Training Log Archive: Bash

Spent the weekend in Duntroon watching ski races. We'd hoped to do some skiing, but there wasn't time. And as it turns out, I didn't feel well enough anyway.

Just so my log isn't completely empty for the past few days, we snowshoed up and down hills through some deep snow to find the perfect vantage point to watch Chandra Crawford, Sara Renner and others in the XC ski sprint heats. When we got there, we enjoyed some bonding time with Bobkitten Trish-and-a-half.

Tried to do some yoga, but had to stop less than a minute into it. Not feeling good at all.

Spent the afternoon cheering on VO2Max in the Haywood Noram 20K Pursuit at Highlands Nordic. He had a great race, finishing 3rd in Under-23 and 11th in Open Men. Great start to the national team trials weekend, where he needs to qualify as one of the top four Under-23 skiers. However, the online results posted tonight are wonky, with more than 1/3 of the racers shown as DNF, including VO2Max. We'll have to stay tuned, but I suspect that the timing system managed to capture start times without finish times for a bunch of the guys.

I felt fine during the day, which was *very* chilly, but by dinnertime, I was fatigued with a sore throat flaring up. Hope it passes quickly.

Just received a very sad e-mail about friends who went on vacation down south. It was their first holiday alone in years because they've been busy raising young children and running a business together. Tragically, she drowned. I can't imagine what he and their family must be going through. They're wonderful people, and it's heartbreaking news.

Please give some special people in your life a hug in her honour.

Some New Year's training resolutions... Unlike 2006, I didn't take my 2007 training resolutions very seriously, so most of these are repeated from last year's list. I'll try to review them monthly this time instead of waiting a year to find out how badly I did!!

1) Strength training - min. 1 hr/week. Leg, core, upper body.
2) Improve training quality, including speed work.
3) Improve technical orienteering skills.
4) 500 hrs total annual training
5) Get weight down to target - and stay there.
6) Continue to schedule training at specific times - C3, arranging to meet other people, etc. This is the most reliable way to ensure that I get out on busy days.

Sunshine, green wax, freshly groomed powder and -10C at Albion Hills. We aren't lucky enough to get *that* combination very often! Green trail (warm-up), Red trail (main ski) and Yellow trail (because I just wasn't ready to quit). By the time I was done, the family skiers were out in force, so it was time to leave the trails to them. Even though they slow me down, I'm always glad to see them out. If they're XC skiing, then they aren't walking or snowmobiling on the tracks, and they're sharing our love of the outdoors instead of playing Nintendo, which is awesome. One of these days, we might need those kids to save the world from our generation, so I want them to learn the right priorities!

BTW, my damaged rhomboid muscle, which nearly had my back in spasms 3 days ago, seems to be on the road to recovery. Good thing, since it would be unpleasant to put ice down my shirt when it's only 13C in the house today!

Power Yoga for Flexibility

2007 TRAINING (% compared with 2006, activities listed in order of hrs)
Orienteering - 94.5 hrs (-36%)
Running - 77 hrs (+6%)
Cycling - 72 hrs (+32%)
XC Skiing - 69 hrs (+64%)
Adventure Racing - 50.5 hrs (-46%)
Trekking - 49.5 hrs (same)
Strength - 24.5 hrs (-44%)
Yoga - 21.5 hrs (+231%)
Snowshoeing - 17.5 hrs (+119%)
Paddling - 15.5 hrs (same)
Other - 1.5 hrs

TOTAL - 492.5 hrs (-8%)

- For the 2nd year in a row, the amount of time spent on my "primary" sport of adventure racing decreased by half, dropping it to #5 on my list. This is not because I don't like AR anymore - it's because companies are offering fewer events, and the events that they *do* offer are shorter. This decrease in AR hours more than accounted for my overall drop in training hours vs. 2006, and also accounted for my 2006 drop in training hours compared to "2005" (actually the 12 months starting March 2005, when I started my AP log).

Aside from that, there was also a big change in my activity mix this year:
- XC skiing and snowshoeing were a lot higher due to nice winter weather and ski vacations.
- I did much more yoga and will continue to do even more. It's a great way to prevent injuries and stretch out muscles.
- I increased my biking by a third - a surprise. The routine of the Wednesday morning group ride undoubtedly contributed to that.
- My running time increased a little, and one of the reasons was my weekly Gurlz Run with Leanimal, which got me out in all kinds of weather in every season.
- Trekking time remained high due to our backpacking trip in the Dolomites.
- Not surprisingly, my orienteering time was down by more than a third from last year, and more than half of that time was devoted to less traditional forms of the sport - rogaining and adventure running. I certainly feel the reduction in my skills. My only A meet this year was NavStock. Too bad.
- I'm surprised to see it, but I can't argue with Attackpoint... my strength training decreased by almost a half when I was supposed to be bumping it up. Yikes - gotta incorporate that into my New Year's training resolutions, probably coming up tomorrow.

About 20 cm of fluffy white stuff had come down by late afternoon, and it's still falling - yahoo! 'Bent and I headed out for a ski around Palgrave West, following what appeared to be the remnants of a groomed trail, possibly created by VO2Max's grandfather for the entertainment of the National Team Development Centre members who stayed at their place for a couple of days around New Year's. We had lots of heavy powder to push through on top of the tracks, and it was *awesome*. (Take note, Revy.)

Annual Chuck Norris Challenge at Leanimal & Phatty's New Year's party in Orillia. A fine race course designed by Slice & Leanimal, with clue sheets written in poetry and clever little questions hanging in various places around the neighbourhood. As 2005 champion and 2006 runner-up, I was feeling pretty confident going into the event after learning that none other than Hansel himself had been selected as my partner in the random draw.

It turns out that he runs just as fast as he has always claimed in his Attackpoint log entries - maybe faster - and our on-the-fly teamwork was good. The only problem was that our brains contain very similar sets of general knowledge, so we were both able to answer the same trivia questions along the race course - with the corollary being, of course, that if one of us couldn't answer a clue, it was unlikely that the other one could get it. Hansel put in a formidable effort on front of the tow rope (aka Salomon jacket) in the 2nd half of the event, and our finish time was good, considering the big chunk of time that we wasted looking for the "T akin to North Bay" bus stop. But we got a few too many questions wrong and allowed 3 lesser teams to knock us off the podium - alas! ;-) Even worse, the overall winners were 'Bent and his partner La Femme, so I will have to listen to the gloating for a full year. Woe is me.

The prizes were awesome - customized undies with an iron-on "Chuck Norris Champion" on the crotch - and for the runners up, undies saying "First Loser". Great party as always, even though the men prepared unfair clues for the female team to perform in charades, while the women prepared clever, challenging clues in the spirit of fun and friendship. (Yeah, we lost...)