Training Log Archive: 'Bent

1hr 40 min Spike Hike commute with AD.

Bash showed me some foam roller tricks for my calf that may be related to the heel- I had no idea it was that sore and beat-up!
Heel seems to feel a bit better after doing that and using a Strassbourg sock for weeks.

Going to give it a week off- it's been bad since August, and ski season didn't heal it.

Norway 2015- the movie.
Birkibeiner is the last part.

C • Great movie! 10

Sigh. Spinning, + heelhab.

Gasp! Back on the trainer on a sunny day- it looks like cycling is heel-friendly.

Nice run with Bash and the intrepid Advturedog in Hockley. Nice cold bluebird day.

Trails were about 80% glare ice. Katoolahs were fine for most of it, but some downhills were dicey. One uphill was so bad I had to carry AD, as the poor guy was sliding back down. Otherwise he proved remarkably agile, and stuck right behind me the whole way.

I stopped after Hockley because of my %#*€ heel, while Bash ran home from the Dingle.

C • Sounds like AD is a trail r... 2

Clatter to work on microspikes, with some speedy bits in there. No pooch as we're heading downtown after.

Spike run with the big guy. Softer ice on the way home at least.

Workout 1 + foot/kneehab and kb.

Run in with Adventuredog. Even more ice than yesterday, spikes mandatory.

Easy pole jog to work with Katoolas and BZdog.
Trails are about 60% snow, 10%muck and 30% glare ice. On one hill poles and spikes were barely adequate.

C • Spikes 1

Birkebeiner race.
Bash and I had been looking forward to this one, but the weather has been warm and slushy here all week. Luckily race day was perfect, -5 to -10c, clear skies, moderate wind.
We were nervous about waxing with complex recommendations all week, but the official wax recommendation was simpler today. We forked out to get the pros to do HF glide wax, base binder and some kick wax, and I followed the recommendation for more kick wax.
It was a 2hr drive to the start, and a bit chaotic to find the bag drop, washroom and wax testing track amongst 13000 skiers milling around, all before finding our start waves. I was in wave 11/26 and by the time I got there I was in the back of the pack, which was fine with me. There must have been 20 tracks groomed in.

The course looks like 2 camel humps. My plan was to take it easy on the first big climbs, and all went well. Good grip, and it was a pleasure to be surrounded by skiers who can ski instead of walking uphills and blocking the tracks. I could stride up almost everything, and found myself moving up a bit in my wave.

Once at the top, it was double-pole all the flats, and I found it hard work. I understood better once we got to a long fast downhill, and folks were scooting past me left and right- my skis were grippy but not the best gliders.



I felt strong on the climbs, and would catch the back of wave 10 on the uphills, only to move back on the flats a bit and be caught by the front of 12 on the downhills. On one downhill I ran over one of the many discarded gel packs and that ski lost all glide for a bit, which almost crashed me.

I took my time to get drinks at all the aid stations, even though my mandatory 3.5kg pack had 2 thermoses of water and some food.

The skiing up top was fantastic- razor crisp tracks, usually 8 lanes, never less than 4. There were even special lanes for the M70 F65+ skiers, who get a head start. I saw quite a few of them cooking along pretty well.

I felt really strong on the second climbing section, and passed tons of skiers.



The last 15k was a net downhill, and we'd been warned it was steep luge runs followed by long semi-flats. The steep bits were a bit dicey, with ice in the middle and some pretty sharp turns at high speed. Once again, my skis were slow, and hotshots would rocket by at unnerving speed, probably on juiced skis. On the long flats and gradual downhills it was all double poling again, and the whole pack seemed to be passing me, including most of the folks I passed on the climbs. I'm normally a pretty strong double poler, but the skis were a bit pokey. Oh well... maybe more experienced racers knew to wax more for glide near the end.

As we approached the stadium I remembered to look for my Canadian flag. I stepped aside the sprinting skiers, de-gloved and fumbled in pockets without finding it. I was surprised to see that it was just 4:02 on the clock- I wasn't really watching it but knew I was below 14kph up top, and was expecting about half an hour longer.
The winner was under 2:20! My age group winner was 2:40!!

I felt fine other than my sore heel, as I hadn't been killing myself out there, just had a fantastic day's ski.
Post-race food and drink wasn't great for a lactose-intolerant vegetarian- chocolate milk and pork soup. Oh well, found an apple and a bag of chips but only 1 glass of water or other drink. Luckily I had my ballast thermoses. It was hugely crowded, but organized, and we shuttled back to the Olympic stadium.

Pretty amazing event. They even had a ski check, like a coat check for 26000 skis, and a huge bag pickup. I met Cristina and Bash, who both had good skis too.

If you ski, I'd highly recommend it as a fantastic ski race experience.

C • NICE! 26

Ski around Sjøsjønen, including a bit of the Birken course backwards.
Many more skiers than yesterday, including a few really fast ones in racing suits. One woman went by like a rocket, faster than the guys.
Once off the Birken route it was pretty quiet, back to the tourists mostly. Very scenic, and different from the areas we've seen.

Time to rest now. I've been doing a lot of poling to save my heel.

Different area today- we drove to Skei, then took the lift up above tree line.
Amazing terrain up there- wide open bowls, bluebird sky, spring conditions. Crust-cruising would be unlimited. We used the waxless skis again as we weren't sure what we'd find.

Spent a lot of time taking photos and video. Once out of the amazing mountain and bowl terrain the way around the mountain was on access road for a fair bit, but the descent into Skei was spectacular. Should be some good footage for a video.

Probably more than we should be doing- my heel's not happy but I am.
We barely scratched the surface of the groomed trails in the area.

Ski around Nordseter and area.
Bash and I tried various waxes before waving the white flag and klistering up the skis. It worked well on old snow at 0c, with lots of grip and decent glide after a little while.
We did a big loop around the area- mostly wide open lake and hill terrain, with long gradual climbs and descents that went well.

We made it to a nice hotel that serves waffles for lunch, then a long roundabout way home. The last 10k were completely different terrain, with steep climbs and descents, including the Lunkefjell summit.

Not bad for a taper week!

C • Waffles for lunch 2

C • klister 2

Ski around Nordseter with Bash. Hundreds of km of perfect groomed trail. Crowns worked well on old snow with a bit of ice.

Weight room in the hotel. Strength & foot/kneehab

Much faster and easier run on frozen lumpy crust. Also quicker sans pooch I am sorry to admit.

Still not too mushy on the way home. Lake Reddington had melted and drained a bit, and I was able to avoid the deep part.

Workout 1, foothab, kneehab.

Time to raise the white flag on the skis. BZdog and I snowshoed in on a gorgeous sunny spring day.

Note to self- Altras and Tubbs snowshoes are a PITA combination. About 20 adjustments needed.

Side trails were like mashed potatoes, hard packed main trails not too bad, crossing a parking lot I discovered it's a shin-deep lake of watery slush. Lovely. The beast was postholing up to his chest in the open fields too.

Spring commuting conditions with BZdog
Crusty in spots on the way in, soft and dirty snow on the way back.
Skis worked better, but still a slog in open fields where the big guy postholed deeply.

Easy recovery day commute with AD. He was so good he didn't leave my ski tails for a flock of turkeys right on the trail in front of us.
Snow was a bit icy on the way in, mashed potatoes in sections on the return trip. Will try warmer glide wax.

C • AD 3

O cup Eliminator Brock

Interesting conditions with deep sugar snow off trails.
First map I had chosen the same route as Hammer, and I could only pass him briefly on the road before he leapfrogged back with more efficient nav. Bash was waiting at the end of the first course.
Second map was more or less the same story, but he dropped me in the last off-trail section. I still made top 10, and on the final map I decided to take my own route in the box (More trail, less pow) while everyone else went a different way. I ended up finishing the box behind Hammer yet again, and less efficient nav on campus put me in 8th. Good series of courses.

Heel sore after, but good lunch with Funderstorm and Bash helped.

Proud to see Bash win o-cup series female.

Another good ski at Highlands.
Did everything once, then repeated but skipped Millenium and Woolner. I had good grip with Toko dark red, but less glide than last week and was definitely slower.

Bazingadog's belated birthday snowshoe. Bash and I let him navigate, break trail and pull me over hill, dale and swamp after excellent deer tracks. His little bro trotted in our tracks. Lots of cool bushwhacking!

The big boy was tired out by the end, and headed straight for his bed by the fire, before I fire up the BBQ for steaks for the rest of the fam and grilled veggies for me.

C • Nice 2

Off to Palgrave East, and around much of the red and blue loops. Too crusty beside the river though, so I avoided that area, but another great ski out the door.

Nice brisk commute at -20 with a gently trotting BZdog. I think he's saying he's not pulling unless he has someone else to chase.
Just as laid back on the return trip.

Argghn- Caron was wearing the dreaded Orange outfit, code for misery to come. I think BGY peeked in the window and ran home whimpering.

Luckily it was just Tabata on exercises that I found fairly easy, so double-timed some of them to really work hard. No groin-splitters.

Hardest version of the poses we usually do. Most went OK except anything seated with legs wide apart.

Foot/kneehab, workout 3, lumberjack stuff and shovelling snow.
No ski- 2 dog work day, and that's just too much to manage on the way home.

Commute with a leisurely BZdog. Now that he's 4 he's just strolling along.
Easy ski home in the drizzle and ice pellets.

First ski to work with Adventuredog. He had the full pooch test- 2 deer ran across the trail in front of us. His hackles went up and looked like he was ready to take off, but he stopped and returned immediately when I called him. Passed with flying colours! Sadly, I think his big bro would still fail.

He was nervous around the road as cars went by, but otherwise fine even meeting 3 border collies.

Note- a bit tired this morning.

Nice ski home with the well-behaved little guy. He's a bit nervous on the sidewalk as cars go by, but maybe that's a good thing.

C • How is he doing? 2

Good solid ski at Highlands. Shockingly warm- got up to -3!
Conditions were fast but not much grip. I thought I was flying, passing people left and right, but actually only about 2kph faster than Gatineau- guess I lost time herringboning the uphills, unlike my magic uphill running wax at Gat.