Training Log Archive: Bash

Thomass Chase Sprint. In spite of the cold, rainy weather, the forest was beautiful and open and I felt great running. There was a lot of mud! It was hilarious to drag myself up the steep, slick slopes, clinging to saplings and sliding backwards whenever I couldn't get a good foothold. Going down, it was easy to skid out of control into big piles of dead leaves or (worse) logs. I was sloppy on a couple of legs and lost several minutes to silly errors because I wasn't super-focused for some reason. But it was fun and I was happy that 'Bent had gone out hiking with the Chase map to test his knee post-surgery. He had a great time and navigated really well since he had time to read the map in detail for once. Here's the post-orienteering ice pack pic.

Thomass Chase. I crunched my ankle between 1-2 which wasn't a great start but otherwise it was another fun, imperfectly navigated race in nice, open forest. I made a 7-minute error between #4 and #5 after using the "ridiculously rough compass" method of navigation. Turns out I wandered off the edge of the map which is why it was confusing when I tried to relocate - oops! Can't think of the last time I did that. Anyway, the important thing is that I totally crushed AdventureGirl! in the finish chute. She's in the middle in this pic - between her cousins.



I almost got Nick and Griz too! There was a reason for my final burst of speed... I could hear people from another club cheering a runner behind me and I wanted our club to get the extra point. It worked. (The burst of speed, not the cheering.)

At today's Dontgetlost.ca/GHO Christmas party, I was surprised and truly honoured to win our club's Ted de St. Croix Athlete of the Year Award. I don't come from an athletic background and if someone had looked into a crystal ball and told me about this 10 years ago, I would have said it was completely impossible. So... life is full of surprises and I'm excited about whatever new things may be coming up in future that I couldn't possibly guess now!

Big thanks to Hammer, Phatty, Leanimal and 'Bent who worked to assemble a photo slideshow (using the Hockey Night in Canada theme as the music - haha!), a list of 2010 race results and a sweet write-up. It's not the first time I've thought about how fortunate I am to have you all in my life.

Note that Hammer was trying to imitate the photo projected on the screen behind - the one where Getawaystix held my arm up after Logs Rocks & Steel (and nearly hoisted me off the ground).

Still more "Gone With The Wind" - it seems to be approaching a conclusion at last. I'm enjoying the movie but Scarlett continues to be a jerk. I pushed hard and thought about engaging core and large back muscles.

GUATS Adventure has moved to 8th after Day 2 of the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge! Turns out they had some issues on Day 1 - a broken paddle and a couple of mechanicals with the organization-supplied bikes that sent them to the back of the pack temporarily. The best coverage of the Canadian team is on the Breathe Magazine Facebook page.

Great ski up at Highlands Nordic with 'Bent. They have tons of snow for early December and we practically had the place to ourselves. It felt great to push hard and go fast on groomed tracks!

Urthbuoy has generously offered to help whip this sorry whitewater kayaker into shape for Coast to Coast. Vancouver in January, here I come! (Gotta love Aeroplan. And http://www.less.ca.)

Team GUATS Adventure is in 14th place of 50 teams after Day 1 of the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge. The race is close at the front and they're in the mix of top teams. The initial two stages are sprints, then the last four days will be a long desert trek and a long sea kayak paddle.

This was going to be a snowshoe run through the single track of Palgrave East - but that would have been serious overkill so I just wore Yak Traks. With the soft snow, slick hills and hidden tree roots, my pace varied but it was all tempo effort and felt surprisingly great. Maybe the extra training volume this fall is paying off but I think all this sunshine and snow would make anyone feel great! Lost the trail a few times - it's snowy enough for that. Slight knee twinge from yesterday's Bizarre Grocery Store Food Attack but it's going to be fine.

Hard Core Live with Caron

An awesome running strength workout using yoga poses.

The Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge starts at 11 p.m. EST and Team GUATS Adventure (Getawaystix, Frankenjack, Dr. Wells and Jennifer Johnson) will be at the starting line. Today was the race briefing, gear check and skills test, and the opening ceremony should be winding up as I write this. It'll be bedtime soon for our jet-lagged friends.

Many of the top teams in the world compete in this race for cash prizes that are awarded to the top 30 of the 50 teams. There is also a special cash prize for the top North American team - and there are only four of them.

In addition to the race website, which will feature SPOT tracking, you can follow the race at Sleepmonsters and Twitter. Lots of updates posted already.

After all the trash talk, I was expecting a big rematch at this Sunday's Thomass Chase but it seems that there's more talk than action. Registration closes tomorrow night! P.S. Tiny, watch out - there are picnic tables at this venue.

Leanimal and I went out for a snowshoe hike in the Humber Valley on a brilliant, sunny day. At 39 weeks, she wouldn't have complained if our snowshoeing had hastened the baby's arrival.



We didn't just plod along on the trail. Leanimal led us up the bluff beside the river.



The valley is beautiful after this week's snowfall.



Eventually, we decided that it might be wise to move to the non-treacherous side of the river.



I predict a quick comeback to competitive racing for Lee. Nothing stops this girl from training!

Treadmill iPod intervals.

Still more "Gone With The Wind". Scarlett is still being a jerk.

Happy Hannukah, 'Bent!

When I grow up, I want to be Joy T. I met this amazing British Columbian well into her senior years when 'Bent and I were paddling down the Nahanni River. She had incredible stories of outdoor trips in her earlier years, including hiking the West Coast Trail before all the ladders and boardwalks that exist today - and carrying the pack of a male companion who was having trouble!

She is now 86 years old and every year I worry until her Christmas card arrives. Two years ago, no card came and I assumed the worst. Then last year she wrote again and referred vaguely to a hospital stay. I did a happy dance around the kitchen.

This year's card just arrived with news of an upcoming 21-day trek in Turkey and a story about a recent hike up a mountain on Vancouver Island in 8" of snow where they "relied on a friend's GPS" and she "had no trouble descending the steep, slippery trail because [she] wears Yak Traks". I know 35-year-olds who couldn't keep up with Joy.

She mentioned how much she enjoyed reading about our outdoor exploits and hoped we were still - I had trouble reading this word at first because it was unexpected - "competitive". Wow - 90% of the people I know think we're crazy and simply express hope that we don't kill ourselves. But she was right on the money.

I can only hope to be like Joy when I'm 86 - and I am really hoping hard!

P.S. If I'm going to live to 88, I'm going to have to be *way* more careful. I was in the grocery store today when a guy passed me pulling a dolly with one of those big stacks of food on plastic shelves several feet high. In the corner of my eye, I saw him fumble the handle. The stack tipped and exploded - shelves of food flying apart with several of them aimed directly at my legs. I screamed like a little girl as they hit my shins and knee and I leapt away, dropping the food I was carrying. My heart rate shot up to its max and I'm afraid I employed an expletive in my response when the staff finally got around to asking me if I was OK.

What disturbs me is, I knew I wasn't in serious danger. There was definitely the risk of a knee or leg injury that could take me out of sports for awhile and my reaction to that was surprisingly visceral - I still felt shaky 20 minutes later. But that poor employee couldn't possibly have understood why anyone would care about their legs that much and I feel kinda sorry for him now. (And a little sore below the kneecap of my bad knee even though I didn't get hit that hard compared to a dozen incidents in Raid The Hammer.)

Tentative 2011 rogaining schedule - info gathered so far by the USOF Rogaining Committee, on which I sit:
* (January 22-23: Spain)
* February 5th: 6-hour in Tar Hollow State Park and Forest, OH. NSF Adventures.
* March 5-6th: 2-day (7 hrs/day) Snowgaine, NY. CNYO.
* March 12th: 6- and 3-hour rogaines, Salt Fork State Park, OH. COAR.
* April 9th: 12-hour at Escure Ranch (S of Sprague, WA). MergeO
* April 23rd: 12-hour rogaine, southern Indiana. Planet Adventure.
* April 30th-May 1st: Eco-endurance, Nova Scotia
* May: 6-hour at Big Muddy
* (July 23-24: 8ERC, Latvia)
* August 6: 6-hour night rogaine at the Great Seal State Park, OH. NSF Adventures.
* Rumored for end of August: SAGE rogaine, BC
* August 13-14?: 24-hour RMOC.
* August 20-21: 24-hour Dakota rogaine. Rick Emerson
* August 27-28: 24-hour. CNYO.
* October 8-9: 24-hour at Colockum Pass (NE of Ellensburg WA). MergeO
* November 12th: 12-hour rogaine, southern Indiana. Planet Adventure.
* November 12th: 12-hour rogaine, near Zaleski, OH. NSF Adventures.
* December 3-4: 24-hour. Get Lost!

Watched more "Gone With The Wind" and stopped paddling when the movie stopped at the Intermission. Really, it just stops for awhile with the word "Intermission" blazed across the screen. Scarlett is becoming a little more likeable. Pushed harder today since I didn't have much time.

Dropped my car off in Palgrave to get snow tires put on then picked up BulletDog from the dental office and ran home on trails and across fields through 15 cm of fluffy new snow. It's been falling all day and the forest is spectacular. I love winter! Before going out, I'd thought my legs felt tired and heavy so I'd debated whether I should run today but once I got going, I felt light and energetic, even on the hills. Maybe there's something to this whole training business.