Training Log Archive: Bash

CNYO Snowgaine - Day 2

"What? We're doing this again?" ~ My body

Last night I draped a 1:30,000 string across the map and was overjoyed to confirm that we wouldn't have time to make it to the east side of the river on the northeast part of the map. JayXC and I spent some rainy, windy hours up there during Hurricane Irene. It's a long way from anywhere and there are no shortcut escape routes.

This time we only started 30 seconds late but we made a bad route choice right off the bat, taking the cross-country route to 65. There's nothing better to wake you up than crawling under several electric fences while trying to keep your bladder hose out of any animal dung! Eric and Mary Smith beat us there handily - good on them! We hit the road and ran a long distance to 44. This was the one control I'd questioned visiting but it was probably the right call.

Because of the large amount of nasty vegetation marked in this section of forest, I dithered about the correct sequence of controls and probably could have done better. 60-37-19-50-48, then the nice-looking trail along the property boundary that turned out to be not so nice.



Bushwhacking around 50, I did my only face plant of the race but really did a number on myself. As I landed on my face and stomach, my legs flew up into Superman position, cracking my lower back. I was afraid to try to move my legs for a few seconds, then I was afraid to run for a little while. I seem to have dodged a bullet since more than 24 hours later, I'm neither paralyzed nor in horrific pain. It really did not feel healthy.



Then a long run to 28-57-39-53-then a huge logging mess where trails should have been - then 56. Another run to the final group of controls and some nervousness since I'd been watching the time. I wanted to leave 2 hours to get back 13 km to the finish. It was all on roads but it was up and down and I knew we'd be walking the uphills. 'Bent's knee was hurting too.It was a tough call (and the wrong one, as it turned out) but we dropped 33. We got 20-42-46-51. This was the only area where we ran into other teams all day.



Then we ran back 13 km and arrived 23 minutes early, walking all the uphills. It was nice to be totally unstressed at the finish but we should have gone for it! :)



Beautiful sunny day! Great weekend of fun in the forest and so nice to see friends we mostly see online. I just wish I'd had more energy left for conversation but the race was hard work! Huge thanks to Mark and Barb Dominie. I honestly don't know how they do it. They don't seem to have much help on the weekend and they somehow got 51 controls out into the woods.

Congrats to Harps, Hermes and Wokitoki - Team Running Free - the only team to clear the course and they headed home before the race ended! Congrats also to JayXC and LC who took 2nd overall and to Arthurd, Olga and Polina who took 3rd with their all-female team. Abiperk, Broots and ? were 4th overall. Lots of great performances! Thanks to 'Bent for being a terrific teammate again.

Event: 20th Annual CNYO SNOWGAINE
 

CNYO Snowgaine - Day 1
Brookfield Horse Trails

This is one of the coolest events around but when winter fizzled out, I stopped thinking about it. Luckily, Harps kicked our butts into gear and shamed us into going down to Hubbardsville, New York for a tough weekend of training that was heaps of fun, even without skiing or snowshoeing.

Knowing we would only have about 15 minutes to plan the first of two 8-hour days on the same rogaine-style race course, I decided to focus on one of the two maps and just try to get everything. In the past, we and some friends have regretted omitting far flung CPs on Day 1.

Since we cleared the course in our most recent Snowgaine, it wasn't a totally crazy strategy. I would have time to make a real plan for Day 2 and if the course *was* clearable, I wouldn't have shot myself in the foot. (Spoiler alert: The course wasn't clearable for us and I *did* shoot myself in the foot by not dropping one or two lower value controls on Day 1.)

We missed the start by a minute, then 'Bent and I only made it a short distance before stopping to fix his bladder hose. He couldn't get it to work so we would need to drink from one bladder all day. We started running again, then decided that was crazy. We were only a few hundred meters from the car where I had a spare bladder. So our 2nd start was almost 13 minutes behind the real start. :( It was a long time before we spotted anyone else.



There was a thin layer of snow in many places, lots of bare ground and mud, some chilly slush puddles and occasional ice patches. The most challenging surfaces were the horse trails - partially frozen churned mud with deep, irregular, ankle-twisting horse tracks and a delicate, breakable crust. The hills, forests, streams and fields were beautiful with some big blowdowns and nasty thorny areas that caused some good scratches.



I planned our route and did most of the nav; 'Bent towed me on most of the road sections and kept a second pair of eyes on the map and control descriptions. We had a fun day after the stress of the Great Bladder Incident wore off. We saw JayXC and LC more than any other team. They had picked up 65 and lost one of their maps before embarking on a similar route to ours.

For future reference:
15-58-22-31-62-43.
Road run to the 2nd big group of controls.
61-17 (which I should have dropped like Arthurd did), 26, 55.
Run to 3rd control group.
45-23-18-24-36-Run-63
Run - some confusion about roads on private property. Got worried and moved north to a different trail.
47-tired of thorns so changed plans to 21-34-52-30.

Run-54. Unfortunately, we'd asked about the trail leading through private land to 49 and were told it wasn't an official horse trail, i.e. not legal but we "probably wouldn't get caught". So we shouldn't have asked because otherwise I would have taken it because it looked like every other horse trail!

Time was getting tight so we got 38-27 but skipped 49-29, the only controls we missed in our plan. We could have got 49 if we hadn't started 13 minutes late - boo. I probably wouldn't have had the guts to go for 29 regardless since it was a hilly 7 km run to the finish.

I felt pretty good all day. I've been training for a long, mountainous run in late June and I noticed the benefit of the extra strength training. I'll never be a running star but it was encouraging to feel relatively energetic and durable.

Running Free cleared the entire west/south map on Day 1 - wow! The Canadians all joined Arthurd's team (with her junior world rogaining champion teammate!) for a fun Mexican food celebration at La Iguana restaurant in Hamilton.

Drove to "Snow"gaine. Should be a fun weekend!

Exhausted - apparently that wasn't decaf they brought me at the restaurant last night - but I couldn't resist this beautiful snow. That's OK - I want to give JayXC a fair chance when he races against us in the Masters category this weekend.

Conditions were faster today on the trails where at least two skiers (e.g. 'Bent and me) had made tracks. As always, a few hikers stomped on some our ski tracks in spite of the wide trail surface available, but most folks haven't been out since the storm or haven't ventured far into the trail system so it was surprisingly good. Perfect winter day!

"...It’s virtually certain that February handily beat the record set just last month for the most anomalously warm month ever recorded. That’s stunning." http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2016/03/01...

It's official. My trial of SmugMug was a success so I've bought an annual subscription. I have lots more to learn but it will support my photo embedding habit - and much, much more if I want.

Yahoo - the biggest snowfall of the winter! We have about 30 cm of fresh powder and it's spectacular out there. AdventureDog and I went for a surprisingly slow ski in Palgrave East. There was some trail breaking and floundering, which I'd expected, but at -6C, I was surprised that my skis kept icing up when I passed through sunny patches. I stopped a few times to scrape. Eventually, I happened onto some ski tracks that were better consolidated and I was able to glide a bit. It was still beautiful and fun but the resistance was turned way up.

We met Slowrunner, all bundled up with snowshoes and poles, hauling a big tire behind her in preparation for her mountain ultra. AdventureDog knows her well but not in that configuration, apparently, since he barked like a maniac.



This is 'Bent's worst nightmare. Anytime between November and April, if I ask him to do some trip, training session, social event or race that doesn't involve skiing, he is hesitant. "What if the skiing is good that day? I'd rather do that." It looks like this weekend will be amazing for skiing in Ontario - and we are going to the snowless Snowgaine in NY. Oh well, I'm going to have fun anyway!

Crazy blizzard driving conditions so we snuck over to Caledon East on back roads where we didn't expect to meet many cars (and didn't). After almost 27 years together, I learned tonight that 'Bent doesn't know how to use a skipping rope. Concerned class members came over to give him pointers. Next up was the push-up relay station where my husband was a hot commodity but I kept him for myself!

AdventureDog and I ran around Palgrave East as we waited for the latest Stormageddon to arrive. We have about 5 cm of snow so far and it was lovely to run amid gently swirling snowflakes. Supposedly, tomorrow morning we'll wake up to the largest snowfall of the season but it's pretty tame so far.

Today is BazingaDog's 5th birthday. We adopted him (aka Brody) from a rescue organization when he was about five months old. He'd already lived in five places before he came here so no wonder he was a wild young man at first, worthy of his Attackpoint nickname. Unfortunately, he still can't be trusted off leash but in every other way, he is perfect - a huggable, sweet, smart, beautiful boy. In this photo, taken shortly after his arrival, he weighed 40 lb. He is now 90 lb and can stretch out to take up an entire couch when he feels like it. They grow up too fast. (Although he still hasn't grown into his tongue!)