lead pack west - matty schwartz

Matty Schwartz Western Canada ultra runner

[mattyschwartz]

Got my Inov8 Trail Roc 245s in the mail last week, super excited to hit the trails once the snow starts to melt.

[mattyschwartz]

My new favourite running accessory, the Anton Krupicka buff.

[mattyschwartz]

Shot from a training run last week, we have gotten even more snow since then...

[pacerfilms]

'The Beauty of the Irrational’ follows Ryan Sandes, a South African Ultra-Runner, as he returns to the Fish River Canyon to run the 5 day, 84km, Fish River Canyon Hiking Trail in the fastest time possible which he did in an amazing 6hrs 57mins.

The film was produced by Greg Fell of The African Attachment and directed by Dean Leslie who has worked on several other projects for Salomon Running.

It’s a very inspirational piece with some beautiful cinematography, some great aerial shots, and an interview which serves to help tell the story.

[mattyschwartz]

Beautiful footage

[mattyschwartz]

Back for 2014!

I'm brushing the dust off of leadpackwest.com It is been a long hiatus away from running competitively (approx 18 months), but it looks like in 2014 I should get back to what I love doing. Some exciting things are in the works in regards to training this year that I will touch on future posts. Look for regular training updates and random ultra posts to come.

Feels good to be back!

[mattyschwartz]

It got down to -43 Celsius with the windchill last week. Spent some warm nights going in circles around this track.

[mattyschwartz]

2012 Iron Legs 50 miler national championship - You can catch me at around 0:55:00 of the video.

[mattyschwartz]

Just a couple of early photos from the Blackfoot ultra 100km this past Saturday. I will post a race report hopefully sometime soon with the details of how it went.

[mattyschwartz]

Some epic slinky running to inspire you...

[teamagee]

The Salomon S-Lab Sense is a new light-weight trail racing shoe that is set to launch in May. It was developed specifically for ultra running superstar Killian Jornet, and was worn during his major wins in 2011 including the Western States 100. Even though I’m a Saucony guy (and much more of a road guy than a trail guy), this shoe is extremely intriguing to me for a few reasons:

It is a 6.5-ounce trail shoe, but it looks much, much more substantial than any other sub 7-ounce trail shoe I’ve ever seen before. For example, it weights less than the Merrell Trail Glove which basically looks like a slipper compared to the Sense.

The reviews are almost universally glowing (Example1, Example2), and make it seem like this is some type of alien technology super-shoe.

The MSRP is $200!!!! I don’t care how good it is, are people other than elite racers actually going to drop $200 for a trail shoe?

Anybody else out there intrigued by the Salomon S-Lab Sense?

[mattyschwartz]

Currently in the New Balance MT110, always looking for something lighter. Will have to give these a look.

[quotesfromthebooksiread]

“I never really discussed this with anyone because it sounds pretentious, but i started running ultras to become a better person,” Jenn told me. ”I thought if you could run one hundred miles, you’d be in this Zen state. You’d be the fucking Buddha, bringing peace and a smile to the world. It didn’t work in my case—I’m the same old punk-ass as before—but there’s always hope that it will turn you into the person you want to be, a better, more peaceful person."

“When I’m out on a long run,” she continued, “the only thing in life that matters is finishing the run. For once, my brain isn’t going blehblehbleh all the time. Everything quiets down, and the only thing going on is pure flow. It’s just me and the movement and the motion. That’s what I love—just being a barbarian, running through the woods.”

-Christopher McDougall, ‘Born to Run’, page 149

[mattyschwartz]

Long runs continue to pick-up

Got another long run in this weekend on Nose Hill, put in a 6 hour heavy hill run in on Sunday. With only 3 weeks till the Blackfoot 100km Ultra, I'm running better, but it is still going to be a rough go for the first 100km race of the season.

[mattyschwartz]

How a whole-foods, plant-based diet—free of all meat and animal products—has propelled one runner to ultramarathon greatness. By Scott Jurek & Steve Friedman

[mattyschwartz]

Got in a nice long trail run on Saturday, put in 5 hours of running out at Nose hill. It is my favorite place to run and where I will pretty much be for the rest of my summer runs.

I have been getting really behind on training updates, hopefully I can get this blog up to date this week.

[mattyschwartz]

Wonder what happened...

[memento78]

[mattyschwartz]

Salomon easily makes the best Ultra running videos. Enjoy.

[mattyschwartz]

TEDxPennQuarter - Christopher McDougall

Christopher McDougall is a former war correspondent for the Associated Press who reported from Rwanda, Angola and the Congo. A three-time National Magazine Award finalist, he has written for Esquire and The New York Times Magazine. While on an unrelated assignment in Mexico, he happened upon the Tarahumara Indians, a reclusive tribe that preserves the ancient human art of super-long distance running. McDougall described his time among the Tarahumara, and his own transformation from broken-down ex-runner into an ultra-marathoner, in his New York Times bestseller, Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Super Athletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen. He now does his own running among the Amish farms around his home in rural Pennsylvania, usually barefoot.

Source: youtube