After making our way up to Summerland, we then went inland until we were in the mountains. The area was extremely dry: only pine trees and grass seemed to grow. Dust and sand was the predominating feature on the ground.
After we got out of the car and my sister assembled her bike, we were off. The intent was to cover 20k, and I was of the mindset that the trail was going to be heavily-travelled, and similar to that of the Elk-Beaver Lake Trail.
Well, it didn't take me any time at all to figure out that this was no walk in the park. The ground was extremely soft, and for the most part was like running in 4-6 inches of sand. It felt very similar to some of my beach run adventures. Needless to say, this was going to be way harder than I thought.
My idea of having a support biker with me was also out of the picture. My sister was behind me considerably, and I figured she was saving her energy for some interval work that may lie ahead. I would soon find out that she was struggling worse than me, and she had by this point crashed twice.
At the 6k mark, my sister had now caught up, and the trail showed minor signs of improvement. We were travelling through Trout Creek Canyon, and it was a slow uphill the way out. At about this time, I decided that my 20k run would be a 16k run, by doing a 8k out-and-back.
The second half was much easier, now going downhill slightly. The heat was still an issue, but I stuck to the shade wherever possible.
Upon return, it was a 1:20 sand training run.
Afterward, I looked at this run in a positive way and chalk up two things for experience.
1. Provided you have great family support (and I do), being on vacation does not mean you have to stop training. You can train
anywhere.
1 comment:
Hey Jeff,
Rob Mackay from Victoria here. You should come out and run some ultras - sounds like you would have some talent for the distance. Are you planning to run any this year? Cheers, Rob
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