Training Log Archive: Bash

Happy Day, Mom! :)



P.S. It snowed for several hours today!

Event: Storm the Trent
 

Storm The Trent
Trek Elite

Another fun, challenging, well-organized Storm event shared with friends. 'Bent and I raced solo and enjoyed our rivalry!

We started with a bus ride to the north side of Stony Lake, west of Petroglyphs Provincial Park. The first leg was a trek with three CPs we could visit in any order. I had chosen a stupidly cautious route, knowing that I risked losing some time but I didn't want to have to worry about screwing up in the first adrenaline-fuelled hour of racing.

I hit CP20 first since the easiest way to find it was to follow the marked trails from the start. Then I bushwhacked to the north end of the lake and went around to CP22, High Falls, where I saw Arthurd and 1L. There was a trail route all the way to CP21, then I bushwhacked until I was within sight of the lake and followed various unmarked trails back to the transition area. My simple-minded nav plan paid off, as a lot of people had trouble so I was one of the first racers in. 'Bent and Double_Downon11 arrived while I was in the TA, and I knew I'd see them again soon. My Garmin said the trek was 6.3K at the time but it now says 7K.





We biked 6.5K on paved roads to CP2 at the start of the powerline east of Petroglyphs Park. 'Bent and DD11 both passed me. Then we headed into ATV trails for 15K of fun, rocky, muddy, sandy, hilly riding with two CPs to locate along the way and a swollen creek crossing to keep things interesting. Although both CPs were right beside trails, they weren't obvious so we had to pay attention. CP31 was tucked behind a small shed. That's where Raid Pulse (Jackson5 and Nathalie - the eventual overall winners) caught me after they made a nav error on the first trek.

I had a deep, muddy wade with my bike right before CP30 and didn't see any evidence of passing racers so I began to doubt myself but pressed on. Arthurd was punching the control when I arrived. From there, it was a fun, bumpy, hilly ride back to CP2. I saw Wokitoki (eventual male solo winner) coming toward me. A little while later, he shot past me on his way out, so he'd obviously visited CP30 already. (It turned out to be a nav error so don't bother trying to discern his strategy!) Amber was on her way in too.

Another 8K on hilly roads, then at CP3 we turned into the woods again on another ATV trail. This one had some rockier sections but was still loads of fun. After the jackhammer biking at Tierra Viva, I was absolutely loving today's biking. You couldn't wipe the silly grin off my face! We had to stay on a marked route on the ATV trail for about 9K and look for two CPs along the way. Then we emerged onto roads that led us 8K on a marked route over a few hills on our way back to Warsaw.

We parked our bikes on racks by the finish line and transitioned to paddling. I had a quick chat with LosDobos as I got ready, then hit the water. We paddled almost 5K through Quarry Lake and up the river to Warsaw Caves Conservation Area. Between Tierra Viva and all those winter paddle trainer sessions, I felt great on the water even though I hadn't been in my own kayak since last fall. I passed a few racers (who passed me again on the final run).

We had four CPs to find in the conservation area in almost 7K. I did them counter-clockwise since that would get me to the toughest one first, using the transition area as my attackpoint. CP53 was so close that I just planned to use features and pace counting rather than following a strict compass bearing. Bad idea! The water features are more extensive than shown on the 1:15,000 map, and when I got to my destination, I stumbled on a concerned-looking Tom Martin instead of the flag. We looked around together, getting confused by an extra bay and stream. It all makes sense now that I'm looking at the satellite map! Eventually, I spotted the flag on the opposite side of an inlet so I swam across. It was so cold, I was hyperventilating! Garmin says that was a 7-8 minute error.

The remaining CPs were straightforward, on or near trails. Double_Downon11 caught up with me near CP50, and we got briefly distracted by the wrong fenceline break with a fallen tree. DD11 ran off and a short while later, I turned off the trail to bushwhack to the TA. I arrived at the top of a cliff within sight of the road I needed. It was treacherous and slippery and foggy, and I had to throw stones to figure out a safe route down since I could only see 1 meter in front of me. I kept trying different spurs and finally camped to wait for daylight... Oops, wrong race. :) There *was* a cliff!

I made my way to the TA, hopped in my kayak and paddled back into a headwind. Along the way, I enjoyed a brief draft behind DD11, whose plastic kayak was slowing him down. Then I paddled hard to the finish line, trying to reduce 'Bent's lead in today's spousal competition. Alas, he felt a lot better this year than last, and he crushed me by 33 minutes! He was 1st Masters and 2nd solo behind Wokitoki. Official results aren't out but I was the top female solo.

Good times hanging out with friends afterward including my special buddy, Emi Cameron aka The Monster. Thanks to STORM and all the volunteers for another terrific day!

Almost forgot... Lots of good results for friends including Anber and 1L, who were 2nd and 3rd female masters. Arthurd probably won female open although there was a printer snafu so we haven't got all the solo results yet. Wokitoki was 1st solo and Tom Martin must have been on the podium too. Bugs in Teeth won the Coed 4 category, and TA3 won Female 2. I'm undoubtedly forgetting people!

Just curious since most Attackpointers do crazy things too... I've often experienced numb big toes after long races, and it takes awhile to go away but it steadily improves.

Since Tierra Viva, I've had a little numbness in my fingers. I think it's just the 2nd, 3rd, 4th fingers of each hand (i.e. the ones involved in carpal tunnel syndrome) with my right hand affected more than my left. On most fingers, it's just the fingertip or on the inside up to the first joint but I sometimes feel it on the inside of my entire middle right finger which makes it hard to drive in city traffic, haha. The sensation isn't the same all the time and it's fairly mild but I don't think it's improving; in fact, I think it was better when I first got home from TV. It's aggravated by running, biking and paddling but I can read a map without any problem so it doesn't interfere *too* much with adventure racing. :)

Anyone else have similar experiences from AR or its disciplines? It could be carpal tunnel syndrome from the jackhammer mountain biking at TV but I also wonder if it could be a pinched nerve in my neck from all the rattling. I got carpal tunnel after a tough kayak trip years ago but we really didn't paddle that much at TV.

I felt like mixing it up so I went for an easy run through Palgrave East and West, along Duffy's Lane to the rail trail, into Albion Hills and back out to the rail trail, through Palgrave Village and Reddington Estates and back home through Palgrave Forest & Wildlife Area via trails. At one end of the spectrum, I was bushwhacking and scrambling over thigh-high logs; at the other end, I was on roads. Mostly it was nice, hilly single and double track on a beautiful spring evening. The hills were alive with mountain bikers, hikers and runners. Excellent! Also a few FDFs - boo.

Huge thanks to our dogs for acting like snarling beasts that could barely be restrained as I clung to their collars. A suspicious-looking man had come up our long driveway and said he was doing a paving job on Airport Road (6 km away) and wondered if we'd like his excess "recycled asphalt" on our gravel driveway. Um, no. BulletDog was leaping around so much that she slipped her neck right out of her collar but she was smart enough to stay in the doorway beside her partner BazingaDog, jumping in the air and hurling her best abuse at the scam artist. Love my puppies. :)

Easy run on and off-trail around Palgrave West to loosen up before some leg strength work. I ran up Lookout Hill for good measure. 'Bent surprised me at a trail junction, and it felt like I hit my fastest possible speed (Garmin says 4:06/km) in an attempt to outsprint him to our property line. Didn't win.


First Trillium of the Year in Palgrave West - Photo Courtesy of Veinbuster

While watching The Daily Show.

Veinbuster is in town this week, and he needed a long ride in preparation for next month's Ride to Conquer Cancer in Alberta. We couldn't have picked a more perfect day for it - sunny and not too hot.

We started with single and double track in Palgrave East, then rode some hilly gravel (mostly) roads to join the rail trail at Centreville Creek Rd. Veinbuster has a cool Garmin gadget that told us the % grade and altitude of the hills. Apparently the Caledon hills have some steep bits! We finished with a short trail tour in Albion Hills before heading back uphill toward home. Great day to ride and nice to catch up with Veinbuster. We often talk about biking but it's rare that we get a chance to ride together.

Used bike computer time and distance, which deducted time for socializing and admiring views.