Weekend in Nelson

Lauren and I went and checked out the Kootenays this past weekend. Like much of the Province, Nelson was a tad short on snow in the town (fine by me), but the surrounding mountains were inspiring nonetheless. It really is a beautiful town and I can see why so many people are enamoured with it
Although the trails were a tad snowy and icy at higher elevations, I got in some great runs and the lack of snow around town made exploring easier. No matter where you go though, you are guaranteed a lot of ups and downs. I did one amazing run up into West Arm Provincial Park that I had trouble tearing myself away from.
In addition to running, Lauren and I really enjoyed the town and the region, we got to enjoy some "fine" Doukhobor cuisine and did some site seeing around the area, including a visit to the Ainswroth hotsprings and up to Trail/Rossland.
The trail running opportunities were definitely mind blowing and I can't wait to get back in the warmer months:

Multisport athletes hard at work

SQW productions brings you another video. After the talk of hard work yesterday, it is always a good reminder to celebrate your work too. These guys work their asses off and are a huge inspiration, they earned a day of play at the beach (and yes Benno, the music was a good choice). Triathletes showing off their athleticism, not quite Laird Hamilton, but they seemed stoked:

thanks to my "old"er brother GB for the music recommendation.
MGMT - time to pretend

Ultra debut

After talking about it for a few years now, I finally took the plunge and signed up for my first ultra. I will be racing the Chuckanut 50km in Bellingham WA om March 20th. I know that a 50km race is a "soft' ultra to a lot of hardcore distance guys, but you have to get your feet wet somewhere and the timing and location are good. It also has the added bonus of me not needing to change my training too much from what I was doing.
If I enjoy the race and feel like I want to tack on some miles to my other races, then I may review how I prepare, but having seen friends race and train for Ironmans, where I get a lot of my ideas, it seems like specificity is important, but doing the same sessions that shorter distance athletes do on harder days and training with faster people on those days is a critical part of being competitive. Fast running is fast running, no matter the event.

For those that are curious how I am planning on approaching it, here is my basic week structure:

Mon: double run totaling betweem 1:30 and 1:45 between both runs
Tues: am tempo type effort (30-50 minutes of "hard" work" with 40 min of warm up and cool-down); pm ez spin on the bike
Wed: long run on trails, trying to get in as many hills as possible
Thurs: day off or EZ run or spin
Friday: same as monday
Saturday: am hill workout; pm EZ run or bike
Sunday: Shorter long run on trails

I essentially repeat this pattern week in and week out. The focus is on aerobic strength, with a few harder sessions to keep up my running efficiency up. It is actually quite similar to what I would do for a standard marathon, with a bit more time on trails and making the longer runs a tad longer, but not by too much. I do find that really long runs wear me down a bit, so I have to build up to them. either that, or I need to run them quite a bit slower.

I am curious as to how much run volume I can manage while still doing my harder runs at a decent level. They are my barometers of fatigue. I want to run as much as possible going in to them, so as to not "save up" for the workout, but I also don't want to run so much that I can't do the faster runs or long runs properly. This requires a bit of fine tuning and is also somewhat dependent on what else I have going on in my life. To be honest though, I find that if you want to do well, you have to do some periods of "stupid" training, where you try to figure out your outer limits, this helps convince you that you are ready when you toe the line, it also has some physical adaptation, so long as you soak it up in the last few weeks going in to the race and you don't get injured.

I am hoping that one of my advantages, relative to a lot of trail runners/ultra guys, is that I still have some shorter distance speed in my legs. While I have done some longer races i.e. trans Rockies last year and few marathons, an ironman and some 1/2 ironmans, I have always stayed on top of my harder efforts. I feel like this will be a strength that I need to keep nurturing as I try the longer distances. There are other variables that I need to consider and train too i.e. nutrition, technical running ability, general strength, pacing etc... and I will practice these through training.

Another reason to stay on top of speedwork throughout the process is that I want to keep racing shorter races as well and it is never fun to get shelled at races.

Despite feeling like I have some aptitude at longer distances, I'll never know until I actually toe the line. So while I have a lot of respect for the distance and the other athletes racing, I am really looking forward to testing myself against them and seeing how I can handle the distance.

I am about 7 weeks out now and training has been going well this past month. I have been having some consistently good workouts and am keeping on top of the volume well too.

It's a good time of year with school at the moment, as I don't have too much writing to do, mostly just reading. I seem to be okay at reading while tired, but writing definitely takes a hit.

If you have any questions about training, nutrition, clothing etc... that I am planning on doing, then please feel free to ask and I'll answer as well as I can.

One of the greatest races that I have watched

Tergat v. Geb, beautiful strides in slow mo.

Catching an antelope

Likely the most successful coach that most people have never heard of-Brother Colm O'Connell, an Irishman and former headmaster of St Patrick's high school in Iten Kenya, a breading ground of world and Olympic champions in track, x-country and the marathon. I have no clue when the full length video is coming out, but I will watch it when it does. For now, enjoy:

My home this summer

Beautiful time-lapse video of Vancouver, where I will be living/working for the summer:

Morning run

Since Lauren is a tad broken at the moment, she has to resort to power hikes and strange cycling contraptions to keep fit. She has to keep jarring and impact to a minimum so as not to impede the healing of her broken bones, she is also working with a good crew of chiros, physios, doctors and homeopaths to make sure that she heals quickly and effectively.

I know that sleeping is uncomfortable for her (or straight up painful at times) and that she has lost a lot of freedom and mobility (we are in trouble when I have to cook), but overall she is doing incredibly well. Her spirits are remarkable and she is doing what she can to ensure a speedy and full recovery. It's just too bad that accidents happen.

We were in Vancouver for Lauren's sister's birthday on Friday night and stayed for the weekend. After doing a fartlek set on the hills around UBC endowment lands on Saturday am, I joined Lauren for a hike up around Capilano Canyon. She was hammering and I was definitely a stick in the mud, struggling to keep up with some heavy legs. She can power hike like a demon!!!! I could definitely feel the hike and workout in my legs on my long run yesterday and again this am.

She joined me this morning for my pre-class sunrise trot around Mt Doug. There is something special about being on the summit of a hill/mountain as the sun is coming up. Lauren power hiked to the top as I did my run, she captured some great pics. Man the Pacific NW is an amazing part of the world (does that refrain ever get old?).

I have been fortunate enough to travel to many amazing places and will continue to do so, but it always feel great to come "home" to this: