Training Log Archive: Bash

Funderstorm and I were supposed to paddle the Grand today but - ironically - thunderstorms rolled in at the appointed hour. Our weather here was a nice mix of rain, heavier rain, lightning and gusty winds. Then in late afternoon, the sun came out and 'Bent and I made a dash to the Duffy's Lane bridge over the Humber River north of Bolton.

I wanted to try out my new Hero. Here is the last-ever photo of it looking clean.



'Bent borrowed Goose's old Perception Dancer and had a great time - except for wrenching his knee every time he had to get in or out of the cockpit. He wasn't overly enthusiastic about my buying two kayaks in two months but he is visibly jealous that my Hero can be tossed in the back of a Subaru like a bicycle. :)



We had a fun paddle down to Hickman St. in Bolton, passing through some class 1 riffles and steering around sweepers, logs and the odd rock. Only one portage at this water level.

The late afternoon light was beautiful and we saw ducks, muskrats, blue herons and hawks.



I didn't want to fall into the murky water so I didn't experiment with the boat too much today. I'd like to get a feel for its initial and final stability, and of course I'd like to try to roll it before I forget what I learned last weekend. But for now, I'm being a princess and holding out for cleaner, deeper water.



Bricked this with a great meal at Baffo's in Bolton, served by none other than Mrs. Scooby.

Garmin estimates that I burned 2,000 calories in yesterday's race. I don't usually take those numbers too seriously but I do like having a good excuse to pig out. :)

Salomon Dontgetlost.ca Giant's Rib Raid adventure run with Goose and Coach Chuet.

Amazing spring day with some pockets of snow and ice to keep things interesting. The Giant's Rib Raid always gets perfect spring weather when it comes to Caledon. It should come here more often!

A record crowd... 75 teams racing in three event distances - 25% higher than our previous record year.

An interesting and challenging course that included some brand new maps.

Great time sitting on the deck in the sunshine afterward, enjoying our burgers, chatting with friends and cheering the teams as they came in.

Thanks to all the people who worked so hard on this event, particularly course setters Griz and Bender. Thanks also to the hard working volunteers who gave us such a great experience on event day - Etoile, Backwoods, Hammer, Gosling, Crash, Dunc and many more.

When we got the race maps, I was pleasantly surprised to see our property in bounds and a control placed on the hill behind our house! 'Bent had given permission. If I'd known people would be running through our property, I would have picked up this week's doggie landmines. Apologies to anyone affected.

Goose, Coach Chuet and I reviewed the maps, planned a strategy for the tricky Dog Bones section, then headed for the bus. As I'd guessed (because I knew some intermediate maps had been made), we started racing at Glen Haffy Conservation Area, travelled along the Bruce Trail Side Trail and adjacent conservation land, then explored Palgrave before running down to Albion Hills to pick up a few final controls. Even though this is my neighbourhood, the course setters got me to a few places I'd never seen before, especially on the new maps where I'd rarely ventured off the Bruce Trail since I didn't know where the private land was.

Goose and Coach are both faster runners than I am so I pushed harder than I normally would in a long race. Coach mostly does road races so I was able to hold my own in the woods but when we hit roads, I was happy to take advantage of Goose's speedy tow rope.

Goose and I navigated together, which went well. Most of the time, we were on the same page and there were a few times when one or the other of us was more in tune with the map. We had a couple of minor bobbles and one bad route choice in Albion Hills where we were thwarted by an out of bounds area and the uncrossable river. Other than that, things went pretty smoothly and efficiently.

We leapfrogged the Salomon Bobkittens and I desperately wished they would just run away from us - either ahead or behind - because whenever Goose and Leanimal see each other during an event, the race is ON. I thought I would die if we had to keep going that speed.

Near the halfway point, Coach started to bonk so Goose and I divided up the Dog Bones section to give her a chance to rest, eat and drink. It was her first adventure run and she'd only agreed to take 'Bent's place a few days before the race, but her regular level of fitness is so high that she was able to hang tough till the end.

One of the Dog Bones checkpoints was literally in our back yard and I insisted on doing that one since I may never get that chance again! So cool to see an SI control on top of our hill.

After that, Goose towed both of us to Albion Hills with the Bobkittens just ahead. "We're catching up!" he exclaimed. "Let them go - they're in a different category!" I spluttered, wondering if Albion Hills had a defibrillator. Around that time, 'Bent and Coach LD (Goose's wife) rode past on their bikes and cheered us on.

Fortunately, we bobbled the first control in Albion HIlls (#16) and the relocation gave me a chance to catch my breath and get some oxygen to my brain. After that, I felt good for the rest of the race.

Relative to other teams, this may have been the best Tree Hugger Raid time. The winners, Explore the Bruce (including Frankenjack and Getawaystix), and runners up (Nick's team) were separated by just 28 seconds after 3 hrs 15 min. Congrats, guys! :) The 3rd place team (NewPatrick, Sudden, Turbo) took 3 hrs 53 min. The first Coed team was 4 hrs 23 min and we were the 3rd Coed team in 4 hrs 43 min. We were also top Masters and 9th overall. Yes, the Bobkittens edged us out which means the universe is working as it should! I'm very proud of our team, especially our first-time racer Coach Chuet. Thanks for pushing the pace, Goose!.

Thanks to Phatty and Leanimal for the yummy post-Raid BBQ and birthday party for Dog Runner. Nice to hang out and catch up with some great friends.

I am soooooo exhausted - zzzzzz.

I'm thinking about doing the 6-day, 225-250 km Coastal Challenge ultrarun in Costa Rica next January. Has anyone done it or do you have opinions based on what you've heard? I can and will write friends of friends like Jen Segger and Jim Mandelli if I get serious about it, but first I'm curious to see if anyone I know has the scoop. Trav, Baloney? This sounds like your territory - although now that you're in Hawaii, I suspect you may not be reading Attackpoint in detail.

Easy spin to keep the legs loose for tomorrow. Watched The Daily Show.

'Bent and Griz spent the afternoon setting up GRR controls. I was banished from the area when they started chatting.

Arrived at the Bus Parcel Express window in Barrie today.

BPX Guy: I'll go get your package.

BPX Guy returns a few minutes later looking very concerned: Where are you parked?

Me: Just down the street.

BPXG: Did you know this is a kayak?!?!?

Me: Yeah, I knew.

And so my Hero has arrived (previous year's model)! Need to figure out how to set it up to fit me as I'm not really sure. Urthbuoy, where are you when I need you? Oh right, about 4,000 km away. Foot brace system isn't as nice as the fancier model I tried in the store but otherwise it looks good. Funderstorm, we need to make a date.
http://jacksonkayak.com/jk-kayaks/whitewater/hero-...

I thought we owned every kind of first aid supply ever invented but here's something new from the APEX mandatory gear list. Maybe it's something they use more in Switzerland:
--- Non-elastic bandage 5 m X 10 cm ---

Anyone know what this is or how it would be sold? Maybe it's fabric like a triangular bandage except not so... triangular?

Resting the legs before Saturday's Salomon Dontgetlost.ca Giant's Rib Raid. Foolishly, I managed to team up with two people who can totally kick my butt - Coaches Goose and CHuet. Yikes, I might as well attach the back of the tow rope to myself now.

Another reason for paddling... I'm heading to Barrie tomorrow to pick up my whitewater kayak from the MEC Gear Swap. Over the weekend, it made its way by Greyhound from B.C. to Ontario. :)

When I used my Garmin HRM for the first time on Saturday, my photography stops triggered unusual behaviour in part of the route map created by my Attackpoint Garmin download. Apparently, most people just *run* when they run. Ken, aka Mr. Attackpoint, launched an investigation and had it fixed in no time. This wasn't an urgent problem but that's the kind of support we get here - much better than a lot of products and services for which we pay more.

Newer users may not know that Attackpoint is managed by Ken Walker, a guy with a young family, a day job, a speedy set of running legs and a way with a map. Running Attackpoint costs him money and for those of us who are using AP regularly and feel we're getting value, the suggested donation is $25 US / year.

In addition to the warm glow of doing the right thing, donors get access to bonus features like the Garmin download, mixed training intensities in a workout, private log comments, privacy controls and more. You don't need to make a donation to benefit from Ken's excellent tech support - but hey, why not? :)

Fun, chilly Bruce Trail run in beautiful late afternoon light. Felt really good running - one of those days when it's amazing just to be alive and outdoors. Trail was about 95% mud and 5% snow and ice. There was a 30 m section of hard ice where I had to walk carefully in full injury prevention mode. Part of it was sloped sideways and I slid off the trail into the forest even when I was standing still. It's only been 4 days since Knee-Smashed-In-Barb-Jump and I didn't want a repeat performance. I could feel a little twinge but I think I've almost recovered from Friday's fall. This was one of my best times for this section of rolling trail and I'm looking forward to speed intervals when the trails dry out.

Bricked it up with a Daily Show trainer ride.

While watching The Daily Show X 2.

Oh good, *this* week it seems that endurance sports might not kill us after all. At least not quickly.

Meanwhile, the recent study showing heart fibrosis in longtime elite athletes looked at the question differently, finding a correlation (albeit not a proven cause/effect) between long term high level training and heart scarring.

This reminds me of those studies that say, alternately, that coffee or red wine will either kill us or help us live to a ripe old age. Until a consensus is reached, I'm sticking with the studies that make life more enjoyable. One of my greatest fears is finding out on my deathbed that the key to a longer life was daily hot fudge sundaes.

On a personal note, I had a bunch of testing 10 years ago after outdoor endurance activities triggered a few major incidents of heart arrhythmia. The docs couldn't figure it out and couldn't guarantee that exercise wouldn't kill me, but advised that the risks associated with becoming less active were probably higher than the risks of exercising. Once again, I went with the answer I wanted to hear. Since then, I discovered endurance sports and started training more seriously and the significant arrhythmias pretty much went away. Take *that*, British scientists! ;)

P.S. Make your own decisions. Don't take medical advice from me!