Training Log Archive: Leanimal

What can I say, the race was epic. There were so many things to consider when Pete and I discussed doing Raid the North Extreme 2011. In 2009 I had a great season while Pete was injured, racing the Michigan Expedition with the girls and coming in 2nd, winning Untamed New England and an entry to Portugal. Attending the World Champs in Portugal, a disappointing race, but a race against the best nonetheless. 2010 started with me going to Ecuador with the girls and then we got some great news, I was pregnant! So the 2010 racing season would be a bit different for me. Pete, however had recovered from his knee injury and would compete in the Wilderness Traverse and the World Champs in Spain without me. I was happy to support from the sidelines but in 2011 we wanted to race together again.

A late July, early August race meant that I could nurse our daughter for 7 months. I really wanted to be able to do it for longer than that. I struggled with this decision. My own mother left me to go on a ski vacation in Europe after only 2 months and I turned out okay didn’t I? What if I could get my milk back after the race? Our midwife had never encountered this dilemma before so we were on our own to try to figure it out.

I decided that we had to give it a go. After our failed attempt at a finish in 2007 in Haida Gwaii, we wanted another chance. The mountains weren’t familiar to us and so we tried to establish a team with at least one member with mountain experience. When that fell through 2 1/2 weeks prior to the the race we were crushed. Maybe it wasn’t meant to be. But Pete had other plans. He stalked people on the internet like I have never seen. In the end we ended up with the perfect compliment to our team. Jean-Yves Dionne, from Quebec, came to our rescue and with very little notice, packed his bags, left his infant son and pregnant wife and joined us for the expedition of a lifetime.

Pete has outlined the race very well in his report. I only want to add my perspective. I went into this race feeling somewhat fit. My daughter wasn’t even 7 months old but I had been lucky enough to train more than most with Grandparents close by. I just didn’t know how the whole pregnancy-birth thing would affect me over the long haul. I was down about 10 lbs pre-birth but I was sure some of that was muscle. I needed all the strength I could for the upcoming battle with the mountains.

I felt more at ease going in to this race than any other race I had done. I think it mostly had to do with being a new mom. When there is nothing more important in the world than what you have at home, the rest of it just seems easy. Ha! Easy, I should remember that.

I usually feel quite strong on the bike but the relentless climb during Stage one of the race had me questioning my ability. I also continued to question my choice of a 29er for my new bike. No time to turn back now. We made it to the top, in 6th place and looked forward to our first crack at navigation. There were steep descents, gnarly bush, treacherous footing, river crossings and snowy ascents, but in the end we made it to CP2 in 6th place amongst high mountain peaks and glowing stars. It was the first in a series of moments that I will remember for very long time.

Over the course of the next 5 days my teammates and I shared a common goal. Keep moving forward in the most efficient manner possible (and sometimes this wasn’t so efficient) and support one another in this endeavour. There are things we could have done differently, there always is, but in the end I think we can all be proud of our accomplishment. We don’t live in the mountains, we don’t train in the mountains, but we survived in the mountains.

Pete, in his report, mentions our hasty retreat from CP8 back into the Valhalla alpine. I had convinced myself that we were pushing to meet a “9 am” deadline for CP12 , on the following bike leg. This lead to our decision to push on and not take a much needed nap in some available beds at this location. I kick myself to this day. The cut-off was 9pm, which meant we had time to sleep. It is hard to decide when to sleep in these races but we have been doing it long enough to know that sleep equals increased speed when moving. I believe this could have made a big difference to the rest of our race, but that is something that I will just have to get over.

The 70km long paddle section posed it’s challenges. We started out in the dark and planned on bedding down along the way. We probably should have slept in the TA, as did Tecnu, because our speed heading down the long lake was pretty slow to begin with. After CP14 we found somewhere to sleep for over an hour before getting back on the eerily calm lake for a glorious paddle in the sunshine. Days of sleep deprivation lead to laughter and conversation as we sang along to the tunes provided to us by an extremely generous racer whose team was now out of the race. He was devastated to hear we were about to tackle 70kms of monotony without tunes. I don’t think anyone has ever butchered a Meatloaf song like I did that night.

At the town(?) of Renata we were greeted by volunteers who had made a spread of sandwiches and hot dogs for us.....oh the excitement. Sooooo yummy. We transitioned to bike as Tecnu paddled in right behind us. The following bike struggle up Bulldog Mountain was a low for me. My blister was throbbing in my bike shoes and here we were once again pushing our bikes, riding what we could, and struggling to stay ahead of Tecnu. I really didn’t want to get passed on this leg. I knew there was a lot more racecourse to be seen but the mental anguish that comes with being passed on a really physical section is demoralizing. I have to admit that I had tears in my eyes at this point. I was frustrated beyond belief with this blister and all I wanted was to be able to stay on my bike. Not so. I took the lead on this section, yanking my bike at times, riding more than my legs were capable of, just to stay off my feet. By the time we got to the top I felt much better.....Pete has raced with me enough to know that I don’t need to be coddled, I just need to be left alone.

Finally, we were down to just two sections left in the race. Long sections, but we were closer to the finish line than the start and that felt good. Tecnu was in TA with us and we were all smiles heading out onto the final trek. Yogaslackers had still not been heard from so we were hoping we had enough of a headstart to keep them in our rearview. Pete had a great plan for this section and it worked beautifully. After climbing through a large culvert under the highway we were taking a much more gradual route to CP18. He was so focussed sometimes it seemed he was frantic. I guess I was just soooo out of it that I couldn’t understand what he was doing. I think he had given up on me as a back up navigator by this point. Good thing because most of my answers to his questions were “I don’t know” or “I don’t really understand what is happening”. Not exactly what he was looking for. We needed sleep, I needed sleep. I hadn’t slept at all the first time we bedded down so I was looking at very little sleep up to this point. I was useless. When we finally did bunker down I shook uncontrollably as my emergency blanket was more like a piece of saran wrap. I guess this was one of the old ones - sh*t! Why I didn’t have a bivvy is beyond me....next time. With some daylight and triangulation we figured out how close we were to the CP and in short time we were there, thankfully still ahead of Tecnu and now a mere 90 minutes behind DART-Nuun.

As the sun rose on our last day of racing we were headed toward our final push. A bike ride up and over a mountain pass before hitting the famous Seven Summits Trail. I envisioned us cruising along a ridgeline, flowing around corners like a meandering river. Why I thought it would be that easy is beyond me. Nothing in this race was easy. There was no reprieve from the physical struggle. The temperatures were rising as we got into our bike gear and when we left the TA I was feeling pretty physically spent. I knew I hadn’t been eating enough on the trek and now I was going to pay. On the way up the first monster climb I told Pete that just in case he wanted to know, I was feeling about a 3 or 4 out of 10. Not a good place to be. I was having trouble focussing my eyes as we spun our way up. The guys immediately emptied my pack and I tried to consume as many calories as I could get in. I was ready to see the finish line.

The Seven Summits trail was beautiful, I think. I had my eyes on the trail most of the time even though we were there in the fading light of another gorgeous day in the West Kootenays. At CP20 we met up with a photographer who informed us that we had missed the 6pm cut-off. I was so spent that I was actually glad to hear this. I looked at Jean-Yves and saw the disappointment on his face and immediately knew that I would share this sentiment when the race was over and I didn’t feel so sh*tty. We could have done it. We had the time, but we also had a team chasing us and didn’t know where they were. We also had to follow the race instructions and we had missed the cut off, simple as that. When I look at the leaderboard now and see “modified full course” beside our name, of course I am disappointed. CP21 was an out-and-back. A chance to climb another mountain and it would have been spectacular at sunset but a challenge for the sake of challenge nonetheless. We moved on.

I couldn’t believe I was actually b*tching in my head about the descent. It was looooong. It was rocky and it shook us to the core. It kept going and going. There were times when I had no control over my bike as it bounced over loose rock and skidded over sand. Jean-Yves went down hard and it was a reminder to us that we were so close but it could all be over with a major injury. Slow down, stay in control. Pete lead the way from CP22 in Rossland to the city of Trail and the finish line. We had one stop to consult with a group of campfire partygoers about the Wagon trail from Rossland to Trail and it was hard to get away as they wanted stories of the race. They told us we were crazy, yelled congrats and many good luck wishes in getting to the finish line. It seemed like Pete was taking us on a maze of trails and all I could picture was us somehow getting past the city of Trail and riding back out into the BC wilderness unknowingly. It’s a good thing he had more faith in himself because, just as I was thinking we were done, for we emerged onto a paved road and into the city of Trail. My body sagged with relief. I was cold, tired, and hungry. We cruised down the pavement, the only time we could sit on our bikes without intense effort. Into the park, we could hear cheering - the finish line. We had done it.

As we slowed to a stop, my body was buzzing. The champagne flowed, we hugged each other in congratulations for a job well done. I had a smile on my face as a flood of memories came back to me of our experience over the past week. Pete and I had a chance to race together once again and I knew we would be talking about this race for a long time. I loved racing with this team, I can’t thank my teammates enough for the pleasure of racing with them. With all of the drama that we heard about on other teams I had to be thankful that not once did we have tensions increase on our team - it was a pretty good mix.

I know other teams didn’t have nearly the experience we did, not with the racecourse and not with the logistics. We were in a sweet spot and for that I am grateful. As I sank into bed that night I could only think of one thing. Mari. I think she would be proud of her Mom and Dad, and I couldn’t wait to see her.

C • now my eyes are full of tears 8

RTNX - report to come.

Went for an easy road run from Harps house. HOT HOT HOT. Phatty and Harps went for a road ride and we followed this up with a yummy lunch when Hansel, CK, iFo and EF arrived. Weeanimal tested out the nursery and had a lovely 3 hour nap in the crib so it all works and Harps and Amy are ready. Great day.

C • hahaha 6

Nice easy run on the HVT followed with some stretching....now there is a novel idea. Big day for Weeanimal. Fell asleep for both naps and bedtime all by herself. I think this is what happens when you cater to your child's sleep needs and not just drag her around with whatever you want to do.

Good steady effort up to Earl Rowe park with Goose. CoachLD had Weeanimal and the Tavman and met us there. Then we had a great time swimming in the massive salt water pool, had some lunch and Coach rode home while we drove. Beautiful summer day and I will have to go back here with Weeanimal for sure.

Beauty night for a cruise up to Castlederg and back. We won't be taking Weeanimal on that road again.

C • ? 2

After three days of doing nothing but trying to find a replacement teammate for Raid the North Extreme and packing we finally got out for a ride with Goose on his new 29er. CoachLD watched Weeanimal and cooked us an amazing dinner while we were out riding. Who has better friends than that?

C • Did you find someone? 5

C • good deal 1

I think this was the time that Bent gave us for a great trail run in the Glen Haffy, Palgrave area. Bent was instructed to take it easy so we cruised along at a relaxed pace. I got a major stitch in my side that I had experienced at Tremblant on the downhills. Man does that hurt, like a knife in the side.

C • Stitch 1

I guess Weeanimal was an angel yesterday because I got another offer today to watch her again. This time I headed out on the mountain bike trails for another great trail run in the rain. I love this Salomon nanny perk. What a great week at Tremblant.

I spent the afternoon with Weeanimal watching 40 teams of 2 that were in Tremblant with Salomon run around in a city chase type event. They all had a blast and I also got to watch Cheesesteak eat two helpings of poutine and worms - ewwwwwww.

C • Wow 10

I took advantage of the kind offers of some Salomon employees to watch Weeanimal and headed up Tremblant once again. It was hot out and I chose a more direct, technical route on the way up and the "Grand Prix de Couleurs" on the way down, basically the most direct route from top to bottom. Great to get out again and the legs felt awesome.

Another incredibly hot trail run up and down Tremblant on different trails. Legs felt fantastic. Had the big pack on today and yesterday. Really happy with how I feel.

I took the trail up that Phatty took down yesterday and it was an even better trail to run up. I would guess that I ran about 65-70% of it and fast hiked the steeper portions. The run across the ridge at the top was awesome and then I came down the trail I went up yesterday. Technical descent. I took my ipod with me and played it out loud since yesterday I got spooked by the "you are in bear country" signs and I didn't see anyone out there. That and some loud coughing prevented any sightings.
I got back just as the nappers were getting up this time. Weeanimal and I went for another swim.

C • Nice training and question 3

Sweet trail run up, around, and down Tremblant. HOT. Phatty and I are trading off for the next couple of days so I went out first after a crepes breaky. The trail was pretty technical but fun and as I ascended I started running into all of the folks who took the gondola up and were hiking down. Most of them I passed while they were resting on the way down? Anyway at the top I had planned on the longest way home but got turned around on the trail map (that's right, unless I have a proper map and compass I have no idea how to read a trail map). So I came down a trail named vertigo and it was a fun descent. Got back and woke the two nappers with a loud entrance. We all headed to the pool for a cool down before Phatty had his turn.