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 Stage 2 - 15K Time Trial

Although today's stage started at 8am, only one runner was to start at that time. The runners each started one minute apart, from slowest to fastest based on yesterday's half marathon results (or seed times provided by relay and guest runners). I was slotted to start at 8:41, but due to some no-shows and some people who have had to drop out of the ultimate competition, I started a few minutes earlier.

Starting a race alone is very different than starting with a pack. It worked much better for me today, as I could head out at a reasonable pace and not get carried away and go out too fast with others around me. In this stage, since I started after some, but before others, the name of the game was to catch as many runners as possible and to try not to be caught. I almost thought I was going to make it to the finish without being passed by a single runner, but Rob passed me in the final stretch.

I ran a lot smarter today than yesterday, with fairly even splits. I finished the stage in 1:07:32, which was my fastest time on Stage 2 by two minutes and 15 seconds. I am very happy with that result.

Since the race started and finished across the street from the Race Director's house, we were able to take a dip in the pool immediately after the race, which was very welcome. There was some more delicious food today, as usual, which was enjoyed poolside.

There were no changes in the cumulative top 3 today. Rob has increased his lead over Mark to 19:30 and Angela has increase her lead over me to 12:31.

Although it's been fairly warm already, tomorrow, we will really start to battle the heat. The weather forecast is currently showing a high of 32 for tomorrow, 35 Wednesday, and 35 again on Friday. Hopefully they are wrong. One can hope, right? Hydration will definitely be top of mind for the remainder of this week.

Great work today, everyone! It's now time to rest up and get a good night's sleep before running around and around and around Bechtel Park tomorrow morning.

ENDURrun Stage 2: The 15K Time Trial

Today was so much better (for me) than yesterday!

I slept more (still not as much as I wanted to, but more), I woke up looking forward to running today's stage, I was well organized, and I felt ready to roll. This was a much better start to the day than yesterday... aka scatterbrain day.

The stage 2 format has a staggered start and I was scheduled to start at 8:32 am, so arriving at the Schmidt house just before 7:30 gave me plenty of time to put my post race stuff in the back yard, talk to other runners, do a very short warmup, watch some of the others start their races, and be ready to go when my time came.

A description of the stage can be found on my blog post from last year, but I'll give a super brief overview here. The 15 km course is an out and back, is quite flat, and has long straight stretches along only three roads. The bulk of the course is on paved roads, with the middle section on a gravel road.

Starting the race, I felt good; I felt happy and excited. My head was in it today, and that was definitely what I needed to happen. If my head's in the game, that's where the focus will be, not over-analyzing the little things that might not feel "quite right" with the body. Whether it was my head or whether my foot was actually significantly better today, I didn't have any foot pain aside from a bit of mild discomfort for a brief couple moments around 10K. 

Most of the race was relatively uneventful as far as how I was running (a good thing!). I had a great time out there today, the high fives were flying and the hellos and good jobs were plentiful. It is so nice to be able to see absolutely everyone on this stage! That is definitely a highlight for me.

Since everyone started at different times today, according to their expected finish times or placing from yesterday, the finish is a rapid succession of runners coming down the final stretch. It was a lot of fun to watch everyone coming in and it was interesting to see the actual results being updated and posted as we watched. Since the fastest runners stated at the end, the rankings of today's stage were constantly changing as more people finished.

In the results, Rob (53:41) and Victoria (1:01:03) won for the ultimates again, increasing their leads over second place; they will wear the gold jerseys again tomorrow. The H+P Men's A team won the relay again today, with Adam Hortian running 48:49!

From the race website: Stage 2 Recap and Results

I've never had a finish time so close to other runners at this stage. 5th (Joanne), 6th (Leigh Anne), and 7th (myself) finished with with very close times of 1:09:40, 1:09:46, and 1:09:47. This made me super excited (and perhaps a little hyper... sorry if I was a little on the giddy side, Leigh Anne! I'll be more calm tomorrow, I swear.) to think that perhaps I won't be running all by myself in some of the longer stages, especially the marathon. It would be great to have some company.

One other thing:
I don't recall if I mentioned the dead skunk on yesterday's course, but today has now marked the second day in a row with a dead skunk. If there's another one at Bechtel tomorrow...........

And on that amazingly appetizing note, I will leave you with the usual post-race food photo. :)

ENDURrun Stage 6: 10K Time Trial

ENDURrun is getting dangerously close to being done for the year. This morning was stage 6, the second last stage of this event, a 10K.

This time trial stage starts in Elmira and finishes at the race director's house in Conestogo. It is a flat course with long straight stretches. It's a fast course, but it takes place the day after running up, down, and all around a ski hill and also the day before a marathon... those factors don't necessarily make the fast course a fast course. :)

I figured I would run 46 or 47 minutes today and I ran pretty much smack dab between the two, finishing in 46:38.

Although the cool temperatures have been great for running, it was cold after today's stage. Normally, when races finish at Lloyd and Julie's house, I immediately jump in the pool. Today.... I didn't even consider going in. I was way too cold. Instead, I threw on my jacket, drank my recovery drink while waiting in line for massage, then put on pants and grabbed a little bit of food.

I am still sitting in 4th place overall female, about 18 minute behind 3rd and 32 minutes ahead of 6th.

Tonight, there is a social event at the race director's house where the runners and volunteers have the opportunity to hang out, eat some food, talk about what has happened this week so far, and also about what to expect tomorrow (or possibly not about running at all.... but that doesn't happen often).

I'm looking forward to spending some more time with everyone this evening as we are nearing the close of our incredible week together. If you are one of the runners or volunteers reading this... See you there!

ENDURrun Stage 6: 10K Time Trial

It’s tough to run a 10K race the morning after Chicopee. My legs did not want to race today, but they had no choice (or at least I didn’t give them one) and my legs and I ran.

As with the 15K on Monday, this stage was a time trial, with runners starting a minute apart from slowest to fastest. Since the 10K distance is a popular one and since it is now the weekend, there were a number of guest runners. The guest runners submit their predicted finish time with their entry and are slotted into the starting order accordingly.

The course for Stage 6 is a point to point from a park in Elmira to the race director’s house in Conestogo. It is mostly on long stretches of country roads with minimal shade. The course is also a slight net downhill, so it does make for some good finish times.

After socializing in the parking lot for a while, it was my turn to start (I started 38th today). I waited for the countdown, while chatting with Lloyd for a wee bit… turns out he had my predicted finish time down as 47:33. Did he actually expect me to run that today? (My best 10K is 47:57)

I went out today, planning on running around a 50 minute 10K. As I ran along, I noticed that my pace for the first bit was a bit faster than I expected, but nothing crazy, so I wasn’t concerned about it and just kept running along, trying to find a good rhythm to maintain and keep going to the finish. It worked out well, as I only had 1 km at 5 min and all the others were a little bit faster. I finished the race in 48:19 and was 3rd female again.

I have my usual post-race food photo to include on this post, but I can’t seem to find my phone right now. I will add it to this post once I locate it.

[Edit: I found my phone, so here’s the photo.]

It was breakfast food day today.

ENDURrun Stage 6: 10K Time Trial

After a good night’s sleep, I felt ready to face the next stage of the ENDURrun today. I actually woke up about 5 minutes before my alarm was supposed to go off; it was nice to wake up naturally. I got up, made coffee, and breakfast, which today was a whole wheat bagel with peanut butter and banana.

As I was eating my breakfast, I took a look at the cumulative results to this point. My cumulative time was 11:03:40 for the first 5 stages. Many months ago, I decided that my goal for this whole week would be sub 16 hours. Taking this into consideration, I had 4:56:20 to complete the final 2 stages (a 10K and a marathon) and still meet my goal. With this information, I decided that if I ran a 50 minute 10K today, I would still have 4:06:20 for the marathon, which is still possible. Last year I did the marathon in 4:08:41. My best marathon is 3:51:28 (Mississauga Marathon 2011) and I ran the Waterloo Marathon in 4:03:09 this spring. Hopefully, I have enough left in me to run a decent marathon tomorrow.

We left the house, stopped by Lloyd’s house in Conestogo briefly to see if anyone needed a ride to the start line in Elmira and we were on our way. This race is a point to point course, so it starts at a park in Elmira and finishes right in front of the race director’s house. The post-race food, massage tables, etc are set up in his backyard, waiting for us upon our return from the race route.

This stage was another time trial, so the runners all start at different times and then came in to the finish area fairly close together. Today, I was passed by 3 runners and I passed 3 as well.

I finished today’s stage in 50:48, so I was a bit slower than I wanted to be and well over a minute slower than last year, but this still leaves me with 4:05:32 to run tomorrow’s marathon and meet my goal of sub 16. It’ll be tough to do and I’m not 100% confident that I’ll be able to do it, but I will certainly try. My concern at this point is the fact that I’ve run all the road stages in more time than last year and this final stage is road. But, as I was discussing this with a fellow ENDURrunner today, it was pointed out to me that the trail stages were also the longest stages so far, so I’ve actually run the longer stages faster than last year and tomorrow’s stage is the longest of them all. Perhaps I have a chance after all.

And now, some photos:

My food photo looks a little sad today, but the food was quite good! In this photo there is orange hummus on a slice of bread, a piece of cantaloupe, a fruit pancake, a tuna sandwich, and some fruit salad.

Tonight, we will attend the barbeque to celebrate the last night before the final stage. I am looking forward to our wonderful dinner with the amazing company of the other runners, the volunteers, as well as their family and friends.

ENDURrun Stage 2: 15K Time Trial

After yesterday’s stage, I did not get to rest and relax as much as I would have liked. Ryan and I attended a wedding on Friday afternoon, so I only worked a half day that day. Since I’m off this week for the ENDURrun, I wanted to get caught up on some of the work I didn’t finish up on Friday. I ended up working for a good chunk of the afternoon, into the evening last night. At least now, I feel like I’ve finished up the work that I wanted to before going on vacation.

I packed up the few things I need for today (including a bathing suit for a post-race swim) and heated up my leftovers from last night’s supper, ate my dinner, watched a bit of TV, rolled out my legs on the foam roller, and then headed off to bed around 10:30.

At 5:55am my alarm woke me up. I was a bit more tired this morning than yesterday morning, but that quickly passed as I got up, made some coffee and got my breakfast ready. Breakfast today was a toasted whole wheat bagel with peanut butter and banana, coffee, and water.

I arrived at the race start (across from the race director’s house) about 20 minutes before 8am today, which was a bit later than I’d hoped, but since today was a time trial, it’s a staggered start, so I still had some time to get prepared for today’s stage.

For the time trial, each runner starts one at a time and one minute apart, starting with the person who had the slowest time in Stage 1 and finishing with the person with the fastest time from Stage 1. Since there are also guest runners and relay times, estimated finishing times provided at the time of registration allowed for an estimate in the placing for these people as well. The name of the game in the time trial is to try and catch those in front of you and to try not to be passed (or at least to not be passed by too many people).

I ran this stage quite well last year, so I knew going into today’s race that it would be difficult to beat last year’s time. I had a couple of issues with side stitches today, which kind of cramped my pace (pun intended) at certain points in the run, but they resolved and I was able to maintain a relatively steady pace throughout the stage, but I didn’t even come near to beating last year’s time. Once again, I came in 4 minutes slower than last year. Hopefully, I’ll kick my butt into gear and make up some time tomorrow at Bechtel.

The post-race action took place in Lloyd’s back yard, which has a fantastic pool and a lot of space for all of us runners to stretch out, get massages, grab some food from the food tent, etc.

When I first stepped back into the yard, I noticed that the cover was on the pool. I was a little disappointed, because I was hoping to jump right in after this stage, but then I noticed that Keenan (Lloyd’s son) had just walked into the yard and was heading over to the pool! As he was removing the cover, I was removing my shoes, getting ready to head straight over there. As soon as the cover was completely off the pool, I dove into the pool. Refreshing! After 15 or so minutes of hanging out in the pool, I went and grabbed some food. Shortly after I filled my platter, it was time for my post race massage, which really helps in the recovery. Thanks again to KW Health Connection for their continued support of this event!

  

When I went back to my platter of delicious food, I noticed that a wasp kept coming near, flying around, and checking out my food. It was quite interested in my slice of turkey and when I watched closer, I could see that it was actually working away, cutting out a chunk of the deli meat. The wasp flew away with its new found protein-rich meal and it was not long at all before another wasp was doing the same. The slice ended up with about 6 holes in it from the wasps.

After all of the runners had a chance to eat and most had a chance to get a massage, it was time for the results and announcements. There was no change in the gold jerseys today, so Bob and Jackie will be wearing them again tomorrow for Stage 3: 30K trail at Bechtel Park.

Most of the group disbursed after the announcements were completed, but I (and a few others) headed back to the pool, where I went for a quick swim and then relaxed, sitting on the pool stairs, letting my legs rest in the cool water, while I enjoyed the sunshine and a nice cold Mill Street Organic. It was a great way to end Stage 2.

My time for Stage 2 (as per my Garmin): 1:23:38