Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Hotel pools are never really ideal for this sort of session, but I was a bit slack to walk to the main public pool on a wet morning (that pool - built for the 1954 Empire Games - was about a 10-minute walk away), so this was it. Never felt as if I properly got going, but a bit more awake than I was at this time yesterday (and not feeling quite as flat during the day, either - perhaps energised, if that's the right word, by the news that I've had two significant new issues dropped on my plate by discussions here in the last 24 hours).

Late afternoon was devoted to each chapter finding a Vancouver landmark to have ourselves photographed at. We contemplated doing ours at the Trump hotel (Vancouver has one, which I assume is a popular gathering place these days for demonstrations of all kinds), but thought that might be a bit too cheeky.

C • Wait for summer 3

Not really injury problems but otherwise a terrible run. Didn't sleep very well last night, for no obvious reason, and still felt half-asleep when I set out. Sometimes beginning a run shakes me out of this mode but it didn't really happen today. Had started out with thoughts of going to an hour or beyond - taking advantage of the last dry weather for a while - but was quickly reassessing in terms of "minimum respectable session".

Did at least manage to explore a new bit of the city, the Kitsilano Beach area after going across the Burrard Bridge (not as cold as it would have been in yesterday's wind).

I think this is talking about the Fitzroy pool, although I'm usually too early in the day to see any of the described subcultures on display.

C • PRR 2

Thought my quads (or perhaps other muscles) might have sent me a message about doing things yesterday that they were unaccustomed to. That didn't happen, but this was still a fairly mediocre run, and definitely a slow one. Headed up towards Stanley Park, just getting into its near corner at the far end. A windy morning, windy enough that waves were splashing over the coastal path, which led me to give it a miss (there's a section of the full Stanley Park circuit that gets closed under such conditions). Back OK for the most part but a little tight later, which is unusual.

Plunged into work in earnest today, although there was enough time at lunchtime to go to the waterfront and get pictures of the mountain view, this being the only clear day we're likely to see here.

Took the opportunity of a spare day in Vancouver to take to Cypress Mountain - first time I've been skiing in a few years (other than my not-very-successful outing into cross-country in Norway last year). Originally expected to have company but my potential companions pulled out for various reasons, so I was on my own.

I've actually been here before, on a previous occasion with a spare day in Vancouver. That was a weekday, this wasn't, and it was predictably crowded, with fairly long lift lines and, by the afternoon, quite crowded slopes as well. (I got the bus up so didn't have to deal with the traffic jams getting into the car park).

The locals didn't think the snow conditions were great but they seemed OK to me (there's been some fresh snow after the big storm during the week, which partly fell as rain at this elevation). Felt my way back into it on the first few runs, and generally spent the day on a couple of longish but fairly easy runs that I liked - did a few blue runs to prove to myself that I still could, but found them hard work (especially on the quads). No crashes, which some would suggest indicates that I wasn't trying hard enough.

Back in action - Achilles sore for the first 10 minutes or so but otherwise OK. A loop through Campbell River, starting out through downtown while I was waiting for it to get light (on a morning of low cloud and drizzle where it wasn't completely obvious that it was daylight until at least an hour after sunrise), then on a trail behind the suburbs which I presume, from its consistent gentle gradient and the odd cutting, was a rail trail. Moving reasonably well by this stage, although it was a little annoying that the elevation I spent 3km gaining was all lost in a few hundred metres - like a lot of western North American towns, Campbell River's street grid doesn't pay much attention to the topography. Definitely felt better for having done this.

The morning plan was to go out to Strathcona Provincial Park and do the walk to Lady Falls - the low cloud definitely made it a waterfalls day, not a views day. This fell through because there was snow on the ground out there - not so much a problem with walking itself, but with the trailhead lot uncleared and snowbanks along the roadside, there was nowhere to park. In other circumstances a 120km return trip to that might have been annoying, but I still saw some nice country, and it meant I had enough time to see two very impressive falls on the way back (I thought the Elk River falls would be worth seeing when a sign at the start of the track warned that flows could be up to 40 times normal).

Got the ferry back to Vancouver this afternoon. One thing which caught me by surprise was how many people use the bus to connect with the ferry terminal - which meant standing in the bendy bit of an articulated bus with a full pack. Not the most comfortable trip I've ever done.

C • Elk Falls 2

Noticed coming back into Nanaimo that it was carpeted with election signs, whereas nowhere else had been. Some post-visit googling revealed that there is indeed a by-election coming up here, and an important one at that (with an effective majority of one, the BC government will probably fall if they lose here).

Still feeling tight, and at times very sleepy (maybe not fully adjusted to the timezone) - didn't feel properly awake until after 10, despite having gone to bed at a normal time.

Made my way back across the island today, in better conditions than yesterday (although still with only limited views of the higher peaks). The coasts look even wilder at high tide than they did at low; on the other hand, the rivers have dropped quite significantly. It would also be fair to say that the economic transition from logging to tourism is less well advanced in Port Alberni than it is in Tofino (which is where, I found out via a 'year in review' piece in the local paper, is where Justin Trudeau goes for his summer holidays).

Ended the day in Campbell River, the northernmost end of the populated part of east Vancouver Island (from here it's 250km of forest and not much else to the ferry terminal at Port Hardy). Hoping to get to a couple of waterfalls inland tomorrow morning before heading back to Nanaimo and Vancouver, although from experience so far not a lot of park walking tracks have been opened.

Saw lots of driftwood on the beaches on both the west and east coasts, but nothing more unusual. Perhaps I wasn't looking hard enough.

C • WHat!? 4

The storm was still raging this morning and I thought that doing something in the afternoon would be a more promising option - but I still don't seem to be able to do it after spending a long time in the car. (The plane didn't seem to cause any problems, strangely enough).

I was a little nervous about crossing the island given the conditions, but BC seems to have a detailed and current road reports site, and the relevant road looked OK, so I decided to go for it. (Just as well I wasn't trying to take Highway 1 across to Calgary, which was closed all day because of avalanche risk). The road itself worked out fine, although it was one of those days where you didn't need to go looking for waterfalls - every gully intersecting with the road was a waterfall - and more substantial rivers were seriously pumping. Didn't do many photo stops - I come back the same way tomorrow when conditions will probably be a bit better. The storm broke just before I reached the coast, so I didn't see it at its wildest, but it was still impressive (the log perched on top of a big rock outcrop perhaps the most impressive).

Ended the day in Tofino, an end-of-the-line town which used to be a flashpoint in the battle over logging old-growth forests, but makes most of its money from tourism these days. Was a bit more indulgent at dinner than I usually am (a famed local seafood place), but passed on the $900 bottle of Grange...

C • Calgary Highway 1