Training Log Archive: jtorranc

Easy ski, mostly on Fortune Lake Parkway but with part of the return from Shilly Shally via 12 and 3, with my friends, Ian and Heather. Sunny day. Chickadees and squirrels plus one woodpecker at Shilly Shally made up somewhat for the dearth of wildlife sightings during the visit home up until then.

Winterlude Triathlon, Ottawa

First leg of Winterlude Triathlon. Content to stay at the back of the lead pack and conserve energy.

Second leg of triathlon. First and presumably only time skate skiing this year, with the predictable result. Got passed by a handful of people, as usual (actually, more than a handful is usual but I've tended in the past to try a bit harder to come off the ice at the front of the lead pack). Got left way behind by fast skiers ahead of me - exactly five minutes slower than the best split on this leg.

Third leg of triathlon. Passed eight or nine people. Got passed by the fastest runner of the day. My split was fifth overall on this leg. Finished 13th overall; 3rd male in the 30-39 age group. Not, I think, quite as good a result as last year but my placing then was almost certainly flattered by the absence of several fast skiers since Nakkertok was hosting the Eastern Canadians that weekend. This time the only significant conflict was with the Canadian Ski Marathon, which it seems safe to claim has a lower proportion of speedsters among participants.

Long ski in Gatineau Park, staying as much on the back country trails as possible. Started, once I'd climbed up to the interesting trails, with Skyline then trails 34 and 22, climbing up to the antenna site above Camp Fortune - hadn't been on either of those in a long time. Did a loop on trails 8 and 17 then headed west to 12 and a descent of Western before heading back.

Ski outing late in the afternoon to Pine grove,an area in the Greenbelt I'd never been to before. Appropriately dead flat and didn't try to work too hard given the triathlon the next day. Nice day out but visible wildlife was notable by its absence.

Work commute.

Cycling commute.

Cycling to work, to and from my doctor's office and home again. She has ordered an echocardiogram, an exercise tolerance test and a chest X-ray in order to hopefully rule out the nastier possible scenarios that would explain my chest and back pains plus some blood chemistry analysis on general principle since I haven't had any since 2005 and to help with the ruling out. No order to abandon exercise entirely but not going all out has been prescribed and also avoiding orienteering since the idea of more falls onto my chest seems to alarm her. I guess, since I've paid the unrefundable entry fee and assuming my musculo-skeletal system feels up to it, I'll do the triathlon on Saturday as a tour rather than a race.

I guess I''d better be very careful to at least fall on my butt if I have to fall skiing and skating this weekend - most of the bad things my doctor wants to rule out seem to be possible consequences of shock to various of my internal organs due to falling onto my torso.

Hmmm.... not sure why she didn't ask anything identifiably about my gall bladder. Maybe the blood work will detect some effect of whatever it might be doing or failing to do wrong. Maybe it was ruled out when I didn't scream when she pressed anywhere. I guess it makes sense that since I'm not in much of a position to tell her what my internal organs are up to unless they're sending me pain signals, there's little point asking me anything.

C • Tri 1