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  • Lessons from my first Ultramarathon

    August 9th I ran my first ultramarathon, the Ultra-Trail du Fjord Saguenay (“UTFS”). I covered 52km and 2,100m of elevation gain in Saguenay, QC. It was a series of problems that needed to be solved or persevered, most could have been avoided along with the accompanying pain, but that is where the fun is. This entry is an effort to document the practical knowledge gained through a tumultuous summer of heavy running that ended with a very hard race.

    To set the scene, the initial plan was to run the 100km distance of the same event. In order to be permitted to run the 100 I needed to run a qualifier event of at least 50km. The UTFS race director gave me a pass on the slightly shorter than required 45km Notos Ultra-Trail in Victoriaville on June 14. But, and a really big but, I fully tore my right pec 2 weeks into training on March 8, got it surgically reattached March 28, and was not permitted to run for 9 weeks total. I wanted to run a successful race, and not slog through 100km undertrained so I decided to pivot and scale back to the 30km Notos Trail and 50km UTFS events. Each taught me a lot about trail-running.

    Lesson #1: Condition your feet.
    Until the 30km, I generally thought I was blister resistant. Consequently, the only footcare I did before the event was to lather my feet in anti-chaffing cream and wear lightweight merino wool socks. It wasn’t enough to prevent significant friction on the outer heels of both feet leading to large blisters with the biggest one being on my left foot. The pain was difficult to manage in the final 8k of the race, if I had to go any further it would have been a major problem. Before the 50, I resolved to figure out a solution and some superficial research led me to covering my heels with Leukotape, and that definitely helped. I finished with blisters in the same spot, but about a quarter of the size. It seems that a book called Fixing Your Feet by John Vonhof is the gospel for this sort of thing. It’s on my ‘To-Read List’ before my next race.
    Another part of it, in my opinion, is down to simple conditioning of the feet. Running technical terrain, over rocks, roots, gravel, uphill and downhill for 52km will beat them up. Although, as I mentioned, my feet faired a lot better in the 50 than the 30. So I have to believe that more time on feet, and more kilometers on technical terrain will condition them in preparation for longer distances.

    Lesson #2: Get a quiver.
    I tried 2 methods to carry my poles: 1) Tucked in the elastic of my running vest, and 2) Horizontally tucked in the elastic loops of my running belt. Both methods sucked, forcing me to run with poles at times I didn’t want too. It was my biggest annoyance during both races. Before the next one, I will buy AND get a few training runs with a quiver.

    Lesson #3: Food. Water. Salt.
    The 30km race wasn’t long enough to fully flush out my fueling strategy. I planned to eat a bag of candy or a Maurten’s gel every hour and supplement with whatever was offered at aid stations. I quickly abandoned the Maurten’s when I couldn’t stomach the texture. Thankfully, the candy ended up sufficing but I was lacking in salt on a humid day. Cramps set in by km 25 after a steep climb and it was a painful march to the finish.
    I made the following corrections for UTFS 50: 2x500mg salt pills to start the race, followed by 2 more every hour. Both of my water flasks had an electrolyte packet with another added at every aid station. I swapped out the Maurten’s for Xact energy bars – about 3/4 of the calories per serving – and kept the candy in the rotation while reducing fueling intervals to 45 minutes. I was well hydrated (although suffering from serious palette fatigue) but calorie deprived. Consequently, at km 40, with no aid station until the finish, I bonked and death marched the last 12km.
    As of yet, I’m still unsure how to correct my fueling strategy. I expect I’ll figure it out through trial and error. I read that if you were to somehow be capable of carrying a 5lbs bag of sugar, a 5lbs bag of salt, and 5 gallons of water during an ultra and you try to consume the most of each throughout your race, you’d probably PR. Maybe I’ll try that.

    Lesson #4: Shoes.
    I did all my trail running on Salomon Ultra Glide 3s. Very comfortable shoes, but I suspect the heavy heel cushioning lead to my blisters. It, when running on technical terrain like rocks and roots, would heavily compress creating friction on the outer edge of my heels. Additionally, I am not a fan of the quick lace system having to frequently re-tighten them on training runs and races. I plan to buy new shoes with slightly less cushion and regular laces.

    Lesson #5: Training.
    While undertrained for the 30km, I think I was appropriately trained for the 50km. The program was quite simple: 1 or 2 easy runs, 1 hill workout, back-to-back long runs on weekends, with one of them being a trail run. I would usually do my hill workouts on Mont-Royal after work, and Saturdays I would head to Mont Saint-Hilaire for the trail run. The one shortcoming of my training block was that it was short, I could have done much better if I had more time to increase the mileage, and the vert. I will also make sure to train on more varied and technical terrain. I found out that technical running is a skill, and I intend to practice.

    Final Tally:
    All told I ran more this year than ever, and I hope to do even more in 2026. I learned a lot and have a lot to learn.

    Stats:Training:UTFS 50:
    Time:55.8 hrs9.6 hrs
    Distance:451.2 km51.5km
    Elevation:7,018 m2,136 m
    Calories:34,5334,820
    *All stats pulled from my Garmin

  • On Meditations

    I’ve read Meditations cover to cover only once, but have returned to it countless times. It’s usually when I’m between books, and usually before bed to replace scrolling social media for a dopamine chase 

    I bought it to be my introduction to stoicism and other philosophical works, but I was wholly unaware that it’s more diary than book. It isn’t revelatory or an explicit instructional on stoicism and if you’re buying it with those expectations you will be disappointed. It is a book that is good to be read and best to be re-read. The themes need a digestive period to properly be understood. At least, that was my experience. 

    My first impression of Meditations is that Marcus Aurelius is repetitive. He frequently repeats and reframes ideas and beliefs throughout the 12 books and it really only makes sense as to why when you understand that they were never supposed to be published as a book, or published at all; this is just Marcus Aurelius’ journal, not intended for an audience. A fact made more evident by many entries being incomprehensible without having further historical context. The thematic repetition is a concerted effort to reinstate and reinforce his beliefs to himself, as if he’d forget them, or without practice they would fail him, and he, in turn, would fail his empire. They are the entries of a man often challenged, and stressed, seeing the worst in people as they hunger for power and status. The emperor of Rome, one of the most powerful and consequential men of his time, had to relentlessly reassure himself that soon he would die, and those around him would perish and turn to dust. Frequent self-reminders of the mortality of men was an exercise in lowering the stakes of his decisions, surely to ease the burden of his office. 

    I had bought Gregory Hays’ translation, which seems to be the most well regarded one. It is in my opinion that the best thing about Hays’ translation is not the actual book but his introductory essay. It will teach you more on the theory of stoicism and related themes than Meditations would. Meditations, after all, is not a book teaching you about stoicism, but demonstrating stoicism in practice. But not classical, Grecian stoicism, but a very Roman stoicism, mixed with Epicureanism, Platonism, and Cynicism. 

    I’m going to sidebar here and quickly summarize those three schools more for the purpose of my own memory than anything else. Epicureanism is that there’s virtue in avoiding pain; seeking pleasure is the highest form of good. Platonism focuses on the transience of the material world and the distinction of the body and soul, the body is transient and the soul is eternal. Cynicism seeks virtue in simplicity and living an ascetic, Spartan life. It values a complete detachment from the material.

    Hays’ foreword was my introduction to the notion of Providence or the logos. This idea that life is a cart driven by a horse, and we are tied to it. It’s deterministic but still leaves the possibility of free will. You can choose to fight and be dragged by the cart, or run with it. To a degree, most things that happen to you are out of your control but your reaction and how you navigate them is entirely within your control. You’re a boat on a river, you can navigate the current or row against it, the former is more sustainable than the latter. Funnily enough, reading Meditations allowed me to fully grasp the weight of books like The Count of Monte Cristo, and Shogun. In The Count of Monte Cristo Edmond Dantes proclaiming he is Providence is more powerful when you understand he is Fate, his revenge is inevitable. For that reason alone, I consider Meditations as a foundational book to being well-read. The themes are transcendent across literature and ultra-practical to daily life.

    Notable Quotations:

    “… stop being aimless, stop letting your emotions override what your mind tells you, stop being hyprocritical, self-centered, irritable. You see how few things you have to do to live a satisfying and reverent life?”

    “People who labour all their lives but have no purpose to direct every thought and impulse toward are wasting their time – even when hard at work.”

    “Beautiful things of any kind are beautiful in themselves and sufficient to themselves.”

    “Blame no one. Set people straight, if you can. If not, just repair the damage. And suppose you can’t do that either. Then where does blaming people get you?”

  • Preparing for the 2025 Hunting Season

    2025 is my second hunting season as a full fledged hunter. As a kid, I would go hunting with my dad at mononc’ Guy’s property for a weekend each November. The tradition continued until I was about 11 then my dad got busy with work, and I got busy with school and friends and it suddendly died out. Many years would come to pass before I learned that as much as I would tell him “We need to go hunting again” we wouldn’t go unless I took the initiative. I found us a 330 acre property that the land owner was willing to lease out to us for the moose and deer seasons, found a cheap ass motel to stay at, and last year we went hunting for the first time in 15 years (including a new species – moose).

    Today, we’re approaching the 2025 season, and I’m dialled on spending as many days as possible in the woods. It’s been difficult to focus on anything else, especially work. I’m angsty with anticipation and itching for the first day out.

    Here’s what’s new from this year:

    Target Species:

    Moose is out, small game and migratory birds are in! I want more action, I want more days outside, and above all I want to eat local wild game. Migratory birds and small game offer the greatest opportunity to accomplish all of my goals, not to mention, moose hunting in Québec is much more complex logistically, especially for two people with no access to ATVs. Specific species of interest are: Ruffed grouse, cottontail rabbit, duck, and of course white-tailed deer.

    Despite having never hunted small game, it seems to be the most accessible. The season runs the longest; in most zones going from mid-September to mid-January, species depending. There are wildlife reserves within a couple hours of Montreal that offer daily access, and boast “harvest to hunting days” ratios above one, meaning that if you hunt for one day you are likely to kill one point some-ought animals (in this specific case I am talking about ruffed grouse).

    Hunting migratory birds really excites me. I was looking to buy a shotgun this year, and was hung up between an inexpensive pump-action 12GA but had an opportunity to tier-up to a semi-automatic at a marginal price increase. Having a new gun in the (very limited) armory enticed me to search out guided duck hunts around Montreal and found a couple at a reasonable daily price (considering the otherwise necessary of cost of duck decoys). Not to mention, the opportunity to learn is much greater going with a guide then figuring it out alone.

    Property:

    The land we hunted last year was a riparian, conifer-heavy forest with the southeastern third of the property carpeted in moss over a foot thick. Since a dammed up river ran parallel uphill from it, it made for a wet, and densely wooded environment that was more welcoming to moose than deer, evidenced by the significant (in quantity and volume) moose droppings. Neither of us secured a kill of either species last year – we only saw cows, no bulls, and the one chance I had at a buck I wasn’t comfortable with the shot placement available.

    I’m expanding my reach principally due to the expansion of species we’re hunting. Small game will mainly be targeted at two wildlife reserves: Mastigouche and Papineau-Labelle. I know absolutely nothing about them other than the maps available online. I foresee heavy trial and error here. Both wildlife reserves are located north of Montreal, Papineau-Labelle is westward while Mastigouche is eastward. If you were to draw straight lines connecting them to the city it would look like two antennae growing out of Montreal’s head with Mont-Tremblant National Park sitting in the middle.

    Duck hunting is contingent on where the guide will take us but it will either be on Lac St-Louis or Lac des Deux-Montagnes, the latter being the lake I grew up sailing on. I’m quite familiar with it, yet I’ve never seen any duck hunters there – interested to see where it goes.

    Finally, we found a new property to hunt deer. A family friend has an unused 50 acre lot in Harrington that he graciously will permit us to hunt this November. I’ve yet to scout the property but from pictures I gather it mainly consists of deciduous hardwoods, not nearly as densely populated as last year’s. If we’re lucky, there will be oak. For if there is oak, there are acorns; and if there are acorns, there are deer. (Or so I’m told).

    Closing Words:

    Much is new this year, but much hasn’t changed. At the end of the day, we’re still spending time amongst the trees, seeing more squirrels than deer and hoping to fill the freezer before we freeze our asses off in the November chill. One of my favourite childhood traditions ended because we were too busy to make it a priority. I deeply regret the many years spent wishing to go hunting rather than working to make it happen. But my focus is on the now, rather than ruing the 15 years of experience I could have had. I’ve worked a lot and done much more research this year to make it a fruitful season. As always, I hope to bag a buck, several grouse and many ducks. Yet, as always, I expect to be humbled by the woods, finish the season with another year of lessons but, hopefully, a freezer full of game.