All Systems Are Go!

Sunday topped off a really good and strong training week along with culminating in my longest training regime before the Challenge. I had great run times and strength workouts and felt in the groove throught all my training routines. Run times on the flats were down to near 7:30 miles and even the weight training was hitting bigger weights with more ease. No doubt I'm reaching peak.

This Sunday I put in a full-on preview of the Challenge to come: a 20 mile run from Del Valle to Sunol followed by road bike ride back to Del Valle (32 miles).

Last week's lessons learned on climbing up out of the incredibly deep canyons between Del Valle and Rose Peak paid off. I added 15 minutes to the climb time by reducing the intensity, but made up for it by having a lot more gas on the flats, smaller climbs and descents. I felt really good all the way through the run. I even learned that a little Turkey Jerky (in prepping for the next portion of the routine) actually went down well and helped replenish the fuel fairly effectively and enjoyably.

I do have to say though that the long East to West from Del Valle to Sunol descent sucks compared to the longer climb/shorter descent of the West to East route --its tough on the quads and knees. I think I prefer the latter. I reached Sunol in 3:56 after 20 miles--almost exactly to the minute as projected.

"The Veep" was joining up with me with our bikes to ride back to Del Valle. Unfortunately due to my miscommunication he was at the south instead of the north end of the park so I added on another 3/4 mile run to get to our hook up. A quick change into riding togs and we were off.

The ride back was for the most part rather flat and a moderate pace was the agreed upon order of the day (we wound up averaging a comfortable and easy 16mph). The Veep and I took turns pulling each other but damned if that wind wasn't in our faces nearly the whole way REGARDLESS of the direction we took. Fueling and hydrating went pretty well and I felt strong enough to reel in a couple of riders on some climbs and flats (my type A in action). But the big hill from Mines Road to the top of the park road into Del Valle loomed large in my mind. It's a big climb from bottom to top over about 2 miles and is a regular training ride for many Tri-Valley cyclists. But, 5 1/2 hours into the routine, with only a half hour to go, I could feel the cummulative impact of exercise on dehydration and hunger setting in. So I downed as much water as possible and threw down my last power bar and bit of turkey jerkey in hopes that it would keep my pump primed.

A mile from the hill, I forewarned The Veep that from here on it was everyman for himself and that I was going to go "down within" and focus on nothing but cadence and endurance for the next few miles. The climb did not disappoint my anxiety. It was a gruelling finale to the run/ride. For nearly two miles the hill is unrelenting in its grade--steep. I alternated between grinding it out in 1st gear in the saddle and popping up to 3rd and going out of the saddle. I'm sure I was well into the 170bpm range but carried the hill at an average of 7mph to the much welcomed top. But of course, there was a head wind much of the climb as the approaching front brought in some brisk winds out of the south east. It even knocked 10mph off the descent speed!

Just 6 hours later--4 hours of running and 2 hours of riding-- I was done. To cap it off, I was denied a nap that afternoon in punishment, I'm sure, for being a bit tardy on my return. Still even today I feel pretty good and only a little sore in the knees and quads from the run.