Training Log Archive: Bash

It's been a rough week in the dysfunctional world of southern Ontario orienteering politics. It's gotten to the point that when I check e-mail, I'm praying that I'll get nothing but Viagra ads. Fortunately, my own two clubs are moving forward in exciting ways, and there are some great people to work with in other clubs as well. That makes it all worth it. Maybe.

First time trying Rodney Yee Power Yoga Stamina DVD. Ironically, the Stamina workout is shorter than his Flexibility and Strength workouts. I like this one though, and would have been happy to have another 10 minutes of similar stuff.

If Rodney Yee is your type (and he isn't mine), you'll want to know that he wears a much skimpier swimsuit (or are those black undies?) in this DVD.

Gusty wind for much of the day, and since a lot of trees have come down across trails lately, 'Bent and I stuck mostly to roads today. Finnerty to Duffy's Lane (including 1 km not plowed) to Albion Hills. Small loop in Albion including some cross-country, small loop in Reddington subdivision, then home the same way. Roads were icy, so not much traction. When we weren't running on ice, we were running on soft snow. This was another good test for my lungs, which are about 90% recovered from my cold. It felt like hard work after a couple of weeks of not pushing too hard. Wildlife watch: Big flock (about 30) of pine grosbeaks. Beautiful birds.

When 'Bent and I were house hunting in rural Caledon 10 years ago, we had a hobby that we called "skulking". We were less interested in the house itself than we were in the land around it. So before we'd make an appointment with a real estate agent, we'd try to find out what the property was like, because maybe it wouldn't be worth making the call. We would disguise ourselves as a harmless couple pursuing outdoor recreational activities (and we were pretty darned convincing, if I do say so). We would try to find nearby public land or a trail, and then we'd casually wander as close as we dared, trying to get a view of the property from the back or side, or even (gasp!!) sneaking a little way onto it. Typically we were looking at 10-50 acre treed properties, so fortunately we never got caught skulking.

Fast-forward a decade, and a house just went up for sale on our block of land. It's smaller and looks more like our kind of place. So we couldn't resist. Luckily, we could ski all the way there, crossing Palgrave West and the land of neighbours who have given us permission to use their land. And then we skulked on foot. Interesting topography. Too bad the house is located in what seems to be the least desirable section of the 20-acre property. 'Bent's commute to work would involve some very serious hills, and it would take a little longer to ski to Crash's house. Still, it might be worth calling up the agent just for fun.

Skiing today was often icy and always very, very fast - which was sometimes fun and sometimes terrifying. Regardless, it was a beautiful day to be out in the woods.

This was the actual Skulk. It's a beautiful, varied piece of land. If the house were set further back from the road in a nicer part of the forest, it would be really cool. We only caught a short glimpse of the house, but spent lots of time figuring out where the boundaries probably were. Fortunately, we have permission from neighbours on 3 sides, so we figured that we could always pretend that we'd accidentally wandered off the So-and-So family's property!

Still haven't totally shaken that cold, so I thought a day off might be in order.

Hard Core - Live with Caron. There are several new people in the class, probably doing their part to live up to a New Year's resolution. Other than Caron, none of us makes it look easy - but it was good for the ego to see that the class is challenging for newbies. Maybe I've developed some abs at last.

Power Yoga - with a few poses that needed a particularly large amount of stamina from the core and thighs. An especially cool moment was when we learned how to do yoga squats - for those of us who can't do yoga squats. These are the ones where you come all the way down with heels flat on the ground and - in my case - gravity acts on your derriere to knock you onto your back unceremoniously. The trick is to roll up your yoga mat a bit to give your heels a bit of a lift. This was the first time I'd ever felt what a yoga squat is supposed to feel like, and I learned that it uses those mysterious muscles on the front of the shin that I need for skate skiing - so this is good information!

New Wednesday Gurlz ski at Albion Hills with Coach LD, Leanimal and Slice. Great way to start the day! The ski centre is technically closed right now, and the conditions varied from "pretty good" to "ice-coated sticks and pebbles". It was not a fun day to fall down, as the ground was frozen solid and cushioned by very lilttle snow. We kept up a good pace, especially considering how tough it was to wax properly for these conditions. Poor Slice's ski equipment committed mutiny, making her work harder than the rest of us.

Upper body blasting. Too bad - I'd been looking forward to getting into lots of strength work early in the year, and instead, I've regressed and become a little weaker. But there is still lots of time left in 2008 to achieve my New Year's resolutions!

Arggh - still feeling sick, but at least I'm able to do strength and light aerobic activity. I've got an adventure race in less than 2 weeks, and I don't feel like I could run for more than a minute.

Number of Get Well cards that have arrived in the mail for BulletDog = 2

Number of Get Well cards for me = 0

Out with Leanimal for a fun exploration of some new parts of Glen Haffy. Checked out a few Thomass control locations. Lots of steep hill climbs in a surprising amount of snow. Avalanche risk: Medium to High. But I'm sure we could have used our compasses as probes if necessary.

The non-nav time in Glen Haffy with Leanimal... We ran in to the Secret Starting Point of the Thomass race, then ran even harder on the long way back when we suddenly realized that time had flown while we were having fun, and Dr. Leanimal had to get back to a patient for 4:30! That's a good way to keep my pace up even when the snow makes running tough and my body doesn't feel like it - we'll have to cut it this close more often. ;-)

Desperation skiing - only a few cm of fluffy new snow covering bare ground in some places, but fairly nice in the places that hadn't lost their snow. Sometimes my skis left brown tracks behind them, so I couldn't ski back in the same tracks. I notice that some brave soul descended Big Hill near the Belusas' Forest Limits sign. Was that you, Crash? Or maybe the skier is still down at the bottom of the hill?!

ThunderDog enjoyed it immensely and got all tuckered out. 'Bent had a conference call for his wind energy group tonight, and it was hilarious to see ThunderDog sprawled on his lap snoring loudly in the direction of the telephone receiver.

Meanwhile, BulletDog is on Day 6 of her projected 56-day recovery from surgery. More and more, she is putting weight on the affected leg, which is good. Some dogs maintain a 3-legged gait long after their knee surgery. All the physio we're doing is supposed to keep her leg mobile and convince her to use it. She is getting *really* bored with the limited amount of the house she is allowed to explore - let alone the great outdoors.

Caron's Power Yoga 2

My cold is still lingering. Yesterday's trek in the chilly air was probably more than my lungs were ready for, and they fought back a little today. Still not ready for high intensity stuff. Even Hammer is out-training me.