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.

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.        

  

Ultimate XC St Donat 60km trail race- Nat's first podium on an ultra finishing tied for 2nd place in the women's.

I haven’t been doing much ultra runs. Actually I have done 1 pure ultra last year, the Endurance challenge 50km in Utah and that is it.

I have done many ultra distances in Adventure racing but the pace is never the same as in a single discipline race.

I went to the Ultimate XC back in 2011 when it was at Mont Tremblant and was participating at the time in the 3 days event. My 58km run then was very slow (10h38) and I thought I would die for the last 30km which is a considerable amount of time when you think about it.

James and I packed our stuff and went to a friend’s cottage 30 min from the race on the Friday night.

Really nice little place and good company made it for a pleasant and not too stressful evening…except that the water pomp broke and we didn’t have water…or bathroom.

James and I were racing the 60km so we had to wake up pretty early and we made our way towards St Donat, praying to find a Tim Horton open to be able to get breakfast and a bathroom stop.

I was pretty stressed and wasn’t feeling 100% but I had put all the chances on my side to have a good race. I had my 2XU compression shorts and socks, my Altra LonePeak 2.0, my osprey Rev 1.5L, my nuun tablets for hydration and I had my PacificHealthLab gels and strongbar nutrition bars ready to be eaten.

At 6:15am we were in the buses in direction to the start. I was frozen as we couldn’t leave anything in the bus so it was either carrying the sweater the whole way or freezing for 40min…I froze!

 A last quick kiss to James and off we went. I tried not to go too fast but was frustrated to see myself walking the up hills very quickly. My calves started cramping and I had no electrolyte tablets with me. I only had a little bit of Nuun in my camel back so I started drinking. It was a lot steeper than expected. For the first 5-6km another girl and I kept on passing each others. Then the downhill arrived and she blew blast me. Then a group of at least ten people and another girl passed me.

I didn't like the first 20km. I found it a little too technical to my liking and I kept on rolling my ankles on loose rocks covered by leaves. It didn't help that my knee was hurting a little bit preventing me from bending it too much.

I, for once, didn't think negatively but tried to think positive. It was a beautiful day and yes people were passing me but I still had lots of people behind and hey I was catching up to those people as soon as it was climbing.

I started setting up small very achievable goals. To the next aid station then as my legs were starting to be a little sore I was dreaming of the Vietnam section that was at 40km in where I'd be in the water.

At the feed station just before the Vietnam (35km) oh surprise I caught up to one of the two girls that had passed me in the first few kms. I was pretty happy and decided to not let her go. She looked like she was in a down moment and we left to the Vietnam a minute apart. Quickly I caught up to her and we did the section together, helping each others.

It is really nice to be able to run with someone who has about your pace but different strength. By the end of Vietnam we passed a bunch of people who were seating there changing their socks and all. We travelled Joelle and I together for the rest of the course. 18km before the end we made a deal. If we were still neck to neck by the time the 2km came we would go to the finish together. We kept on pushing each other's and passed people on the way. In the last climb some girls told us we were 2nd and 3rd which we didn't believe at first. I could remember the first girl that passed me at the start and I knew there was at least another girl ahead but Joelle told me that we had passed the girl from the start a while ago..oh well we were having a great race and we agreed that finishing on the podium or not we would be happy with our race.

We ended up crossing the line together in 8h37 (on my watch-8h39 on the timing machine-we started late) in second position in the women category.

The organization not wanting to have a tied found out a way to look at the hundredth of a second and called me third. We were 18th and 19th overall out of 51 finishers.

I was more than happy.

I was expecting 9 to 10 hours and mid field and was an hour faster and on top of the field. James crushed it and won the race in 6h57. He is my hero!!!

Nothing felt better than seeing friendly faces at the finish (Dave,Augusto, Amanda and of course James).

Dave and Lise brought me a long way and I'm thankful to Natural Fitness Lab for it.

Nat