Training Log Archive: Bash

Today was kinda sad since I would normally be at the Brantford Rotary Classic run. For the past 3 years, Dad and I have had a challenge: his 5K time vs. my 10K time. He kicks my butt at fundraising so that part is no contest. We were hoping he might win his new 80-89 age category this year but unfortunately he is recovering from side effects of radiation therapy and isn't even walking too far yet. I look forward to throwing down the gauntlet again next year!

TOC Mob Match at Claireville Conservation Area. The fun race course and gorgeous sunshine were impeccably organized by Clean. The event was rogaine-style with several "dumbbells" - pairs of controls where we got bonus points for visiting the two controls one after the other, with no other controls in between.

Running felt good after yesterday's long run. I couldn't have made a much bigger change in footwear on consecutive days, going from Hokas to Fellcross. That felt fine too. My knee, which I tweaked in Thursday's strength workout, had bothered me until last night but was pain-free today. (Dodged a bullet!) Best of all, my foot handled some very uneven ground without making me hobble tonight.

I cleared the course with 30 minutes left on the clock and spent a couple of minutes reviewing my map to make sure I could remember visiting all the controls. There was still plenty of time to go back out if necessary. At least I did *that* part right. However, I failed to notice that the first control near the start was one of a pair of dumbbell controls that I hadn't visited in order, even though it would have been practically on my way to do so. If I'd noticed at the finish, I could have gone out and fixed the problem in 5 minutes but... oops! So I got 740 of a possible 750 points. And a dunce cap.

We held the Orienteering Ontario AGM outdoors afterward. Big thanks to Harps and Clean for their help, and thanks to the members who attended.

Browner and I tackled the Hockley Loop and found it almost entirely ice-free at last - yahoo! It was a nice day for running in spite of predicted rain and cool temperatures. We stripped off our extra layers early. We met several groups of friendly hikers, including one who commented on Browner's STORM shirt since he had done the race awhile ago. While we were running along the road, the local Bruce Trail captain drove by and chatted with us so we had a chance to say thank you.

While I was telling the story of how Dee and KBomb missed a turn in the northeast forest (Anderson Tract) and never made it out the other side, I ran past the same turn, and we intersected the correct trail at the bottom of a big hill. Lucky Browner - I wanted her to see the whole route so I dragged her up (up, up) that trail and back to the junction where I messed up, then we turned around and ran in the right direction. It's one of the prettiest trails on the Loop and couldn't be missed! So we got some bonus distance and elevation.

Fun run, great company and the first post-run lunch of the season at the Black Birch. Yum. :)

Here's an article by Jack Daniels on shortening the long run. This supports the idea of training for time rather than distance when preparing for long races. That's what I've already been doing since most ultra training plans would be impossible and/or risky for me otherwise.

...Elite marathoners typically take regular long training runs of 20 to 23 miles; some even cover 30 miles on occasion. A 22-mile training run demands 2 1/2 hours for an elite female and less for an elite male. Consider that a runner takes about 90 steps with each leg per minute of running or 13,000 steps with each leg during a typical long run.

Impact and training time contribute to overuse injury, along with a greater chance of dehydration and heat or cold stress. A recreational runner (for example a 4:45 marathoner) must accommodate twice the amount of impact or 26,000 steps with each leg and twice the training time and stress as the elite marathoner.

Don't worry that you won't be able to complete a 4:30 marathon if you have never run beyond two and a half hours in training. In fact, it is not necessary to train at such a high percentage of your race distance no matter what the course...
http://www.active.com/running/articles/marathon-tr...

Bit of a mystery... Below my knee, I have a small line of poison ivy that appeared two days after our run at Horseshoe. It's too soon for PI to be growing around here so unless I managed to bump into a broken twig or exposed root, the oil was probably on my own clothing, shoes or outdoor gear. Hard to imagine how it happened. I'm so cautious about PI that it doesn't usually have much of a chance around here.

Throwback Thursday (which you may have seen on FB already) - My little brother Dave arrived on this date about 29 years ago - or so. I hope he shares his cake again this year.

Based on Weight Training Workout #2 from Strength Training for Runners.

Kept it short because I had no energy due to lousy sleep, although not for the usual reasons. I was texting with Mom in the wee hours as she and Dad waited in Emerg. Fortunately, Dad seems a little better today.

Yay, it's spring (more or less) in Hockley Valley! I'm planning to do The Loop this weekend so today I did a shorter test loop of the main trail and three side trails in the provincial park.



Most of the ground was bare. There were still patches of snow and ice but they were easily manageable with caution. It was so much fun to run on dirt in the Hockley Valley again.





Today's podcasts were Broadcasting Canada interviews with talented CBC Radio hosts Michael Enright and Matt Galloway. It's surprising how many CBC personalities failed to graduate from high school or started a university degree but didn't finish it.





This run felt great. Usually when I've said that lately, I've just meant that a run didn't hurt. Maybe I can finally start setting the bar higher than "pain-free". Fingers crossed.

Good New Yorker article by Jon Krakauer on Friday's Everest tragedy.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/201...

Here's a quote that shocked me. I knew that Into Thin Air encouraged people to climb Everest in spite of its subject matter but I didn't realize the increase was this insane.

During the 76 years from the first attempt on Everest, in 1921, through 1996, when I was guided up Everest, 144 people died and the summit was reached 630 times, a ratio of one death for every four successful ascents. Notably, over the 18 years that have passed since 1996, 104 people have died and the summit has been reached 6,241 times—one death for every 60 ascents.

On our first trek in Nepal, one of our group's local porters died in a big snowstorm on a day when about 100 people, Nepali and foreign, died across the country. A tropical cyclone, aka hurricane-type storm, had rolled into the Himalayas, surprising many people. For several hours, we thought our number might be up. Our porters and sherpas went on strike, as the Everest sherpas have done. It was a tragedy that still haunts us and permanently changed us.

'Bent, Willderness and I went to Horseshoe to run a lap of the Pick Your Poison course. This is easier said than done since the course makes dozens of turns. I marked up an old orienteering map using the GPS track posted on the race website. Looking at the track, we had a couple of minor bobbles but mostly ran where we were supposed to.

Another PYP runner named Eric joined us in the parking lot. It was quite the adventure - warm enough for shorts but cold enough to feel chilly when the rain started. The conversation and laughs were great but the running was a challenge.





At least 80% of the course was covered in a thick layer of snow and ice, some of it packed hard (for now) and some of it soft. Where it had melted, there was water and mud so I sometimes chose to run on the ice instead. There were only a few short stretches of dry trail. The race is 4.5 days away and the forecast isn't warm enough to make a significant dent in the snow. (Note: I don't have a photo of the most common type of trail, which would be double track almost entirely covered with snow or ice with occasional bypasses or muddy bare spots.)



Will, Eric and I are all registered for the race but Will had already decided to skip it for the opening of trout season. Eric and I both decided not to race because the potential for injury is too great (we both have foot problems). I like the race course and will return another year. If it were my goal event, I'd go but the idea was to use it as a training run for UTMB, and it won't work as race-specific training.



I did a bum slide down part of the final ski hill, then as I was running up to our car to complete the loop, the earth opened up and I fell in. It turned out I'd been on a rotting snow bridge made of ice and gravel that concealed a crevasse below.



The photo above was a re-creation of the accident. I wasn't smiling when it happened. The guys asked me if I was OK, then when I didn't answer (because I didn't know), they asked me again more urgently. I'd wrenched my knee, banged my rib and stomach, scratched my Ambit and cut my arm. It was a crazy amount of damage for a freak accident, and it confirmed my decision.



Regardless, I'm glad we did this. Lots of fun and great to see Will's good fitness going into Expedition Africa. If they happen to have a blizzard there, he will be totally ready.