VO2 Max

This post seems a lot like bragging. I hope my handful of readers will forgive me. At my age there aren't a lot of things to brag about, especially related to physical fitness. And of course, I like to geek out on all the numbers :-) I recently had my VO2 max tested and got 51 (tl;dr - that's good)

I had it tested once before, 30 years ago, and got 69 (ml/kg/min). For a male in their 30's "elite" (top 2.3%) is 53 or over. World class athletes would be in the 80's or 90's. Although I was never an "athlete" in terms of competing in any sport, at that point I was training hard for an 8000m expedition and I'd spent a long Saskatchewan winter doing hard intervals on the treadmill in the basement. I've wondered what my VO2 max would be now. The average decline is about 10% per decade up to the age of 50, and then about 15% per decade. That would put me around 45 now. I know my running has declined so I was a little nervous that my VO2 max would be even lower than that.

I was pretty happy with 51. (I actually peaked at 55 but they take a 30 second average.) I guess all my running actually does pay off! (And it helps to be skinny. vo2 max is per kilogram of body weight, so everything else constant, it helps to weigh less.) Peter Attia suggests a good stretch goal is to qualify as elite for two decades younger than your age. I almost made it - elite for someone in their 40's is 52 or more - I missed it by one point.

I suspect I could raise my VO2 max by adding some hard intervals each week. I almost always run easy with a relatively low heart rate, which is good, but a small amount of hard exercise, near your max heart rate, helps increase your VO2 max. But hard intervals are ... hard! And running full out has a high risk of injury. One option is a long hill where I can get my heart rate up without going too fast. Or maybe a running track that at least has a consistent smooth surface.

My watch (Garmin Fenix) estimates VO2 max. I was always skeptical how accurate this was, but it was interesting to see that it wasn't too far off. It is currently estimating 55. Apparently for most people it underestimates, but for me it overestimates by about 8%.

Galloping Goose 50k

My latest “mission” (as a friend’s son calls them) was to run the length of the Galloping Goose Trail. The trail is actually 55 km long, but there’s no easy access to the end of it, so I planned to do 50 km of it. It’s a former rail line so it’s mostly flat with no steep hills. (Only about 200m of ascent and 300m of descent.) The last 13 km into Victoria are paved, the rest is smooth hard packed gravel.

The access I was planning to use was from the Sooke Potholes campground at kilometer 51. The campground was closed, which wasn’t a big surprise, but what I wasn’t expecting was that the locked gate was 2 km before the campground. I didn’t realize this at first and I was starting to wonder where the campground was and if I was on the right road. The extra distance wasn’t a big deal, I just adjusted my route through Victoria to keep my 50 km goal.

On the drive there we stopped to stash some water and a sign on the trail said up to one hour delays due to construction. Yikes! I hoped I wouldn’t be delayed that long. Closer to the construction there were signs for a temporary closure of the trail, but luckily that turned out to be the day before. I think I could have bushwhacked around the construction but I’m glad I didn’t have to.

The first 35 km went quite smoothly. The initial few kilometers were a little slow as I warmed up, but over the next few I caught up to my target pace and managed to maintain that pace (while running) the rest of the way. A lot of the time I was running slightly faster than my target pace so I'd walk for 10 or 20 seconds per kilometer. After 35 km it got tougher.

I carried a liter of water at a time and drank roughly .5 liters per hour with Tailwinds energy mix in it. I think that was about the right amount since I didn't seem dehydrated at the end. I tried to eat something every half hour or roughly every 5 km. (3 Huma gels, 2 Xact fruit bars, 1 Ucann bar). My plan was about 300 calories per hour, but it got harder to eat after 35 km, although I did choke down one last bar at 45 km.

Although I maintained my target pace while I was running, I took more breaks than I planned and my total elapsed time was almost 6 hours. (If this was a race, that would be the time that counted.) It definitely seemed tougher than my marathon last fall (faster 42km), or my trail run in the spring (slower 45 km). And that was despite doing more running mileage over the last year. I guess if I'm going to accept that some days are faster, I have to accept that some days are slower. And my main goal was just to run 50 km, which I accomplished.

My watch estimates "stamina". It says I started at 100%, which presumably means I tapered well, and it says I ended at 1%, or basically nothing left. I'm not sure how meaningful that is, but it matches how I felt! (My taper was about 10 days at roughly half my usual mileage.)

For some reason my quads and abductors were pretty sore by the end of the run. I'm still hobbling around a little the day after. That can be caused by downhills but there wasn't much of that. Maybe I need to train on hills more like I did before my 45 km trail run. Considering Vancouver Island is quite mountainous, Victoria itself, where I do most of my running, is relatively flat.

What's next? I don't have any more missions in mind, but I'm sure I'll think of something. While I'm impressed by people running 100 km or 200km, I'm not sure I can handle that. Maybe something back on the trails.

Thanks to Shelley for driving me to the start (and for the photo).

Running

I finished up 2021 with my mileage for the last few months of 240, 250, 260, and in December 300 km. That progression was a bit of a surprise. I wasn't particularly trying to increase my mileage. And in December, it was in spite of record rain, record cold, and record wind, not to mention snow and ice. I haven't managed a run longer than 15 km in the last few weeks due to the weather. On the other hand, it wasn't -40 like Saskatoon! My total mileage for 2021 was 2900 km and I'll likely hit 3000 for a 12 month period before too long.

I went out this morning to try for a good time on a Strava segment and managed to set PR's for the kilometer and the mile. Despite getting soaked by the rain, and having to dodge around leftover snow and ice, I would have made top 3 for my age group (55-65) on the segment, but I messed up and didn't start in quite the right spot :-( Oh well, it's good motivation to try again.  (These "PR's" are since I got back into running in my 50's, I was faster when I was younger.) Getting competitive over a Strava segment is pretty meaningless, but on the positive side, it motivates me to do a little faster running to balance out all the longer slower runs.

With no travel because of Covid, and therefore no paragliding or scuba diving, I'm grateful that running is one of the things I can still continue to do.

As always, I am thankful that I am healthy and fit enough to run like this. I know not everyone is so lucky.

Best wishes to everyone for 2022.

Explorations

I recently joined Strava (to keep in touch with a friend) and one of the interesting features is "heatmaps" of your activities. It's fun to see where I've been on my running. I've covered quite a lot of ground in the three months I've been here in Victoria. One nice thing is that very little has been on the road. It's almost all on paths like the Galloping Goose and the E&N rail trail.

My running continues to go well. I just hit a 4 week record (for me) of 280 km. And my recovery was good from my recent 30 km long run (out to Royal Roads), so it seems the higher mileage is paying off.

I see that I haven't been to Mill Hill Regional Park yet. Maybe I'll try that on my next long run.

85

Somewhat unintentionally, I ran 85 km in the last week. That's a record for me. My average for the last 12 months is just over 50 km per week. The last 6 months it's closer to 60 km. A few years ago when I was struggling with IT band and foot problems I was only managing 35 km a week. I would never have imagined I could run this much in a week (and feel good afterwards).

A couple of days ago I wondered why I was feeling a little sluggish on my run. When I noticed I was at 75 km for the previous 7 days that explained it.

Of course, 60 km or even 85 km per week isn't much by pro runner standards, but I'm not a pro runner, and I'm pretty happy with it.

Today I was thinking I'd do about 20 km. I wasn't really due for a long run, but it looked like the best weather opportunity for the next little while. (I find myself adjusting my running schedule to the weather a lot more here in Victoria than I did in Saskatoon.) I took it easy and felt pretty good so I ended up doing 26 km, including a loop of trails around Thetis Lake. The last few kilometers I was a bit tired but that wasn't surprising.

Although it's going well, I'm quite aware that could change at any time, and the more I do, the bigger the risk. Any of my past problems could reappear at any time (or new ones). With that in mind, it's probably time to take an easier week and give my body a chance to recover fully.

42.2

What to say about running 42k? (marathon distance, 26.2 miles)

I guess the big thing is that I achieved the goal I’ve had in mind for the last few years. I was going to say “working towards” but that’s not really true. I’ve just been running. Just enjoying being able to get out there and do it.

Considering I was aiming for 40 secs/km faster than the last time I ran 40km, it was definitely not a sure thing. If I had a good run I'd think it was possible, and if I had a bad run I'd think it was out of reach.

I managed to finish two minutes under my goal. Secretly I had hoped to do slightly better but considering it’s my first marathon, and at the age of 61, I’m happy with it.

I was quite nervous before I started. I'm not sure why. There certainly wasn’t any pressure. No one even knew I was going out to do it. Of course, once I got started the nerves went away. 

It wasn’t perfect conditions, but it wasn’t too bad. These warm fall days get quite cool at night and then heat up fast. At 7c it was a little cold when I started, and at 19c it was a little warm when I finished. Thankfully it was sunny with almost no wind when it was cold, and breezy and overcast when it was warm.

I probably should have tapered a bit more before this effort. I reduced my mileage for the week but it was only last Sunday that I ran my fastest half marathon. Two major efforts within a week probably isn't ideal.

I went twice around a roughly 21 km loop. I deliberately chose familiar ground that I’d run countless times before. I thought about running one of the loops in reverse for variety but I decided for this I wanted familiarity and comfort more than variety. I think it was the right choice.

I wore my running vest with two 500ml bottles. That wasn’t enough fluids so I stashed a refill bottle in the bushes at the start/end of the loop. To speed up the process refilled the soft bottles without taking them out of the vest. It worked, but I spilled sugary water on myself which made for a somewhat sticky second lap. In the end I drank about 1.5 liters. As expected, I drank more in the warmer second lap.

I used Tailwinds in my water and got about 400 calories from that. To ensure I get a consistent intake, I make a point of drinking a small amount every kilometer when my watch beeps with my pace. In addition I ate three Huma gels (at roughly 10km, 20km, and 30km) for another 300 calories. (I prefer the Huma fruit puree rather than the usual honey/syrup texture.) That’s about as much calories as I could stomach. As it was, I wasn’t too excited about that last gel. But it was a caffeinated one so I had some motivation to choke it down. I had practiced on long runs with Tailwinds and Huma gels so I was pretty sure it would go down ok. I didn’t bonk or “hit the wall” so I’d say it did its job. By the end, puking seemed like a possibility, but I think that was just the effort. The feeling went away as soon as I finished.

My pacing went pretty well. Almost all my kilometers were within a few seconds of my target pace, mostly under. I had a slight negative split (second half slightly faster) which is what I was aiming for. At about 35 km things were going pretty well and I remember thinking I might have something left for a kick at the end. That was overly optimistic. By the end it was less a question of whether I could physically go faster, and more a matter of convincing myself that I really did want to keep running.

I read recently that if at any time in the first 30 km you think you went out too fast, you probably did. I forced myself to stick close to my goal pace for the first 30 km. If I wanted to go faster I would do that in the last 10 km. Of course, by the last 10 km I didn't feel much like going faster.

By the time I finished it was getting busy, as you’d expect on one of the last nice days of fall. But by that time I didn’t really care. I was in a world of my own. Other people were simply obstacles I had to go around to finish what I was doing. I made a point of trying to smile since that’s supposed to improve performance (and it was a beautiful fall day), but I’m afraid that went by the wayside for the last few kilometers.

I did gaze longingly at my usual coffee stop. It seemed unfair that I get to stop for coffee on my training runs, but not now, when I really needed it.

I ended up with a black toenail but that wasn’t a surprise, that toe is often an issue. Otherwise, I got through it relatively unscathed. As usual after really long runs my neck and shoulders were a bit sore. I can feel my quads slightly. During the run I had a slight ache in the outside of one knee, probably a remnant of my old IT band issues. But it never got painful and disappeared after I finished. I think I was in adequate shape. Not in shape to go any faster, but enough to do what I wanted without any damage.

Could I go faster? I think so, if I could keep up my mileage. Not a lot faster, but I could probably cut a few minutes. I think I’m pretty close to the Boston qualifying time for my age group. Not that I have the slightest desire to run with umpteen thousand other people, but it would be a number to aim for.

Post Run Fueling

It's a good idea to eat within a short time after exercise (so the research says). I usually need to re-hydrate as well, so a smoothie is a good option. It's also easier to eat than solid food, and easier to get the desired balance of protein, carbs, and fat. ("Rewarding" yourself with junk food after a run is somewhat counterproductive.) There's also research that shows it's a good idea to take in more protein as you age, so my post run smoothie is a good chance to do that as well.

Here are my basic ingredients:

large glass of soy milk
1 banana
1/4 cup of quick oats (slow carbs)
1 tablespoon of hemp protein powder
1 tablespoon of whey protein powder
1 teaspoon of hot chocolate powder
cinammon

If I feel like I sweated a lot, and I didn't drink any electrolyte fluids during the run, I'll add a pinch of salt.

If it was a long run (e.g. over two hours) I might add a tablespoon or two of olive or camelina oil, both for extra slow calories, and because otherwise the only source of fats is the soy milk.

Occasionally I'll add a tablespoon or two of yogurt for some probiotics, although normally I'm not a big yogurt fan.

The oats make the texture a little odd, but I've gotten used to it. If you blend it well it's not bad.

If you're vegan you obviously wouldn't want to use whey protein powder but there are plenty of other options.

Tip: Freeze your overripe bananas (peeled and broken into chunks) so if you're out of fresh ones you can use a frozen one.

Shelley gave me some Athletic Greens as a gift, so I've been adding a tablespoon of those too. It turns the smoothie a rather sickly green color, but doesn't affect the taste too much.

I'm not a big believer in "supplements", or highly processed foods in general, but the protein powder is a convenience compromise. And the Athletic Greens are basically vitamins and minerals. (And they're recommended by Timothy Ferris, how can you go wrong!)

My stomach doesn't usually bother me on long runs and I don't have a problem drinking a smoothie afterwards. But after that I often don't feel much like eating for a few hours so it's good to take in enough calories to last till I get my appetite back.

Note: I'm a little unusual in that I'm generally more concerned with keeping my weight up rather than down like most people. I've never gone much over what I weighed when I left high school. I assume that's partly due to an active lifestyle and partly a matter of lucky genes.

On the other hand, if you are exercising to lose weight, you probably want to be careful not to take in more calories after your exercise than you burned during it.

I'm not fanatical about having to have my post run smoothie. If it's not convenient I might just grab a banana or some fluids.

It's probably not the smoothies, but something is going right - I cut 5 minutes off my best half marathon time on my last long run :-)

2600

The last five months I've managed to maintain a good (for me) volume of running, bringing my yearly total to just over 2600 km (1600 miles), which equates to 50 km (30 miles) per week. I'm pretty happy with that. Amazingly (touch wood) I haven't had any major issues - my knees and feet and IT bands have been quiet. There's nothing magical about 2600, it's just a nice round number, as is 50. Of course, competitive runners will do a lot more than that. It's possible I could do more but I'm a little nervous about pushing too hard and ending up having problems. The increase over the last year or two has come quite naturally, without really pushing. If I end up increasing because it feels good, that's great. If not, that's fine too.

When we left on a road trip to BC at the end of July I still had 36 km to go to make 2600. But by getting up early, I managed to run every day. I ran along the Bow river in Cochrane, on a vague track in Merritt, along the Boundary Bay Dyke in Tsawwassen, and along the Songhees Walkway and Galloping Goose Trail in Victoria.

Running the Grey Owl Trail

ready to go

I've been thinking about running Grey Owl Trail for a few years. I'd paddled into Grey Owl's cabin but I'd never done it on foot. I felt like I was in decent shape for it so I started watching the weather forecast. It seemed like it was always either raining or too hot. Finally there was a forecast for a reasonable day - no rain and cool temperatures. There was a bear warning, but that wasn't surprising since this is bear country. I carried bear spray but thankfully didn't see any bears.

It rained most of the night - so much for conditions being relatively dry. Breakfast was instant oatmeal with raisins and a banana, washed down with coffee. I had the drive from Waskesiu to Kingsmere to let it settle. I got a little extra time since the road was slow - muddy and slippery.

It was cool at first, maybe 8c, I started out wearing my jacket, knowing it would probably be too warm before long. It stayed mostly cloudy but thankfully no rain other than a brief drizzle early on. Later, when it warmed up and the sun actually came out a bit it felt quite warm although it probably didn't reach 20c.

I carried a litter of water. That wasn’t enough but there was plenty of water around and I had purification tablets. The only flaw in that plan was that the water I picked up had quite a taste so I stopped drinking as much and only ended up drinking about 1.5 liters. But with the cool conditions and the moderate pace I didn't feel dehydrated at the end. In hindsight I could have just have carried 1.5 liters.

For fuel I used Tailwinds in my water and a gel once an hour - about 200 calories per hour. I had a couple of caffeinated gels for the second half of the run.

The trail was mostly pretty good. Wide and smooth at first, but that soon became single track. The main obstacles were the tree roots. You definitely had to watch where you put your feet. You really didn't want to sprain an ankle 20 km from the nearest road. There were also some wet sections which meant wet feet. I wondered whether that might lead to blisters but I didn't have any problems. Although described as having "steep sections", this is Saskatchewan and there were no major hills. In total there was less than 600m (2000ft) of ascent and descent - not a lot over this distance.

There were quite a few mosquitos around but they were fine as long as I was moving. I had put on sunscreen and insect repellent before starting but by the time I arrived at Grey Owl's cabin the repellent had all been wiped off my legs by wet vegetation and the bugs started to attack. It was good motivation not to stop too long.

The first half went quite smoothly. My pace was a bit faster than expected and I wondered whether I could keep it up for 40 km. I ended up only about 10 minutes slower on the return leg but it was definitely more of a struggle. I didn’t have any particular problems but my legs did not want to run. I found myself wishing for the uphills since I was walking them.

Parks Canada lists the trail as 19.9 km each way. My GPS watch said just over 38 km when I finished.

All in all, I was happy with how it went. My total time was 4 hrs 50 min and my actual running time (excluding stops) was 4 hrs 20 min. Not bad for an old fart.

mission accomplished

Thanks to Shelley for the photographs.

Faster

This week's long run was shorter - 20 km. I didn't have any particular pace in mind, just planned to go with how I felt. I'd been a little under the weather the last week, had even skipped one day of running, and still wasn't feeling 100%, so I wasn't expecting much.

I started off at a normal moderate pace, but as my watch displayed the pace for each kilometer, I noticed I was speeding up, although my perceived effort didn't seem any different. By the time I got to the last five kilometers, I was still feeling good and could see I had a chance to beat my best time on this route. That always motivates me to finish strong.

I ended up getting my best times for 1 km, 5 km, 10 km, and 20 km. (Since I've been tracking on Garmin, almost four years.) If I'd realized I was on such a roll I would have kept going for another kilometer and got my best half marathon time as well.

Curiously, my pace kept speeding up all the way to the end. So the fastest, 1, 5, and 10km were all at the very end of the 20 km.

My previous best 5 and 10k times were almost two years ago and I haven't come close since then. I've been wondering if I ever would. I'm running almost twice as much distance per week as I was back then, without the foot and knee problems, which should translate to better performance, but I'm also two years older.

I didn't cut a lot of time off my previous best - 5 seconds off my 5k time, 15 seconds off my 10k time. But the previous run was a total of 12 km on a level, straight out and back paved path, with no people to dodge. Whereas today's was 20 km on my usual mix of winding dirt single track along with paved sections, with about 500 ft of vertical, and the usual obstacle course of Sunday cyclists, dog walkers, and baby pushers. And today's 5 km was after running 15 km. Curiously, my average overall pace for both runs was exactly the same. However, because my heart rate was higher last time it rated that run as "highly impacting", whereas today's it rated as "base maintenance". That seems a little bizarre. Garmin's rating system is more a source of amusement than wisdom.

Last week I speculated I could do better if I tapered and had a cooler day. Purely by accident, I got that today. Since I'd skipped a day my weekly mileage was down a bit, and it was definitely cooler - about 11c when I started and 14c when I finished. It felt a little chilly at first (in shorts and t-shirt) but overall it was probably optimal. Although theoretically I was still recovering from last week's 30 km, that obviously didn't slow me down much.

And yes, I plugged today's 20 km time into the race calculator and it told me I should be able to beat my marathon goal time by 6 minutes - definitely promising. Of course, that's if I can arrange to have another best-in-two-years day!

30 km

30 km yesterday for my long run. Over the winter I only ran about 20 km on my long runs and that's short enough for me to do every week. But I usually don't go much further than that more than every other week. This week was my longer week.

I find if I run the same distance too regularly I get accustomed to it and then if I go farther it seems harder. After so many 20 km runs over the winter, it now feels "hard" to go further. Of course, it is harder to go further, but this feels different. I think it's probably a combination of psychological and physical. A few more longer ones will hopefully break me out of my rut.

It was going to be 25c, so I started my run at 8am when it was 15c. That's just about the perfect temperature for running, but by the end of my run it was 22c which is warm for running. According to one of the calculators, that temperature costs you 25 seconds per kilometer in speed. I wore my running vest and carried two 1/2 liter water bottles which I rationed out for the whole run. But my watch tells me I probably sweated 2 liters. I definitely felt dehydrated by the end. I sweated enough to leave salt stains on my clothes and vest. I used to be able to use the water fountains, but those have been shut down since Covid started. I'm not sure that's rational, but most people won't use them anyway. It doesn't help that I'm not really acclimatized to warmer temperatures yet.

I have a goal in mind for running a marathon distance (42 km). It's purely to give me something to aim for. I'm not really hung up on it. (Any more than I'm always hung up on things like numbers.) The big question is whether I can make that goal. It's a good goal in that respect, since it's on the edge of possibility. Some days I think I can do it, and some days I don't. Trying to extrapolate from shorter distances is questionable, but I plug my best half-marathon time into various race calculators and see what they say. Mostly they say I'm too slow. Today I averaged 6 seconds per km faster than my marathon goal pace for 30 km. So I plug that into the race calculators and this time they tell me, yes, you should be able to make your goal. That's promising. The problem is, at the end of my 30 km today, it didn't feel like I could have run another 12 km. I was 3 minutes ahead of pace, so I could have run 18 secs per kilometer slower for that 12 km. But it still seems improbable. I was pretty tired. But maybe it was a cooler day, and I tapered (took it easy for a week or so before), and if I kept a steadier pace. So I'm left still wondering, which is part of the fun.

PS. And yes, only a true geek would turn something as wonderfully physical as running into a series of math problems :-)

Running Update

I've never been a big fan of winter running, but if you just get out and do it, it's not that bad. This has been my best running winter so far. The snow arrived fairly early (November), and it took me a month or so to get used to running on it. But since then, my pace has been much the same as it was in the fall, which I find surprising since winter running is generally slower.

Amazingly, December was my highest mileage month (215 km). I haven't gone over 20 km on my weekly long runs, but I'm still managing to average over 50 km per week. My main runs are 10, 10, and 20 km, plus I'll add in a couple more short 5 km runs. Covid has helped - since I'm home all the time, it's easy to get in some extra short runs. In the past, this amount of running would have been hard on me, and I would have needed occasional recovery weeks. But it hasn't seemed bad at all. Nothing hurts (touch wood) and I don't feel tired out. My legs were a little sore when the snow first arrived, but that has passed. 

It's interesting looking back at my runs. Up till September I was sticking faithfully to my three runs a week. But since October I've gone to 4 or 5 runs a week without any problems. By the end of the summer I'd phased out my remaining run-walk I'd been using for the longer runs. All in all, it seems like things are going really well.

The weather has actually been pretty nice for Saskatchewan. We've had a few weeks around -20c, but mostly it's been -10c or warmer, which is great. The warmer weather has meant some icier conditions from freezing rain and melt-freeze. I bought some spiked shoes in the fall and although I don't find them as comfortable as my various Altras, they work great in slippery conditions.

It always takes a while when the seasons change to get your clothing systems figured out. Winter is tough to dress for. No matter what, some parts of you are going to be too cold at some point (with me, that's usually my hands), and other parts will be too hot. When it gets cold enough to need some serious layers, it's impossible for them to breath well enough and you get wet from sweating. Luckily, running works my feet enough that I don't have any problems with them getting cold.

Most years I taper off in the winter, and then it takes a while to get back into it in the spring. I'm hoping if I can keep it up for the whole winter that I'll be ready to go in the spring.

210

I ran 210 km in October, my highest month this year (and probably for quite a few years). Considering October included snow and rain and below average temperatures, I'm happy with that. Curiously, October was also the peak (of 160 km) for the 12 previous months. Maybe it's because I know winter is fast approaching.

I've averaged roughly 50 km per week for the last three months. That's getting hard to get in only three runs per week. I can do it with say 12 + 12 + 26 but it's easier to fit in an additional one or two easy 5 km runs e.g. 10 + 5 + 10 + 25.

Covid has actually been good for my running. With no travel and fewer other distractions, I've been a lot more consistent than most years. Over the last 12 months (which included some pre-Covid travel, I've averaged 30 km per week, whereas the previous 12 months I only averaged 20 km per week.

I'm also happy that at the same time I've managed to increase my pace a fair bit. That might be due to getting in more mileage. Or it might be a matter of breaking out of the rut I'd gotten into with my "standard" pace.

Mostly I'm happy that my body is handling it well. Touch wood and cross my fingers, my feet and knees etc. have been good. It wasn't that long ago that my IT band or feet problems made running even 5 km a painful experience. It's a good lesson - it would have been easy to give up and decide I just wasn't up to it, that I was too old.

PS. The cryptic titles of just numbers are partly a reminder to myself that numbers by themselves are meaningless.

25 in 2:15

Running is a mystery sometimes. Even though they were similar distances, last week's long run was totally different from this weeks. Last week was a struggle. I battled to maintain my target pace, got behind, then struggled even more to catch up. I blamed it on the wind, and that was probably a factor, but that doesn't really explain it. It was quite windy today as well, but without really pushing I got well ahead of my target pace. I ended up 15 seconds per kilometer faster than I'd planned, without really forcing it. It wasn't quite my fastest 21 km (half marathon), but it was my fastest 25 km. Last week I was in shorts, this week it was -5c (-10 with the wind chill) and I was running in long pants, jacket, toque, and gloves. There were even a few snowflakes in the air.

There are two young women that regularly pass me running. It wouldn't be so bad if they seemed to be working hard, but they chatter non-stop like they were out for a stroll. Of course, they're probably 40 years younger than me, but it's still depressing. Today I passed them. That was a nice boost to my ego, although totally meaningless. They were probably just taking it easy today!

Another achievement was finally pushing my Garmin's VO2 max estimate up another notch. I'm sure it has little connection to actual VO2 max. I only use it as a general estimate of fitness. It's always nice when it goes up, always depressing when it goes down. Lately I've been bouncing between 55 and 56. I'll have a couple of slow runs, or my heart rate will be higher than it should be, and I'll drop to 55. Then I'll have a few good runs and it'll go up to 56. Today, for the first time in the two years I've had my watch I made it to 57. If nothing else, it was confirmation that I did really have a good run today. I doubt it'll stay there, but it was nice to finally hit that mark. The problem with watching that number is that as I get older, it's inevitably going to drop.

I'd hoped that October would at least stay snow free and above freezing so I could get in a few more "comfortable" long runs. But it looks like that's not going to happen. Oh well, that's Saskatchewan.

Thirty Five

Running reduces life to its bare essentials: sky, ground, skin, breath, flesh, bones, muscle.
- Running Home by Katie Arnold

I ran 35 km on my weekend long run. It was slower and tougher than usual, which was a bit of a downer. But other than that, my body tolerated it well, which isn't always the case when I'm pushing the distance. And I remind myself that I'm lucky to be alive and healthy and able to be out there doing what I enjoy.

33 in 3:15

I ran the 33km loop around the new north and south bridges this morning. It started out nice and cool, but the sun was hot, and it was a little too warm by the end. But it’s supposed to be 34c tomorrow so I can’t complain. 

For some reason my heart rate was unusually high for the first hour or so. Normally it wouldn't get that high unless I was pushing quite hard, but I was pacing myself for a long run and not going fast at all. Nor was I breathing hard, which would also usually go with that kind of heart rate. Either I hadn't recovered completely from recent runs, or my heart rate monitor was misbehaving. I use a chest strap because the optical wrist heart rate is completely unreliable for me. Usually the chest strap seems to work well. Other than being puzzled, I ignored it and continued, and after about an hour my heart rate dropped back to more what I would expect, although still a bit high for my pace.

Just after the north bridge a fit looking cyclist came up from behind and asked "How far are you going today?". I answered "30". There was a long pause, and then he said sarcastically, "Just 30, eh." Another pause and he said "I did 18 yesterday." I felt a little bad at one-upping him.  "Are you training for a race?" he asked. "No, just running for fun." I answered. Of course, it's somewhat type 2 fun, the kind you enjoy having done, as much as you enjoy the doing. (Like climbing often was.) Although, for the most part, I do enjoy my runs, even if they're tough sometimes.

25 km in I ended up behind a guy running, pushing a baby chariot, with a large dog on a leash, and shepherding another small child on a bicycle. Between them they were pretty much completely blocking the trail. I was trying to figure out how I was going to get past them, when I realized that I wasn't really gaining on them. If I'd been on a shorter run, I'm pretty sure my ego would have goaded me into speeding up to pass them. But by this point my ego was tired and I lived with the shame of running behind a guy with a baby carriage. Of course, he was probably 30+ years younger than me, and probably wasn't running anywhere near as far. At least that’s what I told myself! (Thankfully they turned around not long after.)

I wasn't aiming for a fast pace since it was the longest I'd run this summer. I still managed to run the second half a bit faster than the first, despite the fact that it always takes more effort to maintain the pace as a long run progresses. I was definitely tired by the end, but not totally spent. And best of all, my feet and knees seem to have tolerated it quite well, which isn't always the case with going further than usual. Another 9 km would have made it a marathon (42 km). Could I have managed it today? Probably, but it wouldn't have been pleasant. And I was out of water. I do these long runs with a vest and two half liter bottles, but when it's warm that's not really enough for 3 hours, let alone 4. I used to take advantage of the water fountains, but they never got turned on this summer, I assume due to Covid. I need to stash a resupply somewhere to go longer. But that's not easy to do when I'm running one long loop.

Running

Once I get up to about 25 km on my weekly long run, I usually start alternating longer and shorter weeks. This week was a shorter one. I was thinking about 20 km but the route I took ended up being 23 km,

It was only 12c when I started so I threw on an extra long sleeved shirt. It took me about 5 minutes before I was too hot and I took it off. Then I got out into the 30 km/hr wind and I was too cold. Can't win!

I decided to run by heart rate, at a moderate level (115 to 120). Not really easy, but not pushing either. That went well. For the most part I stayed in my target range fairly naturally. The pace felt quite reasonable. I resisted looking at my actual pace. (Or even the time and distance since then I can’t resist calculating my pace.)

For the last few months I’ve been walking 30 seconds out of every 10 minutes on my  long runs. That’s down from the 1 out of 10 I was doing previously. I’m tempted to stop the walking, but maybe it’s one of the things that’s been keeping the chronic issues away. Or maybe it’s switching between different pairs of running shoes. (Supposedly a study showed that reduced injuries by 40%.) Or maybe it’s the warmup ritual I’ve been doing religiously before each run. (5 min barefoot on the treadmill, leg swings and raises, etc.) Or maybe it’s pure random chance. Whatever it is, it’s allowed me to gradually raise my volume of running over the last few months, and still stay (mostly) pain free.

I feel like I’m getting fitter, but frustratingly, not much faster. At moderate paces, my heart rate has dropped quite a bit, which seems like a good sign. But my speed at longer distances doesn’t seem to have improved much. 

At 18 km when I took my usual 10 minute coffee break, I finally checked my pace. I tried to predict what it would be, but I’m terrible at that. Today, at least, it was a pleasant surprise - quite a bit faster than I expected, given the perceived effort. The cooler weather probably helped. The last few weeks it’s been quite hot which tends to slow you down. 

Happy about my pace I ran the final 5 km home at an even faster pace. It turned out to be my fastest long run in recent years. So maybe the increased volume has made a difference after all.

Running at Patzcuaro

Since we were just passing through, we decided to stay on the outskirts of Patzcuaro, at the Itzhi Eco Hotel. (We’re suckers for “eco”) It was hard to tell what eco translated to, but there was a nice garden where I took photos of the flowers and snails.









And it looked like with the right wind you could launch a paraglider from the front lawn :-)



I was intrigued by the island in the lake, next time we'll have to visit it.



The hotel had a restaurant so we had thought we'd be able to enjoy the hotel and not have to go out again. The restaurant looked great, with wonderful views, but it was closed. Which wasn’t surprising since we were the only guests as far as I could tell. No problem, there was a fancier hotel just down the street and it also had a restaurant. We went to check it out and got a brief tour of the hotel (very nice). I asked about the restaurant in my infinitesimal Spanish, “restaurante?”. I got a positive response, “Si, 4:30”. Ok, open later for supper, great.

I had seen several people go running up the road so I decided to go for a run. It was cobblestones, but relatively smooth. I checked Google maps and found the road went two kilometres uphill to a lookout (mirador). A short way up the hill there were dirt trails separate from the cobblestone road that I was happy to take. (Strangely, the other runners stuck to the cobblestones.). Coming from the flatlands, I’m not used to running uphill for two kilometres. But I watched my heart rate and set a pace based on that. It seemed painfully slow, but I was working hard.

I reached the end of the road to find hundreds of steps leading up to the top of the hill. I have to admit I resorted to walking, and even that kept my heart rate up. And they were steep uneven stairs which limited my speed going down.

I paused back at the lookout to check out a possible paraglider launch. It was a bit small and committing but looked doable. Lots of fields below to land in.

The dirt trails on the way down were a bit tricky - muddy from the day's rain, and with rocks and roots. I wished I had my trail runners rather than my road ones. Overall it felt pretty good, although it seemed harder and slower than it should have been. Afterwards I realized I ran to about 2500m, which is probably high enough to slow you down, although we’d been around 2000m for the last three weeks and should be somewhat acclimatized. My watch told me I’m losing fitness, which makes sense since I haven’t been running much. But I’m not sure how well it takes altitude into account. My knee didn’t bother me during the run, but it was a bit sore afterwards. (From my paragliding mishap.)

I got back and showered and we wandered down the street ready for a nice supper at the hotel next door. It was all closed up. We realized they must have been saying they closed at 4:30, not that they opened at 4:30. Crap.

That meant driving, which we'd hoped to avoid by staying at a hotel with a restaurant. We didn't want to get caught up in downtown traffic so we picked a neighborhood pizza place. It wasn't anything to write home about, but it sufficed. No vino but we got cervezas :-)

See all 10 photos in this batch

Running in 2019

"he wanted to run, to feel the sun on his face and the movement of air and the sweat race down his chest. He wanted the peace of the effort, and the certain knowledge that it was a good thing to be doing. Not all acts brought with them the certainty of goodness, but running did."
- Robert Crais, L.A. Requiem

My watch tells me I ran roughly 1500 km in 2019. That averages about 30 km per week. I'm satisfied with that. It's more running, more consistently, than I've done for a long time. Especially given our Saskatchewan winters, and my propensity for travel.

I am grateful that my body cooperated, with less of the nagging issues that have limited my running for the last few years. I give some of the credit for that to various run-walk strategies. I started the year doing 6 min run, 1 min walk and gradually moved to 9 min run, 1 min walk. Nowadays, unless I've got an issue, I only do run/walk on longer runs (over 10k), but I still regard it as an useful tool for lessening the impact of running. I'm still limiting my running to three times a week (Tue/Thur/Sun). Occasionally I'll add in an extra easy short run on Sat. It's a laughably far cry from an elite's 200km a week or more. But I'm not sure I could ever have managed that.

I've been trying to get in a little bit more faster pace lately. Doing most of your running at an easy pace makes sense to me, especially as I get older :-) But if I'm not careful I get a little too accustomed to that pace and it starts to seem "unnatural" to run at a faster pace even when I'm in shape for it. So I try to do some faster running, but not too much (whatever that is).

I started the year (more or less) with some beautiful runs in Big Bend National Park in Texas, just across the Rio Grande from Mexico.

And I ended the year (again, more or less) running on Vancouver Island and through the vineyards (and hills!) of the Okanagan.

In between were lots of regular runs around Saskatoon. I am always thankful for the trails along the river where I do most of my running, including the dirt trails that allow me to spend at least some of the time off the unforgiving pavement.

This year I managed 40 km in just over 4 hours, a half marathon (21k) in under 2 hours, and 10k in just over 50 minutes. The question for the coming year is whether I can do better than that before aging inevitably slows me down. Only a few years ago my 10k time was 47 minutes. It's not a war I can win, more of a delaying action. But occasionally I feel like I've won the odd skirmish along the way.

Of course, I'd like to run more. 30km per week is only about 3 hours. It's not really enough to get good. There are times when I probably spend more time reading about running than I actually do running. But it's a balancing act, if I do too much I get problems with knees or hips or feet and then I end up running even less. Sometimes restraint is the hardest thing. I'd much rather go out and push a bit than do a short easy run to let my body recover. It's like having a bowl of ice cream and only eating one spoonful.

I've always been reasonably light on my feet (helps to be skinny) and I continue to work on my form - keeping my cadence up, not over striding, and in general running as relaxed and smoothly and quietly as I can, and not letting that deteriorate when I'm tired. In the winter I usually warm up on the treadmill barefoot. Running barefoot tends to improve your form, and my theory is that doing that first helps sets the pattern for the rest of the run.

And above all, I try to be thankful every time I go out and run, not to take it for granted, to be happy that I can run, and not depressed because I can't do as much as I'd like.

Happy New Years to everyone and best wishes for 2020.

Running

We’ve done pretty well getting out running this trip. Hotel treadmill in Lethbridge, 9 km at Burrowing Owl, 6 km in the rain in Victoria, and then a 28 km long run to Oak Bay and back. The long run went ok, but it was a bit slow and I didn’t feel great. Afterward my left foot and right knee hurt, although not badly. Luckily they were fine on our hikes.

By the time we got to Tofino my foot and knee were better. When we headed out I was thinking an easy 10 km. I ran with Shelley for the first 2.5 km at an easy pace After Shelley split off I sped up till my heart rate was just under 120. I saw a sign for the information center so I decided to turn around there to make 12 km. (That also turned out to be the end of the multi-use trail.) The last few kilometres I ran a bit faster. I felt good and was pleasantly surprised to finish with an average pace of 5:30/km at an average heart rate of 123.

Two days later we headed out again. This time I decided not to look at my watch. I started out with Shelley again and after she split off I tried to set a pace I could just keep up for the remaining 9.5 km. It felt good to go a little faster than usual. My foot hurt for a bit but went away after a while. I hit the turnaround still feeling good. About 2/3 of the way I started to wonder if I’d gone out too fast. It got a little harder and my breathing increased. Looking at the stats afterward my heart rate also started to climb. But it wasn’t bad and I focused on maintaining a fast cadence and a light foot strike. I like to try to run as quietly as I can, hoping that minimizes the impact on my body.

I had my watch set to buzz every kilometre but I lost count and I thought I only had a kilometre to go. Somehow that made it easier. By the time I figured out my mistake I was on the home stretch. It didn’t feel like I had much kick left but I did manage my fastest kilometre if only by a few seconds. (So I guess I didn't go out too fast.)

Finally I let myself look at the numbers on my watch. I had managed my fastest times (since getting this watch) of 24:30 for 5km and 50:30 for 10km. I’d been wondering if I could manage a 5k under 25 minutes. I didn’t quite make 10km under 50 minutes but very close, especially since .5 km of it was still warmup. Of course, once upon a time I could run a lot faster than that, but that was then and this is now. Just as important was that I did it without killing myself. In fact I felt great afterward. I was also happy with my other stats - my average heart rate was 131, my cadence averaged 176, and my stride length and ground contact time were better than usual.

Speed generally isn't my focus. Most of the time I aim for a target heart rate and just try to run as efficiently as I can. I'd rather increase my distance and stay injury free than concentrate on speed. To paraphrase Michael Pollan, Run lots. Mostly slow. Occasionally fast.  (his food version is: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.) Of course, the definitions of "lots", "slow", "fast", and "occasionally" are highly variable. Regardless, once in a while it's nice to unwind a little.

I'm not sure why this random run in the middle of traveling turned out to be one of my recent best. It was an easy route - paved, flat, straight. And cool temperatures. And I'd been getting lots of sleep and low stress, plus a fair amount of hiking and running. Whatever the reason, I was happy with it.