Training Log Archive: 'Bent

Out for a run down Duffys lane into Palgrave East pond, then took a look at my commute (trees blocking the West end) and back.

Nice snowshoe with Bash and Bazingadog out in the open areas of Albion.
Can't wait to try the trails once it's safe.

Actually an awesome time playing hockey on VO2max's family pond, with a nice dinner and a bonfire.

The "bad" relates to my skills- you'd think that with a 44 year taper from the last time I played I'd be better playing in the dark by headlamp. Even Goose's magic wasn't sufficient to overcome my shortcomings.

Out surveying the trails with Bash, and I man-handled a big load of logs home by sled. Easy going on the downhills, except that it kept escaping off into the bush throwing all the logs off.

First part of my commute is obliterated. Not sure of the rest yet.

Power is back out again.
It's thawing out and ice chunks are falling like snowflakes.

C • Falling like anvils 4

Nice ski with Coach LD and Bash at Mansfield.
Melting ice and soft snow made for a waxless day. Lots of branches and stuff down, but still good skiing for us, all things considered. Nice and quick at times.

Terrible day for numerous beginners who provided many obstacles on the downhills.

Woo hoo, now we have power we can head out to Highlands. Perfect Classic conditions, perfect skis, magical snow-covered forest, did everything once but my knee asked me not to go out again.

Came back home late last night to power! Refilled the plumbing, ran the dishwasher, but it's out again today. Sigh.

C • Power! 2

New study showing meniscus surgery may not be better than placebo for arthritic knees, but still helps for athletic tears.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/26/health/common-kn...

C • Placebo 2

Still no power, and woods unsafe so I did foothab, kneehab, workout 2 and KBs while listening to Wiretap podcasts. We kept the house warm enough burning wood, and are managing without running water.

C • Wiretap 3

Still no power here today.
Palgrave came on intermittently after 8:40am so Bash drove me in, I had a shower and saw a few patients. The forest is impenetrable on our trail due to a jumble of bent-over frozen branches and saplings, so no hauling logs out today. It'll be a death trap if the wind comes up too.

The big stuff on our lawn (large tree chunks) are iced-in solid.

Iced in again, and too dangerous to go out and fetch wood from the bush. No power either. Oh well, lots of firewood at home.

Ice Storm day, so Foothab, kneehab, workout 1 with kbs and extra core.

Also hauled some big logs to the fire pit, split and fetched a load for the house, and dragged 2 more loads out of the bush by snowshoe.

UTMB application in...
Plan for this year is to take longer breaks or naps when nauseated, and give 'er when I feel OK on descents etc.

C • Sweeeeet! 3

Snowshoe-mandatory run home in the ice and freezing rain with Bazingadog.

Snowshoe-mandatory run home in the ice and freezing rain with Bazingadog.

Bazingadog and I are both doing better. Perfect fluffy conditions, but I needed to go in to work to de-virus the computer so not a long ski.

Nice late night ski home. BZdog's paw is finally getting better.

Another easy commute. Beautiful out, but left the dogs at home as it's too much hassle to set them up for -17 commute in the dark.
Legs and knee feeling a bit better, but still tired.

Slow and easy recovery ski commute.
Bazingadog was even slower on the way there- either still sore foot or humiliated to be wearing boots and a coat at -23c.
The way home was in gorgeous moonlight and -15 -it doesn't get much nicer.
Knee is sore.

Lookout Mountain Ultra

Lookout Mountain 50 miler- pics on Bash's log.

The whole CCC gang came down for this one- Tiny, MsGally and WandAR.
Bash and Dee did the 10k and supported us.
Started at dawn in dumping rain, 3c and fog. Good chance to use the ultralight goretex jacket, waterproof stretchy tights and hat I'd take to UTMB, which were perfect.
Started conservatively at the back of the pack and they moved slowly on rough rocky ground, but I put the hammer down on a long downhill and was alone shortly. Caught up with the CCCers after around 90 min, and moved ahead on the downhills, taking the climbs very easy. Deployed poles for the main uphill back up the mountain back to the start, where Dee and Bash were a sight for sore eyes, especially with hot soy decaf. I was feeling great, and ahead of estimates. The second half was less hilly but more technical, with some Costa-rica-worthy muck, and some sloppy Singletrack by the river. Luckily the rain let up, but there was still thick fog on most of the course.

Had some gut cramps around 5 hrs but a trip to the bushes seemed to help. I was a bit rough when I met Bash at the start of the final loop, with stomach and knee not great, but took my time to eat fruit cups and refill Spiz. Also had some ginger on the trail. Felt a bit better by the time I passed this CP again, after a loop on excellent trail, and Tiny shot by me about 60k in. I scored an Advil for my sore knee from a friendly American around 8 hrs, and felt a lot better. Poles were awesome, but I was the only one using them.

Finished in 9:49 (still in daylight) which I was very happy with given the nasty conditions. 2nd in my age group and a solid PB. Tiny had a massive 9:22PB. MsGally had a good race even with nav problems, and WandAR also finished well, so we all got our UTMB points.

Huge props to Bash and Dee for the support.

C • Congrats! 23

A little ski with a surprisingly subdued Bazingadog. Not sure if he's still chagrined or sore, but I needed to tire him out a bit.

Nice snowy run with Bazingadog. The filling holding his nail together is working well now. Moonlit crisp run home- not quite enough snow to ski.

C • Lookout Mountain 6

Ok, officially the craziest stuff I've seen on a road bike. (Sorry, can't embed from the Attackpad)

Watch the bloopers at the end too.

http://youtu.be/HhabgvIIXik

Note- sadly Martyn Ashton broke his back doing this kind of riding, so he needed to enlist his friends to finish the film as he's in a wheelchair now.

C • Crazy! 5

Foothab kneehab, most of workout 3

Run to work with a frisky Bulletdog. Hauled a load of wood out of the bush on the way back.

Good solid session hauling massive logs and splitting some tough ones.

C • Remember to leave some for ... 4

O-cup #2.
Gut wasn't great after yesterday's run, so dressed for walking and decided to only run the dowhills, jog/hike the flats and walk the uphills.
Made for somewhat better navigation at least.

Felt good on the last 1/2k on the golf course, where it looks like I did 3:40/km. My legs were fresh after all the walking.

Nice day to be out, despite my burps and other gut issues every time I worked a bit.

Home gym workout 2 +kbs and kneehab.

From home to Glen Haffy, with a bonus Dingle hill and some other extras.
Good footing until Glen Haffy proper, which was icy and treacherous in spots so I got out the poles.
Gut is getting better...

Started drugs and am feeling better.

C • Good to hear! 13

Run with the recovering Bazingadog. Still limping a bit from a torn claw, so he had a bootie on. Ran back on green grass!

Full foot/kneehab. Also upgraded one of the original Bentblasters from too-wide-beam to ideal-for-running with a new triple XPG-2.

Snowcross-mandatory run in Palgrave East on the singletrack, and back to work with Bulletdog.

Still getting stomach cramps- I think I have a low dose of Belizian Giardia.

My buddy Ray is trying to outdo me with off-road 'benting.

Here's his first attempt at an AWD bike.

From Attackpoint

C • AWD 4

Easy night slush-slosh home with Bulletdog inspecting every bush.

Bah- no commute run- I had to chauffeur the lame Bazingadog to work as Bash was going to be out, and the doofus is still too sore to run.

Foothab, kneehab and part of workout 1 after work.

Foot/ kneehab. Still feeling queasy so I bailed on skiing with Goose.
Moved a bit of firewood with the new heftier toboggan.

C • The Logging that you Logged 8

(75 min) We took the dogs to the fenced property, where Bazingadog got good and tired, and was really well behaved. So well behaved that Bash and I decided to try him off leash in our yard, just out to the shed and back.

Despite his contentment, tiredness and his favourite squeaky fetch-ball I was tossing, he took a look over his shoulder, and blasted off like a rocket.

After 15 minutes of running around calling and blowing a fox-40 whistle, I went back for my skis to try and find the bugger. I found his tracks heading into the bush after deer, and had to ditch the skis and deploy my inner Man-tracker (dog-tracker) trying to tell his tracks from all the deer, coyotes etc. while Bash headed to the road after loading our yard with dog treats. She also called various neighbours. After a pretty fruitless further hour of tracking, I got a call that he'd just shown up at home.

Ingrate! @#%@!! Probably another year on- leash for him dragging me around. @#%.

Glad to have him back, but I'm mighty pissed after all the work trying to train him to return this year. He's just playing us. What is wrong with this guy?

C • He got you! 9