Training Log Archive: Bash

Parked at the chain on the abandoned railway line, then ran in to the Mizzy Lake Trail. 'Bent now has a full-fledged cold, so I led the whole way in order to keep the pace down. *Way* down. My theory is that the Mizzy Lake Trail was designed by an evil person who hates trail runners. There are long sections with slippery, off-angle tree roots standing up 20-30 cm off the ground, positioned about 30 cm apart. Then there are all the slick rocks and slimy, slanted boardwalks. Phew - it's a fun trail, but you can't take your eye off your feet for long, which is too bad because the deciduous forest in particular was spectacular today!

I had one bad skid that wrenched my bad knee, which has been bothering me over the past week. I thought I might have to switch to walking/limping, but the pain mostly subsided within five minutes of light running. Fingers crossed that that was the end of it, but I wouldn't bet money.

Grey day with occasional sprinkling rain. After a morning visit to the Algonquin Art Gallery, we headed out to paddle part of the loop that Phatty & Leanimal and friends did recently. We headed north from the lodge on Little Joe Lake almost to Burnt Island Lake, then turned and took the 1.1 km portage to Littledoe Lake. After that, it was a nice long paddle back around to the lodge, past our wedding rock, which was unfortunately occupied by campers as it usually is. We don't get to visit it very often. Fantastic day for a paddle - the autumn colours were extra vibrant on such a dull day.

On the way up north, we stopped at Algonquin Outfitters, and I bought heavy-duty Marmot gloves and mittens. That was the first gear purchase for the Rock & Ice Ultra, which promises to be (another) one of those events that make all my existing gear seem inadequate for the task.

Time for our annual belated anniversary trip to Algonquin Park! We always go back to the lodge where we and our guests stayed when we got married.



And most of the time we are there when the autumn leaves look really, *really* good!



'Bent and I rode the rail trail from Mew Lake to Rock Lake. Nice views! We usually ride the more technical Minnesing Trail, but 'Bent's mountain 'bent is off getting repaired - again.

It's that time of the year - Caron's core and yoga classes have started up for the fall. She was relatively nice tonight, giving us brief breaks after the hardest exercises. But there were still a few things that hurt!

Our first yoga class of the year started off easily enough, but it got steadily tougher. The only thing my knee couldn't do was pigeon pose without hands. Otherwise it wasn't too bad. I'm hoping that I'll be up for a long trail run on the weekend.

I found out why you should never put regular dishwashing soap into the dishwasher by mistake. Not even a little bit. Really, don't do it.

There's a mouse in the house. Rats.

Knee isn't feeling as much better as I'd hoped, so I'll give it another day off.

After a long hiatus, Leanimal and I met up to reprise our hill interval workout in downtown Bolton. It's a good one for us, since it allows the Speed Queen to motor up the hills while I use my "single speed" legs. Speaking of legs, mine were fatigued today, and I skipped one of the hill runs and just power-walked up until I met Leanimal coming down.

Luckily for me, Dr. Lee had time to work on my knee afterward. After a bit of abuse, it felt less tight, but I'm probably still a couple of days away from normal.

Probably won't see Leanimal again until the Big Wedding Weekend. This is getting soooo exciting!

Oooh, my legs are tired. My right knee is bending much better than it was last night, thanks to ibuprofen, ice and sleep. Somehow I suspect that a 10-miler wasn't the best cooldown from Storm The Ten.

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