Scott McMillan : Endurance Junky

Resolution time do it every year often break them here they are:

1. The classic lose weight I am at 170 now need to drop 10lbs.
2. Do more Epic mountain bike riding. Last year was good this year is the other level.
3. Finish the Test of Metal in sub 3:30. I think this is pretty doable my bike is much better and the course is faster and I am much better on the bike 30 minutes off will not come easy.
4. Climb 5.13… before Stoltz.
5. Climb the Grand Wall in Squamish (scary but if Stotlz can do it??)
6. Run a marathon or 50k trail race.
7. Do the West Coast trail now or never.

Racked up another fairly descent week of training, starting to “lean out” dropped 5 pounds in the last few weeks. The weekend rides are paying dividends. The training is not strenuous in any means more fun the way it should be right now.

Weeks training included 11:50 of riding.
1:20 of running and 4 hours of climbing. The bulk of the riding came from bike commuting with one solid XC ride Sunday on Mount Seymour with Joel did the same more or less the same route we did a few weeks prior with the addition of Ned’s which was fun and definitely sharpened up the skills.

Can’t wait for the long weekend looks like nice weather.

September has to go down in the books as one of my most epic months of riding. Every weekend has been filled with long XC riding at least 70km every weekend! Right now I am beyond enjoying the mountain bike and fear the dark months ahead when I will have to step away from the bike.

The last weekend of September ended with a hardcore ride up in Squamish with Joel. We decided to follow the Gear Jammer route with quite a few detours (always bring a map!). Turned out to be one of my best riding days ever the weather was amazing warm, sunny, and dry riding conditions. The course was awesome as well. I was somewhat familiar with quite a few of the trails but more used to riding them in the opposite direction (Rock n Roll, Bob McIntosh, Dead End Loop all much more enjoyable going down), I also experienced many trails I have never been on including Mikes Loop, Tracks from Hell, Ed’s By Pass, Skookum, Powersmart and Pseudo Tsunga. The highlights were Powersmart and Pseudo Tsunga which are great down hill single track rides.

My fitness and riding skills seemed to have grown by leaps and bounds in the last month something I guess to be expected from these big rides we have been doing (and the bike helps also ).

Lowdown from the ride:
Total Time: 5:30:41
Ave HR: 129
Distance: 56.54 km

The Course:

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On Saturday I rode the legendary Cheakamus Challenge arguably one of the tougher one day bike races in BC. This was my first real hardcore endurance competition in almost three years and my first mountain bike race since the 2004 Test of Metal, I pretty much swore of MTB racing after that, but after the last few months I have been riding a lot and really feel good on the trails so when Joel said he was doing it I said what the hell. The race went fairly well my goals were to finish in under 5 hours, not crash (I did but minor) and lastly finish comfortably. I met all those goals so was happy at the finish although cold. I was very impressed by my new bike no more XC hard tail but a nice All Mountain XC Norco Fluid 1.0 not the fastest racing machine but damn it is one fun bike and definitely is nice on the body.

For anyone into a true challenge on the mountain bike this is one hell of a race and truly deserves the “King of the Classics” designation, will definitely be doing it again next year with hopes of improving my time.

Great night of riding up on Burnaby Mountain with Joel. I really love this place great hill climbs with fun descents. This is my 8 straight day of riding and today I did over two hours of riding. Legs felt a little tired but I made the climb up with no fails.

Ave Hr 146 for 1:21:05

This my training loop from Burnaby Mountain great loop for XC mountain bikers or trail runners.

Elevation chart (it is a steep climb)

The loop:

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KML file

Started riding the mountain bike again, been doing 3 rides per week off road plus bike commuting feeling somewhat fit pedaling wise. No that I seem to have little time to “train” I use my time when I have it to train with a key on having fun. So that means a run is a trail run, rock climbing, mountain biking. No road runs, no long boring road rides just getting out there and enjoying life instead of worrying about tempo runs, intervals, long runs, long rides just dong activities that are fun and letting the fitness follow.

To make things interesting I am doing the Cheakamus Challenge not really strong enough of a rider or fit enough to set the world on fire in the race but it will be fun in a sick sort of way.

Here is an example of a training ride for the event, an early morning rip with Joel (my first ride on Mount Seymour in over 3 years) great fun challenging, interesting, fun not like “training”.

North Shore XC mountain bike training loop:

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Ave 134bpm/3:01:26 good endurance base training.

I haven’t raced much lately and to be honest I miss it. What do I miss? The suffering. Read two great articles related to this yesturday, re-enforced everything.

Welcome to the Cult By Robert Mackey and

Glory through Suffering

I think it is hardwired into us to feel pain and suffering. When we were on the plains chasing down a dear, woolly mammoth I am pretty sure we would have felt the burn. Today we have no real outlet for this unless we participate in hard sports more specifically endurance and endurance racing. We have not evolved, we are using the same hardware as ten thousand years ago just attempting to operate 21st century software.

Quote from LA:

“Cycling is so hard, the suffering is so intense, that it’s absolutely cleansing,” he wrote in his autobiography. “The pain is so deep and strong that a curtain descends over your brain. . . . Once, someone asked me what pleasure I took in riding for so long. ‘Pleasure?’ I said. ‘I don’t understand the question.’ I didn’t do it for pleasure. I did it for pain.” Armstrong mentioned suffering (favorably) in each of my conversations with him.

I think what I need right now is some suffering. Maybe I will TT the grind Saturday.

Bloggable. Back on the junk. Went for a killer XC ride on Saturday with Steve to help him prepare him for the upcoming epic XC race the Test of Metal. I did this race 4 years ago and swore to never do it again not because I didn’t like the course which I do (except for the Rip and Plunge which I hate) but because I am pretty much scared shitless riding with a few hundred dudes breathing down my neck.

Our ride was pretty casual, just over 5 hours of riding time (not including breaks to fuel, regroup, fix a flat etc) all and all a good day of riding. I think Steve will for sure have a PB. I am pretty sure if I did the race I could destroy my 4:00:09 (the course is faster now and I don’t think I would crash like last time) which does make me want to try again… maybe next year.

*Anyone who hasn’t been on the course this year should really check out the new Rock and Roll section which you can now ride up to! It is quite amazing a lot of work has been put in to it.

View the course on Google Maps or download the GPX and KML files:
(GPX) | (KML)

Haven’t posted in awhile I have been busy with work, taking a course, working on some side projects etc. My only real “endurance training” has come from riding to work. I have continued to hit the climbing gym a couple times a week and even managed to get out to Squamish with Chris last weekend which was an awesome experience, he is a great guy for taking me out since I am such a newbie and he is a seasoned climber. Chris even pushed me to do my first sport “lead” (trad gear was placed) which was nerve racking, I can’t really fathom placing gear right now.

I am still improving but not enough to hit my 5.11d goal but April, could be close though.

The Rock Junky?

Flickr Set

Brilliant video on the San hunting Kudu. This is what real “hunting” is not capping animals with high a high powered laser scoped rifle while sitting on a camp chair 800 meters away drinking Bud.

For those who find this interesting I highly recommend reading Why We Run by by Bernd Heinrich he discusses other tribes who practiced this method.

This was scooped from Scott Dunlap’s blog.