Seaton Trail 78km Trail Race

Pickering, Ontario

April 19, 2008

78km Ultra Trail Race

Ontario Ultra Series

www.ouser.org

PreRace:

Running on snow covered trails, at times in knee deep snow, does wonders for your quad strength, tears up your hamstrings and calves, and gives you killer stabilizer muscles.  Both my mind and body hate the road, so although the trails this winter were brutal, I did 95% of my training for this race on trails. All my hill workouts and most of my long runs were done on the Seaton course. A challenging course without snow, with snow it was a killer! My long runs were run so slow I started to doubt I’d be able to finsih before the time cut off.

Two weeks before the race the course was still covered in thick ice and deep snow in parts. I practiced carrying my yak trax on my race belt just in case. There was no way to run on the ice without them! The weekend before the race the ice and snow were still there creating some unsafe trails. My training partner, Colin, and I laughed about “slipping off the edge” but inside I was starting to panic. Only by Thursday before the race, the trails finally cleared! They were wet and muddy, but no more ice!

 I had never done a race of this distance before and my body was beginning to show the signs of high miledge stress: IT band/knee/sciatica pain, loss of appetite, an infection in my toe I was on a high dose of antibotics for, change of sleep patterns, emotional “sensitivity”, extremely low iron levels, and Amenorrhoea. I had researched training programs for ultras, and was following the advise of many, taking feedback from my body, but in hind sight I was overtraining and my body was screaming the symptoms. Unfortunetly my mind would not let my body recover as the anxiousness I felt to get in all the workouts made it worse to miss one or even cut one short. 

Going in to this race I knew my goal should have been just to finish. I tried to convince myself to accept finishing as an accomplishment, but I couldn’t. I had told Colin months earlier I thought I could do sub 10 hours, and that’s what I knew I had to do.

The First Out and Back: From 0-26kms

Race day was HOT! The temperature reached 27 degrees with clear blue skies. 

I tried to start slow, but the front women I had my eye on went out fast. At the time I told myself to relax, run my race: slow and steady. But by 5kms in I was already sick to my stomach and feeling like my hamstrings were going to snap at any moment. I felt like I was 30kms in not 5 and the worst part was I knew it wasn’t going to get any better, so I decided to push the pace to make time while I still was able to.

I ran with a couple different people during the first 26kms. Being a solo runner this was new for me, but I was very grateful for their distraction. My stomach was making me sick and I was throwing up small amounts frequently. I ran most of this out and back with a guy I met, Scott.  Our conversation focussed me on the the things that give me strength: the kids I coach, the kids I teach and run with, and my Running Free Team. I knew I couldn’t keep up the pace we were going, but I was being distracted from the negative thoughts and fears in my head so was grateful for his company. Scott went on to place second, staying consistent the whole race!

Coming in to the start/finish area I was earlier than I had told Kalon I would be. He was meeting me to resupply my water bottles. I knew he would be upset with how little I had drunk and eaten. I put on a smiley face, but I don’t think I fooled him. From his reaction I knew he was worried about me. I also knew I was in trouble.

The Second Out and Back: From 26-52kms

Seaton Trail is a beautiful course. The first 3kms of the out are wide soft packed flat double track running beside the river. At 3kms racers are treated to a wonderful technical river crossing. I cherished the cool crossing every time. I was tempted to stop and let the cold water numb my swollen and painful knees. At 4kms there is a rocky, steep long climb. I had read that I should walk the hills. Hills are my strength but I was following the “expert” advise and walked most of them. Looking back this was a HUGE mistake! My body doesn’t like to walk the hills. I am much more efficient staying steady up the hills. My muscles killed walking. (Note: The last 13kms of this race I decided to run all the up hills- it felt so much better). I honestly thought my hamstrings were going to snap. The rest of the trail from 4kms to 7kms I call the easy part. The mud made some parts more draining than usual, but it is a wonderful mix of flats, rollers, step decents and ascents.

At the 7km aid station I looked like crap. I felt like crap. I panicked when I couldn’t see Kalon beside the car and screamed his name. He was up the trail a bit with the kids wanting to get some good photos of me. I was hurting. I was not in a good mood.

7kms to 11kms is tough. Hills, hills, and more hills. Some killer ups, some killer downs. The downs were my biggest problem. My quads never give me troubles. I fly down hills. Well not this race. I was forced to hobble down the hills! I was losing so much time and frustrated with myself. But I love this part of the course. It is a favorite that I run frequently. I tried to pick out “memory spots” along the course that make me smile: where I saw the beaver family during a long run this winter, where Colin panicked on the ice and got so mad he ran the fastest I’ve ever seen him, the log I love to balance on pretending I’m in “Dirty Dancing”, etc.

At 11kms I hit the cross over in Whitevale. I was glad to see the return of the technical rooty, rocky section. The change in my gait provided some relief for my legs, but my stomach was still off. Kalon had given me some jelly beans to try at the 11km aid station. I don’t eat jelly beans ever but I couldn’t stomach anything else so I tried them. Relief! I had found something my stomach would keep down. Thank goodness I had planned so well and put a tonne of different things in my “goodie bin”.

Touching the turn around wall for the second time I tried to put on my happy face and joked with the volunteers, but I’m sure they too could see the “truth” behind my big smile. I was hurting. I couldn’t focus mentally on my mantras, my songs, positive thoughts- nothing worked that usually does. Quitting was never an option, nor even a thought, but looking back I am very surprised I didn’t. Of course waiting for me at 52kms was one of the reasons I didn’t.

My second out and back was my slowest of the race.

The Third Out and Back: From 52-78kms

I coach two incredible young runners. Waiting to run with me from 52kms-59kms was one of them. I had warned her, Siobhan, that I might not be in the mood for company so she would be prepared for me to tell her I didn’t want her. Boy was I wrong. I was so delighted to see her. Her enthusiasm and positive talk helped me stay up. I knew I was losing time to the female racer in front of me, but I had to be proud of the fact I was only one minute behind my 52km time from last year when I raced only 52kms at this event!

Our roles reversed and I took the “follower” position behind my strong pacer. Siobhan set a perfect pace. I followed just focussing on her back. All my “advise” and race strategy tips I talk to her about I was now focussed on: steady pace, even breathing, relaxed arms, focus forward, etc. It was a strange, yet wonderful feeling. Crossing the river I knew she was scared but she handled herself so well. A lot of my energy was spent just trying to not think of the pain and fatigue. I was wearing mentally thin as I had been fighting stomach and leg issues for so long. But Siobhan and I shared some laughs. She was shocked when I swore and to see me eat fistfulls of jellybeans. I apologized for both.

Leaving Siobhan was hard. I really enjoyed her company and support. We parted at the 7km aid station where I recieved the most incredible gift. A volunteer filled my hat with ice. The cold ice melting on my head was heaven. I was drenched from pouring water on my head and neck, but the ice was like WOW! Once my core temperature went down my stomach settled abit. The rest of the race I refilled my ice hat at every station (what amazing organization by the volunteers and race directors; they were completely prepared to assist racers in the heat).

Waiting for me at the next aid station was one of my other reason for not quitting. Meeting Colin 63kms in to the race I was nervous. Only he knew what I wanted to accomplish and now was the time that I would have to dig deep to do it. The scariest thing for me was that it was in my grasp. It was not going to be easy, but I could do it. I was so worried I would not do it and let him down. All the “pushing through the pain, believing in your dreams, challenging your limits, etc.” that I quote all the time were only things I believed in but could not do myself. I didn’t want to fail on things I strive to motivate and inspire him to do.

His face when he saw me made me smile. Guess I was right- I looked like crap! He wasn’t suppose to run with me till after I had finish the out and was on the way back, but after seeing how crappy I looked I guess he thought he should join me. So off we went. He sprayed me with water when I slowed down and made me laugh. We run so much together he picked up our easy run pace with ease and I fell into stride.

I touched the turn around wall for the final time and headed to the finish line. I don’t remember much about the last 13kms. I remember trying to stay focussed on the race course “chunks” and not getting too caught up in my time. I knew I had to run a sub 6:30 pace for the rest of the course to make sub 10 hours, but I couldn’t believe that this could happen yet. My legs couldn’t run downhill, but I decided to run the uphills because it felt better. 

With 7kms to go, Colin told me I was going to make my time. I remember telling him I hurt and was so sick. Thank goodness he didn’t listen to me and kept up the pace. Crossing the river for the last time I was still doubting I could make the time. With one kilometre to go Colin realized he was pacing me on the time of day (not race clock time), and we had twelve minutes to make the last kilometre. I almost threw up at the news. I think it was relief. I remember having a mental image of people who collapse meters from the finish. This would not be me! I told him to get going!

Coming over the last hill, I saw my dad. My emotions swelled over and I cried. I didn’t know he would be there. After 78kms of stomach sickness and leg pain my race was about to end and all I could think of was “I hope they are all proud of me.” My dad, my husband, my kids, and my training partner. It all came down to them. I tell my runners they should run for themselves, and I do. But it is in others I find my strength and inspiration! The sense of accomplishment I thought I would feel crossing the line wasn’t there. I finished in 9:56. Third female overall, second in my age category.

Although I had met my time goal, this was not the race I wanted. Of course there will be pain and fatigue in any ultra I run, but to feel awful from the start to finish was really disappointing. Thank goodness I had so many wonderful people to help me along the way. I would not have made it without them.

The End: Rest and Recovery

Minutes after crossing the line I was already talking about doing my first 100km.

I developed a fever that night, my stomach issues continued for days, and my legs needed serious massage therepy. I spent two weeks in active recovery mode.

I ran Seaton with Colin the following Thursday. Our easy pace felt wonderful. As we ran I talked about the race. I shared some new learnings and memories from it; but for most of the run we ran in silence. Race bib or none, I love to run.

PHOTOS BY IRENEE GARNEAU