Training Log Archive: Bash

No time for my planned workout. I've had the interesting pleasure of spending most of the last three days "with" my Dad. Several organizations are jointly nominating him for induction into the Ontario Agricultural Hall of Fame, which is very touching.

It turned out to be easier for our family to fill out most of the sections of the nomination form as a first draft for the nominators. Some stuff was easy, like "Education". Some checking of details was challenging, given that most of Dad's major contributions to agriculture happened before the Internet.

Amazingly, we stumbled onto information that we hadn't expected to find by Googling - an industry journal article about Dad from 1971, some details on North America-wide conferences he helped to organize in 1972 and 1985, lists of past presidents that included him, and newspaper articles that mentioned his name. There weren't any real surprises but there were things that we'd forgotten. Now that we've passed our work back to the nominators and the sense of urgency is gone, I look forward to doing more Googling to see what else I can find.

As has often happened during this journey of the past ten months, I've thought of so many things that I'd like to discuss with Dad. But since that's impossible, I will at least enjoy finding his stories, nuggets of information and photos.

Busy day so I ran trails in the dark - something I rarely do because I'm a wimp. At one point, I saw animal eyes glowing around a bend in the trail. I kept running toward the eyes. (Yay, I'm so brave!) When I got there, the animal was gone but there was a nasty stench like a carcass or - gulp - a bear, which is not impossible around here. That improved my pace for awhile. (Not so brave after all!)

It's an out-and-back run so I had to pass that same spot on the way back. I picked up a big, sharp stick and yelled as I ran through that area. I was not attacked by a wild animal. The End.

Stopped by the Salomon Store to see their winter selection. :)

Not pleased by how tired I felt after two consecutive days of running. :(

If you've ever thought about Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc but don't feel like committing several years to the qualification and lottery process, there is a great alternative. The Eiger Ultra Trail, which 'Bent and I raced this year, is happening in spectacular Grindelwald, Switzerland in July 2016 and offers four distances from 16 km to 101 km.

Admittedly, there is nothing like being in Chamonix during UTMB week with thousands of other trail runners and their families; I'm glad we got to experience that. But if you'd be content with spectacular Alpine scenery and excellent race organization, the Eiger Ultra Trail fits the bill.

EUT is part of the Ultra-Trail World Tour and is still a relatively new race, just in its 4th year. No qualification is required and until this year, there was no lottery. For 2016, they will accept most entries as they come in, then they'll set up a lottery for the final 100 places for each of the 101 km and 51 km distances.

Registration opens this Friday, Oct. 23 at 10 a.m. Grindelwald time. Last year, 500 entries were sold in the first few hours. With the introduction of the lottery, entries will sell out faster. Check out the video if it sounds like your kind of thing!
https://www.eigerultratrail.ch/en/home.html

I think I read somewhere that when you're building up your running, you should double your distance every day. So today was 20K after yesterday's 10K. I've studied a lot of math so I know if I can keep this up, next weekend's 50K will be a total cakewalk.

This was another ankle-friendly run on gravel roads, gravel shoulders, rail trail, a little pavement and some forest trails in Palgrave West. (Finnerty, Centreville Creek, rail trail, Duffy's Lane, Palgrave West.) It felt harder than 20K usually feels, which is no surprise. I'm ready to take my ankle back onto the trails again. It's still a little stiff but not too bad. There won't be any taper for The Bad Thing (how can I taper down when I'm building up?) but I'll need some rest next week if I'm going to get through it.

Wildlife Watch: One muskrat, one deer.

Must. Start. Strength. Training. Again.

It's been three days since I rolled my ankle, and I've been feeling it so I didn't want to try running right away. I did a gravel road run today, figuring it would be less risky than the trails. It felt OK although my ankle was still a little annoyed at me.

Unless my ankle gets worse, I've decided that The Bad Thing 50K next weekend will be an experiment in what happens when I don't train for an ultra and rely entirely on my base fitness from several months ago. It may well be a spectacular failure but that's what experiments are all about. This was not the original plan, of course, but it is the only option, other than dropping out.

From the "What does a Registrar do?" department, here are excerpts from an email exchange I've been having today.

1) "I'd like to sign up Solo. Should I enter the Male category or the Coed category?"

Luckily, I didn't have to touch that one! I explained that the race is for teams of three and he should enter the appropriate category.

2) "OK. What's the difference between the Coed and the Male category?"

There are no dumb questions - but there are always questions!

A friend's 4-year-old son has been marching around lately, telling his parents that his 1-year-old brother Justin "is just not ready." :)

And then there's this:

O Canada! A beautiful autumn day. :)

Event: Star Tracks - Mountain Bike Orienteering
 

Star Tracks Mountain Bike Adventure, Albion Hills

My alarm went off early since there is always lots to do on the morning of a race. Unfortunately, I didn't actually wake *up* until 40 minutes later. So things were a little rushed and I forgot some details - like giving LJ the pile of waivers *before* racers started checking in. It all worked out eventually.

I put out the final two controls and vetted one loop of the Novice course, then spent the rest of the event hanging around Race HQ while other volunteers did all the work on the race course - vetting controls, taking photos and picking up controls. Other than a few minutes giving race briefings, all I had to do was eat cookies and chat with racers - a pretty sweet gig!

At one time, the forecast hinted at up to 15 cm of snow this morning! I'd advised everyone to dress warmly and bring running shoes in case we couldn't ride. The park superintendent even mentioned that they had snowshoes! But it didn't come to that. It was clear, sunny and crisp - a gorgeous autumn day. We had a bonfire with hot apple cider (thanks to Goose for fixing the campstove) and wonderful goodies baked by Ilona and Coach LD.

The race went smoothly from our perspective. People came back in one piece, mostly smiling. There was some tough competition and great performances in every category. The overall winner was Wokitoki, just ahead of our defending champion, Tiny. ThreePinJim was a surprise 11th hour attendee and won the Masters Male category. Coach LD was the fastest woman and Top Masters; Dee and Browner joined forces to win Open Female. Wilberto Jr. was the top Junior Boy and Tarno Jr. was top Junior Girl. Team Lather Rinse Repeat won the Novice Family award (Eva and Julianne Leek). Our fastest growing age category in MTBO is Men aged 60+. The winner, Anthony Welch, was 10th overall. He is not a regular orienteer.

My awesome partner in crime for this event was Mick. He and I have exchanged dozens of emails in recent weeks. LJ, Nick, Val, Ilona and Goose also played big roles to make race day successful.



Many more photos are available on the event web page. Thanks to everyone who came out!
http://stars.whyjustrun.ca/events/view/2207

'Bent



Dee and Browner



Coach LD



The post-race lunch venue was a bit of a bust although the company was excellent. Now that Caruso's has closed, I need to find another place where a group can drop in without reservations and have good food at a reasonable price.