Training Log Archive: 'Bent

Running of the Dogs- non-poison-ivy edition
Should have biked, but with Bash away for the day I had both dogs to manage. Poison Ivy all over the shorter route, so detoured.

Finally got to try Green Lake with Shedman and Bash. Nice quiet private lake, 1km long. Great evening for a paddle.

Just a few cable press and chin-ups, a little KB work and some kneehab.

Easy commute with the big guy. Also had Bash, Rad-from-Oz and Bulletdog for company part way.

Knee is definitely not too bad, but definitely not 100%.

Quicker run home- only needed the light in the last 5 minutes.

Took a page from the mighty Harps and did the hilliest trail/road loop around here instead of Albion. It was shorter than I thought, so I added some of the equestrian singletrack near Glen Haffy and some hills in Palgrave.
Definitely hits the legs differently than the Hammer-and-coast Albion riding.
All that short-fast running has left my biking legs piss-weak, so I need it.

C • Trade-off 2

Out with Bazingadog. Even with 2 swims, too hot for the big guy to go all that far.

In the city today, and too stinkin' hot to go out for a late evening ride, so just some kneehab in the cool basement.

My knee's not bad today!! Some DOMS, but I'd have to say after 913 days and one surgery I am Officially Recovered.

EDIT - might have spoken too soon- I can feel the knee a bit after riding.

C • That's such great news that... 8

Easy recovery rides - first with the beasts then with Bash.

Event: Sulphur Springs 100 mile Trail relay
 

SS relay leg- details to follow

Progress reports at http://www.ar.attackpoint.org/discussionthread.jsp...

The plan was to watch my HR and run the first half a bit lower than I thought I could, to leave something for the big climbs in the second half. I felt I was well behind schedule, but didn't look at the time.

Plan worked! Made the goal time, and certainly worked hard at the end.
Not sure if I could have pushed a bit harder earlier on and still not blown up. I almost had a negative split, but the first half has more downhill.

It was great to be part of the "dream team", as I heard us called by other racers. Stellar performances laid down, especially by Hansel who had been sick all day. We took 18 min off the record!

C • Congrats! 17

Big day for cycling records- amateur Aurelien Bonneteau just broke Olympic Gold Medalist Chris Boardman's UCI 1-hour record of 56.3 km set in '96.

He used an unfaired (no aerodynamic coverings, just a bare bike) carbon 'bent to go 56.7km, while Boardman rode an uber-TT bike in Superman position.

First time an unfaired 'bent has held this record in 78 years. Fully faired bullet-'bents have gone over 80k in an hour.

C • Cool! 2

Easy commute with BZdog. Busy on the way back- saw Threepin and Sky drive by, met critter sitter with 6 border collies, 2 bikers and a near- suicidal turkey on the trails.

Foothab, kneehab, easy workout 3 w KB and pull- ups.

Easy commute with Bulletdog.

Run to work, with a few pick-ups.
Back home via Pond hill after 2 swims for Brody the Bazingadog.

That's the last intensity until SS.

O-fest long course.
31C and a lot of climb meant- advantage Adventure Racer with hydration pack. I won most of the splits after the 1 hr mark and felt fine at the end.

No big mistakes, no injuries, and I was able to pull off the win for a change.
Download to follow.

C • congrats! 13

Early morning run with Bazingadog, and warmup for the o- events, including an almost 2k nice run to the Middle course start.

Ottawa o-fest middle distance. Didn't get injured or horribly lost, so mission accomplished. I did make a nav error at the end of a long leg, 18 min split vs 7 for Eugenius-the-winner, and saw Bash there who started 4 min behind me, but was clean after that. Comfortable pace, finished well back.

Sprint. Interesting area, but I made a few silly errors including mixing up the second last control number and wasting 1.5 min there. Despite finishing well back I was pleased to see I had one of the faster finishing splits overall. If only I could navigate cleanly...

C • Congrats 2

M45+ - Splits

Sprint M45+ - Splits

Commute plus a ride to my environmental meeting, and a magical dusk- dark ride home on the rail trail. Dead calm, perfect spring night.

Foothab, kneehab, workout 2 + KBs & pull-ups with some core.

C • switch stages? 4

Out for a fast first lap with BZdog around the Charlevoix loop with the biggest hills.

Picked up Bulletdog and my pack for an easier-paced commute.

Nice night run home with a very well behaved BZDog. Longer route to avoid the early season poison ivy.

Warmup with leg swings, then bushed my pack and ran speed intervals around a moderately hilly 1.1km paved block at level 5 with HR in the high 180s

Pace per km
3:47
3:45
3:46

Picked up the pack and came home via the Pond hill, hammering the 2 climbs as hard as I could.

Totally pooched by the end.

I think I'm carrying my arms a touch too high and that's tensing my shoulders a bit and making my posture too upright.

C • Gait 2

A little foot/ kneehab with some new adductor exercises.

Ride in and back home with BZdog at a good clip.
Warm in the PM so he got 2 swims. He has to be on leash for his swim or he won't come out, but I *very* nearly went in when he lunged for a tossed stick.
Legs felt good- climbing well on the 'bent.

Knee is a bit sore from yesterday, and I have some sore muscles- the adductors that cramped yesterday. Not sure what caused all that- Bash thinks it was heat, but I'm not convinced. I was drinking e-load and water, about 1.5L of each and had a little water left at the end. I had 3 endurolyte caps, 2 tums, a gel, 1.5 bars and some corn chips (which I could barely choke down). I did drink about 3L after the race, so maybe I was dehydrated still.

I'm wondering if my old bod just isn't used to going more than 2-3 hours at race pace. I was watching my HRM on the run, and it slowly declined on the bike as I couldn't push as hard. Not used to long steady efforts on the bike maybe? I've been riding Palgrave and Albion single track lately, but that's hammer-and-coast.

C • hammer and coast 12

Fun Run came over for some running video work with Bash.
We did a warmup loop, then filmed video from front, side and back from the bikes. Downloaded to the AttackPad for review.

I learned a couple of things- my heel strike is gone, and my arms are better, but I have overcorrected my posture and have gone from hunched to *too* upright- almost leaning back. Maybe a touch more forward lean from the ankles would be good. Also not pushing back as far as I thought on the end of the stride.

Event: Storm the Trent
 

Storm the Trent Trek Elite

Paddle (42 min) We started on boats, and I was working hard in my sea kayak to keep up with the lead K1s and surf skis at my usual 9kph. Despite getting my kayak T-boned and cracked by a poorly steered canoe on the out-and-back, I finished within a minute or two of the lead boat.

Run (40 min) Next on to the run, where Logie caught up with me and we moved to the front. He pulled away gradually, but I had a good run doing 4:30s and got to the T/A in second place, leaving before the next team arrived.

Bike: I always dread bike nav on my 'bent. My map board can't be set to see the road and map at the same time so I need to tilt it, and it usually starts to fall over once I hit bumps. That doesn't exactly explain taking off on the route I'd highlighted *backwards* for a km or two before figuring out why nothing made sense. 7 minutes there allowed 3 teams to get ahead of me.

I worked hard on the bike and moved up to 3rd, but started to get a stitch in my side around the 2 hr mark, along with some leg cramps. Taking over 15 minutes to find the cp in a marsh allowed lots more teams to catch up, and I saw Bash just as I was leaving.

The rest of the bike nav went better than that, but I started to get more leg cramps and nausea, so it was a bit of a sufferfest. Couldn't get food down, but I had a Tums and e-caps. I saw Bash again a few more times as her more precise nav kept gaining a few minutes here and there, and she was riding well. My map board was misbehaving, but my special reading contacts and reading sunglasses worked OK.

At one point I had to get off the bike doubled over with cramps and tried to stretch it out and eat some cheese, which seemed to help.

The second trek section's nav went fine, but I still felt off. I moved up to third place there, but needed time to drink and take more food, tums and e-caps, so 3 teams left before me. We leapfrogged a bit on the final bike leg, but I was just running on the edge of heavy leg cramps and/or puking and they got a few minutes on me at the end.

Logie dominated, with a 35 minute lead over C-Spence's team in 2nd! Unfortunately I think Rob Miller DNF'ed with injury.

I finished about 6 minutes behind second place, 6th overall I think. I was second solo, and Bash was 5 minutes behind me, 3rd solo, looking fresh as a daisy! I almost had to wear the "My Wife Beats Me" shirt.

Even if I felt good I wouldn't have caught Logie, but with less dumb nav errors 2nd overall would have been feasible. Happy with my run and paddle, but I need to get more race-pace road biking in for sure.

As always, Sean's race runs like a Swiss watch. Fun day out, even if it was a sufferfest for me.

C • Wife beats me 4

Bike to work with bullet dog, her first ride since her minor surgery. She was completely full of beans. Maybe too much for her, so Bash had to pick her up by car and I rode home by myself.

Easy taper ride for Storm. Tough competition in the Trek Elite Solo Masters this year.

C • Tough Competition 5

Home gym workout 1, foot/kneehab, KB plus push-ups plus pull downs.

Noted that in lunges my lower core/ upper groin is still sore from a week and a half ago. Something to do with full extension when running with good form at a decent clip.

Note- this was dictated to my AttackPad.

Easy ride in with BZdog. He's so good with the bike.

*just* squeaked in between rain/ thunderstorms.

Bit soggy for my commute home BZdog. Not quite pitch dark before we got home.

Quick run to work with a remarkably well behaved Bazingadog. Slack leash!
Much better when he's not chasing a pack.

Solid run with BZdog. Extra Chalevoix hilly loop.

To work via short route then home via pond hill.
Knee is a touch sore, but my quads are really feeling the downhill braking behind BZdog Sunday.

OK, this is the best POV video ever. George Lucas has nothing on this one!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-_RHRAzUHM

Quick paddle on Island Lake. First time in the kayak this year.
Can't get my little sea kayak to cruise above 9kph without wrestling a moose, technique-wise.

Full on sprint bushwhack in Relax shoes and shorts after Bazingadog opened the door and escaped with his seatbelt harness on. He gave me the Armstrong Look and took off across the hills through the thick bush. Almost got him a few times but he gave me the doggy finger and took off again, then he finally came back to me. #@$%- missed his pre-run play date with Bunk.

Out with the SS gang + Harps, Hermes and G-stix. Bazingadog, Bunk and Kona's debuts. Bunk and BZdog get along perfectly, and we all carpooled from Oakville.

Even with his earlier exploits, BZdog hauled me like a machine for the first 10K unless we were out front, and had me doing 3:20 kms if I stopped to tie my shoe. So much for my plan to take it easy. It was really hard on my knee trying to brake him on the downhills, but he was better once we tired him out a bit.

Trav traded shoes for bike and chased us on the second half, when it was just the SS crew, BZ and Trix at a quicker pace. The fluffy dogs were feeling the heat more, so they went back the short route with the others.
BZdog and I were both lagging a bit on the final hill, but the big guy did well on his first long run at a respectable pace. I sure look forward to when/if he can go off leash.

Ride down to Albion and around with Phats and Coach LD. Great day and a nice ride. Doubletrack was pretty sodden in spots, but the singletrack was dry.

The Phats is Phast! He schooled me on singletrack.

Best part- he insisted on doing the Green Monster- I'll let him write how that went down.

C • What! 2

Foot/kneehab, workout 3 + KBs and a little core too. 11-8-7 pull-ups.

Set up the Omega 'Bent for road riding with a rigid fork and skinny tires.
Nice little pootle around the quiet paved estate subdivisions near Palgrave.

Torrential rain and biblical thunderstorms meant only a spin in the basement watching the Flying Scotsman- until the sat went out.

C • Flying Scotsman 4

Foot/kneehab, pushups/pullups, home gym workout 2 + KB.

Interval training- 1km speed interval fail.

Bazingadog was just nuts when he saw me getting ready, barking frantically until my ears rang, beating up Mocha, etc.

He was impossible for the first part of the run, wrapping leash around my legs or behind trees, slamming on the brakes- what happened to yesterday's heroic biking dog?

GPS signal kept going in and out, and the 1KM intervals felt really hard. I finally just decided to do 4.5 min hard, 4 min easy as the GPS wasn't tracking distance. BZdog finally settled in on the last few km.

I think if I want to do this right I need to ditch the dog and the heavy work backpack.

Download later on.

C • Ditching 3

Ride in with the Bazingadog on leash. We had the ultimate test- 4 deer ran in front of us and down the trail ahead before turning off. BZdog hauled a bit, but unbelievably he didn't drag me off into the bush on my face still clipped into the bike. He was pretty happy going 25-30kph along down the trail, and we both survived.

Rode back via the blue loop and 2 swims for the big guy. Only 1 suicidal rabbit on the return trip.

C • impressive 3