To Eat or Not to Eat

I've written before about how I laugh at the people who are VERY strict about thier diet, especially in the weeks or months leading up to a race. I've said that I discovered many years ago (after being one of those people for some time) that I could eat ice cream or chocolate before a race and still achieve my goals and that life is too short to deny yourself some simple pleasures.

I would not really change much about my eating habits before a race or in the taper. I just made sure I was well-hydrated during race week and that I had my share of carbs for three days prior to the big day. I also did try and cut down on the portion size somewhat but it rarely was enough to matter. I eat well at meals but too much of a good thing....

After pretty much any race I did whether it be a sprint tri or half marathon, I would gorge myself afterwards on coke (which I never drink), maybe chips (Hint of Lime Tostitos), and for sure, ice cream in reward of my good time or placing at the race. So in essence I was "going overboard" for a day or two and then settling down to the normal amount of chocolate and ice cream.

It finally hit me after Ironman Canada this year, after again not really watching what I ate or how much in the months before the race, that how can I justify this bad habit of eating just for indulging in under ten hours of exercise? That's what I call this year's Ironman now because it was basically to me a long training day. I wasn't needing a reward, say, for abstaining from eating any kind of junk food for two months before the race and looking forward to it the whole time once I completed the race. It wasn't a carrot anymore that I dangled in front of me to try and achieve my goal. When I had a five hour bike followed by a one and a half hour run during training, I didn't go and pig out becuase I "deserved" it after such a big effort. Why did I feel the need to do this at the end of any race this year?

With this information firmly at hand, and the fact I had gained about four pounds in the month leading up to Haney to Harisson, I decided to try something different. Even with the Halloween candy in the house prior to the race and unlike the previous two years, I stayed away from it for two and a half weeks before the run. I didn't buy ice cream and therefore could not be tempted. I cut down on my size of meals. At the firehall I did the same, usually dividing my meal in half and eating it later or the next day. I even passed on ice cream at work. At work!!! A staple in every firefighter's diet. As it turned out I didn't go to the gym all this time so therefore couldn't get progress checks on how I was doing. I wasn't sure if I wanted to know. Then the day came, two days before the run to be exact, that I went to see what I weighed in at. This was in the evening, after dinner, so I had an excuse if I didn't lose any pounds - it was the meal still sitting inside of me of course. It ended up I went from 175 to 171.8 lbs. It had actually worked. So now I was determined to be even more proud of myself and went the next morning to do a thirty minute treadmill run. I got to the gym wearing only shorts and a dry-fit shirt, no shoes. I was a happy 170.2 lbs. After the run with only a little water I ended up at 169.2. I can't remember the last time I was sub-170. This was awesome.

The fact that my shin splint pain flared up for the first time all year in the week before Haney also was a kick to my butt in thinking that a few less pounds may help that as well. Funny though I felt nothing during H2H or in the days after that would indicate they are coming back or that I have another stress fracture. I will alter my training somewhat before Texas though, only one short road run a week, long stuff in the trails, and either treadmill or eliptical workouts. Maybe even the dreaded water running once a week.

I think if this experiment had gone the other way or I hadn't seen much in the way of movement in the scale, it could have had disastrous effects in that I may have kept eating the same way as before. I wasn't a total angel during my seventeen days or so, I think I had two regular and two small servings of ice cream, a few Halloween goodies (okay, a lot on Halloween night but they were right in front of me, what could I do?), and some of my niece's birthday cake. Other than that, junk food was pretty much absent. Since I had all this will power before the run I now know I can do it again and will for races if not all the time.

I now feel okay having been rewarding myself this week for that "long" period of abstinance.

H2H 2007

As you can see in the video it was a dark and stormy night when we started. Okay it was dark, but only slightly drizzling and technically it was morning. It was still pretty chilly and the number of shorts-wearing runners was shocking. I was decked out in toque, gloves, rain jacket, pants and I was still cold. I guess a few of us were colder than others and in a hurry to warm up because the pace set in the first few legs was pretty scorching. All four men from Holland were present: Darren Froese, Rick Webb, Bruce Barteaux and myself. Darren was a bit late to start the race but blew past the group after two kilometres to take the lead. A newcomer to the 100k was Hassan Lofti-Pour who won the Stormy 50 mile went with Darren and shadowed him for quite a while. I could see them off in the distance as Darren had a reflective vest on and Hassan had a flashing light on the back of his toque. I knew we were going too quick and said that to Carrie and Tracey, a.k.a. The Crew, after an hour of running at this pace. My goal was to run a steady 7:30 per mile pace all race and whatever happened, happened. It was dumb of me to keep these guys in sight as it's a long day and you definitely slow down later on. To what extent is never known until it happens. For me it's around the start of the sixth leg. We were doing sub-7:15 for the first three legs.
I was trying to slow down but I was nervous about being too far behind in the latter portions of the race. I never wanted to "race" after running 70 or more kilometres so I kept the guys within about a km ahead of me. Hassan's crew vehicle was taking time splits on me quite often so I knew he wasn't too far ahead even though I couldn't see him. I took it easy on the hills, keeping my breathing under control and not going anaerobic, knowing my legs would be better for it later on. Saying this, it was on a hilly leg 3 that I made up some ground on Darren, who had been passed by Hassan about thirty minutes prior. He stopped for some aid from his wife, uber-crewer Kandise, and I went by him.


The three of us maintained this order until just after the start of the fourth leg when Hassan mistook an H2H marker indicating go straight as one telling him to go left. Sure it was dark and drizzly but I went by the same sign and I would swear it said go straight. There was even a cul-de-sac sign at the beginning of the side-road he took but obviously didn't see and lost about five minutes going out and then coming back to the route. In this time myself and Darren had passed him. This must have demoralized him as Carrie and Tracey saw him trying very hard to make up this time lost and I think it cost him overall in the energy expenditure. It was reminiscent of 2005 when three of us turned right instead of a left and lost about ten minutes once we turned around and got back on course.
I felt crappy last year halfway through leg 4 but this year I felt great until the start of leg 6. It was wild how we didn't see daylight until around 8am this year because of the time change being after the race instead before. Leg 4 which is usually in daylight was so shrouded in fog and darkness that I had to run on the center line just to make sure I didn't go off the road. I was worried about making a wrong turn because you couldn't see more than maybe twenty feet in front. I had the girls drive about that far in front of me and I just followed the van's taillights.


From this point on the course was pretty flat and uneventful and I was glad to get rid of the headlamp as it finally got light enough to not need it. Darren's Kandise was also looking after another runner and we were kind of checking on him periodically to make sure all was well with him. Halfway through leg five the girls went back and saw him and were back up to me pretty quick. I asked how far behind he was and Carrie said about five minutes.
*Author's note: I love Carrie very much and in no way do I mean any disrespect but it has to be known that she is not the best at judging time and/or distance. More on this later. Just remember Darren was "five minutes" behind me.*
So I'm thinking five is not very many minutes at this point in the race and fatigue was setting in. I had to still push it though to maintain the lead and try and pull ahead a bit. Around here as well I felt some discomfort in my left big toe. I've lost both nails on the big toes so I knew what this feeling meant. I think it happened on some steep downhills on leg 4 when I was in poor form and jammed the toe to the front and top of my shoe. I could feel something wasn't right. Of course, on leg 5 I didn't want to stop and lose time because it wasn't really hurting. I made up my mind to change to a larger-sized shoe on leg 7 just before the long 11% downhill because it was here in '05 that I ruined this same toenail the first time.


Right at the end of leg 6 was where I saw Steve and Jean King by the side of the road. This is what Steve does when he calls this race: He leaves Penticton around 4am and arrives at this point in the race to greet the first place runner (me for the past three years) and it's a carrot for me because I know he is going to check the time splits on the runners behind me. He always is inspiring in his words so I look forward every year to seeing him around this point. Off he went down the route behind me and as much as I love seeing him, the longer it takes him to come back, the farther anyone is behind me. He came up after a while in his van and reported that I had a twenty-seven minute lead on Hassan with Darren two minutes behind him and looking strong. I breathed a sigh of relief that I could back off my pace some as I had some room with the time difference between us. I asked Carrie after the race if, back on leg 5 when they checked on Darren's position, the "five minute" lead I had was a "running" five minutes or a "driving" five minutes. She confessed that it was indeed a driving five minutes and we had a little chuckle.
At the top of the fog-laden hill leading down to the flats of leg 7 and the start of leg 8 I stopped and changed shoes with my frozen fingers and descended at a brisk walk for one kilometre.
After the flats started it was pretty uneventful and definitely not pretty. I struggled to maintain the pace I wanted but knew that I was close enough I didn't have to totally kill myself (thankfully). Near the finish Carrie and Tracey parked the van and we all ran hand-in-hand through the finish chute, celebrating the great job that they did looking after me all day.


Darren followed in second, Hassan in third and Rick in fourth. Congratulations to all the finishers.


Once again I had intentions of hitting the party afterwards but 9pm equals a 20-hour day for all of us and we just weren't into it. Thankfully the ultra awards are at 4:45pm and we can go crash after that. I can't express enough thanks to my crew and to all the crews out there who cheer us on in the pitch blackness for hours and hours and do such good jobs to insure we cross the line.

My toe was indeed trashed at the end of the race like I knew it would be. A trip to the doctor on Sunday confirmed that it was getting infected so I'm on a cycle of the anti-biotics once again. As I sit here writing this my foot is up on the desk to relieve some of the swelling that has been occurring over today. I'm sure it will be fine for Texas in four weeks........


Haney to Harrison 100 km Ultra

The Hat Came Back

The hat that they handed out to the Hawaii Ironman finishers in 2004 was by far the best running hat I have ever owned. It's a Headsweats and I wouldn't recommend any other hat on the planet for running in. Not that I receive anything from the company to make me say this, it's just something I believe in. I've used a lot of different hats and for the most part they all work but when the rain comes down, it feels like you have a soaked cat sitting on your head. Who needs all that extra weight when running for hours? Think about how much extra stress that is on the legs for each and every step. You take all those steps over several miles and it causes tons of extra force impacting the legs. With Headsweats hats it's like you're not wearing anything at all. You're naked running over the hills and through the meadows. In the rain it feels non-existent.


I ran with the one from Kona for a couple years in the heat and rain and was never happier. Then came the dark day: A certain domestic animal (not mentioning any names) took it upon herself to chew a piece of it off, making it her own in the process and also rendering it impossible to do it's job (which is essentially to rest on my head). After the horror had subsided, I was off looking for substitutes. There were none. I couldn't come across any that had adequate vent panels on top to let out heat and not absorb water. Nothing compared to the weight. I was Yin without Yang, Donny without Marie, soup without crackers. I decided to keep a look out on ebay which never really turned into anything. Then at Ironman Canada this year I came across the line and went to receive my finisher's shirt which came with a hat this year. Amazingly it was a Headsweats!!


The downside was it was adorned over every square inch with Ironman trademarks and simply a billboard that screamed, "I did an Ironman, revel in my accomplishment!!!" I have worn it a few times just because it is so comfortable. I'm not a big fan of wearing any things Ironman but I made an exception for comfort.
So the other day I got home from work and it took a minute and a few subtle hints from the family to look over on the counter, but when I did, there was my hat!! Like something out of a movie where the hero returns after years of being missing, never expected to be seen again. This wasn't the chewed up, disfigured abomination that I had to discard, it was a brand new, tags on, Kona 2004 Ironman hat.


Carrie had contacted Headsweats without my knowledge, probably in an effort to get me to stop whining over a stupid hat, and after communicating with Matt, he found one and mailed it out to us!! I am amazed once again at her level of care and concern for my well-being.
I am now more ready for H2H as this is a most valuable piece of equipment. Rain or shine I will not whine.

Fuelling the Run - the night

If success could be measured by the amount of work that goes into an event, this one would be the benchmark at the top end. All the hard work that went into this night -the planning, organising, auction item-searching, shopping, talking to people - was directly proportional to what we got out of it - watching people be in awe of the fantastic display of auction items, seeing old friends, having many of the people that I care deeply about in attendance. It started out in it's infancy as a fundraiser but turned into an evening with friends out to have fun and share this night with us.


The day of the dance was hectic to say the least - the prep, getting food together, watching updates of Ironman Hawaii, setting up the hall - but it all fell in line at around 6:58pm.


I can't say enough thanks to all those who came to the hall Saturday night to share a magical evening. As well, I was very impressed at those who donated items to be auctioned off with great success. Everyone was amazed by the amount of items we had and the quality of them all. The highlight for me was receiving my award from Steve King and Ferg Hawke towards the end of the night. As I've rarely seen Steve outside of races it is always a special time when I do.


Huge thanks go to Tracey who, without her, couldn't have made this happen. The amount of legwork to get everything together was staggering. Also to Carrie who put up with the stress of me running around for four weeks to get things done and my asking her to do tons of work along with all she normally does.


I can't believe there are still people coming up to me to donate even though they couldn't attend. As I said in my little speech that night, with every race I do I'll have every one of you with me out on the roads and in the trails. You are all my crew.

Fuelling the Run

The day is finally here. All the prep is done. All the hard work is finished. Just enjoy the day. They journey is the challenge, the night is the reward. Must start off slow, not too many drinks too soon. Pace myself. Slow and steady. Breathe. Save the energy for later in the night.
The morning is when will I feel really good, like I could be doing more or even start drinking. Can't do it, have to be strict and focussed.
The afternoon will bring times of stress, it's okay, we've practised this over and over, the time to shine will come. Still must resist indulging too much but can have a few beverages as a reward for all the work. Everything will be set up and it's almost time to relish in the accomplishment that is this event.
Evening will arrive and that is the time to pick it up and show what we can do. We'll feel the fatigue but it's no time to slow down now. Now is the time. Something inside will scream, 'Go, go, your time is now!!' And we will. Why else do we hold back for so many weeks? Just for these few hours that is 'our time'. Now we go all out, hold nothing back, not worrying about tomorrow or how our heads will feel. These times come around very seldom, and we must embrace our passion.
Bottoms up!!!

Borders, Baker Lake, and Bears

It's funny how when I'm running these days I or doing a race my mind is filled with what I want to write about on the blog when I'm done. Sometimes I play it out from the beginning of the day, the beginning of the race, or at a certain point somewhere out there. Of course, when I'm done the race or back home, I forget a lot of what happened there,almost as if I wasn't supposed to remember every detail, that the overall feeling is sufficient to re-live the race. If I was at the three hour mark of the Baker Lake 50km race right now I'd be thinking, "Christ I wish I wasn't over an hour from the end still!!"

Judie Wilson, an accomplished runner, ultrarunner, and Ironman, and I headed out to cross the border around 5:30am on Saturday to get to the race start about 130km away. We got to Peach Arch crossing and saw the line-ups at 5:45 and were shocked and amazed at the line-ups going south. A quick listen to the radio indicated up to an hour wait at that border and the Truck Crossing. We made the decision to head over to Sumas where the wait shouldn't be as long.

We only waited twenty minutes there but the slower backroads didn't spit us out to the I-5 at Bellingham until about 7:10. I said to Judie that I was pretty sure we weren't going to make the start in time as we had roughly 80km to go still. I almost pulled the pin and suggested we just go to Chuckanut and do a few hours through those trails. After some discussion we figured we'd might as well keep going and whatever happened, happened.

On the smaller roads off the highway there was a car right on our tail even as we approached extremely ticketable speeds on those backroads. We laughed as we figured it was another car of Canadians held up at the border and we were right. As it turned out we arrived, shouting "The Canadians are here!!", only twenty minutes past the start line. After just barely catching the race director heading up to the turnaround to give him our extra bottles, we quickly got dressed, lubed up and band-aided up (okay, I did), we headed out only thirty-one minutes behind the leaders. I've had bad dreams like this before where you arrive late or something holds you up and can't start a race but this is the very first time I've ever missed a start. I've come oh so close in the past but always been there when the gun sounded.

Judie and I started together on the 2km or so of roadways but she sent me off on my own once we hit the trailhead. Of course the weather was ugly, not quite as ugly as the race two years ago, with socked-in clouds and a bit of drizzle.

It took thirty-six minutes to catch the first runners, which turned out to be a pair of ladies on the trail, one of which heard me coming and quickly stood, pulling her shorts up after her pit stop. I covered my eyes and said, "I see nothing", and "we're all trail runners here". The next few bunches of people commented either we had started slow or started the race late. In the few seconds of passing it was relayed that, yes, four of us started late, we were on Canadian time after all!!

About 4km from the turnaround the land flattens so I decided I needed to make up some time and booked it. At the turn I quickly exchanged bottles and flew again (too fast as it turned out) the other way. Time at the half - 2:07.

It was fun seeing the same people on the way back as they all had comments to add and everyone could spare at least a "hello". At around the spot where I knew I had 1:30 to go to the end the energy started to dwindle. I think I forgot how much running in the trail takes out of me and didn't bring enough CarboPro 1200. Had to ration it too thin. The hills on the way back were reduced to me climbing them with baby steps, just waiting to hear the footsteps behind me of those who had raced smart and not blown everything on the flats. It was eerily similar to how I felt in the race in '05. Not much energy, looking at my watch every couple minutes not to see when to drink, but to calculate how much suffering there was still to be had. Crazy enough, though, I passed four guys on this last hour or so of the run.

Finally the trail ended and I got onto the forest road again. Of course I would have been more than happy to slog my way to the finish, but no, there was someone at the trailhead who had to tell me that the second place guy was a minute and a half ahead of me. Second place?!?! I didn't really keep track of my placing at the turn or on the way back so was surprised to learn I was that close to the front having started late. I was a little (okay a lot) disappointed the was the race had gone so far because I really wanted a shot at the prize the winners of the open and masters divisions get - a cool stuffed "Baker Bear". Two years ago I missed out on it by a few minutes and it killed me that the second place guy might be in my age group and I'd come up seconds short to my bear. As it was I saw him close to the finish but could only put a minute into him before I crossed the line in third. After a congratulations I asked him his age which was 47. Then I found the first place finisher and it turned out he was 43!! Whoohoo I won my division and so received the coveted Baker Bear for my troubles.


It was so nice of Don the race director to explain to me, even though I totally understood, that it would be unfair to take away the title from the first place finisher even though my time was seventeen minutes faster overall than his. Unless they had timing chips they had to go by the clock time. It's such a great race and a fun trail to run on that I didn't mind at all. As it was, Judie would have been the second place woman and won her division as well if it weren't for those holiday shoppers heading south. I hope to come back next year.



Baker Lake 50 km Trail Run

A Gentle Reminder

It usually takes only one run a year to remind me that I can't, no matter how long or short, do any sort of run in the morning without hitting the bathroom before I go out. Today was that run.
The body has a funny way of adapting to doing things at a certain time of day, each and every day. It does not like to be out of it's normal rhythm of things. It likes to show the brain once in a while who's really in charge.
I was in a hurry to get a little thirty minute jaunt in before the kids went to school. Out for fifteen minutes I went, planning to turn around then and head back. At the turn I realized I may have gone about five minutes too long. Wasn't sure if I'd make it home. Lots of bushes nearby but they were mostly in people's front yards.
If I slowed down a bit, the feeling subsided somewhat but meant it would take longer to get home and there was something that wasn't going to wait that long. The faster I ran produced more jostling and bouncing and made that "something" want to happen that much sooner. It was a predicament. This isn't one of those "mind over matter" or "push through the pain" moments, this was an occurance that was going to happen whether I liked it or not.
Needless to say I made it home but it was close. Very close. Did I mention it was close?