Training Log Archive: Bash

Biking at Albion Hills, including picking up CPs from yesterday's adventure race. The course setter had warned me that the Conservation Authority trail map he'd been given wasn't much good. The first CP was frustrating, but helped us understand which map features were reliable (the existence and intersections of red/blue/yellow trails and roads) and which ones were not (scale, trail direction, extra trails). After that, it was straightforward and we enjoyed a nice ride in the autumn leaves. It doesn't get much prettier around here than it is right now!

A second attempt at my Day 2 course from the Ontario Champs - the one where I got off to such a rotten start. This time I had a much better strategy - I took Hammer along to offer feedback on my route choices and provide a wide variety of tips along the way. Very helpful and lots of fun for me - although probably not much of a workout for Hammer. Bent came along too and practised his nav for next Saturday's Beat Hunger adventure race. He'll be the Tree Huggers' primary navigator for the first time ever, and I will be a volunteer and rest my knee for the Wine Classic the following day.

Just a few of the many things I should work on:
- Rotate my body to get oriented, not my arm and the map.
- Look around and see more of the woods. I'm focusing too close and missing important information, e.g. easier ways through the woods, contours that would tell me exactly where I am (or where I am NOT), etc.
- Fold map along line of travel.
- Use handrail that leads into checkpoint, if one exists.
- Work on precision map reading.
- When crossing trail or creek, turn body briefly and take bearing.
- Look more closely for vegetation boundaries on map and in terrain.
- Get my compass fixed so that it rotates like it used to!!

Did a 3-4 km hike this morning without knee brace or arch support, and was limping by the end. Went grocery shopping and gimped around the store. Even sitting in the car, my knee hurt a LOT at the exact spot where the meniscus is torn. Mope, mope, mope. I thought I'd have to skip orienteering today, but actually I felt great out there with proper shoes and the brace on - and plenty of caution about where I put my feet. I guess I'll have to be more careful in non-athletic activities too.

Leg strength work. K/O came over to make sure that my form is correct and suggest ways to "up the ante" on a couple of exercises that are starting to seem too easy. In light of my MRI results, we're adding even more adductor work. I am motivated!!

The sun just popped out for the first time in days, and I'm keen to go running - but I've got some orienteering planned for the weekend, and it's probably better to give my knee one more day of rest.

I am continuing my quest for a web site that will tell me that running on a torn meniscus is a good idea...

Leg strength exercises - still plugging away to make things easier on my knee.

Got results from my knee MRI today. It's a good news / bad news report. On the bright side, my stretched ACL is mild enough that it can't be seen on the MRI. The bad news is that I have a torn meniscus and chondromalacia, a rubbing between kneecap and femur that wears away the cartilage. Bottom line is that it doesn't look good for those long Rockies backpacking trips in my golden years. :-(

So far I have found two web sites that say I shouldn't run, and one web site that says I shouldn't walk unless necessary. So I am broadening my search criteria until I find some quack doctor somewhere who will say that long distance running in the woods is the best thing for me.

Crap. :-(((((((

Next step is to see a sports injury doc and get advice on any sports restrictions, whether surgery might help, etc. Until then, I'm going to keep on running - and reading medical literature.

Lower body strength exercises - new routine from K/O. This is lots of work, but I'll try to time it so I can watch the news, and maybe that'll keep me exercising on alternate days, like I'm supposed to. (Yes, I know it's been 4 days since the first time. I'm off to an unimpressive start.)

After 3 days of running in the woods, I'm still able to walk. However, I was less careful yesterday, and my knee was slightly crunchy-painful for the first minute after I got up this morning. Considering what I did to it, I think I got off lightly. I get the MRI report tomorrow. Fingers are tightly crossed that things look reasonably OK.

Thanksgiving O-Cross at Palgrave Conservation Area.

Damp, grey weather, but it was fun to race on home turf. Today's competition had Long, Middle and Short courses. I did the Middle length, which was 3 very similar loops north of the Palgrave pond. We would often see controls for different loops close to the correct control. (Good practice for Micro-O!) After the first loop, it was more of an exercise in trying to find the fastest route between two known points, then there would be some more finely-tuned nav close to the destination. All this emphasis on speed made it obvious that I am *really* out of shape. I was huffing and puffing like the Big Bad Wolf. Even with all the repetition between loops, my biggest mistake was on the final loop. Leaving a control, I didn't bother glancing at my compass, because I knew in my gut that the trail (which I had just left) was "50 meters down there". I was actually going parallel to the trail and ended up tangled in some nasty stuff at the end of a marsh, well below the trail. Oops. Always take a second and look at the compass, Doofus!

With my confidence increasing after the last couple of days, I was less gentle on my knee today, and a slight medial ligament pain is telling me that I didn't successfully keep things aligned - but it's really not bad. My highlight of the day was talking with JD from Quebec, who had a huge knee brace. His ACL is almost completely torn, and after strengthening his muscles enough, he's able to do all kinds of sports, including ultrarunning. He only wears the knee brace for orienteering. Hearing that was absolutely awesome.