Working nights again this week. I noticed a trend where by my Heart Rate Variability often dropped to 0 during my night shift. This is an indication that the body is under stress. Usually this week I run most shifts. This week I changed it up Mid 1 , no gym, Mid 2,3 and 4 a 3K walk was done and this morning on Mid 5 I did a 5K run slowing it down to a 7:30 pace. HRV has been normal this week. Wish I could say the same for my sleep!
Felt like running Monday and Tuesday even Wednesday. Went to the Gym on my meal break and wasnt feeling it so I did a 3K walk.
5 X 8.4K laps at 5:30 am on a Sunday morning in Waterloo and it was a wrap on the Endur 2026 adventure. I wasn't really sure how things would glo I just knew I would get it done. Crossed the finish line in 4:55:54 an average of 7:01 / km or 8.6 KPH. I am pretty sure all my splits were slighlty under and hour. The first 3 laps I kept the HR in the 120's. Laps 4 and 5 the HR was in the high 130's low 140's. It really felt like a repeat of the 2024 Marathon crossing the finish line in 4:56:57.
My 2026 combined time was 19:36:09 compared to 2024 19:23:42, 2023 18:15:20, 2022 18:56:19, 2019 16:57:11, 2018 16:59:12, 2017 16:22:07.
2nd last stage completed in 1:00:46 a 6:04 pace. Beat 2024 time by 2 seconds, 1:00:48. Held the HR to the high 130's through the first 5K then let it climb into the 140's the second half. The start was a little tentative as a result of running all week but it came around a few laps in and I put forth a moderately hard effort...no walk in the park!
Stage 5 at Baden didn't disappoint, 1,000m vertical more or less 20 hill repeats. Its a 2.6K loop done 10 times. I thought I had a good hydration plan until things got allot harder doing the 8th lap. I was 3 hours into the run and had only consumed 1.5L of water , I was 0.6L behind. It was getting warm as the race progressed heading out on the 9th loop I upped the water intake and took an extra S cap. Consumed a GU and an S Cap at the start of laps 3,5,7 and 9. The 10th lap was a tiny bit better crossing the finish line in 3:54:49 a couple of minutes faster then my 2024 finish. So an OK day, felt harder then it should have been then again nothing has been easy...that why I do it.
17.8 at the start , 27 at the end...should have run faster and finished sooner!
