Outdoor Video Magazine

Well it’s been a long while since my last post about my Death Race training. And for good reason. It’s been sucking!! My back problems got worse, it went from hurting during the night/days after a long run, to hurting during my run. In the end I had to stop during a 13km run because I realised it had gone beyond discomfort and was a serious issue. So I decided to take a break from running, and concentrate on doing lots of stretching do ease my pain/tension in the lower back. Then I planned to ease back into the running, gradually increasing the days per week after a good two weeks rest. Luckily this rest coincided with a visit to Canada from two of my English friends. We spend 10 days doing downhill skiing, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing etc in Jasper, Banff, Lake Louise and Panorama. So I kept in fairly decent shape with all that

Well back from my trip, I did a couple of runs in the first week…nothing too long. I also have started to mix in some biking so I can limit the running days to two per week for now. My strict running schedule I was doing has been thrown out of the window for now…and I’m just trying to listen to my body. You can see what I’ve been up in my Death Race training diary.

I am starting to lead into a more strict workout regime because I think my back is feeling pretty good. I aim to have one long run per week (13-16km), one short run (6km), and one long hill session (1hour), and hopefully I will also mix in one long bike ride (40km). My times are still pretty good, despite the gap in running for a while. I managed to get PB for both 6km and 13km this week.

The moral of this story is the importance of stretching.. I would always stretch for 5mins before and after running…and I got injured. Now I stretch for around 20mins before and after running, and every day. It really does help kids!

I’ve also found my team on www.godeathracer.com (a forum for Death Race runners). We have the wicked name of Dazed and MORE Confused….the second team to Dazed and Confused. I am running the Hamel Assault, Leg 4, because I fancied something hard (I wanted to do two legs but with back-issues I don’t think it’s wise). I think my leg strength is good compared to my general long-distance running, so will be suited to the big climb. A buddy of mine is down for Leg 2, and I don’t know the other 3 team members. Hopefully will find something about them soon!

So week 2 of my training is complete, and I thought I write a quick update. You can see my first death race entry here, and my second here.

I am definitely finding the running easier, I can hold a faster pace for longer and this shows in my times which are all slightly quicker than last weeks. I feel in good shape while I run, but when I’m not running….I feel pretty sore! I have serious back issues developing..it’s worst at night when it stops me sleeping (I often try to move to the floor, feels slightly better. I also take ibuprofen before I go to bed) and today it actually feels stiff and sore all the time. I know this is probably because all the running is tightening my hamstrings, which in turn tighten the lower back. So I’m doing my best to stretch it as much as possible, to no avail. My feet didn’t hurt this week after my long 21km run though.

I will take this week slightly easier, and next week I plan to take most of the week off training. Partly because of my back pain, and partly because I have some friends from England coming over and we’re hanging out in the mountains skiing and snowshoeing for 10 days! woohoo. I don’t think this will affect my training too much, because I still have a long time before the race, and I’m pleased with how my times are going so far.

I’m thinking I will try two legs in the death race, because I want a real challenge and I want to make sure I get my $265 worth!

OK, so week one of my Canadian death race training is done. You can see my training diary and times here. It went pretty well on the whole…all the runs were fine leading upto Sunday. I did 13km on Wednesday, probably the longest I’ve ever run before (remember I hate running and have never really done it before!). My time was obviously pretty slow, 1hr 24 mins or so. Sunday I then did 21km…just about a half-marathon. I very nearly chickened out of doing it that morning…my back has been really sore (tight hamstrings from all the running?) and I just did not feel in a good enoguh mood to do a half-marathon. By the afternoon I had perked up and plucked up the courage to go…and I loved it! Mainly because of the tunes on my Ipod, and because I got under two hours which was my goal. It was a crisp -13C out, -19C with the wind. It was also icy as hell, so with these disadvantages I was pleased I still got my time. In fact, my fastest 3km were the last 3 as I realised I wasn’t going to make my time unless I speeded up. Hopefully next time I can go out faster and holder a steadier pace now I know the sort of speed I’m capable of sustaining for that long. The soles of my feet are pretty sore today, I have a problem with my metatarsals that also get when i hike a long distance in one day. I can see this being a problem with more long runs coming up.

All my runs are done in the Edmonton river valley area…where I try to take trails that go up and down out of the valley as much as possible, so there are lots of hills. Which is obviously necessary for the EXTREMELY hilly death race. Its a gorgeous area with zero road running, but right now it’s still snowy and icy on all the trails. Will be nice and soft in spring/summer. I think the snow/ice and rough terrain will be good for my shape too…meaning my ankles are getting a good work out and strengthening each time.

Overall, I’m pleased with my times for my first week of training, I’m sure I will improve on them as time comes. The only problem is that my other sports are probably getting in the way of my training. Extra runs to and from climbing/badminton..and then the badminton itself are probably tiring me out and taking my focus away from my training somewhat. Oh well.

By the way.. I don’t actually have enough team members yet…so anyone interested? haha. I guess not after seeing my times! lol.

By the way…these two photos show the area where I train….nice huh? Shame there isn’t always a moon like that.

Ever heard of the Canadian Death Race? Does it sound fun? My parents didn’t think so. But it was exactly the sort of challenge I was looking for. It’s in the beautiful outdoors, in the Rocky mountains of Grand Cache, Alberta, and requires a lot of training. I needed some kind of goal in my life right now….so structured training for a 125km mountain run seemed perfect. Yes I said 125km. Over 3 mountains. With 17,000 feet of elevation change. The hardcore people of this world do it SOLO, sometimes in less than 15 hours. I am going for the ‘easy’ option (read sensible) and I’m doing it as a 5 person relay, each running one 25km leg. Although at some stage I do plan to do it solo……

I officially entered today, so have until the first weekend in August to get into shape. I have never done any running before, so it should be interesting. I started a 12-week marathon training program that I found on the net, and I’m not looking forward to this weekend when I already have to run a half-marathon is one of my training runs. I only started running on Monday! When that marathon program is finished, I still have another 12 weeks to fit in another training plan before the race.

I intend to keep a training diary on here….listing all my runs AND my times (no laughing…I know I suck!). I hope this will serve as a guide in the future to other people thinking of entering the Death Race. They will be able to see all my training details, and then I will write a full-report on how the race went too. This should give people an idea of how hard (or easy…yeah right!) the race is. We will also probably have some sort of video coverage from the race in the form of interviews and I may even take a camera with me on the run….depends how my training goes!

As an aside…I found this awesome website for planning your training runs. You can click in the route you want to do and it will tell you the distance. Or you can view runs of a certain length that other people have added. It’s really easy to use and really quick.

Check out this discussion forum created just for the Canadian Death race. You can find team members, discuss training tactics and race tactics etc.