After a huge month of training in September, I was hoping to keep up momentum throughout October before starting my taper for Chimera 100, my goal race for the year. Maybe it was the start of the rain, or maybe I’m starting to get a little burned out from what was a very long season, but I found it increasingly hard to find the motivation to get out for any really big runs – certainly nothing that could compare to my recent adventures like running the Wonderland Trail around Mt. Rainier.

I’m not too worried though, as I think the training is in my legs. It may be that a little less volume and a little extra rest will serve me well in what will be my first 100 miler.

That’s not to say I didn’t do any training! Earlier in the month, I joined UPrise Performance Camps again in Squamish, this time for a chance to spend a weekend running with Skyrunning champion and Salomon athlete Stevie Kremer. I managed to explore the trails around Sky Pilot, as well as a few more shorter backcountry outings around Grouse, Seymour, and Lynn Valley.

I made a last-minute decision to race the inaugural CMTS Run Ridge Run 25k, and ran the Hallows Eve Marathon as a catered training run. Between that and the ‘2nd Bi-Annual Vancouver Brewery Run‘ the next day, I managed to run close to 80k in costume.

I’ve kept up with my speedwork and did my best to stay on top of my strength work, before dropping it as I began my taper towards the end of the month.

Final Stats for October:

• Distance Run: 335 km (down from 400 km)
• Time-on-Feet: 43 hrs (down from 85 hrs)
• Ascent: 10,530 m (down from 19,811 m)

The legs are feeling good and I’m as ready as I’m ever going to be for Chimera on November 15th. Now I’ve just gotta execute…

Check out more photos on Instagram, and connect with me to follow my training on Strava or Movescount!

The Run Ridge Run 13km and 25km is the newest edition to the Coast Mountain Trail Series. The 25km route essentially follows the Diez Vista 50k course (with just a couple of minor deviations), climbing up and along Diez Vistas Ridge before following Buntzen Lake back to the finish. CMTS races are known to be challenging, but so far I’d only had the chance to run the Cap Crusher and Squamish 50k which both proved to be just that.

September was another solid month of training, with my volume at an all-time high. Much like in August, I got to spend most of this time on foot in the backcountry doing the adventure-style running that I enjoy the most. I’ve also gotten pretty good at running on little to no sleep!

The Wonderland Trail is 150 km of mostly single track that circumnavigates Mount Rainier with over 7,230 metres (23,700 feet) of cumulative elevation gain (plus equal loss of course). It’s normally done as a 10 day hike, but many will run it over 3 days with support from crew who can meet runners at several drive-in campsites along the way.

My friend Adam and I figured we would try to tackle it completely unsupported, meaning we would have to carry all of our food, cooking and camping gear, in around 40 hours. This presented some unique logistical challenges that would require quite a bit of planning and research into some new equipment.

There are some great trip reports and comprehensive hiking guides online, so I’m going to focus below more on the logistics of running the trail unsupported, for those who might consider doing the same.

The Howe Sound Crest Trail is a 29 km route that starts at Cypress Mountain, passing through the Lions and over multiple summits, before ending at Porteau Cove. It offers spectacular views of Howe Sound, the surrounding mountains, and beautiful turquoise lakes, while covering a variety of terrain.

The route would normally be tackled as an overnight trip, but it can be comfortably run in about 8-9 hours by a reasonably fit trail runner (including lots of stops for photos). Starting at Cypress makes it a net downhill that still offers almost 2,000 metres of elevation gain, but running it North to South from Porteau Cove is definitely an option for an added challenge. In either case, running it as a point-to-point with a car drop makes the most sense. Another option is to simply do the route as an out-and-back from Cypress to the Lions, arguably the nicest part of the trail, making it a much easier ‘half-day’ run.