Frosty Trail Run 3-hour - Saturday, January 20th, 2018

So much for my predictions - this was far from the slushfest I'd envisioned, though the course conditions were definitely the story of the day.

..and the beautiful sunshine, too.

I'd actually got a pretty good night's sleep before waking up at an absurd hour to have my pre-race oatmeal, but the 68km I'd run in the prior 7 days didn't exactly bode well for "performance"...so I took the luxury (after eating, braiding my hair and taping my ankle) of going back to bed for a 25min nap, and just hoped I'd even be able to get 20km in.

Back up and out the door just as the sun began to rise, we grabbed coffee and headed to Camp Heidelberg. I swear our car nearly knows how to get there by itself by now - this would be the 14th event in which I'd participated there.

It's like coming home, only colder and with more hills.

I arrived with plenty of time to say hello to everyone and pick up my race number - it felt really weird pinning it to the bottom of my shirt instead of a skirt, but I was afraid the wind blowing across the snowpack would be just a little too chilly so went with - gasp! - full tights. I availed myself of the facilities, flailed my limbs around during the pre-race announcements, and decided against starting with spikes - Jack had gone out for a lap with his Microspikes and one without, and his judgement was that "nothing really helps". Not super encouraging; I figured I'd try a lap without, but leave my traction devices by the aid station with Tanker in case I felt I needed to stop and put them on. I did, however, wear my neoprene toe covers; if there was going to be any slush out there, I didn't want to risk my previously frostbitten toes in the wet cold and wind.

One last visit to the washroom, then line up outside and it's go time.

Look at those fast people flying off the start!

I stayed toward the back, knowing that this wasn't really a race for me - just a supported training run in some pretty woods.

Starting my multi-hour meander.

The sunshine was beautiful but it was still below freezing at start time, and the snowpack varied considerably throughout the 2.1km loop of the course. It was fairly deep and sugar-fine with a crust of ice near the surface where we headed into the upper woods, but thinned out significantly to become quite runnable in the trees.

This was tough to run through for the first while.

This was much easier.

As you exited the upper woods to hit the long downhill to the driveway and down to the main forest, you'd emerge into the warm sun - it was always a welcome burst of heat as the air stayed quite cold, but my dark-coloured tights absorbed the solar energy nicely to blanket my legs with coziness as I ran.

Quite runnable all day all the way down past the pavilion.

The only deep spot on the way down the hill was just as you transition from the grassy hill to the driveway itself - this stayed deep and mushy for most of the day.

Some careful footwork required.

The driveway itself was absolutely fine - just a small amount of snow - so it was a great place to make up some time.

Yes, I actually did run some!

Things got a little more interesting past the pavilion, where there was some lumpy, deeply footprinted ice under a thin layer of snow. Cautious of my taped-up ankle, I took it really easy through here and wondered if I'd made a mistake by going spikeless.

Yikes.

The way down into the woods wasn't bad early on - a bit of snowpack, but I took my time and was careful of my footing, especially around the spot where I doubted the broken board from Horror Trail had been replaced.

No, it had not. It was, however, buried under quite a bit of snow.

The big stinkin' hill in the main forest was my biggest concern, as any ice on it would make the climb nigh impossible without spikes. As I approached I could see slip marks from other people's shoes, which wasn't very confidence inspiring.

Following a 6-hour runner up through the snow.

Fortunately traction was probably at least as good on the face as it was anywhere in the course. I did experience a bit of slippage, but was able to stay upright. I did end up consciously tucking my left arm into my body as I climbed, though - I'd fallen on my hands on this same hill at Horror Trail in October, and my left wrist and thumb were still causing me some pain and trouble as a result. The worst possible outcome would be for me to fall on it again, so I tried to make sure that if I did go pitching forward I'd land on my forearm instead,

Which might not have been any better, but such is my logic while running.

Through the first lap without incident, the morning sun was so lovely that I wanted to grab the camera from Tank, but he was nowhere to be found when I came through the aid station - off being useful to everyone else. It wasn't until the start of my third lap that I was able to snag it from him to take some photos of the conditions.

In between the major hill and the secondary stepped hill.

The gentle uphill above the stepped hill, with the 1km mark somewhere in the middle.

The upper portion of the main forest did have some nasty lumpy mud under the snow cover - I had to be very careful from about the 1.2km mark (seen below) through 1.4km, as it would have been very easy to damage even my stronger ankle.

Things had clearly just frozen in place after the mudfest that was Horror Trail 2017.

I kept nutrition pretty simple as I went round and round the loop - just a swig diluted of EFS Liquid Shot from my flask every 30mins until I finished it at the 2-hour mark, adding in a chunk of banana from the aid station around 1h so I wouldn't get too hungry. Unfortunately, while I never experienced any drop in energy, my strategy for keeping the growlies at bay was less than effective - by 2hrs in (now 5hrs after my morning oatmeal), I was starving.

Keep your hands and feet away from her mouth, folks!
(Photo credit: Race Director Patrick Campbell)

I'd managed 6laps in the first 90mins, but was slowing down through the second half. It became blatantly apparent that I haven't spent much time running long on technical trails lately, as all the stabilizing muscles in my hips and groin started to whine about the conditions. Knowing that I'd still easily surpass the 20k goal I'd originally hoped for and would probably even make it past 21.1km (I always like to at least attempt to beat half marathon distance in the 3-hour here), I decided to take my phone out to get a few shots of the sun's effects on the course.

Hmm, there might have been a bit of melting going on..

WOWZA!

Apart from the emergence of the mud in several places on the loop, there were other changes as well - some for the better, and some for the worse. On the bright side, the deep sugary snow had been nicely packed down in most places by now; there were visible trenches where the passage of feet had created a runnable surface out of what had been a shifting, unstable mess earlier.

Score!

Unfortunately, the effects of sun and feet weren't all positive - the stretch before you exit the main woods to run up the driveway had its layer of snow scraped off by people's toe-off, revealing very slippery ice underneath.

Yeah, might be grabbing those spikes after all.

Map from my Garmin, plus some annotations - all workout data here.

Doing the math and trying to get an idea of my lap times from my Garmin, I figured I could probably get at least 11 laps in if I didn't dawdle too much. I gave myself an extra boost in the last hour with a good slurp of diluted sea salt chocolate Gu Roctane from a flask around 2h30m, then dropped it off with Tanker after my 10th lap with about 25mins to go. 

I still had about 8mins once I'd completed my 11th lap for 23.1km, and finally ran down Grant and Robin - I stayed with them for the final few minutes, of COURSE ending up having to climb the big stinkin' hill one last time before the horn sounded to end the 3 hour race. I didn't even get credit for it, either - we could only report the last 200m marker we'd passed before time ran out (which had been the 800m sign) even though I was at least halfway from it to the 1k marker. Blargh!

Done and back in the sun on my way up the driveway to the building.

Official distance: 23.9km (11 laps + 0.8km)

4/10 women - tied for 5/13 O/A

Official results - I was only passed by the 3rd place woman in the last 10mins or so.

I headed inside, getting changed out of my wet kit almost immediately as I had a plan. While my legs, hips and ankles were all a bit whiny, I didn't actually feel too badly beaten up. I put on a fresh set of running clothes - a little warmer than those I'd worn to start the day - had a cup of coffee, and stuffed my face for a bit. I made sure not to sit down, preferring to stay on my feet and keep moving to try to keep my legs from getting stiff. One hour (the minimum requirement), a turkey wrap, some chocolate fig energy balls, a couple of mini chocolate chip cookies, and a few cashews later (I told you I got hungry!), I headed back out on course to do another few laps. After all, the 100 runs in 100 days challenge was still on!

The course had not improved in my absence.

The upper woods were now lumpy, too.

I'd told myself that I'd put my spikes on before I went back out, but when it came time to actually go run again I left them at the aid station once more. I wanted to see what it was like out there without them first, which may have been a dumb idea.

It had got rather slippery on the descent into the main forest.

Despite the day staying quite chilly in the brisk West wind, the sun had continued to blowtorch the snow from the woods, exposing more and more of the mud below.

The difference in the hill between 10am and just before 2pm.

While it never actually got slushy or even too sloppy in the time I was out there - which constituted about another hour between 1pm-ish and 2pm-ish, so the 5th hour of the 6-hour race - there was significant melting going on.

And the beginnings of a quagmire at the top of the big stinkin' hill in the forest.

Fortunately the melting included the ice under the snow where you emerge from the main woods, so other than a couple of little slips here and there I never really regretted leaving my traction devices off - I actually managed to stay upright all day! I took things pretty easy, though, as I was just out to fart around while Tanker continued taking care of the 6-hour racers and get myself one more run closer to 100.

Even if it meant climbing that bloody hill 3 more times.

Dressing warmer than I had in the morning and re-donning my wind vest proved to be excellent decisions, as I would have been chilly at the lower effort level had I not had the extra insulation against the cold wind.

The sunshine was still gorgeous, though.

It was actually nice to be out on this trail with no particular drive to push myself for once - able to walk or stop and take photos whenever I pleased without worrying about the clock. It was just a pleasant traipse through the woods, exploring all the differences the sun had wrought while I'd been inside trying to stay loose and silence my growling stomach.

Very happy not to have to push the pace through the lumpy frozen mud of the upper main forest.

It was probably a good thing I could take my time, as I had probably eaten a bit more than I should in my sojourn indoors. I wasn't quite in danger of decorating the course with half-digested cookies, but there was a bit of rumbling in my belly during my first long, jostling run down the big hill from the upper woods. Fortunately it settled down fairly quickly - I hadn't had any G.I. issues all day, and didn't really want to start now.

The minimum requirement for the 100 runs in 100 days challenge is 30mins, but my own personal minimum is 5km...so that meant 3 laps (or 6.3km), since I figured there was no point in cutting the loop short, and that would net me just over 30km for the day. It took me the best part of an hour, getting chilled by the wind and warmed by the sun as I meandered around the course, but I actually felt pretty good by the end.

Just what the doctor ordered?

Of course, Tanker was still being amazing for another hour after I scuttled back inside to some warm, dry clothes and a bit more food. He not only ran the aid station basically by himself, he also did his level best to make sure the other volunteers recorded every one of the laps for all the runners - something that has historically been a problem in the past.

Straight talk: if you're really uptight about accurate timing, this probably isn't the race for you. If you just want a fun day in some pretty woods with plenty of interaction with other racers and a hot bowl of chili at the end, you'll probably have a great time!

Especially with this guy making sure all your aid station needs are met!

Even with my idiotic insistence on going back out for some bonus laps, I was still able to run the next day, and pull a double the day after that. I have been taking it a bit easier - as I said I would - this week with mostly minimum-distance runs, but I'm encouraged by how strong I've felt since racing the 6-hour at Stride Inside just a fortnight before Frosty Trail.

Hopefully it means I'm becoming a little more resilient and able to recover from big efforts, because there are definitely plenty of those to come this year!

While still hopefully having lots of time to spend with this awesome fellow <3