Monday, July 5, 2010

Big Days



Night and day...that's often the difference between low and high altitude weather...

With two of my biggest challenges of the season behind me (achilles injury + Ultimate XC Race), I was looking forward to getting back into the training groove this past weekend. I hadn't planned on running such big days, but found motivation do tack on a few more hours when Adventure Science's Simon Donato, another Death Race competitor, convinced me to join him on his weekend running plans...

Upper Kananaskis Lake - The clouds loom high up in the mountains, dumping up to 5cm of snow overnight!

Plans are made to be broken...And after a last minute request by National Ski Team member Stefan Kuhn to pick him up at the Upper Kananaskis Lake parking lot, a new plan was born! Stef was planning to bail out early on the NST ski camp on the Haig Glacier as he was competing in the Canmore Triathlon on Sunday...He needed a ride back to town and we wanted a long run...a perfect match!

Simon climbing up 'Juan Valdez' switchbacks...on route to Turbine Canyon

After meeting Simon at the Stoney Casino on Hwy 40 (total amount of $ won will remain undisclosed...), we set off up the 18km trail to Turbine Canyon (campground), where we would meet Stef on his way down from the Haig Glacier.

The entire run was a blast from the past...Back in my ski racer days (from 1995 to 2000), I ran this trail at least 3 times/yr...We used to live on the glacier, trying to get as many on-snow hours as possible. But like most repetitive exercises, I got sick of it pretty quick, and after hanging up the boards in 2002, I never returned. Having not been up the trail in over 10yrs, it was fun to reminisce about the 'old' days and run up it again for 'fun'...

If you run high enough and you will meet snow! It was reported that 2 weeks earlier, it took the National Ski Team members over 4hrs to cover the 20kms of trail due to high snow levels! (It normally takes ~2hrs...)

A quick 'elevator' ride up via our dubbed 'Juan Valdez' section - a steep set of switchbacks that gain over 500m in a few kilometres - and there we were standing in snow! Snow in July? Evidence of a cool spring hit us hard as our feet touched snow at a mere 2,000m in altitude...What had been a nice warm day 'down below', had turned ugly on the high plateau. Out came the jackets and Buffs as we were met with a cold, wet drizzle...snow was falling up high. Good thing we weren't going all the way to the Haig or we would have had to bring snowshoes! With almost perfect timing, Stef appeared near Turbine Canyon - we padded the clock with an extra loop and turned back to the warmth of the valley below.

36km later - we rapped up day 1, saving some legs for tomorrow...

Looking East from the base of the Moose Mountain 'dome' - A long gradual open climb greats hikers (and runners) - Bring a jacket, because it gets chilly up there!

With the Canadian Death Race less than a month away, we were eager to get out on some high altitude runs, and simulate the terrain that would challenge us in-and-around the 'greater' Grande Cache area. For that, Moose Mountain seemed to fit the bill perfectly with it's long fireroad run-in to the summit!

Of course, an easy 30km return trip to the summit wouldn't be enough for today, so we kicked things off by adding the famed 16km Telephone Loop and a few other bits to bump up the k's! This first section turned out to be much harder than anticipated, adding a solid 700m of gain in 20kms - A good warmup! Back on the gravel run-in to the Moose Mountain trailhead, we opened up our stride and enjoyed the warmth of this pleasant Sunday morning. It had been a long time since my last run up the 'Moose', almost like watching an old movie you've seen before, but forgetting the main plot details...As we neared the top of the tree line, the weather turned sour again, and we were greeted with hard chilly gusts - We didn't linger up high very long...a few pics and back down we went! 46.5kms later, day 2 was over...The pizza waiting for us in the car never tasted so good!

It's not until you summit the first 'dome' that you see the Moose Mountain's true summit - ugh! Hang on to your hat...

Et voila! A big weekend in the books...A total of 83 kilometres in 8hrs20min (10km/hr pace)! If you're interested, check out my Suunto download of the Moose Mountain run on
www.movescount.com site:

Suunto Details: Telephone Loop + Moose Mountain (you can change the graph profile by changing the tabs in the 'Body' or 'Speed and Distance' sub-sections). Fun tools...

Now all I have to do is keep this up for a total 125km - Easy!

7 comments:

Sue said...

Sounds like an awesome weekend of running. Those are some amazing trails you have to run on out there...so jealous...just so jealous. Sure is going to be an interesting DR race this year with lots of big guns coming out of the woodwork to run it.

Derrick said...

Wow...nice weekend of training. Very envious of the cool temps as it's crazy hot and humid here.

Great to hear that your achilles woes are behind you.

Phil said...

Although I like the cool weather for running, a bit of warmth would be nice to melt a bit of that snow up high - Looking forward to heading up in the backcountry soon!

Now if I could only develop some 'ultra' legs that would take me through 100+ kms in a row like you long distance guys, I would be a happy camper!

李怡君 said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Phil said...

Sue, looks like you're message is back online (had some comments disappear the past few days...??).

Anytime you want to come out for a few long runs in the mtns, just let me know!

DR should be interesting indeed - can't wait!

Tom Craik said...

That Moose Mountain looks cool. I don't mean the fire road, but the open terrain. That's perfect for Grand Cache. The Kananaskis climbs are brilliant too. I might have to come visit you and get you to tour me around. The trick will be finding a weekend when you're in town.

Until then, you're looking good for the Death Race. Great pics on the blog.

Phil said...

Tom - K-Country has some of the best terrain around, and great single-track. Photos don't do it justice!

Anytime you want to come out...got a spare bedroom waiting for you! But as you said, gotta catch me at home...