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Saturday Apr 11, 2009 #
Orienteering race 6:17:00 [4] **** 32.7 km (11:32 / km)
Salomon Dontgetlost.ca Giant's Rib Raid 2009
Phew - I think this Raid was the toughest on the body since 2002. Or maybe it's just my body that's getting wimpier. But I see that Hammer has already declared it to be the longest and toughest GRR yet, so hopefully it wasn't just me. I wore my Forerunner, and it logged 32.7 km - and it sometimes measures a bit short in the woods, so we undoubtedly went farther. And we weren't running on flat roads or trails - there were long sections where we picked our way across rocky terrain, carefully avoiding the deep crevices that have gobbled up many an unsuspecting orienteer over the years.
We were out for over 6 hrs - I don't think that's happened since our first Raid where we placed 44th. This was more than the cumulative total running time I've logged since my marathon on Dec. 7 - although I have done a little running that was logged as snowshoeing. But still, I'm a looooong way from my best running shape - and even that would be slow compared to most people's running. That's what happens when you do a ski marathon at the end of March!
However, I wasn't worried about my lack of preparation because I was teamed up with 'Bent and Rocky, both of whom are running the Boston Marathon next weekend.
We'd agreed that this would be a "gentle race". For the first time, there was no tow rope to keep me with the speedier folks. At times, I chose "Boston routes", i.e. slightly less aggressive route choices that looked safer for my teammates' ankles. But in spite of all the talk, the two of them kept up a strong pace and didn't even have the decency to appear tired as the race went on.
Rocky was, well, a rock. Or maybe a rock star.
At one point, she was looking down and ran hard into a large, partially fallen tree, taking the full brunt on her forehead. There was a loud cracking sound, and even *we* saw stars as she was flung to the ground onto her back. She felt fine after recovering from the surprise, and I queried her about possible headaches for the rest of the race, but it looks like she will get away with only a small goose egg - phew. It only slowed down her running for about 90 seconds, then I was chasing hard after her once again. Her eagle eyes were incredible at spotting orange & white flags at long distances, and she could see trails that no one else could.
There was plenty of variety in the race - long trail runs over rocky and smooth ground (mostly rocky), picking our way cross-country over mossy boulders, wading through icy marshes that felt soooo good on my Achilles tendon, which got very painful again for the first time since Yellowknife - argghh. But more than anything else, this race course featured crevices in the escarpment - and even a CP in a cave.
We ran into STORM's team in one crevice.
We liked the new rule where all team members have to touch the flag. This removes the ambiguity of the old rule which stated that team members have to be "together" at CPs, even though they can be 50 m apart on the course. In recent Raids and rogaine-style races, I've seen people waiting at trail junctions or at the bottoms of big hills while their teammates went off alone to punch controls that sometimes weren't even in view. In our first year of racing, we did this too because we didn't know any better and we saw other teams doing it, so I can understand how teams watch each other and become uncertain about the rule. In adventure races, we've met people who were knowingly several kilometers away from their teammates.
In rogaines, the international rule is that both teammates have to be within 20 m of the control when it is punched and always in verbal contact distance of one another. Some rogaines include the additional requirement that both teammates must see the flag. Since we started rogaining, I've tried to stick to the "20 m, must see the flag" rule for our team for all orienteering-style events. The different interpretation of this rule by different teams in adventure and orienteering events gives some teams an advantage, and it's great that GHO has set a clear standard.
It was a perfect spring day! Bright sunshine and temperatures in the single digits were ideal for running. We smelled wild leeks and admired beautiful wildflowers.
The course was much drier than last year due to the earlier snow melt. Our feet were wet throughout, but we didn't do nearly as much knee-deep wading. Late in the race, we noticed Thumbs-of-Death leading his shorter teammates through a frigid marsh that went chest-deep on him - yikes! We had walked around that marsh - less than 50 m out of our way - a minute earlier, so we got to watch the fun.
The course design included the usual mix of different map types and challenges. As always, the controls were correctly located in interesting locations. Unfortunately, a typo in the instructions for the Walk The Line section led to confusion. The Matrix was unusual for me since it was the first-ever Matrix where I didn't punch any controls. Rocky and I ran together, and since she's the faster runner, she did the punching.
We had already run about 28 km when we returned to Rocky Ridge Ranch to pick up the map for the final Mystery Section, which took close to an hour more. Oh, it was hard to head back into the woods when the top teams were enjoying their burgers on the patio!
The Mystery Section was a map that had no trails and 4 controls to find, but what made it more challenging was that we had to leave that map to find a control on our regular map, then return to the Mystery Map to find another control on our way to the finish line. I was stressed during that section - it went OK, but I think gut instincts helped me since I was soooo tired that my brain wasn't very sharp. We made it to the finish line as the 2nd place Masters team and 12th out of 40 overall in a race dominated by strong male teams. We would have been 3rd Coed, so we made the right guess on which category to enter! Congrats to Nick and the Foreigners on taking the overall crown. Eugenius won Masters as expected, cleverly choosing a team that included Dobos Jr and himself - both below the Masters age - and Everest summiter Dan Mallory, a ringer 58-year-old who raised their average age sufficiently! ;-)
The overall winners took about 4 hrs instead of the usual 3 hrs, so it was a longer race for everyone. It was a very physical course that favoured the top male teams - and there were some excellent teams in this event. Tiny's Milton Basement Racers were the top Coed team and 6th overall. Congrats!!
Most of us looked a lot rougher than Tiny at the finish. In fact, Sid looked more like a tough biker than the Prez of Orienteering Ontario.
Hammer and Griz designed another technical, challenging, interesting race course. Thanks for all your hard work, guys.
Thanks also to Backwoods, Etoile, Goose, KD, Sherpa, Mique and the many other volunteers who gave up their time to make this event happen for us!
Phew - I think this Raid was the toughest on the body since 2002. Or maybe it's just my body that's getting wimpier. But I see that Hammer has already declared it to be the longest and toughest GRR yet, so hopefully it wasn't just me. I wore my Forerunner, and it logged 32.7 km - and it sometimes measures a bit short in the woods, so we undoubtedly went farther. And we weren't running on flat roads or trails - there were long sections where we picked our way across rocky terrain, carefully avoiding the deep crevices that have gobbled up many an unsuspecting orienteer over the years.
We were out for over 6 hrs - I don't think that's happened since our first Raid where we placed 44th. This was more than the cumulative total running time I've logged since my marathon on Dec. 7 - although I have done a little running that was logged as snowshoeing. But still, I'm a looooong way from my best running shape - and even that would be slow compared to most people's running. That's what happens when you do a ski marathon at the end of March!
However, I wasn't worried about my lack of preparation because I was teamed up with 'Bent and Rocky, both of whom are running the Boston Marathon next weekend.
We'd agreed that this would be a "gentle race". For the first time, there was no tow rope to keep me with the speedier folks. At times, I chose "Boston routes", i.e. slightly less aggressive route choices that looked safer for my teammates' ankles. But in spite of all the talk, the two of them kept up a strong pace and didn't even have the decency to appear tired as the race went on.
Rocky was, well, a rock. Or maybe a rock star.
At one point, she was looking down and ran hard into a large, partially fallen tree, taking the full brunt on her forehead. There was a loud cracking sound, and even *we* saw stars as she was flung to the ground onto her back. She felt fine after recovering from the surprise, and I queried her about possible headaches for the rest of the race, but it looks like she will get away with only a small goose egg - phew. It only slowed down her running for about 90 seconds, then I was chasing hard after her once again. Her eagle eyes were incredible at spotting orange & white flags at long distances, and she could see trails that no one else could.
There was plenty of variety in the race - long trail runs over rocky and smooth ground (mostly rocky), picking our way cross-country over mossy boulders, wading through icy marshes that felt soooo good on my Achilles tendon, which got very painful again for the first time since Yellowknife - argghh. But more than anything else, this race course featured crevices in the escarpment - and even a CP in a cave.
We ran into STORM's team in one crevice.
We liked the new rule where all team members have to touch the flag. This removes the ambiguity of the old rule which stated that team members have to be "together" at CPs, even though they can be 50 m apart on the course. In recent Raids and rogaine-style races, I've seen people waiting at trail junctions or at the bottoms of big hills while their teammates went off alone to punch controls that sometimes weren't even in view. In our first year of racing, we did this too because we didn't know any better and we saw other teams doing it, so I can understand how teams watch each other and become uncertain about the rule. In adventure races, we've met people who were knowingly several kilometers away from their teammates.
In rogaines, the international rule is that both teammates have to be within 20 m of the control when it is punched and always in verbal contact distance of one another. Some rogaines include the additional requirement that both teammates must see the flag. Since we started rogaining, I've tried to stick to the "20 m, must see the flag" rule for our team for all orienteering-style events. The different interpretation of this rule by different teams in adventure and orienteering events gives some teams an advantage, and it's great that GHO has set a clear standard.
It was a perfect spring day! Bright sunshine and temperatures in the single digits were ideal for running. We smelled wild leeks and admired beautiful wildflowers.
The course was much drier than last year due to the earlier snow melt. Our feet were wet throughout, but we didn't do nearly as much knee-deep wading. Late in the race, we noticed Thumbs-of-Death leading his shorter teammates through a frigid marsh that went chest-deep on him - yikes! We had walked around that marsh - less than 50 m out of our way - a minute earlier, so we got to watch the fun.
The course design included the usual mix of different map types and challenges. As always, the controls were correctly located in interesting locations. Unfortunately, a typo in the instructions for the Walk The Line section led to confusion. The Matrix was unusual for me since it was the first-ever Matrix where I didn't punch any controls. Rocky and I ran together, and since she's the faster runner, she did the punching.
We had already run about 28 km when we returned to Rocky Ridge Ranch to pick up the map for the final Mystery Section, which took close to an hour more. Oh, it was hard to head back into the woods when the top teams were enjoying their burgers on the patio!
The Mystery Section was a map that had no trails and 4 controls to find, but what made it more challenging was that we had to leave that map to find a control on our regular map, then return to the Mystery Map to find another control on our way to the finish line. I was stressed during that section - it went OK, but I think gut instincts helped me since I was soooo tired that my brain wasn't very sharp. We made it to the finish line as the 2nd place Masters team and 12th out of 40 overall in a race dominated by strong male teams. We would have been 3rd Coed, so we made the right guess on which category to enter! Congrats to Nick and the Foreigners on taking the overall crown. Eugenius won Masters as expected, cleverly choosing a team that included Dobos Jr and himself - both below the Masters age - and Everest summiter Dan Mallory, a ringer 58-year-old who raised their average age sufficiently! ;-)
The overall winners took about 4 hrs instead of the usual 3 hrs, so it was a longer race for everyone. It was a very physical course that favoured the top male teams - and there were some excellent teams in this event. Tiny's Milton Basement Racers were the top Coed team and 6th overall. Congrats!!
Most of us looked a lot rougher than Tiny at the finish. In fact, Sid looked more like a tough biker than the Prez of Orienteering Ontario.
Hammer and Griz designed another technical, challenging, interesting race course. Thanks for all your hard work, guys.
Thanks also to Backwoods, Etoile, Goose, KD, Sherpa, Mique and the many other volunteers who gave up their time to make this event happen for us!
Thursday Apr 9, 2009 #
Note
(rest day)
Looks like I'm tapering more for the GRR than intended - oh well. It's a busy week for us multi-faith families.
'Bent and I are finally going to try our first mountain marathon after several years of thinking about it. Since our background is outdoor tripping, it has always seemed like a fitting type of event for us to do. It will be a great birthday present for me, although - as usual in recent years - I'll spend the day travelling. It'll be tough to beat the birthday dinner I had in a Newfoundland gas station last summer with Phatty, Leanimal, Tiny, Pixie and 'Bent (plus yummy cake from Crash).
Continuing our recent northern trend, we've chosen the Björkliden Arctic Mountain Marathon about 200 km north of the Arctic Circle in Sweden. (Check out the race video if you have time.) Time for some language lessons from Carbon, Sudden, Bubo and even Hammer!
'Bent and I are finally going to try our first mountain marathon after several years of thinking about it. Since our background is outdoor tripping, it has always seemed like a fitting type of event for us to do. It will be a great birthday present for me, although - as usual in recent years - I'll spend the day travelling. It'll be tough to beat the birthday dinner I had in a Newfoundland gas station last summer with Phatty, Leanimal, Tiny, Pixie and 'Bent (plus yummy cake from Crash).
Continuing our recent northern trend, we've chosen the Björkliden Arctic Mountain Marathon about 200 km north of the Arctic Circle in Sweden. (Check out the race video if you have time.) Time for some language lessons from Carbon, Sudden, Bubo and even Hammer!
Tuesday Apr 7, 2009 #
XC Skiing - Classic 1:10:00 [3]
A surprisingly nice ski around Palgrave in snow conditions worthy of mid-winter. I don't think I've ever XC skied in April - and now it's two days in a row! Back to working on taxes now... :-(
Monday Apr 6, 2009 #
Note
I've added some canoeing photos to yesterday's log entry. They provide a great contrast to the photos I'm about to add from today's skiing just a few kilometers away!
[Edit: Picasa is doing some strange things - the photos are disappearing occasionally today. Why?]
[Edit: Picasa is doing some strange things - the photos are disappearing occasionally today. Why?]
XC Skiing - Classic 35:00 [2]
We're supposed to get about 20 cm of snow today - it's still falling! Of course I had to go skiing, since we're almost never able to ski in Caledon in April - especially not the day after a sunny canoe trip on the Humber River.
I was surprised at how good it felt to ski. I'd sworn I wouldn't put on my ski boots till November because I got a blister and Achilles pain from the Rock & Ice Ultra, but my feet were happy today. I would have stayed out longer but the wind was stronger than I like it to be when the trees are laden with such heavy, wet snow - and creaking in scary ways.
DLevine, I know you'll be curious about what this means for the upcoming GRR. Milton is either getting snow or heavy rain today - it's about an hour southwest of here. Your feet might get wet next weekend!
I was surprised at how good it felt to ski. I'd sworn I wouldn't put on my ski boots till November because I got a blister and Achilles pain from the Rock & Ice Ultra, but my feet were happy today. I would have stayed out longer but the wind was stronger than I like it to be when the trees are laden with such heavy, wet snow - and creaking in scary ways.
DLevine, I know you'll be curious about what this means for the upcoming GRR. Milton is either getting snow or heavy rain today - it's about an hour southwest of here. Your feet might get wet next weekend!
Power Yoga 1:00:00 [1]
'Bent and I did the Rodney Yee Power Yoga DVD that we borrowed from Leanimal. Good stuff! (Although neither of us was willing to risk the biggest back bending poses right now.) Rodney makes the occasional comment like, "Let the flesh of your buttocks move down away from your waist." I'm really not convinced that's a good thing, but regardless, it will probably happen on its own over the next couple of decades!