Red Rock Running & Tri Club

Indoor 1,000m track race (200m UofC track)  

Posted by Pete McBreen Sun, 29 Jan 2012 03:10:26 GMT

Last indoor race of the season for me, so time to do a fancy report…

Six Masters in this race, so it felt like a real race rather than running a time trial. Especially since I had Toni, Janice and David as my personal cheering squad – many thanks, I needed encouraging towards the end of the race. A big shout also goes out to Jamie Grant who was too busy coaching his SAIT team to have time to lap me in this race.

Lap 1: Gun goes off and everyone goes off like a bat out of hell except for me, I’m happy to settle into the planned pace for the race. I’m aiming for 3:25, so hitting 100m in just over 20secs is spot on pace, but I’m already 5 meters adrift from all the other runners and going backwards. (Except for one other runner who was behind me and I never saw him for the entire race, only knew he was there when I saw the results.) Lap time was 41.2.

Lap 2: Try to settle into the pace, running well, focusing on form. On the back straight I realize that I’m catching the runner in front of me, so I ease up to him around the bend and then push a little bit at the start of the finish straight to pass him cleanly before the next bend. I might have pushed a bit too much to pass him as I realize I’m closing on another runner as I finish the lap in 40.6.

Lap 3: Decided I’m not going to run out in the second lane to pass the other runner, so I hold back a bit around the bend and pass him at the start of the straight. At that point I realize that the rest of the runners in the race are well clear. I’m 30+ meters down on them as they are entering the next bend by the time I remember to look ahead to see where they are. So time to focus on breathing and staying relaxed. Lap time was 42.5 so I lost a bit of time by avoiding running in the second lane.

Lap 4: Starting to feel like a solo time trial again, cannot see anyone ahead, and cannot hear anyone behind me. Plan at this part of the race was to start the drive for the finish, so I try to increase cadence and work my arms more, but suddenly my thighs are starting to get that burning sensation. David said at this point it looked like from my chest up I was struggling to find enough air, but from chest down I looked like I was running well. So at least I was holding form and I didn’t slow too much on the lap with a time of 43.2.

Last Lap: Yippee! nobody lapped me in this race! Halfway round the bend I hear the bell for the runner behind me, so luckily I’m well clear of him and just have to focus on keeping form and breathing as much as I can. Entering the final bend I tried to kick – only 100m to go so how hard can it be. Answer: Very hard, my arms AND thighs are now burning, so not much speed increase around the bend. Coming into the final straight when I can see the finish line I finally managed to find a bit more speed and finished with a lap time of roughly 42.5.

Have just enough energy to walk off the track and lie down where Janice decides it would be good to get a picture.

(I was running too fast for the camera to focus on me the rest of the time – at least that is my story and I’m sticking to it.)

Overall time for the race is somewhere around 3:30, the timekeeper missed me on the photo finish so my overall time is an estimate. One part of me is annoyed by this, but since this was a proper masters race with six competitors, I’m happy to have passed two people in the race and got so far ahead of them that the timekeeper did not see me in the gap between the two runners up front.

Race results

Men 35+ 1000 Meter Run
=======================================================================
Name                    Year Team                    Finals  Points
=======================================================================
1 Guss, David               60 Adrenaline R           3:11.09   10   
2 Evans, Doug               62 Adrenaline R           3:11.98    8   
3 McBreen, Pete             60 Unattached A           3:30.0h    6   
4 Kervin, Richard           66 Unattached A           3:35.74    5   
5 Pahl, Kevin               76 SAIT                   3:36.18    4   
6 Erickson, Grant           72 Airdrie Aces           3:56.89    3 

Ice Road Trekkers - Sat Mar 21st 2009 - Yellowknife  

Posted by Pete McBreen Fri, 28 Jan 2011 02:47:06 GMT

From Martin … Sue and I flew up to Yellowknife on Thursday and picked up the race package that evening. Next morning we went for a couple of km practice snow shoe and I realized that with the temp down at -30C I needed more protective covering for race day. On Friday afternoon a three hour survival course was held highlighting the dangers of frostbite, snow blindness, thin ice and other users of the ice road (Truckers!!!!). The pasta load was held Friday evening where the 80 plus racers meet for the first time. There were racers from eleven different countries including one from Australia; he had been running in snow shoes on the beach.

The “Rock and Ice Ultra” is made up of three races, The Cold Foot Classic, single day 44km race; the K-Rock, three day 145km race and the Diamond, six day 235km race. The one day race had 14 participants plus 5 relay teams; the three day had 29 and the six day had 28. The one and three day events are supported but in the six day event you are required to support yourself and drag your gear in a “pulk” (sled). In each race you have the option of either snow shoe/run or skiing. Finally the winners in the three / six day (man and woman; snow shoe and ski) events win a diamond supplied by the main sponsor BHPBIlliton who run the Ekati mine 300 miles north of Yellowknife.

Saturday morning I paid particular attention to my race gear. Key components being: a pair of neoprene bike booties over my trail shoes, double gloves with hand warmers and a skidoo neoprene mask. The race was scheduled to start at 9.00am and I was down at the tent village on the ice in Yellowknife bay at 8.30am. Temperature at start time -21C (-31C wind chill) with snow forecast. After getting final instructions from Sue (don’t get lost), we were all lined up and ready to go. It was a colourful sight with a number of red, yellow and blue sleds all ready at the start line. Several people had forgone the full face mask instead using strips of duct tape on the cheeks and nose.

At 9.00am the start gun went and we were off like herd of turtles. One individual shot out into the lead but unfortunately headed off in the wrong direction up the lake. He was quickly caught by the race officials and sent the correct way. I had decided to race at a set heart rate and with-in a couple km had reached the 141-151 range that I had planned to follow. Things went well for the first 10, 20kms; most of the snowshoeing was on the lakes with several portages along the way. My mask was icing up but the bottles of water/carbopro remained unfrozen. I reached the Check Point at the 30km in 4 hrs and felt pretty good. I had noticed the clouds rolling in as I entered the tent but didn’t give it much thought. After a hot chocolate and a couple of gels I was ready to go: I stepped out of the tent into a blizzard. The finish line was 15km away across Prelude Lake and I couldn’t see 50m ahead of me. The course hade been marked with orange flags every 100m, but with the storm coming the race officials had put in yellow flags in-between. I started off at a jog just trying to find the next flag and soon this was reduced to a shuffle. At km 34 I was stumped, it was a complete white out; I couldn’t see the flag in front or behind.

As I was contemplating my future (and Sue’s prophetic words “Don’t get lost”) I heard a yell behind me and to my right. Two women skiers had spotted me and called me over. They asked why I had left the route and I said I hadn’t really planned it. We made up a little convey with a women on snow shoes dragging a pulk. After what seemed like an age we could see the light of the dome tents and the finish line. Sue was there as were a number of the other finishers and race officials. The last 15km took over 3hrs with a total race time of 7hr 8mins. While waiting at the finish line I heard a number of racers had been pulled off the course, four for frostbite and one for snow blindness. Over all I took first place in the snowshoe/run category; definitely will do the three day event next year.

Final Comments: Extremely well run event, Scott Smith race director was always available (even in the pub) to answer questions. I highly recommend the one day event.

Snow Scramble - Saturday Feb 21st - Norquay  

Posted by Pete McBreen Fri, 28 Jan 2011 02:37:53 GMT

From Martin … The first snowshoe race put on by the Out There store was the 2009 Liveoutthere snow shoe sprint. This race was held on at Norquay ski resort and the temperature at race time were -5C. The race start was next to the ski lodge and the event was made up of two distances, a 9km and a 5km route. At 11.00 am, 9 participants lined up for the 9km and 24 lined up for the 5km. The gun went off and we were told to follow the orange flags, straight up the side of a mountain. I had entered the 9 km event and the route followed the same format its entire length. Up and down the mountain across the parking lot then up and down another mountain. The only break being a section down the ski out which was covered in ice, then we had to snow shoe back up it. It was the toughest 9 km I have (next to the 9km downhill section on the K100) raced and I was glad when it was over. My time was 1hr 16m 10s, good for third over all and second in the men’s. This is a race for people who like running up and down the side of mountains, and pain!