Training Log Archive: Bash

Event: CNYO Snowgaine
 

CNYO Snowgaine, Day 1
Winona State Forest, NY
[Race time was 13.5 minutes longer because we started late.]

After a 2-year absence, the Snowgaine was back! Past participants Bruce Kuo, Russell Nordquist and Gian Dodici approached CNYO for permission to revive the event using the club's maps, insurance and expertise. As word spread, the winter-loving Canadian contingent grew steadily.

The forecast called for high winds and squalls on Friday with the potential for 3-4' of new snow at Snowgaine HQ near Mannsville, NY. The heaviest squalls ended up hitting farther north so we drove through white-out conditions on and off between Kingston and our hotel in Watertown, NY.



'Bent and I made our first nav error of the weekend by taking the wrong turn for the Olive Garden parking lot. Then we relocated and made a different wrong turn. The restaurant was next door so we left our car and walked across the strip of snow between parking lots, which turned out to be thigh-deep!



We enjoyed dinner with two speedy teams: Peninsula Adventure Sports Association (Harps & JVD) and Wilderness Traverse (Bob and Scott). 'Bent and I hoped that some of their talent would rub off.

Saturday morning was cold and cloudy. We could start between 8-9 a.m. and our official start time would be 30 minutes after we took our maps. Today's time limit was 8 hours. The variable start time was a last minute change to give teams more time to get to Race HQ on snowy roads.

Most teams waited a bit rather than break trail for everyone else. 'Bent and I checked the trail report and found that half the ski trails had been groomed yesterday. We decided to put on our ski gear and get completely prepared to leave before picking up our maps.

As soon as I saw the map, I realized that skiing would be very difficult. The snow was deep off-trail, and we would have to negotiate steep slopes and cross flowing streams to reach a number of control sites. So we used precious time to switch to snowshoeing gear and put our skis back in the van.

Because planning time was so limited, we weren't concerned about leaving right at 8:45, our official start time. If another 5-10 minutes with the map resulted in a better route, it would be time well spent. We ended up leaving 13 minutes late, which was too much. (Click on map to see full res version.)



We traveled on freshly groomed ski trails on our way to 70. They were soft and wide enough for skiers and snowshoers. It was chilly but we'd dressed for it. The snowy forest was spectacular. Unfortunately, we didn’t stop for any photos today.

'Bent has had some mid-race gear failures over the years but even by his standards, this race got off to an impressive start. The big metal arm of his homemade ski map holder snapped in half before the first control. After some adjustments so he could carry a map, I asked him to break trail heading south. He headed north and I calmly pointed it out. (OK, you *know* that's not true. We've been married a long time.) We showed our compasses to one other and discovered that the needle on his wrist compass was not moving. So I was our only compass person for the day although ‘Bent could check a bearing by pressing a few buttons on his watch. :(

Soon we hit a 4-way intersection of groomed ski trails that wasn't on our map. This missing trail was the only real map problem we noticed over the two days; otherwise, it was very reliable. We stopped to try to relocate. I questioned myself because I'd been distracted by the gear issues and hadn't concentrated well. We gave up after a couple of minutes and carried on to the next junction, which was recognizable and exactly what we were expecting.

From there, we went to 60, 58, 49. I didn't like the direction of the tracks after 49 so we broke our own trail east through deep snow to get to the trail where we could cross the stream on the bridge. That took 6 minutes and the trail we reached was ungroomed (which we knew) so it wasn't much faster going. If I'd known then that the tracks I’d seen belonged to Bob and Scott, I could have saved some time. :)

The stream crossing after 69 was the most difficult one of the race for us. I ended up with two wet feet and a wet shin and knee. With all my layers, waterproof socks and Climashield shoes, I stayed warm enough after the initial shock. We continued west to 71, where I refolded my map and realized that 54 had been hidden under a fold, and we were supposed to have gone 69-54-71. At that point, it was a tough call whether to just keep going. In hindsight, my error added about 25 minutes but I'm not sure we could have got the same number of points elsewhere in less time. In Snowgaines past, we have sometimes regretted skipping a moderately valuable control near the edge of the map on Day 1.

Next 'Bent put me on tow and we headed to 81-76-67, starting with a road run that felt surprisingly good, given that I haven’t been running. After 81, I had the first full-on nosebleed that I can remember in my life, which was awkward. ("Wait, let me wipe the blood off my map so I can check our route.") I think that was also the place where 'Bent's snowshoe broke so we needed a repair break anyway. After 76, we started following a set of tracks that looked like they might lead toward 67 but they didn't seem to be doing the right thing. The bushwhacking wasn't fast so we backtracked and went around on major trails - 12 mins lost.

At the far south end of the map, we kept running into good teams like Brent and Abby, Bob and Scott, Alex and Karine, and Chris and Chad. That made me worry that we'd bitten off more than we could chew. It was time to make our way back toward the finish: 39-36-79-20. We finished with 9 minutes to go so there was no stressful dash to make the deadline, which is a tradition that I've been trying to end.

We were pleased with our first day and had been pretty relaxed about it since we knew we weren't competitive in either the Coed or the Veteran (40+) category. When the Day 1 results were emailed out, we were surprised to see a 7-team Coed Veteran category, and we were in the lead. After a fun Canadian evening out at Skewed Brewing, I stayed up late revising our Day 2 plan since apparently we were racing after all!

Before falling asleep, I read an article where experts talked about how to prepare for a COVID-19 outbreak. A CDC official said she had told her family to be prepared for significant disruption to their lives including cancellation of work, school, public events, etc.

It's true what they say: never read that stuff at bedtime! I was wide awake at 4 am with wheels turning in my head.

I wouldn't say that I went Doomsday shopping today but our cupboards are much better-stocked now. I asked an employee where the hand sanitizer was kept and she laughed. There were only two bottles left. She said, "People buy it as fast as we can get it." I noticed some other empty shelves - maybe a coincidence or maybe a product that normally comes from overseas.

Apparently, some medications and other products rely on ingredients from China, including common things like Ibuprofen. I suggested that 'Bent renew a prescription and they initially told him to pick it up tomorrow. An hour later, they called back and said it would take a month.

So if you're getting low on anything you might really want if you're stuck at home for a week or two - possibly with a sick family member - consider a shopping trip soon.

Foothab

Walk-run around Palgrave West on snowshoes to coddle my right heel. Some bushwhacking, some trails. Dr. Bell got me back into running with treadmill walk-runs after the retrocalcaneal bursitis started fading in my left heel. I don't have a diagnosis but this injury currently feels like that one. It was such a beautiful day that I couldn't stay indoors so this was my compromise.

Two hours later, I just feel the same niggle of pain that I felt before I went out, which is the best I could hope for. Fingers crossed that it doesn't stiffen up overnight.

I ran the downhills and flats, mostly when I was on trails.

'Bent and I went to Hockleycrest for a late afternoon ski after he got back from Toronto. The conditions report said that the narrow forest trails were icy and "only very good skiers should tackle the trails today". That's as close as they get to a liability waiver. ;)

It was a beautiful winter day so we went anyway and used extra caution on a few downhills. A friend who skied there for the first time today called it "fun and terrifying" - but she only bought skis a couple of weeks ago. If I'd had any idea it would be like this, I would have tried to talk her out of it! We had fun, especially on the flatter trails where double poling worked really well today.

It was another gorgeous day. I spent the first half waiting at my car dealer in Toronto while they did some maintenance and investigated a sound that was scary enough to cancel my trip to Collingwood. After a couple of hours, I got bored and bought a car. It's just a *future* car, actually, since the dealer may take a few months to find one. That's OK because I mostly bought it with future money.

Then it was back home to stress about things like my Mom's estate tax return, to name one item on a "to do" list of things that don't give me much joy. I have a bad habit of getting immersed in stressful projects and not wanting to take breaks for days or weeks until they're done, which is an absolutely awesome way to approach an athletic training program.

Anyway, I finally kicked myself out the door. 'Bent has been obsessively snowshoeing a short stretch of trail between our place and the conservation area to make it more suitable for winter biking. I went out and stomped and re-stomped to improve the trail. #greatwife Then I did a little bushwhacking in the lovely, late afternoon light.

Since I was warmed up, I did some strength training - another mix of weight machine, dumbbells, TRX, mat, medicine ball, stability ball, kettle bells, body weight, etc.

Now I'm feeling that recurring niggle on the upper side of my right heel bone, just right of centre beside the Achilles. I'm guessing retrocalcaneal bursitis, which I've had before on the left side. Ugh - but it could be worse. I suspect running would hurt more than anything I did today.

The State of Ultra Running 2020

Some key results:

Female ultra runners are faster than male ultra runners at distances over 195 miles.

Participation has increased by 1676% in the last 23 years from 34,401 to 611,098 yearly participations and 345% in the last 10 years from 137,234 to 611,098.

There have never been more women in ultrarunning.

Ultra runners have never been slower across distance, gender and age group. The average pace in 1996 was 11:35 min/mile, currently, it is 13:16 min/mile.

Runners improve their pace in their first 20 races, and then their pace stabilizes.

All age groups have a similar pace, around 14:40 min/mile. Which is unusual compared to the past and to other distances.

The average age of ultra runners has decreased by 1 year in the last 10 years. It has changed from 43.3 years to 42.3 years.

Speaking of running, I haven't been doing any, even though I've registered for a bunch of races and bought some plane tickets. I'm trying to give my right heel a break. The pain has reduced considerably over the past 10 days even though I've been flexing my foot a lot while cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. Browner and I ran on snowshoes in Stars W*A*R on Feb. 9 but that didn't seem too bad. It's been almost two weeks since I just ran in shoes. I'll probably do a test run in the next few days. Fingers are tightly crossed.

'Bent and I met the Gallys at Scenic Caves for a short morning ski before their Family Day festivities began. Since all of us hope to do Tarno's Ski-O on the March 7-8 weekend, I brought last year's maps so we could practise. For people who haven't done ski-O before, it takes a while to get used to the way trails are marked.

The boys took the Long course maps while Mrs. Gally and I took the Sprint maps. She navigated while I skied along and acted as a map consultant. We stopped frequently to make sure we stayed on course so it was interval training. Mrs. Gally loved it and decided that she really wants to do one of the races! It was a spectacular day - always fun to have a "mission" when we're training.

'Bent and I rented fat bikes from Kamikaze Bikes in Collingwood and took them to Highlands Nordic. The bike trails cross the ski trails in a few places and we've been very curious to follow them! The conditions report said it was 3.5 out of 5, with soft snow on top of the escarpment.

The first section was super fun. The rental bikes - Trek Farley 5.0 with 27.5 X 4.5 tires - were perfect on these well-packed, relatively flat trails. Then we started to climb. When the snow was well-packed, that was still OK. Then it started to get soft and it was hard to keep the bike rolling in places.

If we put a foot down, it would usually land beside the narrow groomed trail and drop more than knee deep in powder. Usually, this pulled the bike down on top of us. It was hilarious - at first - and very hard work.

There were some lovely sections on top where the trail was firmly packed. The descent from Larry's Glacier to the Chalet was excellent. We ran into a guy we'd noticed earlier since he had a Trek Farley carbon bike, a team jersey and obvious skills. He said it had been "brutal" on top but he was enjoying going back and forth on the last part of the trail. So we didn't feel quite so bad. It was our second time on fat bikes and I would still rather ski or snowshoe in winter but we'll definitely rent bikes again - maybe when the trail report is 5/5.

It was the best of times...









It was the worst of times. :)

Wonderful ski on the Kolapore Wilderness Trails. It was mostly sunny with a bitter wind but we were dressed properly as long as we kept moving. Our packs were full of extra layers that we never needed.

We decided against Northwest Passage because of the open areas where the wind would reduce the fun factor. We skied Kolapore Church across to Marc's Folly to the summit of Mount Dhaulagiri for a lunch break (time deducted). Then we continued across to John's Portage, Kingsway and out to the Kolapore Church parking lot.

We'd planned more but whenever the wind gusted, the deciduous forest creaked loudly. There were plenty of dead trees and branches waiting for an excuse to fall. Aside from that, it was perfect. In 3 hours, we met about a dozen people on one of the busiest weekends of the winter (Family Day).

Excerpts from my homemade Valentine from 'Bent. :)

Beautiful dusk ski with my Valentine before the Highlands Nordic buffet. Nice to catch up with Goose and Coach LD over dinner and pig out on desserts including chocolate-dipped strawberries. Not bad for $20! :)

Unbelievably, it's the first time this year I've skied at Hockleycrest but it's their 53rd day of skiing this season! It snowed all day until mid-afternoon so the groomed tracks were partly filled and some trails had only been rolled before the snow started. There was one open field where I couldn't see the rolled trail so I wallowed slowly through the powder. I'm not complaining - it was awesome!

It's such a fun little trail network. It would be great for ski orienteering but it would be limited to people who are comfortable classic skiing on narrow trails without hitting trees on downhill curves. I don't think we could cover our costs.

Added a little extra distance/time for a loop where my GPS wasn't on.

AdventureDog had an X-ray for his sore elbow today (kaCHING!) and I got the call to pick him up after his sedation had mostly worn off.

Turned out my car battery was dead. Weird but no problem - I'd take 'Bent's van. Oops, forgot that 'Bent drove A-Dog to his appointment this morning so his van was at the dental office.

So instead of the lovely midday Hockleycrest ski that I'd planned, I skied into town to get the van and pick up our boy. The vet noticed a couple of spots that might be mild arthritis but really nothing much to explain his limp. The X-rays have been sent on to a specialist for further review.

Time deducted for a conversation break with some hikers.

I harnessed up the mighty BazingaDog and took him for an easy, hilly snowshoe bushwhack through Palgrave West on this beautiful, wintry day. He is so strong that things could have gone very wrong if we'd seen any exciting wildlife but luckily, there were no major incidents. Well, there *was* the deer poop he rolled in, which meant I had to scrub him, his collar and his harness when we got home. Oh BazingaDog, you're such an animal.

Event: Stars W*A*R 2020
 

Stars W*A*R
Wasaga Beach Provincial Park

Browner and I teamed up for this race once again. It didn't take us long to make a route plan with some time checks and a few optional controls if we were ahead of time. There were three control pairs that offered bonus points if we visited them consecutively without any other control in between. We built them all into our plan.

Then we spent an equal amount of time figuring out (or guessing) control descriptions and writing them on the map since they weren't provided. Browner used her magnifying glass to figure out a few. This is a tricky area where up and down aren't always obvious. [Click for larger version.]



Controls 41, 42 and 43 would be removed after the first 15 minutes. They weren't valuable but with a false sense of urgency, we decided to do them first without thinking too hard. This is the only thing I would have changed about our plan. It would have been enough to visit two of them. It was a lot of running at the start!

Nick wasn't sure whether snowshoes would be a help or hindrance. The top overall teams ran without snowshoes but we opted to use them. The cleats were great for climbing the steep hills (dunes) and there were some soft areas where they helped and we didn't need to worry about twisted ankles.

We did 44 (with a bobble), 34 and 35 before crossing Veterans Way.

On the west side, we visited 33, 136, 135, 139, 148, 147, 32, 31, 133. The snowmobile trail network helped to pinpoint our location and the terrain was less hilly than the east side of the road.

We crossed back to the east side of the road and visited 141 before attempting another bonus pair 131-132. It was almost a bust since we passed close to 132 without seeing it then started exploring the area without a good plan. We relocated from a clearing and Browner saved the day by finding it in a location I'd ruled out because we'd previously been almost on top of it without seeing it.

Time was getting a bit tight so we started to run south-ish following snowshoe tracks that seemed to be heading to 38. They weren't. We didn't think we had time to relocate so we just carried on when we realized we'd overshot. Instead, we visited 40 before crossing the road and running across the field to the sports centre.

With a few exceptions, things went pretty well. We followed our plan almost perfectly, adding two of our optional controls and missing one. As always, Browner was a great teammate. We won the female category.

Huge congrats to Bob and Luka who cleared the course in just under 2 hours - wow! No one else cleared it in 2.5 hours although some came close. Congrats also to Timato and Nosnhoj, who were 2nd overall, and to 'Bent and Hammer, who were 3rd overall and won the Masters category. Huge thanks to Nick and the other volunteers!

Results

Our finish line photo. Browner had just taken off her snowshoes.



Timato secretly "improving" our photo.

'Bent and I went to Loree Forest to tire out the dogs since they'll be home tomorrow while we do the Stars W*A*R race. I was thinking we'd do about an hour of relatively flat snowshoeing but with the sunshine and deep, fluffy new snow, we couldn't resist heading down the Back Bowl trail. We've done it in past Snowshoe Raids but we didn't have a map or compass so when we bushwhacked to get back to the Loree plateau, we watched the angle of the sun to make sure we were on track. It was spectacular. We ended up staying out for 2 hours and climbing a few hills - a terrific pre-race rest day. Time includes a lot of photography and videography.

The overnight snowstorm "over-performed", as the weather forecaster would say, and we got 10-15 cm of fluffy new snow. It was hell for my long drive home from Kitchener last night although I had a lovely evening with Funderstorm and Adam Shoalts (well, I didn't actually meet him). But today it was a winter wonderland in Palgrave Forest. I mostly skied in 'Bent's tracks from this morning but I broke some trail on my own. It wasn't fast but it was fun and beautiful!

The upper right outside part of my heel is quite sore - a very small area, almost a point pain. It's been a week and a half since it got banged by the sharp corner of some furniture that we were moving. Because I was having heel pain elsewhere before that, I don't know if this current pain is related to the furniture or whether it's an evolution of my earlier heel pain (part of the Achilles attachment maybe) or...? The places that used to hurt on that heel feel fine at the moment. As Gilda Radner used to say, "It's *always* something."

Another film fest on the treadmill - running, indoor and outdoor climbing and extreme skiing.

Jam Jam demonstrated his NordicTrack X22i treadmill (given to him because he's an influencer). Looks interesting if you're going to use a treadmill sometimes. It goes up to 40% incline.
https://www.nordictrack.com/treadmills/x22i-inclin...

Home boot camp - a full body circuit including TRX, weight machine, free weights, body weight, resistance bands, stability ball, balance and steps.

Today's workout was inspired by the "tell me what I want to hear" strength training study Alex Hutchinson wrote about recently. Unless body building is the goal, researchers found that strength increases were about the same for one set vs. multiple sets per exercise - as long as participants used heavier weights and did exercises that involved different muscle groups. I did multiple sets of a few things that seemed particularly important but mostly did really good single sets of a whole bunch of things. It was not boring.

On today's episode of Fun with Maps:
____________________________________

Simon Weckert created a virtual traffic jam in Berlin by pulling 99 used smartphones in a wagon. A large number of phones moving slowly looks like a traffic jam to Google Maps.
https://www.maproomblog.com/2020/02/99-smartphones...

I spent half a month involved in jury duty in the summer of 2016 and now I've been summoned for jury selection on April 7. It was interesting and rewarding last time but it could interfere with spring races if I get chosen again, depending on the timing of the case and what the charges are. It really bugged me to see so many people making excuses to get off jury duty last time so I guess I'll go with plane tickets in hand and see what happens.

'Bent and I went for an amazing ski around the southern part of the ungroomed Kolapore Wilderness Trails. Although we saw a dozen cars parked by the trails on a beautiful Sunday, we didn't see anyone after the first 100 meters.

It felt like a homecoming since 'Bent worked on these trails for years, and we used to ski here when we started dating a looong time ago.

It had been snowing before we arrived and continued snowing most of the time we were out there so we moved at a leisurely pace. 'Bent's skin skis were highly effective at picking up the wet snow so I broke trail most of the time. My waxless racing skis worked fine but touring skis would have been good too. We skied a loop from the old bottling plant through County Forest, Kingsway, Jackrabbit, Quiet Pastures, Southern Crossing and County Forest.

This is the style of skiing we both grew up on, and we love it. It feels more like a journey than a training session. We stopped for photos, snacks, views and interesting trees, and that time is all included.

Highlands red trail - including the Woolner Loop for the first time this year! 'Bent had some technical difficulties at first and didn't pass me until the 6 km mark. The trails were in great shape and pretty fast even though I was just using waxless skis. The trees still had plenty of snow from the storm two weeks ago but it's a more reasonable amount, and no branches are dangling over the trails anymore. It was pretty much perfect, especially when snow started to fall later in the afternoon. I hope the groundhog sees his shadow tomorrow so we can enjoy six more weeks of winter.

Then, with help from Goose and Coach LD, I tested two different pairs of skis. I might be shopping, sort of. :)