Barrier Lookout and Ultra-geek Lecture

Today, I enjoyed a great day with my friends Tannis and Myles. Thanks friends! The plan was to start the day with a run and then attend a running clinic in Calgary for Ultra geeks. Well, we woke up to fresh snow in Banff and as we pulled into the trailhead on Barrier Lake we realised there was much more snow than we thought!!

Knee-deep with Myles!

The run was an out and back up Prairie View trail to the Barrier Lake lookout. It is a great uphill of about 3.5k? 4k? Either way, it's always lovely and it's always a challenging but achievable uphill climb. It is a really popular mountain bike trail in summer and I always get a kick out of beating the cyclists to the top when I am running.

On this glorious snowy morning, with 15 cm of fresh snow waiting for us, it was even more challenging than usual! Just for entertainment value, the fresh snow was covering a fair amount of smooth black ice. You never knew when you would hit a patch and end up on your butt. Sorry Tannis, but I think you won the award for most times on your butt!




The snow was the most perfect powder I have seen all year - so incredibly light and dry that each foot step would send a cloud of dusty snow in the air. Poof-poof-poof. We had to do a little sketchy scramble to get us to the viewpoint and it even cleared up a little bit and gave us little glimpses down the valley.





After the AWESOME run, we drove into the city, had some breakfast, grabbed a coffee and made it to the clinic just in time. The clinic was given by Jack Cook who is a coach and accomplished ultra runner himself and was on "training and nutrition for ultra runners". Jack is the current course record holder for the Death Race and is one speedy guy on and off trail. Well, the ultra geeks were out in full force and it was great to see friends Jen, Doone and Tim, Grace and Phil, Ken, Helen and others! By the time the clinic was done I was again voraciously hungry and half delirious, so we went for Vietnamese food and hit the highway.

A great run, fun with friends and learned a little something. Hey, that's a good day! As a bonus, I spent a fun night with Keith and friends at a local Japanese restaurant and went on a Sushi and Sukiyaki bender! Did I mention that I love food?

Ice Capades - Lake Minnewanka

Today, my friend Steve and I started the day off right - at a breakfast buffet! Mmmm-mmm. Coffee. O.J. Bacon. Omelette. Waffle. Fresh Pineapple. More bacon. Hash browns. Croissant. Now that's a breakfast. Have I mentioned how much I love food these days? It is all consuming. My co-workers are amazed. I'm like a 5 year old. Time to feed the kid before a melt down occurs. Constantly. Hungry. Must eat. Now.

Needless to say, we arrived at the trailhead 20 minutes later with VERY full bellies. Fortunately, we drank enough coffee to compensate for the lull our bodies should have been feeling trying to digest all of the grease we had just consumed. But no problemo - neither Steve or myself suffered any ill effects of our pig-out. Yeah! Digestive system of steel. I must say, I didn't need a lot of food for this 4 hour run, my big breakfast served me well. I just drank 2 litres of water and calories, had a little late run snack and was good for the duration!

The trail turned from snow and ice, into lovely rolling DRY singletrack very quickly. The sun was heating up the south facing shore of the lake and before we knew it, we hit the 8k mark. The conditions had improved quite a bit in the past week. Shortly after that, the trail turned snowy again so we headed down to the shoreline to take a look at the lake. We thought that the shore conditions might be better for running.

Shoreline - Lake Minnewanka

So we get down to the lake to have a look, but the shoreline slope is kind of tricky, so we end up further out on the ice. At first we were tentative and slightly nervous on the ice so we were staying close do the shoreline. Well. Next thing Steve is WAY out on the ice and he is jumping up and down and saying "Looks good!" That still wasn't terribly reassuring, but when I got out a bit further onto the lake you could actually see the ice depth. It was 3 feet deep!

3 feet = very safe!!

After that our run turned into the Ice run. The Ice Marathon. The Ice Capades. It was so much fun! I was a little giddy running down the middle of a giant frozen lake - in the sunshine and we were having so much fun we covered a fair amount of distance. We ended up at the Lake Minnewanka warden cabin for a quick snack and photo to proove we made it in March.

Let's go right down the middle!

All total - a four hour run in an incredible place. The perspective from the middle of the lake was very cool. It was cool to be looking at the familiar mountains from a view that is usually only accessible by boat!

Just running along!

So much FUN!! This doesn't happen often that you get to enjoy such a unique perspective - usually the snow on the lake is too deep or it is not frozen....but seldom frozen, clear, flat and perfect with just enough snow to give you a little grip. O.K the icy bits were slippery, but we were having too much fun to let it bother us.

Get out the sunscreen - the glare off the snow and ice was bright!

Yiiiihaw! Another great day, but I do believe that ice is not going anywhere for a LONG time. Definately a unique opportunity for a run "on" the lake and a special surprise for us - neither of us had ever got to run down the middle of Lake Minnewanka before!

See Mike Run!

FUN!! My tech-savvy friend Mike through together this fun little video of some of the highlights of last seasons trail runs. You can find Mike and his Blog at:

www.seemikerun.blogspot.com

Five Hour Run Johnson Lake and Lake Minnewanka

Lots of signs of spring today, the occasional stretch of dry trail (gasp!) and rock and ice. It was the earliest I have ever run Lake Minnewanka shoreline and the patches of dry trail were few and far between the stretches of treacherous black ice! I was distracted today, mostly by the scenery and the slippery footing. I felt like I was not moving forward to quickly but could have gone for hours! Enjoy my run.

G-Bears

G-Bear

We once had a mountain biker named Richie Schley come and stay with us a couple of summers back. Nice guy, lived in Whistler was a pro mountain biker and ex-pro skiier. Waaaaaay cooler than me, but made me feel cooler than I am. Richie introduced us to some slang that he used to describe bears. In his corner of the world, there were B-Bears. Black Bears. Lots of them. He saw enough of them around that he had lost his fear of them. But he had never seen a G-Bear. A Grizzly Bear. He was scared of the G-Bear, but not the B-Bear. Curious. Anyhow, the lingo stuck and Keith and I now refer to our resident wildlife as B-Bears and G-bears. It makes them sound so cute and cuddly. For example: "Awwwwwww.....who's a cute little G-Bear?!??"

So today at work we found out that the first bear out of hibernation had been spotted, a massive healthy G-Bear. There was even a photo of him in the snow looking all gorgeous. I love living in a place where you get to see B-Bears and G-Bears. They really are awesome, as-in, awe inspiring. So, welcome back G-Bears and B-Bears...may you continue to thrive and be wild and magnificent!!

Revved up Like a Deuce, Another Runner in the Night

You know how sometimes you get home from work and your tired and you just don't feel like going for a run? I had one of those today.

I was dragging my butt, I was thinking to myself.....it's grey out....it's cold out....it's a hard workout....and of course, I don't want to!!!

I had to do hills tonight. 3 long sets of hills of twenty minutes. And I didn't want to!

By the end of it, on my 3rd set, I felt like Superwoman. I kept climbing up as the sun was setting, the view kept getting better and better as I was flying...up...up...UP!! I was having so much fun I ended up running further, just so I could catch the last sunshine rays of the day.

When I got to the top the sun was blinding and just about to dip behind the mountains. Blinded by the Light came on the IPod, I was singing at full volume and giggling simultaeously and I laughed allowed because I was having way too much fun!!!

Climbing....

Climbing....CLIMBING.....

Up...Up...UP!!!

That's where I live!

Last Sun

Blinded By the Light!

Revved up like a Deuce

Another Runner in the Night.....!!

Blinded By the Light

Blinded by the light, revved up like a deuce, another runner in the night

Blinded by the light, revved up like a deuce, another runner in the night

Blinded by the light, revved up like a deuce, another runner in the night

Madman drummers bummers, Indians in the summer with a teenage diplomat

In the dumps with the mumps as the adolescent pumps his way into his hat

With a boulder on my shoulder, feelin' kinda older, I tripped the merry-go-round

With the stereo pleasin' and sneezin' and wheezin, the calliope crashed to the ground

The calliope crashed to the ground

Oh she was...Blinded by the light, revved up like a deuce, another runner in the night

Blinded by the light, revved up like a deuce, another runner in the night

Blinded by the light, revved up like a deuce, another runner in the night

Blinded by the light, revved up like a deuce, another runner in the night

Some silicone sister with a manager mister told me I got what it takes

She said "I'll turn you on sonny to something strong, play the song with the funky break"

And go-cart Mozart was checkin' out the weather charts to see if it was safe outside

And little Early-birdy came by in his curly-wurly and asked me if I needed a ride

Oh she was...Blinded by the light, revved up like a deuce, another runner in the night

Blinded by the light -

She got down but she never got tired She's gonna make it through the night She's gonna make it through the night

But mama, that's where the fun is But mama, that's where the fun is.

Mama always told me not to look into the eye's of the sun, but mama, that's where the fun is!

Some brimstone baritone Andy Sack from rolling stone preacher from the east

Says "Dethrone the dictaphone, hit it in it's funny bone,that's where they expect it least"

And some new-mown chaperone was standin' in the corner,watching the young girls dance

And some fresh-sown moonstone was messin' with his frozen zone,reminding him of romance The calliope crashed to the ground

Cos she was...Blinded by the light, revved up like a deuce, another runner in the night Blinded by the light, revved up like a deuce, another runner in the night

A Little Help, Please

This past week I enlisted the help of an online coach for the first time. Though I have lots of friends that have run ultras, adventure races and more I just needed someone to help me put together a program for the next crucial 7 weeks as I work towards the Miwok 100k. Though I had lots of suggestions and much loose guidance, I just needed......A Little Help, Please!

Francesca was awesome! In a one hour and a half phone consult, we got a program figured out, she answered all of my questions and more importantly, she reassured me that everything I had been doing up until this point was right on track. She had also run the course before, which was a bonus and told me what I could expect! Thanks for the help, Francesca-and maybe we will see you on race day. Francesca will be down in San Francisco on Miwok weekend supporting her honey on race day.

Also, my dear friend Alana phoned on Tuesday and asked for A Little Help, Please. She is a member of a cycling club and they were having a fundraiser on Saturday night for one of their elite athletes. The fundraiser had the potential to be a complete flop if she didn't round up some extra teams to compete in their event. The event was a four hour stationary bike race with Teams of Four.....so we put together a Team Banff Trailtrash. The event was a total success and lots of fun - with a great meal and great prizes to finish off a fun night!

I needed to do a hill workout on Friday, bicycle to nowhere on Saturday and then do a 4.5 hour run on Sunday. No problemo! The hill workout was wicked - a beauty of a day on Sulphur Mountain, but I forgot the camera. Saturday, the bike workout was going to be just a spin, but it turned out to be a LOT more arduous than I had expected, as they put us through the paces on the bikes. My legs were a wee bit tired the next day!

My long run in the city was a nice change of pace, but the asphalt really beat me up. I did 29k with a group on the asphalt and then hit the trail for an hour and it hurt. Time to get back on the trail, I missed it this weekend!! I also forgot the camera. Doh! The highlight of the run was when stopped in the forest for a little walk break and had a chickadee land on my hand. I love chickadees, I always try to make friends with them when I hear them. Just call me the chickadee whisperer.

Anyhow, we did take a few photos of Team Banff Trailtrash in action this weekend. The race was full of lots of Triathlong geeks and Bicycle geeks, so we were shooting for DFL (dead fucking last) and to keep everyone entertained. My friend Brenda actually got out her knitting while she was spinning and knitted just for fun. We achieved our goal, helped our friend out and were in fact, DFL.

A Little Help, Please!

Brenda, Shawn and myself in Action

Yiiiiiiiiihaw! We're Bicycling to Nowhere!