Training Log Archive: phatty

We executed a similar strategy as the day before by doing a little out and back for a cluster of points before heading into the main part of the racecourse...and it worked pretty well. We 'forgot' our poles in the car which gave us a late start so we ended up glomming off Tom and Tiny a little. Back at the start, we used others' trails to a whack of CPs before heading to the farthest part of the course. Tiny and Tom opted for a different route but we were convinced we'd have enough time for our point heavy route. Leanimal pushed the pace and I struggled at times to keep up - just don't have nearly as many kms in my legs over the last 12 months. We made it to the end with 9 minutes to spare and won the day...and the event! Yeah us...Team Untamed New England. Tiny and Tom nabbed 2nd for the Canuck sweep a la the hockey game later that night...that we all listened to on the radio driving home.

Overall, much harder work then last year due to the deep snow but we raced clean and efficiently to make up for it.

C • Congrats! 8

CNYO Snowgaine - Teamed up with Leanimal for my first multi-day, extended event in what seems a long, long time. Looking at the map on Day 1, it looked like 30-35 km to wipe the course. Given that we had 8 hours to do so, we figured it was in the bag...wrong! 10 minutes in, we broke off the main snowmobile route and were confronted with knee deep, snowman-making consistency snow. Ach no! It took us 1 hour to go the 1 km to the CP. Drained and reeling from our original plan, we decided to go the opposite direction. It took us 1/2 an hour to retrace our steps to the start and we then gave chace to the majority of teams. In the end, this was a brilliant move, no doubt due to my strategic thinking (I think Leanimal was more concerned with my speed, yelling at me to 'Hurry up' repeatedly), as we didn't really break trail for the rest of the day.

While we were the high score of the day, it was Tiny & Tom who deserved accolades for cutting trail for many of the teams...including us, who we proclaimed Team Glom...from glomming off other teams' hard work.

C • Your strategic thinking? 4

Caledon Navigators Training Night - Rocky and Bullwinkle put together a well thought rogaine that was laid about the neighbourhoods of Bolton. It was super blowy out so if this hadn't been going on, I would have hibernated instead. I wasn't sure how much ground I could cover in 90 minutes so my route had lots of bail options. in the end, I missed 4 CPs and stopped my stopwatch at 1h30m01s, so I think I maximized my time. I think I ran around 17 k or so...which surprised me.

Ran around Bolton for my first run after the weekend. Felt light but knee still bugging me.

Salomon Snowshoe Raid - Started off with a glorious session of cardboard, pins, and string mapping...o-nerds unite! It was my first time testing out that mapping style for rogaines and it worked really well. Hansel and I planned to drop at least one 30 pointer and had a few audibles should time permit.

Into the matrix, I intended to do it sans snowshoes as we had a bit of road running afterward. However, the snow was way too deep and my heart rate likely hit FB levels when he buys a 2-4. So I stopped to put them on a few lads whipped by me...but they showed me to the next CP nicely. Met up with Hansel and I never really got my heart rate down thereafter. Hansel kept the pace high and I just hung on for dear life. Later, my snowshoe busted and a huge piece broke off...awesome. We were ahead of our estimates late in the race so we nabbed a couple of extra points. However, an out and back that we could have / should have gotten was the only other CP that we left. Into the finish with 11 minutes and change to spare having raced really cleanly - I really don't think we made any errors at all which is REALLY strange for me given my 2 'style points' in THOMASS races this season. In the end, we were good enough for 4th overall I think. I would have liked to have been able to keep the pace higher but I just didn't have the speed.

Awesome event by Getawaystix and unbelievable prizing from Salomon!

Extra Kudos to Leanimal, Tiny, and PGB who just came back from Ecuador, dummied by the mountains and elevation, to win their respective categories...they should have because of all of their new found red blood cells.

C • Great Race! 4

Decent session going but had to get back to projection for Q1...I should have faked him with a dumbell and landed a few uppercuts.

Up to Duffy's on the HVT with Pinet. On the way back, we opted for a little river running now that I'm so bold based on Sunday's ski.

Bash, Bent, and I hit Mansfield for a classic session. I was burned after an hour but they made me go out for round 2. Had to get back to B-Town to veg out in front of the Olympics.

In a stunning show of courage, I ventured back onto the ice atop the mighty Humber with CoachLD for a classic session. Valentine's date #1.

C • I hope you brought flowers. 1

Valentine's date #2 with Kirikou, running the blue blazed loop around Hilton Falls. He told me about how FB's really putting on a brave face for the upcoming WT in June. Will has some lofty expectations for his old man...

Somewhat annual Navstravaganza session with The Bakes out of the Western Uplands parking lot in Algonquin. The tent out on Friday night (during opening ceremonies...doah!) wasn't as cold as it has been in previous years although I'm sure the 2 sleeping bags and heavy down jacket had something to do with that. We set out on our 5 CP route at 09h00 and worked out way through the deep snow. It took some getting used to, naving on the 1:50,000s again but we hit CP1 no problem. Beavers had turned what should be a long lake into a smaller lake with a dam across the middle. Snow was falling in big chunks and there was no wind...very serene winter scape out there. Strangely, the snow got deeper as we moved east and by the day's end, it was the deepest yet. The Bakes has still got it!

C • Phatty's too kind 1

Took the weights up a notch...gettin' huge. Not Zoolander huge, but close.

An epic battle to gain the summit of legendary Glasgow Hill...six times no less. 2m23s 5 of the 6 times and one of 2m30s but don't know what happened there. Warm up to and from the ancient wonder.

Trying out my new XA Pro 5s in the Humber Valley with Goose. We ran up Glasgow to get started, down the grassy spur to the river, and along the river for a bit. Rocky et al's bike tracks were easy to follow...you nutbars! We bushwhacked up to the trail, went along the trail for a bit, whacked down to the river again, and along the ice back home. Good session before dinner!

C • Confidence on ice? 9

C • Not so crazy 1

THOMASS Scanlon Creek - Don't know exactly how long it was but I definitely slowed down to watch the extremely fine-detailed map closely. I hated watching the speedsters cook away from me off the start but I just couldn't follw along the map quick enough. My route was fine although I should have highlighted my route beforehand to do less thinking in the field. Good course design and a nice, sunny day to be running around outside.

C • Less thinking in the field 5

Skate skiing with Getawaystix, Hansel, JVurma.com, and PJ at Scenic Caves. It was incredible conditions for skating and it's like what I'm always told by Goose, if you can ski at Mono, you can ski anywhere. Well, I wouldn't go as far as to say that I can 'ski at Mono' but it was certainly noticeably easier to do at the Caves. Getawayskix set a good pace. Later, we spun around on the classics for a bit.

C • Wipeout 2

Easy run around B-Town.

Coach Troy session 1 and 2 - took it up a notch and likely lost a few lbs in sweat. Legs were burnin'!

Once Goose bailed on our run, I was forced to watch Weeds Season 2 and spin away my sorrows of being unceremoniously ditched. And to think he's my teammate for WT this Spring!?!? Leanimal and I cried ourselves to sleep.