Training Log Archive: Bash

My rest week was short lived! Funderstorm, Mrs. Tiny and I had planned to go XC skiing tonight but the record setting, double digit temperatures meant that Highlands Nordic was closed.

So it was a perfect opportunity to *finally* join the famous Wednesday night run and burrito-fest with Team BugsinTeeth. I'd never been in the Rouge Valley except for the Toronto Zoo, and the trails are awesome! BugsinTeeth, Simpy, Judy and I ran in mud, on ice and up rooty hills, and we did some bushwhacking and crossed the river a couple of times.

I foolishly left my Snowcross in the car since I'd barely seen any snow on the drive. I've done so much running with traction lately that I've apparently forgotten how slippery ice is. When we hit our first large patch, I took one tentative step and flipped instantly onto my back, landing in about 8 cm of ice water. I'll be interested to see what hurts tomorrow. I was super cautious after that, both on ice and mud.

Great conversation and a steady pace. So nice to finally see the native habitat of the Bugs Boys. Thanks for the run, the company and the visit to Fat Bastards burritos!

Until today, I'd only tested the Barefoot Science inserts indoors; this was my first run in them. To keep it simple, I ran on our muddy gravel roads. The inserts felt fine - not painful or wildly different - but I'm only at Level 1 so there's a long way to go. Looking forward to strengthening my feet some more. Big thanks to FB, my new personal shopper. ;)

Caron was nicer tonight. There may be a few muscles that aren't sore tomorrow.

AdventureDog came to live with us one year ago yesterday. Maybe we're finally starting to tire him out - but only a little.

STORM and 'Bent had planned a Hockley Loop so I invited Browner to join AdventureDog and me for a Hockley Provincial Park run. I figured we could get in some great climbs in preparation for the Dolomites but we couldn't do the entire Hockley Loop since we wouldn't want the boys to wait around. Well, I got half the plan right... :)

It was a surprisingly beautiful day on the trails. We had sunshine in spite of a rainy forecast, and our Kahtoola Microspikes worked well on the deadly skating rink hills. It was great to catch up with Browner. AdventureDog behaved really well.

I figured the guys would take longer than usual in the icy conditions, and since 'Bent's previous PR for Hockley was 2 hrs 40 min, we would need to add about 50 mins to the usual HPP run. So we checked out the 3rd Line hill, which is accessible from the Hockley trails; I've always wanted to record it on my Ambit. It turns out to be a 100 m climb in 1.5 km but it's a twisty gravel road so we had to watch for traffic - not that we saw much. Next time I think I would only do a repeat from the northern trail access (80 m climb in 1 km).

Then we headed back via Hockley trails. After all our climbing, the last 5 kms seemed to go on forEVER. (Sorry, Browner!!) AdventureDog was the only one who held his pace and I had to push to stay close to him to make sure he didn't scare any hikers on the ice. (It's surprising how many people are afraid of dogs so I always want to be close enough to call him back and grab his leash.)

Unfortunately (?) STORM and 'Bent set a new PR for the Hockley Loop of 2:29 (!!!!!) so they had a loooong wait at the parking lot while Browner and I hauled ourselves over the final few hills and dreamed of our upcoming brunch at the Black Birch.

We exceeded our goal of 600 m vertical by a lot, thanks to my over-enthusiasm. Looking at the GPS track, I can see ways to increase the average climb per km. We did 723 m in 20-ish km today. At Lavaredo, there will be 250 m more climb in 20 km on average. Yikes.

This was a heavy training week with a focus on hills - 2450+ m in the past 7 days, all within an hour of home. I guess there will need to be a lot more of that! Looking forward to an easy week coming up. :)

'Bent, Coach LD and I drove up to Highlands Nordic early to catch the cooler part of the day. The temperature was forecast to rise above freezing by 11 a.m. and stay up there until Monday night. Sigh.

Classic track conditions were variable - mostly hard, sometimes icy, sometimes blown in with powder since the wind was so strong. I had moments of good grip but mostly it was a day for good glide and lots of herringbone. For the last 6 km, I switched to waxless racing skis. They felt slow but it was a treat to be able to kick and glide with every stride.

Sudden, Lia, and Dr. and Dr. Tarno were there enjoying the snow. It was great to have company for our carpool. Thanks for sharing your snacks, Coach LD!

Tonight's Robbie Burns dinner featured a few Attackpointers, past and present.

Our hosts, Goose and Coach LD



'Bent and Mike



In addition to this fashionable outfit, I also had a plaid cape (aka our Christmas tree skirt).



Most importantly, Crash cooked the haggis!

'Bent and I went to Mississauga for a session with Jeff Stapleton, the running coach I saw last week. It was fun and we've got a bunch of exercises to work on. I got a full length pair of Barefoot Science inserts so now I'll be able to try them in all my shoes to see if they work for me.

Caron's Hard Core class

Class

Mrs. Gally was craving some winter and I was craving more hills so we did a snowshoe trek (with a little downhill running) around the Anderson Tract - the northeast corner of the Hockley Loop known for the *tches.

We mostly bushwhacked. In most of the forest, there was just enough snow to use snowshoes but they kept us above the woody debris and the big cleats were essential on the steep slopes where we were slipping and grabbing saplings. In this terrain, the Ambit distance measures low. I'll be interested to see what Mrs. Gally's Garmin recorded.

Note to runners: This part of the Bruce Trail is currently less icy than Hockley Provincial Park since it is less used. I probably wouldn't need Kahtoola Microspikes for traction in here right now, although they would be fine. I would want spiked shoes or Yaktrax for occasional ice patches on the steep hills.

We were aiming for 500 m of elevation gain but when we got to 535 on our way back to the cars, of course we had to go for 600 m because we like nice round numbers. We rewarded ourselves with a yummy lunch at the Hockley General Store. Hope Mrs. Gally made it back to work in time!