Galloping Goose 50k

My latest “mission” (as a friend’s son calls them) was to run the length of the Galloping Goose Trail. The trail is actually 55 km long, but there’s no easy access to the end of it, so I planned to do 50 km of it. It’s a former rail line so it’s mostly flat with no steep hills. (Only about 200m of ascent and 300m of descent.) The last 13 km into Victoria are paved, the rest is smooth hard packed gravel.

The access I was planning to use was from the Sooke Potholes campground at kilometer 51. The campground was closed, which wasn’t a big surprise, but what I wasn’t expecting was that the locked gate was 2 km before the campground. I didn’t realize this at first and I was starting to wonder where the campground was and if I was on the right road. The extra distance wasn’t a big deal, I just adjusted my route through Victoria to keep my 50 km goal.

On the drive there we stopped to stash some water and a sign on the trail said up to one hour delays due to construction. Yikes! I hoped I wouldn’t be delayed that long. Closer to the construction there were signs for a temporary closure of the trail, but luckily that turned out to be the day before. I think I could have bushwhacked around the construction but I’m glad I didn’t have to.

The first 35 km went quite smoothly. The initial few kilometers were a little slow as I warmed up, but over the next few I caught up to my target pace and managed to maintain that pace (while running) the rest of the way. A lot of the time I was running slightly faster than my target pace so I'd walk for 10 or 20 seconds per kilometer. After 35 km it got tougher.

I carried a liter of water at a time and drank roughly .5 liters per hour with Tailwinds energy mix in it. I think that was about the right amount since I didn't seem dehydrated at the end. I tried to eat something every half hour or roughly every 5 km. (3 Huma gels, 2 Xact fruit bars, 1 Ucann bar). My plan was about 300 calories per hour, but it got harder to eat after 35 km, although I did choke down one last bar at 45 km.

Although I maintained my target pace while I was running, I took more breaks than I planned and my total elapsed time was almost 6 hours. (If this was a race, that would be the time that counted.) It definitely seemed tougher than my marathon last fall (faster 42km), or my trail run in the spring (slower 45 km). And that was despite doing more running mileage over the last year. I guess if I'm going to accept that some days are faster, I have to accept that some days are slower. And my main goal was just to run 50 km, which I accomplished.

My watch estimates "stamina". It says I started at 100%, which presumably means I tapered well, and it says I ended at 1%, or basically nothing left. I'm not sure how meaningful that is, but it matches how I felt! (My taper was about 10 days at roughly half my usual mileage.)

For some reason my quads and abductors were pretty sore by the end of the run. I'm still hobbling around a little the day after. That can be caused by downhills but there wasn't much of that. Maybe I need to train on hills more like I did before my 45 km trail run. Considering Vancouver Island is quite mountainous, Victoria itself, where I do most of my running, is relatively flat.

What's next? I don't have any more missions in mind, but I'm sure I'll think of something. While I'm impressed by people running 100 km or 200km, I'm not sure I can handle that. Maybe something back on the trails.

Thanks to Shelley for driving me to the start (and for the photo).