Thanksgiving Sunday, 2000. I was a member of the Thunder Bay National Team
Development Centre and we were embarking on a long classic rollerski up on
the highway to Armstrong. We began at the intersection with Highway 17 and
were to head north until the coach decided we were done (he was driving a
van with extra food and water while we rollerskied). I expected it to be
around 3.5 hours on a crisp and sunny fall morning.
As we began, I realised that I had the slowest rollerskis of any of the men
but also that the others were not properly focussed on good technique and
proper intensity. Having a heart rate monitor, I decided to ski at my proper
intensity after the first hour and proceeded to open a sizeable gap on the
other two men, while keeping my heart rates in zone 1 (below 150). Then at
around the 3 hour mark, they caught back up to me near a gas station, and we
skied together for around 15 minutes. At the 3.5 hour point, coach came by,
I filled my water bottle and he said we had about 1.25 hours left. This was
a bit of a shock since I thought I was done or close to. We kept going and I
got dropped by Brady and John, but was still moving.
After 4 hours, I was getting tired and began to notice my heart rates were
quite a bit higher than earlier. After 4.25 hours I began to occassionally
stop to let my heart rates return to normal and was quite tired. At the 4.5
hour point, I stopped and sat at the side of the road waiting for the van.
After 5 minutes, I started going again and 2 minutes later it came and
pulled me over. I was done after 60km into a headwind. We then drove up
ahead and picked up Brady and John after rollerskiing 69km that day.
Overall, it was a long fatiguing day in which I suffered from not knowing
either where or how long I was going to. I also should have eaten during the
workout and not insisted on forcing the pace. Lessons learned for the
future.
Interesting Reading. . .
"OWL Rafting - The Mighty Ottawa River"