Trail Running North Vancouver, BC in January

Today was National Croissant Day! I discovered this little known fact written on a blackboard on my happy jaunt to Starbucks for an EXTRA HOT Soya Latte after a very wet, cold, wonderful trail run in North Vancouver with a group from Mountain Madness. The extra hot drink was most welcome as we were out for more than 3 hours merrily running in the rain.

Here is today’s Strava

https://www.strava.com/activities/482190095/embed/ffeb60ea9fa8e11b635314935791108bb19a3f6a

I travel to North Vancouver from New Westminster frequently to run the trails. The travelling often causes me frustration as it involves a drive on a very busy, slow highway. However the lush rain forest that is Mother Earth never fails to convert that negative energy to joy once I start running. It sure is worth the drive.

Here are some pics from my runs in North Vancouver this week-a wet week! The training for my 100 miler has started and the volume will be built up gradually – yeah!

 

Mountain Madness Group Run. Camera very wet!

Chilly Chase 10K race…Feed The Flowers..

Today’s training was another fun tempo run/race-The Chilly Chase 10K in Vancouver, BC. There was a 5K, 10K, 15K and half marathon option. Instead of getting in as many miles as possible I chose the 10K tempo run option 🙂

Here’s the run on Strava.

https://www.strava.com/activities/477769357/embed/948de3954bd81de7ee7086419ddaa13a8857bc3b

As I was warming up my mind settled on words from a podcast I listened to yesterday. It was the Running On OM podcast and host Julia Hanlon was chatting with Lauren Fleshman -Olympic runner and blogger/writer. Lauren was answering listeners’ questions and one of the questions sent in by a listener asked for tips to increase mental strength in training and racing. The sender of the question felt she was not reaching her potential due to a lack of mental strength. I have been reading about mental training and mindset as I know that it is going to be a huge part of getting through my 100 mile race in July. I am currently reading Travis Macy’s book “The Ultra Mindset” which is great. Julia and Lauren came at the subject in a slightly different way and I loved their conversation.Their comments included

 

“Ask yourself -should I be trying to do that thing that I keep NOT doing?” “Let it go a little”

“Recalibrate your goals and PRACTICE ACHIEVING your goals”

“Practice succeeding and living up to expectations instead of practicing NOT living up to expectations”

“Saying you have a lack of mental strength is NOT TRUE. You are asking your brain to do something it’s not ready to do yet. Work up to it”

“Get used to believing that you can do the things you set out to do”

“It is so important that you tell yourself you are mentally strong…..feed the flowers”

 

I ran the race with these thoughts in my head. I ran my best time in the last few years 47.37.

 

Tempo run…Race…Fun…(Steveston Ice-Breaker 8K)

Recently I have done most of my training alone. So using, say a  25K trail race or a road marathon for a my “long weekly run” makes it easier for me to get out the door and do that long run and using a 5K or 10K race as a “tempo session” makes it easier to push like I couldn’t on my lonesome.

Today was the Steveston Ice-Breaker 8K. No ice to break but horizontal rain to thrash. It was wet, windy and a wee bit cold and being an out and back race on the coast meant a hard push into the biting wind and said rain for the first half and a joyful glide for the second half. The turnaround was most welcome.

An awesome tempo run and a great race. I love races!

Here’s the route

https://www.strava.com/activities/472656330/embed/2dd168d710614f19c01b53a2cac47b1fcb3068fd

Steveston Ice-Breaker 8K Race

 

Friday Fun

My right hamstring/IT band discomfort had been playing up lately, also niggles in my Achilles. I had been running mostly on the roads and flat trails the last couple of weeks and I knew my muscles would feel better getting onto some hilly terrain. What better than the BCMC trail on Grouse Mountain straight up and down the mountain starting and finishing in the brown and green vegetation with a trip to the snow in the middle. It wasn’t a run but a hike and it was great to be climbing again and giving my lungs and legs a great workout. There was time to stop for a cup of tea. I wore my newish Icebug Zeals and, wow, the traction on the steep compacted slippy snow was amazing. I didn’t have to take out my Yaktrax or poles.

Here are some pics

Pics-winter morning run

My run on Sunday morning at Burnaby Lake was on a perfect clear winter day. The frost fell from the trees in the frigid morning air and…it looked as if it was snowing in the sunshine.

My route-

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1002614140

 

Norvan Falls British Columbia

Yesterday, I did it, I entered a 100 mile race. Yikes! Which one-The Sinister 7 in Alberta in July. I like that it is part of the Skyrunning series. I really hope to do other Skyrunning races. So time to start training and “build up the volume.”

Today’s chilly run to Norvan Falls this morning was brilliant. Here’s the start at Lynn Headwaters in the main pic. Not a soul in site on a Saturday morning. An early start! Cedars Mill trail to the debris chute was a bit icy as was the Headwaters above it on the way back but the trail from the debris chute to Norvan Falls was most excellent. Hard packed snow and very little ice. What a joy!

Here’s the route from my Garmin

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1001129489

and some pics