Phantom Race 2010

I made a last minute decision to race the 19km Phantom Race this past Saturday. It is the last local trail race of the year and the course covers many of my favourite trails on the North Shore so I figured why not.

Here's all the gory details...

My girlfriend and I decided that since neither of us had trained or specifically planned for this race we would stick together and run for fun.

The race started off well we were chatting away & the first few clicks seems to float by. It was the moment we hit our first climb that I realized my legs were completely shot...they felt like DEAD weights and even using everything inside me I just could not run up the hill. I walked up the hill trying to convince myself maybe I just needed to warm up or maybe it was just this hill. Even as I walked up (I can't even call my pace a power hike) I felt my heart rate was maxed out.

After a steep downhill I thought my legs might be waking up...I was wrong. When we hit the next slight up hill, my legs felt worse than the first up hill - was that even possible? I asked my friend to leave me but she said she was happy to stick it out with me, even though the hills were absolutely killing me. We hit twin bridges and checked our pace it was looking like we were still moving at a pace that would allow us to finish in around two hours and I just kept telling myself to push through, that I would have to start to feel better. Using this flatter section of the race I tried to regroup my legs, my lungs and my emotions, telling myself it would all be over soon and that this WAS what I came here for...or was it??

I focused on convincing myself to smile (I think that even just smiling can spread goodness in your body) and enjoy the stunning forest, rivers and scenery that surrounded me.

Upon reaching Homestead hill I again tried push myself to run yet again (I KNOW I can run this hill), but the legs weren't there, it literally felt like it was taking every ounce of my energy to walk up the hill let alone run it. I tried to pull from one of my favourite quotes: LEARN TO RUN WHEN FEELING THE PAIN: THEN PUSH HARDER. Even this didn't work.

We reached the top of the hill (thank god) and were running to the 12km mark (also the start and finish area) my girl friend looked at me and said "do you want to keep going?  You could pull out at 12km if you weren't aren't feeling it"...The problem is I know I can run that trail and I am stubborn, so I told her to leave me and that I'd battle through & see her at the finish line.

Running on Varley Trail felt like I was moving so slow, I seriously felt like I was running backwards. I hit the Lynn Headwater aid station and could barley muster up a friendly hello for the volunteers working it.

I continued on along Lynn Loop trail, seriously I think I must have been delirious because my main motivation to keep running was that I thought I must have been in dead last place and I was fearful the sweepers would be passing me soon.

Climbing the Lynn Loop hill felt more like a death march, I honestly felt light headed, as though every ounce energy was gone and like each leg weighted over 200 pounds. I suffered through it reminding myself that I've done this before, that I've run much longer in the past and that it was almost over...I finally reached the top of the hill, where the terrain turns more technical and rolling, I think this is where I got "half" of my first wind.

I finished the last few km's much stronger then the rest of my race but was still not feeling anything like I should have.

Reflection:

1. Do I think it was a nutrition issue?  No, I ate well leading up to the race including the morning of and during the race I downed lots of fluids and gels.
2. Was I hung over? NO!!! Seriously people
3. Did I have enough sleep? I think so - I actually slept well the night before. I went to see Warren Millers Wintervention which was EPIC! can not wait to hit the powder this year - my snowboard is already in the shop getting waxed.
4. Did I taper? No - this is probably what did it. The week leading up to the race I race H2H relay on Saturday, did a trail run Sunday with Brad, went for a seawall run with friends on Monday night, hit up a brand new intense gym class on Tuesday, suffered through a major hurt session with Pricey and Clint on Wednesday and did Yoga on Thursday.

I honestly think this race reminded me the importance of tapering and REST.

In the end I finished in 2hour 17minutes - Most importantly I finished.  I battled through the worst I have ever felt on a trail race and made it to the finish!

After refueling and some shopping I headed to the Commodore Ballroom to check out two fantastic bands; Ra Ra Riot and Wintersleep.

K