Yesterday and Today and 7K!

Behind those trees, "The Steps"!

      Yesterday, Sunday, I had a little bit of free time in the afternoon and really wanted to get out there for a run. Hopefully, I would be able to get 7K in the books, in an effort to continue upping the mileage. What I did, though, was fritter away a large chunk of the day doing pretty well non-stuff and then, by the time I finally gathered myself up to run, the sun was perilously low in the sky. It was still very bright though and bright sunshine is not something we've seen a lot of lately here in London, Ontario so I headed out anyway. I drove to the Oxford Street bridge, near the entrance to Kains Woods, and parked on the bridge (there is room for this). From there it was up the hill and into the woods and off I went!
   I can't honestly say the legs felt all that good, however, and the more I ran the more I had an opportunity to do the math in my head wherein I calculate the length of time I need to get in 7K versus the actual amount of sunlight I had to work with. The math really wasn't working in my favour and the very last thing I wanted to be doing was running through a forest in the dark. Not to mention the "coyotes at dusk" warnings posted at pretty well all of London's forested areas. So I cut things short, ran about half a kilometer, and the hiked the rest of the way, all in all about 4K. No big deal.

This is the top of what 230 pounds
of Brian Baker looks like!

    Today, Monday, I had the day off and, after a little bit of work stuff first thing, I was able to head out with lots of daylight at my command. I headed for Komoka Provincial Park and left my car at the easternmost end of it. I usually walk the first half kilometer to get warmed up but I took a couple of extra minutes when I got into the forest and did some stretching. I then started to run. Slowly. As usual.
   It was about 4 or 5 degrees Celsius today with no precipitation and a good deal of sunshine left over from yesterday. Pretty awesome for running! There were a couple of muddy sections due to recent rain and a little bit of snow but these were minimal and un-deterring.
   I'm out of shape. Today I was propelling almost 230 pounds of Brian Baker through the forest and that just ain't right and shouldn't be. For a variety of reasons, I have had huge meals lately (and often) and I have done a terrible job of showing any restraint. I hopped on (gingerly) the scales last night and by the time the digital readout had done its thing, I was weighing in at 229.5. It's been ages since I've weighed that much and my jaw just kinda dropped. Okay, time to get back to work. The only good thing about weighing that much is that I can get it off pretty quick if I'm a little more conscientious. This, however, only usually gets me back down to about 224 and there is truly so much further to go! Perhaps that gym membership I've never used....

The mighty Thames!

   The run today was fairly uneventful. Passed a few people enjoying the park, which is always kinda nice. In aiming for 7K, the plan today was to run for 4, turn around (you almost have to turn around, the park's only 4K long), and then run another 3, on the way back. This was over almost before I knew it and I then hiked another kilometer to get back to my car.
   A weird thing happened when I got into my car. As I was lowering myself into the driver's seat, all of the sudden I started to get a muscle spasm on the outside of my right calf and shin. It was quite uncomfortable and I hopped out of the car as fast as I could (not very fast) to get the leg back into a comfortable position. As I was standing beside my car, I lifted my leg off the ground and my foot started to rotate to the right, all of its own volition. A very strange thing to feel and watch---my muscles making my feet do things I hadn't asked them to do! I plopped the foot back down on the ground, stood on it and then walked around til it felt as though I could get back in the car and drive. By the time I got back home, it was more or less back to normal. I put the whole episode down to perhaps having over-exerted my lower legs with the uneven trail I'd just been on for the last almost two hours. Will keep an eye on it for next time!
   Last week I bought a combination lock. This was my radical first step toward getting back (it's been years) to the gym once more. This week, I'm actually going. The scary part is, I just told you I was going.....
   
   
   

Kinda Two Blog Posts In One

   I got out and ran on a road last weekend for probably the first time in two months. In the meantime, I've spent a fair amount of time on nearby trails but this always turns out to be a pretty time-consuming endeavour and today I had the will but just not the time.
   For comparison's sake, I ran the same 5K route in the neighbourhood I usually do. I was a little worried that the legs wouldn't be up to it, not having done this kind of running in awhile, but they held up just fine. Didn't try to run fast, just wanted to be tired when I was done and this certainly was accomplished.
   About a third of the way through, it occurred to me that I'd forgotten my phone and this gave me cause for concern---my phone always seems to act like a safety net for me, should anything untoward happen, and I feel a little naked without it. I guess the fact that I was running along busy streets made it seem pretty safe. Unfortunately, it also meant no pics.
   Took a couple of very brief walking breaks and ended up getting it done in slightly over 43 minutes. This , of course, is really slow and I know it, for sure. At the same time, I'm almost 64 and I weigh 226 pounds. At one point today, I was passed by a young girl who looked as though she might have weighed maybe 116. I realize that all things are relative but I wonder if she would have passed me if she'd been carrying her 100 pound brother on her back! And for those of you out there who weigh substantially less than 226 (almost all of you), please take a minute and imagine running with a knapsack weighing whatever the weight differential is between yours and mine and (just for the fun if it!) maybe toss in the age difference at the same time. Then, let's go running together!
   Of course, the above is all sorta bullshit and we all know it but it is a bit of a mental game I play with myself when I occasionally get a little down about my running times. It enables me to tell myself I'm actually doing fine and at the same time it kind of reminds me about how fast I could be running if I maybe lost 30 pounds!
   
    Now, this weekend, I opted for something a little different. I decided to head to the nearby high school track and run some laps. We've had snow here in London but it was just a little and soon it was gone again so it was quite possible to run on a track outdoors in early December and that's a little unheard of in these parts. There's a Catholic high school called St. Thomas Aquinas less than 5 minutes from where I live and so I headed there. The high school I went to, Oakridge, is less than a minute further up the road but the whole track area there is cordoned off due to re-sodding (I think) this past summer.

The first straightaway

This was all very "last minute"
so no spectators!

   I had no real plan for this apart from running about 5K on a track. As well, part of my reasoning for wanting to visit a track was that lately I've been toying with the idea of becoming involved in the sprinting part of running and I wanted to be somewhere where you felt a little more athletic. Somehow or other, being on a track with markings and stands kind of fits the bill.
   I started off by checking out the 100 meter track markings. I turned on the Garmin and started walking one of the lanes. I saw what looked like the finish line up ahead but, according to the Garmin, 100 meters came just short of it. When I stopped and looked down, however, there was  clearly a blue line drawn across all the lanes and I took this to be the 100 meter finish line. I looked back to the start and thought that's a long ways away to be running it in anywhere near 12 seconds or so which is the time I'd be aiming at being able to sprint some day, according to my age. I kind of tucked that thought away for the moment and started to run.

The football field, and , way off
in the distance, the trees of
Kains Woods, one of my
fave places to trail run!

St. Thomas Aquinas. Known
around these parts as STA.

   I ran all the way to the far side of the track and came across the straightaway. I hadn't really planned doing anything differently there but I saw the lanes and this long, straight track with lane markings and I started to sprint! It wasn't a flat-out sprint but it was much faster than I would have run in any 5K race, unless perhaps I was trying to pass people at the end.
   When I reached the other end if the straightaway, I was exhausted and stopped to catch my breath. From there, I walked around that end of the track and came back to the original straightaway I'd started on. At this point I still had no real plan for this run but knew I was at least supposed to be running, so I started up again. Eventually, I made it back to the far side of the track and decided I would sprint down it again. And, once again, I was exhausted. I walked around that end if the track kind if gasping and muttering "holy" over and over again (with the odd "F" word interspliced) and then it occurred to me I was running on a Catholic school track and this sort of gave me the gasping giggles. 
   This, then, became my routine today---a mixture of walking, running, and sprinting. Finally, at about 4.5 K, I called it a day. It was a marvelous way to get in a little speedwork and being on a track will make any future workouts there fairly easy to change up. Why I waited until December to start using an outdoor track is a little beyond me but if this winter is anything like last winter it might actually be doable more often than not!      

Another Trail-running Weekend!

 It's the weekend so I decided I would try and get in another long(ish) run at Komoka Provincial Park!
   Hydration's been a bit of an issue this summer on my trail runs and while I have been looking at hydration vests they are still pretty low on the list of things I think I can spend money on right at the moment. What I did do was ask the boys if anyone had an old backpack they weren't using anymore (which they did) and I figured out a way of carrying extra water in it. Just took a large drinking bottle, filled it part way with water and then let it freeze. Just before I set out, I filled it to the top and discovered it fit very neatly on its side in the bottom of the knapsack. Found another little pocket for a small sandwich and then headed off!

Found a backpack to use but then
made the mistake of leaving it
on the table for too long! I also had
a pile of change stacked nicely---
wonder what happened to it...?

   Unfortunately, with all this extra prep, the one thing I forgot was my Garmin. If I'd been any farther away from home I would have just made do but seeing as how home was only 5 minutes away, I whipped back there and got it. After some preliminary strap-adjusting with the backpack, I was off.
   The park is big enough and I am new enough to it that there are still some portions of it which I have yet to explore. This was my goal yesterday. 
   Part of the attraction with Komoka is that many parts of it still seem pretty pristine and un-traveled. Obviously because there is a path you know that people have been there before but in many places I ran in yesterday the path was so overgrown that it was hard to imagine any regular traffic ever went through there. It was not an easy run!
   I started from the parking lot and headed west, toward the old parking lot. From there I continued west almost to the boundary of the park. Part of the issue I was having yesterday was that there were thunderstorms in the forecast and although I left in the sunshine by the time I got to the old parking lot and there was an opening big enough to see the horizon, there were some pretty ominous clouds not far off.
   I continued running toward the clouds (which didn't seem all that intelligent) until I was running on trails I was totally unfamiliar with. I wouldn't say I was lost exactly but as the trails are notoriously poorly marked I really wasn't sure if I was on the white one, blue one or orange one. Given the look of the sky and the forecast, I took whatever trail which looked like it was headed back to where I'd parked. Finally, I ended up back in familiar territory, amazingly to me, and I now have a slightly better understanding of that end of the park.
    The hydration angle worked out perfectly. I still wore my Fuel Belt armband bottle but every time it got empty I would just stop and refill it from the larger bottle in my backpack. A bit of a pain in the butt but way better than having to make trips back to my car or ration my water. 

A reminder that the seasons are changing

   The signage in the park is really starting to bother me, as far as knowing what trail you were on and where it headed. Even the online trail maps are inconsistent with one another. Some of the plastic trail blazes are so faded that it's actually hard to tell what colour they are. I suppose when it was a free park it seemed like only a small inconvenience but now that people are being charged for going there, it just doesn't seem right! I really am contemplating contacting the people in charge to see what perhaps could be done about it. I'm not even sure how you do a trail map but I would be more than happy to help out, if there's anything I can do.
   On a side note, it was not a particularly busy day in the park----I suspect the overcast conditions conditions and the weather prognosis had something to do with this. I did pass by a couple of other runners, however. One was a younger woman bounding along the pathway quickly. I really wanted to give her a fifty pound bag of cement to carry (giggle) and the other was a one-armed man (who I wanted to high-five but I couldn't...so we just nodded).

Ominous clouds but still a pretty pic!

   I'd been planning on running maybe 9K yesterday but the weather played a little part in changing my plans. It had started to rain at one point so I cut things short at 7. I was still exhausted however---so many hills and rough terrain! I do find that I'm really enjoying the trail running so much more than on the streets and am at the point where the prospect of running 5K in my neighbourhood is becoming less and less appealing. On top of everything else, other runners' blogs I follow just seem to make trail running seem so much more badass!

Longest Run Ever? And Hydration Issues!

   Okay, so yesterday I made sure the Garmin was properly charged and headed off yet again to Komoka Provincial Park. On my last run there I'd had a specific mileage goal but the Garmin crapped out on me mid-run, so I was not quite sure what my mileage was that day.

Every fifty feet or so, you could
take a pic like this!

   It's September now and, right on cue, the weather has turned a little cooler and a lot of the crushing humidity has disappeared. It was still a warm 24C when I set out but it was a much nicer run than any of them lately.
   Had to pay a little extra to park as I was planning on being out for about three hours this time around and you have to pay for either 2 hours or 4 hours, so, $7.50 later, I was on my way! (exorbitant, I know...)
   I was determined to explore a couple of new trails when I came across them and so I did. The main trail at Komoka is the White one and you can see most of the things you might want to by sticking on it. There is also the Blue trail and I set off on it when I found it. After being on it only a short time, I then came across the Orange trail branching off of it and decided that I would see where it took me. It was a fairly short little trail and all it did was take me back to a part of the Blue trail I'd already been on so I filed this away for future reference.
   

The old parking lot. Kinda sad but
some great memories!

The Blue trail ended up taking me back to the old parking lot we used to use before they implemented the new pay system. I don't really miss it as it was a mess of potholes. Yesterday, it just looked a little sad. I then headed back until the Blue hooked up again with the White and I just stayed on that for the rest of the afternoon. My goal was to exceed 5K on this run and I did that fairly early. My next goal was to make it to The Steps. The Steps consist of a winding set of wooden landings which take you down to the Thames River, enabling you to run more or less along the river for a ways. There are 60 steps in all (I counted) and they make for kind of a refreshing change in your run or hike. Depending on  where you are in your run or hike, they can also be a little daunting. I've been up and down them several times and had promised myself that one of these days I would run up them, thinking this would be way off in the future. Yesterday, though, I decided to run up them, likely because I knew I was near the end of the running portion of my afternoon and would be able to recover afterwards.

Cool tree just off the Blue trail. Has
obviously been a meeting area. as it
is covered with carved messages.

   Well, I didn't exactly bound up the steps but I did manage to get up them, running. I briefly thought I would need to just walk the last flight but knowing this would take away from the accomplishment I forced myself to finish the thing off. Thank Buddha there was a bench at the top or I likely would have fallen in a heap! I'm kind of glad that there were no other people around at the time or likely the paramedics would have been called....
   The last time out, I'd gotten a little hungry so this time I brought along a sandwich to eat, my plan being to eat it at the top of The Steps. At the top of The Steps, however, I felt more like puking than eating so left the sandwich tucked away.
   At this point, the Garmin told me I was just shy of 8K so when I got back down the steps I started running again until I hit 8K and then I just hiked the rest of the way back, as had been my plan. 

One of those messages

   The park was busy, it being the weekend and all and I saw even more people than usual. They come in all shapes and sizes--- young couples, families with kids (some with babies in slings), people with dogs, older men with full backpacks, and the occasional runner. There is a rule in the park about dogs being on leashes and, unfortunately, this gets ignored a little too often. It is a little disconcerting to be running around a corner in the forest, only to come face-to-face with a couple of unleashed, large dogs who are strangers to you. Their owners are never far away but this doesn't alleviate the mini-tension which sets in. I always stop dead in my tracks when I see dogs, even the ones on leashes, until they pass. I was running in my neighbourhood once when I passed a couple with their dogs on leashes and thinking I was safe, did not give them enough leeway. In his excitement, one of the dogs suddenly leapt up on me, tearing a hole in my shirt and breaking skin. So I am extra wary of dogs! Most people with dogs in the park, though, have them on leashes and go out of their way to restrain them as runners or other hikers pass. One of the couples (with an unleashed dog) actually had a GoPro attached to its collar. They say it makes for a pretty interesting video and I must say I'd be interested to see the trails from a dog's perspective!

A creek beneath a bridge. I was VERY
thirsty at this point and the water was
SO clear and cold-looking....

   Okay, at this point, a little about my hydration fails. Until recently, in my 5K runs around the neighbourhood, I've been able to get away with a using a Fuel Belt 7 oz. arm band bottle. Unfortunately, this doesn't cut it for being out in the trails for three hours. I hate carrying anything when I run, so what I've been doing lately is bringing extra water in the car and then returning to the parking lot to refill the arm bottle. This is almost never convenient. I also find that I start to get hungry when I'm out so now there's a need to carry extra stuff with me. At this point, it seems almost inevitable that a hydration vest is in order, just which one? And can I afford it? Hmm...

A memorial bench, for a couple of
obviously well-thought-of hikers!

   Possibly coupled with my hydration fails, I actually started to cramp up yesterday, during the walking portion. At one point, I was walking up a steep, root-infested hill and realized that my right foot was not always going exactly where I was aiming it. Upon investigation, it seemed as though the muscles in that leg were not contracting properly. I was also getting the odd little twinge and I knew that I was borderline full-on cramping so I adjusted myself accordingly and became more mindful. At that point I was nearing 10k altogether and 8K of that had been running through a hilly forest. This is way more than I've done lately and not far off as much as I have ever done. And, if you factor in the terrain, it was possibly my longest run of all time so maybe a little cramping was in order! 

Once again, The Steps. They always
seem to make a good pic. I had just
run up them and had to sit for a while
before even being able to take the pic...

   Later that evening, after much re-hydration, a full-on cramp in my left inner thigh did take hold and I was in a fair bit of agony for about 5 minutes, til it settled. Lots of expletives, you should have been there! Unfortunately, there is a fair amount of contradicting info on the internet as to what actually causes cramps and what some preventative courses might be. My best guess is that yesterday it was a perfect storm of hydration issues and plain overdoing it. Will try and be a little wiser next time!

Welcome to "SprintFit"!: Part Two

      Last night I took part in the second (and final) installment of  SprintFit, teaching sessions hosted by Canadian Olympic heptathlete Jessica Zelinka and Western University sprint coach, Derrick Johnston. The sessions were being held at TD Waterhouse stadium and are designed to complement training for any multitude of other sports. You can read about Session 1 right here, if you'd like.
   I got there a little late as I'd neglected to bring along my packed gym bag when I headed off to work in the morning. The other participants were in the middle of stretches and I just kind of joined in. We then actively reviewed a few of the warm-up routines we'd learned last week, this time out on the football field.

Andrew Parr, Jessica Zelinka, me, Derrick Johnston and Paul Whitty. Lots of knowledge here, folks!

   I thought this was cool, being out in the same field that the Western Mustangs use. We would do these sprint exercises out to various yard-lines and on the way back I'd imagine running pass patterns....but I digress.
   This was the fun part, basically just running. After a bit of a rest, Jessica and her cohorts then started us in on plyometrics. If you're not sure what "plyometrics" are, you can Google it or you can just think "jumping", in various forms. 
   At this point, they took us off the field up into the stands. The first plyometric they had us practise was something called a "depth drop". Now, at my age, the hearing is going just a touch and the first couple of times Derrick said "depth drop" I was pretty sure I'd heard "death drop" and I was somewhat steeling myself for what lay ahead.
   As it turned out, a "depth drop" is really nothing much more than jumping off a step and trying to land in a balanced and athletic sort of way. This was fairly easy.
   The next thing they had us do was not as easy. There was a technical name for it that I'm unable to remember but what it entailed was hopping, from a standing position, up the stadium steps, one by one (or two by two, for the younger and more athletic of us). We would do this for about eight steps and then walk back down and do it one more time.
   I saw disaster all over this. I envisioned what it would be like to not quite make the top of the step and it was not pretty---lots of blood and possibly stitches. I made the first eight steps with no major difficulty but then, when we were given the option of jumping two steps at a time, I made the careful decision not to. Or I chickened out, you choose.
   At this point it was back down to the track. We did something called a bear crawl (I think) which involved crawling along the track on all fours with no other body parts touching down. This was hard work, but do-able (and safe!) Then, it was on to hurdles.
   This was not hurdling as you see it in  track and field. What it entailed was five or six hurdles placed close together and all you had to do was get over them, pretty well any way you could. 
   This was possibly the most problematic thing I'd attempted to do in either session. The big issue with me was flexibility and my ability to get either of my legs over the hurdle from a standing position. I almost tipped over a couple of them, almost falling down at the same time. Just a touch embarrassing!
   Finally, the group was introduced to Andrew Parr, a former Canadian pro golfer who is now devoting his time to helping athletes fine tune their performances in whatever sport they're involved in. Andrew and Jessica will be getting together to co-host a "Star Dust Performance Camp" on August 18th. Andrew led a short group session where we all stood in a circle and sang kumbaya with our arms outstretched at shoulder level. The idea was to eventually feel the discomfort of this and learn to work through it, essentially by controlled breathing. This was hard and my arms are actually still hurting today. At this point the evening, and SprintFit, came to its conclusion.
   I had a lot of fun doing this, and afterward picked Derrick's brain a little as to how I might continue to get sprint training, as a Masters athlete. He gave a me a couple of suggestions and I'm going to try and follow up on them. We shall see!
   Finally, a few words about Jessica Zelinka. In my last post, I believe I referred to her as a "sweetheart" and she did nothing last night to disprove this. At one point last night, after we had warmed up and done a couple of drills, she walked up to me and asked me how I'd felt after the previous week's camp. The fact that she had taken even this small amount of time to check in with me only made me feel that much more positive about being there in the first place. With the group of us, she was supportive, playful, energetic, and funny. There were a couple of times when the other coaches slipped into "coach" mode and Jessica had to subtly re-direct them, aware that we, as a group, were not "high performance" athletes and were there to learn, for sure, but to also have fun doing it. Several times, she would perform running drills for us to copy and then, almost because she needed to, would end up way at the other end of the field, doing her thing briefly. It was always sort of strange, to remember that you were watching (in a little bit of a starstruck way) an Olympic athlete in her element. I also found myself wondering what it might be like for her, as an Olympian, to be watching the current Games from a distance. As much as I think we all enjoyed spending a couple of Thursday evenings with her here in London, it would have been just as cool to watch her representing Canada again in Rio! You can read a little about her poignant transition at jessicazelinka.com. I look forward to following her exploits in the future and am sure that anyone who has the same good fortune of crossing paths with her will be enriched as much as we all were!

Coaches and participants, milling about after a hard evening workout!

Where we did the "death drop"!

Running pass patterns, in my head!

   
   
    
   

   
    

Welcome to "SprintFit"!

   Okay, if you have been following this blog really closely over the years (and I mean really closely) then you might be aware that, given a choice, I would actually rather be running fast over a short distance than running slowly over a long distance. If you want to find out just how I feel about it then just read this wonderful post from 2014.
   I did at one point contact the track club at Western University here in London to inquire about sprint training but then the communication sort of petered out and I've only thought about it sporadically ever since.
   Then, this past Wednesday, a golden opportunity to get involved in sprinting landed in my lap. Literally, in my lap as I happened to be reading the London Free Press at the time when I found out about it!
   There was an article about local sports hero, Jessica Zelinka. Jessica is one of Canada's all-time best heptathletes and you can find out a little more about her accomplishments on her website. Please check it out! After competing in the last two Olympic Games, this year Jessica found herself outside of being able to qualify for Rio. She came home and did a little soul-searching and then finally decided that what she wanted to do was share a little of her expertise and put on a clinic for anyone who was interested in learning how to sprint and perhaps apply some of its principles to whatever sport they played on a regular basis. She sat down with Derrick Johnston, Western's sprint coach and devised a two-day clinic (on consecutive Thursdays) that would touch on all the basics of sprinting. The decided to call it, aptly enough, "Sprint Fit"!

The article which caught my eye...

   The clinics were open to all comers---any age group, any amount of experience. When I found out about them, I immediately went into "should I or shouldn't I" mode. It then occurred to me that I can talk all I want about my desire to run fast but if I then go and pass up an opportunity that is almost handed to me, I should probably just forget about it forever. So I took a huge breath, got out the credit card, and registered. I spent five minutes thinking what the hell have I done and then I just let it go. A little later on that evening, we all received an e-mail confirmation from Derrick thanking us for signing up. In it, he mentioned that people as young as 12 and as old as 70 had registered and that made me feel a little better.
   When I got to TD Waterhouse stadium, there were a handful of people just milling around inside the front gate. I started chatting with them, just to confirm that we were all here for the same reason. After about 5 minutes, this young woman comes bounding up from the far end of the track to collect us and it turns out to be Jessica. We then all follow her to the workout area.

Autographed pic from our swag bag!

   Things had already been a little surreal (for me, at least) but as we all sat down to get ready for roll call and introductions, Jessica informed us that the one single runner who was already out on the track and occasionally whizzing past us was Damian Warner. I then had one of those holy shit moments---Damian Warner is Canada's decathlon representative in Rio, won gold at both the Commonwealth and PanAm games and is arguably the best athlete in the world! And he was practising right beside us! As a group, we gave him a little cheer every time he passed us. Then, just to top things off, the Western Mustangs football shows up on the field. The Mustangs are annually one of the top college football teams in Canada and here we were sharing the stadium with them. Yes, just a touch surreal!

Damian!

   Introductions over, we then started to learn how to do sprint-specific warm-ups and drills. Much attention was placed on leg and foot movement and arm and head position. From there, we headed over to the other side of the field and practised  starting positions and foot placement as you head down the track. 
   So much to remember! It kind of reminded me of taking a golf lesson, having the instructor tell you ten important things, and then trying to swing your club while attempting to remember those ten things all at the same time! Presumably, though, the idea is that in time many of those ten things will become second nature and will only need (hopefully) minor tweaking.
   Jessica, by the way, is a sweetheart. She's one of those bubbly, energetic, funny, and non-pretentious sorts of people who you feel instantly comfortable being around. She and Derrick played well off of each other and it was kind of fun watching them learn as things went on. They were assisted by another athlete named Paul (didn't catch the last name, sorry) who himself had been a champion hurdler as a junior and he as well had all sorts of valuable insight.
   The group of participants was about as eclectic as you could get. The age range was 12 to 70, there were about as many females as males, and the skill level seemed to be pretty disparate (although I was paying way more attention to myself). At the end of the evening, I think we had all had a pretty good time and I know that I, for one, am looking forward to next Thursday. After that, I know that I am still going to want to be sprinting somewhere and will need help with a plan for that. And what better time to ask?!



   

On The Way To The Hills (Pretty Little Pictures Of My Neighbourhood)

   What day is it today? Oh yeah...Thursday. Have been on holidays for a week and a half and have totally lost track of what day it is! What a great problem to have!
   So if it's Thursday today that means on Tuesday I set out on a little trip to the ever-reliable (and close) Warbler Woods to do some hill repeats. Most of Eastern Canada is in the middle of a drought and heat epidemic and London is no different. Because of this I had this conversation with myself on the way to the woods as to whether I should even be venturing outside. It was about 33C (91F) and the humidex was through the roof and I thought that these really were not the ideal conditions to be running in, particularly hill repeats. The headline "Runner Found Collapsed in the Woods" kept passing through my mind. In my defence, however, I have always been someone who was able to carry on performing strenuous activities in high heat. I also knew that the hill repeats would be, for the most part, in the shade of the woods.

   I walked briskly to the woods (in deference to the heat, I didn't run) and this was just under 2K. Along the way, I took some pics of my neighbourhood!

A quick walk to the end of my street
where I then...

...turn left and head up the long incline toward the Woods.

The hill just goes up until you get to....

...Holy Moses! Bullrushes!

Then, MORE bullrushes,  this time on the
left. Beyond the bullrushes, you can see...

...Warbler Woods, an environmentally
significant area!

Aahhh....shade at last!

The first (and worst) hill! Hard to tell
but it's about a 45 degree angle and
about twenty yards long with a
twist to the right at the top of this pic.

From the top, looking back down.
Pic is slightly fuzzy due to
my physical distress at the time! lol

   There were another four or five hills which were almost as tough as the first one but I managed to get out alive just fine! Basically I ran the hills and walked briskly the rest of the time (occasionally, not quite so briskly) until I exited on the far side of the woods. From there, about another kilometer back to my house, and re-hydration!
   

Finding Nemo...er...Nathan, I mean

   Well....over a month later and I'm blogging again...
   In my last post, I spent some time glorying in the recent running success I'd been having and how I finally had the feeling that the whole running thing was back on track.
   This was obviously the kiss of death as I have not run since.
   Kinda hard to put a finger on just exactly why this has happened---I just simply have not felt like running.
   Part of it, I think, was that I spent four days in Sault Ste. Marie, essentially eating at one kind of restaurant or another, all of which served huge portions. That, and just generally being thrown way off my routine made it especially hard to recover when I finally made it back to London. And nothing has really changed since!
   I have forced myself to get out and go for long walks, however, so, for better or worse, I am now a walking blogger!
   A couple of days ago I headed out into nearby Warbler Woods, as part of a 5K route I've had mapped out for quite some time now. My idea was to walk as briskly as possible and maybe even to run up a couple of the hills I knew I would encounter.
   One or two of my long, purposeful strides, however, nearly had me flat on my substantial ass. This time of year, of course, forest pathways are covered with leaves and there has been enough moisture in these parts to lay down a slick layer of mud underneath. This layer of mud was then camouflaged by the layer of leaves covering it and several times I took a step only to find myself sliding an extra six to seven inches, unexpectedly. Suddenly, I was actually happy I wasn't trying to run through it!
   This time of year, the woods are entirely different and quite spectacular in their own way. Without a leafy canopy, you can see much deeper into them and get a much better sense of the topography involved. If only the footing were better...
   So I walked until I normally make a  hard left and start on the trail which ultimately leads me away from the woods. When I got there, though, this was the sign and the fence which blocked my path:

A bent sign, to boot! Hiker rage??

   This was annoying and I briefly contemplated totally ignoring the sign, thinking to myself "what possible ecological damage could I do?" It then occurred to me that if everyone thought that same way we'd be in big trouble, so I relented. I also knew that if I just followed my original path I would soon encounter a series of very steep hills. Normally this is not a problem for me (I run them all the time) but in those slippery conditions I just didn't want to risk anything. So I turned to go out the same way I came in.
   And am I ever glad I did because I found Nemo!
   Well, no, not Nemo exactly but possibly a cousin named Nathan.
   I was walking past a tree and noticed a small blue box resting at its base. The box had an inscription on it so I bent down to read it. Here is the box:

   When I realized what I was holding, I very reverentially placed the box back at the base of the tree. No "Curse of the Mummy's Tomb" for me! Actually, I thought this was pretty sweet and kinda cool to find so I was glad in a way that the blocked trail had sent me back this way.
   The rest of my walk in the woods was pretty uneventful and I was happy that I had at least worked up a sweat. Hopefully, walking is only a pre-cursor to actually running again. I'm pretty sure that it is. Fingers crossed.
 
   
   

Hellacious Hills

   In my last post, I sort of described why I hadn't been either doing much running or blogging about it. Due to the sudden insertion of ball hockey into my life, the legs lately just haven't had the oomph required to get me out there.

Entrance to Warbler Woods

   This does not mean, though, that I have been at home simply sitting on my butt. A couple of times lately I have headed out for long walks through nearby Warbler Woods, in an effort to keep the legs moving and, perhaps even more importantly, enjoy the arrival of Spring! Yay! We're now at the point where things have actually dried up enough to make a walk through the woods an enjoyable experience. This time of year, as well, the leaves haven't blossomed yet and you can see deep into the forest, which is kind of cool.
   On these trips, I began by following the same path I take when I'm on a run. I leave my house and am at the woods in about a kilometer. There's a two kilometer stretch through the woods, I come out on the other side and then another two kilometers on pavement to get back to my place.
   I changed things up a bit though the last two times by foregoing the the final 2K on pavement and simply darting back into the woods after I popped out of them and taking a different route back through.

SNAKE! (upper right-hand corner...)

 
   Okay, this different route back through is hellacious. Warbler Woods is somewhat bowl-shaped insofar as you go down into them and climb back up out of them. My normal route has me encountering one really nasty hill but then I end up running around the upper rim of the bowl without descending into its depths. Going down into the depths brings you face-to-face with at least six hellacious hills, all of which are even more hellacious than the one hellacious hill I was already (kinda) used to.
   I was exhausted several times and, mind you, I was just walking. I can't imagine running these things. They were all pretty well straight up with bendy curves in them and it wasn't even all that easy going down the backsides of them, due to their steepness.
   

A fine example of a Carolinian forest!!

These woods are quite popular with hikers and casual walkers but I couldn't help but think that there should be some sort of disclaimer posted at the entrance, indicating the degree of difficulty. Or maybe it's just me...
    I remember thinking a couple of times at the summit of the latest hill that I was just as winded as if I'd been running. At the time, I thought of this as a good thing, figured I was at least out there getting exercise if I wasn't actually running.
   Also, the first time I did this new route, I stopped several times to rest. The second time, I vowed I would just plow on through, which is what I did.

Part of the trail

   Toward the end of my second walk, things started to catch up to me. At one point, I snagged my toe on a root as I was descending one of these hills. Nothing major that wouldn't normally have been handled by a bit of a hop and a skip but I discovered my legs would not do that hop and a skip for me. It seemed like the legs would not bend at the knee and all of the sudden it felt like I was walking on stilts instead of legs and I envisioned tumbling head first onto the trail and just rolling and rolling and...but I caught myself, thank goodness. It was then that I started to realize the toll all this ball hockey and walking had taken on my legs! I managed to get out of the forest the second time and was left with about a kilometer on

Bit of a boardwalk through
the boggier portions.

pavement to get me back home. Walking on flat pavement was not an issue, it seemed. Back at home, though, I was faced with the four steps of my wooden porch. Normally, I can spring up them. Not the other day. I pretty well needed to crawl up them and afterwards, sitting on the newly-conquered porch, I resolved to give my legs a couple of days off. No running, no ball hockey, no walking. I compromised a little by doing some yardwork the following day but even that was not pretty.
   In the midst of all this, I was ironically invited to do a squat challenge, by Crystal, intrepid leader of the Canuck Running Bloggers. Ha ha ha, I can't even really sit on the toilet or get dressed properly, let alone do a squat challenge!! Did I mention that I think I might have overdone it??
   I am pretty sure that I will return to these Hellacious Hills, however. It occurred to me as I was walking them that they would be perfect for hill repeats. They're evenly spaced enough that recovery time would be accommodated and they're different from each other, so you wouldn't get bored either! If you survived... 

What I've Been Up To!

   Okay, my stats are WAY, way down and my blog is rife with referrer spam so I guess this means I haven't been posting regularly...??
   Well, I haven't been posting because I haven't been running. And I haven't been running because...well...I've been running. My ass off, to be more specific!
   I finally managed to land myself on a ball hockey team for the first time in the last two and a half years. This means I've been spending the last two weeks chasing twenty- and thirty-somethings (did I mention that I'm sixty-two?) around a rink, twisting and turning, stopping and starting, diving, kneeling, blocking shots and, generally, running into people. And my legs are paying for it!
   Before, when I wasn't playing, it was quite easy to schedule my running and run as much as I wanted, when I wanted. Not so anymore. 

Yes, I play for the Outlaws. Cuz I'm badass.

   Right at the moment, I am on someone else's schedule and I run whenever I have to, not whenever I want to. This means that the kind of running I generally blog about has taken quite the hit, so much so that I can't even really remember the last time I did run any kind of distance.
   There have been days when I thought I maybe should have been out there on a run but my legs were so sore that I simply couldn't imagine doing so. And so I didn't. By the time maybe a couple of days had passed and my legs were feeling better then the next ball hockey game rolled around. So I didn't run. Again.
   I'm hoping and believing that eventually the running and the ball hockey will sort themselves out, once my body becomes more accustomed to the new routine. It would actually be interesting to try and compute just how many kilometers I might actually be running when I play ball hockey. Who knows, maybe I actually run farther!