Horror Hill - 50K Trail Ultra - October 29, 2016

 Did Horror Hill 50K on Saturday.   It was a whole lot easier then the Bad Thing the week before but it wasn't a walk in the park either.   Had a great day with lots of my running peeps.  This was the last OutRace event of the 2016 season so there awards were handed out afterwards,  It was great to see Grant getting his Slam swag as well as his AG award.

 I wasn't sure what to expect this race being that I was only 7 days out from my last  event.  I had a really solid effort fueled almost entirely with Gatorade and Potato Chips.   The 2.5K loop is very familiar to me and I quickly settled in doing more or less repeat segments of the occasional hill walk but it was mostly running.    I completed the 50K in 5hrs44min2sec the fastest 50 on the trail this year.   The quick time was a result of perfect weather a nice breeze and temps pushing into the mid teens ... always welcome in late October!

Horror Hill 6 Hour Ultra - Saturday, October 26, 2013

 Had lots of fun at Camp Heidelberg near Waterloo yesterday.    Did this race for my second time and consecutive year.   Last year it was wet ,  really wet and it made for some pretty tough running.  I didn't think  it could be any worse but this year was something to behold.   It was around 5C cooler and for the first 3 hours it was heavy wet snow and howling winds.   In spite of what Mother Nature threw at us I actually had fun and really enjoyed most of the race.  The key was being comfortable and that I was.   For the first time ever I wore my new Ron Hill  water / wind proof jacket ,  Mizuno compression short under ,  shorts,  wind proof underwear and to round it off I used my Saucony Gortex Exodus shoes with Injji Toe Socks and of course gloves.

 Race day started early ,  up  a little after 5am,   hot tub and coffee leaving around 6:15 am.  The 90 minute drive took close to 2 hours as I hit some heavy wet Snow between Tiviotdale and Salem...plows were out!  Had lots of time before heading out at 09:00 am.

I was optimistic that I could have a faster run and headed out easy with the plan to pick it up as the day went on.   I wasn't wearing a Garmin but wanted to keep track of how many 2.5K loops I had done.    I have a hard time keeping track of numbers besides they start bouncing around in my head a drive me crazy after awhile so I came up with a different way of counting laps.     I  aim for a monthly average distance of around 300K which works out to around 10K a day.   Last week in prep for HH I logged 5X5K lunch runs.   At HH every 2 laps was 5K and made up for the distance I didn't cover through the week.  So in mind loop 1 was Monday morning ,  when I started loop 2 it was Monday afternoon,   completing loop 2 it was Tuesday morning and so on and so forth.  Did my first Gel Tuesday at lunch and then decided to do the next one Wednesday morning.   This way of keeping track of my progress was fun and helped me to Gel on schedule.    For the first 3 hours it was really snowing hard and every lap was a tiny bit harder.   It was really slippery in spots,  almost as bad as water on Ice!   I had my music on from the start and it really helped me enjoy the run.   Usually I find it mentally tough getting to the half way point but I was moving well and was really enjoying the nasty weather.    When it was Friday afternoon I had completed the first 25K of the race.   I decided to skip the weekend and start back on Monday morning again.   If I remember corrector I was also 2hrs54 minutes into the race.  My minimum goal was to get to 50K ,  maybe 51 or 52 but doing the math I didn't have much time in the bank so it was going to be a real challenge to get there.   I felt like I wasn't getting quite enough calories so I decided to do Gels every 2 laps ( once a day) instead of every 3 laps ( every 1.5 days).   The 4th hour wasn't too bad ,  the snow turned to light rain and the wind picked up but I felt warmer and took my Ball cap off.   In the 5th hour things really begin to hurt.   Right shoulder and just general aches and pains and I continued to slow down.  I did however manage to avoid the "Death March" and continued to run albeit  slowly.   More or less continued on the last hour the same as the previous and made it to my second "Friday Afternoon" crossing"  the timing mat logging 47.5K in 5hrs59minXXsec.   The moment I was done I hosed down the mud from my legs ,  removed my shoes ,  sprayed them and my feet off then walked across the parking lot to my car to change!

 All and all a fun day with great results under somewhat grueling conditions.   The general consensus   from those who ran was it was a bit tougher then last year and that was certainly reflected in the overall results.  They had some great food ,  had 2 bowls of Chilly and 2 Sausage on a Bun.   Sat ,  talked recovered for an hour or so before heading out.    Right Knee was really stiff and by the time I got home it was quite swollen.   There wasn't anything in particular that I did to it but I suspect that  it was all the slip sliding around!   Its done that sorts of thing before so I am not particularly  concerned about it.     Should make today's 5K interesting ...think I will put on some tights!

Results are up ...I was credited with 47.8 k and  out of the 20 of us who braved the weather I placed 12th,  I was  8th out of  14 males and finished 2nd out of 3 in the 50+ age group.  

Horror Hill 6 Hour Trail Race- Oct. 28, 2012

 3rd Ultra in the past 4 weeks is in the books.   Did the Horror Hill 6 Hour Trail race yesterday.  Way back in 2007 I did the HH 15K road race.  I remember at the time thinking that the folks running around a 2.5K loop for 6 hours were not playing with a full deck.  Fast forward 5 years and add one more Ultra nut to the loop ...me!

 The week before the race I was pleasantly surprised that Grant  ( local running friend ) who had been injured for the first half of the year had signed up for the 6 hour race.   I was happy to have someone to ride with but a little concerned that Grant had bit off a little more then he should at this point in his recovery.  We headed out from his house at 06:00 am and arrived at the race at around 07:30 well before the 09:00 am start which meant a prime parking spot right on the course.  Now the day was all about the weather.  We were expecting temps around 6-7C with lots of rain and a bit of wind.   I saw this as a really good opportunity to try to get comfortable in less then perfect conditions.  I started out with my "thermal" long sleeve compression shirt, shell,  shorts, gloves, compression toque, ball cap, Injinjji Toes socks and my Saucony Xodus Gor-Tex shoes.

 I wasn't into the race at the 09:00am start.   It was raining and I  had allot of trepidation about the conditions over the next 6 hours.   There was lots of chatter on the course as to how the conditions would deteriorate as the race progressed.  The only equipment change I made early on was loosing the compression cap leaving the Ball Cap on protecting me from the constant rain.    In the early stages I was also contemplating whether 50K would be possible in the allotted time.  Passed the 10K mark with the clock showing 1:11:04  .  Doing the math it meant I had to maintain pace over the next 5 hours  which seemed highly unlikely as the course was becoming quite slick.    I started gelling and taking my "S Caps" and more or less did so through the next 5 hours.    Passing 20K the clock read 2:18:47 .   I had picked up the pace a bit but I was not enjoying being out in the rain and the cold and was not all that comfortable with nearly 4 hours remaining.   This was also the point in the race that things started to turn around for me.  Conditions continued to worsen but I was able to pick up the pace passing 30K at 3:26:57.   My thoughts often turned to my upcoming Creemore 100 miler Dec 1/2.  If its going to be above freezing and wet the conditions in Dec would be very close to what I was running in today.   I hoped that Creemore weather would be below freezing giving me an opportunity to be allot more dryer.   I don't have any running stuff that is truly waterproof.  The thermal compression shirt with the shell was all about keeping the warm wet in and the cold wet out and I was wet to the bone!    The Gortex Xodus Shoes were performing amazingly.  First they had fantastic traction ,  my feet were comfortable .... no pain at all and wearing the toe socks made a huge difference.  Now the feet were anything but dry and I continue to be dismayed that they advertise " guaranteed to keep you dry".  There is no shoe ever made that would keep my feet dry in the conditions I was running in.   Passing 30K is  when I really find out what kind of day its going to be.   Other then a bit of muscle pain I was feeling good and still moving along at a consistent pace.  This was also the point of the race where I started to catch up and even loop people that were way out in front of me.   Passed the 40K mark in 4:36:48.  Doing the math I realized that I was still holding pace in spite of the ever worsening conditions.  I also realized that unless I blew up 50K was in the bag and I was also thinking about how far beyond that point I would be able to go before the 6hour mark.   I was surprised at how comfortable I was ,  it was 6-7C ,  rain ,  wind ,  muck.muck.muck and more muck.  I was soaked but comfortably warm ,  my feet felt great and I was motivated!   So I kept pushing and crossed the 50K mark in 5:46:35.  I was amazed at the fact that I didn't fall off pace and was over a minutes faster then the first 10K of the day!   Legged it out for another 13min25 sec adding another 1.7K to my total before the 6 hour horn blew. 

 I was thrilled with how the day went ,  buy far my most solid Ultra of 2012.   I quickly washed the mud off ,  put all my mucky wet stuff into a garbage bag and then changed into a few layers of dry clothes.   Beer and Chilly were next ...mmmm so good! 

 It was a small race with 35 starting the 6 hour event ,  9 in my age group 50+.   I figured that with the day I had I would probably be in line for an AG award.  To my pleasant surprise I ends up being first in the 50+ category.  I was thrilled as I had never one an AG category before.   Overall I placed 8th out of 35 participants and I was 7th out of 25 men.  This was  the second 6 hour Trail Ulta  I have done and a PB by 4.2K. 

 I walk away from this race confident that I can face the elements in Creemore and successfully complete  the 100 mile winter run.  




Splits ...
1: 17:27 17:27
2: 17:54 35:21
3: 17:37 52:57
4: 18:07 1:11:04   10K
5: 16:48 1:27:51
6: 17:37 1:45:28
7: 16:25 2:01:52
8: 16:55 2:18:47   20K
9: 17:12 2:35:58
10: 16:47 2:52:44
11: 17:32 3:10:16
12: 16:41 3:26:57   30K
13: 16:38 3:43:34
14: 17:35 4:01:08
15: 18:07 4:19:14
16: 17:35 4:36:48  40K
17: 17:16 4:54:04
18: 17:55 5:11:58
19: 17:22 5:29:19
20: 17:17 5:46:35  50K
21 made it another 1.7 k before the 6hour mark