Training Log Archive: Bash

After an energetic dog hike and swim party with Browner and her pooches, 'Bent, Browner and I left all four dogs together in the house as a test for an upcoming weekend adventure. If we returned and the house was trashed or a dog was missing, we would have to adjust our plans.

We went for a tour of Palgrave East, mostly single track. What a gorgeous spring day! The trails are in great shape. 'Bent's fancy new carbon recumbent bike is holding together pretty well so far. My bike really needs to be tuned but it's probably more important that I just ride it before STORM. If you're there, you may hear me going kachunk-grind-clank through the woods. Speaking of STORM, Browner was wearing one of their cool new jerseys, hot off the press. I ordered one this year for the first time and I'm glad I did!

There was no sign that the dogs did anything except nap while we were away. Without humans to perform for, I think they lost their motivation.

(Bike Computer distance/time)

STORM The Trent is coming up and the trails are finally dry so I went for a fun ride around the Palgrave East single track. So happy to be able to mix biking and running again! (Bike computer distance)

Coach Jeff Workout #1 plus some legs and Dr. Bell-xercises.

JURY DUTY DEFERRED!!!!!

Phone call came exactly 24 hours after I dropped off the letter. I told them they were really efficient! They are mailing another summons for a later date. So travel plans for our 20th wedding anniversary will have to stay on hold for awhile.

Today's top training-related priority was a half-day trip to the Brampton courthouse to deliver a request to defer my jury duty. I spoke with the jury office yesterday and mentioned the deadline specified on my summons for making such a request - May 10. The clerk said, "Oh no, you'll need to get it in *much* sooner than that. For these long cases [estimated 2 months], we'll receive a lot of requests." So rather than trusting it to Canada Post, I took it there by hand. Now I'm sitting by the phone, waiting for it to ring...

AdventureDog and I went for a quick tour around Palgrave West. We started into K-Bash Woods until I remembered it's turkey hunting season and we weren't wearing our please-don't-shoot-me orange. So we went back to the conservation land for the rest of our run.

I wore the Hokas that have sat unused for almost 2 years since they trashed my big toenails at the Cayuga Trails 50 miler. They were OK but I missed my Speedcross. Running felt great but I can tell that my damaged quads are not ready for a Hockley Loop just yet, which isn't surprising.

Leatherwood race report is up now.
http://ar.attackpoint.org/viewlog.jsp/user_920/per...

Easy strength and mobility. Feeling good!

Leatherwood Ultra 50 miler

I wanted to do a hilly 50 mile or 100 km trail run about two months before running the 119 km Lavaredo Ultra Trail in the Italian Dolomites. The Leatherwood Ultras near Ferguson, North Carolina sounded like a perfect fit. Three distances were offered; the longest was advertised as 52 miles with 13,000-14,000' in elevation gain. Browner bravely decided to take on this challenging course for her first 50K.

Leatherwood is a mountain resort community with beautiful vacation homes that many owners rent out part-time. The resort owns or has access to 4500 acres of private land with 130 km of trails. I can't remember visiting any place quite like it. It can feel wild like a state park but there are a few paved roads with gorgeous homes on lots up to 25 acres and a central area with restaurant, stables and tennis courts. At this time of year, the trails are quiet and in good condition; it would be a perfect place to go for some early season hill training.



Here's the view from our cabin deck, looking over some of the terrain we raced through.



Here's the course map. (Scroll to page 2.) The 50K race consisted of the orange loop followed by the pink loop with a stop at HQ to refuel around the 26K mark. The 50 mile racers continued on to do the green loop twice.

Browner and I didn't plan to race together officially but we've been training together enough that we expected to go a similar pace, which is how it turned out and it was fun to have company! She can dust me on the flats while I have an advantage on downhills - at least until her knee gets better. We were usually within sight of one another and often within conversation distance, and we finished the 50K within a minute of each other.



After a short paved road run, we started climbing hills - and climbing and climbing! The first 25K had the biggest, steepest climbs and there were lots of rocks, roots and ruts, sometimes obscured by dry leaves. It was like the Hockley Valley with bigger hills so we felt comfortable in the terrain. (Can you see Browner in this photo?)





Trekking poles were a huge help so it was very bad news when one of Browner's poles broke after 10K. We puzzled over the pieces and decided it couldn't be repaired on the trail. If 'Bent had been there, I'm sure he would have come up with a brilliant, fiddly solution but I could only suggest grabbing a stick from the forest. She powered along with one pole for awhile until she found the perfect stick that accompanied her to the finish line. (Another reason her next 50K will be easier!)



We chatted and laughed with other racers along the trail; ultrarunners are always a friendly bunch. The forest was gorgeous - leaves lush and green, flowering trees, steep slopes, rushing creeks and a feeling of early summer that was exotic for people from Ontario.











I had a slow transition at HQ at the 26K mark - 13 minutes. I had a list of things to do before heading out for the next hot, sunny 25K and I was thinking ahead to how I might feel at 70K if I didn't take care of myself on this lap. Still, that's too long. The only big mistake was not opening my three eLoad packets before the race. For some reason, they all seemed to be made of Kevlar and I even had trouble ripping them open with my teeth. I spent 3 minutes filling my bladder, making eLoad and putting ice in it. On the bright side, I was able to put away an incredible amount of food during this stop that sustained me for much of the race - about 800 calories including a high-calorie Boost, PB&J sandwich, potatoes, chips and cookies. It has been said that long ultras are eating contests as much as foot races, and eating is my strong suit. So maybe the extra transition time paid off.

Browner left when she was ready and it took me about 5 km to catch her. One of the highlights of the afternoon was crossing chilly Elk Creek. It felt so GOOD.




We were so concerned about the heat (about 24C) that we were sticking ice from aid stations in our hats, clothing and water bottles. It worked brilliantly! I wilt in heat, especially in early spring, but I barely noticed it. The humidity was a little lower than Ontario, which probably helped too.

Oh, and the beer Browner had at Echo aid station didn't hurt either. It was her final aid station but I stuck with water since I had a few more to go.



Browner finished her first 50K with energy and a smile! She broke 8 hours on a tough course where a 7 hour time would have earned her a place among the top 10 all-time female performances in this race. Great job!





She immediately switched to support crew mode and helped me turn around for my next loop.



I still had to be careful of the heat, putting ice in my water and hat. More than half of this loop was in an adjacent tract of private land where the trails are mostly hard packed double track - still hilly but easier to run on. I was mostly alone although I had a nice chat with the 6th place runner on a long uphill that we were both hiking. (He had lapped me.) The 4th loop was a repeat of the 3rd loop so he told me what to expect. There was an out-and-back lollipop portion where I saw a few runners coming toward me but mostly it felt like semi-wilderness. I banged my poles around a little more loudly to keep the bears at bay (and it worked!)

Browner met me at HQ and helped with my final transition. It was going to get dark while I was out there but not for too long, and at least I knew this loop now. I felt surprisingly good heading out for my final 17 km. In fact, I'd felt surprisingly good all day and I hope I can figure out why so I can repeat it. My quads eventually got a bit sore from all the downhill pounding but that took quite awhile. I think the strength training, yoga and running drills have really helped. The heat wasn't an issue. I ate and drank a lot. The hills felt manageable.

And then, around the 70 km mark, I got some of that wobbly feeling I had at UTMB when I was hit by sleepmonsters. I wasn't sleepy this time - it's hard to describe but I've felt it before. My brain felt a bit detached from my body. I staggered a little if I tried to stand still. But mostly I just kept going and when it got dark, that feeling went away and I felt alert. I wonder if it's a daytime circadian rhythm thing...? I worried that it might be fatigue happening a lot earlier than it used to, so I was relieved when it stopped.

I was passed twice by a polite child driving an ATV with a rifle on a rack pointed sideways toward me as he went by. He was peering into the woods carefully. I'll never get used to that!

The last two aid station breaks - same place at the start/finish of the lollipop section - were fun. I sat in a camp chair and hoovered down a hot cheese quesadilla on my first visit. I was tempted to ask if there were any runners left behind me but I noticed they were still making quesadillas, which gave me hope. On my return trip, I sat down again and enjoyed a margarita with ice while chatting with the RD and some locals.

For the last half hour, I used my cool new Gloworm headlamp - not as bright as my Bentblaster but a bit smaller and lighter. Luckily, I still felt like running most of the time on flats and downhills; the cooler air really helped.

The finish line was right beside the restaurant porch and there were still people cheering and a photographer taking photos. The volunteer handed me my finisher's pint glass and a plaque that said "3rd Female". It was a total shock. My initial super-confident thought was that maybe only three women finished the race but I was 3rd of 11 women who started the 50 miler, three of whom dropped out after 50K and accepted an official finish at that distance instead. The female winner was less than an hour ahead. So it was a good day. Now I need to get out of jury duty so I can go try my luck at Lavaredo Ultra Trail!



Official finish time was 13:54:54. (2 mins shorter on my watch)
My 50 mile PB is 10:40 but this is a sloooow course. A 12.5 hr finish would be a top 10 all-time female performance in this race.

I think the distances were as advertised. The first 50K was steep and twisty so the GPS under-measured it.

Brain wouldn't sleep before 5:20 alarm. Ran into Bob at the airport while I was half awake!

Browner and I made it safely to our gorgeous cabin in Ferguson, NC where the Leatherwood Ultra is happening tomorrow. Browner will officially become an ultrarunner!

A few pics from the day:

Fish tacos enroute to Ferguson, NC



Our cabin, "Owl's Echo", at Leatherwood Mountain Resort, a gated equestrian community with a rural feel. The 50K race took place entirely on Leatherwood's property and involved very little repetition. There are a LOT of trails. The 50 miler extended into an adjacent 1500-acre parcel of land that is also privately owned.





This hot tub saw a lot of use! It was best paired with red wine.





It was raining when we arrived so this was the view from the cabin.



Pre-race briefing and dinner with a country flair

It's been a long time since I've used the "Ultrarunning" setting on my Ambit so I wanted to test it with a short run around the 'hood. Good thing I did because I could see it was really inaccurate - and then I remembered that I'd created a different setting for Ultras under 20 hours that uses a 5-second recording interval. This run used a 60-second interval so it missed some of the distance.

So of course I had to change settings and try again. I'm a faster runner with a 5-second recording interval. Too bad that isn't real!

Watching the Boston Marathon! Friends in the race include Jean-Paul Bedard, Olga Huber, Cait Foisy and Deanne McDoom and they're all doing well. Anyone else watching anyone I might know? Also watching Kristen Tamburrino, whom I raced against in Logs Rocks & Steel six years ago. She is crushing it, having completed 38K in 2:38:43.
http://www.baa.org/individual.html

Forgot John McAlister! He finished in 3:05:51.
Kristen was 3:12:43.
Jean-Paul Bedard 03:17:23
Olga Huber 03:28:08
Deanne McDoom 03:32:47
Cait Foisy 03:58:30

Event: TOC Mob Match
 

Toronto Mob Match
Sunnybrook Park

Another spectacular spring day! Jan Havlas designed a devious 90-minute Score-O with a twist. Eight medium-high value controls would only be in place for 10 minutes each, e.g. control M30 was put out by a volunteer exactly 30 minutes after the start and removed 10 minutes later. It was designed so that even the best runner couldn't get to all the migrating controls - and it would be crazy to try anyway.



Because Sunnybrook is such a fun, risk-free place to try navigating for the first time, I'd posted the event info on my Facebook and in the Run Trails Ontario group. The speedy ultrarunner Boultbee twins, Melanie and April, took up the challenge and ran the course with WandAR as their guide. Sounds like they enjoyed it enough that they're now interested in Toronto's Wednesday Park Series!



I got held up and arrived late so I didn't spend much time making a plan. Early on, I made a long, futile run from M05 to M10, as if it could ever have been possible for me. After that failure, I stopped getting distracted by shiny things and focused on higher value controls while planning around the right time periods to visit M30 and M50, which were close together. It was a fantastic day to run - warm but not as overwhelmingly hot as yesterday seemed. Maybe I'm heat acclimated now - NOT. There were lots of the short, steep hills that Sunnybrook is known for, and I had to make a big dash to the finish. I was a minute late but it looks like the timing system gave us all an extra minute so I didn't get penalized.

Chuffed to tie with Yoko Bamba (former top orienteer in Japan) on points for 1st woman but she finished a minute faster. This crazy kind of race is much more in my wheelhouse than hers. She can totally kick my butt in a regular orienteering race.

Huge congrats to the overall winner, Double_Downon11! Big thank you to Jan and Amber for hosting the event.

Afterward, Wilberto and Eva generously hosted the Orienteering Ontario AGM. Great lunch and a nice opportunity to chat with people in person instead of on a conference call. I'm now the Past President but I'm back on the board for another year.

Spectacular spring day! T-shirt and shorts! Making it more spectacular, Mrs. Gally and Dee were able to run in Hockley on a Saturday, which *never* happens. They are both recovering from injury so it was a rare run that we could do together, and we all practised using poles. Fun!

Dee hadn't done the Hockley Provincial Park Loop before so she got to see some new scenery and lots of new hills. There were only a few short ice sections and the first wildflowers were out - a great day to be on the trails. We included the Tom East Side Trail today, which I often skip to get in more climb, but conditions there were better than on the main trail.

Most of the ice storm trail blockages were still there, including the major devastation in the forest "cathedral" around the 1.5 km mark. The main Bruce Trail has been cleared farther north in the Dufferin Hi-Land section, which heads north from Mono Centre. The local Caledon Hills club really has its work cut out for it. :(

This was the hottest run I've done in a long time and I could really feel it. I am such a cold weather person. Maybe I should do some sauna heat acclimation sessions before going to North Carolina next weekend.

Time is moving time only.

I practised my Italian while driving there and back. I've been listening to CDs in my car for a couple of months but I need to get more serious!

Ugh, required to appear for a jury selection panel. It's my civic duty but couldn't it wait until after Lavaredo?

AdventureDog and I ran over to Palgrave East for a tour. I wasn't surprised to find so much soft mud on the trails but I *was* surprised there was still so much ice on a warm day. I wasn't wearing any traction so I just tiptoed carefully around the edges or looked for bare spots.

The hills were alive today. In three different parts of the forest, we met Glenn B, BGY, and Cory T with his cousin. Unfortunately, AdventureDog barks if I stop running so all the conversations had to be brief.

Hard Core Live with Caron. Tough one tonight!

I've been away from yoga for the past few weeks and I could feel the difference. I need to keep this up since it makes me feel better while running and doing other activities. I need to get back to doing my physio regularly too.

Anyone up for a challenge this Sunday morning in Toronto? This is from the Toronto Orienteering Club regarding their annual Mob Match.
http://torontoorienteering.com/wp/?page_id=1037
__________________________________________________

From our Czech course designer:
"Courses are ready! 30 flags including first-visitor bonus and some migrating controls are ready for you! Let´s see if anyone can clear the course in 90 min. Might be a challenge!"

P.S. If you decide to come to enjoy the sunny 18C weather, you'e also welcome to join other orienteers for FREE LUNCH at the Orienteering Ontario Annual General Meeting afterward. If you're able to come, please RSVP so that Wilberto and I ensure there is enough DELICIOUS, FREE LUNCH for everyone.

Interesting read on death and legacy in an era of social media, which includes our Attackpoint community. It's estimated that 8,000 Facebook users die every day and that over 30 million have already died. Some day they will outnumber the living Facebook users.

Although it isn't mentioned in this article, some experts recommend that people leave permission to access their social media accounts to particular people in their wills, along with any pertinent instructions. When Dad passed away, we deactivated his Facebook account but you can also memorialize it. This allows people to visit the page and read past entries based on their permissions at the time of the person's death, but the person can't receive friend requests and he/she will no longer appear in groups, friend suggestion lists, etc. The third possibility, as described in this article, is that the Facebook profile remains active, giving the eerie impression that the person is still out there in cyberspace. They'll still appear on the "People You May Know" and "People You Could Invite to Join this Group" lists.
<http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160313-the-unsto...>

I spent 2 hours "with" Bell this afternoon trying to resolve a service issue that I expected to take 10 minutes or less. Most of that time was spent on hold for two different departments. The second time, after the predicted 5 minute wait, I put my phone on speaker and took it along on a gravel road run. Glad I did that because after 50 minutes of music and "thank you for waiting" announcements, the automated voice snapped, "We are having a problem" and hung up on me. I couldn't face calling them back.

If you need to reach us, use our cell numbers. :(

Back to Boot Camp. Just when we'd finished all the stations and were ready to take things down a notch, Caron brought out the sliders - ouch. Four members of the class had done Raid the Rib so we compared war stories.

Missed the workout but my taxes are ready to go - phew!

DontGetLost Raid the Rib
Albion Hills and Palgrave

I drafted two new Tree Huggers! Charlotte Vasarhelyi and I have talked about doing a Raid for several years. She warmed up last weekend by setting two national ultrarunning age group records - 48 hr and 72 hr (228 miles)! Trent Dilkie is an Ironman friend who is a regular in our Boot Camp, yoga class and SUP yoga.



It's always fun to plan strategy for a "choose your own adventure" navigation race. It's *extra* fun to be racing at home. And by "home", I mean that a control was on the hilltop in our front yard! (Poor BazingaDog and AdventureDog were beside themselves with excitement for hours. So many people to bark at! When we got home, our couch had been repositioned by two meters from all the jumping on and off.)

We decided to pick up a few controls in Albion Hills on our way up to Palgrave Forest, where there was an E=MC2 challenge at the aid station. I made the other two do the Climbs while I did the Mud, which involved a risky barbed wire fence crossing, a cold puddle and a cameo appearance in 'Bent's GoPro video.

We'd heard we would get a bonus map at the aid station, and we had every intention of ignoring it until Bender and Griz decided to add 250 bonus points for completing that map. There were only 3 controls - all high value, all near trails - on the block of TRCA land west of Humber Station Rd. We did some quick math and decided to go for it, knowing it would mean giving up some of our planned controls in Albion Hills on our return trip.

I've set a bunch of orienteering courses on the Albion and Palgrave maps and have also done lots of off-trail wandering around here so I definitely had a local advantage. Still, I had to watch my compass carefully to find 62, I didn't know about the cool ruin at 68, and I lost several minutes at 51 for no good reason.

Char and Trent are stronger runners so they both took a turn towing me on roads. Trent was in charge of calculating point values for different map areas and Char was in charge of control descriptions. Our favourite was when she announced, "Southwest edge of Corpse". Glad we didn't find it. ;)

We got all the controls on Maps 2 and 3 but my bobble at 51 meant that time was tight. Char is like a diesel engine and she was fully warmed up when she attached me to the tow rope at the 3:40 mark of the race. On our way north, we had kept a moderate pace, walking up hills and chatting. On our return trip, it was a mad, anaerobic dash to the finish, doing regular time checks. It was soooo close but when we saw the finish line in the distance, we had 30 seconds left before a 25-pt penalty kicked in - and we took 42. It was very intense but probably really good training. It took two beers at the pub before Trent decided that he'd had fun. ;)



We got 2175 pts, which was 1st Masters and 11th/26. There were a lot of excellent teams in the event and I don't think we could have done anything differently to do better. Our new team worked very well together and there was a lot of laughter and story telling on the race course. Huge congrats to Harps, Hansel and Wokitoki on their win. Congrats also to Gally, DD11 and Julie - the only other team to clear the course.

A few of us went to the Toby Jug in Bolton afterward. So nice to have some relaxed time with friends outside the crazy race atmosphere.

Thanks to Bender, Griz, Meghan and other volunteers for all the work to put together an interesting race course and a super fun day!

Arthurd and Olga arrived for a pre-race evening of Italian food and Boundless ARWC Costa Rica!

Some days you have to be a good daughter-in-law and let your training slide.

AdventureDog and I went to Albion Hills to check out the ice storm damage 'Bent saw while running with the guys on Saturday. There are trees down in a few places, especially in red pine managed forests, but the damage isn't severe enough that I would choose different routes to CPs - at least, not based on what I saw on the trail. Off-trail could be a different story. Hockley Valley was in much worse shape when we ran there last week.

The temperature is going to be at or below freezing for all but a few hours between now and Raid the Rib so we will be running through some snow. Today was a few degrees above zero and it was a mix of wet snow, deep watery slush, soft mud, big puddles and a bit of dry ground.

I'm still not feeling 100% but better than I was. One of my teammates, Charlotte Vasarhelyi, set two national ultrarunning age group records on the weekend for 48 hours and 72 hours. Her distance for 72 hours was 226 miles so it's fair to say that she's not tapering for RtR. :) She'll be totally fine though. AdventureDog was full of energy as always. He's put in more training hours over the past week than either 'Bent or I.

Still not feeling quite right so took one more day off.

Restless sleep with a headache all night. I seem to have a bug - not too bad but enough to keep me home from Boot Camp tonight. Blah.

For anyone familiar with the Barkley Marathons but not following the event, the next few hours promise to be exciting. (Twitter #BM100) Jared Campbell and Gary Robbins are both out on Loop 5 and need to get back by 10:43 p.m. to make the 60-hour cut-off. They travelled together for the first 4 loops but the rules require them to go in opposite directions for the final lap.

If Jared finishes within the cut-off, he will become the first 3-time Barkley finisher. If Gary finishes within the cut-off, he will become the first Canadian finisher. Gary is going counterclockwise on the final loop, which is considered the more difficult direction. Gary finished Loop 4 first but allowed Jared to choose his preferred direction for the 5th loop since the veteran Barkley racer had helped him get to that point. Unfortunately, Gary was spotted at a checkpoint later than expected and it is felt by some that he probably can't make the cut-off now. He was reported to be hallucinating. But it's not over till it's over!

John Kelly also started Lap 5 but returned.

Jennilynn Eaton got partway through the 3rd loop. She was the last woman to drop from the race this year. No woman has ever completed it.

Rhonda-Marie Avery of Ontario was there. The first blind runner to attempt the Barkley was guided by a veteran racer. They completed part of Loop 1 in a very impressive effort.

Nicki Rehn (Nicki on AP) was there as well. She is another veteran Barkley racer. Although she was out of the race yesterday, she said this is the best weekend of her year.

UPDATE: As of 5 minutes ago, Gary has dropped. He said he was hallucinating like crazy. :( So Jared is the only one left.

We have 15 cm of snow so I had to go skiing instead of running.



AdventureDog joined me again. He didn't even have the decency to pretend he was tired after running more than 4 hours yesterday. (I sure am.)



Although it was beautiful, the ground beneath the snow was warm and damp so my skis picked up bricks. It was a lot of work without much progress. There are still trees across the trail from the ice storm, so there was also some awkward scrambling. Still, any skiing in April is bonus!







AdventureDog was unimpressed with my slow pace and did a lot of coaching today.

It's 20 days until the Leatherwood Ultra, which will be Browner's first 50K and my first 50 miler since last summer. Today we wanted a long run with poles where we would hike the hills and run the flats and downhills, similar to what we'll do in North Carolina. We'd hoped to go to Pretty River and meet Dee but the threat of wintry weather kept us closer to home. We ran from the south end of Glen Haffy at Innis Lake Rd. up north of Hwy 9, with a couple of side hills to increase our climb. If we could manage this pace at Leatherwood, which is a bit hillier, we'd both be happy.

AdventureDog came along and had a great time although I wish he was happier about drinking from streams. He had no trouble leaping over and scrambling under the fallen trees from the ice storm. This section of the Bruce Trail wasn't as bad as Hockley Valley but we did some clambering over trees and a little bushwhacking. The bottom of K2 is a disaster so we didn't even try to make it out to Centreville Creek Rd.

We ruined our dinner with a yummy post-run stop at Paradise Burger in Caledon East. I got AdventureDog a bun-less burger, which made him extremely happy for about 1.4 seconds.

Trails in Motion Film Festival in Orillia tonight - inspiring! Great to see so many friends.

Drive home from Orillia in snow squalls - terrifying!

Running-specific drills, stretches and balance training with 'Bent and Coach Jeff in Mississauga. (Elapsed time 90 minutes) Cool stuff - different every time.

I'm not feeling much residual pain from yesterday's rowing machine miscalculation. Phew!