Kevin's Blog

kevin_masters Every now and then, when I'm not busy working with athletes or taking care of business, I find time to write an article or two about things that are motivating, inspiring, and educating.

I hope you enjoy my blog -- feel free to drop me a note if you have something you'd like me to cover in an upcoming article!

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Kevin's Blog

Best Day Foiled by Going Off Course

Written by Kevin Masters Thursday, August 26, 2010 07:13 PM

We headed out and in the first mile we knew it was going to be an even stronger day for us. It was a long 24 mile day, or so it was suppose to be. We had a really tough 2 mile climb that brought us up to 11000 feet but after that we knew it was a nice rolling course with awesome single track. At 7 miles we really started to push the pace and before we knew it we were passing runners we have never been up with before. We were definitely going to have our best finish by far. That was until 18 miles. Then it finally happened, surprised it took this long but one and half races at TR and I finally got lost. We blew by the turn and put on an additional 3 miles in total. It hurt, the sails lost there wind for a few minutes after going hard with good success for 11 miles. We pulled ourselves together and tried to finish with the same pace and enthusiasm we had earlier, I think we did. It was another stage finish that drops you out off the trail onto an exposed road for a grueling ~3 plus miles. Today you could see the finish for the whole 4 miles which made it even worse. Life here is good, a mini town of tents, trailers and canopies are set up everywhere. Runners and staff scattered everywhere, working, relaxing and socializing. As hard as this is it probably provides the best mental break anyone here could have. We have 2 nights here this year so that's nice for runners and staff to not have to pack up again first thing tomorrow morning. It a straight up straight down day tomorrow, tough on the legs. We'll evaluate the altitude effects on the big climb and see if we can' t continue adapting and getting stronger with each day.

TR Day 2: Hope Pass and Leadville

Written by Kevin Masters Monday, August 23, 2010 10:17 PM

Day 2 begins in Vickisburg after a 30 min drive on the bumpiest gravel roads on old water rafting busses. It was fun though, you get to meet more people and not be out of breath when talking to them. The day starts with a 2 mile "flat" stretch before hitting hike mode for 4 ish miles, 3000'ft and ~ 45 minutes. We got off to a little bit of a slow start but once you hit the top even though it's ~ 8 miles to go,'it's 8 miles of some of the funnest trail running you could ever do.
So we picked things up again and had a super time through the second half. Poles we thought were an essential piece of equipment today. I find it takes a little load of the legs and also inhibits the tendency to start leaning forward to much making for an achey back. I find them as useful on some of the downhills to. I would use them like downhill skiers on the turns and they can help with the breaking to on the steeper sections. I was looking forward to Leadville, it a neat little gold mining town. Many of the shops still look like they are in original buildings. Being near town also let's you get away from camp for a while, we grabbed burgers and beer and now trying to write how great this is in a nice coffee shop. Day 3 route was my favorite last year, it was long at 23 miles but a nice mix of undulating terrain with no sustained climbs like today. It s funny , 300 runners walking around like post marathon runners do yet they will all get up (in zero degree temps) to run another one. It's very cool and inspiring to see so many runners do this day after day.

Transrockies Day One: Mission Complete

Written by Kevin Masters Sunday, August 22, 2010 06:48 PM

First big day, opened up with 20 miles, flat by TR standards outside of a 1 mile jaunt up that brought us to 9000 feet. It was HOT! Day 1 is hard when you are not sure who you better not follow and not knowing just what toll the altitude will take. Often running it would feel like everytime you took a breath someone would tighten the belt one notch tighter. The worst part today was probably a 3 mile stretch of road that was dead straight and about3 or 4 % . It was exposed and the distraction of beautiful trails was gone. We battled down that last stretch probably never cracking the 8 min/mile. In the end it was definitely a good day 1, truth will be known on the start line tomorrow, we raced well enough for a 3 hr finish for the 20 miles and 6 th place in the open division. Following a few high fives and lots of recovery food and drink we soaked our legs in the icey Arkansas River, what I think is key to my recovery from day to day in 08 TR. We shuttled back to camp where we entered thru the "tour de TR" motorhomes and rental trucks all parked for the night. Our bags were neatly piled and in order for us to grab and make a home in tent city. Cold tubs and massage were set up at the campground as well. It continues it's first class support that I remember in 08.

TR Training and Moose Mtn

Written by Kevin Masters Saturday, August 07, 2010 06:19 PM

Today Marc and I were fortunate to join Mark Fewster, my TR 2008 partner, for a great Moose Mtn Trail run in Bragg Creek. It was19 miles round trip, an out and back basically being 9.5 miles up on the way out and 9.5 miles down for the return trip. After running for 5 hours on the Skyline in Jasper, 3 hours today felt relaxed and that much more enjoyable. It was our last true trail run before Transrockies 2010. Today any issues encountered on the Skyline were avoided demonstrating we are getting close to getting our physical prep and gear prep 100% dialed in.

Success on the Jasper Skyline Trail Runs

Written by Kevin Masters Monday, July 26, 2010 08:17 PM

Coming off of a successful day one of the 45 km skyline trail, you always wonder how there could possibly be a successful day 2. But with some solid recovery practices and lots of good food, things can usually workout ok. We were psyched and ready for our second pass of the skyline, in 2 days.

Trans Rockies Run 2010

Written by Kevin Masters Friday, July 23, 2010 10:40 AM

I dont consider this a typical blog as i would rather write about our athletes then what i am doing, but over the next month I will try to provide some stories on the preperation and hopefully successful completion of the TransRockies Run 2010. In 2008 myself and a partner from Calgary, Mark Fewster, had a super week and finished 4th after the ~ 115 mile 6 day run race in Colorado. Everyone seemed to enjoy my attempt at a blog so I thought I would do the same this year, with my new partner Marc Meunier. We have not just started our training, things have gone quite well so far with success at the 5 peaks events, Canmore Challenge and Powderface 42, but I thought going into an epic weekend where Marc and I will be running the Jasper Skyline Trail (45km ) 2x it would be a good place to start the story telling. With the introduction of the Iphone we also hope to provide some video of some of our ups and downs.