This past weekend I had my Boulder Long Distance Camp # 3. Although the weather was not what I would call optimal. We certainly did the best we could and managed to have a great time and do some great training. The group was by far the most closely matched of all my camps this year. It was a good thing that I am a decent shape because the campers sure were. They were all in training for season ending Ironman or half Ironman races.
I like to start my camp with a swim followed by our long ride but Saturday the weather called for steady 20 MPH winds and gusts to 48 MPH. Better to ride Sunday was my thought. So we swam a good set and later that afternoon we did our long run. It was tough to run with all that wind, the wind was really nasty but we were all glad we were not riding. My calf has a small injury so I did not run with the campers but I followed with a mountain bike. I will tell you more on my calf later. We also had a couple of lectures on training and nutrition.
The forecast for Sunday was for some wind as the day progressed so we started out our long ride real early. We rode from Boulder to Johnstown which is about 43 miles away. It was a great ride. Some wind but definitely not bad at all. It was a bit chilly but the sun was shining and it helped quite a bit. The ride out to Johnstown was relatively flat with some small hills and it took us about 5:20. Some of the riders had to ride more so we went out and rode some more but this time we went climbing towards Jamestown. I know Johnstown and Jamestown. I should name this ride the John-James ride. This was a tough way to finish a long ride but the winds were getting tougher so the way to avoid wind here is to go up.
Between the long training we did go out to eat and I held lectures on training and nutrition. One of the great things about these camps is the information exchange between some of the athletes. As you know one of the most difficult things about our methods is slowing down because your heart rate is too high. But at every camp there are campers who struggle with this and campers who have improved and the heart rate training is not an issue anymore. This gives the campers a good feeling that the methods can work for them as well.
My long run this weekend was postponed to give my calf a little more rest. Last weekend, during my cold run; that’s right I said cold run. I had to run in the cold for my long run and my right calf tighten up after a fluids stop. I can still feel it here and there when I walk. I actually think this is related to my plantar issues I had. My plantar is almost 100% gone but it changed my stride a little so my calf did not like that. I just got a massage and I will do some ice massage of my own. I am hoping I can do my long run tomorrow or Wednesday.
So I was hoping to have my longest run over and done with but I am not there yet. The bike has gone fairly well. I do not feel fast but I have ridden a lot. I did my ‘knarly’ ride in Boulder with about 8000 feet of climbing and it went really well. I even ran 40 minutes afterwards. I trained for almost 9 hours that day including stops. I hated to work for that long when I had a regular job but had no problem training that long. Go figure! Wish me luck for my long run. I got to go ice it and get to sleep. Until next time.