Training Log Archive: Bash

Hockley Loop with BugsinTeeth and 'Bent as The Endless Deluge continued. I was looking forward to the chance to test my new Salomon Bonatti rain jacket in pouring rain (it did just fine) but I wasn't counting on last night's power outage and the resulting sleeplessness from miscellaneous alarms, agitated dogs and concerns about freezer contents. (A grateful patient just gave 'Bent a whole summer's supply of frozen gelato!)

We all used poles. 'Bent and I carried our bulky mandatory gear for Eiger Ultra Trail - similar to what we needed for UTMB but not the same, naturally, since that would be too easy. BugsinTeeth was doing 3 Hockley Loops today so this run was just his warm-up.



The company was excellent and the lush, wet forest was beautiful. The river and creeks were rushing and overflowing, and the trail was slick with lots of puddles. With all the rain and wind, some places were so overgrown that long grass was thatched across the trail around knee-height. Although we often meet a lot of hikers in summer, no one else was crazy enough to be out in this weather - except for Anvil, Menzies and Dang, who were coming toward us as we crossed the final field!

I set the pace most of the time and felt like it was reasonable for BiT's plan - hiking most uphills and running flats and downhills. It ended up being close to a PW on the Loop, which is entirely on me but it didn't feel that way, which proves that it's a good time to wind down the heavy training phase and move on to the rest and chocolate-eating phase.

We waved goodbye to BiT as he headed off on Loop #2 and we headed home for hot showers., Funderstorm will meet him for Loop #3 later this afternoon.

Inspired by Dee's training trip, 'Bent and I returned to Blue Mountain for more run/hike hill repeats. 'Bent did some extra out-and-backs to stay with me, then we picked different trails on the last hill since I wanted to avoid tourists more than he did. (Yikes, it's busy there on a summer Saturday!) We stayed in the Blue Mountain Village area - Cascade Trail, Village Way Trail, Straight Up and some service roads.



It's 3 weeks till our mountain race so this weekend is the last big push, then it's time to cut back on running and increase our chocolate consumption to acclimatize for Switzerland.

We went early to miss the rain and *just* made it!



Before the deluge, we had time for monster-sized pizzas in Blue Mountain Village - overkill for a 3-hr run so no dinner for us tonight. On our way to the car, we ran into Hermes and Bob! Such a treat to see them and hear some of their news. :) So happy that Hermes is finally living in her lovely new home.

Un mélange de tout sauf les jambes.

Actually, I should be learning German this year. Oh well, too late.

I don't usually post my Facebook Throwback Thursday photos here but this one features a bunch of Attackpointers in our distant youth.

June 2006, Ancaster Old Mill 10K race. Post-race health food party at Hammer and Etoile's place.



Back Row L->R: Meridian, Super, Sudden, Turbo
Front Row L->R: Zoolander, Hammer, Griz, Bender, Bash

I heard Dee and Virginia leaving at 5:30 a.m. for a long mountain bike ride. I was very proud of them. Then I rolled over and went back to sleep until they returned. :)

Then I headed out on my own for a follow-up hill climbing session. I'll call this one a run since I called yesterday a trek even though there was some running. It was the same though - running only on downhills and flats, a little more energetically today since I didn't have to pace myself for as long.

I stayed close to Dee's place - up and down the Switchback trail, up the Northwest Passage ski hill (overgrown, not recommended), down the Backstairs trail to the Comet Express parking lot, back up under the Comet Express lift (steep) then Backstairs to the top of the Funnel Express lift, down Switchback, up The Bowie and Backstairs, down Backstairs, partway up The Bowie, then back to the chalet. Most of my route was on the far right of this Craigleith downhill ski map.



It was 4.5 climbs of Blue Mountain without too much trail in between, and it's mind blowing to think this is similar steepness to the Eiger Ultra Trail. Oh boy, 'Bent and I are going to have fun next month. :)

Thank you *so* much to Dee for all you did to make this happen!

Dee generously invited me for a midweek training getaway to her chalet at Blue Mountain to help me prepare for the Eiger Ultra Trail. For someone who does a lot of running up "big" 30-50 m hills, this was a fantastic gift!

Dee designed a route that moved back and forth along the escarpment so we wouldn't get bored doing repeats of the same climb. We hiked virtually all the uphills and did an easy run on many of the flats and downhills. We both used poles.

We started on the Switchback trail, went down and up at Alpine, then picked up Virginia at Georgian Peaks as planned. She is preparing for an end-to-end Bruce Trail run this September. Unfortunately, Georgian Peaks is closed for construction so we couldn't do a hill repeat there. In fact, we had to be sneaky to meet Virginia near the base of the hill. (Sshh!) Too bad - it's the highest hill around, and I'd planned to do repeats there the next day.

We'd left an "aid station" so we could refill water near Sleepy Hollow Rd., then we worked our way over to the Village Way Trail by Blue Mountain Village before heading back for one more Switchback trail repeat. Fun day!

Yoga in the rain with Caron. Fun! Full class tonight. Like last week, I tried tougher poses after the class until Triangle pose knocked me in. I wasn't the only swimmer this week but 'Bent still hasn't fallen in.