Health and Adventure

We've Moved...new website and blog

2011-12-21T21:50:00.000-05:00

HEALTH AND ADVENTURE BLOG HAS MOVED!

Please go to:

www.HealthandAdventure.com

Steve Earle

2010-10-20T08:32:00.003-04:00

Steve Earle played in Kingston last night. He puts on such a fantastic show. It was an acoustic show with just his guitar, mandolin and harmonica. I was expecting to see him play a lot of material off of his recent 'Townes' CD, but was surprised that he played a wide mix of everything that you would want to hear that spanned over the course of his entire career.

He's very outspoken on many topics which is a large reason that I love his music. It's real and tells a story. The strength of the message that comes from it is loud and clear. His passion is very evident and it's pretty powerful to see him expressing his views in his songs and intro to songs. Hearing him playing a haunting song like Billy Austin, it's pretty hard to imagine that the death penalty still exists. Not to mention his other opinions on various topics.

The Grand Theatre was a wonderful venue to hear an acoustic concert, and we were fortunate to be seated in the 3rd row. I was very surprised to see that someone has already posted three videos from the show and looking at them, I think the guy who took them was only a few seats away from where we were.

Mike Plume opened for Earle and played a great solo set as well.

If you ever get a chance to see Steve Earle in concert, don't miss it. As I've said before, he's the best singer songwriter out there today who is still performing.

Week of Oct 11 - 17

2010-10-20T08:20:00.003-04:00

It's been a heck of a busy week with organizing the Sydenham Fall Trail Run, getting ready for the snowshoe season, and having some fast approaching deadlines on some writing pieces. Definitely feeling somewhat overwhelmed and swamped at times.

Running wise, I've bounced back well from being sick. I was still fairly weak for much of last week, but got some decent runs in that included a 4:25 run on Monday and a couple of good 2hr efforts. The 2hr run I did on Saturday may have been a little too aggressive with some of he paces that I ran at. I pushed it a little harder than I've been able to in a while and my achilles barked a bit and let me know that it wasn't entirely happy. A few days of R&R and it will be fine.

Weekly Summary (Oct 11-17):
Total # of hours last week: 10:57
Total # of hours this year: 446:43
Streak (# of consecutive days of running): 7,601
Training Log Details for the Week

2010 Sydenham Fall Trail Run - Race Report

2010-10-17T20:24:00.003-04:00

Congratulations to everyone who took part in the 6th Annual Sydenham Fall Trail Run.

The weather and course conditions were good with only a bit of a headwind after the turnaround. 223 runners completed the race which took place on the Cataraqui Trail following the northern shoreline of beautiful Sydenham Lake.

Jodi Wendland continued her record breaking ways at Sydenham by winning the women’s race in a new course record time of 30:30. This was 15 seconds faster than the course record she set in 2009, and earned her $100 for the win, plus an additional $50 for the record. Second place in the women’s race was Richelle Moore in a time of 31:35, followed by Margarita Sviajina in 33:13 for third. The top female master’s runner (over 40 yrs old) was Joanne Armstrong in 34:14.

In the men’s race, Sydenham native Paul Chafe also defended his 2009 title by winning in a time of 26:33, with Scott Takala following in second in 27:40 and Rob Campbell in third in 28:04. The top master in the men’s competition was Clive Morgan in 30:16.

Complete results are now posted at http://www.runningbydesign.ca/ .

We have also posted a video of various footage of the race here. This was new for us this year and we apologize for those who we missed. We’ll look to do better in this area next year, but hope you enjoy reliving some of the memories of the day.

Thank you once again to all of our sponsors La Sportiva, TD Bank, Sydenham Veterinary Services, Stonehaven, Hillside Coffee Company, Hansler Smith Limited, Running Room, Trailhead, Clearwater Massage Therapy, and Spafford Health and Adventure.

Also, just a reminder about the upcoming Dion Eastern Ontario Snowshoe Series coming this winter with three great races. Check out http://www.healthandadventure.com/ soon for more details, or follow us on facebook.

See you on the Trails,

Derrick Spafford
Race Director
Sydenham Fall Trail Run

Being Sick

2010-10-12T08:04:00.006-04:00

I hate being sick. I'm not good at it at all. Well, actually I suppose considering the amount of times I've been sick, you could probably say that I am quite good at it.

Ever since I was a kid, I've always seemed to get sick pretty often, and usually accompanied with a high fever. Maybe I just have a weak immune system, maybe it's a result of having meningitis when I was a baby, or maybe it's just horse shit bad luck. Then, I was diagnosed with Stevens Johnson's Syndrome in my teens, but thankfully I have been able to control that by taking the proper medication at the first sign of any symptoms.

Actually, over the past few years I have been healthier than any other time in my life, in fact I can't remember the last time I had a cold. And this is all during fairly high mileage training too.

I've made a point of really trying to take care of the little things with lots of rest, eating well, low stress and I have also paid close attention to adding some supplements to my regular routine. Interestingly enough, I have not had a bout of SJS since I started taking First Endurance Optygen. The two main ingredients in Optygen are Cordyceps and Rhodiola, which were first used by Tibetan Sherpas to help them climb Mount Everest, but have been used recently to aid in recovery and performance in endurance events. I've also added Udo's Oil to my daily diet as well.

So, I was somewhat surprised to come down with a nasty cold last week. As Sara told me, it was a perfect storm brewing. It was the week following my ill fated Virgil Crest race where I dropped at 25miles. I guess that I maybe thought that this didn't take too much out of me as I was keen to get back into training after a few easy days. I also had a busy week with quite a few appointments and being around a lot of sick people when I am used to mostly working from home and in isolation. I think the kicker was an eye appointment I had at a very busy clinic which was probably a germ factory.

The short story is that I got nailed hard for all of last week. Most of my running consisted of 20-30 minutes of very easy running each day, just to keep the streak alive. My fever spiked pretty high for a few days and lingered in my chest a bit. The fever left me pretty weak, all week.

By the weekend things were improving considerably, as I've felt much better and started to increase back again closer to normal. I had planned to run long on Sunday, but decided to bump that back to Monday (yesterday) for the extra day of recovery.

With a busy week coming up with organizing the Sydenham Fall Trail Run this coming weekend, I guess if you have to get sick, then last week was a good time.

Here's hoping to a healthy fall and winter, and being able to really ramp up the trail miles!

Weekly Summary (Oct 4-10):
Total # of hours last week: 4:46
Total # of hours this year: 435:46
Streak (# of consecutive days of running): 7,594
Training Log Details for the Week

The Sick Bed of Cuchulainn by The Pogues. An amazing song that fuses Punk with Traditional Irish Music. Great to see that The Pogues can still play it with passion 25 years later.

One Last Shot

2010-10-05T12:05:00.003-04:00

Well, it looks like I may have one last shot to get into the Western States 100 lottery. I heard back from the Stone Cat 50 race director and I was able to get in. Stone Cat is on the final day of qualifying, so it's all or nothing.

I'm really looking forward to it as we've run there in the past and it's a very honest and runnable course. The course has changed a bit since the last time I ran it, but sounds like it may be a little faster too. I have no interest in time, but just looking forward to getting a 50miler under my belt again.

I remember the four loop course at Stone Cat featuring a few challenging sections, but nothing too crazy. I have some good memories of running parts of the race with Jan Wellford of ADK speed record fame, as well as meeting Bryon Powell for the first time, who is now operating the primier website for all things trail and ultra at iRunFar.com. The funny thing about Bryon was that partway through his race he was having a rough patch, and was convinced that a shot of Jack Daniels (the drink, not the running philosophy) would help him. Apparently it did as he left me in his dust over the final loop. Guess I should have taken a shot too.

So, all systems are go. The only problem now though is that I spent a little too much time around sick people last week and I've come down pretty sick myself. Hopefully, only another couple of days of light running and I'll be able to get back out pretty long again soon. I have to say that watching Sara leave to go for a long run at Frontenac Park on Sunday was a challenge, and for a moment I considered going along for a short run and sleeping after in the car. Probably best I didn't though as I was feeling pretty rough. So, I'm on a steady diet of 20-30 easy minutes per day right now, just to keep the running streak alive.

The good thing though about being sick is that I've had a little extra time to get caught up on work. The Sydenham Fall Trail Run is on October 17, and I still have lots of last minute things to get done. We have reached our maximum even earlier than last year and are looking forward to a great event a week from Sunday.

Weekly Summary (Sept 27- Oct 3):
Total # of hours last week: 7:28
Total # of hours this year: 431:00
Streak (# of consecutive days of running): 7,587
Training Log Details for the Week

Study: Americans Get Majority of Exercise While Drunk

2010-10-05T10:58:00.001-04:00

Study: Americans Get Majority Of Exercise While Drunk

The Barn

2010-09-28T10:54:00.001-04:00

Here is a great blog by my parents neighbour with some wonderful photos of my parents barn that I grew up spending so many hours exploring.

Campfire Reflections: Virgil Vigil

2010-09-27T11:49:00.004-04:00

My pipes are still a bit tired from the 25miles at Virgil on Saturday. I've spent quite a bit of time reflecting over the campfire the past few days and am still fine with the outcome.

Yesterdays token 20 minute run helped to loosen up my legs a bit more and another easy day or two should have me fired up to dig deep into a good training block.

Looking back over my training log in the past few months I realize that I am certainly not where I want to be, but am very thankful of where I am and that I am able to move forward. Injuries suck and I am very grateful to be healthy again and will never take that for granted. On that note I am really looking forward to when Sara is 100% healthy too. Soon.

I found it very interesting watching the below short video clip that Sara took of me while running in Colorado. I have always felt that my stride efficiency is reasonably good, but you can tell that biomechanically I am a huge mess. I am essentially limping as my whole right side is locked up. Part of that was the Achilles flareup that I had, but the bigger problem was the tightness in my hip/psoas.

Thank gawd that is behind me now. Looking at my form not that long ago is very painful to see. I feel like I have come a long ways in the past 6 weeks and getting stronger each day. It's funny that I never felt like I was running that awkward even though Sara mentioned that my stride just looked off. It's just amazing what you can believe when you are not wanting to admit something.

Anyhow, my strength and flexibility is getting better daily and I can assure you that my current form has improved considerably and isn't anywhere near as bad as the video.

Weekly Summary (Sept 20-26):
Total # of hours last week: 9:04
Total # of hours this year: 403:00
Streak (# of consecutive days of running): 7,580
Training Log Details for the Week

Gimpy: The scenery is nice, but the form?....not so much...

Virgil Crest: I shouldn’t have clicked submit

2010-09-25T20:38:00.005-04:00

Ok, so Virgil Crest is still taking place as I write this, so WTF am I doing blogging? Well, in case you didn’t see the online updates or my twitter, I dropped…and dropped fairly early I might add at 25miles, or as Eric pointed out 40kms which does sound a little better.

I’m a bit disappointed, but not devastated or anything. The writing was on the wall. This was my first race in over a year and I may have rushed things just a wee bit in the race department. I had signed up for the 100mile, but my main goal going into the race was to get in 50miles in under 11 hours to be able to put my name into the Western States lottery. Virgil allows an official 50mile time if you sign up for the 100 but decide to drop after 50miles. I felt that this was a good option for me and highly doubted that I would be able to continue on for the full 100, but just wanted to keep the door open just in case.

Looking back on my training log, I should have realized that it was very stupid to try to attempt 50 yet, let alone even thinking of 100. July was still a write-off training/fitness wise, August was only a little better. And, I was only able to cram in a 4 and 5 hour run in early September, plus pacing Keith for 6hrs at Haliburton. Not ideally the type of training that I would normally do for any ultra distance race, especially considering I hadn’t raced in so long. I guess you always hope that you can get by if you run smart. Hope is a dirty 4 letter word though and you need to KNOW. I think deep down beforehand I knew it was a mistake.

The strange thing about it is that I feel that if it had been run on a little more runnable course, that I might have been ok. Virgil is tough. In fact, it’s the toughest course I have run on with 20,000ft in elevation in the 100. That was the big thing that got me. My fitness was lacking, PLUS I hadn’t done the specific training that I needed for a tough course like this. The ascents up the ski hills were brutal. I don’t think that there were many who were able to actually run many of the uphills, and then the braking of the downhills were tough too. That seemed to be the pattern of the course, you were either climbing up or braking coming down. I don’t want to sound like I’m whining, as Jeff Browning ran an awesome race on the course last year, however they added a few more miles this year which made the course that much more challenging with the addition of more elevation change and single track.

Anyhow, I wasn’t ready for this and realized this fairly early. I started the race as relaxed as possible and definitely felt like I was holding back early. The first parts I found were quite possible to run within myself. I began to struggle though when we started climbing. The ups and downs really beat up my body and due to the lack of base mileage over the summer; I had nothing to fall back on in addition to not having done a hill phase for a race like this either.

When I’m fit, I usually start feeling stronger after about 4hrs into a race. Today, I started to feel very rough at 3hrs and kept getting worse. I had a couple of good pukes, but it was more about there just being no strength in my body on that type of course. I may have been able to keep going a little while longer, but I essentially knew that my body was not ready to keep going without risking something that I was not prepared to risk on the day.

Structure wise, I’m feeling good and even feel pretty good now after a tough 25miles of the race. I honestly feel that my injury is behind me and that within a few days I can get back into hard training. That is what motivates me and gets me excited.

Yes, I should never have toed the line, however if I hadn’t then I always would have wondered if maybe, just maybe, I could have snuck in a decent race and sped up the return to competition. Unfortunately though, there is no bluffing a race in a 100 miler, especially like Virgil, without doing the work…and that is what I need to do before my next race.

While I am a little disappointed that I’m not a little further along in my fitness right now, it is good to know exactly what I need to do, and I have the green light to do it now that I am healthy.

I’ve told many of my coaching clients in the past that no matter whether you have a good race or a sub par race, the motivation should always be there following the race to train hard. I am certainly very motivated, now that I’m healthy, and can’t wait to hit the trails!

PS. Thanks everyone for all the emails, facebook, twitter and Running Mania comments.

Click Submit!

2010-09-22T13:32:00.012-04:00

It’s been over a year since I’ve raced due to the knee issue that I’ve been wrestling with. The good news is that I’m finally healthy, know why the injury happened and know what I need to do to avoid getting this injury again. So why am I reluctant to hit the submit button for Virgil Crest this weekend?

Click submit Derrick!

I know that I’m not in great shape, but feel fit to get fit. I’ve gotten in a few good test runs over the past few weeks including pacing Keith at Haliburton, plus a solid 5 hour solo run. My training volume has been decent, though not spectacular, but still enough to be able to run the distance.

Click submit Derrick!!

Yesterday was sort of the final test that I passed. Great range of motion/flexibility in my hip, and continued increased strength as well. My physio gave me the green light to run, and said that even if I felt pain during the race at any point that it wasn’t going to set me back any.

Click submit Derrick!!!

I guess the biggest thing is that I would ideally like to have a little more time to train and get in better shape, but unfortunately I don’t really have that luxury right now since there are a limited number of races and weekends available to get in a qualifier before the Western States 100 Lottery.

Click submit Derrick!!!!

Nothing is ever ideal. I’ve been away from a race for a long time and even though I’m not in my best shape, I still can’t help but have all of these preconceived race goals. If I can just let go of those and go into the race to run relaxed, have fun and enjoy a long day on the trails, then everything will be great....and that's exactly what I'm going to do.

Click submit Derrick!!!!!

Okay, done. Submit button has been clicked! Time to get ready to enjoy a great day on some sweet single track.

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Last week was a solid week of running that included a great 5 hour long run last Wednesday. Structurally, I felt really good and like I am finally in a great place.

Aside from the 5hr run, the highlight runningwise of the week was my run at Ballahack. The Ballahack trails are proposed provincial park/crown land that are just gorgeous. I remember going there xc skiing as a kid and this place just seemed so remote and wild. We don’t tend to run there that much as it’s near Tamworth and a good 45mins plus drive from our place. When we do, it’s always an adventure though.

These trails were actually the first trails that Sara and I fastpacked overnight on. We’ve also dogsledded and snowshoe run there as well. In fact, pretty much every time that we run there during the summer, we tend to see a bear and Sunday was no different.

I did the tour on the trails that I wanted to see with great views of Norway and Puzzle Lakes. Saving the best for the end, I then took my favourite trail in towards Cranberry Lake. Sure enough, just as I was climbing to the highest point in the area, I looked across the marshy section of the lake and saw a huge black bear sunning itself and playing under some big trees. It was totally oblivious to me being about 150meters away from it. I felt pretty comfortable being that far away and with a body of water between us, so I sat on top of the rock and watched him play for about 15mins. Bliss.

Another highlight of the week was visiting Sara’s parents and nephews, Whit and Sully, in Jones Falls. Just a beautiful place and we took full advantage of the opportunity to do some kayaking. Brennan and Heather kicked my butt in the race around the island competition, but I’m claiming that it’s because they were using Peter and Judy’s streamlined, jet-powered kayaks. Great fun!

Weekly Summary (Sept 13-19):
Total # of hours last week: 11:42
Total # of hours this year: 393:56
Streak (# of consecutive days of running): 7,573
Training Log Details for the Week

Kayak race. I got smoked!

Puzzle Lake
Norway Lake

Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a good photo of my friend the bear as the sun was shining towards me. Next time for sure.

Haliburton: The Other Side of the Trail

2010-09-16T22:12:00.008-04:00

It’s getting near the end of the week and I haven’t even had a chance to post last week’s update yet. Guess I’ve fallen a little behind on the blogging front. I do have an excuse though as it’s been a very busy week and I’m trying to play a little catch up.

I decided late last week that after juggling some things around that I was going to be able to go to Haliburton after all and take part in the festivities…although from the other side of the trail. I drove up by myself late Friday and pulled into Basecamp at about 11pm. It was too late to grab a campsite, and besides, I didn’t want to disturb the runners who were racing the next morning.

The stars were out in full force like they can only be in the Haliburton Forest. It was tonight that I had the biggest pang of wanting to race the next morning. I went for a short walk towards the entrance to Normac Trail and just soaked in some of the feelings of this special race. The howl of the wolves being answered by the song of the nearby huskies, which are waiting anxiously for the dogsled season, brought a smile to my face. They would like to be running just as much as I would tomorrow I’m sure.

I make my way back to the Subaru and curl up in my sleeping bag. I’m not sure if it was the tight quarters in the Forester or the thoughts of being in the Forest, but I struggled to get much sleep.

I awoke at 5:30am with plenty of time to make it to the start line. Part of me wanted to not see any of my coaching clients before the start of their races, but instead just show up at an aid station mid-race to hopefully help boost some morale if anyone was going through a rough patch. In the end I couldn’t help but searching out everyone and giving them some last minute well wishes.

Runners were marched to the start line by bagpipe, as per Haliburton tradition, and then they were off on their 50km, 50mile or 100mile journey. The bustle of runners heading down into the Forest soon faded and I was left standing feeling somewhat lost. Fortunately, Kim was there to crew for David, so we were able to chat and then most importantly work on the task at hand…making camp coffee!

The early part of the day was a blur of activity. I scurried around between aid stations checking on coaching clients, helping out others, cheering on friends, twittering updates, and genuinely enjoying the day…though it certainly felt strange.

The course was abnormally wet from the heavy rainfall this summer, as well as some handy beaver work on the trail. This certainly affected the times of all runners and contributed to what I expect was probably the highest percentage of DNF’s ever recorded at Haliburton.

It was great seeing Aaron finish his 50km so much faster than last year, and seeing David just eating up the trails in his first attempted at the 50mile distance and cracking 10 hours. These were two very solid performances and I was very impressed with how smart and with how much precision that they both executed their races.

I had spoken with my friend Keith and his wife/crew chief Jenn and told them that I could help Keith out with pacing after 8pm if he wanted. Keith accepted and I was pretty giddy to be able to get out on the course and be a little more of a part of the race. I met Keith at 75miles and we ran the final 25mile push to the finish together. Keith was in second place at the time and seemed to be struggling a bit, but I was amazed how well he recovered after having some hot noodles and gave chase with thoughts of seeing how much of the lead we could cut into. We were getting updates along the trail and seemed to be making some headway, but the long day of slugging in the mud quickly made it apparent that it would be very difficult to keep up the pace and make any further dent into the lead. Keith continued to run well to the finish for second place, with the highlight being a bear encounter on the Normac Trail.

After a brief post race beer with Keith, I was given a long ride back out to the 75mile point to pick up Floyd the Forester…thanks Jenn. I was then able to get back out onto the course and check on SHA clients JD and Christy, as well as I was hoping to see how John M was doing too.

I pulled into aid station #6 and spoke briefly with JD who was having a very solid day on the trails and continued to be moving very well. I also saw Christy coming into the aid station obviously in a great deal of pain with very bad feet due to the wet conditions. I was pretty blown away seeing how much discomfort Christy was in, but she was still not ready to quit yet without giving it one last shot. Seeing Christy leave AS#6 had a profound affect on me and brought me to tears. It is truly amazing how powerful the mind is and what it can will the body to do. Christy limped out of the aid station in terrible pain and disappeared down the trail. It was beautiful. Unfortunately, it was just too much and she was forced to stop partway before the next aid station at 82miles…but a huge congrats goes out to her for such a brave and determined effort. JD’s race continued to go well and he kept moving strong right to the finish with a great time.

Reflecting on the race as a spectator gave me quite a different perspective of things in the ultra running world. There were so many incredible efforts that I witnessed over the course of the weekend. I heard of a runner being told that they had to hurry to make it to the 75mile aid station before 4am or she would be disqualified from the race for missing the cutoff time. Then hearing how she was sprinting into the aid station with only a few minutes to spare as if it was the end of the race. Then she still had to run another 25miles. It gets better though when she comes within mere seconds of missing the 30 hour cutoff time at the finish line and once again it comes down to a courageous sprint.

These were just a few of the examples of the many heroic efforts on the trails and my hat goes off to everyone who ran. Sometimes when you are so caught up in your own race and racing, you can miss some of the finer moments in running. I feel very fortunate to have witnessed these on the weekend. Though, I am hoping to be back again next year to play in the Haliburton Forest… possibly for a little longer though.

Congrats again to everyone. There are some great reports of the race at the following links.
David's report
JD's report
Christy's report
Keith's report
John's report
Lots of race reports on Running Mania
Race Results

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Training Summary:
~ My training volume was a little skewed on the high side during this week since I ran long on the Monday and then paced at Haliburton on the weekend. Physically, I’m starting to feel great and find that I am beginning to feel a little stronger on longer runs too. This is encouraging, but I still realize that I do have a ways to go before I’ll be feeling back in a good place fitness wise. Rehab has also been going particularly well and structurally things definitely feel the best that they have in the past year.

Total # of hours last week: 17:30
Total # of hours this year: 382:14
Streak (# of consecutive days of running): 7,566
Training Log Details for the Week

Now That's Mountain Running!

2010-09-09T21:26:00.002-04:00

Incredible Mountain Running video of Valerio Bertoglio that I stole from Adam Campbell's blog.

End of Summer and WS100 Dreaming

2010-09-05T17:26:00.006-04:00

It seems like the end of summer is here. The heat and humidity (and deer flies) are gone and they’ve been replaced with cool nights.

I just love this time of the year for running, and feel very fortunate to be back into a place where I can be enjoying some substantial trail time. My daily volume has continued to be back to a point approaching almost normal amounts again. While I haven’t ventured into many longer runs, I’m now feeling like I can look to test the waters and see how my body responds to some now. Monday is going to be a long run test. This will be a great opportunity for me to see when I think I might be able to hop into a race. Wish me luck!

On the topic of races, I was looking over the Western States 100 lottery information last week. WS 100 has made some really good changes to the system, however I just realized that I’m getting burned a bit in that I currently don’t have a qualifier to put my name into the lottery yet. The qualification period is from October 1, 2009 – November 6, 2010. So, unfortunately my Haliburton 2009 race is a couple of weeks too early, and with my past year of injury, I am in need of a qualifier.

I’ve been looking over races and while I do feel that I’m a ways off of being in decent shape, I’m considering trying to hop into get a qualifier. I expect that the 50mile option will be where I look. We’ll see. The fact that we organize the Sydenham Fall Trail Run in October further limits that number of potential races to look at though.

Back to school time for Brennan and Heather now. Hard to believe it's that time again. It's been an amazing summer with so many wonderful memories. We had enjoyed a final campfire of the summer this holiday weekend.

Training Summary:
Total # of hours last week: 11:32

Total # of hours this year: 364:44

Streak (# of consecutive days of running): 7,559

Training Log Details for the Week

Dog Water Skiing

2010-09-01T10:27:00.005-04:00

No...not the skis ON the dogs.

The summer must be getting close to being over as I'm thinking more and more about winter these days.

We have dogsled, cross country skied and mountain biked behind our huskies, but water skiing never occurred to us.

My friend Duane sent this article and the below video that was fun to watch. Maybe we'll need to give it a try. Too bad our yearly spring flood didn't last longer on our property.

Slacker

2010-08-30T08:37:00.008-04:00

Another solid week of training and I'm really pleased with how my body has handled it. My goal last week was to increase the daily volume that much more, and hopefully feel good running long on the weekend.

Everything seemed to go very well all week with 5 days of running twice a day. I had one planned recovery day of 45mins, and then ended up cutting back to only 45mins on Sunday (instead of a long run) as I started to feel like I was fighting a bit of a flu bug on Saturday afternoon.

The big highlight of the week was my two physio appointments. It seems as though I've finally discovered the final piece to the puzzle of the past 10 months of injury. There have been a number of little things that have been addressed one at a time, but I seem to have the big picture now and through a combination of stretching, strengthening, rolling, sticking and physio manipulation, I have noticed very big changes just this week. The result in just a very short period of time has been that I now feel that I am running smoother and with equal strength and range of motion on both legs. This has been largely generated from freeing up much of the tightness in my right hip/psoas, which had been causing the knee pain, and indirectly the achilles pain.

The only drawback to all of this is the time that I need to spend daily doing rehab. I really just want to be out running, but realize the importance of the rehab work and have been hitting it hard.

I feel that right now I still need to be patient for a while, but am definitely in shape to start getting into shape....meaning that I'm not ready to think about racing to my best yet, but I can see that after another month or so that I could be in a better place to consider testing the waters.

Aside from running, we enjoyed a nice weekend with a couple of meals around the campfire in our backyard. We also set up a slackline between a couple of trees as a fun challenge to work on our balance. Brennan and Heather have also enjoyed giving it a go and I expect that we will be having yet another friendly competition in our house with this new activity.

Training Summary:

Total # of hours last week: 10:38
Total # of hours this year: 353:12
Streak (# of consecutive days of running): 7,552
Training Log Details for the Week

Heather mastering the Slackline...

Snowshoe Magazine: Ask the Coach - Pre-Season Training

2010-08-28T16:20:00.003-04:00

My 'Ask the Coach' column in Snowshoe Magazine featuring tips on pre-season training for the snowshoe racing season.

Training and Taper Advice

2010-08-26T21:13:00.006-04:00

There are a lot of folks doing their final long runs and beginning tapering into Haliburton now, and I thought it was a great opportunity to share 'the secret'.

I'm a huge fan of the Clash and just finished reading 'Redemption Song: The Ballad of Joe Strummer'. Great book and I highly recommend it.

Sara is currently reading it and I think has been quite surprised with some of the links to running...especially that Joe Strummer was a marathoner!

For some of the best training and tapering advice out there, you definitely want to check out what Strummer offers here.

Happy tapering!

An artist and his canvas

2010-08-26T14:24:00.002-04:00

Brennan and my Dad working on building Brennan's mountain bike trail and jumps in our backyard today.

Steve Earle coming to Kingston

2010-08-24T15:20:00.005-04:00

Very excited to see that Steve Earle just announced the Ontario dates of his current accoustic tour... and he's coming to Kingston on October 19th.

Steve Earle is, in my opinion, the best singer songwriter still putting out new material, and who is still performing.

We last saw him at the Festival of the Islands a few years in Gananoque and he put on an amazing show. I've been a huge fan since his early days for his mix of great songs in a political voice. This tour will be in support of his recent 'Townes' recording that was a tribute to his late mentor Townes Van Zandt.

The bonus part of this show is that Mike Plume will be opening for him. I've wanted to see Mike Plume live for a long time, so this will be a great opportunity.

With the concert being two days after the Sydenham Fall Trail Run, this will also be a great way to unwind from the busy schedule leading up to the race.

Tickets bought....third row :)

Tired Pipes and Daily Doubles

2010-08-23T08:05:00.008-04:00

It feels good going into the new week with tired pipes.

Last week was a great week with an increase in training. Getting back up to 11.5 hours of running again feels good. This is the largest week since early June, when my knee injury flared up. Certainly not where I want to be, but a good start.

The increase last week was mostly due to higher weekday volume, and beginning to run twice a day again. Double runs seem to have been good for my knee and achilles. I have kept my long runs quite moderate for now until I get the green light though. Some faster paced runs have also been sprinkled in which seems to have helped with my stride efficiency. I've also been focusing on a little more flexibility work and continued rehab.

Tomorrow will be another physio appointment to assess my situation a little further and what I need to do next to get me back to 100%. I'm feeling good that I can keep increasing, but still feel that there is something generated from my hips that needs to be tweaked. I feel pretty confident that I will be able to turn it around quite quickly though.

On the armchair athlete side of running, there were a lot of great races to follow along this past weekend. As mentioned on my Twitter, congratulations to SHA runners David and JD for solid races at the Iroquoa Trail Test 32km. Both ran awesome races as final tuneups for Haliburton.

Elsewhere, there were some interesting races on the weekend that included Pikes Peak, Where's Waldo, Transrockies and Leadville 100.

Also, a huge congrats to Gary Robbins for setting a new speed record of 35hrs and 17min on the 220km East Coast Trail in Newfoundland.

Now, it's time to start thinking about when and where Sara and I can consider racing again this fall. We pondered this a lot during our run at Frontenac Park yesterday, but are still a ways off from making any decisions just yet.

Training Summary:
Total # of hours last week: 11:27
Total # of hours this year: 342:34
Streak (# of consecutive days of running): 7,545
Training Log Details for the Week

Video of Gary Robbins setting a speed record on the East Coast Trail and short interview...

Cataraqui Trail

2010-08-17T08:38:00.006-04:00

We live about 3km's north-east of the Hamlet of Yarker on a dirt road. The Cataraqui Trail is a 104km trail that runs through Yarker. We run on the 'Cat' pretty much daily, as a regular run, but also to connect to our other favourite trail networks including the Rideau Trail, K&P Trail, and various other snowmobile and ATV trails.

There are many beautiful sections of the Cataraqui Trail, with some of our favourite parts including the course of the Sydenham Fall Trail Run, and a remote section of trail between Perth Road Village and Chaffey's Locks that features a number of high cliffs and hidden lakes.

Aside from running on the Cataraqui Trail, it's also a great place to dogsled on in the winter. We've recently noticed a larger number of people utilizing this multi-use recreational trail which is really great to see.

There's a new website for Yarker at http://www.yarker.ca/ . I was looking through it this morning and discovered a photo of a very familiar looking runner on the Cat Trail going over the Napanee River.

Bugsy

2010-08-16T08:40:00.003-04:00

We have a new friend who has been joining us at Freeman Road Base Camp lately….a tree frog affectionately named Bugsy.

Bugsy stops by our living room window nightly to feast on the insects that are attracted to the light from inside. He’s a pretty smart little guy and surprisingly quick and efficient at catching his dinner. While it’s fascinating to watch him at his task, we can’t help but feeling a little bit bad for his prey. I guess when it’s about survival; the whole barbaric action seems a little more understandable.

Bugsy joins ‘Sherpa’ the chipmunk and ‘Quigley’ the squirrel as regular visitors around our place.

Aside from watching the Bugsy show on our own nature channel, we had a great weekend and spent some time getting caught up with my nephews Matthew and Michael from Munster. We enjoyed a great night around a campfire swapping stories and getting caught up. Was good to see you again guys!

_____________________________________

Training Summary (Aug 9-16)
I felt pretty good about my training week. I’ve started to add some doubles into the week and had a couple of weekdays that totaled 90mins. I cut my long run back to just over two hours this week as the previous two weeks were both over 3hrs, so time for a recovery. I enjoyed a great run with David on Saturday going in on the Rideau Trail to the East end of Frontenac Park and doing the Great Rock/Slide Lake Loop with a short out and back added on. (Was nice getting out with David for a much overdue run, and great to see how strong he is right now going into the Haliburton 50miler next month.)

Structurally everything seems quite good. I had a few days with a tender achilles from walking in my Crocs a little too long, a little too quickly (Stupid me!). However, after treating it aggressively with the Tanda and Zanagen, it seemed to respond very quickly.

I’m really looking forward to increasing further now with the focus on gradually adding more volume, but maintaining my emphasis on rehab, stretching and strengthening.

Total # of hours last week: 8:06

Total # of hours this year: 331:07

Streak (# of consecutive days of running): 7,538

Training Log for the Week

Office Assistant

2010-08-13T14:55:00.001-04:00

Mr Happy Sore Legs

2010-08-13T10:38:00.004-04:00

Woke up this morning with tired, sore legs....but in a very good way!

I can usually tell during the first few steps upon getting up how my little nigglies are and if my knee and achilles are happy or not. Today, both were not barking in the least. In fact, they are probably in the best place that they've been in months. The fact that I've increased my training a bit this week has me feeling fatigued, but certainly very optimistic. The added volume has rewarded me with only sore legs from the 'in training' variety, but not the injury kind. That makes me happy!

Recovery between bouts of training will continue to be very important as I move forward, but I'm feeling in a very good place in my current state of soreness.

Onwards!

Colorado Dreaming: James Peak

2010-08-11T14:37:00.003-04:00

I still find myself dreaming of the mountains. Apparently I'm not the only one....see Sara's blog.

Just uploaded a few videos today, which were fun to look at. I had to laugh at the above video of our run up James Peak. I mentioned about there being no clouds at the summit...not sure where the heck I was looking? There were clouds everywhere! Must have been the thin air affecting my brain ;)

Fun playing on St. Mary's Glacier.

Then, this and this video from Crankworx for Brennan.

Oh well, it's been great to be running a bit more this week and exploring some of our local trails. Looking forward to summiting 'The Great Rock' on Saturday morning.

Colorado

2010-08-09T15:52:00.010-04:00

Colorado was amazing!

I find myself thinking that I’m a bad Canadian for saying that I enjoyed the U.S. Rockies more than the Canadian Rockies. In fairness, there were probably a number of things that contribute to this statement. When we visited Banff last fall we were there partially for Sara’s work and were both working through some nasty injuries that prevented us from enjoying it to its fullest. It was also during the fall, so the weather was a little bit dreary.

While we are both still fighting injuries again now, we are coming out of the other end of it. Also, being able to share this trip with Brennan and Heather was beyond fun, and each day was a great adventure.

Boulder (Wed, Thu)

Boulder is cool, with a capital C. We stayed at a cottage/cabin in Boulder that was right on the Boulder Creek Trail with great views of the mountains right out the window. The plan was to do a few things around this very happening town before heading into the wilderness a bit more. Boulder is situated at just over 5,000ft, so was a good opportunity to acclimatize a little before heading up higher.

Pearl Street Outdoor Mall: What a fun place. We enjoyed pizza at an outdoor patio, while Brennan was ‘volunteered’ to assist a street performer/busker. Bren didn’t have to swallow any lit torches, but performed with excellence.

La Sportiva: We popped into see Ian at La Sportiva. Great to meet him, have a tour of the facility and see all the incredible new 2011 Sportiva models. Brennan and Heather also got to see the La Sportiva Olympus Mountaineer boot that is used for technical 8,000 meter climbs such as on Everest. Very cool.

Rocky Mountain National Park: Enjoyed a beautiful drive into the Park. Had a great hike with Bren and Heather into Emerald Lake at over 10,000ft. Just spectacular views. While I think we all noticed the elevation change, it didn’t seem like anyone was too bothered by it.

Running: As mentioned, right out the door in Boulder we were on the Boulder Creek Trail and could be heading up a mountain in less than 5 minutes. We did a couple of runs from here with a nice run up Flagstaff Mountain to the summit at about 6,800ft early one morning with great views of the Flatirons and Green Mountain. The red dirt and windy trails were so much fun to run on. The thing that really struck me about the trails in Boulder was that, yes you were running up mountains, but that they were very runnable for the most part. So many times when we are running up mountains on trips to the Adirondacks, the trails end up going straight up, however in Colorado, they make full use of switchbacks that help to make the trails a little more practical and enjoyable for running. This was something that we noticed on many of our runs during the trip.

Pemba Sherpa Restaurant: We had a wonderful dinner at Sherpa's restaurant that included Tibetan, Nepalese and Indian food. Very interesting. It was also cool to see various mountaineering gear and articles from past expeditions. Brennan and Heather were great sports about trying an adventurous menu too, but weren’t quite sure about the Yak Dung Burgers;)

St. Mary’s Glacier (Fri, Sat, Sun)

We rented a condo at the foot of St. Mary’s Glacier for the next three days to base ourselves out of and do day trips from. It was a perfect spot to relax, explore and recharge our batteries at night. The weather was usually sunny and clear in the morning, with thunderstorms arriving in the afternoon. An early start was needed each day.

Crankworx (Fri): Some of the best mountain bikers in the world were doing some sick, squirrely tricks at Winterpark. Very cool competition that may not have been a good thing for Brennan’s safety to see. I think he was pretty blown away to see this live though, as we all were. It was amazing to see what people could actually do on a bike from 20 or more feet in the air. St. Mary’s Glacier Hike (Sat): We all enjoyed an awesome hike to the top of St Mary's Glacier and kept climbing towards James Peak. The going was tough for us flatlanders in places, but we were rewarded with some amazing views. We had lunch above the glacier at about 11,700ft with a great view of James Peak, but then headed back down shortly after because of the ominous looking weather. Sliding back down the glacier was a blast and we saw many people backcountry snowboarding and skiing there. Brennan and Heather did amazing up high, and I think found it interesting how their bodies reacted to the altitude at various heights. We got back to the trailhead just in time as the skies opened up with a heavy rainstorm.

Condo: We were fortunate that we had a great place to base ourselves out of. Other than a brief trip down into Idaho Springs for some groceries, we had everything we needed at our Glacier accommodations. We went for short hikes after dinner most nights near the glacier that usually included a little bushwacking and climbing.
Running: We enjoyed great trail runs from the condo with a number of options right out our door. Sunday was going to be a quiet day at the condo to recharge the batteries a little, so Sara and I took off for an early morning run up James Peak. This route featured the same hike we did the previous day with Brennan and Heather. We ran up St Mary's Glacier, then continued on to the summit of James Peak at 13,294ft. James Peak is the highest peak in the Indian Range and is on the Continental Divide. It was a tough run, but once again spectacular views. The views of the very rugged Mt Bancroft were beyond words, with a massive drop off on the one side.
Another enjoyable run was up the Mine Trail with a beautiful view of the glacier. I got a little turned around on the many off-shooting trails on the final morning and glad I had the GPS to point me back. Was a bit worried with the weather, but it blew over.

Mount Evans and Red Rocks (Mon)

Mount Evans: We drove to Mt Evans, then a short hike to the top at 14,265ft. The road was a little sketchy driving above tree-line with no guardrails, but we made it (Whew!). We were a little worried once again with the weather, but had an early start and were rewarded with more incredible views from the summit. We also saw a number of marmots, mountain goats and picas.

Red Rocks Park. This was quite the contrast from Mt Evans earlier in the day. The temperature was just over 40 degrees Fahrenheit and quite cold up on Mt Eavns, but down at Red Rocks, which really wasn’t too far away; it was like we were almost in a desert with the temps at about 40 degrees, but in Celsius! It was very interesting seeing the giant red rock formations and the way that they had built a multi-use amphitheatre around the rocks for various concerts. After checking out the amphitheatre and noticing all of the bands that had played there, we went for a hike on the trails. Luckily, we didn’t see any rattlesnakes or mountain lions, and actually didn’t even see the warning sign until the end of our hike.

Following Red Rocks, it was time to head to Denver for one last evening in Colorado before our flight home the next day. We enjoyed a relaxing evening doing a little bit of shopping, before re-hashing our trip over dinner.

It really felt like we were busy for the entire week with so much to see and do, but it also seemed like we had just scratched the surface about what was available and offered in this wonderful outdoor paradise.

The one thing that we really left with was the impression of how active, green, fit, and progressive Colorado is…in particular Boulder. It was so refreshing seeing bike lanes everywhere (Yes folks…Kingston sucks in that regard). People were walking through outdoor malls and genuinely just enjoying being outside and a part of life. I was amazed at how clean the city seemed as well.

While I’m not exactly ready to apply for American citizenship quite yet, if I was offered an opportunity to move to Boulder, as a runner especially, it would be pretty tough to turn down.

It’s been almost a week now since we arrived back home from Colorado and the memories are still very fresh in our minds. I guess one of my favourite parts of the trip was seeing how much Brennan and Heather enjoyed this lifestyle and how well they did in the mountains. It was just so great for Sara and I to share it with them.

While I expect that we will still enjoy our regular quick weekend trips to the Adirondacks, Colorado was certainly something very special.

More Trip Photos

Weekly Summary (Aug 2-8)

2010-08-09T08:49:00.000-04:00

Training Summary (Aug 2 - 8)
Back from Colorado and feeling structurally more sound each day. Ran 3.5hrs at Frontenac on Saturday, but tweaked my achilles on a rock and final hour wasn’t fun. Much better the next day though after lots of TLC (Tanda and Zanagen).

Total # of hours last week: 8:13
Total # of hours this year: 323:01
Streak (# of consecutive days of running): 7,531
Training Details for the Week

Weekly Summary (July 26 - Aug 1)

2010-08-09T08:47:00.000-04:00

Training Summary (July 26 – Aug 1)
Colorado trip, so plenty of uphill running. Final shockwave treatment on Tuesday, so achilles was a little sore for a few days after. Each day it improved though and felt very good doing a long run up James Peak on Sunday totaling over 3 hrs.

Total # of hours last week: 7:27
Total # of hours this year: 314:48
Streak (# of consecutive days of running): 7,524
Training Details for the Week

iRunFar Gear Review: La Sportiva 2011

2010-07-27T17:18:00.002-04:00

Check out iRunFar.com for Bryon Powell's gear review of the new and exciting La Sportiva Electron and Quantum trail running shoes... due for release in January 2011.

Colorado Bound!

2010-07-26T22:27:00.004-04:00

“I’m going out to Denver…”

It’s been a long time coming, but we’re finally heading to Colorado this week for holidays. Colorado has been on our wish list for a long time. The thought of seeing and running in some of the beautiful places that you read about in various magazines and on websites is very exciting.

Unfortunately, while my knee and achilles are improving a great deal, they are certainly not in the place where I’d ideally like them to be to be able to log some long runs in the mountains. I am actually surprisingly ok with this. While I really had hoped to get a few specific longer mountain runs in during our trip there, the goal all along has been to have a great time together with Sara, Brennan and Heather in this mountain playground. We have lots of fun things planned including staying at a glacier at 10,000ft, hiking various trails and mountains, and catching the Crankworx Mountain Bike Series. We are also going to use this opportunity to pop in and say hi to the wonderful folks at La Sportiva in Boulder. Should be a great trip!

As for my injury progress, this past week has continued to progress nicely. My knee is feeling quite structurally sound and my achilles has improved a great deal…while just still feeling a little weak. I have one more shockwave treatment tomorrow morning, followed by a few more light days, and then I can hopefully start increasing my volume and training harder again. Being patient will of course be very challenging considering that we will be in some of the most beautiful running terrain imaginable. The goal will have to be to keep busy with lots of other fun things to take my mind off of not being able to run as much as I’d like. This shouldn’t be a problem though.

Time for HOLLERDAZE!!!!

Oh, and one more thing...as I mentioned on my Twitter page, a huge congrats to SHA runner David B for his awesome race at Damn Wakely Dam 32.6mile self supported race. David finished 11th in a strong field. Look for a full report here soon.

Training Summary
Total # of hours last week: 3:37
Total # of hours this year: 307:21
Streak (# of consecutive days of running): 7,517
Training Details for the Week

Here is the best song about Colorado. A great Steve Earle cover of the classic Townes Van Zandt song...

Mosquito Mountain

2010-07-23T14:16:00.008-04:00

Ok, here's a random thought...

I've been reading a lot about mountains and mountain climbing lately in anticipation of our trip to Colorado next week. On a completely different topic, we also have a whack of mosquitos at our place (BIG and lots of them!).

Has anyone else ever wondered if mosquitos think of humans the same way that we think about mountains? I mean, they keep coming back and trying their best to conquer us and bite us even though they are probably fully aware of the potential dangers of doing so and getting whacked in the process. Which is not unlike humans trying to climb mountains and sometimes being foiled by the mountain or weather conditions.

I guess the reason I sort of thought about this a bit more recently too was hearing about my sister Deb's recent attempt up Mt Fuji, when she was forced to turn back due to bad weather. Glad you didn't get smucked like a mosquito Deb!

Okay, back to work Derrick!

Sounds of Yarker

2010-07-19T13:59:00.006-04:00

Even though I’m in full-on rest and rehab mode while waiting for my knee and achilles to heal a bit more, it was still a nice weekend in the wilds of Freeman Road.

As I’ve mentioned before, we tend to spend a lot of time hanging out in our backyard with the dogs, quite often by campfire. Saturday night seemed like just another one of those nights. We had a great dinner of STP (Sweet Tater Peppers) over the open flame, and generally just enjoyed relaxing with the temperature being a little cooler than recently. Nothing but the bright, starlit sky and the peaceful sound of birds, coyotes and really bad wedding music.

Huh??? WTF? We live on a pretty secluded dirt road and very rarely hear much noise. Therefore, we were surprised to hear the PA system of a wedding dance blaring through our quiet night. Apparently there must have been an outdoor wedding and reception in nearby Colebrooke and the direction of the wind had the music selection coming through loud and clear to our normally tranquil backyard setting.

What can you do? At first we were annoyed that our little bit of paradise was spoiled by the sounds of some really bad wedding music, but then it became rather fun and we got into the celebration, unbeknownst to the bride, groom and anyone else who was there for that matter.

Have you ever noticed that at a wedding you always hear the exact same songs? Which is to say a very brutal selection of the worst of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s pop music. Yes, that is way too much Abba, Kenny Loggins, Bob Segger, and company all wrapped into one big Cheesefest of every other bad song you could ever imagine. We had fun with it though and made a game out of guessing what would be the next bad song that was going to be played. This wasn’t our normal way of spending an evening, but surprisingly we almost made it to the end of the reception. Our dogs didn’t seem to share in our enjoyment though and I think just wanted to go to sleep. Apparently they have different tastes in music than we do. :)

The backyard meadow (note our 1km barefoot grass trail is out there, but just a little hidden)...
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Training Summary:
My running this past week has been reduced to let my knee and achilles get stronger. The shockwave therapy from last week had my achilles feeling better than it has in months. This is very encouraging as I think this has been part of the problem with my body compensating and contributing to the knee pain/tight psoas. My knee seems to be coming around nicely from all the stretching, rehab and rolling/sticking that I’ve been doing. I have a few more treatments of shockwave over the new 10days, but hope to be in a good place to kickoff our upcoming holidays in Colorado. Can’t wait.

Total # of hours last week: 5:33
Total # of hours this year: 303:44
Streak (# of consecutive days of running): 7,510
Training Details for the Week

For the record, the Ramones were not played at the outdoor wedding the other night.

Snowshoe Magazine: Ask the Coach - Downhill Running

2010-07-16T10:28:00.003-04:00

The next installment of my 'Ask the Coach' column featuring tips on downhill running can be found at Snowshoe Magazine.

Shockwave Therapy

2010-07-15T16:30:00.006-04:00

It’s been 2 months since I re-injured my knee. After an appointment at the KOPI Sports Medicine Clinic two weeks ago, I discovered that the cause of my Patella Femoral problem has been due to a very tight right psoas. This has also resulted in an achilles tendon flareup from the change in my mechanics too. Lucky me…two injuries for the price of one :)

Anyhow, I have noticed some pretty good improvements with my knee as I’ve been focusing on stretching my psoas more; however the achilles has been on again, off again. Some days it is pretty good, while other days it is pretty tender. The common thing though is that at the start of every run as of late it has ranged from being anywhere from tight to tender, and doesn’t feel like I have my normal strong toe off.

I have felt as though it has improved, but not at the rate that I would like it to have. I’ve continued on sort of in a state of half ass training and half ass recovery. After consulting with my physio today, he was not pleased with the progress of my achilles at this point either and feels as though it may be limiting the recovery of my knee injury. I totally agree.

I guess I feel that I could probably continue on the way I have and things ‘might’ turn around soon, but then again they might not. I do feel that I have more to lose then to gain right now and have decided to be a little more aggressive with my rehab. I’ve held off this long in the hopes that I could turn this around and be ready for a late summer race. As the weeks click past though, this might not be the wisest approach. I have definitely decided not to run Haliburton 100 this year, which will be tough not to do since I just love the race. I am looking into other options a little later though. Virgil Crest 100 certainly appeals to me, which is a few weeks later, but still may be too soon. We’ll have to wait and see how things go.

So the exciting news for me is that I have tried a new form of therapy called shockwave therapy. It hasn’t been around for long, but from everything I’ve read and heard, it’s been getting great results. I feel very fortunate in that KOPI offers this therapy at their clinic. That is one of the reasons that I decided to come to this clinic is because of all the different things that they offer under one roof. That is the way healthcare should be!

I had my first shockwave treatment today and didn’t really know what to expect. It was almost like a jackhammer hitting my achilles for about 5mins. It was a little uncomfortable when it hit some tender spots, but not too bad. I did feel as though my tendon was a little looser, though a bit achy following the appointment. I also had some pretty deep ART on my psoas again and it seems to be improving. The thing that I have to be careful of with shockwave is to take it pretty easy for a couple of days following each session, which is the main reason for my decision to cut back a bit more. I have a total of 3 sessions booked in the next two weeks. This is usually enough to get maximum benefit from what I have been told at KOPI.

So, the plan for the next few weeks will be to keep the volume pretty low, especially for the first two days following treatments, and then increase a little before the next session. I’m almost treating the shockwave sessions the same way that I would a long run, hard workout or race, and give it lots of recovery after.

While I’m a little disappointed that I still don’t have a race in the near future, I am encouraged about where I’m at right now and where I hope to be back to in a few weeks time. After all, it’s all about being out there and in it for the long haul.

Happiness is...

2010-07-14T11:34:00.003-04:00

... an outdoor home office :)

Canadian Trail Races, Gatineau Park and Rock Lobster (I mean...Dunder)

2010-07-13T12:36:00.009-04:00

Rock Dunder
We have wanted to go to Rock Dunder ever since we heard about it a number of years ago while I was working at Trailhead. There was a big push to preserve this piece of property and we finally had a chance to see first hand why.

While Sara and I didn’t explore Rock Dunder by our normal means of trail running, we enjoyed it just the same by taking Brennan and Heather on a fun filled hike on Saturday. It is less than an hour drive from our home, located on highway #15 near the village of Morton. We were surprised at the rugged terrain, elevation gain and beautiful views. The hike we did started out as a gradual climb that eventually popped us out on a beautiful summit overlooking Morton Bay.

After a quick lunch, while enjoying the view, we continued down the loop to a cabin on the water and were treated to a very refreshing swim to cool off from our hike. The soft pine needles on the final section of trail out to the parking lot were a soothing way to finish our hike.

Having thought that we knew every trail in the region, we were very surprised at this gem. This was prime Canadian Shield and there were many parts that actually reminded us of our trips to the Adirondacks. While the trail system isn’t too extensive, it was certainly enough to come back, do a few creative loops, and you could get in a decent length run.

Gatineau Park
I had a Monday morning meeting in Ottawa, so we made the last minute decision on Sunday afternoon to head to Ottawa to stay over night. One of the things that pulled us in was to have the opportunity to go for a run in Gatineau Park. Surprisingly, we haven’t really spent much time in the Gats other than a snowshoe fastpack a few years ago, so don’t really know the trails very well.

With it getting a little later by the time we got there, we felt it was best to just park at the Visitor Center and run from there. As I said we didn’t really know where we were going, or how to get there, so were a little disappointed to find that the initial loop from the parking lot was all of about 10 minutes long, which was not really enough to satisfy our trail running needs. Upon another inspection of the trail map, we headed off and were able to find some nice trails featuring great climbing. The problem was that we were getting pulled in further and further while not wanting to turn around. Common sense prevailed, and that fact that we hadn’t brought headlamps, we turned back in time to avoid getting caught in the dark.

This quick taste of the Gats left us longing to get back for a full day for more exploration. Armed with our newly purchased guidebook and maps, we are already drooling over where to run next time.

Canadian Race Highlights
There were some great trail races this past weekend with the NACAC Mountain Running Championships on Friday night and the Knee Knacker 30mile race on Saturday...

The NACAC Mountain Running Championships featured some of the top mountain runners in Canada and the US. It was great to see Taylor Murphy run well on the course and finish as top Canadian in second place. American Joe Gray won the race, but Team Canada beat the US by one place for the team title. This years race was supposed to be entirely run uphill, but the route had to be altered at the last minute due to Grizzly bear activity in the area. The course was therefore moved to Canmore and did feature some downhill segments as well. Top Canadian finishers have earned the right, pending funding, to represent Canada at the World Mountain Running Championships later this summer in Slovania. Complete results

The Knee Knacker 30mile race was also held on a very challenging course in BC this weekend. Adam Campbell won the mens race in his second ever ultra race, against a top field of Western Canada ultra runners including recent 6th place Western States 100 Mile finisher Gary Robbins. Ellie Greenwood was the top female in the race smashing the old course record in a time of 5:06, while finishing in 6th place overall. Complete results.

Training Week Summary
Not much to report here. I am trying to be very patient and mix long days or harder days with shorter recovery days to baby my knee and achilles. This approach has been working very well in combination with plenty of rehab. I’ve feeling pretty good now and actually got in 3 runs of 90 minutes last week including one light tempo workout. The goal for this coming week will be to increase the length of my runs and aim to get into the 2+ hour range again.

Total # of hours last week: 7:48
Total # of hours this year: 298:11
Streak (# of consecutive days of running): 7,503
Training Details of the Week

I couldn’t help but think about the song Rock Lobster when we were hiking Rock Dunder on the weekend. While I was a little more into Punk than the New Wave movement when I was younger, I have to admit that I did, and still do, own the record…

Hot in the City

2010-07-09T09:41:00.005-04:00

Hot enough fer ya?

Yikes. We have been going through a hell of a heat wave here in Eastern Ontario with daily temps reaching the mid-30C and the high humidity making it feel like 40+C.

I’ve heard a number of people complain out this crazy weather to me and asking how it’s possible to run in it. While it’s very easy to get discouraged about it and want to just not bother, the best thing that you can do is accept it and treat it as an opportunity to benefit from a different type of training affect and try to acclimatize yourself to it.

With running, it’s always going to be a challenge dealing with the heat, so now is a great chance to get a bit of training in that will help for the next hot weather race. I can’t help but think that all of the folks who were spending time doing heat acclimatization in a sauna for their buildup for Western States 100 miler, would have much preferred to run in these type of conditions that we currently have.

While I do see the huge benefit to heat training, here are a few of the things that I have found that have helped…

Modify the length of your training runs. Make sure to get out there for your daily regular runs, but it’s ok to cut back the volume a little.

Modify the intensity of your runs. Whether it’s an easy run or a hard session, you may find that your pace per km may need to be cut back by up to 30secs or more per km compared to normal. Accept this and don’t overextend in these conditions.

Leave the Garmin at home. No need to try to get X kms at X pace in during a heat wave. Just another reason why I am a big believer in the benefits of running by time and not distance.

Stay on top of hydration before, during and after your training. Sounds simple, but can be overlooked.

Don’t forget your electrolytes. You are sweating more in training and just daily living as well.

Run with handheld bottles for all runs, even short runs. I tend to use a waistbelt hydration system more in races as I find it a little more comfortable, but there are times when if your stomach isn’t feeling so well in a race that handhelds will be more comfortable. This is a great opportunity to get used to them. You certainly don’t need to have two handheld bottles of water with you during every run, but it’s great training to get used to it and also nice to cool down a little if needed.

If you are running longer, do smaller loops with cutoff options or options to replenish with more water along the way.

Our bodies really are amazing machines and I have found in the past week that even on some of the hottest days that we’ve had, that I’m already finding it much easier to tolerate the heat. There’s just nothing quite like the feeling of turning a potential negative into a positive training experience. Though I have to say that I am looking forward to the upcoming break in the weather and some cooler days ahead.

Ultra Runner

2010-07-08T07:34:00.004-04:00

Saw this on Adam Campbell's Blog and just too silly not to pass along...

ULTRA RUNNER from Cedar Wright on Vimeo.

Canada Day Weekend

2010-07-05T14:34:00.002-04:00

What an incredible Canada Day Long Weekend. Lots of races to follow, good weather and good fun!

A couple of congrats to some SHA runners who competed in the past week. JD survived a very hot day at the Creemore Vertical Challenge 50km. From all counts, the only thing that was tougher than the relentless hills on the course was the brutal heat. EJ also had a very busy period of racing with her debut at the Limestone Mile in a great time of 6:29 on a windy day on Thursday, then following it up by winning the women’s race (3rd overall) at the Sydenham Lakeside 5km on her home turf in a very solid time of 21:46. Great job guys!

Aside from another weekend of searching out race results, we enjoyed a relaxing time hanging out at our home. We find it interesting that for some weekends when we have thought that we’d like to go camping, we usually end up just staying at our own little ‘cabin in the woods’. For two of the nights we stayed out late by campfire; cooking dinner by open flame, enjoying a few beer and just hanging out with the dawgs. Doesn’t get any better than that. We are very fortunate to have this at our disposal on our property and take full advantage of it. No real reason to go away to camp. To add to this, we are also lucky to have a pretty great trail system we can connect to that is only 2kms down our dirt road to hook onto. I guess this is always why we feel that whenever we are at home, it truly feels like we are on holidays. That was certainly the case this weekend.

We didn’t even have to go out to get any fresh fruit over the weekend as we have a huge crop of wild blackberries (or blackcaps in ‘Fitchettese’) this season. It is incredible how many berries we have been able to pick as each day there are loads more that are ripe. Yum!

Our only venture into the outside world over the weekend was going to Sara’s sister-in-law, Heather’s surprise 40th party in Chaffey’s Lock. Heather seemed very surprised and it was great to see Jeff, Heather and the boys again after their recent trip to Australia. One of the highlights of the evening was listening to some great new music provided by Paul Langlois of the Tragically Hip accompanied by Sara’s brother Jeff. Most of the songs were new material written by Paul that will hopefully be coming out in a solo album at some point. Being a harsh critic of music that is currently being put out, I would definitely say that this was by far the best new music I have heard in a long, long time and it was a real treat to hear it in this setting. Can’t wait for the CD.

Running-wise, it’s been great to see Sara feel stronger in her training and being able to put a consistent period of healthy running weeks together. I’m still feeling some nigglies with my knee and achilles, but they seem to be feeling better each day. I’m confident that I’m heading in the right direction and will be able to cautiously increase over the next few weeks and start getting some good long runs in again soon. Yesterday’s 90 minute run felt awesome, but I awoke to some stiffness again today. I had another ART session with Tom this morning and it does seem like my psoas is beginning to loosen up a bit more which is good. Onward and upward.

Training Summary:
Total # of hours last week: 6:28
Total # of hours this year: 290:23
Streak (# of consecutive days of running): 7,496
Training Details of the week

The Missing Link

2010-06-30T09:09:00.007-04:00

I’ve had a long battle with a barking knee. It started giving me grief last year about a month after the Haliburton 100 when I tried to train for another 100 possibly too soon. It slowly came around and then I was able to get some solid training in between March to May and felt like I was getting in decent shape. Even during this period though, it still felt like there was something there and just not quite right. Then, I had a pretty bad flareup while race directing with the set up and tear down of the course...

Read full post at La Sportiva Mountain Running Blog >>>

Ultra Computer Geek

2010-06-28T14:59:00.011-04:00

Well, if you can't train or race quite as much as you'd like to, the next best thing is to be a computer geek and follow along online while everyone else is racing.

I honestly can't believe how much time we spent online over the weekend checking out races. From early Saturday morning throughout the day I was following along with all the updates from Western States 100. The race certainly didn't disappoint as Geoff Roes, Anton Krupicka and Killian Jornet waged an epic battle with Geoff finally coming out on top, smashing Scott Jurek's old course record by 29mins in a time of 15:07. Krupicka held on for second, also under Jurek's old CR in 15:13, with Jornet hanging on to third. Tracy Garneau of BC ran an awesome race and won the women's race in a time of 19:01.

Tracy led a strong contingent of Canadians at WS100. In the men's race, Gary Robbins had a stellar 6th place finish, while Glen Redpath also nailed it in finishing a few minutes behind Gary in 7th and was the top master. In the women's race, Nicola Gildersleeve also ran well to finish 11th. A very exciting time for Canadian's in the wonderful world of ultra running. A special mention should be given to Bryon from iRunFar.com for providing exceptional coverage of WS100 before, during and after. You can check out all the great articles and interviews here.

In other ultra news over the weekend, Phil Villeneuve broke the course record at the Ultimate XC 56km race in Quebec, but I haven't seen full results yet. Phil's race was that much more impressive knowing that he is just coming back from a nasty achilles injury. This speaks well for Phil's final preps leading into the Canadian Death Race in 5 weeks time. CDR is going to be an amazing race with Phil, Gary Robbins and Adam Hill all registered. Tracy Garneau is also running CDR.

A little closer to home, it was also fun to hear about SHA runners David and Kim who ran very well on Saturday. David ran a 6km trail race Saturday morning with Strider the Pup, then ran the Perth Kilt Run on Saturday night with Kim. Crazy man! Kim looked to have the performance of the day though with a very strong 38:04, finishing 2nd in her age group. The interesting thing about the Kilt Run was that this was a World Record Attempt to set the record for largest race in the World of runners wearing Kilts. This was succeeded as 1400 runners took part. I was a little surprised as I assumed that these were running kilts that everyone was wearing, but no they were in fact traditional wool kilts. This certainly makes the times that much more impressive.

Training Summary (June 21-27):

Upon having my achilles bark a little louder at me from favouring my knee over the past month, I have decide to take a noticeable drop in mileage for a little while to try and get things under control. Both my knee and achilles are feeling better each day, but I'm hoping that a trip to a new physio today might yield some more answers and put me in a place where I can safely start increasing again soon.

Total # of hours last week – 5:30

Total # of hours this year – 283:55

Streak – 7,489 days of running in a row

Training Details of the Week

And now in honor of the Queen's visit to Canada this week, I'd like to share my favourite version of God Save the Queen...

News Update

2010-06-25T10:35:00.000-04:00

I have to admit that I don't really tend to follow world news much. We don't have a TV, I don't listen to the radio often and don't go to news websites.

I was therefore pretty shocked to hear about the terrible BP Oil Spill recently.

It was very comforting however to know that BP is doing such an amazing job with their cleanup efforts.

I also recently heard about another spill that BP was on top of as well...

Have a great weekend! :)

Dreaming of WS100 and Racing

2010-06-25T08:18:00.001-04:00

The Super Bowl of ultra running occurs this weekend with the Western States 100.

I had put my name into the mix last fall, but unfortunately did not get selected. In hindsight, it's probably just as well with the recent injury flareup. With not feeling structurally sound at this point, trying to run 100miles doesn't make a heck of a lot of sense.

Western States is looking to be an incredible race. The men's race is shaping up to be a four man race between Anton Krupicka, Geoff Roes, Hal Koerner and Killian Jornet. The women's race seems a little more wide open, though Nikki Kimball is probably the favourite. Anything is possible in a 100 miler though, so it is going to be very interesting to follow along. Not as fun as actually being there and taking part, but still it will be fun to follow. There is also a strong contingent of Canadians taking part as well with Gary Robbins, Ryne Melcher, Glen Redpath, Tracy Garneau, Tamsin Anstey and Nicola Gildersleeve. You can follow live updates from WS100 here.

With spring now behind us, I'm a little frustrated that I have nothing to show for it. For the past month I have tried to tip toe around the knee relapse and achilles flareup with the hopes of it coming around. I'll get a few decent days and then have a minor setback. I feel that if I could take a short period of really light days, then I'd be fine. Whether that is in the form of a down period or taper, I'm not really sure what makes the most sense right now. My heart is wanting to run in a race, but my gut is telling me it might not be wise. My body is sitting somewhere in between...though probably leaning a little more towards my gut. Finger Lakes 50 is a race that I would love to do again next weekend and salvage something out of the spring, but I haven't fully decided yet one way or the other. I'm just going to take it one day at a time. If I'm feeling good early to mid next week, then I'm going to consider running. If not, then I'll put a little more effort into rehab.

On the topic of rehab, I had my final appointment with Greg Lehman on Wednesday. Kingston has been very fortunate to have Greg in town for a number of years now. Greg has worked magic for Sara and I on countless occasions. Unfortunately for us, Greg is relocating to Toronto to set up practise there. He will certainly be missed by us and others in the Kingston area. I'd like to say a huge thank you to Greg for all the years of help and encourage those in the Toronto area to check him out if they need some help working through or getting past an injury. Check Greg's website for an announcement about his new clinic hours soon in Toronto.

Anniversary Frolic and Feast

2010-06-21T11:59:00.013-04:00

It was a nice weekend on Freeman Road!

The weekend was highlighted by our 5th anniversary. Sara and I celebrated by enjoying a 'fancy' dinner at home with my own invention called 'sweet tater peppers'. Very yummy if I do say so myself (recipe below). We also had a nice run at Frontenac Park running out to Little Clear Lake. The western tip of Little Clear is just beautiful and was certainly worth having to deal with the deer flies to get there. We actually did the loop and then added on to hit the nicest section a second time and treat water for the final half of our run. No better way to spend an afternoon with my best friend. Hard to believe it was only 5 years ago we were lacing them up for our Rideau Trail Fastpack. Love you S!

Also, a big thank you to Brennan and Heather who dropped off a very cool surprise Father's Day present and card while we were out. Sorry we missed you. Looking forward to next weekend!

Aside from the Yarker area, there were a couple of great races to follow online this weekend.…

The Mount Washington Road Race was held in New Hampshire and boasted a strong field of mountain runners. This 7.8 mile race that goes straight uphill includes an average grade of 11.5%, with the last 100 meters hitting over 30%. 4650 ft of elevation is gained as runners climb to the 6288 ft summit. Chris Seimers won the mens race 1:00:22, while Shewarge Amare won the women race in a new course record of 1:08:21. Top Canadian was veteran Canadian steeplechaser Joel Bourgeois finishing in a very solid 10th place in a time of 1:05:31. This may have been the fastest time and placing recorded by a Canadian in the 50 year history of the race. Sara and I ran Mt Washington in 2004 and would love to go back to it at some point. It’s just an amazing event.

Also taking place this weekend was the Bighorn 100. There was a deep field there as well with the top 5 finishers all having some great credentials to their names. The race was won by Mike Wolfe in 18:43 with Ashley Nordell winning the women’s race in 23:49. It was great seeing Yassine finish a very strong 4th overall. I met Yassine last year at Finger Lakes 50 where he was having some knee issues at the time. It's very inspiring to see him well past his injury and just tearing it up this year. I can only hope I can soon put some of my injury problems behind me as I move forward as well.

Recipe: Sweet Tater Peppers
- Red peppers cut in half
- Smashed sweet potatoes filled into red pepper
- Cheese
- Hot peppers
- Spice with Freeman spice
- Top with sprinkling of sunflower seeds
- Roast in over at ? degrees for ? minutes until peppers are soft. I guess you can tell that I'm not one for details while cooking, but that's the fun part :)

And finally, here is a video of my nephew Matt performing some CCR for a talent show. Great job Matt!

Training Summary (June 14-20):
A smattering of decent runs, recovery days and some injury flareups. Finished off with a nice 3hrs run at Frontenac with Sara. Knee and PF were much better than earlier in the week, but achilles continues to be a bit of an issue on the rolling hills and terrain. A few more light days and hopefully things will come around. Seeing Greg on Wednesday for some ART and acupuncture which should help improve things further. Also pampering with Tanda treatments and Zanagen, which has helped.
Total # of hours last week – 10:29
Total # of hours this year – 278:25
Streak – 7,482 days of running in a row
Training Details of the Week

Snowshoe Magazine: Ask the Coach

2010-06-15T08:32:00.002-04:00

My 'Ask the Coach' feature in Snowshoe Magazine on summer hydration.

Read article>>>

World Cup: Jack's Heroes

2010-06-14T09:18:00.003-04:00

In honor of the World Cup...

Jack's Heroes is the undoubtably the best song ever about the World Cup. It was written by The Pogues and performed by The Pogues and the Dubliners 20 years ago as a tribute to Ireland's team. That was the last year that I remember following the World Cup with much interest.

_______________________________________

Training Summary (June 6 - 13):
Solid week of training including a 4:10 long run and a good mid week tempo run. I've been trying to include a few more lighter recovery days in to keep my knee and achilles happy and healthy.
Total # of hours last week – 14:49
Total # of hours this year – 267:56
Streak – 7,475 days of running in a row
Training Details for the Week

Trail Running Soul: SJS3 Compression Sox Gear Review

2010-06-10T17:14:00.003-04:00

The following is a review I did for Trail Running Soul on the SJS3 Compression Sox...

I have to admit that when I first thought about trying compression socks I had a hard time with it as I kept having flashbacks to the 1980’s and runners wearing knee high tube socks. How on earth could they be comfortable, let alone aid in performance in long distance running?...

Confessions of Mr Low Tech

2010-06-08T16:16:00.005-04:00

Stop the presses (actually….are there still such things as presses?). I bought an iPhone!!

Yes, the guy who embraces the fact that he is very much anti-tech most things has finally caved into the modern world. Who would have thought?

Don’t get me wrong, I love most things high tech runningwise, including the latest in footwear and gear, however elsewhere we don’t own a TV, replaced our gas lawnmower recently and much prefer cooking our dinner by campfire in our backyard to having a night out on the town or going to a movie.

With the nature of my business and the way Spafford Health and Adventure is evolving though, it is imperative that I have consistent access to email and phone. Part of the straw that broke the camel’s back is that living in what some would call ‘the middle of nowhere’; our rural wireless internet provider can sometimes be very inconsistent and be down for periods of time. This is not good.

So, I figured it was just a matter of time before it happened, but I have to admit that it was a bit nervous and reluctant over the whole ordeal. Even on my way to pick up my new phone I happened to bump into my friend Keith whose response to this was ‘Doing away with the carrier pigeon huh?’ Knowing Keith, I expected to hear him follow this up with, ‘Nothing tastes better than BBQ’d carrier pigeon’.

So, it’s been a few days now and I’m finally beginning to figure things out. Actually, I had originally bought a Blackberry, but after a day of using it, I realized that the iPhone is a better fit for my business needs so took it back (sorry again Kim).

My initial worry of becoming one of those people who are constantly playing with their iPhone and spend far too much time with it seems to be almost the reverse. I have found that it has actually freed up time for me in that I can quickly check my email without having to sit down to the computer, which quite often ends up with much wasted time mindlessly surfing the internet. Being able to reply quickly to emails and staying on top of things will make it that much easier to be more efficient and better organized.

A huge plus for me is that if I am away from the house for a number of hours, say maybe out for a long trail run perhaps (?), I can still check my email and have regular contact if need be. In fact I tried this out during my 4+hr run yesterday and it worked like a charm.

Now this is where things start getting really weird for Mr Low Tech. I have never, ever listened to music while running, but since my iPhone is also an iPod, and I was partway through a particularly long, boring, straight and flat section of railtrail, I decided to try it out and see what the fuss was about. For this type of run, where you are running through uninspiring terrain, I could definitely see the benefit of it and must say that I enjoyed rocking along to The Pogues, Steve Earle, Social Distortion, The Clash and Ramones. It was not long after though that I was caught redhanded running along while happily grooving to tunes as Sara drove past me on the road that connects the trail to our house. Mr. Low Tech was totally busted. I felt like a cat with its paw in the goldfish tank. Opps, guilty as charged.

Gosh, even though I am not a religious person, I feel like this is kind of like confession.

I am actually pretty excited though about how much more efficient I am going to be able to be with work. Now, as far as listening to the iPod/iPhone for every run, I can’t really see it happening. It was really nice getting back out on the trails today and listening to the wind, birds, chipmunks and the rest of things that make trail running so wonderful.

_______________________________________________

Training Summary (May 31-June 6):

Feeling good to be ramping back up for a few days, but also throwing in some decent recovery days too. Even got in a good tempo run on Friday. Knee continues to improve, but achilles has been a bit stiff still at the beginning of runs. Looking for a bigger week again for next week.

Total # of hours last week – 12:20

Total # of hours this year – 253:07

Streak – 7,468 days of running in a row

Training Details for the Week

La Sportiva Contest: What Fuels Your Flame?

2010-06-04T08:24:00.002-04:00

La Sportiva has another great contest... What Fuels your Flame?

Check out all the details and submit your entry at the La Sportiva Mountain Running Blog.

The contest winner will receive a pair of La Sportiva Mountain Running® shoes, First Endurance OptygenHP, a pair of Defeet Socks, Petzl E+Lite, and a Green-Layer apparel item.

Contest runs until July 31. Good luck!

Weekend Races

2010-05-31T16:29:00.006-04:00

This past weekend featured a lot of great Canadian ultras and other races to follow.

I'd like to start out by saying a huge congratulations to SHA runners JD, Christy and Kim.

JD and Christy both ran extremely determined races in the heat at the Sulphur Springs 50miler, and finished strong. The conditions sounded pretty nasty, and there were many casualties along the way, but congrats to both for finishing on a tough day. This was Christy's first 50miler, so is always a special one to look back on. JD already has his race report on his blog, and hopefully Christy will put some words down on her blog at some point too.

Also, on a hot day at the NCM 10km in Ottawa, Kim was scheduled to run with her son Graham &/or pace her friend Brian. Turned out that neither one of these happened at the last second and Kim went on to run a very solid second half of the 10km and came within 30 seconds of breaking her 10km PB. Just goes to show you that you never know what can happen in a race.

Congrats again folks! You all ran awesome and did yourselves proud!

Elsewhere here are a few other results.

Sulphur Springs: Adam Hill came within a couple of minutes again of breaking the course record in the 50miler in 6:28, while rumour has it that Harvey Lewis broke the course record in the 100mile, though complete results haven't been posted yet. A huge congrats also to John for toughing it out and finishing his first 100miler, when many others would have DNF'd. (Next one will be that much easier John!)

Blackfoot 50km: Taylor Murphy won the 50km, while breaking the old course record by 11mins in a time of 3:32. Funny story in that apparently Blackfoot rules REQUIRE that runners must carry a waterbottle with them, even though there are 4 waterstations for every 25km loop. Depending on how fast you are running, it is entirely possible to not need to carry water with you during the race. This did not sit well with Taylor 'Fast Camel' Murphy as he was planning to just drink at the aid stations, and it's a well known fact that Taylor has an aversion to running with water. However, not wanting to risk a DQ, Taylor searched out a waterbottle at a friends stag the night before and wore it for the race. I'm sure that Adam is laughing to himself if he's reading this following his recent post about water needs.

___________________________________________________

Training Summary (May 24-30):
Nothing too exciting. A mix of a few decent days, a few recovery days and a nice long run with Sara at Frontenac Park. My knee continues to be a bit annoying, but on the whole it seems to be showing signs of improvement again.
Total # of hours last week – 11:37
Total # of hours this year – 240:47
Streak – 7,461 days of running in a row
Training Log Details for the Week

Inspiration, Motivation and Perspiration

2010-05-25T17:00:00.002-04:00

Amazing how you can go from an umpteen hour week of running one week, and then drop to under 7hours the next. Blech!

As I mentioned last week, I re-injured my wonky knee a bit last weekend while organizing the Kingston 5 Peaks Trail Race. Running with a heavy backpack while setting up/tearing down the course was just a bit too much for my knee on technical trails with lots of turns. I was actually pretty ok with this for the first few days as I had just gotten in a great 50km trail run a few days prior to the re-injury. I fully expected that things would settle back down again quickly after giving it a bit more TLC and extra focus on rehab.

It hasn't bounced back quite as quickly as I had hoped, but is making slow progress. It had improved to the point where I thought about even trying a local low key race. Malcolm Anderson was organizing the Run for Tomorrow Trail Marathon on his property and with it being only 3km's from our house, we had already signed up for it a few weeks ago thinking it would be a great opportunity to get a long run in. My plan was to see how my knee was during the race and if it started to bark much, I would stop. The course was run on a 2km trail loop, so it made for a good opportunity to pull the plug if I needed to as I'd never be too far away.

My knee actually felt pretty good for the first hour or so, but I did start feeling it a bit more near 90mins, and realized that it would not be wise to try to continue on, so stopped at 2hrs after completing about 25km's. While there weren't a lot of people taking part this year, it was a great event that was as much about the enjoyment and atmosphere of the day, as the running. Malcolm put a lot of effort into his event and even had a live band. We're already looking forward to next years race.

The past few days since Malcolm's run have been progressively better and I feel like I'm already heading back to a good place. On top of the added emphasis on rehab, I have also been focusing a little more on proper form and getting back into a bit more barefoot/Five Finger running again. This has not only helped with my knee, but also my chronically sore, as of late, achilles.

With improved fitness comes the desire to test oneself in a race, and I've been thinking about this a lot lately. I was considering running the Mohican 100 mile race in mid-June, but really don't feel that it would be wise structurally at this point for me. There is no way that I want a major setback now that I feel I am getting back into decent shape. My feeling now is that as long as I can increase my training again over the next few weeks that I may look at a 50miler in June or July; then consider doing a 100 again in the fall. But really, my #1 priority is to get/stay healthy and be able to enjoy lots of long runs over the summer on the trails. Everything else is secondary.

It was with that in mind, that a couple of blogs I read recently really spoke to me and are great reads. Anton Krupicka talks about the very topic of risking injury/further injury at the expense of a race. Then, there was Scott Jurek's story about his big 24hr race recently. Both of these posts provided a lot of fuel for me to ponder during upcoming runs.

I'm really looking forward to doing just that in the coming days, weeks and months. Regardless of the ridiculous heat wave we are currently experiencing, I just want to be out on the trails running long.

Good luck to everyone at Sulphur this weekend!

Training Summary (May 17-23):
Total # of hours last week – 6:47
Total # of hours this year – 229:10
Streak – 7,454 days of running in a row
Training Log Details for the Week

Snowshoe Magazine Feature: Ask the Coach

2010-05-20T18:37:00.004-04:00

It’s May and time to start thinking about snowshoe season! Okay, so most of us may be lacking a little in the snow department where we live right now, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t enjoy the thoughts of the upcoming season, in addition to getting our bodies ready for next winter...

Busy Days

2010-05-18T11:45:00.006-04:00

Busy days at Spafford Health and Adventure.

I really enjoy my job. Spafford Health and Adventure has evolved considerably since the early days when I first started. The thing that I like the most is that it tends to be a little different every day, and I am never 100% sure what direction my business may take in the future. I love that I am not locked into doing one thing exclusively, and I wake up each morning feeling refreshed and come into each day (and season) knowing that something is going to be a little different.

The coaching aspect of my business continues to be very rewarding and I feel fortunate to work with such a wonderful group of hard working athletes who I enjoy helping meet their goals. Seeing their commitment pay off with solid performances is very inspiring and keeps the sport always fresh and exciting.

One of the things that I always find challenging however is when a race comes around that I’m directing and a number of my clients are competing. I’m torn as I really want to be able to be a part of their day, chat and generally be available to support them, however the strains of race directing pull me a little more in that direction. However, I’d like to give a quick shout out and big congratulations to Christy, EJ, David and Kim, who all ran awesome races at the Kingston 5 Peaks race. Way to go guys!

I would also like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to my family who are so helpful with supporting SHA events and volunteering. It can be a bit stressful in the days leading up to the race, during the race and even following the race, but my parents, Jack and Rosemary Spafford, and my kids Brennan and Heather were such a big part of this that we couldn’t have pulled it off without you. Thanks again. Then of course there’s Sara too who pours her heart and soul into the event as well…thanks so much Sweetie!

So, I have a bit of a break from race directing with the next race not being until the Sydenham Fall Trail Run on October 17, 2010,

The other aspects of my business includes writing and Dion snowshoe sales. I am also looking into the possibility of other lines of products to offer for sales on my website too, but will only offer products that I strongly believe in and use myself. I have already purchased Succeed S!Caps electrolyte capsules and will be offering them for Canadian sales soon once I finalize shipping costs, etc.

Speaking of Dion Snowshoes, I realize that it’s not the season for it, but lots of excitement for next season. I have a meeting with Bob Dion tomorrow in Watertown, NY and am looking forward to seeing some of the new products for next season. The plan is to also offer Dion snowshoes in some of the retail stores in the area, as there has been such a strong demand for them. We are also looking at offering another snowshoe race in the Kingston area next winter, and are excited to be able to offer a small fleet of demo snowshoes for those who don’t own running snowshoes but would like to try it out.

So, as you can see, it’s always an adventure! Looking forward to seeing what tomorrow brings.

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Training Summary (May 10 – 16):
I had a great week of running early on, but I knew it was going to take a hit over the weekend with the 5Peaks race on Saturday. The main focus was to get a solid 50km long run in on Thursday, which I did, running it in 4:20 and feeling strong. The race was a busy time and my body suffered a little. While running with a pack full of marking flags on the course, I seemed to have strained my knee a bit. I am taking it easy for a few days, which I think will do the trick, and then will start bumping things back up a bit again. Really looking forward to a quiet holiday weekend coming up.

Total # of hours last week – 15:41
Total # of hours this year – 222:23
Streak – 7,447 days of running in a row
Training Log Details for the Week

Kingston 5 Peaks Trail Race - Results & Photos

2010-05-17T08:36:00.006-04:00

Kingston 5 Peaks Trail Race

May 15, 2010

J&J Mountain Bike Trails

Enduro (10.3km), Sport (6km) and Children's Challenge (400 & 800 meters)

- Overall Results -

- Age Group Results -

- Children's Challenge Results -

- Race Photos -

Kingston 5 Peaks Trail Race - Saturday, May 15

2010-05-16T14:35:00.005-04:00

The Kingston 5 Peaks Trail Race was held on Saturday, May 15, 2010 at the J&J Mountain Bike Trails just north of Kingston.

The weather was ideal and the competition fierce. Over 150 competitors competed in the Enduro (10.3km), Sport (6km) and Children’s Challenge (400 & 800 meters). The course featured an exciting combination of single and dual track trails through forest and meadow that included pine needles, dirt, mud, grass, rocks, roots, bridges, logs and challenging climbs and descents. This race definitely had the most difficult terrain of any running race in the Kingston Area with approximately 1800 feet of elevation gain in the Enduro Course.

Awards were given out to the top 3 overall male and female winners in the Enduro and Sport Course, with medals award to the top 3 finishers in each age group.

Taylor Murphy defended his 2009 title by winning the men’s Enduro Race in a time of 39:39. Cliff Worden-Rogers was second in 41:34, while Patrick Foran finished third in 42:59. Rachel Schmidt won the women’s Enduro Race in 52:46 with Carolyn Raab second in 53:27 and Aimee Young third in 53:50.

In the Sport Course, Dylan Walsh won the men’s race in 26:19, followed by Brad Vaughan in 27:01 and Daniel Bannister in 27:07. Leslie Reade won the women’s Sport Course in 30:47, followed by Cathlin Antonello in 31:30 and Grace Harju in 32:46.

Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for providing merchandise awards and draw prizes.

Complete results will be available soon by timing company http://www.runningbydesign.ca/ and at http://www.5peaks.com/

The Kingston 5 Peaks Trail Race was also the second race in the Spafford Health and Adventure Trail Running Series. The next race in the series will be the Sydenham Fall Trail Run on October 17, 2010 with information available at http://www.healthandadventure.com/

50km Progression Run

2010-05-13T21:39:00.006-04:00

You don't always need a race to feel good about where you're at with your training. Today was one of those days. Here is my training log entry...

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50km progression run in 4:20 from home to Kingston via Cat-Sydenham-K&P-Sunnyside-Little Cat. Awesome workout. Started off easy for the first 2hrs (mostly around/below 140bpm), then gradually picked it up. Felt great between 35-45km and did my hardest running there with a number of km's in 4:20-4:30 range. Pace then slowed down a bit on the rolling trails of Little Cat, but effort stayed the same. Great test to see where I'm at, especially since this was done on tired legs with having run 19hrs in the past 7 days with some decent quality. Ave HR = 143bpm. Ascent 958m/Descent 1026m, so a bit of a downhill on the point to point route says Mr. Garmin. Combination of railtrail, rolling grass trails and about 45mins total of road. Really felt good and in control.

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While today's run certainly wasn't a race effort, it did feel really good and comfortable. Sometimes you learn as much from submaximal workouts as you do from race efforts.

Liquid Mountaineering

2010-05-11T09:30:00.004-04:00

The next big thing...

Fred's Bread

2010-05-10T10:11:00.007-04:00

I have always had a passion for doughy goodness. I looooooove bread.

As a kid I clearly remember coming home from playing hockey or being outside, and making a bread sandwich. Yup, that’s 3 or 4 slices of bread stacked on top of each other, with nothing else in the middle. The softer and doughier the better.

Sara and I have always tried to eat fairly healthy and I think that all things considered when you look in our cupboards and fridge, we do a pretty good job. Recently, however we have started taking a closer look at some of the foods that we assumed were healthy choices, but when you look at the label, you can’t pronounce many of the ingredients. Bread included!

Just take a look at what’s in most of the whole wheat breads in your local supermarket and you’ll see a whack of ingredients that don’t seem so healthy.

With that in mind we decided to start making our own bread and bought a breadmaker. As with most items in our house, our breadmaker had to have a name, so we named him Fred….Fred the Breadmaker.

Fred is super easy to use. Just dump in the few ingredient (that you know how to pronounce), turn it on and a few hours later, Fred has made a perfect loaf of doughy, yummy goodness. Easy, healthy and delicious!

The only problem with Fred’s Bread is that when training hard and putting in high mileage, it is not difficult to have an entire loaf eaten within the few hours that it takes to make another.

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Training Week Summary:

Going into last week I changed the focus a little. My daily volume had consistently been pretty good, but I felt like I could use a few recovery days to allow my body to recharge and get the jump on a few little nigglies. I also wanted to get in a pretty long run, so this worked well.

John was visiting his family in Kingston, so we arranged to get together for a long run at Frontenac Park last Friday. The weather was perfect and we ended up getting in a solid 6hrs that just flew by. This was really good for both of us as it was my longest run back since Haliburton and was a great final long run before John does Sulphur in a few weeks time. I felt strong structurally and like I got stronger over the course of the run, other than a little glitch at about 4hrs when I realized that I had been spending too much time talking and not enough time paying attention to refueling. My bonk was a good reminder how sensitive my body is to fueling. Once I got a couple of gels into me quickly, I rebounded and felt strong again for the rest of the run (though probably could have used a few more gels spread out over the run).

I felt like my body recovered well from the long run, but only did an hour the next day. All systems were good. I then finished off the week with a nice 3hr run with Sara in Frontenac again. This was my third run in Frontenac between Sunday to Sunday, but it was extra special as it was nice to get out for a long run with Sara again. This was Sara's longest run back since her injury and she seemed really strong during it.

For the coming week, I'll continue to get decent volume in during the early part of the week, but know it will take a hit this weekend with organizing the 5Peaks race on Saturday. Looking forward to the race and hoping for great weather.

Total # of hours last week – 16:35

Total # of hours this year – 206:42

Streak – 7,440 days of running in a row

Training Log Details

Miwok, Bairu, PYP, McCauley and Crashes

2010-05-05T14:01:00.005-04:00

It’s Wednesday?? How did that happen? The kid is a little slow on the blog front this week.

Things have been pretty hectic lately with lots of stuff on the go. The Kingston 5Peaks
trail race is a week from Saturday. It looks like there will be a good turnout for this second year event.

Last week was an amazing week in ultra running and also in Canadian running in general. Here are a few highlights.

Miwok 100km:
This super stacked race turned out to be as epic as all of the prerace hype. Anton Krupicka ran a very well executed race to win in 8:02. Some of the most interesting parts of the day included what went on elsewhere in the top ten. Unfortunately, one of the pre-race favourites, Canadian Gary Robbins had to pull out after 50km. Read Gary’s excellent and honest report on his race (a must read!). Even without Gary finishing, Canadians ran very well with Chris Downie finishing 7th and Glen Redpath 8th overall. There are some excellent race reports on Rod Bien’s and Anton Krupicka’s blogs, plus a great interview that iRunFar.com did with La Sportiva runner Nathan Yanko who finished 4th.

Kami Semick had a great day at Miwok and one the women’s race in a time of 9:10.

New Canadian 10Km Record:
Simon Bairu continued his fantastic season of running by setting a new Canadian record of 27:23 for 10km. This broke Jeff Scheibler’s old record of 27:36 by 13 seconds. Bairu will be making his marathon debut this fall and is looking to break the Canadian record at that distance too.

Pick Your Poison:
The next race in the Ontario Ultra Series took place last Saturday. It sounded like the weather was a bit nasty at times again for this race, but some strong performances were turned in. SHA runners JD and Christy both ran strong races with JD completing the 50km and Christy completing 25km. Complete results are here.

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My Training Week:
Now that I’ve increased my volume up consistently where I would like it to be, I’ve started to add more regular harder efforts into the mix. This has ranged from steady long efforts to tempo runs, with some hills thrown into the mix too.

I had my longest run since last September of 5:09 last Monday and even though it was longer than the week before, I felt much better structurally and my body held up very well. Thursday was a hard, hilly tempo run of 30mins in the middle of a run on a 1km loop. This felt awesome and I handled it well.

The week continued with some great volume and intensity with a run at McCauley Mt on Saturday while Brennan rode his mountain bike. I ran the first 20mins of my run with Heather who ran incredible on the hills, then I got in some more good climbing. Bren had a great time on the trails, but unfortunately took a nasty fall on his final run of the day, by hitting a hidden rut at the bottom of a hill. He went down pretty hard, but was ok and is proudly showing his crash to all his friends.

Sunday concluded a great week with a 3 hour trail run at Frontenac Park with Taylor. I was a little tired going into this, but luckily Taylor showed mercy on me and let me lead …he didn’t have much choice as he didn’t know the route :) . This run was at a quicker pace then I would have run by myself, which was great to get in. It was a hot day as well, so it took that much more out of me too. I had a few nigglies at the end of the week, so looking forward to a few lighter days to re-charge a bit before going long again.

Total # of hours last week – 17:25

Total # of hours this year – 190:07
Streak – 7,433 days of running in a row
Training Log Details

Brennan’s nasty tumble at McCauley Mt…

Week of Apr 19 - 25: SHA runners at Boston, 5Peaks and Limestone City

2010-04-25T21:18:00.006-04:00

There were a lot of great performances this past week with congratulations going out to a number of SHA runners in a variety of different races...

Boston Marathon (Monday)
David had his annual pilgrimage to the Boston Marathon again this past Monday. Fresh off the Pittsfield Snowshoe Marathon, he didn’t have a ton of road miles in his legs, but managed to pretty much nail his pre-race expectations with a very solid and evenly paced 3:28:45.

Dundas 5Peaks (Saturday)
Stuart didn’t take much time off after his Seaton Trail 26km from the week before, but came back with a gut busting 12km run at the Dundas 5Peaks Trail Race. The course is quite challenging and Stuart did very well to dip under an hour in this race in a great time of 58:48.

KRRA Limestone 5km (Sunday)
EJ ran an awesome race to finish as 10th female, and 3rd master, in this very competitive local race in a time of 21:57. Race day conditions weren’t ideal with high winds, which unfortunately seemed to slow some runners down by as much as 30-60seconds compared to previous years, but EJ’s time was still a full minute faster than last year!

Congrats to everyone and recover well!

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My Training Summary:
This was my biggest volume week since last August and I’m continuing to feel really good in training. My long run last Monday was 4:30 and was quite comfortable. My achilles was barking for a few days following, but has bounced back quite well with more attention to rehab and using the Tanda SLD unit. I was pleased that I was able to also include some fairly hard, sustained longer efforts mid-late week as well. I’m still looking at upcoming race options and hope to have something picked out soon.

Total # of hours last week – 18:14
Total # of hours this year – 172:42

Streak – 7,426 days of running in a row
Training Log Details

Racing on my Mind

2010-04-23T08:02:00.012-04:00

I am a sucker for my training log. Probably no surprise to most who know me as I've kept a detailed training log since I first started running year round in 1982, and have documented every run that I've done. I love going back through it and reviewing it from time to time. The training log doesn't lie and you can quickly tell if you are ready to start thinking about specific goals for a race.

Looking back to this past January, I was in the worst shape of my life due to the knee injury that had hampered me since October. I was still running 20mins very easy each day, but this was certainly not training and things were not looking optimistic. I had gained weight, lost all fitness and was not in a good place. I was even at the point where I was thinking that I might have to take a day (something I hadn't done in over 20years), or extended period of time off of running to get healthy. Looking back on it, I probably should have put a little more emphasis on doing some cross training to maintain cardio fitness, but I really don't enjoy it. For me, it's all about the run. That's what I love. Getting out on the trails daily, exploring nature and feeling alive.

Fortunately, things finally started to turn around in late January with a renewed focus on doing everything possible to get better and I began to see some improvement. Through a combination of laser treatment, Active Release Therapy, acupuncture, foam rolling, Stick Massage, strength training/rehab exercises, Tanda SLD light therapy and even diet changes, things started improving.

February was a bit of a transition month, then I finally began to feel like I was actually training again in early March. March and April have been great months with the past 7 weeks all being over 11 hours of running each week with a high week so far of just under 17 hours. My long run is now up to 4:30 and I feel like I can further increase this as well as I felt really strong on this one.

The one thing that I am a little surprised with is that some of the times that I'm running on my standard routes have gotten faster than I remember ever doing them before in past years. I am at a bit of a loss on this with all of the time that I had to cut back. As much as I don't want to admit it and don't want to go there again, maybe some downtime is what my body needed to recharge itself a bit.

With the way that I'm feeling right now I am anxious to do a race sometime soon. I haven't decided what yet, but whatever I do I want it to be a very low key event and just get the time in as more of a training effort and not think about racing it. I had thought about Pick Your Poison 50km next weekend, but am probably leaning more towards waiting until the end of the month. Sulphur Springs 50km and 50mile is about the right timing, but I'm not sure I want to run that course (jinxed as I am there).

There are a few races in the US that have peaked my interest in May and June, with the Laurel Highlands Ultra being one of them. Any suggestions of other races are certainly welcome.

Week of April 12 - 18: Bruins and Seaton

2010-04-18T20:24:00.007-04:00

Go Bruins Go!:

The playoffs have started. Once again I'll be following my beloved Boston Bruins in their quest for the Stanley Cup. Unlike last year, when they were one of the potential favourites going into the playoffs, this year they didn't qualify until the final week of the regular season. Maybe that means that they'll go further, or all the way, this year.

They have certainly started the playoffs well with the series with Buffalo tied at 1-1. The Bruins played very well in both games and if they can continue to play with the same intensity, should have a good chance of getting past the Sabres.

Seaton Trail 50mile, 52km, 26km:
Saturday was the first race of the Ontario Ultra Series with the Seaton Trail races taking place in Pickering. While the results haven't been posted yet, I'd like to say a huge congrats to Aaron (5:55/52km), JD (6:40/52km) and Stuart (2:28/26km).

Aaron ran the 25km at Seaton last year, then progressed to his first 50km at Haliburton in September. With this only being Aaron's 2nd ultra, he has improved a lot in less than a year. JD is coming off of his big race at Susitna and it looks like he is now fully recovered and ready to take on a number of races in the OUS Series. Stuart ran a very strong race in his first attempt at a longer trail distance and this speaks very well for what he has lined up for the rest of the summer. Complete results will be posted here when they are available.

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Training Summary:

My training consisted of a little bit lower volume week than I had originally planned, however there was more quality training compared to what I had done in a while. Wednesday morning was a steady effort over a 2hr route with a good climb, Thursday evening was hill repeats at Little Cat and Saturday morning was a pretty hard 95min progression run from my parents house back to our place. The only real planned hard session was actually Thursday, as the rest just sort of happened. Not always the best approach and I certainly felt the efforts accumulate. I also did some scrambling around on Friday after getting bit by a deer tick, which resulted in a short day. A very busy week, but I'm looking forward to things settling down again for this coming week and getting back into a more normal routine. My right achilles has been barking a bit off and on, which combined with everything else, made sense to take Sunday very light.

Total # of hours last week – 14:02

Total # of hours this year – 154:18
Streak – 7,419 days of running in a row

Training Log Details

Wednesday Fun

2010-04-15T13:57:00.000-04:00

I've mentioned before that my Wednesday night run is my favourite run of the week.

The trail that I tend to run on Wednesday is one that I run regularly, so what is it that makes this run so special? ....The company!

For the past three weeks, we have sort of started a bit of a tradition of going on a fun trail run with Sara and Heather. It's been really fun seeing how Heather really enjoys the good things about trail running and how well she has adapted to these runs. It doesn't get much better than seeing the joy on the face of your 13 year old daughter who is enjoying running for all the right reasons...mainly that of being in the woods and getting some exercise.

The fun doesn't only happen during the trail run though. Brennan takes this opportunity to explore the trails, hills and jumps in the area on his new mountain bike at the same time that we're running.

Check out the video below of Brennan flying down the steepest, rockiest hill in Yarker.

Fun times!!!

New La Sportiva Contest

2010-04-14T15:00:00.003-04:00

La Sportiva has another great contest... the April Showers bring May Flowers Running Contest!

Check out all the details at the La Sportiva Mountain Running Blog.

The contest winner will receive a pair of La Sportiva Mountain Running® shoes, First Endurance OptygenHP, a pair of Defeet Socks, Petzl E+Lite, and a Green-Layer apparel item.

Contest runs from today to June 1.

Apr 5 - 11: Canadian Ultrarunners Shine

2010-04-12T18:13:00.011-04:00

Ok, I admit it, I'm a bit of a fanatic when it comes to finding race results. And there were some great ultra results on the weekend, with Canadians continuing to shine.

Diez Vista 50km:
This Port Mody race attracted a fantastic field of ultra runners this year. Last years winner Gary Robbins was out out to break his own course record of 4:15, but would have to content with ultramarathon newcomer (though not new to mountain or trail racing) Phil Villeneuve, and Chris Downie. Gary and Phil hammered each other early on, with Gary eventually pulling away to a new course record of 4:10. Phil struggled a little after 3hrs, but gamely hung on to finish in 5th place. Chris Downie ran a great race to finish in 2nd place in 4:25. Gary and Chris will both be running Miwok 100km next month with a qualifying birth into Western States on the line. Gary and Phil will then hook up again at the Canadian Death Race later in the summer.

Mt Si 50miler:
Ryne Melcher of BC also had a great race on the weekend setting a new course record at Mt Si 50miler near Seattle with a time of 5:54. Ryne seemed to be hampered by a knee injury for much of last year, but it seems like he's off to a great start in 2010.
.
Bull Run Run 50miler:
Adam Hill from the Orillia, Ontario kicked off his 2010 season in fine form again with another strong showing at the Bull Run Run in Virginia. Adam finished 4th in a time of 6:52, which I believe is his fastest time on the course.

American River 50miler:
Tracy Garneau of BC won the womens race at AR50 in a time 6:43. The men's winner was 2010 ultrarunner of the year, Geoff Roes of Alaska in a time of 5:49. You know that the popularity of ultrarunning is really taking off when you see the finish being streamed live online. Great to see.

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Training Summary:
Personally, my training continues to go well. After a bit of a scare last weekend with my knee, I took a couple of light days early in the week and then continued with a pretty solid week to end up over 16 hrs again for the second time in three weeks. Highlights of the week included another great run with Sara and my daughter Heather on Wednesday, seeing a wolf on a run on Saturday, and then a nice steady run with Keith at Frontenac Park on Sunday. My body felt a little tired after the week, but I am pleased especially with how much stronger I felt on the hills on Sunday. I've been including more hills into my daily runs, which seem to be helping. It's getting to the point now where I feel I can honestly start thinking about hitting a race sometime in May. I'm not really sure yet on the date or distance, but I'll probably decide soon now.

Total # of hours last week – 16:18
Total # of hours this year – 140:16
Streak – 7,412 days of running in a row
Training Log Details

March 29 - April 4: Warning Sign

2010-04-06T16:23:00.007-04:00

Funny... when I googled 'warning sign', this was one of the signs that came up. It wasn't exactly what I was thinking of, but thought it too perfect not to post.

Ultra runners sometimes have a very difficult time recognizing warning signs, knowing when to push, when to cut back and when rest a little more. I am certainly no exception.

This was was what got me into trouble last October with my knee injury. Two weeks after Haliburton I felt great and decided that I was going to race another 100miler in November. My first 4hr run back landed me at home with a tender knee. Instead of listening to my body, I continued training hard the remainder of that week and really screwed myself up. The injury was enough that it was February before I felt like I was able to run normally and really start training again. Lesson learned.

I've progressed well since then and had a great month of training in March, really much better than I ever thought I'd have only a few short months ago. However, I had a funny twinge in my knee on Sunday morning which was non-running related. I took an awkward step to the side and knew that something felt different. I didn't really think that much more of it and headed out for my long run. My plan was to go at least 4 - 4.5 hrs at Frontenac Park. My knee didn't really loosen up at all during the run though, so I decided to pack it in at just over 2.5 hours. The thought of late last fall and early winter was still fresh in my mind and I really didn't want to go there again. I proceeded to get right on top of my bag of rehab tricks and cut back a bit for a few days.

This time I listened to the warning sign and I already feel like things are much better than a few days ago. Maybe it was nothing on Sunday, but the twinge was right where I had injured my knee before so I was a little paranoid. Anyhow, all is well again in my world and I'll be looking to slowly increase again for the rest of this week with hopes of a great long run on the weekend.

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Training Summary:
Total # of hours last week – 14:18
Total # of hours this year – 123:58
Streak – 7,405 days of running in a row
Training Log Details

New La Sportiva Trail Shoes at MEC

2010-03-31T07:45:00.007-04:00

With the recent growth of trail and ultra running, it's great to see more stores offering a wider selection of trail running shoes.

Mountain Equipment Co-op just updated their website and now offers what I believe to be the largest selection of La Sportiva trail shoes in Canada. They currently have 5 different La Sportiva models in stock including the Raptor (new for 2010), Wildcat, Wildcat GTX (Goretex), Imogene and my beloved Crosslites.

For more information please visit the La Sportiva or MEC websites. If you have any specific questions about any of the models, feel free to leave a comment below.

March 22-28: Umstead and World XC

2010-03-29T19:32:00.006-04:00

Another great weekend for Canadians on the North American and World running scene.

Umstead 100:
Canadian Glen Redpath started off 2010 the same way he finished 2009...running well!

Glen finished 3rd at the Umstead 100 this past weekend in a smoking fast time of 14:23. Umstead is a remarkably fast course that features very little elevation change or technical footing making it the perfect race to aim for a fast time. The race was won by Zach Gingrich, followed by Serge Arbone in second. Gingrich's time of 13:23 was a new course record.

Glen was the 2009 Trail Runner Trophy Series Ultra running Champion as a result of his great season of racing last year which included setting a new course record at Haliburton 100.

World Cross Country Championships:
Canadian Simon Bairu was the top North American at the World Cross Country Championships this past weekend finishing in 13th place. The World XC Championships are widely recognized as being the world's most competitive distance running race annually as you have runners who specialize at all distances from 1500m to the marathon all competing in one race.

This result certainly bodes very well for Bairu who is looking to make his marathon debut in 2010. If all goes well, you would think that he has a very legitamate shot at breaking Jerome Drayton's Canadian record.

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Training Summary:
Things continue to go well with my training. My daily volume was quite high for the week and I felt like I could continue to run 2-2.5 hrs per day endlessly now. The real test for the week proved to be how I'd feel on a longer run. I had the chance to see on Sunday with a 4:12 run at Frontenac Park. I ran the north end of the Park and enjoyed everything about the run, other than the fact that I certainly was struggling a bit on the uphills. I felt that if I had run this on a flat course that I wouldn't have had any problems at all, but the hills were a real challenge. In all fairness, I was a little tired going into the weekend with having had such a big week, but I know my body well enough to realize that I am still a ways off of racing fitness. I'm ok with that though as it will all come together. I am just thrilled that I am back out there doing some pretty substantial runs daily and doing the training that I enjoy. I still haven't decided when I will look at racing, but there's certainly no rush.

Total # of hours this week – 16:38
Total # of hours this year – 109:40
Streak – 7,398 days of running in a row
Training Log Details

Canadian Running Magazine Trail Issue

2010-03-27T17:53:00.005-04:00

The latest issue of Canadian Running Magazine (trail special) is on the newstands now and features my article on the top 10 trail races in Canada.

Also included in this issue is my interview with BC ultra runner Gary Robbins.

March 15-21: Chucky Canadians and Bowling

2010-03-22T08:13:00.002-04:00

Cuckanut 50km:
A big congratulations to all the Canadians who ran the Chuckanut 50km on Saturday. The race had a very deep field and it was great to see so many Canadians run well there.

The top Canadian was Adam Campbell in his ultra running debut. Adam went head-to-head with some of the big guns and I expect surprised a number of them by finishing in 3rd place. Americans Andy Martin and Erik Skaggs finished 1st and 2nd.

Other strong Canadian finishes in the mens race included Gary Robbins 11th, Chris Downie 12th, Darin Bentley 19th and Ryne Melcher 20th. In the women's race, the top Canadian was Ellie Greenwood in 2nd, only 13 seconds behind race winner Susannah Beck. Fellow Canadian Nicola Gildersleeve finished 4th.

Very exciting to see so many Canadians running so well. It looks like it's going to be an awesome year.

Bowling:
Yes, bowling! Inspired somewhat by Fred Flintstone and Leslie's blog, we decided to hit the lanes and thrash some pins.

Brennan 'Freddy' Spafford, Heather 'Quigley' Spafford, Sara 'La Bowling Sneaker' Montgomery and Derrick 'Yabba Dabba Doo' Spafford were all in fine form and did not look at all out of place amongst some of the finer 'athletes' in the city of Kingston.

We had fun. Freddy shone at times with a couple of strikes in a row. Quigley cried foul as the advice she was getting in the first game didn't help her game at all...poor gullable child taking bowling advice from Yabba Dabba Doo, who was firmly planted in last place in the first game.

Action at the alley was intense, especially during one of La Bowling Sneaker's wild throws as everyone seated behind her took immediate cover to avoid being smoked by a wayward ball.

I took a little bit of heat in my training log for admitting that I went bowling and possibly tweaking my hamstring a little in the process due to my near perfect form. Nothing serious, just a little bit of stiffness.

Good fun, however I doubt that we will be making this a weekly venture any time in the near future.

Training Summary:
My training continued to go well this week with my daily volume during the week being quite high and including some good quality days. By the weekend I was ready for a few down days for recovery. Structurally I felt very good with my knee continuing to get stronger.

Total # of hours this week – 12:41
Total # of hours this year – 93:02
Streak – 7,391 days of running in a row
Training Log Details

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2010-03-17T07:35:00.004-04:00

I grew up listening to punk as a kid, but fell in love with the Pogues when I heard them one St. Patrick's Day at the Toucan in Kingston. They were being played all night (no not live). I loved the way that they meshed the energy of punk with traditional Irish music, especially in their early recordings.

Shane MacGowan is one of the greatest singer/songwriters of our time...period! Just listen to the words in some of his brilliant songs like A pair of brown eyes, Rainy night in Soho and Lullaby of London . Pure Poetry! And then there's the best Christmas song of all time, Fairytale of New York.

When the Pogues first came out there were many traditional Irish musicians who were not impressed by their style. Their original name was 'Pogue Mahone', which is gaelic for 'Kiss my Arse'. I think that what many of these people didn't realize though was that the Pogues bridged the gap between different types of music.

Take me for instance...I never would have listened to an Irish song as a kid, but did just that through the Pogues. They opened up a whole new type of music for me to appreciate and enjoy. It was through the Pogues that I began listening to more traditional Irish musicians too such as the Cheiftains, the Dubliners, Christy Moore and even some of my Dad's old Clancy Brothers records. I even tought myself to play tin whistle, mandolin and fiddle, though not very well, and never in public, all because of the Pogues.

My appreciation of music now mostly comes from songs that tell a story, are told with passion and not just what the record companies think will sell today. While the music scene is a bit depressing these days, there are still some other great artists like Steve Earle (not Irish, but I think learned a lot from Shane MacGowan when they worked together on a few recordings) and Christy Moore who put out worthwhile music that I enjoy. Not surprising that another band that influenced my early taste in music, the Sex Pistols is fronted by an Irishman Johnny Rotten (Lydon). The Pistols were of course who influenced Shane MacGowan to form the Pogues, which seems very fitting.

So, Happy St. Patrick's Day. Enjoy a Guinness and some great music. And if your record/cd collection doesn't include the masterpiece album If I Should Fall From Grace With God.... go buy it today!

Here is my favourite version of the beautifully haunting traditional song Spancil Hill performed by Shane MacGowan and Christy Moore...

Week of March 8 - 14: Snow Porcupines

2010-03-15T16:04:00.006-04:00

This was a great week and actually felt like training again. I'm continuing to feel stronger. I opted to take last Tuesday pretty light instead of doing the uphill treadmill workouts that I've been doing recently, and was rewarded with the rest of the week being very solid. I'm pleased that my volume is back up to almost 2hrs a day average, but will continue to take some very light days when I feel I need them.

The week was highlighted by a great long run on Sunday at Frontenac Provincial Park. Right now we have absolutely no snow on the ground at home, so I was very surprised to see how much snow was still in the park in places. I thoroughly enjoyed my run and being on trails that looked like nobody had been on in weeks, or possibly months. With all of the snow I was post-holing pretty deep in places. Throw in some mud, water and ice and it was a slow loop of Big Salmon Lake.

The other thing that I found surprising was how difficult it was to find the trail at times. I feel like I probably know these trails better than anyone out there (except Sara), but found myself going off trail a couple of times because the it wasn't so obvious with there being no foot prints on the snow. Adding to the mix that I had to go around a few big bodies of water that were blocking the trail, made things that much more challenging.

I had one interesting incident where I was trying to get around a large flooded area. I finally found my way around it and and got back on the trail only to discover another set of foot prints going in the opposite direction. Strange I thought? Even stranger when I noticed the tread pattern in the snow. 'What are the chances that someone else is wearing a pair of Crosslites out here today?' Yup, you guess it...I found myself having done a 180, and heading back in the wrong direction. Silly me. Good thing there was snow on the ground or I might have kept going back to where I started. In reality, it wouldn't have been a big deal as I was about halfway around the loop anyhow, but I would much prefer to complete the loop instead of backtracking.

The only individuals that I saw on the trail were either adventure racers or ultra runners or porcupines.

Andrew Cameron, James Galipeau and Andrew's girlfriend Kim, had camped at campsite #4 on a very nasty night. They came down from Ottawa for the weekend. Andrew and James had just gotten back from doing well at an Adventure Race in Patagonia. The last time I saw Andrew was almost a year ago at Rock and Ice in Yellowknife.

I also bumped into Heather McNie from Trailhead Kingston, and Grant, who were just finishing up their run as well. Another highlight was stumbling upon a very sleepy porcupine who looked like he had just woken up and was just standing in the middle of the trail. Funny, he was only about 5 feet from me, but didn't seem too concerned. We talked for a moment, but I think I was boring him, so I continued on my way.

I really have missed doing longer runs over these past few (five!!!) months due to the knee injury and am so glad to be back enjoying some longer runs in the park again. I'm already just dying to get out for my next one.

Total # of hours this week – 13:10
Total # of hours this year – 80:21
Streak – 7,384 days of running in a row
Training Log Details

Week of March 1 - 7: Snowshoes and Dogsleds

2010-03-08T08:11:00.007-05:00

Some great races this past weekend...

Pittsfield Snowshoe Challenge (Marathon, Half Marathon and 10.5km): A huge congrats to David and Kimberly who competed at the Pittsfield Snowshoe Challenge yesterday in Vermont. David finished 5th overall in the marathon on the killer course that climbs up and down a mountain four times in 5:42. Kimberly finished 4th female in the 10.5km one loop course in 1:33. The weather was mild, but sounds like conditions were challenging with very soft slushy snow. Congrats guys! Look forward to hearing more details. Race info and results (eventually) can be found at http://www.peakraces.com/ .

Can Am Crown Dogsled Races: My friend Duane Ramsay of Inverary competed in the 6 dog - 30 mile race at the Can-Am Crown Dogsled Race in Fort Kent Maine on the weekend. He had a great race and finished in 16th place. Duane is one of the most recognized and respected mushers in the area. His knowledge and care for his dogs is unparallelled. I've had the good fortune of learning first hand from Duane and even raced his 'B' team on many occasions, including twice at Can-Am in the past. Two of our dogs, Willy and Jesse (and Cody before), came to us from Duane's kennel, and are enjoying their retirement from racing with our pack. Duane's passion for the sport of dogsledding is very inspiring as evident by the fact that now in his 70's, he is still out there training with his dogs daily.

U.S. Snowshoe Running Championships: Sara and I have run the U.S. Snowshoe Running Championships twice in the past and always had to travel quite a distance to the event. Too bad that we were both injured or coming off injuries as with the race being held in Syracuse, NY it would have been a nice short drive to get there. We had even considered going down just to watch, but decided that a relaxing weekend at home was more appealing. I still haven't seen results posted from the race, but conditions looked good and Dave Dunham has a race video posted here .

---------------------------------------------

Training Summary:
Things continue to go well with my training. I was very pleased with how I've felt with the continued increases in volume. I'm still splitting up most of my runs into two runs per day most days. My long run was up to over 2 hours yesterday at Frontenac Park and felt great, even though much of the run was done on snow that was ankle deep in places. I've also kept up with two quality uphill workouts per week on the treadmill, even though I really don't enjoy this. The uphill sessions have already jump started my fitness level and I feel that I've made pretty good gains in a short period of time with minimal strain on my knee. Structurally, my body feels very good and I'm pleased with how my knee seems to be getting stronger each week. I've even found myself getting excited with looking through the race calendar and thinking of upcoming races. I do think that I'm a ways off of racing right now though. Racing for me is usually secondary...I'm just so happy to be back out putting in some decent length runs again.

Total # of hours this week – 11:51

Total # of hours this year – 67:11

Streak – 7,377 days of running in a row

Training Log Details

Bugs Bunny

2010-03-06T21:48:00.006-05:00

Okay, everyone knows that all of the great lessons in life can be learned from Bugs Bunny cartoons.

It's funny, we don't own a TV, and I don't think I really watched that much TV when I was younger, but I can still quote Bugs Bunny-isms with the best of them.

Often at our place, one of us will bring up a topic, and Brennan, Heather or I will immediately answer with a 'You wouldn't hit a bat with glasses now, would you?' or 'Abracapocus, Pocuscadabra, ...Walla, Walla, Washington'. By the way, Sara thinks we're all 'Looney'!

It seems as though the above video of Bugs Bunny in Transalvania 6-5000 has been awarded the #1 Bugs Bunny episode of all time in our house. Though, my personal favourite is probably still Hillbilly Hare, featuring this great squaredance.

So many great cartoons...thank Bugs for Youtube.

100 Fastest 100 mile races in 2009

2010-03-05T13:55:00.005-05:00

Thanks to EJ for bringing this to my attention. I hadn't noticed that Ultrarunning Magazine had listed the 100 fastest 100 mile times in 2009 in North America. It's sort of fun going through the list, seeing what times were run on what courses and how your time compares to others.

My time at Haliburton 100 was listed as the 42nd fastest time, which is kind of cool. My friend Keith's time at Haliburton also made the top 100.

Of course with 100 mile trail races, there is a huge difference in times and how the different courses stack up compared to how technical the trail is and how much elevation change there is. There were people who probably ran slower times on more difficult courses than Haliburton, but also people who ran faster on easier courses. That's the beauty of trail and ultra running is that you never really know exactly how a specific race is going to play out and how you compare until race day.

Judging by the list, if you want to run a fast 100miler, the races to run seem to be Javelina Jundred, Umstead, Kettle Moraine and Rocky Raccoon.

URG Treadmill

2010-03-04T07:27:00.005-05:00

Now that's my kind of treadmill...

www.UltraRunningGuy.com

La Sportiva Mountain Cup

2010-03-03T08:31:00.010-05:00

La Sportiva has announced the dates for the 2010 La Sportiva Mountain Cup.

Race Schedule:

4/3/10 Mt. Penn Mudfest 15 km Reading, PA

5/22/10 Jemez Mountain Half Marathon 13.1 mi Los Alamos, NM

5/28/10 Rock2Rock Run 10 km Asheville, NC

6/5/10 RothRock Challenge 30km State College, PA

07/18/10 Barr Trail Mountain Race 12 mi Manitou Springs, CO

08/07/10 Squaw Valley Mountain Run 3.6 mi Squaw Valley, CA

08/07/10 Jupiter Peak Steeplechase 16 mi Park City, UT

08/08/10 La Sportiva Eldora Trail Race 11 km Nederland, CO

8/7/10 Mt. Ashland Hill Climb 13.3 mi Ashland. OR

8/21/10 Up and Over 10 km Taos, NM

For more information, please visit http://www.mountaincup.com/

Week of February 22 - 28

2010-02-28T15:00:00.006-05:00

What a great end to the Vancouver Olympics with Canada beating the U.S. in the men's gold medal hockey game.

Fantastic Olympics for Canada with a record number of medals and the most gold medals ever won by a country at the Winter Olympics.

We don't have a TV, but were able to watch some great events on the computer. The events I tended to enjoy the most were nordic skiing, long track speed skating and of course hockey.

Now that the Olympics are over, it's time to put the TV (ie. computer) away and enjoy life again without TV and all those damn annoying commercials. By the way, I think the most disappointing part of the whole 'TV experience' was seeing well known athletes endorsing MacDonald's. I know that many athletes struggle to make ends meet and need sponsorship dollars, but I was really disappointed to see them endorse a restaurant that I expect they would never consider supporting in part of their training with regards to a healthy diet. Anyhow, enough with the short rant, it was a great Olympics.

Also taking place this weekend was the World Invitational Snowshoe Race in Vancouver. Some of the top snowshoe racers from around the world participated. Mountain Running legend Jonothan Wyatt of New Zealand participated and the depth of the field was obvious as he finished in 3rd place. Top Canadian was Jason Loutitt in a very strong 6th place.

I would also like to say a huge congratulations to my sister Karen from Edmonton for completing her first Half Marathon. Karen ran a smart race clicking off steady 6:00/km's and finishing in a time of 2:06. She already sounds like she is looking forward to her next race. Very cool! Congrats again Karen!

Training Summary:
Another solid week of increases with my training. I'm very pleased to be approaching 10hours at this point. I've started adding some quality workouts as I've found that uphill running doesn't seem to affect my knee negatively. Sara and I have taken out a monthly membership at the new fitness centre at Queen's University which will be great to use a couple of times per week for uphill treadmill tempos, in addition to strength/rehab.

In addition to the uphill treadmill runs, I also increased my long run to 1:50. Everything felt good and I'm looking to continuing to slowly increase. The key is to make sure to listen to my body and take a good recovery day every 3-4 days.

Total # of hours this week – 9:43
Total # of hours this year – 55:20
Streak – 7,370 days of running in a row
Training Log Details

Week of Feb 15 - 21

2010-02-24T19:23:00.009-05:00

Busy times with lots of fun stuff going on.

Sara and I took Brennan and Heather to Barrie with us on the weekend and had a fun mini-work/mini-vacation at Horseshoe Valley Resort. I was going to be working at a Dion Snowshoe Booth at the Snowshoe Raid Adventure Race for a few hours, but the rest of the weekend was going to involve fun in the snow.

The Snowshoe Raid Adventure Race is one of the largest snowshoe events in Canada, and you can see why. Race director Bob Miller is very thorough and organizes a fantastic event. I’ve never done an adventure racing or orienteering, but it looked like a blast and they had great conditions for the event. Congrats to rookie participants Keith and Aaron who finished in 8th place out of over 90 teams. Keith and Aaron said the Dions performed well.

After the race, we headed back to the resort and spent a few hours downhill snow tubing. What a blast! Check out the below photo and videos. I was quite surprised with how fast we went down the hill. The sun was bright and temperatures were warm during the day, but had started to drop so it was lightening fast and icy. Fun stuff.

We all worked up a pretty big appetite after the tubing and had a great meal at the Crazy Horse Restaurant, before heading back to watch a little Olympics and an early night.

Horseshoe Valley Resort had a nice indoor pool that Heather was really looking forward to using, so we took advantage of that after breakfast before the drive home.

We were really surprised with the snow conditions in Barrie and with how nice the area is. We’re definitely looking to return there for some more winter fun in the future.
.
Team Zima (Aaron and Keith) in their first Adventure/Orienteering race...
Downhill Snow Tubing...

Heading uphill with the tube...

Brennan and Heather spinning downhill...

Brennan, Heather and me spinning wildly downhill...

Training Summary:
I was pretty pleased with my week of training. I increased quite a bit in the early to mid week, took a recovery day on Thursday, had another bigger day on Friday, then light days on Saturday and Sunday. I now feel that I have moved further along with the injury and in a good place to keep gradually increasing. I’m finding that I can take a few bigger days in a row as long as I take the odd recovery day now and again. I’m very happy to be at this point. I’ve also found a few specific procedures, treatments and rehab that I can do myself that I’ve learned from Greg. I’m still going to continue to keep my long runs under 90mins for a while, but feel like some double days are helping me to move forward.

Total # of hours this week – 8:00

Total # of hours this year – 45:37

Streak – 7,363 days of running in a row

Training Log Details

Week of Feb 8 - 14

2010-02-16T15:22:00.011-05:00

Well, this past weekend was a very exciting weekend of races.

The Olympics are now underway and always fun to follow along with how the Canadians are doing. I have to say that I was more glued to two other races though.

EJ had a very solid run at the KRRA Twosome run with a time of 22:30. This was her second fastest time ever over the 5km distance, and although it was a little off of her breakthrough race in Florida last month, her training has been a little more relaxed since then with a focus towards the spring/summer. Having said that, she did place a very strong 4th master in the women's race in a very stacked race that may have been one of the stronger masters races in the area. Looking forward to what the spring has to offer for EJ.

Elsewhere and not quite as local was JD's big race in Alaska (report here). The Susitna 100 was JD's first 100miler and he nailed it. Participants had to pull their supplies/emergency gear in a pulk for the entire race. Conditions sounded like they were slow in places, but JD not only finished, but did so in a fantastic time of 36:59. Truly amazing. JD's hard work certainly paid off, as did his mental toughness in this killer race.

Congrats EJ and JD!

----------------------------------------------------

Training Summary:
~ I was really quite pleased with how the week went. I have felt pretty good with increasing the volume of my training a bit. My longest run was 86mins which felt great. The pace was not quite as slow as I thought it would have been either, so happy with that. I'm doing a lot of runs in the 45min range, but don't feel comfortable increasing the length of my long runs quite yet. I will continue to stack runs together with quite a few doubles until I gain more strength back in my knee. I actually ran 11 times last week and this approach seems to be working for me right now.

I am still feeling some discomfort in my knee, but it is much less than it was a few months ago when I was only running 20mins per day. I'm not at the point of ignoring the tightness or discomfort, but just going to plan to stop dwelling on it as much and start thinking more positive. I've mentioned that to clients in the past that you get to a point that you need to stop focusing on every little ache or pain when coming back from an injury. I believe that is part of the healing process. I think I find myself at that point right now. As long as things stay the same or continue to improve, I will be mentioning my knee issue less and less in my training log and think that is a good thing. Onward!

Total # of hours this week – 8:51
Total # of hours this year – 37:37
Streak – 7,355 days of running in a row
Training Log Details

La Sportiva Contest: How much do you love running?

2010-02-10T09:22:00.004-05:00

Here's another great contest on the La Sportiva Mountain Running Blog.

If you have the best entry, you win a pair of La Sportiva Mountain Running® shoes, First Endurance OptygenHP, a pair of Defeet Socks, Petzl E+Lite, and a mystery Green-Layer apparel item!

Great deal! Click here for details and to submit your entry.

Snowshoe Magazine: Sydenham Hosts Dion Frontenac Snowshoe Race

2010-02-10T09:00:00.003-05:00

The Dion Frontenac Snowshoe Race was held on January 23, 2010 in Sydenham, Ontario, Canada.

Living in Eastern Ontario, you would think that the options for snowshoe races would be endless. Not so, as we usually have to travel to either Quebec or the northeast U.S.

It was with that in mind that we decided to host the first ever snowshoe race in Eastern Ontario...

Week of Feb 1 - 7

2010-02-09T21:59:00.002-05:00

Training Summary:
~ Continue to see improvement in both the strength of my knee and my fitness level. I still have some stiffness in my knee at the start of most runs, but it seems to disipate fairly soon into my runs. I've added a second run to a number of days to try to bump up the volume a little, but not put too much stress on my knee. This has been fairly favourable and has agreed with me. Still doing a ton of rehab, stretching, rolling and sticking, but definitely heading in the right direction.

Total # of hours this week – 6:34
Total # of hours this year – 28:46
Streak – 7,348 days of running in a row
Training Log Details

Rocky Raccoon 50 miler

2010-02-06T21:00:00.008-05:00

Congratulations to Oliver, who just completed his first 50miler at Rocky Raccoon in Texas.

I just got off the phone with him and he was pretty excited about his race. It didn’t unfold quite the way he had envisioned it, but ended up with an incredible result.

Oliver started the race very conservatively as planned and ran the first 16+ mile loop very relaxed. At about 20miles he was knocked over while meeting a runner who was trying to pass another runner on a narrow section of trail and went down hard on his knee. His knee was banged up pretty bad, combined with some stomach issues, but he got up and made it through the loop.

Once at the aid station at about 33 miles, he had to receive 10 STITCHES to his knee! They asked him if he wanted to drop out, and his immediate reply was ‘No F-ing way!’ He then got back out on the course and ran some of his fastest running of the day during the final 16 mile loop and finished in a great time of 10:10:44. Wow!!! That is truly impressive. Love it.

I’m sure that Oliver’s knee will be barking a bit tomorrow, but expect that he’s not feeling a thing tonight. Congrats again!

Bob Dion: Dion Snowshoes Video

2010-02-04T13:04:00.004-05:00

Video of Snowshoe Running legend and snowshoe designer Bob Dion explaining the features and benefits of Dion Snowshoes.

2010 La Sportiva Running Team and Sponsors Announced

2010-02-02T11:09:00.006-05:00

The 2010 La Sportiva Running Team and Associate Sponsors were officially announced today.

Sara and I have been members of the La Sportiva Running Team since 2006. We feel very fortunate to be supported by such an amazing company that also makes the best trail running shoes on the market.

Aside from training and racing in great shoes, the La Sportiva Running Team is also supported by associate sponsors Greenlayer Sports Apparel, Petzl, Ultimate Direction and First Endurance. Additional sponsors also include Julbo, DeFeet and Headsweats. All of these companies share a passion for the sport of trail and ultra running.

We're looking forward to a great year in 2010 and thank all of these amazing companies for their generous support...and for making awesome gear!

Sara and Derrick's updated athlete profiles can be found on the 2010 La Sportiva Running Team Roster.

One final thank you to La Sportiva for their continued support of the Sydenham Fall Trail Run.

Week of Jan 25 - 31

2010-02-02T10:29:00.004-05:00

Ultrarunners spend long hours on the trails and can get caught in all kinds of conditions. Here is an excellent post by Yassine that every ultrarunner should read. It's a great reminder of what can happen on the trail and to be prepared for anything. Very glad to see that everything ended well, but it certainly makes you think about similar situations that we have all been in and how it could have ended up.

Training Summary:
~ Was pretty sick for the week with a cold/flu including fever and sinus. This tends to happen sometimes after organizing a race and the funny thing was I wasn't even training hard during this time either. A lot of it is that I get pretty run down from thinking about what has to be done leading up to the race and on race day, so don't tend to get a lot of sleep. Anyhow, all is better now and I'm on the mend. I've upped the amount of rehab I've been doing now and plan to see continued improvement to get me past the current plateau. The key issue for me right now is to spend extra time stretching, rolling and using 'the Stick'.

Total # of hours this week – 2:59
Total # of hours this year – 22:12
Streak – 7,341 days of running in a row
Training Log Details

Dion Running Snowshoes in Runners World

2010-01-29T14:41:00.007-05:00

Runners World Magazine just did a review of various running snowshoes.

Here is the review for Dion Running Snowshoes...

Dion Snowshoes, $250
Started by veteran snowshoe race director and masters racer Bob Dion (he's a two-time age-group national champion), this upstart Vermont company offers semi-custom snowshoes—mix and match the frame, cleat and binding options to create your optimal setup. Most racers opt for the 7 x 21-inch Model 121 racing frame ($125) because it's the smallest and narrowest deck on the market that conforms to USSSA standards. The Quick-Fit binding ($65) offers a snug hold and easy adjustments without excess straps flapping around when you run. Unless you run and race on the same type of surface all the time, picking the cleat could be the tricky part. Dion recommends the Deep Cleat ($60), stating that it works well on groomed terrain and offers solid traction in broken snow and powder. This set-up weighs just over 2.5 pounds.
dionsnowshoes.com

To read complete review, please click here.

Dion Snowshoes are available in Canada exclusively through Spafford Health and Adventure

Snowshoe Magazine Gear Review: GU Energy Gels

2010-01-27T21:48:00.004-05:00

Nothing is worse when out on the trails for a long snowshoe hike or run than bonking.

Bonking comes as a result of running out of fuel to your working muscles by not taking in enough calories during endurance events. This can range from a simple inconvenience that makes your snowshoe outing a little less fun all the way to being downright dangerous in extreme cases if caught a long distance out on the trail in cold conditions. If your body starts shutting down and quits operating as efficiently as normal, you can also become more prone to hypothermia or frostbite by not being able to generate as much heat...

Read more>>>

Week of Jan 18-24

2010-01-27T21:35:00.003-05:00

Training Summary:
Busy week with all the pre-snowshoe race planning and race day stuff. Not a bad week at times with some decent runs, but definitely feel like I've hit a bit of a plateau with the knee. Some days it isn't so bad, then some days it doesn't feel good at all. There seems to be no change if I run more or less, in fact, I sometimes think it feels better when running more. A little depressing when I see that the total number of hours I've run so far in the first 24 days of the year is the same as many normal weeks of training at times. Oh well, stay the course. Back to more rehab. Haven't been able to run on snowshoes much lately with the big melt now, which hasn't helped. Ended the week with a cold, which is par for the course after organizing a race.

Total # of hours this week – 4:58
Total # of hours this year – 19:13
Streak – 7,334 days of running in a row
Training Log Details

Dion Frontenac Snowshoe Race - Report and Results

2010-01-24T08:38:00.013-05:00

(video credit: Jane Newman-Ralph)

Congratulations to everyone who took part in the Dion Frontenac Snowshoe Race held on Saturday, January 23.

Conditions were fast and the competition was fierce as 35 snowshoe runners challenged the rolling 7.3km course at Frontenac Provincial Park. The weather was perfect for snowshoe racing with sunny skies and -7C.

Former Canadian National Cross Country running team member Taylor Murphy of Napanee posted the fastest time of the day winning in a time of 31:16. Taylor was followed by ultramarathoner Keith Iskiw of Kingston in 36:40, and Justin Pozin of Toronto in 37:10. Gilles Parisien of Cornwall was the top male masters runner in 38:03.

In the women’s race, Elizabeth Primrose of Brockville won in a time of 42:24, followed by Shauna Connaughton of Kingston in 44:34, and Eliza Murphy of Sydenham in 47:27. Kim Bohn of Kanata was the top female masters runner in 49:46.

Complete results are posted at Spafford Health and Adventure

Numerous awards and draw prizes were given out with one lucky participant going home with a pair of Dion Running Snowshoes. The vegetarian chili and munchies were also a hit for tired racers looking to refuel following their hard effort.

Many thanks to our sponsors Dion Running Snowshoes, Spafford Health and Adventure, La Sportiva, 5 Peaks Trail Running Series, Running Room, Trailhead and Stonehaven. A very special thank you to all of our wonderful volunteers.

One final thanks to Frontenac Provincial Park, and staff, for permitting us to hold this race in their beautiful park. We encourage you to come back to Frontenac Park again soon and explore it further.

For more race photos, please click here.

The next race in the SHA Trail Running Series is the Kingston 5 Peaks Trail Race on May 15, 2010.

See you on the trails!

Derrick Spafford
Race Director
Dion Frontenac Snowshoe Race

Dion Frontenac Snowshoe Race - Final Course Update

2010-01-22T19:47:00.005-05:00

(January 22, 2010) We're just back in from setting up the course for the Dion Frontenac Snowshoe Race.

Conditions will be fast for most of the route with hard packed snow. There are a few sections that feature some uneven footing between the 2 - 4 km point. You'll have to pay close attention to the trail here, but it was in that much better shape after we went over it a couple of times this afternoon. I'll be running the course first thing tomorrow morning again and that should help to smooth it out further.

On the whole though, the conditions are very good and will make for an awesome race.

Looking forward to a fun day tomorrow.

See you soon!

Derrick

Dion Frontenac Snowshoe Race - Course Conditions Update

2010-01-21T13:15:00.005-05:00

(Jan 21/10) I just got back from a snowshoe run at Frontenac Park on the race course for this weekend’s Dion Frontenac Snowshoe Race. The course is still in excellent shape and we will be using our planned route. No snow has been lost there since last Sunday and it looks like they have even received a few cm’s of snow in addition.

The snow is quite packed down so the conditions will be pretty fast for the most part. Due to the hardening of the snow after mild conditions there are a few sections where the footing is a bit uneven, however this improved with even just me running over it the one time today. We will be running the course at least twice more before race day to pack it down and smooth it out a bit more.

There are still a few sections from the 2-4km point that have some rocks, roots and stumps to go around, but this is easily done. You will just need to be a little more careful on this section and watch your footing…especially on the downhills.

After the 4km point it is lightning fast and exceptionally good conditions. Save some energy for this section as you’ll want to be flying and will have a blast.

The final 2km will be packed down very nicely after the start of the race, so conditions will be great here as well and make for a fast finish.

If you have any questions about the race or course conditions, please post a comment below or email me directly.

Oh, just one more thing. CKWS TV in Kingston interviewed me for the race and will be airing the interview either tonight or Friday night during the news broadcast.

See you on race day!
Derrick

Week of Jan 11-17

2010-01-18T16:00:00.001-05:00

What an incredible weekend of racing for Canadian runners!

There have been some great single performance results by Canadians in the past, but I'm hard pressed to find something to get this excited about as a fan of all types of running.

First off, Canadians ran exceptionally well at the HURT 100miler in Hawaii. Gary Robbins not only won the race, but ran the fastest time ever on one of the toughest 100 mile courses out there beating Geoff Roes course record by 16 minutes. For those who don't follow ultra running, Roes was the '2009 Ultra runner of the year'. Tracy Garneau, also of BC, won the woman's race, finished 3rd overall, and also set a new womans course record. Incredible performances by these two and they each look to be getting faster all the time. It should be a great year for both of them.

Another great weekend result came from Simon Bairu of Saskatchewan, who soundly beat Ryan Hall of the US at the Arizona Half Marathon. Bairu’s time was 62:47.

Also of note was Eric Gillis who ran the second fastest ever Canadian marathon debut at the Houston Marathon in a time of 2:13:56.

A very exciting time for Canadian distance running.

Training Summary:
I was pleased how my week continued to go. I’ve been able to increase my volume a little more and feel like I’m gaining a little bit of fitness back. My knee still twinges at times, but I’m trying to keep things under control and not do too much too soon.

Total # of hours this week – 6:13
Total # of hours this year – 14:15
Streak – 7,327 days of running in a row
Training Log Details

I'm really looking forward to this coming week for a couple of reasons. The Dion Frontenac Snowshoe Race will be held on Saturday, and should be a very fun event.

Also, what better way to relax after a snowshoe race than by watching the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour! It is a must see for the outdoor enthusiast. We are very fortunate to have it come to Kingston and encourage everyone to get out and support this great event to make sure that it keeps coming back. For details on the Banff Festival, check out Trailhead Kingston.

Here is the trailer for the 2010 Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour…

Dion Frontenac Snowshoe Race - Course/snow conditions

2010-01-18T08:07:00.008-05:00

(Jan 17/10): Trail/snow conditions were good to excellent for snowshoe running on Sunday in anticipation of the Dion Frontenac Snowshoe Race next Saturday.

The snow was soft in places, but there is still so much snow in the park that it wasn't a problem. There were a few sections that had exposed rocks, roots and mud, but they were easy to avoid. Sara, EJ and I all ran the course which helped to pack it down further from where hikers (without snowshoes) had chewed up the trail a little. Sara even wore her Dion Deep Cleats (for deep snow conditions) on her snowshoes and had no problem with hitting ground.

0-2km: Excellent snow conditions. Deep snow on the wide trail. Well packed down and quite smooth.

2-4.5km: Fair to good snow conditions. This is the most technical part of the course that includes negotiating around a few rocks, roots and tree stumps. Snow is melted off of a few of the wooden bridges, but just take it easy going across and you'll be fine. The softer snow conditions over this section of the Corridor trail is now in much better shape after the 3 of us ran over it to pack it down.

4.5-5.4km: Excellent snow conditions. This section is packed down very well. The long bridge past the Big Salmon Lake boat launch still has snow on it too. This is the fastest section of the course and you'll be able to fly, even with some good rolling hills.

5.4km-7.3km: Same as first 2km, excellent snow conditions. After everyone has packed this down further at the start of the race, this section will be in exceptional shape for the final sprint to the finish.

There is always a lot more snow in the park than what is in Kingston or surrounding areas. We've had a lot of people contact us who are concerned about the conditions for the race, but we would have to get a huge melt for there to be a problem considering how good the base is right now. Worst case scenario if a big melt did occur is that we would still be running a snowshoe race, but exclude the Corridor Trail section.

The temperatures are dropping below 0C each night, and some flurries are in the forecast this week, so conditions should remain good or even improve. I expect to be running the course again later in the week and will post further updates if conditions change.

See you on race day!

Derrick

Spafford Health and Adventure Trail Running Series

2010-01-17T18:50:00.007-05:00

Spafford Health and Adventure is thrilled to announce the 2010 Spafford Health and Adventure Trail Running Series.

For 2010 there will be three races in the series consisting of the Dion Frontenac Snowshoe Race, Kingston 5 Peaks Trail Race (Enduro course) and the Sydenham Fall Trail Run.

Points will be awarded for male and female placings at each race (ie. 10th place = 10 points).

Top two races will count for the series, with the lowest overall point total being awarded the series champion.

Run in all three races and receive an additional ‘bonus’ point taken off of your top two total.

The SHA Trail Running Series champions will be announced at the Sydenham Fall Trail Run. Male and female winners will each receive a pair of La Sportiva Trail Running Shoes.

Good luck to everyone!

See you on the trails,

Derrick Spafford
Race Director & Series Coordinator
Spafford Health and Adventure Trail Running Series

Snowshoe Magazine: The Perfect Snowshoe Run

2010-01-15T21:30:00.003-05:00

The last three months have been a real struggle for me. I have been nursing a very stubborn knee injury that has prevented me from running very much at all. I’ve still been able to get out for short runs each day, but they haven’t been anywhere near as long as what I normally love to get in. And, I must say that an injured runner is a grumpy runner...

Dion Frontenac Snowshoe Race - Course preview

2010-01-14T08:45:00.011-05:00

The Dion Frontenac Snowshoe Race will be held on Saturday, January 23 at Frontenac Provincial Park, just 30mins north of Kingston.

The course has been measured by GPS at 7.3km and is of a lollipop design (out and back with a loop at the top). The first (and last) 1.9km features a wide trail to give you lots of opportunity to pass and sort out positioning. The loop portion is narrow, rolling single track that takes you through some breathtaking sections of Frontenac Provincial Park. While there are some decent hills, it is all very runnable with a little bit of everything on this beautiful backcountry course.

Hot chocolate and munchies will be provided after the event. Awards will be given to overall race winners. A great offering of draw prizes will also be handed out after with one lucky participant going home with a pair of the top of the line Dion Running Snowshoes (all race participants are also eligible for a 10% discount off of their purchase of a pair of Dion Running Snowshoes through Spafford Health and Adventure).

For more information or to register, please visit Spafford Health and Adventure . Course video preview (including race tips), detailed course description and route map are now available for viewing.

See you on race day!

Derrick

Week of Jan 4 - 10

2010-01-13T09:09:00.007-05:00

I'm pretty pleased with the way I'm feeling right now. I've been able to increase my running quite a bit over the last few weeks and everything seems to be improving gradually.

The issue with my knee has been a tracking problem. I've been doing all sorts of quad and glute strengthening exercises, combined with stretching and rolling on a foam roller. I am definitely feeling stronger in my knee, but there has still been a fair amount of tightness that even by rolling I have not been able to get past. I am now convinced that a big part of my problem has been my weak vastus medialis, but just as importantly combined with my tight ITB. This has caused too much pulling on my knee, resulting in the patella femoral syndrome that I've been struggling with for the past three months.

I felt that the foam roller was going to be enough for this, but it wasn't until I tried 'The Stick' that I noticed some HUGE improvements. I've been using the travel stick which is small and quite flexible, so is easy to work the ITB and smaller areas more effectively around my knee. I've been using the stick faithfully for the past 10days with continued great results. It's now part of my warmup and cooldown for every run.

I can't wait to continue increasing my runs and get back to some epic long runs on the trails. I can even now can see the possibility of some really long snowshoe runs this winter with the hopes of a late spring ultra.

Training Summary:

Total # of hours this week: 5:44

Total # of hours this year: 8:02

Total # of runs this week: 7

Streak: 7,320 days in a row

Training Log Details