A quick youtube video from this weekend

http://youtu.be/NDVW2eTRlGY

Sulphur Springs 100 Mile Race – May 25, 2013

When it comes to running, finding a 5km, 10km, or even a half marathon race nearby is easy. Unfortunately, finding a local ultra-marathon is difficult. Fortunately for me, there is an ultra running event that takes place every year, one hour from my house. The Burlington Runners Club (http://www.burlingtonrunners.com/ ) host multiple running events throughout the year. The Sulphur Springs Race in Ancaster, Ontario being my favourite. This was their 21^st year running this event and the number of registered runners has grown significantly. This year, there were 1200 runners that took part in this trail race, ranging in distances from 10 km to 100 miles. There is even a 100 mile relay race.

I really enjoy the Sulphur Springs course and train there whenever I get the chance. There is always an abundance of wildlife and I usually come across a runner or two that I have met before. Even though the course is situated within the Bruce trail, which is around 800km long, the actual course is only a 20km loop. This allows me to do a lap and get back to my car to replenish my fluids and pick up some more food before beginning again. This year was no different. I was able to get out to the course 3 times for 60km training runs prior to race day.

Check-in for the 100 mile runners is before a mandatory dinner. This occurs at 5pm the Friday before the race. The weather was great, but the temperatures were  on their way down. I put up a tent to sleep in, but decided to sleep in my car to stay warmer. The temperatures reached close to 0 degrees, and with the turn of a key, I had heat within minutes. A pillow, a blanket and the driver’s seat of my car was what I had to get me the best sleep I could.

I usually get up 60-90 minutes before the race, so that I can slowly eat and prepare myself for my long day ahead. I had a few minutes to spare, which gave me a little time to chat with runners that I have gotten to know over the years, and new runners I met the night before.  Six a.m. came and the runners took off!

Even though it rained for a few days during the week before the race, the course was mostly dry, with only a couple of small sections of mud (nothing that would slow down your pace). The hard part of any race is trying to run your own race, while not getting influence by someone else’s pace. At the Sulphur Springs race, the 50 mile, 100 mile and 100 mile relay teams all start at the same time.  With so many categories, knowing who to run with is difficult. Thankfully, the race director made sure that bib numbers were different colours for each race distance. However, it is still easy to get caught up talking to someone for too long, not knowing that their race is almost done, while you still have hours left on the trails. This was the case for me when I was running with 50 mile runners. If it wasn’t for the run/walk pattern I was following this could have hurt me. Luckily, I had a walk break to let those runners get ahead of me.

My plan was to put my Badwater strategy to the test and complete a run/walk pattern for the first 4 laps. My training must have been going well because I completed the 4 laps with no problems at all in a time of 8:03. This is now my personal best for 50 miles.

After 100 km of running, I started to get a blister on my right foot, as well as some stomach pains. These two things would slow me down even more over the last 3 laps. Tom Wronecki joined me on lap 6 and 7, kept me company and helped me at each aid station. We talked about everything! Well, he was doing most of the talking. During this time I was just trying the keep running while trying to ignore my stomach. I was also fortunate to have my sister, Stacey, pace me for my last lap. She drove almost 2 hours to come run a 20km lap with me and then drive home once I finished. Both Tom and Stacey helped me to break my personal record in the 100 mile distance. I finished the Sulphur Springs 100 mile race in 20 hours and 29 minutes. More then 2 hours off my personal best. Thank you Tom and Stacey, I could not have done it without your help!

The temperature dipped a bit at night, but as long as I kept moving I stayed warm. It wasn’t until after the race when we finally stopped moving that I felt how cold it really was outside. Overall, the weather and course conditions couldn’t have been better. The course was also very well marked and the volunteers at the aid stations were always helpful.

Due to the great race conditions, almost every race category at this event had new course records. Dale Draaistra now has the course record for the 100 mile race with a time of 15:37:24 and Laura Perry has the female course record at 18:57:59. Congratulations to both of them!

While making new running friends and breaking my personal best was great, training for the Badwater Ultramarathon is now the only thing on my mind. After a couple of days of recovery, I plan to be back running by Wednesday.

Lastly, thank you everyone for following my blog this far. It was amazing to meet new people at this race that I had never met before, but recognized me from my blog. This is an amazing journey that I am happy to share with you, and I am so thankful for all of the support that I have received.

Nutrition

For those of you who don’t run long distances, you might not know that you need to eat while you run. Especially when you run ultra distances, you need to stay both hydrated as well as nourished to be able to have the strength and energy to keep moving. All runners are different and need different foods to help them. I will take this time to let you know what helps me stay hydrated and nourished during my runs.

Starting with hydration, I like to drink at least one litre of fluid for every hour I run. I sweat a lot, and have used a scale to measure how much fluid I lose per hour.  I mostly drink just water, but I’m a big fan of Gatorade or HEED sports drink. I try to drink at least half a litre of Gatorade or HEED for every litre of water I drink, just to give me some electrolytes as well as flavour.

In regards to the food I eat, it’s basically anything that will give me calories, sugar, salt and protein.  During my training runs and races, I like to eat at least 200 calories of food every hour. Some of these foods include: Hammer gels, peanut butter and jam on some sort of bagel, cliff bars, vega bars, bananas, and the occasional cookie. During races it’s pretty much the same, but I’m limited to what is offered at race aid stations as well. They tend to have foods which include baked potatoes dipped in salt, chocolate chip cookies, licorice M&Ms, raisins, pretzels and chips. I don’t mind changing it up and eating some of that food later on in a race to give me something different to eat, but for the most part I try to eat what I eat during training. There have also been a few times that I have been able to eat a slice of homemade pizza at a race, and it seemed to do the trick.

The hardest transition for me was actually practicing eating while running. It’s not as easy as it seems. Initially I would get an upset stomach but with practice, and with figuring out which foods worked best for me (and that I could keep down) I am now able to eat and continue running without any issues.

My rookie mistake: I need to mention that making sure you eat enough salt so that your body can absorbed all the water it sweats out is VITAL.  Also by consuming enough salt, you will prevent your body from cramping up and ensure you are hydrated. Again this depends on the runner, the temperature conditions and how much you are sweating.

While these foods and hydration strategy works for me, everyone needs to test what works for them during their training runs. I started out by consulting a local sports nutritionist and highly recommend utilizing any veteran runners who are willing to share what nutritionally works for them!

Training update – Sunday May 5, 2013

The weather couldn’t have been any nicer this whole week; nothing but blue skies and hot temperatures... but that didn’t stop me from wearing a long sleeved running shirt with a sweater over top. Yes it was hot, but training like this will help me prepare for the hot temps in Badwater. Up until this week I have been running on nothing but pavement because the Badwater Ultramarathon is a road race. However, this week I started running on trails once again. I will be running in the Sulphur Springs 100 Mile (trail) race on May 25^th .

Today was great! I started running at 5:40am and went until 12:20pm for a total of 60km. The trails at Dundas Valley, which is where the Sulphur Springs race will be held was beautiful. I saw 13 deer as well as many other animals which were out and about. The course was dry and as I said before the weather was great. I love running on trails and enjoyed getting back to them this week. Here is the breakdown of my running this week.

Day	Distance
Mon April 29,2013	19.3
Tue April 30, 2013	12.1
Wed May 1, 2013	14
Fri May 3, 2013	14
Sun May 5, 2013	60
Total	119.4km

 

Until next time… Happy running!

The crew that helped Gerardo Re complete the 2012 Badwater Ultramarathon (left to right): Conor Loughnane, Alex Lalonde, Gerardo Re, Katyna Aguilar, Troy Troncin and Joaquin Candel

My Badwater Crew

While running is usually an individual sport, completing the 135 miles from the Badwater Basin to the Whitney Portal alone is almost impossible. Less then a handful of people have only completed this task solo. During the actual Badwater Ultraramthon, it is mandatory to have a crew. There are no aid stations, so your crew follows you in support vehicles to provide food, water, clothes or even a seat if needed. A crew member is also allowed to pace you (keep you company) on the course after the first checkpoint at 17.5km from the start line. While truly only 1 person is completing the whole course on foot, it takes a whole team effort to complete this race.

I am very fortunate to have a crew member who ran the race last year. Gerardo Re is the first person from Argentina to have completed the Badwater Ultramrathon. He also invited me last year to crew for him as he completed this difficult race. Gerardo is a seasoned runner. He has been my mentor through this Badwater process, helped me create a training plan, all while reminding me that this is all about having fun!

Katyna Aguilar and Joaquin Candel are veteran crew members who played an integral part of Gerardo’s team last year. They both bring experience crewing at this tough race and will definitely help my other crew members learn the ropes. What is most noticeable about Katyna and Joaguin are their positive attitudes and their ability to guide a runner through some of the toughest mental challenges that can occur during a race of this scale. I saw it last year with Gerardo and know they will bring a lot to the table this year as well.

My older brother Jody will be flying in from Edmonton. He was a medic in the Canadian Army and has always been one of my biggest competitors and fans growing up. My younger sister Stacey will also be joining me from Northern Ontario. She is currently a firefighter with the Sudbury fire department. I am glad that they have both decided to join me on this journey. I’m sure my older sister Anne-Marie would have loved the trip to Death Valley as well, but she is expecting a baby this summer, so she declined the offer. Although, I know she could do it ;)

My last crew member who I am grateful for joining is Tom Wronecki.  I met Tom 5 years ago during my first ultra. He helped me get to that painful first finish line by providing me tips throughout the race. He also kept me company during the toughest parts of the race, until I was slowing him down too much. He has also been a great training partner. We get together at least once a month for a long run throughout the trails in Milton Ontario. I know our wives don’t always appreciate our early morning runs, but sometimes we guys just need to get away and tear up those trails!

Even though the race is still just under three months away I can’t thank my crew enough for all they have done for me leading up to this point. Let’s enjoy this adventure and make some great memories.