A few Aussie runs

Getting around under the power of your own two feet is a great way to see the sites and I have been having a great time running in Australia. Canberra, although not a "rad" city, is a great place to train, with some wonderful greenspaces, parks and rolling hills.
Lauren had a break from structured training over Christmas, so we took some time to head to Sydney for a couple of days and then headed north to the Blue Mountains (apparently I should look at a map before posting, the Blue Mountains are West, not North, of Sydney).
We did the usual Sydney tourist trek, checking out Manly and Bondi beach and the other main city sites on Christmas and Boxing Day (in case you were wondering, Boxing Day is just as crazy in Sydney as it is in N. American cities, but Christmas itself is subdued). Lauren got in an ocean swim with a training partner at North Bondi (an important distinction I've been told) and I ran along the coastline. I didn't have a camera for that run, but it was neat to see all the main surf spots and little coves. I enjoyed the run more than I thought I would.
From there we headed into the hills just north (west) of Sydney, the Blue Mountains. We did a fairly lengthy hike/run in the Blue Mountains, heading deep into the Valley of the Waters. It was a great trip, with amazing bush, rugged trails, with some very steep sections and stunning streams and waterfalls, until Lauren let out the loudest blood curdling scream that I have ever heard, pretty much as far in as we could get to on our route. She discovered that wet "jungle" type treks also have leeches in them. We spent the way out stopping every 5-10 minutes to do a leech check. We ended up giving up a bit of blood to the little suckers, making our anniversary hike even more memorable.
The next day we drove about 45 minutes out from Canberra to the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, where we ran surrounded by kangaroos and a few emus as the sun was setting over the hills. It was quite spectacular.

I was just pointed in the direction of some other local mountain runs, so I will make sure to bring the camera along for those outings. The route takes in some of the Australian Alps Walking Track and I also plan on doing a day trip to run Mount Kosciuszko , mainland Ausralia's highest point.

For now, here are some snaps:

CANBERRA





SYDNEY



BLUE MOUNTAINS














RUNNING WITH THE KANGAROOS

Blah, blah, ...training... blah, blah...

A quick summary of the past few months. I haven't raced in quite some time, but have had a very enjoyable fall of running.
I have been heading out with Simon and Jon quite a bit recently, two world class athletes and equally good people. It's a real honour to be able to train with them and hopefully pick up a few tips along the way. Unfortunately, the magic pill, seems to come back to the same basic elements, consistency, f*%#ing hard work, incredible drive, a love of what they do and a tonne of natural talent.

For those who want to know, my week roughly breaks down like this:
Monday: 60-75 min
Tuesday: hill work +/- 90 min; sometimes a second run
Wed: long hilly run + strength
Thurs: 60-90 min
Friday: tempo type run +/- 90 min
Saturday: easier day + strength
Sunday: shorter long run am with a group, it has been quite solid the past few weeks; PM easier run

I just found out that I won a lottery slot to Miwok 100km in May, so my running will slowly start to transition to getting me ready for the challenges of a longer outing. Considering my only effort at a race over 50km was a bust last summer (DNF at White River 50 miler), my first goal is just to finish the sucker. I really need to learn what it is like through the harder patches of the race and how I resp0nd after 5-6-7-8 etc... hours of running in my legs. It seems like a big part of mountain ultra races (and any endurance event really) is developing appropriate coping mechanisms to manage the inevitable lows and to control yourself through the highs. Some of that comes through training, but training ain't racing, so I have to put myself out there a few times to find out. I can't wait!

I don't know for sure, but I think 2011 will look something like this:
March - Chuckanut 50km
May - Miwok 100
June/July - Knee Knacker, or Ultimate XC (Mt Tremblant)
August- Sierre Zinal
August- Tour De Mont Blanc, or the CCC at the same event
December - North face 50 miler

I would also like to try a few more runs on the island, having a crack at some of the more famous tracks and definitely spend more time exploring Canada's Alps.

Until then, I am currently sitting at my gate at YVR, waiting to hop on a flight down under to go and visit Lauren in Canberra. I will enjoy running in the heat and not having to worry about the books for a bit, but mostly, I look forward to hanging out with Lauren. I can't wait!

the audacity of ambition

I had an interesting chat the other morning with Rumon Carter, who can only be described as a modern renaissance man, due to his many talents.
A topic that we spent some time discussing was the "audacity of ambition," something that I think about quite a bit, due to many of the highly accomplished and highly ambitious people that I get to spend time with.
At the risk of sounding like Tim Ferris, or other life coaches, what I mean by that term, is how impressive it is to watch someone set a goal for themselves and then go about the process of figuring out how to achieve it and then taking the steps to make it happen.
I know that everyone is driven by goals, but for a lot of people and for most ideas, those goals never get past the dream stage, what interests me most, is the catalyst that pushes the idea out of that theoretical, "that would be cool to do" stage and into the "I'm going to try to make it happen" realm.

Why I consider it audacious, is because every personal goal is completely unchartered. Granted, one of the steps in the process along the way to the goal will invariably involve information gathering to some degree, where you seek you out a mentor, or research how others with similar objectives have gone about it, or are currently going about it, but the route that you end up will be entirely your own and frankly, that's an exciting, but equally terrifying thought.
Interestingly, the more clear the goal, the easier it usually is to chart your path along it. So the more time you can spend clarifying your goal to yourself, the better off you'll be.

Winter is awesome (in other cities)

Yes, I am otherwise occupied (exams), so I am relying on the work of others-lucky for you, they are much more talented than me and worth checking out:

Cineflex - Norwegian landscape from Leif Johan Holand on Vimeo.

Canadian cross-country champs - it looked like a tough day and the champ is worthy of a Canuck title: