Results are up or should I say I finally found them!
I finished in 5:51:48 115th out of 161 participants, 82nd out of 103 men and 20th out of 27 men 50-59 years of age.
12.5 K Splits ... 1:19:08, 1:24:59, 1:36:02 and 1:32:37.
Strangely enough I was quite satisfied by the way the day went. I never did the death march and only walked on the third loop whist digging out my S Caps, Tyelenol and MP3 player. I did walk a bunch of the hills in the 3rd loop but started running them again in the final lap. When I look at the results and where I finished in relation to the reset of the field well , I sucked!
Race day started early up 1.5 hours before my alarm at 3:45 am. Did a nice long hot tub before leaving home around 6 am. Arrived with tons of time to spare. Bumped into Grant and the guys he picked up in Guelph then headed back to my car , suited up then returned to the big tent finding a spot to keep warm. I was debating tying a shell off around the wast but left it in the car. Car was right on the course so I could grab it easily if needed. It was around 8C and mainly overcast and gusty and I was dresses in shorts, tech T , compression hat and gloves...not overdressed by any means!
Lap 1 ... couple of Ks in the hat came off and it would be that way pretty much for the rest of the day. It was chilly but I was quickly comfortable. I thought that he 25kers were delayed 30 minutes or so but it seemed like we were about 10 minutes in when a cannon boomed and someone commented that he 25Kers were off! Gelled at the first aide station as planned ..... did 2 gels / loop the reset of the day , 1 st aide station and past the start finish for a total of 7 gels all day! Half way through the first loop I started to get blown away by the 25K folks. Although I was running my pace it was rather hard mentally to have a sea of humanity constantly going by! I was wearing a Garmin and was trying to get near a 6:00 pace through the first lap. Tripped the mat at 1:19:08 , 4:08 over my desired goal or somewhere around a 6:20 pace. OK but a bit disappointing I knew it would be a challenge to PB my 5:19 Toad!
Lap 2 ... still sucked getting passed by all the 25kers. Remember longing for those lonely races you know the ones where it feels like you are the only one on the course. I hated the traffic so much I was thinking of not doing the Toad again! Nothing was coming naturally to me. It felt like I was pushing it through the whole loop. I was drinking and gelling on sked so no issues there. It was cold in places but I was still sweating ...wiped the occasional bead of sweat from the forehead. I really didn't like the cold but I know it made things a whole lot easier. Finished the loop in 1:24:59 ... no hope of a Toad PB today now!
Lap 3 ... finally a ton of relief from the traffic 25Kers were all done. I hadn't done any S Caps but had consumed 4 gels up to this time. After the road section heading on to the first trail part of the loop I dropped 2 s caps , 2 Tylenol and turned the tunes on. At the first aid station I loaded up on salted potato chips my first solids of the day. As soon as the chips were done I gelled then it was just a matter of time before things kicked in. I dropped a few minutes while I was doing all this but I knew it would pay off later on and it did. Finished the loop in 1:36:02.
Lap 4 ... felt way better recovering from I am not sure what and was moving well. Decided on a simple sub 6 hour goal to keep me focused. Started leap frogging from Leanne and Alana ... they looked very strong and were having a great run. Did my 7th and last gel with about 7k remaining I wanted to finish strong and that's more or less what I did . Finished the loop in 1:32:37.
This was my 5th Toad 50 ... 2009 5:28:42, 2010 5:54:25, 2011 5:19:55, 2012 5:21:05. I really thought I had a shot a breaking 5:20 so I was a little bit disappointed that I was so far off finishing 5:51:48...maybe next year! Yup already forgot about getting blown away by the 25kers!
1 week ago
1 comment:
Congrats on another Toad and your results look pretty good to me! I think that race was the Canadian Championships for the 50K no? That would explain your placement more than your perceived bad running! You were out there with a bunch of fasties :)Nice work.
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