Catching Up

I haven't updated this in awhile, mainly because nothing noteworthy has happened. I finished August with 89 miles, which is not spectacular but is my biggest month so far this year. Then I was sick for much of September, and ended up with only 54 miles for the month. That includes one big hike. I also did some mountain biking, though not as much as I had hoped.

Hoping to do better in October! If I can break 100 miles this month I will be satisfied with that. I've also re-started my group night trail runs for the winter. We're doing every other Tuesday night, and it is a challenge for me to keep up with the group, given my lack of fitness. So it's a good challenge and motivator for me!

Here are some pics from my hike a few weeks ago:

Weekly Summary: August 13-19

Tuesday - 4 miles, paved
Thursday - 8 miles, trails
Friday - 4 miles, trails
Sunday - 18 miles, gravel/trails/pavement

Total - 34 miles

My biggest week in quite some time, and it felt pretty good. My long run yesterday was largely gravel, with some soft trails and some pavement and some hills. It was good, but I am hurting today. It does give me hope that I could be ready for a longer trail race this fall or winter.

After my post last week about shoes, I went to MEC to get some new trail shoes. I planned to buy another pair of Raptors, but tried on the Electron and Vertical K while I was there. Fell in love with the Electron, and ended up buying a pair.

Mini-review of the Electrons: I really like them. The soles are so cushy that they actually feel springy. Good on hard surfaces and gravel. They're really comfortable. There are only two things that might be a concern on more rocky/technical trails: the toe guard is not as good as the one on the Raptor (I don't know why they would do that), and because the soles are so soft they roll a little more to the sides, so it felt a little less stable at points. But I haven't tried them out on anything really hardcore yet. I think they will end up being my "gentle" trail shoes, and I'll keep wearing the Raptors for the hardcore trails.

Some pics from yesterday's long run:

If Shoes Could Talk

After suffering a little more than normal in the feet department during Saturday's race, I realized that it's time to retire my current trail shoes and get some new ones. They are the Women's Raptors, and they have 700km on them, along with several holes in the uppers. They've served me well.

So before I buy new ones, I went to my shoe rack and pulled out some more pairs that are due to be recycled. I confess that I felt a stab of pain in my heart when I put my beloved old original Raptors into the bag. Those are the shoes I wore for White River in 2010, and I did most of my training in them too.

There is one pair that I have never had the heart to get rid of, my old Sonics. They remain my favourite trail shoe ever, and I am still sad that Sportiva stopped making them. I keep them now for mountain biking and the occasional hike... even though I've had them since 2009. I ran Chuckanut and Forest Park 50k in those shoes.

How do I part with something that has been through so many miles with me? I think back to all those long training runs and all the stories the shoes could tell, if they could talk. All the heartache, all the bliss, all the pain and blisters and black toes and creek crossings and mud pits and rocks and roots and snow, vistas and valleys. The shoes are dirt-covered reminders of all that I love about trail running, and all that I've experienced along the way.

So here is my little tribute to my shoes... since I guess it would be a little weird to keep them all. Also thank you to Sportiva for making the best trail shoes ever!

My original Raptors after my last long training run for White River 2010.

My beloved Sonics after Chuckanut 50k, 2009

Summary and Race Report

This week was light because of the race on Saturday:
Monday - 6 miles hiking (straight up and straight down so it was a good workout!)
Thursday - 4 miles trail
Saturday - 15 miles race

Total - 25 miles (still higher than the last couple of weeks!)

I was happy with the race, but I am sore today! Thinking about how to get myself in gear for proper training for the next one... I haven't been running enough miles lately to do anything really fun, so that's what I need to work on. I need more consistency, more miles, and a great goal. I do miss being an ultra runner... Yesterday I was a little jealous of the people doing the full 50 miles! So I want to start working towards something. I'm thinking about the new Bellingham Trail Marathon in November, and then maybe a spring 50k.

Full race report here.

Summary (2 weeks!)

July 23-29
Tuesday - 3.1 miles
Thursday - 5 miles, trail
Saturday - 6.2 miles
Sunday - 4 miles

Total - 18.3 miles

July 30-August 5
Monday - Mountain biking
Tuesday - 6.5 miles
Friday - 5.5 miles
Saturday - 3.1 miles
Sunday - 8 miles

Total -  23.1 miles

Wow, my mileage is still stupid low, and yet I haven't felt as though I can increase it. While my fitness does seem to be coming back, I'm really struggling with getting more miles in, or getting long runs in. On the other hand, my runs in general are feeling better than they were a couple of months ago, so I can't complain... it's just taking longer to get it back!

This week upcoming will be light, since I have a 22km trail race on Saturday! :)

Weekly Summary & Via Ferrata

Monday - Mountain biking
Wednesday - 2 miles to stretch out my muscles (sore from Monday!)
Saturday - 10 miles, paved
Sunday - 3.1 miles with the puppy, then Via Ferrata

Total: 15.1 miles - still nothing great but better than last week!

For those who haven't heard of it, Via Ferrata is basically scaling the face of a mountain but with the assistance of strategically placed iron rungs and ropes. This way you don't have to be a climber; but that's not to say that it's easy! It was hard work and I ended up with some sore muscles and bruised knees. We were hoping for sunny skies so that we'd have views of the mountains around us, but unfortunately it was cloudy. I want to go again sometime when it is sunny and we have a view! Nevertheless, it was a great experience!

Before starting the Via Ferrata, we did the Peak2Peak gondola:









Then off on our adventure:










Lots of snow on top of the mountain!


Overall, a great adventure. I want to do it again on a sunny day!

Weekly Summary: July 9-15

Not much to tell this week, since I only ran twice (oops):
Monday - mountain biking (2 hours plus commuting)
Thursday - 5 miles, trail
Saturday - 3.1 miles, road, plus about 10km of walking

Total: 8.1 miles

Yeah, a pretty low week and I don't have an excuse so I will have to do better this week! I am planning to go mountain biking twice this week, as well.

Then next Sunday is Via Ferrata!! 

Weekly Summary: July 2-8

Tuesday - 5 miles road
Thursday - 5 miles trail - hit a tree and got a nice, puffy bruise on my left knee
Friday - 3.1 miles, trail - pretty much a hike out and run back... big climb!
Sunday - 11.5 miles - all but the last mile was trails

This week felt so incredible compared to the struggle that I've had over the past couple of months. I'm still slower than normal, but my runs are starting to feel good again! It helps that most of my runs were on trails this week instead of pavement (so much better for the body AND the mind!).

It also helps that summer has finally arrived! I just love being on the trails when it's sunny and warm outside. I always feel like I'm on holidays when I'm out there. :)

Today's long run was with some trail buddies. We went out to Norvan Falls, which is always enjoyable. We stopped at the falls and also at Third Debris Chute to get some cold water on our hot, salty skin; it felt so nice. I was actually concerned beforehand that I wouldn't be able to keep up to the group, since I've been struggling with that lately, but I felt fine and the pace worked for me. I actually felt as though my fitness is coming back. Exciting!

Might just be ready by race day on August 11! :)

"You run too much"

Well, it's been over a year since I posted here! I am going to try to get back on track, just as I am trying to get my running back on track.

This is how the past year looked:

• June 2011 - 77 miles. Started dating someone who told me that I run too much and need to try other things. 
• July 2011 - 72.5 miles. Trying new things while attempting to keep my running at a maintenance level.
• August 2011 - 72 miles. Still managing to maintain, still being told I run too much. 
• September 2011 - 69.9 miles. Having a hard time balancing everything.
• October 2011 - 47.3 miles. First time bungee jumping. 
• November 2011 - 62 miles. In spite of the decreases, I managed a 10km pb of 54:12. 
• December 2011 - 48 miles. Still being told I run too much. 
• January 2012 - 48.2 miles. Thinking about 2012 races, missing being an ultra runner, and missing trail running. 
• February 2012 - 19.3 miles. Low enough? No, I still "run too much". Start learning how to swim.
• March 2012 - 25 miles. Still working on swimming. Missing long runs on the trails. 
• April 2012 - 52 miles. Stop dating the person holding me back. Start trying to get my fitness back. Still swimming. Discover that I've gained 5lb over the past year.
• May 2012 - 65.2 miles. My fitness is slow coming back. Still swimming. First whitewater rafting trip.
• June 2012 - 65.4 miles, including some hiking. Every run is a struggle. Swam 3 times and then decided that it's going on the backburner until winter, so that I can go mountain biking once a week instead. :) 

And that brings us to July. As you can guess, I learned a few things over the past year! ;) But now I am really struggling to get my fitness back. It's strange to me that two years ago I went from injured to 50 miles in just 6 months, but right now I am struggling to do even 20k runs. I really hope the balance starts to tip soon and I start feeling better on my runs! I keep telling myself that it will come as I keep working at it.

For motivation, I am doing the 22.5km option at the Squamish50 on August 11. Having a goal keeps me moving forward, and I am excited about the race.

I am also considering a 50km in October. It will be a challenge to be ready for that, but again the goal is key for keeping me motivated. I'll decide that based on how things go the next few weeks.

Lesson learned: Running makes me happy. Being pressured not to run makes me unhappy. I won't make that mistake again!

weekly summary: reality check

I only ran twice last week, and did the BCMC once (trail up grouse mountain, about an hour to hike up). That's pretty bad considering that I want to have higher mileage this month. On Wednesday I was going to run but my sore leg was protesting loudly so I thought I'd give it a rest day. Then on Thursday and Friday I was sabotaged by work and exhaustion. Saturday was the hike and Sunday I just ran 5 miles paved.

I really need to get in some miles (in particular, a couple more good long runs) if I want to run the ultra in June. So I'm going to try to pump it up a bit more this week. Hopefully this week won't be as crazy as last...

My leg is still sore and I still don't know why, so I am just backing off when the pain increases and running when it's ok to do so. I will just have to play it by ear for the next few weeks I guess. :/

weekly summary

So glad to be back on the trails again!

Two test runs of 5 miles each (Tuesday and Thursday). Both felt fine. Leg has been a bit sore since I started running again, but it is manageable and isn't getting worse with each run. Saturday I did 5 miles paved (stupid pavement). Today was 19 miles, trails, with the puppy. He was very bad today... being a jerk to the other dogs, and he even knocked a lady over while he was trying to chase her dog. I had to leash him in several areas because he just wasn't listening. What a character. The run was good though... I felt really tired physically but mentally I felt great, and I love how lush and green the rainforest is becoming at this time of year. Legs are a bit sore... that was my first long run since my 50k a month ago.

Things are looking promising for the ultra on June 18. :)

Not as broken as I thought

Two weeks ago I wrote that I had a stress fracture. I hadn't had it diagnosed, but was in a fair amount of pain and the sensations and symptoms were just like the two previous fractures I've had, so I was 99% sure that's what it was.

But by the end of week 2, I was having doubts. There was virtually no pain in week two... just a bit of aching if I'd walked a lot in a day. I thought to myself, "either this is the fastest-healing fracture ever or it isn't actually a fracture."

So yesterday I went in to see a doctor and asked for an x-ray. For those who aren't familiar, a stress fracture won't show on an x-ray when it is fresh. It only will show up once it starts to heal, and then the new bone deposits will show on the x-ray. Since it had been two weeks, it should have been showing.

But when I looked at the x-ray, I saw nothing. The x-ray tech also saw nothing, but of course said that we have to wait for the official word from the doctor. Translation in ultra-runner language: go for a test run and see how it feels.

So that's what I did. :)

I did a 5 mile trail run (some gravel, some dirt, some technical) and my leg felt fine. There are a couple of sore spots still, but not in the bone and not on the site that I thought was fractured; it appears to just be muscle/tissue. Last night after the run it was a bit sore, but today feels really good (about 90%). I'm going to rest it today and then do another test run tomorrow.

I am soooo happy not to have to be off for 6-8 weeks!

And the universe seems to be working in my favour, because the 50-miler I wanted to do in May has been bumped back to June 18 due to excessive snow on the trails. This means I can still do it (assuming all goes well with my leg) and in fact it gives me more time for long runs that I would have originally had. Good news, right?! :)

Broken... again.

Well, I have a stress fracture. I haven't had it diagnosed officially, but I don't need to since this is my THIRD time through this in the past 5 years.

Not too concerned about taking some time off since I don't have any imminent races. What I am concerned about is the ease with which I seem to acquire fractures. I wasn't increasing my mileage (in fact, April was much lighter than March). It wasn't from my race. I wasn't overdoing anything, and I wasn't doing anything stupid. So where did this come from? Am I more susceptible than average? Do I have low bone density? Is something else going on?

I have no idea, so I plan to go get some tests done next week. Might as well get everything checked out just in case... bone density, vitamin D, and anything else that might be relevant...

And I guess for awhile I will be walking and cycling instead of running. :(

weekly summary

I only ran twice last week. I felt exhausted and unmotivated all week. Add to that the fact that I am now thinking I might not make it to White River this year... the trip was just too expensive last year and I can run local races for much cheaper. I haven't decided 100% yet but I'm leaning towards no. :( That leaves me with no goal race, so I'm going to need to decide on one if I want to maintain motivation.

Anyway, 2 runs for a grand total of 10.3 miles.

Weight: 136.6 (that seems like a drop but it's within regular fluctuation range for me so we'll see what it does next week).

Feature Friday

I'm tickled and honoured to be the subject of "Feature Friday" on my cousin's blog. Check it out! :)

Randoms

Day 3, and my quads are STILL trashed. Ran tonight... it was supposed to be "gentle" and "easy" but one girl in our group didn't have anyone to run with so I went with her and ended up doing a tougher route at a faster pace than I should have. oops. My legs are NOT happy with me (neither were my lungs, on the switchback...). I guess I'm not quite recovered... in spite of having had four naps in the first two days after Diez. lol That race wiped me out. But... maybe I'll run it again next year. ;)

Meanwhile, I'm looking forward to White River in July. I love that race so much and can't wait to run it again. I'm hoping to take an hour off of my time this year. We'll see though. That might be a little over-ambitious.

In other news, I need to lose a few pounds. And I think that putting it out publicly for the world to see might help motivate me. The problem is simply that I eat too much junk. I eat based on how I feel each day, and what I'm craving, and what I'm in the mood for. Last year prior to training for White River I was 142lb, and then lost 7lb in training so I was 135 for WR. Then over the fall/winter I gained/lost here and there, and currently I am at 138. So that is still lower than a year ago, but I would love to get down to 130 for WR. Heaven knows I do enough walking and running to burn it off... the problem is my eating habits! So for the next while I'll be adding my current weight to my weekly summaries... maybe that will help keep me accountable...? ugh. Goodbye home baking. :(

And, finally, I was perusing my ultrasignup stats today. I love their rating system (for those unfamiliar, it compares my time with the winning women's time of each race... then averages out all my rankings to give me an overall ranking). What I've noticed is that my performance doesn't seem to depend on my training. My rankings all fall within a 5% range, and I don't generally do better when I train harder. hm. Maybe there is not enough data (I really only have a few races on there... and the site is missing my first 50k from 2007). Or maybe that is just my ability and I'm not sure how to break out of that rut... if running more miles doesn't do it, then what would? I mean, I'll never be *fast* but it would be nice if I could at least see improvement.

anyway, that's enough navel-gazing for one night. Onward! :)

Diez Vista 50k Race Report

Today was the 15th annual Diez Vista 50k, held at Sasamat Lake. Since it was my first year running it, they decided to add an extra 1000 feet of climbing on an already tough course (ok, they didn't do it for me but because of construction and flooding going on). I knew it was going to be a tough course by the elevation profile:



What I didn't know was how difficult the actual trails would be, apart from the elevation. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

After about 3 hours of sleep, I woke up this morning with a sore throat and sniffles. Hoped it would be nothing. We started at 7:30am. I knew that the toughest climb was in the first 5 miles (see profile above ;) so I was prepped for that. But whether I'm coming down with a cold or there is some other factor at play, I felt completely winded all day. I always lose my breath on the tough climbs, but today was especially bad. My heart rate was too high and I couldn't get my breath, even on easier sections. This made the steep climbs really tough, and I kept having to pause and catch my breath. It slowed me down a lot over the course of the day. :(

Aside from being winded, I felt physically and mentally fine today.

The first big climb takes you up 1600 feet over 8km, but it starts out gentle and gets progressively steeper (and more technical) as you go. After the first aid station, it was straight up, and many people passed me on this climb as I was constantly stopping to get my breath. I actually felt dizzy a few times and wondered if I should continue, but I figured the climb couldn't last forever and then I'd be fine. ;)

Here are some of the Vistas along the way:




After the major climb, there is a long, technical downhill to the second aid station. This was my favourite part of the race. I love technical downhills, and I was still fresh enough to really enjoy it. The trails in this section are rough, narrow, and in some places barely there. It was just me and the earth, boulders, trees, and water. A trail runner's nirvana is that feeling of being connected to the earth. And this might sound hokey to some, but I also felt more connected to my aboriginal roots than I think I ever have. Loved this section.

As I arrived at the second aid station, this sign made me smile:


I confess that the next section is a bit hazy in my memory. There were some gravel sections, some dirt sections, some ups and downs, but nothing particularly memorable. I don't remember the third aid station at all, but I remember the 4th for two reasons: I stopped to use the outhouse there (first time I've ever had to pee during an ultra) and it was the start of the second-largest climb, on an out-and-back. This climb started with a big switchback but then became gentler for awhile before coming out of the soft happy trails and onto a really rocky, awful powerline-trail-type-road-thing. It was brutal... mentally more than physically. Throughout the race there had been a number of loose-rock sections that were tough to run (think creek bed rocky) but this was the mother of them all. I was really glad when we crested the top of this climb because I knew that any climbs after that would be smaller. Down to the 5th aid station, where I finally got some Coke (I didn't see any before then...) and wanted to take the bottle with me! It was so yummy. The other bonus to this aid station was that it was at 37km, so when we turned around to go back along the powerline again, it felt like we were on the home stretch.

Coming down to the last aid station at 44km, I was hurting... even the downhill hurt at this point. I knew that we were getting close, and I thought all the climbing was over. Then a lady who was passing me said that there was another climb. At first I thought she was joking; she wasn't. There was a huge hill after the aid station (it felt enormous, but was actually small compared to the others!). Then I lost heart a bit, and I started to get grouchy and whiny. I couldn't believe how long it was taking and how much I was hurting, and how annoyingly rocky the trail was. I walked most of the last few km back.

Arriving at the finishing chute, I was walking. The announcer said that they weren't going to cheer unless I ran into the finish, so I did! It hurt. But there was apple crisp waiting for me at the finish, so that was worth it.

I clocked in at 8:54ish. I never dreamed it would take me that long, or that the course was that tough (I think my breathing issues made a big difference too). That's a full hour slower than my previous slowest time, and I'm much better trained now than I was for the previous one.

Now please pass the icecream and ibuprofen. :)

Weekly Summary

I took a light week... Monday and Tuesday were just yoga and rest. Wednesday was 4 miles, in anticipation of a long run on Friday (which I mentioned in the previous post). Today was 9.8 miles with my Sunday morning running group. So altogether only 3 runs, for 34.8 miles. That is better than last week, and felt better too. I'm going to try to do some more yoga this week, and taper a bit for the race coming up on the 9th. *Hopefully* I can feel 100% by race day!! It will help that I have some time off of work this week and can rest up. :)

Finally, a decent run :)

After taking a few rest/yoga days this week and quitting my stressful job, I wanted to attempt a long run today. Diez Vista 50k is in two weeks and I hadn't had a decent long run yet this month. I had no idea how I would feel today and wasn't excited about the weather, so I decided to keep it easy... I stuck to pavement, gravel, and easy dirt trails, nothing technical or difficult, and with no specific distance in mind.

Around mile 4 I started feeling like the backs of my legs were wetter than the front (it was misting a bit of rain, but nothing major). After a few minutes it was pretty obvious that my backside was getting soaked, so I stopped and checked my pack: sure enough, my hydration bladder had sprung a leak and was dumping water all down the back of me. Lovely. I was able to ration the water long enough to finish the run, but now I have to pick up a new bladder before my race!

Anyway, I felt better today than I have in weeks, and I ended up finishing out around 21 miles. I say "around" because my garmin was being pernicious today and kept shorting me on distance (in one particular 5km stretch it lost a whole km!) so I have to estimate my distance based on my knowledge of the route. I'm counting 21.

So glad to be feeling better. :) And now my work schedule is changing so my stress/busy-ness levels will be greatly reduced, which should also help. :)

Weekly Summary: ugh

It was a terrible week. I don't know what's wrong with me... nothing has changed for my running, but all my runs feel awful lately, and I didn't get nearly the mileage I'd planned last week. I've been getting pains from my ankles up through my shins to the knees, and my legs just feel dead. But my shoes haven't changed, and my mileage is neither unusually high nor unusually low... so I don't know what's going on. Hopefully it resolves itself. Yesterday I was getting the "rest or get injured" message so I will take another light week and then see how I feel.

In the meantime, I've registered for the Diez Vista 50k on April 9, so I really hope I am feeling refreshed by then! I haven't had a run longer than 15 miles in about a month... so I will be running for fun and to complete (technically it's just a supported training run for White River anyway!).

Anyway, last week:
Tuesday - 5 miles night trail run
Thursday - 5 miles paved, with the puppy
Saturday - 8 miles. This was supposed to be a long trail run but I bombed it :(
Sunday - 9.3 miles. I was going to try to make up some of the bombed long run... didn't happen

Total: 27.3 measly miles. what is wrong with me?!

In other news, tonight I'm going to a Yoga for Runners class. I don't know if it will be an ongoing thing or not, but maybe it will help my legs feel better?