Training Log Archive: Bash

Stretching and strengthening of the shoulders since my stupid rotator cuff remains... well, stupid. The fun part is that I was using a handout from Leanimal's old chiropractic office, and a much-missed friend was in all the photos demonstrating the exercises. :)

Foot fetish session working on mobility, stretching, strength and balance. Goose mentioned that when he was recovering from ankle surgery, the physio had him jump onto a trampoline with one foot. So I tried jumping on the Bosu ball with one foot, then held a 1-foot balance pose. The ankle is improving. I also did some lunges and glute exercises in case I ever need to use any muscles that aren't in my foot. :)

The only pain after all the recent running is on the upper sides of my heel bones, as in both sides of both feet, about 5 cm above the ground, 1-2 cm ahead of the back of my foot. Anyone know if that could be Achilles? (Please say no...) They're pretty tight in the morning. This is not new.

Today's podcast was an excellent NPR Fresh Air interview with Dustin Hoffman.

Congratulations to ultrarunner Charlotte Vasarhelyi who set the Canadian 3-Day Women's Running Record this week on her way to running a 687 km distance in a 6-day event in Italy, 6 Giorni del Pantano. She was the female winner of the 6-day event and 2nd overall after leading for quite awhile. The next woman was more than 100 km back.

As I understand the Italian, the runners ran laps of almost 6 km on a paved trail around Lake Pantano - 118 such laps in Charlotte's case. Serious mental toughness required - more than I have!

Hot, humid run on single track around Hockley Provincial Park, sharing the forest with some hungry mosquitoes. I took the three Bruce Side Trails on the way north and met 'Bent and Tiny, who were going the opposite direction. At the end of the final side trail, I took the main trail back to the "aid station" at my car. This is a great little loop - lots of hills and pretty creeks. I was practising with my poles and hiked up most hills as I will be doing at UTMB. I was slow in the heat but I think the measured distance is about 1 km short. [Edit: After confirming that my previous GPS track on this route matches the Bruce Trail Guide distance, I've changed it.]

I listened to a bunch of podcasts as usual, including another Ultrarunner Podcast interview: Dylan Bowman, a 20-something guy who only started road running in 2009 and progressed quickly to top 10 finishes at Western States this year and last. The contrast between him and Karl Meltzer is interesting - the new kid on the block and the grizzled veteran.

'Bent and Tiny were doing a full Hockley Loop after their Hockley Provincial Park loop so they were going to be out for awhile. For a change of pace, I took the Bruce Trail to the top of the Hockley ski lifts (2nd Line + trail through Hockley Resort). Then I wandered a bit near the top looking for a place where I wouldn't have to deal with thigh-high weeds, the golf practice range or too many people watching me from the main lodge. (I'm not sure if people are permitted to be on the ski hill.) Then I did four quad-pounding descents and three climbs back up before running back to the car on Hockley Valley Rd. It was 30C and really humid, and I thought of Carbon's Offset last weekend in 40C - yikes!

There was a pain under my right heel on the final climb so I'll have to keep an eye on that. My good foot is not allowed to hurt!! Speaking of which, I taped my ankle rather than bracing it today, and all was well. Unfortunately, my foot has a few blisters from wearing the ankle brace so much in our humid and rainy weather. I need to clear that up before next weekend's rogaine.

'Bent and I went across the road to the Black Birch for lunch afterward. Salad with balsamic, icy homemade lemonade, duck confit and mushroom risotto. It's definitely not your typical post-run lunch place with its fancy tablecloths and nice selection of drinks but they're quite accustomed to serving sweaty Bruce Trail hikers so we fit in just fine.

Rainy run via Bruce Side Trail to Glen Haffy, then a tour around the north side of the conservation area. The vegetation along the route up K2 is so lush that it was hard to see the trail in a few places, which wasn't the best thing for a runner coddling her braced ankle. I opted to come home via hilly Finnerty Sideroad rather than plowing through the soaking wet, thigh-high jungle on the way home.

Today's podcasts included an Ultrarunner Podcast interview with Karl Meltzer, CBC's Spark on work/life balance in an age of increasingly intrusive technology, and This American Life on the subject of Iraqis whose lives are in danger because they worked for the U.S. military and are now having trouble getting help from the U.S.

It was a great day to test for potential blister/chafing locations since it rained most of the time with some major downpours. The photo below was taken during a rare sunny break when I dared to take my phone out of its plastic bag.

Cycling fans will appreciate that Australian Team Orica GreenEdge has had good reason to smile over the past week - and to sing and dance. If you're not a cycling fan, this is unlikely to change your opinion. :)

Call Me Maybe - ORICA-GreenEDGE Pro Cycling Team from prologotouch on Vimeo.

Easy heat acclimation and ankle testing (with brace) run around Palgrave East and West. Distance was probably more than the GPS measured due to all the forested single track. Humidity was oppressive but it was great to be running. I think I can start building up volume again. Good thing, given that I have a 24-hr rogaine next weekend!

Wishing a happy 4th of July to my Murkin friends. :)

Tiring myself out before the paddle trainer. This is trekking pole training for UTMB.

Today's podcast was "Under the Influence" talking about the use of shame in marketing. Bad breath and body odour did not have any social stigma until advertisers convinced people that they did. Hair colour was for hookers - until aging was presented to consumers as something shameful. Some of us can remember the horrible "Ring around the collar!" commercials where wives were shamed for doing a poor job of laundering their husbands' shirts.

I was going to run today but you could cut the air with a knife - yuck! That can't be healthy. Apparently, today's poor air quality is caused by fine particulates from some forest fires in Quebec. It should be OK tomorrow.

Just a little over 8 weeks until a group of us will be in Chamonix awaiting the start of UTMB and CCC.

My poorly timed ankle sprain has put a major dent in the amount of running volume I'd planned to do. I'm going to have to hope that cross training has given me enough general endurance. What will be lacking is sufficient specific training to toughen up my body for running long distances. It's a given that things are going to hurt more than they did last year; I just hope they won't fall apart!

With that in mind, here's the game plan until the taper starts:

- Strength, balance, ankle rehab. Lots of it. Include lats and triceps for trekking poles.
- Several 4-6 hour runs with poles - or hikes if my ankle objects.
- Downhill intervals - once my ankle starts to hurt less.
- Uphill practice - for climbing strength, not so much for running.
- No races unless they're foot races. Navigation is allowed. :)
- Cross training, including adventure race course testing, is OK but time on feet is #1 priority.
- 7-8 hours sleep each day - not counting the CNYO Rogaine or Wilderness Traverse weekends.
- Watch TV news in French. Started today. 'Bent and I have both been working pretty hard on our French. For me, it's going a lot better than the running. No taper will be required.

Lots of ankle / calf / shin strength, flexibility and balance work - also glute exercises since they're related to ankle / Achilles issues. Planning to do more while watching the Tour tonight since I don't think you can do overdo proprioception / balance training.

In honour of Pride Weekend in Toronto:

What a spectacular Stage 3 of the Tour de France on the island of Corsica! 'Bent and I both decided we want to go there but obviously, I'm too chickenhearted to ride a bike and share those narrow mountain roads with cars. Fortunately, there is a 6 day trail running stage race along the coast!- :))

47th annual Canada Day Duntroon to Stayner 8K road race. We've been hearing about this event from Coach LD and Goose for years, so we had to give it a try. You sign up on race day by finding the appropriate clipboard for your category in the back of a pick-up truck and adding your name to the list. There's no entry fee. Very casual!

Regardless, there were some fit-looking people hanging around the start wearing their red and white clothing for Canada Day. Goose said the event attracts a lot of skiers.

I hadn't run for 9 days since my last ankle turn but I figured I'd be OK on the road. Rather than use the brace, I tried figure 8 ankle taping, which I've only tried once before. It felt uncomfortable by the end of the run, and when I pulled my socks off, I had two "paper cut"-type gouges in my upper heel. Oh well, good to know.

As for the running, it felt really good. I've missed it. It was about as fast I can go over that distance - 5 min/km. I tried to think about good arms and proper posture - neutral pelvis, forward lean from ankles, 2" shorter. Usually not all at once, mind you. I would remember one thing and fix it, then I'd remember another thing and fix that, then I'd be back to working on the first thing. The usual.

I was inspired when a woman in my age category wearing a running club shirt passed me around the halfway point. That inspired me to try to hang onto her, which made for a fun race. I think she got me by about 30 seconds and won a large trophy for the age group victory. I thanked her afterward for making me work so hard.

'Bent and Goose ran together, and 'Bent pushed T-man's stroller. T-man weighs 105 lb and has a good-sized stroller so it was a great workout on the uphills and very exciting on the downhills. They averaged 3:35/km over the first 2K!

We enjoyed popsicles and a little Canada Day celebratory atmosphere before heading out for Part 2 of our run.

Since we started the day with a speed workout, I wanted to add a second run with some hills. After looking at the map, it appeared that Pretty River Provincial Park was the best place near Duntroon to get in some climbing. It was the biggest elevation gain I could find over a short distance in this part of Ontario. From where we parked the car to the highest point was 258 m, and the shortest trail route is less than 4 km. Even Blue Mountain isn't as large an elevation gain, although you climb more quickly there. Does anyone know of other good places to get in a lot of climbing over a short distance?

This was one of the places where Dee sent us on our long run last weekend so I pulled out the awesome map she made us and figured out routes for 'Bent and me. We each wanted to do a little over an hour so I sent him farther along the plateau after the climb was finished.

I ducked onto a side trail to climb to a significant landmark.



'Bent caught and passed me on the way back. It was nice to see him feeling great and looking nimble. He thrives on cooler weather - like our Labs do. Let's hope it is cool (although not *cold*) at UTMB.

I'd meant to wear my ankle brace for this, and I'd only planned to speed-hike with trekking poles. However, I'd felt so good in the race that I wanted to run some more so I gave it a try. I'd left a crucial piece of my ankle brace at home so I couldn't use it, and I'd already ripped all the stupid tape off my ankle so I had no support but it all went well. If anything, my ankle feels better now than it did yesterday. Progress.

Pathetic average pace with all that climbing although I think the GPS distance is about 10% low.