Training Log Archive: 'Bent

Rattled to work with the funky gears.

Home again- the gears are settling in.

Back to Hard Core Mondays.

Workout #1. Although I'm not back to the weights I was using before the back injury, this was my first workout where the lower back didn't hurt at all. It's almost 100%.

After all the rain, the singletrack in Palgrave East was nice and firm. Someone's cleared out the Kraken burs too. The Bulletdog came along too. This was probably a 3, but Bulletdog got really hot despite 2 swims and I had to let her rest up. Got a nice bee sting on my wrist when trying to hose the hound- they've taken up residence right by our tap.

My shifting was a bit dicey after the big race last weekend, and when I removed the rear cable, it wouldn't thread through the frame again. Oy Vey! Duct tape and zipties for external routing until I can get the 'bent back to Gandalf.

COC Middle distance, plus multiple warmups in the much-delayed start, and run to get the van after.

As for the actual race- don't ask. Worst ever.
I was in over my head in this terrain after no orienteering all season. I ran into the kindly RK, and ran with him for a bit. I might have eventually finished, but Bash and the Wadd Squad all had much earlier starts than me and I didn't want them to die of starvation after hugely delayed starts, so I bailed at 9. Fooey!

Easy jog to work with the Bulletdog.
Instead of my AM ride or weights, I was cleaning out my gear box, sterilizing water bladders and stuffing dry gear back into stuffsacks. It was enough of a challenge for today.

Easy jog home in the dark and the rain. I didn't need the workout, but hate burning gas for such a short commute.

Endurance Aventure Day 3-
Midnight start with a trail run, followed by a "marsh walk" which was on a trail. Bash was really hammering here. We'd brought our rafts in case the marsh was a lake, but only used them for a shorter adventure swim section. We'd lost Gazelle's SS Iron Lung, so we put 2 to a raft. Tiny and I have never been closer! We had a slow TA deflating and changing to drier clothes for a bike back. Probably should have swam and not changed.

Endurance Aventure Day 3- Last stage
A lo-o-ong bike leg today, that started with an epic 500M vertical climb up a steep rocky section. Even if you could ride, teams ahead were falling off and walking. Daniel the race organizer promised free beer to anyone who could ride the whole climb, and even the Olympic cyclist Lynn Bisette didn't collect I believe. Lots of big hills here, and fairly technical rocky descents which I loved. We made an unlucky route choice, and ended up backtracking up a mountain and losing 5 places near the end. A bushwhack in the middle of the bike leg went very well. Next we rode to a river crossing where they ziplined the bikes but we crossed with a safety rope in heavy current, then 3 of us had to paddle whitewater while Bash could ride the van. It started to pour, but there still was very little water. No clear channels, it was a boat shove-and-drag. We sent Tiny on ahead a bit when it was super-shallow, and eventually he decided to just run the road and meet us, as walking beside the boat on the slippery rocks in the rain was just dumb. The first 1km was hell, the next 4 very nasty, and the last 5 were fun for me and The Gazelle. We met Bash at the TA, but no Tiny! He'd ended up practically at the finish - long story. They closed the Adventure Swim, so we ran into town and met Tiny scrambling across the river just before the finish line.

This race was super-organized. Lots of safety on the course, every team got to hop on a podium as they finished with a bottle of sparkling cider. They made us all feel like heroes. Very tough physically, a very strong international field, and very high fun and safety factor. At the awards, every finshing team was up on the stage, presented with nice softshell jackets, even the TA crew.
We'll all get a DVD of the race too. These guys *really* know how to run a race!

I really liked racing with this team. We got along super-well, and used every AR teamwork trick in the book. We towed and pushed each other, took packs when teammates were sick or hurting, carried rafts and paddles for one another, gave teammates food and water, and our support crew were great!
We ended up 17/25, although we raced around 12th until the last leg. This race seems more about fun and less about results.

Event: Canadian Orienteering Championships Festival
 

Endurance Aventure Day 2
After a few hours sleep, we started on bikes. What started as a fairly tricky bike climb turned into a 500M high 2.5hr push-a-bike, then a Carry-a-bike as we walked up a hiking trial labelled "Difficult". The 'Bent was a bit cumbersome. Wish I'd brought a 5kg children's bike for this leg. Thankfully the lads had recuperated very well. Bash put many young female racers to shame.

The descent was great, lots of big bumps, and the 'bent was the vehicle of choice.
Next, a trekking section. The end of the section was one of those where it was faster to swim/slog through the lake than bushwhack.

We transitioned to paddling. Our boat was a pig, so heavy that we tobogganed it down the sand and grassy hills instead of portaging. This time there all 4 of us were to paddle our pig of a canoe to a cliff, where 2 had to climb up and jump in, then paddle to a rappel where 2 teamamtes head off with the canoe while the other 2 do the ropes and return on pack rafts.
Tiny and I did the paddling, which was more portaging than paddling. The boat had to weigh 40kg, and I was worried about my back injury as I tried to jog with it. Not going to happen on a 2km hilly road, and the toughest part of the race for me. Tiny took the boat for a section too, but on the second portage we just dragged it on the sand for half.
To our delight, Gazelle met us at the 3rd portage with some wheels PD had scammed for us from Team Sole. We hammered that portage!
Back on the bikes to the finish for the day. Tiny was a horse on the bike today!

Raid International Eco Endurance Aventure - 25-50 hr adventure race - Quebec

Eco Endurance Aventure Raid International
This race was a different format and organization than usual.
Our team was Cap'n Bash, me, Tiny, and The Iron Lunged Gazelle.
Day 1 started with us piling *everything* into the Treehugger van- canoe, 4 bikes, 4 racer gear boxes, 2 support crew tubs, all the personal gear and food for camping, and 6 of us, to get to the start. I guess it's broken in now.
We started with an Adventure Swim across a lake. In our pack rafts, we reached the first CP in 3rd place as others flailed along in swim fins and flutterboards, air mattresses etc. We were passed a bit while packing them up.
Next up was some very hilly bushwhacking, which worked well. Also a little road run.
We had another adventure swim, this time a couple of km to a floating CP and back, and the rafts let us put some good time on following teams. We were about 10-12 here.
Next leg was biking, and Tiny did a very fine job of nav. The Gazelle got hit by some nasty cramps on the bike, but sucked it up.
After this we split up, and Tiny and I did a jumar-assisted scramble up a 150M waterfall. At one point they hooked someone else on my rope just as I was doing a lateral move and I almost got hauled off the rock. Tiny found that this is his least favourite discipline. We met Bash and Gazelle who had hiked up to the top, a spectacular 500M high lookout. The way down was slow as both strong young lads had medical issues, so we got to the boats just as night was falling. After we got some soup into Tiny he was good for an easy but dark moving water section, and we paddled down to the finish for the day.