OMG Friday!

WOW what a day. I feel fantastic now, sitting at my computer in my jammies, warmed up and cozy after a hot shower and tasty supper. My legs feel great actually- no fatige at all. This was not the case about 5 hours ago during the bike portion of today's 'super' training day. Today was one of the hardest mental training days I have ever had to endure. I mean it was tuff. I mean I wanted to call it quits and pack up and make a plan B. Nothing in my head wanted to be there. For a few hours it was all mental strength training today.

We started around 11:30 this morning from good friends Pete and Cathy's home near Lake Trail. This was to be our staging area for our longest brick of the season so far as we train for a summer of adventure racing. I had great company, as my new training buddy Shawn, from Ladysmith, was along for the ride and we set off into a complete spring downpour on the ride leg of our training session.

We played in the puddles on the pipeline and it was fun at first. Then we got to the dam and climbed up Branch 21 until we hit active logging. We also hit the snowline and it began dumping snow on us. We pushed up a side trail for a while and that is when the pain started to creep in.

First my feet went numb. This happens to me now that I am riding in clip shoes. Walking through snow doesn't help. Metal is a great conductor. I didn't think to bring my shoe covers cause it was like 6 or 8 degrees at my house.

Next my hands went numb. It is really hard to brake or change your gears without hands. I developed a new technique of riding with one hand and pushing my gear lever with the palm of my other hand. Not bad.

Michelle (met us out at the dam) our 3rd training buddy in Canmore. Oh no that is Lower Monkeys in the Comox Valley. Note big snowflakes .

After the uphill snow climb it was all downhill. This makes things even colder.

Next I had no rear brakes. Finally, my gears died and I had no gears on the ride home. I checked and there was a really wiggly cable. Great investigator. Terrible mechanic.

Long story short I was in unimaginable pain and frozen colder than I have ever dreamed possible by the time we got back to Pete and Cathy's for our transition. It was everything I had in me to go on after the coldest 3hour ride of my life.

But on we went! We felt a million times better after changing into dry clothes, toques, dry socks and shoes and sipping hot cocoa from my transition box. Once I could get some sensation back into my feet (they were like stumps) we took off back to the dam for a 24kish run. The sun came out. My feet thawed after about 10k. I started to feel like my self again:) We had a great run and shared stories of this and that and the other. Around the Dam loop we went. Finishing in Nymph falls and Twister I enjoyed pointing out our most beautiful swimming holes and vistas along the Puntledge River to my out of town training guest. I was proud of our amazing local landscape and got to see the beauty through new eyes for the first time in years.

Unfortunately the sightseeing was rudely interupted by multiple emergency stops due to GI distress on my 'behalf' (pun intended). I discovered the joys of agressvie digestion that many runners seem to suffer through. I think it was the Nuun tabs I took for the first time.

These harmless looking electrolyte tabs were new to the mix and I am pointing the finger at them for now. Will remove them next big run and see what happens. You know I don't want to become one of those runners...cramp city and bush dives!

6hours and 4 minutes total time with plenty of short stops along the way.

1 Fruit Bar, 1 pack Cliffe Shot Blocks, 2 homemade energy bars, 1/2 banana and pb wrap, 1.5litres of water with half strength eload and those nuun tabs.

There you have it. The honest truth. Not every workout is a perfect, fun, fantastic workout. But they all hold lessons and build strength of character as well as mitochondria.

Today I learned that I am absolutely useless in the cold (must be prepared better to avoid a repeat), that I must always carry t.p. on long runs (well, you know why), and that my legs feel better than ever after good long runs (my training is working).

Happy Trails!

No Q&A today. I hope my lessons are enough for this week!

SS