Training Log Archive: Bash

No, it wasn't a sprint! After yesterday's race, I didn't expect to run hard in today's Halton Hardrock 10K adventure run, but I needed some O practice, and I did expect to do the entire distance, albeit at a moderate pace. Well... I raced to exactly 2 controls and only spiked one of them. :-( Between #2 and #3, while running on flat ground covered with pine needles, I did exactly what I'd warned 'Bent not to do at Hilton Falls - sprained my ankle. It was the same ankle I turned at the Mob Match three weeks ago, and I knew it wasn't 100% healed, but I've done two 6-hour adventure races since then, so the ankle wasn't that fragile. I'm wondering if my worn-out Ice Bugs are providing less support than they used to. I haven't worn them since the Mob Match - but that's a bit of a long shot to blame them. All the same, I don't think I'll wear them in this weekend's Eastern Canadian O Champs - if I'm able to race, that is.

Quite a crash from my high of yesterday to my low today...

The ankle sprain knocked me to the ground, and it only took 3 hobbling steps to realize that my run was over. I still harboured the delusion that I could get some training in by walking around with my map. I got to #6 (of 23 controls) and realized that I was being an idiot. Hilton Falls is one of the worst places on earth to walk off-trail with a sprained ankle. So I headed for the nearest trail and walked back (not logged, but it seemed to take forever). Much thanks to several orienteers who stopped running to see if I needed help.

Serious RICE and Vitamin I this afternoon and tonight, and I'll try MPIBs tomorrow (MrPither Ice Baths). I've got my fingers tightly crossed as I wait to see how the next 36 hours will go. This injury felt worse in the field than the one I had three weeks ago, but tonight it feels like I'm able to do more than I could on the evening after my last injury. For sure, I'm calling ThumbsOfDeath in the morning to order an ankle support.

Event: STORM the Trent
 

Raced solo in Storm The Trent - a multi-sport adventure race involving paddling, mountain biking and trekking/running. STT has a reputation as a fast race because most of the course is marked, the other navigation is relatively easy, and you don't spend much time off-trail. However, the nav was more of a factor than I'd expected. Most, if not all, of the top racers were experienced navigators. Those of us with bike nav experience had an advantage in the unmarked advanced section, where we rode through a complex trail network in the Ganaraska Forest. Also, it was not a requirement to stay on the marked trail route in the "trail running" section. We just needed to reach two checkpoints in the woods and get back to the transition area. This allowed us to choose much faster routes than the teams who felt less confident about heading cross-country on a compass bearing. So, although I've heard people say that STT isn't a nav race, I would argue that it's darned hard to win if you aren't a navigator - at least on this year's race course. That increased the fun for me, since it gave me a fighting chance!

We knew we were getting bussed to our boats, and CP1A and CP1B were on the Otonabee River. The start procedure would be explained at the start line. So, being the tricky adventure racer that I am, I put on my PFD (with a litre of water in it) and my backpack over top (with 2 litres of eLoad). I changed into my cycling shoes, since I might as well paddle in them and not have to change before biking. I wasn't the only one with this brilliant idea. Some people even carried kayak paddles at the start line.

So... it's pretty obvious that we hadn't considered the possibility of a half-hour orienteering run as our first activity before paddling. We only learned this at the “GO”, so off I ran, sweating in my PFD, carrying 3 litres of fluid and wearing my cycling shoes. Yikes! It wasn’t the fastest run I’ve ever done, but considering my apparel and the crowds, it went fine.

Then I lugged my kayak to the river for a 10 km paddle. My goal today was to race the whole race with a sense of urgency, and I think I succeeded as well as I am able, not being a real speed demon. I paddled hard with a good heart rate for over an hour, incorporating intervals at higher effort ("Gazette intervals" - named after my teammate from last weekend, who insists on doing them). Nobody passed me, and I reeled in a number of teams, including guys who asked if I would tow them! Coach Bill Trayling’s paddling classes have really helped me to paddle efficiently without getting too tired. (It also doesn't hurt that my Kevlar sea kayak is pretty quick.)

Next was a bike ride – maybe 20-25 km on roads, then another 10 km on trails in the Ganaraska Forest. Once again, I worked hard to reel in a few teams, especially on the uphills when their defences were down, heh heh. A couple of teams passed me – solo males, I think – but mostly, I was doing the passing. Nobody was more surprised by all this passing today than I was. A couple of thoughts: (1) Maybe I did a lot worse than I thought on the initial run in my PFD and cycling shoes. (2) Perhaps some teams started out racing at an effort level they couldn’t maintain.

I was disappointed to meet ‘Bent near one of the advanced bike CPs. He was having a great race until then, but had some nav issues. We leapfrogged several times in the advanced section, and transitioned to the trek/run around the same time. We both used our orienteering skills to shorten the trail running section considerably (although not in the same way), and arrived at the TA around the same time. Next we biked to an area where there was a very clever “mystery task”. There was a huge pile of mulch, and a representative of a local trail group handed us each a grocery bag to fill with mulch and carry about 800 m down a trail, where we dumped it as directed by a trail worker. Then we had a 5 km muddy trail run through the forest to the finish line. I passed a male team in the last kilometer, which almost never happens – yahoo. The finish line atmosphere was awesome, with a staff member calling in your team number by radio ahead of time, so the announcer had your name, category and (sometimes) rank as you crossed the line. It was a super-organized, fun day – my compliments to Sean Roper, the race director.

Overall solo winner was AdidasPete at 4:45, Rob Millar in 2nd around 4:50-ish, and Gazelle was 4th with 5:04. ‘Bent was the 2nd Solo Masters Male by 54 seconds (!), finishing in 5:14, and I was 5:24. That made me the top woman in any of the female team categories, and put me close enough to the fastest overall race time that I really couldn’t be happier. I don’t see myself doing a lot of sprint races at such a fast pace – or at least, not for much longer. But it was fun to push hard once and see what I could do if I really tried.

Nasty weather today! But there was no choice about going out. :-( 'Bent had put semi-slick tires on my bike, so I needed to make sure everything was fine before Storm The Trent. Also wanted to check my gears and brakes, which were working less optimally after the 2nd truck transfer in Saturday's race. So I did a bit of everything - trails, roads, bouncing over logs, steep climbing, etc. The tires are awesomely fast, but the gears aren't at their best. I hate to mess with anything this close to a race though, so I'll just let it go.

Meanwhile, I came home to find 'Bent with his recumbent bike in a vice, hauling on a rake handle pushed through the frame, trying to 'bend it into some new, improved shape. And here I was, worried about adjusting my gear cable another quarter turn!!

Unplanned rest day. Beautiful weather, but I was working to a deadline today, and I managed to use every single minute.

Ran part of the hilly Humber Valley Heritage Trail with K/O. The abrasions from last week's trail running swan dive are still painful and highly unattractive, so I approached today's outing with some trepidation. Luckily for me, K/O had run 7 hours on Saturday, so today she chose a speed that was in my ballpark - except uphill, that is. No matter how steep or high the hill may be, her pace remains constant. The same is NOT true of me, but I did manage some semblance of running up all the hills, and ran over the top and kept going, like I'm supposed to. Great day to be out, and it was made even better by the complete absence of face plants on my part.

Bike to Palgrave post office and back, travelling on forest trails, country road and rail trail. Another perfect spring day. We're now in that time of year when there is so much racing that it can be hard to figure out how to blend the training, tapering and recovery. Our next adventure race is this Saturday - and we have a 10K orienteering race on Sunday, so it's not as if I want to ramp up very much!

While watching the Daily Show.

Hard Core Monday. K/O had borrowed the DVD, but unfortunately she brought it back today...