Ultra Anyone? - Kelowna's Scorched Sole 50 miler

This past weekend, we had a friend from Victoria come stay with us - none other Carlos, the Running Jackal, well known for his Youtube and RuncastTV videos. Carlos was here to run the Scorched Sole 50 Mile Ultra on Saturday morning and needed a place to crash, so we picked him up after he flew in Friday afternoon, and had dinner and a visit Friday night. He brought me a really nice long sleeved tech t-shirt - bright yellow - with the logo from Club Fat Ass. On the back it says "I may have a fat ass but I'm ahead of you!" It's hilarious! On Saturday morning, we were up at 4am for coffee and breakfast then we headed over to the bottom of the Crawford trail system (Myra-Bellvue Provincial Park), not far from our place.

I've never been to an ultra race start and I found it really interesting to be surrounded by all those wiry, zero percent body fat people. At least 2/3 of the runners were 40 years or older, further confirming my belief that with age, comes endurance. Carlos chatted with a few of his team mates, some of whom he had run with last year, and pointed out Ellie Greenwood, (#480 below) the young ultra runner from Banff, Alberta, who had recently won the Elk Beaver 100km Race on May 1, as well as capturing 5th overall and first woman with a 2:52 a few weeks later at the Calgary Marathon. Carlos predicted that Ellie would win today's race, and would later prove to be correct.

The runners hung around chatting about their various race exploits while the race directors busied themselves setting up a few tables, food, computer etc that would serve as a make-shift race headquarters for the next 12-14 hours. After a few brief words about the race course changes this year (no, they would not be running the flat KVR as they did last year - instead they would be climbing up, up, up and over Little White Mountain (2171 m, 7100 ft - starting point was about 400m or 1300 ft) not once, but twice!! Uh oh, this was news to several of them), Carlos and his 30 odd pals set off at 6am without much fanfare.

Carlos and I chat with another young runner, "Nazzer" from Kelowna.

The new course also meant that the runners would be encountering snow for at least 5km of their run, and that ropes had been set up to help them climb up and down a few of the riskier sections. Carlos' original plan of a 9:00-9:30 time clearly had to re-adjusted.

Erik and I hung around for a little while and then left to get on with our daily lives. Carlos was planning to head to the airport to catch a flight back to Victoria after the race. He would call us if plans changed and/or he needed a ride.

Later than day, 3pm came and went, and Erik and I started to wonder how Carlos was doing. We decided to head back to the race start and see if we could see him cross the finish line. We arrived around 4pm which was around the 10 hour mark and slowly, one by one, the runners were coming across. Ellie Greenwood had finished earlier in an amazing 7:58, which was only a few minutes slower than last year, despite the much more challenging conditions. The next runner, and first male to cross, had been Steve Russell in 8:23.

A section of the lower trail.

The runners finishing at the 10-12 hour mark were still the youngsters, 20-40 year olds, so we knew our friend, who is strongest on the flats wouldn't likely be in for a little while yet. Meanwhile, we were having a blast, cheering on the runners, most of whom didn't look at all like they had just run an ultra marathon once they crossed the finish line. It was hard not to feel the urge to run trails, and maybe even sign up for the "baby" 25km race in 2011 when you are sitting there in the midst of all the excitement.

Finally, we saw the familiar red bandana signally our friend Carlos. "Runner!" we cried, letting the race director know someone was coming down the trail. "Runner!" they responded, as they got the camera ready. Carlos ran down the trail, looking strong, with his video camera in hand, filming as he rounded the corner and crossed the finish line. He had made it in one piece, and more than that, he was smiling and walking around visiting like it was simply been a training run! 12:40:04 was his official time, 3rd out of 5 in his AG - wow, what an accomplishment!



Carlos was happy to see us and was ready to head back to our place for another over-nighter as the last plane would be leaving in 30 minutes. I was happy to be able to feed him and give him a place to shower, rest, and sleep for the night. We chatted over dinner and I turned on the recorder and got some great audio for my podcast.

I really enjoyed getting to meet another one of my online running friends. Carlos is a very friendly, easy-going, thoughtful and compassionate guy and we all got along as if we'd been friends forever. I am looking forward to visiting him in Victoria some day and hopefully running to coastal trails with him. And maybe next year, I will run the Scorched Sole 25k race!

If you want to hear Carlos talk more about his running and the race, you'll have to download KG Tris: Episode #67!



Here is the 50 Miler Video Carlos videoed while he was on the run. Check out his other running videos by clicking on his Youtube link.




The next morning, we dropped Carlos off at the airport at 8am and Erik I headed back to Crawford and ran the trails ourselves for the first time. It was exhilarating, beautiful, and I loved it! We ran for just under two hours and stuck to the lower trails, Fairlane and Lost Lake. If it wasn't for my ITB acting up once again when I was on the downhill home, it would have been a perfect run! Next year - I'm sure of it!!!

June Days

It's that crazy time of year again. Teachers really have a tough time doing any serious training in September or June. At least I do. Not only do I have work related stuff to do like report cards, year end class parties, field trips, sports day, putting together gifts for my students, year end assessment, TONS of paperwork, cleaning my room, taking down everything from the walls, and more, there is also staff related stuff such as three retirement parties and 2 year end staff parties to attend, and parental duties such as my son's Grade 7 grad, keeping him organized for all of his year end activities, and buying gifts for his teachers.

Swim? I don't think so. Bike, well maybe if the weather was nicer and I wasn't so tired. Run? Yes! but I'm hurting right now.

I went for my 90 minutes trail run last Sunday as planned. I was excited to be heading out for a long one again but decided to play it safe and run on the flat greenway instead of the hills until I was sure my shins were ok. My shins were slightly twingey for the first km and then felt fine. Nothing I would call pain at all. I kept a nice, easy, slow pace (about 7 min km 11:15 mile) and for 5 km, everything was great, however once I passed the 5km mark, my stupid left knee started to tighten up.

By the time I was at the turn around point (6km), it was hurting enough that I had to start taking walk breaks. I tried running 400m, walk 10om and managed to maintain that for a few kms then had to start walking more frequently. At the 11km, I walked back to the car without running at all. It was the same kind of pain I had during my half iron only this time, I wasn't biking when it started.

Grrrrr. I am frustrated because I was thinking that the knee pain was caused by the biking and that if I solved that, I wouldn't have pain when I run. Now I'm not so sure.

My knee was sore for about 30 minutes after I got home and then it was fine and has been fine since then. However, my shins were a little sore the next day and I have not run this week as planned. I was supposed to do a Max HR run test on Tuesday and a LTHR test on Thursday but I didn't do either one. If I run that hard right now, I'll hurt myself for sure. It might have been good to get out for an easy run yesterday or today but I have not had a moment of free time when I'm not totally exhausted from work so I'm just taking it easy this week and letting my legs rest. It's probably what I should have done for 3-4 days after my 5km race anyway.

And so, that's it in a nut shell. 3 more days of school and then an admin day and I'm free for 65+ days of summer holidays!!!

Non-Training Update

I'm calling it "non" training because I've hardly done anything this week. I'm kind of in a post race funk liberally mixed with year end stress. On top of that, two hard races in 8 days has caused a little shin discomfort although it's hard to pinpoint the exact cause.

My shins haven't hurt for months, and they were fine at the Half Iron and on my 5k race. My legs/quads were dead for two days after the 5k though and I didn't feel much like doing my planned 1 hour trail run on Tuesday. I decided to stick to a flat trail and go easy and for a change, I wore my Salomon Wings trail shoes with the orthotics in them. I had a tough time getting my legs to move and it was a slow run, covering only 6 1/2 km in 55 minutes.

The next day, Wednesday, my shins were a little achey, and then on Thursday, I was supposed to do a cruise interval run and part way into it ended up with quite a bit of shin pain. I don't know if it's from the race, from the trail shoes, from the orthotics, from the trail itself, from running on tired legs, or a combination of these things. Suffice to say, after my warm up and the first interval, I decided to pack it in and I walked back to the car, running a total of 4.2km in 30 minutes.

Yesterday they felt a bit better and today they feel ok. I'm supposed to do a 90 minute trail run in the hills tomorrow but I think I'll stick to Mission Creek Greenway instead, to be on the safe side.

I'm not going to wear the trail shoes again for awhile but tomorrow, I'll put the orthotics in my Newtons and see how that goes. The ball of my right foot is still sore off and on and I need to find a way to deal with that. Newtons encourages you to wear your orthotics so I think going back to them may help.

Also, coach has taken another look at my running video and thinks that I am still striking a little too far forward. As long I am doing that, it is putting the "brakes" on my stride, causing me to toe off. That can put unnecessary pressure and weight on my forefoot causing pain.

Check out the video that Coach took at his two day workshop at the Newton Running Labs. It gives you a better idea of how to run forefoot.

Also, Coach made a video for some running drills to help with forefoot running as well.

OK got to go. I'm in the midst of writing report cards and blogging is just another way of procrastinating. :)

PS Check out Simon Whitfield's blog. Apart from being a great read, he has a blogroll on the lower left side. He recently added my blog to his blogroll!! OMG, I was so excited and appreciative when I saw that! :D Plus, when I tweeted to him yesterday, he answered! :) I'm still waiting for Lance to reply to me on Twitter. Maybe some day...

Fear and Thankfulness

A week ago, a friend from work was hurt in a fairly serious mountain biking accident. She's been mountain biking for years and wasn't doing anything particularly dangerous or technical at the time - she simply slid a bit, hit a rock at the wrong moment and bailed, landing on her left arm and sliding down the trail a ways. Fortunately, she was riding with a group of smart women, who quickly assessed the situation, contacted 911, and lead rescuers to their friend's aid. They were on a fairly difficult to reach section of trail so it took Search and Rescue close to 3 hours to get my friend to the hospital where she was diagnosed with a dislocated shoulder, broken humerus, and some nerve damage causing numbness in her arm from the shoulder down. The SAR team credited the women for helping speed up the rescue by directing their team to the area. She is now home and off work for at least month, and only just beginning the long healing process.

So why am I writing about this? Well it reminded that last year I did a podcast episode about safety when training. Among other things I mentioned the importance of carrying ID and a cell phone, letting people know where you will be running or riding etc etc. I told the story of the time my husband and his friend went mountain biking. After a few hours, his friend arrived on my doorstep looking for my husband after they became separated. He had hoped that maybe my husband had ridden home knowing they could reconnect here. Together we waited for Erik to arrive, not knowing if he had crashed or was back on the trails waiting for his buddy. Finally, in desperation, we were just about to go out looking for him when he arrived with a broken derailleur. He'd had to walk his back home at least 5-6 km and why? because neither man had carried a cell phone.

I know it sounds sexist of me to say this but I think my friend's accident was handled efficiently because she was riding with women, three of whom had cell phones. And they were smart enough to try not to move her - two of them stayed with her while others rode out to meet the search and rescue team and lead them back to the injured woman.

So please, the next time you head out, whether it's for a quick run around the neighbourhood or a day-long trek on your bike, carry your driver's license or Road ID, and consider carrying a cell phone, particularly if you are going to be far from amenities. You never know when something unexpected is going to happen. If you have a phone, you can make a quick call that at the very least will put your friends and family's mind at ease if you've been delayed.

Ironically....

Earlier on the day that my friend crashed, we had been talking about biking and how I'd like to get back on my MT bike. I talked about my fears of single track and of crashing, and told her how listening to her stories had encouraged me to think about getting back out on the trails again. Somehow now, fear has once again replaced my enthusiasm. I'm not sure when and if I'll get back on my MT Bike now. However, I'm happy to report that the day after her accident, my friend showed no fear of getting back on the bike. She's one tough cookie.

Post-Post-Race Thoughts and Unexpected PR!

Well I've had a week to mull the whole Half Iron thing around in my head and I've decided to cut myself a little slack. First of all, I read all of the wonderful comments you people posted on my blog, as well as the many messages I received on Twitter, Daily Mile, Facebook, via email, and of course from my real life friends and family. You guys are right, finishing a Half Iron is a great accomplishment and I need to be proud of that and let the rest go.

Not only that, twice this week, I got to say to someone, I just did a Half Iron. :D No, I didn't even have to create the opportunity, they outright asked me what kind of races I did. And I got all kinds of impressed looks! How cool is that? I thought that was reserved for IM racers. :) Not one person has asked me my time or seems to care if I ran, walked, or crawled. So I'm going to be proud and happy with my race effort and move on.

Knee Pain Update

This week, I stopped into my local tri store and had them take a look at my shoes/cleats. For awhile, I considered switching to pedals/cleats that have more "float" - which means my foot can turn left and right a little, putting less pressure on the same part of my knee/leg for an entire ride. However, once they put me up on the trainer, they could see that my knees turn in a little, mainly due to my overpronation, and suggested we switch out bike shoe insoles for these Specialized Footbeds. They provide some arch support and have a number of removable metatarsal pads that can be switched out to suit specific issues, such as overpronation. As soon as I put them in, they could see my legs immediately straightened out. I am hoping this does the trick but I may have to ride in them for awhile to know for sure. It's certainly a much less expensive solution than new shoes/pedals/cleats. :)

A PR without a Plan

So today, Sunday, a week after my Half Iron, was the Women's 5k Run. I've done this race for the past 3 years, last year with my daughter. It was also the first race I ever did back in 2007. Back then, I had been running for all of 4-5 months and had finally built up to a 5k distance. I decided to do a 5k race to see what racing was like. I had no clue and went all out for the entire race, my HR was at max, and my legs cramped up at the end, causing shin splints which lasted for months after. But I had a surprising PR, 26:17. At the time, I had no idea that this was a pretty darn good time for a girl's first 5k race, and I've never been able to reach that time again. Until today.

I hadn't put this race on my calendar or even talked to Coach Jeff about it because I had no idea if I'd want to, or even be ABLE to, run a 5k a week after my Half Iron. However, I felt pretty good on Tuesday so I went for a 30 minute run and we decided that I could do the race today.

I talked a friend from work into coming to the race as well, since neither of my daughters were able to run this week, and we headed down this morning. I felt it was a distinct possibility that I would be able to come close to, and maybe even beat, my 26:17 time from 3 years ago.

There were 425 women in the race, about half doing the 5k and half doing the 10k, but we all started together. I knew from experience that I should start fairly close to the front so I don't get stuck behind the walkers, and women with strollers. My plan was to start out with a 5:30 pace for the first km, then a 5:15 for the next two, and then a 5:00 for the 4th and all out for the last km.

In reality, I started out faster. Like about 4:30-4:45. Ooops. Also, I forgot to turn on my Garmin until the 250m mark (actually I hit the lap button instead of the start button). Double oops. Then my stupid HR monitor wouldn't work. I even wet down the contacts but no go. Double rats because Coach Jeff and I were hoping to use the race data to get my running HR zones. Of course, at the finish, I forgot to turn if off....

Ah well, I just kept running. It was a hot sunny morning, already 24C, 75F at 8am. In fact, it was the first hot day we've had in ages and definitely the first time this year I've run in any heat. Thanks goodness it was only a 5k. When I reached the turnaround point, I could see there were only about 15 women ahead of me. I was maintaining a fairly steady 5:00-5:05 pace and decided to go with it. Maybe I'd even be able to get a 25 min 5k - that would be so cool.

By the 4th km I was getting a little tired. And hot. The last 1/2 km is on gravel and I slowed down a little to about a 5:30 pace. But I managed to cross the finish line at 25:41 - whoo hoo!!!

I really felt like I had redeemed myself after my slow run last weekend. I ran with no pain, in fact, my cardio gave out before my legs did. I really wish I had an idea of what my HR was during the race, it definitely like it was up in the 180's.

I managed to get 3rd place in my age group (I had to get thrown into the 50-59 group, even though the younger ones were 40-44 and 45-49) but I did beat all the women in my former age group 45-49 so I was content with that knowledge. :)

Yippee yi oh!