Whistler Valley to Peak Race

Mike Westover

Not quite an ultra, but with the elevation gain it will feel like one 

I discovered that Whistler's Valley to Peak trail race will happen while we are vacationing there. I wasn't planning on a trail race this year (and this would be my first one), but this seems too good an opportunity to pass up. The course is 14 miles with 6,200 feet of elevation gain according to Strava. Most of the climbing is in the first half, with 3 miles averaging 8% up a mountain bike trail, then 3.4 miles at 14% mostly on ski runs; the last half is rolling on running trails and service roads with another 2,500 feet of climbing and descending. 

A few questions for the experienced trail runners:

- Have you tried using Stryd for pacing? How well does it work when power hiking? Any other pacing tips? Looking at prior years on Strava, many people have pushed to hard on the early climbs and walked the second half
- How do you adjust effort level for elevation? This race isn't super high, but topping out around 7,000 feet will have an impact
- Is it worth using poles for the early steeper sections? I would probably stow them on my vest (Salomon 12 set) once the course becomes more rolling

Thanks!

Gabe Peterson

@Mike Westover looks like a fun race.  Here are my thoughts:

• I experimented with Stryd running trails.  It's way low and inconsistent for power.  However, it is a very accurate footpod if you're running in areas with poor GPS.  RPE and HR are the way to go for trail running.  I use the HR as a governor for step climbs.  Once it hits 150 (for me), I switch to power hiking to conserve matches so I can still run hard later in the race.
• RPE is the best gauge for altitude.  I do a lot of my training at altitude so I know what different effort levels feel like.
• I used to hate trekking poles but learned to love them.  I wouldn't have made it through the Bear 100 last year without them.  I have the Black Diamond carbon fiber poles that weight next to nothing.  The key with poles is to be able to quickly stow and deploy them.  If you have a Salomon running vest, check out the quiver add on.  I can rapid deploy them in about 5 seconds and stow them in about 10 seconds.

Tim Sullivan

Do the race @Mike Westover! It should be fun. I saw this race a few years ago and it peeked my interest even though I wasn't running much at the time. I think Stryd does fine going uphill on relatively smooth trails like you will have and Stryd has improved the readings when power hiking. I don't think Stryd would be near as good on technical trails. If you are familiar with Stryd, then its just one more thing along with RPE and HR you can look at. Luckily, Whistler is not a very high mountain even though it has tons of elevation gain. I didn't really notice the elevation at Whistler when I used to snowboard there. I DO notice the elevation in Colorado. Listen to the advice of @Gabe Peterson as he has lots of experience, and I don't .  I haven't used poles yet, but I am definitely going to learn how to use them. 

tim cronk

I have mixed feelings about my limited use of poles. I did use them on R3
but not sure I would in a race.

https://trainright.com/poles-trail-ultrarunning-running/?utm_source=ctsnewsletter&utm_medium=email&inf_contact_key=972636b5212d4589ff8544530b904d262e6ecc665897b29fc229182649932d34

Mike Westover

Thanks all!

@Gabe Peterson I have seen something similar with Stryd in my limited trail running; the power looks too low for the RPE. It's hard to quantify, though. I will probably fall back on heart rate as a governor.

On poles I also found this article: https://andrewskurka.com/2018/poles-for-ultra-trail-running-recommendations-sizing-carrying/. I realized from that that the poles I use for hiking (Cascade Mountain Tech) are probably not ideal for trail running due to their weight, stowed length, and time to stow/deploy. I'm not inclined to spend $100+ on poles just for this race, so I think I'll go without (though I think the right poles would help me).

Gabe, the quiver looks very interesting. It seems to be hard to find in the U.S.; Running Warehouse carries it but is backordered for a month.

Gabe Peterson

@Mike Westover you should be fine without poles for that distance.  I'd generally use them in a mountainous 50 miler or above, with the exception of Speedgoat 50k that packs in more vert than some 100 milers.

Mike Westover

A quick race report: The weather was great for the race, around 50 at the start and 40 when we got to the peak. It was 35 at the top at race start with a chance of rain or even snow, so we lucked out.

I was expecting to run around 3:30 and ended up going 3:27. The first half went about 15 minutes faster than expected, reaching the Roundhouse about 90 minutes in. The first half had most of the climbing, but it followed mountain bike and ski trails and didn't present any technical challenges. I was careful to stay under my marathon target heart rate, and I worked on power hiking when it got steep (with hands on knees for the steepest parts). On steeper parts of switchbacks I was quicker to move into power-hike mode than others running with me, and I noticed that my power hiking pace there was faster than their running!

The second half of the course was more challenging and technical than I expected, given that it is one of the main summer hiking routes. The downhills were tough to run due to their steepness, and even flatter sections had large rocks to move around or over. I also started cramping in my quads and hamstrings, which got very painful when I would trip and in the recovery both legs would seize up. The final ascent to the peak was very steep and painful; I saw that the race claimed to reach 38.8% at the steepest and it was probably in this section. Fortunately, after reaching the peak it was mostly downhill on a road to the finish, and I found that legs that had been cramping and could barely climb had no problem going 7:30/mile downhill.

Overall, a scenic, low-key race that I would recommend.

My 7-year-old daughter had a more interesting race. She was in the 1k kids race, but took a wrong turn onto the 10k course which crossed the kids race (the 10k started just after the kids). Somehow she kept up with the adults for a while (!!) but eventually realized she had gone too far, and asked a couple of the adults for help, and one of the runners helped her get back to the start.

tim cronk

Sounds brutal. Marathon HR as a limiter? Did you use STRYD and or Poles? LOL great story on your 7yr old getting lost in a 1k race. Big kudo's to the runner to help her out. Glad she is OK :-)

Mike Westover

Low end of marathon HR seemed about right since I was expecting to take a little longer than an open marathon. Maybe conservative since elevation would also boost HR, but given my limited preparation I wanted to go easier at the start.

I did use Stryd, but it was of limited help given steepness of the terrain. I mostly referred to it when the hills were shallow enough to maintain a run. I didn't get enough training on steep hills to get a good power hiking target. Calculating before the race based on a Stryd webinar I thought the power hikes would be around 200W (vs. 280W marathon power), but I was holding more like 190W during the first half of the race. Since my heart rate was already at my target I didn't want to push harder.

Here you can see the transitions between running and power hiking. Pink is power (about 280-300W for running and 190W for hiking), and red is heart rate. Average grade for this 3-mile section was 14%.

The question of using poles was answered when the race handbook came out -- no poles allowed. It made sense given the narrow trails.