August 2015 Totals

 August  -    264.0 km
 YTD     - 2,282.1 km

Two races in August the Creemore Vertical Challenge 50 km and the Bayshore 5 km.

Summary ... 27 Runs

Treadmill             - 12 Runs  logging    75 km
Backyard Trail     - 13 Runs logging 108.6 km
Creemore "Trail" - 50.0 km
Road ( LSD )      - 30.4 km

Back to work

2 day weekends are just to dam short!   Logged a 5K the usual way on my meal break today.

Abbreviated Trail

6.6K logged on the backyard trail yesterday.  Planned on a 10+ K run but cut it short ... too tired just wanted to chill in the Hammock with a few brews.   Todays excuse... a couple of hours on the end of a big ass chain saw.  Nough said!  

Saturday Trail

I had originally planned a long run Saturday but things came up so I logged 11.1K on the backyard trail instead.  Ran in the Eve  very quite and dark as it was overcast and humid.   The air had moved in from the South and had a distinct fragrance of Urban pollution...we don't experience that much around here.  

How low can it go!

Another routine lunch run logging 5K the usual way.  HR was pretty low today .

Lunch Run

The 5K lunch run seemed a little easier today ... lower HR supports it.   It was  also a little cooler in the gym.

Treadmill Tuesday

5K the usual way today on my meal break.

Monday Trail

Too busy at work yesterday and had to skip my "lunch run".  Managed a little trail time when I went home logging a 5.5K run looping in the back yard.  

Bayshore 5K Pictures

Crossing the finish I had a race official quite concerned about my well being.  Looking at the picture I know why ... LOL!  

Bayshore 5K - Owen Sound, Ontario - Sunday August 23, 2015

I award myself an A- logging 5K in 22min7sec this morning.  

 The last 5K I did was in July of 2011 logging a speedy 20min46sec.   I remember trying so hard to get it under the elusive 20min mark.   The only other 5Ker I have done was Aug 8, 2009 the Coleen Lantz memorial logging 22min4sec.

 So why the A-

 The race was a last minute decision signing up a little over a week ago.   Based on my Huron Shores 10K in June 45min43sec and A was anything under 22min,  B under 22min30sec and C under 23min...reasonable achievable goals.  Other then a mostly 5:00 pace on the treadmill with 4:45 farleks thrown in I really haven`t been doing any speed work.   In the last few days leading up to Sunday I have really been doing a ton of physical work as well as a 30+ K LSD on Wed,  5K trail Friday and a 11K trail on Saturday.   I almost skipped today run  being a tiny bit dehydrated and slighlty hung over after consuming a half dozen Beers in the hammock after Saturdays trail...thus the A-.

 Got an hour in the hot tub and light breakfast in me before I left for the race at 7am.  I had picked up my bib on Thursday so I was 100% ready to s go when I arrived.  It was a little weird stepping out of the house with less then an hour to go before the gun went off!    Arrived with 25 minutes to spare.  Did a quick bathroom break and chatted with a few running friends on my way to the start line.   Still had 10 minutes to wait so I decided to do a little warm up.    Logged .75K in the warm up ... rather slow but I did sprint a bit at the end.  It helped to get the HR and core Temp up a bit.

 I really surprised myself when heading out.  First K looking like it was going to be sub 4min and it felt not so bad.  Breathing quickly became heavy logging the first split in 4min4sec.    I kind of thought my second K or even last would be my fastest but I was obviously wrong.     A good 5K rae plan is to go out faster then planned pace then settle back for the middle 3K then pick it up again in the last K.    Pulled back on the 2nd K logging a 4min21sec split... could have been slightly faster on this K but the breathing was really heavy and I am sure I was approaching Max HR.   3rd K was all about keeping it under 4min30sec.   There was a 360 degree turn around at the 2.5K mark ... ouch its so hard to slow then pick it up again.   There was another couple of  strange tight curves around the Museum heading back to the bridge.  Managed to hang in there logging a 4min29sec split but I was really starting to struggle.... stupid 5K lung burner *&%%$#7.    The 4thK was all about hanging in there trying to keep it under 4min30sec.   I felt the heat come on and was dripping in sweat ... in a 5K I thought I would be done before it hit me ,   NOPE!   Logged my slowest split 4min39sec for the 4th K.    Heading into the last K we hit a gravel section that seemed to be allot harder the the pavment.   Passed by a 15 year old felling throwing up  and 11 year old stopped to help him and he told her to keep going...cute!  So I pushed through the last K ,   no big giant surge I just hung in there as well as I could posting my final split a 4min33sec K ...well it least it was better the the previous.   Garmin showed and extra 20 meters and the pace was 3min58 sec so I guess I had a bit of a surge at the end.

I tripped the clock at 22min7 sec good enough for 32nd place out of 165 participants,  17th out of 64 males and 2nd out of 12 in my AG.    I found it quite amusing that of the 31 folks who finished in front of me 19 of them were under the age of 20!  

Click on this link for the results!

My splits ...

Trail Saturday

I was feeling rather beet up from all the stuff I had been doing but also a little guilty taking Thursday as a rest day and Friday  only logging a 5Ker so I headed out Saturday with 12 laps in mind.   Logged a total of 11.4K looping a running back and forth from the man cave to tree stand.  

Check out the oh so bad Garmin GPS data ... worst I have ever encountered.   This is 6 Laps of the backyard trail ...

Friday Trail +

Took a rest day Thursday then logged a 5.4K trail run looping in my backyard.    Been busy in the Thursday , Friday and Saturday.   There are a few sharp corners on the backyard trail so I created some banking that make for much smoother cornering.   Gathered up a bunch of awesome campfire wood and hauled it through the bush loading a trailer full.  Best and most fun was building a ``Tree Stand`` at the back of my property.   I have been scouting around for some time and had a couple of spots in mind.  My objective to to get above the forest canopy and have a clear view of the Northern Sky down to 1 degree above the horizon.  The stand has nothing to do with hunting its all about a great view above and below.   So I ended up with a platform 20` above the ground.

Looking up ,  way up.

Looking down ,  way down.

My shadow on the tree tops ...

and the reward ,  the North Sky ...

and the reward,  the North View Canopy ...

LSD Wednesday

Its rare that I just get up in the morning and go but with a rather warm day foretasted it seemed like a good time to head out early.   Logged a very warm 30.4km ... had to give in a bit to the heat on the last third of the run otherwise I was quite satisfied with how the run went.

The graph below tells the story of the run.  After running through Durham I was really hot and sweating and I realized that I wasn`t drinking enough so I decided to walk to consume,  cool and recover the heart rate before heading back on the 2nd.   I drank .75 liters of water did my only gel of the run the did my second and final S Cap.   The walking gave me a chance to process things and I was able to move well again when I hit the 2nd.    The Sun and Breeze was at my back and I was fully exposed during the last 8K stretch.    With 3K to go I felt like I was going to throw up so I walked for a bit felt better and was once again able to get moving but man was I HOT!




and by the numbers ...

I was really glad to wrap it up a little after 11am ... and now for the work!

2nd Run Tuesday

It was Friday on Tuesday after working through the weekend.   Thought about getting a jump on all the things I wanted to do with my time off the thought ...NOT!   So I grabbed my tunes ,  put 4 cans of Blue on Ice in the cooler then made my way to the backyard trail logging a rather quick 5.2k Run.   The Beer in the Hammock afterwards took longer then the run ...

Thats a wrap on the treadmil

Another 5K lunch run today... the usual way.

Me

This is me ,  really me well 90% me.    

Insert Ron here ....

Monotonous

5th treadmill run  ... can you say "Monotonous".   Another 5Ker the 5Ker usual way.   Are were there yet?  

Lunch Run

 I know I can run a K  or 2 around the 4:00 mark so I have my mental on for Sundays 5Ker.   Things held together pretty good after yesterdays speed so I know not to tempt it again so soon to the race.   Slowed things down to a 5:00 pace with   200 meter  4:45 fartleks at 4,5,6,7,8,9,10 and 11K mark before i began a cool down logging a total of 12K on my meal break today.  

Real speed work...

 Well its been a very long time since I logged anything at a 4:00 pace.   Signed up for a little 5K local race  next weekend so theres nothing quite like the 7 days to prep for the lung burner.    I logged a 11k run on my meal break at work today.    First 6K was at a 5:00 pace with my usual 4:45 fartlek at 4,5 and 6K mark.  At 6.8K I cranked it up to a 4:45 pace,  at 7.6K picked it up to a 4:30 pace then at 8.4K I cranked it up to a 4:00 pace held it for 800 meters and then at 9.2K I started a gradual cool down finishing up logging 11k in total.  

 I was wearing my Hookas today and they worked very well at 15 kmh.   Normally runnign really fast is quite jarring but it was a smooth ride in the Hookas.     So its Hokas next week!  

  Goals for next weeks 5Ker ....

 A -  Sub 22:00
 B -  Sub 22:30
 C -  Sub 23:00

I have only done 2 5Kers ,   Aug 8, 2009 the Coleen Lantz Memorial 22:04 and July 9th , 2011 the Meaford Harbor Run 20:46.  

Little longer little faster...

7K at lunch today .  4K 5:00 pace a .2k fartlek 4:45 pace back to 5:00 pace until 5K then did a K at a 4:45 pace beore beginning my coold down with a .2K 4:30 fartlek at the 6 K mark then gearing down to a .3K walk before wrapping it up logging 7km today....thats all!

Back to work

5K the usual way on my meal break this afternoon.  

Trail Tuesday

Back to work today so its back on the treadmill again.  Did one last longish looping day on the backyard trail yesterday logging 10.9 Ks

Yesterday ...

This explains allot

Back at it

 Took 2 rest days after Creemore.  Really felt guilty being off yesterday and not logging a few Ks but I was felling a little under the weather so I decided to skip it.  Its been awhile since I ran on fresh legs and it was a ton of fun.   Did the first 10K lapping the loop 12 times.   Decided to log another 5 or so running/hiking/exploring the property and venturing on to my neighbors trails.   Found 3 big Ash Trees down as a result of  the storm a week ago.  Will try to take some pictures when the  Sun is out.   One was up rooted,  one had a rotten base and the last one was twisted and more or less shattered at the base.    I have had wind fall before in my 23 years living here but never quite like that.   So all together I logged 15.1 km then retired to the hammock for a few beers and some great tunes.   Headed home just before the sky opened up.  

The last 5K is mapped out below and the yellow circle is where the tress were down....

Creemore Vertical Challenge 50 km - August 9, 2015

8th consecutive CVC 50K is in the books.     SO far the score is Creemore 7,  Ron 1 ...YIKES.  I only felt like I more or less ran this race as well as I could once logging a 5:46:49 way back in  2009 .

 It was much cooler this year and I really thought that I may be able to get it in around 6 hours  or just beat last years time  of 6:26.   Decided early on to more or less run some of the longer more gentle hills.  Logged a 10 min K doing that up "hill one" ... more of a fast walk time but it was a very slow run with really short strides and a higher cadence.   It made the hills easy and the HR and Breathing were still very much under control.    Ran all the way up to the base of "O2" then walked up with ease on the first lap.     I was gelling every hour and taking 250ml of water between aid stations.   Wrapped up the first loop felling great ,  really great ,  too great and there was a reason because I tripped the clock at 3hrs9mins ..... I was hoping to be Sub 3hrs  coming in around 2hrs 50min if I hopped to bring it in around 6 hours.   Heading out I decided to "pick it up" a bit and that is what I did.   I did the same run up "Hill 1" and to the base of "O2" getting through 40K in 5hrs4min.     I knew at this point that the sub 6hrs wasn't going to happen but I really felt that I had a crack and a 6hrs20min time if I could make it up O2 in one piece.    It didn't take very long before things started to go south!   Heading up "02" I started to feel dizzy and was seeing stars ... this is familiar to me and something that has happened more then once on this hill.    I slowed down as much as I could but I could not  continue moving uphill without passing out so I had no choice but to sit down.   10 minutes later I was able to continue up the hill but I knew the last 10K was going to suck!       The pace chart below tells the story of my day ....





I did manage to start moving again although it was allot slower.    Heading down `Hill 1`I managed to muster up a 7:21 km but that was the fastest of the final 10K`s.      Heading back to the start finish  there is a couple of small gully's that are quite steep.  I had a feeling that it was goning to be lights out again and I was correct .  Even though I was a half K from the finish I had to sit down and take a break or I would have passed out.

So I tripped the mat at 6hrs54mins happy yo finish ,  glad I was able to do it but dissapointed that I didn't manage things better.  

 The root cause of my problems was not getting enough hydration ... gels and electrolytes were good but I should have doubled up the water.   With thicker blood and the later stages of the run when I slowed down blood was pooling in my lower body and I wasn't getting enough to my brain.    If it wasn't  for the monster climbs and I could have kept going the affects of the dehydration would not have been felt until I stopped.   In retrospect I should not have tried to pick it up heading out on the second loop and I should have doubled up my fluids.  

Trail Thursday

Been running not blogging.     Took  a rest day on Friday before the CVC race but I did log a little 5.5K tail run on Thursday looping my backyard trail.  

Tuesday and Wednesday Trail

Much cooler weather made for some rather pleasant running conditions.

 Late Tuesday afternoon I hit the trail logging a 5.5K Run.    Really wanted to make the runs all 10+Ks this week but I just ran out of time on Tuesday and was just fitting it in.

 Wednesday was just one of those days that things come together and you are in the moment enjoying the trail and just clearing your mind of everything.    But then again maybe it was just the fact that I fueled the Run with a Big Mac meal a couple of hours before or perhaps it was the one extra Beer for the Hammock afterwards or perhaps ....  I was only intending on 6 laps but doubled up doing 12 for a total of 10.3 Ks.  

Trail Monday

Had a "rest" day Sunday.  I was going to run in the Evening but it was too stormy.   Hit the backyard trail on Monday afternoon logging 10.5Ks.

Creemore is on Saturday so there will be nothing longer then 10K this week.   Its 3pm Tuesday and I just dropped and blocked a huge Ash Tree so I am a little beat but heading out back for a run.  

Trail Saturday

Felling tired today it would have been easy to skip the run but I was looking for something

to bring me around and it sort of worked logging 5.6Ks on the backyard trail.