Runner Guy in Canada

Victoria Marathon turned out to be a tough one. Legs felt so-so from the beginning, my hip was tight and awkward. 38:12 at 10 km. Okay start, but it was more work than it should have been.

1:21 at halfway and I was feeling like the pace was nice, but I could tell my legs weren’t that fresh. Would they last? Of course not. At about 30 km, the legs starting fading and that was it. Passed my wife (who started with the Early Birds) at 31 km or so, and she yelled “you’re almost done”. Right. At moments such as these, I wonder why the heck I sign up for marathons. I mean, I enjoy about the first 30 km quite a bit, but then…. mmmm, well the words “struggling” and “crashing” comes to mind.

Oh well, the good thing is I have crashed many times before, so I’m familiar with experience. In the end, I managed to place 4th in my age category somehow, not sure how I  pulled that one off…

Was there a lesson learned? Yep. First of all, I need to train better for marathons, duh. I knew that already. Secondly, I was not recovered well enough from Regina Marathon. I really should not run 2 marathons this close together again, unless I somehow find myself in “Lunty-shape” (which means running towards 200 km per week at times). I’m currently not the kind of runner who can do several marathons close together and run well in them. Probably never will be.

Promise to self - Must prepare better for 2010, where I plan to run 1 or 2 marathons with some faster times in mind.

I should mention I am also doing Las Vegas Marathon in December 2009. However, I have no ambitions in that race; I’m just going to see it as a training run. I’m going there for a holiday with my wife, and we’re just going to enjoy a few days there and do a long run while we are there. If I had run well in Victoria and also recovered well after it, I might have considered hoping for a good marathon time in Vegas. Since neither of those two scenarios actually occurred, focus will now be towards a good winter of training, and likely a start in Vancouver Marathon in May.

Just finished Regina marathon. I got 4th place in 2:43:30. My friend Brendan ran amazing and won in 2:36 and a half. I am not quite happy with how my legs gave up on the last 5 km, but I should be happy that this is my fastest marathon in 10 years. My 2nd faster ever, actually. Maybe I can squeeze under 2:40 in Victoria in 4 weeks?

Splits:
3:48, 3:45, 3:46, 3:50, 3:30 (18:42 at 5km), 3:41, 3:46, 3:36, 3:54, 3:48 (37:30 at 10km), 3:43, 3:44, 3:44, 3:47, 3:49 (56:19 at 15 km), 3:44, 3:50, 3:36, 4:06, 3:35 (1:15:13 at 20 km), 3:44, (1:18:58 at 21 km, 1:19:20 halfway), 3:46, 3:43, 3:41, 3:46 (1:33:57 at 25 km), 3:49, 3:43, 3:50, 3:23, 3:46 (1:52:31 at 30 km), 3:50, 4:02, 3:50, 4:05, 4:26 (2:12:46 at 35km), 3:44, 4:10, 4:22, 4:23, 4:35, (2:34:02 at 40 km), 4:33, 5:01.

Passed halfway at 1:19:20 with Ian, James and Brendan, and it felt doable go at this pace. Ian dropped back by 23 km or so. Then, by 26 km or so, I was having trouble following Brendan and James. The pace was getting to my legs, so to speak. Breathing and effort was still easy. I was by myself but it still felt doable to run at 3:50 per km.

I passed James at 30-32 km somewhere; I think he had a cramp or something. From now on, it gradually got harder. By 37 km, I was starting to slow down significantly and the legs starting giving up, as many times they have before. James came back and passed me with 1 km to go, and there was nothing I could do. Ian got closer but I managed to hold off with 20 seconds for 4th place. By then it was really hot.

David Ball PB’d in 2:54 something. Lori also PB’d on the marathon and Erin ran well on the half. Good run for our crew from Camrose/Edmonton! It was a great day and a lot of fun.

The Canadian Death Race 2009 was a fun event, and hot! I ran leg 4, the Hamel Assault, in 2007, and that year we had quite a bit of rain. This year, it was 26-28 degrees most days, and very little rain. This made for tough conditions for many runners.

I didn’t have a team this year, but my wife did. A friend of mine was in the same boat, so we both signed up as volunteer runners, kind of in the last minute. It took a long time and waiting to finally get on a team, but we both eventually did. As it turned out, I ended up on a British Commando Soldier team. How cool! These guys were really strong and fit, and they were super nice and friendly. I had a great time hanging out with them. It turns out they actually had 3 teams and 3 solo runners entered. My team, Commando Team 2, needed a runner for leg 3, and I was pretty much prepared to run any leg. I had hoped I could run leg 1, but 3 should be interesting too. I had bought new trail shoes this same day, and against all wisdom, I decided to run in these new shoes. It did work out great, as a matter of fact.

It was hot when I started on leg 3, but a little bit of drizzling rain came down for a short while at least. This leg is almost all down hill, and there are lots of sharp rocks, shale and uneven terrain to master. I was feeling great and I pretty much just sprinted anytime there was a steep down hill, and it worked very well. I passed some people who probably thought I was nuts, seeing how they walked carefully over slippery rocks, while I came sprinting like a bat out of hell.

It was an interesting leg to run, and there was even a few climbs too. At one point, we ran along the river where part of the path had fallen into the stream. The course was marked so that we had to go as far away from the edge as possible, but I still got pretty close to the edge hanging over the river. Kind of adventurous! Then I fell and hit my knee a bit, as I was jumping over a small creek. No biggie though - I got up and finished strong in 1:10, which I think is a very good time on this leg.

I surprised our next runner, who probably didn’t think I was going to come for another 10 minuter or so. He took off up towards Mount Hamel, and Alex, who was supposed to run leg 5, mentioned he had a sore knee. Alex had run leg 1 and an injury flared up. He said he could do leg 5 anyway, but when I saw him limping, I offered to run leg 5 instead. Everyone thought that was a good idea, and our team was hoping to catch their 1st team with me running leg 5.

Back to see the Race Director to see if they could switch me in on Leg 5. Easier said than done, it seemed, but Alex took care of that while I went to the hotel to get some food in me and a bit of rest before heading down to the exchange for Leg 5. I had a beer as well, and ahh, did it ever taste good!

For the race, I decided to wear a CamelBak with water, and I felt I should take it somewhat easy, since I didn’t know if I could run so hard after the fast running I did on leg 3. Problem was, this leg starts with a very steep climb, immediately. Well that got my heart rate going! I passed a few people going up this steep ascent, and I started to feel quite good. At this point, you run for quite a while in a green forest area, on a narrow, winding path where it is hard to see where you put your feet, due to all the vegetation. My shoes were wet from leg 3, and at this point my toes were starting to hit the front of my shoes. Ouch. I ran sideways on most of the downhills from now on, in order to save my toenails - they were so sore!

I eventually got to the split rock, which was cool, and then next thing I knew, I was at Hell’s Gate and the check point. I was a bi slow getting my coin out to the ferry man of Death (we was very kind by the way), but oh well. There was another guy there at the same time, and we briefly exchanged a few words - he really enjoyed this experience too.

At the other side of the river, there was another check point, and then the real work started. Steep, steep climbs, one after another. I noticed my legs were starting to have enough, and I decided to walk anytime it was very steep (which was way too often) and jog on the easier climbs. I eventually came to the avenue of leaves, where I passed the eventual solo winner. We exchanged a few words and he seemed to be in great spirit, whereas I was thinking “how the heck can you even make it this far?”, as I was dead tired after a leg and a half only.

Next, the Root Route, full of tricky tree roots everywhere. At this point, it was getting to be quite dark, and I had trouble seeing where I put my feet. I had a head light with me, but it was somewhere in my CamelBak and I thought I would soon be getting to the road, at which point I wouldn’t need the light. After some some stubmling and tripping on roots, I finally made it to the road. Just a couple of kilometres to the finish, and it was pretty dark now. The last part on the road has a really steep hill, and there was no way I could run up it. My legs were dead.

I felt relieved to finally get to the town and see some lights and some people. I forced myself to get the legs going a bit harder towards the end, just for show, and I finished in just over 1:50. Tired, but happy! I never got close to that other team; they had too much of a lead on us, but our team placed 10th overall - certainly no shame in that! Our team did great, and we all had a fun time. I say big thanks to the all Commando Soldiers; I really enjoyed this!

The next day, it was Kid’s race. It was insanely hot, and these kids had to run 5 km with a really long and tough hill halfway through. I had a proud dad moment, seeing Karly come in as one of the fastest girls in her age category, and Amalia sprint to the finish with impressive energy. She is only 5, and the course and the conditions were certainly not easy to handle. Well done, girls!

Overall, it was a very enjoyable weekend in Grand Cache. It is a great event to do, if you are a runner. It’s hard, but it’s not as bad as it may seem. They do a good job with entertainment and race atmosphere, and I certainly think we will come back and do it again.

The 2008 edition of the Canadian Death Race just started. It’s going to be an exciting and hot day! The weather says a high of 31 Celsius, and at 8am it is already over 18 degrees.

Jack Cook is back as usual, and I am sure he is more than ready for what’s coming. He has won this race several times, and this year, he has interesting competition. The main competitor may be Dean Karnazes, a famous runner and author who has, among other things, run 350 miles (560 km) in 80 hours and 44 minutes without stopping, run 148 miles (238 km) in 24 hours on a treadmill. In other words, a Death Racer with plenty of distance experience.

The Death Race is not just about distance though. Running over three different mountain summits and covering over 17,000 feet (5,200 m) in elevation is not exactly a walk in the park.

As for myself, I’m running leg 3 as a volunteer runner. I was not able to register a team early enough, so we missed out. However, last night I finally got assigned to a team, a very interesting team as well - they are British Commando Military! They have been in Alberta for training for a few weeks and decided the Death Race would be a good training experience. They have 3 teams entered, and I’m running for their team number 2. One of their runners is very fast - 8:37 on the steeplechase is very impressive!

I will start my leg around 2pm today, and I bet it will be wicked hot by then. The distance is 19 km, and it’s mostly downhill. I think I will bring a couple of small water bottles along, since there are no waterstations on this leg. Leg 3 can be the hottest of all legs I’ve been told, and the weather this year is the hottest ever in the 10 year history of this race.

Yesterday, I placed 2nd in the 5 Peaks Enduro trail race at Chickakoo Lake Recreation Area, west of Edmonton. It was a really nice day, although very hot, and the course was quite fun. Lots of hills, but most are fairly short and there’s usually a down hill right after, so in other words, rolling hills. The Enduro course is in total 14 km (2 x 7 km).

Kurt Mueller took it out very fast, and got a pretty good lead right from the start. Brian Torrance was chasing him, and I was chasing both. The three of us joined up just before the first lap. On the flat part in the beginning of the second lap, I felt I needed to pick up the pace a bit. I got a bit of a lead immediately, which surprised me.

I am naturally quite good on flats, and quite poor on hills, so I needed to take advantage of the flats. Not surprisingly, on the first hill, they were right behind me again. Then during some more flat parts, I got a lead again and I was feeling good. I noticed Kurt was falling behind Brian.

I know that Brian is very strong towards the end of races, so I did all I could to go hard at this point. I kept the lead for a good while. Then, with about 2 km left, there were still a few hills left, and I started losing it a bit and I noticed my lead was diminishing. If I could manage the last 6 rolling hills in the lead, maybe I could go hard on the last flat kilometre, was my thinking. Nope, that would not happen, as Brian came flying by, and there was nothing I could do. On top of all, my calves started cramping going down the hills, which probably was because of the heat (dehydration) and me sprinting fast down. I don’t recall ever having calf cramps before. I had to slow down a bit on the last kilometre because of the cramping.

I finished in 56:27 and Brian won in 56:12 and I’m quite happy with my performance this day. I could have gone a little faster if it hadn’t been for the cramps, but the good signs were that I didn’t die going up the hills, and my downhill running was strong. I do not consider myself a good cross-country runner, but today was a good run for me.

Karly was 2nd in the 15-19 category, way to go! Denise did good too, and Amalia ran great in the kids’ race, which was about a mile long. She only had to walk once, just for a little bit.

Today, my wife, our 5-year old and some friends from Camrose drove to Wainwright for the 3rd annual Battle River Races. There was a 2.5 km run, a 10 km run and a half-marathon. The start and finish is at a camp ground in the Battle River Valley, a nice little spot too.

Our 5 year-old daughter ran the 2.5 km race with an older friend, and when I was about a kilometre away from the finish, I caught up to her and cheered her on as she was finishing strong in 21 minutes something. Way to go!

The half-marathon was hard for me today, and it was also really hot. I decided I would run it at about marathon pace effort. I ran with my friend Ian, who took it out at a pretty good pace, under 3:50 per km for a good while. The heat just got worse as the day went on. We passed 10 km at 39 minutes, and on the way back, we had a pretty strong head wind.

The course is an out and back course on a gravel road. They had recently added more gravel to the road, which made it quite difficult to run on. Getting traction on those rolling gravel rocks wasn’t easy. There are also a few hills, including one fairly long hill, so it wasn’t a very fast course.

The 2nd half went slower but it still felt hard. I had also decided to not break away from Ian until he started his kick. He told me to go ahead and speed up so I could get the course record, but I waited until he started kicking, which ended up being the last 15 meters before the finish line! We both sprinted all out those last few strides, and the result was a tie. We were both announced as the 1st place winner, although they of course only had one plaque… our time was slow - 1:24:19 and even though I could have run quite a bit faster, it still felt quite hard because of the heat. I was not well rested either, so it was good I didn’t go all out today.

The 10 km race started after the half-marathon, and we met most of the 10 km runners when we were heading back towards the finish. My wife got 3rd place in the Masters category, even though she didn’t have a good race.

This is a really well organized race, and the best part is you get lunch included! Spaghetti and two different sauces right before the awards was great. If you are looking for a smaller race, either 10 km or half-marathon in mid July, mark this one on your calendar.

Leg 5 of the K-100 relay is tough, but fun. I was hoping I could run it in 1:14 this year. I have run it in 1:17 before, and I figured I was in better shape. I developed a cold this week and felt quite tired and crappy overall, so I didn’t expect too much.

45 minutes before the race, I chugged a Red Bull to wake me up. I felt so tired. The drink made me feel better, and I started out at a steady but not fast pace. I did not feel like I could go any faster even if I wanted to. Turned out I was on my projected pace; actually even a little bit ahead of it. I drank Gatorade every 2 km, the whole way, and even though I felt tired from the start, it wasn’t getting much worse.

The last few kilometres are the hardest on this leg, and I expected I would fade a bit, but I didn’t really. I knew I was a bit ahead of schedule, and I worked hard and steady at the end, and even though the hill was hard, it felt easier than in any previous years I’ve run this race.

As I worked as hard as I could coming in to the exchange zone, I was pleased to see my time was just a little bit of 1:13 - a big PR on this leg for me.

Our team did great! We placed 2nd in the Open Category, and everyone ran fantastic! Not a single hickup, and our finish time was much faster than I had expected - 10:29:44. Well done, laddies!

Have a look at our video of our team’s effort at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTemWdL9YNA

I’m off to run this beautiful relay in Kanaskis. This is a fantastic relay in the Canadian Rockies. I have run it a few years now, and it’s one of the highlights of the running season.

I am running leg 5, a very demanding 17.6 km leg.
DESCRIPTION: This is the toughest leg of the relay. It’s hilly with a number of segments at a 7% grade. The runner will gain 450m over the length of this route; 250m are packed into 6.8 km. The runner will be truly tested on Canada’s highest engineered road. The road peaks at Highwood pass, 2206m above sea level. The surface is new asphalt. Watch for wildlife.

Look at the profile of this leg:

Not exactly a piece of cake! One of the difficulties is that the elevation is over 2,200 m (7,234 feet) above sea level. This means the air is quite thin, and low on oxygen So, running such a leg with this kind of hill profile make is extra hard, due to the lack of oxygen.

I have done it before though, and I am in good shape, so it should be okay.

Check out http://www.k-100relay.ca/ if you are interested! It’s one of the most amazing relays you can run in the world.

This was a tough one! Steep hills on a technical course. I ran the Enduro - Total Elevation 1552 ft/473m per lap (2 laps).

I won the race, and I am very happy with that. I usually have trouble with a lot of hills, but this time it worked out well. I sat behind the leader most of the time and waited for the flatter parts at the end of the race. Worked for me. I am always much better at flat running.

Our 15 year old daughter was 3rd in her category, and my wife ran well too. They ran the shorter Sport distance (1 lap).

A great event, and I highly recommend the 5 Peaks races. They have a lot of good prices afterwards too.