Training Log Archive: Bash

Sending a big shout out to my Tierra Viva teammate Hingo who did the Glacier Ridge Ultra 50K in PA on Saturday, just 11 days after getting home from Argentina. (Guess which race he registered for first!) He was in the top 10 at the half in this year's mudfest and finished in the top third at 6:20. Nice job! Guess I should have made him carry my pack. :)

The Minister, his son Matt and Matt's girlfriend Rachel had requested some orienteering instruction so 'Bent and I met them at Albion Hills. This wasn't The Minister's first time around the block, navigationally speaking, but the others were brand new to the sport and picked it up really quickly. We were out in the woods for almost 3 hours and by the end of it, I think we may have recruited a new team for next weekend's Salomon Giant's Rib Raid.

It was great fun to hang out with The Minister and his family - something we did more often when Matt was just a young 'un. Now he's a full-fledged Waterloo engineer!

Somehow we all calculated our layers incorrectly, probably because we were hiking rather than running. When we got to Caruso's Gourmet Pizza, we ordered far too much hot pizza and coffee to warm ourselves up. It was worth it, with the added bonus that I may not need to eat again until next weekend.

There is a definite trend in my life. Exercise. Eat. Exercise. Eat. Preferably with friends. I'm fine with that. J'ai la banane.

As part of my pre-UTMB French education, I'm learning some slang expressions that mean "I feel good". Gotta be optimistic, right? I know a bunch of you are doing ultras in France this year so you might want to write this one down:

J'ai la banane (*) Lit. I've got the banana.
What does the shape of a banana refer to? The shape of your lips smiling, of course.

I think that might make me laugh out loud if I say it to myself while I'm running - and that is a good thing. However, I'm leery about saying it too loudly since it sounds like one of those fake slang expressions that foreigners tell you mean something totally harmless when they actually mean something terribly embarrassing. Maybe Leanimal could try it out on some French person and let us know.

With the postponement of the Giant's Rib Raid, 'Bent, Crash, WandAR and I had unexpected free time so we went for a trail run over to Glen Haffy, around a loop and back home. It wasn't as much as we were planning to do in the race so we labelled it the Hobbit's Rib Raid.

Most of the trails were covered with 5-10 cm of snow or ice chips, with some muddy areas and a wee bit of dry trail. Quite runnable for the most part although we didn't have great traction to push off. We started on the Bruce Side Trail but 'Bent and Crash got creative west of Gore Road and decided to take us on a tour of trails they both knew years ago. Let's just say that they didn't recall them perfectly so we did some exploration, some backtracking and even a bit of bushwhacking on private property. We encountered a sign welcoming "well-behaved hikers" so I think we were OK to be there. We found a beautiful dammed pond where we could do a little paddling. Must find out who owns that.

After reaching the Glen Haffy stile, we crossed the fence and did the 2 km loop south on the main trail and back north to the stile. The ladies headed for home from there while 'Bent continued further north to get in the 3+ hour run he had promised his coach. We followed this up with carb loading at the newly re-opened Caledon Inn pub in Caledon East. Pretty good!

My right knee went kaflooey for about 20 minutes in the middle of the run - scary. I've had a twinge at the medial side of the joint since TV but it didn't seem like a big deal. I was getting ready to walk home when the problem resolved itself. I'll have to keep an eye on it. Other than that, my body felt decent considering that I haven't been doing long runs like this recently. There was a little trochanteric bursitis in my right hip, which also happened early last year while I was building volume. I'm just going to assume that will go away.

The valiant BulletDog and I toured our yard but stayed out of the scary forest where big ice chunks were falling off the trees. It was still raining and cold when we were out. BulletDog eventually went to the front door and started barking for 'Bent to let her back inside because only a crazy human would be out on a day like this.

With the Giant's Rib Raid postponed, is anyone up for a morning run and late lunch tomorrow?

UPDATE: We have a loose plan. Meet at our place at 8:45 a.m. with the plan to start running by 9 a.m. We'll head out on trails toward Glen Haffy. 'Bent plans to run at least 3 hours. Crash and I are thinking 2-ish. It's an out-and-back type route so we'll find a way to deal with people's different paces and plans.

If you'd like to do some navigation enroute, go to the Giant's Rib Raid from the 2010-2011 season and print the Foreigner's routes - Raid #1 and Raid #2. There won't be flags but you will be doing a real Giant's Rib Raid! :)

Then out for lunch so bring some dry clothes.

Best to let me know if you're coming. Hope to see a few of you! :)

Snow has been coming down pretty hard for the past hour. Will I get to log some skiing in mid-April?

Looks like we may be getting an ice storm and power outage. Time to refill the gas can for the generator plus all our emergency water containers. Then tomorrow I'll turn up the heat before it goes off (maybe).

It was 2-3 C with rain - the type of weather I need to be prepared for at UTMB so this was a terrific opportunity to test some gear. I did the hilly gravel road run along Finnerty Sideroad to the Innis Lake Rd. dead-end entrance to Glen Haffy. I toyed with the idea of adding 6 km to the run by running through the conservation area and around the loop but I saw lots of ice on the first downhill and decided to save that for another day.

I felt good running and would have been happy to go farther if that had been the plan. That part is good, but I felt like I was going at a decent clip and apparently I wasn't. So that seems to be the legacy of Tierra Viva - decent endurance and so-so speed. In the ultra world, it's debatable how much someone at my level should bother working on speed anyway. Efficiency is another matter - I definitely need to work on that. I keep borrowing ideas from the Carbons' running coaching. Today I thought about driving the knees forward, hesitating before putting the feet down, kicking back toward my bum and running low. I don't think I ever managed to do two of those things in the same stride but I felt the difference each one made.

Gear test in 2-3C, rain and light breeze: (This is for my future reference so skip it if you'd rather not be bored!)

- Salomon Speedcross shoes - Felt great but I'm still thinking of using the Goretex model for UTMB, as per Brian Culbert's recommendation

- Wool socks = warm feet

- Salomon Windstopper tights - the only tights I used at Tierra Viva (2 pairs) in weather ranging from 0-22C. Already selected to come to UTMB with me.

- Helly Hansen long sleeve base layer - not really happy with these shirts in the rain even though I like them for skiing. Will probably switch to capilene.

- Salomon half-zip base layer top as 2nd layer - nice.

- Used a cheapo sports bra and got cold when it got wet. I need to find one made of something like capilene - very smooth fabric to avoid chafing.

- Salomon lightweight Minim rainjacket - Used the hood until I warmed up and opened the "Pete-zips" halfway. Althought this worked fine, I think I will still take the slightly heavier Goretex version to the Alps where I'll be more exposed. This packable jacket will be great for spring/summer/fall runs around here though.

- Salomon active beanie toque - Warm enough but need an earband because it doesn't stay down over my earlobes.

- Sealskinz waterproof gloves - Got downright hot and had to take them off. Funny because I usually find them not warm enough in winter when it's just a few degrees colder.

While catching up on The Daily Show. I added 2 reps X each leg of single-legged hops up a flight of stairs. Feels so unnatural to train power vs. strength - which means, of course, that I need to do more of it. Ick. :)

Tour de Palgrave West with BulletDog and special guest dog walker, Hansel. Talked his ear off about Tierra Viva while getting his feet really wet and dirty before a long drive. Still lots of ice patches and mud puddles out there but it won't be long now. Beauty spring day! Logged @50%

Hilly gravel road ride around north Caledon. It started a little cooler than I expected and turned into cold, driving rain that I wasn't properly dressed for - oops! It was still a triumph since even a week ago, I couldn't have imagined ever putting my bum onto a bike seat again. I also figured that I'd ridden my quota of hilly gravel roads for 2013. However, our potholed roads here are smooth like a baby's bottom compared to Argentina, and the tiny bit of dust that used to bother me is nothing compared to the layer of fine volcanic ash on a lot of the roads we were on. It felt surprisingly good to ride, especially now that 'Bent has fixed the rubbing front disc brake that made evil noises at Tierra Viva.

One thing that was clear at TV was that my road riding needs work. If we'd had more technical terrain, it would have been better for me. So... back to the salt mines.

On Tuesday, March 26, Mr. Steve Clark, the MPP for Leeds-Grenville, introduced Bill 40, Regulated Health Professions Amendment Act (Treating Spouses), 2013. This Bill, if enacted, would amend the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991 to permit spousal treatment if the regulated health professional's College deems it appropriate. Currently, if a dentist is found guilty of treating his or her spouse by a College, there is an automatic five-year revocation of the dentist's certificate to practice and a charge of sexual abuse on the public registry.

Yahoo! Maybe I'll get my dentist back after almost 3 years without one. I went to Tierra Viva with a sensitive tooth but it would have been a huge deal to make multiple appointments with a dentist in another city ('Bent is the only dentist in town) so I just took my chances. I'm glad the government is considering the possibility that 'Bent fixing a crown for his wife does not constitute "sexual abuse". The law only defined it as such in 2010. How bizarre and insulting!