After arriving in the Huntsville area I picked up my Kayak and checked to around 4 or so. I had a great room down by the water with a great bonus, an in room Jacuzzi! I had requested this when booking thinking it would be a nice post race treat. Nothing else really exciting for the rest of the day; registered for the race, a quick test in the kayak and grabbed some dinner. I spent the rest of the evening trying to organize gear and mix all my water bottles...I knew time in the morning would fly by. I thought I would have trouble sleeping spending too much time thinking about the race and every scenario that may present itself in the coming hours. Luckily that wasn’t the case and I was out like a light.
Race Day!
Up at 6:30 to get a pre-race meal in...however, turns out the resort restaurant didn’t open till 7:30. I figure this out the Friday night just before hitting the sack. Poor planning on my part! I did have some bananas and an energy bar so that worked out ok. I picked up the maps at 7am then took a quick trip into town to hit Timmies for a coffee and bagel.
Took the maps back to my room and plotted the course for the next 45min or so. Looked like a pretty short and simple course...but as I will later learn the hard way, looks can be deceiving! With most of the course plotted it was off to the race briefing. Nothing really new revealed there (well not that I can remember).
After a little last minute prep it was off to the start line....I knew the first section was going to be fast, but it still took me by surprise. I tried to stick near the front with one of the tops teams at the race (Salomon-Suunto/RunningFree). That lasted about 2 minutes before I was dropped on a nasty hill less than a Km from the start. The rest of the ride was a bit of a wake-up call...I need to pick up the intensity of my training! My HR was redlining at over 170 and didn’t drop below 150 for the entire ride. For comparison sake when I am training my average HR is about 135-140, and hits a max of about 155 or so when doing hills. Needless to say I was slowly dropping further back from the lead groups. One of the other solo competitors also passed me here. The fact that the ride was only 10km helped and I managed to push hard enough to get to the paddling transition with before any teams had actually hit the water.
I knew I had to transition fast. I dropped my bike, grabbed my transition bag and pulled out my paddling gear. I opted to leave my bike shoes on for the paddle while many other teams switched to their other shoes. I left the TA in the top 5 with one other solo only a minute or so ahead of me. After only a few hundred meters there was a short portage up and over a dam before getting on the main lake. From here the paddle was pretty straight forward back to the resort (actually the leg ended on the beach right in front of my room). With no paddling training under my belt the paddle was tough, but we had a bit of a tailwind so that helped. Some blaring tunes from my ipod helped too! I managed to get out of the water in 3rd place, passing the other solo racer shortly after the portage.
From past experience I knew that it’s always tough to fuel yourself during a paddling leg. I had thought about this and prepared for it. I had a water bottle with some Hammer Nutrition Perpetuem rigged with a small hose (actually an air hose you would use for an aquarium). I just held the hose in my mouth and paddled away. Initially this seemed like a great idea, especially when I noticed the other solo paddler stopping to drink. I was very conscious of drinking and staying hydrated...but I would soon find an error in my plan. I actually drank too much! After getting out of my boat I could tell I was bloated and the run up to the transition area was not the most comfortable thing I’ve done....I think I only threw up in my mouth 2 or 3 times! Not to worry though, I would soon make up for my error!
Again I focused on another quick transition....quickly changing to my running gear and changing over packs. While paddling I realized that I would need to carry my bike shoes for the trek since I wouldn’t see my bag from this transition at the next TA. I headed off on the trek across the golf course to an unmanned CP then across the highway and into the bush and a big network of trails. We were told CP4 was at the top of the hill on a trail, but of course none of the trails were actually on the map. I always find this a challenge as you can never really be sure where trails go. You are simply left to trust the one heading on more or less the correct bearing (and hope it continues to head that way). Shortly after crossing the highway I bumped into a team of 3 (Team Adrenalin Rush). The interesting thing about this team is that two of the members (a father and son) had recently become the first family to summit Mt. Everest. They have actually knocked down 6 of the 7 summits (the highest on each continent) and are planning a potential trip to Antarctica this December . I travelled with them for a while working our way to CP4. I took a few extra minutes to check a trail I thought was heading to the CP (I knew this from taking a quick look on google earth that had some great images of the race area). After a quick look the trail turned in the wrong direction and I jumped back on the main trail that ended up heading right to the CP. A short run down the hill and there was CP5, a transition to a very short ride before we were trekking again.
With the uncertainty of the trails it seemed that CP4 proved to be a challenge for many teams. With the help of Team Adrenalin Rush I ended up on the correct trail heading to the CP. It turns out that the lead team decided to take some of the uncertainty out of the equation and run a short section of the highway and then a road that lead to CP5, from which CP4 was a short jog up the hill. Other teams searched to woods surrounding the CP for hours.
In the transition I basically grabbed my helmet, had a few sip of redbull and headed off. Not many teams actually switched to their biking shoes because the ride was so short. Immediately after leaving CP5 we headed down a monster hill....all I was thinking is “damn, I know I have to climb back up that later!” CP6 was a bike drop (I dropped the shoes from my pack as well) and transition to more trekking. CP7 was only a few hundred meters from CP6 and quite a unique structure. It’s called the Dyer Memorial and you can read more about it here.
CP8 was just north of CP7 on another network of trails. We were told it was at an intersection of 3 ATV trails.....this actually should have read “at the one of the many intersections of ATV trails”. It turns out there were quite a number of trails in the area. I opted to leave those trails and follow a bearing that should intersect the trails near the CP. I had the right idea and while searching for the CP I bumped into Team Salomon-Suunto/RunningFree that had been leading most of the race running into the lead team is always a good feeling. I guess they had been looking for it for 10-15 minutes. They opted to head in the only direction they hadn’t checked and the CP was only a short distance from where I had hit the trail after a short bushwhack.
From here racers had the option of heading back to CP7/CP9 (the bike drop) or continuing on an advanced section to CP8a. I chose the advanced as did most other teams in the front grouping. This is where things got a bit interesting. The lead team took about 2 minutes to leave me in their dust as we worked our way east to the CP that was located on an island in the middle of a small river. I soon found a steep bank and assumed it was the river I was looking for. I headed down and found a very overgrown stream with nothing that looked like it would support an island. I climbed back up and eventually ran into the Team Adrenalin Rush again. We discussed our location and decided work our way up the steam looking for the CP. We eventually headed back down to the stream and began some nasty bushwhacking trying to located the CP. With no luck after some time (I am not sure how much time passed here and will be anxious to see the split times with the results). Another discussion helped us figure out that we were probably on a small feeder stream of the main river we were looking for. With that decision made I took a new bearing and began to work my way towards the river. I soon ran into a road and the other solo competitor I had been leap-frogging with during the bike and paddle. He hadn’t found the CP yet either.
After comparing some thoughts on our location we quickly found the CP. On our way down the trail we ran into a few teams that had just reached the CP. This is always one of the worst feelings after you know you have made some errors and lost time; seeing teams that were once behind you well in front of you now - It totally sucks! To punch our passport we had to swim a small section of the river to get to the island. The location where the trail leading to the CP hit the river was actually about 50m downstream from the CP. I was sick and tired of bushwhacking at this point and despite the advice of some volunteers I jumped in and made an attempt to swim across to a smaller island against what looked like a mild current. It turns out this current was a little stronger than I though and I wasn’t making any progress so I swam like hell for the point of the island and once tucked behind I managed to get into shallow water and walk up to the CP.
As I was doing this my fellow solo competitor decided he should strip down to swim. I still had my pack on, shoes on etc etc. He was in his tights and nothing more. He actually asked me if he should take his shoes off! I swam back across the river and drifted down back towards the trail. The water was cold but soothing. A photographer was taking some pictures so I will post them here once I get them. After the swim we had a few km on out feet back to the bikes. I left the CP a few minutes before the other solo (Team Young Buck – his name is actually Brendon) but bumped into him again after taking a wrong trail for a minute. I was clearly a little rusty with a map and compass and not thinking clearly.
At this point I was pretty wrecked. Making nav errors and nasty bushwhacking (especially when you don’t need to do it) is exhausting, both physically and mentally. I was feeling it now and my legs didn’t have much left in them as we jogged to the bike transition. I knew at this point if this came down to a race between the two of us I would probably lose! That was not a very comforting feeling. Chatting as we worked out way to the CP and during the transition we basically decided that we would ride the rest of the race out together.
From CP9, the bike transition there was a single CP remaining as well as 3 advanced CPs located near the finish. Once I on the bike it was time to head up that nasty hill I didn’t want to see. This made the fatigue in my legs even worse. I had no power, no energy and felt like I could barely crawl up these hills. I knew the ride wasn’t that long and couldn’t wait for it to be over. On the final leg of the bike we hit a main highway that would take us back to the resort. Making my fatigue level worse was an absolutely nasty headwind! Brendon was nice enough to take the lead and I stuck behind his wheel. If he wasn’t there I am sure I would have been blown into a ditch since I didn’t have the capacity to fight the wind on my own. As we were riding and chatting Brendon had mentioned he misplaced the keys to his van and wasn’t sure how he was going to get home to Kingston. Then he offered me a deal – I could take the win in the solo category if I would help him find his keys! I told him that I would help him anyways and we should finish at the same time. I would be happy with a tie for first in my first race back after the errors I made. It’s definitely better than finishing second and being the first loser.
Anyways as we approached the finish line we were trying to make it interesting, pretending to push hard, sprinting or fighting for position to cross the line. As it turns out we made it to the finish without anyone really noticing....a rather anti-climatic finish to my first race back. Brendon actually had to speak up and announce our arrival to the volunteers working the finish line. Regardless, it felt soooo good to be done! They organizer was even nice enough to have some “champagne” reserved for the first solo finisher. It was no Veuve, but a nice way to celebrate finishing my first race in a long long time.
I did help Brendon search for his keys, but no luck. After calling the Honda dealer he found out the keys are laser cut and he couldn’t get one until Monday. Brutal. He ended up finding them an hour later in one of his transition bags.
It was time to shower, have some much needed dinner and the awards. Oh ya, and a few beer. I would have liked to have had a few more but I was just tired and the Jacuzzi in my room was calling my name. On a side note NEVER turn on the Jacuzzi jets before the water is covering them! I was about to crawl in and soak and watch the second half of game 7 between the Bull and Celtics. I was rather disappointed when I realized my legs were too beat up with scratches to actually put them in the water – it stung like hell! This was a result of wearing my ¾ tights...stupid “rookie” mistake.
All in all I am pretty satisfied with my first race back, but I knew I could have performed better. My nav error cost me valuable time and energy that came back to haunt me for the rest o the race. The other significant factor that I think contributed to my fatigue was hydration. I mentioned I had over hydrated during the paddle. Well after unpacking my bags when I arrived home I noticed I have almost a full bladder (1.5L), a full water bottle (750ml) and two other bottles that weren’t completely empty. That means I drank a little over 2L over almost 6 hours! With the fast pace of the race I totally lost track of my fluid intake and am sure this resulted in serious decline in performance over the last 2 hours of the race. I can’t complain with my result, but I just wish I hadn’t made those errors.
Team Salomon-Suunto/RunningFree ended up winning it all and continue to be one Canada’s powerhouse teams.
Now it is time to focus on trying to become a runner. My next two events are 25km and 50km trail races that are part of the Ontario Ultra Series. The first one is a little more than 2 weeks away now so I have to get back on my feet.
Race photos courtesy of William Young.
