Training Log Archive: Bash

Paddling 2:48:14 [3] 10.63 km (3.8 kph) +14m

Paddling 5:15:00 [3] 20.99 km (4.0 kph) +151m

Running (Trail) 1:02:22 [3] 8.39 km (7:26 / km) +112m 6:58 / km
shoes: Salomon Speedcross 5 Red

This morning I was thrilled to see the weather radar - perfect for a 1-hour run in heavy rain for the What Weather challenge in the CMTR Summer Scavenger Hunt. (Our weather usually comes from the west.)



This summer it's been hard to find the right hour to run in a rain storm with no chance of high winds or lightning.











The next wave of the storm was on its way as I finished my run.

Note

Note

Well, *that* week flew by quickly! No exercise but there was Orienteering Ontario board work, three vaccine clinics, a much-needed professional haircut after 8 months, an "everyone is double-vaxed at last" family dinner at a restaurant (!!) and 24/7 food dehydration to prepare for upcoming backcountry trips.







My little brother.

Note

Another day at a vax clinic. Things have slowed way down.

Trekking (Trail) 31:37 [1] 3.04 km (10:24 / km) +61m 9:27 / km
shoes: Salomon Speedcross 5 Red

The sky was hazy with smoke from forest fires so it wasn't a day for superfluous breathing! I did the Scavenger Hunt "The Die is Cast" challenge, choosing the simplest option of tossing one die to get the number of kilometres I would go. Given the air quality, I wasn't disappointed to roll a three.

I finally got ultrasound and X-ray on my injured right heel today. My family doc thinks my Google-diagnosis of Haglund's Syndrome seems right but the imaging should confirm that (or not). With non-essential surgeries backed up for a long time in Ontario due to the pandemic, I'm hopeful there will be other ways to ease the pain so I can get back to a little more running.

Mountain Biking (Trail) 2:45:02 [3] 40.33 km (14.7 kph) +160m

Goose and Coach LD led 'Bent and me on a tour of the Wasage Beach area. We started on the Carly Patterson Memorial Trail, which weaves through beautiful, mature forest - surprising because it's surrounded by a subdivision and open fields.

We headed over to the beach on a clear, hot Sunday in July during a pandemic. We had some company! Georgian Bay views are always lovely and the beachside atmosphere felt like stepping back in time. We admired the view, then rode near the water for a while on a mix of trails and quiet roads.





To get to Wasaga Beach Provincial Park, we had to ride a short distance on busy roads, which challenged my comfort zone *severely*. On the bright side, we got to use the Pridewalk.





We survived and rode into the ski trails. The riding in the park was fun with lots of punchy hills on pretty trails. It was very sandy in places because of the dunes, and most trails were lined with a ton of poison ivy. Everyone must have been at the beach because we only saw a handful of people.





We returned to the Carly Patterson trail by a different route and rode back to our car. It seemed like a good time to try Lorna Dune's ice cream shop, which had yummy Kawartha Dairy Moose Tracks ice cream. Perfect for recovery. :) Thanks for the tour, Coach LD and Goose!

Paddling (SUP) 54:33 [2] 3.43 km (3.8 kph) +47m

When we planned a SUP paddle on the Beaver River with the Tarnos, we didn't realize they didn't have a roof rack yet. So we just had our single roof rack for 4 SUPs. They survived the journey - phew!



I don't like my gear being taken apart to be transported because things often go wrong. Today was one of those days. 'Bent had removed my fin (and nobody else's) to make the 4 SUPs fit and I grumbled. 'Bent re-installed the fin before I started paddling. As soon as I stood up, I began spinning in circles. I knelt and swept my paddle underneath the SUP. No fin. :(

I hadn't gone far so we all spent a while searching the river. I got into the water and tried to feel for it with my feet. I pulled up a couple of gross, waterlogged sticks. Jacquie dropped very expensive sunglasses into the water while helping us look. The Beaver River won today.

On a positive note, late afternoon was a wonderful time to paddle - cool air and no one else on the water. 'Bent and I switched SUPs so I could enjoy steering. It was a nice, chatty paddle.

Trekking (Trail) 1:00:55 [1] 4.89 km (12:28 / km) +65m 11:41 / km
shoes: Salomon XT6 Softground

Kolapore hike with the pooches at their pace, which ranged from explosive to meditative. It was mostly the latter, given the high humidity.

The Summer Scavenger Hunt has a Nature Knowledge badge where we're supposed to identify or learn about something in nature. I'd noticed a plant near our house yesterday that I didn't know, and I saw another one in the woods today. It turned out to be Red Baneberry, aka Actaea Rubra. The berries are toxic, which isn't surprising since they look *much* too shiny and pretty.
https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_pl...







Yesterday we learned the name of the bright red flowers that appeared in our garden and along our driveway: Bee Balm

Running (Trail) 1:13:16 [3] 8.01 km (9:09 / km) +152m 8:22 / km
shoes: Salomon Speedcross Pro - Blue

Rocky single track run around Pretty River, Petun and Osler with Dee and 'Bent. They let me set the slow pace so we could chat and keep my sore right heel happy.

Dee guided us to a section of trail near Osler that I hadn't run before, including a pretty viewpoint overlooking Georgian Bay. I love that we're still discovering new things in this area. I'm claiming this run for the Summer Scavenger Hunt "New Street New Trail" challenge.

Mountain Biking (Rail Trail) 54:00 20.0 km (22.2 kph)

Early morning rail trail ride to join Chris Laughren for a small piece of his impressive 301 km gravel bike ride from his home in Milton to his cottage near Orrville. Understandably, he was riding very quickly so my time to Tottenham was shorter than my ride back - average speed about 20% faster with lots of chatting because we hadn't seen each other since COVID hit. I hadn't had all my morning coffee yet so it was a bit of a rude awakening, lol.

Trekking (Trail & Country Road) 43:06 [3] 3.69 km (11:41 / km) +63m 10:46 / km
shoes: Salomon XA Pro Grey

Quick hike before a busy shift at the Brampton Save Max vaccine clinic. I hiked through Palgrave West to Duffy's Lane and returned on gravel roads. I brought gloves and a kitchen-sized garbage bag, which I stuffed with trash on my way back for the CMTR Trash Talker challenge. Food and drink containers were the most common type of garbage. I also picked up two filthy, used masks. Yuck - seriously, people!!

Running (Trail) 1:30:00 [1] 7.74 km (11:37 / km) +107m 10:52 / km
shoes: Salomon Speedcross 5 Red

Beautiful day for the Summer Scavenger Hunt Trail Hunter challenge! It's a scavenger hunt with a long list of items to find: Cows, Moss, Bridges, Birds, Rock Piles, etc. We don't need to find everything. I scored the maximum 100 points within the first kilometre so it was all for fun after that. I'm calling it running because there were lots of stops but I ran in between, which was probably a nice balance for my injured heel.

Because people around the world are doing the Scavenger Hunt, the list includes tasks that anyone can do: Push-ups (1 pt each), Planking (3 pts per minute), Run backwards for 30 m, Jump into water - different points for different depths. Last summer I didn't jump in the Humber River so I thought I'd better take the plunge this year. It was very refreshing! The Alphabet challenge reappeared as a single, high value item on the list. We needed to find the actual letters on signs or licence plates or whatever, and we needed to find them in order. It took me quite a while to find "Q".

I stayed out to try to fill in as many blanks as possible until I finally had to acknowledge that I would never see an elk or bighorn sheep in southern Ontario. I did see a number of monarch butterflies fluttering around though - so beautiful.



We could claim points for holding a rainbow in our hands.



This wasn't on the list but it's pretty cool.

Trekking (Trail) 37:10 [1] 3.53 km (10:32 / km) +69m 9:36 / km
shoes: Salomon Speedcross 5 Red

Quick pre-dinner hike on the sodden Palgrave Forest trails. We can't ride our bikes until they dry out. The forest was so lush that it felt a little like B.C.



I finished by picking some wildflowers for 'Bent so I could claim this for the CMTR Flower Power challenge.

Trekking (Trail) 51:25 [1] 5.01 km (10:16 / km) +105m 9:17 / km

Brisk hike to Palgrave East in light rain before my shift at the Brampton Save Max Centre vax clinic. Steady stream of people today, most of them spending time lined up in the rain. About 90% were 2nd shots; it's nice to see there are still people getting 1st shots. More than half the clients appeared to be under 35, which is also good.

This was Day 3 of my CMTR Run Streaker challenge. I just hiked to be kind to my heel, which is likely to be the trend for most challenges. I would not have squeezed in a rainy hike before driving to Brampton if I didn't need to do this today. So it's a (small) win.

Trekking (Trail) 50:04 [1] 5.0 km (10:01 / km) +95m 9:09 / km
shoes: Salomon Speedcross 5 Red

Hot, humid hike around Palgrave West. I met two TRCA botanists who were monitoring a test patch of forest and recording plant species. We agreed that we've been seeing a lot of dead LDD moth caterpillars in our travels, which may mean that the big infestation is coming to an end in our area. The botanist said caterpillars that die from the virus tend to fold in half and hang down in a "V" shape on a tree trunk. If the fungus kills a caterpillar, it stays vertical.

We also talked about all the garlic mustard in Palgrave. They said it's still safe to cut off the seed pods before they turn brown and dry later in July, so I'll head out there again. They have to be removed in garbage bags.
https://www.ontarioinvasiveplants.ca/wp-content/up...

Trekking (Trail & Bushwhacking) 54:22 [1] 5.0 km (10:52 / km) +102m 9:52 / km
shoes: Salomon Speedcross 5 Red

Note

I'm retroactively claiming my Canada Day run for the Coast Mountain Trail Running Food Bank Donation badge, now that I've made the donation.

Mountain Biking (Trail & Country Road) 2:31:48 [3] 30.13 km (11.9 kph) +536m

I took ‘Bent on a Wilderness Traverse training ride. We started on single track trails in Kolapore. The rocks and roots were still a little slick two days after a long period of heavy rain so there were occasional surprises when our tires slipped. We rode up Mount Dhaulagiri for a quick peek at the view, then did a few kms of gravel road riding with some big climbs. Next was a stretch of ATV trail with deep mud puddles and deer flies. Then we were back on gravel roads with hills and some nice views. After the steep climb west of Duncan, we rode a short stretch of paved road back to our place. On the gravel roads, we only saw 5 polite cars (2 with bikes on racks) and 1 dirt bike. Our bikes and bodies were a mucky mess afterwards but it was a fun ride!

Mountain Biking (Trail ) 2:36:04 [3] 50.12 km (19.3 kph) +108m

Fun tour guided by Coach LD! ‘Bent and I chased her around the Collingwood trail system and to Stayner on the rail trail. We stopped at the new bakery for treats, which we took to Coach’s cousin’s beautiful deck. We chatted and drank coffee before hitting the rail trail back to Collingwood and doing a loop past Sunset Point on our way back to Coach LD and Goose’s new house.







This is the Awen’ Gathering Place, a space to recognize First Nations presence in South Georgian Bay and encourage engagement and reconciliation.
https://www.collingwood.ca/culture-recreation-even...

Trekking (Trail) 52:40 [1] 4.43 km (11:54 / km) +86m 10:51 / km
shoes: Salomon XT6 Softground

Paddling (Canoe) 1:28:02 [3] 10.71 km (7.3 kph)

Beaver River paddle with Goose and Coach LD. For the first time since 2019, we did a car shuttle so we could paddle downstream only. With perfect timing, Goose reached his two-weeks-post-2nd-vax milestone at almost the exact minute he got into 'Bent's van. We paddled from Kimberley to Epping in sunshine and met very few other paddlers - strange for a holiday weekend. Then we had dinner at our place - yes, we socialized with people inside our chalet for the first time ever! It was soooo nice. Yay, science. :)

Trekking (Trail) 30:00 [1] 2.0 km (15:00 / km)
shoes: Salomon XT6 Softground

'Bent, BazingaDog, AdventureDog and I went for a chatty hike around the Castle Glen area with Hermes and Heath. The dogs jumped into the lake - and so did 'Bent after he foolishly tossed a stick farther than the length of BazingaDog's leash. Heath is a boy now - no longer a baby. He's just over a year old and very steady on his feet. Bob's new adventure racing team is coming together nicely.
(Elapsed time much longer!)

Running 41:10 [3] 5.27 km (7:48 / km) +87m 7:13 / km

Rocky Bruce Trail run to the first viewpoint near Metcalfe Rock, then back to the chalet via the side trail and the shoulder of our road. It was a moody, grey Canada Day morning, which seemed appropriate. I signed up for the free University of Alberta “Indigenous Canada” course.
https://twitter.com/danjlevy/status/14105804770193...



I retroactively claimed this as the CMTR Food Bank Donation run after I made the donation!