New Challenges

Just a quick update to let anyone interested know that my recovery is going fairly well. Between the broken scapula, ribs and vertebrae, something always seems to ache and finding a comfortable position to sit stand or lie is generally impossible. The good news however is that I am no longer taking the heavy pain killers and have been demoted to T3's (maybe this is bad news??). So if you call, visit or e-mail I may just actually remember it now! I'm really at the point where this whole thing is getting quite frustrating and annoying. For example, say I try to pour myself a glass of water. What typically happens is that I pour the water into the glass, put the water jug back in the fridge, reach for my glass of water and knock it over. Now I have no water AND a mess to clean up AND it bloody well hurt to bend over and clean up a mess. This is one small example but the theme is a constant.

OK, the really good news. I have been able to do some very light indoor cycling, elliptical trainer and stair master. Normally I HATE these indoor devices but right now this is all I have and I'm grateful for it. The humbling part is that 150Watts on the bike comes at about a 130 Heart Rate! So its all about these new challenges. If 150 Watts gives me a good workout then that's what it is...no complaints. At the end of the day the whole reason I'm into endurance sport is for the challenge so if riding like an old lady on a stationary bike is what works, then that's all I need to get stoked.
Thanks for reading and stay safe

Sometimes a picture needs only say a few words

Ok, I suppose this pic may say more than just a few words but the conclusion is the same. I have been seriously messed up. Long story short, I was rear-ended (or should I say run over?) by a car last Monday while riding into school. The result:
- 7 broken ribs
- 1 punctured lung
- neumothorax
- hemothorax
- broken clavicle
- broken scapula + multiple fractures/shatterings of surrounding bones
- separated shoulder
- multiple fractures to spine and vertebrae
- concussion
- 1 seriously mangled ear
and more I'm likely forgetting about

While I'm obviously bummed out about now having to miss Ottawa, I am genuinely thankful to be alive. I've had my share of crashes over the years but this one takes it, and has really made me appreciate life. The timing is unfortunate....training has been going, well, kinda mediocre as of late but racing has been essentially one PB after the next. Day of the accident was 4 weeks minus a day out of Ottawa, I had just come off a recovery week in preparation for two big weeks of training, was feeling mentally and physically re-freshed and itching for the final push. I had just finished my second last big tempo/MP run that morning...14mi@5:40 (19mi total) and was really feeling hungry. I had just successfully defended my thesis a few days earlier and was on my way in to UBC to submit the thesis to the library when out of no where, some dickhead, probably gabbing away on a cell phone decides its cool not too look out for cyclists, and, just like a tonne of bricks from the sky.....WHAMMO! That's life for you though. Despite it all I have remained very positive and I'm really just happy to be alive. I've had so, so much support from friends and family this week that words just couldn't do it justice. Thank you all. I will be back soon and I'm already thinking ahead to a fall marathon. Not sure which one but let me tell you it will be a good one. I'll post more news as it happens but for now I am at home, more or less in bed and dreaming of running and racing.

All the best

REST!!!!!!!!

Man, oh man am I ever tired right now! I've just finished three of the hardest weeks I can remember doing in nearly two years, and I'm only running! I guess I don't log the biggest miles in the world (about 100mi/week) but they have really been taking there toll. Despite it all, I've still managed to train through a 7sec PB half (71:40 on a HILLY course) and a 4:39mile in training. Yesterday's run (or should I say death March) was the proof. Only 20miles, and at a very slow pace (not by choice) but it felt like the end of a marathon, mostly due to Saturday's "surprise" track session. This is one of John's favorite secret pre SunRun workouts. He tells us we're getting a 400, followed by a Mile, then everything else is a surprise. IT's basically a surprise mixture of pace running and max-efforts, designed to trick you into running at maximum when you're already fatigued. The real surprise is when you wake up the next morning and the old hammies feel like someone has taken a baseball bat to them! This week is all about recovery. The SunRun looms, as does a Doctoral defense next Tuesday so I guess it's time to freshen up.
Thanks for reading

Bekele is such a stud

This is what I call a XC course.....



A few guys tried to test their ability....



But there's only one Bekele....


All photos taken from iaaf.org, world xc champs

Getting Closer plus the Double Down

9 weeks to go to Ottawa which means 3 weeks build, 1 week re-gen, 3 weeks BUILD (a.k.a. kill thyself), 2 weeks taper. That's the plan, let's hope it works.

Last weekend (the one before Easter) I was fortunate enough to finally fulfill one of my deepest darkest fantasies. 2 gorgeous woman at once? Nope. Slash the tires of that a-hole who cuts me off on 16th and Blenheim every morning? Try again (but it may not be long for that one to come true). What I finally managed was to race Saturday / Sunday back-2-back. Saturday was the St. Patricks day 5K, and Sunday I drove out to Kamploops for the Spring Run off 10K. What can be said about racing back to back? Well, so long as neither race matters a whole lot, it makes for a great weekend of training. I decided (with heavy coxing from coach John) to run a controlled tempo for the 5K. Yes, there was money at the 5K but there were also about 5-6 guys willing to race for it which likely would have made for a tough Sunday run. So after a 16mins of tempo, a couple miles of cool down, and 10mins in ice it was off to Kamloops for a 10K. I caught wind that Mark Bomba was in the area and would show up so I was kind of excited about that. What I can say about Mark is that he is one of the most fluid, natural runners I have ever seen. I was lucky enough to run the first 4 K or so with him in close proximity and it was great to feed off him and tune into his style (until he said bye-bye). But it actually takes a lot of you racing back to back. Even 2 short races sucks the mental juice right out of the sole. Other than a great 20mi long run on Tuesday, the week after was more or less a right off. But that gave some time to freshen up for two more builds and hopefully some motivation to keep the weight down. The easter bunny made me eat lots of chocolate last weekend!

Thanks for tuning on in

Le Premier Demi

Good times had by all last Sunday at the first real race of the season here in Van-City. That's right, it was First-Half time. This has to be one of my favorite running races of the year, I guess partly because everyone's motivation is high early on in the season and also because it gets capped at 2000 runners which means it attracts a slightly more serious group of runners. It was one of those special days for a race where the weather calls for shite conditions but it ends up being totally ideal. As per usual, about 100 or so runners went out at about 5:20 pace only to blow a piston, seal, gasket and fuse all at once (then there was Ryan Hayden who went out at 4:40 pace...geeeez). One guys was actually trying to gutter me before we even hit the first mile marker!! The funny thing was that, not only must he have been in his mid 50's (yeah I know there are AMAZING 50+ year old runners...no knock at the age thing) but he sounded like he was running an 800 effort and that someone was going to have to perform CPR on him about 1800m in. Things finally thinned out and I was lucky to run with 2 other team-mates, Jay MacDonald and Brad Cunningham for most of the race. We ran 5:30, 5:30, 5:30.......,5:30 AND 5:30. Couldn't have paced it much better for a 72:05 finish. Too bad Brad fell off the pace, then Jay out-kicked me with about 300m to go. Nice work Jay! It got me thinking though. OK, so for the first 12.5mi, Jay and I were full on team-mates. Working together, trying to drop the sit-er-on-ers and generally get each other to the line quicker. But then when it was just the two of us, I asked myself "Are we still mates? Or are we now mortal enemies for the final 300m". "Are we going to make each other pay now or what?". I guess I didn't come to any conclusions but it's funny how the team dynamic can change for a short time when everything goes as planned and it's just homie-vs-homie. This could be the topic for a great Psychology thesis or something, but, whatever, it was a solid effort and the beers were tasty as ever aferwards.

Thanks for reading

Winter, Winter, go away

I don't know what's up with the whole global warming thing but this is getting out of hand. It's been near or below freezing for the last MONTH and it's driving me nuts!! So I had a 10mi sub-threshold tempo run scheduled for Tuesday am. Low and behold we awake to 5inches of snow. OK, not gonna miss this workout cuz its the big one before the first half, and the final installment of a 6 week sub-t build, so out we go. After a couple mile warm-up its into the 10mi piece. The goal was 5:45 (maybe 5:40 if we're feeling good) but after about a mile and a half at 5:43, and a heart rate of about 174 (not so sub-threshold anymore) it's back-off time. Down we go to 5:50, up the HR goes!! Down to 5:55, HR is holding steady now at 172 still too high, so back her off again, and again .......6:15 was the magic number to get the old HR to stick at 167. I felt like I was having one of those crazy sand running session like in the classic movie "the 4-minute mile". It was a crazy run, not at all what was planned but I think one that I'll never forget. Oh baby did it ever take its toll though!! In other news the local season kicked off with the Steveston Icebreaker 8k. Always a good time, but I'm always hung over for it because it's my sweety's b-day that weekend and some things just get higher priority than running. It was a good effort I guess, particularly considering we were literally running on a sheet of ice and a good way to end the base phase. Now its time for track, track track!!! I love it. Time to get fast, or should I say less slow. Hell yeah