Rushing in late from the Halloween ride, fuelled by sugar, which didn't help!
Warm-up: 100m with somersaults every half length
Main course:
5x 200m on 4:45
4:20 / 4:30 / 4:30 / 4:30 / 4:30
5x 100m on 2:20
2:03 / 2:05 / 2:07 / 2:05 / 2:03
5x 50m on 1:15
0:52 / 0:56 / 0:58 / 0:58 / 0:56
I swam in the wall lane, as I felt weak, and the rope lane was totally full. I couldn't get anywhere on the way up against the wall, but coming back in the middle was nice and smooth. Still, I had terribly slow times. I only managed a few flip turns, but mostly I was out of breath. I did a flip turn on each of the 50s.
1x 50m hypoxic / sprint
(0,0,0,0)
--Distance: 1,900m
--Duration: 60mins
2012-10-31
Spinning
I got invited to a Halloween costume spinning class at CYKL, where I'd done one class for free leading up to the Ride for Heart. Since I'd dressed up as Lance Armstrong on Saturday, how could I say no to this opportunity? I just asked permission to wear my controversial costume, but it was very well received by the studio owner!
So here I was in my Le Tour de Science Livestrong t-shirt, syringe stuck in my heart, helmet and shoes, I climbed onto the bike I'd reserved and couldn't get my cleats to lock in! When was the last time Lance couldn't clip into his pedals? When he was three? On his first tricycle? hahaha They had to get me onto another bike with some house shoes. How embarrassing.
I missed a bunch of the warm-up and first set because of this, so then I spent a while trying to catch up. Thankfully they put me up in the front so I could mimic what the instructor was doing. I don't know their lingo yet.
I know we did some climbs, in and out of the saddle, and with turns. I know we did a few tabata sets of sprints. There were some rollers in between. But all in all, I was just trying to mirror the instructor, down to seeing how many times she'd turned the crank on her tension thingy. This whole spinning thing is harder than real biking!
I had a really hard time breathing, and my legs were on fire. No biking fitness whatsoever. I'm kind of hoping I'll win one of the 5-pack class prizes for best costume. Although as my roommate pointed out, if they award me the prize, they should then take it away.
--Duration: 45mins
 |
| Le Tour de Science |
I missed a bunch of the warm-up and first set because of this, so then I spent a while trying to catch up. Thankfully they put me up in the front so I could mimic what the instructor was doing. I don't know their lingo yet.
I know we did some climbs, in and out of the saddle, and with turns. I know we did a few tabata sets of sprints. There were some rollers in between. But all in all, I was just trying to mirror the instructor, down to seeing how many times she'd turned the crank on her tension thingy. This whole spinning thing is harder than real biking!
I had a really hard time breathing, and my legs were on fire. No biking fitness whatsoever. I'm kind of hoping I'll win one of the 5-pack class prizes for best costume. Although as my roommate pointed out, if they award me the prize, they should then take it away.
--Duration: 45mins
2012-10-29
Pool Swimming
This was a swim practise I'd prefer to forget. It brought out my greatest deficiency, which is being constantly out of breath.
I walked in partway through the warm-up, where instead of the planned laps, Coach had us practise flip turns in the shallow end. I'd been doing them since I was 12, but I knew that there was a different technique in use now. You're supposed to flip and pull your arms out straight in front of you, push off hard and then turn in the water. I couldn't get this right except a couple of times. I kept crashing into the bottom or going off my line. We were to incorporate the flips into the main set. Yeah right!
The main set was a blurry jumble of 200s and 100s and maybe 50s. I couldn't breathe at all with the flip turns, so I was struggling really badly. I was in my regular rope lane but could not hope to keep up with the others and got lapped a few times. I never earned any rest breaks between the sets. I was choking.
Coach asked me to be persistent with the flips, as challenging myself out of my comfort zone is the only way to improve. I told him I could handle the hypoxic drills now, but holding my breath for a few seconds while flipping was much harder. I think it's that I have the time to relax into a hypoxic length, while flip turns just disrupt my regular breathing. He told me that the next step after the killer 50s is to go right from hypoxic into a flip turn and continue, with the ultimate goal being a full 50 hypoxic. I didn't manage to try a hypoxic flip, but I'll work my way up to it.
--Distance: fucked if I knew
--Duration: 70mins
I walked in partway through the warm-up, where instead of the planned laps, Coach had us practise flip turns in the shallow end. I'd been doing them since I was 12, but I knew that there was a different technique in use now. You're supposed to flip and pull your arms out straight in front of you, push off hard and then turn in the water. I couldn't get this right except a couple of times. I kept crashing into the bottom or going off my line. We were to incorporate the flips into the main set. Yeah right!
The main set was a blurry jumble of 200s and 100s and maybe 50s. I couldn't breathe at all with the flip turns, so I was struggling really badly. I was in my regular rope lane but could not hope to keep up with the others and got lapped a few times. I never earned any rest breaks between the sets. I was choking.
Coach asked me to be persistent with the flips, as challenging myself out of my comfort zone is the only way to improve. I told him I could handle the hypoxic drills now, but holding my breath for a few seconds while flipping was much harder. I think it's that I have the time to relax into a hypoxic length, while flip turns just disrupt my regular breathing. He told me that the next step after the killer 50s is to go right from hypoxic into a flip turn and continue, with the ultimate goal being a full 50 hypoxic. I didn't manage to try a hypoxic flip, but I'll work my way up to it.
--Distance: fucked if I knew
--Duration: 70mins
2012-10-28
Peak-2-Peak
Format: Point-to-Point, Trail
Terrain: Forest, deep valleys, meadow, road, trail
Weather: Drizzle/Rain, 5°
I thought I'd get all my lost-iness out of the way by making the wrong turn on the highway in Hamilton and forcing my carpool mates to run out their phones trying to guide me across the city and back to the race start. That mostly worked. But it's not an efficient strategy.
This was the warm-up race for the Raid the Hammer, and I raced it with my teammate WP. The orienteering was actually quite challenging, which is good, because I don't expect the Raid navigation to be nearly as hard, so this was a good way to overcompensate and be better-prepared. It was a blustery cold and wet day, so any time spent moving slowly and thinking about the course kind of sucked a lot.
We spent a short time marking my map, and while that really helps if you do a good job, maybe committing to certain route choices hastily isn't the best idea. To get to control 1, we ran around the bottom of a hill on a road, even though I saw another racer duck into the bush earlier - I realized that it wasn't a straight climb on the near side, but a bit of a valley; decided to press on anyway, but the other way was much faster. For control 2, I took us down the hill along a bad line because there was a clear path, so then we had to go up a trail to make sure we knew how far along we were.
Then we had a long run on a piece of the Bruce Trail (yay! I love seeing those white blazes!) and easily found 3. The straight route to 4 looked pretty green on the map, but we agreed we'd see how it is in reality and decide then if we should take a trail around. We ended up finding a bit of a clear path through sumac bushes, but when we made it back out onto a trail close to 4, the vegetation was different than on the map, clearing later than it should have, so I overran my attack point; thankfully there were some characteristic boulders where we ended up, so finding 4 was easy, just took too long. As an aside, this was probably the 3rd or so of many controls marked as "hilltop." The race was really "Peak-2-Peak-2-Peak-2-Peak-2-Peak-2-Peak"...
5 was easy orienteering, and 6 would have been the same, but we got caught up seeing 12 close to it, so detoured a bit before continuing to 6. We then moved to the third part of the map, which was a kind of crossed loop, and I did something silly - I started running straight for 11 instead of 7. Thankfully W was like, "huh??" and got us back on track, and the unplanned route was actually more direct and faster than going around like the other racers!
I have no idea what I did heading out to 8, but my line was way off, and we got quite close to an out-of-bounds private area. It was a little hard to tell how far along the private fence we were, and there had been some distracting racers yelling on a slight hill. Since we were looking for a hill (big surprise!), it was possible that that was it, although I thought the area we'd ended up in was too flat compared with that part of the map. We doubled way back to an obvious set of hills and houses and confirmed that we hadn't gone far enough in the first place.
9 was on the other side of a fairly deep stream valley, and once again I veered us off a straight line between the controls, crap. But that took us to a very obvious bridge and fork in the streams, so getting to 9 was quite easy. The only problem was that the control was set a good 100m too close to where it should have been, so when I tried to navigate among some hills to 10, I ended up in a different area than intended. I can read contour features very well, so I figured it out, but we really got slowed down here in what should have been a much faster section.
Next up was my favourite part: running on train tracks! I am terrified of trains. Maybe it made me run faster. 11 was fairly easy once we got back into the woods. We already knew where 12 was since we'd inadvertently visited it before, haha, and 13 was really fun to get to along a small sandy river bed. There was a cool crink in the river, and since I get very excited about funny contour features, that was a delight to run past. Don't judge me.
The way to 14 should have been a no-brainer since there was an open (although shrubby) field and a clear tree line. I have no idea how I turned us around, but we ended up on a trail that was perpendicular to the one we needed, and I clued in about 50m in when I checked the trail direction. 15 was fairly easy, and I kept a good line, but for some reason I chose to cut across a very brambly field to get to 16 instead of just taking a trail - I think I wanted to avoid climbing. Well we avoided that! I think I'm still picking the thorns out. Then we took the long Bruce Trail run back towards the start, and found 17 easily, although it was at the toppiest hilltop of them all.
Notes for the Raid:
- Use max time for map marking, and each map should be marked
- If we're lost-ish, get to a definite known point to re-navigate
- Teammate who is in charge of control descriptions / control numbers / other race leg instructions is awesome; food timing would also be fantastic during the long race
- I have a hard time holding a good line on a compass bearing, and I'd prefer one of my teammates to do this instead on the longer legs
- It would be great to have one teammate lead to a control and another teammate to have the bearing leading away from the control ready, so we can leave the control immediately; I'm bad at doing this in solo races
- Tow-line: normally I'd recommend it for equalization, but both WP and I are in no shape to move at a faster pace than what our broken legs allow; neither of us should push our legs beyond safe operating limits
- Gotta check in with team pace and stay together
- I know I get more nervous about my skills when others are counting on me to get it right
--Distance: 12.5km
--Duration: 2:28:53
Hey, even with a crappy time, it turns out we were 12th overall and 3rd women! This challenging course was not kind to a lot of the racers, many of whom ended up skipping controls just to finish. So I'm pretty happy that eventually our diligence and persistence paid off. Look out, Raiders - here come A Few Good Legs!
Terrain: Forest, deep valleys, meadow, road, trail
Weather: Drizzle/Rain, 5°
I thought I'd get all my lost-iness out of the way by making the wrong turn on the highway in Hamilton and forcing my carpool mates to run out their phones trying to guide me across the city and back to the race start. That mostly worked. But it's not an efficient strategy.
This was the warm-up race for the Raid the Hammer, and I raced it with my teammate WP. The orienteering was actually quite challenging, which is good, because I don't expect the Raid navigation to be nearly as hard, so this was a good way to overcompensate and be better-prepared. It was a blustery cold and wet day, so any time spent moving slowly and thinking about the course kind of sucked a lot.
 |
| AP Route, Garmin Track |
Then we had a long run on a piece of the Bruce Trail (yay! I love seeing those white blazes!) and easily found 3. The straight route to 4 looked pretty green on the map, but we agreed we'd see how it is in reality and decide then if we should take a trail around. We ended up finding a bit of a clear path through sumac bushes, but when we made it back out onto a trail close to 4, the vegetation was different than on the map, clearing later than it should have, so I overran my attack point; thankfully there were some characteristic boulders where we ended up, so finding 4 was easy, just took too long. As an aside, this was probably the 3rd or so of many controls marked as "hilltop." The race was really "Peak-2-Peak-2-Peak-2-Peak-2-Peak-2-Peak"...
5 was easy orienteering, and 6 would have been the same, but we got caught up seeing 12 close to it, so detoured a bit before continuing to 6. We then moved to the third part of the map, which was a kind of crossed loop, and I did something silly - I started running straight for 11 instead of 7. Thankfully W was like, "huh??" and got us back on track, and the unplanned route was actually more direct and faster than going around like the other racers!
I have no idea what I did heading out to 8, but my line was way off, and we got quite close to an out-of-bounds private area. It was a little hard to tell how far along the private fence we were, and there had been some distracting racers yelling on a slight hill. Since we were looking for a hill (big surprise!), it was possible that that was it, although I thought the area we'd ended up in was too flat compared with that part of the map. We doubled way back to an obvious set of hills and houses and confirmed that we hadn't gone far enough in the first place.
9 was on the other side of a fairly deep stream valley, and once again I veered us off a straight line between the controls, crap. But that took us to a very obvious bridge and fork in the streams, so getting to 9 was quite easy. The only problem was that the control was set a good 100m too close to where it should have been, so when I tried to navigate among some hills to 10, I ended up in a different area than intended. I can read contour features very well, so I figured it out, but we really got slowed down here in what should have been a much faster section.
Next up was my favourite part: running on train tracks! I am terrified of trains. Maybe it made me run faster. 11 was fairly easy once we got back into the woods. We already knew where 12 was since we'd inadvertently visited it before, haha, and 13 was really fun to get to along a small sandy river bed. There was a cool crink in the river, and since I get very excited about funny contour features, that was a delight to run past. Don't judge me.
The way to 14 should have been a no-brainer since there was an open (although shrubby) field and a clear tree line. I have no idea how I turned us around, but we ended up on a trail that was perpendicular to the one we needed, and I clued in about 50m in when I checked the trail direction. 15 was fairly easy, and I kept a good line, but for some reason I chose to cut across a very brambly field to get to 16 instead of just taking a trail - I think I wanted to avoid climbing. Well we avoided that! I think I'm still picking the thorns out. Then we took the long Bruce Trail run back towards the start, and found 17 easily, although it was at the toppiest hilltop of them all.
Notes for the Raid:
- Use max time for map marking, and each map should be marked
- If we're lost-ish, get to a definite known point to re-navigate
- Teammate who is in charge of control descriptions / control numbers / other race leg instructions is awesome; food timing would also be fantastic during the long race
- I have a hard time holding a good line on a compass bearing, and I'd prefer one of my teammates to do this instead on the longer legs
- It would be great to have one teammate lead to a control and another teammate to have the bearing leading away from the control ready, so we can leave the control immediately; I'm bad at doing this in solo races
- Tow-line: normally I'd recommend it for equalization, but both WP and I are in no shape to move at a faster pace than what our broken legs allow; neither of us should push our legs beyond safe operating limits
- Gotta check in with team pace and stay together
- I know I get more nervous about my skills when others are counting on me to get it right
--Distance: 12.5km
--Duration: 2:28:53
Hey, even with a crappy time, it turns out we were 12th overall and 3rd women! This challenging course was not kind to a lot of the racers, many of whom ended up skipping controls just to finish. So I'm pretty happy that eventually our diligence and persistence paid off. Look out, Raiders - here come A Few Good Legs!
Location:
Hamilton, ON
2012-10-27
Pool Swimming
Missed Wednesday's workout in favour of the Massey Lecture, so when Coach sent out the workout, I did it at my rec centre 25-yard pool. This is probably a fudging of what was intended, but it's my best interpretation.
Because it's a yard pool, I have the times for 25 metre lengths in square brackets. 25y = 22.86m
Warm-up:
100y easy
200y zipper / catch-up
200y fast / easy
4x 25y kicks all-out
100y pull
Main Course:
2x 300y (6:45)
5:50 / 5:53
[6:23 / 6:26]
4x 200y (4:30)
3:52 / 3:51 / 3:55 / 3:52
[4:14 / 4:13 / 4:17 / 4:14]
I finally started feeling really smooth midway through the 200s and could hold a nice stroke for the whole distance.
6x 100y (2:15)
1:52 / 1:51 / 1:52 / 1:50 / 1:55 / 1:50
[2:02 / 2:01 / 2:02 / 2:00 / 2:06 / 2:00]
This is pretty slow, but it's hard to get going without the team. Still, I felt much better on the 100s.
4x 50y hypoxic / sprint
(0,0,0,0)
These were short, and they were extremely easy, even with the sprints. I actually enjoyed them. They forced me to swim really smoothly. It was like the snorkel workouts, except without all the stress!
--Distance: 2,900y [2,650m]
--Duration: 75mins
Because it's a yard pool, I have the times for 25 metre lengths in square brackets. 25y = 22.86m
Warm-up:
100y easy
200y zipper / catch-up
200y fast / easy
4x 25y kicks all-out
100y pull
Main Course:
2x 300y (6:45)
5:50 / 5:53
[6:23 / 6:26]
4x 200y (4:30)
3:52 / 3:51 / 3:55 / 3:52
[4:14 / 4:13 / 4:17 / 4:14]
I finally started feeling really smooth midway through the 200s and could hold a nice stroke for the whole distance.
6x 100y (2:15)
1:52 / 1:51 / 1:52 / 1:50 / 1:55 / 1:50
[2:02 / 2:01 / 2:02 / 2:00 / 2:06 / 2:00]
This is pretty slow, but it's hard to get going without the team. Still, I felt much better on the 100s.
4x 50y hypoxic / sprint
(0,0,0,0)
These were short, and they were extremely easy, even with the sprints. I actually enjoyed them. They forced me to swim really smoothly. It was like the snorkel workouts, except without all the stress!
--Distance: 2,900y [2,650m]
--Duration: 75mins
Gym Workout
(reps) 1st set / 2nd set / 3rd set / 4th set
(10) DB Flat Bench Press: 25lbs x2 / 25lbs x2 / 25lbs x2 / 30lbs x2
(10) BB Front Squat: 60lbs / 70lbs / 70lbs / 70lbs
(10/side) DB Row: 20lbs / 25lbs / 25lbs / 30lbs
(10/side) Curtsy Lunges: BW / BW / BW / BW
(10) Leg Press: 240lbs / 260lbs / 280lbs
(10/side) Russian Twist: 35lbs plate / 35lbs plate / 35lbs plate
(failure) Pull-ups: 2.5 / 1.5 / 1.25
--Duration: 40mins
(10) DB Flat Bench Press: 25lbs x2 / 25lbs x2 / 25lbs x2 / 30lbs x2
(10) BB Front Squat: 60lbs / 70lbs / 70lbs / 70lbs
(10/side) DB Row: 20lbs / 25lbs / 25lbs / 30lbs
(10/side) Curtsy Lunges: BW / BW / BW / BW
(10) Leg Press: 240lbs / 260lbs / 280lbs
(10/side) Russian Twist: 35lbs plate / 35lbs plate / 35lbs plate
(failure) Pull-ups: 2.5 / 1.5 / 1.25
--Duration: 40mins
2012-10-22
Pool Swimming
Warm-up:
100m easy
200m zipper / catch-up
200m fast / easy
50m kick
Already felt excellent, so I went into the main really confident.
Main course:
50m - time + 15secs for pace (1:15)
100m - double up (2:30)
200m - double up (5:00)
400m - double up (10:00)
200m - faster than first
100m - faster
50m - faster
0:52 / 1:53 / 3:56 / 8:07 / 3:55 / 1:50 / 0:50
After we broke through the 400, the shorter distances were so much easier, and I was able to beat my original times as planned.
4x 25m hypoxic, 25m sprint, 1min RI (taking it to the next level!)
(0,0,0,0) Not only did I kill all four again, I did each 50m in about 0:50, and the last one felt the easiest because I swam so smoothly. But my quads really felt it on the third one - soooo oxygen-deprived.
4x 25m kicks all out - finished it on wobbly legs.
5x 100m on 2:20 (we were supposed to drop by 0:05, but somehow did not!)
1:53 / 1:58 / 2:00 / 1:59 / 2:05
Kicks had killed me, so these time were a bit crappy!
Cool-down:
50m easy
--Distance: 2,500m
--Duration: 75mins
100m easy
200m zipper / catch-up
200m fast / easy
50m kick
Already felt excellent, so I went into the main really confident.
Main course:
50m - time + 15secs for pace (1:15)
100m - double up (2:30)
200m - double up (5:00)
400m - double up (10:00)
200m - faster than first
100m - faster
50m - faster
0:52 / 1:53 / 3:56 / 8:07 / 3:55 / 1:50 / 0:50
After we broke through the 400, the shorter distances were so much easier, and I was able to beat my original times as planned.
4x 25m hypoxic, 25m sprint, 1min RI (taking it to the next level!)
(0,0,0,0) Not only did I kill all four again, I did each 50m in about 0:50, and the last one felt the easiest because I swam so smoothly. But my quads really felt it on the third one - soooo oxygen-deprived.
4x 25m kicks all out - finished it on wobbly legs.
5x 100m on 2:20 (we were supposed to drop by 0:05, but somehow did not!)
1:53 / 1:58 / 2:00 / 1:59 / 2:05
Kicks had killed me, so these time were a bit crappy!
Cool-down:
50m easy
--Distance: 2,500m
--Duration: 75mins
2012-10-21
Gym Workout
First time trying out the new weight room at Matty Eckler CRC. It's actually quite decently stocked now, even with a squat rack. No balls though (probably because the riff-raff would just steal them). No mirrors either.
(reps) 1st set / 2nd set / 3rd set
(10) DB Bench Press: 20lbs x2 / 20lbs x2 / 20lbs x2
(10/side) DB Row: 20lbs / 20lbs / 25lbs
(10) BB Front Squat: 55lbs / 65lbs / 75lbs
(10) Leg Press: 230lbs / 210lbs plate
(10/side) Cable Chop: 17.5lbs / 17.5lbs
--Duration: 25mins
I talked to the main staff member about improvements in security since their reno, but he told me the same thing as the last time I dared work out there after my stuff was stolen: the city doesn't give a flying fuck about your stuff or about securing their space (not his exact words.) Not a good way to keep clients from going to private gyms. I think I'll stick to East York CC.
(reps) 1st set / 2nd set / 3rd set
(10) DB Bench Press: 20lbs x2 / 20lbs x2 / 20lbs x2
(10/side) DB Row: 20lbs / 20lbs / 25lbs
(10) BB Front Squat: 55lbs / 65lbs / 75lbs
(10) Leg Press: 230lbs / 210lbs plate
(10/side) Cable Chop: 17.5lbs / 17.5lbs
--Duration: 25mins
I talked to the main staff member about improvements in security since their reno, but he told me the same thing as the last time I dared work out there after my stuff was stolen: the city doesn't give a flying fuck about your stuff or about securing their space (not his exact words.) Not a good way to keep clients from going to private gyms. I think I'll stick to East York CC.
2012-10-17
Pool Swimming
Warm-up:
100m zipper / catch-up
150m fast / easy
100m kick
100m pull
Tonight was an exercise in trying to intuitively feel your own speed. So we were to try to repeat the same effort each time and feel for how fast we had gone. I think.
100m - 1:51
Trying to hold the original speed, with 30secs breaks:
2x 100m - 1:54 / 1:59
Trying to hold the time for the last two 100s:
200m - 4:10
Trying to hold the 200m speed, with 30secs breaks:
2x 200m - 4:22 / 4:22
Trying to hold the time for the last two 200s:
400m - 8:52
Some of these times I just got traffic-jammed, but mostly I just swam really slowly!
4x 25m hypoxic, 45secs RI (0,0,0,0) - I wasn't feeling it, but I also wasn't about to give up my perfect record of the past few classes!
Supposed to do this before hypoxic but Coach confused the time a bit, oops!
5x 100m on ~2:08 (not really! kept adding 15secs, which we weren't supposed to)
1:53 / 1:58 / 2:00 / 2:04 / 2:05
Having just done the hypoxic, I actually felt amazing swimming these. I was obviously painfully slow, but I could breathe, and I kept racing the lane next to mine.
--Distance: 2,350m
--Duration: 65mins
100m zipper / catch-up
150m fast / easy
100m kick
100m pull
Tonight was an exercise in trying to intuitively feel your own speed. So we were to try to repeat the same effort each time and feel for how fast we had gone. I think.
100m - 1:51
Trying to hold the original speed, with 30secs breaks:
2x 100m - 1:54 / 1:59
Trying to hold the time for the last two 100s:
200m - 4:10
Trying to hold the 200m speed, with 30secs breaks:
2x 200m - 4:22 / 4:22
Trying to hold the time for the last two 200s:
400m - 8:52
Some of these times I just got traffic-jammed, but mostly I just swam really slowly!
4x 25m hypoxic, 45secs RI (0,0,0,0) - I wasn't feeling it, but I also wasn't about to give up my perfect record of the past few classes!
Supposed to do this before hypoxic but Coach confused the time a bit, oops!
5x 100m on ~2:08 (not really! kept adding 15secs, which we weren't supposed to)
1:53 / 1:58 / 2:00 / 2:04 / 2:05
Having just done the hypoxic, I actually felt amazing swimming these. I was obviously painfully slow, but I could breathe, and I kept racing the lane next to mine.
--Distance: 2,350m
--Duration: 65mins
Sports Medicine
Went in for my follow-up appointment with Dr. Chen at Athlete's Care. He said my pelvis is realigned and that I can stop using the brace except for workouts. I'm kind of worried about giving it up.
He said I should try some ART or acupuncture on my butt to break up the tense, inflamed tissues. But a few hours after he had poked around, I developed the usual ache in my hamstring and sit bone, so now I'm reluctant to go in for more poking. It definitely aggravated my symptoms back in the spring. I forgot to mention that to him.
So really don't know what to do. He wants me to start some light training again and come back in a month. He might run another ultrasound, as he doesn't trust most clinics out there, ha. Anyway, I'm so confused about this whole thing and what to do over the next month.
He said I should try some ART or acupuncture on my butt to break up the tense, inflamed tissues. But a few hours after he had poked around, I developed the usual ache in my hamstring and sit bone, so now I'm reluctant to go in for more poking. It definitely aggravated my symptoms back in the spring. I forgot to mention that to him.
So really don't know what to do. He wants me to start some light training again and come back in a month. He might run another ultrasound, as he doesn't trust most clinics out there, ha. Anyway, I'm so confused about this whole thing and what to do over the next month.
2012-10-15
Pool Swimming
Warm-up:
100m easy
200m zipper / catch-up
2x 25m hypoxic (0,0) - woohoo, cleared it again! Although I was so out of oxygen, I actually felt it in my leg muscles. Took it a bit far.
200s on pace + 15secs
3x 200m - 4:05 / 4:07 / 4:10
200s on pace + 30secs
2x 200m - 4:10 / 4:07
200 all out
1x 200m - 4:04
100s on pace + 15secs
3x 100m - 1:55 / 1:58 / 1:58
100s on pace + 25secs
2x 100m - 2:00 / no idea, I took in a waveful of water and choked in the middle of the last length, but I seemed faster up until that point!
100 all out
1x 100m - 1:56
50s on first pace + 15secs
3x 50m - 0:56 / 0:56 / 0:56
50s on pace + 20secs
2x 50m - 0:57 / 0:57
50 all out
1x 50m - 0:56
This was an exercise in pacing against the clock, and it was quite hard for us!
--Distance: 2,450m
--Duration: 70mins
100m easy
200m zipper / catch-up
2x 25m hypoxic (0,0) - woohoo, cleared it again! Although I was so out of oxygen, I actually felt it in my leg muscles. Took it a bit far.
200s on pace + 15secs
3x 200m - 4:05 / 4:07 / 4:10
200s on pace + 30secs
2x 200m - 4:10 / 4:07
200 all out
1x 200m - 4:04
100s on pace + 15secs
3x 100m - 1:55 / 1:58 / 1:58
100s on pace + 25secs
2x 100m - 2:00 / no idea, I took in a waveful of water and choked in the middle of the last length, but I seemed faster up until that point!
100 all out
1x 100m - 1:56
50s on first pace + 15secs
3x 50m - 0:56 / 0:56 / 0:56
50s on pace + 20secs
2x 50m - 0:57 / 0:57
50 all out
1x 50m - 0:56
This was an exercise in pacing against the clock, and it was quite hard for us!
--Distance: 2,450m
--Duration: 70mins
2012-10-14
Great Toronto Rogaine
Format: Rogaine (10hr Score-O)
Terrain: parks, muddy ravines, streets
Weather: warm but drizzly in the morning, then just overcast
I was so excited when I heard about my orienteering club's inaugural city-wide urban park rogaine, I immediately ditched my entry into the Waterfront 1/2 marathon taking place on the same day. A rogaine is a multi-hour orienteering event with controls you can visit in any order, accumulating more points for the outlying ones. They usually take place out in the woods, but this one was set in the many parks our club has maps for, and also incorporated a lot of scavenger hunt-style photo-based controls in the regular urban areas. The time limit would be 10hrs for the long course, my new longest event to date.
Having either raced in all of our club parks or set courses in them myself, I predicted which areas of the city would be part of the race and which would probably hold the most points, so I was able to sketch out a general route ahead of time. We were allowed to use any human-powered transportation plus public transit. It turns out that virtually all Toronto bus routes now have bike racks, so I opted to use my sturdy commuter in conjunction with hopping on buses where it would be faster.
I guessed that I could probably average 15kph on that bike overall, and that I could put out about 75km, plus however far I could get by transit. I opted for an eastbound route to Scarborough, then northwest to hit some parks along Steeles, and then back southeast towards the finish at Riverdale Park. My assumptions about the course were right on the money, so other than slotting in some photo controls along my general route, I didn't have to think too much before the start. The master map was the city cycling trail map with the photo controls marked in - an excellent choice, as it made choosing bike routes very easy. We also had about 12 park O-maps and a transit guide. New record for most maps in one race??
I knew each of the parks quite well, except for Warden Woods, Morningside and Bestview, which I hadn't raced in for quite a while. The other parks: Taylor Creek, L'Amoreaux, G. Ross Lord, Earl Bales, Sunnybrook and ET Seton, I essentially know like the back of my hand. For a few, I could probably produce a reasonable O-map just from memory! I was confident that I could make decent decisions on the fly during the race.
Highlights:
I ended up doing 80km on the bike (and on foot), and 20km by bus. So my estimate of 75km of riding was right on the money, and I was able to execute my pre-imagined plan perfectly. Once we all got back, it was pretty clear that everyone on the long course did more-or-less the same loop via Scarborough to get the big 200-point controls and then up to Steeles for the ~150+. People used all combinations of running, biking, busing, taking the subway. For me, the bike and bus combo was really optimal, as I could cover a big distance but also get to specific places quickly, and then ditch the bike to burrow through the bush.
Where I did lose time was re-checking my routes too many times, when I should have committed them to memory - some of the guys had map boards (on the chest or on the bike) - that probably would have been great! I also could have eaten a bit more, doncha think? Should have been eating on the bus rides, although I did take those times to plan ahead. I'm also not sure I was right to skip some controls in the parks where I thought they were a bit too out of the way (wrong side of a river, too deep in the bush to deal with the bike) - I had gone out far after all, so maybe should have banked those points while I was there. I would have had to skip the parks at the end, but would have had more points. I think in my heart of hearts, I went with having an enjoyable experience rather than maxing out the race - kind of unusual for me!
I will definitely be back next year, and hope to see a lot more people out there, making it more worthwhile for the organizers to have lost sleep putting up controls in the dark and hand-marking maps for us to use. I'm really in awe of their effort. Congrats to team of MS and RT who ran away with 4,500+ points and a clear overall win. It was easy for me to "win" the women's category as the only female out there, haha. But I think I did quite well overall too.
--Distance: 102km
--Duration: 9hrs 45mins
--Garmin track (imprecise): 101.22km
--Points: 3,530
--O-Controls: 21
--Photo controls: 7
Terrain: parks, muddy ravines, streets
Weather: warm but drizzly in the morning, then just overcast
I was so excited when I heard about my orienteering club's inaugural city-wide urban park rogaine, I immediately ditched my entry into the Waterfront 1/2 marathon taking place on the same day. A rogaine is a multi-hour orienteering event with controls you can visit in any order, accumulating more points for the outlying ones. They usually take place out in the woods, but this one was set in the many parks our club has maps for, and also incorporated a lot of scavenger hunt-style photo-based controls in the regular urban areas. The time limit would be 10hrs for the long course, my new longest event to date.
 |
| Marking the big points down before the start |
I guessed that I could probably average 15kph on that bike overall, and that I could put out about 75km, plus however far I could get by transit. I opted for an eastbound route to Scarborough, then northwest to hit some parks along Steeles, and then back southeast towards the finish at Riverdale Park. My assumptions about the course were right on the money, so other than slotting in some photo controls along my general route, I didn't have to think too much before the start. The master map was the city cycling trail map with the photo controls marked in - an excellent choice, as it made choosing bike routes very easy. We also had about 12 park O-maps and a transit guide. New record for most maps in one race??
I knew each of the parks quite well, except for Warden Woods, Morningside and Bestview, which I hadn't raced in for quite a while. The other parks: Taylor Creek, L'Amoreaux, G. Ross Lord, Earl Bales, Sunnybrook and ET Seton, I essentially know like the back of my hand. For a few, I could probably produce a reasonable O-map just from memory! I was confident that I could make decent decisions on the fly during the race.
Highlights:
- Stopping at my house on the way out to dump extra gear and clothing and finish my coffee - not my fault it was on my way!
- Being soaked inside of 10 minutes. I remember how shocked I was when that one ray of sunlight hit me in the face at some point during the day. But being soaked by rain means you don't mind wading through marshes and crossing creeks.
- Being super nervous the first time I dumped my bike in the bushes unlocked at Taylor Creek to wade into a marsh - I quickly realized I was one of very few people out in the drizzle and that my bike was always out of sight in places no sane person goes into anyway - I ended up never using my lock.
- Going down a sheer and muddy hillside in Warden Woods with the bike where there should have been a trail - put the bike sideways in front of me and used it like a granny walker.
- Using the mapped buildings and property edges visible above the ravines as landmarks - a fave trick of mine, I did this at four different parks.
 |
| Confucius - a photo control |
- Pulling and tugging at the "defective" bus bike rack for the first time before realizing I just had to read the printed instructions.
- Remembering one of my cardinal rules of checking precisely which side of a river the centre of the control circle is at - after approaching from the other side.
- Finally eating some breakfast 3hrs into the race all the way out in Guildwood. I finished the race on a Timmy's bagel belt, 3 gels, 1.5L of water, and a lot of adrenaline.
- Topping out at about 40kph on the empty stretches of Scarborough roads. I'd have thought my commuter would start to shear itself to pieces at speeds like that.
- Finally pulling out my compass 3.5hrs into the race to check the direction of a trail at Morningside - another one of my cardinal rules.
- Constantly emerging from thick bushes covered in mud, soaked by rain and sweat, and inexplicably carrying a bike - much to the surprise of dog walkers and other decent people out on the trails.
- Having other bus passengers move away from my muddy, smelly self, and the driver opening the window. I felt really bad for that one lady in a bright white jacket trying to squeeze past me when it got really crowded.
 |
| Fall colours at Bestview |
- Using my poor commuter as a bit of a mountain bike in Bestview when I got flat-out tired of carrying it around. My bike skills leave a lot to be desired, but I didn't slide into the river once.
- Ducking into my own private short cut at G. Ross Lord park, across a small marsh and up a secret trail. Helps that I've set courses here for quite a few years. I got all three high-point controls in this park in 20 minutes - easy money!
- Finally catching a glimpse of one other Rogainer as I was leaving this park - I didn't know for sure he was in the race until we both got back, but a guy on a bike with a ski-O map board, backpack and mud in all kinds of places - who else could it be?
- Climbing the Himalayan peaks of Earl Bales park, clinging to nothing but mud and ripping out dying trees on the way up, just to show the organizers that their questionable choice in control location was not in vain.
- Seeing a big furry dog rolling in the mud like crazy and running madly through a creek, much to the chagrin of its grimacing owner - only to take a good look at my own clothes caked in mud and then to jump in to run down the creek myself. That dog and I had a bond that will never be broken.
- Letting the official Toronto bicycle routes carry me diagonally through totally new territory from Bathurst and Wilson all the way to Bayview and Eglinton. I rode like the wind. Smelly, smelly wind.
- Emerging from one of these bike trails totally turned around and with no idea what street I was on. I put on my orienteering hat, took out my compass for the second time and started theorizing based on contours and directions. Then I turned around and saw the street sign.
- Feeling like home-sweet-home when I finally entered Sunnybrook park, my favourite stomping grounds. Maybe not the best choice for the final set of points, but I know every rock and shrub, and I just wanted to take advantage of that.
- Because of construction (which I knew about!), having to detour up Li'l Bastard, a huge hill leading out from ET Seton to Thornecliffe, named thus by some members of my triathlon club who do hill repeats there. 9hrs15 into the race, I managed about 3 revolutions on my bike and got off to push.
- Having accumulated more than 3,500 points and with 15 minutes to spare, I briefly considered carrying my bike up the Riverdale stairs and over the river to get 5 more points at the Riverdale Farm. Very, very briefly.
- Being the first one back on the long course to smiles and cheers from the sleepy organizers!
 |
| Route Link (hand-drawn, precise) |
Where I did lose time was re-checking my routes too many times, when I should have committed them to memory - some of the guys had map boards (on the chest or on the bike) - that probably would have been great! I also could have eaten a bit more, doncha think? Should have been eating on the bus rides, although I did take those times to plan ahead. I'm also not sure I was right to skip some controls in the parks where I thought they were a bit too out of the way (wrong side of a river, too deep in the bush to deal with the bike) - I had gone out far after all, so maybe should have banked those points while I was there. I would have had to skip the parks at the end, but would have had more points. I think in my heart of hearts, I went with having an enjoyable experience rather than maxing out the race - kind of unusual for me!
 |
| Photo by CL |
--Distance: 102km
--Duration: 9hrs 45mins
--Garmin track (imprecise): 101.22km
--Points: 3,530
--O-Controls: 21
--Photo controls: 7
Location:
Toronto, ON
2012-10-13
Fall Bicycle Blow-out
I was deputized by my biking friend ML to buy him a trainer at the Fall Bike Show, and as a veteran of two bike shows, including the maddening blow-out last year, I felt totally up to the task. I knew I'd have to show up about 90mins early to wait at the front of the extremely long line to be able to run in at 10am and do a whirlwind survey of available equipment before the crowd rushed in. I spent that time researching the stuff I would want to buy too.
I did a great job assessing the scene and reporting to ML over email - but all the trainers were way more expensive this year than last year - some blowout! He eventually decided that it was all no good. He also wanted a powertap hub, but the Fall Show is not really the sort of place for fancy gear - it looks less like a pro expo and more like a junk yard sale! So onward to my own needs.
My priority #1 was a pair of winter riding pants - good luck finding that at the show where most stores try to sell off only their ugliest summer garments. I nearly bought just a pair of fairly lightly insulated leg warmers, but glad I didn't.
I also wanted more hydration - either the rear mounted saddle cage (which I don't actually want to use) or what my tri club buddy NN uses, the Speedfil aero bottle with feeder straws that come up to the handlebars. It's a similar hands-free solution to the ProfileDesign Aerodrink I currently have, but would offer even more liquid - 1.2L. But the bike shows aren't very triathlete-friendly either, so no go on that.
A few other items on my list were: an actual bike jersey, as I had always been turned off by their sheer ugliness and could never settle on one; a presta bike pump; maybe a multi-tool? I ended up thinking this was too much of a zoo to really choose the right thing.
But at the last second, I finally found one rack with really great winter gear! They had a very well-made women's bib from Bicycle Line that fit me perfectly and was really nicely insulated, especially in the knees, but was also well ventilated in the back. A quick consultation with a friend, and I took it. That alone made the trip worth it. It would take me through tomorrow's Rogaine very comfortably.
And as the last thing, I bought my roomie a birthday present: a bike maintenance stand. It was very nice and on a great sale as well. And I'll get to use it, haha.
I did a great job assessing the scene and reporting to ML over email - but all the trainers were way more expensive this year than last year - some blowout! He eventually decided that it was all no good. He also wanted a powertap hub, but the Fall Show is not really the sort of place for fancy gear - it looks less like a pro expo and more like a junk yard sale! So onward to my own needs.
My priority #1 was a pair of winter riding pants - good luck finding that at the show where most stores try to sell off only their ugliest summer garments. I nearly bought just a pair of fairly lightly insulated leg warmers, but glad I didn't.
I also wanted more hydration - either the rear mounted saddle cage (which I don't actually want to use) or what my tri club buddy NN uses, the Speedfil aero bottle with feeder straws that come up to the handlebars. It's a similar hands-free solution to the ProfileDesign Aerodrink I currently have, but would offer even more liquid - 1.2L. But the bike shows aren't very triathlete-friendly either, so no go on that.
A few other items on my list were: an actual bike jersey, as I had always been turned off by their sheer ugliness and could never settle on one; a presta bike pump; maybe a multi-tool? I ended up thinking this was too much of a zoo to really choose the right thing.
But at the last second, I finally found one rack with really great winter gear! They had a very well-made women's bib from Bicycle Line that fit me perfectly and was really nicely insulated, especially in the knees, but was also well ventilated in the back. A quick consultation with a friend, and I took it. That alone made the trip worth it. It would take me through tomorrow's Rogaine very comfortably.
And as the last thing, I bought my roomie a birthday present: a bike maintenance stand. It was very nice and on a great sale as well. And I'll get to use it, haha.
Location:
Ricoh Coliseum, Toronto, ON
2012-10-10
Pool Swimming
Warm-up:
150m easy
200m fast / easy
200m zipper / catch-up
100m pull
100m kick
4x 200m on 5:00 / 4:50 / 4:40 (3:45-3:51-3:53-3:55)
Tough but felt pretty good eventually.
4x 100m on 3:00 / 2:50 / 2:40 (1:47-1:57-1:58-1:59)
Much easier, but we were really pushing it.
4x 25m hypoxic, 45secs RI (0,0,0,0!!!!!) A new record, bitchez!!
The key to this particular success was not only staying very calm, but a great feat of mind-over-matter. I just kept telling myself that I still didn't need to breathe - the feeling of nearly drowning was really calming in itself. Of course right before round 4, one of the guys just had to tell us that a friend of his drowned himself by doing exactly that on a dare.
Time Trial: 50m (0:45)
--Distance: 2,100m
--Duration: 70mins
150m easy
200m fast / easy
200m zipper / catch-up
100m pull
100m kick
4x 200m on 5:00 / 4:50 / 4:40 (3:45-3:51-3:53-3:55)
Tough but felt pretty good eventually.
4x 100m on 3:00 / 2:50 / 2:40 (1:47-1:57-1:58-1:59)
Much easier, but we were really pushing it.
4x 25m hypoxic, 45secs RI (0,0,0,0!!!!!) A new record, bitchez!!
The key to this particular success was not only staying very calm, but a great feat of mind-over-matter. I just kept telling myself that I still didn't need to breathe - the feeling of nearly drowning was really calming in itself. Of course right before round 4, one of the guys just had to tell us that a friend of his drowned himself by doing exactly that on a dare.
Time Trial: 50m (0:45)
--Distance: 2,100m
--Duration: 70mins
2012-10-07
Ontario Orienteering Championships - Long Course
Map: Hilton Falls, south of Rocky Ridge
Terrain: woods, very rocky and just as ridgy, but very little elevation change once you're on the Escarpment
Weather: chilly and overcast, very comfortable
The start was a long hike away, and I didn't have a regular watch on me, so I technically missed my start; but they slotted me in a few minutes late. I was the last starter on this course, so I'd be chasing everybody in my group.
There are so few features here other than endless rocks and rock piles and rock beds, so orienteering off-trail is a bit risky for the likes of me. After yesterday's sprint legs, I was pretty cavalier on keeping a good line from point to point, so I veered off-course many times.
Already from 2 to 3, I ran out onto the wrong trail, and broke my own cardinal rule of checking the trail direction by compass, so put on about 400m to run up and come back when I realized my mistake. I veered off course for the next control as well, but ended up in a rock bed where the subsequent one was, so ran back for 4, then straight in the opposite direction back to 5. Quite pathetic.
I got out onto a trail after this, and realized I'd caught up to another woman on this course, although not the same age group. We decided on taking opposite trails around an officially uncrossable feature - she went on a main trail, while I took a small one, which turned out to be a Bruce side trail that my roomie and I had hiked a few years ago. Definitely the scenic route! Went by the glacial pot hole we'd photographed then - and got told to get a move on out of the way by a pair of hikers who had the same idea! The other lady ended up beating me to the meating-point (a bridge), but I know I enjoyed the ultra-rocky Escarpment edge more.
Generally the long traverses went well for me, but every time I wanted to quickly jump into the bush for a control, I'd veer off and have to backtrack. Controls 6, 7, 8 all veered off at least 50-100m - how many minutes did that add? But I nailed 9, hopping from one rocky feature to another, and then 10, 11, 12 and 13 (all closer together).
14 was off a trail with another trail leading out to it, but it didn't meet the first trail exactly (great mapping actually!) so I guess-timated by distance instead. By the time I was going out to 15, which could have been a long-ish light green traverse, I learned my lesson: I cut back out to the main trail, then cut back in, guided by contour lines. 16 was another veer-off. The last control was 17, and this time, I veered extra-wide, but thankfully I was on the edge of the Escarpment, and I knew where I'd ended up due to the direction the slope was facing. But wasted a few minutes for sure.
So the big lesson is that I need more practise sticking to a compass bearing. That likely involves a few things: checking the compass needle itself, picking out target features in the distance to stay on-track, and of course being aware of surroundings - which is difficult on such a flat map. As punishment, I flatly lost my age group, coming in 5/5. Still, I love Escarpment country, so nothing could really ruin this day.
--Distance: 9.8km
--Duration: 1:36:31
After the race, I caught a guy in a jacket from last year's North Atlantic Orienteering Champs - he highly recommended going up for these events, especially the marquee race I want to do in Ilulissat, Greenland next June - the Arctic Midnight Orienteering. I'm so much more excited now after a southerner's recommendation, not just the awesome invite from the race organizer.
p.s. I raced on my calf brace today, but after 3 races back-to-back, my ass bones are not happy.
Terrain: woods, very rocky and just as ridgy, but very little elevation change once you're on the Escarpment
Weather: chilly and overcast, very comfortable
The start was a long hike away, and I didn't have a regular watch on me, so I technically missed my start; but they slotted me in a few minutes late. I was the last starter on this course, so I'd be chasing everybody in my group.
There are so few features here other than endless rocks and rock piles and rock beds, so orienteering off-trail is a bit risky for the likes of me. After yesterday's sprint legs, I was pretty cavalier on keeping a good line from point to point, so I veered off-course many times.
 |
| Route Link |
Already from 2 to 3, I ran out onto the wrong trail, and broke my own cardinal rule of checking the trail direction by compass, so put on about 400m to run up and come back when I realized my mistake. I veered off course for the next control as well, but ended up in a rock bed where the subsequent one was, so ran back for 4, then straight in the opposite direction back to 5. Quite pathetic.
I got out onto a trail after this, and realized I'd caught up to another woman on this course, although not the same age group. We decided on taking opposite trails around an officially uncrossable feature - she went on a main trail, while I took a small one, which turned out to be a Bruce side trail that my roomie and I had hiked a few years ago. Definitely the scenic route! Went by the glacial pot hole we'd photographed then - and got told to get a move on out of the way by a pair of hikers who had the same idea! The other lady ended up beating me to the meating-point (a bridge), but I know I enjoyed the ultra-rocky Escarpment edge more.
Generally the long traverses went well for me, but every time I wanted to quickly jump into the bush for a control, I'd veer off and have to backtrack. Controls 6, 7, 8 all veered off at least 50-100m - how many minutes did that add? But I nailed 9, hopping from one rocky feature to another, and then 10, 11, 12 and 13 (all closer together).
14 was off a trail with another trail leading out to it, but it didn't meet the first trail exactly (great mapping actually!) so I guess-timated by distance instead. By the time I was going out to 15, which could have been a long-ish light green traverse, I learned my lesson: I cut back out to the main trail, then cut back in, guided by contour lines. 16 was another veer-off. The last control was 17, and this time, I veered extra-wide, but thankfully I was on the edge of the Escarpment, and I knew where I'd ended up due to the direction the slope was facing. But wasted a few minutes for sure.
So the big lesson is that I need more practise sticking to a compass bearing. That likely involves a few things: checking the compass needle itself, picking out target features in the distance to stay on-track, and of course being aware of surroundings - which is difficult on such a flat map. As punishment, I flatly lost my age group, coming in 5/5. Still, I love Escarpment country, so nothing could really ruin this day.
--Distance: 9.8km
--Duration: 1:36:31
After the race, I caught a guy in a jacket from last year's North Atlantic Orienteering Champs - he highly recommended going up for these events, especially the marquee race I want to do in Ilulissat, Greenland next June - the Arctic Midnight Orienteering. I'm so much more excited now after a southerner's recommendation, not just the awesome invite from the race organizer.
p.s. I raced on my calf brace today, but after 3 races back-to-back, my ass bones are not happy.
Location:
Hilton Falls, Milton ON
2012-10-06
Ontario Orienteering Championships - Sprint Course
Terrain: urban, park
Weather: chilly
Rules: no entering any buildings!
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| Route Link |
I have to say this was the first time I'd had to consider multiple levels on an O-map (delineated by thick black lines like in architectural drawings). I would have been screwed early on if another runner hadn't taken some stairs up to a terrace that housed control 2 - never would have thought of that! Came in handy to catch control 14 later.
There was some talk of the best choice from 6 to 7, which were at buildings on opposite sides of a creek, with a bridge in either of two directions. Most of us saw the southern bridge and went for it, but some chose the northern bridge because it would afford a route with allegedly fewer changes of direction. Which one was faster? Only the splits will tell!
Overall, I think I did a great job of concentrating on quick route choices and reading tiny features such as the essential passageways. There had been a sneak preview photo posted of course setters/testers ND and ML at a low fence between buildings, with a discussion as to whether or not this was "officially passable" (it was.) As soon as I saw the fence, I decided I gotta hop it!
This was the longest 21 minutes of my life. I sprinted my little heart out, and whatever sprint I still have in me after a season without any training, I managed a 3rd place finish, with a sweet trillium-based Ontario champs medal.
I'm sure I'd shaved off some precious seconds by using my brand new control description holder I bought from the O-Store folks that came down to the event. The only thing I'd improve (other than my speed when I'm able) is my punching technique. I watched elite racer SL punching by stabilizing the control with his other hand, and it looked so much faster. On a sprint course with 16 controls in 4km, every second counts.
--Distance: 3.9km
--Duration: 21:21
After the race, I was treated to an impromptu nostalgia- and ridicule-ridden campus tour from alumni CK and ES, including finding out for example that when a woman enters the math and computers building, it's like she's entering a prison... This was as good as confirmed by our reading of the current issue of MathNews, the math students' newsletter with their highly dubious and sad advice on how to get a girlfriend. Turns out the coffee shop we chatted at after the race is the ideal place to go on a first date and pretend you enjoy discussing vegetarianism and gay rights.
My alumni friends also bonded over how few of the current buildings existed when they'd attended and how much of a joke RIM is as a presence on campus. Boatloads of fun!
Location:
University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON
Ontario Orienteering Championships - Middle Course
Map: Natchez-Zeller
Terrain: woods, urban, mostly flat
Weather: chilly but sunny
20 controls over 5km made this into a very long sprint, and since the terrain was quite flat, and the scale was 1:7500, I soon realized that just a quick rotation of the map would allow me to run straight from one control to the next. Quite a clean run. I kept verbalizing what I saw around me as well as the decisions I was taking, something I picked up from team navigation.
Control 5 tripped me up, as I went in too early, but then had to back-track anyway through an obvious change in vegetation. Still not sure what happened there. I found a few times that my running line was a bit off my compass line, which is a testament to how little orienteering I've done this season. It didn't affect me on this sprint map, but would make an impact on the long course the next day.
I'm getting really good with fixing mistakes, though, without getting flustered. I overshot 18 but realized it when the terrain was much too flat and went back. Being very aware and methodical would save me from some potentially catastrophic mistakes on the long course.
--Distance: 5km
--Duration: 55:02
Terrain: woods, urban, mostly flat
Weather: chilly but sunny
20 controls over 5km made this into a very long sprint, and since the terrain was quite flat, and the scale was 1:7500, I soon realized that just a quick rotation of the map would allow me to run straight from one control to the next. Quite a clean run. I kept verbalizing what I saw around me as well as the decisions I was taking, something I picked up from team navigation.
 |
| Route Link |
I'm getting really good with fixing mistakes, though, without getting flustered. I overshot 18 but realized it when the terrain was much too flat and went back. Being very aware and methodical would save me from some potentially catastrophic mistakes on the long course.
--Distance: 5km
--Duration: 55:02
Location:
Kitchener, ON
2012-10-05
Gym Workout
(reps) 1st set / 2nd set / 3rd set
(10) DB Incline Bench Press: 25lbs x2 / 25lbs x2 / 30lbs x2 (7)
(10) BB Front Squat: 60lbs / 60lbs / 70lbs
(10/side) Russian Twist: 35lbs plate / 35lbs plate / 35lbs plate
(10/side) Calf Raises: BW / BW / BW
(10) Glute-Ham Raise: 35lbs plate / 45lbs plate / 45lbs plate
(failure) Chin-ups: 3 / 2.5 / 1.5
(10/side) Cable Str. Arm Pull-down: 12.5lbs / 12.5lbs / 12.5lbs
(10) Ball Roll-outs: 10 / 10 / 10
(10/side) DB Diagonal Chop: 15lbs / 15lbs / 15lbs
(10) Bent-over Lateral Fly: 8lbs x2 / 8lbs x2 / 8lbs x2
--Duration: 42mins
(10) DB Incline Bench Press: 25lbs x2 / 25lbs x2 / 30lbs x2 (7)
(10) BB Front Squat: 60lbs / 60lbs / 70lbs
(10/side) Russian Twist: 35lbs plate / 35lbs plate / 35lbs plate
(10/side) Calf Raises: BW / BW / BW
(10) Glute-Ham Raise: 35lbs plate / 45lbs plate / 45lbs plate
(failure) Chin-ups: 3 / 2.5 / 1.5
(10/side) Cable Str. Arm Pull-down: 12.5lbs / 12.5lbs / 12.5lbs
(10) Ball Roll-outs: 10 / 10 / 10
(10/side) DB Diagonal Chop: 15lbs / 15lbs / 15lbs
(10) Bent-over Lateral Fly: 8lbs x2 / 8lbs x2 / 8lbs x2
--Duration: 42mins
2012-10-04
Kyoshin Ryu Jiu-Jitsu
Just me and Sensei today.
The theme of the night was testing out what kind of control works best (pinning, strikes, joint manipulation, pain control) - for me, it's definitely pain control.
- close-range strike/blocks from kiba dachi
- baton inside and outside strikes
- soto-maki-komi: breaking down the foot work, must be very tight to the body
- Transfer from kesa katame to strikes to multiple targets (hard to do at speed, but good for target practise)
- randori
At the end of this class, Sensei said, "THAT was a black belt class."
--Duration: 60mins
p.s. This was also the day when I started to lose my toenail virginity. I'd been cultivating a pretty gross hemorrhagic big toe on the left foot since the downhills of the June Spartan races, but now that another nail is growing underneath, it's finally started to push the original nail up. Buoyed by the descents of the Tough Mudder and the hike at the Vermont Spartan Beast, the outer half of the nail has had enough. Houston, we have lift-off! I'm looking forward to at least 6 months of taping up my toe to keep it holding together...
The theme of the night was testing out what kind of control works best (pinning, strikes, joint manipulation, pain control) - for me, it's definitely pain control.
- close-range strike/blocks from kiba dachi
- baton inside and outside strikes
- soto-maki-komi: breaking down the foot work, must be very tight to the body
- Transfer from kesa katame to strikes to multiple targets (hard to do at speed, but good for target practise)
- randori
At the end of this class, Sensei said, "THAT was a black belt class."
--Duration: 60mins
p.s. This was also the day when I started to lose my toenail virginity. I'd been cultivating a pretty gross hemorrhagic big toe on the left foot since the downhills of the June Spartan races, but now that another nail is growing underneath, it's finally started to push the original nail up. Buoyed by the descents of the Tough Mudder and the hike at the Vermont Spartan Beast, the outer half of the nail has had enough. Houston, we have lift-off! I'm looking forward to at least 6 months of taping up my toe to keep it holding together...
2012-10-03
Pool Swimming
Warm-up: 100m easy (late!)
2x 100m on 2:30 (2:00-2:05)
2x 200m on 5:10 (4:10-4:15)
2x 300m on 7:45 (6:10-6:10)
I got faster and smoother as we went along and felt amazing the whole night. Rolling and gliding. The key to success.
4x 25m hypoxic, 1min RI (0,1,1,0!!) I relaxed and managed to get two lengths at 0 breaths!! The last quarter of the last one was all mind-over-matter.
Cool-down: 50m easy
--Distance: 1,450m
--Duration: 60mins
2x 100m on 2:30 (2:00-2:05)
2x 200m on 5:10 (4:10-4:15)
2x 300m on 7:45 (6:10-6:10)
I got faster and smoother as we went along and felt amazing the whole night. Rolling and gliding. The key to success.
4x 25m hypoxic, 1min RI (0,1,1,0!!) I relaxed and managed to get two lengths at 0 breaths!! The last quarter of the last one was all mind-over-matter.
Cool-down: 50m easy
--Distance: 1,450m
--Duration: 60mins
2012-10-02
Gym Workout
(reps) 1st set / 2nd set / 3rd set
(10) DB Incline Bench Press: 20lbs x2 / 25lbs x2 / 25lbs x2
(10) Front Squat: 2x 25lbs DB / 60lbs BB / 60lbs BB
(10/side) DB Alt Bench Row: 20lbs / 25lbs / 25lbs
(10/side) Calf Raises: BW / BW / BW
(10) Glute-Ham Raise: 35lbs plate / 45lbs plate
(failure) Chin-ups: 2.5 / 2
--Duration: 26mins
(10) DB Incline Bench Press: 20lbs x2 / 25lbs x2 / 25lbs x2
(10) Front Squat: 2x 25lbs DB / 60lbs BB / 60lbs BB
(10/side) DB Alt Bench Row: 20lbs / 25lbs / 25lbs
(10/side) Calf Raises: BW / BW / BW
(10) Glute-Ham Raise: 35lbs plate / 45lbs plate
(failure) Chin-ups: 2.5 / 2
--Duration: 26mins
2012-10-01
Pool Swimming
First session of the year with Coach KR, and I'm very glad we have him. Very technical. We are in phase one - building a technical foundation for longer swims later on. I'm slow and sad, but I believe hard work and lots of good instruction will lead to good results. I'm ready to work hard.
Warm-up:
200m easy, 200m hard up - easy down (did 150m)
Distance-per-stroke: 25/25m, 23/25m after focus on roll and glide
4x 50m 3secs drill, 15secs RI - practise rolling: hard to transition
4x 100m on 2:25 [1:55 to 2:00]
4x 50m shaker drill, 15secs RI - practise high-elbow recovery that keeps muscles relaxed
200m TT: a poopy 3:57
Cool-down: 50m easy
--Distance: 1,450m
--Duration: 60mins
Warm-up:
200m easy, 200m hard up - easy down (did 150m)
Distance-per-stroke: 25/25m, 23/25m after focus on roll and glide
4x 50m 3secs drill, 15secs RI - practise rolling: hard to transition
4x 100m on 2:25 [1:55 to 2:00]
4x 50m shaker drill, 15secs RI - practise high-elbow recovery that keeps muscles relaxed
200m TT: a poopy 3:57
Cool-down: 50m easy
--Distance: 1,450m
--Duration: 60mins
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