Category Archives: Training Runs

See the guest post at this link regarding this race HERE

I met up with two other runners from the 5Peaks crowd today and with me leading the way, we ran one and a little over a half loops for a total of 11 km. We will meet again at Sunridge June 25th for the real thing. It is, apparently, a wicked course with lots of ski hills, much tougher than Chickakoo. One of today’s companions will not be there, but the other is also running the Enduro, so I will have to introduce her to Sheryl who is running the Enduro. It sounds like adding 4 km to a previous 7 km run is ramping it up just a bit too much, however, I am totally trained up for regular road half marathons as a base and I also not only monitor the distance but also the pace. In other words, I have the running experience to be able to … Continue reading →

So I pretty much walked the 5Peaks Devon trail today in order to measure it using two devices in order to check the accuracy and also because I am training for a personal Ultra this year which I shall run towards the end of July. So I needed to know with reasonable accuracy the distance to various extraction points, that is, points where after the first trail loop I could repeat then quit before completing a full loop in order to ramp up my kilometers without having to finish a whole loop since increasing a 7.31 km loop by doubling it is no way to train. I walked the route today and measured the extra distances I could add to any particular loop. These exit points will be useful as I begin to ramp up the distances and run more loops. The official 5Peaks measured distance for the half marathon … Continue reading →

Could it be me? Actually it was a really easy run today because it is on an indoor track and very flat and cushy. But I have given myself permission to brag a little. I did 13 laps again (3.055 km) in my VFF’s before switching back to my regular Mizuno Waveriders for the remainder of the 7 km run. My first 3 km pace was 5:17 per km, my 2.5 km pace was 5:30, my 5 km pace was 5:40, and my overall 7 km pace was 5:52. Using my extremely acute powers of observation and scientific deductive skills (do not try this at home, folks, I am a professional) I noted that I slowed down over time. I know this because when I got home I laboriously drew a giant x,y coordinate axis with my crayons on a piece of construction paper and plotted the pace time along … Continue reading →

Today’s gym workout was the usual barefoot running on the track followed by an upper body weight session, stretching, and rolling plus mini bands. It was the usual Wednesday workout. So I added 2 laps today to my barefoot running (at a 5:50 per km pace) for a total of 3055 meters followed by finishing the rest of my usual 7 km after stopping to change into my Mizuno running shoes. That final pace was 6:01 per km for the indoor run. As I have said before, I seem to be having fewer issues with barefoot running after my initial crash course in it. Probably because I am only adding a lap or two at a time. One lap is only 235 meters so it is not an excessive amount. I am still of the opinion that barefoot running is helping me with my hill climbing abilities. I agree with … Continue reading →

First of all, I have to say that 5Peaks trail racing just keeps getting better and better. This is one awesome group of race directors with consistently amazing volunteers. The race on Saturday in Edmonton’s Terwillegar Park was the best experience yet from my perspective. I really give them 10/10 with no reservations. The weather: The weather was warm with temperatures in the teen degrees C, and sunny, but with a 35+ kph desiccating wind which was brutal. The course: The Enduro course which I ran was 16 km, which is exactly two laps of the 7 km Sports course. The course had changed from last year. It is basically the same as last year except that the portion which runs along the steep North Saskatchewan River bank was much longer. However, it was very much more interesting, beautiful, and technical. I really wanted to stop for ten minutes and … Continue reading →

Today’s run was a lot of fun, although my arthritic big toe started acting up again around kilometer 9. I decided to ignore it rather than go with my first thought which was to stop and rip the useless thing off and fling it into the woods. I managed to measure an average pace of 7:04 per kilometer at the 6 km mark, and an average pace of 6:57 per km over the 12 km, so I guess you can call that a negative split. I will be spending the rest of today hacking out a round circle out of a piece of paper with a dull knife and using my crayons to create a nice medal for myself which I shall present to myself later on in honor of myself. You are all invited only if you bring me fabulous gifts and sing my praises. No ill effects were … Continue reading →