Training Log Archive: Bash

Here's a truly unusual event!

There's so much snow that 'Bent and I haven't been up to Highlands Nordic yet, even though we bought our memberships back in the spring. We've skied Palgrave a lot already but we haven't been to Albion Hills or Hockleycrest yet so we figured we might as well stay local.

I saw on Facebook that Dave Moule had trackset the Hockleycrest trails this morning so we headed over there. Glad we did! We only met one other couple, otherwise we had the trails all to ourselves. Spectacular weather, lots of snow and terrific views!

Deep snow family ski around Palgrave West with 'Bent, BazingaDog (on his skijoring harness) and AdventureDog. It was slow but fun and absolutely beautiful! Then 'Bent and I spent the rest of the day eating, visiting with friends and eating, drinking eating. 'Tis the season!

After getting snowed in yesterday, I had to go to town and buy food today. Also wine, Christmas presents, chocolate, dog kibble and more wine. And now it's snowing again.

Snowshoeing in a blizzard - one of my favourite things! A lake effect snow squall system settled in for most of the day, dumping fluffy snow in our back yard for hours on end.



AdventureDog and I went bushwhacking through Palgrave West in deep snow. No plan, no intervals, just a lot of fun!

My evening run in Milton became a sketchy, wintry drive with no time left for a run. But at least I arrived in time for dinner at the Mohawk Chophouse with Funderstorm, Simpy, DD11 and the long lost BugsinTeeth.

Mrs. Gally, Dee and I met at Albion Hills on a snowy, sunshiney day with -19C wind chill. We tried the new snowshoe trail in the northeast, then ditched our snowshoes and did a loop out to the splash pad and back. Beautiful day, great chat!

AdventureDog and I skied around Palgrave West. I used backcountry skis again (Ontario-style) but graduated from rock skis to the real thing since conditions are so good. That still didn't mean it was fast since I was mostly breaking trail again but when I returned in my own tracks, there was nice glide. It's getting colder tomorrow with more snow on the way! :)

We need to find a way to control A-Dog's frantic barking at the start of any outing or during stops along the trail. It probably comes from the husky part of him. BazingaDog gently takes A-Dog's head into his mouth until he calms down. That's very effective but it's a technique that only works for him.

Mix of strength and physio, mostly lower body.

We have 15-20 cm of snow after yesterday's storm - yay, winter! I put on my bushwhacking skis and headed out on an exploratory mission through Palgrave and down to Albion Hills. My GPS track is private because I may or may not have travelled across land belonging to a developer who isn't a fan of skiers, bikers or hikers. And I may have snuck into a ravine to get around his fence.



Trails weren't groomed at Albion Hills either so I skied over to the northeast section where some of the trails have been designated for winter multi-use: fat biking, snowshoeing or skate skiing. No one was around today so I explored a little, even though I wasn't doing one of the officially permitted activities.





The Short, Medium and Long routes are marked with letters.



On the way back, I carried my skis up Duffy's Lane until I could get onto the Wheelwright trails and ski back home through Palgrave West. Conditions were sloooow today with snow sometimes pouring into my ski boots. On the few occasions when I skied back on a track I'd created, I had good glide. Otherwise, it felt like I had glue on my skis; I even had to use my poles to get down hills! On average, it was more of a hiking pace.



Beautiful day!