My first Trail race - Hivernale des Templiers
I recently ran the "Hivernale des Templiers", a very nice Trail race in South of France. As it's my first trail race, I wanted to provide some insight.
My running history
I've been running for a while now (a bit more than 6 years, I started in October 2015), initially to lose weight, and then I got hooked and kept running, increasing volume, then racing, first in small races (5k, 10k), then half-marathon, and finally my first marathon this October, in Rotterdam, NL.
I enjoy races, as it's a good way to stay motivated, and the progression 5k ->
10k -> half-marathon -> marathon seemed natural.
"But then what next?" I remember thinking. I could have gone for
half-marathons and marathons in other cities and countries, and that would be OK
(and I'll probably do it), but I wanted something different.
Trail? Come on, this trendy thing?
I had been following big trails like the UTMB for some time now, but didn't really think about running a trail myself - until my buddy Eole asked me whether I'd like to run a trail with him - and a "special" one - the "Hivernale des Templiers" (standing for Knights Templar Winter", held in the famous French village of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon, known for its cheese.
I liked the idea, especially since I could actually decide the difficulty, as
there are 5 races to choose from: from 12K all the way up to 66K!!! (well,
technically 6, but the 1st one -4.9K- is more a walk).
I went for the 35K, named "Marathon de
l'Orchis",
as the 66K was clearly too much for me for a first trail, and the 24k was a bit
short.
I spare you the details, but in the end, my buddy Eole broke his 2 ankles (yes!)
during another trail 2 months before, so I ended up going to the trail with a
friend of him, Matthieu, who was running the 66k - so we litterally just shared
the car and Airbnb, and I also became Matthieu's driver, as his trail started at
6am, and mine at 9am.
But it was still nice to be together before the race to give each other advices
(Matthieu started running more recently, but has run a few significant trails
already, so he was more the one providing me with advices).
The trail
Waiting
After I dropped off Matthieu, I decided not to come back to the Airbnb, which was a good 30 to 40 min driving, so more than 1h back and forth, for 2 reasons:
- it started snowing, so I didn't want to get stuck or having to put the snowchains on the car,
- Roquefort is a small village, so there's not a lot of parking spots: parking at 6am allowed me to walk to the start line, otherwise I would have to park downhill, and take a shuttle - for those who already ran races, the last thing you want to do on a raceday is stress because you're late! :)
So I just waited in the car with the heating on (it was 2 degrees celsius, so a bit chilly), and then at 8:30am I went to the start line (10 min), and started warming up along the way
Start!
There were 788 runners registered, so not a huge crowd, but significant enough for a small village the size of Roquefort.
I knew that trail running is very different compared with road running, i.e. it's super hard to predict the time you'll make, as:
- there's a lot of narrow trails, making it hard to run / pass others,
- elevation/hills can be significant, so you'll likely walk, not run on those
So I decided not to be among the first runners, but rather in the back of the pack.
Once the race started, I started running at an easy pace - the first 1.5K were downhill, then we started climbing a bit for 2 kms, then at KM 3.5, we got ~250m of elevation in 800 meters - which got me walking, for the 2 reasons I mentioned above :)
You can see that elevation in the below graphic, which I took from SmashRun:
To the first aid station (KM 11.5)
Climbing combined with the cold temperature meant that we got some snow, which was not really a problem since I was warm enough after almost one hour of running.
KM 4.5 to KM 9.5 were pretty flat, allowing to run at a steady pace.
Then it was 2 kms downhill until the first aid station, with plenty of volunteers serving water, soda, food, soup - as always very welcome, especially with a lot of people smiling and super nice with us runners!
To the second aid station (KM 18)
As you can see from the below graphic, there was again ~200m of elevation over 2 kms, directly followed by ~4 kms downhill till the second and last aid station.
Nothing special here, I was still fresh and feeling good at that time, and having a second refill helped.
Second half of the race
I had prepared for this part upfront: I knew that I would have half of the race without aid stations; I was not worried about food as I had enough gels and cereals bars, but water was a concern to me, as I only got 2 soft flasks of 500 ml each, so 1 liter for the 17 kms remaining.
In the end, water was not a problem, as it was cold and I managed my thirst.
What was challenging was the succession of walking/running uphill, and then
downhill - it's pretty flat where I live, so even though I regularly run hill
repeats, my body is not really used to a "proper trail", and I clearly felt that
and suffered - my thighs were on fire!!! :)
I kept the same strategy, meaning "keep going but listen to your body", and stopped to take some pictures, but I could clearly feel I was getting tired as I slipped a few times on mud puddles, and even fell - the good thing is that mud cushioned this fall ;)
Finish and arriving in Roquefort
At KM 33.5, I recognised Roquefort and thought "cool, almost over, keep running!", half hoping that this would be a bit more flat, but we kept going downhill, and just before the finish we had again a hill, arguably small but yet it felt much steeper because of the fatigue!
Once I crossed the finish line and got my medal (very nice one, made out of
wood, not metal), I headed to the aid station and got some welcome food.
Sadly, because of Covid, there was no table nor chair, so I had to sit down on
the ground, and because it was cold, I didn't stay there too much time.
Then I went back to the car, which was tough as it was really cold and I wasn't
warm anymore, plus the car was uphill so my legs clearly told me "hey, it's time
to get some rest, not to climb again!" :D
Back to the car, I changed clothes and waited for Matthieu who finished his 66
Kms race in a whooping 10h30!
We drove back to the Airbnb, and treated ourselves with some pizza we bought on the way back, as well as some local beers!
Wrap Up
I finished my first trail in a bit more than 5h30 (05:38:47 is the official time), which of course is far longer than the first finisher (who did it in barely 3h), but still I'm really happy, and I can highly recommend this trail which is well balanced in terms of difficulty.
I will for sure include at least 2 trails in my goals for 2022, I just need to see which ones, but I already have some ideas :)