Training Log Archive: Harps

Nice little trend here, can get used to this. Mostly staying in now due to oral surgery today. 2 days recommended no excercise. Good timing :)

C • Gooder Style :) 2

Final day of the Ultimate XC and I was feeling good-ish all things considered. My knee wasn't feeling great and my quads were pretty much blown... but my lungs/cardio were ok from holding a bit back the prior 2 days and I was looking forward to a fun, albeit tough, ride.

The race began near dawn at 6am on a fellow UXC racer's own private 300 acre land of 10-15km mtb singletrack (you could smell the envy at the end of the section!). From the private land Logie caught up and we cruised towards Tremblant area hitting all the hills along the way and a piece Dan referred to as "the adventure racing section" - a mucky, deer-fly infested, hike-a-bike xc ski area (it sucked). Eventually Logie dropped me and I just kept a steady pace until one of the big climbs to the north mountain part of Tremblant. Amy let me know about the exciting action up front in the leaders, which was a nice boost. I plugged along up the mountain on the gravel road, now passing the 60K riders, who shared the last half of our course. Once at the top of the north end it was a super-fun fast descent down some doubletrack, around to the back end of Tremblant and now the big climb up to Tremblant summit. I passed quite a few riders here, mix of 100 and 60K'ers, and kept a steady pace while the sun beat down on me. I was still feeling pretty good, and my legs were finally warmed up ;) so I only had to dismount for a few steep sections. At the summit Amy, Dee, Mrs. Yip and Yip Jr all were a welcome sight with salted potatoes. However, my hope of a quick bomb to the finish was squashed as Dee let me know the 20K left was still taking most riders 2 hrs. WTF?? Even though I felt OK, it was a bit disheartening. I made it down alive some really technical stuff with bridges, dropoffs, steep rooty and rocky areas. It was a bit above my level of riding but I was happy I only walked the 3ft drops and rode everything else. Another quick half-ascent back up and more technical downhills. At the last aid station we were told a small 20-min loop before the final quick descent into the village. The small loop was a pointless hike-a-bike where I couldn't help but just laugh at while I just walked my bike around the 2K loop of virgin tract that was almost completely unrideable. I guess Dan really wanted that 100K and not 98! Finally the last descent into the village through the cheering crowds and into the final chute.

Overall, after the 3 days, I ended up 7th place among a very stacked field, which I am happy with. I made the decision going into this race to be very conservative, race my own race and not be (too) concerned about results or other racers (strategies). The goal was to push hard, enjoy the race and not dread/stress every day, which was a success. So happy for Getawaystix's victory and Relentless's 3rd/4th place performance (a beast for sure!) - the guy does not know how to give less than 100% every raceday! Thanks to Amy and Dee for joining us and helping us so much!

C • Congrats! 7

C • nice work 2

C • Congratulations 1

Day 2 of UXC and another decent sleep actually looking forward to running what Dan proclaimed "the hardest 50K on earth". If you haven't guessed, I am a big fan of his soundbites :) Since Relentless had raced it last year he recommended going without any belts/packs for the first 21K and rely on aid station water/fuel. I was good with this since I really enjoy running without those burdens, although Dee did warn do not go light and fast in this race. However, the course now had a remote aid station at the top of a mountain so that was huge for rehydrating/fuel. I haven't done a run of this length since Hellgate100 back in 08, which buggered my knee up and has never fully healed, so I was a bit worried with all the descents. Oh well... popped an Aleve and race on. Once again I started out pretty slow, trying to keep my HR down. Up and up we went eventually into some singletrack and into a river. Ran with Logie for a bit on the river run, fell a few times and was wishing I had stocked shoes at my drop bag at the end of this part. Since I did not change shoes I left the aid station before Logie and caught up with ActiveSteve, another Ottawa UXC Challenger. We ran together for a few hours, running/shuffling pretty much everything as the pitches weren't bad. Eventually we got to the back area of the race dubbed "the nightmare section" which is "for beasts only! if you are not 100% do not think about entering this section". Seeing as this is around 35K into the hardest 50K race I found this 100% quote a little funny... I was feeling pretty close to that I guess though given the race thus far and soon dropped Steve, who was suffering from some cramping. After a bit of technical descending the area opened up into some great flat-ish and flowy single/doubletrack. This was by far my favorite area and I ran it pretty fast (I think) knowing that I had held back for most of the race and was now almost "in the homestretch" at 40K. What was an awesome "runners high" soon turned into a nice little bonk on the ascend back up to the peak and I regretted my decision to run fast earlier and not keep the calories/water in me as much. It's amazing how sh*tty a bonk can make one feel and I had to remind myself that I will get out of this low eventually all the while shoving Gu Chomps into my mouth. After 20 mins of feeling awful, expecting Logie and Steve to blow by me I was out of the bonk and back to feeling good. Once back up to the peak it was a slow technical descent into the village while dodging roots, rocks and day hikers. My knee was throbbing and my quads were pretted shot so I was a little concerned physically for the bike but other than that felt really good crossing the finish and felt somewhat fresh for the slog tomorrow. I took my first ice-bath following the race and Dee cooked us up some delicious pasta.

Event: Ultimate XC Challenge
 

First day of UXC, let the suffering begin. The night before at the race briefing we were warned about several rapids which contained portages, one of which Dan warned "You will die." A few chuckles. "Seriously, you will die". Silence. Back at the hotel Logie, Relentless and I (over) strategized about bilge pumps, bailers, spray skirts and tows (since we had heard they would be a lot of boat dragging). After a pretty good sleep (it's amazing how much easier it is for me to sleep when I'm not going over the maps in my head like adv races) Dee and Amy shuttled us out to Lac Nominingue. I wanted to keep it pretty conservative since the last time I paddled this distance (at RTNX 08 in Tomcats) it was hell and we still had harder days ahead. At 8am-ish we were off. Start had a few packs forming early, I guess I was somewhere in the 4th pack, which seemed to contain about 7 or 8 of us, including Yip and ActiveSteve. Just plugged away in my trusty kayak until the first portage which also contained a quick rapid. Went in trying to get out at the portage while trying to dodge other paddlers. Once in the boat after the portage, I was dumped again about 15 seconds later on the first rapid, Boost and Soldier Fuel on my deck disappear in the red water, kayak flipped and me banging my knee while being towed downriver by my boat (my tow was attached to save "time"). Gong show. 0/1 on the major rapids thus far (while everyone around me clears them). I am passed by about 6 people while trying to find somewhere reasonably flat to flip my boat to let water out. My luck did change and I cleared the rest of rapids on the day. The paddle down the Rouge was very long and very slow due to water levels although I didn't need to tow my boat at all. I had tossed my bilge pump at the start and regretted that decision since the occassional rapids were letting spray in which built up over the hours and I had to pull over a few times to let water out. I was with the same group for a good 3-4 hours as we all plugged away. Finally we made it to the marked 3.5K (was actually 5.5K according to some with Garmins) portage. It was great. I was so happy to not be paddling, if only for a short time. I loaded up on some Heed and real food (since I went solely on Boost for 5 hours) and ran the roads and trails to the lake put in. This completely rejuvinated me - both being out of the water and "entering the homestretch" (~2 hrs left). Another paddle and portage onto Lac Tremblant and finally done. Happy to be done with the paddle, even if it was probably the least exertive day. Dinner with everyone on a patio, bed by 10pm looking forward to the run tomorrow.

C • Wow, long paddle. Wait to ... 6

Portage run. So happy to not be paddling for a brief stretch.

Some easy road biking to make sure the MTB is ready for this weekend. To Killbride, Cedar Springs, Carlisle. Avg 26.2.

C • Good luck! 6

Rainy lunch run, cut it a bit short via Sideroad 3 due to downpour.

Included some new triathlon-based exercises.

Had to pick up something in Milton so I decided to ride and make my way through Kelso for a bit of singltrack as well en route. Started climbing Ascension quickly finding myself on some filming set near the top. Took it easy except for the 3 escarpment climbs.

Event: Guelph Lake Triathlon
 

My usual mediocre swim. First open water of the year. Felt decent but got caught up to throngs of newbies in the waves that left 3 and 6 minutes ahead (doing the breaststroke, backstroke and hanging onto kayaks).

Started out a little too fast I think as about 5K in felt pretty toasted. Since it was only a 19K ride, I figured it is all out 100% but I think I would have had a better ride easing into it, even in that super short distance. My avg was only 34.4km/hr but the course was over awful rutted/chipped surface with all slow climbs/descents and pretty much no flats. I've had faster averages over half-irons. Frustrating, but managed 3/53 fastest in age.

Started out with a bit of lead/bike legs but let that ease me into the run. After first km or so, started feeling good over the little-hilly conservation area enjoying my Newtons. Blazing sun, heat and humidity was really affecting most racers, but I didn't mind it for the short distance (a longer course would have been tough). Had the fastest run in age cat.

Signed up for this race just before it sold out with a friend from UofG who wanted to do their first tri. The 1pm start, nice venue, calender, etc. made us choose this one. I had no clue it was even shorter than the usual sprint tri (750m, 30K, 7.5K) until Jon told me that morning. I'm not sure I'd recommend this as it is too short and the bike course is so rutted.

Ended up 1st overall in age category (/54), 18th overall (/620). I don't think it was a very competitive tri, but I'll take it!

C • Congrats! 7

To Crawford Lake tract and back. 50% roads.

C • That's not a Decent Pace 2

To Guelph and back. Tried to keep it relatively low extertion until last 17K or so. Avg 33.4.

C • Decent Pace... 4

Brick run. Ran the first 2.5K at decent pace (3:48/km) then ran the 2.5K back easy pace (4:12/km).

Light usual road run.

10-min wu, 10 x 100 on 2 mins (target 1:30) at 90%.

Class went much better than Monday.

Back to the racing series, nosnhoj was also there to lay the hammer down. Legs were not feeling it tonight, I actually think they are a bit sore from yesterday's yoga (never thought I'd say that). Same course as the last few races (thankfully they are changing it next week!) but my time was slower than the other 2 I think. Time to taper...

First real yoga class in over a year and it did me in pretty good. I hope this gets easier. I was still sweating 15 mins after my shower.

Ride over to Kelso to do some hill repeats. Planned to do 10 repeats up Ascension but there was a downhill race there so did repeats of Fire instead. Only lasted 5 repeats before headed back. Zero motivation today.

Distance just an estimate for keeping track of my shoe's mileage.

Trail run following the much of the Iroquois trail race along the bruce. Ran down to Killbride via the bruce trail and back, along the bruce into Crawford Lake, in through those trails and then onto Rattlesnake and back. Took 3 gels and got my water at the conservation area fountains, so no need to carry water. Got cheered on by girl scouts on a hike in Rattlesnake and had to give directions to boy scouts who were far from their destination. I think I saw a peregrine falcon or possibly a kestral on the Yaremko tract when I was almost home. It did not move even though I was probably within 3 meters of it's branch. A great and entertaining run. Wore the Salomon Exo compression sleeves and they felt good.

C • Iroquois trail 1

Some much needed stretching and foam roller. Tiiiight!

About 2/3rds of the HHH including Mt Nemo, Rattlesnake and 6th Line climbs. Legs were toast from the get-go, not sure if still recovering or yesterday's TT did them in. Avg 31.5 km/hr.

C • probably a bit of both 1

Usual routine (400m wu fr+br, 600 fr +1min rest, 8x100 fr w pb on 2mins (target 1:40), 100m cd).

Windy ride over to Aberfoyle and back. Avg 34.7

Short trail run following ride in the Yaremko tract across from me.

Easy usual road run.

C • Good WT race report and con... 2

Decided to skip the weekly MTB series at Kelso (that would have been a disaster for me) and dusted off the road bike. Up 6th line to Rockwood, over to Watson and back. Avg 32.4. Legs felt like lead.

Sorry for the long story... this is copied basically from the report I was asked to submit to ARWorld Magazine....
Getawaystix's highly anticipated inaugural Wilderness Traverse was widely regarded as the most competitive adventure race this side of the Rockies in Canada in a long time and we were excited to be up against some stellar competition the weekend of June 5th and 6th. Most racers were from the home province of Ontario, but the 19-team race attracted people from as far as BC, New Brunswick, Michigan and Quebec.
The 24-30 hour race was revealed as a "back-to-basics" approach to adventure racing where navigation, route choices and teamwork would be key to a successful race. The backdrop would be the remote, scenic and typical Canadian Shield landscape of the Haliburton Highlands.
Our team arrived Friday, registered, sorted our TA bins and relaxed before race briefing at 8pm. One of the things we already really liked about this race was that the competitor update given the week before the race indicated the order of disciplines (TREK, PADDLE, TREK, BIKE), where the TA bins would be and estimated time for each leg. It was so nice to be able to have all our food, clothes and gear prepped before we even got to the race site.
At the race briefing the maps were distributed (with pre-plotted CP's on the map - another really nice timesaver that I wish would be done by more race organizers... I know, I know, some might consider plotting the correct UTM's a part of the navigation... but it just gives me a headache and adds several hours usually to an already pressed timeline) and we were given 30 mins to go over them before Getawaystix explained the course in more detail.
The course would start with an approximate 10-13km trek through an area scattered with lakes that would make route choice an early factor. Once at the first TA it would be into the canoes for a 36km paddle featuring no less than 15 different lakes or streams with a very tough 6-10km total of portaging. The second TA would take you onto the the last trek, which most teams would tackle at night, also containing several route choices around water and throwing in at least one 200m swim a necessity for most competitive teams. Finally 70-76km of biking would round out the course while teams navigated through a maze of very technical singletrack, ATV trails, gravel roads and powerline trails.
We plotted our route, waterproofed our maps (a necessity given our strategy would involve almost 700m of swimming!) and were in bed by 10:30pm. Definitely a record for earliest time to bed before a 24-hour race!
After being treated to a delicious pancake breakfast at the host resort Sir Sam's we were shuttled to the race start and at 8am the course was on! We started out leading the pack who chose the eastern route around the first lake. It was a bushwhack within a few minutes although we were able to pick up a portage between several lakes to help us use our advantage of being a "running" team. We came into the first CP in about an hour in 5th, about 10 mins behind the leaders who had chosen the western route around the lake and involved a swim. From CP1 it was a 3.5km bushwhack north to a road just north of a creek and 1-2km run west to the next CP2/TA1. We trekked on, already alone and on our bearing. After about an hour we crossed a creek and hit a road running E/W. My topo map did not display any parallel features south of our intended route so I assumed this was our road and we began running west. Shortly on the road, we saw The Shed (Trayling, Corner, T-Rex & Bender) team running the other way.... hmm.... that seems odd... But we kept running. We also didn't see any other footprints in the muddy road but didn't worry since we were so close to first at the last CP, and could be leading. After probably 2-3km of running our road started heading south and it was apparent we must be on the wrong road. We checked the supplementary map and realized there was a parallel road just 1km south of our intended road. Ugh! Stupid mistake by not looking at the other map and I was mad at myself early in a long race. We eventually made it to the right road and to CP2/TA1 but had lost almost 1.5 hours to the lead teams only 3.5 hours into the race and were ranked 11th now. We tried to keep our spirits high heading onto the paddle but we knew losing an hour to so many strong teams would be tough to make up, even if there was still another 20 hours of racing.
Once on the paddle we were treated some beautiful and isolated flatwater paddling. We tried to stay as efficient as possibly while transitioning between the paddling and portaging. We had a canoe-bag where we stored our pack and had our food in a mesh bag ready to go in the canoe. Leamer and I had a lot of experience backcountry paddling so we decided to portage the canoes while Dee and Relentless carried the heavy canoe bag, food and paddles. We would only eat while portaging and most of the time it would be Boost or Ensure so we could take in calories on the move.
We were extremely fast compared to most team with this strategy and soon we started passing team after team. Soon we found ourselves up with some other strong teams including Milton Basement Racers (Tiny, nosnhoj, Aud and Gally), Infiterra Sports and Adrenaline Rush at a confusing portage around the halfway mark of the paddle. The three aforementioned teams had just lost almost an hour while portaging. This lit a fire in us knowing we had clawed our way back up the standings and we kept the pace strong, passing a few more teams on the paddle. Eventually we made it to the last section, a killer 2.5km hilly road portage where the mosquitoes were out on a vengeance. We almost lost our minds during this portage but sacrificed swatting the bugs and bites for speed. At the TA we learned we were now in 3rd, we had gained 8 spots in the paddle and were now about an hour behind the lead team. After being treated amazingly by the awesome volunteers (Leanimal which had graciously offered us delicious spanikopita and coffee) we were off with only a few hours left of daylight for the final trek.
Our route on the trek took us east and south along a road, which eventually turned into an ATV trail, which we continued to run until it veered east and we took a bearing south. Once at the furthest southern point of land from our point on Sherborne Lake and after taking 15-mins to confirm our location and pack our packs in garbage bags we swam 500m to the CP and back another 200m to the peninsula we need to be on to attack the next CP. The swim was nice, albeit very slow and the sun was out but we were pretty chilled getting out. We eventually warmed up trekking pretty fast and made it to the eastern shore of Nunikani Lake, where it would be a pretty simple bearing along the shore to the next CP. Night fell and shortly after we made it to CP7 with The Shed, who had caught up to us (but were unranked with an injury and continuing on as a threesome) and the 2nd place team Clinique du Pied Equilibre from Quebec. After CP7 we, along with Clinique, made the mistake of going around the wrong side of the dam, which John finally convinced me was incorrect (he was right!). We got back on track and once again ran into the team from Quebec, Clinique, who had asked us if we saw their map anywhere in the last trek since the CP! Nope, sorry! We continued thinking they might be following us given their map question and because they had the exact same route as us leaving the dam again but as it turns out they had found it (the navigator had put it in his Buff during a swim and forgot it was there!). We did eventually drop them and luckily came upon a nice winding snowmobile trail which we were able to run and took us right into the next CP and bike TA on Kennisis Lake.
We had a bit of a slow transition here, but managed to leave before Clinique was in, however, still an hour behind our friends of Untamed New England who were still leading (and apparently running a darn good race!). We made a wrong turn on the bike with the unranked Shed team but only lost 10 minutes and didn't waste too much time. Eventually we made it into the trails of Haliburton Forest and Wildlife Reserve where we steadily picked off the CP's. While on the singletrack heading to CP13 we saw some lights approaching - it was finally the team we were chasing - Team Untamed New England (Phatty, PhattyJr, Nikki and Goose). It was great to finally see the ghost we had been chasing for the past 20 hours! We gave them a "nice work" as we crossed path and took a look for fatigue on their faces... Nope... Damn! Relentless took a note of the time we crossed path and since we had duplicated their route it was easy to calculate we were now only 30 mins behind them. We still had 20km or so left of biking and a lot of navigating left so the race was not over yet!
We put our heads down and gave it all until finally reaching a road that was supposed to take us to the powerlines. I was getting cold and it was raining so I requested a quick gore-tex break for a rainjacket. The area leaving the Haliburton Forest and Wildlife Reserve was tricky and we passed a fork which I didn't consider an option given that our current road appeared to be well-travelled and heading in the correct bearing. We kept pressing on and started climbing, which also matched the topo, however, the bearing eventually started heading off bearing to the north and after looking at a lake feature on the map which didn't match up on the map I made the call that we needed to turn around; we were on the wrong road. We lost probably 25-mins on this section but eventually made it back to the fork and around a non-descript gate to another road, which led us to the powerline trail. We knew our chances at 1st were probably shot, but had hoped Clinique had not passed us during my mistake (as it turned out only Untamed NE had made the correct turn the first time around at the fork and many teams continued on much further down the wrong road!).
We made our way to through the powerline trail and eventually onto the roads where were cruised into the finish in the cold rain, congratulated by our friends on Untamed New England who nailed the course and won the first ever Wilderness Traverse. We returned the congratulations and quickly warmed up inside, sharing some race stories with them and trading route strategies. They had a near flawless race, which I don't think any other team even came close to, and were well deserving of the win. We were happy with our 2nd place showing, especially given our big blunder early on and the very competitive field.
Only 8 teams finished the full course, with many dropping out Sunday morning due to extremely unusual cold temperatures and rain. But everyone I spoke with had a very positive experience and as the Wilderness Traverse "Beaver Trophy" was handed out at the awards ceremony, it was promised this would be the first of many more to come each summer. This was the most challenging, yet enjoyable, 24-hour course we've ever participated in and are excited to return in 2011. Congrats to everyone who competed!.

C • Excellent work after a litt... 19

Event: Wilderness Traverse
 

had to put this in...

Ride to Moffat to Aberfoyle and back via Watson Rd. Avg 34.0 km/hr.

C • what do you think of them? 4

Planned to take it a little easier for this race but got caught up with a pack of 5 of us that kept pushing a good pace. Exact same course as last week and ended up being about 2 mins faster and a little better result-wise than last week. 13/31 in Expert... will be interesting to see if I do any better as the season wears on.