Training Log Archive: Bash

Trekked along the river and up and down the bank to access different rapids where we took photos of kayakers at play. Yes Urthbuoy, this was my favourite photo session. Kayakers are soooo photogenic on a sunny day with bright boats, PFDs and helmets standing out against the beautiful moving water - not to mention all the action.

Banff Centre Adventure Photography Workshop. Today we had two long sessions taking photos of climbers and mountain bikers. I'd hoped to post a few photos, but I'm blocked from uploading to Picasa here for some reason, so that will have to wait. This is loads of fun, but it sure is an endurance event. We had breakfast at 7 a.m., and after that I was busy until nearly 2 a.m. between classroom time, outdoor photography sessions and homework.

Here is the view from my room.



And here are a few photos from today's climbing and mountain biking sessions. All the subjects are local enthusiasts who get paid by receiving at least 2 pictures of themselves from each photographer, and in return they sign a model release enabling us to sell our photos if we wish.

Made it to Banff, but had to get up at 2:20 a.m. Alberta time to catch my flight. Yawn! I'd thought of running up Tunnel Mountain, but the icy pouring rain was a deterrent. Instead, I visited some of my old haunts from when I worked in Lake Louise - Grizzly House, fudge shop, etc. I had to buy a whole bunch of chocolate from Bernard Callebaut because the sign said they were Bullfrogpowered. I almost bought a T-shirt with a beautiful view of silhouetted hikers moving along a ridge line with the slogan, "Bring your compass. It's so awkward when you have to eat your friends."

The Banff Centre is a cool place, and the 3 photographers leading our workshop seem really good. There is a guy in our class who liked it so much that he is taking it for the 2nd year in a row, which is an excellent sign.

Tonight we went through all the portfolios that everyone had submitted to be accepted into the course, and the photographers offered some good critique. This one seemed to be their favourite photo in my portfolio. Who can guess where it was taken?

Still feeling blah. I headed for a large private property in our area. There's no house on the land, but I've met the owner and obtained permission to use the trails. I'd heard through the grapevine that his mentally disabled son sometimes ATVs in there, but I hadn't met him in 10 years - until today.

I'd like to say that I was totally cool with it, but it got a little weird and finally freaked me out. He looks about 45-55 years old, and we started out chatting pleasantly enough. Then he got angry when he saw tire tracks and evidence of some logging that he wasn't aware of. He walked up and down the trail with me looking at the tracks and pointing at clues. He kept asking me who had done it and saying that it wasn't right. I didn't know, but offered some suggestions - the same ones, over and over again, every time he asked.

Finally I said that I was going to start running again, but he didn't want me to go because we hadn't finished looking at all the tire tracks in the forest. I smiled and said that I really needed my exercise, and he kept talking. Finally I just started running, saying "I'm sure I'll see you around again sometime." He answered, "When?" - in the innocent way that someone whose brain isn't quite right would interpret my words to mean exactly what I said, as opposed to being somewhat insincere. (Maybe he's the sensible one!)

As I ran off, we exchanged a few more friendly (shouting) comments, but I still felt strange about running past him again on the way out, so I headed out through VO2Max's property to Duffy's Lane and came home the long way. I feel guilty about feeling creeped out. It's not his fault, and I'm 99% sure he's harmless, but there was still that 1% - and this trail gets almost no traffic.

What a difference a day makes! No zip in the legs today at all. Too bad, since this was supposed to be a longer running day. I ran to my dental appointment, then took BulletDog with me when I left (she'd been working in the dental office). It was a little warm for both of us, and I hadn't had lunch, which might have influenced my energy. When I realized it was going to be a bust, I headed for Salty Steven Single Track, where "slow" is a reasonable speed - and where the GPS probably doesn't measure distance super-accurately. In any case, when it hit 10 km, I called it a day and walked the rest of the way home with the pooch. Following Urthbuoy's advice, I had some greens concentrate when I got home - as well as lunch at 3 p.m.

I've borrowed some nicer camera gear for my photography workshop from Hurtn. Now I need to figure out how to use it!

Oh yeah... forgot about donating blood yesterday afternoon. Since they always fuss over whether I'm too anaemic to donate, I suppose that I just might be missing the oxygen that those other blood cells used to carry around.

Coach LD and I met for a fun twilight ride around Albion. She is sooo strong, and it's great to be pushed. Well OK, it's not exactly great, but it *is* good for me. And the conversation is always excellent. I felt a little better than earlier in the day, but still kinda weak 'n' wimpy.

Around Palgrave West with BulletDog. As I was heading into the K-Bash woods to do the Charlevoix loop, I heard an engine and smelled fresh exhaust. They've been doing some logging in Palgrave West and on the adjacent private land, and I doubt they're expecting to see many people in the woods, so we turned around and went along the Bruce. My pace was nearly identical to yesterday's, which was surprising because the perceived effort was lower, the weather was warmer, and I had a dog to keep an eye on. Surely the training effect doesn't work that quickly!

Only two more days till Banff - lots to do before I go!

Our new road running shoes just arrived by courier - our prize from the Saucony RockstAR adventure race! (We would have had them sooner, but we had to go some place to try them on and look at different models before sending in our order.) Guess we need to do some road running now!

Trail loop in Palgrave West. I'm trying to get back into running after a lazy summer. I'm just going to bike for fun over the next while, since there's only one race with biking between now and next May - Storm The 10. For that, I should be practising hill repeats, since I'll be biking up the escarpment four times as part of my multi-sport relay loops. Otherwise, it's all running and orienteering races for the next few months - and then time to enjoy skiing and snowshoeing!

Half Hard Core Monday with 'Bent. Caron's classes are starting in a few weeks, and we'd better not arrive unprepared. We decided up front to just do the first half, since we were both looking forward to dinner more than core!