Training Log Archive: Bash

Hard Core Live with Caron

After another painful Thumbs-of-Death session, I managed to stop whimpering and drag myself over to Boot Camp with Kristy. Lots of upper body tonight; things are going to hurt tomorrow!

Happy Birthday, 'Bent! :)

For non-Canadians who might be interested: 'We were wrong': Trudeau apologizes for decades of LGBTQ discrimination. It's about time!
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/trud...

Foothab

AdventureDog and I ran around Palgrave East in the snow. There were lots of bike tracks but we only met hikers and other dogs. My heel felt tight while running - in fact the tight feeling ran up my right leg into my hip - and now the inside of my right heel feels sore again. I iced it and hope it'll feel better tomorrow, which is what happened last time. I feel like I'm changing my biomechanics with chiro treatments and physio exercises, which is mostly good but I guess it takes time.

Time/distance adjusted for a section where I didn't turn my Ambit back on after a dog stop. (Dogs just don't understand GPS tracking!)

One of my oldest friends since childhood was found dead outside her home today with no obvious cause. My head is spinning.

Sharon and I spent our teen years on the same street but in recent years, she had lived in Thailand, India, South Carolina and Nova Scotia, moving around with her husband's corporate job. Her Mom lives near us and we were able to get together for a meal whenever she came home to visit.

Although we never lived in the same place as adults, several families from that street stayed in touch so she was more like a cousin. For awhile, our lives overlapped in an unexpected way; she finished the Hawaii Ironman and logged on Attackpoint briefly. Sharon was a loving wife and family member, a devoted friend, a committed Christian, an innovative teacher, a talented musician, a fashion queen, a brilliant student, an adventurer, an athlete, and very creative and energetic in a Martha Stewart kind of way.

After a nice brunch in March, I posted this photo on Facebook with the caption, "Friends for 40 years". The last few years, she had insisted on getting a photo whenever we met. It's a cliché but you never know when it will be the last photo, the last meal together, the last hug. We're reminded of that again and again but it still comes as a shock when someone passes away. I'm glad we had a long conversation when we last saw each other; I couldn't ask for a better final memory. I'll miss her.

Foothab

Late afternoon run to Palgrave East and a loop to get back home. I ran into Slowrunner for the first time since she finished the Tahoe 200 in July. My cardio feels decent even though my foot is still recovering.

Yay! Drink 3 cups of coffee a day! Live longer! Stay healthier! And whatever you do, don't read the *next* study when it comes out!
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fi...

Hard Core Live with Caron

Biked around Palgrave single track, inspired by a slew of insulting, uninformed comments on Facebook about Palgrave mountain bikers. A biker (not me) dared to write a letter to the local newspaper about horses leaving piles of poop on the bike trails - where horses actually aren't supposed to be, although the biker didn't mention that.

Mountain bikers were referred to as "Citidiots", which is a common class of insult in Caledon. It means you are from the city - not from the country - and you are complaining inappropriately about country things. I make similar (less rude) comments privately when new neighbours move in and decide that our dirt road should be paved.

Anyway, even though Caledon supports two busy bike shops, all their customers apparently come from outside of town. And if you believe the commenters, it seems that none of the equestrians are city people who board their horses in the country; I guess wealthy Torontonians keep their horses in their back yards.

I know from past community discussions that many people believe that mountain bikers are kamikaze, untrustworthy young men from Toronto, while equestrians are community-loving, tax-paying, respected citizens who contribute to the local economy, care about nature and have a long family history in the area. They would be surprised to know how many local bikers are age 40-70 and can afford 5-figure bikes so they're probably paying lots of property tax too.

I don't usually get into debates on the Internet but I felt sorry for this poor biker who was being pummelled by people who don't know what they're talking about. I mentioned that it's unpleasant to get horse feces flung up onto our water bottles and another commenter (obviously a bike expert) set me straight: "A tip: I would not be having a water bottle EXPOSED in any forest or anywhere in the streets for that fact with all the spitters out there. It is just gross!"

So just so you know, if you have a water bottle carrier on your bike frame, that is just gross. :D

Anyway, it was a great ride. The trails are in excellent condition with only a couple of muddy spots. I still love my bike. But news flash: I can't get away with regular bike shoes and socks at +1C. At least not for longer than 40 minutes. After that, I was riding with Popsicle Toes.

Bike computer time/distance.

Dr. Thumbs-of-Death continued his reign of terror today with some excellent Pain per Dollar.

I paid online for boot camp and was really looking forward to it but 15 minutes before I had to leave, I clicked on a link from a friend and realized too late that it wasn't legit. I did a full virus scan, then restarted my computer with the intent of doing one more virus scan as I headed out the door. But then I got a message that I wasn't protected by my virus scanner anymore. I couldn't login and I couldn't uninstall it so I couldn't reinstall it.

The support database provided some instructions that took me into the guts of my Mac to uninstall my virus scanner. In my long history with PCs, I went into their guts regularly but for all my skepticism about Macs, they do tend to work properly without much fuss. I was disappointed that Cristina doesn't live in Palgrave since she would not have found this scary at all. I sure did.

It worked. But I missed boot camp. The End.

OK, not quite the end. If you want to postpone dying, you should do strength training. So don't miss boot camp. It's probably even more important than virus protection on your computer.

Foot still feels OK a few hours later. I'm seeing Dr. Thumbs-of-Death tomorrow so OUCH in advance.

I’ve been trying to build physio exercises into odd moments in my day but I should plan more dedicated sessions too. My foot feels fine tonight - none of yesterday’s stiffness and no pain.

Browner, 'Bent and I went running with Contour, BazingaDog and AdventureDog at Forks of the Credit Provincial Park on a crisp, pre-winter morning with wisps of snow on the ground. It was a nice chance to catch up and tire out a few dogs on the trails. My heel felt stiff after yesterday's orienteering, which probably isn't good but I'll see how it recovers over the next few days.

When we were almost back at the cars, Browner noticed that her phone had fallen out of her pack. Remembering our successful lost phone adventure with Carbon's Offset on the Wind Ridge Trail in July, we were optimistic. Like CO, Browner had a map-savvy spouse at home who fired up the Find My iPhone app on her computer and sent us screen captures of the simple map that showed her phone's location. (Note that people without map-savvy family members at home can sign into Find My iPhone on a friend's phone but it is nice to have someone sitting in a warm house focusing on that task since you will likely need the friend's phone for other things during your quest.)

We realized last time that using Find My iPhone on one of our own phones allowed us to see our location on the same type of map and use that information to move toward the missing phone even if the map wasn't too detailed. (Storm also sent us a satellite version of the map but it wasn't until we were in the car with warm hands that we figured out how to convert our own map to satellite. Next time that would be easier.) For the next few kms, we did more hiking than running.

Storm could make the phone play sounds using Find My iPhone but the phone was down to 2% battery so we waited until we thought we were in the right spot. We searched the ground and begged our three dogs to use their acute senses of smell for something more meaningful than sniffing butts. But they were unhelpful and we came up empty. With 1% battery remaining, we asked Storm to play sounds and... we heard a beep. It was lying right on a trail we had run on while actively looking for it. Who would have thought a piece of technology could make itself so invisible on top of some grass?

Anyway, success! Thanks to Browner for a yummy reward lunch and latte in Belfountain.

Event: Kick-Start and Starry Night O-CUP Races
 

Stars O Cup Kick-Start at Columbia Forest, Waterloo

Yay, it's O Cup season again! Unfortunately, it wasn't great weather for lingering and chatting with friends although we were lucky to have a break in the rain for most of this race.

It was a fun course with a surprising amount of hill climbing. The forest was soggy but that just added to the challenge. Val flew past me like I was standing still on the way to the last control so I just missed out on a prize. AdventureGirl! crushed us both, though!

Mrs. Tiny kindly invited Amber and me to hang out at her place between races, which was a nice treat.

Starry Nights O Cup
Steckle Woods

Nick really outdid himself on this complex race course but it was a lot of fun and a terrific use of a small forest. The first part of the race was the O Cup Box, made up of 7 dog bones where we could drop dog bones based on our handicap. Then there was a map exchange and we finished with a point-to-point section, made more challenging by the fact that all the controls kept the same labels that they had when they were dog bones, e.g. you could be running from F to c to d to A. Also, everyone was allowed to drop one control. (I picked g.)

It was absolutely pouring so it was an excellent test of our clothing and gear. I wore a real rain jacket and didn't regret it even though I was warm. It was better than being cold! I wore my headlamp above my clear visor over my glasses and it worked reasonably well although I had to direct my breath downward or else my glasses fogged up. I had only one major bobble but it was an annoying one because it was a control I had visited on the first map and found immediately. This time I doubted my pace count because I hadn't seen a trail junction in the mist so when I finally went into the woods, I did a big, unnecessary circle.

Once again, AdventureGirl! was the top female even though I tried to blind her with my powerful bike light as she passed. She got a prize as the top junior woman but had the *nerve* to take the bottle of wine that was clearly intended for the top adult woman - just because she is of age now! ;) I settled for a bag of yummy chocolates.

I wish there were more opportunities for Night O. This was a blast! :) And my foot doesn't feel too bad after all that running on uneven terrain.

AdventureDog and I went for a short run in Palgrave West to make sure my sore foot feels OK on smooth trails before I take it orienteering tomorrow. So far, so good! Except that tomorrow's forecast is build-an-ark weather.

Kristy's TRX boot camp at the PB Studio. It's a fun albeit small group and I like her style. I don't think I'll be quite as sore this weekend - progress.

So *this* was the big El Cap climb Alex Honnold was doing in Yosemite the week we went there. Awesome! https://www.climbing.com/people/el-cap-in-a-golden...

Took it easy on my heel by running slowly on a smooth surface and watching Billy Yang's 2017 film from Western States. I started the day by reading Anton Krupicka's sad blog about his Achilles injury, which was sobering. I plan to go orienteering this weekend so it's not going to be all smooth surfaces this week! My foot has improved even though it's not fixed yet.

Last night our annual C3 (Canadian Crosstraining Club) banquet was part of a reunion weekend for the sport of triathlon, timed to coincide with Simon Whitfield's induction into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame. A lot of interesting people were there, including one of the 15 men who raced in the very first Ironman in Hawaii in 1978. There were at least three Canadian Olympians and a bunch of elite and age group winners from sprint to Ironman distance.

One of the coolest things was watching the final few minutes of Simon Whitfield's Olympic gold medal race in Sydney in 2000 - with Simon in the room. It's just as exciting now as it was then, and he got a standing ovation from the crowd. This video isn't great quality but it shows the awesome final minute of the race.


Club awards were handed out too, and 'Bent and I received the "Run of the Year" award - which Barrie Shepley also called The Insanity Award - for Ultra Tour Monte Rosa. Club members have always been intrigued by and supportive of our adventure sports in spite of the fact that we can't swim very far and thus would make horrible triathletes.



Today Matt Fitzgerald gave a couple of talks as part of the reunion weekend. He's a writer, running coach and author of a few books including "80/20 Running", which talks about doing 80% of your training at low intensity, i.e. nose breathing. He also talked about the mental aspect of endurance, which is discussed in another book, "How Bad do You Want It?" Good stuff.

Trying to go easy on my recovering foot by running on a flat surface. Last week’s rough terrain in Yosemite didn’t make it worse but it probably didn’t make it better. It isn’t feeling too bad so I’m hoping I caught it early.

Caron's painful-but-therapeutic foam roller yoga class. Although I could do this at home, I'm sure I wouldn't, so it's nice to be forced.

Finished my Yosemite photos and reports. Sunday's hike to North Dome is highly recommended but be sure to start earlier in the day than we did!
https://ar.attackpoint.org/viewlog.jsp/user_920/pe...

A mix of TRX and full body exercises.

'Bent's course finished yesterday and we stayed one extra day in Yosemite. All week, the forecast for the weekend was heavy rain with a winter storm warning at higher elevations. Roads were closed in anticipation of The Storm - but it didn't come. There was a little rain overnight then the mist burned off and it became sunny and chilly - perfect for hiking.

We got on the trail behind our hotel to do the big climb to the top of Upper Yosemite Falls.



This would be the first part; after that, we would travel on the plateau to North Dome, a summit that sits directly across from Half Dome.

This is the oldest trail in the Park, originally built in the 1870s. Some of the climb was rocky, technical and potentially ankle-turning.





We got close to Upper Yosemite Falls, which doesn't have much water at this time of year.



There were great views of our destination. North Dome is the round summit on the left side of the photo facing Half Dome.



We got up to the plateau and it was spectacular.





Our first stop was Outlook Point, which is accessed by a jumble of rocks and stone steps next to a steep drop-off. It should be avoided by anyone with acrophobia. This was our first snack break.





Fortunately, there were railings on the narrowest parts.



We continued toward Yosemite Point. We were in high country now; 'Bent said the scenery reminded him of his backpacking trip on the John Muir Trail. The trail was sometimes indistinct. I hadn't imagined it would be possible to get lost on a signed trail in such a popular park on a clear, sunny day but in open, rocky areas, we often had to search for the route. We were surprised there were no cairns or other markings. It wasn't super difficult on a day with perfect visibility but not all days are like that.





After Yosemite Point, we entered the forest for awhile. Some of it had been burnt in a fire. After the initial climb, it was easy hiking but there were rolling hills.



At last we saw our goal, the smooth summit of North Dome. It looks like it's just ahead of us but we had to make a sharp left turn at this point and take a circuitous, down-and-up route through the forest.





We took a long break on North Dome to eat snacks, stare at the views, take photos and tease ravens.









The star of the show is Half Dome but it looks spectacular in every direction.



We had the choice of continuing forward to Mirror Lake and back to the Village, which would be longer and repeat some of yesterday's route. Since our hike to this point had been so terrific, we decided to go back the way we came. First though, we climbed higher on Indian Ridge, the partially treed dome seen in this photo.







From there, we got an even better view of Half Dome and surrounding peaks, including North Dome, the little bump on the right. The altitude was close to 2500 m (8200 ').



There had been wisps of cloud all day but now there were a lot more. We wondered if a storm might be on its way after all. This wouldn't be a good place to get caught. After taking this photo, I googled the weather and confirmed that nothing had changed.



The light was changing for the better because the angle of the sun was lower. Hmm. Lower. I glanced at my watch - 3 p.m. already. We'd taken 4 hrs 15 mins to hike to North Dome with lots of photo stops, then we'd spent 90 minutes in the area. We hadn't seen anyone for 4 hours.



Sunset was at 6 p.m. so we only had 3 hours to get back to the top of Upper Yosemite Falls and down the rocky trail to the valley, almost a vertical kilometre below. That seemed reasonable. We wouldn't take as many photos on the way back and it was a net downhill so we should be able to save an hour if we hurried.

Then we remembered: sunset was at 6 p.m. *last* night. Tonight it would be 5 p.m. because the clocks had changed. So we had 2 hours to retrace the steps of our 4+ hour hike. Oops.

We had a couple of hiking maps but they weren't topo maps so I didn't have faith we could use them to find the indistinct trail sections on the plateau in the dark or heavy fog. There were a lot of cliffs if we got off track. We wanted to get to the top of Upper Yosemite Falls before dark because we couldn't lose the trail after that, even though it would be tough to negotiate at night.

We had emergency headlamps and were moderately well equipped if we got stuck out for the night but we needed to leave for the airport at 5 a.m. so this wasn't a good time to practise our Survivorman skills.

So we ran - so much for taking care of my foot injury. It got foggy for awhile, which made things interesting but we made it back to the top of the waterfall before sunset.



Suddenly, we were back in civilization. A couple was standing near the brink of the falls; the guy was wearing shorts at 5C just before sunset. We called over to see if they had a headlamp. They seemed unconcerned. This was a continuing theme. After our mad dash, we met half a dozen people still coming up on the trail. We reminded all of them that sunset was imminent since most of them weren't carrying much. I'll bet a few people came down that rocky trail by smartphone flashlight.



We ran and speed-hiked to the bottom, arriving 25 minutes after sunset, just at the moment when we would have needed to turn on our headlamps. As we walked across the grass toward our hotel, I turned to give 'Bent a congratulatory hug and sprained my ankle. Good times. :)

[Time deducted for long lunch stop but other photo stops are included]

Trek Part 1

Trek Part 2

This was the first of two days when our rental car sat unused, just the way we like it.

While 'Bent attended his final class, I took the long route to meet him for lunch, starting with a side trip to Lower Yosemite Falls. This waterfall - including the upper section not seen here - is touted as the highest in North America at 739 m.



I checked out Yosemite Village, including the Ansel Adams gallery.



'Bent and I were fortunate to be seated at the wrong table for lunch at the fancy Majestic Hotel. They had to move us so they gave us their best table to make it up to us. It worked. I called this the Harry Potter Dining Room. The Majestic is one of those grand old hotels from a different era like the Banff Springs. Needless to say, we couldn't afford to stay there.





Someone suggested a post-lunch hike to Mirror Lake so we took the long way home. Mirror Lake is a misnomer, especially in autumn. There is a lot more water on the bike section of a typical Ontario adventure race!



On a clear day, there would be a fantastic view of Half Dome from directly below it, but it was cloudy.

Although the destination wasn't that exciting in this weather, the trail to get there was pretty.



And so was the rest of our hike back to Yosemite Valley Lodge. The sun peeked out to get our hopes up for tomorrow's hike.

As a longtime fan of mountaineering books and films, I was excited to see El Capitan up close. If you've been to the Banff Festival of Mountain Films a few times, you've probably seen it on the big screen.



After 'Bent's class today, we hiked up to the base of The Nose, probably the most famous rock climbing route in North America. This trail didn't appear on the hiking maps we had but we saw a path leading into the forest in the right area and guessed where it went. I'm sure the park is trying to keep tourists away. It doesn't deter anyone who knows about El Cap. We ran into a few other people wandering around its base.

The photo from the bottom of the wall doesn't show its scale at all; it's almost a kilometre high!



Two very relaxed deer kept an eye on us.



There were a few abandoned ropes hanging off the wall and some informal trails through the trees but there wasn't any garbage or abandoned gear on the ground. It looks like the area is treated with respect.

Climbers typically take 3-5 days to ascend 900 meters (3,000') to the top but a new speed record of 2 hrs 19 mins 44 seconds was set last month. We saw two climbers today at The Great Roof. If you look back at the photo of the entire wall, you might notice this tiny dark spot near the top of The Nose.



'Bent tried his hand at free soloing and made it up exactly one move. :) He could have gone a bit farther but it's not safe to scramble around the base of a rock wall without a helmet - not that it would help much.



Speaking of free soloing, someone said they spotted climbing superstar Alex Honnold - who made the first-ever free solo (no ropes) climb of El Capitan in June - in the cafeteria at our hotel. I kept an eye out for him for the rest of our trip but no luck.

We drove a short distance up to Tunnel View, one of the most famous views of Yosemite Valley. We didn't have great lighting but it was pretty.

Track for our walk up to the base of the Nose. We also hiked to Bridalveil Fall and a few other short walks although I'd turned off the Ambit by then. The track also shows our drive to Tunnel View - oops!

I rented a "bike" from Yosemite Valley Lodge, where we're staying.



It was single speed and I had to brake by pedalling backward, which is a skill I've apparently forgotten from my childhood. An extremely upright posture was required. It was a surprising amount of work! Still, any bike is better than no bike.

Mountain biking is strictly prohibited in Yosemite. Riding is only permitted on roads and paved bike trails. I explored all of the bike trail system and did a couple of the nicer sections twice. There were some terrific views that I hadn't seen from the road. Time includes photos and sightseeing breaks.



There are some spectacular, large trees but sadly, a number of them are dead or dying.



Half Dome never gets old.

'Bent and I hiked up from Yosemite Valley to spectacular Glacier Point via Four Mile Trail, which is actually longer than that. It was a steady climb with a mix of autumn forest and amazing views. It was a little smoky from forest fires but it improved as the day warmed up.











That's El Capitan across the valley.







Glacier Point can also be reached by vehicle but it wasn't too crowded today, even though it was the last day of the year that the road would be open. I'm sure it's crazy in the summer.

We had just enough time before 'Bent's dental course to trek up to Sentinel Dome for an even higher viewpoint (2476 m/ 8123 ft). I could have stayed up there all day!









Clouds were rolling in quickly and our view started to disappear.

But we spent so much time gawking and taking photos that we had to run the 1300 m descent to the valley so 'Bent could get to school on time! The trail sign said, "Running is dangerous" but it also said, "Biking is prohibited" so we decided to interpret that as a deliberate distinction, i.e. we weren't breaking a rule. Just in case, when we met other people, we hiked past them. We ran through a chilly layer of fog and the afternoon was cloudy. Perfect for school.

As a good wife, I grudgingly agreed to accompany ‘Bent to a dental course in Yosemite. :)