Friday, February 29, 2008

My Season Plans


For what ever the reasons I can slowly see my season coming to an end before it even starts. It sounds ominous because it is only February and I’m planning my race season that may never be. This was the year that I wanted to do my first ultramarathon. I’ve trained hard in the early months of January or February. I’ve got my mileage up to a good base and have begun my speed work. My long runs are hitting 20+ so I’m probably the fittest I’ve been since my last marathon three years ago. So what going wrong?

To answer that question it’s more of a what’s going right question instead. My family is adopting a little girl from Ethiopia. The time line for adoption is vague at best. Each part of the process as a rule has to be complete before the next step can begin. It’s 2 weeks to 6 months for this and 6 to 12 weeks for that. If you total them all up it could be either really short or really long. I’m guessing somewhere in the middle which is like the fall. At this point my wife and I travel to Ethiopia and pick up our daughter. The exact date or even an approximate date is way to sketchy to call right now. The travel date could actually “pop up” things may align perfectly and we get a travel date with less than a month’s notice. If I were to schedule or plan for a race in the fall it would be a gamble. I wouldn’t want to be 12 weeks into a 16 week program to find that I won’t be there for it.

So because my fitness is good right now I wanted to do an spring race or even an ultra. I normally do the Spring Ahead Half but this year I won some sales award and my wife and I are flying to Boca Raton for that weekend. Looking at the local Ultra Schedule I came up with the following excuses for not entering.

Dirty Duo – is this weekend. My fitness is good but not great.
Diez Vista Ultra –April 6th. Same weekend as Boca and sold out.
Elk Beaver Lake Ultra – In May is on Vancouver Island. A return ferry ride for a family of five ($170) plus kenneling cost for two dogs ($32/day). Hotel cost $125. I could go cheap. Go by myself and walk on ($20). Camp $10 but still to leave my wife and kids for a weekend would not go over well.
Knee Knackering Trail Run –Sold out
Scorched Sole Ultra – June 7th- I thought heavily about this one. It’s in Kelowna about 2 ½ hours away. I had frequent traveler miles for a free hotel stay. Then the family wanted to go to Seattle for Spring Break and that ate up the traveler miles. And my sons may tentatively have a swim meet that weekend. Crap!

My last hope is STORMY! No really that’s the name of the race STORMY. Squamish Test of Real Mettle Yeah or something like that. It’s on August 9th which is the week after Regionals. It is also a week after our anniversary, the week before my wife’s birthday and four days before mine.

Now all I have to do is ask my wife for her support. I’ve got to get all my ducks in a row before I ask because I’m sure she’ll pull out all stops. I could camp in Alice Lake Provincial Park or the family could stay in Whistler and I could drive down. Or we could all stay in a hotel in Squamish. But once again there is the cost $125/night for a hotel, $32/day for a kennel but at least no ferry ride. It is all the way into August too. That is six months away. It could be close to travel date.

The race calendar after that is the season finale Walk in the Park in Kamloops on August 31st my son’s birthday. That is followed by the Endurance Challenge in Bellingham just after Labour Day. But like I said before our travel date could ‘pop up’ and I don’t want to be in the middle of training when we have to go suddenly.

So there you have it the BC Ultra Calendar as I see it or don’t see it. Of course there is also some races in Washington State which I would have to travel to.

1 comment:

  1. Hey that's great news on the adoption. Have you thought about what's going on in Alberta there are nice looking runs around Canmore, or is that too far away?

    Fogive my geographical ignorance!

    ReplyDelete