Trail Race report: Trail des Givrés 2025
Trail des Givrés
This is a small(ish) race happening near Poitiers, ~2h from where I live:
- 28 kilometers,
- 500 meters of elevation.
It is organised by students following a "STAPS" - essentially specialising in sports and physical activities.
Goals
This was my first race of 2025, and after mostly long trail races in 2024 (132 km for the Ultra du Saint-Jacques, 100 km for the CCC (even though I DNF'ed), and 66 km for the Hivernale des Templiers), I decided it would be good to run something a bit smaller, to challenge myself.
During the last sync I had with Nico, my coach from Expert Sport
Coaching, we agreed that aiming for 3
hours was more than doable.
I checked on Betrail, and with my index, I saw
that 2h45 was achievable if I managed my pace correctly, so in the end:
- my plan A was to run under 3 hours,
- my plan B was to run in 2h45: I would see how I felt after a few minutes, and if everything was fine, I could target a pace of ~5:30min per kilometer.
Pre-race
The race was due to start at 9am, and the bibs had to be picked up 1h before, i.e. 8 am - with at least 2 hours driving, I figured out it would be better to sleep nearby, and pick up the bib the day before.
I did so, arriving around 6pm, then I had pasta in a restaurant, went back to the hotel, and was sleeping at 10pm.
Of course, before having dinner, I drove to the race location (it was a 10 minutes drive) just to check it out - which would prove useful the day after.
D-Day
I arrived at 8am, which in fact was not super useful as I already had my bib, so instead I stayed in my car for 30 minutes (it was -2°C outside) and went for a 20 min warm up after that, then headed to the start line:
There was a bit more than 100 people registered (I'd say 130), so it was a much smaller race - and I like it, after the rather big races from last year.
As I said, it was cold but I had the same gear I had at the Hivernale (Long-sleeve merinos base-layer from Ogarun, Craft running pants, and of course gloves and a winter hat).
It was a bid muddy but I've seen worse, so that didn't bother me too much.
The race
Having a small number of runners means that you do not struggle in a huge pack, so I went to the front line and started running at my target pace.
Nutrition-wise, there was one aid station at km 14, but I decided to skip it and have water (with isotonic drink) as well as energetic compotes - aiming for 50g of carbs per hour.
Re the compotes, I ate them in 2 times, rather than 1 time like at the Hivernale, as it was too much sugar at a time and I had issues with that.
In terms of pace, I felt and knew that I was doing well when looking at my watch from time to time, but it's really when I hit km 10 and saw "55 minutes" on the watch that I realised I could do 2h45 if I managed the race well.
One small issue I (along with other participants) had during the race is that the marking was sometimes a bit light:
- one time I almost took a wrong trail but I saw the runner in front of me going straight so I followed him,
- the other time I led 2 other runners, climbing a steep hill, and when we arrived at the top of the hill, we heard runners behind us yelling and asking where the trail was (of course we helped them).
Shortly before the aid station (around km 13), some runners that got lost because of the marking crossed my path, and from there, I ran with a girl and a boy basically at the same pace until the finish line.
Conclusion
I crossed the finish line at 2h42, which is bitter sweet:
- it was under the 2h45 I was aiming for,
- but I could have made it less than 2h40, had I not done a mistake at the end because of... marking, which added probably 500 meters.
What went well
- Pacing: I had a super consistent pacing and felt really good,
- Nutrition: perfect, not only was it good to have everything with me, but also not having to stop at the aid station saved me time
Things to improve
- The only regret I have is those 3 minutes I could saved: it's not the first time that I'm lacking focus at the end of a race, something to work on.
Wrap Up
I am super happy about the result: 2h42 is even below the 2h45 I was aiming for, and the race went really well!
Tags: Running