Training Log Archive: TheMinister

It wasn't suppose to be a rest day, but it turned out that way. I was dehydrated yesterday. I now have a mild case of gout on my right toe. Arrgh! I've been doing the WCA (drinking Water, eating Cherries and taking Anti-inflammatory drugs). I walked very slowly for about 1/2 hour, tried to increase the circulation on my toe.

The heat and smog warning is also very discouraging. I took a 3 hour nap this evening and had no problems sleeping my regular 6 hours tonight. I guess I needed the rest!

It was hot today! Sherpa and I decided to go biking. She said to meet at a parking lot by an intersection. I arrived there about 5 minutes before our meeting time of 3 pm. I didn't see a parking lot, but did noticed a very wide gravel shoulder, wide enough for a couple of cars to park without interfering with traffic. One thing I like about my van is that there is ample space to change. I stopped there and began to change into my biking cloth.

Just as I was putting my spandex on, Sherpa pulls up. It looked like she was trying to peak into the van. I waved back. But because of my tinted glass, I wasn't sure she saw me. And since I only had 1/2 my spandex on, I didn't exactly feel like rushing to open the car door. I figure by the time she parked, I would finish changing. I looked down for a moment, then I look up and realized that she's driving away. Arrgh!!

I pull my spandex up as best I can (I had nothing else on), open the door, step on the shoulder of the road, jumping and waving at her. Waving because I wanted to catch her attention and jumping because of my bared feet on the gravel road - it was hot!! She didn't see me. A couple of car drove by this time, making me wonder what they must be wondering about.

I jumped into my van and started to chase after her car. As I was driving, I noticed that driving in bare foot is really not that bad. I wonder how people can walk bare footed on hot coals? And how funny it would look if someone saw me - driving with nothing but a pair of biking spandex on. :)

I did catch up to her eventually and she admitted that she gave me the wrong directions.

We biked for about an hour. It was just too hot. After that, I retreated indoors to a Fitness Center and did a Step Aerobic class. It was just too hot. And I'm not talking about the other steppers. :P

I've been away for most of last week with limited access to the internet. I now have back filled Attackpoint with last week's training logs.

The Dragon Boating race on weekend was amazing. On Saturday, it was the qualifying rounds. On the first round, we had the best start ever. We were just smoking after the start-sequence.

On Sunday, We came in 2nd in our division, (Yahoo!). but missed 1st place by about 0.3 seconds. Our sponsors were very happy. We got a plaque for them to hang in their headquarters. I'm always surprised at how just a couple of minutes of intense exercise can cause so much soreness. My shoulders are stiff, as are my hands and I have a cut on my left cheek.

I'm still trying to catch up on my sleep and the heat is not helping. On Saturday, I calculated that I took 8 naps. Every time that I was alone, or in a car, I was asleep. I took about 5 more naps today. I now a new record of number of naps taken in a weekend, 13! :)

The Minister of Naps

I did the Night Raid with some a couple of folks who are orienteers on Friday night whom I've not raced with before. I had a great time, and a great time watching them work. The details that they notice from the maps and the trail is quite impressive.

I remember at one point when he said 'Can you hear the swamps?' For those of you old enough to remember the TV series Kung Fu, and the Carol Burnett show's spoof on it.

'Snatch the peddle from my hand little Grass Hopper' as the Master opens his empty hand.
'But Master, I don't see a pebble.'
'Then you are not ready yet'.

I smiled as I thought to myself.

'Do you hear the swamps, Little Minister?'
'But Master Orienteer, I don't even see the swamps on the map'
'Then you are not ready yet and have much to learn about orienteering' :)

By the time I drove back to TO, it was about 5 am and I almost saw a sunrise. I had an hour nap and it was time to get up for our Dragon Boating race at Center Island.

The Little Minister

C • swamps 3

I ran in some for about an hours in the country road and trail. I realized how enjoyable it was to not have to run on sidewalk and along traffic.

I rode my bike for about 2 hours and got lost. I blame on a map that did not show all the trails.

Today, I declared a 'retirement afternoon' and went hiking with Sherpa. We hiked for about 2 hours at Rattlesnake point. In contrast to the mountain biking race yesterday, it was good to not fall.

I caught a spinning class afterwards, but wasn't able to get my heart rate up to the usual numbers. I guess I am still recovering.

Our team participated in the 24 hrs Mountain biking race at Albion Hills this weekend.

My 1st lap was OK, considering that it was only the second time that I've been on single tracks this year and my first time at Albion Hills.

My 2nd lap was a total disaster. I rode around 2 am. I think it was a combination of the dew, not seeing well and just a lack of skills. I fell over 10 times. I call it '360 falling'. I fell over my handlebar, I fell on my left side, on my right. I even fell backwards when I bike went under me. Good thing I was able to clear the rear wheel - that would've hurt. :p

Despite all that, I still had a great time. Sunday afternoon after I got back to TO, I fell asleep on the living couch at my parent's place. I dream about riding through the single tracks at night. I see the light. I see the tight and twisty trails. I see this huge 6 foot rock. I see my self riding into the rock. In my dream, I bounce off the rock. In real life, I fell off the couch and hit my head on the floor. Ouch!

My mom commented that I was sleeping, it looked like someone gave me an electric shock, then I fell off the couch. No major damage, but I made a mental note to consider keep my helmet on for at least 24 hours after a mountain biking race.

The Minister of 'after shocks',

Even after Racing.
We keep Falling. :)

Too many reasons to mention here, but I didn't get to pre-ride the Albion Hills trails as I had originally planned. I ended up 'walking my parent' in a local mall.

C • Mall Walking 1

I decided to so some hill running before our paddling practice. The most convenient place was the small hill just west of Ontario place, around the Argo rowing club (?). After the 2 repeats, I realized how stupid that was - on a smog warning day, on the Lakeshore with all the rush hour traffic cars. I did it one more time and called it quits. I was just not getting in the air, or at least not the right type of air.

Unfortunately, the Dragon Boat practice was canceled due to the possibility of high winds and lightning. Fortunately, a group of us just went to a restaurant and had beer and pizza. :)

I did about 1/2 hour on our rowing machine after I got home.

I left work a bit earlier today and decided to declared the rest of the day a 'Retirement Day'. As I was driving home, I decided to go biking at Kelso before The Minister's Wife comes home. I've not seen The Minister's Wife for a couple of days as she was studying for her exam - which took place today.

As I approached Mississauga, I noticed dark clouds, actually, *very* dark cloud. I said to myself, '...being a RTAR, that Rough and Tough Adventure Racer, I shouldn't let dark clouds brother me...' I continued to drive west. As I approach Milton, I noticed rain. I said to myself, '...being a RTAR, I shouldn't let rain bother me...'. I continued to drive west. As I approached Hilton Falls, I noticed lightning. All of a sudden, this RTAR decided to retreat to the comfort of an air conditioned Health Club and did a spinning class. :-)

It was a good class, I couldn't get my heart rate above 160, but I was happy to treat it as a recovery spin from the weekend race.

C • Spinning vs death by lightning 1

It was a hot morning. Less than 1/2 of the paddlers show up for our 10 am practice. It was still a good practice and a good post-race analysis. We changed our start strategy and concentrated on our pace or cadence.

My left shoulder is a bit sore, not sure whether it's from the sunburn or the race yesterday. My left bum is still a bit sore. I cut a 1/2 moon size out of one of those blue foams and slipped it between my spandex and my left bum. I'm sure it must've look strange, but it worked OK. Except for when I had to remove it - the humid air made it rather sticky. Ouch!

I noticed on Sunnyside beach that there was a green flag, indicating that it was safe to swim in the water. I don't know man, that water looked so murky that I think I can walk on it. I spent almost 5 minutes in the shower rinsing Lake Ontario water off my life jacket, clothing, etc.

I had planned to run this afternoon, but the smog warning discouraged me. So I did an hour of mall walking instead.

On a hot and humid day, the Wongs' Imperial Dragon Boating team descended on Musselman's lake for the Stoufville 2nd Annual Dragon Boating event. The competition looked fierce. Like the Wongs' they were experienced teams looking for a race to tune up for the Center Island race 2 weekends from now.

The race was very well organized. There were 2 races, a 250 m and a 500 m. Each race had a qualifier round and a final. A total of, yes count them, 4 races. It was a good time for first timers to experience the adrenaline rush of a race and for teams to find tune their race strategies.

You load into the boats from a beach (not a dock). It was surprising efficient - there were no line-ups nor long waits. As you head out to the starting line, you see the familiar backs of the team mates that are in front of you. You approach the starting line. Twenty-two team mates, in a boat, thoughts of the start sequence, the technique, you keep you eyes focus in the boat and on your own teammates. You ignore the noises from the other teams around you. You hear the referee shouting instructions for the boats to line up. You hear 'Starter has the race!', quickly followed by a 'Paddles Ready!' command from your own boat. Assuming the start position, you take in as much oxygen as you can, trying to contain yourself. There is a couple of seconds of total silence that feels like minutes. You hear the gun, and at that moment, the silence turns instantaneously into what seems like total chaos with water splashing and shouting everywhere! You concentrate on your Start Sequence Stokes, transition into race pace, and ....in just over 2 minutes, it's over - what a rush!!

The Wongs' team has some good starts, and some not so good starts. We won the heat at the 500m qualifier, but was second in the Division Finals. But we did have a PB time of 2 minutes and 13 seconds. A time that we believe we can improve on at the Center Island race.

What was interesting was that I had more injuries and post-race pains in a couple of 2 minute races, than in paddling for 2 hours. I have a cut on the left bum - I have to sit slanted to my right, my left shoulder is painful - not sure whether it's from the sunburn or the race. I was very tired!

Still having a great time trying to figure out how the 625x Polar running pod works. Went for a run with a local Running club. It was suppose to be a learn to run group. I thought it would be a nice cool down to our Dragon Boating race this weekend. But unfortunately, a couple of us broke away from the main group and ended up running much faster than I had planned. My pod read that we were running at 12 km/hour. The graphs that the software produced is quite extensive and would satisfy most statisticians.

I was working from home today and received an e-mail that Bash and Sherpa are planning to go riding at Kelso this morning. I thought long and hard about it for about 30 seconds, and decided to declare today as a 'Retirement Day'. I joined them for a 2 hour easy ride - had a great time! I turned the altitude function on my watch on. After the download it was cool to see my heart rate go red line when I climbed the 80 m hill. I climbed the hill twice, once to meet them at the summit parking lot and again because they had to return to the main gate to get a pass.

Long live Retirement Days!!