Times Colonist 10 K

April 25, 2010

This was my first real goal race for my new training program that I had started in October. The goal was to run sub 33 min. I knew this was obtainable since I had been having solid races so far this year. However, I knew it wouldn't be easy since that time would equate to my best ever race (bettering my 15:47 performance at Bazan Bay 5k). Paul gave me an easy week before the race with only a single track workout on Tuesday and 4 easy days after so that certainly helped my legs recover. His advice for the race itself was to get into a good comfortable rhythm after the initial rush off the start line and then to hit it hard at the 5-6 km mark to finish strong. He also said to not look at my splits when racing and just go by feel. This would be different for me as I have been checking my watch for years at every km marker and sometimes adjusting my pace based on what I saw.

This year the TC boasted yet another record field with over 13,000 registered. The numbers are getting such that I'm thinking they may have to start adding in wave starts like at the Sun run and other large events. It's great to see so many people being active, but I do find it interesting that those in the mid-pack find it enjoyable to be essentially stuck in a crowd for 10k. If I were a 1 hour 10k runner, I don't think I would enjoy that too much. If I want to be in a crowd, I'll go to a concert or to the Olympics, but that's just me I guess.

As usual, the the field for this race was strong with 6 fast Kenyans and a good number of strong local athletes including Simon Witfield, Scott Simpson, and Steve Osaduik. I figured that there would be several runners going under 30min and perhaps as low as 29min. There was also a strong woman's field with Karolina Jarzynska (Poland), Lisa Harvey, Kristian Rody, and Lucy Smith all expected to do well.

There was bit of commotion right off the start as a photographer who was standing directly in front of the runners failed to get out of the way in time and ended up colliding with as least one runner. I suspect that he learned his lesson - you may as well be in front of a heard of charging buffalo!

The first km is on a slight uphill grade which luckily feels much better coming at that point than it would at 9km. It felt fast, but I knew it would have to feel fast if I were to get my goal time. I was soon running in the vicinity of Shawn Nelson, Nick Walker, Mark Nelson (names you have undoubtedly seen me write many time recently since they seem to race about everything and are right around my speed). Ian Hallam was also running near me as were a couple other guys. We continued to move quite quickly in the first few km and while I was not labouring too much, nor did it feel entirely comfortable. I was hoping that I was not going to "overcook it" too early as Paul had cautioned me against. I did ease off just a bit and Nick and Shawn moved ahead slightly, but I continued to run hard.

Mark had fallen back somewhat after about 2km and Ian fell off at around 4km so I found myself running on my own and would remain so for the remainder of the race. I hadn't get looked at my watch, but decided to seek a peak at the midway point just to see where I was. I was a bit shocked to see it show 16:17 (a 32:34 pace) quite a bit ahead of my goal. At this point, I figured that I was either going to have an amazing race and shatter my best time or I was soon going to suffer. In the end it I ended up doing a bit of both.

I pushed well up the hills from 4.5-6km and later found out that I had done these about 10 sec faster than I had last year. There is a long downhill section from 6-7 km where I picked up some time and ended up passing a guy who was fading. I was still feeling reasonable at this point and felt in control, but around the 8km mark I really started to feel the effects of my brisk pace. It also didn't help that I developed a mild side stitch as well. I didn't hit the wall, but was definitely struggling to maintain my pace. Up ahead I noticed that Shawn was also suffering and fell behind Nick - if I had anything left I'm sure I could have overtaken him, but the well was empty (I had indeed overcooked it). As I approached the finish line I saw the clock count up towards 33 min and did my best to sprint the last 100 meter hoping to get just under, but instead hitting it exactly. Unlike last year when I was able power through the last km in 3:15, this year I puttered through 8 sec slower.

While I was officially 1 sec off my goal time, overall I am quite happy with the time if not the race itself. I am pleased with my fitness level and think if I had a really good race in terms of pacing and how I felt I might be capable of taking off close to 30 sec.

Kip Kangogo ended up winning in 29:35 and Scott Simpson running a very strong race to finish as the top Canadian in 30:00 even edging out Simon Witfield by a few seconds. Karolina Jarzynska crushed the woman's field finishing in an amazing 33:25 just steps behind me. Congrats to all others club members and friends who finished the run - there were some solid performances. Thanks too to all who called my name while I was running - I appreciate it even if I don't always acknowlege the support when I am focused on the job at hand. Results.

Splits:
3:13, 6:26 (missed 2k marker), 3:17 (16:17 5k), 3:21, 3:21, 3:21, 3:15, 3:25, 3:23

Merville 15k

April 4, 2010

Merville is an interesting distance as there are not too many other 15k races out there. Everyone thinks about distance races in terms of 5k, 10k, Half Marathon, Marathon, etc. Without a race calculator it is difficult to know what a 50min 15k really means so no one ever asks about your 15k time. Never the less, Merville is a pretty fast course and I opted to do it rather than Sooke River 10k which would be too many 10k's in a short time (I'm doing the Times Colonist and the Sun Run).

We took the Harriers club van up to Merville (just north of Courtney). Besides myself, the van carried Sonja, Willy Langat, Nixon Kiprotich, Gary Duncan, Fawn Whiting, and Julie Van Veelen. The weather was decent on the way up, but as we approached the race area, a light rain began to fall. As the 11am race time approached, the rain intensified and with 20min to go, it was pounding down. It looked as though it was going to be a pretty soggy one, but fortunately it let up just before the race started and only fell lightly for the duration. Still, my shoes were completely soaked just getting to the start line 1km away and by the end of the race, everything was drenched.

Willy and Nixon sped off as soon as the race began which I expected as they were the fastest in the field and were gunning for a 48-49min finish time. For a short time, Chris Barth also moved out ahead, but soon dropped back. Nick Walker, Shawn Nelson, Mark Nelson, Hugh Trenchard and myself moved together for the first couple of km. It seemed like we were doing about a 3:20 effort, but our splits were close to 3:30 and this was a bit concerning to me since I was hoping for something in the 3:24-3:29 pace range. Although it isn't that obvious, the first 2km are a slight uphill grade so the times were correspondingly slower. Soon enough though, we got some slight downhills and flats that erased any earlier slowness and we posted some faster splits. I was feeling good at this point and the pace seemed quick, but comfortable. I was pretty sure that I was going to have a better race than I had at Comox.

Nick started to pull ahead well before the 5km maker and Mark fell back somewhat leaving Hugh, Shawn and myself and to run together until 5km. At this point Hugh started to drop off the pace although his overall performance is very commendable considering that he ran over 200km last week. I'm not sure that I will ever run that much in a week. Prior to my new training program, 200km was my monthly mileage!

Shawn tucked in behind me as we continued and I pushed a quick pace, never letting off. Since I was feeling strong, I was hoping that I would be able to put the pressure on him, and a couple times he did back off slightly, but he always battled back. We started a long gradual climb around 9km and I really dug in to keep as close to goal pace as possible. The plan worked pretty well and we only slowed to 3:40 on a kilometer that was entirely uphill. I was hoping that wasn't pushing too hard as it seemed as though I might have been running this race more like a 12k than a 15k. I did know that the last 5km was primarily downhill, however, so figured that I could still mov decently though there even if I was suffering.

Around 10km Mark caught up to us showing that he must have been having a tremendous race. I guess Shawn decided to put the pressure on his brother as he took off right after Mark caught up. I took chase and Marked dropped back a bit. I was still feeling quite strong and Shawn and I moved together for the next couple of km. Once we started the decent back to the finish area, Shawn decided to put the hammer down and encouraged me to go with him. Even though I still felt good, I just didn't seem to have the speed in my legs to keep up. This is still likely my weakest link in road running - gradual downhills. Although I still move OK, I just don't seem to go quite as fast those around me. Something I need to work on. Soon after Mark passed me and while I ran with him for a bit, I still had a tough time trying to match him.

We rounded the final corner before the finish line and Mark had 10-15 second on me. It was about 700m to the finish and I decided it was now or never and put a massive surge on. I rapidly gained on Mark who heard me coming and responded with a sprint of his own. For a moment, I thought that I was going to be able to catch him, but with about 200m to go I hit the wall and just couldn't continue the sprint. I loped into the finish and stopped a the beginning of the chute. Unbeknown-est to me, the actual finish line was actually 3 meters further along and I burned up 4 seconds getting there. It was not a big deal, but kind of annoying anyway.

My official time was 51:20, quite close to my optimum goal of around 51 min. Despite losing two positions late in the race and only coming in 6th overall, I was very pleased with my race and especially in how I felt. It was one of the better races I have ever had and the best one I have so far this year. I also placed 1st in my age category and set a 12k PB along the way. Willy won overall by a narrow margin over his training partner in 48:57. Tina Connelly convincingly won the woman's division with a 55:24 clocking which was good for 14th overall. Results.

Congrats go to all the Harriers crew who I came up with. The colours were all gold and silver with age category wins by Willy, Nixon, Sonja, and myself, and second place performances by Fawn, Gary, and Julie.

My splits:
3:30, 3:29, 3:23, 3:16, 3:21 (16:59 5k), 3:23, 3:25, 3:30, 3:32, 3:40 (34:29 10k), 3:29, 3:29, 3:22, 3:25, 3:06

Comox Vally Half Marathon

March 21, 2010

I hadn't originally planned on doing this race since I haven't been focusing on the half distance. While the mileage in my training schedule is sufficient it does not include that many long runs, nor does it currently include any hard tempo runs. Right now, it is all about the track sessions generally with intervals between 150m and 1 Mile. I have a difficult time not racing though and doing Comox would allow me to complete 5 IRS races and get ranked for the series. It's funny how a points system convinces me to want to get that ranking even though they don't mean that much since most of the best runners don't complete enough races to get placed in the overall standings. Anyway, I figured that I could pull it off despite the lack of specific training and given the strong season I have had so far, a PB was certainly possible (I ran a 1:15:21 here last year).

Sonja and I headed up with some other Harriers, Julie and John and despite my missing the first turnoff to Courtenay we still arrived with plenty of time. Given the distance, I only did a short warm up and arrived at the start line with just a couple minutes to spare. Sonja was worried that I would miss the start which would definitely suck, but luckily that has not happened to me yet.

The first few km went well and I posted some good split times. They were sub 3:30 km which was faster than my goal pace, but I knew this part of the course was fast and if I wanted to get my goal, I had to bank a few seconds here. Right away I found myself running on my own with Craig Odermatt, Jonathan Withey, and Neil Holm slowing pulling away from me and no one close behind me. This would be the situation for the remainder of the race and I think this may be been the most alone I have been during a road race.

While I've known a number of people who have had very good times on this course and say that it is fast, it is definitely not flat. From 6-12km, the course consists of either a slight or moderate uphill grade or rolling hills. There is nothing crazy, but it definitely slows your pace and wears away on the energy. Once I started the climb, I began to feel the strain. This was not good as I was less than halfway into the race. I still managed to keep my pace reasonable, with the slowest km clocking in at 3:45 (the entire km is a gradual climb), but I knew then and there that it wasn't going to be a great race for me. As I neared the turnaround I saw the leader David Jackson well ahead of the competition on his way back. When I finally made it there myself, I found that there was no one close behind me as Keith Mills was at least a minute back. Unless I totally blew apart on the return I would be able to maintain my place.

The return downhill was a welcome relief and I was able to pull back a portion of the time that I had lost on the climb. Unfortunately, around 14km I got a nasty side stitch that threatened to really take the wind out of my sails. I'm sure it cost me a few seconds, but luckily it subsided quickly and didn't return. Another annoyance started to creep up in the form of a hot spot on my right foot. I was wearing a pair of light trainers that I had worn for up to 16km with no issues before, so I found it a bit of a shock to be having problems this time. It continued to worsen for the remainder of the race and I knew that I'd have a nasty blister to contend with later, but pushed though the discomfort anyway.

The final few km were tough and my split times were unremarkable compared to what I did on the way out. I was not falling apart, but certainly was not feeling strong like I recall being last year. Despite this, I did notice that I was closing the gap on Neil. He was much closer to me than he was at the mid point in the race so he must have been suffering as well. I focused on pulling closer to him, but just couldn't make it happen. Last year, I hammered to the finish closing the last 1.1km in 3:39, this year it took me 3:52 which shows my relative condition. Despite a less than stellar race in terms of how I felt, I still managed to come in a respectable 1:14:46 which was 35 seconds better than last year and a modest PB. On a good day, I certainly think that a sub 1:14:00 would be possible and perhaps even faster on a flatter course.

Finishing up in discomfort. Photo credit: David Brown

David easily took the win in 1:08:25 and Care Wakely won the woman's division in 1:24:16. This year was more competitive than last year since my time would have given me a 4th place finish in 2009 rather than the 7th I received this year. Sonja ran well getting another large PB and a for the first time ever in a IRS, a first place in her age category! Results.

My splits:

3:21, 3:28, 3:24, 3:28, 3:29, (17:09 5k) 3:36, 3:38, 3:45, 3:37, 3:37 (35:23 10k), 3:37, 3:35, 3:29, 3:20, 3:32 (52:56 15k), 3:27, 3:35, 3:38, 3:39, 3:39 (1:10:54 20k), 3:52 (1.1k).

Bazan Bay 5k

March 7, 2010

I've been quite negligent on updating recently and am now two races behind on my blogging. Some home renovations and family visits have sucked up most of my free time. Fortunately, a 5k is a quick race to do a report on.

Bazan is always a competitive race, being the shortest of the Island Race Series and bringing out the speedy National Triathlon team members in force. In fact, the top 5 spots all went to triathletes. I'd been hoping for a good performance here as my training has been solid and focused largely on speed sessions. I posted a 16:02 here last year so a time under 16 min was certainly in the cards. I hoped to get around 15:45 (3:09 pace) so went into the race with that in mind.

Conditions were about perfect for racing with no wind and cool temps. This year, the timing was also better in that the shift to daylight savings didn't occur until the next weekend so we were not robbed an hour of sleep like in previous years.

I found myself behind around 25 racers by the first km marker which I went though in 3:04. I wasn't particularly worried as I knew as long as my race went well many of those guys would fall back since there was no way they could all maintain such a pace. I decided to ease off a bit to try and settle into my goal pace of 3:09 for the next km or two before going hard for the last 2 km.

Although it didn't seem like I was losing ground to the guys in front of me, I was rudely shocked when I saw the 2nd km split of 3:16 which as 7 sec too slow. I had to kick it up or I would never be able to meet my goal time so I put the hammer down and started catching up to those in front. I passed a few in the next km (3:07) and even more in the next km which I did in 3:09. It felt good to be able to power though and catch many of those who were struggling to keep their pace. Paul O’Callaghan was on course encouraging us so that was great.

Unfortunately for them, both Shawn Nelson and Eric Findlay were both hurting from 3-4km and I managed to move ahead of them. I started to pay for my quick pace on the last km, however, and had a tough time maintaining my speed. I lost a few seconds, but still managed to post a 3:11 on the last km and had a decent kick into the finish even though there was no one close enough to catch. I crossed in 15:47, good for a 15 sec PB and a new personal points record (824) . I think I could have taken a couple of more seconds off if I had paced myself more evenly, but I did feel strong so I know the speed work is paying off for sure. I was 14th overall which meant I had passed around 10 guys after the first km.

The local two time Olympic medalist, Simon Whitfield won in 14:36 with his training partner Kyle Jones just 2 sec back. Top woman was Magali Tisseyre in 17:03. Keith Mills continued a strong year running 16:03 and Sonja ran under 20min for the first time ever.

Sadly, we later found out that a runner had collapsed from a heart attack at the 1km mark and later died at the hospital. Unfortunately this happens from time to time, but I'm sure that running extends peoples lives much more than it shortens them.

My splits were 3:04, 3:16, 3:07, 3:09, 3:11. Final Results.

Orcas Island 25k

February 6, 2010

Strictly speaking this race had nothing to do with my goals this year (which are to improve my 10k road time). However, a few months ago when a group of my fellow Harriers were planning this trip so I decided it would be a fun weekend and signed up. I would do no specific training for it, but given my current training volume I figured I could pull off a 2 hour effort without suffering too much.

The timing of this race was unfortunate though as the ferry that normally operates between Sidney and Orcas Island (in Washington State) does not run at this time of year. This meant that, despite Orcas being less than 50km away, we had to take BC ferries to Tsawwasen, drive to Anacortas and then take another ferry to Orcas for a total distance of 270km (and about 8 hours). Fortunately, Sonja and I did have great company in the van with our other running friends so that made the trip enjoyable. We had rented a large house which was located about 20 min drive from the race start which turned out to be a quite spacious and was equipped with two kitchens and held the 10 of us quite comfortably. You definitely know you are with a group of runners when it comes to bed time though - the late night owls burned the midnight oil until 10:30! Of course we all had either 25km or 50km to race the next day so a good rest is important.

The PIH Orcas Island Team. Left to right, Front to back: John Catterall, Carlos Castillo, Jeff Hunt, Garth Campbell, Carolyn Goluza, Kathleen Birney, Paul Birney, Sonja Yli-Kahila, myself, Sara Pape-Salmon, Andrew Pape-Salmon, and Jeremy Watts

The Orcas Island race is a low key event, but is quickly gaining in popularity and boasted a field of around 350 runners in both distances this year. Its great to see so many people out for a race where it was all about the challenge and accomplishment of doing it since there was no prizing of any sort. Since this race attracted a completely different field that what I would see here on the island, I didn't really know what to expect in terms of competition. Based on my experience with some other trail races around this distance and looking at the time from previous years, I expected that I would likely be in the top few spots as long as I had a decent race and a win might be possible.

25k Course Profile

25k Course Map

Given the distance, a warm up was not required and after some brief directions by the race director (follow the orange tape and signs) we were off. Very quickly, I found myself running with two others up front and within a couple of km the 3rd place guy fell behind. The other guy, Aaron Coe, showed no signs of slowing down though and I soon realized that if I was going to have a chance to win, I would have to push very hard indeed. He seemed comfortable and while I too was running within my means, it was not slow. After a few km of gently rising trail next to a creek we reached Mountain Lake and ran along the shore for a short while. I had studied the map quite thoroughly before hand so I knew the big climb up to Mount Constitution was coming very soon. This would be a tough climb of about 500m in a short distance. Normally, I do well on the climbs, but as so as we started this one, I knew I was in trouble. The legs felt heavy and I just didn't feel strong even on trails that were not that steep. Aaron took the lead and I struggled to stay in contact, but he was just a better climber that day and I watched him gradually pull away.

I know how to push myself and dug deep to keep moving although my pace seemed quite pitiful at times. I kept Aaron in sight until half way up the climb, but then he disappeared and I would not seem him again until the finish line. Although I almost slowed to a hike a half a dozen times, I manged to keep a running stride for the whole climb. I got a bit of a reprieve after the false summit and there was only a bit more climbing before the summit. The view from the ridge was amazing, but I was in race mode so stopping to check it out wasn't in the cards. I was damn happy to get there as I knew that while there would be some more climbing, that was the worst of it and I could get some recovery on the next descent. I asked one of the volunteers how far the lead runner was in front of me.

"five minutes"

"Damn!" I thought to myself, how could he have put that much time into me so quickly. I didn't panic though as just resolved to try my best to catch back up on the downhills and hope that he slowed on the second half of the race. So I hammered the downhill as hard as I could and while it wasn't technical, navigating the switchbacks on the trail was a bit tricky since I had to slow and for each corner and then accelerate again on the straights. I made good time, but saw no sight of Aaron. The next section consisted of a number of moderate climbs that gradually brought us back up close to the height of Mount Constitution. While my legs where a bit burnt out from the first brutal climb, I thankfully felt much better on this section.

Soon I came to a T intersection. Expecting to see the usual orange tape, I look left and then right, but saw no flagging. I started to panic just a little and started doubting if I had somehow missed a turn off in the last couple of km. I was pretty sure I hadn't though and then I saw a arrow drawn in the dirt pointing right and towards what appeared to be a significant descent. I knew from the map that we should be descending soon and this fact plus the arrow promoted me to take the right. I figured I had a better than 50% chance of being right, but I was definitely nervous for a few minutes until I finally spotted another flag further down the trail and could finally breathe a sigh of relief. If I had chosen wrong I would not have known for sure until the next intersection which was at the bottom. That would have been the end of my race as I'm not sure I would have been able to muster up the effort to climb my way all the way back just to end up finishing poorly anyway.

Heading downhill. Photo Credit: Garth Campbell

The descent was long and much more enjoyable than the excruciating climb. When the trail finally stopped losing elevation, I knew we had just a couple more kilometers to traverse on a pretty flat trail next to Cascade Lake. I could definitely feel the fatigue in my legs, but I kept moving at a reasonable pace. I didn't envy the few 50k racers I saw were were just turning onto a trail to the 2nd of 4 climbs of the day. The run around the lake was uneventful although I was surprised when we didn't get routed around a lagoon as the map had indicted. I wasn't about to complain about it though. I crossed the finish line at around 1:55:00 fully expecting to see Aaron there, but when I didn't spot him I asked about where he was.

"You're the first"

"What? How did I beat him?"

The answer came about two minutes later when he crossed the line and told us that he had taken the wrong direction at the same unmarked intersection that I had trouble on and he had lost several minutes getting back on track. It was bad luck for him and I told him that it was not the way I like to win. The reality is that this happens to the best of us though and I've taken wrong turns quite a number of times on trail races. The race director indicated that the intersection was well mark before and someone must have removed the flagging. This also seems to happen a lot during races although its never clear if it is being done as a joke, someone maliciously trying to sabotage the race, or just a person innocently trying to clean up the trail and not realizing the flagging is there for a reason.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the day came a few minutes later when Scott Jurek came across the finish line in 3rd place. I hadn't seen him on the start line and didn't expect him to be there at all and certainly didn't think he would be running the 25k. For those who haven't heard of Scott, he is one of the best known ultra runners in the world and is practically a legend in his discipline. His resume includes 7 straight wins at Western States 100 Mile Endurance Runs, 2 Badwater Ultramarathons victories, and well as numerous other 1st place finishes and awards. He was also very friendly and was introducing himself to the other competitors after he finished. Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to chat with except for a few words, but it was pretty neat to be racing against such talent. Despite coming in ahead of Scott, I can hardly claim to be the better runner. For one, I heard he is just coming back from and injury and/or surgery and second, I'm pretty sure 25k is not his best distance. Since he seems to excel at distances of 100 Miles or more, 25k is probably just a warm up. He obviously has outstanding endurance and is able to maintain a steady pace for a very long time, but may not be as fast at shorter distances.

Jeff Hunt and Scott Jurek. Photo Credit Andrew Pape-Salmon

After the race I really felt the effects of the downhills as my inner quads were quite sore for a couple of days. This is likely a result of pushing hard and not enough training for descending recently. Despite the win, I would rate the race as a average one for me. Andrew Pape-Salmon ran well to place 6th place finish, Sonja was 3rd overall woman, and Sara Pape-Salmon and Kathleen Birney finished their first ever 25k. Unfortunately, Jeff Hunt had some cramping issues and had to drop out of the 50k, but Carolyn Goluza and Carlos Castillo both finished well.

Andrew and myself

Cobble Hill 10K

January 24, 2010

Since I am already behind in posting this, I'll skip most of my usual preamble. My training has been going fairly well although I was a bit concerned that the extra volume would leave my legs fatigued for the race. Fortunately, while my legs were heavy the day before, they ended up feeling good during the race. I had slept well the night before, but woke up feeling pretty groggy and during the drive up felt much more like crawling back into bed than running 10k. I had a bit of coffee and once we were under way I was pleasantly surprised at how good I felt.

While some people claim that Cobble is a fast course, I don't find it particularly so. It is not overly difficult, but contains quite a number of small hills that soak up the seconds. Last year I posted a 34:20 here, and this year anything less than that would have been quite disappointing. Ideally, I would be able to get a time around 33:30 (3:21 pace) , but I would have been satisfied with a sub 34 min time.

The first 2 kilometers of this course are fast with a net elevation loss so I wasn't worried I was going to hard when I posted two sub 3:15 splits. There is a turn around just before the 2km marker for a short out and back section, and I felt comfortable while making the turn and then pushing hard back up the hill. I passed Mark Nelson on the climb and set my sights on Ian Hallam, Eric Findlay, and Nick Walker who were running together a little ways in front of me. Around the 3km mark, still feeling strong, I decided it was time to bridge the gap and quickly managed to pull even. I knew what times these guys usually run and thought that if I could hang in there with them, I would be doing well. Kilometers 3-5 are mostly a gradual climb and hills still being my friend, I set the pace for a short time. Soon we also reeled in Swawn Nelson who was slowing somewhat.

My 5k split was 16:42 which I was quite pleased with as it set me up nicely for a solid PB as long as I could avoid falling apart in the last half. Unfortunately, I started to feel the fast pace around 6km and Ian, Eric, and Nick slowly began to pull away. I could have dug deep to hang in there with them, but that may have lead to disaster since there was still 4km. Instead, ran my own race and concentrated on keeping the rhythm going. I continued to run with Shawn and keep my effort and pace pretty steady for the next couple of km. I actually thought that I would be able to drop Shawn since he seemed to be struggling a bit, but around 8.5km he put a surge on that I had difficultly responding too. I tried to power though the last km in an attempt to close the gap and managed to hammer it into the finish line for a final 3:13 km, but couldn't quite catch up.

My final time was 33:31 good for 10th place (and a surprising 1st in the M3034 category) and a 10 sec PB over my 2009 Sun Run time. Better still, it was a respectable 49 sec improvement over my 2009 time on this course. AP Balliargeon-Smith from the National Triathlon Centre won in just under 32 minutes, edging out Kenyon Nixon Kiprotich and Sean Chester. The top woman was Magali Tisseyre coming in around 36min. Other notable performances go to my girlfriend, Sonja, who took a whopping 1:30 off her best 10k (particularly impressive on this course) and Jeff Hunt, who also set a PB and seems to be getting faster all the time.

Overall, I was quite pleased with the way things went. My PB was not huge, but considering it is not a particularly fast course and it is still early in the road season, I feel I am well on my way to posting a sub 33 time in April at the TC and Sun Run. Final results.

Full splits:
3:12, 3:14, 3:25, 3:19, 3:32 (5k split: 16:42), 3:22, 3:21, 3:25, 3:27, 3:13

Screw Shoes

I recently made some modifications to an old pair of Brooks Cascadia's. I cannot take any credit for coming up with this idea as I have seen it in magazines and online a number of times. However, generally the idea behind adding metal screws on the soles of running shoes seems to be to improve traction on ice and snow. Most of the time in Victoria, there is thankfully a lack of such frozen substances on the ground so it may not seem as though it would be particularly useful. However, I got to thinking that if it works on ice and snow it may also work to improve traction on wet rock, roots, logs, bridges, and mud all of which can be found in abundance here.


Once out on the trails, I found that my idea was correct and traction was greatly improved on nearly all surfaces. Traction on roots, wooden bridges, and logs was excellent. Grip on wet rock was also very good although it was still possible to slip on very smooth rock. Grass and mud traction was also improved, although if the mud was deep, it didn't help as much (I suspect that only long spikes would work in this case). The only real disadvantage that I found was that when running on hard surfaces such as pavement, the shoes were a little more punishing on the feet, but I did manage to mostly alleviate this by removing screws in the heel strike area where there is high impact. The only other thing that might be an issue is that they improve traction so much that if you don't happen to be wearing them, you might get over confident and end up biting it bad.

Making the modification was pretty easy. I just purchased some 1/2" sheet metal screws with 1/4" heads from the hardware store. Specifically getting this type of screw is important since most of the improved traction comes from the ridges on the screw heads. I used a small bit to pre-drill some holes in the high points in the sole and then added the screws by hand. I'm sure you could just use an cordless drill to add them without pre-drilling but I didn't have the proper bit at the time. If you have thinner soles, 3/8" long screws might be a better option to make sure they don't stick through into the inside of the shoe. Also, if you have gel or air packs in the shoes, it is obviously important not to puncture them.