Training Log Archive: Bash

Finally got my laptop on the Internet. Photos and reports have been posted from Fri. Jan. 28 to today.

Didn't feel like getting my gear wet in the lashing rain this morning after drying it out overnight so I skipped running and did some of my leg strength routine before we left Arthur's Pass.

We picked up my kayak today - a JKK Eclipse 5.2. It's a demo model that I bought directly from JKK - Jans Kees Kirpensteijn, the guy who builds them. That's him standing with me beside my new boat. It's narrow enough that I just fit into it widthwise but I've got a fair amount of leg room.



We met a couple of people today who are doing C2C in plastic sea kayaks. When they heard which boat I was getting, they thought I was "very brave". They were wrong. Earlier today, we visited the race put-in point on the Waimakariri River. When I saw how silty and high the river was after the rain, I did not feel brave at all.



There were a couple of guys there who had done C2C before. They had kayaks tied to their vehicle but after seeing the river today, they were going to go running instead. However, they said that the race would still be held if the water was at this level.

Kayaking may be more difficult than expected. We discovered tonight that the big box containing my Salomon vest pack and fancy new kayak paddle didn't make it into the van at Arthur's Pass. The hotel room was empty so it must have gone outdoors as we cleared out. I was inside the hotel paying the bill so I didn't see the final gear go into the van. The box had previously been in my duffel bag so it probably wasn't recognized as belonging to us. I called the hotel and they don't know anything about it. Crap.

We've rented a townhouse in Christchurch across from Hagley Park, a huge green area just west of downtown. 'Bent and I went for a quick run before dinner to check out the trails. It's flat but there are dirt trails beside the paved trails and the park is full of fantastic, huge old trees. It's going to be nice to head out here on foot and bike.



'Bent and I both ran so fast that the camera couldn't focus. Even the trees behind us are blurry.

We arrived in Christchurch early in the morning. In this pic, Frankenjack and I are standing under a sign that says, "We welcome the best athletes to the best of New Zealand." They were talking about the athletes coming to Christchurch 2011, whatever that might be, but we'll take what we can get.



We headed toward Arthur's Pass with the plan of doing an overnight backpacking trip on the mountain run section of the Coast to Coast race course. Along the way, we stopped at Castle Hill for a picnic lunch. The area is popular with rock climbers and silly Canadians who haven't slept properly in a long time.

When we got to Arthur's Pass, the Department of Conservation showed us the latest forecast which included a heavy rainfall warning and a severe gale warning. We decided to spend the night, then return to Christchurch. Frankenjack and I went out separately to run in the rain.



I went along the Bridal Veil Track and returned along the road. It was warm and absolutely beautiful, even in the rain. The wet forest and streams made me think of Tasmania - still hoping to get there for the AR World Champs. Even though I hadn't been to bed yet after several long flights - or perhaps because of this - it felt great to run. There were some good Frankensteps along this route!

[Original note before I got Internet connection.] We're at Arthur's Pass, NZ in a severe storm warning. Up to 150 mm of rain and winds up to 140 kph. It is already impressive but it has only just begun. It's going to get much nastier so we're returning to Christchurch tomorrow rather than doing the Coast to Coast running route.

Alas, my laptop can't connect - only my phone. So can't post pics yet, and there are already some nice ones. Had a beautiful run today as the storm started. Looked like pics I've seen of Tasmania. I had to wear a beanie. (They don't have toques here.)

We had no Saturday, thanks to the International Date Line. We will, however, celebrate a 42-hour Valentine's Day.

'Bent, Frankenjack, Nelvia, Chris and I had a 9-hour stopover in San Francisco before flying to NZ. We took the BART downtown, walked along the Embarcadero, lunched at the Crab House on Pier 39, watched sea lions play in the sunshine, scarfed down sundaes at Ghirardelli's and wandered through the bustling streets of Chinatown. We went up and down a bunch of steep hills at a brisk pace and - needless to say - did Frankensteps whenever the opportunity arose. My day pack weighed close to 25 lb so this was a decent effort for a day of playing tourist!



In the photo below, 'Bent is using the "level" app on his iPod Touch to measure the grade of the street.













Chinatown



'Bent found this Chinese version of the Bullfrog Power logo.

We're off to NZ in the morning. Bags are nearly packed and our house/dog sitter is preparing to hold the fort. It's starting to feel real.

Coast to Coast is on Sat. Feb. 12. With the time difference, we'll start racing at 12 noon Toronto time on Fri. Feb. 11 and I hope to finish around 5 a.m. on Saturday. I'll be wearing a SPOT tracker so you can follow my progress online if you'd like. I won't know many people there so it will be good motivation in a 17-hour race to think about friends back home who might be keeping an eye on me. (Although I doubt anyone will see me finish at 5 a.m. Ontario time!)

It sounds cliche to say that this experience has been more about the journey than the destination, but it's absolutely true. I've known about C2C for years but had never considered doing it. Winning the free entry through GUATS Logs Rocks & Steel was totally unexpected and I'm glad I decided to go for it.

Since September, I've taken up road biking, kayaked in icy Georgian Bay and the steamy Everglades, paddled Canadian whitewater in January and run on trails from Stanley Park to the Hockley Valley to central Florida. Amazing people have trained with me, travelled with me, lent gear, shared useful advice, coached me and provided encouragement and hugs. I've built skills, fitness and friendships. If our trip to NZ had to be cancelled tonight, my Coast to Coast experience would already have been worth it.

The journey continues as Richard and I head to Christchurch with Jack and his sister and brother-in-law. In my mind, our #1 priority is to get Jack the best possible result in C2C. He was 12th last year on a course that was severely modified due to high water levels. The regular course plays more to his strengths. In the NZ press this week, the race director named him as one of the young competitors who could challenge Richard Ussher for the win.

I will be entirely satisfied if I finish within the time cut-offs. There are several of them, and the way they're set up is to allow racers to complete as much of the course as possible, but not necessarily to finish the race. For example, the cut-off time to start the 67 km kayak section does not allow enough time for most racers to get down the river before hitting the time cut-off for finishing the paddle. I'll know more after we've tested portions of the course but it looks like it will be a stretch for me to hit all the cut-offs. But I've prepared as well as I could and it's been loads of fun. Whatever happens, I'm OK with it.

We hope to be able to post pics and reports from NZ fairly often, so stay tuned! :)

What was I thinking when I planned to tidy up for the house / dog sitter to stay here at the same time as I'm tearing the place apart to pack for an overseas trip with a multisport race?!?

Last ride on Princess before taking her apart for the flight. Attempted to test my new aerobottle. The distance between my mouth and the straw = 10 cm (4"). I always knew that I wasn't built like a triathlete but this isn't what I meant. Must go google aerobottle photos now.

[Edit: From looking at the photos, there's nothing wrong with the aerobottle. It's another problem related to Princess being too big for me. I'll be fine with regular bottles. Once the sun sets, I might even dare to put on a Camelbak - ssshhhh!]

Hey, are y'all scared of the Humber Valley Hellrunner - the challenging Thomass course that Phatty has worked so hard to prepare for this Sunday?
http://caledonnavigators.heysport.com

No excuses - it's time to register and show the world what kind of stuff you're made of. Registration is open till midnight Friday. The event is just north of Bolton and the Caledon Navigators are the only orienteering club that engages a professional chef to help prepare the post-race goodies. Be there or miss a great time!

(P.S. We had a weird problem where our website looked fine in every browser except Internet Explorer. Our apologies if you were affected but you can get in now.)

I tried oh so hard not to do it but I'm heading to MEC and Running Free later today. How is it possible that I don't own every piece of outdoor or racing gear that I could possibly need for the rest of my life?

On a brighter note, it's mandatory that I have two identical first aid kits containing things that I mostly wouldn't choose to carry. (Exactly what can I do with a triangular bandage while whitewater kayaking? Urthbuoy? You didn't cover that in my coaching sessions.) Amazingly, I found duplicates of everything I needed in our first aid cupboard. It was handy but almost frightening.

As an Attackpoint reader, you already knew this. :)

But maybe you didn't know that the race director considers Frankenjack to be a contender even with three-time winner Richard Ussher returning to Coast to Coast!

More practice on the tri bars - stayed in aero position for all but a few minutes of the ride. Given the lower back pain I got riding in the regular position last fall, I'm kinda surprised they feel just fine. Of course, I still have no clue what will happen when I try them on a road where the altered balance and lack of brakes might come into play.

By the way... You know how much it hurts when you bang your funny bone? Well, I learned today that my knee has a place on it that feels exactly the same - and I bashed it hard with my funny bone (double ouch!!) while reaching for a water bottle. Stoopid.

It's not looking good for tomorrow's planned kayak excursion on Georgian Bay to test my cool new paddle. It sounds like the Bay is better suited to snowmobilers than kayakers at the moment. Getawaystix is doing his best to feign bitter disappointment.

Fantastic winter outing in Palgrave West - fluffy snow falling quickly and calf-deep powder off-trail. BulletDog and I went cross-country randomly climbing and descending hills, running as much as possible but sometimes just scrambling up steep sections and clambering over obstacles.

I was so proud of BulletDog as she darted between trees, ploughed through snow up to her shoulders and leapt lightly over big logging debris like a parcours expert. She was a city dog when she first came to live with us and had never been off the sidewalk. She used to recoil in fear when a stalk of goldenrod brushed against her face. Our valiant little pooch has come a long way. :)

When I snowshoe off-trail in Palgrave West without any route in mind, I often end up in places I don't recognize right away but today was particularly impressive. I think I caught a glimpse of one road that was actually another road and made a bunch of decisions based on that - and of course, I'm no better at holding a straight line without compass or sunlight than anyone else. When I suddenly emerged onto the Bruce Trail side trail, it came as a complete surprise. For a few seconds, I stood at a place I've been more than a thousand times, staring at the snow-covered forest and hills, willing it to make sense - until it did. Weird.

Back home, snow is still falling hard enough that my tracks are obscured already. 'Bent just skied home from work and I've got a glass of port by the fire. Life is good.

Busy day! Another trainer session focusing on the tri bars. I'm developing important skills. For instance, I can now use the remote control to fast forward commercials without leaving the tri bars. I'm sure that'll be useful on the road.

Rehearsal + performance at Goose and Coach LD's annual Robbie Burns Dinner.



Each year we are asked to bring a poem to read but this year we were also asked to be prepared to do a few dance steps. I took Highland dancing when I was 7 years old and learned exactly two dances before it was determined that I had no talent. I found the Sword Dance on YouTube to refresh my memory, set up a couple of Leki trekking poles as "swords", then gave it a whirl - literally. Unfortunately, Crash took video so it might not be forgotten as quickly as I'd hoped.

When we were in Scotland, 'Bent and I searched high and low for suitable outfits for our annual Burns Dinner. Proper kilts were out of our price range so we had to make do with what we could afford. (Yes, 'Bent is wearing a beach towel.)



Weeanimal had the best outfit at the party.

Treadmill intervals - 4 X 4 min @ 10 km race pace with 4 min rest in between. After following the enthusiastic and occasionally raunchy debate on Hansel's log, I set the grade at 1%. If it's good enough for Super, it's good enough for me. This was the first time I've tried this workout and mostly I was thinking, "Damn, I don't race 10Ks very fast. This is ridiculous." So next time I'll have to be more ambitious. (Not just the next time I run on a treadmill... the next time I run a 10K!)

This was not too boring by treadmill standards. I listened to Tragically Hip tunes that I've loaded on my iPod for NZ. If Gord Downie is cool enough to buy Bullfrog Power, then he'll be excellent company for a long plane ride.

After months of encouragement from Frankenjack and Getawaystix that ranged from gentle hints to outright badgering, I finally tested tri bars on Princess today. (Thanks to 'Bent for managing the installation.)

Frankenjack lent me some nice tri bars a long time ago but I'd made excuses to put it off. For a mountain biker getting used to the different riding position and gearing of a road bike, it seemed like too much change - not to mention that they make me look like a fancypants cyclist who ought to know how to ride a road bike a whole lot better than I do.

Anyway, I'll still need to try them on a road but the trainer experiment went better than expected. If anything, I found the position more comfortable than the usual road biking position. But I won't have brakes on the tri bars so if anything goes wrong, it will be spectacular.

While watching another round of Daily Show / Colbert Report.

Planning ahead for Coast to Coast, if you're interested in live race updates and you're on Facebook, you're welcome to become my "friend". (Aw shucks...)
http://www.facebook.com/#!/Barb.J.Campbell

Our support crew will also post updates to the Van Dorp Racing page, which you can "Like" if you want it added to your news feed.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/vandorpracing

We'll have two support crew members in different vehicles posting updates, so there will be different news posted to the two pages.

You can also get news of Frankenjack and the other leaders via the live coverage on the race website. For FB and other non-Facebook types, this will probably be the only source of race news. I'll put a quick note on AP the next day to confirm (or deny) my survival.

"If you've never run aground, you've never been anywhere!"-- Unknown

One of Caledon's most decorated athletes passed away last week. Brian McGrath won bucketloads of medals at the Senior Olympics and other masters cycling events.
http://www.eganfuneralhome.com/2011/james-brian-mc...

I met him one day when I was stopped at a road/trail junction adjusting my bike seat height. He pulled over and asked if I needed any help, then pointed out his nearby house in case I ever needed any assistance or tools. I mentioned that I'd seen him on the front page of the newspaper holding 7 medals a few weeks earlier and he beamed.

Brian passed away suddenly in his 97th year. I read about him doing a cycling event in Terra Cotta a couple of years ago, so I hope he was able to ride his bike till the end. Rest in peace, Brian.

Getawaystix made my week by telling me about a study that showed that you shouldn't try to lose weight and gain fitness at the same time. People who did one or the other were more fit than those who attempted to do both simultaneously. So we're off for a hearty dinner and logistics planning session with Frankenjack. Maybe I'll have to have dessert. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

So exciting I almost forgot to record this... Did a trainer session to test my new tri shorts for C2C. It seems my road bike saddle is not as forgiving as my mountain bike saddle so it is very, very important where the stitching is. 'Nuff said and I think these will work although I wish they didn't have "death grip" elastic at the bottom of the shorts. Nobody wants hour glass thighs.

While I rode and watched more of our "Black Coffee" documentary, 'Bent brought his Omega recumbent bike into the Adventure Basement and made extremely loud noises as he reduced the bike to a stack of rubble. Its remains are now in a plastic bin looking rather pathetic, and some random piece of metal is going to a machine shop today to make his bike "better". (Sorry for the lack of detail - I'm afraid I don't always pay close attention to his gadget-related projects. Bad wife.)

First thing in the morning after a late night of unsuccessfully trying to get my new GPS tracker configured. ("On, damned SPOT! On, I say!") I dropped my car off with the mechanic in Palgrave and skied home. It was -16C and the trails were fast and hard as rock. This excursion was in direct violation of my current training philosophy: "It's too late to get any fitter so fergawds sake, just don't hurt yourself - none of this is refundable."

SPOT is working! Can you see it OK?
http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots...

Balanced things out with some post-run upper body work while watching Stewart/Colbert. This is my last high-volume week pre-C2C.

I had to run the Hockley Loop one more time before trying to run over the NZ Alps. There is enough climb to make this a good training run for a mountain race - by Ontario standards, anyway.

My feet were toasty in my Goretex Salomon XA Pros, and my Yaktrax Pros worked well for traction on gravel roads and in the few places where the trail was well packed down. There were long sections of trail that hadn't been travelled since the last snowstorm so I wasn't always able to run, and I sometimes had to guess where the trail went. There were a bunch of frustrating hills where my feet were just wallowing in the snow with nothing I could push off against. The new field crossing in the southwest part of the loop was ridiculous - I plunged through the crust into knee deep snow a bunch of times. It was good for the heart rate but there wasn't much running going on.

I missed chasing FB and Phatty around the Loop, which kept me pushing last time (when we did it 20 minutes faster!) I met a nice older gentleman on snowshoes who had just encountered someone who did 10,000 km of hiking in 2010 and was setting out to do 1,000 km each month in 2011. I love hearing about people and their different goals. So inspiring!

The only other guy I ran into was Truly Scary Looking in a serial-killer-in-the-movies kind of way. For all the time I spend running around alone in remote places, I've been pretty lucky about the people I meet. I smiled and said hello, and he just looked me up and down silently with a sullen expression. I have to remember that my friends and I also look scary at times during our outdoor activities, and this guy is probably totally normal except for his inability to respond to a greeting. I was planning to take a food break shortly after that but I went an extra couple of kms before I stopped!

I added more layers halfway around when I realized that my fingers were getting clumsy even though I didn't feel cold otherwise. I seem to be getting worse at retaining dexterity when my hands get cold so I'll have to be more careful. (I've been wondering if that's part of the reason I couldn't get my kayak skirt off underwater when I had no trouble with it at the start of the paddle down the Seymour River. That and two layers of squishy, waterlogged gloves.)

It wasn't a bad day though. I was listening to new tunes I've downloaded onto my iPod for NZ, and at the high point on the northeast side, I felt so good that I stopped for a little boogie time. Glad no one was around to see me!

Although this wasn't a spectacular performance on the Loop, the cool thing was remembering that this run used to feel unbelievably epic because of the distance combined with all the hills. Although it is still a good challenge, it feels totally normal and do-able now. My speed remains so-so but my endurance seems to have improved.

If I can maintain a similar pace during the 33 km mountain run in Coast to Coast (which has big rocks and riverbeds but no deep snow), I'll be well ahead of the cut-off to start the 67 km paddle. Then it mostly comes down to whether I can keep the kayak upright...

In case we didn't look fashionable enough *running* in our Vibram Five Fingers, they are now offering a line of casual barefoot shoes to wear at the office, out to dinner, etc.

http://runningmagazine.ca/2011/01/sections/news/ba...

Leanimal, Weeanimal and I went for a good hike on the snowy Humber Valley Heritage Trail. Just like her Mom, Weeanimal is a trooper. She has all the right outdoor clothing and gear. She didn't complain at all, managed her nutrition and hydration nicely and planned a perfect sleep strategy. Nice to catch up!

From the British Psychological Society

If a meeting becomes stressful, does it help, or make things worse, if team members drink lots of coffee? A study by Lindsay St. Claire <http://psychology.psy.bris.ac.uk/people/lindsaystc...> and colleagues that set out to answer this question has uncovered an unexpected sex difference. For two men collaborating or negotiating under stressful circumstances, caffeine consumption was bad news, undermining their performance and confidence. By contrast, for pairs of women, drinking caffeine often had a beneficial effect on these same factors. The researchers can't be sure, but they think the differential effect of caffeine on men and women may have to do with the fact that women tend to respond to stress in a collaborative, mutually protective style (known as 'tend and befriend') whereas men usually exhibit a fight or flight response.

For the construction puzzles, caffeine under high stress conditions led men to take an average of twenty seconds longer (compared with no caffeine) whereas it led women to solve the puzzles 100 seconds faster.

http://bps-research-digest.blogspot.com/2011/01/co...

There's rain in tomorrow's forecast so BulletDog and I had to get out on the ski trails in Palgrave West. Looks like someone had a big ski/snowshoe party over the weekend - there are tracks everywhere. My wax wasn't working well even though it was cold out, so today's ski was very tricep-py.

Coast to Coast entries so far:

- 147 for the 1-day race
- 22 are women
- Only 4 of us over 40. Two of us are first-timers (although one of us is an accomplished NZ multisport racer with lots of age group wins, and it's not me). The other two finished the modified 2010 C2C course which skipped most of the kayaking and mountain running. One of those two has completed C2C a number of times as a 2-day racer.

So the worst I can be - if I finish, which is a big "if" due to cut-offs - is 4th Masters. Yay.

Would have liked to XC ski as well on such a gorgeous day, but early dinner plans with the in-laws in Toronto mean that we have to start getting ready at 2:30 p.m. Hope I can get hungry that early!

After a nasty, snowstormy drive to Collingwood, we hit the trails at Scenic Caves. Harps and 'Bent pushed each other on classic skis while Dee and I skate skied. Logie and the Riddler made occasional appearances. Lots of fresh snow and the groomers hadn't been able to stay ahead of it, so it was harder work than usual.

Dee and I did a few loops of legs-only drills on the Wild Goose, then she headed back to the lodge with cold feet. I did additional loops of the Yellow and Purple trails on my own. For a few minutes after Dee and I split up, I was keeping up with - but staying a polite distance behind - a guy with nice ski gear. He commented over his shoulder that he was on his second loop so wouldn't be able to go too fast. I acknowledged his tough situation and didn't let on that it was also my second loop. After the first real hill climb, he pulled aside to let me by and gasped, "I have nothing left!!" and I smiled understandingly. But does it make me a bad person that I kind of chuckled inside my head? I really am *not* a great skate skier!

I picked up 'Bent at the lodge for a final short loop where we ran into PJ and Getawaystix. Scenic Caves is such a nice place for skate skiiing - even though I'm a classic skier at heart.

Getawaystix put together a fun Score-O course in Loree Forest for the Dontgetlost.ca IceBreaker training event. I took the "training event" part of it more seriously than most people, setting out with absolutely no intention of returning within the 1-hour time limit - although I did come back well before the course closed.

I picked 5 controls on the east side of the map that looked like fun. In fact, it turned out to be so much fun, I could have sold tickets! (To the gong show, that is.) I thought I'd do some map memory work. Here's a little known fact: when doing a map memory exercise, you can go a long, long way down a steep, snowy hill before you notice that your map is no longer in your gloved hand. :( So I retraced my steps exactly. (Note to NewPatrick: this is considerably easier in snow, which shows you yet another advantage of spending winter in Canada.) I had to grab saplings to drag myself up and it took forEVer to find the map, but luckily I did.

Near the final, farthest and most fun control (#102), which I would have skipped if I'd been aiming for the time limit, there was some thick bushwhacking. A tree branch got caught in my hair and... hey, wait a minute. Where was my cherished Salomon toque? Once again, I trudged uphill, retracing my steps. This time, I had no luck. If anyone finds a lightweight black Salomon toque in Loree Forest, there is a reward. (Chocolate.)

I'd hoped that I could make my penalty points equal my score-O points but I ended up with -10. Rats! Kudos to the two ARK kids who kicked my butt. (They had the good sense to come back a lot earlier.) Congrats to Harps on the overall win and to Dee on the female win. Nice to see Frankenjack come all the way from Wiarton on a stormy day - he had a good run too. I'm most proud of 'Bent though. He finished 6th with a good run - and he *did* run for almost an hour on his surgically enhanced knee. Longest run in many, many months and it doesn't feel too terrible now. Yahoooooo!

Thanks to Getawaystix for a fun afternoon. I'm looking forward to going back and doing more of the course another day.

Quick ski around Palgrave West with 'Bent and BulletDog on a beautiful afternoon. Gorgeous in the less travelled areas but we could use a little more base.

Caron's Hard Core DVD. It's been awhile but it felt surprisingly good. 'Bent dropped by and cherrypicked a few exercises. BulletDog stuck around and "helped" us, which added considerably to the challenge. Dogs love seeing humans roll around on the floor.

A major milestone in my preparation for Coast to Coast... I've bought a kevlar downriver kayak in Christchurch - a JKK Eclipse 5.2, one of the more popular boats used by mid-pack racers in C2C. Mine is a demo model from the manufacturer. They've recently updated the design so my boat will look slightly different from the photo.

Other than paddling Getawaystix's Ruahine Rebel on flat water, I've never paddled anything like this. It's extremely light (10 kg) and long (17') and tippy compared to the kayaks I'm accustomed to. However, it's as stable as a bathtub compared to the speedy boat Frankenjack plans to race in! Perhaps I should start a pool with a prize to the person who correctly guesses the number of times I will flip this boat while in NZ.

While watching The Daily Show.

While watching Colbert. In a vain attempt to keep Urthbuoy off my case, I increased the weight on my rows, did a few assisted pull-ups and skipped the bicep curls.

With some misgivings, I'm adding Snowshoe Running as a new activity type. I wish AP had a relational database that allowed me to assign multiple attributes to a training session, then I could look at training data in different ways - all snowshoeing or all orienteering or all running or whatever. Since I've got a training goal related to running hours in 2011, I guess this new category is needed.

I went for a twilight / early evening run in Palgrave East and West - mostly East where I did a lot of the single track. The moonlight was bright enough that I didn't have to use my headlamp except in thick forest. It's a winter wonderland after last night's snowfall so it was beautiful! Much of the running was hard work - breaking trail through dense snow. I was lucky to stumble on some sections where Slowrunner had been out snowshoeing earlier in the day. Really nice! Didn't see anyone in 2 hours, which is par for the course around here.

I wasn't thinking about how much snow my snowshoes kick up in these conditions, and I guess I was pretty wet but didn't feel it while running. I cooled down by walking out to our roadside mailbox and back, then I was suddenly so chilled that I lost dexterity and took 2 minutes to open the ziplock bag where I'd put my house key. I was imagining a stupid scene where I would run to my neighbour's house 150 meters through the forest and ask them to help me with the intricacies of my sandwich bag. But fortunately, it didn't come to that!

Although it didn't feel exactly like New Zealand in summer, it was a good workout to prepare me to race the Snowshoe Raid with Dangerous Dee the Ultrarunner!

Speight's Coast to Coast is one month from today. Gulp. Whatever fitness I have now is about the same as I'll have on race day - assuming that I'm lucky enough to avoid injury and illness. I think my run/ bike/ paddle fitness was better in late November before the snow came but hopefully the race will be more about endurance than speed, and my endurance still feels OK. There is a cut-off somewhere between the 5-hour (for me) mountain run and the 7-hour river paddle, so until the taper starts, that is where my mental and physical efforts will be focused. It would be disappointing to be cut off and it does happen to a good chunk of racers.

I'm planning to wear a SPOT on race day and I'll post the website here so that anyone interested can watch my progress (or lack thereof) across the South Island. I won't know many people at the race, so it will be nice to feel that I can draw strength from friends elsewhere in the world who may be keeping an eye on me.

Back on Princess with The Daily Show and Colbert Report.

Jon Stewart made some excellent comments about the Arizona shooting in his opening segment last night. He actually made me teary-eyed while riding the trainer - and not for the usual reasons. It's almost 10 minutes long if you decide to watch it; just ignore the brief panda pyjamas sketch. Not sure if this link works outside of Canada.

<http://watch.thecomedynetwork.ca/the-daily-show-wi...>

Back in southern Ontario. If I want to do a trail/terrain run that feels like New Zealand in summer, where should I go? Does everyone have snow? I guess that answer may change by tonight!

(Updated to add Garmin track.)

I met Charm and AZ at Whistler Olympic Park in Callaghan Valley for an afternoon ski.



After watching the Olympics on TV last year, it was really cool to ski there!



AZ was a volunteer at WOP so he acted as a tour guide, pointing out locations of interest. I was a total tourist.



Here is the place where AZ watched in horror as Petra Majdic flew off the trail into a deep creek bed during her warmup for the Olympic sprint. Cheesesteak was one of the people who helped to rescue her.



Charm has a 70 km classic loppet in two weeks so I was able to stay in my comfort zone for the first day of this trip! Conditions were difficult for waxing so we got a full body workout. Charm and AZ are strong skate skiers so sometimes they cheated in the slick conditions.





Fantastic scenery. (The mountains, not me.)







Even a waterfall to impress the Hamilton crowd.



Tons of snow.



Sometimes a little *too* much snow.



Fun times and a tough day of training - felt like a long run. (Time discounted for photography and scenery gawking.)

Turns out there's an activity other than paddling where Urthbuoy has more endurance than I do, and he did some of *that* training while watching the hockey game with his university buddies last night. In deference to a man who saved me from drowning, I did not take a photo of him wearing dark glasses for our 8 a.m. walk to breakfast.

Since my Aeroplan points couldn't get me home till Monday's red eye, I headed up to Whistler for some different training. Lucky for me, AZ had set up a ski-O at Lost Lake yesterday and the flags were still up. Charm and AZ got me set up, then I did some ski-O while Charm went a different direction to train for an upcoming classic ski loppet.



Conditions were fast and icy, and there were some nice big hills to climb. It was awesome having an interesting ski-O course to take me on a tour of a trail system I'd never been to. It took my mind off the hills too. I was distracted by the fantastic scenery and only completed one of the two maps before sunset. Other skiers looked impressed by the ski-O map holder Charm had lent me. They seemed to think I was doing something really important!

A little AR culture to start off the day - a visit to the beautiful village of Deep Cove where the Sea to Summit event used to begin. The race finished at Whistler.

Once again, Urthbuoy and I did the uphill run to our kayak put-in point on the Seymour River.

(Elapsed time was longer.) We did another run down the lower Seymour River. For me, it was a totally different experience from yesterday. It was sunny and the river was a little lower. This made it easier to control my boat in the current, however, there were plenty of new rocks to avoid so the challenges were different. Yesterday's base level of nervousness was gone with just a few adrenaline surges in big, disorganized waves and when I was knocked off balance by large rocks. It felt like we were moving in slow motion - relaxing and (dare I say it?) kinda fun.

As we went along, Urthbuoy had me practise eddying out behind relatively small rocks. The idea is to practise hard moves in easy water - before getting to more difficult water where those moves are actually necessary. I was supposed to hit the eddies high but often I wasn't decisive about cutting across the current soon enough, so I ended up paddling upstream like crazy to avoid getting shot backwards out of the eddy. I could use a lot more practice but I got into most of the eddies I aimed for and made it through the run without flipping, which gave me some confidence that I could actually become comfortable with this stuff.



Urthbuoy carried the camera yesterday to ensure that my next of kin would have something to remember me by. Today I wanted to get some photos of him. This class 2 river doesn't pose any challenges to a good kayaker but he appeased the photographer by finding a few small waves to play in.













There is progress in my attitude toward whitewater kayaking... when we got to the bottom, I felt disappointed instead of relieved. We wandered a short distance out onto the ocean to see some of the ships docked near the outlet of the Seymour River.





Although it's too bad that a major water leak caused the ceiling to fall down in our friend TheMinister's condo, one advantage is the handy new drying rack for our paddling gear! ;)



Huge gratitude to Urthbuoy for the very generous gift of his time and considerable expertise. My whitewater comfort zone has expanded and I'm much better prepared for Coast to Coast in five weeks. Best of all, I feel like some demons have been exorcised. If I paddled whitewater more often, I think I'd actually *want* to paddle whitewater more often! Thank you.

Urthbuoy and I planned to enjoy some moving water today but things started early last night when a broken pipe sent water streaming two storeys down into the condo we're staying in. TheMinister's ceiling burst open and water dripped in fast enough to fill our containers every 2 hours. The plumber's last visit of the night (with problem still unsolved) was 4 a.m. For me, that was 7 a.m. Ontario time. So, appropriately enough, I started my AR training trip with some major sleep deprivation.

After dropping off kayaks and paddling gear at our put-in point on the Seymour River in North Vancouver, Urthbuoy and I drove to the take-out, then ran back uphill to the boats. Along the way, I got a few glimpses of the river. Great big rocks. That's where whitewater comes from, Urthbuoy explained. Gulp.

(Elapsed 1.5 hrs) We changed from light running clothes into winter paddling gear. I'd never paddled anything as small and maneuverable as these playboats!





I can't describe Urthbuoy's complete comfort, grace and joy in whitewater. He played while I was getting organized onshore and it was like being at the Banff Film Festival. I could have just sat there happily watching instead of paddling.





But the whole point of coming west was to get some practice on whitewater before Coast to Coast next month. The hardest part of this river section is right at the top so Urthbuoy gave me a bunch of excellent whitewater tips first, then put me through some warm-up drills. First I was just getting used to the stability of the boat and practising braces to get a sense of how far I could lean.



Then I did some eddying in and out on both sides, then ferrying in both directions.





Some of the things we worked on:
- Short, powerful paddle strokes. Bursts of paddling - different from long, smooth, endurance paddling strokes
- Positive and negative strokes are both fine, i.e. unlike flatwater paddling, it's OK if some strokes don't take you forward.
- Lean by tilting lower body while keeping upper body centred, i.e. use hips and lock upper knee under brace.
- Don't think about leaning downstream - think about leaning so the water runs under your boat instead of grabbing it and tipping you.
- Focus on doing the low brace well with your elbows out to the side and right over the blade you're pushing down. By the time you do a high brace, you've tipped over a long way. Do a low brace when eddying in and out.
- Never let your shoulder get behind your body. (Avoids injury.)
- In these playboats, lean a little forward and keep centre of gravity low.
- Think about the "chunk of water" you're sitting on and where it's going to go as it flows downriver. If it's not where you want to go, paddle yourself over to the right position - might take some work in bigger current.
- When in doubt, stay on the inside of a blind river bend. The fast water and debris are on the outside.
- Enter and exit eddies as high upstream as possible. The eddy line is clearest there. As you move further downstream, there can be a wider zone of "funny water" between the two currents.
- When aiming for an eddy, think about the "chunk of water" you need to be on to hit it. As you approach it, turn sideways and paddle across at 90 degrees to the current.
- Practise hard moves in easy water - before getting to more difficult water where those moves are actually necessary.

For the most part, things went pretty well. I haven't done a lot of whitewater kayaking so I'm sure I don't look smooth but I've done a fair bit of canoeing in class 2 so I'm used to being bounced around and getting smacked in the face with waves. The water was *cold*. There were some big rocks with shallow water spilling over them so part of the challenge was recognizing changes in water flow that pointed out where the rocks were. I got better at this although I didn't always make the right guess on whether I was looking at a rock or a wave train. Whenever he would let me, I followed Urthbuoy's route exactly - but sometimes he made me lead. Jerk. ;)





As Urthbuoy had promised, my good luck didn't hold out. I came up onto a big rock that I hadn't seen in time, teetered a little, then slid off sideways and tipped over. No problem - I'd just do a wet exit. (No time to practise my long lost roll.) Except with my winter paddling gloves, I didn't have the dexterity to pull off the kayak skirt. Tried again. And again. Nada. Yikes - getting worried. Hanging upside down in the water, I slapped the sides of the kayak. Fortunately, Urthbuoy stayed calm.



In an instant, the bow of his boat was there and I pulled myself up. Holy crap. After towing me to shallow water, he had to race 100 meters downstream to rescue my paddle. My heart rate stayed around 250 for the next 15 minutes. Urthbuoy informed me that the standard price for a rescue = 1 beer. No problemo. Hell, you can have a case of 24, dude.



The paddling got somewhat easier from there - or maybe I was just getting used to it. I'm a nervous whitewater paddler but there were definitely moments of good fun in between the stressful parts. I was determined not to go over again but I did a wet exit at the take-out on purpose, just to give myself confidence for next time. The skirt came off fine with bare hands so tomorrow I'll use pogeys instead of gloves.



We don't usually see this mix of sports gear in Palgrave! Next stop, skate skiing.

We wanted to do a paddle/ski brick because you don't get to do that very often in Ontario, so we went to Cypress Nordic to skate ski. Conditions were icy with some big hard snow chunks from a failed grooming attempt - fast and kinda scary if you're fond of your knees and shoulders. Nice to exercise some different muscles (no biceps though) and earn dessert with dinner.

Arrived in Vancouver on a rainy, foggy afternoon. On my way to the baggage claim, I had a chat with Jim Mandelli, who was just heading out of town.

Urthbuoy and I had planned a quick paddle but my flight was delayed and the sun sets early here, so we opted for a twilight run along the sea wall and through Stanley Park. We didn't worry too much about what gear to take because if we got cold in the rain, we could just call a cab. (You can't do that in Palgrave!) I'd imagined this to be a flat run but part of the sea wall was closed so we ended up running several good hills in the park.



Vancouver is beautiful in any kind of weather.





We maintained such a tough pace that Urthbuoy needed a rest.



I kept up the Tree Hugger tradition. It was almost dark by then so we headed back.



And we lived happily ever after. (It's OK, 'Bent - that's not actually us.)

My Snowshoe Raid teammate dropped out because she has to organize a "Jamboree for Midgets" that day. On one hand, I'm sad. On the other hand, I can't stop giggling at the mental image that conjures up!

2011 Training Goals (Year End Review, part 3 of 3)

Last year I did several long events that reminded me why I love outdoor endurance sports. So the emphasis this year in both training and racing will be on the long stuff. It's not straightforward since I don't have a regular AR team anymore and 'Bent - once his knee recovers - prefers events of 30 hours or less. (I'm excited to start racing with him again!) I'll look for solo and team-of-two events where possible but it will take some creativity and good luck to achieve my 2011 goals. Here goes...

1) Do an expedition adventure race (3+ days non-stop), at least one 24-hour rogaine and at least one other 24+ hour adventure race. Run my second 50 km trail race. Consider a 50-miler if my joints are happy. Finish Speight's Coast to Coast.

2) Quality training at least once a week - hills, tempo or speed intervals. Any discipline is OK. For now, this is just about creating a habit.

3) Running - at least 2 hrs/week on average over the year, i.e. no pressure during ski season. This is slightly more than 2010, which was the most I've ever done.

4) Strength training - at least 1 hr/week

5) Total annual training - 550 hrs. This is less than the 608 hrs I trained in 2010 but 100 hrs more than last year's goal. That's plenty, especially if I add more quality workouts. If the total is driven higher by a few long races, that is a bonus. I hope I can maintain the feelings of energy and motivation I had last year but since I'm not sure where they came from, I can't make that a goal.

6) Get 7+ hours of sleep on most nights.

One of the few positive side effects of 'Bent's knee injury was that I trained with a wide range of people this year, which was rewarding in many ways. The truth (which may surprise some people) is, I'm not naturally social. I'm content to do most things alone. I get stressed in advance at the thought of hanging out with people I don't know really well, which is bizarre because I usually end up having a great time. I don't even plan as many things with my close friends as I'd like to. To arrange a training session with someone I don't normally train with is scary and I'm always afraid of slowing them down and wasting their time.

However, if I can get past my qualms, it almost always works out well and I'm really glad I did it. It's fun to chat with and learn from different people, to train in different ways and explore new places. Even when our paces and skills are different, there are usually ways to plan training that can work for us both. If I've made a date with someone, I will get outdoors even when the weather is bad or I'm feeling tired. I know it's all good even though the thought of arranging a get-together with someone who is not a close friend sends me back to the shy, geeky high school part of my personality.

I don't want to turn this into a measurable goal, e.g. "train with 6 different people each month" or "arrange sessions with 3 people I've never trained with before", but I'd like to keep this philosophy in mind and make an effort to get together with more people more often to enjoy the great outdoors together. I've met some amazing people through endurance sports; I'm so glad my life took a detour in this direction. I don't do outdoor activities in order to win a world championship; this is supposed to be fun. P.S. Call me. ;)

Getting excited about my trip to Vancouver! Urthbuoy and I are planning my first-ever whitewater paddling / skate skiing brick workout. (I'm guessing it's probably not *his* first.)

Finished testing Phatty's Humber Valley Hellrunner Thomass course. It's going to be tough. I hope you're training.

Those of you who read PG's log (the most popular log on Attackpoint) are aware of the controversy regarding a New Year's weight loss challenge that PG organized. A number of people signed on to lose 2.5 kg, 5 kg or 10 kg, enticed by the promise of peer support and small prizes. It was intended in good fun but mistakes were made. Several people were added to the list who hadn't asked to be. Feelings were hurt; apologies were made. Everyone, including PG, agrees that part was wrong. That is settled.

But the controversy went far beyond that. Some people, particularly those who have personal experience with eating disorders, felt that encouraging weight loss for high profile orienteers set a bad example. They didn't like people highlighting the correlation between weight loss and increased running speed because it is possible to take weight loss to the point where it hurts someone's health, let alone athletic performance. They made good points about role models and body image issues and female athlete triad and coaches who badger young athletes to lose weight in an unhealthy manner. Read more if you're interested.
<http://www.attackpoint.org/discussionthread.jsp/me...>

I respect their passion and reasoning, and I was surprised at the strong feelings. I had a bulimic roommate so it's not a foreign concept and I'm not unsympathetic. On the other hand, obesity leads to plenty of health issues in the North American population too, so I can also appreciate the goals of the weight loss challenge proponents.

But here's what struck me... A challenge was organized on someone's personal AP log. Anyone who reads that log makes a conscious decision to do so. Someone suggested that because this discussion on PG's log was getting so many hits, he had some sort of extra responsibility to the outside world to warn people about the possible risks associated with weight loss. Wow.

That's where I got really uncomfortable - because there have been days when discussions on my AP log have had lots of hits too. I recently put a flag counter on my log and discovered readers in Australia, UK, Sweden and Spain. I have no idea who reads my AP log and that's OK. If someone is interested in hearing stories and seeing photos from our little corner of Canada, I think that's really cool and I hope they'll add a comment to say hi. But do we have a moral obligation to present the world in a particular way just because we know people read our AP logs?

This hits close to home because I've talked about weight loss in my log too. It was central to my 2010 goals. My main motivation was health because I have borderline blood pressure and cholesterol values. As a bonus, I also hoped it would help my running and biking if I had less weight to drag up hills, and I hoped to reduce the pounding on my bad knee. It had nothing to do with appearance. In fact, of the people who felt comfortable enough to tell me, the response has been 50/50 on whether I look better or worse with 15 lb off, which means that the real consensus is likely "worse". But it only matters that I feel healthier. And yes, it feels much easier to go uphill.

So must I avoid talking about that on my log for fear of being a bad role model to people I don't know who might be reading it and might not be as familiar with health and nutrition issues as the people I do know? I've also written about whitewater paddling at night in adventure races, small cliffs I've leapt off while navigating and remote winter training excursions that I've done alone. Those things are pretty dangerous too. There are probably all kinds of things I shouldn't talk about on my log if I have a responsibility to prevent strangers from making bad decisions.

I don't know... The Internet is full of much worse stuff than you'll ever find on anyone's AP log. While I accept many of the points raised in the discussion surrounding the weight loss challenge, I don't accept the suggestion that we should censor ourselves because we don't know who might be paying attention. But just in case, here's my blanket disclaimer for all future log entries. Don't try any of this stuff at home, kids!!

Alas, the recent thaw has wrecked our beautiful ski trails so 'Bent and I went to Highlands Nordic where they still have good (but not fantastic) conditions. It would have been an awesome day to fly on my waxable classic skis - except they didn't turn out to be in the big pile o' skis we'd brought along. So I sent high-speed 'Bent ahead to fly and I worked a little harder on my waxless skis. I did the Red Trail + the first two black diamond loops (3rd loop wasn't open) + the extra Orange loop up top.

A quick tour around the Yellow Trail on skate skis. This time 'Bent had to chase me!

Year End Review, Part 2 of 3 - Final Report Card on 2010 Goals

This year I did interim reports where I measured progress against my 2010 goals at the start of most months. It seemed to be a useful tool for maintaining and correcting course during the year. For me, it helps to make this stuff public since it makes me feel more accountable, even though I know it's just in my mind. No one else is really holding me accountable and some people can hold themselves accountable in private very successfully. But this works better for me.

Similar to my comment in Part 1 about feeling more motivated to train this year, I also felt more motivated to work toward my goals. Once again, I have no idea why. Some of these goals have been sitting on the list for awhile and some of them are still sitting there, waiting for me to get serious. But I knocked off a few big ones this year and I'm going to go eat a piece of chocolate right now as a reward. :)

Here are my marks... Overall I got a passing grade with a couple of serious failures. I will be permitted to proceed to 2011.

1) 450 hrs total annual training
A+ ~ Did 608 hrs.
2) Lose 10 lb. from New Year's Eve midnight weight. Keep a food diary for 2 weeks in January.
A+ ~ Kept the food diary. Lost 18 lb at the peak but settled at 15 lb below my Jan. 1, 2010 weight.
3) Strength training - min. 1 hr/week.
D ~ 23 hrs. Same as usual. Sigh.
4) Do speed and hill intervals regularly.
C ~ Although I didn't do enough of this, I get a passing grade because I did exponentially more than in other years and things are on the upswing. I think Bash & Crash 500s will become an established tradition.
5) One training session per week before breakfast.
C ~ As above, I could have done more - but in most years, I've done *way* less. This has been on my list for a few years and I've never made any real effort before.
6) In bed by midnight at least 4 days/week.
F- ~ Pathetic.
7) Do a mountain marathon and a rogaine. And maybe a 50K trail race?
A+ ~ Completed a mountain marathon, two rogaines and a 50K trail race.
8) On a totally different subject... learn 5 pieces each on guitar and piano well enough that I wouldn't be embarrassed to play them in front of a non-family member.
F+ ~ Learned one piece well on each of guitar and piano.

I'd also said that I hoped to race with a range of different people in 2010, and I did that. I also trained with a very wide range of people which turned out to be even more rewarding.

And next comes the fun part... thinking about 2011.

Event: 2nd Annual Epic Waterfall of Hamilton (WOH!) Run
 

Trav and Baloney started a wonderful tradition last year - the New Year's Waterfall Run. The idea is to run to as many of Hamilton's beautiful waterfalls as possible in 2 hours with a map provided by Hammer, then consume excellent food and drink in the Traveloney Hottage.



This year some of us ran...



... while a splinter group (Baloney, 'Bent, Hammer, Phil) went mountain biking.



The beasts were invited as well so our whole family enjoyed the party. ThunderDog sprawled on the couch by the fireplace and fiercely guarded the house while everyone was out on the trails. BulletDog came with me.



She ran back and forth in the group to keep an eye on me as well as the lead runners (not me). I knew she was also looking for 'Bent so I had to make sure she didn't run beyond the group in hopes of finding him.



This being a Traveloney event, I barely raised an eyebrow when I realized that the friendly runner I'd been chatting with for a couple of kilometers was ultrarunning legend Monica Scholz, who completed a remarkable 25 100-milers this year, setting a world record.



The crew travelled at a more civilized pace this year so I was able to keep up and chat with Bender about his upcoming parental plans. Although I felt nearly normal after being sick, I decided not to push my luck, so BulletDog and I skipped the final short waterfall loop and headed back to the Hottage. I hadn't taken any pics yet so that's what we did, including a return to Tiffany Falls for the best photo op. (That's the first pic in this log entry.)



What would a run be without a recovery snack? Like, say, strong fair trade coffee, hearty Dutch soup, fresh bagels, Bad Ass Waffles (tm) with jam and whip cream, and Christmas cookies. Yum.



Thank you *very* much Trav and Baloney! It's always a great time at the Hottage and we really appreciated being able to bring the pooches to the party instead of leaving them home alone. You sure know a lot of dog lovers!

Year End Review, Part 1 of 3: Training

After 5.75 years of logging on AP, I've got more than enough training data to totally geek out but I'll try not to do that! Here are my 2010 training totals by activity.

What stands out most about this year is higher training volume. At 608 hours, this was by far the most training I've ever done. I trained 535 hours in 2006. If I'd logged all of 2005, I might have hit 550 hours. But in 2008-2009, I was well under 500 hours, so this was a huge jump. My goal was only 450 hours. So I *totally* messed up. ;)

Specifically:
- I did more running than ever (101.5 hrs vs. 63 hrs last year and 91 hrs in my highest year).
- I did more biking than ever (94.5 hrs vs. 55 hrs last year and 72 hrs in my highest year).
- I paddled *way* more than I ever have (63 hrs vs. 20 hrs last year and 29 hrs in my highest year).
- It was my 2nd highest amount of adventure racing (95 hrs vs. a whopping 172 hrs in 2005).

Top 5 activities were:
Running - 101.5 hrs
Orienteering + Snowshoe Orienteering - 97.5 hrs (includes mountain marathon + 2 rogaines)
Adventure Racing - 95 hrs (including 68.5 hrs for Untamed New England)
Mountain Biking + Road Biking - 94.5 hrs
Paddling - 63 hrs

Because of the early spring and later winter, I did less skiing and snowshoeing than in some years - but I went as often as I could. Yoga was down too but most activities were the same as or higher than usual.

This higher training volume raises a couple of questions: (1) Why? (2) Did it do any good?

(1) The first question has some obvious answers and some less obvious ones. I trained much more than usual in the fall because I was preparing for long events, particularly the Coast to Coast in New Zealand. I also got in some long days throughout the year because I started working with Getawaystix to test race courses. I got more creative about training activities and made a point of doing things with different people, which was fun and inspiring. The weird thing is that I felt more energetic and motivated to train this year, and I have absolutely no idea why. With 'Bent injured and no other regular teammates to race with, I got very discouraged at times, so I don't know why this would be the year I'd feel more motivated. But for some reason, I did.

(2) Yes, I think so. I had a few good race results and felt better and stronger in general. I know my training program needs improvement but it seemed to do the job OK.

Next step is the final report card on 2010 goals, then it's time to make some fun plans for 2011!

While watching the excellent documentary "Black Coffee" with 'Bent. Nasty pouring rain outside on a day we had hoped to ski. Oh well, this is why we set up the Adventure Basement.

More "Black Coffee". After watching this, 'Bent and I were craving the stuff so he made espresso. Inexplicably, mine had a dead cricket in it. It surfaced as I chatted on the phone, so I was forced to suppress my scream.

Rodney Yee Power Yoga for Flexibility. Perfect for post-cricket calming.