Training Log Archive: Bash

Dee, Amber and Nicole came to Kolapore for some orienteering practice before Raid The Hammer. The race sold out before I decided to go but 'Bent and I were happy to join them anyway to offer some tips and local knowledge. I designed a short course on the O map, which was made in the late 1980s for the World Masters Orienteering Championships. It held up better than I'd expected although the start/finish (our house) is not on the map. What a beautiful morning!



We wore our "Don't Shoot Me" colours even though it's just bow hunting season today. Nov. 2-7 is deer rifle season and we'll be staying away. Unfortunately, we hear gunshots on most days up there at this time of year, including next door where we think they do target practice.



Conditions were perfect for Raid The Hammer practice.









This intricate thing on the forest floor had us confused. I photographed it, thinking that Mrs. Tiny might be able to identify it for us. Turns out it was a fancy frost formation - cool!

Hoo boy, this was a mistake - at least for the first half. I've been wanting to ride the Northwest Passage ever since Dee mentioned that she preferred it because it is less rocky than other Kolapore trails. That is probably true earlier in the season but today it was full-on adventure racing mud at its absolute worst - the kind that sticks on your bike in increasingly thicker layers and gums up your gears and tires until they don't want to move. Also, there are some super steep climbs and descents that weren't compatible with muck. My winter bike shoes don't have a good tread for mud, which made for some extra hell hike-a-biking on the hills. The cherry on top was guilt because this is also used as a ski trail that we plan to help maintain. I might be able to see this part of the ride as Type 2 Fun with the passage of time.

The second half of the ride on the east side of Kolapore was soft in a few low places but mostly quite nice other than occasional boulders, which 'Bent was riding very well.

Since treadmill runs haven't made my heel hurt any more than running errands, I went for a quiet gravel road run including a short section on the old road in Palgrave East. Around here, that's almost as good as a trail run. It's fairly smooth but most importantly, I could watch my foot placement, which isn't possible in the leaf litter. There were hills and nice autumn scenery, and I only saw two vehicles in more than half an hour. Best of all, my foot doesn't feel any worse (yet). I stretched my heel before and after. Maybe that's part of the secret.

When gyms and fitness programs were shut down due to the pandemic, our friend Caron Shepley of Personal Best Health & Performance began posting free workout videos by some of the fitness instructors who work for her. There's a good-sized collection now, most of them about half an hour long with a variety of workout types - cardio, yoga, boot camp style, core, Pilates and even a breathing meditation by Caron.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAI1BCIlXpWb79B5m...

I decided to try a bodyweight Tabata session and it made me push a little harder than I do on my own so I'm going to try more of these sessions. They should be easy to fit into a day. I finished off with some heel stretches.

My heart goes out to my progressive American friends.

P.S. I wondered if there was a better word than “progressive” and was somewhat shocked at the results when I googled “conservative antonym”. The first suggestions were “radical” and “socialist”. Hmm, maybe some bias there.

My road bike, Princess, will be moving to a new home. Coach Barrie Shepley of the C3 triathlon club says that every year they have juniors who need a good bike so they'd be happy to have one in reserve.

Since yesterday's ride was cut short, I went back for more riding in Palgrave East. I figured the roots and logs would be drier today, which made it more pleasant. Beautiful late October riding with a sense of adventure because I couldn't always see the trail and never saw any of the obstacles under the leaves. Lots of hikers and bikers were out enjoying this beautiful autumn day. I finished with 'Bent's Covid Crusher trail at the back of our property. I make a wrong turn every time I ride it, which drives him crazy because he swears it's really well-marked, haha.









Our front yard is still colourful.

Storm and Browner came over and all our dogs had a great time bounding around the yard together. Then we put them indoors to nap while the humans rode around Palgrave Forest.

Unbelievably, we stumbled onto a new 2.6 km trail in Palgrave East - a place we thought we knew inside out. It was strange. Some sections looked like they'd been built earlier today while others seemed more established. The trail went right through a ruin, which I couldn't imagine being approved by the TRCA. There were some very steep drop-offs with tight turns at the bottom. It didn't ride like a trail built to IMBA standards, which is what the usual Palgrave trail builders use. So we figured it must have been built illegally, and 'Bent confirmed it with a knowledgeable friend afterward. That's a lot of work for someone to do on a trail that will undoubtedly be closed by conservation area staff eventually. Parts of it were fun but if I use it again, I think I'll go on foot rather than bike.

Unfortunately, one of the steep downhills had a large, wet log half-buried diagonally across the trail. Browner's bike slid out and she flew over her handlebars to a hard landing. After checking her for immediate injuries (we all put on masks), we did some hike-a-bike toward home. Eventually she felt OK to ride. Hope she won't feel it too much tomorrow.

We lit a back yard fire and had snacks while the dogs played. Scout and Contour were smart enough to jump onto the patio furniture with us so they could sleep by the fire. We were grateful that they kept us warm. I've been thinking that blankets and old sleeping bags could really help with outdoor socializing. It wasn't that cold today but we tried the blankets and they helped, so now they're on our Official List of Pandemic Protocols.

If you're looking for high quality running/orienteering snowshoes, 33-Off has them in stock now at a good price (for what they are). https://33-off.com/search?q=ATLAS&goal=0_2781f...

Is anyone interested in an older, seldom-used road bike? I hear bikes are hard to find these days. I have a medium-size 2010 Opus Allegro full carbon road bike that I only use on the trainer now - and not very often because I'm way more comfortable on a mountain bike. This winter I'm going to set up my old MTB on the trainer.

If you've been on AP for a while, you may remember "Princess", the road bike I had to buy when I unexpectedly won a free entry to the 2011 Coast to Coast race in New Zealand. We had a few good adventures together but I just don't enjoy road riding so it's been years since the bike has been outdoors. There is a trainer tire and a road tire.

Princess is a little too big for me and gave me a sore back even after a professional bike fitting - probably best for a rider 5'8" or taller. I don't know where the cut-off is to switch from Medium to Large.

I thought about keeping it as an "around the town" bike but Princess looks too nice for that - the kind of bike that might get stolen. I assume it may be difficult to get replacement parts for a bike of this age but it's in pretty good shape.

I also have a Tacx Flow trainer bought in 2012. It's not a smart trainer that connects to an app. It just shows you watts, cadence, speed - that sort of thing.

This is all free to a good home if someone wants to pick up one or both, or I could bring it along if we'll both be in the same area.

Here's a photo from Princess' early days.

So... with all the good advice I've been getting on rowing pace, I obviously had to include some rowing in my workout. I pushed as hard as I possibly could and managed to see a 2:08 per 500 m pace pop up on the display very briefly. But my first 500 m took 2:28 so I'm nowhere near the "fast high school girl" Melissa described.

I continued another 500 m - or, as we say in running, I went 1 km. It took 5:05 so it wasn't exactly a negative split. Hoo boy, I was working hard! I didn't warm up, which would have been a really good idea.

Treadmill run since it doesn't hurt my foot too much.

Easy cooldown on the rowing erg.

1 km of rowing as a warm-up. I'd set a goal of 8 mins/km but it turns out rowing is faster than I thought. My new goal is 5 mins/km.

Followed by foothab, which I haven't done for a while.

Sadly, it looks like World's Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge will not have a Season 2. Nearly everyone I know in the sport of adventure racing had applied (not me) so there will be a lot of disappointment. I was looking forward to watching it.
https://www.deccanherald.com/international/world-n...

If anyone else out there has an Ambit, I assume you've been getting pop-up warnings from Movescount telling you to switch to the Suunto app by the end of October. I dedicated a few hours to doing this, testing it, phoning Suunto Support and backing out my changes. Details here. The short story: Don't do it.
https://www.attackpoint.org/discussionthread.jsp/m...

Sadly, that was today's workout.

Too much rain and wind today, and too much pain in ‘Bent’s ankle. Instead of mountain biking in Kolapore, we temporarily hung art on walls that will be repaired and painted later this fall. ‘Bent had been champing at the bit to do this but I thought it was a waste of time since it will all have to come down again soon. Turns out he was right; the place feels much homier this way. Inspired by our indoor work, we went out in the rain to clean vents, remove a stump, pull weeds and make a fire pit sitting area for safe winter socializing.

'Bent and I met Dee for a hike north from Grey Road 19, starting on the Bruce Trail and exploring from there. We went up to 12th Sideroad and into Scenic Caves.









Poor 'Bent wrenched his ankle so badly that the pain made him feel nauseated. I've twisted my ankle regularly since I started orienteering and adventure racing but 'Bent still had his original tendons and ligaments so this was really sad. It's too soon to know how bad it's going to be. :(

We turned around early and returned to our cars through Castle Glen. We checked out the highly recommended trail along the creek that comes out of Lake of the Clouds. It's pretty nice! A friendly local resident directed us back to the Bruce Trail by following a trail behind his house.

'Bent and I went out to see if we could find Melanie and April Boultbee, who were running an 80 km route on the Bruce Trail in the Beaver Valley and Kolapore areas. We hiked west from Grey Rd. 2 into Kolapore but it turns out they were already on the next block of land. Nice adventure.

My injured right heel didn't feel too bad after 30 minutes on the treadmill this week, which was my first run in a month. It is pretty sore tonight after two hikes though. It seems that uneven ground is my main problem - not running. If I'm going to have to stick to walking/running on roads, it would be best to shoot me now.

First time running in a month - stayed inside on a treadmill to go easy on my injured foot. The foot has felt almost normal lately so I'll be interested to see how I feel tomorrow. There was some pain when I was walking during my cool down but it felt fine while I was running.

Warm-up kilometre on my new pandemic-inspired Concept 2 rowing machine. What should my goal pace be?

Followed up with free weights.

Short break to hike up to Thinker's Hill on our neighbour's property. Leaves are past their peak but I can't really complain.











After a busy month of moving houses and working on dental office admin, I should finally have time to start training again! My injured foot feels so good when I'm inactive. :( Maybe the break helped it - I hope so.

After a chilly breakfast on the deck with Goose and Coach LD, we warmed up by bushwhacking to the Bruce Trail and hiking over to Metcalfe Rock.



AdventureDog and BazingaDog joined us and behaved well - a relief after B-Dog's meltdown yesterday.

It was a perfect Thanksgiving Sunday morning.







Coach LD demonstrated a gymnastics move on top of a cliff.



I gave Goose the old orienteering map, which gave him a project. Yay, maps.



The Doughtys had never seen the University of Toronto Outing Club cabin where 'Bent spent so much time in his twenties so we took a detour to see it.



Thinking about it afterward, we realized that our orange "don't shoot me" apparel made us look official. Several of the cabin's inhabitants came out to say hello, including the current Cabin Officer, which was 'Bent's role in the early 1990s. They were very friendly and thought it was pretty cool that 'Bent had emerged from the depths of history. They excitedly showed us their project to reinforce the structure and insisted that 'Bent join them for one photo.



Then we headed back on the Kolapore Church Trail. Where it got close to the Bruce Trail, we bushwhacked across, then we followed our marked bushwhacking route back to the chalet.

AdventureDog looks so tiny and brave in this photo. :)

'Bent and I went out with flagging tape and pruners to work on our bushwhacking route to the Bruce Trail, which is about 600 m from the back of our property. We checked the feasibility of a western route with less elevation gain but were stymied by a serious stone wall that ran all the way up the hill. We decided that the hill climbing on our original route would be easier on skis, even if we have to take them off to walk a short section. We went back there and spent a while trying out different options for the steepest part of the climb. There is still a short stretch that we might relocate but we were able to start real trail work, which was fun. When we were done, we did some exploring with a compass to try to figure out our property lines on the east and west.

Goose and Coach LD came up to Kolapore for a Thanksgiving visit. We were all looking forward to an autumn paddle on the Beaver River. 'Bent wondered if we could take BazingaDog - something I've always vetoed because he is strong, heavy and can't be trusted off-leash. In a weak moment, I said yes.

As it turned out, that meant I didn't do any paddling because I needed two hands to hold B-Dog in the boat. He eventually escaped, jumping overboard into filthy black muck. It was a struggle to get an 85 lb dog back into the canoe without tipping us into cold water. After that, I was soaking wet and muddy, and B-Dog kept doing his best to throw the boat off balance. AdventureDog, an experienced canoe tripper, was humiliated on behalf of all dogs. 'Bent had to paddle alone so the Doughtys weren't getting to paddle for real.

After less than a kilometre, I ordered 'Bent to turn the boat around before we went for a swim in cold water. We sent the Doughtys on to enjoy the beautiful weather.

You would never suspect any of this by looking at the nice family photo Goose took as we turned around to abandon the outing.

Thanksgiving looked a *lot* different this year. We'd planned 3 nights at Arowhon Pines, the lodge where we got married in Algonquin Park, but with the Covid numbers climbing in Ontario, we cancelled with great disappointment.

Luckily, Coach LD and Goose were free for part of the weekend so we invited them up to test our Pandemic Visitor Protocols. They camped in the garden.



I'd set up a toilet tent and an outdoor handwashing and drinking water station. It worked pretty well except I forgot the toilet paper, and the hand soap froze overnight. But that's why we needed a test!

We sat on the deck and ate a takeout Thanksgiving feast from Men With Knives catering. We kept our distance and didn't get too chilly. So nice to be with friends for the holiday.

After a busy day, 'Bent and I squeezed in a ride on the Kolapore Wilderness Trails before dinner. The autumn leaves were gorgeous - not quite at their peak yet. As we were heading into the forest, our old friend Griff drove by and stopped to say hi. He's lived around the corner from our chalet for years but we hadn't run into him this year. As short rides go, it was pretty epic - lots of climb, good views and many rocks to bounce over. I should bring the knee pads and elbow pads I bought for riding in Sedona. It might give me courage to take a few more risks on the bigger rocks.

Late night mountain bike ride on Palgrave single track - following Storm and Simpy on a leg of Storm The Bruce while chatting their ears off. (That's part of a pacer's job!) This is Sean Roper's 100-mile trail run from Hockley to Home (Milton), which he is doing to raise money for the Bruce Trail - and to add a little more adventure to 2020.

It took me a while to find them in the dark since they were farther ahead than their GPS tracks showed, and we missed each other when they took a slight wrong turn.

Earlier in the evening after he started running from Hockley, Browner and the pooches came to our place for pizza by the fire pit. Simpy biked from his finish point and joined us briefly before they headed off to his start. This was a test of cool weather outdoor socializing - not nearly as cold as it's going to get. We are going to need some heavy outdoor blankets, I think. The fire pit alone doesn't cut it. It was fine for tonight though.

BazingaDog was thrilled to have guests. He'd been out of sorts today because 'Bent took AdventureDog on a canoe trip in Algonquin Park with two retired dentists. His friend sent a packing list that included "One dog, medium".

Highlights of a busy week:

1) They've finalized the leaderboard of the Summer Scavenger Hunt and I finished 194th of 2210 participants. It's not UTMB or Eco-Challenge but hey, I'll take it in 2020.

2) Not to brag - I just want to share valuable scientific research. I hit my lowest weight of the year yesterday after eating half a dozen pecan butter tarts in 3 days while cleaning Tree Hugger ABC 1.0 before the deal closed. There's been no time for exercise over the past week so clearly my strategy has been wrong all along. You're welcome!