Are trail running shoes overrated?

I can hardly believe that I'm actually writing this entry.

For as far as I can remember (since I started running) I've been a believer in specialization.  That means that if you want to run fast, you need to run fast (as well as running slow in between workouts).  To prep for hot weather racing, you should ... run in hot weather.  For trail races, practice getting out on trail conditions of all kinds.

And different types of running should call for different types of shoes.  Racing flats.  Track spikes.  Cushioned road shoes (for easy/recovery days).  Trail shoes for trails.

But hold the phone ...

Out of (perhaps an overinflated) sense of obligation**, I decided to try out wearing the Reebok Forever Floatride Energy (FFE) as my footwear of choice for both the Sunburn Solstice Trail Run and the Limberlost Challenge.  The FFE shoes are designed for the road, whereas both of the aforementioned races were conducted on trail surfaces.  Now I know that anyone who has tackled either of those events would recognize that they are not particularly technical as far as trail conditions (on a scale of 1-10 the Sunburn Solstice might have been a 4 or 5, while the Limberlost Challenge might nab a 6 or 7 at most) so perhaps you could argue that they don't particularly demand the advantages that trail shoes offer.  All the same they are marketed as trail races, and as such would lead your average runner (such as myself) to believe that trail shoes are either mandatory or at least recommended for the course surface.

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These shoes have done more than I could have asked of them - even though they’re meant for the road they helped me log a 100km trail run ( on a 4km loop) and then two weeks later a more technical 56km trail ultra. I can for certain say that I #feelthefloatride ! #floatrideenergy #bemorehuman #sporttheunexpected #sunburnsolsticetrailrace #thelimberlostchallenge

A post shared by Patrick Voo (@pbfvoo) on Jul 12, 2019 at 1:18pm PDT

How did I manage in attempting to take on these races in road shoes?

Long story short, surprisingly well.

I didn't feel like I suffered much in the way of traction or stability, which I was surprised about given their fairly flat outsole profile.  I may not have propelled my way up inclines effortlessly, but then again anything of a serious grade had me power-hiking (hands-on-knees style) anyway.  Where things got technical-ish I was maneuvering slowly and deliberately anyhow, and through sections of significant mud I'm not sure that the traction currently offered to me by the trail shoes in my inventory (the Skechers GO Trail, GO Ultra Trail 3 and Merrell Mix Master 2) would have made a discernible difference.

The Reebok Forever Floatride Energy - only ever-so-slightly nubby outsoles

Basically since I wasn't doing any mountain climbing or fell running (and that's not running while falling - that I've got covered) these road shoes were more than capable of getting me between points A and B, and multiple times over as required.  I found my footing to be acceptably stable, and the FFEs provided plenty of comfort for hour upon hour of trail tromping.

With this in mind I plan on using the FFE as my primary treads when I take on the Hallucination 100 miler next Friday just outside of Hell, Michigan (for real folks).  I'll bring some trail shoes as backups since I've been advised that having extra shoes on hand is always wise for a hundie, but armed with the knowledge that I was able to get through 100km in the FFE blister-free (and retaining the original colour in all my toenails I might add) who knows whether or not I'll need to perform a mid-race swap.

Does that mean that I'm giving up on trail shoes?

Nope.  

I think that trail shoes will still be handy just for the fact that they'll give my road shoes a rest and they may stimulate my feet and legs in a slightly different manner.  That and my trail shoes are my go-tos for winter running traction.

Anyone else have further thoughts or comments on the necessity of trail shoes?  Hit me up in the comments - I'm always open to learning as I bumble and fumble my way stride after stride!

** I received a complimentary pair of the Forever Floatride Energy directly from Reebok Canada, and am under no obligation (contractual or otherwise) to endorse their products on this blog.  All opinions expressed - however poorly - are voluntary and entirely my own.

Are trail running shoes overrated?

Washing away the grime of 2018

I can hardly believe that I've not posted anything since last September.

But with January quickly winding down, I thought that perhaps I'd better provide a bit of a wrap-up on how my 2018 went ... so if I could describe it in just one word it'd be:

disappointingfrustratingconfusingdeflatingfutile

(c'mon ... I bet that someone would want to use that every now and again to describe their feelings 'in one word')

My single focus, my one all-consuming goal for 2018 was to cross the finish line in a marathon before the race clock read 3:00:00.  To that end I worked once again with a coach (who happened to also be my friend and RunNinja leader Mike MacInnes) to try to make me sub-3 ready for last year's Mississauga Marathon.  Under his guidance I incorporated strength work that I'd not put in since my university days, and bumped my weekly mileage as high as it had ever been (to 100 miles in a single week).

Alas, my efforts were fruitless ... I bumbled my way to a gun time of 3:19:58, one of my slowest efforts in a long time.

Less than two weeks later, out of sheer stupidity, I ran the MEC London Marathon in 32°C unbridled heat, and it took me 3:32:02.

It was getting worse.

Trying to reinject some speed I tackled a couple of 10ks over the summer, not being able to log anything better than a 45 minute gun time.

In an effort to keep the streak alive, I went back for a fifth time to perform pacing duties at The County Marathon (as the 3:30 bunny), wholly unsure that I was able to actually complete the job this year.  However I managed somehow to keep it together to peg a 3:28:58.

Feeling like maybe I had one more kick at the can I accepted a bib transfer from my fleet-of-foot friend Jeremy Grampola and took on the Hamilton Marathon (a race that I've never really enjoyed or performed well at) - and sure enough, the best that I could muster was 3:17:16.

Whatever balloon I had, had burst.

Caveat:  I completely understand and appreciate that running two Boston qualifying times (for my age group) in one year should provide enough satisfaction to anyone.  I don't want to diminish the objective accomplishment, nor cast any judgment on anyone else's performances or capabilities relative to those times.  It's just that in comparison to my goal, and what I felt like I was fit and healthy enough to accomplish, I fell flat on my face.

Perhaps I've gotten too old for fast racing.  Maybe I fooled myself thinking that I had the right stuff to go sub-3 in the first place.

The truth may lie somewhere in-between or elsewhere.

So with the books closed on 2018, my 2019 plans have shifted away from the marathon.  Time to circle back around to the race that I bailed on back in 2016.  It's time to go after that belt buckle again.

I've resolved to focus on running ultras this year - so far I'm registered to tackle:

• Pick Your Poison (50k) - April 27
• Sulphur Springs Trail Race (50 miles) - May 25
• The Limberlost Challenge (56k) - July 6
• Hallucination Run (100 miles) - September 6 

Needless to say this means that I will be shifting my focus from road-speed to trail-endurance, and testing my mental limits perhaps more than my physical ones.  

Also by way of a mini-update, I've elected not to renew my ambassadorships with Salming Running and Endurance Tap.  Please don't get me wrong - I believe that both organizations and their respective product lines are great, and I would happily endorse them with anyone interested in stepping up their running performance.  However I found that I personally did not have the best feel and feedback with my Salming running shoes despite the great technology and design elements integrated into their footwear, and even though many many people do experience them to be fantastic weapons in their arsenals and leading them to new personal bests.  As for Endurance Tap, I'll probably still be packing my running vest pockets with their gels but I'm also looking to experiment a bit with Maurten as a number of friends have given it a big double-thumbs up.

That's a wrap for now - looking forward to turning a corner in 2019, and hoping all the best for you in your running and life adventures!

Washing away the grime of 2018

Race Report - The Limberlost Challenge 2017 (DNF)

You win Limberlost, you win.

I went into this year's event with high hopes of not only completing another ultramarathon (56km), nor just bettering my 2014 result of 9:11 but actually executing a smart game plan and perhaps posting a top-10 or even a top-5 finish.  That's the kind of shape that I felt that I was in, and with my skyrunner friend Juan helping to keep me honest I thought that the odds might actually be stacked in my favour.

Pre-race
With so many of the RunNinjas heading up to tackle The Limberlost Challenge this year I carpooled with my friends Joy and Lewis - Joy was feeling under-trained going into her first 28km race attempt, and Lewis was still nursing a nagging patellar injury but had volunteered to assist at an aid station.  For my part I felt quite confident having completed the 50km distance at Pick Your Poison and believing that I'd learned a number of value lessons that I could bring to the table this time around.  One thing that I'd done differently was to get in a solid two-week taper ... now I'll admit that it left me feeling a bit stale on race-day morning but the key was that I was able to nail all of my desired paces during the workouts leading up to Limberlost weekend so I was reasonably confident that I could trust the training that I'd put in.

After about an hour we arrived in Huntsville and opted for a short pit-stop for washrooms and gasoline.  Well, we got the washrooms part but it was evident after two non-operational fueling stations that some kind of wicked storm had knocked the stuffing out of the computer networks that worked the pumps.  I'd later find out that my friend Vicki had no power through the night at her hotel in Huntsville thanks to a blown transformer somewhere.  This might have been my first cue that the day would turn out a little differently that I'd anticipated.

Pulling into the parking lot at The Limberlost Forest and Wildlife Reserve we all commented on how many cars had already filled the designated parking area (and it was approximately an hour before the 56km start time).  What we would quickly come to realize was that as many cars as there were the ratio of mosquitoes to cars was even higher ... a momentary opening of the driver-side door let in seven or eight of the bloodsuckers.  Between the soggy spring weather that we'd experienced and the overnight thunderstorm the bugs were swarming in stereotypical Muskoka fashion.  As such it was a mad dash from the van to the sign-in tent and back to the van to try to get ready in advance of the starter's pistol.  We still managed to connect with a bunch of RunNinjas and snap the obligatory pre-race selfies, all while getting drained of a pint or two of blood.

Photo credit:  Kathleen Power

The race
I was mentally prepared to go slow, and with Juan setting the pace we took a very measured and controlled approach to the first two 14km loops. We weren't excessively chatty, but carried on at a clip that certainly permitted casual conversation about the gorgeous scenery and the occasional sections of mud (***foreshadowing***) that we encountered along the way.  Over the first 7km we were overtaken by a number of eager runners - which we'd fully anticipated would happen and were none too worried about - and eventually dialed in to a pace that kept us together with another friend of mine named David (who'd recently completed the Sulphur Springs 200 miler).  I constantly kept checking back with Juan to ensure that I wasn't getting overanxious about our time, and after the first two loops we were pretty much spot on, crossing the first 14km in 1:40:40 and dusting off the next 14km in 1:38:09.  At this point a negative split was in sight ...!

But then the third loop happened.

Nothing too monumental, but during this lap the mud sections had sprawled out to about four times their starting sizes, and one of the most significant bogs was found along a 70m incline.  Naturally we all slowed while traversing these shoe-sucking pits, but I think that they also actually wound up doing a number on my hamstrings as at about 35km my legs started to offer some unusual and unfamiliar feedback.  I had to let Juan skip along out of sight ahead of me as I felt like the pace was becoming labourious, and I was becoming concerned about the sensations in my lower limbs.  For one of the first times in an ultra it wasn't my cardio or my fueling or my race tactics that was the presenting problem ... could it be that my fitness just wasn't there?

Naaahhh, it couldn't be.  After all I'd managed to recently power through a billy-goat's worth of 50k at Pick Your Poison and continued to build up my training after that.  In the end I can't say for certain what did me in, but my hamstrings were tight and led to me altering my gait ever-so-subtly ... and I could tell that after completing the third loop that if I decided to finish out the race that I'd almost definitely be setting the stage for some kind of compensation injury.  With that in mind I decided that discretion would be the better part of valour on this day and pulled the plug at the start/finish area, noting this to both the course marshal and the event medical crew.

Post-race
Part of me certainly thought that this was a moment of shame - after all I'd managed to tough out every other race I'd ever participated in, regardless of how difficult it felt.  And yet on this particular occasion it totally felt like the right thing to do - I was not going to be competitive any more in this race, and with pacing duties ahead of me this fall I didn't want to sabotage the rest of my summer training season having to nurse a wonky knee or wrecked quads ...

... which unfortunately is exactly what happened to my pal Juan.  While he finished the race (taking 11th overall and a bronze medal finish for his age category) he pretty much collapsed in pain at the conclusion of the run.  Apparently he'd also questioned the wisdom of finishing the final 14k - which we eventually both chalked up to the instability of running through long sections of mud - but decided to do it anyway.  He finished with a high degree of knee pain that left him hobbling and unable to make it to the podium when his name was announced over the PA system.  The next day he'd actually take himself into the emergency room at Royal Victoria Hospital and was told that while he would not require surgery he was facing at least a 5-week 'no running' order.

All in all I came away satisfied with what I'd accomplished - a solid 42k trail training run (although even Strava refused to fully acknowledge my effort!), a great day spent with Juan and cheering on so many of my fellow RunNinjas, and the intentions of perhaps one day returning yet again to flog the Limberlost Challenge into submission.

What?  Even the kilometres that I toughed out didn't count?!?

But this time, I yield.  You may have won the battle Limberlost, but not yet the war.

Race Report - The Limberlost Challenge 2017 (DNF)

No second chances at a first impression ... just second chances

It's taken three long years to recover.

Not physically, but perhaps psychologically.

And tomorrow I am returning to the scene of my most epic race blow-up, where I lay on the brink of oblivion before being rescued by my relentless and faithful friend Jim.  Yes, in less than 24 hours I will once again tackle the 56km trails of the Limberlost Forest and Wildlife Reserve.

The last time that I was there I was tackling my first real ultra, and in part due to a mismanagement of salt intake I struggled with dehydration and a dangerously low blood pressure situation.   Again, thanks to Jim's perseverance and sacrifice I managed to hobble my way across the finish line, feeling a great sense of defeat and dissatisfaction.  Now, having a few more ultras under my proverbial belt (including a couple of 50ks and a 50-miler) I'm going to try my hand once more at this event.

What's going to be different this time?

Much, I hope.

For one thing I will be sharing the forest with a dozen or more of my fellow RunNinjas, covering three of the four available distance options.  Just knowing that I'm going to criss-cross with my tribe members out there is going to provide me with plenty of inspiration.

Second, I plan to run with my newfound Ecuadorian friend (and experienced mountain ultra-runner) Juan - and since he has proven with consistency that he can race negative splits I'm hopeful that together we will be able to execute a smart race strategy that will serve us both well.

Third, I know what it's like to have every cell in your body yearn for you to swallow your pride and post that DNF (did not finish).  I know what it's like to feel like when returning to an upright position - let alone taking another step - seems impossible.  I know what it's like to watch as dozens of runners pass you by as you lay motionless on the ground. 

But more than that I know what it's like to get back up from that and get the job done.

Tomorrow, I'll be armed and dangerous.  Limberlost, I'm coming for you, and this time it's personal.

#redemptionrun #GOlikeneverbefore

Pumped for tomorrow's 56km at Limberlost. You can run but you can't hide ...! #redemptionrun #RunNinjas #golikeneverbefore #haveafastday #werunthisforest #fuelsimply

A post shared by Patrick Voo (@pbfvoo) on Jul 7, 2017 at 9:54am PDT

No second chances at a first impression ... just second chances

race report - the 2014 limberlost challenge

i should have posted a DNF.

not that i wanted to - but had i been left to my own devices, that would have been the result.

this is a bit of a different race report compared to other ones that i've posted, partly because i think that as my first trail race and my first ultramarathon i have a different story to tell.

there were three defining elements to my running of this year's edition of the limberlost challenge:

1. mud.
2. blood.
3. jim.

let's first get out of the way some of the ancillary details - my friend jim willett and i carpooled together up to the limberlost reserve (about 1h40min from the commuter parking lot at the north end of my city) before the crack of dawn.  the 56k race started at 8am, and given that neither of us had been there before we wanted to give ourselves enough margin for a leisurely drive and kit pick-up.

i wasn't the only Team RF member there, but i don't think that anyone else wore Skechers!

the start/finish location where we parked was well organized with volunteers, clearly delineated tent areas (for registration, bag-drop, vendor booths) and an adequate number of port-a-potties.  aside from some swatting of mosquitoes, the pre-race routine was rather uneventful - but i did notice that the trail/ultra running crowd seem to be more relaxed and friendly as a group versus the organized road races in which i've participated.  they say that trail runners are a different breed - and i began to get a sense of why that's said.

after some preliminary remarks from the emcee and then the race organizer (neil jefferson) jim and i prepared to be launched from the chute as the first wave of runners (56k @ 8am, then 42k, 28k and 14k in 20min. intervals after that).  we spotted last year's winner and lined up just at the rear of the pack that would take off after him.

the course itself is really quite pretty - with generous doses of elevation changes (the most brutal 35m hill climb coming within the first mile), plenty of shade, very few bugs and lots of scenic running beside and over four different lakes.  which leads me to the first of the triumvirate of key determinants for my race result:

mud

this is really a general category header, but also a very specific one as well.  thanks to a well-watered week leading up to the event there were stretches of mud along the trail that started off as 4m long and 1m wide but ended up (by the fourth lap) being easily 13m long and 4m wide.  

the kind of stuff that will suck the shoes right off of your feet and drag them down to the nether regions below.

not my shoe, and not my image - but you catch the drift ...

i was thankful for the various boardwalks over the lake areas where i could dip my mud-laden shoes into the water in order to rinse off the unwanted several ounces per foot.

all this made a challenging course even tougher.  i knew that in my preparations for this race that i needed to be ready to go long - and so i respected the 56k distance, averaging between 120-138km per week.

what i didn't do was respect the course.

while i'd integrated some trail work into my training plan, i didn't run any long runs on the trails.  on top of that, i should have spent more time acclimatizing to - and planning for - the downhill sections.  i basically jogged/walked the uphill stretches but then bounded down the downhills to make up the time.  what ended up happening was that after 2 laps (28k) my quads were fairly trashed.

had i been more conservative in tackling the slopes i would not have ended up walking most of the third and fourth laps.  i opened with a 1:31:59 first lap and closed with a 3:06:45 final lap.

blood

this had to do more with my nutritional plan (or lack thereof) than anything.  

i'd decided to carry my standard complement of four gels on me, along with a trail mix granola bar and my Nathan Quickdraw Plus handheld bottle.  i packed a drop bag (which i never went to) with additional granola bars, some Clif Shotbloks and loose trail mix ... but figured that with several well-stocked aid stations along the route that i would be well provided-for.

somewhere along the way two disastrous things happened - i failed to take enough electrolytes and my salt intake was too low.  
ah, ultrarunner problems.

the first real sign of trouble happened at the start/finish aid station after lap #3.  my pal jim had been waiting for just about an hour at that spot for me to cross, and had inquired several times with the course marshals as to whether or not i had either (a) passed him unawares or (b) been lost/injured/removed from the race.  as neither turned out to be true, he was somewhat relieved to see me ... but as soon as i stopped to load up and chat with him it all hit.

lightheadedness.  extreme (i mean extreme) fatigue.  tingling sensations in my arms.  a pressure build up in my ears.

the race doc spotted me and immediately came over to make sure that i was alright (which i clearly wasn't) - however, i managed to tell him that i was going to be ok and that i would gauge my ability to continue.  it wasn't until after the conclusion of the race that i found out that he doubted that i would be able to handle another loop of Limberlost.

digest version of what came next:  i stumbled back onto the course with jim for about another 700m before experiencing a near total physical shutdown.  jim had to check my pulse and then sit with me for almost 20 min. before i could continue any further.  i'm pretty sure that although he was able to get a pulse reading at my wrist my blood pressure had just about bottomed out.  after we crossed the finish line nearly 3 hours later i was assisted to the medical tent and not released for a good 45 minutes because my blood pressure read something like 80/50.  however, thanks to the good care of dr. gribe, stephanie, abdullah and derek (?) who attended to me in the Sportlab station i was able to take in some fluids and finally get things back up to 100/60.  

it was truly like being rescued from the brink ... which brings me to the third and most critical factor to my day.

jim

if you've read this blog at all you will have encountered jim's name many-a-time, not the least of which was in one of my first on the run interview segments.  a high-level extreme ultrarunner, it was an honour to have him accompany me to the Limberlost Challenge as part of his preparation for his attempt at a new record for an end-to-end run of the Bruce Trail.

little did i know that he would literally get me through to the finish line.

aside from tidbits of advice and gobs of encouragement, jim put his aspirations for the day on hold for me when i had my edge-of-disaster moment at the beginning of the final lap.  i was 99.9% sure that i had nothing left in the tank, that my body was in the final stages of hibernation (as a self-preservation mechanism) and that this would be the first race that i would not be able to finish.  it was during these pivotal 20 minutes that jim told me the things that i didn't want to hear ("you're fitter than i am", "we'll walk, then jog, then walk, then run", "i've been exactly where you are now, i know that you can still go") but not in the way that was condescending or impatient.  he really wanted to see me finish - and more than that - he literally knew that i could do it.  i didn't have the wherewithal to process the fact that he had been in races where fellow runners were collapsing, being attended to, and then resuming racing - so he was not simply blowing sunshine up my behind.

but the fact that he was there with me - and would have been willing to take the humiliating walk with me back to the start/finish area in order for us to pull out together - was humbling and simultaneously strengthening.

so after enduring those 20 minutes of mosquito attack (they were merciless on motionless subjects), i got up to stumble forward.

stumbling turned into shuffling.

shuffling into walking.

walking into power hiking.

power hiking into a trot.

a trot back into a run.

all because of jim.

final result - 56km in 9:11:00.

some last notes:

• i'd made a game time decision to switch from wearing the Skechers GObionic trail to instead work with the GOrun ultra - this was a solid decision.  the GOrun ultras worked fantastically well in terms of grip, stability, comfort (no blackened/lost toenails, hotspots, blisters, or even end-of-run discomfort), draining and drying.  more reasons to love this shoe!
• i saw a couple of other Team Running Free compatriots at the race - i know that there was a lot of Team RF support at the North Face Endurance Challenge at Blue Mountain on the same weekend, so it was nice that we were able to represent the team at both ultras.
• my respect and admiration for ultrarunners (especially trail ultrarunners) is through the roof.  this is an entirely different animal ... and in fact jim would find out from the race organizer (neil) that the highest proportion of DNFs at the Limberlost Challenge was in the 42k category.  apparently road marathoners think it's a cinch to make the switch over to running a trail marathon.  i now know better!
• will i return to Limberlost 2015?  now almost two weeks removed from the race, i'm going to say yes.  we have some unfinished business ... as much as i am able to say that i completed this ultra, i'm not an 'ultrarunner'.  i'm an 'ultrawalker' at best.

have you completed an ultra?  how about a trail ultra?  what are your thoughts about this kind of event?

race report - the 2014 limberlost challenge

getting ready to go long

the time has come.

after about seven solid months of training i'm about to tackle a brand new racing distance tomorrow (56km and on trails, no less).  this is my goal race for 2014 and i'm excited about venturing into new territory.

i'm thankful not to be embarking on this alone - aside from the support that i've received from the barrie roadrunners, the barrie trail running club and the MEC barrie running ninjas, my extreme ultrarunning friend extraordinaire jim willett is coming up with me to run the same race as part of his training for his attempt at setting a new record for running the bruce trail end-to-end.

as far as how i've been readying myself for this event - i've shared some thoughts before on training plans before - and like any lazy yet semi-resourceful DIYer i googled ultramarathon training plan and wound up with results that would help someone gear up for anything from 50km to 100mi.  the plan that i settled on using as a basic groundwork was the first hyperlink on the results page - the Runner's World "Ultimate Ultramarathon Training Plan".  as i'm prone to doing, i beefed it up a bit with a few extra runs here and there ... even though the plan is set out for someone tackling a 50-miler (and i'm only going 35 miles).  the one new thing that following this plan did introduce was tracking in imperial distances - i switched my garmin 305 so that my laps were no longer in kilometres.  this was an interesting experiment, as i previously found a mile extraordinarily long when being used to training in kilometres - but during the past seven weeks or so i've actually come to quite enjoy that as my baseline distance.

carboloading has been a bit sketchy for this week - work has been intense and so i've often found myself eating late and skipping what otherwise would be my intra-meal snacks.

i'm still unsure as to what shoes will be on my feet, but i think that i will start out with the skechers GObionic trail and then pack the GOrun ultra in my dropbag in case that i want to swap out partway through.  i'm also thinking seriously about wearing compression socks since i anticipate being on my feet for 6.5-7 hours, but it's also supposed to be pretty warm and i'm not sure that i want that much of a layer on my legs.

nutrition is a huge piece of the puzzle, and i think that i will rely on a combination of gels, shotbloks, granola bars and trail mix.  depending on what the aid stations are stocked with i might also pick up a few treats now and again.

i'll be using a handheld waterbottle (the nathan quickdraw plus) as i've been training with one and it seems to work well for me.

that's it for now - my goal is to finish the race.  period.  but i will in the car with jim for about 100 minutes each way and he's already been planting in my head the idea that i could finish close to the leaders.

believe me when i say this - i'm out there to enjoy this race.  

oh, and #GOlikeneverbefore!
 

getting ready to go long

race report - MEC Barrie 2014 Race Series Three

i've really enjoyed the MEC racing series.  i feel as if the momentum is growing around these grassroots-type events - and there really is nothing about these events that make them second-class or lacklustre, despite what the $15 entry fee might lead one to believe.

the race report from today will be short and to the point - i entered the 10k race (distances of 5k, 10k and 15k were offered in this particular event) as a substitute for this week's tempo run.  i've officially begun tapering for the limberlost challenge in a couple of weeks, so i didn't want to push too hard but still wanted to keep the legs turning over.

my pal rick doucet and i traveled up to the start/registration area together and arrived about 90 minutes before the gun would go off ... call us eager beavers or whatever.

representing Skechers Performance Division once again!

we'd pre-registered so we spent some time schmoozing with the MEC staff, including our buddy jim willett (who will be attempting to set a new record for completing an end-to-end run of the bruce trail later this year).  

we also connected with our friend trevor morgan who is coming off of an injury sustained during the pick your poison 25k trail run this spring.  as any athlete in recuperation mode would do, trevor decided to take it easy and register for the 5k at today's race ... after having cycled 40k to get to the start location.

a number of other friends also participated in some of the other distances, including tom "flash" mullen and his wife brandy (5k), lewis sabo (15k) and sean rootham (15k).  we all chit-chatted beforehand suspecting that with the staggered start (each distance went out 10 min. after the previous one, beginning with the 15k distance) we might not all catch up after crossing the finish line.

the race itself was on the limestone-packed oro rail trail - a fairly straightforward out-and-back on a straight, flat(ish) route with very little need for marshalling ... except to cross a few rural sideroads.  i started out near the front of the 10k pack and tried to keep pace with the lone female ahead of me - which i managed to do for about 2k before she started to drop me.

i quickly realized that having only done tempo runs of 5k since my mississauga marathon that trying to set a sub-40 PB on this day was not feasible.  add to that the fact that i seem to really suffer in the heat (even at 9:10am it had to be a pretty solid 22°C before a mild humidex effect) and that for the last two weekends i'd put in 85k and 88k runs ... well, my legs were having a hard time stomping out decent paces, even with my Skechers GOMeb Speed 2s on.

my mile splits were 6:28, 6:43, 6:51, 7:01, 7:16 and 6:37 - resulting in a finishing time of 42:33, and a fifth-place overall finish (but first in my age group, methinks).  rick was hot on my heels most of the way, and finished with a 45:24 - none too shabby for his first ever 10k race, and a week after posting a PB in the 5k last weekend.  tom took first overall in the 5k distance, and wonky-knee trevor (who seemed to benefit from some free medical assessment and kinesiology tape from the back to function team) came across in fourth overall for the 5k. 

after the award ceremonies (in which tom and trevor scored some well-deserved MEC swag) i had another 75 min. of running to log so rick and i headed out on the trail again with trevor embarking with us for his 40k ride back home.  after about 3k rick turned back with some tightness in his hamstrings, and i continued out for about another 3k before swinging around and letting trevor finish his trek back into barrie.

by the time that i got back to the start location rick had the car running, the A/C blasting and some chocolate milk in the cooler.  what a great guy.

all in all another fantastic saturday with the MEC barrie running ninjas!

race report - MEC Barrie 2014 Race Series Three

race report - 2014 mississauga marathon

two words really sum up the key variables that affected the experience and outcome of this year's mississauga marathon for me.

pacer.

wind.

pre-race
i was genuinely excited to visit the expo this year - in previous years it was a pretty utilitarian visit, getting my kit and a few gels (at the normal 'expo special pricing') in record time and heading back home.  the expo is straightforward enough but nothing at which to particularly linger around.

what was different this year was the Skechers sponsor booth.  i was eager to meet some of my contacts with whom i gotten acquainted vis-à-vis the Skechers Performance Division brand ambassador program.  it was well worth the visit - Skechers had two exhibitor locations - one just past the t-shirt pick-up table and one at the end of the first exhibitor row.  both were high-visibility high-traffic locations, so they were really featured in a way like no other sponsor at the expo.  i was able to meet several Skechers staffers, plus the national manager for Skechers Canada - who when introduced to me by the marketing manager said "oh, you're that patrick?" and then proceeded to show me that he had the rendezvoo point blogpost why not skechers ...? bookmarked on his phone.  how cool is that?

photo from Skechers Performance Canada

apart from the meet-and-greet with Team Skechers, i didn't pick up my usual complement of gels as the next day i would be stopping by our local Running Free store to pick up my team kit gear which had arrived, so i figured that i would also take advantage of my team member discount to get the gels there.  instead i spun the Subway Commit To Fit wheel and had to run 30s on the spot for a prize - and took home a cool Subway water bottle.

race day

with a usual 4:00 am rise-and-shine alarm i started off my day with a peanut butter/honey/chia bagel, a bowl of quinoa-oatmeal and some gatorade-beet juice mix.  apart from the juice combo, i'd never tried this kind of breakfast before (note to kids and first-time marathoners:  don't do this).

i arrived at the start line area about an hour before the gun would go off, providing me ample time to suit up, grab a couple of selfies, get in and out of the porta-potty as well as squeeze in a warm-up jog.

putting the GOMeb Speed 2 to work again!

it didn't take long to realize that the wind would play a factor on this day ... with reported gusts up to 50 km/h it wouldn't matter whether it was coming at us from behind, the side or in front because running on a windy day is always going to require more effort than a non-windy day.

as i proceeded into the starting chute there were three key people that i ran into:

1. stan ong - my pal who was targeting a sub-1:25 HM time, but at that moment was scurrying around looking for another friend who was to meet him with his bib for the day!
2. cris from Skechers Performance Division (Canada) - he was there photodocumenting the event for Skechers, who was a first-time sponsor of the Mississauga Marathon.  he also snapped a quick pic of me in my newly acquired (yep, never wore this shirt for any run before - again, don't try this at home) Skechers technical tee.
   
   
3. peter, the 3:20 pace rabbit - the strategy which i'd clearly laid out in my mind since the hamilton marathon last november was to run with the 3:15 pacer until about 35k, and then race through the finish.  in the chute i looked for that pacer, but could only find a 3:20 pacer whom i'd recognized as peter - a guy who paced for 3:15 the last couple of years at the same race.  when i asked him whether or not there would be a 3:15 pacer this year he said no, and essentially i took away that he thought that it would be better for him to pace a 3:20 race.  this of course bunged up my plans to not only follow a pacer but also to take advantage of running with a group.

kms 1-5:  22:34

i wanted to start off conservatively, not expending extra energy weaving through the crowd and getting a rush from passing slower runners.  i'd read that starting out too fast and surging past runners uses up exponentially more glycogen than running at the same paces in the latter stages of the race - so the game plan was to play it nice and easy.

which worked until after km 2 when the 3:20 pacer went flying by me, easily clocking a 4:00 min/km pace.

what was he doing?  was my garmin giving me a misread?  and how would i ever hope to finish in 3:15 if the 3:20 guy was ahead of me?

enter cardinal mistake #1 - i pushed it to try to keep up with him.  i definitely felt the increased effort, and was hoping to God that i wouldn't pay dearly for it after 30k.

kms 6-10:  21:55

at km 8 i once again did something that i've never done before in a race - i made a quick dash into the bushes for some bladder relief.  it didn't actually feel too too urgent a call to nature, but i figured that i needed to slow down anyway and that i would feel better without the pressure at my waist.  

kms 11-15:  21:59

a fairly uneventful block of 5k - i felt like i was in a good rhythm and was running alongside someone from the brampton benders running club.

kms 16-25:  45:07

just after 15k a funny thing happened ... i caught the 3:20 pacer!  i asked peter whether or not he had gone out faster than required and he answered yes, but that now the toughest part of the course was behind us and that they would ease back on the gas at that point.  i didn't check, but i think that if he did have any aspiring 3:20 racers with him they would have been already sucking wind if not left trailing somewhere behind him.

after this i also felt the burn from going out hard, and wanted to cruise for a stretch in the hope of having something still left for a kick at 35k.

kms 26-35:  46:25

toughest stretch - not only because this covered the section where most runners experience 'the wall', but also because the wind was at its most active as we ran out toward the lake and made the u-turn dead into it.  the 29th km was my second slowest at 5:00 min. because there were times that i was leaning forward so much to counteract the wind's effect.  

kms 35-42:  38:21

at the 35k mark i mentally switched gears into racing mode - i pitched the gloves that i'd been wearing (and at the same time inadvertently threw away the boston marathon-coloured rainbow loom bracelet that my daughter had made for me) and started to activate my glutes for a stronger push-off.  three steps into racing mode and my right hamstring started to spasm and threatened to seize up altogether if i didn't put an end to all this nonsense ... so looking at my watch and recognizing that at this point i could cover the remaining distance at 5:00 min/km and still hit the BQ mark i decided to stick with the simple cruising pace that i'd maintained to this point.

discretion is the better part of valour, they say.

as i hit the finishing straight i took off the bandana that i'd been wearing and started whipping it around in the same fashion that tsegaye kebede had done as he approached the finish line in the 2013 NYC marathon.  that guy is so much fun to watch, and reminds me that you can compete at the highest level and still let everyone know that you're having a blast.

as i crossed the timing mats i could see that my gun time was pretty much 3:15:00 bang on, and simply trusted that my chip time provided me with the slightest bit of buffer to come within Boston Qualifying time.

gun time:  3:14:59 / chip time:  3:14:43 / garmin time:  3:14:52 (42.7 km)

post-race
as i didn't have any one travel down to the race with me, the first person to greet and congratulate me when i crossed the finish line was nick from Skechers ... they really are my family, already!

aside from a calf cramp that ambushed me while wandering in the post-event picnic area, i was feeling really quite good after putting out a PB effort - but the chill in the wind was especially noticeable after i'd stopped running, so i headed immediately for the shuttle buses back to the start line parking lots.  

while in transit i wound up chatting with a guy named george who'd finished a few minutes ahead of me - i recognized his shirt because i was drafting off of him for a bit, and found out that while he's run marathons in places like boston, san francisco and even sydney (australia), he's not even what he would consider a runner.  he's a cross-country skier, which just serves as a reminder that when it comes to running endurance events the key to a great performance might just be more the 'endurance' part than the 'running' part. 

all in all, i'm very pleased with my effort to finally attain a BQ time - and while a trip to the boston marathon in 2015 is still by no means a given (the registration process may just weed me out because i cut it so close - 17 sec. under my qualification standard), i know that i've outdone my old self and claimed the title of boston qualifier ... and no one can take that away from me.

many thanks to all those who helped me to reach this milestone in my running career:

• my family, for putting up with loads of running-only laundry and days and nights spent wondering if i'd gotten lost or run over in polar vortex weather
• my former coach, rick ball, for invaluable lessons and insisting that i get a garmin
• stan ong - age grouper extraordinaire, top-rate blogger and huge cheering section
• Skechers Performance Division (Canada) for not only great equipment but also outstanding support!
• the barrie roadrunners for pushing the pace on me during our wednesday night outings
• the MEC barrie running ninjas for helping me to tackle 32+ km days on my scheduled training off-day!
• Team Running Free - it was great to see so many Team RF representatives at the race
• my pal mike st. john - my first running partner and inspiration to go hard no matter what the elements might bring.

next stop is the limberlost challenge on july 12 - my 'A' race and the next new title to adorn ... ultrarunner!

#GOlikeneverbefore!

race report - 2014 mississauga marathon

road review - merrell mix master 2

i think that i've rationalized my most recent shoe acquisitions by telling myself that (a) i need to spend more time on trails to prep for the Limberlost Challenge and therefore need trail running shoes; and that (b) winter workouts around here require additional traction - like that provided by trail running shoes.

so when my little brother provided me with a gift card for christmas, i decided that i would use it to pick up a pair of the merrell mix master 2 (which were on a nearly 50% off discount at the time).  

my appreciation of merrell running footwear began with the original road glove, which still may rank as my favourite marathoning shoe.  i'm slightly disappointed to hear that they are leaving behind the 'barefoot' line and i'm sure that i'm not alone in that - many blog reviews have revealed that the original trail glove (with it's omni-fit lacing system) is near legendary in the estimation of the trail running community.

i'd read many positives about the mix master 2 (as well as a personal recommendation from peter larson) and so far they have not disappointed.  

my thoughts:

• fit - while trying these on i found myself feeling most comfortable in a half-size larger than i would normally take in my road-specific shoes.  with an eye to possibly using them for this summer's trail ultra i put a premium on comfort as well as adequate space for foot swelling/expansion.  so this size 10 pair fits fabulously without feeling like i'm swimming in them.  plenty of toebox space and not too snug around the arch and or heel - just enough to instill confidence.  i've tested these out on hard-packed/icy uneven sidewalks and roads and they've moved well with my foot.
• weight - on my kitchen scale the mix master 2 weighs in an almost spot-on 8 oz., which seems lighter than other reported weighings - this may be in part due to the fact that i did swap for a different, less thick insole.  regardless, this is a great weight for a shoe with a rock protection plate.
• drop - listed as 4mm (or 5mm if you consult with the running warehouse) it rides like it's an almost flat platform.  i've certainly had no sensation of the heel getting in the way.
• ventilation - the airy-mesh upper was apparently an issue for the first version of this shoe - and having held a v1 in my hands i can see why it might have been prone to tearing.  the upper on the v2 is great - very breathable and even drainable (if you're into puddle-jumping) and surprisingly not so breezy as to freeze my feet during these winter runs.
• flexibility - again keeping in mind that there is a rock plate, these bad boys surprised me by lending themselves nicely to the roll-up test.  i could tuck the toe into the heel cup with little difficulty - not the same could be said about the mix master 2 wp which felt (to me) like a wooden clog and had the flexibility of just about the same.  the day that i bought my mm2 the MM2 wp was on at the same price and i gravitated to them first because i wanted to use them for winter running - but no go after trying them on.  the MM2 is seriously an altogether different feeling shoe.
• traction - this is probably one of the MM2s standout features.  the grip offered by the 3.5mm lugs dotting the outsole is impressive, and the fact that it is a sticky rubber compound with a lower durometer rating means that it provides just as much of an easy feeling ride on sidewalk/pavement as it does on dirt track.  again, it's done an admirable job through slushy snow and ice - can't say that i've tested it out through mud or wet woods but given my experience with them so far i'm not terribly concerned.

and just so you can see them in living colour:

overall these shoes earn high marks from me - i'd say they're worthy of a good 4-1/2 out of five:

it'll be a game-time decision when it comes down to whether or not to don the GBTs or the MM2s for the limberlost challenge.  i'm also eager to try out the new balance mt110 as well as the topo athletic mt (if the budget will allow for it), so we'll have to see what'll carry me through for the full 56k.

road review - merrell mix master 2