Training Log Archive: Bash

No, I'm not supposed to be running but my darned dog isn't supposed to run away either. Because he took off so quickly, there wasn't much point in me doing too much running. 'Bent headed after him, and I was mostly patrolling within 5-10 minutes of home so I could keep going back to check whether he had arrived. As it turned out, neither one of us saw BazingaDog after the first 2 minutes of his disappearance so we were mostly hiking in the snow, looking for tracks, calling and whistling. 'Bent skied part of the time but eventually dumped his skis.

So it was only a little running but I was wearing hiking boots. Yikes, I can guarantee the doc would be displeased.

I can't hear a damned thing. BazingaDog escaped for 75 minutes of fun, frolic and deer tracking in Palgrave West. 'Bent and I went in separate directions in anguished Dogtracker mode, sending each other texts with clues and ideas. Fortunately, we've been through so many crises together in 24 years that we stay calm as long as there are useful things we can do. This has helped in adventure racing as well as real life.

I set a trap at our front door - a peanut butter bone tied to the house and dog food scattered in the snow. I blew a Fox 40 whistle about 100 times during the search, hence the near deafness, hopefully temporary. Based on the tracks 'Bent found in the snow, he travelled 2 km off-trail through the forest to a property he's never visited before, maybe visited a deer carcass beside Duffy's Lane, then fortunately somehow made his way back to the front patio when he'd had enough freedom. This was after a 1-hour hike in a fenced property where he was perfectly obedient and so exhausted that he lay down in the snow several times to pant and cool off. We love him but he is hopeless. I am now drinking my 2nd glass of wine and feel like I've run a marathon. I just want to cry.

Many longtime adventure racers know Rene Noel and his wife Susannah Lavallee. Susannah's sister Chantelle became a Mom just over two weeks ago. When her baby was 13 days old, she inexplicably suffered a cardiac arrest. Incredibly, her husband had just taken CPR in anticipation of becoming a father, and he saved her life. Have you brushed up on CPR lately? This was a reminder for me. This link is the City TV news interview with Chantelle and Brian.
http://www.citynews.ca/2013/11/29/mississauga-man-...

First Highlands Nordic ski of the season. Very good conditions for their first week open. Coach LD, KD and I carpooled early, and Goose came up later. 'Bent went for a long run since Lookout Mountain is only two weeks away, and he missed 8 days of training when he was volunteering in Belize.

The only bad news is that the repetitive motion of classic skiing hurt my foot. I hope it won't turn out to be a big deal but if I can't ski *or* run... I don't even want to think about that. It was a fantastic morning. :)

I can't remember when I've done 6.5 hours of skiing in the first week of Ontario snow!





A few hours after skiing, I've bought a big Christmas tree, sawed off the extra bits, set it up, and completed a bunch of foothab. Knock on wood, my foot doesn't seem worse than usual.

'Bent is waiting to hear from his brother's family in Yellowknife so they can light Chanukah candles together over Facetime. He and his Mom did that last night. She used to hate computers but she's coming around!

Nice mid-day ski in Palgrave West with 'Bent. Cool that I've skied over 4 hours this week without starting my car or crossing a road! We spent part of the time exploring an area near Duffy's Lane that we seldom visit - good ski-whacking and Snowgaine training, better for snowshoes than skis but loads of fun. 'Bent didn't have time to stop on one narrow downhill and had a great wipeout when he got tangled in shrubbery. The tracks I broke yesterday were fast and fun although some grass is peeking through in the sunnier areas. We need more snow!

When we got back, I took BazingaDog out on leash, and he tried to kill me. Well, not really but he got excited and sprinted away, yanking my shoulder, cracking my neck and back and leaving me face down in the snow. I lay there for about 20 seconds, then dragged myself up so I could catch the little bugger and get him back inside since he can't be trusted off leash. Ouch. I think a fenced yard is in our future, much as I don't want one.

Hard Core Live with Caron. Tonight's class was dedicated to 'Bent's birthday - 5 times around a circuit of 4 core exercises, with sets of each that added up to his age. Bob Knuckey, the Ironman 70.3 world champion in 65-69, threatened to attend a class on his birthday!

Happy Birthday, 'Bent! I got you exactly what you asked for. :)



Happy Thanksgiving also to my American friends.



My lousy sleep was due in part to GuestRottweiler's early departure. We'll miss her cuddles and 1-year-old goofiness.



I'm pretty sure she felt at home here.



BulletDog and I went for a longer Tour de Palgrave West in brilliant sunshine. Most of this was trail breaking in fluffy snow but I mixed in some ski-whacking and fallen tree scrambling as necessary. I removed a bunch of big sticks from the trails, about half of which were placed on my ski tracks by BulletDog who thought it was funny. Because the base isn't frozen yet, I accumulated icy bricks on the bottoms of my skis whenever I passed through wetlands or sunny fields. But the forest trails were absolutely magic.



BulletDog will be 11 in early January so she takes her recovery a little more seriously than she used to. :)

Too much grass poking through the snow today so it was back to the trainer. In honour of the Adventure Racing World Champs starting in a few days, I re-watched Raid The North Extreme Haida Gwaii / Prince Rupert from 2007. It was a great reminder of how intensely teams will hate the inflatable Tomcat kayaks at ARWC! Nice to see friends who did RTNX 2007 and look at the spectacular scenery. Poor Bender - his team sure had rough luck.

Ave Cadence: 77
Ave Watts: 132

I have to do half the exercises in the guest room with the door shut because GuestRottweiler wants to participate. She leaves in the morning, and we're really going to miss her.

Happy Chanukah, 'Bent!

Snow has been getting thinner on the trails so I took a page out of Coach LD's book and tried to make a skate track in our snowy yard. Fail! Too warm - snow was like oatmeal. I felt a twinge in my heel so maybe skate skiing isn't going to work just yet. It may just have been my crappy technique though so I'll try it again.

New exercises are added each week so it's over 30 minutes a day now but I don't feel right logging it all. I'm being really, really diligent. I want so much to fix this thing and get back to normal!

Mark your calendars... Wilderness Traverse 2014 will be held on the July 12-13 weekend in the Parry Sound area.
http://www.wildernesstraverse.com

Week 4 at the clinic in Orillia. I'm gaining some mobility and strength in various parts of my body. Some of the foot exercises are so strange! It's cool to discover there are muscles in my body that my brain has to be trained to control.

Starting to dare to dream...

(Thanks to the Salomon Toronto store for this.)