Training Log Archive: Bash

Salomon Dontgetlost.ca Raid The Hammer 2010

Tree Huggers at the start line: Crash, Bash and Hingo



Wil Smith getting focused at the start line:



This was another fun, challenging, well-organized Raid The Hammer. I'm so grateful to all the sponsors and hard working volunteers who make this possible! It may have been the longest and hardest RTH our team has done. The wet weather gave us lots of slippery leaves, mud and rocks to negotiate.



We started with a Matrix. Crash unfortunately lived up to her nickname by smashing her face into a rock in the slippery reentrant where she was the 4th person to punch control E. I found my controls (A & C) easily but lost some time when my attempt to knock GHOSlow out of the way at a control was unsuccessful. (Oops - sorry 'bout that!) We were one of the early teams out of the Matrix.



And... we promptly blew our race on the second map when we thought CP2 was in a different location, which made the interesting bullseye map impossible to use. Once we finally stumbled on the real CP2 (just flagging tape, not a control we needed to punch), the other controls went just fine. This section took us 63 minutes compared to 24 minutes for the fastest team and the only good news was that we were not alone in screwing it up. In fact, Winsplits didn't even identify it as an error for us, which is a little scary. We figured that the whole world must have passed us in this section but the results say we only dropped 8 places.



After that, the rest of our day went well albeit with a couple of slower route choices, in particular an ill-chosen (by me) sidehill route to CP5 in the halfpipe. The wet leaves and muddy slopes were so slippery that we and the racers around us had numerous wipe-outs. Hingo in particular is going to have some sore joints tomorrow. I crashed on my good shoulder there and heard a crunch so I'm hoping it'll be OK for paddling.



We were running better than the Tree Huggers usually do and I was glad to feel good late in the race, given that I'm training for a 17-hour race. Crash was following the map quite well by the end and was often the first to spot a control at a distance. It was a fun race with an awesome couple of teammates!



Alas, we couldn't overcome our early screw-up but we moved up and finished 7 minutes behind the winning Masters team Lost Bearings, who were leading us by 18 minutes after our disaster. (Please, nobody point out how many minutes it took me to take all these photos - and more. Remember: we thought that our only remaining hope for a prize was the photo contest.) We were 12th overall out of 68 teams and 4th coed team behind MBR, Untamed and Jackson Triggs (although not officially ranked as coeds). So we are happy with our recovery.







There were some beautiful places.





Lots of tricky terrain.



We saw less cheating this time. Most teams around us had each teammate touching the control flag. I took this photo of Crash punching a control, then Hingo and I touched the flag. Although we didn't realize it until afterward, a volunteer was quietly watching for this. I see now that his knee is sticking out from behind a tree trunk at the left of this photo!



While we were racing, 'Bent was working the CP3 aid station with Funderstorm. As teams came through, he tried to get photos. Some people stopped their race to pose.



While others, like PhattyJR, just stopped to punch.



M&M didn't even stop - but she touched the flag as she screamed past the aid station.



As a favour to me, 'Bent got the leading Masters team to stop and pose for a photo. He also did a mandatory gear check with them, "Can you show me your bicycle pump?" It didn't slow them down enough but at least he tried.



Trav didn't have his bicycle pump either.



Pixie and the Wonderbroads had dressed with the plan to pose for photos.



Thanks again to everyone involved!

'Bent and I headed to the Nottawasaga River to test some sweet full carbon kayak paddles that I've borrowed from Mike Fekete of http://www.Kayaksport.net.

We'd planned to go north, heading downstream from Nicolston Dam, but with the RV park closed, we had to put in on the south side of Hwy 89. 'Bent talked me into heading south so we didn't have to portage around the dam. This led to an important discovery: the reason why people normally paddle north from Nicolston. It turns out some of the fairways on the Nottawasaga golf course cross the river. Given how careful I've been about wearing bright colours during hunting season, it would have totally sucked to be taken out by a golf ball. On the bright side, it was a great opportunity for some Level 5 intensity paddling intervals as we hightailed it out of their way. I'd have to say that none of the golfers seemed too concerned about our welfare!

Other than the exciting Shooting Gallery Section, the river was scenic and quiet with enough water for a good paddle test. I was amazed at how much nicer these paddles are than my SRS 5-piece carbon paddle. Unfortunately, this probably isn't the right paddle for the whitewater in NZ but it would be awesome for kayaking on Georgian Bay or just for training on Island Lake.

The iPhone4 takes surprisingly good photos!



I gave the one above a little Photoshop Lightroom treatment but the original pic straight from the phone was quite acceptable. It's a 5-megapixel camera.

Waiting for the fog to clear so I can go for a road ride and see if all those expensive bike-fitting changes have made Princess comfortable to ride. She isn't as pretty anymore so I'm hoping she's functional!

Sunny and 14C in mid-November! If we can't have snow for skiing, then this is an excellent second choice. Took Princess for a tour of some rolling country roads in the Hockley / Cedarville / Rosemont area. There are some big improvements after the bike fitting. Best of all, I can imagine sitting on this new saddle for an all-day ride. The women's handlebars make the bike feel more manageable and put my arms in a better position, e.g. now I can haul back on the bars when I climb.

As for the pain in my lower right back... well, it took a little longer to show up. I guess it's just my body's preference for the mountain bike position vs, the road bike position and whatever that means about my anatomy, core strength or whatever. I did a lot of arching back and forth trying to find a better position and I'll need to do a lot of forward bends after I ride. Boo.

I'm not so happy with the tune-up but 'Bent showed me what I can adjust. Normally, he's my Bike Guy but I'll be on my own when I take Princess out of the bike box in Florida next week so I'm trying to learn the ropes.

My new iPhone has become unexpectedly useful in my training lately. I find that headphones change the outdoor experience in a way that I don't really like - not to mention the safety issues. I sometimes run trails with an iPod but I almost feel like I'm in a separate world, out of touch with my surroundings. However, I'm quite enjoying the speakers on my iPhone. I'm primarily tuned to all the outdoor sounds and sensations but a little background music or a podcast can increase the fun, depending on what I'm doing and how I'm feeling. An hour into today's ride, I needed a boost so I turned it on and the speed went up.

Hard Core Live with Caron. There was some trash talking in class between members of three different Raid The Hammer Half-Raid teams. Apparently, the more experienced teams are planning to slip magnets into the pocket of Sean Bechtel, who is one of Canada's top triathletes but a newbie at navigating. His teammates, Karsten Madsen (rising tri star) and Claudia Johnston (sub-10 hr Ironman in Kona this year) are no slouches either.

Just my luck... In the same week that I overdid the push-up challenge while trying to get in some kayak paddling hours, Caron designed tonight's class with a focus on upper body, particularly shoulders. Enough already! I've been sufficiently punished for stepping outside my push-up comfort zone! 'Bent, of course, thought this class was easy due to the low amount of knee strain. He's finding the push-up challenge easy too. Phooey.

During today's Grand Tour de Markham-Scarborough-Toronto-Port Credit, I stopped in at MEC to pick up the spare tube I'd promised to get for 'Bent's trainer tire. That little detour cost me $348!! It's always risky when I go into MEC... What amazes me is how often I discover a piece of outdoor gear that I didn't even know existed - and it becomes an instant necessity. Today's surprise new product was "padded kayak shorts" - for people whose bums spend too many hours on hard little kayak seats, such as the time I'm spending on our kayak erg. Brilliant idea. I tested them tonight and they're great. 'Bent could even buy a pair to use as a shammy for his recumbent bike!

Rode around Palgrave East and stayed out past sunset by mistake. Daylight Savings Time is sooooo last week. Gorgeous, crisp November day - it doesn't get better at this time of year.

Next stop: Caledon Navigators Orienteering Club Annual General Meeting. In a brilliant stroke of planning by our club president, we are meeting at a pub with good food.

Apparently, Climate Change hasn't been fixed yet.

Saturday's Hockley Loop counts as both a Long Run and a Hill Run, so today had to be a Speed day. For a change, I did three long intervals on a hilly trail loop about 1 km in length at what I imagined to be my 5K race pace. (I can only imagine because it is doubtful I will ever do a 5K race!) I also ran trails for warm-up, cooldown and recovery in between the intervals.

About 5 minutes/interval.

I could *really* feel muscle pain and weakness from last night's sets of push-ups and it prevented me from paddling for as long as I'd planned. So I'm going to be the shortest-lasting participant in Push-up Challenge history... I'm quitting after just one session. I do push-ups (considerably fewer) as part of my regular upper body routine and it doesn't interfere with my paddling. I might come back to it some time but I really need to get more paddling time in and I can't be messing with that until after New Zealand. Yes, you are welcome to scorn me. I've earned it. (Head hung in shame...)

OK, I've finally given in. My cell phone is turned on and nearby most of the time, and I can get text messages, e-mail and voice mail. If you have my cell #, I've probably told you not to bother using it because it was almost always turned off, but now it's a good way to reach me. If you don't have my cell # and would like it, I'll be glad to send it (but I'm not posting it online!)

Lots of people did the Push-up Test last week and I hope everyone remembered that the training program started on Monday! 14 13 12 10 with 60-80 seconds rest between sets, chest touching the floor between push-ups. OMG, I can't imagine doing this ever again - let alone increasing the number of push-ups on Wed.

Good news and bad news. My road bike, Princess, has been painful to ride so I took her into Gears for a professional fitting. I was expecting a few adjustments here and there but almost immediately, the guy said the frame was too big for me and he wasn't sure whether he could make the bike work at all. (Argghh, I *did* buy it new from a bike shop who checked the sizing.) After a full hour of playing with every variable from cleat position on my shoes to a new saddle and women's handlebars, it looks like Princess will fit me just fine. It'll take a few days in the shop (and a few dollars) to get her sorted out but it feels like it should make a huge difference. I've been getting low back pain from riding less than 2 hours, which has never happened on a mountain bike, but the new riding position is much more comfortable.

Only 12 days till my first 100K ride. I think I've officially abandoned the idea of the 100-mile option, given how little I've ridden this bike. Also, it seems a shame to be out riding all day when I've got a free place to stay on Clearwater Beach. :-)