Last weekend in January!

I had a fun weekend! There was a lot of relaxing, running, hiking, good food and some girl time. Andrew was off on a guys ski trip to Revelstoke and I definitely got a good fill of me time this weekend. It was all about me me me :) Those are good now and then!

Saturday morning involved some coffee, oatmeal and a serious amount of laziness till around 1pm! I was shocked at the time and realized I better get my butt in gear and out the door for a run! I had planned on 20km for my long run this week as i'm slowly slowly increasing the distance of these runs. I'm at 4 months out from marathon day so there's no need to be going insane with the long running yet! I have been maintaining longer weekly mileage than i'm used to though and it's feeling pretty good so far. This was my second week at 80km and i'd like to get comfortable at that weekly distance before moving up closer to 100+ km. Again...4 months out, no need to do anything crazy!

Beauty day at Nose Hill

Saturday night my girlfriends and I went out on our monthly date night. This month we tried Black Betty Burger & Winebar. I can't comment on the burgers, I probably should have tried one though since i'm assuming it's good for burgers and wine? But they had like 8 different types of grilled cheese and I just had to have one! It was quite good - brie, poached apples, maple pepper bacon, and applewood cheddar. Yum!

Today was my day off from running! Ahhh, it was nice! I wanted to check out what COP (Canada Olympic Park) was like for running so decided to take Logan there for a good hike this morning. Nose Hill was pretty icy in spots yesterday so I wasn't sure what COP would be like. I wore my microspikes in case it turned out to be crazy but it was actually nicely packed snow with no ice.

Logan and I had a blast. I had him tied around my waist and he was just pulling me along. He's getting older and while you wouldn't know to look at him as he rips around, he's been known to hurt his paw sometimes when he gets all fired up racing through the trees. I think he sprained it once a few years ago and now it seems easy for him to aggravate it again. So it wasn't an off leash day.

We had a great morning and took a few pics of our little hike. Can't wait to get back there soon for a good run!

 Fun single track

 Hidden Gem at COP

 Logan checking out the city on top of a huge slab

Logan wants to go for a ride!

 

 

 

Finished off my day with a weekly house cleaning/laundry extravaganza and made a huge pot of chili. Thinking of an early bedtime for some reading. Good night!

Decision made!

Registration for Death Race was yesterday. While it's filling up really fast, i don't think it's sold out yet. However, I did finally make a decision yesterday to not register. There's a couple of reasons. One being, I just don't think i'll be recovered properly within 4 weeks from Sinister7 to race Death Race. I don't want to do it just for the sake of doing it. If i'm going to register for a race like that, then I want to do well! And seeing as how I came 2nd last year, I'd definitely be aiming for a podium spot again!

My second reason for not doing it is that the race fee is insane...something like $325 I believe it is. I'm not a sponsored athlete and that is a ton of money to fork over! Andrew and I have a month long trip to Europe planned in September so i'm busy saving money for that. Like my brother also mentioned to me yesterday - by the time August rolls around, i'm starting to get tired of training and racing and mentally preparing. I think it'll be nice to have my big races over by early July and then enjoy the rest of the summer.

That being said, I did register for one more race to add to my schedule - Iron Legs 50 mile which is in mid August. I raced it in 2011 and it was awesome and I somehow managed to win it. This year i'm hoping with all the extra training i've been doing for Sinister7 that i'll be able to smash my 50 mile time. It's a tough course and I managed a 9:39. I would be thrilled if I could break 9 hours! That's my goal. Hopefully recover goes well after Sinister7 as i'll have 6 weeks until Iron Legs. Even if i'm not fully recovered, it'll still be a fun day out in the mountains!

I'm in the middle of another solid week of training and looks like Calgary is thawing out for the weekend, wahoo!

Twas a good training week!

Last week was a great week of training! I ran a total of 80km which actually felt pretty good and my legs handled it well! The past few marathons I've raced, there's been no set training for them. Aside from last year's early season Calgary marathon which happened to be my 3rd weekend in a row of racing, usually a marathon for me has come at the end of a long trail racing season. I've done really well but again most of my training was on the trails and I threw in a marathon for fun to see how I'd do in the fall! This year is different, my winter/spring training is focusing on the marathon - getting a lot of mileage in and actually getting in regular weekly speed/interval sessions. Again, that's new for me! I'm trying to be a little more structured!

That being said, while i'm excited to race the marathon and hopefully attain my time goal, i'm pumped for some serious time on the trails and hopefully some great racing this season. Gary Robbins killed it at the HURT 100 this weekend and it was super inspiring. He's been making his way back from injury for a while now and he's probably in the best shape he's ever been - and breaking in course record by over 30 mins. I was glued to the live updates of the race all day yesterday and was pumped to wake up this morning and discover he'd won.

While all I want to do is run a ton everyday, clearly there needs to be regular rest days and easy days. Today is just that! No running for me today - just some fun longer dog walks on a beautiful yet coooold Calgary day.

That's it for now - enjoy a great Sunday! Ready for another great training week ahead!

Deb

Ready for another great year!

2013 is going to be great. I can feel it. I'm excited. There is lots to look forward to...to plan, to train for, to enjoy, to travel.

2012 wasn't too shabby either. I raced a lot and had a lot of great outcomes - my most satisfying being the Canadian Death Race. It was epic! I was pumped with my final result - 2nd place overall female - and was chasing down the 1st place female all day. I had a fab crew (my brother, his wife and kids).

While last year was awesome and I raced my little heart out, i'm ready to train hard hard hard and look forward to a few less races this year. I want to focus on my A races and in between just train. None of this "Training race" business I was up to last year. I'm going to listen better to my body, train better, recover better, and hopefully see even better outcomes in the end!

Aside from a couple of half marathons i've signed up for over the winter, my A races are a short list:

1. Calgary Marathon - May 26 - Sub 3 hours please. I would be pumped with a sub 3:05 but I can't say that a sub 3 hour marathon isn't a goal of mine. So why the heck not - i'm putting it out there right now!

2. Sinister 7 Ultra - July 6 - 148km of magic out at Crowsnest Pass. 23km longer than the Death Race. The more I read about this race, the more stoked I am. I've got 6 months to get myself dialed in for that race! I raced Leg 5 last year as part of a team and it was awesome. It may have been 30 degrees and I saw soloists dropping like flies out there - but that just adds to the challenge now doesn't it.

Ok those are my big A races. But wait, there's more ... For some unknown reason I recently started thinking more and more about the Death Race again. Why? I don't know. I've been there, done that...got a sweet crystal skull to prove it. But wouldn't it be awesome to take another crack at it... yes, 4 weeks in between these two big ultras is not much time to recover and get back into the game. But I think I can do it.

I'm thinking about it...hard. Registration is coming up at the end of the month...i'll let you know my decision!