With less than two weeks until my next race, my focus has been on increasing the miles and chasing some vert, and there have certainly been some good long runs creeping into my running schedule.
A week after Hill of a Race, we found ourselves in southern Alberta as we travelled down to the Crowsnest Pass area for the Easter weekend. We had booked the campground for a couple of nights with the intention of spending a full day exploring and getting familiar with the area, as this is where both Sinister 7 and The Divide 200 will take place. We arrived on Good Friday and pitched our tent, but the wind was horrendous and kept us awake most of the night as we lay in our sleeping bags wondering how long it would be before everything took flight! The following morning wasn’t much better, and when the sides of the tent collapsed under the strength of the wind, we contemplated leaving early and just heading home. We managed to stick it out until lunch time, the wind getting ever stronger, and on checking the weather app, a severe wind warning had been issued, with wind gusts expected to reach 100km per hour during the afternoon and into the overnight. That was enough for us to pack things up and head home, but not before we managed a short hike around Frank’s Slab with the pups, which provided us with some gorgeous mountain views on an otherwise lovely, sunny day.
It was disappointing that I hadn’t got in a decent trail run, and so I decided to make up the miles on Easter Monday instead, heading to Edmonton to run 25km on the trails in the river valley, hitting as many climbs as I could to give me a good couple of thousand feet of elevation.
The remainder of that week followed the usual running schedule, but on the Saturday, I had arranged to head out to Cooking Lake with a friend, to run the Blackfoot Ultra course. Barb has a milestone birthday this year and so she is training to run her first 50 miler which will be 3 loops of the lake. We had no intentions of doing 3 loops that Saturday, but we were at least hoping to get to 50km which would see us doing two loops of the lake. It was a lovely sunny day, although there were still some sections covered in snow which made things hard going at times, but in the main, conditions were good. I’d forgotten how hilly that route really is – not really long, drawn out hills, but certainly short, sharp hills that throw your rhythm and take far more out of you than anticipated.
With bathroom breaks and stops for refuelling, we were out there for a good 7 hours and covered around 53km thanks to a couple of wrong turns. It was a great day on the trails, and whilst not running at my usual pace, it was still time on feet which is what I need for my longer races this year.
Doing that 53km gave me a week of higher than normal mileage, peaking at around 125km/75 miles which made me really happy, but then I started to wonder if it had been such a good thing when I saw that my coach had given me a goal of 100 miles for the following week – yikes!
Some folks would think that running 100 miles in one week comes easy to me, especially given the ultra races I have completed over the years. However, this is certainly not the case, and trying to fit in those miles around full time work, household chores, and looking after 3 pups, is definitely not easy – in fact, finding the time is hard, and the physical effects and stress feels much worse than when doing those kind of miles in a race.
My plan that week had me doing 10 miles Monday to Friday, so I headed out after work to get it done. One night, I ran home from work which was tough. The weather was horrendous that day with heavy rain and strong winds, and I was running along some of the busier roads with a weighty backpack that I hated soooo much! But I got it done and I was pretty happy with myself. The weekend saw me doubling up on my runs, with two runs of 25k and then 15k on both Saturday and Sunday. Having already ran 50 miles around town that week, I was now literally running out of places to run, so on the Saturday morning, I headed north to Edmonton to run on the city trails for a change of scenery.
To kick things off that morning, I did my 19th River Valley parkrun. I ran steady and without looking at my watch, and was absolutely delighted to finish with 22.31 on the clock. I was expecting 23 to 24 minutes given my mileage and how the legs were feeling, so this was definitely better than anticipated. The remaining 20k was done solo, following the Fat Ass route through the various off leash dog parks and riverside trails, and I was feeling pretty good, although the hills were taking their toll and slowed me down a little. Andy and the pups had been waiting for me, and arriving back at the car with around 1 mile remaining, I ran the last stretch with Wilson. He'd been missing his runs due to his health in recent weeks, and whilst he wasn't as fit nor as quick as he had been, he still enjoyed that little run and looked like the happiest puppy ever!
The 15k later that day saw me running home from the dog park. I hate running on the range road sometimes, and it was once again extremely windy, but I got it done and was ready fir a good hearty meal that day after doing 40k in total.
Come Sunday, I had to do it all over again and I was having difficulty trying to decide where to run around town. In the end, I decided to head out to the trails again, this time in Devon, which would guarantee more elevation than I would get if I ran around my home town again. The weather was once again really warm and all the ice and snow from just a couple of weeks earlier had now melted. I was expecting lots of mud, but the trails were actually in really good condition, and I had a really good run out there, managing a good 25k with over 2500 ft. of elevation. Sure my legs were feeling somewhat tired, especially as I was now approaching the 100 miles in a week - and even more if counting the 50k from the previous weekend! - But in general, I was feeling pretty good, and I was amazed at how my body was holding up with this high mileage week. I threw in some stairs whilst I was out there to make up the distance, and whilst they hurt far more than trail hills, it felt good to get that lead feeling in my legs!
Getting home later than afternoon, I still had the 15km to do to bring my total for the week to the hundred. I was so hungry that I decided to have supper first, and then I would just run on my treadmill with the incline set at 5% so I could get even more hills in. It would mean being on the road to nowhere for a good 90 minutes, but I put Netflix on, and settled into a nice steady rhythm whilst watching one of the binge watch shows. About 40 minutes in to the run, I started to smell something like electrics overheating, and I realised that my treadmill was once again struggling to stay cool and the motor had started to overheat/ I wasn't about to risk a fire, so I turned things off. It was by now 9.30pm on a Sunday evening, and I still had 5 miles to do if I wanted to hit my weekly goal. I really didn't want to go outside and run - it was extremely windy and it had now gone dark and was much cooler, but I knew I would be disappointed and frustrated at myself if I didn't get out there and do it. Without giving myself much time to change my mind, I put on my outdoor running shoes and headed out the door, keeping to the residential areas where there was more light and I felt safer.
That final few miles was so flaming tough, more so mentally than anything, and I hated every step of it. But I kept telling myself that when it comes to my big race later in the year, I'm going to feel more tired and achier than this, with many more miles still to go. I had to get used to this, I had to get used to the fatigue, the running when I didn't feel like it, and just getting out there and getting the run done. It worked, and when I did finish that Sunday night, I felt so glad that I had got out there and done it.
The following week, I took things a little easier, and by Friday, we were once again packing up the camping gear, This time we would be heading to McLean Creek campground in Kananaskis, as I had decided to take part in the unofficial event MoMoRoGO - a 12 or 24 hour event that saw runners heading up and down Moose Mountain Road as many times as they wanted in the time limit. I was going for the 12 hours, although I likely wouldn't go for the full amount as I could potentially end up running a good 50 miles with LOTS of elevation and it was only 2 weeks out from my next main race - the Lakou Backyard Ultra.
My plan was to get up relatively early on the Saturday and start my run at 8am, finishing at 8pm which meant it would still be daylight for when we got back to the campground. The weather forecast was calling for temperature in the mid to high 20s so I knew it was going to be a hot one, and with Andy having other things planned that day, I would end up crewing myself and having to carry everything in my backpack, as there were no aid stations with this being an unofficial event. I was actually looking forward to it, and was hoping for a good nights sleep so Id be ready to go the next day.
Unfortunately, there were some folks on our campground that thought it was fun to paly very loud music from midnight until 4am, along with drinking and being very rowdy. The campgrounds are not officially open for the season as yet, so there were no staff patrolling the grounds to keep things within the rules, and so these folks clearly thought it was a free for all. I think I got 3 hours of proper sleep that night, and whilst I was truly pissed off at the ignorant guests across the way from us, I tried to stay positive by saying it was good practice doing a long run on minimal sleep and something I would need to do at the Divide 200 later in the year.
The route up Moose Mountain Road is around 14k return, and given the amount of climbing on each ascent - around 1500 ft. minimum - I figured it would take me around 2 hours per loop. Add in stops to refuel, I anticipated completing 5 or 6 laps in the 12 hours if I decided to go that long. That would be a crazy distance really, and although 50 miles would have been awesome, I was thinking that maybe just 50k would be enough at this stage in my training - I really didn't want to jeopardise my race at the BYU by doing too much this weekend, and not allowing myself time for a good recovery.
I was a little concerned that I was going to be only person heading up and down, but I was chuffed to see a few familiar faces out there, and also lots of others folks that I didn’t know but were in the main friendly and sociable every time I saw them. I ended up with 4 laps in the end in just under 8 hours, bang on target with my expectations. It was 36 miles and 6700 ft. for me, and my legs definitely knew it! The crazy thing is that although my legs were certainly staring to feel it towards the end, there was very little difference in the time it took to complete each lap, with just a minute or two between each. I know I still had a couple more ascents in me, and whilst it wouldn't necessarily have been pretty, I would have done it.
The views from the road are restricted by trees at times, but when things open up you really do get some great views of the mountains to the west and the prairies to the east, and the Calgary skyline in the distance. The weather was just as hot as they’d promised, and I of course got burnt to a cinder and am still holding on to the lobster look almost a week later.
Nutrition had been good for the duration of the run but I could definitely have improved the hydration. I did leave two bottles of water in the box at the bottom of the road, but somebody took them which meant I had to be more conservative with the fluids I had already carried up and down the mountainside. When finishing at around 7pm later that evening, I was seriously craving salty, savoury foods and an ice cold beer, so we headed over to the Powderhorn Saloon in Bragg Creek to fill our tummies and quench our thirst, both the food and drink hitting the spot perfectly!
My legs the following day felt tired and little heavy, but still much better than when doing hill of a race earlier in the month. Whether this is a good sign that my legs are getting stronger on the hills I’m not sure, but it meant that I was able to do a little walk with the pups the next day before driving home, and stairs were not a problem at all!
It's now just over a week until the Backyard Ultra, and things have started to heat up even more, with severe heat warnings being issued in our area, as temperatures hit 30 degrees. The long range forecast for race weekend is calling for similar temperatures, so it’s certainly going to be a hot one for racing! The good thing is that the backyard ultra isn’t the kind of event where you’re pushing hard the whole time, and that makes a huge different when it comes to staying cool, and keeping fuelled and hydrated. That’s not to say it won’t be tough and I am a little nervous as to how I will actually get on when coping with the heat. At least the past few days have helped us to prepare a little, and so far I’ve been ok. Next weekend should be fun and I’m still looking forward to seeing how things go :)