UltimateXC 38km Trail Race

Last summer was my first crack at a 50km ultrarunning/trail race. It was a shock! The race director had kindly warned me that it was a very technical race. I figured “whatever” I’ve gotta get my feet wet and see how it would feel. Annnnddd… it was brutal! Mud, rocks, roots….I was destroyed. But I finished. More because the search crew couldn’t find me (just kidding). And then I broke my wrist in August, pretty much ending the season. Anyway for 2016 I decided I’d need to be way more prepared. I began by actually going running. And after a 45-day streak I engaged expert trail/ultra running coach Benoit Talbot from North Hatley to help me. The result was a carefully designed plan (1,100kms of mileage over 5 months) that got me to the start line June 25th in St Donat.

Bib and tech short pickup was the evening before the race for the 38 and 60km distances. I was lucky to have a local friend who not only kept me company in the lineup (relieving me of that Awkwardness of Being Alone) but also fed me a delicious pre-race supper of salmon and salad.

Very smooth tech shirt and number pickup at the church the evening before the race.
photo credit taken by my friend Sarita.

I slept in Ste Agathe at the Super 8 which was cleaner and quieter than I had anticipated, so that was a relief....and it was only 850m from a McDonald's so yeah, my pre-race brekkie was a #3 trio...."Go with what ya know"! I had gone to bed around 10:30..woke up at 3:30 to pee and of course didn't get back to sleep! No matter, sleep before a big event is rare and I guess overrated. I had slept well all week and was not worried.


We boarded the busses at 8am.. I couldn't figure out if they were going to give me a bag for the shoe drop so I said "whatever" and didn't do it. The Salomon Speedcross I figured would be fine for 40kms. I use Drymax socks also and they are superb. This combo is great because with the Salomon speed lacing you can tighten your shoes for mud and water, and loosen them back up for land. I brought two bottles, one in my pack, one in the front. On the left I had my Muskol, Android and Oreo cookies. I had 5 baggies of Tailwind Carb/electrolyte mix in the pack, 300 calories each. Over the race I used 4. Of course I wore my wrist brace on my left wrist. Can't break that arm ever again.

Going out “slow and easy”...ummmm....

We drove for about twenty minutes and were dumped by the side of the road near a trailhead. Only one way out from this! On foot!

Dan the race director asked who was new to the event. A lot of people raised their hand. “good”, he said,” Last year’s runners are all dead!” And we all laughed.

The horn was blown and off we went. There was a tree down on the narrow trail about 20 metres from the trailhead, so immediately there was a bottleneck.

I stayed near the back, as I didn’t want to be “that guy” causing a bottleneck up the trail and I wanted to take it easy at the start. My goal for the race was discovery, not competition.

The group I was with was pretty slow, which was fine, but owing to the adrenaline of the race as well as the fact that the climbing began immediately, my HR was in the 160s for a few kms. I had trained in the 130s, so the goal was to get it down, which I was able to do later on.

Aide stations (Ravitos) 1 et 2

So the first ravito was hardly necessary but welcome nonetheless. I had an orange and some pretzels and topped up my water.

Ravito 2 didn't come until almost 11 kms later, on the backside of Mont Noire, and after that punishing long climb and descent. I had drunk both my bottles, but that was fine. At Ravito 2 I started in with salted potatoes, oranges and chips. I thought "what the heck, I'll see how much I can eat on course!!" Yes, I decided there that this race would be an experiment in food tolerance.

The forest itself is beautiful, birds, breezes, views, geological formations, what a fantastic reason to be fit and hit the trail!

Cramps!

I developed a cramp in my left thigh descending Mt Noire, at 15.85 kms. Whether it was the blast of electrolyte drink I took or walking slowly, the cramp went away and didn't come back.

Vietnam

Vietnam is a famous 500m section that was construed in an attempt to bypass Highway 329 without running on the road. The result is a walk through mud and reeds and water. Nobody runs through it and in fact it’s eagerly anticipated by the runners. Only the 38km and 60km runners have it in their course.

There wasn't a lot of rain prior to the race, unlike other years. Maybe Vietnam was a letdown? There were a few water crossings which felt AWESOME on my hot legs. Other runners had beat out a trail NEXT to the mud, so I was able to go past a lot of the mud without incident. I did go in deep once or twice, but that was just funny. It was so refreshing to go under Highway 329 in knee deep water!

Shoe change - NOT!

So it was a cruel uphill to that station, it was getting hot by noon when I got there. I bypassed the shoe swap and chatted with a volunteer while I filled up my bottles and munched more food. Then I was off again. This was around 3:27 for the halfway. I was hoping for a 6:30 but it was clear that wouldn't be the case. No matter. I had no idea what to expect from a race with all this climbing and hazards like Vietnam. I didn't think I would get cut off at 7:30. I saw from other peoples’ Stravas that I saved about 5 minutes not changing shoes.

The climb out of the halfway station is long and brutal. Steep and winding and never ending!

My New Best Friend JF

So this guy caught up to me and we started chatting. He had had some major pain, I'm not quite sure what had happened, but someone had given him Advil...I told him not to make a habit of that...it's bad to take NSAIDs and worse to do it when your body is working hard. Anyway we stuck together for the rest of the race! Laughed and chatted and pushed each other, which was pretty cool. At one point his wife had brought his twin 7-year old sons to meet him, which was really darn cute!

31 km mark: Hill from Hell or Cote de l'Enfer!!

A mild-mannered ski hill by winter, but a brutal Race Director's Joke by summer! This is where my right hamstring began to twitch, signalling a cramp. Thank God it worked itself out. This climb was very tough...the finish line is a tantalizing 8kms away, but not until you have climbed 200m in 1.3 ish kms. In the hot sun at the 30km mark!

At the top there was a ravito (warm water) and a fantastic view, and the knowledge that it was pretty much downhill to the finish line!

At Station Ravary there were bagpipers...that was terrific!

On our way down past that aid station there was a woman who had fallen and clearly broken her wrist. I told her to make sure she got a Cat-scan!

As we jogged our way along the neat path for the last 2kms, my feet were hurting in my Speedcross. They were wishing to be in my cushy Hokas....but there wasn't much left to go.

We decided to race the last km, and managed to do a 5:44 split! Bravo! I was really happy to finally be able to stop moving...grabbed some ice at the finisher's corral and rubbed my neck, legs, face, forehead...

Met up with some pals I knew loosely, one of them had done the 120km version of the race!! 25 hours....I couldn't imagine doing that trail twice, and some of it in the dark!

Conclusions

I felt that my training was enough to make it through the day. I didn't feel like I hadn't prepared well enough. I gather that the 800s were my hill training, I didn't ever feel weak on the hills, up or down, until l'Enfer, but that doesn't surprise me.

My Camelbak Ultra 4 vest worked perfectly again. I went with my Ultimate Direction bottles, they are the nicest size for the hand and have easy-open tops for the aide stations.

A last minute purchase was the MEC Instinct Shorts. They're tight, like bike shorts and with some local Organic body lube I bought at JogX in the right places I experienced zero chafing. Good products!

My left 2nd toe tends to get banged up a bit, and was sensitive for a few days, but not bloody, so I'll probably keep the nail. No blisters, even after all the water. Barely any dirt inside my shoes, even without gaiters! I have rinsed the shoes out and we'll see how they recover.

Nutrition was good, I have grown to love salted potatoes! Between Friday morning I weighed 191.4 and Saturday night I weighed 192.4!

Oh, and I peed at the start line at 8:30, and then at home at 8pm! It was a bit dark but it didn't hurt so I was okay.

My new buddy JF and his family drove me back to the church for my car....thank goodness! We are staying in touch and may run together again.

The race organization is very good. The volunteers were fantastic. The aid stations were well stocked. The course was really well marked. Everything was designed to allow the runners to enjoy their day. First class!

Next race is the Bromont Ultra 55km October 9th.