Training Log Archive: Bash

The plan had been to ski here on the new snow that was supposed to fall overnight, but that didn't come to pass. So... 'Bent, Knobless and I made a last minute plan to drive up to Highlands Nordic for a fun classic ski. After slipping around a few days ago in slightly cooler temperatures, I went crazy with the wax and was punished as soon as we gained a little altitude. One of my skis was sticking, but the other one would slide, which led to a couple of dangerous moments and one good crash. So I did a bunch of scraping, and my wax was perfect after that! Great snow, excellent company, nice scenery, not too crowded once we got away from the chalet area.

On the way out, we ran into Coach LD and Goose with a busload of their high school skiers playing a form of tag where you only wear one ski. I'm sure if I'd spent my teen years doing stuff like that, I'd be a much better skier now!

Happy New Year! Wishing you all the best for 2010.

Fun New Year's Eve snowshoe around the wilds of Palgrave West with 'Bent, Slowrunner, Goose and Coach LD. The "blue" moon lit our way, shining through a layer of cloud. Perfect way to see out 2009 and celebrate the 20th anniversary of when 'Bent and I started dating. :-)

No friends of ours would be satisfied without tacking on a little strength workout, and tonight was no exception. Our old TV, which weighs just under 200 lb, needed to get from our basement (via toboggan) into the van for a drive to Bolton, then through a narrow door and down a stairway to land on a TV stand at the Goose Nest. There were some nervous moments but all went well. The line of the night belonged to Slowrunner: "You couldn't have given them a coffee maker?"

Argghh - mild cold and nasty headache. It would have hurt my head too much to do anything active, so I supported the economy by taking advantage of a couple of Boxing Week deals. You know it's bad when Visa asks the cashier if they can speak to you to make sure you haven't lost your mind over the last few days. "Your pattern of transactions is very suspicious, ma'am." Ironically, what raised the biggest red flag was a bunch of year-end online charitable donations - not my Boxing Week shopping. Apparently they put through 1 cent transactions each time before processing the real donation, and that's what a crook would do too.

As a former IT professional, I'm always impressed when their system catches me acting in an unusual manner. The last time my credit card *was* stolen, they'd cancelled it 5 hours before I knew it was missing. That's OK by me.

Last night we only got a few cm of fluffy new snow - not enough to smooth out the bumpy ice-crud, so I was just planning to spend an hour on the bike trainer. But then VO2Max skied up to our front door with the news that skate skiing conditions were pretty good in the woods of Palgrave West. He was right - it was SO much fun!

I followed his tracks for awhile, and it looks like he had a good time too. Since VO2Max is one of the fastest skate skiers in the country, it was like being coached to watch the length of his glide, the location of the pole plants and the places where he doubled poled instead of skating. Needless to say, my gliding could use some work by comparison! Conditions were excellent on most of the double track, but there was still some bushwhacking, scrambling over logs and ducking under fallen trees. I love this type of skate skiing - it's such an adventure. I was happy to run into CrashNoMore, who was out on the trails with Skyerocket. Both of them are becoming more fit every day.

The one down side of skate skiing on ungroomed forest trails is the possibility of catching your ski tip on something and going down suddenly, often with your knees in an awkward position. That happened to me near the end, and I saved my knees but somehow managed to smack my forehead hard into the pointy handle of my planted ski pole. Holy CRAP, that hurt. My only fuzzy thought was that I had to get up and push for home in case I passed out. With VO2Max and Crash already finished their time on the trails, the next person to pass by would likely be 'Bent. That wouldn't happen for 5-6 hours, and with today's frigid temps, I would turn into a Bashsicle before he arrived. My final km was just silly - I was rattled by the pain and not paying attention, so I fell twice on uphills. Now that I'm home, I've grown a little goose egg above my right eyebrow and it hurts to have any facial expressions. But that's OK - it's a small price to pay for a fun ski in beautiful, snowy woods!

'Bent and I did a tour of Highlands Nordic this morning and had most of the Red trail to ourselves. There was a chilly wind, my grip and glide were only so-so, 'Bent's knee twinged a little, and I wasn't feeling energetic, but it was still great to be out! All the black diamond loops are open now, and we took a detour onto a mysterious groomed side trail that seemed to lead onto private property. The trail was sprinkled with turkey feathers, so we think we found the secret barnyard that held the Christmas turkeys we'd heard about - all ex-turkeys now, of course.

Post-Christmas weight = 10 lb above the weight I'd like to be for running in 2010. The target isn't out of reach - I've been within 2-3 lb of it within the past year. OK, time to start shrinking!

It's official... Brittany Webster is our first Tree Hugger teammate to be selected for the Olympics! (Nordic skiing) Our new energy-efficient LED HDTV is arriving tomorrow, so we'll be ready to watch and cheer!

Merry Christmas! :-)

Woke up to big feathery snowflakes drifting down and 4-5 cm of fluffy new snow, so I decided to go skiing out our back door instead of driving somewhere. I detoured by Crash's house but nobody was home, then headed into Palgrave East for a tour of the trails - including the officially closed Red Trail along Hwy 50 (sshh!! don't tell anyone, but it makes a nice loop). Conditions weren't great in some places, and things got treacherous on some of the hills. Just below the fluffy snow was crusty, bumpy snow waiting to catch a ski tip. It was OK though - this is the kind of skiing I like best - narrow, ungroomed trails and occasional off-trail explorations through the bush. Light snow falling almost the entire time... nice!

Whee! Double header today! I promised myself that if I got enough things done - and if there was still any light remaining - I would allow myself a short skate ski at Mono Nordic as part of a Christmas grocery trip. About half of today's ski was legs only, which I've been doing a lot of this year in an attempt to remind my left leg that it is invited to the party too. It keeps trying to wimp out and make my right leg do 80% of the work. Not good.

It's important that I feel comfortable on skate skis soon because the Canadian Ski Orienteering Champs are just one month away! So far there is only one other competitor in my category, but she is the course setter's wife, so I'll have to train extra hard. :-) I'll need to start practising with a map holder soon, since my current lack of coordination on skate skis could make that deadly. Some progress has been made... this was only level 3 intensity, which wouldn't have been possible a week ago. I still don't feel ready to skate ski with anyone else, but maybe in another week I'll be ready to chase my faster friends.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night! (No training tomorrow - or the next day.)

A little Christmas fun...

Happy Holidays to all!

So... this is what happens when you head out for a 40-minute ski in the middle of some Christmas errands, carrying no map and possessing only a vague idea of the trail network (Mono Nordic). I wish I'd worn my GPS because I'm not sure where I went, but there were lots of hilly loop-de-loops. I wouldn't have purposely subjected my pathetic tibialis anterior muscles to a full hour of skate skiing on the second run of the year, but I'm glad I got lost!

Just read the Copenhagen Accord. Even though it's liberally sprinkled with weasel words, the world's governments could only agree to "note" it, not sign onto it as a legally binding agreement??

Speaking of which, 'Bent just found this quote in an opinion column on Copenhagen in the current edition of our local newspaper: "I’m an environmentalist. I’m not on the level of P.F. or Barb Campbell (and God love them for what they do) but I care, and I try." Oh my! My initial reaction was that I should e-mail the nice reporter a list of a couple dozen local citizens who do it better, but on second thought, I'll just smile and accept it as an unexpected (and undeserved) Christmas gift.

'Bent, Bulletdog and I went into Glen Haffy South, then headed into the bush west of the Bruce Trail into steep, hilly terrain where we snowshoed up the ridges and down the valleys, clambering over fallen logs, clinging to steep sidehills and balancing precariously on rocks as we crossed unfrozen streams. It's rare that we get to use the little climbing heels on our MSR snowshoes, but they saw a lot of action today. Fun!

'Bent, BulletDog and I went out in Palgrave with Tino and four women who wanted to try orienteering for the first time. I'm not a great coach of newbies, but I'm trying to improve because I've promised to lead a session for the local Cub Scouts in the spring - yikes! Most of the women showed a good aptitude for navigation, especially one who worked as an architect for many years. Hope we can get them to join the Caledon Navigators! BobTheNavigator, Phatty and Leanimal were out in the woods running around last week's contours-only course, so we caught a few glimpses of them. Brrrr, COLD!

Great run around Highlands Nordic on a perfect day - chilly enough to make it good for classic skiing and nice clear views down to Georgian Bay. Even more fun than my Thursday outing because of the awesome company - 'Bent, Tiny, Tommy Hillflyer and Phatty. BobTheNavigator was there too (the only car in the parking lot with a kayak on the roof!), but he was skate skiing with Sean Ruppel and co. We chatted a bit with Almageddon who was looking speedy as always. We kept up a good pace, and I took 14 minutes off the loop I did two days ago. Must do this again soon!

First skate ski of the season - and as always, it made me feel like a total loser. It's hard to convince myself that I *want* to skate since I feel soooo much more comfortable on my classic gear. But I made it around a hilly loop with only a few wimp-out stops, and it was definitely good for me. Coach LD informed me that I possess a tibialis muscle (who knew?), and that's what was hurting so much. Anyone know how to train up a tibialis?

It'll be easier next time. Really.

Thank you 'Bent for my fast new waxless skis! :-)
Lest anyone worry that I've gone to the dark side, I'm adding these skis to a stable that includes:
- 1 pr classic racing skis, waxable
- 2 prs classic touring skis (rock skis and good skis), both waxable
- 1 pr classic touring skis, waxless (now to become my rock waxless skis)
- 1 pr skate skis (still need rock skis for skating, but if I keep using this one pair for everything, it will be a self-fulfilling prophecy)

The Olympic torch made it to Bolton today!















Goose and Gosling are going to the Olympics!

OK, I hesitate to share this addictive website - addictive if you like navigation, that is. I have friends (you KNOW who you are) who have little interest in video games, but they are glued to the World of O "Route to Christmas" - a new race leg every day. It's great training if you're not able to get outdoors - and even if you are. Enjoy! (But don't say I didn't warn you.)
http://news.worldofo.com/

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! (As Lewis Carroll might say...) All week I'd been measuring my "to do" list vs. the weather forecast, hoping I'd reach a couple of milestones by this morning - and I did! The weather cooperated nicely by dumping lots of snow at Highlands Nordic yesterday, then turning sunny today. I headed north at lunchtime for a quick trip around the trails. Excellent conditions, lots of fun, big smile the whole time. :-)

Hard Core Live with Caron. She brought in the Olympic torch that Barrie carried yesterday, and we each had a chance to see how we would look as a torch bearer. Interesting fact: Immediately after they finish their leg, if the runner is buying his/her torch, it is disabled to prevent it from being lit again.

Mmm, yoga.

Anyone interested in a pair of Olympic round robin hockey tickets for Tues. Feb. 16 @9 p.m.? Section 316, Row 7. Paid $176.

First snowshoe run of the year... Only two months till I have to chase Coach LD for 3 hours in the Salomon Dontgetlost.ca Snowshoe Raid. I'd forgotten what hard work this is! Great to get out - it's been a busy week.

Busy year coming up and for some reason, I've been registering early for everything including:
- Stars Winter Adventure Race with 'Bent in Jan.
- Salomon Dontgetlost.ca Snowshoe Raid with Coach LD in Feb.
- FAC Deerhurst with 'Bent & Shifty in May
- Storm The Trent Trek Elite with 2-Min in May

As soon as we figure out which course to do, the Lowe Alpine Mountain Marathon will be added to the list. We need to find a good 24-hr rogaine too!

Since the topic of books came up in a comment below - and in honour of Christmas - I thought I'd share this link to the National Geographic Adventure Extreme Classics: The 100 Greatest Adventure Books of All Time. Now that the magazine is defunct, I'm not sure what will happen to this list, so I'm going to print it. I've read a bunch of books they recommend, and the rest of the list is going to take me years to get through - and I look forward to it.

Their #1 choice is The Worst Journey in The World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard, a member of Scott's Antarctic expedition in 1910. I read this book last year. There is nothing more boring than the dry historical journals of some explorers (at least to me), but I love it when a writer from the past is able to spin a tale of incredible adventure, bringing me flashes of recognition and understanding based on my own experiences in the outdoors. It's cool to see that people back then were people just like us - not heroic caricatures. History comes alive when you can empathize with what someone felt a century ago - chilly toes on a winter trek, a stove that won't light, a tentmate's smelly socks or a damp sleeping bag. This book is very, very long, but it takes you into a frigid, windy world with no Goretex, wicking fabrics or outside communications. In the midst of the Antarctic winter, these very British adventurers gave scientific lectures after dinner for entertainment, cared for their horses and went on longer, tougher treks than most adventure racers would ever dream of doing.

Another well-written historical adventure book is "Scrambles Amongst the Alps" (1871) by Edward Whymper, the first person to climb the Matterhorn.

Coming off his Alberta Cup win last weekend, our Tree Hugger teammate VO2Max had another great weekend of nordic ski racing, this time at the Haywood Noram at Sovereign Lake, B.C. Saturday's15K skate race was a qualifier for the final three (I think) spots on Canada's Olympic team, so competition was stiff. VO2Max was 7th Canadian, racing credibly with - and ahead of - some of the big guns from both Canada and the U.S. (Cheesesteak tweeted from the race, which was almost as exciting as being there!) V-Max was among the top 10 Canadians in yesterday's skate sprint as well. The Olympics weren't his goal for this year, but this should help him get selected for an upcoming World Cup race, and hopefully he can keep up the good work for the national U23 team trials in early January. Yahoo!

While watching an old Daily Show with Al Gore. Jon's best question: "Since when is Truth more important than Convenience?"

Caledon Navigators training session on the south side of Palgrave East. It was 'Bent's first time setting an orienteering course, and he did a great job, setting 18 controls on a 1:5,000 "contours only" map. Seventeen of us had signed up, but the weather was less than perfect - around 0C, icy rain falling, ankle-deep snow. I felt badly for 'Bent because I figured we'd be lucky if half those people showed up after all the work he'd put into it. But never under-estimate the toughness of the Caledon Navigators... every single one of those 17 people showed up - along with an 18th who hadn't pre-registered.

There was a family with girls aged 5 and 8, and I was afraid they might not enjoy it since it was pretty advanced for someone relatively new to the sport - and it was a cold day to spend much time standing still. I ran out to catch up with them after they'd been on the course for 10 minutes. It worked out well - one of the girls was good at spotting the ribbons, and we needed both their opinions to determine which control number was written on each ribbon. ;-) They'd brought along a visiting relative who picked it up quickly and asked if there might be an O club in Ottawa. So I got to do some Ovangelism and did my best to make it seem like a fun treasure hunt for the kids.

We all enjoyed hot chocolate, cider, cookies, Crash-brownies and good conversation afterward. In the end, we barely noticed the rain at all. :-)

This afternoon, 'Bent, Crash and I - and a few dozen others - went to Palgrave United Church where we saw the disturbing movie Food Inc. and took part in their 350.org climate change event. Churches around the world were supposed to ring their bells today, but we banged pots because their little church doesn't have bells. We also sang a rousing chorus of "Climate Change is Coming to Town", one of the season's new climate change carols.

The plan was a morning ski at Highlands Nordic before a Christmas party later today. I got all my stuff ready after a post-midnight return from Toronto, but when my alarm went off, I realized it would mean doing six 1+ hr drives between Fri. evening and Sat. evening, most of them on my own because 'Bent is in the city on a course. Not much fun and somewhat guilt-inducing during the Copenhagen talks. So BulletDog and I went skiing around Palgrave West instead.

Speaking of guilt-inducing, poor ThunderDog is too old to come for a real ski anymore, and I took advantage of her poor hearing to sneak around the house while she slept, hoping to get outside without her noticing. She doesn't know that she can't ski anymore, and she gets upset when she gets left behind - and when she gets upset, watch out! We've been closing the kitchen garbage pail with velcro for the past couple of years, with a big "Beware of Dog" sign on it so that other people will understand the purpose of the velcro. A couple of weeks ago when I left her to go running, she ATE that sign and spat it out in little pieces all over the kitchen floor. Anyway, she was in a better mood this time and simply demanded dog treats in exchange for good behaviour.

The first ski of the year in Palgrave West is never an intensity workout since there can be obstacles on the trail, e.g. trees, rocks, branches. Also, BulletDog likes to run uphill while I'm skiing downhill, leaping at my ski tips and play-nipping at them. She's got plates and screws in her leg after complex, expensive knee surgery, and the doc says she has a 50% probability of tearing her other ACL some day. This hasn't slowed her down one bit, but I'd sure hate to run her over and hasten the next round of surgery. Just try to explain that to a dog who is leaping and rolling in the snow in front of my skis, having the time of her life. So it was a good strength and agility workout, as I always had to stay in control, but I'll have to get to a ski centre to work on speed. Fantastic day out there!

It looked so wholesome at the grocery store deli counter - "Wheatberry Salad with peppers and raisins in vinaigrette". Sure, there's oil in the dressing, but it looks like a plain, virtuous-looking salad full of fibre and wheaty goodness. A medium container is about 2 cups and a bit - the amount you might scarf down as a healthy lunch.

Until you read the Nutrifacts, that is. That little container is 950 calories with a shocking 68 grams of fat. Holy CRAP. Next time I get an urge to buy this stuff, I'll stifle it with a couple of chocolate chunk cookies.

P.S. All of this is background to the fact that I need to lose a few pounds. It sure would be easier to propel my body along if there were less of it.

Back to Palgrave East to finish vetting the contours-only course for 'Bent's orienteering training session on Sunday. Time discounted for hanging ribbons (bigger ones than the preliminary markers - with numbers on them). Brrrr, that was a chilly wind. More than once, I was willing the big ol' creaking trees to hold themselves together for just a few more minutes until I got by. Great training!

There's a tradition in Caron's classes. If she wears orange, you can expect a tough class. Sometimes she shows up with an orange stripe on her shoes - and sometimes an orange tank top. Tonight she wore an orange long-sleeved top - yikes!! And our core class was consistent with the shirt.

It was an "orange" yoga class too. Actually, it was yoga-inspired strength training using tunes with a solid beat instead of our usual dreamy, relax-y music. Very different - and tough.

'Bent and I paddled the Nahanni River with a group 15 years ago, and we met 71-year-old Joy on the trip. She had amazing stories - like hiking the West Coast Trail before all the modern aids (ladders, boardwalks, etc.) were in place, and having to carry a man's backpack in addition to her own when he got tired. (She would have been a great AR teammate.) We haven't seen her since 1994, but we always got a long, handwritten letter each Christmas full of inspiring stories about hiking, camping and travelling - even photos of crazy costumes at Hallowe'en parties. She loved hearing about our adventures too.

I knew the day would come, and last Christmas for the first time, we did not get a letter from Joy. She would have been 85 or 86, and it was sad to think that we would probably never know what had happened.

And then today... a letter!!! She briefly alluded to things being much better now after passing through a rough time, then she jumped right back into stories about hiking in the Rockies this summer - 3,000' elevation gains in a day, camping with beautiful views. She enjoyed a trip to Costa Rica and thought about going back but "I don't do re-runs!"

Tears. Lots of them.

My presentation to Council on green electricity went well, and they asked interested questions, but I can see that progress will be slow, like turning an ocean liner. The Town is developing a strategic plan and vision for the next 10 years, and as a next step, they asked me to prepare a written submission that talks about how green energy might fit into the Town's vision. It's frustrating to go back to square one now when the Town was buying high quality Bullfrog Power a year ago, but maybe this will work out for the best. Although the Town has been buying green energy since 2006, they haven't thought much about what they are trying to achieve by doing so. Then when a company came along with a cheaper, lower quality product, they had no values guiding them nor any criteria to measure the product against. Unfortunately, Canada's EcoLogo standard for green power is rather weak, and this stuff qualifies.

So... more work to do.

Tested the first half of 'Bent's "contours only" training session for the Caledon Navigators this weekend. It's fun, but it might frustrate novices, so we'll include the detailed map to look at only in an emergency. We're busy Sunday afternoon so we can't afford to lose anyone in the morning! I stayed out in the woods too long and had to run back on the road in near-darkness.

Tomorrow I'm making a presentation to Town Council on green electricity. I'll be opposing a staff recommendation which will likely result in some tough questions (and rightly so). Send positive energy my way, please!

Woot!!! VO2Max won today's Alberta Cup 8K skate race at the Canmore Nordic Centre. Yesterday he did a 15K skate time trial with some top national skiers (not all of whom raced again today) and placed 3rd in a sprint finish behind Graham Nishikawa and Dan Roycroft. So proud of our Tree Hugger teammate!! :-)

Sprint before the Thomass Chase at Rattlesnake Point. Good thing this race only counted for determining start order for the 2nd race - because I blew it! As I started out running across the grass, my Grand-Canyon-twisted ankle suddenly stabbed with pain and went weak as I tried to push off on that foot. I wasn't expecting that, and I got to the first control feeling a little spooked. I saw people heading down beside the nearby cliff into a re-entrant, and I needed to be in a re-entrant too, so I focused on climbing down very carefully on the mossy rocks rather than taking the risk of looking at my map. A whole gang of us ended up down there and realized that we had gone off the map - doh! #2 was actually really close to #1 - if I had taken the time to look. Hmm. At that point, I knew I wouldn't be in the top ten, so I wouldn't get an advance start on the 2nd race, so I might as well just enjoy the rest of the race. No further ankle incidents, and it was great to see 'Bent out running again, even though he had a bit of a limp.

Thomass Chase - I had better speed than usual today, but my navigation was merely OK. I was often in a pack, which I'm not accustomed to, and found it harder to stay focused on the map when there were so many distractions. I only made one real error, and that was going around the wrong end of the uncrossable fence between #9 and #10. It was longer and rougher the way I did it. TD passed me there by making the correct route choice, then it became a running race on grass where I didn't stand a chance against the speedy TD! I finished 6th, and AdventureGirl! won both races - yahoo!

Fun, interesting courses by Tiny (who spent about 20 minutes course setting, if you believe his Attackpoint log). Rattlesnake can be a difficult map because it's long and skinny, but he made great use of the area. The top ten racers had a nice mix of handicaps, which is what the course designer always wants to see in a Thomass. Great to see so many friends out. Quote of the day award goes to Phatty, who informed an unnamed gentleman about a large and inconveniently placed hole on the front of his tights. "Hey dude, the barn door is open and the cow is peeking out."

Rodney Yee - yoga for flexibility

First run in over a week, but I felt good - maybe some altitude conditioning from Arizona? I decided to run at a 5K race pace, then realized partway through that the route was more like 7.5K and very hilly - oops! Baby Porcupine was waiting in his usual spot where Pine Trail leaves Mad Dog Meadow. One of these days we'll be pulling quills out of some pooch's nose, I fear. Awesome, cold weather - perfect day to keep the fireplace burning and pick up our Christmas tree!

(Route: Long way through F&M's to BT@Duffy's, then left to Salty Stephen single track backwards to junction with main trail, uphill to lookout, down to main BT, home via short F&M.)

I flipped through a magazine while waiting at the grocery store check-out today, but instead of a photo of Tiger Woods, Angelina Jolie or Oprah, I opened it up to a photo of me! There are some great pics and an article (written by Mrs. Spaff) about three 2009 Rock & Ice Ultra racers. The minor catch is that the article is published in "More", "Canada's magazine celebrating women over 40". Ouch - I've achieved my 15 minutes of fame by somehow managing to ski long distances as a "midlife woman", which is what the story header (definitely *not* written by Mrs. Spaff) calls us. The first friend to stumble on the article without any hints from me was a woman in her 70s. But if you're waiting in the grocery store line-up or wandering around the drug store, feel free to take a look way back on p. 96. Oh, and in case you're wondering, yes those *are* my legs skiing so fast that they're blurred in the photo! ;-)

Log entries and photos are finally all posted for our Arizona trip.
http://www.ar.attackpoint.org/viewlog.jsp/user_920...

Hard Core Live with Caron. We did a lot of stuff lying on our backs with our legs straight up in the air. 'Bent will be sorry he missed this!

Yoga class - there's still stiffness in my arms and legs from pole walking out of the Canyon. More yoga needed!