Training Log Archive: Bash

DontGetLost Snowshoe Raid - 10th Anniversary Edition

Hard to believe it's been that long! In the early days, results were calculated from manual punch cards (an experience I was lucky to enjoy) and we were all packed like sardines in the Horseshoe Valley XC Ski Chalet. It was tons of fun back then and Bob keeps finding new ways to make it fun and different. A few people have returned to race all 10 years, including APers AdventureGirl!, Hammer and Timato. Thanks for all your work on SSR, Bob and DontGetLost.

Dee and I teamed up once again and worked through a few different strategies. One of the twists this year was that Matrix points could only be claimed if we returned to the Aid Station at the northeast corner of the Matrix within the first 2.5 hours. After a longer uphill run from the start than planned (the buses couldn't get up the hill to the intended start), we entered the Matrix.



Dee went to 2 and 9 while I picked up 1, 4 and 6. I was surprised to see so few other people in this section, and I did more trail breaking than expected.

We'd picked a somewhat daring meeting point - the place where the east-west trail south of 9 (hopefully visible in the snowy terrain) left the forest and entered a rough open area. I had a false alarm on my way there when I reached a different rough open area. The trail wasn't there and I couldn't leave the Matrix box without my teammate, so I scrambled along a snowy slope to stay on the legal side of the line - until I realized my error and headed south again. We arrived at the designated spot at the same time - phew.



With Simpy, Jocelyn, Mrs. Tiny and Heidi, we headed south along the fence line to 191, then continued south to the valuable 224 and 201. We met Hermes and DoubleDown along the way. Dee and I used our incoming snowshoe tracks to leave 201 and travel most of the way to the snowmobile trail where we ended up back with most of the same crowd. Hermes and DoubleDown took off at high speed, and Simpy and Jocelyn weren't far behind. We headed to the hilltop of 236 with Mrs. Tiny and Heidi. We were far enough ahead of schedule that we briefly considered going east to 234 but fortunately talked ourselves out of it.

From here, we planned to go due north to the Aid Station for our post-Matrix check-in. We picked up 242 on the way, then did the agonizing climb up the escarpment to the Bruce Trail. Dee has an injured hamstring that is extremely painful and the hill climbs were particularly hard on her today. She is so tough though! Luckily, that was our last big climb for the day.



Mrs. Tiny and Heidi had the same plan until this point and we were pleased to see them turn east when we got up to the plateau. They are a faster team with excellent navigation so we had no chance unless our routes diverged at some point.

We ran up to the aid station, punched in our five Matrix controls and headed east to pick up controls on top of the escarpment. We figured this would be safer in the later stages of the race since it would be easier to estimate our time to the finish without any big climbs to worry about. The overtime penalty was large this year - 30 points per minute - so no one wanted to be late.

We visited 231, 230 and 229, then we hopped on the Bruce Trail and ran around to 227 at the lookout. We made a tough call to get 225 (50-pointer with a 35 m descent/ascent) instead of the closer 228 (25-pointer). After that, we knew it would be a push for the finish. Our original plan was to approach the finish by following the Bruce Trail from the east but that committed us to running all the way through Petun Conservation Area within the 3-hr time limit, and I chickened out.



So we ran west to the Aid Station, then north to the bend in the road before diving into the conservation area for 186 and 190 on our way to the finish. Timato and Nosnhoj flew past us on the final downhill, looking great on their way to a podium finish.

It was such a great time playing in the snow and my teammate was awesome as always. If we had it over again, I think I'd choose the same route - and it's not often I say that. We were both warm enough, we both forgot to eat, and I didn't drink nearly enough since I had trouble reaching the mouthpiece through my new hose insulator. Further experimentation is required.

Huge congrats to Harps and Logie on the overall win out of 96 teams with 1475 pts! Such sweet irony that the victory went to a man who hates winter. ;) Congrats to Hammer & Tarno and Timato & Nosnhoj for completing the overall podium, and to Gally & STORM and Hermes & DoubleDown who rounded out the top five. Trav & Christian were 6th overall, Dee & I were 7th with 1,000 pts, and Mrs. Tiny & Heidi were just 25 pts behind in 8th - yay, girl power! 'Bent and BGY would have been next if they hadn't arrived 3 minutes late - but they did, so they were 15th.



The weirdest highlight of the day was finding a compass draped over a branch in the middle of the woods. We decided to bring it back for the Lost & Found. Turns out, it was Bob's compass from setting the course!

I almost never take BazingaDog into the woods by myself but he looked *so* sad and bored that I had to try.

He is 90 lb of pure muscle with 4-leg drive and unpredictable bursts of power in random directions. It's risky to hold his leash in your hand since he can yank it out so 'Bent usually puts a harness on B-Dog and attaches it to himself using a strong waistband. There's supposed to be a quick release but I couldn't find it. On the bright side, if B-Dog had taken off, they would have found my body attached to him.

I was just planning an easy snowshoe trek to avoid aggravating my cold. Having B-Dog attached added some extra balance and strength work to the mix. Other than the moment when he rolled in deer poop, it went pretty well - always on the edge of something dangerous possibly happening but it never did. Maybe I'll risk it again sometime. He will be 5 in March so he is past the craziest part of his puppyhood.

Guess I'd better come up with something in January even though I don't have any big ideas.

Year End Review, Part 3 - 2016 Training Goals

1) Races
- Finish Lavaredo Ultra Trail (119 km) in June and at least one other ultra.
- At least one other 24+ hr event that isn't an ultra, e.g. an adventure race, rogaine, mountain marathon or Muskoka River X.

2) Health - same goals as last year, just keep improving
- Average 7 hrs sleep daily.
- Get down to race weight by March 31 (8 lb down from Jan. 1 weight).
- More protein in diet (Need to revive long lost cooking skills - I've been spoiled by my non-meat eating chef, 'Bent.)

3) Targets
- 200 hrs of running + snowshoe running
- 80 hrs of strength training, physio exercises and yoga
- 550 hrs of total training

4) Work from a written training plan each week.

5) Plan more mini-adventures like our Killarney Loop trek and New Year's Eve winter camping trip. There aren't as many ARs on the calendar as there used to be but Ontario and surrounding areas are still full of adventures and fun, adventurous people!

Sore throat started mid-afternoon. Noooo!!

AdventureDog and I went for a midday ski in Palgrave West. I did more trail clearing in new areas but was able to enjoy the benefits of yesterday's work too. We did a little bushwhacking that involved way too much scrambling over fallen trees. We only have about 8 cm of fluffy snow on top of ice, frozen ground or forest debris so I guess it's better to stick to trails for now. Beautiful day. AdventureDog loves skiing although sometimes he gets excited and runs uphill toward me while I'm skiing down. Luckily, I missed him every time.

Sunset/moonrise ski out the back door - the way winter is supposed to be! I wondered if I was being too pessimistic by choosing rock skis but the snow wasn't very deep even though it was fluffy and beautiful. This was only Level 2 because I stopped about 30 times to move sticks and logs off the trail, but that's a good investment for the future. Wonderful.

C3 Boot Camp, which is the real deal - as in, the couple I usually work out beside are both military commanders. I am getting stronger! Except my abductors. They are feeble. Here's the one I was really bad at. Caron made us do a lot of them - "then hold for 8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, then lift...."

Event: OOA O Cup
 

OOA O Cup #3

We awoke to grey skies and pouring rain so I wondered what it would mean for O Cup attendance. Impressively, the vast majority of racers showed up - even the ones who signed up late and hadn't paid yet. I'm proud to be part of a community of so many adventurous people!

I like days like this since it forces me to test clothing and gear that I might need if I encounter these conditions in the wilderness or in a race. I couldn't remember the last time I put on rain pants, even though they've often been in my pack just in case. I didn't race in them; it was actually quite warm if you were moving - but chilly when you stopped, especially soaking wet.

Harps, DoubleDownon_11 and Sid had worked hard to put this event together on behalf of Orienteering Ontario with support from DontGetLost. It was loads of fun! We were parked at an arena so we could go indoors to change and get warm but it only took a few minutes of running before we were splashing through creeks and scrambling up mucky slopes on our hands and knees, grasping at saplings so we didn't slip backward. It was such crazy "little kid" fun that I burst out laughing a few times.

It's not a huge area and much of it is flat, but the designers had used it well and created an interesting course with lots of variety. I ran slowly in the sloppy conditions but I mostly ran in the right direction and took advantage of my large handicap so I think I finished in the top 10.

As always, it was great to see friends in real life instead of online. Huge thanks to Mrs. DD11 (Lex) for the delicious chili. Between that, the hot chocolate and a couple of cookies, I was too full to go out for lunch.

Thanks to all the organizers for a morning of slip-sliding fun. I wish mud runners and obstacle racers could try a race like this - the real deal instead of a "canned" adventure challenge.