UltimateXC 60km Trail Race - James' Race Report

I was not approaching this installment of the UltimateXC 60km in the same way that I have prepared for this race in the past. The main reason for this was the fact that I am still recovering from an ankle injury sustained close to a month ago. I had done two adventure races since the injury, but I was able to walk or lightly jog for the trekking sections of both of those races. I knew from having done the race before that this course is an all-out assault on your body – particularly the quads (from the climbing and the descents) and the ankles (from the technical terrain). So I was quite concerned about tackling the trail at full speed. I considered skipping the race altogether but ultimately decided to approach it as a training run. I’d been running with a little bit of pain in the injured ankle, but it seemed to be stable in the technical trails, but I could tell that my fear of rolling the ankle again was making me hesitant at higher speeds. But during our Natural Fitness Labs Tuesday night run the week before the race, I chased a pack of runners at pretty high speed a trail that I knew pretty well, so that gave me a little more confidence that my ankle would hold up. But I still didn’t think I was going to have a very good race since my training specifically for trail running had also suffered over the past month and I was a little on the heavy side for a pure trail running race. Regardless, I was excited to be getting out into the trails once again.

The night before the race was a little more eventful than we would have liked. We stayed with a friend at his friend’s cottage about 30 minutes from the bus pick-up and had a great dinner and relaxed evening, up until just before bedtime when the owner realized that the water pump for the house was not working. After unsuccessful attempts at trying to fix it, we all went to bed without any opportunity to use the washrooms or have access to potable water overnight or in the morning. So Nat and I toughed it out (read: held “it”) through the night and decided we’d have to get up early and try to find somewhere in town to have some oatmeal for breakfast. It was a pretty quick transition at 4:40am as we got changed and hurried out the door to try and find a bathroom and some food. We were delighted to find a Tim Horton’s on our way to the bus pick-up but they only had enough oatmeal for one of us. So for me it was a Tim Horton’s hot breakfast sandwich and bottle of NUUN for breakfast! The rest of the pre-race morning was thankfully uneventful.

We got to the start line and after a few instructions we were off. I am always terrible at pacing in a race and I always go out too hard, so this time I purposely tried to place myself closer to the middle of the “mid-pack”, rather than the usual back of the “front pack”. I tried to just let myself warm up and payed very close attention to the trail so that I wouldn’t roll my ankle while following closely in a pace line. As the trail started to climb I found myself wanting to pass people (as climbing is generally my strength). So I tried to hold back for a bit and then I decided I would just slowly make my way to the front of the small group in front of me, mainly so that I could see the trail better in front of me. As the hills kept coming, I caught up to a few more people and proceeded with the same logic of getting ahead so I could see the trail better. To my surprise and delight, my ankle was feeling pretty good. I wasn’t sure if it was the adrenaline or something else, but I just decided I would go with it and see what happens.

As we got the first aid station, I figured I was probably somewhere in the 5^th – 10^th place range. As I got there, one of the volunteers asked me if the race had started late. I said “yes, about 15 minutes” and then asked him why he was asking. He said, “you are the first one here”. I was quite surprised and quite skeptical – particularly since I’ve heard this before in races, only to find out that it’s because the leaders were so far ahead that people hadn’t even seen them. There were 4 of us running pretty close together, and 2 of them left the aid station before me.

I eventually caught up to the third place runner and then finally caught up to the leader – someone I know quite well: Benoit Letourneau. I knew Ben has been training hard in preparation for the Harricana 125km race in September, and he was certainly in fine form for this race. I followed Ben for a while and then finally made a move somewhere in the middle section of the race. I was feeling quite good on some flowy singletrack that was slightly downhill, followed by a long gravel road downhill. I had pushed pretty hard and thought that I had built myself a little cushion on Ben and the other runner. But as we started to climb again, I looked back and saw Ben reeling me in. He was looking very strong and steady as he caught up to me and pulled ahead. I tried for a while to keep pace with him, but he was moving very well on the downhills and kept making ground on me until I couldn’t see him anymore.

The second half of the race was challenging for me. The ankle was still feeling pretty good, even after a few close calls on it. I was getting tired and was struggling to keep a good pace. My spirits were lifted when we finally rejoined with the 38km runners again, as I was able to see plenty of people in front of me and I felt stronger as I passed them. The “Vietnam” section (a very rugged and wet section of the course) was easier than in past years due to drier conditions, so that was a mental boost as well. I suspected at this point that Ben was long gone ahead of me and I started to be thinking more about who was chasing me. But when I got to the aid station after the Vietnam, I was informed that Ben was only a few minutes ahead of me. I quickly gulped down a Surge All Natural Energy Shot and headed out.

The last 18km of the race were really tough. I was really starting to feel the lack of trail running training in the past month and I was having trouble eating anything substantial at the aid stations. At this point I struggled but still managed to get down a Pure Strength Protein Bar from StrongBars Nutrition and an Accel Gel from Pacific Health Labs (two of our new sponsors), which helped give me some much needed energy to keep going. I was still feeling pretty rough and was looking over my shoulder more and more, waiting to get caught by someone else as the kilometers dragged on and on. Then I got to a part of the race I had totally forgotten about – a ski hill climb with a sign at the bottom calling it the “Hell Climb”. This is a quad-busting, soul-breaking, monster of a steep hill that lures you into believing you have climbed it, only to make a sharp left turn and reveal that you are only half way to the summit. From the bottom, I didn’t even really want to look up to see how much climbing there was ahead of me. But when I did, I was very surprised to see Ben about half way up the first part of the climb. This brought me some hope that I wasn’t going much slower than him or the other runners behind us. So I put my head down and just tried to climb at a steady pace. After a while I looked back up the hill and realized I was gaining some ground. So I tried to put in a steady pace to fully close the gap before the top of the hill. I managed to pass Ben somewhere near the sharp left turn (I think… my memory from this part is a little fuzzy!) and tried to put a little distance between us on the second half of the climb. I found out afterwards that at the previous aid station Ben had done an in-race test of a meal replacement shake (in preparation for Hurricana) and it did not sit well with him.

Once at the top, I was informed that it was about 8.5km to the finish, mostly downhill. All I can tell you is that it felt like anything but 8.5km or mostly downhill from that point onward. I was sure I would get caught by Ben and/or somebody else at some point before the end of the race and I was sure that I was going slower and slower as the kilometers wore on. The last 8+ kms felt longer than the whole rest of the race. I just kept looking back, expecting to see someone gaining on me at any moment. But when I finally got to a few long open road sections in the last 2 kilometers, I could see that I had a little cushion to work with, so I just put all my focus on getting to the finish line, all the while just wanting the fatigue to be over with. I was very excited to cross the finish line and finally stop running, all the while taking in the spectacle of the winners of the 120km race who had crossed the finish line shortly before me. I quickly exited the finishers area with as many pieces of watermelon that I could fit in one hand (and one in my mouth) and went to celebrate with a few friends/training partners who had finished their races earlier.

After getting some food, taking off my shoes, socks, and 2XU compression calf sleeves, and chilling out fora little bit, the awards ceremony started. Just as I was getting off the podium I heard what sounded like a familiar scream, followed by Dave McMahon telling me “your girlfriend just came in second place!” We weren’t expecting Nathalie to arrive for at least another 20 minutes, so I was ecstatic to hear she’d finished already – and a little disappointed that I wasn’t at the finish line to greet her. I quickly ran to the fence line to congratulate her on her 2^nd place tie in the women’s 60km race. The pictures of her at the finish line I think tell the story for both of us – a little bit of surprise, a ton of excitement, and even more relief to just be finished such a tough race.

It made a HUGE difference out on the course to know that I was well equipped for the race from a nutritional (NUUN Hydration, Pacific Health Labs, StrongBars Nutrition), clothing (2XU compression), gear (Osprey Packs), and training (Natural Fitness Labs) standpoint. Dave McMahon and Lise Meloche (Natural Fitness Labs) have been outstanding coaches and have helped me to get stronger, faster, and technically better every year. My new Osprey Rev 6 pack felt great through the whole race. And while there were plenty of food options at the aid stations, I carried a few specific nutritional items from our sponsors with me for particular moments in the race and they performed great when I really needed them. And as always, I am convinced that racing (and recovering!) in 2XU compression gear makes a big difference in my performance… and it looks great too!

Nat and I will spend the rest of the week recovering from the race and preparing for a weekend mountain bike weekend at the Kingdom Trails in East Burke, VT next weekend. All this is in preparation for our next big adventure race - Cowboy Tough - in Wyoming in a few weeks.