SubscribeOutside of exercise and eating, not a lot went on today.
Up early and down to the Running Room to start our long ride for 0700. We started a bit late but did manage to get ourselves moving and heading on the long trip up to Squamish.
The first hour went by pretty quickly. High cadence, lots of spinning up and down hills. Lots of traffic lights.
The second hour had us up to Horseshoe Bay where two of the group were turning back and then we were on the Sea to Sky (to Sea, to Sky, to Sea, to Sky, to Sea) Highway.
The next 40km passed by slowly with lots of up and down and pauses for the group to gather together periodically. It was all in the mind though really.
We pulled into Squamish and had a bit of brunch at the Starbucks before starting back again, teeth into the wind. And it was windy. Somehow during our break at Starbucks the wind had really picked up. The first 20 or 25km out of Squamish was pretty tough as a result, but because of it seemed to go MUCH quicker, again, all in the mind.
During this stretch I determined that while I LOVE going fast, I don’t at all like going fast when I’m being buffeted by the wind. And I like even less being funneled into a narrow passage way at all, let alone when going fast and while being buffeted by the wind. Normally I pick up a lot of speed going downhill and love to stay in the aero bars. Today, not so much. This meant that I had to work a bit to catch Ray on the uphills instead.
The pace was not taxing though and so there wasn’t a heavy lactate burn and I felt like I could just keep going. Which, with 40km to go from Horseshoe Bay was a good thing. At the turn off to Horseshoe Bay we lost Aislynn for a few minutes. She had dropped back a bit and missed the turn. After a few minute she called Jackie and then Ray went back to find her. A minor hiccup all things considered although Aislynn wound up doing an extra rather serious hill set.
The trip through West and North Vancouver out to the Second Narrows Bridge went smoothly and along here my legs were just power houses. I had a hard time keeping my pace back and just wound up dropping to the small ring and spinning to keep us all together at times. I really wanted to just burn through here but held back wisely.
Over the Second Narrows where we encountered someone going the other way who actually accosted Jackie who was riding tail at that point to give her shit about us going over the bridge North to South on the East side. We gave over right of way and were doing the right thing but the guy was being an aggressive asshole.
Back into Vancouver and then quickly into North Burnaby for the final 20km of our trip. Once across the highway we had the climb up the Sussex bike route and that was enough to remind us all that our legs were still with us. I kept a good spin here for most of the trip and was feeling okay actually. I’ve climbed that hill a bunch of times though and know where to push and where to hold back.
From Metrotown we were very close to done and we just dropped down the hills to wind up back to the store. Once there we needed the 4km extra that were anticipated when I mapped out the route (88km each way = 176km). Ray, Aislynn and I spun across the flats and just relaxed, pulling into the parking lot with exactly 180km on the Garmin.
A relatively quick change and we were ready to go for our 10km flat run.
Down to Foreshore Park and Ray had to constantly remind me to keep my pace down, my legs just wanted to turnover. 10 and 1s were on the agenda and each 1 minute walk break Ray and I would walk back to Aislynn and Jackie who were running just a few seconds / km slower.
Consequently we hit 5km just a bit before them, but we ran until Jackie’s garmin hit the mark.
We turned around and went back, picking up the speed again and having to hold back. This stretch both Ray and I were pushing the logical boundaries. We weren’t going fast really, but we were moving well and it felt good.
I hit the 10km mark at 59:57 and was feeling good. The final push of 250m or so was fairly easy and I pulled up at the cars by 1:01.
Could I have run another 32km at that pace? Nope. But I could have run another 11km at that pace with Ray or someone else beside me to handle the pacing 
Home, next door to Sheryl’s, pizza ordered, shower taken, pizza eaten, nap taken. Coke consumed, blog entry written.
Sleep to come.
Nutrition and Exercise
0600
- 2 packets of porridge
1200 (lunch in Squamish)
- Sausage/egg/cheese breakfast sandwich
- Oat / chocolate square
0715 – 1700 (less the lunch in Squamish)
- 180km South Burnaby to Squamish and return. LOTS of hills, low speed, lots of fun, GREAT training ride.
- 2 gels (2x 100 cal)
- 2 bags of Sharkies (2x 145 cal)
- 2 bottles of 1.5 scoop cytomax (2x 135 cal)
- handful of crackers
1715-1815
- 10km brick run. Decent pace (considering the bike), felt fantastic, lots of bugs.
- 2 gels (100 cal, 90 cal)
1830
- Jones soda (180 cal)
1930
- 6 medium slices of pizza
2200
- 710ml of Coke (@320 cal)
