Weblogic

Before I get into the tale of The Spring Camp....Special thanks to E-Load Nutrition Products, SOLO Bars and Peach City Runners and Nordic Ski.  E-Fly came in really handy as we burned through the calories each day.  It is impossible to keep up with calories with solid food alone.  A product like E-fly is key!  Plus, I really enjoyed their mild flavoured gels.  I always use gels for those little emergencies (of extra low energy). 

I can also recommend SOLO nutrition bars.  Great tasting bars that are easy to eat while riding or just after the morning swim.  And they have a wide load of flavours so we could mix it up.  But I have to admit that chocolate is my favourite. 

And thanks to Steve and Neil and Peach City Runners for organizing this sponsorship support.  We truly appreciated it.

Camp kicked off last Saturday.  I actually had a nasty cold the week before though and I was worried what kind of affect that would have on the first big week of training this year.  Friday rolled around and it was really the first day I came close to feeling normal.  Just in time!

This year my priorities during camp certainly changed.  In previous camps (Santa Barbara, Boulder, Mt. Hood, Bend, Kona, Fairmont to name a few) I always prioritized my training and then did what I could to help others who were joining in for the fun.  Now, as a full-time coach, I prioritized their workouts and I tagged along.  But, don’t get me wrong, I was far from coasting around on the bike.  At times, I had trouble holding a wheel.  That’s how these camps go.  There are really good times and really-really rough times.

It broke down like this:

Saturday – Joy and I did a solid 4hr endurance ride followed by a 30min Trun.  The route was South out of Penticton down to Oliver via Tuc el Nuit Road (my favourite section).  We had good weather and I got my first sunburnt nose of the season.

Sunday – Another good day for weather.  A tad windy and I choose a hilly ride for 2 hours which headed down to the end of Naramata road and back.  Legs were feeling it at the end of this one.  Coming back from the cold was a struggle.  Did a 40min run later in the day.

Monday – I took this day as my recovery day since the next few days were going to hurt.  Did an easy hour spin and a short 2k endurance swim. 

Tuesday – Solid 3k endurance swim to start.  And I was finally starting to feel better in the water.  Janelle arrived and we did a good 3hr ride with a mod-hard climb up the Wall just outside Okanagan Falls.  Ride included a lot of climbing, some steep and some not so steep sections.  Legs did well but I certainly felt the steep sections.  Janelle looked really solid on the climbs.  I might have to drop 30 pounds if she continues to climb this well. 

Wednesday – Janis arrived with some fresh legs.  Janis is a great swimmer we started with a harder swim today.  Only 3k of swimming but it included fast sets of 10*75, 10*50 and 10*25.  My arms were toast at the end but it was the first strong swim I have had in about three weeks so I was really happy to feel the speed back in the water.  Then we did a really solid 3hr ride that had a lot of high steady riding in it.  We headed North this time to Summerland, did Switchback road (one of my fav’s) then headed further West which means up and up and up to Camp Boyle.  The gradual descent from Camp Boyle is always a blast.

Thursday – Today we went long.  It was a 5 hour ride down to Osoyoo’s with a 45minute climb up Anarchist.  Nasty winds from the South nearly did us in for the day.  All three of us rode really well though and kept the pace strong.  Never out of control, just a lot of really strong (steady) riding.  I pushed the climb up Anarchist.  Legs rebelled at first but then they got into a nice rhythm and it felt good to do a solid climb.  Got really tired of sugar today so the cheese biscuit at the grocery store in Osoyoos was key!

Friday – Day 2 of the long riding.  We did the IMC course including the out and back this year.  It was a good solid 6 hour ride.  Testosterone worked against me today.  I started Richter last but had to finish first.  That hurt.  So, I was cruising down the other side and still cruising up the first couple rollers.

Janelle and Janis could smell it though and they did the perfect breakaway.  Janelle danced up the first roller and I just figured I’d just get it back on the descent.  Janis also rolled away as I was cruising.  But, I never got back on after the descent then the same thing happened on the 2^nd roller.  Except, Janis put in an effort and bridged up to Janelle.  Now I was in trouble.  Two against one and they let me have it.  I kept them in sight but I really did not want to ride the flats alone so I gathered up what limited testosterone I had left and put the hammer down.  It took a good 10 minutes to get back on.  And then they claimed they waited for me.   You got to have some fun out there.   

The pace remained solid with each of us trading pulls throughout the Cawston flats and out and back section.  I certainly had some weak moments as the previous effort burned those remaining carbs in my body.  But, it was great training and way better than training alone.  I hung on and refuelled with a couple chocolate milks, an O’henry and honey roasted peanuts.  Yellow lake was good and the descent back into Penticton was grand.  The roadie in Janis came out today.  She pulled hard the final miles and Janelle and I did what we could to stay on.  And after a ride like that, you have to do a run.  An easy 20 minutes felt really good.

Saturday – This was basically a cool-down.  We joined the CPP group ride in town and enjoyed some great drafting for a change.  After an hour we were done and ready to head back home.  Spun home and called it.

It is Wednesday night now.  I have had recovery days where I felt trashed and other days were i felt really good.  The riding legs are doing well but my overall energy is pretty low.  More recovery to come in the days ahead.  Great camp thanks to Joy, Janis and Janelle!  Unfortunately, Joy came ill just prior to camp and it worsened so she did the wise thing and took a break to get over it.

For myself, it turned out to be a 35 hour week of training.  Janelle got closer to 40 and Janis got in 17hrs of riding alone in four days.  We were all super happy with how we held up and are looking for the nice boost this camp will give to our training.  Races are around the corner, I can taste it.