Training Log Archive: Bash

Event: 2010 US Rogaining Championships
 

CNYO Sugar Hill Rogaine Day 1.

Since there isn't much time left to train for Untamed NE, I decided my time would be better spent spying on one of our rivals and attempting to lose him at sea.

Getawaystix and I headed out on scenic Georgian Bay on a breezy, choppy morning. I had my Current Designs sea kayak, which can handle just about anything, and he took a speedy - but tippy - surfski. We started at Northwinds Beach in Collingwood, threaded our way east through shoals and gorgeous stretches of brilliant blue water, took lots of big waves from the side, and smashed through some impressive rollers as we headed out toward the main Bay on the windward side of the lighthouse. A few big waves came at me head on and broke right in front of my cockpit, smacking me in the face and soaking me completely. Awesome! When we were out far enough, we slowly changed direction until we could surf back in on the far side of the island, working hard to keep our boats under control. So much fun!!

Conditions were tough for balancing a surfski and GStix did well to stay on it. But of course that didn't suit my purpose of messing with a rival racer so I convinced him to tip over deliberately "just for the practice of getting back on it in deep water". Haha, he totally fell for it. After a few attempts using different approaches, he had the technique dialed. Too bad, I was looking forward to the chance to practise my rescue skills - although I might have waited until after Untamed. He's very good at treading water so I'm sure he'd be OK out there. ;-)

Be careful what you wish for... A few weeks ago, I was feeling down because I was doing AR training but it wasn't really clear what I was training for, given that the other Tree Huggers are mostly retired or injured.

Well, I just finished an 8-hr race that banged up my body a surprising amount. I'm packing for a 24-hr rogaine this weekend with Tiny. And now I am doing the 3-day Untamed New England adventure race just two weeks away. I can't do any extra training for it at this point - it's already taper time, plus or minus that 24-hr race I planned so long ago. The next couple of weeks will be filled with packing, weighing, gear decisions, food buying, etc.

I'm racing with Team Running Free. Yes, I know what you're thinking. How are Harper, Kirikou and Relentless going to keep up with me? They're used to Dee, who isn't known for her running. ;-) OK, the real truth is that I'm totally trembling in my Salomon shoes but I'm looking forward to spending time with such great people and fantastic racers, and I'll do my very best out there. Back when I started in the sport in 2002, the Running Free team of that era were my heroes, so it's an honour to race with them. It's going to be an exciting experience and I look forward to seeing so many friends there.

Off to see 'Bent's knee surgeon...

Just returned from Barrie where 'Bent saw the knee surgeon. First an intern took his medical history, reviewed the various diagnostic images and examined his knee. "Oh, that doesn't hurt too much," 'Bent kept saying hopefully as the fellow poked, prodded and bent his leg.

After a brief conference, the senior surgeon (Tarno's friend) sailed into the room purposefully, grabbed 'Bent's leg, twisted it 360 degrees, tapped the toe against 'Bent's stomach, then turned to the intern and said, "Hyperflexion. Classic. And if there was any degeneration, I wouldn't have been able to do that." I'm sure 'Bent would have beamed with joy except that his eyes were still crossed and bulging and his teeth were gritted in pain.

The good news: 'Bent's meniscus tear is nothing fancy. With a bit of physio and rest, he should be doing light running within a couple of weeks post-surgery. The bad news: There are 190 people on the surgery waiting list ahead of him, which translates to 6-7 months. In the interim, he can do recreational biking and light running but the instability in his knee increases the risk of doing something really bad, like tearing his ACL. So 'Bent is out of racing for most of the next year - and no skate skiing this winter. :-( But the news could have been a lot worse and we are focusing on the positive. There is still lots he can do - and I have an awesome support crew for the foreseeable future! :-)

BB5TI (Before Breakfast 500m Trail Intervals) with Crash. She is still recovering from a tough effort on Saturday when she won an 8-hour solo mountain bike race over a pro biker from New Zealand so she just came out for moral support today, running behind me during the intervals and encouraging me to go faster. It apparently worked, since I felt very fatigued (lousy sleep the last few nights) but my intervals were relatively consistent, and one of them was the fastest that I've done since we started 3 weeks ago. Thank you, Coach Crash!! :-)

2:11
2:11
2:06
2:09
2:08

Several of us are doing a taper-paced Hockley Loop (Bruce Trail and side trails) on the morning of Sat. Aug. 7 - about 3 hours, 22 km with lots of hills. So far, it's all women but friendly males would be welcome. Meeting at the Bruce Trail parking lot on Hockley Road across from the Hockley Resort at 9:15 a.m. Let me know if you'd like to come!

Argghh - fridge stopped working yesterday. We only have a freezer now. Anyone for sour milk?

RockstAR adventure race at Bark Lake.

Since it began in 2008, RockstAR has been a "don't miss" event on the Tree Huggers' calendar. Over that time, it has grown from 60 racers to 300, thanks to a good venue and a fun, social atmosphere that provides a backdrop to a race course that challenges both novice and experienced racers.

As usual, we were bussed to a remote start location for a 25 km mountain bike ride back to Bark Lake. After a mass start on a gravel road, we turned onto an ATV trail for 10 km of ridiculously fun AR-style riding. Rocks, big puddles, steep climbs, bumpy descents, mud - lots of good stuff. 'Bent and I pushed hard on the bike because we expected his injured knee to give us trouble on the trek. I had an impressive wipe-out when my semi-slicks skidded out sideways in a big mud puddle. The bottom of the puddle was smooth rock coated with greasy mud, and after I hit the deck, my bike and I slid for a good distance. Bonus points for crashing with style!

We emerged onto gravel roads for 8 km of hilly riding, still near the front of the pack. Just as we turned onto the final 6 km of paved rolling hills, Phatty and LaFemme caught and passed us, moving efficiently with a tow. We didn't mind. We knew they were going to win Coed and it was a highlight of our race to stay ahead of them until the 19 km mark! ;-)

It was seriously muddy!



Back at the Hub, we changed to our trekking shoes and packs and headed out on a canoe/trek rogaine course for the rest of the 8 hour event.



After the nasty knee pain 'Bent experienced in our mountain marathon in Scotland, we didn't know how to plan our route today. He might find himself in pain early on or maybe we'd discover that bushwhacking is too painful.



As it turned out, we were able to move at the same pace as each other on foot; we were never held back by his knee pain. The only impact of his injury was that he didn't have any extra energy for the things he usually does, such as carrying extra weight, running with me on tow, and following along on the map. He cramped up more easily than usual and we wondered if it was because he hasn't been running. The good news is that I'm writing this a full day after the race ended, and his knee feels OK. :-)



The object of RockstAR is to visit checkpoints with different point values and collect as many points as possible within the 8-hour time limit. It was awesome that the race moved to SportIdent timing this year - and I'm not just saying that because I'm on the Orienteering Ontario Board that rented the gear to the event. It was nice not needing to fumble with a muddy passport on the course, and the results were tallied very quickly after the race. Kudos to STORM (and also to Getawaystix) for taking it upon themselves over the past year to learn how to use SI software for different types of events. It has taken AR up a notch in Ontario. And thanks to Valerie for your support!



I don't think my planned route was the best one for us. With the uncertainty about our speed, I settled very quickly on a plan full of options without over-analyzing it since I really didn't have a clue! We made decent time running on the overgrown ski trails and I assumed we'd go a little faster when we got to the ATV trails in the southeast quadrant of the map. But the trails were blocked in many places with huge, deep mud pits. We sometimes waded up to our upper thighs; other times, we bushwhacked parallel to the trail.



We picked up a couple of high-value checkpoints there but it was super-slow and my clever plan to return to Bark Lake without bushwhacking (to go easy on 'Bent's knee) was clearly not going to work due to time constraints. Instead of running around a loop, we had to bail back the way we had come and, in addition to the inefficiency of this route, there was some nasty bushwhacking on the way. I took a sharp, pointed stick in the face, thus ending any hopes of a future modelling career. LaFemme thinks this looks so tough - and hot, of course - that it should be my new Facebook profile picture! No wonder my Mom doesn't understand my hobbies...



Back at the Hub with only one hour remaining in the race, we gulped down soft drinks, which we normally never have but they tasted like heaven. Then we hopped in our canoe to pick up several checkpoints that were on or near the water. It felt sooo nice to be paddling and using different muscles!

Shortly after the 7 p.m. deadline, all teams had crossed the finish line, thus depriving organizers of last year's excitement where they searched for hours for a lost team in dark, rainy conditions.

The post-race party is always fun because a lot of racers stay onsite, so it's a great chance to catch up with friends and enjoy music and a cash bar.

Big congrats to PhattyJR and Frankenjack for taking the overall win with 1570 points!



And to Phatty and LaFemme, the top Coed team with 1400 points.



Funderstorm placed 2nd Female team of 2 and the Connell Clan (Dog Runner + Mom + Sis) were 1st Female team of 3 - sorry, no pics. We placed 3rd Coed with 1200 points, 7th of 62 8-hour teams. That's better than we'd expected this year so we'll happily take it.



Regardless of results, our favourite team was occasional Tree Hugger ThreePinJim and his daughter, who just turned 11. Yes, they did the 8-hour race and she was still smiling at the end.



Although I had a great time, the bushwhacking in this race battered me up more than usual. Between that and my MTB crash on rocks at Three Stages last week, I have a great collection of bruises and scrapes - worthy of a 9-year-old kid. If I were to see any health care professional this week, they would be legally obligated to report me as a domestic abuse victim. So 'Bent had better be nice to me! ;-)

Thanks once again to race directors STORM and Mr. & Mrs. Flatfoot for another fun, well-organized weekend. We're sending loads of best wishes to STORM for the Canadian Death Race this weekend!

In honour of Andy's attack yesterday... Saxobank fans will enjoy this Fun on a Rest Day video (from last week's TDF rest day) with Andy, Jens and Stuart. Sadly for the ladies, no Fabian. ;-) Warning: it's long but I ended up watching the whole thing which I rarely do!

Over to Palgrave East with BulletDog for a pooch swim in the pond, then around Salty Stephen single track and home. BulletDog doesn't understand twisty single track. "Silly human! Look, the same trail is just over here. You don't need to go all the way to that switchback."

This was just an easy run to loosen up before RockstAR on Saturday. 'Bent and I have had good luck there, finishing 2nd overall in each of the past two years, but our streak is over! Some big guns are showing up this year, including three Camerons and a Frankenjack. We'll need to moderate our pace on foot to keep 'Bent's knee relatively undamaged since he has his appointment with the surgeon on Tuesday. But RockstAR is always a fun weekend anyway!

Here's a great video of a Lab playing ball with a young deer - probably only of interest to dog lovers. You'll have the idea after the 1st minute - no need to watch to the end.
http://www.wimp.com/oneball/

Andy and Alberto have made up. Awww....
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/contador-and-schle...

Crash & Bash Adventure Road Trip: Part 1

Crash wanted to try the Tuesday night mountain bike race at Blue Mountain - the one that Getawaystix organizes. MTB racing isn't really my thing so we agreed to add a ride at Three Stages on the way, which turned it into a long MTB training trip that suited us both nicely.

Wow, Three Stages was hard work! We parked at the bottom and spent about an hour making our way up the escarpment on a trail that is (we later realized) normally used to descend. After that, we found some fun, flowy trails in fantastic deciduous forest. It was tough going in places with a number of hike-a-bike sections. Conditions were still slippery from the big storm on Sunday night and my semi-slick tires gummed up, so the rocks and roots led to a couple of good splats.

We passed through a few areas of thick poison ivy - great incentive to stay upright and in the middle of the trail. We stopped at a spectacular lookout then rode along a scenic ridge before heading back downhill for a post-ride soak in the river. (I inadvertently turned the Garmin off for a little while, so the distance is from Crash's bike computer.)

Warm-up lap for Blue Mountain MTB race + ride down the mountain post-race + other miscellaneous riding around Blue.

Crash & Bash Adventure Road Trip: Part 2

XC MTB Race Series at Blue

Nice course for a weekday race series - lots of variety in the trails, great sunset views of Georgian Bay and plenty of climbing in each lap. I was just planning to treat this as a good training session but I ended up letting my competitive nature get the better of me when I caught a woman in a green jersey who had taken off quickly at the start. There was a long, steep climb on the ski hill near the end of each lap followed by moderate uphill double track to the finish. I attacked the Green Jersey just past the steepest part of the slope and left her behind but she caught me on Lap #2 after a descent. She let me go by again a few hundred meters later on a short, steep climb, and I made sure I stayed ahead after that. I just made the cut to start Lap #3 and wasn't sure if she would make the cut as well (turns out she didn't), so I had good incentive to push, although I eased off a little since I couldn't hear anyone behind.

I was only doing the race to keep Crash company and to check whether Bob is living up to his usual high event quality standards (yup!) So I was kinda surprised to enjoy it so much. It helped that the race course wasn't crowded so there weren't a lot of people to pass or be passed by. Crash was 1st woman and I was 6:40 back in 2nd. We rewarded ourselves with a large helping of nachos, a Rickard's White and California Salads at Rusty's - yum.

Another pre-breakfast trail interval session with Crash - yay! Temperature was a little cooler after last night's violent thunderstorm but the 100% humidity and soaking wet forest made for a ridiculously sweaty outing anyway. We changed our strategy to run all our 500 m intervals in the same (faster) direction for consistency, then used our rest time in between to jog back to the starting point. Compared to last week, my slower intervals were several seconds faster, but the fastest interval was the same. I strongly suspect there isn't a single fast twitch fibre anywhere in my body! Fortunately, they're not that important for most of the things I do.

Congrats to Crash for breaking 2 minutes on her last two intervals. That's breaking the 4-minute kilometer - wow! And thanks for getting me out there. After lying awake listening to thunder till the wee hours, I wouldn't have hit the trails on my own this morning.

2:16
2:11
2:10
2:13
2:09

A social lap of Island Lake on a breezy morning with 'Bent, Goose and Coach LD. Then we headed to our place to cheer on les boys in le Tour. The next few days will be interesting...

Rode the Palgrave single track under ominous skies (which haven't turned into anything yet). Today's focus was riding faster and more efficiently on technical trails that I'm familiar with - different from yesterday when I was aiming to do a decent job on technical trails I didn't know.

Palgrave has a very healthy poison ivy crop this year, which provided more than the usual incentive to stay upright. I'm particularly proud of one save where my bike hit soft sand and tried to buck me off like a bronco. I bucked right back and somehow, as the bike and I twisted and rebalanced in mid-air, I managed to stay up and avoid a full body landing in the ivy. It's not all bad - raspberries are fantastic at the moment. No need to carry gels for training sessions these days!

While watching Colbert Report / Daily Show.

As far as I know, the Sage Rogaining Champs near Kamloops B.C. on Aug. 28-29 is the only 24-hour rogaine happening in Canada for the rest of the year. Sounds like a good one!

'Bent, Coach LD and I explored Copeland Forest (Horseshoe) by bike while Goose went roller skiing nearby. We always had a rough idea of where we were from skiing and orienteering up there but we don't know the single track, so our route was totally random and there were lots of surprises. The trails were in awesome shape and there were a couple of fun roller coaster descents that had us whooping out loud. Like last weekend at Dufferin, the training goal (other than fun) was to do technical riding on unfamiliar trails. As much as we love the great trails at Albion Hills, we know what's coming up, and that makes them easier.

Had a great time! Took a couple of breaks to pick raspberries and to pat Bill Trayling's dog as we passed by his place. No sign of Bill, however. We twisted the arms of Coach LD and Goose to let us take the long way home via Sojourn (excellent outdoor gear store) and Starbucks in Barrie. They somehow managed to entertain themselves. ;-)

First course planning meeting with Getawaystix for Wilderness Traverse 2011. It's looking good - hope to see you there!

Hard Core DVD. Felt strong but I've got a long way to go to catch up with Valerie, the queen of the DVD!

While watching the Colbert Report.

Another exciting TDF stage today. Can't wait for the Pyrenees!

Thanks to a last-minute schedule change, I had time to sneak in a hilly Hockley Loop today. At 30C and humid, it wasn't my kind of day but I felt reasonably OK with 2L of strong eLoad and some Saltsticks to keep me going. I had to stop the clock a few times to pick raspberries or dip my hat in a creek, and I walked any hills steep enough that I thought I would walk them in a 50K race. (Hockley has a few *very* steep hills.)

I was looking forward to listening to my marathon mix on the iPod, forgetting that I'd loaded it with talk radio podcasts for driving. This didn't help my pace but it was more educational. The most interesting piece was about a Human Library Project where you "check out" a person for 30 minutes in a conversation room to discuss a particular topic, e.g. there was a devout Muslim who talked about his religion, a woman who discussed her cancer experience, etc. Another podcast I enjoyed was a reading from Douglas Coupland's "Generation X", a book I read years ago and would have assumed had no relevance today - except listening to one chapter made me want to read it again. So I missed dancing to my tunes, but this was fine too.

The loop has been re-routed around Hockley Resort so there were a few km of hot, dusty pavement at the end where I fantasized about a post-run trip to Dairy Queen. Fortunately for me, there was an obese family ahead of me in line, so it was easy to talk myself into a small DQ treat instead of what I *really* wanted.

The Wilderness Traverse trophy, aka "Bob", makes perfect sense now. Turns out the beaver is the most powerful animal in Algonquin Park! Who knew?
http://www.algonquinpark.on.ca/programs/TheRaven20...

So... within 24 hours of letting some silly AR-related stuff get me down... the phone rang and it was an engineering classmate I hadn't spoken to in several years. He's been off work for 14 months getting treatment for a difficult cancer, and he's just been declared cancer-free at his 2-month post-surgery check-up. Next check-up is another 6 months. But that's not why he was calling. He wanted to let me know about another engineering friend who died of a massive heart attack last week while taking a break between chemo sessions for his own cancer. My closest friend in our class was an avid runner and biker until he died suddenly at age 39 of a heart attack while running. All these guys were Dads.

So that sure puts things in perspective. Life is amazing. I'm very blessed.

Humid ride around Albion Hills with 'Bent. Perfect trail conditions! 'Bent provided ongoing TDF commentary as we rode the hilly northeast section: "And they're working together to drop the field, but OH - there he goes! Ehrlich has ATTACKED. Can Campbell answer? NO. She tries to get across the gap but she has CRACKED. She's a great descender though so she'll take some risks and catch him in the next kilometer..."

I worked on braking less to maintain higher speed on twisty single track. No disasters ensued other than smashing my little finger into a tree on a corner where the trail used to zig, but now it zags. I broke a spoke at some point but I'd planned to drop the bike off for a tune-up afterward anyway, so the timing was good. Chico Racing has done an awesome job on the Albion trail network this year - we're so lucky to have them working in our back yard.

While watching Daily Show / Colbert Report.

How about that tough TDF stage in the Alps today? Wow!

Crash graciously offered to help with two of the 2010 training goals on which I've been failing miserably. We planned to meet at 7:30 a.m. ("training before breakfast" goal) to do speed intervals (another goal). But the Caledon Navigators summer BBQ ran a little late here last night with presentations from Leanimal & Crash on Ecuador, me on Scotland, and Phatty and Scooby on Wilderness Traverse (with back-up from Goose, Crash and Rocky). So we postponed our meeting until 8:30 a.m. I was afraid my legs wouldn't move in the morning so I did some separate warm-up first.

5 X 500 m trail intervals between posts 2 and 3 with approximate 3 minute rests. The trail is relatively flat but mostly slopes toward the east, making intervals #1, #3 and #5 a little easier.
2:17
2:20
2:17
2:21
2:08

Great to have someone to chat with and ease the pain; the time and distance flew by. I think we would have been tempted to stop after 4 intervals if we were alone. For some reason, the 4th one felt particularly hard, and I got bonus points for inhaling a big bug on the uphill and sputtering/choking/coughing (*so* classy) for the next 100 m.

Had to turn off the Garmin on the way home so I could stop and scarf down fresh raspberries. Soooo good!

The Good News: 'Bent has an appointment with a good knee surgeon in 2 weeks.

The Bad News: The doc thinks 'Bent needs an appointment with a good knee surgeon. (Torn meniscus.)

Fingers are tightly crossed that he'll be ultrarunning by next year!

In the meantime, for the moment, I'm the last Tree Hugger standing. We're an endangered species! Our other regular teammates have mostly retired or graduated to better things, and it looks like 'Bent may be out of commission for awhile longer. So I need to re-evaluate what I'm training for in the second half of 2010. I still train as if I'm getting ready for Raid The North, but that makes no sense!

We're still going to do RockstAR at a knee-friendly pace because it's such a fun weekend, but my only other planned summer multi-sport race before next May is Logs Rocks and Steel. So... how should I be training and should I be considering different types of events? More solo? More nav? Less multi-sport? Less racing and more tripping? Female team? Hmmm... lots to think about. Perhaps some red wine is required.

"Adventure Racing is life compressed in time and amplified in intensity. Communication, relationships, conflict and teamwork are intensified immensely. When you distill the essence of these down they can be applied to our professional, personal and family lives with profound effect." - Ian Adamson

Hansel, Getawaystix and Dr. Wells started running the Killarney Loop shortly before 9:30 this morning. SPOT GPS tracking is available at this link.
http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots...

Started at Centreville Creek Rd. where the K2 climb starts on the Bruce Trail side trail, ran up to the stile on the main Bruce Trail, then south to Innis Lake Rd. (out via main trail, return via side trail) and north to Hwy 9, then back to the stile and down K2. I think my legs are nearly recovered from last weekend's race. It's disconcerting how much better I can run in shade vs. sunshine - gotta keep trying to acclimatize to heat, I guess.

I rarely run with tunes in the forest but with 'Bent's injury and my upcoming 50K, I will probably be doing a lot of long runs alone, so I brought the iPod and it was great. Glad nobody drove by when I got back to my car and did a celebration dance to some old school rock 'n' roll. :-)

'Bent and I took our mountain bikes up to Dufferin Forest where (surprisingly, given its proximity) we've only biked once before. We headed out with no plan and a rough knowledge of the area from racing there. We had a great time randomly exploring the deserted trails - a hilly mix of flowy single track, thigh-burning deep sand, and semi-bushwhacking through unmaintained/logged sections. Rewarded ourselves with iced lattes and Dufflet treats from the great Italian place in Mansfield, "On Your Forks".

I wanted some race-specific training for Logs Rocks and Steel so I did Logs Rocks and Steel! Well, that was the plan, anyway. Bob and I ran the nice new 14K trail running section that starts from the Frost Centre. Click on the little globe to see our run/paddle route.



Not surprisingly, the race course took us to high points.



No, not *that* high. (Although if the fence hadn't been so tall, we would have taken a detour up there.) The race course also took us onto the Steep Rock Trail.



It was stinking hot so when the trail came right down to the lake, we had to swim. Bob scared the crap out of me by leaping off a cliff. He lived. (Turns out it's a popular cliff jumping spot.) I felt much better running once I was soaking wet - must remember that if LR&S is on a hot day.



Bob was rocking the SLAB-2 XT Wings he wore to win Ultimate XC.



I really liked the ridge run we did in LR&S last year but this is an equally - arguably more - beautiful trail run with more variety in terrain.





Bob did a pretty good job of keeping up on the hills.



We came out to a quiet gravel road where we were passed by one car. They were waiting with their window rolled down when we got to the top of the next hill. "Would you like a couple of bottles of cold water?" Oh my God, I don't think icy water has ever tasted so good. Bob had run out by then so he was super-grateful. You sure meet some nice people in remote places!

A little trail work will be required on the 2K section near the end that follows an old logging road. The working nickname for this section is "Wilderness Traverse". Adventure racers will feel right at home.



More swimming at the TA then onto the paddle. My camera is waterproof but unfortunately the pics still look foggy when the lens is wet. Gotta figure that out.







Compared to last year, the paddling section is more technical, meaning that racers have to negotiate typical Canadian obstacles like rocks, a beaver dam, logs and two portages in the 750-800 m range in addition to several shorter ones. There are some distracting blueberries along one of the portages.



My new kayak portaging system (shoulder and hip paddling on cockpit) was OK but not great. I could probably get away with it in the race but I'm not sure I want to. It was awkward dealing with the paddle, which wouldn't fit inside the boat and had to be carried separately. I was jealous of Bob's canoe-style portaging. After the first couple of lakes, he feigned intense interest in trying my kayak, thus forcing me to carry his lighter SRS kayak over the remaining portages. His boat has frightening initial stability but decent final stability, and it really flies if you put your core into it!



Thunder rumbled and rain pelted down as we approached the final portage from Sherborne Lake to St. Nora Lake. We stood and ate snacks until the storm abated, then portaged and paddled back to the van (TA2) in sunshine. The family we met at the far end of the 800 m portage had only seen a few drops of rain!

We got our bikes out, refilled bladders, donned our cycling gear and tied kayaks on the roof rack in preparation for the 50K mountain bike ride. The heavens opened again and we jumped in the van for 10 minutes until the rain faded a little, then headed out and finished a few final things. But the storm returned with a vengeance and we spent 15 more minutes in the van as lightning flashed and heavy rain slapped the windshield so hard it wouldn't have been safe to drive. It eventually dawned on us what a fine idea it would be to change our focus for the day to event marketing - hang a few posters in nearby establishments and test some of the excellent local food. So as soon as the rain diminished from "ridiculously heavy" to "medium heavy", we tossed our bikes unceremoniously into the van and abandoned the 2nd half of our planned training session.

In spite of the weather cancellation, it was a fun day playing in Ontario's beautiful northland! Richard and I will have to go for a bike ride this weekend instead.

Just an easy test of the bike after a few adjustments. Went at high noon to increase the HTFU factor.

Mid-year report card on the training goals I set in early January.

Pass:
1) So far, I've logged 60% of the 450 training hours I'm aiming for in 2010.
2) To mark a mid-year milestone after losing 17 lb, I've cleared out a good chunk of my closet and given it all away. So if I screw up, I won't have anything to wear.
7) Mountain marathon - check. 24-hr rogaine - check, and another one coming up soon. 50K trail race - registered for October.

Fail:
3) I've logged exactly half as much strength training as I intended to, and I'm only aiming to do a measly 1 hr/week. Pathetic. This happens every year.
5) & 6) No early morning training and not getting enough sleep. Mom says I failed naptime in kindergarten. 'Bent keeps reminding me of this.

Borderline:
4) As suggested by some of you, I've tried to build hill intervals into runs by attacking hills along the way. Speed intervals aren't going so well. I'll need to get Crash to drag me out early in the morning when she goes.

Hard Core DVD with Caron. It's a little too hot for this in our house right now, but if Valerie can do it in Washington's stifling heat, I can do it too.

While watching the Colbert Report.

Photos of injured riders from Tour Stage 2. So sad. Tyler, I had you picked to win a stage this year! (As of last night, he was planning to start Stage 3 with a fractured wrist and sprained elbow.)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycli...

I read in one article that a motorcycle crashed and spilled fuel on the road before riders arrived, but nobody else mentioned that so it may be an urban myth. However, a lot of riders and team managers said there appeared to be something like oil on the road.

Results are up for the Creemore Vertical Challenge. STORM won the 50K in a field of 75 runners. Get this... his time was 4 hrs 19 min, and his margin over 2nd place was 23 minutes!!! Wow. (Not that he wanted it that way!) I was 9th of 54 women in the 25K, and 45th of 118 runners overall. Last year I was 23rd of 38 women and 74th of 99 runners overall. Really happy with the improvement - although I need to pay more attention to my biking for awhile.

I had to talk myself into going outside on this smoggy 32C day but I'm glad I went. It's going to be a long summer and I need to banish my hot weather demons. I didn't want to breathe in too many fine particulates so this was just an easy ride through the Palgrave single track. I focused on technical skills and didn't push any harder than I needed to. There is a *lot* of poison ivy in there, which adds an extra layer of technical challenge, i.e. I had to try to stay on the narrow dirt track without veering into the greenery. No need to bring a snack - there were raspberries and black raspberries everywhere. When I got home, I'd lost 3.5 lb compared to my morning weight. That's bad, right?! I am *such* a bad judge of how much water I need to drink.

Another hot day so 'Bent and I returned to Island Lake, this time with kayaks for the first time this year. Due to 'Bent's knee injury, I'm racing solo at Logs Rocks and Steel, and today was my first serious paddle in 'Bent's Wavemaster kayak that I plan to use. It's not a racing boat - just a faster, lighter sea kayak than mine. It will take some practice to get used to the toe-operated rudder but I think it will work well if I can avoid smashing this delicate thing into smithereens on rocks.

Tsk tsk, I had to twist 'Bent's arm to do an extra 2 km after we'd completed the 8 km loop of the lake. It's not like him to be so lazy! A post-paddle all-you-can-eat sushi buffet followed by a DQ hot fudge sundae more than offset any calories that may have been burned. In a continuing downward spiral, we spent the next few hours basking in the TV's glow watching le Tour de France.

After our cycling fix, we went through some trial and error to devise a kayak portaging system for me. It is definitely not an option to drag 'Bent's boat along the trails as I've seen some racers do!

P.S. Congrats to STORM on winning the 50K event at the Creemore Vertical Challenge. Awesome job!

Creemore Vertical Challenge 25K trail race - lots of hills!

(Garmin measured 24.5 km but it underestimates the distance of twisty trail, especially in the forest.)

After watching Charlotte V run 60-90 km/day for the past couple of weeks, I was inspired to do my first long trail race since last year's Creemore race. 'Bent finished near the top last year but sadly his knee won't let him do that right now, so I was on my own. :-(

It was a gorgeous, sunny day, although a high of 28C is not the best weather for a winter loving person like me. Oh well, gotta learn to suck it up, right?

It was great to spend a few minutes catching up with STORM. He did the 50K today, i.e. two of the loops that I did. Click on the little earth if you haven't looked at Garmin tracks on Attackpoint before.

Although the race is about 50% gravel roads, Creemore is not known as a fast course - the top woman finished in 2:11 today. Last year my goal was to break 3 hours and I was happy with 2:55. This year I aimed to improve on last year's time and was thrilled to drop 18 minutes, running it in 2:37 and finishing 2nd in my age group, 9th of about 55 women overall. The prizes are awesome and totally appropriate for Creemore. I came away with a bag of Creemore Coffee, a bottle of maple syrup and a custom pottery mug handmade by the race director's wife. All the finishers got handmade pottery medals - so cool.

If anything, I didn't feel like I pushed as hard as I did last year. It was just too darned hot and sunny for that. It probably helps that I've got less weight to drag around. One big change was that I did a better job of ignoring people who were walking up hills this time. I did walk up the steepest ones but I tried to run or at least run/walk the types of hills that we would normally run around here. Slowrunner has trained me to feel guilty about too much walking! Also, some of the people who walk the uphills and technical downhills are faster on flat roads, but I don't have a lot of different gears so I need to keep on chugging.

Just like last year, I loved the two steep-sided creek crossings 1 km from the end. One of them has a rope to help runners manage the steep terrain. Here's where my adventure racing and orienteering background comes in handy. In each case, I ignored the rope and leapt off the edge, skidded crazily down to the creek and used saplings to drag myself up the other side. I passed the 3 men who had been just ahead of me for the past couple of kilometers and stayed ahead till the finish - yeehaw! :-) Then I went and sat in the cold Mad River with some of the other racers. Not quite an ice bath but wonderfully refreshing - especially the part where I filled my hat with water and put it back on. Mmmm...

Nice to hang out with Tarno and Jackie and cheer as Tarno was awarded 1st place in his age category (3rd overall in the race).

Gear notes:
1) I usually wear a tank top for hot weather running but I tried a super-light Salomon XT Wings II SmartSkin technical T-shirt instead. Worked really well! I didn't have to worry about my pack rubbing the wrong way and I actually felt cooler with less skin in the sun.
2) Trav and Baloney introduced me to the miracle of Leukotape last weekend when they were here working on Charlotte's feet. It is amazing stuff and I will be buying a whole bunch of it.

Physical notes: What the heck was that creaky pain in my right hip from 15-25 km?? It felt like it arose from an asymmetry in my gait. Gotta figure that out before racing 50 km in October!

Congratulations to the amazing Charlotte Vasarhelyi for setting a new record for a solo runner completing the Bruce Trail. She finished at Queenston Heights this afternoon after running 894 km in a time of 13 days 11 hours, beating the old record by 23 hours. I'm told the trail was 66 km shorter when the previous record was set but that's not relevant to the record since the length of the Bruce Trail is constantly changing.

She was on fire today! She ran at a good pace and barely stopped at support points (other than to grill us on the exact number of kilometers left!) She always ran off with food in her hand, and her bladder was sometimes changed before she reached the support crew by a runner who ran down the trail and retrieved her pack. It was a great finish.

'Bent tested his bad knee by pacing Char for 27 km - no serious pain so far. I'm racing tomorrow so I drove the support vehicle with the pooches. (Bringing them along was the only way we could be away from home for so long!) BulletDog ran the final 7 km with Char. Great fun, wonderful people, lots of excitement!

At 6 p.m., Charlotte Vasarhelyi had 57.6 km left in her end-to-end, 894-km Bruce Trail run. There was talk of going through the night to improve on the new record she is almost assured to set (she has till mid-day Saturday). However, she has chosen to stop when it gets dark tonight so she can enjoy the experience of coming into Queenston tomorrow. 'Bent plans to pace her tomorrow and I'll take my camera and cheer since I'm racing Saturday morning. Go Char, go!!

In honour of Canada Day, 'Bent and I paddled our whitewater canoe (a.k.a. "sail") around Island Lake on a windy day. It's rare to see whitecaps there! We haven't been doing much paddling this year and it's time to get back into it. RockstAR is coming up and I'm doing Logs Rocks and Steel solo, so there are lots of good reasons to hit the water. (Oh yeah, it's fun too!)

BulletDog and I took advantage of the cool weather to run around Palgrave West. I tried to attack the hills to practise for Creemore on Saturday. Too bad we couldn't have this same nice temperature for the race!

Rodney Yee Power Yoga for Flexibility