Training Log Archive: Bash

Ran an indirect route home from Albion Hills after volunteering at the Fall Five trail race. So cool to see little kids running on the 2.5K course with their arms pumping and faces screwed up in intense concentration. The winning 5K racer was in his mid-teens and finished in 17:31, more than 2 minutes ahead of 2nd place. We were impressed with Pops, Goose's Dad, who smoked the course in 24 minutes - not a bad achievement for a guy celebrating his 50th wedding anniversary in a few weeks. 'Bent was an awesome Pied Piper for the racers on his recumbent.

Rodney Yee Yoga for Flexibility. `Tis the season.

Fun dinner with our original Tree Huggers team ('Bent, Hingo, TheMinister and me) and spouses. Adventure racing has given us so many crazy stories and memories - very cool! Awesome food cooked by Luscious and inspired by Jamie Oliver. I won't need another meal till Thursday or so.

Summer's over - time to get back to the basics! Kinda proud of myself for sneaking this into the short break between a big family picnic here and a late afternoon get-together at a friend's place. The only trouble with this crazy week is that I haven't had much time to sleep and now I feel the first whisperings of a cold. NO, go AWAY!!!

Ran trails to Palgrave East for some rolling, rooty single track then back via the Bruce Trail Side Trail. Frankenjack advised that quicker turnover would reduce the chance of re-injuring my ankle so that was today's focus. Quicker turnover is something I should always be working on anyway, but it's easier said than done for those of us who aren't Frankenjack or one of his kind. At least this gave me a useful visualization - lifting my foot off the ground hot potato-style before the ankle had time to go over. It's feeling pretty good so I may be past the riskiest stage.

I didn't feel any leftover fatigue from Logs Rocks & Steel, which may be the only benefit of being too busy this week to train! I ran all the hills and my legs felt lighter than usual. I don't completely trust the Forerunner's distance measurement on single track so I measured that 6.5 km section as a separate lap. The rest of the run was under 6 min/km which is fast for me on trails so things are trending well.

I was thinking today that I should do my longest pre-Toad run about 3 weeks before race day. And then I realized that the Toad is 3 weeks from this Saturday. Gulp!

Met my old boss and his daughter for a fun, fast ride from Newmarket to East Gwillimbury and back, travelling along the Holland River. The first couple of kms were on roads, then we joined a bike trail that was paved at first, then changed to gravel double track and finally became single track. Great to see them again and there is still more exploration to be done!

FAIL! I'd packed running gear to hit the Bruce Trail in Milton in the midst of a road trip with stops in Mississauga, Oakville and North York. Before changing, I phoned to confirm the time for a family dinner. "6:15." Seriously?!? That only gave me 30 minutes to run. So I reluctantly left Milton without running and headed for the city. And then dinner was at 7:15, just as I would have guessed. Sigh. Wonderful evening but I need to get training again with the Toad 50K just 3.5 weeks away!!

LR&S photos added below in Sept. 5 entry.

OK, decision made. I'm going to New Zealand in February to do the 2011 Speight's Coast to Coast World Multisport Championship. Watch out, Frankenjack! :-)