Running: The Trail Ahead

My second summer of ultras came to an end with the cancellation of Lost Soul, and so it is time to reflect on what has been and plan for what will come.

Training for the Blackfoot 50-miler didn't get off to a great start with the severe allergies at the old job, and then the last three weeks of training were wiped out by a severe chest cold. I survived the race, but it was by no means the kind of performance I had hoped for at close to 12 hours.

Unfortunately after these disappointments it was difficult getting things back on track with my training. I did make it to the gym fairly regularly, and I was running home from work most days of the week. But upon reflection it seemed more struggle than joy on too many days.

Next it was off to Sinister 7, but inexperience lead me to overdo the pre-run snacking that lead to a lot of GI distress through leg 4. It also left me more than a little worn out, but I got the job done. After about an hour into leg 5 I was feeling better and the joy was back, and running leg 6 in the dark was great too. But after the race it seemed more struggle than joy again as I returned to preparing for Lost Soul in September.

I have never had much success with running in hot weather, and that became my nemesis during long runs in August. Long runs inevitably became shorter runs as I had problems of all sorts throughout the month. I started having foot problems. I had tried making some changes to my running mechanics, but they were not as effective as I'd have liked and changing back wasn't great either. I was still logging a lot of distance, but it felt ineffective and a burden.

The long weekend seems to have lead to injury after a bit of slipping during our descent from the snowed in North Kananaskis Pass. It really didn't manifest itself except for a couple non-consecutive days of intermittent soreness that ranged from annoying to painful, so I didn't concern myself with it and rested in preparation for Lost Soul. Of course Lost Soul was cancelled, and the replacement run on Monday turned into a very painful experience remeniscent of the pain I suffered after my fall into the puddle on the Canadian Death Race course the previous year.

So I haven't been running really at all the last month, nor have I been getting to the gym at all. Mostly I've been in my head wondering what I want (or need) to do about my running at this point. I never doubted I would continue to run, but I did need to consider what my goals would be and how to achieve them.

And this is what I've decided.

• I will take some time off from running until after we finish our move the beginning of November.


• In the mean time, I'm going back to the gym at least three days per week to work on strength, core and x-train on the bikes. I want to continue this through into the new year too.


• Commit myself to doing more stretching at home and replace my ineffective foam roller to help improve my biomechanics and reduce the tension in my leg muscles.


• Take next year off from racing and volunteer instead. I may still run Lost Soul next year (to check out the course as much as anything) because I have a guaranteed entry, but I don't have to make that decision until February.


• Focus on rebuilding my running base with more effective speed, hill and endurance workouts.


• Spend more days in the backcountry with some solo fast-packing trips. (Aerin is using all her available vacation days for her trip to China, so I will be ahead of her next summer.) This will also include bagging some more peaks.


• Attempt the Alberta Triple in 2010!

If you know what the Alberta Triple is, then you know I have big plans. If you don't, to complete the Alberta Triple I need to finish the Blackfoot 100K, Canadian Death Race (125K) and Lost Soul 100M that year.

To these ends I will formally plan more of my training and invest in some training aids. What I need most right now is a heart rate monitor, so I will start there.

So it's been a tough year to be running, but I'm looking to approach the coming year with renewed purpose and enjoyment.

Outdoor: Waterton National Park

Aerin and I spent five days in Waterton last weekend. I wanted to share some of our backcountry adventures first, so I'll talk about the regular tourist things we did in another post. I will post photos when I get the chance.

Friday was our first outing to Crypt Lake. After getting onto the ferry across the lake to Crypt Landing, we began our hike up the trail. Unfortunately this didn't last long as Aerin began having blister trouble from her boots. While they weren't a problem last year, the boots have been causing problems this year, and the fix we tried for this trip didn't take. So about an hour into the hike Aerin decided it was better to save her feet than carry on to the top in pain and ruin the rest of her weekend. She sent me to the top with orders to take lots of pictures.

I took off to the top to complete my mission and return as quickly as I could to Aerin as she waited at the docks. The hanging valley Crypt Lake is in was lots of fun to get to with it's tunnel crawl and exposed trail access. It's certainly a very pretty cirque lake, but I didn't enjoy it as much without Aerin to see it too. With my mission completed I turned around and started the rapid running descent to the dock. All told it was about 2:30 to get to the lake and about 1:15 to make the run back.

Friday night we ran into friends we knew were going to be in Waterton. (There were lots that we didn't know about too. Yeah Grant MacEwan Mountain Club!) The next morning the four of us headed up to Wall Lake on the BC side of the border for a look at another beautiful lake. This was preceeded by some emergency shoe shopping for Aerin, but she made good time despite some soreness due to not quite blisters of the previous day.

We encountered a pair of male mule deer on the way up with beautiful antlers. They were still in their velvet. Another doe wandered the area when we got to the lake finally.

Wall Lake itself is most impressive for the towering wall of stone around the back side of the lake. It's quite a sight to see the glacier remenants around the lake too. There was some recent chunks that have separated along the western end that were all blue-green in tinge. In some places even older clear ice with the same blue-green tinge showed through under the newer snow. It was really neat to realize that some of that ice could be thousands of years old.

Sunday was trail running day. I had to go solo on this one, but it turned out to be a short trip. My plan was to do the Snowshoe-Blakiston loop from Red Rock Canyon, but bad weather rolled in just short of the Snowshoe back country campground. Facing heavy rain, lightning, high winds and the uncertainty of whether it would continue or not, I decided to turn around.

This brings me to the interesting part of this aborted trail run - a cinnamon black bear and her two cubs. One the way up I was coming down a hill when I noticed her on the level a little ways down. I started talking and making some noise, and she lead her cubs into the woods off the trail and went around me.

Once I turned around to return to the trailhead I figured I'd likely run into her again, but I'd set my Garmin with her position when I met her on the way up. I started paying particular attention as I got close to that spot, and about a kilometer later noticed her ahead of me just off the trail. I backed off and made noise, and soon saw one of the cubs coming down a tree. While this was happening I explored the option of going off trail, but the undergrowth and footing was darned near as dangerous as a bear in the wet conditions. So with much caution and making noise I moved up to see what was happening. Luckily she and the cubs had moved up to a wider part of the trail, the cubs were no where in sight (but likely up a new tree), and she was busy ripping apart a log a little further up the slope. She lifted her head the one time when she head and saw me, but went back to ripping apart the log. I slipped by with as much space as possible to spare, and she didn't even look at me again. After that it was a quick run the rest of the way.

And that was basically it. We checked out Cameron Falls in town on Monday before doing the loop at the buffalo paddock, and then it was on to Fort MacLeod and the Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump site.

Overall it was a great trip that both of us enjoyed since I hadn't been to the park in almost 20 years and Aerin had never been.