Training Log Archive: Bash

I've had enough of running on soft snow, glare ice and (most of all) breakable ice crust with surprise post holes. My gimpy foot needs to be trained to run on uneven ground but I don't want to train it with the sudden hyperextensions and surprise ankle rolls that happen all too often in these conditions.

So I did a long run on dirt roads, muddy shoulders of paved roads, and a little pavement with about 2 km on snowy trails and closed roads. The weather couldn't have been nicer - first time this spring with a running shirt and capris. Shorts would have been OK too.

It was a destination run to see the new Bolton bypass being built through the conservation land around Duffy's Lane and the Humber Valley Heritage Trail. I've been avoiding it because I knew it would be sad to see the devastation. I didn't end up staying very long since I'd gone past several huge signs at a gate that made it very clear the public wasn't permitted to go in, and a dark car pulled up to the gate within 2 minutes of my arrival. I turned to head out and the car left too. Probably just a coincidence.

Time to start keeping chocolate milk in the fridge again. Yes, I know sugar is the new smoking. According to articles I've read recently, protein, alcohol and sitting are also the new smoking so I give up! I'll just limit myself to moderate levels of my favourite vices.

Snowy, blowy and the slush has frozen back into ice!

In case you were worried, check out the Sweat Science response to this week's "Too Much Running Tied to Shorter Lifespan" media story. (Warning: long but interesting if you like exercise science and appreciate statistics.) In short, the current evidence suggests that most of us may as well keep doing what we do, while keeping an eye out for future research in this area.
http://www.runnersworld.com/health/will-running-to...

I've started posting some old photos on Facebook on "Throwback Thursday" - also known as #tbt but I always spell it out so my Mom knows what I'm talking about. I have tens of thousands of old photos and slides gathering dust or languishing on back-up drives, and I'm hoping #tbt will motivate me to organize them and digitize the best non-digital images.

Since Atttackpoint is my primary social media site and not everyone hangs out in both worlds, I thought I'd start sharing them here too. Apologies to those who have already seen them. Here are my first 4 Thursday photos with the captions.

This has been an amazing winter for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing! In 2001, Richard Ehrlich and I were skiing at Lake Kukagami near Sudbury.


Sept. 2002: First adventure race for team Tree Huggers. We didn't know then how much fun, work, travel, craziness and outdoor gear this sport would bring into our lives, nor did we realize how many wonderful people would touch our lives in the coming years as we got more involved in the adventure sports community. Sure glad we decided to do that race! (L-> R TheMinister, Bash, 'Bent)


Moab's Slickrock Trail. First week of spring 2012, exploring red rock country with Harps, Amy, Shortstack and 'Bent.


Killarney canoe trip, July 2006. Tobler (green collar) was almost 10 years old; she is gone now and we miss her very much. Our puppy Mocha (red collar) is 11 now and still full of energy. The dogs loved swimming, eating blueberries, riding in a canoe and sleeping in a tent as much as we did - maybe even more. By the way, those are bear bells hanging on their collars. We figured it was only fair to give the bears a chance to get away. ;)

Heavy rain falling on snow, ice and mud... The trainer looked pretty good today. Eight 2-minute intervals increasing by 10 watts each time with 1-minute rest, plus warm-up/cooldown. Podcast was a Broadcasting Canada interview with Jian Ghomeshi as the interviewee. I've been enjoying this series of interviews with well-known Canadian broadcasters on the other side of the microphone.

Running-specific strength. Inspired by Carbon's log entry, I asked 'Bent to get a 10 lb medicine ball to add an extra twist (often a literal one) to some of the exercises.

15th day of spring, 3rd day of April, last ski of the year? It was too icy to ski down the hill from our place to F&M's trail so I carried my skis down and did some crust cruising around their property. The trails were treacherous but the fields and open woods were surprisingly fun. There were a few surprise post holes, even on skis. Based on the dogs' footprints from yesterday, the snow is still more than 30 cm deep in the meadows. Looks like we're not going to be mountain biking around here in April. I hope the poison ivy and ticks are getting suffocated down there!

Today's plan was 6 repeats of the Grange Hill but I abandoned that idea after the first one. The unmaintained portion of the road was snowy with variable texture and uneven footing and occasional patches of thick, breakable ice that hurt my feet through my shoes. Nothing to do with the injury, although unpredictable footing isn't great for it; the problem was just sharp things poking my feet at odd angles. I'd be crazy to go through that section 12 times, although I did do two repeats (4 times through that section) so apparently I'm a little nuts.

I ran the rough lane to the quarry and went up to the Bruce Trail entrance on Creditview. The trails were snowy with bad footing too so I called it a day and went browsing at Caledon Hills Cycling instead. New cycling shoes are in my future but their new stock is still coming in.

The running wasn't great today but the podcasts were:

- TA1 interview with Nathan Fa'avae. (I think Randy just interviewed me to get practised up for this one! ;) ) Amongst other things, Nathan told the behind-the-scenes version of the story of their withdrawal from the Costa Rica world champs. It's a decision he now regrets. He said he's too busy with his 3 kids to pursue a structured training program; he just gets out when he can. Seems to be working for him. He said he'll race through 2015, then he'll probably retire. He's working on an autobiography.

- Trail Runner Nation interview with Gordy Ainsleigh, who has some interesting stories and ideas. I'm not sure about his idea of curing cancer with diet and supplements but he had some intriguing thoughts about running. He thinks it's possible to win Western States 100 on 3 runs/week if the quality of mid-week runs is high enough. He was known as a strong downhill runner and now thinks it was a mistake to do that, given the damage his body has sustained. He's a longtime ultrarunner, finisher of WS100 more than 20 times, and also a chiropractor. He says the guys he knew who ran 6 times a week 30 years ago are no longer running, whereas some people who ran less often are still going.
http://gordonainsleigh.com

Just had to do this because it was possible to go snowshoeing on a sunny April day! It wasn't hard to find deep snow but it was so wet and soft that the snowshoes didn't really help. I took BazingaDog on leash, and BulletDog followed. BazingaDog is 85 lb of pure muscle, and it's tough for me to control him so I don't take him for walks very often. If only he understood how good life would be if he could be trusted off leash!

Seven 2-minute intervals increasing by 10 watts each time with 1 minute rest, plus warm-up/cooldown. Ave. 157W, 79 cadence.

Quick, impromptu post-paddle session - push-ups, tricep dips, bent-over rows and free weights. Focus, as always, was bicep curls. (Just checking to see if Urthbuoy reads the fine print.)

For some reason, my brain let me sleep through the night - yahoo! That made it easy to enjoy a beautiful midday run on this sunny April Fool's Day. No joke - here's what it looks like on Day 13 of Spring at our place.



I mostly ran snowy trails, linking a few sections on slushy or muddy roads. Palgrave East was pretty good for running - mostly soft, dense snow where my feet dug in 5-8 cm. There were enough big patches of ice to make me grateful for my spikes and only a few post holing sections.

I ran into the village to check the rail trail for FB. It gets lots of use close to town so I ran from Hwy 50 to Duffy's Lane. I'm afraid it's going to be a little while longer until FB can bike to work. The snow isn't too deep there - maybe 20 cm on average - so it shouldn't take too many warm days before it melts. Don't put your trainer away yet!

Boundless Episode 1 was pretty exciting and made me think about UTMB. I won't say more since I know lots of people haven't seen it yet!

On the subject of TV, I'm going to indulge in a proud big sister moment. Brother Dave got a shout out in today's Globe for his work on the Juno Awards telecast.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/music/i-perfor...

His favourite part of the job was working with Tegan and Sara, who went home with 3 Junos, including Group of the Year and Single of the Year.

Foothab

From the Friends of Algonquin Park:

1) Lake Opeongo Access Point yesterday
2) Same place, same weekend, 2012 (record early ice out)





Average ice out day is April 23. Additional info here on snow and ice up north:
http://www.algonquinpark.on.ca/news/ice-out.php