Training Log Archive: Bash

Event: Wine-O Chase (THOMASS)
 

GHO Thomass at Mount Nemo. About 20 cm of snow, combined with plenty of rocks and logs to scramble over, made this a physically difficult race, even though the course was relatively flat. I felt really slow. Even with Icebugs, I didn't have much traction in the snow, and I was super-cautious with my ankles in the rocky terrain. That might have worked to my advantage, since the controls were all pretty much where I was looking for them - except when I ran past #9 to the trail and had to return a short distance. Slice said hi a few minutes from the end, and I was sure I was going down this time, but it turned out she was headed somewhere else. She and Leanimal are running M-Elite in this year's Thomass series, so they are actually kicking my butt (and a lot of other people's) in these events. Andrea C. and I saw each other a bunch of times on the course, and it was fun seeing whose route worked a bit better to each control.

Dr. Wells and I ran down the final icy trail together, and he was finding it tough on his partially-healed broken toe. I begged him to let me tow him to the finish line, since I could dine out on that story for years. Just as he was seriously considering it (or at least that's my version), Eugene flew into my peripheral vision onto the trail in an attempt to pass us 50 meters from the finish. He hit the glare ice and did a scary-looking cartwheel before smacking to the ground. I slowed down to see if he was OK, but he stumbled to his feet and got his bruised body to the finish control a few seconds before me. Well done! He told me afterward that he saw us there and wondered why we were going so slowly, so he decided to go for it. And now he knows why we were going so slowly!

I think I might have been the top woman, but it was one of those days when the top men dominated the results. Fun course, beautiful woods, cheerful organizers, hot chocolate and a huge crowd of enthusiastic people. Is Thomass the new EcoChallenge?

I'd planned to ski, but my legs were fatigued after this morning (and yesterday), so I joined 'Bent and the pooches for a family hike on snowshoes. I had BulletDog on a leash to keep her from overdoing it on her sore knee. Because of that, I'm not sure whether I should log this as upper body strength training instead, since that was about 50% of my effort!

Wow, I really go all out with my warm-ups, don't I?

Around Palgrave East and West with 'Bent. Fantastic day - loads of fun, even at -1C on waxless skis. Unfortunately, we had to leave both dogs at home. ThunderDog is a senior who needs to limit her exercise, and there is a slight chance that BulletDog may have a torn ACL. We're supposed to rest her for a few more days before we find out if she has joined Team GimpKnee. If so, it is apparently a common surgical procedure to fix a dog's ACL. Because they walk with their knees bent all the time, there is more force on their ACL than on a human ACL. Sniffle - our poor little puppy...

Ran the long way through F&M's, then around short Bruce Loop. Had to break trail in 15-20 cm of crusty snow for about 2/3 of the way. I love my new lightweight running snowshoes, but the binding is rubbing on the platform, fraying it away near an important attachment after only two runs. Not good.

Feeling somewhat freaked out by MEC's decision to stop selling polycarbonate water bottles due to possible risks associated with Bisphenol A. I've been following this issue and have been using Nalgene bottles much less over the past year, but I guess I'd been hoping that someone would determine that they were safe after all. Over my lifetime, I've had a *lot* of water from polycarbonate bottles - and our favourite camp coffee maker is also made of Lexan, so we've been pouring boiling water into it, causing more Bisphenol A to leach out. Yikes.

With the trails covered in crusty snow, Leanimal and I decided to try out the running snowshoes today.We did some off-trail exploration, but mostly stuck to the Humber Valley Trail. Snowshoes were definitely the way to go today, and I'm happy with my new lightweight ones. I felt great, which might be partially attributable to spending time at altitude last week. It was a spectacular day to be charging around the forest - and as soon as we stopped, it was a miserable, chilly day in town. Funny how your perspective changes.

Hey, there's a great deal on 30 used Tomcat inflatable kayaks from Axis Gear - just $595 including tax and shipping. :-)

Hard Core Live with Caron. She's getting meaner. For example, lie on your back with your hands behind your head, and put your legs straight up in the air. Then lower your straight right leg until it hovers about 2" above the floor. Then do a bunch of crunches. Repeat with left leg down. Another good one was "standing crunches while balancing on one leg". Yikes. But you know it's gotta be good for you when it hurts that much.

Power Yoga class.

Warm-up before blasting. 'Bent had set up a movie to record, so I had to watch the channel that he'd selected. Stoooopid boy movie.

Blasting. Still can't believe how much strength I've lost since the last time I was using 'Bent's machine regularly. No *wonder* skiing was hard work.

Note to self: No matter how good the invitation, think twice before going to Toronto on a week day. It took 1 hr 45 min to get there, and I ended up being 10 minutes late for an event where we were supposed to arrive at 6 p.m. sharp. Due to frustration, I confess that I said some naughty words about other drivers in the privacy of my own vehicle. It took less than an hour to get home. Sigh.

Home again after taking the red-eye via Calgary. We sat behind Colin Isaacs, a well-known consultant on environment and sustainability, and former Exec Director of Pollution Probe. I hope he bought offsets too!

It's snowing lightly here, but there is ice and crust underneath from the heavy rain, so the snowshoeing is probably better than the skiing. We've missed our puppies, but they seem quite contented. While we were away, ThunderDog ate most of a cellophane-wrapped, Smartie-studded gingerbread house that was on a high counter. Glad to see her back surgery is holding up so well!

Some final notes from our ski trip:

- Wildlife Watch: I forgot to mention that I spent a couple of minutes along a ski trail watching and being watched by a curious ermine, looking gorgeous in his winter white fur coat. When he finally got bored with me, he stuck his head into the snow, scooped up a dead mouse and trotted off. I wonder if he's available for hire to de-mouse our basement.

- Blasting Note: I mentioned to 'Bent that it's clear I need to do some upper body blasting for ski season. His comment (tinged with sarcasm): "Oh, I thought you did that already." "Yeah, well, it looks like it might take a second workout."

- It was cool to visit Silver Star for early season skiing, which normally isn't possible in Ontario. It was unusual to have so many nordic skiers around - although the down side was that many shops and restaurants were closed until the downhill skiers showed up. I'd go in November again, but I missed Larch Hills, our favourite XC ski spot in the area. It's too early in the season to do much skiing there in early December, so it would be fun to visit in February or March another time.

Not a huge surprise, but 'Bent's knee has acted up occasionally while we've been here, so we've done less skiing than usual, and most of it was classic. It's been a good trip though. There's been lots to keep us busy, including visits with several friends whom we seldom get to spend time with. And I'm developing an appreciation for hot tubs!

The temperature had soared to -1C by 9 a.m., so we took the downhill ski lift to the top of the mountain to get better snow conditions - and also to limit the amount of time spent cursing finicky classic ski wax on uphills. There was no visibility at the top, and we had a great ski down Paradise Trail and out to Alder Point. We were hit by blowing snow, which meant that our skis did this stop-start thing in the tracks, depending on whether they were on new or old snow. Several times I gathered a brick of snow on one ski, bringing me to a sudden, awkward stop. But in between those moments, it was wonderful up there!

VO2Max had given me some coaching in the living room last night, so I was eager to try out a couple of things - improving my posture (just like my running) and doing the "soccer ball kick - squish bug hard with toe" method of kicking my skis. The idea is to think about pushing your feet forward, not kicking them back. He also said that 'Bent's "beavertail slaps" on skis must go. We also practised double-poling, leaning forward until our heels came off the ground.

We skied along the mountain, eventually getting to my unfavourite part where the nordic trail crosses downhill ski slopes (most of them not open yet, luckily) and shares a road-width trail with the downhillers for awhile. I really like it out here, but I think Silver Star needs to work harder at separating their nordic and downhill skiers. Until then, Sovereign Lake is always going to be a far better place to ski.