So we have been getting pounded with snow here in revelstoke. We had a winter storm warning from wednesday through saterday last week, and got hit with over 75cms of snow. My dad and brother were coming out for the weekend and they were stuck for nearly 9 hours on the highway because of avalanches. Now we have another snow warning today through saterday again, and it has already snowed 20cms since it started early this morning. If you're a skiier all this snow is fantastic! We skied powder all day saterday even tho the snow had tapered off by then. Since Ben and I work monday through friday, we can only get out to ski on saterday and sunday. The issue is that those are also the days of our longest workouts. Last saterday we were supposed to have a 3hr bike and a 30 minute run, and on sunday we were supposed to have a 80 minute run and 30 minute bike. We would do those workouts befor we went skiing, but there are 2 problems: 1) the gym doesn't open until 10am, so if we want to do out workouts we have to wait until then and 2) there is powder to ski!! So why don't we just go after skiing? well, for those of you that ski you will understand why we dont. After skiing all day you are tired, your legs are tired and dead,and you haven't dranken nearly any water all day so you're a little dehydrated. The last thing you feel like doing is hitting the gym. Rather you want a beer, dinner, and then to lounge on the couch before bed. Which is what we have been doing. We justify it with the fact that at least we're doing SOMETHING, i mean we're working our legs and getting our heart rates up skiing. And I think skiing is a good substitute for sitting on a spin bike for 3 horus. But i dont think it can count as running. Running is my weakest discipline, so i really need to make sure i get those long runs in. Since I have been missing them because of skiing, I tried to get it in this week by doing it on monday night after work. Well there is a reason that long runs are first thing in the morning. I was very ill after that workout. When the alarm rang at 4:30am the next morning to go back to the gym to run again, well i coulnd't do it. I had just been there not even 10 hours earlier doing a long run. I was dehydrated because I ate then went to bed and didn't have time to drink enough water to replenish the liquid i had lost. Needless to say I reset my alarm until 7pm and enjoyed the extra sleep.
So that currently is our predicament, and i know many of you are thinking "oh what a rough life they are skiing instead of training". But the joke will be on me in March when the skiing is over and I'm trying to catch up on my long bikes and runs! :S Less than 8 months till Ironmamn Canada!
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Merry Christmas, here's the flu.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from both of us! I hope everyone had a great holidays! Ours were busy but it was awesome to spend some time with my family.
Over the holidays we were determined to keep our training going, even if we had to adjust it a bit to accomodate traveling and the gym being closed. We thought we had it all planned out. However, we hit our first road block on christmas eve when we arrived at the gym at 5:30 am only for it not to open.. argh. With some disappointment we drove home and finished some final packing for the weekend. I had to work 8am-12pm which went by painfully slow. Then ben picked me up and we drove straight to calgary. We got there just as people were arriving for my Dad's christmas eve party. After a great meal, a couple of drinks, and some carolling we were convinced to go to midnight mass. We did not get home until 1:15am (waaay past our bedtime) and had be up since 4:30 am so we were beat. We managed to squeeze in our run on christmas day inbetween heading to my Aunt's house and opening christmas presents (I think the new heart rate monitor that I got for christmas gave me some incentive to get out there). After dinner at my Aunts house we headed to my Mom's house for our own little christmas morning at 10pm. It turned out to be another late night, and I could feel like I was starting to get run down.
Boxing day we were planning on relaxing a bit and enjoying our last day in calgary. After a huge brunch we tried to squeeze in a bike workout. Needless to say it was pretty rough on a very full tummy. After the gym we headed to the outdoor rink for some hockey with my family which was a ton of fun. Before we knew it we were finishing another great meal and heading to bed.
We left calgary early on monday morning because there was a snow warning in revelstoke and we didn't want to get stuck on the highway. By the time we got back to revelstoke we were exhausted and missed out swim workout. I was supposed to work on tuesday, but with the snow coming I called in to get it off. So on tuesday we enjoyed a day of skiing, and I started feeling pretty lousy. We went home and I'm pretty sure ben tried to go to the gym and I just laid on the couch. In the end I caught my brother's flu and the next 3 days were pretty rough. Fever, chills, aches, stomach upset, the whole works. I had to work, but as soon as I got home I would park myself in bed. No training for me. Ben was not feeling 100% either but he still tried to get a couple of workouts in but he was exhausted after skiing all day since he had the week off.
By the time Friday came, I was finally feeling better. We were up early and it was going to be my first workout back at it. But since it was New years eve again nothing was open. Oh well, at that point I dont think one more day off would have meant anything. That night since it was New Years Eve we went out and enjoyed a delicious dinner at one of our favorite restuarants in revelsotke, then headed home and both of us fell asleep before midnight. Mind you we made it until 11 so we just pretended we were in Calgary. The gym was closed the rest of the weekend, so we didn't get our training in, but we did ski!.. i think that was our only consolation.
I had Yesterday off of work so I went and trained earlier in the day and then made meals for the rest of the week so we don't have to worry about cooking. It is something that we should try and do every week on sundays, but often the day gets away from us and we end up scrambling for dinner during the week. Our saving grace here is a place called Mountain Meals that have homemade, organic soups and sauces/stews. For 10$ we can feed each of us an awesome meal and only have to heat it up when we get home.
Looking forward to the New year, we have a few races leading up to the main event. We're both planning on doing the vancouver marathon in May, then I have the Oliver Half Ironman in June(which I was supposed to do last year but I broke my foot 2 weeks before), then Ironman Canada in August. Ben was toiling with the idea of doing an Ultra as well, but we'll see how the ironman training goes and how he could fit the training for an Ultra in. Other than training, we're just planning on enjoying where were at right now. We are loving revelstoke.
Over the holidays we were determined to keep our training going, even if we had to adjust it a bit to accomodate traveling and the gym being closed. We thought we had it all planned out. However, we hit our first road block on christmas eve when we arrived at the gym at 5:30 am only for it not to open.. argh. With some disappointment we drove home and finished some final packing for the weekend. I had to work 8am-12pm which went by painfully slow. Then ben picked me up and we drove straight to calgary. We got there just as people were arriving for my Dad's christmas eve party. After a great meal, a couple of drinks, and some carolling we were convinced to go to midnight mass. We did not get home until 1:15am (waaay past our bedtime) and had be up since 4:30 am so we were beat. We managed to squeeze in our run on christmas day inbetween heading to my Aunt's house and opening christmas presents (I think the new heart rate monitor that I got for christmas gave me some incentive to get out there). After dinner at my Aunts house we headed to my Mom's house for our own little christmas morning at 10pm. It turned out to be another late night, and I could feel like I was starting to get run down.
Boxing day we were planning on relaxing a bit and enjoying our last day in calgary. After a huge brunch we tried to squeeze in a bike workout. Needless to say it was pretty rough on a very full tummy. After the gym we headed to the outdoor rink for some hockey with my family which was a ton of fun. Before we knew it we were finishing another great meal and heading to bed.
We left calgary early on monday morning because there was a snow warning in revelstoke and we didn't want to get stuck on the highway. By the time we got back to revelstoke we were exhausted and missed out swim workout. I was supposed to work on tuesday, but with the snow coming I called in to get it off. So on tuesday we enjoyed a day of skiing, and I started feeling pretty lousy. We went home and I'm pretty sure ben tried to go to the gym and I just laid on the couch. In the end I caught my brother's flu and the next 3 days were pretty rough. Fever, chills, aches, stomach upset, the whole works. I had to work, but as soon as I got home I would park myself in bed. No training for me. Ben was not feeling 100% either but he still tried to get a couple of workouts in but he was exhausted after skiing all day since he had the week off.
By the time Friday came, I was finally feeling better. We were up early and it was going to be my first workout back at it. But since it was New years eve again nothing was open. Oh well, at that point I dont think one more day off would have meant anything. That night since it was New Years Eve we went out and enjoyed a delicious dinner at one of our favorite restuarants in revelsotke, then headed home and both of us fell asleep before midnight. Mind you we made it until 11 so we just pretended we were in Calgary. The gym was closed the rest of the weekend, so we didn't get our training in, but we did ski!.. i think that was our only consolation.
I had Yesterday off of work so I went and trained earlier in the day and then made meals for the rest of the week so we don't have to worry about cooking. It is something that we should try and do every week on sundays, but often the day gets away from us and we end up scrambling for dinner during the week. Our saving grace here is a place called Mountain Meals that have homemade, organic soups and sauces/stews. For 10$ we can feed each of us an awesome meal and only have to heat it up when we get home.
Looking forward to the New year, we have a few races leading up to the main event. We're both planning on doing the vancouver marathon in May, then I have the Oliver Half Ironman in June(which I was supposed to do last year but I broke my foot 2 weeks before), then Ironman Canada in August. Ben was toiling with the idea of doing an Ultra as well, but we'll see how the ironman training goes and how he could fit the training for an Ultra in. Other than training, we're just planning on enjoying where were at right now. We are loving revelstoke.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
The Kid Factor
Yesterday morning while dragging our butts to the gym for our morning 45 min bike workout we realized that it was not even 12 hours since we were at the gym last biking. Yep, and in those 12 hours we jammed eating dinner, getting grocery shopping done, doing the dishes, and 8 hours of sleep. That is probably one of the hardest things that we have found since starting our training program is the lack of time at night. We are up between 4:45 and 5 am to get to the gym right when it opens, therefore we are asleep between 8:30 and 9pm each night. We work until 5pm, are at the gym again and not home until 6:30ish and have to make, eat, and clean up dinner. That precious hour in the evening between 7 and 8 isn't even enough time to do the laundry which I discovered last week when I went to bed and left the washing machine going.
Last night, as we were going to bed at 8, talking about how exhausted we were, we got talking about how hard it would be to try and do this with kids! I just want to take a moment and give props to any mother or father out there who are training for something! It would be so difficult! YOu would defintely have to consider the kid factor when signing up for ironman and committing yourself to all those hours of training. Ben and I have the luxery of a full nights rest and being able to go to bed at 8pm. We don't have to worry about who will watch the kids as we go train in the mornings and in the evenings. If we are tired and grumpy and all we feel like doing is sitting in a corner and staring at the wall in the dark, we can do that! You could probably do that with kids too, but I think they would get very concerned about mommy. But most of all, if I am tired and grumpy and I bark at Ben over something stupid he knows that it is just because I'm tired and hungry and in a few minutes I will realize how stupid it was and apologize. We have that luxery to be grumpy without hurting anyones feelings, since there is complete understanding because the other person feels just as tired. Perhaps that is why most people that do ironman are males 30-50 and females 40+. The males don't have to worry about their kids because their wives will take care of them while they're training while the older females may have kids but perhaps they are older and understand that mom is training for the ironman.
Other than training, last week was a little hectic with people visiting. Infact a friend of ours was in town from Calgary and we didn't even get a chance to see her! Which is really too bad. Ben was getting adjusted to being back at work after a few months off. Ben's mom and her partner brought dinner and stayed the night on thursday. In fact, we walked into the house after training and Ben's mom was there cooking a delicious dinner, we were pretty spoiled. Then Friday night my best friend from high school and her boyfriend came down for some skiing. They didn't get here until around 11pm at night, and let me tell you it was a struggle staying up for them. I was pretty jealous of ben when he headed to bed around 9. On saterday we skiied allll day. It was awesome! It was a great day, there was lots of snow that week so the hill still had some sweet powder stashes left. We were supposed to bike for an hour and a half that day but we figured skiing all day more than counted for that. Then saterday night it started snowing, no more than snowing but completely blizzarding! Infact there was a snow warning here which never happens because they always get lots of snow! Well ben was like a little kid on christmas morning when he woke up on sunday. He was up at 5am going for coffee and checking the snow report and was ready to head to the hill!(and yes the hill does not open until 8:30 and we are only a 10 minute drive from the hill). My friends decided to be responsible and hit the road before itclosed, and ben and I headed to the hill for 745am (that was the earliest I was getting up there).
That day I skied the deepest snow of my life! like seroiusly. It was up to your waist! And that hill is amazing, we did not wait in a single line for more than 5 minutes all day! Infact, our first run we had an entire run top to bottom of untouched snow. Seroiusly, not a single person had skied it yet. Amazing. By the time we got home the power was out, so even if we had the energy to do the hour run and half hour bike we couldn't since there was no power! Instead we had a nap on the couch, went for a walk, and waited for the power to come back on so we could cook dinner. It's amazing how much you can't do when the power is out! That is the seccond time it has happened here. You cannot cook anything, there is no heat, it's even hard to shower by candle/flashlight! But it eventually came on by 5pm, and we were asleep by 8:30 getting ready for anther week of training.
Last night, as we were going to bed at 8, talking about how exhausted we were, we got talking about how hard it would be to try and do this with kids! I just want to take a moment and give props to any mother or father out there who are training for something! It would be so difficult! YOu would defintely have to consider the kid factor when signing up for ironman and committing yourself to all those hours of training. Ben and I have the luxery of a full nights rest and being able to go to bed at 8pm. We don't have to worry about who will watch the kids as we go train in the mornings and in the evenings. If we are tired and grumpy and all we feel like doing is sitting in a corner and staring at the wall in the dark, we can do that! You could probably do that with kids too, but I think they would get very concerned about mommy. But most of all, if I am tired and grumpy and I bark at Ben over something stupid he knows that it is just because I'm tired and hungry and in a few minutes I will realize how stupid it was and apologize. We have that luxery to be grumpy without hurting anyones feelings, since there is complete understanding because the other person feels just as tired. Perhaps that is why most people that do ironman are males 30-50 and females 40+. The males don't have to worry about their kids because their wives will take care of them while they're training while the older females may have kids but perhaps they are older and understand that mom is training for the ironman.
Other than training, last week was a little hectic with people visiting. Infact a friend of ours was in town from Calgary and we didn't even get a chance to see her! Which is really too bad. Ben was getting adjusted to being back at work after a few months off. Ben's mom and her partner brought dinner and stayed the night on thursday. In fact, we walked into the house after training and Ben's mom was there cooking a delicious dinner, we were pretty spoiled. Then Friday night my best friend from high school and her boyfriend came down for some skiing. They didn't get here until around 11pm at night, and let me tell you it was a struggle staying up for them. I was pretty jealous of ben when he headed to bed around 9. On saterday we skiied allll day. It was awesome! It was a great day, there was lots of snow that week so the hill still had some sweet powder stashes left. We were supposed to bike for an hour and a half that day but we figured skiing all day more than counted for that. Then saterday night it started snowing, no more than snowing but completely blizzarding! Infact there was a snow warning here which never happens because they always get lots of snow! Well ben was like a little kid on christmas morning when he woke up on sunday. He was up at 5am going for coffee and checking the snow report and was ready to head to the hill!(and yes the hill does not open until 8:30 and we are only a 10 minute drive from the hill). My friends decided to be responsible and hit the road before itclosed, and ben and I headed to the hill for 745am (that was the earliest I was getting up there).
That day I skied the deepest snow of my life! like seroiusly. It was up to your waist! And that hill is amazing, we did not wait in a single line for more than 5 minutes all day! Infact, our first run we had an entire run top to bottom of untouched snow. Seroiusly, not a single person had skied it yet. Amazing. By the time we got home the power was out, so even if we had the energy to do the hour run and half hour bike we couldn't since there was no power! Instead we had a nap on the couch, went for a walk, and waited for the power to come back on so we could cook dinner. It's amazing how much you can't do when the power is out! That is the seccond time it has happened here. You cannot cook anything, there is no heat, it's even hard to shower by candle/flashlight! But it eventually came on by 5pm, and we were asleep by 8:30 getting ready for anther week of training.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
One week down..... only 35 more to go.
One week down, and only 35 weeks left... and no unlike most of the other people with a 9 month count down I am not counting down a pregnency. Rather, we have made it through one week of training! Last monday was our first official day of ironman training! Last monday we were in calgary for me to get some tests done and I was not allowed to eat or drink anything after midnight. So Ben hit the pool at 6 am (5am our time) while I slept cozily for an extra hour, mmm... However, joke would be on me when i had to swim after not eating/drinking all morning and a 5 hour drive home. I was very tempted to just skip it, I mean it was only a half hour swim. But I wanted to start this training program right, so I got to the pool and made it through the first workout. The next morning we were up at 5:30 am and hit the gym for a bike, then again at 5:30 pm for a run. Wednesday we were at the pool for when it opened at 6:30 and then were at the gym again at 5:30 for a bike. I can safely say that wednesday at work I was a zombie. I had to be extra careful to make sure that I was not inverting numbers and charging someone $934 instead of $349 for fuel. Thursday we had another pool morning and then an afternoon run. Although all week we were asleep by 9pm, by the time thursday afternoon hit I'm pretty sure I was asleep by 7:30. On Friday we had an optional day off or the choice to swim... we opted for the day off. Ben had not started his new job yet so he got to hit up opening day at Revelstoke Ski resort (lucky guy) and I worked. It was so nice to just enjoy sleeping until 7 and not having to worry about working out. Saterday we went out to ski for the morning but the conditions weren't great (especially since Ben had skied all the fresh snow the day before) and we had over an hour of biking to get done, so we left at noon and headed to the gym. That night was my company christmas party, which was a blast but we did not get home until 1 am (incredibly late for us, like seroiusly, even when we're not training we have a hard time staying up past 11). Luckily we didnt have too much to do on Sunday, except for a 30 min bike and 55 min run. We went out to look at an old truck west of town, hit the gym, got our shopping done and pretty much passed out. And that was the end of the first week, with only 35 more to go..
This week Ben started a new job working on 2 new schools that are being built in town. They are supposed to have steady work for the next 2 years so it looks like we'll be able to stay here (in paradise) at least until then... hopefully forever.. But training yesterday was rough on him and has shifted out entire training routine that we got going last week. Ben now starts work at 7am, so we're not able to swim in the mornings at all anymore since the pool only opens at 6:30. And we now have to make sure we're at the gym when it opens at 5:30. Then ben eats a quick breakfast and heads out while I get to enjoy the morning for a bit and then walk to work. I have actually quite enjoyed the past 2 days of walking to work. I just pop in my earphones, and enjoy the beaufitul scenery of revelstoke. I still have my moments of awe when I look up and see the mountain towering over me. I have found this second week much easier so far (although it is only tuesday). But Ben has been pretty burnt out. He went pretty hard last week and he is now working 7-4:30 days outside in the cold. So I think it will definitely take some time for him to adjust to working again and training. Especially since his job involves lots of lifting and what not.
That's all for now!
This week Ben started a new job working on 2 new schools that are being built in town. They are supposed to have steady work for the next 2 years so it looks like we'll be able to stay here (in paradise) at least until then... hopefully forever.. But training yesterday was rough on him and has shifted out entire training routine that we got going last week. Ben now starts work at 7am, so we're not able to swim in the mornings at all anymore since the pool only opens at 6:30. And we now have to make sure we're at the gym when it opens at 5:30. Then ben eats a quick breakfast and heads out while I get to enjoy the morning for a bit and then walk to work. I have actually quite enjoyed the past 2 days of walking to work. I just pop in my earphones, and enjoy the beaufitul scenery of revelstoke. I still have my moments of awe when I look up and see the mountain towering over me. I have found this second week much easier so far (although it is only tuesday). But Ben has been pretty burnt out. He went pretty hard last week and he is now working 7-4:30 days outside in the cold. So I think it will definitely take some time for him to adjust to working again and training. Especially since his job involves lots of lifting and what not.
That's all for now!
Monday, October 18, 2010
Ironman 2011
Ever since I was in grade 8 I have wanted to do an Ironman before I was 25. Therefore in order to do this I had to sign up this year! Grade 8 was a tough year for me, like many I think. I am not sure what happens in junior high school but for those 3 years girls go a little crazy and can be just plain mean. I had short hair and liked sports so needless to say the teasing had no end. But I did have some really great teachers and a great family who helped me throughout those 3 years. One of which was Mrs. Dunne; she had done Ironman Hawii the world championships and became my inspiration to do an ironman before I was 25. However, after my first kids triathlon in grade 9 my dream was kind of forgotten about until I met Ben 3.5 years ago. He was weeks away from doing his first marathon, and having just quit playing hockey I felt I needed something to train for too so i signed up for a half marathon later in the year, then the next year a full marathon, and after getting sick of running every day I convinced Ben to do an olympic distance triathlon last summer. The plan was to do a half ironman this year and a full next year, but I broke my foot weeks before my race and didn't get to compete. After not racing this season and only having 2 triathlons under my belt (one of which was 10 years ago) Ben and I went down to Penticton to volunteer this year and sign up for next year. Well it was a pretty emotional weekend with doubt filling my mind after a whole race season without doing a single race and never even having done a half ironman. Espcecially after working at a running aid station 5 kms to the finish line and seeing hundreds of people in pretty rough shape. Up until I was signing my name on the dotted line I didn't know if I was going to be ready. . But we paid the money and at the last minute ben signed up to! So we are both doing Ironman Canada 2011!
I have to remember why I signed up because I know that this race is a huge sacrafice both financially and with the time committment. November 28 is the first day of our 9 month training program which entails twice a day workouts. And there will be mornings where it is blizzarding outside and the last thing we want to do it get up and hit the pool at 6 am and that is when I have to remember grade 8 and Mrs. Dunne and why I am doing all of this. Ill have to remind myself on those days that this is something I have wanted to do for the last 11 years and this is the last shot to do it before I'm 25. Why 25? I have no idea.. maybe in grade 8 that's when I thought old was haha. I'm just luck to have a very supportive training partner, best friend, and boyfriend who will be up at 6 am with me.
I have to remember why I signed up because I know that this race is a huge sacrafice both financially and with the time committment. November 28 is the first day of our 9 month training program which entails twice a day workouts. And there will be mornings where it is blizzarding outside and the last thing we want to do it get up and hit the pool at 6 am and that is when I have to remember grade 8 and Mrs. Dunne and why I am doing all of this. Ill have to remind myself on those days that this is something I have wanted to do for the last 11 years and this is the last shot to do it before I'm 25. Why 25? I have no idea.. maybe in grade 8 that's when I thought old was haha. I'm just luck to have a very supportive training partner, best friend, and boyfriend who will be up at 6 am with me.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Bumps, Bruises, and Mt. Begbie
I can hardly believe it is already the end of August! Where has the summer gone! After ben's race I accepted a part time job with Valhalla Pure here In revelstoke. This really ate up the spare time that Ben and I had to go on adventures. Needless to say that job only lasted 2 weeks. The breaking point was last weekend when I was going to be working all weekend and had already worked 3/5 nights that week. It was a beautiful weekend, and Ben and I were determined to take advantage of the 20 hours total that I had off all week(from 3pm Sat till 11am Sunday). At 3pm we packed up bags and headed up to camp on Mt. Begbie. It was a 6 km slough up a steep 22% grade trail with all our camping gear on our backs. There aren't any views along the way, but once you get above the treeline the view was rewarding! We could see the ski hill, the town, the setting sun, and it was a clear evening so that stars were unbelieveable that night. There is a couple of tent pads up there but they were all taken so we hiked up a little further and found a spot right below the glacier. It was unbelieveable. We had some wine, made some "dinner" (which is freeze dried astronaut food which you just add water too... yet tastes soo good after hiking)and built a fire. We hung out played cribbage and soaked in the views determined to stay awake for the stars. We camped that night without the fly on our tent and stared at them all night. Well ben literally stared at them all night because he didn't sleep at all since a spark hit his thermarest sleeping pad and created a hole.. I on the other hand slept peacefully under the stars.
We got up bright at early at 6 am because I knew I had to work. Dreading work. We started hiking down the mountain and wound up on top of a rock ledge. I was in front and kept walking trying to find a safe place to get down. Finally i found a place i thought I could do it, took a couple of steps until i felt my feet slip and fell about 10 feet. I am so lucky it was only 10 feet because I was pretty much helpless falling. My knees were pretty cut up, so ben came over with the trusty first aid kit and bandaged me up. All in all i was lucky and didn't think there was any major issues... that was until I started trying to walk down the steep mountain. My right knee that wasn't all that scraped up was really really sore, and very step made it worse. But I had no choice we had to get off that dumb mountain. It took us 3 hours. 3 hours of torture with every second step. Did I mention that we forgot the painkillers at home? whoops. Half way down I stopped trying to be tough and gave ben my backpack to carry down which made it a little easier but boy that was one of the hardest things I've done. Needless to say I didn't work that day, and proceeded to work one more shift before quitting. Working 8-5 is enough, I dont need to be working 60 hours a week. Especially since I want to do so much other things too.
This past weekend Ben and I had plans to climb Mt. cartier here in revelstoke. But it was soo smokey so we just went to the gym, had a mini triathlon, did a little hiking that was not strenous, and just hung out. I was supposed to work all weekend again so we just enjoyed having that time off together.
This coming weekend we're headed to Penticton. We decided to volunteer at Ironman Canada which will be really exciting! I'm planning on signing up for next year and we decided that since we were going so I could sign up we might as well volunteer and get involved in the whole thing! The weather is supposed to be nice and we've decided to bring our bikes.. maybe bike a portion of the route for ironman! should be a good weekend!
We got up bright at early at 6 am because I knew I had to work. Dreading work. We started hiking down the mountain and wound up on top of a rock ledge. I was in front and kept walking trying to find a safe place to get down. Finally i found a place i thought I could do it, took a couple of steps until i felt my feet slip and fell about 10 feet. I am so lucky it was only 10 feet because I was pretty much helpless falling. My knees were pretty cut up, so ben came over with the trusty first aid kit and bandaged me up. All in all i was lucky and didn't think there was any major issues... that was until I started trying to walk down the steep mountain. My right knee that wasn't all that scraped up was really really sore, and very step made it worse. But I had no choice we had to get off that dumb mountain. It took us 3 hours. 3 hours of torture with every second step. Did I mention that we forgot the painkillers at home? whoops. Half way down I stopped trying to be tough and gave ben my backpack to carry down which made it a little easier but boy that was one of the hardest things I've done. Needless to say I didn't work that day, and proceeded to work one more shift before quitting. Working 8-5 is enough, I dont need to be working 60 hours a week. Especially since I want to do so much other things too.
This past weekend Ben and I had plans to climb Mt. cartier here in revelstoke. But it was soo smokey so we just went to the gym, had a mini triathlon, did a little hiking that was not strenous, and just hung out. I was supposed to work all weekend again so we just enjoyed having that time off together.
This coming weekend we're headed to Penticton. We decided to volunteer at Ironman Canada which will be really exciting! I'm planning on signing up for next year and we decided that since we were going so I could sign up we might as well volunteer and get involved in the whole thing! The weather is supposed to be nice and we've decided to bring our bikes.. maybe bike a portion of the route for ironman! should be a good weekend!
Thursday, August 5, 2010
After the 2010 Canadian Death Race
Wow, what an adventure........i thought that i would share my experience for anyone who might want to do this race. Although it is not a typical ultramarathon, it has definitely become a popular race over the last ten years, and i was lucky enough to take part in the 10th anniversary. The death race is always over the august long weekend, and includes a Relay Race (5 legs), a Kids Race, and the Solo Race which i did. Its a pretty cool weekend, with thousands of people flocking to a tiny town in northern alberta, Grande Cache, which is west of Hinton, north of Jasper. We drove up on Thursday night, and camped at the local campground.
As for training, I basically started in early January. Im not a fan of running in the super cold calgary outdoors, so i chose to hit up the treadmills, usually on a serious incline, and did lots of stairclimbing with weights. Jen was training for her Osooyoos race, so she was busy with swimming, biking, and treadmilling, so we kept pretty busy. I was determined NOT to underestimate this race because of the elevation changes (17 000), so I planned on doing some serious hiking when the weather allowed me to (Canmore area/Kananaskis).........im truly lucky to be from the calgary area becasue there is some awesome hills to assault in that area, and those are super important for trail running an ultra! I peaked about 4 weeks before the race, which is a couple weeks longer than for a marathon but i was so out of routine with moving, and getting a new job, and all that stuff so i was concerned about not having gone hard enough, but the last 6 months had been full throttle and fortunately injury free.
The Race: the CDR is divided into 5 legs, each of which has its unique challenges and features, and this year, about 1200 people started the Relay Event, and just over 400 started the Solo Event. In the end, only 150 finished solo, and i was lucky enough to finish 24th overall. It was a good day to race, because it was relatively dry and the heat didn't get into the 90's so even though alot of people got serious dehyrdartion issues, it could have been alot worse. The day before the race, i started reading the brochure about the course itself, and became pretty uncomfortable and nervous. i questioned whether or not i had done enough, and worked specifically for this terrain. i probably got about 4 hours of solid sleep the night before. But race day came, and the gun went of at 8 AM. (they start the race later than most to give runners the 'opportunity to run at night'. Heres a breakdown from the lonnnng day:
Leg 1: Downtown Jaunt (21 km)
Starts downtown Grande Cache and quickly heads into the forest. my plan was to Pace, Pace, Pace and keep it slow and steady (around 10 minute mile) and was near the back of the back for the first section of paved road. I watched in disbelief as people went out WAY TOOO fast, sweating, out of breath, and i was so thankful that i didnt get caught up in the competition, and as i got onto the double track quad trail began slowly passing people, but still super relaxed and not even breaking a sweat. There is a few inclines on this leg, but nothing crazy. the main thing was to watch your footing, and try to keep calm and not get over excited. this stage of the race took just under two hours, and the the relay station at the end was erupting with crazy fans and supporters yelling "GO DEATH RACER!".....it was awesome to come cruising through the transition seeing champ waving frantically with my little station set up, and changing my shoes, gatorade and refuelling me for the hardest leg of the race..........
Leg 2: Flood Mtn, Grande Mtn (27 km)
This is definately the hardest leg of this race for a few reasons. There is some seriously steep uphills, and some insanely steep downhills, like 1000 ft sketchy, quad burning types). the only easy part is the 1 km back onto the highway and into town. this is where people started throwing up, and the test of whether or not you trained for this thing became apparent. It starts from the TA into to the forest and up, and up and up. you climb steadily for about 2 hours, and i casually passed a whole bunch of people keeping my heart rate and footing in check. you get to a point where you think you might have climbed the first mountain untill a race official says, "welcome to the climb", and you get hit with another 500 ft of straight up bush wacking up near the summit of Flood. your there for about 2 minutes, before running back down, down, down, down untill you get to do it again on another mtn!!.........one of the toughest sections of the whole race is called the Slugfest, which involves about 1000 ft decline on a super sketchy, super loose, bouldery, ravine where apparantaley a few people broke their ankles, and put their knees out. there is no real strategy for getting down, some were butt sliding, others were zig zagging through the woods, trying to make it from tree to tree, but definetaley a slog. From the top of the second mtn, you run down a steep power line, and get back to the highway. from there its about 1 km back into town and the TA is right at the start line. Again, I see jen with all my goodies (running vest, gatorade, goodies, and new shoes.....she was the best race crew, everyone neeeeds one of these! part support, part motivator, part psychologist, part physical therapist, part doctor.........) by the end of this stage, i was still mentally/emotionally intact, but my legs were getting dehyrdated and started to seize up a little.
Leg 3 Old Miners Road (23 km)
This leg has a net elevation loss of about 1000 ft, and its a pretty gradual decline down a rocky, sketchy old school logging road/creek bed. The nice thing is that its in the shade, and it was about 1 pm so super hot outside. By this stage in the race, people were spread out fairly well, so i only saw a handful of people. i was so jealous to see relay runners sprinting by me with fresh legs, but the REALLY COOL thing about this race is that there are NO EGOS whatsoever, and when most relay runners look over at your number and realize your doing it solo, they are so supportive asking if you need anything and encouraging you to keep going. As far as obstacles, this is the leg where there is normally a major river crossing with a current that is nee deep water. Fortunately, it was dry and there was only a whole bunch of mud/boggy lowlands to deal with so nothing like sopping, soaking wet feet!. That was a relief! I was approaching the half way point, and my legs started to really, really cramp up. I was surprised because i had been drinking tonnes of fluids (gatorade) and eating good gels and stuff, but i should have been replacing my salt much better. by the time i got to the transition, i was way ahead of the cut off time of 7:15, coming in at about 4:30 and getting to rest for 15 minutes before the insanely long 27 km Hamel Assault
Leg 4 Hamel Assault (27 km)
Jen had brought me a cold can of coke and man was that ever good!!! i put on my compression pants, and my legs really started seizing up. after some great words of encouragement from jen, this random dude on crutches, and some local supporters, i sacked up and headed out along the highway enroute to Hamel Peak which is a super steady but steep mountain with switchbacks, logging roads and alpine singletrack. I became so sluggish, i was wobbling down the highway and about to enter the trailhead for the mountain. i kept telling myself that it was game over. my legs were so cramped, and i could barely keep a normal gait. almost as soon as i started climbing (10 steps up, then keeled over wondering what the HE@# i was doing here, this elite runner came down the trail puking and telling me he was done.) I wanted to follow him, but i couldnt face my champ and all the supporters cheering me on and telling me i could do it, so i kept on slogging........the 2 hours it took me to get up that first section was in forest, switchbacks mainly and it opens up to a checkpoint on a logging road. this guy told me it was still 5 km to the top of Hamel, and i shook my head and kept going. By the time i got to the base of the real climb, i was pinned up against the wall in agony, and this relay runner gave me 2 bottles of a super concentrated sodium chloride mixutre to help my spasming legs from agonizing me. what an awesome guy, he helped me huge. another guy gave me some salt tablets, and my legs began to feel a little bit better. I got to the top of Hamel, and from there you decend 850 meters for a prayer flag, and then run back to the peak to place it and say a prayer. It was another 10 k to the aid station and a gradually declining double track. I got the aid station, where you have to again go back 2.5 km to a checkpoint, and then back to the aid station to check in. From there its all down hill! (9 km logging road down to the transition area). This was kind of freaky, because the sun had set but it was still kind of light out. I had to turn the head lamp on and by the time i got to the transition area on the highway, i could hear the massive crowd cheering, and saw my champ smiling, waving, and hooking me up with another cold coke, a breakfast drink and the best thing ever....A bag of regular Lay's........SOOOOO FREAKING GOOD
Leg 5 (Hells Gate 27 km)
At this point it was 11:00 pm, and i knew i was going to make it!!! I was on the last leg, and i was only thinking about getting to the jet boat 12kms away. thick jungle like forest, running with your headlamp by yourself is kind of sketchy, but the course was very well marked. it was typical of the death race, nothing easy, big climbs, sketchy footing and scary because i only saw a handful of people, but after a while i could hear the jet boats and you squeeze through this huge rock and run down to the loading area. This guy dressed as the grim reaper with a huge axe asks you for your fare (a silver coin that you carry with you throughout the race) to get across Hells Canyon and then you load on the boat. they rip across the river and you think, "man, im going to finish this thing". i got off the boat, and didnt realize that the canyon was over 1000 ft below the town, so guess what? an insanely steep 2 km climb up what seemed like a friggin wall. i was so determined to get it over with that i passed people and began a pretty steady pace untill i got out of the forest. from there its 3 kms up a gravel road and onto the pavement for the last km. i could hear the announcer and it was very emotional for me. I turned the last corner and began sprinting through the chute and around the corner. I ran through the finish and threw my arms up in total and utter exhiliration! Champy was there to hug me, and i was sooooo happy to do it! thanks to everyone who beleived in me!
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