Training Log Archive: revy

Mind Over Mountain Cumberland with James. It was a rather windy morning so the paddle route got changed to a two lap course that avoided heading far down the lake. We had a fairly uneventful start (James said he had a little jostling which I didn't notice) and were quickly paddling in space. By the first buoy we had settled into 4th behind a solo surf ski, a racing double and a team on an outrigger. Had another solo (Angus) with us and Norm/Wendy were right behind in their SRS double. I didn't mind the two laps as it meant the paddle was broken up into more chunks mentally. Wind picked up during the time we were out there - not a fun day for the tippy boats. I felt like we had an advantage on the leg back to the beach (wind essentially broadside) as we could just paddle and not worry about balance. We finished a couple minutes behind the front group and a minute in front of anyone else. We easily won the unofficial stock kayak category:) Felt pretty good considering this was the second paddle of the year. Obviously some similar muscles used on the SUP. Looks like our splits were pretty even too except for the second lap into the wind).

C • Congrats! 1

Had a decent transition (wearing our running shoes in the boat which were then wet but that seemed OK). Managed to screw up the first marked section though as we turned into the campground too soon - should have scouted it better ahead of time. Lost a couple minutes here and were neck and neck with Frontrunners (Norm/Wendy). Marked course to CP2 which was steeper than I expected. Passed one of the leading teams and also got passed by Gary and another team of two. (Mooseknucklers?). My back was feeling OK and I thought we were moving well but some of these guys are much better runners than I am and went by like we were standing still. There were two route options to CP 3 and we took the slightly shorter but twistier option (this was way more scenic than the other one as well - if you are a fast runner the other way was a better choice). CP3 wasn't quite mapped correctly - reading the clue would have helped as it was hole 9 on the disc golf course. We didn't lose too much time looking for it as the MooseKnucklers had already found it so their route out helped us. The map is not detailed enough (nor is it accurate enough) to navigate precisely from. In some situations being a good orienteer can be a detriment as you can overthink things...

CP 4/5 were trail running through the Cumberland Community Forest We had caught up to Gary but then he went right at the wrong spot and we didn't see him again.. No issues to CP4 - got passed by Clay Ward who was moving faster than us and appeared to be local as he was not looking at his map. I decided to follow his route to 5 as I thought he might have some better insight on the trails but in retrospect my original plan via Space Nugget would have been better given it would have saved us the trek up to the top of the gravel pit. There were definitely a handful of racers in front of us which surprised me given that our route overall was very clean and only saw Clay pass us... didn't know where they had passed us.

CP 6-13 was choose your own adventure orienteering on a new map. We short cut through the woods in a couple spots. I think this helped in one spot - not so sure in another. Saw FR at one point and again I was confused how they got in front of us. MooseKnucklers caught us midway through and we had a little head to head competition all the way to the TA.

I was slow in the TA - putting on my shoes is still a chore. Bike course was self navigation to the next two CPs. As we had ridden the exact same route yesterday these were straightforward (essentially to the top of Bear Buns). Mooseknuckles left the TA right after us but one of their team members was a slower rider and we dropped them. Found out at CP 14 that we were 5th (3 solos and one team ahead of us). Then some fun riding across to the next trekking section. It was not a great course for good technical riders as many of the trails were slow and twisty. It seemed like we were about ten minutes behind the leaders at this point.

The second trek was another choose your own adventure section. We saw FR on one out and back section, then caught up to them on the last CP at the summit. At this CP we had a surprise extra control which was 267m away on a bearing of 110 degrees grid north. I had a thumb compass so wasted some time sorting out whether to add or substract the 18 degrees of declination. We then bushwhacked through the old cutblock (rather unpleasant) for what seemed like more than 267m until we found the CP at the radio tower. FR did this way faster than we did. Should have guessed from the bearing that it was at the building and ran around on the trail but didn't want to miss it in the woods (which thinking about afterwards seemed like a way too hard challenge for most teams). Kind of a random control as if we had stumbled onto the flag earlier we would have had an advantage knowing where it was already (and if we had done the trek CPs in a different order we would have avoided an out and back section). Anyway we made it back to the TA a few minutes behind FR - they left as we were getting ready.

The last ride was through the Eastern Block but again on winding old school trails. I was feeling tired leaving the TA and had to eat and drink a bit - then towards the end James started lagging behind (overall though it was impressive how evenly matched our speeds were). We also spent a minute looking at the map when our pink flagging disappeared and all we could see was blue flagging (which was for the sport course). We were fine - just a lack of flagging. At the final CP we discovered that we were actually in second overall - I guess the three solo racers got lost looking for one control on the trek. Would have been nice to know this in the TA but I just presumed we were still in 5th. Maybe could have raced the last bike with slightly more intensity? In the end we finished 2nd overall five minutes behind Frontrunners. Given that Norm has probably done the most MOMAR races out of anyone I thought this was fitting for the 40th race and 20th year of MOMAR. The solo guys came in 10-20 minutes after us.

As it turns out though two days later we found out that we had in fact been given the overall win as FR (and Gary) missed CP 4 punching CP 4 on the Sport Course instead and were dropped down the standings. It was a slightly shorter route with less climbing - not sure how much time it would have saved - a few minutes at least. This certainly explained my confusion on the first trek about how teams were in front of us. Not quite the same as winning the event at the time but we will take it...

MOMAR bike and GPS track

Cumberland mountain biking - up to Lost Wood, Blockhead and Bear Buns. Fun stuff though sad to see that even more logging is going to be happening (near Tea Pot). it seems almost all the lower trails are in logged areas (other than the community forest).

My biggest concern for MOMAR with regards to my back is the paddle so took advantage of bringing our own boat to go for a test paddle today and test things out. Great to do so as it turned out that being in the front was much better in terms of foot position for me. Actually felt quite decent as long as I changed position periodically. Nice that I can straighten my legs completely in the boat. Ended up paddling longer than planned - nice weather and nice water conditions. Casual paddle meant we could enjoy the views down the lake too. Boat felt good - have a Passat so should be competitive with respect to boat speed.

The girls paddled on the SUPs James and Wakana have. At the end they took the kayak our for a short spin and I took the SUP out. My back does not like that movement at all.

C • Your back etc 4

Late afternoon run with James (and the girls on their bikes). We did some exploring in the Eastern Block zone which I do not know very well. Ran the Rapture loop (minus a section where we took a short cut on a trail that was missing on TF). Great running trail though might be a bit tight for riding as constantly winding with poor visibility. Felt good running - even had a moment after 45 minute where I almost felt like I was running normally:)

Spent the night in Vancouver and had a nice visit with Anthony. A few shopping stops today, a kayak to pick up, a ferry ride to Nanaimo and finally a ride on the Abyss trail. I've only ridden this trail once 10 years ago in BC Bike race. Really fun with interesting rock features and good flow. The climb up Humilty was really nice too - technical but almost everything was manageable and nice grade. Ninja's had some old school sections then climbed up This Bud's 4 You to meet James and Wakana who arrived late. Amazing timing as we met at my suggested meeting spot exactly at the same time. Smartphones and GPS enabled apps make life so simple as I dropped a pin and texted it to them. FInished by retracing our steps on Abyss. Funny that we only noticed the actual abyss on the way back (a crack in the rock formed during an earthquake). It is certainly deep...

Back pain is still there but power seems to be getting closer to normal. Not very smooth on the technical sections yet.

We've got the week off (though Courtney was on call over the weekend) with plans to be in Cumberland for MOMAR this weekend. Not sure yet if I will be racing (I'm doing it with James) but figured I was good enough to at least be active on the holiday. Unfortunately today I woke up with sore lymph glands in the groin which is a precursor to my episodic rigors. Felt crummy for an hour after waking up but then felt better so still headed out for our planned ride. COurtney and I headed north from Sean and Juliann's place. We've never gone this direction due to some dirt sections and one steeper gravel section with a road slump. These were no problem with the new bikes... Very nice roads and cool to explore somewhere "new" that is so close to other rides we've done.

After and hour and half I started feeling very weak and struggled home. Spent the next hour shivering on the couch... I have had these episodes worked up and they don't appear to be anything serious but they do seem to be getting more frequent.

Jordan River trail to the end and then continued on the rough route which eventually became very indistinct and popped us out onto Westside Road. Continued along the road to the Jordan FSR and did the Jordan Falls loop before returning on the west side of the river. Lots of technical trails today. Back is definitely noticeable and full stride is not possible but managed to run so again progress.

Run/hike checking out some controls for the event in two weeks. Managed to run slowly on the road which was a positive. Once I was in the woods was mainly hiking. Not very springy jumping up and over trees. Going under trees was challenging as bending over if still very limited.

First attempt at exercise post back injury from Aquaterra. Not too much pain while riding but had no power. Could spin on flats but steep hills were a slow go...

Aquaterra SUP off-road triathlon at Kal Park in Vernon. Not a great turnout unfortunately as only a dozen people on the long course. Weather forecast looked like crap too but morning started off OK. Figured it was a good excuse to get a long day of exercise in. I paddled the Bark while Courtney paddled the faster boat. Lina Auguitis (pro SUP racer and ex adventure racer) was taking part so expected her to have a good lead after the paddle and I wasn't wrong. In addition to her paddling skill her boat was 75% the width of mine. She took off immediately and seemed to be gaining 1-1.5 minute per km. I was happy with my pace and slowly pulled into second place and paddled on my own the entire time. A bit of a headwind developed for the trip back from the last buoy. I didn't feel like I was hammering hard but certainly a steady tempo pace. I was going hard enough though to have shaky balance on the turns...

From the paddle to transition was a few hundred meter run uphill. I felt fine running and then had a fairly relaxed transition. I was treating this as a training day so changed shorts and dried feet. Could have been much faster... didn't help that I forgot my pack after riding 50m out of the TA.

As I started pedaling I could feel tightness in my lower back. Hmm not good - must have not liked the race pace paddling. Hoped it would improve but never really did. I felt like it was hard to put a lot of power down on steep climbs and had no acceleration for punchy bits. Was also hard to feel comfortable on the technical descents. I passed a few of the short course riders but then spent the remainder of the ride solo. Lots of climbing but didn't feel like an adequate down reward for the climbing. A fair bit of double track or less interesting single track descents. The main descent (Twista) was old school fun but challenging with the wet conditions, and the second long descent was quite bumpy due to brake bumps. In my mind I thought I would catch Lina on the bike but forgot that she is a pretty good rider and my easier pace didn't help. Unfortunately no split times so no idea about comparative times.

One positive was that although conditions were wet it did not rain much while I was out there - occasional light drizzle.

Had another slowish TA - again changed shirt, socks and shorts. Wasn't sure I would even be able to run due to my back and my first attempt at a stride almost left me on the ground due to a back spasm. Walked a bit and then tried again and this time it was fine. Back didn't bother me for the rest of the run. I was surprised that my legs felt OK running. Inevitably this is where I start suffering, the forced easy bike pace must have helped save the legs for the run. Kept a good pace and only walked a few of the steeper hills. It was a hilly run but that is probably good for me. I thought Lina was still 15 minutes in front of me but I was told by one marshal that she was closer. This gave me a rabbit to chase though I never saw her (there was a long out and back but with a lollipop at the end and we were both on the loop - I did see the 2/3rd place guys who were at least 15 minutes behind me). I was suspicious that the run was shorter than the advertised 15km due to the signage on the way out and I was glad to confirm this on the way back. I felt good for 12km then started fading for the last km. Ended up 7 minutes behind Lina. It started rainin quite heavily partway through the run - rather it rained on the ru than on the bike...

Courtney and I won a nice draw prize (inflatable SUP) and I also left the race with an unwanted parting gift of a buggered back. Four days later I am still a gimp and unable to exercise... seems to be getting worse not better:(

C • What's this? 4

Had to drive to Vernon today for a remote starter install so had most of the day to kill. Brought the inflatable SUP and paddled to Cosens Bay from Jade Bay at Kalamalka Park. Got quite windy towards the end and decided to land at the dog beach and walk back from there. Didn't have the loaner car keys in a dry bag and didn't want to chance falling in and wrecking them... and paddling on my knees irritated my left shoulder (otherwise it was fine). Was a further walk than I expected. Cool to check out a spot I had never paddled.

Post paddle run - did the short loop for the triathlon. Some good hills on the course. Legs felt rather tired.

Easy run with Stuart starting from the Tantrum trailhead.

BCOC Long in the Cranbrook Community Forest. Definitely a fitness challenge as the terrain used meant fairly straightforward navigation. I had a fairly clean run other than a couple meandering routes due to my inability at times to run on a straight bearing, and also a few route choices that could have been better (straighter was the better choice in most cases - especially for someone like me who is not a fast trail runner). Scale was hard at times - should try and use a magnifier one of these times perhaps? Have to remember for next time that distance off the line is magnified by the bigger scale and all the more reason to stick to straighter routes.

BCOC forest sprint on Kimberly Kettles map. Surprisingly good sprint for me - felt in touch with the map and scale (inevitably I overrun things in sprints). A couple controls could have been cleaner but overall quite happy with the run and enjoyed the event.

BCOC Middle on the Myrtle Benchlands map. Was moving OK through control 11 - not super fast as didn't feel at one with the map (vegetation was thicker than I expected) but no mistakes. 12 was a big blow up due to poor plan and lack of attention. Was trying to avoid the depression but got sucked up the hill more than I wanted so then was taking a guess at where I was when I took a bearing. Low visibility, lots of stuff on the map and small catching features meant loss of contact with map. In retrospect I should have recognized the bigger depression on the map and used that to relocate. Instead I relocated to the road 250m away and found the control on the second pass (though still walked by it at first - poor visibility). Lost 10-12 minutes here. After that I ran with a bit less urgency but no other errors. 16-17 was interesting with a random patch of unexpected green. Ran with the new compass - need more practice with it as it is an adjustment.

Event: KOC Kootenay Orienteering Festival 2019
 

We camped a second night at the rec site. Met the author of the local guidebook who was also camping there. She suggested hiking into Silver Basin and we took her up on the suggestion. Our initial plan was to hike a bike up Chalice Ridge but felt like it wouldn't be better than Grizzly Ridge yesterday, might be less rideable and weather wasn't as nice so adjusted plans.

Silver Basin is a nice short hike - worth doing if in the area. Trail leads to the alpine then easy travel to the ridge where there are good views of the Bugaboos. A few nice tarns and seems to me that wildflowers would be good in season. I think this is another common CMH heli-hiking spot - which reminds me that one downside of camping in this valley is the helicopter noise starting at 7am. No guests at the moment but they were still flying around dropping off glading crews. Not an ideal spot for peace and quiet in the wilderness...

Stopped in Windermere on the way to Cranbrook and rode the Swansea Loop with Lucas. Nice solid climb at a good pace. Lucas climbs faster when it is steeper and I climb faster at moderate grades. Probably explains why I don't like steep climbing trails;) This one is pretty good - a few spots that were steep but enough views and moderate grades to even things out. Despite the high cloud still great views of the Columbia Valley. The South Park descent was excellent - more like what I thought 5620 should be like. Lots of pumping and not as much riding of the brakes. Midway down you spit out onto the older trails which aren't quite as flowy but still fun (though it would be nice if the trail extended to the bottom in the same style).

Rocky Point alpine hike a bike route with Lucas. We camped the night before at Bugaboo-Septet rec site. It was quite chilly for the slightly downhill ride to the trailhead. Lucas had mentioned that his buddy had ridden the route and said it was 90% rideable. I thought this was impressive given the apparent grade of the old road. It turned out that he meant the ridge was 90% rideable... the road up was steep and rough. I think mainly it is used by snowmobiles. There was are a lot of steep grinding and also a lot of pushing. I felt like I had no power in my legs but it might just have been the steep grade and frequent soft ground sapping the energy from my legs. I was also chasing Lucas who had plus tires, loves steep riding and is in good riding shape after his summer of bike packing. When the road ended we had to find our way through some open larch glades (not changing yet) and alpine meadows to gain the ridge. This is a common spot for heli-hiking so there was a trail for the last portion up to the ridge.

Once on the ridge we were treated to great views of the Howser Towers and the Vowell Glacier. Also an interesting view of the north side of Bugaboo Spire. The ridge looks rideable for quite a distance heading north though we turned south and headed towards Cobalt Lake. Much of the ridge was rideable including some of the climbs as the shale was very supportive. There were a couple 100m hike a bikes though. Almost all the descents were rideable as well. There was an intermittent trail that would randomly disappear. I'd probably put the ridge at 80% rideable overall and a couple quite fun sections. The views are amazing the whole way...

Near Cobalt Lake we descended the hiking trail back to the campsite. This trail was fine for riding - slow and technical in spots. Unfortunately had two big crashes - one OTB when I misjudged the size of a rock. This led to a cracked GPS screen and a strained shoulder. Luckily only ran into one hiker here (and CMH was doing some glading near the trail though luckily this didn't cause any safety issues). As a portion of this trail is in the provincial park our route wasn't actually legal which I felt deterred a bit from my enjoyment of the day (it would have been better if the section we poached was first thing in the day). Overall a great adventure - similar to Cartier though perhaps Cartier is more rideable. Too bad the road up Rocky Point is crap as if it was better I'd be more inclined to repeat the route.

Quick run with Milo on the greenbelt. 5 km of threshold - 800/700/600/500/400 with remainder of km 50-100m walk then jog. Seeing some improvement in speed I can hold.

Martha Creek heading north with Courtney. It seems every time we take our boats to the lake it is windy and every time we don't it is calm... oh well conditions were not too bad. Faster (and warmer) with the tailwind on the way back.

Keystone basin with Courtney and Kate. Ran to the basin and then hiked up to Keystone Peak. Surprisingly cool up high though got nicer as the day went on. The last couple of km back to the parking lot drag on much longer on foot than on wheels. Still seem flowers hanging on which was unexpected. Nice swim at Wadey afterwards. Milo was not convinced to join us - he doesn't seem to be a swimmer. He was quite tired after the run though.

MaCPherson with Courtney. On the Element today and was pleased to see that it didn't feel that limited on the typical trails when comparing it to the Megatower and it was much more fun on the climbs and rolling terrain. A few fartlek threshold segments. A couple 5-6 minute ones and the rest were shorter.

Martha Creek PP with Kate and Courtney. We headed upwind first then checked out some of the small beaches south of the park afterwards. Finished with some turn practice in the bay.