Peach City Runners put up aid stations on the IMC bike course this weekend. 
Cold water, free gatorade, and lots of friendly encouragement. It was awesome!
bike
5h:55:12, 157.0km
Avg HR 137
2992 Kcal (12 gels + 3 gatorade = 1500Kcal intake)
Avg Sp 26.5km/h, Max 72.4
Avg Cd 88, Max 111
run
45 min brick
(ate 2 gels on the run)
I’m heading up to the Okanagon this weekend for one last ride of the IMC bike course before the big day. I’m a little worried that my body will protest. The plan is to take it easy. It’s the last big build week for everyone so I’m sure there will be lots of people out on the course. In fact, the local run shop Peach City Runners is setting up two aid stations (at the out/back and at the top of Yellow Lake) for all the IMC folks out training. What a cool community thing to do. I’ll stop for sure, if only to say, “Thanks for your support, you guys are awesome!’
bike
35:45, 14km easy spin
Avg Sp 23.7km/h, Max 31.3
Avg Cd 83, Max 96
testing out the new rear cassette, 11-25
There’s a terrible rattle coming from my commuter bike, whom I affectionately call, “Jake”.
Jake is broken. At first, I thought it was his bottom bracket. But the noises still rumble away when I stop pedaling. I just cleaned the whole drive train, so I’m pretty sure that’s not it. Jake was still moaning when we had him up on the spin trainer the other night so it’s not the front hub. By process of elimination, I pronounce Jake sick with a f*&3$ rear hub. I’m taking him to the Dr. tonight, so we’ll see if the mechanics come to the same prognosis.
~2hr bike commute on Jake, I sounded like a serious hack!
My Goal: mental toughness, survive without a wheel to latch onto for comfort. This was a solo ride. I was efficient (no stops). I pushed hard up Cypress:
Cypress ride
52:51.0 split, 11.9km
Avg HR 155, Max 166
Avg 13.5 km/h, Avg Cd 69
What I learned:
bike
6h:38:43, 146.9km
route: Steveston to Deep Cove, Up Seymour, Up Cypress, back to Jericho
Avg HR 133, Max 166
3181Kcal
Avg Sp 22.1km/h, Max 67.3
Avg Cd 74, Max 110brick run
45min, Jericho up Spanish banks hill and back
Normal people meet up for drinks after work on Friday nights! Me, I met up with my IMC training buddies then bike commuted home from Kits to Steveston. Alison, Chung, Andrew and I enjoyed a good ocean swim. My shoulder was sore and my body generally felt tired. Even so, I think we’ve got the better Friday night plan.
morning commute to work
57:23, 21.8km
Avg Sp 22.9km/h, Max 47.1
Avg Cd 84, Max 100after work bike to Kits
24:55, 8.8km
swim
40min swim at Kits Beach
bike home
53:14, 19.0km
Kit’s beach home to Steveston
112 HR Avg, Max 137
Avg Sp 21.5, Max 48.3
Avg Cd 79, Max 96
This is a hard race report to write. Why? Because the results suck. I had a bad day. On top of all that it was provincials and I could have won my age category. It was an important day, though, because I learned that even the worst of days can be turned right side up with the right head space.
What happened? I got up in the morning feeling sick. I thought the 5am start was the reason I had trouble eating my breakfast. But on the warmup ride into Penticton, the waves of nausea started. Before the race, I sat in transition desperately trying not to puke. With the cool water of the swim, I started feeling better. But then, I puked as soon as I came out of the water. I took a really long T1, sipped some water, and then got on the bike. I felt terrible on the bike. It was horrible. I felt horrible.
Bronwyn came up beside me and said, “What’s up?” I felt like crying as I responded, “I’m having a bad day“. She said, “Follow me!” and with those few words my head changed from focussed negativity and self pity to, “OK, how am I going to get back into this. Follow Bronwyn, sip some water, sip some more water. Eat once you’re ready.” I was now in full on recovery management mode. By the time I hit the half way point on the bike, I was back. Not at full strength, but back. I jogged the run at a steady pace, and managed to cut my losses for the race.
What did I learn? Even a bad day at the races is still pretty damn good day. Why did it happen? WHO CARES!! The point is that when something goes wrong, figure out how to get over it. Don’t focus on what’s going wrong, focus on the solution. This said, I don’t think I’ll eat cereal with milk for breakfast on race day ever again. The trigger caused by Bronwyn’s, “follow me” proves that even when it’s physical – it’s all still mental.
swim 1.5km, 26:50
bike, T1, T2 1:21:51
run 10km, 49:38bike stats from my computer
2:17:10, 63.1km, Peach ride + to/fro Summerland
Avg HR 142, Max 168
Avg Sp 27.6, Max 70.4
Avg Cd 92, Max 121
1201Kcal (4 gels, 1L gatorade = 700) – breakie barf
We’re leaving for Summerland at 2pm today. I’ve spent the morning packing for training camp. I’m bringing a ridiculous amount of stuff. A whole shoe box full of gels labeled as, “Joanne’s GO Juice,” for example. I’m a little intimidated by the prospect of a 28hr training week, so I’m packing extra stuff to compensate. After packing, I headed out for an easy mid morning zip around Richmond. It’s a treat to ride in the middle of the day.
bike easy spin
1:48:04, 43.2km
Avg HR 117, Max 138
Avg Sp 24.3, Max 39.5
Avg Cd 87, Max 106
I should have stopped. Imagine a beautiful Friday night in English bay, people walking, people talking, sunshine, beach. I’m cruising through on my way to repeats of the Stanley Park loop and the smell hits me. Barbequed onions, cheap smoky hotdog smell, mmmmm, sweet summer. How did I resist? There must have been at least five street vendors with BBQs that I passed on my bike. Next time, I’m going to stop.
I guess I was on some kind of mission. I usually bike commute on Fridays but not today. Instead, I did a couple of loops of Stanley Park. I was supposed to ride for 2.5hr but I knew it was time to stop when I almost did a full speed head on into one of those big white movie trucks (the truck was going the wrong way in a blind corner on the one way loop of the park). I can take a hint. Actually, I count myself lucky that I wasn’t seriously smucked. My last minute decision not to turn in for another loop of the park probably saved my life.
After the bike, I met up with Alison for a swim at Kit’s beach. Another hot sunny day, so the bikini babes were out at Kit’s. We looked out of place in our full wet suits. The swim was seriously choppy. I went kind of like this, “Stroke, stroke, weeeeeeee, smack”. The “weeeeeee” was riding the crest of the swell and then the “smack” was your face hitting the ocean. At times, it was so choppy that it had me laughing. Good times, good times.
bike
1.5hr Kits beach, two loops Stanley Parkswim
35 min Kits beach
Wednesday’s bike workout was the start of hill week. That’s hill week, not hell, just in case you’re wondering. Although some would suggest that a four hill based bike and run workouts in one week with a combined elevation gain of over 7600 ft should be called “Hell Week”.
I rode this workout with Leah and I have to say that the Spanish Banks hill is a lot easier now compared to the beginning of the year. I can make the whole hill without using my easy gears (i.e., I can actually cycle the hill, not just spin up in the granny gear). I was even gearing down at the top to power through the repeats. What a difference! The descents are still the best part of this workout.
How did I calculate the 7610 ft in elevation gain? [1250ft ( 9 x repeats of spanish banks hill - 250ft on Wed, Thurs, and Saturday), 3350ft (Seymour on Saturday), 3010ft (Cypress, also on Saturday)]. I didn’t count small stupid hills or even my Squamish run on Sunday (up above Alice Lake), so I’m probably even a little short with my estimate.
swim
w/u 200f, 100p, 2 x 50k, 100f @ 20sR
6 x 50f @ 30sR
5 x 400f @ 60sR
100 mix c/dbike
5 min w/u
2 x 1 min stupid hard hill, 6 min recovery
4 x spanish banks hill1:14:50, 26.4km
HR avg 145, Max 179***told ya the hill was stupid
697Kcal
Avg Sp 22.4, Max 58.6
Avg Cd 83, Max 107brick run
20 min
I was thinking of naming this post, “Elvis is evil” but instead I went with this quote from Coach Drew, “…that’s what you get for riding with the big boys.”
Our route for this ride was from the Pink hotel by the Peace Arch, along Zero avenue, through Langely, past Abbotsford, and all the way to Chilliwack. We zipped through Vedder, past the turn off to Cultas Lake, and up the Chilliwack river a ways before turning around. At the end of the day, we completed 160km.
I’m sure the route was a beautiful one, but I have to admit I spent most of my time with my eyes fixed on the wheel in front of me. This ride was a serious hammer. We spent 90% of the ride in a tight pace line with everyone riding in the aero position. That was the point, and instead of heeding the warnings, I jumped right in. True to form, it was a battle. We completed my first century ride of the season (and only my 2nd ever) in just over 5hr.
The night before, I felt some trepidation as I prepared wondering if I’d be able to keep up with Elvis. As the hammer fest began, I found the pace too tough and got dropped on the initial rollers. After about 20 minutes the group reassembled and Elvis gave a pep talk that went something like this, “It would be good if you tried to keep up.”
So I used my determination and fitness to do exactly that. I kept up. I spent the whole day hanging on. I ate right, and cycled well. In the end, I kept up without any major troubles but I can honestly say it was the hardest ride that I’ve ever completed. It was a character building experience.
Surprisingly, my legs felt remarkedly good on the short brick that we did afterwards. I was absolutely wrecked Saturday evening but it was an awesome day. I’ve even signed up for another Elvis adventure this coming weekend. I must be a sucker for punishment.
bike
5h:10:40, 160.6km
HR avg 145, Max 164
2898 Kcal (intake 800 gels + 350 gatorade)
Avg Sp 31.0km/h, Max 66.2
Avg Cd 93, Max 121
brick run
35 min