Training Log Archive: Bash

Goose and I took a circuitous route through Palgrave West and East on our way to Albion Hills. We took a break to check out the view of west Caledon from Lookout Hill and stopped for a brief chat with Crash. At Albion, we turned off the Garmin for awhile as we visited with 'Bent and his fellow riders, then caught up with Harps, Amy and Shortstack.

Harps and 'Bent both hit the podium in their respective divisions. Harps' division was a wee bit tougher. :) Nice job, guys!

We ran home on a more direct route - a couple of trails in Albion, a run up Duffy's Lane, then trails through Palgrave West to our place. Our GPS watches disagreed so we had to add an extra loop at the end to ensure that we both did a half-marathon. Victory in the sprint finish went to Goose - no surprise there. Fun destination run with great company!

Timothy Olson just crushed the 15:07 course record at the tough Western States Endurance Run - 14:46:44 for 100 miles of mountain running. Salomon runner Ryan Sandes finished 2nd in 15:03:56 - also under the old course record. Phil Villeneuve (former APer PhillyCheesesteak and leader of the Canadian Salomon Flight Crew) was one of his pacers.

Ellie Greenwood, the elite U.K. runner who lives in Canmore and is an honourary Canadian, is on track to break the 18-year-old women's record as well but her finish is still a couple of hours away.

Wow.

This was actually a mix of running and a bushwhacking trek. BazingaDog and I ran over to the 24 Hours of Summer Solstice event at Albion Hills. I got caught in Palgrave East by a fence that wasn't there in the past, so we tried to run the old Bruce Trail south to Reddington. It has almost disappeared so it became a full-on bushwhack with BazingaDog demonstrating new skills as he leapt over fallen trees a meter off the ground. By the time we got to 'Bent's campsite, he was just leaving for his first lap.

I stayed to chat with 3PinJim, Tom & Julia, Thumbs-of-Death and Brian. They pointed out that I was bleeding like a stuck pig from my shin and had a red goose egg starting. I have no recollection of what happened but my pain tolerance goes way up when I'm bushwhacking. I felt guilty dipping into their first aid supplies!

We went to see Harps, Mac and Joe next. They were leading the 4-man team category after 3 hours. Keep it up - only 21 more hours to go, boys!

We tried to visit Pat-hectic but he had just gone out for his lap so we headed over to watch 'Bent finish. Crash was there! So nice to see her and catch up a bit. She happened to have two cold beers that she was just waiting to share with someone. Unfortunately, BazingaDog lost patience waiting for 'Bent to finish his lap, and started barking and eating his leash. Meanwhile, 'Bent's teammates and I were just worried. He came in about 15 minutes later than expected after his chain broke twice doing the lap - yecch. He headed off to look for 3 chains of a particular type, which is what it takes to fix the recumbent. By this time, BazingaDog had gone looneytunes and I had to get him out of there.

Hot!! Lots of swims for BDog.

Enough with the heat acclimation, electrolyte pills, deer flies and sweat! Instead of getting better at coping, once in awhile it's nice to choose an activity that is pleasant on a hot day. I took the Eclipse for a loop around Island Lake in a stiff breeze. So nice to be out! The lake is weedy around the edges now so I had to keep more to the middle and do an extra little twirl at the end to get the loop up to its usual 8 km. I need to do more of this. I've got at least two multisport races left this year - Bruce Peninsula Multisport Race + either Logs Rocks & Steel or the North Country Endurance Challenge.

A little inspiration for a Friday morning. The tag line of this Old Spice video is: "When you smell like a champion, the only thing standing in the way of success is all of the other things it takes to be a champion besides smell."

The Thing To Do in Caledon this week is a lap of the 24 Hours of Summer Solstice race course - and for people like 'Bent, Harps and others, there will be quite a few more laps coming up.

I rode over from our place and started the loop at the north end. (The official start is at the Chalet.) Chico often tweaks the course at the last minute but Lap 2 on my Garmin track was the marked course today. I measured it at 18.9 km on my bike computer, which is more accurate than Garmin in the single track. That's longer than the usual Solstice lap.

Anyway, great course - I love the way Chico combines our familiar trails in different ways for these races. There is a ton of poison ivy along sections of the race route. I'd suggest that teams bring a bucket, dish soap and some wash cloths for their legs. If they go off trail, their shoes and bike tires may need careful cleaning post-race. If they fall in the stuff... well, I don't want to go there.

I had to push to get home before the thunderstorm - although I took one short break to move a turtle across the road, and I couldn't resist stopping by Crash's place. She is home but wasn't in when I stopped by. Can't wait to hear her Tour Divide stories.

It was another hot day and I used SPF60 sunscreen that made me look ghostly. Combined with the sweat, it made for a really bizarre, blotchy look and an icky feeling by the time I got home. Imagine my delight when the power went out for several hours, making it impossible to shower.

Interesting Outside Magazine interview on Overhydration with Dr. Tim Noakes, author of the classic "The Lore of Running" and a new book "Waterlogged: the Serious Problem of Overhydration in Endurance Sports".

When he started running in the 1960s, the conventional wisdom was that you shouldn't drink while running. In his first marathon in 1972, there was just one aid station at the 20-mile mark. Soon afterward, some studies caused him to advocate drinking 900 ml/hour. A woman contacted him after she had almost died after an ultra race and wondered if he could figure out why. He was the first to identify hyponatremia (reduced sodium levels from over-drinking) and predicted that it could kill people, particularly young women who need less fluid. He was right.

However, around the same time, the sports drink industry took off and a non-scientist in the U.S. military decided that more drinking must be a military advantage. Largely from those dual influences, we have all been told to drink before we feel thirsty.

"There’s now evidence to suggest that if you drink ahead of thirst, ... your performance will be impaired, just as it will be impaired if you drink less than you should at thirst. Thirst is your body trying to tell you, Listen, I need fluid. If you don’t replace that fluid, I’m going to slow you down until you drink. Only when you drink am I going to allow you to perform optimally again. The brain, unfortunately, can’t tell you that when you overdrink, you’re going to go slower. So you don’t pick up the messaging. You just go slower without realizing it."

"You overheat when you run too fast. ...You don’t overheat because you become dehydrated. The brain’s too clever. If you’re not going to drink, the brain will slow you down, and that will lower your body temperature, not raise it."

Salomon Store Summer Solstice Run

Normally, ultra runner Ryan Barrett leads runs from the Salomon Store all day on the longest day of the year. This year he wanted to take some breaks since he has a 100K race on Saturday. New Brand Ambassador Brian Culbert and I were invited to help out by leading some laps. I enjoyed chatting with Brian about UTMB, which he is doing this year. It was also lots of fun to hang out with the friendly Salomon staff, and Ryan has lots of energy and great stories.

The only downer was the ridiculous 35C temperature and high humidity - yuck!

I led the 2:30 p.m. lap. Salomon staff Joanna, Derek and Matt decided to join me since it was the least busy time of the day. They drove to Edwards Gardens rather than running over with me, then we had a fun run. I even took them on an adventure racing detour on a sketchy sidehill trail in the woods with a steep, root descent. Then we crossed the river on rocks instead of using the nearby bridge - just to get our full money's worth. Good for them for getting out to test the gear they sell in the store!

Lap #2 - still soooo hot. Brian took us on his secret trail that ran along a terrific ridge with a slight breeze that cooled the sweat. To get back, we cut down the steep hill on a trail that ended abruptly in an area of lush vegetation, healthy bugs and tangled trees. As the navigator in the crowd, I bashed a line through it until we popped out by a parking lot in Sunnybrook Park - and then just for good measure, I pulled out the orienteering map I'd tucked in my waist pack for such emergencies!



I was only needed to lead two of the eleven laps, and that was enough heat acclimation for one day, so I hung out at the Salomon Demo Tent for awhile and got people to try on shoes!

While Crash was riding south along the Great Divide, Jason "Hammer" Lane started riding east in the Race Across America (RAAM). Neither of them had a good weekend.

On Friday in Arizona, a car turned right in front of Jason, and he hit it broadside. He landed between the wheels and the car ran over his upper back as it tried to make its getaway. After a stop of almost 6 hours to receive medical care, he returned to racing. His original bike was totalled so he is riding his back-up bike. I can only imagine how much time he must have put into making that original bike perfect.

Here is a video where Jason and his crew explain what happened.
http://www.teamhammerfest.com/1/post/2012/06/accid...

Here are photos and a short video showing his injuries, including tread marks on his back.
http://www.teamhammerfest.com/1/post/2012/06/wreck...

I'm sticking to mountain biking. Even with grizzlies, violent thunderstorms and snow-covered passes along the route, the worst thing to happen to Crash was a blast of bear spray in the face. (Which still stings a few days later!)

To follow Jason's race, keep an eye on the HammerBlog. His crew is busy and tired so the updates are short.
http://www.teamhammerfest.com/hammerblog.html

After Saturday's 50-miler, this week is all about active recovery. And what better way to stay active than to lead running groups on loops from the Salomon Store in Toronto as part of Ryan Barrett's annual Summer Solstice Run! Several of us will be leading 8-10K loops during all the daylight hours from 5:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. tomorrow.

Come on out to try shoes at the Salomon Demo Tent. You can even run a loop in them to see what you think. There will be summer deals at the store too. If nothing else, come out and laugh at me trying to run multiple 10K loops on pavement a few days after a 50-miler! :) I don't know yet what hours I will be on duty but when I get details, I'll add a comment here.



10 Aggie Hogg Gardens, Toronto

Lap 1: 536 to 630
Lap 2: 700 to 800
Lap 3: 830 to 930
Lap 4: 1000 to 1100
Lap 5: 1130 to 1230
Lap 6: 100 to 200.
Lap 7: 230 to 330
Lap 8: 400 to 500
Lap 9: 530 to 630
Lap 10: 700 to 745
Lap 11: 800 to 903

A little spin to loosen up the legs. Feeling pretty good!