Sunday, February 26, 2006

I woke up this morning feeling not very well rested. I got up about 8AM and joined Shelley who said she had been up since about 4AM. After having breakfast and reading the paper I went back to bed for about an hour. I finally got up again and after getting ready for the day, Shelley and I walked down to Future Shop to get a memory card for the digital camera one of my brothers had given us for Christmas. It was a little warmer than yesterday, but threatening to rain.

After lunch I couldn't decide what I wanted to do. I didn't really feel like going for a run or to the "Y", and the other alternative was to have a nap. At this time of year after having been training for a couple of months but not having my first race for another two months, I sometimes find it hard to motivate myself to train every day. So I did something that I never have trouble getting up for, going for a hard hike. I decided to go and hike the back side of Mt Finlayson. I packed up my basic hiking/survival gear and some water in a pack and then threw in a 5lb weight to make it more interesting.

The back side trail up Mt Finlayson is not as steep or as long as the front, but it is easier to keep up a faster pace and the front side has a lot of rock which can be very slippery at this time of year. Of course as soon as I got on the road to drive up to the trail head it started raining. This is one of my favourite trails to train on. All the adventure races that I do have terrain like it that you have to slog up. Running is good training but it isn't the same as hiking up a steep trail with a pack on. I usually do this hike just carrying a hydration pack and try to run on all the flat sections, not that there are very many. My best time is about 14:45 from the base where the trail starts climbing. That pace pretty well keeps me anaerobic the whole way and sometimes I approach my max HR. Today I just wanted to do a hard pace with no running. I felt good going up and met a few other people at the top. After a quick drink of water I headed back down. Once I got to the bottom I had another drink, turned around and headed back up again. The second time wasn't as fast as the first, but I felt pretty good. I got a little wet as the rain kept coming down harder, but I didn't stay still long enough to get cold. When I got home I did some weights and then jumped in a hot shower to warm up. Shelley made a great taco salad for dinner and I started a book on adventure racing that I just got. Reading about other people's races always gets me excited about racing and motivates me to keep getting out.

Elapsed Time: 1:24

First Ascent: 18:15

Second Ascent: 19:15