2013 LIMBERLOST CHALLENGE 56KM - RACE REPORT

Night Before Limberlost 56km

Here I am, having just posted my last race blog about 3 days ago on the Creemore 50km - which took place last weekend. Foolishly or not I convinced myself on Thursday that it was a good idea to race this one also. The blisters I received at Creemore I've dealt with and I'm hoping duct tape will do the job. I really want to lay all the DNF ghosts to rest this year and this is the last one to conquer. Last year I said I'd probably not do this race this year but I've had a year to have a change of heart. 

It's a stunning course, albeit a 4 hour drive, and even if it's a crappy day for me I intend on getting this done. This year I'm driving up at about 2am rather than camping. I'm even considering staying overnight up there to do the training run at Haliburton Forest on the Sunday so I'll have an idea of the 100 mile route I'm undertaking later in the season. Well, let's see. . .

Last year I dropped after the 3rd loop (each loop is approx. 14km) - this year they have substituted a road section making it 200m longer on each lap. Last year was extremely hot - like Creemore last weekend. The only good thing is you are mostly within tree cover. It is interesting statistics. The 2012 Limberlost report has received far more 'hits' than any of my other blog reports. I wonder why that is. Hopefully not because people like failures more than success stories. ha ha.

This course is deceptively challenging. From last year I remember you never get into a comfortable grove because it is constantly changing. I remember how ill-prepared I was last year with all my road training and to be honest, this year is not much different. My training sucks because I've had niggles and then, bam, the season was here and I started off OK but as the races have happened every two weeks (or one week like this one after Creemore) I'm virtually getting in no real training, just a modest single longer run and then it's time to race again. And it takes it's toll on you - legs that never really get their kick back, blisters and niggles from racing and general overall tiredness. I do look forward to seeing the familiar faces.

Well, I won't write any more - it's Friday afternoon and I need to pack my camping stuff, go get ice and supplies so wish me luck. 

Pre Race Predictions

Looking at last year my lap times were: 

Lap 1: 1:34
Lap 2: 1:44
Lap 3: 2:37 (talk about a melt-down)
for a total time of 5:55

This year my goals are to go slowwwwwwww. Yes, you read that right. Slowwwwwww. I"m going do my best to really relax on the first 2 laps, save my energy and not do the death march at all, or much closer to the end if needed. I will hope for an average of 2 hour laps which makes 8 hours. If I can do 7:30 I'd be amazed, but sub 8 I really hope to get. And if it goes amazing then, we'll see. 8 hours is still a respectable time on this course. You'll have to trust me. Please do enter this race. It is awesome. Well, wish me luck and I'll let you know.

Welcome back everybody. The race is over. I came, I saw, and. . . I FAILED :(( AGAIN! ! ! ! Arrhhhhhhhhh. Somebody put me out of my misery on this bloody course. Well, read the full report below if you want the details or bail out and wait for my next race report. I feel pretty low right now about running and ultras. I'm hoping after a few days I'll perk up but I am so very frustrated about my races lately. My times are getting worse and I'm suffering allot after them. Well, nobody said it was easy. 

Night Before

I didn't enter this thing until Thursday (race on Saturday) as I wanted to see how the legs felt after last weekend's 50km at Creemore. The legs I thought had some pep in them and the two big blisters on the heels had been popped but were still sore and I hoped that duct tape would stop additional friction on those points.

I went to the grocery store and drug store and got some supplies, came home, packed the car and tried to have a restful day. I had a nice pasta dinner and went to bed at 8:30 - setting the alarm for 1:30am. That worked well and I actually got some sleep. I got up and was out the door for 2:00am and was expecting a 4 hour drive. Unfortunately the bloody highway 400 entrance was closed from the 401 and I wasn't sure what to do so I got off at the next ramp and headed North but it got closed with more construction so had to get out my mobile and look for entrances. This wasted a good 30 minutes trying to get back on but eventually I did but I was now slightly stressed out.

The drive up the 400 and then onto Highway 11 was fine but for some reason I missed the highway 60 exit in Huntsville and ended up going another 10km North. Arrhhhhhhh. Finally got back, found the exit and the rest of the drive was en-eventful and drove into the open field where there were many other vehicles and tents set up. I was there at about 5:50am and I just jumped in the back seat. There were already some of the race organisers setting up the big marquee and I knew the set-up from last year. It was sunny and a nice temperature. On the way up the lowest the temperature read was 11 degrees which is cold but by the time I got there I think it was closer to 19. It did get allot warmer as noon approached but didn't get to the heat levels of Creemore or Limberlost from last year.

Pre-Race

I had a guy next to me who slept in his car and when he roused we got talking about different things, etc. I headed to the port-a-potties before it got busy. This year they put them away from the field where the tents were which was good as last year during the night you heard the doors opening and closing through the night. I got my race bib but because I registered so late I couldn't get a T-shirt although she said after I could pick one up. I didn't bother, not because it was not nice, but because of my failed effort. I didn't feel I deserved one. The goody bag had a small local coffee bag, a hammer gel and some other little things.  I saw some people I knew and said hello but mostly I was back at my car organizing my stuff.

Kimberley Van Delst - awesome runner and always has a smile. Her husband is equally friendly.

56km runners listening to pre-race announcements - this was start/finish line behind marquee

People picking up their race numbers and T-shirts and goodies

More of the 56km runners listening to race director and sponsors

Last few minutes before the start - lovely day

I took allot more salt pills this time and had 2 Advil's as back-up if I started feeling pain. I applied my Voltaren gel and pinned my bib to my shorts. I took a photo of my lucky charm (I'm going to have to recharge the luck - I seem to have run out today) and then took my camera to take some shots as the pre-race announcements were happening. After that it was race time. We all gathered at the start line and were off in no time. 

You gotta have your lucky charm!

Lap 1 (of 4) - or 3 if you happen to be me

It is about half a km down the dirt/gravel road and then a sharp left into the woods properly and besides two other tiny gravel road sections the rest is entirely in the forest. In that respect it is lovely because it stays cooler here but this is a true off road ultra and not for the faint-hearted. Creemore is tough because of the toll the steep hills take on you and being exposed to really hot temperatures and direct sun. This one beats you up in different ways. Of course it is 56km making it longer and many people think that it is actually longer than that. The race Director did say they had added about 200 meters to the course this year which makes almost 57km but even without that added it feels like each 14km loop is longer.

I've mentioned it before but you never get into a rhythm in this course. It is lovely underfoot when you run and I'm not sure if the sponginess maybe sucks some of your energy over the long-term. It is constantly changing, you are up and down and turning. You have to be so very careful with your lines of sight and watching out for tree roots and rocks. It follows the contours of 4 or 5 lakes and is beautiful. You are up and down and I believe there were 2-3 more major hills but nothing like Creemore. There are enough downs to keep you happy as well and there were a number of muddy spots and one two which were quite brutal. One of those was within the woods in a pretty flat area but the one which was worse was just before a foot bridge with a big ugly old tree stump right next to it. I say ugly because it beat on me. 

I was leading a group of 3-4 guys and saw the mud but misjudged how deep it was and sank to above my calf and fell forward and my left arm slammed down on top of the stump and really grazed me badly. I got lucky because if it had been hard and dried up rather than wet it probably would have punctured my arm and being right on where you give blood you know the veins there are pretty close to the surface. I was shocked but tried to laugh it off and get cracking but I kept looking at my arm expecting to see the blood flowing. You know that feeling when you look at a cut, thinking, oh, this isn't too bad, and then the blood starts. I was not sure how deep it was but I was glad that it didn't start to bleed.

OK, it doesn't look so bad there once I rinsed it off but 5 hours earlier it didn't look so pretty

Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself. We were all pretty closely packed to start with of course. I was probably in the top 15 going into the trails and the pace felt good but I could tell by 3km that I was probably going too fast and should back off but as usual thoughts of people catching me and of feeling OK made me just keep at it. I figured also that if I got tired near the end, so what, I'd do a walk/run strategy. The temperature felt really good. There was an aid station in particular where you could hear them yelling and screaming encouragement to a runner as he/she came in and that was nice. 

I can't really describe the course in any details better than last year's report. There is just so much of the sameness in the woods that it's hard to say what stood out. There were 2 cabins in the woods, one that had a small climb leading up to an aid station, and then another which was further into the course and seemed much more isolated - almost more of a log cabin with no electricity - no roads leading to it. There were a few groomed sections in the woods which had recently been cut about 5 feet wide. The last 3km had a number of wooden walkways which were rickety and narrow, taking you over a boggy area. There were volunteers directing you at the points where you might have gone wrong. At one point a big guy was sitting in his chair in the woods with a bug helmet on and because he was so quiet it was kind of startling when you realized he was human. But if you said hello he was friendly right back. 

I heard the bullfrogs in the boggy sections again but this year knew what they were. No angry chipmunks this year making noises but I did come across a garter snake by the time I was walking on lap 3. That's all the wildlife I saw but I know full well with this type of ruggedness there would be plenty more around. I shadowed a guy for quite a while, probably for 1/2 way and I had my own shadow or two also. He was keeping a good pace and I was comfortable with him and we run across the start/finish mat after 1 hour 38 minutes. Too fast by far considering I'd suggested trying to keep closer to the 2 hour mark. Maybe if I had I would not blown up so badly but at the time things were not falling apart although by lap 2 I was already starting to have to walk sometimes. I lost my shadow and left the starting aid station ahead of everybody. I ran slowly down the road and looked back as I approached the wooded section and there were 2-3 making their way down the road.

Lap 2

Lap 2 was more lonely. We were more spread out and I was starting to regret my fast first lap and knew it was going to be a slow 3rd lap. My duct tape seemed to be doing the job on the foot pads but was less successful on the heels and I could feel those blisters resurfacing. I also found the heel itself was quite painful which I don't understand since it was such a spongy, forgiving surface. Again, I can't stress enough how many times you have to spring to the right, bounce left, jump forward, jump over big tree stumps. You are constantly shifting/moving/adjusting. What a great workout! I was almost out of steam already. My bib number had fallen down over my leg because as I moved my belt around to get some salt tablets it popped the safety pins off so that was now cutting into my leg and pissing me off. I was also having to stop for walking breaks more often and people began to pass me. A few I recognized.

I tried to take my salt tablets but forgot to take the hammer gels I had and I did remember my Perpetum powders on my belt for the first one and then I forgot to take those. It's a problem with me being consistent with all of that. It makes allot of sense when you pull it out and you figure out your game plan but once you are tired and hot and in a position where accessing anything on the go becomes difficult, then you tend to forget and over time that makes a difference. The good thing is I was drinking regularly and topping up my water bottle regularly but even so, in 6 hours 20 minutes I only managed to pee once so I guess I should have been drinking more.

As I walked to the starting line after lap 2 I was really really tired. Kimberly passed me just before the finish line and wished me well and looked strong but I knew I wouldn't see her again. I got to the aid station and asked for safety pins but the lady simply told me she had none and that was the end of it. I was like, well geez, can you ask somebody or do something? I couldn't run another lap with that bloody thing flapping all over the place. I found a familiar face that had finished his 1-2 laps and he kindly gave me 2 of his. Thank you! Lap 2 I don't remember the time for the lap but my watch said 3:42 or something I believe

The aid station people were really helpful except for this one woman but I guess she got so focused on her one task that she didn't realize that aid means aid, not just handing out a drink of water or heed. And that aid station had lots of people on it. Anyway, that was my one moan. Something else which I noticed is there didn't seem to be much of any selection at the stations. They had a good amount of water or heed but for anything nourishing I thought there was a fairly poor selection. They had gummy bears or whatever those things are. I found potato chips at one but not really salty ones. I saw watermelon slices at a few but only one had orange slices. They had some chocolate chip cookies and that is really all that I remember. Maybe I"m being over critical but I just knew I craved something and whenever I got to the aid station they didn't have anything that appealed to me. I tried some watermelon and that was refreshing. Oh well. Maybe by the third lap I was just tired and cranky.

Lap 3

Lap 3 was terrible. A reminder of last years performance. I left the start/finish area and I was walking up the road. In fact I wanted to quit just as badly and almost did. I got to the entry point into the woods and thought, I don't want to do this anymore. I'm shattered, I'm going to have to walk most of this, my blisters are painful as heck, my heels hurt with every step and I am not in a happy place in my head. I convinced myself to head into the woods and was thinking about turning around for 2km by which point I said to myself shut up and do it. I knew lap 4 was out of the question. I didn't care about it anymore. I just wanted to not hurt anymore. I walked for probably 3km and I did my best when I could to run some sections. I sat down 3 times to just collect my energy but if you sat too long the mossies ate you alive and now that I was walking the horse flies in sections were unbearable - chasing after you, biting and trying to lodge in your hair. 

I came across 2 other runners suffering from cramps and gave them 2 salt tablets each and they were grateful. I chatted shortly to a few people but always told them to go on, to run their race. Elise came by me on lap 3 and looked strong. She had texted me the day before asking if i wanted to go for a training run at Sulphur Springs and do 50km ! ! ! And she did Creemore last weekend like I did. Where the hell does she get her energy. And she was going to do the training run at Haliburton Forest the following day. That was my plan also - had the tent and all. Haliburton Forest is quite close to Limberlost and since it is a 4 hour drive up there it made sense to get a feeling for the course - but that was a pipe dream - I'm truly wondering if I have what it takes. Anyway, she passed by and said to me - YOU NEED TO PACE YOURSELF ALEX! ! ! All I could do was grunt and wish her well. Maybe if I'd listened I'd still be running but the blisters on blisters were really making me miserable and she is right. I need to learn that lesson once and for all.

I passed runners from the shorter distance events who were also walking but managed to get some running spurts in there. The 7km marking seemed to take FOREVER to show up. And then 10. And then 12. By then I could taste the finish for finish is what it was going to be for me. I got to the last lap and told one of the race marshals I'd had enough. I got to the finish tent and put my hands on my knees and tried to get my breathe back from all that walking! ha ha. I saw Helen who is the race director at Hali and she asked if I was doing the training run. I had to laugh at that :) Sorry Helen.

I've looked better - honestly. 14km to go and there was no go left

At least my tongue was still working. This is what I was thinking of myself

I saw some people I now knew. I saw Dan Lightfoot at the finish. I think he had either dropped out of one of the races or had been pacing his wife Heather. I just read her blog. It seems poor Dan got a bit lost out there. That sucks. But he helped his wife through lap 3. They passed me on lap three and I high fived them. Great going Heather. I headed to the car and just felt kind of clueless. Everything I wanted to do seemed to take forever. Eventually I got my lawn chair and sat down with a cold drink of water. I tried to encourage runners going out for their 4th lap but when some I knew came and asked if I was done already I felt shitty when I had to tell them I'd quit. I didn't want to discourage anybody and so I left the starting chute and slowly got packed up. I saw Ron come by and his wife was there with a drink for him and he soldiered on and headed out.

I changed into a fresh shirt and put pajama bottoms over my shorts and changed my shoes but not my socks. I didn't want to see what state my feet were in. I took a few photos of my sorry self showing you how I felt and turned on the A/C. My legs were twitching like crazy and once I cooled off I began the drive. I filled up with gas about 15 miles away and behind the gas station I parked and ate a supermarket sandwich which I wolfed down hungrily. I stayed there for about 25 minutes and then carried on.

I only got about 45 minutes into my journey but I knew I wouldn't make it home. My eyes were drooping and I was exhausted.  I found a side road off the highway and found some shade but it was now above 30. I put the windows down a bit and jumped into the back and tried to sleep for 30 minutes which made a huge difference and I was able to make the rest of the drive home without incident.

I took a shower to clean off all the mud and filth and had a look at the feet and the two friends I made at Creemore (blisters) are back and bigger than ever. I missed you both sooooo much.

That's it. It's not a happy report. I guess they can't all be. I'm just really really disappointed with myself. I hoped to finish this race and now have 2 strikes at it. It's knocked my confidence allot. I thought I could walk the fourth lap if I had to and a few lovely racers wanted me to join them, saying they were just going to have a nice 3 hour walk - but I had nothing in the tank and after sitting for 20 minutes everything had seized up. Thank you for asking though. 

I'll post some photos over the next day or two - there are not that many of them. Don't let my report put you off. This is a wonderful race but come prepared and don't go fast. Use the first lap to get a feeling for the course, and the 2nd to gauge your strength and endurance. If you have energy going into the 3rd lap use it. 

Take care and thanks to all of you that tried to encourage me out there or to those I had the pleasure of meeting for the first time. I hope all your races went well. Congratulations to all of you on a challenging course. And double congratulations to those of you that ran Creemore last weekend. You guys are hardcore! No wonder they give you an additional medal if you complete both. 

Here is last year and this year's lap times:

                                            Lap 1          Lap 2         Lap 3         Lap 4     Total Time
2012                                      1:34             1:44          2:37        dropped       5:55
2013 (200m longer)                 1:38             1:58          2:47        dropped       6:23

I seem to be getting older, slower, but not much wiser! ha ha.