Introducing my Vlog

Urban dictionary defines a Vlog as this:

A video log. A journalistic video documentation on the web of a person's life, thoughts, opinions, and interests. 

A vlog can be topical and timeless, instructional and entertaining. The main thread is trying to communicate on a personal level with your audience.

Alberta Runners Shop Local

Please share this with all your friends

Alberta has fallen on hard times the past few years with many having felt these effects and particularly small business owners. Countless Albertan consumers have lost their jobs or had their hours cut leading to less funds to spend on consumer items like running shoes and gear. It would be a real shame that by the time the economy sorted itself out one or more of the treasured Alberta independent running stores might close shop succumbing to the enormous pressure put upon them at this time. The national and international chain stores have an incredible leg up on the competition to the point that a regional economic downturn will certainly not result in these companies going under.

Gord Hobbins

I've preached to my friends for years the numerous benefits of shopping local. The obvious is the fact that when you shop local the money stays in the community, roughly 70% compared to the low 30% with the chain retailers. The inventory is also a huge bonus as the large retailers only carry a small range of sizes. So if you are smaller than a men's size 8.5 or larger then a 12 you are out of luck. Whereas Gord's Running Store will carry sizes 6 through 16 in all widths. Included in the inventory are the options of clothing that break away from the cookie cutter jackets, shirts and bottoms. Jeanette Deere, part owner of Strides Running Store and former national level middle distance runner, orders all the women's apparel including the undergarments for the unique Calgary weather patterns. Locals know this just makes sense.

Inside Gord's

A friend of mine went into a running chain retailer last month asking if they had the New Balance Zante in her size. After asking my friend what distance of a race she was training for, the young salesperson refused to bring out the shoe trying to convince my friend that this shoe was a short distance shoe and isn't designed to handle running a marathon. THIS IS A DISTANCE SHOE and is my preferred shoe for 24 hour racing (260-ish kms)! Now can you imagine receiving this advice in an independent store like Gord's Running Store, Strides Running Store, Fast Trax, or Runners Soul either from one of the owners (they seem to live there) or a staff member under careful oversight.

Gord's store front

Gord's Running Store in Calgary has been serving Calgary runners for the past 27 years. Owner Gord Hobbins works meticulously to insure top of the line customer service, a wide range of product and a feeling of travelling back in time when a store owner would welcome you into his store as if he was welcoming you into his home. Gord prides himself in offering a satisfaction guarantee so you can take your shoes home, run indoors or on a treadmill and if the shoes don't feel quite right just bring the non soiled shoes back in to swap them out. Good luck finding this service at a large retailer. On a personal note, I've been sponsored by Gord's for 5 years. I am generally uncomfortable with sponsorship or ambassadorship as I find it's an obvious ego stroke and pigeon holes oneself as an athlete. When Gord and I spoke about this years ago I asked him what he'd like in return. I'll never forget his response; he said he wanted me to motivate others in the running community, act as a positive role model, and most importantly keep smiling and have fun out there.

Inside Strides

Jeremy Deere

Strides Running Store in Calgary is owned and operated by Jeremy and Jeanette Deere. Other than being a couple of the finest people I know, they are passionate about sharing their love for this sport with anyone willing to listen. Jeremy is a local running giant winning the Mother's Day 10K 17,000 times and even still at the youthful age of 41 still flirts with the sub 15 min 5K. They have assembled an energetic and knowledgeable staff in their two locations. A general misnomer that stores like Strides are for elites and the chain retailers are better suited for the beginner runner is completely false. The Strides staff are extraordinarily welcoming and more than happy to answer all inquires from the detail oriented questions towards gear or more beginner questions like "How do I train for my first 5K?"

The other two locally owned and independent stores I'd like to draw attention to is Fast Trax in Edmonton owned by local guru Jack Cook and Runners Soul in Lethbridge owned by local enthusiasts Erin and Shawn Pinder. I've had brief experiences at these stores and much like Gord's and Strides they had the same excellent feel embodying their local running community spirit. I challenge the local bloggers in Edmonton and Lethbridge to pay it forward and give their local independent running store the respect and attention it's been giving its customers for the past many years.

Gord's Frozen Ass 50

Photo Leo Fung

Gord's Frozen Ass 50 on Family Day was more of a test to see where I am with my fitness and where I need to focus to get where I want to be come July's World 24 hour championships in Belfast. The race started in typical hot ass style of the runners from the back of the start line yelling at the front to "Get going!" This had me in stitches for the first few kilometres while jumping, dodging and carefully focusing on the uncontrolled ice underneath our feet. This course runs from the Bow River Canoe Club on the corner of Deerfoot Trail and 17th ave SE along the unmaintained pathways of the Chestermere canal to Chestermere Lake and back again. This is a very flat but slow course due to the thaw freeze ice cycle.

The front pack consisted of friends Chris Hooper, Myron Tetreault, Mike Hamilton, and myself. We fell into a comfortable 4:10 min/km pace. Around 8 kms into the foggy day we looked up to see none other than a big honking train blocking us from continuing on the path. We laughed and took this opportunity to eat something and wait the 4.5 minutes until the train passed and granted access to the remaining 42 kms ahead of us. We continued our run falling into a steady groove ticking the kilometres off one by one. I told the guys I wanted to pick things up on the back half to get a solid workout in. I mentioned I wanted to sit under a 4 min km pace. Both Myron and Chris said they'd both assess how they are feeling at the lake and get back to me. At the lake I saw friends Tony Gordon and Leo Fung serving a delicious buffet. I grabbed a bit of an almond croissant and turned around to face the final stretch home. Within the first 3 kilometers I was hitting 3:40 kms but felt comfortable so decided to let it fly.

Photo Leo Fung

The best part about the Frozen Ass is seeing all the smiling faces. Everyone I passed along the out and back on the return to Calgary had great smiles and shouted encouragement. The Calgary running community has got to be the best around. There were plenty of dodgy sections where I saw my pace drop considerably but I was very happy to see that these old ultra legs could still hold a good pace 30 km into a race. In the last five kilometers of the race things got really sketchy as the sun emerged from the clouds and made the once sticky ice now perfect conditions for a triple sow cow. With only a kilometer to go I must have let my guard down and BAM! I landed square on my side. I layed there for a minute or two. Did a system check, realized all is good, got up and finished the damn thing. In true hot ass racing form,

the finish line consisted of one volunteer in a lawn chair. I asked him if this is the finish line and he replied "Yep".

Thanks to Gord, his family, and all the volunteers for putting on such a great low key race. Rumours were swirling that this was the 30th showing of this event but knowing Gord and his laid back attitude he wouldn't take any congrats but instead put the praise out to the Alberta ultra community for coming out strong 30 years in a row.

Priming The Pump

Howdy y'all. Just thought I would check in and fill you all in on how I'm readying myself for the 2017 and 2018 seasons. Because the sport of ultra running is really still a group of outliers, there is no set way to prepare for this ridiculous sport. Instead there is a mish-mash on ideas and loose principles eventually leading the athlete to a state of readiness, or at least we hope so. I'm constantly curious what my running friends are up to and always adapting my strategies combining the tried and true principles, new to me concepts, and the weird and wacky in hopes it all pans together producing the results I desire.






Up until now I've been in a stage I call Priming the Pump. This is an awkward stage in which I want to get my body and mind ready to tackle some serious training mileage but still not wanting to jump the gun. I need to avoid pushing the weekly mileage too soon in training which can lead to burn out or injury. So I've developed a plan to get longer runs in while still keeping the weekly mileage down. This means I have only been running 2-4 days per week with plenty of days off. I know of runners this time of the year that crush big mileage by cramming in a shit ton of 10 and 15 km runs, doubling up on most days. I find this inefficient and doesn't create reasonable adaptive stresses to create the change desired. Here is an idea of my mileage on my last 8 runs in a span of 2.5 weeks: 62km, 29km, 11km, 63km, 41km, 42km, 47km, and 38km.


Two things are being accomplished at this time, my body feels rad because I am giving my body plenty of time to recover and my mindset is positive about where my head space is at the end of these longer days.

So is this what the calm before the storm feels like?

2016 Year in Review

"It was the best of times it was the worst of times."  The year 2016 was tumultuous at best. With three goals in mind I went into this season feeling like I can take on the world (and kinda did) and left sheepishly giving reverence to this sport that can leave oneself mentally damaged and physically crippled. So to not waste your time I'll separate this post into three sections:

Accomplishments:
Ran 260.4 kilometres on a treadmill at the Calgary Marathon race expo with the MitoCanada crew to break two Guinness world records and raise a ton of funds and much needed awareness. The negative was this left me as useless as a half cooked week old meat loaf and unable to race successfully the rest of the year yet alone pee standing up.

Lessons learned (written as if I'm talking to myself):
1. Dream big because we are far more capable and deserving than what we think.
2. The mind can be stretched to achieve great things but must be given time to regain its original and healthy form.
3. Stop underestimating yourself and understating your accomplishments.
4. I'm not 25 anymore.
5. A grassy patch on the side of a trail is far more comfortable than you'd think.

6. My wife is a saint.
7. The body must be near perfect going into a multi-day race.
8. Wearing mismatch shoes distracts people from noticing how unattractive my face is.
9. Mustaches are dead sexy
10. The mind can guide the body to do incredible things

Goals for next year:
I'll be a busy beaver this winter base building for the spring/summer races. I'll run Gord's Frozen Ass 50 for training, The Calgary Confederation 150 in late May, and River Valley Revenge in early June. All of these will be a build to my first goal race which is the World 24 hour Championships in Belfast on July 1-2. I'd like to crush a big number and challenge the podium with a 265 plus kilometre day. After that I don't really have any plans for the rest of the summer so if you have any recommendations please send them my way. Either way I'll be transitioning into multi-day training and making my way back to Across The Years in Arizona in December. There I'll try my hand at the six day in hopes to break the 48, 72 hour, and the 6 day Canadian records and try to run over 1000 kilometres. That being said, 2017 will be my biggest race year to date but will pale in comparison to what 2018 has in stock.

Proctor does Pilates, part two

Doing Pilates is damn humbling. I'm now four long weeks into my Pilates workout program and I am seeing improvement, yet whenever I begin to think that I've got this Pilates thing pegged Shalene dials it up a notch making me question our friendship. Shalene has been oddly patient with me these past four weeks. In between the homicidal stares and the mumbled curse words she has calmly guided me in and out of movements and positions that shake me to my core (literally).

The past two weeks I have been picking things back up and running a bit more. Admittedly, I have been feeling more controlled at my core. When I run I don't ever think of squeezing and stabilizing my trunk but since starting Pilates with Shalene I feel that my core is more supported and all movements feel easier because of it. I'll be extending the weekly mileage over the remainder of the year and paying close attention to the messages my body is sending me. Injury prevention is a key component to having a successful running season and I feel I'm on the right track starting from the core out.

Proctor does Pilates part 1

My name is Dave Proctor and I am weaker then a Tim Hortons cup of coffee. This might come as a surprise to you as I am also the Guinness world record holder for furthest distance run on a treadmill in 24 hours (260.4km), the Canadian 24 hour record holder (257.093km) and hold a number of ultramarathon course records but in reality when the wind picks up I lack the strength to remain upright and coordinate my limbs. I have perfected the balance of doing just barely enough to wobble my way through these events while creating the illusion that I am a lean mean fighting machine. All was going to plan until the end of my 2016 season when a back spasm rocked my world and made all adjoining structures useless to it's owner. This was a major dose of reality. My 5 year old daughter reminds me on the daily "Dad, you are an old man with old bones", I now more then ever am believing her. The days of putting my body through unreal stresses and ignoring that lack of strength and the role it plays in the stability of the bodies structures is now a reality I can no longer dismiss.

Shalene and me

Hours ago I left the Pilates studio at LIVACTIV after shamefully suffering through my second session in as many weeks. The instructor Shalene Melnychuk patiently guided me through a routine of what should be easy peasy exercises and 'squeeze this' and 'breathe here' prompting. Admittedly I've given myself a failing grade. I know what you are thinking, Dave stop being a self deprecating asshole, but in reality people I REALLY REALLY suck at this stuff. When Shalene describes to me that she wants my soft tissues to hug my spine while I move my limbs independently all the while using my diaphragm anchoring with every breathe. Angrily I look up at her quivering like a leaf in a cold sweat wanting this lady to just leave me alone all the while questioning why I can run a hundred miles but can't simply move my body in and out of these simple positions. Either this woman is the sadist who likes making me feel an inferior weak little man or is really onto something here.

The way that Shalene has described it to me is that a runner should be able to anchor and stabilize every step of his run. If there's a weakness or a break in the chain an injury or inefficiency will occur. Shalene has already picked up on a number of deficiencies and is already formulating a plan to address these problems. I am committed to this Pilates program for at least the next three months. In order to reach my goal of running 265 kms at the world 24 hour championships in Ireland in July I must be strong as an ox and that strength will start from my center out. I'll be writing a post every other week to update you about my suffering (I mean progress).