On Saturday May 1, I ran the Elk/Beaver Lake 50 km Ultra in 4:47:28. On Sunday May 2, I ran the Vancouver Marathon in 4:27:26.
The 50 km was five loops around Elk/Beaver Lake in Victoria, BC.
Times for each of the 10 k loops were: (I think I did the math right)
49:10
49:27
57:05
67:31
64:13
The weather started at 6 am with a light rain, continuing that way until around 8 am when the sun slowly start to come out. And then it stayed nice for the rest of the race.
I went out a little too strong. I intended to go out slower than I did and I didn't really realize it until the third lap so I slowed down by doing some 5 minute walk and 1 minute run for a bit. I ran t he same pace as the first two laps until the 23 km mark, I really do struggle with maintaining anything more than 5:00 min/km, even when my goal is to run dramatically slower than I want to I have such trouble doing it. The first lap I ran by myself. Second lap was by myself still. The first 3 km of the second lap was with the woman that ended up winning the 50 mile race in 7:47. Ran about 7 km of my third lap with a woman that was doing the 50 k while pacing her husband for the 50 mile race. And ran the last bit of the 4th lap and all of the final lap with a guy that ended up finishing at the same time as me. It was nice to have someone to push back and forth with at the end, even though we weren't exactly pushing a hard pace.
At the end of the race I felt pretty darn good. Groin muscles and quads were pretty tight but I think I stretched em out and walked them loose after the race. There was a shelter with picnic tables at the start area that apparently the runners were allowed to use to store their food and also had aid type food on hand for the runners between each laps; I didn't figure this out until lap four. Whoops. All in all it was a fun race, I know that if I had only been doing one race that weekend I could have cut at least 30 minutes off my time. Perhaps next year I'll do it again and shoot for a sub 4 hour time.
And look, the race director made a pretty neat video and out it on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtVEdanQNuo
I then had to get from Victoria to Vancouver by 5 pm, I left the race at Elk/Beaver Lake around 12:30 headed back to where I stayed in Vic, showered and headed to Nanaimo to catch the ferry. I only managed to get about 6 hours sleep before the Marathon on Sunday.
I arrived at the race start area in Vancouver around 6:30 and the race started at 7:30. I spend the first 30 minutes stretching and getting loosened up as I felt a little stiff from yesterdays run. Lined up for the porta potties around 7:05 foolishly thinking I could get that done before the start. I got out of the bathroom area at 7:29. I ended up starting near the 4:15 pace bunny.
The weather was the most rain I have ever run in. I used to think I enjoyed running in the rain, but I never run more than a couple hours in the rain. It would switch back and forth between light rain and really heavy rain.
My splits for the marathon were:
5 k: 29:41
10 k: 58:06
15 k: 1:27:15
21.2 k: 2:07:08
30 k: 3:02:54
35 k: 3:40:15
42.2 k: 4:27:26
I thought I felt good in the beginning of the race. I was succesfully maintaining a slow pace. Around the half way mark I was running with a nice group of folks near the 4:15 pace bunny. But around 30 k I absolutely got rocked! I had to go to the bathroom; I stood in line at a porta potty waiting to pee (it was the city part of the course and not the Stanly Park part of the course or I would have peed outside) and I tried to keep moving while waiting, but when I got out of the bathroom I was stiffer than my computer desk. I suppose the non stop rain didn't help my muscles to stay loose. After that I just couldn't get going again. Of the last 12.2 k I think I ended up walking 1 km, and shuffling along for the rest. It wasn't pretty but I was still smiling and high fiving people along the way.
Near the Burrard St bridge (the second time going over it) in the residential area leading up to it there was a sea otter running along the road in front of me!!!!
Looking back I don't know what I wanted to get out of doing an ultra and a marathon on back to back days. I feel damn good about doing it and knowing that I've done enough training that I've got to the point where my body can handle this sort of thing and only have minor expected muscles soreness the next day. There's a good chance that I'll do the Elk/Beaver Ultra again next year. I don't think I'll do the Vancouver Marathon again; far too many people and a little too expensive for my taste.
Next up... 50 mile Scorched Sole race in Kelowna on June 26. I live in Kelowna, so I think I'll have run the course at a slower pace than I intend to race it at least once, hike it a couple times, and I will probably do it tomorrow on my mountain bike.
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