Training Log Archive: Bash

Happy Earth Day!

When Canada's 2010 Olympians return to their home towns to visit their families, their coaches advise them to seek out the nearest member of the Tree Huggers team to train with. Hmm... that's probably not it. OK, maybe their coaches tell them to call up Bash, because they're supposed to be resting during their month off, and training with Bash will keep their heart rates nice and low. That's more likely. Whatever it is, our 19-year-old Tree Huggers, Brittany and Pate, home for a break from the XC Ski National Team Development Centre, wanted to go mountain biking at Albion Hills with us today. In the end, Pate got sick, so it was just 'Bent, Brittany (probably Canada's top female nordic skier now) and - a few hundred meters behind them most of the time - me.

'Bent set a tough pace that Britt said was faster than she would ride on her own. Then he drove the pace higher by challenging her up a couple of hills, and she is too good a competitor to let that go! While they were having a great time up front, I pedalled furiously to keep them in sight, and periodically they would slow down to medium speed to let me catch up. For a ride of that length, I was doing about all I could do aerobically, so the only way to close the distance between us was to take more risks than I usually do in the more technical sections. Eeek!

Overall, a very fun ride, mostly going at my race pace for technical MTB. Trail conditions and weather were awesome!! It was great to see Britt and catch up on some of her adventures around the world this winter. It's exciting to watch her and Pate as they progress in the skiing world.

I printed the map for Saturday's 5 Peaks trail race at Albion Hills, and 'Bent, BulletDog and I went out to test the route. I'm not sure if I interpreted the simplified trail map incorrectly, but my new Garmin Forerunner 305 said that the 10K route was actually only 9.33 km. The difference in distance was apparent within the first kilometer, then stayed constant, so perhaps the start line is further back than we thought, or maybe there were trees interfering with the satellites. Anyway, it was a great day to be out on the trails. We slowed down a few times to let BulletDog swim, so this definitely wasn't a fast run. In the race, I'm going to have to force myself to go faster than what is comfortable. It's too easy for me to slip into a pace that I can hold for 25 km. I don't really have the right "gear" for a 10 km, so I'm going to have to try to invent one if I don't want to bomb too badly.

It was fun to watch the Forerunner as we ran along. Just wearing such a massive object on my wrist increases the level of intensity of any workout. The next step is to get Valerie to explain the magic of superimposing our route on a map. I'm really looking forward to that!

'Bent, BulletDog and I started at the bottom of K2 (Dingle), then did a Tour de Glen Haffy on foot. It was intended to be a long, easy run, but in this terrain, any running is hill training by definition.

I didn't have problems getting oxygen, as I did on Tuesday. I could detect some light congestion in my lungs for a couple of days this week, and I wonder if the warm weather has brought us some temporary pollen or mould or other mildly lung-irritating substance. Anyway, that was gone today, but I wasn't feeling muscular whatsoever until halfway through the run. I think the problem is that I take 30-40 minutes to warm up (obviously not a 10K specialist), and we climbed the escarpment 3 times during the first 30-40 minutes, so my heart rate shot up into the stratosphere too soon. By the end, my body seemed a lot more cheerful about things.

The only person we met was Manny of the adventure racing team "Wetha' Fa' Kawee Tribe". He started walking the Bruce Trail in sections on Jan. 1, and he had just crossed the 300 km mark (out of 800 km) shortly before we met him. He and 'Bent were wearing exactly the same shirt - the maroon Salomon Adventure Challenge T. What a fashion faux pas.

Hard to feel anything but pure joy on such a wonderful, sunny spring day. First day of the year running in a tank top, and first day wearing a hat for sun protection instead of warmth. BulletDog had a couple of excellent swims, and enjoyed splashing in the streams. Just a great day to be out in the woods. (There really aren't many bad ones.)

LINK routine while watching The Daily Show, plus a few sets of machine-blasting.

'Bent, BulletDog and I took a circuitous route through some of the Palgrave East single track, eventually arriving at the dental office to pick up the van. The upland trails are very dry. There are still some areas to avoid for awhile longer, but trail biking season has arrived!

No training today. Meant to. Got in an ornery mood while trying to sort out the latest requirements for joining the government's Renewable Energy Standard Offer Program. If you ever hear a politician say that this program will encourage people to move toward cleaner energy, tell them that I'm almost ready to build a small nuclear plant in my back yard because the paperwork would be simpler than for our solar panels.

Highlight du Jour: It was very warm, and I encouraged ThunderDog to step into our tiny garden pond, which was made deeper late last fall, unbeknownst to her. Her eyes went wide as saucers when she realized that she could now swim in her very own back yard. Then to celebrate, she tore around the yard like a mad dog, doing 360 degree turns in the air and diving into piles of leaves to roll on her back.

The Low Point: At the Palgrave Trails public meeting, when I realized that the new trail plan will pretty much kill skiing in Palgrave East. I guess I can live with the other changes, but that one hurts. We're going to lose 10 km of trails over there. They don't realize that a 2-3 km loop is too short, and an out-and-back route is boring. Unfortunately, most members of the advisory committee were there to represent special interest groups - not because they spend much time on the trails in there. I was the only person sitting on the committee simply as a local resident, i.e. not representing a pre-programmed point of view.

After seeing ThunderDog's devastated facial expression when 'Bent took BulletDog for his run to work, I had to take my senior puppy into the woods today. I drove 'Bent's car to my haircut appointment in his building, left T-Dog in the dental office for awhile, then she and I hiked - and occasionally jogged - home through Palgrave CA. She loved every moment of it - wonderful to see her in full doggy action, even though she's slowing down. She's snoring up a storm now.

While watching the Daily Show and a bit of the Colbert Report

Got the results for Sunday's O event - the Spring Tune-Up - and was pleasantly surprised. I won F35 against a couple of people who have beaten me in past years, and if I were M45, I would have been 3rd of 10. 'Bent, who gets discouraged and retires from orienteering half a dozen times a year after making occasional nav errors, ended up 1st in M45. I'm very proud of him! :-)

Still headachey today, and I mentioned it to Leanimal when we met at her office for our run. She offered to work on my neck for a few minutes, and it felt very strange, but made an amazing difference immediately. She says that these types of headaches can come from holding the muscles at the back of your neck tight and shortened while running through the bush. I spent the afternoon pain-free, and now tonight I've got maybe 20% of the pain I had before, but I'm trying to stretch my neck to get rid of it. Interesting. Yay to Dr. Leanimal, the Miracle Worker!

I had a noon deadline today, so we could only get to the high point of the big climb from the Humber River, then we turned around. I don't think we went as fast as other weeks, but it felt more difficult today. The slippery mud made it hard to stay upright, and for some strange reason, both of us felt like we weren't getting enough oxygen. Always nice to get outside though, and the Humber Trail is a great workout.

Later in the day, I was trying to reach an interview subject for a magazine article I'm writing, but I had to wait until he returned from his appointment with Leanimal, which took place after her appointment with 'Bent. Is Caledon a small world or what?

Still feel headachey. Could this really be from yesterday's race, or am I coming down with something?

Even so, we had a great evening. 'Bent, Phatty, JoeG and I had dinner with the injured Milhouse at his local pub. Good food, excellent company, lots of laughs and stories.