Monday Dec 31 |
 | Trail running 23:00 [2] | |
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| Easy run with the pooch this morning over to the ice oval and back. More just to give him some exercise. |
| Skating 20:00 [1] | |
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| Went to the Oval to ring in the New Year with Anita. Pretty quiet, had the whole thing to ourselves. |
Sunday Dec 30 |
| Classic skiing 1:28:00 [2] | |
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| Nice classic ski again around the usual outer loop including Sawmill, Hickory Wing, Fingers, Antlers. Then did the race course 5k and headed back to the dog trail to meet Anita and Regnly, via Northern Lights.
A bit overcast but still great conditions. Feeling pretty good. I think I'll race the BC Cup here next weekend for fun. ...if I can get rid of my Friday night shift. |
| Skating 30:00 [1] | |
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| Met up with Simon, Meredith and Christopher at the Oval and went for a casual skate. Pretty crowded which is great to see. The conditions are excellent right now. I used my hockey skates but I'll have to dig out the old nordic blades (official Iceman training begins on the 1st). |
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| C • iceman 3 |
| Hockey 1:24:00 [3] | |
| ahr:136 max:169 |
| We picked up an extra ice time with our Thursday night group but only 11 skaters showed up. My side had 5 and we played 4 on 4. Wore the HRM to see what kind of 'training' it is. This was tougher than my ski this morning. Out of the 95 minutes of ice time, my HR was >105 for 84'. The average of 136 includes 11' of bench time. Interesting stats but probably not representative of our usual games.
Put the light on a couple of times and set up a few. 4 on 4 is awesome. Just wish Pittsburgh and Buffalo would do the same on Jan 1st like Cherry suggests. |
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| C • 4 on 4 1 |
Saturday Dec 29 |
| Track workout 2:09:00 [3] | |
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| Went out for a classic ski this morning. Blue sky, blue glide wax, blue grip. Fresh snow. Doesn't really get any better than this.
Track hack has improved enough that I don't think I made anything worse.
Went around all the groomed trails including my first time around Junior National, the Chute and the inner Five. The downhills on our race loops must be some of the more challenging around. |
Friday Dec 28 |
| Road running warm up/down 47:00 [2] | |
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| Jog up to NSC and back for track workout. Includes jog in between. |
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| C • Hey mike 1 |
| Track workout intervals 16:00 [4] | |
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| 4x4' on the track. Felt great for the first two then faded badly by the fourth. No sense of pacing. Felt good to get it done. Developed some track hack afterwards, a bit worse than usual so I think I'll wait a few extra days before coming back here. |
Thursday Dec 27 |
| Strength training 25:00 [0] | |
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| Did my home weight routine while watching the Canada-Slovakia game start. Pretty boring first period, if you ask me. |
Wednesday Dec 26 |
| Classic skiing 2:30:00 [1] | |
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| Ski with Regnly and Anita on the Rossi BC's. Went up to FFTW via the cutblock and then out Blue Spruce to the end. Home via Kueng and Crest Roads. Stopped for a brief visit at Simon and Meredith's.
Great day and great to get out for some fresh air. |
Tuesday Dec 25 |
| Note | |
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| Up early to take on the 6am shift today. Touched base with Christmas Central in Cochrane and opened a couple of gifts. Fortunately the shift was very quiet and so had a nice Xmas gift from the PG populace. At lunch, I had an olde-tyme 'how much can you eat' contest with one of our social workers. I've never seen the staff lounge so full of good food. Just awesome.
After work, went up to Simon and Meredith's for Christmas dinner. Very nice get together with friends. The way it should be. Unfortunately a rest day. Oh well. Work is work. |
Monday Dec 24 |
| Trail running 51:00 [2] | |
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| Made it to Vancouver after midnight. In the end, got a solid 4 hours of sleep at the Travelodge. Finally made it home on the early am Air Canada flight from Vancouver. Amazing line-ups to check bags at YVR. Was pretty glad I didn't have to suffer through that. Worked the morning then went for an easy run with Anita over to the old Ginter mansion and back. Great way to unwind but I could tell that the sleep deficit is there. A strong cup of coffee set me straight enough to be vaguely coherent with our friends who came over to visit. |
Sunday Dec 23 |
| Road running 21:00 [2] | |
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| Went for an easy jog around Cochrane after breakfast (fantastic coffee, fresh filipino fare - excellent!). Small town, not much going on. Did this as a warm-up prior to a treadmill workout with Sandy. |
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| C • Merry Christmas 3 |
| Treadmill running intervals 19:00 [4] | |
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| Did 2' on, ~2' off on the treadmill with Sandy while watching Casino Royale on one of Wil's TVs. Hill intervals with just stepping off and letting the other on. Cut it off early as I wasn't feeling too well. Think I'm coming down with what Wil had earlier in the week. |
| Note | |
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| Another epic struggle getting across the country. My flight from TO to Vancouver has been delayed due to a malfunctioning fuel guage. Will miss my flight to PG tonight and for the second time in three trips, will have to overnight in Vancouver... |
Saturday Dec 22 |
| Note | |
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| Big debacle, trying to fly to Timmins this morning to see Wil. Got turned around due to freezing rain and poor runway conditions there. Had to try again on another flight. |
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| C • Happy Christmas 1 |
| Note | |
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| Tried again on a second flight, this time a problem with the de-icer made us turn around and head back to Toronto.
We finally made it in on our third attempt to Timmins. Unfortunately all the plane changes meant that not all our luggage made it. Aksel's car seat was the biggest loss.
Anyway, we arrived during the second period of the Toronto/Florida game and I decided against training today. |
Friday Dec 21 |
| Track workout race 35:00 [5] | |
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| I call this 35 min but only 10 min was high intensity - includes warm-up and cool-down. Sandy, Holger and I met up with a bunch of the juniors from Moncton and did a workout at the athletic centre at U de M (CEPS). Did a 3000m 'test' but it kinda sucked for me. Had to run 18 laps of the indoor track to make 3000m. Ran 5:02.5 for the first 1500m and 5:10 for the last for a 10:13. Had to spend some time in lane 2 while passing others. Certainly not stellar but I'll take it given the last week of training and no speed work for a while. Unfortunately, developed a bad case of track hack afterwards - very dry air.
I'll look forward to trying this again in a couple of months. |
| Strength training 10:00 [0] | |
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| Did a bunch of plyometrics and core strength with Holger and the juniors after the 3000m. |
| Trail running 10:00 [1] | |
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| Took a quick visit to Hopewell Rocks on the way to Moncton - site of next summer's sprint race on the ocean floor. Very cool rock formations and should be a pretty good event. Unfortunately, there was a lot of ice and snow on the beach and I couldn't get a good feel for how the running will be next summer. I plan to visit again in the spring with the new map. |
Thursday Dec 20 |
| Classic skiing 2:05:00 [2] | |
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| Went for another ski with Sandy prior to the Waterside Winter Solstice Party. Much better snow and didn't need the base binder that I applied after yesterday's experience. Feeling more or less recovered from the YMCA workout a couple of days ago. |
Wednesday Dec 19 |
| Classic skiing 2:00:00 [1] | |
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| Skied the Blue trail as well as the yellow down to MicMac and back. Very icy and the wax didn't last very long. Forced to herringbone up the long Hastings Auto Trail hill. Fun. The snow was better at the top. Still a good double-poling workout. |
Tuesday Dec 18 |
| Strength training 35:00 [0] | |
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| Went to the new YMCA in Moncton with Holger. Pumped some f---'in iron and did some serious core stuff. I'm sure I'll feel this tomorrow... |
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| C • what did you do? 2 |
| Bike trainer intervals 48:00 [4] | |
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| Hit the spin cycles once the step aerobics class cleared out of the dance studio. Did 8x3'on, 1'off. Never thought I'd be able to get my HR above 170 on one of those contraptions but I did. Sweatin' like a... by the end.
This includes a 10' cool down and a little warm-up while Holger did his first two (he did a total of 10). |
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| C • sweating 2 |
| Swimming 21:00 [2] | |
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| Hit the pool while Holger hit the gym again. Did a bunch of front crawl laps of the 25m pool. I was bored to tears by the 15 minute mark but stuck it out until 20 min. I guess I did 20-some laps as I was averaging 50s per lap and ~18 strokes per 25m. I suck.
I think I entertained the young lifeguards with my gym shorts sans drawstring that tended to ride down when I pushed off the wall. |
| Road running 1:17:00 [3]16 km (4:49 / km) | |
| ahr:145 |
| Went for a run after getting home from Moncton. Had to run in the dark as we were longer than expected, shopping etc.
Intended to run out to the end of the ploughed road to Cape Enrage. Thought this would be at about 5k but it turned out that it was ploughed the whole way. Beautiful night with lots of stars and very quiet. Nice 1/2 moon to light the way. I think this is 8k each way with lots of climb and very slippery. I thought 7.7min/mile was okay considering the circumstances. |
Monday Dec 17 |
| Snowshoe 59:00 [2] | |
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| Started off intending to do intervals with Sandy on our 800m driveway but it was way too windy as the recent low system was still moving off. The driveway was also very icy with the rain that fell during the night. So, instead I put on the snowshoes and packed down an 800m loop behind the house in the relative shelter of the trees. There was a thick rain crust to contend with, almost 2cm in places but I got a wide enough track packed down for us to do some skiing. |
| Classic skiing 51:00 [2] | |
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| Did some skiing on the track I packed down. With Holger in pursuit. Managed to stay ahead of him but he's got a bum tricep at the moment. Good core strengthening and balance training to stay upright in the non-existent tracks. |
| Core strength 10:00 [0] | |
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| To conveniently round out the 2 hour day, and so I can justify another piece of pie for dessert. Oink, oink. |
Sunday Dec 16 |
| Classic skiing 1:30:00 [3] | |
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| Went for a ski with Sandy and Holger at Chignecto - had to stick to the unmapped trails. So, basically accessed the trail at Hastings Auto trail and followed it to where the Blue trail turns off. Basically did four loops of the blue trail portions west of Hastings Auto Trail. Felt good to ski today. -15 degrees and blowing like hell. There's a low front coming. |
| Snowshoe 1:30:00 [2] | |
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| Snowshoed around Richardson Lake. Temperature up to -5C and snowing in earnest now. Just made it back at nightfall. Finally got the trail packed well but I'm sure it'll be gone by the morning. Oh well. |
Saturday Dec 15 |
| Snowshoe 2:00:00 [1] | |
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| Spent 3 hours clearing the Richardson Lake trail with my trusty bow saw. Logged only the hours where I had a HR over 105 bpm. Cold wind from the north, especially along the far ridge, near the new clearcut. Another trip or two through with the snowshoes and it'll be good running. |
| Road running 31:00 [3] | |
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| Went for an evening run along Rt 915 as far as Anderson's Hollow and back. Nippy wind and -12C on the thermometer. Feels like the new weather front is coming. As I passed his house, I could see Reg huddled over his TV, getting it warmed up for the Habs/Leafs game. Amazing sunset over the Bay of Fundy. Ah, Canada. |
| Note | |
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| Sandy's birthday today. Dinner was a pleasant affair with lobster and a nice chardonnay. Pumpkin pie for dessert. Perhaps a rehearsal for next year's COC banquet? |
Friday Dec 14 |
| Trail running 1:30:00 [3] | |
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| Arrived in NB and dragged my butt through the day in a bit of a fog. I never sleep well on the red eye from Vancouver to Toronto...
Finally made it to Waterside and took a run around Richardson Lake. Lots of snow and lost the trail a few times. Lots of trees down or bent over under the weight of the snow. Will take a lot of clean-up over the next few days. |
Thursday Dec 13 |
| Snowshoe 1:07:00 [2] | |
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| Loop up to lookoff tower in FFTW and back. Snowing again! |
| Classic skiing 1:00:00 [3] | |
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| Picked up Anita and almost immediately drove with her out to Otway to go skiing. Great conditions again but harder to wax for: snowing and -1 at the bottom, colder at the top. My old VF40 was slipping at the bottom and icing at the top of Hickory Wing. There is a new 2km loop that you can take dogs on and so we skied that (myself, Pat and Phil) while Anita took Regnly and Nootka out for some exercise. I can't believe I'm leaving this winter paradise to go to NB where reportedly there is snow with heavy rain crust. |
Wednesday Dec 12 |
| Classic skiing 1:07:00 [3] | |
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| First classic ski in over a week. Felt great. Today was a day when you could do no wrong. The fresh snow had been packed and was still a bit soft so the wax lasted forever but the tracks were firm. -5C and good old Extra Blue worked wonderfully. The sun was out and the trails were quiet, being a work day. Really only ran into some biathletes who were finishing their morning workout. Skiing just doesn't get much better than this. I only wish I had more time to spend. |
| Snowshoe 1:23:00 [1] | |
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| Good little bushwhack with Pat and the dogs through FFTW and back through the Kueng's property, similar to the loop we did a week ago. Surprisingly little traffic in FFTW since the snow yesterday - everyone's probably out shopping in their spare time.
Hard to say what the training effect of this is since I can't / don't really run on the snowshoes in this heavy snow. The HR stays ~120 though so I guess it's worth something aerobic. It's more to get the dogs out so they don't go nuts. Great to get fresh air and see the wildlife (same cow/calf pair that I've been seeing for the last couple of months). |
Tuesday Dec 11 |
| Road running 35:00 [2] | |
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| Ran in to work today since it was snowing heavily at the time. Then jogged over to pick my truck up at the shop. |
| Snowshoe 55:00 [3] | |
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| Snowshoed in the failing light and falling snow. Went up to FFTW and back. Another 20cm of snow is great but makes for some work keeping the trails packed down. |
Monday Dec 10 |
| Classic skiing 1:35:00 [1]+323m | |
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| Nice back-country ski with Pat and the dogs on the new snow. Quite tough slogging in places - still not enough coverage for full-on bushwhacking. We were out for over 2hrs but a lot of it was quite slow and doesn't count for training. |
Sunday Dec 9 |
| Trail running 1:05:00 [2]+341m | |
| ahr:133 |
| A full 10 degrees warmer this morning compared to yesterday and so went a bit longer. The price to be paid for the warmer weather was another 5cm of snow to be packed down. I think I usually run this route in 50 minutes during the summer. |
| Core strength 10:00 [0] | |
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Saturday Dec 8 |
| Trail running 45:00 [3]+280m | |
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| Morning after the ER party...
Freezing cold, early am wake-up run with the dogs up to FFTW and back via the power line. Quite hazy/foggy in the bowl with this cold, made for a beautiful sunrise. Legs a bit tired from the snow running in the last days.
The dogs held up great in the cold weather (-27.8 C at the start of the run). |
| Note | |
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| Working all day again although this is the 'hump' day. Only two more shifts after this until vacation. Covering the Cougars tonight and hopefully I won't be busy there. |
Friday Dec 7 |
| Trail running 46:00 [2] | |
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| Early morning run at -25C with the dogs. The snow is getting packed down a bit better and so the time is a bit faster today. Gotta get over this work schedule and get some quality training in... |
Thursday Dec 6 |
| Trail running 45:00 [2]+240m | |
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| Took the dogs out after work (dog-sitting for a friend until Sunday). -21C today - balmy!!
Did a small loop in the closer forest, up the powerline and back to UNBC to fill out the 45 minutes. Heavy lifting with all the snow. |
| Note | |
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| I meant to run into work for 6am but it was less than -25 C so I drove. I'm getting soft. |
| Hockey 35:00 [3] | |
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| Playing defense tonight and got to display my booming shot from the blue line. Definitely not a natural defenseman so I ended up staying at home quite a bit. Oh well. Didn't get caught much and got more ice time and got to see the game from a different angle. I think even a positive +/-!
(time of 35 min out of our 75 min ice time, given only two D lines). |
Wednesday Dec 5 |
| Snowshoe 1:30:00 [1] | |
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| With Pat and the dogs, around the back of FFTW and then bushwacked over to Kueng's property and through to his place. Really nice to get out like this, worked pretty hard through the deep snow. |