Training Log Archive: Bash

'Bent and I went down to Albion Hills for the last few hours of the 24 Hours of Summer Solstice mountain bike relay. This is more than a sporting event; it's a festival so it's fun to be there even if you're not racing.

First we saw ThreePinJim, who had been relegated to an adult team this year since his daughter Skye had joined a team of young teenaged girls: "Brakes are for Boys".

Then we visited Osteo who took another look at my errant ankle, moved things around, identified which ligaments and tendons are misbehaving (including my Achilles) and explained how I could tape it. Other than the foot, I feel good today - a little DOMS in the quads but it's minimal. Aside from the foot (grrr), I'm happy with how I felt yesterday. My endurance is good; random body parts are letting me down.

Then we stopped by Harps' site. He had just received the bad news that he would be riding his team's final lap, and they were in 1st place in their category with only a 2-minute lead. By the time Harps headed out, there was a 1-minute deficit to overcome. Harps came very close to chasing the guy down but Team Purple had to settle for the silver medal.



Shortstack is much bigger than the last time we saw her and still mega-cute.



Crash sailed in after completing 17 laps to crush the Female Solo category - and all but 3? of the Male solos. Speaking of awesome female mountain bikers, Rebecca Rusch was there racing on a large all-female team whose places had mostly been filled by contest winners.

After enjoying a burger and beer while waiting to cheer Harps in, we had to make a quick departure when we got a call to say that the alarm had gone off in 'Bent's dental office. The quickest thing was for us to ride over to the village to confirm that all was well and that the police could be cancelled before 'Bent got charged a false alarm fee. (The alarm was set off by the cleaner, who was supposed to know the new security code but had inadvertently been missed when staff were letting people know.) So we got in some extra riding.

Hot, hot, HOT! At this time last year, we'd done lots of training in heat. Not so much this year, which is what made yesterday extra challenging. Our bodies just aren't adapted yet. There is a heat warning for the next few days.

Craigleith to Duntroon via Switchback Trail and main Bruce Trail.

From north of Pretty River Valley back to Craigleith - mostly Bruce Trail but one shortcut.

Today was our first UTMB of the year - Ultra-Trail du Mont-Bleu. Wow! Dee did a ton of work to design and test a challenging trail route that allowed people to run different distances. She set up aid stations, figured out transportation, prepared detailed maps (even laminating them for us) and even managed to get out for a run herself. She and Mr. Logie offered us accommodation and showers, and whipped up a yummy post-run meal. THANK YOU!!! :)

The basic route was an out-and-back from Craigleith, just west of Collingwood, to Duntroon, starting with the steep climb up the Switchback Trail, then following the main Bruce Trail white blazes. In the end, nobody did the whole thing without some sort of shortcut, and a few people did it in one direction. Nobody got to the optional extra loop but we can try that another time.

This is a tough, slow section of trail - lots of hills, lots of rocks, lots of gorgeous views and lots of poison ivy too! We did our best to decontaminate but we were out there a long time before we washed the oil off so it could be an interesting week. Simpy, your name came up a few times. Let's just say that 'Bent is worried.

Browner had graciously agreed to stick with me down to Duntroon, then she planned to ride her bike back. Red and Windmill ended up staying with us too, even though their pace is faster, so we had local tour guides. (Not that it stopped us from taking a few wrong turns onto side trails - but we should have been watching too!) Great company and hard work climbing hills. I was pacing myself with the intent of doing the full trip back so did a lot of walking.

The bad news is that I rolled my stupid ankle again within the first hour. It had seemed to be recovering nicely, and I thought it was ready for a big trail run with some light taping but no. As usual, it was some little twig on a stretch of good trail that got me - nothing impressive. The sprain was about a 5 out of 10, and the pain was getting worse when we hit the first aid station. Luckily, Dee was there with our drop bags so I put on my ankle brace, which I obviously should have used in the first place. It made a huge difference, changing it from a sharp, acute pain to a dull background pain. Virtually no swelling or bruising but my ankle doesn't do much of that anymore. I probably shouldn't have continued but I really wanted to get in some hours on the trail. Don't try this at home, kids.



At the turnaround point, the group I was with - including Tiny, who had turned around to join us - were all planning to stop. I realized that if I went back alone as planned, I would be arriving back at Dee and Logie's place around 9 p.m., long after everyone other than 'Bent had left. That didn't sound so great so I caught a ride to a road north of Pretty River Valley and met up with 'Bent, who had run back from the turnaround taking shortcuts to skip parts of the main Bruce Trail, as did Storm, Mrs. Gally and Dee, who also ran back from the turnaround. I ran the rest of the way back to Craigleith with 'Bent. The heat and humidity of the day was much improved by then, fortunately.



Takeaways:
- I should have forced myself to drink more today. I didn't feel particularly dehydrated in the hot weather but I didn't feel overly energetic. After I glugged down a bunch of extra liquid at the turnaround, I felt rejuvenated.
- I need a new ankle. Grrr.
- I need to experiment with different ways of carrying stuff in my pack; I don't think I've got an optimal arrangement yet for the things I need to access while running.
- I need to take Browner with me to UTMB because she is very punctual about reminding me to take a salt pill every hour.

Thanks so much, Dee. What a wonderful gift you gave us! Much appreciated.

Congrats to Jason "Hammer" Lane on finishing the Race Across America (RAAM) this morning - 7th place solo in 9 days 16 hrs 44 min. Things went more smoothly for him this year without being hit by the same car twice and going to hospital. Not sure what the Canadian solo record is, and Google is not forthcoming. He was running ahead of the record on Wednesday. It may be confusing because there was a detour due to flooding so small time credits will be awarded.

This is dedicated to BugsinTeeth and Osteo in honour of their first 50-miler last weekend.

Home to Inglewood.

I'm in that awkward transition between "recovering from ESAR" and "tapering for Saturday's big run" so I opted for a rail trail destination ride to the Inglewood Farmer's Market.

I ran into a few friends there, including Jan and Neil and their latest foster puppy - an adorable 8 week old ball of fluff. If we fostered dogs, we would end up adopting every single one! Jan, who rehomes a lot of dogs, said she doesn't like finding homes for puppies because (a) everyone thinks they want a puppy but (b) most of them actually don't, once they find out what it's like to live with a puppy.

The banjo band was playing and the lamb burgers were sizzling on the barbecue. I filled my backpack with goodies like organic baby kale, maple butter, local mushrooms, garlic sheep cheddar and rhubarb pineapple jam. (Yes, really! Made by our friend Neil.) Then I rode home a little more slowly with all my purchases. Along the trail, I chatted with Jeff Wright on his bike and Mike Huet who was running. Nice.

As an aside, I was talking recently with a nice woman in her mid-20s who has lived in Caledon all her life and occasionally walks on the rail trail. I commented that the rail trail can be a fun bike outing where you're never far from ice cream or coffee because the trail passes through all the villages since that's what the railway did. She looked at me blankly. I repeated my comment. She shook her head. So I explained, "Trains used to run where the rail trail is today. They took up the tracks about 30 years ago." "Seriously? Cool."

This Saturday is the annual Salomon Toronto Store Solstice Run. Salomon athletes will lead 8-10K trail runs from the store (with a little pavement to start) from sunrise to sunset. This year a prize will be offered at the end of each lap to one of the lucky runners. Depending on when you come, your odds could be really good!

Sunny paddle around Island Lake in the Eclipse. One thing I enjoyed during our preparations for Tierra Viva was having an excuse to listen to podcasts while I trained on the kayak erg. Today I tried this on the water and it worked just fine. The podcast was CBC's Rewind - a documentary featuring radio coverage from D-Day and later interviews with some of the participants on both sides. It always blows my mind to be reminded that so many of our war heroes were 18-19 year old kids.

Bricked it with a run on trails in Island Lake Conservation Area.

Around Palgrave West. My bad ankle feels completely normal when I run (and don't turn it!) but if I have to sidehill, it's painful. I wore an ankle brace for ESAR so I didn't have to think about it but it's time to get back to strengthening the joint. Beautiful day but disappointing that equestrians had gone out on trails softened by yesterday's rain and caused considerable damage.

Quick strength session - feet, calves, shins.

Doc Tarno was featured on CBC Radio's Fresh Air this weekend, talking about his studies on the impact of resistance exercise on aging.
http://www.cbc.ca/freshair/episodes/2013/06/16/sun...