Cleveland Dam to Cypress return, 24 Km

We had 36 people show up today to go up from Cleveland Dam toward Cypress Bowl. “Up” is what easily describes the first half of our run but at least we had lots of choices about how to get there. We started below the cloud cover today and rose above it eventually to see a bright blue sky. Moving through the trees surrounded by clouds was kinda spooky and perhaps even easier to get lost than usual. I asked everyone to stay in groups with many good reasons to do so, including the risk of running into bears in the park.

We split up into several groups and wound our way up through the Brother’s Creek Area and down the Hollyburn Chute ultimately. I always enjoy the full length of Brother’s Creek trail and indeed I took Marie and Kristie up there for their first try at the big climb. We passed old growth trees, climbed over endless roots and passed by 3 lakes on our way to the Ranger Jay’s hut on Hollyburn Mountain. Jay was there to say hi and assure us that the drinking water is still available. There is a new sign, however, noting that the water is not treated. In fact, Jay told us the water has never been treated but has been used as a ‘safe’ water source for many years. He himself drinks it every day when he is there and I know from personal experience the water has proven safe. That being said, when taking untreated water from the mountainside or anywhere else you are always at risk for problems. It’s a tough call on this one so do your best to use common sense and always be extra careful.

I told the group before we started that I would have some tips for you, so here goes. These are to keep you thinking and away of potential problems.

1. Clip your toenails before running to avoid crunched toes and blackened toenails. Many toe problems can be prevented by trimming or filing nails once every week or two.
    
2. Be sure to use some sort of body lubricant on those sensitive spots, especially for the long runs. As far as I’m concerned this is not an optional part of running. I now have 5 spots on each side of my body that get Body Glide or something similar prior to runs greater than a couple of hours. And keep in mind that some synthetic shirts can be quite troublesome to the chest area, especially the pointy bits for the guys.
    
3. Run slowly on our Sunday outings. For the less experienced trail runners, this is when we push our time not our speed. Part of the reason is because it is just too easy to get injured going fast. Why knock yourself out and risk injury before race day? And remember, your weaknesses can build up and get much worse over time becoming true injuries that require months of healing.
    
4. If you’re not sure what to eat and drink during the race, try some things out in training. Learn about carefully adding electrolytes to your running regimen through drink mixes or tablets. Always carry some type of food with you even if you have no intention of eating it. Carb gels are compact and easy to carry for example and can help you enjoy that last hour of your run instead of being bothered by a completely empty stomach and waning energy. Also plan to eat immediately after running to help you recover as quickly as possible. The best way to do this is with a liquid helping of protein and carbs, about a 1 to 4 ratio in grams respectively. There are many drinks and drink mixes on the market to help you with this or you can make your own. Chat with the knowledgeable staff at North Shore Athletics for more information and to see what they have in stock.

I know you’re looking forward to the run next weekend since it travels a familiar route. And don’t listen to anyone that says it is a particularly hard one because that is all in their head. I suggest you take that training run on and make it your easiest, simplest, ‘quickest’ run of the season. No matter how long it takes or how hard it is, you can convince yourself it is a piece of cake. And that will then make all the other runs seem even easier. Are ya with me on this one? Good.

So, the next run is Grouse to Old Buck Return and the meeting time is now one hour earlier at 7:00 am. The official turn around point on this out-and-back will be after making your way down that long stretch after turning right at the top of the Seymour Grind. If you go left at that point you end up at the Historic Mt. Seymour Mushroom Parking lot but we don’t do that. Instead we follow the Baden Powell Trail to the right and down down down to the next major intersection where the BP and Old Buck Trails meet. Then we gladly turn around and come back up up up and follow the route to Grouse Mountain that we took on the way out. There is a map of this area on-line at:

http://wlapwww.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/mt_seymr/mtseymour_brochuremap.pdf

AND, of course you will have noticed the new boardwalks and rock scaling on the lower Seymour Grind section that our work party did on Saturday, May 28th. Feel free to stop and admire the work of which we are so proud ;-) Thanks to Delany’s Coffee House by the way for the coffee and muffins for our hard trail workers … mmm mmm good.

Lastly, in case you’re wondering, there is almost no snow left on Black Mountain and Hollyburn Mountain. I’ve gotten word from Jeff today that Black is mostly rock and dirt and Hollyburn is almost all mud and mud, as expected at this time.

Craig Moore
(e-mail me with our feedback form)

training run reports - home