Reaching For Rundle's - Week Naoi (9)

May 30 - June 5  Goal: 60

Monday -  Rest Day

Tuesday - 8km Steady
8.6km @ 209mG
Tuesday night crew run, with a huge group tonight!  Unveiling of the much anticipated crew t-shirts on a warm evening.  We sure looked good in our matching attire.

Red/Grey for the fast pack of guys! #DontRunAloneWithTheHioms

Lilac for the ladies, they look so PRO! Photo: Jon

Wednesday - 10km Steady
5.1km @ 138mG
Global Running Day!  Got out on the trails in Kenna to celebrate our love of running with friends! I know I shorted myself on distance a bit but the elevation was good on this little run.

Global Running Day!

This pretty much sums up why I run, I like to eat!

Thursday - Rest Day


Friday - 7km Slow
9.8km @219mG
A family run on a Friday night.  Brian and my father joined me for this nearly 10km of Juniper/Rose Hill trails.  I'm lucky to have these two guys supporting me, even if Dad calls me "crazy" for wanting to do this 50km in 3weeks.


Saturday - Rest Day

Sunday - 40km?
21km @ 731mG
TNF Dirty Feet 21km Trail Race in Kelowna
My original plan was to run the race and then with whatever energy I had left, help to sweep the course afterwards. The day did not go as planned.  For starters it was 25C at race start 9:30 in the morning and continued to climb to 33C by the time I reached the finish line.  Kelowna celebrated a temperature record breaking day and I was just happy to survive 3 hours of scorching hillside.  I went through all of my water in this race, and that included a refill at the 8km aid station and again at 18km filling a bottle to make it to the finish.  If the conditions in Canmore are anything like last year, hot & humid, I am definitely going to have a battle against dehydration going on.  Today however I had the option to waive the extra kilometres, so I did.

Photo: Dirty Feet

Week 9 Summary:

45km/60km @ 1297mG
Short by 15km this week, the encroaching reality of time running out is all too real.  While out on the race course this weekend I had lots of time to think about all the possible weather conditions that could really screw with my comfort zone during Rundle's and have adopted the "just keep running" mantra.  Because really, how comfortable do I think I'm going to be!?  In the heat I have to keep my bottles full (of water and nuun), there's no doubt about that after Sunday's run. #makeyourwatercount
Just 3 more weeks to go!

Reaching For Rundle's - Week Zeven (7)

May 16 - 22  Goal: 49km

Monday - Rest Day  

Tuesday - 7km Steady
Registered this morning for TNF Dirty Feet 21km trail race in Kelowna coming up at the beginning of June.  That ought to make a good training run, especially since it took me 2:51:00 last year to run it. As I recall the route is a whole lotta UP and down in the blink of an eye!

7.4km @ 174m elevation gain
Out with the DFTC in Pineview tonight, running hills and slapping mosquitos.  This awesome crew even brought shots and cupcakes to celebrate my birthday with me. I absolutely love my running friends.

DFTC in Pineview Photo:Jon

Wednesday - 4x 600m Hills
8.9km @ 370m elevation gain

3x 600m Hills
Those were ugly.  Thankfully, my trusted training partner Jon was there to endure the vertical flogging on Tower/Saskatoon trails.
Crazy part was, with each repeat my time decreased to get to the top.
4:59
4:44
4:42

Thursday - Rest Day
And rest I did!

Friday - 5km Slow
5.6km @ 136m elevation gain
A short run on the roads around home.  No sense in going fast or long today with a 20km run early tomorrow morning.

Saturday - 20km
22km @ 597m elevation gain
In typical long weekend fashion it rained.  And rained, and then rained some more.  If it wasn't for the fact that I was meeting Jon and others in the park for this week's LSD I might have stayed in bed.
I guess folks on the coast deal with soggy weather all the time, but it was definitely a novelty for me.

The Soggy Saturday Morning Crew  Photo:Tom

Glad I Brought Dry Shoes to Wear Home

Sunday - 8km Slow
More and more buckets of rain this morning.  I survived yesterday's run, but the princess in me could not bring herself to don the neon trail slippers and go out there again today.


Week's Summary:
44km/49km completed,  1274m elevation gain
This week was again incomplete for total mileage, however I did enjoy a few good days of rest, some great company in less than favourable conditions and I feel ready for the big week ahead.

Grinning Streak

It's that time again!  The annual December Challenge spearheaded by my friends over at Dirty Feet Trail Series and echoed in kind by the fierce Solana of Beast Mode with her #BeastStreak.

Holy Smokes

The Running Week in Review: July 6 - July 12

38.6C with smoke from local wildfires creeping in the West over the hills.

Keep On Running

TNF Dirty Feet Kelowna 21km - May 31, 2015

Yup I finished another one.  That's 2 done for the 2015 Dirty Feet race season and this one was way tougher than the first.  I really hope that doesn't become a trend as things progress.

Dirty Feet Kelowna 21km 2:51:55

Young At Heart

Tuesday Night Run - the DF Crew

Each Tuesday evening I meet the DF Crew for an hours' length run on one of the local trail systems in Kamloops. Familiar faces and new faces mix to share trail running and socialize between hill grinds. These are the folks that get me off my butt and out running each night to keep up!

Icebox and Jen with BDay Cupcakes! Photo: Jon S.

Thanks for the Birthday cupcakes this week! That was an awesome surprise.   Fuelled by cupcakes!

Do you have a network of running friends that make life awesome and keep you motivated?

Amnesia

The North Face Dirty Feet Kal Park 25km (50km & 8km)

Now that the pain of child birth, oops I mean 25kms, has faded and my quads don't burn with every step down-stairs, I can focus on the beauty of the race Sunday morning.

Start/Finish Area - Kal Park

Hells Bells

Holy crap! Only 3 sleeps until my longest race to date...The North Face Dirty Feet 50,25,8 in Kalamalka Park
I registered for the 25km with the assistance of an IPA or two.  Starting to feel the pre-race panic settling in.  At least from a weather perspective things are looking good in the forecast.

Kal Lake in the winter

Odyssey Number Five

I didn't really know how to tackle this weekend in a post so opted to jump on the 5 Things bandwagon.

Whiplash

Race Report: Dirty Feet Trail Race 21km - Batchelor Hills,  Kamloops

So a day later I'm crawling into bed early with an ice pack strapped to my right knee thinking, "Gee that was fun, don't know why I hadn't tried a 21km trail run sooner?!"

It has after all been nearly 3 years since my first half marathon ever and in those passing years I have managed to complete a total of 6 more 21km races. (Several other training runs at or beyond the distance) But until Sunday I had yet to do a 21km trail race. Thank-you to my dear husband for making the decision for me and completing the online registration.

Oh what to wear!

Some Like It Hot

What better way to stay warm in winter than to work up a sweat on the mountain?
I spent last night running around in the dark and snow on Tod Mountain, Sun Peaks.

Brian & Icebox

Dashing Through The Snow

How do you run on trails when they are covered in snow? Snowshoes, of course.  Like this weekend at Big White Ski Resort where Dirty Feet Trail Races hosted their annual snowshoe run/ fun walk.  Racers choose between a 5km or 10km distance, strap on their snowshoes and hoof it around the course.  The race began shortly after sundown making headlamps both a necessity and a way to spot the runners ahead/behind you.

The route consisted of ski trail sections and single track snowshoe trails within the trees. Temperatures hovered just at the freezing mark and with an ample dumping of fresh snow on run day conditions were great for the event.

With a field of 33 racers and 100m elevation to climb over 5km (just shy actually) I came across the finish line at 37:40 for the silver medal.  Woohoo!
The next snowshoe race takes place in 2 weeks at Silver Star Resort in Vernon, BC