Training Log Archive: 'Bent

Coach Spaff wanted me to do 3:20 today with a hilly middle section at fairly easy pace, with poles and Hokas. Part 1- left the car North of Albion and ran down to meet Bash where the Humber trail meets Duffy's lane.

Late start, so it was stinkin hot and humid, buggy in the swampy bits too.

Part 2- ran with Bash down to the river section near Bolton and back up, then back by myself up through Albion. Hot and humid in the shade, steaming in the windless sunny road bits. A bit of extra climbing to the Wellness ctr.
Despite the easy pace the heat kicked the cr@p out of me and I was glad to be done. Bash was really feeling it too.

Drank 2.5L water, 0.5L vitargo, ate about 3oz pocketfuel, had 4 s-caps.

Too hot for dogs, so I got a solid ride in with extra switchback hills both ways, and good legs + ideal conditions made for some fast riding.

C • Heat 1

Bah- storms cancelled my hilly road ride and run.

Varied with 1-legged pedalling, some fast high cadence and some harder grunt-work.

Foothab, kneehab, some pull-ups and kbs, some balance board push-ups.

Easy commute with Bulletdog. She loves the Harper-esque weather- cool and raining.

Need to get in back-to back longish days Friday and Saturday.
Sat plan is about 3 hours with a quick middle hour. Any takers?

C • Saturday run- any takers 12

Easy commute with Bazingadog while it's cool enough for him to run beside the bike.

Foot/kneehab (Added wall sit to the routine)

Easy spin first with both dogs, then out for a cruisy lap of every trail in Palgrave.
Knee-friendly granny gear on the climbs.

Sulphur Springs- cheered on the Relay teams as they both broke the record!

I paced Bash for her last lap on the 50 miler. She was suffering but kept chugging along. Her first lap was almost an hour faster.

C • Great to see you and Bash o... 2

C • Pics 1

Shedman had planned a run to Collingwood with me for this weekend but he was sick, so Ms Gally planned an awesome long route for us. Her window was shorter than mine, but she had a plan...
I started by myself with a road run into a freezing headwind, with my hands so numb I couldn't pull out my phone to check the route. Once i got sorted and had a tailwind it was a nice day. Ms Gally picked me up on 15th sideroad,
(For some reason Mr Garmin didn't map the first part of the run even though it recorded distance and time) and we drove to the start of her trail run.


Nice loop down to Kelso, a couple of hill repeats, then the main Bruce back. No real nav problems, (Ye of little faith) but overshot one turn where the trail was flooded out.
I got out my poles there, and used them on and off for the last 2/3.

Most of the run was flat, with some very uneven rocky bits, and the Hokas aren't great for that. I've been a lot faster in my Fellcross on that terrain, but the big clown shoes were very nice on the downhills.
Great day to be out, and MsGally was great company.


Around the time we got to Kelso, I started to get a sore Achilles where the tendon inserts into the heel on the medial side. It's been sore to touch for a while and stiff in the mornings, perhaps from all the hill running volume, but this was the first time it's hurt on a run. By the end of it after all the lumpy rocks under the Hokas my knee wasn't great either, so I turned down Ms Gally's kind offer to let me run all the way back to her place on the road.

C • Great training session. 25

Easy commute with Bazingadog.

Foot/kneehab, workout 1. Forecast too stormy to run to work.

C • Your next lighting project? 4

Easy commute on a steamy tropical night with Mocha. Veery and Wood Thrushes were amazing!

Quick commute with the big guy. Horrible storms meant a ride home.

Paddle around Island Lake with Bash on a hot summer day.
I was in the Epic V8 for the first 28 min, then we switched. Garmin broke it up into 2 different workouts when I switched to kph from pace.
I actually think I am a touch quicker in Bash's boat.

Part 2, still in Bash's JKK boat. Maybe a tiny bit faster.

Second lap of Island Lake, this time on the new trail. They built some huge bridges to span the gaps between islands and shore. We had to bushwhack up to Hwy 10 and run along the shoulder for a bit to make a loop. Too bad, the rest of the run was really nice.

Off to the Shed after- nice holiday weekend!

Ride down to Albion and around, with Bash for the first part.
Legs were dead for the first few minutes, but got good once warmed up. I had to back it off when I felt my knee, but rode basically everything there.
Can't get much better than Albion on a spring day with no mud and no dust or loose sand. The hardwood forest is spectacular, full of trilliums, birds, etc.

Met a fellow named Babylon who works at Urbane Cyclist, a 'bent store. He'd never tried one off-road before, and did quite well for a short jaunt.

C • Article on Cramping 2

Foot/kneehab

Spaff had specified back-to-back long runs, so I met up with the BARFs for the first 16k. Legs felt good today, and was able to go at a fairly decent pace on flats and hills. Used the opportunity to crank it open on the downhills again. Nice to run with a new group. Got in another 14k or so after around the Palgrave woods.
Only things sore from yesterday are the front hip flexors, which I can feel stretch in a deep lunge, and the heel insertion of my Achilles is a touch tender.

Note- Used Pocketfuel- custom blended half Choc espresso and half Banana Blueberry. Good combo, as the choc-espresso is too thick by itself. Easy to do now that I have the big pouches and the refiller connector. The 3 oz pouches can hold about 4.5 oz with little waste.
The Haze PFs have the best flow, so I'll be mixing those in a bit.

Hockley loop. Ran with Dee, Shedman and Ms Gally, and caught up with Bash and WandAR part way around. Dee had us running all the hills, and thought we kept up a good clip. Shedman had to turn off a touch early, and Dee and I ran together while the others formed a Pursuivant group.
Knee felt fine, legs were good on the climbs with poles even after Wednesday, and with the Hokas I could Tigger down the hills, Carbon's-offset-style, low with high heel kick in back. Wheeee!

Nice lunch after.

Drank about 1/2L Vitargo and 750 ml water. Ate some pocketfuel and 1 S-cap.

Note- GPS track includes Wed's intervals- it wouldn't clear.

Foot and kneehab, and some Forest Fit push-ups and tree pull-ups.

Easy ride down to Caledon East for my environmental meeting, but it got cold and windy for the night ride home so I hammered it in 32 min to stay warm.

Easy cruise of the 'hood with Bazingadog, including some hills in the Charlevoix trails.

Knee was a bit sore- call it 75% today, perhaps from STORM.

Uphill Treadmill Tempo
Ugh, 25 minutes at 10%, between 10.3-11.7min/mile. Tried to keep the HR around the 170 level. Always feels so-o-o long and hard compared to running outside, but where will I find a 20 minute uphill here?

Hill intervals- 5X up the doubletrack trail from Finnerty to the top of the highest hill- had to find a trail through the bush for the last bit. Pushed it hard on the gradual uphills, and cranked a bit on the return.

Pretty much done after- hard to get fed, showered and changed in time for work.

GPS is wonky, but the intervals and HRs were recorded more or less.

Easy commute with Bulletdog in the cool weather.

Goose's 50th Domestic Pig Expedition- the HD movie

C • Change to 360p 6

Ugh- big, limb-dropping gusts and snow meant no run in the woods today. Mother's Day Brunch sloshing around didn't help either.

Feeling good, except for sore adductors that cramped yesterday. Sorest is when I lift my leg up when sitting- I think it's from hauling on the clips on the bike with the non-pushing leg.

Event: Storm the Trent
 

Storm The Trent Trek Elite solo
Solid field this year - Raid Pulse (My WT teammate Alex P& Nat), Pullin Foot, Tom Martin, Wokitoki (Chad, Bash's TV teammate), DD11, Long Sault, BIT,... And of course Bash.
Mission this year- Despite low biking and no paddling, don't cramp up or blow up in the last couple of hours, and watch the nav.
Trek first, where a bunch of us (PF, Tom and other solos) got messed up looking for a trail, but for some reason my nav was on and I was able to relocate us. Took a safe route to the marsh CP, and met DD en route. Finished the trek near the front, only to see Bash already in T/A, while Tom was gone.

Next up- bike nav section where I always seem to mess up. Luckily the new map board worked, and I managed to nail everything, keeping it slow and steady yet catching up the leaders. Stopped to help Chad relocate (you'll never hear that again- he's our navigator for ESAR and much better on the map than me) but worked with RP to re-catch the leaders on trail and open road. I looked at my HR and realized that even on the 'Bent I couldn't hold their pace on road without risking cramping, so backed off as they picked off PF. Quads were just about shot on the uphills. Nice fun ATV trail section, where Chad caught up and blew by, then back on the road with Tom and 2 other solos chasing me.

T/A to paddle, where I took a little time to refuel/ pop some electrolytes and drop/retrieve my map, so got on the water last in our little group.
I could feel my adductors starting to cramp and couldn't put the hammer down. Passed Tom who cramped up badly, but didn't quite catch the 3 solos ahead. At the Trek we met Chad who had lost his map, so I shared mine and ran with him for 1 cp until we met his usual team PF, so he went with them. Legs felt great running, I dropped the other solos on the trek, and chased Chad back to the finish in the boats, but he got me by a couple of minutes.

RP won overall, then PF. Chad won solo and I was just behind him, 1st geezer and about 15 min back from RP. Bash cleaned up the female overall yet again!

This race went a lot better for me than the previous 2. Kept the pace sensible, didn't have nav disasters or blow up.

Took 3 s-caps, 2 tums, ate some Pocketfuel, cheese and PB cookies, and drank 750 mlVitargo on the bike, 750 ml e-load on the boat, with about 1/2l water on the run. Should drink more. Finally have a decent bike map board solution- a swivel board that hangs around my neck on elastic.

Thanks again to STORM for putting on a great event.

C • congrats! 13

When bikers run

http://karawilsonphotography.zoomphoto.ca/viewphot...

C • Bikers running 5

Easy commute with both dogs in and BZdog home.

Foothab/kneehab

To work via NE Albion, my favourite section especially in spring.
Wonderful ride, even despite breaking my chain in Palgrave W- still had 1 quicklink left. Too warm for the dogs.

Easy scoot home- no dogs.

Commute with Mocha plus cool down from Spaff's Hill Hell.

6 repeats of the longest steep-ish hill near our place from our neighbour's pond up to Poison Ivy Summit.

Coach Spaff wanted me to do a 10 minute uphill hard run, followed by 3 minute up/ 1 down intervals and another 10 min uphill. I'd have to drive a ways to find such a hill, so I tried out the new dreadmill for the first time. Spaff wanted a 10% incline, but 10min/km seemed way too hard .Turns out it's set for CO's units- 10 min/ mile@10%- probably too hard for 10 min. Out to run the hills, and put on the HR strap for the second set. Yup, 10/mi is too hard on 10% after all those intervals, so dialed it back to 11.4 and kept my HR in the mid 170s for the last 10 min.

C • Most treadmills 6

By request, here's the trailer for the movie about Goose's birthday.
You may need to hit the little "gear" symbol in the lower right to increase resolution if it plays at 240p.

Easy commute on the hillier route with BZdog.

Video for the Domestic Pig Expedition is posted at http://www.ar.attackpoint.org/viewlog.jsp/user_921...

Aubrey's adventure extravaganza.

Aubrey's assistant Tiny put together a great little score-o for us.
We were split into teams, and I raced with Ms. Mick and newbie Stu.
Perfect day for a spring ride. We scooted over to Bechtel where we dropped the bikes for some foot-o, then back riding around the Grand River.
Great time had by all. Ms Mick may be an MTB convert- she just got stronger and stronger as the day went on. We had to boot it back a bit to finish under the wire- Stu had some choice words for Tiny there.

Foot-o section around Bechtel. Team was strong here, and not afraid of wet feet.

Great day out- nice BBQ after, with prizing!

Super easy trot around Palgrave.
Felt pretty good this AM, and knee seems 95%.
Great day for a bike ride, but don't want to overdo it.

Coach Spaff had prescribed a 45 minute flat-ish run followed by 2.5hrs of very hilly running then 45 flatter. I thought I'd invite Bash and Greg Y to do the Hockley loop, then run home from Greg's place, but sub-coach Bash is strict and made sure I ran to Greg's before Hockley as well (although she drove!)

After running to Greg's place we drove up to meet DD11 and run the Hockley loop. Perfect day for it. Good chance to try out new Salomon compression shorts, and my trekking poles. Both worked fine, but may need gloves to avoid blisters. Under instructions to walk the steep hills, and legs felt good especially with pole-assist.

Nice lunch at the Black Birch, a drive back to GY HQ and then he gave me a tour of some new-to-me trails back to the Bruce. I noticed my time was a little short so I went a bit further before cutting home- turns out the Garmin missed a few km early on and some during the loop so I went over.

C • Time to step up my training... 11

CCC last year:

C • Weather 7

Easy recovery spin commute with the big guy, who hauled me up to 36kph at one point before settling in to an easy trot.

Hill intervals- Ugh, hard work with a heavy pack and a Turkey-chasing Bazingadog, but I got 4 repeats on the lookout hill, 1 from the Wheelright pond, one up the biggest Charlevoix hill and a hard Palgrave Pond hill.

I will be ordering some more Pocketfuels in the next while. I seem to be getting through them.

Harps scored me some, but I'll be getting the big refills by mail order.
If anyone else wants to piggyback on the order, let me know.

C • Pocketfuels 18

Easy run home. Beautiful warm still night- hardly needed the 'Bentblaster.

Need to get some climbing in on the bike, so down to the rail trail, across to Centreville, then up the hilliest route around to Finnerty, across to Innis, up to the North end and back home. Man, my biking legs are feeble.

C • yeah, feeble is what springs to mind 1

C • yeah, feeble is what springs to mind 2

Coach Spaff had a pretty hard workout planned for me today.
Despite some sore muscles and a bit of a touchy knee I tried to get it done with the dog and commuter pack. Lots of turkeys and deer out.

15 Tempo, hill intervals, then 10 tempo.

Ugh, hard work with a heavy pack and a Turkey-chasing Bazingadog, but I got 4 repeats on the lookout hill, 1 from the Wheelright pond, one up the biggest Charlevoix hill and a hard Palgrave Pond hill.

Couldn't quite hit the Tempo coach Spaff wanted.