Week July 11 training

Two weeks to Fat Dog 120 mile race in BC interior and Manning Park.
As much as i like to start the taper but is my opportunity to train without distraction or too much responsibility around the house. I decided to take Monday off from running but instead decided to play a bit of tennis, something haven't done for a long long time. I also felt my body needed a short break from running. My legs needed it specially after a good solid run on Sunday and being on my feet at the KneeKnacker course most of the Saturday. I also felt tennis could help with the recovery using different muscles, movment is more latteral as oppose to straight running motion.
Week Log:

_Monday Off
_Tuesday 17 miles including speed work 2X 2 miles
_Wednesday, 11 miles run, 5 miles on stairmaster with quality pace
_Thursday off, Cardiovascular test in UBC
_Friday 8 miles quality run
_Saturday 16 miles in Manning Park, partially run and partially hike due to massive amount of snow above 6000 Ft elevation.
_Sunday expecting about 5 hours run in BP trail.

For Saturday run thanks to social networking (Facebook) we managed to coordinate a run in Manning Park, Frosty Mountain. 4 years ago for first time I ran in Frosty Mountain and I have since fallen in Love with it. I could use any opportunity or excuse to just get out and run it. Gretel Fortmann (Strong and inspiring runner), Mike Palichuck (Reliable Machine) and I got to Lightening lake around 9 AM, and shortly after packing our fuels and hydration we headed the trail. The begining of the trail is flat with gentle up/down, wider, dirt and some section packed with Gravel. A few small bridges over the very shallow creeks with pleasant sound. 30 minutes into the run, Climb start and extend to 16 K Mark and occasional short downhills. The trail condition was a bit more wet than I used to in Frosty and once we hit the single track section we noted more sign of puddles and mud. Running required a bit of manuvering around, long jumps and extra attendtion to wet tree roots. we noted the small patches of snow starting 5500 ft altitude and once we reached the 6000 ft, trail covered with snow some times about 2 feet and more at the higher elevation. Trail is not marked but on a dry day with no snow you can't miss the trail but Saturday we have to back track at a few locations to ensure we were following the right path.

We goated the heavey snowed section on the north side at the higher elevation, we dipped a few times into the snow. About 2:30 into the run we reached the 7500 ft the view was stunning and breathtaking. That's why I love Frosty Mountain. after a few photo of warning sigh then we headed to highest point in Frosty. Wind slowly starting to pick up and got a bit cooler. A few more pictures on the top, Yoga poses and then we head for the downhills. Start of the downhill is very technical switch backs and sometimes on loose rocks so we had to pay extra attension for the wet rocks. Then running on the snow which we walked most of it until we reached the outdoor camp site. couple more pictures then we headed down in hope that snow is gone but to our surprise it wasn't the case, the trail was covered with snow to almost 3K marker to lightening lake. This is where Mike disappeared and we never saw him again until we reached the Lightening lake.

As soon as we finished the run we headed to Mike's car, changed and quickly every one reached their recovery drink and the first thing all three of us thought was what are we going to do next. We decided another long run for Sunday on Northshore Mountain, possibly the 2nd leg of kneeknacker, Deepcove to Grouse and back.

Sunday run we had another company Shauna for the first 2 hour of the run. We ended up running Deep Cove to Mountain Highway and return plus 30 minutes going up and down the old buck. Total run almost 5 hours.


The week is almost over and now exactly 5 days to Fat Dog. I don't feel nervous, I don't feel fast but I Just like to go out there and do it. I am hoping the race doesn't cancel. The part of the Frosty Mountain we run on Saturday is not in Fat Dog race but Sky line is just next to Frosty and we anticipate a lot of snow specially on the North side. Heather is also on the other side of the highway from Frosty and expecting a lot of snow. The marking of the trail is going to be hard specially with amount of tree falls we wintness during Saturday run. There is a possibility the race could be cancelled due to safety concern and if the race still on it is going to be a slow race. Space blanket will be come handy for cold night run :)

Sitting on top of the first snow mass in Manning Park, Frost Mountain with Mike Palichuk and Gretel Fortmann





























Happy running