Race Report – 5 Peaks Central Alberta – Canmore Nordic Centre

June 16^th, 2012

The second race in the 5 Peaks Central Alberta trail running series took place at the Canmore Nordic Center. The Canmore Nordic Center is located just above the town of Canmore and was the host of the cross-country and biathlon events during the 1988 Winter Olympics.

Canmore enduro elevation chart

The weather leading up to the Saturday morning race was a little sketchy; rain, thunderstorms and snow. This mix of meteorological delights made for some muddy and slippery sections on the trail, but nevertheless added to the experience! 

223 participants ran the sport course (5ish kilometers) and 195 participants endured the enduro course (10ish kilometers). Both courses included double track, rolling hills, steep climbs and lots of single-track. Sport course racers began ten minutes before enduro racers to help alleviate bottlenecks in the single track. As with most 5 Peaks trail races, runners seeded themselves and started at the sound of “Get off the road!”

Canmore Enduro course map

The first couple of hundred meters was open and allowed (somewhat) for the crowd to thin out. Double track soon turned to single track with sharp turns, rolling hills and some minor traffic jams. Roughly 3 kilometers into the course, the trail opened up to a meadow and a leg punishing 1.5 kilometer of uphill. I managed to push myself through this section with a combination of running and walking, knowing that what goes up, must come down! At kilometer 6, the downhill started and continued for roughly one kilometer. This section included scree fields, double track and gnarly single track. It was here that I managed to catch 6 other runners and we ran the rest of the race in formation (sorry about the heavy breathing team!). With a little less than half a kilometer remaining we crested one last hill and the finish flags came into view. A gradual uphill brought us to the finish line of the most technical trail race that this Saskatchewan Clydesdale has ever run. Check out the race results here.

After the race I had an interesting conversation with a former Canadian Mountain Running team member (Phil Villeneuve) and a gifted young runner who is aspiring to make this year’s team. One amazing aspect of these local events is the mixture of elite and recreational runners. Few other races give you the ability to run and chat with runners from all backgrounds and experience levels.

Étant un Clydesdale (un coureur qui pèse plus de 200 livres), j'ai des problèmes d’irritation lorsque je cours de longues distances. Ce qui fonctionne bien pour moi est de porter une paire de culotte de compression et de les couvrir avec une paire de short  de course de fond. Le short double Voracious de North Face fournit les deux options dans un short; une paire de culotte de compression intégrée à l’intérieur d’un short léger.

Les shorts double  Voracious ont des panneaux latéraux en filet qui permettent au corps de rester frais pendant l'activité. La poche en arrière avec glissière est assez grande pour une clef ou un paquet de gel.

J'ai utilisé ces shorts pendant plusieurs différentes séances d’entraînement; des sessions d’intervalles, des sessions de collines et quelques courses de distances moyennes. Je n'ai eu aucun malaise pendant les sessions d'entraînement de colline, mais j’ai eu des irritations pendant les sessions d'intervalles et les distances moyennes. Je crois qu'une partie du problème d’irritation est due au fait que les shorts sont un peu grands. En comparaison avec mes autres shorts et collants de grandeur large de North Face, le short de compression est un peu plus ample et permet le mouvement et le frottage. C’est ce mouvement et frottage qui cause l’irritation.

J'ai également porté ces shorts pour des  classes de spin, de bootcamp et de Tabata et je n’ai eu aucun malaise et pas d’irritation du tout!  Alors je ne porterais pas ces shorts pour toutes mes séances d'entraînement de courses, mais je les emploierais certainement pour mes autres activités physiques. 

TNF Single Track Hayasa Review

I was pretty excited to receive my TNF Single Track Hayasas in the mail. I had been coveting these shoes at my local outdoor store and in the pages of my favorite running magazines for a couple of months. Now they were sitting in my living room just begging to go play.

I like the appearance of the Hayasas, the bright blue or red color makes them stand out even when covered in mud! These shoes are ultralight, weighing in at 8.3 ounces, more than 3 ounces lighter than the previous Single Track model. North Face has also managed to drop the heel to forefoot profile to 10 millimeters, again bettering last year’s Single Track model by 2 millimeters. This low profile allows you to have a good sense of the trail beneath your foot, thus providing a “close to trail ride”.  

 I have used these shoes for most of my runs for 5 weeks and I have had no problems, no pinching or blister problems. I have punished them through intervals, hill workouts, and long runs as well as differing conditions; snow, rain and sun. The fit is snug and my foot feels secure and balanced. The laces have some grab to them, so even when not double knotted, they manage to stay tied.

However, I do have some concerns with the shoe. I have covered roughly 200 kilometers, 30 percent on road and 70 percent on trail and the 3 front nubs on the forefoot of both shoes have worn down considerably. This is not a concern with my other TNF shoes (Single Tracks and Double Tracks) and I have more kilometers on those shoes. With these grips worn down, traction on the trail can be compromised, especially in snowy or muddy conditions. Also, the toe cap on my right shoe has begun to peel off the upper. There does not seem to be any performance hindrance; however it is worrisome that these shoes would break down so quickly.

I am still sold on the lightness and comfort of these shoes; however there are a few kinks left to iron out.

Race Report – 5 Peaks Southern Alberta – Calgary Olympic Park

May 19^th, 2012

Evan Weselake and his crew of volunteers (5 Peaks, Southern Alberta) know how to organize a great event. The weather in Calgary did not look like it was going to cooperate, but Saturday morning saw some cloud with hints of sun, making for almost perfect running conditions.

There was a festival atmosphere at Calgary Olympic Park, site of the first 5 Peaks Southern Alberta event of 2012. There was music, a great master of ceremonies and lots of free swag.

A couple dozen kids participated in the Children’s Challenge to kick the morning off and if smiles were any indication of success, then the fun run was hugely successful! After the Children’s Challenge the approximately 200 sport course participants left the starting gate, followed by the roughly 150 enduro runners.

The start sent everyone on a good climb on a service road, then some single track with rolling hills followed by a kilometer of downhill, a steep climb of over a kilometer and then more rolling hills with a downhill on the service road into the finish line. The enduro racers did the course twice.

The fleet of foot finished the sport course in the low to mid 20 minute range, while the faster enduro finishers broke the finish tape around the 40 minute mark (check out allthe results here).

This course was definitely a good test of fitness, especially for the couple of runners that travelled from the flatland of Saskatchewan. I have to mention that my mom, Cécile Sawatzky finished second in her age category (60 – 69) in the sport course, making her a new fan of trail running.

Looking forward to the next 5 Peaks Southern Alberta in Canmore June 16^th.

À la prochaine.

Random thoughts - nutrition, fitness, compression socks and more!

Pardon, un autre document en anglais, mais depuis que je reste à la maison avec mes deux plus petits, je n'ai pas l'opportunité d'utiliser ma langue française et je trouve que ça devient de plus en plus difficile de formuler mes pensées dans ma deuxième langue.

Random thoughts while running 15km on the trail:

1. My fitness must be better than when I started this year's training schedule. I felt strong and in control the whole way through a tough 15km trail run; many hills, few flats and running on grass. I had planned to keep a 7min/km pace and expected it to be a tough go, however I had to rein myself in as my body was trying to push the pace to 6 - 6:30min/km pace. Granted by km 13 and 14 7min/km felt fast enough, but still pretty pleased with where my fitness is at right now. I guess the training saying is true, "trust in your training and the rest will follow" (or is that from a Destiny Child's song?)
2. Let it be known that I am a Clydesdale because of a good mix of genetics and gourmandise! Genetics I cannot do a whole bunch about (sorry kids!), but my eating is something I should easily be able to manage. Mid-April I decided that it was time to do a nutrition overhaul, pop and chips is not a good bedtime snack (go figure!) and portion sizes should not fill a pig's trough... I have cut out junk food and have done my best to eat proper portion sizes. I've cut back to  two cans of pop a week (I am only human after all!), and no junk food except for popcorn during Friday family movie night. I have seen minimal weight loss, but I am feeling fitter and inches have come off.
3. I have been on the fence about compression socks for awhile now. My wife is a nurse and uses compression socks during her 12 hour shifts and in the last year or so I have noticed more and more (real) runners using them during and after running. But I was not convinced, until today! Yesterday my wife convinced me to buy a pair and  give them a go. So I bought some Sugoi compression sleeves (I love my Smartwools too much to not wear them running), and used them for the first time today. My legs felt and feel fantastic. The fatigue I should be feeling in my legs is not there. Now, with only one running experiment, I cannot say for sure it was the compression sleeves alone that made my legs feel great (maybe it is my new fitness level?), but I am becoming a believer in just one use!
4. If this is how I feel doing 15km on a hilly course, what will I feel like doing another 35 km on a similar course for the LSU? I guess I should return to my last sentence from point 1, trust the training. I still have 4 months of training and numerous races to prepare myself for the big one in September!
5. I may have found a new mental trick to aid in gaining mental toughness during training, listen to country music while doing your long run! Don't get me wrong, I love all forms of music and Country is included in that list, but at some point I couldn't handle it anymore.

À la prochaine,
SK Clydesdale

Introvert or Extrovert and Musical Motivation

A few weeks Dean Karnazes blogged about whether runners are as a rule introverts or extroverts. He commented that his assumption was that most runners are introverts and  enjoy running to escape the noisiness and stimulus of everyday life. However he is questionning his assumption due to the fact of the popularity of running groups and new runners (and many veteran runners) enjoying the social element of training with partners.

Those who know me know that I am an extrovert. I chose a career that allowed me to be surrounded by others all day. I love the feeling of feeding off of the energy of those around me as well as sharing my energy with them. And when it comes to running and doing hard workouts, I prefer to train in a group (I even enjoy doing classes at the local gym instead of working out alone). There have been many training runs that  I would not have completed (or even tried) alone, but because I was training with a group (SRRA Monday night workouts), I pushed through. The energy, comraderie and feedback all aid in getting through the difficult parts.

This is not to say that I do not enjoy taking some time for myself. I do enjoy completing my long runs alone. For some reason, I prefer to do this part of my training without fellow runners. It could be that the solitude allows me to  comtemplate life or write my next paper or prepare my next presentation or plan my next lesson or... well you get the  picture. It allows me to organize my thoughts and put my life (somewhat) in order! That is not to say I will decline an offer for accompaniment during a long run, but for the most part long runs are a solitary activity.

Now when running alone, I do occasionally run with music. I enjoy providing a soundtrack to my movement. Again, if I am doing a hard workout, I find that the right musical background (usually 90s dance music; I like to move it, move it. I like to MOVE IT!) can help me push through the difficult parts. The right beat can provide the perfect cadence to push through those 400m repeats, 60sec intervals or those nasty but necessary hill runs.

What do you think? Are you an introvert, extrovert or a mix of the two when it comes to running? Do you get motivated by a music selection or do you prefer to run without a soundtrack?

A la prochaine...

TNF Single Track Review

I have been running on North Face shoes off and on for the last 10 years. My first pair of TNF trail shoes was a pair of Fire Roads that I grabbed from a discount bin while on my Honeymoon in Maine (chosen mostly because of the eye catching color scheme!). Since then I have tried a variety of models; Rucky  Chucky, Endurus XCRs with Boa lacing system, and Double Tracks. However, it was not until I ran in the Single Tracks that I found my Shangri-La of trail runners.

There was little to no break in period with these shoes. I took them for a trail run right out of the box and had neither hot spots nor any pinching. The elastic scree collar in the tongue, besides providing protection from trail debris, also delivers a snug fit across the top of foot. It is in part to the scree collar that these shoes wrap your foot like a glove and are as comfortable as a pair of slippers.

The Single Tracks are comparatively light, weighing in at 11.5 ounces, making them heavier than my training flats, but lighter than my road runners. However, at this weight these trail runners are a veritable lightweight when compared to other trail runners. I also find the Single Tracks to have a low profile (12mm heel to toe drop as compared to my training flats at 8mm heel to toe drop). This low profile allows for a good feel of the trail and yet at the same time provides an ample amount of cushioning to do some road running; helpful if you have to get over some pavement to reach the trailhead.  I am a Clydesdale runner (hovering around 210 pounds) and I have had no problems using these as my everyday trail running shoes as well as my go to race day runners. These Single Tracks will leave big shoes to fill when they need replacing.