Training Log Archive: Bash

Coach Spaff had assigned 'Bent a 60 minute easy run but we walked around Chamonix all day until our feet got sore (smart move!) so it turned into a 30 minute run just before sunset. My bad foot has been getting progressively more painful over the past few weeks, which stinks because I've hardly been running. It could be a showstopper but I'm not wasting any energy dwelling on it; I'm here and I'll go as far as I can. On the bright side, we got in 200 m of elevation gain! At our high point, we had this view across to the Mont Blanc massif.



Fortunately, the weather has improved since yesterday when we arrived during a bout of dreaded "Harps weather". Here was our first view of Mont Blanc on the drive in.



The weather was much better today as we walked around town. It was almost "Goose and Coach LD weather" but not quite.

Here's where we're staying by the way - an apartment on the top floor of this cool old building near the heart of downtown. Sometimes you rent accommodation on the Internet and it's disappointing when the reality doesn't match the carefully selected photos. This place is the opposite.



One of the reasons I chose it was that Carbon and Carbon's Offset were planning to stay with us, and I thought Carbon would feel at home with this Swedish stove. (I only know it's Swedish because the property description says so.) We miss the Carbons and wish they could be here but they have more important things to deal with right now. I think of Carbon and smile whenever I look at the stove.



Chamonix has a nice Euro-downtown, albeit touristy.





It's like visiting Banff. Beautiful mountain scenery all around but at ground level, it's mostly restaurants, tourist shops and outdoor gear stores. We can live without the tourist shops but today we read lots of menus and browsed most of the outdoor gear stores - including this one, of course!



The Salomon Toronto store has a *much* larger selection. In fact, most stores in *Chamonix* have a better selection of Salomon products. Not sure what's up with that.

I'm told that French aid stations are a lot like this store - a lot of cheese, sausages and honey cake. That should work OK for me and my cast iron stomach but I imagine that some North American runners find it weird and unappetizing.



Alcohol is easier to buy in almost any country other than Canada but this made me laugh out loud - shrink-wrapped booze hanging on convenient hooks by the exit from the grocery store, where we would have gum and chocolate bars in Canada. The best part was that I managed to have a great conversation with the cashier entirely in French about why I was laughing, and she told me about cigarettes only being available at special tobacco stores in France. She was shocked to hear about our government-operated liquor stores.



There are banners everywhere to promote the four UTMB events. The first one (PTL) starts tomorrow night.



I think this is a statue of an overjoyed Phatty and Harps when they finally spotted CP20 at EcoMotion. ;)



If I cross the finish line, this will be my view.



I guess that's enough random thoughts from Chamonix - certainly a much longer description than a 30-minute run deserves!

Packed running gear for every type of weather, got things ready for the house/dog sitter, made it through the maze of Pearson Airport, shared a beer with Myka and 'Bent, and now we wait. (Our plane has just been declared unsafe to fly. So we get new one. Later.) But it's not long until we'll be eating our first genuine French chocolate croissants in a long time. Airport waiting is better than packing!

I had a few last-minute errands in Bolton so I wore my running gear and stopped at Albion Hills on the way home. I ran over to the area where the Mud Hero is being set up and took a break to chat with Hermes and wave to Getawaystix. I ran a few hills including Green Monster but nothing close to an Alp.

So... now I have run at least 30 minutes in each of the three pairs of shoes I've packed for UTMB. I'm pretty sure I read something in Ultrarunning for Dummies about how important it is to race in brand new shoes.

Why I am drinking red wine instead of training tonight:

Smartphone is mandatory gear for UTMB. And it has to stay turned on during the race, which means up to 46 hours. I have a little portable charger but it won't be easy to use in the rain. Not that there will be rain.

Over the past few weeks, my iPhone battery seems to be running down faster. My imagination? Just one bad day? Oh crap, it's really happening.

Ain't got no time for this but I make an appointment with an Apple Genius to get a new battery; this involves a return trip of more than an hour.

Genius says, "Your battery is at 90% capacity so that's not the problem. You could erase all the contents from your phone, restore the operating system and all software, re-download your apps, reconfigure your e-mail. That might do it. Or it might not." My HR hits max. I will be relying on this phone in Europe and can't do a lot of downloads to fix problems since data will cost $1 million per MB there. I am flying out *really* soon.

Trying to keep my voice steady, I say, "No, I have 30 minutes to spend on this problem." Genius says, "I have 10 minutes." He wins. I ask for a new battery anyway. At least that will give me 10% more capacity. It's worth the $79.

I return 30 minutes later. The Genius is hanging his head. He broke my iPhone. It can't be repaired. I need a new one. They will give me one for free. I don't even need to pay the $79 for the battery that I asked for. However, I will need to erase all contents from the old iPhone - exactly what I was afraid of - and set up a new one. Eyes widen in horror. A fake, polite smile is plastered on my face. But I'm resigned because there is nothing I can do.

Genius makes me hit the button, "Erase all contents from your iPhone". Then the new iPhone prompts me with an outdated Apple ID and refuses to accept my current one - the one I backed everything up to before going to the Apple Store because I anticipated the worst. My data is all gone. Contacts, e-mail configuration, photos, apps, music, podcasts, all of it. And I leave town in 1.5 days.

Yoga breathing. Genius doesn't know how to help. But my IT spidey senses kick in and I hit the right combo of buttons until the angry little boxes stop popping up. I sweet talk it into accepting my correct ID. Downloads begin. The sun breaks through the clouds. I think I hear angels singing.

And I go home and pour a glass of red wine instead of going for that run I really should be doing. Now back to packing and WT follow-up work. And probably a 2nd glass of wine...

No training for a week - way too busy. This isn't a great way to taper but there hasn't been much choice. BulletDog and I went for a short tour of Palgrave West today. My body feels more trashed from a weekend of managing WT HQ than it felt after last month's 24-hour rogaine. Definitely no spring in my step today!