Training Log Archive: Bash

The world's longest pedestrian suspension bridge has just opened between Grächen and Zermatt, Switzerland. The Charles Kuonen Suspension Bridge is almost half a km long and rises to 85 m above the ground.

Rockfall destroyed the old bridge seven years ago and the high alpine route between the two towns fell into disuse. We will now be crossing it on Day 1 of Ultra Tour Monte Rosa. I sure hope it was designed to handle a pack of runners!
http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/31/design/longest-pedes...

'Bent and I went to Pretty River Valley Provincial Park for some uphill hiking and downhill running. Compared to Georgian Peaks, it takes longer to climb 1,000 meters (my goal for the day) but on such a hot day, it was nice to have the shade. The forest was lush, the trails had some muddy spots, the bugs were polite and the stream was spectacular as always.

'Bent and I stayed together about half the time but sometimes he went ahead to get in a little more distance and elevation. We did two full climbs from the road (or almost) and two half climbs of the final 1.1 km where the hill is steepest. It wasn't super exciting but we need to do hill training and it was a nice day for it.

Turns out Pretty River is a great place to run into friends; we spent about 40 minutes talking to people. (Not logged!) First we met Dr. & Dr. Tarno with their adorable Vizsla, who trotted up to us before we saw them. Then we ran into Loki (dog) with Stacie Smith and Hanna Rydlo.

Later I met Brenda East (trail runner) with a group. Some of them had large, heavy backpacks while others had tiny running packs. She explained that the people with large packs were training for the West Coast Trail; the others were training for an Ironman.

Then we met Loki the dog again - this time with Martin Rydlo. When you start to see dogs out for their 2nd walk of the day, you know you've been on the trail too long!

It was hot and humid so I promised myself a treat on the final descent - a dunk in the stream. 'Bent thought I was crazy but he joined me. It was deliciously cold and gave us an energy boost for the final 20 minutes.

'Bent, Storm and BGY were running with Scout and AdventureDog at Mono Cliffs this morning and I hitched a ride with them so I could run home. Starting near the southeast entrance to the park, I headed south on the Bruce Trail until I intersected the Hockley Loop. Then I turned onto the side trail that leads to and through Anderson Tract and down to the 5th Line Parking lot.

The main news today was that someone has installed a bench at the viewpoint in Anderson Tract. (It was a run of minimal excitement!)



I found a large, organized hiking group enjoying their lunch in camping chairs on Sally's Pinnacle just a few millimeters from the largest patch of poison ivy on the Loop. I pointed out the plants as I turned onto the main Bruce Trail, and their leader nodded that he was aware.

I met more hikers and backpackers than usual but aside from the group, the total was still only about a dozen. The bugs were fairly kind but the humidity got to me. Yesterday's "super energetic" state is but a distant memory.

Today's podcasts were Serial Season 2 and Malcolm Gladwell's Revisionist History (thanks, JayXC!) As an aside, I worked as a Calculus TA for Dr. Graham Gladwell at the University of Waterloo. When he passed away a few months ago, I confirmed my suspicion that this very interesting man was Malcolm Gladwell's Dad.
http://v1.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/Deaths...

Caledon's K2 is badly overgrown - so sad! I imagined ticks everywhere so I stuck to gravel roads for the last 5K. Storm, 'Bent and all four pooches were hanging out in the back yard - nice to see them! After they left, BazingaDog parked himself by the front door and waited in vain for Scout and Contour to come back in.

Time for a bigger test of my ankle. I ran gravel roads (Finnerty & Innis Lake) to Glen Haffy, took the Bruce Trail north to Coolihan's, then came home via Centreville Creek and Finnerty. My ankle isn't fixed but it seemed OK with the good footing on most of this run.

Considering how tired I've felt this week, I was pleasantly surprised to feel super energetic for the first time in awhile. I think it's a combo of cooler weather and lots of time at higher altitudes while we were away. The air in Caledon feels downright thick! I started Season 2 of the Serial podcast after finishing up S-Town and Season 1 of Undisclosed.

Photos and report now posted for Nipika Lodge, Day 4: Kootenay River paddle, Canyon hike and a Mountain bike ride, i.e. pretty much everything.
https://ar.attackpoint.org/viewlog.jsp/user_920/pe...

Lower body strength + foothab. My ankle seems to hurt just as much as it did 6 days ago when I turned it. However, it's a small localized pain and it doesn't seem to stop me from using it. It's time to test it with a longer run, I guess.

Paddle before yoga. It's cool that my neighbour is doing these classes too so we can carpool to the quarry. This photo shows half the class; we had a full house tonight!

It started raining during our yoga but that was kind of fun. There were swim races going on in the quarry too. The distances ranged from 400 meters to 10 km. Hmm, I wonder if I could do a 400 m swim race. I'm a bad swimmer but it's always fun to try something new.

Photos and report now posted for the most epic day of our western trip - Nipika Lodge, Day 3: an exploratory trek that felt like adventure racing.
https://ar.attackpoint.org/viewlog.jsp/user_920/pe...

I cranked my ankle a few times out west and it still hurts so I tested it on the treadmill. I watched Jamil Coury's "Run Steep Get High" vlog from the Hardrock 100 miler. If you've ever wanted to see inside this race, this is a terrific video. He managed to record a clip every mile for the first 56 miles and he finished 9th overall.
https://youtu.be/Kvjd9sEVv-k

Photos and reports now posted for:

Nipika Lodge, Day 2: Kootenay River bridge-to-bridge paddle
https://ar.attackpoint.org/viewlog.jsp/user_920/pe...

Nipika Lodge, Day 1: short mountain bike ride.
https://ar.attackpoint.org/viewlog.jsp/user_920/pe...

Group ride on Nipika trail network. Time deducted for photo stops. Photos to come!

Exploratory trek up Aurora Pass. Photos and details to come.

By yesterday afternoon, most of the forest fire haze had blown out of the area and we had clear views for the rest of our stay. This is the meadow of Nipika Mountain Resort; in winter, a ski trail runs by the cabins.



We took a different Kootenay River trip today. We drove north, began paddling from Hwy 93 and finished at the bridge where we started on Tuesday. Nipika offers this as a half-day trip. They also offer 5-day paddling trips where you camp along the river on some of the beautiful beaches where we've been having our lunch stops and snack breaks.



There was no Class 3 whitewater today so it was very relaxed - just the odd rock or log jam to avoid. One of our highlights was a view of Mitchell Ridge where we hiked yesterday.









We stopped for lunch at the junction of the Cross and Kootenay Rivers, which is where the Nipika trail system begins.





We went for a hike from here, then paddled a short distance to the take-out. This GPS track includes both the paddle and the hike.

'Bent made a great 4-minute video of our two days on the Kootenay River.

Side trip from the paddle to hike along the Cross River Canyon at the north end of the Nipika trail system, see some waterfalls and visit a ski warming hut filled with quotes about life.











This is the Canyon Bridge. We biked across it a couple of times later on.

'Bent and I went for a ride on the Nipika trail network to see the Natural Bridge - a beautiful canyon in the Cross River. 'Bent's adventures on an upright bike continued. At one point I looked back to see him hanging upside down from a shrub on a steep hillside below the trail. His phone fell out but it was recovered and no harm was done. We came back across the river on the Canyon Bridge that we'd seen on our hike earlier. It's all starting to fit together! Here's a trail map on Trailforks.
<https://www.trailforks.com/region/nipika-mountain-...>





See the bridge we rode across way up there?



Then we headed back for the last night in our cozy cabin where Pate had made us B.C. salmon for dinner - yum. And yes, there was a rainbow. Probably some unicorns too if I had looked for them.

This exploratory trek around Mitchell Ridge near Invermere was the most epic day on our trip; it felt like adventure racing!

Our mission was to try to find an old trail that had been used by a horse outfitter until two decades ago. The trail, which is shown in the brown area on this old map, leads to some beautiful lakes. The normal route to these lakes starts along the boundary with Kootenay National Park, which runs along Mitchell Ridge marked with the orange line, and stays high as it approaches the lakes from the northwest. If we found the trail, we planned to go as far as we could, then loop back on the ridge. If it was nasty bushwhacking with no sign of a trail, we could bail out and just do an out-and-back hike on the usual ridge trail.



VO2Max, Goose, 'Bent and I drove on forest service roads to the bottom of the ridge and dropped a dirt bike that would be used to shuttle the driver back to our truck, assuming we finished our loop there as hoped. This meadow was full of wild strawberries - yummy and I'm sure grizzlies like them too.



Then we drove around to the old trail. Its southern part is now in a logged area so we could drive partway up an abandoned forest road. I thought this was the end of the line but VO2Max carries a chainsaw!



We parked the truck and headed up the valley behind us.



We knew the trail should be lower than the road so we started with some bushwhacking and fanning out to search. We made lots of noise to scare away wildlife.





Within half a km, after a few false starts, we found an overgrown trail that we were able to follow up the valley.



When we got into the trees, the trail was very obvious. It must have been used over the last 20 years, probably by hunters. There were occasional signs of trees being cleared with saws - also some relatively fresh grizzly tracks.





Wood lily



When we crossed avalanche slopes, the views opened up and the trail became less distinct.





Yup, that's the trail.



Eventually we popped out into a flat open area with lots of snow. Behind us in this photo is the ridge we planned to return on.



Ahead of us, it looked like the trail might be more difficult to find.



VO2Max pointed out the lakes this trail supposedly leads to. They were across a wide valley and it was clear we were not going to get there. Instead we would aim for a saddle ahead of us, then we would return on the ridge as planned.



We discovered a hunting camp here, which explained the quality of the trail.



After this, there was a lot more bushwhacking and guessing but we usually found signs of the trail. VO2Max hung some flagging tape.







The alpine wildflowers were gorgeous. This is the best time of year for them.



Glacier lily





The saddle (left) was getting closer but we ran into a canyon soon after this.



Rather than finding a way through the canyon and bushwhacking to the saddle, we decided to climb the ridge and start our trip back. At first it was beautiful.



Then it got rocky - "chossy", VO2Max called it.



The final climb to the ridge was tricky so VO2Max went ahead to scout the route.



Then he led us up there one at a time, pointing out safe footholds.







Mitchell Ridge is narrow with steep slopes and beautiful views on both sides. We enjoyed a late lunch, then headed south along the ridge (behind us in this photo). We still had 8 km to go, and we were going to be late meeting Coach LD for dinner.



It was so beautiful that I could post a hundred photos but don't worry - I won't! :) This is the view into the valley we'd traveled up.



We ran when the going was good.



You can tell Mitchell Ridge is a national park boundary because there are tiny yellow signs propped up with rocks.



These photos look back at where we'd come from on the ridge.





Some scrambling was required.









Most of the ridge was loose scree and easy going.



At the very end, the trail descends steeply through the trees and loses close to 1,000 m. We ran this as much as possible and got back to the dirtbike. Amazing day! It was fun and challenging, and I got to read a map, which always makes me happy. :)

The morning smoke forecast didn't look promising for views so VO2Max proposed that we paddle the Kootenay River. We started from the Settler's Road bridge near Nipika Mountain Resort and traveled to the next bridge about 45 km south.

Our put-in point



We used SOAR inflatable canoes, which fortunately are nicer than the infamous Tomcat kayaks we used to paddle in AR.







The river passed through canyons and was mostly Class 1 or 2 whitewater with a handful of Class 3 rapids. Goose and Coach LD paddled together. 'Bent and I chose VO2Max's boat, which meant we only had to provide paddle power while he steered through the rapids - an extremely relaxing way to do whitewater!







We took a couple of onshore breaks to explore, make coffee and have lunch. (Time deducted.) When Nipika operates longer river trips, these beautiful beaches are used as campsites.







The forest fire smoke got heavier through the morning but eased off later in the day.



After lunch, Goose and VO2Max went back into the Palliser Rapid to play.









There were no big rapids after lunch - just bouncy standing waves, riffles and steady current. We took out just after the only bridge we'd seen since the start.



Someone had shuttled a truck downriver for us to take back. However, a little work was required to get it on the road. :)



Luckily, VO2Max has many talents.



Then we drove back to the lodge for appetizers and another yummy dinner.

Forest fire smoke swept into Canmore late yesterday afternoon. We walked into town for a drink with Charm last night and kept getting ashes in our eyes. Crazy!



Today we drove to Nipika Lodge near Invermere, B.C. The smoke got worse as we headed west but improved when we turned south toward the B.C. border on Hwy 93. It turned out the smoke had come mostly from a big fire in Banff National Park - not from B.C.

The reprieve was short-lived though. The wind wasn't in our favour today and it was smoky when we arrived at the lodge. In spite of that, it's such a great place! More on that later.



Goose and Coach LD arrived and we settled into the beautiful Palliser cabin. VO2Max was going to be our guide for the week and it was great to see him in his element.







Before dinner, the four of us headed out for a short ride to see the Kootenay River and get a feel for the trail network.



'Bent rode a regular bike. This led to some nervous moments, as he's not used to that position. "I don't know why anyone would want to ride so high off the ground with your head leading the way!"



Tomorrow we're going paddling. Looking forward to a fun week!

Carbon's Offset led us on another adventure, this time to Wind Ridge near Canmore. We did more running today but hiked all the uphills. We started out running on double track through the trees and crossed West Wind Creek.



We eventually emerged into open meadows filled with mountain wildflowers. Some of the climbing was quite steep.





There was even a cliff to scramble up.



The scenery was all fantastic once we got above the tree line and the ridge running was great.





We got to the end of the official trail at a viewpoint where we could see the backs of the Three Sisters.



Our main view was the back side of yesterday's route. From the Spray Lakes, we had climbed up to West Wind Pass in the centre of the photo. Windtower peak, where we had lunch, is just to the left of it.



No, we didn't call each other in the morning to plan our outfits.





It is possible to continue on an unofficial route by bypassing the cliff through the trees to get down to the next part of the ridge that eventually turns into scree and arrives at a massive headwall. We got down the cliff but the dark skies to the west reminded me of my lightning experiences in the mountains.

After a check of weather radar, we turned back. As it turned out, we got hail, rain and gusty winds but no thunderstorm.



We put on raincoats and bombed down the steep hills. 'Bent took some video. At one point after reviewing video, we were surprised that CO hadn't arrived. We thought he was running behind 'Bent while he filmed me. After allowing a little time, we realized something must be wrong. We went back to the start of a steep slope that we had all descended together. I started looking off the trail down the hillside. Did he fall? 'Bent headed up the hill. Then we heard his voice from far above. "I lost my phone!"

Thus began a very 2017 outdoor emergency that involved hiking back up to the area where we thought it might have fallen out. Also, we could get cell signal there. Long story but it involved lots of action on our remaining phones, Carbon doing detective work on her computer at home, Find My iPhone, and Find My Friends.

Turns out it fell out close to the place where CO noticed it missing. It was off-trail in the grass but it made a little peeping noise after Find My iPhone was used. Some hikers heard the peep and noticed that I had been phoning. They returned my call and we ran down to meet them in the parking lot. Yay!



Time deducted for major stops.

Windtower peak in Kananaskis Country with Carbon's Offset and 'Bent. (So wonderful to see CO!) There was a steep, well-traveled trail to West Wind Pass, then it was a mix of trail and scree scramble up to the peak, which offered spectacular views in all directions.

We hiked up and ran slowly down. In spite of the caution, I managed to crank my gimpy ankle - hopefully mildly. Time deducted for our long summit stop but there were many photo breaks along the way.

On the trail





At the summit







We figured out why they call it Windtower.

Busy week but it's about to get better! We kicked the weekend off with dinner on a sunny Canmore patio with Flight and Greg.

UPDATE: Sounds like they're now OK for pacers until the end of the run - although anyone is welcome to come to Queenston and run out on the trail to meet her for the final kilometres! See the SPOT tracker for her position. http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots...
_____________________________________________

Just got this request for trail runners to help pace Chantal Warriner around Hamilton on one of the final days of her Bruce Trail end-to-end run:

"PACERS NEEDED Wed. July 12 for Chantal from 11am-2pm and 2pm-5pm (approx). No need to be fast, we go 10min/km pace. Chantal would love some company as she is in the final stretch to set the womens FKT on the Bruce Trail. Approximate location at that time is Hamilton. Will pay in foot massages and brownies :). If you can help please email aspirebrucecelerity@gmail.com"

I met up with Chantal Warriner as she passed through Inglewood during her attempt to set a new female record for the Bruce Trail. I tried to imagine what she might crave in the early afternoon of Day 10 and my guess of ice cream seemed to work out OK. :)



The current and previous female record holders, Virginia and Charlotte, have helped to pace Chantal. Mrs. Gally, who managed Virginia's run, took a pacing shift too. It's nice that members of the running community support one another, regardless of who ends up holding the record.

Chantal is on pace to beat Virginia's time but it will be close since Virginia put on such a big push at the end. She is aiming to finish before dark on Thursday but she has until Friday at 12:28 p.m.

Here is her SPOT tracker in case she's passing through your neighbourhood and you want to say hi. I have the cell phone # of Craig Kingston, one of her support crew chiefs, if anyone wants to find out where aid stations are planned.
<http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots...>

Her daily blog, currently written by Cait Foisy.
<https://aspirebrucecelerity.wixsite.com/mysite>

There are some updates on Facebook too.
<https://www.facebook.com/trailrunningchantal/>

Yikes, carnage at the Sinister 7 100-miler out west! The forecast high was 35C so it was looking like a tough race even before it started. Only 9 solo women finished, one of whom - Ailsa MacDonald - was the overall race winner more than 90 minutes ahead of the 1st man. She has a 2:44 marathon PB. The DNF rate was 88% for female solos and 80% for male solos.

My Ambit said I needed 120 hrs (five full days!!) to recover from yesterday's run and I hadn't even given it any HR data to worry about. Good thing it didn't know about my other long run the previous day when I wore a different watch. Apparently, my Ambit doesn't have much faith in me!

I wasn't super energetic so I took my freshly tuned bike for an easy ride around Palgrave East. I ordered a dropper post with the bike, and it was finally installed on Thursday so this was my first test ride with it.

I always considered the dropper post to be an experiment that might not work out but a lot of reviewers consider it to be a "must have" feature on a new bike so I wanted to see what the fuss was about. The jury is definitely out because I can't see using it much in our moderate terrain but I'll try it for a few months. Maybe at the end of the season, I'll take it off and save it for trips to mountainous areas.

'Bent joined me for today's long run - a tour around Inglewood and Belfountain. We parked on Chinguacousy Rd. north of Old Baseline Rd. and ran trails and roads north to Forks of the Credit Provincial Park, where we did a loop back to the BT Trimble Side Trail, which we took to Belfountain Conservation Area with a side trip up the Crow's Nest trail. Then we took a 20-minute break at the ice cream store for treats and drinks. Today's aid station worked out much better than yesterday's! Then we ran roads to join the main Bruce Trail at the top of Devil's Pulpit and followed it 5-6 km to the car.

It was cooler, breezier and less humid than yesterday; I felt *so* much better running. It was, therefore, a little disappointing to see that today's time and distance were the same as yesterday's, with only 100 m more climb today to use as an excuse. Many of the trails were more technical today, I guess, and I hiked some rocky sections since I'm an injury-averse wimp.

Early in our run, Bob Knuckey drove up and rolled down his window. When he saw two people running with packs, he correctly guessed it was us. He was on his way home from swimming, biking 70 km and running 5 km. He is 69 years old and has a few Ironman 70.3 world championships under his belt - one of the most impressive athletes I know!

Photos are from Belfountain Conservation Area, which we've only visited a few times in the past.

More Achilles stretches.

In each of the last two weeks, I've done a 4-day block of similar runs to prepare for our stage race. Last week I aimed for 15 km or 2 hrs per day, whichever came first.

For a change this week, I'm doing two back-to-back long runs - 25 km or 4 hrs, whichever comes first. (I know 25 km doesn't sound like much for 4 hrs but it depends how much climbing I do.) Eventually, I'll work my way up to 4 days of long runs. Lucky for me in today's muggy weather, it was the 25 km that came first.

There were ominous clouds and a risk of thunderstorms so I planned a route with a few bail-out opportunities. My "aid station" was supposed to be the drink machine at the Albion Hills Chalet. I dug the coins out of my pack when I arrived, salivating about an icy drink on a hot day; then I noticed that every kind of drink was sold out. Boo.

Then home to watch Le Tour!

Achilles stretches. Must do these after every long run.

Down to Albion Hills and around some single and double track. There are still wet, mucky spots, especially at the south end of the park near the chalet. I'm taking my bike in tomorrow to get its dropper post installed and have it tuned up. After two months, I'm really happy with it and comfortable on the 29" wheels. Except in slippery situations, I now feel safer on the 29er since it isn't as easily stopped by obstacles on the trail, and it would be harder to get thrown over the handlebars because the wheel extends farther in front. On slippery roots though, I'd still be happier on the 26er with my feet closer to the ground. Maybe that will change over time too.

'Bent and I went to the quarry for a SUP yoga class. This was the paddling portion. Such a lovely evening!

SUP yoga - balance, balance, balance. Both of us feel fine after all the hill repeats yesterday. When we did the same session two weeks ago, 'Bent was sore for a few days afterward so apparently this "training" thing works.

You want that booty? Apparently, you need Squat Magic! Unassisted squats are soooo difficult. See the attractive model try one and stumble. Un-freaking-believable.

Back to Georgian Peaks with 'Bent to do repeats on the ski hill. Dee, Mr. and Mrs. Gally and Red joined us for part of the time - what a treat! It felt soooo much easier this time with lower humidity and a light breeze.

'Bent stopped a little early with hot spots on his heel. I did a partial climb in a downpour with black clouds but no lightning. When I returned, 'Bent was looking at a tiny nymph tick embedded in his bicep. (See his log for a photo showing its size.) I'm amazed he noticed that. I can see why nymphs are believed to cause most human Lyme infections. Yikes! I did one more partial climb and decided not to make 'Bent wait in the car any longer. We rewarded ourselves with another yummy pizza lunch at Pie.

Another day, another severe thunderstorm watch! I parked on Coolihan's Sideroad between the two parts of Glen Haffy so I could run out for loops in each direction and return to the car if needed. The rain held off until mid-afternoon, long after I finished, and there were only a few rumbles of thunder.

This was the 3rd day of a 4-day block of training for the UTMR 4-day stage race. Last weekend I did four 10K days, which was easy (phew!) This block is four days of 15K or 2 hrs per day, whichever comes first. One more day to go, then a rest day. Next weekend I'm planning two longer runs on consecutive days. So far nothing hurts.

When I got back, it was great to chat with Storm and 'Bent while we watched our four pooches race one another around the back yard. They all did their best to scare off a very brave (or rabid?) raccoon outside the fence. After watching more, we're thinking she may have babies living somewhere on our property.

Happy Canada Day!