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!

:-)

Well done Alberta!

The reason for the title of the post is because the government of Alberta recently opened its newest Provincial Park. This provincial park also happens to be 10 minutes from my house. With lots of trails. For running...

Run data can be found here.

A nice map tells you where you can and cannot go. I think it's much easier to stick to the trails.

The first part of the run involves a relatively steep descent through trees. Because it is winter, there is lots of ice and such, so I had to tread carefully. I ran this last week in my mukluks, and they had much better grip than my NB Minimus shoes.

It was a nice run along the bottom of the trail. I knew that I had descended, and that to get back to the car, I would have to ascend. I'm also pretending I had not run this loop yet.

So, that comment about running back up to the car at the end of my run. Well, there are two big elevation changes on this run, and I had to go up to the high point. Twice. This would account for the 168m elevation gain in 7.2 km.

Up and and up and up. It was very windy, much to the normality of living in the Bow Valley. This hill happened to be headed west, so I was uphill and into a headwind. Insert sob music here.

A hill. The last big one, but I had to walk. My goal is to be able to run this hill.

At the west-most point of the run, there is a fantastic view of the town I call home. Cochrane, yeah yeah, in all of it's windblown and brown glory. (It's not that bad, actually).

This is looking south-east (ish) along the Bow river. It's very nice, methinks.

I really like the way this photo turned out. I may have to print and frame it.

Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park is an actual ranch, and it also used to have a village on it. So throughout the run, there are remnants of the old village that used to be there, as well as signs of obvious modern day ranching, such as cows and poo on the side of the path.

It appears I dropped my camera and it took some photos of me running away. Perhaps my camera has heard that I am looking to replace it soon. And yes, it is December 30th and I am wearing shorts.

The is the final long ascent back to the parking lot. I passed a dude who was carrying his full camera gear and he simply smiled at me and said good-day. I liked that.

The best part of the run is knowing I've completed it and that I will do it again soon.

Ok, one more moment to enjoy this sensation.

That is Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park. A very nice park in a very nice part of the world. A place I can call home. It would not make a good place for snowshoeing as it is a working ranch and everyone is asked to remain on the trails. There are plenty of trails, some 28km, or so I've been told. I've only explored 7.2km total, so there is much more left to discover. Right out my back door.

:-)