Training Log Archive: Bash

'Bent and I did an easy tour of Albion Hills on a perfect spring day. Trilliums, sunshine, trails in perfect condition - awesome. We met a guy who works at a bike shop that sells recumbent bikes, and he was keen to try 'Bent's bike and get his photo taken. Over the years, a fair number of people have taken test rides but I can't remember anyone just hopping aboard in the middle of hilly, twisty single track. This fellow did just fine though - even on a tight uphill turn.

Lots of people in the park - hiking, biking, picnicking, walking dogs, chasing frisbees. Although I selfishly prefer having the trails to myself on most days, it was nice to see so many families enjoying the great outdoors.

I totally forgot that my Storm The Trent race plate was still on the front of my bike. I guess everyone thought I was really cool. ;)

I'm continuing to learn about the Ambit 2. I miss the Garmin's display, which I had set up with 4 data fields of equal size. For running, it was Activity Time, Distance, Pace (or Speed for biking),Time of Day. I'm far-sighted but I can read them all without glasses when I run. On the Ambit, I can have a maximum of 3 data fields on the display. This isn't too bad since I can put Time of Day on an alternate display and toggle over to it. The problem is that only one of the 3 fields is large enough for me to read easily without glasses. So it's like going from 4 data fields down to one. I'll have to experiment with this some more but this could be a deal breaker.

The other thing I need to experiment with more is the distance measurement. The Garmin and my bike computer are usually very close. The Ambit measured almost 10% lower than the bike computer today. The Garmin has occasional bad days on single track as well, but the Ambit measured the Hockley Loop lower than expected too so I'll have to keep an eye on it.

Other than those things, I like it. Surprisingly comfortable for its size, extremely quick to pick up satellites, easy to start/pause/stop, nice backlight, etc. I'm hoping I'll make it work for me.

Happy holiday weekend! :)

Tech geek update on my earlier problem with Ambit pause time being included in the run time, which turns out to be a Suunto problem with the export from MovesCount. Lucky for me, Attackpoint Ken provides excellent support for Friday-night-of-holiday-weekend questions, and he explained where to find the data before it is uploaded. He has an Ambit himself and is quite happy with it, so no one should worry about Attackpoint / Ambit compatibility.

The tricky part is that the directory is hidden on a Mac so to see it in Finder, I went to "Go to Folder" and entered the exact name:
~/Library/Application Support/Suunto/Moveslink2

The most recent XML files are in there but they get cleaned up regularly. To permanently unhide the folder, I did Utilities - Terminal and entered this command: chflags nohidden ~/Library
(I love the Google.)

Seems like a good night for me to make an extra donation to Attackpoint! :)

I started Hockley Loop with WandAR, then the second wave of runners (Dee, Mrs. Gally, 'Bent, ShedMan and his dog Clyde) caught us on 5th Line, a little later than planned. After running together for awhile, the group drifted apart, and I finished with Mrs. Gally, who was having a rough day or else she would have been with the frontrunners.

My plan today was to do the Loop on fatigued legs to simulate the later part of a longer run. Storm The Trent was six days ago, and I've done a fair bit of running and strength work this week, including last night's session, so I definitely succeeded in the fatigue department! Also, with the Sulphur Springs 50-miler next Saturday, I wanted to walk up hills that I would walk in a 50-mile event. It was a great day on the trails followed by another stellar lunch at the Black Birch. The owner is getting used to us quietly asking for a table away from other people because we don't smell so good.

Adding to my fatigue was the fact that I stayed up late to configure the Ambit 2 and figure out how to use its basic features for today's run. It went reasonably well for a first attempt. It actually feels more comfortable than the Garmin even though all these watches are huge on my little wrist. I weighed it and found that it's only 6 g heavier than my 310XT, although the specs say 10 g. It definitely feels more watch-like and less computer-like, and it was nice to be able to go into a restaurant without exchanging it for my regular watch.

It measured the distance 700 meters shorter than the last time I ran the Loop although I'll have to check back since I know the measured distance has been variable, and that may not be far off. I miss having 4 display fields but can probably get used to that. It picked up full GPS signal in less than 2 seconds - incredible.

It measured the elevation gain about 100 m more than the Garmin (about 830 m vs. 730 m). The ascent and descent were roughly equal. Since this is a barometric altimeter, and today's weather wasn't changing, this may be more accurate than the Garmin but I want to run the Loop with it a few more times to be sure.

Carbon, although I didn't use it, you'll be pleased to know that the Ambit 2 has auto pause.

I'm a little disturbed that I can't turn it off. Apparently, it will run as a watch for 30 days but I'd still rather not drain any power at times when I may need all of it, e.g. before UTMB.

See update in note above regarding this next paragraph:

The one stumbling block I've hit so far is that when I export GPX from MovesCount and import into Attackpoint, all my pauses are included in the run time. So I have the correct run time in MovesCount but have to manually adjust it for AP. That means that my pace for the 1 km splits will be wrong in AP, which is info I look at a lot. The easiest solution is to never ever pause, of course! I'll keep looking into that.

Caron's hardest core class yet! I felt like my muscles were tired - probably from STORM and from Tuesday's strength training. I can't remember the last time I couldn't do full sets of everything in this class. That's OK though, since I wanted tonight's sessions to get me ready to run the Hockley Loop with a fatigued body tomorrow. Mission accomplished.

Arms were rubber by the end.

The Science of Sport has published an excellent summary of current knowledge on barefoot running, minimalist vs. more substantial footwear, midfoot vs. heel strike, prevalence of injury, the down side of footwear evangelism, etc. There are *many* nuances, and as is often the case, the right answer depends on the individual.
http://www.sportsscientists.com/2013/05/a-minimali...

This follows the recent announcement of a drop in sales of minimalist shoes. "...[This] further suggests that we're now seeing the pendulum settle somewhere towards the middle, away from the extremes, which do tend to embrace over-simplified paradigms and theories."

Wednesday night run from the Salomon Toronto store since I had other things to do there. The new trails north of Sunnybrook have some super steep sections - a surprisingly good workout for the city.

Early in the run, a very sharp, pointy thing jabbed through my hat into the top of my head. It was extremely painful but as I quickly reviewed my first aid courses in my mind, I couldn't think of anything to worry about other than the potential for copious bleeding from the scalp. So I took my white hat off to avoid staining it and kept running. It's unbelievable that in all my wilderness tripping, adventure racing and orienteering, I've never had that happen but a short run in downtown Toronto could have scalped me! The other runners were all guys, mostly talking about obstacle racing, and I think my casual attitude toward my bleeding head may have inspired a little respect for the sport of adventure racing. :)

When I got back to the Salomon store, who should be there shopping but WandAR!

I can't tease her though because I bought a Suunto Ambit 2 tonight, hot off the press. This has been planned for a long time since I want the longer battery life to get me through UTMB, and I've been waiting for the new model. My Garmin 310XT seemed to know what was coming and attempted to sabotage me before tonight's run. The buckle ripped out of the strap as I tried to put it on, and Derek had to more or less zip-tie it onto my wrist. So now I have a manual to read...

(Garmin stats adjusted since I forgot to turn it on for a short distance.)

Morning trail run around Palgrave West with BazingaDog. It was a double workout for him since he had already done hill repeats with 'Bent. (BZDog does *not* understand hill repeats.) He is snoring now so I guess it worked. Having a 2-year-old puppy is like having a toddler. It's nice to get them tired so they feel like napping.

Other than a few stops to mark our territory, he did really well although he was panting so much at 5 km, even in the shade, that I took a short break. It's tough to run in a black fur coat in May, although it wasn't very warm. I should have soaked him with the hose first.

Approaching the end of the Danger Zone:

1) Almost 4 days since the finish of Storm The Trent, where I encountered some poison ivy - not too much, fortunately. If I got it on my shoes or bike tires, there may still be effects to come but I've never had a reaction more than 96 hours after direct exposure.

2) 2.5 days since 'Bent accidentally ate a big serving of 4-week expired yoghurt. He should be out of the woods after about 72 hours for most types of food poisoning.

Living on the edge! ;)

Hehe, thanks 1L!
Chris Hadfield comes home to $1.37 million Rogers phone bill

20 mins upper body - trekking pole strength training - and 25 mins legs.

Labrador-assisted.

Editorial comment from our paddle coach Bill Trayling.

Now that the snow has stopped, it is beautifully cool. I thought I'd just run for an hour so I hadn't taken any water but it was so nice that I stayed out until sunset.

I've been trying to mix things up a bit when I run or ride close to home since it's easy to do the same routes all the time. Today's GPS track is not public because I explored some trails on private land including (I think) the property of a former Ontario premier. There are trails back there that neighbours all share, usually for horseback riding, and 'Bent was given a tour recently by one of our friends who lives on that block of land. So if I'd been caught trespassing, I probably wasn't going to get in trouble!

From there, I went into Glen Haffy and hopped on a minor trail I don't know for some more exploration. For at least half of today's run, I was just keeping an eye on the setting sun and using it as my compass to guess where I should turn at every junction. Kinda fun to do that so close to home.

The dogs were seriously peeved when I didn't get home until 8:15 p.m. to serve them dinner.

STT race report is posted on Saturday.