May 16, 2011

Marathon Talk Interview!

With a bit of shameless self promotion as well as a shout out to an awesome podcast - check out Marathon Talk at http://www.marathontalk.com. Lots of awesome interviews with all sorts of distance runners from all over the world, an amazing source of information and inspiration. Oh, and my interview is on episode 71 :)


The count down is on...

13 days until Comrades 89km in South Africa...

Point to point, uphill from Durban to Pietermaritzberg...

Taken place since since 1921...

16, 000 competitors...

It's going to be a blast!

I can't wait :)

May 7, 2011

June 14th - Talk at 'Out There' in Calgary

Date for your diary if you are in the Calgary area on Tuesday June 14th when Out There' outdoor store will be holding a special Montrail evening. Come along to 151 - 8th Avenue SW just after 6pm where I will be talking about stepping up from 50km to 'real' ultra distances, like I did last year when racing my longest race to date - the 125km Canadian Death Race in Grand Cache, Alberta. I'll try to share some insights on how I changed my training, learnt to run longer in both time and distance, as well as what you need to think about when setting goals to run 100km plus. Brief outline of the evening:

6.15pm - My talk with short Q&A session after

6.45pm - Short run (so wear your running gear!) - pace will be easy (promise!)

7.30pm - an hour of shopping with special sales, and some food & drink!

Look forward to seeing lots of you there :)

May 5, 2011

Creaking Along



I am a bike commuter. Since moving to Banff from Vancouver I bike a lot less (well it's a smaller town!) but I still have my well-worn, well loved second-hand Vancouver commuter bike that I use most days when weather allows. It's well used and well abused. Generally in Vancouver I would get it serviced once a year or so, whilst riding it daily, year long in steady Vancouver rain and on the dirty city streets. Once in a while I would put a little oil on the chain and pump up the tyres, but other than that I would expect it to be a reliable mode of transport for lots of miles on very little TLC. I've lived in Banff for 18 months; it's not been serviced since the move. However every time I get it serviced I hop on and feel like I've got a new set of wheels, smooth and strong, and I wonder why I didn't get it serviced months earlier.


You could say that my maintenance of myself in many ways is similar to that of my bike. I work hard and run hard, try to get enough sleep (but often want more), eat a balanced vegetarian diet but go little more complex than that. I'll go for a massage or physio when I need to and if I get into a routine, but often months can go between appointments. My typical answer when someone asks if I take supplements is, 'No, I eat food'! And generally I like that principal; I feel that despite running a decent amount and training decently hard that it is still possible to get what I need from real food rather than mixing supplements and popping pills.


But there is always room for improvement and I had been hearing great things about Udo's Oil, a blend of oils perfectly balanced to ensure the correct ratio of Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids. More and more ultra runners have been finding benefits from Udo's, primarily in aiding recovery (and thus allowing higher mileage or more harder/ intense runs) as well as helping lean up. So when I was approached by Udo's I was really keen to try their product out with no-commitment - I could just see how I liked it. They said that about 85% of athletes felt a difference once they began taking it, and whilst it is hard to prove I certainly feel that I am recovering better whilst maintaining high mileage (with Comrades and Western both coming up soon!) I won't go into the scientifics (I work in tourism, not in the nutrition industry) but check out more about Udo's Oil at http://www.oilthemachine.com/.


I'm delighted to now be part of Team Oil The Machine (along with a long and illustrious line up of names such as Scott Jurek, Krissy Moehl, Anton Krupicka, Yassine Diboun, Jen Segger, Joe Grant, Adam and Lauren Campbell...need I go on...).


Needless to say, this machine is going to stay well-oiled, and maybe I should apply the same principals to my much loved bike too :)