Friday 29 June 2012

Volcanic trails – part 2: Guadeloupe (it’s another world)

(scroll down to the bottom for photos)

Technical? What is technical? The fact that mass and energy are interchangeable is technical? No, I am talking about running here. My definition of technical running is when there’s more to it than simply putting one foot in front of the other. Yes, left-foot/right-foot, that is the simple gist of running. And it’s very easy to do so on flat grass, roads, athletics tracks, even on a lot of man-made footpaths. However, make that footpath climb a jaggedy mountain, cross a few streams, twist through forests, disappear into peat bogs...and it becomes a little less unproblematic, and hence a little more technical.

So then. Classic mountain races in the alps, such as those that defined Sky Running at its outset 20 years ago, are definitely pretty technical. Everyone agrees? Road marathons aren’t, UK fell running normally is, American and European trail running generally isn’t, OMMs LAMMS BAMMs nearly always are, wmra (especially uphill only) mountain races aren’t... the list goes on.

Where would a 55km volcanic jungle bash fit in all that then?... Stepping back a week or so, I took a glance at the results of previous episodes of the Guadeloupian Volcano Trail, and I really couldn’t understand how 55km could possibly take so long. My finishing time last Saturday was 7 hours and 35 minutes. That’s an admittedly pathetic four-and-half miles per hour (7.2 km/h). So here is how that happened, condensed into a quick-fire summary of the race route: 5am. Start. In the dark. 1km road. Easy. End easy. Very rooty paths. Still runnable. Half an hour later. Hello Canyon. Still reasonably dark. Swim. Climb. Ropes. Danger! Half an hour later. Still canyonning. Fun. Not runnable. Technical? Out of the canyon. Path constructed of large chunks of solidified magma. Wet. Runnable – just. First big climb. World’s most rickety natural ladder. Made of tree roots, branches and vines. Seemingly almost vertical. 20 minutes later. Near the summit of a volcano. Smells like a fellow participant has not properly digested their energy gels. No, it’s just the sulphur erupting from the hole in the ground in front. The powerful noise of pressure release is from there also. Not a runner either. Back into the jungle. Where is the path? Beneath your feet? Why can’t I see it? Because this is a jungle and things grow quickly. OK, I’ll ignore my path-blindness and run then. The (invisible) path turns into a slide of wet clay. Errr? What? How? Just go forwards and hope. Start descending. Roots at knee height. Branches at chest height. Body = what height then? Jump, swing, dive, bash head. Not much running. Technical? Hit the road. Ah ha! 3km of running. Sprint – it’ll be your only chance to. Back to the start. 30km done. 4-hours. Time for a much less runnable second lap...

Now I understand why and how the Volcano Trail in Guadeloupe takes such a long time, for its relatively short total distance. I hope you understand too now. And if you don’t – go and do it.

If we can call 7.5 hours of jungle-gymnastics on an assault-course fit for Tarzan technical running, - then this must be the most technical race in the world? Or at least vying for that claim. It’s a race I seriously recommend any runner out there to go and run, I mean go and do. If it seems a bit long, then there’s always the 33km, or the 14km – which took Carole a mere two and half hours (not your average 14km either). If you think you’ve done a technical race, you haven’t seen this.

Also, it’s a jolly nice place to spend a week. The sea and the beaches are quite nice as well...

VOLCANO TRAIL 2012 - results
1 – Andy SYMMONDS (GBR) - 7h35min34s
2 – Nicolas MARTIN (FRA) - 9h12min46s
3 – Olivier BOULAY (FRA) - 9h18min50s

1 – Karine HERRY (FRA) - 10h04min57s
2 – Lauriane LE GAC (FRA) - 11h11min35s
3 – Catherine LAGARDERE (FRA) - 12h18min55s


And here's some pics (unfortunately not enough of the race course itself)























And a short vid of one of the runnable bits of the course, shot by Serge 3 days before the race

Saturday 23 June 2012

Un autre volcan et un autre monde...

(voir la version en anglais pour des photos)

Après la TransVulcania sur La Palma, le Volcano Trail de Guadeloupe constituait ma deuxième "étape volcanique" dans le calendrier 2012. Comment c'était ? Er, autre chose !
Pouvoir courir dans des endroits différents et en profiter pour faire des vacances en même temps est évidemment une bonne chose ! Cela fait parti du plaisir de la course à pied. J'aime vraiment diversifier les compétitions et les parcours que je fais, non seulement d'une année à une autre, mais également dans la même saison.
Ce que je peux maintenant confirmer c'est que cette course a effectivement bien diversifié les choses ! 55km en 7 heures 37 ? Normalement je dirais que ce n'est pas exactement une vitesses moyenne qui fait rêver. Comment est-ce que ce serait possible de faire un tel parcours, pas si long que ça, mais tellement lent ? En dénivelé le TransVulcania était très similaire, autour de 4000m, mais avec 20km de plus, logiquement elle serait bouclée en une ou deux heures de plus que le volcano trail en Guadeloupe. Mais ce que la course des volcans de La Palma (et d'ailleurs toutes les autres courses que j'ai faites jusqu'à maintenant dans ma vie) n'avait pas sont les choses suivantes : une demie heure de canyoning, des toboggans de boue et d'argile, des longs passages où tu ne vois pas tes pieds au cause de la végétation, des milliers de racines qui ne savent pas vraiment où elles veulent être, sous la terre (non), au niveau des genoux (un choix populaire), ou bien au niveau du torse - comme ça ceux qui osent vouloir passer sont constamment confrontés du choix "au dessus" ou "en dessous" ?.. Le Volcano Trail est en fait 55km de décisions : de placements des pieds, du niveau "jouable" pour la tête et de quelles lianes et branches valent le coup pour un petit saut au dessus du danger terrestre ! Oui, c'est autre chose ! Et oui, je me suis vraiment bien amusé à découvrir ce parcours original, mais je constate qu'il ne s'agissait pas d'une petite balade en forêt - il faut le prendre au sérieux ! Je confirme aussi que la jungle a fait ce qu'elle pouvait pour me vider de toutes mes ressources, et elle a réussi ! J'ai du vraiment puiser dans les réserves sur les dernières heures, et le poulet frites avec 3 litres d'eau étaient bien vite avalés à l'arrivée !
Je finis par encourager fortement tout le monde à venir faire ce trail qui, pour moi, pourrait être le plus technique qu'existe au monde. Si une demie-journée de gymnastique dans la jungle, accompagné de quelques mini sections où tu peux peut-être courir, ça te dit - tu vas te régaler. Si ce n'est pas le cas, ce parcours d'aventure faisant deux petites boucles du volcan guadeloupéen sera un terrain idéal pour bosser les terrains techniques - tout te paraîtra facile à après !

VOLCANO TRAIL 2012 - résultats
1 – Andy SYMMONDS (GBR) - 7h35min34s
2 – Nicolas MARTIN (FRA) - 9h12min46s
3 – Olivier BOULAY (FRA) - 9h18min50s

1 – Karine HERRY (FRA) - 10h04min57s (8ème au scratch)
2 – Lauriane LE GAC (FRA) - 11h11min35s
3 – Catherine LAGARDERE (FRA) - 12h18min55s

Wednesday 6 June 2012

TransV - two vids and a post-race interview

The first video (five minutes), put together by the African Attachment, was for episode two of Salomon Running's 2012 series. The idea is to demonstrate the "community spirit" side of the sport. It's not all about running, and not all about winning. The week in La Palma was a get together of some (most?) of the world's best utlra trail runners, and whilst the race itself was super competitive, the rest of the time was totally chilled, jumping in the sea, dossing about in a posh hotel in the middle of nowhere at the bottom of the island of La Palma, teaching the Americans how to drink beer quickly in a strict routine of hand features and peotic speech (you know colonel muff right?!)... This top quality film, largely based on the our time on the island "through my eyes" totally captures this "spirit" of trail running. Nice work TAA!



This second (twenty minute) film is the official transvulcania race film. It captures the event from start to finish. Great views and cracking footpaths, and check out the atmosphere at the finish - the entire population of the island cheering us down the finish straight.


The following interview text is for a Spanish magazine, hence the interest in Spain and La Palma. It also includes a bit of detail on how the TransVulcania race panned out and my experience of that long 'un.  
(the Spanish version: Carreraspormontana)

2nd at Transvulcania!! That is a great performance, isn’t it?
 yes, honestly I'm really happy with a second place in this race. You're never going to be celebrating the race of your life when you pass so close to a win, but in reality to finish just 90 seconds behind Dakota after 7 hours of racing is a good result.

Was the podium one of your goals?
 For sure. I went into this racing knowing that my form was pretty good and that if things went to plan then I should be aiming for a podium finish. That said, it's hard to pre judge in a race with so many competitors against whom I've never raced before. I'm mainly referring to the Americans there, they were an unknown quantity for me going into the TransVulcania.

What do you think about the race track?
 Nice! The highlight is running along and around the crest of the volcanic skyline. There's no doubt that it helps me to perform at my best if there's a nice path and a good view - both ingredients were there for this course. The 2500m downhill is tough, but that's good. I suffered and didn't particularly enjoy the 6km uphill finish, but that's part of the killer nature of this route.

You reached Kilian and Dakota at the descent. Was it one of the keys?
 I really ran my own race. I followed Kilian and Dakota along the top, yo-yo-ing about a minute or two behind them. I wasn't in a rush to catch them as I always felt that they would probably come back to me on the downhill, provided my legs were still in tack. They were, and a I did catch them, but shortly after overtaking them my legs changed their idea about their state of freshness and it suddenly became quite difficult to keep the pace up. I think I got it about right, as my legs exploded before the finish, but not too much before. I'd have needed to be a bit stronger to have put a proper fight up against Dakota over those final few miles. I still have progress to make over this distance, for sure.

How do you work the downhill (training)?
 I don't. I simply enjoy running down hills. If I'm more at ease doing so than some other runners, then it's probably largely down to being used to the rough nature of uk 'fell running' where kamikaze descents are of the norm!

There were high temperatures at La Palma. How did you struggle with it?
 Yes it was warm on La Palma, but I really didn't find it too hot at all. Most of the race was at 2000m or above and there was a bit of a breeze. It was hot enough to mean that hydration was important, but it really wasn't anything too out of the ordinary. That said, I am probably more used to running in warm weather, as I now live in the south of France. I do like the sun!

How was your feeding-drinking routine during the race?
 I used two 250ml bottles in a bumbag which I re-filled with water and energy and hydration drink en route. Food-wise, mainly gels and "pâtes de fruits", about ten in total. I generally base myself on eating something solid every 40 minutes or so, depending on how big it is. Porridge three hours before the start is another crucial part of setting myself up for the race energy-wise. That's what happens when you live in Scotland for five years! I think I drank about 1.5l over the course of the race, which was about right for me. Eating and drinking for long races is a very individual thing though - the more you sweat the more you must drink, and the more you must be careful with your salt levels.

You made a best time than last year’s record. Did you expect it?
 I did expect the times to be faster this year, and that the race record would probably go, but Miguel is one heck of an athlete, so no I would never have expected to run thirty minutes faster than his time from last year myself. It just shows what happens when you pull together a quality field of runners for a big race like this.

Did you have any “bad” moment during the race?
 Just the last few kilometres, but even then it wasn't too bad. I was just starting to get pretty tired. The crowd helped pull me home though!

What do you think about La Palma as a trail running destiny?
 Great. Yes, it's a small island, but there's plenty to see. You have to be a fan of going uphill for a long way though! Which I am.

What are going to be your next races?
 I'm off to Guadeloupe in a couple of weeks to again race on another volcano. That's another long race, but the conditions will be very different. After that, I'll be concentrating in the French National Cup series as well as the next Sky ultramarathon races. I'm particularly looking forward to Kima in August. It would be nice if the American crowd, as well as all the top euro runners returned for that one.

Are you coming back to Spain soon?
No plans to return to spain immediately. But I do always have a good time racing in Spain, so if I'm not back again this year, I almost certainly will be in 2013.