Training Log Archive: Bash

I've gone running in Hockley Provincial Park a couple of times recently but this was my first Loop attempt of the season. I had the excellent company of Funderstorm, BugsinTeeth and Allison. I went into it quite tired after yesterday's bike/run with Browner, last weekend's 50K and a few training sessions in between. On one hand, it would be a nice back-to-back training weekend. On the other hand, as I commented to BugsinTeeth early on, it could be a silly mistake. (Foreshadowing!)

Actually, most of it went fine. We had fun and good conversation, and I felt good for the first 2.5 hours, then one of the things I'd originally liked about the day started to bug me. "Isn't it beautiful in the forest when the leaves aren't out yet and there's sunshine everywhere?" Well, yes, but when it's the warmest day of the year to date, sunshine becomes less appealing after awhile. I'm not good in heat and it takes me awhile to acclimate to summer temperatures. Clearly, I'm not there yet.

So I insisted that BiT and Alison go ahead so I wouldn't try to chase them. (Funderstorm had already taken an alternate route.) I'd started to feel dizzy at times so I wanted to slow down. They were concerned about leaving me but I was pretty sure I'd be OK if I could walk/run as my body dictated, and I agreed to text at the next road crossing with my plan. In the end, I decided to bail back to the parking lot at 4th Line rather than running through Hockley Resort. It made for a run that was almost as long as the Loop but easier for the final few kilometers - not to mention a better place to be found if I passed out. (Not that it came close to that.) By that point, my pace would have been more accurately described as "walking with running breaks" rather than the other way around. I managed to get four 500 ml soft flasks into my new Ultra Set Pack (two in the back pocket) so I had lots to drink. I took salt pills and ate food. My body just hadn't recovered from the past week and it said this was enough stress for today. Fair enough!

Yummy lunch and nice catch-up at the Black Birch afterward. 'Bent drove out to join us, which was nice.

Browner tricked me into a bike/run brick today. ;) OK, maybe I wrote a confusing email. Anyway, it turned out well since both of us ended up training more than we probably intended!

We started on bikes, riding from our place into Palgrave East where I think we did all the single track. We made the traditional stop at the Christmas tree to text Myka and let her know we haven't forgotten her. :)



We stopped for a chat with Crash Caylor, who was doing a preliminary loop with her dog before a longer ride.

Then we took Duffy's Lane down to Albion Hills and rode the northeast single track. We met a 3-person team clutching a map and compass, looking intense. Um... who ARE you? "The Wilderness Club. Sorry, we're in a race." OK, we get it. Cool!

On our way out, we stopped by the race HQ picnic shelter to learn more. It turns out they were members of the Wilderness Club at U of T Medical School. They had to find 5 sites in the park and administer first aid. Apparently, it's their biggest event of the year and they were surprised to learn there are other orienteering events in Toronto like the Wednesday park series. They took my name, email ID and Orienteering Ontario website name. They were just using the standard Albion trail map and had no idea there was a real orienteering map. I also told them about ESAR. Surely, medical students should be competing against paramedics? :)

From there, we rode back up, up, up to our place, stopping at Thinker's Hill for a short lookout.

It was a quick pace and afterward, we both realized we thought the other person wanted to go faster than we did. Again, more training than we intended. That turned out well! :)

(Used bike computer distance.)

Part 2: We drove to Centreville Creek Road and ran up K2 on the Oak Ridges Trail (formerly the Bruce Side Trail) to the Bruce Trail stile stopping at another lookout enroute. We did some good hills in there, speed hiking some of them since our energy was low and the weather was hot.

Then we crossed Coolihan's Sideroad to the north side and planned to do a short loop before running back down K2. Except... a team of two was running toward us with a map and compass. Huh? What's going on today?! They told us they were Cadets. I guessed where the race HQ might be and sure enough, I found Doug and Annette with a bunch of officers. It was the Ontario Championship, postponed from last fall due to the shooting in Ottawa. We chatted with them a bit, then moved on.

One more lookout on the escarpment before we bushwhacked down to join the Bruce Trail. Rather than climbing all the way back up when we got near the road crossing, we bushwhacked out to Glen Haffy Rd., then did a leg-pounding downhill run on Coolihan's before running past BGY's place and back to our car.

Tired! But a fun day with great company.

I found two of these on the trail near our place yesterday - about the size of a large chicken egg. I thought it might be a hawk but according to Google, it's a wild turkey egg. Not too surprising - we have a healthy local population (although not as healthy as it could have been!)

Orienteering Ontario AGM. Thanks so much to Mr. and Mrs. Double_Downon11 for hosting.

We have a good board for 2015/16 with many returning directors and strong representation from the AR community: DD11, Harps, Sudden, Wilberto (new!), Sid, Ilona, James, Raymond and myself. There are several key initiatives for the coming year. For me, a priority is to deal with our aging website. We've had major issues with the management of our website; maybe it's time for a brand new one. Looking forward to working with this great group!

Palgrave East single track. It's in *such* great shape! This was the second test of the new bike shoes after a local bike shop owner found two extra screws and attached the cleats more tightly. Perfect! My right foot got a little tingly but I'll sort that out. These shoes aren't for AR, just for regular riding. Good thing, since they are white. (What was I thinking?)

I also tested a new helmet that I bought a year ago and only just now removed from the box. Doh! It's my first "women's" helmet, whatever that means. It fit pretty well without installing any foam bits, so that is probably the main thing. It is also white with some graphics.

The bike... nope, it's the same old bike. After Dee found me that nice carbon 27.5 bike in Sedona, my standards have shifted but that's a pretty big expense. New shoes and a helmet will have to do for now.

(Bike computer distance. Ambit was 1.2 km less.)

Most people have seen this by now but Breathe Mag did an awesome job on this 3-minute promo video for Wilderness Traverse.

Sleep fail.

I *think* it's safe to take off my snow tires now so I went for a run while the car was in the shop. The original entrance of the Humber Valley Heritage Trail was across the road but I'd noticed a "Trail closed" sign earlier so had checked Google Maps just in case. The old trail appeared to be fenced off - not sure if it's gone for good but it would be a shame when it's so close to the Caledon Wellness Centre.

So I headed east on Columbia Way to a valley trail I'd seen on the map. Every training session would be more fun if Coach LD came along but today that would have been especially true since I was exploring her turf and didn't really know what I was doing. I ran on the trail and was impressed at how "out in nature" I felt, even with houses on both sides of the little valley. Google Maps ended its trail at the edge of the Bolton Camp property where I hoped to find a continuation. Yup, there was some double track that looked like it had been ripped out of the forest by a bulldozer. I continued along until I got to the old camp.

Coach LD takes her classes in here, which would be fun, but I found it a little spooky on my own since it's not my neighbourhood. The old camp buildings are in very rough shape, covered in graffiti, and feature dark, mysterious open doorways that probably lead into secret lairs of escaped convicts.

I stopped by the pull-up bars and did a 10-minute strength session alternating leg-type things like jump squats and walking lunges with miscellaneous arm things using the bar. No murderers came out of the buildings to say hello so I was feeling less freaked out by the time a friendly fellow ran by in a Humberview T-shirt (the school Coach LD teaches at).

Then back the same way - up, up, up to the auto shop.

Mid-run strength session.

More 10 Minutes 2 Zen.

I attended an excellent presentation by a University of Guelph professor on ticks and Lyme Disease in Ontario.

I took a lot of notes but here are a few points:

- Only 2 types of ticks in Ontario - American Dog Tick and Deer (Black-Legged) Tick.

- Although in other parts of North America, dog ticks transmit some diseases, they don't do that in Ontario. We only need to worry about the deer tick. We learned how to tell them apart when engorged, which is challenging but that's when you really *need* to tell them apart.

- Since 2007, the % of Lyme infection in Ontario deer ticks has gone from 7% to 18%. The traditional hot spots have been major parks along the north shores of Lakes Erie and Ontario. At Long Point, 60% of deer ticks are infected. There's a growing hot spot in the Kingston-1000 Islands-Ottawa region. ('Bent picked up a deer tick at the North American Orienteering Champs near Arnprior in October.)

- In Guelph, the prof starts seeing deer ticks around mid-April. They live under the snow. Adult ticks are typically seen until early June, then again in mid-September and October. In between, there are nymph ticks that are smaller and much harder to see. Most human Lyme infections are thought to come from nymphs.

- A deer tick needs to be attached 36 hrs to transmit Lyme. (I've read 24-28 hrs elsewhere.) This article suggests an even shorter time.
http://lymedisease.org/news/hardscienceonlyme/hard...

- DEET on lower legs is helpful.

- Daily tick check is a good idea from April to October in our area. Daily shower is another good tick removal strategy since they don't attach immediately. In Ontario, thousands of deer ticks are submitted for testing each year after being removed from a human host.

- 95% of dogs infected with Lyme will never display clinical signs. Humans are not so lucky! About 70% will see a rash 7-14 days after the tick bite. You only need to worry about rashes that are at least 5 cm in diameter and appear in the right timeframe (although you may not notice the tick bite). They may or may not have the classic bullseye appearance - and a third of infected people don't get the rash at all. Some other common early symptoms are muscle and/or joint pain and fever. At this stage, antibiotics will usually cure you.

Climate change, bird migration patterns and healthy deer populations are a few of the factors driving Lyme farther into Ontario. It will become a much bigger problem over the next 30-40 years.

Such a perfect day that I had to go for a ride! Most of the trails in Palgrave East are dry and clear of major debris; someone has been working there.

The riding was fun and I felt surprisingly good after Sunday's 50K but I suffered a New Bike Shoe Fail. The first time I tried to unclip, I noticed it was difficult, which made sense with new cleats. But the left side got easier until it was popping out at unexpected times and the right shoe got much, much more difficult to pull away from the pedal. I pulled out my Allen key, took off the shoes and diagnosed the problem. Each cleat had lost one of its two screws so the cleats were positioned 90 degrees off. Aackk! I tightened the single screw as much as I could on both shoes and figured I'd cut my ride a bit short. It wasn't long before I was back to the left shoe unclipping too easily, and I couldn't detach my right shoe at all. So... I really didn't want to fall to the right.

It's a testament to today's great weather that I stuck it out a little longer before admitting defeat and heading home. It would have been highly suspicious if my Cleat Installer had taken out a life insurance policy on me, but apparently he didn't.

(Bike computer distance.)

This year's Orienteering Ontario Annual General Meeting will be held on the evening of Thurs. April 30 in Milton at DoubleDown's place. Come on out and share your ideas about the sport, vote (or run) for the 2015/16 Board and - oh yeah - help us eat some pizza! Please RSVP to info@orienteeringontario.ca by Wednesday afternoon to help with planning. http://www.orienteeringontario.ca/2015-agm-announc...