Training Log Archive: Bash

Figured that 4.5 hrs of adventure racing was enough of a warm-up for today's 10-mile run! Maybe a little too much.

This was the inaugural Caledon Hills Running Festival. Since it was only 10 minutes from home, and all proceeds went to the Lung Association, I wanted to support them in spite of being tired and stiff from yesterday's race. As Slowrunner said, "What could go wrong?" :-)

It was perfect running weather - 18-20C and sunny. There were some excellent athletes there, and it was great to see so many friends! I think there were about 600 runners in total, counting the grade school 1-mile race, which was free. There was also a 5K race and a relay category where each of two runners would do 5 miles.

C3 got terrific support from elite athletes. Simon Whitfield provided several hundred signed posters, and autographs were also signed (mostly for excited kids) by Ironman star Lisa Bentley, Olympic triathlete Colin Jenkins, national triathlete André-Paul Baillargeon-Smith, national triathlete Sean Bechtel and local Olympic rower Cameron Sylvester.



The 10-mile race course - the longest road run I've ever done - consisted of two very hilly 5-mile loops. As I came up the last hill around mile 4.5, I almost talked myself into stopping after the first lap. There would be no shame in that after yesterday's long race, right? But fortunately there was a long downhill section at the end of each lap, and I felt pretty good when I passed through the start/finish. On the PA, Barrie Shepley made comments about people that he knows, e.g. "A top masters athlete" or "Just did an Ironman two months ago". When I passed through, he said, "Barb Campbell - a massive, massive adventure racer"!!! He's right - I could stand to lose 2 kg if I'm going to do much more running.

I didn't push hard, and I didn't meet my goal of 90 minutes, but I wasn't too far behind. I finished 20 seconds behind multiple Ironman finisher Caron Shepley, and that was just fine by me. Overall, I was a dismal 84th of 97 finishers, but not surprising since there were a lot of *real* runners in this event!

It was an out-and-back course, so each lap I could cheer on 'Bent, Scooby, Thumbs-of-Death, The Archer, Serghei, etc. Teenaged GHO member Serghei Logvin placed an incredible 2nd overall in the 10-miler, 2 minutes behind an Ethiopian (I think) runner - finished in under an hour. Wow. 'Bent took 12th place in a tough field, finishing 1st in his age category with a time of 1:09-ish. The Archer was 3rd, so we were proud of both of them!



Well-organized event - glad to see the strong community support.

Added some photos to yesterday's STORM The Ten report

Event: STORM the Ten
 

Coach LD and I joined forces once again for Storm The Ten, a multi-sport relay on a marked course at Kelso Conservation Area. Like every Storm event, things were super-well-organized, and the volunteers were awesome. Even the weather was ideal.



Our laps consisted of a short run from the transition area down the stairs to Kelso beach, followed by a 6-minute paddle down the lake. After taking our boats out of the water, we ran along a gravel road, over a small ski bunny hill and through the tunnel under the railroad tracks to the bike transition. Then we rode up the escarpment on twisty, rooty singletrack, then had a nice ride around at the top before dropping our bikes to do a 3 km run on the Bruce Trail. Then we had a downhill ride that was tougher than last year - some sketchy gravel and a couple of logs and wooden ramps - so we had to stay focused till the end. Then we ran back to the boats, paddled back down the lake and ran up that loooong set of stairs to the transition area.



Last year, my best lap times were a hair better than Coach LD's. This year she kicked my butt (which wasn't unexpected). I was consistent, doing all four laps around 1:07-ish. Coach LD had a couple of laps at my pace, but also a blistering 1:02! There was no one else in our category this year, so we took home first prize, and from listening to the other results, it sounded like we had a respectable result overall.



It was great to see so many friends out there today - LoTox, FB, Sherpa, Mr. & Mrs. Flatfoot, Mique (who carried a cell phone because his baby is overdue), Mr. & Mrs. Gally, Beowulf, Mr. Blackwell, Tom New Guy (who won the solo under 40 division), Vin, Tiny, Nosnhoj - and STORM, of course. And probably some others that I'm forgetting. It was especially fun to see Sherpa out swimming in the middle of Kelso Lake in a triathlon wetsuit, looking as fit and strong as I've ever seen her. (And she always looks fit and strong!) 'Bent, Goose and Tavish came by to cheer, take photos (ahem) and go for a paddle.

I think I only had about 3 fast-twitch fibres left in my body, and this race used them all up! Maybe next year I'll have to volunteer. It was fun, but physically tough - I'm just not used to pushing that hard, and that's what you really should do on a marked course. When I'm navigating, there is always an excuse to stop and look at the map more closely! Having said that, I was able to get by on skills to a fair extent, in spite of my decreased fitness. The only person who passed me in any mountain bike section was Flatfoot, who was using a video helmetcam. Damned paparazzi! ;-) And I didn't get passed during the paddling either, but I was passed a few times on the run - especially the non-technical run between the bikes and the boats. That's to be expected!

Anyway, fun day - kudos to STORM on another fun, well-run and successful event. Oh, and thanks to FB and The Lad for providing me with a much-appreciated cold beer after the action was over - mmmm.

Before-dinner run around the 5K trail loop. A couple of new trees are down across the trail in KB forest, including a huge one. Hope someone with a chainsaw gets out there before ski season.

It was like a Disney movie out there with Bambis leaping to my right and left, and a flock of wild turkeys marching by in procession, the evening sun gleaming on their wings, snoods, caruncles and wattles.
http://www.saskschools.ca/~gregory/thanks/graphics...

Twisty Palgrave single track with Coach LD, my tag team teammate for this weekend's Storm the Ten. She is *so* much fitter than I am right now. We'll have to see if we can repeat our victory in the prestigious Female Tag Team category. I don't see any Bobkittens on the registration list, which improves our chances significantly!

Met up with the Bolton Wednesday night trail running group. I hadn't joined them before because I knew I'd be the slowest runner, but Rocky campaigned hard to get new people out, so I thought I'd give it a try. And yes, I was the slowest runner but the others kindly ensured that I wasn't left alone in the dark to be mauled by rabid coyotes. Nice night for running - I love the cool air!

Final classroom sessions at Banff Centre. It was 25C and gorgeous, so I was tempted to stay after class to do a short hike. But when my evening plans got scuttled at the last minute, I decided to catch the 6 p.m. flight home from Calgary instead trying to sleep on the midnight red-eye flight.

Some photos have been added to the weekend's log entries below.