Raid International Gaspesie 2015-2nd coed 4 person team-12th overall

On Tuesday September 9^th, Nathalie, Yannick, Jean-François, and Me (James), along with Pete Dobos – the team’s support person for the race - headed out for the Raid International Gaspésie 3.5 day stage adventure race. This was our first race together as a team, although Nat and I had frequently raced against Yannick and J-F, who were regular team mates. After an overnight stop in Quebec City, we finally arrived in Carleton-Sur-Mer to jump right into the usual chaos that is pre-race preparation! There was an opening ceremony Wednesday evening where teams were introduced and we finally got the race maps. We already knew it was going to be a fast race based on last year, but with a sold-out 50 team race and 11 countries represented we knew this would really be a challenging event.

Prologue (From James' perspective):

The prologue started out the same way as the previous year – a blistering 2.1km run along the beach that had us red-lined right from the start. From there it was a short but challenging 1.2km bike ride along the beach and then into some double track trails. With such a short day, we knew there would be no letting up in the pace of the race all day, so everyone pushed as hard as they could. We dropped the bikes and headed up the very steep gravel road system leading to the top of Mt. St Joseph, the highest point in the area. Once at the top, I (James) was designated to head out onto a short ropes course (slackline) while the rest of the team took a quick break to re-fuel. From there it was a very fast descent on foot in single track trails.

At this point, Nat pointed out to the team that eating a meatball sub a few hours before the race may not have been the best decision ;-) but she managed to keep most (but not all!) of it down…  The team then hopped on the bikes again for a jaunt mostly downhill on a beautiful hiking trail. We then faced our first of many water-based challenges in the race – a wetsuit-mandatory canyoning section, complete with slippery rocks, very cold pools of water at the base of waterfalls, an underwater checkpoint, a ropes section, and a crazy 20+ foot drop down a cement “waterslide” (you have to see the video!). Then back on the bikes back into town and onto the 2^nd water-based challenge – a 15 foot leap off of a pier into the saltwater and a swim to a fishing boat to retrieve a checkpoint. This was a surprisingly tough little swim with the waves, fatigue, saltwater, and a difficult climb into the boat using only the fishing nets.

Then back on the bikes for a quick ride to the finish line. Prologue completed: We were wet, tired, excited, and amazed at how much action the organizers had managed to pack into only a few hours of racing. This certainly set the tone for the rest of the race. We finished the day in 11^th place overall, 2^nd in our category.

Day 1 (From James' perspective):

Day 1 was the team’s first full day of racing. The team was excited to get going once again but just like the prologue, the start had us red-lined right from the word “go”. We left from a farm on bikes and proceeded through a trail network. This led to a trekking section that featured a long hike in a very slippery riverbed with fast moving water carrying all of the team’s paddling gear. There was also a rappel down a waterfall for 2 team members, which was completed by Yannick and J-F. While this river trek was slow-going and cold, we were still able to keep a decent pace in relation to our competitors. The river finally led down to the team’s first paddling section of the race. The rivers in the area are shallow and fast-flowing, so the paddling was a constant search for the deepest water around while negotiating small to mid-sized rapids along the way.

We were able to make up a lot of ground on the flatwater sections of the paddle. In fact, we were so fast that we came in ahead of when our amazing one-man support crew – Pete – was expecting us. Pete was around the corner getting the team some hot beverages at the store when we came into the transition. But the team managed to find the support vehicle on our way out of transition, complete with race food, drinks, and sandwiches laid out waiting for us. Then on to a very steep climb on foot and then back down, mainly on trails, which initially seemed pretty straightforward. However, this turned our to be the costliest section of our race: the team lost about 10 minutes due to a navigation error, and Nathalie slipped on a muddy uphill section and smashed her knee pretty badly. While both of these things slowed the team’s pace temporarily, everyone worked well together to get the team back on pace. The next bike was a series of trails, gravel roads, and paved roads which enabled the team to push the pace and draft off of each other.

 The bike eventually led to the final challenge of the day, a short trek that involved crossing a fast flowing waist-deep river to get to the finish line. Another intense, wet, and chilly day completed!

At the end of Day 1 the weather was still rainy which made things difficult for us to repack for the next day knowing that nothing would dry overnight and attempting to keep some things dry for the following day's race.

As soon as we passed the finish line we were told to go to the white tent where some maple toffee and some smoked salmon were waiting for us…that was so great. We also used up a table there with the lights to work on the maps for day2 before heading to a small restaurant to get some warm food.

Day 2 (From Nat's perspective):

The start of day 2 was at 9am but we needed to be there at 8:30am and it was 45min away. We woke up shortly after 6am, made our breakfast and packed up the tent and gears. The results were up. We were still second in our category with the Brazilians and Danish in between 10 to 20 min behind us and we were standing in 12^th place overall.

We started on the bike from a big field and soon we were climbing.

My (Nat's) hip and knee were a little sore from the fall the previous day and were of a nice blue-blackish color at that point. The bike section went relatively well. The Danish were ahead and we didn’t know by how far.

We reached the transition and started a trek that was almost all runnable. We were hoping to make up some time but when we got to the canoe transition we couldn’t see the Danish team…they were on the water already.

We spent too much time at this transition trying to sort out the canoes. A lot of them were broken and we couldn’t decide which ones to take.

Once on the water we realized quickly that we wouldn’t make up too much time on that leg because it was a fast moving water leg. It is a lot harder to make up time on fast moving water with rapids than it is on flat water. To our surprise while going downstream we saw the Danish team going back upstream. They had missed the CP and had a couple rapids to paddle back. I think that gave us a little boost and we pushed a little harder.

We finished the paddle without any problems and jumped back on the bikes to get to the next TA which was coasteering section with a little swim and a zipline before getting to the finish.

We ran on the beach and then walked in the water along the cliff. We swam to a buoy and back for a CP then there was more running to the zipline CP. We got there just after a team of two from Canada - MOB. As we were waiting for James and Yannick to do the ropes section we saw the Danish arriving.

We left before they got on the rope and ran to the last CP and then on to the finish. We had a good day overall. We were happy.

Time to sort out the maps for the next day, pack our gear and sleep.

Day 3 (From Nat's perspective):

After spending our last night in bivouac, it was an early morning that was waiting for us.

The start of the race was scheduled at 5:30am from the top of Mt. St Joseph. We were a 35min drive from there and had to be there 30min prior to the start, making it a 3:45am wake up for us. A quick breakfast, packing up tents and gear, and off we went in the truck. We arrived at the top of Mont St Joseph in the pitch dark. The organisation decided to give us an extra 10min to have the first rays of sunshine rising for the start of the race.

The start was a MTB start again. I (Nathalie) am not at ease with mass starts. I feel comfortable once the crowd is spread out, that’s when my race begins.

We knew from the results posted that same morning that we had barely ten minutes on the Danish team (they got a 15min credit for waiting at the canoe section I think) and that today wouldn’t be an easy one. The two person co-ed team from Canada (MOB) had also passed us in the ranking. We were 13^th overall. Day 3 had a lot of biking, which is the Danish’s strength, but we would fight till the end for our second place.

We started on the bike, like the other days a little behind lots of people and then played catch up one team at a time. As we reached the first TA to go for a 1km out and back hike to a CP, my bike gears started jamming up and I couldn’t use the 4 easiest gears of my bike. After running to the CP and back James managed to gain back a couple of my gears quickly and we left again.

James helped me a lot during every MTB stage, pushing me up the hills and mentoring me in the more technical sections. We had a couple of hike-a-bike sections on that day, one big downhill bushwacking and a long zig-zagging uphill after a CP in the river.

We knew the Danish Merrell team was ahead of us, but we were catching up. We got to the second transition for a 2km hike to a swimming out-and-back CP. We dropped our bikes and started running. We caught up to the Danish team by the time we got to the lake. Yannick went for the swim and we ran back neck-and-neck with the other team.

We jumped back on the bikes to do an orienteering section. The Danish had passed us in transition and were now ahead. Our orienteering section went well and we were out of there and back on the road to get to another transition. We left that transition 5-10min behind the Danish. It was a short hike through a river to collect a couple of CPs to get back to the beach where we would eventually jump back on the bikes. We decided to bushwack instead of taking the road and the creek down to the river. We hit the river and saw the Danish just ahead of us. It was such a smart move… only problem was we were not sure if the CP was upstream or downstream from where we met up with the river.  So we decided to go upstream a little bit before coming back on our steps. The CP was barely ten meters further downstream from where we had originally hit the river on the bushwhack. We managed that river section very well and caught up and passed the Danish team again.

I knew the next section was a 4.5km ride on the beach and I am a terrible rider in the sand. I was so panicked by that section that I wanted to put as much time on foot on the Danish team as possible to have a buffer for the final bike on the beach. We got to the TA and jumped on the bikes. As I was expecting, the Danish team passed us (I don’t know how they were towing their girl in the sand…it amazes me!) but we managed to keep them in sight till the next and last transition. We went up some stairs, picked up two canoes and were up for a 9km paddle to finish up the race.

We got in the water a few minutes after the Danish but it didn’t take long before we caught up to them. We had a strong last paddle. We did a portage once we reached the barachoi (lagoon) and had a sluggish paddle to the finish line after that due to the shallow water and weeds in there.

We were very happy with how the race went and with our second place co-ed finish (12^th overall). It was a great event, fast, but great.

We want to thank the organisation - Endurance Aventure - for such a great event, and also our sponsors for their support. Thanks to Altra Running Canada, Nuun Hydration, Pacific Health Labs, Strongbar Nutrition, Osprey Packs, 2XU Canada, Pearl Izumi, and Natural fitness lab.

And I (Nathalie) want to thank my team for this amazing race!

Nat's Raid pulse 4h and Cataraqui adventure trek week end-double win in the women categories.

August was a busy month with the K2O paddle race followed by an extremely hard 3 days of trail running racing at xc de la vallee. We luckily had the chance to escape to Mexico where we were able to relax for 4 days before racing again. After taking a whole week off it was time to get back into training but I just started a new job with AgriCan working on my feet all days lifting bags full of grains. So except from my 1h15 of commuting a day I had been able to do nothing but work.

On Friday just before racing I had been asked to do some overtime. Let say that I was fried before getting to the start line. Saturday morning I was feeling relatively ok but had heavy legs.

The Raid Pulse started in La Peche near Wakefield on the bike. From the start on James and Adam Malory left ahead and I tried to hang out with the next pack behind them. I manage to do pretty well on the first bike and did a quick transition on foot. I put on my altra shoes and I was gone. I don't know why but I always end up with the same duo male in the trek in raid pulse races. And once again I got to hang out with those guys. We ended up doing the whole trek together. First time that a raid pulse trek goes super well for me without me getting lost for an hour or so. I was very happy and left the guys while running to the TA to get on the bike. I did a super quick transition and I was gone...or actually I thought I was gone but realized my back tire was totally flat. This was a brand new tire tubeless and it was flat :(. After struggling to get the tire off I had to ask Tanya's help to put it back on with the tube. I am usually petty fast at changing flats but I could not get this tire back on. After lots of effort from both of us it was on and I was pumping as fast as I could. I was ready to go, turned around, put my helmet on and realized the tube went flat!!! That was it, I was out!!! Tanya convinced me to pump it up to the max that maybe it would work. So I did and it seemed to work. We heard the tire popping which meant it was getting back in place...so I thought. I jumped on the bike to do the 6km to the next transition and after 4,5km saw my back tire becoming flatter and flatter. I ran the last km or so to the transition. I saw the RD Thierry, explained the situation real quick and jumped on the kayak. I had missed the cutoff to make the advanced CP on the kayak at that point (which added about 2km all up of paddling). I went around, struggle a little with the under water CPs but found them thanks to other people, and got back to transition. Thierry had taken his MTB off his car and asked me if i wanted to ride it to finish the race. Thanks to him I was able to go get the last advanced CP and get to the finish a few kms further.

This could have been a very good race but ended up being challenging because of the bike. The course was great with just enough optional CPs to get everybody on the course for the full 4h. There was also a pretty cool part in the caves.

I still managed to come 5th in the solo category (1st female and in front of female teams and mixed teams too) and 7th overall.

Now it was time to go back home and fix the bike for the CATARAQUI Adventure Trek the very next day in Kingston.

We ran into MEC that was about to close and managed to get a brand new tubeless kit which ended up not working. Not sure whats going on with the valve but it doesn't work. James managed to put a tube in which seemed to not deflate (for once) so we would see the next day how it would hold up.

We drove to the race early with a very nice sunrise.

The race was more of an off road triathlon composed by a 2.1km trail run, a 800m paddle and 6.2km bike course. The aim was to do as many laps as possible within 4h. Any lap started but not finished within the 4h would not count.

We could both feel the fatigue from the day before but our 2XU shorts and socks helped a lot forgetting that. I had decided to try and do the entire race in my pearl izumi bike shoes since it was a bike heavy race and there was only 2km or so of running but it was foggy and humid and the cleats were making me slip a lot. 

The start was a Le Mans start on foot. We had to go and pick up 3 items in 3 different corners of a field then get into the course. Some people didn't listen just before the start that going over or under the fence was not allowed and many people ended up cutting up time by doing so. But most important for me I didn't know now how many girls were ahead. I knew that one girl was just ahead of me and she was the only one who had gone around but I saw a few pony tails entering the run course ahead of me. I decided to run hard the first lap to try to be in a good position. By the end of the run I had caught up all but two girls and after the paddle I only had one ahead that I passed as we were starting the bike section. The bike section was mainly twisty single tracks that would lead up to an open field that was hard to ride on then back to single tracks to the end of the loop.

By the second lap my running wasn't as fast. My paddling was strong and my biking was good in the field and ok in the single tracks. On that second loop I had a bit too much confidence and before I knew it I flew off my bike and landed on a tree. My shoulder was screaming in pain but nothing was broken so I kept on going. For the 5 laps I did I was surrounded by the same two guys who kept on passing me on the run and in the technical MTBiking but I would catch up paddling and in the field section. Phil from Strongbars saved me after lap 3 giving me a banana. It was hot and only fruits and water were going down. It gave me a boost for my 4th lap and the competitiveness in me made me start to accelerate. By the end of the run of the 5th lap I still had one of the guy I was racing against the whole race just ahead of me and we started the bike at the same time. He said "catch me" so I tried to hammer that last lap and managed to catch up to him in the field and put the hammer down to the finish line finishing a few minutes ahead of him. I was happy :). The last two laps were very hard physically as my week and week end were starting to get in my legs. I finished the race with 5 laps in 3h37. James did 6 laps in 3h40. He won the race and I won the women by one lap over second place. I also placed 8th overall (in the men) which included some relay teams too.

Very nice race..we will be back :)

Nat

James hangs on at XC de la Vallée

After a week of recovery from the K2O paddling race, it was on to our next adventure - a 3-day stage trail running race. Friday night would kick off with a 10km night race, Saturday would feature an epic 35km course, and Sunday would have a 21km race to finish off the weekend.

We opted for the camping option, which I was actually very excited for, since we have not had the time to camp all summer as of yet. Not the best for physical recovery between races, but still great to be outdoors. We spent the Thursday night in Quebec City at Nat's dad's place, so we were able to get to the race venue with plenty of time to get ourselves organized before the Friday night race.

Just as darkness was setting in, we were off on a 3-loop course that featured a pretty long and steep climb, an equally steep downhill, a few mud pits, and a little bit of road and grass to tie it all together. As expected, this race was way too fast for me off the start. I usually take a good 20-40 minutes before I'm truly warmed up in a trail run. And despite my warm-up jogs and stretching before the race start, right from the start of the race I was working harder than I should be. There was about 600m of road before getting into the singletrack trails, which helped a little to spread out the crowd, but when we got into the trails and the first climb there was still quite a bit of traffic. I was actually both frustrated and relieved at this - frustrated because I knew it was slowing me down, and relieved because it forced me to not be able to redline up the first hill by trying to run it. So I power hiked it with the rest of the people around me and tried to pass wherever there was an opening (and there were not many for quite a while). Once we reached the top of the climb, the rolling terrain allowed for a few more passing opportunities, so I was able to get a little more momentum going. The second loop felt a little better than the first and by the third loop, I was actually able to run most of the big uphill. I caught up to Dave McMahon just as we were heading down the last long downhill of the final loop. As I got right behind him we crossed a mud pit, which I thought was about knee deep - Boy was I wrong! With the speed I had I figured I would just take the hit and go right through the middle. Turns out the mud pit was over my waist and I paid for it dearly! I went full speed into the pit, put both arms out to protect myself once I was waist deep in the mud, and still ended up doing a full face plant into the pit (as it was deeper than my arms are long!). No injuries from it, but it took a huge amount of momentum and energy out of me. But I got up and hurried to catch back up to Dave. When I caught him, he signaled to let me pass and we proceeded to hammer the rest of the downhill at what felt like breakneck speeds. I was continually screaming "on your left" as we lapped many of the participants while Dave's light right behind me helped to light the way. A very fun descent! As we hit the last road section, I was pretty well cooked and sent Dave along his way to sprint to the finish. He finished about 30 seconds ahead of me, but we were both passed by some guy who ran past us like we were standing still... I stood in 15th after Day 1.

Day 2 promised to be the crux of the race for most of us. We were told to expect a tough technical course... Little did we know that this was an understatement. The course was very demanding both technically and physically and the wet/muddy conditions made things even worse. I love tough and technical trail races and this one really put me to the test. There were tons of boulders and mud pits to manoeuvre around each one of them required extra effort to get through, both mentally and physically. I did a lot of slipping and sliding and falling down. Most often it was not a question of how fast you could go, but more about how fast you were willing to go and how much risk you were willing to assume in the process. Also, there was so much humidity in the air that it was stifling. Sweat just poured out of me through the entire race. (Dave and I had agreed to run the first part of the race together, but early on it became clear that something was not right with Dave. He was overheating early on and his pace was slowing as we moved forward. I found out later that he had been sick leading up to the race, and clearly he wasn't quite over it yet).  I filled my 1.5L Osprey bladder at each of the 3 aid stations and I ran out of liquids way before reaching the next aid station.I was out of water for the last 5km of the race - and very tempted to drink out of the stream we kept on crossing. Instead I opted to stop and pour water over my head and face at each water crossing. I arrived at the finish line in 14th place on the day, battered and bruised, but still in one piece. I was 11th after the 2-day combined times. I spent the next few hours watching participants coming across the finish line with a look of relief that their day was finally done. The result later revealed that 36 of the 140 participants on the day did not finish the race.

The reports about the race course for Day 3 were conflicting. Some people had told us that the course was just as muddy and technical as Day 2 and others said it was still tough and muddy, but not as bad as Day 2. So I wasn't really sure what I was going to get. I was feeling tired from the 2 previous days and not sure how much I would have left in the tank for Day 3. It turned out that the trails were wider, mostly less technical (although definitely still many technical spots) and less muddy overall than the previous day's race. I started out with about 30+ people ahead of me, still feeling like I was pushing a little too hard out of the gate. It was a steady uphill climb and I just tried to hold my speed to match the people around me. The trails were actually very nice and took us to some beautiful lookouts. As the race wore on, I could tell that I just didn't have it in me to push super hard. I could feel that the previous weekend's 30+ hours of paddling and the previous 2 days of racing were starting to catch up to me. The most interesting part of it was that my fatigue was actually more psychological than physical. Sure I was exhausted, but I began to notice that as I was getting to climbing sections on the trail (one of my strengths), I would immediately start walking (like the other racers around me), telling myself that I just don't have the energy to climb anymore. But there were a few times where I pushed a little harder and decided to try and run instead of walk a climb. To my surprise my legs actually responded quite well and I was able to run. From this I started to understand that was actually the psychological fatigue I was feeling even more than the physical fatigue. My mind just didn't want to struggle to push at 85-90% effort on the uphills anymore, while my body still had the energy to do it (although it didn't really want to either!). When I'm racing I always tell myself that I don't want my mind to be what stops me - if I'm going to stop it's because my body can't go any further. Generally I am pretty good at following that rule, but given the effort of the previous 2 weeks, I just accepted that I was getting to my limits and opted to just try to keep a strong steady pace and finish the race.

By the final 5km of the race I was feeling like a rag doll bouncing my way down the last steep descents. With about 4km left to go, I slipped on a boulder and came down on my right knee on a smaller, sharper rock. I immediately saw the gash and blood coming to the surface. With nobody around and no water on me, I decided to pull up my 2XU calf sleeve over the wound and just keep going. I was pretty sure I would need stitches, but there wasn't much I could do out in the middle of nowhere. So I just plugged away to the finish line. It was such a relief to finally know that I could stop running once I hit the finish line. I waddled over into the nice cold river, sat down for a while, tried to clean some of the mud and sweat off of myself and then wandered over to see the medic for a good old fashioned wound scrubbing. Once taped up I got changed and then sat and watched a few friends and many strangers cross the finish line with an elated smile. Pretty cool to watch all those people celebrate their accomplishment. It was also great to see Nat cross the finish line with a brother and sister "team" that had adopted her for about half of the race, opting to stay together and finish the race together. It's nice to see teamwork like that, even in a solo event. Found out a little later that I finished 10th overall and I was pleased with that, given the strong field of racers.

In terms of gear, clothing, and nutrition for the races, I was pretty happy with all of them.I started my pre-race ritual with a 1L bottle of Nuun every morning. I went with the Osprey Rev 6L pack in the 35km and 21km races which was light and comfortable. I had a 1.5L bladder which I filled at every aid station, but ran out of liquids early every time, however I think going with a 2L bladder for races like this might have been too heavy anyway. I wore my 2XU compression shorts and calf sleeves, and as usual, they were fantastic. I tested my new 2XU XTRM compression shorts and Elite MCS Comp Calf Guards for the 35km and the extra compression was awesome. We didn't need to carry much food on the course because there were aid stations, but I did carry some Accel gels with me each day, which came in very handy when I needed an extra boost.

All in all a challenging but good weekend. Now we are off for a little R&R this weekend in Mexico!!! First "real" (non-racing) vacation since Nat and I met... I guess we were due.
        

XC de la vallee 2015 - Nat finished in 6th place in the female category

As we started to run I felt my lungs so heavy and I had, since the day before, a stitch that didn’t want to go away (I probably strained my diaphragm or an intercostal muscle during the event the night before with the asthma attack). The air was so humid that I could not push hard and it was climbing and climbing and climbing.

I had as a strategy to aim for the aid stations breaking down the distances in more manageable tasks. The first one was a little before what was expected but hey I wasn’t going to complain as I was short in water already. I had left with one liter and clearly needed to refill already after 9+km only.

I kept on going at a very slow pace in that very technical terrain and made it to the second aid station that was over a km off further than expected, totally dehydrated again. 19km done and 3L of water/nuun later and a few gels and I was on my way again after over 3h30 hours of suffering through the heat. I was putputting away when a girl passed me and said we had to hurry cause we were not going to make the cutoff. What??? A cutoff? I won’t make a cutoff?

I realised that our pace was barely 5.5km/h. we were at 20-21km in about 4h and we had about 6km to the next aid station where the cut off was at 5h after start.

On the way I saw a girl taking a face plant and stopped and stayed with her for a bit to make sure she was ok to continue then I tried to push it harder to make the cut off.

By then the temperature started to warm up and the humidity to decrease so I could start pushing a little more. I made the cut off with 15min to spare but I stopped too long there. I left the transition with the girl who told me about the cut off and thought we could do a way together but soon I realised she had given a lot to make the cut off and was going to slow down a lot so I took off.

It was a massive climb from there on and the 10km race was going that way which mean that the mud fest was just awful after all those racers going through.

I climbed well and passed many people but got passed back by a few later on in the descent where I kept wiping out on mud patches.

I was very relieved to see the gravel road and the signs to the finish after 7h of racing.

I could not believe that it took me 7h to do 36km. I ran my 50km in Utah in 6h20 and my 60km Ultimate xc which is a hard and technical race in 8h36. This didn’t make sense. My toes and body in general were bruised and sore. My diaphragm was hurting (I used the puffer once on Saturday morning and once during the race). I was not sure I would take the start the next morning. I was feeling so rough.

Celine from our group was in 2^nd place in the women at the time and decided to not race the third day after wiping out and cutting her knee. Dave our awesome strong coach had stopped at the second aid station on the 36km due to trouble with humidity.

The next morning I learnt that a few more people wouldn’t start the day. I went to the physio tent and she tapped my ribs/intercostal muscles that were hurting more and more.

This was Sunday morning and this time we would be running 21km with the people who did the 10km the day before instead of the 36km but also with people doing the 21km only.

In the bus they announced to us that the terrain would be a little better than the day before but that there would be only one feed station and that it was hard to bring water there so we wouldn’t be able to fill up our bladders. WHAT??? I drank about 5L the day before during the 36km and I would be able to drink only 1L (that I had in my pack at the time of the announcement) and a glass after 10km??? for another 11km??

From the start on I took the puffer. It was as humid as the day before. I was scared of the outcome.

The cut off this time was on the finish line at 4 hours. I was worried to not make it if the terrain wasn’t better than the day before.

Thankfully the first few kms were runnable but it started climbing quickly and more and more. I was getting passed by many people but mainly by people who didn’t run the 3 days.

At the 4km mark I was climbing and feeling ok but a girl passed me and she was wearing perfume big time. Almost instantly the asthma started. I also started feeling nauseous which never happened before. I slowed down and took the puffer again.

After a while I started feeling a bit better and we got to the feed station. I tried to be conservative with the water but I had none left by the time I reached the aid station. I was allowed to half fill my bladder. I knew this wouldn’t be pretty as it was hotter and hotter and I would run out of water inevitably.

Soon after the feed station I hoped on a train composed by a brother (Stephane) and his sister (Louise).

Stephane had done the trans vallee like me and his sister the shorter one.

She was decided for both of them that they would make the cut off and kept being over positive the whole way. I liked it and asked if they minded if I jumped on the train.

They welcomed me and we worked as team to the finish. I wiped out again a couple of times, once two feet in the air and fell on the only rock around on my bum (still having trouble sitting right now).

They wiped out too. I ran out of water as expected 3-4km before the end of the race.

We passed the line hands in hands in 3h40 so happy to be done with that race and the mud.

I learnt looking at the results that I went from 10^th place to 6^th place in the women for the trans vallee which considering my health state at the time and the competitiveness of the field was a very good result.

My wolverine (James) cut is leg but still managed to finish 10^th in the men.

And what really made my day was wining the draw price, a new suunto ambit 3 sport :D

Thanks to 2XU for keeping me alive and going during this gruelling effort as well as Altra shoes. I ran the entire 3 days with my lonepeak and I seriously doubt I could have done it with any other shoes considering the beating they took over those 3 days.

Thanks to Accel gels (PacificHealthLab) and stongbars I kept fuelled up and Nuun kept me hydrated as much as can be.

K2O 2015-200km paddle race Kingston to Ottawa-Nat DNF after 115.4km of hard paddling

James, John (his team mate) and I left on Friday afternoon to Kingston to participate in the 200km paddle K2O from Kingston to Ottawa. The boys were going to paddle a canoe and I had borrowed a light and fast surfski from a friend (a think surfski).

I had a lot of troubles last year with another think boat because of weeds getting caught in the rudder and the race had been cancelled last year half way due to the rough weather.

I had made it to the 72-75km mark and was nervous for this year although I had this year a weed deflector…so I thought I would be off the weeds.

My super awesome support crew, Joel Perrella from Breathe Magazine, met me on Friday night and we went through gears and food etc..

On Saturday morning we started the race at 6am.

From the start on I was stuck in a massive patch of weeds. To the point that I saw even the SUP going away at the distance while I was still fighting with the weeds. I begged ahead for help since there were no more boats ahead and luckily Rick, another racer, waited and took the weeds off for me. The first leg was hard as the weeds seemed to be everywhere.

As I was going along another surfski was struggling so we were de-weeding each other’s as we went.

Matt (that helped me out last year) did also a way with me taking the weeds every so often so we could keep a good pace.

We finally made some ground and went back ahead of the SUPs and other kayaks.

At the first lock I saw just ahead of me James canoe and Brad Jenning’s canoe from get out there.

 I caught up to James’ boat during that second leg and as I past them the weeds got me again. I asked if he could grab the weeds as I was next to the boat and James did but his team mate wasn’t happy and let me know that they would not spend their time helping me out…So I left them and went ahead.

I then caught up to Brad’s canoe on the next leg and they nicely helped me out as I was passing them.

The next few legs went ok but the weeds started to be more abundant again and after a little while I got caught back up by the two canoes (Brad and James). I did half that leg next to Brad’s boat chit chatting along until we reached the 69.7km lock.

That was the last lock I saw last year, being rescued a few kms later.

I made it through the lock and went on for the 30km+ leg. As I left I grabbed 3 gels, thinking it would be enough for 30km…big mistake. I think I was already really hungry by that point (despite the multiple sandwiches that Joel had prepared for me) and dehydrated a bit.

I had my first gel early on and by the time I got ti the 20kmm or so I was out of food. Just when I realise that I wouldn’t see my support crew until the 34km mark because they couldn’t reach the poonamalie lockstation at 30km. Hunger settled in. I had caught back to James’s boat by that point but didn’t dare asking for food after the reaction of his team mate earlier.

A few kms before Poonamalie I hit a patch of weeds and I was exhausted. I hit the wall big time. By the time I reached Poonamalie (101km mark of the race) James’s boat was 30min ahead (I was with them 2km before) and I was in a really bad shape. My stomach was burning from what I thought was a little bit of chaffing and the inside of my stomach was hurting by hunger. I am so lucky and thankful the volunteer in place gave me something to drink (an ensure) and I was off to Smith Falls.

The weeds were even worse than before and the 4km seemed to never end.

When I got to Smith Falls at 8h30pm after 14h30 I was tired.

 Most of the field would stop the race there (doing the ½ course). I showed to someone my belly and they patched it up and they made me stop for a bit before going again. My entire belly was red and some places more burnt than others.

The cut off was at midnight at Smith so I was way ahead of schedule and i was actually very decently placed in the 100km race if i had stopped there.

I left soon after (around 9pm) in the dark alone. By that point my friend Augusto had met up with Joel to give him a hand.

The next couple of locks went ok although very weedy. 

I didn’t see my support crew at one of the lock but saw the race director. I was then only 5-7km away from the next lock (Killarnock I think it is). That’s when things went wrong. I had nobody ahead or behind me. I was following my map which said to stay on the left shore but after a while I got in a massive swamp with lily pads all around and no room to even put a paddle in the middle….Just imagine what was going on in the back of my boat with my pretty long rudder getting literally stuck there. I couldn’t move much (less than a km per hour), the fog settled and I couldn’t see any buoys. Thanks to the headlamp the thousand bugs around me had decided to crawl through my face in my ear and nose. I couldn’t turn off the light as I really needed to find the navigational channel.

I then took my gps that I had tested before and that was working but I had to change the map for the second half of the race and for some reason the gps was telling me to go left. There was no left!!! It was lily pads and the shore. After what felt like a really long panick moment I decided to call the race director. I asked him if he could see me on his map explaining that I couldn’t see the navigational channel because of the fog and whether I was still in the right lake?? He told me I was in the right direction. “Keep left” he said. After telling him that left was NOT an option I started wandering on the right more and more and finally spotted a buoy far in the distance…on the other side of the lake on the Right-hand side.

I followed the buoys going all around the bloody lake to finally find the lockstation…It was now 11:30pm and I was at 115.4km. I had done the last 11.4km in 2h30…BRUTAL!!!

I knew the weeds wouldn’t get much better but I also knew there was only 10,5km left in open lakes before getting into the narrow canal where you can’t get lost anymore.

I asked the guys for some arm warmers and was going to continue when the race director came to ask me to stop the race. He was worried about my safety. He said all the other boats behind me (and there were many according to him at smith falls) had quit and he was concerned letting me continue alone.

That is the first time I get stopped from a race without missing any cut offs, being ahead of my schedule.

I had done 115.4km in 17h30 and I had 18h left to do the remaining 87…I could totally do it. But Hey he was the race director. He left and we started packing up my stuff. 45min later I was changed and ready to go when I saw a canoe at the lock, it was a team..and they let them keep on going…WTF???

The next morning when I woke up early I saw that two other teams had kept on going hours after I had been asked to stop. I wasn’t and I am still not happy about it. The race director sent me an email to apologies and told me that afterthought he should have asked me to just stop for a while…After all I had time…but all the apologies in the world won’t unfortunately make the failure feeling to go away.

James, strong as always, kept on going and finished a little after 30h of paddling.

I would never do this race again with a fixed rudder…maybe with a kick up rudder….If I can get over this year’s race.

I want to say that my support crew, Joel Perrella was the best in the world and that you all should check out his awesome magazine breathemag J

I also want to thank my sponsors for supporting me through this gruelling event, Nuun hydration, PacificHealthlab and strongbar nutrition. NRS and 2XU for the awesome gears to keep me moving and warm.

Nat

James and John Take on the K2O 202km paddling race

When I first decided to do this race, I knew that I would want to do it in a canoe with a team mate. I don't quite have the balance and skills that Nathalie has in a kayak so I would have either swam a lot or been in a very slow but stable boat. Instead I enlisted the help of my longtime adventure racing teammate, John Ranson. We've done many adventure races together and I knew he had a lot of experience paddling and boating on the Rideau, so he was an obvious choice.

We spent a fair bit of time trying to decide which canoe to rent for this race, and opted to go with the advice of the folks at the rental place. We picked up our boat in Ottawa on Friday afternoon and then spent a little bit of time trying to figure out how to carry both the canoe and Nat's kayak on the car all the way to Kingston.

We started the race at 6am with the rest of the racers - a beautiful morning for paddling with what would be a steady, all-day headwind blowing in our faces. The first half of the race was actually somewhat uneventful - just a long paddling on a nice sunny day in relatively good conditions. We moved fairly well and were quite efficient at the portages around the locks. This was in part due to the fact that we opted to go without a support crew for the race, so there was no reason to stop at the lock stations, except to refill water and go to the washrooms.

As we moved into the night, things got quite a bit tougher. Not only were we tired from having completed over half of the 200km of the race, but night time made it harder to find our way through the snaking channels. We had good nautical maps with us, but we didn't have a GPS unit, so although we weren't all that worried about getting seriously lost, the difficulty of finding the buoys at night was a big risk for slowing us down considerably. We were very fortunate to have another canoe not far ahead of us, so this made our lives much easier as we paddled on into the night.

As the night wore on, we eventually ended up paddling completely on our own. After about 30 minutes of detours and playing in the weeds, we finally found our way back into the channel. The thick fog made it increasingly difficult to spot the buoys and fatigue - both muscular and sleepiness was adding to the challenge. As we crossed under Highway 416, it was a few hours before dawn and both John and I did a few head bobs as we nodded off briefly.

When morning finally came, we were finally in the narrowest section of the race course, which meant not having to focus too much on the navigation. Despite our tired muscles, John and I were able to increase our pace and have a strong last portion of the race. We finally arrived at the finish line after 30+ hours, weary and beaten, but very happy to have completed such a tough test of our mental and physical abilities. We ended up finishing in 8th place overall. Considering we were not well trained for this length of paddling and we were not in a racing canoe, we were happy with the result.

Going into the race, I wasn't sure what to wear, particularly on my legs as I knew I would be dealing with a whole host of changing conditions - heat, water, cold, wind, chafing issues, etc. I opted for my 2XU tights and a light pair of shorts over top - which turned out to be the perfect combination. No major chafing issues and I was never too hot or too cold (I did put on rain pants as well for the night). In terms of nutrition, I was very happy as well. Since we were unsupported, we had to carry all of our food for 30+ hours, so this wasn't much different from our usual adventure racing food selection. Once again, the StrongBars were an awesome and filling treat at various points on the course while the NUUN kept us well hydrated. I had also brought a few Pacific Health Labs Accel Gels and 2nd Surge gels with me for those moments when I needed a boost of energy and they delivered right on cue - I really like the fact that these gels are more liquid than most, so it makes it way easier to take.

So other than the brutal beating that comes with doing a repetitive activity (paddling) for so long, I was very happy with how the race unfolded. If I ever do this event (or any other marathon paddling event) again, I will definitely need to put in more long training hours beforehand. The Rideau River system is very weedy, but very beautiful nonetheless and I'm glad I had the opportunity to do the race and to get back in a canoe with John again.

James.     

Cowboy Tough 3,5 days Expedition race 2015-7th overall (1st of the Adventure class)

Jason, James and I decided to do Cowboy Tough a few months ago but we didn't have a 4th.
We needed a 4th but most of all we needed a navigator so Jason wouldn't be on his own for the entire race.
That's when the race director put us in touch with Fritz (racer of Rev3).
We didn't know Fritz before and Unfortunately didn't have time to do a race all together prior the expedition.
We all flew to Wyoming on the Tuesday, Jason, James and I meeting up in Denver and then driving up to Casper while Fritz was supposed to meet us up there at about the same time.
After taking possession of what must be the pick up with the roughest suspension on earth, we started our drive and stopped on the way to do our groceries.
Fritz got delayed and delayed again and finally made it to the hotel past midnight...without one of his bags (that he got the next day on time for the race).
Wednesday was the check in and gear check, then race briefing and packing the boxes.
We managed to have a decent night of sleep before the race which is always a bonus in those races.
On Thursday morning we took the bus up to Buffalo where the race started.

 

Day1:
The race started with a small Orienteering course in town with different challenges: a shot of whiskey, punching a CP at the bottom of a 10-12 feet deep pool, collecting a telegram and a bullet casing. The orienteering was on foot and as soon as we were done we ran back to the TA (start), took our bikes and left for a couple of hours on the bike.
The first CP on the bike was a challenge. We got to a corral and were told that one of us needed to get in there and pick up a ribbon from a cow's tail (they were babies).
I heard a start of conversation in the team to know who was going and decided we didnt have time for that, so I jumped in...and then realized that I'm scared of cows :S but hey, I was in there, so I did my best and ended up getting one without getting hurt :)

Jumped back on bikes to get to the paddle.

There were two kind of canoes laying there and we picked the first one we saw that looked ok...big mistake. We ended up being passed by everybody who had the other kind of canoes. We thought they were about the same but there was actually 15 and 17 feet long canoes (if i'm correct).
Anyway the paddle was kind of painful because of the CPs not being exactly where they were supposed to be and one was not in place at all, which made us turn around for a while.
We saw the Yogas, Nuun, and Swiss Army turning around but we decided to try a little more to find it...without success.
By the time we came back, those teams were gone on the bike and we met them back up at the next challenge. In that one we had to guess a 3 letter word by flag signals. One or two persons were running to a far away field and were doing flag signals to make us guess a word.

We did relatively ok at it and were back on the bike quickly.
A couple of hours more and we were in TA ready to tackle the first big Trek that would take us up to 10 000 feet.
We started the trek with the Yoga and left them behind as we were climbing (one of their team mate wasn't feeling great). We had a great climb, passing a few teams on the way. Jason's navigation was awesome and we got all the CPs without any troubles up to CP 18. On the way down from CP16 we met Dart Nuun going up, which meant we had passed them somewhere on the way. We were moving well. On the way to CP18 Fritz started to have feet problems so we stopped for him to fix them. As we kept on going he started not feeling very well with GI issues that went on for the whole night. CP19 ended up being the race breaker for us.
The trail disappeared and we turned around and around for 4 to 5 hours. We were by then at 10 000 feet or close. I was feeling sicky from the altitude and just wanted to get back down. I really wanted to find that CP quickly. Fritz wasn't feeling any better at this point, so he couldn't help Jason which didn't simplify the situation.
After finally finding the CP we made another mistake going to CP20 that cost us another 2h+...the race was kind of over...we had missed a cut off.
The morale of the team went down and by the time we got to transition we didn't know if we would be allowed to keep on racing or not.

Day2:
They decided to put us on an "adventure class" course, which only meant that you had missed a cut off and were not forced to get mandatory points from there on but could get any CPs (mandatory or optional).
We decided to go for it and get as many CPs as we could, like if we were still on course.
After a sluggish 1h45 transition, we left on the bikes. We reached the rappel CP pretty quickly and decided to go for more CPs instead of just riding to the End of day transition. So we kept on going on the regular route and picking up CPs. One of the CP was on the top of a mountain. It was so windy.
We decided to go to the end of day after CP32 (I didnt want to but got outvoted). That ride was ssssooooo long and boring. We did it all at night and it was just a repetitive gravel road with not much to keep you awake. That was our second night awake and we rode all night until early morning (we actually stopped for a 15min nap on the side of the road).
Day3:
We got to TA and decided to go for some Optional CPs since we still had a bit of time. We hit two of them pretty quickly and messed up one in a creek that cost us a bit of time.
We got back to TA just on time to leave for Day3..on the bike again.
We rode a part of that bike ride with the Yoga. I guess we were kind of just following but we had to stop after a while and then we didn't know where we were. After turning around for a while we finally made it back on track...for 10 minutes before my first flat.
My tire was pretty new but had so many little cuts it was unbelievable.
The rocks were sharp I guess. We changed the tube just to get a second flat 2 min later.
James decided to cut open a punctured tube to make a protective layer for the new tube inside the tire...it worked.
We got to a CP at the canyon that was really pretty and even got burgers thanks to NYARA :)

Leaving there was again pretty hard (as every transition or stops we did) but we managed to get back on the road and picked up more optional CPs.

 

We struggled for a while and ended up not finding a CP at a well and decided to go to TA.
We got to TA end of day 3 after 63 hours of racing or so...and no sleep. We agreed on having a 2h stop which would include getting changed eating and sleeping. Alarm was set for 2am and we were supposed to leave for the orienteering course at 2:15am sharp....After barely 1h15 of sleep I was awake, looking at the map to see which CPs we would have time to get. By 2am I had a plan and was ready to wake the guys up.
That last TA was a nightmare to leave, and we ended up not getting out of the transition until 2:45am. But Hey at least we went...We picked up the first 3 Cps easily and decided to go for a couple more...problem is we went way too far and ended up picking up a CP we didn't plan to pick and missed the two others that we wanted to take closer to us...it was a bit of a rush to get back in the TA right on time to not be cut off and jump on our bikes.
Day4:
The bike was a 70 mile bike ride back to Casper with some elevation, especially at the start. We managed a good pace and within half the bike ride we had passed many teams.

The second half of the ride was my favorite.
We rode in an echelon formation with Nordic adventure racing team for a while and that was very cool. After a while we decided to go just our team and we took off. It felt fast and great.
By the time we reached town we had reached and passed a lot of teams. We got to the last TA where we took our packrafts and ran to the put in 3 miles upstream. We picked up our last CP and went down river in no time thanks to the current.

Arriving at the finish line, Jason and Fritz decided to race James and I to cross the line first :)

In summary a lot of fun but very disappointed to not have stayed on the full course. We were fit and fast and I am more than sure that we could have done great if only we could have helped Jason with the nav a little more when he needed it. This is the second race that Jason, James and I have done together and once again I loved racing with them and would do it all over again anytime.
I didn't mention it too much but I did spend my time freezing my butt (I really thought it would be a warm race) and when i wasn't freezing I sunburnt real good :/
On a super positive side I loved my Altra Lonepeaks to bits. I didn't have any feet pain which is really rare for me and my 2XU and Pearl Izumi clothing and equipment worked really well. We rode 392km in 3,5 days and I didn't get a rash. First time ever and I only used cream once prior to the race...I am stoked!!!

Frenchie

Photo credits: Michael Sero and Randy Eriksen, two kick ass photographers