Another beautiful and warm spring day greeted 40 runners last Saturday for our second Knee Knacker training run. Peak Nutrition donated 10 more e-Load samplers to the training run, which I handed out at random. e-Load is an electrolyte and carbohydrate powder that you mix with water for prolonged training and racing sessions. The Knee Knacker is the best training ground for this stuff. Adidas donated a couple of water bottles that went out to a few hard core runners who ran the Vancouver Marathon the week before.
The proposed route today would take us from the base of Grouse Mountain towards Mountain Highway via the Baden Powell to the access road up Grouse Mountain (a.k.a. Old Mountain Hwy). This gravel road is a well graded and about 13 km. long from the BP to the top. The road switchbacks a number of times with only one or two sections that are flat to provide some relief from the climb. In terms of time the run was relatively short with most people taking 2-2.5 hours from the start to the skyride, but the effort required was pretty high! It was difficult to maintain a low heart rate and keep running at the same time.
There were a lot of comments about the run ranging from 'awesome' to 'geez will this hill ever end?' but all in all a good workout. A few runners followed back down the road and took some side trails down to the BP to extend their run, or maybe was it just to save $5 by not taking tram down!
Just a gentle reminder to newbies, please remember to run these runs as if you were going to run all day long, bring lots of food and water. It's better to have some left and finish refreshed than to suffer and prolong your recovery. Hmmm now if only I would listen to my own advice.
Next week: Meet at Grouse for the Grouse to Lynn return, with optional Lynn Peak climb. Lynn Peak is about as steep and long as the 'grind' but not as well manicured or as popular.
Happy Trails.