Training Log Archive: Funderstormin

Hike to Los Alisos for a memorial for Micah. Don't have time to relay all the details now but it was a really memorable and powerful experience.

C • Thanks for all the tidbits of info about the trip! 2

Run back down from Los Alisos. After all the hiking we did in the past couple of days, it felt great to do some easy running. Almost all downhill too! The trails in this section have been worked on recently and are a dream to run on - really looking forward to this part of the course on Sunday!

Have developed a bit of a chest or lung infection which I hope clears up before then!

C • don't get sick 3

All day hike from Cerocahui to Urique organized by Maria and Luis Escobar. It was important to Micah that runners came into the community the same way that the Raramuri do - on foot. Lots of climbing for the first few hours but then about 8000 ft downhill into the canyon, passing pot and opium farms on the way but readily obeying instructions not to take pictures! Long tiring day but totally worth the views and sense of camraderie among the runners.

Large group run / climb from hotel paraiso de oso near Cerocahui. We probably had about ten nationalities represented! Ran outside of town to climb up a rock formation than ran across open rock on a different route and along the river back to the hotel. Tomorrow we hike 25 miles from here to Urique. Already such a great experience!

C • Neet! 4

Very brisk early morning run in cuauthemoc (probably misspelled that) with Stephania, Dan the American and jan the Belgian. Felt good to be out and moving after a long drive yesterday.

Hike in Barranca des Cobres national park.

The boys were kind enough to let me crash on their computrainer session tonight (thanks!). I've only been three times so far and each seems to be a different experience. Today there was little chance of finishing the whole course as it was Ironman Kona, so I decided I'd ride for 1:30:00 or 40 km, whichever came first. Lots of long climbs, which seem to be my weakness. Felt as if I was working pretty hard but wattage (average 150) and HR were lower than last couple of times. Must admit that it was harder to motivate myself having no other riders near me, but a great workout nonetheless.

Felt pretty awful after running outside in the cold air during the O-cup on Saturday (my cold is still hanging on) so decided to take this one inside.

I really wanted to go mountain biking today, and the not the kind where I sit on my trainer in the basement and close my eyes and pretend I'm on the trail, or watch a video of a trail. I was convinced that I'd be able to ride at Puslinch, and when Andrew came in from his road ride (brrr!) and told me it was a fool's errand, I was even more determined to try. :)

Got all bundled up and prepared to have to turn around and come right back home (a whopping 230m). Turns out, some nice kind person has taken some kind of machine back there and packed down a considerable portion of the doubletrack making it very rideable and super fun. Not suprisingly, I made few errors in judgment trying to ride a few of the not packed down trails, but it was so nice out there today I didn't mind the occasional walk beside my bike for a minute or two.

When I finished up, I got the idea that I'd ride around on the lake, as there are always dirtbikers and skidoos and what not on there. Lots of ice fishermen out there today so didn't disturb them but had fun playing around for a few minutes.

C • ride 2

Event: O-Cup #4 - The IceBreaker
 

I have not been feeling very confident navigating lately so my goal for today was to do the right number of checkpoints in the right order and take my time so that I felt like I was making my own decisions and not getting caught up in what other people were doing. Today's O-cup course was great for that as people got different maps at registration so you never knew what course other people were on.

The first loop was okay. I took annoyingly indirect but safe route choices. Only made one bobble going to the CP on the little island when the one I wanted was a bit further but had the common sense to check before I punched (and, um, look at the control description!). Loop 2 started off a bit rockier so my route to 1 was, let's say, leisurely. Proving once again that I should have blended my humanities training with a few more practical skills, like math, I did one extra CP on the second box. I was probably paranoid about this since at the last O-cup, I did one less than I was supposed to! Knew I'd be pressed for time but wanted to finish the course anyways. Felt like I accomplished my goal of building a bit more confidence - I've got a rubbermaid bin full of maps so just need to get out and practice more!

I really liked the format of today's race and the snow made for some extra challenge. Really fun to spend the afternoon at the Toby Jug in Bolton talking AR. Thanks Bash for organizing this!

Easy pre-work run.

Been pretty sick for the past couple of days so even this was a lot to muster this evening! As always though, felt better for it.

Run on treadmill at gym before work. Had a nice chat with Mrs. Tiny that made the last little bit just whiz by. HR was higher than it should be, which means that a) I'm still recovering from Sunday; b) the niggling feeling that I'm getting sick is about to turn into reality or c) both a and b.

Had a really funny thing happen while I was riding last night. The oldest school pony at our barn - Gwen - has been full of piss and vinegar lately. I was riding my horse during a lesson and had to get on this little pony and gallop her around for awhile so that the boy trying to ride her wasn't going to get turfed. She's 31, which to put into perspective, is between grandparent and great grandparent age! Everyone got a chuckle of me whizzing around the ring on this pony, including me!

Message posted this morning from Maria, Micah True's girlfriend on the FB group for the Ultramarathon Caballo Blanco this year. It's been really fascinating to get to know the international runners who will be going down this year through this group. So excited for this adventure!


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Each year, Micah became both excited, and somewhat stressed, as he anticipated the arrival of his Mas Locos family into Las Barrancas. He would send both informational, and often, silly messages regarding the events leading up to the race. He would remind us to come in a spirit of humility, enjoy the natural beauty of La Sierra, celebrate the journey with the Raramuri families, run Free! Last year, Mas Locos, Flint and Olaf, Film Makers, Sterling Noren and Leslie Gaines, spent weeks with Micah, traveling throughout the Pueblos, distributing invitations, spreading the Message of Hope, Peace, Beauty and Love. Seeing the absolute joy in Micah's eyes, as we walked with our Raramuri brothers to their campground, is a memory, I will forever treasure. And now, Josue has offered the gift of support, as we Direct the Memorial race. Flint has been in Mexico, spreading the news throughout the villages, that we're on our way! I have shared with our friend, Director of Tourism, Cecy Villalobos, that our hearts go out to El Presidente Leobardo Diaz's family for healing, as they find a way of comfort with his loss. We vow to honor his name, and legacy of supporting Micah's dreams, and our gratitude for the compassion shared for Mas Locos. This morning, I received a kind message from McOso, Christopher McDougall. Unfortunately, he is unable to attend this year's race. However he wants to send his best wishes to every Mas Loco. His spirit will be with us. And, he promises to return in 2014. He follows our journey on our web-site, and is proud of the continuation of Norawas de Raramuri. Josue and I will send out our Newsletter this week. And, as our trips to the Canyons draw closer, we will continue to update everyone on race logistics, and travel. Guadajuko is VERY excited to return to his "second home". I honestly believe he is the TRUE celebrity. Mama Tita can't wait to spoil him once again! I am honored to share this dream with you. May the tender whispers of the Canyon winds, bless your spirits always. Siempre, La Mariposa Apache, El Lobezno, and Ghost Dog.... And, of course, Sweet Pea

C • WT 1

Simpy, BiT and I had planned a long point to point run on the Bruce Trail today. Why didn't anyone tell us all of the trails got covered in two feet of snow in the past week? ;)

Met up at Boston Mills / Missisauga Rd. parking lot and left one car there, then drove to 7th line on the other side of Airport Road for the start. Andrew graciously volunteered to be our roving aid station and met us twice on the trail so that we could refill water and grab more food (he even had coffee for simpy!). Within 1m of starting our 'run,' we realized we *probably* should have had snowshoes as we were breaking trail about half of the time and sinking the other half. But we didn't, so we just trudged on through the snow as best we could, only getting between 3-4km in the first hour. We adjusted our route as needed, alternating between running on beautiful snow-covered backroads and doing some more snowtrudge sections. The climb up Devil's Pulpit in the snow was unreal, and even though every trail section was super tough, we all remarked how gorgeous everything one and how sad it was that people who only road ran missed out on such fun adventures! Threw in a bit of bushwhacking and pulling ourselves up a hill with greenery in Cheltenham Badlands. So we had a bit of everything out there today, but tons of fun and laughs as always.

I felt so lucky today to have such great teammates who would come out for a run like we had and talk all day about how much fun it was rather than how misguided we were in thinking we could run on the trails without snowshoes. Went to a Kelsey's in Brampton afterwards and feasted. Fun, fun day!

C • Awesome long run! 4

Good Life Montessori Hot Yoga class. My favorite part may be that the room smells like Mexico to me, whatever that means! Only 14 days until I am reunited with that smell!

Knew that I might have a snow day today but realized I'd have to come into the office anyways to get some things I needed for a Monday morning meeting at another campus, so figured the roads would be at least quieter at 6:00 then they would be at 7:00. 20 minute tempo run with warm-up and cool down. Nice and quiet at the gym!

Treadmill run after work. 25 minutes of hills to keep things spicy.

Enjoyed last Tuesday's computrainer session so much that come Wednesday morning I was organizing a group for this week. Was able to get a full house but sadly we lost BiT at the last minute. Very different course from last week with longer, tougher climbs. It's both funny and dreadful to watch when the people ahead of you hit the 7.3s! My AHR was lower this week but I felt like I worked harder.

DD11 smoked the shorts off of all of us, but was entirely gracious about it. His lead was so secure that at one point, he even got off his bike to adjust Mrs. Tiny's for her, then took his time throwing back a beer and doing 100 burpees before casually hopping back on his bike to finish the course.

These rides are a great way to get through the winter!

C • :( 9

At Scenic Caves with Hermes, Andrew and getawaystix. Andrew and I have only skate skiied once and it was two years ago, so this was a really good workout for both of us. Had two funny falls during the second half on perfectly flat ground when things were just getting too fatigued to cooperate.

Very fun weekend with these two and hope we can return the favour sometime soon. Hermes has indicated she'd like to try ice-fishing which may workout nicely since Little Lake seems to be the ice-fishing capital of the region. :)

C • weird... 9

Hermes and getawaystix were kind enough to invite Andrew and I up for the weekend. Because of an important detour I needed to take (read: visit Neustadt brewery for some non-LCBO finds) on the way up, we didn't get up there until early afternoon, which turned out to be perfect as it meant that we got to do our run as the snow was pouring down. Hard to tell what the right footwear would have been for this (Hermes wore Yaktrax and I had my Spikecross on) but not

C • What did you end up finding... 3