Saturday, March 31, 2007

Geocaching

Today I found a couple of geocaches and enjoyed the chance to experience some Spring weather. The second geocache I found had a really neat twist that I enjoyed solving. It was a two stage geocache with the coordinates for the second stage located at the first set of coordinates. The coordinates were hidden in a test tube that was located behind a grey plastic electrical conduit in a tunnel that runs underneath a road. The conduit was located eight feet off the ground. The tunnel is used by pedestrian to avoid having to cross six lanes of traffic. The task of locating the coordinates was made more challenging as the tunnel is 300 yards long and GPS signals can't penetrate below the ground so you have to think like the person who hide it to locate the coordinates.

I'm really hoping to get out on my mountain bike over the next couple of weeks as it should help in locating some geocaches that were placed in the woods over the winter. On another note, fiscal is final over. Hooray! Yahoo!

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

A short break from km repeats...

Each day it gets a little warmer and I'm ever so eager to finally be able to run in bare legs. My workout with the folks at the Running Room will take the form of 9 repeats of ( 1 minute fast, 1 minute slow, 2 minutes fast and 1 minute slow). The workout is designed get the body use to running hard while shifting between the various running gears. My next race will be a 10 mile run on Good Friday and will be a good benchmark for my current fitness level.

I love my snowshoes....

I spent the past weekend hiking, mountain climbing, snowshoeing and winter camping in the Adirondacks of New York. The adventure started a couple of weeks ago when I started to get out my camping gear and assessed what things I needed to buy or replace. It took a couple of trips to MEC ( http://www.mec.ca/ ) before I had got all the gear I would need. The main things I bought were warm socks, a thermarest air mattress, celebration mix and some straps for my snowshoes. I had hoped to buy a new sleeping bag but that sort of got put on the backburner. By Wednesday night, I had all the gear and clothing set out in a pile ready for the final packing chore. After my Thursday night lecture, I headed back and started to load the big 90 liter backpack with all my gear. I had intentionally taken more warm clothing than I needed as the weather conditions were variable. On Friday morning, I had a light breakfast and threw the final items into the bag and headed into the university. While taking the bus through the city a fellow passenger remarked that I must be desperate for a final fling of winter and I said that I was heading south to Lake Placid. Once at the university we loaded up the van with our individual gear as well as the group gear and were quickly on our way south to the border. The customs processing was a pleasant experience and the customs official were eager and friendly and wished a good trip. We stopped in Malone, NY for lunch just in time for the Friday fish and chips special. I headed over to Price Chopper to buy some Old Bay, fig newtons and oranges and bananas.

We were in Lake Placid/Adirondack Loj for mid-afternoon. By about 3:00 pm we had finished adding the group gear to our individual packs and were eager for the adventure to start. Before heading out on the trail, I filled up a one liter Nalgene bottle and a Dromedary bag. It was the first time that I have used a Dromedary bag and I'm thankful that JL introduced me to them as we used them while hiking in the Shenandoah National Park last year. Steph, our guide, gave us a couple of pointers on how to use our snowshoes and then gave everybody a pair. I had brought my own pair of Tubbs and so I was familiar with there capabilities. After taking a couple of pictures we filled out the park log book and then started our 2.3 mile hike into Marcy Dam. We were able to cover the trek in 45 minutes and then set out seeing which lean-tos were available. There is a large lean-to on the east side of Marcy Dam which we were able to grab just as the sun was starting to set. I changed into some warmer clothing and put on my booties as the remainder of the day would be sedentary. For supper we started with soup and the main course was a rice and vegetable stir fry which left everybody with a full stomach. We bedded down early as tomorrow was going to be a long day.

I slept in my booties and gators and they allowed me to have a warm and pleasant sleep with exception of the sound of somebody sawing logs nearby. Most folks slept well and we greeted by the sound of two stoves heating water for the porridge and grits. As we were heading out we talked to the ranger and he passed along a weather update. We spent the next hour snowshoeing in a southerly direction towards Avalanche Lake which gets its name from a landslide that occur a couple of years back. Before snowshoeing across the lake we stopped for a snack and a water break. As we were trekking across the lake we noticed where there had been a recent landslide which I caused a couple of trees to be broken off at there roots and pushed out into the middle of the lake. We stopped for lunch at the southern shore of Avalanche Lake. It was at this point that we left our well groomed snowshoeing trail and had to break fresh tracks for the remainder of the day. I took the lead and broke tracks along the eastern shore of Lake Colden. The large footprint of my snowshoes meant that I did sink to deep when breaking tracks. The groups caught up at the junction point where the trail starts up the side of Mt. Colden. This would be my second ascent of Mt. Colden. It is a steep climb as the approach to the summit is quite short compared with other nearby mountains. I stopped a couple of times along the way up as I could tell my heart rate was nearing anaerobic levels. I suspect that my heart rate was in the 175-182 beats per minute range. As I climbed, I added more and more layers of clothing and it was getting colder and colder as I climbed. As the ascent got steeper, I spent more and more time kick-stepping. Kick-stepping is when you kick the toe of your boot deep into the snow and make a step to hold your foot while you make a step with the other foot. The crampons on the bottom of the snowshoe help secure your foot in the step. Kicking stepping is tiring as you are spending most of the time on your fore foot. I stopped a little before the summit to put on more clothing as the wind started to whip up and it started to snow. I waited a while for the rest of the group to catch up and munched on celebration mix passing the time. At this point, Steph, took over the lead as you have to rely on yellow marker painted on the rock face to guide up across the top of the mountain. The Mt. Colden topographical map is in the gallery with the trip pictures. The wind continued to whip up so we trekked across the top of the mountain and down the other side as quickly as we could. At this point we were above the tree line and so were very exposed to the elements. We headed down as quickly as we could and took a quick break as we entered the tree line which offered us some protection.

Our descent was much faster than our ascent as we wanted to get out of the foul weather as quickly as possible. By hiking across the top of the mountain permitted us to make a circular loop which would eventually take us back to Marcy Dam by way of Lake Arnold. We reached our lean-to late in the afternoon a little knackered. While the stoves were heating up water for hot chocolate we stripped out of our wet clothing and into warm and dry clothing as the temperature started to fall. For supper we had spaghetti, sauteed vegetables and marinara sauce. As we lounged around the lean-to it started to snow which deposited about three inches of snow overnight.

On Sunday morning we had an easy start to the day as our goal was to visit Indian Falls which would involve a hike of about four hours. After re-stuffing our sleeping bags into their sacks and tidying up the lean-to we headed out for the day. We headed in a southerly direction we retraced our steps as if we were going to Avalanche Lake but headed east at a trail juncture. The next couple of hours were spent climbing up a meandering pass which got the heart rate going but not as laboring as the Mt. Colden climb. We stopped for lunch at Indian Falls which was a snow covered ice sheet but glad to have visited a notable landmark. The journey back to lean-to was a brisk one as it was downhill all the way. One funny thing happened while at Indian Falls, I was talking to a guy who was trying to call a group that was skiing ahead of him. Somehow he misdialed numbers on his cell and started talking to another friend in NJ. It was weird that he could talk to folks in NJ but the cell signal could pick up his friends further along the trail. By late afternoon, we were back at the lean-to and loading our bags for the final time and bid adieu to the lean-to. Our bags were lighter as the food we had carried in had been consumed. As dusk was setting in we reached Adirondack Loj and headed into Saranac Lake for a filling supper at Pizza Hut. We finished off three large pizzas and were given three more for the road.

It was a good trip as my snowshoes were happy for their first trip stateside, the flatware plate, utensils and Dromedary bag all worked out really great. My hiking boots and hiking gators helped to keep my feet warm and dry for most of the trip. There was one casualty on the trip. While hiking down Mt. Colden I used my hiking pole to stabilize myself when going through a rough section. At one point one of my snowshoes got caught on a root and sunk quite deep in the snow and I grabbed the pole to help myself up. The pole didn't like the force I exerted on it so it bent. I’ll have to MEC on the weekend to get a replacement. There were other elements that made for a challenging weekend but they will have to wait for a future post. I hope that I can convince JL that we should go hiking in the Adirondacks this year.

http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/Adirondacks_March_2007

Monday, March 26, 2007

Adirondacks

I'm back from a long weekend of snowshoeing, winter camping and mountain climbing. It was a so-so weekend as some things worked out really great and some things sucked. In a couple of days, I'll post a entry describing how it went.

Some hints: I can say that I love my snowshoes and there large surface area and big crampons helped a lot on during the trek up the side of the mountain. The flatware plate and utensils made food consumption an easy and fun experience. I had packed sufficient clothing so I was warm at all times and had dry feet for much of the trip. My down sleeping bag kept me toasty at night while the other folks were cold and had wet feet for much of the trip. I experienced one casualty on the trip which I'll have to replace. I'll let the suspence build...

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Adirs almost there...

My Adirondack adventure will start in under 24 hours and I'm starting to get excited. I still have to sit through a lecture of calculus before I can head over to get some foreign currency. After a quick supper I'll head into the office to checking a couple of things that currently going through test cycles and then it is packing time. I have been putting out my gear for the past couple of days so all I have to do is oil my boots and squeeze as much gear as I can into my large backpack. I'll be working off a list so that I don't forget anything, otherwise, I can stop in at EMS in Lake Placid at the last minute. I blog next week talking about all the adventures and misadventures that I've had on the weekend.

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Skunks and running..

Tonight we finished our first interval pyramid by running six-1km intervals on 90 seconds rest. In two weeks we will start at the bottom of the pyramid again and run four on 60 seconds rest and eventually work up again to doing six. (3.52/3.52/3.48/3.55/3.54/4.06) On the last one, I was suffering a bit and had to drag myself to finish but really happy with way the workout went.

While geocaching in Quebec on Sunday I was signing the cache log when a skunk decided to walk by. He trundled by oblivious to the fact that I was standing nearby. I chuckle when I realize that I saw a red fox and a skunk of the weekend and sort of wonder what I'll see this week.

My Adirondack winter camping/hiking adventure is only a couple of days away and I have most of my gear laid out and will start putting things stuff/compression sacks and do the formal packing tomorrow night. The weather is currently unsettled but I'm hoping for cold and snow rather than ice and rain.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Science Fair 2

In one of my earlier entries I talked about how one of my science fair projects dealt with volcanoes. In this entry I'll talk about my science fair project dealing with lasers. When I was growing up my father did a lot of work using lasers. My science fair projects explained how a laser work and about the speed of light. The speed of light came in as there is a mirror on the moon that you can shine your laser on and it will bounce back to earth. We calculated the distance from my parent's house to the moon and how many seconds it would take for a laser beam to be reflected off the mirror. When it came time to demonstrate my science fair, I explained how a laser works and the speed of light and my father I was able to get a low powered laser that I could use provide an live example. I remember getting a good mark on the project and being happy with what I had done. In a upcoming blog I'll talk about one of my childhood heroes.

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Geocaching and foxes...

Today I did something that I haven't done for a while which is to go geocaching. The winter weather has meant that not many geocaches have been put out as it has been too cold. In the cold weather the batteries in the GPS freeze which shortens the battery life. As well, if you take off your gloves to sign the log book you can get frost nip easily. Today was a warmer day and I was able to locate two geocaches in the boomies of Ottawa. I had a really interesting experience as I was leaving my first find. The cache was in a valley along the edge of a river. Just as I was nearing the top of the hill I spotted a red fox ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Fox ) darting away from me. I was expecting to see deer but the fox was kind of neat as I haven't seen one in a couple of years.

Friday, March 16, 2007

One week to go...

In a week’s time, I’ll be hiking in the Adirondack Mountains and on my way to a lean-to (http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/AdirondacksFall2004/photo#5024869358967522642) at Marcy Dam, where we will spend our first night in the elements. Today, I made my second trip to my local outfitters (www.mec.ca) to pick up some more gear. I bought a stuff sack for my new thermarest and some straps to fasten my snowshoes to my large hiking pack (90 liters) as well as my day hiking pack. In anticipation of a hike octane adventure, I bought some powerbars, clif bars and 2 lbs of trail mix. I spent a little while playing with the straps as they are meant for another purpose but could be adapted for snowshoes, that I forgot the most important things on the list, which is a couple of pairs of socks. So, I have to take another trip next week to get socks and any other things that I have forgotten from the gear list. Also on the list is that I have to waterproof my hiking boots.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

On death and dying..

A little over a month ago, a friend who I have known for a long time lost his mother after a long battle with cancer. I had drafted a blog entry which had gone through many revisions and was hard to write so I never posted it and parked it away. He and his wife are having a rough time dealing with the loss of his mother and mother-in-law. Many years ago, I heard a radio interview with Elizabeth Kubleur-Ross on death and dying. My mother has often talked about a book that Ms. Kubleur-Ross wrote on death and dying and the various stages that the terminally ill patient with experience before expiring. I got the book out of the library the other day so that I can help S deal with the loss of his mother. The book is written from the patient’s as well as the family’s perspective. In the future, I’ll look back at this entry and hopefully post and my thoughts on the book.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Liberation...

Tonight we added one more interval to the tally and I did five-1,000 meter intervals on a rest of 90 seconds. (3.42/4.02/3.50/4.00/3.49) There is a little bit of variability between the numbers as when we run north we have to run up a grade which we run down on the return trip. This explains why the second and fourth intervals always appear slower than the others. Whenever I see the dentist or doctor they always ask me about my discomfort level which is another word for pain. I was really pleased with the times even though I was under moderate discomfort running and will feel the full brunt of the workout on Friday.

Now the topic of the day, liberation. It is said that technology is a liberator and this something that I agree with. I have been working on my brother website for a little while and it continue to evolve as we built out the content. I consider it as a work in progress as I learn more web technology and he has a better feel for what he wants to do with the site. So, what does this have to do with liberation? I got my brother to use AIM so that we could real-time chat about the content and what it should look like etc. A bonus along the way is that I feel that I know my brother a little better. It sure beats trying to explain stuff over the phone.

Youtube and guitar 2

In some of my earlier entries I have talked about how I played the classical guitar when I was younger. While surfing youtube, I discovered a orcheastra that is composed of mainly guitar players. The church where the recording was made adds a certain warmth to the music that you don't hear when you download the master off the orcheastra's web site. I've downloaded a couple of there MP3s and put them onto my Ipod. The initial recording that caught my attention was:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-p6HHq5g3Y

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Adir

Last night we had our pre-Adirondack trip meeting and only a handful of folks showed up for the meeting. I resolved one question that had been nagging me for some time and that is, what should I wear on my feet while hiking. The choices were hiking boots or snowlions. After talking to the Steph, the coordinator, I decided to use my hiking boots and to use my booties in the evening when it cools down. I have to visit the outdoor store to buys some socks, clif bars, powerbars and gorp. While I'm stateside I have to buy about six packages of fig newtons and restock up on Old Bay. I have a little over a week to get stuff together so I don't feel much urgency. I'm currently in the process of doing touchup studying for my second calculus midterm later today and will be glad when it is behind me. Back to calculus...grown...

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Running

Today I did a 10mile partly on the frozen Rideau Canal and the bike path that runs parallel to it. We had our first day when the temperature rose about 32F and the snow is finally starting to melt. The run was going well and I had to the GPS going so I knew that I was maintaining my target pace. As I was about 6km from the university a fellow runner started to run aggressiverly behind me. He was eager to pass me. He would surge and try to pass at which point I would surge and open up a lead. I found the whole exercise sort of fun as we were both pushing each other to run faster. This surge and relax continued for about three kilometers before he backed off. I was sort of pleased that he did as my legs were starting to get sore.

Science fair 1...

When we moved out to the country as I was growing up, the first school I attended was a one room schoolhouse that had an extension on one side. In a previous entry, I talked about how I took the family tractor to school. In this entry I'll tell you about one of my science fair projects. It was a team science fair projects. The three of us were really interested in volcanoes and so we built a volcano out of paper mache. It looked very authentic. No science fair project is complete without a demonstration. My father had a chemist he knew make up a mixture that would simulate what occurs during an eruption. The day of the volcano demonstration came and we took our model outside and prepared for the eruption. The teacher had all our classmates line up and look out the window as if anything went wrong three students were more expendable than the whole class. We put on our safety glasses and I poured in the first chemical mixture while my friend poured in the second. The chemical reaction was time delayed so that we were a little distance away before it started to eruption. We waited and waited and then it erupted and we all sighed a relief. In a future entry, I'll tell you about my other science fair project that involved lasers and the moon.

Friday, March 9, 2007

Swing...

I have been swing dancing for a little while and still amazed by the new moves and variations that we learn each week. The one we learned tonight I still find confusing but will eventually get it. It is a 6-step variation on a Charleston. The move is a rock-step/kick-step/scoop and then a step. The kick step is the neatest part as you kick with your left leg and then it ends up crossed.
In two weeks, I'll be sitting in a lean-to most likely at Marcy Dam in the Adirondacks of New York. It is a adventure that I have been waiting for a while. I still can't decide whether to wear my hiking boots with thick socks or my snowlion boots. We have a group meeting on Monday night so many of the details will be worked out then. Tonight, I bought a new thermarest air matress as I'm adding to the hiking/camping gear that my father and I share. My snowshoes are waiting there first trip stateside.

Wednesday, March 7, 2007

Fast, sore and excited...

Tonight I did my first week of 1,000 meter intervals along the Rideau Canal. We did four of them with a rest of 1:30 between each one. I ran them fast despite the fact that I was wearing three layers of clothing on top. My km times were 4.02/4.09/3.59/3.59. As I sit here and type my legs are warm, fuzzy and a little sore. It felt good to run the intervals fast and I'm really pleased with the way the workout went. In under two weeks, I'll be heading to the Adirondacks in NY for a long weekend of hiking, snowshoeing, winter camping and ascend at least one of the local mountains. I have been waiting for the trip since the beginning of the year and as the weeks tick by I'm getting more excited. I also got some good new earlier this week which also makes me happy and excited as well. Also some of workout pressure finally abated which is a big relief.

Friday, March 2, 2007

Swing dancing

Tonight I did something that I have done for a while and that is go swing dancing. We had a bad snowstorm earlier in the day which cut back on the number of folks attending. With fewer dancers we were able to go over the lesson a couple of additional. It felt good to dance again and know that I haven't lost my touch of RS-SH-SH-RS. We did inside turns, outside turns, the close position and the kick from a closed position. There is another dance at the place that I swim at tomorrow night so I might head over and see how it goes.

Thursday, March 1, 2007

A new month...

Today, I had to roll my calendar over to a new month. I'm looking forward to March as it will soon start to warm up and I can finally peel down to my base layer for training. I always look forward to doing 1km intervals along the canal and I should be able to get in a couple of speed and fartlek workouts over the month. At the midpoint of the month, I have a long weekend winter camping/hiking trip in the Adirondacks with the outdoor adventure club at the Univ. of Ottawa. My snowshoes will finally have a chance to ascend a mountain. Hopefully by that time I will have had a chance to get a new thermarest and all-season sleeping bag. I hope that my work-work slows down a bit as my overtime is affecting my running schedule. I am also getting headaches from staring into my flat screen monitor too much but the product have to come to market as quickly as possible. I have had to put a couple of things on hold in February which I'm looking forward to doing in March. It will be the final four weeks of classes but I growned last night when I saw that my exam was scheduled for the last day of exams.