oh christmas tree

Nothing says Christmas like cutting your own tree. In Alberta, anyone can do that for just $5 (here).

Family photo with our trophy.

S and K with their find.

Doing the deed.

Taking it home.




Heading to the truck.

Loaded and ready to go.

Running, I've missed you.

Seems I got a little off course. I was in the middle of my second long run on a brutally hot July weekend when I realized I wasn't having any fun. It wasn't an exhaustion-induced "why-the-hell-am-I-doing-this" kind of revelation. Somewhere along the way I lost track of why I ran. The freedom, relaxation, and adventure that I looked forward to on every run was replaced with routine. Training had become a job and I didn't need another job, especially one that I wasn't getting paid for.It was time for a change of pace. I was mentally and physically exhausted, and I'd fallen behind on or completely lost track of every other aspect of my life. I wanted to get away from training so I could reconnect with the rest of my life and rekindle my interest in running.

It's amazing what you can do with an extra 15 to 20 hours  a week: gardening, hiking, hunting, time with friends and family. I've even done some work on my thesis. Imagine that. While the past few months have been fun, something has definitely been missing. My sleep patterns are all messed up, I ache in places I have no reason to ache, and I'm continually stressed about things not worth stressing about. In short, I don't feel like myself. It's time to start running again.

When I was in my early 20's I was in Jock Sportswear in Saskatoon buying a new pair of shoes. The second and last pair of Nikes I've ever owned. "What are you training for?", the salesperson asked. The question caught me off guard. I wasn't training for anything. I'd been running regularly for several years at that point and had never thought about entering a race. I ran because I like running and because I liked the way it made me feel. "Life", I replied. He chuckled but was otherwise unimpressed.

I don't have any plans to race again. Then again, I don't have any plans to not race again either. I'm just going to run for awhile and see where that takes me. Maybe I'll see you out there.

running the water numbers

Byron Powell's ultramarathon how-to book is currently on my reading shelf. Unfortunately it's usually buried under a pile of science papers so I don't pick it up as often as I'd like but that's a trail I don't want to run down right now. From what I have read it appears there is useful information for beginner and veteran runners. Get your own copy at iRunFar.

After my Sinister7 dnf I've decided I need to add a bit more rigor to my racing and training. I particularly want to develop a fueling strategy for Lost Souls. Up to this point I've tried to eat and drink frequently without any definition of what that means.

Following Bryon's section on fluid loss I did a little test of how much water I need to consume every hour to prevent dehydration. I went for a 25.3 km run at a 5:46/km pace (so says my gps watch). The entire trip took 2:26. It was calm, blue skies and 24 deg Celsius. A nice summer day. I lost 8 pounds in sweat! I know I sweat more than the average fella and, given my lack of hot weather running, I expected to be pretty sweaty but that's 4 litres of water. According to Bryon's figures I need to consume 1.65 litres of water per hour to remain hydrated. I don't think that's physically possible. I can feel the sloshing in my stomach as I type.

I obviously don't run that fast on longer outings, which will lower my fluid needs. I will hopefully acclimate to the heat over the next 6 weeks, which should further reduce my sweatiness. I also need to repeat this test a couple of times to confirm that number (and hope its not that high again). Whatever the final number what is clear is that I need to consume way more fluids than I have been.

Sinister 7: dnf

That was ugly. Unfortunately my race went as feared rather than hoped. I dropped out part way through the 4th leg with swollen hands and uncontrollable muscle cramps in my legs. This was a hard course. The race director wasn't kidding when he said, "There are no easy legs. Some are just harder than others."

Less than a quarter of the registered soloist finished. That doesn't make me feel any better about my own performance. I know what went wrong:

1) I was grossly under-prepared. This was largely my fault. A month of field work and crappy weather didn't help but I became complacent with my training. I hadn't done any hill training. The last hill I climbed that I didn't ski down was Lost Souls 2010. My overall mileage also was way down. I've been rather uninspired to run lately. It's felt more like a job than a pleasure and I've got enough work on my plate right now to take on anything else. Hopefully I find that spark again.

2) I went out faster than I could sustain given my level of training and my unfamiliarity with the course. I kept telling myself 'this terrain will slack off soon and I'll catch a breather.' It never did. The brutal uphills, which were often so steep they were difficult to walk, were often followed by equally steep downhills that took just as much concentration and strength to descend. Leg 2, in particular, was way more difficult than I expected given it's relatively moderate ranking among legs.

3) My fueling was way off. Temperatures were higher than I was use to and I was quickly running a fluid deficit that I was never able to make up. As the dehydration grew my appetite shrank and my condition went from bad to worse. I tell myself the same thing after every race: "drink early and drink often". This course was too unforgiving to let me get away with not heeding my own warning. I need to make a fueling plan for Lost Souls that I will follow.

What I saw of the course was beautiful and I look forward to toeing the line next year.

Point Lay, Alaska: more alternative training

One of the perks to being a field biologist is that I get to visit some pretty cool places. Some places are closed to visitors or are prohibitively challenging to get to. Other places offer no main attraction to visit but are pretty spectacular none the less. Point Lay, Alaska, is such a place. A small subsistence community on the coast of the Chukchi Sea, it's more than a little out of the way, which is fine for most because there is no obvious reason to go there.

I was in Point Lay this past week to help a friend capture loons. I should have been training for Sinister 7 but how often am I going to get an all-expenses trip to the arctic? I reasoned that tromping around the tundra chasing down loons would be all the workout I needed. Besides, I was suppose to be tapering so why not do it somewhere really cool, right? 

We didn't do so well on loon captures: 10 captures attempted, 7 captures successful, and 1 geolocated recovered, which was the whole point of capturing the birds in the first place.

I also didn't get much accomplished on the workout front either. While we did some tundra marching it seemed like I spent more of my time lying motionless on the soggy ground fighting off hypothermia while trying not to bite off my tongue from shivering so hard. This was slightly less enjoyable than the blanket of mosquitoes that appeared as soon as the temperature became near warm. I can't complain too much. At least I was dry. Dan was usually wet from a dry suit that was no longer dry.

One the huge plus side we caught some loons! You also see a tonne of birds up close while laying motionless. I even saw a few caribou!

Point Lay didn't disappoint either. What a great community with exceptionally friendly people.

We were fortunate enough to be in town during their nalukataq. This is a very important celebration of the spring bowhead whale harvest. The successful whaling captain distributes whale meat and muktuk to all the families in the community. The formalities are followed by fireworks, candy scrambles for the kids, a blanket toss, and traditional dancing.

Our trip home was through Barrow, which is now the furthest north I've ever been. We had some time to kill between flights so we sat at Arctic Pizza and had burgers while watching bowhead whales sound in the bay and flocks of Common Eider stream past the shore. It was pretty surreal and a great end to a great trip. Thanks Dan.

a day of birding at calling lake

My training has been suffering. Why? Cause I'm wandering around the bush counting birds. It's a pretty good workout but it's not going to carry me through Sinister. I foresee a whole lot of discomfort in a few weeks time. Anyway... this post is a typical day of work for a boreal songbird biologist.

Get up with the birds.

Stop at the local Tim's.

The morning commute.

First stop.

Check the address.

Do a little work.

Off to the next site. And repeat...

The Great Gazoo homeward bound.

Home.

Second breakfast.

A little distance sampling.

Head into town

for supplies

and lunch.

Back to camp and time for a run.

Just me, the birds, and the bugs.

And these guys.

Time for a lake bath.

A little data entry.

A dinner of champions.

That looks so inviting.

Bed time.

blackfoot ultra

4:59:30 am - The race director pointed at me and shouted, "the starting line is here". Everyone dutifully lined up behind me. This was the only time that I would lead this race. At the "GO" much of the group shot past me like it was a 10k, not the 100k that I thought we'd all signed up for. I knew the first race of the season was going to be tough. I knew I hadn't logged enough miles during spring training but the skiing was just too good this winter. I also knew that I was going to be tired from working in the bush all last week but that, too, was unavoidable. As more and more runners passed me I had a sinking feeling that this was going to be a long day.

Still, it was a great morning to be outdoors. No wind, blue sky and crisp temperature meant the forest was ringing with bird song. I had so much fun birding that the first two 25 km laps passed surprisingly quickly and easily.

The last two laps didn't go nearly as well. Blackfoot's trails are surprisingly challenging for the prairies. There are plenty of hills, most of which aren't steep enough to walk but are sufficiently tiring to run, especially over 100 km. By 10am the sun was well overhead and the temperature climbed rapidly. This was my first run of the year in temperatures above mid-teens and I quickly began to feel the heat. The cool morning temperatures likely lulled me into mild dehydration, which I was now paying for. My right heel was also giving me grief. This is really annoying. I never had a serious blister last season and now I am wincing on each hill climb. Something has changed, my foot or my shoe, and I need to figure it out before my next race.

I was happy to finish in 11:08 (unofficially 10th place). I was hoping for under 11 hours but that was not to be. Now I have my first goal for next year.

half a man

One of the drawbacks of a high-mileage diet, besides having no social life, is my complete lack of upper body strength. I get tired just carrying my arms on a long run. I must look like a River Dancer. It's embarrassing.

I've been planning to work on this deficit but, without a plan, I haven't managed to get very far. So I was pretty excited to see Run to the Border post his intention to complete the 100 pushup challenge. Someone tells me what to do, when to do it, and when I'm done. What could be easier?

Well, the initial test wasn't so easy. I did better than I expected but not so well that I'm going to share. Let's just say I have some work to do. I don't see me accomplishing the full 100 in 6 weeks. I'll taper my pushups when I have a race approaching - I need all the help I can get to finish those thing - but I'm looking forward to eventually finishing with my arms held high.

t.o.f. ultramarathon training plan

When I began training for my first ultra I had a lot of questions – how far, how fast, how often, what to eat, what to wear…. I spent a lot of time on the internets researching what others were doing. Now I’m being asked those same questions. Mostly the questions are out of curiosity but they also come from runners interested in a new challenge. So, for what it’s worth, I thought I’d do a series of posts about what works for me.

“How do you train to run 100 miles?” Not surprisingly, there are many approaches to training for an ultra. Some focus heavily on speed work or hill repeats whereas others cross-train or run on a treadmill to avoid injury. This variety seems to reflect differences in personal preference and mental/physical tolerance rather than recipes for success. However, most training tips and plans share a common message –it’s all about spending time on your feet. Whether fast or slow, up hills or across the prairies, to run far you need to spend a lot of time running.

My time-on-feet ultramarathon training plan is a modification of a Runner’s World 16-week, 50-mile program. In general, I put less emphasis on speed work and I increase the length of the long runs. Here’s what a typical week looks like:

M: rest
Tu: 15 km hard
W: 10 km easy
Th: 15 km hard
Fr: rest
Sa: long
Su: long

Tuesday and Thursday are tempo runs with repeats from 20 to 60 minutes. If I’m training for a hilly race I’ll do hill repeats instead. I do speed work because I enjoy it, not because I think it’s important to finishing an ultra. If I’m tired it’s the first thing to go. I still cover the distance I just do it at an easy pace.

Wednesday is 1 to 2 minutes slower per km than Tu and Th. My primary goal is pacing, which I’m terrible at – every run would be a tempo run if I didn’t constantly slow myself down. I pick a slow pace and try to maintain it and I use a gps watch to ensure that happens.

The back-to-back weekend long runs range between 6 and 14 cumulative hours. The Saturday run is typically longer and slower than the Sunday run. The goal is to acclimate to the mental and physical challenges of running for a long time. If you can’t run the full distance then walk as fast as you can. Few people run an entire race anyway. What’s important is spending time on your feet.

This is an optimistic schedule that I regularly don’t complete. If I did I would spend all my free time running and I don’t like running that much. (I'll write about motivation in the future.) I don’t cross-train but I often replace one or both weekend runs with other things I enjoy like telemark skiing and cycling, particularly if I’m many weeks away from my next race. However, if you think I’m slacking you should come biking with me. Bring a big lunch; we’ll be out for a while.