Running on Ice

Maintaining your trail running through the winter months can be a real challenge. You can don a pair of snowshoes of course but this can be overkill when traveling on well-trodden hiking trails that are closer to luge tracks than ski runs. The solution is a light, rubberized crampon that quickly slips over your running shoe and makes ice running a breeze. Ray and I used these as we traversed the glare ice of Lake Baikal last year and I always keep them in my pack on my winter runs. 
Today's run was 1.5hrs on the icy trails of the Lynn Valley.

Training, training, training!!

The last couple days have seen Vancouver get blanketed in a big dump of snow. Temperatures are very cold for the city as well. It's only November and we're experiencing weather than the worst of winter only rarely throws us.


Ray has outlined a great training program for the Atacama expedition and I'm doing my best to follow it. The arm is posing its own issues but I think I'm making do. The snow isn't helping.


The last couple days have been tough with a 2:40 slog yesterday through the snow covered hills with a 15lb pack followed by a 2hr session today with the same pack. The pack is taking over from the truck tire as the new torture apparatus of choice. It's essential though as we'll be running with 25lb packs as we traverse the length of the Atacama.


The idea behind our training is to build up distance each week and to incorporate back to back long runs to get the body accustomed to the daily rigour of long miles while still incorporating tempo work to keep us fast. The expedition is less than 2 months away so there's little time to loose!!

Post surgery and training for the Atacama Desert

The reality of surgery is that you jump at the chance to have it when it's offered. That said, a serious surgical procedure undertaken just a couple months before a major expedition is intimidating.

It was the same last year with the Siberian Express expedition. That one concerned me more as the pain was so intense that I had great trouble training adequately and had concerns about how the arm would handle 50km-60km trekking and running a day pulling a 110lb sled. It worked out in the end but the whole ordeal was unnerving.

This time around the pain is far less severe and I'm back on my feet after only a couple days.
My 2:15hr run yesterday was more tiring than it would have been under normal circumstances but anything over 2hrs exhausts me anyway. I ran with a pack weighted down with 15lbs of rocks which, surprisingly, didn't hurt the arm. It gave me enough confidence to do it again today for another 1:45hr.

Atacama training is building and I'm psyched. Ray and I are finalizing the route and love the idea of following in the footsteps of ancients!!

Surgery

I’ll be honest. Surgery scares the hell out of me. There’s something odd about sitting around the surgical waiting room waiting for your ‘number’ to be called.

The woman across from me is reading the bible, religious programming plays on the television above me, another mother weeps as her 40+ year old son heads behind closed doors.

What are the expectations here exactly??!!

My dry-mouth companions display a faintly regal tone with IV sceptres in hand and loosely clad surgical robes barely hiding the anxious reality. All majesty is lost, though, as I gaze down at my knee high green compression socks and blue elastic-topped paper bags that are my shoes.

But all the anxiety is for naught. The nurses are incredibly friendly and compassionate and the process is as smooth and painless as can be expected. It is surgery after all.

Dr. Peter Zarkadas works his magic, removing the truck load of hardware from my shoulder while ripping, snipping and tearing as needed to get the arm moving again.

It’s now all up to me now...and my physio-maso-therapist Steve to get the thing back to a semblance of normality.

Folks complain about the medical system here in Canada but, I’ll be honest, it seems pretty amazing from my vantage point. A serious injury taken care of fast and effectively...and it didn't cost me a thing!!