Rob Mackay :: Notes from the edge

It looks like this week I am on track for 14 hours of training (mostly running but also some weights).

Here is my endorsement for today. I go to see Michael Coey for physio (Bio below I found on the web):

Michael Coey BSc. Physiotherapy
Michael is a UBC trained physiotherapist working in private practice at the Cedar Hill Sports Therapy Clinic in Victoria, BC. His treatment philosophy is to restore health and function through manual orthopaedic therapy coupled with therapeutic exercise. Michael competed at the national level in track and field and cross-country running for five years and has worked with the national track and field team.

He is patient, uses natural manipulation and other natural techniques and was also a high performance runner. The best in Victoria I have met - and he’s a busy guy as well!

The ultra community is defined by a lack of big egos. Don’t get me wrong, there are some little ego’s but after 50km even the hardest of the hard realize they are mortal. What is pervasive is a level of awe and respect for everyone who attempts an ultra. Respect, as in “Holy crap, you are hard for being out there for 8 hours…”, and Awe as in “Holy crap, I can’t believe you ran that in under 24 hours…”

(The post race food and beer doesn’t hurt either…)

At the beginning of 2008 I decided to come up with a goal/mantra that I could focus on to keep me motivated and also help direct my training (while I juggle work, family demands and a house that was built in 1919).

I came up with ’20k a day’. As in, have you run 20k today? It’s easy to remember and most days I am over the 20k threshold with a run in the morning and a follow up run late in the day.

In the ultra world, this is probably the MINIMUM you need to complete to stay in decent running shape but right now it’s what I can manage.

Yesterday afternoon  I had the privilege of presenting on ‘Turning your passion into a cause’ for the annual Student Leadership Conference at UVic. I promised to post 2 things and here they are;

1. projectplan.xls - this is a base version of the excel document you can use to help you plan out a project. I’ve included some ’starters’ for you so that you can see what it should look like. The key to this is assigning everyone a responsibility so that you are not overwhelmed!

2. Team Gobi sponsorship package - here is the link to the page where we have a ‘download the sponsorship package…’ link.

If you have any questions, be sure to email me at robertbmackay@hotmail.com

Thanks again everyone!  Rob

Three days post race and I am walking around like a cowboy. That said, I went for my first run today and felt great - just really nice to glide and stretch…no pressure…and the weather is perfect.

Chuckanut is 7 weeks away and I’ll be focusing on 2 areas;

1.  long straight  ’sprint’ (4:30/km) post hill workout to simulate the last 20km of the race.

2. hill workout of up to 1:40 on the treadmill to increase my fatigue resistance for late race hills.

JH and I set off this weekend for the Capitol Peak 34 miler. Have a look at his site because he does a great recap of the event. It was a 4 loop, 34 miler (more like 35 miler!) and it was a very hard course.

 Some Highlights/Lowlights of the day:

- My hill running has vastly improved. I was hammering over the first 17 miles and came in at 2:30. The 2100 ft of elevation gain wasn’t nearly as hard as past runs.

- The 3rd loop was brutal. The course was thrashed by this time (mud, snow, ice and ponds). This, combined with me not managing the nutrion well meant I was about 30 minutes slower than I should have been.

-  The last loop wasn’t as brutal. The Pepsi/hammergel combo kicked in and I ran up the last 1200ft into the snow.

- On the way down from the last hill, I tripped and SUPERMAN’d. I hit the ground pretty hard and bashed up my right knee. Got up and brushed myself off and got going again. By this time the course was absolutely trashed - there was alot of chatter post race about one particular section of nasty mud that I almost fell on, 3 or 4 times…

- I am sore today and bruised but overall pleased with my fitness. Not pleased with my lack of nutritional planning but I know how to fix this.

I need some time this week to repair then I’ll be hitting the hills again in prep. for Chuckanut…

To be successful, bloggers and runners (esp. blogging runners) need to be consistent…

Here are a few notes:

- I have been a running freak the past 3 weeks. More than once I got out 3 times in a day (30+km).

- I’ve found 4 steep trails to the top of Mt. Doug and named the route ‘The iron cross’. Since I’ve yet to make it out to Findlayson (after the Capital Peak 34 miler next weekend), this has been a decent substitute. The trails are almost vertical in some places but runnable. I’ve supplemented this with ‘60 minutes uphill on a treadmill’ sessions. Curious to see how I fair on the forest service roads…

- My aerobic capacity is still frustrating me and lacking at higher speeds (3:40/km and under) BUT my overall cruising speed has increased on longer runs (4:30-4:40/km). Having not had any rest time longer than 40 hours, I’m not sure if this is a ‘tired legs’ issue or…

- I’ve decided to focus on 4 races this year:

1. Chuckanut 50km

2. Elk/Beaver 50km

3. Canadian Death Race 125km

4. Haney to (f-n) Harrison 100km (road) - my least favorite race…

The rest I will push but use mostly as training runs.

This year I have 3 running goals plus a PR goal for Elk/Beaver;

1. To be a monster on hills - I was told a while back that ‘trail ultras are won on the downhills and flats…’ I don’t believe it anymore. From what I’ve seen, the best are running up and down and on flats. I’ve included much more hill training the past 2 months and I plan to incorporate Findlayson repeats soon.

2. To plan and manage my nutrition for every race - I’ve done a poor job at this in the past. More than once I’ve said, “I know better…” For sprint ultras - less fluid. For anything over 50 miles - Perpetuum.

3. To run harder in the first 20 km - I’ve found that I could have run harder and the only time I did this I felt great (last year’s STORMY). Fear holds us back from really knowing how fast we could run.

Elk/Beaver 50km goal: 3:50

more goals to come…