Feeling Deadly...

I wonder if the Death Race organizers 'pepper' the course with a few skulls and bleached vertebrae - I think I probably would...just for fun.

Death Race looms ahead...Only 2.5 wks to go!

I just finished a good running workout up my own 'killer' hill, the infamous Georgetown Hill at the Canmore Nordic Centre. It's not the biggest bump in the world, but it does the trick! Tonight's menu included 5 X 4min @ Zone 4 intensity - In other words, 5 times up the beast at an uncomfortably fast pace. The G-town hill provides a good mix of flats (100m at the start), and gradually increasing steepness (to the 3:30min mark), only to level out in a false flat for you to have to push the last 30sec of your interval to keep the HR up. My goal is usually to go hard for the first one, make a mark on the ground, and then try to beat that mark every interval. Mission accomplished tonight...and I even managed to set a new 'recent' max HR of 185 - Not bad for an old man ;) As for my partner...he didn't fare so well-

My latest victim...Not sure what happened to the rest of him...Ok, maybe not. Thanks to Mike F. for joining me on this evening workout - After a long day in the city, it's nice to have some company on the trails, especially when you have to push to your limits!

I just cashed in a few Aeroplan points, and got myself a new Sanyo Xacti video/camera...So now you can look forward to more silly videos like the one below!

Post intensity (5X4min intervals) up G-town Hill: Featuring Mike Fitzpatrick and yours truly...I decided that I wouldn't bore you with the bad on-the-fly-bobbing video of me going up the hill - and skipped to the end for a bit of humour.

PowderFace42 is coming up on the weekend - This is one of my all-time favourite race courses. If you can manage to register before it sells out (150 racer cap), I highly recommend it! This is going to be my last big prep race before DR - not only a great opportunity to test the body (42km w/ 2,000m of climbing), but also to fine-tune my nutrition and gear for the big show. With DR just 2 weeks away, the plan was cruise through PF42, and leave a bit in the tank so that I can recover faster. I think that my shape is good enough that I can aim to run around the 4hr mark, and still feel like I could do another lap. At least, that's the plan...

Last weekend, while running the NorAm Mountain Running Championships, I found out that the freshly crowned Canadian Champion, Taylor Murphy, is going to be racing PF42 as well. I have to admit that I'm struggling with the idea of NOT trying to follow him - I'd love to see how I can fare against TM, especially now that my form is coming along...This is a guy that's literally squashed the competition at both the 2010 Blackfoot Ultra 50km and 2009 Run for the Toad 50km - I'm not saying I would/could give him a run for his money, but it would be fun to try...Argghh!

BUT, discipline will (most likely) prevail - I have to keep reminding myself that I've got bigger fish to fry...for now.

Damn I hate making hard racing decisions sometimes...