Training Log Archive: Bash

Biking to Albion Hills and around - mostly single track with some good hill climbs. Some race pace riding early on, since we had some other riders right behind. I was with 'Bent for the first 20 minutes, then he was swept away in the thick of a bike club group who took a trail turn-off that I didn't. Marital communication, ain't it grand! ;-) It was a great ride anyway - dry, sunny spring condtions, tiny fresh leaves on the trees just out of their buds, deer bounding through the forest, wildflowers - nice!

Pre-race paddling practice at Island Lake with Crash and Gazette, in preparation for next weekend's adventure race. Three in a canoe is always fun (NOT), but things went as well as one could have hoped. On a windy day, we managed to hold our line and keep up a reasonable pace with minimal banging of paddles and bashing of heads (I did bonk Crash in the noggin once, I'm afraid). Gazette led us in a couple of paddling intervals, and has promised to do the same in the race. Meanwhile, 'Bent and Gazelle practised 2-in-a-canoe, and looked very good.

First time I've been able to compare training hours for the same month in two years. Lots of O in both years. More biking and strength this year, which I've consciously tried to do, and less paddling, due to the lack of hydrospinning classes. I'm surprised that I did so much more running last April though. That needs to be fixed.

APRIL 2006 - 45 hrs, YTD 175 hrs
Orienteering 17.5 hrs, Cycling 9 hrs, Running 5.5 hrs, Strength 5.5 hrs, Trekking 4 hrs, Paddling 3.5 hrs
APRIL 2005 - 48.5 hrs
Orienteering 15 hrs, Running 12.5 hrs, Trekking 6 hrs, Cycling 6 hrs, Paddling 6 hrs, Strength 2.5 hrs

Brisk rogaine training hike with several members of the Wadd Squad and JeanW. Followed a scenic route through Hamilton area valleys and along the escarpment. I'm not that familiar with the area, so it was fun to come over a hill and suddenly recognize terrain from Raid The Hammer, O training nights or visits to McMaster. Dr. Wadd provided good history lessons enroute. My ankle still hurts a bit, but its strength and range of motion were thoroughly tested on rocky trails, and it survived OK. While we walked on flatter trails, Nina offered feedback on my route choices drawn on maps from recent races, and did her best to put a positive spin on my 13-minute error in the Pig Long. (Yikes.) We finished off by watching the start of Tio Mila, a luxury normally not available to us country bumpkins living in the dark ages of low speed Internet.

While watching the Daily Show. Today's insight: George W's approval rating is 33%, but George Sr's rating got down to 29%. Since George W is competitive with his father, they're predicting that he'll do something really bad to try to get down that last 4 points to match his Dad. The problem is, they can't figure out what more he could do. They put up a table comparing the two men:
"George Sr had a war in Iraq. George W. had a disastrous war in Iraq."
"George Sr's VP misspelled potato. George W's VP shot a man in the face."
Etc. :-)

Trail run in Palgrave West with ThunderDog. Hard not to step on violets - they're everywhere!

Around Island Lake with 'Bent in solo kayaks - gorgeous day, and nobody else was around. It was nice to just focus on technique, and we threw in a few intervals too. This was probably our only chance to practice solo kayak paddling before Storm The Trent. Wildlife watch: A bazillion irritated Canada geese, and the biggest snapping turtle I've ever seen.

Thumbs-of-Death told me that if running feels right, then my ankle is ready to do it. My foot is shaped like a normal foot again, and is much less purple. So... today was the test. BulletDog and I went out for a trail run around Palgrave West on a perfect spring day - wildflowers in bloom, ferns on the trail, the smell of wild leeks in the breeze. Our trails are not smooth, so my ankle had to contend with rocks, branches and horse hoof prints. It felt a little sore, and I was being a little cautious, but really it was no big deal. My legs felt light after 3 days of rest, so it ended up being a fast run with a few good hills. I wouldn't do a long distance run just yet, but it feels like I'm 80% recovered. Yahoo!

Cooled down with some ABCs

Visited Thumbs-of-Death with my sore ankle today, and he inflicted laser beams and torture on me before declaring that biking would be beneficial because it would keep my foot moving. So I biked to my Town Environment Committee meeting tonight, which seemed like a nice thing to do right after Earth Day. What Thumbs-of-Death and I had both forgotten is that removing my foot from the clipless pedal is pretty much the same motion (and sometimes almost the same intensity) as turning my ankle. The first time I did it, there was a blast of pain and I undid half a day's worth of healing. Then I perfected a way to remove my foot by turning the heel inside, toward the bike.

Other than that, it was a great ride - mostly rail trail with some forest trails and a short stretch of country road.

And then the ride back from the meeting... I'm disappointed to report that I'm not as brave as I'd hoped. I didn't feel safe riding the rail trail at night. It might actually be very safe, but unlike our forest trails, I have occasionally met people - OK, men - on the rail trail that I didn't feel comfortable around. There was a guy in camouflage carrying a gun, solitary guys a long way from anywhere who were clearly not dressed for hiking, etc. No biggie in daylight, but I just didn't like the idea of being 1 km away from the nearest road in pitch blackness and meeting someone tonight. Of course nothing happened, and I made it home safely - and in very good time, considering that the way home is more uphill, and I was using a lousy bike light.

Apparently, 48 hours after spraining an ankle, you should stop the RICE and focus on mobility of the joint to prevent scar tissue from building up, thus making you more prone to injury. It is suggested that you put your foot up on a chair, and keep your heel down while you write the letters of the alphabet in a big font with your toe. So that is what I did for much of today, with my computer on my lap. Unfortunately, I don't think I ever got past K because I would get distracted, then I'd have to start again. I ran into my sports chiro at a meeting tonight, and he assured me that my ankle will never heal if I don't get to the second half of the alphabet. ;-)

I think I'll be ready to attempt biking tomorrow. I should probably take a pass on running until the weekend - or at least until my foot isn't purple anymore.

Hard Core Monday.

I spent much of the day resting, icing, compressing, elevating and ibuprofening my swollen, colourful, painful foot - but unfortunately, the injury did not affect most of the body parts required for this core workout, so I still had to do it.

This morning I was uncertain whether I was looking at an injury lasting multiple days or multiple weeks. I could not push off with my injured foot at all, i.e. I had to keep that foot perfectly flat, which made it awkward to walk. After much TLC and good drugs, I'm feeling some changes for the better tonight, and I'm hopeful that I'll be back on the trails soon.