Training Log Archive: 'Bent

Real-man version of what to do if you encounter a car blocking the bike lane-
As opposed to wuss dentists who shoot lions for trophies:

http://youtu.be/luNGjffDjCs

C • And he is so cool and calm about it 5

Great run North through Haffy with BGY and the Ultradogs AD and Quinn.
5 swims for the dogs, and one for the humans after in BGY's pool, along with coffee and waffles provided by the fabulous Manisa. Life is good!
Quinn showed Logan the adventuredog how to swim in a pool, but he's still the diving king.

C • Run Swim Dine 2

Another dogless commute via singletrack.

Took the sick-of-being-sedentary-due-to-heat dogs for a rocket ride to the wheelie's pond for a nice swim. Even in the cool early morning the FDFs were astoundingly fierce. Hounds were more subdued on the return trip.

C • A-Dog... 3

Workout 1 + foothab, kneehab and KBs.

Dogless commute on another hot day - needed headlamps for the ride home.

Too hot for dogs again. Great cool morning ride through the Charlevoix and more singletrack to work, but just an easy jaunt back in the FDFs and air quality advisory.

Too hot for dogs, so singletrack to work and back.

Bus, 2 funiculars and a cable car to Piz Nair, then a hike down. Hoped to rent Trottibikes for the descent but an impending storm meant a windy cablecar back down.

Rented bikes and rode down the valley through the forest trails to St Moritz, then found our way along the spectacular chain of lakes between the mountains, 90% on trails.

Bikes were decent Scott 29ers and I had shorts and jersey, but only platform pedals and running shoes. We stopped 3x for coffee or lunch in different picturesque cafes in little villages, rode mostly doubletrack and some more technical bits in the forest.

There are over 500km of dedicated MTB trails here.
Naturally we could hang our bikes on the post bus then toss them on the train to return. So many possibilities, if only my neck could stand a non-recumbent. I was sore by the end but it was worth it- I have been so jealous of all the cyclists we've seen.

Train up to the Bernina pass, then cable car up to see the Piz Bernina glacier. Wow! We hiked up a minor peak- sunny and calm up top, and incredible.

Train down to St Moritz to check out the sailing on the lake- major whitecaps, so pretty cool to watch- then bus back to Potresina, to catch the end of the Tour then a very fancy dinner.

Nice pic from the race:

C • Looking good - thought you ... 17

Pics on Bash's log.
Another gorgeous day, so cable car up, hiked around alpine scenery and lake, high atlitutde cake and coffee, then funicular back down. We went furher than we thought we would, with some -gasp- off trail walking.

Great trip across Switzerland via 6 trains. This one was the best:

http://www.myswitzerland.com/en-ca/video/index.cfm...

C • Trains 3

Nice hike to the peak of Mannlichen. Took the longest cable car in Europe to get to the ridge first. Pics on Bash's log.

Eiger Ultra 51

Eiger Ultra- had a very enjoyable and scenic race.

The plan was to take it easy and controlled on the climbs, and try and feel good the whole race.

Got to the start by 5:25am, with plenty of time.


Weather was good, and I deliberately got further back in the pack and followed folks climbing slower than I would choose. The first big climb out of Grindelwald felt easy


Jingling cows and beautiful Swiss chalet for aid station at Grosse Scheidegg


Sun came up


Very nice lake we passed:


Steep technical ascent in places




Next stop Faulhorn, high point of the race at 2650m. Note the building on top.


Feeling good and ahead of schedule, even with an easy pace.


Next step- technical descent then long rolling section to Schynge Platte aid stn.


Man, the Swiss sure can put a restaurant in amazing places!


I thought my stomach might be starting to act up, but just had to use the wc at Schynge Platte aid station farm(No clean porta-potty- possibly the stinkiest farm outhouse since Nepal due to the cow muck all around) I was able to eat a couple of orange slices- so good.

I felt better and could run a fair bit on the descent to Berglauen deep in the valley. There was a nasty big steep ascent in the middle I wasn't expecting, and I found that hard. Luckily lots of streams and pipes with clean water to dunk in to stay cool.
I was actually hungry at Berglauen and had a slice of orange, a tiny cup of coke and a bit of watermelon.
Last 7 k were easier uphill back to the start. My stomach was maybe 6/10, and I could run and pass folks. 1/2k from the finish it went to 0/10, and many concerned folks passed me as I dry heaved. Luckily for once I recovered a bit and hiked the steep hill up to town. I was able to run in to the finish, and even drink a beer after a break.



164th overall, 11th in my category out of 92. I lost 2 places due to stomach issues but I'd have to rate this as a success- I enjoyed 50.5 km of it, and the scenery was beyond compare. I lilked racing as a tourist, stopping to take pictures and not hammering too hard. Maybe I need to keep the hard racing to under 3 hours, and take it easy on longer ones.

C • Awesome!! 27

Nice run around Grindelwald to shake the legs out. Felt good on the downhill, found a cool shady trail by an icy creek, then back up to town in the sweltering heat.

Earlier we went up to First by cable car to check out the aid stations and the race high point. In this pic you can see the start down to the left and the peak of the Faulhorn up to the right at 2650m.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=9856096214...

C • Gorgeous 1

Temps in the mid 30s had us heading for the hills, this time via steam train up the Brienzer Rothorn. We did a little hiking up there on the ridge trail, then chugged back down and returned to town by steamboat.
Excellent dinner in the Old Town, and we caught the last bit of the Tour on TV.
Pics on Bash's log.

Hike around Jungfrauhoch at 3500m in the snow.
Not sure if it will help when running up to 2600m on the race course, but it was very scenic. Pics on Bash's log.

C • Pretty nice altitude training :-) 1

Toured around the Interlaken area and up to check out the race course vista- Train, boat,train,train, cog railway, cog railway, train, train. No connection longer than 6 min. Transit runs like a Swiss watch.

See Bash's log for pics.

C • Good luck 11

Quick ride in with AD. Nice to be able to do singletrack, as he's off-leash.

Easy ride in with the big guy.

Nice run with little AD. Did many of Sheldon Persad's drills en route. Got back before full dark too.

Foot, knee, heelhab and part of workout 3. Losing my ability to do pull-ups as I'm doing more rehab.

Dogless commute on a hot day.

Nice quick run with STORM, after his first loop thankfully softened him up a bit.
We did all the main and side trails on Hockley Prov park (NW section of loop).
Decent pace, and had fun on the downhills. On the last couple of climbs I felt a bit winded, just as the temps and humidity climbed. HRM agreed.

Back at the parking lot we took the STORMobile to 5th line and did all the side trails up the pinnacles.

Nice brunch afterwards at the Black Birch.

Took the dogs to the big fenced property, and yet again the deer was there. They all blasted off, and shortly after a fawn ran past me the other way.
Next the doe ran by with BZdog.

I get it now- the doe gave birth inside the fenced area, which is at least coyote-free. She's leading the dogs away from jr., who can't jump the fence.

The big guy gets too excited, and ran and swam himself to joyous exhaustion. Now his leg is sore and he's wiped out. AD's pretty pooped too.

Lots of foot and kneehab, and part of workout 1 + hauled a load of wood.

Great ride down for le Tour de Albion.
I was riding pretty well, but got passed by some fast groups. Other than that I pretty much had the place to myself, on a perfect bluebird day with ideal trail conditions. I skipped one section that would be muddy, and another short bit with luxuriant poison ivy this time of year, but rode almost everything else.

Paddling Pine Lake with Bash from her brother's place.
Great little day trip, some true Canadian Shield.
Solid headwind out, but an easy ride back on a perfect day.

GPS track http://www.ar.attackpoint.org/sessiondata.jsp?sess...
Pics on Bash's log.

C • Saw the pic's 2

Nice paddle around the C3 quarry, as others did SUP or swimming races.

Great Hockley run with Gally. We cruised along at a good clip counter-clockwise- foggy at first then clear, and the forest was super-lush.
I wasn't watching the time or HR much, but on the last hill Gally said that we might break 2:40 if we can get to the car in 3 minutes.

Gally's amazing- he's pretty much ready for the Eiger 50K without doing hill or long distance training.

This might be a PB on this full loop. We did 2:30 once on the easier version from 4th line, and 2:49 once with BGY including the technical NW part we skipped this time.

C • Fun run 4