Training Log Archive: 'Bent

Bad Thing 50K.
I went into this feeling undertrained since cracking my ribs and tailbone 6 weeks ago, but was interested in seeing a new trail on this brand new race.
I had a new nutrition plan for my dubious stomach- only 4 scoops of tailwind sports drink, basically running on empty.

Nice mix of doubletrack, some dicey singletrack and steep hills, and some dirt road, with excellent views of the Maitland river. Huge army of volunteers marshalling and directing at the turns.

We started in the dark, and a lead pack with Bender and Storm took off like scalded cats. I ended up leading the second pack of 6 or 7 with my strong lights, which meant I had to do the route finding in heavy fall leaves and singletrack. We missed a turn right out of CP1 in the dark and ended up having to climb the whole way back up, but other than that it went pretty well. One 18 year old track-runner girl (Red Lightning due to clothes and hair) was running with a feeble headlamp so she tended to stick with me, but was flying past me on the uphills and I'd catch up on the descents.

I was feeling good at CP3 aid station, 31K in 3:10 or so. Red Lightning took off in a blur, (and ended up winning female.) The next 10K had lots of steep slippery climbs and descents which I didn't mind. I dropped 4 of the runners following me, but made 1 wrong turn and a couple caught up before I dropped them again.

Suddenly my bad knee started acting up. After a brief stop at CP4 I could barely walk up the next hill. All road and flat trail from there, but I was hobbling until the couple caught me again and gave me an advil before dropping me like a greased anvil.

After that I managed to gradually get the pace back up and chug it in about 6 min/km. I kept waiting for my gut to pack in but it never happened! I was even able to eat a decent post-race meal of veg chilli. I'm not sure if it was running on 350 calories of Tailwind and 1 small coke, or my knee holding me back that saved my gut.

Storm took the win in an impressive FKT of 4:54 I think, with Bender about 9 min back. Only a 40 min spread between me and the winning time,with 7 min of nav errors in total, but I was 10th so it was a strong field. (First masters I think, but they don't have categories).

Great to see Batgirl Bash finish despite her cold. Very well organized and fun race with great logistics.

C • Sounds like a great event 16

C • Red Lightning 2

Bah- howling winds and falling branches = driving. Second day in a row :(

Commute with the Big Boy. He was pokey on the way down, but a rocket on the return- I could barely keep up.

Bazingadog was feeling neglected so I took him for a ride in Palgrave West.

(2:19 total)
Excellent run at Mono Cliffs with Bender and Adventuredog. We started at Dark o'clock but the sun was up in the first half hour. Perfect fall colours, rainy and cloudy gave way to perfect sunshine.

Felt like a nice pace, but probably faster than I should go next week. Bender's in fine form.

Workout 1 plus hauled and split a lot of firewood.

C • Splitting and hauling... 2

Took both boys out for a romp around the 'hood. Conservation trails only due to hunting issues.

Good work-over by Thumbs of Death. He really went to town on my back- good thing he has 35kg on me to wrench and pound away like I'm a rag doll.

Nice commute with the Big Boy.
Loving the gearing on the Kodiak- I'll probably put a Wolf Tooth 40t on the other 'bent for 2x9 and forget the granny chainring.

C • big cog 4

Foothab, kneehab and workout 3.
Back to doing most exercises- still light on a couple.

Solid run in with little AD.

Night run home.

Commute with the Big Boy, back via the Rollercoaster and some extras.

Nice commute with the little guy. Frosty in the morning, warm and gusty return.

Nice loop after with 3-pin, who managed to win Masters on a singlespeed!
He said I'm climbing better on the new bike, and seem to manage curves and roots around the same. We didn't do anything super-tight, but did IMBA, Berms and the Goat Path.

Stars Albion Hills MTBO.
Great course, and a nice fall day for a ride. I was cautious on sharp turns in heavy fallen leaves, as my ribs couldn't take another hit. The new bike was fine, the injuries didn't really slow me down.

I still managed to make a few big errors and bad route choices, costing me about 14 minutes. One day I'll learn that I can't read a map on the fly, and should stop at every intersection rather than blast several km in the wrong direction. There's no way to mount a map board on the 'bent and still see the trail.

Good treats after, and a fine time was had by all.

C • map board 4

Out with Bazingadog for a magical run in the hardwood forests between 7th line and the Pinnacles on the Hockley loop and back.
We headed out in pretty heavy snow and spectacular colours





Then the sun came out here and there:








And back to dark skies and rain or hail

Several good apple stops for man and beast.


Back was sore on left side after about an hour, and I could feel the heels on the climbs even after weeks off. Still an amazing run. The big lad was perfect on leash, and loves running in these temps.

C • beautiful photos 2

I was able to do the whole workout 2 (with slightly lighter weights) except for standing cable upright row. Also some foot/kneehab.

Nice fall ride in with Bazingadog via the rollercoaster. He was slow on the night ride home- had a lot of sniffing to do, until the last km when he really hit the gas.

Commute + extra singletrack with AD. Put in some Fartlek intervals on the way back.

Lower back is still sore when running but ribs not bad now.

Late post-Thanksgiving ride around Palgrave East in perfect summer weather with fall colours. Made a few mid-ride mods to seat position and bars, and handling got significantly better.
Had a solid finish around Salty Steven- best yet on this bike. Will try it at MTBO.

C • first race 3

Woo hoo, *finally* able to get out for a decent run. Mick joined me and AD for a nice tour of the Dingle and Glen Haffy, with a bit of orienteering where we weren't at risk of hunting accidents.

A bit sore when breathing hard on the uphills, but not bad otherwise!

C • Good to see 2

Decent run with Bazingadog around the Charlevoix trails. The big giy is a lot easier to handle when his little brother isn't frolicing around off-leash.

I was able to do some exercises in workout 1 but had to skip about half. Still, it's progress.

Ride in with AD. We actually got some decent speed on the singletrack to work and a longer route home. The little guy sure keeps up well when I'm biking.

Amazing to be riding again without too much pain- maybe this was a 3-week injury.

C • less pain! :) 1

Foothab, kneehab and a ride in with Bazingadog. Nice night ride home, despite meeting Mr. Porkie. (Bazingadog actually behaved himself pretty well, and listened to me sternly tell him that they're off limits).
I'd say I'm at a 1/10 on the pain scale now on an easy paced ride.

Pretty decent run to work and back. Ribs let up a bit and I could put in a moderate effort, but not too hard on the hills.
AD is now wearing his "don't hunt me" orange vest.

Back out with Goose. The small lakes were pretty goopy paddling, and we would have had to make several trips to evac a team.

Goose and I paddled / portaged in to man remote CP11. We managed to hump in about 100kg of gear, including wood stove, mammoth tent and tons of soup and snacks, despite both our injuries. Fun to watch the race unfold, and we had cell coverage so we could see tracking.

C • Host with the Most 3

Easy commute with Adventuredog. Slept pretty well too.