Winter Strength for Spring Speed

Winter is definitely not the easiest time to motivate yourself to run, there are countless excuses to skip a training day. The upside to winter training is that the conditions and piles of clothing force us to slow our pace a little and focus on the strength portion of our training. Giant leaps forward can be made by just taking that first step out the door. Having a variety of footwear ready to go helps as well. I keep a couple pairs of Brooks Cascadias  in the winter rotation of shoes, one pair has 8 screws per shoe ,one pair 16 depending on just how bad the trail conditions are. Also this year my wonderful wife and sister bought me a pair of snowshoes which means I can continue to run trails as long as it doesn't turn into a pot holed icy mess which lucky for me has only happened twice so far this year.

Snow shoe run, first tracks on the hill
 

               Pick a spring race to have a goal and enjoy the trials of winter running,the results are guaranteed to pay off with increases in speed this spring. As an added bonus your going to see some beautiful winter scenery that everyone stuck in front of their television are going to miss for sure.

If that's still not enough to get out try Gu Energy's new Salted Caramel Gel, tastes so good its like having a forbidden dessert on your run.

Happy New Year!

   If nothing else running has taught me absolutely nothing is impossible, if you decide to do something and follow that decision with a lot of effort sometimes you achieve things you never imagined.
  December 24th I received an email from Gu Energy informing me I had been accepted into the 2014 Gu Energy Pro program, an amazing opportunity for someone who consumes gels at the rate I do. Had you told me when I started running as an overweight ex-smoker that I'd be receiving endorsements to do something I love I probably would have laughed at you. I remember like it was yesterday the feeling at the end of one of my first runs over 30 km, the group had turned left to add on a couple extra kilometres  and I was in a very basic survival mode just trying to keep up a steady movement on the quickest route back to my car. Today I ran that route just for fun and added on the couple extra while picking up the pace for the last 5k, tomorrow I'll repeat it again as I start to ramp up distance to build for another year of racing.
   I took some time to relax after the Road to Hope Marathon and let things heal up again as the speed work right after the Haliburton Forest 100 left me feeling pretty sore. I took the time to go out for a couple group runs with some amazing people I have met through the Ultra community and am feeling inspired to start training again. This year will be a very similar training plan to last year with the exception of some speed work on the new treadmill, I never thought I would enjoy this but after a month of having it I can appreciate the time savings of being able to incorporate speed work and laundry into the same hours of the day.

That's it for now, wishing everyone a happy new year and may your first step out the door come easy.

Road 2 Hope

 

   During the short training period I had for the Hamilton Marathon I continually heard the same thing  "a marathon, that's like a sprint for you right".This or "that will be a walk in the park for you",it would be nice if this was anywhere near the truth.The truth is the marathon hurts,every time,no matter what you've run before. Ultras are a long drawn out period of pain,the mind adjusts and sometimes even forgets the pain but in a marathon you jam all that pain into a full speed assault on a 42km run and just hope you hold it together until the finish. There was definitely some advantage in the fact that mentally the distance was not nearly as intimidating as it had once been.
    Training for this event was largely based on shorter tempo runs, my friend Henry once told me you can't run a three hour marathon without running a forty minute 10k first and I used that theory as the building block in my training.The sudden switch to pavement after a whole year of trail running played havoc on my Achilles and feet,while it was a lot of fun to hammer out some shorter runs I'm looking forward to the return to soft muddy trails.
   Race day temps were perfect and I had a sub three hour goal in mind. Gord from Hamilton Runners Den had recommended holding pace and letting the downhill in the second half help me run a negative split in the second half unfortunately the wind had other ideas. The turn onto the downhill section brought little to no advantage this year,the wind was pushing hard into my face all the way down leaving me feeling like there was very little left in the tank when we got back into a more sheltered section. Looking back at  my Garmin I actually accelerated after the downhill. The end result,3:00:41 a personal best in the marathon by 15:19 . I definitely have no regrets,every race is a stepping stone and I really think the sub 3 is coming yet.

  Road 2 Hope Marathon is a great event,it's well organized and the course is definitely fast and interesting,if your looking for that Boston Qualifier this is the race to do it in!

Now back to some mud!

 

The October Wind Down

  It feels great to be able to let go of the strict training schedule for a little while and just enjoy running for the fun of it.Sure the Road to Hope Marathon is just around the corner but the key races I really wanted to focus on are over and there are no major injuries to contend with so I'm happy. I ran a little on the road through the end of September and first two weeks of October but with the leaves changing and cool weather coming  it was time to give the feet a break and get back on the trails again.

  I'm  looking forward to racing in Hamilton this weekend, the marathon course is fast and the thrill of the start line of a big race is always an awesome feeling. On the other hand I'm also looking forward to the slow build of miles on some beautiful trails leading into another winter of strength training, I'm sure there is a little more speed in these legs just a matter of coaxing it out.

P.S. Gu Energy has a new flavour "Salted Caramel" this should definitely help in the snow it tastes amazing.

Exciting news Hamilton Runners Den with the co operation of Brooks will be taking care of my Cascadia needs next year. Runners Den has always been great to me and I can't say enough about how much I love the Cascadia!

Haliburton 100 Mile Victory

 

 

The elusive Haliburton victory is finally mine,still hard to believe. I ran the course this year in 18.36:03 a personal best for me in this race by more than an hour.Trying to summarize everything that went into this race will be tough,but first and most importantly I need to thank my wife Robyn,between the long hours training and trying to balance our busy schedules she does an amazing job supporting me.Waiting at a finish line for almost 19 hours for someone to finish a race while hearing horror stories of injuries in the forest and bear sightings has to be a ridiculously stressful event in itself,but she does it for me time and again.

 

The race went really smooth this year,trails were in good condition and the weather was as good as it gets for a September race.I ran a large portion of the first half of the race with my friend Mitch who was completing his first 50 miler and had a great race with a second place finish,having someone to run with for this long in a race was a first for me and a welcome diversion from the job at hand.Going into the second half of the race there was the feeling of running out front with no idea of how close second place was keeping the pressure on so I continued to push as hard as possible.Haliburton is a double out and back course with a loop at the end so as I started to see some familiar faces of friends and other racers I received excellent motivation.You cant help but be inspired watching each individual runner work through their own struggles,everyone travels through highs and lows during these long events and the cheering and smiles from everyone along the way really helps keep you thinking positive.Near the end of the race my stomach was giving me some difficulty,I think it was largely due to the humidity of the day and miscalculating my salt intake early on in the race.The last 10k was a struggle but the aid station volunteers were amazing,a few huge smiles and handshakes and I pulled it together for a strong run into the finish.

 

Haliburton is a very beautiful course and I definitely encourage anyone to try one of the events there,Helen, the race director puts her heart and soul into the event and it really shows.The fact that it is a more remote location encourages everyone to camp on site and the result is more of a family reunion feel than a race,if you get the chance go,you won't regret it.

 

My gear for this race was the Sugoi Titan 2 in 1 short and Ready T,these shorts are amazingly comfortable and light. Shoes were of my Brooks Cascadias as usual they performed perfect with not a single blister after 100 miles and for a first time I didn't even lose any more toenails.

 

Thanks again to all my friends for the congratulations and encouragement,I am truly blessed by all of you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recovered and Training Again

   It feels good to be  running stronger again, the first two weeks after Sulphur I had a very clear feeling of how much harder I had pushed myself than in previous races. That clear feeling was felt most obviously in my quads which remained very sore for at least a full week,and on 20-30k runs in the second week they started to become weak after the first 10k. Sometime in the third week things felt a little more normal and I really enjoyed a couple trips around the "waterfall loop" a 40k circuit that tests the body over a real variety of trails,while raising your spirits with some spectacular views.
I think its trails like this that makes ultra running so attractive to me,the ability to cover a lot of ground and see so many different things up close and in a way that many people miss the opportunity to enjoy.
   June 25th brings the 8th  anniversary of my wedding and I am truly blessed to have a wife who understands the demands of trying to race these distances and supports me in my training and racing.Sometimes the demands are high and even spectating at a race that lasts over 24 hours makes for an extremely long day.I know that when I over train I get a little miserable but that doesn't hold a candle to the panic I express if someone so much as sneezes during the final week of my taper,but she supports me through it all.Her own racing continues to improve ,running a personal best this year in the 50k at Sulphur, I was so proud of her it was a great accomplishment!
  Hopefully I can get a few more groups out for a training run in the months to come,we had a great group out two weeks ago and I'm looking forward to following the Ontario group as they run Badwater 135 in a few weeks. Enjoy the trails and the feeling of accomplishment that a tough summer run brings.

Sulphur Springs 100 miler

I' m at a bit of a loss on where to start with this entry, Sulphur  Springs 100 is my home race and that being said the one race I have always wanted to win. The last two years I had managed second place finishes once in 19.17 and the second time with 17.53 last year the winner was Glen Redpath with a time of 15.40. After last year I knew I would need to change a few things in order to finish first, but what it would take I wasn't sure.
  I started with a look at past training plans and what seemed to work best for me and what didn't. I had made some impressive gains in races following high volume training so that had to stay ,but real long single runs took too long to recover from. I had shunned speed work during the lead up months to ultras in the past and to hold the kind of pace I wanted I knew it would need to be included this time. Also a good look in the mirror told me that my nutrition could definitely be changed a lot and this was the easiest step of all, so I started there.
    Pasta, while it may benefit some did me no favours so I switched it out for brown rice and occasionally quinoa. Thanks to my Dad's arthritis I learned red meat causes excessive swelling in the joints so it went completely to be replaced with fish, turkey and chicken. I found a shop at the local farmers market that has some amazing homemade turkey meatloaf, broils, schnitzel, sausage and the best wheat free turkey burgers ever so thanks to Oegema Farms this was a welcome change. My friend Krista Duchene posted some great kale salad pictures on her blog and a huge bowl of kale salad has become my afternoon snack everyday now and I absolutely am hooked on it, kale with feta and balsamic vinegar being one of my favorites.
   Training wise I went with a lot of back to back runs, January to March around 280 km in a two week period with 10k runs at Paris Runners Den whenever I could for the Monday and Wednesday night runs, I used the group runs at night as my speed work. March to race day my longest 2 week period was 440km and speed work became my run to and from work, a 7km trip.Injuries stayed minimal leaving out the huge single runs in exchange for more back to back with my most serious injury being a swollen joint on my big toe that switched me back to my old faithful Brooks Cascadia shoe.
  Race day this year my weight was 174 last year was 192 , definitely a bonus. Race day weather was cool and looked like it would stay that way, it was a perfect day to run.  Sulphur is a 20km loop coarse with some rolling hills that somehow get bigger as the day goes on, a mystery yet to be explained. My first loop was just under 1.40 faster than planned but feeling easy second loop was 1.43 still felt great. Loop three is usually when you first realize this is going to be a long day but it went by well in 1.49 followed by 1.55 for the fourth. I had never run out front of a race for this long and it is a different experience, every step your wondering who is chasing and how close behind you they are. Half way through loop five I looked at my watch and realized if I could hold it together I had a chance at the coarse record, this was not something I had planned for at all. 2.0 for lap five followed by 2.03 on six, my quads were starting to really hurt and I was doing everything to relax and remember "running is fun". I remember saying a prayer near the end of six, things were really sore and 40km is still a long way to go, mentally that moment of prayer helped a lot. Seven is always a tough lap for me for some reason but it went by quick in 2.09 and for the last lap my friend Mitch was waiting to pace me through. I was a bit of a whiner by this point but Mitch kept reminding me how much I'd regret it tomorrow if I missed the record by just a little so we pushed the flats and down hills recovering on the ups ,I couldn't have asked for a more perfect pacer on this lap as my legs were screaming for mercy but somehow he kept me moving. The final lap ended in 2.16 ,the feeling coming across the finish line with all of my running friends and my beautiful wife cheering will not be one I ever forget. The ultra running community is like a family and it felt amazing to get all the congratulations following the race. Final time was 15:37:24  a new coarse record and first place overall at Sulphur springs.....finally. I stayed the night and until the finish the next day getting to witness some amazing performances by the other runners Laura Perry broke the women's coarse record in 18:57:59 ,while others completed there first 100 with the giant smile and look of determination on their faces that can only be found by those of us that are just a little crazy.
  Looking forward to a few days off and a couple long swims to help the legs recover, thank-you to everyone who supported me it felt great!

Sponsorship free product endorsements:
Gu energy gels - 29 gels in one day, no stomach issues
Sugoi - Titan 4" 2 in 1 shorts-no chafing at all :)
Brooks- Cascadia trail shoes