Week of July 20-26

Ultrarunning Results:
The Ultrarunning race of the week to follow was the White River 50miler in Crystal Mountain, WA. This was shaping up to be the strongest 50mile race of the year and included a stacked field of competitors. Anton Krupicka returned to ultra racing after battling injuries for the past year and won in an incredible time on a challenging course of 6:32:09. This beat the course record set by Uli Steidl that many thought was unbeatable by 44 seconds. For great report's on the race, check out IRunFar.com and Krupicka's blog.

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Soccer Playoffs:

Soccer came to an end on the weekend. Heather's team had a fantastic year with everyone showing improvement, having fun and playing well. Well enough in fact to make it to the championship game on Saturday. While they didn't win their last game, they still played hard right to the end and never gave up. Soccer is such a great sport for kids to participate in with all the running involved. We also felt extremely fortunate that Heather had such a wonderful coach in Lee. Lee taught them the basics of the game, encouraged them to have fun, play as a team, think for themselves and work hard. Definitely the signs of a great coach. Congratulations Heather on a great season!

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Training Log Summary:

~ The week start off with some lingering foot issues, but improved each day and I was able to cautiously add longer runs on soft surfaces. I ended the week with a great 4hr long run on Sunday at Frontenac Park that included a hard 60mins of hilly tempo work near the end. I wa also pleased that I was able to get a solid 20min tempo run in mid-week as well. My foot continues to feel better and was a non-issue on Sunday, so looking forward to adding back in some barefoot/Five Fingers running this week. We're heading to the Adirondacks with Brennan and Heather this weekend, so it will be a good chance to get in some solid runs in the mountains while there.

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Total # of hours this week: 16:42
Total # of runs this week: 13
2009 total # of hours: 342:55
2009 total # of days: 213
2009 total # of runs: 270
Streak: 7,152 days in a row
Training Log Details: click here

Week of July 13-19 (9:04)

Blackberries!!!:
…And no, not those annoying handheld devices that people can’t seem to live without. I mean real blackberries! We are fortunate to have a huge crop of wild blackberries on our property this year. We have been picking blackberries daily and having them with breakfast, lunch and dinner. The best way to enjoy them, of course, is with a big bowl of ice cream. Yum!!

Races:
The Vermont 100miler was held this past weekend. This is a race that I find myself interested in doing at some point because (a) it’s not too far of a drive, and (b) the course looks like it should be relatively fast. Granted, the course is run on 75% dirt roads, with only 25% on trail, so it usually wouldn’t be my ideal choice. It does sound like the terrain is very rolling though which peaks my interest a bit more. Jack Pilla won Vermont this year in a fast time of 16:36. Jack is truly an inspiration as he won this at the age of 51yrs old! This is believed to be the oldest age that anyone has one a major ultra in the U.S. Jack won the Finger Lakes 50km only two weeks before. I would have loved to have had the chance to chat with him and pick his brain a little after that race, but unfortunately we had a long drive home.

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Training Log Summary:
~ The week started off well as I was feeling great. Felt good to increase and get running more. My ITB seemed to be much better, but as that was gone, my left foot started barking to the point where it was a definite concern. Upon reflection, I think it was a combination of adding a little too much road running too soon and I also did one day where I was doing calf raises on a cement step while wearing my Five Fingers…not so smart. Light running days from Thursday – Sunday, combined with a lot of icing seems to have brought it around pretty well and I’ll gradually start increasing again over the next few days.

Total # of hours this week: 9:04

Total # of runs this week: 9

2009 total # of hours: 326:13

2009 total # of days: 206

2009 total # of runs: 257

Streak: 7,146 days in a row

Training Log Details: click here

Week of July 6 - 12 (8:16)

Lots of great races to follow over the past weekend in Canada, the U.S. and France (no...not that silly bike thing)...

Hardrock 100 (Colorado)
Karl Meltzer won his third 100miler of the year at the Hardrock 100miler run through the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. Meltzer’s time of 24:38 was a course record on the counterclockwise course, and second fastest time ever run. Diana Finkel set a new women’s course record of 27:18 in finishing third overall. Complete results.

Barr Trail Mountain Race (Colorado)
Matt Carpenter won the Barr Trail Mountain Race in Colorado for the 8th time. Carpenter’s time was 1:32:33. Brandy Erholz set a new women’s course record of 1:49:08 beating a strong women’s field. Complete results.

Leadville Trail Marathon (Colorado)
Dennis Flanagan surprised pre-race favourite Anton Krupicka in winning the Leadville Trail Marathon in a time of 3:32:30. Krupicka known as more of a 100miler specialist finished second in 3:40:21. Top female was Nancy Citriglia in 4:37:55. Complete results.

PowderFace 42km Trail Marathon (Alberta)
Phil Villeneuve won in a time of 3:45:55 which would have been a course record, but the route had to be shortened by 2km to detour around a grizzly bear that was feeding on a cougar kill. Yikes! No results yet...though rumour has it that the cougar DNF'd;)

5Peaks Rattlesnake Point (Ontario)
The latest 5 Peaks Trail Running Series race was held at Rattlesnake Point on Saturday, but almost never happened due to severe thunderstorms. After a delay to wait out the storm, the race finally got underway with Kyle Aikin winning the Enduro Course, and Nicole Stevenson winning the women’s race and placing 9th overall. Complete results.

World Trail Challenge 50mile (France)
It was great to see Adam Hill mix it up on the world stage and finish a strong 21st overall as top Canadian. Congrats Adam! Complete results.

Utica Boilermaker 15km (Utica, NY)
While not a trail race, it was fun following along in this race and seeing how the Canadians did. Top Canadian was Reid Coolsaet from Guelph in 8th place in a time of 45:17. Former training partners Dave Ruggles, Brent Workman and Jeff Taggart of Kingston all ran as well. Complete results.

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Training Log Summary:
~ It was a good recovery week, volume wise, for me after Finger Lakes 50miler last weekend. I took the first couple of days pretty light; then just ran how I felt for the remainder of the week. Had a couple of runs that I probably ran a little too hard for consecutive days, but feel good and legs bounced back well. IT band a little tight but has improved each day.

Total # of hours this week: 8:16
Total # of runs this week: 10
2009 total # of hours: 317:09
2009 total # of days: 199
2009 total # of runs: 248
Streak: 7,139 days in a row
Training Log Details: click here

Frontenac Park Perimeter Speed Record Attempt Video

Check out the video on Keith Iskiw's blog that his wife Jenn put together from our Frontenac Park Perimeter Speed Record Attempt on June 19, 2009.

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Jenn seems like she had almost as much fun putting it together as we did running it. Great job Jenn! …by the way, what is this ‘Star Wars’ that you speak of??

Video

Keith's report

Derrick's report

Ultra Running Guy at FL50's

Just in case you missed the latest episode of Ultra Running Guy...

UltraRunningGuy.com

Finger Lakes 50 miler

The Finger Lakes Fifties were held on Saturday at the Finger Lakes National Forest in Hector, NY. Distances included 50miles, 50km and a 25km race. The course is a combination of rolling single track forest trail and meadows, with limited road sections..

READ FULL REPORT ON THE LA SPORTIVA BLOG...


Also, below are a few other photos from the race.

Early meadow (photo credit: Tom Perry, Western NY Ultra Series)..
(photo credit: Tom Perry, Western NY Ultra Series)...

A little mud, but more later (photo credit: Tom Perry, Western NY Ultra Series)...

Finish...
Muddy Legs...
Pre-bath...
Getting clean (finally)...

READ SARA'S RACE REPORT ON HER BLOG...

Week of June 29 - July 5 (11:24)

Taper week before Finger Lakes 50 miler. Will post report soon.

Training Log Summary:
Total # of hours this week: 11:24
Total # of runs this week: 7
2009 total # of hours: 308:53
2009 total # of days: 192
2009 total # of runs: 238
Streak: 7,132 days in a row
Training Log Details: click here

Limestone Mile

Happy Canada Day!

We celebrated Canada Day by spending the morning watching the races at the Limestone Mile in Kingston.

A huge congratulations to Heather who ran a fantastic race finishing in a time of 7:49. This was a huge improvement over the last time she ran the mile. It was very cool seeing Heather mix it up and thinking about race strategies, while competing against other runners.

Congrats again Heather! We were very proud of your gutsy race!

Fast start...
Halfway point...

Finish...