Hill of a Race

Last weekend saw me taking part in my first race of the season – Hill of a Race (HOAR) – which involved running up, down and around the ski slopes at nearby Rabbit Hill Ski Resort. This race wasn’t an A race for me but rather a good training session for getting in some elevation in preparation for my mountain ultras over the coming months. My training for the past couple of months has included 4 hour hilly trail runs on the weekends which I think benefited me at HOAR last weekend, but at the same time, I did feel that I hadn’t really done enough hills nor hill repeats prior to this race that would enable me to be as competitive as I would normally like to be. Knowing that there was going to be a strong contingent of competitive lady runners taking part, I personally felt that I was unlikely to be anywhere near the front of the field, which in some ways reduced the amount of pressure on my performance, and I was able to go to the race focused on my own individual goals rather than feeling the weight of expectation from others.

HOAR is now in its second year, so it was difficult to determine how many laps of the ski hill I could do in the 6 hours, especially without any historical results to look at. Last year’s female runner had completed 14 laps, and a friend of mine had completed 13 the previous year – on that basis, I thought I could likely stretch to 15 laps if I had a good day and conditions were in our favour - much would be decided on race day itself, depending on both weather conditions and conditions on the snow hill itself – it could be bitter cold and knee deep in snow, or it could be very warm, resulting in slushy, slippery snow. Either way, it was going to be tough running that 2.5km loop with 600 feet of elevation for 6 consecutive hours!

The weather on race day ended up being pretty good, starting off a little chilly with snow flurries, before intermittent sunny spells, leading to things getting pretty bright on the slopes which certainly gave me a bit of sunburn on my face, whilst the relatively compact snow ended up becoming much softer, slushy and slippery as the day progressed and things warmed up quite considerably.

As with all Rivers Edge Ultra Running Series races, the setup was perfect, and at the end of each loop, the dedicated volunteers would take down our bib number and record our laps, whilst others manned the aid station which was well stocked with lots of scrumptious ultra running foods and drinks, which I was taking advantage of when needed,

The 6-hour race started at 10am, and with a 10k and a 5k too, the ski hill was certainly a buzz of activity for pretty much the entire day, everybody digging deep as they trudged up and down the hills, all trying to hit their own individual goals whilst encouraging everybody else.

For my part, I started pretty much to the back, not wanting to get dragged in to starting off too fast nor wanting to get in the way of the faster runners that were going to be far stronger on the climbs than I would be. I wasn’t familiar with the route, so I took it pretty easy on the first loop to determine how best to pace things. The only flat section was around by the start/finish line – the rest of the course was either a steep uphill or a steep downhill, the latter of which got more difficult as things got even slicker, and traction on those sharp corners became near impossible at times!

My first loop took around 20 minutes at a steady pace, it seemed manageable, and so I tried to stick to it as much as possible. I knew I would slow down later on as the climbs took their toll on my body, but if I could still manage 20 to 25 minute laps even towards the end of the day, the 15 lap target I had set myself would certainly be in my reach.

There’s not much to report on when it comes to running looped, timed events. Some folks listen to music, some ran all the hills, most just hiked the ups and ran the downs which was my tactic for keeping me moving. For the first few hours, I knew I was probably about 8th lady or something, but as time passed by, I started to overtake more and more people, and eventually moved into third place in the ladies race. I wasn’t really too bothered about my finish position, but being in third place certainly helped to keep me motivated and pushing forwards. My laps were still really consistent according to my watch, and I think I was only overtaking people because they were slowing down rather than me speeding up, and my consistent pacing was helping me to move through the field.

With 90 minutes still on the clock, I had hit 12 laps, and it was only then that I knew that I was going to finish with the 15 I wanted, unless I fell or got injured or something. I was still running around 23 minutes give or take, and as I started my 15th lap, I was relieved that this would be my last one and I knew I could finally stop running, and have a sit down with a coffee and a burger.

The final decent was really steep, and I had been running all of the descents, but this time I thought I might as well slide down on my butt and have a bit of fun. I sat down in the flattened smooth snow where others had been sliding, legs and back complaining but me completely ignoring the discomfort, and then tried to push off to slide down. Nothing happened. I tried again, but my body didn’t budge – my clothes clearly had far too much traction, and I wasn’t going to go anywhere! I had a good laugh before standing up and just running down the hill, absolutely beaming that I had hit my goal with around 22 minutes to spare ☺

As I crossed the line to complete my 15th lap, Bryan asked if I was going again. I really didn’t think I would make it back in time – I had about 21 minutes or something remaining, and I was doing 22/23 minute laps. And so goes the saying, you never know unless you try! So off I went on lap 16, this time literally racing the clock!

It’s interesting how having that extra bit of pressure makes you work harder for something. I certainly 

wasn’t able to run all of the uphill, but I did try to run more on this lap that the others, and I seemed to be making pretty good progress. By now, even the downhills were causing my legs to have a grumble, but I tried to block out the pain and discomfort and give my all on those downs. No sooner was I down than I was running up, up, up again, a different kind of pain and discomfort as this time, my back, glutes and hips protested.

As I started the final and worst climb of the loop, I had something like 5 minutes remaining – I needed to get to the top of this hill as quickly as possible and I wasn’t sure I had enough time. I huffed and puffed, taking short but fast steps to make up ground, and with 90 seconds showing on my watch, I hit the crest. Could I do it? Could I complete 16 laps and exceed even my own expectations?

I started on the downhill, throwing caution to the wind and running recklessly down to the finish line. Half way down the hill, with around 400m still to go to the line, I had around 30 seconds remaining …. Nooooo!!! I sprinted as best I could, slogging through the soft stuff, my feet and legs flying out all over, everybody urging me on as the seconds ticked by …

I completed my 16th lap, but I was 20 seconds over the time limit! Was I disappointed? Not in the slightest! I knew it was a close call when I set out, but I was happy to tried and only missed things by a small margin. Officially I finished 3rd lady with 15 laps behind “Queen of the Hill” Natalie, who completed 16 laps in under the 6 hours, and Jodi, another 16-lapper. Unofficially, I ran the 16 laps giving me 24 miles with 8,000 ft of ascent in just over 6 hours, and I am perfectly happy with that.

I said from the start that HOAR was never going to be an event that I excelled at, and I certainly didn’t go into it with intentions of trying to win the race. I have complete respect for my competition, and I knew that they would be stronger on the day. But I am over the moon with my performance, and it has given me some confidence moving forwards as I continue to prepare for The Divide 200 in September. It’s still early in the race season, the weather hasn’t been on our side, and I certainly haven’t done as much hill climbing as I would have liked. Yet I still did ok, and I’m good with that. My legs didn’t thank me the day afterwards, and it has taken 3 days for them to be mobile again which means I can now finally get out for a run! This next couple of days will be easy running, and then Easter weekend will see us heading down to Crowsnest Pass for a camping trip and maybe some trail running, to get familiar with the area I’ll be racing in during the summer months and again in the autumn.

My next race though is now only 5 weeks away – the Lakou Backyard Ultra. I have hopes of hitting 30+ hours here if my body and mind allows, and if the competition is there. I need somebody willing to go long at this event if I hope to hit my goals, so I really am hoping for a deep, quality field. Training leading up to it will revert back to multiple runs on a weekend and building up the miles. It’s a little different than HOAR, but that’s why I do these things – to keep it interesting and to add that variety to my running. It’s another event that I’m pretty excited about, and I’m keen to see how I get on ☺