Nordic Dave Adventure Series: Secret Training Man

Summer is just about over in hallowed training grounds at an undisclosed location in the Northern Rockies. Post Labor Day & precious little darlings are back in school , motor homes will be less frequent & the bugs will soon meet their demise with the first frost.

Fall is Nordic Dave’s favorite time of year to put a finer point on all things related to the off season as talk of an El Nino winter becomes more frequent wondering just what does that mean?

That’s about as much structure as ND cares to think about these days as the Nordic Dave Adventure Series is not for those who read other people’s training blogs on Face Book or for those who need training schedules & instructions written by coaches or professional trainers, i.e. you’re telling me it’s Tuesday and I must do what ? For the seasoned master blaster, you don’t need no stinking heart rate monitor, power meter on your bike, Strava whatever….to know how things have gone for the summer.

ND drinks lots of black coffee in the morning, beer at night and trains as it fits the day. Nordic Dave is 65 today, he surmises it’s quite simple, you’ve done it all your life if you don’t know by now then you never will. Ok ND admits he has discovered yoga and a thing called flexibility is very good for old dudes but doesn’t want to refer to it as “amazing” as some of the younger generation refers to ANYTHING they haven’t done before. For the ancient ones, we reserve the word amazing for something more like cosmic convergence or the second coming.

Lately ND has been participating in a fair amount of gravel bike racing in summer, it’s the perfect mix of what not to do for summer training, i.e. mix distance volume training with high end cardio climbs with a high probability of injury if you crash which happens. All he knows is the beer belly has receded, soon to return at any given moment, interval workouts indicate hr threshold isn’t bad when not racing, muscle groups get worked for hours. Ironically triceps get trashed descending logging roads for thousands of feet never mind the screaming quads and butt from climbing , you just did some serious plyometrics descending. The Gravel scene is pretty chill, it’s good tribe, you stop and ask someone if they or ok if they flat and or crash. At a number of competitions they award the top 3 overall and call it good. If you need affirmation with your age group trinket this may not be the event for you, i.e. nobody cares. Beer is the preferred post race refreshment and you sit and talk to peeps about their race as things get spread out in the woods and mountains, you’re pretty much on your own vs. riding in a pack.

Naturlich a summer injury can and will occur because well you crave movement and rest days are something designed from a training manual. For Nordic Dave that meant finding a tree while mtn biking and being ejected into said tree. What can you do with multiple broken ribs? Well more biking is one option. Gravel racing with broken ribs reminds ND of closing out a competitive 50K skate race with someone chasing you or you chasing them. How bad do you want this ? ……baad……groannn!

Multi event training in one day is another option, something you won’t find in said training manual, i.e. hike and bike all day and by all means drink a 6 pack of your favorite libations and go canoeing that evening. Careful if the winds come up though and you lose your balance from being overserved and swim to shore losing your cell phone in the process. Not to worry you just had a robust multi event training day to smile about.

Didn’t our ancestors train all day and or for multiple days, the Tarahumara still do and have been known to get pretty messed up at night. Bet that’s not in your training manual or on your Strava post ! Overtraining is a term used by those that never pushed into the back of beyond and came out smiling. Monday and the ‘puter awaits for you in work office mode so go for it like a total weekend warrior working yourself into a crazed training man all weekend & be the warrior !

ND supposes it’s time to dust off his roller skis off to indulge into a cardio infused frenzy. He does miss does the Climb to the Castle event in New York, a cardio induced frenzy surely to be followed by a robust 3 mile swim across Mirror Lake. Why because you can !

In Fairbanks, there a huge newish training facility at Birch Hill. It was mostly empty and souless when ND trained there in November some years back. Across the start/finish arena , is an old cheap cabin filled with warm people and broken old couches to match the people. Children under 50 are not overly welcomed there, more like tolerated. It’s called the Scum Lounge. Everyone in there has had something kick the hell out of them in life , i.e. cancer, heart surgery, stroke, immune deficiency, etc.. You don’t need to talk about it, we already know. Yet we’re still here still going for it, still training.

Training with metrics is productive.

Training with a passion for life is fulfilling.

Training is movement, movement for this tribe is what we live for !

“Odds are he won’t live to see tomorrow…….”

Secret Training Man !

SECRET TRAINING MANN!

From the Nordic Dave Adventure Series