Seizing new opportunities

April 18th 2024 was a special day - I finally became a Canadian Citizen, something that has been a dream of mine for many years. For those of you that didn't already know, my parents were meant to move to Canada back in the 1970's, and I would have been born Canadian had their plans come to fruition. But family ties and commitments meant that the move never happened, and therefore I spent my childhood growing up in England. Yet there has always been something that has drawn me to Canada, and I always dreamt of the mountain adventures in the Rockies, owning a horse ranch or a log cabin in some remote location, fishing for salmon in great rivers, and cross country skiing and ski-joring with the pups in the cold, Canadian winters. Even when at college, my final project was based on Canada. I remember writing to the Canadian tourist board for promotional material, and I hired a Mountie outfit to promote my booth at the travel fair that we attended which would determine our final grade - I was awarded a distinction for my efforts, and much praise for my presentation.

With all this in mind, it felt like I was always meant to be here, and whilst life isn't quite like the stereotypical Canadian lifestyle of log cabins and hunting every day, the lifestyle and culture I've experienced in Canada over the past 12+ years is the kind that I enjoy, the only thing missing was being officially Canadian, but now that dream has finally been fulfilled.

Of course, now that I am officially Canadian, it has opened up more opportunities for my running, and I can now enter championship events, and also aim to qualify for national teams. With this in mind, on June 8th I'll be competing in the Canadian National Championships at the Survivorfest 24-hour track race, in the hope of qualifying for the national team that will compete in the World 24-hour Championships in France next year.

I first ran in a World Championship race way back in 2007, when I represented Great Britain over 100km. I was still new to ultra running, I was still knocking out sub 3-hour marathons, and I ran 7 hours 54 minutes that day, which placed me 11th in the World Championships that year.

I went on to race in a further four world championships after that where I represented Great Britain, but after leaving the UK over 12 years ago now - and with the ever improving quality of competition in women's ultra running globally - I never thought I'd consider trying for a national team to compete on the world stage again, especially now I'm in my 50s!

There are so many amazing Canadian female runners that have the ability to make the 24-hour team, most of them much younger than I am, but I'm a firm believer in "nothing ventured, nothing gained", and if I don't try, I'll never know whether it would have been possible. My best 24-hour result is 208km, but that was from several years ago, and I'm not sure I can run at that kind of level anymore. To even be considered for the Canadian team, I need a minimum of 180km, and with just six spots available, it also depends on how many others exceed that distance too.

The good news is that the training I am currently doing should prepare me perfectly well for the 24 hour event, even though it has been more geared towards the backyard ultra. I've had a few decent mileage weeks that have seen me go close to 100k weeks, and with the hill work and strength work, I'm hoping I'll be feeling great come race day.

A couple of weeks ago, I headed out to Cooking Lake with a group of runners to do a loop of the Blackfoot Ultra course. It was a good solid 25km run, and I found running the hills far easier than in previous years. Then last weekend, I headed out to Devon to do a few loops of the Lakou course. There was another great turn out for this run too with over 30 folks turning up, and with close to 70 registered for the race itself, it sure is going to be busy out on those trails!

Blackfoot Ultra reccie  run - PC Gary Poliquin

Lakou backyard ultra was going to be one of my A races for this year, and I was originally hoping to go in excess of 40 hours if I'm completely honest. Now that I have Survivorfest just 3 weeks later, that distance is going to take some time to recover from, even though it would be run at a much slower pace. I still want a really good run at the backyard, but I perhaps won't be quite as competitive as I know I could be, simply because I want to give myself every chance of exceeign the 180km at Survivorfest.

Training has been going well regardless, and I am finding that I've been enjoying what I've been doing. I've particularly being enjoying the hill work which has seen me heading out to the only local hill at the dog park. It's one of the quieter dog parks and there are very few people out there walking dogs, so I get the place pretty much to myself. It's also trails which is far better than running on roads, and I feel like I'm getting a good trail fix mid-week instead of waiting for the weekend every week. I am certainly getting faster on the climbs, and I am managing to get a good 1000 ft of elevation into my run of around 15km, which is far more than I would get just running around Telford Lake!

Hills at Outlook Hill

I'm also still doing some faster paced running, and I am finding I am running a comfortable 7.30 mile pace when I can be bothered to put in the effort. With speed sessions, I tend to put pressure on myself, and the stress causes my heart rate to climb far quicker than it should do. I'm trying to be a little easier on myself by not obsessing over pace and by avoiding looking at my watch - it's taking some effort, but is doing the trick and running by feel rather than checking the watch every few seconds is actually bringing better results and a slightly faster pace.

Another session complete! Time for snoozes .....

Whilst training is going well, I am a little concerned about a niggle that I seem to have in my lower back and left hip. I've been trying to be disciplined with my strength sessions and have been doing them religiously for the past few weeks, but this past couple of weeks, I have noticed some tightness in my back which is making it difficult to bend over to put shoes and socks on sometimes. It hasn't really been affecting my running, although every so often, I do get a bit of what can only be described as a shimmy in my back and hip, which could quite possibly be nerve pain or a strained muscle. I've put up with it for now, but having had to resort to painkillers this past week, I thought it was time I went to see somebody about it.

I'm never sure whether I need a massage, physio or chiropractor, but given how tight my whole back has been, and how crappy and weak my hips are, somebody suggested a chiropractor, so on Monday I have an appointment and hopefully will get some answers. I personally think it is poor lifting technique, although I also recall having a sore back after the flight back from the UK in February from sitting twisted in my seat. As a friend said to me at the dog park earlier today, it will either improve things or things will stay the same - it shouldn't make things worse, so there is some benefit in seeing somebody. Then hopefully I'll get a much needed massage shortly too!

Five week countdown!

With just five weeks until the Lakou Backyard Ultra, training has been ramped up in style and I'm really hoping that the miles, the hills, and the strength work, all come together on race day, so I can go into the race feeling confident of hitting any targets I might set myself.

Right now, I don't have a goal except to attempt one more lap every time I feel like I've truly had enough. I'd much rather time out on a lap that not start, but then I have said that before and gone again my word!

This past week has been a great week of training, with a decent speed session on Tuesday that saw me comfortably running 7.00 to 7.30 miling despite a brisk wind, Wednesday saw me doing what is now known as my 10-mile classic simply because until recently, all I tended to do during the week were 10-milers. Then Thursday, I was back at the off-leash dog park, running up and down the hill in an attempt to get stronger at hill running and therefore making my hillier races feel easier. That's the theory anyway! To be fair, I am ascending those hills much more quickly now, and I am definitely not walking as much towards the top, so that must mean things are improving. I've still a long way to go to be cruising up single track mountain trails, but even if my shuffle is quicker, it'll give me better finishing time when it comes to racing.

In addition to those hill repeats, I am still heading out to Devon on a weekend to get in some trail running, and some of the climbs out there are longer than the one I'm using at the dog park. Add to that the stairs that can be found heading up and down the river valley, it really is a great place to go to get some decent elevation without having a 2 or 3 hour drive. Last weekend, I had a 40km run on the schedule, and I'm not going to lie, it was tough! The combination of all my other training sessions that week made it so that my legs were definitely heavy and somewhat tired, but then I know it's the kind of fatigue I'll encounter during  race, so it does no harm getting familiar with the feeling.

This weekend's runs have been somewhat different, with Coach Paul putting in four backyard practice loops on both the Saturday and the Sunday. When I've done these before in training, I've tended to just go out and do the loops whenever, but this weekend I was far more disciplined, determined to take four hours out of my day to do four consecutive loops. The fact that I have a loop that is pretty much 4.17 miles from my own front door and back again, it works really well as I can head indoors to get drinks etc, before starting the next, and I can nip the loo and have a puppy snuggle whilst waiting to head out on my next loop.

Saturday's four loops were a little harder. That morning, I awoke feeling a little bit off - bad stomach, rotten headache, and generally just feeling a little bit meh. I wasn't really in the mood for running, so I left it as late as possible, hoping that my mojo would come back later in the day. It didn't, but I still wanted to get the four laps done, so I ran back from the dog park - a distance of 10 miles - and walked in between whilst waiting for the first hour to end and the next to begin. My legs didn't actually feel too bad, but I did need to go the loo twice with the trots. The good news is that I was still able to cover the loop with plenty of time to spare, despite the unwanted visits to the portapotties around Telford Lake.

The last two loops felt marginally better, but I was so glad to just get them over and done with so I could chill out for the night, and brace myself for another four loops on Sunday.

Sunday was the day when Hill of a Race was taking place out at the Rabbit Hill Ski Resort, and although not racing it myself this year, I still wanted to head out there to cheer on some friends. This meant that I had to do my backyard loops on Sunday morning instead, so I was up relatively early and was ready to head out by 9am.

I definitely felt much better on Sunday compared to the previous day, and I found that I was still running at a 9.30 mile despite trying really hard to slow things down. The pace felt extremely easy, and even my heart rate was well under 130 bpm, so I definitely wasn't overexerting myself, and with each loop, my heart rate was dropping and my pace slightly increasing.

It was a beautiful morning to start with - blue skies and a little on the cool side without a breath of wind. Being Sunday morning, the roads were really quiet, and I enjoyed having things all to myself as I just jogged along. By 11am as I started my third loop, there was lots more traffic and more people out walking, so I popped in the headphones for a bit of escapism and enjoyed listening to some music for a short while. Things were also starting to warm up and the wind was now quite gusty, so I was glad I had started early and taken advantage of the much more favourable conditions.

Four loops done for Sunday, eight done for the weekend - I was extremely chuffed. Even more satisfying was how consistent my loops were over both the days. I do need to slow things down, but even so, maintaining a decent pace and keeping my heart race low was reassuring, and I am really hoping I can go long at Lakou in a few weeks time.

Having finished my run, I had a quick shower before heading over to Rabbit Hill to catch the last hour or so of Hill of a Race. I'd been on such a high from my own runs, but by the time I got to Rabbit Hill, I felt terribly depressed and on a downer. Things happen, and I was pissed off! Thank goodness for my running family though. I love being around positive people, people who don't judge, and who make you feel worthy and good about yourself, and it was so nice to see running friends out there crushing their goals. With not racing so much this year, I have really missed seeing these people and I so desperately needed to see them. As an aside, feedback was that the snow hill was much harder to run on this year due to slush and icy sections - maybe it was a good thing I hadn't raced!

So after another successful week of training, I'm looking forward to the next, and I know that next week will bring big miles. I am a little nervous as to how my body will cope, but I'm also excited to be getting out there and running. I say it so often, but along with the pups, running is my life and it's  in my blood. I've got the day off work tomorrow, so I'll be spending the day outdoors with the pups, and then next weekend, I'll be heading out to Cooking Lake to run a loop of the Blackfoot Ultra course with friends. Here's hoping it's another fun day! 

Pigeon Lake Adventures - and a dip in a frozen lake!

The past three weeks have seen me back in the swing of structured training again, and I have to say that it's feeling good. I'm far from being at my fittest, but having those planned sessions is giving me the motivation to get outside and put in the effort. It's early days, but I am already starting to notice a difference in how I'm feeling in my body, especially with a mix of strength training, faster paced sessions, hill work, and even yoga!

The hill work has been the hardest as I live in a city that is definitely flat, and I don't always have time to head out to the local trails to complete hill sessions after work. Doing hills midweek does take some creativity when short on time, and for the first couple of sessions, I was heading to the local rec centre and hogging one of the treadmills for an hour, setting the gradient to 14%, and just power walking for the full 60 minutes to see how much elevation I could. 

Thankfully, daylight saving time kicked in a couple of weeks ago, and we now have lighter nights which means I'm not running in the dark towards the end of my runs. With an improvement in the weather from minus stupid temperatures to sunshine and temperatures around the freezing point, I wanted to take advantage of the much improved conditions rather than spending one night a week on a treadmill just to build elevation into my training.  Thankfully we have three local dog parks, one of which has a decent hill that isn't particularly long at around 200 metres in length, but it is grassy and steep, and I felt it would be a perfect way to stay close to home but still get the workout that my training schedule required.

I've now done two hill sessions on that same hill, and I have been very happy with how beneficial that hill has been. The good thing is that it also allows me to practice my downhill running too, and I can already feel the strength building in my legs, although I still have a long way to go before I'm ready to tackle the climbs at the Sinister 78 Ultra 100-miler in July.

Of course, I also need to build up my endurance again, so longer runs have also reappeared on my schedule. These have typically been around 20 to 25km, but when a friend posted about the annual trip to complete a winter circumnavigation of Pigeon Lake - a distance of approximately 50km - I felt the urge to do it.

An informal annual meetup of friends on a winter's day in early March, I first did this route a couple of years ago and absolutely loved it! I'd not had the chance to do it since with the hubby working away so much, but this year he would be home so I didn't have to worry about the pups being home on their own all day - I was in! I'd also somehow convinced my friend Barb to join us on her first circumnavigation of the lake (she's always up for a bit of adventure and suffering!), and she kindly drove us both to the day use area where we met up with Tess who has organised things for the past 7 years, her chap Matthew, and a couple of other chaps -Nathan and Connor - who were also joining the party.

The plan is always to start the run at sunrise, but this year we started a little late, although with the cloudy skies and lightly falling snow, we didn't get to see the sun rise anyway. A few weeks ago, the lake had been completely free of snow and it had been featured in the press showing off the pristine conditions with a surface like polished glass. We'd since had much warmer temperatures which had melted the surface layer of the ice and made it a little bumpy, followed by another freeze and subzero temperatures which saw snowfall of a few centimetres. We were assured that the ice was still a good 12 inches thick and would be able to support our weight, but the amount of snow was now more than anticipated, so this year would be another hybrid version of the run, meaning we would spend some time running on the lake, but the majority of the time would be on the summer village roads that hugged the shoreline for the vast majority of the way around the lake.

The first few miles were on the lake, and as expected, it was a slog in the snow. We could hear the ice crunching underneath our feet which was a little disconcerting, but we didn't hear anything that caused us to make a mad dash before the ice caved in completely! Spirits were high, we were chattering away, laughing, smiling, having fun, whilst Tess and Connor told us stories of their childhood antics when they used to come to the lake many years ago. I always love to hear other people's stories and memories, and I was quite happy to just listen as we ran along.

One of the things about running around the lake is that you have no concept of distance as the lake is always on the left hand side, the other side of the lake is always in the distance, and it never gets any closer, even though you know you are making progress. The other thing is how quickly time passes - before we knew it, we had reach the half way point and were enjoying home made granola bars and other refreshments in Connor's cabin that overlooked the lake. It was nice to head indoors for a short while to warm up and get some fluids inside of me - I had used my bladder today, and the tube was now clogged up with ice thanks to the cold temperatures, so I had been unable to have a proper drink for a good couple of hours. A can of root beer was greatly appreciated, and thanks to the warmth in the cabin, the tube defrosted and I was able to get a decent drink of water for the remainder of the run.

One of the highlights of the annual run is heading across to what is affectionately called Bird Shit Island - a small island a good way out from the lake shore, where birds nest in the spring and summer, and that is inaccessible to humans unless they swim or have a boat. Thanks to the ice though, winter visits are possible, and we made our  way across the lake - approximately 3km - to visit the island, sign the visitors' book and grab a group photo, before slogging across the lake for another couple of miles to rejoin the village roads.

By the time we'd done 35km, I could certainly feel it in my legs and my knee and hips were starting to have a moan thanks to the slipping and sliding and trying to get a grip in the snow. Our pace however had stayed pretty much the same, and we were all making really good progress. Without one road completely circling the lake, it meant rejoining the ice again for the last 10km or so, but by now, I could see the tower close to the parking lot and the day use area, and I  knew we'd be back within the next hour or so. Checking my watch, it would bring us back almost 15 minutes quicker than last time I did the run - not that it mattered, but it did feel good knowing I' ran quicker 2 or 3 years later, despite being a little older and slower! The group had now split a little, and I hung back waiting for Barb, making sure she didn't get lost, although it was pretty simple to follow the footprints in the snow that stretched out into the distance. This side of the lake also saw more vehicles on the ice, heading over to the fishing holes that had been drilled specifically for the ice fishing. It was once again a reminder that we were indeed running on a lake, quite a way out from the shore, and I got that strange surreal feeling again.

The sun was starting to come out again, the snow bright and glaring as the light reflected, and me wishing that I had brought those shades after all! It was starting to feel much warmer, although occasionally we would get the breeze blowing that would the chill, and I would find myself rolling down my sleeves to stay warm. Earlier in the day, I'd accidentally dropped my gloves down the loo in a portapotty. I had managed to fix them out, but obviously I couldn't wear them, so my hands were feeling the chill every so often. 

Knowing we only had about 3km remaining, I pulled ahead of Barb and ended up catching Nathan, and we ran/walked together, chatting about race plans for the year and all things backyard ultra. It was nice getting to know him a bit - I'm always happy to meet new people and make new friends, and he was a pleasure to talk to, giving off lots of positive vibes.

Shortly afterwards, we saw picnic benches ahead and the children's play park, and we knew that we were almost finished. We had been following the footprints left behind by Tess, Matthew and Connor, and as we drew closer to the parking lot, they veered off to the right, so we followed. The lake surface had remained consistent for the entire run, but as we ran towards the shore, there were mounds of snow as if it had been ploughed. It was also more bumpy, and we could see what looked like some fishing holes. The footprints continued to this section of the lake, but the change in appearance made both Nathan and I hesitate, and I questioned whether the ice was still frozen or not. We both stopped, and I used one of my feet to put some pressure on it to see if it caved - it didn't, so we assumed it would be ok. The next minute, I found myself falling through the ice, submerged in about 4ft of cold, icy, lake water. It wasn't so cold that it took my breath away, but I did just stand there wondering what the hell to do as a load of emotions went through me. It was a few seconds before I realised that I was actually standing up and there was no need to panic - besides, we were literally about 5 or 6 metres from the shoreline and thankfully not in the middle of the lake. I tried to climb out, but as I pushed down on what seemed like firm ice around me, it just kept breaking up and I was unable to haul myself out of the water.

I was so thankful that Nathan was with me - he grabbed my hand and pulled me out, me lying as flat as possible as I dragged my body out of the water. He was concerned, but I was ok if a little cold as the water dripped from me. We had been all the way around the lake with no issues, and then literally 20 metres from the finish, I went through the ice. What the ..??!!

We walked those last few metres, me shaking my head in disbelief, and as we came up to the parking lot, we discovered that not only had I fallen, but so too had Tess and Connor. Thankfully, we were all ok and with the sun having now come out properly, it definitely felt warmer which was probably a good thing given how wet we were.

Matthew ran out to Barb who had still to finish, just to be sure she didn't follow those footprints and fall in the water too - she arrived back safely, but was concerned about me, especially as I'd only told her about my almost drowning as a child tale earlier in the day. I have to say I was glad when she got back and I was able to get into some dry clothes and get warmed up in the car. I was also glad that despite the mishap, we were all still in good spirits, laughing at the irony of falling in those last few steps - things would have been very different had it happened earlier in the day!

Of course, there will likely be another circumnavigation of Pigeon Lake next year, and assuming Andy is home to look after the pups, I hope to be there again - but next time I will be a little more cautious when that ice texture changes!

It was a great end to another good week of running, and with 7 weeks until the Lakou Backyard Ultra, and I feeling optimistic that I'll have a good run. I do have a goal for race day, I may have already mentioned it, but if not, I am keeping things under wraps for now - having a goal is all well and good, but it also gives an excuse to stop once hitting that goal. Having no goal means I can just keep going for as long as I can, and that's what the backyard ultra is all about.

Happy trails folks!