Training Log Archive: Bash

(Apologies for the duplication from Facebook but I'm so touched by this!)

I was surprised, honoured and deeply moved to receive the Kim Pace Award of Excellence at last night's C3 Canadian Cross Training Club banquet. The award, given annually to a female athlete, honours the memory of Kim Pace, who founded IRONDames after she was diagnosed with cancer and decided to train for an Ironman and raise funds for the Wellspring Halton-Peel Cancer Exercise Program. She crossed the finish line at Ironman Canada in 2010.

I wore my lovely new Irondames Buff on today's long run! Here is their mission:

"Believe. Inspire. Persevere. Building Strength.

We believe in the expansion of WELLSPRING Halton-Peel's Ground Breaking Cancer Exercise Program because research indicates that exercise has significant benefits for people coping with cancer.

We hope to inspire everyone... to make exercise part of their daily life as well as challenge them to help make a difference in the lives of others.

Together, we shall persevere to raise $200,000 to construct and equip WELLSPRING Halton-Peel's New Cancer Exercise Facility through a series of team and individual fundraising challenges."
http://irondames.ca/our-founder

'Bent, BazingaDog and I went for a family run around Palgrave East and West in wet leaves and mud.

We both wore HRMs because I'm trying to get a handle on 'Bent's weirdly high HR in races. Not much has changed since the old days when we both wore HRMs and trained together a lot. Most of the time, he runs about 10 bpm below me when we're going the same pace. Sure, we weren't going race pace today but it's hard to believe that a guy who did this trail run around 130 bpm would average 170 bpm for 10 km of the Vulture Bait 50K where he was supposedly going easy.

A mother and son at last night's C3 banquet approached us afterward with some ideas on 'Bent's nausea issues. She is a nurse practitioner who works with vascular surgeons and thinks 'Bent may have mesenteric spasm and ischemia that could be helped with meds. Her son is interested in the sports psychology angle, which he is studying, and he discussed techniques to lower the pre-race arousal that affects stress hormones, etc. They said they'll send more info. Cool!

The Banff Film Festival World Tour trailer is out. If you're going to watch it (7 minutes), it's worth expanding to full screen and switching the resolution to HD.

Aieee! Stressful week preparing our keynote presentation on UTMB for the C3 banquet tonight - 200 people, many of them successful athletes including a sprinkling of world champions.

"How We Spent Our Summer Vacation: Getting a DNF"

(Not the actual title.)

We have about 10 cm of fluffy snow so I skied the trails of Palgrave West to Wheelie Woods on slow waxless rock skis. So nice! The steeper hills were a little dicey since there isn't enough snow to bury debris but it was a real treat to ski that far from home in November.

Hard Core Live with Caron. She incorporated small foam rollers into some of the exercises.

Our yoga class finished with a bunch of different foam rolling. This was a first. Caron figured that so many people buy foam rollers then don't use them, so she wanted to teach our class how to work on different body parts.

Windy winter wonderland. Sure glad I drove I-90 at midnight on Sunday rather than Monday!

It has taken awhile for us to figure out what's next after our long UTMB quest. After a comment from Cristina at NAOC, 'Bent and I decided this was the winter to try a big Scandinavian ski race. So on March 21, we will be skiing the historic 54 km Birkebeiner from Rena to Lillehammer in Norway with 16,998 of our closest friends - including (hopefully) Cristina.

I even like their liability waiver!

I am fully aware and conscious of the ... dangers caused by gravitational forces, be it during training runs or during the actual competition. I recognise that there is a risk in reaching excellent results which requires me to stretch my physical abilities to the absolute limit.

Here's the Birkenbeiner story. In typical European fashion, it's based on something that happened in 1206.

Some parts of the world are a little *too* Boundless! :) Here's National Geographic Radio with Zoolander discussing his latest Adventure Science expedition, including a helicopter rescue by Madagascar's military and the discovery of dinosaur tracks.
http://omnyapp.com/shows/national-geographic/scien...

There was enough snow that I had to go out and ski - if only to make 'Bent jealous in Belize! I did an F&M Loop in wet snow 5-7 cm deep. Not great conditions but hey, I was *skiing*!

I felt Mocha's spirit on the trail since we had done so much hiking there recently. Also, she had been my companion for many ski outings in the past - something Brody can't do since he's untrustworthy off-leash. Feeling a little sad, I came into our fenced yard, let Brody out and skied around with him for 5 minutes. He didn't really get the idea; he just wanted to play keep-away.

I've just learned that the Salomon Friends and Family VIP sale (40% off for invited guests) is this Wednesday. When my hard drive crashed, I lost my usual invitation list. In the meantime, if you'd like me to forward you the message, please write me. If you would like to attend, go ahead and RSVP to shop.toronto@salomon.com and let them know that I invited you.