Training Log Archive: Bash

Kudos to Carbon's Offset (Mike Brown) for his excellent performance at the 2nd hottest Western States Endurance Run in the event's 40-year history. He trained hard and developed his strength and running technique in addition to spending lots of time on mountain trails with Carbon. It all paid off when he was still running strongly after 100 miles! :) He finished early this morning in 25 hrs 50 min.

Everyone - including the winner - went more slowly this year in the heat. Over 100 of the 369 runners DNFed including big names like Hal Koerner, Dave Mackey, Gordy Ainsleigh (the original WS100 runner), Joelle Vaught and Bryon Powell (owner of iRunFar.com). That's right... CO beat all those top runners. ;)

For the play by play and some pics, check out the comment threads on CO's log. Congrats to Ang for being a terrific pacer for the final 40 miles - and to Ang's boyfriend Matt for working as support crew throughout a hot day and a long night.

To Shed.

From Shed.

Rode from Inglewood to The Shed via Forks of the Credit with 'Bent and Coach LD. After a great lunch, we came across from Erin to Belfountain and took trails back to Inglewood. It was a nice mix of riding - road, single track, rail trail, muck, rocks and puddles. We shouldn't have ridden the trails south of Grange Road though. It's clay so the drainage is poor, and the trails were pretty goopy in places. Fun trip!

Nice to be in the forest.





Coach LD had a close encounter with some goopy clay.

I want to give my ankle a little longer to heal so alas, no trail running today. I'm getting worried about my readiness for UTMB though so I went hill training with trekking poles, an ankle brace and the 6 kg pack I'd prepared for yesterday's WT course test. (Nice to use it for something!) I just hiked quickly instead of running. I'll be doing a lot of that in UTMB so it's worth practising. I found some good hills in Glen Haffy while listening to podcasts. Didn't see anyone else.

Carbon's Offset started running Western States at 5 a.m. California time. At 4:30 a.m., it was apparently "chilly". That will be a nice reprieve before the 40C temperature forecast later in the weekend. Updates will be on Carbon's Offset's log. Currently, they're under the comment "Sounds like you've got a..."
http://ar.attackpoint.org/log.jsp/user_10785

Also, there's lots of race info at the links I posted yesterday.

Excellent news offering scientific support for what I want to do anyway: Longer running races may be less fatiguing and damaging than shorter ones.

From Outside Magazine: "Compared to a group of runners competing in races a quarter to a half as long (e.g. UTMB), the Tor des Géants racers [300 km] showed less muscle damage, fewer inflammation markers, and less-altered neuromuscular function."

Perfect. Now I can rationalize like crazy
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/06/13...

Carbon's Offset is 2/3 of the way through the Western States Endurance Run 100-miler, and he is totally rocking it! He's paced himself like a champ and has been steadily rising through the ranks. Ang is running with him now to pace him through the last 40 miles. Temperatures reportedly got up to 108F on the course but it's cooled down nicely now. He should finish around mid-day tomorrow.

Standing 1-legged with eyes closed to improve proprioception. I seem to do better on my bad ankle. Go figure.

Harps and I had a WT course test fail today. A section of the 401 was closed, backing up traffic on Friday of a holiday weekend and messing up our already-tight schedule for a long day on the road and in the woods. On top of that, the updated forecast of 40 mm of rain with thunderstorms didn't bode well for our biking speed on trails, let alone our holiday weekend happiness. I love playing on the Canadian Shield but some days there's no place like home.

Congratulations to Carbon's Offset who's doing the prestigious and notoriously-hard-to-get-into Western States Endurance 100-mile Run tomorrow just 13 months after his first ultra. He arrived in California in time to enjoy a "massive heat wave" in the western U.S. The forecast for tomorrow is 39C, rising to 40C on Sunday. And it's a little more humid than usual.

Ang will be pacing him for the final 40 miles so I hope she packed her cooling shirt.

You can follow checkpoint times here. He's bib #108. The race starts at 5 am Pacific time tomorrow, Saturday June 29.
http://www.ultralive.net/ws100/webcast.php

Live race coverage (consolidated Twitter feeds) from iRunFar.
http://www.irunfar.com/2013/06/live-coverage-of-th...

Race website is www.wser.org

Go, Carbon's Offset!!

Had a nice e-mail exchange today with the new vice president of one of Canada's best-managed companies. It's great when these high-powered executives turn out to be regular folks who drink beer and pull on their well-used Spandex tights one leg at a time, just like the rest of us.

P.S. Congrats on the new job, FB! :)

More Wilderness Traverse course exploration!

Bob and I have been thinking a lot about route choice in the paddle sections this year. That isn't always easy to do since the geography may not support it. When we did our paddle/portage test two weeks ago, we arrived at a planned checkpoint by following our Route #1. (Actually, we'd meant to follow Route #2 but didn't have the heart to leave our nice trail for an overgrown one - which would have been a better choice.) Today we went out for a monster paddle-portage day to try Routes #3, 4 and 5 to that same checkpoint so we could figure out what to do for the race.



We were happy to see that black flies are over! :) However, mosquitoes and FDFs have moved in to take their place. We got a reprieve whenever we got a breeze on open water but it got nasty in the woods at times. I wore a bug shirt most of the day although I rarely put the head net on.

We passed by some spectacular, remote places where it would be wonderful to camp or make a lunch stop. (If only WT testing days included lunch breaks!) Our paddle-in checkpoint volunteers will have nice gigs this year.











Some of our routes weren't obvious. We sometimes started up (or down) a creek not knowing if we'd be able to get our canoe through.



In this case, we didn't. But there was a Plan B.



With the kind of exploring we do, we've had to develop decent skills for dealing with beaver dams. These beavers were some of the more industrious ones we've come across!





Following the beavers around took us into some cool ponds that are seldom visited.





The story of the day was our new discipline: "Portage-O". You just choose a body of water you want to go to, take a bearing and canoe-whack until you get there. Some of the terrain is fairly open but we went through some thicker, thornier stuff where I absolutely did not envy Bob with the 65 lb canoe on his shoulders. I carried a decent load too - a big rubberized canoe pack containing all our gear, food and spare water bottles.



I'm always amazed to see Bob walk into a wall of forest and somehow maneuver a heavy canoe through it. We did over 10 km of portaging today, and it wasn't all on trails. He only had one misstep when he tripped and had to put his hands out as he face planted. (Naturally, this happened on a very nice trail - not while doing anything difficult.) He hit the ground and waited an agonizing half-second for the canoe to land on his back. Ouch! That was hard to watch.

After we'd tried all 3 routes, it was late enough that we saw a nice sunset.



We kept paddling in the fading light and landed near our car just as it became impossible to see anything without a headlamp. Perfect timing! Now we need to look at all the data we've collected from our two trips and select our favourite checkpoint locations.

Super fun day on the beautiful Canadian Shield!

Still sorting through photos but Bob and I put in an awesome day of Wilderness Traverse paddle/portage exploration - out for almost 12 hours elapsed time. In the sea of bugs, we only stopped moving for one significant food and drink break while a breeze pushed us along a lake in the right direction.

We invented a new discipline called Portage-O, which explains why it took so long to do 57 km. Finished after dark and home at 1 a.m. Good HTFU training! Since Bob is the one who carries the 65-lb canoe, this may be the only testing mission where he was more tired than I was at the finish so I got to drive us back south.

Update on Jason "Hammer" Lane's result at RAAM. It seemed that he'd done pretty well for himself but I had no idea *how* well!

After 9 days and 16 hrs we arrived at the dock in Annapolis on Friday morning. In what was the strongest starting field ever, we went out hard and raced our plan.

Finishing in 7th place, Hammer was the only non-professional rider to go under 10 days, won honours as the Top North American finisher, and smashed the existing Canadian record by 16hrs.

'Bent and I went down to Albion Hills for the last few hours of the 24 Hours of Summer Solstice mountain bike relay. This is more than a sporting event; it's a festival so it's fun to be there even if you're not racing.

First we saw ThreePinJim, who had been relegated to an adult team this year since his daughter Skye had joined a team of young teenaged girls: "Brakes are for Boys".

Then we visited Osteo who took another look at my errant ankle, moved things around, identified which ligaments and tendons are misbehaving (including my Achilles) and explained how I could tape it. Other than the foot, I feel good today - a little DOMS in the quads but it's minimal. Aside from the foot (grrr), I'm happy with how I felt yesterday. My endurance is good; random body parts are letting me down.

Then we stopped by Harps' site. He had just received the bad news that he would be riding his team's final lap, and they were in 1st place in their category with only a 2-minute lead. By the time Harps headed out, there was a 1-minute deficit to overcome. Harps came very close to chasing the guy down but Team Purple had to settle for the silver medal.



Shortstack is much bigger than the last time we saw her and still mega-cute.



Crash sailed in after completing 17 laps to crush the Female Solo category - and all but 3? of the Male solos. Speaking of awesome female mountain bikers, Rebecca Rusch was there racing on a large all-female team whose places had mostly been filled by contest winners.

After enjoying a burger and beer while waiting to cheer Harps in, we had to make a quick departure when we got a call to say that the alarm had gone off in 'Bent's dental office. The quickest thing was for us to ride over to the village to confirm that all was well and that the police could be cancelled before 'Bent got charged a false alarm fee. (The alarm was set off by the cleaner, who was supposed to know the new security code but had inadvertently been missed when staff were letting people know.) So we got in some extra riding.

Hot, hot, HOT! At this time last year, we'd done lots of training in heat. Not so much this year, which is what made yesterday extra challenging. Our bodies just aren't adapted yet. There is a heat warning for the next few days.

Craigleith to Duntroon via Switchback Trail and main Bruce Trail.

From north of Pretty River Valley back to Craigleith - mostly Bruce Trail but one shortcut.

Today was our first UTMB of the year - Ultra-Trail du Mont-Bleu. Wow! Dee did a ton of work to design and test a challenging trail route that allowed people to run different distances. She set up aid stations, figured out transportation, prepared detailed maps (even laminating them for us) and even managed to get out for a run herself. She and Mr. Logie offered us accommodation and showers, and whipped up a yummy post-run meal. THANK YOU!!! :)

The basic route was an out-and-back from Craigleith, just west of Collingwood, to Duntroon, starting with the steep climb up the Switchback Trail, then following the main Bruce Trail white blazes. In the end, nobody did the whole thing without some sort of shortcut, and a few people did it in one direction. Nobody got to the optional extra loop but we can try that another time.

This is a tough, slow section of trail - lots of hills, lots of rocks, lots of gorgeous views and lots of poison ivy too! We did our best to decontaminate but we were out there a long time before we washed the oil off so it could be an interesting week. Simpy, your name came up a few times. Let's just say that 'Bent is worried.

Browner had graciously agreed to stick with me down to Duntroon, then she planned to ride her bike back. Red and Windmill ended up staying with us too, even though their pace is faster, so we had local tour guides. (Not that it stopped us from taking a few wrong turns onto side trails - but we should have been watching too!) Great company and hard work climbing hills. I was pacing myself with the intent of doing the full trip back so did a lot of walking.

The bad news is that I rolled my stupid ankle again within the first hour. It had seemed to be recovering nicely, and I thought it was ready for a big trail run with some light taping but no. As usual, it was some little twig on a stretch of good trail that got me - nothing impressive. The sprain was about a 5 out of 10, and the pain was getting worse when we hit the first aid station. Luckily, Dee was there with our drop bags so I put on my ankle brace, which I obviously should have used in the first place. It made a huge difference, changing it from a sharp, acute pain to a dull background pain. Virtually no swelling or bruising but my ankle doesn't do much of that anymore. I probably shouldn't have continued but I really wanted to get in some hours on the trail. Don't try this at home, kids.



At the turnaround point, the group I was with - including Tiny, who had turned around to join us - were all planning to stop. I realized that if I went back alone as planned, I would be arriving back at Dee and Logie's place around 9 p.m., long after everyone other than 'Bent had left. That didn't sound so great so I caught a ride to a road north of Pretty River Valley and met up with 'Bent, who had run back from the turnaround taking shortcuts to skip parts of the main Bruce Trail, as did Storm, Mrs. Gally and Dee, who also ran back from the turnaround. I ran the rest of the way back to Craigleith with 'Bent. The heat and humidity of the day was much improved by then, fortunately.



Takeaways:
- I should have forced myself to drink more today. I didn't feel particularly dehydrated in the hot weather but I didn't feel overly energetic. After I glugged down a bunch of extra liquid at the turnaround, I felt rejuvenated.
- I need a new ankle. Grrr.
- I need to experiment with different ways of carrying stuff in my pack; I don't think I've got an optimal arrangement yet for the things I need to access while running.
- I need to take Browner with me to UTMB because she is very punctual about reminding me to take a salt pill every hour.

Thanks so much, Dee. What a wonderful gift you gave us! Much appreciated.

Congrats to Jason "Hammer" Lane on finishing the Race Across America (RAAM) this morning - 7th place solo in 9 days 16 hrs 44 min. Things went more smoothly for him this year without being hit by the same car twice and going to hospital. Not sure what the Canadian solo record is, and Google is not forthcoming. He was running ahead of the record on Wednesday. It may be confusing because there was a detour due to flooding so small time credits will be awarded.

This is dedicated to BugsinTeeth and Osteo in honour of their first 50-miler last weekend.

Home to Inglewood.

I'm in that awkward transition between "recovering from ESAR" and "tapering for Saturday's big run" so I opted for a rail trail destination ride to the Inglewood Farmer's Market.

I ran into a few friends there, including Jan and Neil and their latest foster puppy - an adorable 8 week old ball of fluff. If we fostered dogs, we would end up adopting every single one! Jan, who rehomes a lot of dogs, said she doesn't like finding homes for puppies because (a) everyone thinks they want a puppy but (b) most of them actually don't, once they find out what it's like to live with a puppy.

The banjo band was playing and the lamb burgers were sizzling on the barbecue. I filled my backpack with goodies like organic baby kale, maple butter, local mushrooms, garlic sheep cheddar and rhubarb pineapple jam. (Yes, really! Made by our friend Neil.) Then I rode home a little more slowly with all my purchases. Along the trail, I chatted with Jeff Wright on his bike and Mike Huet who was running. Nice.

As an aside, I was talking recently with a nice woman in her mid-20s who has lived in Caledon all her life and occasionally walks on the rail trail. I commented that the rail trail can be a fun bike outing where you're never far from ice cream or coffee because the trail passes through all the villages since that's what the railway did. She looked at me blankly. I repeated my comment. She shook her head. So I explained, "Trains used to run where the rail trail is today. They took up the tracks about 30 years ago." "Seriously? Cool."

This Saturday is the annual Salomon Toronto Store Solstice Run. Salomon athletes will lead 8-10K trail runs from the store (with a little pavement to start) from sunrise to sunset. This year a prize will be offered at the end of each lap to one of the lucky runners. Depending on when you come, your odds could be really good!

Sunny paddle around Island Lake in the Eclipse. One thing I enjoyed during our preparations for Tierra Viva was having an excuse to listen to podcasts while I trained on the kayak erg. Today I tried this on the water and it worked just fine. The podcast was CBC's Rewind - a documentary featuring radio coverage from D-Day and later interviews with some of the participants on both sides. It always blows my mind to be reminded that so many of our war heroes were 18-19 year old kids.

Bricked it with a run on trails in Island Lake Conservation Area.

Around Palgrave West. My bad ankle feels completely normal when I run (and don't turn it!) but if I have to sidehill, it's painful. I wore an ankle brace for ESAR so I didn't have to think about it but it's time to get back to strengthening the joint. Beautiful day but disappointing that equestrians had gone out on trails softened by yesterday's rain and caused considerable damage.

Quick strength session - feet, calves, shins.

Doc Tarno was featured on CBC Radio's Fresh Air this weekend, talking about his studies on the impact of resistance exercise on aging.
http://www.cbc.ca/freshair/episodes/2013/06/16/sun...

Happy Day to my Dad - and to all the other Dads out there!

Event: ESAR
 

This year's ESAR was in the beautiful - and hilly and rocky - Beaver Valley, and I was a little nervous to be racing on a female team with much stronger athletes - Dee and Mrs. Gally. Thanks to Dee for hosting us in Collingwood the night before for some team bonding, packing and planning.

We started with a paddle on Eugenia Lake - and a near-disaster right off the top. Mrs. Gally's kayak paddle was the only one fully assembled when we walked over from the bus, so I tossed it into one of the faster canoes to reserve it. When we returned from our paddle bag a few minutes before the start, both the canoe and Mrs. Gally's paddle had been taken by another team. It took a couple of minutes but fortunately Mrs. Gally was able to find the team who had assumed that the canoe rental company had fortuitously supplied exactly one kayak paddle in their pile of canoe paddles and then thoughtfully placed it in one of the better canoes. Phew!

We guessed that most teams would head to the northern CP first so we decided to head the other way. I think that's how it worked, and we were the first to hit the southern CP - although there were 3 flags and we ended up choosing the one with the most difficult access so we got passed by a team as we extricated ourselves from the crowd. We then passed the wave of oncoming racers as we headed north to the tip of the island, then headed back to the beach. Although we'd never been in a canoe together before, it worked out well. There was enough of a breeze that I got a good upper body workout in the stern to keep us straight.

We'd spent awhile planning an efficient transition so we were all wearing bike shoes already, and we had duplicate sets of individual mandatory gear. Good thing too, since we ended up needing extra time for a wrestling match with Dee's SRS 5-piece paddle, which refused to break down. I could empathize since my old SRS paddle has done that to me before - hence, the new Epic 4-piece. We finally gave up and just handed it in.

We ran to the bike transition where Dee put the main map in her bike holder so she could navigate the roads, and I took the Kolapore map in mine. Next came the section that made me most nervous - mountain biking on roads (one of my weakest AR disciplines) with two powerhouse ladies. Mrs. Gally and Dee took turns at the front, and I worked hard to hang onto their wheels on the hilly ride. I was worried because I don't like to go anaerobic for very long in adventure races since I don't know how it will affect me later on. But anyway, we survived and made it to Kolapore, passing a few teams enroute.

I took over the nav as we headed into the rocky trails of Kolapore. I was back in my comfort zone when the riding got technical so my heart rate went down to a reasonable level - yay. 'Bent and I used to ski a lot at Kolapore before we were married so I'm familiar with the area. The key to navigating in Kolapore is understanding the trail marking system. Every trail junction is numbered with a small rectangular sign but I often didn't see those signs. More importantly, each trail leading away from a junction has a triangular sign with the number of the next junction that trail will lead you to. So the key is to memorize a bunch of those numbers with a vague picture in your mind of how far apart they are, e.g. when we entered the woods, I was thinking, "2-5-11-12, then turn toward 61 and look at the map to find the control a short distance later". Good thing we could do that since the riding often took our full attention!

We passed 'Bent, Harps and Wokitoki standing at the side of the trail between 12 and 61. Huh? We later learned that they were taking the scenic route to CP30, which we had already picked up. They recovered and roared up behind us. We dutifully let them by then chuckled as we stopped and quietly sent Mrs. Gally into the woods to pick up CP31. The boys came back a minute later. We met them for the last time on our way to CP32. They were coming toward us, thinking they'd gone too far, but turned around and came back with us. That's the last time we saw them before they won the race overall, and I think they owe us a beer or three. :)

After a very fun ride through Kolapore, we came out to the road and went up to CP2 where we could mark 3 optional trekking checkpoints on our maps. Only one teammate needed to go so I suggested to Dee that she change her shoes while I marked up the map. She's become a strong navigator so it might make sense for her to go on her own since she is a much stronger runner. The nav was complex enough that she suggested we go together, and she could help push me along. We got most of the way to the first CP before we realized that we had left both the SI card and the punch card with Mrs. Gally. Oops! Back on track, we finished the trek. If the volunteers were correct, we moved from 5th to 3rd place in here in spite of our forgetfulness.

We returned to the bikes and had another near-disaster when Dee's map board snapped off. After a moment of disbelief - partly consternation because it belonged to Mr. Gally - she yanked the map out and handed it to me while stuffing the broken board inside the front of her vest pack. We had a gravel road ride interspersed with a couple kilometers of mucky snowmobile trail. I remember riding this section at ESAR 2008 when I raced with successful landscape artist Cory Trepanier, and I was horrified that he may have injured his talented hands when he did an impressive endo in the mud. Luckily, his career has continued unimpeded. :)

We switched to trekking shoes at Old Baldy Conservation Area and headed into the woods. It seemed that CP50 came up faster than expected, then it seemed longer than expected to get to our turn-off to descend the escarpment. However, when I look at the Bruce Trail map and my GPS track, it all looks fine. I think the second part just seemed longer because of all the twists, turns and rocks.

We ran down a double track into the valley, then hit a section of paved road where Dee had me on a helpful tow. We headed into the trail system on the west side of the valley, and all was going well until I made a stupid distance estimation error thanks to some late race mental confusion involving the new map scale and probably a lack of oxygen to the brain! We turned off too early for CP52, which was supposed to be an old bridge over a creek on an indistinct trail. Whaddaya know, we found an old bridge on an indistinct trail but no flag? My Ambit says we wasted 10 minutes trying different things because I thought we were on a mapped trail a little higher than we should be. Then the oxygen flooded back and I realized that we were on an unmapped trail and probably had to climb a little higher. Sure enough, there it was. If I remember the results correctly, I think we gave up two places overall here. Grrr, I was so mad at myself for letting the ladies down.

We picked up the final checkpoints on top of the escarpment (puff! puff!) and were running along with a couple of teams for awhile. I knew that CP4 - the final CP near the finish - was deceptively difficult. In the morning, I'd looked up the ski hill and realized that the map vegetation did not resemble reality in any way. CP4 was still partway up the ski hill so the challenge was to not come all the way to the bottom without finding it, then have to climb back up. (Our team did that at ESAR in Snow Valley one year and lost the race by 42 seconds as a result.) We muddled across the slope through long grass and sudden drop offs - not fast going, even though it was downhill. Our GPS track looks better than it felt at the time, and we only had to climb up a short distance. After checking in there, we had a few under/over obstacles on the way to the finish line. Great to see 'Bent, Harps and Wokitoki in clean clothes sipping cold beers, savouring their win! We ended up 5th overall and won the female division.

Thanks to Mrs. Gally and Dee for being excellent teammates. Each one of us brings different strengths and weaknesses to the table, and it was fun to work together without ego to do the best that we could. I really appreciated their patience with a weaker teammate. They totally wore me out though - I am one tired puppy today! :)

Great to see so many friends and have a little time to chat post-race. Congrats to all the Attackpointers who hit the podium - there were lots of you! Last but not least, big thanks to STORM, Browner and all their volunteers and staff. That sure was a tough, fun race. :)

Ran around the local trails to test my ankle. Still undecided about whether to wear an ankle brace for ESAR. The down side is the risk of blisters with a wet sock in the brace for 5-6 hours. I wouldn't bother with a brace for trail running at this point; it feels pretty good in the forward/backward plane. It still feels pretty sore when I'm sidehilling though.

I've added my report on Monday's Wilderness Traverse course test along with a bunch of photos. It sure is spectacular up there!
http://ar.attackpoint.org/viewlog.jsp/user_920/per...

I think a few of us have noticed this lately.

No training but it was a proud day for a big sister - opening night of the first new Canadian production of Cats in 28 years, directed by my little bro at Mirvish's Panasonic Theatre in Toronto.





Brother Dave and my brother-in-law Tim Webb, also the Production Designer of the show.



Proud parents.



Yonge Street was hopping - even a red carpet for the opening night audience. Such a different experience for country bumpkins like 'Bent and me!





Tim talking to one of the news teams that came.



Junkyard stage.



Tim's secret signature in the junk yard that he designed.



Opening Night Review of the show from Toronto Broadway World. It should be playing all summer if anyone is interested in some feline fun. Kids love it; they can go up on the stage to check out the junkyard during intermission.

Wilderness Traverse paddle and portage course test with Bob in the Parry Sound area.

Normally we do most of our course testing in the fall and early spring but this year things didn't come together. We discussed the course design last fall, then Bob returned from ARWC in France with a bug that just wouldn't go away. We planned and cancelled course tests while he gradually recovered, and then the snow came. Spring arrived with heavy rains and crazy flooding. Aside from whatever risks or unpleasantness we might encounter, the race course wouldn't resemble anything close to mid-August conditions - so we waited. Then Bob went to Expedition Africa in May so - lucky us - we are testing the course in prime bug season.

We started out with a grey sky that slowly transitioned to light rain later in the day. It rained quite heavily for the last few hours. We encountered lots of bugs, deer and turtles. I was only fast enough to grab a photo of a turtle. She had just laid her eggs.



We didn't see anyone from the time we started paddling until we reached our finish point almost 8 hours later. In between, we enjoyed beautiful Canadian Shield scenery.





We are so lucky to live in Ontario where we have easy access to endless lakes, rivers, rocks and forest. There aren't many places in the world where we could just grab a canoe and set out for 36 km without knowing much about water levels or portage trails along our route. Today we honestly weren't sure whether our route was possible. We'd chatted with locals and looked up some MNR info but really, we just had to go explore it. This is my favourite kind of course testing - lots of paddling and portaging combined with a little bit of mystery. Bob was confident we'd get out in time for dinner but I packed my good headlamp with fresh batteries, just in case.



We paddled lakes, wetlands and rivers.









There was some portaging too - rarely on a trail as nice as this. In fact, this was the wrong trail. Oops.



More portaging. I would have offered to carry the 65 lb canoe but it was more important that I take photos.





"Are we there yet? I can't see from under the canoe."

"Sure - almost there, Bob." (NOT.)



Some of our portages were necessary because we came upon fallen trees or rapids a little bigger than we wanted to paddle.



In the more exploratory portions of our route, we did a lot of canoe-whacking where no portage trails existed. Cool.

We saw some interesting sights along the way.





As the rain pelted down at 7:30 p.m. and we still had a good distance to paddle, we were happy to stumble upon a cabin with a covered porch where we could add layers and put on our rain gear at last. Until this point, it had been warm enough that we hadn't minded being wet but now I was getting chilled. In case you're wondering, yes, Bob is texting while course testing - and no, this isn't permitted in the race itself. :)



Around 8:45 p.m., I wanted to open the dry bag to get out my headlamp but Bob wanted me to wait because he was convinced we could finish in daylight. It was already quite dim because of the rainy skies but when we pulled ashore at 9:13 p.m., we still had a few minutes of daylight left. (Like maybe *5* minutes!) Fun day!! :)

Much of our journey today will be included in Wilderness Traverse but not all. Some of the exploratory sections were very tough going so we've altered our plan to make the paddle less canoe-whacky. Lucky racers!

Cool! I just noticed that I logged my 5,000th training session on Attackpoint last week. Thank you, Ken!

'Bent and I could do more with our C3 Triathlon Club membership, and one of the benefits is legal use of a nearby quarry lake during the triathletes' swim training sessions. We were invited to bring our kayaks. It's not huge - a tour of the lakeshore is about 3.3 km - but the water is clean. When we paddle close to home, we usually go to Island Lake but it gets weedier as the summer goes on, and the beach is usually closed by mid-season due to bacterial contamination. So this will be a good alternative.

Unlike the last time we switched boats partway, I was faster in the Eclipse kayak (after 3.2 km) than the surfski. I await 'Bent's download to see what happened with his speed.

I apologized to Sean Bechtel for Dee and Mrs. Gally trying to scare him off the rail trail this week. ;)

My first attempt at a double Hockley Loop ended in a DNF. :(

Things got off to a great start with Myka agreeing to join me for Loop 1 at a slow pace in anticipation of a long day. We were walking most of the uphills unless the slope was really gentle, like one would do in a long race. We had a nice conversation for the whole run. Although the clouds looked threatening, the rain never came, and we even had some sun. We passed by a tiny fawn waiting for his mother (we hope!) in the long grass. We ran into other runners - my Facebook friend Scott Garrett and his friend Aaron.



And then after 9 km, I turned my stupid ankle again while pointing out poison ivy instead of watching where my feet were going. It's always something dumb like that. It's been a long time since the last crunch - some time in 2012, I think. This was probably only a 5 out of 10 but it wasn't one of those ankle sprains that goes away after a few minutes.

We went a bit further, then I stopped to tape it up. For the rest of the run, I was going back and forth about whether to do the 2nd loop. I really wanted to. I'd planned the day around it, my car was stocked up to be an aid station between loops, 'Bent had gone to visit his Mom for the day, and I really felt like I was at the halfway point as I approached the end of Loop 1. But I got occasional stabbing pains beneath my medial ankle bone, and I started thinking through the rationale for doing two Hockleys. It wasn't about fitness; it was about letting my body get used to pounding the trail for 6-7 hours. Given that my gait was affected by the pain, I wasn't going to get the proper benefit from the training session. I've also got some big stuff coming up - course testing for Wilderness Traverse on Monday and Tuesday, ESAR next weekend, and a longer training run on the 22nd.

So Myka and I went for a nice lunch at the Black Birch, then I came home to an ice bath for my lower legs. Luckily, I'm not running for the next couple of days so I'm hoping that's all it needs... :(

One of the cool things about UTMB will be standing at the start with so many of the world's top ultrarunners - people I've read about in articles or seen in videos.

But guess where Kilian Jornet is going to be that weekend? In *Canada*, of all places! He'll be running the Salomon Meet Your Maker 50-miler in Whistler on Sept. 1.

This race also accepts relay teams, and Salomon is encouraging people to put together teams of up to 7 people with the goal of beating Kilian. Team Dontgetlost, are you out there? This sounds like fun!

Today I went to the local government office to report my missing health card and get a temporary one. When I learned there wasn't even a fee to get a new photo card made up and mailed, I mentioned that I've been feeling like a bad Canadian for not taking better card of my health card. The guy behind the desk rolled his eyes and said, "We could learn a thing or two from the States." "Um, about health care?" "Well, we *are* the lesser country."

So there you go.

Now I feel like a bad Canadian because my taxes are funding his secure government job.

If you're thinking of getting a Suunto Ambit2S, there's an incentive to run the Salomon 5 Peaks trail race at Rattlesnake this Saturday. If you visit the Salomon/Suunto tent, they will be handing out coupons for a free pair of men's or women's Salomon XR Missions (trail/road hybrid shoes) with the purchase of an Ambit2S before Sept. 1. I'm not sure if the promotion is only available at certain retailers but if you're going to Rattlesnake, you'll be close to a retailer where you can use it.

It is too late to register online but you can register onsite on race day until an hour before the race starts (8:45 deadline for a 9:45 start). There is a kids' race before the adult race, which may give you another reason to go early.

Here is the DC Rainmaker review of the Ambit2 and Ambit2S. The lighter Ambit2S is considered to be the one that most runners would want. It is very similar but lacks barometric altimeter and temperature measurement, and its battery life is less - 8 hours in standard 1s recording mode and 25 hours in 60s mode. Ultrarunners would want the Ambit2, not the Ambit2S.

Great news for Boundless fans... The show has just been renewed for Season 2! :)

Mrs. Gally, Dee and I met at Albion Hills for a Tree Huggers team bike training session in preparation for ESAR next weekend. We would like to beat some boys. We did single track in the near-deserted conservation area, then we came out onto the rail trail and rode some hilly country roads for variety. We practised whizzing past one boy so fast it probably made his head spin. Not to brag but it was Sean Bechtel, one of Canada's top triathletes. But to be fair, he was on foot. With his dog. Coming toward us.

Mrs. Gally and I gently broke the news to Dee about our traditional team hairstyles for ESAR, designed each year by Mrs. G. Last time, in addition to our fluorescent fake braids, we had tiaras zip-tied to our bike helmets. Truly inspired. From Dee's facial expression, it was clear that we should have mentioned our little tradition before she agreed to race with us. But it's too late now.

It was perfect weather for riding - cloudy and mid-teens. We rode through our property as part of the loop and picked up 'Bent's old Garmin 305 for Mrs. Gally. Look out, world - she has a new toy, and she is excited!

Always lots of fun chasing the Fast Ladies. :)

Used bike computer distance. (32.7k on Ambit. With all the single track, that's about what I would have expected from the Garmin too.)

Missed my 2nd workout because I spent all evening looking for my health card, which mysteriously disappeared from my wallet. No success. I feel like a bad Canadian! :(

So I'll just share a thought for the day...

In addition to the usual routine, I added some bent and straight-legged calf stretches to keep my shin happy. (Not that it has been hurting at all since Sulphur weekend but I haven't gone for any 10 hour runs either.)

I also tried some running-specific strength exercises from the Adventure Science website. There are different levels and I contemplated skipping Level 1 but was glad I didn't. In the simplest-looking exercise, you stand with good posture touching the wall with back and lower legs. Then you raise one knee at a time, focusing on using the glutes of the stance leg, like a slow, controlled marching motion. I won't get anything from Level 1, I thought - except I noticed that my left glute engaged automatically when I lifted my right knee. My right glute didn't respond as well when I lifted the left knee, and I had to focus to use the correct muscles. Interesting! That's the hip that sometimes gets sore in ultras.

A little trail runner porn. ;)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2329112/Sp...

BazingaDog and I went for a run around Palgrave East and West. With the nice, light feel of my Sense Ultras, I can fool myself into thinking I'm a real runner - until I see the post-run data.

A certain dog made a lot of stops to mark territory - and then for his grand finale, he rolled in coyote poop - bleaaghh! That's even worse to clean up than poison ivy. :(

I ran the Bruce Side Trail to the Glen Haffy stile, went around the hilly loop to the south, then returned on the same trail. Great day to be out - cool and sunny.

I listened to podcasts and the time flew by. "This American Life" was about why things aren't getting anywhere with climate change. They talked with a climatologist who works with farmers and hates to make waves, and a Republican politician who was elected 6 times, then got booted out because he believes the science of climate change. He has started an organization that is trying to convince conservatives to come around on the issue, using their language and priorities. He says that about 40% of Republican voters are also convinced and worried about climate change but it is still the kiss of death for a conservative politician to say such a thing in public so the votes tend to be 100% in the other direction. Frustrating - like the gun issue. The other podcast was Endurance Planet where they always talk a lot about Maffetone, and now that I'm reading the book, it makes more sense.

In both directions on the side trail, I passed the same man who made me nervous - the only person I saw on the trail at all. I was probably being paranoid but he didn't fit the mould of the usual Bruce Trail hiker. I'm quite familiar with the orienteering map in Glen Haffy so I was plotting my cross-country escape run - fortunately, completely unnecessary.

The Ambit continues to measure forested trail distances a little shorter than the Garmin or the bike computer. So although I may be getting slower, it's not happening as quickly as the statistics would indicate!

Congratulations to my parents on being honoured this evening on a donor wall at the University of Guelph for their support of sustainable food production research as part of The Better Planet Project. Mom and Dad met at a U of G frosh week dance in 1951 and have remained involved in the university ever since. Both of their classes of 1955 still have annual reunions with impressive attendance, considering that their classmates spread out across North America, and most of them have celebrated their 80th birthday.

I needed a "do nothing" day. My body has bounced back pretty well from 80K last week but there's no point being stupid about it.

Speaking of stupid, I'm tentatively planning a double Hockley Loop on Saturday. If anyone is interested in a loop (or two), maybe we can figure something out. This offer is limited to the small subset of people who run more slowly than I do - because *I* will be running more slowly than I do!

Here's a little inspiration to kick off the week: Adam Campbell of the Salomon Canada Flight Crew hard at work.



Perhaps an inspirational quote might help too.

Event: Elora Cup
 

Fun mass start sprint at Elora Gorge Conservation Area with butterfly loops, a handicap box and a map exchange. We saw lots of people - often more than once - since there were lots of controls and different versions of the course due to forking and different age/gender categories.

I don't think I talked to anyone who didn't screw something up, e.g. I failed to notice the start of one of the handicap boxes even though Ralph met me at the control and said, "Box" helpfully. As I ran toward the wrong control, it suddenly occurred to me what he meant!

FunRun threatened to take me down in a sprint finish but failed. Sad, really. ;)

After everyone was back from the sprint, we headed out again to do a middle distance course in a chase format. Andrei L had a big lead from the sprint, which he managed to keep.

Female racers were permitted to drop any control of their choice from the point-to-point course. Right after I picked up #1, I took a short walk break to figure that out. If I were the designer, I'd put the best control to drop early in the course before people might be thinking about that yet. The best option looked like #6. (There were 22 controls to choose from!)

There was a small loop of controls in a bit of a messy area on the east side of the map. I screwed up and stumbled onto #15 when I was looking for #13. Because of the different courses, there were people around me who were actually going to that control, which didn't help - oops! :) I lost a few minutes in that section but the only real crisis was the huge patch of poison ivy around our #14. Rats, now I have to do a full decontamination of shoes, tights and socks.

With the different courses and control dropping, we kept meeting the same people. Griz complained that he had to pass me 4 times, and I saw FunRun a few times too. We played at being fierce rivals whenever we saw one another but the speedy lad eventually shot to the finish line almost 7 minutes ahead of me. I guess it *may* have taken a little longer if he hadn't forgotten a control. ;)

Great fun - I punched over 40 controls in an hour. It was a "you snooze, you lose" kind of day - and I *did* lose by 3 minutes to AdventureGirl! in the women's category with Marianna 10 seconds behind her in 2nd.

Thanks, Nick, Ilona, Laura and everyone else from the Stars for working to put this together for us!

The Orienteering Ontario AGM followed. The attendance was the lowest of any AGM I've been at, but the mood and discussions were positive. I'm a director on the board for one more year. Two positions remain open.