With this short swim with the whole team we claim the best for the starting year.
Amazing day feeling the warm of the hugs and love for each other
So lucky for being part of this sport family
Monday, January 1, 2018
Welcoming the new year 2018
With this short swim with the whole team we claim the best for the starting year.
Amazing day feeling the warm of the hugs and love for each other
So lucky for being part of this sport family
Wednesday, November 8, 2017
361 Adventures : The FIG 12Hr Adventure Race....end of AR season and rest needed
Finally, it is time for the last race of the 361 Adventures Unbridled series, The classic Kentucky "The Fig".
This year is a 12hr race in the southern part of Red River Gorge. Marc and I loaded the car on Friday, everything fitted well, the car is validated.
After a 2h30min drive, we arrived at Natural Bridge state park, where Dallas from 361 Adventures gave the pre-race meeting speach and we got the gigantic map for Saturday.
27 points to plot with UTM coordinate, the race is on against the clock as we want to get all the plotting and race routing done before sleeping.
It took us more than expected or at least wanted and we turned off the light at midnight, not sleeping well for the past 2 nights I knew it will be rough for the race.
Alarm rang at 5am, quick breakfast and final gears check up and we jumped in the bus to the start at 6am. After a 40min power nap in the bus, we are on the starting line for the prologue on foot, just one CP west to the town post office before heading east on road to start the first leg on canoe.
We started at a good pace, taking the lead with Bill from Outlaw Donkey staying with us. We jumped in the canoe at the same time of Bill and another racer, Kayaks seem faster to get in water. Bill struggled to get into his kayak so we took the lead as the other racer decide to skip CP2 on the east part of the paddling leg. We got back from CP2 on the way to the rest of the paddling after 1hr, exactly as expected. We cleared the paddling in 2hr50min, 10min faster than our prediction. The canoe is definitely the big satisfaction of the day, navigating straight with no issue and with a pace way better than the canoe we used to rent.
On the way to TA1, we crossed Brian and Drake from Topo Adventure which are 10min behind us and the only other team trying to clear the course.
We cleared a short Urban orienteering in which we had to answer questions and we learn than it is not confederate war but civil war and that a corner stone is well at the corner of the wall :P...but we got the credit of CP5 anyway as we are not citizen and struggled sometimes with English.
We are still ahead of Topo Adventure and jumped on bike at TA2....as expected I'm feeling tired, and I understood right away that we won't be able to have our regular pace on the bike, the first real climb confirmed my thought. Marc is in the same struggle as he trained mostly for rowing this year and I'm not feeling I could really pull us on the bike today. Well there is day with and day without but we realized that clearing the course won't be possible.
Arriving at TA3 at 6hr in the race, I made a poor choice on the way to CP11 that cost us 20min. The rest of the trek went well, at a slow pace for us as we are now saving what can be saved to finish the race.
We decided to go another way on the last bike leg to reach CP19, well we won't never see CP19 and 20 finally as being tired and not really in race mood I just followed a group of racer on bike on their way to TA5.
The mistake gave us more time for the last trek, but as we already pretty much giving up the idea of a good ranking for this race, we just lost to much focus and took only one CP from the 4 around.
Finishing on bike after 11h30 and 5 missing CPs, we placed 2nd in 2 male division and 6th overall. Doug, Jim and Eric won with 2 missing CPs...The masters are still beating the Padawan.
No big regret as we were burned from the beginning, maybe just a bit more focus and motivation on last trek would have put us in a better position but it is what it is. We still had a great time outdoor with fabulous people on a challenging course....and so much fun climbing in muddy slopes to reach beautiful area!!!!
Despite this result, we won the 2 male division series and the overall series, with a tight score with Lauren and Drake from Topo Adventure, the call for the win being made as they don't race the Fig.
Motivated for the next season with hopefully a 3rd teammates.
This year is a 12hr race in the southern part of Red River Gorge. Marc and I loaded the car on Friday, everything fitted well, the car is validated.
It took us more than expected or at least wanted and we turned off the light at midnight, not sleeping well for the past 2 nights I knew it will be rough for the race.Alarm rang at 5am, quick breakfast and final gears check up and we jumped in the bus to the start at 6am. After a 40min power nap in the bus, we are on the starting line for the prologue on foot, just one CP west to the town post office before heading east on road to start the first leg on canoe.
We started at a good pace, taking the lead with Bill from Outlaw Donkey staying with us. We jumped in the canoe at the same time of Bill and another racer, Kayaks seem faster to get in water. Bill struggled to get into his kayak so we took the lead as the other racer decide to skip CP2 on the east part of the paddling leg. We got back from CP2 on the way to the rest of the paddling after 1hr, exactly as expected. We cleared the paddling in 2hr50min, 10min faster than our prediction. The canoe is definitely the big satisfaction of the day, navigating straight with no issue and with a pace way better than the canoe we used to rent.
On the way to TA1, we crossed Brian and Drake from Topo Adventure which are 10min behind us and the only other team trying to clear the course.
We cleared a short Urban orienteering in which we had to answer questions and we learn than it is not confederate war but civil war and that a corner stone is well at the corner of the wall :P...but we got the credit of CP5 anyway as we are not citizen and struggled sometimes with English.
We are still ahead of Topo Adventure and jumped on bike at TA2....as expected I'm feeling tired, and I understood right away that we won't be able to have our regular pace on the bike, the first real climb confirmed my thought. Marc is in the same struggle as he trained mostly for rowing this year and I'm not feeling I could really pull us on the bike today. Well there is day with and day without but we realized that clearing the course won't be possible.
Arriving at TA3 at 6hr in the race, I made a poor choice on the way to CP11 that cost us 20min. The rest of the trek went well, at a slow pace for us as we are now saving what can be saved to finish the race.
We decided to go another way on the last bike leg to reach CP19, well we won't never see CP19 and 20 finally as being tired and not really in race mood I just followed a group of racer on bike on their way to TA5.
The mistake gave us more time for the last trek, but as we already pretty much giving up the idea of a good ranking for this race, we just lost to much focus and took only one CP from the 4 around.
Finishing on bike after 11h30 and 5 missing CPs, we placed 2nd in 2 male division and 6th overall. Doug, Jim and Eric won with 2 missing CPs...The masters are still beating the Padawan.
No big regret as we were burned from the beginning, maybe just a bit more focus and motivation on last trek would have put us in a better position but it is what it is. We still had a great time outdoor with fabulous people on a challenging course....and so much fun climbing in muddy slopes to reach beautiful area!!!!
Despite this result, we won the 2 male division series and the overall series, with a tight score with Lauren and Drake from Topo Adventure, the call for the win being made as they don't race the Fig.
Motivated for the next season with hopefully a 3rd teammates.
Friday, October 20, 2017
A first ultra in the legs...
One of my biggest issue right now in sport is to forget I'm not 20 anymore. A while ago I heard about an ultra around East Fork lake where we trained time to time on foot or mountain bike. The course is a nice 53km loop following the Steve Newman Trail (apparently a famous walker who was training to walk around the world).
The idea sounded appealing as the area is full of nice trails and organizers described the course "nice run with rolling hills and just a big climb"...well the race was scheduled 2 weeks after the USARA National Championship (in which we finish 3rd with Doug and Shawn), so in a moment of great optimism I decided to sign up.
USARA being a 30hrs race, it was pretty clear that the 2 weeks between the race would be mostly a recovery...which I did pretty well, with just 3 runs in the 2 weeks, the longest being a 17km.
Race day, I'm still thinking about the strategy, we discussed with Marc that being my first ultra I should stay with the leading group at the beginning and see how is the pace, then after 1hr try to go if they were slow.
The course is on, first 600m on flat road so I get into my pace and take the lead with the idea of slowing down once we hit the trail and let someone else lead the pack. Only issue is once I reached the trail and look over my shoulder everybody is already more than 50m away.
Quick thinking as I'm wondering if I'm already too fast and will burn myself soon, but at the same time I'm feeling easy so decision is made I will keep the pace for the next 20km and will see.
The trails are first really in good shape with as described some rolling up and down, 8km first aid station, I just grabbed 2 gels for later and continue passing couple of early starter who are on the course 1hr before official racer to be sure to finish on time.
The trails became more challenging around 12km, hard to see the path, steep up and down and ravaged at some spots by horses.
Second aid station at 21km, the feeling are still good, no-one behind me that I can see so after a quick drink I restart.
As decided before I started to slow down to make sure I can finish strong and won't destroy my legs for the next 2 weeks (big adventure race in one month with Marc!!!).
Trails are still in rough condition and the legs are getting a bit heavy while reaching the aid station with the drop bag at 33km. A quick bladder change in the backpack and let's go for the last 20km.
The next 10km to te final aid station are the one I know well, mostly montain bike trail, easy to run with not much climbs. The last km to the final aid station is flat, crossing a field under the sun.
Two minutes stop at the aid, drinking some electrolyte as the temperature is rising quickly and I learn that at the aid station 2 (21km) I was 30min ahead of the second. The good news give me a boost of motivation for the last 10k and that was needed....big hill, invisible trails, following the purple flag on the trees to be sure to stay on the loop.
Finally, I hit the last road leading to the finish, a quick look over my shoulder to be sure that no-one is catching up and I crossed the finish in 5hr37min, with 1hr lead on the second and ameliorating the course record by 48min.
A cup of Chocolate milk, a nice massage and I waited to congratulate the finishers.
Happy with the result, knowing that other runners I know would have bit me for sure if present, but well I take it.
The idea sounded appealing as the area is full of nice trails and organizers described the course "nice run with rolling hills and just a big climb"...well the race was scheduled 2 weeks after the USARA National Championship (in which we finish 3rd with Doug and Shawn), so in a moment of great optimism I decided to sign up.
USARA being a 30hrs race, it was pretty clear that the 2 weeks between the race would be mostly a recovery...which I did pretty well, with just 3 runs in the 2 weeks, the longest being a 17km.
Race day, I'm still thinking about the strategy, we discussed with Marc that being my first ultra I should stay with the leading group at the beginning and see how is the pace, then after 1hr try to go if they were slow.
The course is on, first 600m on flat road so I get into my pace and take the lead with the idea of slowing down once we hit the trail and let someone else lead the pack. Only issue is once I reached the trail and look over my shoulder everybody is already more than 50m away.
Quick thinking as I'm wondering if I'm already too fast and will burn myself soon, but at the same time I'm feeling easy so decision is made I will keep the pace for the next 20km and will see.
The trails are first really in good shape with as described some rolling up and down, 8km first aid station, I just grabbed 2 gels for later and continue passing couple of early starter who are on the course 1hr before official racer to be sure to finish on time.
The trails became more challenging around 12km, hard to see the path, steep up and down and ravaged at some spots by horses.
Second aid station at 21km, the feeling are still good, no-one behind me that I can see so after a quick drink I restart.
As decided before I started to slow down to make sure I can finish strong and won't destroy my legs for the next 2 weeks (big adventure race in one month with Marc!!!).
Trails are still in rough condition and the legs are getting a bit heavy while reaching the aid station with the drop bag at 33km. A quick bladder change in the backpack and let's go for the last 20km.
The next 10km to te final aid station are the one I know well, mostly montain bike trail, easy to run with not much climbs. The last km to the final aid station is flat, crossing a field under the sun.Two minutes stop at the aid, drinking some electrolyte as the temperature is rising quickly and I learn that at the aid station 2 (21km) I was 30min ahead of the second. The good news give me a boost of motivation for the last 10k and that was needed....big hill, invisible trails, following the purple flag on the trees to be sure to stay on the loop.
Finally, I hit the last road leading to the finish, a quick look over my shoulder to be sure that no-one is catching up and I crossed the finish in 5hr37min, with 1hr lead on the second and ameliorating the course record by 48min.
A cup of Chocolate milk, a nice massage and I waited to congratulate the finishers.
Happy with the result, knowing that other runners I know would have bit me for sure if present, but well I take it.
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