Training Log Archive: Funderstormin

At Puslinch, where I did my best not to make any eye contact with the poison ivy that was everywhere! Trails were so dry it made rocks and roots slippy...either that or maybe I need new bike tires.

This is the first time in about 6 weeks that I've set out to do a run in earnest. Hit the Hydrocut trails hoping for the best. Achilles is not perfect, and told me when it had had enough, but I got lots of long stretches of running in without it bothering me too much.

I've got two races in September that I'm not willing to miss because of this - the Hideaway race I go out to do in Colorado each Labour Day and then Run Woodstock the following week. Only the half-marathon distance at each, so while I may not be in the finest of form, I should be able to get through. And the best part is...Earl is coming with me on this adventure! I'm curious how the old fella will handle being at 9000+ ft in Winter Park, but we will get some good practice this coming week as we tour around MA, VT, and NH.

C • Running! 2

Post work lane swim at Moses Springer.

Morning yog on treadmill, alternating between running and walking. Achilles feeling okay. Not perfect, but I know from experience that perfect can take a long time.

Mrs. Tiny and I went around Bark Lake collecting CPs before we headed back home. Started out pretty windy but calmed down while we were out there. Was fun to be out doing something! :-D

Evening yin class.

Event: RockstAR Adventure Race
 

Up and down the road by the cabin after racers set off and before I had to report for CP duty. Tried to go into the wood but the FDFs were driving me bonkers. I noticed that one of the side effects of my antibiotics was lack of patience...oh wait, maybe I can't blame it on that. Regardless, it felt good to be moving and sweating a bit.

Made the decision not to race this weekend, as tough as it was.

Monday and Tuesday were terrible days that I don't want to relive...at the doctor and told just to go to the hospital if symptoms got worse. High fever, chills, sweats, joint pain, watching my rash spread, and general feeling of why is this happening to me.

Wednesday antibiotics started kicking in - fluish symptoms disappeared but rash still spreading. Blood work showed really low white blood cells from fighting this beast, so knew that even as I was feeling better, racing would not be a smart idea, even if I felt pretty good by Saturday.

The silver lining was that when I told STORM I couldn't race and asked if I could volunteer, he gave me what was perhaps the most Sally CP you can imagine - "beer or rootbeer." The prospect definitely lessened the sting of not racing.

In a fit of frustration from feeling awful all week, I decided that my body was only allowed to rebel in one fashion; in other words, I couldn't be battling poison ivy AND have my achilles hurt. So I told my achilles to suck it up and did a bit of running after work, and fortunately it cooperated. I'm not sure if it was because I was feeling kind of jacked up from the antibiotics or was just so happy to be doing something, but this felt so good.

Nope! Had a sleepless night and ended up at the doctor this morning to get my PI looked at. I'm on antibiotics for a week and have a lovely circle of permanent marker drawn around the rash, with instructions to go back to the doctor or hospital if it grows beyond the marker line.

It is very unfortunate that nature doesn't love me as much as I love it! The really annoying thing about this outbreak is that it is likely secondary contact as it is too far apart from my Frontenac trip to have gotten it there. Shorts worn on the hike, perhaps? In any case, it's very annoying and I sure hope the sharpie circle wears off eventually!

C • PI 2

Short ride but I wasn't feeling too stellar...on Friday morning a new patch of my good friend PI erupted on my stomach and on Sunday morning I woke up with flu-like symptoms that I thought were just related to a bad night's sleep and maybe one more imperial stout than necessary. Got home and felt the need to take a nap, which NEVER happens! Got worse throughout the day but I was hopeful that a good sleep would fix it.

Rented a kayak and paddled around Valens Lake. Got out nice and early before it was busy. Saw lots of turtles and a family of swans out for a morning swim.

Road ride from Valens before family arrived. Got to do lots of biking with my 7-year old nephew and it warms my heart that he always wants to be moving and exploring!

Biking around Valens CA, where Earl and I were parked for the weekend so my brother and his family could join us.

Road ride from my house. Was hoping for a peaceful country road ride and was surprised at how busy it already was at this hour!

A HIIT workout without jumping!

Took Earl out to Valens for the evening and was hoping to run but Achilles was saying no way, so just took to the trails for a hike instead. Beauty day for it but I was a little grumpy about not being able to run.

Ride with Mrs. Tiny on the Kelso trails, which were in perfect shape. Our intention was to ride for awhile then go to the bottom and paddle for a bit. We loaded up our bikes, changed out of bike clothes, went to the main entrance and found a line at least 20-30 minutes long to rent boats, which was our plan since we hadn't brought one with us. We evaluated how to spend our remaining time and rather than wait in line, opted for a visit to the Chop House for happy hour.

C • Love that decision making... 3

20-minute HIIT workout. Now THIS (anything involving jumping) my achilles definitely did not like. Felt fine during the workout but sore the next day.

I was maybe a bit too optimistic trying this but a friend wanted to get together for a run and my achilles was feeling pretty good so I gave it a go. Felt okay for the first half and a bit sore on the back half, but better than I expected.

There were a few short jig jogs thrown in there and my achilles is feeling pretty good, but I don't want to jinx it by logging as running. Around the Laurel Creek park trails. Had a starting contest with a lovely young deer and eventually we called it a draw.

From my campsite at Laurel Creek around some local roads and trails. Earl was feeling a bit neglected because he didn't get to come to Frontenac so I wanted to make it up to him. Also, it's the time of year when the parks start getting annoyingly busy on the weekend and it makes sense to go midweek. T'was a lovely evening! :-D

No rain Saturday night meant for dry gear in the morning - yay! We set out from camp around 9 and tried to take trails we hadn't been on yet, seeing some of the nicest scenery that we had all weekend. Although we saw a few people at other campsites, this end of the park seemed really quiet and we only encountered a few other people on the trails. Celebrated our successful return to civilization with one last swim and one last beer then started the trek home.

Frontenac sites book up quickly and I had reserved these the first day they were available (5 months in advance). Although some sites are stupidly close together, many are set well away from others on beautiful lakes with great swimming. I could see doing a few more trips up here to check out some other sites before I'm bored of this place. Browner was an excellent adventure buddy and it was clear we shared many of the same backpacking values!

C • Fatpacking with a purpose! ... 1

Heard rain all evening and knew we'd be waking up to a very wet camp! We timed our morning well though and wait to set off until 11 or so when the rain had stopped. We knew that our next site (13A) had someone on it the night before and we didn't want to arrive too early. We were the first ones at the cluster and practiced our now near expert tarp hanging skills before we did anything else. Once camp was set up, and our packs emptied of another beer or two, we spent a luxurious length of time in the middle of the lake we were on the the well worth the weight pool toys that Browner had brought. Then we hung our hammocks and relaxed some more! Post-dinner we hiked across the peninsula where Browner wanted to show me her secret camping spot and watched the sunset with some wine. Aaaaah! We had spent a good bit of time collecting wood earlier that day and by the evening it was fairly dry and we had a wonderful big fire with some sparklers to celebrate Canada Day.