Training Log Archive: Bash

Started with a trail run in Albion Hills to hang a couple of flags for this afternoon's high school nav training session, then I kept running until it was time to meet everyone at the Chalet. Yuck, I'm not used to this heat yet - I was just skiing a couple of weeks ago!

To slow down the speedy Phatty & Leanimal, who were also hanging flags, I gave them maps with no declination marked on them. They were surprisingly gracious about it.

Then we got together with 8 of the 12 high school students who will be doing the high school adventure race at Deerhurst in a couple of weeks. Phatty talked to them about adventure racing in general, and Leanimal talked about the importance of teamwork.



Then we divided the students into 3 groups and each of us took a group out to practise navigating to some checkpoints.



My kids (Jenn, Trish, Alastair) were surprisingly good at understanding contours and staying in contact with the map. For their first session, I think they did really well.

Afterward, we debriefed for awhile in the shade before I headed to the Wheelies' awesome sugaring off party. We're hoping that navigation plays a big role in the high school race because our teams are soooo ready for it!

This is way, WAY too hot for April.

Random Thought #1 for a Friday morning: After last night's Walk The Line session, a high school boy asked me with great enthusiasm, "How often do you guys go out and do this?" And when I think about it, most people show that same joy and excitement after their first adventure race or orienteering adventure, once they've been reminded how much fun it is to play outdoors like little kids again. Why is it that we can't keep these people in our sports - and attract more people like them? No question, marketing needs to be improved, but I wonder if there is more. Developing a local community of outdoor adventure lovers can certainly help. Looking around at the group last night, everybody was connected to someone else in some other way - either they mountain bike together, or they do trail runs or adventure races, or they go to school together, or they follow each other's Attackpoint logs or whatever. We look to each other for ideas, inspiration and good old-fashioned fun - I think that is working well for us in Caledon.

Random Thought #2 - I've been dipping into different chapters of "The Lore of Running", a book that I've owned for a couple of years, but it looked so long and scary and running-specific that I kept putting it off. Surprisingly, I've found it to be a real page-turner. There are some very interesting ideas in there about all kinds of things - overtraining, speedwork, etc. One premise that underlies a lot of it is how some people are just genetically able to run faster, and you shouldn't delude yourself into believing that you can train yourself beyond the gifts that nature has given you. I've always known that I'm not a gifted athlete (outside of some capacity for endurance), and that there are limits I can't move beyond, but a lot of people like to "think positive" and pretend that anyone can become a great athlete through training. This book doesn't sugar-coat it. You can't. But because I've always believed this, it doesn't depress me. That's why I focus on the things that I *can* become good at without speedy athletic genes - like technical paddling skills or navigation. And that's why multi-sport is the sport for me. A lot of great athletes are great in one sport and only good in the others. Add in a bit of navigation, and we can always hope that the great athletes will run really fast in the wrong direction!! :-)

Caledon Navigators training night in the Humber Valley. (Thank you GHO for the map!) Goose and Nick dsC put together a Walk The Line exercise for us, and it was loads of fun. Goose had attached small laminated cards to trees along the line, and we had to write down the letters as we found them. We didn't know how many there were going to be, so we had to stay on our toes. Right after the first sign, I stepped into water that looked mid-calf deep and sunk in up to my waist - quelle surprise!! Not only was the water disgusting and smelly, but my map got completely soaked, so I had to unfold it and wave it around for the next 10 minutes, which is not the easiest way to stay in contact with a map during Walk The Line! Not to mention that some areas on the map became colourful blobs after that. We spread out a lot at first, but a good chunk of our time was spent in small groups, since we tended to bunch up in slower sections. And given the steep slopes of the valley and the thick brush in places, there were definitely some slow sections!

When Goose checked our maps at the end, we learned that we'd all missed control K (the 2nd one), and we strongly suspect that he just made the whole thing up. There was some concern when the deadline passed, and Scooby was still missing. At first we thought he might have run home, but Rocky had his cell phone, so it seemed likely that he'd planned to come back. As we started to contemplate a rescue after dark, he emerged from the woods with a smile. I've seen a lot of orienteers after races, and I have *never* seen anyone so thoroughly muddy from head to toe. Thick, heavy mud that probably made him weigh 20 kg more than usual. He actually lost a shoe in deep mud and had to excavate it! On top of that, the little brown wad of goo that he carried in his hand was the poorest excuse for a map that I've ever seen. It's a good thing he knows the area, because he would have never gotten out otherwise!

Great evening of fun, followed by hearty dinner and drinks at the pub.

ESAR team training! After a brief studio tour at Hurtn's place, we parked at the Gore Road entrance to the rail trail and rode toward Inglewood with the goal of buying a cookie at the General Store. It was a lot warmer than I'd expected, so I ended up carrying extra layers that were definitely not needed today. We had quite a headwind on the way there, so I tried to remember Leanimal's advice about welcoming the wind as a training partner. (But my *real* training partners are friendlier.)

At first the boys pretended that the pace was fast for them, but they were flying once they'd warmed up. When I mentioned to Damuhl that the store sold ice cream, he took off in front and hammered the rest of the way to Inglewood. (He didn't actually have any ice cream, however - probably to impress his teammates with his dedication.) We were speedier on the way back with the tail wind helping us - 41 minutes vs. 50 minutes. We did a few speed intervals along the way and even practised some drafting. Lots of fun, and the longest bike ride of the season so far!

Quick visit to the Wellness Centre for some pre-run upper body work. Presented Slowrunner with her official Tree Hugger bracelet.

Gurlz Run with Leanimal - first time in months that we've gone running on the Humber Trail together, and it felt awesome! We both felt that our hill intervals had made a difference. Brilliant sunshine and fresh, cool air - Leanimal even wore her Salomon shorts. Yes, spring is finally here!

Evening cruise down Duffy's to Albion Hills followed by a very thorough tour of the campground roads. Trails there are still too wet to ride - even the roads had big puddles. Bike legs are feeling pretty good for this early in the season.