Training Log Archive: Bash

Eco-Endurance Challenge

Crash and I flew to Halifax via Fredericton, watching snippets of the royal wedding along the way.



It was a foggy day in Halifax. We walked all around downtown - probably too far for the day before a 24-hr race on foot. We went through the Citadel - the old fort that overlooks the city.









Then had a typical Nova Scotia pre-race dinner - yum...



For some reason, the SPOT Tracker refuses to respond to any new batteries I put in it, so our route won't be displayed online. Guess I need to talk to Tech Support and see if I've got another faulty unit.

Catch you after the Eco-Endurance Challenge!

2-hour stopover in sunny Fredericton. It's not so sunny in Halifax, we hear. Glad we brought a selection of possible race clothes.

Wishing all the best to our friends racing at the Frontier Adventure Challenge tomorrow. Have a great time!

Crash and I are off to Halifax early tomorrow morning. The 24-hr Eco-Endurance Challenge starts at 12 noon Halifax time. Phatty & Harps and Tiny & M&M will also be competing.
http://ecoendurancechallenge.ca

Looking forward to meeting O9Man, NSAR and other east coast adventure racers. We're also excited about our pre-race lobster dinner! :) Have a great weekend, everyone.

The Salomon Door2Trail Demo Tour is coming to southern Ontario. (And other places too...)
http://www.salomonflightcrew.com/index.php?page=do...

Running Free Markham, May 5 (see ya there!)
Running Free Ajax, May 10
Brand new Running Free Orangeville, May 12
5-8 p.m.

Also:
Salomon Store Toronto, May 7
Adventure Guide Waterloo, May 9

If you drop by, you can try out the new XR Crossmax "door to trail" shoes for free on local trails. These shoes are aimed at runners who run on pavement to get to a trail, but I know some runners are using the shoes exclusively on road or trail. If you have questions, ask them here and I'm sure Phatty would be only too delighted to respond.

Everyone who tests the shoes at one of these events will receive a Salomon gift. :) More details are on the website along with a Door2Trail contest entry with cool prizes.

I just got a pair so I can't provide a review yet. I will say that the tread looks awesome for trails and I'm thinking this might be a good shoe for adventure races or rogaines where I expect to hit a mix of road and trails - it has a little more cushioning than a standard trail shoe.

Thunder and super heavy rain today interspersed with periods of warm sunny weather with weird dark clouds on the horizon. More to come later tonight. Luckily, it's a light training week because Crash and I are starting a 24-hr rogaine on Saturday at noon.

I finally took my increasingly creaky right shoulder (along with the rest of me) to see Thumbs of Death. As my googling had suggested, I've strained my rotator cuff. It's not really a new thing but it's become steadily worse in recent months. Apparently I can blame the problem on some combination of a broken collar bone in childhood and my massive pecs. Well, I think he actually described them as "overly tight, stiff" pecs pulling the shoulder forward. Anyway, the biomechanics all made sense as he explained things to me while inflicting horrible pain on various soft tissues. He sent me home with a few pages filled with photos of Leanimal doing shoulder exercises. Contrary to what I might have thought, I need to force myself to do some things that have been hurting rather than avoiding those movements or compensating by using larger muscles at different angles. Ouch.

Just heard that Running Free Orangeville is opening this Friday with a big 20%-off-everything sale!
http://www.runningfree.com/news.aspx

Treadmill intervals on a rainy day. Fastest interval was the pace I would *like* to do 10K at, but never have. Let's see if I can make that interval last a little longer each time.

Exciting day... a big box arrived full of my 2011 Salomon Flight Crew gear. A pair of the XR Crossmax shoes that I've been keen to try (Bay Blue - yahoo!) and (a happy surprise since I didn't know they existed) women's S-LAB 3 XT Wings! I used men's S-LAB 2s last year for my long trail races because I love the good tread, the light weight and (I'll admit it) the fast-looking sunset colours. I had my fingers tightly crossed for an Advanced Skin Pack and yay, it was in there. Also got some cool compression wear, sleek jackets and a cute hoodie... it's like Christmas! All the spring/summer gear is in the Salomon Store and at Running Free now. For the folks who live around here, the new Running Free in Orangeville is about to open.

'Bent had already done the short run prescribed for him by Coach Spaff today, so we were careful to keep this ride as ankle-friendly as possible. We rode first to Palgrave Village where I voted for a candidate who has no chance of winning. Then we headed to Albion Hills to ride hilly single track in the north end, including a newly built section of trail we hadn't seen before.

It's the first time I've done lots of bike training in October-March and I was impressed at how much difference it made. My power feels better than usual for early spring but as usual, I'll have to get more riding under my belt to regain my feel for technical trails. I chickened out of a few things I know I can ride and steered too close to some obstacles, knocking my left foot out of the clip a few times.

It's supposed to rain for the rest of the week so this might be the last Albion ride for awhile.

While watching more Daily Shows saved on the PVR. Jon Stewart was talking about U.S. Senator Jon Kyl who stated that abortions make up over 90% of what Planned Parenthood does and thus they should not get federal funding. The correct number is about 3% and no federal money is allowed to be spent on abortions anyway. His office later said that his statement in the Senate was "not intended to be a factual statement". Politicians can be so entertaining...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/15/jon-kyl-p...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/12/jon-stewa...

From the Attackpoint Facebook page:

"Any posts/updates from Thursday that were missing after Friday's restore are now back as of Sunday morning. I checked each of these manually and did not restore anything that you had already re-posted yourself."

Only on Attackpoint would that happen... Thanks for your dedication, Ken!

Turns out Hingo will be overseas on business from next weekend until APEX, so he brought a bin of gear over to review. Great opportunity for us to do more specific planning. Hard to believe it's only one month till we'll be racing!

After the gear chat, we tested our lights with a quick night run around Short Bruce Loop. All is well although the Night Lightning is definitely more comfortable on a helmet mount than a headlamp strap, especially if you're running. If any Night Lightning owners have good solutions for running with them, please let me know!

Many of us live in areas where wild turkey hunting season opens tomorrow and closes on May 31. In 2010, Ontario hunters reported over 9,000 turkeys taken during the spring season. (There is also a much less active fall turkey season.) Hunters are allowed to shoot from half an hour before sunrise until 7 p.m.

Some public forests with hiking trails are open to hunters so be aware of the hunting regulations in your area. A hiker was shot and killed a few kilometers from our house several years ago and the hunter was acquitted because the judge ruled that he had obeyed all the laws governing hunting in Ontario. Thus it is our responsibility as people who do outdoor activities to learn about hunting seasons in our area, wear bright colours, avoid areas that are popular with hunters, etc. You can get info at http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca - but set aside lots of time because they don't make it easy for the uninitiated.

Just because an area is prohibited for hunting doesn't mean you can let down your guard. A couple of years ago, there were turkey hunters out on opening day shooting their guns in Palgrave Forest and Wildlife Area and even on our property. If this ever happens to you, phone the Ministry of Natural Resources and they will rush right over in a week or so. Phone the police and they will drive around the block, then tell you they're busy and you shouldn't bother them with minor issues like people illegally discharging firearms on your property. Phone the Conservation Authority and they will sigh sympathetically and tell you that they've had no luck with the MNR or the police.

You can probably guess how I know that.

I'm visiting my folks in Brantford this weekend so I met Kirikou in Paris for a ride along the Grand River to the far side of Brantford, staying on the north side on our way out and returning on the south side until we crossed the bridge at Brant Park. I was thinking "relaxing rail trail ride" but there are a few surprising hills near Paris (trail doesn't follow the old rail line there) and when we hit a major headwind on the way back, it was almost as good as hill training. (I use the word "good" in the most positive, "the wind is my training partner" sense.)

The hourly weather forecast had said rain all night, cloudy at 9 a.m. and sunny at 10 a.m. It looked like crap when we first met but at 9:57 a.m., the sun broke through and it ended up being a fantastic day for a ride - as long as we didn't mind getting splattered in the face by the mud puddles.



Afterward, Kirikou saw a cool-looking deck on the far side of the Grand River in Paris which turned out to be the Brown Dog Coffee Shoppe. Awesome atmosphere sitting outside overlooking the river where we saw several canoeists on the fast-moving water. There's a great menu so this cafe would make an excellent destination ride (or paddle). Since K and I each live with brown dogs, we had to have Brown Dog Mochas. (I even have a brown dog *named* Mocha!) For nutrition, we ate fruit in the form of a fresh-made apple fritter - so hot we had to wait to eat it.

Training is hell sometimes...



Great to catch up with Kirikou - can't believe it had been 7 months, and with a new job and parenthood fast approaching, he and Mel have lots of cool stuff going on.

Welcome back, Attackpoint! As most people know, the site was down because of an outage (still ongoing) of a cloud from Amazon Web Services.
http://www.npr.org/2011/04/21/135614890/amazon-ser...

Many thanks to Ken for hanging in there, drinking lots of coffee on our behalf, then finally making the tough decision to restore AP from a back-up taken two hours before the outage. As one person commented on Attackpoint's new Facebook page, "Have started realizing how boring the Internet is without AP." ;)
http://www.facebook.com/attackpoint

This made it so clear that AP is not about the training log which I could do in Excel if I just wanted a few numbers; it's about the great people out there. I missed you guys! :)

If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one to hear it...?

And if I manage to convince myself to run the hilly Hockley Loop but Attackpoint is down so I can't tell anyone, where's the fun in that?

This was a fun run with tunes - my fastest-ever time around the loop, which is a little longer than it has been in the past. The trails are in good shape with a few tiny patches of snow and ice that will disappear shortly and a lot of mud that will be goopier as the weather warms up. In the low part of the Anderson Tract (northeast side), there is no way to avoid the marshy bit so if you like dry feet, start your loop on 5th Line.

There were a bunch of GPS off-and-on moments when I got to the main Nottawasaga River tributary. WOW, it is huge right now for a little river - and full of debris. I just had to explore and stare. Even though the water never gets deeper than 18", you could drown yourself in a kayak pretty easily right now. I now understand why there are so many boardwalks and bridges in that area. It always seemed like overkill till now.

CTS Progressive Power DVD - Class #2, "Driving Your Cadence" led by Chris Carmichael. One-legged intervals followed by 3 X 3 hard-as-you-can-go power intervals. This class introduced me to my new favourite thing to do on a trainer - "stomps" where you go into your biggest gear and pedal as hard as you can for 10-20 seconds while staying seated, followed by a recovery period before a slightly longer stomp. I've always liked pushing bigger gears than I should, and I could maintain a steady 310-320 W for this - higher than I've hit before on this trainer, even as a max. Guess that's the whole point of intervals!

Two important things I learned from Coach Chris today:

1) When you're practising proper pedal dynamics, focus on the feeling of pulling back at the exact bottom of the pedal stroke. At the same time (but slightly less important), think about kicking forward at the exact top of the stroke. You don't need to think about pushing down - that will happen automatically. Most of us spend too much time focusing on that.

2) If snot is not dripping out of at least one nostril, you're not working hard enough in your power intervals.

Catching up on my Daily Shows.

If anyone is interested in doing the 4-day Apex Race in Switzerland at the end of May, there are a couple of teams looking for members. Race organizers can be contacted at http://www.theapexrace.com

The pics look awesome.

Team Running Free (Harps, Relentless, M&M, JRanson) and the Tree Huggers (Hingo, T. Rex, DMallory, Bash) will be there too!

Aeroplan flight to Halifax next weekend - $81
Local seafood dinner - $50
24-hr wilderness navigation race with Crash - $80
15 cm of snow hitting the Maritimes tonight - Priceless

Snow and hail again! That's OK because I was curious to see whether I'd correctly assembled the treadmill from the dozens of screws, washers and miscellaneous large and small parts that came in the box. I thought it might not be happy that 'Bent and I had heaved it unceremoniously around our yard contrary to the BIG WARNING in the owner's manual. Miraculously, it worked just fine. Sadly, it does not have a miles/km toggle which I thought every treadmill had in 2011. I can't think in miles! Oh well, the math will give me something to do.

There is an iPod docking station (yay) which isn't compatible with iPhone4 or iPod Shuffle, which is all I have (boo) but I can still plug into the sound system even though I can't use the controls. Crazy - who knew that treadmills came with speakers? Good ones! Unfortunately, the fast forward button only works with the sound system, not my feet.

Having figured out the basics, I did a warm-up followed by a pyramid of 2-minute intervals climbing up to 10 km race pace, then descending to cool down.

After two trips with a borrowed 31-lb Ironcase bike box, I've decided to lose over 20 lb by travelling with a Pika Packworks bike bag. I was a little nervous about moving from hard to soft case but the reviews are good and there are definite advantages to being able to fold up and stow your bike bag at your destination. I'll keep you posted on how it goes!

Here's the basic info:
<http://www.competitivecyclist.com/product-accessor...>

It didn't catch my eye at all until I read this review by CompetitiveCyclist.com. I thought it was too light. Since then, I've found several other positive comments and reviews, including comments about pro cyclists using it.
<http://www.competitivecyclist.com/za/CCY?PAGE=PROD...>

Video on how it works:
http://www.youtube.com/user/competitivecyclist#p/u...

It's a one-man company and I ordered it directly from the guy who makes them on his own sewing machine. He will ship it tomorrow - $50 to Canada.
http://www.pikapackworks.com/

It doesn't look like a bike so a lot of people buy this bag to avoid paying extra fees when they fly. Don't think I'll take that chance for APEX but we'll see how it looks!

TOC Mob Match at L'Amoreaux Park in Scarborough. There was snow on the ground at our place when I left with more coming down. I went through even heavier snow as I drove south. At the event itself, there was a little rain, a little hail, a lot of snow and some seriously gusty wind. Perfect for an adventurous Sunday morning!

As promised, WandAR showed up wearing her bunny ears after an awesome 3rd place in the grueling, chilly, mucky 29 km Seaton Trail Test yesterday. We ran together for awhile and she placed 3rd again today on the Long Course. The TOC prize table was much richer so it's good that she came.

It was a fast race - a mix of park and urban sprint. The navigation wasn't difficult but controls were sometimes tucked away, which rewarded accuracy. Glenn B. and I fought it out on the Long Course until #8, which we punched together. We'd made slightly different route choices along the way but at this point, he announced his intent to go east while I was clearly going west. "See you there!", I said. But I didn't. In fact, we didn't see each other till after the finish. The west route worked out faster by 3 minutes - but he made a wrong turn along the way so we'll never know what really would have happened.

Yahoo, I squeaked out the women's win on the Long Course by 3 minutes, which mattered because the prize was 12 Steamwhistle Premium Pilsner - Bullfrog-powered, even. You gotta love an orienteering club whose president works in promotion at a classy beer company. Mick won the men's Long Course with a time of 44-something and Nick was just a minute behind. Almost everyone got a prize - some people more than one. Thanks to TOC's volunteers for being outside in very nasty weather - literally hanging onto the finish control - while we got to run around and keep warm.

Sure, the weather forecast was 20-30 mm of rain, gusty 60 kph winds and high 9C, but we had scored a repeat invitation to the best adventure race money can't buy, the Wild B.O.A.R. (That's the Bolton Organic Adventure Race, by the way, although there is talk of renaming it to the Bolton Adventure Racing Festival if folks can live with the new acronym.)

This amazing event was Goose's brainchild for his 29th birthday last year. His gift to us was a well-organized, navigationally challenging, strategically complex, physically demanding adventure race in our own back yard. Well OK, I'll admit that last week's Giant's Rib Raid set a totally new standard when it comes to racing in my own back yard, but you know what I mean.

In a press release that came out shortly before the event, this year's course design was described as "elegant in its simplicity". There were 6 mandatory CPs ranging from Bolton to Albion Hills with 23 optional CPs spread across the countryside. To finish ranked, a team had to visit the mandatory CPs (all with SI controls) and return to the finish within 4 hours. There was a ribbon at each optional CP and one teammate had to take a photo of the other at the ribbon. Each optional CP was worth one bonus point. No teams finished ranked last year so the winner of today's race would be named the first-ever Wild BOAR champion.

We were assigned partners well ahead of the event. The team with the best costume would be granted one extra point, so advance planning was required. In honour of MEC's 40th anniversary and their final catalogue (sniffle!), this year's costume theme was "Retro Outdoors". Teams needed to wear their costume for the first trekking leg, then they could ditch it in a TA bag if they wanted.

I don't know all the team names, unfortunately. Phatty and Mrs. Biker represented Supersonic Airlines in honour of the Concorde which started flying in the sixties and thus counts as "retro". And of course, planes are known to fly "outdoors".



Coach LD and VO2Max were resplendent in their retro outfits. VO2Max's mother's vintage ski pants really pulled the team's look together.



Tiny and Rocky were a force to be contended with.



Scooby and Leanimal - too cool for school.



Team Biker Bash. Yes, that *is* a bug headnet and my retro T-shirt was from Gretzky's retirement day. (Once a Brantford girl, always a Brantford girl.)



It was a little different from last year's costume! And so was the weather.



And the Best Costume Winners in their red K-Way ensembles, Mrs. Tiny and 'Bent!



The maps and instructions were detailed and excellent as always, and Goose gave a race briefing shortly before we headed out into the rain.



We loaded bikes, canoes and gear bags. The logistics for this race are incredible, especially when you consider that Goose is driving around and managing just about everything. We saw him at every TA.



The race began on foot with the option to go into Bolton Camp to pick up several CPs using a 28-year-old hand-drawn map. Several teams, including ours, chose to bypass that map and run directly via Bolton trails and streets to TA1 where our bikes awaited. Biker and I don't know Bolton Camp and didn't want to risk wasting time in there. The rain felt very refreshing by the time we'd climbed out of the valley. At TA1, we pulled off a few costume pieces and jumped on bikes. With Biker pushing me on the uphills and my broken suspension bobbing away, we pedalled madly to the south side of Albion Hills, arriving just ahead of Phatty and Mrs. Biker.

Biker and I had planned to leave Albion Hills at the 2-hour mark, which gave us time to pick up 5 optional CPs. This turned out to be a mistake since the top teams invested their energy in the final section of the race in the Humber Valley. I'd decided to focus more effort on Albion Hills since we're both very familiar with it and there are lots of trails, but with 20/20 hindsight, it wasn't the best call since CPs were farther apart.

Biker was strong on foot and bike but I didn't have it today - not sure if it was last weekend's race in my legs, lack of sleep or what. It was Biker's first adventure race and he did an awesome job, keeping a positive attitude and pushing his comfort zone.

My only photos during the race were at optional CPs so unfortunately there aren't a lot of scenery or action shots. Rain on the lens ruined some pics.





After an excellent aid station with homemade cookies, whole bananas, M&M's and much more, we biked to the Castlederg Rd. bridge over the Humber River.



I'd foolishly forgotten my gloves in an earlier TA bag and got chilled from the strong headwind. Before paddling for an hour, I dug into my pack to extract Goretex overmittens, which saved my race. I got the idea from Relentless at Untamed; they were awesome. This section of the Humber has more rocks than the section we usually paddle and was shallow in places. There were lots of sweepers and logs to avoid and some class 1 riffles. Biker has done almost no canoe paddling in his life and this wasn't the ideal place for a beginner to learn. He was a trooper though and put up with my calling out instructions for an hour straight - sometimes in a bit of a panic, like when we got pulled up against sweepers. We got through without any portages - although we had to rock ourselves over one log. I'd like to do this section in my Hero before the water gets too low.

At one point, we saw 'Bent and Mrs. Tiny clambering back into their canoe. Confused, we asked them if they had a supplemental map with optional CPs and they said "Yes, we'll show it to you if you like." At that point, we were already pressed to get back on time so we thanked them but I wondered about the map. Turns out I hadn't noticed that our final map included both the paddle and the final trek section - oops. We probably wouldn't have visited the canoe CPs anyway but I did feel kinda stupid.

After dropping off our canoe at Duffy's Lane, I was chilled again and happy to get moving. Biker and I had numb toes from kneeling so it took us a couple of minutes to feel right. We decided not to mess around. We picked up two optional CPs and one mandatory CP in the Humber Valley before dashing to the finish line with 9 minutes to spare.





Leanimal and Scooby were already there and (as we later learned) had picked up 13 optional CPs, earning the top place on the podium. We awaited the other teams, counting down to the 4-hour deadline.



'Bent and Mrs. Tiny were late, while Coach LD and VO2Max reached the finish line at 4 hours even without their SI card, which Goose had already found. So those teams were 2nd and 1st respectively in the hotly contested DNF category. Biker and I were ranked 4th, receiving an extra point for "best retro find brought to the finish" - a bamboo ski pole. We all agree, though, that Tiny and Rocky had the best retro find with their pair of downhill ski boots. Unfortunately, they could not be given credit since they put the ski boots in their gear bag at a TA, thus thumbing their noses at Goose's instruction to "bring back" their find.

Phatty and Mrs. Biker were 3rd, Tiny and Rocky were 2nd, and Leanimal and Scooby took the win. Well done, all!

The post-race showers, meal and awards ceremony were excellent.



And once again, Goose got a Wild BOAR birthday cake.



Many thanks to Goose for all his hard work to give us a fantastic gift for his own birthday. Thanks also to Gosling, the assistant race director, who was out there in the rain in spite of being sick today, and to Coach LD and Pops, who also provided support. It was another great day of playing outdoors with our crazy crew. Happy Birthday (next weekend, actually), Goose! :)

Tapering for tomorrow's 2nd Annual Wild B.O.A.R. It's hard to imagine a worse weather forecast for this highly-anticipated, well-organized and super-fun event but that just means there is nowhere to go but up!

Vote mobs? Cool! Thank you, Rick Mercer. If you're between 18 and 25, please do what young people around the world are dying to do - vote.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottaw...

Finally back at it in a busy week. Dropped my car off in Palgrave to get the snow tires taken off. (And hopefully, different tires will be put on!) I'd tossed my bike in the back so I could run some errands. Went to Caledon Hills Cycling in Inglewood, then returned via the LCBO and grocery store in Caledon East where I picked up goodies and drinks for Saturday's Wild B.O.A.R. post-race meal. My pack was at its heaviest by the time I got close to home and had to ride up some hills on gravel roads. Fantastic day!

The Bad News: No training on a crisp, clear spring day.

The Good News: Taxes are done.

Best Line from the Leadership Debate. (OK, the Globe thought it was the low point but the Star loved it and so did I.)

“I don’t know why we need more prisons when the crooks are so happy in the Senate.” — NDP Leader Jack Layton

CBC's Reality Check Team fact-checked the debate. Interesting.

Picked up Dog Bones Matrix controls in Palgrave West. The wind was dangerously gusty today and I didn't know if I'd be able to get into the forest at all. When I did go out late in the day, there were half a dozen new trees down between our place and the conservation area! The wind was still a little strong for my comfort so I tried not to hang around old deciduous trees for any longer than I had to.

My fears were warranted; here's what control D looked like.


You might remember control D in happier times when Getawaystix dashed up to it being filmed by High Speed Mick. Frankenjack is also on camera until the trail junction.
http://gallery.me.com/mikewaddmobileme#100006

Not a light read but if you're interested in the science of forefoot vs. heel strike and shod vs. barefoot running, a doc from The Urban Athlete has been reviewing the literature. Bottom line: some things have been proven but less than what many people believe. One thing mentioned here that I've seen mentioned before is the lack of research linking reduced/changed biomechanical forces to reduced injury.

Another interesting point I haven't seen before: the studies have focused almost exclusively on the fastest runners. There is virtually no information on people like me who run slower than 5-minute kilometers, i.e. the vast majority of the running population. Kinda interesting since the people with slower turnover spend more time with their feet on the ground. As Lisa Bentley said in a seminar we attended, "I've never had a running injury while my feet were off the ground so I try to limit the time they spend on the ground."

Funderstorm and I were supposed to paddle the Grand today but - ironically - thunderstorms rolled in at the appointed hour. Our weather here was a nice mix of rain, heavier rain, lightning and gusty winds. Then in late afternoon, the sun came out and 'Bent and I made a dash to the Duffy's Lane bridge over the Humber River north of Bolton.

I wanted to try out my new Hero. Here is the last-ever photo of it looking clean.



'Bent borrowed Goose's old Perception Dancer and had a great time - except for wrenching his knee every time he had to get in or out of the cockpit. He wasn't overly enthusiastic about my buying two kayaks in two months but he is visibly jealous that my Hero can be tossed in the back of a Subaru like a bicycle. :)



We had a fun paddle down to Hickman St. in Bolton, passing through some class 1 riffles and steering around sweepers, logs and the odd rock. Only one portage at this water level.

The late afternoon light was beautiful and we saw ducks, muskrats, blue herons and hawks.



I didn't want to fall into the murky water so I didn't experiment with the boat too much today. I'd like to get a feel for its initial and final stability, and of course I'd like to try to roll it before I forget what I learned last weekend. But for now, I'm being a princess and holding out for cleaner, deeper water.



Bricked this with a great meal at Baffo's in Bolton, served by none other than Mrs. Scooby.

Garmin estimates that I burned 2,000 calories in yesterday's race. I don't usually take those numbers too seriously but I do like having a good excuse to pig out. :)

Salomon Dontgetlost.ca Giant's Rib Raid adventure run with Goose and Coach Chuet.

Amazing spring day with some pockets of snow and ice to keep things interesting. The Giant's Rib Raid always gets perfect spring weather when it comes to Caledon. It should come here more often!

A record crowd... 75 teams racing in three event distances - 25% higher than our previous record year.

An interesting and challenging course that included some brand new maps.

Great time sitting on the deck in the sunshine afterward, enjoying our burgers, chatting with friends and cheering the teams as they came in.

Thanks to all the people who worked so hard on this event, particularly course setters Griz and Bender. Thanks also to the hard working volunteers who gave us such a great experience on event day - Etoile, Backwoods, Hammer, Gosling, Crash, Dunc and many more.

When we got the race maps, I was pleasantly surprised to see our property in bounds and a control placed on the hill behind our house! 'Bent had given permission. If I'd known people would be running through our property, I would have picked up this week's doggie landmines. Apologies to anyone affected.

Goose, Coach Chuet and I reviewed the maps, planned a strategy for the tricky Dog Bones section, then headed for the bus. As I'd guessed (because I knew some intermediate maps had been made), we started racing at Glen Haffy Conservation Area, travelled along the Bruce Trail Side Trail and adjacent conservation land, then explored Palgrave before running down to Albion Hills to pick up a few final controls. Even though this is my neighbourhood, the course setters got me to a few places I'd never seen before, especially on the new maps where I'd rarely ventured off the Bruce Trail since I didn't know where the private land was.

Goose and Coach are both faster runners than I am so I pushed harder than I normally would in a long race. Coach mostly does road races so I was able to hold my own in the woods but when we hit roads, I was happy to take advantage of Goose's speedy tow rope.

Goose and I navigated together, which went well. Most of the time, we were on the same page and there were a few times when one or the other of us was more in tune with the map. We had a couple of minor bobbles and one bad route choice in Albion Hills where we were thwarted by an out of bounds area and the uncrossable river. Other than that, things went pretty smoothly and efficiently.

We leapfrogged the Salomon Bobkittens and I desperately wished they would just run away from us - either ahead or behind - because whenever Goose and Leanimal see each other during an event, the race is ON. I thought I would die if we had to keep going that speed.

Near the halfway point, Coach started to bonk so Goose and I divided up the Dog Bones section to give her a chance to rest, eat and drink. It was her first adventure run and she'd only agreed to take 'Bent's place a few days before the race, but her regular level of fitness is so high that she was able to hang tough till the end.

One of the Dog Bones checkpoints was literally in our back yard and I insisted on doing that one since I may never get that chance again! So cool to see an SI control on top of our hill.

After that, Goose towed both of us to Albion Hills with the Bobkittens just ahead. "We're catching up!" he exclaimed. "Let them go - they're in a different category!" I spluttered, wondering if Albion Hills had a defibrillator. Around that time, 'Bent and Coach LD (Goose's wife) rode past on their bikes and cheered us on.

Fortunately, we bobbled the first control in Albion HIlls (#16) and the relocation gave me a chance to catch my breath and get some oxygen to my brain. After that, I felt good for the rest of the race.

Relative to other teams, this may have been the best Tree Hugger Raid time. The winners, Explore the Bruce (including Frankenjack and Getawaystix), and runners up (Nick's team) were separated by just 28 seconds after 3 hrs 15 min. Congrats, guys! :) The 3rd place team (NewPatrick, Sudden, Turbo) took 3 hrs 53 min. The first Coed team was 4 hrs 23 min and we were the 3rd Coed team in 4 hrs 43 min. We were also top Masters and 9th overall. Yes, the Bobkittens edged us out which means the universe is working as it should! I'm very proud of our team, especially our first-time racer Coach Chuet. Thanks for pushing the pace, Goose!.

Thanks to Phatty and Leanimal for the yummy post-Raid BBQ and birthday party for Dog Runner. Nice to hang out and catch up with some great friends.

I am soooooo exhausted - zzzzzz.

I'm thinking about doing the 6-day, 225-250 km Coastal Challenge ultrarun in Costa Rica next January. Has anyone done it or do you have opinions based on what you've heard? I can and will write friends of friends like Jen Segger and Jim Mandelli if I get serious about it, but first I'm curious to see if anyone I know has the scoop. Trav, Baloney? This sounds like your territory - although now that you're in Hawaii, I suspect you may not be reading Attackpoint in detail.

Easy spin to keep the legs loose for tomorrow. Watched The Daily Show.

'Bent and Griz spent the afternoon setting up GRR controls. I was banished from the area when they started chatting.

Arrived at the Bus Parcel Express window in Barrie today.

BPX Guy: I'll go get your package.

BPX Guy returns a few minutes later looking very concerned: Where are you parked?

Me: Just down the street.

BPXG: Did you know this is a kayak?!?!?

Me: Yeah, I knew.

And so my Hero has arrived (previous year's model)! Need to figure out how to set it up to fit me as I'm not really sure. Urthbuoy, where are you when I need you? Oh right, about 4,000 km away. Foot brace system isn't as nice as the fancier model I tried in the store but otherwise it looks good. Funderstorm, we need to make a date.
http://jacksonkayak.com/jk-kayaks/whitewater/hero-...

I thought we owned every kind of first aid supply ever invented but here's something new from the APEX mandatory gear list. Maybe it's something they use more in Switzerland:
--- Non-elastic bandage 5 m X 10 cm ---

Anyone know what this is or how it would be sold? Maybe it's fabric like a triangular bandage except not so... triangular?

Resting the legs before Saturday's Salomon Dontgetlost.ca Giant's Rib Raid. Foolishly, I managed to team up with two people who can totally kick my butt - Coaches Goose and CHuet. Yikes, I might as well attach the back of the tow rope to myself now.

Another reason for paddling... I'm heading to Barrie tomorrow to pick up my whitewater kayak from the MEC Gear Swap. Over the weekend, it made its way by Greyhound from B.C. to Ontario. :)

When I used my Garmin HRM for the first time on Saturday, my photography stops triggered unusual behaviour in part of the route map created by my Attackpoint Garmin download. Apparently, most people just *run* when they run. Ken, aka Mr. Attackpoint, launched an investigation and had it fixed in no time. This wasn't an urgent problem but that's the kind of support we get here - much better than a lot of products and services for which we pay more.

Newer users may not know that Attackpoint is managed by Ken Walker, a guy with a young family, a day job, a speedy set of running legs and a way with a map. Running Attackpoint costs him money and for those of us who are using AP regularly and feel we're getting value, the suggested donation is $25 US / year.

In addition to the warm glow of doing the right thing, donors get access to bonus features like the Garmin download, mixed training intensities in a workout, private log comments, privacy controls and more. You don't need to make a donation to benefit from Ken's excellent tech support - but hey, why not? :)

Fun, chilly Bruce Trail run in beautiful late afternoon light. Felt really good running - one of those days when it's amazing just to be alive and outdoors. Trail was about 95% mud and 5% snow and ice. There was a 30 m section of hard ice where I had to walk carefully in full injury prevention mode. Part of it was sloped sideways and I slid off the trail into the forest even when I was standing still. It's only been 4 days since Knee-Smashed-In-Barb-Jump and I didn't want a repeat performance. I could feel a little twinge but I think I've almost recovered from Friday's fall. This was one of my best times for this section of rolling trail and I'm looking forward to speed intervals when the trails dry out.

Bricked it up with a Daily Show trainer ride.

While watching The Daily Show X 2.

Oh good, *this* week it seems that endurance sports might not kill us after all. At least not quickly.

Meanwhile, the recent study showing heart fibrosis in longtime elite athletes looked at the question differently, finding a correlation (albeit not a proven cause/effect) between long term high level training and heart scarring.

This reminds me of those studies that say, alternately, that coffee or red wine will either kill us or help us live to a ripe old age. Until a consensus is reached, I'm sticking with the studies that make life more enjoyable. One of my greatest fears is finding out on my deathbed that the key to a longer life was daily hot fudge sundaes.

On a personal note, I had a bunch of testing 10 years ago after outdoor endurance activities triggered a few major incidents of heart arrhythmia. The docs couldn't figure it out and couldn't guarantee that exercise wouldn't kill me, but advised that the risks associated with becoming less active were probably higher than the risks of exercising. Once again, I went with the answer I wanted to hear. Since then, I discovered endurance sports and started training more seriously and the significant arrhythmias pretty much went away. Take *that*, British scientists! ;)

P.S. Make your own decisions. Don't take medical advice from me!

Congrats to Bender and Venus on the arrival of Mini-Bender late last night!

'Bent, Coach LD and I did an easy, flat trail ride to avoid stressing 'Bent's sore ankle. The trail is bikeable but there is plenty of mud and a few sections of snow/ice. We had to hose down our clothes afterward so they'd be clean enough to put in the laundry!

We stopped at the Inglewood General Store for an outdoor coffee and cookie. They dashed out apologetically, offering to clean the table and chairs because we were the first people to sit outside this season. We thanked them and suggested that they wait and clean up after we'd left, given our general state of muddiness. We stopped by Caledon Hills Cycling since they've got great stuff and we always run into people we know. Then back home to keep the pooches company after our long day out yesterday.

A most excellent bit of news from Frankenjack: he returned to the "scene of the crime" on the Humber River and saved his Forerunner from its watery fate. Phew.

35th Annual Humber River Downriver Race - This race has been on my radar for several years since it's so cool to see familiar places from unfamiliar points of view. In this case, it's an unusual view of Toronto as you follow the Humber River from Islington and Finch to just south of Hwy 401 near Weston Rd.



Canoes and kayaks were welcome; the kayaks were all cool racing boats. We had our whitewater canoe.



It was a small crowd but friendly and cheerful. We could warm up in a small rapid beside the start.





Our long lost NZ buddy Frankenjack was there. :)



As total neophytes, we'd brought every kind of gear just in case - air bags, dry suits, wet suits, helmets, etc. As it turned out, there were people using every kind of gear that we'd brought, i.e. a couple of guys in dry suits and a guy in T-shirt and shorts, paddlers in helmets and in ball caps. We learned at check-in that we'd be doing a shorter route because they hadn't been able to access Rowntree Mill Park, so we'd miss the class 2 section and just do class 1 and flatwater. The water was fairly low so we could walk to shore if we somehow managed to get ourselves in trouble. We ended up leaving a lot of gear behind.

We started from an eddy at 1-minute intervals, canoes ahead of kayaks. 'Bent and I started 3rd and moved up to 1st position for several kilometers. That's not as great as it sounds since we didn't have the benefit of being able to watch another boat pick lines ahead of us. The moving water wasn't difficult - we just had to avoid some sweepers, shallow sections and a few bigger rocks. More important was looking for the fastest line. We were passed halfway through the race, first by a kayak or two, then by the canoe that started behind us. Although we'd said we weren't really trying to race, the competitive juices started flowing! We noticed that they had a faster cadence and switched sides every few strokes, so we tried to emulate their excellent technique. We also noticed that they were using a Kevlar canoe and two bent shaft paddles, and there wasn't much we could do about that. Not sure I would have wanted to use our Kevlar canoe anyway, since we scraped bottom a couple of times, but we should have had two bent shaft paddles. 'Bent (of all people) had argued against it beforehand because of the rocks. I used an old repaired bent shaft and 'Bent used a regular paddle.



Although we gave a good chase to the canoe that passed us, they held their lead and ended up beating us by a little over a minute. The finish line was a low key set-up just south of the 401 at Dee Ave.



Frankenjack finished with a big smile considering that he'd dropped some important gear in the river halfway down, so he's going to have to go for a chilly swim tomorrow. At least it won't be as bad as his diving for the Zastera paddle blade after "we" lost it in Georgian Bay in December.



The post-race atmosphere reminded me of a local orienteering meet so I felt right at home. A bunch of friendly people sharing an interest in a niche sport, wandering around a parking lot, changing clothes by their cars, chatting happily to friends and strangers, snacking on cookies and pop.





As novices, 'Bent and I put on our silver medals backwards. Don't be impressed - there weren't many of us in the canoe category!



One of the paddlers told me this was one of the longest races they do all year - it's clearly a sprinter's sport. It was a fun day out and we'd definitely do one again. The organizers asked us to bring our friends next time!

'Bent guarded our canoe and Frankenjack's kayak while we headed back to the put-in where our cars were parked.



I'm not sure how FJ got there but I ran on the bike path along the Humber River.







In running back to the van, I kept up a good pace and was only a few minutes slower than Frankenjack's 10K PB! However, the distance was only 7.4K... :(

When I returned, I caught 'Bent doing Canoe Core.



Then off to the Salomon Store to see the new spring stuff Phatty selected. Great colours this season! (Or "colour stories" as Phatty has taught us to say.) Yay, the stretchable waterproof-breathable jackets finally have pit zips - or "Pete zips" as they're known in France since the idea originated with a certain Canadian. We had gift certificates from the Snowshoe Raid plus I indulged in the nice colours a little beyond that. :)

Two hours in a swimming pool class working on a progression of drills that led up to a kayak roll. We were using big plastic sea kayaks that I'd guess are probably more difficult to roll than my own boats.



I learned how to roll fifteen years ago but never tipped a kayak until recently so I lost the skill. Last time I learned it, we didn't go through so many intermediate steps so I found tonight's class really cool and useful. The initial focus was on getting the second part of the roll right, making it feel natural to move your body in the right manner to roll the kayak upright. Then we added the paddle.

1) While holding another kayak bow or the side of the pool with one hand, tip most of the way over and lie with your back in the water and your face just above the surface, staying relaxed, rotating your torso toward the front of the boat so that the line between your shoulders is parallel to the boat and you are leaning *way* out. Come back up as you would at the end of a roll, flicking your hips to start the boat rolling upright, then the body next, leaning way back toward the back deck of your boat, Your head comes out of the water last.

2) Do the same with an inflated paddle float in one hand instead of leaning against a kayak bow or pool side.

3) With the paddle float on your paddle, do the paddle motion of a roll, then come up moving your body the same way as in #1 and 2.

4) Remove the paddle float and attempt the roll for real.

Here's a view of me that will look familiar to Urthbuoy, Frankenjack and Getawaystix.



Here's what they would have preferred to see - me coming back to the surface without swimming and filling my boat with water. The biggest insight for me tonight was thinking of the paddle sweep as more of a brace that happens to sweep through the water at a slight angle. That mental image helps me keep the paddle at the right angle. When I think "sweep", I make the paddle too vertical and can't push off against it.



I think I was the only one in the class who did any unassisted rolls but I had the most motivation after tipping twice in rivers in the Canadian winter! My roll was only 50/50 after I got it; this is just the beginning of a *long* road toward learning how to do it consistently in the real, non-pool world. Fun evening!

Trail run fail with the loyal BulletDog. I expected mud and slush but it was mostly hard-as-rock ice. At the 1-minute mark, I went down so fast I don't even know what happened. Suddenly I was on my bad knee and both hands, breathless from pain. That freaked me out and made me super cautious for the rest of the run.

Couldn't get the stoopid Garmin heart rate monitor to work no matter what I tried - holding it close, waiting forever, running 55 minutes, slathering it with spit, etc. Maybe it's the battery...?

Then Thumbs-of-Death told my teammate 'Bent that he should skip the Giant's Rib Raid to give his ankle time to recover.

One ray of light is that if bad things happen in threes, I guess I'm done for the day. And the bad things that could happen while upside down in a kayak outweigh any of this stuff, and I'm (hopefully) learning to roll tonight.

March Report Card on 2011 Training Goals

The Good:
Expedition adventure race - APEX 4-day race in Switzerland in May. Aiming for one more.
24-hour rogaine + another 24+ hour AR - Eco-Endurance Challenge 24-hr rogaine with Crash in Halifax next month
Quality training any discipline 1+ sessions/week
Running 2+ hrs/week
Strength training 1+ hrs/week
Total annual training 550+ hrs - All on track

The Bad:
Make an effort to train/race with more people more often - Mostly solo training with a few fun exceptions, and no training with anyone for the first time. It's great to have 'Bent back in action (mostly) as his knee continues to recover. We joined the C3 triathlon club so there will be opportunities to train in different ways with different folks.

The Ugly:
50 km trail race and maybe a 50-miler - No ideas at all yet and it's something that needs to be planned for. Considering Creemore 25K again in early July - fun event.
Get 7+ hours of sleep on most nights - Not so much

Last month I added these smaller goals:
Get my kayak roll back - Pool clinic tonight
Get a bike computer with cadence and work on "getting it up" - Done (although increasing my natural cadence will be an ongoing battle)
Start using HRM again - Using old Polar with bike trainer. Will try Garmin HRM for today's run. (Report card-related guilt!)