My good friend Tim and I finished up our seventh week of our 2013 training block. While Tim was dealing with one of Utah's colder snowier winters, Vancouver Island has experienced quite a mild winter, which means spring-like conditions are here a little early.
I must admit I feel bad as Tim posts about his training runs in sub-zero weather and blustery whiteout conditions. Meanwhile I am in short sleeves and shorts gliding around a mountain, surrounded by succulent chartreuse leaves, and single track bordered by emerald carpet. Tim is definitely building up a nice resistance to the many trials facing us this year by running in the challenging conditions, meanwhile I am getting spoiled and I will not be quite as accustomed to the difficulties that lie ahead!
I am not complaining though. I openly admit that it is fantastic to run through the budding new life of Mount Doug in February. I still remember when I was training in Utah, and I would stand on the driveway in the dark early morning waiting for a snowplow to clear the road so I could run in its wake, as new snowflakes quickly accumulated on the freshly plowed road. Those seem like great times in retrospect but at the time I wasn't always so thrilled.
Week seven was a great week for me and the outlined schedule pushed me to run hard and pick up the pace.
As my degree comes to a close and I likely head out for an unknown future in academia and a new home I find myself already missing Victoria and the Island. It was here where I feel I have grown the most as a geologist, a student, and in life in general. I will always have fond memories of my late winter sojourns on the green sun-drenched slopes of Mount Doug. I guess I better really enjoy this spring as it is likely my last one here anyways!
Succulent new growth on Mount Doug in mid February!
The green north slopes of Doug in late winter.
Late winter trail running on Doug.
A lone arbutus on Little Doug with rural Victoria behind it.
With anticipation I awoke to a bright sunny February morning on Vancouver Island, ready for my Saturday long run. The warm sun and mild temps suggested that it was time to switch out the tights and toque for shorts and a running hat (at least for the day). I coaxed my body into a light jog at my usual training grounds on Mount Douglas in Victoria, BC. Having trained for about 4 weeks I was starting to get into a groove and quickly found a pace that felt great. Wisps of cool morning air brushed across my bare legs as I navigated the damp trails that wrap around the base of Mount Doug. It was one of those mornings where everything was clicking between my training, diet, and sleep - and they were all in sync. I was motoring through the miles effortlessly. The climbs were still more than I could manage without a walking break or two but my lactic threshold was definitely heading south. The downhills felt fluid and easy as my quads extended and contracted to slow my descent. I urged my legs into a fast clip as I cleared the wooded slopes and entered the sun-soaked exposed south slopes. It was amazing to be cruising over the trails in the sun. Overall the run was relaxed, playful, and rejuvenating. By the end I was thoroughly exhausted as a result of my eagerness to run quickly in the beautiful crisp morning air.
Sun-drenched trail on the southeast apron of Mount Doug (top). Climbing one of three major ascents out of the southern wooded approach (middle). The view west from the summit of Mount Doug showing the beautiful greens that are so prevalent this time of year (bottom).
Looking east out towards the Gulf islands of the Georgia Strait, halfway up my first major climb (top). Sun peaking through the undergrowth on Doug's south slope (middle). Circuitous trail through moss and ferns (bottom).
Below is a video capturing the run and was featured on the local newspapers (Times Colonist) entertainment page here.
My best friend Tim and I will start to officially train for the 2013 season beginning on Monday. He lives in Utah about 900 miles to the southeast of my current home of Victoria, BC. So to train together we have to rely heavily on the miracle of technology i.e. social networking, YouTube (highdef video conversations), and e-mail. These modern conveniences let us stay connected as we train together and follow each other's progress while also carrying on long distance conversations about this beautiful art we call running. We will also be doing the same training program; one Tim has designed. This program is tailored to help us get back into the groove of running consistently between now and April (get the cobwebs out after the holidays) and then really hone our speed and endurance come the summer so that we will be able to handle whatever running adventure we can get ourselves into. Besides Tim's marathons and RAGNAR races he has planned, we are also looking at our yearly epic trail run to be a beast and I will blog about that in the future!
This past week I have tried to run some slow distance just to wake up my circulatory and respiratory systems while also conjuring up some muscle memory in my legs. I dropped off my Christmas tree at the University Track and donated to the track team to help support track and field athletics (the track team recycles trees to raise money). I then started my run at Mt. Douglas my usual training ground. The weather was perfect 9 degrees Celsius or 48 Fahrenheit; overcast with a bit of sun peaking through now and again. It felt like running in April in Utah but these conditions are quite common this time of year here on the island. I took my time and worked my way up the side of the mountain focusing on taking small steps at a faster cadence and also staying relaxed. The majority of the trails I run on are devoid of my fellow bipedal com padres since the trails I run require you to get muddy and are somewhat technical. I summited the big mountain and snapped a few shots but it was so crowded with others in the observation nest that I quickly dove off the gnarly steep side of Doug in full retreat. after picking my way down the exposed slippery rocks I ran the Km of slight uphill trail towards Little Mt. Doug; stepping in small spaces between roots and rocks. Little Doug is a small blister on the west apron of it's bigger brother. I really like Lil Doug, though much smaller, it also has a lot of personality (the trails do anyways). I chilled on the summit for a few minutes and reveled in the feeling of running free and the nice relatively warm weather. I bounced down the steep rocky face and finished my run on a trail that hugs the base of Big Doug and takes me back to the trail head. I saw that some of the underbrush was starting to already bud. How I love spring on the island! In Utah winter often gives way to summer with an extremely abbreviated spring (often only a week or so) but on the island spring dominates both winter and summer and often seems to make up half the year. I took little easy strides and focused on my form and got excited for this years training with Tim, and I tried to let that small burst of adrenaline at the thought of training with him carry me all the way to the finish extremely quickly. It was another great run and 2013 is turning out to be a great one. I gave this run 7 out of 10 bean burritos (with Serrano peppers, my after run snack).
This semester was definitely an endurance event. Everyday felt like I was just trying to run to the next tree, or next stone, just like the late miles of a gnarly distance run. Instead of running to objects along the trail I was trying to just finish the next paper, the next assignment, or make it to the next meeting with my adviser. I was extremely relieved when it was all said and done and I could enjoy some down time with my family. I was also stoked to hit the trails again. So on Boxing Day I went out for a slow two hour run. I ran beach, I ran roads, I ran creeks, and I ran forest. It felt amazing! It was nice to actually be working towards my fitness and running goals again instead of buried in the books. The run was slow and painful but the light drizzle and beautiful Vancouver Island winter day recharged the batteries and I felt whole again.
Below are three shots from the run that represent the amazing variability and beauty I get to emerge myself in every time I run out the door.
Douglas Creek
Mt. Doug single track!
Arbutus Cove Beach
I haven't included much music in my posts of late so I am going to include a song that helped me through another brutal semester. This is a great song by Seven Mary Three an amazing and underrated band. They formed in 1993 in Virginia as teenagers but really broke out in 1995 with a hugely popular debut album "American Standard" and are a quintessential American band; two guitars, bass, and drums.
This song "Over Your Shoulder" comes from their 3rd and likely least popular album "Orange Ave." released in 1998. The band was having issues during it's recording, which affected its final sound, but it did have a nice song or two and this is one of them. The reason this song helped me this semester is that as I was pulling my first or even second all-nighter in a row, and I felt like just laying in bed and not ever moving again, I would throw on this song and soon I would rally as I realized that I just needed to hunker down and before I knew it the assignment or deadline would be "over my shoulder", and ultimately the semester was quickly behind me. It goes without saying that this song also applies to long distance running, we all come to those low spots in each run, each season, each year where the run or running isn't going exactly how you planned and everything seems to be going pear-shaped, but sooner or later it is over your shoulder. A nice song to pick you up when feeling overwhelmed. Enjoy!
I have noticed that finding good trail maps of places like Mount Doug can be a challenge. The usual maps you find on line don't show enough detail and often are missing many trails. Before I started graduate school I worked in geographic information systems a.k.a. computer aided mapping. I found that the U.S. had great free resources to produce your own georeferenced maps using GPS or digital elevation models etc all free and readily available. Since moving to Canada I have found it difficult if not impossible to find freely available geographic information. So I decided to make a few maps combining data (all be it not the best data) from multiple sources in an attempt to provide a more useful map than currently exists. I had to use terrible quality rasters and photoshop them but in the end I feel these three maps are a nice approximation, and I hope others interested in viewing the trails on Mount Doug will find these maps useful. Keep in mind that they are approximate and by no means exact. They should give you a good idea as to which trail you are on and your options for various courses.
My next step is to put distance in Km's and miles on each trail section as well as a technicality ranking. That way anyone wanting to see the distances they ran or plan future routes can do so with ease.
The following three maps show a variety of formats ranging from hillshade and satelite, to street view, depending on your preference for viewing maps (I need to do a simplified grayscale one still). If you would like the maps in a larger format etc. feel free to e-mail or comment and I can send you a copy in the format you want. Feel free to use or re-post these maps if you would like and try to credit me if you are using them for public purposes.
Contour intervals are 20 meters or 65 feet.
Here is a short trail running video I made so my friend and I can train together even though he lives 1000 miles away. It shows a typical trail run on Mt. Doug.
This is a video I made at the end of summer of an 18 or 19 miler I ran at sunset. I like how you can see it getting later and later as the run progresses.
Here is a short video with some clips from a trail run a few days ago in October. It was a great run and the colors were brilliant. It might cause some motion sickness, I wish I had a camera stabilizer. It at least gives you an idea what a Fall run on the Island is like.
My wipers swished away the autumn rain droplets from the windshield. I had butterflies in my stomach. I was going for a trail run in a soaking rain at the height of fall on beautiful Vancouver Island. It had been a while. Sure I had the best intentions of running consistently throughout this semester, but like so many before it, I found myself lost in a whirlwind of field schools, thesis writing, and course work. The semester flooded over me so swiftly my only defence was to spend longer days in the books; early mornings and late nights. I was able to squeeze in the occasional 5:00 a.m. run but my running was suffering even though I tried so hard not to let things get out of hand.
I stepped out of my car and the clouds opened up and unleashed their fury on me. I watched as large drops of rain accelerated earthward towards me from their lofty origins in the heavens.
“There they are! The butterflies again”!
My body responded by sending a slug of adrenaline coursing through my veins. I had finally resurfaced again from my studies and now it was time, time to send my body hurling down another muddy trail.
The mountain wore an apron of mist and hissed with the sounds of a million drops crashing into needles, leaves and earth. The effects of the adrenaline were now waning and I settled into comfortable albeit slow rhythm. The muted color pallet of the gray weather was accented with splashes of yellow ochre and burnt sienna from the deciduous trees. I knew my fitness was lacking but it didn’t matter, I was completely alone, running through cloud, forest, and rain.
“There you are”! I thought to myself. “I thought I had lost you for a sec back there in all that school work”.
I climbed the muddy trails and rocky slopes higher into the clouds. The rain had soaked me through now. My heart remembered what was necessary to propel its owner skyward and my pulse quickened and I could feel the response in my temples. The lungs were searing as they tried to capture as much oxygen from each breath and exchange it for the accumulating CO2. I ignored the warning signs my body kept relaying and I began to push. The push started subconsciously but was building momentum and finally it became apparent what I was on about. I wanted to shed this sedentary chrysalis formed from hours at a desk and weeks under pressure, and I wanted to emerge a runner. Free!
I just kept on pushing. My legs were spinning and spinning. They didn’t seem to mind as much as the circulatory and pulmonary systems, in fact, I have a feeling they needed this as much as my restless mind.
I topped out and started down the other side of the mountain and didn’t even pause for a second. This run was not about meeting some training goal; it was not even about trying to salvage some form of fitness. This run was linked to something much more instinctive almost to the very basic fight or flight response found in each of us. Though I was flying I was not running from anything, quite the contrary, I was fighting…I was fighting for myself; I was fighting for balance; I was fighting for my sanity. I was tired of my life being so lopsided and I was ready to get back to a more balanced and healthy lifestyle. I hated the idea that to succeed in one area of your life other equally important facets of ones life must be neglected and those aspects of ones self quickly atrophy faster than idle muscles. I also understood at that moment that this aspect of excelling in one aspect of your life to the neglect of others can’t be avoided all the time, and it would only be for a short time. I looked down at my legs and was surprised to see their rapid cadence. I was on fire.
The next thing I knew I was back to my car. A flash…A blink and the run was over. I sat on the wood slat fence a little queasy and very light-headed. I was truly happy. It felt as though a “reset” switch was flipped and I was back to normal. It is interesting how something so seemingly simple as running through the forest on a rainy fall day can completely re-center your thoughts and attitude. What seemed to be drowning me just one hour earlier was now something I could face again with new vigour. My scrambled and turbulent mind was now refocused and clear. In one hour, running unloaded what took 6 weeks of heavy studies, travel. and stress to build up. Once again I was free of my burdens. How do people who don’t run cope with life?
I am constantly kicking around ideas to stay motivated and run consistently. Recently my friend Tim was up from Utah visiting me on Vancouver Island. We were discussing motivation techniques to aid in consistency, and I thought an idea to help me get back on track with my running goals would be to create a video blog (vlog) of what it takes for a slightly below average trail runner, that is currently out of shape and running inconsistently, to train up for a longer distance 50 or 100 mile Ultra.
I will record a few thoughts during one or several runs each week about what I am going through as I try to whittle my pathetic body into a beginning ultra-runner. The blog and idea are more for me than anybody else but I thought I would share so perhaps someone in a similar boat might see my experiment with long distance and hopefully learn from my mistakes.
The end result should allow me to run more consistently for the next 6 months to a year and hopefully will lead to a Ultra event of some sort.
Today's run was a 6-7ish mile run up and down and around Mount Douglas in Victoria. This is my usual venue for training. Tomorrow I will do a flat 5 miles.
Below is my first Vlog. I have to mention my voice can be quite monotone and boring. I often have to teach labs for my schooling and after each course the students evaluate you and you can read what they said about you later. I have to say I have been lucky to get great reviews but one student gave me a critique that follows "you are extremely passionate about geology, BUT... your monotone voice which lacks any sort of inflection makes it sound like you are quite bored, and as a result makes me think you are not as excited about it as you should be." I laughed and had to agree. I definitely have a weird monotone voice, so if this vlog puts you to sleep I apologize. Additionally I say um, uh, and so WAY too much. I am not a great orator but the idea is just to show others my life as I train for ultra distances through my eyes. It is a little uncomfortable putting myself out there like this but I will roll the dice and see what comes of it.
I awoke on Saturday mentally prepared to run my first mountainous marathon of the season.I decided that I would run the Mount Doug Marathon.It isn’t an official marathon or race and the only entrant was me, so I knew I had great odds of getting first place, I just had to finish.
My training plan only called for a 24 miler but I was inspired by my friend Tim who was 800 miles to the southeast running in his first official marathon the OgdenUtah marathon, one of Runners World’s top 10 road marathons. I wanted to support him in his first marathon and celebrate his accomplishment of training consistently through the heat and cold of Utah’s extreme weather. Being in Canada and far away like I am it just wasn’t possible to be there in person. I decided I would run a marathon of my own in his honor and somehow I would be there with him in spirit.
I ate some breakfast of two fried eggs and some toast and jam.I have not had to really focus on fueling or hydration during long runs yet so I used this as an opportunity to see how well I could do. I packed a variety of snacks such as salted potatoes, peanut butter and honey, banana, and chips. I also packed 32 ounces of electrolyte drink and brought a gallon of water to fill my 16 ounce handheld.
The course I created is 4 loops and each loop is 10.5 km long and includes 3 summits and about 1500 feet of elevation gain and loss for a total of 4 loops, 12 summits, and 6000 feet gained and lost. After each loop I would pass by my car and be able to refuel and fill up my bottles.
I arrived at the designated parking spot to a chilly 55 degree and overcast day.It would be perfect conditions and allow me to properly cool off. I grabbed my bottles and started out nice and easy.My plan was to do each loop in 1 hour and 15 minutes for a total of 5 hours for the marathon.
Loop one was actually a lot more difficult than I anticipated. I didn’t get a ton of training in over the last few weeks and have been quite stressed and it was reflected in my heavy-footed trot towards the first summit. My goal was to quickly power hike all the 12 uphill’s and bomb the downs to make up time.The first 3 hills were quite easy and felt like small blips in my path but I knew they would get harder as the day progressed. Loop one was quite easy and I had to force myself to drink just so I could stay on point with my hydration. I flew through the last mile of single track quite quickly and reached my car at 1:07. Too fast I thought but no bother.
At the car I grabbed some corn chips, and ate about one red potato worth of salted potatoes. They tasted good and I washed it down with about 4 ounces of electrolyte drink. I refilled my hand held and got out of my car in about 3 minutes.
Loop two was by far the strongest of the four.I hit my stride and ran the flats with ease. I floated over the trails with my feet barely making contact with the ground. I grinded up each of the hills and tried to engage the glutes to take some stress off the quads and calves. I felt great!I had to really pull back on the reins because my body wanted to run the loop in less than an hour but I knew the run wasn’t even half over. So I forced myself into a painfully slow trot.During the last mile I had to hit the bushes.One challenge that is unique to me from other runner’s is the fact that I don’t have a large intestine and my food has a very short residence time in my digestive track. Running seems to speed the process along and one hour after eating seemed to do the trick for needing to hit the bushes. I quickly took care of business and hurried back to my car. This time I took 1:10:00 on the loop.
I ate half my PB&H and also downed about 8 ounces of electrolyte drink. I ate more potatoes but decided to opt out of the corn chips which seemed to make a reappearance several times during the previous lap (not that I puked or anything but you could tell they were being burped up).I spent 3 minutes at the car again.
I have run many runs this year that covered the two loops for a total of a half marathon on MountDoug.This was the first time that I ever went beyond the 6 summits and 13 miles. So as I started loop three I was entering new hallowed ground. I love the feeling of pushing into territory that I have never done before.
Summit 7 quickly reminded me that I had just climbed and descended 3,000 feet over the last two hours and had 6 more to go. I began to slow a bit and my lactic acid threshold began to deteriorate. The long gentle uphill stretch between summits 7 and 8 proved difficult and I took a small walking break for about 1 minute. This really helped and I was able to finish summits 8 and 9 with some discomfort but nothing too bad. Once again I had to head to the bushes at the exact same point as the previous loop. I guess I know that on long runs I have about 1 hour between eating until I have to find a stump. Good thing I run trails and not roads!I reached my car at a much slower time of 1:15:00 for the loop and the slower up hills and extra walking breaks all took their toll and I got a much slower loop.
At the aid station I dumped debris from my shoes, ate the rest of my sandwich, my potatoes, and my banana.I drank the rest of my electrolyte drink and took a deep breath. I had 10.5 km to go and 1500 feet of vert still to go and I was feeling it.
Summit 10 was brutal.My legs felt like jelly and there just wasn’t any strength left in them to draw from. The descent began to show me weaknesses in my downhill conditioning and for the first time this year I felt my quads begin to really get chewed up on the descent. The long slow grind up to summit 11 was absolutely brutal.I began to think about my friend Tim and wondered how his race went. I kept on trying to draw some strength from him and think about how he was covering the same distance at a much quicker rate in much higher temps. Somehow I knew he had run well and this seemed to give me some extra motivation. Yet I still had to walk most of this shallow stretch.My legs were just knackered!The last 5 miles were brutal and the last two summits were quite taxing. After the 12th summit I just had one long stretch of down hill to go. This is where the problem lied.Six-thousand feet of descent had taken its toll on my quads and they felt like they had gone through a meat grinder. I couldn’t believe how sore they were on the final descent. Suddenly my knees began to hurt and I realized my fatigued quads were not supporting my knees any longer and they were starting to track poorly and get inflamed. Rather than risk further injury I slowed down to a crawl and just coasted the last couple of miles. It wasn’t the strong finish I had in mind but I finished a really hilly and technical marathon at 5 hours 1 minute and 30 seconds. I would have loved to get a sub-5 but that was all I could do without getting injured.
What a great marathon!I can’t wait to improve and continue to work on my distances. I only lost 6 ounces during the run which was a testament to my attention to detail with my fueling and hydration. I only got sick once at the final summit and only for a few minutes. Overall I was quite happy with my first 5 hour run of the season.
Today’s song comes from the land of my roots Sweden and is from a Swedish duo called Familjen. The song is called “Det snurrar i min skalle”.I love the song though it is in Swedish.I also thought it fitting since the footage of the video comes from a Swedish faith healing evangelist from the 60’s, and since it was supposed to be the end of the world during my marathon I thought some sweet footage of this evangelist put to this awesome song was a nice fit.Enjoy!
Several weeks have passed since my candidacy exam. The exam was one of the most stressful and pressurized situations I have ever been in. I had studied well and felt prepared but after nearly 6 weeks of 12-17 hours a day right up until I took the exam I realized that my brain was revolting and as the questions were asked my mind turned into a thick fog and a million fragmented pieces that I couldn't form together to make any sense. I was grasping and grasping but there was nothing there. It is the first time in my life that my mind froze like that. I was able to struggle through the exam and answer enough so that I somehow passed in the end, but I was really disappointed because my performance didn't represent what I really know. That being said, the exam came and went and I was able to get back to my experiments, research, and also running. For the first week or two following my exam my running was weak and inconsistent because of the 6 week running hiatus, foul weather, and because the stress from the exam took some time to completely dissolve away. This past week though, my running has improved drastically without the stress of the exam holding me back. I have felt like I have been running free for the first time in many months if not in over a year.
Monday was warmer than it has been all year and so I stripped down to a single shirt and shorts which felt amazing after 6 months of tights, toques, layers, gloves, and sleeves. I had been training for the past few weeks with a pack to prepare for my long Summer mountain run and so without the weight I felt extremely light and nimble. I ran really strong and summited Mount Doug 6 times for a total of about 3,000 feet of vertical both up and down. I just flew through the trails. I felt something that had been missing for some time...the twinge of a runners high...the warm glow that accompanies a runner when life is balanced and everything is in it's place!
Today I didn't have the option to drive to the trail head so I had to run the 3 mile evil black strip of asphalt, choked with walkers and automobile exhaust. The run started partly cloudy and about 55 degrees (perfect for running) and within 10 minutes my legs began to really start moving. It was one of those rare times where the legs crank like some sort of perpetual motion machine. The more I pushed them the faster they seemed to respond and it felt I was getting much more out of my legs than the energy I was investing. This carried me to the trail head and beyond the road extremely fast. I chose to do the more challenging and steep reverse route of the Mount Doug Gutbuster. As I was approaching the first summit the sun peered out of a dark veil of clouds and back lit a million succulent chartreuse leaves making them have the appearance of fluttering green butterflies. My spirits lifted as I rounded the corner to my first steep summit. The effects of the 3000 feet from Monday's run apparently hadn't fully left my system, and my legs began to fatigue. I pushed them right up to my lactic threshold trying to push beyond it so next run I can push it back even more. I tore down the mountain after summiting and felt the warmth from the patches of exposed sunlight between the new foliage-choked trees. After my descent I began a long and steady uphill grade to my next summit. I kept the legs spinning but they were tired. I didn't care I was free in the forest with my thoughts (free from stress and baggage that comes from feeling guilty if you aren't studying).
I began to think ahead 72 days when me and my best friend(s) line up at Smith and Morehouse Reservoir and begin our 24-ish mile run through Utah's Uinta Mountains to where we finally will summit Bald Mountain at 11,947 feet after 6,000 feet of vert. Is there still going to be too much snow in July? Will I be ready by then only being able to train at sea level and having no time to acclimatize? Questions began to spin around in my head. I began to think about Tim and I as we have spent many Summer's camping hiking and fishing in the shadows of the Uinta Mountains and now almost 20 years after our friendship began we will be running the same hallowed trails. I remember hiking there with Tim's dad and hearing him tell us how he used to run those trails and I couldn't fathom being able to do that and now I am months away.
The steep face of the last 100 feet of my second summit snapped me out of my thoughts and I began to grind up the steep face. On top I pound the last slug of water from my Ultimate Direction water bottle, I knew I could use all the fluids I could get with the sun now warming the temps. I glide down the slope and head for my final summit, the Bedrock Buster. The climb is steep and brutal and my legs are toast by this point. I pushed myself and ran on the exposed rib of diorite making up the trail. I catch my breath and am shocked to find dozens of people on the summit apparently deciding to crawl out of their holes to soak up some sun after driving to the top like hibernating critters. I decide not to linger in the crowds and plummet off the summit and down the mountain and instantly find myself alone again. My thoughts wander back to home and bounce from mountains in Utah and Colorado I want to summit, to the Himalayas. I wonder if I could ever accomplish my dream of summiting an 8,000 meter peak and what kind of money and kitchen pass I would have to come up with to attempt this. My legs are now spent as I reach the road. I painfully push myself the remaining few miles to my house. I feel I am ready for my first 4 hour run of the year. I will use the Easter weekend to run the Gowland Tod range and clock some time on my feet in that beautiful and under-utilized range just minutes away from Victoria. What a great feeling to be running free again!
Since my legs felt perpetual today I decided to post a song called "Perpetual" by Irish/British electronic group VNV Nation. VNV has components of Synthpop, Industrial, Trance and EMB sounds. The name stands for "Victory not Vengeance" in keeping with the band's motto that "One should strive to succeed, not sit in bitter regret." The song has a very perpetual motion sound to it and I like to use it as means of pushing myself during tough stretches or even to accompany me when running well like most of today. I saw these guys live in Salt Lake a few years ago and was really impressed with the positive energy and the great show they put on. Enjoy some Perpetual!
Today was hill repeat day. One of my favorites as far as training goes. The idea was to run a total of 1500' up and down in less than an hour. I had Vye drop me off on the mountain because she was taking the kids to swimming lessons at the nearby rec center. I told her to pick me up in an hour and off I went. It started to flurry about the second I started my run. It was really peaceful, tranquil and the mountain was almost devoid of life (my last few runs there have been terribly crowded). I warmed up for 5 minutes up to where the trail turns right up the south face. I really focused on pushing myself much harder than last week and nailed my first 500' quite quickly. I tightened my shoes in preparation for the steep downhill and began to realize that the slope was going to be quite slippy from the newly fallen snow. Apparently I didn't learn my lesson from Saturday's icy descent because I just flew right down the steep South slope of Doug with no questions asked. There was one time where I almost lost my footing which is surprising considering this pair of Brooks I am running have over 1000 miles on them and their tread is basically gone. I exited the rocks and really flew down the steep dirt trails below the rocks. I find I am a lot slower on my downhill currently than the last two years and I need to make some improvements in that arena (thats what these hill repeats are for). The second summit was a bit harder and I ended up running weakly nearly the entire 500' up. I chalk this up to mental weakness, because on my third and final summit of the day I decided I needed to stop being a wuss and hammer it. So with a 1000' behind me I hammered the last 500' with reckless abandon. The snow really began to fly and it almost pushed me to run harder. Within minutes of starting my final summit my legs found a strong pace where I was taking quick bites out of the hill. At the summit the skies opened up and as I began my descent the city below was swallowed up in a swirling blizzard. It really was an amazing site. I was concerned that Vye would arrive at the parking lot before I did and worry I was dead on the side of the hill so I really pushed and sprinted the last 500 meters to the meeting spot. I ended up beating her there by about 8 minutes and finished my entire run in about 57 minutes. I honestly have no idea what sort of distance I covered but know roughly what the elevation is. What a great run. Can't wait to nail 2000' next week!
As I flew down the steep snowy slopes and slipped on the rocks I began to think how easy it would be to get killed if I wasn't careful or just made a clumsy error. This put a song called "Death" in my head by a group called "White Lies". The group is a Indie Pop group from England and were influenced by Talking Heads, Tears for Fears, Joy Division, and Interpol. I am including the original and a remix by Crystal Castles whom I posted a song from last post. I like both versions of the song and prefer one over the other depending on my mood. I realize the lyrics and song title are a little dark but hey, when your are gripping to the side of a snow-covered rocky slope by your worn out Brooks these thoughts are not unrealistic. I hope you enjoy! (I couldn't embed the originals so if you are interested in the actual video you will have to go to you tube to watch).
Week two of my training for the Smith and Morehouse to Bald Mountain went well. I started the week with hill repeats on Mount Doug. I absolutely love hill repeats, and I believe that hill repeats on steep terrain propel my fitness forward quicker than any other form of training (with the exception of long runs). After a brutal long run last week I took Sunday to rest and then hammered the hills hard on Monday. On Tuesday I had my best run in perhaps 6 months (probably a combination of the previous long run and the hills) and I actually had my first runner's high in some time despite the down pour. I ended up having some pain with my biceps femoris ligament in my right leg pit. Two days of rest and I was good to go.
Saturday's long run was amazing, it was one of those runs where you can feel your body making the change towards being more efficient and fit. I decided to crank out a full Mount Doug Gutbuster (2009 course) along with my distance from my house and back. Distance-wise it is about a half marathon, but what was so exciting is how much longer I could run (40 minutes longer) than last week's long run. Not only that, but I ran considerably stronger this week. I was able to keep drawing from strength and reserves that last week just weren't there. I must admit that I have upped my calorie intake each day this week up to nearly 2200 from last weeks 1600 and that has made a major difference. The Gutbuster was challenging in that Vic has been pounded by rain this week with almost 4 days without a break. The trail conditions were terrible as far as speed goes but they were fun and muddy. Half the trails were running streams, draining all the rain from the wooded water-logged slopes of Mount Doug. The flats were riddled with standing water in many locations, and every trail was muddy except those composed of solid bedrock. Speaking of bedrock, the north descent down the "bedrock buster" was absolutely treacherous. They were the most dangerous conditions I have ever experienced on the Mountain. The cold north-slope spends the majority of each winter day in shadow and as a result the entire route was laced in a solid glaze of black ice from the draining mountain. Every step was a roll of the dice as to whether you would still be standing or not. I did quite well up until the bottom quarter where I finally reached a point where the icy-rock, my speed, and gravity made the perfect storm and I went down hard. I bounced pretty good off my left butt cheek and caught myself with my left arm nearly busting my wrist and hand. I slid about 15 feet until I caught. I quickly picked myself up, did a quick triage (quickly realizing all was well) and then carried on. I sometimes forget that one wrong step could spell disaster and cost me a season of training and running or worse. Next time the bedrock buster is icy I will choose an alternate route down the mountain so I don't bust something and cause problems. Below is a picture of the upper reaches of the bedrock buster in Summer without the ice.
"Bedrock buster" in Summer. Picture it covered in a layer of black ice and then run down it (treacherous)!
I find myself daydreaming almost constantly about different runs I would like to do, and I am almost always concocting plans to run epic trails and bag legendary summits. This is dangerous because it is so easy to lose focus of my research goals. I seem to find myself on Google Earth, Topo, and Summitpost more and more trying to find or formulate the holy grail of trail runs. It is almost an addiction (OK it is an addiction) of trying to build the perfect run, combining amazing scenery, technical trails, and major summits. Some of the areas I have been looking at are Bryce Canyon in Utah and Delano Peak in the Tushar Range. Another drawback to this daydreaming is the reality that time and funds make it impossible to even attempt more than one or two of these runs a year. I will definitely still give it a red hot go though!
The Hoodoos of Bryce Canyon are beckoning me to come and run in their shadows!
The 12,000' + Delano Peak in the Tushar range is high on my priority list for trails and peaks to run!
This week was a good one for music because I was able to discover multiple songs that I really like. I have been in a bit of a dry spell as far as finding music that I really love and keep listening to over and over again. The first song I found this past week was a Cover of Platinum Blonde's 80's song "Not in Love". The cover was by the Toronto based thrasher duo "Crystal Castles" and features the vocals of Robert Smith of The Cure. I really like how the song easily resonates out of the 80's yet has carried the sound into the now. Smith's vocals compliment the electronic music beautifully and this song played over and over in my head on my Saturday long run and I enjoyed every minute of it as I ran through streams, jumped puddles, slid on ice, and cranked out a great run. Great song and Cover. Enjoy!
Yesterday was my long run and I headed out to my usual training grounds to get some hill and distance training in. I took along my bulky camera and snapped some shots of the trail, since winter afternoons always seem to have such awesome lighting. I ran a little early before the best lighting right at sunset but still thought it was a great time to run. The run itself was terrible, I just couldn't keep my breath and my shoes are way past due for a replacement. My shins really took a pounding on the downhills. I have had inklings towards trying the La Sportiva Crosslite's instead of my Cascadia's I have been using for the last two years. I will have to try them on and see how I like them. My only concern is they really can't handle the roads like the Cascadia's based on reviews.
I really miss my really long gnarly trail runs and am anxious to start incorporating them back into my weekly routine again. I can tell that many of my trail stabilizer muscles have weakened a bit so I have some work to do. My hills are really poor so I can't wait to start pushing more elevation. It wasn't the best week for consistency or quality of runs but I am just working on my base and hopefully as my distances increase my weight will decrease and I can get back into that fit zone.
Yesterday found me training on the scanning electron microscope (SEM). This is a great instrument that has the ability to take detailed images with up to 800,000 magnification which is on the scale of nanometers. This is one of the most advanced SEMs in the world, so part of my training allowed me to image some parts of a 1mm long beetle and also a chunk of lung. It was cool because I always have been interested in the very small and I am completely curious about everything. I could probably sit there all day taking images of anything and everything at various magnifications if I could. Unfortunately I am primarily using the device for it's EDX or X-ray to ID elements in the mineral phases I grow, so I won't really be able to take great pictures to show off, but none the less it is a great opportunity to dive into another microcosm. I love playing with 1 million dollar geeky toys.
Beetle's foot magnified about 700 times (the beetle is 1mm long).
This is the ball joint to the same beetle's antennae. This is magnified 1500 times.
Here is a chunk of lung magnified 60 times, showing the air passages and the alveoli.
Since I enjoyed running Mount Work over the weekend so much I decided to run Mount Doug this week. Today I cranked out a 40 minute workout, which was way more fun and playful than it was a tough workout. I ran a combination of trails that I have never spliced together in this combination before and found it to be an absolute blast. I am not in "Mount Doug shape" by any means but hope to improve on my terrible fitness. I fear I have lost a good portion of leg muscle and stamina from this roller coaster of a Fall. I had a bit of a "near faint" and had to sit for a minute and let my heart's pace maker figure out the correct pulse, but not a minute later I was barreling down the south side of Doug. I really love the downhills. They are by far more challenging than the ups because they are so fast and really get the adrenaline pumping. It is amazing how tough the downs are on your quads, they just scream after a few minutes of fast downhill.
A fall photo of Mount Doug (unfortunately not my photo but from a flickr user, but I couldn't find his name to credit the photo - sorry anonymous).
Aerial map with trail overlay of the Mount Doug area taken from a GIS project by Brianne Ranta.
Today as I was cruising down the south side of Mt. Doug "Special Needs" by Placebo popped up and I was happy to have it accompany me to the bottom of the hill and through the waterlogged trail that circumnavigated the base turning me back to the North. This is a great song and has been one of my favorites from the band for years now. It reminds me of some of my early trail runs up Mueler park in Bountiful, and hot dusty workouts on fire break, and also some of my first runs on Mount Doug. It was nice to listen to today and recollect where I have been with my running obsession, and dream big as to where I am taking it in the future. I will include this live version from Germany in '06. The music video disabled the embedding, but is cool as well, albeit steamy. Enjoy!
I am going to do another long run of Doug this afternoon. I will most likely be doing about a 2:00 hour or slightly longer. I will try to summit doug twice and little doug at least once. It is a great hill to climb. First it has great trail systems. You can always switch up your run depending on distance, steepness, rockyness, or you can just trail run around the mountain on a nice flat run. It is really nice to have such variabillity while training. The mountain itself is 220 meters (almost 1000 feet) above sea level, and since, on my run to the mountain, I pass within a few meters of the ocean, I climb this elevation every time I summit. So an average long run with summiting Big Doug twice and little Doug once, I climb over 2,000 feet. It is a really good spot to train. The views are fantastic and sunset (when I usually run) can be breathtaking. This is a truly inspiring run, the terrain and scenary is brilliant, and the trails are always different as conditions change. The silence is only broken up by my foot steps on the moist organic rich soil. It is not hard to be a runner in Victoria infact it is an absolute joy.
Today I did a shorter run from my saturday run. I just summited Doug and then went down the north "rock breaker" trail. I didn't start untill 7:05 pm and was done at about 7:57 pm so it was less then an hour. I had a hard time getting into this run. I began to really feel good about the time that I started climbing the mountain but then it was too dark to go my fastest. I had to slow down a bit. I pushed really hard up the hill and still pooped out a little from the top. I really want to get to where I can run to the top with out slowing down to a speed hike. It is really challenging doing the trails in the dark. I will have to get lights and start running more in the dark as the days start really shortening up. My shoes are really starting to hinder me on the rock breaker. The trail is just to rough for road shoes and I don't have good traction so I don't push. I dream of 100 bucks for running shoes. Maybe I can make a few extra bucks somewhere and get me some shoes, however that is quite selfish considering my family barely has food on the table. Oh the sacrifices a starving international grad student with a family makes. I also am having a hip in my left hip and hip socket. I hope it is just a small tweak and that it won't slow me down. I will try it out tomorrow, and if it is as sore or worse I may have to take a small rest and just do core strengthening for now. I HATE INJURIES! I have allready had a 2 month battle with runner's knee back in April and it didn't allow me to run any summer races.
My poor road runners are just not cut out for what I am putting them through. They are a very good shoe for the road though! It is amazing they have got me this far, that says something about these shoes.
Today I did my long run (yellow and green run. I started at 8:40:00 and finished at 10:35:50. So almost a full 2 hours. This was my first really long run in a while and it showed. I was absolutely knackered by the end. I summited Mount Doug first from the Northeast slope, I then descended the the Northwest (more or less) slope, I then summited little doug from the north and descended from the south, I summited Mount Doug again from the south, and lastly came down my first ascent trail. I was not at my full two hours when I reached the park so I ran an extra 10-15 minutes on Whitaker. I really hit the wall at about 1:38:00 and must admit I had nothing left in the tanks to finish running. I ended up walking the last 15 minutes (how embarrasing). It was a great run and I excperienced some trails I hadn't attempted before. It was brutal and difficult with the multiple ascents, but what was surprising is the first descent of Doug is very challenging. It is rocky, steep, and fast and one trip could mess you up pretty bad. I think my total distance was between 7 and 10 Km when you add in the street running to and from the house. I am not quite sure for distance but nearly 3/4 of the gutbuster 11Km route. I purposely didn't pack down the carbs so that I would force my body to function almost completely on stored glycogen. I think it will help to improve the way my body metabolises glycogen in the long run. You do notice a huge difference running in the morning on no easy to burn carbs, vs dusk after a day of carb loading. My joints did well but I could definately feel it by the last descent of Doug. My repair meal consisted of two scrambled eggs with cheese, and a peanut butter and honey sandwich. After stretching and eating, and showering, I had to lay down for about an hour but I feel pretty good now and probably could even run tonight (but I am not going to). The weather was cloudy and maybe only 50 degrees. I am excited for my Monday run, and I will have to do it in the early morning since both lectures are in the evening and I don't get home to almost 10. I have a long way to go until I can compete in the gutbuster but I have a good chunk of a year to train. I need to increase distance by about 25% and cut my time by 50% to be competive. Distance won't be an issue, but speed is going to be my challenge. One last note is I am currently running a pair of Asics gel 1130's and they are not trail shoes. I have about 200 km logged on them and find I am nearing about 5o% of their life. The trails are really rough on them though and they had a major effect on my overall performance today, and once they are gone I won't have $100 for new shoes any suggestions are welcomed.
A picture of a portion of the trail, this is the flat easy section of the trail. I would like to photo and write details on the majority of my training runs so that I can focus on strategy. Maybe in the next week or two I will attempt it.
