Training Log Archive: Bash

Limitless Vertical Challenge, Day 7
Pandemic Back Yard Hill Repeats

On the final day of the Run Steep Get High Limitless Vertical Challenge, I did 22 loops around the back of our property in an hour. Depending on whether you believe Suunto Movescount, Attackpoint or Strava, my elevation gain was 366, 414 or 452 meters. One of my goals was to reach my Level 3 badge using Attackpoint elevation gain. Strava is used for the challenge but I think it's overly generous.

This wasn't as boring as it sounds but that's only because it was a spectacular, cool morning, and I'm a numbers geek who got curious about what was possible. Now I'll sit back and see what all the other runners from around the world do on their final day of the challenge. :)

Limitless Vertical Challenge - Day 6 Results
The top 21 competitors have already reached Level 6, Double Everest - 58,058 feet. About half of them are running outdoors, which is impressive!

I'm happy to see a woman in 1st overall with 93,153' of climb on a treadmill but I'm cheering for the guy in 2nd place, who has climbed 88,180' outdoors. That means he is also doing some descents - maybe even all of them. He's not doing this in a mountainous area. Today he was out for more than 10 hours doing 200 m hill repeats in Pennsylvania. That's the elevation gain at Blue Mountain.

Limitless Vertical Challenge, Day 6
Hockley Valley

'Bent and I planned to run in Hockley Valley but the parking lot was a zoo with hikers milling around and cars parked in places that weren't places. We turned around without stopping. The only part of the Bruce Trail that's open in Hockley is the provincial park so we were thinking of Glen Haffy again until I remembered the 5th Line Hill.



I've done hill repeats on the road there before but I usually mix it up by doing some climbs or descents on the two Bruce side trails. This wasn't too bad, though. As roads go, 5th Line is a lot like a trail - rutted, steep, scenic and poorly maintained. In the first hour, only one car went by.







There was even some poison ivy growing right on the road.



I was doing hill repeats for a good cause - my vertical challenge - while 'Bent tried his best to keep up a brave front in spite of extreme boredom. If he didn't hate intervals and hill repeats so much, he would be a competitive age group runner. But nope.





This got me to my goal in the Limitless Vertical Challenge - Level 3: Mount Mitchell, North Carolina. Level 4 is 14,505 feet (4421 m), which was never in the realm of possibility.

Limitless Vertical Challenge, Day 5
Disappointment at the Palgrave West Roller Coaster

I had a much shorter sleep than expected when I awoke to the sound of 'Bent yelling, "Brody! BRODY!!!! No! NO!!! NO!!!" I flew out of bed and ran down the stairs, nearly turning an ankle. I assumed he had escaped through the gate. But it was a skunk attack.

AdventureDog took it hard. He's the loyal sidekick - not the ringleader - so he didn't have his face right in the skunk's butt like BazingaDog apparently did. But A-Dog is a scaredy-dog who takes things personally. He was too upset to look us in the eyes. He was sure he'd done something wrong. The skunk shampoo worked pretty well on him.

BazingaDog has been through a couple of iterations of skunk smell remover and he still smells pretty bad.





After the dust settled around home, I went for a short run to Palgrave East. After yesterday's run on our property, I imagined I could collect some elevation gain by running the roller coaster double track. Unfortunately, the rolling hills are a little lower and my Ambit barely noticed some of them. I did some repeats of the biggest hill and came home. It wasn't a big day but I think I should be able to reach Level 3 in the Challenge over the next two days. It's weird that I barely felt my sore heel yesterday in the cool weather but in today's warm weather, I felt everything.

Limitless Vertical Challenge, Day 4
Pandemic Back Yard Edition

It was raining outside and storming at work so I didn't get out until later. I decided to try today's run entirely on our property in the true spirit of the pandemic lockdown. I mostly stayed on our south hill where we have trails but I headed to the north hill partway through because it's steeper and a little higher. It turned out to have a healthy crop of poison ivy so I bailed out after some cautious bushwhacking.

I managed to climb 326 m - over 1,000' - in just under an hour in our back yard with some bushwhacking on each lap. Kinda funny!

My body was much happier with rain and cooler weather than it has been with heat and humidity.

Bunnies (we assume) have ravaged the kale and chard in our veggie garden. I made sure 'Bent repaired the fence before I planted but he discovered a hidden hole today. I'm hoping some of the plants recover. We've been enjoying fresh asparagus every night this week - mmm.

Our back yard hill is in the distance in this photo.

Mrs. Gally agreed to start an after-work Zoom body circuit class on Wednesdays at 5 pm. Browner, Alisha, Lynn and I attended the first one. If anyone is interested in joining us some time, it's a cardio-strength workout using a resistance band, dumbbells (not too heavy) and a mat. $10 each. It will probably be 5-10 minutes longer in future.

Limitless Vertical Challenge, Day 3
Glen Haffy

After yesterday's half-a$$ed outing, I went to Glen Haffy with 'Bent so I could reach the very achievable "Level 2 - Camelback Mountain" in the Limitless Vertical Challenge. It was SO hot. If it were like this all the time, I would just give up, eat cookies and get fat(ter).

They're using Strava elevation gain so I'm now at 20.7 km and 926 m. "Level 3 - Mount Mitchell" will require some real effort since I have to reach 2,036 m in the next 4 days - and I'm just getting back to trail running. If the weather cools down, I might be up for that. My heel is sore but it gets sore when I go grocery shopping so I'll see how this week goes. This may just be my new normal.







The time is the elapsed time in days/hours/minutes/seconds from the time I started my first run in the "race".

Limitless Vertical Challenge, Day 2
Palgrave West

Very hot run/hike on hills near our place in between tasks. I only went out on the trails because I'm in the vertical challenge so I guess that's good. The farm dogs got through their fence, followed me and barked at me so I did one hill repeat while holding a thick, 2 m stick that I was ready to use to enforce physical distancing. Between that and my scary yelling, they retreated after a few minutes. I doubt they are dangerous but their owner doesn't live on the property so they're a bit wild. If they got excited and nipped me, I would have no way to reach him. I doubt they are vaccinated even though they run around with wildlife all the time.

More excitement! Shortly after I arrived home, Coach LD dropped off beefsteak tomato and red kale seedlings while she was out biking. The kale seedlings look *so* much better than anything I've planted so far. I hope the critters can't get through our upgraded garden fence.

And then I received my Level 1 badge for the Limitless Vertical Challenge. Yes, this is what a finish line looks like in 2020 - although in this case, it's just an interim result. I'm currently the 15th Female. That's probably going to be my high point, haha.

Limitless Vertical Challenge, Day 1
Glen Haffy

I ran up Caledon's K2 in the Dingle part of Glen Haffy then did a few hill repeats down to the creek and back up. It quickly became apparent that there wasn't going to be much uphill running in today's oppressive heat and humidity. For a change of pace, I ran north to Coolihan's Sideroad and did a hill repeat on the road and another one on Glen Haffy Rd. before starting back to the car.

I consider it progress that I didn't think about my injured foot - only how terrible the heat made me feel! I did choose my footing very, very carefully to avoid any ankle sprains. I haven't been running on trails at all so this was a huge step. We'll see how my foot feels later.

It was a beautiful day, marred only slightly by discovering the first poison ivy of the season - much later than usual. I guess the day was also marred somewhat by a face plant on the downhill run to my car when I didn't lift my lazy feet and tripped on a root. I sliced the heel of my hand a little and packed the cut with dirt, which meant I got to use my first aid supplies when I got home. But I didn't land in poison ivy, and that's a win in my books.

This got me to Level 1 in the Limitless Vertical Challenge, aka the Empire State Building. Given that Level 5 is Everest and Level 6 is Double Everest, I'm not likely to achieve too many more levels. Strava said I climbed 475 m - more than Attackpoint and that's the result they'll use. OK, fine. :) I have to get to 825 m in the next 6 days to reach Level 2, Camelback Mountain. That's very achievable but Level 3, Mount Mitchell, is 2,036 m. I'm not so sure about that but it's in the realm of possibility if I can stay inspired.













Boo.