Why you should bag your oranges?

Tonight, I ran to the swimming pool for a workout and stopped by the grocery stores to buy some food for dinner. I grabbed some pita, meat, and dried cherries and headed over to the self-checkout area and waited for my turn. There was an older couple just ahead of me having some trouble. The norm is for folks to put all their oranges in a bag when selecting them from the boxes. This couple didn't know this so they were trying to place all their oranges on the scale but they kept on rolling off and landing on the floor. The eventually decided on the divide and conquer approach which is place as many oranges as can fit on the scale and then to weigh them before weighing the next batch. The machine didn't like this as they forgot a little detail which is that you have to tell the scale in advance what it is weighing before it will weigh it. They eventually got it sorted out but it was comical as they would have a handful of oranges on the scale and then one would fall off and the machine would start beeping and saying that they should see the attendant. The moral of the story is to put all your oranges in one bag and to place them on the scale together.

2009 Baltimore race weekend

Very soon I'll start my second Baltimore adventure and thought I would take a moment to write about my most recent one. For much of the summer and fall the people I train with on Wednesday night at the Running Room had been gearing up for the Ottawa Army half-marathon race near the end of September. Coach Phil had designed a training program so we would peak for around that time. I was able to continue the program for another week. As I was heading down to Baltimore I knew that I probably should have done two more 12-13 mile long runs but if I had done so I would not be racing on fresh legs. I spent the final week detraining and allowing my legs to recover. This is a phase of training that I don't enjoy as you cut back on your training volume and one feels grouchy.
On Thursday, before the race I picked up race packet and like the new system where you pick up your race number outside and then head into Raven Stadium to pick up your gear bag and t-shirt. Friday was spent giving my legs some more time to recover for the pending race. On Saturday morning, I got early and started the fueling routine of eating part of a book of Vector cereal. Jason drove me quite close to starting line area which was great. Thanks, Jason. If I'm lucky may be I can convince him to run the 5km race next year. I spent about an hour chilling at the Raven Stadium before eating my pre-race Clif bar. The idea was to stay relaxed while waiting for the race. About 40 minutes before the start, I headed over to the Inner Harbor to do my warm-up run followed by stretching. With about 15 minutes go I headed over to corral #1 to find a good starting point. After the national anthem was played we started on our 13.1 mile journey by heading north-west over to Patterson Park. The weather started to deteriorate in light rain which reduced one's traction. On the uphills you would slip backwards and on the downhill you would slide forward. One of the race highlights was running in Clifton Park. A second highlight was running a loop of Lake Montebello before heading over to John Hopkins University before heading south to finish at Camden Yards. I was pleased with the way I finished as I had medical complications along the course. When I started off the racing I was sweating which is not a good thing. I had a migraine and severe stomach pain for much of the race. I was tempted to stop in at the medical tent at the end of the race but decided to pass. In the end, I was pleased with my time and place as I improved on my performance over last year and am looking forward to doing the race in 2010.

While in Baltimore I was able to do some geocaching in Falls Road area. I found a couple of geocaches in Falls Road Park before heading over to Robert E. Lee Park which has an awesome running trail network as well as mountain bike trails.

Three more workout to go...

As I type this blog I realize that time is running out. This a good thing. I only have three more workouts before I do my half-marathon in Baltimore next Saturday. I'll do my usual 40 minute run along the Rideau Canal tomorrow night. The Friday night swing dancing and Saturday night contra-dancing don't count as workout. On Sunday morning, I'll do a 10 mile easy long run. On Tuesday or Wednesday I'll do my final workout which will most likely be quite peppy. I'm looking forward to next weekend for a whole host of reasons. It caps off my fall training season which has been more intense than usual. I will be able to see my good friend Jason and his fiance.

Hints of fall...

As I bicycle commute in the mornings I find it is becoming harder and harder to wear a quick dry t-shirt as it is getting colder and colder. I'm at the point where I start the day in a long sleeve shirt and roll up the sleeves for the nightly commute. My legs are much more durable so I'll probably cycle bare-legged for a little while longer. Along the bike path there are more hints of fall each day, trees starting to develop shades of red, orange and yellow and the trees are starting to thin out as they start their annual shedding cycle. There is now a new hazard starting to appear on the horizon and that is, wet leaves on the bike path. Folks at the office say that they can almost double your stopping distance in an emergency situation could make a bad situation worse. Cycling with studded tires might be an option but I would prefer to take it easy when cycling under these conditions.

Geocaching and bouldering

Yesterday I went geocaching and was able to use my bouldering skills. It had a difficulty rating of four and a half stars. The highest rating is five stars. The cache was midway up a pine tree. The problem was that the lowest branch was six feet up. What to do? I had a McGyver moment and saw two possibilities brute force, or make use of my environment. About 300 feet away from the cache were two things that might help a shopping cart and a oil drum trash can. I opted to take the plastic bag out of the drum and roll it over to the tree. Once the drum was upended I could reach onto a branch and pull myself up the tree. From there I was able to climb up to the tree until I reached the cache. I signed cache log and slowly worked my way down the tree and finally landed back on the drum. I rolled the drum back to its home and was on my way.

Baltimore Race Weekend Approaches...

In a couple of weeks, I’ll be heading down to Baltimore to run in my fifth Baltimore half-marathon. It is a race that I look forward to each year as it comes at the end of my summer and fall training season and it’s how I like to conclude my racing year. There are a variety of things that I like about the race course, running around Patterson Park near the start of the race, the Lake Clifton pump house at the midpoint of the course, doing a loop around Lake Montebello and finally the finale, of running through the gates of Camden Yards towards the finish line. My workouts are getting longer, tougher and more intense as I prepare for the race. I’ve heard it rumoured that Baltimore races are for the strong runner and not necessarily the speed. I’m at the point where I still have a couple of more long runs but very soon I’ll reach a point where I can start checking them off the list and it will be time to give my legs a chance to recover for the big day.

The Beach

Today, I noticed that the beach along my daily bike commute looked different. It looked unkempt. The groundsman hadn't leveled or smoothed the sand. The buoys were absent from the Ottawa River and the life guard towers were no longer within inches of the Ottawa River. After a closer look the flag pole no longer flew a red or green flag. The nearby restaurant on the beach had shuttered for another season. The swimming season was coming to an end. All that was left, as I took a last glance was an old geezer wanding the beach with his metal detector in search for some sunken treasure. Futher along the path, the trees were starting to show the first hints of fall as there were specks of red in the leaves.

Happy Birthday Wordabble

Today, I achieved two goals one of which was expected and the other a surprise. 365 days ago I played my first game of Wordabble which is a word game that Jason Lancaster and Adam Douglass released a year ago for Apple's iPhone and iPod touch. I've played every day and enjoyed the 300 word games almost as much as the games when there are fewer than 100 words to find in the 5x5 grid. There is one mystery I discovered today that I have been waiting for quite some time and that is, what happens when you find all the words. Today was my chance when there were only 19 words to find. I can say with a smile that it was worth waiting 365 days to see what was behind the magic curtain. Over the past year, I have earned281,268 points with an average score of 771 points per game and in theory played for 56 hours which I think underestimates the actual time. I close by thanking Jason and Adam for a year of challenging fun.

Geocaching extravaganza

Last week one of my colleagues, who is also a geocacher, suggested that I should revisit a park that I had cached in a couple of years ago. Back then there was only a handful of caches over there which I was able to easily find in an afternoon. When I pulled up the map in geocaching.com, I found that there were now 30 new geocaches. This morning I got up early and cycled along the Ottawa River parkway before crossing the Ottawa River into Quebec. Before I reached the park I had some adversity. As I was cycling all the north side of the Ottawa River I got my first flat tire. I replaced the inner tube and celebrated by having my second breakfast at McDonalds. I was within a stone's throw of Lac Beauchamp park when the second flat tire occurred. Since it was early in the day I decided to persevere and find as many caches as I could. I started by caching the east side of the Lac Beauchamp before heading over to cache the west side. Some of the caches were more unfriendly than others as two of them involved wading through knee high mud. The recent rains had made some of the trails impassible. I headed back to the chalet to try out an innovation, the geocaching iPhone application. I had used the app yesterday to locate a couple of caches and to log my finds aka "field notes" but decided to put it to the test of logging 15 finds. The app worked great. I was able to retrieve the description and logs of some the caches that were hard to find. I'll post a review of the geocaching app in the future. After munching on a Clif Bar I headed north to locate a final geocache and was glad that I did. Sweet! 16 finds!

I retrieved the bike from its hiding place and started my slow trek home. Along the way, I stopped in at McDonalds for a late lunch/early supper. After an hour and half of walking I was back in Ontario. Rather than walking with the bike home I decided to leave it locked up at the office and to replace the tire and inner tube tomorrow at the lunch hour.

Lindy500 -- Baltimore

In a week's time I'll be heading to Baltimore. Charm City Swing has organized a weekend which showcases some of the premiere Lindy Hop swing dance instructors in the US. Lindy500 will have three nights of live bands and two days of intensive swing dance lessons focusing on the Lindy Hop and Charleston swing dance moves. I'm excited to be able to head to Baltimore as I will be able to learn more Lindy Hop, spend some time with Jason and Emily, hike Old Rag, possibly help Jason on a home renovation project and hopefully much more.

Another experiment

In a couple of days, I'll do another physiology experiment at the University of Ottawa. This one involves one of my passion running. There will be three parts to the experiment. The first part involves being wired up with sensors on my chest which will monitor my heart activity 24 hours before the experiment. The next morning, I will jump on a treadmill and do a VO2 test which involves incrementally run faster and faster until you just about fall or fly off the treadmill. The final stage is to monitor my heart activity for 24 hours after the VO2 test. I think the idea behind the test is to see how my body responds to the stress of running as fast and hard as it can in a controlled environment. This will be the third time that I have done a VO2 test and they are always fun but at the same time quite challenging. I blog after the experiment with my the findings.

Geocaching milestone #1,000

Over the weekend, I achieved a geocaching milestone that has been looming for a while, finding my 1000th geocache. The find was special as it was located in a deer yard with many deer milling around in the background. I discovered geocaching by mistake a couple of years ago when doing some research about GPS satellites. I had bought a watch with GPS capabilities to help me train better for my road races. I discovered that there was a geocache close to where I lived and looked into buying a GPS handset. At this time, I thought they were very expensive and not within my reach and most likely very complex. I went to my local Mountain Equipment Co-op and found that I could get a starter GPS for a couple of hundred dollars. My first geocache was located underneath the rail bed of an abandoned railway bridge. The cache had been disguised to look like a piece of steel with the rivets sticking out. To a novice it would look like a steel plate attached to the underside of the bridge but hidden behind it was the geocache. After finding my first geocache I logged into geocaching.com and found that there were more caches near my place and I started to explore more the city with my GPS handset. One of my most memorable cache is still "Crusty the Clown." You have to climb to the top of a pine tree where you find a bird house. When you opened the door "Crusty the Clown" shoot out at you which scares the crap out of you. After signing the log book I climbed down the tree and cycled to another nearby cache. As I start my second 1000, one of my goals is to try and geocache in more Canadian provinces as well as US states.

Long run and El

Tonight, I did my weekly long run which was challenging for two reasons, the heat and the wind. For most of the 16km/10miles I was facing a strong headwind that sapped most of my energy. When I had the wind behind me my legs felt like dead batteries. The wind on the way back was so strong that the sand and road grit started to sandpaper my ankles. When I was back at the university it was good to check off along long run.

Last Wednesday, I did a 12km/7m fartlek run with the folks I train with at the Running Room and it ended with a bit of a jolt. The final mile of the looped course is uphill and I could hear footstep approaching and then backing off. Out of the corner of my eye appears "El" whose mantra is "El loves hills." At this moment, I said a strong expletive and with a surge of adrenaline pulled away. The dose of adrenaline was stronger than needed as I was able to hold her off for half a mile. At the finish line, we had a good chuckle as she thought I was an easy target and I had overestimated the strength of her long legs. In four weeks time, we will do the fartlek workout again but we'll have three weeks of intense kilometer intervals before then.

The Old Duffer and running

For the past little while I have been treating my legs with care as it has taken a little longer for my right soleus to heel than I would have liked. Last Sunday, I did my first 10 mile long run along the canal. I was on my way back and within 3 miles of the university when the hairs on the back of my neck went up. A speedster was closing and would pass me any minute. He thought I would be an easy target. He was in for a bit of a surprise and so was I. Very quickly he went by and opened up a lead on me. This irked me a bit. I caught up and increased the pace as it has been a while since I really stressed my legs. For the next two miles we both ran side-by-side with an ever increasing pace. Who would drop whom first? After two miles he disengaged. I eased up a bit as I could feel the lactic acid building in my legs. The university was quickly appearing on the horizon. I was feeling good as my legs were handling the pressure/stress. The old duffler did another surge and caught up with me. I responded with another surge and finished the workout with a smile of relief on my face.

On Wednesday, I did a 8 mile run and a 7 mile run on Friday. My strategy is to rebuild my base- training before add speed to the mix. On Wednesday, I will do my first set of 1,000 meters intervals. I'm a little behind my training peers but I accept that it may take a couple of speed workouts before my zest returns. Over the next little while I hope to do a 10km road race and may be a 13 mile half-marathon next month.

Dancing in the dark...

I am typing this blog in the dark. It is Friday night and my first swing dance in a little while. A construction crew cut the power to studio earlier today by mistake. There is a CAT diesel generator humming outside which is still warming up so it is not producing any power yet. The dance hall is full of people talking with hushed tones in the dark. There are pockets of people huddling near folks that have cell phones. The phones are acting as portable flashlights and beacons. It is a weird situation. Power is expected soon but they keep on announcing delays. Harmonic Dave has pulled his harmonic and we are have a jam sessions waiting for the lights to come. Updates to follow...

Another 30 seconds faster....

Short version

Ran the PF Chang RnR half-marathon in Phoenix, Arizona
Finish time:1:35.26, 30 seconds faster than 2008 time
Place: 443/21,000
Distance: 13.1 miles/21.1km
Visited the Grand Canyon and Four Corners, Arizona
(Location where four states meet at a 90 degree angle)

Long version

In mid-January, I ran my third PF Chang RnR half-marathon in Phoenix Arizona. On race day, I got up at 0500 and ate half a box of Vector cereal before taking the hotel-provided shuttle to the start line in Phoenix. The race starts in Phoenix and runs south-west finishing in Tempe. When I arrived at the start area it was pitch dark. There was an air of anticipation as both the marathon and half-marathon start side by side about an hour apart. It was fun watching the sunrise and to take in some people watch. Some people wore minimal clothing and shivering while others were bundled up and would sweat a bucket during the race. I was happy to chill on a hillside and watch the race traffic mosey by. About an hour before the start I munched on my Clifbar and did an easy warmup. As the race approached I dropped my gear at the UPS trucks and had a couple of biobreaks.

I would start the race in the first of 26 corrals. They volunteers at the corral entrance were checking your bib number to make sure you entered the right corral. One of the race innovations I really like are the new disposable timing chips. It is a loop of plastic that contains an RDIF chip which you fasten to your shoe laces. At the end of the race you throw it away. After the playing of the national anthem the governor started the race. The conditions were a sunny 5C/41F. But it wouldn't stay cool for long as the blistering Arizona sun started to rise. I started off at a brisk pace and then geared back a bit at mile three. The course is flat and fast and quite familiar. When I arrived at the eight mile marker I thought I would need to take in a gel as usual but still felt energetic. My friend JB met me at mile 10 and we ran together for the final three miles. It was good to run with him as it was at this point that I started to feel the heat. Up to this point, I had been taking in water and pouring water on myself every second water stop. With two miles to go I decided to speed up as it couldn't be any worse than a Pretoria Bridge to Bank Street bridge fartlek surge. As we crossed the finish line I was a little concerned as I thought I ran slower than last year. It was only back in the hotel that I realized that I had run 30 seconds faster.

After the race we headed north to the Grand Canyon and were able to hike around part of the south rim. It sort of felt like home as there was snow and ice everywhere. We drove the Grand Canyon parkway as far east as we could before heading north to Monument Valley the backdrop of many western movies. Our final stop would be Four Corners, USA, a location where Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado meet at a 90 degree angle. By perching yourself you can have your hand and legs in four states at the same time.

Half-marathon and some traveling

This coming weekend I will head to Arizona to run my first half-marathon of the year. I am looking forward to the race as it will give me some relief from the arctic cold weather that the Ottawa area has been getting recently. There is also another thing I curious about and that is my physical fitness. Over the Christmas holiday, I ran a 10 mile race in Hamilton in a time that suggested that I am in better shape than last year. This could be because I am eating better this year but I really think it is the extra exercise that I am getting each day. I run to and from the office twice a week and walk the other days. One of the bummer is that all this exercise leaves me more tired than usual in the evenings. The upshot is that I am loosing more and more weight which is a good thing and might mean that I will run faster on the weekend as I will be lighter.

Once the race is over I'll spend a couple of extra days in the Phoenix area and head up to explore the Grand Canyon area as well as head up to the north-eastern corner of the state to a place called "Four Corners." The states of Utah, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico all meet at a 90 degree angle. It is the only place in America where this happens. I am excited to take a picture of myself with each arm and legs in a separate state. I'll post a blog and pictures next week talking about all my adventures.

Wordabble at six month

Today is a special day for folks that play Wordabble. Wordabble is an iPhone/iPod Touch game from the folks at Fusion Bay and today it celebrates its first six month of offering challenging daily word puzzles. When you look at the rankings page, five of the top 20 regular players have over 200,000 points. Congratulation and thanks to Jason and Adam for six month of fun and daily challenges.

2008 Goals in Review

Last year around this time I uploaded my goals for 2008. The wisdom was if you publicly state some of your goals you are more likely to take the steps to achieve them. I found this a good exercise last year and something I will do this year. Before I list my 2009 goals I thought I would take a minute to see how I did in achieving my 2008 goals.



* Run a 1:30 half-marathon time
Getting closer with each race. Will have to try harder in 2009


* Go on more OHOC outdoor adventures
Achieved


* Do more hiking trips
Achieved (OHOC trips, Catochins, Pretty Boy dam, etc.)


* Climb more of the 46ers (46 highest peaks in the Adirondacks , NY)
Achieved. Climbed a couple of more peaks


* Loose 10 lbs by May 30 (race date –National Capital half-marathon)
Achieved.


* Hike the West Coast Trail/Shenandoah National Park/Old Smoky National Park
No. Shifted to 2009.


* Run a faster Baltimore half-marathon (< 1:34 ) in October 2008
Achieved. Each year I run the race around a minute faster


* Visit Brent ( Algonquin Park ) by canoeing and portaging and bring along a digital camera
No. But parents had two roofs and one patio deck rebuilt.


* Reach 500,000 Babble point (now 350,000) www.playbabble.com
Achieved. When I combine my babble scores and wordabble scores I achieved this goal.


* Do more cycling (road and mountain biking)
No. Ouch


* Geocaching goal 900-1000 finds by Dec 31 2008
Achieved in the spring and finished off the year with 949 finds.


* Become more mobile
No


* Complete an Olympic Distance triathlon (1500m swum/40km cycle/10km run)
No


* Swing dancing – Learn the Lindy Hop
Achieved but more work to do.


* Take the train to Baltimore
Goal for 2009 (Montreal to New York to Baltimore Penn Station)

2008 was a good year for me. I did more than I expected an achieved other goals that I that I didn't push up to my blog.

Date Squares and Caesar Salad

This is a culinary blog entry. I recently have taken a strong liking to date squares. It is similar to my enjoyment of a caesar salad. A couple of years ago while volunteer I spent a summer preparing caesar salads on Saturday mornings. It got to the point where I could tell how long ago it was that the greens/lettuce had be washed and spun in the salad spinner. The crisper the salad the sooner it had been prepared.

When my folks were visiting Ottawa recently we visited a bakery that they had been eager to visit for a long time. We made two trips to the Rideau Bakery. When I headed down to my folks place for the winter break I brought down a shopping list of breads that my mother wanted. One of the bakery's specialties is date squares. They are yummy and so sweet. While doing some Christmas errands we stopped in at my mother's local bakery and I asked for date squares. They were not as good as the ones in Ottawa. Today, my folks and I made our second time to the Oakville Whole Foods store. I bought a variety of there scones and you guessed it, date squares. Compared to other date squares the ones from Whole Foods were better as they were not as sweet and the top material did not disintegrate and they looked and tasted healthier.