I recapped my 2011 running season the other day. Here’s looking ahead to 2012; the races I hope to do and some goals I have.
(Some dates aren’t official yet and I’ve guesstimated). Updates in are blue.
Dirty Duo 25km – March 10
Distance: 25km
Previous time: 2:49:46 (2011)
2012 goal: Just to beat 2011’s time
Result: 2:36:19, 7/91 Overall
This went much better than last year. I felt strong throughout the race and the course didn’t kick my ass nearly as bad. I learned from last year and paced myself slower off the first half of the course.
The weather was cool, but the rain held off. The beginning/end of the course however was a mud field. On the final 2km back in the mud was basically pulling my shoes off my feet. Overall, happy I was able to shave 13 minutes off my time from last year.
5 Peaks Trail: Golden Ears – April 21
Distance: 14km
Previous time: 1:12:21 (2011)
2012 goal: I’ll take it easy as I’ll be tapering for the Van Marathon
Notes: This was original scheduled as April 28 (1 week before the Van Marathon) so I was going to pass on it this year. But I think 2 weeks should be ample time to recover for the marathon, so count me in.
Result: 1:10:15, 16/122 Overall
My original plan was to ‘take it easy’ since I had the BMO Van Marathon in 2 weeks which was my ‘A’ race for the year. I caught a ride down with buddy @becomingajock who was also doing the Van Marathon, and I blame him for my sudden decision on the start line to say ‘screw it, I’m just gonna giver’. I was a few minutes faster than last year and to finish 16 out of 122 people is pretty cool.
Vancouver Marathon – May 6
Distance: 42.2km
Previous time: 4:14 (2010), 3:29:56 (2011)
2012 goal: 3h 05min
Notes: In 2011 I shaved 45 minutes off my marathon time. This year I plan to shave off another 25. Sounds crazy, but I want to give Boston a shot.
Result: 3:16:43, 201/2399 males
Ok, I don’t quite feel like writing an essay like I did last year, but I’ll say this:
The new course was awesome! The weather was awesome! I ran a good portion of the race (by fluke) with a running buddy which was awesome, and I set a PR by 13 minutes! I was well off my stretch goal of 3:05 (a BQ) but I had a great time, and am glad to see I continue to improve in this pointless and painful sport that seems to have me addicted.
I will run Boston, but this wasn’t the year to qualify I guess.
North Shore Triathlon – May 21
Distance: Sprint (~26km)
Previous time: 1:36:02 (2011)
2012 goal: To get out of the pool in under 20 minutes (ie, 10 minutes faster than last year!)
Notes: I did my first Tri last year and nearly drowned on a simple little swim – this year I’ll focus some training on swimming!
Result: 1:25:05, 122/179 Males, 13/16 Age group
About 11 minutes faster than last year, but yet again, failed to actually learn how to swim before taking on this event.
I finished the run in 20:12 and a pace of 4:03/km, so running is clearly my strength. The pool is a different story. This year I at least knew well enough to put myself as the last person to get in the pool. Which is actually an awesome strategy, because by the time I was finished, it was me and 1 other person in the entire lane! This year, I also took to just swallowing my pride and doing backstroke from almost the very beginning. By not resting at the end of each length I shaved about 5 minutes off my swim by doing this… yikes!
The bike was fine, uneventful except halfway through I realized that by tri rules my bib should have been on my back, not pinned to the front of my shirt.. oops. Luckily enough, no officials noticed/ cared. The run was good. By the time I got off the bike, the course was basically empty.
So I’ll make the same resolution I made last year, LEARN HOW TO SWIM.
5 Peaks Trail: Squamish – June 9
Distance: TBA
Previous time: N/A
2012 goal: N/A
Result: 1:01:31, 33/151 Males, 15/27 age group
Not much to say, another fun 5 Peaks. Caught a ride up with Jeff and grabbed a pint at Howe Sound Brew pub post-race. Not a bad way to spend a morning.
Seek the Peak – July 14
Distance: 16km
Previous time: 2h 45min (2009), 2h 17min (2010), 1:50:59 (2011)
2012 goal: Sub 1:50
Notes: In 2009 this was the first race I ever ran (with no training). Super fun race from Ambleside to the peak of Grouse.
Result: 1:46:39, 17/198 Males, 6/47 Age group
Continually seeing gradual year-over-year improvements. This is the first race I’ve ever done without getting chicked, so that’s gotta be some sort of marker of improvement. 6th in my age group was a really good result for me, glad I was able to shave 3+ minutes off last year.
My biggest improvement was on the grind (about 4 minutes faster than last year) but somehow I was considerably slower on the second leg of the race, and slightly slower on the 4th leg.
North Shore Knee Knackering Trail Run – July 14
Distance: 48km (“The race as a whole has some 16,000 feet of vertical climb and descent.”)
Previous time: n/a
2012 goal: To finish in one piece
Notes: This would be my first foray into the ultra distance. There is a lottery however as only a limited field is allowed to run each year. This one’s a bucket list item.
Result: 6:29:00, 23/127 Men
Long race report here.
5 Peaks Trail: Cypress – Jul 21
Distance: TBA
Previous time: n/a
2012 goal: n/a
Result: 1:30:06, 77/129 Males, 19/25 age-group
This was one week after Knee Knacker. Monday – Wednesday I could hardly walk. Going from seabus to my house was taking me 30 minutes of walking instead of the usual 15 because my calves were so shredded I could only hobble. However, by the time race day came around my calves felt pretty good so I decided to give this a go. Mistake. After a big downhill stretch of trail maybe 4-5km in my calves were torn again and I had to walk. I would have gladly taken the DNF but there was no way back to the start line that I knew of other than just walking out the course.
Totally sucked getting passed by dozens and dozens of racers (although I did happily cheer each and every one of them on), but it was tough to bow out of a race for the first time, especially since I was having a good race until the calves went.
I ended jogging the final few k’s with Zan who rolled his ankle and was also hurt (below photo).
Squamish 50 – Aug 11
Distance: 50 miles
Previous Time: n/a
Goal: To finish
Notes: I most likely will not do this – but I really want to run an ultra in 2011. If I don’t get into the Knee Knacker again I may consider this – but the distance is probably too killer for my first ultra.
Can’t believe that I was even thinking about doing this. As I came to this I didn’t even remember that I had put it on my original 2012 race list. After KK I was almost tempted to sign up for this but I think in the end I made the right call to not register and continue a gradual build up of endurance as I’ve been noticing some knee pain on trail runs lately. Plus, if I though KK was hard, I’m sure this would have buried me.
After seeing the tweets / blogs of those who ran this race though, for sure I’m tackling this as my first 50miler in 2013.
5 Peaks Trail: Whistler – Aug 25
Distance: 10.6km
Previous time: 1:15:29 (2011)
2012 goal: To beat last year’s time (assuming same course)
Ended up being in Toronto for a wedding. Bad timing as I was looking forward to this 5 Peaks most of all.
Vancouver Triathlon – Sep 2
Distance: Olympic
Previous time: n/a
2012 goal: To complete an Olympic distance triathlon
Notes: Hopefully I’ll have learned how to swim well enough to tackle an ocean swim before this race.
Haven’t learned how to swim. Period. They don’t let you wear PFD’s so I’m out (again), damnit. Lazy, lazy, lazy. Must. Get. In. The. Pool. Either that or give up on the idea of triathlons all together. Duathlons are sounder better all the time.
Coho – Sep 9
Distance: 14km
Previous time: 1hr 05min (2010), 1:01:52 (2011)
2012 goal: Under 1hr
Result: 59:16, 7/24 Age group
Felt really good and was glad to break the 1 hour barrier.
5 Peaks: Buntzen Lake – Sep 29
Distance: 15.5km
Previous time: 1hr 28min (2010), 1:17:53 (2011)
2012 goal: 1hr 15min
Result: 1:33:20, 3/14 Age group
Really felt strong in this race – my only age group placing this year at a 5 Peaks.
Okanagan Half Marathon – Oct 7
Distance: 21.1km (Possibly will do the 42.2)
Previous time: 2hr 08min (2009), 1hr 41min (2010), 1:37:15 (2011)
2012 goal: 1hr 30min
Notes: If I fail to qualify for Boston in May, I may re-prioritize some other races and ramp up to give it another shot here instead of running the half.
Result: 1:30:44, 19/415 Males, 3/ 45 Age group.
So close to breaking 90 minutes… next year! Was still happy to set a marathon PB by over 5 minutes.
Hallow’s Eve Trail – Oct 21
Distance: 21.1km
Previous time: 2h 10min (2010), 2:08:01 (2011)
2012 goal: 2hr
Result: 2:04:59, 5/10 age group
Felt really, really sluggish and tired. Had some stomach problems, and lets just felt lethargic. Overall, I was surprised to see I had beaten my previous year’s time. Always a fun, muddy race with lots of people in costume!
Phantom Trail – Nov 13
Distance: 24km
Previous time: n/a
2012 goal: n/a
Notes: I’ll see how the body feels this late in the season. Tentative race.
Decided not to run, time for beer and recovery.
So we’ll see. Will I be able to do every race? Probably not. Will I reach every one on my goals? Probably not. But I sure am stoked to give it my best shot!
