Pool Swimming

50m easy

3x 30secs vertical treading water, 3x 30secs normal treading
10 x 25m side stroke with fins
100m build (focus on legs): ~1:50
10 x 25m side stroke w/o fins
100m build (focus on legs, and I did): ~1:40 - couldn't believe the clock
4 x 25m head-up / 25m hypoxic (should have been 5x, but I took long breaks)
100m build: 1:40 - for sure this time, wow

400m TT: 7:30
2x 200m: 3:48 / 3:47, drat
2x 100m sprint all-out: 1:38, 1:40

Definitely felt stronger in the legs after the leg builds, wow. And I was always faster and less tired when I relaxed more. Go figure.

Totally gassed at the end though.

--Distance: 2,000m
--Duration: 70mins

Cycling Intervals

Pulled out a workout from last year's triathlon coaching. Headed out onto the Waterfront Trail pretty late, so lots of walkers and slow bikers on this beautiful hot day.

Warm-up: 15mins

Workout should have been:
3x 3mins on 15, 1min rest
3x 2min on 13, 1min rest
3x 1min on 12, 1min rest

Many of the rest sessions were extended and active sessions disrupted and also extended because of either traffic or the need to turn around at the end of the trail. But I did practise turning around a lot! I just forgot to not do the regular u-turn.

--Distance: 20km
--Duration: 65mins

Gym Workout

(reps) 1st set / 2nd set / 3rd set / 4th set

(10/side) Split Squat: 30lbs x2 / 30lbs x2 / 30lbs x2 / 30lbs x2
(10) Cable Pull-down @ High Kneel: 15 / 15 / 15 / 15
(10/side) Cable Chop @ 1/2 Kneel: 4 / 4 / 4 / 4 

(15) Goblet Squat: 40lbs / 45lbs / 45lbs
(15/side) Single High Incline DB Press: 15lbs / 15lbs / 15lbs
(15/side) DB Row @ 1/2 Plank: 20lbs / 20lbs / 20lbs  

--Duration: 45mins 

Cycling

Almost arrived on time to start with the club's first season opening ride. Struck out on my own, but it was only a 42km ride scheduled, so I didn't mind. Super baking hot weather; beautiful. We start at Angus Glen now, and the plan was a simple out and back on Warden to Davis. Having only ever gotten onto Warden at Bloomington, I was not aware that Warden has a massive fucking hill just south of Bloomington. 50m. Oy. After that, smooth sailing, and a heckuva joyride on the way back down.

Spent probably not more than 20% of the time in my bars. Finally got comfy and relaxed with a few kms left. Made good time, though. Under 90mins for the 40. I lost about 3:30 on traffic stops. So probably closer to 1:25 for an oly.

Food: nothing!
Water: just the profile design front bottle - ran out after 30kms. Bumped into NN on the road and asked her about her great water set-up from last year: Speedfil, available at Wheels of Bloor - getting it!

-- Distance: 42.6km
-- Duration: 1:35:55 (minus 3:30 = 1:32:25)

Gym Workout

(reps) 1st set / 2nd set / 3rd set

(10) Deadlift: 125lbs / 130lbs / 135lbs
(10) DB Bench Press: 30lbs x2 / 30lbs x2 / 30lbs x2
(45secs/side) Side Plank: BW / BW / BW

--Duration: 22mins

Road Cycling

After the clinic, I felt I needed a bit more time on the bike, so instead of heading back down the highway, drove to Wilcox to do a short loop around the block. I was reminded of how much I hate Bloomington, with its jackhammer grooves across the road. Thudunk, thudunk, thudunk, thudunk... ugh. It was also kind of torn up because I guess they will resurface it soon.

Didn't have the energy or the sustenance to go up Warden, so turned down Woodbine back to Stouffville Road, neither of which I'd ever ridden on. It was smooth and nice. Even though I had driven on this stretch of Stouffville a bunch of times, including not 30mins earlier, I had never realized how hilly it is until I had to conquer it on the bike. Tough stuff for an out-of-shape rider. I went into my bars a few times, but overall was too jittery with the traffic.

Route: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=5907459

--Distance: 16.8km
--Duration: ~45mins

Cycling Clinic

First outdoor clinic with Andrew Randell!

Given our beginner level, he scaled back this class from a full ride to a parking lot handling clinic with a shorter ride around the neighbourhood at the end.

We did a bunch of loops around the lot:

• Riding in a straight line
• Slalom around water bottles, getting ever tighter
• Turning within two parking spaces, then trying to get down to one space

Points of interest:

• Try not to ride in gears with the chain pulled crosswise
• When changing the front gears, do so when there isn't much pressure on the pedals, that is, before you go into a hill
• When turning, keep the inside pedal up
• You can apply pressure on the handlebars on the side going into the turn
• Break before a turn, not during, as this will pull you out of the turn
• When going over an obstacle, ease up on the front, then the rear of the bike
• Turn-arounds in races: instead of a perfect U, go in wide, then cut across while turning and come back out close to the pylon

Then we took an easy ride, single-file. We were supposed to stick together, but you know triathletes. Maybe Andrew can reign us is a bit more next time.

Route: www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=5907449

--Distance: 13.6km
--Duration: 75mins + 45mins

Gym Workout

(reps) 1st set / 2nd set / 3rd set

(10) Deadlift: 135lbs / 135lbs / 135lbs [I mistakenly started putting the 45lbs plates on, forgetting that I hadn't done these in too long, but by that point, it would have been embarrassing to have to switch out for smaller plates! Ow, my back....]
(10) DB Bench Press: 30lbs / 35lbs (6 + 4) / 30lbs
(45secs/side) Side Plank: BW / BW / BW

(10/side) Calf Raises: BW / BW / BW
(10) Inverted Rows: BW / BW / BW
(5/position/side) Split Squat w/ Pulses: 20lbs / 25lbs

--Duration: 25mins

Pool Swimming

50m easy
2x 25m head-up
2x 50m time ~0:50
2x 100m pace ~1:55 [really gasping on this one]
200m kick w/ fins
50m pull w/ paddles [got my "running" cramps!]

7x 50m on 1:05 [ should have been 10, but I was still out]
0:55 / 0:50 / 0:52 / 0:52 / 0:53 / 0:55 / 0:55

8x 100m on 2:25
1:50 / 1:50 / 1:50 / 1:50 / 1:51 / 1:50 / 1:49 / 1:47
[really relaxed on this set, and here is the result!]

100m easy
2x 25m hypoxic

--Distance: 1,950m
--Duration: 60mins

Gym Workout

This is phase 11 of PN-LE-2011. Might have to switch out the split squat due to injury.
Also, I forgot how hard it is to do more than 10 reps.

(reps) Set 1 / Set 2 / Set 3

(10/side) DB Split Squat: 25lbs x2 / 30lbs x 2 / 25lbs x 2
(10) Cable Pull-down @ tall kneel: 12 / 13 / 14
(10/side) Cable Chop @ 1/2 kneel: 4 / 5 / 4

(15) Goblet Squat to Box: 35lbs / 40lbs
(15/side) Single High-incline DB Press: 15lbs / 15lbs
(15/side) DB Row @ 1/2 plank: 20lbs / 20lbs

--Duration: 28mins

Pool Swimming

200m zipper / catch-up

2x
2x 100m kick w/ fins, 0:30 RI
1x 100m tombstone w/ fins, 0:30 RI

2x
2x 100m pull w/ paddles, 0:30 RI
1x 100m partner pull, 0:30 RI

2x
4x 100m, 0:30 RI
1x 200m, 1:00 RI
1:45 / 1:50 / 1:55 / 1:53 / 3:50 (- 8secs rest when I got passed) ~3:45 !! (nearly lost a lung on this)
1:55-2:00 / 3:55

25m easy / 25m hypoxic

--Distance: 2,650m
--Duration: 60mins

Pool Swimming

There was a dry 400 TT here that I missed. Useful for triathlon dry starts.

100m easy
200m zipper / catch-up
100m kick - I thought that I was just fast with the fins, but I was also fastest with just regular kicking. Obviously my kick has a negligible effect on my overall speed though!
100m pull
100m easy

400m TT - 7:30
1sec off my best, so awright.

50m easy

750m TT - 14:14 !!! That's a PB by 31secs!
Granted, I drafted behid J and C most of the way, but they usually lap me, so just sticking with them was awesome! I felt great, and I think I was finally doing front-quadrant.

2x
100m on 1:55
50m easy
1:55 / 1:55 although had to slow down after each 50

--Distance: 2,100m
--Duration: 60mins

Pool Swimming

100m easy
3x 100m breathing drill (fins, left paddle, right paddle, left/right paddle)
100m bilateral breathing (aka this is not a drill)

3x 100m kick w/ fins
1:30 / 1:35 / 1:37

3x 100m pull w/ paddles
~1:50 avg

10x 50m on 1:20
0:48 / 0:50 / 0:51 / 0:50 / 0:50 / 0:50 / 0:49 / 0:50 / 0:50 / 0:49

4x Killer 50s

100m easy (breaststroke/back)

--Distance: 1,900m
--Duration: 65mins

Pool Swimming

100m easy

2x 100m full equipment
1:35 / 1:40

2x 100m swim
1:50-ish

3x
100m on 2:20
100m on 2:10
100m on 2:00 (started the third one on 2:05)
200m on 4:10
1:47 / 1:52 / 1:50 / 4:02
1:55 / 1:55 / 1:55 / 4:10
2:00 / 2:00 / 2:00 / 4:08 
Ended up leading the wall lane.

4x killer 50s
0:51 each

50m easy (backstroke)

--Distance: 2,250m
--Duration: 65mins

Pool Swimming

100m easy

4x 25m underwater w/ fins
The first one needed a mulligan - much harder than regular hypoxic
The second and third ones, I made it to the end but was dead
The fourth one, I stayed deep under water for extra speed and felt great

100m flip turns

4x 100m kick w/ fins descend, R 0:30
1:35 / 1:45 / 1:40 / 1:33
I clearly did not realize these were descends until after the first one
Led my lane, and how! My only talent.

4x 100m pull w/ paddles descend, R 0:30
1:55 all around, dying, and didn't do the last 50 or else everyone would be waiting for me forever

3x 200m on 4:10
3:52 / 3:50 / 3:49 I drafted off JG for 100m on the last one, can't believe I stuck with her

2x 200m on 4:00
The first one was 150, as we were started late by Coach
2:55 / 3:55

1x 200m on 3:50
3:50 booya! No drafting either

50m easy (backstroke, how relaxing)

--Distance: 2,300m
--Duration: 60mins

O-Cup Finale

Terrain: flat, trail, forest, crusty snow

Weather: plus a few, sunny

Format: Thomass Box with dog-bone controls

Zoom in for my tracks. Or don't.

It was Spring Forward weekend, and despite the fact that I had on the Saturday 1) warned a newcomer co-worker of the time change, and 2) sent out a reminder on my club's FB page for everyone to get up for the race on time, I still totally forgot, stayed up late and very nearly fell fast asleep without changing my alarm clock. Crisis averted, but I was a wreck the next morning and rolled in to the race totally last-minute. What else is new?? So not much time, or wherewithal, to look at the map and plan out which of the criss-crossing dog-bones to attack.

Once in the Thomass box, you had to take each lettered bone in pairs before continuing onto the next one. I know I made a rudimentary plan at the start line, but what followed was a long traverse in crusty deep snow that made us all post-hole our way across a field and shake all the bright ideas we'd had out of our heads.

My route: hH-Ee-cC-fF-Bb-Aa. I think I was trying to avoid the longest bones without really taking into account how much extra distance I'd have to cover in between them to do that. I got hit by my usual running/period cramps ahead of the box, so I huffed and puffed my way through that, thinking - Hey! With all this walking, I'll have extra time to think! Didn't help.

After H, I travelled a bit with what looked like a Giant's Rib Raid team practising together (several guys, with packs, and too much chattering). They took me through a lot of green. Why didn't I notice that on the map? The E's were fast and easy after that, but I under-shot little-c. Also lost a shoe in the crust - why can't Oroc make a decent shoelace to go with its super-tacular shoes? I was feeling my broken ass at this point, so I slowed right down.

After I picked up C, I actually stopped because I had no memory of what the crap I was supposed to do next. To minimize damage, I went out to get little-f, then back on the big trail for F and B. Kept bumping into those raid guys over and over, kind of funny. Little-b was a very special control, as it was a derelict sofa in the middle of the woods. I was happy that the Aa leg would finally take me home, but I got really turned around coming out from A, and hit a north-south trail instead of the big east-west. Luckily, this is my favourite mistake, so I always check the trail direction.

Closer to little-a I had the raiders hot on my heels again, and I decided to shortcut across an open field. I had evidently not yet learned that while yellow is an awesome colour to run through under normal conditions, that crusty snow is a horrible alternative to the long way around on a beaten trail. Stump stump stump stump. I didn't learn that for a second time coming out of #5 - "I'll just take this 0.59-second shortcut down this little hill instead of through everyone else's tracks like a chump." Splat! My foot got stuck in the crust, and down I went. With Pat-hectic and MJ laughing right behind me.

There was a nice long trail run past 6 and on to 7, but I took the wrong trail through the woods and emerged on that gosh-darned start field way too far north. Stomp stomp stomp... stomp.. gasp... stomp, argh!!! Leaving 9, one of the juniors asked me if he could glance at my map because of mumble mumble. So I stopped for a second, at which point the kid took off for the finish, and there went another point for me.

For all the grumbling and complaining, this was really an awesome course, one to remember. And the whole time I thought it was the man they call Tiny who was to blame, whereas it was actually DS who had devised this evil plan. He showed me his Cheat Sheet of the allegedly best routes for each handicap. I cried a little. I don't remember the whole thing, but it started with little-a and came back out at little-c. Not in a million years would I have come up with that.

--Distance: 9.5km
--Duration: 1:29:03
--Place: 19th

Fun fun fun, winter fun. Can't believe the Thomass / O-Cup season is already over. With my org points from our club race, I did pretty well!
--Place Overall: 13th
--Place Female: 5th
--Place Age Group: 1st - yay!

Kyoshin Ryu Jiu-Jitsu

Mae geri: gedan barai
Yoko geri: parry with back of lead arm (awkward!)

Stepping out and catching the wrist from oi zuki: trying to wait as long as possible before moving
Shadow moves: either heisuku or shuffle, shadowing attacker

Tekube o-sae, 3 variations
Sankyo:
- Grip the wrist over top like a sword for maximum torque (I'm too flexible)
- Step shallow to align lead foot

1x Randori

-- Duration: 30mins

Pool Swimming

100m easy

2x 100m build R:20
2:05 / 1:55

2x 100m kick w/ fins
2x 100m pull w/ paddles

400m TT
7:49

100m easy

400m TT reboot
7:45

2x 200m faster
3:55 / 4:00 ouch

4x 100m fastest
1:50-2:00 really got slower as the night progressed!

I knew these times would be slower, as I was swimming in the wall lane. I discovered the source of the slow-down: all the jets on that wall are permanently angled towards the deep end. Gah!

--Distance: 2,300m
--Duration: 70mins

Pool Swimming

Late from work, but this was a fantastic active recovery from the Snowgaine. I did pretty well, probably because I was more precise due to my tired arms.

100m easy
100m easy

2x 100m fast on 2:20
1:50 / 1:52
100m easy

2x 100m fast on 2:20
1:56 / 1:52
100m easy

200m fast, 0:30 R
3:52
200m easy

2x 200m fast, 0:30 R
3:55 / 4:00

2x 50m fast on 1:30
0:45 / 0:47
Check it out - I met my PB!

--Distance: 1,700m
--Duration: 50mins

Snowgaine Day Two

When I finally highlighted all the controls we'd picked up on day one, I ended up with a really sad-looking little circle in the middle of the map. No wonder we didn't see anyone else for the first few hours. On day two, we were determined to make a comeback, cover more ground, pick up bigger points, and most of all just ski more instead of stamping around on our "overly-long snowshoes."

At the start, we realized we had forgotten a bunch of gear prep, and we ended up starting late. One guy who was on a time penalty asked us if we were also on an official delay. Nope! Self-imposed penalty over here! Finally started down and along the lake towards #22, which we had skipped the day before. The lake/marsh skiing was beautiful. A layer of snow had fallen over night, and conditions were perfect. We did have to struggle a bit towards the control because all the snowshoe tracks had frozen over in the woods. We saw the soon-to-be winning team wildernesstraverse.com (who would be done for the weekend in another 3hrs), and I was kind of embarrassed at sliding around trying to climb up to the control. The woods would usually prove more icy than the open lands and marshes.

We also saw CM's team Untamed Torpedo, and eventually caught on that he might have decided to do the same loop we had, as we were all discussing things together at our motel. Sneaky! The race was on. Skis vs. Snowshoes - it would be epic. Well, for one of the teams anyway.

We cut a straight line for #51 across another marsh, but then veered too much north-west, so it took us a long time of looking around and second-guessing to get back out to the snowmobiles. But then we swish-swished down to one of the big 81-point controls, and even the long dog-leg through the forest to #83 was a sweet ski. UT were just leaving when we got there though. I realized then that my water hose had totally frozen, despite my having diligently blown the water back each time. I just wanted to ski, so I let it go for the time being. The foam tubing I'd bought to fashion an insulator out of was still sitting in CM's car untouched.

We took another nice long ski over and around to get to the 60s in the southeast corner of the map. The snow was so perfect and easy. My skis wanted to skate, so I let them. Cool! Never skated before, that's for sure. We cut a perfect line for #62 and noticed that UT had not been there yet - yes! But they came up behind us just as we were leaving - geez, that was fast! I later found out that while we took the long way around on our skis, they had even gotten out to #50 in the meantime!

We got kinda used to thrashing through this stuff. I mean skiing.

The forest here was really beautiful, and halfway skiable. We caught the boys again just ahead of #67, but I stupidly had us climb an unnecessary hill, and we lost them for good. We weren't the only ones up there though, judging by the tracks, and the ski into the control was heavenly.

We had been worried about the state of the big marsh ahead, but it turned out to be as frozen over as all the others. Only the first bit was rough, but we bumped into Attack from Above again, who were travelling with a surprise friend - a runaway black lab that would go on to switch teams later on and end a long day of rogaining with a burger in front of the HQ fire. Latest reports had him safely back with his totally unconcerned owners!

We also found out that PH on the team had fallen through some ice and been rescued out by his snowshoes by CL. Knowing he was soaked right through, I really reconsidered packing extra clothes for next year. I thought I was saving weight by dumping stuff, but it turns out that all the experienced teams had spare gear just in case. No messing around.

Skating!

CB finally decided to shove my water hose down my back to warm it up - it would work like a charm, phew!! We had another wonderful skate ski across the last part of the marsh, where we were caught up by the Tree Huggers and exchanged some smiles and photos. It was BC on the team who totally sold me on this crazy race a few weeks before at another ski-O. The way she described it made it irresistible, and here we were!

From #66, it felt like we were meandering along a river valley to get back out to the road, but we were actually on our plan the whole time. The map was very accurate, so reading the contour features was a breeze. We did a very short road run once we ran out of snow, but my ass got angry with me. Nooooo running.

Tree Huggers

Although I thought we'd go around the west side of the hill to #50, CB pointed out that the 2.5m contours are really slight, and that the forest would probably be much more skiable than the marsh. She was so right. Many tracks across this "hill". Our only hiccup was when I decided to check out a little side stream to make sure we didn't overshoot. We also took a shortcut across a tiny part of a lake to get out onto the snowmobiles, but we had to avoid the, um, actual open water near a culvert. We stayed where we saw ski, snowshoe and bike tracks. Yes, there was a team on big fat-tire bikes, and they did really well too!

After #38, we decided to skip #49 for a second day in a row, as it would be a time-wasting dog-leg. Because of our complete lack of overall strategy, we had ended up in an area where we had picked up most of the controls already. We wanted to shoot up along the big trails to the north part of the map to get the bigger points. At this point, CB had come down with a terrible headache. I started kicking myself for forgetting painkillers in my kit. We had a long ski ahead of us, and she was going to be a trooper.

I found myself in the lead for the first time in the race. I'd look back and see her skiing with her head immobilized and almost with her eyes closed. She said, "I'm okay, it just hurts to think and talk." Yikes! She had to recover quickly though, because my line in towards #47 was less than perfect.

Our final push was to cross the big road and swish up to pick up some bigger points. We were both getting a bit antsy about the time, but I gave us an hour to take care of business up there and have 30mins to fly down the main road to the finish. I decided on 56-64-41 to make best use of available trails. With the existing tracks, this last foray was a no-brainer. And I think I finally got the hang of this skiing thing! We passed PK in there, who was courageously doing the whole course on skate skis. The RD had had a good laugh at his expense at the start, telling tales of those skating snowgainers whose bodies had never been recovered in years past, but here PK went on to be one of those to clear the whole course. So there!

We were right on time with these last three controls. The snowbanks on the side of the main road were quite squishy, so we ended up getting out-walked by some snowshoers as we sunk into the snow with each "glide." But we made it back with 10mins to spare and big huge smiles.

And we weren't last! 20th out of 23rd, baby! And... 2nd Female Team. Here's to all those other female teams who didn't show up.

--Distance: 30km
--Duration: 7:50:00

I am so glad this was a two-day event. A lot of things finally clicked the second day, and we were much happier campers. We retired in front of the fire to hot dogs, burgers, chili, and the sweetest dog ever to race all day in a winter rogaine. (There's probably been more than one.)

CM had had the bright idea of taking a sweet three-day motel deal so that we could still take showers afterwards. Amazing. Then we drove down to Syracuse to meet up with my race buddy MK for sushi dinner. And to trade war stories of course. Wicked! What an amazing weekend. The race was amazing, and so many friends to spend it with. I'm really grateful for CB being my teammate too. No one could have been more patient.

Gear Worn:
Same, except packed my little gloves, good move. That Salomon front add-on is really dorky but awesome.

Gear Packed:
2x Socks, Turtle mitts, Toque (ditched the jacket, probably shouldn't have)
8x Roctane, Cheese sandwich, salt pills, 1.5L water (ditched the big 2L tank)
Headlamp, First aid, Emergency blanket (lightened the load a bit)

Snafus:
Being cocky about having stuff prepared from the first day and then realizing I still had to make food and get my gear in order. Result in a lot of time wasting at the start.
Not adding pain killers to the first aid kit, duh!
Not taking the time to rig the water hose insulation.
CB forgot her watch, while I forgot to charge mine. Thankfully, unlike its owner, my watch is Ironman-ready with minimum 17hrs of GPS on the battery. But this could have turned out badly.

Next year:
- Use insulated water, and much less of it.
- Do a team gear review to make sure all essentials are there and easy to reach
- Pack all essentials in the front for both teammembers
- Do keep the warm stuff in the back just in case
- If skiing, use trails as much as possible
- Re-read the rules to take advantage of them when necessary
- Might use the string-on-board concept now that I know how fast we can travel (in these conditions at least)
- Make only planned stops and do as much as possible on the move. Boy, did we waste time on stoppage. 5mins here, 8mins there... yikes.
- Be very disciplined with eating at intervals (which I finally did on day two)
- Strategy: don't get stuck in an area with no controls on day two. Plan better!
- Might add more stuff as I remember it...

Snowgaine Day One

Location: upstate NY, north-east of Syracuse
Terrain: flat-ish, snowy forest, frozen marshes, snowmobile trails
Weather: minus a few, crisp and perfect for racing
Format: 2x 8hr rogaine, 37 controls, any non-motorized travel permissible (we skied both days), manual punch with a time sign-in sheet to see who is where
Team: Swish Swish Thump with CB (the swish swish is for the skiing, the thump is for when we fall on our asses)

If you click on this and squint real hard, you can see the tracks from both days overlaid.

I had done only one 10hr urban rogaine before, while CB had done some real ones in the woods. The only advice I could contribute from my meagre experience was that once you take time to travel into an area, you should grab all the controls there no matter what. I had skied a total of 11 times in my life, and never off-trail, other than in tracks that had already been cleared for me by others in a ski-O. CB was going to be the leader on this team through and through.

Started off with a short road run along with everyone else (who were mostly on snowshoes, the cowards! LOL), but we ducked into the first snowmobile trail, while the others continued on. The trail was soft and easy to ski on. Our first bushwhack to #43 was really tough, with lots of icy moguls in the forest, which I could not figure out how to move on. CB seemed to slide and hop from one bump to the next, but I was very frustrated and delayed us quite a bit. We then had to climb an icy, crusty hill up to #42. Again, CB got up there pretty quick with an aggressive herring bone, while I slid all over the place. Finally side-stepped to the top. Coming back down was a little blood-curdling! Had to slide sideways as well while CB mostly skied. And waited. A lot! I didn't realize until after the race that there was no rule about each team member having to touch the control... oops!

We quickly hit #51 , and our next objective was #49, but even though the marsh we crossed to get close to it was thickly frozen over and snowed in, there was a sizable river in our way that didn't have any lucky natural bridges. We pressed on to #55 instead.

The scenery became more and more beautiful. 55 was in another frozen marsh. Unfortunately, crossing this marsh to #48 was probably the most tiring part of the day. Nothing but little moguls with water holes in between. Apparently this is where CB took a nose dive into one of these! I myself had already fallen over a hundred times thus far, and gotten my skis stuck in bushes a hundred more. It took us a whole hour to cross that marsh. I had just started getting a bit more comfortable with what my skis could take on the uneven terrain, thinking that if CB's skis could take this punishment, so could mine, right? Then I noticed: she has touring skis, about twice as thick as mine!

At this point, we realized that we hadn't seen anyone else so far. We had hit 5 virgin controls, with no other sign-ins. Wish there were bonus points for that! Although it was tough going, it was very satisfying to keep hitting the controls dead-on after kilometres of lonely marsh-whacking.

After CB got a little wet, I vowed I wouldn't go in the drink myself. There was this one little stream (which she just flew over) that my little legs couldn't span properly as I tried to step to the other side. I got all unbalanced, but determined not to touch water in any way, I threw my arms out and landed in a sweet plank across the stream. My skis and poles were stuck in every direction possible. I yelped and heard "can I help?" from up ahead. "Yes, please!" When CB rounded the corner, all she could do was burst out laughing... and start taking out her camera! With this great help, I had to extricate one of my poles with my teeth, haha.

PHOTO TO FOLLOW! Maybe even the video. Yes, she took video.

We were disappointed trying to find the trail to #53 as there were lots of private property signs along the snowmobile trails. We just couldn't find a way in. So had to give it up and finally do a satisfying fast ski up to #65 and then on to #46. By this time, there were definitely elephant tracks to the controls, so at least that was easier, although kind of disappointing too, as we got so used to finding our own way.

Instead of going back out to keep dodging the snowmobiles, we decided on a direct route to #21 - murder! Maybe the second most frustrating leg through a very tough forest, and now we had crusty snowshoe tracks to contend with. CB also lost her compass there at some point, and she went back out to find it - and she did! Crazy and awesome! It was busted in two though, so I had to take over despite the fact that I was exhausted and disoriented. I got us a bit off-track at #45, so we wandered a bit to re-orient. #37 was easy, and now we were doing everything to stay on skiable trails or open tracts of the forest.

We finally saw some familiar faces (Attack from Above, first male team, what what!) at #44, and although at this point the two snowshoers were quite jealous of our "fast" skis, I made sure to give them a front-row seat to wipe-out #367 of the day. While I baby-giraffed myself back to my feet, they gingerly pranced right past me.

The last trail ski was a bit of a blur. I was exhausted beyond belief. We got to ski more easily here, but I had very little left in me and felt so bad for CB who constantly patiently waited for me to catch up, and who at every control we hit would yell out, "We're AWESOME!"

We got #33 and #35 and had a little time left, so we debated catching #22 as our last control. CB made an executive decision to go straight home, and as someone who is perpetually late for things, I agreed with her sense of timing. We took off across the frozen Lake Loraine, 300m+ of very nervous skiing, at some of the fastest pace we had put on the whole day - and that's not just because of the smooth flat surface!

We ended up having about 20mins to spare, and it turned out that we wouldn't have lost points for lateness on day one, but would have been delayed by 3x each minute at the start the next day. If we had known that, we probably would have gone for #22. But we were exhausted and happy and very proud of ourselves on this first outing.

Great post-race food, and then later dinner with the 16-strong Team Canada, and of course planning for Day Two. Took the Tree Huggers' advice on utilizing our, ahem, speed on the trails and minimizing the ski-whacking. I don't think I could take another whole day of that!

--Distance: 22.5km
--Duration: 7:40:00

Gear Worn:
LG Ski pants, ski socks, HH shirt, arm warmers, ultrathin windbreaker, ear band, ski gloves, 20L pack + 5L front add-on - Other than gloves, I nailed my clothing for the day, perfectly warm and dry

Gear Packed:
Ski jacket, 2x Socks, Turtle mitts, Toque
8x Roctane, Cheese sandwich, salt pills, 2L water + 1.5L water
Headlamp, Towline (which I lost - sorry, CK!), First aid, Knife, Emergency blanket

Gear Snafus:
Didn't pin my map, so kept taking it out of the front pack. Good thing CB was the navigator.
Didn't drink most of the water, so really just dragged a lot of extra weight.
Forgot my tiny liner gloves, so when my hands got cold had to squeeze my regular gloves into my mitts. The mitts were also too big for my pole loops, gah.

Gym Workout

(reps) Set 1 / Set 2 / Set 3

(10) Front Squat: 60lbs / 70lbs / 80lbs [shaky on that last one, plus needed a spot to get it up there]
(10) DB Bench Press: 30lbs / 35lbs (7) / 35lbs (7)
(10) Inverted Rows: Setting 4 / Setting 4 / Setting 4
(10) Russian Twist: 35lbs plate / 35lbs plate / 35lbs plate

(10) Leg Press: 280lbs / 300lbs [Tried it on the last notch instead of second-to-last, and it was much tougher. Will continue with this setting, as it's more appropriate for my leg length.]
(10/side) Cable Straight-Arm Pull-down: Setting 3

--Duration: 22mins

Pool Swimming

100m catch-up
100m zipper

400m kick w/ fins - my one and only talent, I actually lapped my lanemates
400m pull w/ paddles - torture!

750m TT
14:50 minus ~0:15 in lay-overs while I was being passed for ~14:35 !!
Not sure how to count this one officially. I think I will enter it as the time on the clock.

2x
200m on 4:00
3:47 / 3:50
100m on 1:50
1:52 / 1:55
50m at 0:50
0:55 / 0:55

50m easy

--Distance: 2,500m
--Duration: 70mins

Gym Workout

(Reps) Set 1 / Set 2 / Set 3 / Set 4

(10) DB Bench Press: 2x 25lbs / 2x 30lbs / 2x 30lbs
(10/side) DB Rows: 25lbs / 25lbs / 25lbs
(10) Bent-Over Rear DB Fly: 2x 7.5lbs / 2x 7.5lbs / 2x 7.5lbs

(10) BB Deadlift: 120lbs / 125lbs / 130lbs / 135lbs
(10/side) DB Chop @ Half-Kneel: 20lbs / 20lbs / 20lbs
(10) Inverted Rows: BW / BW / BW

--Duration: 35mins

Gym Workout

(Reps) Set 1 / Set 2 / Set 3

(10) Leg Press: 280lbs / 300lbs / 320lbs
(10) DB Bench Press: 2x 25lbs / 2x 30lbs / 2x 30lbs
(10/side) DB Rows: 25lbs / 25lbs / 25lbs

(10) BB Squats: 60lbs / 70lbs

(10/side) Cable Straigh-Arm Pull-Down: Setting 3 / Setting 4 (6)
(failure) Chin-ups: 2

--Duration: 20mins

Pool Swimming

This was a surprise session, as our regular pool is closed for the holiday. My club friends IP and TS found another 25m pool (Variety Village) that was open specially for Family Day. I joined them last minute, once they had started their sets - which were long!

The pool was quite warm, so we ended up taking extended breaks to cool off.

Warm-up: 200m

3x 400m
7:50 / 7:48 / 7:39

4x 200m
3:40 / 3:52 / 3:48 / 3: 50

100m
1:41

2x 50m
0:45 / 0:45

200m easy

--Distance: 2,600m
--Duration: 2hrs

Much respect to the para-athlete swimming in his buoyant wetsuit in that hot water. He looked quite dizzy when he got out!

Snowshoe Trial Run

I had come into an extravagant sum in MEC gift cards ($200), and had decided that I wanted to buy a pricier item that I probably otherwise wouldn't buy. I settled on snowshoes. After getting some advice on the orienteering site AttackPoint, I decided I wanted more of a racing snowshoe, not a trekking or climbing shoe, since I'm not much of a hiker. The one cool thing that the climbing shoes have is a heel lift you can flip up, so that you don't strain the backs of your legs when climbing. Oh well. My shoes are super-light and very springy instead. They are the Atlas Run, and they felt utterly weightless on my feet in the store.

The next day, my parents went up to my roomie's parents' property north in the woods, and we came with them. When we went for a winter walk, my roomie and I strapped on our snowshoes: me with my racing aluminums and he in his parents' ancient wicker tennis rackets. The race was on!

The snow was deep (1-2') and very fluffy. EW stayed basically right on top of the snow, although he kept stepping on his own shoes. He had trouble climbing without any crampons.

Kickin' it old school

My feet would sink down a few inches, but the fluffy snow was so light, that it was no problem to jump the foot back out. The shoes were very springy, and I had run up a fairly steep hill in no time. We switched for a while for fun too.

When I got my Atlas back, I ran up to the top of a fairly high hill (30-40m), and I wasn't tired. It was magical. I couldn't believe I wasn't trudging. It was like suddenly realizing you could walk on water. Later, I ran up another big hillside, this time in a dense crusty-dry pine forest. These shoes are so small and narrow, I nimbly darted between the stalks of the trees. I felt like I could go anywhere on these shoes.

I must have had the biggest grin on my face when I came back to the house. Of course, my butt was covered in snow because I had given my slick snowpants to my mom while staying in my fleecy sweatpants. The running shoes do kick up a lot; but I knew that going in - it's a matter of wearing the right pants.

If I'm ever able to really run again, I'm gonna love these.

--Duration: 25mins

Kyoshin Ryu Jiu Jitsu

Jab / cross / mae ashi shitsui gari / shitsui gari drill: hard to do lead shitsui
Mae ashi shitsui gari / shitsui gari with retraction / jab / oi zuki drill

Mawashi gari to the bag: my right leg was weaker but with better chamber, while my left leg was much more powerful but I couldn't raise it very high

Mae mawari ukemi - gentle fall
Ushiro mawari ukemi from a series of punches and pushes, working towards uke waza
Uke waza: my nemesis, crashed MN, and then took my own hard landing
Kaiten nage: reminder to throw from kiba dachi

From kneeling, a forearm on forearm only pushing/grappling drill: trick was not to commit too much, lest your opponent moves out of the way; sideways pushes also worked

2-on-1 randori: a lot of moving one person around to block the other; I even got thrown into another opponent!
3-on-1 randori: looked more like quick kumite

--Duration: 50mins

Pool Swimming

Nearly got the whole warm-up today, and the drills really helped. Best swim in a long time.

100m easy

100m high elbow recovery
100m 100% catch-up
100m DPS [25 / 24 / 24 / 24]

2x 25m fast - 0:15 R
0:20 / 0:22
50m easy
200m as fast as possible
3:41 [this didn't even feel that fast, holy crap]

2x 25m fast - 0:15 R
0:21 / 0:22
50m easy
400m as fast as possible
7:29 [ridiculous. PB by a mile]

4x 100m on 2:05, holding 1:50
1: 42 / 1:48 / 1: 49 / 1:51 [puke-worthy, but really smooth]
100m easy

4x 200m on 4:20, holding under 4:00
3:40 / 3:40 / 3:42 / 3:46 [just awesome, wanted to die]
100m easy

Hypoxic: 25m + no breath return
Nearly got to the blue line, then 2 breaths

--Distance: 2,650m
--Duration: 70mins

Pool Swimming

(should have been 2x 50m kick w/ fins)
100m kick for time - 1:40

2x 50m pull w/ paddles
100m pull for time - 1:41 [shocking that I was as fast as the kick]

100m high elbow recovery (zipper)
100m DSP - 24 / 23 / 26 / 23 [ouch]
100m catch-up
50m high elbow catch

50m swim - 0:52
Then we got pulled to do a quick dry-land session with swim bands. Elbow should stay high on the pull, but not actually travel upward. I find I can't do the flat-body dry-land exercises as it messes with my pool form.
100m swim with the high elbow

Totally misinterpreted the main set.
2x 50m (add up 100m)
2x 100m (add up 200m)
2x 200m (add up 400m)
Didn't get we were supposed to do the added up in addition to the separate laps.
0:57 / 0:58
1:57 / 1:58
3:59 / 4:02 [could not breathe on these at all; I think it's the longer stroke with the high elbow.]

4x 25m hypoxic [really tough, all in my head. but I got 'em]

--Distance: 1,600m
--Duration: 60mins

Stars W*A*R

First race of the year! Finally!

Format: Ski-O with two handicap boxes
Terrain: flat to rolling, white forest, snowshoe trails, single-track, machine track-set, skate trails, bushwhack
Weather: Sunny and crispy chilly

Route Link

Started the day off really nicely with a ride up with "Bender" and "Chief". I love carpooling.

This being my second Stars WAR at Wasaga Beach, I meant to prepare, but of course forgot last year's map at home. I also forgot my highlighters but thankfully borrowed from a friend.

There were 7 point-to-point controls plus 2 boxes of 4 controls, where I could skip 1 in each. I think I picked a decent route, and off we went, shuffling up the mountain and through the forest to the start. This was mainly a team ski/snowshoe race, and these guys mass started first. Then they started us skiers one per minute.

I started behind my two rivals: MT, a highly-ranked junior skiier, whose parents had won this race on occasion, and VD, our dear course setter's wife and a great skier/orienteer as well.

The first leg was a long slog on a snowshoe trail. I caught up to VD at one point, and my nerves got to me. I was really intent on getting a particular control that I thought was my first one, that I skied right passed #1 and on to the first optional A. D'oh! I climbed the hill to manual-punch A, then had to backtrack 200m for 1, much to the surprise of the later starters.

The long ski to 2 was really nice, although I eventually got stuck behind some straggling ski teams who had a hard time climbing. I also missed an opportunity to bushwhack instead of switchbacking, but I enjoyed the fast ski. The next leg was fun on a skate trail. The snow was so glidy and smooth, that I could even skate a bit - I think??? I easily hit my other two letter controls in the lower box and then jumped in for #3. Passed a team of skaters, who were having trouble on the single track.

Since many of the fast teams had gone ahead, there was a nice trail blazed to cut between several parallel ski trails. I came out onto a major track that should have taken me up to 4. I kept going and going, but there was no turn-off. I eventually found myself at a junction with a little warming hut, and thank goodness, because then I could see how far north I had ended up on the map. Another racer had the same problem as me and went back out to investigate - turns out the trail we were looking for to get to 4 did not really exist!

Met "Bender" and his teammate "Mick" as I skated (!) my way back down to 4 - a junction control, from which I had to grab three controls labelled 5, then return to in order to continue to 6. 5a was really close through a bit of forest, and I was surprised no one had broken trail for me yet, harrumph. So I took off my hopeless skis and hoofed it. Definitely worth it. As I left the control, I wanted to take a gel, so I didn't notice that I had dropped one of my poles. Had to backtrack again 200m to pick it up, golly! Really surprised that one team of struggling skaters who had now caught up to me. "How could you possibly not have noticed that you don't have a pole??"

I quickly hit the other two 5 controls, and decided to take a skate trail back up to 4. The trail was really cool, as it had constant little ups and downs. Not the best for classic skis, but since the snow was great for it, I could help myself with a bit of skating.

I saw VD again as I was leaving 4 back down the same trail, plus I had now passed those skaters again, and my excitement got the better of me again. Along the long ski down to 6, I made one right turn way too early. This time it was a 300m-each-way mistake. Yikes. I passed the skaters again on that awful snowshoe single track heading back to the start/finish, but I was sure that VD had gone by. A male skier was also catching up to me now, and I had to let him go.

Now I passed the Treehuggers team heading out on their snowshoe portion, followed about 10mins by Bender and Mick, then "Tiny" and his partner. The ski tracks were rapidly deteriorating under their clunky footwear, haha. I couldn't catch the guy who had passed me for anything. Finally gasped my way to the finish in 1:58, two minutes behind him.

In the end, I was the third woman and sixth skier. VD made a mistake after 4 and did not finish. MT won handily, the little whippersnapper. After the race, there was a some talk of getting more ski-Os going in Ontario, as driving out to eastern NY state sucks. RD Nick, BC, and MT's parents are all into putting something else together. I told the RD that I could do this every weekend.

To summarize, I think the course really favoured classic skiers, or at least evened out the advantage that skaters might have had. I couldn't believe how easy it was to move on this snow too. The adventure teams felt that the handicap system was fair and quite democratizing. A wonderful, wonderful day. Despite the fact that I lost about 1.4km worth of time (10-15mins) through stupid mistakes. But I got a sweet door prize - massage therapy with, of all people, the wife of the dude who passed me on that last fight to the finish. Oh, my back needs that.

--Distance: 14.5km
--Duration: 1:58

X-Country Skiing

Last training session before the Stars W*A*R. Took some friends' advice and went to Taylor Creek Park to ski along the east-west bike trail. So many skiers out that there were some decent trails made.

Haldon to west lot - 15mins
Struggling over the bare bridge and coming back due to path closure - 15mins
West lot to Haldon - 15mins
A couple of bridges east of Haldon and back - 15mins
I even climbed the hill up to the parking lot nicely. Arms were tired though, didn't want to over-do it.
Kept telling myself I have to keep my head up and be aware at the race, but I always find myself staring at my feet.

It was nice, but I do love a good track set. Plus at one point, some asshole cops went by on their ATVs and smashed up our existing tracks.

Fuck da police!

--Distance: 5.8km
--Duration: 60mins
--Route: Garmin tracks

Pool Swimming

200m kick w/ fins
~3:30
200m pull w/ paddles
~4:00

4x 100m on 400m goal pace
1:56 / 1:57 / 1:56 / 1:57

3x
400m
100m easy
7:50 / 8:01 / 8:02 [adjusted for stops while getting passed]

4x 25 hypoxic 10" / 15" / 20" RI
full / full / flags / flags

--Distance: 2,400m
--Duration: 60mins

Pool Swimming

Missed 100m easy and 3x 100m kick w/ fins.

3x 100m pull w/ paddles on 2:00
1:50-2:00
3x 100m fins and paddles on 2:00
~1:30 each

100m each of DSP, 80%, zipper, high-elbow-catch
25 / 21 / 24 / 21

4x
2x 100m fast on 1:55
1x 100m easy on 2:15 (usually ended up with more rest)
1:45 / 1:51
1:51 / 1:53
1:55 / 2:00
1:51 / 1:50
The last set was a miracle. I always do better once I relax.

4x 25m hypoxic, easy-peasy

--Distance: 2,300m
--Duration: 60mins

X-Country Skiing

Went back to Hardwood Hills for final training before the big race. I'd heard about the uphill start at Mansfield, so I wanted to get my hillwork in check. I took another lesson with Instructor Martina, and she showed me some neat tricks, but it turns out that my hill climbing is really quite good.

I wanted to speed-run the Sochi loop and then do some harder stuff afterwards, but I think I dawdled a bit much in between to do both. I did manage to get up to pretty good speeds on Sochi, though. Usually around 6:00/km. I felt pretty smooth, although I was still noticing that I was looking down a lot and not paying attention to my surroundings, which is what killed me last year. The conditions were a bit icy and the track was shredded to shit. Nevertheless, I finished in 1:17 flat.

I decided to do a Nagano-Lillehammer combo, but in the end had to cut short on the yellow course and didn't get a chance to climb the crazy hill in the southwest corner.

Well guess what? There's no snow at Mansfield again, and the Stars have moved the WAR back to Wasaga. Flat as a board!

--Distance: 18km
--Duration: 2hrs

X-Country Skiing Lesson - Hills

Right away I announced to Instructor Martina that I would like help with hill climbing this time. I wasn't even sure whether you're supposed to stay in the tracks and fight or get out and herring bone. I suck so bad at herring bone that I tend to keep running, but I wasn't sure if that was a waste of energy. To my great surprise, she told me that if I don't have much trouble climbing in the tracks on most hills, that is quite impressive, and that I should stay in the tracks as long as I can.

Running uphill in tracks:
- short, quick steps
- full transfer of weight from foot to foot
- kicking foot forward and attacking
- using the shoulders to help with the weight transfer.
Turns out I was already doing most of these things just by instinct, but the more aggressive "stair climbing" technique really helped.

Then she wanted to introduce some alternative techniques for when I would have to get out of the tracks.
1. Skating diagonal climb: like herring bone, but with a skating sideways glide for more propulsion
- could not get the glide into it, at least not uphill. On flats it was okay, but no way going up
2. Skating parallel pole climb: similar, but both poles touch down together
- same difference, there's just no glide in these little fishscale skis (although Martina had the same equipment!)
3. ("Plan D") Fast herring bone: herring bone with the straight running technique of kicking forward
- by far the best and easiest, fastest and most fun: she told me to just stick to what I know

I also asked her about downhilling and cornering. So the last technique was a kind of half-turn, also based on skating technique:
- the inner foot guides, while the outer foot glides sideways for propulsion. You can go round and around like this. At least Martina can. I have no talent for this sideways gliding thing. She made me try it along a slope, which was a disaster. But for the record, you're supposed to go downhill, slow down a bit, and then do these quick turning steps to corner. Uh-huh.

When I went out to practise, I did actually manage to corner a bit better than before, but I'm just so unsteady out of the tracks. Maybe need to try skating next year to see if I can improve my balance.

--Duration: 45mins

Gym Workout

(reps) 1st set / 2nd set / 3rd set

(10) DB Bent Lateral fly w/ external rotation: 7.5lbs x2 / 10lbs x2 / 10lbs x2
(10) DB Bent-over Lateral Raise: 5lbs x2 / 7.5lbs x2 / 7.5lbs x2
(10) DB Row: 25lbs / 30lbs / 35lbs (6)
(10) DB Low Incline Bench Press: 2x 25lbs / 2x 25lbs / 2x 25lbs

(10) BB Deadlift: 110lbs / 120lbs / 125lbs
(10) Push-ups: BW / BW / BW 
(10) Cable Straight-Arm Pulldowns: setting 3 / setting 3 / setting 4 (8)
I was gonna do an anti-rotation DB thing, but I got distracted by a hot guy and forgot...

(10) Leg Press: 300lbs (20) / 320lbs

--Duration: 40mins

Glute Strengthening Exercises

Doctor's Orders Exercises:

Walking in a 1/4 squat, knees out, with band around knees:
- sideways and backwards/ forwards
This really burned the sides of my ass/hips, but felt good.

10x 1/4 squats with toes against the wall - very hard too keep the hamstrings out of it.
3x 10x 1/2 squats with the band around the knees - hard to control the glutes
3x 10x glute bridges with punching the muscles
- also difficult, but not as bad as the squats


--Duration: about 15mins

Kyoshin Ryu Jiu-Jitsu

Tekube o-sae
Ude-o-sae:
Use momentum from stepping back to generate kuzushi
Apply 90 +1 for easier shoulder torque - although hard for me to hold the arm forward out like that with control
Kaiten nage
Kaiten nage from Sempu
Randori

Feeling pretty "on" tonight. Maybe because of the relaxed atmosphere with everyone being short on time.

--Duration: 30mins

Pool Swimming

I had a tummy bug late yesterday and hadn't been able to eat almost anything leading up to this swim. I knew about the 1,500m TT, so I packed a gel and some salt pills in case I wouldn't be able to eat well during the day. I managed to get through a sandwich and some berries. I also had to nap for a few hours on the couch at work because I was so woozy. Hope it goes away soon.

I took one Gu Roctane and two Endurolyte pills before this workout. I'm sure they kept me reasonably alive.

50m easy
200m kick w/ fins
200m pull w/ paddles
200m @ 1,500m goal pace (2:00)
4:10

1,500m TT
30:35
I was doing about 2:00-2:05 for a long while, especially with some lane shuffling and drafting. Once we got sorted out, I was able to actually hold 2:00 for the last 500m. I'm totally shocked. Getting very close to my sub-30 goal.

2x 100m fast, 1min RI
1:50 / 1:55

4x 50m fast, 1min RI, hold faster than 100
0:52 / 0:51 / 0:51 / 0:49

50m easy

--Distance: 2,600m
--Duration: 70mins

Chiropractic Treatment

This was a cool session at Athlete's Care. We did some functional exercises, which showed me just how much I was overloading my hamstrings because my glutes are so weak.

I did a mini-squat standing on one leg on a small book, and my bad hamstring burned. My butt was doing nothing. Even my good side is really weak. So then KD had me do some half-squats facing the wall so that my knees wouldn't go forward; still didn't activate the glutes. Then he had me do some bridges by squeezing my butt and relaxing my hamstrings - I eventually got it right. Here are the exercises I'll be doing for the next week:

- walking sideways and forward/back with a band around my knees, pushing the knees out
- doing half-squats with the band around, making sure my back is straight and my glutes are firing
- doing the half-squats against the wall
- the glute bridges, with taps to the muscles to activate them, on the floor, off a couch, off a ball (if I'm ready)

Apparently my brain has forgotten that I have glutes and needs to be retrained to make me use them. Otherwise I'll just keep loading my hamstrings and destroying them.

We also did more acupuncture on the butt muscles and a bunch of ART. and then KD brought out this crazy tool that looks like a video game knife-weapon, which he scraped my skin with to release the skin from the fascia and loosen the muscles.

Pool Swimming

Came in quite late in the middle of a set of long repeats with 30secs RI.

150m easy

200m
3:58
4x 100m
2:00 / 1:57 / 1:54 / 1:53 [finally started relaxing and getting faster here]
400m
7:54

2x 200m
3:45 / 4:03 [no idea how this discrepancy happened, but the clock doesn't lie]

4x 50m ascending, R 0:20
0:50 / 0:53 / 0:57 / 1:00

--Distance: 1,750m
--Duration: 50mins

X-Country Skiing Lesson - Flats

It's two weeks before the Stars WAR, and CB and I thought we could use a tune-up of skills. We took an intermediate lesson at Hardwood Hills in between training sessions.

Our lovely instructor Martina took us to the flat track training area and had us do a series of laps focusing on various aspects of technique. Here is the good and the bad:

- Had to work more on subtle weight transfer from foot to foot, keeping head over the relevant ski
- Kick forward more to slide into the snow with the boot in line or just ahead of the other boot
- Avoid flopping the ski down and making noise
- I have good lift from the back foot and am not afraid to get a little airborne
- My gliding forward is pretty good
- I was planting my pole "late", when it should be in time with the lead foot
- My front arm was not extended enough, and my pole was going in straight, putting on the breaks
- My rear arm was following through pretty well, but we were to add a final push against the strap of the pole, hands loose
- Generally my poles were all over the place, flailing about dangerously - I have to keep them in line with my body for max efficiency (and safety to others??)
- The big breakthrough came when Martina had us roll our shoulders slightly (like in swimming!), which not only extended our pole reach, but also greatly improved the weight transfer!
- We should always have a slight lean forward to carry the momentum
Double-poling: for when regular skiing would slow you down:
- lean forward and fall onto your poles
- use an ab crunch to complete the movement

This was a great lesson because it's so helpful to have a good eye watching all your mistakes you would not otherwise even know about. And we both finally got the straight dope on classic technique.

When we went back out to practise, it was the shoulder roll that really got me moving. I found that I had a hard time concentrating on all the leg techniques, but the poling basically took care of the legs, which fell in line. I did find that I could either extend my arm and get a good "catch", or start short and have that nice strap finish, but not usually both. I think I'm still starting the pole late, so I don't have much time to complete a nice full motion. So much like swimming.

Will be back for more next week. Need hill work.

--Duration: 45mins

X-Country Skiing

Route Link

A most beautiful day for skiing! Needed the practise for the Stars W.A.R. in a couple of weeks, so booked a technique lesson in addition to free time on the trails.

CB and I started out with a nice warm-up loop of the 12km Sochi loop. It didn't take long to get into the groove, especially since we were finally on groomed tracks, so much easier to try gliding on one foot. I was actually able to lead for a while. We finished loop one just in time for our lesson in 1:24.

The lesson was pretty awesome and worth every penny.

We had some limited time due to another talk I had scheduled from the tri club, so after a carb-loaded lunch we went out on the same intermediate Sochi loop. The poling technique that our instructor showed us did wonders for my efficiency. The shoulder rolling was the easiest part and immediately stabilized me. I realized after a while that I would either dig in with my pole nice and early on an outstretched arm and then finish short, or start short on a relaxed arm but use the strap-pushing motion to finish the push. I had to consciously dig in my pole at the correct time to be able to start far and finish all the way through.\

I'm sure I was more tired on the second time around, but I finished the 12km loop in 1:29, but most importantly, it didn't feel like a fight. I also got better at cornering and downhilling.

Wonderful day!

--Distance: 24.25km
--Duration: 2:53

Bodyweight Workout

One of my obstacle friends' other obstacle friend posted this thing on FB called the 365 Days of Fitness Challenge, which has a short list of typical "wod" exercises, and since I didn't have much time after the recovery run, I decided to throw it in right at home, in the order that I felt like.

Run/Walk 1 mile (done by virtue of 5km run)
25 burpees
25 sit-ups
25 push-ups
60 second wall sit
25 squats
20 lunges (10 per leg)
90secs plank
75 jumping jacks
60 second wall sit
30sec plank


--Duration: a bunch of minutes

Recovery Run

Under doctor's orders, I did a precisely 5km easy run to test out my damaged ass muscles. I focused heavily on proper running form, and I don't believe my heels ever touched the ground. Didn't really feel anything at the time, but maybe some glimmers of soreness afterwards. My calves were definitely dead at the end of it though.

--Distance: 5km
--Duration: 28:54

Kyoshin Ryu Jiu-Jitsu

triple kick, low, medium, high
speed practise: chamber leg quickly over and over, then kick

okuri: double oi-zuki before the defense, breaks up rhythm
kaeshi: counter attack, no defense, step forward with oi-zuki

kihon chi - uke grabs rear leg, which I don't agree with

kata gatame - kesa variation with more control of the neck and less likelihood that they can get their arm through the loop; also variation up on one knee as with the tanto defense

belt as flexible weapon
- slashing attacks, pinwheel, helicopter...

--Duration: 45mins

Pool Swimming

200m kick w/ fins
200m pull w/ paddles
4x 50m swim w/ fins and paddles, descending, 0:20 R
0:40 / 0:41 / 0:39 / 0:38
4x 50m swim, descending, 0:20 R
0:54 / 0:53 / 0:51 / 0:49

2x
4x 100m on 2:05
1x 400m on 8:40
200m easy pull (second was 150m)
1:50 / 1:54 / 1:56 / 1:58 / 8:17
1:55 / 1:58 / 2:02 / 2:03 / 8:14
The first round nearly killed me. I finished the 400 totally delirious and out of breath. I decided to treat the second round like an endurance set, which is what it was, and only gave myself a few seconds of rest after easier reps. Et voila - a faster swim on the 400!

--Distance: 2,750m
--Duration: 65mins

Gym Workout

(reps) 1st set / 2nd set / 3rd set

(10) DB Row @ Bench Plank: 25lbs / 30lbs (8, Bench) / 25lbs
(10) DB Bench Press: 2x 25lbs / 2x 30lbs / 2x 30lbs
(10) BB Deadlift: 110lbs / 120lbs / 125lbs
(10) DB Bent Lateral fly w/ external rotation: 7.5lbs x2 / 10lbs x2 / 10lbs x2

(10) Leg Press: 280lbs / 300lbs / 320lbs
(10) Ball Figure-8: BW / BW / BW 
(10) DB Bent-over Lateral Raise: 5lbs x2 / 7.5lbs x2 / 7.5lbs x2
(10/side) Diagonal Squat Press: 25lbs plate / 25lbs plate / 25lbs plate

(10) DB Curls: 2x 15lbs / 2x 20lbs (6) / 2x 15lbs
(10) Front Squat: 60lbs / 70lbs / 70lbs
(10/side) Low Box Walk-overs: BW / BW / BW
(10/side) Calf Raises: BW / BW / BW [pretty awesome when the heart rate is through the roof!]

--Duration: 65mins

Pool Swimming

200m kick w/ fins
200m pull w/ paddles
200m swim w/ fins and paddles

6x 100m on 2:10, trying to hold 1:55
1:44 / 1:51 / 1:52 / 1:54 / 1:56 / 1:55

50m easy

3x 200m on 4:20, trying to hold 4:00
3:51 / 3:52 / 3:55
These felt quite easy

50m easy

4x 50m on 1:00
3x 50m on 0:55
2x 50m on 0:50
1x 50m on 0:45
At least that was the plan!
Swam most at 0:55, but then just dropped closer to 1:00 just to finish

50m windmill (to show us how hard it is to swim while thrashing around) - tough on the shoulders and slow
50m 3Rs - Reach, Rhythm, Relaxation

--Distance: 2,500m
--Duration: 65mins

Gym Workout

(reps) 1st set / 2nd set / 3rd set / 4th set


(10) DB Row: 25lbs / 30lbs / 30lbs (8)
(10) DB Bench Press: 2x 25lbs / 2x 30lbs / 2x 30lbs
(10) Front Squat: 60lbs / 70lbs / 70lbs
(10/side) Alt. DB Straight Arm Raise: 10lbs / 10lbs / 10lbs

(10) Leg Press: 280lbs / 300lbs / 320lbs / 320lbs
(10/side) DB Anti-Rotation Chops: 20lbs / 20lbs / 20lbs / 20lbs
(10) BB Deadlift: 110lbs / 110lbs / 115lbs / 120lbs [went higher after finally giving up on pronated grip and switched to over-under]

(10) Push-ups: BW / BW
(10) Inverted Rows: BW / BW

--Duration: 57mins

Gym Workout

(reps) 1st set / 2nd set / 3rd set

(10/side, 8, 6) Cable Straight Arm Pulldown: Setting 3 / Setting 4 / Setting 5
(10) Cable Deadlift: Setting 15 / Setting 15 / Setting 15
(failure) Chin-ups: 3x1 / 1.25 / 1.5
(10) Leg Press: 280lbs / 300lbs / 320lbs

(10) DB Bench Press: 2x 20lbs / 2x 30lbs / 2x 30lbs
(10) Front Squat: 60lbs / 70lbs / 70lbs
(10/side) Russian Twist: 35lbs plate / 35lbs plate / 35lbs plate
(10/side) DB Sword Draw: 7.5lbs / 10lbs / 10lbs

(5/side) Push-up DB Rows: 10lbs / 10lbs
(10) BB Deadlift: 110lbs / 110lbs
(10) Ball Rollout: BW / BW
(10) Inverted Rows: BW / BW

--Duration: 45mins