Bad Thing Trail Race - Saturday October 27, 2019

 My second 50 km race in as many weeks was completed yesterday tripping the clock at 6h54m39s.  Did the same race in 2016,  7h15m30s and again in 2017, 7h8m3s so I am pretty happy with the year over year improvement.   The course is never the same,  in 17 if was a start at the Kiwanis Park,  in 18 it was the old Jail House...yeah we got to "break out" and this year it was a church!   Kind of hard to get an exact measure but I would have to say the start was a little more trail this year!

Relive 'Morning Oct 26th'

 Gave this race a ton of thought ahead of time planning both fueling and hydration plan.   There was only 4 aid stations along the way ( suppose to be 5 ...story to follow and it involves expletives ).   The 50ker I did two weeks ago had 20 aid station stops ... 5 km loop done 10 times ,  2 AS / loop.  The plan

Gel every 40 minutes or so... nailed it!  Calories CHECK

Hydration Plan
1) Start to AS 1 8.1 km
Consume 500 ml water before getting to AS 1
2) AS 1  to AS 2 8.4 km
Consume 300 ml at AS 1 ,  fill water bottle with 500 ml the consumer it before AS 2.
3) AS 2 to AS 3 13.5 km
Consume 300 ml at AS2,  fill spare 500 ml bottle ,  put in pack the fill the other bottle with 500 ml.   Consume 1 litre of water before getting to AS3.
4) AS 3 to AS 4 8.4 km
Consume 300 ml at AS 3,  fill bottle with 500 ml and consume before AS 4
5) AS 4 to AS 5 6 km ,  consume 300 ml,  fill bottle with 500 ml and consume before AS 5
6) AS 5 to finish 5 km,  THE PLAN WAS AND I REPEAT WAS WAS WAS to consume 300 ml then fill the bottle and consume before the end of the race.

Much to my dismay the unmanned 5th AS had no water left!!!!!    I did a GEL on the way into the AS and had NOTHING to wash it down with.   Here is where I yelled out "" FUCK,  FUCK, FUCK".

I was properly hydrated but I was running on the edge.  I know its only 5 km to the finish and yeah I figured I could manage and I did but its a  fast part of the course and I really wanted to keep the party going and more or less did but it became harder then it should have been!

One of my greatest downfalls in Ultra Running is staying well hydrated.  On countless occasion I have been slowed by my heart having to work much harder to move the thickening blood around the body.  At first the heart climbs,  I really  slow down and feel fatigued then if it gets bad I get a pain across the top of my shoulders.  When the pain starts I really pay attention because that the heart sending a warning. 

So on with the story ....

I arrived at the race with just enough time to do all the usual pre-race stuff.     On the bus at 06:15 or so then in Goderich at 06:45 .... dropped  at a Church!   It was still dark when we started at 07:00 and the temperature was just a little below freezing.   Started the race in shorts ,  tech T,  arm sleeves, shell, compression hat and gloves...it was COLD!    I hate cold starts ,  I know it will change quickly but I hate cold starts.   The RD added a second river crossing that was at the start ,  luck has it we were 2 or 3 K in when this happened so I was a wee bit warmed up.   The water was pretty cold but not too deep.      At this time I started to notice I was sweating so off came the hat.   The run to AS 1 was uneventful ,  I went out slow and felt good ... not too cold,  not too hot running with the shell still on.  Was really starting to warm up and the Sun was up higher in the sky by AS 2 ,  here I took the shell off and stuffed it in the backpack.   I was feeling really great at the 16 km mark not paying  much attention to my Garmin other then to check my last K pace now and again.   I was surprised how quickly Ben Miller came up after the 2nd AS.   It was here that I starting catching up with the field of runners passed quite a few enroute to AS 3 ,   it was also the longest section of the day  13.5 K.   The 3rd AS is at the 30 K mark ,  this is where the race really starts.  Between AS 3 and AS 4 is by far theh toughest part of the single track and possibly the toughest part of the course.  This is where you find out if your hydration and nutrition plan was adequate and I am please to say that it was.    I was really paying attention to my pace and how I was feeling  30 to 38.5 K  and was very happy with how things turned out.   The last 10 km of the race a pretty easy ,  past 40 K its a few Ks of road ,  a little trail another K or 2 of road then some nice flat double track all the way to the final river crossing a few hundred meters to the finish.   The lack of water at AS 5 didn't slow me down much but there was a spike in the heart rate and it felt harder then it should have been but I was OK  and pushing to bring it in under 7 hours and that is what I did.

Fitbit HR data ...

Inspite of the variable nature of the course the overall heart rate stayed the same throughout the race.  I credit the nutrition and fueling. 

Garmin Data ...