25 August 2014

Epic Camp Canada 2014 - Day 6

Epic Camp Camp Canada 2014
Day 6

Clearwater - Blue River - 110km (and catching the train)

Today's format - swim/bike/run - kinda familiar by now eh.
Had a good nights sleep with Dave Rowe as a very easy room-mate to have.
Lour had a room to himself next door and thank goodness no one had to share with him because the noxious gasses emanating from his G.I tract probably melted the wall-paper in there.  Lucky for him he had a fan in there on full blast or he'd be dead for sure.

Was amazed to see the make-over Gareth had this morning.  He looked like a new man!  Just the day before he resembled the Lochness Monster, but today with a shave and a what looked to be a beautiful coiffure I almost didn't recognise him!  From the wiley grin on his face my guess is he also did a bit of man-scaping too!  You know that free, fresh, clean feeling just after a good man-scaping session - can't beat that really ............

A bit of coffee and then a leisurely lap of the lake + a bit to get 3km.  Wonderful.
Shower, pack, break and off at 9am for the ride to Bl;ur River.
Charlsey set off _before_ the gruppetto! which is an Epic Camp first I think.
The gruppetto is growing and they set off about 30 minutes before us.
The ride profile looked pretty flat and so I expected us to stay together but once Douglas hit the front on a 1-2% incline and melted most of the peleton there was just 4 of us left.  I wan't too worried as we had Glenn "Don't Miss That Train" Olsen with us.  I think Douglas looked back after about 15 minutes to realize no one was with him and eased off to let us catch up.
Once Glenn took over we were motoring along at 50+kph and I had a feeling we wouldn't be seeing the others again.
We did see Zach pulling into the aid station at 52km mark just as we were pulling out and we got the last 60km done pretty quick.
Glenn reminded me of some of the training partners I've had over the years, especially Chris "Big Sexy" McDonald.  In the early days before Chris went pro he would pull me around Canterbury back-country taking a peek behind every 30 minutes or so to make sure I was OK. I'd just give him a nod or a thumbs-up and he'd just continue to crank out the kms.
Perhaps you've had a training partner like that?  You take one look at their legs and say to yourself "hmmmmmm ...  that dude can probably do 20 reps of 500lbs on the leg press no worries at all ......"

I listened to 2 great podcasts on the ride today from Newsom and B.J. Eyles "Legends of Triathlon".  Appropriately they were two Canadians - Lisa Bentley and Steve King.  Really enjoyed listening to Lisa's story as her career started a few years after mine ended so I didn't know much about her.  Steve King's recollections of IM Canada certainly brought back a lot of memories.  I wish I had that sorta recall.

Upon arrival in Blur River at our sweet accom. at Mike Wiegele  we went for a run since they were still prepping the rooms.  Wonderful cabins!  I'll make sure we get some photos as I will be asking my dear, wonderful, generous, patient, loving wife to build me one of these in NZ soon!

My run went out around the wee lake we're next to and then out along the railroad tracks.  Sunny, hot, wonderful if I didn't think about how much my legs were gone.
When I was a kid in High School just starting my serious running during the summer between my sophomore and junior years (10-11 for you non-Americans) I often ran along the railroad tracks in West Pittsburg, CA where I grew up.  Was remembering how my younger brother Sean (about age 8-10?) and his even younger friend Xavier from 3 houses down the road used to catch rattle snakes along those railroad tracks, bring them home and keep them in a trash can in the back yard.  Once when my mom went to put out the trash she nearly had a heart attack when she saw 3 decent sized rattlers in there.  Seems like Sean used to get a hiding for something or another nearly every day.

Most of the time when I "run" at the pace I ran today I'd call it active tanning.  But today in the middle of an Epic Camp it's a considerable training stimulus.  Gordo always joked about "getting an appropriate training stimulus".  Feeling like I got that today.  He'll probably know how I'm "recovering" right now as I finish my blog.

Some guys just coming in from a 2-hour run.  The Epic camp craziness is really starting to ramp up now.  Steven Lord we miss you!

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