A Winter Storm
*WHUMPF* “Did you hear that?” “I felt it” “Wait what? I didn’t feel it!” “What do we do?” “We don’t go any higher. We turn back.” “… ok” Last Winter myself and Spring started getting into backcountry ski touring. Learning to ski follows naturally if you live near mountains and wish to continue to visit them through the Winter. There is of course snowshoeing, but it is laborious. Skiing makes the uphill climbing more energy efficient and the downhill is fast. You can’t beat skiing for the ground that can be covered during the short hours of daylight through the Winter months. While the mountains in Winter are staggeringly beautiful they are also extremely dangerous. More so than in Summer when the temperatures are more hospitable and the hazards, though still present, are largely visible and known. As Humans we tend to anthropomorphize many things and I feel that when we see something beautiful that makes us feel happiness we imagine that the source of that beauty cares for us, otherwise why would it make us happy? We imbue these places with intent towards us. When the winds howl the mountain doesn’t want us there, but when the sun shines it welcomes us openly. I have felt this in the mountains while watching a sunrise or staring out at a grand panorama. It can be easy to let the joy felt blind us to the objective dangers that are always present. The mountains do not care if we find happiness or not. The are eternally indifferent. To an outsider who has never explored deep into a remote mountain range this may seem laughably obvious. It is only those that answer the call to venture into these high places that understand the struggle to separate the objective reality with the subjective emotional experience that one undergoes while immersed in these environments. I know I will spend a lifetime trying to understand it and, like all those pulled back to the mountains, will continue to go there to experience it. When I first started my Winter forays into the Hills it was easy to fool myself into believing that all I needed to get into the mountains was enough mettle to endure the cold and the skill to be able to ski, but I’ve since learned that this is merely the tip of the iceberg of the knowledge and experience that I actually require. The Winter Storm that titles this post does not refer to the weather but rather the early experiences of most individuals who push into the mountains in Winter without an understanding of the risks they are taking....
10 Things My First Ultra Taught Me
Technically anything over the marathon distance of 42.2 km (26.2 miles) is classified as an ultra distance. With this in mind it means I officially ran my first ultra trail race in August 2013, when I ran the Squamish 50 50 km (31 miles) trail race. However, it wasn’t until I decided to run my first 80 km (50 mile) trail race that it actually felt like I was entering the ultra arena. This felt monumental and to be honest a little outside of my wheelhouse. But I was committed to running it, not just surviving it, and I tried to focus hard on training. Seeing as I am not a professional and fairly new to the trail running scene, my approach to training, although a little more refined recently, could be called somewhat clumsy and haphazard. I have several sports/hobbies that I like to pursue - rock climbing, mountaineering, ice climbing,skiing - so my attention and energy can be diverted easily. Because of this my training became a bit of a juggling act. I ended up learning a lot while training and running my first ultra. Here are the top 10 things I learned during the process: 1) Run a lot of hills - Yes this means hill repeats. BORING! That’s probably what you are thinking and I know because I thought the exact same thing. In fact I remember one elite trail runner say that you know are deep into training season when you have a fair share of boring runs. Yes, not every run is going to be about having fun but about pushing you outside of your comfort zone. Besides if you are anything like me, slightly masochistic as most long distance runners are, you will find joy in these training runs too! 2) Run back to back long runs -The LSD (long slow distance) is the trademark of endurance runners. Spending a lot of time on your feet, not worrying so much about the actual distance covered, but about the hours you spend out there. So run a big 6-8 hour run on Saturday and get ready to run at least another 2-4 hours on Sunday. Let your body know your mind is in control and you are running whether the body protests or not; run on tired legs. 3) Eat a lot while running, even when you don’t want to - I learned this when I let a podium finish slip through my fingers because I didn’t focus on getting calories into my body early on in the race. It was only when my friend, who was keeping pace with me that day,...
Buckin Hell Race Recap
Once again I had a serious case of FOMO and signed up for another Coast Mountain Trail Series race about 4 days before the event. I had a few friends doing it and one friend, Adam, was volunteering. This one was called Buckin Hell. It was full of technical trail that ran from Deep Cove to the Seymour Lookout and back down again. There was a 15km & 21km option. I had already decided to run the 47km Squamish 50 Orientation run the very next day and thought adding the 21km race the day before would make for a great training weekend. To my surprise and delight Leigh decided that since I had a weekend full of running,he would get in on the action too and signed himself up for the 15km race. Finish line smiles! Photo credit: Sarah Stepec And we’re off! Photo credit: Brian McCurdy Beautiful day for a race. Photo Credit: Brian McCurdy No point getting bogged down in the details of the race, other than to say this was a hard, beautiful, hilly, flowy and technical course. Yes it was all of those things! Having run in the area on previous training runs, I knew that it was going to be alot of uphill at the start. I didn’t want to start out too fast for fear that I would burn out too quickly. Also in the back of my mind I knew that I had a big run ahead of me the next day There was a strong field of women runners that day. Kim Magnus (1st) & Ellie Greenwood (2nd) created a huge gap between second and third place. Me and my friend Chloe Gendron ran together for much of the race, vying for 3rd and 4th position. I knew from the start if I kept Chloe in my sights I would be finishing up front, so I did the best I could to stick close to her. Leigh looking strong on the descent. Photo Credit: Brian McCurdy Keep pushing. Photo Credit: Brian McCurdy Leigh on a technical section. Photo Credit: Brian McCurdy I was fighting to hold my position on the last big uphill section. I wasn’t sure where I was in the race until I saw the leading women Kim & Ellie racing down the hill. Chloe broke away from me on the climb, but I could see her ahead and then it was just me! I was in fourth place, so close to podium finish but it wasn’t going to happen this time. I struggled to the top of the hill, with a mix of power hiking and running, downed...
Survival of the Fittest - Race Recap
Beautiful view at the top of the Gondola. Post-race hike. Racing mindset is something that I have been trying to work on recently. Just gathering information from awesome running friends I have met over the last few years, learning what they do and focusing on working on my mental strength. I have said in previous posts that I don’t race often and I signed up for this race last minute, 2 nights before race day actually. I had a few friends running and was having a serious case of “fear of missing out” so decided to join in on the fun. I chose the 18km option which had a challenging 1000m elevation gain thrown in. This race, Survival of the Fittest, is part of the Coast Mountain Trail Series and if you know anything about this race series, you will know that they put you to the test! Everything for me is training for the Squamish 50 mile that I will be racing in August. I view everything like part of a training run and try to train my body to run tired most of the time. My reasoning behind this is that I want to prepare for the worst out there. I know that the worst I will feel training is probably the best I may feel at a low point during race day, so I need to be able to push through those moments. The day before Survival of the Fittest, I got up at 5am, ran to the First Peak of the The Chief, and then did a set of small hill repeats on my lunch break at work.I was going to do the Sea to Summit trail that evening with Leigh, but he convinced me to taper that evening…hahaha tapering the night before a race! My fellow crazy running buddy, Adam, stayed over at our place, since he was also running the 18km race.. It was nice to have a partner in crime to bounce pre-race jitter energy off of. I woke up feeling tried, pretty much as usual and on schedule, but after a coffee and oatmeal was feeling more race ready. I didn’t do a huge amount of research into the course, as I live in Squamish and know most of the trails in the area. The only thing I did check was the elevation profile which was 1000m over the 18km course. This seemed like it would be a challenge but definitely doable. When they made the call to get to the starting line, Gary (the race director) said everyone wanting to run fast and finish first needed to get up to...
Tears on Mount Harvey
A few weeks ago we did a popular North Shore hike that we had previously done for the first time in 2011, Mount Harvey. It has spectacular scenery, on one side of the ridge the Pacific ocean with a chain of islands stretching out as far as the eye can see , and on the other side a sea of beautiful coastal mountains with no end in sight. But it wasn’t just the fantastic scenery that had me reminiscing on this trip. This years summit shot! View of the Lions Stealthy selfie The first time I hiked Mount Harvey I was training for my first road marathon. I was following a strict 5 day a week running plan and feeling the effects on my body and mind. I was feeling overwhelmed with the training and the physical toll it was taking on my body. It was important to me to still be able to train for the marathon and to also be able to spend time in the mountains, so I felt the need to always be pushing myself. That day in April 2011 proved to be the breaking point for me. The day prior to the hike I had run an 18km training run, which at the time was a long distance for me. I felt tired starting the hike, but felt pretty good, until we started the uphill section. I slowed down to a snails pace and Leigh shot past me, making his way up the hill. Looking up the steep incline,allowing the tiredness to weigh so heavy on my mind and body and watching Leigh move in a seemingly effortless way up the hill, proved to be too much. I stopped in my tracks overcome with frustration and feelings of not being able to continue. At that moment I felt so tired, so heavy with emotion that I could barely breathe. Leaning on a tree, out of sight of Leigh, I started to sob. I felt useless, exhausted and irritated with myself and my physical limitations. Feeling pretty sorry for myself, I said to myself, between sobbing breaths,“I can’t do this” “I’m too tired”. Taking in the view The smile before the meltdown Up, up and up It lasted a few minutes before I had to tell myself that no one feels sorry for me but me. I chose this and I can’t expect anyone to have sympathy for me. In my own words of tough love I needed to “suck it up buttercup”. So in that moment I had to make a decision, I wiped the tears from my eyes, composed myself and headed up towards...
The Curse of West Coast Living
Ok so it’s not so much a curse as a stress. But let me be clear that there is good stress and bad stress. You know like worrying you won’t have the money to pay rent for the month, that would be a bad stress. The stress I am talking about is GOOD stress. The kind of stress that puts a constant pressure on you to make the most of your time. Living in a temperate climate like the West Coast breeds this type of good stress. The weather is pretty mild all of the time, especially in comparison to other parts of the country, mostly when it comes to a typical Canadian winter. Now don’t get me wrong living on the West Coast comes with it’s own set of weather difficulties, like torrential rain that lasts for weeks which can then lead to puddles on the trail that are ready to swallow a human whole. Oh and we even get frost in the mornings and a few times a year we may even get a dump of snow. But I am going to go out on a limb here and say that my chilly brethren in other parts of the country may have it slightly tougher than we do. They do, after all, have to put up with bone crushing cold and hurricane force blizzards. At least they have a good excuse to stay inside, when they choose to do so. Me, well I don’t really have any excuse. I live in a part of the country that affords me good weather most of the year. My only excuse for not getting out would be my own laziness. And as laziness is a quality that I very much detest, I don’t want to fall prey to it’s charm. I mean come on I really only have to deal with rain, umm pretty harmless water droplets falling from the sky, and perhaps having to splash through water which will in turn splash onto my shoes…GASP!! So I end up with wet feet and muddy pants…that seems pretty mild compared to frozen noses and frost-bitten toes and fingers. So for now, living on the West Coast, makes me stressed. Stressed to make the most the every single moment I can, because I don’t have any valid excuses. All I can do is tip my hat to my much hardier neighbors who deal with REAL Canadian weather and go grab my running shoes because I’m not going to let a forecast for rain this weekend stop me from getting out! If you happen to read this and are in fact one of the hardier...
