Training Log Archive: Bash

Would have liked to XC ski as well on such a gorgeous day, but early dinner plans with the in-laws in Toronto mean that we have to start getting ready at 2:30 p.m. Hope I can get hungry that early!

After a nasty, snowstormy drive to Collingwood, we hit the trails at Scenic Caves. Harps and 'Bent pushed each other on classic skis while Dee and I skate skied. Logie and the Riddler made occasional appearances. Lots of fresh snow and the groomers hadn't been able to stay ahead of it, so it was harder work than usual.

Dee and I did a few loops of legs-only drills on the Wild Goose, then she headed back to the lodge with cold feet. I did additional loops of the Yellow and Purple trails on my own. For a few minutes after Dee and I split up, I was keeping up with - but staying a polite distance behind - a guy with nice ski gear. He commented over his shoulder that he was on his second loop so wouldn't be able to go too fast. I acknowledged his tough situation and didn't let on that it was also my second loop. After the first real hill climb, he pulled aside to let me by and gasped, "I have nothing left!!" and I smiled understandingly. But does it make me a bad person that I kind of chuckled inside my head? I really am *not* a great skate skier!

I picked up 'Bent at the lodge for a final short loop where we ran into PJ and Getawaystix. Scenic Caves is such a nice place for skate skiiing - even though I'm a classic skier at heart.

Getawaystix put together a fun Score-O course in Loree Forest for the Dontgetlost.ca IceBreaker training event. I took the "training event" part of it more seriously than most people, setting out with absolutely no intention of returning within the 1-hour time limit - although I did come back well before the course closed.

I picked 5 controls on the east side of the map that looked like fun. In fact, it turned out to be so much fun, I could have sold tickets! (To the gong show, that is.) I thought I'd do some map memory work. Here's a little known fact: when doing a map memory exercise, you can go a long, long way down a steep, snowy hill before you notice that your map is no longer in your gloved hand. :( So I retraced my steps exactly. (Note to NewPatrick: this is considerably easier in snow, which shows you yet another advantage of spending winter in Canada.) I had to grab saplings to drag myself up and it took forEVer to find the map, but luckily I did.

Near the final, farthest and most fun control (#102), which I would have skipped if I'd been aiming for the time limit, there was some thick bushwhacking. A tree branch got caught in my hair and... hey, wait a minute. Where was my cherished Salomon toque? Once again, I trudged uphill, retracing my steps. This time, I had no luck. If anyone finds a lightweight black Salomon toque in Loree Forest, there is a reward. (Chocolate.)

I'd hoped that I could make my penalty points equal my score-O points but I ended up with -10. Rats! Kudos to the two ARK kids who kicked my butt. (They had the good sense to come back a lot earlier.) Congrats to Harps on the overall win and to Dee on the female win. Nice to see Frankenjack come all the way from Wiarton on a stormy day - he had a good run too. I'm most proud of 'Bent though. He finished 6th with a good run - and he *did* run for almost an hour on his surgically enhanced knee. Longest run in many, many months and it doesn't feel too terrible now. Yahoooooo!

Thanks to Getawaystix for a fun afternoon. I'm looking forward to going back and doing more of the course another day.

Quick ski around Palgrave West with 'Bent and BulletDog on a beautiful afternoon. Gorgeous in the less travelled areas but we could use a little more base.

Caron's Hard Core DVD. It's been awhile but it felt surprisingly good. 'Bent dropped by and cherrypicked a few exercises. BulletDog stuck around and "helped" us, which added considerably to the challenge. Dogs love seeing humans roll around on the floor.

A major milestone in my preparation for Coast to Coast... I've bought a kevlar downriver kayak in Christchurch - a JKK Eclipse 5.2, one of the more popular boats used by mid-pack racers in C2C. Mine is a demo model from the manufacturer. They've recently updated the design so my boat will look slightly different from the photo.

Other than paddling Getawaystix's Ruahine Rebel on flat water, I've never paddled anything like this. It's extremely light (10 kg) and long (17') and tippy compared to the kayaks I'm accustomed to. However, it's as stable as a bathtub compared to the speedy boat Frankenjack plans to race in! Perhaps I should start a pool with a prize to the person who correctly guesses the number of times I will flip this boat while in NZ.

While watching The Daily Show.

While watching Colbert. In a vain attempt to keep Urthbuoy off my case, I increased the weight on my rows, did a few assisted pull-ups and skipped the bicep curls.

With some misgivings, I'm adding Snowshoe Running as a new activity type. I wish AP had a relational database that allowed me to assign multiple attributes to a training session, then I could look at training data in different ways - all snowshoeing or all orienteering or all running or whatever. Since I've got a training goal related to running hours in 2011, I guess this new category is needed.

I went for a twilight / early evening run in Palgrave East and West - mostly East where I did a lot of the single track. The moonlight was bright enough that I didn't have to use my headlamp except in thick forest. It's a winter wonderland after last night's snowfall so it was beautiful! Much of the running was hard work - breaking trail through dense snow. I was lucky to stumble on some sections where Slowrunner had been out snowshoeing earlier in the day. Really nice! Didn't see anyone in 2 hours, which is par for the course around here.

I wasn't thinking about how much snow my snowshoes kick up in these conditions, and I guess I was pretty wet but didn't feel it while running. I cooled down by walking out to our roadside mailbox and back, then I was suddenly so chilled that I lost dexterity and took 2 minutes to open the ziplock bag where I'd put my house key. I was imagining a stupid scene where I would run to my neighbour's house 150 meters through the forest and ask them to help me with the intricacies of my sandwich bag. But fortunately, it didn't come to that!

Although it didn't feel exactly like New Zealand in summer, it was a good workout to prepare me to race the Snowshoe Raid with Dangerous Dee the Ultrarunner!

Speight's Coast to Coast is one month from today. Gulp. Whatever fitness I have now is about the same as I'll have on race day - assuming that I'm lucky enough to avoid injury and illness. I think my run/ bike/ paddle fitness was better in late November before the snow came but hopefully the race will be more about endurance than speed, and my endurance still feels OK. There is a cut-off somewhere between the 5-hour (for me) mountain run and the 7-hour river paddle, so until the taper starts, that is where my mental and physical efforts will be focused. It would be disappointing to be cut off and it does happen to a good chunk of racers.

I'm planning to wear a SPOT on race day and I'll post the website here so that anyone interested can watch my progress (or lack thereof) across the South Island. I won't know many people at the race, so it will be nice to feel that I can draw strength from friends elsewhere in the world who may be keeping an eye on me.

Back on Princess with The Daily Show and Colbert Report.

Jon Stewart made some excellent comments about the Arizona shooting in his opening segment last night. He actually made me teary-eyed while riding the trainer - and not for the usual reasons. It's almost 10 minutes long if you decide to watch it; just ignore the brief panda pyjamas sketch. Not sure if this link works outside of Canada.

<http://watch.thecomedynetwork.ca/the-daily-show-wi...>

Back in southern Ontario. If I want to do a trail/terrain run that feels like New Zealand in summer, where should I go? Does everyone have snow? I guess that answer may change by tonight!

(Updated to add Garmin track.)

I met Charm and AZ at Whistler Olympic Park in Callaghan Valley for an afternoon ski.



After watching the Olympics on TV last year, it was really cool to ski there!



AZ was a volunteer at WOP so he acted as a tour guide, pointing out locations of interest. I was a total tourist.



Here is the place where AZ watched in horror as Petra Majdic flew off the trail into a deep creek bed during her warmup for the Olympic sprint. Cheesesteak was one of the people who helped to rescue her.



Charm has a 70 km classic loppet in two weeks so I was able to stay in my comfort zone for the first day of this trip! Conditions were difficult for waxing so we got a full body workout. Charm and AZ are strong skate skiers so sometimes they cheated in the slick conditions.





Fantastic scenery. (The mountains, not me.)







Even a waterfall to impress the Hamilton crowd.



Tons of snow.



Sometimes a little *too* much snow.



Fun times and a tough day of training - felt like a long run. (Time discounted for photography and scenery gawking.)