Training Log Archive: Bash

It was a beautiful summer day in late October. If we had glaciers in Caledon, I'm afraid they would be melting but it sure was lovely in the forest.

I ran the Bruce Trail from Innis Lake north to Hwy 9, through all of Glen Haffy.



Then I did a couple of side loops through the fields and past the fishing ponds.



I returned on the Bruce and went a little farther south on Innis Lake Rd. since I'd been aiming for 2 hours.



It was my longest run since UTMR and after an initial burst of energy ("Awesome, I haven't lost any fitness at all!"), I felt exhausted ("I suck at this sport!").

I felt much better after a buttertart and chocolate milk from Rock Garden Farms - a lunch that covered the most important food groups.

'Bent joined me for a wonderful volunteer job on a glorious autumn day - a ride to Albion Hills to pay the admission fees for our Star Tracks racers. On the way back, we rode a bunch of single track and 'Bent was flying.

Our new fire pit works! Our meteor watching was not particularly successful though. Score was 1-0 in my favour.

Hard Core Live with Caron - it was obvious that I'm out of practice.

C3 yoga - nice to be back

Someone just arrived to knock a hole in the side of our living room. Gulp.

Beautiful day so I squeezed in a short, late afternoon ride in Palgrave East. As Canadians know, there was late breaking news on the CBC today. Canadian Running Magazine created a Tragically Hip running playlist in Gord Downie's honour and it worked just fine for biking. It's the first time I've ridden with Spotify blaring out of my jersey pocket.

I've posted this before but it's worth another listen. This song was written for Gord's young nephew who died of a heart ailment.



And this is one I'd forgotten - his version of "Hallelujah" from the film "St. Ralph". (That's a lot of Canadiana in one sentence.)

It's Boot Camp time again! Caron always has creative ideas to make us work.

Trying to nip the Achilles twinge in the bud

It's been awhile since I've braved a run with BazingaDog by myself. With his strength and impulsiveness, he's pulled me off my feet a bunch of times and caused a few minor injuries.

But he's six and a half years old now - a middle-aged pooch with a gentle demeanour and a little grey creeping into his muzzle. I knew it wasn't totally safe but I hitched us together with the skijoring harness on him and a belt around my waist, and we went for a run through Palgrave East and West.

I'd call it a success. We had many breaks so he could mark territory or sniff. I saw a few deer that he did not - phew. There was some frenzied sniffing and dashing around the places where the deer had crossed the trail but I managed to keep him from leaping into the forest. There was just one scary moment when an animal was scrabbling in the woods a meter off the trail and B-Dog lunged perpendicular to our path. I screamed his name (literally screamed - like in a horror movie), he stopped and stared at me with concern, and we avoided smashing my head into a tree trunk. It was a win.

Running feels fine. I'd hoped to start back up in early October but even now, it still feels like hill climbing is easier than usual so I guess I haven't lost all my fitness from UTMR. My right Achilles is niggling a bit though, and that's not the usual problem foot.