Running to Nowhere

Following Black Canyon 100k on Feb 13^th I took 2 week off, no running, no hiking and barely any walking.  Every muscle from the neck down hurt and punished me for the almost 16 hours of desert canyon running.  By early March I was ready to resume mountain trail running but having already completed my only “A” race for the year I didn’t feel motivated to enter any other events. 

The 20 weeks of training leading up to Black Canyon were great but in hindsight were rigid and severely limited fun, social and unplanned “just for the heck of it” runs.  The post-race months of March and April have consisted of many shorter mountain runs on steep, technical bone-jarring terrain.  Instead of sticking with my known routes I’ve had the opportunity to explore the other mountains of the North Shore including Fromme and Cypress in addition to every inch of Seymour.

For the past 2 months I’ve been averaging 5 runs a week but only about an hour each in duration.  Instead of a nice calm warm up run from my house to the mountains I’ve been driving to the trail head, starting with a 1,500 foot redline ascent, then screaming down the most technical descents possible.  This is my anti-training.... no warm up or cool down, no heart rate training, no periodization, no micro/macro cycles, and no easy days.  I love every minute of it! 

And best of all I’ve been able to run and hike with Darien without being too tired from over-training.  A week in Hawaii provided the perfect opportunity to hike and run coastal trails and lush mountainous canyons.  Back in North Vancouver Darien and I are getting close to finishing the full 48km Baden Powell trail traversing the 4 North shore mountains.  I’ve never had this much fun running to nowhere!