Puddle Jumper 50k – June 9/2018 

Training: Had good training up until Diez Vista 100k attempt. Had knee pain starting a couple weeks after the race, started during a 27k training run, then didn't really get better. Did a couple Knee Knacker training runs, and the technical trails seemed to aggravate it. Did more biking, all on Strava, including a couple workouts. Most of my runs were around 10k easy runs, so no speed or hill workouts. Took a few extra rest days here and there, but it didn't seem to help much. Leading up to the race, still had some knee pain, but during the race didn't have much problem. Could feel it a bit if I tried to push the pace on the steeper hills. 

Pre-race: Headed over to the Sunshine Coast after work on Friday, left work a bit early, and caught the 6:55pm ferry. Got to the hotel just after 8, then found somewhere to eat. Ended up having Greek food, lamb souvlaki. Wasn't my first choice but wasn't bad. Ate a little late but that's pretty normal for me. Just watched tv in the hotel room after and slept around 11. Got up at 5am and had overnight oatmeal that I brought from home. I didn't have a spoon, so ate it with a Cliff bar, so a pretty high Calorie breakfast. My wife drove me to the start, got there around 20 minutes to 7, got race package and made my way to the start. Talked to a few people I knew, once I'd only met on the internet. Saw my friend from work, he's a speedy guy, so didn't see him again. 

Start to AS#1 – 0-11km - 1h50m 

Race started really slow, the trail is an easy but narrow trail, so had a few bottlenecks. Ran and talked with a few people I knew. They were going a little slow, so I went a little faster. Gradually the trail started to get steeper. Take off my jacket and put it in my pack within the first 5km. Some steep hills here, I knew the first 10k had a lot of climbing, so expected this. Reminded me of the Skyline trail, just a steep trail straight up the side of a mountain. People started to pull away from me here, and a couple people passed me. Trying to work on power hiking, feel like I'm improving slowly, definitely a weakness. Finally, we get to the top of the climb. A nice downhill, that I seem to lose more people on. I'm taking it a little easier than normal, since I don't know how my knee will fare. Seemed to be running out of water by the time I got to the aid station. Started with one bottle of Skratch and one bottle of water. They had Tailwind, so switched to that at the aid station.  

AS#1 to AS#2 – 11-23km - 4h15m 

More downhill as we leave the AS. This part is a loop back to the same aid station (AS 1,2 and 3 are the same one). A good mix of trails here, some in more open areas that have been logged. The weather is still pretty cold here, and I still have my wool arm warmers on. Feels nice in the sun, but cool in the trees. Almost perfect running weather. Downhill feels really long, and I know we have to get back to the same aid station. Going down a logging road, when I see someone I know coming towards me. She says she hasn't seen a pink flag in a while. I look to the side and see that I just missed the cut off. She says she lost 5 minutes going the wrong way, I suspect it was more. We talk and run together a bit, then she leaves me behind. Run by a pink fairy trail marshal somewhere here. Some steep more technical downhill, pass someone here that's going slow on the downhill. Eventually the downhill ends, and we start our way back up. The trail follows a creek that's down a steep bank. We're running along a ridge, and some of the steepest climbing is in this section. The person I passed on the downhill passes me here. Another person catches me, but just follows me. I run a couple sections, but lots of hiking here. I feel my knee a bit here if I try to run some of the shorter steep sections. My left knee clicks once in a while. It doesn't hurt, but there's some clicking. It keeps feeling like we're going to hit the top of the climb, then the trail turns, and there's more steep climbing. Some parts are runnable. Eventually we hit a logging road and start heading back down. A long gradual downhill, a few 25k runners pass me here. Back at the same aid station.  

AS#2 to AS#3 – 23-28km - 5h21m 

A short loop that starts on the same trail as the last loop. So more downhill to start. We don't go down as far, then start to head back up. Some of the climb is really steep, with some big drop offs for mountain bikers that we have to climb up. It's a bit warmer, but still comfortable. This climb feels a lot more manageable. We come out on the logging road again, then back to the aid station for a third time.  

AS#3 to AS#4 – 28-32km - 5h57m 

Someone I caught up to just before the aid station, drops out of the race here. She makes a big deal out of it, if you're going to drop, then just drop. Head back along the trail that we first approached the aid station from, back uphill. Still feeling pretty good here. I see someone that passed me a few times as I leave the aid station. I keep thinking she'll catch me on the hill, but she never does.  

AS#4 to AS#5 – 32-39km – 7h11m 

A big group of mountain bikers as I leave the aid station, probably close to 20. They say runner and make room for me. I say no, I'll wait you go first, since they'd just be passing me within 100m. Nice smooth mountain bike trails here, so just a long downhill. Some up hills here and there as we cross through all kinds of creeks. Cross and follow a couple logging roads, some short uphill sections. Starting to feel some fatigue here, take short 10 second walk breaks here and there. A few more open grassy trails, with some prickly salmon berries. Starting to feel fatigue here, I've been running alone for quite a while. I don't know if the mileage on my watch is correct either, so don't know how much farther I have to go.  

AS#5 to Finish – 39-50km - 8:58 

Feeling good as I leave the last aid station. Sun is out, and it's a little warmer in the sun, still comfortable though. Start on a logging road, then head downhill on another less used logging road. I think I start to space, and I'm looking across a meadow here. I go around a downed tree and notice I haven't seen a marker in a while. I keep going for a bit more (should have turned around). I can see a long way and don't see any flags. I turn around and see mountain bike heading uphill behind me. Slow walk back up the hill and see the trail that I missed, mountain biker says he didn't see any pink flags at the bottom of the road. Detour cost me an extra 1.2km according to Strava. Lots of twisty trails, over logs, rickety bridges. One of the trails is called the 'Health Trail', good thing it's flagged, it wasn't an easy one to follow. Don't think it would be possible to do this trail on a bike, really fun little trail, would have been more fun if my legs were fresh. Just about rolled my ankle somewhere around here, reminded myself to concentrate, don't want to hurt myself near the end of the race. Ran along a logging road after the Health Trail, mostly flat, and some mild uphill that was feeling steeper than it should have. Just as I turn back into the woods I hear someone catching up to me. It's a couple of people I know that I was running with earlier. It feels good to have company again after hours of running alone. Conversation makes the last miles go faster and helps me keep a better pace. Some of the trail seems like it's a trail through someone's yard that's barely maintained. Cross some roads, with marshals, then back into the bush. This part feels really long. Eventually we come out at the park. We speed up a bit, but it's not really a race, we just cross the finish line together. My wife is waiting and snaps a couple pics. Talk to Mikey and Randi, the race directors at the finish. I met Mikey last year at Squamish and have known him online for a while.  

Gear and nutrition 

Ran in Hoka Speedgoat 2s, Balega socks, calf sleeves, Ultimate direction SJ3 hydration pack, spi belt for my phone, Brook's shorts and an ILM New Balance shirt. Started with a bottle of Skratch and a bottle of water. Probably had another 2 or 3 bottles of Tailwind. 2 Cliff Bars, and 2 gels. The rest was aid station food. I probably had 6-8 cookies, a couple handfuls of chips, and a couple slices of watermelon. Not sure how many Calories that is, I was trying for around 250/hour, sounds like I was short of that. I was thirsty the last couple kms, but way so close to the end I didn't bother to drink. No stomach problems and didn't feel like I was bonking either. 

Nice!  How do you all write such detailed RRs?  I can barely remember what I ate yesterday let alone what happens on a 50k.

Do you like your Speedgoats?  Mine rub in a weird spot on my heel that the Peregrines don't.

nice job! glad you got to run in Mikey & Randi's race. i hope it went well for them too!

Thanks everyone! Was a pretty chilled out race, I felt comfortable, knew a few people, knew people at the aid stations and the race directors. Wasn't putting pressure on myself either, since I had a lot of recovery weeks. Was a fun race, not sure I'd do it again, was expensive with the ferry trip and hotel. I could maybe travel with other runners to make it cheaper, a lot of people stayed at a nearby hostel. I don't know if I mentioned it in my report, I didn't have any blistering or chaffing. Lubed my feet up, and only got them a little wet a couple times. Had some blisters in the last race I did with essentially running through a creek for a couple miles at one point.

Speedgoat 2s are my favourite trail shoe so far, I had problems with Altra Lone peaks rubbing

Funky - Mikey and Randi put on a good race, was a nice bbq at the end, a local butcher did the burgers. I lost my beer ticket, so didn't try the beer, had one later with dinner though, same brewery, and it was good. They're doing a timed hill climb race in October (6hr race), thinking of doing that one, since I can just take the ferry over for the day

 

Thanks for the report.

 

Saw a whole lot of Speedgoat 2s at the 50k I did in April. That'll probably be my next trail shoe this fall.

Great report.

Ive been running in Hokka road shoes (after not for a few yrs) since there was a fall sale and

thats gotten me interested in revisiting their trail shoes at some point.