Training Log Archive: Leanimal

Perfect hike up to Lac Blanc after taking the telepherique most of the way up from Chamonix. Weeanimal is loving the trail running/trekking so we just accepted that we might not actually make it to the lake and back for the last ride down at 5pm. Turns out she is pretty fast and when she was finished trekking on her own she conked out quickly for a nap. Beautiful day out for us and for all of the runners still doing the UTMB. Got to see the Canadian contingent for dinner in town which was the perfect way to end the day.

Phatty and I are very slowly working on our race reports. Here is what I have so far. Not exactly the bread and butter of the race but it's a start. The good stuff is to come. I think we will put our heads down and finish it tonight. We are both still pouring over the maps and google earth. Not sure how we could have done it differently, there is just so much out there that was not on the map. If we ever do this race again we will approach it so differently, basically throw out everything we have learned about how to use the maps to navigate. Anyway here is the start.....

When Phatty and I decided to move to France over a year ago I thought that we would be trying to expand our family right away. Once we got here however Phatty suggested that we wait another year so I would have the chance to experience living in the mountains more fully. Genius. This meant that at the end of that time we could also squeeze in another expedition race in the summer of 2013. Enter EcomotionPro in Brazil.

The timing worked out for us and just barely for Harps. Relentless is always good to go so once again Team Salomon and Team Running Free were going to join forces. Brazil was new for us and Ecomotion had just joined the World Series so things were looking good. That is until we got closer to the race and trying to sort Brazilian travel visas from France, Phatty with a 2 1/2 US work tour right before hand, Harps finding out he is having twins and scrambling to sell or renovate their house......the list goes on. In the end we all got there and so did our gear so I will leave out the rest of the annoying stuff that happened along the way.

Harps scored us a nice little hotel/resort on the mainland across from the race hotel at a fraction, and I mean fraction, of the race hotel cost. Rather than paying $1000 per night for our team we were paying $240. See what I mean by fraction! The host venue was a 5 star affair that we would hardly be able to utilize as we scrambled to put gear together and do our maps. I don’t think the boys would have been happy if they found me at the pool bar while they were mack-tacking well into the night!

PROLOGUE:

Saturday afternoon we all met on the beach for a group prayer and the short prologue. The prologue was designed more or less for fun and also to rank the teams so that the top 20 teams had first choice of boats the next day (not a big deal) and only had to serve a mandatory 6 hours of rest throughout the race. The rest of us (I think we landed in the mid 20s) had to serve a mandatory 8 hours. Again not a big deal since we knew we would be wise to use all 8 anyway. Our team has never been strong at deciding to sleep before the wheels fall off. The timing just never seems right. The one thing that it also stated in the rules however, was that those who did not finish the prologue in 1 1/2 hours or get all 9 CPs would also get a 4 hour penalty. A bit steep but not something we were worried about until we found ourselves in that group. Details aside the “orienteer by memory” had Harps and Relentless doing A LOT of running with not a lot of CP getting. Us and some of the worlds best had to accept that maybe we were going to start the race well back of the pack. In the end they dropped the penalty so 8 hours of rest it was.....no biggie.

RACE DAY:

The race started with a 2 1/2 hour bus ride to the start line in Itacare. Of course we were on the first bus and because of this were treated to being woken by a loud bang and then some rumbling as our bus pulled over because of a flat. Ha, still just trying to get to the start line. We all managed to find space elsewhere but not before seeing one of the race staff drag a VERY LARGE snake off of the road and toss it to the side casually. NOT what I needed to see before heading into the Brazilian wilderness for 6 days!

After living in France for over a year Phatty and I have learned to live with no sense of urgency for anything. The Brazilians may take it to a new level as we all lounged in the baking sun waiting for our 11am race start. Nothing like starting in the heat of the day. Eventually we were lined up for our short beach run to the boats before a quick 4km paddle around an island leading up to the Coasteering section. Phatty and I managed to stay close to shore to catch the eddy from the outgoing tide and zoomed along finding ourselves in the 5th or 6th boat!!! And then we had to cross the channel and back we fell to a more suitable position. I found out later that this short section was designed to have us paddling the local fishing boats which would have been easier for the SUP paddlers in the crowd and less so for us. Probably would have been reminiscent of our time in the rowboat in Scotland.

The next section, the coasteering was spectacular, long, tough on the feet, and a bit scary at one time. It was a picture perfect sunny day so the views were breathtaking. White sandy beaches with a few impromptu football games taking place, thong bathing suits, tanned bodies and many cervesas being had. Too bad we had to shuffle by in the squeaky sand to the next stretch of course coastal rock scrambling. At one point we got in line as teams clung to the side of the rock over a small inlet being pounded by wave after wave from the giant ocean beside us. We could see a rope on the far side but the one we were on, the one with far less purchase for feet and fingers, did not have one. Well, it didn’t look like anyone had fallen in so far so we got in line and carefully inched our way along the wall. A fall would certainly mean injury as it would have been like being on the rinse cycle with a washing machine full of jagged rocks. I was also pretty sure the woman with the clipboard on the far side was not going to be the one coming to our rescue. Thankfully we moved on without incident and I was hoping we weren’t going to see another “no way out but here” section like that.

One thing our team had to look forward to was seeing La Femme at some points during the race. She was lucky enough to obtain a last minute travel visa to come down and cover the race for Breathe Magazine. Something about having someone cheering for your team especially is motivating. That’s when we pulled into the Txai Resort on an expansive stretch of beach to see La Femme and Louise Foulkes half reclined in chairs with their computers on their laps typing away. No doubt commenting on the state of the top teams who had flown through this CP ages ago. They were up cheering us in and La Femme even seemed a bit disappointed that we weren’t going to take advantage of the pedicure station and were just grabbing some watermelon, water and were taking off immediately. Time to run some more in the sand!

C • tease! :-) 10

Beach runs can be cool when the tide is low and a pain when the tide is up....it was up. So we eventually got into a rhythm finding it easier to run in someone elses footsteps. I had chosen to wear my speedcross for their comfort but the holes in the uppers from lots of kms on the trails were letting in sand and eventually I had to stop to make my now size 6 shoe a size 8 1/2 again....oh the sheer pleasure you can get from a small amount of comfort. Eventually darkness fell and we neared the end of the coasteering section. Inland we went onto a series of trails through farms most of which is a haze to me now. As the sun rose on the second day we decided to catch a quick nap before the swim section. We found an old shack where we were told scorpions like to hang out so we opted for the concrete patio in the sun. What comfort. As per usual I had a hard time sleeping and after 20 minutes got up to take some photos. It really was a beautiful place that we were racing.

The 3 km swim section had the potential to be a nightmare if we got there in the dark and if it was cold and raining. I already had visions of piranhas attacking us as we cruised along but I was assured this would not happen. Luckily for us we arrived in the warm Brazilian sun and discovered that our simple use of fins with all of our stuff towed in dry bags was a more efficient and faster way to travel than those with inflatable rafts and webbed gloves. We actually had a nice swim. Harps was probably getting a little annoyed when I wouldn’t move too far away from him lest I should be seen as prey for some unknown underwater creature. His swim training also paid off when Phatty and I allowed him to tow our dry bags for most of it.

The next paddle down to Ilheus for the orienteering section had the potential to put us into the ocean to grab a CP between two small islands. If we got there at night we would have to wear strobes to pass by a shipping channel. For those who have never raced with me before I really do not like to paddle at night. I have a terrible time judging objects near or in the distance (like the time I screamed at Phatty to watch out because we were about to run into something - that something being a very high bridge about 5km in the distance). I wasn’t relishing the thought of trying to dodge ships in the ocean, nevermind just padding in the ocean. When we got to the first CP on the river we were told that the next CP had been cancelled due to high waves, phew. So we had the choice to continue on the river (slower but more comfortable option) or head out onto to the ocean and paddle down to Ilheus from there. We chose the river and it seemed that most teams were simply doing what their experience dictated. No use trying to learn how to enter and exit the ocean in breaking waves at the start of a race. As we cruised into Ilheus it was a bit sad to see how much garbage there was everywhere. All over the ground and in the water. I love adventure racing for the opportunity that it gives us to explore the wild side of far away places but also for the glimpses we get at what some people in the world live like. It’s a real eye opener. I know I live in a bubble. Particularly now that we are in France and I don’t listen to the news or read the paper here. I think it’s a reminder to me that I also have a responsibility to our daughter to make sure that she understands how lucky we are and that perhaps we should be looking at ways to help those who are less fortunate. We will work on that.

We had a fun little run around Ilheus finding local landmarks and seeing the city come alive at night. We also tried to order some food at the beginning of our half hour tour so that it would be ready when we got back. Unfortunately our inability to speak Portugese had us waiting when we returned because our “fritas and franga” had not been started yet. Ugh! We had some coke and waited not so patiently before taking it to go and scarfing it back on our way back to the boats. I also made a very unwise decision to order some “street meat” here by the way of deep fried balls of something with entire shrimp hanging out of them.....yuck. Those got tossed pretty quickly.

Our plan was to change in TA at the end of the paddle and have a nap before starting the bike ride. As we cruised down the rest of the dark river we saw a lit up boat coming toward us. In usual form I started to panic thinking that they didn’t see our four ay-up lights blaring them in the face. Then we heard someone yell “número da equipe”? we yelled “vinte” (the only portugese we knew besides “obrigado”). Then we heard Nicky yell “GO CANADA”. What? I thought Nicky was supposed to be frantically following teams around the racecourse and here she was on a riverboat booze cruise. That’s the way to adventure race. I think she is on to something. Of course we told her we loved her and continued to paddle into the night.

Nearing the TA all we could hear was loud music absolutely blaring! Great. No sleep for us in this TA. Our sleep plans always get sabotaged somehow and here we were again, about to go out onto a section tired and not knowing if we would find suitable “accomodation”. We TAd and decided to be opportunistic. We would ride until we found something and not long after we happened upon a couple of buildings. Perfect. Of course some slept more than others and I lay in a half slumber as I heard a couple of teams ride by while a single mosquito (carrying yellow fever no doubt) buzzed around my head and apparently Harper’s too. We rode into the night trying to navigate our way around trails and many trail junctions. Things were getting a bit confusing when we came upon a small stand of buildings where several teams seemed to be taking refuge from the rain and even starting small fires to keep warm. We tried to ask some local people who appeared for directions but once again this proved to be futile. We backtracked a bit and decided to try a different trail at the last junction. It seemed we were on the right track as more and more teams appeared and finally we descended and then ascended into a small village to find the CP at the church. We refueled a bit and then proceeded to make a major blunder by turning around and heading right out the way we had come. We did this because at one point we thought we were approaching the town from the south rather than the north. In getting turned around, or so we thought, in the night we assumed we were approaching from the south. We should have known we were not but not until we had descended the big climb and then climbed the big descent did we discover this. Ugh. Back we go.

We had one more route choice on the bike and it seems that we were the only ones to go the way we did. It was actually a fun single track route but once again we had to stop at every junction to be sure we were headed in the right direction. Nearing the end of the loop, where we would join the other route choice, the map was not close to matching our trail. Again we kept wondering if we had missed a turn but sure enough when we kept going we eventually ended up where we wanted. This map was tough to work with. Mid afternoon we cruised into the TA to find out we were the 7th team in!! Awesome. This was great news. Especially since that is not what we expected to hear. We were hoping for a top ten finish and although it was early in the race it boosted our confidence a bit. We knew it wouldn’t last long but we also noticed that we were only about 2 1/2 hours back of Seagate (boy they must have had a hard time navigating that bike leg). Ze Popo (a name can’t get better than that), the race course designer, came to talk to us about the fact that our gear bag and bike boxes had not yet arrived so we were given free time to go down to the river and wash our bikes. They desperately needed it since the mud we ended up riding on was so slick and thick that it literally clogged between every surface it could find. We were also warned that the upcoming trekking leg was VERY challenging and that one of the top teams had already left the TA only to return 3 hours later to ask if it was the next CP! Uh oh. Warning taken but we also had several hours of daylight left that we thought wise not to waste sleeping in the TA. Our bikes arrived half and hour later so we TA’d as fast as we could knowing that we had to be well prepared for the next leg and we set off on the only trail marked on our map as a way to CP19. What we later learned is that teams behind us were given, or had seen, maps with additional trails marked on them. Trails that led to CP19 far quicker than the one we were searching for. I am not sure why this happened or why we all weren’t given access to this map before hand but I have more than just this question about the maps.

This trek was heinous for us. I think it took us 36 hours to get 2 CPs! At one point, before darkness fell, we had a great view of the surrounding hilltops and valleys and we still had a hard time deciphering what was on the map and what would not show. It was frustrating and a telltale sign of how difficult this was going to be at night. Not knowing whether the elevation you had climbed or descended would show on the map was tough. I guess if you were really good at knowing how far you had travelled depending on the steepness of the terrain you would be in a better position but we struggled with this. We managed to bump into another team on the way up our first ridge and once we saw some flagging tape from Ecomotion marking a freshly cut trail we knew we were at least on the right track. The new trail was super slick and straight up so it made for slow going. We made steady but slow progress as night fell and then fatigue started to play a role. I was loving and hating the Ay-ups that La Femme and DogRunner had lent me since they were great for visibility but terrible for illuminating every single spider on the way, and there were A LOT! I didn’t read a lot about them so I was playing the “ignorance is bliss” card.

At one point Phatty was concerned that the trail and landscape were not matching our desired route. Harps and I studied the maps and we all tried to figure out where we could be that we would be headed east with the land falling away to our left. We saw a couple of possibilities and agreed that the only course of action we could take would be to go back to a known point. So we retraced our steps down some very slippery terrain only to find that we knew we were on the right trail. Back we went again. Phatty had obviously been studying the map along the way and noticed that at one point our trail did in fact head east before switching back to head west. Damn it! Sleepmonsters. We should have slept at some point around here but the forest was thick and crawling with critters. I knew I wouldn’t rest well so we pushed on finally making it to CP19 after what seemed like an eternity.

Here’s where we made our next blunder. We headed right on by the waterfall CP in the opposite direction than we should have. Pure sleep deprivation setting in. I should also point out that we had two navigators with two sets of maps. I don’t blame them at all since I am pretty sure I had a look at the maps here too. It seems surreal to look back on it now. How could we have possibly done that? It’s crazy what a lack of sleep can do to you. We wandered around trying to make sense of the map until we finally bumped into two teams attacking the CP from the opposite direction. The route that they had come in on was one that Phatty had planned as an option for us but it would have been a bushwhacking route. In other words, no trails were shown on the map. Unless you were one of the lucky teams to see “the other map” that apparently showed this trail. The two teams coming in here were apparently two of those teams (this is all hearsay) and so we hung our heads down and followed them back to CP19 to start our attempt at CP20 all over again. I don’t want to get into how many hours of mistakes we had made on this trek alone so far.