Training Log Archive: bensmith

I don't understand snow on the North Shore.

I decided to do a low elevation run, thinking I'd avoid the worst of it. Drove to Rice Lake (200m) and there was virtually no snow around. I was pleased.

I ran down Homestead Trail to Firsherman's Trail, and headed north. At 100m, there was a bit of snow. The trail gradually climbs back up to 200m, and now there's 6 inches of crusty crap I'm having to posthole through.

Went up Hydraulic Connector to Seymour Valley Trailway, which is paved, and which I thought maybe would have been plowed. Nope. 4 more km of crusty snow. Eventually I got to a bit where a truck had driven down, and could run in the tyre track. 11km into the run I got back to Rice Lake, and all the snow disappeared again. I guess there's a misleading microclimate there?

I ran around the southern section of the Rice Lake map, taking all the indistinct trails that aren't on the orienteering map. I'll use the GPS track to add them to the map this evening.


I'm sure this was a lovely run, but I was mostly looking 2ft in front of me all the time to make sure I didn't break an ankle. Dogs aren't allowed on the Fisherman's Trail, so it was very quiet. I only saw two other groups the whole time (who both initially thought I was a bear; the second group were even scrambling for their bear spray when I scampered by!). The end of the trail is at the "mid valley viewpoint", which is in a big clearing and has great views of Dog Mountain, Suicide Bluffs and the three peaks of Seymour.

It looks like you can extend this loop further north (to Seymour Lake/Dam) for an easy and flat 26km. Perhaps one to do in the summer.

C • Sunshine 1

Last-minute freebie for Cypress. Somehow the bottom of Horizon was both icy and slushy. The rest of the mountain was just icy. We should have done xc instead...

Little loop around PSP in the rain. Didn't go for the usual 45 minute tempo run as Tuesday was intense, and Wednesday wasn't really at recovery pace.

No running tomorrow, then hopefully 2 runs over the weekend :)

WET in Princess Park. Made one route choice mistake, but otherwise fairly clean. Ran without a compass and things went surprisingly well in the forest section at the end.

11 min warmup
1,2,3,4,5,6min ladder, with 1min rest
12 min warmdown

This was in PSP, so GPS wandered a bit, but generally sub-4min/km. Feels good :)

SUPER day at Whistler with Kate, Nate and Moira. Nice variety of runs, with a few technical bumpy blacks, and one double-black (probably over-classified, but was a lot of fun). Yay for skiing and good company!