I took the Monday off to rest and recover, even though I was feeling quite good overall. It was late Monday when I set a goal for the week. 100 miles of running (161km). I have never been able to dedicate my training 100% to my running as it's always been a balance between riding, running, paddling, and gym work. I figured with less than a month until the Stormy 100 miler I might as well put on the horse blinders and see how my body responded.
Mon 14th: Day off of training
Tue 15th: 5h15m(40km)
Headed out to try and run the first 1/2 of the Knee Knacker course. 'Try' because it's quite a complex little route with many twists and turns, and I am notorious for finding scenic routes while out running new terrain. I hit the top of Black Mtn in 1h15m and Cypress in 1h45m, which was decent. I wasn't racing, and was making mental notes all along the route to ensure that I was 100% confident in it for future, faster attempts. From here however, it all went to shit. Hollyburn Chutes and it was game over...I reached Cleveland Damn in just under 4hr!
There were a few hikers that I passed less than 2km after departing the Cypress area...and they were walking Cleveland Damn up ahead of me as I came in! I turned to them and said,
"Next time I'll just follow the friggin hikers!!"
From here I continued up towards Grouse and eventually onto some trails and back to my place on Lonsdale. A technical and steep 40k route that took just over 5hr to complete. Roxy looked at me with 3km to go and simply stopped to curl up under a tree for a few minutes. It was a hot day and I was pretty shattered afterwards.
-Then out for a 1hr paddle in Deep Cove as part of the Tues night racing series
(day off of work)
Wed 16th: 2hr (20km)
Drive to The Callaghan Valley to lay out my running courses for The Callaghan Crusher on August 24th. This will be the first ever trail race to be held in The Callaghan, which is the site of the 2010 Olympic Nordic events. The course is gonna be beautiful! (day off of work)
Thu 17th: 1h15m (15km)
Out for an evening run with Ryne Melcher, also of Team Montrail - Mountain Hardware. Best running pace I've sustained since getting back on my feet and felt great!
Fri 18th: 1h45m (20km)
Pretty much straight up for 10k and then straight back down. Another solid run
Sat 19th: 3h45m (40km)
Head up to Squamish after work to join a Stormy training run group. Run the first portion of the course. Felt great physically, but had some stomach issues. Was awesome to be running at night with the headlamp on again! The Princeton Tec Apex is like my secret weapon for this race!!
Sun 20th: 4h45m (30km)
After work Jackie and I head out to run a backcountry route through Hanes Valley. Incredible evening, and once again loved the headlamp running after an incredible sunset from the top of Grouse mountain.
TOTALS: 18h45m - 165km
Roxy pretty much sums up how I feel about the week!
I was intending to try to hit the 200km mark for this current week, but after a very tough 45km run yesterday I realized that I might be a little tired from it all. Either way I feel great overall and the main thing is that the injuries are gone and no new ones have popped up to replace them yet!
Took today, Wed off and will get back to it again tomorrow morning. 16 days and counting...maybe the 200k wasn't the smartest idea anyways!
GR
