Training Log Archive: Bash

Thomass Kelso - not sure of the exact time, so I'll fix it when results are posted. Beautiful day with a nice amount of snow. MarkyMark had designed an interesting and challenging course, particularly long for the male elite runners (the course that Slice and Leanimal ran). I haven't orienteered enough this year, so I continue to feel rusty every time I go out. It's improving though, and there was really only one place where I wasted time - between E and G. I didn't make a mistake - just spent a little too much time thinking about how to tackle it. The last part of the course was a treat for trail runners, and I felt pretty good there. Just after #5, Mrs. GHOSlo told AdventureGirl! to join up with me. The two of us found the final two controls together, then she dusted me in the finish sprint. Congratulations to my 10-year-old friend for her first Thomass win and for sitting first overall in the series right now! I had to settle for 2nd, but I'll take it. Rocky was less than 3 minutes behind and will earn a lot of points - an impressive run on a day when most people found the course very challenging!

Snowy trail run at dawn with Slowrunner, 'Bent, GB, Vents, Boston Rob and Tina. We went from Coolihan's Sideroad north to 7th Sideroad and back, climbing and descending some really steep and slippery hills! You couldn't ask for more beautiful winter scenery - heavy snow draped on trees, brilliant sunrise and fantastic viewpoints over the landscape to the east. The company was excellent too. Unfortunately, it wasn't a good run for me, even though it had all the right elements to be fantastic. I woke up with the same headache that I'd had for 24 hrs, and I hadn't insulated my Camelbak because I wasn't expecting -13C, so I had no water (but I was carrying the weight of 2L in a Camelbak that was frozen shut). I ate some snow and refused offers to share water bottles because I've been fighting a cold. We often had to push branches aside, and a small piece of a wood flew into my throat (what are the odds?) and got jammed. It scratched for awhile (but it wasn't coming out), then I eventually swallowed it - ouch. The running went OK, but I was unable to keep up with two people who recently ran marathons a little slower than my Boston qualifying time. Maybe the 50/50 odds I've given myself are too optimistic.

Nice relaxed ski at Highlands Nordic with 'Bent and Knobless - first real ski of the season (not counting my 10-minute cruise around our property earlier this week). Mid-season conditions for most of the ski - beautiful, puffy snow on the trees and incredible blue-skied views down to Georgian Bay. Off-trail at the highest point, the snow was about 60-75 cm deep. We skied up the first hill with Sudden, who was just finishing up his day. (Or more accurately, he and 'Bent paced each other up the hill while Knobless and I chatted about the weather far behind them.) We also had a brief chat with Coach LD and Goose, and we ran into Susanne a number of times too. Great outing, and I think our bounding sessions were helpful!

Rest day - ahh.

I'm not sure what the weather is like elsewhere, but here's what our snow looked like as of yesterday. You need knee-high boots if you want dry feet.


And here's the mega-branch that fell off our 150-year-old tree. Before moving to this place, I never owned a tree that was as big as this branch! Glad we were indoors when it happened.

I wasn't feeling zippy today, but Slowrunner patiently put up with me. Even worse, I was the one who suggested that we run around the red trail in Palgrave East. It was a tough day for running anyway, because the snow is loose and 15-20 cm deep. It became even tougher when we saw how many trees are down - or partially down - across trails. We did a lot of ducking as we ran (good core work), and got really good at shoving aside ice laden cedars. The piece de resistance was a section we labelled "army training" where we had to wriggle on our stomachs for 6 meters through a tunnel under a pile of collapsed branches, then we stood up and picked our way across a sea of fallen logs at different heights and angles. (Ironically, I didn't log the logs!) Quite a workout, and it was so hilarious that I actually felt more energetic at the end of our run than when it started. On Saturday, it's Slowrunner's turn to pick the route!

I cooled down from my run on XC skis with ThunderDog leaping around the yard. She is a Bounding Babe! It was fun to be out on skis for the first time this year, but the snow was really sticky. I think it will be skate-ski weather this weekend.

Hard Core with Caron. My bad knee doesn't let me do side plank on the right side, but otherwise I was ready for what she threw at us tonight!

The theme of tonight's class was opening up the shoulders. There were some good balancing sections and some great quad/hammy stretches too. Nice to see 'Bent back in action after several weeks off. Except for some waggling around during the balance poses, he did very well.

Yesterday's Black Feather newsletter promoted a small selection of paddling jewellery that might appeal to some APers who are Christmas shopping. (Yoo hoo, 'Bent?)
http://files.e2ma.net/2238/assets/docs/gifts_2008....

2nd time running with my iPod - this time in a snowstorm on the rail trail, doing an out-and-back from Gore Rd to Brawton Dr in Palgrave. I find the wires distracting, but the music does help. This was a tempo run effort, but there was so much snow on parts of the rail trail that I couldn't always get traction. So the speed wasn't quite as fast as last week's tempo run, but I'm not worried as I'm anticipating much less snow in Arizona!

I tested my new, improved marathon playlist, and all the tunes were appropriately inspiring.

Song that inspired the fastest pace today:
"Rock This Town" by the Stray Cats.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHNuY-nptGo

Song least likely to be on anyone else's iPod in Tucson:
"Plenty of Hornpipe" by Stan Rogers
It didn't even make it to YouTube, so I'll post Stan's "White Coller Hollar" instead for those of you who are desk jockeys.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzXWt0Tijbw

We have power! It was off for exactly 48 hrs and will probably end up costing us about the same as a high-end mountain bike, but at least we have heat, light, running water and electronics again. Woo hoo!

Ran in the snow in Palgrave West. This was supposed to be longer, but I came home after the same nasty abdominal pain that woke me last night flared up as soon as I started running. Bummer. The good news is that the rest of my body felt fresh and eager to run, so apparently I didn't totally toast myself with Sunday's 4-hr run. Well, not unless that's what caused my pain. I'm wondering about food poisoning, since our fridge didn't stay as cold as usual when our power was out for 2 days. Boo hiss.

Ran to and from the Bolton Bounding Hill with Coach LD, Slice, Leanimal, Rocky and KD.

Bounding training with Coach LD - great stuff! Fun to have Rocky and Slice join us for their first bounding session. There were some different and difficult exercises tonight including uphill cartwheels and bear walking. During the relay race portion of the evening, I had to piggyback Leanimal a short distance uphill. It worked great in our practice, but in the race, I was so bagged by the time I got to that part that I took 3 steps and my leg muscles gave out. Fortunately, I hurled her toward the correct tree as I collapsed.

Rest day while waiting for electricity to be restored. Hopefully. Some day. I'm keeping two wood stoves burning and occasionally turning on the generator to cool the fridge and charge my computer. Once a day we can splurge and run the generator to power the well pump, which allows us to fill our water containers and, ahem, flush the toilets.

I'm a little stiff with a sore glute from yesterday's run, but not too bad, considering how exhausted I was climbing the Grange hill. (But who in Caledon has NOT been exhausted climbing the Grange hill?)

Quote of the day came from 'Bent, the 3:18 marathoner. About 2 km into our 32 km run, I mentioned (gasped, more accurately) that when a long run is at the proper pace, you should be able to maintain a normal conversation. 'Bent cheerfully answered that he was able to talk just fine. Grrr.

Reading a Nutrition Action Newsletter a few days ago, I discovered that I'm probably not getting enough protein on most days - surprise! I guess the last time I did that calculation, I was still commuting to Toronto, so on most days I wasn't eating the same food as 'Bent, who is mostly vegetarian. He's in the habit of making up for it by drinking lots of soy milk, eating more tofu, etc. So I went out on Friday and loaded up on carnivorous goodies - roasted chicken, smoked salmon, two kinds of yoghurt, skim milk, chocolate milk, etc.

And on Saturday, my fridge turned off... :-( I've only had to throw out the meat and fish so far.