What fuels me…

When running these long endurance races (marathon’s and longer), you really need to consume calories as you run, it’s a necessary evil.  Maybe some people don’t see it as an evil, but in general, I really don’t enjoy most of the fuels that are out there.  I’m not a sugar person, and in general they are sickly sweet and I usually tire of them long before the race is done.  I wanted to summarize what I’ve tried over the years, and what I’ve settled on, and why.

Elephant Mountain Race Report (and Phoenix Vacay)

This one is a long time in coming, I’ve been a total slacker blogger lately, and as usual, my “excuse” is running, and family, so no apologies here!  Our family vacation in February was a trip to Phoenix for 10 days.  To say that I was excited to have a week and a half of warm desert running and family time is a bit of an understatement!

An Update and a Review!

Alright, it’s been a VERY long time since I’ve blogged.  I’ve been BUSY, with many things, including running.  Since my races in early July, I’ve started into my fall marathon schedule, Lori and I are both using the Pfitz 12-55 plan.  If you’re not familiar with Pfitzinger, I highly recommend checking out his book, Advanced Marathoning.  It has a TON of awesome information in it, and some very challenging plans.

What I’ve learned so far the Recovery Nutrition edition…

I’ve just finished running what have been my biggest mileage weeks ever. I’ve averaged over 73 km’s (45 miles) a week over the last 5 weeks. I know there are lots of people who marathon train who run a lot more than that, but there are also who run less. I’m especially happy because this is the first time I’ve come through a marathon training cycle without a single niggle, injury, concern, etc (KNOCK ON WOOD!!)

Donate to the Underwear Affair AND enter a Giveaway!!

I’ve eluded to this contest in a few past posts, but I think with June approaching quickly, I’d like to officially start it!  As I’ve posted about a million times, my major running goal this spring is the Calgary Marathon… Well I’m also doing a 10 km “race” 6 days after the marathon.  I know that sounds crazy, and I can assure you that there won’t be any PR’s or PB’s coming out of this race, but it’s a good cause, and one I try to do every year, so once again I’m running it this year.  It is the Calgary Underwear Affair! 

My Favorite Things, and a chance to share them!

So every year I do one race that involves raising money.  This is something that always feels a bit awkward, I don’t like pestering people for their hard earned money.  But I still do it, every year.  Why?  Because it’s a GREAT cause, and it is absolutely worth my feeling a bit uncomfortable while supporting it.  Plus, it’s such a FUN race, that I love doing it!!  It is called The Underwear Affair, and it raises money for finding a cure for cancer’s below the waist.  Everyone dresses up in some of the best costumes ever (their underwear) and they go walk or run 5 or 10 km’s.  If you are local to Calgary, you really should check out this race!

Knuckle lights review

Lori and I showing off our new Calgary Marathon ‘In Training’ Toques!

Wednesday night Lori and I got to hang out at Eau Claire helping out with the route reveal for the Calgary Marathon.  We were handing out free toques and gloves to anyone who had already registered for any of the races.  It was super fun to get to meet and see all sorts of people who were running races.  Some were racing the 50k Ultra, while others were signing up for their very first race.  Some had time goals such as completing the half in under 2 hours, other’s just wanted to finish with a smile on their face.  It was pretty cool to see the gamut of people who run, all different sizes, ages, and types of people.  

Grizzly Ultra Leg 2 plus a bit :)

Today was the group run for the second leg of the Grizzly Ultra out at the Canmore Nordic Centre.  I was super excited about it, mostly because, it’s a trail run, and as I may have mentioned, I love me some trails 🙂 , I was also excited because I had missed the group run for leg 1 because I was only 10 days out from my surgery and it would have been a bad idea to try to trail run 14k at that point (believe me I was tempted!).

I wanted to run a bit longer than the group run (12 km), I had 18 km on my schedule.  Lori and I headed out to Canmore to try to get 6 km in before 10 am when the group started.  By the time we got there and had a quick bathroom break, we only had about 35 minutes, so decided that we’d just run 5 km.  We ran the first 5 km fairly fast as we picked an easy-ish paved trail and wanted to be back on time.

After a quick introduction and description of the route, we were off on the 12 km loop.  It started with approx 2 km uphill, and then leveled off.  It heads around a loop that has a lot of steep ups and downs.  One of my favorite things about trail running is that you’re automatically given permission to walk power-hike the hills.  The trails were in pretty good condition, given all the water and flooding that had occurred just over a week ago.  Some of the creek beds had washed some rocks onto the paths, which meant some tricky footing.  There was also some water on the trail, but really it was in pretty good shape.  I think there were some awesome volunteers who had spent some time on the trails this week cleaning them up!  The way back had a fair amount of downhill – that we had earned those first 2 km’s.  

As for gear – I wore my lulu Run Shorty Shorts, which I love.  They are super short, but once you get over that, they fit great, have awesome pockets on the sides, and  have these magic gripper things that your shirt sticks to when it’s pulled down over them.  I also wore my INKnBURN Phoenix Cami.  Lori was also wearing an INKnBURN top, and we even had the opportunity to gush about how much we love them.  They are so comfortable, especially in warm weather, and very well made.  I carried Gatorade in my Camelbak running hydration pack.  It’s super convenient because it holds 1.5 liters of fluid.  It does bounce around a bit though.  I’ve heard amazing things about the Nathan hydration vests, and one day I may get one and see if I like it better than the Camelbak one.  The good thing is that even though I wore a cami, I had zero chafing from the hydration pack.

Here are some happy girls, all renewed from spending a couple hours on the trails, ready (we think) to go and deal with, I mean, enjoy some time with our families 🙂

Here’s a short video that the organizer of the run shot, gives a nice view of what the paths look like from the Nordic Centre.

A new favorite thing…

I feel like I’m late to the party on this thing, but wanted to put it on my blog and share it with you all just in case any hadn’t heard of this product, or like me was all ‘Yeah, Yeah, I’m sure it’s awesome, but I’ve got stuff that basically does the same thing’.

So the back story… last Wed night Lori, Danielle and I had a date with the trails.  We were  headed up to Jumpingpound loop, a 9.xx km loop just west of Calgary.  I often do trails with my camelbak, but didn’t really feel that an evening less than 10k run really warranted a 1.5L camelbak.  I also have a handheld, but wanted to bring my phone so I could snap some pics along the way.  Big dilemma, 1st world type problem, I know.  For ages I’d heard my running friends rave about their SPIbelt’s.  I’d been thinking about buying one for ages, but just hadn’t taken the plunge.  Well on my way to Lori’s house I popped into The Running Room, a few of them were priced lower than the other’s and the deal lover that I am decided to grab the nice burnt orange one.  This is what it looks like all collapsed.

 

It expands so that you can put your iPhone, or other gadget into it as well as keys, or anything else that you want along for the ride.  Here it is with an iPhone 4 in it (it also fits my iPhone 5 no problem.)

 

I used it for my run today also because I was just running 5-6km and didn’t need my fuel belt with me, but wanted to listen to a podcast from my phone.  I put on so my phone sits on my lower back, and can’t even tell it’s there.  Lori bought one also, and put her removable Fuelbelt water bottle on it, and said it fit great and also didn’t bounce.  I’m totally sold, and can see this being a perfect solution at races also where I don’t want to carry my own water, but would like my phone so I can find my family or friends after the race.

My Favorite Things…

I had a great run today (thanks to my fabulous Mother-in-law – I have a sick baby and would not have gotten a solo mid day run in otherwise). I have just 12 days until my next race, The Calgary Half Marathon and am trying to get in a couple good quality workouts in this week. Today was hills. I ran just over 8 km’s total, with 8 hill repeats in and out of Fish Creek. I felt really strong and had a great run.

I wanted to share a couple of my recent favorite running related brands. I wore two of them today. Firstly, my Newton Gravity shoes. I bought these back in March when I was in Florida. I’m still easing into longer distances in them but so far I love them. I ran my longest run in them today (8.5 km’s). They always make me feel super bouncy and speedy. I can also tell that they encourage good running form, a mid foot strike and faster cadence.

I also wore my InkNBurn Brittany running skirt. By far, my very favorite new running gear brand is InkNBurn. I only have 3 pieces so far, this skirt, a Phoenix cami and vintage tee. I love every one of them. The fabric for the tops is so lightweight that on a warm day you hardly feel like you’re wearing anything, and the skirt fits me like a glove, with perfect shorts underneath. Not to mention the amazing and unique designs on all their products. My running partner Lori and I are always discussing what piece we want next and when we will do another order.