Planning My Self Supported Ultra

This is fun! More fun than actually signing up for a race because when you plan your own you get to do all the course planning and timing. The route planning can be a lot of fun.

FACTS:

1) I travel at least once a month for work and the night times are long. So these times are the most probable time to hold a self supported ultra.

2) I can run as fast as 8 minute miles on roads. It goes slower from there depending on the steepness and technical difficulty of the trail. 

3) The amount of available sun increases until June 21st, the summer solstice, then the days get shorter. The highest the sun gets is 9:20 pm for Vancouver.

So taking these factors into account, I can run about 4 hours maybe 5 hours in complete sunlight. Even at dusk there is still a significant amount of sunlight. A 50K takes about 6 hours. A 50 mile takes almost double that.  I'm leaning towards 50K first

My Route:

The start is the backdoor of my hotel which is typically the Holiday Inn Express in Kelowna (elevation 1150’ or 350m). After a quick right and right again down some back streets into Mission Creek, ‘The Greenway’. The Greenway is flat and follows the creek for about 5 miles but I’m turning after about 2 ½ miles at Casorso Road taking a left. At the roundabout stay left and keep left. Casorso Road turns goes up steeply to Bedford Road. The elevation tapers off a bit but Bedford then turns into Stewart Road East. At the end of Stewart Road East is the parking lot for Myra-Bellevue Regional Park. The elevation at the parking lot is 1750’ or 533m.

Believe it or not the trail has recovered from this devastation

Inside the park my route follows the Scorched Sole 25K course from 2010. I say that very specifically because the Scorched Sole course changes almost annually either due in part to snow, fires or some other unforeseen circumstance. (True enough at this posting the Scorched Sole 2011 course has changed again) The 2010 course follows the Lost Lake Trail to the end where it picks up the Kettle Valley Railway trail. The Kettle Valley Railway or KVR was this old defunct railway built after the turn of the 20th century. It’s famous for these gigantic trestle bridges which spanned these beautiful canyons. Even today these trestles are considered quite a feat of engineering. In 2003, the Okanagan Mountain fire (hence the name Scorched Sole) many of these trestles mostly wood burned to the ground. It was only through the efforts of interest groups that these marvels were restored to their original splendor. (wow that sounds like it should be in a brochure).

The bottom line is I’m truly excited about this. It doesn’t impede on family business. Although there is no pomp and circumstance, I’m thinking there won’t be as much of the low that follows a grand event either. I’m already ruminating about a second and third ultra closer to home. The mojo is back!

Edmonton

Edmonton is not such a bad place after all. I never thought that I'd actually appreciate the cold Albertan weather. The weather has actually warmed up over the last week. Last week Edmonton was one of the coldest places in Canada at -42F. If you are wondering -40 is where the Celsius and fahrenheit scales meet and are equal.

But I must say Edmonton has got it together when it comes to snow removal and sanding. The streets are a beautiful mocha brown, beautiful maybe an over statement but I really love running on a surface with traction. Back home in Mission it is still slushy and the streets are frozen. In fact it was a snow day back home so even better that I'm out of town. I ran to Staples and around the downtown core where I am staying. There were some pretty interesting sites to see even in dark. I love exploring a new place.

Although I really miss my family when I'm gone and I think they miss me. Eatting out every meal really sucks and you have to find healthy places to eat. I'll have to work on that tomorrow!

Unfriendly people bug me

I’m always amazed at morning people. I’m not sure why maybe it’s because they are out there in the morning at the same time I am. I’m talking about those people I run past, of course. I do a quick analysis of why they are out there and put it into a one or two word classification plus a thumbs up/ thumbs down rating. Such as: Walker friendly thumbs up.

My work took me to Kelowna, BC for a day. I drove out the night before and slept over for what was supposed to be a morning delivery. I woke up and went for my morning run. Now Kelowna is more populated than where I live, on today’s run I must have come across 40 people. My interactions were as follows:

Dog walker – I said ‘Good Morning’. She said nothing even though I made friendly eye contact she looked away.

Cardio Boot camp class running in the opposite direction – I said ‘Good Morning’ to about 20 of them. Only one of them reciprocated.

A second Boot camp class- Same routine only none of them said anything, made eye contact, or even smiled. Waddup!

Two guys walking their dog – ‘Good Morning!’ they were startled and yelled ‘Jogger!’ as if to say ‘Incoming! Look out’. (The jogger comment I’ll let pass) Still I’m at 1 for 40 in reciprocated salutations.

My analysis: this town is not that friendly. This bugs me!

The Dreadmill

Here I am stuck in Kelowna BC. Under any other circumstances Kelowna is an athlete's dream city. In the summer they host several Tri's, a marathon, several fun runs. It's about half an hour from Penticton home of Ironman Canada. It is beautiful up here. Except when several freeze-thaws have left the streets with an inch of ice and the current temperature is -20C not including wind-chill.

Yeah I'm a wuss but I'm not a quitter so I head off for the dreaded treadmill. The dreadmill. No matter how you slice it: Steep incline, faster speeds, ESPN blaring from the TV in front of you. It truly earns the moniker.

Every winter for at least a couple of days in a row either snow or ice prevents the run from happening. I think my karma says it's time to put your feet up. First karma gives you subtle hints that you are pushing it. You know soreness that won't go away. Insomnia. You don't listen and push harder. So Karma deals you a full on snow storm. So you go inside to the dreadmill.

The dreadmill deprives you of everything sweet about running. The sights, the sounds. The wind in your face, the deep coolness of the air you breathe. That rush from charging up a small easily conquered hill. Give me the outdoors any day.

I'll be back. Yeah I’ll be back

Planes are dull

Onward and upward, it's off to Hawaii I go. Sitting here in my seat held captive for the next six hours. Beside me a small child of about (I'm guessing) four on a trip with her family. The child needs restraint clearly.

Let's go back to this captive thing. I feel truly captive, there is no free movie but at least they did offer a movie. I had a choice of four: X-Men 3, The Sentinel, Cars, or Monsters Inc. I deliberated over the matter and decided the first two maybe too scary for the young unrestrained eyes beside me. Of course, I've seen the latter two so I'm not paying for those. The satellite signal bugs out after about an hour. So my options are buy a movie, listen to my iPod, write in the blog. I should have bought a book but my attention span is pretty short right now. I've been up since 4 a.m. Oh yeah let me tell you about that. My beautiful wife woke me up after she got home. She got home at 2:15 in the morning. Then the pager went off at 4 am. Another fire call “duty calls” aka no sleep for you.

Countdown to Hawaii

Well it's friday, two days before I fly out to Hawaii for an installation. I try and convince people that it is mostly work and long hours but all they hear is 'Hawaii'.

The thing I'm excited about is the Ironman. It's actually tomorrow but maybe I'll see some cool bikes or something. I think to be a runner and be in close proximity to the world's best triathletes is exciting. Not only that but the Xterra World Championships are next weekend on Maui which is also cool.

I can only hope that the hours aren't too long so I can get some running in. I'm actually about a mile from the beach and I know we're having breakfast at 6:30 everyday and in the plant by 7. The boss says to expect to work 10 hr days, so that is 5:00. I might be able to squeeze in an hour before dark and dinner. We'll have to wait and see. I suppose I can run in the morning but running before dawn in a strange place doesn't sound too appealing.

Wearing Out !

When you travel a lot, whether by plane or by car, certain things can wear out quickly. The magazines sure run dry quickly. I use to relish those times on the road when a new Runner’s World or Trailrunner Magazine would show up in the mailbox. I never really read them at home. I have no time to read when I’m at home. I try to do more then my fair share of parenting because I’m never home so there is little time left to read my favorite magazines. There is time in the morning if I didn’t run but then what’s the point of reading a magazine about running when you could actually be doing it.

When you travel you read these, scratch that, you savor these articles and images of your favorite pastime like you savor putting on your Montrails for a morning run. So the fewer times you travel you savor the magazine more because the next issue may be a week away. The amount I’ve been traveling I’ve gone though these rags twice sometimes even three times. Of course you never throw them away in spite of the fact you could probably recite the page index and the picture credits for some of the better issues. So there is a catch!

Leading a traveling lifestyle although may sound exciting really isn’t. It’s probably more boring than anything. Sure you see things you don’t in your neighborhood but I like seeing my neighborhood. Right now I’m sitting in the Edmonton Airport flying to Calgary for a 2 ½ hour layover before my flight home. How exciting does that sound? I perused every magazine out there and nothing looked remotely interesting except the Outside Magazine with Lance on the cover. I would have bought it except I read it cover to cover on the flight home from Anaheim.

So this leaves books. I really get into books but the time commitment of getting into a novel is just so intense especially when you get a good one. I just don’t have that kind of time except for today. I think I just spent an hour maybe more ogling the books only to come up dry. I talked myself out of several because I knew I would never finish what I started at least not within the next couple of weeks.

Well at least there is blogging

Things I learned from Disneyland

Back at it. Well I’m back from Disneyland. In fact I’ve been back for a week I just haven’t had time to blog. I didn’t run the whole time I was there but I sure did a whole lot of walking. We got the 5 day park hopper which toward the end seemed like the March of Death, I was so tired. It’s pretty hard to believe that a guy who wants to do an Ultra can complain about five days at Disneyland but it is wearisome (Is that a word).

10 Things I learned traveling to Disneyland
10. Keep an eye on all your children’s belongings. Jackets, hats, glasses, stuffed animals have a habit of staying where they were put down. I’ve got a story for each of them.

9. Bring water because water is expensive in the Magic Kingdom. I picked up this sweet Camelbak (a M.U.L.E.) from Big 5 Sport Store which is 2 miles from Disneyland.

8. Shop for as many groceries as you are going to need as far away from The Magic Kingdom as you can afford to go. We took the whole family south on the #46? It goes down Harbor Blvd and passes by a Target (Which is right next to Big 5 Sports). We picked up milk, juice, raincoats, umbrellas, cereal, and all sorts of stuff.

7. If you’ve got kids under 7 or 8 pick up an umbrella stroller at Target if you go. They are less than $10 you can put a everything in it or hang your backpack and all your shopping from Downtown Disney on it. Plus when one of the kids gets tired which they will you can give them a ride. I had this hang u about a 7 year old looking ridiculous but look around. A stroller from Disney is $8 per day which for a 5 Day Hopper pass would have been $40. I figured I saved $30 plus I left it behind so I didn’t have to pack it on the plane.

6. Bring a Camera. If you bring a digital camera make sure the card or Memory Stick is in it. ‘Nuff said. That goes along with if you advance buy a 5 Day Park Hopper Pass and get it mailed to you weeks in advance. Make sure you bring that too. ‘Nuff said.

5. Go to the pool. Everyone need down time and the pool is excellent cross training to stretch out the back and legs.

4. Dish out the dough for a good hotel. I’m not going to name names but we’ve gone to Disneyland twice now and most hotels gear themselves as flop houses for weary Disney travelers. In my current job I spend a lot of time in hotels and the standard of these $150 to $200 /night hotels is about the same as a $90 hotel in Williams Lake, with a few more towels. Next time we’ve already decided to go big and stay at one of the Disney Hotels.

3. Pack an empty Duffle Bag. We packed a 60 liter duffle bag. It gave un a place to throw all the dirty laundry and surprisingly it and all the other suitcases were jammed packed full on the way home.

2. Fast pass as much as you can. They are great but plan ahead because you can only get one fast pass at a time and if the pass says come back in 2 hours you’ve got 2 hours to fill and get on the top rides without waiting in a line up.

1. Have Fun. It’s the happiest place on Earth. Forget about the money, the job everything but the kids. You’ve already spent the inheritance getting there a few more bucks is not going to break you. I had a great time.

Gutbuster #4 Race Course

Westwood Lake is a nice little lake on the edge of Nanaimo. It has a nice flat trail that goes around the lake by the waters edge. It’s also the home of the Gutbuster #4, the fourth race in the Gutbuster series. Today I wanted to try the route.

Whenever I’m in a strange place I always look for running routes. I start with the hotel directory that you would find in the bedside table of most hotels. This usually has parks or walking routes that are close to the hotel. If that runs dry I go online and look for running races for that city. If you find a race that got a website then that’s a bonus. If the website has a map then you are stylin’. Today I hit the jackpot!

Gutbuster #4 starts in the parking lot of Westwood Lake goes east to the eastern most edge of the lake where you find another trail that somehow gets up to Westwood Ridge trail. I say somehow because at this point I took a wrong turn and followed the Lake Trail eventually getting the Ridge Trails. I’m not sure but I took a steep incline to get to the Ridge and followed it along.

Many a time was I slowed by the thought running through my head, “This can’t be it!” and many a time I was answered by coming across landmarks from the trail map. I never actually took a copy of the trail map. I memorized it. (Read as: Mistake #1- Always bring a map when you’re new to the area). But I hit the sign for Kilpatrick Trail in 23 minutes and later came across the Cabin in 31 minutes both were landmarks. Most of the way on the Ridge I was following the occasional paint marks on the tree, two baby blue hash marks. After I topped out there was a fork, one went south toward the lake and the other went north. Because I was at about 45 minutes, I thought I’d better turn towards the lake even though the blue hash marks were the north. I vaguely remember the map showing this fork and the blue route was for a half marathon.

The route south was pretty kick ass steep downhill. But I got back to the Lake Loop none the worse for wear. My time for the route was 61 minutes. According to the Short course map this was suppose to be 8 km or 5 miles. The route around the lake is 5.7 km

The race for the Gutbuster #4 is August 4th. I understand they get quite a turnout which would make this a very busy trail the day of the race. This would be advantageous in navigation but does nothing for the serenity factor.

Someday I hope to get back to this trail and start the Ridge where I was supposed to. I may even take a map!

Countdown to Disney

It's Saturday night! This time next week we'll be in Disneyland. We leave early early thursday morning. We have a 7 am flight which means we'll leave the house around 3 am and our kids still don't know. I'm pretty stoked about going. I really need the time off.

It's been a full week and surprisingly I've actually been home for most of it.

Sunday -my folks came over for the first time ever we've lived in this house since July. Although this is probably the first time we've ever invited them. I ran for 42 minutes and change in and around Mission. It wasn't much of a long run per se but I've been feeling really horrible about running lately and when I do I scrap everything and I start from scratch.

Monday- I ran again for 36 minutes and change. I'm guessing my pace is around 10 minute miles. Koda my faithful running partner was happy to comply with my slower than normal pace.

Tuesday- No run today. Slept in. Whenever I get a page in the middle of the night waking up at 5 am is tough if you don't have too. Koda my running partner was pissed. What was the page you ask? Three dumpster fires at the same time. Kids! Where are there parents at 11:30 at night.

Wednesday- Wicked Wednesday. Intervals. I was always concerned about Koda running off while I ran around the track but he stayed around went for a swim, did a few laps, basically had a ball. As for me I did 4 x 800s in 3:30 with 2 minute rests. I thought they were pretty good. I didn't have my Heart Rate Monitor so I can only gauge perceived effort which was sub-maximal. Either the rests were too long or the pace was too easy. I'll do it again next week at 3:20 same rest.

Thursday- Easy jog around the neighbourhood south of 7th Ave. Waved to a few people just getting into their morning. I saw Dean Milan driving to work and Nancy Olund picking up her morning paper and Dean Heriot into his morning drive. Just as I was finishing my run another page. "Smoke inside Mission Central" it turned out to be an attempted arson. A page later that morning came in for the duty crew, I went. It turns out somebody had taken a flammable liquid and poured a substantial amount of it all along the back of the school and lit it. The walls were all scorched. They cancelled school at Central for the day. We found the 2 gallon gas can in the bushes.

Friday- Retirement Party. After a long anticipated wait my mother-in-law is retiring from school teaching after many many years. My day started off with a quick trip to Kamloops and back. The party was held at the school first with an Open House. A lot of fanfare and speeches and some crying. It was fairly emotional but I kept it together unlike Jenny. Wow I've gained a lot of respect for teachers over the years I don't think I could do the job for a day let alone 30+ years.

Congratulations Pat . . . you rock!
The rest of the evening was spent at the local golf course. Dinner and some more speeches. I wrote a speech for which I'm quite proud of but I never got the nerve to say. Maybe I'll post it another time.

Saturday is today. I was planning a run this morning. I got the Camelbak filled and refrigerated, the clothes laid out the night before. And then at 2:30 in the freakin' morning . . .beep, beep, beep . . "Structure fire on 12th Avenue" Unfortunately or fortunately the structure was a bush. Someone had seen it from a distance and later confirm it as a hedge not a house. Good for an adrenaline rush. Bad for a good nights sleep. Needless to say I slept in and Koda was once again pissed. Oh well tomorrow is another chance at a run.