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 Wyth (8)

May 23 - 29   Goal: 60km

Monday - Rest Day

Birthday Breakfast for my Hubby

Tuesday - 8km Steady
7km @ 165m elevation gain

The Birthday Boy Brian

Another super awesome run on the Kenna trails with the DFTC.  Tonight we honoured Brian's birthday with shots of Bourbon/Maraschino liquor, tequila, and Fireball.
















Wednesday - 6x Hills
6.9km @ 320m elevation gain
Hitting the hills with Jon and Phil is equal to dropping your ass from a 10 storey building repetitively.  So I guess I owe them thanks for pushing me to do "one more" repeat until my legs and lungs were deflated!

At the entrance to the park, seemed appropriate!

Thursday - 5km Slow
5.1km @ 41m elevation gain, 4 cans of beer
KH3 Beer Mile
The Kamloops Hash House Harriers were at it again, this time introducing a Beer Mile to the crew.  I guess that fits into the training plan, too bad it had to pour rain down on us the whole time.

The rain didn't seem to dampen anyone's spirits.

Friday - Rest Day




Saturday - 35km LSD
36km @ 1068m elevation gain
Oh Saturday, glorious Saturday.  Up at 5am for some breakfast and to prep my gear for today's 35km run.  Am I anxious?  Oh hell yes.  I have never run this far in a single effort and I don't feel great about it from the start.  I'm going into this on 5 hours sleep and a double mouse hunt overnight.
Jon and Misty met me in the parking lot exuding motivation for what was to come, well Jon was peppy, poor Misty has been suffering a chest cold for the past week and sounded like a feminine Mr. Burns.  Jon might end up carrying 2 bodies out of the park.

The distance marched by under our feet pretty easily for the first 12.5km as we randomly chose trails to follow with no pre-set route in mind.  The next 10km were a bit more of a push as each of us  started to need calories, hydration or walk breaks.  By 25km we were back at the parking lot for an "Aid Station", refilling water bottles and I snacked on some pretzels that were stashed in the car.  The weather had also begun to change by this point and I seized the opportunity to swap jackets, light wind resistance for light-weight rain resistance.  This proved to be a good decision about a half-hour later as the rain clouds drifted over and the temperature of the winds seemed to get crisper before we reached our goal for the day, I found I was quite comfortable in TNF Fuseform Cesium Anorak jacket.
I accomplished the goal set out for me with Mango Orange Nuun/ Nuun Plus in my bottles and Picky Bars to nom-nom on during the hill climbs.  Happily my stomach survived the entire run and come the end I didn't seem to have same dehydration symptoms of the previous week's long run.

Sunday - Rest Day (well maybe not)
15km @ 228m elevation gain
Blackwell Dairy 15km Race, Barnhartvale, BC  IRA Road Race #6
Okay, so I didn't exactly race it this year. How could I with the lead legs I was ambling around on? No this year I would call it a recovery run.  A 15km scenic recovery run with a great big happy running community also out there racing today.
I walked a couple of the hills.
I stopped to take pictures of my Dad at the turn-around point.
And a picture of a barn reflecting on the water.
I definitely was not racing. But I did finish well and ahead of my expectations, adding only 5 minutes to my time from last year.

Week 8 Summary:
72km/60km completed, 2036m elevation gain

Once again I am over on mileage but I feel I did a better job of moderating the intensity of those extra  kilometres.  I knew full well that I could never race the Blackwell Run the day after my long run but I gave me a great sense for how far my tired legs would continue to carry me if I didn't ask for any stupid miracles from them.
With only a handful of weeks to go before Rundle's I have purchased my bear spray, worn my race vest almost every run to get used to having it on and loaded, and beat down some of my previous misconceptions of my own physical limits.

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

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

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!

Do What you Have To Do

Another Weekend, Another Long Run

With just 3 weeks left before my first TRAIL 21km I needed to get out and put in a solid effort on the weekend LSD run.   So after canvassing the group of awesome people I run with, Jon and Jen joined me with dogs in tow and we headed up to the Batchelor Hills over Kamloops.