Training Log Archive: Bash

Running-specific circuit training. Mostly from the General Conditioning and Plyo workouts in Strength Training for Runners plus some extras inspired by Sheldon and Dr. Bell's kinesiologists.

My balance is so different from day to day. I did the balance beam exercises at the end of this session on fatigued legs, and it went much better than it did on a recent rest day.

I'm starting to believe that I may be able to complete the Pick Your Poison 50K in 4 weeks. I've been entered for awhile but am fully prepared to drop out if my foot acts up. I've been juggling two training progressions - my recovery from injury and the necessary build-up to UTMB - and they are about to come together. If I can't run 50 km at the end of April, it seems unlikely that I can run 168 km at the end of August. So we will see.

Looks like PYP will take me about 7 hours based on last year's results and this year's snow. @People who were there: what were conditions like last year?

The day didn't get off to a great start. My stupid brain kept me awake from 4-5 a.m. (which happens way too often now that I'm going to bed earlier), and 'Bent has been feeling a little off since Friday night. But it was a beautiful sunny day so I convinced 'Bent to join me for a Bash-paced snowy trail run, and we both came home feeling much more cheerful. We followed in the footsteps of BGY - literally - on the Bruce Side Trail to Centreville Creek Rd. Most of the trail was reasonably runnable snow with occasional ice patches and post holing. Slower than a summer run but not a slog. Blue sky, sunshine, crisp air, forest smells - wonderful!

10th Day of Spring: Dog hike with some postholing in knee-deep snow.

My first Hockley Loop of the year! It's also the first time I've run the full re-routed Loop since the south side main trail was moved onto the old side trail, making the route a little longer and hillier between 3rd and 4th Line. So this is my current Loop PB - and I hope it will stand as my Personal Worst for awhile too!

'Bent and Mrs. Gally were running as well. In order to even things out, I took a head start before Mrs. Gally arrived. It was chilly, rainy and windy when I headed out - good UTMB practice. Most of the main trail in Hockley Provincial Park was packed pretty well but there was some postholing at the north end approaching Dunby Road. The forest on the east side, including the b*tches, was mostly soft-packed snow with stretches of treacherous ice on a couple of ridges. I was glad to have spikes and trekking poles but even so, I was hanging on to trees for safety a few times.

I heard 'Bent and Mrs. Gally chatting in the northeast forest but we didn't meet up until Hockley Road. They'd taken a side trail at the start to avoid the first section of hills - cheaters! ;) Unfortunately, Mrs. Gally had to head back so we had a quick hug and said goodbye; she is looking *so* fit!

'Bent joined me and we finished the Loop. Conditions got worse as we went on - a combination of rising temperature and trails that see less use. There were a number of surprise post hole moments, sometimes above our knees! The last section behind Hockley Resort was a slog with occasional token attempts at running.



I lacked energy and had fatigued legs today - probably not surprising after leg strength work in last night's yoga class. Also, it was hard to feel a spring in my step in the soft snow. But the good news is that my foot feels great.

Over the next while, running at Hockley should remain good in the provincial park because of all the hikers packing the trail down, and the Loop should be fine on cold days, with spikes and poles recommended. When it warms up, all that deep snow will turn to soft mashed potato snow - perfect for a strength workout, not so much for running.

[Note: Small adjustments due to some GPS weirdness and my forgetting to turn it off/on right away a couple of times.]

Hard Core Live with Caron. She's off tomorrow to lead her Tucson Yoga Week - nice!

We have a pet-friendly yoga class, and since it was the last class of this session, 'Bent and I brought BulletDog. At first she tried to help us with our exercises like she does at home, then she fell asleep between our mats. A nice evening out for her and lots of new friends after the class.

Spring 2014, Day 8

Both garage doors froze shut with the cars inside. That's a new one!

The Ad... The one that will make you want to buy that thing... whatever it may be.

Beautiful sunny morning with windchill around -20C, also known as Day 7 of Spring. I ran mostly in Palgrave East, mostly on single track. The chilly temperature allowed me to run on crust most of the time, which was great. There were some frozen footprints and hidden ice patches but it was the best trail running of the year so far. I saw Myka's snowshoe tracks and 'Bent's Snowcross tracks but the only person I saw was a skier.

There is still a *lot* of snow around here, and the trails will get sloppy when the higher temperatures and rain arrive on Friday. Naturally, that is when I am attempting my first Hockley Loop of the year.

Spring 2014, Day 6

2 X General Running Conditioning Circuits #1 and 2 from Chapter 8 of Running Strength for Runners.

BulletDog and I went for a short, sunny snowshoe hike through the forest. After our visit to the Big City on the weekend, I realize it may be hard to believe that we're still using snowshoes up here but...

Today marked the end of the Personal Best 2014 weight loss challenge. I earned $100 for the C3 High Performance triathlon team, thanks to Kinetico Home Water Systems' generous donation of $10 per pound lost for all who entered the challenge.

In further good news, check out today's record-setting sleep! :)

The bad news is that it only increases my weekly average to 6.7 hours. :(

Looks like the new Pearl Izumi X-Project hike-a-bike shoes might be worth looking at the next time I need to replace my X-Alps. I've done some AR trek/run sections in X-Alps when I didn't want to bother changing shoes. It sounds like that may not work as well with the X-Projects so it will be interesting to see how they feel.
http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-gear/gear-she...