Training Log Archive: Bash

Orienteering Ontario AGM. Thanks so much to Mr. and Mrs. Double_Downon11 for hosting.

We have a good board for 2015/16 with many returning directors and strong representation from the AR community: DD11, Harps, Sudden, Wilberto (new!), Sid, Ilona, James, Raymond and myself. There are several key initiatives for the coming year. For me, a priority is to deal with our aging website. We've had major issues with the management of our website; maybe it's time for a brand new one. Looking forward to working with this great group!

Palgrave East single track. It's in *such* great shape! This was the second test of the new bike shoes after a local bike shop owner found two extra screws and attached the cleats more tightly. Perfect! My right foot got a little tingly but I'll sort that out. These shoes aren't for AR, just for regular riding. Good thing, since they are white. (What was I thinking?)

I also tested a new helmet that I bought a year ago and only just now removed from the box. Doh! It's my first "women's" helmet, whatever that means. It fit pretty well without installing any foam bits, so that is probably the main thing. It is also white with some graphics.

The bike... nope, it's the same old bike. After Dee found me that nice carbon 27.5 bike in Sedona, my standards have shifted but that's a pretty big expense. New shoes and a helmet will have to do for now.

(Bike computer distance. Ambit was 1.2 km less.)

Most people have seen this by now but Breathe Mag did an awesome job on this 3-minute promo video for Wilderness Traverse.

Sleep fail.

I *think* it's safe to take off my snow tires now so I went for a run while the car was in the shop. The original entrance of the Humber Valley Heritage Trail was across the road but I'd noticed a "Trail closed" sign earlier so had checked Google Maps just in case. The old trail appeared to be fenced off - not sure if it's gone for good but it would be a shame when it's so close to the Caledon Wellness Centre.

So I headed east on Columbia Way to a valley trail I'd seen on the map. Every training session would be more fun if Coach LD came along but today that would have been especially true since I was exploring her turf and didn't really know what I was doing. I ran on the trail and was impressed at how "out in nature" I felt, even with houses on both sides of the little valley. Google Maps ended its trail at the edge of the Bolton Camp property where I hoped to find a continuation. Yup, there was some double track that looked like it had been ripped out of the forest by a bulldozer. I continued along until I got to the old camp.

Coach LD takes her classes in here, which would be fun, but I found it a little spooky on my own since it's not my neighbourhood. The old camp buildings are in very rough shape, covered in graffiti, and feature dark, mysterious open doorways that probably lead into secret lairs of escaped convicts.

I stopped by the pull-up bars and did a 10-minute strength session alternating leg-type things like jump squats and walking lunges with miscellaneous arm things using the bar. No murderers came out of the buildings to say hello so I was feeling less freaked out by the time a friendly fellow ran by in a Humberview T-shirt (the school Coach LD teaches at).

Then back the same way - up, up, up to the auto shop.

Mid-run strength session.

More 10 Minutes 2 Zen.

I attended an excellent presentation by a University of Guelph professor on ticks and Lyme Disease in Ontario.

I took a lot of notes but here are a few points:

- Only 2 types of ticks in Ontario - American Dog Tick and Deer (Black-Legged) Tick.

- Although in other parts of North America, dog ticks transmit some diseases, they don't do that in Ontario. We only need to worry about the deer tick. We learned how to tell them apart when engorged, which is challenging but that's when you really *need* to tell them apart.

- Since 2007, the % of Lyme infection in Ontario deer ticks has gone from 7% to 18%. The traditional hot spots have been major parks along the north shores of Lakes Erie and Ontario. At Long Point, 60% of deer ticks are infected. There's a growing hot spot in the Kingston-1000 Islands-Ottawa region. ('Bent picked up a deer tick at the North American Orienteering Champs near Arnprior in October.)

- In Guelph, the prof starts seeing deer ticks around mid-April. They live under the snow. Adult ticks are typically seen until early June, then again in mid-September and October. In between, there are nymph ticks that are smaller and much harder to see. Most human Lyme infections are thought to come from nymphs.

- A deer tick needs to be attached 36 hrs to transmit Lyme. (I've read 24-28 hrs elsewhere.) This article suggests an even shorter time.
http://lymedisease.org/news/hardscienceonlyme/hard...

- DEET on lower legs is helpful.

- Daily tick check is a good idea from April to October in our area. Daily shower is another good tick removal strategy since they don't attach immediately. In Ontario, thousands of deer ticks are submitted for testing each year after being removed from a human host.

- 95% of dogs infected with Lyme will never display clinical signs. Humans are not so lucky! About 70% will see a rash 7-14 days after the tick bite. You only need to worry about rashes that are at least 5 cm in diameter and appear in the right timeframe (although you may not notice the tick bite). They may or may not have the classic bullseye appearance - and a third of infected people don't get the rash at all. Some other common early symptoms are muscle and/or joint pain and fever. At this stage, antibiotics will usually cure you.

Climate change, bird migration patterns and healthy deer populations are a few of the factors driving Lyme farther into Ontario. It will become a much bigger problem over the next 30-40 years.

Such a perfect day that I had to go for a ride! Most of the trails in Palgrave East are dry and clear of major debris; someone has been working there.

The riding was fun and I felt surprisingly good after Sunday's 50K but I suffered a New Bike Shoe Fail. The first time I tried to unclip, I noticed it was difficult, which made sense with new cleats. But the left side got easier until it was popping out at unexpected times and the right shoe got much, much more difficult to pull away from the pedal. I pulled out my Allen key, took off the shoes and diagnosed the problem. Each cleat had lost one of its two screws so the cleats were positioned 90 degrees off. Aackk! I tightened the single screw as much as I could on both shoes and figured I'd cut my ride a bit short. It wasn't long before I was back to the left shoe unclipping too easily, and I couldn't detach my right shoe at all. So... I really didn't want to fall to the right.

It's a testament to today's great weather that I stuck it out a little longer before admitting defeat and heading home. It would have been highly suspicious if my Cleat Installer had taken out a life insurance policy on me, but apparently he didn't.

(Bike computer distance.)

This year's Orienteering Ontario Annual General Meeting will be held on the evening of Thurs. April 30 in Milton at DoubleDown's place. Come on out and share your ideas about the sport, vote (or run) for the 2015/16 Board and - oh yeah - help us eat some pizza! Please RSVP to info@orienteeringontario.ca by Wednesday afternoon to help with planning. http://www.orienteeringontario.ca/2015-agm-announc...

Funderstorm invited me on a road trip to Michigan for the Trail Marathon. So much fun to hang out, shop, visit W4J, chat and prepare for our race together! This event has 5 mile, Marathon and 50K courses that run almost entirely on rolling, forested single track in beautiful Pinckney State Recreation Area where a number of Attackpointers train regularly. Most of the trails looked excellent for mountain biking too, and we saw a few riders out. The 50K race course consisted of two half-marathon loops plus an 8K extra loop.
http://www.trailmarathon.com/

Until April, I focused on winter sports and didn't do much running so I knew I had the cardio to do 50K but I wasn't sure about my body mechanics. I'd had 5 days of hip pain and instability after Raid The Rib for no obvious reason, then I crashed hard on the same leg on a rocky mountain bike ride nine days ago. I still have a rainbow of bruises and scrapes down my left leg, and my longest run since last fall was 22 km so I wasn't sure how 50K of running would feel.

It was sunny and 2C at the start and only warmed up to about 11C. I started in short-sleeved shirt, shorts and summer running hat with arm warmers, Fast Wing Hoodie jacket and lightweight gloves, which worked perfectly. The arm warmers were the last to come off at 21K.

I like to have a purpose for each trail race and it was hard to come up with one this time, other than finishing a long run uninjured. I don't expect to set PRs anymore. I don't tend to have issues with cardio or stomach. I have to remind myself to eat and drink enough that my brain doesn't get foggy but that's nothing new.

On a whim, I decided to see how long I could run up hills. In past 50K races, I've started by walking hills and only allowed myself to run later on if I felt good enough. The hills today were Caledon-style and I'm preparing for the Alps in twelve weeks so I figured this would increase the training value. I kept thinking I would stop doing this at... 25K, 30K, 35K, 40K. In the end, except for a couple of big climbs on the last loop, I ran all the hills unless there was a short, super-steep pitch or I wasn't able to get around another runner. I'm not fast so on the first lap, this meant that I'd sometimes pass people walking uphill who would pass me later on a flat section. By the second lap, I would pass people and generally not see them again. After one lap, I was in 60th place but after two laps, I'd moved up to 45th. It was interesting because I really didn't push hard. I used body weight and gravity to pull me up, and I could feel my winter glute strength training helping out but it was still a gentle pace. But even a slow running pace uphill made a big difference compared to hiking. I found that in the places where I walked briefly, including aid stations, I had to overcome physical and mental inertia to get going again. So it was a learning experience! I can't run up the Alps but maybe I can try to resist walking breaks in places like Hockley.

Exactly at the halfway point, I got lazy and caught my toe on a stealth root hiding in leaf litter on a downhill. Wheee! Superman! As I hit the ground, it was funny to feel the soft flasks on the front of my pack cushion my landing a little - like an air bag, except that an air bag wouldn't have squirted water on my cheeks. :) Btw I really liked my Sense Ultra Set pack although I don't know whether I felt the same pressure points that Bender was talking about. The pack felt super comfortable and light but I did finish with some soreness on my bottom two ribs on both sides. I wonder if they hit the ground in my fall. I skidded and picked up splinters in the palms of both hands, and my knee hit the ground too so I wasn't paying attention to what happened to other body parts. Since I remember the front of my pack hitting the ground, my rib cage probably did too.

As expected, it was my PW of four 50K events, partly due to age and partly to more technical trails. I didn't approach it as a "race" but even if I had, I don't think I could have pushed much harder right now. I finished in the top half (47/112) and was 3rd of 11 women 40+. I currently can't imagine getting through the 100K I've entered in early June but somehow it will probably happen... yikes! :)

Road trip with Funderstorm to Ann Arbor Michigan for tomorrow's Trail Marathon in Pinckney State Recreational Area. We had time to patronize REI, Whole Foods and Moose Jaw, and have a fun seafood dinner with Work4Justice.

If anyone has a slow Sunday morning, there is a race tracker. Start is at 7:30. I'm doing the 50K, bib 1056. Projected finish between 1:30 and 2 pm.
http://m.racetecresults.com/Track.aspx?R=1240&EId=...

Short run on rolling gravel roads to test my new Sense Ultra Set pack and get some dirt on a pair of new Speedcross. The shoes are "Coral" coloured, which means "Flaming Fluorescent Flamingo" must have been taken. Just kidding, Phatty! There were 6 colours to choose from and I thought this colour looked fastest.

I liked the new pack. Even if a zero-weight pack were invented, it would still weigh 1 kg more with a litre of water in it but even so, it felt soft, lightweight, non-bouncy and breathable. I'll probably put a small dry bag in the large open back pocket since I'd be afraid of small items slipping out. I tried my iPhone in the upper back pocket and later in the side zipper pocket; both places worked fine. I'm going to try the pack for Sunday's 50K. With aid stations every 5-7K and sunny weather, I don't need to carry very much. It's actually good to have limited capacity since it forces me to keep my pack light. Dee is *also* good at forcing me to keep my pack light but she won't be at the race. :) The Coral Speedcross passed their test too.

As I was approaching a driveway, a fellow in a pick-up truck backed right out into the road without looking. I screeched to a halt to avoid getting hit and glanced at his two friends standing in the driveway who did nothing to alert him to my presence. I was wearing a "Don't Hit Me" high visibility outfit on the road - red buff, lime green jacket and flaming pink shoes. Anyone who didn't see me definitely wasn't trying. The truck driver was wearing an orange reflective vest behind the wheel - safety first! This is why my road bike hasn't been on the road for two years.

Last but not least... here is the report from last week's mountain bike ride near Cathedral Rock in Sedona.
http://ar.attackpoint.org/viewlog.jsp/user_920/per...

All 4 days of Arizona reports are at this link.
http://ar.attackpoint.org/viewlog.jsp/user_920/per...

Big day in the big city including boring errands plus a trip to stock up on spring goodies at the Salomon Toronto store. If you're a member of their Loyalty program (i.e. if you sign up for occasional emails, which you can do at the store), they are giving 20% off until this Sunday. Their spring gear, clothes and shoes have arrived. I'm not sure if the Ambits are on sale too.

My fave new 2015 product will likely get used in this Sunday's 50K - the ultralight 3L S-Lab Sense Ultra Set pack. What excitement would there be in racing without some gear that I've never tried before?
http://iancorless.org/2015/01/27/salomon-s-lab-sen...

This was followed by the Wilderness Traverse Adventure Race Intro Clinic at Running Free - always a fun night with Bob and a group of enthusiastic newbie racers, enhanced this year by Simpy's attendance. These clinics are even better when experienced adventure racers show up and share their stories.

Report and photos are posted for our hike in the Grand Canyon last Thursday.
http://ar.attackpoint.org/viewlog.jsp/user_920/per...

6-year-old Iain Armitage, a well-known Broadway critic on Youtube, explains proper theatre manners. (He is awesome.)

Yup, that is blowing snow on April 22.

Also, I'm not sick yet. My last food poisoning incident took 72 hours to hit though.

Ran in Palgrave East and West with AdventureDog. We had to take shelter in a conifer grove when we were hit by heavy gusts of wind in an area with lots of dead trees from the forest fire. We were pummelled with graupel too. (I would have called it "hail" but some meteorologists educated me today.)

I lacked energy and felt the first wave of food poisoning coming on. Ugh. Sheldon Creek Dairy has been very apologetic about their mistake, giving me a new bottle of milk and some of their fancy yogurt. The fact that I can still face dairy products at all is a good sign, I guess.

Strength training session with Slowrunner. One more session planned before I switch focus for the spring/summer.

On a different note, I bought some Sheldon Creek whole chocolate milk yesterday as a treat. It tasted like chocolate strawberry milk, which I've never bought but have seen on the shelf. I checked and it was definitely labelled chocolate. I had another glass today - yup, a neopolitan ice cream taste. I looked at their website to see if there was any comment about mislabelled milk. Instead I discovered that they don't start using the strawberry flavour until July. Hmm.

I phoned the dairy who told me to check the expiration date. I'd never *seen* an expiration date on their milk - not that it's ever mattered since it doesn't last long around here. Turns out it's written in black on the side of the dark brown lid - really hard to see - and it expired 4 weeks ago!! Yikes! They think it was the result of a new truck driver accidentally mixing up two crates of milk. There was expired milk that he had picked up from a store and he may have accidentally delivered it to my store instead of the crate of new milk. Yuck.

I had about 300 ml of it. So now I wait...

Report is up for Wednesday's Bear Mountain trail run/hike in Sedona.
http://ar.attackpoint.org/viewlog.jsp/user_920/per...

I'll be adding photos and reports from our Sedona trip but I've just written up the last day first so in case anyone is interested, I'll make a note when I finish them.

Last day in Sedona. The ladies and 'Bent went for a trail run (with some hiking) from the Mescal Trailhead to Devil's Bridge via the Chuckwagon Trail. The more enthusiastic runners added a little distance by running from our villa to the trailhead. Half the group was enthusiastic enough to get lost on the way out - in two different directions! Much of the route was quite runnable until the final climb to Devil's Bridge, a big rock arch. We shared the trail with tourists and mountain bikes but it didn't feel crowded.















Like most people (but NOT the prudent Mrs. Gally), 'Bent and I went onto Devil's Bridge for a photo.



Mia hiked up and arrived while we were still there.



On the way back, while waiting for Mia to catch up at hiking pace, we took some photos for imaginary running magazine covers. Unfortunately, she was one of the people who took a variety route so we didn't find her until much later!











It was lousy for rehydration but most of us had a post-run lunch margarita at Javelina's.



(Slight GPS adjustment because I turned it off near the top.)

It was hard to fit an organized yoga class into today's schedule as we'd originally planned, so I did a few of Caron Shepley's "10 Minutes to Zen" sessions on the patio outside our room.



However, this was *not* the only yoga of the day! :)

Sedona is a mountain biking Mecca so our talented tour guide Dee reserved us a high quality fleet of bikes today.



I had a Scott Genius 700 series size Medium - my first ride on a 27.5 bike, and I liked it. 'Bent was on a regular upright bike for the first time in awhile. He paid for it later with some neck pain but he survived. He has no idea how we regular folks ride down rocky, technical hills, leading with our heads!



Mr. Logie was our fearless leader - a talented rider who held back today and kept an eye on the group.



It was a spectacular loop from Absolute Bikes in the Village of Oak Creek following these trails: Slim Shady, Templeton, Cathedral Rock, Easy Breezy, HT, Bell Rock, Little Horse to Chicken Point, back on Little Horse to Llama, Baby Bell, Phone and Bell Rock.



The trails were mostly advanced or intermediate with a few easy sections. We skipped the double black diamond options due to the high cost of U.S. health care.





Tim and Mia showed us their west coast skills, which they'd been able to practise due to the west coast not having a real winter this year.



Dee



Mr. and Mrs. Gally



WandAR




Dee and Mrs. Gally



Chicken Point was a fantastic lookout, well worth the rocky climb. This time we took turns posing for a bike magazine cover. Here's mine.



Mr. Logie



Mr. Gally



At the lookout.



On the Llama Trail on the way back to the bike shop, I was behind Mrs. Gally when we thought we heard someone calling her name a couple of times. We stopped suddenly and I slid out on gravel on a corner and crashed down hard onto rock on my injured left hip, knee and lower leg. Mrs. Gally had to unclip my foot because I was trapped under my bike. The blood was worse than the pain although a week later, the bruises and scrapes are even more colourful and impressive so I guess it was a good one. I was having so much fun that I didn't really mind though!

We didn't climb any higher than Chicken Point but there is a famous ride called the White Line on the adjacent mountain. We saw some bikes up there - yikes!

Mrs. Gally led several of us in a post-bike, post-big-pizza-lunch yoga session with some push-ups and squats sprinkled in for good measure. The guys were all too wimpy to join in.

Most of our group had never been to the Grand Canyon so we drove up there today: Dee & Logie, Mr. and Mrs. Gally, Tim & Mia Logie, WandAR, 'Bent and me.



I was in so much pain running yesterday that I seriously wondered whether my Raid The Rib injury might knock me out of my big race in July and the two spring training races. Four days after the event, the pain and instability were getting worse, and I couldn't sleep on either side because my hip hurt so much. This was brand new and I had no idea what had caused it.

So it wasn't the best timing to bang my body up with a big descent into the Grand Canyon. I hated to miss it though; the Canyon is a special place for me because Dad, 'Bent and I went down to Phantom Ranch together as one of the items on Dad's bucket list. I considered dropping out of today's trip for injury reasons until I heard it was going to be a hike. However, these were (mostly) adventure racers and it didn't take long for most people to break into a run, which shouldn't have been surprising. :)

It was a tough day for me physically since I didn't want to damage my hip further by running so I speed-hiked at an unnaturally fast pace and ran a few kms when we fell too far behind the others. I was pushing so hard that I ate almost nothing and drank less than I should - much like some adventure races. It was great training. The good news is that my hip improved throughout the day and felt fine for the rest of the trip. (Although it is a little sore again post-trip.)

We started at the South Rim, descending on the South Kaibab Trail - one of the most beautiful trails in the world.



The trail is designed for views and often clings to the edge of a cliff. Mrs. Gally made sure that Mr. Gally stayed on the inside!





Ooh Aah Point is a popular day hike destination about 1.5 km down the trail.





The views just keep getting better. You can just see the trail snaking down the slope on the right side of the photo.





A couple of mule trains passed us, reminding me of Dad's great adventure.



The wild west rock formations along the trail added to the fun.



The trail continues along that ridge and switchbacks down the far end.



'Bent successfully guarded me against rattlesnakes. He was so successful that we didn't even see one.



Looking west from the South Kaibab Trail, we could see the plateau and the Tonto Trail we would be hiking next.



Mr. and Mrs. Gally



Switchbacks



WandAR, Logie and Dee waiting for a mule train to pass



Another section of trail clinging to a cliff.



We arrived at the plateau where the South Kaibab Trail meets the Tonto Trail, the longest trail in the Canyon. We would be heading west on the Tonto Trail to Indian Gardens where we would meet up with the popular Bright Angel Trail.



From the Tonto Trail, we caught a glimpse of the canyon bottom oasis that is Phantom Ranch.



The skies threatened all day but we only had a few drops of rain. Many cacti were in bloom - gorgeous.



The Tonto Trail passes through a few drainages as it runs along the plateau.



Tim and Mia hiking into the misty canyon



After a little more than 7 km, we arrived at Indian Garden, the treed area below. There is a campground and water source here. The wall behind it is where the Bright Angel Trail ascends out of the canyon.



Instead of climbing straight out of the canyon from Indian Garden, we went out to Plateau Point, which was a first for me. The views along the trail and from the point are beautiful.







After returning to Indian Garden, we climbed (and climbed and climbed) out of the canyon on Bright Angel Trail. We met lots of tourists here, some of whom looked ill prepared to climb back up. It must be difficult to be a Grand Canyon park ranger!









After driving back to Sedona, we all went straight to Javelina's for a great Mexican dinner made even better by good friends and margaritas.

Trail run/hike up Bear Mountain near our villa in Sedona with Dee, Logie, Mr. and Mrs. Gally, 'Bent and WandAR.



We parked one trailhead up the road to warm up on a more runnable trail before the big climb.







That's Bear Mountain - our destination - behind Gally and Logie.



We crossed the road to the Bear Mountain Trail and started climbing. Some of the trail was runnable and some of it was steep and rocky.





The views were good to start with but they kept improving as we gained elevation. I could definitely feel the altitude. I could also feel nasty pain in my left hip from whatever happened at Raid the Rib; it hurt every time my left foot touched the ground. By the end, I was wincing with each step. I wouldn't have expected a day like this to help matters but the pain was mostly gone 24 hours later - phew.



Interesting desert vegetation.





Cool, varied rock formations.





View from the top.



We'd been working so hard on the way up that Dee and I were convinced that we were taking a different route on the way down. In fact, only a small section was different - but it felt and looked different to us with more oxygen in our brains.









Hard work, great scenery and excellent company - a great start to our adventure vacation!

Today I'm feeling the body parts that get exercised less than others in classic XC skiing. Hello lateral forces!

Easy rail trail recovery ride with 'Bent from Palgrave to the outskirts of Tottenham. The other reason for our ride was to check all our bike gear for this week's ride in Sedona. I haven't been on a bike - not even a trainer - in five months so I needed to test things out and remind myself what I need to pack!

It was 17C - our first really warm spring day. Compared to Toronto, it wasn't crowded but we saw more than a dozen people hiking or riding, which is a lot by Palgrave standards. The first 5 km of the trail was dry and mostly clear, if you don't count horse poop. Given that we could see the new Pan Am Games equestrian facility from the trail, I guess that's to be expected. North of Hwy 9, we hit some muddy areas where the snow probably just melted in the last couple of days.

At our turnaround point, we ran into Crash - so nice! She was finishing up a 6-hour training ride since she's getting ready for another solo 24 hour race at Chico's 24 Hrs of Summer Solstice. After last year's Tour Divide, it will seem short! We rode and talked all the way back to Palgrave.

Event: Raid the Rib ADVENTURE RUN
 

Raid The Rib with Dee and Virginia, who was doing her first nav race. The organizers had ordered up a beautiful, cool, sunny day with some mud slogging, swamp wading and slippery rock hopping but no ice - yay! Some of the trails were strangely dry - what's *that* all about?

As always, it was great fun to strategize with Dee. It was a 4-hour rogaine-style race with twists including controls that were only available early in the event, Walk-The-Line and a Matrix where only one teammate needed to visit controls. We decided to ignore Map C and focus on the other two maps. After getting a few controls in the northeast of the main map, we wanted to get as far south as possible to get big points from Walk-The-Line, Bermuda Triangle and a couple of valuable controls. Then we'd keep an eye on our watches as we ran back to Rocky Ridge Ranch for the mandatory Nav Roulette Relay that we needed to start between 1.5 and 3 hours into the race.

Our plan worked pretty well for us. Virginia had never seen an orienteering map nor used a compass before, however, she is a strong runner so I hooked a tow rope to her for a few stretches of trail and road. Dee and I watched the map, and we all looked for flags and trails. When Virginia was the first on our team to spot a flag for the first time *ever*, she whooped and hollered in joy and did a little dance on the mossy rocks. Dee and I high-fived her and explained that you're allowed whoop and holler when you find the first control of your life. After that, however, you have to be quiet and sneaky. ;)

We cut it close on the way back to the Nav Roulette Relay, arriving 1-2 minutes before the deadline - eek. We were handed three maps, each with one control. Each team member would need to go out once, and we needed to do the maps in the order provided. It was OK to send teammates out together. The first map said, "A Bit Tricky" so I headed right back out and left the other two maps behind so the others could plan.

When I returned, Virginia went out and we made the mistake of sending her alone. We soon noticed that after the primary navigator ran the first relay leg, many teams were sending teammates out in pairs. Virginia's "Easy Short" control was less than 2 minutes away but she ended up putting in some extra distance as she lost contact with the map and eventually punched both the "Easy Long" *and* the "Easy Short" control. Dee and I took full responsibility for our error in not accompanying her. It's impressive that she made it back! :) Mostly, we didn't want her to lose her newfound enthusiasm for navigation sports because of a stressful experience. The trail network south of Rocky Ridge Ranch is extremely complicated; it can make you feel like you'll never return to civilization. Fortunately, she came out with quite a story and she still had a smile on her face!

Dee ran out to the Easy Long control, then we headed out again. Because our relay ran long, we just picked up four more Matrix controls and called it a day. Before the race, we'd switched from Female to Masters to have a better chance to win a bottle of wine. With 1400 pts, we would have been 2nd in either category (alas, no prizes for 2nd) but we were just 60 pts behind the Masters winner, Lost Bearings, so I made the right guess. Next time! :)

Great team, fun day, always a treat to introduce someone new to the sport I love. Nice to see so many friends although there is never enough time to really catch up. Maybe it's time to think about another Adventure Racing Party!

Did most of the workout Slowrunner gave me this week, omitting the forward/backward lunges to help my legs survive Raid The Rib with two strong teammates. I also omitted the part where I nearly passed out after 20 standing long jumps. Phew, I was really hoping that wouldn't become a regular thing.

Sloppy gravel road run in the pouring rain - great weather to test layers for mountain races! I haven't done any speedwork for a long time so I tested the waters (literally, in today's weather) with 5 X 300 m intervals at 5K pace with jogging rest in between.

Exhausted - poor BazingaDog has been quite sick this week.

After nearly passing out yesterday evening, it didn't seem like a good plan to head off into the woods alone like I usually do. So yoga it was - with enthusiastic assistance from AdventureDog. If my problem was caused by dehydration, it should be cured after a long day of drinking (H2O, that is). ;) Now I just need to get a decent night's sleep.

Bruce Side Trail run up Caledon's K2 to the Glen Haffy stile at the main Bruce. Looped through the valley to the south, back to the stile and returned home the way I came. On the Bruce Side Trail, there is less than 10% ice now and it is mostly easy to negotiate although there are still a couple of marble-hard, off-camber bits. There is still plenty of mud but it is starting to dry up.

It was a different story once I got up to the main part of Glen Haffy. More than half the loop in there was ice, and the rest was goopy mud. The exceptions were a couple of places where I broke through ice and landed in goopy mud. Slowrunner tells me that if I'd turned north on the BT, conditions would have been much better. Next time!

I was running a little late on the way home and did my first tree-root-tripping-induced Superman dive into mud of the year. One of the first signs of spring. :)

[Some trouble with GPS signal so I'm using the distance I usually measure on this route.]

Training session with Slowrunner - a weird one. I felt great at the start but my head started to spin halfway through. It felt exactly like the time 6 years ago when I really *did* pass out after stopping to chat with a neighbour during one of the first warm-ish trail runs of the season. I wasn't overly warm on today's run but I *was* too warm in the upper floor gym where we were working out. Also, I'd had a quick turn-around after the run before driving to town. No cooldown, no food or drink. Hopefully, that's all it was. I still don't feel too energetic now, even after a pre-dinner trip to Dairy Queen. (Medical emergency!)

Around Palgrave West in a T-shirt - equal parts ice, dry ground and goopy mud. Spiked shoes worked well; I'm putting away the Microspikes until next season!

Tired of explaining that correlation does not imply causation? Check out the Spurious Correlations site! For example, there are close correlations between:

- Number of people who drowned by falling into a swimming pool
and
- Number of movies Nicholas Cage appeared in

- Divorce rate in Maine
and
- Per capita consumption of margarine in the U.S.

http://www.tylervigen.com/

Snowy Easter with Mom.

Trevor Wurtele's Oceanside 70.3 race report. I don't usually check out triathlon news but (a) I know Taylor Reid and Lionel Sanders, mentioned in this video, and (b) it's seriously entertaining (and short).

It's always a short sleep after 'Bent's Passover Seder.

Beautiful, sunny Good Friday run and a nice catch-up with Browner. She doesn't have spikes so in solidarity, I didn't wear spikes either. We planned a route that started in Albion Hills and allowed us to bail out to some hilly country roads and rail trail if needed. Although we found some great stretches of clear trail in Albion, we also found a few glaciers in the shadier sections. We negotiated a number of the smaller ones but decided to head out of the park up Duffy's Lane. The winter-closed section was a mix of ice and mud but the rest was dry.

Since it was on the route now, we stopped by our place to visit 'Bent, introduce Browner to the pooches and show her the adventure basement (guests welcome to train here!)

Then we headed a few kms down Humber Station Rd., took the rail trail back to Albion Hills and braved more trail in the park - a mix of mud, soft ground and ice. Many times today, we had to hang onto trees and get traction from bits of debris on the ice but it all went well. I was the only one who fell - a victim of slippery mud, not ice. Browner got to meet a Friendly Country Driver speeding over a blind hill but after living in the city, she is skilled at evasive maneuvers.

Great to kick off the holiday weekend with a long workout since the rest of Easter / Passover will be family time. Wishing everyone a happy holiday weekend!

Hard Core with Caron, tonight with extra pain.

Caron's yoga class with all fees donated in memory of a regular class member who passed away suddenly last week, 4 days after a cancer diagnosis. She was my age and very active. Impossible to wrap my mind around.

GPS track for Eiger Ultra Trail - just wanted a place to play with it.

Phew, I guess it paid to rest and drink tea with honey; my cold is nearly gone.

AdventureDog and I returned to do the same Hockley Provincial Park route that we did with 'Bent on Saturday. I was glad to have Microspikes in a few treacherous places but things have changed a lot in a few days and it's forecast to be 10C warmer tomorrow. Next time I should be OK in Spikecross except for the steepest descents where my ice climbing experience will continue to come in handy.

The trails were 50/50 snow/ice and mud but everything was softer than a few days ago; there's no frozen bare ground anymore. The time saved by only needing to lower myself with saplings down a few luge runs was offset almost exactly by the extra energy needed to push off the softer trail surface.

AdventureDog is an awesome athlete. He demonstrated some progress today in that he stopped to relieve himself which, strangely, he seemed to think was against the rules during a run so he was sometimes ready to burst by the time we put him in the yard at home. We made less progress on the "drinking from the stream" front. If I cupped water in my hands, he would drink but he wouldn't drink directly. Twice, we met the same group of 8 dogs with dog walkers. Considering that he was the odd man out running into a group of boisterous friends with their party well underway, he handled it pretty well.

Kilian Jornet and Ueli Steck have announced a new Extreme Sky racing series.
http://trailrunnermag.com/people/news/1697-kilian-...