Training Log Archive: Timato

Spent today helping out at the North Face Endurance Challenge. I need to put in some volunteer hours as part of the entry requirement for Grindstone so I emailed Bob and asked how I could help him out.

He signed me up as the sweeper for 50km of the 50 mile course. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I actually had a lot of fun today both being a part of the race and with my assigned role specifically. I was aware that I really needed to be positive because the runner's I'd be seeing would be hurting that much more than the everyone else. My first leg which was the first 25 km of the course I ran with one guy the whole way. I could tell it was going to be a struggle for him to just finish the race so we chatted about different things (turns out he's a film director/producer in Toronto) and I tried to make sure he was going at the pace he wanted and not mine. At the 25 km point I wished him good luck and got a ride back to the start/finish.

My second leg started around 12:30. I was lucky that I was standing about 500m from the finish waiting to go again and got to see Eddie finish his race. I gave him a hard time about "taking so long out there" (he was in 8th place overall) and wished him well.

When it came time for me to start again I saw the guy I'd run with for the first leg. He was giving up and now I was about 20/30 min down on the last placed runner. I pushed it up the Grind and then Bob and I discussed how I could catch up with the last placed runner. What ended up happening is I ended up running across the top of blue with 3 different runners whom we though were last. I'd run with them for a km or two and then on the radio I'd receive word that someone else just came into the aid station I'd left, so I'd book it back and find them and then continue along with them.

Once I finally found the last placed runner we started to jog again. It turns out that why we were so confused is that he'd been about an hour ahead of everyone else at the back of the back when he'd started his second loop, but he'd hit a wall and was forced to walk all the way through Scenic Caves. He'd lost so much time that he was probably going to get cut off at the 65 km mark (this is where my second 25km section was supposed to end). He and I continued along and I could see now that he was eating more he was starting to rebound. He and I probably jogged more than I ran in my first loop and he ended up hitting the 65 km mark 30 min before the cut off. I'd offered him some salt out on the course and he was only 100m behind the other guy now.

I handed off sweeping duties to Simpy who was going to do the last 15km on foot while his son rode along beside him on bike. I was nice to catch up with Mike earlier in the day and see him again as he and I hardly see each other anymore.

From there I headed back to Blue, handed in my radios and then stopped by Eddies for a quick beer and hello before heading home to see the family.

Definitely a fun day and something I'd do again. I loved having the radio the whole day as I could hear all the logistics associated with the race which kept it interesting for me as I moved along the course.

C • Fun Day 5

Road ride to the east of Kitchener. Tried to push the pace, ended up averaging 30 km/h which is good for me.

Easy job through the park.

Yoga in the park and lunch time.

A former co-worker invited me to ride with a new group called the "Sunrise Bike Club", the only downside of this was they started at 5:15 in the morning.

Since Kristen is away this week (Tuesday morning is normally her morning) I decided to join them this morning. Turns out it was just me and the guy whose house we met at. It was a good ride (although I'm sure I slowed him down a bit) and we really got along well chatting along the ride.

After talking with him helped me to realize that every active family is making sacrifices to find the time to train. The ride starts at 5 so that he's home in time for his wife to head out and run hills at 7. Helps me re-focus getting ready for BPMR and Grindstone in the fall.

C • Kristen away 3

Down the Grand River Trail and then along the single track on the Grand Valley Trail. A little over grown on the single track, but still a nice morning ride.

Riding the trails at the Hydro Cut.