Training Log Archive: Carbons Offset

15.6

You would hope that a big run like R2R2R would have the added benefit of helping you drop a pound or two and lean out, but after returning from the trip, my weight was up. I do make myself eat well during runs, then I did eat too much at McD's afterward, figuring that I needed it. Likewise at the Vegas buffet the next night. I've been trained that eating after a big event is key to better recovery, but I overdo it. Got home feeling a little bloated and overweight.
Then, a couple of nights ago, I was up about 5 times to pee. Now the weight is below the pre-run weight.

C • That's how it always works for me 12

Last skate ski lesson.
It has been warm in Canmore. At first, the snow was a little soft but then we hit spots that had re-frozen and it became quite challenging, with skate tracks frozen in the snow. Not the easiest night but still got something out of it. Practiced more transitions between the various strides and practiced offset on the weak side, plus switching on the fly. The switch went better than it has in the past thanks to being taught to simply do a quick pole tap on the good side (rather than a full plant) and quickly move to a full pole plant on the next step on the other side. That timing and technique for the switch seemed to work for me. The instructor immediately pointed out that my offset technique on my "weak" left side looked better and more proper than on my favoured right side, and I have to agree. Practiced the on left side a bunch and started feeling more comfortable on that side even though the rhythm of the timing feels more natural on the right. I'll keep practicing on the left side and use that feeling to re-train my right side.

Had a couple of crashes because I was just too tired to save myself when some of the frozen ruts would pull your skis in different directions.

Beautiful light, mild temperature, nice to ski with views and daylight in the evening. That said, it feels like biking season is about to begin, not more skiing.

17.3

17.4

Massage.
The therapist suggested that 5-6 days after the big run would be the appropriate time for a massage. Today is 3 days post-run. Calves were pretty painful when she worked through them (although I did tell her to go hard). She spent more time on my back than I had requested but I realized the lower and mid back did need that much attention. IT bands were fine, hips/glutes were pretty good.

Felt better after, this really helped, versus how torn up the quads were feeling before.

Rim 2 Rim 2 Rim

Five of us (Carbon, Myka, Stefanie, Liz and I) flew down to Vegas together, rented a grampa car (a big one so that we had space for five of us and bags), and stayed overnight in Henderson. We must have been bumped to a suite because we had two queen beds plus a pull-out. Lots of space. The next morning we stormed the nearby Wal-Mart for food for our run. Then into the grampa car for the drive to the canyon. We followed several parts of Route 66 including passing through fun and cheesy Williams. Lots of Elvis sightings (on signs and pictures in diners,... Not the real guy).
We went to the canyon that afternoon to look at it. Man, it was far to the north rim, you could just see a piece of it on the horizon. And man, was it FAR down! The canyon seemed to drop four times, again and again and again, until it finally reached the Colorado River. Tomorrow: all the way down and back up again, then turn around and repeat. I think a few of us got a little quiet when we saw what was in front of us. We also met up with our Canmore friend David who drove down and met up with us.
People's time estimates for tomorrow were 12 hours, 12-15, 15, or "we'll see". Stefanie, Liz and I decided to start at sunrise, at 6 am. David, Myka and Carbon decided to give themselves a couple more hours than that so they started at 4 am. Myka and Carbon got up super early (man, I don't know if I could do that, and snuck out of the room quietly). They went down the Bright Angel trail based on David's preference for the gentler angle. Given that it would be dark, they weren't too fussed about which way they went down because they wouldn't see the scenery at the beginning anyway. My group of three parked at parking lot 1 and jogged 4 km along the rim trail to get to the South Kaibab trailhead. I think there might have been a slight uphill that we didn't see in the dark, plus the packs were heavy with the full load of water plus food, and we were at about 2000 metres elevation. It was harder than we expected and we were doubting our fitness. We ran in the dark with the headlamps, sensing the awesome canyon just to our left ("don't fall off!"). The canyon slowly woke up and revealed itself, it was a really cool experience. By the time we reached the trailhead, we could put the headlamps away, and our descent was beautifully lit by the rising sun. Amazing! Lots of stops for photos. A loooong way down. We encountered a mule train along the way and patiently walked behind them for only about 5 minutes until they spotted us and chose a place to let us by. Friendly Good Mornings and waves all around. More super pretty trail sections, photos, tunnels and bridges. One pair of runners on the way up hit us with some sad news: you can't get to the north rim, the trail is flooded, they turned around because it looked too dangerous to cross. Stefanie was devastated. I too was disappointed at the thought of being able to do "a lot" of the run but not succeed at completing the whole thing. Still, I thought "I want to see this for myself and decide how uncrossable it is"...
We reached Phantom Ranch at the bottom in about 2.5 hours, just before they were open to sell precious things like Coke and lemonade but we weren't craving these yet, we would treat ourselves to those later (or so we thought...) when we would really enjoy them.
We continued up into the north half of the canyon and still had not seen Carbon, Myka and David. We hoped they were ahead of us and having a good run. Or maybe things weren't going well and we got to this point ahead of them?....
After a looooong downhill to this point, we now had some running in the canyon bottom. It was a slight uphill but it was runnable and we were feeling good. We settled into a pace that was good, not pushing the limits but moving well. We came upon some hikers coming the other way. We asked if they had seen other runners. They said "just two European ladies". At first we thought they were suggesting that wasn't them and then we realized that would be our Swedish and Polish friends :). "Yes, that's them" we exclaimed. They looked at us with a bit of confusion, wondering if we were really part of the same group and told us "yes, but they're a couple hours ahead of you". Awesome!, it sounds like the girls are having a good run! We continued running up the trail, slightly gaining elevation along the way and choosing to walk the punchier ups so as to not tire ourselves out too much. You could feel the heat building but after a winter of many cold runs in Canmore we all agreed that we weren't allowed to complain about the heat (although we did make "observational" comments several times ("I'm not complaining but wow is it warm")). We came around a slight bend in the trail and spotted someone just ahead. We soon realized it was David and he was snapping our pictures as we ran up to him. We stopped for a fun chat, and celebrated running into each other on the trail. He wasn't going to go much further, he didn't feel up to it, but said that Carbon and Myka were doing great. We still hadn't seen them, so they must be doing well.
We continued up the trail, chatting, getting excited about the north end of the canyon up ahead and excited for how well Myka and Carbon were doing, and feeling the heat. Then we hit what was obviously the flooded section. At first you couldn't spot where the trail was supposed to be and it was easy to confuse the flooding river with the trail. We paused for a second to think about whether it was crossable and realized that Myka and Carbon had obviously cruised right through. We looked around a little to see if there was any narrow spot where you could hop over and keep your feet dry but there was not. Liz didn't hesitate, whipped out the trekking poles and stomped across. Uh oh.... Wet feet now, but the cold water was kind of nice. On the other side of the shin-deep water, we rolled our eyes a little about the other two girls who had turned back due to this.
Another water refill at Manzanita but my bladder didn't get its full 1.5 litres due to being compressed by all the other gear I was conservatively carrying, just in case (Delorme, first aid kit, long sleeved shirt, rain jacket, down jacket, gloves, toque, space blanket, lots of extra food, etc).
As we got closer to the north end and the trail really started to climb, the rock walls got redder and many had water falls of spring meltwater pouring down them. Beautiful, and it was a treat to walk under a cold waterfall when we were overheating. Soon we heard voices. Wow, it was Myka and Carbon and they had stayed ahead of us until really far into the north end of the trail. Meeting up with them gave us an extra boost of energy which probably made us appear less affected by the distance as we excitedly chatted with them and then continued on with a new burst of energy. This burst would soon slow down abruptly as the climb to the north rim got steeper and steeper. I kept tracking my GPS and marvelled at how long it took each successive kilometre to be completed; estimates of 45 minutes remaining turned to one hour, one and a half, two...Eventually some trees started to appear on the sides of the trail and their shade allowed snow to remain. At times we were post holing for parts of the last 2 km, but I was glad I didn't bother to bring spikes for this little section where trail runner treads were enough. Just when it felt like it would still take forever to get there, we spotted the trailhead sign right in front of us. There was some celebration for the anti-climactic sign in the middle of nowhere; no views or anything, just a sign in the forest. A good break and some eating, never needing to put an extra shirt or jacket on despite being surrounded by snow.... We were quite cooked by the heat.
On the way down, you quickly realized you were only halfway through the job. I ran out of water and got some help from Liz and Stef, plus filling sometimes at the waterfalls. When we got to the bottom of the steeper descents I led for a while and set the pace. We all had moments of good and not so good, so sometimes my leading pace wasn't enjoyed by others but they were determined to stick with it. Then Stef looked ahead and said "oooh, horses!" Next thing you know, Liz and I saw them too. Lots of them. That's strange, we didn't see them on the way in. Until we got closer to them and they somehow transformed into a field full of large boulders. Hmmm... Folks were getting tired and our minds were vulnerable to suggestions. Then the tables turned further. My gut was horrible and eventually I conceded to needing a big bathroom break. I pulled off the trail, dug a hole, did my business and covered it up. This was right around when both the girls were feeling good and started opening it up. When I resumed running, Liz soon looped back to check on me when she hadn't seen me in a while.
When we reached Phantom Ranch, we met up with Myka and Carbon and all had a good visit. Unfortunately, the long-dreamed-of cold Coca-Cola was not to be had: they had closed their canteen by the time we arrived :(
After a good break and recharge (and another good bathroom break for me) we headed across the river toward the Bright Angel trail. For the three of us, this was new so it was fun to see this other trail. Stef and Liz set the pace for most of it, running a lot of the way up. When the sun set, the canyon came to life. We heard what we thought were sheep until we realized the sound was coming from the creek. It was frogs, and they were having a party! Then we kept getting swooped by bats and Liz would shriek every time they came close. They bumped into me a few times and it was kind of cool. Plus, there was a local bird that would fly by in the dark and its eyes looked reallllly freaky when they reflected your headlamp.
We stopped at Indian Gardens for a water refill and snack break. While we were there, Myka and Carbon showed up and they were like on old couple that has lived together for too long. They were bickering humourously about several little things. Carbon offered Myka a special treat: carbon's favourite chocolate mint cookies. Well.... Myka hates chocolate mint. "That's my treat?! That's the worst treat!". Then Myka also griped about how far away Carbon was and that she wasn't going to walk "all the way over there" (about 5 metres) to get them. The three of us decided to vacate this situation ;)
We continued up, with the girls taking turns at leading the charge. As we got into the last 4 km, I started counting down every half km to give us a feeling of progress but the progress was slow on the steeper sections. Eventually we were at the last turn and the girls waited for me to catch up so that we could run the last stretch together. The whole time, we had been looking up to the top of the rim and the lights at the top, estimating how close we were. When we got to the top, we realized that one of the lights was David's headlamp. He had been sitting there and waiting for us for four hours, knowing that we would probably want a ride back to our car. What a guy. High fives and hugs, I gave my down jacket to Liz and then David and I raced off to fetch the rental car, knowing that Myka and Carbon would be done soon and were insisting on milkshakes before McDonald's closed. We made it to McDonald's in time, each treated ourselves to our desired treat (large strawberry milkshake... 2000 calories, I've been told. And I had to try the Grand Mac.... the Big Mac they serve at the Grand Canyon, made with bigger patties).
Back to the hotel for showers, continued eating, stories and finally falling asleep. Such a great day. Everyone went in with an injury that was making them nervous, and everyone did great!
Now let's go see how these feet and legs enjoy walking the Vegas strip tomorrow night....