Training Log Archive: Bash

It looks like public health officials may need to be more specific.

Purr de France
Stage 18 (a day late, still catching up)

Another easy session on the trainer, breathing through my nose and keeping my heart rate down. We have another heat warning but I'd still rather be out in the woods! So far, so good with the noggin. I've heard from people who didn't experience obvious symptoms for a few weeks or months though.

Well, we're sure impressed with those great photos of Comet Neowise on social media. It took us a long time to see it with binoculars. Here's what it looked like.

Purr de France

Playing catch-up with Stages 16 and 17 combined - although not the way I'd hoped because of my head injury. I haven't had any obvious concussion symptoms after 2.5 days. Let's hope it stays that way.

I did a very easy spin on the trainer instead of mountain biking in perfect conditions in Palgrave Forest. We're almost at the Champs Elysées so I'll see if I can catch up to the other riders, who did Stage 18 today. But I have to do it without raising my heart rate.

SUP FamJam at the C3 Quarry with 'Bent, BazingaDog and AdventureDog. B-Dog tipped 'Bent into the shallow water near the start but after that, we all managed to stay upright. The dogs sometimes got too energetic if we paddled close together but they showed minimal interest in other SUP paddlers and their dogs. Luckily, no triathletes were swimming today. B-Dog gets very annoyed by that.



As of the time I'm posting this, I'm 41+ hours post-injury and still haven't had any obvious concussion symptoms. I got smacked in the temple, which isn't generally recommended. It can take a while for symptoms to show up so I'll need to remember when this happened.

I am not a morning person so I was dreading the Sunrise Run badge in the CMTR Summer Scavenger Hunt. It was OK, actually, and AdventureDog loved it. I'd imagined a horribly early alarm but as it turned out, 'Bent and I both had pandemic sleep issues last night so we had our morning coffee at 4 a.m. Running at sunrise wasn't my plan but it turned out to be a breeze.

Although... I'm posting this a day late because the wet trails soaked my socks so I slipped on our kitchen tiles, smacked hard into a door frame, and now I'm on concussion watch. 34 hours and no obvious symptoms other than the shrinking goose egg. :( Many thanks to Goose, Coach LD and Mrs. Gally for their helpful concussion advice. I won't be drinking alcohol or lingering online over the next week, and there will be no intensity, i.e. running, mountain biking or boot camp. Ugh.

'Bent and I ran, hiked and bushwhacked while sneaking around to check out an interesting house for sale. In the process, I earned the New Trail badge in the Summer Scavenger Hunt.

More new trail.

Mrs. Gally's Zoom boot camp. She really took it out on our triceps today.

It looked like rain all day but it never came. Until 'Bent decided to run home from work at 9 p.m., that is.

Today I bravely chose BazingaDog for the SUP & Pup session at the C3 Quarry. AdventureDog was a rock star last week and I knew this would be different but I wasn't sure how, exactly. I wore a PFD since I expected to be violently thrown from the board, and I kept B-Dog's leash on, coiled on the board in case I needed to make a quick grab for it during the violent throw. The quarry is beside Hwy 10 so it would be bad if B-Dog escaped.



He wasn't interested in wading at the beach. In fact, he was decidedly anti-wading, braking hard at the water's edge. But we'd practised climbing onto the SUP on the beach so I finally coaxed him to climb aboard in the water. As an 85 lb pooch, any change in his position required me to re-balance instantly. I started on my knees and stood up when he lay down.





AdventureDog was relaxed on the SUP - like a king being paddled around by his slave. By contrast, BazingaDog remained alert - sniffing the air, listening to noises, watching for squirrels. He was fairly calm in open water away from the main activity at the beach - even when we met other SUPs with dogs. But if I paddled near the beach where some of the other dogs were splashing around after their SUP rides, it got really exciting - *too* exciting.



It all fell apart when a couple of triathletes started swimming. B-Dog was convinced they were wild animals that needed close observation. He leapt to his feet. I had to sit down in a puddle with legs hanging off either side of the board to keep us from tipping. In that state, it was almost impossible to get back to the beach at the end of the class. I could barely paddle and kept waiting for the inevitable dunking. I finally got him to sit for the last couple of minutes so I could make a dash for it. Surprisingly, my hair stayed dry.



Eventually, I should receive some nice photos that will make it appear like it was all a breeze. And I shall post them on social media and pretend it was so. ;)
[Update: New photos arrived shortly after I wrote this so I've added them.]

Oh, BazingaDog. (Eye roll.)

Purr de France, Stage 15
Hilly Stage

Today's stage was supposed to be rolling hills with Level 4 effort on the uphills. I tried to do that on various Palgrave Forest hills. I finished with the new Covid Crusher trail in our back yard although I couldn't figure out the markings for 'Bent's latest revisions so I'm sure I did it incorrectly. Rest day for PdF tomorrow!

Le Purr de France, Stage 14
Palgrave Forest

Today was supposed to be an easy ride but after I spotted another mountain biker one switchback behind, I couldn't resist "racing" until he caught me. (And then left me in his dust.)

I found Crash and her dogs in the woods and stopped for a good chat with a real live human being. So nice!