Limberlost Challenge Race Report 2015

I wanted to do one more great trail race before moving to Vancouver to both capitalize on any remaining fitness from Sulphur Springs back in May and enjoy the Ontario trails before leaving the province.  The best race for me was The Limberlost Challenge in Muskoka on July 11^th.  This race is a 14km loop around 5 lakes and competitors can choose to complete 1, 2 or 4 loops.  I decided to do 2 loops for 28km mainly because I knew I wouldn’t have the fitness to complete 56km after my offseason.

Another early morning

After a 4am alarm and 4:30am departure I headed North on the highway.  Thankfully the race started at 8:20am so I had plenty of time to drive, register, tape my feet and get ready.  It was going to be a humid and sunny day.  I brought everything except bug spray, and the mosquitos and black flies were out in full force.  My race plan was to push relatively hard on the first lap (160 bpm heart rate) then hang on for the second.  I knew the second half wasn’t going to be pretty as my longest training run since my May ultra was 10km.

Lap 1 – A place to run, a place to grow, Ontar-iar-iar-io

The pack set out at a brisk 5:30 min/km pace.  I held back at 6min/km pace to control my heart rate.  Within 500m we were on technical single track with rocks, roots, mud, boulders and stream crossings.  I was having a blast – the views were amazing and the course was fun and really challenging. 

Due to the technical nature of the course I wasn’t able to open it up on the hills.  My favorite part of trail running is bombing the descents, however with so many rocks and roots that would have been disastrous so I held back. 

At 6km it got really muddy and this lasted until about 10km.  Sometimes I was able to get around the mud but mostly you had to pick a line, plow through and hope your shoes stayed on.  I was glad to have my Merrill trail shoes with massive lugs.

The final 2km was on slippery boardwalks through marshlands.  The water levels were so high that many of the boardwalks were underwater.  Good way to wash off the mud, but impossible to maintain dry feet.  I finished lap 1 in 1:49:40, definitely slower than expected but in good shape and spirits.

Lap 2 – Racing without training

I refreshed my nutrition at the start/finish then set off for my second and final lap.  At Sulphur Springs in May I raced after 20 weeks of training, which built upon 11 months of Ironman training.  I intentionally decided not to train for Limberlost to see how much of my remaining fitness could be salvaged.  In summary I was good for about 20km, then the wheels fell off hard.

The course was so well marked that there was no chance of getting lost.  This meant I could actually enjoy the beautiful views for split seconds when not looking down to avoid race-ending rocks and roots. 

At around 20km my quads and calves stated twitching, just a little bit at first then to the point that I worried they wouldn’t support my weight.  I stumbled a couple times going up and downhill and knew the best thing I could do was get to the finish line while minimizing the damage. 

I was still having fun, despite the pain and slow pace.  As I approached a 3 foot high boulder blocking the trail I decided to leap on top of it in a single bound.  When I pushed off with my right foot my calf muscle completely seized.  My momentum carried me to the top of the boulder but I collapsed in pain and a string of expletives on top of the rock.  The rest of the race wasn’t going to be pretty. 

I hit 25km in 3:30 and knew I just need to run 10 min/km for the final 3km to finish under 4 hours.  Based on my current pace and the shape of my quads and calves I knew this was unlikely but decided to push to finish sub 4.  I made it to 27km with 1km to go at 3:50 and things weren’t looking good for the final km.  I passed a couple people in the final stretch but it wasn’t a glorious finish and I didn’t go sub 4. 

My lap 2 time was 2:11:24 for a total time of 4:01:03 and I finished 58 out of 93 competitors.  Overall it was a fantastic race, a beautiful course and really challenging.  I loaded up on meat, carbs and electrolytes, popped a couple advil then started the long drive back to Toronto. 

 

Coolest race medal ever!

Regrets??

This was my first race where I didn’t specifically train.  I could have adequately prepared, taken a half hour off my time and prevented the muscle cramps and fatigue but I have no regrets.  I wanted to run this trail race before moving and needed the offseason after Sulphur Springs. 

The Limberlost Challenge is a great race with fantastic volunteers, beautiful scenery and amazing post-event food.  I highly recommend this to anyone that’s looking for a fun and challenging trail race, but hope all competitors train more than I did for future events!

The Offseason

The Offseason

Following the ultra-marathon on May 23^rd I entered my 1-month offseason.  This was not a difficult decision as my every muscle from the neck down tortured me for 10 days with screaming pain.  I literally could not stand up normally from a chair for a week following the race.  In hindsight I should have spent more time stretching, foam rolling and on recovery spins, but instead I employed the advil and IPAs methodology which was enjoyable but didn’t speed recovery.

I planned to remain vegetarian for the rest of 2015.  This diet helped get me to the start line of the ultra in peak shape and racing weight and I felt no desire to resume eating meat.  This feeling lasted 10 days.  By the beginning of June I was back enjoying sausages, chicken wings, and poutine.  It didn’t help that Christina started eating meat again, and being the only veggie in the house was too much pressure!  So much for an ethical or nutritional commitment to a vegetarian lifestyle. 

The maniacal and borderline crazy focus during the lead up to the ultra-marathon had past, and just like post-Ironman in 2014 I had an opportunity to reinvest in family, friends and work commitments.  The first 2 involved lots of time on patios drinking beer and eating cheeseburgers, and the last meant not going trail running every day at lunch.  I thought I would have so much more time in the day, but that wasn’t the case.  With Jon Stewart retiring in August there was a lot of required catching up on The Daily Show!

At the end of my offseason I became infatuated with Western States, arguably the most famous 100-mile ultra-marathon in the world.  Running Western States was quickly added to my bucket list of races, with Ironman Hawaii and the Boston marathon already on the list.  To qualify for the Western States lottery you need to do a 100km or 100 mile race in a specific amount of time.  I hastily research 100km qualifiers across North America then picked 3 possible races for 2016 – 2 in California and 1 in Alberta.  The plan is to run one of them in 2016 then qualify for the Western States 2017 lottery.

In August we are moving from Toronto to North Vancouver, and our house backs onto Grouse Mountain so I plan to run mountain single-track vertical daily.  However, before leaving Ontario I wanted to do one more great trail race.  I picked the 28km Limberlost Challenge in Muskoka on July 11^th (see next blog posting for race report).  A 1-month offseason post-ultra brought me to June 23^rd, with not a lot of time to train or condition for Limberlost.  My hope was that my ultra-marathon aerobic and strength base would swiftly carry me to the Limberlost finish line.  Spoiler alert on the best laid plans….

As a student of periodization a well-planned offseason is an essential part of the annual training plan. I enjoyed the mental and physical break from training.  Without another “A race” on the calendar for 2015 I don’t have a specific training plan for the rest of 2015, which is a stark contrast to the past couple years.  I’d like to do a couple shorter trail races in BC this fall, perhaps 5-peaks Whistler. 

My love affair with trail running continues, especially with the pending move into the mountains.  I haven’t stepped on a scale, done core or strength work, or used my GPS watch since May 23^rd and am very happy.  There will be plenty of time for micro-cycles, negative splits and calorie counting, but until then I’m really enjoying my offseason!