Training Log Archive: Bash

BazingaDog and I made a road trip to Scarborough to see his orthopaedic surgeon for a final check. He's all healed up with a good range of motion. His other knee seems fine for now, although dogs with cruciate ligament tears often need surgery on both knees eventually. He needs some deep tissue massage to loosen up his tight quad and hip flexor. Nothing fancy - we can do it if he lets us.

It sure is easier to fix knee problems if you're a dog!

His brother, AdventureDog, has been helping out by falling asleep on B-Dog's repaired leg.

From the world of mountain sports: National Geographic interviewed elite mountaineer Conrad Anker after his recent heart attack at almost 20,000' while attempting a first ascent in the Nepal Himalaya. He's recovering well.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/2016/c...

Carbon's Offset, Carbon and I summited Tunnel Mountain in Banff with Conrad in 2013. It was a pre-film activity at the Banff Mountain Film Festival that included free Kicking Horse coffee for the "climb".

Oak Ridges Trail to the stile at Glen Haffy plus the 2.2 km loop of road allowance trail and Bruce Trail. For now, I'll keep mentioning the stile in my log entries to make it easier to search my log for runs from home to Glen Haffy but in reality, the stile was recently dismantled and the trail rerouted around the fence.

I'd wavered about going to boot camp tonight but this run made it clear that I wasn't ready for a hard workout. I felt tired - like I just wanted to lie down. I didn't run up any of the steep hills although I tried to push up the gentler ones.

My new Snowcross got a good workout on trails that were mostly coated with snow and crunchy ice. The creeks and puddles were verrrry chilly! The gravel roads and shoulders on the route were mostly clear. We have a snow squall watch late tomorrow so maybe winter will finally arrive!

Unfortunately, I only had time to explore the wilds of my treadmill today.

C3 Injury Prevention class. Useful stuff! My gluteus medius finally gave up during one of the longer routines but at least it failed equally on both sides of my body, so I'm balanced. I chatted with first-timer Caroline afterward.

Tonight's class pushed me past my 2016 goal of 80 hours of Strength, Mobility and Yoga - the first time I've achieved a strength training goal in years of trying. I've also exceeded my Running/Orienteering goal by more than 50 hours so far. However, I won't be coming close to my overall training goal of 550 hours. Not enough multi-sport in my life this year.

Dontgetlost Icebreaker Adventure Run
Chedoke, Hamilton
2-hour score format - green, blue, black diamond, double black diamond



Great to see so many friends out today for a chilly (but not snowy) Icebreaker! As in 2014, we had the option to start with the Killer K - a kilometre of muddy climbs and descents, finishing with a long stair climb to the top of the escarpment where we punched a black diamond control. We could only punch it as our first control and it was valuable enough that it seemed like a good idea - although it turned out to be the only control skipped by the top two Open Women. In hindsight, I could have picked up more points on the golf course in the time it took me to do the Killer K but on a positive note, I beat my 2014 split by 25 seconds. Here's 'Bent doing the Killer K.



From the top of the stairs, I considered running to the east side of the map to pick up 210 points that were partway up the escarpment. That would have saved some climbing but I didn't want to feel pressed for time on the valuable west side of the map so I ran back down all the stairs, then ran west to get 44, 49, 47 and 48 in an area that felt quite familiar from Raid The Hammer last month. On the way back, I did Raid Re-run Leg #1 (45 to 46), then I ran east of the clubhouse to do Raid Re-run Leg #2 (42 to 43).

Double black diamond control 50 was close by and I managed to turn my map upside down as I was scrambling up the steep slope covered with loose rocks, wet leaves and mud. Lucky for me, I decided to climb up to the correct elevation, then contour across to the control on the other side of the staircase. I was kinda shocked to find it almost immediately, well before the staircase. After that, I turned my map right side up to avoid further surprises.

Then I ran onto the golf course where I had time to pick up 39, 38, 33, 35 and 31. I finished with extra time but the closest control was one that only counted if it were done as part of a set of three controls ("The Chair Climb") that involved a lot of up and down. So I headed to the finish and dug into the coconut cookies early.



I had a few minor bobbles here and there but overall it was a good race for me. I was super cautious in rocky areas because of my two ankle sprains in October but otherwise, running felt good. I came home with two tickets to the Banff Mountain Film Festival Tour in Hamilton for winning the Masters Female category (1/19). Really happy with that prize - thank you, Adventure Attic! :) Thanks to Meghan, Patrick and the volunteers for another fun day out. P.S. 'Bent cleared the course! (He finished 80 seconds late but that's because his watch was wrong.)

'Bent, AdventureDog and I went trail running and bushwhacking all over Glen Haffy. It's Dec. 3 so we should have been skiing but it was nice family time anyway. Our bushwhacking was a search for a connection between the northwest part of the conservation area and the residential streets of Mono Mills. That would make it nicer to run to/from Caron's new fitness studio on the corner of Hwy 9 and Airport Rd. But it looks like there is no way to get through without crossing someone's lawn. Maybe the studio can give away a free membership to a friendly home owner in exchange for permission to cross their yard? In the meantime, the best bet will be to take the Bruce Trail to Hwy 9 and run on the highway shoulder for about 700 meters. Really awful but at least it's short. [Update: After seeing the GPS track, there is a route through the subdivision that would shorten the Hwy 9 run to 250 m. Not bad.]

We ran into SlowRunner and had a brief chat. AdventureDog is a tough coach who barks if we stop running, so we can only have quick conversations with any friends we meet on the trails.

More on nutrition and longevity: Chef Peng Chang-kuei, creator of General Tso's Chicken, passed away this week. In spite of all that fat and added sugar, he lived to be 98 - the same age as the creator of the Big Mac, who passed away two days earlier. Hmm, might need to rethink our food choices...