Training Log Archive: Bash

We dropped Leanimal off at Glen Haffy for more work on her super-secret and extremely difficult Thomass race course. Man, I would *hate* to be one of those elite males - I'll be surprised if more than half of them emerge from the forest before sunset.

The rest of us - Phatty, Goose, 'Bent and I - headed down the Bruce Trail in the direction of our place. Some difficult footing, with a combo of ice, snow and frozen bare ground, and at times I had to trot a little to catch up with the tall people. But there was good conversation, and it was great to be out in the woods. My lungs are definitely not all there yet, but I'm down to one major coughing fit that wakes me up per night, which is good news.

I stayed with the group until the BT met Duffy's Lane, then looped back toward home. 'Bent lasted until south of Albion Hills, then phoned for a Sienna evacuation. As far as I know, Phatty and Goose made it all the way back to Bolton. Good stuff!

The forecast is returning to winter again over the next few days - yahoo! We actually still have snow cover on 40-50% of our property, in spite of 12C temperatures for a couple of days. As most people know, the southern Ontario adventure race companies aren't offering any winter adventure races this year, so let's support the orienteering clubs who are putting a lot of volunteer work into providing fun navigation events in our area at a reasonable cost! Events will take place with or without snow, modified if necessary.

Jan. 26 - Mansfield Outdoor Centre - Waterloo Stars
Winter Adventure Race, Snowshoe-O and Ski-O

Feb. 23 - Horseshoe Valley - GHO
Horseshoe Resort Snowshoe Raid

Forgot to report that our youngest Tree Hugger, VO2Max, was selected this week to go to the Under-23 XC Ski World Champs in Poland next month! He was one of 4 men selected to the national U23 team. Yahoo!

A little test of the lungs. I've still got some recovering to do, but it's time to turn off the "sick flag" on my log. Yay.

Hard Core DVD with 'Bent and the pooches. If Hammer can do it 3 times a week, surely we can do it once!

BulletDog is doing really well post-surgery - maybe a little too well, since she escaped me and ran to the front door on a slippery ceramic tile floor today, which is strictly verboten. Dog physiotherapy sure is a time-consuming job! Ice, massage, passive motion, supported walking, etc. I wonder how much we'd have to bribe Slice to move in with us for two months.

Caron Shepley's Power Yoga for Endurance Athletes DVD #1. I've tried several different yoga DVDs lately, and after doing this one for the first time in awhile, I think it would be my recommendation (from my DVD collection) to athletes who are making the move into yoga. She explains everything thoroughly and offers alternate poses, which is great for beginners, but it's also a good, thorough workout suitable for people with more fitness and experience. It felt great to be doing something again! Not quite ready to run, but hopefully that will come soon. Still have a cough, but the 9-day sore throat is thankfully over.

Some additional exercises - straight leg lifts in various positions, calf lifts in different positions, lunges, lying-on-back-one-legged-bum-lifts (what *are* these things really called?)

At times when I feel this crappy for this long, I would give anything to be able to do a 2-hr run or a tough strength workout. I hope that when I'm healthy again, I will remember this and not let any training opportunities go to waste.

BulletDog is home! I'd asked for sedatives because she's hyper and loves to jump, and I don't want her to wreck her nice knee surgery. But when the technician came out of the hospital with BulletDog, she was completely docile (the dog, not the technician). They explained that she had been totally calm for the past two days and hadn't attempted to chew her incision or jump or bark or do anything bad whatsoever. They just couldn't see this nice little dog needing sedatives. Darn, that BulletDog is a better actor than I'd imagined. We'd been on the road about 10 minutes when I first caught her nibbling at her sutures. And by the time we got home, she was grabbing toys and trying to jump and run around. It's going to be a long 2 months... But the good news is that she seems to be doing really, really well.

Rats, I'm still feeling rotten but haven't resorted to antibiotics yet.

BulletDog is doing well, and her vet says that the post-surgical X-rays of her knee look great. They claim that she's not even barking when they put her in a cage, which must mean that her drugs are really good. Hope to bring her home tomorrow.

Went to the funeral home to see my friend whose wife died tragically in her mid-thirties. Very, very, very sad - especially with young children.

Arggh, it's been a long time since I've been out of commission this long - and I'm not feeling that much better yet. Some chance of strep throat, I guess, so it might be time to fight my way into the healthcare system. I've already got the necessary drugs, but hate to use antibiotics needlessly.

Higher priority tomorrow, however, is animal healthcare. BulletDog goes in for her ACL surgery at 8 a.m. Life is going to be different around here for the next two months.