Trail Race report: Hivernale des Templiers 2024
L'Hivernale
I registered to the "long" format, i.e. the 65 kms / 2200m elevation called "Astragale" - in case you're wondering, this is the name of a plant (Wikipedia).
L'Hivernale is a bit special to me, as it's the very first trail race I ran 3 years ago (and that I wrote about here).
Goals
After my DNF at the CCC 2024, I wanted to finish the year with a nice race, focusing on the improvements I noted during the Saint Jacques and the CCC, i.e.:
- validate completely the new Instinct backpack,
- focus on nutrition and bring everything with me to master how many calories/carbs I take - but also take only what is needed, not too much, to avoid carrying an "elephant" on my back,
- hydration: I was not too concerned about that one, since the forecast was around 0 degrees Celsius - but I had to drink my flasks as my energetic drinks (Maurten and Hydrixir) were there :-)
I also wanted to work on:
- reducing the amount of time spent at the aid stations:
- looking back at my previous races, I was spending way too much time (between 15 and sometimes 25 minutes), so that was an easy way to reduce my overall running time,
- ideally, finish the race in less than 10 hours:
- I ran the smaller format (35 km / 1600m elevation) in 5h38, and that was 3 years ago as I just started trail running, so not using poles and without any experience,
- I trained properly for that race after the DNF at CCC,
Pre-race
We had the same team as last year's Veni Vici: Fabien, Gaëlle, Clément and Julien. We were joined by Cristina.
We arrived on Friday evening at the Airbnb (a very nice refurbished water tower), then on Saturday we picked our bibs, walked a bit around Tournemire (the village near Roquefort where we staid), and chilled a bit, before preparing our bags.
As mentioned above, I decided to reduce as much as possible the time spent at the aid stations, and I prepared 3 small bags with my food and energetic drinks:
We then went to bed around 9pm, as the race started at 6:30am the day after.
D-Day
We woke up at 5am, had breakfast and went to the start line.
I was glad I decided to buy warm running pants on the running village the day
before, as the shorts I brought would not have been enough: the temperature was
2 degrees, but felt like -7!!!
Cristina and Julien were in the 2nd wave, whereas the rest was in the 3rd and last wave.
The Race
I had told Fabien, Gaëlle and Clément that we should try to run fast for the first 1.5 downhill kilometre, as we would then hit a single and there would be a bottleneck (which meant losing time) if we were not fast enough.
We managed to be in the first third of runners, so the climb went rather well. After roughly 90 minutes, I was just with Fabien (Gaëlle and Clément were a bit behind) and slowly I distanced him, and finally told him I would keep pushing to try to make a sub-10.
Aid Station 1 - Lapanouse de Cernon (KM 16)
This aid station is a kind of shepherd's hut, and I clearly remember it from 3 years ago - I spent some time inside and had soup back then.
- Arrived at 9h02 and left at 9h08
- that's 6 minutes
- and 15 minutes ahead of my estimation
- I only refilled my flasks (putting energy drink powder in them)
- Mood/shape: very good
As I was leaving the aid station, I saw Fabien, Gaëlle and Clément arriving, which meant I managed to "gain" 15 minutes.
Aid Station 2 - Sainte Eulalie de Cernon (KM 30)
- Arrived at 11h01 and left at 11h08
- that's 7 minutes
- and 12 minutes ahead of my estimation
- I again only refilled my flasks (putting energy drink powder in them)
- Mood/shape: very good
Right after the aid station, there was a climb so I started releasing my poles, but one of them got stuck and I couldn't assemble it back again. I tried a few times to no avail, so in the end I gave up and put them back in my belt.
While it was not great news, I told myself I did more than 60% of the elevation (1300m out of 2200) and I knew the profile and hills were not too steep, so I kept a positive mindset.
Aid Station 3 - Valia du Pas de Jaux (KM 53)
I needed this positive mindset, as I knew that the next aid station was far away: 24 kms, half of them ran on a plateau exposed to winds.
- Arrived at 14h41 and left at 14h52
- that's 11 minutes
- and 1 minute ahead of my estimation
- I refilled my flasks (putting energy drink powder in them)
- I felt a bit nauseous, and decided to take my time, eating one compote and a waffle, as well as St Yorre (sparkling water)
- Mood/shape: good, but a bit tired
To the finish line
I knew there was only 13 kilometres left, including one last steep climb, and also the last 1.5 km in the Roquefort village was something of its own: you think you're about to arrive in a few seconds, and you have to take a lot of turns, and finish with a modest yet challenging 30 meters climb before entering the festival hall.
What also helped is the walk we did the day before: around km 60, we ran in Tournemire and the last climb was literally in front of our Airbnb, across the train rails, so running the same route on race day felt familiar and really helped me focusing.
I crossed the finish line at 16h41, which means 9h56, so I made a sub-10!
What Went Well
As I reflect on that race, pretty much everything I wanted to improve went well:
- the Instinct backpack worked well:
- no issue with the flasks and food pockets,
- nor with the pocket in the back, whose small storage compartments proved useful and practical,
- the 600 ml flasks meant I can have 1.2L in the front of the bag
- Time spent at aid stations:
- having just to refill water and not think about food was key
- Talking about food, my nutrition plan worked really well
- Run / jog as much as possible: every time I was walking, I would ask myself "can I jog" and most of the times I could and would, saving time and also warming me up more
What I still need to improve
- Running downhill:
- I improved but I am still struggling a bit
- Nutrition:
- As noted above, I felt a bit nauseous at the 3rd aid station
- It may be because I ate the Atlet compote (30 grams of carbs) in one go, that's too much and I should split it in 2
Wrap Up
What a race! I'm super happy about how it went and look forward to the next one in 2025.
Tags: Running