Training Log Archive: Bash

Seen on Twitter: 'Marriage is texting each other "Do we need anything from the grocery store?" a bunch of times until one of you dies.' ;)

Fun Friday night snowshoe expedition with Funderstorm and Mrs. Tiny. We wandered around the southeast corner of the Hockley Loop where there are several Bruce Trail side trails as well as the main trail. There are some steep hills since there are old ski resorts on either side of 5th Line. We mixed it up with some bushwhacking, trail hiking and mountain climbing - at least, that's what it felt like. We found all kinds of interesting animal tracks and some gorgeous trees. It's a pretty area, even in the dark!

Mrs. Tiny had never been to the Black Birch restaurant so we corrected that problem. Fun evening out - thanks for making the trip, ladies. :)

You can register until midnight for the Orienteering Ontario O Cup #3, happening conveniently (for many of you) in Oakville this Sunday morning.

This is the first-ever Harps-DoubleDown-Sid joint venture. Come on out and show them some love!
http://www.orienteeringontario.ca/wp-content/uploa...

P.S. There are rumours of delicious post-race chili.

Another headlamp run in Palgrave West. If there was any doubt, this confirmed that running on our lumpy, crusty trails without snowshoes is bad for my knee. I'll have to focus on trails that are better used and have a more even surface, like many in Palgrave East. Or maybe winter will come so I can ski!

Caron's core class. Ouch. She said this one might hurt more in class but we should have fewer sore muscles later. We'll see...

First class of our winter session. I had to coddle my knee here and there.

It's slower running on snowshoes - especially off-trail - but it's easier on my sore knee. AdventureDog and I did a quick tour of Palgrave West, turning on a headlamp for the final km.

Pushed hard - this felt like a good workout. I'm trying to do more paddling to make up for the fact that I haven't been doing any skiing. I'm getting ready to use poles for mountain running later this year. I listened to another TA1 podcast. Eventually, I'm going to remember the World Champs as well as JayXC does. ;)

Miscellaneous - deadlifts, calf lifts, physio. I was trying to limit myself to muscles that I didn't push too hard last night at boot camp. I discovered that my calves *did* get used so the calf lifts didn't last very long.

Year End Review, Part 1:
2015 Training Hours by Activity
Kinda boring unless you are Future Me looking back on this.

Top Five (with 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011 totals in brackets):

1) Running + Snowshoe Running - 188.5 hrs (204.5, 153, 190, 138.5)
2) Strength + Yoga - 65 hrs (65.5, 52, 36, 30)
3) Trekking - 64.5 hrs (38.5, 19, 17.5, 16)
4) XC Skiing (Classic, Skate, Roller) - 60 hrs (38, 45.5, 55, 28)
5) Mountain Biking + Road Biking - 37.5 hrs (34.5, 60, 77.5, 89)

Total Annual Training Hours = 494.5 hrs (470, 557, 505, 612)

It's mind blowing that I spent more hours O-volunteering in the past two days than I spent doing the sport last year! I didn't do any 24-hr rogaines, which normally bump up my orienteering hours.
Orienteering + Snowshoe Orienteering - 13 hrs (57.5, 55, 66.5, 73.5)

Training was pretty much on track until mid-September, then went off the rails until December due to a combo of demanding volunteer projects and 2+ months of a bad cold that dragged on and turned into bronchitis.

My big races were the Eiger Ultra and the Birkebeiner ski loppet, and this year's training activities reflected that. Some winter running time was replaced by classic skiing but I felt equally well prepared for summer mountain running. Skiing is more fun and lower impact; too bad there hasn't been enough snow to do the same this year.

The big increase in Trekking hours can be attributed mostly to our hike around the La Cloche Silhouette loop, although I've been including hilly treks in my training program because longer ultras include hiking.

I'd like to fit in more mountain biking. The huge drop in hours in recent years is linked to the types of events I've been preparing for, not a lack of interest.

Yay, Obama.

Headlamp trail run on hard, lumpy snow crust. My knee is sore again so I don't think it likes the lumps. The smoother Dundas Valley trails didn't bother it. Aside from that, it was a great run - very chilly but my layers worked well.

I was happy to have spiked shoes except for one moment. I began to step over a shin-high wooden barrier to enter the conservation area, and one of my spikes got caught in the wood just as I shifted all my weight forward. There was a moment of complete disbelief when I couldn't move my raised foot so I pitched forward over the barrier into one of my famous face plants. Kinda funny.

Caron's boot camp night. The problem with vacations is that they give her too much time to think! 'Bent kicked me in the stomach with both feet when we started a partner exercise - a technique issue. Better me than someone else, I guess!

7th Annual Waterfalls of Hamilton Run

Thanks once again to Trav and Baloney for generously hosting this fun and highly delicious event to kick off the New Year.

AdventureDog and I ran mostly solo around the Dundas Valley, hiking most of the steeper hills. I chose a non-standard route around Hammer's excellent new map to prevent ADog from taking off to find 'Bent and the Fast Boyz. I tried to measure the full height of K2 with my Ambit but it looks like the trail is under construction at sea level so we didn't quite get it all. I think we'll need to come back for some winter hill training since the Dundas Valley trails stay in better running condition than the ones around here.

After the run, we were treated to the usual amazing feast of excellent coffee, waffles, baffles, bagels, soup and much more. AdventureDog was a good party guest - nice to see that. It was great to chat with old friends and meet some new ones. After hearing about so many interesting plans for 2016 (at least two guests are aiming for the Olympics - wow!), I'm feeling inspired for the year to come.

'Bent, BazingaDog, AdventureDog and I went to the Anderson Tract in Hockley Valley, aka the home of the Three B*tches. We climbed a bunch of hills since we need to get our bodies ready for real mountains in the spring. Nice family outing!