Had a great run at the Sulphur Springs 50 miler yesterday. It was a warm run in the Dundas Valley but I managed to complete the 50 miles in 10hrs32min a PB by 1hr13min. This was my second crack at the classic "50 Miler". The first time I did this distance was at the 2010 Halibutron races. The one thing that I remember about Hali was walking all the downhills after the 40K turnaround due to pain in my left knee. So I felt confident that I could better that time today and I had a very reasonable goal of around 11 hours.
It was a very early start to my race day. I could cut and paste from previous race reports .... up and hour before my alarm went off at 1:30 am and then in the hot tub for an hour, a bite of food then out the door at 3:00 am and after a 2 hour drive I arrived at the race just after 05:00am!
It was a comfortably warm morning at the 6:00 am race start. My goal was from the start to finish the 4X20K loops in 11hrs averaging 2hrs45min/loop. Well that all went out the window completing the first loop around 2hrs12min. The majority of the 100 mile and 50 mile folks were around the same pace so I knew I was in good company. It was like we all knew that here was a good chance that heat would come into play later in the race so banking a bit of time seemed like a good thing to do. I have usually found that the fast start makes for a better finishing time but it causes more discomfort in the later staged of the race. Heading out on the second of 4 loops I felt fantastic like I was just starting my day. Hung in there chatting withe Chris McPeak and then before entering the "Gate House" loop the wheels came off. I was pretty perturbed with myself for getting caught up in the fast start and envisioned a very long day ahead. I was trying to find my planned pace but was having a tough time doing so. I ate and I ate , boiled potatoes, gels, PB and J and I drank water , heed , coke and more water. The stomach felt a little messed up, like I had to go but I didn't have to. It was just plain uncomfortable until I stated to come around completing the "Lollipop" loop. The Garmin wasn't up to an 11 hour day so I had decided to use it for the first and the last loop. Not having any idea of the time I was expecting to see 5hrsXXmin on the clock but it was actual 4hrs4X or 4hrs5X ... just going from a foggy memory but at the time I figured I had done the second loop in somewhere around 2hrs45min and I was pleasantly surprised. Heading out on the 3rd loop my goal was to stick to my original race plan 2hrs45min/loop which would bring me home in the 10hr30min to 11hr range. I found my rhythm in the 3rd loop and was more or less averaging an 8:30 pace. The tummy settled down and I was getting enough calories and electrolytes but was falling behind a bit on the fluids. It was getting allot warmer in this loop and may folks were starting to comment on the heat. Finished the 3rd loop with the clock showing somewhere around 7 hours 50 minutes. It was a big confidence booster knowing that I wouldn't be waisting my banked time and would still be able to finish around my goal time of 11 hours. Things were really heating up on my last loop. Lots of folks were walking the flats and downhills. I was still shuffling along OK averaging an 8:30 pace. I found that walking was warmer then slowly running. There was no breeze when walking , cooling was way more affective when I picked it up from a 12min to 8min30sec pace. I was drinking as much as I could stomach but it still wasn't enough. Coming out of the Gatehouse loop with 12K remaining the aide station was dishing out Popsicles....SO GOOD! Hung in there through the 4th loop completing it somewhere around 2hrs45min crossing the mat at 10hrs32min.
The splits are by memory and I am pretty foggy about it but I will add the actual data to this report after they are posted. It should be interesting to see the discrepancy. More often the not perception and reality are very different going long.
With the exception of being a little tired and hungry today I feel pretty good. There is no muscle pain but my groin is a bit tender and my left knee aches a bit.
Splits are up ...
Splits 1) 2:17:13 2) 2:40:49 - 4:58:01 3) 2:49:29 - 7:47:29 4) 2:44:33 - 10:32:02
4 weeks ago
1 comment:
NIce seeing you out on the course Ron. Congrats on a great race and PB.
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