With 5 races already under my belt in the past month, I suppose I couldn’t really have expected anything better at The 5 Peaks Trail Race last weekend. I wasn't particularly tired prior to the race and although I knew I wouldn’t be at my best, I felt that I was recovering well considering I’d recently ran a marathon, a 50km and 2 legs of the Banff to Jasper Relay totalling around 38km.
I was looking forward to the run in Canmore – another couple of hours in the mountains doing what I love best – and because the race would only be around 12km it almost felt like I could treat it as a recovery run. I’m realistic enough to know that I will never win any of these races – there are far too many outstanding trail runners out here that are far superior to me – but I headed to Canmore with the mindset that if I could win my age group, I would still be a happy camper.
The race was taking place at the Canmore Nordic Centre and as we entered the town, things looked a little eerie with the mountainsides shrouded in the mist that had settled in the valley whilst the tops of the higher peaks poked through the clouds . It was also a little cool, but with signs of the sun breaking through, I knew it wouldn't be long before things started to warm up.
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| Misty morning in Canmore |
The Nordic Centre has some excellent trails, and I’d had some experience of them when I did the Grizzly 50km here a couple of years ago. I was actually quite excited about exploring again, even if it did mean sharing the trails with around 200 other people. The area is also known to be a “wildlife corridor” and is home to plenty of wildlife, including bears and cougars. Whilst I personally have yet to see either of these wandering around Canmore, there are frequent warnings in the area which has resulted in a new policy that says all competitors at the Nordic Centre MUST carry bear spray. Indeed, prior to the race start we were given a safety talk about bear encounters by a Conservation Officer along with a demo of how to use bear spray, and we were warned that due to the nature of today’s course, there was potentially a higher chance of encountering a bear on the trail.
I have to say that the course turned out to be far tougher than I was expecting (Alan Lam, you have A LOT to answer for young man!) The first 100 yards or so was a sprint across the field as everybody jostled for position and I hadn’t even warmed up before the climbing started. It was a fair old climb too – steep by my standards and quite rocky – and it just seemed to keep going and going and going. Tons of people were passing me already, but I had absolutely no strength to push any harder and I knew that any hope of a decent race today was already out of the window. Had it been a road race, I would have been absolutely gutted, but knowing that we would be on the trails for the next hour or so, I now had every intention of just enjoying the run in such an amazing environment.
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| Start of 5 Peaks Trail Race - Canmore
Photo by Glen Crawford
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When the trail eventually flattened out, I found I was picking up the pace despite the technical terrain. There were plenty of twists and turns, slippery rocks and tree roots, muddy patches and stream crossings – and yet I was in my element. We were still in the trees at this point and it required a lot of concentration to keep focused and watch our step to ensure we didn’t fall.
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| River crossings at Canmore Nordic Centre 5 Peaks Trail Race Photo by Glen Crawford |
A short while later though, we came out into a clearing and were greeted by the most beautiful views of the Bow Valley. I felt the urge to slow down to absorb everything before me and savour that moment, feeling that I wouldn’t have a full appreciation of where I was racing if I just sped through without even glancing up.
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| Outstanding views at Canmore Nordic Centre (Picture taken during Grizzly 50k but same trail - credit to me!) |
The field by now had spread out and there weren’t so may people around, but as we dropped back into the trees, the twisty turny, tree rooted, narrow trails started again. I’ve always considered myself a pretty good downhill runner, almost fearless and no fear of just letting myself go, and whilst some of those ahead of me tentatively picked their way around roots and rocks, I stormed past them in an attempt to make up as much ground as possible.
I was absolutely loving this section but with being a two lap course, I knew that at some point we would start to climb again. Sure enough, around 5km, the pathway turned and up we went. I was pumping my arms and trying to push as hard as my legs would allow but they were stubbornly refusing to move and I was absolutely dripping with sweat and desperate for a drink. I really wasn't making a great deal of progress despite my best efforts, and before long, I was once again overtaken by the stronger hill runners.
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| Hills, hills, hills - gritted teeth and determined not to stop! Photo by Debi McGrath |
Lap 2 went pretty much the same way as the first, the only difference being that at least I knew what to expect this time around. I continued to curse the uphills but refused to be beaten, I acted like an excited child on the downhills and was enjoying the adrenalin rush as I dared myself to go faster, and every time the trees parted and I caught a glimpse of those mountains, I had one of those surreal moments of still not truly believing that this place is now my home.
I have to say that the last 3km of the race were perhaps the toughest. I was trying to convince myself that at some point we really would get more flatter running, and yet the hills just kept on coming, and with following a slightly different route for the latter part of this loop, I didn't know what to expect.
The forest trails were wonderful despite the hills, and I was so grateful when we had a steep long gravelly downhill for a good couple of hundred metres, where I was able to stride out and open up a considerable gap over a couple of other ladies that were just behind. But this was an "Alan Lam" course, and as soon as we hit the bottom and turned a corner, we were once again greeted with a steep ascent with switchbacks, leading up the hillside. Every time we turned a corner, I was hoping that we had hit the summit but t just seemed to carry on climbing, ever upwards, with what appeared to be no end in sight.
By now we had caught the tail-enders of the sport course, many of which were walking. Up until then, I had stubbornly refused to even consider walking, but with so many power walking up the hills, and due to the narrow nature of the trail, I finally caved and did likewise. It was actually quite nice having folks around me, and we all gave encouragement as we passed by, laughing and joking as we went.
At long last, I heard the tanoy at the finish line and as we emerged from the trees for a final time, I was in the last final 200m that would lead into the finish.
I crossed the line in just under 75 mins with 11.41km on my watch. My legs were like jelly and my first words to Andy were, "That was ridiculous – if I was a newbie to trail running, that would scare me off for life!" OK, after nearly 1300 ft of climbing at 4000ft and having done a fair few races recently, I was perhaps feeling a little grumpy but I know I only have myself to blame for being so crappy at running up hills.
In all honesty I loved the course - it was interesting, challenging and full of variety. Despite cursing Alan several times for the past hour for having an obsession with hills (sorry!) I honesty think he did a brilliant job in putting together such a wonderful course and flagging it for us to make sure we didn't get lost. I really am truly grateful for the time and commitment people like Alan put into these races - runners know full well that without these volunteers, we wouldn't be able to have all of this fun and such events would not possible.
Just for the record, I finished 17th lady and 3rd in my age group – certainly room for improvement for next time, especially considering I won my age group at the last race! I think it's time to give myself a good kick up the you know what - I need to bully myself in to doing hill reps again, just like the good old days at Stoke AC and Trentham. I could come up with any number of excuses for not doing hill reps these days, but the truth is I'm too lazy to find a hill to practice on and prefer to just "run the hills" when I get to them. With running though, we all know that you only get out what you put in, so I need to get my lazy ass in gear and start putting in a bit of effort ;-)
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