I've had 3 weeks now back on my feet running. My right achilles which has been the main problem continues to feel better and better each day. The left one has been flaring up now (ahhhhh) so I will go back to Pat this week for another treatment of ART and get that under control ASAP.
Anyway, it's time to get run fit again so I thought what better way than to jump into a few races. Last weekend Norm and I headed over to the Kusan Klimb in Sayward, BC on Vancouver Island. Thought it would be nice to combine a bit of family time with a good kick in the ass. Dad has been asking me to come and do this race for several years now so I was pretty stoked to go and see what this run was all about. Well....to say it is a "trail race" isn't quite true. The race takes you vertical for about 7km. After 2km of runnable terrain, you are forced into a power hike, sky high heart rate and head down just grind it out. I would say this route is much harder than The Chief hike and about 4-5x the distance, climbing approx 4500ft elevation! It took me somewhere around 1hr50min to reach the summit!!!! Then it was a super technical descent, snow glisade, hang onto ropes and watch as your quads blow up! The last 12km of the race was purely downhill on open logging roads. Great that it was all down hill running but when you haven't been running at all....well....I had no leg turnover and only 1 pace. I settled into 2nd place for the females, letting Jo take the lead and put the hammer on me, and crossed the line at 2hrs57min. It was a great day of training for me but what was even better was hitting McIvor Lake later in the day for some water skiing and wakeboarding with my family!!!! I officially maxed out my legs and arms for the day! The Kusam is a good hard race that will test limits and make you hard work. However, I prefer running races - not hike hard for 2/3'rd's and then run logging roads out. Anyway, it's worth checking out and giving your legs and lungs a challenge!
Anyway, it's time to get run fit again so I thought what better way than to jump into a few races. Last weekend Norm and I headed over to the Kusan Klimb in Sayward, BC on Vancouver Island. Thought it would be nice to combine a bit of family time with a good kick in the ass. Dad has been asking me to come and do this race for several years now so I was pretty stoked to go and see what this run was all about. Well....to say it is a "trail race" isn't quite true. The race takes you vertical for about 7km. After 2km of runnable terrain, you are forced into a power hike, sky high heart rate and head down just grind it out. I would say this route is much harder than The Chief hike and about 4-5x the distance, climbing approx 4500ft elevation! It took me somewhere around 1hr50min to reach the summit!!!! Then it was a super technical descent, snow glisade, hang onto ropes and watch as your quads blow up! The last 12km of the race was purely downhill on open logging roads. Great that it was all down hill running but when you haven't been running at all....well....I had no leg turnover and only 1 pace. I settled into 2nd place for the females, letting Jo take the lead and put the hammer on me, and crossed the line at 2hrs57min. It was a great day of training for me but what was even better was hitting McIvor Lake later in the day for some water skiing and wakeboarding with my family!!!! I officially maxed out my legs and arms for the day! The Kusam is a good hard race that will test limits and make you hard work. However, I prefer running races - not hike hard for 2/3'rd's and then run logging roads out. Anyway, it's worth checking out and giving your legs and lungs a challenge!
Race #2 - yesterday was the annual Comfortably Numb race in Whistler - a 25km AWESOME trail that starts at Wedge parking lot and finishes at Spruce Grove. I love this trail and have run it for years but it never fit the calendar to be able to race it. I was supposed to be away in Alberta racing right now at Best of the West but with a last minute situation arising, I needed to be home here in Squamish. Friday night we decided to race so we headed to Whistler early the next morning. The trail was in perfect shape. Lots of good local runners out and people who do this race each year. Cheryl Beatty was up from Vancouver. She is a great runner (and all round ultra strong athlete) so I was pretty sure I would be chasing her down. I was just so happy to be back out running again. The legs were feeling good but I was sucking wind. My footwork on the technical running started to return as the race went on. My water hose wasn't working so I drank and ate nothing, leaving me with a good bonk for the last 3km. Luckily I knew the course well enough to rely on confidence that I could finish. At around 17km I turned back and saw Cheryl on some switch backs behind me. Well....that really kicked me to get going and somewhere deep down I found another gear to power up and over some rocky sections. I just wanted to reach the 6km technical downhill to the finish line before her. Thankfully, I picked up just enough speed to put me out of her site. I concentrated hard on the rocky terrain and opened up my stride a bit. I think I managed to cross about 2mins before Cherly but I tell ya, she definately forced the hurt on! Fellow Salomon Flight Crew member Adam Campbell won the men's race with a nice sub 2hr time. Norm put in a good performance toooo - I need a much longer race to beat him and his fast twitch fibers! Thanks to all the race organizers for putting on such a fun event on one of the best running routes out there!
The Intermontane Challenge is just around the corner now so I have a few weeks left of big rides and I will continue to get the runs in there and my distance, speed and power back!
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