Training Log Archive: Bash

My plan had been to bike to Glen Haffy, hide my bike in the woods, then test-run the sprint course that I've designed for the Indian Summer O Fest. But the sunny morning skies turned dark before I had a chance to get out the door, so I scrapped that idea. However, I've only biked once in September, and next weekend is the Salomon Adventure Challenge Champs. So... I headed out to ride on country roads and the rail trail, and it ended up being a very authentic adventure race training session, complete with pelting rain, mud puddles and gusty wind. The rail trail had a surprising amount of traffic for such a nasty day. If I didn't have a race next weekend, I would have been curled up at home with hot apple cider and a good book. (Actually, I'd probably be mucking around in the North Am Champs registration database or writing the Caledon club's next press release, but it's nice to have fantasies.)

ThunderDog, BulletDog and I went to Bronte Creek for a fun, muddy trek with Sherpa and her two pooches, Ciara and Arleau the puppy. Great to catch up with Sherpa, and wonderful to return home with two very tired dogs. The highlight was seeing our Labs and other people's dogs splashing around happily in the river together. The low point was watching the dogs scratch themselves against a thick log onshore, then discovering that the log was actually a huge, deceased salmon. Yecch. Baths all 'round when we got home.

While watching the Simpsons. (No Daily Show on the weekends.)

Hilton Falls West with Coach Hammer, who helped me to interpret the many kinds of mapped rock features in that terrain. I now have a much better understanding of the types of rock that are intended to be portrayed by various symbols, and of the amount of subjectivity that goes into mapping this terrain. I've been relying on the rock features way too much, it turns out, and the same with the marshes. It's best to depend on cliffs, trails, or hills with at least two contour lines - preferably close together. Large boulders are sometimes useful, but aren't as reliable as some other features. The existence of a rock feature on the map can be helpful, but the absence of a rock feature on the map is not always useful information, i.e. you shouldn't say, "I see a boulder, so I can't possibly be here because there are no boulders marked here."

I'm thankful that Hammer managed not to giggle - and even shared some helpful pointers - as I navigated to different points. I usually got close enough, but sometimes lost confidence within a short distance of the control. (I didn't always have flags to find.) A few things that will help in this terrain:
- Stop and take more real bearings, instead of doing so much rough compass.
- Choose routes that are safer than what I've been choosing, even if they are longer. Relocating takes longer in this terrain, so avoid situations where you have to do it.
- Hold compass flat in the palm of my hand.
- Run around small hills, since they are often covered with slippery, lumpy rocks with big cracks in between them.
- Look up AND look down AND look at the map. Simultaneously. Oh boy...

Hammer is clearly in pain, so I insisted on very little running. I'm still logging the whole thing because I like to keep track of all my orienteering time, since there is more to it than just the physical training.

GHO Adventure Nite Sprint at Hidden Valley in Burlington. Wonderful, cool evening temperature! I didn't do any warm-up, which was a bad idea for a Sprint, since I'm a really slow warmer-upper. In any case, I had fun in the varied terrain and didn't make any really bad nav errors. It was exciting to use GHO's new, improved SI system!

On the long drive home, when I really should have been thinking up an outline for the magazine article that is due next week, I suddenly came to the realization that I do want to adventure race next year.

When I started four years ago, I had a sense that this year would be the last one - or at least the last one when I would consider myself to be training for AR, and then I'd move on to something else. Training for multi-sport can be quite consuming, even for a non-elite racer. I think I still am in the process of moving on, but next year can continue to be a transition to whatever that something else might be. I did a wider variety of event formats this year than before, and I'll try to do the same next year.

What brought me to this conclusion? Nothing too profound. I guess I just realized that AR is still lots of fun - it makes me happy. Plus I really enjoy my friends in the sport. Yesterday's night run with AR friends reminded me that we crazy folks need to stick together. Another factor is that 'Bent is definitely not ready to quit.

Our regular teammates have moved on to new pursuits, so that poses some challenges. But it's usually fun to race with someone new, so maybe that won't be a big deal.

So now I can start to think about making real plans about base training, etc.

Night trail run in Palgrave East and West with Phatty and Dr. LeAnimal (Team Adidas Canada), Gazelle & Gazette (Team Hunger), and 'Bent (Tree Huggers). Lots of fun to head into the dark woods with a great group of people, but these adventure racers DO keep the pace up. Plenty of laughs and interesting conversation, then we spent another couple of hours back at our place eating pizza and catching up. I guess this is exactly the sort of thing I should be doing in my rest and recovery phase.

This is the last time we'll see Gazelle and Gazette for a very long time. :-(( They are moving to Tajikistan next week on a 3-year contract to operate an outdoor adventure company. They're wonderful friends and awesome teammates - we're going to miss them very much.

Hard Core Monday - first time through the entire DVD in 3 weeks, and I was definitely feeling it!

I'm sliding into a recovery period that will probably extend until late November, when we get back from a 3-week trip to New Zealand. Then it will be time to ramp up for XC ski season, when we usually do our best training of the year. There's only one more adventure race in 2006 - the SAC Champs 12 days from now - and I should still be in decent shape for that. The North American Orienteering Champs are the following weekend, but I don't think my success (or lack thereof) there will have much to do with physical fitness, since the terrain is flat and the navigation is tough, so a slow pace is not a bad idea.

Looking for ideas... what do other people do during their base training phase?