Training Log Archive: Bash

Got lots of boring stuff done around the house. Not loggable, alas.

O Cup #1 Kick-Start
Columbia Forest

It's O Cup season and it may be the most wintry season opener I remember! It was 'Bent's first time attending the Stars' double header O Cup: one race in the afternoon and one in the early evening. Such a fun format.

Laura Teutsch did a great job setting up the longer afternoon course, which began with a 15-control Box on one side of the map. We could drop a number of controls equal to (2 X Handicap), which for me works out to 10 controls.

Unfortunately, that number "10 controls" stuck in my head as we started running. I stopped a couple of times to confirm which 10 controls I wanted to visit and had started to execute my plan when I remembered, "Duh - I only need to visit 5 controls." So I definitely didn't have the best plan, and it was made a little worse by veering off my line toward an enticing flag that, it turns out, I had already visited.

We passed through the start and flipped our maps over for a set of point-to-point controls through the same area. There were a *lot* of flags out there and at one point, I punched one thinking, "That's not in the right spot - good thing I noticed it." Then I looked down the hill into a re-entrant and saw the *real* control, right where it was supposed to be.

My ankle is still sore from Raid The Hammer, and at least some of the pain came from wearing the ankle brace too long. I didn't want to wear it today so I used about an acre of Leukotape to hold my ankle in position. It worked really well! The one negative is that I was so excited to feel good while running in the beautiful snow that I outran my nav skills. Not that I was running fast but I've lost so much fitness that my brain gets oxygen deprived sooner than it used to.

I forgot to start my Ambit so I'm guessing distance and elevation.

O Cup #2
Starry Nights
Monarch Woods, Kitchener

'Bent and I got thoroughly chilled when we stood around chatting after the first race but thankfully, Mrs. Tiny took a few of us in and fed us snacks and hot coffee. It got cold in the dark parking lot as we waited for the race to start tonight. A few of us did the Chicken Dance to stay warm, and I can report that it's very effective.

Nick designed this course and it was a lot of fun - plenty of variety in a small area. Even by Nick's standards, the instructions were complicated but I think I did the right thing. Once again, I had a couple of nav bobbles. The first error was taking the wrong path out of #1, necessitating a short, thick bushwhack and a chilly creek crossing to get back on the right trail. My feet were going to get wet later so it didn't really matter.

Then in the 2nd O Cup box, I crossed the creek with a half-arsed plan that got me up to the right elevation, then I noticed a reflector and got sucked over to Control B. Whoops - I headed over to #2, then back to B, following my tracks through the snow. From there, it was mostly a road and trail run to the finish, passing two more controls. I think I was 2nd, just behind Wokitoki Jr., who is going to be giving his Dad (Chad) a run for his money soon.

Thank you Timato, Nick and Laura for all your hard work on a terrific event! :)

Didn't quite run 8 km in an hour as planned, lol! Treadmill running didn't bother my ankle any more than day-to-day walking. I'm still feeling the pain on the bone from wearing the ankle brace for so long. Unfortunately, there was a brand new pain - a weird left hamstring full-length twinge that I've never felt before. It's not that long since Raid The Hammer so I'm hoping it's just a minor strain. It eased off somewhat during this session. On Sunday I ran and scrambled for hours in rough terrain with the movement of my ankle restricted by the brace. It wouldn't be surprising if forces were transferred elsewhere.

Less hobbling today. My left medial malleolus is really sore around its bottom and side, which I view as good news since that's where the ankle brace was pressing on the bone for 5.5 hours of Raid The Hammer. The soft tissue pain from the sprain seems to have lessened considerably although it's hard to tell the different pains apart so I'm not 100% sure. I'm hoping to get running on flattish surfaces soon.

P.S. Yay, snow!! 'Bent went for his first ski this morning.



It was a rock ski kind of day.



P.P.S. Ugh, municipal building departments, amirite?

Ouch.