Training Log Archive: Bash

Dontgetlost IceBreaker - Mohawk Sports Park, Hamilton

Unbelievably, this was my first orienteering event since last year's IceBreaker and it was great! Veinbuster and I hiked it as a team since it was his first adventure run. He'd done a shorter forest O Cup before but today was a typical DGL brainteaser course design with lots of strategizing and adjusting as we went along. We had fun and made it back with a few minutes to spare. VB did well bushwhacking, slogging through mud and scrambling up hills - all useful skills for orienteering. It was awesome to see people I hadn't seen in a long time and I loved the enthusiasm of all the kids. 'Bent had a good nav race and his knee didn't seem too bad. Before heading home, we made a pilgrimage to Cafe Domestique for a takeout lunch.

As a cooldown, 'Bent and I followed Veinbuster to a few controls around the sports field.

The Log Run - Chris Laughren's 45th birthday bash. As per tradition, he and a bunch of friends ran 45 km on trails. They picked up a few more friends, including 'Bent, with 21 km to go. They were supposed to pick up our large group of 10 km runners too, but it was cold and they were ahead of schedule so they were long gone by the time we drove to the start.

I've only done 5-ish km runs for a long time so this was my longest run in many months. I ran/hiked through Terra Cotta with Amber and we chatted up a storm. When we arrived at the Cheltenham General Store, there were hot drinks, baked goods and Christmas gingerbread cookies awaiting us. Then we did an impressive van shuttle back to the 10 km start with 6 humans and two large, wet dogs.

Next stop was the big Badlands Brewery tent, where we had soup or chilli, beer, doughnuts and more in-person conversations with friends than we've had in two years. We were too full for the Briskit food truck but since we'd all sent our expected orders in advance, 'Bent and I thought we should buy hot sandwiches for takeout. Amazingly, we got hungry again in the evening and scarfed them down. Happy Birthday, Chris!

Hike around Palgrave West with AdventureDog. We found some debris from yesterday's gusty winds. That one would have hurt!

2 km rowing + core

Nice brisk, chatty hike around Glen Haffy with Coach LD and AdventureDog. The snow is mostly gone but there was still some slush. :( Hoping for a cold spell.

Rowing + dumbbells. My physio exercises now include 1-legged calf raises with 25 lb to the beat of a metronome.

First vaccination clinic with kids *and* 3rd doses for eligible folks. I was looking forward to things getting super busy again but... meh, not so much. The parents who want their young children protected are coming in slowly and talking about keeping Grandma safe at Christmas. However, there was more urgency when teenagers became eligible. The 5-11 age group has the highest COVID-19 infection rate right now and it will take a long time to slow things down if school kids aren't immunized. Fingers crossed, maybe they're getting vaxxed by their family docs instead. On the bright side, most of our clients are happy to be there again - even the kids clutching their cute stuffies. :)

Chag Sameach.

Snowy run on Finnerty and the closed section of Duffy's Lane while my winter tires were being put on. My Achilles felt surprisingly OK after yesterday's painful physio treatment.

2 km of rowing + dumbbells

Physio and shockwave appointment #4. There is now only a small location where Josh can cause white hot pain with the shockwave - a dime-sized area on the lower right of my heel. This seems like it should represent an improvement but I'm new to the shockwave thing. The tendon loading exercises are supposed to be the more important part, and I'll keep doing them for at least a couple of months after the shockwave is done.

A manifesto from Twitter:
"I refuse to put winter tires on my car..."
My fave part is "If I have tires, the government can track me in the snow."
https://twitter.com/kiteie/status/1464810881091469...

P.S. I'm getting my winter tires put on tomorrow.