Category Archives: Training Notes

Today’s run was 10 kilometers at a 7:05 average pace per kilometer. The weather was great at +2 degrees C. I think this is my longest run at any speed in my VFFs so I am happy with the results. I have not run with my VFFs in really cold weather. The coldest I think was around -7 C. Today my toes did not get cold, but I did feel a good deal of frost burning in all my other outdoor VFF runs, probably because it was colder. I kept having to flex my toes and worry about frostbite until around the 3 km mark when my toes warmed up to a normal comfortable temperature. My wife came up with a theory for that and I think it is correct. She thinks my body shuts off blood flow to my toes and fingers until my core body temperature is high … Continue reading →

Finally a break in the weather has occurred and so I did not have to resign myself to the treadmill. The last two or three runs have been on the treadmill because of the minus 30 degree cold and a wind chill to minus 45 degrees C. Today was a nice -2 degree high with a very light wind. I started out low in the river valley by the boat launch area and made one long climb out of the valley on the access road. That hill is 1 kilometer. Then I ran along the paved but still snow covered paths in the Town of Devon. Once I climbed out of the valley, the course was pretty flat with only an occasional tiny hill. I ran 5 km out then back again so the last kilometer was all downhill. I made that 10 km run in my VFFs in about … Continue reading →

I’d say I was pretty much recovered and can now begin my training. Today’s run was 5 km in my VFFs in 35:51 for a 7:07 pace. There was still too much glazed ice on the roads which pretty much kills your pace. No falling down for me today, however.

I think it is interesting to note how I am reacting to regaining my level of fitness after my protracted illness and other circumstances which kept me from running for such a long time. For the record, I did no running for 42 days, then I did one pathetic 5 km ‘run’, rested two days, did another, then stopped again for 22 days to focus on getting ready for my grading in karate. Now we have a long 3 week break until classes start again I think January 10th? So I feel it is now time to begin running again and my first run 3 days ago was 5 km which took me around 46 minutes meaning I walked some of it. Today’s run took me 39 minutes and 15 seconds which means I ran all the way but slowly. Today’s run was better than my last one but I … Continue reading →

According to the 5Peaks.com web site this 7.3 kilometer loop trail has 473 meters of elevation gain. Over the course of my 6 loops, that multiplies out to three kilometers of elevation gain. That’s 2838 meters or 9372 feet of elevation gain over the course of a marathon. Of the three previous road marathons I’ve done, my fastest time was 5:37 or so if I remember correctly. This one took me over 8 hours. But that is because it is so much harder than a road marathon. This was my first attempt to run my first ever trail Ultra (or any Ultra for that matter). Epic fail. I did not succeed in running all 7 loops. I only managed 6 loops. That is disappointing, however I am happy with the fact that I was able to finish at least a marathon. I am unhappy with my time, but hey – … Continue reading →