Fresh blood of the month: (1) 5″ gash on right buttcheek resembling an exclamation mark, due to poor glissading skills; (2) mangled right ankle, as close to fractured as possible but not actually broken.
February has been largely a write-off after severely rolling my ankle while running in Canmore earlier in the month. X-rays indicated the potential for a superficial fracture or bone damage, which explains the walking boot-like immobility and colorful bruising. Three weeks later, the swelling has subsided but I’m still building strength and continuing to heal what’s been deemed a grade II ATFL/grade I CFL sprain.
Laying on the couch with a bag of ice on my foot reading Alpinist Magazine isn’t the worst way to spend one of the shittier months of the year, trail running-wise. This is the point in the season where winter’s grip is supposed to drag, but ’round these parts it has been unseasonably warm and all I’ve wanted is to get outside. That being said, it’s the start of March and there are many more months to get into shape for Lavaredo and the rest of the summer. I could have rolled my ankle a lot deeper into my training block, like Anton did a couple weeks out from Lavaredo in 2014… But then he went on to win that shit.
I’ve been thinking about this mishap with a surprising degree of silver lining and look forward to building something stronger from the wreckage this humbling episode has provided.
Besides, this latest Wavves album makes being super bummed sound like so much fun:
Last year’s cuts and scrapes are all healed up, it’s time to make some new ones. I’m off to a great start, seemingly unable to avoid kicking myself in the ankles while wearing Microspikes and there’s some weird bruise thing on my thigh… I’ll let you know if any fresh blood develops.
I’ve been running more in the past week than in the past couple months combined and starting to get my bounce back — my first few runs this month felt frighteningly Frankenstein-esque. My aim has been to get in lots of mellow running in order to develop my distance base over the next eight weeks or so; then it’s time to lay it all against the grindstone and hammer until it’s sharp.
As soon as I got back from Ontario mid-January, I headed up to Edmonton to brainstorm next summer’s Mountain Stride Fitness trail running retreats with Patrick Sperling AKA dumpster_diver. We went for a jog through Mill Creek Valley just steps from his house, romantically admired views of the city at sunset (aww), then worked on the deets over freshly cooked fries. It looks like we’ll be offering three formats this year to appeal to a range of runners and hikers of various experience levels and backgrounds — from beginner to veteran mountain goats! Now that our 2016 offerings are finalized, we’ll have more information here and on the Mountain Stride website soon.
Without further ado, on to the athletic endeavors of January!
Jan. 04/16 – Whitehorn (ski) – 19km/1161/4h09m Skied up Whitehorn Mountain at Lake Louise ski area after Sean and I got denied the previous week. This time I woke up at 4am and got started at 5:25am, reaching Temple Lodge in less than an hour. Groomers were humming about so I switched my headlamp to “stealth mode” and puttered up the ski-out, trying to avoid being seen. I tagged Top of the World in just over two hours, skied south along the ridge to tag Paradise in 2h12m, then headed towards my objective, the summit of Whitehorn. I tagged the top of Whitehorn in 2h46m and hung around for over half an hour as dawn broke over the Slate Range, illuminating the peaks of Lake Louise.
Eventually I had to descend and received mixed responses on the way down, including from a liftie who was stoked to see I’d skinned up there, and from a couple patrollers who weren’t so stoked… But like Calgary ultrarunner Majo Srnik joked the other day in a Facebook thread about ski patrollers, “They’ll survive”.
Max speed: 63.3 km/h 😛
Jan. 09/16 – Run in Brampton – 11.8km/39m/1h07m A run in Brampton while I was home visiting; a long, paved loop in which I struggled to find some semblance of nature and otherwise dodged cars or waited at traffic lights. The run started by visiting old landmarks — my primary school; grandma’s house; where we used to drink and smoke-up as teenagers — but eventually pounding the pavement started to hurt. I headed into the park near my high school where I used to train with the cross-country team but here the trails were also paved. This corridor, containing a burbling stream, some tall, bowed-over willows and small meadows of reeds, was socked in by the urban landscape at its least aesthetic: a rumbling highway overpass on one side and endless warehouse complexes on the other. I know cities have the potential to be beautiful — and Brampton has its moments — but overall this sprawling maze of cookie-cutter housing, congested traffic and drab commercial/industrial architecture is the opposite of “beautiful”.
Jan. 21/16 – Skogan Pass (ski) – 17km/790m/3h25m
Skiied up a long cut-line route connecting Bow and Kananaskis valleys. During the ascent I focused on a speedy cadence, tagging the top of the pass in two hours flat. Doing the full 30km traverse to Kananaskis Village is an objective I might consider one day, though there are surely much more scenic tours out there. This kind of fare — fire road and cut-line skiing, for example — is becoming my specialty.
Jan. 22/16 – Tunnel – 8km/324m/1h06m
Up and down Tunnel with my friend Anne. Jogged to her place, then we jogged to the trailhead, mostly hiked the ascent, hung around on top for a couple minutes, then ran back down. A really warm day on which I wore shorts and reveled in it.
Jan. 24/16 – Ha Ling – 14km/1138m/2h30m
Up and down Ha Ling via Grassi Lakes. Not many people on the trail — neither on Grassis nor on Ha Ling — which was surprising for a Sunday. Maybe the trace amounts of snowfall we received yesterday scared everybody off, or they went skiing. The run in general was disproportionately labored, which is fine because I’m just starting to slog again consistently. This is “fat and lazy Tom”, as fat and lazy as I ever get. I packed a puffy jacket but wore a long-sleeve shirt from trailhead to summit, a particularly delectable occurrence for January.
Jan. 25/16 – Tunnel Circuit – 8.5km/196m/56min
A loop around Tunnel, starting and finishing at home. I decided to go for a “flatter” run, something more horizontal, to try to build up my distance base. Plus I think it’s good to mix up vertical-heavy days with flatter ones. Jogged at a fairly conservative pace but it was really enjoyable; nice to not be sprinting or powerslogging up a steep slope, but that will come… I need to remember to keep my pace easy for now or it’s going to undermine the purpose of my training.
Jan. 29/16 – Ha Ling – 23.6km/1300m/3h25m
Up and down Ha Ling from downtown Canmore. This is something I’ve done many times before but this is my first time doing it this season, and is my biggest run yet this year, so it was tougher than usual. Took the bus to Canmore and jogged/slogged from town to the trailhead via Grassi Lakes. The actual ascent of Ha Ling seemed easier than the other day, which was a bit of a deathmarch. Donned a puffy jacket at the col and hung around on top for only a couple minutes, enough to take one picture before my phone died, presumably from the cold.
Jan. 31/16 – East End of Rundle – 6.3km/982m/4h01m
Up and down EEOR with Glenn from trailhead. A pretty cold day to start, with light snowfall and clouds socking in Canmore and the surrounding peaks. As we climbed, however, the top of EEOR stood out crystal clear against a blue sky. The crux of the route — grovelling up a snowy ramp then traversing along ledges to clear the headwall — was tedious but typical for wintertime. This snow climb has the potential to be perfect for climbing and glissading but I’ve never been there for perfect conditions, usually the snow is either rock hard or isothermal and the thawing headwall is pitching rocks at me.
Fresh blood of the month: (1) 5″ gash on right buttcheek resembling an exclamation mark, due to poor glissading skills; (2) mangled right ankle, as close to fractured as possible but not actually broken.
Laying on the couch with a bag of ice on my foot reading Alpinist Magazine isn’t the worst way to spend one of the shittier months of the year, trail running-wise. This is the point in the season where winter’s grip is supposed to drag, but ’round these parts it has been unseasonably warm and all I’ve wanted is to get outside. That being said, it’s the start of March and there are many more months to get into shape for Lavaredo and the rest of the summer. I could have rolled my ankle a lot deeper into my training block, like Anton did a couple weeks out from Lavaredo in 2014… But then he went on to win that shit.
Last year’s cuts and scrapes are all healed up, it’s time to make some new ones. I’m off to a great start, seemingly unable to avoid kicking myself in the ankles while wearing Microspikes and there’s some weird bruise thing on my thigh… I’ll let you know if any fresh blood develops.
Jan. 04/16 – Whitehorn (ski) – 19km/1161/4h09m
Jan. 09/16 – Run in Brampton – 11.8km/39m/1h07m
Jan. 21/16 – Skogan Pass (ski) – 17km/790m/3h25m
Jan. 22/16 – Tunnel – 8km/324m/1h06m
Jan. 25/16 – Tunnel Circuit – 8.5km/196m/56min
Jan. 29/16 – Ha Ling – 23.6km/1300m/3h25m
Jan. 31/16 – East End of Rundle – 6.3km/982m/4h01m
Blood, Sweat & Scree Dust 