Knee Knacker race recap...

Wow! What an epic day! I am happy with my result from yesterday. It was a real breakthrough day for me, and I'll explain later why that is. Let me start at the beginning, or earlier... I made my way over to North Van via the 351 bus-skytrain-seabus-228 bus to have a pre-race meal of pasta and chicken. Afterwards he dropped me off at Monty's place, a fellow knee knacker and all around good guy. He and his lovely wife Linda let me stay at their place the night before the race so that Jen (my wife) wouldn't have to drive me all the way to the start line from South Surrey at 4 am!!! We chatted excitedly about the race, but I managed to get to sleep by about 10 pm. I had the first decent sleep I've had in a long time, and woke up to my alarm at 4:25 am. Monty made us each a special coffee, and I managed to gobble down a couple of pieces of toast with peanut butter, and an elevate-me bar. Linda drove us to the start, and we were both checked in by 5:35. Lots of happy, nervous people milling around the start. The gun went off at 6 am, and away we went. Monty and I stayed near the front of the pack down the dirt road to the single track. This was a good thing because this section is a real bottle neck, and if you aren't at the front, you will end up stuck behind slower folks for some time. I don't remember when I got separated from Monty, but I didn't see him until after the race was over. The run/hike up Black mountain was really nice, and I was felling really good through this section. I was very happy to see the first aid station, because that meant I had topped out, and could begin my slosh through the snow to Cypress Bowl. This next section was alot of fun, and at times I was actually skiing an my shoes down some of the snowy downhill sections!! I realized at this time that my original goal of a 6 hr race was unattainable because of the snow, and also because my legs were already starting to feel crampy, so I reconfigured my mind to be happy with a sub 6:30. With that in my head, I backed of my pace a little and cruised in to Cypress Bowl in 1:44, quarter of the way there! The crowd there was very enthusiastic, and they quickly filled my hand helds for me, and I was off again! I caught up to a group of 4 guys that I had run with on several training runs, but the pace they were travelling at was a bit to speedy for this stage of the race, so I backed off, going down the cross country ski trails. Again I stopped at the ranger station aid station and refilled my bottles. I ran down the chute with Patrick, and we had a nice chat which helped pass the time. I ran into Clevland Dam in 3:10. Refilled my gels, and had a potato with salt on it, and was off again running up Nancy Green Way. I began the climb up grouse, and began to feel the twinge of pre cramps coming on and got a little worried. By the time I reached the top of the climb, I was feeling really low in my mind. This was my bad patch, this was also the most important moment of the race to me. I just turned the switch in my mind to focus on feeling better. I took in about 4 gels in 10 minutes, and a ton of fluids as well as some thermolyte tabs. withing another 15 minutes I was feeling way better and was running at what i felt was a manageable pace. I felt really good heading down the Varley trail towards the third quarter aid station, and even managed to run the whole section hills and all. I made in to the aid station with a time of 4:45. again they quickly filled my bottles for me, I had a couple of glasses of flat coke (ahhhh sugar!!) and I was off again with my sights now on the finish line. The last quarter felt good, and I ha made it to hyannis drive aid station without to much suffering! This is my favorite aid station because they have sponges and buckets of cold water to rub you down with! I asked the volunteers to just dump a bunch right on my head, and they happily obliged! SOOOOO refreshing! The Seymour grind was next, and I actually passed to guys going up this section! I wasn't sure if I was going to make my predicted time of 6:30, as i was getting a bit stupid in the brain by this time. I upped my pace, and flew down Seymour to Deep Cove. This section I like to call the soul sucker cause it's a gruelling 2.5 km of nasty little hills that is riddled with roots, rocks and casual hikers! I managed to cross the finish line in 6:28:18, with Caleb, my three year old sprinting across the finish line with me! Over all I am extremely happy with my effort.
      This race is dear to my heart. The RD Kelsy Trigg, and her amazing crew put on what I think is the best ultra race in north america. they have over 250 volunteers for 200 racers, that is awesome!!! It is an amazingly tough race, but it is worth every ounce of suffering I experienced. Yes, I will be back to race this race again, how could I not!!
      I could not have done this race without the support of my loving wife Jen, who sacrificed many Sundays so I could train in the mountains. Thank you Jen, you'll never know how much your support means to me. And to my boys, Daddy is sorry he missed so much time with you guys, but I will make it up in spades this summer!!! Until next year...
      Some stats if you are interested. 32nd overall, 25th male, 9th in my age division, and I beat my previous PB by 1 hour and 10 minutes! Not to shabby at all.

Knee Knacker tomorrow

      It's time. I've been waiting for this for two years now. I almost can't believe it's going to go down tomorrow. I am fairly happy with my training. I am sure that I could have trained a little harder, run more runs, and slept more. That being said, I feel very lucky to have run as often as I have. I am injury free and my mind feels like it's in a good space.
      I really just want to enjoy the day, and see what I am capable of. I want to try to run"my" race, and not get too caught up in the competition. I want to remember to take in a gel every twenty to thirty minutes and drain both of my water bottles before each aid station. I'd really like to have some gas in the tank for the last quarter, and especially the last 2 miles of trail (I like to call it the soul sucker!!) I want to enjoy all of the people who I run with and I want to encourage and motivate them, as they strive towards our common goal, the finish. I am also looking forward to seeing the awesome aid station volunteers, without the this race would never happen!
     Tomorrow I run for me, but I  will also run for all the kids at Children's Hospital who will never be able to run, for the kids who want to run but can't. For the countless kids whom I've seen run out of the ICU, healthier than when they arrived. I am so lucky to have a healthy body, and somewhat healthy mind, and even luckier that I get to enjoy running. I run because I have never felt so connected to the earth as I do when I am flowing silently along the trail. I love running, it has changed me both physically and mentally, and I am a much better person because of it.
     I hope to have a great day, and run a time that I think I am capable of. I don't want to make any predictions on times, I just want to see how the day plays out for me. Hopefully it will be a good day to race.
     Good luck to all the other racers running the Knee Knacker tomorrow, and good luck to any one else racing this weekend!

Missing the trails...

     I'm really missing the trails this week. I've had to do all my running on the road the past week, due to work/life logistics. Don't get me wrong, I am happy to be able to run at all, and consider myself lucky to accumulate the weekly mileage that I achieve.
      I would just rather run on trails. I have several reasons for this. First, I think running on trails is far more proprioceptive and therefore forces you to use all the muscles in your feet and legs. I also find that my legs don't feel so beat up after a trail run because I'm running on a softer surface. I also really enjoy the solitude of running through the forest alone, with only the sounds of nature to keep you company. I  also believe that running on trails makes me feel more like a child and that makes me smile, and lets me know I still maintain the "inner child" , that we all posses, but rarely acknowledge. I also enjoy the community of trail running, and find it much more laid back than road running. I've been on training runs where elite runners are running with much slower people, encouraging them, and answering questions about all sorts of things. I've never seen that in road running. It's a really special group of people that embody the trail running spirit.
     All that being said, I am very happy with my weekly mileage from the past week. I ran a total of 50 miles, which isn't a very large volume for most ultra runners, it is no less more than I usually run which is 30 - 40 miles a week. I would like to be running 50-60 mile weeks by the beginning of May when I start weekly training runs on Sundays with the Knee Knacker group!! It has been a good week for practicing consistent cadences of about 180, and I really focused on pulling up with my hamstrings instead of pushing off with my quads. Hopefully I'll be back on the trails soon, but like I said earlier, I'm just happy that I even get to run at all.  

what's been up...

        I find it difficult at times, to find balance in my life. It takes great thought and organization to work full time, spend time with Jen, my wife and our 2 and 3 year old boys, as well as my 21 year old son and to find time to train for ultras!! I don't think that I do much else. Anyway... It is a struggle at times, but it is worth it in the end. I am a much happier person when I run, and that is what is important... being happy.
         Last week, i ran a total of 40 miles, only 9 of which were on the road. The rest of the time was spent ripping up the trails at the Delta Watershed. It is a really fun place to trail run. It has tons of single-track, and the terrain is a lot like the North Shore (only not the vertical!!).  It is hilly, but the climbs are relatively short. That being said, I can manage to get about 2500- 3000 feet of vertical gain and loss in a 1-2 hour run there.
         This week I have run twice. Yesterday I got a 10 mile run in at the Watershed, but I felt really sluggish, and grinded it out in 1:30. Today I ran 8 miles in the shed in my new balance minimus trail shoes and it was AWESOME!! My legs were a bit tired  at the beginning of the run (from yesterday) but my feet felt great the whole run. It is fun and liberating to wear these shoes! It is also a really great way to keep my running form in check. With the 4mm heel drop and great ground feel these shoes keep me on my toes! Hopefully I cam get a 12-14 mile run in tomorrow on the road (boo!!)  I would love to be able to head over to the shore and run for 4 hours, but my family would kill me!! I will run from home, and consume less time away from my family, whilst still getting some mileage in.      

Just getting started...

This is my first post here on my blog. I got in to the knee knacker this year and I thought this would be a decent way for me to keep track of my training, for the future! I would love to one day run a 100 mile trail race, it is a dream that I will one day realize. Right now though, my focus is on training for the Knee Knacker with the thought that it would be one of my last long training runs before the Stormy 50 mile trail race in Squamish. This is my "A" race for the year. I've never ran 50 miles, and am excited to see what my body (and mind) are capable of. I plan on heading out for a nice 10-12 mile run a bit later. That's all I've got for now. Happy trails...