Training Log Archive: Bash

Weight machine workout #1 while watching Tour de France coverage. Hey, this is two strength workouts in 5 days - and I'm pretty sure that hell hasn't frozen over. Maybe I'll be able to get into the habit at last - especially with Lance et al to keep me company on the basement TV for the next few weeks.

Attended opening night of "Jesus Christ Superstar" at the Sunshine Festival in Orillia. My little brother was the director and co-producer, and his partner designed and built the sets. Support the arts - get your tickets now! :-)

Happy Canada Day! :-)

Long, relatively slow ride around Albion Hills and Palgrave trails with a great group of friendly Canadians - Bent, The Minister, Hingo, The Newlyweds and Their Minister (not to be confused with The Minister from our AR team, who is not actually, you know, a minister). Hot day, but a refreshing breeze came up later in the morning. It's been awhile since we've done a social ride and we were reminded that this was one of the reasons we found mountain biking so much fun when we first started.

Arrived home to a power blackout that has continued for almost 4 hours. Living in the country, this meant no shower for the muddy mountain bikers (well pump needs electricity). Our solar power system disconnects automatically in blackouts to avoid electrocuting hydro workers, so ironically we are generating electricity in our back yard, but it is of no use. Luckily, there was power at Bent's dental office, so we made an emergency trip to town for much-needed showers. We're starting to worry about the freezer contents in this heat...

Power just came back on! Apparently, all I had to do was whine a bit in A/P about it.

Not much time today and I wanted to get out before the temperature rose above 30C and the Air Quality Index hit "Poor". So... I decided to re-run the hilly trail route that I did yesterday, except this time do it at my sprint race pace. This was rather disappointing, as it turned out to be only 18% faster than yesterday's run, which was a comfortably moderate pace with a dog to distract me. I've been suspecting that the problem with my running is that I am like a single speed bike that is optimized for races over 24 hrs. I don't have a fast gear. I did set a new record though - I don't think I've ever seen my face that red!

If you see Adventure Sports Magazine, check out page 11 of the July issue for an article featuring Bent, along with a photo that shows how he got his nickname! They got our team name wrong - Tree Huggers from Mars is the team name we use when we enter all-male and all-female teams in the same race. (Yes, the female team is called Tree Huggers from Venus.) Otherwise, we are just the Tree Huggers, a name that arose from our mountain biking style.

On p. 64, you can see Skidder and Hound Dog (in #11 race jerseys), my Appalachian Extreme teammates, heading out from the starting line. I don't know how Shifty and I moved out of the frame before this picture was taken, but I guess we were running pretty quickly for people wearing wetsuits and carrying a heavy whitewater canoe.

Trapped indoors by steamy weather and fine particulates in the air, I finally bit the bullet and headed for the weight machine. I do 3 strength workouts a week - in my wildest dreams, that is. Actually, it wasn't so bad and maybe I'll get inspired to do it more often, since the basement is nice and cool. I did upper and lower body workout #1 with some extras. The push-ups didn't go so well because BulletDog likes to do them with me, which involves stretching out her front legs and sticking her head between my face and the floor.

Wildlife Report: Normally I wouldn't provide a wildlife report from my basement, but a very cute baby bunny watched me through the patio doors for the final 10 minutes of my workout. Then he went back to eating our garden.

Early evening trail run around Palgrave with BulletDog. The temperature had plunged to a chilly 27C with a Humidex warning, but the air quality had improved somewhat, so I thought I'd better grab my chance.

Also, my Very First Real Orienteering Compass arrived in the mail yesterday, so I just had to try it out. Wow!! I'm accustomed to a $35 Suunto compass that is fine for wilderness trips or trekking, but it turns as much as 90 degrees away from north when I run. To take a bearing while orienteering, I have to stop and wait 1-2 seconds for the needle to settle. "One thousand, two thousand." I sometimes have to do this 5-6 times between controls, so I laugh at the frequently-discussed concept of "flow" in O. This didn't used to matter because I didn't run much when I started O, and if I did run a little bit, I didn't look at the compass at the same time. Fortunately, that has changed.

When I tried out my shiny new Brunton today, I was blown away. Even when I was running, the needle was almost rock solid. Amazing. Who knew?? OK, that is not exactly a rhetorical question amongst Attackpoint users. Even through my feeble, rural dial-up connection, I can hear people groaning, "Geez Bash, you silly adventure racer, we ALL knew that. And you probably wear a Camelbak too, you geek." But in my defence, nice orienteering compasses aren't easy to find in Southern Ontario, and until now, I didn't realize just how desperately I needed one. Watch out, Hammer - I'll be catching up with you soon! ;-)

This wasn't supposed to be a rest day, but the air is so bad that you can practically chew it. Raising your heart rate on a day like this would be equivalent to smoking a whole bunch of cigarettes. Rats! Fittingly, I went to a meeting to provide input on our municipal smog response plan.