Welcome.

Keith and I ran the Around the Bay Road Race earlier today and we had a great time. As with past years, the first 20k just slipped by, and again this year, I got into trouble in the hills. I don’t know if I was overheating or having tummy issues or both, but my stomach got into knots and I felt super, super hot. Keith and I parted ways at the 22.5k mark, I just needed some time to get my head together and find my own pace. I started dowsing my head with cold water at the 23k rest station, and everyone after that, but it didn’t help my tummy unwind much.

I spent a ton of the next 3k doing walk run while my stomach did its contortions. Oh well, it obviously wasn’t that severe, it didn’t kill me. I thought about bailing a couple of times, but I reminded myself that I’d been in spots that hurt a lot worse and I’d never bailed before (well, there was that one time at the Dirty Enduro when I rode 25k through the bush with no seat post to get to the half-way aid station on a 100k MTB race. I begrudgingly took a DNF after 50k of racing - there was no way I could have finished out the race with no seat ).

By about the 26k mark, I started to feel a lot better, especially with all the hills behind me. I ran a bit slower than I did last year, but no big surprises there. I’m a little bit heavier and didn’t train nearly as much as I had last year because of the injury I took last summer. I really enjoyed running with my brother, it was great to have someone to talk to and goof around with - it definitely made the miles go by a lot quicker.

That’s probably the last AtB I’ll be doing for a while. I’m going to focus on the bike for the next little while and get myself down to race weight before the year-end. Running will still have a role in that, but there’s no real need for me to do anything much longer than 5-10k as conditioning for what I want to accomplish on the bike.

Tomorrow, my brother Keith and I will be running the Around the Bay Road Race in Hamilton, Ontario. This is a 30k road race and is the oldest in North America (older than Boston!).

No big goals this year - just a fun run with my little brother. It should be a fairly warm spring day (7-15 degrees celcius) so I’ve decided to simply wear shorts and a Sugoi cycling jersey. I like having pockets in the back and I’m surprised that more runners don’t wear cycling jerseys. They are great for stowing gloves, small bits of food, car keys - all sorts of stuff.

Stay tuned for a race report - if you are interested in that sort of a thing.

Long time no post.

To bring everyone up to speed, after working up to 60k long runs prepping for the Great Canadian Run, I wrecked my foot bad late last July and spent about 3 months hobbling around in recovery, riding my bike and feeling sorry for myself.

Fast forward to December, my brother dared me to run the Peterborough Half-marathon with him, and I accepted on the basis that he ran the Around The Bay 30k Classic with me. He accepted.

Which brings me to today.

I can’t stand running.

I hate it. I really do. I tried so hard to love it, to find some joy in it - a wisp of happiness that I could use to carry myself forward, even if for just one more step.

Nothing.

I’ve regretted every single step I’ve ever taken while training to be a runner.

I mean, I’ve had a couple of proud moments along the way - a lift of euphoria when I realized that I’d left the house on a Sunday night to run a marathon, by myself. I crossed the imaginary finish line in my head and then kept going for a few more kilometres back to my house. I think the dogs knew something was up, but there were no crowds cheering and I never bothered to share the milestone with anyone else.

But the running itself, its painful. I always come back feeling like absolute shit. I’ve taken to the habit of dosing with NSAIDs prior to and after a run just so that I can walk around the house after a run. I thought it would go away, I thought I would grow much stronger, but it never really happens. Sure, when I was running 40-50-60k long runs last summer, it was easier than the 10k runs I re-started with in October. But I’m not really getting any better - not in any competitive sense anyways.

Here’s what I mean. I ran my best 5k at about 5 minutes per km. I think I might be able to do 4m 40s. But that’s about it, and I certainly couldn’t sustain that pace for much more than 6-7k - maybe for 10k at the outside. My best marathon time last summer was a 6m 30s per kilometre pace.

To run a 3 hour marathon, I need to run at an average pace of 4m 16s per kilometre for more than 42 kilometres. In an infinite number of universes, I doubt there is one where I can run a 3 hour marathon.

Yeah, yeah. I hear you. All I need to do is commit to the training and the results will come. Problem is, I’m just not good at it and I’m not enjoying it. I’d rather be on the bike.

So, after AtB this weekend, I’m hanging up my shoes. I will continue to run my 5k-10k fitness runs and I will do it because I know it makes me a better cyclist, not because I’m deluded into thinking I should be a better runner.

I think its for the best. And who knows, with my expectations properly in check, maybe I might find some joy in running :-)

Its said that athletes like to “suffer”. That victory isn’t attainable without pain.

Its a choice we make to achieve what we want. But what about those of us that suffer without getting that choice? What about those of us that have heard the words “You have cancer”, or worse “Your child has cancer”. 

Every year, thousands of Canadian families hear those words, and none of them have a choice to endure what comes next. Hospital visits, sickness, chemical therapy and sometimes worse.

No child, no family should have to go through that.

I’m a long time supporter of the fight against childhood cancer, and once again I’ve decided to contribute myself to the cause and try to help. I’ve decided to make the trip from Brampton, Ontario to Collingwood, Ontario to raise donations for a childhood cancer charity. 

But this time there’s a twist.

I’ll be doing it without my bike. It’ll just be me and my running shoes and 100 kilometres of soul-crushingly hilly roads.

I’ve signed up for “The Great Canadian Run to End Kids Cancer” and I need your help.

My goal is to raise $25,000 for this great cause. Would you consider making a small donation to my fundraising? Every dollar helps, $5, $20, $50, $100 - more? Whatever you can afford is extremely appreciated. In the past five years, I’ve helped raise more than $50,000 for the fight against childhood cancer and I want this year to be the biggest. If you can help, please follow this link to make a donation.

I’ll be posting more about the run and my training as I progress, and until then, thanks so much for your assistance, support and donations.

It was awesome to hear from Sugoi this morning that they’ve re-accepted me for their brand ambassador program. Their support really makes it a lot easier to do a lot of the crazy things I do and I really appreciate their help, support and amazing gear these past few years.

For example, look back a couple of posts and check out that sweet jacket I’m wearing on my -20c run a couple of weeks back - a Sugoi RS weatherized sports jacket, one of the sweetest running and cycling jackets you can get your hands on. I would have frozen without Sugoi! :)

10k down 10k to go. The wind was coming from the north, so only the right side of my body frosted up. 20k in -20c. brrr.

Hello again internets!

Its been a while since I’ve posted. Plans are still coming together for 2012. In the meantime, I’ve started making my physical preparations. Getting used to the drills on the trainer, but still mainly laying down base with some pretty solid running. Up to 40+km/ week and my pace and fitness is improving by leaps and bounds. Also doing a lot of strength training in our new gym. Going upstairs to workout on the roof certainly beats hauling myself down to a fitness club just to lift weights, etc. - I’m really glad we invested in the equipment. I’ll be posting more often now that I’m getting back into the swing of things. Hopefully it stays interesting for you!

…and so the next chapter begins.

If you don’t stay properly hydrated on a long ride, then you won’t likely get to finish the ride. Even if you do finish, you will feel terrible and won’t perform to your maximum potential.

Proper hydration is simple - just take in enough liquid nutrition to replace the water and minerals that you lose through your sweat. There are two keys to meeting this goal.

First, you need to find a good sports drink that carries a strong metabolic payload. Most of of the sports drinks that you find are absolute junk. A mix of food-dye and sugar and fancy marketing intended to convince you that it will make you faster, stronger and more competitive. They do no such thing. Don’t expect to get good performance from any sports drink that costs you $6 a cannister in powdered form. Look for a reliable brand with a good balance of minerals and electrolytes along with a good sustainable form of energy. Hammer Nutrition makes some good products and I rely on Endurance made by Amino Vital.

Second, you need to know how much to drink. You can’t know how much fluid to replace if you don’t know how much you are losing.

To understand your sweat rate, you will need to do a sweat rate test. It isn’t highly scientific, but it will get you in the right ball park and get you started on the road to better understanding your fluid requirements. Since I started regularly testing my sweat rate, I’ve been riding stronger and more evenly because I’m no longer letting my body hit fluid depletion on these long rides.

The most notable sign that I’m on to something with these tests is that I no longer come home with a huge headache after spending the day in the sun. I used to think my helmet was too tight or poorly adjusted. When I started hydrating properly, the headaches instantly went away.

The sweat rate test protocol is pretty simple. I’m presuming that you will do this test on a stationary bike of some sort. First, weigh yourself without any clothes on. Get dressed and record this number as your starting weight.

Then, ride your bike for at least 45 minutes in a high aerobic zone. I usually shoot for 70%-75% of my maximum heart rate. Throughout the test, keep track of how much fluid you are drinking. I try to drink complete bottles to keep the math easier.

When you are done, remove your cycling gear, towel yourself off as completely as you can and then weigh yourself. Put on a robe and record this number as your end weight.

Now we’ve got all of our data:
Starting Weight = SW
End Weight = EW
Fluid Consumed = FC
Duration of Test = D

We will probably need to do some conversions before we can do the math. You need to convert your fluid consumption into liters. There are .7 liters in a regular 24 ounce bottle. If you drank a different amount of fluid, just go to Google and type the following into their search tool “X ounces in liters” where “X” equals the size of your bottle.

Also, if you weighed yourself in pounds, you will need to convert this to kilograms as well. Just go to Google again and type in “X pounds in kilograms” where X equals your weight. Do this once each for your starting weight and your finishing weight.

Now that you have the amount of fluid you consumed in liters, convert that number to kilograms. 1 liter of fluid equals 1 kilogram of mass. So, a 24 ounce bottle, will weigh approximately .7 kilograms.

Now from here, the math is simple, just plug your variables into the following equations:

(SW-EW-FC) /D=SRM

i.e. Joe had a starting weight of 78.92kg, and end weight of 78.45kg and drank .7 liters over a 45 minute test. His math would look like this:

(78.92-77.45-.7)/45= .017 liters per minute

To make this number more relevant, just multiply it by 60 to get your sweat rate per hour. In Joe’s case, this would be 1.02 liters per hour. That works out to 34 ounces per hour, or 1.5 bottles.

So for Joe to stay properly hydrated, he knows he has to drink approximately 1.5 bottles per hour when he is out on the course. Of course, on a hot day, this will be slightly more, and on a cooler day, slightly less. If you are training for a specific event where you know what the approximate temperatures are, it makes sense for you to do the test under conditions similar to the race so you have more precise information to make decisions with.

I hope this information is helpful for you. I’m not the originator of this test, but it has served me well over the years. If you have questions, feel free to drop me a note at ross@ultrarider.ca

According to National Geographic, the Furnace Creek 508 is the 8th toughest endurance event in the world. Wish I’d known that before I signed up :-)

10. Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race

9. World Bog Snorkeling Championships

8. Furnace Creek 508

7. Arrowhead 135-mile Winter Ultramarathon

6. Manhattan Island Marathon Swim

5. Barkley Marathon

4. Extreme Winter Ultra Marathon

3. Marathon des Sables

2. Race Across America

1. Badwater Ultramarathon

(excerpted from the AdventureCorps email newsletter. You can subscribe to the newsletter here.)

The race began with the traditional CHP escort followed by excellent tailwinds as the racers sped north through the Mojave Desert. A full moon would rise that evening. On Saturday, the high was 82 degrees, but that would rise to 90 degrees at night in Death Valley.

Turning east onto Towne Pass, the 10-mile, 5000 foot ascent which is the entryway to Death Valley, the began to blow in a less favorable direction. By the time the racers started to traverse Death Valley proper, near the giant sand dunes at Stove Pipe Wells, the wind was blowing a steady 30mph from the south, with sand blowing across the road like a river.

As the race route turned due south on the way to Furnace Creek (the halfway mark) and beyond to Badwater, the wind was blowing straight in the racers’ faces at 30mph or faster, with gusts up to 50 to 60mph. Some racers walked their bikes into the wind. Many averaged no more than about 5mph through the night. Race leaders required over six hours to cover the 73 miles from Furnace Creek to Shoshone. The wind truly terrorized the competitors in this year’s race, easily outblowing the “thermonuclear headwinds” of the 2004 race.

Chris Ram Ragsdale, 32, of Seattle, WA led the race to Furnace Creek, just barely, then fell to second during the worst of the wind conditions, with three-time champion Michael Alpine Ibex Emde, 39, of Spokane, WA taking the lead. At Baker, mile 383, Ragsdale decided he would catch Emde by the top of the twenty-mile climb into the Mojave National Preserve. Ragsdale passed through the Kelso time station a mere one minute behind Emde, then was just 15 seconds back at the final time station at Amboy. Shortly thereafter, he made his move and took the lead, putting 15 minutes on Emde on the final climb up Sheephole Summit.

Ragsdale’s victory, with a time of 29:10:31, represents a five year effort: 9th in 2005, DNF in 2006, 2nd last year, then the victory in 2009!

Michael Alpine Ibex Emde took 2nd in 29:47:34 and has the strongest 508 career record yet: 3rd in 2005, 1st in 2006 06, 2007, and 2008, and then 2nd in 2009. He earned his Furnace Creek 508 Hall of Fame entry, too, with his 5th finish in 2009.

Rookie of the Year honors went to third-place finisher Brian American Kestrel Ecker, 37, of Bellingham, WA with a time of 33:14:06. Ecker left 100% of himself out on the race course; at the finish line he required over 90 minutes to ready himself to receive his finisher’s medal and jersey.

Note that the top three male solo finishers are from Washington State. What’s up with that, California???

Charlie Water Dragon Engle, 47, of Greensboro, NC took 4th solo in 33:19:25 and broke the ten year old Death Valley Cup record set in 2000 by Kaname Sakurai by one hour, 20 minutes. Engle was 1 hour, 12 minutes faster at the 2009 508 than his first effort in 2007. He was also 1 hour, 58 minutes faster at the 2009 Badwater Ultramarathon than in 2007.

Women’s winner Leah Mighty Mouse Goldstein, 40, a dual citizen of Canada and Israel, is a professional cyclist, racing for Team ValueAct. She is the current Israeli national champion in the road race and time trial. At the finish line she stated “I’ve competed in the Tour de France, the World Championship, National Championship, and many other races and can honestly say that the Furnace Creek 508 is the toughest, hardest race I’ve ever done.” Her time was 35:01:50, also placing her 6th overall among all the solos.

19-year-old Nick Hollon of San Diego, CA, who also completed the Badwater Ultramarathon this year, crossed the line in 44:06:44, the youngest ever Death Valley Cup finisher and in his first bicycle race!

US Navy SEAL and two-time Badwater Ultramarathon finisher David Goggins, 34, of San Diego, CA, had heart surgery in May. He finished the 508 in 41:45:58, in 17th place, in his first 508 appearance.

The 2x teams were led by 50+ Team Ratel, comprised of four-time finisher Doug Patterson, 49, of Orange, CA along with his rookie teammate David Elsberry, 58, of Laguna Niguel, CA, with a time of 33:06:50. Not only did they win the 2x division, but Patterson (AKA Polar Bear) notched his fifth finish and thus his Hall of Fame membership. Close on their heels in 33:13:53 was the first place 2x mixed team, Team Godwit, Cara Gillis and Jeff Lawler.

4x men’s team Bloodhound, with three veterans on board, placed first among the 4-rider team with a time of 28:59:29.

4x female team Hammer Frogs, fueled with Hammer Nutrition, finish in 32:39:33! Lee “Maggot” Mitchell was their lucky, hard-working crewchief.

For those with the courage and commitment to rise to the challenge, Furnace Creek 508 has a category for everyone. This year’s race included 2x and 4x tandem teams, 2x classic bike teams, 2x fixed gear teams, 2x recumbent teams, and more. More details to follow in the full, official Race Report! Meanwhile, here are some stats:

179 racers began the race.

There were 59 solo, 52 on 2x teams, 68 on 4x teams.

15 US states and 4 Canadian provinces were represented, along with seven countries or nationalities.

There were 148 males and 31 females.

There were 92 rookies and 87 veterans.

98 of 120 team racers finished = 81.67%.

29 of 59 solos finished = 49.1%. Although that is low by recent years’ standard (finishing averages went up when the race organizers implemented a selection process, rather than first come, first serve, to determine the race field), it is line with the historical solo finishing average of 49.35%.

39 hours and 41 minutes after leaving Santa Clarita, I arrived in Twentynine Palms.

There’s only one word that can adequately, and without hyperbole, describe this race.

Epic.

I will post a more thoughtful summary after I’ve had a chance to collect my thoughts, but here are some glimpses into what makes this race great.

- Death Valley is hot. Mojave is hot. And I mean hot. Really hot. This year, the temperatures were incredibly cool. I can’t imagine doing this race in the blistering heat that they’ve had in prior years.

- Death Valley is windy. I rode into a straight headwind of 40 miles per hour for almost 9 hours. At one point a strong gust literally stopped my bike as I descended a small rise in the road. I weigh almost 200 pounds, it takes a lot of wind to stop me.

- Most of the roads are awesome. The roads in the last 100 miles are not. My hands are a numb, blistered mess. I can barely move my fingers. Potholes, chiptop, you name it. We rode on some of the worst pavement I’ve seen in a bike race. There’s something disconcerting about descending 10 miles on pavement that hasn’t been tended to.

- The people are awesome. All the racers, crew, event staff. Everyone was friendly, helpful and fun to be with.

We’re packing up the van now for our trip back to L.A. Tonight we’ll probably go to Alejo’s and tomorrow might just be spent in the hot tub, with a red-eye back to Toronto tomorrow evening. I’ll gather up the pictures, video and story and post something coherent here.

As much fun as I had, I’m glad its over. :-)

9 miles til Baker and Ross looks terrific.  Still a bit of a headwind but nothing compared to this morning (or worse) last night.  He’s on a steady 20MPH pace on the flat and shows no material sign of fatigue.

(Tom McDonald)

No connectivity for hundreds of miles so I’ve been making mock posts.  Rather than risk losing the connection again I’m going to paste them all here now… we can make it pretty later.  BTW, we’re 15 miles outside of Baker as of now.

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Saturday

12:38pm

Just ran a smoker’s marathon… about 100 feet up and back, without stoppng!  Phrase coined by Matt as I staggered back to the car.  I was running up to see the condition of the railroad tracks ahead but Ross passed me with a, “Where ya goin Tom?”.  Doesn’t sound funny here unless you imagine it with a Canadian accent and the special Ross inflection.

(Tom McDonald)

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3:15pm-ish

We stopped in Trona to report time, get a bit of gas and water and, on the advice of many of the vets, grabbed ourselves killer burritos from a stand outside.  Excellent seasoned beef for me and Matt, chicken for Larry.  We at them later while waiting for Ross at one of the water swaps.  Wow!  It may be a long night in the van though.  They seemed worth it at the time.  We’ll see.

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4:08pm

Heading down Panamint Valley (I think).  Insane winding grade.  We have to be care ful not to go too slow and hold up the riders but it’s tough to keep the car going that fast with such a steep descent.  Ross is just  gone…. way ahead of us.

(Tom McDonald)

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5:05pm

Ross hit the 200 mile mark.  Just over 10 hours for a double century?!?

(Tom McDonald)

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6pm

Climbing Townes Pass, all lit up, hazard triangle mounted on the back of car… we’re golden.  But this hill is a monster and keep running into a vicious headwind.  Ross’ back is hurting pretty badly.  Popped a couple of advil and had Larry “crack his back”.

(Tom McDonald)

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7pm

Ross summits Townes Pass at exactly 12 hours.  Beautiful.  Larry throws on Ross’ vest for some warmth, a smoothie and fresh bottle of amino water.  Now the crazy downhill for 17 miles.

(Tom McDonald)

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7:15

Tom does not like being so close to the rider but it is needed so he can see.  Larry and Matt are having a blast seeing watching my anxiety. :)  He was doing 53-54 mph for a while… Tom’s heart rate was likely 200bpm.

(Tom McDonald)

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8pm

About 8 miles past Stovepipe Wells.  The wind had subsided on the downhill grade and through Stovepipe.  But now wind has really picked up.  Sand is blasting Ross, initially from the side but now as a direct headwind and heading slightly uphill.  Larry and Matt estimate 30-40 mph constant with 50-60mph gust.  Brutal.

Meanwhile Larry is not only supporting Ross’ nutritional needs but mine and Matt’s as well.  He just mashed up a few cans of sardines and dumped some spicy mustard into some pita bread.  My first time trying sardines AFAIK.  IT was a tasty and healthy meal to help get us through the night.  Thanks Larry!

(Tom McDonald)

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11:35pm

Wind is insane.  With a slight uphill and direct headwind Ross is standing on the pedals and doing 1-2mph.

(Tom McDonald)

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Sunday morning.

Long night for all (mostly Ross of course.  Very little sleep and moderate level of insanity ensuing through the night.  Matt drove from the start through 12:30am on Sunday before I took over.  By 6am I was nearly delirious but Matt had grabbed a few winks and took over.  Larry has been doing all of the support and might have dozed off for a minute here and there but he’s way short on sleep.

We saw quite a few solo and team riders seem to give it up during the night.  I can hardly blame them because the raging wind, likely gusting at over 70mph at times, was relentless.  But I know Ross and there’s no way he’s giving in to the pain.

All of us are finding too much humor in the most ridiculous conversations.  Sure sign of lack of sleep.

(Tom McDonald)

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9:15am

Just left the Shoshone check-in point.  Matt and Larry work on Ross’s raw hands as well as correcting some bike issues.  Ross is *tired*.  Not just “I’be been up for 28 hours” tired…. This is more like, “I’ve never worked so hard in such a short period of time in my life *and* I’ve been up for 28 hours” tired.   We have about 180 miles to go which is looking like 12 hours of fairly hard riding.

(Tom McDonald)

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10am

Ross’ appetite seems to be returning so we stopped for 5 mins for him to wolf down some oatmeal.  Larry dumped some oats in a piece of tupperware, poured some water in and sat it on the dashboard to hat in the sun.  Never did get very warm but the oats got soggy enough for consumption.  Ross is back on the bike and riding stronger than I’ve seen in a couple of hours.

(Tom McDonald)

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10:40am

Summited Ibex Pass and on the other side is what looks to be a huge dust storm that spans the entire horizon.  Wind is blowing pretty hard from Ross’ right side, pushing him around a fair bit.  He’s got his bandanna over his face Jesses James style.

(Tom McDonald)

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