Training Log Archive: Funderstormin

Just an easy spin to work some of the remaining kinks out of my legs. Feeling much better today than yesterday.

Sulphur Springs 50K. I wasn't thrilled with my time as I thought I'd finish under six hours, but I had a bit of difficulty with the heat, and then a bit of difficulty with being a sucky pants during kms 30-40. Nevertheless, it was a great day for a run and great to see Dee, Kbomb and M&M out there as well!

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Down the Grand River.

Chasing three guys around Hardwood while I tried not to pee myself because of how fast they were making me go, hence the 4.

In what I believe was Palgrave Conservation Area. Great trails...super jealous of Bash et al who live and train up there.

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Lovely day for a run at Seaton with Kbomb and Tanya. I'd only been there once before for the Seaton Trail race last year, and I was pleasantly surprised how much more I enjoyed it this time!

Back side of Hydrocut. Bad luck tonight - lots of carnage in our group. Two of the guys ended up with some pretty decent injuries, one of which will require stitches. Other than that it was a good ride!

Helped Jay with the trekking portion of his navigation clinic in Hilton Falls. I had a great group - all three would be great adventure racers! I felt much more confident doing this than I did two years ago; at that point, by the time I was done with my group, they probably couldn't navigate their way from the CN Tower to Lake Ontario. This went much better, was a great day in the woods, and eased the pain of not being able to do Storm yesterday!

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With Stephania at Hilton Falls.

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Back side of the Hydrocut with bike group.

Nice easy long run on trails at Dundas Valley.

At Kelso with Stephania and Kbomb. Cold and windy in the parking lot, but just perfect out in the woods!

I had really stellar intentions of having a nice relaxing run tonight after two days of stressful interview preparation. I've had two academic interviews in the past two weeks: the first for a summer term job at WLU Brantford that I really wanted but didn't get, and another one today for a one year position at WLU Waterloo for a job I don't really want. Ironically, I'm pretty sure I nailed the interview today and won't be suprised if I get offered the position. It will be a tough decision as I had every intention of checking out of life in Mexico again next winter, but this would be a tough position to pass up. I'm pretty ambivalent about the outcome and will leave it to the universe. Anyways, after the interview running late, making me late to teach a horseback riding lesson, I got rearended by a woman reading a map while driving. No real damage and we didn't call the cops. Long story short: I decided I needed some Mexican beer tonight instead of a run. The run will take priority tomorrow morning :)

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Stephania's new AR term for the angry bushwhacking pace I was setting because I was frustrated that we were around so many other all female teams at CP7: "blitzkreig on nature" - love this phrase and will definitely use it in the future, although hopefully under different circumstances!

Not going to repeat details of the course here, as anyone who actually read this was probably there. We had a characteristically sucky paddle in which I spend most of the time wondering both aloud and to myself why we are so damn slow. First bike section went pretty well and we didn't have too much trouble finding the trail we wanted to CP4, or maybe we did, who knows, we eventually ended up there! Started the first trek with CP5 and somehow managed to nail it, finding a trail that went almost all the way there and then moving back a bit to the left to find the right water feature. Fell down lots of time in the stream near CP6, but I guess that is what I get for choosing my footwear based on colour instead of functionality (the Brooks Cascadias I wore are three years old but the only red shoes I currently have and I have an OCD matching disorder). Got completely disoriented betwen 6 and 7, so did what I usually do - throw a mini-tantrum and give the map to Stephania so she can tell me where we are. Got re-oriented and ended up with A LOT of other teams also en route to CP7. Couldn't believe how many teams were still bunched up together. From CP7, we blitzkreiged on nature heading straight south back to the trail. Hopped back on bikes, splashed through the mud, and loved all the downhill. Quick tour on the infamous cartoon map for the two "advanced" CPs and back to Deerhurst. Had no idea where we were in the pack and ended up faring way better than expected. Still don't really know how that happened, but I guess it was a relatively smooth race for us.

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