XC Skiing in Bragg Creek

Well, I finally made it out to do something interesting. Not that everything I do is uninteresting, but I'm sure most blog readers do not want to hear about my day working at Solidworks, or what I had for lunch, or driving to Edmonton to attend an association meeting. Yesterday, a friend and I headed out to West Bragg Creek to do some cross country skiing. GPS data can be found here

I have not been out West Bragg for some time. I've actually not even been out to Kananaskis since prior to the June floods. Gack! I need to get out more. This is so close to where I live, less than 30 mins. This is the road just west of Bragg Creek, and Moose Mountain is in the background.

There weren't many skiers out yet, as we had an early start. But there were tracks set in the snow (for the most part). 

This is along the Crystal Line trail, a straight cutline with some great downhills and challenging uphills. It was a lot of fun.

Outside and loving it!

The snow was fantastic. I had not yet been out on my skis yet this winter (gack!), but my former skills came back quickly. I only "inspected" the ground 3 times at key moments.

Along the trail back, the winds really picked up and it made for some interesting skiing. There were eddies of snow everywhere and with the wind at our backs, we were pushed back to the start.

Upon returning to the trailhead, the parking lot was filling up with lots of people.

Lots and lots of people!

 It was a good jaunt out in the snow. Temperatures were around 0, so nice and warm for high output activities. The wind was a factor, and if you stopped, you would get cold. But the beauty and thrill of skiing kept me moving! It was a great outing, and I cannot wait to get out again!

:-)

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My Backyard

First off, I would like to start with a commercial that I've recently seen.

For some reason or another, people seem to think that if they were to win the lottery, all of their time would be spent outdoors, doing stuff that only "rich" people can do.

African Safari for 2, probably $5k to $10k, all flights and tours included. Pricey trip, but it's not out of reach for the regular working Joe, such as myself. If you plan to save for a trip like that, it can be done.

Jumping off a cliff into the water, free. There are places all around that we can do that. It doesn't take millions of dollars to "finally" do that.

Helicopter tour of mountains and volcanoes, $150/hour. If you live in Hawaii, you are lucky and don't have to travel far to see volcanoes (just look down, really). But if you live in western Canada, you can hire a helicopter for $150 for a 1 hour sightseeing tour of sights that are just as fantastic. You may not see volcanoes, but you can see things that are just as beautiful, if not more. (Moraine Lake, for example).

So the world instantly becomes your playground and backyard if you win the lottery. Well, I disagree. People need to realize at just how accessible these places are nowadays. You don't need to be filthy stinkin rich to do outdoor stuff. You don't even need much money at all. Just enough for gas, some beef jerkey and a sweet potato, and you can live like a millionaire everyday.

Sweet potatoes, ready for boiling. Mash up, and eat after working out. Endurace food to the max. Your muscles will dig it.

Here is my backyard. I went for run this morning up Moose Mountain. I had done this run before, but this is the first time this year. It was pretty wet, and there were some pretty snowy/icy patches. I had to be at work no later than 8:30, so I only made the first summit, but that's ok. I slogged up to the first summit as fast as I could, and going down was a blast. I kept telling myself this is "faaaaaaaaaantastic!!!", "I love this" and "woooooooeeeeeeeeeee" the whole way back.

GPS data can be found here.

View from the first summit, looking West towards the ranger station. I needed about an extra 1/2 hour total to make it there, but I did not have enough time today.

Looking south, down my beloved Rockies.

Looking north. It was so beautiful this morning, I could have stayed there all day.

I am currently training for some upcoming races. Some of the races I don't plan on completing (although I will if I can), I am just entering in them for a motivational carrot to be dangled in front of me. As the first picture shows, I have learned the value of using sweet potatoes as a recovery fuel after workouts, especially after runs. I don't know why they are more advantageous than regular white or red potatoes, but they break down quickly into glucose and replenish depleted reserves in your muscles. So that works very well for me.

I have also confirmed that I am indeed gluten intolerant. Not celiac, but if I wheat on an empty stomach, I'm done. So a paleo approach to nutrition is going a long way in my training. People say it is 60% nutrition, 40% exercise. Well I believe that a good routine is 100% of both.

And lastly, I am back at blogging. It's been on hiatus lately for no reason other than just not blogging at all. I can see from my site tracker ticker that I've reached 11,000 views on this blog, so that's totally awesome! Lat time I blogged, it was around 9,000. That's awesome (reiterated).

:-)

2012 Iron Legs 50 Miler

Yesterday was the Iron Legs 50 Miler race in Kananaskis Country. I want to draw inspiration for my running since my motivation has been low lately, and I also wanted to help out. So I signed up as a volunteer for the race. I was needed as a course marshall (directing racers on the right path) and also asked to take photos of the race. So I borrowed my work's super-awesome Canon DSLR, packed my gear, and headed up to Jumpingpound Summit.

First off, the race itself is an 81km footrace in Kananaskis. This is 4th year that is has happened, and the race itself was sold out (again). It started at 6am, and racers were expected to take anywhere from 9-20 hours to complete. I believe the fastest time posted was 8:41, which is incredible considering the elevations, technical trail and distance. I was in place at 9:30 at the 35 km mark when the first racers came through.

Here are some photos of the race. All of these photos (and more) are available for download at full resolution here. I took photos of every single racer who came by Jumpingpound Summit.

The views from the top are stunning! This is Mt. Yamnuska to the north. 

Jumpingpound Summit was the highest elevation of the race. However, racers had to descend and then reascend Cox Hill, about 8km further down the trail. No small feat. You can see the trail on the left ascending the ridge.

A closer view of Cox Hill. The trail is easily visible. 

Looking south towards Forget-Me-Not ridge, I believe.

To the south was Nihahi Ridge, with Outlaw Peak, Cornwall and Glasgow behind.

Banded Peak!

At 9:30, we saw the first racer ascending to Jumpinpound Summit.

Looking north along the trail, you can see little white specks that are the racers.

Racers had to check in at the summit of Jumpinpound Mountain, and then come back down and head north. I was making sure they followed the path.

Looking down the Jumpinpound summit trail. Mt. Bogart and Canyon creek are off in the distance. P.S., that's where the racers were coming from.

It was great to see so many people out racing.

The grind to the summit. Most people said things like: "Sure... take my photo when I'm walking!" I said I would make them look glorious.

A chipmunk came and visited me. That's the only wildlife that I saw while out there.

From the summit, I could see the town of Cochrane to the north. Yay home!

As the running field narrowed out, I had a little bit of time to take some photos.

Your truly!

The sweeps came through at 2:30. They had their dog with them, and they were hot on the heels of the final racer! 

I was trying to capture the immensity of the race.

Or maybe I was trying to capture the solitude of such a long race.

Or maybe I was just trying to capture the stunning scenery...

All I can say is that the views were incredible. It was a great day to be outside and a wonderful event to be a part of.

It really was a treat to be stationed up there. The views were so beautiful.

The view from the top, capturing Black Rock Mountain to the north.

Another picture of Cox Hill. Bragg Creek would be way off to the right. 

Looking again at Mt. Bogart and Canyon Creek. On Powderface Road, at the base of this mountain is a memorial for a WWII trainer aircraft that crashed in the area.

The Ranger Station high atop Moose Mountain.

The race was truly inspiring. I took a photo of each racer as he/she ran by, with hopes that every photo would end up on the Iron Legs website. It was great to get involved with a community that I so closely can identify with, and it was so nice to see people out enjoying this small piece of heaven that is Kananaskis. I am truly inspired by all of the racers who participated and ran this race. I hope to be one of them next year, or in the coming years!

:-)

Kananaskis Mornings

Ok, so I have not blogged lately. No excuses,  I just haven't. Perhaps there was nothing interesting going on, which is not true. Perhaps I am just lazy :-P

Well I've set some goals lately. Usually my goals are based around a financial goal, or something that is material... Well, I have discovered that those goals are typically shallow and once achieved, they rarely satisfy. Not to mention, they make you focus solely on work. Not fun. So I set another goal. A big goal.

Ahem...

Next August, I am going to run the Canadian Death Race. 127km in Grande Cache, AB. Yep, a trail run. And I am giving myself over 1 year to train for it. I KNOW I can do it! And to help train for it, I am going to do my best to run at least one significant run in true trail conditions each week. Normally, I run the loop around my neighbourhood, but I would like to mix things up and put a good trail run in each week. For now, it will be once per week, and I started doing this last week with a run around JumpingPound loop. I had done this on my mountain bike a while ago, and it makes a fantastic trail run.

Consider this the start of my ultra running training program!

GPS data for JumpingPound Loop can be found here.

Since trading off my cruiser for the dual sport, I take it everywhere. I'm not afraid of gravel anymore, so the bike makes for great approaches in Kananaskis!

I didn't bring my camera on the run, so I took photos of the parking lot. You get the idea.

One of the best things about this loop is that starting from Pine Top Recreation area and finishing there allows you to take a dip in the stream after your run. That is always refreshing at 7:30am!

It was very cold, but what streams in this area aren't cold?

Jumpingpound is a fantastic loop. You're never more than 500m from the road (Sibbald Road), and you can run the loop in a figure 8 fashion (I did clockwise). There is a link in the middle of the trail that takes you across, so I believe you could stretch this run out to about 11km! Fantastic!

This morning I took a kick at Moose Mountain. Being the closest mountain to Calgary, it has always beckoned me to climb it before heading off for my day of work. Originally, I was going to bike it, but training for an ultramarathon leads me want to run more. Plus I enjoy running more than biking, so off I went with an early start.

GPS data for Moose Mountain can be found here.

Once again, the bike makes for an excellent approach, especially with the steep and gravelly access road to the trailhead.

Empty parking lot, but seeing as all the campgrounds in K-country said that they were full (long weekend), it would not be long until people showed. (It wasn't).

The trail follows a ridge to the base of Moose Mountain. Look closely and you can see the switchbacks up to the first summit.

So pretty! Such nice views.

It was obvious that I would not be able to run the whole way.

Looking east towards Calgary. You could easily see downtown highrises.

Looking south towards Prairie Mountain.

View from the first summit (lookout). I wanted to go up to the top to the fire ranger hut, but I ran out of time. Maybe as training continues I will be able to make the whole trail in good time!

View looking southwest. Nihahi Ridge is to the right (illuminated by sun).

The first summit (lookout) plateau.

Looking north.

Looking northwest. Ahhh, the mountains make me smile.

Coming back down was awesome! I had a great pace (less than 5:00/km!)

The trail is wide and rocky, so not too technical at all.

Running in paradise, mesays!

Following the ridgeline back to the trailhead. I could hear the wind rushing through all of the trees. I love that sound.

Looking back at the first summit. I was only about 15 minutes down from the top at this time.

Working my way back along the ridge.

And I get back to the parking lot and this little fella is watching me stretch!

This is the start of something great! If ever you want to come out for 1-2 hour run in the mornings (before work, to boot), let me know and you can join. I'll be covering about 10-15 km once per week now, with hopefully more mileage in the coming weeks!

:-)