Headed back to the Markdale Rail Trail this afternoon. Todays plan was 1K warm up, 3K @ 6:00 pace, 1K recovery, 4K @ 6:00 pace followed by a cooldown.
Temperature was inverse of the last run there. Heading out it was a wind at my back and the return trip I was into the wind. Temp 19C / Haze / Smoke
4.8 km on the backyard trail late Monday afternoon. Going on no sleep it took a lap to get into the run. Recovery was a couple of Beers floating in the pool...a hammock session would have been better.
Things sure have changed , a decade ago it was all about a 5:00 pace now the go to is 6:00...welcome to my 62! I could run faster if I wanted to but I really don't want to. My Endur week is coming up in August I have never really "trained" for this event each race is the training for the next! I have been getting by logging lots of Ks it gets me through the week. I am run ready now however I would like to show up at Endur ready to hold a " 6:00 flat road pace " for 20 km. On Monday I headed down Grey Rd 12 to Markdale and jumped on the rail trail. I set out to run at least 5 km @ 6:00 pace. Did a relatively easy warm up them picked it up for 2K , backed off for a K then held the pace for 3K before doing a cooldown. It was wee bit warm 24C and full Sun exposure going short I wasn't expecting the "heat " to come into play.
Saturday - 21 K doing the BV loop with Grant...I feel like I have been to Bhutan!
Sunday - 4.8 km , warm KMs on the backyard trail with Dax followed by a hammock session.
Not doing too much today just logged a 4K walk on my meal break this eve , going long tomorrow!
5.4 K ( there was a good tune playing thus the .4) at 6:00 pace this eve on my meal break. It was nice!
5.6 km on the backyard trail with Dax again today. Still cool for June, 18C with rain threatening.
6 laps , 5.6 km on the backyard trail with Dax today. No hammock time working at 4 so it was a quick dip in the pool!
9.8 km mostly on the beach at Sauble on Saturday. Did a few Ks on Lakeshore coming back wanted to pick it up a bit turned a 5:30 then a 6:13 pace. The 5:30 K pushed the HR up into the mid 140's I am so not use to pushing it like that these days. Goal is to do 5X5K's at a 6:00 pace on the treadmill this week then take it outside to a rail trail and try to do the same then when successful start to build a bit of volume at pace.
3K walk again today...started at 6:00 , just didn't feel like running today. On a positive note ...its Friday, 3 hours until the weekend starts.
5K 6:00 pace today on my meal break. All was A OK.
Passed the time watching Mo at Big Horn
More of an excuse today but the left hammy was tender so I did a 3K walk on my meal break today!
5K at a mostly 6:00 pace today. It seemed ridiculously fast at first geared it down to a 7:30 pace then picked it up to 6:00 during the first K.
4K walk at lunch ... feeling Saturday fun, nothing terrible just usual nothing that doesn't go away after a few days. Got the "Rash" to ... the usual 48 hours after elevated core temps, not itchy looks like a sunburn and it will be gone by tomorrow.
First and quiet possible only 50 km Ultra is in the books after running the inaugural " Great Mansfield " race. Top marks go to the course layout , stunningly beautiful and no crazy elevation coming in somewhere around +/- 1000 meters. Race day started the usual way with coffee in the hot tub then picking up a Tim's breakfast in Markdale. It was a pretty quiet start the 50 was sold out but I figured it must have been capped around 50 as it was a small field and I was OK with that. I looked at the course layout ahead of time the first 4-5 K were in Mansfield covering allot of the old Dirty Girls course. I went out slow but it was way harder then it should have been. HR was almost instantly in the 130's and the first hour of Ks were in the 10 minute range I had all kinds of doubt. Once we got out of Mansfield and headed out on the big loop things settled down and it got easier but there was a long way to go. The temps at start were 16C and for the first couple of hours they more or less stayed there although there was zero air movement in the forest. Finished up the first 25K loop around 3.5 hours feeling pretty good , better then the start. Temps were getting warmer so just past the start/finish I paused and took off my shirt. That helped with cooling with the ever increasing temperatures. Finishing the first loop is always a mental boost , more behind you then ahead of you with every foot fall. All though the race I did well with hydration and nutrition. Brough in my max H2O at around 700 ml/hour. Went through 7 gels and 7 s caps. Never felt like I needed more fluid I felt hydrated. Picked things up a bit past 35K turning some 7:30 +/- Ks it kind of surprised me. With about 5K to go I was beginning to slow down and the heat was catching up with me. It was never warmer then the mid 20s but the elevation was all in the start as well as finish of the 25 K loop so that started to add up. Finished in 7hours25minutes40seconds about what I expected to do. The swag was pretty good in addition to the socks and shirt at the beginning I got a Beer , Mug as well as a finishers medal. This is now must do local race I hope they are successful at building the event and I strongly suspect that they will.
Splits 1:43:50, 1:45:46, 1:59:05 and 1:57:09
1K Splits
May - 202.2 km
YTD - 835.1 km
I race , May 6 the Pure Grit 30 km race. Only one other "long run" just shy of 4 hours / 20.5 km at Beaver Valley. Upped the treadmill pace to 6:00 this month my go to speed pace ahead of Endur in August. Doing a 50Ker the first Saturday in June afterwards I am going to continue to loop Beaver Valley 2-3 times / month then new to the running diet will be some rail trail 6:00 pace runs graduating to 20 km by the end of July.
May Summary - 17 runs
Treadmill 17 X 104 km
Trail 9 X 93.2 km
Beach 1X 5 km
