Training Log Archive: Bash

How many of the 196 countries in the world can you name in 12 minutes?
http://www.jetpunk.com/quizzes/how-many-countries-...

My knowledge of Africa is pathetic. PeggyD should ace this!

My heel was much improved but not completely pain-free so I decided to give it another day before running and rode the trainer instead. Today's indoor DVD adventure was RIDES: Assault on Bear Mountain in honour of all the orienteers who raced in Harriman Park this weekend. I convinced 'Bent to join me, which he did half-heartedly since he's not a fan of trainer or treadmill workouts. He ended up doing most of the ride but took it easier since today was a recovery day for him. Meanwhile, sweat was flying off me in all directions - very classy. Nice to have 'Bent's company except when he started a conversation at the bottom of the final "climb" up Bear Mountain!
Cadence 77 (lots of climbing)
Ave Watts 172, Max 287
Speed 26.6 kph

Not happy to have a heel twinge so I scrapped today's planned recovery run and just did yoga instead. I was also kinda sleepy since 'Bent got up early to meet his brother's 6 a.m. flight and bring him back here for part of his 8-hour stopover enroute from Santiago, Chile to Yellowknife. We had a nice hike with him and the pooches. The trails in Palgrave West were pretty nasty - mostly ice or breakable ice over soft snow. There were some bare sections to remind us that soon we'll be more worried about poison ivy than post holes!

If spring won't come to us, we will go to spring! BGY, 'Bent and I took a road trip to Ancaster to run the Sulphur Springs trails. We were all grinning ear to ear. Actual bare trail! Traction! No post holing! Shorts! Shirtless BGY! Sure, there was a fair bit of mud and the occasional patch of ice but trail conditions were amazingly good. Such a treat. I wish I could go there again tomorrow. :)


Photo by BGY

The boys ran at their own pace but we met each other five times as we took wrong turns trying to follow the race course map on our 1st lap, then did a shortened 2nd lap. I've been in the Dundas Valley so often that people might think I would know it well but I've almost always been focused on an orienteering map or following a local runner or watching course markers in a trail race. There were a bunch of stops off the clock to check my printed cartoon race course map against signs. I messed up a little, as did the boys, but it didn't really matter.

We found a big patch of snow in the shade south of the trail on the G. Donald Loop near the HCA works building. It should be perfect for Trav to make snow angels during his birthday run on Sunday.

Then Domestique... sigh. Now that we don't have The Shed in our neighbourhood anymore, this was bittersweet - but yummy.

Throwback Thursday - August 2003. Sea kayaking on beautiful Georgian Bay and showing off my unique sense of fashion. I was backcountry camping with 'Bent, Mr. and Mrs. TheMinister, Gorgeous and Knobless.

Bluebird day but the trails are still a messy mix of snow, slush and ice so I ran on rolling dirt roads again. It was my first time wearing shorts outside in 2014 - a decision I genuinely regretted for the first 5 minutes. Brrr!

Today's focus was to try not to hit the ground so hard. I know I land more heavily than good runners do, and I'm sure this has contributed to injury so I need to fix this. However, I haven't received a lot of concrete advice over the years. People just say, "Land more softly", as if I should simply *know* how to get around the laws of physics. So please, I'd appreciate any advice on how to work on this.

In the meantime, I experimented with some different things today - posture, stride length, cadence, legs, arms... An unintended side effect was a quick, consistent pace by my standards.

While listening to an interview with Karl Meltzer on Trail Runner Nation.

I'm not quite normal yet but Dr. Bell "doesn't see anything that should prevent" me from running long distances, as long as I keep up the strength and mobility work. Crack open the champagne!!

Rodney Yee Power Yoga for Flexibility

The people who think April 26 is too soon for me to try a 50K trail race may be proven correct by default. WandAR heard from runners who attempted to do the Pick Your Poison loop at Horseshoe Valley yesterday. There's still so much snow that it took them 2.5 hours to go 9.5 km, and they did some waist deep post holing. The race course comes down a ski hill where the snow was well-packed and groomed all winter, and apparently skis would still be a really good idea. Considering how long it's taking for the snow to melt around here, and in light of the relatively cool 14-day forecast, it could still be a real slog 19 days from now. So... given my reasons for wanting to do PYP, it may not be the type of training session I'd wanted. I'm sure it'll still be a great race and a worthwhile challenge but it may not be right for me. I always said I had to be willing to bail, which may mean a DNS in this case!