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!

Happy New Year!

Since it's New Year's Day and I haven't posted anything at all since August, it's a good time to post a bit of a year in review of 2014.

After a successful 2013 (I started to be more consistent in training and achieved PRs in 5K, 8K, 10K, and half marathon) I had high hopes and bigger goals for 2014. Number one on my list at the start of the year was a big marathon PR, but I wanted to keep the training momentum going and most of all, I wanted to be consistent in my training, keep my mileage up, do more workouts, etc.

Quick highlights and running accomplishments from 2014:
- First full year of training with Health and Performance - I've absolutely loved being part of this team/club.
- PBs in every distance (or time) that I raced: 5K (twice), 8K (twice), 10K, 15K, 10 mile, half marathon, 25K, 30K, marathon, 50K, and 6 hour ultra.
- Some podium finishes and my very first win.

• 3rd female at the Frosty Trail 6 hour, the Great Canadian Trail Run 10K, the ENDURrun, Mudpuppy Trail 12K, and the Santa PurSuit 5K.
• 2nd female at the Creemore Vertical Challenge 25K just behind H+P teammate Jessica, and the following day I placed second at the Dirty Dash 8K.
• 1st female (and 3rd overall including the males) at the Horror Trail 6 hour ultra.

 All in all, I'd say it was a pretty great (and fun!) year. I will work just as hard (or harder) this year and will make 2015 just as great (or greater)!

ENDURrun Stage 7: Marathon

On Sunday, August 17th at 7:30am, the final stage of the ENDURrun had begun. When asked by Sean (H+P coach) just before the start what I wanted to do, I said 3:40 or under. My fastest marathon so far is 3:32, so I was planning on something a fair bit slower than my PB, but with six races in the seven days leading up to this marathon, I figured that this was still a reasonable, yet reasonably hard goal.

I was quite happy with how I started the race this year. I kept it controlled, didn't go out too fast, and settled into a pace a little over 8 min/mile. After a few km, the pack thinned out and I was running with Mark McDonald, who was hoping to run around 3:40. Mark and I stuck together for 10ish km (but I could be wrong... I know it was more than 6, but less than 13), but then I ended up a little ahead of him, on my own.

I started to pass a few people once I got to University Ave, and a couple more on Northfield and I could see Catherine ahead, noticing that the gap was closing. As I ran through the start/finish at the half way point, I was just behind Catherine, who was one spot ahead of me in the cumulative results. Until this point, I wasn't even considering the possibility of moving ahead in the overall standings on this final stage of the ENDURrun. I was in 4th, over 18 minutes behind 3rd place heading into the marathon, so it would be a tall order to overcome that deficit.

I ended up passing Catherine around the 22km mark. As I went past, I asked if she was ok; she was having some muscle tightness in her leg. I wished her the best, and she offered some encouragement to me as well. From that point on, the race is a bit of a blur, with the exception of the final 10km of a painful stomach. I think I had too much Gatorade and I was paying for it. It was tough to run through that, but I was determined. I did slow down a bit, but looking at my splits, I can see that I would slow for a bit and then probably tell myself to suck it up and I'd speed up again. That happened a couple of times until it was less than 5K to the finish. At that point, I was able to maintain a decent pace. It wasn't quite the pace I was running at the start of the race, but it wasn't too far off. My first mile was 8:13, my 26th mile was 8:36 (and was uphill). I rounded the final corner, and ran across the finish line, with a finish time of 3:39:43.

I had finished the marathon in 3rd place for the ultimate females, but wouldn't know how I placed overall for the week until Catherine crossed the line. I hung out near the finish, drank my recovery drink, chatted with other runners, teammates, etc, and kept an eye on the time. When the clocked passed into mid 3:58, I knew that I had finished the ENDURrun in 3rd place, something that I did not expect at all going into this week.

My final time for ENDURrun 2014 was 14:06:52, just under 54 minutes faster than last year, and over 2 hours faster than the year before. I am very happy with how I ran all week and I look forward to continuing my training and hopefully improving even more for next year!

I had a fantastic week with everyone again this year. The race organizers, runners, the volunteers, family members, friends, and teammates were/are all so very supportive and were/are such a fantastic group of people to be around day in and day out. Thank you to everyone for making ENDURrun the summer camp for runners that I (and many others) want to attend year after year.

I'm sure all see you all again next year for my 5th year, but for now.... for the 4th time.... after 8 days, 7 stages, and 160km, I am still one tough runner.

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 5: 25.6K (16 mile) Alpine Run

Yesterday morning was the stage that is dreaded by many: Chicopee.

It's a tough stage, which takes place at a ski hill, but I do enjoy the course. Well, most of the course.

Here's a rambly course description for you:

Start, run to the first uphill, a long gradual gravel service road that winds up the side of the hill, turning twice, with a fair bit of loose gravel this year and a lot of erosion, so it was a little tricky to find good spots to run near the top of the hill. Once arriving at the top, run straight ahead, then turn right into the first trail section, which starts with a fairly steep sandy downhill. Run across the bottom, then windy your way back up through the trails, pop out the top and head back the way you came, but before reaching the service road, turn right and run straight down a ski hill (something I love to do), across the bottom and over to the bottom of another ski hill, turn and run (or "run") straight up this ski hill. Once reaching the top, run across and down some cinder block steps into another trail section (my favourite part), for some windy single track down, and then back up the hill. Hang a right out of this section and run to another ski hill to run straight down. At the bottom, nip into another trail section. This section is flat, but includes a lot of mountain bike boardwalks, which were missing some boards, some were bouncy, and some were breaking under our feet (I broke one, but luckily it happened when pushing off, not when stepping on the board). After the flat section, it's back up the hill via Goat Trail, out the top, over the top of the hill, and straight down. Hang a left at the bottom of this hill, and run through the start/finish line. That is one loop, so do that another 4 times.

The race went well for me. I ran the first lap quicker than I intended to, but I had been ahead of Angela for about half of the lap and didn't want to give that up too quickly. After the start of the second lap, ran my own race. The quick first lap didn't seem to affect my overall race, so that was good. I still felt strong and was relatively consistent for the remaining 4 laps. My splits were as follows:  31:13, 32:47, 33:24, 33:02, 33:03.

My finish time was 2:43:29, which was over 14 minutes faster than last year! I'm definitely happy about how it went.

ENDURrun Stage 4: Hilly 10 Miler

Last night's stage was tough. My legs were starting to feel the previous 3 stages and the headwind after the turnaround certainly didn't help anything.

Here's a description of the course from the race website:

The first of two hill runs, this course is for the fast, strong runner. This 10 miler is on paved and packed gravel roads and is characterized as demanding and hilly. The start and finish are both up hill, mainly along Wilmot Line west of Waterloo. The gathering point is at Camp Heidelberg at 6pm – the only stage to start at the end of the day. After the short hill start, runners run through a low forested region then join Wilmot Line. There are a series of large hills to slow you up, but the descents are long and fast. Approximately half way out the course doubles back straight towards the finish. The rapid succession of hills during the last third of the course draws on all the strengths of the runner. The final 300m finish usually sees the competitors battle to the finish line and a well deserved leg massage!

Although stage 4 didn't feel great for me, I was perfectly happy with the end result. I wanted to finish in under 1:20 and I did. My finish time was 1:19:47, a 10 mile PB for me (mind you, I've never run a non-ENDURrun 10 mile race) and was another 5th place finish.

My Post-Stage 4 Food

It was incredibly great to see the crowd of Health & Performance members cheering on the final hill to the finish, and some runners who were on the other side just up a bit further (Matt, Mindy, I don't remember who else was there... sorry.. your regular shirts didn't stand out as much as the gold!). It is always fantastic to have people cheering on that final uphill stretch. Thank you to all who stood and cheered!

As with every stage of this event, there is plenty of time to socialize with other runners, family, and friends while enjoying an amazing assortment of food and a nice casual setting. A highlight this year was the unexpected ENDURrun reunion! Several former ENDURrun Ultimates were out as guests, including Jessica and Brian, who I haven't seen in 3 years! It was great to see you!

Since it's Thursday today... here's a throwback to Jess and I running stage 4 in 2011!

After today's "rest day" (probably the busiest day of the week with the eating stages 4.5 and 4.75 and a massage appointment), it is time to prepare for tomorrow's tough stage: Chicopee. I hope the legs are happy tomorrow because they need to carry me up and down a ski hill many times.

ENDURrun Stage 3: 30K XC/Trail

Yesterday morning, after a night of much rain, the first big stage of the ENDURrun happened. It was stage 3, the 30K cross-country stage.

The course is a 5K loop. The first half is a bit of road then grass sections including some grassy hills and valleys, while the second half of the loop is on trails through a small forest. This 5K loop is run 6 times.
I went into Stage 3 hoping to run between 27:00 and 27:30 per lap, which would give me a finish time between 2:42 and 2:45.

I started out at a comfortable pace, making sure not to go out too fast. By the time we got to the first grassy section, I had settled in behind Catherine and decided to see if I could stick there, keeping her in sight for the remainder of the race.

At the end of the first lap, I looked at the clock and saw that it was a little under 27 minutes. I was glad that it wasn't too far below because I wanted to be sure I was running a pace that I could maintain for 5 more laps.

Photo by Natascha Kleinke

I don't remember the time on the clock after lap 2, but I'm guessing it was 53 or 54 minutes. I do know that when I crossed at the half way point, it said 1:20:xx and finishing around 2:40 was a definite thought in my mind. 

Continuing on, I still had Catherine just ahead of me with her bright shorts acting as a beacon to guide the way. It remained that way until about half way through lap 5.

Shortly after entering the trail section on the fifth lap, my vision started going wonky. I had some spots that I couldn't see. This has happened to me a few times before, so I knew it wasn't anything serious, but I also knew that it was a sign that my blood sugar was too low and when that happens, I need to take in some fuel. Although my body felt great and I felt like I could continue at the pace i was running, I made the decision to back off a bit, take a couple shot blocks (I carried some on me just in case... and I'm glad I did), and take some Gatorade and water when I went by the aid station which was coming up in 1.5 km. After I crossed the start/finish to start my bell lap, I walked through the aid station to drink a cup of Gatorade before continuing on. It felt silly to do that with only one lap to go, but I wanted to resolve the issue to be sure it didn't get worse. I had decided that I would rather have a slow bit of the race and finish strong than suffer (and barely see) for the final 7.5 km of the stage.

The vision was starting to return to normal by the time I entered the grass downhill on my final lap (just past the 1K mark) and by the time entered the trails for the final time, it was almost normal. I finished up the final 3.5 km and crossed the finish line in 2:44:31.

Although I did slow down (and my lap times definitely show it), I didn't lose my position in the race and I was still the next person to cross the finish line after Catherine... I just couldn't see her ahead of me during the final lap and a half.

I finished 4th female today (Stage 3 Results), but maintain my 5th position overall female in the cumulative results.

The lap times haven't been posted in the results yet, but according to my Garmin data, my lap times were as follows:

Lap 1: 26:48
Lap 2: 26:45
Lap 3: 26:52
Lap 4: 27:03
Lap 5: 28:46
Lap 6: 28:16

Post race, I had another large platter of food (actually, it was the smaller of the platters, but larger than a plate), which again took a really long time for me to eat. I'm generally not hungry right after I run, but during ENDURrun, I know that I need to start re-fueling to aid in recovery ASAP, so I force it down even if it takes me an hour to do so.

Congratulations to Pat Kelly and Angela Batsford on your stage wins! Although Mindy and Matt did not win this stage, they do retain the gold jerseys for stage 4 as they are still in first position for the cumulative results. The first and second male and female positions are only a few minutes apart at this point (3:01 for the men and 3:59 for the women), so it will be interesting to see what happens over the next two hilly stages.

The fun continues this evening with Stage 4, a 10 miler on the hilly Wilmot Line.

ENDURrun Stage 2: 15K Time Trial

I'm going to be a bit lazy today and quote the race website's stage description instead of describing it myself. Actually, I will call it efficient. Yes... efficient sounds better.

This flat out-and-back course on paved (70%) and gravel roads runs through Woolwich Township and takes you through countryside dotted with Mennonite farms. The peaceful and relaxing surroundings are among broad open field spaces where the land is still worked by horses. You’re sure to encounter the local horse-and-buggy traffic on this scenic run. The course starts and finishes in the quaint village of Conestogo at the Schmidt residence, and runs on some of the 10 km Time Trial course. Flat and wide open, you won’t be able to hide from your competition in this exciting time trial Stage.

Being a Time Trial, runners start at separate and consistent intervals, in reverse order of current standings.

Today, each runner started one minute after the last, with the first runner starting his race at 8am. At 8:39, and it was my turn to start the game of catch (or attempt to catch) the runners who started ahead of me while trying not to be caught by anyone who started after me. I passed a few runners today (4?) and I am happy to report that I was not passed by anyone in today's stage. 

My finish time was 1:10:44 (PB). I was 5th female today and I have maintained my 5th place position. There was no change in the overall leaders today, so the gold jerseys will continue to be worn by Mindy and Matt at the 30K stage tomorrow.

After writing this incredibly short post, it is time for me to get back to resting up in preparation for tomorrow's stage, which some call the real first stage of this race. But first... the obligatory food photo.

 

 

My platter of food that took me approximately an hour and a half to finish.

Great job out there again today, everyone! See you at Bechtel Park in the morning!

ENDURrun Stage 1: Half Marathon

Good morning (although it will be afternoon by the time I publish this blog post). It's 6:58am and I have a few minutes before my ride gets here, so I thought it was a good opportunity to quickly start today's blog post.

I am excited to get to the start line this morning and I'm looking forward to everything this week has in store. I hope everyone has a fantastic week!

........

It is now 3:27pm. I ran, I ate, I got a massage, I swam, had a beer, and now I'm home, sitting on the couch, drinking smoothie #2 of the day. Time to actually write this blog post.


The Race:

Stage 1 of the ENDURrun is a half marathon, starting at a park in Conestogo, running one ~13km loop on roads and paved trail through a golf course, then a smaller ~8km loop following a similar, but shorter route (obviously).

The race started at 8am with a record number of people this year. Although the registration numbers were not the highest (there were over 50 registered in 2012), it was the year with the most starters. Each and every one of the 46 registered Ultimate Competitors was able to run (and finish) today's stage! Already, this was shaping up to be a great week.

It was fairly cool (for August) at the start, which was fantastic for running. The sun was definitely out in full force and it did warm up in the second loop, but it didn't get overly hot. In fact, I finished much less sweaty than I normally am at the end of an easy summer training run!

My plan today was to keep each mile below 8 minutes. I had my watch set to only display the laps and not total, so if I looked at my watch (which I didn't do much) I actually didn't know what my pace over the whole distance was or how many minutes I was into the race, just the time and pace for the mile that I was currently running. I came very close to successfully implementing this plan.... one mile (mile 13) was 8:01. So close!

I finished the stage in 1:42:00, which was 6:59 faster than last year and 4 seconds slower than my fastest half marathon, but more importantly, it felt good.

Looking at the results, I see that there were a lot of great times today! It's going to be interesting to see how the week plays out and how the standings change (or stay the same... you never know!) throughout the remaining 6 stages.

The gold jerseys, which represent the top male and female contenders based on cumulative time, have now been awarded and will be worn by two newcomers tomorrow: Mindy Fleming and Matt Leduc.

Great job out there today, everyone! See you tomorrow in Conestogo for Stage 2!

I almost forgot to take a photo of my post-race food today.... as you can see, my watermelon was already consumed.

Whoops.

Time got away from me. In my last post, I said I would backtrack and write about June. That obviously didn't happen yet. Since it is now just a couple hours away from the pre-race meeting for the 2014 ENDURrun, I guess I should write something! This is going to be short. Very short.

I ran two races in June, one road race and one trail race.  Here's how they went.

June 15th - Road Race - Waterloo 10K Classic (Waterloo Running Series)

•  At the 5K mark, I was below my 5K PB
• Finished in a new 10K PR of 45:37, which was 1 second shy of 2 minutes off my previous best 10K

June 21st - 14ish km Trail Race - Heart Lake (5 Peaks Series)

• Tripped on nothing (or something small... who knows?), sliding shoulder first down an ever so slight decline in the second loop, leaving a fair bit of skin on the course
• Finished 10th female, in a time of 1:14:40
• H+P took the top team award!
  
  

So there you have it. June in a nutshell.
Now, bring on the ENDURrun!

The Start to July... a week of races.

I realize that I've missed posting any sort of updates for June (I ran a couple of races.. I will backtrack and post about them soon), but now it's July and I already have a few races to mention! It's been a busy, but fun week and this has the potential to be a long rambly post.

Race #1 - Great Canadian Trail Run 10K (mix of dirt, grass, asphalt, and crushed gravel trails)

On Tuesday, July 1st (Canada Day), I headed down to Brantford with a van full of runners (Deb, Dave, Heather, Lynn, and I) to run the Great Canadian Trail Run. There were 5K and 10K race options; Deb and Lynn were doing the 5K, while Dave, Heather, and I did the 10. 

We Arrived at the site about 45 minutes before race start. Obtaining our numbers, t-shirts, etc was quick and painless, so I had plenty of time to get in a short warm-up run and stash my bag under the stands at the track near the race start/finish. 

The race itself was well organized and there were no course issues this year (last year there were a couple of unmarked turns and one spot where the trail came to a T and the marshals had their backs to the course, causing me to actually have to call out for directions). The weather was far from ideal as it was quite hot, very humid, and windy. This combination did not make me want to race. I lost motivation by 6K, but at 8K when a woman passed me, motivation quickly returned. I decided that I would not drop back a place and I got back in the game. 

I finished the race in 3rd place female, running almost 2 minutes slower than my fastest road 10K, but over a minute and a half faster than the same race last year. 

Great Canadian Trail Run 10K Results

Race #2 - Creemore Springs Vertical Challenge 25K (hilly, hence the name)

I had been on the fence about signing up for this race and I actually didn't decide to do it until I finally registered on Wednesday evening. I figured it would be a good training run for Stage 5 of the ENDURrun, which is coming up next month, and that's the type of mentality I took to the race. This was going to be a training run. A hard effort training run, but a training run nonetheless. 

Greg, Craig, and I arrived at 8:05, so we just missed seeing the start of the 50K, but still had plenty of time to get ourselves organized, warm up, etc before our 9am start for the 25K. Having never run this race before, I was surprised to see how beautiful the location was (the race director's property). I had heard great things, but you still never truly know until you see it. I was already glad that I had decided to do this. 

After some socializing and then stashing my stuff next to some trees on the lawn, I did a very short warm up run and hung out near the start line. A couple of very quick announcements were made, and a shot gun was fired to signal the start of the race. 

Going into this race with 'training run' mentality worked well for me to ensure that I started at a relatively conservative pace. I was running comfortably (or comfortably hardish) and it felt good. 

A race volunteer told me very early in the race (*maybe* 1 km into the race) that I was the second female at this point... I made a mental note, but I didn't let it get to me. The woman ahead of me was Jessica from my running club, and I could see her blue singlet ahead. A few km later, when I had not been passed by anyone, but I had passed a couple of runners, I decided that I would continue running at my current level of effort, but if a woman was to catch me, that I may have to kick it up a notch to not lose my position. Luckily, this didn't happen. 

As the race went on, there was climb after climb after climb, some were country roads, some were rocky trail, some may have been other types of terrain as well.. I'm not really sure... I didn't pay too much attention to the hills... I just got up them and then eventually down. There were two hills that I had to walk part of, but other than that, I was pretty consistent (effort wise... pace goes out the window on this course). 

I ran a good chunk of the race with Rick (someone I had met on the course around 7 or 8 km into the race), we had a brief chat and realized that we were of very similar running ability based on past races, so we ran together from that point until just after the final BIG climb. He had told me earlier on that after the last big climb, the final 5 or 6 km of race is mostly downhill. So, as it started to level off at the top, I said "It's run time" and I picked up the pace. The long downhill country road was incredibly fun to just open up and run down. Also at this point the 50K leaders were heading up on their 2nd loop, so it was great to be able to see them, to offer some encouragement, and even just to say 'hi' to some friends along the way. 

After the long down, there was a farmer's field, then some trail with some steep downhills that were a little tricky in spots. When I saw the rope to pull yourself up a short and steep muddy hill, I knew the end was close. I got up that hill and I was having a lot of fun running through the twisty single track in the last mile of the race. I came out from the woods, saw the wet and dry options (bouncy bridge vs water crossing - I took dry since there was nobody around me and also since I was told by some other people that it really doesn't make much of a difference time wise), turned to the right, and ran across the finish line. I had finished in 2nd place of the women. I congratulated Jessica on her first place finish, got myself a beverage, and chatted with other runners and the race director for a bit before I took a look at the results... which confirmed that I was 2nd female by 40 seconds. I had no idea that I was that close. I thought I was at least 2 minutes back. I felt great at the finish. I definitely felt like I could have kept running, which made me very happy.

Post race beer, pizza, sitting in the Mad River, and hanging out on the grass was fantastic. I stuck around for 5 or so hours after I was done my race, so I had lots of time to chat with 50K runners and to just enjoy the wonderful weather outdoors. All in all, it was a great day.
Creemore 25K Results

Race #3 - Dirty Dash 8K (wee bit of road, meadow, trail, water crossings, muddy hill, and finally bales of hay and a mud pit in the finishing chute)

Since I already talked so much about the other two races, I'll keep this one shorter. This morning was the Dirty Dash. There is an 8K, a 4K, and a 1K kids run. I did the 8K. One of the main reasons I like this race is the fact that the course is almost exactly the same as Stage 3 of the ENDURrun (just 1 km shorter on the loop, and ER doesn't have water crossings or a mud pit). I guess that makes this weekend ENDURrun simulation training... I did Creemore for a Stage 5 type race and then Dirty Dash for a much shorter version of Stage 3. Ok.. back to the race. At the first turn I could see that there were 3 women ahead of me, 2 turns later, I was in 2nd place female, where I stayed for the remainder of the race. I felt strong today and did not feel like I had run all those hills the day before. I enjoyed this race and enjoyed catching up with some people I hadn't seen in a while. Placing well was an added bonus.  

Dirty Dash 8K Results

Race swag and prizes. The maple syrup, coffee, and bowl were all prizes from Creemore.

And now, I sit here finishing up this post, having just come home from running.... at Chicopee.

Buffalo Marathon

Last weekend was the Buffalo Marathon... my sixth marathon, my third stand alone marathon (the other three were the final (7th) stage of the ENDURrun), and my second marathon for which I had actually trained (the 2nd of the 3 stand alones was a training run pre-ENDURrun in 2012). I had set my self an ambitious, yet not outside the realm of possibility goal this year and I was flip flopping between being confident and doubting myself. My goal was 3:30.

To give a bit of background, my first marathon in 2011 was the Mississauga Marathon. I had signed up for it because I had registered for the ENDURrun and figured that I should probably run a marathon before jumping into a race where, after running all week, the final stage is a marathon. I started a training plan on my own in early January of that year and had set myself an ambitious goal of 3:50 with a secondary goal of sub 4:00 for that one. I had run several half marathons, but this being my first full, I had no idea what to expect. I finished it in 3:51:28 (and sprained my ankle in the process.... whoops! Good thing adrenaline kicks in.. no real pain until after I was done!).

 OK... back to the present.

As I have mentioned in some recent posts, my races had been going well so far this year, I'd been training with Health and Performance twice a week, and I was logging more miles than ever before. For the first time in my life, my weekly mileage was over 100 km per week for multiple weeks in a row. I felt good. I felt strong. I felt confident in my abilities as a runner (most of the time). I was definitely looking forward to this race.  

As the weekend approached, the plans were becoming finalized. Myself, Doug, Erika, and Alice were going to be heading down to Buffalo in one car and staying in two different hotels, but both only about a block away from the start/finish area.  

Doug picked me up Saturday morning, then we stopped to get the others and we were on our way. The drive went smoothly with no traffic delays and, more importantly, no delay at the border. We crossed, found our hotels, and got settled. 

The Expo:

Getting our numbers at the expo was a very smooth and quick process. Although the expo was quite small, I did manage to find a good deal on two pairs of shorts and a shirt. New purchases, race number, race shirt, pasta party ticket, and other random samples, etc in hand,  I happily exited the convention centre.

Beer Shopping:

An important part of a race weekend... especially a race weekend across the border... beer!

I had checked around online a few days before the race to be sure that I knew where I could find a store with a good selection. When I came across The Village Beer Merchant, I stopped my search. It was close to the hotel (1.2 miles away) and had good reviews. I must say... I wanted to purchase many more beers, but had to think about the fact that there were 4 people and their bags in the car and also the fact that we're crossing the border which means limits and actually.. we were less than 48 hours, so we weren't really supposed to have anything. I ended up doing a 'mix a six' and then grabbing some larger singles as well.

The Pasta Party:

The pre-race pasta dinner was included in the entry fee for the race and occurred at a nearby church. This year, runners were to choose the time that they would go to the dinner so that they would avoid having too many people show up at once. It appeared to work well, as there was no wait to get food or drinks, and while the venue had quite a number of people in it, there was plenty of space to sit. 

The food itself was basic, but did the trick. Penne with marinara sauce and 3 meatballs. They didn't ask  if I did or did not want the meat, but I'm sure if I had said something, they would have just handed me a different plate without the meatballs. As you can see from the photo below, there was also plain white bread and beer (which unfortunately was Molson Canadian... I had a couple of sips, discovered what it was, and then I did not consume the rest). There was also pop, water, and maybe some juice and there were salads. For dessert. Oreo-like cookies. 

 

Free Pasta

After dinner, it was just time to hang out for a bit, then get some sleep. The race start was scheduled for 7am, so I set my alarm for 4:45 am (ugh) to allow some time to have a coffee, eat some oatmeal, digest.... and then heat out to the race.

Race Day:

After the above noted coffee and oatmeal, I got myself ready for the race... ran around the halls for a few minutes (I ran softly and quietly.. I wasn't waking up the whole hotel or anything), and then headed outside. It was a cool morning, but not cold. I was in shorts and a singlet and I was just fine. I think the temp was around 48-50 F.

After a very brief warm-up up and down the street between the hotel and the start, it was time to line up at the start. I was quite impressed that people seemed to actually pay attention to the pace signs posted at the sides and lined up properly according to their anticipated pace. It makes the race start so much nicer when people are lined up they way they should be. I settled in with the other 8:00/mile people and waited for the race to start. 

The start itself was pretty uneventful (which is good). We moved up slowly toward the start, walking until we pretty much got to the line. I crossed the start line after 24 seconds, but if felt like much longer.

The Race:

I started out running 8:00 pace as planned. My first mile was almost perfect.. 8:00:xx, but I was feeling crowded. I was right behind the 3:30 paces and the people who were trying to run with them were sticking right to them. I was kicked in the shins 3 times... I needed to get out of there. When I had an opportunity, I went around and settled in just in front of that group. It was great. It was myself and another girl (her name was Tracy) and nobody around us. We had a nice space in front, behind, and to each side of us. It felt so good to run like this and we started chatting. I got distracted from keeping my 8:00 pace... I looked down at my watch and.... mile 2 was 7:43... uh oh... it's WAY too early for that to happen. I needed to adjust. I thought I had, but then mile 3 went by... 7:45. Crap. I did get back to high 7:50s by mile 4, so that was good. I needed to stay there or the second half was going to be messy. 

As the miles went by, I was feeling good. The temp was still good. The sun was quite warm, but a lot of the first half of the course was in the shade, which was very nice. I passed the half point at 1:44:xx, which sounds just about perfect for what I wanted to do, but the race was far from over. 

The first half of this course is run completely with the half marathon, which then veers off to the left and marathon to the right, to complete the second (different) loop. I did not enjoy the second half of the course as much as the first (and not just because it was the second half). There just wasn't as much to look at, and although it appeared that running around a park might be enjoyable, I actually found that it felt like the longest mile in the whole race. It didn't help that I thought I was actually a mile further than I actually was. I was running along and saw mile 18. I could have SWORN I was at mile 19. Mind you, my watch agreed with the sign. So, mentally, that did not help. Pace wise, I was still OK at this point. 

The rough patch for me mostly happened from mile 20/21 to 24. At this point, my thoughts turned to doing the math to tell myself that I could slow down and as long as I kept it under 9:00, that I'd still have a good finish time. I started walking through a few water stops. This was something I did not need to do, but for some reason told myself it was OK to take these breaks... breaks which caused my pace to slow (I had one mile right at 9:00). It took until mile 24 before I told myself to snap out of it and started picking it up, and by the start of mile 25, I was back at 8:00 pace. I stayed there until I crossed the finish.

I crossed the line at 3:32:43. It wasn't quite what I was aiming for, but I was definitely happy with it. 

Official Results (splits). Chip time was 3:32:19 (not shown on here).

My finish time was just over a 19 minute PR. That was something to celebrate. There were lessons to be learned in this race (I definitely need to not let myself get distracted while running early in the race... those quick early miles were not supposed to happen!) and hopefully that 3:30 (or less) will come soon. 

3:32:18, post race beer (from my purchases), and finisher's medal

Overall, I enjoyed this race. It's a good sized race (not tiny, but not huge either) and it is well organized. 

My only real complaint was the placement of the small out and back to add on the necessary distance on the marathon course. It was a tenth of a mile from the finish. I feel that this little add-on could have been anywhere in the second half of the race, preferably at the beginning of the second loop. I know that the course had been changed this year from previous years, so perhaps they were still working out some of the kinks. 

The short drive and fairly low entry fee (compared to races in Southwestern Ontario) makes this race a good option for a spring marathon. I may be back. We will see.

Last Weekend: The Double

As I mentioned in my last post, I had a double race weekend coming up. Well, it has now been and gone (a week ago) and I realized that I didn't write anything about it yet.

ENDURrace 8K
The first of the two races was on Saturday at 6pm. It was a chilly and windy evening, but at least it wasn't raining (or snowing). I made sure I didn't go out as ridiculously as I had done for the 5K and the race felt way better as a whole. Conditions were quite good for this race, except for the headwind for maybe a 1/4 of the course total. My goal for this race was sub-36 and I did just that. I finished in 35:53, which was a PB by 16 seconds (previous best was the Re-Fridgee-Eighter in February of this year).

H+P Team post-race - Photo by Julie Schmidt

H+P's ENDURrace Results

Waterloo Half Marathon
After being home for maybe 10 hours, I was out of the house again, on my way to my next race. I wanted to work the half into a big mileage day, and that I did.

I left my house at 6:30am to run to Bechtel Park. I wanted to arrive by 7am so that I'd have plenty of time to get my number, etc. When I arrived, I was pleasantly surprised to find absolutely no line. I walked straight up to the registration table and was done. I hung out with some other runners, watched the start of the marathon, chatted with my Health and Performance teammates for a bit, and then headed back out to line up for the half.

I had hoped to run 7:40 pace (4:46/km) for this race which would result in a finish time of 1:40:30. I wanted to give myself some more confidence for the upcoming marathon, but I didn't really know what to expect having run the 8K race the night before. I feel like at spots in the race, I used the previous night's race as a built in excuse to not achieve the goal. I actually remember at one point thinking that I was fine with anything under 1:45. I did get back into race head space near the end of the race, but not quite early enough. I finished in 1:41:56.

After the race, I ran a short cool down around the park, then hung out to eat some food and watch others finish. When there was a lull in finishers, I decided to head back out onto the course and find some friends who were running the full. I had fun running back to the park with the group and enjoyed being able to witness Sandra's new PB!

To wrap up my running for the day, I ran home from the park.
Total mileage for the day was 22.2 miles (35.7 km).

H+P's Waterloo Marathon and Half Results

All in all, it was a good weekend of racing, with a Personal Best time in both races. I couldn't ask for a much better double race weekend than that!

The Start of Spring Racing

So far this spring, I’ve run 2 races: Around the Bay 30K and the 5K race of the ENDURrace series.

March 30th - Around the Bay:

I was strangely nervous before ATB this year. It’s the 4th time I’ve run this race, but this year was different. This year I had a plan for my race and this year I had goals for the rest of the season. I started to wonder how things would pan out and if they didn’t go as planned, how that might affect my race season. I was worrying about silly things, even my wardrobe… I kept checking the weather and putting out options to wear… and well.. it ended up being fantastic weather. I wore capris and a thin long sleeve shirt, but my sleeves were shoved up past my elbows pretty quick.

OK.. I didn’t come in here to write about clothes… although I could… nah… I’ll get back to running.

My plan for this race was to run it at my goal marathon pace and finish in a time of two hours and thirty minutes. Here’s how it went:

I was happy that it was a slow start with so many people in this race. It gave a bit of time while it thinned out and I could settle into pace. I hit the first km right around 5 minutes. Perfect. I just needed to maintain a steady pace. I started chatting with a couple of runners near me and they had the same goal of 2:30, so I stuck with them until the first real incline – an overpass. I ran up and over and I guess I pulled ahead a bit because I noticed that I didn’t see them anywhere… and I never saw them again.

A few minutes later, I spotted a couple of familiar runners up ahead (Joanne B and Jack K), so I picked it up slightly to catch up to them. said hi, and then ran with them for a few km until Joanne went ahead.

Jack and I stuck together until just after 21K where I had a bit of a mini-bonk… I got some sugar in me and got back on pace, but I didn’t catch up to Jack. At this point, the hills start. For some reason, I thought there was one more hill than there actually was, so I was pleasantly surprised when I hit the 27K mark and knew there were no more hills in this race. I felt good and I felt strong, a glance at my watch told me I was still on pace, so I was happy. As I crossed the the finish line, I saw the clock at 2:29:24, which meant I would get a silver medal instead of the bronze that I had received in years past. I thanked the volunteer who handed me my medal, walked around the corner and there was Jack!

My chip time was 2:28:18, which was 2 seconds shy of a 14 minute improvement over last year. I had stuck to my plan, it went well, and I had new confidence for the marathon in May.


April 12 – ENDURrace 5K:

After a good race at ATB and after training with Health and Performance for a bit, I had high hopes for this race… perhaps a little too high. I somehow let race excitement get the better of me and lost any ability to run smart. Here’s the race in a nutshell: I started too fast and then pretty much died.

Now for the full version: run like an idiot to the first corner, notice that I’m running the same pace as people who are way faster than me, drop it back slightly, but still keep running too fast to the first km mark where they were calling out the times… I hear a 3… crap. I should not be running under 4 min Ks… 3:54 was my first km… it went downhill from there… not the elevation… just me. I got slower and slower. It did not feel good. I just wanted to stop. I didn’t, of course, but I wanted to.

I finished the 5K in 22:13, which was a PB for me, so I am happy about that, but I’m disappointed in the way I ran. I know better… and had I run like I know I should have, I most likely would have ended up with a faster time. Lesson learned, I guess. Or at least I hope I’ve learned my lesson!


Up next is a double race weekend, a little mini-ENDURrun if you will… well.. not really. Saturday evening is the 8K portion of the ENDURrace and then Sunday morning is the Waterloo Marathon (the half for me). I WILL run smarter this time.

A late first post of 2014

It’s a good thing I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions… If I did, more regular blogging might have been one of them and I would have failed miserably!

Since it’s been a while, this will serve mostly as a brief summary/update of the past few months with a wee bit of what’s coming up.

A Change:

After running with the Runners’ Choice marathon group for the past several years, I decided a change was in order. I definitely enjoyed my time with that group and am appreciative of everything I got out of it, but it was time for something new.

In the fall, I started sporadically showing up for Health and Performance training runs, but I became an official member of H+P in December 2013.

Races Past (what’s happened over the winter):

• Santa Pur-Suit 5K – I don’t remember a lot of the details of this race since it was back in early December, but I do know that the weather was good. I ran it in 22:36, which is my 2nd best 5K time so far. Not too shabby for running in a Santa Suit!
• Frosty Trail 6 hour – The very tough conditions this year caused everyone to cover significantly less distance than previous years.
  I ran 40.1 km, which placed me 4th overall (male and female), with only 2 runners completing more than a marathon in the 6 hours.
• Re-Fridgee-Eighter 8K – The first race in the 2014 Waterloo Running Series and also the first in the brand new Battle of Waterloo.
  I didn’t expect much from myself in this race, since it was my first one coming back from a lower leg/ankle injury, but I surprised myself with a new 8K PB of 36:09!

Races Future (upcoming spring races):

• Around the Bay 30K
• ENDURrace 5K & 8K series
• Buffalo Marathon

So there you have it… a brief update. Now, bring on spring with clear roads and sunshine!

A Super Quick Update

It appears I've been slacking in the blogging department again, so I thought I'd throw something together super quick as a bit of an update from the last post in October to now.

I've only run 2 races since my last post and both were short races in the Waterloo Running Series.

October 20, 2013 - Oktoberfest 5K
There are both 5K and 10K options for this race and I would normally choose the longer distance when given those options, but since the Oktoberfest 5K was my very first race ever back in 2006, I always run the 5K at this one.

This race went relatively well... the end result was good (a new PR), but the race itself didn't go that well. I went out too fast and had an absolutely miserable 4th km. Luckily, I was able to pick it up a bit again in the final km and finish in a chip time of 22:22.

December 7, 2013 - Santa Pur-Suit 5K
This was the 2nd annual Santa Pur-Suit, which was a fun event where my mom, sister, niece, and nephew also took part. All participants must wear the entire suit of pants, jacket, belt, beard, and hat. In looking at the photos, I was one of the few who kept their beard on properly for the duration of the race. Actually, my whole family did, so I guess we were raised to play by the rules!

This race went pretty well for me. I went out too fast again (or... I didn't keep up that pace like I should have... I will try to work on that) and slowed a bit later on, but finished in a time of 22:40 (chip 22:36), which was my second fastest 5K and was good enough for 4th place woman overall and a default 1st in my category (2 out of the top 3 female were also 30-34).

Other Running: This past Sunday was the annual Run to St Jacobs, which is organized by Runners' Choice in Waterloo. It snowed a lot from Friday right up to Sunday morning, and the roads were not cleared well, so it was more difficult terrain than usual. I was running the 19K route (which turned out to be just about 20K) after running 4km from my house to the store. Let me tell you, it felt more like 34km than it did 24km. The run was completed at Stone Crock in St Jacobs, where we had a well deserved buffet brunch. It was a great morning with lots of good running friends.

Views from the Run

I’ve taken some photos recently while running and I haven’t written a blog post in a while, so here are some photos from my phone.

The first was taken last Thursday evening at Columbia Lake and the last 3 were taken yesterday along the Grand River.

 

ENDURrun Stage 7: The Marathon

Today’s marathon was the 7th and final stage of the ENDURrun. It started at 7:30am and was a bit cool at the start, but we all knew it was going to warm up very quickly.

Just 2 days ago, it was brought to my attention that while my actual goals for myself before the week started would end up with finishing times for the week of either 15:35 (my “ambitious” goal) or 15:59 (my “realistic” goal), with my cumulative times so far and my goal times for my final 2 stages, I would be about 15 minutes over 15 hours for the week. I didn’t think about this while running the 10K yesterday, although I did come in ahead of plan, but this morning the possibility of a sub 15 for the week crossed my mind. If I ran a 3:57 and change today, I would just squeak in under the 15 hour mark. My fastest marathon time is 3:51, but my 2 previous ENDURrun marathon times were 4:08 and 4:12.

The course for today’s marathon is a 21.1km loop, that is run twice. My plan was to run a conservative first loop and then pick up the pace a wee bit in the second.

The first loop went well and felt comfortable. I crossed the half way point around 1:58.

The second loop got ugly. It got hot. The legs got heavy. I was pretty sure the possibility of running a 3:57 or better was gone. The stretch between 31km and 37km felt like it took forever. I had a few rough, slow miles in that stretch, but once I got past that point, I was okay again.

As I headed into the final 3km stretch, I glanced at my watch. It was still ever so slightly possible to come in at 3:57. I picked up the pace a little and plugged away up the hills to the park in Conestogo. When I had about 1 km left to go, I looked at my watch again. It wasn’t going to happen, but it was going to be close. I ran around the corner to the finish line and crossed the line at 3:58:12. So close!

My total time for the week was mere seconds over 15 hours. I’m very happy with how I did this week, but it was a wee bit of a kicker to be SO CLOSE!

Overall, this was a fantastic week and a real confidence boost for me. I exceeded my expectations for every single stage. I managed to finish with Personal Best (PB) times in the half marathon, the 15K, 30K trail, 10 mile, and 25.6K trail (and ski hill) and I finished with ENDURrun best times in both the 10K and the marathon. My overall placing for the week was 3rd female, which was also very exciting.

This has been a very rewarding week in both running and in the social aspect. It was great to spend the week with such a great group of people including the runners, volunteers, race director & family, the spectators, and supporter from afar. Thank you to everyone!

So, once again…. after 8 days, 7 stages, and 160km, I am still One Tough Runner.

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 5: 25.6K Alpine Run

I’m a little late with this stage’s blog post as I was out and about all of yesterday after finishing the stage. Now, as I drink my coffee and eat my toast before stage 6, I have a chance to write about yesterday’s difficult stage.

Stage 5 is on a ski hill. It’s not a huge ski hill, but it’s still a ski hill. The course is 5 laps of 5.12km per loop. There were some course changes this year, which made it a bit more demanding than it already was.

The Loop:
From the start line, we run through a short flat section, toward the first ascent up a gravel service road. It is long, it is gradual, it is a pain. After reaching the top of the hill, we run along the top briefly, and then nip down into some trails. This section has a straight sandy “down”, and then it winds back up to the top of the hill. Once at the top, it’s back out the way we came in, but instead of heading down the service road, it’s straight down a ski hill. Hang a right at the bottom, run past the start finish area, and then straight UP another ski hill. I didn’t even attempt to run all the way up it this year. I’d run to certain spot just above the bottom and then walk up. After reaching the top of this evil hill, it’s across the top and into some more trails, which of course headed down and then back up, but it was gradual and there were small ups and downs throughout. I like this section. Once out of those trails, run over to another ski hill and run straight down it. At the bottom of this hill was the main change to the route. In past years, we would turn left at the bottom, but this year, it was into the woods to the right. This section contained some narrow boardwalks and trails and was quite flat. The flat didn’t last too long, as after this was another “up” through some trails between hills, but this one was shorter than some others. Once at the top again, run across the hill, and then straight down the final descent, hang a left at the bottom, run between the volleyball courts and the trees, and through the finish chute.  Do this 5 times and you’re done.

With the course changes, I didn’t know how my time on this stage would be affected. Last year I ran the stage in 3:01:37, the year before 3:12:08. As I waited for the start of the race, I was hoping for sub 3, but not sure if I could accomplish it. I hoped to run around 35 minutes per lap. As the laps went by, I started thinking that I wanted to start lap #5 at 2 hours and 20 minutes so that I would have 40 minutes left to complete my final lap and have a PB. I did just that. There were some seconds on the clock as well, but when I passed through the start finish to start my bell lap, the clock started with 02:20 and I was very happy about that. I finished the course in 2:57 and change, finishing 3rd female. I also maintain my 3rd position in the overall standings.

As usual, my platter of food.

Now it’s just about time for me to leave for stage 6, the 10K time trial, so off I go! I will post about the TT later today.