This was one of those train­ing runs that the expe­ri­enced Knacker-ers look for­ward to with some trep­i­da­tion. Known as a “char­ac­ter builder” the train­ing run is a simple out-and-back from Grouse Moun­tain to the top of the Sey­mour Grind (or for the truly determined…Old Buck).  It is an exer­cise in patience, endurance, pacing, & nutri­tion. There are many ways to turn this run into an epic slog…go out too hard, eat too little, mis-manage your elec­trolytes, under­es­ti­mate the hills.

The park­ing lot at Grouse was full of now-familiar Knee Knacker hope­fuls — about 58 of them (us). Some had never done this one before, some had. Appar­ently ultra-runners have an issue with short-term memory loss. The order of the day was to figure out a pace that would allow one to return in the same time as it took to go out & the goal was to get in a qual­ity 4½ to 5 hour run.

Despite the threat of rain, the weather coop­er­ated. For the most part, the clouds never col­lapsed onto us & what little rain that did fall, was stopped by the forest canopy. Now that we’ve had a few train­ing runs together, it seems that people have fallen into famil­iar pace groups.

Per­son­ally, I didn’t manage my pace very well. The “out” por­tion went quite well, but the return found me hit­ting a wall. Appar­ently I wasn’t the only one. But as they say….misery loves com­pany. One of the won­der­ful tru­isms of ultras is the fact that as low as one feels, it will even­tu­ally pass…..of course, highs can pass as well. So it goes. Anyway, the climb up those inter­minable stairs out of Lynn head­wa­ters sucked the life out of my quads…in the group of 5 or 6, I wasn’t the only one complaining….though most of them man­aged to find an extra gear on the “flat­ter” sec­tion at the top. My ego took a bit of a beat­ing as I tried to gain some ground on some­one who had started at the base of the stairs at the same time. Now that we were on the flat sec­tion, she was still fairly close. The sound of deep breaths & jin­gling of a rattle and some baby-talk indi­cated that she was clos­ing in….yes, a mother with an infant in a back­pack was gain­ing on me. At least the trees weren’t pass­ing me….yet.

Even­tu­ally, I started to feel better….some water, some gels, a cool creek cross­ing, a down­hill….& I was back into a groove. Short term memory loss kicks in & I’m back in love with run­ning trails.

Many were already back at the park­ing lot when I got in. Many had man­aged their pace very well & weren’t worse for the wear. A bit muddy & sweaty, maybe. Some had turned around early, others opted for the whole hog (John!). Pat decided that it wasn’t enough & headed back up the BCMC to log some extra time …???!!!! (actu­ally, he is one of a few who are train­ing for an upcom­ing 100 miler this summer).

Each of you should get a hearty pat on the back for your train­ing achieve­ments so far! It really is quite a feat & one should not under­es­ti­mate the impact on one’s body. Remem­ber to rest a bit durng the week…your body is taking on a bit more than usual & recov­ery is just as impor­tant as activ­ity. A simple way to ensure that you are not over train­ing, is to take your pulse before you get out bed each morn­ing. You should see a con­sis­tent heart rate, or even a low­er­ing trend. If you notice a trend towards a higher heart rate, it could mean that you are over­tax­ing your system. Take a break!

As far as recov­er­ing & nutri­tion goes, make sure you are replen­ish­ing your reserves. Carbs are your fuel, but pro­tein helps rebuild worn & tired mus­cles. Don’t forget to take in some extra sodium…perhaps in the form of soy sauce, or better yet…. a bacon double cheeseburger!

Gotta go….I’m hungry.

Glenn Pace

Impor­tant notice!

Next week’s planned run may need a slight mod­i­fi­ca­tion.

We are still plan­ning to run from Cypress Moun­tain to Deep Cove & there­fore we will still plan to meet at Deep Cove at 7:30am in order to coor­di­nate the car pool.

Cur­rently, the park­ing lot at the Sky­line Trail on Cypress Moun­tain is closed for con­struc­tion. It may not be re-opened by Sunday. If it is not, we will con­tinue up the Cypress Moun­tain road to the Cross Coun­try park­ing area. From there we will run to the Ranger’s Cabin & follow the Baden Powell all the way to Deep Cove.

Over­all dis­tance & time should be the same.