Did the 50K Conquer the Canuck 50K Trail Race yesterday. Last year was a complete blowout , death marched the last 8Ks ...not fun. Needless to say I had a fair bit of trepidation and was looking for redemption! Last years it was hot , really hot and I wasn't acclimatized and didn't pay attention to the important things. This years forecast was for much more favorable conditions , low to mid 20's. The course is a 8.3 K loop done 6 times and it is super fast with only a few " walking" hills nd at least 2 very fast Ks. I went out fast last year and things caught up to me , this year it was all about an even consistent pace getting enough water , nutrition and electrolytes. I ended up doing 1 gel / loop for a total of 5 gels. Did a race supplied Endurance Tap ( Maple Syrup ) in the last 2 laps. I had my stuff set up at the start / finish and this is where I gelled , also did an S Cap with every gel ... hadn't done this before but it really worked well. Did the first lap in 55min42sec, going forward the goal was to keep every lap under 1 hour trying to average a minimum 7:30 pace throughout the race.
Avg pace per loop ended up being
Loop # Pace
1 6:39
2 6:46
3 6:47
4 6:48
5 6:51
6 6:52
I found myself pulling back on the reigns that first 3 laps. I could have posted a faster day but I really wasn't interested in playing the fade vs risking the " Death March".
The race unfolded in a planned , calculated manor and was my best effort in the woods this year. I finished in 5hrs43min compared to last years 6hrs45min. The race was the " Canadian 50K Championship " so there were a few extra fast runners on the course! I finished 26th out of the 45 folks who I started with.
Up next Saturday is one of my favorite races the " Niagara Ultra".
1 week ago
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