Training Log Archive: Bash

'Bent and I went to Pretty River Valley Provincial Park for some uphill hiking and downhill running. Compared to Georgian Peaks, it takes longer to climb 1,000 meters (my goal for the day) but on such a hot day, it was nice to have the shade. The forest was lush, the trails had some muddy spots, the bugs were polite and the stream was spectacular as always.

'Bent and I stayed together about half the time but sometimes he went ahead to get in a little more distance and elevation. We did two full climbs from the road (or almost) and two half climbs of the final 1.1 km where the hill is steepest. It wasn't super exciting but we need to do hill training and it was a nice day for it.

Turns out Pretty River is a great place to run into friends; we spent about 40 minutes talking to people. (Not logged!) First we met Dr. & Dr. Tarno with their adorable Vizsla, who trotted up to us before we saw them. Then we ran into Loki (dog) with Stacie Smith and Hanna Rydlo.

Later I met Brenda East (trail runner) with a group. Some of them had large, heavy backpacks while others had tiny running packs. She explained that the people with large packs were training for the West Coast Trail; the others were training for an Ironman.

Then we met Loki the dog again - this time with Martin Rydlo. When you start to see dogs out for their 2nd walk of the day, you know you've been on the trail too long!

It was hot and humid so I promised myself a treat on the final descent - a dunk in the stream. 'Bent thought I was crazy but he joined me. It was deliciously cold and gave us an energy boost for the final 20 minutes.

'Bent, Storm and BGY were running with Scout and AdventureDog at Mono Cliffs this morning and I hitched a ride with them so I could run home. Starting near the southeast entrance to the park, I headed south on the Bruce Trail until I intersected the Hockley Loop. Then I turned onto the side trail that leads to and through Anderson Tract and down to the 5th Line Parking lot.

The main news today was that someone has installed a bench at the viewpoint in Anderson Tract. (It was a run of minimal excitement!)



I found a large, organized hiking group enjoying their lunch in camping chairs on Sally's Pinnacle just a few millimeters from the largest patch of poison ivy on the Loop. I pointed out the plants as I turned onto the main Bruce Trail, and their leader nodded that he was aware.

I met more hikers and backpackers than usual but aside from the group, the total was still only about a dozen. The bugs were fairly kind but the humidity got to me. Yesterday's "super energetic" state is but a distant memory.

Today's podcasts were Serial Season 2 and Malcolm Gladwell's Revisionist History (thanks, JayXC!) As an aside, I worked as a Calculus TA for Dr. Graham Gladwell at the University of Waterloo. When he passed away a few months ago, I confirmed my suspicion that this very interesting man was Malcolm Gladwell's Dad.
http://v1.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/Deaths...

Caledon's K2 is badly overgrown - so sad! I imagined ticks everywhere so I stuck to gravel roads for the last 5K. Storm, 'Bent and all four pooches were hanging out in the back yard - nice to see them! After they left, BazingaDog parked himself by the front door and waited in vain for Scout and Contour to come back in.

Time for a bigger test of my ankle. I ran gravel roads (Finnerty & Innis Lake) to Glen Haffy, took the Bruce Trail north to Coolihan's, then came home via Centreville Creek and Finnerty. My ankle isn't fixed but it seemed OK with the good footing on most of this run.

Considering how tired I've felt this week, I was pleasantly surprised to feel super energetic for the first time in awhile. I think it's a combo of cooler weather and lots of time at higher altitudes while we were away. The air in Caledon feels downright thick! I started Season 2 of the Serial podcast after finishing up S-Town and Season 1 of Undisclosed.

Photos and report now posted for Nipika Lodge, Day 4: Kootenay River paddle, Canyon hike and a Mountain bike ride, i.e. pretty much everything.
https://ar.attackpoint.org/viewlog.jsp/user_920/pe...

Lower body strength + foothab. My ankle seems to hurt just as much as it did 6 days ago when I turned it. However, it's a small localized pain and it doesn't seem to stop me from using it. It's time to test it with a longer run, I guess.

Paddle before yoga. It's cool that my neighbour is doing these classes too so we can carpool to the quarry. This photo shows half the class; we had a full house tonight!

It started raining during our yoga but that was kind of fun. There were swim races going on in the quarry too. The distances ranged from 400 meters to 10 km. Hmm, I wonder if I could do a 400 m swim race. I'm a bad swimmer but it's always fun to try something new.

Photos and report now posted for the most epic day of our western trip - Nipika Lodge, Day 3: an exploratory trek that felt like adventure racing.
https://ar.attackpoint.org/viewlog.jsp/user_920/pe...

I cranked my ankle a few times out west and it still hurts so I tested it on the treadmill. I watched Jamil Coury's "Run Steep Get High" vlog from the Hardrock 100 miler. If you've ever wanted to see inside this race, this is a terrific video. He managed to record a clip every mile for the first 56 miles and he finished 9th overall.
https://youtu.be/Kvjd9sEVv-k

Photos and reports now posted for:

Nipika Lodge, Day 2: Kootenay River bridge-to-bridge paddle
https://ar.attackpoint.org/viewlog.jsp/user_920/pe...

Nipika Lodge, Day 1: short mountain bike ride.
https://ar.attackpoint.org/viewlog.jsp/user_920/pe...