Training Log Archive: Bash

Event: 2013 Nationals (Hamilton, CANADA)
 

For the first time ever, an orienteering injury has sent me to the hospital. At the start of a 4-hr volunteer shift at the Nationals registration table, I whirled around to put some liability waivers - including my own - into the box. I slammed my forehead hard into the edge of a metal shelf and sliced it open. Luckily, a physician who happened to be checking in for the event did some interim repair with the club first aid kit and said I will likely need stitches. After the shock wore off, I worked another few hours then drove to the Urgent Care Centre. Argghh. But even as I sit here waiting, I'm laughing at the irony of this injury.

Big thanks to Mr. Wonderful who brought us a dozen delicious apple cider doughnuts after seeing my AP comment to Cristina saying that I'd never tried them. Yum, a couple of those really helped me feel better.

Nationals Sprint on the McMaster University campus

The emerg doc said I could run as long as it didn't make me feel light headed or otherwise rotten. I was already planning to take it easy because of my foot so I went into the race quite calm for someone who hadn't used an orienteering map since June 1. I have also never mastered sprint-specific map symbols so there is always a lot of luck involved in urban or campus sprints. And of course, I came to the event site straight from the emerg department and raced with my hospital bracelet on. I was calm because I had zero expectations!

So given all that, I'm actually pretty happy with my running (although not my orienteering!) I made several huge errors mostly because I haven't been on an O map lately and just wasn't sharp. I started running from #2 back toward #1 instead of toward #3 in the opposite direction. I didn't check the code on a control I ran past because I had the description wrong, but that was my control. Attackpoint says I had 2:33 of errors but it missed a big error on #1 (as per the GPS track) and a few minor ones.


(Both photos by Adrian Zissos.)

I was 5 minutes out of first, which is much better than I deserved, and I finished around midpack. I had a couple of the best splits in our category and also the absolute worst split for any age group on our course at the go control. That is inexcusable since it was inside the spectator area, and I'd seen people punch it and run to the finish even before my race started. I guess once you've made a commitment to race stupid, you have to stay consistent. :) I should learn the damned sprint map symbols and go back to McMaster with the map some day to drill them into my head. (Hmm, perhaps that's a bad choice of words today...)



Regardless, it was quite fun, the course was interesting, my foot didn't hurt much, the weather was perfect, and I chatted with lots of friends.

(For anyone looking at the GPS track, it is incorrect between #9 and #10. I was clean and direct there - one of my best-ranked splits - and didn't go way off into that parking lot. The track does something funny on the way to #1 as well. The other parts of the GPS track that look like mistakes... are mistakes.)

Sprint Course 3a - Splits

I admit it. I'm a Glee fan. And that was sad. :(

How *not* to prepare for a national championship... I checked back in the trusty Attackpoint statistics and discovered that with the exception of the CNYO Rogaine, I've orienteered all of 14 hours this year. The last time I used an orienteering map was June 1. This weekend will not just be an experiment in terms of orienteering with an injury. It will also be an experiment to see how well orienteering goes when you don't remember how to do it. Should be interesting...

Another doctor-approved half hour run. OK, 35 minutes but who's counting? After running the soft, even, flat surface of the rail trail yesterday, I moved today to the hillier trails of Palgrave West with roots, rocks and holes hidden under leaf cover. It was a bit of a jump but tomorrow is Day 1 of Orienteering Nationals so I don't have time to ramp up gradually. At least tomorrow is a campus sprint so the footing should mostly be good. If I'm not limping after that (and it seems unlikely, given that it won't be as long or as technical as today's run), then I'll give the Middle distance race a try on Saturday. One day at a time.

Most of our sumacs are past their prime already. We still have a few fiery red/orange bushes but many have dropped the majority of their leaves. In spite of the fast progress of the autumn leaves, today was a summer day in October - perfect Harps weather. Not so perfect for BulletDog who was so hot that I brought her back home after 2 km.

Regulation half-hour run, as permitted by the chiropodist. I went on the rail trail to keep it flat and relatively low impact. It didn't affect my foot in any obvious way. If anything, the pain decreased as I ran, which is how it was until two weeks ago. Supposedly, it is better to maintain some level of one's regular athletic activities during the healing process, including running. I sure hope that is true because I would go stir crazy otherwise!

I will be breaking the rules this weekend at the Orienteering Nationals but I plan to be good after that. Luckily, the races go from shortest to longest over the 3 days so I can always bail from the rest of the event if things aren't going well.

Autumn Leaves Alert: We are getting close to peak in Caledon, which means it is probably past peak in places like Huntsville already. If someone wants a nice autumn leaves hike on Thanksgiving, it will be pretty nice around here or in Barrie - no need to go much further north. Having said that, I don't think it's a particularly spectacular year for leaves. Gusty winds blew some of our leaves down a few days ago too. But it is still beautiful.

Before the run, I went for my 4th laser treatment and was demoted to the lowest level of laser and advised not to return until after I've seen the doctor and picked up my new orthotics in a week or two. Why? Because I have this foolish penchant for statistics, science and honesty, thus I couldn't confirm that 3 laser treatments had reduced my pain. We've altered three other important variables by adding a heel lift, reducing running and eliminating exercises that stretch the heel. So maybe the laser has helped but it is impossible to know. So... the technician decided that I will get no more laser for now since we aren't sure it is helping. Of course, the experiment was designed in such a way that we never could have gotten that information.

Rodney Yee Power Yoga for Flexibility. First attempt at yoga modified so that left heel and calf aren't stretched too much. Downward dog and plank modifications load the right leg more, and I have to modify lunge position when the left leg is behind. Otherwise, most of it was OK. Definitely better than avoiding yoga because some of the poses don't work.

Some quick weights to get my upper body used to the idea of working out again. Better not overdo it given the big weekend coming up. It's a big weekend from the perspectives of volunteer work, driving time and family Thanksgiving. If all goes well, I'll spend less than 3 hours racing over 3 days! I'm also co-organizing a big event for my engineering class on the following weekend. It never gets boring around here.

Sigh... Guess I need to track this stuff. BulletDog and I hiked to Thinker's Hill and back. It's a rolling trail with a good surface and no steep hills - perfect rehab trail. It didn't seem to affect my Achilles at all. So that's a start.

I'm admitting defeat and dropping out of Salomon Raid The Hammer. The only other event I'm registered for in 2013 is Orienteering Nationals this weekend, where I can hike instead of running if it hurts too much. After all the computer hours I've put into Nationals and RTH as registrar, I'd like to enjoy at least a couple of hours in the forest. Blah.

Was promoted from Level 1 laser therapy for my heel to Level 3. I guess I'm bionic now.

It was pouring rain this morning, and the big fireplace in the lodge was awfully nice but we couldn't waste our last morning in Algonquin Park. We usually run the nearby Mizzy Lake Trail but I'm not allowed to run that far so we hiked the Track and Tower Trail, which we'd never done before. We'll definitely be doing it again! The scenery is excellent, particularly in autumn, and the lookout is one of the best views in Algonquin Park. There is even a big set of stairs where we could do repeats if we were feeling really keen.





This ended up being another historical outing. The interpretive guide pointed out all sorts of evidence of human activity. The Cache Lake area was once the bustling centre of Algonquin Park. It's impressive and encouraging to see how nature has taken over. We were walking on a lovely, leaf-covered ridge trail in the forest when we arrived at a numbered post. I checked the guide and discovered that we were walking on the old rail bed of what was formerly the busiest rail line in Canada. Wow!

I felt good for awhile and ran the short distance where we overlapped the bike rail trail. By the end, though, my heel was on fire. Too bad since it seemed to be improving with the laser treatment and rest. :((



With the steady rain, a lot of my photos ended up blurry because of droplets of water on the lens.

'Bent's GPS track (I forgot mine): http://www.attackpoint.org/sessiondata.jsp?session...

'Bent and I rode the Old Railway Bike Trail from Lake of Two Rivers Store to its western terminus, then went east to explore the Pog Lake campground, which was much prettier than its name suggests, and back to the car.













We detoured to ride the Cache Lake Dam service road, which involved some steep climbing on a soft surface but was worth it for the autumn scenery. Confession: There was a "No Hiking" sign that probably implied bikes were prohibited too but it was hard to resist exploring such a pretty road.







We were cruising along at a good pace when a bull moose rose out of the wetland and stepped onto the trail about 10 m in front of us, blocking it sideways. We threw on our brakes and sat wide-eyed. He stood there for a few seconds while he made up his mind, then he started trotting away from us down the trail.

'Bent started riding in hopes of getting a better photo.

Me (in a loud whisper): "Stop!!!! Remember Survivorman saying that a bull moose is the most dangerous animal in the Ontario forest?"

'Bent: "That's only in one particular season."

Me: "Yes. THIS season!"

He didn't believe me (until Google backed me up later) but luckily he stopped and took a "that big speck is a moose" photo.



We chatted with some New Zealanders back at the lodge, and they were quite envious. In their vision of Canada, I'm sure cyclists constantly fend off moose, bear and lynx!

After about 8,000 calories at the delicious Arowhon Pines lunch buffet, 'Bent and I waddled down to the waterfront and went for a paddle to the south end of Joe Lake. We passed Gibraltar Rock where we were married but it is such a nice campsite that we rarely get to visit; it was occupied again this year. One of the other lodge guests said that hotel staff told her it was called "Wedding Rock". I guess we've made our small mark on the world. :)



I've been reading a book about the history of the settlements of Joe Lake and Canoe Lake, which were a few kilometers - and one train station - apart near the south end of Joe Lake and north end of Canoe Lake respectively. The book's author was a park ranger's daughter who grew up in Joe Lake between 1928 and the mid-1940s. She included hand-drawn maps of the settlement showing the locations of residents' cabins, Hotel Algonquin, Colson's Store, etc. I'd hoped we might find some foundations but when the Ontario government wants to destroy all evidence of a building, they do a great job.

We think we found the sites of the store and the hotel, both of which are now used mostly as parking lots for leaseholders, and we definitely found the location of the author's cabin, which was burnt to the ground by the government. Amongst other things, we found a half-buried metal bed frame in a flat section of forest in the right location. She mentioned that bed frame near the end of the book when she talked about returning to the site in later years. Cool! It's impressive to see how completely the forest takes over if you give it 60 or 70 years.



When we started paddling again, a long crack opened up in the bottom of the canoe and started flexing. It didn't go all the way through but it wouldn't take much for that to happen, and some water started pooling in the bottom of the boat. We paddled directly back to the lodge, following the shoreline and singing, "Near far, wherever you are..." No, not really! :)

I didn't turn my GPS on and off at all the right times but this is close.