Training Log Archive: Bash

Day 3, this time only unpacking the new house, which is more fun. Mostly Intensity Level 3 with just a few Level 5 intervals. At this point, the condo is relatively functional - coffee maker, toaster, Internet, TV, a good selection of clothing, beds made up, shower supplies located, etc. It's going to be really nice eventually. Mom and Dad felt relaxed enough to go out to a community dinner tonight. The next stage involves a lot of decision making that I can't help with, so I came home. Stupid upper respiratory infection is still hinting that it might get worse. I need better sleep, and a lot more of it!

Sore throat this morning and felt like I was heading downhill fast. Luckily, things improved later although I wouldn't have pushed my luck by doing any cardio - not that there was any spare time at all. Another very full day of helping my parents with their move, this time at Level 6 intensity. :)

I've been helping my parents move to a house half the size, taking more than half their stuff. Level 5 intensity in more ways than one. :) I even got in some snow shovelling and ice chopping.

With wind chill, it was supposedly -30C or colder this afternoon. Definitely nippy but also beautiful and sunny. The mid-day wind was just gusty enough to keep me out of the woods so I stomped around our property on snowshoes to create a 1 km snowshoe running loop for windy days when we want to avoid the forest. I passed over most sections four times but there was lots of powder, and my tracks were drifting in already so it may not last.

Although the trail needed more stomping, I'm feeling blah today so I quit while it was still fun. I might be getting a cold or maybe my body is just reminding me of how important it is to sleep well, which I haven't been.

Snow squall and wind chill warnings again, although it's looking like Palgrave missed most of the excitement. I did a random run on gravel roads covered with loose or packed snow and the occasional patch of ice. I had decent traction but it was like running in sand at times. I still haven't found a perfect route with no blind hills with huge snowbanks but I'm guessing that Finnerty Sideroad and the north end of Duffy's Lane may be the safest bet for future runs - at least until I'm ready to test my foot with pure snow running.

Hard to estimate total sleep since I tossed and turned for much of the night when my brain refused to turn off. Amongst other things, Dad has started on a new drug trial for multiple myeloma, a blood cancer he's had for almost 10 years. I'll be helping my parents move this week so will get to spend a good amount of time with them.

There is so much beautiful snow that we invited GYaneff to join us for a Big Ski Expotition. We parked a car at Albion Hills and started with a loop of the Red Trail. For the first couple of kilometers, conditions were about as nice as they ever get at Albion, then we came upon the broken-down groomer. After that, it was still good but we were on yesterday's tracks so the trail was a little more chewed up. GYaneff had never skied on groomed trails before so it was a new experience to be able to push a little harder.

We left Albion near the Tea Cup trail and got onto the rail trail for a kilometer. Then we had to be sneaky and take off our skis to bushwhack around the fence into the back of Reddington golf course. After skiing along a few rolling fairways covered with 30+ cm of powder, we entered Palgrave East and did a good portion of the old Red Trail, including the northeast section that has been closed to skiers to keep out mountain bikers. (Don't ask.)

We crossed Duffy's Lane into Palgrave West at the Bruce Side Trail, then bushwhacked through the back of K-Bash Woods and Wheelie Woods, eventually hitting our trail from yesterday near VO2Max's Skating Pond. We did some more powder skiing on the Wheelie Back Fields before rejoining the Charlevoix Loop, then back to our place on 'Bent's commuting trail.

A little more than a half-marathon with a mix of groomed trail, powder, bushwhacking, open fields and only 3 road crossings. It was farther than GYaneff had skied before so he was pretty excited. We were excited too since it's not often that the snow is good enough to do this. Last winter we didn't get to do this route at all. Lunch and cookies afterward tasted soooo good.

Tired! But good tired.

Yahoooo!!! Brittany Webster, Caledon native and former Tree Hugger racer, has been named to Canada's Olympic cross-country ski team once again.

After hunkering down last night during a blizzard that closed a number of roads, 'Bent and I went skiing around Palgrave West in fresh powder. Lots of trailbreaking, weaving around fallen branches, and bushwhacking. The snowy forest was beautiful, although there was a lot of creaking when the wind got gusty. This would have been great Snowgaine training except we aren't doing it this year. Maybe I should put out some flags for 'Bent for a mini-Snowgaine close to home!

We found these tracks and spent a few minutes trying to figure out what animal it was. I said it had to have a big tail that it was dragging, and 'Bent opined that it looked to be about the size of a badger.



We got our answer about 10 m down the trail! Boy, this little guy is fast and efficient at killing trees. We watched him for a few minutes, and he could munch away huge patches of bark in no time.



Five weeks after the ice storm, the lawyers have finally started worrying about our safety. The Palgrave Forest and Wildlife Area is now officially closed so I guess we can't sue if a branch falls on us. Not that we ever would have!

The whole enchilada.

With a wind chill of -27C, I needed to bundle up a little more today! This was my first run around the block in a long time - and also my last one for awhile. It was fun but sketchy with the steep snowbanks, narrow roadway and hazard trees on Humber Station and parts of Duffy's Lane. Other than that, it was amazing to be out in the sunshine and brisk wind. The north part of Duffy's Lane is closed in winter so it was like slogging through a snowy field.

I took a 5-minute walking break after 40 minutes to assess how my foot felt and give it a break since this was my longest run in awhile. I made a couple of small detours to chat with a guy about fat bikes, pick up someone's garbage bin that had blown away and talk with a farmer - and then, of course, I was so close to 10K that I had to top it up so that Double_Downon11 wouldn't make fun of me. ;)

It's not usually a good idea to do a workout at the hottest time of day but sometimes that's what fits in your schedule . By managing your effort and making good hydration and clothing choices, a mid-day workout can help your body with heat acclimation. So even though the temperature soared to -16C, I figured it was worth going out.

I skied the Albion Hills Red Trail. Slow skis (no glide) but lots of fun. The AH team has worked hard to clear many dozens of broken trees from the trails. Even though I'd dressed for the heat, I had to take off my jacket so I was down to only two layers on top (medium and expedition weight). Hardly anyone was around, and there was so much sun that I even showed a little skin.

Hard Core Live with Caron.

C3 Yoga - a strength and balance oriented class without much rest. I was going to do some physio tonight but the core and yoga classes covered most of what I needed to do.

Here's a trend I'd rather not see catch on! Although it may increase participation, I suppose. The first coed naked yoga studio has opened in New York City.

Tag line: "Downward dog just got a lot more awkward."

"Have I been shot? A Guide for Runners and Joggers"
With a handy flow chart.
http://www.runnersworld.com/fun/have-i-been-shot?c...

I'm feeling the pain so I'm going to log a small amount of this! It's been a busy 24 hours of snow shovelling and furniture rearranging. Next week my parents are downsizing to a condo so today I was lucky to have a truck arrive with a few nice pieces of furniture. Lots of shuffling and reshuffling, a bit of back pain, and a whole bunch of places to sit around our house now!

I've never had a dog who enjoyed change so this wasn't a good day for our gang. BazingaDog fears change so he retreated to the carpet in the front hall and lay on his tummy with his chin on the ground, sad eyes looking up as if waiting to hear bad news. BulletDog, who is normally the shy one, stayed underfoot, as if hoping that she might be able to talk us out of it. Back in ThunderDog's day, she would just lie on whatever rug or piece of furniture you wanted to move.

Sunset ski around Palgrave West on another cold day. Some slow trailbreaking and some quick skiing on yesterday's tracks - for waxless backcountry skis, anyway. Squeaky snow, crisp air, pink-orange sky... magical.

A headlamp run at dusk on snowy, icy country roads. This was the first run in a long time where I didn't take walking breaks so we'll see how I feel later. At the time, it felt amazing. I'm trying to implement the concepts I've been working on in physio, although we haven't talked a lot about how to move from exercises to running. Some of the things I focused on - posture, strong core, shorter strides, weight on the inside of my foot, and pushing off from big toe.

News from this week's visit to the Salomon Toronto Store:

1) Snowcross have been sold out for awhile.
2) Summer trail running gear starts to arrive on March 1.
3) If you look around, you might find a small photo of me on the wall. (The caption *should* read: "One of our best customers".)
4) The store is closing down for about 5 weeks for major renovations - probably mid-March to late April. So if there's something you were planning to pick up for early spring training (shoes, Ambit, pack), try to get there over the next 6-7 weeks.

Beautiful, frigid winter day - perfect for a cruise around Palgrave West on skis. Conditions were relatively fast once I broke a trail (or skied on 'Bent's) although more big branches have come down in the recent wind and snow. Lots of interesting animal tracks - mostly coyote although I saw a couple of deer (actual deer as well as tracks). I was warm except that I forgot my windproof briefs - a mistake I won't be making again anytime soon!

Last night 'Bent and I watched a fascinating documentary, To The Rescue, on the status of search and rescue in Canada. (Only watchable within Canada.)

The Canadian military focuses on air and sea incidents, and our national parks implemented SAR programs after a 1955 avalanche killed 7 Scouts. But outside the parks, ground rescue is a patchwork quilt of systems across the country with heavy reliance on volunteers. I had no idea. I am now reading about the Ontario Volunteer Emergency Response Team (OVERT) . Maybe some day...? I'd need to update my first aid and CPR certifications first. They are holding orientation nights over the next week in the GTA (Ajax / Pickering) if anyone is interested.

Elite American ultrarunner Dakota Jones, 23, is an entertaining observer of the sport. In this article, he describes the eye-opening experience of running in the mid-pack of a 50-miler on a day when illness prevented him from running at his usual pace.

Little-known ultramarathon fact: they are mostly composed of runners who are not trying to win the race. What this means is that the people we see and hear all about (leaders, winners, those who look appealing and/or fast) comprise at times as little as one percent of the whole field of a race. Those people run fast up front, but behind them trek the vast majority of the participants. When I discovered this, I was appalled. That such a large group of like-minded people could have completely flown under the radar for so long was incredible to me. So, being the muckraking human-rights activist that I am, I decided to go underground to find out just what this group of people was really all about.
http://www.irunfar.com/2013/12/the-mid-packers.htm...

Rodney Yee Power Yoga for Flexibility

By the time I finished this short workout, about 90% of the residual foot pain from yesterday was gone. I'm not sure what that means about the current nature of my injury but in the past, this wouldn't have happened.

Supermans (Supermen?) and a few different planks.

Adding a few new exercises from Tuesday's appointment.

Event: Salomon Snowshoe Raid
 

Salomon Snowshoe Raid 2014

Dee kindly agreed to race with me again in spite of my gimpy foot with the plan that we would do more walking than usual. My last long run was 4 months ago, and before that, it was UTMB last August. Hmm.



(Note to self: Bring a real camera next year! This phone is no good.)

This year's format was different and very interesting. It was a 3-hour rogaine where we would get Map 1 at the start. We could pick up Map 2, which covered the same area, at the finish line after 90 minutes. Map 1 had about 50% more points on it than Map 2 but that's all we were told. If we happened to stumble on any Map 2 checkpoints before we had Map 2, it was OK to punch them. It seemed highly unlikely that anyone would clear the course, which is the way I like my rogaines!

Most teams would have done something different if they'd seen both maps at once so when all of us review our strategies, we have to measure them against the information we had at the time. Bob could have done anything with the 2nd map - even a Matrix - so there were many "correct" ways to approach Map 1.

Bob generously removed the long road run sections from this year's race but the trade-off was a steep climb up the Mountain Springs trail right from the start. Wow, this will be an awesome trail to do hill training for UTMB! (213 m elevation gain)

Dee and I were making good progress, even though steep uphills are the worst thing for my injured heel. Then we caught up with Simpy and BugsinTeeth. Simpy was looking down and smiling at a friendly golden retriever. I know his golden retriever Goose goes for 3-hour runs with him so it only seemed a little unusual since I've seen lots of dogs in orienteering events before.

I called, "Hey Goose!" The dog romped down to say hi. I expected him to run back to Simpy but he continued downhill. I looked back and saw him checking in with the racers behind me, wagging his tail and moving down the trail. Oh crap, he's looking for Simpy, and it's my fault for calling him away. So I went down past the line of climbing racers. When I called his name, he would look at me, then he would check with the next racer down the hill. I called down to ask someone to grab his collar, then a women on the side of the trail said, "Oh that's my dog!" Arggghhh! The Bash Dog-in-Race Curse strikes again! So I marched back up to Dee behind all the racers who had passed me. It felt like forever but the GPS track says this only took 2 minutes. Sigh, whatta dork. Because it felt like it took so long, I decided to run more in the race than I'd been planning since I wanted to make it up to Dee.

136-137-138-139-135

We debated the tempting blue-flagged route from 139 to 140, then down to 203 and onto the east side of the main trail. However, that meant dropping 80 m and climbing a little higher to get up the other side, all for just 60 points. (We expected to return to the northeast on Map 2 so we weren't planning to do anything else there.) Although we had mixed feelings about it, we returned to the road from 139 and ran through the finish line to 135, where we met Hammer & 'Bent, Double_Downon11 & Hermes, and Harps & Logie. At that point, we'd been racing exactly 1 hour.

The controls in the northwest quadrant were valuable, and we've had good success in that area before. The climbs aren't as big, and I love the terrain. On our way there, we noticed 92 from Map 2 - yay. Too bad that was the only one we lucked into!

92-97-103-104-132

We'd planned to dash back to the finish for Map 2 but Dee suggested continuing around the main trail clockwise rather than doing a long run without points. We'd aimed to pick up Map 2 at the 1:50 mark but it was going to be about 2:05 now, and it made more sense to get points enroute since our time with Map 2 would be more limited. I think this was a good change to make on the fly, although we shouldn't have dipped down to get 203 since that took 10 hard minutes, and there *had* to be an easier way to get 30 points on Map 2.

206-205-164-203-145

We picked up Map 2 with 28 minutes remaining and dashed out to 163, where we had 18 minutes left. We'd considered 134 (40 pts) and didn't notice that 141 was worth 50 pts or we might have gone for it. We were worried about arriving late so headed straight back at a more relaxed pace, picking up 61(20 pts) enroute.

163-61

Really fun race - excellent conditions, interesting course, fantastic teammate and lots of good friends to chat with (although never enough time). We won Female Masters and were 10 points behind WandAR and Red, who did an awesome job to clinch the Female category.

Team Batkins took the overall victory again by a 10-pt margin. Ryan plunged into a snow-covered well near the ski hill and fortunately caught himself with his arms, although he got soaked in water up to his waist. If that *had* to happen to someone, it's a good thing it was the World's Toughest Mudder who probably does that kind of thing for training on a daily basis! I'm sure Blue Mountain will want to deal with that soon...

Harps and Logie, who were 2nd, accidentally finished 13 minutes early due to a watch problem.



'Bent and Hammer, who were 3rd and also 10 pts behind the winners, dropped a control that would have cost them a couple of penalty minutes but it would have been enough to win the race.



Tiny and Nosnhoj were close behind in 4th, followed by Nick and Ursula (1st Coed), and STORM and Gally. It's going to be a big battle next year! :)

I got a headache partway through the race that stuck around for 24 hours. Not sure whether it was the unaccustomed 2nd glass of red wine with dinner or the fact that my bladder hose froze inside its nice new insulation so I didn't drink anything in the race. I didn't eat enough either. My foot felt OK after the race but by the time we got home, I was limping and unable to push up onto my left toe. The pain is much less the day after the race so maybe this is just the type of post-run soreness I can expect with the gimpy foot. I'll know more tomorrow.

Great to see everyone and congrats to all the Attackpointers who did so well! Big thanks to Bob for all his hard work on this and to the many dedicated volunteers, including Wilberto, Frankenjack, JYip and others. Special kudos to Hermes for the awesome cookie medals - much more practical than traditional medals and very yummy! My medal "disappeared" quickly but I took Caron's medal home for her.

Interesting suggestion... Did frost quakes exist before social media? When I thought I felt an earthquake one day, the first thing I did was log into Twitter, which I almost *never* do. And sure enough...
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/digital-...

I'm late setting training goals for the year but it was hard to make a plan without knowing about UTMB.

Last fall when I was thinking about why I might go back, I decided there had to be greater motivation than just finishing the race - because the truth is, I still might not finish it. Lots of people don't. I didn't give it my best effort last year because my brain turned to mush on the first night. But if that hadn't happened, maybe I would have hit a different limit later on. I never got far enough to find out whether the race was over my head, which is entirely possible.

So one of my main goals this year is to finish UTMB, and I have every intention of doing that. However, I want to make it happen by becoming healthier. That way, even if I fail to cross the finish line, it will still have been worthwhile. The journey will be fun too, and I look forward to working on my French again. Eugene M. and I already had a good phone call this week where he educated me on French wines. :)

Year End Review, Part 3 of 3 - 2014 Training Goals

1) Finish UTMB.

2) Be Healthy.
- Resolve foot injury
- Lose 8.5 lb between Jan. 1 and March 31.
- Average 7 hrs sleep daily but aim for 7.5+ hours.
- Be mindful of diet and hydration

3) Targets
- 200 hrs of running - build up gradually post-injury, do warm-ups, drills, intervals, hills, etc.
- 90 hrs of strength training, physio (logged @50%) and yoga
- 500 hrs of total training

4) Some Strategies
- Multi-sport endurance training and racing
- Improve running form.
- Morning training 2 days/week.
- Keep it fun.

With UTMB officially on the calendar, I decided to lose the training wheels and see what a short run on uneven ground in the real world would do to my body. I won't really know until tomorrow but so far, so good. I was so happy to be out there exploring country roads and trails in Palgrave East - something I used to take for granted. A treadmill run of the same duration feels four times as long. There was some major ice so Microspikes were a requirement. Fingers crossed that I don't wake up in pain.

Unbelievable... 'Bent and I were both successful in the UTMB lottery. And so were Carbon's Offset and Ang. I'm equally excited and freaked out. There is now a firm deadline on when I need to become a runner again. Wow.

Equally unbelievable is that both STORM and Browner were unsuccessful. With both of them applying and with the odds so good for Browner in OCC, I hadn't imagined that we would be there without them. STORM's determination to return after we both DNFed last year had a positive influence on me after the race when my self-confidence was flagging. Damn.

Head is still spinning. The odds of us both getting into UTMB were about 1 in 5 so we're in mild shock. Of the 4 possible outcomes of the lottery for us, this is the one I'd planned for the least. We're excited but also genuinely sad to miss Frankenjack and Rockstara's wedding on UTMB weekend.

Last year I wasn't nervous at all. I figured the worst that could happen was a DNF. But today I am nervous. My body is not yet ready to train for a 168 km mountain race. I've already failed at UTMB once. I'm OK with failing if I give it my best but last year I lost my mental focus. I still might not reach the finish line but I can only be content with that result if I know I've given 100%.

I'm also nervous because most of the people I know were unsuccessful in the UTMB lottery, including the very deserving and well-trained STORM, and two of the top Ontario women in my age group. If I'm going to take a place on the starting line that so many other people wanted, I owe it to them to do the race justice. Aieeee!!

Back at Dr. Bell's office, working with the kinesiologist to add a few more exercises to my physio routine. Foam rolling the medial side of my calves turned out to be excruciating so it must be good for me. Dr. Bell sees improvement in my left foot dorsiflexion but it still needs to go farther. I've started to notice that my painful days are usually associated with activities where I've inadvertently pushed off the outside of my left foot instead of my big toe, and that's what we've been trying to fix. Today's highlight was when Dr. Bell tried to break me in half like a wishbone while working to open up my tight hips. The best part was that he didn't visibly flinch when I said I'd been running - or even when I mentioned tomorrow's UTMB lottery.

Interesting project coming up... Dr. Bell would like me and a few other adventure racers to help him test a new insole that he's been developing. I think the idea is to activate the cuboid bone, i.e. keep the foot looser and more mobile while walking and running. When I hear more, I'll put the word out here.

Lousy sleep last night when the phone rang to say that 'Bent's dental office security alarm had gone off in the wee hours, then neither of us could fall back asleep while we waited to hear the news from the police visit. They only call you if there is a problem so it takes forever to be able to relax. And if they don't call, then we know there will be a big "false alarm" fee to pay the Town. When I finally fell asleep, I slept too late and was behind schedule for my appointment in Orillia. And that led to the second police encounter of the day... Fortunately, the officer was in a relatively good mood, i.e. $62 worth. :(

Might as well log a small portion of my driveway antics today. It is a skating rink out there so I was desperately searching for any dirt and gravel I could find in the drifts that the snow plough made last week. In several miniscule areas, I was able to chip down to our driveway to excavate a few pebbles and grains of sand, which I threw behind the garage. Our AWD car and van with winter tires are doing OK but they do slide a little because of the slope. It would be impossible for most vehicles to get up our long driveway, and we need spikes or snowshoes just to walk outside our house. I seriously considered putting on my skates instead and just enjoying our driveway. :)

I didn't get through it all today. Logged approximately @50% as always. Back to Dr. Bell tomorrow for the first time in a month.

Less than 48 hours till the UTMB draw for both 'Bent and me. After much discussion, we've decided that:

- If both of us succeed in the lottery, we will go - of course.
- If one of us succeeds, the other person will try to obtain a charitable bib.
- If both of us fail, we will try again in 2015 when I would get a guaranteed entry under the current rules, and 'Bent would get 2 tickets. This would mean that I'd need to earn 7 points this year (yikes) and 'Bent would need 2 points. However, we would be able to go to Frankenjack's wedding, which we would love to do.

So we can only win.

BulletDog and I went snowshoeing around Palgrave West in slow, breakable crust conditions - mostly bushwhacking with a few good hill climbs.

The theme of today's photos is forest damage. (I didn't plan it that way but that's all I took.)

A number of trees lost branches in the ice storm but the forest remains healthy overall. Some trees fared worse than others.





Since we've been talking about widowmakers recently, I took some photos of them dangling way overhead. When these big branches come down, they sometimes stick into the ground and remain standing upright. I would not want to be around!





Some folks in our neighbourhood should have paid more attention to Smokey the Bear. That used to be a nice coniferous forest over there on that hill - and that's still what the orienteering map shows.



A couple of widowmakers are hidden in this mess as well as the partially fallen tree - another souvenir of the 70-acre forest fire several years ago. This all hovers over the break in the fence that we use to enter Palgrave West; this is also part of 'Bent's commute route.



Although my photos weren't that cheerful, it really was a very enjoyable snowshoe trek! BulletDog (and BazingaDog in the background) had a nice rest by the fire afterward.

More run/walk on the treadmill while listening to the DNTO "Best Of 2013" podcast. This was 10 minutes of walking and 45 minutes of running in three 15-minute pyramids (3 min @8, 8.5, 9, 8.5, 8). Progress.

Feels like my foot is healthy enough to get back into my regular strength sessions in addition to the foothab physio.

Boy, is it sad to watch rain falling on powder snow in January! Luckily, it's dropping down to freezing this evening so we'll be able to snowshoe tomorrow at least. Based on what our driveway looks like, I think I'll be wearing Yaktrax out to dinner tonight.

Another exploratory ski, this time with 'Bent and GYaneff in the large block of land behind GY's house. Most of it is private land with an agreement among neighbours - including a former Ontario premier - that they can cross each other's land. Some of it is TRCA land, including a stretch of the Bruce Side Trail. It is mostly forested with some large open fields and lots of hills.

We explored a network of private horse trails and also bushwhacked Snowgaine-style here and there. It was hard work and relatively slow with constant trail-breaking until we hit our tracks on the return trip. The main challenge was the changing texture of the snow, ranging from ankle-to-knee-deep powder (most of it) to snow-dusted ice to breakable crust. We sometimes broke through randomly, one or both legs, so it wasn't wise to go too fast on a downhill. (At least not for those of us who already have enough injuries to deal with!) There were a few hill climbs where we slowly herringboned up breakable crust with deep powder beneath - a nice strength workout, I guess, although I'm not a huge fan of that. The rest of it was amazing fun!

I hadn't planned to stay out this long but you can't do this sort of thing very often since you need a lot of snow to get over the debris in the forest and on the trails. The rain comes tomorrow. We won't lose all the snow but the texture will change, and the ski we did today will become dangerous in a few places. Nice to explore new areas close to home!

Run/walk on the treadmill. 7 mins walking in total, 23 mins running.

Hard Core Live with Caron. Hard to concentrate with 'Bent whimpering so much. ;)

Power Yoga - included a long sequence of strength work. I'm going to feel some body parts tomorrow that I didn't know I had. The class was full because January.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/american...

Amazing, spectacular, beautiful, fun ski around Palgrave West. I didn't see anyone in 2 hours other than a deer - and most of the tracks I saw belonged to deer as well.

Here is the trail on Thinker's Hill where BulletDog and I snowshoed last night; you can see our tracks in the deep snow, including the place where BulletDog decided it would be easier to follow me.



It's warmer today so I was able to dislodge some of the fallen branches that had frozen into the trails. There is still lots of clean-up to do. Most of the really precarious broken branches have fallen to the ground, thanks to this week's windy weather. However, I saw a few serious widow makers dangling up there so a little more snow and wind would be helpful. In some shady sections of forest, the trees and shrubs are still thickly coated with ice, and there is also ice beneath the thick layer of snow. It's hard as concrete so my poles just bounced off it if they went down that far.



Today was supposed to be a running day but I used up all my time skiing. It would be a crime to do otherwise because of the weather forecast. :(((

---------Saturday..Periods of rain. High 8.-----------

Depending on where you live, Northern lights are in the forecast for tonight!
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/north...
[EDITED: I've linked to a different news story since the original link doesn't seem to work.]

The sun was setting when I got home from a busy day but I was keen to play in the snow. I rarely train alone in the dark so I had to search high and low for the BashBlaster, which was last used for a full night at UTMB and wasn't recharged afterward. Surprisingly, I still had enough juice for Levels 1-4 out of 5 lighting levels. Pretty nice light, 'Bent!

BulletDog came with me and stayed in 'Bent's ski tracks for the first section where I walked beside them. Then I headed out of the forest across a hilly open field. The snow was really deep in places with a tough, breakable crust. BulletDog and I were both working hard; I was wishing that I hadn't worn my small running snowshoes. It was a real scramble to get up one hill, and when I looked back, I saw that BulletDog was stuck partway up. I started back down to help her, broke through the crust and fell face first downhill.

There we both were in a dark, deserted field, buried up to our necks in snow on a steep slope, and nobody was going to notice us missing for at least 3 hours. Hmm. I did the breast stroke (approximately) to get below BulletDog, then pushed her out of the snowy hole she was stuck in; she hauled herself the rest of the way up the hill. I pushed off my hands and knees back to a standing position, and the two of us ka-chunked our way home through the crusty, snowy field and forest beneath the stars. Beautiful.

Still trying to think up useful training goals for 2014. My planned major races - the World Rogaining Championships and (hopefully) UTMB - are both on foot, and my abilities on foot are limited right now so I may be setting myself up for disappointment. I have to make sure the journey is so much fun that the destination doesn't matter too much.

I've been reviewing Attackpoint data looking for training patterns that might provide a clue regarding my foot injury. I compared the 12 month periods of training leading up to the 125 km Canadian Death Race, which went well, and the 168 km UTMB, which went poorly (and only lasted 95 km for me!) The races were 13 months apart.

Turns out I did almost exactly the same number of hours of running in the 6 months prior to each of the two races. However, I did twice as much running in the 3-month period 6-9 months before the Death Race compared to that same period before UTMB. I also entered more races leading up to CDR, which provided focus. I also did 50% more running 9-12 months out from CDR but that may not be relevant. It is only part of the picture to look exclusively at running since that excludes adventure racing, orienteering, rogaining, XC skiing, trekking, etc. But it's the most specific training and the easiest to compare.

My running training hours in the last 6 months before UTMB were mostly squeezed into the last 4.5 months since I did an expedition adventure race 5 months beforehand. I twisted my ankle at 2.5 and 2 months before UTMB, which messed up the progression within that compressed training period. My first generalized heel pain started after those ankle injuries. It never bothered me during a run, not even UTMB, but it really hurt on rest days. I sought professional advice and was told it was nothing to worry about. A month after UTMB, it morphed into very localized heel pain and got worse when I ran instead of feeling better.

If I hadn't turned my ankle in June, I probably wouldn't have this lingering foot injury now. However, the injury highlighted longstanding biomechanical problems that made me more prone to this and other types of injuries. So I can't blame those ankle sprains entirely, although most of my issues likely arose from other ankle sprains over the years, particularly the Big Crank of October 2011.

This is an unscientific sample of data from two major races but it's all I've got to work with. So I guess the lessons are:
- Don't get injured.
- Start training sooner and build gradually and consistently.
- Plan a couple of races as interim milestones while building toward the goal race.

Crazy how much I enjoy even a stupid treadmill run/walk after not being allowed to run for so long. I'd hoped to do this run outside in the -40 wind chill just for the adventure but my time window ended up being too short. It's still gusty enough that I would have run on the road rather than going into the forest so it wasn't a big loss. The good news is that the wind should die down tomorrow so it will be safe to play in all this beautiful snow. :)

3 X
~ 3 min walking @ 6.5 kph (thank you for the metric system, Urthbuoy)
~ 10 min easy running increasing pace - 2@8.0, 2@8.5, 2@9.0, 2@9.5, 2@10.0
Finish with 1 min. walking at 6.5 kph.

First week back to running - technically just run/walking on alternate days but still it's progress. Counting snowshoe running, I've logged 3.5 hours and 23.5 km. So far, so good - it doesn't seem to be aggravating my foot. Not that my foot is fixed yet but it's a lot better than it was. Keeping my fingers - and toes - crossed.

Big news from Michigan today.

A bunch of APers work in climate science. With today's chilly weather, you might enjoy some of this info from Cristina in a discussion thread on Blairtrewin's log.
http://www.attackpoint.org/discussionthread.jsp/me...

The UTMB lottery is now closed. APers in the lottery are:

UTMB - STORM, Carbon's Offset, Ang, 'Bent, Bash
OCC - Browner

Carbon's Offset and I have 2 tickets in the lottery because we were unsuccessful last year. Under the current lottery rules, we are both guaranteed entry in 2015 if we aren't picked this year. However, they've changed the lottery rules before so I wouldn't count on that. Sadly absent from the list: Mr. and Mrs. Gally. :(

STORM and Browner, did you do a group entry?

We've got a blizzard warning and a wind chill warning. Forecast is -41 including wind chill tomorrow. (Celsius or Fahrenheit - take your pick!) Priority #1, which we did yesterday: Prepare for another power outage. Priority #2: Think about which clothing and gear I'd like to test in cold weather. :)

Looks like the lawyers just woke up from their Christmas vacation! It's been dangerous in the woods around here for the past 16 days. Here are some postings from the past 36 hours. It doesn't look good for outdoor sports in our area this winter. :(

From the TRCA:
Due to the severe ice storm, Albion Hills Conservation Area will be closed indefinitely. No access/use of the park is permitted at this time.

No word yet on Palgrave Forest and Wildlife Area - probably because they don't charge admission fees so it's a lower priority.

From the Humber Valley Heritage Trail Association:
Due to the Christmas ice storm, many parts of the Humber Valley Heritage Trail are currently unusable. Risks from icy slopes, deadfalls and debris are extreme, and caution is urged if you do venture onto the trail.

From Credit Valley Conservation:
For public safety, conservation areas managed by Credit Valley Conservation (CVC) remain closed until further notice. Only Island Lake Conservation Area in Orangeville is open. More than 100 kilometres of trails managed by CVC are also closed. This includes portions of the BruceTrail. There are dangerous conditions from damaged trees, broken branches and icy paths after the December 22nd ice storm. For safety, members of the public should stay out of CVC conservation areas, off all trails and keep children and pets away.

From the Town of Caledon:
- Please remain cautious when walking, and when possible avoid woodlots, trails, parks and open spaces until the situation has been mitigated.
- The Town of Caledon advises residents to stay off of its trailways this season, as they have become increasingly hazardous due to the downed trees and fallen branches since the ice storm last month. Residents are reminded that there is no winter maintenance on these trails, and that they will be cleaned up on a priority basis only.

I've never logged this before but I'm taking a stand with the AP-logging snow shovellers of the world. There's a lot of it, and it is heavy!

Another Christmas present DVD: RIDES North Carolina. This one is a little shorter than most of the RIDES but there's a lot of intensity to make up for it. The scenery wasn't as inspiring as some of the others, and the headcam quality wasn't as good but most of it was non-headcam. The coach is also a yoga instructor, so she often reminded us about details like keeping shoulders and faces relaxed.

I did not have the good fortune to unplug my trainer accidentally this time, so:
Ave cadence - 83
Ave speed - 26.7 kph
Ave wattage - 163W
Max wattage - 289W (I tried to hit the magic number but that's all I had today.)

Boo, weather not looking good for driving to and (especially) from Toronto so no orienteering O Cup for me today. We are at a point on the map where different regional forecasts can be relevant. Best guess is that we have a snowfall warning or a freezing rain warning plus a snow squall watch.

With about 10 cm of new snow on the ground so far, we went skiing in Palgrave West. Under the thin layer of snow, there is rock hard ice sprinkled with pointy ice chunks that fell from the trees after the ice storm. This meant we couldn't push off with our poles effectively, and a fall would have really hurt. 'Bent and BazingaDog were skijoring while I skied behind them, ready to provide wilderness first aid as needed. My favourite part was seeing 'Bent in his skis, standing precariously balanced as he crossed an icy fallen log with BazingaDog tied to his waist. If B-Dog had spotted a squirrel at that moment, it would not have been pretty. Luckily, the wildlife were all hunkered down to hide from the snowstorm so this story has a happy ending.

BulletDog and I went out for a snowshoe run/walk as the snow continued to fall. It's all recorded in the same GPS track, and I've tried to separate the running and walking. Almost all of this was trail breaking, and there was some bushwhacking to get around fallen trees. It's beautiful out there but still a little dangerous with lots of damaged trees to clean up. Given that we don't have a chainsaw, it could be a long time until some of our regular routes are passable. BulletDog will be celebrating her 11th birthday on Tuesday but she hasn't slowed down much at all - a terrific snowshoeing buddy.

P.S. My hair froze.

One of my geekier Christmas hints to 'Bent was to get me more RIDES DVDs for the trainer. In honour of Super's plan to do the Bear Mountain 50-miler, I started with RIDES New York - Assault on Bear Mountain. It turned out to be one of my favourites in the series thus far. Nice to see the scenery of Harriman State Park and "ride up" Bear Mountain at the end. Unfortunately, I kicked the power cord by accident and lost all the statistics for the session. Just to put a number on it, I'd guess an average wattage around 350W...

This was supposed to be an XC ski day up north but 'Bent's van's radiator started gurgling and belching clouds of steam last night, around the same time that the van reduced its power, emitted odours and turned on the Check Engine light. We left it in Bolton so a fair bit of today was dedicated to van rescue.

Visitors from France were welcomed at Goose and Coach LD's place tonight - Leanimal, Phatty and Weeanimal!



Somebody likes to wear a tutu, sparkles, a crown and coloured toenail polish. Phatty and Leanimal have no idea where *this* came from!



Somebody else is happy in Salomon apparel.



We all got a little silly at times.



Weeanimal is already better at dancing and yoga than any of the rest of us.

As much as I dislike treadmill running, it's easier on my heel than running on uneven ground so it'll have to be part of my recovery. Thanks to Urthbuoy's brilliant thinking outside the box and beyond the instruction manual, today I was able to enter a programming mode to switch the treadmill units to kilometers. The mandatory miles and mph have been bugging me for 3 years. Crazy that a product both made and sold in a metric country would not offer consumers the option. All fixed now. :)

This was a run/walk, as per doctor's orders. About 25 of 45 minutes was walking, mostly at a brisk 6.5 kph. Figured I might as well get *something* out of the walking part. The remaining 20 minutes was running, mostly at 8 kph but I bumped it up to 8.5 and then 9 toward the end. The cardio feels fine so I hope I haven't lost *too* much fitness.

I hope to keep building up slowly. I felt some heel pain after the trail run on New Year's Day because it wasn't possible to maintain good form and alignment on the rough ice. I should do my trail running in snowshoes over the next while since that won't twist my feet around as much. Baby steps.

BulletDog and I braved the -20C afternoon temperature (warmed up from -30C) to check out the trail system between here and the Bruce Trail. Awesome work by VO2Max to clear all those big fallen trees. We still have lots of work to clean up debris and clip smaller branches that are blocking the trail. There is a lot of potential firewood out there if our neighbours don't want it.

Latest UTMB lottery news. Entries close on Monday afternoon.

To date, 11 600 runners, representing 75 different nationalities are candidates.

- The UTMB®, is today, 200% full: there will less than 1/2 chance of being successful in the draw.
- The CCC®, is today, 150% full; there will be a 1 in 2 chance in the draw.
- The PTL™ is full
- The TDS™, with more than 1100 runners already registered... probably won’t need to have a draw.
- The OCC, is today, 120% full; there will be about 7 in 10 chance in the draw.

On the same date last year, only 8,000 people had entered the lottery. At that time, UTMB was only 160% full, and CCC was 115% full. So it's probably tougher to get in this year.

Year End Review, Part 2 of 3 - Report Card on 2013 Goals
Overall Grade: C-

--PASS--

Compete in two or more 24-hr to multi-day races with navigation --- Tierra Viva expedition adventure race, CNYO Rogaine

50 hrs of strength training --- This was helped by (a) all the physio, and (b) including power yoga in the total since it involves so much strength work.

550 hrs of total training --- Yup, 557.

Continue multi-sport training for long adventure races, also as cross-training for the 100-miler. --- Yup.

--CONDITIONAL PASS--

Morning training 2 days/week --- This usually required extra inspiration from an event or a meeting with friends. I rarely train in the morning by choice so there are no new good habits to report.

Improve running form --- Only partial marks since this mostly happened in physio after a running injury.

--FAIL--

Finish my first 100-mile trail ultrarun --- Nope.

Lose 6 lb by March 31 --- Oh, I lost it, all right. But then I found 8 lb in the fall.

200 hrs of running --- On track until derailed by injury in late September.

Complete bike "power builder" DVD set on the trainer --- Nope.

Average 7 hrs sleep --- I believe this is the #1 reason I DNFed at UTMB so it's a big priority to fix this.

In honour of Revy attending his first yoga class, I did Rodney Yee's Power Yoga for Flexibility. My injured foot likes yoga; I must keep this up.

I'm lousy at walking on the balance beam with my eyes closed.

Creative use of social media... 338 Australian sharks are now on Twitter after being fitted with acoustic transmitters. They will tweet whenever they are within half a mile of a beach.
http://www.outsideonline.com/news-from-the-field/T...

Year End Review, Part 1 of 3: Training
2013 Training Hours by Activity

Top activities (with 2012, 2011 totals in brackets):

1) Running + Snowshoe Running - 153 hrs (190, 138.5)
2) Adventure Racing - 112 hrs (26, 163)
3) Mountain Biking + Road Biking - 60 hrs (77.5, 89)
4) Orienteering + Snowshoe Orienteering - 55 hrs (66.5, 73.5)
5) Strength + Yoga 52 hrs (36, 30)
6) Paddling - 48 hrs (31, 74)
7) XC Skiing (Classic, Skate, Roller) - 45.5 hrs (55, 28)

Total Annual Training Hours = 557 (505, 612)

Observations:

- Annual training hours haven't varied as much as it appears. Multi-day adventure races in 2011 and 2013 skewed the numbers.

- Not many mysteries or new trends here... Skiing is down a little, only because we didn't do the Silverstar Supercamp. Strength is up a lot, mostly because I did so much physio. Biking is down because we did 320 km of skeleton-rattling mountain biking at Tierra Viva, which was logged as adventure racing and reduced my usual enthusiasm for spring riding.

- Running is down a *lot* because my year effectively ended with UTMB on Labour Day weekend. I did 8 hours of recovery runs over the next month, then an injury flared up so I only logged 8 hours of running in the last 3 months of 2013. More on this later.

Up next: Report card on 2013 goals, then plans for 2014!

I wasn't planning to run today since I want to give my foot a day off between runs as it recovers. But our dogs went crazy, and I noticed a young golden retriever at our side door with two fuzzy puppies. They belong to neighbours half a kilometer away on the other side of the road - people who aren't familiar with dogs and definitely should not own one. They didn't get their golden spayed because they thought it might be fun to breed her. They also didn't fence her in, and they didn't understand the concept of "in heat". She escaped for 4 days last summer, and we only heard about it on the 4th day. I'd seen her during that time on a different road but hadn't realized it was her or that she was missing. She was with a male friend at the time - and now she has puppies, some of whom have been found wandering alone on our road since there still isn't a fence, and they are allowed outside without supervision. Grrrr.

Anyway... the 3 dogs were frightened by our dogs' barking through the window, and they ran up the hill toward the conservation area. It is -31C with wind chill today, which is why 'Bent didn't take a dog with him to work. Crap, no puppy should be wandering in the woods in that weather. I went after them wearing Sorels, skidding around since I'd forgotten how slippery it still is. I called them in my friendliest voice but they scampered farther away. As I was coming down Thinker's Hill, I saw them come back to F&M's property from the conservation area, heading toward our house or F&M's house. I initiated a neighbourhood alert and have been watching outside. I hope they made it back to the road and got home safely. Ugh.

Waterfalls of Hamilton, 5th Edition
Run/Walk

Thank you Trav and Baloney for hosting 60 hungry runners for this incredible kick-off to 2014!

First we ran on icy trails to visit some number of waterfalls on the orienteering map provided by Hammer. The minimum requirement was 2 waterfalls in order to qualify for the delicious post-run lunch.



Michelle Elliott asked if she could join me. I was leery of planning to go with anyone because I needed to run/walk, and I'd have to turn back if my foot got too sore. But she was totally fine with that level of uncertainty, and luckily my foot felt fine. We chatted non-stop - lots of fun to get to know someone new.



It was great to get out on a cold morning and enjoy trails again. This is the first day of 8 months of UTMB training. Fingers are tightly crossed that my foot will let me do that.



Our run was followed by yummy waffles, Dutch soup, bagels, desserts and real Domestique coffee. Excellent company, interesting conversation, friends I hadn't seen in a long time, friendly dogs - an awesome way to celebrate New Year's Day. Much appreciated, Traveloney! :)

(Forgot to turn on Ambit until we climbed escarpment for the first time so I've adjusted the numbers.)

We got another wonderful gift on New Year's day... When 'Bent took the dogs out for a short hike, he discovered that the trails along his commute had been cleared of fallen trees and branches from the ice storm. He ran into VO2Max, who had taken it upon himself to go out with a chainsaw and open up the trails leading from our place to Palgrave East. What a super nice thing to do, especially since it's his last day of holidays. Tomorrow he flies back to Kamloops for school. Thank you, VO2Max!