Trail Tripper

I read it. All 200 plus pages of supposed rock solid evidence against Lance Armstrong. I am not an Armstrong defender but I am a little taken back by the vicious shit storm that has followed his choice to not defend himself against allegations, a process he felt flawed and yesterdays release of the 200 page document of the findings against him.

I’ve read it all. It seems too perfect and too tidy. It seems like the James Bond of doping stories. I don’t understand why those who testified against him, admitted use themselves are being held as victims and heralded for coming forward. I just don’t get it. If it is as its set out that all from Floyd and Levi to Lance are all guilty then why spare a few who speak. Is it a point of having someone confess and all will be forgiven? ..There must be more than the eye witness accounts? Which even though there are 11 such accounts still adds up to nothing more than hearsay, gossip and rumor. If all sides agree Lance was tested more than any other athlete in history would it be safe to assume one of those must have resulted in a positive..I mean really. Maybe, if he did in fact dope and  you tested him 500 times and all results were clear, then the processes should be on trial. I have a tough time swallowing that if the others were caught and he wasn’t then there must be other reasons for clear tests other than the greatest cover up in pro sports history.

 Again I am in no way saying LA is innocent. I am just trying to understand this whole process. Trying to grasp the message. They accuse LA of the most sophisticated doping scandal in history but can’t pin him for it. For his refusal to refute the evidence against him they ban him for life. Not just from cycling but from anything they can. Even the Chicago Marathon since it falls under U.S. track and field. Yet, those who did the same but own it are allowed to continue. Marion Jones, played pro basketball in the WNBA after losing her Olympic results due to doping and any MLB players who admitted use were cleared to continue. A-Rod being the most high profile. Some of the riders and teammates who turned in evidence were handed reduced sentences from 2 years to a reduced 6 months.  American Justin Gatlin,who sat out a 4 year ban for testing positive, just won the Bronze in the men’s 100M at London 2012.

So what I am wondering is whats the goal of the entire process? To clean up sports? For who and to what end? The single minded approach to this particular investigation to nail LA to the wall seems a little off to me. They bent their own rules, voided Tour victories where their authority and jurisdiction were questionable at best and reduced fellow offenders penalties by 75 percent to secure testimony. It seems like one person is taking the heat and lions share of the hurt and loss for something that if true should be shared by those ex-teammates, team sponsors, events, and governing bodies that were all to happy to reap the rewards off of one persons back but are all to quick to point the finger when questions arise.

Its a hell of a mess. I can’t help but think that there is a lot more to come.

It’s been a swift paced 4 weeks since I left home and headed north for the 1000 mile drive to Fort McMurray. I remember as I drove towards the end of our street I was wondering what I had just signed up for. Sitting here 4 weeks to the day since I left its hard to believe time has passed so quick. This course and all of the ‘what ifs’ and ‘how to’s” that go with the thought processes involved in a major career and life change had been weighing on me for months. In some respects I probably over thought it and it was kind of refreshing to have the final decision to come up here made almost impulsively by an opportunity to take a vacated seat in a course 3 months early.

The schooling now complete the task at hand turns to securing employment. As a friend keeps jokingly reminding me, I’m no longer student-just unemployed. Having left work at the end of August I haven’t worked a day in a month and its a bit of a foreign feeling. Living like a student has been a little wake up call. I used to romanticize the days gone by and think of how simple things were then and think I can do that again for a month, no problem….I was right with the ‘it was a simple way to live’ part what I was forgetting though was that it wasn’t easy and I didn’t really like it even then. Having said that I don’t want to paint a picture that I am hard up or hard done by, the family and friends in my life have made sure that the exact opposite is true. I am only commenting on the not feeling self sufficient side of things.

Looking ahead into the short-term running future I have been thinking a lot about what the time management might look like. The general schedule of the industry I have chosen is a 12 hour shift day and a cycle that looks something like 6 or 7 days on followed by 6-7 days off. Oh, and 1/3 of the year is threatened with temperatures below the winter average of -19c . So, the tinkering with a plan will begin shortly. I feel like I must also choose a target race dated during the first half of the year…

Today marks the 2 week point since I arrived in Fort Murray. I have been fortunate that the weather has been fantastic and I think we have only seen 1 storm during the last 14 days. I have been able to settle into an alternating swimming and running schedule that has me doing one or the other for 60 mins every other day. I have acclimated pretty well to the minor change from sea level to a little over 1200′.

I still dont have much of an idea how the work schedule will develop after the completion of the course in a few weeks so as such my fall race schedule is void. I imagine the earliest I’ll be race ready might be Jan 1. if things workout and I’m home at New Years. But those types of things are secondary priorities for me right now. I just look to continue to maintain a high fitness level so I am ready when training time starts.

 Seemingly out of thin air Mike Morton has returned to the Ultra- running scene. Pictured above (irunfar) winning the 2012 Badwater 135 in very near course record time he made a big statement that he was back. Morton, a special-ops soldier in the U.S. Navy, had previously won the WSER 100 in the late 90′s. Since then his duty to his country had occupied most of his time. Now 41 and nearing the end of his active service he again can allot some time to training.

In 2012 he has gone sub 14hrs 3 times in 100 mile events, won at Badwater135 and just yesterday set the American 24 hour record. Morton ran 170+ miles in 24 hrs. Surpassing Scott Jurek’s  record by near 5 miles, looking fresh in doing so.

Truly Amazed. For those wondering a then 41 year old named  Yiannis Kouros  ran 303.506 km/188.590 miles on a track during the Sri Chinmoy Ultra Festival in Adelaide, Australia in 1997 holds the world record. 

(picture futas.net/record wiki source)

Made it through week one. Funny how many weeks of our lives blend and blur into one another and seem to pass with little notice. This first week in training at Keyano Colleges industrial campus in Fort McMurray has been incredibly busy and filled with some much that over stimulation was surely the result.

The last 10 days have been an over stimulated blur that only really began to comeback into focus as I got my running legs back under me earlier in the week. In the first 7 days I have gotten in 5 hours run time. A little behind the ideal but the reality was a little scary to adjust too.

The beautiful pool here was closed for maintenance for the last week so tomorrow morning I will begin using it as the morning part of as many two a day workouts as I can manage and still be fresh for school.

Wow. The year of the Dragon is living up to the hype. I felt coming into the year that it was going to bring big things and had a strong feeling that it was going to be a bit chaotic but I had no idea how much change would begin to unfold.

We thought allot of the change came in the spring of this year when both of us had positive changes at work and for the first time in 7 years put us on the same schedule! Then came the news that Tracy and I were expecting our first child together. Wow! Change was indeed upon us. Very exciting!

During all of this time there was a subtle simmer beginning to boil on the back burner. The end result of what started as a bizarre string of conversations is that I currently sit in Fort Mac on the eve of the beginning of training to become a Haul Truck operator.

The training lasts about four weeks and by the end of it Ill be qualified to operate trucks similar to the one above.

How does any of this relate to run training? Well the course is going to have me here for 28 days. So my goal is simple. At least 1 run a day. Each run at least 1 hour. Or at least 280km or 170 mi.

It kind of goes without saying but I will not be making either of the 2 events I had penned in for Sept. There is still an option open for running in the M.I. marathon here in Fort Mac on Sept 9 but I’ll hold off on any ideas until I see what kind of load the course involves.

Lastly and by far most importantly I want to thank my family and friends. This particular opportunity presented itself out of thin air and the efforts put in by the people around me to help ensure that it wasn’t a wasted or missed one was nothing short of incredible. Once again I find myself wondering what I’ve done to deserve so much love and support. Thank-You and I’ll see you soon.

I kept a very light run schedule during the weeks following the Scotiabank 1/2 and then decided to mothball the running for a few more weeks taking the last three weeks off and away from running all together. Its been a good break. Tonight I’ll head out for 45 minutes or so and begin taking baby steps toward a fall race at the Whistler 50 mile on October 20th. I’ll be competing both at Whistler and the Frosty Mt. 50k in Manning Park, B.C. September 15th. Very cool.

I’ll be volunteering at the Squamish 50 this coming weekend and look forward to soaking up the atmosphere and giving a little back to the sport and athletes competing -there is a high level of talent toeing the line and I’ll be taking a ton of pictures and tweeting what I can from the course @trailtrippin on Twitter.

 Above (Blue) is near the 12 km point of the Scotia Bank 1/2 here in Vancouver. I ran this event 4 years ago and finished in 1:46 and just about exploded afterwords. This year with the unwitting help of the above mentioned 60 year old Wayne Smith I came in right on target at 1:35.

 There are 2 things I took away from yesterday. The first is that I can stick to a plan and not always vito pre race plans with spurt of the moment in-race decisions. The second is that I can comeback strong. Nearing 15 k I was, as normal, beginning to fade when Mr. Smith settled in front of me for a short climb. As we began to regain stride coming down Cornwall I locked into his cadence and my pace after 10 mi jumped from a 7:10/mile to a ~6:35/mile and we hammered home near that pace until he unceremoniously dropped me with a little over 100 meters to go:) Awesome.

Pre-race Plan

10k:  43 mins actual was 43:35

15k:    67 mins actual was 66:15

21.1:   1:35:00 actual was 1:35:45

http://www.ws100.com/

There are longer and perhaps harder races than the Western States 100 but in North America no other garners as much attention and hype as the Squaw Valley to Auburn 100.2 miler does. The great equalizer for the WSER is usually the heat often reaching 100 plus degrees later in the afternoon and pushing the already extremes of 100 mile running further out into the fringe. Yesterday, however we saw what could happen if the edge was slightly in the runners favor instead of the course. The heat on the day amounted to no more than an apparent high of 75 degrees at the Rucky Chucky crossing of the American River so with the courses greatest advantage no longer an issue some of the worlds best Ultra Mountain runners got to put the hammer down and take it to the course.

The results were staggering to say the least. Record numbers of finishers (148)achieved the sub 24 hr Silver Buckle and that was just the start of the amazing results from yesterday!

Timothy Olsen shattered the men’s record with a 14:46:44 finish and the runner up Ryan Sandes took near 4 minutes from the old record of 15:07 set just two years ago by Geoff Roes in 2010.

http://timothyallenolson.wordpress.com/

Ellie Greenwood destroyed the 18 year old women’s record by 50 minutes with her 16:47:19 clocking.

http://elliegreenwood.blogspot.ca/

42 year old Dave Mackey went sub 16 with a 15:53:36 in the process of breaking the Masters record and finished in the Top 5

Amazing and inspiring! The drama that unfolded during the event was riveting! An amazing day for both event and participants. For me the best stories will be the ones that come off the course from the mid and back of the pack, the folks who were on trail twice as long as the front runners and gutted out finishes that will inspire friends and family for lifetimes. The drama unfolding during the last hour was enough to make anyone with interest in human suffering and triumph stand and applaud. 10 minutes from the closing gun there were more than a dozen warriors pushing the last mile trying to reach the Placier Highschool track to take the 1/4 mile Victory Lap before crossing the finish, some made the cut other didn’t .

I love these events they are in my blood and I hope I am lucky enough to suffer through the 2013 running of the WSER 100 if my name gets drawn from the December Lottery.

My hat is off to all those brave enough to toe the line and those 316 who made the 30 hr cut-off.

I have spent the better part of 2012 with no concrete run focus plan and its kinds driving me crazy. There have been a few reasons for a lack of target some intentional and others a bit of happenstance. So after having lost sight of a few upcoming races and not dialing in training enough to even feel comfortable thinking of running in them I have solidified a bit of Ultra focus for late summer. I am going to be any help I can be by volunteering at the Squamish 50 miler in August and I’ll lace up and toe the line in the inaugural Meet Your Maker 50 mile event in Whistler September 1st.

It feels good to have a goal. ~70 days until go time:)

  The last few weeks have been a steady consistent training cycle. I am now just under 29 miles from rolling 5000 since I started keeping track. I expected the nearing milestone to cause a bump up in motivation to push a mile or two longer each outing but that hasn’t yet been the case. I seem to be sailing a bit with no clear site on an event later in the year to focus on. For the last 3 years that fire has been supplied by the LT100. What I realized this morning as I unsuccessfully tried to outrun the rain was that I need to begin setting more short term goals.

 Big Cheers for the all of the brave riders who are taking a beating from the rain on the 2012 Ride to Conquer Cancer! Big Sister Anya is riding for  http://www.ridersforryders.com/.