What? Last day of June?

Seriously, where did June go? This summer is flying by and I feel like I've still got a lot of work to do before Transrockies! Training is coming along very nicely though and after this weekend past I'm definitely starting to feel more confident and more excited for Transrockies. I think I was a little worried that my hill climbing skillz were going to be pathetic and overall I wouldn't be able to keep up with my rockstar partner. Luckily this wasn't the case and I really surprised myself!

Steve and I got in 3 good long and semi-long trail runs on the weekend that all included some pretty tough climbs. I have to say I definitely left Vernon feeling stronger than when I got there! I'm heading back out to Vernon on thursday for another weekend of training runs and then i'll do somewhat of a taper next week before Powderface 42 the following Saturday. I'm getting super pumped for that race! The race is sold out but Steve is looking for a bib for it so if anyone knows of one for sale for the 42 let me know!

I'm a little beat out from the weekend and the long drive back home so I decided to take yesterday and today completely off. It's hard to make yourself do that sometimes but I'm definitely starting to get better at listening to my body. Tomorrow is Canada Day and I'm trying to figure out what i'd like to do on my day off from work!! I'd like to sleep in a bit...unfortunately for me, sleeping in means till about 7am! I'm so not a morning person yet I still wake up super early on days off...argh! I'd love to get a big hike in somewhere...haven't been out hiking in a couple of weeks.

I left my camera in Calgary this weekend so didn't get any trail running pics...but i'll leave you with this pic...check out the black bear trying to look in the windows of my parents trailer when they were in a campground in Eastport, Newfoundland. Pretty funny :)

Running is my multivitamin

I borrowed the title of my post from Kelly Roe's blog...thanks Kelly...it's a great one and definitely applies to me huge :) Kelly and her boyfriend are also teaming up for Transrockies and I'm super excited to meet them as well!!

I'm currently at my brother's place in Vernon. I love it here, what a great town! I left Calgary yesterday a little after 4 and got here a little after 10 Calgary time (9 BC time)...it takes pretty much exactly 6 hours. I'm pretty excited to be getting in some good running with my brother...my TR partner. Steve and Kira are both at work today so i'm going to just chill out and wander around Vernon.

Oh and guess who now lives in Vernon...and who my brother and wife had over for dinner a short while ago...Aaron Heidt! This guy came 3rd OVERALL in the Vancouver Marathon in a sick time...something like 2:36 I believe? He's a top Canadian ultrarunner and is on Team Montrail Canada! And of course...also competing in Transrockies. Holy crap...there are going to be some fast ass people at this race in 2 short months. Clearly they are not our competition...I mean we just want to have fun and finish the bloody thing. I am so excited to be going to a race where I get to meet these people, run "with" them and hang out with them for 6 days. It's going to be incredible.

This spring/summer so far has been the most exciting and fun racing season I've ever had...and it only gets better from here on! Running at Boston was amazing and I will be back next year and any year after that if I continue to requalify. I still love road racing and I don't think that experience at Boston will ever get old for me. But trail running/racing is still very new to me and boy am I hooked. After my first 50km 3 weeks ago I said to myself I can not picture running anything longer than that...and already I'm looking for 50 mile and 100km races I can do next year. Funny how that happens...I ran my first marathon in 2005 thinking at the end that I didn't know if I'd ever do that again...and now I can't seem to get enough! :)

Gary Robbins (from Newfoundland I might proudly add - living in Vancouver) is also one of the top Canadian ultrarunners and is racing in the very impressive Western States 100 mile race tomorrow...100 miles people!! That is so exciting and I find him and his blog super inspiring and motivating. I just know he's going to rock it!

Good luck to everybody racing this weekend. I'll be training my butt off as I get ready for Powderface 42 in 2 very short weeks. Surprisingly I'm feeling nervous for this one...but very excited. I love what I do :) For those of us training...work hard and enjoy it...we've so lucky to get to do what we love every day!

K-100 Race Report

Well this was my first year participating in the K-100 and I must say that it was a blast! My team was so much fun and I can't wait to do it again next year! The official results aren't in so I'm not sure how we did overall or how I did overall for my leg but i'll let you know soon enough!

We all had to predict how long we thought it would take us to do each leg so we'd know when to be at each leg to meet our runner coming in. The first 2 guys ran well under their predicted time so by the time Leg 5 came around I ended up starting 20 mins earlier than planned. Luckily I was ready to go...a bunch of kind runners had let me infront of them at the portaloo cuz in casual conversation I was like "yeah i'm gonna seriously bust if I don't pee soon" LOL. I wasn't lying...I drank tons on the drive to Kananaskis!!

This one guy infront of me in line gives me this look up and down and then he's like "so you're doing leg 5?" and i'm like 'YUP'! He proceeds to ask me if i've ever done it before and I give an enthusiastic 'NOPE' and he continues with yeah...there's so many hills, then it flattens, then there's another crazy hill and then at the very end it goes on forever up this one hill blah blah blah...the whole time i'm giving him this fake grin and ask that's cool, how many times have you done Leg 5? ohhhh 6 or 7 he says. I'm like that's awesome, way to go...giving him the pat on the back he feels he deserves I guess...as much as I loved our conversation it's my turn to pee (jackass)....later!

Anyhow, shortly after I meet up with our team leader Garrath and he says Jen (our leg 4) has just passed the 1 mile to go mark and is getting close! I cross the highway to get in the shoot to meet her. She gets there waaay quicker than I anticipated, gives me a high 5 and then i'm off!

I started out feeling very good and sticking with 5 min kms...I didn't want to go out too hard and then die when I hit the hills. I have to say I didn't find the first 10km to be too bad at all...i thought, wow this is it? This is nothing! Although really I think it was hilly and I was just feeling good from training hills lately! My biggest mistake in the entire race was taking the gatorade that was given to me early on. Our crew had water or gatorade every couple of kms...and while I only ever drink nuun...I wanted something other than water...I take the gatorade and it immediately gives me the worst stomach cramping i've ever had...I thought to myself...you idiot, this is why they say don't try anything new on race day. But i've never ever had this problem from anything i've drank or eaten so I was shocked.

Regardless of that, our crew was kick ass...they showed up every couple of kilometres...would slow down as they drove past to yell at me and blast some sweet tunes to pump me up. I couldn't help laughing everytime they drove by! Here's me giving Garrath my half smile/half this sucks face...i'm hurting, i can't fake that i'm not for the camera :) That sweet VW van in the background is our crew/team supporting us the whole way!

My stomach was in such pain that I couldn't even think about eating the gel I brought with me that I wanted around the 9km mark. Finally by 12km I was fading and forced down a gel that i'm still holding onto in this pic...sometimes it takes me a while to get through a whole gel!

Luckily it helped huge. The hills were getting worse too! Finally I get to I think about 2km to go...this is the bitch of all hills and as I saw the cars off in the distance still going up this endless hill I just thought uh oh...this could be trouble!

I see this guy in the distance...spandex clad...it looks like a triathlete to me...you know, they love their spandex (and no I'm not making fun...they do!!)...I begin to wonder if it's my new friend Trevor...I just started reading his blog through Cam's blog and found out we were both doing Leg 5! I'd never met him in person but kind of knew what he looked like and decided I wanted to try and catch up and see if it was him!!! I get closer and yup, it was definitely a triathlete (again...spandex, hello!)...I start to pass him on the left...look over and say...

"is that Trevor?"

"Yup"

"Hey, it's Deb!"

He laughs and responds with "see I knew you were going to kick my ass!" LOL. I tell him i'm dying...which in fact was true! I actually stopped on this hill twice to catch my breath and the second time I stopped I looked back as I had visions of him just blowing by me at this point. He's close so I start going again as my garmin tells me the end is near! Finally I get to the top of the hill...there's a little bit of a flat and a downhill and then I can see the finish! I gunned it, high fived our Leg 6 runner Laura, and finished with my garmin reading 17.6km at 1:28:37. I was super happy with that and my 5:03 min/km average.

Trevor and I caught up at the end of our leg...very cool to meet someone in person from the blogging world! I've also been told that the next time I pass him in a race (which I seriously doubt will happen again - this dude is a faaaasst runner/ironman)...i'm allowed to slap him on the butt as I go by just like Cam does :)

So yeah it was a super fun day...even moreso after my leg was finished and I got to cheer on everyone else for the rest of the day and enjoy some beer! Beer has never tasted so good to me as it did shortly after that race! Yum! There was a bbq after the entire race was over...and while I have to admit they weren't the best burgers I've ever had...kind of McDonald's like but worse...I thoroughly enjoyed it. I will pretty much eat anything put infront of me after a race! Here's a pic at the post-race bbq of Laura (Leg 6), Carmello (Leg 5 on another team), and me enjoying our beer :) and waiting in line for our dirty burgers!

What's on the schedule next? My next 2 weekends in a row are long ones...so i'm off to Vernon for both of them to train with my brother...multi lonnnng hilly days in preps for Transrockies. This will also help huge in my preparation for the Powderface trail marathon in 3 weeks! Wahoo!

Hope you guys are having a great monday! I wasn't sore at all from saturday's race but was wiped out yesterday and decided against my long run. I needed some extra rest and enjoyed a very lazy sunday indeed! My body was pretty happy with me :) Today's 10km at lunch felt great and it actually turned into a Tempo run! I love those days! :)

K-100 tomorrow

Tomorrow is my first road race since Boston 2 months ago. I've been busy enjoying the trail running/racing way too much! :) Anyhow, it's the K-100 - Kananaskis 100 mile relay. It should be fun as i've wanted to do this since I moved to Calgary 3 years ago but never found a team! Friends I've met through the running room, including the guys I went to Boston with this year asked me if i'd like to join them as they had 9 confirmed people and needed one more person to make up the 10 legs of the race. We're sponsored by the running room so our team name is plain and simple - Eau Claire Running Room :)

I quickly jumped onboard and asked if it was possible to do the leg that was hilliest (just because I need to train train train on hills to help me with my other races this summer!). Ha...like I had to fight with anyone for that leg...i think they were pumped that I was the only one jumping at the chance to do Leg 5! The description specifically says "this is the toughest leg of the relay"...hmm...maybe i should have actually looked at the legs in advance before asking for this? Ha ha. Nah, it'll be fine :)

Here are the stats of my leg...looks pretty fun no?

LEG FIVE
START: 0.5 km south of Mist Creek at the Pickle Jar Recreation Area
DISTANCE: 17.6 km
DIFFICULTY RATING: 10
FASTEST RECORDED TIME IN 2006: 1:04.07
PACE: 5:52 per mile
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.

Anyhow, all the running i've been doing for transrockies has made me feel pretty strong so I feel prepared but I'm also hoping this profile is just exaggerated and it really isn't as bad as it looks!

I've also forgotton how hard road running is on your body as i've been mostly doing the trail thing. So while I keep saying I'm not going to kill myself in this relay so it doesn't take me a couple of weeks to recover (as Powderface 42 is in 3 weeks from tomorrow)...i'm super competitive and i'm sure i'll give it everything I have. I really need to get in the planned 32km run on sunday with the Trail Trash group from Calgary so i'm hoping i'm good to go for that too!

So I think I left you last night saying I was heading to Nose Hill for a run with Logan. We got in 9.5km...fun and uneventful till about the last km. I decided to run down this little valley so I could come back up and get a good hill in at the end of my run. We turn around to go up and Logan sees something and runs up this little enbankment into the trees...I hear a racket and turn around to him and a coyote getting into it. Damn those effin coyotes do they ever piss me off. I ran back towards him and yell for Logan to come and he actually listens to me right away which shocked me as if there is other wildlife around he usually ends up following/chasing it and completely ignoring me. I don't think he really knew what it was...some kind of crazy wild dog maybe?

Anyhow, he ran up to me and I quickly nabbed him on the leash and we took off. That coyote followed us all the way back up out of the valley to the top of Nose Hill. I've heard of this happening at Nose Hill before but often there are multiple coyotes ganging up on the dog. Or they'll send out a scout and it ends up bringing the dog back and that's when they all pounce!

I'm greatful that Logan is a big boy at 85lbs as this wasn't a scrawny little thing like most people thing they are. Over the winter we were up there and saw 3 giant ones staring at us from the distance...they were huge (and needless to say I got freaked and we took off back to the car then too haha).

So that was my little adventure...funny how all I ever worry about are bears and I go for a run in the park within Calgary and I've got to worry about those little buggers.

K well that's it! I'm going to relax tonight and get ready for tomorrow! Wish me and my team luck and i'll let you know how it goes :)

Deb

A Night with Coldplay!

Last night I was lucky enough to see my favorite band for the second time...Coldplay!! Here I am with my best friend Leanne sitting in what turned out to be some kick ass seats!!! (thanks to Leanne's sister Allison for coming through with the tickets...my attempts failed! damn Ticketmaster!)

Me, Leanne, her sis Allison, Justine

We're anxiously awaiting Coldplay to come onstage! Snow Patrol opened up for them and are also seriously awesome!! I definitely recommend checking out their music!

It's a full house at the Saddledome!!

Well that's it for pics from last night as actual concert photos never come out! I took a ton of great videos though that came out well! Coldplay was absolutely fantastic and did in no way disappoint...I couldn't have asked for anything more! Here's a little clip of them singing "Yellow"...Enjoy :)

I was home and in bed by midnight and decided to give myself an extra half hour of sleep before getting up this morning...yeah, I slept in till 6am...so lucky wha? I could seriously pass out on the couch right now but I promised Logan we'd go up to Nose Hill for a run! We've got some crazy thunderstorms going on in Calgary this afternoon/evening and as the latest one just passed I think i'd best get ready to get out there quick!

Have a great evening everyone! It's almost the weekend, woot!!

Deb

My quads are on firah!

Well this weekend certainly flew by...damn...June is half over, how did that happen?! Anyway, I accomplished everything I set out to do this weekend (except for cleaning...oops...but I did sweep up Logan's shedding extravaganza...holy husky shedding machine!!)

Before my friend's stagette on friday night I managed to get my butt out the door for an 11km trailrun along the Douglas Fir Trail. Here's a pic showing my nemesis...the stairs...it doesn't look like much in this pic, but these stairs are endless...especially when you're standing at the very bottom looking up! (I try not to ever do that when I get to them!)

The run didn't go as well as I had hoped...I was just feeling off...tired, sluggish and really not into it! It clouded over and started to rain a bit while I was in there...I took off my glasses as a result and counted at least 5 of those little white flies go directly in my eye. I swallowed quite a few too...ugh! Needless to say, I was happy when the run ended and I could get ready for my friend's stagette!

I pigged out like a champ...the drink not going down as well at first but my body warmed up to it eventually :) I'm not a shot type of girl but I did manage quite a few shots of Sour Puss...I know, most people hate that stuff but it's one of the few that I can get down without gagging! The doorbell rings at 10pm and I open it to see an old guy - Jim - with long gray hair and a cowboy hat on. Nope, he wasn't the stripper lol...there wasn't one which I have to admit I was happy about...i'm really not a fan and I think it's just super awkward for everybody lol. Anyway, Jim was the driver of the party bus!

We piled our drunkselves in and drove around Calgary for 2 hours and taking stops at some scenic places for pics and pee breaks. At midnight we get dropped off at the one club i've managed to avoid in the 3 years I've lived here...bloody Tantra! Ugh...Tantra is brutal...I'm 29 and was definitely 10 years older than everyone there. I don't think i've ever felt so old in my life! While I do love to dance...this was not my type of place. Give me a beer at a pub any day and i'm a happy happy girl! Anyhow, I have to say, the night was uneventful for me after that point and I was home in bed by 2 am.

I woke up to a bit of fuzziness but no hangover, wahoo! My friend James, Leanne and I planned to go hiking that day and by the time Leanne and I got our act together and were all ready to leave...it was almost 2pm. Whoops. Luckily the hike we were doing would take less than 3 hours. We drove to Canmore and did Ha Ling Peak...also known as Chinaman's Peak. It was awesome but tough...a straight uphll battle from the get go. Damn, hiking makes me feel so out of shape sometimes! Here are some pics of our great day!!

Leanne, James, our dogs Logan (husky), Chance (Australian Shepherd), & Charlie (Westie)

Leanne and I at the top...Logan is pretty pooped lol

After chilling out at the top for a bit and having a snack we saw some nasty looking clouds rolling our way. It was time to jet! We pretty much ran all the way down...especially when we heard thunder! Anyhow....all of that downhill wreaked havoc on my quads...holy burn city! It's the good kind of pain though...like after a sweet leg workout with a gazillion lunges! Anyhow, we made it down and back to the car just in time as the rain started.

Sunday I woke up not too happy about the 30km trail run I needed to do. It was a late start and I didn't leave my house till around noon to drive to Moose Mountain in Kananaskis about 45 mins away. The actual hike is about 15km in total which starts at the top of a pretty long and steep 7.5km dirt road. To make this a 30km run I decided to park at the bottom and run up the hill...NOT pleasant...I think it took me over an hour to get to the start of the trail...gross! Moose Mountain is also a super popular spot for downhill mountain bikers. Trucks and trucks of them passed me on my way up the road and would leave me eating dirt...literally. Ugh. I get to the top and a few guys are like, hey, nice work on the run. I was like, thanks, that was pretty awful! They proceeded to tell me I looked good everytime they drove back up the hill and I proceeded to tell them that's probably because everytime I heard a car coming I made sure I was running so I didn't look like a lame ass!! :)

Anyhow, I didn't nab any pics but it was a pretty tough run for me and my quads hated me on the way to the top and on the way back with all of that downhill to the car. Hopefully my legs will eventually start to get used to this. In total it took me about 3 .5 hours of running/power hiking...not too bad I guess.

Yesterday after work I wanted to get in another semi-long run to get used to multi days of long runs. I was pretty tired after work and just wanted to get it over with so I just ran 16km from the house instead of finding some trails. My muscles were darn sore from the weekend but they got used to the run pretty quick.

Today i'm enjoying a complete day off from any exercise and i'm loving it :) Early to bed tonight as tomorrow night i'll be up a little late...I get to see my most favorite band...Coldplay! I can't freakin wait!!!

deb

I Heart Friday

Ahhh...Friday again...I don't even mind being at work on Fridays! There's always the excitement of the upcoming weekend and all the plans you've made! Wahoo! I felt like this week totally dragged during the days but really now that the weekend is here it kind of seems like it flew by! I've got some fun things planned this weekend and while I should spend some time doing some housework, mowing the lawn, and all that garbage...i'm pretty sure all of a sudden it'll be sunday night again, i'll be vegging on the couch after a tiring but fun weekend, and will have accomplished nothing in the way of housework. It's funny cuz i'm usually so crazy about that stuff and love to have such a clean, spic n span place but once summer comes it's a whole different story. I feel like I tend to give it a really good cleaning only when I know I have visitors coming! I know I'm not the only one...there must be some other athletes out there that are too busy enjoying life, training, and sleeping to fit in that stuff?!


Anyhow, this has been a great week and I have recovered quite well from my 50km. I can't believe how 2 days after the race I was walking around with no pain and running 3 days after...man that is nothing like after a marathon. Running on the bloody road kills ya! So I was really happy to get in a good trail run on wednesday night with Logan up at Nose Hill Park as my first run since the race. We ran for 8km and I figured that was enough for my first run back...and Logan was a panting drooling mess but he had lots of fun. I meant to bring my camera but forgot sorry! Here's a pic I found online showing some of the park...

Yesterday I went for another 8km run at lunch along the Bow River pathway. I was feeling pretty good and it ended up being quite a fast paced run...whoops. I didn't intend to do anything like that the week after a race but I felt good so I went with it. My friend Nancy and I (and Logan of course) went back up to Nose Hill last night on our mountain bikes. I haven't been on my mountain bike in 2 years I think! I forgot how much I loved it. I've got to start doing that more often...good crosstraining for running too!! Unfortunately I'm a little timid (i.e. lame) when it comes to going downhill and because my brakes are effed at the moment, they squeal huge everytime I use them...so i'm sure the whole park could hear what a wimp I was on every downhill I did lol. Other than that it was a super fun night! Again...Logan was completely wiped out after this! Poor huskies...I can't imagine running around in a fur coat! :)

As for today...i'm going to do the Douglas Fir trail after work...I find it a pretty tough run and it's a good one you don't have to travel out of the city to do...it starts about 2km from my doorstep! It involves a ridiculous amount of stairs which I'm not very good at yet...hopefully by the end of the summer I will have mastered them?! I'm going to work it pretty hard and then feel ultimately satisfied and enjoy my evening of eating and boozing at my friend's stagette...apparently there's also a party bus involved...could be interesting. I'll try to nab some good pics :) Hopefully I can keep it under control because I'm not keen on running or hiking tomorrow with a hangover. I think depending on how I feel when I wake up tomorrow will decide if it's a hiking or running in the mountains day :)

Have a great weekend everybody!

deb