Spring Camp – Day 2 – Ode to Craig

While I was writing this summary, I just came across this article on xtri:

Craig Walton Retires

Craig was one athlete I always looked up to.  He won his races by swimming and riding HARD and then holding on in the run.  I will miss watching him.  Maybe after Beijing he will come back and do some racing?

 Back to the camp…

Day 2

Sunday, March 16^th

Jenny, looking back, said Day 2 was her toughest day.  No doubt, we just did our longest ride in months just the day before and we were going longer today.  Nothing crazy, but a 5hr ride nonetheless.  Our bodies were used to going for a run on a day like today (you know, the usual routine, bike long on Saturday, run long on Sunday).  So, today definitely took some mind over matter.

Jenny soon realized and we did too, that it was also about EATING!  She simply did not each very much on Day 1’s ride and had trouble making it up that night.  As a result, her tank was a little empty all day today.  You can get away with it for one day, but when you do consecutive days of volume training, one must EAT!  Plus, we are getting used to volume again so our glycogen stores have probably shrunk over the winter months and not where they were last summer.

We all made sure we started taking more food with us.  Here were some of the favourite foods for riding:

Scott

PB and Nutella on Multigrain bread.

Chocolate Bars (Eat-more or O’Henry’s – part of the reason I moved back to Canada).

1 Power bar all week.

PB and Honey on White Bagels.

Iced Tea

Chocolate Milk

Sarah’s Favorite

Homemade micro-waved potato’s with salt.

Jenny’s Favorite

Tortilla’s rolled around nutella and almond spread (I think).

Looks like I am the pig.  I guess i did not take good enough notes on what the girls were eating…next time I will keep a closer eye.  We all supplemented these solids with our infinit drinks (and I took some concentrated bottles of hot chocolate mix which was not hot at all but so-so good).

Without a sag wagon, every morning was a test to see how much stuff we could fit in our jersey pockets.  I always took a couple of sandwiches with me (see above) and 3 bottles (2 infinit, 1 Hot choc concentrate) of which 1 had to go in my jersey pocket and two on the bike.  That usually was not enough for the 4-6 hour rides.  So, I would supplement with the chocolate bars and drinks at a convenience store.

We headed out along a similar route as yesterday but we added more climbing this time.  It was a really solid day.  I think doing a lot of climbing in the second half of the ride took our minds off of the pain.  This route is not particularly steep but it is a long gradual climb from Oliver up to Yellow Lake.  We stopped at twin lakes where the store had been renovated.  Nice work – they have addeda  lot of goodies (deli, pizza etc…) in that store and it just happens to be the store I frequent the most out here.  500ml of Chocolate milk and I was ready to rip!  That did not last too long, I was bagged by the time we got over Green mountain and ready to hit the couch by the time we descended into Penticton.

After some couch moments.  I got up and did the 40minute run.  It actually felt surprisingly good.  Maybe I am not in such bad shape afterall?  There is hope for me!  The girls did really well, never too far behind me on the climbs.   I could tell Jenny was struggling and starting to second guess herself and her ability to do a big week.  Stay tuned…

Here is the route:

Roughrider Mtn Loop
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