Race Report
La Trail du Coureur des Bois, Duchesnay, Québec
8K trail race
May 19th, 2014
Weekend the race
I knew going into the weekend it would be a crazy weekend. Bib pickup on Saturday afternoon in downtown Quebec City, on our way to our youngest son's first soccer game in his preseason tournament that was held about 40 minutes from home. He then 3 more games on Sunday but I'd miss the last one because my wife was in a hip hop competition around dinner time. Her dance troop did so well, they ended up winning their category and in the process were picked as one of the 8 judge's choice to show their routine in the big showcase in the evening. That show was going to be fro 8:30 to 10:30 but they ran quite a bit late so we only got home around 11:30 and I could only get to bed at about midnight on Sunday. I usually go to bed pretty late on most days but wanted to try and get some better sleep before the race but oh well, life happens. And I was so proud of my wife, and my son who ended up scoring a goal during his tournament, something that doesn't happen often for him, a defender...
I tried to eat well over the last few days before the race but it wasn't easy, especially on that crazy Sunday. I think I did a better job this time around than before my half marathon so that's already one tiny win. I made sure not to fight to stay under budget for the last 4-5 days before the race, in fact going 2500 calories over budget (and that is after accounting for exercise) during those last 5 days. Ate decently only to have to eat a Subway roast beef on Sunday evening but heh, life happens. Then got up on Monday and I had dropped two lbs to the exact same weight I had the morning of my half marathon, that kinda made me nervous...
Speaking of Sunday, you might ask, why do a race on a Monday morning? Well, the third Monday of May is a holiday in Canada. For most of Canada, it's known as Victoria Day (I think) and in Quebec, it's called Patriots Day, or something like that. All I know is that it's not a mandatory holiday and my workplace doesn't have it, so I took some time from my own bank of free time to race. Wife was off work and both kids were off school. My mother-in-law also came to cheer me on. My oldest son had my nice Canon camera and my youngest had our older Kodak.
Prerace routine and goals
Race site is maybe 40 minutes away from home too. It's a nice resort/preserve type place. Here's a pic of the cabins they have on site that my youngest son took:
I'd heard the name Duchesnay very often since my youth but had never been there myself. Both my sons had been on visits with their school groups. Three events were offered: 18K, 8K, and 1.5K for kids.
Since I have never even trained on trail, I felt that 8K would be plenty for me. I'm very glad I made that decision. Because of all the unknown, not the least of which was that I had no idea about elevation gains and such, I didn't set any goals for myself in that race. I was there to enjoy a new experience, give it my all but especially, cross that finish line for the first time this season and put behind the DNF of two weeks ago.
The start of the 8K was set for 9 am but before that, the 18K was set for an 8:30 start and I watched them go by waves of 6 every 10-12 seconds. Was glad I watched at least part of it as it gave me an idea of how it would go for me. I then set out to warmup, running about a mile in the long parking lot with some strides to get the leg going. I'd heard them announce that the start of the 8K would be in 20 minutes so after a quick bathroom stop I made my way toward the line. Thing is, many people had already lined up in no particular order. Newbie that I am, I didn't want to impose myself and get to the front. I mean, I didn't even know where I'd fit in there. I just knew I'd probably be passing many people as I was about 2/3 of the way back in line. :O
Race start and loop around
They started the first waves at exactly 9 and we slowly started inching forward. My watch indicates an activity start time at 9:11. With a wave of 6 going every 12 seconds (or 5 waves per minute), that means 55 waves or almost 330 runners ahead of me. Yikes, I knew there were a lot of people ahead, just hadn't realized until now it was that many...
And there we go!
The course started with a sort of loop around the cabins, at first going downhill through the parking lot. We soon got to a path and the fun began. I was going at my usual 7:15/mile pace or probably faster and was passing people every 20 feet. In that portion people were good and stayed in a one line, not doubling up too much. Once on the back of the cabins, we head back up with a first steep uphill and one goal surfaced in my mind. There would probably be many other steep uphill like that, right? I made a deal with myself that I'd try not to walk any of those hills.
Here's what my watch recorded over the course of the race. You can see the loop around and when we disappeared in the woods..
And here's the elevation profile according to Strava:
Entering the woods
Right before entering the woods, we got some crazy downhill and then the fun bega, or continued with a long legbreaker typ of uphill that lasted almost one km. I wasn't really sprinting forward but I wasn't walking either. I kept passing people but here and there, it got a bit more difficult to pass some at times. I had to announce my coming to a couple of girls (young ladies
) who had slowed down to a walk and were talking together on their way up. I tried to not be too rude and between two breathes I kinda whispered something along the lines of "please, one line" and they allowed me through. That was the only time i had to actually say something. Further into the woods, the crowd had thinned out enough that there was rarely more than one runner to pass at a time.
Following that first uphill was an ok downhill path on some pack sand in which I sorta was able to increase my pace but that would be the last time. We then went through many twists and turns with a bit of a uphil around midrace and then a long downhill that I remember leaving me almost more tired than if it had been a uphill. That bit was crazy. Roots, rocks, mud, it had it all, going downhill no less. At first I was trying not to jump into the mud pits and I even rock skipped a few times, slowing the heck down, even though I was going downhill. And through this all, I kept passing slower runners, sidestepping at times. At one point, I got behind a group of four that was going a decent pace but they slowed down and a girl and I went forward until a moment later she stepped aside and I went into the lead, only to realize I had no real path ahead of me! I remembered that our course was marked with pink ribbons but I wasn't seeing any! Of course, I was watching the ground in order to avoid twisting an ankle. I slowed a bit down, moved my eyes up a bit and saw a pink ribbon with a clearer opening in the trees and there I went.
It was more of the same until we crossed a road. As you can see from the satellite picture, ou course some sort of road four times. At every crossing, there was a volunteer making sure no car was coming and at that last crossing, I heard the volunteer announce we only had 1.6 km (or about a mile) to go. That kinda confused me because my watch had only 6.1 km on it, not 6.4. Didn't give it much thought and started to go down the side road ditch in order to go back up and cross the road when my left foot stepped wrong and I stumbled, sending me down on my knees adn elbows. First reflect, and when I knew I really was one of those crazy runners? I checked my Garmin to make sure it was still going. Heard the volunteer ask me if I was all right but I was already up, with some sand rubbing between my watch and my wrist. I yelled over my shoulder that I was ok and I ran on.
I almost fell down at least two times in the next 100 meters or so, thanks for tree roots that I failed to clear with my left foot. I made a mental note to be more aware and not let myself be caught again and from then on, not sure if I slowed down much, but I was able to get out of the wooden area to face the last crazy uphill. You see that two prong peaks around km 7. That last climb sure was a b*tch. But I never walked, NEVER WALKED! I was joging as slow as almost staying in place, but I.NEVER. WALKED. Very proud of that.
Crazy downhill finish
Then out the woods we came to some crazy downhill. The start of the downhill was on some wooden path made in some sort of long step staircase where you had to be carefull but I came out of there next to an older gentleman. He seemd willing to push me so it was off to the races. Dang that last push was amazing, exhilarating is the word! From the Strava graph, for the last 100m or so, I had a pace around 2:50 or 3:00/km (4:34-4:50/mile).
Here I am in front of that gentleman:
The stop area wasn't very long and I had to stop quickly. I remember pumping my fist in the air and I looked for one of my sons with the camera.
Found my youngest and struck a dominance pose, I had beaten that course!
Then found my oldest and flashed him the thumbs up!
My wife came around and told me they didn't expect me so soon after seeing me start behind so many people. She added they were kinda caught off guard when they saw me get out of the wood at that time. She told me she thought I had at least a top 20 finish and I told her she was crazy. There was something very nice about hearing the announcer say my name out loud as I came close to the finish line.
Got that first finisher medal of the season and I had to take a bite out of it
After race fun
Got my after race lunch, a nice warm omelette inside a croissant with a bunch of good things like the usual banana, gatorade, juice box, greek yogurt, cheese and such.
I had left my iPhone in the car but wanted to see where I ranked. I had installed the sportstats.ca app on my phone but it wasn't on my wife's phone. I installed it but couldn't find my race on it so tried to go to there website but was too hungry then so I left her phone to my wife. Took her like 15 seconds to tell me "hey, you came in 9th!" I just couldn't believe it, still can't. I was later pushed back to 10th by a late finisher but still, amazingly happy.
My time of 42:16.0 was also good enough for 3rd in my category (M40-49), only 16 seconds from second place (42:00.2), and about a minute from first place (41:06.6)!
I like to see my placements in percentage so here goes:
Overall: 10th out of 438 finishers or top 2.28%
Men: 10th out of 167 or top 5.99%
Category: 3rd out of 61 or 4.91%
That fall did leave a mark though, and some good mud painting
Bloody knee too...
Nothing too bad, just a bit tender to the touch. And well, it burned like crazy in the shower.
Feet and ankles are feeling it this morning. Knees too but not too bad. This morning went out for a 2 miler recovery run in which I tried to keep my heart rate at 110 or less and succeeded, averaging 109 BPM over the run. Had to slow down my pace to an average of about 10:53/mile to get it done.
Well, that's it. That was an amazing experience and I would like to do it again next year. In fact, when we were at our son's soccer tournament, they left pamphlet under our car wipers advertising a trail race for June 7th. I just got too crazy of a schedule to even think about it but it tempted me for a moment...
I also opted not to run with music in this race since I expected to either be passed of have to pass people and I wanted to be aware of my surrounding. I think this'll be my way to go for all future races. Music will be with me in training but not in races. You just lose too much of the crowd feeling when the music is on.
Next up is a 10K descent that should be a lot of fun in two weeks. I had a 12x 400m workout planned for tomorrow that I will probably push back a day or two...
FM