5Peaks Wheezer - Buntzen Lake

Yesterday was the last in the series of 5 Peaks races. In the previous one at Whistler I had placed 3rd in my age category but I had to burn a couple of lungs to do it. Going from sea level to a fast 16k at 6500ft was a bit of a wake up. Add to that that my Salomon Flight Crew team mate, Tom Craik, started in the wave behind me, meant that even after crossing the line ahead of him I still couldn't be sure if I was ahead until the times were posted. I was expecting the weasel to beat me again ... but managed to eek out a little victory after finishing behind the whipper snapper all year.

Buntzen is lower down so I hoped to have some lungs. It's a nice technical course and it had been raining so it would be even more like a banana peel than usual. An advantage for me over the newer trail folks out there but also an advantage for the whipper snapper, Tom, who liked it even more than me.

Contrary to speculation, I did not pull an Usain Bolt at the start but tucked in right behind Craikie. I planned to take it easyish for the start but even where I was I felt I was going too fast but Craikie was there and I couldn't let him get away so early. I tried following him up the long climb but by the time we reached the saddle and started the second climb he was out of sight. Rats! But there was nothing I could do. My legs were feeling pretty lead-like and if I pushed harder I knew I'd go lactic and burn out. So I just had to swallow my pride and settle in to what I could do. I was right behind the second place guy in my age category all the way up the climb but when we topped out he took off like a shot and was gone. He passed Craikie too on the downhill, which says something cuz Craikie has some downhill wheels. Strangely enough we would both get this guy before the end though.

I still struggle for about half of the top of Diez Vista ... trying to find my legs and lungs. Finally it came back as I ran along the top by myself and down the steep trails to the north end of Buntzen. Then a little struggle for the next km as my legs recovered from the pounding. I wanted to have something left for the last 4k along the lake - which was nice rolly terrain on good trails. I wasn't sure if I could do it but when I hit the first downhill at the start of that section I could feel the turnover coming back and I pretty much hauled the last 4km hoping to catch the whipper snapper. Twas not to be. I missed him by about 2 1/2 minutes but managed to almost run down the guy who would place 2nd in my age group. Another 50m and I would've had him. Still - I felt good that I had been able to reel in this guy who had just disappeared completely out of sight since the top of the first big climb 4k into the race.

I felt even better after seeing that I had whittled out another 3rd place age category finish and that, combined with my two other 3rd place finishes and a 5th in the 5 Peaks series, was enough to put me 2nd overall for the series and a nice little plaque to go with it! Craikie managed a 3rd in his group too so overall the Salomon Flight Crew had made its presence felt.

Thanks to Mark and Kathryn Stanton for putting on a great series and to JP for putting us in some of Salomon's finest gear. I feel spoiled.

Floe to Numa

Here's a little video of the run I did in August from Floe lake to Numa Creek. As you can see.. by the end of it the isolation and wilderness had turned me into a crazy man xD

zzzz!

Thought about going for a run this morning ...... then thought better of it...

Shuffling the Rockwall

After toodling around on the bike in Washington I drove to Calgary through Idaho and SE BC.

I was planning to run the Rockwall trail which is a 55k trail that takes you along this huge ..wait for it ...... rockwall in Kootenay national park.

I pulled in to the Marble Canyon camp site at 10pm after seeing a wolf on the side of the road. Yah - I thought i was hallucinating too until about 2 minutes after seeing it I drove by a big flashing park sign saying "Caution - Wolf on highway. No stopping"! Pretty cool .... i'm pretty sure that's my first wild wolf sighting. Not too hopeful for many more because they have been pretty much decimated by traffic inside park boundaries, and by poachers and ranchers outside the boundaries.

I couldn't be bothered to put my tent up in the dark (remember - I'm lazy) so I just put the seats down in the subaru and settled into my sleeping bag for a good snooze.

In the morning light my better sense prevailed and I knew that a 55k run along a trail that the hiking book rates as a 5-6 day hike was a big chew. Don't get me wrong ... it's a totally do-able trail run to polish it off in 10 or 11 hours (I think the record might be 8) ... but in my present shape, not having run longer than a couple of hours since my trip to the grand canyon in march, i decided to enjoy myself rather than kill myself. So I opted to run up to Floe lake then on to Numa pass and down Numa creek to the highway - a run of about 28k and around 4000ft of elev. From there I would hop on my mtn bike that I had stashed in the woods and ride the 8km back along the highway to my starting point.

The run up to Floe lake takes you through a burnt out forest along a smooth and mostly runnable trail. Most of the elev comes over the last K or so as you climb the headwall to the lake.

I gotta say it was a pretty easy run up to the lake. Much more fun than toting a huge pack. Floe lake is pretty nice. Your typical rockies lake - turquoise blue - snugged up against a towering wall of rock. You get the idea from the next couple of pics. It must be amazing up here in the fall when the larches turn yellow and the first dusting of snow clings to the rockwall.

From the lake it was a nice run up through larch trees to Numa pass, although, at around 7300ft I was wheezing a bit.

Once on the pass it there was little sense sitting around as it was windy and cool. With all the hard work done the rest was pretty much all downhill from here. And what a downhill! The trail drops steeply down into the Numa creek valley and I had a blast zooming down the smooth trail seeing the envious faces of heavily burdened backpackers toiling up the same trail on their second day out .... meanwhile I'd only been out for about 3 hours and covered the same distance! :p

It was nice to get a longer run on my legs and see some new scenery. I'd love to be able to run the whole 55k in the fall when the larches turn and I'm hopefully a little more svelt :P

The Salomon S Labs were perfect for this terrain. Light and low profile I could skim along on my toes and know that if i got lost Search and Rescue would have no trouble finding me with those bright red signal flares on my feet!

Cross Training near Mt Rainier

Ok - so this is supposed to be a trail running blog but like i said ... i'm a lazy trailrunner. Sometimes i hop on a bike.

Anyhoo... last week i was lucky enough to be shown some of the Seattle area's great mountain biking trails.

It was a 30k loop on an almost perfect day at the edge of Mt Rainier national park. The loop consisted of two trails: the Skookumchuk trail and Sun Top. In between is a nice little 3500ft climb up a forestry road. But it was worth it! The Skookumchuk trail is a fast rolling cross country trail along the river. It's pretty smooth and you can zoom along laughing your head off at how much fun it is.

After the long climb up you get even more fun! A 45 minute descent on smooth, winding, fast rain forest trails. It's sooooo much fun. Have a look at the video if you need some more proof.

5 Peaks - Seymour

So, yesterday was the 5 Peaks race on Mt Seymour and after watching Lance Armstrong race to the top of Mt Ventoux from the coffee shop at the Quay, I dragged my butt off to my own Mt Ventoux to see what I could do.

Being a part of the Salomon Flight Crew is more about being an advocate for the sport of trail running, a product tester, and encouraging people to get involved than it is about being on the podium. However, I still feel like I should somehow project the Salomon image of the lean, adventurous athlete pushing him/herself against the elements. I'm still working on the "lean" part! Motivation has been a little off this year.

Anyhoo... the enduro course on Seymour was around 12km and about 2000ft of elevation gain. It's a very technical 12km covered in rocks, roots, and mud and I was glad to be wearing my S-Lab shoes. They have a relatively low profile, good grip and just the right amount of protection for this kind of technical running.

I did have one revelation while running though. I tend to buy shoes a half size larger so that they are a tad roomier in the toebox. The reason for this is that I typically do longer runs of 25km and up and the extra room allows for foot swelling and doesn't overly affect good contact with the ground and solid footing. But the Seymour enduro is short .. 12k is a sprint and it's a sprint over some really rough ground. I found my forefoot sliding a bit inside the shoe and therefore felt a little less sure .. just a little .. as I was running. For short, fast, technical races I would recommend a shoe size that doesn't have that extra bit of toe room. I'd get the shoe size that fits my foot snugly so that I could have that solid "feel" for the ground that I'm running over.

So.... ultras or training ... get a size with some decent toe room and anything for fast, short cross-country get a size that is a little more snug.

After about a k or two of downhill the enduro wound around a couple of muddy ponds and then began a steady, long, sustained climb that got steeper the higher up the climb you went. That and having to go all out over such a short distance meant that my breathing was just about red-lined the whole way! I haven't been used to that for a while and it was all I could do to keep going and concentrate on not falling on the tricky terrain. Make you want to just say "screw this!" and pack it in. I was glad to hear Kevin Holland say the same thing to me after the race. Kevin's having a great year and is a really strong runner so I was reassured that I wasn't being weeeeak! :p

I finished 12th on the day in 1hr:09 and 6th in my age group. At the previous race on Burnaby mountain I had finished 15th but 3rd in my age group which meant I had been able to stand on the podium after all! I have a few more weeks to cram in some more training before seeing if I can manage that again at the Whistler race. Stubbornness can sometimes make up for lack of training. Still, the Spike Training System proved itself once again!

The Genius is in the Graph

Someone once asked me what my training regimen looked like. I thought a moment and then described the graph you see above.

During the week, I explained, I do nothing .. or maybe one short run and then there's a sudden spike where I load up on some training. That's the weekend, I said. Really! That's all you gotta do folks. Forget training your ass off 6 days a week and logging insane miles and workouts! Save your suffering for race day! Let's face it. If you run hard in a race you're gonna feel the hurt right?! It doesn't matter if you're first or last ... if you push it you hurt. Training isn't gonna make it hurt less ... it'll just get you to the finish line faster ... and if you've paid $80 for a race you might as well stay out there and enjoy the scenery!

On top of that, you don't have to concern yourself with all this "what should I eat?", "what should I drink?" crap. While your buddy is there sipping a cranberry spritzer and worrying about that extra gram of spinach he/she ate, you can suck back a few beers and stuff your face with chips, chocolate cake, ice cream, lard... u name it!

It's a proven training system. I've done it for most of this year and probably last year and while I don't finish on the podium I'm still up there AND... I'm enjoying all the vices that make the uber mensches cringe and run away in fear!

Mark my words... the Spike Training System (patent pending) will work for you too. For $19.95 I'll send you an autographed, limited edition print of my proven, field tested method.