Training Log Archive: Bash

My parents were married 60 years ago today after dating in university for 4 years. They drove to Algonquin Park for their honeymoon that night. Sadly, Dad missed this milestone anniversary by half a year. We had a good day together with smiles and memories, but our hearts are partly broken.

Richard and Mom paddled a canoe to Joe Lake while I paddled the surfski - sometimes doing circles around the canoe since the boats weren't well matched. Brrr, it is chilly to sit in a puddle of water in (almost) September. We didn't see any moose but we found lots of pitcher plants.

'Bent and I borrowed the lodge SUPs for a quick paddle before lunch. I managed to repeat my headstand briefly!

We're staying at Arowhon Pines lodge in Algonquin Park with Mom. 'Bent and I paddled from Little Joe Lake through Joe Lake (where we were married) then Tepee Lake and Fawn Lake to Little Doe Lake - where we saw a little doe. It was cloudy, breezy and cool. Autumn is on its way.







After lunch, we took my 80-something year-old Mom and her pacemaker around the Hardwood Lookout loop which must have over 100 m of climb including a steep, rooty section. (Oops.) She did really well!

In 2013 and 2014, I spent this week in Chamonix soaking up international trail running culture (along with a little Bordeaux) and preparing to run UTMB - well, most of it anyway. No regrets and I'm still finding it fun to watch the live coverage website this week. There are 6 events now, the first of which (PTL) started on Monday and is still going on. What an amazing adventure it was, DNFs and all.
http://ultratrailmb.com/en/

I met Virginia, Mrs. Gally and Brenda for the first part of their Hockley Loop. My role today was to teach Virginia how to use poles on a run since she will use them occasionally in her Bruce Trail through-run next month.

***Interrupting this log entry for a commercial message! Pacers are still needed for Virginia's run. She's leaving Tobermory Sept. 10, arriving in Niagara Sept. 22-25, and will be running 65-80 km daily at 5-6 kph (stops included). That means most days she will need 3-4 pacers since most people can't go the longer distances. It's best to have at least two pacers at a time so that someone's main job can be to watch for trail markers, which aren't always easy to see, especially in September with all the vegetation growth. She is particularly concerned about finding pacers for the hours of darkness - before 7 a.m. and after 7:30 p.m. - when her chance of injury will be higher in her exhausted state. If you may be interested, please comment here and we'll get you into the loop.***

I wasn't up for a full loop today so when we had followed the main Bruce to the north end of the final side trail in Hockley Provincial Park, I turned back and ran on side trails. It was an interesting run with a couple of conversation stops. I met Dave of Dave's Pinnacle (on the Bruce Trail near 5th Line) and a large volunteer crew rebuilding steps. I felt guilty, like I should stop and help, but I'll just remind everyone who runs on the Bruce to maintain a current membership to share in paying for trail and land costs. It's only $50/year, whether you buy an individual or family membership - a bargain for all the entertainment the trail gives us.
http://brucetrail.org/

Then I ran into Norm Nadon of Running Free Orangeville, a Facebook friend who became a real world friend today.

The bad news is that the point pain on top of my left foot from the Killarney loop is still there. It's weird. It feels like a bruise from too-tight shoelaces but it doesn't seem to be getting better. I can see and feel a soft bump but it only hurts if I push on it, which happens when the shoe presses on it when I run downhill. I think it may be some kind of mini-tendinitis. Not a big deal most of the time but it would make a long, hilly run pretty unpleasant.

It's National Dog Day!
BazingaDog (Brody) and AdventureDog (Logan)

Weights and physio. I've neglected this recently and I'd forgotten how good it feels.

I've added photos for Monday's SUP yoga class, including evidence of that elusive headstand!

Great ride with Dee and Mrs. Gally! On my ride over to meet them, I saw two police cars parked in front of 'Bent's office so I stopped to make sure all was well. Turns out the Palgrave variety store was robbed. :(

We rode an hour in Palgrave then headed to Albion Hills. We had the trails almost to ourselves. There were some adventure racing moments when we went through thick summer vegetation, bushwhacked around a newly fallen tree on the trail and heaved our bikes over the new gate at Reddington. We saw Bob's car in Albion and stopped to chat; he and the crew are setting up the Mud Hero race for this weekend.

In the short time I was out, a 15 cm tree branch fell and blocked the Oak Ridges Trail on the west side of Duffy's Lane. Yikes, it wasn't even that windy today! This is 'Bent's commute route so I stopped to haul it out of the way and break off some of the smaller branches.

'Bent joined us tonight. Caron had us work on doing tight turns around a buoy, then we had a little race from one buoy to another and back again.

The air was chilly so nobody wanted to fall in but we all wanted to try headstands again so Caron included it as the final pose of the class. Last week I got 2/3 of the way up. Tonight I made it up and held the headstand for 5-6 seconds. Fun! I hadn't done one since I was a little kid, and balancing on the SUP added some extra fun.

Short run around Palgrave West with AdventureDog.

Some days I can tell I'm running with all the grace of a sack of potatoes.

Other days, I'm completely unaware of it. ;)