OCX Nordic and Cycling: 51-km Race at Gatineau Loppet 2019

The idea

World Loppet Ski Federation organizes long distance .cross country (xc) skiing races around the world, 16 in total. Gatineau Loppet is the only Loppet racing event in Canada, proclaimed to be the Greatest International Cross Country Ski Event in Canada. This year is the 41st annual Gatineau Loppet held in Gatineau Park, right in our backyard across Ottawa River.

The idea of skiing 51 km in Gatineau Loppet came to me in late 2018. My friend Jack told me he participated in the 27-km race in Gatineau Loppet before. Cross country skiing for 51 km was both fascinating and daunting to me.

I tried skate ski once in 2016, followed by a few outings in winter 2016-2017. Winter of 2017-2018 was the first season I skied regularly in Gatineau park, with total distance of 280 km. I fell in love with xc skiing, for its winter beauty, freedom, fresh air, power and stride.

Skiing to Fire Tower in Gatineau Park was a challenge last year, a 40-km round trip over some difficult terrain. My first attempt in Feb. 2018 was a 9-hour ordeal, having to break trails after heavy snowfall with non gliding skis. Nevertheless it was a memorable skiing experience. A month later, I skied to Fire Tower again in half the time, with well-groomed trails and good weather.

Subconsciously I was looking for a new xc skiing challenge in this season. Knowing I would spend more time in Gatineau Park, and knowing I need to improve my skiing ability and skills, the seed of the Gatineau Loppet 51km race started to grow.

I love outdoor sports. Though I do not run, I admire the marathoners. To me, xc skiing 51-km is like running marathon. Having skied 40 km in last season, I felt I should be able to ski 51 km this winter. Moreover, Gatineau Loppet is super friendly to register, with no stringent qualification screening like Boston Qualification.

On the other hand, the idea might be a bit stretched. This winter is my third year skate skiing, and I was slow. I am not an athletic person. Loving outdoors, absolutely! To compete with other (international) skiers, not really. I had never participated in any race in my life. The racers in Gatineau Loppet range from elite skiers to beginners.

Nevertheless, I rationalized and convinced myself that my goal in the race is to complete the 51-km distance skiing, regardless if I would finish the dead last.

So I marked December 16, 2018 on the calendar, the early bird registration deadline for 2019 Gatineau Loppet. It was the date to make up my mind.

A fitness project

Like running a marathon, long distance xc ski racing requires meticulous preparation and methodical training. In 2017, I started a fitness project to bike 10,000 km in a calendar year. I bike commuted to work, rode in day trips during weekends, flew a folding bike on my business travel to ride in other cities. Finally I rolled across the 10,000 km mark in early December. In winter season of 2017-2018, I started another project to swim 1,000 meters under 20 min. With a City of Ottawa annual swimming pass, I hit the city pools doing 1,000m or 2,000m lane swim 2 to 3 times a week. By mid Feb. 2018, I swam 1000m freestyle in 19:53, reaching my goal after several months of training. The Gatineau Loppet project is no different. Intuitively I understood its preparation includes equipment, skills, physical and mental strength.

It may be a cliche, but equipment is the simplest preparation compared with others. In early December my family went to a ski equipment sale to outfit my wife and son with new xc skis gears. Seizing the opportunity, I upgraded my skate ski and boots to mid performance level. The new skis and boots immediately impressed me with faster speed and better control in my first outing.

Being a high output winter sport, xc skiing requires particularly technical clothing. In previous ski seasons, I primarily resorted to winter biking clothing for xc skiing. However winter biking clothing is not optimized to manage the body heat and sweat generated during xc skiing. So during Christmas break, I acquired xc ski pants and jackets. After wearing various combination of clothing in different temperatures, I concluded that I also needed to dress less during xc skiing. For xc skiing in temperature down to -15C, a base layer and a relatively thin soft shell jacket would be sufficient. It is worth noting that my beloved Gore Tex clothing failed to provide adequate breathability for xc skiing.

Keeping hands and feet warm yet not sweaty during xc skiing is not straightforward. I had to experiment with different accessories, hats, gloves, socks, neck warmer and face masks, to find the best material, thickness and their combination for xc skiing in various temperature range.

For safety, I carry extra cloth in cold weather -10C or below, a down puffer or an extra mid layer. I bought a small and light waist pack specifically for the race, just large enough for the extra cloth and miscellaneous items. The race organization would set up many rest stations along the race course, with warm drinks and snack bars.

The last equipment upgrade is a pair of carbon ski poles. The light weight of the carbon poles helps substantially with pole swing, which a skate skier performs thousands of times in a race.

While potential performance gain from equipment upgrade can be immediate, skills take longer to improve, and much longer to perfect. Being a relatively new skate skier, I felt I had to rely on my existing skills to get me through the race. But I needed to improve my skiing efficiency and natural flowing of body movement, as well to increase upper body strength. With only two months available for training, there was no time to make big adjustment. For example, one skate technique is touted as a powerful skiing skill all aspiring skiers need to master, but I quickly lost my natural body coordination whenever I tried it.

The ultimate goal of the Gatineau Loppet project is to increase my fitness level and have new experience of endurance racing. The time spent training for Gatineau Loppet would contribute to better performance in other sports and stronger body, tangible and long term benefits. So the 2019 Gatineau Loppet project had been approved😃.

Decision

I consulted Jack about my plan to participate Gatineau Loppet 51-km race, his advice was to start with the 27-km race first. It makes great sense to raise the bar gradually. But in my heart the 27-km ski race is inadequately challenging and unsatisfactory. I was keen to complete an endurance event.

I generally maintain a good base fitness level from years of daily cycling and various other outdoor sports. I successfully completed the Nepal Everest Base Camp trek in 2016 and Annapurna Circuit Trek in 2018, without training for a single day. I reckoned I could rely on this level of fitness to propel me through the race at Gatineau Loppet, after good training.

The 51-km skate ski race has a time cut-off check point at km 31.5, which all skiers have to reach under 3.5 hours, or with an average speed of 8.5+ km/hour. Whether I would be able to make to the check point before the cut-off time became my main concern. Last winter, I averaged between 8-9 km/hour skate skiing, but I took long lunch breaks in warm huts. Long rest stop is not possible during Gatineau Loppet race, and on race day the weather could be bad. So I needed some assurance to help me decide.

December 16, 2018 was the early bird registration deadline for Gatineau Loppet. In the morning, I went to Gatineau Park to ski to McKinstry Hut, a 31 km return trip, to assess my skiing speed to determine if I should register the 51km race. To my pleasant surprise, I averaged 9.75 km/hr speed that day. This positive result greatly encouraged me, even though I was convinced the improvement was mostly attributable to the new skis. I registered the 51 km race in that evening, it's a go now!

I told friends and relatives about my plan to race in Gatineau Loppet, to solicit their understanding and support, and to motivate myself to train for the race. I knew I had a long way to go to be good enough for the race. I am grateful for encouragement and confidence from friends and relatives, and the support from my family.

Training

Training is the key to complete such a long distance race. I needed to train for both endurance and speed. Since my primary goal is to complete, I focused on endurance training first. I had two months between registration and the race day on Feb. 17, 2019 to devote to training. To concentrate on xc ski training, I gave up winter cycling, swimming and downhill skiing during the two months.

Not being athletic and with no sports training experience, I adopted an ad-hoc even intuitive training approach, simply to ski in Gatineau park as much as time allows. I gradually formulated my training approach of endurance before speed much later in the 2-month training window.

I started xc ski training just before Christmas, skiing in the heart of Gatineau Park, such as from P8 (Parking Lot #8) to Huron Hut and the Gatineau Loop (Gatineau Parkway, Fortune Lake Parkway, and Champlain Parkway), as well along Gatineau Parkway from P3. Each route is around 20km long, with a good amount of climbing.

During the weekends, I would go for longer ski trips, such as the 46-km trip to Fire Tower, and a few ski trips close to 40-km long in Gatineau Park.

I tried to ski in different weather, sunny and warm, freezing rain, biting cold of -20C. So I could cope with whatever weather on the racing day.

A special joy of xc skiing in Gatineau Park is to have rest breaks in warm huts, with wood burning fireplace perfect for toasting sandwiches.

After Christmas break, I skied in Gatineau park after work, 3 or 4 times a week. My office is conveniently located in Gatineau, 5 km from Gatineau Park. So P3 became my frequent xc ski start point in the weekdays.

In the two months of xc ski training, I skied 33 days for a total of 600 km.

After logging many km of skiing, I started to pay attention to speed. I have been using Strava, the most popular social app for runners and cyclists, for many years for all of my outdoor sports. In Gatineau Park, thousands of xc skiers use Strava to track their ski runs. It's convenient for me to compare my PR (Personal Record) time and speed with others' PR on many trails in Gatineau Park, as an indication of my relative standing against other skiers.

Before I registered Gatineau Loppet race, my skiing PR on most trails in Gatineau park ranked in the bottom 25% on Strava, many in the bottom 10%. This was when my average speed was in 8-9 km/hour range. This was not too devastating for new skiers as Strava users tend to be a little more advanced skiers. But such speed would likely subject me to being shut out in the 51-km race. So my hope was to improve my speed to be at least in the middle pack in Strava ranking, i.e. 50% of PR among all skiers in most trails in Gatineau Park. In particular, since I ski most often from P3 in Gatineau Park, the 7.8 km section from P3 to the T-junction between Gatineau Parkway and Champlain Parkway serves as a good bench mark for speed. This section includes a couple climbs, notably the Pink Hill. My first ski over this 7.8-km section in early Jan. 2019 was 47 minutes. The time for 50% ranking on Strava for this section is 38 minute, which became my performance target. In the month where I trained for speed and endurance, the time to complete this section got shorter and shorter. A week before the race, I skied this section in just 35 minute. My ranking improved from the bottom 25% to the top 40%. I was exhilarated knowing I achieved my speed training goal with a good margin, in a short period of time.

The only other cross training I did during the two months was speed skating, which shares common stride and balancing with skate skiing. Ottawa's Rideau canal is world famous for being the largest outdoor rink in the world. Cruising on Rideau canal on speed skates can only be experienced in person. I was able to speed skate on canal 10 times during the training window. Ironically, it looks like the xc ski training enhanced my speed skating much more than the other way around. My time to skate from one end of the canal to the other was shortened by 10%, with overall standing from #9 last year to #4 this year without much speed skating training this year.

Three weeks before the race, I tried to ski on the actual race course at least once to familiarize myself with terrain and trail condition. The 51-km ski race course winds its way from P17 in the northern Gatineau Park to its southern end, over many trails in the park.

In the last week before the race, I started to estimate my race time in detail. My guess of the finish time more than a month earlier was 5 hours. By now I had skied on all sections of the race course, and I knew the terrain. In addition, my average skiing speed had been improved from 11-12 km/hour to 12-13 km/hour. I was able to estimate with more data and confidence during the last week, factoring in my actual speed and time on every section of the race course, plus estimated break time at each rest station. The estimate is 4 hours 36 min. It turns out to be remarkably close to my official race time of 4 hours 31 min.

My training ended a week before the race. I had two short skiing during the final week to condition my muscles.

The day before the race, I skied the easiest trail in Gatineau park between P8 and P9 to cheer for the skiers competing in the Gatineau Loppet 51-km classic race, and to finally assess my readiness to the race. The snow was silky smooth, near perfect. Even though I was in cautious mode and trying to preserve energy, I still skied with speed of 14.8 km/hour from P8 to P9 with slight uphill, and speed of 18.8 km/hour from P9 back to P8 with slight downhill, both new personal records. I truly felt I was ready for the race on the next day.

The race

The race day approached almost with a bit festive atmosphere. I had always skied by myself, except one training run with Jack. A few days before the race, I was able to connect with the Toronto Chinese xc ski club, and found out that their whole club of 15 strong would descend to Gatineau Loppet, all race in at least one event. Their shared passion and rapport are enviable. I also pleasantly discovered a fellow Strava friend, Darwin, would compete in the 10-km race on the same day.

I went to pick up the race kit Friday evening. The process was relaxing and efficient. There are 2,200 people participating in various races at this year's Gatineau Loppet from more than 20 countries, men, women, young racers, old folks. With such mixture and diversity, I did not feel out of place myself. The event was well planned and supported by army of volunteers.

It was great to meet the Toronto Chinese xc ski club members in person. Two of their members would compete the 51-km classic on Saturday and again the 51-km free style (skate ski) on Sunday. Another two would compete back to back in the classic and free style 27-km races.

Earlier in the week, I sent my skis to MEC for waxing. MEC did an excellent job, the waxing technician called me to explain what he did to support my upcoming Loppet race. The weather forecast early in the week predicted mild temperature on the racing day. So MEC applied a layer of blue wax on top of a green wax base layer, for performance and protection. However, on Friday the weather forecast changed, the temperature on racing day would plummeted to -18C in the morning. I was anxious whether a colder wax would be needed.

The Swix representative at the ski expo held in the Loppet registration area told me to apply an additional layer of light green wax for the cold temperature. I then dropped by Bushtukah store trying to buy the light green wax. A sale guy kindly reminded me that the snow temperature could be a few degree warmer than the air temperature during such temperature plunge, which meant the blue wax might be suitable for Sunday. I decided to stay put.

In the morning of the race day, Feb. 17, 2019, I got everything ready by 7:30, checking weather forecast, sorting out equipment, putting on ski clothing, double checking spare cloth and other items in waist pack, eating breakfast, going to bathroom. The routine was rehearsed in my head several times the night before.

By the time my wife drove me to P17, the start of the 51-km race, hundreds of people were busy making the final preparation. Some racers were running around the parking lot to warm up; others skiing laps in the small track adjacent to the staging area; volunteers collecting personal belongings from racers; organizer making many announcement over the PA system.

I met up with Ming Ma and Yi Wang, two skiers from Toronto xc ski club who just completed 51-km classic race the day before and ready to ski again today. They looked impressively fresh and relaxed. We were all placed in Wave D, the last wave of skiers to start. I was happy being placed to the last wave, no need to worry about being passed by too many fast skiers.

It was sunny, calm, and surprisingly comfortable with xc ski cloth at -15C. The weather looked to be perfect for xc skiing. I was debating whether I should put on an extra mid layer to fend off the cold in the morning, but the sun warmed up everything by 9am. I decided to bring my phone and listen to audio book during the race. I had been looking forward to the book The Tangled Tree, and I hesitated whether to waste the 5 hours block of time during the race. Surprisingly I wasn't nervous or even anxious.

All skiers in Wave D were instructed to line up in the wide staging trail behind the other waves, waiting for our turn to start. The initial race course winds its way in the open field before being catapulted into the forest. From my vintage point at the rear end of the trail, I could see hundreds of skiers from earlier waves competing their way towards initial lead, adrenaline started to build up.

Then it was our turn to start. The first 30m was over straight classic tracks, perhaps to allow reliable sensing of the timing chips strapped on our boots. Then the skate race started. Each of us was surrounded by many other skiers, trying to deal with the sharp turns in the winding way. No one seemed to make mad dash, perhaps why we were put in the last wave of the race.

From the race start at P17 to the first rest stop at P19 is 11.5 km section of trail #53, through forest with gentle rolling terrain. I discovered pleasantly I was able to follow the flow of skiers over this section, since I had expected to be quickly dropped by everyone. It was fun to ski with so many people, a new experience for me. I could follow skiers in front of me and not worry about setting my own pace. The overall pace suited my ski level rather well. The wax on my skis worked well most of the time, except in sections of trail with loose snow in the shade where the skis did not glide as much. Fortunately, the temperature rose sufficiently by late morning, and wax was not an issue. I fell once, when a guy passed me too closely and stepped his ski over mine. I managed to get up quickly and continued without too much disruption.

The sun started to shine brightly. I made a quick stop at the first water station at P19, to put on sun glasses. Race organization prepared warm Gatorade, water, and honey water for us. 👍 It took me 54 min to ski the first section, only 1 min slower than my planned time. I was happy my race was going according to my plan.

The race course continues from P19 to the next water station at Herridge, 10 km away along trail #50. It skirts along Lake Philippe for a while, then entered into forests again towards the junction between trail #50 and trail #36. The terrain is still gentle rolling. The open expanse of Lake Philippe made skiing enjoyable. The tightly packed group of skiers had thinned out by now. I could see 2 or 3 skiers 30 to 40 meters ahead of me, and a couple skiers behind me in similar distance. By now having skied 1/3 way, my thighs started to feel a bit sore, perhaps I was unknowingly nervous and pushed harder. It also suggests I didn't conduct enough intensive training.

Throughout this section, I hanged on with a few other skiers. Sometime I was ahead of them, sometimes I was behind. I stopped at Herridge station, trying to drink a few small cups of liquid and eat my own energy gels to refuel. My sister in law, who ran marathon, advised me to refuel with energy gels as they are easier to consume and digest. I was too preoccupied with other aspects of the race to notice how effective these energy gels actually are.

I arrived at Herridge 4 minute behind my plan, but I was not worried knowing I was making good progress towards the time cut-off check point at P11. My refuel stop at Herridge was 4 min long, one minute shorter than planned.

It is 2 km from Herridge to the junction of #50 and #36, where a group of non-racing skiers cheered for us loudly. Later when the race moved on to southern Gatineau park, more people cheered for us. Trail #36 is reserved for classic skiing during the ski season except today when the Gatineau Loppet skate skiers traversed it to the southern Gatineau park. The trail is narrow and steep at places, occasionally opened up with peaceful view of expansive frozen Meech Lake. By this stage, the race has passed the half way point. I could hardly see other skiers in front or behind me when skiing in the forest. I started to feel some muscle fatigue, and thigh muscle soreness started to be more pronounced. When I reached to the base of a steep climb, I could see other skiers at top doing diagonal ski up the slope. A few times I would stop skate skiing on steep climb, and went uphill by stepping up the hill diagonally with skis, called herringbone. This technique is popular among beginners, being less demanding and more comfortable on muscle. Other skiers did the same thing, so I wasn't feeling embarrassed. Close to P11, I caught two skiers in front. As I tried to pass them, my left ski got lodged in the vertical snow bank along the narrow trail. In the next instant I was on ground already, with embarrassment, but the woman skier I tried to pass was too busy with her climbing to take a second look at me. I got up and continued, only to pass her 2 or 3 kilometers later.

I reached P11, the checkpoint station, in 2 hours 44 minutes, 3 min behind my plan. I was relieved, knowing I would surely complete the race today. So I took a 6 minute break to drink and refuel, twice as long as my planned break. After the race I used Strava to replay my racing progress, and found out other skiers spent less time at each stop, a lesson I surely need to learn.

From P11 to the next stop called Keogan the race course has the most climbing. This 5.5-km section follows trail #36 through forest, and then joins Fortune Lake Parkway with further climbing. There are a few short but steep climb in #36. Again I skied with a couple of skiers with the same pace along #36. Once I joined Fortune Lake Parkway, skiing became familiar. I climbed with steady pace, and managed to pass a few skiers along this long stretch of uphill. I felt my training had paid off handsomely. Before training for Gatineau Loppet, I was passed by most skiers on climbing. After the training, I pleasantly noticed I was able to pass other people on climb for a change.

I arrived at Keogan rest stop in 3 hour 18 minute, 3 minutes ahead of my plan. I took a 6 minute break to drink and refuel, again 3 minute longer than planned. There were more volunteers than the skiers stopping by at the rest station. I drank and refuel more to make volunteers and myself happy.

After leaving Keogan, I started to realize I had hope to finish the race within 4 hours 30 min. From Keogan to the next stop called Notch, the section is 9.5 km long, primarily along Champlain Parkway. There are several downhill descent, hugely welcome by all skiers. My leg and arm muscle felt tired, even though I still have ample energy to propel them. Along the long and wide trails, there were several skiers going at the same pace as mine. Occasionally someone in front of me would stop to shake his/her arms or legs, apparently to relax muscles or to regain senses, before going again. At one time, I felt a toe cramp was almost imminent. I slowed down to wiggle my foot inside the ski boot. Fortunately the cramp did not happen. I was likely 2 km/hour slower than my typical skiing speed, even though my skiing stride was still well formed.

The race organizer erected km distance sign along the race course at each km interval. Seeing I was close to finish, I decided to skip the last rest stop at Notch and try to beat the 4 hour 30 min time. It's only 6 km from Notch to the final finish.

My skiing over the final section was thankfully uneventful. I tried to ski faster, even gradually passed two or three other racers, but I could not ski as fast as I wished. With only 1 km to the final finish, a group of teenage racers flew by me, those young and fit bodies wrapped in tight racing suits cut through the air. I could almost hear the whistling sound as they passed. They must be racing the 10 km race. I wondered what I was doing at their age.

Within 500 meters to the finish, I tried to dash but only had strength to maintain a steady speed. Then I saw the big open field where the final finish is. Then the finish banner was just ahead of me, the PA system announced Edward Ling Liu from Ottawa to the crowd cheering. Then I saw the finish banner moving over my head, and I finished!