Wednesday, May 31, 2017

May 2017 Totals

Run   -     253 km
YTD - 1,314.8 km

Did two 50Kers Seaton and Sulphur both were very good results for me.   I am doing the full Endur Run in August so I have been trying to add a little bit of speed to my running.   Had an enormous amount of rest days this month more then ever but it all seems to be working


23 Runs done

Trail 9 Runs 149.4 km
Treadmill 14 Runs 103.6 km
Rested 10 Days ... a new record!  

And thats a wrap for May

7K Heart Run done on my meal break today the last run in May 2017.

Weigh in = 171 lbs...hope I can maintain that until Saturday for my lung burner ... yep doing a 10Ker

Second Run Tuesday

Did a little 4Ker on the backyard trail last Eve... really it was just an excuse to have a few Beers in the Hammock!

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Faster Tuesday

95% recovered from the weekends Ultra.  Logged my 7K Heart Run on my meal break today.   HR was a touch higher then it has been ...no big deal!




Monday, May 29, 2017

Lunch Run

Easy little 5Ker today on my meal break.  48 hour out from Sulphur there is a touch of DOMs but it was no big deal.  

Sulphur Springs 50K Trail - Saturday May 27, 2017

 Returned to Ancaster again this time running the Sulphur 50 K race.    The last time I did thsi distance at this event was in 2010 then in 2011 it was my first 100 miler.  In 2013, 2013, 2014 and 2015 I did the 50 miler and last year I attempted a 100 miler and DNF logging 80K.     I narrowly missed a course PB by less the a minute tripping the clock at 5hrs45min40sec compared to 2010's 5hrs45min09sec.

 Race start was at 07:30 am I gave myself 2 hours drive time but I arrived just before 06:30 am.   Had about a Ks hike for the race kit ... I was expecting that!    Doing the 50K we headed out for a 10K jaunt including the Lollipop's Three Sisters as well as a climb up Martin Rd then out on the 20K loop done twice.   Decided to play the fade going out fast ,  really fast running 2 of the Three Sisters as well has half of the Martin Rd climb.   I was through 10K in under an hour although my Garmin said somewhere closer to 9Ks ... still very happy with that.    Flew through the first 20K loop felling pretty good in crossing the start/ finish somewhere around 3hrs10min to 3hrs15min...  will have to check the actual splits!   The day wasn't hot ,  high teens to low 20's but it was humid with zero breeze.    I was sweating heavily and should have jumped on the hydration a little sooner because it hit me pretty hard around 33Ks in... a wee bit dehydrated ,  not terrible bad but enough to take the wind out of my sails.   I kept moving well through the last 17Ks but it was much slower then before and I was walking just about all the hills running the flats and the downhills.    Did about 7 gels and a around 6 S Caps over the course of the race.  I started to get a little more pop in the legs across the top of the Lollipop but there was not much course left and I had already burned and extra 15 min or so on the last loop.   At around the 30K mark I figured that I may have a shot at around 5hrs30min but I knew I was slowing but I was confident in a sub 6 or so I thought...doubt crept in ,  actually the " Ultra Brain "  so I was pretty happy with the time that I logged.

Garmin Splits,   10K 56min,   30K 3hrs9min, 50K 5hrs45 min.  1st 20K look was 2hrs13min and the second time around it was much slower in 2hrs36min


 So the jury is out ...suspect that I would have had a similar time or possibly slightly better if I had of paced myself more evenly.  Possibly if I had of hydrated a wee bit more in the beginning I may have been a bit faster.   Regardless it was a good day with great results.

 Saturday I am running a local 10Ker then the following week its the CTC 50K Saturday the 42.2K Sunday.


Fitbit data was a little spotty in the last couple of hours ... too much sweat between the watch and my skin.  HR was high start to finish but I really didn't notice it until I peaked here and there in the 150's then I backed it down a wee bit.






















Garmin Data ...







Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Easy 5

With the Sulphur 50K on Saturday its time to gear it down and take it easy.   Did a little 5Ker at a 6:00 pace on my meal break today.  Running slower seemed allot harder!!!  


Two Run Tuesday

 It was  a nice evening last night so I wanted to stretch the trail legs so I logged a little 4.8 Ker om the backyard trail....actually it was just an excuse to have a few Beers in the Hammock.   Black Fly's are starting to dissipate quickly being replaced by the Mosquito.




Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Monday, May 22, 2017

Victoria Day Monday

Working on the holiday but only 8 hours today.  Logged my classic 7K " Heart Run " today.   HR was lower again barely breaking 140 and only spending 5 min in the peak zone according to the Fitbit.




Sunday, May 21, 2017

Sunday Speed

 12K logged on my meal break today.   Was going to do an extended " heart run" but the HR was lower today and it felt good so it ended up being a bit of a dry run for my upcoming 10Ker in a couple for weeks.   Started off at a 6:00 pace working my way up to a 5:00 pace over the first 2Ks.  Between 2 and 4K I worked up to a 4:45 pace and held until 5K where I cranked it up to a 4:30 pace then held it there until the 10K mark where I geared it down over then next 2Ks.   It all felt pretty good,  a little hot and a small tweak in the right calf otherwise A OK.


Saturday, May 20, 2017

Saturday

Unplanned rest day yesterday ... just busy and ran out of day!

Back to work today logging a 10.6 K Run on the treadmill on my meal break.


Thursday, May 18, 2017

Busy Week

Turned around from mids Monday managing to squeeze in a little 5.6 Ker on the backyard trail.    Apres run was some classic rock in the hammock with a few beers ... fell asleep for about an hour.

Tuesday was a rest day of sorts ... painted  the very tall wall in my great room.  Lots of good leg exercise up and down ladders and the stairs.

Wednesday was a 20K Kayak trip on the Saugeen... more good cross training!  


















On Thursday it was back to the trails again logging another 5.6 Ker  looping in my forest.

It was super hot .. the HR sure climbed guess the body was working hard to keep cool...






Sunday, May 14, 2017

Mid 7

10K logged on my meal break this evening....it was like Seaton was a dream,  felt 100%.  Slowed it down a bit taking it easy on my heart running at a mostly 5:45 pace.  






Seaton Soaker 50 km - Pickering, Ont May 13, 2017

Registered for the Seaton Soaker way back in December.   At that time my work schedule had me off but that changed and I was scheduled to work nights. Did want to waste the race bib so I book off my shift.... no big deal ,  right!   We not so easy comes to mind .... worked  Tues ,  Wed , Thurs and Fri Midnight to 8am ..... went home Friday the stayed up all day heading to bed at 5:45 pm.....



















 Had my best sleep of the week getting up an hour before my 3am alarm!!!!!!   Did all the usual race morning stuff then headed to Pickering ,  Ran 50K ,  drove home and here is the punch line ,  back in to work Sat Eve to work 8pm to 8am ....YIKEs.

 I had a good race ,  a really good race I have never had a fantastic Seaton just OK but today was pretty good logging 6hrs3min6sec.    Did  a total of 8 Gels,  about 3 liters of Water and a couple of S Caps.   It was humid and 10C at the start with no breeze what so ever so things got a little bit warm as temps edged up.    There was a ton of traffic on the first lap and I was guilty of tucking in and running other folks pace ... I much prefer just to do my own thing!   I was 100% good until the river at the 21K mark then I had a bit of a struggle with the wet then heavy muck a K later.    Got over it passing through the start finish but I really felt like I was always pushing it the second half.   I enjoyed the run but the funny sleeping and mids made for some legs that just didn't have much "pop" in them.     I was surprised when I finished because the last loop I only slowed down about 20 seconds / km but it felt like allot more.    The heart rate was higher ....  ran my feel not so much watching the HRM like PYP.   This is what the Fitbit reported .....






















Its cute that it thought I ran 56.92 km!

Garmin Data said the course was a bit short but its often inaccurate on theses sorts of runs ....

























Found a race picture that I really liked ....


























 So I was really pleased with my results ,  a course PB at 6hrs3min6sec last year was 6hrs16min48sec and in 2012 it was 7hrs22min59sec and 2010 6hrs56min54sec.  

 Up next in 2 weeks the Sulphur Springs 50Ker...cant wait!


Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Ditto

Did the same lunch run as yesterday ... cool down was a bit weird having to make a rest stop before I was finished!


Tuesday, May 9, 2017

Lunch Run

The Heart Run was a wee bit more challenging at 2:00 am!    Managed to squeeze out another 7Ker this morning on my meal break.   One more to go then 2 days of rest before Seaton.


Monday, May 8, 2017

Trail Monday

9.7Ks done on the neighborhood trails today.  Traded Saturday and Sunday's Gortex Shoes and Tights for Shorts and my Hooka Stinson 3's...a wee bit chilly bit the other would have been too warm.   So thats a wrap on the trail scene util after Seaton just a couple of " Heart Runs " to go before I hot the trails again.


Sunday, May 7, 2017

Saturday Sunday Trails

Did a 10.1K Trail Run Saturday and a 9.6K Trail Run on Sunday.  

On Saturday it was raining and cool so it was tights ,  a shell, gortex shoes a Ball Cap.  Hit the neighborhood trail logging a10.1 K Run .  Was still feeling PYP with a little buring in the quads.









































It was still cool on Sunday but dry and mid single digits so I ditched the Shelll and was quite comfortable.   Legs had some pop in them and there was no quad pain so I declare myself recovered from PYP.











































Going to repeat the trail run tomorrow then Tues/Wed a 7K Heart Run @ work then two days off before the Seatonn 50Ker ...I have a plan LOL!  

Thursday, May 4, 2017

Heart Run

90% recovered from PYP.    Did a 7K Heart Run on my meal break this evening.


Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Recovery Run

First Run in the books since PYP Saturday logging an easy going 5Ker on my meal break this evening.

 Had the usual Quad pain after running PYP.   Its almost gone,  another day or two.  Going to try a Heart Run tomorrow on my meal break.



 

Monday, May 1, 2017

April 2017 Totals

April -   295.0  km
YTD - 1,061.8 km

One race was done Pick Your Poisson the Outrace season opener.   Mother Nature cooperated and I was able to get my trail legs on logging some good trail time.

Summary ,   ran a total of 29 times and had 5 rest days.

Track   1 X 32 km
Trail 13 X 142 km
Treadmill 14 X 131 km
Road 1 X 10 km


Pick Your Poison 50K Trail Race - Saturday April 29, 2017

 My 7th and second fastest PYP is on the books finishing the race in 6hrs25min58sec good for 49 position out of the 112 folks that started the race.   I ran a solid disciplined race and couldn't be happier with the results.  Now for all the details .....


 Friday nigh before the race was just plain weird.     I rested Thursday and Friday not doing a whole lot of anything physical.   I had been working Evening Shift and arranged to be off at 8pm as working until midnight then getting up at 5am just doesn't work out very well.    Friday Eve at work I was exhausted,  even felt like I was getting sick.  When I went home at 8pm I was incredibly tired which  is never me and especially because I was so well rested.    I have notice that I have felt this was on the eve before a race in the past!   I really think there is some kind of subconscious body behavior going on knowing what it was I am about to do the next day ....strange but true!

 Race morning was more or less routine....could almost cut and paste from the dozens of previous race reports.    The tired feeling from the night before carried over but I wasn't too worried about it this is usually a sign that I am going to have a good day!

 Having done this race so many times really helps when it comes to developing a race plan.   Before I started I knew how much water I would get at each aid station and  where I would Gel on the course.   Every 12.5K lap I would consume 2 Gels and about a 1 Litre of Water.   I was also super conscious about overdressing so I was out there in Shorts and a Tech T with Cotton Gloves.   I knew I was dressed approprialtey when others at the start asked me if I was going to be warm enough LOL!   It was a cool and windy day with temps hovering somewhere around 7C.....cold and cool but perfect for running,  just don't stop.

  The theme of the run was all about watching and managing my heart rate.   Through 25Ks I was able to mostly keep it in the 130's sometimes spiking into the 140s.    By the time I was through 25K I had burned up all the glycogen and was running on body mass so the third and certainly 4th lap heart rate was in the 140s rarely dipping into the 130s but that was what I was expecting and it really wasn't too fatiguing....just aimed at keeping it under 150...max is 164 BPM.

Here is the data from the Fitbit .... the drops near the end of the day were a result of the watch not picking up my heart rate.























So I more or less ran each of the 4 12.5 K laps the same slowing down a little bit each lap.

Splits are ...

Lap 1 1:32:37
Lap 2 1:34:53
Lap 3 1:37:38
Lap 4 1:40:49

 I am not doing any runs longer the 50K but I am running more then a dozen of these events this year.  I am also doing the full Endur series so I had to rethink  the things I do between races.    I haven't done any runs longer the mid 30Ks this year and I  the last long one was 4 weeks before PYP just at the beginning of April.   I have been trying to get the most out of the time I spend running even daring to work on speed a little bit.   I have always been weary of speed work because it has a tendency to put you more at risk for injury and make all the little things that Hurt ,  Hurt!      I have been in Hookas now fro a few years and they really agree with me so far there has been no problems with the speed work and I credit the Hookas for carrying around this 175 lb 56 year old frame.     Speaking of getting the most out of a run I have been pushing the HR to the V02 Zone for 10 minutes 5 times weekly ... the " Lunch Runs "... aka Heart Run!   Another cool thing going on is I have more or less been able to get my trail legs under me early doing lots of trail runs through April.  May years PYP was the first trail run of the year ,  nature was good to us this year!   

Up next is Seaton in 2 weeks... not going to do too much between now and then.   Will only have to do the occasional long run here and there through the Summer the way I laid out my race calendar the race is the training for the next race...bring it on!