Training Log Archive: 'BentIn the 7 days ending Aug 31, 2013:
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Friday Aug 30, 2013 #
Note
CCC
Running race 20:57:00 [3] 101.0 km (12:27 / km) +6109m 9:33 / km
shoes: Hoka Mafate 2 B
CCC Courmayeur-Champex-Chamonix. This is about 2/3 the full UTMB loop.
Bash had qualified for the big boy, the full UTMB, so that was the main inspiration.
Been a long time coming, nursing knee and foot injuries, and missed a lot of racing this year in favour of training. Coach Spaff did a great job working with my odd requirements of incorporating my trail run commute with dogs into the plan, and accommodating my bad knee. I always knew he was watching AP. Carbon was always supposed to be out here running with us too, but sadly had medical issues.
Download to follow once I have more than the Attackpad.
Ms Gally, Meg and I got a room in Courmayeur Italy the night before the race rather than ride the early shuttle. We had a great dinner and gelato, and a good night sleep. Carbon had booked it, only 200m from the start line.
Weather was absolutely perfect- best we've seen here yet. I was hoping to run with MsGally, assuming Tiny would blow the doors off up ahead. I had set up a race plan based on a 21:10 time, which I thought should be do-able. Tiny had a faster plan.
It turned out to be a wave start, and WandAr and I were in wave 2, 15 min behind MsG and Tiny unfortunately. Huge production at the start, with throngs of cheering fans, dramatic music, costumed cowbell ringers, GoPro drones filming etc.
The plan was to watch the HR and not blow up. We started with a pretty long road climb, so lots of opportunity for the pack to sort out before we hit the big climb to Tete du la Tronche (Highest point for any race). On the climb it was one big single speed conga line, with no chance to pass, so HR was at a nice comfy level.
Look closely for the line of runners snaking up.
Once at the top it opened up, and I was able to let the Hokas roll and fly past masses of conservative descenders. The last part of the descent was too steep for that, and a real quad-buster, even with really heavy pole use. I got to CP1 at the Bertone hut just as Ms Gally was leaving, so had a 1 minute transition and caught her.
From then on we paced together. Nice easy terrain for a bit with jaw-dropping views, and great to have company. We used my HRM to keep the reins on both of us- it was often tempting to go harder as it felt easy. Big steep climb up to the Swiss border at Grand Col, then a great long easy descent.
This is Grand Col Ferret, the border to Switzerland.
By evening we didn't need the HRM- our legs weren't going that hard any more. We had Ms G set a very sensible pace on the climbs. I was eating and drinking well, and I felt like I had a lot left in my legs on the downhills and flats in town, but we stayed together. It seemed that there's a sweet spot in my descending speed that spares the quads and braking it down was actually harder on the legs and my knee, so I'd get ahead and stop to take pics.
Sadly we passed Tiny on a downhill, not looking too good. The climbs were clobbering him, but we suspected with his experience he'd come back strong.
We saw Myka and Meg-eh waving a big Canadian flag at Champex, the first cp where assistance was allowed. We had arrived almost exactly on schedule. As soon as I tried to get some food down, I noticed my stomach wasn't great. Got down a few noodles and a coke, but didn't care for the sausage or cheese on offer. Luckily Myka was fantastic- she had my drop bag, so I got a fruit cup down, fully replenished my food for my pack, and changed into 3/4 tights and a fresh shirt ready for the night. Just as we headed out we saw Tiny come in.
We had a long climb to Bovine ahead of us. I started to feel a bit woozy and nauseated around 9:30, even though my legs were great on the climbs. By midnight we were up at the top, where I performed a duet with a fellow playing a horn in the farm. He'd play some notes, I'd hurl and dry heave, he'd play some more, I'd respond with BLEAGHH... It seemed to start with one sip of Vitargo, which is normally easy on the gut. I perked up again shortly after, and was leading MsGally back down the mountain. She commented on all the die-hard fans ringing cowbells in the dark, until I pointed out that those were cows coming home to the barn. Tiny had indeed recovered, and caught up to us while I was ailing. I managed to get a pack of Honey Stinger gummies down over an hour or so. This descent was steep, and my knee felt it a bit, but the poles were pure gold.
We all made it to Trient together, precisely on schedule despite issues. Unfortunately Mika had gotten stranded by the busses after waiting to help WandAR and she had all my gear, so no more fruit cups or Balderson cheddar for my queasy tum. I did get some coke and a bit of soup down with a slice of bread, but the local cheese didn't go down well.
Megeh had made it there OK and helped Cathy with some foot first aid.
All 3 of us left together, and stayed together from then on. One more big climb, and Tiny was fine at MsGally's pace. Back down to Vallorcine right on schedule to meet Megeh and Mike but Myka was still in Bus-limbo. (Too hard to help multiple racers who are separated given the bus shuttles which gave priority to DNF racers). Got down a coke and soup and one piece of cheese.
I'd been feeling OK, legs still great, but got queasy again on the last big rocky climb up to La Flegere. I had gotten a red bull, but couldn't stomach it or anything else except half a dozen goldfish crackers from Tiny. I tried to gag down some Stingers, but only got 2 down before I started puking again. That woke me up more than the red bull would have anyway. Running on empty, but couldn't get anything down but a few chips Tiny gave me. I had forgotten about the ginger pills I had brought when I was sick the first time, and now I couldn't find them (They had gotten moved into a different pocket)
CP at a high pass
It was amazing to finally see the lights of Chamonix at 3:30 AM or so as we crossed the final pass. I hear the view is nice... In daylight.
I was thrilled to find a road on the last big descent, and my grateful legs flew down the first bit in the knee-and-quad-sparing roll, but I dropped the others so waited up. MsGally's quads were shot, so we took the endless switchbacks conservatively as a few packs of Euros flew by. Tiny and I ignored her "you guys leave me and take off", as she stuck by me when I was sick and there was no way we'd split up now. It was absolutely great to hit town and run in as a threesome through cheering crowds. Meg handed me a big Canadian flag, and we crossed the line waving it proudly. So great to finish together!
We were pretty surprised to see we were in the top quarter. I was 393 out of 1909 starters, 1600 finishers. In my category I was 28/251 starters.
WandAR finished well too in about 24:30, so great showing by Canada.
Bash had qualified for the big boy, the full UTMB, so that was the main inspiration.
Been a long time coming, nursing knee and foot injuries, and missed a lot of racing this year in favour of training. Coach Spaff did a great job working with my odd requirements of incorporating my trail run commute with dogs into the plan, and accommodating my bad knee. I always knew he was watching AP. Carbon was always supposed to be out here running with us too, but sadly had medical issues.
Download to follow once I have more than the Attackpad.
Ms Gally, Meg and I got a room in Courmayeur Italy the night before the race rather than ride the early shuttle. We had a great dinner and gelato, and a good night sleep. Carbon had booked it, only 200m from the start line.
 |
| From 2013 France CCC |
Weather was absolutely perfect- best we've seen here yet. I was hoping to run with MsGally, assuming Tiny would blow the doors off up ahead. I had set up a race plan based on a 21:10 time, which I thought should be do-able. Tiny had a faster plan.
It turned out to be a wave start, and WandAr and I were in wave 2, 15 min behind MsG and Tiny unfortunately. Huge production at the start, with throngs of cheering fans, dramatic music, costumed cowbell ringers, GoPro drones filming etc.
The plan was to watch the HR and not blow up. We started with a pretty long road climb, so lots of opportunity for the pack to sort out before we hit the big climb to Tete du la Tronche (Highest point for any race). On the climb it was one big single speed conga line, with no chance to pass, so HR was at a nice comfy level.
 |
| From 2013 France CCC |
Look closely for the line of runners snaking up.
Once at the top it opened up, and I was able to let the Hokas roll and fly past masses of conservative descenders. The last part of the descent was too steep for that, and a real quad-buster, even with really heavy pole use. I got to CP1 at the Bertone hut just as Ms Gally was leaving, so had a 1 minute transition and caught her.
From then on we paced together. Nice easy terrain for a bit with jaw-dropping views, and great to have company. We used my HRM to keep the reins on both of us- it was often tempting to go harder as it felt easy. Big steep climb up to the Swiss border at Grand Col, then a great long easy descent.
This is Grand Col Ferret, the border to Switzerland.
By evening we didn't need the HRM- our legs weren't going that hard any more. We had Ms G set a very sensible pace on the climbs. I was eating and drinking well, and I felt like I had a lot left in my legs on the downhills and flats in town, but we stayed together. It seemed that there's a sweet spot in my descending speed that spares the quads and braking it down was actually harder on the legs and my knee, so I'd get ahead and stop to take pics.
Sadly we passed Tiny on a downhill, not looking too good. The climbs were clobbering him, but we suspected with his experience he'd come back strong.
We saw Myka and Meg-eh waving a big Canadian flag at Champex, the first cp where assistance was allowed. We had arrived almost exactly on schedule. As soon as I tried to get some food down, I noticed my stomach wasn't great. Got down a few noodles and a coke, but didn't care for the sausage or cheese on offer. Luckily Myka was fantastic- she had my drop bag, so I got a fruit cup down, fully replenished my food for my pack, and changed into 3/4 tights and a fresh shirt ready for the night. Just as we headed out we saw Tiny come in.
We had a long climb to Bovine ahead of us. I started to feel a bit woozy and nauseated around 9:30, even though my legs were great on the climbs. By midnight we were up at the top, where I performed a duet with a fellow playing a horn in the farm. He'd play some notes, I'd hurl and dry heave, he'd play some more, I'd respond with BLEAGHH... It seemed to start with one sip of Vitargo, which is normally easy on the gut. I perked up again shortly after, and was leading MsGally back down the mountain. She commented on all the die-hard fans ringing cowbells in the dark, until I pointed out that those were cows coming home to the barn. Tiny had indeed recovered, and caught up to us while I was ailing. I managed to get a pack of Honey Stinger gummies down over an hour or so. This descent was steep, and my knee felt it a bit, but the poles were pure gold.
We all made it to Trient together, precisely on schedule despite issues. Unfortunately Mika had gotten stranded by the busses after waiting to help WandAR and she had all my gear, so no more fruit cups or Balderson cheddar for my queasy tum. I did get some coke and a bit of soup down with a slice of bread, but the local cheese didn't go down well.
Megeh had made it there OK and helped Cathy with some foot first aid.
 |
| From 2013 France CCC |
All 3 of us left together, and stayed together from then on. One more big climb, and Tiny was fine at MsGally's pace. Back down to Vallorcine right on schedule to meet Megeh and Mike but Myka was still in Bus-limbo. (Too hard to help multiple racers who are separated given the bus shuttles which gave priority to DNF racers). Got down a coke and soup and one piece of cheese.
I'd been feeling OK, legs still great, but got queasy again on the last big rocky climb up to La Flegere. I had gotten a red bull, but couldn't stomach it or anything else except half a dozen goldfish crackers from Tiny. I tried to gag down some Stingers, but only got 2 down before I started puking again. That woke me up more than the red bull would have anyway. Running on empty, but couldn't get anything down but a few chips Tiny gave me. I had forgotten about the ginger pills I had brought when I was sick the first time, and now I couldn't find them (They had gotten moved into a different pocket)
CP at a high pass
It was amazing to finally see the lights of Chamonix at 3:30 AM or so as we crossed the final pass. I hear the view is nice... In daylight.
 |
| From 2013 France CCC |
I was thrilled to find a road on the last big descent, and my grateful legs flew down the first bit in the knee-and-quad-sparing roll, but I dropped the others so waited up. MsGally's quads were shot, so we took the endless switchbacks conservatively as a few packs of Euros flew by. Tiny and I ignored her "you guys leave me and take off", as she stuck by me when I was sick and there was no way we'd split up now. It was absolutely great to hit town and run in as a threesome through cheering crowds. Meg handed me a big Canadian flag, and we crossed the line waving it proudly. So great to finish together!
 |
| From 2013 France CCC |
We were pretty surprised to see we were in the top quarter. I was 393 out of 1909 starters, 1600 finishers. In my category I was 28/251 starters.
WandAR finished well too in about 24:30, so great showing by Canada.
Wednesday Aug 28, 2013 #
Running 30:00 [2]
shoes: Cascadia 7
Easy jog along the river with Bash. Another bluebird day. I stink at tapering- all these great trails up and down the mountains with runners everywhere- it's killing me to not gallop off. I suspect by Friday night being on the couch will be looking pretty good though.
Monday Aug 26, 2013 #
Running 30:00 [2]
shoes: Cascadia 7
Easy run around trails in Chamonix. Spaff had me down for 45 minutes, but I think climbing stairs at 3800m and hiking around at 2300 m should count for something.
We woke up early but. Mont Blanc was socked in, so back to sleep until it cleared up perfectly. We went up the Aiguille de Midi cable car to the top and got a few clear views, then down to the plain when it socked in again.
Met Myka, WandAR, Storm and Browner in town, and watched the PTL racers take off.
We woke up early but. Mont Blanc was socked in, so back to sleep until it cleared up perfectly. We went up the Aiguille de Midi cable car to the top and got a few clear views, then down to the plain when it socked in again.
Met Myka, WandAR, Storm and Browner in town, and watched the PTL racers take off.