Training Log Archive: Bash

It's 20 days until the Leatherwood Ultra, which will be Browner's first 50K and my first 50 miler since last summer. Today we wanted a long run with poles where we would hike the hills and run the flats and downhills, similar to what we'll do in North Carolina. We'd hoped to go to Pretty River and meet Dee but the threat of wintry weather kept us closer to home. We ran from the south end of Glen Haffy at Innis Lake Rd. up north of Hwy 9, with a couple of side hills to increase our climb. If we could manage this pace at Leatherwood, which is a bit hillier, we'd both be happy.

AdventureDog came along and had a great time although I wish he was happier about drinking from streams. He had no trouble leaping over and scrambling under the fallen trees from the ice storm. This section of the Bruce Trail wasn't as bad as Hockley Valley but we did some clambering over trees and a little bushwhacking. The bottom of K2 is a disaster so we didn't even try to make it out to Centreville Creek Rd.

We ruined our dinner with a yummy post-run stop at Paradise Burger in Caledon East. I got AdventureDog a bun-less burger, which made him extremely happy for about 1.4 seconds.

Trails in Motion Film Festival in Orillia tonight - inspiring! Great to see so many friends.

Drive home from Orillia in snow squalls - terrifying!

Running-specific drills, stretches and balance training with 'Bent and Coach Jeff in Mississauga. (Elapsed time 90 minutes) Cool stuff - different every time.

I'm not feeling much residual pain from yesterday's rowing machine miscalculation. Phew!

Chatty run around Georgetown in the pouring rain with Dee and Mrs. Gally. Nice mix of residential roads and muddy park trails.

Mrs. Gally led us in a great post-run boot camp in her basement. It was going well until I couldn't reach the handle on the rowing machine with my feet strapped in. As I started my first stroke, in a textbook demonstration of poor rowing form, I leaned way forward and pulled back on the handle, planning to bring it back to the right position. Unfortunately, I expected the handle to come back more easily so I pushed back hard with my legs but it didn't budge. I heard a *crack* around one of my vertebrae. I probably did my own chiropractic adjustment or strained a ligament in my upper back but it's always freaky to hear noises near your spine so I stopped boot camping. Mrs. Gally and Dee were great. When we'd established that nothing was hurting or numb, I took over Mrs. Gally's role. I did my best imitation of an army sergeant/personal trainer, yelling "motivation" at the ladies as they finished the workout.

Thanks for the fun, Mrs. Gally. Hope I finish the workout next time!

Funderstorm, Allison, BugsinTeeth, Simpy and I did an evening Hockley Loop, - half in daylight, half in the dark. We were surprised to find snow and ice in numerous sections but mostly it was mud. Without spikes (except for Funderstorm), we were very cautious and sometimes had to go off-trail.

The biggest surprise, however, was the ice storm damage; it was huge. We had to bushwhack away from the trail on a number of occasions. There are so many large trees down, especially north of Hockley Road, that I can't imagine running the Hockley Loop very much this year. The Bruce Trail volunteers have a very busy season ahead. We should see if we can join a work party. Unfortunately, without any chainsaw skills, we probably can't help much. If you run on the Bruce Trail, be sure to buy a membership. They're going to need it.
http://brucetrail.org/

Great company and warm temperatures for this Loop, which felt more like an adventure race than a trail run. I had dinner after 11 p.m. so I'm not improving my sleep habits just yet!

After watching The Nature of Things episode on the latest research on the importance of sleep, I'm trying extra hard! Still falling short though; my brain won't always shut up in the night.

The last class of each month is Tiara Tuesday - an extra tough one. Lots of Tabatas!

Gusty wind warning and some of the trees around here are still fragile after the ice storm. So... the basement it was.

Mix - mostly lower body and core, including some Coach Jeff drills and Dr. Bell-xercises.