Gone For A Run, be back...

February Starts with a Sick Day

2012-02-02T09:34:00.000-05:00

Well after bragging to everyone over the past few months about how I never get sick, guess what? Yep, I've got a cold. Not a full blown illness or the flu or anything, but enough to come how early from work yesterday and stay home today. It is one of those head colds where you know you can get things done, but nothing seems to be working properly and the more I stayed at work the worse I felt, so I went home to bed and rested. It seemed to help a bit as I still went for a run last night and it was a good run. The weather had turned sharply colder and I was worried I'd feel it more, but once we got going it was a good one. Another thing that got me out for the run was committing to the February Challenge - 29 leagues in a month. The idea is to run everyday in February at least 1 league, which is about 3 miles or just under 5k. So sick or not I decided I had to go out anyway. I got 10k in. Today maybe a bit more of a challenge, its colder and I am still sick and at home. I have to go out and get a few things at the store anyway, so I will see how I feel after that. It is also a swimming night. Swimming usually makes me feel better, at least afterwards, not during!!! LOL.This coming Saturday the forecast is promising so hopefully I can get in a good 35k, followed by 25k on Sunday. THe next couple of weekends will be the last few long runs before tapering for Green Jewel. Hope the weather keeps co-operating.

Where Do the Hours Go?

2012-01-30T20:02:00.000-05:00

I always seem to have the right intentions, but I'm never able to get things done. Case in point this blog, I would love to do daily updates, but i have trouble doing monthly updates. I think I'm going make the time.
So how is the running going? Maybe I should ask how is the training going, as I am doing regular swimming sessions to supplement the running, along with a bit of spinning too. Theo talked me into going out swimming on Tuesday's, Thursday and Saturdays and other than the odd session I've going out regularly since the start of the year. At first I found it very tough, but over time I think I am getting much more efficient and I am sure it is helping the cardio. Just trying to do 2 lengths was tough at first, now I start with 4 lengths. Spinning for about 45 minutes or so before swimming on Tuesday's and Thursday's is just bonus points, just seems to hurt my ass, but I am sure it is having an effect too. With Green Jewel coming up in 5 weeks it will be interesting to see how I fair compared with last year. I'm thinking that I am in much better shape than last year, although not without a few niggling little problems, I would be disappointed if I can't beat last years time. All things considering though, all the races this spring etc are just training runs for Vermont in July.
The running has been hit and miss, most of it good, but for some reasons the long runs on Saturday have been rather difficult. And stranger again is that the Sunday long runs have been generally, really good. Comparing last years run log with this year so far. Monthly, the mileage is almost identical and I am actually ahead if last year for my long runs. So in that respect I am doing well. I still feel that I have to get the long run distance up, providing that the weather co-operates. *fingers crossed*. I guess really can't complain too much as the weather has been far better than last year.
Race Schedule?
Yeah things are starting to shape up with the race schedule now. 6 Races are on the schedule with the latest addition the Niagara Ultra 100k. A new distance for me, but Looking forward to it on the Niagara Ultra course. Always a good event. Not sure what to expect though, just get it done I guess.
As I mentioned earlier I have the Green Jewel 50k on March 3rd in Ohio. Then in Seaton Trail 52k in May, thankfully much later than las tear and the horrible weather that hit in April. There is Sulphur Springs 50 mile race at the end of May. Then Niagara on June 23rd. We will probably be doing the annual night run to Orillia and back the weekend before Niagara, which will conflict with the Barrie Half Marathon, so our running support may not be quite as good as the last two years.
Those races all lead up to Vermont 100 on July 21st.At the moment the only other race I have signed up for is the North Coast 24 Hr event in Cleveland in September. There are many other events I would like to do, but at the moment I am biding my time. Pick Your Poison, Dirty Girls, Haliburton, let's see....

A New Year...

2012-01-13T21:24:00.000-05:00

A new year and new ideas about training pop up, whether they work or not we will find out in the months to come. So what have I changed? Well Theo talked me into going swimming at the East Bayfield Rec centre and possibly spinning too and last week I took him up on the offer. With the extra workouts it's not leaving much time for rest though and I will had ego be careful with that and take the days off when I feel I need them. I started running Monday nights before the new year and with runs on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday now joined with a long Saturday run, Tuesdays and Thursdays were my only days off. Not anymore as Swimming is Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Saturdays swim following my long run. I'm guessing this will either kill me or make me stronger.
So far the swimming is going well, albeit tough slogging. I am so inefficient when swimming, but apparently with a few pointers and some work that will get better. At the moment I am just trying to get used to swimming for as long as possible now. I definitely feel the work in the arms and shoulders. My first spin session was this past Thursday ad it was ok, rather boring, but a lot of sweating.
THe running has been great as the whether has been very cooperative, at least until today that is. The temperature dropped during the day to -8C and snowed most of the afternoon. The run tonight felt tough, but mostly due to the sloppy conditions as apposed to the cold an wind. Tomorrow I have my long run and it may be rather abbreviated as it is supposed to be about -18c in the morning, with out the wind chill. We shall see!
I've been upping the mileage as my first race of the year is only 7 weeks away at the Green Jewel 50k. As of today I have also signed up for Seaton Trail 52k, Sulphur Springs 50 miler, Vermont 100, and the North Coast 24 hr. I still plan on signing up for Pick Your Poison 50k (still no registration available for that one yet!!!! Come on guys), although I was surprised to be the first one signed up for Seaton Trail. The Niagara 100k is another race is want to do, I think! Most of the rest of the Ultra Series too, but the time will come to sign up for those.

2011 Year End

2012-01-02T19:14:00.000-05:00

With the new year now into full swing I figured like many, I should recap my last years running accomplishments.
I was hoping that the amongst other things the least I could do was to at least learn from the previous years mistakes.
So what were the mistakes? Running too many races and not being properly prepared to run that many miles. I had signed up for my first 100 miler (Burning River) and had to back out at the last minute when I realized that injuries had prevented me from running 10k, never mind 100 miles. It took me a long time to get over that and realize what I needed to do to train properly. Late in 2010 I was one of the first to sign up for Burning River and wasn't ready to ramp up the mileage until the new year. All my focus for 2011 would be on Burning River with no back to back Marathons and unnecessary races. I started running 2 long runs per weekend in January with Theo. We would both be doing the Green Jewel 50k in Ohio, for Theo his first.
Training in Barrie in January can be tough at the best of times, but in 2011 it was extremely hard. Many a long run was run in sloppy, deep snowy conditions and in some cases cut shorter than planned. Regardless we went to Green Jewel and had good runs in difficult conditions. Heavy rain the week before had created s lot of flooding, which had mostly cleared up by race time. At least we didn't have to deal with snow, at least until we drove home. That was a miserable drive.
Another "fun run" was Seaton Trail. The equivalent to a Nor'easter blew through after a week of rain and created more difficult conditions for this 52k race (which turned out to be about 56k), heavy rains and high winds welcomed runners. I almost quit at half way, but soldiered on. Only 31 finishers in the 52k and 3 in the 50 miler should give you an idea of how bad it was.
A training run to Wasaga Beach and back (50 miles) went off really well, despite the rain.
The weather was much better for Sulphur Springs, but there was still a lot of mud on the course, but just enough to make it fun. I had attempted the 50 mile here last year, but as an omen of what was to come I dropped at about 35 miles. This year was totally different, as I finished feeling good, finishing the last loop strongly.
Creemore has become an annual event and as usual was very warm and humid, but a decent race.
Prior to actually running Burning River I went down with Roger and did 2 of the scheduled training runs, which I would recommend to anyone planning on doing BR100. I also went down to Vermont for the Vermont 100 to crew and pace Catherine, a great weekend and a good experience, unfortunately Catherine didn't complete the race. getting pull off the course at about 56 miles.
Burning River was a great success, I finished and felt great. It just set the seeds for me wanting to do more of the same.
After a trip to England to help Victoria move (which helped enforce a 2 week recovery with no running).Once back I helped our team in the Simcoe Shores relay. Much more fun actually being able to run this year, but it felt very hard.
In September I tried to get into the North Coast 24 hour race, but tried to late and it was sold out. I thought it would be interesting to see how far I could run in 24 hours on a fairly flat course. More to come on that one!
I signed up for Vulture Bait which I had been planning on doing for a number of years, but it always conflicted with other races. The race turned out to be a hidden gem, great course, but horrible weather, which seemed to be a reoccurring theme for the year.
A last minute sign up for the Borden half marathon (WTF, a half?), at which I surprised myself by how well I did.
I finished the year by starting a strength training program to try and overcome some of the injuries caused by some muscle weakness here and there. Physical Therapy and ART has had some positive affects on my injuries.
Overall the year has finished very positively on the running/injury front. I have also signed up for Vermont 100, North Coast 24 hr (with time to spare this year) and lately I just signed up for Green Jewel again. There are a lot of other possibilities too, especially the OUS series races. Its looking up for a good year.

2011 races:

March 5, Green Jewel 50k - 4:48 22nd place out of 100
April 16, Seaton Trail 54k - 6:47, 18th out of 31 finishers
May 28, Sulphur Springs 50 miles - 9:29, 18th out of 63
July 2, Creemore Vertical Challenge 50k - 5:24, 20th out of 89
July 30- 31, Burning River 100 Mile - 24:38:56, 49th out of 310
Oct 15, Vulture Bait 50 - 5:06, 30th out of 89
Oct 23, Borden Half Marathon - 1:35, 17th out of 239

Total distance ran in 2011 - 3685 km's
Highest weekly mileage - 171 km's
Highest monthly mileage - 420 km's

No Western States

2011-12-18T21:53:00.000-05:00

So I didn't get picked in the Western States 100 lottery, which is what I expected, so no great loss there. Maybe next year. But watching the podcast of the lottery live, sort of left me wondering, is it possible to get into the race at all. Out of 89 Canadians in the lottery only 4 got in, and only about 8 international runners. Pretty dismal prospects for non US runners. But maybe it will be better next year. I've read many different opinions about how the lottery should be changed or the application/qualification process should be different. One that I agree with is that to qualify you must have at least have completed one 100 miler. The present system of allowing 50 miler runners in just isn't helping to allow 100 milers a chance to get in. A race that is in such high demand should only be accessible to those that have completed a 100 miler. Well thats my thoughts about that.On the injury front, things are definitely improving. The bursitis in the heel is, while still there, much better. It has become manageable and not a bother when I run. I feel better when I'm running and I've noticed that I'm running a little stronger. I think the strength work is having an effect. I've also started running on Monday nights now too, weather depending. So the mileage will start to get longer now. After New Years I'll start running on Saturdays too and running lots of hills. I may be ready for Green Jewel in March yet, but will I realize I'm ready before it sells out.Now that I now Western States is a no go, what next? I might look at the Niagara 100k, but running on pavement for that kind of distance and on 3 out and backs may be a little mind numbing. We'll see! I also have to make arrangements for the annual run to Orillia and back.Hopefully in a couple of weeks I'll have a better idea as to what I'll be trying to do next year.

Where Have I Been?

2011-11-21T11:50:00.001-05:00

Well again I have been very negligent in updating my blog, so I will try to recap what has been going on since my last entry in October. It should be quite quick as I haven’t been doing a lot.
Races: I’ve done none since the Borden Half, but I have registered for a couple. I believe I had already blogged about signing up for the North Coast 24 hour race in September of next year in Cleveland. Since then I have registered for the Vermont 100 mile endurance race at the end of July. Crewed there last year for Catherine and found it to be a great event that made me think about wanting to run it, so now it’s done. On November 12th I registered for the Western States 100 lottery. I figured I might as well try now as I probably won’t get in at the first attempt, and the more you try the better your chances. The lottery application process ends on November 26th and the lottery itself takes place on December 10th. The race is June 23 – 24th. I would love to get in and make a holiday out of it. Other than that I haven’t signed up for anything else as I will wait to see what will happen with WS100 first.

On the injury front I had a problem with the lower back which would radiate down the left (yes left for a change) leg. This wouldn’t bother my running at all or wasn’t caused by my running. It was literally a pain when sitting, driving. Luckily with some ART from Dr. Frank and some exercises it is much better. Another chronic problem was the bursitis on my right heel which has steadily got worse, so finally I went to Sean (my Physio) and set me on my way with some exercises, Dr. Frank also helped out, albeit somewhat painfully. That problem, although still a problem, is also getting better. With the advent of all these issues and a few old ones I decided maybe it was time for some down time. So I have backed off my running to just 3 times a week and the long run on Sunday has been about 20k + only. So I have only been running about 40 to 45k a week. I have also been doing a regular bowflex routine 3 times a week too, trying to build some strength where I need it.

The running has been good Wednesdays and Fridays have usually been quicker than I have been running lately. If I can keep it up my speed may improve and I’ll be ready to get into increased distance and tempo work come the new year. The plan is to start building my base up to long distances again, I wouldn’t mind doing the Green Jewel 50k again, but we will see if I can be ready for March. That might be asking a lot. Work on speed and strength, which are the two things I think I have been missing.

Races I am interested in for next year: Sulphur Springs 50 mile again, as are most of the Ontario ultra series, not sure about Seaton after last years wash out though. But how much worse could it get? Hahaha.
I guess returning to Burning River is out of the question now as Vermont is the week before. Dirty girls is definitely an idea this year finally. Otherwise I am going to have to keep my options open. As usual, vacation time is always a limiting factor. We shall see.

Borden Half Marathon

2011-10-26T16:16:00.000-04:00

It was a last minute decision which I was thinking I might regret, but on Saturday I decided to sign up for the Borden Half Marathon. It had been a few years since I had run a half marathon at Borden and this was now a completely different event and only in its second year. The previous incarnation was a partial trail run too, this one would be entirely on road, although a good portion was on a gravel road.

On Sunday morning Terry from Barrie stopped by to pick me up and we drove the short drive to Borden and got there fairly early, the race wasn’t scheduled to start till ten. We mingled with a few of the other early arrivers and as the time went by more and more RoadRunners showed up. A very good local turn out for sure.

My goal was to just put in the race and get a feeling for how my speed is. I thought that a 1:45 half would be a good time today and rumour had it that his wasn’t a very easy course.

At a few minutes to ten we were all lining up at the start getting ready go. It was gorgeous morning, sunny with a slight breeze and temperatures, although chilly to start were warming up, it was probably about 5C when we got there.

The race started and off we went quickly Dr. John, Aiden and Shawn Patton pulled in front of me and I let them pull away. This was my run and I would run it the way I wanted to, not by others paces. After about 2 km we came to the first hill and I found myself gaining on the others, I felt my pace was not excessive, but strong and I think the rest were struggling on the hill a bit. At 3 k I had to go to the bathroom and there after the aid station were porta potty’s so I ducked in to use one, Shawn was also doing the same, but he had other issues. I was quickly in and out and joined up with Rickymac as I came out. We ran together for a short bit, but I pulled a head of him. I passed Terry too, before Shawn caught me again. Another bigger hill ensued which I was able to take advantage of and pass quite a few runners again and gain on John and Aiden as well as Shawn. At about 6 k I had passed them all. I felt the pace was quick and maybe a little too fast, but I was feeling good at this point. Approaching about 7k the front runners were coming back at us from a turn around, so here was a chance to see how the rest of our group were doing compared to me. I didn’t see Shawn at this point but he may have been right behind me, at least I assumed he was. John and Aiden had slipped back quite a bit and I was surprised to see Rick ahead of Terry by a long shot as he seemed to be fading. Also saw Jim Tuttle before heading into the gravel roads through the woods. This was a nice stretch of quiet area and the crowd had thinned out a lot. There were a couple of runners in front who I was gaining on and were probably keeping my pace up faster than I normally would be. I was running well at this point and passed a couple more runners. At about the half way mark, there was not any one in front of me that I could see and without a rabbit in front to chase it was hard to keep the pace up. Also at about 12k I felt the tightness start up in my right side as usual. Also at this point another runner passed me, someone who I had passed earlier. That gave me someone to tail for a while. From a bout 12k to 16k we were still on the gravel road but it was all out in the open, the temperature had gone up and I had even removed my gloves. I was still following the runner in front of me, but he was pulling away slightly. A couple more runners had appeared ahead to as we gained on them. The stretch in the open seemed to go on for a long time, I didn’t like the gravel road as I was always looking for smooth section, but was slipping on it too. At about 16k we cam out on to the road again, hit an aid station and then a big climb which I decided to walk in its entirety. Two runners passed me on the climb, but I would catch them later. There was only one more climb after this a shorter one with about 2k left. I ran that with out a problem and finished strong, surprising my self with a 1:35:35 finish. I was surprised for a couple of reasons, 1) I forgot my watch and raced with out one for the first time. 2) I didn’t expect anything under 1:40 3) during the race I was not thinking that I would keep the pace up through out the race. 4) I didn’t expect to beat all the other Barrie RoadRunners.

Over all a good race personally, my fastest half in 3 years. A good event, nice course, good weather, good organization. My only complaint would be that they didn’t have any solid food at the end other than fruit. Bagels would have been nice. Having to buy Pizza wasn’t something that I know few people were happy about. I did, knowing some of the money was going to a good cause.
So although I thought I would regret doing the race, I didn't. I had a good race, a good time and maybe I'll do another half soon.

Vulture Bait

2011-10-19T17:29:00.000-04:00

Yes, it’s been a while since my last posting, but there hasn’t been a lot to blog about. Generally the running has just been… well running. I had no real goals so I was just putting in the miles for the sake of general fitness, at the same time knowing that I would have to get the mileage up again at some point so I’d try and put in some decent mileage each week. I started running some early morning runs before work too, short 7k fartlek runs that would hopefully improve my speed. I was seeing some progress with these. With all the running though I still wasn’t feeling 100%, the nagging injuries haven’t gone away and I was struggling. So it was with trepidation that I signed up to run the Vulture Bait 50 k in London. What was I thinking? In hind site I think I wasn’t in the best shape I could be in, by far and I really didn’t train for the distance and maybe just took this race for granted. I think I had forgot that running 50k is not a piece of cake.
Regardless on Saturday (October 15th) morning we got up really early (5:00am), Joan had signed up to do the 25k too, her third one in a couple of months. We drove over to the car pool and picked up Chris Battaglia and off we went for the 2 and a half hour drive to Fanshaw Conservation area.
After a few pee breaks and stops at Tims etc., we arrived in a blustery, cool and slightly wet Fanshaw. Got our race kits and by the time we were dressed for the race it was time to start. We started down the hill from the chalet by the lake and while we were waiting for the start a pair bald eagles circled near by over the lake. It made my day and probably a few other’s day too. Awesome sight.
At 9 am the 300 25 and 50k runners were off. The course starts on grass for the first kilometer or so and then into some single track, a lot of runners trying to get sorted out into single track backed things up a bit, but we kept moving. The first aid station was just below the dam and I just passed through as I didn’t need anything. I was running with two hand helds for the first time in a race, one with perpetuem (another first) and the other just water. The perpetuem is only supposed to be sipped on every 15 to 20 minutes, so I was hoping that the one bottle would last the entire race. The plan was to sip on the perpetuem every 20 minutes, a gel at the top of each hour and an S-Cap at the bottom of each hour.
As the race progressed I was surprised by the amount of single track which made me very happy as I feel like I can run that for ever. There were a couple of roads here and there but a lot more trails. I tried to keep my pace to an easy run, but as usual I was probably faster than I need to. I was feeling very good and the course was very good. The rain started to become more of a constant rain and the trails were getting rather muddy, the high winds though were not really too much of a bother, as we were in the woods most of the time.
A couple of road sections in the second half were a bit of a pain, especially crossing the large bridge at about 19k. The wind was right in your face at this point. After the bridge it was back into the woods and a creek crossing, up over the ankles only so not too bad.
After I hit 20k though I felt the wheels coming off and I started to struggle. The last 5k back to the chalet, although it was nice rolling single track I was finding tough going. I started to question whether I had what it takes to get through the second loop. I was very tempted to call it a day when I came to the end of the loop. My time was a very respectable 2:15 for the first 25k and somehow I talked myself into continuing. I walked for a long stretch before starting to run again, from here on it was more of the same, run, walk, run. After a couple of k I seemed to get a second wind and was able to push myself for a bit before crossing the small walking bridge at the bottom of the course. The next stretch was more run, walk, run and I thought I was all by myself, but when I hit the road a the 17k (42k) mark about 3 runners passed me. I was walking all the paved roads at this point and when I crossed the large bridge I walked across it, despite the gale force winds blowing into my face and heavier rain. It was nice to get back in the shelter of the trails again, which were getting rather muddy at this point. That last 5k dragged on for ever. With about 1k to go I was coming down a slight hill when my right slipped inwards and I went down in a heap, no harm done and nobody saw me and the only evidence was the mud down my right side. I finally pulled my self across the finish line in 5:06:10, not quite the sub 5 hours I was hoping for and after the first loops thoughts of about a 4:30 finish, all thrown out the window.
In retrospect my lack of distance in training for my long runs was definitely a factor in my result and after thinking about the injuries I believe some strength training is required to get me back to where I should be.
Joan had a good run and pb’d by one minute in 2:42, despite some GI issues and Chris finished in 6:06. Chris also proceeded to do the Scotia waterfront marathon the next day finishing that in 4:40. He is the ultimate nut case in our group of runners.

Lead Up to Simcoe Shores Relay

2011-08-17T14:02:00.000-04:00

After 2 weeks of self imposed recovery from Burning River I was just itching to get back at it. To be honest I was feeling great after only a couple of days and think I could have run the following Wednesday. The only lingering affect from the race being my feet still feeling hot and somewhat swollen, so a week off wouldn’t hurt and because I was off to England the following week it rolled into 2 weeks. In hind site, I wish I had taken my running gear to England with me, as everywhere I went there were people running, reminding me about what I was missing. But I am sure that the 2 weeks off was the best thing I could have done.
Since returning from England I have been in overdrive running everyday and looking at increasing the training to include 2 runs a day at times (today being the first). I’m not normally a morning runner, but recently I have been awake long before the alarm so I figured I might as well start getting up and run even if it is only a shorter distance. So Monday morning I got up and ran a semi fartlek run for 7.2k and figured that would be a good morning run and I did the same again today. Today’s run would be the last early run for the week though as this weekend is the Simcoe Shores Relay, 240 km with a team of (in our case) 7 runners. The race starts Saturday morning. Our team is in the last (3rd) wave and don’t start until 10:30 am. We expect to be done on Sunday morning at about noon. It is a tour of Simcoe County form Barrie to Orillia, to Coldwater, Midland, Penetang, Wasaga Beach, Collingwood and finishes in the town of the Blue Mountains.
We did this last year and had a ball, the only draw back being that each runner will only get in about 40k of running over the 24 hours or so. Less if we have 7 runners, which may be the case. Theo is hurt and is going to try running but it doesn’t look good and Roger is out. Aidan is replacing Roger. So we may be down to 6 runners, which as far as I am concerned is ideal.

Burning River 100 Mile Endurance Run

2011-08-04T16:57:00.005-04:00

Saturday July 30th at 3:30 am and I was woken up by my Blackberry alarm. I was actually awake anyway in anticipation of doing my first 100 mile race at the Burning River 100 mile Endurance Run in North East Ohio. I had driven down from Ontario the day before with my crew of nine, yes that’s right nine. There could have been more, but there was only room for a certain few. We had come down and gone to the race registration on Friday, got my swag and then participated in the pasta dinner, which was delicious. Back to our hotel we went. We were staying at the starting end of the course in Willoughby Hills as my crew would follow me down through the course to Cuyahoga Falls and the finish. Back at the hotel all but myself and Karen (Oliver’s girl friend) went for a run. I sat back and relaxed and tried to keep my self from worrying about the race, which I was very successful with as I was feeling very confident and worry free about the race. The remaining members of my crew who hadn’t made it earlier arrived later in the evening and we had a last minute meeting to go over all the race details. About 10 pm I went to bed and surprisingly slept well.
Come morning we all met downstairs , prior to driving out the 5 minutes to the start area at Squires Castle. It was ominously humid at 4 am, not what I was expecting at all. I knew it was going to get hot later in the day, but jeez it was still very dark and very thick.
I checked in a the start area and awaited the start after the announcements and a stirring taped message from Nick Billock, a previous runner who was stationed in Afghanistan.
5 am and off we went down the field into the unknown! A right turn onto Chagrin River Road and it would be pavement for the first 9.6 miles.

I settled into a nice easy pace and like most I would walk the steeper hills, but I was very surprised when we came to the first aid station in only 45 minutes. I had anticipated taking at least an hour, but it felt good. A quick stop at Gates Mills aid station and off I went again. By now the field was spreading out and I’d be running by myself for quite a bit. Half way through this stage the sun, or daylight actually, started to show and by the time I got to Polo Field aid station at 9.6 miles it was complete daylight and the sun was still obscured by clouds (a good thing). On arriving at Polo Field I realized that I was a lot earlier than I had anticipated and also for my crew. I told them 7 am at the earliest and it 6:30, so I missed them which was no problem at this point as I still had lots of fluids in my camel back and the aid station had everything I needed otherwise. Here I ran into John Hnat who we had run with in one of the training runs. Now we were off into some trails to Harpers Ridge. This part was quite uneventful and I was feeling good and trying to keep my pace easy. Another 5.8 miles and we arrived at Harpers Ridge which has no crew access and so it was a quick drink a PB&J sandwich and off I went. The next section to Shadow Lake was mostly downhill and only 3.2 miles long. Near the end I caught up to Bob King who we had also run in the last training run, he was looking good and pumped too. We would pass each other numerous times over the next 30 miles. I came into Shadow Lake aid station and my crew was there waiting for me.

At this point I ditched the road shoes which were already soaked in sweat. A sock change, refill of the camel back, I grazed over the aid station and off I went. I don’t remember a lot about the next sections as I had 3 aid stations to the next Crew access point, but I do remember coming out onto a road where a couple of cars were pulled over and a runner sitting on the ground. I approached and realized that the runner was bleeding down his left arm and had been hit be a car, whose windshield was broken. Folks were attending to him so I kept out of the way and kept on going. The sun was out now and heat was getting to me a bit crossing Canal Rd about 30 miles in we hopped on the tow path which turned out to be one of my low points. It was out in the open, sunny and hot and I had a hard time mustering up anything even close to a run. A lot of runners passed me on this section and I was glad to see the tall bridge across the valley as I knew Station Road aid station was just a round the corner. Although really wasn’t trying to keep track of how I was doing and the goal of a sub 24 hour race, I felt at this point after a long hard slog up the tow path I was in need of something to get me going or I was going to let this slip.

A good aid station stop and a change of shirt, shoes, socks loaded up on watermelon again, oranges grapes and some cookies. 33.3 miles done.
Leaving Station Road I caught up to Bob King again we ran together for a bit, there was a lot of climbing in this section , but I did notice that when everyone was walking up hill or on the flats I was walking a lot faster than everyone else. Turns out my walking pace would help me a lot in the long term. This was the last section I would see Bob on until the end. I came into Ottawa Point aid station at 39.6 miles feeling really good again.

A change of shoes again, back in to trail shoes and new socks a feed of noodle soap and I was good to go. The heat was almost unbearable, but with the trails and the shade it made a big difference. My thanks should also go out RickyMac and Marie who would be there to soak my cloths with ice water to put on my neck in the aid stations. Having a cloth with me throughout the race was also a saving grace. I would come to a stream and dip my cloth in it to soak myself, it felt soooo good.
Leaving Ottawa Point we went down into a valley on single track (which usually means a climb is coming, what goes down, must come up) a the bottom of this ravine I was running in a group on some single track through tall grass, when the guy in front noticed that we were running on paved single track in the middle of dense bush, how insane is that.. Climbing was the name of the game for a while now as we arrived at Snowville aid station which I don’t remember at all, again no crew access here. Snowville to Boston Store #1 was some tough running including a lot of climbing, the last climb was up a steep set of stairs, but soon after I found myself flying downhill for a long gradual drop to the last road section to Boston Store, a volunteer greeted me here, as happened at most aid stations and asked me what I needed, if I had a drop bag or a crew here etc. Very helpful. 49.1 miles done, almost halfway.
The 4.1 mile loop from Boston Store to Boston Store was another low point for me, it starts on a dreaded tow path again for about a mile in th eheat of the sun, once off that you into unprotected trails which again sapped what I had left followed by a long climb up a road on whihc the ashpalt was melting. Eventually down the other side we were onto trails protected from the sun and after passing a few runners before this my competitive edge told me to run to keep them behind me, not necessary in this type of race.
I pulled back into Boston Store completely drained, with Roger just itching to pace me. So a quick turn around and hopefully having my first pacer would left my spirits. Again we left on tow path so we walked, which I am sure was much to Roger's chagrin. But Roger is good and he know s this was about me, although he did push me more than anyone, which is what I expected too. Off the tow path into a field up hill, so the walking continued. When we finally hit the trail it was also up hill and Grizzly Adams passed us. At the top of the hill we finally got to run and we ran a lot, passed grizzly again along with a few others. After crossing the hwy we hit somemore single track that was very rooty and difficult to run on, but we took advantage of it and passed a few others. Before long we were heading down a very steep trail, with other runners coming up, What the... Apparently we had to go out to Pine Lane and then back this way. So down we went at the bottom of the hill we crossed a small creek (I was thinking, god I'd love to just lay in there). As usual what go down... so up we climbed where we cam out was Pine Lane, we took a breather some more soup, watermelon etc. and then Stefan Miklos came in (a runner I know from Toronto). we all headed out more or less together, I expected Stefan to leave me behind at this point, but we stayed in front until we hit the stream and I told roger "I'm going to lay in it, take my picture".

Stefan thought we were insane and asked if I did it on purpose. We climbed up the other side where Stefan ran into another Toronto runner Steve Beach, they talked as we passed. Stefan had warned us of the next section that was a few miles of up hill road section, when we got to it we walked it, the whole thing. The tarmac was getting hard on the legs so walking was easier at this point. I expected Stefan to pass, but we never saw him again until the end of the race. Along the road we had runners in front and behind and although they would all run here and there, we would still gain ground on them. Finally off the road we turned on to another path in a park this one paved and up hill all the way. Roger talked me into a run here and there and we passed many runners a short single track run and we were at Happy Days aid station and the end of Rogers pacing.

64 miles done and Brendan was next up as my pacer. I was worried how Brendna would manage this as he is a very fast road runner, he would have to endure much walking. And thats how this part started, lots of walking on rocky, rooty trails. It wasn't until we crossed a road that we were on more manageable trails that were runnable, so we did. Brendan like Roger pushed me as much as I would allow and we gained a lot of ground, this section was long and hard, but we finally pulled into Pine Hollow aid station up the Sound of Music Hill just before dark. The open fields were nice and cool, but it was still very humid in the woods. My crew was trying to convince me that I should go with a long sleeve shirt, but I said no. Another drying of the feet and some anti monkey butt powder on and off we went into the darkness of the woods for what is supposed to be a quick 3.3 miles (5k).

It seemed like 10k, up and down all the time. Running the trails in the darkness was a new experience, the headlamps would light up what was right in front and the markers down the trail, but that was it. 74 miles done! Although tired I was very alert and never in doubt of what I was going to accomplish.
Bill toookk over the next leg which I was familiar with as we had run it a few weeks ago as part of a training run. On our way antoher runner caught up to us and asked if he could tag a long, he was struggling and had no crew or pacers as he a USATF runner. We said sure, we would lose him occasionally, but he would catch up. there was a lot of up and downs on this leg until we got out of the woods. After passing another group we crossed Akron Peninsula Road and found a stretch of flat ground that we were able to run off and on, around the corn field with head lights behind us we continued on. we passed another runner crossing Riverview Road who wasn't doing so well. From here around another corn field to Covered Bridge aid Station. 80 miles done. Covered bridge aid station is bustling with activity and all the while there are people sleeping everywhere, including most of my crew.

But Oliver is ready to go on his dificult leg, the Perkins trail loop. But we sang happy birthday to him first as it was just after Midnight and it was now his birthday.
The Perkins Trail from Covered Bridge 1 to Covered bridge 2 is supposed to be the worst part of the course. A lot of up and down hill on technical trail and it can be very muddy. We had done this part on the training run a few weeks ago and then everyone had commented on how dry it was, even so the issue would be the timing of this segment, in the dark when the mind is starting to wander. As it turned out even with the recent rains and storms the trail wasn’t as bad as I expected and I found that this section, although we did walk a lot of it, went by very well. We passed a lot of runners again on this trail. We rolled into Covered Bridge aid station again feeling very good and still smiling. 85 miles done.
Ricky Mac was my next pacer and I warned him that there would be a lot more walking now, with pavement coming up for a few miles I found it hard to run on this surface. Once we got over the first couple of hills we did run for a bit, but not for long. Eventually we were back into the trails, single track, where we bumped into a runner going the opposite direction. We must have looked rather bemused as he explained he wasn’t running the course, but actually running it backwards or at least to Covered Bridge, strange. Right after this the batteries on my headlamp died, and I had neglected to bring extras, they were in the car. Oops. So Rick gave me his and he followed closely, hopefully his last the rest of the way! I remembered this section of trail and told Rick to count the downed trees across the trail, there should be 5, before we hit the top of the hill. It turns out there are now 6 down, since the storms had brought another across the trail. The legs of the race were thankfully getting shorter and this one was to O’Neill Woods was only 3.3 miles, but there wood be no crew access here and we were quickly in and out of this station and on our way. After some more trails, which seemed to go on fore ever, we came onto W Bath Rd. here we passed another runner having some stomach issues (#47, we were counting my position each time we passed a runner based on what Roger had told me at Covered Bridge, not that it really mattered!!!). On to Yellow Creek Rd and then onto the dreaded tow path again. In the heat of the day this part was terrible in the training run, now it was my feet that were suffering, feeling every rock, pebble, crack. Everything felt uncomfortable. The only saving grace was that my walking pace was still very quick, every now and again we would break into a run. We did run past the length of the stinky compost plant and not long after passed a runner laying on a bench (turns out it was John Hnat, although I didn’t recognize him in the dark. We asked if he was ok and I guess we startled him as it seemed he was sleeping, he just grunted back so we continued on, we got to Riverview Rd and ran the last bit into the aid station, passing some of the volunteers running back out the other way. They asked us if we’d seen a runner down, but not thinking they meant John we said no. One of those volunteers was Brian Pulling who I had been looking forward to meeting at the aid station as we had been in contact prior to the race, so I missed him. 93 miles done.
All over but the crying now more or less. My feet were suffering, I felt blisters between the balls of my feet and they felt like they were on fire. I picked up Catherine as my next pacer and told her not to expect any and I meant ANY running. Which is exactly what we did, we walked the entire 3 miles as I knew this was entirely tow path again. This was probably the slowest part of the course for me, which is no reflection n Cath as she tried to keep going at a decent pace, but I was in a dark place at this point. We pulled into the last aid station Memorial Parkway at about 4:10 am and I barely stopped. I knew walking from here would get me to the finish at about 5:45. 96 miles done.
Joan would be my final pacer and hopefully she’d get me running to the finish line at least. The last section is 4.8 miles and it starts by crossing the river and then up hill up a couple of streets before heading into the Cascade Valley Metro Park and more trails. Luckily the trails here were mostly flat, but we still walked. Then the stairs and lots of them, we climbed up and up and I assumed we’d quickly come to the road at the top of the stairs., but about 3/4 ‘s of the way up we hit a gravel road and turned left on it. This road was painful on the feet and it went on and on, I was beginning to question whether we were on the right course or not, when we finally came out onto Front St. After climbing another hill up Front we had 1.5 miles to go along pavement which actually felt good, but seemed again to take a long time. Finally we turned a corner to see the clock tower and once we got to the second last set of light s we broke into a run and ran it in pretty quickly to finish in 24:38:56. 100.8 miles done!!

I was a little overwhelmed emotionally at the finish, so happy to have finished what I had started 18 months ago.
Later that morning after going back to shower and clean up, we came back for breakfast and watch more runners coming in. It was great to see Bob and Stefan finish and a few others that I ran with here and there.

On reflection, a week later, I feel I could have done much better with some fine tuning, shoe selection and socks for one were not good choices. But my crew was awesome and I couldn’t have done it without them. I applaud the volunteers the other runners, all the new friends I met out there and in the training runs. Those that I have met on line, but not personally that I know were out there, I wish I had got the chance to meet. And of course Joe and his crew who put together the greatest race I have ever been involved with and made the course tough, but had enough folks out there to get me through. The aid station folks were awesome, they’d meet you coming in to find out what you needed and made sure you knew where you were going when you left, much needed in the dark. Thanks to everyone involved and those at home rooting for me.

A week to go!!

2011-07-22T14:49:00.001-04:00

A week from now and I will be in Cuyahoga Falls signing in for the Burning River 100 Mile Endurance Run. I think the realization is just starting to set now, as I am starting to get a bit excited, or maybe it is nervousness. Either way there is not much I can do training wise now to make things better. The training has gone well, good, days and bad, but generally good. Each lousy training run is usually followed by a good one to boost my spirits. Last weekend I experienced the Vermont 100 first hand as I was crewing for my friend Catherine. We were supposed to Pace too, but we never got that far as she was pulled from the course at about 55 miles, as she wasn’t making the cut offs. It was still a very positive experience and I definitely picked up a few pointers here and there.
Walking during the heat of the day being one. Fortunately the BR100 course has a lot of shade and is mostly in the bush.
This is my last week of training long, albeit not as long as other weeks. Next week I will probably only run on Wednesday as I rest up. A long run on Saturday and then a shorter run on Sunday.
Next week I have to start getting my gear together, the sooner the better. We will leave on Friday morning, Roger driving my car.
I know I have a good crew ready and the pacers will help me through the tough spots. It will be an experience for them too.
How am I going to approach the race? Well go out slow and steady and see how the weather affects me. Walk when I need to, but try and run as much as my boy will allow. I have no idea what to expect later in the race. 50 Miles is as far as I have run, so…
The long term forecast at the moment is calling for possible Thunderstorms or showers, but warm and humid. What ever happens and how ever bad I feel, I have to keep the thoughts positive and think about the things that I know will keep my mind off the pain.
Shoes is another issue, which ones am I going to wear? I will start with road shoes and switch to trail shoes at some point, its just a matter of when to switch over. I have read numerous ideas about that and different spots where to change over. There are some generally muddy spots, but if they don’t get any rain it will be dry throughout so maybe road shoes through out is a possibility. I’m sure I will have trail shoes on for the most part though.

Creemore Vertical Challenge 50k Race Report

2011-07-04T13:10:00.000-04:00

All week I'd been checking the weather to see what it was going to be like on Saturday. I was of two minds on this one. One I wanted it to be hot and humid so that I could get a feeling for running in what quite likely will be the conditions in Burning River, but at the same time I was a littel worried about how I would fair in the heat. The forecast was up until Friday night calling for hot, humid weather with a humidex in the high 30's C. On friday they started saying the humidity would not hit until lunch time.
I got up at 6 to meet Chris B at 7. Cath and Bill were supposed to come to do the 25k, but didn't register in time and it sold out. The morning was cool and overcast so not too bad. I decided on Vector for Breakfast and had everything laid out from the night before. It was Canada Day on Friday and we had been to the sister in laws for there annual Party, in Newmarket this time.
So I got ready, headed out picked up Chris at the car pool and off to Creemore. Its about a 30 minute drive directly west from Barrie and we got there with lots of time to spare, we picked our race kits (#75) and put the final touches to our gear. I had bought a second hand held to try two fisting it on the trails and see how that would work.
A little before 8 we were all lined up and the shot gun went off to start the race, it always makes a number of people jump. We started out to the end of the drive way and then a sharp right onto single track. It gets pretty congested here and I was well back in the pack and thought that was ok as I didn't want to get caught up in the race. This was to be a training run. Yeah right!
It was still nice and overcast and cool so it felt good and I felt good, we eventually come out on Airport Rd. before making a turn on to the first dirt road and effectively the first climb. Not a bad climb but just steady to the next road where turned right again and headed about 1k down the road to the first aid station and into the bush again.
A nice stretch of single track followed, but soon we were into some grassy trails which I found to be hard to run on. The uneven ground hidden by the grass was hard to run comfortably on. From a long steady climb we came out into an opening, more like a meadow. At this point the field had stretched out some what and I had a few runner son the other side of the meadow, not that I was looking at chasing them!!! Either way we turned left on to another road and the first official hill. All in all this hill was close to 1k long and a significant climb it was. Once it flattened out a bit we came across the second aid station and shortly after that a sharp left into the woods again, which was preceded by more long grass running (argghh), but it was all down hill for a bit. Yeah, what goes down must come up, at least in Creemore everything seems to come up. The trail curved around before coming back up to the road we were on earlier. Another short run on the road was followed by a rather gnarly trail downhill, which you really had to be careful on, loose rock made it difficult. Across a couple of “streams” and up hill number 2, a gully that was a challenge. At the top of this hill we cam out on another road to another aid station. This was looking familiar from the last time I had done this race and I knew a big downhill was around the corner. A downhill is good, but when it is on a rough dirt road with lots of loose rocks and gravel you have t have your wits about you. I managed to get through it no problem though and then we were back into the up and down of the country roads, it was still cloudy at this point and the heat wasn’t too bad, and as it was it was a nice shaded area. The few runners ahead seemed to be slowing some as I was gaining on them. At the 3rd hill (O2 as it is called) the sun came out and the temperature went up at least 10C. Up the long climb we went and I passed three runners (we were all walking this hill) before turning back on to another road back to the previous aid station. I was feeling very good at this point and confident in my pacing. Not too quick, but maybe quicker than necessary, probably my competitiveness showing through.
After the aid station we make a left on a road which just goes up, up and up. This was the “last” hill called the Top of The Hill. The road at the top is long, unsheltered and slightly up and tends to be a bit of a back breaker. It’s a bout 1 k to the next turn (20k mark) and into a corn field. Then it’s down into the “Valley” which the sign said is not a hill! Bull, its down hill very steep to start and then up hill at the other side. I’m not sure what they classify as hill in Creemore, but I would say this was a hill. Down and up I went before coming back to Hill 1, except now we are going down. This is a tough downhill and by the time I had got to the bottom, passing another runner, I felt the ball on my left foot feeling sore/hot, oh oh. I continued on and before hitting the home stretch went through some good single track with ropes for pulling/guiding up and down hills. I finished the first half in about 2:27, about where I wanted to be. The problem with my left foot had worried me but at this point I’d already forgotten about it. Off again on to the trails.
So far I had felt good, I had passed another runner through the start finish area and had another in front. The single track a the start is good and I feel I could run it forever. AS soon as we hit the road I though I needed a walk, an extended walk! I walked to the bridge where the runner I had passed just before passed me again. The first guy to do so since probably 5k in. Turning on to that first dirt road felt draining, I don’t know what it is but, it was hot, very little shade and looking up hill all the way must have a negative affect on the brain and I was starting to feel it. Hitting the trails again was good, but soon as I got out into the open it was draining. At the first aid station I tried putting ice in my hat, which lasted all of about 1 minute before brain freeze set in from the out side. So I had to dump them. The walk breaks were getting longer and I was beginning to have doubts, but every now and again the sun would disappear and all would be “good” again. The worst part for me was on the road at the Top of the Hill I walked almost all of it and had one runner (Stephan) pass me, the first to do so in a long while. I would pass one more runner my self in the Valley, but by the time I finished I felt like crap. My time was 5:24:59, so almost 3 hours for the second loop, 20th overall and 5th in my age category. A good day, but the feeling at the end left a sour taste. I have to remember that I was running a bit faster than I would at Burning River so I took heed in that, and it was a tough course. The acclimatizing to the conditions was good and using the two bottles for fluids while feeling unusual worked. Over all a successful day.

Fire Flies Everywhere

2011-06-25T12:39:00.000-04:00

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.

Night Run to Orillia...

2011-06-24T14:44:00.002-04:00

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.

Take A Breath

2011-06-20T13:06:00.003-04:00

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.

Running, OUCH!!!! and shopping.

2011-06-13T09:44:00.001-04:00

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.

Mosies Galore!!

2011-06-07T11:50:00.002-04:00

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.

From One Extreme to the Other

2011-06-02T07:14:00.000-04:00

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!!

Sulphur Springs Trail Run - 50 Mile

2011-05-29T11:46:00.001-04:00

Wow, I forgot what stiff sore really is until this morning. Its the day after the 50 mile race at the Sulphur Springs trail runs, and I'm having a hard time moving around. It just goes to show you what some rather big hills and a lot of mud will do to your body when running 50 miles.
Bill Lovett and Catherine Harding picked me up Friday evening for the drive down to Burlington and our hotel for the night, a rather uneventfull drive and evening watching what we could of the hockey game before settling in for the night, we couldn't stay up for the 3rd period. It just so happened Tracy and Lorna were in the same hotel just down the hall from us.
It was an early 4am start to the day on Saturday and I hadn't slept to well as usual. but we left for Ancaster and got there with about 25 minutes to spare. Bill was doing the 50k and din't start till 7:30 so he would spend his spare time setting up a tent for our gear etc.
We saw Deb Lancia was doing her first 100 miler and Brian doing his first 50k. Also ran into Chris McPeake and chatted briefly, another 100 mile runner. So at 6 am we started, the 100 and 50 milers all together and down the huge hill to start. The course had changed in a few spots this year, the main change being the start finish area, which was much better, but and this is a big but, the finish area was at the top of this huge hill which had to be half a k long and very steep. We would have to climb it 4 times!
So the first couple of k would take us onto the old route and things became familiar. It was very foggy and damp, some rain trying to come down, but a perfect day for running. I would try to take my time and run easy, as usual I found it hard to stop and take a walk break here and there and probably didn't other then the hill until about an hour in. Eventually I would find myself by myself, not very uncommon in runs I do for some reason. Generally the course consists of a 20k loop divided into two seperate loops, a very pretty setting int he Dundas Valley Conservaton area. A lot of old growth forest.
I felt good through out the first loop and knowing that I was faster than I needed to be (remember this is only supposed to be a training run), I knew I would take the next loops slower. After walking the big hill into the finish area for the turn around I was at 2:05, way faster than I expected. I didn't need anything from the tent so I just ran through. My Camelback was working really well and I had lots of gels and S caps to keep me going. If I had a complaint about anything it was my shoes, the Sportiva Raptors were a heavy shoe and with the wet and the mud they were getting heavier. That would come into play later.
The second loop was the where I started to unravel a bit. Now we had the 25k and 50k runners with us and it was getting busy on the trails. I saw Tracy a few times, but never came across Catherine or Bill. Bill was going to do his first 10k, then wait for Catherine and run the next 40k with her to pace her. The second loop was becoming increasingly slicker, muddier and just plane tougher. I was starting to struggle a bit and walking became more the norm. My mind wasn't in a good place and was surprised it was happening so early. Having said that, it was alos surprising when I cam into finish the second loop only 15 minutes slower than the first. I refueled my camel back and off I went. Not long afterwards I realized that I had forgot to pack more gels. I had 1 left to get me through this lap, fingers were crossed. the aid stations were quite well stocked so it wasn't a problem. At the bottom of the hill at the start of the third loop, there was a 50k runner a head of me and I recognized his odd stride, so I caught upto him and asked him if he was Shawn Shryer from SUdbury and he was, he seemed surprised that I knew him, but when I explained that I knew quite a few of the people he runs with from Sudbury and had run against him before, we started chatting for a while. This helped while a way a bit of time, befoer I told him I had to walk for a bit and wished him luck. This part of the third loop was a dark place too and I was having a hard time. The aid stations were good and that helped. The last one was the best lots of folks including the legendary Monica Scholz, althoguh this was the last aid station it was also the second last as you had to go out on another loop from here, whihc was basically up hll all the way out and downhill all the way back, with a final half k to the finish. Finishing the 3rd loop I decided to change shoes and my shirt, I cam in and Sharon Zelinski asked if was going to do the victory lap, of course I said, just have to change first. It was amazing what a change of shoes and socks could do and apparently a change of shirt. Sharon said the salomon shirt was much faster for me. I headed out again before realizing I had forgot my gels again, so back I went, retocked and off on to lap four.
I think the the shoes and the thought that this was the last lap really changed how I felt, I felt charged up and ran well for the last lap. Initially I was totally alone, unlike the previous laps there was not to many runners out there now, a few 50kers and the rest 100 and 50 milers. This where I really noticed that I was running better as I was passing many runners and even lapping some. I was still taking walk breaks, but found myself pushing the flat and downhills more. On the second half of the loop I cauhgt up to and passed a girl I would later find out whos name was MayLou Corino. For the rest of the race we would pass each other I would pass her when I was running and then she would pass me on my walks. We would chat about the course here and there, but I think we helped each other through that second half. Just before the second last aid station I thought I spotted Cath and Bill, Sure enough it was so we chatted for a bit before I headed off again. Into the last hilly loop with MaryLou and she left me behind as I walked with some food in hand from the aid station. Now she was a head of me it pushed me to cathc her again, which I wasn't sure was possible at this point. We were still passing more runners and this agian made me feel good too. On the last hill in this loop, which was long and muddy My walking must have been faster than Marylou's as I caught her on the top of the hill, we walked most of the trail around the farm fields before headin gto the forest again and down into the ravine, mostly downhill to the final aid station. I left MaryLou behind at this point and I had run out of fluid in my camelback too, but it wasn't far to that last aid station. I fille dup with a couple of cups of gatorade and water and off I ran. to the final push up the hill, which I wakled again. I looked around a little ways up the hill and saw Mary Lou about 50 m's behind, and called on her to pass me on the hill, she laughed. I finised in 9:29, which was faster on the much easier run to Wasaga and back a few weeks ago, so I was very happy with that. Mary Lou was not far behind in 9:30. Thanks for the push!
That Guinness tasted good after I was done. I watched the rest of the runners coming (and going for the 100 milers) and talked to Brian and he had a great 5:18 time for his 50k, he said Deb was doing well

. I told him I had seen her a few times and she seemed very up beat.
Chris Battaglia had run 6:05 and was running the 6 hour race at Mansfield on Sunday too, crazy!
Catherine finished her 3rd loop and called it a day, her feet were a mess and she hadn't trained much do to illness lately.

Waiting around they started the awards for the 50 mile race and they announced the winner in the 50+ group as David Bohn, I had race against David in my first 50k at Haliburton. Kevin had come first, me second and David 3rd. We had chatted with him and his wife for a few hours afterwards. So went up and talked tp them both again and they remembered me. David asked why I hadn't won the race, I laughed and explained the injury issues and the prupose of this race as a training run only. One othe people with him was JD Begin who is also doing Burning River, so we talked for a bit too.

I saw Deb finish her 4th loop loking very strong. Gailanne Joachim finished the 50 mile race in a PB 11:06, great job. Another Burning River runner this year.
Over all a good day and happy with the result. Just have to deal with this case of DOMS now.

Burning River Training Run Part 1.

2011-05-24T10:59:00.001-04:00

12 hours of driving for a training run, some would think I am crazy. Of course many already do. Either way I had decided that it was necessary to go down to Ohio and take part in at least one of the organized training runs for Burning River. This one was the first and would encompass the first 19 miles of the course. The only other one I can make is the last one, which funny enough, takes in the last part of the course. Still debating on whether or not I’ll get to that one yet.
Roger had backed out of making it for the run, as work had not gone well in Marysville and it looked like he was going to be stuck there until at least late Saturday. But a funny thing happened on the way to …
Joan and myself had left Barrie at about 2 pm, shortly after she got off work and it turned out to be a fairly good drive. The border crossing went very well. I decided to try the Rainbow bridge for a change and low and behold there was no one in front of me. Scooted through quickly and on our way down I190 to I 90 and off to Cleveland. Just passed Erie Joan’s phone rang, the number was a Tennessee number so we ignored it. With in seconds my phone rang and it was the same number, so I answered it. It was Roger and he said he would make it after all and would meet us at the hotel at about 10 pm.
We arrived shortly after 8 and after unpacking walked over to the Olive Garden for dinner, that was good! At exactly 10 the phone rang and sure enough punctual Roger was very much so. We went down stairs to meet him and discussed the following days plans. We would meet at 5:30 and head to the arranged meeting spot.
I didn’t sleep well, the room was too warm although the bed was very comfy. Got up and ate my oatmeal and got all my gear together, met Roger downstairs and off we went in Rogers company car. We managed to find the Shadow Lake picnic area quite easily, but were the first ones there so naturally started questioning whether or not we were in the right spot. Gradually others started showing and socializing for a bit we all jumped into a couple of vehicles and headed to the start area at Squires Castle.
There were about 30 runners ready to run the course on a nice morning. We were lucky as apparently it had rained for the past 2 weeks straight. A couple of the runners were doing 40 miles as one was celebrating his 40th birthday. After a few instructions on the protocol for the run, we left at a very nice and slow pace. The plan was to run a 6 minute k at the fastest and settled in at about a 6:10 or slower pace. The first part of the course (9.6 miles) is all road and it was very pretty area and beautiful houses and horse ranches all along the route. The first aid station is in Gates Mills, a very small pretty town where we regrouped as some runners ran off faster and others were slower. After a quick break we back on the run for the next 4.8 miles to Polo fields, again this was similar to the first 4.8 miles on rolling hills. Before we knew it we were at the halfway mark, where again we regrouped and refueled. From here we hit the trails, which started off as a bridle trail which was a little rougher than I thought it would be and Jim Chaney, the organizer, said there was a river crossing coming up soon. We spent a lot of the time chatting to others as we ran talking about our approach to Ultras and what our “secrets” were. Before the first water crossing (yes first), Roger had to take a bathroom break and this gave me a good opportunity to take a long walk break. The sun was getting warm and we had hit the trails at a good time, it was much cooler in the bush.
Not long after Roger rejoined me we hit the first river crossing. As it turned out it was more of a stream, but we still go tour feet wet. Through out this third section of the undulating trail we would cross the same stream, six times in all I think. Before long we had arrived at Harpers Ridge aid station where one gentlemen had left his vehicle loaded with goodies and water for everyone. Soon we were off again and on to the shortest section of the days run to Shadow Lake. This would also be the muddiest. It was more downhill than the last section but everyone was surprised by all the mud. There were also a lot of deer tracks on the trail. We actually scared one up in front of us.
We finished the run in about 3 hours and 15 minutes, about an hour faster than I plan on runner the actual race, so that made me feel good knowing that I was “taking it easy”.
Over all a good run and well worth the drive. Even Roger enjoyed running it even though he is foreign to trail running. He is looking forward to the next one. I believe he is almost as excited about the race as I am.

A Little Spot of Trouble

2011-05-20T06:28:00.000-04:00

Ohoh,I shouldn't have done that. Yeah well its too late now. Las tnight I decided to throw in an extra run, since the run on Wednesday was so crappy. So I got home and noone was home so yes, lets get out for a decent trail run. The only error of judgement was deciding to use my Vibrams. I hadn't used them in quite a few weeks and thought, "yeah it won't be a problem running about 13k with them, I ran at least that much last time"! Wrong!
I ran the trails and it felt really good, it was quite warm, humid in fact. But once I had crossed over Ardagh and onto the trails past the pipeline right of way I felt little twinges in the right calf, which seems to be my achilles heel at times. I ran on as it was just a bit of irritation. Came across Chad on the trails and we stopped and talked shortly, before I headed off again. I had tld him of the irritation and said to him I would turn around at the next corner, I didn't, Not that it would have mattered the strain would have come at some point regardless. I turned around thats when it hit, a sharp pain in the calf that stopped me in my tracks. I couldnt move, I tried to walk on it and it was no go. So I massaged it for a bit and that helped I walked again and the walking seemed to help the mr I wlked th ebetter it felt, but not enough to try running.
I got home an iced, but some Dr. Hoys magic potion on it and had some dinner. I had too much to do to sit around, so I mowed the lawn, go the Garbage ready and everything packed for the weekend. Finally sat down to relax after my shower and more icing, and sitting.
Hopefully everything will be ok for Saturday mornings trainng run. Roger has already backed out as he is stuck working longer than he thought he would. Lets hope it all works out.

A New Hydration Vest and Three days rest!!

2011-05-19T15:21:00.000-04:00

Yes I picked up a new hydration vest today, I had seen the new Salomon vest advertised and it seemed to perfect, but I wanted to try it on and as Running Free had it and I was going to be in that area on Wednesday I thought I would pay them a visit. I tried it on and bought it. It was a little expensive as far as vest go, but it is $30 cheaper than in the US. I talked to the guy at the cash and he said he trail tested it last year at UTMB and loved it. Good enough for me. See pic:

I figured that three days off after running 50 miles was probably a good thing if not a good reward for doing it, but by Tuesday I was already itching to run. Wednesday was the day when I would actually get out for a run and I was sure that I would get out the door just float along the road. Well not quite. I decided that I would a longish midweek run in and run down to the Running Room again, I had already decided that it was a down week so there was no pressure to go nuts. I left the house with my new hydration vest and as soon as I got on the road I felt lethargic and started feeling aches all over. Running felt difficult! I tried to run easy, but you know me, it was more of what felt comfortable, but nothing felt comfortable to day. It was a nice day if not a bit humid, and I was dripping wet by the time I completed my 4.6k down to the Running Room. After a quick rest stop we grouped together and decided on the Owen loop, up the hill we went, Theo, Terry, Dr. John, Little John, Rick, Rhonda and myself. Not long after starting the usual groups splintered off with me and Rick at the back. Rick was just coming off the Toronto Marathon and would be doing the Whitby Marathon this coming weekend, so he was taking it easy too. This part of the run didn’t improve my feelings at all and the humidity seemed to get worse. I finished off with the Rick said good bye to the group and off I trudged home. I finished the 19k not feeling good about the run and wondering if it was because I had taken too much time off! Who knows. When I got home it was more of the same as I felt very tired, showered and lay on the couch for a while.

On a positive note, the vest worked very well. It felt a little tight at first, but like a lot of things I try eventually I didn’t even notice it. A two thumbs up for this item, which I will probably where in Burning River. It only carries 1.5 litres as opposed to the older one I have which carries 2 litres, but I figure I won’t need as much because of all of the aid stations. This weekend I think I will go with the older one as I will want to carry more.

T-Shirt Ettiquette

2011-05-17T08:21:00.002-04:00

T-Shirt Etiquette (courtesy of www.ultrunr.com)

Humerous look at the wearing of Race T-shirts -Particularly from an Ultra perspective.
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In the ultra running community the wearing of race T-Shirts has become a sign of accomplishment and fashion. Choosing just the right T-Shirt for that special occasion can be a daunting and difficult task. The following guidelines have been compiled (in fun) to help the responsible T-shirt wearer avoid potential embarrassment and/or elevate their status.

1. A shirt cannot be worn unless the wearer has participated in the event. (crew, significant others and volunteers are exempt)

2. Any race, less than a marathon distance, shouldn't be worn to an ultra event. It simply doesn't represent a high cool factor and sends a red flag regarding your rookiness. If you set a PR at Pikes Peak Marathon, definitely wear that shirt whenever possible.

3. When returning to a race in which you previously finished, then wear the shirt from the first year you completed the race. Don't short change yourself by wearing the shirt from the year before. It doesn't adequately display the feat of accomplishment or the consummate veteran status that you are due.

4. Never wear a race shirt from the race you are about to run. It displays a lack of running integrity and might put the mojo on you.

5. Wearing a T-shirt of the race, while currently running said race, is discouraged. It's like being at work and constantly announcing "I'm at work". Besides, you wont have the correct post race shirt then.

6. Never wear a shirt from a run that you did not finish. To wear it is to say I finished it.

7. A DNF'er may wear a race shirt if... the letters DNF are boldly written on the shirt in question.

8. During a race the wearing of shirt from a previously completed year is acceptable. Wear the oldest T-shirt you have (see guideline #3). This is probably a good practice because you now have no excuse to drop out since you've done it before.

9. Runners should buy all crew members and, as appropriate, significant others (they let you run the race in the first place) T-shirts which can be worn without regard to running the race. (see guide #1)

10. Volunteers have full T-shirt rights and all privileges pertaining thereto.

11. No souvenir shirts therefore friends or anyone else not associated with the race may not wear a race shirt. If mom thinks that the Leadville shirt is lovely, tell he to send in her application early for next year so she can earn her own.

12. Wear the race shirt of your last race at the current race pre race briefing. The more recent the race the better. This is a good conversation starter. However avoid the tendency to explain how that it was a training run for this, and this is just a training run for the next, etc. It just sounds like your rationalizing mediocre performances. Sometimes it's best to live in the here and now. ("I've never been more prepared for a race! this is the big one!)

13. It must be clean (dried blood stains are okay)

14. If you've finished Hardrock 100 then wear it as often as possible, since the race is so damn hard.

15. Never wear a T-shirt that vastly out classes the event you're running (exception: see guideline #14) Example: Never wear a Western States 100 T-shirt at, say, Cool Canyon. Too many roadies will feel put down. It's okay to wear a WS100 or Leadville or Wasatch T-shirt at ultrarunner cult events such as Gibson Ranch or Jim Skophammer 24. It's probably not okay to wear your Trans-America footrace T-Shirt to your local around-the-lake Fat Ass 50k unless you want to psyche out the competition.

A corollary: never wear a blatantly prestigious T-shirt downtown. People will just think you have a big head, which you do.

If you don't know what things like DNF, WS100 or Crew are then you shouldn't wear any race shirt until you know what they mean.

T-shirts must be used sensitively. Worn responsibly, they can help expand one's consciousness and immerse you in a great conversation with your ultra brethren. Worn stupidly, they can cause blisters, vacant stares, sprained ankles, and cause social anxiety.
NOTE: Publicly these guidelines will be denied and possibly ridiculed by ultra runners, but privately and when discussed confidentially, they sing a different tune.

Wasaga Beach is Dreary When it Rains

2011-05-16T11:22:00.002-04:00

Wasaga Beach is not the place to go when the weather is miserable, but it wasn’t a bad place to run to when the weather is wet. All in all I had a great run on Saturday, but it would never have been accomplished without the organizing of Joe Polcz. Joe put this together a while ago for two reasons, one to help out Catherine Harding in her goal to run 100 miles at the Vermont 100 in July and to try and prove that it is possible to run 50 miles with little training and on his crazy fueling method, Stroopwaffles! Joe had invited whoever wanted to show to run or help out, so I jumped at the chance to get in a 50 miler.
Either way things didn’t quite go as planned, firstly Catherine got sick and backed out at the last minute (actually the night before). At this point I thought it would be just me and Joe and biggest concern was trying to run with Joe all the way. That morning I arrived at Joe’s house and mentioned to him that I would run with him as much as I could, but probably wouldn’t be able to run his pace all the way. Another surprise was Victoria Northcott and Donnie Ellis showing up to run with us. They weren’t sure how far they were going to go, but it would be good to have company for part of the trip. Joe’s wife Joanne was going to run out 5k and turn around too. Apaarently there were a number of people who had offered to support us through out the run, but at this early hour only Joan VH showed to help out.
At approximately 6:10 we headed down the street to start the run, and right off the bat it was obvious that my idea of a slow run and Joe’s were quite substantially different, he would do 10 and 1’s were I would run and walk when ever I felt like I needed. Victoria and Donnie were a head right a way and I ran with them but would turn back to or stop when Joe did, allowing him to catch up. It was a foggy morning and slightly humid, but nice for running. Livingstone to Sunnidale to Wilson Drive and then a long straight run. Joanne turned around at about Carson Road and we said our goodbye’s, we were now four. Victoria and Donnie would continually drift ahead and stop for us to catch up, at times I go ahead and turn around to help out Joe. By the time we reached Anten Mills at Horseshoe Valley Road it was trying to rain. A couple of more turns and we on the road to Phelpston, so far so good and we rolled into Phelpston at 20k all feeling good. Victoria and Donnie and decided that they would do 30k and get a ride back from there.
The road from Phelpston was a long haul, at least 5 or 6k long without a turn, this is where I started running with V & D and left Joe behind to be supported by Joan. Not long after Brian Chew showed up to help out with support which would work out well having 2 support vehicles for 2 groups or 2 runners, but as it turned out Brian would take V & D back after the 30k point and not return. When I left Joe it was the last I would see of him until I turned back.
Turning off the road from Phelpston was a relief, but the next road (Vigo) was not much better, it went on forever. After V & D went back it was a lonely run, but at the same time I like that. Other than crossing Hwy 92,it was a nice quiet peaceful run, I struggled a at few points on the way out, but took numerous walk breaks. Just after dropping V &D I ran into someone who had just parked their SUV off the road and was standing there in running gear. She asked me if I was running with a group and I said yes. Turned out Sylvia was waiting to run with Joe to Wasaga and back for a 20k run. She had been waiting for over an hour. Running into Wasaga Beach picked up my spirits, but it is a long run into the Beach. On the way in I was surprised to see Steen pass by and pull over. He had everything but the kitchen sink. At the turn around I grabbed a change of shirts, found a public wash room to warm up and change. It seemed quite a bit cooler in Wasaga and the change of shirts and adding my vest warmed me up some. I refueled my camel back and had a bit to eat and then off I went again, I had put in 40.7k at this point.
It took a awhile to warm up again once I got going, but gradually the warm feeling came back, especially after turning on Vigo Road again. The temperature seemed to go up instantaneously 5 degrees. Before leaving the Beach I ran into Joe and Sylvia at the 42k mark, Joe said the turn around was as far as he was going. Again this was a long stretch on Vigo and played with my mind a lot, I was suffering a bit. At about 50k there was a large dog that had sort of chased us on the way out and I was worried that being by myself that I would have to fend for my self against this “7 foot tall, 300 pounder”. I mentioned to Joe, who was now riding with Joan to keep an eye out for me. Sure enough I wasn’t at the property when the monster saw me and beared down on me, charging across the yard and to the road, stopping ten feet away to bark, snarl and bear its teeth at me. Joe and Joan backed up their truck to get between me and the hound from hell and that seemed to throw off the dog. He turned around and off he went in one direction me the other.
Turning back on the road to Phelpston it was up hill for a long stretch and walked a fair bit of it. But after taking a break past Crossland Road, I felt invigorated and ran all the way into Phelpston, running felt better than walking at this point. I took advantage of the support crew and asked them to get me a bottle of coke as I was craving it again. Never drink pop normally, but in a long run of this magnitude I crave the stuff. I seemed to give me a boost and ran well from there on in, still taking walk breaks but feeling good. It was at about this point that I realized that if I kept this up I would finish with a negative split.
Back on Wilson drive out of Anten Mills I had another dark spot, I walked through it and then down hill to the flat part of Wilson Drive again made me feel good. Up the next hill to Hwy 26, down the next, walked up to Snow Valley Road and ran into Cindy Marcelli who said I looked great, Thanks Cindy! The next or last 7k or so went by well I walked up a bit of the hill to Carson Road, but ran most of the way back to finish in 9 hours and 37 minutes. A 25 minute negative split! I was very pleased at finishing so strong and on top of that felt great on Sunday, I felt like I hadn’t even run. A very successful run that has really boosted my confidence and spirits prior to both Sulphur Springs in 2 weeks and Burning River. This coming weekend I’ll be off to Ohio to run the first Burning River Training run on Saturday morning, other than that it will be a down week, with only a little bit of running. Thanks to all who helped out on Saturday, it was agreat.

Mid Week Roundup

2011-05-12T08:39:00.000-04:00

Well it’s a couple of days away from Joe Polcz pseudo 50 mile “fun” run from Barrie to Wasaga Beach and back. I am sure I am ready for it, although I wonder about the others that are attempting it. I’m still not sure who is, I know Catherine is and Joe, but beyond that I am sure that anyone else attempting to run will be only doing part of the distance.
Another thought is that I will be running most if not all by myself as I can’t run as slow as the others and I have been working on slower running, but I enjoy running by myself anyway.
The lead up to Saturdays run has been rather uneventful, I’ve had two runs this week, I took off Monday as a rest day which I definitely needed. Tuesday was a trail run through the bluffs on the regular route, but it felt hard. Last night I ran down to the Running Room, although initially I had planned on just driving down, but with the price of gas and all I figured what the hell and ran anyway. I again felt sluggish running down there, but when we started as a group it was a good comfortable run, or at least I thought it was. When I looked at my Garmin I realized we were doing a 4:45/km pace, a little fast for a longish midweek run. So I backed off and when I stopped for a walk Roger also stopped as well. We walked for a bit and got going again, but never really backed off the pace to much as the runners in front of us never got much further ahead. At Tiffin I cut away and headed home. 15k or so done. Not a bad run, but not the best either.
As part of my training I have been looking at going down to Ohio to run at least one of the Burning River group training runs that are scheduled on various parts of the course. I had planned on doing this last year, but never got a round to it. Maybe that was a premonition of what was to come. So this year I made it a priority to make it to at least one. As it turns out I can only make it to 2 of the 5 dates, the first one on May 21st and the last one on July 10th. Not sure about going to the last one yet, but we shall see. As for the first one, which runs the first 18.6 miles of the course, I have registered and booked a hotel so its now just a matter of getting down there and if anyone will come with me. Oliver had expressed some interest, but can’t now and Joan has found out that she has the Saturday off so it looks like she will come if she can make arrangements for her Friday shift. And last night Roger tells me he is in Ohio for work all next week and may join me. That would be good too.
Anyway next blog will come after the 50 mile run to Wasaga and back, talk to you then.

T - 12 weeks

2011-05-09T09:01:00.001-04:00

I seem to be finding that with all the running and a busy work schedule that blogging seems to be put way down on the priority list. So each time I blog its like trying to catch up with a weeks worth of activities, well not exactly, but it feels like it.
It’s just a little less than 12 weeks to Burning River and 3 weeks to Sulphur Springs and the 50 miler and after this past weekend I am feeling more confident about how things are going and how I am feeling, although the seeds of doubt always seem to be there.
Next Saturday is the Barrie to Wasaga and back 50 mile run organized by Joseph Polcz, not sure how I am going to approach it, but probably more of the same, slow and steady with lots of the required walking. Also I’m not sure how many runners will be participating, may only be a couple of us so I am sure I will be running by myself for most of it, which is what I have been doing for the most part anyway. I enjoy the solo runs especially when I have something to listen to. The following weekend is the first Burning River group run on the first 19 miles of the course, I have been thinking about going down for it as it will be very beneficial, but it may be a lonely drive as it seems no one is available to come down with me. A small sacrifice for something that I think is important. I wanted to do one last year and didn’t, I think that that was a sign. So this year it has become important. The only two I can make are the first and last one. The last one being on July 10th and running the last part of the course to the finish, another valuable run to get in. Just not sure I want to go down again that close to the race. We shall see.
As for this past mothers day weekend? Friday night or evening had a run with KevO, Oliver and Gregg, 10k that I felt pushed to hard, one of the problems of running with a group. You feel like you have to keep up with the others. Eventually I backed off did my own thing, still felt like a struggle.
Saturday was my longest solo run ever, 57k. It was a nice day and almost 1k into it I had to remove a layer which I had to put back on again later when the wind picked up, which cooled things off a bit. Later in the run, passing other runners dressed in just t-shirts, I felt over dressed, but I was comfortable. I justified the layers as I was comfortable and if it got too hot I could consider it acclimatizing to being too warm. Over all it was a good run, struggled a bit later, but still I was running. I stopped at about 40k, sat down and had a bagel with almond butter and jam. A good rest that picked me up big time. Nice also to get used to eating solid food and running.
Saturday night after Joan got off work we drove down to Oakville to get ready for the her running the Mercedes Benz 10k on Sunday morning. It was a beautiful day for a run and we saw Terry and Tracy there as well. Joan had a great run finishing in 52 minutes, Terry ran 42 minutes and Tracy 64 minutes. After wards a brunch at a local Irish pub and then off to the in-laws for a visit.
At about 1pm I started getting ready for a run to my step mums in Burlington. Mapping it out ahead of time I figured it would be about 24k, a good run on tired legs. It was a different experience running in a place I hadn’t run before (Oakville), but running past all the places I remembered as a kid, even going by the old high school. I ran out of water with about 5k to go, the hardest part too, all up hill on Guelph Line and Cavendish. Again a good run which added to my confidence. And I beat Joan over there too as she drove from her mums.

Read and Run

2011-05-05T08:33:00.002-04:00

Before I get onto my running exploits for another day, I need to recap about a few purchases that I have made lately. While in Sudbury last weekend I went into Chapters and as usual gravitated to the sports (read running) department and browsed a bit before picking up and buying “Born To Run” by Chris McDougall. It had been recommended by a few people and after reading the back of the book, I thought yeah, it sounds like it could be inspiring. So I picked it up and bought it.
Another book of interest that I ordered online directly from the author was “Relentless Forward Progress” by Bryon Powell. Well on Tueday it arrived in the mail as well as my Sacro Wedgy, so it was like Xmas for me. I also picked up a Blood Pressure monitor on the advice of my doctor to keep track of my blood pressure over the next few weeks. It has been a little high and may need some work to get it lower.
So I spent most of Tuesday evening reading about the BP monitor and the Wedgy, before hitting the Relentless Forward Progress book. I tried the Wedgy and it wasn’t uncomfortable and after twenty minutes got up and I believe I could feel the effect of it on my hips and upper glute area. This will take time to have an effect, but I will try it daily for now and see how it goes.
I tried the BP and once I figured out the machine gave it a go and yes BP is a little high 142/88. But I will monitor it over the next couple of weeks prior to my physical and deliver the results to the Doc.
The first couple of chapters of RFP are quite good, it is more or less a how to for ultra runners with lots of tips and views from different angles and perspectives. A good easy read.
Last night I ran to the running room and home again, almost 7k there. I over dressed and within minutes of starting had to take off a layer, it was windy but sunny and depending on which way you were running it could be cool or hot, well warm anyway. It was 7k to the RR and once there a large group of us left to do the Tollendal loop, but shortly after starting we lost Roger and Rick. Rick had a sore knee after doing speed work with Theo yesterday and Roger was having another one of those days. The run with the group seemed good at first, but I realized that I was going way too fast. Even when I slowed down and let everyone pass I was still doing under 5 min k’s. At the parking lot at Tollendal and Hurst I let everyone go that was still close to me and stopped to have a gel, then got going at my own pace. The way back was into the wind, but not uncomfortable. I cut off at Lakeshore and Tiffin for home and finished with almost 20k. The few k were a struggle which I blame purely on the faster pace early on. Either way a good day.

A Busy Weekend

2011-05-02T19:36:00.000-04:00

After taking Thursday off, it was time to get back at it. So Friday at the Running Room we decided to run the long Tiffin route. Funny thing about this route is before the days of Garmins etc. we used to call this run about 14k. Turns out it is about 11.5k, no wonder we were running such a great pace back then!!
Anyway Roger, Rick, Brian, Brendan and myself (did I miss someone? its been 3 days and my older mind doesnt remember things as well as I used to) took off at the usual casual pace (ahem). By the time we hit Edgehill we were moving at a good pace and all of our group were together. Another funny thing was that Roger and myself were in front, not that we are competitive at all!!!
On Miller I looked at my watch and realised we were doing a 4:30/km, WHAT! But it felt good. Instead of slowing down we kept at it and if nothing else picked it up. Finised with an average of 4:40/km. So much for a nice easy run, as I had a longggggg run on Saturday morning. But it felt good.
After Fridays run I was a little concerned for my Saturday run, I was looking at a 5 hour run. I had to get this run in and as early as possible prior to driving to Sudbury for Joans first half Marathon (more on that later).
So I got up at the usual weekday time of 6:30 and was out the door by 7. I'll keep this as short as possible as it ended bing about 46k. I added miles on before I even started as I changed the route a bit. From home to Edgehill, Miller, Hwy 90, the Ivy route and back along the 10th, into town on Huronia etc., etc. I planned on 5 hours, but wasn't sure on the distance and it turned out to be 4 hours and 40 minutes and 46.5k. But more importantly I felt great, I walked when I needed too and ran good, not much soreness and felt like I could have gone on for a while. A very successful run.
After a shower and some lunch, we packed up and off we went. An uneventful drive up that was free of traffic issues etc. and although we were hoping to see some wild life all we saw, unfortunately was a dead bear cub on the side of the hwy. The expo was very small as expected, we checked into the Fairfield Marriott and then walked up to Boston Pizza for dinner. For a change I was able to drink or eat what ever I wanted and after my run earlier, I figured I had earned it.
The morning of the race was slightly over cast and about 5C with a slight breeze, we met up with friends Larry and Ken Henson. Larry was also doing his first half, ken had done lots. I was the official cameraman. The race got started and I raced over to the 5k mark and got there in time to see the leaders pass by. Larry and Ken went through with smiles in their faces, although Larry was having trouble with his breathing as he was still getting over a bad chest cold. Joan wasn't far behind and said she was feeling good. At the next stop I watched Ken and Larry go through although now Larry was behind Ken, but then I watched as a train blocked the route for a couple of minutes, there were a few disgruntled runners for sure, I wa sjust hoping Joan wasn't one of them. After the train cleared the held up runners almost sprinted back on course, but Joan wasn't one of them. She came through a few minutes later, obliviouse to the train. Still feeling good at this point.
I drove over to Falconbridge and set up to take more pictures at the 13 - 14k mark. Ken was well ahead of Larry at this point and Joan follwed a few minutes later. This was tough part as it was directly into a strong wind and all three seemd to be hurting a bit. Joan commented that she was feeling a little tired. From here I went to the finish area. Ken had a strong run finishing in 1:43 and Larry also did well finishing in 1:49.
I was thinking Joan would be in at about 2:05 - 2:10, but was surprised when she came around the corner just over 2 hours. A great finish and all with a smile. Awesome run Joan, Some would give the right arm for a 2:01 finish, so be proud as I am.
Another fairly early morning this morning to get us home from Sudbury to Barrie. We got home at about 11:30 after again an uneventful drive, we stopped to take pictures once and were planning on more, but it can be difficult to pull over.
After lunch and voting I went for a run again although this one was rather lack lustre and I struggled through out of this 15.8k mix if oad and trails.

Running, Mogwai and Running

2011-04-28T07:26:00.001-04:00

It's been a busy couple of days, just as well I took them off as vacation days. But back to the grind tomorrow! Yesterday morning continued my week of running with another trail/road run. It was roads up until I get to past Leons and then into the bush to Harvie and up by the 400 to behind Home Depot. Durin this stretch of trail turn a corner and saw a dog coming tearing towards me, but right away I could tell this little guy was not going to be trouble. He was a beautuful light brown colour with white splotches on him, some sort of retriever mix and still just a pup. If a dog could smile he had a grin from ear to ear. I think I took him and his owners by suprise. I had my ear phones in so I couldn't hear anything. Anyway i petted the pup and told him to go back to his owners who were yelling at him to come and turning in the opposite direction, he took off after them quickly.
Back on the run on to Caplan, over to Mapleton and then a side street to Emms where I enter the woods again, into the bluffs to the now all to familiar trails. Back home and a very successful run, a little stiff which I stretched out for a bit and relaxed. A good 11k or so.
After showering and having some lunch it was off to TO to prepare to see Mogwai. This would be my first tiem seeing them and I was expecting nothing short of the best show ever. Lofty goals but I was sure they would be able to meet that.
The show at the Pheonix was supposed to start at 8, but as usual they don't even let people in until 8:15 or so. It was about 9 when the warm up act came on. They were called Old World Vulture, and were very good. AN instrumental band in the vane of Mogwai they put on a very impressive 35 minute performance, made even better knowing afterwards that they had only been called on to be the back up band earlier that day. I was so impressed that I bought their CD, available inthe merch area for only $5. Good deal for good music.
Mogwai finally came on stage sometime after 10, five 30ish balding (except for one) Scotsmen, not big on flashyness or anything like that they just put on a great show. The only one spoke went through the entire Scottish vocablulary, minus the expletives, "Thank you, thank you very much", "Cheers", "right", "How ya Doin tonight", "Alright are ya?".
Maybe thats why they rarely sing.
Overall the almost two hour show was amazing, with a stand in drummer (las minute family committments). I usually start checking my watch during shows that are not quite as good as I was expecting. Not here, I was surprised to see what time it was whent he show was over. Great stuff!
Wednesday night and the usual run club thing. And the suaul crew was all back together after vacations etc. I had the intention of just running an easy run as this was the 6th day in a row of running for me and I had been a little sore. So We started (all of us) easy , but gradually the usual suspects took off and I was happy to sit back and run with Roger, Rick and Peter. We regrouped at the top of Crestwood and the same scenario repeated itself. As we hit Grove I had left Rick, Roger, Peter and Dr. John behind. On Johnson I passed Rhonda and Theo. And on Georgian passed Sean and Greg. On Duckworth I saw Aiden go straight in stead of the normal route down Rose. I knew that Brendan was the only one in front now, but he was no where in site. On Rose coming to St. Vincent I could see him in the distance at least half a k ahead. He went up Rose further than I did as i turned the normal route down Davidson and through the park to Owen whihc is where I caught up to Brendan. We finished together.
It ended up being a tempo run and I felt great, it must have been the blue ultra fast Nike shorts, streamlined holes and all. The best fast run I had had in a long time 11.5k in jus over 52 minutes. I was a little sore at the end, but a little stretching (actually a lot) and i was feeling good later. A very successful run. And a nice way to finish my short vacation.
Back to work today, bah!!

2 Bloggins In One Day!

2011-04-25T16:57:00.000-04:00

Yep thats right two bloggins in one day, whats going on? Well this morning I thought about it and then strapped on the Vibrams and decided to baptise them on the trails. I had been out in them on the roads, but htis would be a first. So I took off on the usual trails near me and managed to miss most of the mud and scooted over to the Ardagh Bluffs. I took it easy, but it felt easy too. The Vibrams felt really good on the softer ground, except when I would step on a stick or larger rock. I could feel it, but it wasn't bad. Overall I finished feeling better then most runs lately, I only did 13k, but it was a successful 13k. And the Vibrams passed the trail test with flying colours. I'd be abit concerned with more techinical terrain and rocky stuff, but otherwise it was good. Not sure if I'll get out for a run tomorrow or not, probably in the morning. Then off to TO for the Mogwai show, review to follow! Short but sweet.

Another nice day for a run

2011-04-25T10:37:00.001-04:00

I wasn't sure what the expect this morning run wise. The forecast was for cooler temps (11C) and sunny so it might be nice, but compared to yesterday it may feel cool. Also I had no idea what kind of distance I would do. I knew Theo had planned on 28k along the rail trail so I would tag a long and turn around at... whenever, as it is an out and back anyway.
Met up with the usual crew minus Roger who was stil in Cuba!!! There were few others missing too as it was Easter Sunday (Other than chocolate I don't know what all the fuss is about).
So it Theo, Nancy, Terry and myself and it was a nice day for a run, and very uneventful. Terry and Nancy turned around at about 10 - 11k and me and Theo at about 12k. The run back was a little harder as, as usual, I stiffened up on the right side. The pace was a bit quicker than I had been running all weekend and after a weekend of running it was taking its toll. I finished and Theo went on to do another 4k. So it was 24k in about 2:07. Slow for historically, but too fast for the injured me.
I spent the rest of the puttering around the house doing stuff, like puttign the snowblower away (I hope that is not a bad thing to do). To put it away I had to get all the yard furniture out of the shed. So it was a busy time. Later I stretched and tried to loosen up the soreness in the hips. I may have to succumb and make another physio appointment.
Today (Monday) was going to be the last of 4 days of running long, but after yesterday I thought, maybe a rest is what I need. But I woke up this morning feeling really good and I think I will get out for a trail run, I may even wear the vibrams on the trails for the first time.
Also this morning came a cross an article in Runners World's trail edition that talked about hip and back pain, describing my pains to a tee. One of the suggestions they came up with was using a Sacro Wedgy. It was actually something I had looked at in the past. So I searched it on google and went to the website and did some reading etc. With in 20 minutes I had ordered one. I figured I've wasted more money on less in the past so lets give it a try. Stay tuned!!

Second Day of a Running Weekend

2011-04-23T15:57:00.001-04:00

I was a little apprehensive about todays run for a number of reasons; it was the day after a tough run yesterday, I was still stiff and sore last night, the route I had planned wasn't easy and had more road running than I would have liked, but...
So I took my time this morning, I had no one to meet and could go anytime, it was a little dreary looking this morning and had rained during the night. The forecast was for it to clear and get rather balmy. We shall see! Anyway by about 10 I was ready and off I went after getting some laundry and dishes started. I'm glad i didn't wear too much as it was rather warmer than expected. It was similar start to yesterdays run, down by the swamp, across Ferndale and into the bush. Instead of heading into the subdivision after about half a k I turned right and followed the trail to where I knew it would get steadily more mucky. In past years the water levels had been low so you could almost get through with out getting your feet wet, although I managed to stay dry for the most part through here it didn't stay that way for long. Before the rail tracks it was a sea of water and only one way through, so in I went calf deep and it was cold. I got the tracks and figured the other side would be dry, but no it was more of the same. Oh well it is early and my feet will dry.
After this it was road for a while till the pipeline crossing on Miller. I had to make a decision here, follow Miller upto the top of the hill, and its a big one, or follow the pipeline, still the same hill, but dirt (or more like sand). I followed the pipeline and walked most of it, it was about time for a walk break anyway. Past the dumpI went into the woods and decided to follow a different path, the Nine Mile Portage was signed on trees so I decided to follow it, but the signs are very infrequent and I had to guess a few times. I guessed the right way and came out to the road I needed to get to. Another 2k road stretch before heading into the woods again. Muddy in spots and pools of water here and there to circumnavigate. Down into a ravine and admired the view for a bit. A big old tree on a hill looking very lonely by itself, but very majestic too. Something you see in pictures in a magazine, very nice. I continued on, but instead of taking the high road, you got it, I took the low road knowing that it would come out at Seaton road. up Seaton a short jog to the other side of the trail and this is where it got interesting. This was all new ground for me and I thought I could just wing it. Well after many deadends and trails leading up to "NO TRESSPASSING" signs I kept turning back and ended following a long climb up to an area that was marked and so I followed it. Turns out the No tresspassing signs were for a private golf course, so it wouldn't have been an issue. But better safe than sorry. Eventually I came to an area I recognised and followed it the end of a road, but not before slipping on a plank and ending up in the mud. Ouch that hurt the left knee. It was at this point I noticed the right knee with bloody scratches all over it, ok so they're balanced now. Down the road to Snow Valley Rd and to the east a bit before heading into a new subdivision where the trail picks up again, but where is it, I followed it to the creek but where is the crossing? Oh well I'll just go down and cross over and see if I can find the trail, which I did easily, but still couldn't locate the creek crossing.
This next section is nice single track and the trees are close in. It was quiet and got me to Wilson Drive across from Springwater Park. I was thinking of going on into the park, but decided to sit and relax for a few and enjoy the sun, it was nice and invigorating.
The run back was rather un eventfull, more hills and missed the wrong turns this time. When I got to the end of the road at the north end of the dump area, I decided to just follow the trails straight through as I knew they would come out at the top of Miller. The only problem is that it is like a roller coaster, a big one (see picture).

On Miller Drive I decided to cut through the Hydro right of way to Dunlop, which actually adds a bit of distance, but oh well. along Dunlop to Ferndale to the swamp walk way and back home. I struggled the last few k, although I think most of it is mental. I was a little sore in the right glute and hamstring as usual, but otherwise a good day. 29.5k in 3:06:49.

More to come!

To Sudbury and Back

2011-04-22T15:39:00.001-04:00

So I ended up in Sudbury on Wednesday night, although in the morning I wasn't sure that was going to happen as the weather forecast was not good, miserable weather in Barrie, but steadily worse as you went north. sudbury was calling for 15 to 25 cm's of snow. As the morning went on I talked to one of the guys in Sudbury who said it wasn't that bad and it looked like the freezing rain in Parry Sound had changed to rain. So at noon I packed up my things and headed out. It rained to well past Parry Sound, but there was snow on the ground and the further north I went the more there was. There was no pulling over to take pictures as the shoulders hadn't been plowed at all, nor the side roads which looked a mess. It was very pretty up there though.
I arrived in Sudbury just after 3 and noticed that most of the sidewalks seemed to be plowed, so I figured I could go for a run outside instead of hittng the dreaded treadmill. A quick change and off I went. It started snowing again moments after I went out and the sidewalks around the hotel area hadn't been plowed. I soldiered on and accepted the puddles and snow flakes in the eyes, at least I was out running. I did 9k and felt good for it, not a lot but at least was a run. I got showered, changed and off across the road for a awesome steak dinner at the Keg. Afterwards I settled in for the night alying around enjoying the quiet.
I was up early and headed off to the Sudbury hydro one yard and to Meet with Rob, not long after our pilot Paul showed up in the chopper for the ride and we were away.

Stopping in Espanola to pick up Jamie who had arranged the whole trip. We would fly into 4 generating stations to check on demarcation points before heading back. It was a nice day and a great view of the world from that vantage point thats for sure.

It would have taken 12 hours to drive and do what we did in less than four in the helicopter. I was back in Barrie by 4 that afternoon.
This morning was a lazy morning, but I had already been planning on a series of long runs this weekend and it was just a matter of which route to do today. I decided on the bluffs, but unlike the normal run I would run the usual route, then turn around and come back. It started it off good as it was a beautiful morning. The plan was to just take it easy and walk when necessary. I ran till just under 5k where I come across a small creek which i have to stop for to get across as it is straight up on the other side and therefore it was as good an excuse as ever to take a walk break. I ran out to the turn around just before cty Rd. 27 with out seeing a sole, surprisingly considering it is a holiday. Again I ran all the way back to Mapleton and still noone, this is good, hope it stays this way. No such luck, into the bluffs and it was people and dogs galore. Most are ok, but when you come up against a mastiff by it self, its oh oh! The lady owner who was smaller than the dog coralled him and held on. that was the story of the run for the most part, lots of stopping to avoid confronting dogs.
This run seemed to take a long time and I was surprised when I got back that it was already after 12:30. I was struggling the last 5k or so, it just felt hard and my right side was sore from the hamstring down. I finished 25k in about 2 hours and 37 minutes, which seemed very slow, but in the big picture is still where I need to be or maybe even slower. Tomorrow another longer slower trail run, probably in the rain too.

Recovery Days

2011-04-18T21:34:00.000-04:00

I was planning on running on Sunday, but with the weather forecast not much better than Saturdays and colder I thought, "I don't need to do this", so I didn't. In the afternoon I got a call from a reporter for the Barrie Examiner who wanted to talk about the RoadRunners, so I told him everything I know and then some. I didn't think to ask about whne or if the article would appear as I don't subscribe to the paper. Oh well that was that. The rest of the day was a matter of hobbling around and I couldn't even do any yoga moves as my knees were swollen and rather sore.
Today was a busy day with meetings at work which included some delicious pizza. I had to leave that one early to head downtown for a meeting with Toronto Hydro at 2:30, who the hell would schedule a meeting at that time of day. It finished at 4:10 so it was going to be a rough ride back to Barrie. On the subway to Yorkdale, then in the car and low and behold the traffic was almost good. Got home at just after 6 and heated up some left overs to get into before 6:30 as I have to fast for 12 hours for my blood tests tomorrow morning. My not quite annual physical comes up next week. Also got an email confirming a work trip upto Sudbury later this week which will include a helicopter ride to view some assets on the Mississagi river, exciting stuff.
On my way home I bandied about the idea of going for a run and as the next couple of days were calling for mre crappy weather I thought I might as well get out tonight as it was just cool and pleasant. So at seven I went out for a mix of road and trails, to Morrow Rd, and up past Leons throught ot Caplan, Mapleton and down into the Ardagh bluffs and back home a nice 11.5k and I felt good through out, glad I went especially when I saw an owl, I grabbed my phone to take a picture but it was long gone.
On this run I started to think about Saturday's run and pull out some of the positives. Well one was that I finished, it was a lot of time on feet, learning to change my perspective in a race after some bad times. You know that when things are badm they will change and get better, at least they should as that is what I have read. The final positive I thought of, but didn't think about on Saturday was the fact that I was eating on the run, something that I haven't been able to do up to now. Over all it was a very good learnign experience.

Hell, Fire & Brimstone... Noah we need an Arc!

2011-04-17T11:45:00.000-04:00

Mud, Mud and more Mud, that would be the story of the day at the Seaton Trail Races today Saturday April 16th.
The forecast hadn't looked good all week and for once, unfortunately the weather man got it right. I was up at 4 am as we had to drive to Pickering for the 7 am start. So it started with me picking up Chris Battaglia at the car pool at 5 and to Tims for the usual, and then on to the highway. It was dry at this time of the morning, but as we drove through Toronto the rain was starting. We got to the Pine Ridge high School to pick up our bibs and racekits (a mud puppy t-shirt and Seaton Trail Runners toque! While waiting in line in walked Neil "the Bastard" and Deb Lancia, Deb was doing the 52k like us, but Neil was only there for support and said Sherry Edwards and Gary were coming to do the 29k as well.
After getting ourselves ready it was time to go the starting line where the brave souls all huddled under the protection of a few trees from the rain while we tryed in vain to listen to the Race Directors instructions. In hind site this would have been vaulable information for later, I couldn't hear anything. The race got going about 8 minutes late and off we went into a steady light rain and wind in our face. I started at the back and was surprised at how slow a lot of the runners were going. I was intent on keeping it slow and steady today, walk the hills and whenever I felt like it, but as slow as I was running I was passing many runners from the start until I fell in behind a group of about 5 runners as we hit the single track trails. We ran at a nice easy pace and things felt good, but my left calf was already feelign a little twinge here and there, that would be something to worry about and take note of as the race continued on. At about 2.5k into the race there is the river crossing. It's about 10 metres and about knee deep, but christ its cold. Everyone hesitates before going in, but I didn't and left the group that was with me behind. you get out of the water and your legs are numb. It is hard getting through the river as it is a very rocky bottom and uneven, but as long as your careful...
I ran steadily for a while after the river and was surprised that noone was behind me at this point, at least until the first climb. A tough long sinlge track trail up to the top of the ravine. I had a couple of people pass me as I walked it. At the top the wind was blowing stronger and the mud was a little stickier and deeper. The course had changed a little up here as you ran a long the top of the ravine a bit further and avoided the usual way back down, which was a tough very muddy uneven section. A new path had been cut into the woods to comeback around to the trail, butthis was already becoming a little slick. One positive change was changing the course to avoid the hill that you almost have to climb on hands and knees. You went to the top of the ravine again and through soem very thick mud to an old road which you ran for about half a k to the first aid station 7k in. I didn't stop here as myhandheld was still fairly full and I wasn't at all in need of food. Into some more rolling single track under a bridge and across a field into another ravine. Things weren't so bad here so far. After we passed the last aid station it was over a bridge in a little village and back into the trails ont he other side of the river. It was after we started passing past turn around points that a I started to wonder about how far was this race going to be. After a long stretch on a a gravle path we finally came to the turn around, AT 15k, that would mean we would be doing a 60k race if everyting want as I though. I completed this first leg in 1:10, surprising myself, a little quicker than I was expecting, but I felt good. I had to stop here for a bathroom break as it was the first porta pottie I had seen in a while. Time to spare so take the time. Although a few runners passed me in the time I was "indisposed" once I got going again it was quite a while before I saw another runner going the opposite direction (my competitive mind figuring out how much time between me and the next runner behind, lots).
I quickly found that the footing going back had changed, the more runners that passed the worse the conditions got and the rain had become heavier. we were also now running into the wind. What was once nice and dry or at least a slightly slippery spot would become a quagmire. Some spots were now rivers and others ankle deep mud. My gloves were wet which made my hands cold, sometimes I felt my torso feeling cold too. I had felt good up until about 25 -27k when I started to tire, the mud was sapping my energy and the cold and wet was not hepling either. I walked up the hil to the finish are and found that they had changed it too, now we had to run around a track at the school to the tents on the other side. I had done the first out and back in 3 hours and 22 minutes, I had to look at my Garmin twice! What? 3:22 WTF. I walked the whole way round, made sure they had my number and then went to the car and grabbed my jacket to put over the two wet shirts and vest I was already wearing, not sure whether this was going to help or not. I took off my gloves (two pair) and found the X country ski gloves I have and tried to put them on. I struggled with frozen fingers to get them into the gloves and was worried that this wasn't going to work. I got going again with seeds of doubts growing in my mind, I could get hypothermia, how am I going to finish another 30 k, my fingers are so cold. I walked for a bit to start and took advantage of the downhills I was even walking a lot of the flat parts. I got to the river crossing again and trudged through, now you couldn't see the bottom as the river was white from all the silt washing downstream. This made it tricky to know where you were putting your feet, but I got through and off I went run, walk, walk, run. The mud and water levels getting ever higher, there were rivers of water coming down fromt he sides of the ravine, so that not wading through water was a rarity at times. I passed Chris at about 33k and he wasn't doing well at all. I got to about 34 k thinking that how am I going to get to the turn around and back, I felt like I was going in slow motion as it was, I'd be lucky to finish in 8 hours. 34 to 35k seemed to take an hour, time was almost going backwards. It was moments like this where I would try to think of really good things to occupy my mind and take away the pain etc,
At 40k I ran into Gary and Sherry and talked for a minute about the conditions etc, misery loves company! I was seriously thinking of turning back here, but decided to continue at least to the last aid station. On my way there I ran into another runner coming back who hadn't passed me to long ago, what? Is it possible that they have another turn around earlier thatn I expected. My hope got up and I ran for a long stretch, but I was extremely hungry, very unusual for me in a run of any kind. I got to the aid station and was told, yes, this is the turn around. 42k and 12k to go, I devoured 2 P&B sandwiches and don't like Peanut butter. a couple of potatoes dipped in salt and grabbed some choclate chip cookies for the road. Meanwhile Stefan Kinglos came into the aid station, I had been expecting him to pass me for the last 10k, but he hadn't until now as he left quiclkly. Topped up my water bottle and off I went.
The change in turnaround and a belly somewhat full of food set me off with renewed vigor and quickly caught and passed Stefan. We talked briefly and just kept at it. I knew hed catch me again, he doesn't stop much where I run faster, but walk more frequently. Sure enough he caught up to me again on a walk and I passed him again shirtly there after. At the aid station with 7k to go I walked up the hill after it after I grabbed more chocolate chip cookies a cup of coke and somemore potatoes. I had put some ground between me and Stefan, but as walked up the long hill after the aid station I saw Stefan closing in, not that I was at all worried about him passing. He ran the whole hill to catch up to me and I followed him into the muddddddy farmers field before passing the trash pile going into the woods, yeah nice! This was shoe sucking over your ankles mud.Gradually Stefan left me behind, I knew that I would finish at this point, but it wouldn't be pretty. Back through the river and I hadn't seen Chris again, so assumed he had DNF'd. On my way back I passed a runner going back out to do his third loop on the 50 miler, he looked strong though. Another gent was walking back out too, alon ways to go for him on his "second" loop. THat last 2.5k takes forever, but I finished in about 6:47 and Stefan was only on the other side of the track finishing when I came onto the track so I was happy that I kept him that close. I ran the last leg coming back probably faster than the previous 2 legs so that was good to finish strong. I quickly gathered my stuff and went to the showers. Chris had DNF'd, it wasn't his day and that says a lot for someone like him to dnf it must be bad. A quick Lasagna lunch and off we went. Didn;t hang arund long because I had a massage scheduled for 4 and it was already 2:35. I though I gave my self lots of time to get back to Barrie, but wasn't expecting such a dificult race.
It was dificult and tough, the conditions like I've never experienced in a race before, but I was very happy with the finish and completing this another experince to get me to the end of Burning River in July!!

Bosotn Weekend

2011-04-15T17:26:00.000-04:00

Yes its Boston weekend and a number of local RoadRunners will be competing again he is a list of the Barrie runners:

Good luck to all and you can track your athletes at the Boston Marathon Web site

Blogging by Blackberry, a first for me

2011-04-14T11:14:00.001-04:00

Well, my 'puter is down and getting some attention from the IT guy here at work. So I have some free time and thought that maybe I can blog from my phone, so here goes and excuse any errors.
Yesterday was a gorgeous day, so I thought that a run from home to the Running Room would be a good idea. My calf had been feeling good since the trail run on Monday so I was willing to give it go. Hey blogging from my phone is actually good as it does spell check etc. Where as blogging from the computer directly doesn't and with my spellin, that's a good thing.
So off I went at about 5:45pm albeit without my phone to listen to tunes as I couldn't find my ear buds! Oh well. Off through the subdivision over to Ferndale. Yes it is very nice out, just a t-shirt and shorts, but still wearing gloves. Yes I am a wimp when it comes to my hands. They get cold really easy. I thought I may have to take them off, but I didn't throughout the run. Running north was a little cool, but once I turned with the wind at my back it was warm. Surprisingly I didn't get down to the RR until about 6:25, just in time to have a pee. Almost 7k at this point and feeling good. We started again, now all ten of us, Rog, Terry, Rick, Hellaina, Chad, Bryan, John, Peter, Bill and me. I had talked them into doing the long Tiffin rte so that I could cut off to homewhen we got to Tiffin and Ferndale. So ran out to Wellington, over the 400 and on to edgehill, still feeling good, but some if our group were pulling ahead. When we got to Ferndal on Edgehill Roger, Hellaina and John took the short rte back! So we continued on and on Miller a few took off again, but I hung back with Rick who is still in recovery mode from running St.Louis this past weekend. On tiffin we regrouped at Ferndale which was my cue to turn right and head home, so after wishing Boston bound Bill good luck I ran the remaing couple of kilometres home and finsihed feeling good. A successful 16.76k averaging a 5:02 pace. A good days run!

First Trail Run of the Year.

2011-04-11T19:07:00.002-04:00

Put my new Sportiva Raptors on and out the door I went for the first trail run of the year. Although it was very windy out and not as warm as it was, one of the many good things about trail running is the wind has little effect on the run. As was today's run. The first part of the run past Ferndale was very wet dodging mega puddles was a challenge and much mud was stepped in. After crossing Ardagh and getting into the more wooded areas, snow was more visible, actually it was more like ice. The trails were definitely soft and cushy and it was a change to run the hilly trails which felt very good and challenging. Surprisingly I only came across one person and his dog on the trails, and the dog kept his ground. I had a laugh at the guy walking his dog with beer in hand. soem of the trail where there was less exposure to sunlight etc. deeper in the bush ahd a lot more snow on them, but they were still runable. The biggest obstacle were the various trees down here and there. But it was a good run except for switching the garmin off part way through and forgetting to switch it back for about 3k. Oh well. 13k, in about 1:15. The start of a long season of trail running.

A good Sunday Run

2011-04-10T12:47:00.000-04:00

I was a little apprehensive this morning, not sure what t expect from my calf, but at the same time thinking that if I took it easy I would be ok. I met up with Roger, Terry, John, and Alan and started on a nice easy pace. Gradually letting the rest pull ahead except for Roger who was quite happy to lag behind with me. Roger has also been dealing with a few calf problems so I was in good (or bad) company, well misery loves company!
we ran out to the 5th/6th similar to last week and it was a very pleasant morning for a run, not too warm and definitly not cold like it has been. We turned up the 1st line and headed towards the highway and were running along at a decent pace, but taking a break at each 5k point. We changed up the plan a little approaching the Gore Rd., and decided to head that way to hwy 93 before heading back into town. I wasn't too worried about distance, it was about getting in a decent run pain free. By the time we got to 93 it was raining more steadily, which felt good as we both like running in the rain. Onto Georgian Drive, past the hospital and down Duckworth to Rose headed back on various roads to finish 21k in about 1:52 feeling none the worse for wear albeit a little soggy.
About 3/4 of the way trhough our run, Roger joked about that he can just see us a bout 50 yards from the store and we'll have a crack of thinder and it will down pour on us. Funny thing is he wasn't far off. About 50 yards to go and there was a bit of lightning and thunder, but the rain just stayed steady. A good run today. Made me feel confident for my trail race next week. Get to try out my new Sportiva Raptor trail shoes tomorrow. Hopefully the trails are clear, at least somewhat.

Rooting for Others

2011-04-10T07:16:00.000-04:00

Yes I'll still be running this morning, but I'll alos be keeping my fingers crossed for RickyMac in St. Louis trying to get a 3:29 time in the Marathon to qualify for Boston, KevO is pacing him. God luck to them and TMac in the race. Also racing today is Theo all the way over in Holland running the Rotterdam Marathon, hope you have a good one Theo. They've all been running so well it shouldn't be an issue.

A Down Week in More Ways Than One

2011-04-09T17:03:00.000-04:00

So after getting through last weekends long runs and having a sore left calf, I thought it would be a good time to have a down week (mileage wise). Thinking about the couple of high mileage weeks I had just done, I figured it was about due.
So no run on Monday or Tuesday, just some stretching and some core work etc.
Wednesday would just be an easy run with the group and I wouldn't even run from home. So getting ready on Wednesday I got this thought that maybe I'd run with the Vibrams on tonight. It was nice out, probably warm enough, so what the heck! In the back of my mind a tiny voice was saying "you may want to think this through first". I didn't and off I went. One thing I was thinking about was that forefoot striking was apt to make the calf muscle work harder, and I have a sore calf muscle. Its ok I'll be all right.
So off we went and ran up Owen to the top and I felt great, but coming down the other side, not quite so good. I started to feel my calf a bit, but it wasn't bad. So I backed off and took it slower, eventually settling in at an easy pace with Rick. We took a walk break on Penetanguishene Road before continuing on, by this time everyone else had disappeared. We finihsed on the rail trail and still managed a fairly quick 5:02/km average pace. The Vibrams felt good and other than a rather stiff calf I felt good.
Thursday again I just did stretching, yoga and exercises. I was planning on a little speed play, but thought the better of it, the only smart move of the week!
Friday I felt ok and thought that a run with the group would be ok, so we headed out and I did feel good as we bounded along Eccles and Innisfil St's. But when we turned on to Holgate a slight tightness started in the calf again. By the time we got to the end of Holgate I had to stop and walk as the pain was more acute. Roger saw me walking and turned back to walk with me, I told him to go on, but as he has also been going through some tough runs lately he was ahppy to just keep me company. We walked for a while and tried a short run, but it wasn't feeling good so I kept walking. We had to avoid all the dog crap that Brian's dog had left behind on the sidewalk on Burton. He runs with his dog and his dog is good, but he forgets to look behind him to check on what his dog is doing, sometimes draggin her while she tried to crap.
Anyway, on to the path along the lake we walked to just past the Southshore community centre and I decided to try it again and this time it was ok, tender but ok. We ended up running all the way back with out dificulty.
Still averged only a 6 min/k pace.
I learned two things from this week, 1) no vibrams while I'm hurting or recovering 2) no speed work while doing the same. Hopefully I'll be able to run a nice slow long run on Sunday, we shall see.

Sunday Recovery "Long" run

2011-04-03T13:01:00.000-04:00

Another Sunday morning and off to the Running Room for a run with the usual suspects, but I was sure today I wouldn't see much of them. After 41k yesterday I was going to take it easy and just do my own thing and it wasn't long before they were disappearing into the sun... rise I guess, not sunset like the cowboys do. Alan stuck with me I was going more his pace around about 5:15 - 5:25 pace. At 5k I took a break and I guess it too long for Alan as he took off. I think he figured I would catchup and probably would have, but the call of nature required that I water the brush. We went out to the 5/6th side road and back around with the intent of coming back on Georgian Dr., but I found the wind irritating again and as everyone else but Alan were just a blip on the horizon, I figured 16k would be good enough today and headed back down the first line. I assumed I'd run into others on this popular route, but know one was to be seen, just me and all my friends today. I looked behind at one point and saw that Alan had doubled back and followed me, but I wasn't going to stop and wait at his point. Just get back and get it done. And that was how it ended, short and sweet 16k. Felt ok, maybe a little tired.

Ontario Ultra Series Warm up Event

2011-04-03T12:52:00.000-04:00

Well today would be a test of my recently gimpy left calf and how well I could pace myself. It was the Ontario Ultra Series Spring Warm Up event and it would by my first time attending this informal fun run. I thought this would be a good chance to see how I'm doing on what was advertized as a rather hilly run. Hilly was an understatement!
I picked up Catherine and Bill up at 7:30 and off we went west to Dunedin. I thought Dunedin was a place in Florida where the Bluejays play in the spring, but this Dunedin (tiny place) was established in 1834 according to the sign on the way in. It should be noted that the village is in a valley and the only way out is up!!! We got there early and mingled with some of the other early arrivals, talked to a few that had done Burning River last year So talked to them, one lady Sharon Zelinski said that she didn't like the fact that she had never chafed as much in her life and in as many places either. The humidity was what caused it for her, and others. Myself I chaf less in the humidity as I sweat so much it aacts as a lubricant, so...

Anyway the race got off to a late start (only by a few minutes), but off we went down the main street, before turning up, and I mean up the first left, we climbed, more or less for 2k, a few quick downhills thrown in for good measure too. I ran with Bill and Catherine for a bit, but kept leaving them behind so I would double back to them and do the same again over and over for a bit. We were probably the last few on the course at this point. Eventually we would turn left again on a "road" that was not maintained in the winter and there was still lots of snow on it, about part way through on this road I was thinking maybe I should have worn trail shoes today. Oh well too late now.

Out of a small ravine we came out of the snow to continue on what was now a dirt road, this took us to County Rd. 9 and another climb to the Noisy River trail (part of the Bruce Trail). this was also mostly snow covered, slightly muddy and down hill to start. The downhill was rather tricky as it was slippery. down to the Noisy River and over a small wooden walking bridge. The other side of the trail went straight up a icy/snowy hill. There were a number of us at this point and we were scrambling which ever way we could to get up the hill, at what we thought was the top it was just snow covered. THe hill continued on around the corner and we climbed some more before coming to a break in the trail where another non maintained road cut across. At this point there is a choice follow the trail or turn right on the "road". everyone in front was taking the trail so I followed. This turned out to be the tougher of the 2 alternatives and regretted it to a certain degree, yes it was very pretty back there, but the snow was bothering my calf and I thought I was going to do some damage. It took along time to get through the trail with people walking in front when it didn't seem necessary, and you couldnt pass. if it wasn't snowy it was icy. Eventually we came out on another small road and followed this to larger road. This last road flowed downhill steepily for about 3k to Dunedin again. Again I was afraid of going to fast down the hill and doing damage to my calf. But it held up alright. I stopped quickly in the community centre for a pee and some munchies, there wasn't much else to eat. A hand ful of chips and I was off, I grabbed a Lara bar out of my camelback and ate it as I started the second loop, again more of the same except the wind was getting stronger. At the decision point on the Bruce trail I opted for the road. It was staright up for about 1k so a walk break was welcomed, but even walking up it was tough. I turned on the townline and followed it to the last road back to the community centre again. The townline was good, a rolling dirt road and other than the lady walking her dogs, that weren't to friendly, whats it take to carry a leash and put them on it when you see someone, or even to call your dog to you when it is barking 3 inches from my leg. This was a quiet run.
After the 2nd loop I figured I had at least another loop in me and decided to change tops, getting off the sweaty stuff and to fresh clothes make a big difference. Other than a bit more walking the third loop was again uneventful, hardly saw a sole out there, thought I'd take a road which I wasn't sure would get me to where I was going (it didn't), so had to turn back. Finally finished with 41k under my belt, feeling good after 5 + hours. A rather successful day. Bill and Catherine finished 2 loops and seemed happy with that.

What Now?

2011-03-30T20:53:00.001-04:00

Yesterday during my run near the end I felt tightness in my left calf. I brushed it off and continued even though I knew it was still there Well today it came back again, but earlier in the run, actually right off the start. I think it was from running downhill on Mapleton, a bitch of a hill to run up, but probably worse to run down. Today I ran to the Running Room and then a short run with the group before heading home again. Once I got to the Running Room I thought that may be it, but once we got going up Owen it actually felt good, all the way up the hill it was good. As soon as we finished the hill we were going down and it started to hurt a little again. I turned arpund after a while back to the Running Room in a walk, run, walk motion. Before heading home in the same manner. Now that I sitting down I have iced it and now I am icing it. Let hope it just needs a little rest and attention.

Difficult Day

2011-03-30T07:09:00.000-04:00

Yes it has been a difficult day, a stressful one. If there was one thing to look forward to it was my run after work. Hopefully it would help me unwind.
I ran my usuall Tuesday run, a hilly first half and it actually was good, felt smooth. I didn't rush it at all, but was still moving along at a good pace. If there was a down side it was when I was finished the last hill, my phone connection couldn't pick up Slacker Radio, and although I kept stopping to check it wouldn't connect, so I ran the rest of the run sans music. No big feat since I never used to run with music, but I'm getting used to it to. Anyway finished a little slower than usual for this route, even though it was a nice day, unless you ran into the wind. I ran into it down Mapleton, holy shit was it cold. Not quite shorts weather yet, but getting there. Today it is supposed to be up to 7C so maybe, just maybe... Looks like the trails are going to be a few weeks away yet. The ones I've seen are still very icy looking. Till tomorrow!

A Weekend of Running

2011-03-27T13:09:00.000-04:00

Dosen't sound like anything new for me, but thats what it was and two different days. I dreaded going out yesterday morning witht e forecasts predicting cold and biting winds etc, today was supposed to be much better. Surprise, surprise they got it wrong. I got up and was out the door by 7:30 (early for me) and soon found that I had over dressed, there was no discernable wind just crispy cold. So by the time I got to Patterson and Tiffin I had do something about it. I was able to take an extra vest off and stuff it in my camel back pocket, and that made a big difference. So off I went towards the lake and around the north shore towards Oro. My first stop after 5 k was on the north shore trail and soon found out that I should have put the camel back under my jacket, it was frozen so no drink just yet. I adjusted and put my jacket over top and on I went. The next stop was on the first line just before the first hill, past the parking area. That was good timing because I don't like that hill, so I wlked up it and felt good. On I went up the first line, up the next big hill before turning onto the Gore Rd. At this point the wind had picked up and I decided to put my balaclava on. The wind was biting although lite from the north. Just before the next hill it was break time again, good timing. I wasled upto Hwy 93 adn continued running upto to Partridge Rd. west and over the 400 Hwy. This part was tough, a cross wind and I was tiring a bit, and starting to hurt a little. As I turned up towards Pooles Rd on a section of rolling hills, i felt pretty good, but needed another walk on Pooles. Thats when I realized how much the walk breaks were making me feel re-energized.
Into Midhurst I got past St.Vincent and I was 25k time for a drink and a walk break. THis one would be my longest as I wlked right through Midhurst for 1k before starting up again. At Bayfield I turned back towards town, I wrestled with this route and decided this would be the lesser of two evils. Either straight through to Wilson and the long up hill climb back into town or Bayfield to Carson to Anne. Neither was appealing, but it was the onyl way home at this point. It was 1k from Snow Valley Rd. to Carson Rd. and at this point I was in need of another break, but ran the entire hill up Carson Rd., turned on Anne and at 30k took a gel break. Back in Barrie!
The last 8k or so were a bit of a struggle, but I had the wind at my back and it was mostly down hill. Over all a successful 38.4k in just under 4 hours.
This morning I felt good and when I got to the Running Room there was only Roger, Theo and Alan and no one seemed to enthused. Theo was doing about 16k, Alan 30kish and Roger just nodded his head, whatever. We started on the long Tiffin Route out to Wellington at a nice easy pace. Stopped at the end of Edgehill for a drink and quickly got going again (not a long enough break I was thinking). Onto to Tiffin I was feeling good, just wondering where Theo was going to take us next. Well it was Innisfil to Holgate, I stopped at Essa for a gel and let Alan catch up briefly before starting up again. Roger and Theo didn't stop as Roger was finding his leg bothering him each time he stopped. They were a long way ahead by this time, good I can do my own thing now. I might have thought that, but couldn't help trying to reel them in. At Minets Pt. I saw Roger and Theo waiting, but I had decided to head to Royal Oak to add the distance required to get in 20k, so pointed to them that, that was what I was going to do. So I headed along Tollendahl on the sidewalk and when I went to cross to the bike path, looked around and there was Roger right behind me. Oh well Ihope he doesn't mind running slow. I also noticed Alan bringing up the rear. We did the Royal Oak loop and turned back and that was when the wind hit us, biting cold. It was tough running back but we got it in and finshed the 20k in 1:47. 101k for the week and none the worse for wear!
Next Saturday is the OUS warm up event in Dunedin. Upto 6 hours of running should good to talk to the other ultra veterans.

Great Information For Ultra Running

2011-03-25T21:55:00.002-04:00

I found this good blog written by a guy in England that is full of great information and stories, very witty too. It can be found here Running and Stuff

Friday night Run in the Freezing Cold

2011-03-25T19:52:00.000-04:00

Ok, when is this freezing cold weather ever going to stop? It was about -8C tonight, without the windchill and it was windy! I've had it up to here with this and the forecast isn't much better. Tomorrow I plan to go for a long, long run and it is going to be about -12C in the morning and breezy, so it ain't gonna be fun.
As for tonight, got off to a great start by forgetting my garmin (maybe a blessing in disguise). So off we went and it felt hard and cold, but we seemed to be going rather pedestrian like so I wasn't complaining. We did the Trailer park loop so it was around the bay to start. On th eother side I asked Theo what the pace was and he said we were about 4:53/k, I didn't want to be going that fast tonight and neihter did he. We tried to slow it down, but oliver and Rickymac pulled ahead (and they're running ATB on Sunday). Oh yeah, we left without Alan, he had phoned to say he was going to be late, but we wited an extra five minutes and no sign of him so we left. How does a guy without a job be always late? We saw him, and he saw us as he was pulling on to Bayfield at Lakeshore, so he knew where we were going.
We stopped on Holgate for a breather and alan caught up, after that the run seemed to get a little easier, especially on Innisfil St., no less windy or cold but...
We finished with the wind finally at our back and felt rather good, averaging 5:02 pace for 9.4k. A decent run.

Another Day another Longish run

2011-03-24T17:28:00.000-04:00

So I was messing about with the idea that I should run to the Running Room tonight and then do the regular run, which isn't anything new, but with the weather the way its been I've been easily persuaded otherwise. So on my way home from work I figured to hell with the weather I'm going anyway. So about a quarter to six I head off on my extended route to the RR, via Ferndale and Edgehill its ends up being about 7k there. Today though the wind was in my face the whole way and it felt cold. I didn't feel bad running just cold, and then to top it off, Hellaina shows complaining about how warm it is. I explained to her that she ran with the wind at her back and may find it different running in the other direction.
So a larger than normal group of us headed out INTO the wind towardsthe east, along Kempenfelt Dr. and up Crestwood/ I was feeling good at this point and knew I shouldn't be going as fast as I was, but as usual ignored myself. By the time we got the top of Crestwood I was tired and knew I would have to slow down, but did I? Noooooo, after we got going again we regrouped and wasn't until we got to Georgian and Johnson that I knew it was going to be a tough run back. I backed off and waited for Peter to catch up and ran with him. Peter used to be a very, very fast runner, but suffered a stroke a few years ago and has taken a long time to recover. He has logically looked at his running differently and now runs for comfort not speed. I found his pace a little too slow, but kept with him the whole way back. The last couple of k were a bit of a struggle, but ended up with 18.4k avergaing about a 5:15/k pace.
Thinking about the weekend already and what I'll do. Looking at looonnnggg run on Saturday and a map picked out, 40k or so, but very slow with lots of walking.

A Good Run

2011-03-23T07:18:00.000-04:00

So it must be Tuesday. Finished another busy day at work getting a report ready for Toronto Hydro and found I was a little early, so lets get off to home and get my run in, wolf down some dinner and off to the movies to see the new movie by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost "Paul". Not all of it worked out quite that easily.
Got home and got ready, I was hungry so I had to have a quick bite nad settled on a toasted almond butter and jam sandwich. Got dressed and off I went. Again deciding what to wear wa an issue, almost as bad as a womend going out for the night. Anyway decided to over dress as it seemed rather cold out, and yes I was over dressed! There was a cold wind from the east, but not too bad. I climbed up my street to Ardagh and then towards Essa before turning up into the subdivision and the start of a series of hills before I made my way to Ferndale and across Cumming (nice name for a street). Cumming has the hardest hill on the route, but it is also the last one. For some reason today, and it is good, I felt like I was floating as I was running. Not all the time, but I'd look down and feel like this was easy. Maybe it was all the breaks I got at the start of my run. I was trying to get soem podcasts to listen to on my phone as I ran, I had downloaded some earlier and tried to get them started, the first one was called Endurance Planet, so I thought that would be good, but started it and find out it has two things I can't stand; its mostly about Ironman and it is Austratlian (gags)! Both are so into themselves and arrogant... I just hear Australian accents and I immediatley wnat ot shut off. SO that wasn't an option, all the other ones I tried were crap too.
Settled for and eventually got working Slacker Radio and the Mogwai Channel again and the soothing feelings settled in again, LOL!
The run contiued very well the run up the hill on Cumming was difficult as usual but walked a bit at the top and had a gel, then got going again. Got stopped for traffic a few times, Essa, Veterans, Veterans again. Essa again. But I take them as rest stops and re-enrgizes me. Along Mapleton and down the big hill to Ardagh and home. In total 14.7k in 1:16 for a 5:11 pace. The only hurting happend coming down the Mapleton hill, which has been the norm. Overall a good run and quite satisifed.

Had a quick shower afterwards, ate dinner and off to the show.
When we got to the cinema we found out that Paul was sold out, so we decided on Limitless. I had heard good things about it and it was the top grossing movie of last week so...
Great movie, and I wont tell you anymore.
Till the next installment.

A Rest Day.

2011-03-21T18:28:00.000-04:00

Yes today is a rest day and its well needed for a number of reasons. A 100 km week last week and a toguh day at work after the large transformer fires at Richview TS this past weekend that I have to report on to my various customers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jc3xfXyZqFI&NR=1

So tonight I'm going to do some general exercises and yoga. Concentrating on core. I still have a lot to do to get my strength to where it needs to be, each run longer than 10k with no walks causes some discomfort so I am far from cured. Each run brings lingering doubts, but I still think positively about what is to come and that my training hasn't really been on track the way I am supposed to be training. Slowing down and more walk breaks are the way to go.
Just a short post today>

Second of the Double Long Runs

2011-03-20T21:19:00.001-04:00

Sunday always comes too quickly and this one was no different, but after yesterdays "long" run I was feelign pretty good. I don't prepare fo r long runs like I do for races and I think subconciously that I try to do everything wrong in training so that the races are easier. Not sure if this works, but what the hey!!! I used to stay away from milk like the plague on running days, but through that out the window years ago. This morning it was a bowl of Vector cereal. I'm addicted to cereal and could eat it anytime. So cereal and a cup of tea and tiem to get dressed in my running gear. This time of year is dificult to figure out what to wear, the temperature swings and changes in conditions are like the mood swings of menopausle lady (no offence meant). All ready I headed off to the Running Room to meet up with the usual suspects.
Theo didn't want to do more than 8k and we planned on going up Sunnidale to start and that was out of the question for him. So Roger, Rhonda, Alan and myself headed off to do about 27 to 30k. I was a little concerned about running with a group again as I would have to do the odd walk break to maintain my health. We started off on Sunnidale and into Vespra, stopping for our first walk break at the corner to Barrie Hill Farms a little further than I would have liked, but I felt good at this point. The rolling hills upto Seaton Road followed and we stopped for our first gels at this point. Seaton Rd. has a good down hill followed quickly by a "good" up hill. I stipped at the top of the downhill for a quick bio break and then had to catch up to the others. They stopped a the top of the hill and we regrouped. Still feeling good we climbed the next hill towards Anne St. where we turned right to go back into Barrie.
Back in town we bobbed and weaved through the side streets coming out on Cundles near Duckworth, under the highway (hate that little hill) and then through the college to Cook and again via smaller streets to Johnson. At Johnson and Steel, Roger, Alan and Rhonda turned left as I turned right to head back. We were at 26k at this point and Roger said it was 2k straight back, so 28k would be good for me. Low and behold it was actually 3.6k so my final tally was 29.6k in 2:47 minutes for about a 5:40/k pace. More like what I want, but considering it was only 30k and I have a lot further to run yet. This was a 100k week so that was good, more than I thought I was going to get in so I have to be pleased with that. What does the next week hold? It may be up to mother nature, hopefully she will cooperate because she hasn't at all this winter. Hope your running is going well!!

Cool and Windy Run

2011-03-19T17:58:00.001-04:00

Back at the busy running weekends I guess. Friday night was a 10k run with the usual crowd from the Running Room, minus Theo who is still licking his wounds. He didn't miss much, it was a run to Thunder bridge and back and unfortunately the back part is into a very cool wind. after a day when the temperature flirted with double digits, the temps started to head south just before our run and we felt it coming back. And then had a miserable fat lady try to run me off the road, because she didn't think we should be on it. Meanwhile there was no one but her on the road. We gave her our two cents worth. Got back and just couldn't get warm. Had a headache and decied we weren't going to go to the St. Paddy's party at Scott and Zoe's. I had to get up and run again in the morning anyway.
Fast forward to this morning and I got up early enough to be out the door by 8:15 and off I went to who knows where. It was cold this morning especially if you ran into the north. I had my phone with me and had a podcast downloaded to listen to, Dirt Dawg, Sounded interesting, a guy who does ultras, but unfortnately in this epsiode he mainly talked about basketball (not my favourite topic at all), eventually I switched it too Slacker Radio and put on the Mogwai channel. Great stuff. I ran to County Rd. 27 off Ardagh and then south up THE hill. After I passed Mapleview I looked to the right and saw what I thought was a deer in the farmers field about 200 m away, it noticed me and looked and when it turned to face me I realised it wasn't a deer but a large coyote and it watched me until I was gone. I turned on to Salem Rd. and had a cross wind, but at least it is mostly sheltered along there. After a while I noticed my hip/hamstring/glute starting to act up again. I guess I was not taking enough walk breaks and maybe going a little faster than I needed to, especially by myself. After 22k it was more of a challenge, but finished 27.8k in 2:34 for about a 5:34/km pace. Still way faster than I need to.
Tomorrow is supposed to be another 27k with the group, but I will try and not push the pace. I would have pastoed the map of the route I did and the elevation profile, but the Garmin had a problem downloading for some reason. Maybe tomorrows will instead. Hopefully it is warmer too.

Ultra Running taken to the extreme by a Canadian.

2011-03-18T15:43:00.000-04:00

An article that appeared in the Hamilton Spectator last November.

She swears that someday soon she’s going to take up knitting. Something that’s stagnant that doesn’t take the better part of a day to complete. An activity that doesn’t require tons of travel, loads of vacation time and oodles of organization.

But that’s for later. Tomorrow, Monica Scholz will be working on completing a 100-mile race near Collingwood. As in, 160 kilometres. Which, for the record, she’s running, not driving.

Remarkable as that is, the accomplishment is made exponentially more astonishing by the fact that it’s her world-record 25th such race of the year. An achievement that makes most casual runners and every non-runner ask the same head-shaking question.

Is she crazy?

“No,” she deadpans. “Thirty would be crazy.”

Clearly, putting more miles on her shoes than some people put on their car hasn’t cost her a sense of humour. Make no mistake though, 100 miles times 25 is a long, long way.

By the time today’s race is over – 20 hours after she starts, give or take a few minutes – the 43-year-old will have essentially run from the front door of her place in Ancaster to downtown Los Angeles this year. For those who still can’t grasp how far that is, it’s from her home to Toronto and back, 25 times. Or from Copps Coliseum to Lime Ridge Mall and back, 268 times. This isn’t even counting the thousands of additional training miles she’s logged.

And while she’s not sprinting from start to finish, she’s hardly toddling along either. Those of you who did last year’s Around The Bay Race in over three-and-a-half hours or the 5k in more than 35 minutes – there are nearly 2,000 of you out there who fall into that category – won’t want to hear that she’s moving faster than you.

But back to the essential question. Is she nuts?

People ask her this all the time. Folks play amateur psychiatrist and ask what she’s running from. They wonder if she’s obsessive compulsive. They suspect she may have self-destructive tendencies.

She denies it all. Scholz says she’s merely someone who loves to run. Kind of like Forrest Gump without the cool soundtrack. Or the simpleness. While each effort is tiring – she burns between 400 and 600 calories an hour and often refills on hamburgers as she moves – she says she’s not in pain while running. To the contrary, she’s actually enjoying herself and the camaraderie with the other participants.

It’s been this way since she started back in 1996 as a first-timer in the Ancaster Old Mill 10k race. She finished that run and immediately received her next challenge.

“You get to the finish line and there are all these people with entry forms for a 10-mile race,” she says, launching into the thought process that created one of the greatest distance runners ever. “I just finished a 10k. I wonder if I could do 10 miles?”

Turns out she could. Just as she discovered she could do a half marathon, then a marathon and so on. By the time she did a few 50-mile races, the threshold to serious distance running had been crossed. Someone wrote that it was like she cracked the code. Soon she was doing distances mere mortals can’t even fathom. A hundred miles and longer. Her office shelves are covered in trophies and trinkets from these races. She jokingly calls it her I Love Me wall.

Call it a passion or an obsession or whatever you like, but in 2001 she did 23 of these 100-milers. That was the world record. She’d only planned to do 16, but she discovered some German guy was going for 19 so she added a few to the schedule to make sure she’d have the mark.

That would’ve likely been the end of her record attempts but right after finishing a 100-miler in Jerseyville 20 months ago, another runner suggested she try to break her own mark.

“The suggestion was, before I get too old and decrepit, to try to break it,” she chuckles.

Before she moves to knitting, that is. Her comment.

Days later, she decided to give it a go. All that was left was to sort out the convoluted logistics, which she says is the most-difficult part of the effort. There are 88 of these races held every year but many happen on the same weekends as others. When she looked at which ones she could make without interfering with her work as a lawyer and which ones didn’t overlap, the field was reduced to 34 possibilities stretching from Ancaster to Hawaii. She chose 25.

The first was midway through January. Fittingly, the event was called HURT. Every month since there’s been at least one. In five of those, there have been three. This will be her sixth race since Oct. 2.

Today will also be her 111th overall which has made her a worldwide legend in ultra running circles. The plan was for this one to be the last ever. She thought it would be a nice, symmetrical number to retire on. After all, this kind of life doesn’t come without a cost.

All the travelling is time-consuming. She’s blown most of her Air Miles. Her vacation time is shot. She admits she feels tired all the time. She’s been at this so long, she’s not even sure what normal feels like anymore. The day or two after every race is spent walking a little gimpy. She has to eat constantly to keep her weight up.

It’s why she keeps bringing up the knitting.

She says it so often you wonder if she actually means it. Until you ask what’s next and Scholz momentarily forgets about needles and wool and starts talking about pacing her husband in his attempt to do a 100-miler in January. And completing a bike race she’s had her eye on in France. It’s 1,200 kilometres and has to be completed in 84 hours.

“Can you imagine what you’re butt’s going to be like after 1,200 kilometres?” she laughs.

OK, a little crazy.

sradley@thespec.com

905-526-2440

Here are the races she was doing.

Race # Date Race Name Place
1 January 16 HURT Honolulu, Hawaii
2 February 6 Rocky Racoon Huntsville,Texas
3 February 13 Iron Horse Florahome, Florida
4 February 27 LOST Florida
5 March 5 Coyote Two Moon Ojai, California
6 March 27 Paulinskill Sussex 100 Knowlton, New Jersey
7 April 10 McNaughton Pekin, Illinois
8 April 24 Jerseyville 100 Jerseyville, Ontario
9 May 1 Iron Horse St. Paul, Alberta
10 May 8 McNaughton Pittsfield, Vermont
11 May 15 Keys 100 Key West, Florida
12 May 29 Sulphur Springs Dundas, Ontario
13 June 5 Old Dominion Fort Valley, Virginia
14 June 12 San Diego San Diego, California
15 June 19 Mohican Trail Loudonville, Ohio
16 June 26 Laramie Laramie, Wyoming
17 July 12 Badwater Death Valley, California
18 July 17 Vermont South Woodstock, Vermont
19 July 24 Swan Crest Swan Lake, Montana
20 July 31 Burning River Willoughby Hills, Ohio
21 August 7 Viaduct Trail Lanesboro, Pennsylvania
22 August 21 Leadville Leadville, Colorado
23 August 28 Angeles Crest Wrightwood, California
24 September 4 Grand Teton Alta, Wyoming
25 September 11 Haliburton Haliburton, Ontario
26 September 18 Virgil Crest Virgil, New York
27 September 25 PCT 100 OR Bear To be determined
28 October 2 Arkansas Traveller Ouachita, Arkansas
29 October 9 Oil Creek Oil City, Pensylvannia
30 October 16 Boulder OR Ozark To be determined
31 October 23 Syllamo Blanchard Springs, Arkansas
32 October 30 Javalina Jundred Fountain Hills, Arizona
33 November 6 Pinhoti OR Mother Road To be determined
34 December 11 Ancient Oaks Titusville, Florida

That makes 111 lifetime 100's for Ms. Scholz...congrats, Monica!!!

Is Sping Really Here

2011-03-17T07:00:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was a really nice day after it finally warmed up a bit and the rain stopped, but today promisses to be even better with a high of 13C. Although its a rather chilly -1C right now. Yesterday was a good day for a run and I decided to run from home to the Running Room and then run with the group. So i left about 5:45 and headed to Ferndale through the subdivision and then up to Edgehill, towards Anne and over the 400, Straight along Dnald and to the Running Room via Ross. A good 7k to start. I was quite warm, but didn't feel overlly dressed, 2 layers and a vest on top and shorts. It feels so good wearing shorts. I was sweating profusely when I was in the RR and expected to feel the cold when I went out side again, but it wasn't bad.
Oh yeah, I was finally able to download some apps to my phone and got Slacker Radio back, so used my phne to listen to music for that first 7k, Mogwai Radio, Awesome!
The second part of the run was the "Owen loop" with Rog, Rhonda, Rick, Terry, John, John, Hellaina and Aiden. It was a good run and the group soon split into the different pace group after hitting Otttaway. Ran with Rog the whole way after that and felt fairly good. The odd break here and there definitly helps the glute and hammstring. It was so nice to run in nice conditions. Finished for a total of 17.2k, averaging 5:02 pace, with the stops. Still faster than I need too. But a good day. Today will be a rest day even as the temperature gets upto 13C!!!! woohoo! I will do my exercises and Yoga tonight.

Two Days and Two Posts

2011-03-15T19:15:00.003-04:00

Yes, I think I've started something here! Yes two days in a row I have blogged. Woohoo!
So today I took advantage of a nice day and wnet for one of my hilly 15k runs in the general neighbourhood. Although it wasn't as warm as they were forecasting (what's new there), it was still nicer than it has been in a long time. The run although still faster than I needed to it went well. It helps alot when the weather is nice. 14.8k in 1:12, a hilly run in under 5 min/k pace.
Tomorrow will be warmer still and wet, so I will run from home to the Running Room for our Wednesday run.
Signed up for the Ontario Ultra Series Warm Up event today. April 2nd, 9 am to 3 pm on a 12k loop doing as much as you can run. No set time or distance, just run what you want. 6 hours should be a good training run.

A New Beginning

2011-03-14T16:27:00.008-04:00

Well its been almost two years since my last post here, but I figured its about time to start afresh. I enjoy doing this, but finding the time is always an issue. Hopefully I can make the time as it is a good tool for looking over past events and figuring out where I went wrong or in some cases went right.
So where to begin? I'll go back to last year as it was essentially the nail in the coffin to all my troubles. I started by signing up for multiple races, including my first 100 miler; Burning River in Cleveland, and then peer pressure got signed up for a few more, seven ultras or marathons in 6 months and I was done for the year and then some. Still not completely back to "normal".
It started with the Surf City Marathon in Huntington Beach, California on February 7. What started as a small group of Barrie RoadRunners turned into a crowd and I didn't really enjoy the "crowd". The area was nice and the place we stayed was nice and the race was good. I finished with a very respectable 3:23 and finished very strongly, no signs of apins or such.

Next was a back to back weekend, National Marathon in DC followed the next day by the Shamrock marathon in Virginia Beach. I had done a back to back to back before and actually ran this one well too, but the ride back was a nightmare.
Drove to DC and on a toughish course ran 3:32 (maybe a little quick for the first of a B2B). Another drive to Virginai Beach and Sunday morning we were lined up for Shamrock.
Again I surprised myself in finishing very strong and a 3:38 time.
In April it was off to Dearborn, Michigan for the Martian marathon.
A good event, but unlike the last couple of races I struggled near the end. Finished in 3:14, best time of the year and 1st in my age category. But the pain was there in this race.
I kept telling myself that all of the running/racing would be good for the 100 miler.
Next would be a short drive to Pickering for my first ultra of the year at the Seatn Trail races and I was entered in the 50k or as it turned out 56k. I had done this race 2 years earlier and came 3rd overall. This race would be a little different on the first out and back not 12k in I pulled my calf muscle and thought I was done, I walked it out and limped for quite an while and then ran, wlaked the rest of the way. THough I might quit at half way, but stubborn me continued on. I finished in 5:57, 30 minutes slower than the previous time. Not bad considering. But another injury to deal with.
Pick Your Poison 50k at nearby Horseshoe went well considering. The weather wasn't much better than the year before on I slightly different less muddy course and I finished in 5:15, 9th overall. I came through that one relatively unscathed. The trails make a huge difference.
Next was a half marathon in St. Catharines, the 12 Mile Creek Trail half. Again a good event and not easy. A massive hill at about 11 miles is a killer, I finihsed 13th overall in 1:41, 4th in my age.
Next was the one that really did me in. The Niagara Ultra. I had done this two years ago and struggled the last 10k, this time I struggled from the half way point with bad ahmstring and glute problems that would reoccur through out the remaining races of the year. Probably running on pavement the whole way was apart of the problem. Finished in 4:59 (44 minutes slower than the last time). But this race also featured as Rogers 50th marathon, so "there was much celebrating".
I was just over a month away from doing Burning River, but in the back of my mind I knew I was in trouble, I was having trouble doing 10k training runs, never mind 100 miles. I had a great night time run with a group of friends from Barrie to Orillia and back at the beginning of the month, but it just wasn't going to happen this year and a week before the race I made the decision to back out and let the race director know. From that point on it was try to get better and rehabilitate. I went to Burning River anyway and volunteered at the race sign in and took in the start, on eof the aid stations and the finish to get in the atmosphere. It just made me want to do it all the more. When race registration opened up again I was the third person signed up.
The racing season may have been shot, but it didn't mean I was done doing races. At the start of the year I had signed up for the Lochness and Munich marathons and booekd flights etc. so that were going to happen regardless.
Both races were personal worsts time wise, but the experiences of running two ammazingly beautiful races was second to none. Lochness was 4:12 and Munich 4:23.
Note: I was not nearly trained for either race. I finished the year doing another race that I wouldn't have done if I'd known I would have been injured. A group of us went to Charlotte, NC to do the Thunder Road Marathon and I made the wise choice to change my race to the half marathon and had a decent 1:41 time on a tough course. I struggled a bit, but felt better than I had in a long time.
2011 and the first event of the year is in the books. The Green Jewel 50k in Cleveland, out on by the same folks that do Burning River. On a miserable day (lots of rain and head winds) finished in 4:48 on a tough course.

Hopefully I've learned from last years mistakes and will have a more successfull year to come.

More to come, stay tuned.

Long Time Between Posts

2009-05-19T17:24:00.002-04:00

Unfortunately updating the blog at work is no longer an option, at least for now. The new job is keeping busy most of the time and I don't think they'd appreciate me using their time to update it. So what has been happening?
well the Pick You Poison race didn't go exactly as planned. a driving thunderstorm that started about 5 minutes in and slowed down to just a lot of rain, made for some muddy conditions. Each 12.5k loop got steadily worse and a lot of the 50k runners dropped out after 2 loops, I did finish most of the 3rd loop, but walked most of it. the muddy trails were barely passable. Less than half the starters finished. Oh well, there was no point in pushing to hard as Ottawa is coming up this weekend. I have no expectations for this race, I would like to get in around 3:15, but we'll see. I'll only run on wednesday this week and just rest up.

Pick Your Poison 50k

2009-04-28T11:52:00.003-04:00

Hot off running the Country Music Marathon and obviously feeling good I have signed up for the Pick Your Poison 50k trail race at Horseshoe Resort on May 9th. This race has taken over what used to be the Ganaraska Trail races. 2 weeks after Nashville and 2 weeks before Ottawa, should be interesting. At least I don't have to do any more long training runs.
Hopefully I can get out for a run on the trails tonight.
This is the last couple of days at Barrie Hydro so I am trying to keep my mind occupied. Also waiting for the new car.

Country Music Marathon

2009-04-27T15:15:00.003-04:00

After a long drive to Nashville, via a stay over in Louisville, Kentucky, we arrived and noticed that there are a few hills in Nashville. This would become significant later. First impressions are always important and the expo left a good impression, very well done and organized. It was a large expo, but I didn't find everything I was looking for.
Downtown Nashville (Broadway) was nothing but cheesy souvenir shops and bars with bands playing (not all country). It was not bad.
Race day again was well organized, busses took us from the finish area to the start at Centenial Park. We took our time walking around and taking in the sites. Eventually it was time to get to our corals leaving RIck and wishing him good luck at the 7th coral, Bill and I proceeded to the 2nd coral. Looking behind we got a look at what 32000 people look like, although we couldn't see beyond the 25th coral. Soon the race started, it was done in waves, each coral a couple of minutes apart. We were off about 2 minutes after the gun and right iff my Garmin has an illegible message on it. From this point on I couldn't get the garmin working. So I had no pace, or virtual runner. That would make pacing Bill a bit of an issue. Anyway I could still keep him moving and hoepfully get him in at 3:15 or less. THe start was downhill , but immediately we could see the first up hill ahead, followed by another downhill to downtown and then after turning a few corners we were uphill for a long climb followed by more of the same. It seemed that if we were not climbing we were going down. With Bill having knees issues the weeks before the race it was no surprise that he started to have problems, I could tell because he was getting quiet. Each aid station meant a walk break for Bill, when we left the half marathoners it got easier to move around on the streets. But it was at this time that Bill said he doubted whether he could even continue. I knew that qualifying was not possible now as the heat had become as much of a problem as the hills. At this time I left Bill with hiss blessing and started to get up to a pace that I felt good with and I was passing people by the handfull. At this part of the race I felt good and picked up a lot of ground. It wasn't until I got back into the downtown area that I felt things start to get a little harder. A long climb to the bridge where I had to manouver around the half marathoners again, who had rejoined our part of the course. The last loop around Shelby park was a struggle especially 22 to 25 miles. Once I hit 25 miles I knew I had only to drag myself in. I was still running strong and finished well. 3:27 not bad on a bad day and tough course. Bill finished in 4:19 and Rick in 5:00. Both were slightly disappointed, but after thinking about the conditions were happy to have finished.

One Week till Country Music (Arrgh)

2009-04-17T15:01:00.002-04:00

This time next week I'll be in Nashville preparing for the Country Music Marathon. Other than the Country Music part, it will be nice to run in another part of the world I haven't seen before. One problem that is looming on the horizon is the long range forecast. 26C and humid, not good. I don't handle racing in the heat and especially the humidity very well.
I'm going down with Rick and Bill. Bill is trying to qualify for Boston and needs 3:15 so I should be able to pace him in for a qualifying time, if everything goes well. Bill has been struggling with some knee issues and my left foot hurt after last Sunday's long run. So we shall see. Wednesday's run went really well though.

Posting at Last

2009-04-08T10:57:00.002-04:00

Yeah I know, I've been slacking big time on the posting scene here. Unfortunately I just haven't had the time with other things taking priority. Keeping the RoadRunners blog up to date has been a challenge lately, as it seems the racing season is starting to heat up. I was sick from last Thursday till Monday, still recovering, but much better. And more importantly the possibility of a change in employment, which has kept me on edge this past week or so. Hopefully that will all come to light tomorrow.
As for running, the past 2 Tuesdays I got in my first speed workouts of the year. Missed last night, due to company visiting. Last Sunday was supposed to be a 36k run, but the cold dragged my ass down and I couldn't get out of bed, probably just as well. The Sunday before the miserable weather cut our long run short, so the long runs just haven't worked out lately. Hopefully this Sunday will be better. Only 2 weeks to Nashville.

Work, Work, Work, Work, Work...

2009-03-20T14:13:00.002-04:00

It has been almost a month since my last post. A combination of reasons good and bad. We went to the Dominican for a week at the beginning of the month for some much needed R'n'R, maybe a little too much. Once back to work it has be go, go, go. I don't think I've been this busy in years. Getting in runs has not been as difficult, but the recovery from our holiday has made the transition to training not as easy.
Once back I decided to forgoe the Ilinois Marathon, partially due to my brother Todd visiting from Hong Kong, but I don't think I'd be ready in a couple of weeks anyway. So I signed up for Nashville on April 25th, Rick McLean asked me if I'd be interested in going down with him and Bill Lovett. So after checking the schedule I decided "what the heck".
So after getting the long run back up to 31k last Sunday, and running a few tempo runs this week, all I have to do is get in some speed work. The weather at least has been cooperative, all the snow is gone and some warm weather this past week has made it nice for running. It has cooled off the past few days, but still sunny. Hopefully next week I can start some speed work. I have felt sluggish for quite a while and hopefully the speed work will step things up a bit.

Snowy Peterborough

2009-02-23T09:19:00.003-05:00

I have been having trouble trying to understand how a I feel about my result on Sunday. Although conditions were not ideal, it was a flat course and the second half the roads were fairly well clear of snow. So by rights I should have run a good second half and I thought a sub 1:30 was possible. Other than the last 4 - 5k I struggled to get into a good rythym for most of the race.
The hour before the race we watched the blizzard like conditions outside of the YMCA, switched shoes and debated on whether or not to change clothes. I settled on the trail shoes (XT wings) and for going the jacket. The temperature was not bad, about -1C, but there was a strong wind form the south west. By the time we got to the start line the sun came out and it felt nice. We met Rick, Tracey and Jim at the start area and got ready to go. The first half of the race was a case of looking for good footing as everything was snow covered and slippery, but we were close to maintaining a 4:15/km pace. At about 4k Brendan took off, I either couldn't or didin't have the desire to chase him (more likely the latter). At about the same time I guess I was pulling away from Jamie too. As well as the slippery footing we had to battle the head wind to the turn around. The route back should have been easier with the wind at our back and most of the snow cleared from the road, but it didn't seem to matter. Brendan was now out of sight. With about 5k to go I felt a surge and pushed harder and finished strong coming in at 1:31:57. Brendan finished in 1:28 and Jamie was only about 15 seconds behind me, so he finished very strong. Jamie's time was a PB. Mine was my 12th best time in half, and considering that the last time I ran this race was in 1:32 on a tougher course in much worse conditions, it makes a overall dissapointing result. Why? I don't know. I had no aspirations going into the race, so I hsouldn't be dissapointed. Maybe it as the shoes, although I think they were required for the first half, the Xt wings tend to be heavier and stiffer. Anyway now I know where I stand, and that more work is to be done. But that will have to wait, as I have a week in the Dominican coming up this Saturday and there will be no running going on, just lots of rest and relaxation.

This Weekend

2009-02-19T13:11:00.002-05:00

This coming Sunday (22nd) is the 31st annual Peterborough Half Marathon. I haven't done this race in quite a few years and the course has changed, supposedly flatter and faster. Although I'm not sure you can run fast in Peterborough in February. As it turns the weather may not be in our favour, with it calling for snow and cold temps. The last time I did this race we had a flash freeze in the middle of the race, snow covered roads and windy. The years before that I ran in shorts, unbelievable for February. Well it won't be shorts this year. I know Jamie was looking for me to pace him in for a sub 1:30, but I think that may be a challenge if the roads are snow covered.
My lead to this race has been quite good. A couple of my usual hilly, tempo runs (15k) the past couple of weeks a speed work out on the treadmill last week. I'll have another run on Friday and that will be it. The beauty of Peterborough is the race doesn't start until 12:30pm. Even driving from Barrie we can still sleep in and get there in plenty of time.
The shoes I won at Ghost Town finally arrived on Tuesday (Saucony Paramounts). So as I was alone at home after work I decided to take them for a test run (the 15k hilly tempo run mentioned above). They felt good, comfortable on the feet. I'm not sure if I'll wear them on Sunday or not though.
1 week and 2 days and we're off to the Dominican (Samana for 7 days). Looking forward to some sun and warm temperatures. Nothing but RnR.

What's new.

2009-02-13T15:54:00.004-05:00

It has been a while since my last post. I don't have any excuses except laziness. The running has been going good, especially as the weather has been getting slowly better. Except last Wednesday when it was stupidly cold and windy, so I didn't run. Last Sunday I got the mileage up to 36k, surprising myself, and it felt good. Then on Monday I did a hilly "tempo" run, probably not normally a good idea the day after a long run. But again it felt good. Tuesday was a rest day and then Wednesday I woke up with a sore leg, which wouldn't go away. I thought that maybe I had overdone it and it was going to be one of those injuries that stops me running. As usual I ignored common sense and went out for the usual Wednesday run and the soreness disappeared. Last night was the Powerstream/Barrie Hydro meet and greet followed by the Colts game. Which went well. No running so it was another good rest day. 1 week to Peterborough.

Peterborough

2009-01-30T20:39:00.002-05:00

So I signed up for the Peterborough Half Marathon tonight. It's been a few years since I've done this race and the course has changed to a flatter easier route, but the weather doesn't change. February in Peterborough can be brutal, althought the first 2 races I did there I wore shorts, so lets keep the fingers crossed. This is also my first half in quite a while too. I don't think I ran one last year. I see Jamie has signed up and Roger is talking about it.

Recovery

2009-01-26T09:37:00.003-05:00

I week has gone by since Ghost Town and the recovery has been good. Struggled a bit last week, but ran 17k yesterday in the cold and felt good.
Some other developments last week: Went to Running Free to check out shoes so that I could order something from Fleet Feet in Albuquerque. I was thinking of trail shoes to replace the XT wings as the one lace had broke and they were approaching the end of their life anyway. In talking to the Rep at Running Free she told me that the Laces are not supposed to break under any circumstance because they are Kevlar laces and to bring them in and they would replace them. So I did and they did. I couldn't believe it, I now have a bran new pair of XT wings for nothing.
Also ordered a pair of Saucony Paramount shoes from New Mexico, should be here in about 4 weeks.

2009-01-22T16:14:00.000-05:00

For all you Americans out there that are unfamiliar with Celsius:

The Official Canadian Temperature Conversion Chart

50° Fahrenheit (10° C)
Californians shiver uncontrollably.
Canadians plant gardens.

35° Fahrenheit (1.6° C)
Italian Cars won't start
Canadians drive with the windows down

32° Fahrenheit (0 ° C)
American water freezes
Canadian water gets thicker.

0° Fahrenheit (-17.9° C)
New York City landlords finally turn on the heat.
Canadians have the last cookout of the season.

-60° Fahrenheit (-51° C)
Mt. St. Helens freezes.
Canadian Girl Guides sell cookies door-to-door.

-100° Fahrenheit (-73° C)
Santa Claus abandons the North Pole.
Canadians pull down their ear flaps.

-173° Fahrenheit (-114° C)
Ethyl alcohol Freezes.
Canadians get frustrated when they can't thaw the keg

-460° Fahrenheit (-273° C)
Absolute zero; all atomic motion stops.
Canadians start saying "cold, eh?"

-500° Fahrenheit (-295° C)
Hell freezes over.
The Toronto Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup

Ghost Town Results

2009-01-22T14:52:00.000-05:00

Ghost Town results and stats can now be found at Ghost Town

Ghost Town

2009-01-22T09:49:00.009-05:00

Now that I have had a few days to gather my thoughts, it's time to give you my report of the weekend in New Mexico.
Firstly my thanks to Susan Reynolds, the race director, who put on a great event. Not only the race, but everything leading up to it and since.
Our weekend started Thursday night when Jamie Nielsen picked me up in the freezing cold (-20C) for our drive down to Buffalo. Although we thought this maybe an adventure due to the snow in Buffalo, it was uneventful. We crossed the border easily got our room and got up at 5:30 to go to the airport across the road. Our flights took us to Chicago and then on to Albuquerque. After arriving in Albuquerque we checked out the Fleet Feet store, one of the sponsors of the race and met the owners Bobby Biles and Rona Van Willigen. Then we had our 2.5 hour drive to Truth or Consequences (yeah, that is the name of the town).
A short 45 minute drive down I-25 and 152 would bring us to Hillsboro and Susan's house for dinner Friday night. Here we met a number of runners, Kurt Rossow from Minnesota, Abi Meadows from Texas among others as well as Susan's family. After a great meal and registering for the race we headed off back to our hotel exhausted.
Saturday we did some touring around and got to see Elephant Butte Resevoir,
the Dam and area, and then we drove down to the Texas border to say we had actually been there. Checked out Las Cruces (nice place) and then part of the race course before going to the pasta dinner.
Race morning we were up at 4:15am, had a quick bite to eat and then off to the race. A "cool" 0C (luxury), greeted us at the start line and 6am we were off in the dark. 10k of running on the road on a slightly up hill grade was a good start to the race. Jamie had to keep reminding me to slow down and we took a few walk breaks to conserve. We pulled into the first aid station (the end of the paved section) in about 59 minutes feeling good and started the gentle climb to aid station 2. We pulled into station 2 in about 1:27 and took a bit of a breather again before tackling some more ominous climbs. At this point we were told there were only 6 runners ahead of us. But that quickly changed as we decided to walk some the hills and a few runners past us. It was starting to get tough and Jamie commented that he thought the altitude was getting to him. I was breathing heavy, but other than peeing way too much I didn't feel the altitdue much.
At the 12.7 mile mark we turned off the road to get into some real narly trail running, this was good, except when we came to a fork in the trail and with no one around we didn't know which way to go. We were just about to take the wrong trail when we heard some one coming down the hill from the top of the spur. So went up, 300feet up to the abandoned mine shaft turn around. At this point we stopped for pictures again and quite a few runners caught us at this point. By the time we reached Station 3 we were in 16th place and still doing alright, but walking the uphills seemed to be a necessity. After the Percha Creek crossing and some narly up hills we came to 2 cones on the right side of the road. Do we turn here? We thought. With no one in front or beyond, we made a decision (apparently the wrong one) and turned right, up the hill and climbed, climbed, climbed through hoof prints, but we couldn't see foot prints, or could we? It wasn't until we hit a patch of snow and NO foot prints did we confirm our fears. We turned around, I seemed to react with more urgency than Jamie, who I think had rightly decided we were just here for the fun of it anyway. From this point to the turn around I slowly started to drift away from Jamie. But at the turn around I waited for him. It was here we found out that we had dropped to 24th (wow, the 2-3k extra had done some damage to our position in the race). Jamie told me at this point to just go on, and this seemed to give me some energy. Although I was still walking the hills I dug down and picked up the pace on the flats (what few there were) and the downhills.
I passed a couple of guys right after the turn around, but from there to Station 6 I saw no one. It was coming into station 6 where I finally met 2 runners just coming out. Could I catch them, I thought? I stopped briefly to talk to the 2 volunteers before heading off. GI issues prevented me from taking in any food. So off I went and about 1 mile from the paved road I passed the first runner. On the road I could see the other runner, but didn't seem to gaining on him. I was running a good pace (when actually running, about 4:30/km), but it was about 3km to go when I rounded a corner and saw the runner only 30 meters in front and knew I would catch him soon. I passed him and cruised in to finish in 6:54. Not bad considering our detour. I had set a goal of 7 hours, so a fairly successful day although I still felt something lacking due to the wrong turn and the thought that I walked far too much.
After finishing Susan came up to me and said "I know you tired, but I have a story to tell you. Last year we had a runner from Quebec who was bound and determined to win the Martin Luther King award, but missed it by 1 spot." So I replied "So I missed it by one spot too?" "No, you won it", Susan said. Neat, I knew I might be close, but didn't think about too much. A new pair of shoes and some other swag, it was a good day. After I changed, I got back just in time to see Jamie come in at 7:21. I was afraid he may have been suffering more than I thought, but he came in strong for the finish.
A mountain of food and refreshments awaited us at the end, so we indulged a bit before saying our goodbyes. Overall a great event, small where you can get to know everyone. A tough course or maybe I should say a challenging course especially for us "low landers". Thanks Susan.

Race results links - Results

Last days 'till Ghost Town

2009-01-13T15:57:00.004-05:00

This coming Sunday is the Ghost Town 38.5 mile race and i am little concerned about the fact that I haven't really got in the training that I would have liked, but not much can be done about that now. The plan is to just go and enjoy, take lots of pictures and meet new people. It will be an interesting race.
The biggest issue I have is which shoes to bring/wear. The original thought was to wear my XT wings and I have been wearing them in training through this crappy weather, but I had also thought about just wearing a road shoe. Anyway I broke one of the fancy laces on the XT Wings and thought that was it for them, but I have been able to fix them up (hopefully they will make it through the race), I'll bring a spare regular lace just in case.

Ghost Town Profile and Map:

The End of the Year

2008-12-31T09:28:00.002-05:00

So 2008 is drawing to a close and tomorrow it will be 2009. As I look back on the past year, I look back on a year that was filled with success. I have continued improving on various fronts, as I have for each year that I have run. Hopefully this will continue in 2009, although as I get older I am sure that one year the improvements will disappear. As it is though, I still feel good and adding different goals other than PB's seems to help keep the interest at a peak. Another thing that keeps the interest going is the potential to travel. Each year I look at races all over, mostly in the US, and this list of places I want to race/visit seems to get longer.
2008 saw me eclipse the 3 hour marathon mark for the first time in Indianapolis, so that will always be a memorable race, but it was a great event regardless of how I did. I also ran 4 marathons this year, another first. Throw into that mix 4 50k ultras (Including the insane Jay Marathon), and my first 50 mile race (JFK)I would say it has been a very successful year. In total I have run 3220 km's and run for 261.5 hours. More distance than I have ever done in one year. I think I have gotten by rather well with only a few minor injuries etc. so hopefully that will continue.
So what does 2009 hold for me? A lot of uncertainty. I have toyed with the idea of doing a hundred miler, although I'm not sure I'm ready for that. I hope to try at least another 50 miler this year, more trail runs/races, more travelling, more marathons, maybe more PB's. It would be nice to do another race like Jay again, that was a blast. Maybe Dances with Dirt.
Anyway, hope anyone who might read this has a great and happy new year. Happy trails!

Another "Winter" Run

2008-12-22T14:18:00.002-05:00

At least it is actually winter now. so that we can legitimately complain about what a crappy winter we are having. This weekend was another round of lousy running conditions. Fridays snow saw us get sent home from work early. That hasn't happened to me since the early 80's. So I went home thinking that running was out of the question and began to clear out the drive way. By the time I was done the sun was trying to come out, so I'm thinking maybe I could get out for a run, although the conditions wouldn't be ideal. I got changed and just before heading out the door Kevin mentioned Roger called to say he wouldn't be there. So as he would be the only one (other than me) to be foolish enough to go out in this, I decided not to go. As it turned out Theo and Hellaina both showed up.
Saturday the Sun was out and I took advantage of it and ran 20k, it wasn't the best, but it would turn out to be better than Sunday. That night Victoria arrived home from England for the holidays, after a long, long series of flights, delays etc.
Sunday I ran from home, met everyone at the RR and then ran home. The roads were slippery, snow covered, it was cold and windy. Just plain terrible. Although on the way home the sun came out and it actually got to warm. More snow today, more snow forecast for tomorrow and the day after... And it's not even January yet. This is going to be a long hard winter.

In or Out

2008-12-17T13:57:00.003-05:00

I had a decision to make last night, run in the cold or wimp out and bore myself to death on the treadmill. Luckily I decided on the outside run, as it wasn't that bad. At least the roads were dry, it was cold, but manageable. Overall a decent run. 16.55k.

Cool Weekend of Running

2008-12-15T19:04:00.002-05:00

Well I had a decent run on Saturday of 19k and then got out Sunday morning for another 29k. So a reasonably successful weekend, although I have been rather sore today, knees unusually.At least it was a little warmer than it has been, although that came to a crashing halt this afternoon as the temperature dropped and the wind howled. Here is a couple of pictures from our run Sunday:

Five Weeks To Go

2008-12-12T15:51:00.002-05:00

While sit here and wait for winter to end before it has even begun, I am trying to figure how to get the resolve to do the long runs needed to properly train for the Ghost Town 38.5 race in January. Although it hasn't been long since JFK I still need to get the distance in and the weather hasn't been co-operating. Hopefully this weekend I can get in the double long runs in I want to. 19k+ on Saturday and 30k+ on Sunday.

Weekend of Easy Running

2008-12-01T10:53:00.003-05:00

After last Wednesday's run I was a little concerned as both knees were showing signs of fatigue and I was afraid that I might do some damage. Friday nights run with Roger and Theo was good, but still a little pain the right knee, otherwise felt good. So going into Saturday's run I was a little apprehensive. I decided to run out Ardagh to Hwy 27, to 90 then up to Edgehill and then up the Ferndale Hill by the dump. I have to start getting some hill work in, so no time like the present. As it turned out I felt great, it was a bit breezy so I dressed warmer than I should have as once I ran with the wind at my back I got too warm. The Ferndale hill was no problem and after that it was just a matter of how far will I go. Once I came down the hill at Sunnidale I decided that it was time to head back, the knees were starting to feel it. Ended up with 19k and finished feeling good. After refueling, I went to Costco and bought a 32inch TV for the living room and spent the next couple of hours setting up . Saturday night was the Costco Xmas party and wouldn't you know it, we won a 32inch Samsung TV. So Sunday I spent unhooking the one I bought and took it back.

JFK Race Report

2008-11-24T15:50:00.005-05:00

My first impressions of JFK are of a low tech, but well run race. It seems to attract runners of all abilities, ages and from far a field. In my previous post I had discussed the issue of temperature and weather to wear shorts or not. Up to half an hour prior to the race, I was still debating. I eventually decided to leave the tights on, boy was I glad of that. Kevin and myself got to Boonsboro and the high school gym a little late. The pre race briefing had already started, that was when I realized that I had left my sunglasses in the car. So I ran to get them and came back as everyone was filing out of the school and towards the start in downtown Boonsboro. When I foudn Kev still in the school he was talking to Dave Champion from Kitchener, who we had come across in the Ontario Ultra Series. He was looking for a similar time to us, around 8 hours, but he had to go to the porta john prior to the race so we left him, hopefully to see him later. It was about half a kilometer walk to the start, but that gave us time to get accustomed to the cool air, and after a while that felt OK.
The gun went off right on time and we slowly started the climb up to Mt. Washington just as the sun was coming up.
The first 9k are more or less straight up, a few dips here and there, but mostly up. We took it farily easy, but still found ourselves passing lots of people as we climbed, once we passed the first aid station we found ourselves on paved trail and climbed more and we walked a lot of the up hills here. To the top of the mountain we felt good, but had to keep reminding each other we had a long way to go. Once the paved trail ended we found ourselves on single track which over time got more technical as we went, to the point where you really had to watch your footing. On this part of the course I got talking to a young guy from Knoxville, TN called CJ, he was only 18. Finally after about 25k we emerged to an aid station which signalled the start of the 26.3 miles of tow path along the old C & O canal. A this point we crossed the rail tracks which have stopped runners in the past, as well as today. We heard trains before we got there and later. We also saw a train go by not long after being on the trail.
The Tow Path was easily the hardest part of the race as far as I was concerned, not for the difficulty of the terrrain or anything, but mentally it was tough get through this part, you get a couple of hours into a race and still know that you have 30k or more before you get a change of scenery. Through out this part of the race we were continually passing or being passed by the same people, most of them seemed to be veterans. Our strategy (if you could call it that) was to run for as long as possible, then walk for a short while, then run again. Along the tow path I thought it might warm up some, but no. The wind was still in our face and it was still cold, glad I left the tights on. This was the first time in a race that I tried hot (actually warm) soup, and it was great. Easy to digest and warmed the insides a bit. Also started to drink Coke at the aid stations. (Probably the most Coke I have ever drank in day since I was a kid).
When we got to the 2nd last aid station on the tow path, there seemed to be a back log of runners. So I didn't linger long and soon we found ourselves alone, I started to second guess whether or not we were on the right trail, but there were no other options. So on we went and gradually we caught up to more runners. We hit the last aid station on the path and turned up a long climb to the "rolling hills", 8 miles to go. At first I found this part hard, Kevin would run ahead and wait at each aid station (which were getting closer together at this point). Now hot chocolate and potatoes were offered, Kevin was getting into the M&M's big time. As we hit the last 3 - 4 miles I seemed to get a spurt of energy and pushed hard and now Kevin started to have issues. Anyway we beat the rolling hills and turned the last corner and pushed it for the last 1/2k into the finish. Finishing at 8:39, 97th & 98th place out 1000 runners. We ran into Dave again and he had finished in 8:08, his better training regime had paid off for him. It's Tuesday now and as I sit here, the stiffness is subsiding and I'm feeling rather good. I didn't feel any worse than if I'd run a marathon, and feel that it I could do that again easily. As I've heard from others, these Ultras are mostly mental and I found that out from about 30k in to about 70k, after that it was toughing it out to finish, which we did.

Preparing for JFK - the night before

2008-11-21T20:34:00.002-05:00

We made to Hagerstown at about 1pm today and checked out where the start of the race is, got checked in, went to the race registration all without any problems. Now we have to figure out what to wear tomorrow. It is supposed to be about -6c in the morning. I was planning on shorts, but that may not be an option. Otherwise it is supposed to get up to 3c, but so was today and it was frigid. We shall see in the a.m.

Week of Preparation for JFK

2008-11-20T13:29:00.002-05:00

Well I got 2 runs in this week after missing my "long" run on Sunday. Monday's run felt awkward and although I was in a good rythym, I felt sore everywhere. Last nights run was a little better, although the conditions weren't that great. A light layer of snow made things a little slick. Tuesday we went down to Ikea and bought too much stuff and have spent much of the time since putting together new furniture. Finished it all up last night. The new TV stand and Sideboard look good, what a difference a little rearranging can do to a room.
Tonight the adventure begins, it looks we've already had to change our planned route as an Alberta Clipper is blowing in from the north west, bringing copious amounts of snow to the lee of the lakes including the Erie, PA area. Which is where we planned on stopping tonight. They are forecast to get upto 18 inches. So we are going to go through corning instead and stay away from the lakes. We still have to go through the mountains. Anyway JFK here we come!

The Great White North

2008-11-16T19:54:00.003-05:00

After a good run on Friday with relatively little soreness, I was looking forward to today's (Sunday) run, but I guess that wasn't to be as we got walloped with the first big one of the year. And so I spent most of last night and today at work helping restore power all over our merrry local communities. So no run today and the weather forcast isn't very good for the rest of the week. Well I'm not missing much as this would be a taper week anyway, rest is as good as it gets. One good point about being in at work most of the night is it is liek training for a over night race to see what is like to stay up all night. Maybe not quite the same, but close.
6 days to JFK.

Marathon Maniacs

2008-11-13T15:14:00.002-05:00

I thought this was rather humerous, but then I realized I was answering yes to a lot of the questions.

If you can answer yes to more than one of these questions you may need to visit the Marathon Maniacs website:

Are you addicted to running marathons?

Do your thoughts switch to the next scheduled race immediately after finishing a marathon?

Are you signed up for more than one race right now?

Do you know specifics about many of the marathons? Dates, courses, years run, etc.?

Do you know the story of how the marathon got started? Also why the course is 26.2 miles?

Do you read books on marathons like Marathon and Beyond?

Is www.marathonguide.com book marked on your computer? Do you look at the race schedule more than once a week?

Do you start to feel down when you haven't run a marathon in a while?

Are your closets and dressers filled with marathon t-shirts?

Do you have so many marathon medals that you've run out of room on the hook they hang from?

When asked about your racing from none running people, do you find yourself talking with great passion to the point that the person that asked the question regrets ever asking?

Have you run marathons on back to back weekends? Or better yet back to back days?

Have you run a marathon as a training run? Or just to pace a friend?

When asked by loved ones what your plans are for the weekend, you feel guilty telling them your running another marathon so you tell them "it's only a half this weekend"?

Do you plan all your vacations around a marathon race?

Well if you answered yes to any of these questions, you just may be a Marathon Maniac!!!

Things Don't Look Promising

2008-11-13T14:34:00.004-05:00

Well I finally got out for a run last night (Wednesday) and it started out alright, but gradually the right ham started to tighten up and the whole leg began to feel tight. I only ran 11k and not that hard. Time to hit the drugs and stretch. Also checking the weather forecast for next week, ouch! Snow here and the temperature hoverign around freezing and not much warmer in Boonsboro. They're also calling for snow when we come home on the 23rd. Hopefully I'll get the snows on before we go.

Tough Run

2008-11-09T15:57:00.004-05:00

Its funny how one week you can feel so good and the next the opposite. Well last weekends long run (45k) went really well, today? Not so good. The plan was to go out for about 5hours or 50k and I had a route all made out. Run down to the RR and meet Kevin and who ever else shows up, do the 40k and run home. I should have known it was going to be one of those days when I grabbed my camelback and it was wet. I thought it was just water coming out of the nozzle, but half way down the road I realized it was more than that as water dripping down my leg and my back was getting wet. It seems the bladder has a leak. So I ran back home to drop it off and pick up my hand held fill it up and on my way, again. It was cool this morning, bu tI didn't notice the wind as it was at my back. So then I ran a little harder than I should, because was now late. Got down to the RR and found we had Roger, Nancy, Jamie, Theo, Hellaina and Kevin all there. So off we go and soon found that the wind was going to be a problem when turned into it. That's when I noticed how cold my hands felt, whether it was the cold or the fact that my gloves were a little wet from the camelback fiasco... Anyway Roger soon lent me his little gloves which helped. Nancy, Hellaina and Jamie cut off at Ferndale & Edgehill about 11k (for them) in. Roger and Theo cu toff at the end of Tiffin so that would give tehm about 28k when done, we trudged on. It was on Big Bay Point Road where I started to come unglued. Right leg from my hip down to my knee was tightening up , by the time I got to Little & Bayview (38k?) it gone down into my foot as well. This wasn't good and I told Kevin to go on as I was going to have to head home rather than risk injury. I started to walk and tried running a bit, but would end up walking again. By the time I got down to Tiffin the tightness seemed to ease up, so I finished fairly well at 43k and almost 4 hours. Since then I have been tired and sore. Slept for about an hour earlier and have been thinking about why the run was so difficlut this week. 1) too much mileage this week, the most I have ever done in one week (110k), 2) ran quicker than we meant too, probably because we were running with others that were not doing our training. 3) it was my turn to feel like crap. Kevin felt great today. Anyway I think I'll be taking it easy for the next couple of days.

Nice "easy" Satuday

2008-11-08T15:00:00.002-05:00

I slept in this morning, if you call 8:30 sleeping in.After another 19.k run last night, I think I deserved it. That's 68k already this week with tomorrows' long, long run still to do. So I went out and took all the beer bottles back, that have been sitting in the garage since August. And then went about painting the hallway. I got most of it finished except 2 doors, but I ran out of paint, unless Joan has some stashed away somewhere. Well it will ahve to wait now. Weather has taken a turn to miserable. Cool, windy, damp looking. Only supposed to be just above 0C tomorrow morning, I still think shorts are in order though.

Thursdays run

2008-11-07T09:03:00.004-05:00

Well it took some going to get out the door last night, but got out I did. This past few weeks have been good for running, with Joan working mostly in the evening and now Kevin working or going out, I've had a lot of evenings to myself so what else would I do but go for a run. While trying to maintain more distance, I've been trying to shake up the routes a bit and do something different. Last night I ran via Morrow Rd to Essa, under the 400 and up Fairview to Little and across to Huronia around the lake, through downtown and back around Edgehill and Ferndale for a total of 17k. It wasn't as far as I was planning, but generally I didn't feel good. It wasn't until I got to about 12-13k that I got into a groove and just felt like I could go forever. It was promising to have that feeling as you run, where your legs are just moving and you don't want to stop them, even though the rest of you feels tired. Tonight (alone again) I will run down to the Running Room and run with whoever shows up. Probably another 20k.

What's New

2008-11-06T15:21:00.004-05:00

Tuesday Joan and I went to the Movies (Cheap Tuesday) and saw RocknRolla. We went to Boston Pizza for dinner first and enjoyed a good meal. The movie was great, another in the vain of Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Violent, funny and great music.

Last night went for the usual Wednesday night run. A good run with Roger, Tim, Terry, Theo (first time sinc ethe spring), Hellaina & Nataliya. Started nice and easy, but quickly picked up the pace and finished the 10.4k in 48:05 (4:37 avg/km).
Hockey afterwards was better than it has been for the past few weeks, less bodies therefore a little slower.

Wow it's Dark

2008-11-03T21:14:00.002-05:00

Yeah, that time of year again. I'm going to have to get used to running in the dark in the evening. Good run tonight, although it seemed to last forever. Final tally was 20.5k, 1:39. Hopefully this idea of running less days/more distance will help for JFK. We shall see.

Mind doesn't matter

2008-11-01T12:33:00.003-04:00

This morning I did my longest training run ever, 45k. And typically it was one of those runs where your mind is telling you to STOP!, but you have other idea's. Which tends to cause some confusion in the brain, at least in mine anyway.
I started at 7:30 this morning, it was rather cool (1C), but I'm not going to give in yet, I'm still wearing shorts. Ran down to the Running Room where I met up with the other nutbar Kevin. We had already decided to run out the Rail Trail for 1.5 hours and then turn around. So we set off, it took a while to get into a groove, but after a while it was ok. At the 3rd line of Oro the Barrie Police have a car set up to talk to people regarding the lost teen Brandon Crisp. We gave them our particulars and when I told the officer talking to me where I lived and that is where we ran from, he gave me a look of " holy shit". I told him we had a while to go before we even turn around.
So we continued on, it was still very cool as we had the wind in a face and the sun was having difficulty get up over the tree line. At the turn around I checked my Garmin... 21.3k in 1:54 minutes. I think we maybe going a little too fast training for the 50 miler. Some poeple would give anything run a half marathon in that time.
On our way back we waved at the police sitting in their warm cruiser, with smiles on their faces, obviously finding what we were doing amusing. By the time we got back into Barrie I was feeling really good and picked up the pace a bit, probably shouldn't have, and Kevin dropped off the pace a bit. Got to the Running Room and decided I'd take the long way back to stretch it out to 45k. So went via Edgehill and Ferndale. The last couple of k were a struggle, but I finished and tonight I think I'll have a couple of beers.

Past few days

2008-10-31T10:54:00.002-04:00

Had a good run on Wednesday night. Ran with Roger, Terry, Tim & Hellaina. Felt good, although when Tim pushed the pace, I had a hard time keeping up. Last night after work I ran down to the Running Room to meet Roger and then we did the same loop we did on Wednesday except in reverse. It was a nice night out, although coming back and running home was into the wind and it had cooled off. Finished with 20.2k. I'll take tonight off (Halloween). Supposed to run 4 hours with KevO tomorrow morning.

Week So Far

2008-10-29T15:00:00.002-04:00

I got out for a good run on Monday. Went to the Chiropractor after work and once I got home I got ready and went out. First attempt at running with my camelback, not an issue. Although something with pockets on the front would be better. Anyway after I started running through the trails off Ardagh, I realized with the diminishing light that I hadn't brought a light with me, which wasn't a problem at this point as it was still light enough. Running along Mapleview I was getting a little apprehensive about trying to run the trails behind Home Depot etc. with out a light. As it turned out it wasn't that difficult. The run behind the VR was a little harder, following the shadows at the edge of the trail. This is where you really get to notice light pollution. When I emerged from the bush, actually long before, I was almost blinded by the amount of light.
Finished 19.5k and felt good.

Weekend

2008-10-26T19:02:00.003-04:00

Well I didn't quite do what I had originally planned this past weekend, but maybe that was a good thing. After running a lot at the end of the week, I took Saturday off and only ran 19k this morning. I'll run Monday and probably make up for it. To day's run was good, nice and easy and a beautiful morning. It wasn't as cold as I expected and it didn't rain. Actually the sun was out for a while.
Got the news earlier that Kevin ran 2:54 in Niagara. Man he's just a machine.
Took a some pictures of the medal from Indy, so here it is.

Recovery week? Yeah right.

2008-10-24T10:48:00.002-04:00

Again I am not doing what the experts recommend. Rest and recovery after a marathon. I guess it the thought that in 4 weeks I'll be running the JFK 50 mile run, about 30k further than I have ever run before.
Ok, so I didn't run Monday or Tuesday. Wednesday I ran with the usual crew and some new faces. A nice "easy" 11k, then I played hockey (first time this year). The first couple of shifts were tough, but after a while it got easier and then my back started to hurt a bit.
Last night for some reason I decided I needed to get out and do a bit of distance. So I put on my trail shoes and ran a mix of trails and road and finished in the dark doing 17.5k. Right hamstring was fairly tight at the end, but is ok today. Lower back is still fairly stiff. Tonight I will go out to the Running Room, I was thinking of running down there, you know to save the environment and get in MORE miles. We'll see.

Sub 3 Marathon - Indy report

2008-10-21T10:41:00.009-04:00

Well Indianapolis is a beautiful city and hosts a very nice race through the suburb of Lawrence. This scenic race starts & finishes in Historic Fort Harrison and on Saturday October 18th myself and Brendan Kavanagh lined up to take part with 5600 others competing in the various events, including the half and relay. After a total of 9 hours driving over 2 days we arrived safely and went to the expo, probably the most dissapointing part of the weekend. Not very big at all, but still a few freebies. That night Brendan found his Garmin not working and all attempts to find a remedy failed. So Brendan was to rely on a regular watch and a pace band, how old school! Luckliy I still had my Garmin. So between us we both planned to run sub 3 hour marathons. In the morning we grabbed our Starbucks coffee and headed to the start, set up my Garmin virtual partner to run 3 hours and we were ready. It was a cool and partly sunny morning, perfect for a marathon.Shortly after 8:30am we were off and running, maintaining a "comfortable" 4:10/km pace through the first 8 miles or so through some nice subdivisions and other parts of Fort Harrison, we then entered Fort Harrison State Park and some nice paved tree lined bike paths. This is where my Garmin crapped out, a "memory full" alert came up and I had to delete everything including my virtual partner. This left me with only my pace and Brendan for support. A few hills through the park slowed the pace a bit, but we got back up to speed before leaving the halfers as they cut off to the finish. We headed on to the out and back through more parks and tree lined streets. Still the pace was good a couple of gut checks and some support from each other and we were good. The turn around was at 19 miles and we turned into an unsuspected head wind. From here it was going to be where we would either fail or go on to new heights. Brendan let me know at 19 miles we were about 40 seconds back of 2:58 pace, still doing well. We maintained that through 21 miles, but at 22 we had dropped to 1:00 minute off pace, but still under 3 hours. At 23 miles I asked Brendan what our time was, 2:37. We would have to maintain at least 4:30/km to come in under 3, so I picked it up a bit. I didn't realize it at the time, but Brendan had stopped to water the bushes. Eventually I noticed his presence no longer there, but I did not dare look around. At 25 miles we came up to the last hill and that slowed myself down, but I got to the top and tried to put the hammer down (at least as much as possible at that point). Couple of turns and back towards the finish area, I knew it was going to be close!.
A few weeks ago I had a dream of finishing this race in 3:00:01 and was hoping that wasn't a premonition. I turned the last corner to see the time as 2:59:30 with about 100m to go, although I ran as fast as possible at that point I cam across the line at 3:00:04
What would my chip time be? At last I looked around. No Brendan yet, he came around the corner in a couple of minutes and finished in 3:02:24.
Surprisingly we both felt good, Brendan's wife Marie joked about us feeling so good we should drive to Columbus and the marathon there on Sunday. Not a chance. Later that evening we finally got the chip times and I had finished in 2:59:59.5, unbelievably .5 seconds under 3 hours. Brendan came second in his age group and I came 5th. Although Brendan set a Pb by 1 minute, missing the sub 3 goal left a bit of a bitter taste. We both know that there was more in us.After re checking the results it seems we came 28th & 32nd, but even more impressive was that we moved up from 39th & 40th at the half. Otherwise a great day at a great race, and I would recommend this to anyone who is interested. Indianapolis Marathon link

Last Week

2008-10-12T14:23:00.004-04:00

Well there is only 6 days till the Indianapolis Marathon and so far so good. Friday night I did a good tempo run although I wasn't really planning that, it just happened. This morning we did a 16.5 k race pace run. Even though it ended up being a little slower than race pace (4:18/k as opposed to 4:12/k) it felt good. I was a little worried going into it, but now that it is over with I feel better. Nice morning for a run, about 10C and sunny. This week I'll run a short easy run on Tuesday night and on Wednesday Brendan and I will do a bit of short intervals (100m) to finish off the training. Thursday off to Indy.

Wednesday to Friday

2008-10-10T13:58:00.000-04:00

Wednesday's run was a fairly good "easy" run with Brendan and Terry. Terry is running really well and was running great on Wednesday considering he ran a PB in the PEC Marathon on Sunday. The run ended up a little quicker than planned, surprise? No. Still it felt fairly good except for a bit of a twinge in the left groin.
Last night I took it easy and watched the Leafs beat Detroit, alright, great start. Lets start planning the Stanley Cup Parade. LOL.
Tonight I'm going to run down to the Running Room and if no one is there I'll run home again. I'll probably make it a tempo or fartlek run. See if I have any trouble with a quicker pace 1 week from Indy. Sunday is suppoed to be a 16k marathon pace run, we shall see.

Recovery Run

2008-10-07T11:55:00.003-04:00

I've been a little stiff and sore since Saturdays race, so the thinking was I needed a run to loosen the legs up a little. It was a little tough at first and not the best of runs, but I'm sure it was well worth it. Only did just over 9k (9.2k, 43:33 for a 4:44 average km). Nice cool night though.

Run for the Toad

2008-10-05T18:58:00.004-04:00

On a perfect day for running, cool and cloudy, my race wasn't quite what I was hoping for, but finishing healthy this close to an important race (Indy in 2 weeks) is probably more important. Probably went a little too quickly again, but as usual it felt good. The first 2 laps (25k) went well, 1:03 & 1:04, but by the end of the 3rd lap (1:10) I knew it was going to be a struggle. So after Brendan caught up with me we walked/ran the rest of the last lap in 1:36 for a final time of 4:54, 25th overall. In hindsite it was a good move to back off for the last lap. Also finishing the 50k were Kevin in 4:24, Roger in 5:30 and Sylvie 5:50. Joan, Esther & Sue completed the 25k walk as well.

What Does the Future Hold?

2008-10-02T14:42:00.003-04:00

Well I got an e-mail from Kevin on Tuesday with a link to one persons experience at the Haliburton 100 mile race (http://ouser.org/results/08/hf08_ds.pdf). A good read, but unfortunately it gets me thinking about the possibility of running a 100 mile race, most likely the Haliburton race. Anyway I guess it will all depend on the JFK 50 Mile race in November and how it goes. I have to start thinking with the mentallity that slower is better when it comes to ultras. Maybe not so much with the 50k's, but definitely anything longer.