If you’ve never read one of my race reports, then be warned, they have a tendency to go LONG, so grab your fav bevvy, put your legs up and get comfy 😊
I switched to Xterra triathlons in 2019, and I instantly
fell in love with the format, and the race organizers proved to be pretty
awesome too! In 2020, when races were being postponed, cancelled or switched to
virtual formats, the Xterra Quebec Series organizers truly raised the bar! When it became apparent that Xterra Bromont
(June 2020) would not be able to happen, they communicated as soon as they knew
for sure and provided multiple options: Defer to a different Xterra Quebec
Series race later in 2020, Defer to Bromont in 2021, Defer to a different Xterra Quebec Series race in 2021, or get a refund (minus the processing fees),
WAYYYYYY more options than any other event or organization of any size was
offering. Throughout 2020 and 2021 as
more information became available and as all 2020 events had to be cancelled,
they kept the information and the options flowing. Every communication made it
clear that they were putting athletes first, not only when it came to the
actual event, but in every aspect leading up to or around the events, seriously
CHAPEAU BAS a l’équipe!!
Road Trip
I’ve made a trip or two to Quebec City, that’s where Gaston
(my father-in-law) lives and so I knew I was going to want some travel time on
either side of the race and I also knew I wanted to volunteer the day before,
so this meant a 4 day weekend with travel on Friday and Monday. I also decided
to sneak in a couple of visits now that we could meet up outdoors with other
Double vaxxed friends and family.
On the way up, we stopped in Montreal for lunch with my
friend and Xco-worker Katrina, we hadn’t seen each other since Feb or March of
2020, so it was awesome to catch up in person on a patio on a beautiful, albeit
HOT, HUMID day 😊 So glad we made time for this visit!
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| KATching up in Montreal 📷 - Julie |
Going through Montreal had 1 disadvantage, the 15 was a mess and the 20 doubly so due to massive construction, when we finally got rolling again, we came to an abrupt stop outside Quebec City and found out the bridge was down to 1 lane each way due to construction…an Xtra 2 hours tacked onto our travel time and did I mention my car’s AC was having trouble keeping up with the heat and humidity, so Julie and I were melting (totally forgot to take pics of our hot, sweaty, messiness).
When we finally got to le Manoir de Lac Delage, we realised
that it was aptly named, a beauty of a spot and clean, bright, modern rooms
with plenty of activities if you have the time and energy.
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| View of le Manoir from the shore |
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| View of the lake from le Manoir |
WE decided to eat at the hotel resto and we were not disappointed, we shared plates (I know, I know, I NEVER share food, but neither of us could decide on 1 plate and I wasn’t hungry enough for 2) of Venison Ravioli and a veal cutlet in a wild mushroom and roast garlic sauce, both were Xquisite!
After that it was early to bed as we were both going to be
up early volunteering
Volunteering
When I got to the restaurant for breakfast ahead of my first
bit of volunteering, someone called out my name, I looked up to see Don. Some of you may remember me recounting how
Don and I played a bit of a cat and mouse game, while racing Xterra Tremblant in 2019
finishing with an all out sprint and crossing the line together, turns out Don
was also volunteering and racing this weekend and it was the first of many
opportunities to catch up and hangout.
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| Don and I "Sprinting" across the finish line of the 2019 Xterra Tremblant |
After a quick breakfast, I met up with Sophie who was (among
other things) organizing the small team of volunteers, a combination of Covid
protocols/restrictions and the resulting smaller race fields meant fewer
athletes, spectators and potential volunteers, but Sophie and the team placed
the priority on safety, followed closely by athlete experience, it should also
be noted that Sophie and team placed volunteer experience up there as well as
they constantly checked in on us throughout the day.
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| Sophie, Volunteer organizer Xtraordinaire |
With a small team of volunteers, I got to move around a fair bit, swim setup (dry land portion thankfully), PA system setup with Don and René the MC, the French title for his position is Animateur and as you can see from this photo, he is definitely a very Animated guy! I also got the chance to do traffic safety as the athletes had to cross the road from transition to get to the bike and run courses on the mountain. We all know I have the voice for it, so it was a natural fit and thankfully the sun played nice (in spite of the humidity) and stayed mostly behind the clouds, making it much more bearable and the icing on the cake, I got to wear my Imerman Angels gear to spread some awareness and near the very end I got the chance to speak with a spectator about our mission and the photographer captured a great shot of the T-shirt. We had to scramble a bit to move the PA system to the finish line, but Sebastien, René and I managed to get it all taken apart, moved and re-assembled in plenty of time for the first finisher and for a good chunk of the folks on their second loop of the bike course, lesson learned for Sunday.
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| René, l'animateur! |
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| Road Safety and spreading awareness |
When all the athletes were out on the run course (did I mention they had a sweep for both the bike and run courses to make sure everyone got back safely?), I moved over to helping with finish line refreshments and got to meet the 2 Catherine’s (both physios) and when one of them asked about my wing tattoos, I got a chance to tell them all about the Imerman Angels’ mission, it was the perfect way to cap off my volunteer Xperience!
ICE CREAM!!!!
How Xcellent to get a call from our friends Alain and Karine
asking us to join them for Ice cream when we were done volunteering and doing
our quick Recon of the bike and run courses.
We made plans to meet at Chocolat Harmonie…little did we
know that there were two locations nearby, less than 3km from each other, but
it didn’t take long for us to sort that out and get our ice cream on!! It had
been a while since we had seen Alain and Karine and it was great to catch up
with them while cooling down with a sweet treat, even sweeter was the fact that
they were both going to come and cheer us on…many of the photos in this race
report are from Alain.
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| Nom, Nom, Nom!!! |
RACE PREP
After ice cream, it was time to get organized for the race,
so we headed back to the room to get our gear ready, which usually means (for
me anyway), laying out Flat Brent so I can go through all the gear and
nutrition I’ll need for race day, doing a mental run through/visualization of
each discipline, transitions and a wee bit of figuring out how to carry
nutrition on the MTB (There would be NO one handed feeding on the bike on this
course….AT ALL!!).
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| Flat Brent, ready to RACE! |
We decided to order in which made it easier to keep prepping, verifying everything and get to bed early to try and calm the nerves and visualize some more.
Spent a wee bit of time catching up on social media before
hitting the sack, and I am glad I did. I
saw 2 posts from my buddy Garry, 1 was about his longest bike ride post
diagnosis (16k, that will be important later) and the 2nd was an
overall health update, which convinced me I NEEDED to dedicate this race to
him.
RACE DAY
By the numbers:
Swim (800m): 18:41.2
T1: 3:16
Bike (14km): 1:13:10.9
T2: 1:39
Run: 56:48.8
Total: 2:33:24.6
Overall: 31/67 athletes
Gender: 22/44
Category (M50-54): 4/7
The (much longer) narrative:
Race morning started a little later than usual thanks to a
civilized 8:00 a.m. start time and staying on-site. Usual race day brekkie of
Oatmeal, bagel with PB and a banana and then it was all about getting to
transition and getting setup.
Had to clear the cobwebs off here and felt completely
disorganized in spite of the preps done the night before. Didn't think to snap any pics and forgot to apply body glide to prevent wetsuit
chafing, but thanks to the relaxed approach of the organizers, still had time
to run over to transition and get Julie to help get that sorted, but still
forgot sunscreen, good thing we spent the bulk of the race in the forest 😊
With the body glide and wetsuit all taken care of, I was all
done with setup in transition, got a fist bump from Alain and Karine and headed
down to the swim start.
SWIM (800m)
Once I got to the water, I took a moment to look out on the
lake, reflect on how lucky I was to be standing there in this beautiful lake,
surrounded by the positive and nervous energy of other athletes preparing to
race in real life for the first time in a VERY long time! I KNOW Garry would
have loved the whole vibe (and confirmed as much in with him later in the day).
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| Taking a moment before the start |
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| View of the swim course from the water (day before) 📷 Julie |
The Animateur (René) did an awesome job of reminding all of us, how fortunate we all are to have the health, drive and means to be able to toe the line at an event like Xterra and that no matter what the results, we should all celebrate this opportunity, there were many cheers from the spectators and athletes and lots of smiles and banter amongst the men in the water as the countdown to the start began.
How AWESOME to hear that air horn and to plunge into the mix
feeling totally calm and ready to take on this swim/race!
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| In the MIX - if you zoom in, you can even see my wing tattoo coming out of the water 😇 |
The Xterra Quebec race organizers like to do this wonderful thing where they take the swim distance, divide it in 2 and add some sort of an out of water “jog” in the middle, which meant, swim 400m, jog ~30m across the dock, swim 400m. more on that in a bit.
I was swimming on the feet of a few folks for about the
first 250-300m before they finally pulled away and at one point had to use my
forearm to gently move another swimmer a wee bit left of me so he would stop
crossing in front of me every few meters. Once we turned the last buoy and
headed to shore for the first time, it was clear water ahead and to the side.
Then came that “little jog” across the dock, no
biggie…UNTIL, (the cheers from Alain and Karine may have had me running faster
than I should have) charging back into the water and I realised as I dove in,
how I was out of breath and my heart was racing!!! Switched to breast stroke
for a wee bit and once settled, got back into it, just focusing on the tips and
corrections Coach Sharon had been offering up over the last swim session,
really helped keep me in the moment.
Turning that last buoy heading to shore and transition I
kept bumping into another swimmer and then correcting to try and stay out of
his way, no idea which one of us was not keeping a straight line, but I made
sure to fess up and apologize when we both were standing and heading to
transition, his comment “no worries, I’ve had WAY worse contact than that in
most races”, no doubt!
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| Having a chuckle about the "contact" in the last 200m |
Easy jog to transition to try and get the heart rate under control again and it was time to strip (the wetsuit) and gear up for the bike.
BIKE
Not my quickest transition, but not my slowest either,
definitely a little rusty from no racing in over a year, but I managed to get a
gel in, grab a quick mouthful of Nuun, and get out on the bike without
forgetting anything (except the sunscreen).
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| Heading out of T1- 📷 - Alain |
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| Probably should have lowered the dropper post - 📷 Alain |
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| aaaaaaaannnnnndddd GO!! 📷- Alain |
The bike course was on the trails at Empire 47, if you’re in the Lac Delage area and you are a mountain biker, GO RIDE THESE TRAILS!!!
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| First climb out of the way, still smiling |
The course was challenging, both in terms of technical difficulty and the elevation. There was a first loop of about 2k that brings you to the “pump track”, really glad we rode that the day before or there may have been an unintended LAUNCH!
Awesome to see Alain and Karine after the first climb near
the pump track and I could hear the cheers while riding through and out of the
pump track area, needed that extra oomph for what lay ahead!
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| The Cheers from Alain and Karine sure helped paint that smile on! |
The climbs were relentless, so much so that I said to Julie at one point (she managed to catch me even though she started her swim after me) that at some point it must START to go down….right, but whenever I felt like it might be getting to be too much, I reminded myself that Garry had done 16k the day before and that this race was dedicated to him and somehow I found another gear and pushed on.
We got to a point where there was a first aider stationed
and I told him how awesome it was that he wasn’t busy, clearly distracting
myself and ever so gently laying my bike (and me) down on the soft loam. Didn’t take to much to get back going and
trying to catch up to Julie before we hit the last 500m which was on the roads
to the transition area. Thankful yet
again that we practiced the last section the day before as there was an offset
fence to slow riders down before they pop out on the road and coming into that
at speed would have been dangerous!
Coming into transition, I knew this is where I would lose
sight of Julie, she is a far stronger runner and a machine on those trails,
pretty awesome to see her take off though!
RUN
Another quick swap of gear, a gel to top up the energy
stores, grab my run hat and flask of Nuun and off to the mountain trails to get
this done!
Once again, Alain and Karine were there offering up cheers
and encouragement coming out of transition at a time when I really needed a
boost!
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| Fake it 'till you make it...feeling the climbs from the bike |
The race director had informed us at the online athlete briefing that the run trails were new and under development and still more geared to hiking than running, they even removed a section that the organizers deemed too challenging for athletes in the sprint and or super sprint…hell, if this was LESS challenging, I would hate to see the original route!
That said the course demanded constant attention since, due
to the lack of volunteers, a number of signs from the long course the day
before were still up and as we found out later, one of the volunteers didn’t
make it to a crucial split before some of the faster runners got there. That made it part run, part orienteering, but
ALL fun. Did I mention that there were a
couple of rock faces that we had to use a rope to get up and over…woohoo!
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| No idea where on the course this was, but somehow Alain found me 📷 Alain |
I spent a good part of the run with a woman who was participating in her first trail run/race as part of a relay team, she was not super comfortable with the uncertainty of the trail or her own performance, so I just kept with her and kept encouraging her until we reached a section where the course was more well defined and we met another pack from the super sprint race.
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| Forest Bathing |
At one point on the run, there was a spot where we had to
cross a small creek and I took a moment to pause, look around and really take
in the moment, I knew Garry would love this and tried to send him some vibes
and imagery of the spot.
Nearing the 50 min mark, I started to hear the MC at the
finish line and tried to pick up my pace, but the terrain made that quite the
challenge. I finally saw a sign “600 m
to the finish” YESSSS, still too technical to sprint, but slowly picking up
speed…ran for what felt like 900m and then saw the 400m to finish
sign…WHAAAAAAA???? Longest 200m in a race EVER!!! BUT so very rewarding when I
finally popped out on a gravel road and could see the finish chute and hear the
MC cheering me on and telling the crowd how I helped get the PA system setup,
he was going on and on and really whipping the small crowd into a frenzy, or at
least doing his bet to get them fired up and in my ears, it worked.
THE FINISH
Crossed the finish lines with my IA wings spread and a smile
on my face from ear to ear, completely Xhausted, Xhilarated and Xtremely
Grateful to have the fitness, means and support to be able to participate in
such an amazing event, IRL!!!
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| Physically Xhausted, mentally RECHARGED 📷 Alain |
Alain and Karine cheered us on all through the race and across the finish line and were there to congratulate us and snap some pics as we presented each other with our medals, COVID protocols dictated that the organizers/volunteers could not hang a medal on your neck, so it was self-serve. Alain let me know I finished 4th in my age category and I wondered if there was any part of the race I could have done differently to get a podium spot, but when he let me know the time gap was 13+ minutes, I knew that there was NOTHING I could have done differently and either way, I had done the best I could on the day and was thrilled to have been so comfortable being outside my comfort zone on the trails!
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| Xceptional medal! |
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| "Official" medal presentation |
I will DEFINITELY be back racing Xterra in 2022, hopefully all 3 Quebec events, someday when the world returns to normal, I hope to try some of the western Canada and USA events and this Xperience reinforced my dream of qualifying for and competing in the Xterra World Championship by the time I am 60.
LESSONS LEARNED
A few lessons learned, from the bike and run courses, more
focus needed on strength training, mobility practice and everyday nutrition in
order to be able to perform at my best.
The pictures, don’t always tell the story. I’ve gained a bunch of weight during the
pandemic, mostly because I am an impulsive stress eater and (unhealthy snack) food
is closer than it ever has been with my office a mere 10’ from the
kitchen. When I first looked at these
pictures, I (half) jokingly asked Julie if she could photoshop out my gut. You see, I’ve been struggling with body image
throughout the pandemic (and for a good chunk of my life if I’m being honest)
and these pics really brought that struggle back front of mind. As I reflected on this, I realised that I
often overlook the many things this body (and brain) of mine
have allowed me to experience and achieve. This article was a great reminder!
"Talking
to Myself: A Woman Runner’s Gratitude" - Sarah Bagder (wixsite.com)
And so I posted these pics BECAUSE they are not flattering
and BECAUSE they remind me that I need to accept and appreciate how awesome
this body and brain of mine are, that I need to learn to love all its perfect
imperfections and celebrate it in the same way I appreciate and celebrate other
athletes in all shapes and sizes without judgement!
So here they are, raw and unedited (with some repeats)....AWESOME!
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| THIS body, allowed me to have one of the most comfortable swims of my life AND place 2nd in my age category! |
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| THIS body, completed a VERY challenging course and my brain is fully recharged! |
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| THIS body is learning and improving MTB skills and THIS mind is overcoming the challenges! |
