I'm getting pretty excited if a little nervous at the moment, as this weekend I'm hoping to complete 3 races in 3 days by doing the Kananaski Triple. "So what?!" I hear you say - I've done endless ultra races including a 100 miler in 21 hours, and I've even done 5 races in one day without too much trouble. That makes me sound almost cocky, and yet I am genuinely concerned about my ability to do the triple this weekend.
Since living in Calgary, I've done some pretty amazing races both on the roads and the trails, but what I haven't done is a "proper" mountain race. Sure, I've done mountain races in a previous life in England, Ireland and in the Swiss Alps - but those races were a long time ago, and I suppose you could say that I've lost some of that mountain confidence.
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| Swiss Alpine Mountain Marathon - 78km Davos, Switzerland - 2008 |
The Grizzly 50km race took me around Canmore Nordic Centre and there was a fair bit of climbing, but we didn't really go into the back country or summit any mountains, and even those that I've hiked up since been here have been popular routes that tend to be on the tourist trail, mainly due to their ease of access if not necessarily the ease of ascent.
The thing is, much as I've always loved the mountains having spent many hours backpacking, camping and hiking in mountain ranges around the UK and Europe, I'm not yet a mountain runner and certainly as I've got older, just the mere thought of heading across Crib Goch or Striding Edge, or even some of the walks I've done in the past when hiking in the Alps and the Dolomites (did I mention the via ferrata experience when I was just 8 years old??!!), sends my legs to jelly.
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| Backpacking trip to the English Lake District - late 1980's?? Somewhere near Helvellyn (I think!) |
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| On our way to the summit of Ben Nevis, Scotland Probably around the year 2000 ??? |
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| New Years Day and heading up Snowdon - yes, we attempted Crib Goch too! Can't remember the year, but probably in the 1990's |
Last year, I was really hoping to do the Iron Legs 50 mile race, but the race got cancelled due to the flooding. This weekend will be my first real test for a while, and whilst I don't suspect that any of the routes will take us across knife edge ridges like "the good old days", I'm pretty sure that it's going to be an exciting experience.
The total distance over the 3 days is around 80km and I'm pretty certain that the distances won't be a problem. The total elevation gain, meanwhile, is what will take it out of my legs - 3,782m or approximately 11,300 ft of climbing - at altitudes of at least 5000 ft on what could possibly be the hottest weekend of the year so far (mid to high 20's expected!) - yep, it's going to be tough.
On Friday, I will tackle "West Bragg", covering around 16km with 835m (2,500ft) elevation gain. Saturday I will be making my way around "Powderface 42", a distance of 43km and gains of 1671m or approx 5000 ft. Finally, on Sunday morning, I will be tackling the 24km "Little Elbow" and climbing 1276 m (3,800ft) - all of it off road, and all of it in the beautiful nearby K-country.
I may have mentioned that I don't really do much hill work these days, so whilst the distances should be ok, the climbs will be the real tester. I'm sure that I will get distracted by the scenery, and I have to say that I am really looking forward to seeing how I cope. Assuming all goes well, I know that this will whet my appetite for bigger and greater things next year and I hope to learn from and build on what I take away from this coming weekend. I would love to do another 100 mile race but that isn't on the cards for 2014 as I'm still aiming to go sub-3 again in the marathon later this year, before I get too much older!
Last week I witnessed some amazing performances by friends from both Canada and the UK at the Western States 100 mile race. I doubt whether I will ever be lucky in the lottery for that one even if I run another qualifying race (I qualified through the Lost Soul 100k for this year but fell at the first hurdle in the lottery) but I would still love to do another 100 miler, and this time I want to do one that really does test my mental and physical strength even more so than last time. I'm still trying to decide which one to do and quite possibly it will be the Sinister 7 which gives me a whole year to prepare - but there are so many others to choose from and I shall once again look towards trail running friends in the know for advice and guidance.
For now though I have to get through this weekend. Ok, 80km over 3 days with just a miserly 11,000ft of climbing may be Micky Mouse to some, but we all have to start somewhere and we all have our own journeys and challenges in life. This is just the first step for me on the journey to who knows where, and I have every intention of enjoying the ride as I go along.
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