Training Log Archive: Bash

Stayed at home feeling snug and cozy while snow swirled down steadily for most of the day. We were supposed to go to a Christmas party an hour east of here, but decided that it wasn't worth risking the drive. Too bad, as it's one of those annual reunion parties where we see people that we rarely see anymore. Even worse, I don't know what to do with the ingredients for Unhealthy-but-Yummy Christmas Potato Casserole, which was going to be our contribution to the potluck.

Shortly before dark, 'Bent and I headed out to snowshoe through the deep, fluffy powder snow. It won't stay this nice for long, since the temperature is supposed to rise. Snow is still coming down - absolutely fantastic conditions. :-)

'Bent and I tried Caron's new Power Yoga DVD. It's quite different from the first DVD and also different from our classes with Caron - more emphasis on continuous movement (vinyasas) and less slow stretching time. It's definitely aimed at people with some yoga background who don't object if their heart rate rises a little. Unlike the last DVD or the classes, there aren't detailed explanations of poses or suggestions for making them easier. Because it's a bit shorter, I could see squeezing it into my day more often.

It's beautifully filmed, and it's cool to recognize that the gorgeous backdrops are familiar places - Wasaga Beach, Collingwood and the Cheltenham Badlands. Also cool is the fact that the photographer is a regular attendee of our Thursday yoga class who works for Sports Illustrated, and the original music was composed by his son.

Didn't count the relaxation time or the bonus poses, which we haven't looked at yet.

It's not just yoga that has put me in a good frame of mind tonight. I heard some excellent news about some friends. :-)

While waiting for a big, much-hyped snowstorm to arrive tonight, 'Bent and I headed out onto the trails. I like training with a destination, e.g. running trails to a cappucino bar or riding my bike to an outdoor store. Today we skied through Palgrave East and West, carried our skis a short distance in the Reddington subdivision, then hopped on the rail trail and skied to the Albion Hills Chalet. It was time to renew our annual family pass to Albion Hills - one of our most useful investments, along with our Bruce Trail and Humber Valley Trail memberships.

It was great to see the ski and snowshoe rental place so busy today. We skied around the red trail, then headed home. Trails were *very* fast and hard today, so there was considerable incentive to stay upright and unbruised. I used waxable skis and a wax normally used in warmer conditions, which worked well. For once, I had better grip than 'Bent most of the time.

Now we're waiting for the storm and looking forward to fresh snow to ski on. In anticipation of losing our power, which seems very likely, we've filled jugs of water (the well pump will stop), charged batteries for everything from computers to cell phones, and turned the heat up a few degrees from our usual chilly 14C. Should be fun, but I hope the trees aren't damaged too much.

Our youngest Tree Hugger, VO2Max, has had a great weekend so far at the Haywood Noram XC ski races in Quebec. He finished 9th in the Open Men's skate sprint event on Thursday (1 km full-speed - the event where Chandra Crawford won Olympic Gold). That's the 2nd week in a row where he's sprinted well - and he's not supposed to be a sprinter. Today he finished 10th in the 20K pursuit (10K classic + 10K skate ski). Great results - his hard work is paying off.

A question for all you athlete types... I just read "Polar Bridge", a book about a joint Canadian-Russian expedition where they XC skied from Russia across the North Pole to Canada. It took about 3 months of skiing an average of 8 hrs/day with some rest days. They had heavy packs, but they skied slowly - the ultimate long slow distance training. A paper was published that included the following:

"Post-trek VO2max decreased by 15-20%... while the oxygen economy of loaded skiing improved by 6, 8, and 14% in the three subjects. These two long-tem adaptations appeared to have counter-balancing effects on the relative physical "stress" of skiing, such that heart rate following the trek was essentially unchanged from pre-trek at any given treadmill speed in two subjects and even decreased by an average 8% in the subject with the 14% improvement in economy."

Why would their VO2max decrease so much? Too much LSD and not enough intervals?

'Bent dropped BulletDog off at the vet before work for some tests, so I skied to his office (along with a bit of running along Hwy 50) to get the car to pick her up afterward and bring her home. It was icy from Tuesday's freezing rain, so I convinced 'Bent to trade his skis for the snowshoes in the trunk. His injured knee is making good progress, but there are some challenges that it just doesn't need.

Hard Core Live with Caron. We did some more of those standing-on-one-leg crunches tonight - this time with an oblique twist. If I can get good at these, I'll never feel unbalanced on my skate skis again!

Lots of leg strength needed in tonight's class! Caron's 2nd Power Yoga DVD has just been released, so we bought one to try at home.

Twilight run around Short Bruce, plus Big Hill (down) and Pine Hill (up). Wore my beeYOOteefull new Salomon jacket and felt like a movie star (thank you P&L). Not too much trailbreaking today, but in the places where I had to do it, the thick crust from yesterday's rain made it tough going. Tested the "sunset" mode on my new little waterproof / shockproof / freezeproof camera. I hope I'll be able to get used to the camera being so much smarter than I am. Good thing I still have my SLR to fall back on when I want to be geeky.

Blasting. Did twice as much of whatever it is that Zoolander does, but it only took me half the time. Ha.

Feeling sad that X-rays showed that our speedy little BulletDog (aka Mocha in real life) has some arthritis in her knee, and she isn't quite five yet. We see the surgeon on Monday, and she will likely need her ACL fixed. Adding insult to injury (literally), we've been called in for further testing tomorrow because her pre-surgery blood tests looked a little funny. My fingers are crossed so tightly I can hardly type.

Skied over to Crash's place, then we toured Palgrave East. Trails are in great shape, and even our waxless skis gave us a pretty good ride today. Nice to chat and get in a full-body workout at the same time. Excellent way to start the week! Our dogs were thrilled when I returned home with my tights and gloves bearing the scent of Crash's pooches, who gave us an enthusiastic greeting upon our return to her place.