This was my first time doing this event and what an amazing event it was!
After a huge weather warmup the day/night before the race and some rain, freezing rain, and snow overnight, the course was in surprisingly good shape considering everything. The sun was shining, temps around zero celcius but there was a very stiff wind of 30-50km/h blowing on les Plaines d'Abraham. Getting ready was a little chaotic, but it was due to my own organizational challenges - the race organization was very dialed in... and necessarily so, given the complexity of having singular transition area for all 5 disciplines, the finish in the middle of the skate oval, and easy access to the course for each discipline.
The start was a 300m LeMans run to the bikes. People were pretty serious about getting to their bikes and there was quite a bit of bumping going on as we got closer to our bikes. The bike course was ~15km (5x3km loops) on pavement - some parts completely dry and other sections all or partially covered in snow and slush. I held my own and even gained a little ground on the snow and slushy sections against the cyclocross bikes, but my mountain bike was no match for them on the bare pavement sections that were mostly straight and downhill. I was pushing very hard right from the start - likely due to almost no warmup and also just from trying to keep pace with the cyclocross bikes (I was pedaling hard on the downhills!). I was getting quite worried early on about blowing up at this pace, considering there were still 4 more disciplines to come! I posted a time of 38:20 with the leaders finishing in 33:11.
The run was about a 5.5 km (3 loops) run on almost all bare pavement. My toes were numb coming off the bike and for about 1.5 laps of the run. But I generally felt good and had a pretty solid run, considering that flati-ish road runs are certainly not my strength. I completed this section in 24:12 while the leader did it in 20:17.
Skate Ski - I haven't been skate skiing much in the past month, having done the CSM and the 51km classic at the Gatienau Loppet. I was a little shaky getting onto the 8 km (3 loops) ski course and sure enough on the first downhill, which had a hard left turn, the guy in front of me wiped out and I crashed trying to avoid him. This cost me a fair bit of time and energy and it looks like about 3 spots in the overall ranking. The rest of the ski was ok, but this was probably my weakest of the events on the day. Finished in 29:06 with the leader in 20:58.
The skate was 8.4 km on a 420m oval. The ice was pretty smooth but getting a little beat up with the steady increase in skaters as the laps wore on. Part of the biggest challenge was accurately counting the 20 laps we had to do (I think about 14 of the ~80 competitors failed at the counting test!) I actually really enjoyed the skate and felt quite smooth and fast, although my back got quite sore and my calves would occasionally spasm or something (never felt that before). I managed to count to 20 properly ;-) and I finished in 22:52 with the leader completing the skate in 20:58. Lost some time falling down 3 times after getting off the ice and trying to walk to my spot in the transition area through the soft snow with my clip-on skate blades attached. This was mandatory (keeping the blades attached, not the falling down!), but almost all competitors seemed to agree that it was ridiculous and somewhat dangerous.
The snowshoe marked the final 5.1 km (3 loops) mostly on single track. I was pretty wiped by this time and wasn't really sure what to expect on the first loop, so I took this loop a little slower. Once I had an idea of how much pain (i.e., climbing) there was to come I was able to manage the second and third loops better. I ran the last loop pretty hard and managed to pass a few people in the final few hundred metres of the race.
Final results: I finished 5/23 in my category (Male 30-39), 14/73 overall male.
This was a tough but fun and very well-organized event. Definitely worth the trip to Quebec City in the winter!
After a huge weather warmup the day/night before the race and some rain, freezing rain, and snow overnight, the course was in surprisingly good shape considering everything. The sun was shining, temps around zero celcius but there was a very stiff wind of 30-50km/h blowing on les Plaines d'Abraham. Getting ready was a little chaotic, but it was due to my own organizational challenges - the race organization was very dialed in... and necessarily so, given the complexity of having singular transition area for all 5 disciplines, the finish in the middle of the skate oval, and easy access to the course for each discipline.
The start was a 300m LeMans run to the bikes. People were pretty serious about getting to their bikes and there was quite a bit of bumping going on as we got closer to our bikes. The bike course was ~15km (5x3km loops) on pavement - some parts completely dry and other sections all or partially covered in snow and slush. I held my own and even gained a little ground on the snow and slushy sections against the cyclocross bikes, but my mountain bike was no match for them on the bare pavement sections that were mostly straight and downhill. I was pushing very hard right from the start - likely due to almost no warmup and also just from trying to keep pace with the cyclocross bikes (I was pedaling hard on the downhills!). I was getting quite worried early on about blowing up at this pace, considering there were still 4 more disciplines to come! I posted a time of 38:20 with the leaders finishing in 33:11.
The run was about a 5.5 km (3 loops) run on almost all bare pavement. My toes were numb coming off the bike and for about 1.5 laps of the run. But I generally felt good and had a pretty solid run, considering that flati-ish road runs are certainly not my strength. I completed this section in 24:12 while the leader did it in 20:17.
Skate Ski - I haven't been skate skiing much in the past month, having done the CSM and the 51km classic at the Gatienau Loppet. I was a little shaky getting onto the 8 km (3 loops) ski course and sure enough on the first downhill, which had a hard left turn, the guy in front of me wiped out and I crashed trying to avoid him. This cost me a fair bit of time and energy and it looks like about 3 spots in the overall ranking. The rest of the ski was ok, but this was probably my weakest of the events on the day. Finished in 29:06 with the leader in 20:58.
The skate was 8.4 km on a 420m oval. The ice was pretty smooth but getting a little beat up with the steady increase in skaters as the laps wore on. Part of the biggest challenge was accurately counting the 20 laps we had to do (I think about 14 of the ~80 competitors failed at the counting test!) I actually really enjoyed the skate and felt quite smooth and fast, although my back got quite sore and my calves would occasionally spasm or something (never felt that before). I managed to count to 20 properly ;-) and I finished in 22:52 with the leader completing the skate in 20:58. Lost some time falling down 3 times after getting off the ice and trying to walk to my spot in the transition area through the soft snow with my clip-on skate blades attached. This was mandatory (keeping the blades attached, not the falling down!), but almost all competitors seemed to agree that it was ridiculous and somewhat dangerous.
The snowshoe marked the final 5.1 km (3 loops) mostly on single track. I was pretty wiped by this time and wasn't really sure what to expect on the first loop, so I took this loop a little slower. Once I had an idea of how much pain (i.e., climbing) there was to come I was able to manage the second and third loops better. I ran the last loop pretty hard and managed to pass a few people in the final few hundred metres of the race.
Final results: I finished 5/23 in my category (Male 30-39), 14/73 overall male.
This was a tough but fun and very well-organized event. Definitely worth the trip to Quebec City in the winter!
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