ENDURrun 2019: Stages 1 & 2

As you know from my previous post, I've been coming off of injury and was going into this week with no real goals or expectations. That being said, I wasn't planning on dilly-dallying. It is still a race, after all.

Stage 1: Half Marathon

Yesterday (Sunday) was the start of the event, a half marathon in Conestogo. The course is two loops, a ~13km loop, followed by a ~8km loop. I had the privilege of wearing my gold jersey from 2017 as a member of the "Golden Club" and started with a few others who were also wearing theirs.





The race was relatively uneventful (which was a good thing, seeing as I didn't know how the foot would feel). It didn't bother me at all, so I was happy with that, but I was a little slower than I would have liked to be. I was pretty much bang on what I thought I would reasonably run, given the spring and summer I had, but of course, there was always the glimmer of hope that I might pull off a minute or so faster. All was well, though. I finished the day in 4th female, 23 seconds behind 3rd. My finish time was 1:35:38.

Stage 1 Results

Stage 2: 15K Time Trial

This morning, we had a staggered start, each runner starting one minute apart, in reverse order of yesterday's finish order. Last place starts first, first place starts last.

I didn't have a great run today. It didn't feel "bad" per se, but my legs just didn't want to go. I didn't feel tired or sore, just didn't have anything to give today. The first tiny bit, I was running what I thought I might be able to maintain for the whole race, but the course wasn't exactly what I pictured (I thought it was a little flatter), so that changed pretty quick after the first few km, which included two short road sections.



My 5K splits today were (according to me hitting lap on my watch at the course markers):  22:24, 23:35, 23:17. Finish time of 1:09:16, 5th female today, no change in placing in cumulative, but 1-3 are further ahead and Rebecca is now actually tied with me to the second.

Cumulative results

ENDURrun 2018, Stage 7: Marathon

Stage 7, the final stage of the ENDURrun, is a two loop course, starting at the same location as Stage 1. It is mostly rural roads, and can get pretty darn lonely as the already small field spreads out a fair bit over 26.2 miles (42.2 km).

As I mentioned in the last post, I needed to run 3:29:15 or faster in this 7th and final stage for my relay team to set an all-female team relay record. I also could not be beaten by Aidan by more than 36 minutes for my team to retain our third place overall position in this year's race.

Gillian needed to get a long run in, so she signed up as a pacer and joined me for 25 km. She ran the first loop (we passed through the half at 1:41:53) plus a bit with me, then turned around to finish up her run and watch all of the finishers come in at the end of their marathons. After she left... I was all alone and man did the miles drag. There weren't really any spectators out, so it was just at the aid stations where I could see people and get some sort of distraction from the running. I slowed down in the same section as every other year... 2nd loop, going uphill from Bridge onto Woolwich, until getting onto University, then picked it back up to normal pace for the rest.

I finished the marathon in 3:24:59, so our H+P Women's A team now holds the record for an all female team. I also finished 3rd woman, and 3rd Ultimate female for the week.

Final standings after all 7 stages:

Men
1 Rob
2 Aidan
3 Christian
4 Nick
5 Dave

Women
1 Val
2 Robyn
3 Me
4 Rebecca
5 Lumi

ENDURrun 2018, Stage 6: 10K time trial

Today was the second to last stage of ENDURrun 2018, the 10K time trial.

In this stage, the runners start one minute apart, from slowest to fastest, just like the 15K on Monday.
As the shortest stage of the week, stage 6 doesn't tend to affect the overall standings a lot so I didn't want to run it too hard and risk hurting my marathon, but also don't want to run it too easy and potentially give up time to another runner.

I continued the trend (and "goal") of "slower than last year, faster than two years ago. Last year, I finished in 41:15, two years ago, 45:12. Today, I finished in the stage in 43:49.

I finished 4th ultimate female on the stage today, so I actually did give up a bit of time, but it was only 3 seconds. I am 3rd ultimate female in the cumulative, going into the marathon tomorrow. 

I am not just running the marathon for myself tomorrow, I am also the relay runner for the H+P Women's A team, who is chasing a record for an all women's team. In order to get the record, I have to run 3:29:15 or faster tomorrow. Fingers crossed, I make that happen! I'll certainly try my best.

Standings after Stage 6:

Men
1 Rob
2 Aidan
3 Christian
4 Nick
5 Dave

Women
1 Val
2 Robyn
3 Me
4 Rebecca
5 Lumi

ENDURrun 2018, Stage 5: Chicopee Ski Hill, 16 miles (25.6 km)

It was a wet and humid morning.
It rained a bunch last night and this morning, it rained a little during, but mostly it was just super humid.

My shoes were drenched by the end of the first lap, all I wanted to do for a good chunk of the race was dive into a pool, even though my clothes felt like I had just gotten OUT of a pool.

I gave myself a few non-time goals for today: (1) stay upright, (2) run every single step up the ski hill, (3) finish no worse than 3rd ultimate female. All three of these were accomplished.

As per the theme of this week, I ran slower than last year, but faster than 2 years ago. I finished the stage in 2:43:03, 3rd ultimate female.

No change in my place today, but there was a swap for first and second. There was a change in third for the guys.

Standings after stage 5 are:

Men
1 Rob
2 Aidan
3 Christian
4 Nick
5 Dave

Women
1 Val
2 Robyn
3 Me
4 Rebecca
5 Lumi

ENDURrun 2018, Stage 4: 10 mile hilly road

Last night, was my least favourite stage of the ENDURrun, the 10 mile hilly run. I don't actually hate the course, but I'm not a giant fan of evening races. It's just odd all day, not really knowing what to do with yourself, rather than just getting up in the morning and getting ready to race.

During the day, I lounged a lot, and not a lot else. I headed to the race start around 4:40pm and arrived just under an hour before race start. I ran a short warmup with Gill and got ready to head down for the walk to the start line, which is at the bottom of a hill.

I gave myself a very wide range goal of "slower than last year, faster than 2 years ago" so I had an 8 minute window for a goal time since last year I ran 1:11 and two years ago was 1:19.

I started out running with Val and Stefan for a bit, but it spread out after a few km.

I ran pretty evenly last night, with my second half about 20 seconds faster than the first half. I finished in 1:15:06, right smack in the middle of my last two years, so I'm happy with that. I felt better than I ever remember feeling in other years. I finished 3rd for the ultimate women again, 4th including relay and guest runners, as my friend (and teammate) Gill ran 1:08:14, winning for the women!

After the race was over, I changed into dry clothes and got settled with my chair to enjoy the post-race feast with the others. Thursday night is a good one, food wise (they all are, but I look forward to the tuna melts at this one!), and this was no exception. I enjoyed my food and the company and sat there until it was dark, and we all disbursed home: another great day/evening at the ENDURrun.

Men after stage 4:
1 Rob
2 Aidan
3 Dave
4 Nick
5 Christian

Women after stage 4:
1 Robyn
2 Val
3 Me
4 Rebecca
5 Lumi

Early in the race

The final hill to the finish

ENDURrun 2018, Stage 3: 30K

Yesterday was the first of the bigger stages of the ENDURrun. It was the 30 km cross country stage at Bechtel Park in Waterloo, a 5km loop with grass, road, hills, and trails, run 6 times.

My back was feeling much better, so I was cautiously optimistic for this one.

As I started running, I felt good, and was actually in race mode mentally for the first time in a long time. Unfortunately, that didn't last the whole race. I fell out of race mode in the fourth loop. It suddenly got really hot mid-stage, but I'm not using that as an excuse, the drop in pace was all me.
I did still increase my lead over 4th place, which was my main goal going into this stage, so I'm happy enough with it. Hopefully one of these days I'll get back into (and be able to stay in) mental race mode.

First 3 laps were pretty consistent and solid:
(1) 24:11, (2) 24:14, (3) 24:16

The second half looks like a different race all together:
(4) 25:05, (5) 25:42, (6) 25:42

I finished in 2:29:10, which is again my second fastest time on this course (the theme so far this week). I also broke my streak of improving on this stage every year, but I knew that was going to happen. I hadn't put in the work to be at last year's level of fitness.

Standings after Stage 3:

Men
1 Rob
2 Aidan
3 Dave
4 Nick
5 Christian

Women
1 Robyn
2 Val
3 Me
4 Rebecca
5 Lisa

Last night, was sushi night, a tradition for the last 5 or 6 years, then a few of us went out for a beer afterward; it was both a fun and delicious evening.

Tonight is the 10 miler on a hilly road at 6pm, my least favourite stage, but at least it's a shorter one. Hopefully it's not super hot.

ENDURrun 2018, Stage 2: 15K TT

Today's stage was a 15km out and back where the runners start 1 minute apart in reverse of the finishing order from Stage 1. It's a fairly long time from the first runner's start to the last, but the runners finish in close succession.

I finished the stage in 1:05:03 today, moving into 3rd place female. 
There were no changes in the gold jerseys today, but there were changes in the top 5.

After Stage 2:

Men
1 Rob
2 Aidan
3 Dave
4 Nick
5 Christian

Women
1 Robyn
2 Valery
3 Vicki (me)
4 Lisa
5 Rebecca

The back held up better than expected today, it definitely wasn't perfect, but I thought it would be worse, so I'm happy about that.

It felt more tight/stiff than sore today, and didn't really get any worse. It seemed to limit my pace to around half marathon pace, but I could hold that for the most part, so I was OK with that. I'm hoping it wasn't just that it was a shorter stage today and that maybe just maybe it's getting better.

Tomorrow will be a real test of how things are feeling. It's a 30K rolling course, so if the back isn't happy, it's going to feel like a very very long day.

Photo by Reza

ENDURrun 2018, Stage 1: Half Marathon

It's 6:05am: I'm drinking coffee and eating some apple & cinnamon bread type thing with a bit of peanut butter. The race starts in one hour and fifty five minutes. Am I ready? Who knows. As ready as I'll ever be, I guess. Time is up.

***

Well... the race happened. It did not go as planned. It started out fine, but that didn't last. And it didn't last for a very frustrating reason. The second loop (the course is a ~13K loop followed by an ~8K loop), my back started bothering me. I had slept on the GO train on Friday morning and when I woke up and moved, I had pain in my back, something that has never really happened to me before. For the most part, I wasn't really having any issues with this, but when I'd lean over, occasionally I'd feel it in the same spot. I felt this this morning when I leaned over to spit after brushing my teeth, so I knew it was still there, but didn't really expect it to bug me when running, because I was fine yesterday. Mind you, I only ran a few km yesterday. So... this back issue crept up and I did not have much fun. I slowed down somewhat... just wanting to get to the finish line where I knew I could be treated by either a massage therapist or a chiropractor who were offering their services for the week (KW Health Connection). Colin worked on me for a bit, so hopefully things will be better tomorrow.

Funny thing is, I actually had a lingering leg thing for a few months, which I thought would be the issue. I never expected a back thing! I guess it's not really funny... but yeah.

So... finish time today was 1:34:57. I am currently 4th female. 55 seconds back from 3rd.

Rob and Robyn were awarded the gold jerseys today and will have the privilege to wear them and start last in the time trial tomorrow. 

Leaderboards so far:

Men:

1 Rob Brouillette

2 Dave Harmsworth

3 Aidan Rutherford

4 Nick Burt

5 Conner Krofchick

Women:
1 Robyn Collins
2 Valery Hobson
3 Lisa Leskien
4 Vicki Zandbergen (me)
5 Rebecca Kruisselbrink

(Full results can be found here)

Tomorrow is the 15K time trial, where we start 1 minute apart. My scheduled start time is 8:48am, so I'm looking forward to sleeping slightly later tomorrow morning.

March through July

Suddenly, it's ENDURrun time! So... I guess a down and dirty quick catch-up post is in order.
I'll just list the races I've run and results/place, etc.

Chilly Half Marathon, March 4, 2018
Finish time: 1:30:58
Place: 47th female

Around the Bay 30K, March 25, 2018
I ran this one as an attempt to run goal marathon pace. It was a windy first half and I was already tired when I hit the hills. I fell off pace a bit, but not too badly.
Finish time: 2:17:00
Place: 31st female

ENDURrace 5K, April 14, 2018 

Cancelled race

ENDURrace 5K + 8K double, April 21, 2018

Since the weather was crazy on the 14th with an ice storm, the 5K was cancelled, but they were lucky enough to be able to reschedule the race to 2 hours before the 8K making a very interesting (and fun!) double race evening. Myself and a couple of teammates took this as a good opportunity to run a long run with the two races as tempos. My plan: run the 5K at 10K pace and the 8K at half marathon pace and get in around 30K for the evening. It went pretty much according to plan and felt good.

5K: 20:36, 5th female
8K: 34:20, 4th female

Mississauga Marathon, May 6, 2018
Here's what I wrote as my Strava description:
3:17:14 
"Fun" with "lovely" blisters. That's not normal for me. Also, recurrence of the vision issues that I haven't had since I got the ol' blood sorted out a couple years ago. I'm happy with the end result, all things considered.

Interesting thing about that marathon. I was so not into it. The week leading up to it, I wasn't excited about it... and training had actually gone well, I just wasn't feeling the race. I don't know why. Even race morning, I just didn't care about it. This was the start of my blah, non-motivated training for the rest of the spring and summer.

Oh, I forgot to mention place. I was 11th female.

Baden 7 Miler - Hill race, May 19, 2018
I had never done this race before, but had been intrigued in the past. The course is an out and back, uphill first half, downhill second half, with the mid-point at the top of a steep climb.

Just about at the turn-around

I finished this one in 49:46, coming in first female. 

Waterloo 10K Classic, June 17, 2018
It was HOT and humid.
This one quickly turned into a half marathon paced run.
Finish time: 43:59
Place: 5th female

Summit700, July 14, 2018
Half marathon on a ski hill. Lots of climbing, lots of single track, lots of fun.
And... 3 falls.
Finish time: 2:38:19
Place: 2nd female

Happy New Year!

2017: a year in review

I thought I'd do the Instagram #bestnine thing, but not actually post it on Instagram. The blog seems like a better place for it.

I was hoping to somehow be creative with this post, but I'm pretty sure this will just end up being a regular recap of 2017. That's how you grab a reader's attention! 

I had set some ambitious goals for myself for 2017. I knew I was going to have to work hard, and I was ready to do it. The goals were as follows: 

• Sub-1:35 half marathon
• sub-3:20 marathon
• sub-4:10 50K (road)
• sub-13:00 ENDURrun
• sub-20 5K
• 7:30 50 miler

The order I listed the goals is also the order that I intended to achieve them. The races I had lined up for these goals were (click the links for the full write ups):

• Chilly Half Marathon (March) - it was a cold day, but was pretty much perfect racing weather for a late winter race. The roads were clear and dry and it wasn't overly windy. I had a great race here and finished in 1:32:01. 
• Boston Marathon (April) - it was a HOT day! There was no good race result this day as I went into survival mode early when I stopped sweating. I still had a fun time away with the club, and we were all able to laugh about our horrible races. 
• Niagara Ultra 50K (June) - another HOT day... and an injured toe going into the race... not a good combination. I ended up doing a lot of walking in the second half and hanging out at aid stations chatting with the volunteers a bit while I drank lots and lots of fluids. It was one of the hottest races I've ever run. I finished this one in 4:53, my second slowest 50K. 
• ENDURrun (August) - I had a better week than I ever would have imagined! It was such an incredibly rewarding experience to take chances and try things that I wouldn't have normally thought I was capable of. I finished the week in 12:33:56, in a very close race, with 2nd place female only 6:38 back after a week of racing.
• Fall Classic 5K (October) - Humid and warm day, but a downhill course, so the weather didn't affect things too much. I guess a cool, dry day would have produced even FASTER times. I'm certainly not complaining about anything with this race. I ran my first sub-20 and it was by a lot! I ran 19:11, which I would put an * next to due to the gradual downhill of the course, and call it more of a 19:30ish equivalent, but either way... I was definitely happy with that result! Now I just need to do it on a more honest course. :)
• JFK 50 Miler (November) - It was cold rain for a big chunk of the race. It didn't go as I had hoped, but it did go a lot better than last year. I finished the race in 8:09:10.  

Did I achieve all of the goals? No. 

Did I achieve most of them? Yes! 

I achieved all of the non-ultra goals, but the marathon didn't happen at Boston, I actually ran my first sub-3:20 marathon on the final stage of The ENDURrun (3:16:55).

Although I did not achieve the 50K and 50 mile goals, I did actually run a new 50K PR in the fall at Run for the Toad trail 50K, 4:22. 

Moving on to 2018...

Do I attempt the ultra goals since I missed them last year? I don't think so. That's not the plan at this point, anyway. I want to take this year to focus on marathons and shorter distances, but we'll see how the year unfolds. 

Happy new year to you all!

ENDURrun 2017 Stage 7: The Marathon

This past Sunday, was the final stage of the ENDURrun 2017, the marathon.

The evening before the marathon, Will and Jordan came to my house. We ate pizza and drank a beer. Jordan told me what time I would need to run in the marathon to get a top 10 finishing time: 3:17:05.
He then wrote about it on the ENDURrun blog: A primer for Sunday’s Stage 7
It was not as fast as I thought it would have to be, which surprised me, but was still something significantly faster than I've ever run (my best marathon was 3:24:04), so I didn't think too much about it... but did keep the number in the back of my mind.

After they left, Paul (a past ENDURrunner and also a volunteer) came with his daughter and one of her friends, as they were staying here for the night and volunteering in the morning. I stayed up a little later than planned, but nothing crazy. I was definitely in bed by 11.

The final stage starts earlier than the other stages, so morning came quick. And... I woke up with a sore throat, but figured even if I'm getting sick, it shouldn't affect me too much on the first day of symptoms. It's usually day 2 or 3 of a cold when it starts to affect functionality (which, by the way... is where I am right now as I write this). I got up, made coffee, toasted my bagel, and got ready to head to Conestogo.

The race:

Catherine was behind me the first loop. Right behind me from 2-4k, but then dropped back a little... not much, though. Maybe she just didn't want me to hear her, I'm not sure. So, I was ahead coming through half, but she was not far behind at all. On the second loop, she came up behind me, then ran next to me and said we should work together. I didn't know if she was serious or not... but I was hoping she was, because it would be nice to not have pressure for the rest of the marathon and just run together. I had been completely by myself until this point.

We ran together for maybe a km.. probably a little less.. I glanced at my watch and saw the current pace of 6:55/mile.... so I backed off and let her go. I knew that was not a sustainable pace for me and had to trust that it wasn't for her, either. This was around 26k, so really there was only 10ish miles left in the race... so I also knew that she needed to be almost a minute per mile faster than me for the whole rest of the race to beat me for the week. I tried to keep my pace around 7:30. It was hot at this point and I was starting to not feel great. The pace was still ok, but I was so ready to be done. I walked through two aid stations so that I'd get a bit more liquid in me, and then I actually ended up walking briefly a couple of times because I wanted to give up.. then after a few steps I'd get mad at myself and start running again. I wasn't going to just GIVE this away. Once back on University, I was in a bit of a better head space, but it wasn't until I was almost at Northfield that I had any confidence again. I hadn't seen Catherine since before turning onto Bridge because of the turns, so I had no idea how far ahead she was. Logically, it wasn't far enough, but my brain wasn't being so logical. I thought I had lost first... until I saw Emily on Northfield and she told me that Catherine was only a few minutes ahead. I didn't fully believe her, though... because sometimes someone *thinks* it was only a "few" minutes, when really it was 10. So.... I picked it up slightly, turned onto Northfield, stared up ahead, looking for a white shirt.... and I saw it! I saw the white shirt off in the distance! If I can see her and I'm on Northfield... all is well. she's only a km away at the most. I ran hard up that final stretch, getting back down into low 7s and the final km or so just under 7... turned the corner and saw 3:16 on the clock. I didn't get to break the tape because I came in seconds after Merzi, but that's ok. There actually aren't even any finish photos of me, which is kind of funny. But also fine. Lloyd came over and congratulated me, as did others, of course... because...  

I WON THE ENDURrun!!!

And won it with the 10th fastest time!! 6th fastest person. That's just nuts. I never knew I could hit those times. I also know that if I wasn't in gold, I most likely wouldn't have. But wanting to KEEP the gold... I worked extra hard and went for things that seemed unattainable.. but turns out they weren't! There's no way I would have run 15K at sub 6:40 pace if I realized I was running that pace and if I didn't have people to chase. I certainly would have never been running with Dave and Mark at the 10 miler (not that I was able to stick with them the whole time, but I tried... and didn't blow up badly or anything, just couldn't stick with them). And Sunday? I would have been more than happy to run 3:20 or even just over, which still would have been a big marathon PR... and actually... 3:20 would have been ok, I still would have won... but I didn't know that at the time! For all I knew, she was going for the stage record... and if that was the case, I needed to run sub 3:18. 

I did not want to have to run that fast on Sunday.. .but I'm definitely proud of myself for doing it. I took well over an hour off last year's time and came in over 26 minutes faster than my aggressive goal! I am also super proud to be part of only the 3rd year in history where three women have finished with sub-13 times AND the closest race for top three women EVER. Catherine was 2nd for the women and my Health & Performance teammate Valery was 3rd. On the men's side Rob won, H+P teammate Nick was 2nd, and Stefan was 3rd. What a week!

Golden final day at ENDURrun 2017

I'm still a little in shock. What a week! Thank you to everyone for your support: the runners, the volunteers, and especially the Schmidt family. #ENDURrun #endurrun2017

A post shared by Vicki Zandbergen (@vickizandbergen) on Aug 20, 2017 at 4:35pm PDT

ENDURrun 2017 Stage 6: 10 Time Trial

This is going to be a quick on. It's Sunday morning, the morning of the marathon... so I need to get something up here before I leave for today's final stage!

OK.. the 10K.

Joel (H+P teammate) met me at my house around 7am and we drove to Conestogo. Parked the car by Lloyd's house, left a few things in the yard for post-race and then got shuttled up to the start in Elmira.

The race is formatted the same as Monday's race, so the runners start one minute apart, with the fastest runner starting last. My estimated start time was posted as 8:53, but since there were 4 scratches, I was now starting at 8:49. The other girls were starting 4 or 5 minutes ahead of me, due to some guys between us in the cumulative results as well as relay team and guest runners that are slotted in according to the seed times they provided. On Monday, I had the advantage of starting right after them, so I could keep an eye on what they were doing the whole race. This time, not so much. I couldn't see them at all.

I started behind Thaddeus (also from H+P), and Robyn (also H+P) started behind me. I wanted to reel in Thad and not be caught by Robyn. I never caught Thad, but I did close the gap a bit, and Robyn did not catch me. The 3 of us finished in the following times: Thaddeus 41:41, me 41:15, Robyn 40:25.

Catherine got me by 6 seconds, which I didn't know until the results were announced as I had no idea what she was doing since I couldn't see her. I'm actually not sure if I would have been able to tell a 6 second increase on a one minute lead, anyway.

Heading into today's marathon, I'm 9:45 ahead of Catherine, who is 5:26 ahead of Val. On the guy's side, Rob is 53:32 ahead of Nick, who is 44:20 ahead of Stefan. 4th place Andrew (who started a half hour late on Stage 1 and has been jumping up the list each day) who is 10:19 behind Stefan.

But.. that's enough about today's race! I need something to write about later on. :)

Have a good race today, all who are running! And for those who are following along, Thank you for your support and I hope you've enjoyed my little posts.

ENDURrun 2017 Stage 5: 16 Miles Alpine

I'm a little late with writing this one... it's Saturday morning and I need to leave for Stage 6 soon, but I have a few minutes, so let's see if I can whip something up here.

Friday. Yesterday. Stage 5.
I woke up ready to roll. It was the only day (so far) this week that I didn't want to stay in bed when my alarm went off.

I got up, got ready, and headed down to Chicopee Ski Hill. Once there, I caught up with some Health & Performance team mates and did a very short warmup. We lined up for the start, and were off into our first of 5 loops around the hill, each of which includes going from the bottom (or close to the bottom) to the top of the hill four times, plus one partial.

Here's my description of the course:
- short flat section to the never-ending gravel service road climb (which turns 3 times and you're still climbing after each turn)
- flat across the top
- turn right and head straight down a sandy hill
- sharp left at the bottom, then single track back to the top
- across the same top section, but opposite direction
- run straight down a ski hill
- across the bottom
- straight UP a bigger ski hill
- over the back of the hill, down some stairs, and then single track down the back
- and back up.
- pop out of the trails, turning right, across the top
- run straight down another hill
- into trails with boardwalks (very slippery boardwalks yesterday), and then flat trail with some evil little stumps that I swear jump out and grab me at least once each year at this race.. this year was no exception... I went down in lap 3.
- once out of that section, a short grave then grass bit, bringing you into what used to be called Goat Trail (and I will continue to call it that), which brings you back to the top over two sections. I think this is my least favourite part of this course.
- pop out at the top, run over the top, and straight down another ski hill
- turn left at the bottom and run mostly straight to the start/finish area
Do that x5.

On Thursday, it was looking like the course was going to be a mess, but it was actually in really good shape by the time race start time rolled around. There was just a little bit of mud and the boardwalks were slippery. It was probably close to the best conditions for this stage I have ever seen/felt. Last year was super hot and humid. The year before was thunderstorms.

My race: I went out a bit quick on the first loop, but it worked out ok. I finished first female in 2:27:10 and improved my lead going into stage 6 by 3:51. Oh! I ran up North (the big straight up the ski hill climb) without walking a single step on laps 1, 2, and 3. On lap 4, I walked briefly... just the distance between two flags and then started running again the rest of the way up. Lap 5 was a different story. I ran part way, then walked from one flag to the next, then ran the next one, then walked, then ran, etc. In previous years, I walked on each of those climbs, at least for part of each.

.@VicZanRan #HPendur killing it, Thad 1:30 back pic.twitter.com/JXXSGSkv95

— Health & Performance (@Health_Perform) August 18, 2017

Every single runner finished within the time cut-off again today, which is fantastic! It's wonderful to see everyone pushing themselves and then seeing the pride beaming as they come across that line!

. @VicZanRan done in 2:27 #HPendur pic.twitter.com/QcxgA9Z43v

— Health & Performance (@Health_Perform) August 18, 2017

It has been so amazing this week, to have so many people from the club out watching, cheering, running, etc. It is such a boost, especially on days like Stage 5. Thank you H+P!

ENDURrun 2017 Stage 4: Hilly 10 Miler

Evening stage. That's always tough for me. What to do all day? What to eat? When to eat?

• I mowed the lawn...
• Did a bit of housework...
• Wrote yesterday's blog...
• And waited for it to be time to get ready to leave.

I arrived at the race site about an hour before start time, chatted with some other runners, hit the bathroom a couple of times, ran around in some sort of super short warm-up of sorts.... and then it was time to walk down the hill to the start. 

Shortly after the race started, I found myself in a pack with Dave, Merzi, Mark Meyers, Stefan, and a few others, including Catherine, who I didn't actually realize was also in this pack until I happened to catch a glimpse of a white shirt out of the corner of my eye (all the guys were shirtless). We stuck together along Conservation, and then thinned out a bit once we were into the hills on Wilmot. 

I don't quite know who ended up where (I wasn't looking), but I know I was with Mark for a bit, Mark and Dave for a bit... Then.... Catherine passed me around 8 or 9 km into the race. So... for the second half of the race, I was chasing her. I never caught her, but at least I didn't give up too much. She got me by 43 seconds on this stage. I am still in the gold going into Stage 5, with an even 6 minute lead.

My finish time for stage 4 was 1:11:02. My first time actually running a decent race on this stage. It's always been a horrible one for me in the past, with my previous best time on this course well over 1:19. I felt good, in control, breathing was normal, etc. I'm very happy to have finally run a decent time on this stage. Of course, I would have preferred to take the win, but I can't be upset with the improvement I made over previous years... I'm also happy that it's done.

I'll add some photos to this later. Right now it's time to head out to meet people for lunch!

ENDURrun 2017 Stage 3: 30K Cross Country

It's Wednesday morning, but today's stage isn't until evening, so I'm catching up on blogging about yesterday.

Yesterday was Stage 3, a 30K XC race at Bechtel Park. The course is a 5K loop, which is run 6 times. It's not very technical and there are no giant hills, but the hills that ARE there can wear you down.

My goal/plan for the stage was the same as it is every year: to run even times on my laps. The time I wanted to run each lap in may change each year, but the plan of even laps is always the same. Some times it goes to plan... some years it does not.

Here are my lap times from past years:
2011:  (1) 28:33  (2) 29:27  (3) 31:23  (4) 32:43  (5) 35:30  (6) 36:42
2012:  (1) 29:48  (2) 30:40  (3) 31:06  (4) 32:17  (5) 33:27  (6) 33:26
2013:  (1) 28:54  (2) 28:41  (3) 28:13  (4) 27:58  (5) 28:01  (6) 28:33
2014:  (1) 26:50  (2) 26:48  (3) 26:47  (4) 27:07  (5) 28:38  (6) 28:21
2015:  (1) 26:22  (2) 26:55  (3) 26:46  (4) 27:28  (5) 27:23  (6) 27:20
2016:  (1) 26:06  (2) 25:37  (3) 25:52  (4) 26:46  (5) 26:22  (6) 27:06

As you can see, my first year was pretty bad. I was more than 8 minutes slower on my last lap than I was on my first! 2012 was significantly better, but still an almost 4 minute differential. I started to figure things out in 2013, which, I guess you can say about a lot more than this stage, my times dropped across the board in 2013. I started running smarter at that point and it's evident in my pacing for stage 3. The difference between my slowest and fastest laps in 2013 was less than a minute.

2014 through 2016 weren't as consistent, but finish times were quicker. In fact, stage 3 is the only stage that I've improved on year after year.

Back to this year...
I ran with Merzi for almost 5 loops. We started out together and had the same idea as to what we wanted to do for lap times and finish time, so we stuck together. We are very close in the cumulative as well, so I figured we'd be running about the same this day. We chatted a fair bit as we ran, but not constantly. It did help to make the time (and loops) go by more quickly. Thaddeus was coming up behind us, so before the end of lap 5 Merzi picked it up a bit and Thaddeus followed, I stuck to my plan of being even and let them go. I ran the last loop mostly solo, and finished in 2:23:32, 40ish seconds behind Merzi and Thaddeus, and first female across the line.

My splits for this year's race:
(1) 23:56  (2) 23:51  (3) 24:03  (4) 23:44  (5) 24:00  (6) 23:58

The difference between my slowest lap and my fastest lap was only 19 seconds! I'm very happy with my consistency on this stage this year.

There were no changes in the top three on either side, but there were changes in the relays! I don't know exactly what happened right now, but you can certainly check things out on the results page and also on the H+P site, since the bulk of the relay teams are from the club!

H+P at the ENDURrun

After the stage was complete, I had a nice lazy afternoon in the hammock until it was time to get ready to meet up with some of the other runners for sushi and then out for a drink. It was a great evening with good friends. 

ENDURrun 2017 - Stage 2: 15K Time Trial

Today's race was the first of the two time trial stages, where the runners start one minute apart based on the Stage 1 finish times. Today was 15K and Saturday's TT is 10K.

I started my race this morning at 8:48am, one minute after Catherine, two minutes after Val. In order to keep the gold jersey for another day, I had to stay in the female lead cumulatively, so the pressure was on. I have never been more nervous at the start of a race!

When it was my turn to start, I headed down Sawmill Rd, seeing both women in the distance in front of me. The course is on three roads, all long and straight sections, which is great for keeping on eye on where everyone is.

I wanted to close the gap a bit, but didn't want to do anything too crazy and potentially wreck tomorrow's race. 30K is a long stage and a lot can happen there.

Around 11ish? maybe km. High 5 with Joanne on her birthday.

As I watched what was going on ahead, I saw that Catherine and Val were very close together, but they weren't pulling away, so this seemed ok to me. As they passed by a sign, I checked my watch, then checked as I passed the same sign. It was 30ish seconds, so from here on in, I tried to keep the gap about the same, knowing this would mean that I would increase my lead by at least a little bit.

I finished the stage in 1:02:00, first Ultimate female, 3rd female including guests and relay.

@VicZanRan cruising in! pic.twitter.com/FwR6sNGYoH

— Health & Performance (@Health_Perform) August 14, 2017

I am still in the gold for tomorrow. There was no change on the men's side, either.

Results:
Today's Stage
Cumulative: Ultimate Females , Ultimate Males

ENDURrun 2017 - Stage 1: Half Marathon

ENDURrun is now in full swing!

This morning, stage 1 happened: the half marathon.

My alarm went off at 6am after waking up numerous times in the night. I got out of bed, made coffee and toasted an English muffin, couldn't find the shoes that I wanted to wear (turns out they were in the trunk of my car the whole time), so I grabbed my slightly older pair of the same model of shoe. I drove to the race site and was super excited to get this event started! I said hi to people, signed in, ran a very short warm-up, did some last minute prep and got to the start line.

Ten minutes before the start, we took a "class photo" so to speak. A photo of all of the Ultimate contenders before the race begins. A second photo will be taken next Sunday, after the marathon, of all of the Ultimate finishers.

The race began at 8am, and I found myself running next to Vicky S. We soon realized that we were hoping/planning to run right around the same time today, so we stuck together. Vicky was running Stage 1 for the H+P relay team that I am also part of, so it was nice to share the stage today.

Awesome Ultimate @vickizandbergen and former yellow jersey @vicsie10 cruising thru 16K with Amazing Masters @valhobs69 not far back @health_perform #hpendur @endurrun

A post shared by Dave W Rutherford (@enduredave) on Aug 13, 2017 at 6:23am PDT

For the first 10ish K, we had company, with Catherine D just behind us, but for the remainder of the stage, we were mostly on our own. We crossed the start/finish at the end of the first loop (~13 km) in just over 56 minutes, and finished the race in 1:32:02. We were the first females across the line.

@VicZanRan and @vicksie10  come in together. #HPEndur # teamwork #cantwontstop pic.twitter.com/PZjWm4Cn7h

— Health & Performance (@Health_Perform) August 13, 2017

One stage down.... six to go.

After eating a bunch of delicious food, the results were read and gold jerseys were awarded. Today, for the first time in my life, I was awarded with the gold! I have the privilege of wearing it tomorrow for the 15K time trial. Rob B. is in the gold for the men.

The gold is worn by the male and female who are in the lead cumulatively. As of right now, I have a 1:32 lead over 2nd place, 1:35 over 3rd. It's close right now.. and it's a long week. Anything can happen.

Cumulative results can be found here: Ultimate 2017

After the race today, I headed over to the Schmidt house (race director) to hang out with a few other runners in the pool. It was great to catch up, share stories, enjoy a beverage, and soak the legs in the cool water.

Once I was back at home, I got my stuff ready for tomorrow, did a few other little things around the house, and then made my way to the hammock for some lounging.

Life is rough. @endurrun week.  #recovery #raceweek #ENDURrun #runcation #ENDURrun2017

A post shared by Vicki Zandbergen (@vickizandbergen) on Aug 13, 2017 at 3:52pm PDT

Tomorrow's stage is a staggered start, with runners starting one minute apart, based on today's finish times. The final finisher from today starts first tomorrow, and the first finisher from today starts last. My estimated start time tomorrow is 8:47am. But... I'm not going to think about that right now. Right now I'm recovering and soon I will go to bed.

Good night everyone, and for those who are here... see you in the morning!

ENDURrun 2017: Pre-Race Meeting

It's that time of year again.... ENDURrun is here again!
(I had the Oktoberfest song in my head for that.... if you live in KW, you know what I'm talking about.. you kind of have to stretch out ENDURrun, but it kind of works....)

Today.... Saturday, August 12, 2017... is pre-race meeting day! Right now it's 3ish pm and I'm at home, getting some stuff ready for the week, but soon, I'll head to Conestogo to meet up with runners and volunteers at the RD's house. It's always a bit of a reunion, since there are people who come to this event year after year (both runners and volunteers), those who are returning for the first time in a few years, and those who are new to the event, who will soon feel like they've known everyone forever.

At the meeting, we pick up our numbers and swag bag, eat some fruit and maybe some chips, mingle, and then it's time to get down to business. The details of the week are outlined, along with any course changes, etc. It's a great opportunity to get a good feel for the event and all of the hard work that goes into putting on this week. The head volunteers explain their roles and provide any instructions to the runners, such as what to do with garbage, recycling, and organics, what types of signs to look out for on the courses, etc.

While the meeting is not mandatory, it's definitely beneficial to attend.

9:26pm and I'm back home from the meeting, going out for food and a quick shopping trip for some food for in the house.

Revealing the new Volunteer Shirts

Lots of food at East Sides

There are no major changes to be aware of so far, but it has been noted that there is a tree down on the course for tomorrow's stage. I guess we'll find out just how much of an obstacle it is in the morning.

And now.... the swag bag.

I should stop writing in here now and actually get my stuff together for morning and get to bed at a decent time. Racing requires sleep!

Good luck to everyone running this week, and a giant thank you the Schmidts and all of the volunteers for making this week possible!

Good night!

ENDURrun Stage 7 - Marathon

The 2016 ENDURrun has come to an end. Sunday, August 14th, was the 7th and final stage: the marathon.

The race started and finished at the same park in Conestogo where it all began one week prior, but the course was not the same. The ENDURrun marathon course is a 21.1 km loop that takes you from Conestogo, through Bloomingdale, Kitchener and Waterloo, back to Conestogo, run twice.

I arrived at the park around 45 or so minutes before race start, stowed my bag under a picnic table, said hello to various runners and volunteers, signed in, got myself ready, and lined up at the start. I spoke with Mark McDonald about potentially running with him, Alexandra, and possibly a couple of other runners, who were looking to finish in around 3:30. My arbitrary A goal was 3:30, but I would be perfectly happy with 3:30-anything. I lined up near them, but when the race started, they seemed to shoot out from the line. I wanted to ease into this race, not crash and burn. I did not want to be pushing this early. I ran the first 4 km fairly easy and slowly got myself into the pace range that I wanted to be in for the bulk of the race. Around 10K into the race, I started passing a few people. From 13K on, I was on my own.

I crossed the half way point in 1:46:00. I was hoping to maintain the pace I was running as I crossed half for the second loop, but at around 24K I could feel painful blisters forming on a few of the toes on my right foot. I think my shoe had gotten wet from throwing water on myself at a couple of the water stops. These blisters were very difficult to ignore and I started playing mental games to get myself to the next water stop (they were placed every 3K) and then I would allow myself a very short break to grab a drink and to get a bit of relief from the blisters.

Around 30K, I felt like I was really slowing down and was thinking that this race was going to go downhill rather quickly, but by 34 or 35K, I no longer noticed the blisters and was back to running around or just under 5 min per km.

The final 3K of this marathon, I was feeling great and ran well under 5 min for each of them. As I ran up the final couple hills up Northfield and was about to turn the corner to the finish, I knew that I was going to be finishing under 3:35. My official time was 3:34:04. My second loop was 2:04 slower than my first, which isn't ideal, but is definitely not too shabby considering the giant puffy blisters I found on my feet when I removed my socks and shoes.

It was great to talk with everyone about their marathon, their week, their journey, to share a bit of pool time, socialize over eating much delicious food, and then to share in everyone's success at the awards ceremony. This year, there were 38 finishers of the Ultimate division of the ENDURrun. A group of 38 people who shared a journey of however many steps it takes to run 160km.

The overall win for the week went to Rob and Angela. Mark Meyers and myself placed second, and Kyle and Hunter placed third. The Rookie awards (fastest time by a first time finisher) went to Patrick Voo and Hunter Kelly.

Full Cumulative Results.

For the sixth year in a row, I have truly enjoyed this week of racing, cheering, socializing, and comradery. It truly is an event like no other.

ENDURrun Stage 6 - 10K TT

Just like Monday, today's stage was a time trial, so the runners started a minute apart from slowest to fastest.

I was scheduled to start at 8:50 this morning, but wanted to get to Lloyd's around 7:30 to ensure I had a ride up to the start (it's a point to point race) and could leave my car at the finish. I was apparently excited and in a bit of a hurry to get there and I didn't realize it until I saw the police car sitting just off the side of the road and glanced down at my speedometer, that I was speeding (whoops!). I drove past the cop, and as expected... he pulled out.. on came the lights, and I pulled over. I got my very first speeding ticket ever. He asked me where I was headed and thought it was funny that I was on my way to a race... seemed appropriate.

So... after the interesting drive to Conestogo, I parked my car, put my bag in the backyard, and made my way into a car to get a ride to the start.

It was nice to watch people starting their race as I did a slight warm-up (it only totalled about a half mile, but I wanted to get the legs moving and a bit loosened up).

When it was my time to start, I headed over, waited until Lloyd counted me down, and I was off. Steve Schmidt was nice enough to come out this morning and ride his bike on the course. It worked out especially well when I no longer wanted to wear my hat. He took it from me and brought it to the finish. Thanks Steve!

I went into this race looking to finish around 45 minutes. My official finish time was 45:12. It was another super humid day today and I was absolutely drenched with sweat when I finished. At least I know I wasn't dehydrated!

This was BEFORE I went in the pool.

There were no changes today in the top three on either side. Now, with 117.8km down, we have one final stage to run tomorrow: the marathon. It's a two loop course, starting at the same park as last Sunday's half marathon, but I'll tell you more about that tomorrow!