I know everyone is itching
to know about how the McCarthy Cup looks to be shaping up for this coming
season. Especially given that we live together now, in Vancouver.
Well, we have been doing quite a bit of training together - in particular
the interval workouts, which gives us a good sense of who’s going
well. And I hate to say that, after today’s effort and if I
was a betting man, I might put the odds on Ed for this season.
We’ve done 5 intensity workouts
together since we got to BC, I think. The first one was short
1:30 intervals on skate rollerskis, soon after we arrived. I was
going well that day and had gaps on Ed – but they weren’t the hardest
intervals, and I think my quiker acceleration was a big advantage.
Then we did super-long classic rollerski uphill intervals on Cypress
Mountain Road. I was ahead of Ed on those, but my skis are a lot
faster – they weren’t max intervals, but solid threshold ones. Then
we did a set of skate rollerski intervals in the evening, and I had
the jump on Ed again. But then we started doing ski-striding intervals
– and in my opinion, these are a better judge of aerobic capacity.
Last week, we did 5-minute intervals up an endless trail on the North
Shore. It was tough, and Ed had pretty good leads on me.
Today, though. Today we did super-tough, painful, put-it-all-out-there-and-hurt, max HR ski-striding intervals. We did it on a hill I used to use as a bit of a test hill. It’s a 2-minute hill, and that was how long we wanted to go for. It’s called Homestead Trail. The section we did kicks up really steep almost right away, and stays steep for about 100 metres. Just enough to go too hard, and pick up lots of lactic acid. Then the hill settles into a medium-steepness hill that is great for skistriding, for about 200 metres. Then a really short flat for a few strides, then a gradual uphill to finish the last 100 metres. Anyway, it’s a tough hill.
And, I got a serious schmucking.
The first one we decided to ‘start easier’ – which meant we probably
went at a reasonable hard pace up the first hill. We finished
together, at 1:57, which I believe is faster than any time up there
3 years ago, for me. The second one was down at 1:54 for me, 1:53
for Ed. But I was maxed out, holding on by a thread, and hurting,
HR at 192. The third one, I was spent, and went backwards to a
2:03 finish – a sure sign to stop, and a 190 heartrate. Ed ran
another 1:53. The fourth one I shouldn’t even have done, but
only doing 3 seems wussy. So I pulled off a 2:16, heartrate up
to only 185. It was slow and I was dead. Ed did a 1:57 –
not bad. Then Ed did a fifth one in 2:00 flat – again, not bad,
reasonably consistent. I did NOT do a fifth one.
It was a good session, but it reminded me that he’s in better aerobic shape than me. I’ll have to rely on superior strength and technical differences if I’m to have a chance. Should be an interesting Cup chase.Stay tuned….
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