Good physio and Acupuncture!

So the new physiotherapist is doing great things. I think I have been twisted and pulled and pushed and snapped in two...had ultrasound and ice and Active Release Therapy (deeeep tissue stuff) and my butt is loosening up.

This morning I submitted to an hour of acupuncture and wow....I had needles up and down my leg and in my back. It was easy to let happen and it felt like a mini-laser light show was taking place in my body, notably up and down my right leg. When I finally stood up I was dazed, and as I walked back to the office I noticed my right side, hamstring and butt muscles were notably looser and more relaxed. Relief!!

I bought a 75cm exercise ball this morning for the office, and it is a welcome change from the static office chair I have been sitting in as well....

Hopefully I can start running -crossfitting-biking again soon!

Injured again?

So this pain in my right butt has been getting worse and worse. The physiotherapist I saw after the July track session said it wasn't a hamstring.

Well I went to a new physiotherapist and it's actually the spot where my right hamstrings join my ischial tuberosity. I thought it was piriformis syndrome but it's not!

So I have been ordered off anything that stresses my hamstrings. Yuck. So it's push-up and pull-up time. I have to ice and heat three times a day, and give this little tear time and a chance to heal, and as much blood flow as possible.

I also bought a little stability disc to sit on in the car, so while the pain is gone in my butt, my head grazes the roof. Must look into getting a Jeep or a minivan.

Preparing for 2013

So after last year's torture  68km workout, I decided that I'd really take a wait-and-see stance on the 2013 CSM. The snow melted really quickly after the marathon, so I don't recall getting out for any serious skiing...I think my daughter and I did a bit on the golf course, but that was it.

We took a vacation as a family to Florida, and when I got back I began to run. I wanted to be in good shape for the spring Adventure Race put on by Raid Pulse.

www.raidpulse.com

My ski buddy Gord pointed me to the Hudson Runners and Athletes club.
I began running Thursday nights with a really great group of athletes. Thursday workouts are held at the track, and are interval workouts. Twice a week I'd meet with some cool folks at 6am, and we'd do 6-8 kms. That was great too.

My fitness really improved from the intervals and regular push I got from my 6am runs.

Last May's adventure race went really well. I finally finished a 50km Bike, Bushwhack and kayak race in 7 hours. It was an emotional experience, as I'd been working towards this goal for three years.

I learned how to eat all the time....I brought apples, chocolate and sausage. I even had a Red Bull in my second transition box (in a cooler) that I drank for the kayak leg. I don't normally drink that stuff and it really pumped me up.

After that success we went to Spain, and I ran 14 out of 19 days. That was magical, running in ancient Spanish cities as the sun rose on old castles.

Upon our return I bought new shoes, and promptly injured myself at track.

Turns out it's that nasty little piriformis muscle stressing my sciatic nerve.
After passing the month of August in physio, I began Crossfit at L'Usine Crossfit  in September.

In August the email came from the Canadian Ski Marathon and I promptly signed up, just in case I really wanted to do it again!

Another really important decision I made was to begin eating along the guidelines of the Paleo diet. After I read this article on Low-carb Ultramarathoners, I realized I needed to make some changes.

I bought Robb Wolf's book, and cut the grains, rice and soy, about 90 days ago.

I have lost ten pounds and feel amazing. Lots of great physical changes that I won't go into here.

After two and a half months of Crossfit, I feel like I'm in better shape than ever. My core is stronger than ever, hams, glutes and back. I'm very eager to get going with Cross Country skiing.

This past weekend I dropped my skis off at Wayne Johannsen's in Chelsea. He is the Master here in the East of stonegrinding. http://www.gatineaunordiquesport.com/home.en  He will make my ski bases flat again, hotbox them and put a nice layer of base wax down.


All I need is snow!

The day after the day after

Let's see. Stiff right hand. Tender right arch. Right knee, well, the muscle right above the knee. Walking a little funny. Tight shoulders still, and triceps sore right above the elbow.

More training will take care of these issues.

Other things to take care of. Get a water bottle parka at MEC, made by ORS. Experiment with different hats. Find food that is yummy when cold (anyway) like beef jerky or something my doctor would kill me for.

Sorry, frozen bananas don't count.

And thank you a thousand times to Robert Saunders, permanent bib#113, for inspiring me to do this. Thanks to my bud Gord who emailed with me from the start and gave me tons of tips and encouragement. His bid for Gold this year ended with equipment failure.

And finally my new bud Ted (@TedKalMtl9) who breezed through Saturday and parts of Sunday. His constant advice and encouragement got me to the start line, which some say is the toughest job!

CSM - Take 1. No Bronze Coureur de Bois for me this year

So I awoke at 3am Saturday morning, the 10th. Breakfast at 3:30 with my buddy Ted, and onto the bus by 4:30. The bus took us to Buckinhgham Golf course, about 40 minutes away.

Doesn't everybody want to be in a schoolbus at 4:45 am on a saturday?

We stood around and waited while the Gold CdB and Silvers went off. At 5:55 we lined up and then waited the longest 5 minutes of my life! Finally, a stream of skiers with headlamps, silently sliding along. It was great to be moving and I felt fine....well, I felt horrible but I knew it would be fine once I had an hour or two behind me.

The Gold CdB pack leaving at 5:40 am.

The kilometre markers fell like dominos as I huffed and puffed my way along. Every 13 or so kilometres I would hit a checkpoint, and following the advice I had been given, wasted no time in refreshing my water bottles and moving on. When I crossed km 40, I was very happy, half way there! It was 11:30. So that meant 5 1/2 hours to go 40 kms. That meant 7 1/4 kms per hour, short of the 8 I needed to finish. But I figured as long as I made the cutoff by 3:15, 65kms, I'd be okay.

Somewhere around km 44...note the dilated pupils, a sign of major distress!

There was  hot soup and bluegrass musicians at checkopint 7. I think that was km 46. I left  at 12:15, after about a ten minute stop. I quite enjoyed the first 46 kms, the short 13-16km lengths were manageable. I figured I had three hours to make the 21 kms to the cutoff Check Point, right? Well after the "5km until the next CP" sign, it just kept going ON and ON and ON. There was a really rough downhill where people were taking their skis off very close to the cutoff, well I took mine off there too. But there was one about 8kms out, I went down that one...the trail was a disaster by the time I got there. I went down, took a fall (my only one) in the powder snow, got up and went on.

Live music and hot soup...why continue!??

Anyway I FINALLY got to CP 5 at 3:35....much slower than I anticipated, but conditions were bad, and I was, well...slow!

Somewhere around km54

So I got in the "Bus of Shame", felt like a Bachelor getting sent home, and went back to my room....dinner and a massage and 1 bath and three hot showers later I started feeling human again. And instead of washing all my clothes and re-waxing etc I watched the hockey and tweeted my brains out. Perfect! I tweeted so much Lixar gave me a technical tee and a technical bike/ski jacket....SWAG! Thank you Lixar/Canadian Ski Marathon!

A cool Technical Tee offered by my twitter friends From the Marathon

My feet were so darn sore and my right knee felt weird, so this morning instead of heading back out to "cherry pick" bits of trail, I got in the car and went home. -19 and wind....well if I climbed one more hill today it would have been too many! So my wife was able to go riding and I just hung out with my daughters. Well, they watched TV and I don't remember what I did.

Wife said I have big colorful bags under my eyes, which I never have! Feet are stiffening up too!

So in sum, yesterday was just another excellent training day. The sensory overload of going field to field, forest to forest, and negotiating the shitty roadside track is exhausting but gratifying. The CSM's accomplishment of stitching together so many pieces to make a point-to-point trail that long is sheer genius. Skiing in the dark is beautiful and exhilarating! (Rookie error, my batteries were running out...doh!).

The clothes all worked perfectly, the skis were fine. I hotboxed blue swix into my base and then added six layers more of blue in the hotel room. I added blue/violet later and then violet when I was ready to kill someone from all the slippage. I still haven't figured out how to keep drinking water from freezing, and I really DON'T enjoy eating freezing cold trail mix out of a little cup at the checkpoints (imagine eating small rocks). I DO like warmed up watered down honey water and Gatorade. I did take some photos with my iPhone that I'm glad I took. The Army are amazing and I'm glad I peed where and when I did.

I need better technique, this is clear. I need a lot more skating practice in my classic setup, there were so many places I could have added speed by skating. And frankly, watching people go by me with 20 year old skis and boots and fluorescent fanny packs....well, yeah, I need more technique! But when I signed up for the Marathon December 21st was the time that marked my return to classic skiing. I've been passing the time on my touring skis, but with no particular goal. Having completed 67 kms is short of what I wanted, but certainly a decent accomplishment given the time I had on the right gear.

So next year???? Yes for me!

Finally skiing in GROOMED TRACKS!!!

Saturday the 14 and Sunday the 15th I drove over to Base de Plein Air des Cedres.

http://www.basedepleinairdescedres.com/

It's an outdoor centre, with some terrific forest land that has trails for everyone....skate skiers, classic skiers, snowshoers, walkers, ATVS and they even have a tubing hill and a skating rink!

It's $9 for the day to get in. They rent ski equipment and are clearly a very important and popular place.
I have never skied there before, so when I pushed off and found myself in a winter wonderland in new perfectly groomed tracks, mostly alone, in a forest of big tall old pine trees, I was awed!

There are a few ravines, and a road to cross, so in a 9km loop there is a bit of everything for the Canadian Ski Marathon newbie. I met a chap there with a big pack on his back....obviously training for the CdB Gold...we chatted for a bit and then he passed me, simply and easily. Lord I need to wax better and get those new skis back!

After my first 9km loop I felt good, so I did another one. Along the way, I ate my trail mix, drank my hot chicken broth, and drank my water. My waxing was terrible, I had no glide.


Today, the 15th, was better.

I cleaned my grip area last night and reduced its size. I waxed only white (it's -20C) and spread some glide goop that I had for my waxless skis.

Today's ski saw much better glide, but I think I was a bit tired. I did 12kms in about 1hour and 30 minutes. Slow, I know, but it's training nonetheless. I'm enjoying that fact that the -20 isn't daunting me.

I got a nice Salomon ski jacket for Christmas that is working out really well.  Today for headwear I wore a little Icebreaker Merino Wool beanie that worked just fine in the -20. I vaselined my face and that seemed to protect it when the wind hot me in open spaces.

By the way, I found a terrific blog, written in French, by a chap who appears to have skied EVERYWHERE in Quebec! He writes simply and descriptively, includes a photo or two, and has simply covered every place imaginable! A real asset to us Cross Country Skiers!!

http://skiglisse.blogspot.com/

Well well, catch up time.
Last Sunday, the 8th, I skied at the Morgan Arboretum. Fairly flat, but nonetheless a nice place to train. Conditions were dicey, slippery and sparse would best describe the coverage. Several times I flew over exposed roots and went flying....landing in a heap! Took a few kms to get the wax right, but that's coming. I'm using older, shorter skis that I got at the Doug Anakin store back in 2007 or 2006. A real downgrade from my longer and better Elites.

I managed about 11kms in 1hr 20 minutes, not bad, I guess.

I returned my broken ski to the ski shop and they returned it to Salomon in Belleville, I'll know this coming week what the deal is. It can't some soon enough!

Training this week consisted of riding my waxless BC skis with Grip Tape around the golf course, 35-40 minutes at a time., at night. The most important thing at this point is to get out and get my body accustomed to SKIING in SNOW.

Thursday we had the best and biggest storm of the year....took me three hours to get home, but no matter. I went out and the going was SO tough in the new snow with the wind and the snow blowing everywhere I turned tail and came back in after 2 kms.

Busted ski!

So Thursday (the 5th) night I felt a weird snap, but I thought it was some crunchy snow underneath me giving way. But it turns out that my ski actually broken! There is no camber in the ski and I only found out the Saturday morning the 7th after waxing up and getting ready to go. So I took my backcountry skis and everything was fine, but I hope the store will warranty the ski! I've never had a ski break on me like this, never!

35 days to go

So the last week or so has produced enough snow to get out. I have been using my Salomon Elite 7 Classical skis. They're 206s, nice and long, and light. Really nice in fact! I'm getting used to waxing, although I need to learn a lot more about cleaning the bases after skiing and before reapplying. I also need to learn about Glide wax, and base layers. It's really important. The other day I kind of had it right and the skis were sticking during the grip phase and gliding like mad during the glide phase.

I have been skiing lately at night on the golf course. My tracks are coarse and windblown. There aren't enough skiers to make a decent track, so this slows me down. It's also dark, and I have just a simple headlamp on. So the training isn't just for my aerobic threshold but also to learn waxing and break in the new gear. With only 35 days to go I think I'll make it to the start line, but more importantly, I think I'll make it to the finish!

As Yoda said," Do, or do not. There is no Try."

My HTC EVO 3D Review on the Rogers Website

"Some things are good some are cheap!

I have used the EVO 3D intensively since September 2011.

First off, the contacts don't pair with my BMW. The Bluetooth will pair, but to initiate a call I must use the device, not the car's address book. My iPhone 3GS paired contacts perfectly.

Second, the camera sensor is dreadful. It doesn't perceive light well at all and photos come out looking artificial and very two dimensional. Forget about the 3D feature, it's a gimmick that I tired of in several days. There is an App on the Market that improves the camera vastly, so that improved I'm now okay with with that.

Third, the microphone and speaker are horrible. When I want to record my daughter playing her flute or my jazz quartet the mic balance is bad and the playback is shrill and unbalanced. My 3GS did that better. Much better.

Fourth: Android OS. If you're new to Android better be ready, the Android Market is the wild, wild west. It seems the whole OS is still in Beta format. I kind of expected that, but not to the degree that it it really is. Many of the apps that I was comfortable with in iOS are poorly recreated in Android. Also, syncing photos and music is very comparable to moving files around on a PC. If you're used to or still use iTunes, it isn't as straightforward. Also, Angry Birds is only available in Free version, and the ads litter the screen and make some levels impossible to achieve.

Fifth: no 'instagram' (but they're working on an Android app) and no Runmeter. Although there are other GPS exercise apps, the GPS was very inaccurate, sometimes showing my track as going through backyards and leaping over rooftops. I gave up on the EVO as an exercise helper and bought a GPS watch instead. Oh, my 3GS was always perfectly accurate when out training, that using Runmeter.

I won't complain about battery life because these smartphones drain batteries, fact of life.
The positives?

First: Android OS. It's very customizable. The live wallpapers are really cool, and if you like you can set up the file management exactly the way you like. Widgets give you immediate access to toggles like brightness, wi-fi, and other minor but oft-changed items. Notifications are very good, one swipe downwards and you see everything.

Second, the screen size is nice. Also, when you're reading an Internet page all you have to do is pinch and the letters get bigger in an article and the margins change. Apple's iOS5 has the "Reader" but Android's way of dealing is better.

Third: The processor is super fast. That and 4G. I use my EVO 3D as a wi-fi hotspot for my wife's iPad and it really works well.

Well, looks like the bad outweigh the good, eh? Why don't I change it? I like the pinch reading feature on internet pages. I like the bigger screen. And I guess I don't change it because I've got it.

But the combination of the cheap camera, recording/speaker and lousy GPS tracking make it a phone that is not worth its cost."

So after I wrote this I review I went out and switched back to the iPhone 4S. I'm happy again, I guess the big ol' Android phone and OS just weren't for me!