Training Log Archive: Bash

The front page story in our current local paper talks about a crisis. A 7-year-old child was dropped off at the wrong school bus stop and had to walk over 500 meters through a rural subdivision to her home. That's right - more than half a kilometer! Through a subdivision! Perhaps I grew up in a neighbourhood where our parents loved us less, but we all walked farther than that to school starting at age five for kindergarten. Am I just becoming one of those old farts who rants about how far I had to walk to school when I was a kid? Or are modern parents being overly protective compared to the true abilities of their children at that age? I'm sympathetic to the fact that the poor kid was upset by an unexpected change to her routine, but is this a serious enough incident in our community that it deserves to be front page news?

Training With The Enemy! So far, 'Bent and Goose are the biggest competition for Team Bash 'n' Hammer in the Masters division of the Snowshoe Raid. I figured that I'd best go out with 'Bent to keep an eye on his training strategies. BulletDog came along to help me.



We did a fair bit of running, including some intervals around the posts in the old Hwy 50 parking lot. It was hard work because the snow was deep after the storm! (Remember - we're wearing snowshoes in these pics.)





The wind was gusty today - brrrr! We'd planned to go back to Highlands Nordic to watch ski racing, but we didn't want to do the drive in blowing snow. We picked our route carefully to avoid the worst of the widowmaker trees.

Great to see so much snow on the ground after yesterday's storm - the 2nd of 3 storms we're supposed to get in 5 days! Now that my marathon is ancient history, I'm training for the Salomon Snowshoe Raid - an event I've never raced because I've been the course tester since its inception. It's particularly daunting because I'm racing on Team Bash 'n' Hammer for the first time. It's obvious that Hammer will provide the team with Brains and Beauty, so I'm going to have to train awfully hard to become The Brawn.

'Bent and I headed up to Highlands Nordic today to cheer on some young skiing friends. It was great to see VO2Max home taking a break from the rough life he's been leading in Whistler.



He did well in today's skate sprint races, placing 3rd in the B Final, 9th overall. That's him in the white toque.



It was a treat to see another Tree Hugger, Brittany Webster, in one of her first races back after an 18-month hiatus due to two broken bones in her leg. She did an awesome job, finishing 3rd overall.



In case anybody wonders what the Olympians do during the off season... A couple of years ago, he did Raid The Hammer, and today Adam van Koeverden raced against the national ski team! The national ski team won, but I give him full marks for racing different sports for fun and training value, regardless of whether he can make the podium.



Goose (seen here wearing 2009 Salomon clothing from head to toe) was the Doping Control Chaperone!

Big snowstorm today - yay!! Unfortunately, it meant that we had to postpone 'Bent's staff Christmas party until late January, but the skiing was excellent.

'Bent skied to Palgrave for a haircut. By the time he got back, his hairstyle was the traditional Canadian "Hat Head".



He took the pooches for a ski in the storm. Look at our ThunderDog galloping at the age of 12 and a half! They both love winter.



Later in the day, it was my turn for a ski. Even with touring skis on, the snow sometimes was mid-shin deep. I had waxless skis, but I hadn't realized how waxless they actually were. It was -14C (a good temperature for grip), and I thought there was wax left on the skis from last season - oops. So I got a great upper body workout as I pushed through the powder. What an amazing day to be out in the forest breaking trail!



I got home just before dark. It was still snowing steadily.

Just reached 30,000 log hits. Hello out there, whoever you are!

Hard Core Live with Caron to the tune of disco Christmas carols. We're always glad to finish core class, but we were *especially* glad this time!

Time to get back into things. I've taken a long break post-marathon - mostly because I was so far behind on my Christmas tasks. My knee started to ache a *lot* yesterday, and I'm pretty sure it's telling me that if I don't use the surrounding muscles, the joint is going to go on strike. So no more of this R&R!

Power Yoga - I was surprised to notice some residual tightness from the marathon here and there - quads, hips, etc. But it was my shoulders that took a beating today - one of these days I must get Leanimal to zap them with her Magic Laser. Our yoga music was the Charlie Brown Christmas CD. I couldn't help myself - I had to boogie a little!

We're hunkering down for what the radio weather forecaster is calling "Snowmageddon". I'm thrilled to have snow, but we have a busy weekend planned, so I'm hoping it falls conveniently in between our social obligations.

Life in the country - there's never a dull moment.
Today's adventure: Stalking The Wild Pit Bull.

While sipping my morning coffee, I looked out the window and noticed a pit bull in our yard wearing a 3" spiked collar and a muzzle. BulletDog went insane - luckily, she was indoors. I stepped outside with a dog treat and tried to call him over, but he took off. After a couple of conversations with nearby vets, I learned that a dog wandering lost in the woods with a muzzle is in big trouble because it can't eat or pant. The Animal Control officer was only willing to look around the area roads, so I grabbed some bear spray (in case he didn't like me) and headed out to follow his footprints into the woods. He got his tracks mixed up with the local coyotes, so I wasn't able to figure out where he went, but there were no tracks through 'Bent's new gate into the conservation area, so I knew the pit bull was somewhere on our side of the fence. Late in the day, I learned that he is our new neighbour, and he might be one of a pair of pit bulls who are apparently impossible for their owners to control. Argghhh. When I called to let them know, the lady was unhelpful and unreassuring. Argghh again. We have some great neighbours, but the ones who aren't great (like the ones who set the 70-acre bush fire last year) are *really* not much fun.