Training Archive: BashIn the 7 days ending 2007-11-11:
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Sunday Nov 11 | ||
| Event: Raid the Hammer | ||
| Orienteering race 4:35:00 | |
| Raid The Hammer with Hingo and Goose. Weather was perfect for a November race - cool and cloudy, but no rain. Big crowd of racers - 79 teams, with about 75% doing the 25K race and the rest doing the 10K.
We had a fun day! We didn't have a perfect race, but most of the things I would have changed were things that would have saved us seconds on different CPs, not minutes. The only major exception was in the Walk The Line section when I steered us down - and partially up the other side of - a deep ravine, convinced that Hammer was evil enough to make us do that - and equally convinced that I'd seen it on the map. After a nasty skid down there on wet clay, I had to inform my team that we were going back up - sigh. As an aside, all of our team agreed that we'd like to campaign for a 1:10,000 map next year. We're all starting to squint a little too much to see the contours, and - shockingly - there are even older teams than us who do these races! The other bobble was when we climbed up by the beautiful waterfall at CP8. Goose was just ahead with the SI unit, and I saw him about 2 m from the CP. It was a tough climb where we had to grab saplings to avoid skidding backwards in the mud (lots of those today), so I went back to focusing on my climb. We were nearly at the railroad tracks when Goose asked, "So do you see it anywhere?" It turns out that I was the only team member who had seen the control, and I thought it was so visible that it wasn't worth mentioning. Oops. As Hingo said, "We have Y chromosomes. We can't multi-task. We're either climbing or we're looking for flags." So... lesson learned - it's always worth checking if you don't see your teammate actually punch the control. We needed to tire Goose out a bit anyway, so it's OK with us that he got a little extra elevation gain/loss on the course! ;-) The only other negative was that I felt slooooow out there today. I took forever to warm up, and just had no zip in my legs. I treat RTH as an off-season event during my autumn rest and recovery season - and I really felt it today. I don't feel sore now because I've stayed moderately active, but I didn't feel energetic on the course. We ran into a few speedy Coed teams more than once - The Tragically Quick, Salomon XT Wings, STORM/Running Free and Beowulf. As long as we were running into people like them, I knew we were having a decent race! There were two Matrix sections, which was a nice enhancement, giving us all a chance to find our own controls. The physics section was cruel - I can just hear Sudden and Hammer laughing, bwaah hahahaha. The E=MC2 section had us run off in pairs to find a (M)ud control, (C)limb control #1 and (C)limb control #2. I did Mud (not muddy today, and it felt great to walk through the cold river water) and Climb #2 (holy CRAP, that was steep!) I'd been told that the race course was relatively flat this year, but it didn't feel that way at all. Maybe it's because so many of the climbs were steep, but I don't remember clinging to the sides of slimy ravines by my fingernails as often as this in previous years! Goose felt very fresh at the end and gave me a high-speed tow down the final stretch of road. Having got to that point of the race without wrenching my injured ankle, I was *very* alert in this section. We dashed through two small forested ravines before arriving at the finish control in the school yard. Lots of fun, and Hingo and Goose were great teammates. Considering that Hingo hasn't been able to run for longer than an hour since August due to an Achilles injury, I was impressed at how well he held up for 4.5 hrs! A little ice on his ITB at the end, but he had no trouble leaving me in the dust. As for Goose, we're going to have to hook him up with 'Bent (after his recovery) and ThreePinJim for an event sometime. Those speedy boys would have a great time together! Speaking of 'Bent, he and the pooches volunteered. They were in the woods for 4.5 hrs, directing teams away from a property whose owner had made it clear that trespassing was verboten. A fun time as always - well organized, great course. Thanks to all the volunteers who worked behind the scenes to put this event on! | ||
Saturday Nov 10 | ||
| Orienteering (2 hrs 30 min) 1:15:00 [1] *** | |
| Hung more flags for the Tree Hugger race on a spectacular, sunny day. I brought BulletDog along again in hopes of tiring her out more so that she'll be a good little Raid The Hammer volunteer tomorrow. I'm not sure that my plan is working. Instead of tiring her out with all this exercise, she just seems to be getting fitter! She found something else disgusting to rub her shoulder blades against today, so a partial dog bath was needed for the 2nd day in a row.
I made a fateful decision to cross a fenceline for a shorter route back to the car. It appeared to be a fallen cedar fence - no big deal. Then I saw the rusty one-meter-high barbwire fence with loose bits of wire dangling from it. To my horror, BulletDog took a trusting dive through some invisible hole in the middle of all that wire and landed on the other side. I stepped over the fence and headed toward her, looking carefully for any signs of blood or pain. Well, *she* was fine, but I turned my good ankle hard because I was looking at her instead of watching my step. Bad timing with the 25K Raid The Hammer adventure run tomorrow. :-( | ||
Friday Nov 9 | ||
| Orienteering (2 hrs 30 min) 1:30:00 [1] *** | |
| Hung about half the flags for the Tree Hugger race. Feeling less than totally enthusiastic about it, having just received a "No" RSVP for the AR Wrap-up party from someone who posted on the Evite website that he and three other invitees would be running a beer mile instead.
I wasn't going to hold the event this year after a 3-year run, but agreed to do it when some folks convinced me that it was a good tradition for the AR community to maintain, and offered their help to make it so. We are truly grateful and overwhelmed to have so many strong supporters of our event in the AR community - all the major AR companies in Ontario, several top-notch corporate sponsors, and many of the best racers in the country. I'm happy that so many of us will have a chance to get together and have a great time with good friends next weekend, and I'm really looking forward to it. But it's a pain to work so hard on something for other people on a volunteer basis, then get a stupid comment like that from someone who obviously doesn't give a s**t, especially since attendance is down this year, and we may not cover our costs. (Oh, and it makes me *really* wish that Billy had won that trip to Oz.) OK, rant over! BulletDog and I went around Albion Hills on a damp, grey afternoon. I'm not fast when I hang flags because I'm constantly re-evaluating what I've decided on paper. "This rockpile is close to the Chalet, so parents will come here with their children, who might not see that ruined barbwire fence, so I'd better move the control to that pit down the hill." "This hill is right on the border of the conservation area during hunting season. If someone goes too far, it could be dangerous. Better move that flag." "This pond is really stinky and mucky, and people's dogs and kids will get filthy. If it were farther away from the Chalet, I'd keep the control here, but I think everyone will try to visit this one." And so on. I got bitten by the last one myself, as BulletDog immersed herself in the stinky slime, then followed up later with a good shoulder blade rub on the disembodied leg of some dead animal. Yuck. I had to head home early to make sure there was time for a dog bath before we headed out to the photography awards reception. :-) | ||
| C • Had to check 4 | ||
Thursday Nov 8 | ||
| Note | |
| slept:5.0 (rest day) | ||
| I'd planned to get over to Albion Hills to hang some flags for the Tree Hugger race, but it's been a busy 24 hrs for Raid The Hammer Registrar duties. Also, ThunderDog was full of beans - repeatedly ringing the doorbell (a bell hanging on the inside knob) to indicate her desire to get out for some training. Given that she'd done some hind leg extensions yesterday, sweeping a few things off the kitchen counter as she searched for goodies, I knew that I needed to work at tiring her out. (Although I've never had a toddler, I think I understand some of the basic principles.)
So out the door for a hike that doesn't merit logging, but there were a few points of note: 1) I found the location where I took the photo that won the award! I wasn't really looking for it, then it suddenly jumped out at me. No need to squint or use the imagination. It was quite obviously the place. Interestingly, it was the apparent contours that were messing me up - and here I'd thought that I should be paying *more* attention to them. It appeared to me - and apparently to some others - that the forest path was relatively flat. In fact, it was an optical illusion - that path goes sharply downhill. In the end, it was a broken-off birch standing in some logging debris that caught my attention. I'd looked at the two hills before, but hadn't considered that I should turn, back up a few steps, and look down the steep incline. And the answer is? The photo was taken at a spot that I can jog to in less than 60 seconds from our front door. No wonder it looked so familiar, and no wonder 'Bent insisted that it had to be on our next door neighbour's property. It was. 2) Snow is here!!!! And it's sticking to the ground. The blades of grass still extend above it, but it's looking wintry. Yahoo!! Who needs to go to Silver Star? 3) I tried my new Marmot Thunder Ridge jacket for the first time. It's nice because the lining zips out so that it becomes a Precip-style rain jacket when you don't need a winter jacket. And now ThunderDog is snoring, so my cunning strategy worked. | ||
| C • Photo spot 4 | ||
Wednesday Nov 7 | ||
| Running (Trail) 30:00 [2] | |
| Went out for a jog to see if I could find where I was standing when I took my Oak Ridges Moraine photo. The answer has proven to be more elusive than I'd expected. Part of the problem today was that I went out too late, so I was rushing around in poor light. A few weeks ago, I heard of another cougar sighting in our area, so I didn't want to be out running alone at dusk. 'Bent and BulletDog commuted home in the dark. They're not afraid of no stinkin' kitty cat.
Since yesterday's run with Leanimal, I've had a sharp pain beneath the upper patella on my bad knee. Of course I'm not suggesting that Leanimal is responsible, just because she is competing in our category in Sunday's race, and just because she's an expert on what makes knees hurt. It is simply a bizarre coincidence. | ||
Tuesday Nov 6 | ||
| Note | |
| Please take a moment to welcome my ESAR 2008 teammates who have just joined Attackpoint. The race is still seven months away, but it's never too early to make them nervous about how many people are keeping an eye on their training. ;-)
Hurtn is my neighbour, a landscape artist who wants to improve his physical fitness for an active painting expedition in the Arctic this summer. Damuhl is his brother, who will be accompanying him on the backpacking trip. Damuhl's nickname arises from the role he's anticipating on the journey - helping Hurtn haul stacks of canvases, brushes, paints, palette, paint thinner, HD cameras, satellite phone, microphone, etc. He figures that "da brodder will be damuhl". | ||
| Running 1:05:00 | |
| ahr:149 max:170 | ||
| Tuesday Gurlz Run with Leanimal and BulletDog. The rain was about as cold as rain gets before it turns to snow, but it wasn't too bad once we got going. Much of the trail surface was slightly wet clay, creating that soothing "oil slick" running experience. Very good for developing agility! BulletDog was higher maintenance than usual today - not being bad, just being a dog. We had several encounters with other dogs enroute, plus a small mess to clean up and a couple of wet dog shakes after river swims. Thanks to Leanimal for being a good sport about it. She is sleeping *very* happily on the couch now. (BulletDog, not Leanimal.) | ||
| C • sure not Leanimal. Better s... 6 | ||
Monday Nov 5 | ||
| Trekking (logged 50%) 20:00 [1] | |
| A nice surprise today... I won the Land and Water category for our region in the Monitoring the Moraine Photo Contest. My photo will be included in an exhibition that will travel across the Oak Ridges Moraine. I even get to attend a reception at a winery to receive my prize. Hmm... an artist joined my adventure racing team just a few days ago, and already I've landed my first exhibition. Coincidence?!? I think not! :-)
It bugs me that I can't remember where I was standing when I took the photo, but it's one of a small group of photos that were taken on a hike behind our house several years ago. There's been some major logging since then, not to mention the forest fire, so I may have to rely on terrain contours rather than trees to identify the location. So there's the long story to explain why ThunderDog and I went out for a brisk hike today in the cold drizzle. I didn't print the photo and bring it along, which I obviously should have, since I didn't find the location. It might be off-trail somewhere. I might need to call in the senior Waddingtons to assist!  | ||
| C • Imagine the possibilities! 8 | ||
| Strength (Upper Body) 23:00 [1] | |
| As promised after I felt like a 98 lb weakling doing planks in last week's yoga class, I started an upper body strength routine today. I used to do this stuff regularly, but over the past couple of years, I've worked more on core and leg strength. Those are the right priorities, but things have gotten ridiculous in the push-up department. The chart by the weight machine showed the weights that I was using before, and for the most part, I had to go down a level, which makes sense. For some reason, I've kept my pulldown strength from 18 months ago, but I had to cut the weight *way, way* down for one-armed rowing. Not sure why that would be. By Zoolander's standards this was definitely only a mini-blast. | ||
| C • Mini blast or not, welcome ... 2 | ||