Training Log Archive: Bash

Stars W.A.R. (Winter Adventure Race)
Scenic Caves, Collingwood

Bluebird day - can't imagine anything better to do today than ski and snowshoe around a beautiful forest looking for flags and catching spectacular views over Georgian Bay.

'Bent and I reviewed the map. With an extensive trail network in a small area, it was going to require full concentration on the race course. In addition, there was a complex system of valuable bonus points that we didn't study carefully enough before the race. Sitting at home now on a comfy couch, the instructions on the map are totally clear so I just spent too much time looking at the map instead of the words. At least we weren't the only ones!



With the temperature forecast to rise to 9C, we wanted to ski first. It wouldn't be a fast day on the trails but it was going to get slower as things warmed up. In fact, it was surprisingly good. We had spring conditions but there was plenty of snow and our waxless classic racing skis worked perfectly.

We may have been the only ones to start with 43, possibly the only team to ski there instead of snowshoeing. Our strategy was to do lots of skiing, both on trails and bushwhacking. We sometimes skied right beside snowshoe trails since we weren't allowed to ski on them. After skiing for 2 hours, we snowshoed for the final hour, mostly in the hilly northeast part of the map.

After 43, we did 34-35-36. Looking only at the lines joining them on the map, we didn't realize we could do 34-35, 44, 35-36, which would have saved a lot of time. Someone asked this question in the race briefing but I took a different meaning from it. I think most people got this right.

From 36, we sidestepped and herringboned off-trail up to the lookout at 42, then skied to the southwest field to pick up 151-153-155-157 while Nick took photos. Then, because we thought we had to do 32-33-31 in sequence without any other controls in between, we did a nasty out-and-back bushwhack to 44, which took 14 minutes. Then 32-33-31. Another oops - we failed to notice there were 80 more bonus points if we went back to the starting point of the triangle, 32. It sounded like most people missed that. Then we skied back to HQ to switch to snowshoes.

We headed into the steep, snowy, hilly terrain east of the Eco-Centre, including three trips over the famous Scenic Caves suspension bridge. By this point, the sun was baking us and I wished I was running in shorts while eating ice cream. 41-40-39-38-48-37-45-46-47. I got nervous about timing near the end and was grateful for 'Bent's towing power on snowshoes but we cleaned the course with 6 minutes to spare. If we'd read the instructions properly, it wouldn't have been so close to the wire! Most of our friends were already there enjoying post-race snacks in the sunshine; quite a few were in dry clothes already.

Timato and nosnhoj had cleaned the course with 39 minutes to spare. Timato enlightened us on our missed opportunities, none of which he had missed. I wasn't surprised when they took the win, nor when BobTheNavigator and Hermes finished 2nd, but I was genuinely shocked when Nick announced we were 3rd of 22 teams and 1st Masters. I'd convinced myself that we'd totally messed up. So that was nice. :) Even better, 'Bent got some wine and I took home a 400 g chocolate bar.



Thanks to Nick and the Stars for all their work to give us another fun day of playing in the woods. This race is always a highlight of the winter!

News on our team name:
Tree Hugging Now Scientifically Validated

'Bent and I went for another session with Coach Jeff. The running-specific exercises and drills were mostly different this time so now we have a long list of things to work on at home.

Since we were 25 minutes away from MEC, we went shopping to replace our 3-person tent, which self-destructed on our New Year's camping trip. Incredibly, MEC gave us a gift certificate equal to the 2007 purchase price of our old tent, claiming that the defects we'd experienced were well known to them. We wrote back and offered to take a smaller amount since we'd used the tent for all those years but they insisted.

Today we found an updated version of our 2007 tent with the defects addressed - on clearance sale since it has recently been replaced with a fancier, lighter weight model. Since this is the tent we use when we camp with dogs, we're happy with the more durable version. So our gift certificate covered all but $25 of the cost of the new tent - pretty amazing after nine years. Thank you, MEC!

We had light snow or snow flurries most of the day but it wasn't convincing. After yesterday's rain, there were huge, dark puddles in the new snow so I knew the forest wasn't as wintry as it was pretending to be. 'Bent bravely skied to work and said it was OK. I wasn't so sure.



Instead of another run with Kahtoolas or spiked shoes, I tried a snowshoe run around Palgrave East. Conditions ranged from slush to ankle-deep powder to breakable crust to hard ice - pretty much every kind of winter trail condition. Some sections were hard to run through but it was a good day for snowshoes. I met Slowrunner out for a long run; otherwise the forest was empty.



There's a thin layer of ice on the trees so some trails were littered with debris. Branches were hanging low and I made the mistake of ignoring a nice, soft-looking pine bough that was dangling in my way. Normally, I could encounter a pine bough while running and just brush it lightly aside. Today it felt like running into a bag of cement! So I tried to avoid bumping into all but the smallest branches.

Sunset views were gorgeous with sparkling icy trees in front but none of those shots turned out so I'll just have to remember it.

Hard Core Live

Caron's class

First time on a treadmill since June 2014 and I survived it, thanks to Dirtbag Diaries podcasts.

Warm-up, 6 X 2 min intervals at increasing pace with 2 min rest, Cooldown.

I considered going outside in the snow-sleet-rain storm to test my gear but I was expecting a phone call and also probably a power outage if the ice build-up continues. That meant there were portable batteries to charge, water containers to fill and a fire to stoke. BazingaDog didn't stay outside for long either; he was unimpressed when the rain froze onto his gorgeous black coat.

AdventureDog and I enjoyed a sunny run around Palgrave West - the calm before tomorrow's storm. The trails were 60% dry and 40% glare ice so Kahtoolas saved the day again. Even dog claws slipped on some of the hills.

Tiara Tuesday at Boot Camp - the last class of each month is "special". First Caron wore us out and then she made us do Tabatas. She does the class herself and never stops smiling. How is that possible? The rest of us grimaced, grunted and gasped. I'll be sore tomorrow.

Wow, these GPS Doodles are incredible! I think it's a tie between #4 and #6, although I'm partial to Darth Vader too.
http://www.boredpanda.com/bike-gps-doodle-stephen-...

Coach Jeff & Dr. Bell stuff
My legs are tired from yesterday's climbs.

'Bent, AdventureDog and I headed to the Bruce Trail parking lot by the Tai Chi Centre - the place where the Hockleycrest ski trails begin. It was sad to see mud, ice and slush where there were beautiful ski trails a few days ago. The temperature soared this weekend and ruined winter in Caledon. Highlands Nordic has been able to keep most of its trail network open and there will be more snow this week so we hope for a little more skiing and snowshoeing.

We ran about 6 km to 5th Line on the main Bruce Trail, then turned onto 5th Line and climbed to the top of the hill. This road is normally closed to traffic in winter but with the mild conditions, some vehicles are risking it, so it's not the best place for hill repeats with a dog. We went back onto the Bruce and went our separate ways at Sally's Pinnacle. I was looking for a longer run so I headed north to do an out-and-back over the Hockley B*tches, while 'Bent did some hill climbs around the Pinnacles before heading back. The hills were super slick with mud and ice so I eventually put on my Kahtoolas and was glad to have brought poles.

The plan was that I would let 'Bent know when and where to pick me up. When I returned to our starting point, I was going to check the trail map app and contact 'Bent - except my iPhone died with 35% left on the battery. I tried pushing buttons for a few minutes. Nada. It was about 16 km to run home on trails, which I could do if necessary, but 'Bent would be worried.

The universe rescued me when a car arrived carrying four 20-year-old guys and a dog - obviously a vehicle full of smartphones. The little parking lot only holds 3-4 cars and I've rarely met anyone there. 'Bent was visiting BGY so we arranged for him to meet me at the next road crossing. When I plugged my phone in to the car charger, it revived instantly and showed 35% again. So maybe I need to carry an emergency phone charger all the time.

My goal today was to find a moderately long run with lots of elevation gain. The last bit was flatter but at the 18K mark, I noticed that I'd climbed over 900 m, which is a little more than I can expect at Lavaredo, where the average climb is about 49 m per km. That's also the average descent per km, since it's a loop.

We were thrilled to meet the new members of STORM and Browner's beautiful family. We hiked while the four dogs ran together, got muddy and became great buddies.

STORM, Contour, Browner, Scout
Can you tell they have bonded really well already?



'Bent, Brody (BazingaDog), Logan (AdventureDog), Bash



Btw this is my first test of embedding photos from SmugMug. So far, so good. In the past, I resized the photos to be 600 pixels wide. I think I'll upload them full size from now on so people can click if they want to see the real thing.

Mostly around Palgrave East, mostly in the dark. I wore the right shoes to handle all the mud and slush, not so much the stealth ice patches. Spikes tomorrow! I didn't go splat but on one downhill on the closed part of Duffy's Lane, I did the Roadrunner leg pedalling thing all the way to the bottom. This run felt good even though I've been tired this week - just not sleeping well for no particular reason.

Tempo run on gravel roads through a mix of mud and snow. I was cheered on by a passing motorist who happened to be driving my car. (Thanks, 'Bent!)

Legs/hips + Coach Jeff and Dr. Bell stuff.

Time to go to the Outdoor Adventure Show!

I'm trying to make Wednesday a non-negotiable medium-long run day but when I saw the forecast for +5C and 1 cm of rain for Friday, my coach (aka me) authorized a change. I went up to Highlands Nordic where ski conditions were the best I've seen them this season.



The chalet was buzzing in anticipation of tomorrow's WOSSAA (regional high school) championships; there were race signs and trail markers all around the network. The only thing missing was other skiers. I went 15 km without seeing a soul - not even through the trees on a different trail. My grand total for over 2 hours on the trails was four skiers. Highlands is open till 8 p.m. on Wednesdays so I was surprised.



There were light snow flurries on and off, and the wind chill was surprisingly chilly. Some of the more open trails had drifted in but I'm sure as he$$ not going to complain about too much snow in 2016.

I'd never seen sunset from the Highlands trails before. So glad I cheated on my training program.

Fine snow came down for several hours today and everything looked very wintry even though we only got 5-7 cm of new snow. Being the good wife that I am, I went out near sunset (not that there was any sun) and skied backwards on 'Bent's commute route to give him a nice track to ski home from work on.

I got distracted at the far end when I discovered the new flagged single track trails and had to go exploring. When I returned to the main trail, I could see that 'Bent and BazingaDog had already passed by and were enjoying the trackset trail I'd made for them. I skied home feeling virtuous and was greeted by 'Bent, who asked where I'd skied. "What? You didn't notice 2.5 km of beautiful ski tracks that led right up to our front door?" "Oh, I thought they were my tracks from this morning. It seemed strange that it had snowed in town but not in the forest." Hmm, glad my effort was appreciated. ;)

AdventureDog would normally come skiing too but he spent several hours energetically frolicking with a guest dog. He had a fantastic time and hopefully exhausted himself but he got covered in drool and had to be scrubbed with soap. No skiing allowed for a soaking wet dog whose collar is hanging up to dry!

C3 planned a last-minute Family Day snowshoe hike in Palgrave Forest so 'Bent, AdventureDog and I went over for a chatty stroll through the woods. There were 3 dogs in attendance, all of them rescued at different times by our friend Jan! Fun was had by all, regardless of species.

We didn't feel like driving far so we went to Hockleycrest to ski. The groomer had been out although it wasn't track set - not enough snow for that yet. Even another 5 cm of snow would make it excellent for skate skiing and decent for classic. We did most of the trails without much repetition and we discovered a huge, fun hill we'd missed before on #9 Pasture Trail. Conditions were fast but it was still rock ski weather. We heard what sounded like gun shots at regular intervals but it isn't a major hunting season. Maybe someone had a particularly raucous Family Day party.

O Cup #5, UKR
Scanlon Creek, Bradford
Extreme Winter Edition!

Fast, fun nav race up, down and around Scanlon Creek with a small but dedicated crowd, including five enthusiastic young Cadets training through the winter for the championships next fall.

Mick was confident enough to skip this race, assuming correctly that he could retain his lead in the O Cup Series. However, he'd better watch his back because Andre Logvin won today and added 12 points to his total! Actually, no one can beat Mick now but Noah Michelson could tie him with a win in O Cup #6 - unless Mick is in 2nd or 3rd.

Once again, I was 2nd woman after new O Cup racer Yoko Bamba, formerly the top female orienteer in Japan. It is amazing to see the way she moves through the forest. We need AdventureGirl! back ASAP to give Yoko a real race!

Many thanks to Eugene, Raymond and Igor for managing an O Cup race on the coldest weekend in years, and for standing in the chill until everyone got out of the woods.

I went to Timmy's afterward with DD11, Wilberto and Jan. Rolled up the rim. Didn't win.

'Bent skipped orienteering with me on Valentine's Day and took AdventureDog on a hike with his new girlfriend Sadie (Crash's latest dog) plus Crash and her other dog Skye. So this afternoon we went for a family ski around Palgrave West with BazingaDog. It was his first time skijoring this year and it was scary to see the speed. The weather felt positively balmy at -15C with still air.

Oracle Trail Race - 25K snowy run

The weather forecast was accurate with temperatures hovering around -25C to -23C with estimates of -40C with wind chill. We all knew this several days ahead of time so it seemed that most people were dressed properly. 'Bent and I didn't have any significant issues with the cold. My goggles iced up frequently in the first half of the race, my Thermos froze solid (nothing like racing with a brick for no reason), and my hands got too sweaty with the hand warmers in my gloves. But when the weather is this cold, you expect stuff like that to happen.

One thing I didn't expect was that when I started at 9:30 sharp on my GPS - the scheduled race start - the other runners had already been gone for 2-3 minutes. It was my fault - I cut it too close but I *was* on the start line on time. I had no idea what the course markings looked like so I had to ask volunteers, "Um, which way did everybody go?" Smooth, real smooth. :( After a couple of kms, I started catching people - about 10 runners, then I ran alone most of the race.

I don't like to be overly critical of a first-time event. There are always a few hiccups, and the organizers had no way of knowing the weather would be so extreme. To ensure safety in these conditions, the course markings would need to be exceptionally clear, all volunteers would need to understand the different race courses, and aid stations would need to be equipped with cups and warm (or at least unfrozen) drinks. Or they could ask us to carry cups, which I almost did and regret not doing. Volunteers would need a bombproof method of communication since most runners' phones probably died like ours did.

When it comes to course markings, I understand the arguments against using occasional arrows but the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. I doubt any two 25K racers ran the same course today. Some people realized this but some people didn't. I stopped for a chat with Browner and Kathie, who were fully aware they'd been steered the wrong way so they were just going to have a fun run instead. (Story at 11!) But Browner is a smart navigator and a race organizer herself. It looks like some runners ran 4-5 km less than others, probably because so many people were within sight of one another and didn't always look for the ribbons since they assumed they must be on course, and the ribbons took some effort to follow.

Near the 2nd aid station, I was surprised to be caught by one of the first guys I'd passed in the early kilometres. Wow, had he really picked it up that much? He commented that this was the first aid station on the course and he'd expected one earlier. I said, "Yup, there *was* one earlier." While some runners inadvertently took shortcuts, there were a few good runners who passed me late enough in the race that they must have run extra distance in the wrong direction, then returned to the point where they left the correct route to finish legally. Bit of a gong show.

Toward the end, I saw a large group of runners ahead of me who stayed on the fire road and skipped marked single track sections. They weren't cheating; the ribbons were really easy to miss.

When I was 1 km from the finish, I turned onto a trail and saw a group coming toward me, along with a volunteer on a fat bike with a fluorescent yellow vest. As an adventure racer, I was comfortable that they were wrong. We had a brief chat, then I carried on. Then I heard them all yelling and the volunteer biker was waving. "No! We tried going that way! It takes you up a hill away from the finish line back into the forest. That's the route you took at the start of the race! You need to follow the biker!" I was grumbly because until that point, I was pretty sure I'd run the correct flagged route (plus 150 m extra when I briefly went the wrong way at a fork). Sure enough, now that I see 'Bent's GPS track, I was right and the group was wrong. In following them, I saved 150 m of running (making up for my earlier error) but wasted time in discussion. Ugh, you'd think I wouldn't be sucked in after so many years of AR and orienteering. But trail runners aren't usually navigators, and I know they meant well and sincerely thought they were saving me from disaster.

Aside from the fact that the event didn't work out as a "race", it was a beautiful trail run in the sunshine in spite of the chill. Although it didn't go smoothly this time, a winter trail race was a creative idea that could work better in a future year and on a warmer day. The volunteers were rock stars to be out there in this weather. They helped as much as they possibly could, cheered hard, baked cookies (some of them) and had big smiles even though it must have been hard to stay warm without running. Thank you!! I used Kahtoolas and probably would have been OK with just Snowcross. No traction issues at all. The hills were mostly gentle and the scenery was interesting and beautiful. However, given the confusion, it would have been more fun if 'Bent and I had just gone to Durham for a run with Simpy and Goose.

Congrats to 'Bent who had a great run of the correct course but unfortunately ran some extra distance due to sparse course markings and a volunteer who sent him on a 5-minute wrong turn. In a well-marked race, it looks like he could have been on the overall podium.

The forecast says that at the start of tomorrow's Oracle 25K trail race, it will feel like -38C including wind chill. (In Murkin, this is -36F.) I don't usually worry much about cold weather but I'm going to be out there sweating for 3.5 hours so it is probably time for extreme measures: XC ski goggles, neoprene socks, hand warmers, fleecy Buff, thick long johns, etc. Should be interesting!

Hard Core Live with Caron - a tough one.

Class. My right arm is pretty sore after the tough poling this afternoon. Hope I didn't injure it in some dumb way.

Late afternoon ski at Hockleycrest. There was just enough snow for skiing in most places but my pole tips bounced or slid off the rock hard ice beneath the snow. That made it really awkward on steep, narrow climbs!

It's almost heartbreaking to see how much work the volunteer trail manager has put into the ski network, only to be rewarded with the paltry winter of 2016. On the bright side, he has headed north for an XC ski vacation this week. There were a few tree limbs down on the trails from the wind and I cleaned up the ones that were partway down hills. It was slow going but nice anyway.

AdventureDog and I went for a midweek long-ish trail run at Glen Haffy. It's snowier there even though it's only 5 minutes away. Big fluffy flakes were coming down for awhile.

I figured the conditions would be similar to Saturday's Oracle Race - fresh snow on top of glare ice or frozen ground - and I wanted to check that Kahtoola MicroSpikes felt OK. There was 10-12 cm of fresh powder so I probably would have been fine with Snowcross but I know there's some skating rink ice under the snow, and it was nice not to have to think about it. The main risks were tree roots and rocks, which were invisible under the light layer of snow but just as risky as usual.

We decided to explore a couple of the nature trails but the coloured arrows petered out and we had to bushwhack for a bit.

I ran the first 6K, then decided to walk part of a steep uphill. AdventureDog came back and barked at me until I started running. Jerk!

Nice day in the woods.

It's a winter wonderland! We got about 7 cm of snow overnight in open areas and it remains stuck to every tree branch, fence post and rock. It looks like a Currier & Ives Christmas card.

Unfortunately, the ski conditions only rated a 2 out of 10 - although at least I was skiing, which made it good regardless. In the woods, we only got a few cms of snow on bare ground in some places. With all the TRCA's work to take down ash trees, there is a lot of woody debris so I had to bushwhack, ski over branches and steer around random logs. But it was beautiful and quiet, and I got to ski in coyote tracks for a long distance. Nice.

Physio and running-specific injury prevention exercises. AdventureDog was a great help whenever I had to lie down on the mat.

Browner and I kicked STORM and 'Bent out into the snow south of Nottawasaga Bluffs Conservation Area, then continued up to Pretty River Provincial Park. The guys did a 24 km point-to-point run to meet us while we used our Snowshoe Raid maps to take a fun tour in Pretty River. First we took the Bruce Trail to its highest point - about 335 m of climb from our starting point since there is a descent after the first hill.

As a couple of number nerds getting ready for a mountain race, we now want to do that climb 3 times to climb 1,000 m in a training session. Today it took us 45 minutes to get up with Kahtoolas and poles so it should be possible to do 3 repeats on bare trails in less than 4 hours. There is a more direct way to get up the hill so we can try that too.

Once we got up onto the escarpment, we ran a relatively flat loop on Bruce and Bruce Side trails with one drop off the escarpment at the east end, just for the heck of it. The guys texted us when we were there so we headed back down after a scenic run along the escarpment edge. It was sad to see all the green and brown fields from the lookout.

Great workout with excellent company - thanks! It's become our tradition to replace (or exceed) any calories expended as quickly as possible, this time at the Affairs Cafe in Creemore. Best latte in a long time!

Nice family run in Glen Haffy with 'Bent and AdventureDog. Too bad BazingaDog can't be trusted off leash.

The trail was bare in a few short sections but mostly it was coated with a thin layer of snow, often with glare ice beneath. Kahtoola Microspikes saved me although they're not as grippy when there is wet snow on top of ice. Slowrunner had two big wipeouts at Hockley today when her Kahtoolas got balls of snow stuck to the bottom. So... something to watch out for.

This might be a good route to repeat regularly as a shorter weekday run. It's close to home, constantly rolling up and down, and most of the hills are runnable. The hill at the north end was one I'd explored in orienteering races but I'd never included it in a run. It would be great for runnable hill repeats - about 44 m climb in 325 m, mostly on double track.

Exercises from Coach Jeff and Dr. Bell, plus a few extras. Main focus was feet and extensor chain.

My left big toe has been stiff and painful in the past two months. I worry about arthritis like Carbon's Offset has in his toes (although he still kicks butt on the trails). Recently, the pain went away completely for 24 hours after intensive foothab so I'm hoping it's soft tissue that might heal. It hurts to push off when running and it hurts to do lunges and similar yoga poses where the toe is bent back. It's not just the pain that bugs me; my left big toe should be strong and play a major role in running. We'll see how it feels after this session.

Edited: Here's the link to a discussion where Leanimal and Carbon's Offset talk about problems of the big toe, including arthritis and sesamoiditis.
http://www.attackpoint.org/discussionthread.jsp/me...

Message to our Murkin friends:

Another day of making lemonade out of winter lemons! With the ground almost entirely snow-free, I suggested that Dee and Mrs. Gally come out for a sunny (albeit chilly) ride on the Caledon Trailway. The trail was mostly bare but because the snow had been packed down by pedestrians, we encountered lots of ice patches. Sometimes we could ride past them along the side of the trail, sometimes we threw caution to the wind and rode on the ice, and sometimes we got off and walked - although bike shoes aren't as good on ice as bike tires are, so that wasn't too helpful.

We turned off the trail and did a little road riding for a break, then rejoined the trail partway back.

Lots of fun and we caught up at a delicious lunch at the Terra Cotta Inn afterward. I noticed that the Credit River looked great for paddling. Crazy, crazy weather.

Hard Core Live with a focus on obliques

Caron's class: Tonight's theme was two different versions of every pose.

My rest week was short lived! Funderstorm, Mrs. Tiny and I had planned to go XC skiing tonight but the record setting, double digit temperatures meant that Highlands Nordic was closed.

So it was a perfect opportunity to *finally* join the famous Wednesday night run and burrito-fest with Team BugsinTeeth. I'd never been in the Rouge Valley except for the Toronto Zoo, and the trails are awesome! BugsinTeeth, Simpy, Judy and I ran in mud, on ice and up rooty hills, and we did some bushwhacking and crossed the river a couple of times.

I foolishly left my Snowcross in the car since I'd barely seen any snow on the drive. I've done so much running with traction lately that I've apparently forgotten how slippery ice is. When we hit our first large patch, I took one tentative step and flipped instantly onto my back, landing in about 8 cm of ice water. I'll be interested to see what hurts tomorrow. I was super cautious after that, both on ice and mud.

Great conversation and a steady pace. So nice to finally see the native habitat of the Bugs Boys. Thanks for the run, the company and the visit to Fat Bastards burritos!

Until today, I'd only tested the Barefoot Science inserts indoors; this was my first run in them. To keep it simple, I ran on our muddy gravel roads. The inserts felt fine - not painful or wildly different - but I'm only at Level 1 so there's a long way to go. Looking forward to strengthening my feet some more. Big thanks to FB, my new personal shopper. ;)

Caron was nicer tonight. There may be a few muscles that aren't sore tomorrow.

AdventureDog came to live with us one year ago yesterday. Maybe we're finally starting to tire him out - but only a little.