Yankee Springs/SKECHERS GOrun Ultra Review
Happy Friday! Hope everyone is excited for a rad weekend. I have a busy one as usual including getting the next couple months of programing from my personal trainer, checking out the new aquarium in Toronto, riding the course for my upcoming triathlon and of course, racing the RunWaterloo Classic. I am on #TeamDave and we have a strong lineup. It is looking like there will be some stiff competition!
Some of our team at our track session this week.
Today though, I wanted to give a review of a trail race that I ran last weekend in Michigan as a part of the Switchback Endurance Series called the Yankee Springs Trail Run. Although I was not able to participate in the full weekend, the race offered a three day challenge.
Friday June 6 – 10 KM
Saturday June 7 – Full Marathon or Double Marathon
Sunday June 8 – ½ Marathon
Held on the trails of Yankee Springs Conservation area, it has been some of the most beautiful trails I have run to date, which is why I keep going back to race there.
My last event was the off-road duathlon last November.
Due to recovering from a nagging knee problem, I chose to run the ½ marathon and focus on having a good time. I arrived at the event as the double marathon was wrapping up late on Saturday afternoon and spent some time with my favourite race director.
We grabbed a healthy dinner and were in our cabins by the start line by 9:30 – but we may have stayed up late giggling about Anton Krupicka. Maybe not.
The morning of the race, we woke up to pouring rain. I tried to counter this with wearing the brightest outfit possible.
6 am rainy selfie.
We toed up to the start line at 7 am and took off.
The course was 100% single track with a hilly terrain with lots of small little bodies of water, valleys carved by glaciers and rocks, roots and snapping turtles to dance over. I began quite conservatively knowing my knee could flare up, especially with the aggressive down hills. I ran with two gentlemen who were about my speed, but it was a flat stretch at around mile 4 that I broke away and began hammering. I NAILED my pre-workout fueling for this race and I was absolutely flowing for this race. The trees were vibrant green, rain was pouring and all I could think was how LUCKY I am to do this as I pounded down hills and did some fancy footwork around corners.
The course was well marked and I was running solo for most of the race so if there was a chance of getting lost, I would have found it. I was able to sprint across the finish line for a gun time of 1:50:08, bringing me in at first female and ninth overall. I was able to get a massage right at the location in a little lodge and a hot shower in the cabins.
Post race photo with my finishers cup!
So what did I do RIGHT this race, especially compared to my disastrous half last weekend?
– I ate more the night before.
– I had food closer to my run time.
– I was so relaxed and let’s face it, it was a TRAIL race, which totally has my heart.
What I ate:
Saturday dinner – salmon, rice and broccoli
Pre-race – Starbucks iced coffee, CLIF bar, banana
During: Water and Gatorade at each aid station. Probably 1 cup total throughout the race.
What I wore:
Waterproof shorts
Saucony sports bra
CEP Compression Socks
Technical black tank (Forget the model)
SKECHERS GORun Ultra shoes
Let’s finish up talking shoes for a second. I have been training in these for a while and this is my second race in them. The first was the Terra Cotta Trail race with the 5 Peaks Series. I love SKECHERS for trail shoes because they are so LIGHT. I was thrilled when I received them because they were basically a highlighter for my foot. I received them in Hot Pink and Lime.
They have a narrower toe box than my other pair of trail SKECHERS which I reviewed here. They also have more cushioning which gives them a maximalist feel – PERFECT for me right now as my knee is a bit iffy. I found both races that I wore them, recovery was fast and my feet felt great afterwards.
Specifically designed for ultra-marathoning and promoting a mid foot strike, these are perfect for going LONG and HARD on the trails. They had great grip, light weight good support and they feel a bit like springs for your feet. I feel like I could go forever with them, which is awesome because I feel fresh and strong after my trail races. I’m looking forward to racing the rest of the 5 Peaks Series and the Creemore Ultra in them this year!
Retails for $110 and contains more resalyte cushioning than most of their other shoes which makes it PERFECT for a recovery run or long ultra.
What do you look for in a good trail shoe?
Tell me about the last race where you just FLOWED! What did you do to make it happen?
Wahhooooooo again on your awesome race! I’m so so proud of you, and amazing job on that pre-race nutrition! Sounds like you’ve got it down to a science now. So funny that your brilliantness always seems to happen in crappy weather conditions! As far as good trail shoes go, I’d say comfort and good grip are my 2 must haves… Asics GT-2000 2 trail shoes seem to be doing the job nicely so far!
Well, sometimes the best nutrition for me is the most counterintuitive…Starbucks iced coffee…seriously? It was just a weird situation but it worked. I guess I am a sucker for punishment because I just love running in the rain!
Mmmmm, love Asics as well. And you make them so pretty with your shoe charms. 🙂
I think that’s the same track Scott and I used to run on!
Sir John A MacDonald school?
Just saying, you probably are running on MUCH better now. 😉
Hi Jess! I’m planning on buying these shoes, since I LOVE ultra cushioning, but I have to buy them online since they are not available in stores here in my town. Therefore, I won’t be able to try them on. My only one concern is the forefoot and toe box size, since you say it’s narrow in your review. I know that the GoRunRide is wider in the forefoot area, but they are less cushioned. My shoe size is 37 (here in Chile, that is 24-cm insole), my foot length is 32.5 cm and my forefoot footprint width is 10-11 cm (I’m female, BTW). Do you think these shoes will fit me right?? O should I finally choose the GoRunRide? I like comfort. Thank you very much for your time and help!!!
Hey Pia,
Thanks for the question! I think the shoes should fit you perfectly, but a couple of questions for you:
1. How many miles are you planning to log?
2. Are you primarily running road or trail?
3. What shoes are you currently running in?
Thanks!
Hi again ,Jessica, thanks for answering. Well, since the last time, a new and more important concern has come up. I haven’t bought the ULTRA yet, but I think I will, in spite of the shocking pics of the quick outsole’s wear (after NOT tons of miles) that I’ve seen in other reviews online from runners and users, but then I thought that maybe for me it would not be such an issue, I’m relatively light and short, so I wouldn’t put so much pressure on the shoe at running or walking or whatever. You asked me 3 questions about my running, but the truth is that I don’t run often, I do lots of other things everyday such as fast walking for long miles (on road), and varied hard training at the gym, and that’s why I want the shoes for, primarily, maybe I could run more since the Ultra’s comfort seem to be an incentive to do it (but, in my case, always on road, not trail, since I live in the city and we don’t have any appropriate place for trail running nearby). The kind of shoes I wear to do everything mentioned before are also high (3-4 cm.) and cushioned, but not as much as the Ultra seem to be. Once I tried a quite minimalistic shoe and didn’t like it much (now I use them for zumba, ha ha), I don’t really like to feel the ground, I love having my feet on springy pillows, besides I don’t have any stability problem when wearing high shoes. Have you kept on running on these shoes? How has the outsole’s performance been? I wonder about the durability issue, since there’s no rubber at all in the sole, only foam (a rigid kind of foam, the Resagrip, but foam after all). Well, that’s it, thanks so much for your time, again!!! (in my previous post I said my foot length is 32.5 cm… it’s 23.5… switched up the number).
Hey! So I have raced with guys who have used Ultra’s for an entire season of adventure racing and they still have held up. I think you will be fine with them. They are built for cushion and although I did find they wore out, it was always at the amount of miles that a shoe should be done. It is the best priced, maximalist shoe on the market in my opinion. (And the colour is great :P).
I’ve made up my mind! Tomorrow I’ll go and buy them, the black one with pink outsole, so feminine! I LOVE high sport shoes, very Hoka-like, so this one Ultra should work for me, since I already know for sure that minimalist shoes didn’t make it for me (although it wasn’t such a low shoe: Adidas Adipure, like 1,5 cm height, but that was too low for me, so I put a 5mm memory foam insole and now I feel kind of better in them), Thanks for your help!