Training Log Archive: CheeseSteakIn the 7 days ending Oct 18, 2009:
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Sunday Oct 18, 2009 #
Road Running 1:00:00 [1]
shoes: Salomon XT Wings SLAB
Painfully sore this morning...cruised around lac Magog w/ my tour guides ML and DL - feeling the after-effects of the race (and post race party!).
Saturday Oct 17, 2009 #
Trail Runnning 1:56:00 [4] 21.0 km (5:31 / km) +1090m 4:23 / km
ahr:164 max:183 shoes: Salomon Speed Cross 2
XTRAIL Asics - Mt Orford
Felt a bit tired coming into the race from a long and busy week, but was optimistic I could still run well and feel good out there. Inside scoop was that Viktor Alexy was the man to beat...He won by 8min last year over one of our Flight Crew members. When he showed up on the start line with a baby blue low cut tri suit, (it was -1C) the light went on...and I was eager to take on the challenge. But today was not meant to be...
The course was a mix of typical XC terrain for the first 11km, and then steep uphill, highly technical climbing trail for the next 10km to the top of Mont Orford. The 'sentier des cretes', is the start of the technical hillclimb and is made of rock-ledge stairs that climbs up to the ridge. Once on the ridge, you pop in/out of the forest onto exposed rock outcroppings and you're basically hopping from boulder to boulder using all four limbs as points of contact - add some snow, ice and mud, and you've got yourself some good'ol times!
Back to the start...Alexy took off like a bat out of hell, and I was put in suffer-mode pretty quick. At 20min in (6 - 7k), I hit 180bpm's and popped...and then the suffer fest started! Pretty soon, 1 runner passed me (nothing I could do), then another (tried to stay w/ him...but no go)...so I cruised as smoothly as I could.
At 1hr in I was still in damage control...and then the uphill started. The stairs took giant leaps to get up them, and I was fully wishing I had my poles (Alexy had his...). My quads were burning...Oblivious to the competition, I just tried to keep a steady pace...
About a 1/3 of the way up, 2 more guys caught up to me...ugh (put me in 6th). I let them pass and hung on...The trail was quite hard to pick out as it was super twisty turny, so following was much easier. About 5min later, we crested onto the ridge and the course started going down one of the 3 'bumps' on route to the summit. The 2 guys slowed down to a crawl as they gingerly negotiated the rocky descent. I passed and never saw them again...
This section was super fun - hopping from boulder to boulder, out of control most of the time, using your palms to leap frog or balance over the bigger ones...it was a blast. All of a sudden I caught up to the 3rd place runner - these guys were having a hard time on this stuff! At the same time, I got a split saying I was 5min off Alexy...at least I was maintaining I thought.
The higher we got up, the more snow/ice mix started to show up on the trail - you really had to watch where you had to place your foot. A few drops later, and the 2nd place runner appeared in front! Back in 2nd place, I was feeling better about the day...until I got passed back - arrgggh. The 'kid' was a strong climber, and he quickly figured out that he was always gaining time on the climbs, so he hammered - I would catch up, then he would hammer again. Only problem was that it was an uphill finish!
And that's the way it stayed...the last pitch was a wide-open 'blue' run hillclimb, took about 5min of hand-pushing-on-knee climbing...(where are my poles???). I finished 3rd, 39sec back of 3rd, and about 8:30 behind the king of the mountains, Mr. Alexy.
Great race - I'm definitely looking forward to coming back for this one next year (and better prepared!).
Felt a bit tired coming into the race from a long and busy week, but was optimistic I could still run well and feel good out there. Inside scoop was that Viktor Alexy was the man to beat...He won by 8min last year over one of our Flight Crew members. When he showed up on the start line with a baby blue low cut tri suit, (it was -1C) the light went on...and I was eager to take on the challenge. But today was not meant to be...
The course was a mix of typical XC terrain for the first 11km, and then steep uphill, highly technical climbing trail for the next 10km to the top of Mont Orford. The 'sentier des cretes', is the start of the technical hillclimb and is made of rock-ledge stairs that climbs up to the ridge. Once on the ridge, you pop in/out of the forest onto exposed rock outcroppings and you're basically hopping from boulder to boulder using all four limbs as points of contact - add some snow, ice and mud, and you've got yourself some good'ol times!
Back to the start...Alexy took off like a bat out of hell, and I was put in suffer-mode pretty quick. At 20min in (6 - 7k), I hit 180bpm's and popped...and then the suffer fest started! Pretty soon, 1 runner passed me (nothing I could do), then another (tried to stay w/ him...but no go)...so I cruised as smoothly as I could.
At 1hr in I was still in damage control...and then the uphill started. The stairs took giant leaps to get up them, and I was fully wishing I had my poles (Alexy had his...). My quads were burning...Oblivious to the competition, I just tried to keep a steady pace...
About a 1/3 of the way up, 2 more guys caught up to me...ugh (put me in 6th). I let them pass and hung on...The trail was quite hard to pick out as it was super twisty turny, so following was much easier. About 5min later, we crested onto the ridge and the course started going down one of the 3 'bumps' on route to the summit. The 2 guys slowed down to a crawl as they gingerly negotiated the rocky descent. I passed and never saw them again...
This section was super fun - hopping from boulder to boulder, out of control most of the time, using your palms to leap frog or balance over the bigger ones...it was a blast. All of a sudden I caught up to the 3rd place runner - these guys were having a hard time on this stuff! At the same time, I got a split saying I was 5min off Alexy...at least I was maintaining I thought.
The higher we got up, the more snow/ice mix started to show up on the trail - you really had to watch where you had to place your foot. A few drops later, and the 2nd place runner appeared in front! Back in 2nd place, I was feeling better about the day...until I got passed back - arrgggh. The 'kid' was a strong climber, and he quickly figured out that he was always gaining time on the climbs, so he hammered - I would catch up, then he would hammer again. Only problem was that it was an uphill finish!
And that's the way it stayed...the last pitch was a wide-open 'blue' run hillclimb, took about 5min of hand-pushing-on-knee climbing...(where are my poles???). I finished 3rd, 39sec back of 3rd, and about 8:30 behind the king of the mountains, Mr. Alexy.
Great race - I'm definitely looking forward to coming back for this one next year (and better prepared!).
C • Wow! 2
Trail Runnning 30:00 [1]
shoes: Salomon Speed Cross 2
Easy warmup to get the kinks out.
Friday Oct 16, 2009 #
Note
(rest day)
Travel/Rest day-
Settled in some hotel outside Magog, QC...Hot shower, long stretch...Quads and upper back are pretty tender from yesterday's CF workout...but what the hell - I've felt worse. Really looking forward to tomorrow's 21km XTRAIL race in Mt Orford...I'll post on Twitter/FB ASAP after the race...
Settled in some hotel outside Magog, QC...Hot shower, long stretch...Quads and upper back are pretty tender from yesterday's CF workout...but what the hell - I've felt worse. Really looking forward to tomorrow's 21km XTRAIL race in Mt Orford...I'll post on Twitter/FB ASAP after the race...
Thursday Oct 15, 2009 #
Strength 30:00 [3]
Another round of Crossfit at AE...Did this one solo for a change...ugh - Didn't think that 65lbs would hurt my legs so much...Quads were tender by the evening. Great prep for XTRAIL on Sat...I'm an idiot.
5 times:
Hang Clean (15 reps) 65lbs
30 pushups
5 times:
Hang Clean (15 reps) 65lbs
30 pushups
Trail Runnning 1:30:00 [1]
shoes: Salomon XT Hawk
Easy run around Larch, and back via Silver Tip for warmup/down...
Wednesday Oct 14, 2009 #
Trail Runnning 45:00 [1]
shoes: Salomn XT Wings (1)
short run to test out my toe that I busted on my bench...quite a bit of pain, uncomfortable running, especially downhill, but not unbearable...hope it gets better before the weekend.
Trail Runnning 1:30:00 [1]
shoes: Salomn XT Wings (1)
Evening run on the bench, nice evening for a chill getaway after a day spent in the city. #R5 is black/blue...broken maybe? not sure, can't really walk normal, but never had a broken toe...Although I suppose it makes sense that if I can run...it's probably not broken.
Tuesday Oct 13, 2009 #
Trail Runnning 1:15:00 [1]
shoes: Salomon Speed Cross 2
Easy AM run, before going into the shi-ty...
Monday Oct 12, 2009 #
Trail Runnning 1:15:00 [1]
shoes: Salomon Speed Cross 2
Easy warmup/down for another episode of Crossfit w/ WG - in the home gym...pretty funny actually.
Strength 15:00 [3]
Crossfit: "Elizabeth"
21 - 15 - 9 reps of:
Clean (60lbs)
ring dips
Amazing how such a short workout can leave you wipped...ugh. Home for leftover turkey now...
21 - 15 - 9 reps of:
Clean (60lbs)
ring dips
Amazing how such a short workout can leave you wipped...ugh. Home for leftover turkey now...