Training Log Archive: Bash

'Bent, Crash, Rocky and I went up to Highlands Nordic and were lucky enough to get a couple of hours of excellent skate coaching drills from Coach LD. It was chilly, and ski conditions were mid-winter-fantastic. Nick was out as well, and Mrs. Sudden was arriving just as we were leaving. Great day - lots of fun! Especially when Rocky tried on the very fashionable dinosaur hat in the ski shop. Wow, look at all that snow!!

Snow is crusty and midcalf deep! 'Bent and I met the TRCA rep and hiked out to the new chest-high fence that blocks us off from our beloved Palgrave Forest & Wildlife Area. He kindly granted us permission for an opening at our usual entrance. He's a nice guy who wasn't involved in the flawed Trail Plan, so we can't be angry at him - even though we're not happy campers. We can't understand the rationale of building a tall fence through the middle of good wildlife habitat. Supposedly deer can jump a chest-high fence if they see it - although one of them died recently when it ran into a similar new fence across the road. Based on our dogs' attempts, it looks like the coyotes are going to be stuck living on whichever side of the fence they were patrolling at the time it was built.

Not much of a week for training while my sore quads recovered, but there was lots of catch-up after being away.

I almost skipped getting a Christmas tree this year, but I feel much more holiday cheer after bringing home a real tree and filling our living room with that nice balsam smell.

I was looking for a web domain for my company (White Pine Consulting Services Inc.) and happened to notice that www.barbcampbell.ca was on the list being released to the public yesterday. I registered it for a year on a whim. Maybe it will be useful. If nothing else, I'd rather have it myself than trust it with someone else!

I'm feeling a little bummed. We've been planning for ages to go to the 2010 Olympics, where we expect at least one friend - and maybe two - to be competing. We ordered tickets to 14 events, very few of which were designated as "high demand", so we figured we'd get a reasonable selection to make it worth the trip.

No such luck. We were allocated tickets to exactly 2 of our 14 events - a preliminary hockey game and the men's 50 km XC ski race. The events are 12 days apart. Anybody want overpriced hockey tickets in Vancouver on Feb. 16, 2010? I guess I'll save the XC ski tickets for VO2Max.

Grumble, grumble.

'Bent and I travelled home from Tucson today. Although he outran me yesterday, he couldn't walk any faster than I could today. We can't remember our quads ever being this sore, even though we've done lots of longer events. 42.2 km of mostly downhill-sloping pavement was a whole new experience for our bodies!

Our favourite moment was in the Toronto airport when one of those electric carts stopped to ask whether the "disabled" people needed a ride through the terminal to Customs. (We declined with big smiles.)

I'd made a conscious decision to train almost exclusively on trails to avoid injury. I'm glad I did, but my body wasn't used to the pavement, and that's what did me in. The only time I felt aerobically challenged was near the start of the race when we climbed a long hill at over 4,500' altitude, and I felt like I was gasping to get enough O2. Otherwise, the challenge was entirely muscular.

It turns out that I maintained a slightly higher pace in the very hilly 25K Dundas Valley trail race compared to the first 21K of the marathon, and I felt a lot better afterward. I'd expected to go faster on pavement than trails, since that's what I've done in 10K road races - but apparently not. I only needed 10 sec/km faster than the Dundas Valley race to qualify for Boston, which is why I gave myself the 50/50 chance, but clearly I had NO idea how punishing pavement running is. Oh well, trail races are more fun anyway!

The post-race marathon celebration in a big hot tub was the best part of the event. There were a dozen people from Caledon - 6 did the marathon, 4 did the half, and 2 cheered. I think only 2-3 people achieved their goal, but that didn't prevent us from enjoying a round of Bailey's and lots of laughs in the hot tub. Dinner with the gang at Sauce (wine and interesting pizza) was another highlight, especially since it was only a 2-minute drive from our hotel. Zzzzz.

I wish I'd had more time to take photos in Tucson - and I didn't have my SLR camera. Here is a sampling.

Caron (of Hard Core DVD fame) and Barrie Shepley are our neighbours in Palgrave, but they also have a condo in Tucson. They acted as gracious hosts and tour guides for the rest of us.



On the day before the marathon, most of us went for a desert hike in the Catalina Hills. The scenery and vegetation are so totally different from home. We were staring at every little thing.









Between the post-marathon hot tub and dinner, 'Bent and I drove out to Mt. Lemmon and got a short distance up the road before the sun started to set. Wow, Tucson has great sunsets!