Training Log Archive: zoolander

Run in to the 'star

run home from the star. Leisurely.

A bit sore in the hips from snow plowing all weekend painting the lines on the steeps but ran anyways. Commute in.

lunch run on the paths with Geoff. Beauty of a day.

run home after work. Nice and easy.

work out in the lake louise inn gym. core, a bit of upper body, spin and stretch to finish.

another eyelash freezer.

Another chilly jaunt from the 'star to hoth.

frosty run to work.

run to work am.

C • I got an idea...for somethi... 1

run home.

run to and from work

nice run in. quiet at this time of day.

snowy run home. Fun passing cars.

Run to work. Slick with the snow. Takin' it easy.

Lovely run home in the snow. Solid winter storm here. Uphills were slow.

Lovely run home in the snow. Solid winter storm here. Uphills were slow.

slower run to work today in the snow. Cold. No shorts.

cruise in to work. Warm morning, probably the last for a while.

C • Another light for ya 1

Race reports:

Cactus Rose 50 Miler - Bandera Texas Oct 30 2010

When I found out that I would be in Houston for 2-weeks of corporate training, I figured that I might as well look for a race to do on the weekend.
Since the evenings around training usually involve too much food and beer, I decided to pick a race for the weekend I arrived. The Cactus Rose
50 and 100 miler north of San Antonio TX fit the bill nicely. I opted for the 50 since 100 just seems like a ridiculously long way. It was a good thing
too because mid-Sept my training was halted for 3 weeks due to an ugly contusion in my right thigh received during a soccer game, so I wasn't even
sure that I could hack out 80 km with minimal training leading into the race.

I arrived at the race start (Hill Country State Park) around 1030 pm on Friday night and tried to get some sleep in the car. I awoke around 4 am and went off to stash my food
at one of the 5 aid stations on course. At 5 am the race began. There were several hundred racers, most from Texas, and they were split evenly between
the 50 and 100. Not having any sense of who I was racing against, I decided to start fast in the darkness and see who felt like racing that day. I quickly
separated from the pack and brought one runner (Derek) with me. After about 15 minutes, we settled into a comfortable pace and ran steady for the first lap - 40 km.
My goal was to push a bit harder earlier on because I knew the heat would fry me later in the race, so I wanted to get an early advantage. The course
proved to be a very enjoyable route. Well marked, technical, and heavy on the single track, I was really enjoying myself. The cacti that draped the trail were
a bit of an annoyance as they drew blood as the race progressed, but at least I figured out how the race got it's name. The course was self supported, which
meant signing in at each aid station, and handling any refueling chores yourself. I dropped all my food/drinks at one aid station in the middle that we visited
about every 10 - 15 miles. The first lap went by quickly in 3:43. We started the second lap in the reverse direction, which gave us the bonus of finding out what
type of lead we had on the next runners. We passed the 3rd place runner after about 15 minutes and realized that unless either one of us fell apart, it was a 2 man race
at that point. I had noticed on the previous lap that I had a small advantage on the hills as I would pull away from Derek on the climbs and he'd reel me in on the flats.
I decided to test this theory and see if I could open up a gap between the two of us as I didn't think that I'd have the legs to win a fast finish if we remained together.
Sure enough I pulled ahead on the first big climb and kept the tempo high for the next 7-10 miles. I felt strong until I hit about 60 km. At this point, the sun was high
in the cloudless sky and I was starting to feel the heat. Hills and loose rocky trails that had been no problem in the first lap were now forcing me to walk and I was
feeling generally sloppy during these last kilometers. Thankfully, I'd been diligent with my food, water, and salt intake and was avoiding cramping in my legs, although
my arms were cramping from carrying water bottles (I thought I'd test it out during the race). The wheels fell off pretty badly during the last 20 km, but I managed to
maintain a lead and finished in a time of 8 hours, 23 minutes. When the body failed, the mind kept going though, and that's how I managed to cross the line. My time was
not the course record, but respectable for me. Overall, I was pleased with my performance. Winning was exciting, but I would have liked to maintain a more even 2nd lap.
Something to work on.

the next weekend...
Rocky Raccoon 50 km - Huntsville Texas Nov 06 2010

After a week of 'recovering' with late nights and too much beer, I decided that I'd let peer pressure convince me to race the 25 km on Saturday morning in Huntsville State
Park. I opted for the 25 km because a) My legs still felt sore, and b) it had a 7 am start instead of a 6 am start. The course was fast and flat. Mostly trail but more akin to the
Jack Rabbit trail than the gnarly stuff I ran the week before. I woke at 5 am and drove the hour and 15 minutes to the start north of Houston. It was a cold morning by Houston
standards, about 5-7 degrees C. The local runners were in toques, gloves, tights, and jackets. I wore shorts and a t-shirt and enjoyed the warm weather. The race started in the
dark and our first mile was on a paved road. Two runners jetted off ahead of the main group. I opted not to follow, figuring that they'd either blow me up or that they couldn't hold
that pace and we'd catch them later. I hit the first single-track section with one runner on my tail and the two ahead of me. Since we were running in the dark, I decided to push the
pace through here since technical running is my specialty and I figured I could get some time here. It wasn't until about 8 km in until I opened a gap between me and the guy on
my tail. I'd been pushing hard and surprisingly, my legs were responding well without any real fatigue. I began reeling one of the early leaders in and by 10-12 km, had caught him.
I should say that I was running without a watch and just going by feel, which I thought would be good since I expected this to be more of a fun run than a competitive race. I was
feeling the effort by the time that I caught the 2nd place runner and decided to tuck in behind him and see what happened. We ran this way for the next 8-10 km, with him leading
every step and running at a tempo that felt fast enough that I wouldn't be able to attack and drop him, so I resigned myself to following, my mind drifting to what a finishing sprint
might look like. I would soon learn a lesson about racing and personal comfort. My desire to race "comfortably" caused me to drop my guard and I failed to realize that we were not
still running fast, we were actually slowing down. About 5 km from the finish two runners came up behind us suddenly and one immediately blew by us like we were walking. I knew
that I had made a tactical error and went all in, surging to keep pace with him. After the initial burst of lactic acid, I settled in to the faster pace and comfortably tucked in, waiting for
an opportunity to attack these runners and hopefully avoid a sprint finish. My opportunity came at the base of a small hill 4.3 km from the finish. I knew that I had to attack hard and
try to open up a gap on the few remaining kilometers of trail so I pushed as hard as I could on every turn, twist, and climb to earn a few extra seconds. I was running in front with 500 m
to go. We had just come out of the forest and were on a straight shot to the finish, gravel road to paved. I knew that there were two runners within seconds behind me and that I had
to hammer if I wanted to podium. I still had some juice in my legs and accelerated along this straight away towards the finish. 25 m from the line one of the runners surged by me. I was
unable to answer and instead slowed down immediately so that by the time I crossed the finish line, I was practically walking. My finishing time was 1:42:31, which is a 5 minute PB for
a 25 km race for me (Winner was 1:33:40!) What I learned from these two races was that you have to win the race in your mind before you win with the body. In Bandera, I had the mental game and was able to push myself to the finish. In Huntsville, I mentally wimped out and didn't push as hard as I could have and this allowed the runners behind me to regain contact and motivation to run hard. In trail racing, it's all about "out of sight, out of mind" and my desire to run comfortably, instead of around my threshold cost me a placing. Oh well. Ultimately I had fun, had a
great day racing in a new area, and was pleasantly surprised that my legs still had some juice after the 50 miler.

Anyhow, that will wrap my racing season I think. Time to rest and prepare for 2011!
Cheers,
Simon

C • Congrats! 2

cop run with meridian, who is running pretty fast right now. kudos little guy.
great weather, sun was out, temp was just right. Back in Calgary.

C • little chewy 1

upper body and core routine

warm yoga class. good for me.

run in memorial park w/ mariella through the trails then a lap on my own. calves still sore but it was okay.

upper body and core post run.

Apparently final time was 1:42:31. I was mailed another time first. Whatever. Still good race.

messing around in the gym. weights, 30 min on the bike. Didn't feel like any core. As usual, calves shredded.

Good luck to Alice, Meridian, and all the other Winterstart racers tearing the roads of Banff up tonight! It should be a blast!

T is for third.
Raced the Rocky Racoon 25 km in Huntsville St. Park north of Houston. Nice trails, kind of like Vulture Bait in London ON. Was wishy washy on this one but decided last night after a couple beers that I should probably run the 25 km. Legs felt okay...still some pain in the injured quad (soccer from way back) but what the hell. Won't be racing for a while once I return to Calgary. Passed on the 50 km b/c it's a 6 am start with a 1.5 hr drive from my hotel and I didn't feel like running that far. 7 am start was more manageable. Race started before sun-up so me without my headlamp tried to hammer the early kms (1.6 on road, 1 in trails, 8 on double track jeep road) to see if I could use some trail skills to put time on most of my rivals. Off the line, 2 guys went up the road at a pace I knew would blow me up. Eventually caught one of them about 12 km in and just stayed with him. This was a minor mistake as he was slowing and consequently so was I which meant the guys behind me made up time. 5 km from the finish I hear two come up on us quite suddenly. I let the first one by, drop the guy I'd been running with and ride behind the new 2nd place runner. We ran like this for a few minutes and I was able to hold the pace without trouble, so when the first hill came I attacked it (~4 km to go) but couldn't open up anything sizeable. So I led for the next 4 km picking it up when it got technical but there was nothing to really open a gap as it seemed we all had around the same engine. Last 500 m were a straight open road. I led out and then the guy who had been hanging back surged and passed me in the last 50 m. I had a gap on the next runner so I just slowly jogged it in. Was really surprised to see the time. Last year the winner was 1:42. This year, the winner was 1:31, and 2nd, 3rd, and 4th (my group) were all mid 1:40s. I was hoping to run below 1:50 considering last weekend's effort and a shitty week of sleep and alcohol. No complaints though. I'm happy that there is some peed in the tank. Looking forward to a hot tub this afternoon and a lovely meaty meal soon. http://mcmtiming.com/

C • Nice 2

Upper body blast, Core blast, spin on the bike for 15 min warm down. Muscles sore today. I've missed you blasting.

yoga class to restore balance and rehabilitate sore muscles. Needed to do something and yoga was on the less strenuous side of what I could have chosen so it won. Stretching was probably a good call. Overall though, body feels good. Considering a 50 km race this weekend just north of Houston.