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.

Out of office reply

Can't blog. Skiing. Hope you're doing something fun, too.

freeheelin'

I love skiing. Last week I had the great fortune to spend four days backcountry skiing in the Asulkan Valley with my good friend and fellow telemark skier, jt. The conditions were perfect - snow on the way in followed by three days of blue skies. The trip in took longer than it should have due to my poor route-finding skills. (I should have read the route description before heading in.) No matter.

Day 2 started like day 1 ended - thick clouds and swirling snow. We slept late and ate a slow breakfast waiting to see what the weather would do. The general mood in the hut was to climb Young's Peak but no one was eager to break trail through thigh-deep snow. The clouds slowly thinned and the snow gradually slowed until two strong skiers from Alaska made the move and set a track up Young's. We followed shortly thereafter. We decided not to follow the Alaskans up the headwall; they ended up triggering a size 2 avalanche on their trip down. Instead we skied face-shot turns on the lower slopes until the sun sank below the surrounding peaks.

Day 3 was bluebird. Jt developed some bad blisters from his rental boots and decided to take a day off. I tagged along with a couple of Quebecois to make turns on the seven steps of paradise. It was paradise. We made two laps and I was done.

Day 4 was our last. We packed our bags and headed down the valley to the top of the mousetrap. We left our extra gear with Pierre, who injured his arm on the trip down, and we began the ascent to sapphire col. It was a beautiful day for a ski and the view of loop brook from sapphire col was spectacular. The trip down was also spectacular until we hit the sun crust at the bottom. That was just ugly on telemark. Thankfully it was only a couple of hundred meters. The trip out was quick and painless. Can't wait to do that again.

walk across Canada

It's National Wildlife Week in Canada and the Canadian Wildlife Federation wants you to show your support by going for a walk. Their hope is to cross the country. So get out of your chair and go do your part. Our wildlife is waiting.