Training Log Archive: Bash

Ugh.

'Bent and I spent a few hours hanging out with Leanimal and Weeanimal as we explored Annecy's old town and the Sunday market.





Then we drove to Chamonix. What a treat to be back where we spent so much time last summer! Even though we'd only planned to buy a few groceries, we couldn't resist buying a few treats in a trail running store, and we ended up in several conversations with other runners. Lots of Skin packs and compression wear worn as street clothing. :)

Here's the view from our place.



And here is 'Bent checking out the finish line, trying to remember which race he is doing. ;)



I remain uncertain of whether I will be able to race. There's nothing I can do for my shoulder except ice, anti-inflammatory meds and rest. I am quite disabled, e.g. it is too painful to hold a drinking glass in my right hand or use a key to open a door. Last night I was awake for hours because every position I tried to sleep in was extremely painful - including standing up. I cried enough that I woke poor 'Bent up, and he did his best to help. Perhaps the leftover Tylenol 500s from his rib injury were what finally put me to sleep some time after 2:30 a.m. It was very important to me that I get more sleep leading up to this year's race. Let's hope tonight is different. There are a couple of body positions that don't hurt like hell now so that's some improvement. Blah.

My shoulder was killing me so I couldn't do much. 'Bent and I went to the old town in Annecy and I hugged a tree for good luck. Getting an emergency appointment with Dr. Leanimal was certainly lucky.

One of those crazy things... I have a chronic rotator cuff problem that started when I was training for Coast to Coast several years ago. Mostly, it's no big deal. But in carrying all my luggage on the way over here, I managed to aggravate it. I didn't feel it until a few hours after the last time I lifted anything heavy but it is getting worse each day. This morning I had to drink coffee with my left hand since it was too much to lift a cup. The important question for UTMB is whether my arm can use a trekking pole, which is essential. It would also be difficult to change layers by myself. Just a wee curve ball...

We were tourists at the Col de Forclaz near Annecy today. What a spectacular place!







Weeanimal liked the cows.



It's a very popular place for paragliders. Weeanimal likes them too. (Who wouldn't?)





Carbon rode Leanimal's bike there and back.



Leanimal and Weeanimal hiked, watched paragliders, ate lunch and picked raspberries.



'Bent, Carbon's Offset and I went for an easy trail run. I was still feeling the rogaine in my legs.





Because our run was 7 gruelling kilometers, we broke it up with lunch at the Chalet de l'Aulp where Goose famously tried to clear out all the cheese from their fromagerie.



The new version of Moveslink isn't giving me an XML file to upload anymore. Is that happening to any other Ambit users? In the meantime. I've exported a GPX, which isn't nearly as good since it includes our lunch break. I was testing Ultrarunning mode again (60 second recording) so we actually went a little farther.

UPDATE: The latest version of Moveslink 1.2.8 does not export XML files to the hard drive. Naturally, Ken has already added support for SML files! :)

Pizza by the lake tonight in Annecy with Phatty, Leanimal, Weeanimal, Carbon and Carbon's Offset. Now I need to sleep, sleep, sleep.

YYZ. Hope I remembered everything since I was rushed, tired and distracted while packing. On the bright side, Chamonix is the best place to be if you need ultrarunning gear. Last year an acquaintance's luggage for TDS (the 119 km event at UTMB) was stolen from her car during a lunch stop. The organizers let her do CCC instead, which gave her a day to buy all the high tech running gear she needed. This was entirely possible!

This was supposed to be a stressful day because I had to spend most of it in Guelph for Mocha's chemo and wait till tonight to finish packing, volunteer tasks, preparing for the house sitter and so on.

But instead it was a stressful day because the oncologist didn't give Mocha chemo. The cancer has spread to her lungs. All we can do now is hug and spoil her and keep her comfortable. She's been bouncy and happy lately but she's not pleased to see us packing tonight; I wish we weren't leaving her now.

I'm grateful that some excellent veterinary specialists gave her the best possible chance to beat this cruel disease but sometimes it just can't be done.

Flew home from Rapid City. Slept a bit on the plane. Interesting conversation with my seatmate, Chen, a young athlete and U.S. war vet who got curious when he saw me working on my UTMB pace chart and map.