Training Log Archive: nicki

Rest day. First day of school. I'm back at it!

long LONG run today. Not as fast as I hoped but I stupidly picked a route that included 1300 ft of elevation gain over the 33 km run - my house (3600 ft) up to Nose Hill (4100 ft) down to the river (3500 ft) up to Silver Springs (3600 ft) and then all that in reverse. Not sure how my speed would translate onto a flat course.

Legs were tired at the end (as they should be) but I kept a consistent pace the entire run. Good to get that one in the bank.

That's better. I actually felt like I was training today. I'm 100 times better in the morning than the evening. Lucky they generally put races in the morning!

Pyramid fartlek run:
1' sprint, 1' recovery
2' sprint, 2' recovery
3' sprint, 3' recovery
4' sprint, 4' recovery
5' sprint, 5' recovery

repeat going back down. On the shorter sprints (1'-3') was able to hold 4:05s so that's good. 4:30s on the longer blocks.

Walked the Fullerton Loop (Bragg Creek) with Joline. Definitely an easy hike as I wore flip flops. Gorgeous views from the lookout (we did climb a little) on a spectacular evening with low light being splayed over the mountains. Good conversation which was continued over beer on the patio at Seanachies. I think I was supposed to be getting ready for the first day of classes or something but NOTHING would have kept me indoors tonight. The mountains were calling my name......what's a girl to do??

A beautiful run up on Nose Hill to run off the conference legs as the sun was setting over the mountains.
Tomorrow the real training starts again.

Super fast on the way to work because I was feeling like a hammer fest. And because I was late. Then a very slow slog home because I was so buggered from another full day of work.

Decided to make a separate "commuting" category now that I am back into the swing of work and riding. LONG day at the office for my first day back. I left the house at 7.00 am and didn't get home until 10.00 pm. Nice to finish the day with a ride - de-stressing with the sunset, the quiet of the evening, and the hammering all the way uphill home.

A nice early morning run on the Canmore trails. Legs felt sluggish after yesterday's scramble. Got charged by a large female elk....but I charged her back, she retreated and then had another go. So I ran off very fast.

C • Nice work 1

Cruisy ride on the Colnago along Highway 1A. It was a gorgeous day and I was sure craving the couple of hours of solitude in the mountains.

Stopped at Castle Junction for a snack and another cyclist joined me on my picnic table because he wanted to get a closer look at my very funky and awesome bike. I had ridden past him just few kms back.

Whoa.....no wonder I have fatigued legs at the moment. I just noticed that I logged 27 hours of training this week. Unfortunately, none of it was quality marathon-specific training, but oh well, I've been having fun.

Run with Miles up the back of Castle Mountain to Stuart Knob - 3860m. A bit of scrambling required in the final rock band to the summit. The downhill run down the scree slope was my favourite part.
Sweet awesome day.

Day of rest and napping.

Event: Half Moon in August
 

What a day!! I couldn't get the smile off my face as it was SO good being back in the mountains and doing what I love to do most....adventure racing!!

Big field (60 teams) which is exceptionally exciting for the sport, but not overly competitive. It seems to be on the upswing out here again.

CP1-CP-6: Started out with a pretty fast and sweet single track section. It was along the east side of the creek that drains past Castle Mountain resort. Reminiscent of FMIJ 06, when we began the same way but on foot. Made a tiny bad route choice in the first 500 m to find the trail and found ourselves in the middle of the gravy train on the single track which was a bit frustrating. But it was soon rectified at the first CP when we arrived at a trail junction just 500 m short of the CP and found about 20 teams all milling around comparing maps, scouring the bush, running all over the place looking for the CP. Except I knew it was a bit further along, so without hesitation Claire and I quietly snuck pass the mass confusion and rolled into the CP in about 3rd or 4th place. Definitely one of the sweetest nav moves I've ever made. Then we were able to bolt along through the next 5 controls. I was actually riding well and rolling nicely over the roots and bumps. Played cat-and-mouse with 2 guys who were stellar riders but couldn't navigate so we'd watch them take a wrong turn, then continue past ahead of them and just wait for them to realize and catch up. Claire took a pretty bad fall in this section and landed super hard on a stump. Her quad took the entire force and so she was limping the rest of the race. At CP5 we popped out on a road and had to ride down to the Beaver Mines Lake which was CP6. A few teams caught us as Claire was pretty much only able to power with one leg. We arrived in the TA with a bunch of teams but the first team was only just getting on the water.

We then paddled across the lake....and we ROCKED!! We were fast in transition and even faster on the water and landed the boat in 4th, passing numerous teams in both. It was awesome. I LOVE paddling with Claire.

CP7-CP12. On the far side of the lake we had to do a sort-of orienteering foot section. Except the nav was pretty easy. Except I screwed it up a bit. And then I found out at the end of the race that CP8 was 100 m up from the mapped trail junction at a different trail junction so that made me feel beter and cleared up A LOT of confusion that clouded that entire section. I think we lost about 15 minutes to a bit of faffing around on that section which was frustrating because prior to that, I felt like I was navigating with flow and accuracy. It turns out that the front teams also had trouble and it was race ending for many in the back. We arrived back at our boats in 7th, but caught 2 more teams on the paddle back and were back in 5th out of transition.

CP13-finish. The last section was just a grueling climb up a road to CP14 and then onto the finish line. Not a stellar way to end the race but I guess they had to get us back somehow. 2 teams overtook us on the climb up as I was towing Claire by now. We hit the CP and then zoomed back down. Then it was 12 km along the dusty, loose, gravel highway back to the resort. With just 2 km to go we spotted those 2 all-male teams that had previously passed us and Claire came to life with superhuman powers. Apparently the possibility of destroying the male ego is a great motivator for her. She put the hammer down and I just stuck to her wheel and we mowed those boys down and went passed like they were standing still. It was such a sweet ending to a great day.

We got 1st all-female team. And we beat ALL the mixed teams by 20 minutes. Not sure where we came overall, but I heard rumors that it was 4th. I might have been 5th.
Very happy with my $250 worth of Sole prizing.

C • Half Moon 2

Course setting on Sandy McNabb map for Run The Wild.
Bit worried about tomorrow's adventure race because BOY, am I sore today.

I think that's about how long it took to descend from the alpine hut.

Return trip. Still fun.

Hike up to Lake Lovely Water with J.
Was supposed to be only a few hours up a steep trail but we got lost (prefer to call it adventure racing bush-wack training) and ended up on some super sketchy cliff side that definitely pushed my comfort zone a little. Good times. Thanks to John for the patient assistance in the avoidance of my imminent death!

Yes, that IS correct. In order to reach the trailhead on the other side of the Squamish River, John and I tight-roped across the cable car wire. Very cool. Definitely ap-loggable because my heart rate was elevated, I had to hold my arms above my head for 20 minutes without any relief and my abs hurt SO much from trying to right the wobbles. Fun trying to negotiate around orange floaters hanging from upper wire.

Was supposed to be more of a tempo effort, but running along the sea wall on a hot, sunny Vancouver summer day just brought upon a more laisse faire attitude towards my running. Cruisy cruisy.
I LOVE Vancouver.

Bike commuting on a gorgeous day in Calgary. Spent the morning zipping around on the mtb but just now got back from a spin on my COLNAGO. I'm sorry Mr Cervelo P3......you've been superseeded in the battle for my affections. The Colnago is my newest most favourite ride. Those Campi components and Campi wheels are just WAY TOO COOL.

C • italiano 2

C • Marathoning 1

Yah..... another long run complete.
Felt OK. Negative split, which is good. Last 11 km were straight into that cold, nasty headwind so definitely a mental test. Hopefully I can start running these runs just a few seconds faster per kilometer.

I'm off to the mountains....

A late night, too much Sangria, shitty weather, and an overabundance of Saturday errands conspired against me and my long run. I am just a victim of my own life.

I only squeezed in a jog up to the top of Nose Hill and back. At least it counts as a bit of hill training.

Long run rescheduled for it's original time slot of Sunday morning.

It's only 1.8 km to the grocery store from my house but I found a 8.5 km route to get there all through the neighborhood. I think I've finally found an advantage to living in the 'burbs.... you can run for miles around the maze of streets but not actually really go anywhere. Is that an advantage?? Felt like it today.

Super slow, easy-peasy recovery run in the rain.

6 x 1 mile repeats on the track.

6:48
6:50
6:55
6:53
7:01
6:50

Not toooo bad. Definitely still have lots of room for improvement.
I just checked over my speeds for this workout last year and I was able to hold 6:48s. I definitely have work to do.
HR up around 190, but recovered to 122 during RI.
Being patient with my slowly returning fitness.

C • good one 2

Warm-up/cool-down around the mile repeats

With a few hundred metres of freestyle thrown in.

Fartlek run - 11 x 100 m strides in the first 100m of each kilometer.

Legs still feel a bit heavy but I got 'er done.
Sprints were speedu (around 3:25 min/km) but recoveries were slower than they should be - only just a squeak under 5 min/km.

Out and about on a gorgeous sunny day in Calgary. Even with a brand spanking new sporty, shiny car in my driveway, I can't bring myself to drive when it is THIS nice out.

In between rain storms, Claire and I headed out of town north on our road bikes for a bit of a late afternoon spin. The coolest part of the ride was when we made a spontaneous decision to sneak passed the "road closed" signs and barriers and onto the brand new section of the ring road that isn't open yet. What a rush. We had to slyly pretend we were taking a drink break at the lights while the police car went by, and then we were off. YEEHAW!!!!

It'd be a great place to do time trial sprints. And the view back to Calgary is awesome. Don't worry, we practised what we were going to say if we got caught... [Fluttering eyelids and sweet voice] "Hi Mr Construction Worker. We were just testing out your road. You made a lovely road. [Perplexed] Oh....it's not open yet? We were kind of wondering where all the cars were".

Definitely the highlight of my day. Thanks Claire.

C • That sounds like fun. :) 1

Yep....that's how far I got into my 15 km hard training run before I quit. Apparently, running right after an unbelievably tough massage is not ideal. I think I'm still a bit fatigued from my 130km of volume last week as well. I've decided that if I'm too tired to focus on the quality then I'd be better to rest. Quality, quality, quality....it's my new mantra. No more slow running for me.

I'll try again tomorrow morning.

C • view back to Calgary 4

Exceptionally cruisy ride from the zoo, where I dropped my car, out to Stoney Trail to meet Ann for the raft put-in. Don't think I raised my heart rate. And just in case I did, I stopped halfway at the Extreme Bean to refuel on a soy matcha green tea latte and to read the paper.

I'm working really hard on making this an extreme rest day. After my exceptionally lazy ride, I then took Ann and her girls rafting down the bow. 4 hours of rudder-ing from the back on a lovely warm day was about the extent of my output.

Was happy to join Ann for her long slow run, with walk breaks. It's nice to run with someone as we just talked the entire way around the 26 km. A gorgeous morning to be down on the river. Ran from Extreme Bean, looped around Crowchild, then west to Stoney Trail and back.

Don't want to get in the habit of running that slow but it was very welcome at the end of a super high mileage week - 130km

Nakiska-Kananaskis 5 Peaks Trail Race
Well today was a very interesting little race. For starters I wasn't registered and the race was sold out (which I knew) so I had to sweet talk my way into a bib with about 20 minutes before the gun. It was my first time back racing in ages and I was a little worried about how it would feel - especially seems it was up in the mountains on a super hilly course. I also have 110 km in my legs from the last week of hard training so anticipated a fair bit of fatigue, especially on the uphills.

It started with a 3.5 km continual steep climb. I felt good and held 2nd place female to almost the top. Then got passed by two uber petite women who looked about half my weight and size and double my fitness. Then a screaming downhill for about 3 km and I was sure glad to have my spiked shoes as I opened up and just ripped down...passing a few blokes. Then we climbed again up to the ski resort and I still felt a little bouncy. Was well clear in 4th position overall (3rd in my age group) and was coasting along with a bunch of 6 guys.

Unfortunately, it then went all very wrong as we all flew down a hill that was actually off course. Got to the bottom and couldn't see flags so stopped and had a little conference about where we might have missed the trail. Headed back up the hill and still no sign of markers so headed BACK down the hill....all the way to the bottom. Still no trail. Dang it. At least 2-3 minutes went by and we all looked up....way up...and saw a stream of runners crossing one of the ski runs above us. Shit! Apparently some of the markers had fallen down so it was easy to miss. I lost 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th AND 8th place female in the smozzle and was royally ticked off. Eventually we re-joined the trail and I got mad for about 10 minutes and put my fastest 2 km in to re-overtake 2 of the girls. It was an all uphill finish which just about killed me, but with 800 m to go I actually dug deep and put an aggressive move on 6th place girl to pip her on the top of the hill by surprise and then sprint to the finish. In the end, I completely gave up an age group podium spot with that mistake. Oh well. I was just happy to be up with the front girls after having just started really training again and after such a big week.

What a magical day in the mountains though. 26 degrees, sunny, spectacular. I am SO happy to be back in Calgary.

I'll be at the next 5 Peaks, that's for sure.

Medium Long Run to and from my interval session. Warm, sunny and hilly. Feeling a bit fatigued on the uphills during the final 6 km, which were also AFTER the intervals.

Woohoo.....I cracked the 100 km mark for this week. The attempt to shock my body into becoming a runner again seems to be working. Thanks John.

2 x 800m - 3:25, 3:18

2 x 400m - 1:37, 1:28

Final 400 m felt great as I was tearing along well under 4 min/km. I'm just so glad that I can still move that quickly.....albeit it for only 400m

Ultra easy recovery pootle.....in the miserable rain.....again!

Hilly medium long run in the afternoon mist (was supposed to be 18km but my loop was inadvertently a bit longer). Felt a little fatigued but only in that I couldn't push the pace up closer to 5 min/km. Lots of hills though. Still happy with the training. Just put in 3 hard days so an easy day tomorrow.

Warm-up/cool-down around tempo run

I'm very happy to be able to hold this pace with still 10 weeks to go until the marathon, hacking up a lung, and a day after a long run. Feeling positive.

Being back in Canada definitely has some surreal positive influence on my running. I'm still sick and still getting used to the altitude but I was able to bang out a solid long run at a decent pace that was somewhat comfortable. I even still had some bounce in my stride at the end. Did a negative split, but I climbed 450 ft over the first 5km going up and over Nose Hill.

Maybe, just maybe, this marathon thing in 10 weeks time will be OK.

Was supposed to be a 26km long run with Ann at 7.00 am down along the river, to which I was going to ride my bike. It started going wrong when she woke me from a dead sleep with a phone call at 7.30 am wondering where I was. Apparently I slept through my 5:15 am alarm, and her 6.00 am phone call to ask if I had a garmin (the phone is right by my bed!)

I think I can still play the jetlag card on that one!

So she drove to my place and we ran from here. But I had woofed down my breakfast and was feeling a bit sickly. She had some gastro thing going on as well so we barely made it up the 5km climb to the top of Nose Hill. Probably not the best way to start a run anyway. Toilet stop #1. Then down through Edgemont for toilet stop #2. Ann needed some walk breaks and I still wasn't feeling too great either so didn't complain. Then we ran some more and at the 11 km mark she was feeling completely seedy so we abandoned the entire run, and resorted to a fast paced walk back through Nose Hill. We had plenty to catch up on anyway. If only talking had the same training benefit as running!

26km long run has been suspended until further notice.....probably Monday. Or tomorrow afternoon!