Training Log Archive: Hammer

Best Rick's Rant ever? Exposing the "War on (environmental) Science"
The ELA is a World famous water research facility. Well was.

C • Loved it 4

while editing theGriz' budget and ARK expansion plans for the entire Golden Horseshoe. A bright future for AR and O if it all pans out (which I expect it will).

You know ARK is big when every few kids say hi to their coach Etoile when they stop by to Trick or Treat.

no energy this evening and missed TNT because my storage room at MAC flooded again and killed my freezer so I was lugging frozen peat cores across campus looking for available freezer space so this summer's work wasn't wasted.

Finally got my new iPhone 5 on the weekend and so I thought about buying a case for it and this came up in my search....

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17zsfmvps23j0jpg/x...

C • iAccessories 2

Monday evening stretch and yoga while watching Sandy coverage on CNN.

Kids course pickup then some forest running on the southern portion of enduro course.

~170 participants including 70'ish kids despite rain and a windchill of 2C. Great kids courses by PH. Gave them a taste of everything.

Then some jogging later in the day checking out a possible new Schools race arena and also the 12 acre Hanes Corn Maze for next year's Canadian Champs weekend.

RTH course testing with Sudden. Got a thorn in my shoe and it took Sudden a lot of effort to pull it out

Precision nav, run, run, precision nav, run, run, run precision nav, HILL, precision nav, run, run, run, finish, T-shirt, meatballs.

C • run run run 8

nice morning for a ride in the DV.

MAC: http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/article/mcmaster-tops...

Saw this today: "Fehr and loathing in lost wages". I want NHL hockey!!!

ARX training on a beautiful and warm evening in the DV.

super foggy rail trail ride with Tarno. after a few days off its time to throw together 12 solid weeks of training in prep for SSR.

v. easy jogging at ARK in the at times pea soup fog. Need a lower setting for my light in conditions like that.

thorcore.

super duper sore from the weekend. Started to watch the US Debate thingy but after a few minutes of blabbering from Romney I couldn't handle it anymore so I switched to the football game.

Knee too sore to run today. Too bad as it looked like something I would have enjoyed before my injuries.

But today was a great day to be a spectator. Very cool that the FC Cup ended up in a tie. So proud of the younger Canadian junior team to almost win the Cup. To see the smiles on those young faces wearing the maple leaf for the first time ever was just a great moment. Especially proud of AdventureGirl! who ran super well and looked calm during all the yelling and screaming.

Great races by the Americans in the BK Cup. Congrats to them.

But the toughguy and most improved award in my books goes to my awesome club mate Serge! He ran several races very well and looked strong and confident anchoring Canada to gold in the men's relay. This despite either a broken or badly bruised rib.

DVOA raised the bar big time. So great to see them focus on the elites and especially the top juniors today with the relay. The relay guide was brilliant and NevMonster and Balter worked the announcing really well. DVOA is simply an awesome club. Then again if there is a club that can match their event quality in Canada then it is Ottawa. Already looking forward to NAOC2014!!

Check out this awesome photo by Kswede of AG!

C • More AG photos 6

almost a perfect run with a little bit too much hesitation here and there but only about 15s of errors.

Lots of fun working with Canada's BK and FC Cup teams but tiring. So much respect for pi, AZ, MrKemp, Charm and theshadow.

Oh yeah the avg. age of Canada's FC Cup team is under 17. #futureisbright

C • The Hammer is back! 7

RedX Long - Splits

really enjoyed this but never had the fight after dropping my SI 200m into the race and losing 45sec. then missed #1,6,8 and 12. really awesome course today.

C • Dropped SI 8

Middle - Blue - Splits

Event: 2012 North American Orienteering Championships
 

rail trail

ARK Attack & ARX

another cold toes morning (well night still) ride.

some random thoughts about urban navigation races...

I told Tarno about the recent Toronto Rogaine and that got us chatting about the 24 hour Toronto adventure race we did about 10 years ago. That race got great press and was a lot of fun but it also then led to a huge boom in non urban adventure racing because of the press. We agreed that it was one of the most enjoyable adventure races we ever did. I think what was best about it was using bikes to get to the different parks where you then went on foot to some CP's. But we didn't get to use the very good TOC park maps (just lame topos). Urban nav racing has huge potential and the city chase proved that. But REAL navigation racing was still absent in Canada's biggest city. No trivia or clues or computers or silly games type 'races' but a honest to goodness real nav race. So it was cool to read the TOC Rogaine reports from those that did it. It brought back good memories of that urban race. Good on TOC for bringing back urban racing the right way!

For urban races to work I think they need to be either fast and short and technical like sprint races in Vancouver or the London City Race style OR/ they need to be longer and easier. The Why Just Run series in Toronto had potential but the courses appeared short and easy and so it didn't attract those that wanted the nav challenge or those that liked endurance. Since Toronto parks aren't that technical this rogaine format that TOC have come up with seems perfect. I'm not a fan of rogaines but if this race grows (and it will) the format not only allows all to finish together for what could be a great party (Beer garden) but also spreads people out more so it isn't dangerous. (the start of the urban AR had us biking through red lights).

I wish I could have done the race because it has been a long time since I've been excited about doing a race in nearby Toronto. Unfortunately I had too much race prep to do for RTH and had to get ribbons out for COC'13 for the controller to check following NAOC. I also think mid October is best spent orienteering in the forests. :-)

Reading some logs it looks like bikes trumped the bus. I had suggested to TOC many years ago they host a 8-12 hour urban rogaine/adventure run and call it "Raid the Rocket" to use the TTC transit system and running. But reading the race reports and the chat with Tarno about how much fun that urban adventure race was it makes me think that TOC got it right by allowing bikes. It suggests to me that TOC should promote this race as an urban adventure race instead. Find a gap in the AR series schedule (perhaps early June??), try to get into that race series and promote the hell out of it with a good race name. (heck Stars should try and get their winter race into the schedule too). GHO would be happy to promote the TOC Rogaine at the Around the Bay Race Expo in March if TOC sends us some postcards! But the name has to change! It is fun to think of a good name as we already have several cool race names in the OARPS races (Wilderness Traverse, Storm the Trent, Logs Rocks and Steel, Raid the Hammer). I'm sure Bender will suggest something like "The Adventure Race at the Centre of the Universe" ;-)

C • Well said! 2

including a lot of rolling and some stretching at the Pulse and a lame attempt at the elliptical but when the knee wasn't happy I went back to stretching.

more RTH stuff.

So, after organizing RTH every year since 2000 and with Sudden for the last 5 or 6 years we are taking a break in 2013. Well not really a break in volunteer work since we are organizing the Canadian Orienteering Champs which is even more work than doing all the stuff for RTH. But we are taking a break from organizing RTH next autumn. RTH is an essential fund raiser for the ARK and ARX programs so it will still take place but we are looking for some volunteers that would like to take on the race director and course planning roles of RTH 2013.

With RTH always on the same weekend as the Venice urban race I'll be able to scratch at least one of the races off my 'to do list'.

C • Venice 1

SMT braids on a beautifully brisk autumn morning in the DV.

COC'13 middle. Pathetic, would be good if you could test this at race speed before NAOC.

It was cold, pouring rain and getting dark but this training with Sudden was super enjoyable. RTH course testing in some pretty sweet open woods. Unfortunately my nav was rather poor again.

namaste

Relocation while jogging the "Canterbury Rally" with ARX.

Rail trail - Frozen toes edition with Tarno.

Running with ARX in the DV (Canterbury) tonight with the brisk temp and golden leaves and autumn smells was a spectacularly wonderful pick-me-up.

In the middle of the run coach Tarno told the kids to stop and 'just take in the moment'. We did that about 100m away from where Etoile and I got married...21 years ago tomorrow (Thursday) at the Maplewood chapel in the DV. :-)

C • Happy Anniversary! :) 6

TNT with ARX, Sarah and Duane. A dozen 1' on 30" off on the 16th fairway and the Cleveland woods.

Easy jog and nav in the Deevee with Sudden testing COC middle course routes and checkpoints. Valley is always awesome at this time of year and it felt especially open and fast this morning after racing at HF yesterday.

warm-up and cool down.

Ontario Champs Long.

Epic Fail! One of my worst performances in a very, very long time. Started out OK but with some difficulty following bearings. Knee started to hurt when we got into the rock and I just stopped looking at the map (and well I couldn't read it anyway) and made several epic errors including one in the "head scratching where the hell am I?" category. Only spiked just over half the checkpoints. That just ain't good enough.

The course spent most of the time in the most rugged portion on Hilton Falls and I struggled to stay motivated with all the mistakes and an unhappy knee. However, I was pleased I toughed it out to finish the course.

C • Saw you- briefly 13

Event: 2012 Ontario Orienteering Championships
 

warm-ups and cool downs

Ontario Champs Middle Distance. Knee felt great and felt I had good flow spiking most CPs. Unfortunately fell on small fence before 8 and my SI flew off my finger. Took a minute to find it ... though it felt like an eternity. Didn't make my goal to finish in the top 3 of GHO runners but I still got a scalp. Thanks Stars for a fun race. Great use of a small area and having the school gym to hang out in was great for such a cold day.

I don't normally run sprint as the speed and hard surface aren't good for my knees but a brand new map of the UW campus meant I had to race and I was looking forward to this all autumn. Stars didn't disappoint. Great course with some fun traps at different parts of the course. I had nothing in the legs but the breathing was worse. Was exhausted by #2. :-( ..and got trapped wayyy too many times. Really enjoyed this. Really nice map but it is still an ugly campus but hey it is U Waterloo after all. ;-)

Thanks Stars for a fun day. **Hard to believe this club is only 6 years old. They have many nice maps, top athletes, an increasing number of volunteers and of course over 100 kids in their local ARK program.

Failed again at cracking GHO's top 3 in this race (even with Sudden sitting out and resting for the long).

C • sprint photo 2

OK so perhaps it was the snow in K-country but I'm already thinking ski season. I have set a goal to do a major ski loppet (though likely skate not classic) for the winter of 2013-2014. Given that I only got on snow once last year this is not going to be easy. Strange though because I did three 50km loppets before I was 16 but none since.

Anyway I need to upgrade my ski gear. Have always preferred peltonens since their deadly (to use a Nev term) skinny silver VM's in the early 80's back when I raced S.O.D. and I've always had Salomon boots so..... for a skate skier (classic hurts the knees too much) what would y'all suggest for gear to get?

Oh and this is likely once again to be a crap winter for southern Ontario snow wise so maybe I'll delay that goal....

C • Skis 11

just two weeks to the Nor-Am Champs so some armchair training tonight to get ready for the fight.

http://www.cbc.ca/doczone/episode/the-war-of-1812-...#

early morning at the hotel gym before last day of conference. Excellent presentations on the Black Saturday Victorian wildfires (sorry bush fires) and also on prescribe burning in Canada's National Parks.

K-country is absolutely stunning.

same loop as yesterday but this time in SNOW!! chilly with the merrell barefoot shoes...

easy road/trail run in K-country as the sun came out over the mountains. Yoga and stretch later in the day.