Running the Bruce Trail

I had my VO2 max tested a couple of weeks ago and the result, 61.5, suggests that I’m in the “fit amateur” category, which is what I already knew. Most elite athletes fall into the 70 to 90 range.

But then I checked out an online calculator that claims to predict race times based on VO2 max and found out that my 61.5 means I should be able to run a marathon in 2:39.

2:39!

That is 13 minutes faster than my personal best performance after running 6 marathons and achieving what I thought was my peak.

That number got me all fired up about running again. I will train harder! I will run more! I will enter more marathons! Heck, there are some backwater races out there that I could win with a time like that! Bring on the trophies and shwag.

Then I talked to a coach who dampened my enthusiasm. He questioned the validity of my VO2 test, for one, and suggested that the online race time calculator was, well, bunk.

There are lots of things that determine race performance, like lactate threshold, and VO2 max alone doesn’t tell you much by itself. He said some people can run more efficiently than others at a given VO2, citing famous marathoner Frank Shorter who had a relatively low VO2 for an elite athlete but was incredibly efficient and able to run for a long time at a extraordinarily high percentage of his VO2 max.

The coach said if you want to run faster, this is what you’ve got to do:

1. Hire a coach and get on the right program.

2. Isolate variables so that you can measure your progress (such as running a set route under identical conditions and a set heart rate a couple times a month) and focus on improving your efficiency.

Those are two things I’ve never done in an organized way. So I may not go out and push myself to run a 2:39 marathon, but I know there are some things I can do to improve my running. Plus, thinking about this has got me fired up about the 2010 running season and building my distance so I can run 50 km days on the Bruce – even if takes me longer than the 3 hours 11 minutes that the online calculator predicts ( Ha!).

Winter’s here, with some fits and starts. It’s time to screw the hobnails into my second-run shoes and hit the local trails. I’m back in the game a bit after a slow year and went for a two-hour run in the Don Valley on Boxing Day.

New Year’s resolution numero uno: Finish running the Bruce Trail in 2010

Tory and I have been invited to a wedding in Tobermory at the end of the summer, so I have a deadline. It’s a long drive to the trail now so I want to up the daily mileage. I think I’ve got about 270 kilometres to go (contradicting my previous calculation of 236 and/or the advertised length of the trail).

Last night I started scribbling plans. Five, 40-50 km running days will put me at Bruce Peninsula National Park and the beginning of the last 40 km, which I want to finish on a two-day backpacking trip with Tory. The remaining running days look like this:

• Bothwell’s Corner to Glen Camp
• Glen Camp to Wiarton
• Wiarton to Hope Bay
• Hope Bay to Lion’s Head
• Lion’s Head to Crane Lake Gate

The logical way to do this would be a one-day run to Glen Camp, then a couple of 100-km weekends with overnights in Wiarton and Lion’s Head and shuttles from local B&Bs. This is how I imagined I would be running the trail from the beginning – in big chunks rather than 3- to 4-hour pieces. Full weekends for running are hard to come by, but I will try to make it happen in 2010 with some careful planning and negotiation.

A sub-resolution is to knock off one of these big chunks during the summer solstice, with an all-day run to celebrate the longest day of the year. Since starting this project I’ve dreamed of running a 100-kilometre day in June, but after my 60+ km day last year I don’t know if I’m up for it. I’ll be happy if I can do 100 km in a weekend.

After last year’s efforts on snowshoes, I’m happy to put this on hold until the snow melts and stick to local training. I can’t cover enough distance in the snow to make the drive worthwhile. Winter is for skiing.

Vote now to support funding for the Bruce Trail in this contest:

Mostly road.

Sunday 12 July 2009
Distance: 20.0 km
Time: 2 h 11 m
Avg HR: 143
Avg speed: 9.2 km/h
Total distance to date: 649 km
Distance to go: 236 km

Bike shuttled this run by parking at the Clearview subdivision and biking 15 km, 33 minutes (with a brisk tailwind) back to the start. I stashed my bike in some shrubs in a cow pasture. This was one of the most miserable sections of the trail to date. I think the conservancy must have just punched it through on roads to quickly connect the Bayview Escarpment to the main trail. In time, they’ll probalby route it through farmfields as more landowners get on board, although that wouldn’t necessarily be better. One of the few off-road sections was pure hell: slimy overgrown rocks following the base of the escarpment. I would have stopped to take a photo of this shnarb for the blog but the clouds of mosquitoes kept me moving. That’s 20 km I’m happy to put behind me.

Lack of conditioning/practice contributed to the general malaise. I felt rusty. I don’t get out running much these days and the time to exercise just isn’t there. Carving out a half-day for this leg was nearly impossible. I need to set aside some time to do long, consecutive days to finish the trail, but can’t foresee when I’ll have the time. My best hope at this point is to get out for some long family hikes in the fall and knock off a few kms that way – forget running, as long as I’m outside and on the trail.

Clap for the Wolfmaan
I just got a couple of interesting updates from friends in cyberspace. Wolfmaan, six weeks into his barefoot northbound trek, is in the Honeywood area, north of Highway 89, making good progress and enjoying the views.

Think about doing the impossible
Another ambitious speed attempt is in the works. Brian Culbert and David Battison plan to relay-run the trail in six days in September. That’s impressive considering the new record set by the Blaze race is 4 days by 10 people. The solor record is two weeks. Brian and David will have to sustain a wicked pace to meet their goal. They also plan to raise a million dollars for children’s charities. Good thing their motto is “think about doing the impossible?” See The850Race.