Training Log Archive: Bash

Workout with Slowrunner. She assigned my toughest balance exercise to date: 1-legged squats on an upside-down Bosu. If at some future time it ever appears that I have jumped out a window to my death, please be skeptical of that and check the room for an upside-down Bosu.

Fingers crossed, I think my rest days have paid off so I can run tomorrow. My cold kept me awake for hours last night - ugh.

Boo, I was hoping to run today but after the lecture I gave Willderness last week when he was exercising while ill, I'd better wait. It feels like I *might* be able to fend this one off before it goes into my lungs. More tea with honey coming up!

'Bent has officially released his Norway video!

I've started planning for the Eiger Ultra Trail in July and just realized that it's the same distance as CCC - the 101 km event at UTMB - with 600 m more elevation gain and a 30 minute shorter time limit. I'll need to start climbing some big hills soon.
http://www.eigerultratrail.ch/en/trail-e101.html

By late afternoon, I had a head cold. Hope that explains the light-headedess and queasiness I felt for most of the day. I'm wondering if yesterday's slightly-expired Boost may have contributed too.

Feel like I might be coming down with something. Maybe I shouldn't have done this.

Much, much worse, I just heard about a friend's wife who was diagnosed with brain cancer less than a week ago and passed away a few days later. :(((

Beautiful, sunny run in Hockley Provincial Park! Main Bruce Trail plus all the side trails. It's a good thing I was there because 'Bent has apparently never run the side trails before the main trail, and his navigation was questionable. Just warning you, Mr. and Mrs. Gally...

For those who are wondering, Hockley - and most of the trails up here - are only suitable for Microspikes. The trails are coated with thick, hard ice or else they are bare - but mostly they are icy.





However, the spikes worked really well on flats, uphills and gentler downhills. It was a fun run. AdventureDog was awesome on his longest run to date.





The steeper downhills required some creativity - bushwhacking away from the trail and/or dangling from saplings. In a couple of places, poor AdventureDog lost his traction and did a luge run down part of a hill. This was the only hill that 'Bent had to carry A-Dog up.



We met a few groups of hikers, few of whom seemed to have spikes but most had ski poles. I would not go on those trails with only ski poles!

As always, 'Bent ran "farther" on his Garmin - probably half a km more if we exclude extra running that he did. If I ever want to become a faster runner, I'll just go back to my Garmin. :) This is the result of a different error correction algorithm that mostly affects twisty trail distances on the Ambit. It's not that the Garmin is necessarily more accurate - just different and almost always longer.

'Bent is training for a couple of 50Ks in June and July but I'm training for a couple of 100Ks so I couldn't stop at 2 hours. So he dropped me off on Coolihan's Sideroad on the way back and I ran the rest of the way home on the Bruce. There was more ice and snow than in Hockley but the Microspikes did the trick. Ira Glass kept me company.

Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour! It always makes me restless but in a good way.

Fabian Cancellara broke 2 vertebrae today! :(
http://www.trekfactoryracing.com/news/e3-harelbeke...

Another Microspikes run - this time in Albion Hills with AdventureDog, whose built-in microspikes did a great job. It was mostly icy - mostly *very* icy - but I had good traction. I actually preferred the ice to bare ground since I felt obligated to run beside the trail if it was soft so I wouldn't damage it. However, there were bike tracks made by people who don't care - grrr.

My big mistake was forgetting that even a Subaru with all-wheel drive and snow tires does *not* have Microspikes. As I was driving into the north end of Albion, the car started to slide sideways on smooth, hard ice toward the (shallow) Humber River. I made it the rest of the way up the hill to the parking area but seriously wondered if I was going to get back out OK. Obviously, nobody else was going to be showing up to help! It was a slow downhill exit as I aimed for a narrow strip of crusty snow with my left side tires and tried not to do a 360 or land in the river. (I knew JayXC would make fun of me.) Yay, Subaru!

Birkebeiner race report is posted now on March 21.
http://ar.attackpoint.org/viewlog.jsp/user_920/per...

Tom Hanks reenacted all of his movies in 7 minutes with James Corden, host of The Late Late Show.

Around Palgrave East in Kahtoola Microspikes - mostly glare ice with some mud and soft snow. Fortunately the spikes did the trick but I was still overly cautious on the steeper hills.

Our ski season officially ended with the Birkebeiner so it's time to start cramming for upcoming ultras! I went for an expanded "around the block" run on country roads and rail trail. The surface was a mix of dirt, gravel, mud, snow, ice and pavement - mostly gravel. I carried Kahtoola Microspikes in my pack but only would have needed them for a few short stretches so I just lived dangerously.

Birkebeinerrennet 2015

Birkebeinerrennet is a 54 km classic-style cross-country ski race that travels over two mountains from Rena to Lillehammer, Norway. It’s one of the largest XC ski races in the world and is part of the World Loppet Series, which includes races like the Vasaloppet in Sweden, the Gatineau Loppet in Canada and the American Birkebeiner. In recent years, up to 17,000 skiers have taken part but this year, there were only 13,000 - likely due to last year’s controversial cancellation on race day due to high winds in the mountains.





Detailed map

The race, which started in 1932, commemorates a challenging ski journey through these mountains and forests in 1206 when Birkebeiner loyalists carried infant prince Håkon Håkonsson to safety in Trondheim. The Birkebeiners (“birch legs”) were an underdog political faction in the Norwegian civil war and were thus named because some were so poor that they wrapped birch bark around their legs instead of wearing proper footwear. It was originally an insult but today the name carries a sense of pride, strength and endurance. All race participants must carry a backpack weighing at least 3.5 kg, symbolizing the weight of the (obviously underfed) two-year-old heir to the throne. A few people tied big dolls to the back of their packs. :)



Birken also organizes half a dozen smaller ski events, several running races including a 57 km ultra, and several cycling events including the 122 km Birkebeinerrittet, the largest mountain bike race in the world.
http://www.birkebeiner.no/en/

Richard and I love cross-country skiing but we aren’t ski racers and don’t even use groomed ski tracks very often. Mostly we just play, exploring local trails or bushwhacking. Without any ski racing credentials, we would have had to start in an unseeded wave at the end of the 2.5 hour start window. To avoid that, we skied the 51 km Gatineau Loppet last month, which qualified us for Wave 11 (Richard) and Wave 16 (me) of 26 non-elite waves at the Birkie.

In the week leading up to the race, skiers talked incessantly about waxing. The local weather forecast was accompanied by a daily wax recommendation involving various products we didn’t – and likely never *would* - own, e.g. “use a horse hair brush or perhaps a wild boar brush”. Apparently, Norwegians own brushes made of every kind of animal. In every sports store, there was a huge display of waxes and related gizmos with people having animated conversations in front. The weather had been warm and icy so we were using klister and other sticky waxes but race day was going to be cooler with 6-8 cm of new snow the previous day.

Swix offered professional waxing services at the race check-in so Richard and I splurged and got glide wax (although not the expensive “racing” version) and several coats of base binder and colder grip wax. On race day, we would just add our final grip wax layers. The race is so big that there were different grip wax recommendations for Richard’s start wave vs. mine.



Cristina listened to what the professionals were doing to our skis, then prepared her skis the same way in our cabin’s dedicated waxing room, aka washroom.



Our other challenge that afternoon was stuffing enough items into our packs to total over 3.5 kg at both the start and finish of the race. It’s surprising how unhelpful our lightweight gear can be sometimes. I carried a full thermos of water that I couldn’t touch since it had to be there at the finish. I also carried 6 ski waxes and I tried unsuccessfully to stuff in a book.

The race started in Rena, which was a 2-hour drive from our cabin in Nordseter near Lillehammer. Thanks to Melissa’s generous offer to drive, we didn’t have to take the 4:30 a.m. bus to the start, which gave us an extra 75 minutes of sleep. By the way, in case Melissa’s employers read this, she really did spend most of the weekend working!



Cristina looked ready to rock.



This is Richard’s Start Wave 11; he seems to be hiding though.



This is my Wave 16 – we had 25 tracks! And there was another wave lining up beside us with 25 more tracks. It narrowed to “just” 12 tracks by the time we left the stadium. There were 425 people in my wave – as many skiers as there were in the classic Gatineau Loppet!



Zooming waaaaay in… here’s proof that I took hydration seriously.



Here’s what the start looked like from my point of view.





Unfortunately, I misjudged my time and was forced to choose between lining up for a porta-potty or putting two final coats of grip wax on my skis after my test. I figured I could wax later once I was sure it was needed.

We started skiing and immediately began a gradual 500+ m climb up the first mountain. My grip wax slipped from the start. I knew conditions would change at a higher altitude so I waited. When I was still slipping after 6 km, I pulled off the trail and took a 4-minute waxing break. I had enough grip after that but probably should have gone with the colder wax recommended for Richard’s wave since my skis felt sluggish for both grip and glide. I missed Goose’s magic fairy dust that made my skis feel quick at the Gatineau Loppet.





Aid stations were simple and well designed for skier traffic; they offered different drinks and a few snacks. I mostly drank juice, ate banana slices and scarfed down a few lefse - Norwegian pastries with cinnamon, sugar and butter.



As suspected, my Wave 16 seeding based on the Gatineau Loppet was too generous. Looking at the results, Wave 19 would have been more appropriate but I was grateful to be surrounded by skilled skiers, many of whom gradually moved on ahead. :)



The weather was spectacular with brilliant sunshine, clear long distance views and temperature just below freezing.





One reason Richard and I wanted to do a Scandinavian loppet was to be part of a skiing event in a place where skiing is as important as hockey is in Canada. It gave us a way to get inside the culture of another country. It’s the same reason I enjoyed UTMB so much. Our usual sports are outside the mainstream at home and it’s fun to be part of an event that makes the general public excited.

Oh, and sometimes intoxicated. Ski clubs, cabin owners, skiers and random Norwegians gathered along the trail to cheer us on. I wish I’d taken photos; this is the only one I found through Google.




(Obviously not my photo!)

Spectators built snow benches and elaborate snow block walls to stop the wind. They hung big Norwegian flags, cooked over portable grills and enjoyed beverages of all kinds. They brought chairs, coolers, cushions and costumes including a few mascots like a huge dancing Bugs Bunny. Some of them brought treats to share, either with members of their own ski club or with anyone passing near their side of the trail. Random people tried to hand me cold Coke (delicious!) or a single chip (ew, disgusting). One cheerful fellow standing between the tracks tried hard to place a bottle of beer in my hand! They shouted “Heia, heia, heia!!” at us and sang songs. There were musicians providing live entertainment at the aid stations. So much fun!

I stopped a few times to take photos. Unlike Gatineau, my time didn’t matter so it felt like a fun ski tour.





By the time we got to Sjusjoen, we had 14 km left with a mix of steep downhills and flats.





This is where the race started getting a little less fun for me. Skiers dropped a lot of trash, much of it in the tracks. I was in a tuck going down a moderate hill when one of my skis hit a sticky gel wrapper (one of many that I’d already hit) and stopped suddenly. I did a hard face plant that surprised me with its impact since I didn’t feel like I was going that fast. That took away some of my nerve at a bad time – just before the steep downhills where we would lose most of the 300 m of elevation we had to drop on the way to the finish.

These downhills were narrower sections of twisting forest trail that had turned into two icy half pipes, each the width of a skier doing a partial snow plow, with a small drift of soft snow in between. It was totally skiable although not a fun nor relaxing way to give back the elevation we had gained. The thing that made it scary for me was the steady stream of skiers, some in control and some not. I’m used to skiing alone in a quiet forest, not on a track and not with crowds, and this was when my racing inexperience came into play. Some confident skiers shot past on one side or another with their skis parallel. Others veered or teetered back and forth, some rear-ended other skiers, and some crashed hard, usually causing a back-up of other bodies who fell behind them to avoid serious injury. There was a collection of broken poles along the side of the trail.

All I could think of was our friend Sian, a much better skier than I, currently on crutches after a fall on a smaller hill with a similarly uneven snow surface. There was potential to destroy my knee or my 2015 running season here so I pulled off the trail and froze like a deer in the headlights while dozens of skiers flew by. There were three particularly treacherous sections and it hit me the same way every time. I would try to wait and go when there were no skiers behind and no bodies ahead but that happened so rarely that I would finally jump in and ski down with my heart racing. There was a corner where we were directed to one side because the medics were getting ready to go up the hill. No surprise there.

In between, there were flats and gentle downhills so I could double pole – more work than it should have been with my poor glide but a welcome reprieve after the steep bits. Finally we rounded the bend into sunny Birkebeiner Stadium on the eastern edge of Lillehammer – such a wonderful feeling!



I finished in 5:30:20, about the same time as the 51 km Gatineau Loppet, right around my estimate. That put me about 2/3 of the way back in my age group, ahead of a few women with “real skier” names like Grete, Bjorg, Liv, Birgit and Guri. :) I hadn’t expected better than that.



Cristina’s first Birkebeinerrennet in 2013 was a tough experience but with her improved seeding in today’s great conditions, she had a very good race and finished in 5:13, around the middle of her age group.



Richard had an excellent race, finishing in 4:02 after stopping before the finish line to search in vain for the Canadian flag he had tucked too deep into his pack. He was also in the middle of his 5-year age group, which included 1200 racers!



We celebrated with Indian food and got our only post-race skier photo. Great day – great trip! :) Huge thanks to Cristina and Melissa for all their tour guiding, travel advice and assistance.

Birkebeiner pre-race check-in, packing, etc. One of the toughest things has been getting our packs up to the required 3.5 kg at start and finish - so it can't include things you plan to consume without replacing.

We got our skis waxed professionally except for the final 2-3 coats of grip wax that we will add tomorrow when we know the final weather forecast. The waxing crew offered 4 levels of glide wax based on our racing ambitions; we chose the 2nd from the bottom. (It was still about $90 altogether.)

It snowed lightly most of the day and the temperature will not go above freezing tomorrow so we hope to leave the klister in our packs although the Swix experts recommend that racers carry it.

We leave for the start at 5:45 a.m. Melissa is very kindly getting up early to drive so we don't have to take the 4:30 a.m. bus to Rena. It's a 2-hour drive but when we arrive, organizers will offer us coffee and porridge.

If anyone is interested, live tracking will be available here. Our event is the 54 km "Birkebeinerennet".
http://www.birkebeiner.no/en/MainMenu/Results/Resu...

There are also webcams along the course.

The three of us start in different waves. It's 5 hours later here than in Toronto. If all goes well, we should all be finished by mid-morning back home. Happy Saturday, all!

'Bent - Wave 11, 8:55 a.m. - Bib # 6150
Bash - Wave 16, 9:20 a.m. - Bib #9730
Cristina - Wave 19, 9:40 a.m. - Bib #12064

Today we went to the heart of the local ski area, Sjusjøen. We could have skied there from our cabin in about 15 minutes but we've been skiing a lot lately and we'll be skiing a little more on Saturday!



Cristina had mentioned that Norwegians seldom start conversations with strangers so I was surprised when a gentleman came up to me in the parking lot while I was getting my skis ready. "Klister?" he asked. I wasn't sure what made me happier: the fact that I understood my first Norwegian conversation in its entirety or that a Norwegian thought I looked like I spoke the language and knew something about waxing. :)

Our first 5 km was on the Birkebeiner race course, skiing it in the opposite direction. For the first time this week, we saw a number of other skiers, some of them very fast, often with Norwegian or Swedish flags on their hats or racing suits. You can't see the tracks in the photo but there were 3-4 groomed classic tracks plus some space for skaters, who are less numerous than they are at home. On race day, there will likely be 8 tracks here.



A few kilometers in, this useful trail sign post was equipped with a thermometer to help us fix our wax if we screwed up.



After leaving the Birkebeiner trail, we went up a mountain and looped back to Sjusjøen. I lost my grip during the climb but I didn't want to put anything else messy on my skis since the forecast is colder for Saturday with a high of -6C. So I just did my best Bambi imitation and used my arms way too much.







The last part was a long, fast, twisting descent - a little scary since there were some ruts. In this photo, Sjusjøen is in the distance around the shore of the lake below.



When we got back, there were lots of possibilities and it was tempting to keep going.



But we went for a waffle instead because I had to try to eat one with my hands, as proper etiquette dictates. I’m not sure if I got it right but it worked.



P.S. Our dog sitter posted a photo of BazingaDog and AdventureDog – aww. :) Glad they're having a good March Break. We're seeing lots of dogs here - including on the ski trails - but we miss our pooches.

Skiing, watching for northern lights and eating moose for dinner... because when you go on vacation, you should do things you can't do in Canada. ;)

Even though we are staying in a cabin a few meters from hundreds of kms of XC ski trails, Cristina suggested that we go across the valley about 30K north of Lillehammer to ski at Skeikampen. Seriously?!? But now we were curious so we had to make the trip. What a spectacular ski! The perfect weather didn't hurt either. Well, it wasn't perfect for waxing - high of +6C with variable snow conditions - but we used waxless skis so we didn't have to worry about it.

Skeikampen has a downhill ski area. When we asked about buying trail passes for nordic skiing, the woman at the desk chuckled and shook her head. (This was before I'd read today's AP discussion on this subject. Silly Canadians, trying to pay to XC ski!) So we splurged on a map that we didn't really need because it would be posted at every junction and a pair of single-trip lift tickets to the top of the mountain.



Once we got up, 'Bent couldn't resist doing a few telemark turns near the top. Then we got onto the groomed XC ski trail that runs along the top of the mountain.





Today's theme was Ridiculously Photogenic Nordic Skiing. We stopped again and again to pull out cameras or the GoPro - as if *this* was the last really good view we would see for the rest of the day. A few minutes later, we'd see an even better view. Eventually - fortunately - our batteries got too cold so we were forced to do more skiing.





Btw if you're wondering why our packs are so big, we are required to carry a 3.5 kg pack for the Birkebeiner so we might as well train with one.

The first part of our route ran along the wide, flat ridge and passed the top of another downhill ski lift.





We could see for a long distance - rolling hills, small trees and lots of beautiful snow crust that Coach LD would have skated around on. (Coach, I was thinking that in a place like this, you normally sing "Oh Canada" but I'm not sure what you would have done here!)







The map shows a marsh here in summer, then we climbed up that valley in the distance where you can see little specks that are skiers.







We saw a sun dog, which has special meaning in our family.



Apologies to non-skiers but some of my photos were nothing but pure cross-country skiing porn.



We headed away from the main ski area toward Fagerhoi, crossing an open plateau that felt a little like skiing in the Antarctic. No wonder Amundsen made it to the South Pole first when he had places like this to train!

There is a skier on this trail in the distance but even *I* can't see him at this resolution and I know exactly where he is. You can see where the trail goes though.







We turned at a junction about 1 km from Fagerhoi and returned to the downhill ski area on a groomed access road - less interesting than the rest of today's skiing but still very pretty. This is the mountain we took the lift up at the start of our ski.



We'd been planning a shorter ski, i.e. fewer photo stops, and we'd also hoped to find waffles again. Alas, we did not. By the time we finished, I was light-headed and ravenous for an early dinner with chocolate cheesecake for dessert. I am fat-loading for the race.

*Time deducted for photography and added for the short section where my Ambit was paused.

A very small amount of skiing and a very large amount of waxing. No combination of hard waxes would cut it so we had to return to the cabin for klister. Race day is forecast to be colder so we were hoping to avoid it. Luckily, the only klister we'd brought - universal - worked pretty well so we didn't have to switch to waxless skis.

This is a typical trail in the Nordseter area - groomed classic tracks on the outside and a skate lane in the middle.



We can get on the trail system a few meters behind our cabin, as can most people around here. Along the trails, we came across small communities of vacation cabins.



Here is part of the ski trail map.



We were comfortable with the map today although the trail signs still seemed a bit random sometimes. (Yes, this was posed!)



We were skiing near or above the tree line. Although the altitude isn't significant, the latitude *is*. Nordseter is above 61 degrees of latitude, which is not far south of Yellowknife. The Gulf Stream moderates the climate.



We stopped along the trail at Pellasova where we finally got to try the famous Norwegian waffles. They don't use maple syrup here. The proper way to eat a waffle is with jam and whipped cream. 'Bent didn't take any whipped cream and the cashier pulled out an emergency bowl in case he had missed it. I guess that just isn't done here.



I'd expected a small ski chalet or hut but this place was more like a country club.



We did an out-and-back to Hornsjo. It was going to be a lollipop but we couldn't see the "not always groomed" road even when we stood at its starting point. We'd heard a big "whump!" on a slope earlier in the day so we weren't sure if we should go off-trail. There is over a meter of snow with big drifts and deep tree wells.



The trails were quiet. We saw other skiers but sometimes went a few kms without seeing anyone.





We found controls 22, 24 and 25 but we have no idea where to find the orienteering map.



After finally getting a good sleep, I had lots of energy and suggested that we go a few kms extra at the end to return by way of Lunkefjell. Partway along this route, we figured out that "fjell" means "mountain" in Norwegian, which we really should have guessed, as in "fell running". So we had a nice climb right at the end of a long day. Then we descended beside the small downhill ski run at Nordseter so it was a fast finish!

It took awhile to get to - and get settled into - our home for the week. We're in a cabin in Nordseter in the mountains east of Lillehammer with access to 350 km of groomed trails including the Birkebeiner route.

We're supposed to have "free wifi" but they only allow 15 minutes a day! And at the moment, there is "too much ice on the wires" to get Internet at all so I won't be posting many photos of Norwegian skiing unless we find a creative solution.

Between jet lag and today's 5:30 a.m. alarm, we didn't have much energy when we went for a late afternoon ski. According to the Sjusjoen ski shop, the correct way to wax for today's warm, icy conditions was... well, they had a display of hairy skis near the front of the store. For those who like to wax, they suggested a special base binder, ice klister and violet wax but warned that tomorrow will probably be different. So - confession time - our first ski in Norway was waxless.

Our skis worked perfectly in the hard, icy tracks. These aren't my favourite conditions but I loved this ski! We did a fair bit of climbing and descending but the grades were so gradual that it didn't seem like a big deal. It was exciting when we got high enough to see the lakes and mountains stretching off into the distance! Navigation was a little tricky in spite of the signposted trails. The place names on the arrows didn't always correspond to the map in a meaningful way, e.g. "Oslo", which is 3 hours away by car. So I had my compass out a couple of times to check our route. Tomorrow when we're awake, it will be even more fun. :)

For future reference: up-to-date info on groomed ski tracks in Norway
https://skisporet.no/

Tourist day in Oslo, with expert guiding and advice from Cristina and Melissa.



First we went to Frogner Park, the most popular tourist attraction in Norway. It's the equivalent of Central Park for Oslo and contains over 200 statues by Gustav Vigeland. The work began in the 1920s and finished in the 1940s.



A couple of Facebook friends seemed a little shocked so here's a description from Wikipedia: "Most of the statues depict people engaging in various typically human pursuits, such as running, wrestling, dancing, hugging, holding hands and so on. However, Vigeland occasionally included some statues that are more abstract.."

The figures are all naked but mostly they aren't doing, um, naked things. This is a family park with kids crawling all over the more accessible statues.

We enjoyed assigning orienteering-related captions to a few of them. Feel free to play along at home!

"The control description said it would be in the *upper* part of the re-entrant. And the vegetation was thicker than you mapped it. I must have lost 3 minutes there."



"Woot! I punched the finish control first! Hope that F75 racer will be OK."



"Where the he## am I?"



"Congrats on your first win!



"I told you to stop following me!"



"I'm tired of the Adventure Running Kids winning all the O Cup races!"



We spent the afternoon at the fascinating Fram Museum, which contains the amazing old wooden ship "Fram" that Roald Amundsen sailed when he was the first to reach the South Pole, just ahead of the Scott expedition. So cool - we could walk all around the outside and inside of this historic vessel. The museum also covered the Fram's other expeditions and displayed another of Amundsen's ships "Gjoa" that spent two winters in Canada's Gjoa Haven. There were artifacts, photos and information from other early polar explorers and expeditions too. My kind of place!



As difficult as it was to sail to the poles, Amundsen's kayak trip sounded even more nervewracking.



View of Oslo Fjord behind the museum.



Maybe it's just as well that Cristina and Melissa have *not* chosen Norwegian restaurants for dinner so far. We've had terrific pizza and dim sum. 'Bent and I did have some mackerel on bread for breakfast though, with fantastic, strong coffee.



Off to Lillehammer at 6:30 a.m.

After collecting some great ideas for hotel room workouts, I noticed this sign in the lobby.



Yeah, sure, I've seen hotel gyms before. So we went down to check and... wow. This photo shows only half the gym. So 'Bent and I worked out before dinner. We leave Oslo in the morning so those other workouts will still come in handy.

Dinner and intro to Oslo with Cristina and Melissa - yay!

Drinking cappuccino in Frankfurt and trying to wake up. We were in a row where the seats don't go back much (yawn). That's OK. Sleep has never been my strong point!

Short run in the sunshine to get warmed up after a long day of last minute tasks and cleaning for the house sitter.

Slowrunner workout.

Do you have a favourite hotel or "prison" workout?

Really sad news. Robson Gmoser, one of the best-known, most experienced and most popular mountain guides in Western Canada, was killed in an avalanche Tuesday afternoon near Sorcerer Lodge, a remote ski cabin near Golden, B.C. He was 45.

Robson was our ski guide at Assiniboine Lodge one time - a super nice guy and as knowledgeable about avalanches as anyone. The avalanche risk was "moderate" and there hadn't been an avalanche in the area for weeks. Be careful out there, Revy, Carbon, Carbon's Offset, Myka, Slice, Ang, VO2Max and Urthbuoy!
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/popul...

Ten years ago today on March 12, 2005, I started my Attackpoint training blog. I've logged all my training and racing since then. As expected, this data has been useful for planning and analysis, checking recovery time from past injuries, reviewing GPS tracks and all the things you would expect from a training log.

But beyond that, Attackpoint has introduced me to friends around the world and close to home, strengthened our relationships as we share our day-to-day lives with one another, and given me access to a wealth of information, experience and even teammates.

Back in 2005, Attackpoint had already been around for 5 years and was mostly used by orienteers, most of whom knew each other in the real world. Adventure racers were scarce. Since then, the AP community has expanded to include athletes in many sports in different countries and has become a great place to meet and exchange ideas with other adventure racers. For a number of AR World Series races, the AP discussion thread has become the best place to follow the event. APers around the world watch GPS tracks and post information and analysis while APers in other time zones sleep. Those have been some of my favourite (and most obsessive) times on AP. :)

Over time, this has become my blog, not a log. I started posting photos here in 2009 when we did the Rock & Ice Ultra in Yellowknife. It's been fun to create race reports here, mostly documenting memories for myself but it is sometimes fun to "write" my AP log in my head while I'm training, knowing there is a group of like-minded people who will laugh with me - or at me, depending on what went wrong that day!

I appreciate that people here aren't afraid to tell me if they think I'm on the wrong path. I value your wisdom. I also value your friendship; I now share much more here than just my training. Thank you.

It's amazing how many times I've been approached by someone who recognizes me from AP. It's also been cool to share hugs with some APers the first time I met them in real life since I felt like I already knew them so well.

So what was that first training session I logged 10 years ago? It was an ARC winter adventure race at Hardwood Hills - ski / bike / snowshoe with navigation. Hammer, Tarno and Rydlo? won the team event. I just missed winning the solo overall in a field of 26 solos, mostly male. I still consider it to be my best adventure race result ever. 'Bent raced solo and also started his AP log 10 years ago today. Timato was there too and started logging his training the next week.
http://ar.attackpoint.org/viewlog.jsp/user_920/per...

Huge thanks to Ken for his caring, intelligent stewardship of our large, varied and demanding online community. He has always been there when I needed any help here. This calls for a special anniversary donation to AP!
http://ar.attackpoint.org/donate.jsp

A good blog post that is relevant to many issues: "Scientific Consensus: Most People Don’t Understand It, and That’s Why Everything is a Mess"
https://gokaleo.com/2015/03/10/scientific-consensu...

Gorgeous sprinter day! Too warm to ski so I thought I'd find out whether winter sports and strength training have done much to prepare me for upcoming ultras. I don't like to run much in winter when there are so many other fun things to do. I'm like Kilian that way. ;) There is a very short list of *other* ways in which Kilian and I are alike, e.g. we both have ears.

Most of this was running on back roads that ranged from gravel to goopy mud to ice to packed snow (in Albion Hills). About 2.5 km was on rail trail and a closed road where I slogged through ankle-deep slush and mashed potato snow. For this time of year, it was a relatively runnable route with enough hills and scenery to feel like a trail run. It felt good, even on the uphills, so the strength training seems to help - and so did the Spikecross. Beauty weather!

Skiing will end soon so it's time to add some summer multi-sport training to the mix.

Training session with Slowrunner. I bought a heavier dumbbell on the way home, which is a good sign!

One nice thing about rest days... there's time to plan more fun in the woods! I'm racing Raid The Rib with new ultra-teammates: Virginia and Charlotte. It's pretty clear who's going to be on the back of the tow rope! :)

Rest day - ahhh. Not off to a good start since I couldn't sleep with the time change, even though I tried taking melatonin.

Sean of Team DART Nuun posted this article on training recovery on Kyle's log last week. The graphs are worth a thousand words. http://fellrnr.com/wiki/Supercompensation

Cool! We're going to see a near-total solar eclipse in Norway!
http://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/norway/oslo?...

DontGetLost Eliminator O Cup race

It was the final O Cup of the 2014/15 season and we couldn't have asked for a better event to cap off the series! The terrain on and around the Brock University campus is varied and fun - and today we had the added challenge of deep, crusted powdery snow off-trail and occasional ice patches on trail. (Yay, Salomon Snowcross!)

There were 3 mini-races, each with a handicap box at the start. The first map was a sprint around campus - a nice warm-up, nothing too complicated. Anvil met us at the finish control and counted off the first 20 runners who would continue to compete for the win.

Race #2 included snowy fields, trails, small hills and forest. It was hard work to go even a few meters in that much snow. When we got to the second finish control, Anvil was there again. How *does* he do that? ;)

The top 10 from Race #2 were now competing for the win in Race #3 - Mick, AdventureGirl!, Hammer, Elena, 'Bent, me and a bunch of ARX stars with speedy young legs. This time we were wallowing in snow and slipping on ice along the escarpment behind the university. I was grateful that my handicap allowed me to skip some of the snowiest ones. The rest of the course was a more complex campus sprint - lots of fun!

Noah Michelson was the overall O Cup Series winner this year; Eugenius was 2nd and the top adult. I was the top woman and AdventureGirl! was the top junior woman.

Challenging race! 'Bent and I went out for a great lunch afterward with Funderstorm, who has a knack for finding wonderful places with yummy food and interesting beer.

(Race time includes time between mini-races so it wasn't all running.)

Slowrunner workout + foot strength and some extras

I'm tired now. Springing Forward never agrees with me!

'Bent and I went up to Highlands for what will probably be our final ski on groomed trails in Canada this winter. I saw Coach LD as I arrived and decided to have some lunch and a chat first, which worked out well since it ended up being my second longest ski of the winter after the Gatineau Loppet. The temperature was around freezing - not my favourite weather for waxing - but I managed to hang on to a bit of grip for 30K with one re-waxing job. That's about as good as it ever gets with my mediocre warm weather waxing skills. I'm hoping to find a genuine Norwegian to wax my skis for the Birkie!

Slowrunner workout #11

Family snowshoe exploration of Palgrave West as part of BazingaDog's 4th birthday celebration. I think we tired him out. AdventureDog, not so much. Speaking of A-Dog, we need to give him a list of things he's not allowed to do on the ski trails:
#1
#2

We were mostly bushwhacking or making new tracks with our snowshoes sinking into crusted powder. Another spectacular winter day! I'm looking forward to the next part of B-Dog's birthday celebration - BBQ steak for the three of us (excluding 'Bent the non-meat eater).

"Bonne Chance!" to our friends doing the Snowgaine this weekend. Win it for Canada! :) Wish we could be there but we'll enjoy it vicariously through your race reports. Safe travels.

#ThrowbackThursday, March 2005. Relaxing at the lookout after a day of tobogganing, snow sculpture and playing with dogs - with Etoile, AdventureGirl!, Hammer, 'Bent, ThunderDog (Tobler) and BulletDog (Mocha).

Around Palgrave West with AdventureDog. It was another day that started with an Extreme Cold Warning but we managed to avoid the life threatening danger once again. After our mid-trail collision earlier this week, A-Dog was cautious to avoid skis and poles but he hasn't yet learned to anticipate the higher speed on downhills. Fortunately, he now understands a few commands: "Sit", "Down", "Come" and "LOOK OUUUT!!!!!!"

It's nice to get out right before sunset.

Hard Core Live with Caron. Tabata Night! This class was so tough that you just *know* BGY missed it on purpose.

Harder versions of most poses tonight - just because Caron felt evil, I guess.

DontGetLost X-League - a fun urban run to collect Scrabble letters at controls around the neighbourhood. At the end, we used the letters to make up a Scrabble board. With the help of X, Y and Z, and without the letter E, I got 50 points. I can't run as fast as the teenagers but I think I kicked most of their butts in Scrabble! Afterward, I attended my first DontGetLost AGM.

Maryland Child Protective Services then accused the Meitivs of neglect, saying unless they committed to a safety plan, the kids would have to go into foster homes. In Silver Spring, leaving anyone under age 18 unsupervised constitutes neglect.
<http://13wham.com/news/features/top-stories/storie...>

(If you're not familiar with the story, these parents allowed two kids aged 10 and 6 to play in the neighbourhood park and walk home on their own.)

It turns out I was severely neglected - or at least I would have been if I'd lived in Maryland. I was allowed to walk alone to and from my half-day kindergarten shortly after my 5th birthday. Most of us did. I measured it recently - about 600 m one way on three different roads. You can see how it ruined me. I'm always walking (or running, skiing, biking, snowshoeing, paddling) outdoors, often without adult supervision and sometimes buying expensive plane tickets, accommodation and meals to support my habit.

FB, you also neglected Willderness, apparently, and Hammer continues to neglect AdventureGirl!

AdventureDog and I did a fun tour of Palgrave West in an awesome snowstorm. A-Dog is still learning the ropes and made a serious error by stopping in the middle of a long downhill. It looked like I could just miss him by pushing my skis farther apart and passing right over him. But then he zigged and I... also zigged. Luckily, I didn't hurt him but my left ski stopped abruptly when I ran into him, and I did a swan dive into the powder and banged my left knee on something hard. AdventureDog rushed over to my face and licked it sympathetically. He'll learn.

Time deducted for lying face down in a big pile of snow.

Sketchy, icy drive to another great session with Slowrunner. I don't think we've done the same strength training exercise twice. She finally threw some burpees into the circuit today. I haven't been missing them!

Rest day for my legs after the February Challenge! Most ultra training programs have one or two rest days per week, often Monday and Friday. That makes a lot of sense and the past four weeks were a good reminder of what I miss out on when I don't take days off.

Regardless, the drip-drip-drip from our kitchen ceiling last night sent me outside with a snow rake to clear snow and ice from our roof and gutters in the warmest part of the day. It was a fairly intense hour of flinging weight around, mostly with hands over my head, which is always fun with an injured shoulder. Logged @ 1/3 of the time.

My version of the Chilly Half Marathon. ;) 'Bent and I went up to Highlands for only the second time this year. When Palgrave has good snow, we don't use our membership much but we still like to support them. After skiing in frigid conditions for so long, today was a reminder of how difficult it can be to get the wax right when the temperature is close to freezing. The extended forecast shows +7C for our first 3 days in Norway so waxing will be a challenge.

I went out for three different loops. The first and longest one involved two re-waxing stops but I continued to have minimal grip and excellent glide. The second loop was on my waxless skis. It was slower but on the bright side, no waxing stops were needed. (Reviewing the data, my fastest km of the day was on the waxless skis, just gliding downhill - probably the result of less traffic on the hill by that time.) For the final loop, I added another layer of even warmer wax to my other skis. I thought for sure I'd be stuck to the ground but it only improved my grip a little.

And then I bought 4 new waxes in the hope that I can spend my way out of this problem. :)