Our fourth Contender bio is Nick Burt, a 24 year old runner from Kitchener who took top Rookie prize in 2017.
ENDURrun: What is your runner profile?
Nick: I started running in high-school when I joined the track team 9 years ago. Each year I have gotten more and more serious about running/training. My usual terrain for running is roads, and my mileage varies a lot but right now 70km/week is pretty comfortable for me before I start really training for something.
What are your ENDURrun 2018 goals?
I know I want to at least beat my time from last year. When it gets closer to August I will decide on a specific time goal.
What are you most looking forward to about ENDURrun 2018?
A lot of people boast about big city races but I love the small, cozy size of ENDURrun. I love knowing/getting to know everyone there, watching everyone push their limits day after day, and I love the amazing support I receive from friends, family, and complete strangers. I also really appreciate the amazing food and since it is such a small race it makes it easy to watch everyone else finish after I’ve run and actually enjoy the food. I have to also point out how amazing it is to NEVER have to worry about parking on race day.
What are you nervous about, if anything?
Injuries. Whether they happen beforehand and interrupt my training or whether they happen during the week and ruin my performance.
You’ve trained for Ultimate before. What did you learn that you will build from (or avoid) this time around?
Training makes a huge difference. I plan on putting in even more weekly training and starting even earlier than last year.
Can you share any details of your training? Mileage, simulations, etc?
The plan is to build lots of weekly miles (>>100km) and add a lot of biking on top to increase training without risking too much injury. I also plan on hitting the “mountain” stages once or twice a week to get used to all the hills/trails.
Besides training, what will be the same and/or different about this Ultimate compared to your first completion?
I probably won’t wear racing flats for any of the stages this year.
What is the one piece of advice that you’re glad you knew/you wish you knew before your first completion?
I’m super glad I knew what to expect from Chicopee by running it multiple times in training.
How were you feeling in the days and weeks following your first Ultimate completion?
Sore. But I felt unbelievably accomplished and excited to train for my next race.
What is the most important part of the ENDURrun identity that appeals to you?
The most important part to me is that it is a small group of friendly, passionate people and that it’s quite a crazy event like no other.
Look for us to follow up with Nick in August on how his training went and ask him about his cycling trip…