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...
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...
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.
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
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.
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.
iRunFar is giving away a whack of gear for those who sign up for a draw. No skill testing questions or anything else. It's open for Canadian readers too, so go take a peak at some of the great stuff and register.
The Canadian Thanksgiving was this past weekend. Thanksgiving to me is more than just about food. I’m thankful for a number of things in my life each day especially health and happiness, so don’t really need one day just to celebrate. Not surprising, all of my favourite Thanksgivings have involved being outdoors. I have some great memories of a number of Thanksgiving Day trail runs with some of the Murphy Bros. (and Joe T) or Sara, and this past weekend had a great trail run with Keith on Saturday (we also shared an incredible Thanksgiving dinner at Keith and Jenn’s on Monday too. Thanks again guys).
While Sara and I didn’t spend Thanksgiving with family this year, we did celebrate it a week early with my parents and Brennan and Heather. Our day consisted of sharing ‘our’ trails at Frontenac Park with them. We went for a really nice 2 ½ hour hike in the woods. The weather was perfect and the views awesome. It was just a wonderful day to be outdoors.
Impromptu things always seem to happen when we go on hikes. Things got a little competitive when we came to a rock that Brennan had tried to climb in the past, but had been unsuccessful. We weren’t leaving this time until Brennan had made it to the top and spent a full 30 minutes taking turns trying. You can watch the videos below to see the results. It made me laugh at the competition between Brennan and Heather. Listen closely and you can hear Heather whispering at Brennan to ‘fall, fall, fall’, while Brennan is being Mr. Nice guy and trying to show his sister how to get to the top.
The day was topped off in normal fashion with a good old campfire in our backyard. The plan was to cook quesadillas over the campfire, but we eventually got rained out. Oh well, it was still a very memorable day.
Video of Brennan and Heather bouldering...
My awkward attempt (hey, I never told La Sportiva that I was a climber!)...
Click image for more photos from our hike at Frontenac Park...
This is a great song by Mike Plume that has been in my head all week.
I was thinking about it during my run and the fact that Canadians, by nature, sometimes don't tend to be as patriotic on the surface as we should be. We live in the best country in the world and there is nothing wrong with shouting it from the mountain tops from time to time.
I dare you to check out the video and tell me that you don't get a warm fuzzy feeling inside. A great song, by a very patriotic Canadian.
Spot Satellite Trackers are great safety devices that can locate where you are at any point in time while in the great outdoors. They are used regularly by outdoor adventure enthusiasts and are becoming more commonly used in adventure races and other multi day ultra running events.
One of the drawbacks to Spot however is the expense involved...until now that is! I have discovered and launched a new system which offers a similar service to Spot, but at a fraction of the price. I am excited to bring to you the new 'Bank Card Tracking' System or 'BCT' for short.
The BCT system was successfully launched on Monday, August 17, 2009 during my 5 hour long run into Kingston from Yarker. The weather conditions for the initial testing of the system were ideal, with humidex readings in the mid-upper 30's Celsius. The route taken lent itself well for BCT as I ran the Cataraqui Trail from Yarker to Sydenham, then took the K&P Trail into Kingston.
My first BCT signal occurred when I stopped to refill my water bottles at the Foodland store in Sydenham. I purchased the water and paid for it with my BCT unit (also known as Bank debit card). Immediately, the transaction was registered with our bank and Sara was able to view from BCT Headquarters (her office at work) through online banking that I had just made a purchase at Foodland. Beauty! The system works!
I then continued my run on the K&P Trail until I required more water at the Sydenham Road Convenience Store in Kingston. Once again, I made the purchase and once again through the powers of online banking, Sara was able to track my progress and see that I had made it to my next destination. What a simple, cheap and yet effective form of tracking!
We expect the launch of this new tracking system to take the Adventure and Ultra Running world by storm, and yes folks you heard about it here first.
Look for other applications of the BCT system in the future that applies more to late night outings at the various pubs in Kingston. Much further testing will be required!
Apparently, someones pungent trail running shoes were stinking-up her office and drastic measures were required with a zip-lock bag!
These puppies are staying outside on the porch;)
***Disclaimer: This should in no way be interpreted as a reflection on La Sportiva, as everyone knows that they make the best trail running shoes on the market! ***
Update (08/13/09): Karen M. just sent in a photo of a suggestion that seems to work in their household...
I always thought that trail runners and hikers had a lot of things in common. Both seem to like getting out in the wilderness and enjoying nature. The main difference that I can tell between the two was just that trail runners tend to enjoy their time on the trail just a little bit quicker than hikers do...and can see more during the same amount of time. It never really occurred to me before that there could be any sort of animosity between these two groups, however I have been surprised to notice some recently.
Most of the trails I run on are multi-use recreational trails, snowmobile trails or private trails, so I don’t often share the trails with ‘just’ hikers when I’m trail running. Over the past few months I have had the opportunity to do so with an increased number of runs at Frontenac Provincial Park, in addition to our recent trip to the Adirondacks.
At Frontenac Provincial Park, I very rarely see any hikers on the trails. It seems as though it is more of a place to paddle due to the vast number of small lakes that can be connected by portages. When I do see hikers, I am always quick with a ‘hi’ or making myself heard with a ‘coming up behind’ when about to pass a hiker on the trail. Usually this is met with a friendly response, but not always. Maybe just because I am becoming more aware of it, but I have noticed an increased number of hikers who don’t say anything or even seem to frown upon me as I pass.
The Adirondacks are home to some of the most beautiful trails and mountains I have seen. You have access to many great peaks within relatively short distances. For this reason, the trails in Adirondack Park are very heavily used. During some recent runs I was quite surprised at the number of grumpy hikers on the trail and I’m still unsure why.
On one of my runs I ran to the top of Mount Marcy which is a very popular hike, as it is the highest mountain in the Adirondacks. I had a fairly early start to my run, but because of the distance into Mt. Marcy, I still passed a large number of hikers who had gotten a very early start to their day. While most of the hikers where very pleasant when I passed, there were a few who seemed like they did not want to let me pass them on the trail. I got the impression that since they had an earlier start than I did that they wanted to be the first to see the summit on that day. There were a number of times that I actually had to squeeze around hikers to get by even though they saw me coming up quickly behind them.
The same thing occurred on my way down from the summit. I would be running down the mountain and meet a number of hikers who would just not want to share the trail and practically force me into the trees or rocks off the side.
In fairness, I did meet quite a few hikers with great attitudes and thought it was pretty neat to see someone running up and down a mountain. I found that it tended to be families with young children who were most intrigued by seeing someone running on these trails and would offer words of support or enthusiasm. I felt that this was probably due to the parents who were already setting a good example by taking their kids for a hike and that this was another affirmation that the trails could be enjoyed in another means if the kids so desired, and speed is always of interest to kids. I had a number of kids ask me how long it took me to run to the top and who thought it was a pretty cool way to see the summit. Their enthusiasm was very refreshing.
My impression was that it was the old school hikers, who wanted the trails to themselves and didn’t appreciate something a little different like a runner sharing THEIR trails. It was with these sourpusses that I tried to be extra friendly to and flash my cheesiest smile with a ‘great day on the trails, eh?’. I thought it was especially good to throw some Canadian content into the conversation just to let them be pissed off at those ‘damn Canadian trail runners’, even if they are nice people.
Maybe this phenomenon was just the day and my increased level of awareness in thinking about it during longer trail runs alone recently. Or maybe this is more common and a growing issue with hikers? I’d be interested in knowing what others have found.
Time to finish my coffee now and go terrorize some hikers;)
This past weekend we headed down to our favourite getaway of the Lake Placid area with Brennan and Heather for a little camping, hiking, climbing, running and fun!
We got away in good time on Saturday morning, but due to the long holiday weekend, were blessed with a long wait at the border. We normally go into the U.S. through Ogdensburg, but needed to pick up a few things in Watertown, so decided to cross at the busy Hill Island border crossing instead. Big mistake as the lineup was back almost as far as highway #401.
After finally getting through customs, and picking up some supplies, it was quick sailing right through to Lake Placid. Our plan was to stay at Heart Lake Campground in the High Peaks Region, but we could only get reservations for Sunday and Monday night, so had to make due with a busy, tourist type campground in Wilmington called the North Pole Campground. It was fine and had many enjoyable features that we took advantage. Sara went for a run up the Whiteface Mountain Trail while the rest of us got in some swimming, ping pong and foosball, after setting up our tents. The next couple of days would involve more rustic, outdoor living, so I must admit that we did enjoy this.
Whiteface Mountain Run (Sunday AM): Running 2:37:00
I got an early start on Sunday morning at the rather ungawdly hour of 5:30am to get a good run in before everyone else was up and ready to start the day. I ran from the North Pole Campsite through private trails trying to find the Whiteface Mt Trail. I ended up getting a little turned around and wasted about 30mins trying to find the proper route. This was strange as I've run this before (?)...must have been the early start and pre-coffee. I eventually found the trail and started running going up. The one thing about the High Peaks Region is that trail running is tough and there don't tend to be many switchbacks. Once you start climbing, it can get very steep. I got up to about 4000ft, before running short on time and deciding to turn around. I did end up getting about 3000ft of climbing in the first 93mins. I came back down to the reservoir trail to Whiteface Auto Road for the final mile to get back quicker. I got some great views in on the run, but knew that the weather looked like it was changing and going to be a wet day. Running wise, I felt quite good though.
Avalanche Pass Hike (Sunday PM): Hiking 4:40
After a quick breakfast, we packed up our gear and headed to Adirondack Loj at Heart Lake. The weather still looked promising at the beginning, but the forcast was calling for rain with a chance of thunderstorms later in the day. We had decided to hike into Avalanche Pass and were glad that we had chosen this route as we didn't want to be up high if the weather turned bad.
Avalanche Pass is a beautiful, but challenging hike that goes into Avalanche Lake. As the name suggests, many avalanches have occurred in this area, with the most recent significant one happening in 1999. The result of this being a massive exposed rockface that is spectacular beyond words. The final mile into Avalanche Lake is the most rugged, with having to scramble over rocks, roots and trees. The view once you arrive is well worth the long hike in with rock climbing straight out of the water on both sides of the lake.
The weather started to turn bad with heavy rain, however we were well sheltered most of the way and the rain did offer a nice cooling affect during our brisk hike. We were continually amazed at how well Brennan and Heather managed the hike and were pushing the pace. They were very eager to get to our destination. We found a rock ledge at the end of the lake and hunkered down for a quick lunch while trying to stay somewhat dry. At this point the rain was coming down in buckets.
After lunch we began our hike back to Heart Lake with trail and weather conditions deteriorating along the way. We were covered in mud, soaked to the skin, but had a wonderful time. The entire route that we did was at least 10miles round trip.
Arriving back at camp, we were fortunate to have reserved a leanto for Sunday night. Leanto's are basically a 3 wall, open air shelter that would provide protection from the weather. Luckily, it looked like it was clearing and the rain was over. It was still nice to be able to hang our wet gear around the leanto and try to dry out for the next day.
After getting cleaned up and into dry clothes, we decided to go into Lake Placid for dinner, as we had all worked up a pretty good appetite. Mike's Pizza is our favourite hangout and certainly didn't disappoint as we polished off enough pizza for twice as many people. It was also nice to do a little shopping in our favourite shops around Lake Placid including Critters, Eastern Mountain Sports, The Fallen Arch, the Bookstore and the Skateboard Shop.
I was pleased with the amount of time on my feet today as I had a combined time of 7:17 for running and hiking.
Mount Marcy Run (Monday AM): Running 4:33:00
With the Haliburton 100miler fast approaching in September, I was looking to take advantage of our vacation to get a good long run in. I had another early start to the day and set out to run up Mount Marcy. Mount Marcy is the highest peak in NY at 5,344 ft. The trail conditions were very muddy and wet, so I had to be careful on the wet rock, especially on the way down. There were a few very deep sections of mud and water to run through that were halfway up to my knees. I took my time up and got to the summit in about 2:10. I spent about 5 minutes at the top to enjoy the view, have some Clif bloks and a gel before starting back down. The view was awesome as it was a pretty clear day, however it was windy and cold so I was ready to get running again.
The run back down should have been quicker, but had to be very careful on the wet rocks. My La Sportiva Crosslites have always been great in mud, but I was quite surprised how well they worked on the rock too. I came back down through South Meadow after reaching Marcy Dam and toured around there to get in some faster paced running. My total amount of uphill running during this run ended up being over 3,300ft including the South Meadow add-on. Even though this was the third time I've run up Mt. Marcy, it is always a run that I thoroughly enjoy.
After getting back to Heart Lake and grabbing another quick breakfast, we headed out to climb Catamount Mountain. Catamount is at 3,165 ft and features about 1,600 ft of climbing. The great thing about this mountain is that it isn't one of the better known or well travelled mountains, so there weren't many people on the mountain. The bad thing is that the trail wasn't as well marked. This didn't prove to b a problem though as we found our way quite easily. The trail finding was the easy part, the climb?...not so easy. This was a great hike/climb that featured a wonderful combination of nice trail, challenging climbs, crazy scrambles and a rocky summit. We got to the south summit having just gotten up some tough sections and thought we were at the top, only to realize that we still had about another 30mins of climbing to go. It was definitely worth it though. We had a great view at the summit on a clear day. Once again, Brennan and Heather just rocked on this climb. Some tired swamp dawgs by the time we got down after two big days, but we had so much fun.
I had another solid day on my feet again today with a combined time of 8:20 for running and hiking on Monday.
Monday night consisted of our final evening at Heart Lake with a huge dinner of campfire favourites including pizza wraps, sweet potatoes, chips and s'mores, all cooked over the open flame. Our appetites were pretty big after the past few days of activity and I'm sure we could have eaten dirt and been content.
The drive home on Tuesday morning was a little sad with the thought of leaving the mountains, but we had some great memories to take back with us.
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.
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!
~ 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
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.
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.
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.
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
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!
If you are a true fan of the sport of running, this past weekend had it all!
Ultra Running: The Western States 100miler was held on Saturday and was one of the most competitive 100mile races ever. It was a very deep field, added with this some very hot temperatures to provide some very interesting results. The live updates along the way had us glued to the computer at times. Hal Koerner showed exceptional form in repeating as race winner and outlasting the likes of pre-race favourites, Scott Jurek and Dave Mackey who both dropped out. Congratulations to Gary Robbins, who was the top Canadian finishing in 48th place overall after running very aggressively early on and then gutting it out to the end. Anita Ortiz of the La Sportiva Running Team won the women's race in her first attempt at 100miles. Congratulations to Hal and Anita.
Mountain Running: The NACAC Mountain Running Championships were held in Cranmore, NH on Sunday. The top Canadian finish was by Paul Chafe, who finished 20th in the men's race. Paul is from Sydenham and has won our Sydenham Fall Trail Run in the past, so it was great to see him represent the area well.
Track: The Canadian and U.S. Track and field Championships were also held this weekend. While many of the times seemed slow in both meets, these were used as qualifiers for the upcoming World Championships so tended to be tactical races.
From a training standpoint, this was another solid week of training me. I cut my overall mileage back a bit, but included some good quality days into the mix including a rolling tempo, flat fartlek, steady Frontenac Park run with Keith and steady 2hr run in the heat. I'll cut back a little further for this week to rest up for next weekend.
Training Log Summary: Total # of hours this week: 13:44 Total # of runs this week: 11 2009 total # of hours: 297:29 2009 total # of days: 185 2009 total # of runs: 231 Streak: 7,125 days in a row Training Log Details: click here
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.
After getting cleaned up and into dry clothes, we decided to go into Lake Placid for dinner, as we had all worked up a pretty good appetite. Mike's Pizza is our favourite hangout and certainly didn't disappoint as we polished off enough pizza for twice as many people. It was also nice to do a little shopping in our favourite shops around Lake Placid including Critters, Eastern Mountain Sports, The Fallen Arch, the Bookstore and the Skateboard Shop.
The run back down should have been quicker, but had to be very careful on the wet rocks. My La Sportiva Crosslites have always been great in mud, but I was quite surprised how well they worked on the rock too. I came back down through South Meadow after reaching Marcy Dam and toured around there to get in some faster paced running. My total amount of uphill running during this run ended up being over 3,300ft including the South Meadow add-on. Even though this was the third time I've run up Mt. Marcy, it is always a run that I thoroughly enjoy.
I had another solid day on my feet again today with a combined time of 8:20 for running and hiking on Monday.
