Epic Camp Day 6- A Storm's A Brewin!

This photo is way better when you take me out of it. But the one with me not makes you think it isn't real....

Spell Check is not working so I appologize for looking like I didn't pass 4th grade.

For the last year waking up has been a very "stressful" time of day for me. It ussually starts with me wigling my toes and moving my left ankle around. If I flex and rotate my foot and feel pain in my heel it is never a good sign. If I don't feel that I then have to give it a test on the ground. Of course I spend a good five miniutes massaging the foot and calve. I would say that one out of seven days I feel pain in my heel when I get up. I'm on the right track and have grown accustomed to my AM ritual. Today I had one more to deal with becasue of my knee.

I had decided that the knee was no big deal but it could still possibly cost me another day in the van. So as I got up I noticed I could still feel it but it wasn't nearly as bad as it was the day before. When something goes away by a large percentage in one day you can almost always rest assure that it is minor. I was happy with that and decided that I would give the ride a go. I knew I may have to get a ride up the Crown Range but I could just get back on the bike after I got over.

We had a swim to take care of first and the option was to either go to the pool or hit the lake with Gordo. Sitting there eating breakfast I decided to go to the lake. I'm not sure why I did that becasue we were all chatting about how bad the wind was today and the fact that a storm was clearly on it's way towards us. The lake would be a mess of waves no doubt.

When we got to the lake it was just as I predicted. Cold, windy and big chop. I had my sleveless Blue Seventy with me and was sooo not in the mood to be cold. I was already cold standing there in my wetsuit. When I got to the water it seemed pretty damn cold and I just watched everyone get in. I just stood there. Gordo had taken the van key with him in the water so if I got in and then wanted to get out early I would REALLY be cold. Most of the time I can bring myself to get in and just deal but this camp was proving a challenge to do certain things.

So I got out, put on Mikes jacket and finally got the quiet time I was looking for. It was time needed to clear my head on many issues going on outside the triathlon world. It was very ironic that when I first sat down the lake was dark and gloomy but by the time people were getting out of the water it was graced by a giant rainbow. That was a similar pattern that my mind took.

After the swim we all went on a run. I was game to give it a try but I had to walk and stretch alot as I could feel the knee. So I just turned it around and got back to the van and waited for the rest. I was still set on riding.

Once we were back and ready to get on the bikes we could see the storm getting closer. The ride went out nice and slow but by the time we got out of town I couldn't stay with the group. It seemed that I was fine but I had to ride at a very high cadence and couldn't go fast. I was okay with getting dropped and just happy to be riding. I couldn't stand up on the bike either but it seemed that it was warming up as I went on even thought the temp kept droping.

When I got to the climb I looked back to see where the sag waggon was. The entire time I thought that it was right behind me but I never looked back becasue I didn't want the temptation to stop. I did have a few moments of irritation when I was going realy slow and wanted to tell them to just leave me and go with the group. To my surprise it wasn't even there LOL! I'm glad it wasn't becasue it forced me to keep going.

The climb wasn't as bad as I thought. I could stay seated for the most part and actually caught up to a few of the other guys. It was so close to starting a massive down pour on us. I wanted so bad to make it down the other side before that started. I did just that and only had to deal with minor rain on the decent. My hands were completely locked up from all the braking! It is a very windy decent.

Once at the base the rest of the group was there pretty much frozen. I passed Rob Chance on the decent and he had NO warm gear on. I was frozen in a jacket. I think he was about delerious! Quite a few of the guys got in the van for the rest of the ride. My knee didn't get any worse so I figured I would do the rest of the ride. Tara and Albert were getting ready to take off so I got some dry clothes out of my day bag and took off with them. Little did we know what we were in for.

Twenty min into the rest of the ride we got hit with massive cross winds and rain. The temperature was also being influenced from the south so it dropped a good 15-20 degrees on us. It confirmed that I am certainly not soft because I was having a blast. I have ridden in most types of extreme weather and always feel good about getting through it. I guess I just have a very low tollerance for injuries.

Albert and Tara and I stayed together as there were sections that were actually a bit dangerous. When we crossed bridges the cross wind was extra strong. Luckily we had a great crew that was watching us all very closely making sure nothing bad happend. At one point a bird was flying and the wind actually slamed it into the road. Tara saw it and we both had a good laugh about that later in the day. "It" wasn't funny, but the fact that we riding in weather that bad kinda was.

We came up on Molina who got a flat. Now that is a shitty time to get a flat. He was fine so we just left the old guy out there LOL. We wouldn't have been able to help anyway as our hands were frozen.

We made it to Q Town and the crew had some awesome soup wating for us with all our bags already sorted in the rooms. They are so freaking good! I took a 30 min shower and felt so good that I was back on track. However, I missed my swim in the AM so as son as I got out of the shower I got my bag and walked to the pool that was luckily only 5 min away. I put in 4K and that was iceing on the cake for my day.

Later that night I went into town and got some dinner by myself. Again, needed some more BDC time. Then I hooked up with Ron and John and we decided to take the Gondola up to the top of the mountain. One of the best views you could ever ask for!

cheers,
bdc

Epic Camp - Day 5 "Never Get In The Van"

Never say "never". I woke up knowing we had a really decent day ahead of us. We were riding from Wanaka to the "hard" side of the Crown Range just outside of Queenstown and going to do a TT up it. The ride to the Range is pretty decent as I did this ride the other direction last year. To TT up the Range would prove to be a challenge given what everyone has done thus far.

Me, well I was in a pisser of a mood. My knee was bugging and my new rule is that if you feel pain STOP! I know that there are times when you need to push through pain but I have been an athlete in the running world long enough to know the differnce between "suck it up" pain and "don't be a fool" pain. Most pain at this early stage of the year would fall under the latter. Why? Because I don't have an IM until June and there is no reason to suck it up.

The big problem with me is that I still see a reason to "suck it up". Who wants to miss a day like this on Epic!? I had been looking forward to the climb up the Crown since last year when Newsom and Gordo decided to put it on the books. But as it seemed now, that would not be happening.

I walked around our kitchen living space trying my best not to be outwordly pissy. It was hard becasue so many things were going through my head. Not just the idea that I probably wasn't going to be able to do this ride but more along the lines of WHY THE FUCK DO I KEEP GETTING INJURIES! I still have to baby my left foot a year later.

Gordo gave me the idea to just ride the first bit to Cromwell and see if things warmed up. I was fine with that but had the internal strugle of wanting to make a clean decision and just stick to it. I didn't want to try and then get in the van. I either wanted to ride or not ride. Bottom line.

But I choose to give it a try and ended up getting in the van within several miles from the start. In the end, getting in the van wasn't actually as bad as I thought. Of course I had all the stupid shit going on in my head about what other campers might think. Does this make me soft? Is this knee thing going to be on going? Now I have to be out on the damn ride course all day when I could have been back at the lodge doing something else like a swim, etc etc etc.....I had a nice moment of PURE NEGATIVITY. It was probably the most negative I have EVER been. My head was even planing a rental car back to CHC so I could pack it up, fly home, screw triathlon and become a slave to some job I would hate by the end of the week. WOW! Where the hell did all that come from? Well, I think after a year of injury you get a little sensitive to say the least.

When I got in the van Chris was driving and I stayed quiet at first. He is a great guy and after a bit of conversation I began to realize the major swing that my head had just gone through. I began to see the light and decided that I was doing the best thing for me. "So what if you miss a day on the camp?" I told myself. It is better than missing a season. I was still a little irritated that I was now stuck in a van for most of the day but I got over that when I realized that I could be the photo guy for a while and stick my head out and take pictures of the other campers. I also decided that I would run the TT (not physically- I mean manage) up the Crown Range.

The guys looked pretty good on the early bits of the ride. Being in the van you don't realize how fast or slow the group is going but you certainly see which riders haven been beaten down a bit by the camp. It seemed that a few like Albert and Newsom were playing it easy and saving up for the TT.

Once we made it to the base of the climb everyone re-grouped and I would then send them off in 30 second intervals. The climb was no joke. I knew what they were in for and had shifted to a better mood which made me really eager to watch how it went down. For the most part the order was slowest to fastest (as best they could decide). Bevan was last to go and would shread through the field. However, John Drewery had gone about 3rd and was the only person that Bevan did not catch. John was the first camper to the top and had an awesome ride. Good on him! I mean, Bevan still killed him....but good on him!

After the TT we drove the van back to the lodge ahead of the riders and got there well before they did. I decided that I would give a run a try. The knee only seemed to bug me on the down stroke of the bike. At this point I wasn't concerned about it becasue I had time to reflect on what I actually did the last three days. No doubt it was quad overload and a tiny bit of time off would be all that it takes.

My run was okay. Just a 40 min easy jog. I was entertained as the riders came back in becasue Johno thought he was being slick and tacking on but then Albert rolls along right behind him to tack on too. The two of them were doing 5K loops LOL! JOHNO- DON'T BEAT THE SPONSOR LOL! I can't belive that was me last year doing all that tack on shit. I got tired watching them and had to walk a bit haha.

The goal now was to stretch, get some massage and a good night sleep so I could make the ride to Queenstown the next day. We would ride the other side of the Crown Range and then direct to Q Town. Not a super long ride but the climb might be dodgy for me. I really did not want another day in the van!

SIDE NOTE-

One thing that really helped me on this camp came a few days later when Molina and I were having a chat in the "oh so nice" hot tub. We were sitting there with John Drewry shooting the shit about running days that seem like another life already. The convo took a turn toward injury and Molina shared a bit about the mental strugle he had when he was injured with Plantar Fasc. It was just nice to hear someone like him admit that it what a SHIT time for him. Three years of it! You would never think that Molina had a rough time with anything. I guess what I am saying is that it made me feel somewhat normal that I have such feelings of frustration and that it is common for the head to do a 180 on you. But the conversation ultimatley helped me find new ways for me to stay positive when the body breaks down. Hopefully that will be less and less this year.

In the end you are training your own body and you need to take responsibilty for knowing what it can and cannot do. If you continue to compare your training to how others go about it and never learn from your own journey you will constanly be going against yourself! When I look back at my mental state in the van it was simply my ego having a major tantrum. Lets just say that I gave my ego a pretty bit "time out" for the outburst.

P.S- Tara is still SCHOOLING the boys on this camp. DANG!

Epic Camp Day 4- Was that really only 10K?

This is a picture from Wanaka. We rode back into Trebble Cone and this is the view on the way back. IF you look close you can see Mark P cresting the hill.

EPIC CAMP DAY 4.


Okay I am not going to lie. I am tired. We have been smacking it pretty hard for the last 3 days and I am happy to say that a "rest" day has arrived. For our "rest" day we are getting up early to do a 4.5K lake swim race and then a 10K run race with a time prediction component.


When we all got down to the lake for the swim I was kinda dreading it a bit becasue of how tired I was and how shitty the swim part of the Aquathon was for me. But alas I look at the bright side and am thankful that the lake is like galss right now and the mountains surounding us are holding back any bad weather. Really though, how bad can it be? In Wanaka to do an open water lake swim with a great group? Life ain't that bad.


The swim took off and of course the big fish in the group took off. I wasn't going to go out that hard but normally I would at least try and stay on G's feet for as long as I can. His feet are not really "reality" for me right now especially since he is trying to be on Molinas feet LOL. BUt normally I like to give it a try.


I did most of the swim on my own leading Tobby around. It was two loops and I had him pull for a wee bit but you know my massive strength and impeckable swim form just made going that slow speed too boring so I had to pass him up LOL...Kidding of course! We had a nice little kick for the last 300 or so. He is a great guy and always makes open water swiming more fun for me. There wasn't anyone real close behind us.


After that we trucked back towards the lodge and got out of the vans on a road that we measured out a 10K run course. It would be a two loop out and back. The fun part was that it was a race but it was alos a point challenge to try and guess your time. No watches for the race obviously. I predicted 41:11. That would be pretty slow for me under normal conditions but I figured i would try and run 4 min K's and then when you add in the fatigue of that last 3 days I woudl be a bit slow. I am pretty good at these guess your time things. The first year I was 1 second off my guess of a 1/2 marathon time.


The race starts and I am NAKERED! My quads hurt so bad that I was actually wondering how I would get through a 10K run! I figured that I would be way off my time but tried to keep the shuffle pace I was going. Bevan was pulling out all the tricks and took it out and ran himself into second place overall. I wanted to try and run fast so bad but it went against my "stay injury free" moto and probably wouldn't have been there anyway..


AS I got close to the finish I really thought it was going to be slow but turned out that I was only 16 seconds off my predicted time. I totally forgot that all my race runs end in a kick and I didn't do that. Maybe that would have hit it on the head? Anyway, I was glad it was over. My quads were DONE.


Later we rode out to Trebble Cone which is a really nice 60K ride and has some pretty amazing sights. I will get some phots up when I get back to CHC. Mark P and I gave "riding easy" a new definition. I was starting to get a bit of a sore spot in my knee so I spun as slow as I could. I felt the mental cloud that goes into my head when something starts to hurt physically arrive. My ability to remain calm when I begin to feel pain like that is almost zero. I have spent so much time being injured that psychologically I really can't handle anyting major happen again.


When we got back into town from the ride Gordo, Bevan, Mark and I went and got some tasyt hamburgers. I think Bevan and Mark had about 5 cokes each! Even I can't do that. the spin back to the lodge was pretty hard with all that food in our stomacks. We ordered way too many fries as well and I was on the verge of barfing. The ride back confirmed that my knee was getting sore. We were do for a big ride the next day and normally I would just take some time down to let it heal up but in this environment it was making me extra pissy. I can only keep those feelings to myslef for so long and then when that period is over you will definantly know what is up if you are around me.


I just went back and chilled out by myself. I needed a good night sleep and thought that if I got a good rest the knee my feel better in the AM. Who know's? Anything is possible.


Again- No spell check.

Epic Camp Day 3- Wana get to Wanaka.

I think we had about 10K to go. This is how we felt due to the wind....

Epic Camp day 3.


The plan was to get out of my bed that overlooked the lake up in Tekapo to go on a 50 min run. I slept through that! I had taken a small sleeping pill the night before to ensure that I would get some and well, it did the trick. When I finally got up to get ready for another big day of riding I was pretty groggy to say the least.


We rolled out on a side road that paralleled a man made river. It was nice becasue it was flat with some tail wind and their were no cars at all. We stayed as a group for the most part so I could suck wheel for a good while until I woke up.


Apparantly I did wake up becasue at some point I ended up on the front and things began to feel good. I decided I would stay on the front for a while and go for first to lunch again! They give double points for doing that. Oh wait, no they don't. It was nice becasue I found a pretty steady grooze and just rode right along. We were riding two abreast so I got to have new company often.


After lunch we were going to be going into the hills which I knew that I wouldn't do that well in. Mark P and I pulled again and pushed a decent pace to the base of the climb. Not as many went with so we were actually in the race to the top at that pouint. Of course Bevan pounded it and won the climb. Gordo climbed better than I have ever seen him. Mark and I were simply there to try and displace points between the guys going for it so as we climbed we kept looking back becasue we knew that Molina was behind us and that he would be launching his attack on us at some point.


Looks like Molina called the troops a tad too late as Mark and I mangaed to keep our lead on him by a matter of seconds. But he must have been motoring up beacasue he was a ways back at the start.


The decent is where the crazy shit began. We hammered the next bits with Mark P of course pushing the pace trading of with Molina and myself as much as we could. that bridged us back up to Beavan and Gordo. Newsom dropped of at some point. The four of us rode very hard until the aid station. Bevan kept attacking and Mark and I were on some kind of mission from god. It was great! That is the kind of riding that I live for. You just get smashed to bits and go forever!


We hit the last aid station and I pretty much said "screw this, lets get there" and got to the front and motored along for most of the way back. I did just want to get there....There was pretty far away LOL. But when we did we had to walk up a big dirt hill to get to the lodge. Being so tired we decided that John Newsomw was voted off the island. But actually the accom turned out to be really cool and was a perfect choice for the camp.


Later that day (there wasn't much left of it) we went to town for an Aqua-thon (swim run). I have never swam so freaking slow in my life! I was laughing duringit becasue I thought I was going to get to experience what it feels like to come out of the water dead last. But as I came out I turned around and saw Bevan and Tobby among others LOL. How the hell anyone swam slower than I did is a mystery to me. Serioulsy!


I just cruised the run at my slow trainng pace and stopped in the bathroom a few times as my stomach is gooooone! Any progress I made on the gas issues is OVER! I fell bad for the rest of the campers.


Anyway, that is the update from the road. Maybe I will be able to be a litle more entertaining in the write up next time. I'm too tired to be witty or spell check so you will have to deal with all my spellinmg erers.


bdc

Epic Camp DAY 2

Epic Camp Day 2 (Okay it is really day 4 and I need to catch up)


I am not sure how people are doing it but the lodge looks like a college library with 15 page papers due in the AM. I have about enough energy to walk to the kitchen, get some snacks that I shouldn't be eating and then walk back to my couch for a nap. This is assuming that I am not on my bike, on a run or in the pool....


So anyway I kindly gave away the Yellow Jersey to Mr. Molina on day 2. I was able to wear it for day 1 since I finished second last year to Mike Montgomery and he didn't come to the camp this year because he is still sitting on a couch recovering from last year! As I reflect on day 2 on day 4 I feel very happy with my decision to be sane this year. Although watching all the campers that are seeing yellow right now makes me very very sleepy.


At the start of day 2 we were up early as usual and headed off to the pool. It was a 2,600 warm up and then the dreaded 400 IM. I was soooo not looking forward to that because under normal circumstances I would go home and take a nap after but today we were going to ride 240K and then run. My strategy for the 400 IM was to use the LEAST amount of energy as possible. I think it took me over 10 min to do LOL! Mine was no where as fun to watch as Paul Westwood. Not only was his fly the most entertaining thing I have ever seen but he backed the performance up with an even more entertaining breast stroke! Alas we all got it done and got back to get ready for our ride.


We stayed together as a group for the first two hours with Clive powering us through. It took me about 2 hours to fully wake up. Somehow I did wake up and the fun began. Mark P and I realized that since we were both not going for points that we could be the fukwits of the camp and ride harder during sections that didn't count and see who we could get to blow a bit of their wad before a climb or what not.


Initially Albert "got bored" and started riding a bit off the front. At this point we had all separated a bit and it was Beaven, Molina, Gordo, Mark, Clive and myself being towed along by Albert. Albert does this you see. He doesn't say anything and just decides that he's hungry or something and wants to get to lunch faster.


That situation of course stirs Mark up. I knew exactly what was going to happen and was simply just waiting for it. Mark takes off and I jump on his wheel. We trade off a bit and see that Molina and Bevan are trying to get on with G right back off them. clive cramped or something and Albert....well, Albert has a brain.


Mark gives the word to try and drop them and we start smacking it with 30 second pulls. We are clearly going for the "first to lunch points" which don't exist but you get the best pick of the grub :-) we did drop them but then got foiled with a one way bridge. That sucked because Bevan and molina timed it right and rode right past us we were at a stand still. Gordo, of course, was able to jump on the back of a truck and bridge back up.....It was a hammer fest but it was good for me because it sparked my interest in this whole thing again. This is the shit I like about these camps. And now that Mark and I have teamed up a bit, we have our own game to play.


After lunch we had a bunch of climbing to do. I knew that I wouldn't be easy for me as my climbing legs are somewhere in never land. I held my own though in the bits before the hills. We smacked it again until the next aide station but I got dropped in the hills. Charlsey and I ended up riding into the aide station together. The front group that smacked the climbing went off for the rest of the ride and I decided to hang a bit longer and wait for Mark that apparently BLEW BIG TIME in the hills. He actually ended up at a gas station 100 meters away from the aide station buying coke and water LOL....I guess he just couldn't make it.


We rolled easy with some of the other guys and started to get the next 90K done. Little did any of us know that it would be the HARDEST 90K of our lives due to heat, hills and wind. When we got out of the hills we were hit with the most intense wind I have ever ridden in. It was bad going up but just went to a level I have never seen on the flat. Elliot and I were rididng together as the 3 guys we had on the wheel dropped off. It took Elliot and I about 10 years to cross this one section of flat. I have never been so desperate in my entire life!


Finishing that ride was very good for my mind. It was the hardest ride I have EVER done and got me back into the groove of loving this shit. I was going to run for 15 min off the bike but when I got into tekapo I just said "I think I will take a shower instead". I have to remember that even though the plan is to run as frequently as possible I do have to understand that I haven't seen how the foot responds to this kind of riding with the minimal running. I would be able to get my run in for the Aquathon at the end of the next day.....

I took a sleeping pill that night and retreated back to the room for some quiet time. When you are in the wind like that all day smacking it for hours on end quiet time is essential.


Everything seems good on the camp so far. Maybe tomorrow I will have the energy to catch up on the last two days as they have been pretty massive.


For more hit up www.ironmantalk.com or www.epiccamp.com

cheers,
bdc