Most experienced runners will suggest training on terrain that’s similar to the race. That way you can be better prepared for race day. With that in mind, Mark and I wanted to go out to Cooking Lake at least once to see what we were getting ourselves into.
It’s spring here in Alberta but you would never know it. Yesterday there was a major snowfall warning for Red Deer, Calgary and Edmonton. Sona and Brent said before they would hike while I ran. But I knew they would not be up for going because of the snow.
Mark picked me up around 8:30 a.m. It was snowing somewhat but we weren’t too worried. We figured we would make it to the park about 11 a.m. the latest. Neither one of us knew where it was so we relied on Google maps.
After a slight turn around in Leduc, we finally found Cooking Lake-Blackfoot. That was the easy part. The provincial park is a 97-km recreation area with trails for horseback riding, hiking, running and cross-country skiing. We learned the hard way there are 4 staging areas. We found the first relatively easy enough. The one we needed was not an easy find. You’d think a provincial park would have better signs. Nope. We hope there’s more signage come race day.
I lost cellphone service after leaving the highway. I hate Rogers on days like this. Of all places that I need a cellphone being out in the middle of nowhere is high on my list. Stops at the gas station, a random house and a few turn arounds and we finally found the Islet Staging area.
Mark is also training for his first ultra too. I don’t know him very well but we had lots of time to chat on the 5 hour drive and our 2-hour train run. (Don’t get any wild ideas. Mark is happily married and I am happily not married.) We had a really great time. We calmed a lot of our pre-ultra jitters.
The route is exactly what I thought it would be – Seriously challenging. Up and down. Up and down . Repeat for 50K. I will definitely have my work cut out for me. Pacing is going to be SUPER important. I simply cannot afford to go out too fast and kill my legs before I complete one loop. (The race is two 25k loops for the 50k and four loops for the 100k)
We didn’t quite make it one full loop. For one thing we couldn’t find the trail. We were both hungry. And it was getting darker and windy. Not going to take any chances. We turned around after an hour and re-traced our steps. I didn’t want to be a statistic (lost in the woods for the bears to eat).
Crossing my fingers the snow will be melted by May. I am not looking forward to running 5 or 6 hours with soaked feet. Not at all. Although we didn’t run a full loop, I am so happy we went. My nerves are calm. Don’t get me wrong, I am still going to have to work my butt off to finish. But I feel a little less worried about the route. It’s going to be super FUN. (PS. Why do I always look 6 months pregnant in my photos????)