2016 Clinton Lake Ultra 30 Pre Race

2016 Clinton Lake Ultra 30 Miler
Justin Stewart (3/24/16)

Pre Race:

Clinton Lake

 Its 2 days out from the 2016 Clinton Lake Ultra 30 miler that takes place on a 10 mile hilly trail around part of Clinton Lake just NE of Clinton IL. We'll be doing the 10 mile loop 3 times, there's roughly 125 runners that will start the course. There's roughly 1500 ft of climbing each loop which isnt bad but it will be difficult to get into a rhythm with all the undulations this course holds. Ive been on this trail twice before. First time was a couple years ago and I finished one loop in an unofficial course record of 1:06 and some change. Second time wasn't too long ago in January when the course was tore up with frozen muddy footprints everywhere and made for a horrendous run footing wise. Hopefully the course and trail are better than that day.

Anyway I thought I'd reflect on the days before leading up to Saturday. Back in late February at the Castlewood Cup 15k I aggravated a tendon in my foot that hindered me from running for two weeks. I was on the bike for 2 weeks, which wasn't bad but it wasn't running.  Just this past week I was able to finally put in a solid week of mileage, which felt great because I was getting worried if I was even going to be able to run the race. I am still feeling good about going into the race though. We all hit snags in our training and this snag came at a time when I was really gearing up my mileage and this event was right in the middle of the build up. I am still confident in my ability but I will have to be more cautious with my foot to not aggravate it again. So the game plan is to take it lap by lap.  This will only be my second 30 miler. I had great results in my first 30 (2015 McNotAgain 30 Miler, 1st Place 4:01:00), but each race is different and I'll have to take this one just like I did with the first; which is to ease into it and eat early and often to avoid crashing later on. I love this distance right now for me because it still feels like uncharted territory for me. Its a big unknown and I enjoy that, pushing my self physically but more so mentally. I am excited to see what Saturday brings.