Training Log Archive: Bash

UKR O Cup #4

Fun, snowy, varied O Cup race in the Bendor & Graves Forest in York Region. Thanks very much to Eugenius, Raymond and Igor. The map had two sides with some of the controls re-used between the maps - and some not, so I expect there will be some mispunches since it would have been easy to think, "Flag! Hilltop! Punch!" without thinking about how far you'd gone since the last control. I probably should have worn snowshoes since it was a tough snowy slog at times but the packed trails were fast.

My main error was coming out of #10 where I meant to head west to the trail and turn left to get control f. Because of the deep snow, I was lured left by some tracks that led straight to a control. Yay! But I read the code and it was not control f - aacck, it must be on the beginner course! At this point, I met Anvil who was staring at the same nearby trail junction with the same look of confusion that I had. Then I figured out what I'd done and ran north to "f". It wasn't until we reviewed the map with DD11 over lunch that I realized I had been at control b, which I may as well have punched to save myself another control later on. Oops! Lots of fun anyway and a nice lunch afterward. Great to catch up with Simpy, 1L and a few others as big snowflakes fell. Beautiful day for a race!

The pooches needed to be tired out so we took them snowshoeing - BazingaDog on leash and AdventureDog running free. We discovered that our new neighbours are snowmobilers - so far, only on their own property, which is fine. They also went snowshoeing across the back of our property into the conservation area, which would be great if they hadn't obliterated our ski tracks. On the bright side, it appears that they are outdoorsy. At some point, they ought to ask permission to cross our land, and we can set some ground rules then.

For our own snowshoeing, we did a lot of bushwhacking and wallowing in powder too deep for our racing snowshoes. It was fun to see the dogs making huge leaps to get through it - especially wee AdventureDog. Coming from northern Quebec where he was likely abandoned to die in the woods last month, he has impressive deep snow skills.

Slowrunner workout + extras

'Bent and I took advantage of the new snow and skied locally. We did an initial short loop where 'Bent was skijoring with BazingaDog and AdventureDog was running alongside. BDog is mostly oblivious to 'Bent's commands while he's on harness so parts of this were really scary to watch. After dropping off the dogs, we skied over to Palgrave East for a big loop. Fantastic conditions.

Then we headed over to the Outdoor Adventure Show where we always see some familiar faces. If I could have brought home one special item, it would have been one of the latest carbon fusion canoes from Swift Outfitters - only 35 lb and beautifully made. Instead I brought home a bunch of maps, as I always do!

Weights and plyo

I needed to ski and I also needed to mail my RSP contribution so I skied through Palgrave East to the Reddington subdivision mailbox, which is a little over 3 km away by trail. I'd started out tired and didn't think I would go much farther than necessary but *wow*, what a gorgeous winter day. It was in the mid-minus-20s with windchill, which was noticeably warmer than yesterday, if not exactly "warm".

I'd ditched my racing skis with their fancy "glide" and was back to mucking around in my dirty, scratched touring skis. I did some bushwhacking and skied through powder around the old closed trail in the northeast part of Palgrave, skiing along beside the frozen river. If someone had been with me, I'd have skied on the river but nobody even knew where I was so it didn't seem wise. Other than AdventureDog chewing pieces off my slippers (which have undeniable similarities to bunnies - or at least they used to), it was a great afternoon.

Yay!! The Norwegian Birkebeiner seeding table has just been updated and we were rewarded for the slow conditions at the Gatineau Loppet.

'Bent will move up to Wave 11 from Wave 26; he just missed Wave 10 by 10 seconds.

I've moved up to Wave 16 from Wave 26. I just squeaked into this wave by 10 seconds. Glad I passed a few people near the end; I had no idea it would matter.

This means I get to start 55 minutes earlier (9:20) than I would have as an unseeded skier, which makes the cut-offs a non-issue (knock on wood). There will be 17,000 skiers and a couple of mountains so it's hard to predict a pace but I can be 4 kph slower than Gatineau and I'll still be OK. (Yes, UTMB has made me obsessed about cut-offs!)

'Bent gets to start at 8:55. Cristina will start around the same time as me. Thank you again to Cristina for suggesting that we race Gatineau. Did I mention that she's awesome?

Hard Core Live with Caron, featuring Evil Sliders.

Power Yoga class. Not to be a tattletale, but BGY fell asleep when Caron dimmed the lights.

Snowshoe run around Palgrave in -31C wind chill! About half the trails were packed snow where Snowcross would have been fine but the rest were deep or loose enough to suit snowshoes better. This is always a good workout!

Skied around Palgrave West in a minor snow squall. Gorgeous! I spent more time breaking trail in powder than I would have expected, and I was using racing skis, which weren't well suited for the task. If I hadn't had a commitment in town, I would have stayed out for another hour playing in the snow. :)

Training session with Slowrunner. Today's circuit included several plyo exercises on a Bosu, e.g. jumping lunges, alternating sides with the front foot landing on the Bosu in each jump. That sure got my heart rate up!

My Gatineau Loppet report now includes photos. I left out two beautiful portraits of me checking my Ambit with a concerned expression. http://ar.attackpoint.org/viewlog.jsp/user_920/per...

Easy run on snowy, icy road. Stressful day. Not so good for AdventureDog either, as he finished the day with fewer testicles and teeth than he started out with.

Beautiful, chilly Family Day skate on the Rideau Canal with Coach LD, Goose, T-man and 'Bent.









Naturally, we had to stop for Beaver Tails.







Sure, it wasn't health food but we did have standards; no one tried the Battered Bacon à la Crêpe.



Awesome! The only problem is that I got a nasty blister on my heel from my crappy old skates. But it was worth it.