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!

How far can your dog run?

How far can your dog run?
I recently read a post by Bad Ben, the Kansas City Trail Nerd. His journeys and musings about the ultra world just plain old fascinate me. But the post that made me cry was one that eulogized his dog. An obvious dog lover I empathized with him and questioned my personal pursuits with my dog’s ambitions and motivations. Was I doing him more harm than good?

My golden retriever is a great dog. A running dog, he is close to three years old and together we’ve put in a couple of thousand miles or more. Lately I’ve pondered the question how far is too far for a dog. When people hear about how far we run they say that that’s too far for a dog to run.

Several factors I keep in back of my little brain in our training for an ultra distance event.
1) Build up mileage gradually. Koda and I have a good base we taken quite a few months to build up to our 20+ miles on Saturday. And for now we are completely resting the day after. We run about 45 miles a week in total.
2) Hydration. I’ve tried bringing collapsible bowls and his own water supply but it’s like the old adage says “you can lead a dog to water but you can’t make him drink”. Many gallons of water have been hauled around for not. These days I make sure I run by clean running streams no deeper than his paws. Koda is a swimmer and will lie down in puddles if I let him. He doesn’t always drink but I still give him ample opportunity to drink something.
3) Nutrition. Like me Koda has to re-fuel on the run. I prefer gels but have recently explored the gel blocks. I never use to think this was a big deal until I started feeding him Sharkies. Koda loves Sharkies and I prefer Clif Shot Bloks. It got to be pretty expensive as we literally shared 50/50. So due to my needs I was buying twice as much as I needed. Yesterday’s long run I bought dog biscuits. Nutro Lamb & Rice the same brand of food that he eats. I also checked the label to make sure it is high in protein, 23% by weight. It didn’t seem to upset his stomach so I think we’re on track.
4) Heat. So far are build up has been gradual and during the fall, winter and spring months. Last summer I was only doing 10 milers on Saturday. But I also run at 5 am before sunrise so its cold even in the summer here on the west coast. My concerns with heat are dehydration, over heating, and blistering his paws. All these can be concerning but I run more trails in the summer and there is usually streams and ponds to cool off in. My golden retriever is usually a brown retriever after a few pond swims. I think its funny, my wife . . . not so much!
5) Age. Like I said Koda is only 3 years old. As a big dog I know he won’t be around forever. But I also know that keeping him active will keep him lean and help prevent things like arthritis and hip dysplasia and other ailments for big dogs.

Eventually I know that there will come a time where I’ll have to leave him at home. I am not looking forward to this and I know he will put up a huge fuss. But in the mean time I plan to live in the moment and enjoy every run and laugh at every pond swim and take care of him all along the way.

Mileage Junkie

What’s wrong with being a mileage junkie?

I’m a bit obsessed right now. I think all runner’s are bit obsessive compulsive in nature. Not to make light of the psychological disorder I am very serious. I don’t believe that in this world or pigeon hole labels that there is black and white merely differing shades of gray. So when I say I’m obsessive compulsive, that brings about the qualifying question of “To what degree?”

Well thank you for asking. I am currently obsessed with mileage. More is better, right now more feels better. I’ve been doing twenty milers on the weekends and I just love it. Now I just want to get more miles in the week. I’m not a rookie runner I know there will be a breaking point. The key is to back off before you break.

I’ve always been fascinated by world class runners or even the recreational hardcore runners who do 100 miles in a week. It sounds insane when you currently run less then half of that. It sounds impossible when you are running less than a quarter of that.

Three months ago I probably ran 20 to 25 miles week. I would run five or maybe six times but usually five times. My week would consist of four 4 milers and an 8 to 10 miler on the weekend for a total of 24 to 26 miles. If I missed a run because of work sometimes it would drop down to less than 20.

So when you hear about people running 100 miles in a week you wonder how. Some run twice a day. A lot of them run everyday twice a day. And of course they run a lot farther than 4 miles at a time. It’s more like 10 miles in the morning, 5 miles in the afternoon for five days a week and then a long run of twenty something and an easy 5 miles to fill it in.
That would make a hundred. That would kill me.

But I am obsessed with increasing my mileage. My key now is to increase the duration of my mid week runs. I’ve been doing the same loop for a while now it is 4.3 miles. It has become kind of fun, you know to compare your times run after run at certain checkpoints and to see if you can duplicate the exact distance on your Nike+.

Now I’m ready for a new challenge. From this point forward none of my mid week runs will be less than 5 miles. In a couple of months none of my mid week runs will be less than 6 miles. That’s probably where I’ll draw the line. I know past that point my body will start to break down. I will throw in the occasional mid week 10 miler but not too often.

My long runs I want to build up to 30 miles. Like I said before I’m getting pretty comfortable with 20 milers and I’ve found a great out and back route that I can add the extra miles on to.

So do the math, if I can get four runs of 6 miles and a 30 miler in one week that totals up to 56 miles. If I do an extra 6 miler that’s 62 and that is where my junkie-ness will be satisfied.

Fartlek

I’ve done two sessions of Fartlek on this training cycle. I just love that word, Fartlek. As I type this I find myself amused at the little red squiggle that means it won’t pass through spell check unabated. Fartlek is a Swedish word for speed play. Part of me wants to ask which syllable is speed and which is play. But I digress.

I am currently doing 5 intervals of two on and two off, meaning two minutes on at whatever pace I can hold comfortably knowing that I’ve got 4 more intervals to go and about 4 miles of total distance to cover.

I’ve never really understood how some of these articles can say 85% of your lactate threshold or 65% or whatever. Just as bad are the articles and books that say to run your 10K pace or your 5K pace I think that is way too technical. I think that you should run bearing in mind you have that many intervals and that distance to cover so go as hard as you can without having to walk on the off’s. Run like Hell and don’t walk!

Put it this way, any 5K or 10K road race you are going to enter will invariably be planned on a fairly flat course. A ‘fast’ course will also have some fairly long straight stretches with few turns to slow you down. All this planning in an effort to get the runners a personal record in ideal conditions. Now let’s for arguments sake say that you ran an 8:00 per mile pace. Is this what you call your 10K pace?

Now let’s take that 8:00 minute pace and turn it into real life Fartlek. You can plan your training runs to be as flat as race courses but that hardly happens. It usually ends up being a route with a less traffic, some nice scenery, and no loose dogs. My particular routes tend to have a few hills in them.

Needless to say when it’s two on and two off you can not control when or if the two’s coincide with a steep uphill, downhill, flat section or any combination of the aforementioned. Trying to hold that 8:00 minute pace becomes a whole lot harder.

This is speed play folks, the key word being play. The reason I enjoy Fartlek aside from the giggle I get when I say Fartlek is that is like playing and it isn’t as serious as a track workout. Run like Hell and never walk that’s the game.

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.

Supported?

Nowhere does it tell you how to get your family to support you. Running is your thing and your family knows it. Every Christmas, Birthday, and Fathers Day gift is centered around running. Your bookshelf is littered with running books. This is your passion. So getting support to do your first ultra should be automatic right? Guess again!

What do you do when you decide to do your first ultra and you ask your wife and she says 'No'. I mean this is it. You've planned it all out in your head and researched the web: how to schedule the training, the routes to train on, the build up, the taper. It is set in your mind. The story is written all you need to do is play it out.

'Honey I really want to run a longer race this fall.'

"How long?", she asks.

'Fifty miles'.

"How far is that in kilometres?" (We're metric here in Canada)

"About 75 !" (Yeah, it's actually 80 but 75 sounded less daunting)

"No way"

Crash! That was the sound of my dream going down in flames. She then went on to steam roll the big cinders of my ego into an ash heap. She rolled with, 'I've seen what you look like after a marathon' or 'what about your health'. 'I'm sure our insurance doesn't cover this? And if you die where does that leave me and the kids.' My wife should have been a risk assessment analyst.

I had no rebuttle. First I didn't expect a heart warming 'yeah, I'm behind you all the way'. (Remember, I'm the guy who gets up at 5 am on weekends if I want to run long.) Second, I have never looked into the mirror immediately following any of my marathons but I imagine I wasn't fresh looking but I'm sure even the fittest of runners don't look fresh after 26.2 miles, nor should they. And finally, no I don't know if insurance covers a self induced limit pushing endurance run but people do this. I want to do this.

At this point I wait. My wife's immediate reaction to any idea that is not her's is to reject first ask questions later. So far it has been three days since the fire, the scars still haven't healed. But since that time she has mentioned my dream to my mother on our last visit and on one other occasion. So it's not a dead issue. Like a Phoenix this dream will be resurrected from the ashes. I've got three months before the race.

This Week

The week ahead is going to get hairy. Long work days I'm not looking forward to it. The plan is to fit 4 mid week runs in. These are going to be easy as I've got save something for the work day. Thus no intervals or hill repeats this week.

I've mapped out my long run on Google Maps and I'm looking forward to it.. My long run progressions since the New Year have been good 9 to 11 to 13 to 15 then back down to 12. Now I'll be going up to 18. Too much? We'll find out.