Twin Peaks

Last Saturday (16th), I joined 4 other cyclists from the greater Vancouver area in a ride that is called among local roadies as the Twin Peaks. The ride is located in North Vancouver and consist of climbing Cypress and Seymour mountains, which are located on both side of the north shore:

As the ride was starting from Stanley Park, I rode from home to it as a way to get warmed-up for the ride, which bring my total odometer for the day to 153km (instead of riding back home, I rode to a Skytrain station to took a train back home). 

The ride is my longest one in time with just above 5 hours on the saddle. It was my first time climbing Seymour and my second time doing Cypress. IMHO, Seymour is a little harder than Cypress (Seymour climb is about 15km for an elevation of 955m, while Cypress is 11.17km long for 694m of elevation).

Thanks to my low weight-race, I was able to finish second on both climbs :) Since I don't do bunch ride much (if ever), I had some trouble staying with the group initially and dropped them a couple of time while riding up-front in aero position (I used my Kuota that day) :D

Nutrition wise, I carried my usual energy bites with 800ml of my energy drink. At the end of the ride all I had left was a single date (carried four for bonking emergency).

Running in Hawai'i!

We were on Oahu two weeks ago for vacation and since I couldn't bike, I decided to run more that I have been lately in order to maintain fitness. As, it get hot pretty quickly over there, I had to get-up and run around 5:30am ... which is early, but not that early for me, although I was on vacation. Oh well, maintaining fitness first, right?

We were staying in the Ko'Olina area (which have a bazillion fancy resort) which, while very nice (and fancy) doesn't really lend too well for running. Sure, there's a nice walk-way right in front of the resorts on which to run, but it's kinda short, so if you want to do anything longer than 5k, you either have to do that run several times or venture out onto the ... highway. I ended-up doing both.

In total, I ran 5 times during the week, finishing on our last day there by an 18km run, which I could have easily push to 21km. I regret not doing that as it will have been my first (unofficial) half-marathon in Hawai'i. Oh well, next time maybe?

Thursday long ride

In the last post, I was complaining about the weather being wet and cold ... but that was nothing in comparison to how wet yesterday ride was. Why ride you may ask? Well, once again I got fooled by the weather forecast which called for mostly sun ... The sun did came out, but too late for an early morning ride. Oh well ... Rule 5 & Rule 9 come to mind 8)

Just like Tuesday, I didn't have my homemade energy ball, so I took some dates and a single fruit&nut bar (Kind brand). I, however, didn't forget to make my energy drink ahead of time.

I wasn't particularly sore after the ride, not the following day. I guess my body is getting used to frequent endurance ride. 

Tuesday long ride

As you may recall, I alternate between Sunday and Monday when it comes to doing longer ride, but since the weather forecast for this past Monday wasn't looking too great, I pushed the ride to Tuesday as the forecast was better ... Except, it wasn't. It was colder and wetter than I had expected, and while there was no hard rain during the +3 hours I spent on my bicycle, it wasn't super fun. Still, managed to beat a few PR and my average speed wasn't too shabby:

For some reason, I was a little off that day and the previous night as well, and on top of not having prepared any energy balls, I totally forgot to prepare my energy drink the night before. As the result, I had to rely on 4 dates and an (store bought) energy bar, which I had half way. I had one date every 30 minutes after the first 45mn of the ride.

Planning on doing the exact same ride tomorrow morning, weather permitting ...

Cylco de Mayo!

Yesterday, I went for my longest ride in a long time, logging above 132km in less than 4.5 hours. I felt pretty good during and after, which, I suppose, means that my body have adjusted for endurance. I even had enough left-over energy to maintain speeds over 35kph in the last 30 minutes of the ride 8) I could have probably continue riding and score a century ride (miles), but it wasn't the plan ...

This was my second ride with my new Giro Air Attack helmet, which I really like. I can't really comment on the aerodynamic advantage compared to my older (and crappier) helmet, but it's definitely a better fit and a lot lighter. Not to mention, it look sleek :P

My feeding plan was the following:

• one home-made power ball every 30mn (starting at 45mn into the ride)
• two sip of my home-made energy drink every 30mn (starting at 45mn into the ride)

Pre-ride, I only had a single energy ball and a small sip of water after waking-up. Since this was going to be over 4 hours long, I wanted to minimize the chance that I would have to stop to urinate; it worked well.

Post-ride, my legs were not as sore as they have been in the past rides. Going up and down stair was a little painful, but they felt okay during this morning (Monday) commute ride to work (on which I got a puncture on my rear tyre). Stamina wise, I didn't feel utterly wasted for the rest of the day. However by the time I hit the sack (at 10PM), I was tired.

Coconut Apricot Energy Ballz!

For my long(er) ride yesterday, I decided to make my own energy bars using a recipe I had stumbled upon a few days ago from Read Food. Real Deals. Aside from the Apricots, we pretty much had everything already and the recipe is pretty easy to do, and vegan 8)

I tweaked a little bit the recipe, though, by reducing the amount of coconut shreds and adding 1/4 cup of chia seeds (which was too much). Also, I used oven-roasted almonds for a better taste.

Since the goal was to eat them while cycling, I used a 15ml measuring spoon to form small balls. It worked well, although maybe the balls ended up being a little too big. I may put some hemp seeds in the ball next time.

Ride wise, I was planning on another 100km ride, but the wind in greater Vancouver was so damn strong (and dangerously strong at time), that I had to settle for only 80km :-(

Vancouver Sun run 2013

So I ran the 2013 edition of the Vancouver Sun run this morning with an official time of 42:43 which turns out to be my best time ... so much for being injured and experiencing cold like symptoms for the past few days ... 8-)

The weather was a little iffy Saturday, so the forecast for the race were not too good, but we got lucky; It was a little windy and chilly, but for the race the sun was out and it wasn't as cold after-all.

The Sun run is a pretty popular race with every year close to 50 thousands runners racing it ... most of which are new runners which makes for a race full of people dodging actions, unless you can be early enough on site to line-up all the way at the front, behind the pros. In any case, it's a nice little run (for a marathon runner, everything is under 21k is little :P) within downtown Vancouver which is rather scenic.

Since I have been experiencing some hip/groin pains lately, I was a little concerned before the race, but it was fine and it's only the muscles above the back of my knees were a little sore by the end of what was, for me, a faster run than usual. Nutrition wise, I elected this time to skip breakfast (it's only a 10k!) and only had a glass of water and 4 dates before leaving the house 80 minutes or so before the race.