Training Log Archive: Bash

Hammer and I hit the trails at Hilton Falls on a fantastic spring morning. It's hard to believe how different it looks from the Salomon Giant's Rib Raid just two weeks ago!





We stayed mostly on fire roads, keeping a nice, steady pace in rolling terrain. To add a little adventure, we went down a few rockier trails, but my plan today was just to pedal hard and keep the muscles working in preparation for next weekend's race. I didn't want to focus too much on the technical stuff.

Hammer and I had just been talking about the fact that neither of us had seen a trillium yet this season - and then we found one! There were lots more where this one came from. (No, Hammer didn't pick it!)



I think this is the nicest time of year at Hilton Falls. It looks like a Lord of the Rings movie.

Somehow, without intending beforehand to do so, I ended up volunteering to sit on the Orienteering Ontario Board at today's AGM. The other people who put their names forward for the Board will all be excellent to work with, so I'm optimistic that this will be a much more positive experience than my last stint, and hopefully we'll accomplish some good stuff together!

We had a terrific opportunity today! Margus Hallik of Estonia, one of the world's top mountain bike orienteers (4th place in the World Champs), put on an instructional clinic at our place for interested orienteers. His friends in Europe want to race in Canada in future, so they told him that they wanted him to help get the sport started here. (His wife Kati is here on a diplomatic assignment which is wrapping up shortly.)



He explained the different trail markings that are used in MTB-O vs. regular orienteering. They provide information about the trail width and rideability.



He brought a number of maps from events that he has done. Some of the trail networks are really intricate, and racers have to read their maps at top speed while watching for ruts, roots and rocks.



Top MTB orienteers are skilled at determining the shortest route between two points on a trail network. Margus explained that people often experience optical illusions when estimating the relative lengths of different trail routes. We need to work on our geometry skills!



Unfortunately, I had to head out of town before the training ride, but I'm told that it was amazing to watch Margus riding at full speed on twisty singletrack while staying fully in contact with the map.

More good news from "The Lore of Running". A number of studies have shown that endurance athletes outlive sprinters, and there is some evidence that this may be linked to having a higher percentage of slow-twitch fibres. Woo hoo! People with a higher % of slow-twitch fibres are more likely to participate in physical activity throughout their lives. They tend to have higher HDL (good cholesterol) and less body fat. All of this reduces their (our!) risk of developing heart problems.

Rode over to the Palgrave post office to mail in my tax return. I've gotta be on time this year because I owe money - drat! I toured some single track on the way there, then I had to heave my bike over the big new fence to get into the Reddington subdivision - grrr. After leaving town, I bike-whacked to get back onto the trails at the southeast corner where the fence begins. I rode double track toward home until I noticed Crash and Skye running out of the woods - the only people I've met in Palgrave over my past few visits! (And technically, Skye is actually a dog.) Nice to have a break to chat before we both continued on our way. In my case, that meant a trip along Duffy's Lane, where I stopped to wade thigh-deep into a cold swamp with a soft bottom (the swamp's bottom, not mine). I rescued SI control #133, which had spent the winter lying forlornly underwater until eagle-eyed Crash spotted it - along with its flag and stand. OOA says that it might be possible to revive it, so I'll take it to the AGM this weekend.

Hard Core Live with substitute teacher Carrie. It wasn't as hard as some weeks, mostly because she mixes yoga in with the core more.

Good class. A bit shorter than usual, with a longer relaxation portion (which I don't count). I heard someone snoring lightly in the dark during the relaxation. 'Bent didn't hear it, and come to think of it, he actually doesn't remember much of the relaxation. Hmm...

At last, I've found some cheery news for me in "The Lore of Running". Over the age of 40, the best runners tend to be those who did NOT run competitively when they were young. So if you run a great half-marathon when you're 25, you'll probably lose at age 45 to some guy who started running at 35. Yesss!!

There are different theories as to why this is so, but it seems to boil down to some version of... "your body only has so much running in it - especially racing".

No training today in spite of moderately good intentions. I went shopping for a dress for Bender & Venus' wedding - oh, how I hate trying on clothes! Especially fancy ones, because I look like such an impostor in them. It was hilarious to see the difference in sizes depending on dress price. At the Jones of New York designer outlet, the size 4 dress was a little loose around the waist. At Winner's, the size 8 dresses were snug. I mean, who is fooled by *that*?! Oh, and I bought the JNY dress. Of course.

Gorgeous day, so I snuck out to Palgrave for a lunch break. All the single track in the south half is perfectly dry, and it was soooo much fun! I arrived at some shady double track that had a good stretch of ice and ankle-deep snow, but I didn't see mud or water on the trails anywhere. Let's hear it for that nice, well-drained sand of the Oak Ridges Moraine! I'm guessing that the north half of Palgrave would still be too wet for biking though.

An interesting diversion was a trip along Duffy's Lane to check out Crash's discovery from this morning - an SI control, complete with stand and flag, submerged in a swamp. Later today, I was able to find out the event in which this particular control number disappeared last fall (it was stolen during the event). The good news is that apparently the expensive SI unit may still work in spite of spending the winter underwater, so I will need to return with fishing equipment to extract it and send it home.

Slowrunner is trying to help me fight my genetic deficit in the running department, which means that - sigh - I need to do more intervals. Slowrunner, Rocky, Leanimal, Scooby and I did 3 X 2K intervals around a quiet Bolton subdivision, with breaks in between to do some whining. (8:35, 8:55, 8:55) (That's for the running. I didn't use a stopwatch on our whining.) Good company - definitely nothing to whine about there!

We ran together for the warm-up/cooldown laps, and given that all these people are faster runners than I am, my pace on these laps wasn't wildly different from my interval pace. Fun night - hard work!

Wild turkey hunting season starts on Friday, so the large gobbling visitors to our yard had better stay put for awhile! A hunter came to the door to ask permission to shoot turkeys on our property. I thanked him for asking, but our turkeys will be happy to know that they can continue preening outside our window in total safety. If you're going to be in the woods between 6:30 a.m. and sunset before May 31 in southern Ontario, and if you aren't sure that you're in a "no hunting" area, be sure to wear bright colours and make some noise.

Had an 8 a.m. meeting near the Wellness Centre, so I headed in to play with the machines once more. I really need to try a spin class before my 1-month membership expires, just to say I've done one once in my life.