My left ankle has been a bit stiff since the run last week. Maybe I rolled it somewhere, possibly on the corrugated, hard packed surface between Big Bear and Bort Meadow. Just to be safe, decided to redo the Down By The Bay 50K. I supposed there was some laziness too, since designing new routes without repetition is a fair bit of work. The wind advisory that’s been around for the past couple of days ended at 5am, so the morning was pretty calm. Here’s my Strava activity:
Bay Watch 50K
Decided to go completely broke this time, not even carrying water with me. Just the car key and the iPhone. Felt so much lighter without the vest, 1 liter of Tailwind, salt pills, gels, pro-bars, Garmin inReach, the whole enchilada! My alarm was at 5am, but by 5:30am there was already some light. Parked a little before 6:00am and started the run just in time for the sunrise.
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After the first two loops, peeled off my arm sleeves and chucked the iPhone in the car too. The first 22 miles were solid, consistent with a 7:45 min/mile to 8:00 min/mile pace. It didn’t feel like a struggle and kept up the pace, with the cool morning helping a lot. Every time I passed the car, I would take a swig of Tailwind with one gel at the start of each 9-mile lap. I probably spent a little too much time at the car at mile 22. The next stretch was a bit slower with some walking too.
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At one point it looked like I could make 4:30, but just couldn’t keep the pace. Tried to keep shuffling the last 4 miles and made it back to the car at 4:36, which is a PR for this distance! My wife came out with our dog to meet me at the finish line, which was super cool!
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I’m happy that my ankle held up throughout the run. So that was ultra #20 for the year and so far so good. On to the next one in a week. Trying to see if I can time the Supermoon rise on the 26th!
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