Training Log Archive: Bash

Yoga for Psoas with Adriene. After focusing on glutes yesterday, it seemed fair to give equal time to other parts of my hips.

I'm not a morning person so I procrastinated on the Sunshine Shimmies challenge in the Spring Scavenger Hunt. This was the challenge proposed by PeggyD where we had to run/hike for 30 minutes around sunrise and again around sunset on the same day.

"I'll wait for a perfect weather forecast at both ends of the day," I said.
"If I sleep in, it will strengthen my immune system," I reasoned.
"I just want to drink coffee in bed and read Attackpoint."

Procrastinating was dumb, of course, because sunrise got earlier every day, making the challenge more difficult. Then it got rainy this week. Really rainy. So for my final challenge of the Scavenger Hunt, I hiked in morning fog and evening rain. I deserved that!



Sunrise, such as it was

I did the morning loop in reverse for Part 2.

Sunset



The trail leading to Home Sweet Home





This was Challenge 22/22. I've now completed the Summer, Winter and Spring Scavenger Hunts - almost 80 challenges. A lot of the fun happens in the private Facebook group. People do some creative, hilarious things and they post photos of their runs in Norway or the Grand Canyon or the Alps. It's been a great way to connect with new people and places at a time when I can't even connect with my usual people and places.

CMTR Scavenger Hunt Bookworm challenge!



'Bent gave me this book for Christmas in case I hadn't done any reading about diseases lately.

In spite of the title, the book is about zoonoses, the diseases that are - or were - passed to humans from other animals. This means things like Lyme Disease, HIV, West Nile Virus, rabies, sleeping sickness, salmonella and Covid-19. The author is a Canadian veterinary epidemiologist who has worked around the world.

In honour of the topic, I took one of my favourite animals with me on the trail.



The takeaway is that everything is tightly interconnected. The spread of disease isn't just about viruses and bacteria. It's heavily affected by social and ecological factors like loss of biodiversity and animal habitat, the existence of slums and shanty towns, climate change, inadequate drinking water, marginalization of poor people, lack of social supports, etc. Taking action on the environment and social equity can reduce disease for everyone - and it's the right thing to do anyway.

Cristina frequently mentions glute activation exercises in her log, which inspired me to look up a glute activation workout to do after some of my usual leg strength exercises. Nice to mix it up and I feel very activated now. :)

After the longer run yesterday, my heel was a little inflamed - not as bad as it's been but there were definite consequences. I'm thinking it may be related more to the hillier terrain than the extra distance. Stretching the heel puts pressure on the bursa. I won't try running two days in a row for now.

Sunday's 5K didn't inflame my right heel so I pushed it a bit farther today. I'm thinking about doing The Tail Chaser in May - a virtual race where participants run or hike around an 8 km loop every 3 hours. It's a more civilized version of a Backyard Ultra; you don't even have to do the same 8 km loop every time. The RD is Eric D'Arcy, who also manages the 5 Peaks Series. He volunteers with rescue pets so this event raises money for the Etobicoke Humane Society.
https://raceroster.com/events/2021/40248/the-tail-...

I tested a route to see if it might be 8 km. It's a bit long but it will be easy to tweak if I decide to sign up.

I stopped for chats with Slowrunner (bike), Thumbs-of-Death and Junior (bikes), Crash (on foot with dogs) and Neighbour Brody (big truck next to the mailbox). It was the most socializing I've done in a long time - yahoo!

Single track ride around Palgrave Forest, which was surprisingly crowded for mid-afternoon on a Monday. I met hikers with a large dog around a curve on single track. Pre-Covid, anyone on foot on those trails knew they were dedicated bike trails so they were careful to stay out of the way. These days, you have to watch for little kids. There was also a horse, two speedy solo bikers and a bunch of hikers in small groups. I've been riding a little more cautiously than usual because there's no way I'd want to go to a hospital right now. Trails are in excellent shape but we're expecting rain so there may not be much more riding this week.

I was encouraged by the way my injured heel responded to Thursday's stop-'n-go run with the dogs. Over the past year, I've often limped with painful inflammation the day after a run so I've taken long breaks from running. I felt fine on Friday so with the optimism of an addicted athlete, I tried running the Oak Ridges Trail to Gore Road and back. In the before times, this would have only been a small portion of a longer run but I'll see how it goes. I really, really, really miss my long runs and would love to be able to do an ultra again. If necessary though, I'll settle for hiking without pain.

Upper body - weights, TRX, machine, pushups.

Hips and lower body stretching.

The Next Town Showdown challenge in the Scavenger Hunt asks us to head to the next town over and explore an area that's new to us, learning about some of the highlights ahead of time.

I'm not a big fan of running in towns. Since my Home Town challenge was a tour of our local conservation area, I chose Cold Creek Conservation area, which I've only visited twice even though it's 25 minutes away.

In reading about it ahead of time, I learned some history that explained why I hadn't gone there much. It was a farm from the mid-1800s to the mid-1900s when it became conservation land. The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority built an education centre and managed two large shooting ranges. The TRCA closed Cold Creek in 1990, the year I moved to the country. So I vaguely knew it was a place with guns but it was closed now anyway, and then I ended up living near other conservation areas so I mostly forgot about it.

In 2006, Cold Creek reopened under the management of King Township with the land still owned by the TRCA. It has hiking trails and ski trails, offers day camp and hosts school trips and weddings.

'Bent, the pooches and I hiked the perimeter trail.





For a small area, there's a surprising amount of variety.











There are lots of nature information signs.



We found remnants of the old trap shooting range.





The trout lilies were out in full force!



It was great to explore a new-ish area. The dogs were grateful for all the different smells.

Great ride around Palgrave Forest with 'Bent.
(Bike computer distance)

Early in the CMTR Scavenger Hunt, I agreed with Caron and Jill that we would meet up for the Dog Jog challenge. They are cat owners but we get along anyway. Caron is the co-race director for the Furry Friends 5K event where people can race with their pets and raise money for charity. 'Bent and I have done it a few times. In almost a decade, they've raised more than half a million dollars for animal charities. So we agreed to wear T-shirts from different versions of that race and make it our theme.





Then last Friday, it became illegal in Ontario to run with people outside our household for political reasons. (It certainly wasn't for medical or scientific reasons.) As a dog might say, "Grrr."

So we compromised and ran separately but connected via technology. First the dogs led us in a Zoom "Doga" warmup.







Then I put on BazingaDog's skijoring harness and headed for the trails with him and AdventureDog. This video shows why I seldom take the two of them with me. After the first 5 minutes, I can handle them. Before that, there is a strong chance of injury, thanks to a super-excited 85 lb dog who is attached to my waist while he's being taunted by his younger brother who can be trusted off-leash. The only reason there's no profanity is that I knew I might post the video online.



After the initial insanity, things went pretty well. It was a run/hike/lurch rather than a run because... dogs.





Halfway through, Caron and Jill Facetimed me from their run. Caron included part of our chat in her short summary video of our Dog Jog. As always, she did a great job.

U of T medical prof and St. Michael's Hospital respirologist Dr. Samir Gupta answers the question: Which vaccine is best?

With so many challenges in the Scavenger Hunts, it's not surprising if one doesn't inspire me. For the 5th Element challenge, we're supposed to connect somehow with Earth, Wind, Water, Fire and Space. I just couldn't get creative with that for some reason.

To make sure I covered three of them, I borrowed PeggyD's idea of using a playlist of Earth, Wind and Fire.

I knew there would be snow today so Water was covered. And where the snow was starting to melt, I could see Earth on the trail.









Looking toward west Caledon from Thinker's Hill, I was surrounded by lots of Space.



I checked out a couple of areas that were devastated by the forest Fire in 2007.





A morning hike got me into a better head Space. Back home, we had a Fire burning in the fireplace.



And that's the best I could do! I've been hiking to rest my injured heel but I'll be running with two dogs tomorrow.

Rowing warmup + Lower body weights

The Spring Scavenger Hunt has another potentially serious challenge - the Jeopardy Jaunt / F-Cancer challenge. There are different options. People can build a run/hike around Jeopardy, Alex Trebek or a game show, or they can choose a F-Cancer theme, often honouring a loved one.

Following yesterday's hike in Mom's memory, I chose F-Cancer and hiked today in Dad's memory. I wore the ring Dad gave Mom for their 50th wedding anniversary. Counting the years they dated, they were together for 63 years.

A storm was coming so the sky was dramatic.



Spring flowers are going wild!



I ran into Crash and her pooches for the first time in ages so I changed my route to walk them home before heading home myself.

Like yesterday, it was nice to spend time thinking about Dad. He's been gone for 6 years and I miss him.





Some of you may remember his first 5K in his late 70s while he was living with cancer. I wrote about it here.



I found a plastic butterfly by the trail. Symbolism.

The Spring Scavenger Hunt has some serious challenges including the Memorial March where we choose someone to remember in our time on the trail. Mom passed away two years ago today so she was on my mind, of course. 'Bent, the dogs and I went for a family hike to enjoy the spring scenery in the forest. I also looked around our garden and knew she would be pleased to see perennials popping up. She was an amazing gardener. I knew she'd also be pointing out the weeds and all the work that remains to be done! I miss her and am lucky to have so many good memories.

Spring flowers, leaves in bud, wild leeks, happy pooches and the discovery of our 2nd missing dog boot in two days. Both had disappeared in deep snow around Christmas several kilometres apart.

Today was the start of Ontario’s newest, strictest, most poorly thought out, yet still half-assed and non-science-based Covid-19 shutdown. By this afternoon, the government had already rolled back the playground closures and the special powers allowing police to stop any person or vehicle and demand their address and reason for being away from home. The fact that almost every municipal police force announced that they wouldn’t do this was likely helpful. I’m in favour of strong shutdowns because the science supports them but the Doug Ford government isn’t willing to rile their corporate donors so they keep doing silly s#%t like banning outdoor activities instead of closing non-essential manufacturing plants or funding paid sick leave.

Rowing + lower body

Whoops - almost forgot to include the actual run!

The Spring Scavenger Hunt has a Hometown Highlights challenge where we're supposed to tour the sights of our home town. After some thought, I realized that I don't feel that kind of connection with any town. If I had to pick a home town, I'd say Brantford, where I lived until my 18th birthday and visited my parents for several decades after that. But it's not my town anymore and I never ran when I lived there. I could have run around the hamlet of Palgrave, which is 5 km away, but it wouldn't feel like a tour of home.

So I ran out our back door and visited the highlights of the forest that feels most like home.

Years ago, the listing agent for our house drew a diagram showing how our property backs onto conservation land. She was wrong and we only found out on the day we closed the deal. We need to run through the property of our wonderful neighbours, F&M. Thank goodness they allow us to do that. This trail is 30 seconds from our front door.



Their trail leads about 800 m to Thinker's Hill, which overlooks the Caledon hills to the west.



Fourteen years ago, a different neighbour started a 70-acre bush fire while burning garbage during a fire ban. The landscape around Thinker's Hill used to be very different - mature managed forest.



Here's what's left of the tree I found burning on our property two days after the major fire. I'd been going around with all my hydration bladders, putting out little fires. I thought I could put this one out, then realized it was much more than I could handle. The fire department sent a couple of guys to look, then headed back and got a whole crew!



Palgrave Forest is where we usually run, bike, hike, XC ski and snowshoe. 'Bent commutes to work through the forest.



Over the years, a fun mountain bike trail network has been built. It became very popular during last spring's pandemic shutdown when most other single track trails in Central Ontario were closed to riding.



It's maybe a little *too* popular now. This was mid-afternoon on a Wednesday in a parking lot that's inconvenient to access at this time of year.



It has also become very popular with fat bikers, to the point that it's not that great for XC skiing anymore. But fat biking is fun and things change.

And it's a great place to see friends like Slowrunner, who was at her 200th mile of the 267 mile Badwater virtual race.



Spring has sprung!



The Toronto & Region Conservation Authority manages thousands of acres of land in watersheds in this part of Ontario. We are near the headwaters of the Humber River in an area with many wetlands.



Frogs!



The Emerald Ash Borer has caused a lot of damage in some parts of Palgrave Forest - mostly in Palgrave West near our place.



The ice is never safe on Palgrave Pond! :)



The Great Pine Ridge Trail has become a bit of a bust. Nobody is quite sure where it goes anymore. Its legacy is that Palgrave Forest allows horses on most trails.



Duffy's Lane is closed north of the Palgrave Forest parking lot from Nov. 15 to April 15 each year. It's great because it adds a nice, hilly gravel road to our trail network.



On the way back, I ran The Covid Crusher single track that 'Bent built on our back hill when he was bored during last spring's pandemic shutdown.



We need to do some spring cleaning of our fire pit but you're welcome to come over for a distanced beer. Or a cookie. Or whatever. We don't see many humans so we're very flexible.



And that's the tour of my home "town"!

Upper body weights

A couple of Caron’s 10 Minutes 2 Zen videos. Dog owners often get company on the mat while they’re doing yoga, and today was no exception. It was, however, the first time that a dog has vomited on my mat while I’m in the middle of a deep stretch. Namaste.

The CMTR Spring Scavenger Hunt "Attitude of Gratitude" badge - a run to Palgrave village to give a friend a puzzle that I've finished. We had to focus on the positive while running and think of at least 10 things we're grateful for.

Of course I'm grateful for 'Bent, our health, my late parents, my brothers, good friends, our dogs, outdoor activities, a roof over our heads, a forest behind our house, and so much more. Most people in the Scavenger Hunt have very similar lists but this was supposed to be a challenge so I wanted a few more:

- In 2020, I learned that craft beer could be couriered right to our front door.
- Thanks to social distancing, only 'Bent knows if I've vacuumed the house or shaved my legs.
- How lucky are we that the Internet was invented before Covid-19?
- Coffee. Obviously.
- In a time of pandemic-related shortages, my longtime habit of buying way too much outdoor gear and clothing now looks like a brilliant strategy.
- I'm old enough to buy my own chocolate Easter Bunnies so I had three this year.
- 'Bent loves to cook. I do not.
- I finished my taxes a week earlier than usual so I have more time to spend outside.
- Both of us, my brothers and all the staff in 'Bent's dental office have been vaccinated with our first dose.

Rowing + Leg strength

Rodney Yee Power Yoga for Flexibility + extra lower back/hip stretches

'Bent and I rode over to Palgrave East for our first single track ride of the season. The trails are in great shape, especially the single track. There are a few low-lying sections of double track that were soft so we had to skirt them. Lots of riders and hikers were in the woods so we didn't ride too long. We took a break for a nice, long chat with Goose's sister and her partner and then another one with our neighbours. We finished with the trail that 'Bent built on our property last spring - The Covid Crusher.

Ministry of Silly Walks challenge for the Spring Scavenger Hunt. I was required to include at least 150 m of Monty Python-style Silly Walks, which was a better warm-up than I'd expected. In the spirit of the Stay-at-Home order, I stayed entirely on our property and looked for signs of spring with the help of a little bushwhacking.

Bloodroot



One of several beautiful tamaracks that became lunch for a porcupine. :(



Kale is so determined that even a harsh winter can't kill it.

Aerobics. Yes, that's right. Aerobics.

Caron, Jill and I did the All Out 80s challenge in the CMTR Spring Scavenger Hunt. I know Hammer would have enjoyed this one.

We warmed up with an aerobics routine. Caron taught aerobics in the 80s so it was more authentic than our outfits.



Turn your sound up, lol!



We looked up some old photos to plan our outfits. I may have purchased a fluorescent orange bathing suit that I can use for future costume parties. It is completely unsuitable for actual bathing.



I wore long johns and arm warmers on my legs instead of neon-coloured tights and leg warmers.

I don't usually wear makeup but you gotta do what you gotta do. I picked up the last blue eyeshadow from Zehrs yesterday, and I hear they covered their cosmetics afterward because they're non-essential and can't be sold during the stay-at-home order.



After our warm-up, we ran an out-and-back from Caron and Jill's places to the rail trail past Albion Hills. We waved at hikers and stopped for a few photos.

Rowing warm-up and a mostly-TRX workout with some weights and planky stuff.

The Spring Scavenger Hunt Top 10 Tango challenge is a 30+ minute run with a playlist of the top 10 songs from the year you were born. Participants of all ages have commented that they don't know or like the tunes from their birth year. It makes sense; most infants don't listen to all-hit radio.

There's more than one top 10 list for my year and I was surprised to recognize about half the tunes, including some Elvis. I ran back roads to Palgrave East where I ran into Slowrunner, who was doing the virtual Badwater race. I joined her for a run north through the forest so we could chat. She was born a few weeks after me and recognized the same songs I did, so I guess they had some staying power.

The one that resonated most for me was this one - not because it was ever played at our school dances (it wasn't) but when we were little, my Mom used to sing it to us and chuckle. My brother and I sang it and danced. He ended up making a career of musical theatre.

In case you missed it, new CDC guidance estimates that the chance of contracting the coronavirus through surface transmission is lower than 1 in 10,000. “If we took half the effort that’s being given to disinfection, and we put it on ventilation, that would be huge.” So enough with the deep cleaning and sanitation; let's get some fresh air flowing.
https://news.yahoo.com/end-the-hygiene-theater-cdc...

The Spring Scavenger Hunt includes a challenge to write a poem on the trail. Fortunately, the rules state that it doesn't have to be a work of art. I took BazingaDog and AdventureDog into Palgrave Forest to provide subject matter.
____________________________________

I don't have "a dog" - I have "dogs"
Together, they weigh more than me
They drag me o'er rocks and big logs
They leap and they sniff and they pee.

The black one is Brody the Bear
The brown one is Logan the Loyal
Forever, our house filled with dog hair
And cuddles and chew toys and soil.







Also, spring is here.

On a sunny Easter Sunday, 'Bent and I rode the Georgian Trail from Thornbury to Meaford and back. We've ridden the trail between Thornbury and Collingwood many times but this was our first ride west of Thornbury.



It was fun to see some different views and we were surprised by how high the trail climbed above Georgian Bay. We caught glimpses of several farm markets on Hwy 26, so we'll have to do a driving tour some day.

Meaford Harbour is pretty and looks similar to Thornbury Harbour.





On the return trip, we turned off to see Christie Beach Conservation Area. It's a great beach - probably very crowded with limited parking when the weather is warm. We saw some kayakers loading their boats. Then we rode through Lora Bay and climbed back to the Georgian Trail.





Others in our household were not impressed that we went for a ride.



I bought the same Lindt chocolate bunny that Mom and Dad used to give me. Traditions must continue.

Nice paddle on the Beaver River with Goose and Coach LD. We got caught up on their Yellowknife adventures and their new grandson, Ahfré. We saw our bald eagle and trumpeter swan friends again, along with other beautiful birds including sandhill cranes. No muskrats this time. The water was at least a foot lower so we couldn't paddle through the forest anymore. Once again, we had the river to ourselves.



We found two rubber rafts and each took one home for the garbage.



We went to the new location of the Blackbird Pie Company and bought buttertarts to eat on the deck with coffee.

Dog hike around our Kolapore property and a short walk on the Bruce Trail and the connector trail we built.



The Bruce was too muddy in places so we'll avoid it for a while longer. The Kolapore Trails Association doesn't want anyone on the ski trail network yet so we bushwhacked over to see what the northernmost trail looked like. As expected, people have been using it and trashing it, just like in Palgrave Forest. Some of the damage done every spring is permanent or requires considerable work from trail maintenance crews.

We have wild leeks everywhere!



I counted this for my Easter Egg badge, which means I had to eat chocolate afterward. :)

Tomorrow Ontario starts another shutdown. It changes almost nothing for ‘Bent and me in Peel Region although the maximum outdoor gathering size of 5 people may come into play when planning hikes, etc.

Bruce Arthur of The Star, who has written extensively about the pandemic, published a very bleak column about the frightening situation in our province. Text in the comments.