Training Log Archive: Bash

Salomon Dontgetlost.ca Raid The Hammer

We couldn't have asked for better "spring" weather for this sell-out event to kick off the adventure running season.



This was the 10th anniversary Raid The Hammer, and it's been 7 years since the Tree Huggers did RTH as our first-ever orienteering race. We were back yesterday with our original teammate, Hingo. (Yes, the camera IS attached to my pack strap with the retractable cord that takes up a quarter of the photo!)



To celebrate the anniversary, we raced across Hamilton from the Redhill Valley in the east to Dundas in the west. I'm told that we spent 1 km on pavement and crossed only 4 roads, which seems about right - and is downright amazing when you consider the large population of the city. The nature of the race meant that we were never far from urban areas and could often see or hear nearby civilization, but we were treated to spectacular views, waterfalls, towering forests and beautiful mossy boulders along our journey.

It wasn't a stellar race for our team, but neither was it a disaster. I awoke feeling headachey and unwell, and I took my temperature since I thought I had a fever, but fortunately no H1N1! The warm weather made it worse, and I'd forgotten my hat, so I spent most of the day feeling blah until the last few kilometers when it got cooler. Too bad because both Hingo and 'Bent were in great running shape this year, and I was a real boat anchor.

We got off to a decent start, pacing ourselves to save energy for later. We lost a few minutes at #5 by descending through some unexpectedly thick vegetation but were pretty much on track as we approached the start of the matrix. It was mandatory to stay on the Bruce Trail during this section but we were alone on the trail, and we saw several teams saving distance, elevation and difficulty by running half a kilometer on the rail trail instead. (The mandatory route was marked on the map, and the instructions said that teams would be disqualified for doing so, but unfortunately the assigned volunteer stayed home, leaving us to rely on the honour system.)

So I went into the Matrix a little distracted and made the same error that Gally and BobTheNavigator made - didn't notice that the scale on Map #2 was 1:15,000 instead of 1:10,000. I had three of the lower CPs to visit, and because I was relying on pace counting in an area of vague features, I slowed down and started to circle before I located the first CP. Once I finally got there, I realized my error and found the next two CPs OK, but I was already expected to be the last teammate to CP7, and this delayed my teammates a few minutes longer.

That marked the beginning of a bunch of escarpment climbs that were used to crown "King and Queen of the Mountain" teams. We went up steep escarpment steps, ran along a sidewalk, scrambled up muddy trails and climbed through the forest - lots of different ways to climb through beautiful terrain.



At CP11 at Chedoke golf course, there was an aid station where we each took turns doing a different hill climb to a control. 'Bent started his climb too far along the trail and crawled up a huge cliff through broken glass and rusty tins, wondering where everyone else was. Teams passed us as we waited, and nobody returning from CP11A had seen him. I was wondering whether we should form a search party to look for my injured husband when he appeared at last - phew.

We continued along the southern edge of the 403, finding a few more CPs (overshooting #15 a little) and doing Walk The Line. I began to feel worse and had searing pain near my appendix that came and went, making it impossible to run or, really, to think. When we got down to Main St., I considered turning right toward McMaster hospital but decided to head left toward the aid station and re-evaluate. It stopped soon afterward and hasn't come back, so obviously not appendicitis. I know Leanimal has had some severe abdominal pains while running, so I'll have to ask her more about it because this was unfamiliar and scary.

The weather got a little cooler, and I started to feel better through the advanced section in the Dundas Valley, which went smoothly. Here, as in much of the race, we were disappointed to see so few teams observing the rule that all three members must touch the flag. We commiserated about this with a few of the teams who followed the rules - and met others who started that way, then gave up when they didn't see anyone else doing it. We spoke to a few teams, and noticed a couple of them starting to do it. Others said they would, but we saw that they didn't. Since we were racing across the city, there were many occasions when it was possible for a strong member to ascend or descend from a trail to a CP then meet team members later, and we saw far too much of this. We saw one individual from a team that beat us who often travelled alone with teammates nowhere in sight. Our team could have easily saved 30-40 minutes by breaking this rule, given the difficulty of the terrain and how rotten I was feeling. But I'd rather race clean and know that our true ranking was higher. Too bad there aren't enough SI cards in Ontario to do what they did in our mountain marathon in Sweden - attach SI cards to a non-removable wristband on each team member, and make us punch within 15 seconds of one other.

We finished in 3rd place in the Masters category out of a dozen teams - better than we felt we deserved. (In case it may sound that way, I absolutely do NOT believe that either of the teams who beat us in our category broke the rules.) Trav crushed us by an hour to take the win - nice work! Congrats to Nick and the Foreigners for yet another overall win, and great job by BobTheNavigator, Frankenjack and KatieMac for winning Coed and taking 2nd overall!

An event like this always has lots of stories. The most heartbreaking was The Plodding Plotters, who raced as a team of two in honour of their 3rd teammate Matt Tatham, who died recently at the finish line of a triathlon after winning his age group. One of the more inspiring stories was the Doughty family, including Mom (Coach LD), Dad (Goose) and 13-year-old daugther Kynyn, who placed 2nd of 35 Enduro teams, and 1st Coed. I was thrilled to see some other teenaged heroes - the Kempster led Robbie A. and brother Eric to a 2nd place finish in the Coed Raid. We're also proud of our Caledon friends Rocky, Crash and Dunc, who had a great race. Both the other Caledon teams made the same observation about teams who didn't touch the flags.



The funniest story was Team Silence Beckons' reason for not all going to the first control on Walk The Line... there was a naked man beside it. He'd just biked up and taken off his clothes to enjoy the sunshine. According to GHOSlow, this guy has been spotted in the Dundas Valley a few times.

Thanks to all the volunteers who put so much time into this terrific event - especially Sudden, Hammer and Backwoods for all their work beforehand, and to many volunteers who helped out on race day. We couldn't have all this fun each year without you! :-)

Easy ride to and from Palgrave to eat local goodies and shop at the fair trade cafe and bazaar at the little United church. They sell fair trade goods in part to subsidize their purchase of green electricity from Bullfrog Power. It was all so darned virtuous that we could hardly stand it - so we just had to buy some fair trade chocolate too.

As of 90 minutes ago, Sherpa was within a 7-mile run of completing her first Ironman in about 14 hrs. It's going to be an early morning for Raid The Hammer, so I have to go to bed now and can't watch her finish. It's been fun watching the race all day though, and I'll dare to say a premature CONGRATULATIONS, Ms. Ironman-at-any-moment-now!

Attended a photography auction at the U of Toronto Faculty Club last night to benefit the Georgian Bay Land Trust. Quite exciting to be one of the "artists" who got a special name tag and to see people bid on a framed copy of one of my photos in the silent auction. The photo, from our rainy kayak trip in July, is also included in the new "Rocks of Georgian Bay" poster that they will sell in outdoor stores to raise money for the Land Trust. The most expensive photo by Edward Burtynsky sold for $15,000. One of the other photographers was federal minister Tony Clement. Quite a different night out for 'Bent and me!

Hard Core Live with Caron. Every exercise was done with one leg crossed over the other. And then the other way around. Ouch. I teased 'Bent mercilessly as we did one of his least favourite core exercises (crunches with legs straight up in the air) and made helpful comments about whether he appeared to be nose breathing as he should. He threw his jacket onto my face while I was crunching. Some people are sooooo immature.

Class with C3.

:-( The organizers of the Rock & Ice Ultra are only holding the 1-day event in 2010, but hope to return in 2011 with the 3-day and 6-day events. Glad we went last year.

I love headlines that are impossible to resist clicking on! (I just hope this didn't cause a heart attack for anyone in attendance.)
Brazilian man shows up at own funeral

New shoes - so cushy!

BulletDog and I headed to Palgrave East, ran the Salty Stephen single track backwards, then headed to the north end of the conservation land, running on a mix of single and double track before returning home on Finnerty Sideroad. We timed it perfectly, heading in the door just as the first sprinkles of chilly rain turned into big, cold raindrops.

You know that little psychological dig when someone trains with you, then logs it in Attackpoint with a lower intensity than you did? (Like FB did to Urthbuoy this weekend?) Well, when BulletDog comes home from a 25-minute run with 'Bent, she pants frantically for 10 minutes. When she and I got home today after almost 10K on trails, she wasn't even breathing hard after the first minute. Ouch. At age 6, she's at the top of her game, fitness-wise. Considering that two years ago she barely had an ACL, she's done pretty well.

Really fun run through both Palgraves, much of it on twisty single track. There sure was a lot of different weather - brilliant sunshine, dark purple-grey clouds, wind gusts and ice pellets. Then it was time to drive Leanimal, STORM and their pile o' stuff to catch their flight to Portugal for the Adventure Racing World Championships. Nice to chat with them before they headed overseas for two weeks. Cheer on Team Salomon/Suunto starting this Sunday at http://www.arwc2009.com.