La barbe

I just read a quote at Karl Meltzer's site-"Apparently to do well at this game, you gots to sports the beards." I agree, time to stop shaving and maybe by the summer of 2011 I'll have sprouted enough facial hair to be credible.

Fan Boy

Anyone who knows me, knows that I not only enjoy participating in endurance events, but I am also the ultimate fan. I have a tremendous amount of respect for anyone that challenges their limits, whether that means completing their first event, or, for a lucky few, winning major races.

This past weekend I was riveted by a long drawn out battle at the Western Sates 100 mile Endurance Run. I have gotten to know a few of the top level athletes recently and have followed some other online via their blogs, so it was fun to follow along online via twitter (thanks irunfar.com), the WS100 webcasts and Facebook (thanks Salomon) updates.

The race was as good as expected. I can't/won't recap 15 hours plus of racing, since I wouldn't do it justice and enough people that were there will be commenting. All you need to know is that it involved head to head racing for 80 miles, a come from behind victory, course record performances and some solid Canuck presence.

I would strongly suggest checking out the below interviews from irunfar.com. Bryon Powell from the site has really helped connect me to the sport. I am always amazed at how big a part of the culture and lifestyle of sport the internet has become. I feel like I have learned a lot from seeking out and picking out bits and pieces from what the best in the world do. It is also always interesting how much time they spend evaluating their performances, what they did well, what they could improve on, proving that sport is a lifelong learning process, no matter what level athlete you are. When you lose the hunger to learn and improve, it is probably time to move on.

So here are some lessons from the weekend:

Geoff Roes-the "Alaskan Assassin"


(part 2)


Anton Krupicka-ultra minimalist


Kilian Jornet-ultimate mountain athlete


Tracy Garneau-Canadian ultra champ


Congrats also to the top Canuck finishers-Gary Robbins and Glen Redpath (top Masters) who duked it out for 6th and 7th respectively and of course Tracy Garneau of Vernon who has been killing it and Nicola Gildersleeve + Pete Watson and all others who raced...serious respect to all of you!!!!!

Despite what Lauren may think, I can categorically say that I will be at the starting line of a 100 mile race before 2011 is done :)

In other news, congrats to Salomon teammate Phil V for rocking the Ultimate XC race and to Arc'teryx teammate Amy Golumbia for winning her first ultra at the Scorched Sole race.

I had a great weekend of running. My legs came around quite well from the marathon last weekend and I had a good hard session on Saturday, with 3*20 min at a strong effort with 10 min steady between them during a 2 hour run. On Sunday I met up with the Nordic crew and ran in West Vancouver up Cypress, via Eagle Bluffs-Black Mountain, a fun scramble of a run that just goes straight up and into the clouds. There was no view and it was cold at the top, but well worth the scramble. So all in all, I am definitely stoked on running at the moment, not that that is ever an issue...

Just saw another video clip on Rob Mackay's site The video answers that question that I am always curious about-how fast do they run in the death parts of the run? The answer is, not surprisingly, faster than you would think...

Some snaps from Sunday

The race went well yesterday-I ran strong the whole way and won the Summer Solstice Trail Marathon by North Shore Athletics in 3:42.
It was a tough slog over some great country and I was pleased with the effort.

Thanks to the tireless volunteers and race organizing crew that make these events happen.



Cooling down as the clouds roll down Grouse Mountain


I also walked into a store after the race and saw this ad. It is a picture of me running along the base of Mt. Seymour. My ego was well fed and I was flattered, as always, to represent such an amazing company/group of people at Arc'teryx.

Sunday AM

It is early(ish), especially for a Sunday morning, but this has become the norm as of late. I nurse my warm cup of coffee in my cold basement suite, hoping for the caffeine to coax my eyelids open a bit wider. I scan a trail map, as I reconsider my options for the morning, figuring out which combination of dotted lines to follow. Trying to find a route that will inspire me to step outside the door.

Last weekend I threw my plans out the window and headed up to along the Coast to Squamish to go and explore the options there. They really do seem endless.

Today, I don't have to think about any of that. My route is mapped out for me. I am jumping in the Summer Solstice trail marathon. It is a very last minute, spontaneous, decision, since life interfered with other plans. As far as I can tell from my little peephole of a window, is that it isn't raining...yet!

Here are some pics from the last two Sundays and the pre-set route for today. I don't really take the time to stop for the pictures, so they are very rough around the edges (artistic way of saying crap!)

How far can your bike take you?

Scrapertown from California is a place. on Vimeo.

“In order to become a member of the Original Scraper Bike Team, you must: Be a resident of Oakland, CA. Be at least 7y/o or older. Retain a 3.0 Grade Point Average (GPA), Create your own Scraper Bike…(It Has To Be Amazing, Or Else You Can’t Ride.) A single-file line when riding. After 10 rides The Scraper Bike King and his Captains will decide if your bike is up to standards and if you can follow simple guidelines. After your evaluation we will consider you a member and honor you with an Original Scraper Bike Team Shirt. Only worn when Mobbin’ Stay posted to our website for all upcoming Scraper Bike Rides…” — The Scraper Bike King

Nice to meat you

I read two interesting perspectives on the diets of high level ultra runners last week. One was by Devon-Crosby Helms, who runs the Fast Foodie Cooks blog. She is a holistic/natural chef and a very accomplished ultra marathoner. Her interview is on being an ex-vegan and why she brought meat back into her diet.
Unlike a lot of vegans, she did not become a vegan for environmental, or ethical reasons, she did it purely for health and she went back to eating meat for the same reason. She had a hard time balancing her nutritional needs without feeling controlled by her diet.
I have considered trying a vegetarian diet before and although I am not a big meat eater, opting more for fish and eggs as my protein sources, I am just too lazy to commit. It seems like you have to have a real passion for food preparation and a great attention to detail to make sure that you eat properly, especially if you are trying to eat for performance, I don't. I also happen to like the odd bison burger.

One person who does do the vegan diet and food prep well, and who seems to have that passion for it, is Scott Jurek, the well known vegan ultra champ. Canadian Running magazine, has an article by Scott about his diet. It is well worth a read.

The Scott Jurek article inspire me to play around with a liquid breakfast before some of my longer outings and I am quite pleased so far. I normally go with 2 slices of Ezequiel bread, almond butter, honey and some hemp hearts on top, but it isn't always enough food. The mix that I have gone with is:

-1 heaping scoop Greek Style Yogurt
-1 scoop Vega meal replacement
-1 scoop Amazing Grass Green Superfood
-1 pack of Samabazon Acai
-1 shot of Ascenta Nutra Sea HP oil
-Almond milk+water to top it up

If I am riding I'll pour it over cereal, but for runs I have it solo. It looks like mud, but tastes like chocolate.

I had that combo yesterday before a long run on the North Shore yesterday and felt well fueled for the effort and my stomach was good throughout. I met up with Oliver Utting and we covered some ground on the trails. Lots of great running on slick trails. This is somewhere on Mt.Seymour:

RTNS Interview

I just did an interview for the Run The North Shore monthly newsletter. They put on the Iron Knee trail race on the weekend (I was 3rd, racing under my "nom de course" Gary Campbell) and a host of other great events across the summer. The North Shore has a great group of hardy runners who like their trails steep, muddy and rooted.

You can see the interview in context here, but I have posted it below.

RTNS: You seem to have a pretty lengthy race resume, could you recap some of the highlights for us?

AC: Yeah, I started with endurance sports in high school and was hooked. I was on the varsity x-country, Nordic and swim teams at Queen’s University and qualified for the Junior national triathlon team too.

Some of my highlights to date are winning the Canadian Duathlon Championships, being named to the Canadian National Triathlon Development Team and competing internationally for Canada in both sports. Finishing 3rd at the Royal Victoria Marathon and 2nd at last year’s BMO Vancouver Marathon and 11th at the World Long Distance Mountain Running Championships and a hard fought 3rd overall with 2 stage wins at the Trans Rockies Run last year with Aaron Heidt of Vernon.

RTNS: You normally live in Victoria but are in Vancouver for the summer. What events can we look forward to seeing you attend this year?

AC: Yes, I decided to skip out on the ferry crossings and spend more time playing on the North Shore. I am working as a summer articling student for Harris & Co., a labour and employment law firm and am really enjoying getting to know the city better.

Right now I am planning on racing as many of the 5 Peaks races as I can, as well as the Iron Knee, the Summer Solstice Marathon, the Seek the Peak and the Knee Knacker. After that I will either be heading over to Europe to run a Mountain Marathon, or I will be trying my hand at a 50 mile race.

RTNS: I know you were recently wed to Olympian Lauren Groves (Campbell) and you sometimes train with Simon Whitfield, can you give us some insights into the level of dedication needed to pursue sport at an Olympic level?

AC: I have been incredibly lucky through my sports career to have been able to train, learn and live with some of the best endurance athletes in Canada.

On top of an obvious natural gift for sports, they have a true passion for what they do and an obsession with finding every possible detail to help their performance. It is quite interesting to be so involved with their process, because every choice they make, from where they go out to dinner, what they do on their vacations and obviously their training, has a direct impact on their performance and therefore their career. For instance, if they were to go skiing on a weekend and hurt themselves, it could jeopardize a season. So they end up not doing a lot of activities that people take for granted. It is this quality of decision making that a lot of very talented athletes struggle with and what often separates the good from the great.

Although they have to make some hard choices, they get to train and compete for a living and they definitely appreciate how lucky they are and do not take it for granted. They are amazing ambassadors for sport and healthy living and I am really lucky to be able to call them friends and am very proud of my wife Lauren. I am definitely her biggest fan.

RTNS: You recently ran your first ever ultra marathon. What motivated you to try the distance and how did it go for you? Any interest in further ultras?

AC: I have wanted to toe the line at an ultra for a long time, but was always afraid to commit. It just seemed like a whole other sport and to be honest, I was a bit scared. I know how badly it can hurt just running 10k, or a marathon and wasn’t sure if I had it in me to push through the pain and fatigue that I knew would come.

I guess my motivation to finally have a go at the distance was watching Canadians like Gary Robbins and Aaron Heidt having success and I wanted to be a part of that. After teaming up with Aaron at the Trans Rockies Run last summer and being competitive with some of the big names in the ultra scene, I decided to suck up my fears and sign up for the race. I find that signing up can be the hardest part, because once I have committed, I feel like I owe it to myself to work hard for it.

I chose the Chuckanut race because it was close and I knew it would have good competition and the timing worked well with school. The race went quite well, I had a good little battle at the front end of the race and had to face some of the inevitable lows that come with ultra endurance events and I feel like I managed them well. I lost a battle with Erik Skaggs, a well respected US runner and ended up 3rd, finishing ahead of some ultra veterans, so I was pleased with that. Most importantly, I quite enjoyed the experience and the overall atmosphere at the race and I left there motivated to toe the line again.

I made a few rookie mistakes on the day, mostly around nutrition and pacing, so I’ll put that new knowledge to the test at the Knee Knacker and perhaps some longer events, up to 50 milers for now!

RTNS: What’s your favorite RTNS event?

AC: I have only run one RTNS event, the Hallow’s Eve a few years ago and to be honest, all I remember is that it was really cold and I didn’t race all that well. I do remember that the race was well organized, with the course well marked and a lot of people out enjoying the trails on a miserable day.

The North Shore is a unique and beautiful spot to run. It is the great equalizer, where runners with good technical ability can compete with the more road/speed oriented runners. I am really looking forward to trying out the Tender Knee and Summer Solstice this summer and perhaps I’ll come back for the Hallow’s Eve race again to erase some memories.

RTNS: What are your future running goals?

AC: Running goals are a hard one. I absolutely love running, so my main goal is always to just get out there and run as much and as hard as I can and to experience new trails.
On the racing front, as I said, I would like to get more involved with the ultra scene and hopefully join Gary and Aaron in a southern assault. It would be great to have a Crazy Canuck contingent down at the major ultras and to make it a regular occurrence to have the maple leaf represented on the podium.

RTNS: Right on Mr. Campbell, we here at RTNS wish you nothing but the best in your running endeavors and we consider ourselves lucky to have you local for at least the summer!