for Stronger kids at Exihibiton place in Toronto as part of one of the 65 Hydro One teams that took part. Unfortunately our team only had 3 members so Jeff and myself would complete three of the 2.5k laps and Deanna would do the regular 5k. As it turned out we would all do better than expected. Even thought the temperatures during the day were around 40C with the humidex, we all did better than expected. The temps were noticeably cooler near the lake which obviously helped but didn't lessen the sweat coming out of me.
Jeff ran the first 3 loops and kept a steady pace, he was aiming for about 42 minutes and we were surprised when he rounded the corner to the hand off area at 38 minutes. My turn and as usual in a race the first half a k are the worst, I feel out of breath and it feels hard. I settled into a decent pace just aimed to maintain that, I was looking for about 38 minutes myself. I passed my "buddy" Gary from Toronto Hydro taking part in the walk as I would again on the second lap. I was surprised to see that I was doing 4:30k on my Garmin and came in the first lap at about 11 minutes, I thought I would slow down here, but the second lap came in about the same time. It was on the second lap where my Garmin dropped dead. It has been struggling to keep a charge lately and I think it is no done like dinner. THe third lap I felt myself surge a bit, knowing it was the last lap. I finished very strong and came in at a very good 32 minutes or so. Deanna did the last 2 laps and was very happy with a 5 minute PB coming in at 26 minutes. A good day and we were 5th in our age category, Coed +35.
Wednesday nigh tis Running Room night and the usual suspects were there minus a few unusual suspects! We were doing the hospital route backwards whihc meant running up Owen to start. Running along Rose we crossed Duckworth, but instead of going up to the hospital Theo took us straight and through the subdivision, Ok! And on we went then done Cook, "where are you taking us Theo?" the group kept spreading out as the faster guys took off especially along Steel, I thought I wasn't slowing down at all but most of them were pulling away from me. I asked Rhonda what our pace was and we were doing about 4:30 pace. Along the lakeshore and along the railtrail I asked again and Rhonda said we were doing around 4:25, Roger was running quite a bit faster as he had pulled away, good to see him running good tonight. We finihsed 10k in aobut 47minutes and change. A good dose of speed for the second night in a row, hope that doesn't come back to bite me in the ass, literally!!