In the Long Run

We're post Wednesday ride and it's now pre-Saturday ride.

Wednesday was good one, and tomorrow will be even better, but first a catch up story from last Sunday's long run.

It was a run which brought me back to the fall training camp days of Gryphon Nordic Racing. Good old GNR.

These runs were long, perhaps the longest to date. Then there were the epic roller ski sessions. For some reason we figured 1 500mL bottle of watered down Gatorade would suffice these sessions. A roller ski bonk is a bonk of it's own kind, much different from a bike or run bonk.

Fortunately, the past few years have rubbed off a little wisdom. This time I brought along a flask of diluted gel & 1 bottle.

The workout was pretty straight forward. Warm up, main set, cool down. 20 minutes, 105 minutes @ pace, 15 minutes. Just run.

Perfect day for a run at the lakes. Fall colours, soft & moist earth, cool temperature, loose arms, welcoming water, and a pair of legs which felt fairly decent.

3K loop for a warm up, shed the coat, pick up the bottle, head off. There's really little to say for the run. Time just seemed to disappear. It's really arbitrary anyhow.

I had the watch timing HR & km splits, but the overall run time was hidden. Before long, the run evolved to a steady hummm, much more than just a run. There are however, 4 memories:
1) starting
2) at 23 K I forgot if we had done 2.3 or 1.3 loops. Same difference, either way it's just running.
3) at 24 K the Jazz man said, "We need to stop for a moment." I wondered why. Why @ 24? The important numbers are 3:50/K, 155HR . . . why 24? ahhhh . . . 24. Quick birthday celebration and back running. Wicked awesome party. That was definitely the best one yet. Thanks dude.
4) finishing

Great run, about 34k to the day. Ice the legs. Back home and transition for cross.

3 bottles of gleukos,
1 can of coke,
1 bowl of spicy squash soup,
1 piece of toast,

Pack up Jalapeno, throw some clothes in the car, cross shoes, compression socks, a we're off.

3 energy bars in the car,
1 more can of coke,

and before you know it we've arrived to Providence Farm in beautiful Duncan. Mt. Tzouhalem provided a phenomenal backdrop. Great place for a cross race. Thanks to Providence farm for hosting the event.

warm up,
1 bottle of gleukos,
1 energy gel,
1 handfull of jelly beans,

Race ready.

As usual I took the first loop fairly easy. Keep it cool, test the legs, feel it out, find a groove for the course.
Ok, the legs feel 1/2 decent, try an attack to move through the group. That was easy. Sit in, feel the groove. Keep riding. Things are good with this group.
Ok, you're here, may as well race it up. There's a group up ahead. Take the technical parts easy, allow the HR to drop, recover a little and hammer the hill. Easy way to move up.

The rule with Nordic racing is that he who can recover the best on the downhills can race the fastest up the following hills. Apply this to cross and technical sections become the downhills.

Smooth like chocolate. Ride up to the group, sit in. 4th place and things feel good on lap 4/10. Hmmm maybe a little too smooth. That back tire is starting to feel a little flat. Ahhh who cares. Keep riding. Hmmm now it's rough again. Back tire is totally flat at the bottom of the course.

Sweetness. More running for today. Jalapeno fits nicely on the shoulder. The trek back to base camp and the wheel pit was wicked awesome practice running with a bike.

At the pit . . . Do you have a pump? We do have a wheel you can use, but it's campy. Well, I'm riding SRAM, so I suppose we'll find out if it's compatible. Toss it on . . . hiii -- hoo -- silver, and we're off.

Shifting works, sweet. We're good. 1.5 more loops. Chase 'em down.

Next time up the big hill. Snap. There goes the chain. Too much torque??? or perhaps despite seemingly smooth shifting, campy is less than compatible with SRAM.

So that was that. Fun racing, fun running, and mud is always sweet.

Conclusion: Even after the long run, there's more running to be done.

Rest well.