alright.....

So i have been doing a good job of neglecting my blog, but a lot has been going on and I didn't really feel like i could sit down and really express myself on here.

Training has been going really well. A few hic-ups as were to be expected but nothing crazy. The weeks have been around 100km with the likely build up to 120km+ per week leading up to elk/beaver. I'm getting pretty stoked about it. I'm also feel good that I wont have any school 4 weeks before the race. I'm done exams on the 9th and have a few papers due in the days after that but it will give me some time to get focused on the challenge that lay ahead. 80km's is a long way. I ran for an hour and 50 minutes today. covered 25k. so if you factor that out. that woudl be 75km in 5 hours 30 minutes, plus an extra 5 km. oh boy haha. I feel at the moment I have a lot more base work to do. The weekends are around 50km of running broken up into 3 runs. Likely to see an increase up to 80-90km in the few weeks before the race.

I have been focusing so much on the Elk/Beaver ultras, I have almost forgotten about other races after that. The Great Walk is one I am really looking forward too. Its pretty low key but I imagine it will be a lot of fun. I've never done a race in the dark so the headlamps will be out and it should be a blast. White River 50 mile in july should also be interesting. I'm gonna go and attempt to get a Western States spot. Attempt. This race attracts some of the finest talent from across the US since it is the US national 50 mile trail championships along with a Montrail series race giving 3 spots to the fastest men and 3 to the fastest women. This year could see the likes of Andy Jones-Wilkins (2nd at Western States in '05), Hal Koerner (Defending Western States champ), Michael Wardian (US 100km team member and last years White River winner) and many more. So My plan: go down, Run hard, See what happens. If i qualify, sweet; if not, at least I can put my name into the lottery (which has seen the odds of getting in go from 60% in 04 to 16% in '08) Tough race to get into, so qualifying would be easiest.

I gotta give a huge prop to Don Peterson. He finished the coastal challenge in 17th overall. To give you an idea of the caliber of the race. Scott Jurek (7 time western states winner, 2 time Hardrock and Badwater winner) was 2nd. Awesome job Jarhead!

I've finally be able to get out to Mt. Doug on sunday mornings to get my footwork back. I was surprised how technical trail running can be if you haven't done it for a while. The new Brooks Cascadia 4's are incredible and give any trail runner everything they need and nothing they don't. On the road, i've been doing a mixture of my Asics Kayano's but mostly in my Brooks Racer ST 4's. I did the hour and 50 today in the Racer ST's and I was pleasantly surprised how good my body felt afterwards.

Body? hmmm right. My weight has been stable for the last few months around 134. My dad gave me some good advice while I was back a couple of weeks ago. Sure you can starve and try and eat healthy, or you can just eat, not starve and be healthy. (oh dad, you are so wise) So i took his advice and just started eating whatever was in front of me. Sure A&W isn't all that great. but who cares. its food. Yeah i'll get my greens later and my good carbs but i'm hungry now and A&W is right there. So Go for it. I've been finding with experimenting with my nutrition that not a lot really affects me other than just getting calories in. I do try and keep it clean but if i'm hungry, i'm eating it regardless weather it has 4000mg of sodium in it. So basically, i've been finding my weight is stable and I feel good. Physically and mentally because i'm not so worried about my weight dropping again.

Alright back to the homeworkness that is my life at the moment, actually i'm gonna talk about that too. I'm only in 3 classes right now, because A) I dont wanna be doing to much school even though my 3 classes are way more work than what I had last semester with 5 B) i'm switching programs and possibly doing a history major and a french minor then head into education (maybe) and C) I wanna train more.

Ok, its homework time. Take care all!

The Fray

So i just got the new The Fray CD. Its awesome. Couple of tunes have really been sticking out but theres two in particular I really like. Happiness and Where the Story Ends are two really good ones.

Anyways, I haven't written on here in over a week so I thought I would. I'm feeling better now that my sickness is over but other things have been occuring. I guess life is one of those misteries where you will never know why half the stuff happens. My training is going really well (100km last week) and I'm looking forward to my first ultra of the season being the National championship here in Victoria at Elk/Beaver lake on May 2nd.

More to Come! I'm off to the Prairie Inn Harriers tuesday night workout plus a little extra!