Hi there! I am very much alive. Though barely. I got hit with a rough cold last week that had me home from work and on the couch on Thursday (the same day I also started watching the TV series Lost for the first time – omg, addicted). Because of this little bug I took Wednesday and Thursday off from running. Friday afternoon my mom and I hit the road for Vancouver as I had plans to do the Seek the Peak race in North Vancouver on Saturday morning. This race was incredibly hard for me. Probably because it was 16 km pretty much straight uphill (including the Grouse Grind) and also probably because I was still a bit sick. It was definitely a bit of a rude awakening when it comes to the preparation I need to do for Squamish.

I managed to push through the race (and an extra 8 km beforehand) before turning around and heading straight back to Kamloops because I had a work event Saturday evening (we were IN Vancouver for about 21 hours). That’s when things started to go downhill as I felt super sick and stuffed up at the event. I ended up leaving early and had another rough night of sleep on Saturday night. I had plans to run Sunday morning in Kamloops but had to cancel due to a terrible night of sleep and a very stuffed up head. I know they say if it’s neck and up you can run, but let me tell you after tossing and turning all night because I couldn’t breathe through my nose the last thing I wanted to do was run!

Anyways, this is a bit of a long winded update to let you know I’m alive and well-ish. I spent all day yesterday on the couch (watching Lost) and I’m just trying really hard to get better so my training can get back on track. I missed out on three runs last week because of my sickness and I really don’t want to miss anymore!

Here is a picture of me at the end of Seek the Peak on Saturday. Courtesy of Solana!

I’ll be back tomorrow with a full race recap!

How was your weekend? Anyone else battling this end of spring/beginning of summer cold? It’s super annoying!

Previous weeks of 50KM training:

• Week 1
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4
• Week 5
• Week 6
• Week 7
• Week 8
• Week 9
• Week 10

**

Monday – 45-minute yoga class 

A lovely 45 minute flow yoga class on my lunch hour. Lunchtime yoga is such a nice way to break up the day and after not going for almost two weeks my body really needed it. My upper back was actually quite sore the next day.

Tuesday – 55 minute run (4 miles / 6.4 km) 

I started the morning off with the usual trail loop that I do with my friend and our dogs. I had plans to go to yoga on Tuesday night but it was my first real low-key night since being away the whole week before so I stayed in, did some house stuff and read.

Wednesday – AM: 57 minute run (4.1 miles / 6.6 km) PM: 1 hour, 55 minute run/hike (4.0 miles / 6.4 km)

This photo was taken from the bottom and we climbed to the very top of that middle peak. 

So Wednesday was another double run day. I started off the day with the same trail loop from the morning before and after work I went with two friends and their dogs (too hot for Chloe) to do a hike they had done a couple weeks before. It was INSANE. So, so steep. Like actually frightening to be climbing up at a few points. I can’t believe our elevation gain wasn’t more than it was but I accidentally stopped my GPS for about a km so the 1,500 feet I measured might not be entirely accurate. Anyways, this climb was nuts and I said multiple times during the climb that I hated it. I think it was more the loose rocks that were slipping as we came down the mountain that I hated because I was seriously scared I was going to fall down. Either way, the view at the top was incredible and made the hard climb *almost* worth it.

Needless to say my quads were very, very, VERY sore the following day from all the downhill. This was an incredibly tough hike/run (we hiked to the top but ran back down) but it did make me feel a bit more confident for Squamish.

Thursday – Active Rest 

No workouts on Thursday but I did spend the entire day on my feet and painting for a Day of Caring. I also had a Day of Caring on Wednesday (helping to build a sandbox – aka lots of shovelling and digging) during the day so I was EXHAUSTED by the end of last week.

Friday – 1 hour, 5 minute run (4.75 miles / 7.65 km) 

Same loop as Tuesday and Wednesday morning with a little extra added on. I felt so so fatigued for this run and also crashed Friday afternoon/evening. I went to bed at like 8:30.

Saturday – 2 hours, 30 minutes (11.63 miles / 18.7 km) 

Saturday long run on new trails. As mentioned yesterday this was when we had the cougar sighting. Freaky! Other than that freaky encounter this was a great run. The trails we were running on were really nice. They are very well-maintained as they are very popular cross country skiing trails in the winter so they have lots of markers and maps throughout the trail system which was awesome. Up until we saw the cougar we also loved that it was so remote so our dogs could run around and we didn’t have to worry about running into other people or dogs. I would run out here again but I either wouldn’t take Chloe or would keep her on leash and would go with a big group.

Also these trails were pretty swampy (as pictured above) and we had to spend a fair amount of time bushwhacking to get around the little swamps and our feet were also wet for about 70% of this run!

Sunday – 1 hour run (5 miles / 8 km) 

Quick little shakeout run on Sunday morning in the trails. It actually felt good to move my legs again on Sunday and I always love getting Chloe out for some exercise. I was happy with how good my legs felt after the big run the day before.

Totals: 

Miles / Km – 33.5 miles / 53.91 km

Miles / km to date – 296.9 miles / 477.76 km

Time on my feet – 8 hours, 30 minutes

Elevation Gain – 6,275

Yoga – 1 practice for a total of 45 minutes

Strength Training – Nada.

Chloe’s miles / km – 29.5 miles / 47.51 km 

**

An awesome running week but not so great on the cross-training side of things. I have also been feeling a few little tweaks like it took me a good 5 km to really warm up on Saturday’s run, my ankles and shins were SO tight and also my foot cramped up really badly last night when I was doing a strength workout at home. Little things but still, I know now is the time to prevent little things from turning into injuries so I’m really going to try and fit in more yoga this week as well as just doing more epsom salt baths and icing.

I’m definitely pleased with how good my legs felt though. With the exception of the Friday morning run, which I was really fatigued for, my legs felt really good for all my runs last week! I also spent about an extra 16 hours on my feet in general because I was on my feet ALL day on Wednesday and Thursday for work.

A good solid training week for sure that has left me feeling a little more confident about Squamish!

How was your training last week? What are your favourite injury prevention tips and tricks? 

Happy Monday! It was a pretty busy weekend around here but I realized this morning I didn’t take ANY photos (other than two food photos)! So here’s a bullet point of the weekend.

Friday – Started the weekend off right with a sushi dinner then early to bed!

Saturday – Went running at new trails (about 30 minutes outside of Kamloops) on Saturday morning and SAW A COUGAR. Yup, my friend and I came around a corner and about 200 metres up the trail was a cougar. We actually thought it was a deer at first glance. It was only in our sights for about three seconds as it quickly slinked off into the trees but holy crap, the rest of that run felt very eerie. Especially since there wasn’t a soul around us. We also later realized that we had seen several piles of cougar scat (but didn’t know what it looked like at the time) so that should have been our tip off to get out of there. Probably won’t run there again anytime soon which is too bad because the trails are beautiful, well-marked and dog heaven with lots of sticks and no other people around! I guess that’s also heaven for a cougar. Ha.

Saturday afternoon I went to see The Great Gatsby with my mom. I preferred the movie over the book! It was really well done with beautiful costumes and effects. Started off a little slow but really picked up towards the end and it also followed the book almost perfectly.

Spent Saturday evening hanging out and visiting with a couple friends. Nice to get some girl time in!

Sunday – Started with another run. Just a quick  My legs felt surprisingly good after the  18 km I did on Saturday and then I rushed to change and meet my friend Jen to do some wedding shopping. We went to a bridal show type thing that was a total flop so then went shopping instead.

Sunday afternoon I cleaned up the house a bit and Eric and I did a big grocery shop. Then we spent the afternoon on the couch having a drink (mojito for me, beer for him) and watching This is 40. This was the first significant amount of time we spent together since I went away and it was REALLY nice to hang out.

Sunday evening we went to my mom’s for dinner and she made an amazing dinner of london broil, pacho’s and chard with a brown sugar cake for dessert. We were STUFFED but it was super delicious.

Sunday night Eric, my brother and I watched the Game of Thrones finale together at our house! I love this show and I’m so sad it’s now over for another season. I’ve started reading the first book so I will hopefully get through all three books before the next season starts!

That was a wordy recap! Ha.

How was your weekend?