Training Log Archive: Bash

Some final thoughts on the Rock & Ice Ultra... This event celebrates winter for its scenic beauty and variable weather conditions. It is a uniquely Canadian experience that attracts racers from around the world. Many of these people have impressive adventure resumes, and this race holds the same mystique for them as the Marathon des Sables and other exotic events they have done. Even for many Canadians, a trip to the sub-Arctic in March feels pretty exotic! We are lucky to have a race like this in our own back yard.

It's a well-organized event with a team of 50 volunteers and terrific sponsors who have already committed their (substantial) support for 2010. The race director Scott Smith wisely delegated some major responsibilities - safety patrols, logistics, base camp management, volunteer management, etc. - to some very competent people. Scott seemed to be everywhere, and he was always busy - boiling water at a remote checkpoint, greeting people at the finish line, coming into our tents to check on us, escorting the final racers into camp long after midnight, emptying the honey buckets (toilet bags), etc., etc. No job was too big or too small - he pitched in and did whatever was needed.

The safety team was fantastic, and the trails were well-marked. I'd had some worries about the potential for problems in severe conditions, but if I did the race again, I'd go into it with total confidence regarding safety, regardless of weather conditions.

Did I say "if I did the race again"? Hmm... I went into it intending to do the race once, then I'd move on to other marathon ski challenges, some of them in other countries. But we've both caught ourselves thinking about what we would do differently next time at the R&I, how we would pack, which event we would do, and so on. Say what? I had absolutely no interest in spoiling a nice ski by dragging a pulk along, which is the reason we chose the 3-day over the 6-day event. But now I find myself curious about how bad it could really be - so you never know.

The one thing this race *really* needs is more support from North Americans outside of Yellowknife. I competed in a category of 9 women, all of them locals except for me. It's a shame, because this event is world class, and it deserves more support from our adventure community. Winter is the perfect challenge for a Canadian adventurer!

While watching the news.

After a fun "welcome home" hike with ThunderDog, I headed out for a trail run in Palgrave West. I don't feel fatigued from the Rock & Ice Ultra anymore, but I still feel some stiffness from the repetitive motion of skiiing for 22 hrs of racing over 3 days. During today's run, my bad knee (which flared up due to tight leg room on the AC flight to the race) was feeling worse than usual, and the pulled lower back/rib muscle from the Snowgaine was hurting more. Neither of these injuries happened during the R&I, but I'm sure it didn't help them. On the bright side, my Achilles didn't feel out of sorts, so hopefully it's on the mend.

It's nice to be home! :-)

Rodney Yee Yoga for Flexibility. Not so flexible today.

We're back home, and it is spring! I'm not surprised to have a bit of jet lag, but this "season lag" is strange. There was some good news in the mail that collected during our absence. Last year I won a category in an Oak Ridges Moraine photo contest with this photo, which has since appeared on posters, on a website, in a calendar and in a textbook.



I've just learned that I was a winner in this year's contest as well. The cool part is that I was forced to enter the professional photographers' category this time because a small portion of my income comes from photography. I didn't think I had a chance against the real pros, so I'm excited to get an award!

The Diamond Ultra racers finished today, and there was considerable excitement because Phil Villeneuve started the day just 33 seconds behind Mike Argue after 5 days of racing!

I was asked to comment live on CBC Radio News about the battle between Phil and Mike.



In the end, it was Mike who appeared first, about 3 minutes ahead of Phil. They'd traded the lead today, but Mike got away when he hit Great Slave Lake. (Which happens to be his back yard!)



Phil came in a strong second after a tough battle for the diamond.



CBC Television wanted to hear his story.



The boys are still friends!



A lot of great photos have been posted on Sleepmonsters, so I'll try not to be too repetitive here. Greg McHale, winner of the men's snowshoe race, was next.



Next came Andrew Cameron, who really poured it on in the 2nd half of the race, nearly beating Greg yesterday. He was soooooooooooo happy at the finish line! :-)









Denise McHale led Jen Segger to the finish line, claiming a 2nd diamond for the McHale family.



Liza Pye arrived a short time later, skating strongly. She was congratulated by race director Scott Smith as the 3rd skier across the line - and she will win the diamond as the 1st woman!

Today we discovered that Richard's 7-day stubble was hiding some dark patches of frostbite. Oops. Turns out my inexpensive fleece neck gator worked better than his fancy neoprene mask. Either that, or else I'm just really hot.



Now that the race is over, our primary role in Yellowknife is "aunt and uncle".



We visited the Snow King's Castle next to Matrix Village.



Richard chatted with the Snow King.



Unfortunately, we were too big for the slide.



The top Diamond Ultra racers finished in 2 hrs 20 min today! They're staying at Trout Rock Lodge, where they are being served hot food along with a cash bar. Nice!

The Diamond Ultra racers continued today with a 9 a.m. start from Matrix Village in Yellowknife. We came over to wish them luck.





At the gun, they headed south out of town on Great Slave Lake.







And then they disappeared into the distance. That is one *huge* lake.



After they left, I had another magazine photo shoot to do. It is *so* tough being a fashion icon, but I guess someone has to do it. (Phatty, you'll note that I wore Salomon as my outer layer!)

Rock & Ice Ultra - Day 3

Third and final day! I'd expected today to feel easy because it was the home stretch, but it was harder (for me) than yesterday. It was because the terrain was flat and mostly hard-packed, so it was possible for fast people to go fast. The snowshoe runners had a better day, and the top skiers got in some skating in a few places. I saw a few racers who hadn't normally been with me, so I constantly felt like I needed to push harder, and I didn't take as much time for eating and drinking. Yesterday felt easier - skiing up and down and twisting and turning, constantly changing my technique. Today was a flat-out hammerfest - not my forte, but good for most folks.

The weather started out overcast but became progressively nicer. The lake between Mason CP and Duck CP kept turning corners, and I wondered if it would ever end! (Very pretty - I'd love to kayak there.)



For the last 5 km, we skied on the main ice road that leads into Yellowknife. It seemed to take *forever* to get to town, since I could see it coming for an hour.



The snow cover on the ice road was thin, and my pole tips didn't always stick into the ice, so this was not as easy as expected. I'd thought I might do some skate skiing here, but my bad heel blister (left foot) and inflamed Achilles (right foot) made that seem like a bad idea. In any case, I was firmly set in my 4th place ranking (of 9 women, all of them from Yellowknife except for me), so I figured that I might as well just enjoy the end of the race.

There wasn't much traffic on the wide road, luckily. Richard and Alan drove out to snap some photos of me from the car.



They also found Andrew ahead of me. He's in 2nd place to Greg McHale in a large category - well done!



Richard crossed the finish line 2 hrs before I did, about an hour behind the winner, Thomsen. He had a great race, finishing near the front of the pack every day - but still ended up 4th in his category of 4 men, since everyone who entered the 3-day men's ski race was a fast skier!



What you can't see here is that he got several patches of frostbite under those whiskers. Tsk tsk.



Liza finished Day 3 looking good.



And finally I got there too. At 6 hrs 47 min, this was my shortest day, but yesterday felt shorter.





There were lots of photos and hellos and congratulations, and I got totally chilled within 2 minutes - the only time in the whole event when I felt that way! It was great to see our niece and nephew at the finish line along with Richard's brother Alan and his wife Miki.





Richard and I had a great time in this well-organized, safety-conscious event, and we'll be recommending it highly to friends. It's a great way to explore a corner of our country that most of us don't know, and it's fun to share it with such an eclectic international crowd. There was something satisfyingly Canadian about testing ourselves and our gear in tough winter conditions - especially since we spend too much of our winter watching satellite TV and overeating comfort foods!

Now it's time to hang out with family for a few days and - of course - cheer for our friends who are continuing in the 6-day Diamond Ultra event. The most interesting battle now is the one between the top male skiers. Phil and Mike are separated by just 1 second after 3 days! Denise McHale leads Jen Segger by less than half an hour in the snowshoe race.

Rock & Ice Ultra - Day 2

We slept well last night in spite of the inevitable need to drag our well-hydrated bodies out of our warm sleeping bags in the wee hours. I got a nice display of northern lights when I stumbled out into the snow at 2:50 a.m. Later on, Richard started noisily pulling zippers and waving his headlamp around, then shook me to make sure I was awake. In his defence, all seven of us *should* have been up at 7:30 a.m. The problem was, his watch alarm had gone off on Ontario time, and now he was fully dressed in his ski clothes two hours early. Neither of us was very pleased!

It was a gorgeous morning - chilly with a deep blue sky and brilliant sunshine. Today was a total contrast to yesterday in every way. It got up to about -15C, which felt quite comfortable since there was so little wind. Sun protection was my top priority after hydration. Yesterday took its toll, and several racers DNFed yesterday or chose not to start Day 2. That must have been a tough call for them difficult choice - this is an expensive event, and yesterday's conditions weren't nearly as cold as the pre-race information had said we should prepare for. But there are people here from 11 countries, and it must be really hard to imagine what it would be like in harsh winter conditions if you can't test your gear at home.

Powder Point Stage Camp is accessible by road, so CBC Television filmed the early part of the race.



Today was by far the most scenic and interesting part of the race course - smaller lakes, longer inland trails, small uphills and downhills, twists and turns. It was a beautiful ski touring route, and my body was happy for the chance to use different muscles and techniques. We spent part of the day in an area where there had been a forest fire, so we had great views.



Not long after I took this photo, I noticed that there hadn't been any trail flags in awhile. The only 2 junctions since the last checkpoint seemed to lead to a junk heap about 50 m off-trail. I was following one set of ski tracks that I knew belonged to Liza. It looked like a snowmobile had gone in front of her, so there were no other tracks. It was a little disconcerting, but I couldn't see any place we could have gone wrong. Then Liza appeared - she was concerned that she wasn't seeing flags or tracks, so she'd turned around. I got out map and compass and took a bearing, and everything pointed to us being on the right trail, so we carried on and found a safety patrol snowmobile a short distance later.

It was a great day - it felt faster and seemed to fly by, although in retrospect, I was only going about 10% faster than yesterday. There were some sections of soft, fluffy snow that were hard work to slog through on racing skis. I tried hard to stay behind Bev Wilson, a skier a little faster than me, because that gave me tracks to follow. The tracks were trashed whenever a snowshoer got between us, so that gave me a good incentive to find and pass that snowshoer!



Richard and I independently had the idea to take self-portraits.





Here's a photo finish you won't see very often. I'd been steadily gaining on Jen Segger and Denise McHale on the last lake, and they crossed the finish line just a few seconds ahead of me after 7.5 hrs. Granted, they were on snowshoes instead of skis, and pulling a pulk instead of carrying a day pack. (This may be the Canadian north, but hell hadn't actually frozen over.)



I'd been watching Liza gaining on me late in the race after I'd stayed ahead of her for about 30 km. As I expected, she blew past Jen, Denise and me within sight of the finish line!



Richard met me with hot soup at Jennejohn Stage Camp.



I stayed outside and played with Jacques the volunteer dog for awhile. I miss Tobler and Mocha a lot.

Pate Neumann's roommate, Yellowknifer Thomsen D'hont, relaxed after another fast day on the trails. He ended up winning the K-Rock men's skiing title.



We had smaller double-walled teepees tonight - much more pleasant, since no condensation rained down on us when we turned up the stove.



We shared a sociable evening with Andrew tonight. I tried hard, but once again I wasn't able to eat half the food I'd brought. (The Crash brownies and LD cookies are getting eaten though.)



The tents were full of drying clothes inside and surrounded by gear outside. I slept well once again - although a little *too* warm!

Rock & Ice Ultra - Day 1

Today's forecast covered a wide range of the weather we'd tried to prepare for. If we got through today, we figured that Days 2 & 3 should be comparatively easy - weatherwise, that is. We were expecting a bitterly cold morning, 30 kph wind all day, and snow and warmer temperatures in the afternoon. My daypack was stuffed with toasty extra layers including heavy mitts, a down sweater and a windproof balaclava. I also packed some serious provisions including special homemade, winter-grade Crash brownies and LD cookies, which I carried each day in a little pocket right over my heart. (Awwww...!)

The Rock & Ice Ultra attracts major attention from the media and the locals. Spectators gathered to cheer at the starting line, and we talked to photographers from Australia and Denmark.



Liza was interviewed for CBC television.



Richard and I were bundled up for the start.



Andrew drew on his competitive nature, clearly ready to take on Greg McHale for the diamond.



Phil and Liza sported cool Salomon gear.



We looked at this ultralight pulk and wondered whether this talented Canadian ultrarunner would be OK for 6 days with so little gear. Unfortunately, he was pulled from the course on Day 1 suffering from frostbite and hypothermia.



Richard's brother Alan and his family came to see us off, which was awesome. After the start, we headed north on Great Slave Lake and started to get a feel for the dynamics of the race. There was a mix of 1-day, 3-day and 6-day racers, with some of the 1-day racers splitting up the 45 km distance among members of a relay team. Some racers were skiing, some were snowshoeing, and some were towing pulks.

The race course feels like a very pretty canoe route through rocky terrain. It's quite flat - I only needed to herringbone my skis a few times over 135 km in 3 days. We spent most of our time on lakes, including some very large ones, and that's where the weather became a major factor. If the wind came up, it got chilly very quickly, and your face had better be covered. Safety patrols appeared on snowmobiles periodically and did mandatory frostbite checks on our faces.



Many of the forest trails were portages between the lakes, although we followed a few inland routes. It was warm in the bush, so this was the best place to stop to eat or change layers.



We knew that the crux of today's ski would be the final 18 km on Prelude Lake, skiing east into the wind on soft snow. The last checkpoint was 15 km from camp, so it was going to be a long haul for tired racers. Shortly before I reached Prelude Lake, the blowing snow began - right into our faces.



At home, I don't worry much about a 30 kph wind, and I rarely pay attention to wind direction - but up here, it matters. It was a slog to get to the CP, but it was a cheery place with a heated tent, friendly staff, hot water and homemade cookies. Liza and Andrew were there, so I knew I was doing OK. Some of the racers looked a little shell-shocked, so I tried to encourage some smiles. "This is what I paid the big bucks for! I can ski in good weather anytime in Ontario, but hey, this is a true northern experience." Some of them probably wanted to kill me.

I set out alone and spent most of the next 15 km with no other racers around. Normally, that wouldn't be a big deal, except visibility was so poor that I couldn't see anyone else, and it was hard to see the little flags marking the trail. On two occasions, I had to stop in the middle of the lake and wait for the blowing snow to clear enough so I could see the next flag indicating the route. I never wanted to get out of sight of the nearest flag, so I proceeded slowly.



The snow was soft and drifted, so I couldn't see tracks. It was tough to get into any sort of smooth rhythm on my skinny racing skis, since I was lurching up and down from crust to fluffy snow. It was wild, fun, thrilling and very Canadian. While I can't honestly say that I enjoyed every moment while it was happening, I did enjoy most of it - and it's an experience that I'm really glad to have had!

I wasn't cold at all, even in the blowing snow. I wore a light, loose (this was key!) polypro top under an expedition weight polypro shirt and a lightweight vest, topped with a Salomon Fast & Lite Jacket. Bottom was XC ski pants, expedition weight long johns and windproof briefs. I borrowed Alan's awesome Taiga windproof hat and only needed a windstopper headband under that. I wore ski goggles (aka Gallygoogles) all day, which worked well for warmth in the wind along with a fleece neck gator that froze into a strange but useful shape around my lower face. I also wore seriously warm gloves and boot covers over my ski boots.

The weather improved through the afternoon, and eventually I could see the group of racers ahead. Safety snowmobiles went by on a few occasions, checking my face for frostbite or prompting me for a thumbs up or down sign. After more than 8 hrs, I skied into camp where Richard met me with hot soup in a mug - yum.



He'd been in for 2 hrs, having finished an hour behind the leader of the 3-day ski race, Pate's roommate Thomsen D'hont. (The initial race results showed his time as 1 hr slower than it actually was, but that will be fixed.) The field was surprisingly spread out, and I was still one of the earlier finishers. There were racers who took more than 15 hrs to complete the course! I can't imagine how hard that would be on their bodies, especially since they had to start the next morning after a very short rest. My body was feeling some pain after altering my ski technique to accommodate snow conditions. One heel had a blister while the other had an inflamed Achilles tendon (a brand new injury - yikes).

We settled into the tent village at Powder Point, sharing our heated tent with Greg & Denise McHale, Liza Pye, Phil Villeneuve and Dennis Colburn (3-time winner of the Calgary Marathon). We hoped that some of their considerable athletic skills would rub off on us! After dinner, hot chocolate, tea and stories, we went to bed early. Even with the heat turned down, I was super-warm in Angus' down sleeping bag, lying on a winter Thermarest and blue foamie.

Richard and I went out for a short ski on Back Bay to test layers, ski wax, toe warmth, camera carrying strategy, etc., etc. (Looking at the photo, maybe Richard should have been focusing more on his pole carrying strategy.)



I turned on SPOT and was pleased to see that much of our route was posted, which isn't bad, given that SPOT only tries to phone home every 10 minutes. It looks like the race will appear on the map as a continuation of today's ski. Oh well, I'm not setting up a new map now - it's bedtime! [Note: SPOT's route only stays on the map for 7 days.]

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots...

At 12:30, I met with a photographer and writer from MORE Magazine. They're doing an article on 3 women in the race because we are in the (*sigh*) 40+ demographic. Everyone involved is super-nice. Here is a staged photo where the other women and I pretended to talk animatedly while just meeting each other - which we were actually doing, but it's no coincidence that we were casually chatting in front of some of Yellowknife's colourful houseboats. Richard was assigned to hold the flash.



This is a very small town. Shawne Kokelj, the woman in the red jacket, is the one I'd guessed would likely win the 3-day female XC ski category based on googling names. It turns out she lives next door to Richard's brother AND we house-sat their place and took care of their dog when we were visiting Alan in 2007, but I didn't remember their names, and of course we'd never met. It's not often that I can introduce myself to someone by shaking their hand and saying, "Hey, I've slept in your bed!"

Next was the winter survival course, which was shorter than advertised and WAY more scary. Richard, Andrew and I sat in the back row and exchanged a few winks. We understood that we were being presented with some worst-case scenarios to avoid any sense of complacency in this harsh environment. Mostly, these things had never happened in the Rock & Ice Ultra - but a couple of racers seemed quite nervous.

For instance, if we fall through the ice (which no one has ever done, Mom!!), we're only going to be able to swim well for 3 minutes, so we should make our way back to where we fell in and get our arms up on the ice. That's good enough - our arms will freeze to the ice, then a safety patroller will come by on a snowmobile to save us before an hour has passed, which is how long it would take for us to get dangerously hypothermic. In the meantime, at least we won't drown. (The mental image of that one is hard to shake!)

If we do slip underwater, the SAR guy pointed out that luckily we athletes don't have much body fat, so we'll freeze solid really quickly, and there's a good chance of reviving us without brain damage even after an hour underwater. Yay!! A safety crew member pointed out to a couple of the more nervous racers that if we stay on the snowmobile trail like we're supposed to, we'll be fine as long as we weigh less than a snowmobile.

Members of the safety crew will go by on snowmobiles at regular intervals, and we'll see some of the 60 other multi-day racers as we move along the marked course. Each day's 45 km route is broken up into 4 sections with checkpoints. So for all the dire warnings, we'll have to work pretty hard to get into trouble!!!

We learned that rescue breathing can help to warm a hypothermic/frostbitten person, even if they're still breathing. Didn't know that. We also saw a photo of two frostbitten feet on the same guy, with one foot far more frostbitten than the other. On the nastier foot, he'd worn two socks, and the foot with less damage only had one sock on - and thus better blood circulation. I had just made the decision to wear only one sock, so this was encouraging to see!

Last, but not least, if we make it alive to the stage camps, we're supposed to watch each other for signs of carbon monoxide poisoning from the stoves. (No Mom, that's never happened to anyone either - and in a tent with 6 well-hydrated people getting up to pee all night, there will be no shortage of fresh air!)

We had a race briefing accompanied by a great dinner, then some Dene men sent up a prayer for our safety, then invited us to dance a little! It warmed us up, so we did.





The race map is on the website, but I'm too lazy to find the link. Here is the 3-day race, which is also the first 3 days of the 6-day race. The red lines are roads. Our route is shown in dark lines (with a bit of the 6-day route appearing in the southwest corner). We start on the west side at Matrix Village (near several red lines) and go around clockwise. There will be a strong wind from the east tomorrow, and we've got a looooong ski heading east along a huge lake. Good test for the face shields!



Here's Day 4-6 for the 6-day racers. Looks like it should be super-easy to find Baker Island. There are only 50,000 other islands in the area.



Actually, it sounds like the 6-day racers are going to have a relatively cushy time after they drop us off. ;-) We all return to Yellowknife on Day 3, and we will be finished our race. They can go out to a restaurant, but have to sleep in Matrix Village. On Day 5, they'll be sleeping indoors and staying at a lodge with a cash bar! Also, we'll be skiing 45 km/day for the first 3 days, but for the last 3 days, they average just 30 km/day. So we're teasing them about that! (Although we are definitely not jealous of the sleds they have to tow.)

OK, it's bedtime now - race starts at 9 a.m. Check out SPOT, and read the coverage at Sleepmonsters at http://www.sleepmonsters.ca. There may be other coverage at the race website: http://www.rockandiceultra.com.

Richard and I want to finish the event, and of course we want to finish it healthy. Beyond that, this race is just about having fun. We're not quite approaching it as an adventure vacation like the Coast Raid, but neither of us has any delusion about winning a diamond! Should be able to post on Tuesday.

Richard and I arrived in Yellowknife last night on the same flight as Liza Pye, Phil Villeneuve and Mike Argue. After the early spring in Ontario, we're loving this little encore of winter.



We spent the morning with Richard's brother's family, meeting our baby nephew Leo for the first time and playing with our almost 3-year-old niece Talia. We'll be hanging out with them all next week, so I'll save their photos for later.

After lunch, I tried out some of my gear in different combinations, since there's a nasty wind chill in the forecast for Saturday. Hmm, I hope there won't be *too* many race photographers, since I'm not sure it's a good look!



Then we headed to Overlander Sports to get MSR stove repair supplies. It felt like we were leaving things a little late, but we met 8 other Rock & Ice competitors shopping in there, so it wasn't just Richard and me. In fact, one crazy guy had flown all the way from Ontario and *still* hadn't decided which sleeping bag to buy!



Yup, Andrew Cameron's in town. We spent a pleasant afternoon together getting our last gear and groceries, registering for the race at Matrix Village, and pigging out on Vietnamese noodles.



Here are the Michelin Men at Matrix Village by the start line.



The race shirt is a nice North Face zip-neck! (Not as nice as Salomon, of course.)



We have a winter survival course tomorrow, then we have to hand in our duffel bags at 5 p.m. That makes it a bit tricky, since we either surrender our toothbrushes, parkas, winter boots and Richard's contact lenses then, or else we have to carry them during Day 1 of the race to get them to the camp. As if the Yellowknifers didn't already have an advantage over us out-of-towners!

I spent the evening editing down my gear a little more. Our duffel bags have to weigh less than 20 kg, including sleeping bag and pads, food, stove, fuel, clothes, boots, etc. Looks like I'll be OK, but I'm dreading my first attempt at fitting everything into my day pack, so I decided to take an Attackpoint break instead.

Our most interesting piece of mandatory gear is "2000 calories of food, only to be eaten in an emergency". Hint: That's not very much butter. For variety, I'm adding some chips, nuts, Fudgee-Os and mini-cinnamon buns to my emergency stash. Those calories add up surprisingly quickly.

BTW, SPOT has found Yellowknife now. I'll turn on tracking mode on Sat. morning - hope it'll work on my backpack.
<http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots...>

I didn't intend to taper this much before the Rock & Ice Ultra (in fact, I didn't even do much special training for it!), but it's been crazy-busy. Not just packing, but tidying up for the housesitter, taking the granddogs to my parents, paying bills, etc.

Big thanks to Angus for putting so much TLC into prepping our skis and to Sarah and Sian for making special winter versions of their famous brownies and cookies respectively. If we don't succeed, it won't be for lack of support from our friends!

I'm going to take SPOT along and try to track my route online. The race runs from Saturday through Monday. SPOT might join me on other excursions too. At the moment, you'll just see a map of the southwest U.S., but I'll try to send a test message when we get to Yellowknife. No password required.
<http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots...>

Fun doing some ankle strengthening and balance exercises on the new Bosu ball while watching House.

Bluebird day to watch the long race on the final day of the Canadian XC Ski Championships. It eventually got so warm that some skiers wore nothing but their race bib on top. Not the best day for ski racing, but a great day to be a spectator.



Don't know how VO2Max was able to wear a toque out there for more than 2 hrs, skiing 50 km!





Brittany's skis were slow today, but in spite of the extra poling, she finished in the Canadian Champs bronze medal position.



The lead men stayed together throughout, and it was exciting to see them go by on each lap. VO2Max's friend Chris Butler (far right) took the bronze in the Canadian Champs.

(Time discounted an hour for standing around. Not sure if I should call it orienteering, but it was more like that than anything else!)

For the Rock & Ice Ultra, we need to know how to use the GPS we are required to carry. I'm confident with map & compass (which I will also have), but I had no clue how to use Goose's GPS.



'Bent, BulletDog and I headed out on a mission to find 4 geocaches in Palgrave East. Since my camera is still lying somewhere along last week's Snowgaine course, 'Bent was the photographer today.



We searched high and low (literally) for the first one with no luck. I'd been thinking that geocaching and orienteering had some similarities and might appeal to similar people, but I hadn't anticipated the "hide and seek" nature of finding the caches, given the large range of error of a GPS and the lack of information on the type of feature that might conceal the cache. I didn't find that part particularly exciting, probably because I'm used to just finding a control, then moving on without much drop in heart rate. If a family was just out for a hike though, I can see how that part would be fun.

'Bent discovered the next two geocaches, and we proudly signed the log books. Upon leaving the one called Palgrave Red, which is concealed in thick bush, I noticed that my SPOT satellite messenger device had been torn off my pack. No idea when it had happened, but I felt stupid (a) because I'd commented on the poor design of the clip at the start of our outing, and (b) because it's only 6 days since I lost my camera while bushwhacking, so you'd think I'd be smarter by now.

I've been testing the SPOT - which I won in a Get Out There Magazine contest - in hopes of letting people track me during the Rock & Ice Ultra. However, so far SPOT hadn't spoken to me. I'd carried it around for the entire Snowgaine, and it hadn't sent a single tracking message to a satellite. SPOT isn't exactly lightweight, so if it didn't start sending signals this weekend, it was going to stay home.

'Bent and I went back into the thick forest and spread out, looking for SPOT's bright orange face. We got back to the geocache and meandered around the area like I had done before. No luck. So we retraced our steps through Palgrave, visiting the other two geocache sites, then following our route back home. Because SPOT has a 911 feature, it's a bit like losing a credit card. You either want to find it or cancel it pretty quickly. I didn't want someone finding SPOT, hitting the 911 button and initiating a rescue that I would definitely feel guilty about - and might even be financially responsible for. I'm not sure how that works.

I raced inside and turned on my PC. Yahoo!!!!! SPOTTY had wisely chosen today to start beaming up! The poor thing was bravely broadcasting its location just 15 m from the Palgrave Red geocache. So... back to Palgrave with SPOT's coordinates entered into our GPS. Based on our past experience, we'd need to scour a thickly forested area at least 15-20 meters in diameter, and it was getting late in the day. Just as we entered the edge of the target zone, 'Bent spotted it - yay!!!




That was even better than geocaching.

If you think you've ever had a rough time in the outdoors, read "The Worst Journey in the World" by Apsley Cherry-Garrard, a member of the Scott Expedition in Antarctica. Hoo boy. Even though the action took place a century ago, it doesn't feel "historical". He paints a great picture of men sharing adventures, jokes, challenges and tragedy, and you can easily imagine how it would feel to be there. (But you'll be grateful you're not!)

Higher pace than usual as 'Bent and I tried to keep up with the breakaways at the end of the 1993 World Road Cycling Champs. After being virtually ignored earlier in the race coverage, a certain Lance Armstrong got into the front group, and Phil Liggett talked about this surprising development. Liggett kept reminding the viewers who this relatively unknown rider was - a "rookie American", a "former triathlete" and a "21-year-old from Texas in his first year of professional racing". He was a lot beefier than the Lance we know, and - I gotta say - he looked pretty cool racing with a gold earring instead of a little radio.

There were some great lines - with 20/20 hindsight.

"With Greg LeMond planning to retire next year, I wonder if we are looking at the man who could become his replacement in the U.S."

"Miguel Indurain has said he will race for 3 more years. Will he be the first man to win 6 consecutive Tours de France?"

"If Armstrong is going to do well in the long tours, he's going to have to work on his time trialling."

But the best of all was:

"After winning this World Championship and a stage in the Tour de France earlier this year, Armstrong is going to look back at his first year of racing and say... what else is there? I've already done it all!" !!!!

Well worth watching sometime - great trainer material.

Some quality time with Rodney Yee.

While watching The Daily Show.

While watching the Colbert Report.

Crash and I went to Highlands Nordic to watch some of the Canadian XC Ski Championships. Crash has known VO2Max his whole life, and this was the first time she'd seen him XC ski racing. She was an absolute pro with the cow bells!



VO2Max looked great. A good performance in the Canadian Champs can be worth a lot of money to an amateur athlete, so this is a big week.



Brittany was fighting a cold, but was in good humour anyway.

Snowgaine Day 2 - State Forests of Cortland County

We got today's map after yesterday's race, so we had loads of time to plan. I was convinced that we had the potential to clear yesterday's course, but I figured we would have to leave out a couple of controls today. The wild card in today's course planning was major uncertainty regarding our speed in the bush, given the high temperature and the fact that we were racing at a different location 45 minutes further south.

We made our plan based on skiing the course, which is what we wished we had done yesterday. When we arrived at the race HQ - a Nordic Centre - it was surrounded by bare ground, and some of the ski trails were just steaming wet asphalt. 'Bent and I ditched the skis and threw our lightweight snowshoes into our packs. For us, this was the right decision. There were places where we would have loved to ski, but there were also some treacherous sections, e.g. steep icy trails that turned into mud and gravel partway down the hill. We had to take the snowshoes off and put them on a couple of times, but it was still worth having them.

The first part of today's race seemed to go slowly, and I wondered if we had made a mistake by going to #60 in the far NW corner of the map (we didn't). I had a couple of body-twisting falls early on when my snowshoes picked up heavy snow on the decking or got caught under a thick crust layer. Unfortunately, my Atlas Race snowshoes aren't designed for that kind of abuse, and the binding attachments broke at the same point on both snowshoes within 30 minutes of each other. Argghh. Luckily, my teammate is Mr. Fixit, so I was able to attach my foot (albeit a little shakily) with velcro webbing on one side and a C-clamp on the other side!

I got some great photos of yesterday's thigh-deep postholing, and I was looking forward to posting them here along with pics of us snowshoeing on bare ground today. But... I managed to leave $450 of camera equipment somewhere on the course. :-( It was on my backpack shoulder strap where it survived the 4-day Coast Raid just fine - but somehow it got ripped off today. At least it is freezeproof and waterproof, so if someone finds it one day, they may be able to use it. And a small silver lining is that I have never liked the photo quality of that camera and have always regretted buying it. So... problem solved. Sort of.

Once again, the second part of the course went faster than the first part. We'd dropped a couple of optional (for us) 30-pointers in the middle of the course, but I always try to save a loop of controls near the finish so we can tackle them knowing exactly how much time we have left. We were able to get all of our final loop with 16 minutes to spare, so there's a chance (but not a sure thing) that we might have squeezed in one of the controls we'd skipped earlier. Our nav went well, and 'Bent was strong. Yesterday felt like a bit of a screw-up, but today felt like a good effort.

Unfortunately, the Canadians were unable to win overall this year, but the amazing Bobkittens and Snowkittens raced together today and cleaned the course on both days, finishing with 1980 pts - a close 2nd (and technically also 3rd) to EMS. MBR was next - 2nd Male with 1950 pts. 'Bent and I won the Masters category with 1810 pts - 10 pts behind the best Coed result, so that's OK. MBR2 had some punching problems on Day 2 and should have been on the Coed podium - and maybe will end up there if the organizers use the intention sheets to update the results.

Big thanks to CNYO for another very fun weekend - our 3rd year in a row, and the number of Canadians keeps on growing as word spreads about this event. Entry fee was only $40 for two 7-hr days of racing with a hot meal on both days. It is a tremendous amount of work to put on an event of this magnitude and calibre, and I think CNYO should consider raising the price to make it worth their while. I have a hard time believing that they even cover their costs!

Snowgaine Day 1 - Highland Forest Park

'Bent, Leanimal, Phatty and I saw very little snow during our drive to Tully, NY, and the Skyline Lodge was surrounded by bare ground speckled with some crusty little snowdrifts. We decided to wear Yak Trax on our shoes instead of taking skis or snowshoes. Mistake!! Miraculously, most of the race map was blanketed with deep, soft snow. Really, *really* soft snow because of the high temperatures. Several times during the day after postholing thigh deep and banging my shins on logs, I offered passing racers a million dollars for their snowshoes or skis - but I had no takers. In fact, one lady correctly informed me that it would be against the rules!

We'd only had about 15 minutes to plan our map for 7 hrs of racing, so 'Bent and I expected that we might change our plans on the fly. When we realized what a slog it was going to be on foot, we altered our route to take snowmobile trails whenever possible, even if it meant extra distance or elevation. At the halfway point, we decided to drop #43 in the far southeast corner, which turned out to be another mistake. The second half of the course went much faster than the first half, thanks to some running on roads and well-used snowmobile trails. So we got to the finish half an hour early, having skipped a control that we actually had time to get. Otherwise, we would have cleaned the course, a feat achieved by 6 of the 19 teams. For some strange reason, our race time didn't count today - just the points obtained.

Other than the poor choice of leaving our winter sports equipment behind (rather ironic, given how much 'Bent and I love winter), we did OK out there. It was tough physically, but we hit all the controls right on, except for one misplaced veg boundary control. 'Bent did some great towing on roads and snowmobile trails to keep us close together. We both came away with some nasty bruises on our shins from banging into logs under the snow. The last 20 minutes of the race got a little unpleasant when the skies opened up and started lashing us with cold rain. But it wasn't far to the beautiful Skyline Lodge and its fireplace, and there was hot food waiting.

Canadian teams were in good shape at the end of Day 1. Milton Basement Racers, Salomon Bobkittens and Salomon Snowkittens were tied with 990 pts (the full course). MBR 2 and the Tree Huggers were leading the Coed and Masters categories respectively with 950 pts.

Interesting to see the 14-day forecast for Yellowknife, where we'll be heading soon for the Rock & Ice Ultra. It's down into the minus twenties today as expected, but the current forecast predicts an unusually mild high temp of -3C on March 19! Race starts on March 21.
http://www.theweathernetwork.com/fourteenday/cant0...

(This link goes to the current forecast, so it won't make sense to anyone reading this log entry in future.)

While watching Jeopardy. (I won a fair amount of virtual money!)

Following up on my New Year's resolutions at month-end for greater accountability through the year:

1) Strength training - min. 1 hr/week. Leg, core, upper body.
- This went well in February. I was just short of my goal. Better yet, I'm starting to feel the difference.
2) Improve training quality, including speed work.
- Nada. But teaming with Hammer for the Snowshoe Raid was high quality racing, if that counts!
3) 450 hrs total annual training
- Averaged a little better than that this month (1:18 per day)
4) Get weight down to target - and stay there.
- In spite of doing nothing about this, I am down a pound. Still 4.5 lb above my target.
5) Aim to do one training session per week before breakfast.
- I don't think I did even one in February - bad girl!
6) Related to the above... in bed by midnight at least 5 days/week. (For those who have received my 1:30 a.m. e-mails, you'll know how hard this one will be.)
- Much, much worse at this than January. On the bright side, I've implemented a new online event registration system, launched a new website and worked on a bunch of other good projects. But I'm fighting a cold for the 2nd time this winter, and I need to take this resolution *much* more seriously.

BulletDog and I went north of Barrie to look for and pick up controls from an event that happened too long ago - before 2 meters of snow fell on the area. We had only moderate success, but I'm hopeful that some of the missing paraphernalia will surface when the snow melts. I found one flag totally encased in ice and stuck firmly to the ground. I banged away at it, but it's going to be in there for awhile. On the bright side, I discovered a BSF-7 (expensive new SI control) that I don't think anyone knew was out there.

Other than the frustration of not bringing back all the gear, it was a fantastic way to spend an afternoon. Lots of sunshine, very chilly temperature (cold toes!) and still enough snow that I regretted going into one control without snowshoes. BulletDog was an excellent companion, and she is sleeping soundly now after bounding through the deep snow for hours.

Time is discounted to allow for standing still while untying tightly knotted cords - and also several cell phone calls with GHOSlow who graciously tried to help when I realized that I didn't have the final version of the map, and one of the controls had been moved at the last minute.

I was out there for almost 4 hrs, so I had plenty of time to contemplate how BulletDog and Hammer compare as snowshoeing teammates.

BulletDog definitely has some strong points as a teammate. She's faster than Hammer without snowshoes, and if I attached a harness to her, she'd probably tow just as hard. She never asks me questions when I'm out of breath from trying to keep up with her. She can go a long time without food or drink, and she never needs to adjust her layers.

But... her navigation sucks. Even when we arrived at flags, she didn't want to stop. Hammer is good that way. And she didn't leave nice big tracks for me to run in - in fact she preferred to run in mine when the snow got deep. Toward the end of the day when it got really frigid, she occasionally sat in the snow and lifted her feet so that I could warm the soles with my bare hands. Hammer *never* does that - fortunately. And even if he did, he only has 2 feet.

Unintentional rest day, but maybe not such a bad idea. Amongst other things today, I:

- Implemented the new Orienteering Ontario website - http://www.orienteeringontario.ca

- Registered with 'Bent for the 2009 North American Rogaine Champs in Arizona. Our first-ever rogaine was the 2004 World champs in Arizona, and we're excited to go back there.

- Reviewed the final list of competitors in the Rock & Ice Ultra after registration closed last night. The list includes a couple of good friends, some friends of friends whom I can't wait to get to know, a long list of interesting-sounding Yellowknifers, and some impressive strangers, including the Spanish man who holds the Guinness Record for underwater kissing.

There are about 30 racers each in the 3-day and 6-day categories. (There is also a 1-day category, but we won't get to know those people because we won't be camping together.) Half the competitors in our 3-day division will compete on skis and the rest will run on snowshoes. In the 6-day division, where competitors have to pull sleds, only 6 of 29 competitors are using skis, including Slice. I notice that 2 of the 3 racers who skied the 6-day event last year have switched to the 3-day event this year.

After googling our competition, which includes a 3-time winner of the Calgary marathon and one of Canada's top young XC skiers, 'Bent and I know that our goal will be simply to finish - the half-carat diamonds for the category winners are beyond our grasp. Oh well, I guess that makes it more of a vacation! :-)

'Bent and I carpooled to Highlands Nordic with Coach LD and crew. Although we drove by a lot of brownish fields, conditions were excellent up there.




Since it's probably one of our last long skis before the Rock & Ice Ultra, 'Bent and I decided to split up and go our own pace. We'd agreed upon a 2 p.m. meeting time with Coach LD. We ran into each other once, and he was looking strong. Unfortunately, 'Bent went down to the chalet after this and waited for me to arrive for lunch - not realizing that I didn't plan to take a lunch break. So I got in more training time than he did! :-)





It was my first time skiing with my Forerunner, and it was interesting to see the huge range of speeds - up to a maximum of 39 kph! But on average, it was approximately the pace I needed to run for Boston (but didn't).

We mostly had sunshine, but there were periods of snow flurries with big snowflakes, and that helped provide better grip. I should have rewaxed about an hour before I finished, but decided that I'll probably postpone rewaxing my skis at the Rock & Ice Ultra due to the cold, so I might as well get some double poling practice! Conditions were, in VO2Max's words, "rocket fast" out there. Speaking of VO2Max, he's home for the Canadian Champs next week - great to see him!