Running the hills and turning 50 :)

Hill of a Race is creeping ever closer, and my hill running this past couple of weeks has started to give me the confidence I need, to be able to run up and down a ski hill for 6  consecutive hours!

Since my last post, I did complete a weekend of double run days, and I was pretty chuffed how things went. A friend had asked if I fancied joining her on a run that very weekend, and we ended up heading to Edmonton to complete 10 miles of running up and down the Walterdale Hill. For those of you not familiar with this hill, it is long, steep, and tough. Yes, it's on road, but at a good half mile or more, it definitely isn't easy. Add to that ice, slush and snow on the day, it made things a little tougher than running on just plain concrete. I expected to do at least 10 times up and down, and sure enough, I had completed the session and had a good 1700 ft or so of climbing in my legs - they were undoubtedly fatigued and I could certainly tell I'd been running hills, yet I still had another 25km to do later that day, so tried not to think too much about how my legs were feeling.

Walterdale hill repeats - ouch!

By 2pm, I was out running on the local roads around town, and I was amazed at how good my legs actually felt. They were starting to feel strong, my breathing felt much easier, and I ended up running an average pace of 8.10 miling without too much effort. 

Of course, the next day was another double run day, with 25km to do in the morning, and another 15km later in the day. For the morning session, I headed out to the trails in Devon with the goal of running more hills but at a much more leisurely pace. I felt that run much more than the previous day, my legs feeling heavy as I ran the hills, huffing and puffing far more so that the day before. It took me longer than I was anticipating, but at least I had completed the session, and I felt a sense of achievement as I drove home afterwards. The hard part was that I still had another 15km to do that evening, and my legs were already complaining! The second run saw me running home from the dog park, and then I did the last 5km with Wilson, knowing he would run more slowly which I would no doubt appreciate! An 80km weekend, and a 75 mile week - I was very happy with the effort!

The following week, I did parkrun again, and despite another higher than normal mileage week and running on tired legs, I ran the 5k quicker than back in January when I was feeling much fresher and raring to go. This week, I ran 22.07 which really did surprise me - I wasn't expecting to run much quicker than 23 minutes! 

Training really has been going well, and not only am I feeling stronger on the climbs, my base speed on the flats is also getting quicker. I feel as though my body is adjusting to the changes in my training, more specifically the hill work over recent weeks - the strength I am feeling in my legs, hips and glutes is certainly building my confidence when looking ahead to my forthcoming races. and I'm hoping that I continue to see that improvement.

Last weekend, it was my 50th birthday, and we headed to Banff for a weekend of winter camping. I still had runs in my schedule, but I also wanted to do something special for my birthday. Saturday called for 3 hours on hilly trails with 10k later in the day, but I switched thigns around a bit, and decide to run 5 times up Tunnel Mountain with each summit representing a decade of my life.

This was not an easy run for me. The trail is steep even on the best of days, but with the added icy sections and lying snow, it made both the up and down much tougher. In the summer, I had done the up and down in around 45 minutes, so I expected to run a similar pace, maybe a little slower. 

Seeing the same people a few times during my run was amazing, and when they heard what I was doing and why, they offered their congratulations and were all very encouraging. Indeed, on my fifth and final ascent of the mountain, I received hugs from complete strangers. 

It took me 3 hours 40 minutes or so to do the 5 repeats - a total distance of around 25km and 4500 ft of ascent, but i was feeling pretty good and had surprised myself at just how consistent each ascent was. It was inevitable that I would start to slow down , but I really didn't slow too much, and I was so happy with how things went.

The next day, I made my way from Tunnel Mountain, running along the road to Lake Minnewanka, a distance of 10 miles. I had forgotten how hilly that road was, and yet once again, I made really good steady progress on all those climbs, with my average pace being sub 9 minute miling despite a hilly day yesterday, and another 800 ft today in windy and snowy conditions.

It's strange how turning 50 has made me far more motivated and far more determined to work hard and be as competitive as possible in my races. Usually I would avoid hills - sometimes I don't have much choice with living where I do, which is pancake flat - but right now, I am wanting to find the hilliest route I can, because  I know I have to get my body used to climbing. I am also still doing the consistent strength work, and my climbing muscles are starting to get stronger. I have been having some issues with my left foot - my big toe was giving me a bit of gip, and my left ankle was feeling quite tight, but this past few days, things have improved, and I am only getting the occasional pain or discomfort. It's reassuring to see, and with a few more weeks until my first race of the year, I am feeling even more optimistic of a good race, although I do need to keep an eye on things and make sure I don't get injured.

The other good news is that I think I have my pacers confirmed for the Divide 200 in September, and I'm really happy that I have three amazing friends who are giving up THEIR time to help me fulfill a dream of completing my first 200 mile. The finer details are still to be discussed, but my pacing team will consist of Pawel, Natalie and Kristina, with Andy of course being my Crew Chief.

Natalie has been a good friend  for several years, and I first met her at the Kananaski Triple Trail Races. She is a strong trail runner and also very speedy, and she has represented Canada at the World 24 hour Championships in recent years. She is a great friend and a fantastic runner.

Kristina is another amazing friend, who I met on the trails when I lived in Phoenix, Arizona. She's another very strong and speedy runner, and holds several American age group records over numerous distances on the track. She also podiumed in the Sky Running Series a couple of years ago, and having paced me to victory at the Mogollon Monster 100 miler down in Arizona a few years ago, I have every faith that she will be great company out in Southern Alberta later this year.

Finally, there is Pawel, and I am so happy to have him joining me! I first met Pawel at the indoor track on a cold winter's night here in Alberta just a couple of years ago, and during Covid, he joined me for a few of the longer virtual races I did, including a 100k and a 24 hour event. His chatty style and sense of humour is sure to be a huge help, and I am looking forward to spending a few hours with him out on those mountain trails in September.

Of course, there is still alot of work to do until then, and other races to get prepared for which will set the foundations for the biggie in September. The focus for now is still on those hills, and then the distances will start to increase ready for the backyard ultra in May. When spring finally arrives, visits to the mountains will become more frequent as I we head off for the weekend so I can do trail runs on mountainous terrain. Sinister 50 miler will be a good test of fitness in July, and then shortly afterwards, it will be time for the big one.

Next weekend I have four hours of hilly trails to complete. Things are ramping up, things are getting to get harder, but I am ready to work for it maintain my focus, and do my best.

Race Prep!

Last week, Sinister Sports held an online live Q&A session for those registered for The Divide 200 in September. I haven’treally given much thought nor planning to this particular race just yet, especially with it still being several months away, but it did get me thinking that maybe I should start to familiarise myself with things a little more, and start to do some of that preliminary prep.

I spent a good hour on Sunday printing out then reading the race information available thus far, and that nervous excitement about a big race started to kick in. After the initial read through, I immediately started to think about my race support crew and possible pacers. My support crew rarely changes when it comes to races, and of course Andy will be there to look after me, making sure I’m eating, drinking, moving and sleeping, but not necessarily in that order! Pacers was another matter, and whilst I have reached out to a couple of friends already, it’s a big ask asking them to commit to pacing duties this far in advance, especially when they are still probably trying to figure out their own racing year.

Looking at the roll of being a pacer for this particular event, it certainly won’t be easy. The pacer must also be prepared to be out at any hour of the day, be self-sufficient and equipped to deal with weather conditions, terrain and possible wildlife encounters, carry their own stuff, not only keeping me moving, but also themselves. I looked at the distances between the checkpoints that will be accessible to both crew and pacers, and the minimum distance they will have to do is 48km, or around 30 miles, which means they also have to be confident about being able to cover that kind of distance on hilly, technical terrain.  Thankfully those friends that have already said they should be able to help out already have that experience, and I’m really hoping that they get to experience this event with me later this year, and can contribute to me successfully reaching that finish line!

Of course, prior to that, I do have other races in my schedule, the first one being Hill of a Race which is just 8 weeks away. I’ve been neglecting the hill work during January, but it’s now time to pick things up a bit and start embracing the climbs!

Last weekend, I headed out to the trails in Devon with the intention of running as many hills as possible within the 10-mile that I had on my training schedule. Every hill I came to that was of a decent length, I ran up five times, trying to achieve as much elevation as possible and to get my body used to the effort involved in running up hills. It wasn’t easy, my lower back and glutes were getting fatigued, but I did somehow managed to get almost 2,000 ft of ascent into my run. I was very happy with that, although the following day, my muscles were definitely sore from the unaccustomed movement of going up!

Other than that, training has been going well. I did another 5km time trial last week on a winter’s night that saw ice and snow underfoot, yet I still ran 22.30 despite the conditions. I also ran a good, solid 30km on Saturday in awfully windy conditions, where the temperature hovered at around -29 with the wind chill – not much fun in all those layers, but at least I was snug and warm underneath.

This coming weekend, I have double run days on both Saturday and Sunday, with a target of 40km both days. Thankfully the weather looks to be warming up although that might make things slick underfoot with ice or snow melt. But that’s ok as Hill of a Race is the one where we run up and down a ski slope for 6 hours, and the conditions won’t be known until on the day; might as well be prepared and get as much variety in training as possible, then race day won’t come as one big surprise!