2012 began with a rocky start. Our whole family contracted the seasonal flu virus and we’re still recovering over a week later. Nonetheless the idea of training has gone slower than expected. I’ve gotten back to short lunch hour training runs, but I am still feeling the effects of the flu bug and had to stop today after 24 minutes of moderate speed work. But that’s enough about today, what about my goals for 2012? Here they are:

Biggest goal: Don’t get injured. After that, here are my 2012 running goals.

Moonlight Run 10k – March 10
Goal: sub 40 minutes (44 seconds faster than last year, maybe it’s possible)

Coulee Cactus Crawl – June 2
Goal: top 3 finish (I won last year with a less competitive field and a wet-weather course)

Powderface 42 – mid-July
Goal: sub 5 hrs (I’ve done it before, can I do it again?)

Lost Soul Ultra 50k – Sept 8
Goal: sub 6 hrs (I was 6:10 last year, only 10 minutes! I can do it!)

To catch things up from my last post. I ran a 5k time trial at the U of L indoor track on Wed Nov 16 in 19:20. I was pretty pleased with that, though I was aiming for a sub 19 minute result. The 20 seconds equates to less than 1 second per lap at the 200m indoor track.

Since that initial 5k time trial I’ve worked more on speed and maintaining that speed over distance. This has meant some fairly short workouts, less than 20 minutes most times as I try to crank out sub 6 minute miles (4 min/km) and faster. This morning the hard work paid off as I finished up my running class with an 18:50 – 5k time trial at the indoor track. That’s knocking 30 seconds off my previous result. Given that I ran for 90 minutes on Sunday I’m pretty pumped with this result. It gives me confidence that I’ve reached that ‘fast’ threshold for semi-competitive runners. A sub-19 is pretty competitive in most local 5k races, putting a runner in the lead pack, so that’s nice to know I can do that. What else is interesting is that I improved with a lot less mileage than normal during training. Usually when I train for a race I ramp up mileage, with this training I only ramped up speed, took leisurely weekends, and just did intense speed work for the most part. Less is more? That’s what some of the experts have been saying these days. Perhaps it’s true?

Running is mostly a personal challenge and joy and I”m proud to have reached this accomplishment. For most others it will mean relatively little, but it’s the knowledge that when you try hard and train hard you can accomplish your goals. An old adage that is still very true.

I love trail running. If you know me this isn’t anything new. The ability to be in nature and travel vast distances across any type of terrain makes trail running one of the most amazing experiences in the world. I love jumping over rocks, running up and down hills, seeing deer, beavers, birds, hawks, beautiful sunrises and so much more. So, after a few weeks of track and treadmill running I was losing my motivation and hit the trails again. I took off for a few lunch hour trail runs and one short Sunday afternoon run (thanks to my wife . There’s always a new challenge on the trails whether it be learning how to maintain speed over obstacles or seeing how fast you can ascend a small hill. The best part is that I live in a city with almost unending trails. It takes me 5 minutes to hit the trail head and after that I can go for hours without getting back on sidewalk.

On the 5k goal – my running class has a 5k time trial on Wednesday of this week so we’ll see what happens. Today (Monday) I ran for 15 minutes at 20 min/5k pace and it felt good. I’m not sure I can crank out faster lap times for the 18 minute 5k, but I think I’ll aim for sub 19 minutes and hope I can run a negative split. Who knows, it’s a fun game and a great challenge.

Lately I’ve had this notion in my head that I can run an 18 minute 5k and a sub-40 minute 10k. I think the latter is possible, but the former I’m uncertain. Working on a speed is much more difficult in some aspects than distance. With distance training there’s a lot of certainty that with enough training and the proper race day strategy you can complete the distance. If you’re not worried about distance and speed than the game is much more mental than physical. Speed over short distances is a different game. It’s difficult for different reasons. The more trying part is convincing yourself not to slow down. I always say that in a 50k race at least the first half is fun. With a 5k speed test there’s hardly any of the actual race that I would consider ‘enjoyable’. For me it’s difficult pushing your legs and lungs to go that fast, but the result is rewarding.

Today at my running class we did 2x1600m. It went fairly well as I completed the first in 5:45 and the second in 5:39. This was sub 18 minute pace, but I definitely wasn’t feeling it was sustainable for 5k. The other day on the treadmill I tried running at 6 min/mile pace (~18 min 5k) but quit at 2 miles (12 minutes) because my lungs just couldn’t take it (and I was worried about falling off). It may seem trivial to try to lower my 5k by a minute or two, but it’s a fun goal and challenge so why not? I think it’ll make me a better runner and it’s always a great confidence booster in longer races to know you have that speed in the tank.

With all this speed work one thing is certain about running – there are no shortcuts. If you see anyone busting out a sub 20 minute 5k or sub 40 minute 10k you know they’ve put some work into it.

I was astounded by this short video. It features the world’s top ultra runner revealing that he’d lost his love for running. Kilian Jornet has won virtually every single major ultramarathon in the world and he’s only 24 years old. The video does an excellent job portraying how his hectic schedule and corporate sponsorship led him to drop out of a race simply, as he says, because he didn’t want to run anymore. In short, it wasn’t fun, it was work and that made him sad.

I have profound respect for his sponsor Salomon in creating this short video. They could’ve kept pressuring him and pushed his rigorous schedule, but instead they chose the higher ground and allowed Kilian to be human. In the end, it’ll probably pay off for Salomon, but I’m sure it was difficult. Kilian’s story hits at the heart of the issue for many of us. What do you love to do? Think about that activity and then think about how easily that joy can be taken from you. Many of us can think about an activity we used to love, but then something changed and we no longer came to love that activity. I love how Kilian has returned to the mountains he loves to renew his energy and restore himself. What a perfect picture of how to regain that love of your sport or activity. Return to what made you love it. In a world where too much has become a job and corporate interests strive to appropriate all we love, Kilian reminds us that we must return to the land that gives us strength. Enough said – watch the movie.

So this blog has been focusing mostly on my running regime. This isn’t because the other aspects of my life aren’t interesting, quite the opposite in fact, rather it’s because most other people in my life shouldn’t or couldn’t be bothered with all these thoughts on running. With that said, yesterday I was at my running class and felt quite proud of myself for running two kilometers. Yes, that’s right, a mere two kilometer track workout. The catch is that it was a speed test. The first kilometer I completed in 3:18 and then the instructor said he wanted the second around 3:10-3:12. “What!” I thought. “I can’t do that.” But the human mind and body are incredible and I went out and ran the second in 3:14. For some that’s not fast, for others it is. For me that’s fast and I’m hoping I can string together a couple of those for a good 5k result in the future and then a good 10k result for the March 2012 Moonlight Run 10k here in Lethbridge. I’m quite enjoying this speed work training. The summer was focused on trail running, which is my deep passion, but it’s great to switch things up and try something new. I think it’ll make me a better overall runner.

HIT or High Intensity Training has gotten quite a bit of buzz in the running world lately. Basically it’s the concept of replacing long slower training runs with short high intensity running workouts. The jury is out on whether this is the best method to improve performance for say, a marathon or ultra marathon, but it has proven effective at increasing VO2 max.

So whether it works or not I’m going to give it a try. Why? Because I really have no other choice. My work and family schedule mean that I have a maximum of 60 minutes 3-4 times a week to run or workout – mostly over my lunch hour. Over the next few months there will likely be no (or few) leisurely 2+ hr trail runs. So I’m giving HIT a try. My plan is to alternate VO2 max training  (approximately 30 minutes of 1-3 minute intervals with breaks) with Lactate Threshold/Tempo workouts (approximately 20-40 minutes of high tempo work – e.g. 41-45 minute 10k pace). The theory is that even the best ultra runners have relatively fast 10k times and if I can improve my VO2 max and Lactate threshold I will become a faster runner and do even better at trail running ultras. For example, Gary Robbins of Vancouver, BC who is a top 10 Western States 100 mile finisher has a 36 minute 10k time. Why the need for such speed when you’re 100 miles? Well, part of it is natural talent, the other part is the way the body uses oxygen. If you’re body can handle running 10k in 36 minutes it should find running 5x 10k at 50 minutes relatively easy. I know that’s simplifying it, but that’s partly the theory. Yes, lots of long easy runs help, but who has time for that? Not me recently, so this is the plan and I’ll see if it works.  Stay tuned.

It all began in 2004 when my sister suggested I enter a 15km running race with her. I had always thought running was a means to something else, like when I ran around my block to train for basketball season. But to actually run, just for the sake of running…well…I hadn’t done that since grade school.

I finished that 15k race and was subsequently convinced (once again, by my sister) to enter road running’s big time, the Ottawa Marathon in May 2005. Part way through my marathon training the addiction component of running had clicked in. The daily training was quite flexible compared to all the team sports I’d played in high school. There was no set practice time or gym location – just a simple distance or workout requirement that you could do anytime of the day. You could also skip a workout and do it a different day. There was structure, but also great flexibility. I’d run out to my parents house in the country and my wife (bless her heart) would drive by and hand me a water bottle. Each time I checked off my training days on the marathon plan I felt a sense of accomplishment. It was tangible, it was simple and it always pushed me.

Running has got to be one of the most simple physical activities. You have a set distance and you record how fast you can run that distance. Simple, easy to understand, and easy to see improvement over time. There’s also a whole host of physical and mental benefits that come with running. This is why so many people are taking up this sport later in life.

But alas, this is where the problem or challenge lies. As soon as you begin running you enter this world of time comparison. For example, you compare your 5k or 10k time to a friend’s and see who’s faster. If you train hard you may win your age group and compare to overall race times instead of just your friend. When you get faster you begin comparing to everyone in the race, then you get to the front of the pack and compare to other races in other cities. Attempting to see if your 10th place finish would place in the top 50 in a big city event. It’s an endless game of finding faster and faster people to compare your times with. The beauty of it is there’s always someone else to compare to and the frustration of it is – there’s always somebody faster. So what do you do with this dilemma ? You could choose to not be competitive, run for the sake of the beauty and joy of running and just settle into your place in the runner’s food chain. Something I highly recommend, but in reality have a hard time following. Yes, I love running. I love the fresh air, the feeling of moving fast under one’s own power, the struggle of a hill or long distance, the sunrises, etc. but…I also love a good challenge.

Taking up trail running in 2006 provided a brief hiatus from the strict comparisons. Trail running is naturally difficult for comparisons because the courses are all different and there aren’t a large number of runners to gage times from. There’s a simple beauty to trail running not present in road running’s mass starts and thousands of entrants. Nonetheless, once you are involved in the trail scene for a year or so you begin to find your place in the pecking order and naturally want to move up (not altogether different than the road scene).

I love to compete, to test my abilities against others. For whatever reason I was born with competitive instincts and after a few relatively successful seasons of road and trail running I feel the urge to want to be faster. Should I just settle into my place at the back of the front pack? Content to be faster than some and slower than others? Where does true contentment lie for a runner?

Yet, I want to win or at least come close, but I also know that at many races this is unrealistic and would involve sacrificing too many other important aspects of life for what may ultimately be a selfish purpose. Being at the back of the front pack is a tough place to be. You know you don’t have the raw talent to be at the front, but you can see them and they’re getting farther away.

This running thing sure is addictive.

Last year (2010) was my first shot at running the Lost Soul Ultra 50k. I had trained hard, quite hard in my opinion – putting in a lot of tough 3 hr+ training runs on the course. I was familiar with virtually the entire course after a year of running the coulees with experienced local ultra runners, such as Phil Fraser, Larry Kundrik and Marc Hayward. The only thing I hadn’t done was run the entire course in one shot. I set out with an ambitious goal of a sub 6 hr time with an early pace of 5:30 and all was going well for the first half of the race. I’d led or co-led the race for the first few hours resulting in a substantial lead in the race past the half way mark. But part way through the infamous north loop I underestimated my hydration and crashed. I pulled myself together thanks to some coke and salvaged a fourth place overall (3rd male) finish in 6:26. I was proud to overcome my earlier mistakes, but finished 2010 with an empty feeling that I could’ve done a lot better.

So it was with much anticipation that I toed the starting line of the Lost Soul 50k. I hadn’t trained as much as 2010 due to our new beautiful boy Caleb being born just over a month earlier, but I was still confident I could improve on 2010. The motto for the race was “start slow and keep it up”. I learned from the previous year that the pace by the end of the race is so slow for most runners, even the front runners, that if you have anything left you can easily pass people at this stage in the race. The strategy was to spend the first half hydrating and eating and worry about catching runners on the flat sections at the end of race, where I would be running and they would be walking – hopefully.

My family had flown in for the weekend and it was great to have my sister, neice, mom and dad at the starting line to see me off. The race started and I let what seemed like a dozen runners go ahead of me. I panicked briefly when I thought how difficult it might be catch all of these runners, but I put that thought behind me and started up a conversation with a guy beside me. This took away some competitive drive and made me run my own race. I looped back into the headquarters at exactly 40 minutes perfectly on my pace. I soon caught up with a young female runner who was pushing hard and breathing heavily. She was running up many of the hills I was walking and seemed to a little over zealous this early in the race, so I asked her if she’d run this course before. She informed me she had last year. I thought perhaps I should offer her a tip on walking the hills, but she seemed to think she knew what she was doing so I kept tight-lipped and figured maybe she was superwoman. After talking the next loop at an easy pace I checked into Peenaquin at exactly 2 hrs, also right on schedule.

Hydration was going to be the key for me as I felt I’ve been dehydrated for most races and therefore under performed. I was carrying 2 handheld 500 ml bottles and was finishing just under 2 bottles per hour. I grabbed a few gels at Peenaquin and headed out to Pavan. I still hadn’t run into too many of the lead runners. I figured they’d make it to Pavan in good time, but I’d be able to catch them on the 10 mile north loop.

I made it to Pavan around 2:45 grabbed my running backpack that was waiting there, some coke and watermelon with salt (yummy) and headed off for the north loop – vowing to do better than last year. Starting the first hill Kevin McFadzen caught me and I congratulated him for making it farther than last year. Him and I shared the lead until Pavan in 2010 before he had to drop out. I slowed to let him pass and he pushed on ahead over the hill and through the coulees. He said that he would see me again. I guess he was correct because awhile down the trail I caught back up to him and pulled ahead for the next few kilometres. Soon I caught a few other runners, including local Dean Johnson who was struggling with cramping. He’d trained hard and went out hard. I felt his pain from last year’s experience, but there wasn’t much I could do for him. We ran together for a bit, as I was starting to feel fatigued and a bit cramping and wanted to take it easy. I knew there was still a long ways to go.

We soon finished the flat section of Pavan and headed into the hills for a brief period. I think it was here that I put some real distance between myself and Kevin and Dean. I loved this section of trail, remote, hilly and beautiful views at times. It soon ended and I made my through the flat stretch onto the remote water station. Since I didn’t have a water bottle, only a hydration pack, I pumped some water and put my mouth under it to get as much pure water as possible. It tasted so nice. I was sick of gatorade already and the pure water was refreshing. I kept moving well along this flat section although it felt like I was going slow. Not too long after the water station my dad appeared on the old mountain bike I’d lent him. He turned up like this numerous times in the race to my complete surprise. I figured he’d get lost finding his way through this crazy course. He asked how I was doing and rode behind me on the bike – providing me someone to chat with for a brief period of time. I was feeling pretty good, but knew I needed to take my salt tablets (which interestingly are mostly cal-mag with some sodium). I stuffed one in and grabbed my hose just in time before I threw up. So I stopped completely, breathed heavily and ensured it went down okay. I wasn’t making the same mistake as last year – pushing through when my stomach didn’t feel well. It worked and I was back running shortly thereafter.

I should also say that there are multiple fences to cross during this section and because my legs are cramping I had to throw my legs over the fences without bending them too much for fear they would seize. Obviously not a great state to be in, but it seemed to work.

I arrived at Pavan aid station a little behind schedule, but happy to not have thrown up (yet) and still running decently, albeit slow. I fueled up with coke, watermelon and some gels at Pavan before heading out with my handheld bottles and ditching my backpack. They told me I was now in second place as the third place runner was resting at Pavan. I started to run a bit on the first stretch, but had consumed too much for my stomach and had to walk. I convinced myself to recover and eventually climbed the two big hills and was able to keep up a steady pace on the flat stretches to Peenaquin.

I arrived at Peenaquin aid station only to be told that the second place runner was faltering and I should be able to catch him. Hey wait, wasn’t I the second place runner? This was confusing, but it seemed more believable that I had passed the third place runner at Pavan and not the second place runner. A cold water sponge bath felt wonderful at Peenaquin and off I was to run the final stretch of the course in position to crack the top 3. Maybe just maybe I could keep it under 6 hours. The final stretch is almost all flat, but some sections are rather technical along the river’s edge and there are few places to really run without having to think too much. I love this section when I’m feeling good, but at the end of a race it’s just tempting, since you can’t actually enjoy it much. I navigated through the bushes, over the many logs, across the gravel and rock and eventually bumped into a few 100k and 100 mile runners to chat with.

One nice 100k runner stayed with me for the next few kilometres, giving me extra motivation to keep moving and a pacer. He encouraged me immensely and kept telling me that I would catch the second place runner who was struggling. Eventually my dad popped up again on the paved path by the nature centre and he rode with me until the bottom of the final hill. The Lost Soul Ultra finishes at the top of a wicked hill. Despite all the steep hills we run in the course, the final one might be the steepest. They ran a different one in 2010, but I’m told the 2011 final hill is the traditional one. At the bottom of the hill I looked up and saw one runner slowly making his way up. I figured he was a 100k or 100 mile racer and that I’d missed my 2nd place finish. I thought “that sucks, but at least I tried hard”. I still tried to ascend the hill quickly and caught up with the runner. He said he was in the 100k race and I stayed with him for a few seconds before continuing on up the hill. I hit the top, walked for a brief portion and then jogged to the edge of the Lethbridge Lodge parking lot where I broke into a full out run to the finish. I crossed the line in 6 hrs 10 minutes. I sat down and a nice young man told me I had come second! What? I was a little delirious, so I asked him to check. He informed me that the runner I passed was Logan and he was in the 50k race! Well, maybe we were all confused, but it seemed clear now. I had caught him and placed 2nd, 15 minutes faster than in 2010 and with less training. I ran a smart race for my training regime and finished well. I was satisfied content and could now rest (until next year .