Advanced Week Happenings

The past week has been flying by, lots of training, testing, focus groups, massages, photo shoots, video shoots, ortheo sessions, ocean swims, podiatrist analyses, walks to village and adventure racing.  It's been a great time with the Salomon family, lots of laughs and good catch-ups.

Photoshoot!

Video shoot!



Foot doctor!  My foot molds for custom
shoes!

Canyon Running!

Salomon Family!

Incredible running terrain for the week!

IRELAND - A Destination Worth Running In

I’d been waiting for a reason to visit Ireland for quite some time so it was a no brainer when Tim Holstrom from the TCC races launched the first of his new “Lost Worlds Racing Series” at Ireland’s Giant Causeway.  No way was I going to pass up the opportunity.  Norm and I were originally going to tackle this race together, he’d do the 50km and I the 100km. We’d the wrap the trip up with a week of holidays.  However, with an injury on his part and myself suddenly needing to be in Greece the day after the race for Salomon’s annual Advanced Week, I learned quickly that I had 3 days only to take in as much Irish culture as possible.

A night flight on Wednesday into Belfast had me arrive Thursday late afternoon. My baggage never made it but I did travel with my run kit so I was able to get out for a great little run in the local park before meeting up with the others at an awesome little Irish pub for beers and dinner that night.  I finally got to meet 2 of my CBC athletes whom I’ve been coaching for several months but had never met.  It was a great first day in Ireland.

Friday morning my legs needed another little jaunt as the swelling from travelling was still bad. I got an early morning run in before packing my bags up at the Moira Guesthouse where we had been staying and loading up the vans to head up to the Causeway. Very scenic drive on twisty little roads led us to the town of Ballintoy and our accommodations for the next 2 nights. We actually drove beyond and right to the Giants Causeway for a quick 1hr look to go and see what the Causeway was all about.  ABSOLUTELY AWESOME.  Nice to take it all in because I knew that as we ran through it during the race the next day, I might not be so appreciative of this World Heritage Site when I was in a world of hurt.   It was a windy day but I should add, I still hadn’t experienced rain since my arrival.

After settling into our accommodations, we had a race briefing and dinner and then it was back to relax and get sorted for the morning.  I was really looking forward to getting out running and experiencing this area of the world. However, I slept like crap, only managing about 3hrs due to the time change.  I wanted to sleep so bad but just couldn’t.  Oh well, I’ve raced through on much less sleep before, I knew it was do-able.

We had a 45min drive back to Ballycastle to where the race started. After a 30min walk in and an hour behind schedule, we were off!  The race began with a gentle climb as everyone peeled layers off. Only 2 men were front of me, both moving at a solid pace. A local Irishman named Ivan caught me at 10km and that was it, we ran together for the remainder 90km, chatting and working together through the course. It worked great.  Ivan was much better on the flats with his road background so I just plodded along behind me, determined to not let my “Leprachaun” go.  The hills were my strength (surprise surprise, with my quad size they better be) so I led on those.   The first 50km took us overland through some really cool forests and bogs.  The worst part was the concrete and it caused an achilles flare up. I was just very eager to get to the 50km mark where we’d begin our 25km out and back on the Giants Causeway.  And, true to their word, the causeway did not disappoint.

Advanced Week - the first few days

I'm only half way done my race report on my Irish experience and haven't had a chance to post it yet. My apologies.  The morning after the race, I was up at 4am to catch a shuttle to the airport so that I could catch a flight to Athens, Greece for this years Advanced Week with Salomon.  I've been fortunate to be with Salomon for over 9 years, this is my third Advanced Week and it's always a highlight on the schedule.  Salomon gather's it's International team of athletes together paired with the community managers from all the different countries and the head developers and designers for footwear, apparel and packs.  We meet in an amazing place with great access to trails and spend the week (a VERY busy week) might I add, testing product, running, providing feedback and looking in detail at future products and design concepts. Days are long but it's a great time to re-connect with the Salomon family and see friends that you only get to see once a year maybe.  I strongly believe that it's our role as athletes to be apart of product development from the ground up and no-one does it better then Salomon!


I arrived Sunday afternoon into Athens and that night, we took the train from the airport hotel into the city for an incredible dinner with views looking directly at the Acropolis.  SO AWESOME.  The food has been nothing short of fantastic, I'm in love with the "Greek Salad" but I'm pretty sure that here they just call it "salad."

Monday we piled into 7 vans and drove 4hrs out to the western coast to the town of Kalamata to a near bye super cute resort right on the Mediterranean.  Everyone was eager to get out running that evening. I couldn't resist either even though I know that I had only rested on Sunday from my 100km!  I wouldn't call what I was doing out there a run, it was more of a hobble, but I'm addicted to running and moving and I didn't want to miss out. There is a local restaurant providing us with all our dinners in town and the food has been really great.

Tuesday morning, 7am get-up and then it was right into testing. I enjoyed a great 13km run while doing a session focused on headwear, packs, socks and women's apparel. Sorry to be really vague and pictures might be a bit limited this week but we are not allowed to be posting the future designs.  Anyways, the run was awesome and my body was feeling a bit better.  I got to see Arno, the team Osteopath in the afternoon and he was so great! We are starting to address some of the many issues that I've been dealing with physically and mentally lately. More on this to come. Spent the evening in a footwear development session. 

And here we are now, Wednesday morning and it's go time for another busy day!

Re-hab & Running

The pain and annoyance of my chronic achilles tendonitis finally became too much for me to handle and I knew that it was back to the drawing board for some relief.  Truth be told, it never really settled after my HK100 no matter how much icing and stretching I gave it.  The bump on the back of my heel continues to get larger although oddly enough, it doesn't seem to be leading to heel blisters.  It still fits nicely into my Salomon S-Labs. 

The only time that I have experienced a day of being pain free was last year when I went to see Colin Miller here in Squamish.  He provides the most aggressive form of IMS that I have ever experienced, make me cry, scream and curse as hundreds of needles get put in all over my body.  What was magical despite the pain was that for the first time ever, I awoke the next morning pain free. This was now over 1/2 a year ago and I knew after returning from Hong Kong back in February that I was due for a Colin visit to get things back under control.  My 2012 season would suck big time if I didn't address this now.  I'm not getting the most out of my workouts because I'm always compensating.

I wasn't able to get in to see Colin for 2 weeks so I tried other forms for physio that did include IMS.  No luck though on settling the achilles down, just as I had anticipated.  My body responds the best to aggressive treatment. Sticking a few needles in me and thinking that is going to do the trick just isn't the case.  I knew I mentally had to prepare myself for a "Colin treatment" if I really was too get better.  To say it bluntly, he needled the crap out of me, aiming to re-set nerves throughout the body, not just direct to the achilles.  From spine, low lumbar, glutes, hip flexors and calves, he hit's you hard with it.  Colin's treatment is not for everyone but he has huge success with people who can handle a very aggressive form of treatment.

Thursday evening I finally got in for an appointment.  After 1hr of hell, I hobbled out and straight home to the couch. I wasn't able to move but it was the type of pain that told me "tomorrow I will awake as a new person."  During my treatment, my crying would get so out of control as I struggled to put the pain into the pain box. Colin would calm me down and get me to re-focus my breathing.  45mins of needles was not fun at all but I reached a point where I needed to be moving again properly, Colin was my only hope.

I wasn't surprised when I got up at 5am and headed to Chief for training. For the first time in months, I didn't feel my achilles like I had before.  I got out for another run later in the day as well. Yesterday was the true test as  Jenni and headed out for a trail run for 4hrs.  I was able to hold form and have no pain for the first 3hrs30mins, it was awesome.  I could see that we had made progress, I was putting my foot down correctly and not hobbling.  The last 30mins things got a little ugly and I knew that I needed to call it quits, get home and get the ultra-sound right back onto it.  With that said though, I'm on the road to restoration with another appointment mid this week.  In a sick way, I'm excited about my next treatment because I know it means healing.

I'm now 1.5 weeks away from my Ireland departure and a rock'in 100km course that waits there for me.  I will try to get another few IMS appoints with Colin in before I go, I want to run pain free, I don't want to struggle with this all year.

ONWARDS...........