Catching up and Sulphur Springs 25k Race Report

When we had last met, I had just finished yet another failed Boston Qualifier Marathon attempt. Round three and it was NOT a charm. In hindsight, even though the weather was horrible, the course was not built for me either. That much downhill right at the beginning of a marathon trashed my quads and there wouldn't have been any way for me to recover, regardless of the wind (or lack there of). I have my "dinner plate" medal now, and it will be a long, long time before I attempt the 42.2k tour of Toronto during a May marathon again.

I took the rest of the month easy as I promised myself I would. I hopped back on Trainer Road and ran whenever I felt like it. Things worked to my favour in that I never really missed a long run as I was able to run with Emma one week and Sam the next.

Then, like all good friends do, I talked them into running the Sulphur Springs 25k trail race with me. ("talk into" may be a strong saying here. I said I wouldn't mind doing it and both Sam and Emma were keen to return to one of our fave race sites).

Ready to roll on #sulphursprings 25k. #runnersmakethebestfriends #thegibblers

A photo posted by Nicole (@macnic05) on May 28, 2016 at 4:22am PDT

We decided not to take ourselves too seriously and opted to play matchy-matchy as you do. Because if you look good, you feel good and you run better. Or something. Or at least you look good. ANY-way, turns out the rainbow socks were a huge hit on the day because I'm pretty sure we got no less than 76 compliments on them.

Which was good, because it was HOT. In fact, it was so hot that I took the race director's advice and soaked a buff and wore it around my neck. This strategy worked really well and my heart rate and heat never really got so high that I felt horrible. The girls suffered a bit more than me, but they are both training for a 70.3 to my "taken-er easy" so I likely had way more in the tank anyway.

Despite feeling good, keeping cool and hydrating perfectly, I still managed to fall twice in the last 7k. Only me! I didn't get hurt at all (just embarrassed) and as Robin says, its not a trail race without a fall or two.

The damage

Our shirts were awesome as well, with Sam and I wearing the Donut and Beer shirt respectively and Emma joining in on the fun with her, "Training for the Zombie Apocalypse" tank. We got a lot of good comments on those and I even got offered a beer at an aid station. Too bad it was a stout. If it had been any kind of lager, I'd be all in. HAHA.

While we had great plans to PB this course (sub 2:49), the super warm and humid weather meant it wasn't to be so we settled instead for a great run-walk thorough a beautiful place with a bunch of like-minded people. I'll be back to Sulphur again and soon. I really like this race.

Final time was 3:00:30 and 1001 laughs.

Woohoo! We finished..bit of a slog in the heat but a whole lot of fun with these ladies! #runnersmakethebestfriends

A photo posted by Nicole (@macnic05) on May 28, 2016 at 8:00am PDT

Run for the Toad 25k, Trail Race Report!

On Saturday, October 4, 2014 I had the pleasure to run the Run for the Toad 25k trail race in Paris, Ontario. This race went on my radar immediately following the amazing day I had at Sulphur and I was lucky enough that both Emma and Sam were game to pay the steep $100 race fee and run this one after they had done the 50k relay the year prior. Joining in was also Kim, who also was part of the relay team in 2013.

Me, Sam, Kim, Emma

It was cold to start, but all of the girls ditched their coats anyway. I left on my long sleeved shirt even with my tank under. I was okay for the most part, but knew that I'd pass by my truck at 9k, so I could dump it if I wanted to.

The race started after the kids went out for their 1k and the 50k championship started. We were treated to the same cannon boom to start and the pipers played us out. What an awesome way to start! I got a bit teary because that's what happens when I hear bagpipes and then I concentrated on making my way onto the trail without falling. Right away, we were a bit crowded, but I knew things would spread out before long. I realized that I was a bit ahead of the girls and Sam was with me. More than once, we had to slow down which was smart. 25k is a long run and I hadn't run more than 21k since Midsummer.

I had a hard time with the early racing here. We were taking it easy, running when we wanted too, walking where we needed to. The start stop was really messing with me and it took probably about 10k before I was really able to settle in. I knew that we were in for a double loop, so I was looking forward to getting through the start finish again and counting down.

We were ready to tackle skeleton hill though.

At 9k, I made the decision to dump my long sleeved, but I likely could have continued with it and I would have been okay in terms of heat. It was a strange day, warm but with cold wind gusts. I make my decision though and stripped down just in time for the photographer. At least the Zoom photo guys got a show as I stripped down. I've never run in this tank and I don't know that I will again. It matches that skirt perfectly, but its, um... a bit booby...

As we were coming up to the end of the first loop, we saw a set of paramedics in their little tent. "Hope you have an uneventful day!" I called as we ran past them, then we were directed back into the campground roads and I heard Sam say, "Oh! What a cute puppy." before I caught my foot on something and before I knew it I was sliding along the trail... on my hip, knee, and shoulder.

Quickly (as possible), I got up and shook myself off. The girls were concerned, with Sam giving me her lulu arm warmers to wipe myself off with and Emma and Kim worrying about the blood that was trickling from various parts of my body. In the end though, there was nothing to do but keep running. I felt fine, thank goodness, no wonky ankle or knee so I decided to keep on keeping on and hit up a medical tent at the start finish.

I did that while the girls continued on. The paramedics treating me were kind and funny. They kept telling me that they were just doing a patch job so as not to slow down my race and that I should head to the big med tent by the food tent after the race.

After my patch up (they didn't even look at my shoulder), I headed out to find the girls. I had a moment of panic where I couldn't see them at all, but thankfully Sam was wearing bright pink and I spotter her ahead. I likely ran my fastest paces for the second half of the race in this part to catch the girls. The second half of the race seemed faster, but was WAY more difficult. By about 16k, my shoulder, elbow, and knee let me know that I had taken a tumble and while the trails were not that technical, I was still struggling with the start/stop aspect that is normal with trail racing.

Despite a really bad cold, Kim was ahead of us by then and all she wanted to do was to finish the race. I hear ya, Kim! She would get ahead while we walked some (not-too-difficult-incline-that-we'd-totally-run-on-roads) and then we'd catch her again as our pace was faster overall. I tried to keep running more myself and kept anticipating the huge hill called skeleton hill because that would mean that the race would be over. When we got there, Emma went ahead to capture the moment and I let her know what I thought of this hill (and the dude at the top laughing).

Yes, I'm flipping her the bird. Times two.
Photo Credit: Emma

 And before we know it (its always that way, right?), we are coming through the end and I'm actually able to PB on the time compared to Sulphur, by 50s! WooHoo!

I was the last to finish. We all went to get our medals and some water (which I really needed along with food). We were all concerned about Kim, but she just wanted to get warm and get food. I couldn't disagree with that. I wanted to get checked out by medical, so the five of us (Kim's husband ran the 25k as well), went into the tent and I got cleaned up. It took a bit longer than we anticipated so the girls went back to the truck to get their warm clothes and mine and once I was ready to leave, we went off to find our amazing lunch of chicken breast, salads, Tim Horton's coffee and cookies and pie (if you're into that mushy-fruit vileness). We all agreed it was a great day even with Kim's cold and my wipe out. There is something so fun about running through the forest with absolutely zero pressure at all.

Not sure I'll be back next year, but I can pretty much be talked into anything if my fave running peeps are part of it, so never say never.

Next up: I'm pacing the 1:55 continuous group at the Niagara Falls International Half Marathon on October 26th. I've been dedicated to practicing my pacer pace of 5:27/km (8:46/mi) and am hoping to nail this one and go 3 for 3 on the 2014 pacing gigs.

Hope you're enjoying your fall!

The Fall 2014 Plan

Well! I figure as I sit here after the first official training week for the Fall that I should likely share my fall plans with all of you. Of course, as I learned this week, I can not be 100% in anything I've not yet signed up for as my oldest son has made the Rep Hockey Novice team and thus hockey and tournaments now take precedence over everything (kinda).

So, the fall plan has been written. Here are the first few weeks

The red box is when we are away for the week. I don't force myself to stick to the plan during this time.

If you click, it will go larger. As you can see, there is an equal number of bikes and runs during the week!

I KNOW! That's because I had to write my entire fall plan around The Epic Tour Halton (September 7) where I will be riding the 80k distance with my co-worker who talked me into it. Of course, I have this sweet mum bike to get me through and I've gotten speeds up to 22.2km/h thus far. Don't be too jealous! 

But what else am I doing? There is quite a bit of running on that plan as well. In order, here is the plan:

A return to pacing and the awesome 30k at A MidSummer Night's Run (August 16) (I'll pace the 3hr group, join me!)

This may happen again

Next after that, I'm hoping to run the 10k at MEC Race 4 (September 6). This comes the day before the Gran Fondo, so we'll see what happens. This 10k is also the basis of all of the early speedwork for the summer. Like during the summer of 2011, I plan to return to the track in order to gain the grounding in order to toe the line at this race hoping for a finishing time around 48 minutes. Sam's keen on the same goal, so we're using the same basic running plan.

After my Gran Fondo is in the bag, the plan ups the ante with four run days and one bike day a week. I also begin to add some goal half marathon pace into the long runs. There won't be much time to test out my newfound speed over distance though, because like Sam, I plan to take my first stab at going sub-1:45 in the half at the Oakville Half Marathon (September 21), after all, I had a great time running with Sam and Richard during the last 5k in 2013. This race conflicts with my son's first tournament. The tournament was supposed to be on September 12-14, however they had to change to September 19-21 and will be in Essex. I signed up for the race and the next day, the tournament got changed! My husband and I have chatted though and he's fine with me doing the race as I can't get a refund on my bib. 

Skirt power with Sam at the end of Oakville last year

After Oakville, Sam, Emma, Bridgett and I will reunite for another 25k trail race, Run for the Toad (October 4). I'm hoping we can produce more awesome tampon commercial worthy photos

Finally, finally, there will be the now traditional, Road2Hope half marathon on November 2nd. Unless a hockey tournament conflicts. My backup in that case is the weekend before at the Niagara Falls half marathon. I've also put my hand up to pace Niagara, so we'll see what happens.

As you can see, I have a VERY full plan on the go. Of course, in my first week of training I've been able to get every workout in and have hit 83 combined bike/run kilometers for the week. This meant I was in bed at 2115 on Saturday night. Turns out massive amounts of physical activity and a party lifestyle don't really go hand in hand. But I'm okay with that. I think the biking will really help me keep my Plantar Fasciitis in check, plus everyone keeps telling me it will help with my running. 

And who knows? I may just become a multi-sport athlete before you know it!

Sulphur Springs 25k Trail Race Report!

TRAIL RACE!!!!

That photo pretty much says it all! On Saturday, May 24th, I headed out to Ancaster Ontario and the lovely Dundas Valley Conservation Area to join Bridgett, Emma and Sam to run the 25k portion of the Sulphur Springs trail race series. There were also 10k, 50k, 50mi (which Robin ran) and 100mi. Before this race, I had run trails all of once.

I can say with all kinds of surety, that this will not be my last day on the trails.

This race report will be like no other because there were no markers, no real accurate GPS, nothing but laughs and good times and hills and mud.

Bridgett and I headed out from Milton at 5:30 am, stopped at Tim Horton's Drive Thru for breakfast and coffee and were at the start area by about 6:20. Had I known we'd be so close to the start of the bigger races, I would have left earlier so we could have seen Robin off. We parked and wandered over to the tent to get our bibs and tech shirts (I like the orange!) and then hit the porta-potties. Back to the car and we sat in it for about 15 minutes waiting to hear from Emma and Sam and trying to stay warm.

Before long, we met up with the girls (and Kim who was running the 10k) and made our way to the start... behind the woman on the ladder! I was loving the casual atmosphere and the general feel of everything. We warmed up significantly while waiting 5 minutes for the race to start so we all dumped our long sleeved tops on Kim (second from right), who's race started later. I set the right tone for myself by wearing, "I run so I can drink" Bondi Band.

WooHoo! Waking up at 5 is worth it. For NATURE.
Bridgett, Me, Sam, Kim, Emma.

Then, the group surged forward and "We're starting? Like, should I just hit my watch? There's no mats? I guess its all gun time, eh?" You could tell my road-runner status by these comments but I immediately went into fun mode and went with the flow which was directly downhill. WHEE!! Sam tried to kill our buzz by saying something about running UP this hill another three times but we stopped listening to her, "Been there, done that last year" wisdom. I looked at my watch to find I was was running 10km/hr.

WTF?

Turns out my watch was in bike mode. Whoops! I switched it over but didn't turn off Auto-Pause which turned out to provide some additional moments of levity in the race as during big climbs, my watch would often auto pause even though we were clearly moving... just vertically.

The route is not too technical and we were enjoying ourselves and the views. We hit a few muddy areas and some wet and muddy grass but nothing that we couldn't handle. There were jokes about all matter of things and I must admit, I got made fun of a bit during some of the more technical or uphill parts ("how's that 6min/km plan going for you, Nicole?") and we wondered how 97 previous road race Kenny would do in his first trail race (spoiler: like me, he fell in love). Of course every yellow bib that we saw, we looked for Robin, but we never did see her.

The aid stations were awesome and another thing I enjoyed. We weren't running to break records, so we took our time to pee (though I didn't need to) and eat the licorice fruit and drink coke refill our water bottles. I swear to God, I'll run trails again just for the food. Coming through the start at the end of our 5k initial loop was fun and rilled us up to go out again.

Sam's still with me, but hasn't discovered her #runnerd

Out for the last 20k it was more of the same. Jokes. Hills. "Walkies." Mud. Laughs. Bridgett trying to pull some experienced trail runner move over a log into a pit of mud only to almost end up with her lulu top as much of a write off as our shoes.

And there was pure enjoyment.

Imma just gonna sneak up on this #runnerd

Girls! I'm taking a photo! Pretend to run up this hill!

We are available for promotional campaigns for running skirts, compression socks and tampons.
And yogurt (because yogurt ads never make sense anyway).

In the last three kilometers or so, Sam and Bridgett ended up getting ahead of Emma and I and we declined to give chase. They were within their rights to get away from a man with a breathing pattern that sounded like a freight train and another man who hadn't showered since Christmas. Both of these guys passed Emma and I and its not like we were itching to give chase and hang with either of them. That and the fact that neither of us had run a whole lot since the marathon (what with our injuries) so we wanted to take it easy. In fact, that big hill we ran down at the top of the race? We walked it twice (close Sam!): strava tells Emma that the first time was in 6:42/km pace. The second (final) time? 8:56/km. HA. But we looked good doing it.

Loving this. All of it.

And then we're coming into the finish. 2 hours and 50 minutes after we jogged passed the lady with the ladder. And in my mind, I'm already signing up for the 50k next year.

Falling in love again

So, when's the next one? Soon? I hope! This fall for sure. But that's a post for another day. Summer/Fall plans are firming up, but first I've got the Niagara Women's Half Marathon to pace on Sunday. I hope my trailrunner quads heal by then!