Epic Camp Canada 2014 Day 8

Epic camp Canada 2014 Day 8
August 26

Jasper  recovery day (only swim events day+ = 3km or more, 2+ hour trails run, 60km ride)
Could be called a "Molina recovery Day" back in the day.

6am in the pool for 500m w/up before the swim events.
We do this as another challenge.  That's all.
Epic Camp is about taking people way outside their comfort zone so they realize its not that big a deal to suffer doing something they don't normally do. No one dies!  And we all need to re-enforce the idea that we become better athletes by over-coming challenge.
Today the events were Epic staples - 400m IM (The "Dolan"), 200m kick with a kick board and 50m sprint.  This year we decided to not do any dive starts as we don't exactly have a group of campers who were ex-swimmers!  Monica Caplan (Byrn) who did a couple of Epic Camps  will be very disappointed to see some of the swim times.
 We certainly had a lot of laughs as always.
My own swims were Epic worsts without a doubt.  After a massive year of swimming to get ready for the ITU Oly Distance World Champs in Auckland in 2012 I lost my swim mojo in a big way and only in the last month prior to this camp have I been able to get it back.  It took a trip to Brisbane to stay with Charlsey and Shannon and the wonderful outdoor pools in Brisbane to get me going again.
The Stanford Kid Adamski took out all 3 races handily.  He nearly lapped me in the 200m kick!

Some stayed in the pool after the minimum 3km to get extra stuff done for points.  I was particularly impressed by Newsom doing his 3km IM set after his first 3km.  Even if you're a decent medley swimmer that 3km IM set takes at least 50 minutes continuous.  That's a big commitment at this point!  Lou also stayed in do pound out a set of 20x100 on the 1:35 for another point.  1 point!
Such is the points game we all love taking part of on Epic.

Walked back, another great breaky by our crew and a 10:30 departure for 2-hour runs.
Fabulous trails here in Jasper and with the help of maps Newsom took one grip one way and Zach led our wee group of 4 another way.  See Petro, Gareth or Zach's photos of our 3-lake loop.
Plenty of vertical for our group but we didn't get lost like the other group which ended up doing around 2:50 for most.  Newsom came back dirty as hell with a bloody knee! so they obviously found some fun trails.

Lunch and a very quick change onto the bikes for many to get the minimum 60km done.
I had a beer, a nap and a massage!
Those are the essential "recovery" tactics for me - always have been.
So I rolled out @4pm going back out the highway we came into Jasper on as I knew it was pretty flat, smooth and headwind and uphill going out, downhill, tailwind back.  Perfect.  Really enjoyed a few Hamish and Andy podcasts (Sydney DJ's) and an episode of MarathonTalk.  2 hours flew by.

Dinner
8 of us blokes made it over to  the Jasper Brewing company for beers, burgers, hot wings ....... Perfect.  Even had a spunky waitress from Sydney in  an absolutely killer pair of jeans to serve us.
If heaven ain't at least this good then I'll be bitterly dis-appointed.
Then a little stroll through town for some gelato and a bit of catching up on e-mails/blogs and its good-night time.  A wee bit of Jack Daniels Honey to wash down my anti-oxidants and melatonin and I expect to sleep the sleep of a contented camper.