A Summary of September

It appears that I've neglected the blog, once again. I tend to get a little lazy when ENDURrun is over. I slack. I've been slacking in the blogging and also slacking in the strength work that I was doing leading up to ENDURrun, and a bit in the rest of my training as well. Not too bad... but I've been lacking a bit of motivation to work as hard as I wanted and intended. Looking back at previous years, I tend to feel about the same at this point every fall. Then I generally look back and see that it hasn't actually been nearly as bad as I thought it was. I really haven't been focusing on 50 mile training, though.... we'll see how JFK goes next month.

But for now... here's how September went.

I'm going to ignore the first three days of September.. for no reason other than it was the end of a week and I feel like starting with a Monday.

Sept 4-10 - The week of.... nothing, really. I can't think of anything of interest. It started with Labour Day, but nothing else was different than a regular week.
Monday - 6.2 mile run.
Tuesday - Wee WO: 7.1 miles, including 4x Marshall Hill.
Wednesday - 7.1 miles, combo of road and trails.
Thursday - WO: 4x 1.5 miles at half marathon pace. 15.7 miles total.
Friday - no run
Saturday - Long run with H+P: 17 miles.
Sunday - 10 miles
** Total mileage for the week: 63.2 miles. Total elevation gain: 3,097 ft. 

Sept 11-17 - Another week of nothing special.
Monday - nada
Tuesday - WO: 6 miles at half marathon pace. Total run: 8.3 miles.
Wednesday - 8 miles combo road and trails.
Thursday - Wee WO: 8 miles, including 4x 2 min hard.
Friday - 3.5 miles
Saturday - 15 miles
Sunday -  20 miles: 16 miles road, then 4 miles trail.
** Total mileage for the week: 62.9 miles. Total elevation gain: 2,844 ft. 

Sept 18-24 - The week of the Harvest Half
Monday - 7.1 miles trail
Tuesday - 0
Wednesday - 1 mile x2 commute runs in the day, then 6.3 miles in the evening.
Thursday - WO: 5x 1km @ 5K pace. Total run: 11.7 miles.
Friday - 7.6 miles
Saturday - 18.1 miles, including a half marathon at around marathon pace. This was a last minute decision to hop into a race (Harvest Half) since it was a super hot and humid day and aid stations sounded like an amazing benefit. Gillian and I ran most of it together, talking pretty much the entire time, then Gill went ahead to run the last 3K as a fast finish. I maintained my same pace for the last 3. She invited me along for her fast finish... I declined. :) We ended up finishing 1-2 for the women (small race). I ran 1:37 for the half.


Sunday - 13.3 miles, mostly trail.
** Total mileage for the week: 66.4 miles  Total elevation gain: 3,196 ft.

Sept 25-Oct 1 - The week of The Toad and the Beer Run.
Monday - WO: 8 miles including 8 min 10K pace and 10x 1 min hard.
Tuesday - 4.4 miles
Wednesday - 5 miles
Thursday - Wee WO: 7.8 miles including 6x1 min hard.
Friday - 3 miles
Saturday - Run for the Toad 50K. I ran this as a training race for the 50 miler, so I guess I'm doing *some* 50 mile training..... just not much that's 50 mile specific. The race was fun. Well, mostly. The last loop got lonely.... but the first 3 loops were great! It's a 12.5 km course, so you run that 4 times if you're doing the 50, twice if you're running the 25K. I ran it at a comfortable pace, but didn't dilly dally. I didn't race it, but I didn't saunter. I ran a solid 50K, finishing in 4:22, 10th overall, 4th woman.

Sunday - Kitchener/Waterloo Beer Run: 10ish K route with beer sampling stops. This was a super fun day with some of my H+P teammates.

** Total mileage for the week: 67.7 miles. Total elevation gain: 3.907 ft.

So there you have it: September (and the first day of October). Next up, Fall 5K Classic tomorrow... More proof of how much I'm focusing on training for a 50 miler. ;)

Niagara Ultra 50K - June 17, 2017

Well... the Niagara Ultra 50K happened. It wasn't pretty, but it happened.

As I mentioned in my last post.... I hurt my big toe on my left foot by stupidly kicking a stump (accidentally, of course, but I should have been paying more attention) while running at Chicopee. I had hoped it would be pain free by race day, but I was not so lucky. It's nothing super painful, but it's there. It's an annoyance, and it's something that makes the body try to adjust or compensate... and well, it's never a good thing when that happens.

The race may not have gone all that well, but overall, it was fun weekend in Niagara-on-the-Lake with Heather and Andrew.

They picked me up on Friday after work and we headed straight to number pickup to get our numbers and sweatshirts. This race always has nice hoodies, with a different colour each year. This year was black.

After we picked up our stuff, we checked in, then headed out for dinner. Well, "out"... we were eating in the same building where we were staying.

After dinner and a couple drinks, it was time to think about sleeping. Morning was going to come quick. I got into bed, set my alarm for 4:50am and went to sleep. I slept not badly. I only remember waking up once, so that's not bad at all. Got up with my alarm, and headed out the door to walk to Tim Horton's for a coffee and bagel. I was walking back (it was about a km walk each way), trying to eat my bagel and spilled coffee all over my arm. haha. Whoops! At least I didn't spill TOO much and still had more to drink. :)

Got back to my room, showered quick, got ready for the race and headed out. As soon as I put on my running shoes, I knew things were not going to be great. I had discomfort just with wearing shoes. I hoped this would go away quickly, but as I walked to the race, it just remained.

I arrived at the race with enough time to eat a couple of tim bits, hit the port-a-potties, say hi to Dave, and get lined up.

The race itself:

• I felt the toe with pretty much every running step
• I was able to mostly ignore it for about an hour
• The side of my foot started to hurt.. crap.. I've altered my gait
• Walked some to try to "reset" my running gait
• The toe felt ok when I walked
• I walked too much because of the above
• Thought maybe I'll drop when I get to 30K. That's still a solid long run.
• Spent too much time at aid stations in the shade, but had fun chatting with the volunteers, who were amazing!
• Decided at 30K that I'd finish the race. I could walk the last 20K and be under the time cut-off.
• It was hot
• It was humid
• I was drenched in sweat
• Finished 5th woman in 4:53, my 2nd slowest 50K.

I guess I need to come back again for a revenge run. :) It is a great race. Super well organized and a great course.

Now... some photos. The first two are from Dave and the 3rd is what I posted on Instagram on Saturday:

A post shared by Vicki Zandbergen (@vickizandbergen) on Jun 17, 2017 at 11:12am PDT

Since the race, I haven't run. I want this toe to heal completely, but it's driving me nuts how long it's taking. It's not like I truly injured myself (well, I guess maybe I did.... ), all I did was kick a small stump when running.... that's all! How many times have I tripped on a rock or a root or even a sidewalk or curb and been fine? So many. Oh well. It will get better. Hopefully very soon.

Next up race wise.... I'm not sure. Possibly Limberlost, but I'm not going to sign up just yet. I have a mile race next month and then ENDURrun in August.

Coming up in 2015...

The year has mostly been planned, so it's time for post to outline my key events of the year. This year, I will be focusing on three main events: my very first 50 mile race, the ENDURrun, and a fall marathon.

Focus #1: My first 50 miler (May).
I've never run 50 miles in one day... but I will! My biggest run so far has been the Horror Trail Run 6 hour ultra, where I ran approximately 38 miles (61 km). I am excited to be jumping up to 50 miles and am happy to be putting in the work to get to the start line feeling fully prepared on race day.

The race itself is Rock the Ridge, which is set in the gorgeous Mohonk Preserve, a non-profit nature preserve in the majestic Shawangunk Mountains. The course is absolutely beautiful, which was one of the reasons I was drawn to this race. I'm looking forward to spending a bit of time here in early May.

If you would like to support my race and my efforts to help raise funds for the Mohonk Preserve, donations can be made here.


Focus #2: The ENDURrun (August).
For the 5th year in a row, I will be competing as an Ultimate contender in the ENDURrun. This year's registration is booming with 60 ultimate contenders already registered for an event that is more than six months away!

My past cumulative finish times for the seven stage event:
2011: 16:02:18
2012: 16:07:02
2013: 15:00:36
2014: 14:06:52

I hope to improve on my performance again this year and I will try my best to make that happen.

Focus #3: A fall marathon (October or November).
I have never run a fall marathon, so this year is the year to do so! I haven't fully decided on a particular race yet, so I don't have anything else to report here at this time. :) 


What's happened so far this year:
So far in 2015, I participated in the Frosty Trail 6 hour run, the winter equivalent of the above mentioned Horror Trail race. With the snowy conditions and my lack of high mileage training in November or December, I was using this race as a long training run to kick start my 50 mile training. I wanted to run at least 50km, but other than that, I had no real goals. I finished the 6 hours with a distance of 52.5 km, placing 2nd female and 4th overall. 

Thanks to Christopher Giesler for the photo. You can see more photos from this event on The Intrepid Method's running blog.

So there you  have it, the upcoming year in a poorly written nutshell of a blog post!