Race Report

Buckin' Hell 2024 - 35km

After dropping out of my previous race due to an injury, the Buckin’ Hell 35km was my first race since February and marked my longest run ever. Given that my goal race was only three weeks later, my plan was to approach this day as a training run, so that I could recovery quickly and continue training over the following weeks.

The Buckin’ Hell course is fairly unique, with a long descent in the first half and finishing off with a 1000m ascent over the final 10km. Since I wasn’t aiming for an all-out effort, my plan was to be conservative until the final climb, and push it on the ascent.

The race began at the Mt. Seymour Resort and immediately started with the second-largest ascent of about 400m. This was the only section of the course I hadn’t run before, and I was surprised by how steep it got, with some light rock climbing sections. Following my plan, I took this first section conservatively, hiking many parts and staying with the group I was with.

After the 7km ascent and descent loop, the long descent to the bottom of Seymour began. I didn’t push the downhill hard, but I still started to make up ground, spending most of the time alone passing people.

At around 15km, I was surprised by how good I felt, and was optimistic about the remainder of the race. However, near the end of the descent, both my calves completely cramped, immediately stopping me in my place. I had noticed some discomfort in one calf earlier on, but was shocked that they cramped up given how good I still felt overall. After letting the cramping ease up for a few minutes, I decided to continue, but there was still significant discomfort in my calves, and I couldn’t push off well with my stride.

The rest of the race was disappointing, having to hike many sections just to get through to the end. A few kilometers after the first incident, my calves cramped up again, and I had to wait until they calmed down before pushing on. For the final ascent, I ended up hiking most of it, which was frustrating since the few times I did run, the rest of my body felt great aside from my calves.

Near the end of the climb, my calves locked up for a third and final time. With only a few kilometers left, I pushed through to the end, but at this point, my calves were in bad condition, and I couldn’t even run the flat sections for long. However, I managed to complete the entire 35km and finished the race with a time of 5:15.

Putting aside the calf issues, I thought I did well in the first half of the race, sticking to my plan perfectly. Realistically, I believe I could have run around 4:30 while keeping the effort moderate, which makes me confident about my current fitness heading into the rest of my races.