Sulphur Mountain - 1st hike of 2014!

Yesterday was a blast in the mountains. I didn't realize how much I missed playing in the mountains until I got out there again. Being injured and missing most of last summer and now it being winter, it's been quite a while. Usually I kind of hibernate in winter and stick to road running - I realized I have absolutely no idea why I do that! I've always had yak trax which are decent on a little bit of ice but not on anything serious or if you want to hike in the mountains. So I went out and bought myself a pair of Microspikes which are freakin awesome. It feels like you can tackle anything wearing those!

With all the warm weather going on around here, it's been melting like crazy in Calgary and then freezing at nice so crazy slippery. But I wasn't sure what it would be like in Banff with it not getting quite as warm but still warm enough for some melting also. So my friend Tara and I grabbed the microspikes, our dogs and headed for Banff yesterday to hike Sulphur Mountain. We actually found no ice at all but we still wore these as they made the hiking super stable and much easier on the packed snow which can sometimes feel like walking a bit in sand with just trailrunners on. It was a total trip of 12km and about 2300 ft of climbing.

It was just a beautiful beautiful day in Banff and I finished thinking, from now on i'm going to make sure I get to the mountains at least once every weekend. My knee is still a huge bugger right now but it's doing fine while hiking - and lucky for me I can pretty much hike all day. So if that's what i have to do to keep training for now, then so be it. It's so much fun!

Me and Logan at the top - Logan hiked like a superstar and put us to shame.

Hope I'm still doing that when I'm around 75 :)

Oh right, I forgot to mention that Andrew and I are off to Mexico this weekend for a friend's wedding. So I guess all my mountain time will start when I get back :) Definitely looking forward to a little beach time for a week that's for sure!

Cheers to a Happy 2014!

Well I didn't post a typical blog like most people do - reflecting on the past year, looking forward to the next. I thought about it, and then I got busy having too much Christmas fun :) Now it's January 9th and I felt the need to write something! I'm stoked for the new year - am really hoping to train smart which includes a good amount of cross training, to be able to toe the line for all the great races i've got lined up in 2014. As shown over on the side of my blog, my exciting trail schedule includes the following

• Yakima Skyline Rim 50km - April 20
• Miwok 100km - May 3 (Registered)
• Scout Mountain 60 km - June 7 (Registered)
• Sinister 7 100 mile - July 5 (Registered)
• Squamish 50/50 (50 mile & 50 km) - Aug 16-17 (Registered)
• Lost Soul Ultra 100 km - Sept 5 (Registered)

Registration hasn't opened yet for Yakima but i'm pretty sure i'll do it. Have been wanting to do that one for a while. It is only 2 weeks before Miwok though so I will definitely have to not overdo it there and make sure I'm having a lot of fun and soaking up the views!

On a side note - January isn't off to the best start running wise as out of the blue on Dec. 28th my knee just started slightly hurting during the end of a run. Then the next day it hurt more and the following day a lot more. This was the knee that I fell on and injured last year and couldn't believe after running pain free for 3 months, not doing anything crazy like upping mileage or pace out of the blue, it just started aggravating me! So I took a week off and this week i've been slowly getting back into running by doing the walk/run thing on the treadmill and gently testing out the knee. It seems to be handling this well so far and hopefully it was just being cranky after an icy run I had up at Nose Hill.

I wanted to take part in some snowshoe running and racing that's coming up but 1. I want to take it easy on my knee and 2. my running snowshoes have completely disappeared. I've searched everywhere and can only find my regular pair. Grrr. Hopefully they're around somewhere. I might hold off on this anyway until after Mexico - we head out to a friend's wedding in Cozumel in 2 weeks. I'm pumped! I'm hoping to get a lesson in SUPing. I've been wanting to do this FOREVER and I realize it's much harder than it looks. Wish me luck :)

Happy New Year!

Halfway through December already?!?

Running is going really well these days and we're already halfway through the Strides Run Streak! I can't believe it's Dec.16th already!  December started off really painfully cold and while I like to take pride in the fact that I will go outside for a run in most conditions...I just wasn't having it. The thought of putting on 10 lbs of clothes and trudging around town at an unbearably slow pace just to say I got outside and ran in -30?...no thanks! I wanted some good quality workouts...so I spent quality time with my treadmill and Netflix for 8 days in a row! I actually find the treadmill a really good training tool and was mixing it up lots with speed work, hill climbing, power hiking workouts etc.

When it finally did warm up again, I had an extra pep in my step when I headed back outdoors and noticed I was regularly running faster that I was before. It's been 2.5 months since I've been fully back running after my injury and I'm happy to say I'm definitely feeling I'm in the same place (or perhaps even a littler further along) than I was this time last year. Wahoo!

Even though I've never been a morning running person and likely never will be, I've really been enjoying my morning weights/strength/core workouts! I've been consistently going to the gym a few mornings a week and I think this is ultimately what I've been missing from my training regime this whole time. It's great that you can run and run and run, miles upon miles, week in week out - but eventually you're likely going to get injured or niggles going on that you could have avoided! Trust me, I've made this mistake many times!

This is the year I'm going to be a faster AND stronger ultrarunner! My body needs to take me through anywhere from 5 to 20+ hour days out there on the trails this summer. Let's do this! I'm loving Christmastime more than anything - but definitely super excited for what the New Year brings!

I won the lotto! :)

Yup I won the lotto...my kind of lotto that is - my first ever race I've entered that's gone through the lottery process! The Miwok 100 km is usually pretty popular and they only let in 350 runners each year so i'm pretty pumped! I'll be running 100km with 12,000 ft of total elevation gain in the Marin Headlands, which i think is officially in Sausalito, Ca but literally just across the Golden Gate bridge. So we'll be making a mini vacation out of it and hopefully taking a week to check out San Francisco and surround after the race

Here's a look at the course profile - fun no?

This is gong to a be a long race for fairly early season for me...i'm usually a 50km girl up until at least June with a 50 mile thrown in there after.  This race is May 3 which means significant winter training time to get up to 100km shape.Yikes.  This is good though as originally i was going to sign up for the Gorge Waterfalls 100km. And while I would still love to run this some day - March 30 is a really really early race for me to be running that distance.

In other news, the #stridesrunstreak continues and i've run 12 days in a row now. Yesterday I had zero time - busy at work and busy after work so I stuffed in a bare minimum 1 mile run with L-Dawg at around 9pm. My own minimum was going to be 5km for the month of December but this was the one day that I allowed myself to slack off and just get the 1 mile in. I think my body needed the break anyway so a nice little jog around the block with Logan was actually pretty fun.

My parents arrive today for 2 weeks of Christmas fun. It should be good - and Dad brought his ice skates so maybe we'll hit up the Olympic Oval for some public skates. I've never been there, not even to race around the track so it'll be fun to go skating. However i'm pretty pathetic - like really pathetic. So i might put on some knee pads under my pants. I can't risk falling on my knees as I don't think my left knee would survive a fall like that after just getting over last year's fall on the trails and bashing it on a rock.

That's it for now. Happy Holidays!
Deb

Sinister 7 Take 2

Yay, I managed to get through the stressful registration process yesterday and register for the Sinister 7 Ultra! I was in Vernon for the weekend visiting my family and couldn't leave to make the drive home to Calgary until after registration. Last year I think this race sold out in like 12 mins so I knew it would be crazy again - if not more so this year as the race has been extended to be a full 100 miler now which appeals to a lot more people. 

Anyway, it was super stressful as the site was slow and bogged down and I was definitely doing a little panicking when 20 mins had gone by and I couldn't get the site working in my favour! But I'm happy to say I'm in and pumped to be toeing the line again next year! A chance to redeem myself after last years stupid fall ending my race early!

Here's a pic of me running it as part of a relay in 2012. It was like 30 degrees that day....

In other news, yesterday was the beginning of the 3rd annual Strides Running store #stridesrunstreak. Basically you run every day of December and I've done it so far each year! It's fun as they have prizes and little things going on to keep you motivated. The rules state that you only have to run a minimum of 1 mile per day but my own goal is a minimum of 5 km. Unfortunately today we're having a blizzard in Calgary and super cold temperatures all week. While I'm usually pretty good running in all kinds of conditions and temps, I'm feeling particularly wimpy this week and will likely be spending quality time with my treadmill!

Happy running! And stay warm out there!

Deb

Looking forward to 2014!

Almost a full year has gone by since I wrote on this blog. That's surprising to me as I actually thought I had been writing throughout last season pretty much right up to my A race - Sinister 7 Ultra. Obviously this was not the case since my last post was in January! I didn't have a great 2013 race season unfortunately. I did have two great races...one was the Calgary Police Half marathon in April where I accomplished my goal of breaking 1:30. I knew this was doable for a while - the probably is i don't train for these fast races. Ultrarunning is where my heart is at. However, that's not to say i don't want to be speedy either! So every now and then i'll sign up for a half marathon and see how it goes. I ran a 1:28:47 on a pretty tough course so i was pumped with that. I killed the first easier half of the race with both a 5 km PB (sub 20 mins) and 10km PB (sub 40 mins). It was a 3 PB in 1 kinda race :)

The second race and only ultra of the season :-( was the Fast Trax 50 mile in Edmonton. It was a fairly flat and fast course on cross country ski trails. I'm not a fan of looped courses and we had to run  a 10 km loop 8 times which was mentally painful for some reason. However I had a great race and finished in around 7:17, 1st female and 2nd place overall.

Other than these two races, it was mostly all training all the time for my goal of the summer - the Sinister 7 Ultra. 148kms in the Crowsnest Pass of Alberta. Unfortunately for me that race ended early, part way through the second leg where I stopped paying attention for a second, caught my toe on a rock or tree root, took a fall and bashed my knee on a rock. There was a time when i used to be the queen of falling during a trail run and it was never a big deal. But that fall was rough. I've never felt pain like that and sat there while some lovely runners came by and patched me up - while delaying their relay team in the process. I was so grateful! After a while I thought things were ok and kept running - however I think it was the adrenaline. I decided to keep going and start leg 3 of the race. About 10km into that leg i called it quits at the aid station. My knee was not happy and neither was I!! Bummer.

That was an early end to what was to be an exciting race season. The knee took a long time to heal and I didn't get back to running again until the beginning of October - almost 2 months ago now. Andrew and I were in Europe for the month of September and did a ridiculous amount of walking and hiking around. I think this helped my knee a lot and when I thought it was finally ready, I did a little 28 min run/walk - (5 mins running, 2 mins walking) x4. You hear so many stories of people given the go to start running again and they immediately overdo it and re-injure them-self. I was determined that would not be me! I pretty much stuck to the run/walk thing for the first few weeks back and just changed up the intervals.

And here we are at the end of November and i'm happy to say things are going really great so far and i'm loving being able to go for a run everyday. I missed it so much - especially when lunchtime rolled around and I had to go to the gym for a workout instead of getting my butt out the door for a run! December 1st is the beginning of Strides Run streak where we run everyday of December and this will be my 3rd year participating. For the most part it's pretty easy as I already run 6 or 7 times a week as it is. It's those times when you've done a little too much celebrating at all those Christmas parties where the last thing you want to do is run the next day. But I usually find that once I get out there and get going, i'm good to go! So bring on the streaking!

2014 running plans have been in the works for a while - pretty much since I got injured lol. But as all of the dates to register and enter lotteries for races approaches, i've been trying to nail down everything that I want to do. Below is a preliminary list - needless to say, i'll be heading back to Sinister 7 again in 2014 to redeem myself after this years falling fiasco! How appropriate that this would be the year they decide to increase the distance from 148km to a full on 100 miler. My first 100 mile race too. I'm pumped :)

At first glance May looks a little ridiculous, but i'm having trouble deciding so they are all maybes. Not sure if i'll throw a marathon into the mix or not. If I do another road marathon, I definitely don't want anything half ass about it and i'd be aiming for a sub 3 hour for sure.

March 30 - Gorge Waterfalls 100km - Oregon - throwing my name in the lottery, hoping to get in!
April 20 - Yakima Skyline Rim 50km - Washington
May 4 - Vancouver Marathon (Maybe)
May 18 - Sun Mountain 50 Mile - Washington (Maybe)
May 24 - Blackfoot Ultra 100km - Edmonton, AB (Maybe)
June 8 - Beacon Rock 50 km - Washington
July 5 - Sinister 7 100 mile - Crowsnest Pass, AB
August 16-17 Squamish 50/50 (50 miles Saturday, 50km Sunday) - Squamish, BC - REGISTERED!
September 6 - Lost Soul 100km, Lethbridge, AB

Obviously this is not a definite list and is open for a ton of change - especially since the only race i'm registered for so far is the Squamish 50/50 - which i'm super pumped about. A lot of other races are thoughts in my head of what i'd like to do and dependant on how i'm recovered from other races, how training is going etc, lotteries etc.

ok that's it for now - let's try and keep blogging throughout 2014 :)
Deb

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!