St Albert 10miler

Brian takes the win!

• St Patricks Day Race
  
• St Albert 10 Miler
  
• Woody’s Red Deer Half Marathon
  
• Little Big Run
  
• Canadian Mountain Racing Championships
  
• Kananaskis 100
• Canada Day Road Race
• Dino Dash
  
• Rotary Run for Life
  
• Melissa’s Road Race
  
• The Fall Classic
  
• The Stewart Cup
  
• National Cross Country Championships

Fast Trax Asics Pro Team Season Update. 

Being in Canmore this week with plenty of time to get in my runs is a great time to plan out the season.  Its an honour to be back on the Asics Fast Trax team and I hope I can meet and surpass the success I had last year.

I will give a brief summary of how my year ended up last year.  After a busy schedule I really felt that my racing and level of compete was solid.   I had an incredible time at the World Mountain Racing Championships in Switzerland with a motivated Team Canada.  I was fortunate to have good friends Mark Vollmer and Adrian Lambert with me and as expected they both had fantastic results helping Team Canada finish 13th out of 27 countries at the competition.  After that Krissy Dooling and I traveled Switzerland but were still mindful to get in the workouts as the marathon was still to come.  Once we got home we had the Dino Chase where after a few too many beverages in Canmore I competed well and was mentally becoming very confident in my racing.  A week after that the Melissa’s Road Race was the perfect tune up for the marathon.  At Melissa’s I had one of those perfect races.  I started conservative, felt very fit, was strong the last 3km and the victory is always nice.  Ken Myers had a tough day and if he had been healthy the victory would not have been there for me but I was still happy with the effort.  13 days later it was the Kelowna Marathon.  I ran well but I was out of my element with 42 km.  I came through halfway at 1:18ish and finished at 2:39:55.  I love to perform and run to my top (or near the top) of my abilities, in the marathon I felt I lost that and was basically just surviving the last 8km.  It was a special day and it was great to see teammate Niall Mcgrath have an awesome performance.  Niall has that special ability to excel at the long distances and is one of the best marathoners in Edmonton. 

After the marathon I had about 5 weeks to get ready for Cross Country Nationals, a race that is personally very important to me.  I love cross country and competing against the best in the country is what racing is all about.  After 3 weeks of feeling incredibly unmotivated I started to get back into workouts thanks to support from Club teammates Kurt Woytiuk and Dallas Raudebaugh.  I had a few good efforts (workouts) under my belt and ran the Edmonton Thunder Kinsmen Cross Country Race, organized by Matt Norminton.  It was a great race and was just beat out by Kurt.  It felt great to battle again and I knew I was ready to have a strong Cross Nationals in Guelph in two weeks time. 

Nationals were another good fight and I was proud of how I finished and placed in a very good field of runners.  I guess that was the end of the season and I was ready for a month or more off. 

This year I have been consistent with my indoor workouts and will be ready to go for another long season of road racing.  I love to run, train with good friends, and race so the thought of a 9 month season isn’t as bad as it sounds.  The problem with a 9 month season is it takes away the athletes ability to taper and peak for one to two good races a year.  Something I fell victim to last year. 

My schedule is busy but I will focus on being a better athlete then I was last year in March and April.  Lifestyle is a big part of this and will be something that I will give more attention to.  In the summer months races are frequent but it is something that I really enjoy and I will approach each weekend’s race with the same excitement and anxiousness that I always do. 

The Fall will be where I would like to be very serious and lead to a good performance at the National Cross Country Championships in Guelph.  As for my next marathon I may choose something in late August or in December.  After going through this schedule last year I know that you don’t bounce back from marathons.  It takes weeks and sometimes months and is a mental battle as much as a physical one. 

I will close this update by describing why I love to run, race and be part of this team.  Its not the race, the times, or the placing but it’s the community you are a part of and the friends you meet along the way.  I have been very fortunate to have great friends in the sport of running.  Furthermore I am fortunate to have a coach that is knowledgeable and more importantly has cared of my journey through running. 

I’m excited to start the season with the Asics Fast Trax team and I wish all my team members the best of luck over the course of the adventure of the racing season.  Big thanks to Jack for his support of the running community in Edmonton. 

2009 Race Schedule

• March 15th St Patricks Day Race
  
• April 19th St Albert 10 Miler
  
• May 17th Woody’s Red Deer Half Marathon
  
• May 31st Little Big Run
  
• June 13th Canadian Mountain Racing Championships
  
• June 20th Kananaskis 100
  
• July 1 Canada Day Road Race
  
• September 5th Dino Dash
  
• September 13th Rotary Run for Life
  
• September 26th Melissa’s Road Race
  
• October 18th The Fall Classic
  
• October 31st The Stewart Cup
  
• November 28th National Cross Country Championships

Asics Distance Project update #2

Well I would have to say everything has gone quite well since joining the Fast Trax Distance Project.  I had a small dip in training this summer as I spent two weeks in Berlin sampling (numerous) steins of (mostly) Pilsner.  I have always believed that you don’t have to go cold turkey off beer when putting in the miles but I have become an even stronger believer that you can’t have too much and bounce back the next day.  

Since getting back from the beer gardens I have started to feel pretty good and I like where I am with fitness and the way I am approaching workouts.  The marathon still scares me as I don’t know what lies ahead after 30-35km.  I hope I can weather the storm but it is yet to be seen.  Training has focused on getting in quality workouts with the impressive Golden Bears and trying to hang onto the leaders of the pack.  I am trying to get in a few more reps and teach the body that 10km fitness is not marathon fitness.  The long runs have been educational but with hard efforts with Adrian Lambert, Dallas Raudebaugh, and a solid 8 x 10minute with Krissy I am starting to feel as if I am getting the hang of running (performing) beyond 70-90minutes. 

I believe you build to fitness and build yourself to great races.  I hope that I am doing that with my goal of Oct 12th. 

Onto some updates.  The times series has gone very well.  I hated my performance in Calgary on Calgary Marathon Weekend but it inspired me to stick my nose into more workouts.  I am leading in points thanks to the participation friendly scoring system.  I have run one more race than road racer of the year (and former Bears Captain) Matt Norminton so I should clinch the series with a decent effort at Melissa’s.  I enjoy the struggle of races but it has probably been too many for some stellar results.  Racing every weekend doesn’t help the slow build to one great race. 

I was the first alternate for Team Canada at the world mountain racing championship in Switzerland and will now get the opportunity to run as a member of our top 6 is unable to go.  I am much fitter than when I did Nationals in June but have not strategized any sort of taper.  I am feeling good and will give it everything I have.  Always exciting to represent the country no matter what fringe sport it may be. 

That’s it for now.  Its great to see the ASICS team do well and I look forward to hearing great results out of the fall. 

Being a part of the Fast Trax/asics Marathon Project is a great surprise and an honour to be a part of.  The project comes at a perfect time as I have reached another phase of my training and race focus. 

Here is quick background and summary of goals.

I got into running a bit late in the game.  As an overweight child I really liked all sport but really stunk at most as well.  Tennis, soccer, baseball, and floor hockey were all attempts at sporting ventures.  My mom was a runner completing numerous marathons in Vancouver, Victoria, and eventually Boston.  She was definitely an inspiration but more a great example.  I watched but didn’t practice until after high school…….when some of the weight came off.  I started to run on my own and completing my first marathon in 3:08.  I followed that with again following the staple “Running Room” program of 5 miles Monday, rest Tuesday……etc.  It was useless.  I finished a few more marathons but I didn’t understand that good runners perform during races and other runners are just surviving. Most never get this message and it came to me a bit late in the game. 

A trip to Europe convinced me I had to get away and finally finish university.  I arrived on the Golden Bears Cross Country Team 180lbs and finishing second to last at trials.  I thought I had a great run but the only problem was 23 guys finished ahead of me and only one behind me.  Coach Ron Barnhart kept me around as I quickly paid my team fees so he wouldn’t have a choice.  Most workouts during that season were extremely difficult, I would often not make it back to the starting point of the workout.  Example.  We would start at Emily Murphy and tempo to Hawrelak and return, rest and then followed by tempo to Kinsmen.  I would get to Kinsmen but I was shattered and walked it home.  I got through it with the help of good people and I hung around long enough to make the team. 

The next few years I slimmed down again.  The running and camaraderie of my teammates was a big part of university and life in general.  I met great people along the way that made the workouts the best part of the day, too many to name.  The team became very important and all we wanted to do was win the “banner” (Canadian University Title).  We never won the title but came close a few years and more importantly I picked up a sport/habit that I won’t give up. 

Running a race was now performing and not surviving.  I have been very fortunate to have very good, patient people give me their time and help me become a better runner.  Ron Barnhart was one and for too many years to count it’s been Glen Playfair.  Glen has preached miles and I truly believe this is how you improve. 

The marathon project will give me direction on a distance that currently seems daunting.  I have run many half marathons but it has never been focus and has resulted in races that I have never been incredibly proud of.  With the project I hope to gear my training towards handling the difficulty of racing at 30+ km’s.  I need to learn how to run marathon, I hope I figure it out by October.   

I currently train with Coach Glen Playfair in the incredibly well organized Edmonton Thunder Track and Field Club.  I will still work out with an incredible training group that consist of former Golden Bears, current Bears, and a handful of very talented tri-athletes. 

I will always look forward to the next workout, thanks to Jack and the Fast Trax Marathon Project the next workout will be a long one.

Thanks to Fast Trax for organizing and my good friend Chantell for volunteering me on the squad.  Can’t wait to get going…….