Training Log Archive: Bash

Egg Nog Jog 10K at Albion Hills

Once again, I dressed as an elf.



For the first 5K lap, I felt reasonably good - just a little fatigued from yesterday's long run. By the 2nd lap, I was a *lot* fatigued! The race takes place on park roads but they're very hilly and there was a little snow and ice. I ran it all and smiled the whole time but those are the only good things I can say about my performance.

When I didn't see 'Bent heading back toward me, I knew something was up. I discovered him volunteering at the 2.5 km turnaround. His knee hurt too much after yesterday. :( At least he got some photos.



I was 42/60 in my age category, haha! I think that's a personal worst.

Here's Jessey The Elf who won overall for the 2nd year in a row with a time of 34:29. That is his legal name and he also got surgery to make his ears pointed. Not only did he run faster than I did, he put much greater effort into his costume.



The race helped to raise funds for Olympian Geneviève Lalonde, who won the 5K race handily, placing 3rd overall behind 17-year-old triathlon star Tristen Jones and her fiancé John Rasmussen. I chatted with them afterward. They mentioned the Trav/Baloney New Year's Day tradition and I had to let them down gently. ;)

The Log Run - Chris Laughren's (DoubleDown_on11's) incredible birthday party!

More than 50 people signed up to run different distances along the Bruce Trail. Chris' and Alisha's families shuttled everyone from Rattlesnake Point to their starting location along the Bruce Trail. Everything was timed so that the longer distance runners would catch up with shorter distance runners, with the idea that we should all finish at our cars close to the same time.

'Bent signed up for the 43 km group. (Guess how old Chris is turning today.) I wanted to do the full distance too but that group consisted entirely of speedy runners so I joined the 21 km group instead. They started out at an anaerobic pace for me so I was grateful when we met up with the 10 km runners and I could chat a little. A lot of the trail was quite rocky and technical - perfect for ankle twisting but fortunately I didn't.

'Bent caught up and decided to stay with me since his hamstring and knee were bothering him. We didn't print the map but we probably should have since we took a couple of detours that made the route longer. As it turned out, that was necessary to get the full half-marathon so it's all good.

It was a great group and a fantastic winter day for running. Afterward, Chris and his family hosted a big bash at the Orange Snail Brewery with interesting beer (of course), pizza and other yummy food, a terrific band "Double The Pleasure", and a wonderful crowd of friends. Even local MP and Olympic gold medalist kayaker Adam Van Koeverden stopped by to say hello. Many thanks to Storm and Browner for hosting BazingaDog and AdventureDog at their place all day, which made this possible for us.

Beautiful, peaceful sunset ski around Palgrave West. Our old tracks were a little icy so I detoured around a couple of steep hills but mostly I enjoyed the speed. I broke trail on the Charlevoix Loop, which had only been used by coyotes and deer since the last snowfall. Apparently, everyone else can read the new No Trespassing sign. I'd cleared some fallen trees from the bottom of one hill a few days ago, which turned out to be good timing because today I missed the turn and ended up in the runaway lane leading into the New Trails. (They are thus named because we only discovered them 18 years ago!) It was pretty dark in the forest by the time I got back.

And then a Major Event - pizza delivery to our house! In the 21 years we've lived in the boonies, food delivery has rarely been an option. The dogs were over the moon.

A few repeats of General Running Conditioning Circuit #1 from Strength Training for Runners

As a workout, snowshoe running is right up there with skate skiing for me. It's pretty hard for me to do either sport while carrying on a conversation. Fortunately, AdventureDog wasn't too chatty today. We did a run around Palgrave West on my new Dion snowshoes. Our friend Derrick Spafford sells these running-specific snowshoes, and I've always been curious about them. When they went on sale recently, I decided to add to my outdoor gear collection. :)

My first impression is that they feel good. I'd need to switch back and forth with my Atlas Race snowshoes to see if I can feel a difference. I think they're less springy so there was less snow thrown up onto my back - although Atlas promotes their springiness as a speed advantage. I kicked my left ankle with my right snowshoe half a dozen times so I wonder if they have a different shape. I suspect that indicated a problem with running form, given that I never kicked my right ankle with my left snowshoe. Anyway, they worked just fine and I'm looking forward to testing both sets of snowshoes a little more.



AdventureDog said, "Stop taking pictures and start running. Woof! Woof!"

Sneak peak at the family photo I'm going to use in our Christmas letter. Storm took it during Saturday's Loree Forest hike so I've added it to that log entry too. It's rare to get all four family members looking at the camera. :)

Sunday's storm took us from bare ground to decent ski conditions because it started with ice pellets, which gave us a good base layer. It looks like conditions might be reasonable for a few more days. :)) This was our back yard today.



I went for a midday ski behind our house, starting in Palgrave West then heading to Palgrave East. In recent years, Palgrave East has attracted more fat bikers and winter hikers so our ski tracks often get trashed, which isn't as much fun. But now that the ash trees are dying in Palgrave West and the trails are blocked in a couple of places, I'll be crossing Duffy's Lane more often and hoping that the different trail users can learn to play nicely together.

It was beautiful and peaceful today. I saw lots of footprints and tire tracks but I seemed to have the place to myself.





Ready to break trail in Palgrave West. Note the dying ash tree overhanging the trail in the middle of the photo.