Samurai Noir

Gazpacho

2009-03-14T00:38:00.001-04:00

Every September I buy up every bottle of Gazpacho I can find.

I put them in plastic containers and freeze them.

I just ran out of Gazpacho a couple of weeks ago.

Spring can't come soon enough.

WOAD TO WACING or 2009 INLINE EVENT SCHEDULE

2009-02-14T11:08:00.003-05:00

Wow! Not much time to get into shape...

these are the events I will be doing "for sure"...

OTTAWA RUN FOR REACH: Sunday April 26th

Marathon Roller de Montréal: Sunday May 17th

MONTREAL 24 HOURS INLINE RACE: Sat/Sun June 7/8th

CAMBRIDGE CANADA DAY MARATHON: Wednesday July 1st

CHICAGOLAND INLINE MARATHON: Sat/Sun July 25/26th

OTTAWA INLINE FESTIVAL: Sun Sept 6th

Défi de L'Île de Montréal: Saturday, Oct 17, 2009

Events I am considering...

10k Mount Forrest: if it's still on this year?

Detroit Wolverine Inline Marathon: if it's still on this year?

Ride for Heart: Unfortunately it falls on June 7th this year... conflicts with Montreal 24 Hour.

Philly Free Skate: June 20th weekend?

Big Apple Roll: Aug 16

New York 100km: Sept ?

Other Goals this year...

Toronto to Hamilton. I would like to get an "official" time on race skates.
Toronto to Niagara.
Niagara Circle II (to invite some other ultra friends to come do this fun skate with Joel, Jay and I)

I would also like to do the "double century" @ P'tit Train du Nord with the Ottawa Inline guys.

NIGARA CIRCLE SK8 2008: PHOTOS

2008-11-03T09:20:00.004-05:00

MONTREAL 24 HOUR RELAY: VIDEO!

2008-09-15T15:19:00.001-04:00

Video put together by Mike G and others from Ottawa Inline.

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHP6s-ZzBlg[/url]

Old Lady Yoga

2008-08-21T17:35:00.001-04:00

Lots of inverted poses today in Yoga. Pretty relaxed though.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Strawberries
Pineapple
veggie hot dogs on flax bread
pickles
gazpatcho
Orange Juice

Week at a Glance

2008-08-19T14:37:00.001-04:00

Overall, I feel like I'm turning things around and I feel good about sticking with my fitness this week, although I didn't get out on skates as much as I wanted to. Probably very crucial given the Ottawa Inline Festival is less than two weeks away.

I could do better with what I've been eating lately, especially when I've been eating out. I've been doing better though, so improvement is good.

TODAY
Taught my kickboxing class this morning. Smaller class, more lowkey. Felt I got a good workout. Couldn't figure out if people were going to the Criterium course tonight to skate, so I took the night off. I'll spin in the morning and going to practice tomorrow will have to be a priority.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Nature's Path Cereal with Soy Milk
Smoothie with banana, pineapple, frozen fruit, soy milk, orange juice and vitamins
Tinned Wild Pacific Salmon on Flax Bread drowned in Mayonaise and pickles
pickle

YESTERDAY
Went into the gym first thing in the morning and went easy on the recumbent bike for half an hour. It felt good to work out the lactic acid and also gave me a chance to relax and read. Yoga class at noon did me a world of good.

MONDAY
Went spinning at Tanya's morning class at Mount Pleasant. Got me out of bed and of course I can't help working harder than anticipated when it comes to any of Tanya's classes. I got the new UnderArmor type Body Combat top from her and it's pretty awesome.

SUNDAY
Skated. Did about two laps fairly moderate pace with Carolyn out on the Hamilton Trail.

SATURDAY
Did 5 on 5 off with Carolyn on the MGT in the morning.

FRIDAY
Taught my kickboxing class and did Yoga

THURSDAY
Went Spinning early in the morning and got some laps in before it started raining.

WEDNESDAY
Taught my kickboxing class.

I AM NOW A CAN-FIT-PRO CERTIFIED FITNESS INSTRUCTOR SPECIALIST!!!

2008-08-13T00:48:00.001-04:00

HOLY MOLY!

I actually passed. I thought for sure that I would have to take the exam again. What a relief!

"Hi Ed,
Congratulations you have passed your theory exam. Your overall grade was 87%
If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.
I will be sending your exam off to head office one week from today. At
that point you should receive an FIS certificate in the mail within
4-6 assuming CPR, membership and Les Mills certs are all received and
valid.

Take Care and it was a pleasure working with you!"

Not quite there yet... I have let my CPR lapse, so I'll have to take the refresher course at some point this month. But that's no big deal at this point.

Glow in the Dark Mini Putt

2008-08-12T11:16:00.003-04:00

Excercise. Anxiety. It's well known that one can have a positive effect in relieving the other. I think part of what my body is reacting to is the fact that over the years it's become accustom to having regular exercise just about every day, and now it's not receiving that outlet regularly. So I need to view this as motivation to get to the gym everyday.

I've noticed that owning a car has really had a detrimental effect on my active lifestyle. I spend a HUGE amount of time in front of the computer on a daily basis, but at least I would use my rollerblades as transportation in the summer. Even having a metro pass meant that I would get SOME walking in everyday (even if it's in the hundreds of meters to the store or subway station).

Managed to get in half a Yoga class at lunch hour and that helped immensely. What I did wrong again today was not eating when I first woke up. It doesn't do my body good to start off with that empty feeling.

Sore muscles and I feel physically and emotionally drained. Didn't get enough sleeps. Part of it must have been the spinning class yesterday. Even if it didn't feel like I was working as hard as I should have (particularly after two consecutive "rest days"), it's pretty obvious that I haven't been spinning in a while. I can really feel it in my back, shoulders and legs today.

I need to set some realistic goals. My weight is a huge issue. I recently read a part of a book called The Hungry Years: Confessions of a Food Addict by William Leith, which kind of struck a chord with me and what I've been going through. The ideal goal is to drop 15 pounds down to 155 lbs, and then work on an additional 5-10 beyond that. A more graspable goal is to probably just get to the point where my belly isn't slapping against my thighs when I'm in tuck position on the spinning bike.

I don't even know where I stand on my goals for the upcoming inline races starting the beginning of fall. I haven't skated at all this week.

I think I'm doing okay on the eatin front the past few days, although there is always temptation when going out for a friend's birthday like I am tonight.

Last night I woke up to a very vivid nightmare about finding out that my custom inline skates stolen. I guess what is particularly terrifying about that is not only the expense but the tragedy around the fact that the only person that can effectively use a person's customs is that person himself. It was so greatly disturbing to me as a bad dream, I can't even imagine how I would react if it ever happened in real life as my friend Morgan experienced in Montreal about three years ago.

Ate too much of the bad stuff tonight at my friend's birthday... ah well. Tomorrow's another day.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
orange juice
stir fry with bamboo shoots, rice noodles, greens, beans, baby corn, tofu, hoisin sauce, mushrooms, onion, honey garlic
salman sashimi

Two Coreys

2008-08-11T13:22:00.002-04:00

Wanted to go skating today, but only managed to force myself to go spinning instead tonight. It was pretty hard to get motivated, but I'm glad I did get the exercise. Probably could have worked harder, pushed myself more.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Muffin exploding with fruit.
orange juice x 2
gazpatcho soup hot sauce
pickles
stir fry with bamboo shoots, rice noodles, greens, beans, baby corn, tofu, hoisin sauce, mushrooms, onion, honey garlic

We be Crammin'

2008-08-10T10:20:00.002-04:00

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Mixed frozen fruit, banana, vitamins, vega powder, green/ginseng tea, orange juice, soy milk smoothie.
rice noodles, "veggie" ribs in citris, mushrooms, onion, greens
chicken
Fish
buk choy
pork ribs
soup
rice

Here Comes the Rain Again

2008-08-09T12:33:00.004-04:00

Subbed for Nadia's kickboxing class this morning at Mt Pleasant. Really great energy in the room. I felt really "on" despite being really tired. Nice to have the extra class this week, particularly with all the rain. Not likely to get in a skate this weekend.

Cramming for my Fitness Instructor Cert tomorrow.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Mango Banana Matcha Green Tea Smoothie
Turkey, jalapino havarti, curried apple, portabello mushroom and caramalized onion on potato foccacia
Roasted Red Pepper Soup with corn and caramalized onion.
Banana Strawberry Vega Powder vitamins
Cherry Soda
orange juice
vitamin e and fish oil
veggie "ribs", rice noodles, mushrooms, greens oyster sauce
green and ginger tea

Panic

2008-08-08T21:41:00.000-04:00

Panic Mode today. Was late for my kickboxing class and it's just stressed me out even more.

Class went okay though.

My Fitness Instructor Cert Exam is on Sunday and I am so ill prepared. I haven't done biology since grade school.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Nature's path zen cereal.
pickle
gazpatcho soup with hot sauce
veggie dogs on flax
banana strawberry smoothie raspberry yogurt vitamins and Vega powder
Custard bun.

Avenue Q

2008-08-06T14:57:00.004-04:00

Taught my kickboxing class this morning.

I could barely get through the workout myself. It was a tough one. Monday must have taken more out of me than I thought, even with a day's rest. Either that or I'm in worse shape than I thought... I would tend to believe the latter given the lack of workout I've had for the past few months other than skating a couple of times of week and teaching my class.

As usual it's difficult to make the smart choices when eating out with friends. Tonight at Salad King prior to the show was no exception.

Went shopping this afternoon however and bought only healthy stuff. Hopefully I'm back on a trend now that there is not going to be "bad" food coming into the house that is beyond my control. Skipped lunch today because of running errands and was sorely tempted by the Hot Dog vendor in front of Canadian Tire. Went home and had veggie dogs instead.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Nature's Path Power Cereal and some free cereal from Chicago in Soy Milk
Mango Lemonade
Veggie Hot dog on flax bread
pickle
Gazpatcho with hot sauce
Veggie Thai Spicy Noodles
Tom Yum Goong Hot and Sour Soup
Golden Curry and Veggies with Rice
Mango Juice
Sour Gummies
Hagan Daz Ice Cream Bar

Setting some Goals

2008-08-05T21:45:00.003-04:00

So I've decided I need to set some goals in order to help me motivate myself out of this funk I've been in this past year. I'm starting to see why it's so hard to dig yourself out of a hole once your fitness level and weight gain start to spiral down out of control.

There are three main events that I'm planning on doing, and I hope to add a couple more on top of that. First up is the Ottawa Inline Festival on the Labour Day long weekend once again, following that is the Montreal 24 Hour and I'll finish off the season with the Montreal Defi as usual. Goals will be to cut down on my time on each of those respective courses. Not a tough challenge given the fact that I was still skating on my Lighting 100 rec boots last year.

I don't anticipate beating last year's Ottawa time will be too big of a challenge for me, and I really should shoot for something closer to a sub-1:20 time if I can get into any kind of shape (and skate smarter than I have been skating in races like Chicago). Hoping also to cut down on my lap times in the 24 hour Montreal event and be more of an asset to my team. Short of torrential rain and another mishap like last year, I also anticipate sticking with friends Jay and Joel in the Defi and hoping that I can be a strong component in working together for the full race.

Right now, I'm also turning over the New York 100 in my mind if I can do it on a budget and kick my butt into shape for that hill. Duluth feels like kind of a long-shot right now.

It rained tonight so I had a valid excuse not to go to practice for once.

I also won't need to water the plants up top on the rooftop.

Probably good to have a recovery day after doing Joel's annual August long weekend road skate yesterday with Mr Stitt and Mr Brown. We logged in 55 km, and it served to remind me about the kind of skating that I like to do. As usual it included plenty of hillwork and showed me that I need to do plenty more of that kind of skating to get back into shape. I noticed I was much more comfortable on the downhill descents through the suburban streets and even the tight corners that were added on weren't that bad (with a bit of a T-stop). The other great thing about the routes Joel chooses is that it encompasses a variety of terrain so that you are given the challenge of maintaining speed through rougher pavement and modify your technique accordingly. The moderate pace also allowed me to work on getting low and pushing long. Focussed quite a bit on trying to figure out where my knee was and trying to optimize my recovery. I found it an interesting challenge jumping back and forth between Joel and Jay given the difference in their respective skating styles.

I had a really good time (despite the early morning) just zipping around the streets of Burlington with a couple of friends. Overall, it's definitely one of the quiet highlights of the season for me every year.

I felt remarkably good afterwards compared to how I felt after Chicago last weekend. Although going back to Yoga today after many many weeks off showed me just how much I was "off". Couldn't hold much of a balance pose at all, and everything was pretty stiff and even some of the simpler poses weren't that elegant today. Not much range of motion either. I really need to start back doing regular Yoga at least twice a week.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Rice Crepes with Hoisin and Soy Sauces.
Strawberry Banana, orange juice soy milk smoothie with Vega Powder and vitamins.
BBQ Rib Potato Chips.
Whole Wheat cracker.
banana.
Gazpatcho with Hot Sauce and pickles.
Stir Fry with tofu, veggie "chicken", onion and chinese broccoli.

MONTREAL INLINE MARATHON 2008: PHOTOS

2008-05-13T16:34:00.002-04:00

MONTREAL INLINE MARATHON 2008: RESULTS

2008-05-12T23:23:00.003-04:00

Finally cracked 1:20. More later.

Pos No. Name Laps Total Tm Diff Best Tm In Lap Best Spd (Mph)

17 91 Ed Leung 10 1:19:54.767 6:18.667 7:18.232 1 35.488

Lazy Rainy Day

2008-05-03T16:36:00.004-04:00

It turned out to be a late night last night. Luckily the community Garage Sale in my townhome complex was cancelled due to the rain, otherwise I'd be a bit of a zombie right now going on little sleep.

Decided to Do Nothing today in anticipation of my 10k run which I have not trained for tomorrow. Luckily it's down Yonge Street which will be almost all gradual downhill.

There isn't really much food in the house and I don't really feel like going to forage in the wet right now.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
bowl of nature's path zen cereal in soy milk with choco krispies.
frozen fruit/banana smoothie with vega powder, vitamins, orange juice and soy milk
whole wheat pretzels
gazpatcho soup with olives
bagels
cheese spread
mini pitas
crackers
deep and delicious cake
lick's gobbler with all the fixin's
fruit salad... pineapple strawberries grapes and banana

Monteforte is The Pursuit of Happiness!

2008-05-02T19:48:00.000-04:00

Noon hour yoga at Mount Pleasant. It's always good to switch things up a bit every now and then, and I think it was good for me to try out another yoga class. This one was a bit more challenging for me, but really showed how much flexibility and core-strength I've lost in the past year. I was sweating doing what I used to find the simplest poses.

Went out to the Horseshoe tonight and danced to the retro tunes of the eighties. I'm going to count this as a workout given how tired I felt afterwards.

Otherwise, it was supposed to be a full rest day.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Bowl of nature's path zen cereal with soy milk
Frozen Fruit and banana smoothie with vega powder, vitamins, orange juice and soy milk.
deep fried veggie spring roll
cold fresh veggie spring roll
mixed asian greens
curry pad thai
strawberry guava frozen drink
beef and rice noodle
general tao's chicken
chinese tea
nestea
hot and sour soup
tequila

I skipped Yoga Today

2008-05-01T12:22:00.005-04:00

The weather looked a bit iffy, but we headed out to Mississauga anyways to try and get in a skate before it rained. It did start to rain a bit as soon as we got there, it soon ended and dried up and Peter resumed practice, although we had more rain coming down intermittently.

I'm glad for the $1 bearings that I use for training on occasions like this. Given the number of rain skates last year that pretty much destroyed numerous sets of bearings, I will need to stock up on them this year.

We started off with echelons from the back, which was a bit more of a challenge given the wind and cold.

The bulk of the practice was three sets of 3k at about 80% with some intervals thrown in, although we didn't end up doing too much. I was with Morgan, Sarah, Leo and Jacky. Peter's suggestion that I not take pulls in order to be able to stay in for the entire drill worked out well for me given the wind and slippery conditions. I managed to stay in for all three sets.

After the second lap, Morgan pointed out just how much energy I was wasting by bobbing up and down. I tried to be conscious of that during the third lap, although Sarah pointed out I was taking too many strides in the straights.

I'm not sure that I actually ever did warm up during the practice. Altogether though, weather aside, I was glad that I got my workout in and felt pretty good about it.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Chocolate
gazpatcho soup with olives
Frozen Fruit and banana smoothie with vega powder vitamins soy milk and orange juice
carrots
Sweat and Sour instant Pot Noodle.
Bag of Chips
Chicken Souvlaki Mr Sub on whole wheat with all the fixin's
Chicken Barley Soup
Nestea

THE BUSY WORLD OF RICHARD SCARRY

2008-04-30T23:58:00.002-04:00

Taught my kickboxing class. Again it was pretty tiring.

Jen and I are running a 10k run down Yonge Street on Sunday, so we did a half an hour on the treadmill. I haven't run in so long, so I found it pretty tough, so I decided not to skate with Jay on the MGT today.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Bowl of Nature's Path Zen Cereal in Mango Peach Soy Smoothie
Lick's gobbler with all the fixin's
Lick's Nature chili and bun
waffle with strawberries and ice cream
gazpatcho soup with olives
chocolate
deep fried spicy chicken
cherry coke with whipped cream
green and ginger tea

Late for Yoga

2008-04-29T15:10:00.002-04:00

Yoga was more challenging today. Body is in rough shape.

Allergies are still driving me nuts.

I was really tired today, so I was glad to hear that we weren't going to go all out and focus more on technical skating today at practice. The "tween" pack as we have come to be known did not seem to hold together too well today for various reasons.

It was Jacky's birthday, and Candy brought cake and strawberries with cream. I ate five bowls of tasty pastries and fruit that were left over.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Lentil soup
Mango Juice
Chocolate
Beef Kifta Pita with lettace, tomato, beet pickle, onion.
Spicy potatoes
pita
tabouli
5 bowls of strawberries, cake and cream.
miso soup
spicy fried chicken
nestea
edamame

MEXICO: MY UXMAL PHOTOS

2008-04-29T04:21:00.002-04:00

MEXICO: UXMAL SKATE!

2008-04-29T03:38:00.006-04:00

This was by far my favourite day of skating in Mexico.

After a week of training on the track in the Yucatan, we did a fun road-skate that ended at the fantastic ruins of Uxmal.

Since it was my first road-skate of the season, following a week of hard training, I was just hoping to be able to finish and not skate alone at this point. The heat of the day was certainly challenging.

Things were going fairly okay for me up until we hit the first big hill. We were all in a fairly large pack with the cars driven by parents of the Yucatan skaters providing a degree of protection on either end of the pack from the traffic. Once we hit the hill however, the pack separated out. I watched as the gap opened up.

Once we reached the flat at the top of the hill, I was fortunately enough to catch a draft off of Jorge on his bicycle, and he pulled me up to the pack with Martine, Sarah, and a Yucatan girl. The Yucatan girl was obviously pulling way too much as we eventually lost her on one of the next few hills. We eventually picked up Mike G and Sergio fortunately, and for the most part if was a pretty enjoyable but challenging skate for me to try and keep up with a group of much stronger skaters. Sergio was eventually doing all of the pulling towards the end and encouraging us. As we hit yet one more hill, I was about to give up and let the pack go when Sergio let me know we just had a few more K to go. So I toughed it out and hung onto the pack... which was fortunate because it actually turned out we had less than a K to go and we arrived in Uxmal and enjoyed the comfort of the grass as we joined the faster skaters like JF and Benoit who were already there, and cheered the rest of the Toronto and Yucatan skaters into the entrance area of Uxmal.

The Toronto and Yucatan Skaters together on the last day!

The three Toronto Skaters with Jorge, the Yucatan Coach.

Hanging out at the stunning Mayan Ruins in Uxmal.

Photos Courtesy of Carolyn, Wilby and Cor.

HAROLD AND KUMAR ESCAPE

2008-04-29T01:51:00.003-04:00

Allergies had me feeling really off today.

Felt okay teaching my class today, but it certainly wasn't anything to write home about.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Nature's path power cereal with mango peach soy smoothie.
apple
Gazpatcho with olives and hot sauce
Korean spicy instant noodles with soup
Lick's Homeburger on whole wheat with all the fixin's
Cherry Coke with Whipped Cream
Fries and Onion Rings
Strawberries
Popsicle.
pickles

Ottawa Getaway

2008-04-27T17:46:00.003-04:00

Saturday was a two ice-cream day. Not to mention the slice of pie and chocolate cake.

What a fantastic weekend! We decided to go see our friend Lisa's perform in two plays this weekend which allowed us to skate with our friends at the Ottawa Inline club as well on Saturday and Sunday.

We departed bright and early on Saturday Morning at around 7:30, very thankful we were not going to be around for the inevitable traffic jams that would result from the TTC having gone on strike at midnight. We had brunch in Brighton in a nice tearoom with my old university roommate Lynn, along with her husband Colin and it was a pleasure to finally meet their little girl Anna. Given the amount of times we drive past them over the past couple of years on the way to Ottawa and Montreal, I certainly should have paid them a visit much sooner. I will resolve to at least pop by to say howdy in the future.

We actually spent a bit more than our allotted time with them, although it was definitely worth checking out their new home and playing with Anna. We rushed off to Ottawa (I even drove the last hour and a half into the city!) and managed to get there in time for the reading of Lisa's work-in-progress which was about the last hour of a woman's life on her attempt to climb Everest. The theatre was on Wellington Street across from a Vegan restaurant, so Jen and I took the opportunity to share a slice of excellent vegan chocolate cake.

From there we went over to Hull where Ottawa Inline holds their indoor practices at a multisport facility housed in a converted foundry. I have to admit that when I saw the place, I was envious of their high ceilings and windows. It must be very nice and sunny when they practice there in the winter! Unfortunately I missed their practice, but we got there just in time for the free skate and to hang out with fellow Mexican Travellers Peter, Corinne, Dominique, Cor, and Wilby, as well as other Ottawa Inline folks like Danny.

I had heard about the surface they skate on being quite "sticky", which is a wooden basketball court. It took some getting used to compared to Scooters' slippery surface, but I have to say it was great to zoom around corners with such fantastic grip. It gives you a certain degree of confidence to get lower and power through on your crossovers without constantly worrying about the squelching noise you get when your wheels start to skid at Scooters. I can see what they mean about getting tired out much quicker. I was quite winded after a few laps. It definitely makes for wonderful resistance training, and I'm sure it's really helped the Ottawa Inline folks get into great shape for their outdoor season. Looking forward to coming back next year and actually participate in one of their practices and plyos sessions. We apparently just missed the visit from the Quebec Premiere!

Sergio and Ursula were gracious enough to take us to a wonderful Veggie Thai restaurant and even offered us a place to crash on the spur of the moment, for which we are full of gratitude.

Lisa's play that evening was The Ventriloquist. We had previously seen the Toronto Factory Theatre production a couple of years back, and it was very interesting to see such a different interpretation. The part of the Doll/Puppet was perfect for Lisa and I loved her choices of movement, in a kind of marionette fashion. She pretty much blew everyone else off the stage with a very brave and complex, layered performance.

I can't think of a better way to wake up than with puppies.

Sunday morning I skated out to the War Museum with Sergio, and that was a fun little technical warmup through the streets and paths. There was a good group of skaters there, including the familiar face of Carolyn in her new TISC suit, who was in Ottawa visiting her parents. It was also nice to have some rec oriented people for Jen to skate with. Unfortunately, yet again, it appeared that I lost a frame bolt and had to stop just as everyone was leaving. Luckily Wilby lent me his skate tool. I had a nervous moment after I switched my middle bolt to the front where I had lost a bolt, when I suddenly realized I had no idea which direction the group went! I guessed they headed west along the river given the fact that Sergio and I had come from the East, and luckily that was the case as I caught up with a couple of the rec skaters.

Despite the narrow path and so many cyclist and walkers on it, I really enjoyed the casual skate along such a scenic route. Even the flooded area wasn't too bad an obstacle given the fact that we had to walk on the grass for a few meters. I couldn't imagine a better way to spend a Sunday morning. The weather was pretty much perfect, even with a bit of wind. I tried to use this as an opportunity for technical skating. Focusing on getting low and playing about with my legs on the recovery.

I pulled for most of the way back, just to get in an extra workout and it was fun going for a couple of sprints with Andrew towards the end. I was happy to see Carolyn staying in there even with some of the surges. I wish we had the time to skate some more.

We managed to drive straight through without stopping! Which is quite an accomplishment for us.

WHAT I ATE ON SATURDAY
bowl of cereal in soy milk
Ham, cheese and apple sandwich
strawberry rhubarb pie with ice cream
banana
Vegan Chocolate Cake
Mandarin Spritzer soda
Green Mango Salad
Tom Yum Soup
Mango Juice
Veggie Duck in Curry
Veggie beef in green curry
Spicy Thai veggie noodles
Veggie thai cold spring rolls
Spicy Thai veggies
Cookie Dough and Passion Fruit Gelato on a waffle cone
Orange Juice

WHAT I ATE ON SUNDAY
2 slices of whole wheat bread with margarine
Subways club on honey oat with all the fixin's
Coke and Orange pop
Fruitopia and Nestea
Pasta with veggie ground and vegetables.
Pickles.
Gazpatcho Soup with hot sauce.

Beyond Mozambique

2008-04-25T23:13:00.001-04:00

I let Jen sleep in this morning and went to do the morning Pump class at St Clair with the intentions of getting back to my long abandoned weight program. Of course fate would have it that it was a Body Flow class in it’s place just for today. It’s been a very long time since I’ve done a Flow class, and realized that it was good for me to get back into that as well. It’s a combination of Pilates, Tai Chi and Yoga, and is a good way to do different kinds of Mind-Body diagnostics. Core Strength is not too good these days, and that has always been a strong part of skating. Balance still is obviously way off as well. Still have to work on increasing flexibility. Resolution: More Stretching!

Returned home and was informed by Jen that she had signed us up for the Sporting Life 10K on May 4th. This should be interesting. I have not done much in the way of running since probably the Flying Pig Marathon last April, almost a year ago. I was originally supposed to do the 8K Spring Run off a few weeks ago with Sarah and Kathy, but I had just returned from Mexico and just wasn’t up for it (despite the nice weather for once). Jen’s come up with a plan for us to build up to it during the next week. We’ll see how I fare with that in addition to inline practice, teaching my two kickboxing classes and whatever other weights or spinning I was planning to do next week.

Did a spinning class at noon hour, returning to St Clair. I’m trying to figure out why I tend to strain my right arch whenever I spin these days. It was good to spin out the lactic acid. I need to get in the habit of going spinning more often to increase my cardio on “rest days”.

Sat in the massage chair twice today at St Clair. I would live in one of those chairs if it was at all possible. I bought one for my office chair at home, but it’s no where as good as the ones they have at the St Clair Goodlife.

Jen took me for the best Vegan Sandwich I have ever tasted. It was at Urban Herbivore in Kensington Market. I am very fond of sandwiches with a bit of substance to them and in general have been less than enthusiastic with vegetables as the only filling between my two slices of bread, but this one was incredible.

We had originally planned on going to the climbing gym before we went to the theatre tonight, but opted instead for a much needed 45 min nap. I wish I had more time to go climbing. It’s one of my passions that has fallen by the wayside. I know we did more pysical activity than most people in the weeks that I was in Mexico, but I do regret not being able to climb as well. Hopefully we can go outside to do some climbing this years… even if it’s just out to Mount Nemo/Rattlesnake.

Wake Up Calls:
-Last night before heading out to the opera I tried to put on the Khaki Pants I bought in Vegas of August last year. I was pretty proud of the fact that I was back down to a size 30 waist at that point. I didn’t fit at all.
-Today during spinning I went into “aero-racing position” and could feel my belly slapping against my thighs.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Nature’s Path Zen Cereal in Mango Peach Soy Smoothie
Frozen Fruit, Vega Powder, Soy Milk, vitamin, orange Juice smoothie
BBQ and Veggie Panini with various spreads on olive bread
Celery Soup
Green Juice (Kale, ginger, lemon, apple)
Chocolate Croissant
Strawberries
Chocolate Banana bread and half a cookie.

Eugene Onegin

2008-04-24T23:01:00.002-04:00

A much needed rest day today. Given how hard I’ve been pushing it lately, I need to take the same advice I give folks at the end of my kickboxing classes… give yourself some recovery time to rebuild the muscles you have just broken down, and don’t forget to drink plenty of water.

Yvonne’s Yoga class was pretty divine. She sang to us during the relaxation at the end which is always a wonderful thing.

At the Opera tonight, I was really disappointed that I didn’t get my usual Hagen Das Ice Cream bar because I didn’t have any cash on me and they didn’t take plastic. Probably for the best that I didn’t have my ice cream.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Corn Chips, Salsa and Guacamole.
Quesadillia with fajita steak, cheese, peppers and tomatoes.
Strawberry Fruitopia and Nestea Ice Tea
Chicken Teriyaki
Miso Soup
Ice berg lettace salad with ginger dressing
Salmon Skin rolls
Nestea
Bowl of Nature’s Path Zen Cereal with Soy Milk
Apple

Double Dragon

2008-04-23T21:23:00.002-04:00

Instead of a two-buffet day, I’m happy to report that today was a two-kickboxing class day.

Alex sent out an email for a last minute sub for his Mount Pleasant noon hour class. It was only 45 minutes and I decided that the extra workout would do me good.

I was already pretty wiped from all the skating I’ve been doing lately, and Monday’s class. I would barely get through my regular class at Victoria Terrace, and could barely speak by the end. Luckily, having a fresh class that was unaccustomed to my usual routine was fairly energizing and I managed to gather some good enthusiasm to get through the second, shorter class. I am going to try and sub more classes for the additional cardio endurance.

One thing that I have noticed though with doing the routine... I seem to be slowing down. I'm purposefully slowing down my reaction time to conform to Body Combat timing, which impacts my fast twitch muscles.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Singapore style noodles
mixed chinese greens drowned in oil
chinese tea
veggie dumplings
whole wheat pasta with veggies
Frozen Fruit Smoothie with vega powder, soy milk, orange juice and vitamins
Whole Wheat Bagel with cream cheese
Nature's Path Zen Cereal in Mango and Peach Soy Smoothie
apple
banana

Spa Day

2008-04-22T16:47:00.003-04:00

Very Relaxing day today.

Frances' Yoga class followed by an afternoon at the spa just across the street from my place (above the Golden Griddle!). Really good half and hour massage.

Jen came to inline practice with me tonight. She wants to be able to use the semi race boots she bought at the Ottawa Inline festival last year. Hopefully this will give me additional motivation to go to practice, particularly on the days when I am out in Oakville.

Practice felt pretty good today. I am glad Morgan pushed me to at least start with group one. It gives me the challenge of trying to hand in there for as long as possible, before taking a break in group two and then jumping back into group 1 so I feel sufficiently challenged.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Apple
Banana
Mango tea
Whole Wheat panini with prosciutto, havarti and roasted chicken
Red Pepper Soup with rice in chicken broth
two pieces of whole grain bread
small salad drowned in oil
fatty lamb kebab
Muslim chinese chicken dish
Strawberry Fruitopia
Nestea

TABATA

2008-04-22T16:37:00.001-04:00

http://skatetrain.ca/tabata.html
TABATA
Barry Publow

High intensity interval training (HIIT), also referred to as Tabata, is becoming an increasingly popular training method that is proving to be highly effective for burning body fat increasing both aerobic and anaerobic performance. Short but very hard and extremely intense is what Tabata is all about.

Where do most skaters get themselves into trouble? It's simple! Accelerations! Increases in pace are part of inline racing, but most skaters do not specifically train to deal with the issues of acceleration, top-end speed, and recovery ability. SkatEtrain's unique Tabata-based training methodology not only addresses these issues, but makes them THE primary focus of the entire season.

Tabata Development

The Tabata Protocol is named after Dr. Izumi Tabata. He is a former researcher at Japan's National Institute of Fitness and Sports. Tabata is an interval training method developed by the head coach of the Japanese speed-skating team. (It is termed a protocol because Tabata and his team took the speed-skating coach's workout and studied it to quantify how effective it really was.) The Tabata workout consists of six to seven 20-second full-speed sprints interspersed with rest periods of 10 seconds.

In Tabata's study, the researchers found that skaters who used the routine five days a week for six weeks improved their maximum aerobic capacity (a measure of your body's ability to consume oxygen) by 14%. Even more impressive is that the training also improved anaerobic capacity (which measures your ability to sprint and/or maintain a high pace for an extended period) by 28%.

So the Tabata Protocol is the rare workout that benefits both endurance athletes and sprinters. By comparison, a study of traditional aerobic training (running at 70% of aerobic capacity for 60 minutes) for the same number of weeks showed an improvement in aerobic capacity of only 9.5% and no effect on anaerobic capacity.

Research Study Abstract at PubMed.gov

Tabata Training Defined

The popularity of training using the Tabata method as your core routine in both strength and endurance training is increasing. It works so well because it maximizes oxygen consumption with short bursts of focused exercise. The basic principle is this:

*

A Tabata interval is 20 seconds of intense work, followed by 10 seconds of rest or very low intensity exercise.
*

Eight intervals must be completed.
*

Duration of the above set is 4 minutes.
*

A more familiar format would be 8 x 20 seconds @ 90-100% effort with 10 sec rest between.

This workouts may sound easy but nothing could be further from the truth. This will be one of the most difficult training sessions you will ever perform. One of the hardest aspects of doing a Tabata workout is staying focused for the whole four minutes. Many coaches recommend using a timer or watch with an interval alarm. When the pain of lactic acid is nearly unbearable the last thing you want to be doing is counting 'one one-thousand'.

Skater's can incorporate Tabata into all forms of sport-specific training: Weight training, dryland drills and plyometrics, slideboard skating, and - of course - onskate training. Before we continue, however, it should be noted that HITT exercise should not be prescribed for individuals at risk for health problems (either cardiac or musculoskeletal).

Burning Calories

We've been told low intensity aerobic exercise is the best method for ridding the body of excess fat. The reason this theory came about is a study which showed that low intensity exercise burns a greater percentage of calories from fat as opposed to carbohydrates. Another reason low intensity training became popular is that the average "where's-my-remote-control" individual has no tolerance for high intensity training. But, of course, if you're an athlete, high intensity has probably become a regular part of your life. You may even thrive off it, as I do!

When HIIT exercise is practiced, research shows that the percentage of fuel from carbs is increased, while the amount of fat utilized is greater than or equal to that burned during low intensity exercise. Dr. Tabata's research found that short-term intense interval training is highly effective in lowering the ratio of lean body mass to fat without compromising muscle size. Additionally, HIIT has been shown to burn fat tissue more effectively than low-intensity exercise: up to 50% more efficiently! In other words, HIIT increases your metabolism and keeps it elevated for some time after your workout ends. The bottom line is HIIT burns a greater number of total calories than low intensity training, and more calories burned equals more fat loss.

Tabata Training versus Traditional Interval Methodology

Traditional interval training guidelines for an intense 20 second work period, such as is used in Tabata, suggest a work-to-rest ratio of one to three (1:3) work-rest ratio. In other words, the rest period would be three times as long as the work period (in this case, 60 seconds). With the Tabata Protocol things are very different. The work-to-rest ratio is two to one (2:1), meaning that the rest period is only half as long as the work bout.

According to another Tabata study, the 2:1 formula isn't just more effective than traditional aerobic training, it's also more effective than typical interval training. In this study, Tabata compared their original protocol (20 sec sprint with 10 sec rest) to an interval configuration using a 30 second sprint followed by two minutes of rest (1:4). Despite the fact that this required subjects to sprint for more time at a higher intensity, the original Tabata Protocol still proved more effective at increasing both aerobic and anaerobic capacity.

The Mental Challenge

The 10 second rest period used in the Tabata protocol is important, both physically and mentally. The short rest allows for only partial recovery and removal of lactic acid, but - perhaps more importantly - provides psychological relief. Steady state workout can be like a pressure cooker: relentless, with nothing to do but think about how many minutes of discomfort remain. By contrast, Tabata intervals provide a mental break after every 20 seconds of effort. The Interval format keeps you busy, taking your mind off what is to come, and allow the athlete to train at a higher level of intensity.

Athletes need to ensure that the Tabata protocol is not so unpleasant that the mere thought of it is repugnant. You want to look forward to the next workout, not dread it. The trick is to make it hard, but not so hard you don’t want to do it again.

HITT and Tabata for Skaters

All skaters need to begin this type of training with a speed/intensity that can be handled comfortably. Experiment and find a level of effort that is acceptable to you. Once introduced, HIIT sessions should progressive in nature, increasing slightly as the weeks pass. While the workout should be strenuous, it is important that you end the session feeling positive and wanting to come back for more. There is some truth to the expression 'No pain, no gain', but in the beginning my recommendation is that you make sure the workouts are fun and playful.

First, lets review the Basic Tabata Protocol:

Number of repeats = 8; Work time = 20 seconds; Rest time = 10 seconds; Work-rest ratio = 2:1;
Total duration of set = 4 minutes

1. 20 Seconds of skating (workbout 1)
2. 10 seconds rest
3. 20 Seconds of skating (workbout 2)
4. 10 seconds rest
5. 20 Seconds of skating (workbout 3)
6. 10 seconds rest
7. 20 Seconds of skating (workbout 4)
8. 10 seconds rest
9. 20 Seconds of skating (workbout 5)
10. 10 seconds rest
11. 20 Seconds of skating (workbout 6)
12. 10 seconds rest
13. 20 Seconds of skating (workbout 7)
14. 10 seconds rest
15. 20 Seconds of skating (workbout 8)

We have to keep in mind that the Tabata protocol was developed for elite, high performance athletes. This being said, the basic protocol can and should be modified (at least to start) for weekend warrior types and/or those not accustomed to high intensity training methods.

For the Weekend Warrior

The reality is that the majority of inline speedskaters (at least in N. America) are middle aged professionals who skate for the love of the sport and have very little time to train. Because Tabata workouts are so short and compact, they can be ideal for those who may only have 30 minutes to exercise. However, some modifications from the basic protocol should be made.

For the Advanced/Elite Athlete

The advanced athlete should aim to follow the original form of the Tabata protocol using a work to rest interval ratio of 2:1. Skaters will find it shockingly difficult to complete the recommended 8 repetitions. Over the course of the season the basic protocol must be continually modified in order to ensure ongoing improvement. Volume, intensity, work to rest ratios, recovery times and other key variables are adjusted based on your seasonal plan, your racing schedule, time of year, and your goals and objectives.

Video from Run4Reach 2008

2008-04-22T02:57:00.003-04:00

This video appears to have captured one of my stupider moves early on in the race.

courtesy of simonmtl222

MEXICO: The Marathon!

2008-04-22T01:20:00.004-04:00

I don't even know what my time was on this one, but despite what I assume is one of my slowest finish times ever, I'd have to say that this felt like the toughest marathons I've ever done.

Two solid weeks of non-stop skating pretty much culminated in this event which took place in a local park with some of the roughest pavement I've ever had to encounter. I managed to find an interesting way of dealing with it by skating on the painted line, which was in slightly better shape than the rest of the pavement, but that meant a more shortened, upright push.

Luckily Sergio and Martine managed to convince the race committee that Canadians should be allowed to carry water given the severe differences in our climate. Can you believe that in Mexico, there is a rule that you are not allowed to drink water for more than half the race? Given the safety and liability concerns, up here in Canada, I don't think any rule of that sort could ever be enforced!

Our Yucatan Coach Jorge was having fun teasing me prior to the race as I strapped on my camelback. But as he mimed out guzzling and gargling of water, I was certainly glad to have it with me given the blistering heat of the afternoon sun.

The start of the race didn't go well at all. I was completed wiped out from a winter of relative inactivity followed by two weeks us sudden intense skating. After getting dropped almost right away, I was convinced that I would get pulled from the race at every single lap. So much so that I even put myself in the service of the Canadian Women, giving them pulls and trying to keep their spirits up in these grueling conditions. With unwavering faith on each lap that the Mexican officials would have the good sense to pull me off the coarse so I could go watch the rest of the race in the shade, eating that cool soothing ice cream cone I was craving.

Not that I had much in the way of goals for this race given what I had heard about the previous year. My "A" Goal was to try and not get eliminated first. My "B" Goal was to beat my arch-nemesis Mullet Guy (somewhere in Mexico, Mullet Guy sleeps very soundly, blissfully unaware that he is Hombre Araña's arch-nemesis), which proved to be a greater challenge than I initially imagined after edging him out in the other events that week. I couldn't even believe that I accomplished my "C" Goal, which was to actually finish the marathon!

Yet time and again I somehow managed to slip past the start/finish area without getting pulled. I began to suspect that they were letting me stay in to keep the kids on the sidelines entertained.

I actually did one extra lap, giving Dominique a pull before the officials finally had enough of my antics and waved me over to the finish chute!

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how I ended up with that ridiculous skinsuit-helmet and sunglasses "raccoon" tan.

Shopping for a new Skinsuit

2008-04-22T00:11:00.004-04:00

With my beloved Red and Blue Spidey skinsuit all busted up and in Mexican Rehab, I'm in the market for new skinsuits.

It's funny how quickly you start to embrace the skinsuit once you do make the switch from floppy shorts and rec skates to custom inline racing skates. I was also shocked by the subtle mental impact of wearing it... it really helps you to feel like a racer if you look the part as well. I mean if you are going into public and skating around the MGT or Hamilton Beach in it, you'd better be skating fast right?

I thought I would only ever need one or two, but given the number of times I will be skating during any given week, as well as needing to have an extra couple that I keep in Oakville when I'm crashing at Jen's place, I find myself needing to buy a couple more.

I had previously purchased my two signature Spiderman skinsuits from All Sport Skinsuits last year, but there website looks to have been taken down.

I'm tempted by the Superhero Skinsuits by JMC Gear that Peter pointed out to me last year.

Although the new Il Peloton Skinsuit certainly has that "Batman Begins" look to it...

I already have a Bad Duffy skinsuit on order.

Peaks and Valleys

2008-04-21T23:50:00.004-04:00

The highs and lows I often feel can probably be easily mapped onto my workout cycle.

The days when you feel highly energized and can just ride that positive mindset, versus the days of physical exhaustion when your body seems to be unable to execute what had been the simplest of moves prior.

I'm having one of those latter days. The weeks workouts have caught up to me. I realize it's been well over a week since I had a Full Rest Day. Saturday should have been an additional recovery day, but I opted to Skate since the weather seemed risky on Sunday. Now it looks like I won't have a rest-day until Thursday. Tomorrow I need to go to inline practice since I have Opera tickets for Thursday, and Wednesday is my kickboxing class.

I had a two hour nap after skating on Sunday afternoon, followed by about ten hours of sleep last night, and I still woke up physically exhausted. Then I went to teach my kickboxing class at noon today at Parkview, and I could barely keep my balance or do a proper jump kick. It was even a shortened 45 minute class and I could barely get through it. I'm convinced I was jabbering nonsense at certain points as I struggled to catch my breath. Hopefully the class didn't notice, I'm generally better at hiding how tired I am, and this felt worse than the day after Run4Reach a week ago.

I'm guessing cumulative exhaustion has set in. One of those days when I can't even chase that endorphin high that I love so much.

With my friend visiting all last week, I was also pretty short on sleep.

My goal is to get more sleep and eat better this week. Jen is on a huge detox binge in anticipation of her upcoming physical, so hopefully that will something achievable. She's booked a massage session and something called a Ion Detox Footbath for us tomorrow afternoon. I'm not entirely convinced of it's merits, but we'll see how I feel afterwards.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Mango Peach Soy Milk Smoothie
Nature's path Power Cereal with Mango Peach Soy Milk.
Apple.
Cherry Coke with whipped cream
Veggie Nature Chili on a whole wheat bun
Lick's Gobbler burger on whole wheat with all the fixin's.
Whole Wheat pasta with veggies, ground veggie, pickles and salsa/tomato sauce.
grape tomatoes

Nicholas Nicholby

2008-04-21T11:52:00.005-04:00

What a great morning of Skating!

The Toronto-area has a handful of clubs, both "official" (TISC, TBN, Trailbladers) and "unofficial" (Friday Night Skate). However, the one thing that gets my lazy bones out of bed consistently bright and early most Sunday mornings is the Skate out at the Hamilton Beach Trail with the "non-club" organized through Christine and Joel Stitt's "sk8crazy" mailing list. The Stitt's are two of my favourite peeps in the inline skating community, and you have to credit their charisma and brilliance in getting such a large group of friends together to skate and hang out every week. Particularly when you take into account the distance most of us travel to get there! It's worth the drive though... 8km of wide, smooth, relatively flat, paved trail with every 200 meters marked off. A beautiful view of the lake that snakes along the well maintained green park system. Three laps equals about a marathon. If you get there early enough, there is not much in the way of bikes, walkers, joggers, dogs or rec skaters to dodge, although given how wide the path is, it's not really much of an issue most days and can be easily resolved with some polite verbal cues.

The Hamilton Beach Trail skate is easily my favourite of all the regular skates during any given week.

Huge props should be given to Joel and Christine for arriving early and sweeping sections of the trail prior to the skate this morning, as well as organizing the Breakfast at Emma's Backporch that followed.

It was a really good turnout of skaters for the kickoff to our season here at Hamilton Beach. I was really pleased that we had such a strong pack together to work and play with. Scott, Jacky, Jay, Morgan, Sarah and I primarily skating together, with Len, Carolyn, and Stephen joining in, with Joel, Christine, Gillian also out on the trail, and Debbie and Candy joining us for brunch.

Despite skating the previous day on Saturday as a rain contingency, the weather could not have been more perfect besides a bit of wind. It felt a bit chilly at first, but once we warmed up, things were smooth sailing given what a great pack we had today.

On the second lap, Morgan suggested that we take turns going out on breakaways as a good practice for situations we would be encountering during marathons in faster packs this year. One of us would try to get the jump on the rest of the pack by skating hard, which would give the rest of us either an opportunity to work together to catch the "flier" or if we could react quickly enough, to jump in with the person on the break, before getting reeled back into the pack. It was quite interesting to see the different scenarios that developed out of that given the relative strengths of everyone in the pack. At one point Sarah went on a break with about 1000 meters to go on the lap right after Morgan got reeled back in on one of his breaks. Scott and I managed to jump in behind her, and as the three of us cycled through (I think our individual pulls were probably too long) it seemed like the rest of them practically vanished behind us as we gunned it into our imaginary "finish line"... it turned out that poor Morgan had caught a branch and taken a spill.

The third lap was more of a struggle for me mentally as the rest of the week's training started to catch up with me. I am not in good enough shape for the full marathon distance yet! As we approached the end of that third lap, I noticed Morgan pulling off into the back. I considered pulling off and slipping behind him, but I figured it would be a better training simulation to try and chase him when he broke off for the sprint from the back. Scott just finished a pull when Morgan made his move and I pulled out from second position as Scott was winding up to draft in with Morgan. The result was, I inadvertently blocked Scott, and had the benefit of receiving a push forward from Scott. Scott would later describe me as "Wild Ed" for making this move. Morgan's suggestion later on as we "debriefed" at Emma's would have been to anticipate a stronger skater like Scott or Sarah to draft in or give chase and work together to bridge the gap. As it was, it looked like Morgan purposefully kept the distance between us far enough so I would not be able to get in his draft, while staying close enough so that I would keep chasing him (like a carrot on a stick) and not just give up the chase so soon.

Other observsions:
-Being behind Scott in a pack suits me because I like his cadence, and the guy has a very admirable work-ethic when it comes to pulling.
-I found on the third lap when I was getting tired, being behind Sarah helped me from burning out after a pull or a break because she remains calm and relaxed, and following her smooth glide-recovery really helped me to conserve energy (in the same way that I managed to stay in the pack behind her when we were skating in the Yucatan, Mexico).
-The TISC/Scooters skaters are ALL getting incrementally faster compared to last year. The coaching both indoor and out is paying out it's dividends, and the performance of Jacky, Jay and Carolyn are testament to that. These are the guys to watch this year!
-Morgan's continuing generosity when it comes to his encouragement and advice, as well as the kind of support he gives with his presence which is not as easily measured.
-Coach Eric G's suggestion to attack and/or power up the hills out at Hamilton Beach remains pretty sound from a training standpoint, and proves beneficial when applied to racing marathons.

I was sad to hear Stephen's ongoing health problems would prevent him from racing this year. Stephen was one of my very first inline coaches when I started doing inline marathons and quite the inspiration as an older gentleman who excels at this sport. I could only hope to be as active and spry as he is in a couple of decades from now.

Emma's Backporch was enjoyable as always. Turned out today was yet another "Two Buffet" day, as I also ended up going to Kama for Indian Buffet before going out to the theatre tonight. At least I can half-justify it this time with the marathon distance I put in today.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Apple
Nature's Path Cereal in Mango Peach Soy Smoothie
Bacon
Sausage
Eggs
2 Croissants
Pineapple
Strawberry
homefries
Melon
Orange Juice
Spinach
Butter Chicken
Garlic Naan
Ice Cream
Pakoras
lamb
Saag Paneer
Carrot pickles
tomatoes
tandoori chicken

Back and Forth in the Car All Day

2008-04-19T18:22:00.005-04:00

Had a really good casual skate with Georg and Carolyn on the MGT today around noon.

My original intent was to get up early and try to catch Jay Brown bright and early at 8:00am. Stayed up too late watching a video.

When you have three skaters with differing abilities together, I generally find it interesting to try and keep the group dynamic together while making sure to find sufficient challenges to the workout. We had agreed to try and do some interval work, so I focused on attacking the hills and occasionally letting Georg or Carolyn zoom ahead a bit and then try to chase them down, which seemed to work.

As we were driving down there Carolyn and I both realized that neither of us had brought our Garmins along. Generally I've been finding it an invaluable training tool, and this proved to be the case when Georg pointed out that as I'm pulling at what I believe is a "cruising" pace, I'm actually gradually speeding up which isn't good for keeping our pack together.

In chatting with Georg, he brought up a good point about using the opportunity when you are out for a skate and not racing, to work on technique. We talked a little about edges, recovery and pushes through the heel, and I tried to skate with more awareness on the second lap of our skate.

Altogether a fun little workout today.

Quick check of the weather and it looks like things are going to be clear for the Hamilton Skate and Brunch early tomorrow. I'll have to set my alarm clock.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Pretzels
Green Goodness Smoothie
apple
Panini with Roast Beef, cheese and horseradish
Crepe with asparagus, onion, cheese and ham.
Pineapple and Lime Smoothie with almond syrup.

Forbidden Kingdom

2008-04-19T00:36:00.002-04:00

Spinning @ Eaton's Centre South. Took it easy to spin out the lactic acid buildup.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Ham, sausage and bacon.
3 poached eggs.
2 pieces of buttered brown toast.
4 buttermilk pancakes.
Orange Juice.
Mango Tango Booster Juice with Warrior Boost.
Fish Burrito Boys with all the fixin's.
Dr Pepper.

Run Fatboy Run

2008-04-17T17:18:00.008-04:00

Today was one of those days where I did nothing right nutritionally. I woke up and we didn't have soy milk and I dwaddled about without eating, then I rushed off to Yoga after having pickles and a cookie for breakfast.

After Yoga, we ran off to see a movie and I only ate pretzels there and had a C-boost Smoothie.

I saw Run Fatboy Run and enjoyed it a great deal although it really seemed to hit close to home. I've never seen a better cinematic metaphor of what hitting "The Wall" feels like and what it takes to get through that wall mentally.

It seems to be the movie that I needed to see at this particular time when I'm feeling so out of shape and The Wall seems to be something I have tremendous trouble overcoming. The Wall these days can be something as minor as getting up the willpower to actually go to practice, or finishing the race after equipment failure and/or injury.

I managed to conjure up the drive to get out to practice on my own today, although Rush Hour traffic had me stressed out, which probably isn't the state of mind you want to be in when you arrive at practice. Skating is about learning to skate in a relaxed state and not hit the panic button when things change-up. Whether it's someone going on the attack or anything beyond your control like equipment failure. Panic tenses you up and fills you full of lactic acid and seizes up your muscles and joints during the Big Race.

Eric once again went through technique drills and it was pretty obvious my balance is waaaay off (it was obvious in Yoga earlier as well). I tried my best to follow the form of the better skaters like Eric, Jesse, Jade, Morgan and Camilo during the drills.

When it came time to do the drills, it was suggested that I start off with group 1 and hang in for as long as possible and then drop back to group 2. We were supposed to be doing about 26 sec laps, but the pace was higher than that, and I dropped out after 5 and skated in with group 2 (which was going faster than their recommended 28 sec lap).

When Andrew got there, we went to interval drills. My ongoing inability to comprehend the description of the drill before-hand kicked in and luck would have it I was pulling at the front when the whistle blew to start the hard skating... I thought we were doing 1 lap "on" and it turns out we were doing 1 minute "on"! It was a really tough drill. I noticed that the back half of group 1 would stop skating before the second whistle blew and would stand up and coast. At one point as we were standing up and coasting I heard Andrew at the sidelines telling us to keep skating.

I decided to take some inspiration from Dominique of Ottawa Inline. In Mexico, I noticed that no matter how often she would get dropped, she never stopped skating. She would finish the drill. I remember what that used to be like... particularly the first days that I arrived at speed practice a few years ago, I would just keep going until they told us to stop. I guess it's kind of a Wall in it's own way once you get dropped.

There is a fine balance I guess... in pack drills you need the pack so you stand up and let the pack lap you and jump back in. But that is if you can even hang onto the pack for any length of time. It seems like a pointless drill if you can't even hang on for a few seconds before the pack pulls away when you are "on".

So I basically decided to just keep skating and to try and get in a pack with the others that were getting dropped whenever I could. I think Jacky, Jay, Chelsea, and myself only managed to pack up together for a couple of laps before we dissolved into individual skaters again. I just decided to keep going. Skate hard when the whistle blew and then relax and keep on skating when the whistle blew again. Andrew later suggested that since it was a pack drill, to try and hang on during the "on" and let the pack lap me and jump back on after resting briefly (or dropping down to group 2).

Post practice it was interesting to listen to Andrew discuss what he's hoping to accomplish with his coaching program this season. Looking forward to seeing what it can do for us at TISC this year. Hopefully the Hard Skating will kick my ass in gear and get me back into shape again.

I asked Andrew about my crossovers and he mentioned the bobbing up and down that wastes energy. Every outdoor season, I almost feel like I have to relearn how to skate in the beginning.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Pickles
C-Boost Smoothie.
Chocolate Cookie
Apple
pretzels
chips
Chicken Souvlaki Mister Sub with all the fixin's on hearty whole wheat.
Chicken Noodle Soup
Ice Tea
Frozen Fruit Orange Juice Smoothie with Vega Powder and vitamins.

Saw Evil Dead the Musical for the Seventh Time

2008-04-17T11:37:00.002-04:00

It just keeps getting better and better!

Yesterday was a two buffet day. One of the drawbacks of seeing friends and family is that so often it revolves around grabbing a meal, and the temptation at a buffet is usually too hard to resist.

A pretty full kickboxing class this morning at Vic Terrace. I could barely get through the workout that I was leading. Cumulative fatigue perhaps? Some new people that seemed to get into it. It probably helped that I was doing all my favourite moves today. My balance has been really off lately.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
apple
Frozen Fruit Smoothie with Vega powder and vitamins
Nature's Path Power Cereal with Choco Krispies cereal in Soy Milk
Sushi, salmon and california rolls
Beef Rice Noodles
Mushrooms, Beef and Garlic tempenyaki
chicken wings
Corn Soup
Pineapple, melon.
Ice Cream
Green Beans and Pork.
Olives

Garlic Naan
Butter Chicken
Tandoori Chicken
Oranges
Mango Lassi
Pakoras
Carrot Pickle.

Mike Garvin's Mexican Skating Video!

2008-04-15T23:47:00.000-04:00

Run4Reach 2008 Photos

2008-04-15T22:56:00.003-04:00

Switching up my wheels before the race!

Photos Courtesy Zoom, Georg (TISC), Peter (TISC), and A Leesh (Ottawa Inline).

MEXICAN SOCIAL CLUB!

2008-04-15T11:38:00.006-04:00

Here are a bunch of non-skating photos.

As much as inline skating brought us all together on this Epic Journey, there was just so much more that made this such a memorable and unique experience. It was an honour and a great pleasure sharing it with great folks like yourselves.

Big Shout Out to Carolyn, Sarah, Martine, Peter, Corinne, Kim, Claire, Wilby, Ray, Mike, Cor, JF, Stephan, Dominique, Benoit, and in particular to Sergio who made it all happen with a great deal of hard work and good spirits.

Photos above Courtesy of Carolyn of TISC, and Wilby and Cor of Ottawa Inline.

My photos...

Adam is visiting for the week!

2008-04-15T11:30:00.004-04:00

Didn't much sleep last night. Jen is still sick and was having trouble sleeping due to her hacking cough.

The left calf is still tight this morning. I imagine the jump kicking and slow kick drills I ran with my class yesterday didn't help in the recovery.

Frances was delayed by the TTC today, so I stepped in to warm up the Yoga class today. Given the fact that I have absolutely no training as a Yoga instructor, I think I improvised quite well by modifying my Kickboxing cooldown routine, and took the class through some Tai Chi and stretching. When Frances arrived, I handed the class back to her and we went through many of the usual stretches and poses. Very tight today from the race on Sunday and my kickboxing class yesterday. My body is obviously very tired as it was harder than usual to hold even some of the easier poses. The massage was heavenly, she used peppermint oil today and I left the class feeling extremely relaxed. I think I need to do more deep breathing excercises on a daily basis.

Took it easy at practice tonight, but the first 25 laps @ 25sec really was a bit of a strain for me. Joined the B-group for the remaining 2-25 laps which were apparently closer to the 26-28 sec/lap range.

We started with some technique drills that Peter and Eric took us through. Something I really appreciate this early in the season given how "off" my off-season was. I had noticed in Yoga earlier that my balance was way off, and it was still off tonight on much of the one foot gliding.

Former Camaleon coaches Leo, Camillo and Andres were out tonight, and it was great to see them again. Had a chance to skate behind Camillo briefly and it was nice to follow that familiar cadence once again. I learned a great deal and developed quite a bit as a inline skater under their tutelage.

Jay Brown took us to this fantastic little Muslim Chinese place right near the track afterwards.

Lost my phone some time during practice tonight.

WHAT I ATE 2DAY
frozen fruit, orange juice, soy milk, yogurt and vitamin smoothie.
nature's path power cereal with choco Krispies in soy milk.
Crepe with asparagus, cheese and ham.
Panini with cheese and proscuitto
Chocolate waffle with maltball ice cream, marshmellows, brownies and whipped cream.
pineapple and lime smoothie
lamb noodles and veggies
Lamb shish kabobs

It's a cloudy day in my head

2008-04-14T10:55:00.003-04:00

Woke up this morning with a really sore left calf from pulling it yesterday at the race.

After teaching my kickboxing class today at noon hour, it seems like it's going to be more of an issue than I originally anticipated. Jump kicks were difficult and not advised for the rest of the week is my self diagnosis. Yoga tomorrow will be essential. I'll have to take it easy at TISC practice as well if I go.

Felt a bit more low key in class today.

WHAT I ATE 2DAY
frozen stawberry, orange juice, soy milk, vega powder and vitamin smoothie.
nature's path zen cereal with choco Krispies in soy milk.
Quizno's Turkey Mesquite with tomato, lettice, onion, mayo and bacon.
chicken noodle soup.
pickles
ice tea
mango tango shrimp and chicken(fried)
rice
Tom Yum Chicken Soup
Green Mango salad
Passion Fruit Smoothie
Reese Peanut Butter chocolate bar

Run4 Reach 2008: Spring Tune Up

2008-04-13T20:44:00.005-04:00

Back from the Run4Reach 1/2 Marathon in Ottawa. It didn't Rain!!! Although it did snow a tiny bit (but not enough to stick).

All things considered, from a skating standpoint I was pretty much exactly where I expected myself to be. Hung onto the main pack for most of the first half lap out, before falling off and skating solo to the turn around. Once again like every other year, I didn't slow down enough for the 180 turnaround and overshot it losing valuable ground and time.

Into the wind on the way back on the first lap, I decided to try and conserve energy as best I could and went at a cruising pace to fall back to a pack of familiar, comfortable and friendly faces I had spotted behind me on the turnaround. Dominique and Danny D, fellow Rabid Lap Dogs from my 24 Hour team, and my good friend and Chamaleon/TISC teammate Travis, all of whom I've skated with in at least a dozen races and events over the years. No point in fighting a losing solo battle into the wind when I knew how well we skate together in a pack. And that was pretty much the rest of the race, with all of us working together and everyone contributing their relative strengths. Travis in particular was very strong into the wind. At one point we also (suprisingly) picked up Mexican Traveller and Olympic Village bunkmate JF.

The one hitch that occurred after the first turnaround, I started hearing my right frame doing that rattle to let me know it was loose! Miraculously it held on for most of the race, although it was quite nerve-wracking to me at times. In anticipation of the inevitable, Danny D loaned me his tool, which I was praying that I wouldn't have to use (HUGE shout out to Danny D for being so well prepared for this kind of thing). Of course with 500 meters left, the frame finally came loose, and I managed to stay upright only to wrench my left calf doing so. I crouched down to stay stable and rolled to a stop against the curb. Luckily Ottawa Inline Volunteer Nathan (whom I had met the night before at Sergio's party) was on hand and helped me take off my wheels and tighten back up the frame. I stretched out my left calf, and scootched the remaining distance across the finish line.

Highlights of this weekend was getting to spend time with my friends from TISC, Ottawa Inline and the Montreal/Quebec skating clubs.

Sergio and Ursula were gracious enough to host us all at their house for a party the night before, despite one Skater nearly burning down their beautiful and newly renovated house 8). Carolyn, Sarah and I, the three Toronto Inline Skaters who did the recent Mexico Training Camp and Racing Event with Sergio had a wonderful time on Saturday night, making it a bit of a late night with Ursula showing us some highlights from Sergio's very impressive skating and cycling career in Mexico. I'm very much looking forward to next year's skating trip to Mexico!

Big Props to Cor for organizing the group gift for Sergio!

I also had a really great time at that fantastic pizza place once again for the post-race party that Ottawa Inline puts on.

One the way back from Ottawa, I had the pleasure of chatting with TISC teammate Leo about his former quad roller racing career twenty years ago and it was really interesting to hear about how all sports in Italy are so well supported by the national federation.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Ice tea
2 brio
8 slices of meaty and meditarannean pizza.
pancakes
orange
fresh squeeze orange juice.

WHAT I ATE YESTERDAY
Crepe Cake with apricot and apple.
chicken stuffed with curried lamb
veggies and potatoes
Harvey Burger and Fries
ice tea
sugar snap peas.
carrots.
frozen fruit, orange juice, soy milk, banana, vega powder and vitamin smoothie.
nature's path zen cereal with choco Krispies in soy milk.

The Traveller

2008-04-12T10:37:00.003-04:00

Heading to Ottawa this morning. It will be nice to see the Hard Travellin' Mexican Posse again at Sergio's tonight.

Fingers crossed for a DRY skate tomorrow at Rain4Reach 1/2 Marathon.

Morgan was nice enough to give me three bolts to replace the ones that vibrated out during the marathon in Chiapas, Mexico. How in Dog's Name (the same one that sponsors Chihuahua) I managed to finish a marathon missing THREE FRAME BOLTS is beyond my comprehension at this point.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Nature's Path Zen Cereal with Mexican ChocoKrispies cereal in soy milk.
Frozen Fruit, Banana, Vega Powder Smoothie with Orange Juice, Strawberry Soy milk and all the vitamins.

Can someone explain why I was singing Boney M that day?

2008-04-10T22:52:00.007-04:00

I've been out of the inline blogosphere for so long, I totally didn't realize Candy had posted this video of us doing plyos online.

My apologies to the world at large that clicked on the video and was subjected to my awful impromptu Karaoke (I should leave it up to professionals, like Kevin Noh!)

Courtesy of Desserts by Candy.

Finding Nemo (Hot Piñata Action)

2008-04-10T16:07:00.006-04:00

One of my favourite memories of Mexico wasn't actually skating related.

Martine celebrated her birthday while we were training in Merida, the capital city of the Yucatan, and wanted a Piñata as part of the celebration!

So Carolyn, Sarah and I went with her to one of the Piñata stores (these things are as common as Starbucks in Merida) and loaded up on bags of treats which we stuffed into the pinata that Martine chose. (unbeknowst to us, Sergio also got a Finding Nemo Piñata!)

Needless to say, this was a HUGE hit with the kids as we gathered around after practice one night.

There were some INTERESTING (to say the least) flavours that were introduced to us that night... Sweet Chili flavoured lollipops with fruit filling in the centre amongst them.

Last I checked when we were in Mexico City two weeks later, Sarah was STILL wearing her sparkly bracelets!

Big props to Martine for having the good sense of having her birthday in Mexico!

There were other photos taken later on by the pool the night of her birthday, but we'll refrain from posting those ones! 8)

Photos courtesy of Wilby and Claire of Ottawa Inline.

Hombre Araña

2008-04-10T15:17:00.005-04:00

Martine wanders over to me after one of our practices one evening in Merida, Yucatan. "The Children all say you are the Most Joyous Skater!" she tells me.

There were a few times early on that I walked off the track in Tuxla, Chiapas, more than a little down on myself about my performance in a race, only to find a crowd of Children waiting, eager to introduce themselves and have their pictures taken with me!

I soon realized that in addition to the occasional "Go Ed" being shouted from my fellow Canadians and the Yucatan Coach and skaters, there were many tiny voices calling something else as I passed by the stands... some were saying "Spiderman", but others were cheering something else... and it was directed at me.

I finally realized what the kids were shouting was "Hombre Araña"... and it was explained to me that it is the Mexican name of SPIDERMAN!

What an energizing feeling to realize that they were encouraging the underdog at the back! I realize that the Canadian skaters (on the men's side) were pretty much seen by the Mexican crowds with the same amusement that most reserve for the Jamaican Bobsled Team, but they certainly cheered us on with a great deal of enthusiasm.

A delightful girl named Maya who tried to introduce herself to me in french! This wonderful little one gave me a chocolate bar after one of my races. And we all know that if you give Ed a chocolate bar, you've got a friend for life! 8)

I know I'll never be the fastest skater, but I think I can happily live with being the most "joyous skater".

Photos courtesy of Wilby, Cor and Claire of Ottawa Inline.

Certified Hero Burger

2008-04-10T14:48:00.004-04:00

Yvonne welcomed me back so warmly today when I showed up for her noon hour yoga class. It felt good to return to my routine. 4 weeks without Yoga to help me relax, stretch and do the self diagnostics is quite a long time. My flexibility is way down and I'm still stiff from teaching my Monday class and Tuesday practice, despite taking yesterday off.

Subbed Rosa's kickboxing class tonight at Vic Terrace. Full class, but to be honest I could barely get through the last few tracks. Hopefully I wasn't showing my fatigue. It didn't help that my mike konked out half way through and I had to yell. Ended up losing my voice again. Flying jump knees on the Muy Thai section just about did me in. Felt like a great class overall, and I got complimented by a few people afterwards. Probably talked too much, the class ran a little late but luckily there was no class afterwards.

I got to stretch for a good twenty minutes before the class and that helped.

Let's see how I manage to get through my Monday Parkview kickboxing class after racing on Sunday! Luckily it's only a half marathon and I've already done a full marathon two weeks ago, so I know I can get through it (hoping it won't be wet again).

I didn't realize how much I missed Asian food while I was in Mexico for three weeks. Everytime we go out to eat I want noodles or sushi.

I appear to have lost 5 pounds Post Mexico. Probably would have been more if not for the all you can eat rich food at the resort in Cancun.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
8oz Hero Burger with all the fixin's.
Apple
Ice Tea and Strawberry Snapple.
Fries.
Baskin Robbins strawberry citris smoothie
Healthy 6 grain veggie/mushroom congee.
3 shrimp and chive rice crepes
Chinese Veggies and Mushrooms in garlic sauce
chinese tea.
fresh squeezed orange juice

Video from Mexico

2008-04-10T14:40:00.000-04:00

copa mexicanidad chiapaneca 2008

Did you know there was a Patron Saint of Skaters?!

2008-04-10T14:35:00.002-04:00

Jen showed me this link this morning...

St. Lidwina

Born at Schiedam, Holland, 18 April 1380; died 14 April, 1433. Her father, Peter by name, came of a noble family while her mother Petronella, born at Kethel, Holland, was a poor country girl. Both were poor. Very early in her life St. Lidwina was drawn towards the Mother of God and prayed a great deal before the miraculous image of Our Lady of Schiedam. During the winter of the year of 1395, Lidwina went skating with her friends, one of whom caused her to fall upon some ice with such violence that she broke a rib in her right side. This was the beginning of her martyrdom. No medical skill availed to cure her. Gangrene appeared in the wound caused by the fall and spread over her entire body. For years she lay in pain which seemed to increase constantly. Some looked on her with suspicion, as being under the influence of the evil spirit. Her pastor, Andries, brought her an unconsecrated host, but the saint distinguished it at once. But God rewarded her with a wonderful gift of prayer and also with visions. Numerous miracles took place at her bed-side. The celebrated preacher and seer, Wermbold of Roskoop, visited her after previously beholding her in spirit. The pious Arnold of Schoonhoven treated her as a friend. Hendrik Mande wrote for her consolation a pious tract in Dutch. When Joannes Busch brought this to her, he asked her what she thought of Hendrik Mande's visions, and she answered that they came from God. In a vision she was shown a rose-bush with the words, "When this shall be in bloom, your suffering will be at an end." In the spring of the year 1433, she exclaimed, "I see the rose-bush in full bloom!" From her fifteenth to her fifty-third year, she suffered every imaginable pain; she was one sore from head to foot and was greatly emaciated. On the morning of Easter-day, 1433, she was in deep contemplation and beheld, in a vision, Christ coming towards her to administer the Sacrament of Extreme Unction. She died in the odour of great sanctity. At once her grave became a place of pilgrimage, and as early as 1434 a chapel was built over it. Joannes Brugmann and Thomas à Kempis related the history of her life, and veneration of her on the part of the people increased unceasingly. In 1615 her relics were conveyed to Brussels, but in 1871 they were returned to Schiedam. On 14 March, 1890, Leo XIII put the official sanction of the Church upon that veneration which had existed for centuries.
Publication information
Written by Petrus Albers. Transcribed by Michael T. Barrett. Dedicated to the Poor Souls in Purgatory

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume IX. Published 1910. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Nihil Obstat, October 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, Censor. Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York
Bibliography

COUDURIER, Vie de la bienheureuse Lidwine (Paris, 1862); RIBADENEIRA, La vie de s. Lidwine, vierge (Valenciennes, 1615); THOMAS À KEMPIS, Vita Lidewigis virginis in Opera Omnia, iv (Freiburg, 1905); HUYSMANS, Sainte Lydwine de Schiedam (Paris, 1901).

august rush

2008-04-09T16:56:00.003-04:00

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Nature's Path Power Cereal and Chocolate Frosted Flakes with Marshmellows in Soy Milk.
Smoothie with frozen fruit, banana, vega powder, vitamins, peach yogurt, strawberry soy milk and orange juice.
Pasta with veggies, olives, veggie ground, salsa and pasta sauce.
Apple.
Sugar Snap Peas.

YESTERDAY'S WORKOUT

Noon Hour Yoga. Everything was pretty stiff and sore.
1st Outdoor Inline Practice of the Season @ Christ the King. Missed warmup because I was looking for frame bolts, luckily Aaron had extra ones he lent me (as well as his jacket). Felt pretty good given how out of shape I am. It probably wouldn't have felt so good if I hadn't of done Mexico.

WHAT I ATE YESTERDAY
Nature's Path Zen Cereal and Chocolate Frosted Flakes with Marshmellows in Soy Milk.
Apple.
Banana.
Pasta with veggies, olives, veggie ground, salsa and pasta sauce.
Miso Soup.
Ice Tea.
Shashimi Tuna and Salmon and other fish.
1 fried Shrimp Tempura.
Edamame.

MONDAY'S WORKOUT
Taught my kickboxing class at Parkview noon hour. It was a pretty crowded class full of all the regulars and they were all glad to see me back. Felt energized by it.

WHAT I LEARNED IN MEXICO

2008-04-09T16:28:00.003-04:00

I am now willing to admit that the guys in the Tabasco skinsuits are not sponsored by the sauce. However, I still insist that the guys in the Chihuahua skinsuits are in fact sponsored by the dogs.

Photos courtesy of Wilby from Ottawa Inline.

Korean Freestyle Slalom Rollerblading

2008-02-04T17:10:00.001-05:00

glumbert - Korean Freestyle Slalom Rollerblading

Nerve

2007-11-28T19:48:00.001-05:00

Taught my Combat Class this morning at Vic Terrace.

Sat in a massage chair for a few minutes. Felt good.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Frozen Strawberry Smoothie with banana, Multivitamin, ecceneccia, Vitamin D, Vega Powder, Omega 3 Yogurt, Orange Juice.
Large Salmon Filet.
Gazpatcho soup with hotsauce.
2 Homeburgers with all the fixin's on whole wheat.
berry gummies.
Orange Chocolate Oraganic bar.

Burnout.

2007-11-27T09:33:00.000-05:00

It's probably no secret that I've been feeling pretty burnt out for the past couple of months.

Kevin Smith's Marathon Dynamics newsletter had some interesting suggestions that I think sounds kind of helpful to try and help recentre and move ahead. (it applies mostly to runners, but Kevin was also one of my first inline coaches when I first got into inline marathons a few yeasr back).

Original page here...
http://www.marathondynamics.com/run/dynamo/dynamo.php

Off Season Checklist

We espouse a "to do" list of tasks for the off-season runner, categorized as per our motto "to inspire people to bring out the best in themselves, in body, mind and spirit". Make sure you've done at least a bit of every one of these before you commit yourself to another long season of training ahead (click here).

For the body:

1. Rest — no running for at least a little while�(1-2 weeks min, 3-4 weeks max, unless injured)
2. Pamper — massage, long baths, nap, indulge! (i.e. "horizontal pilates" w/partner...nudge, nudge!)
3. Stretch — gentle & progressive...best time for it, since muscles aren't taught/tired from hard running
4. Aerobic Cross-Training — weight loss/fitness maintenance, variety
5. Strength Training — now's the time, either for total body fitness and/or for running-specific strength

For the mind:

1. Reflect — consider, analysis recent past training and racing, plan for the future
2. Write — recount your race story, your feelings and thoughts about it
3. Read — books, magazines, websites, blogs, etc...soak up running info on topics that interest you

For the spirit:

1. Reconnect w/Family & Friends — you probably neglected them during the height of your training (go on, admit it), so now show them how much you miss & appreciate them
2. Celebrate — get together to share your experiences with other runners (and empathetic non-runners who'll listen to you!) and emotionally invest in appreciating those of other runners
3. Dream — perhaps as early as 1 week after your big race, perhaps as long as 1-2 months after, you are ready to deliberate seriously upon what your next goal should be

Timing Your Next Season Perfectly...When To Start Training "For Real"

DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE

2007-11-16T13:44:00.000-05:00

A routine is important.

I've come to the realization that a large part of my motivation to workout has been coming externally. This needs to change. I need to be doing this for me alone.

Winter isn't even here and I have the blahs. Today I've taken advantage of the fact that my stacked townhome is a corner unit and opened up the blinds to let the sunlight in. Hopefully it will help with the heating as well.

I did Assata's Pump Class tonight at 5:00 Mount Pleasant. Good Energy. Inspiring.

Met Jason for a few climbs at Rock Oasis. Managed to easily do the 10c that eluded me last night with Dave, but I ended up dino-ing the tough moves at the crux rather than using any kind of finess.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Granola and Nature's path cereal in soy milk.
Smoothie with frozen fruit, banana, apple, apple cider, soy milk and eccinecea.
Fish Oil capsule
Gazatcho Soup with Hot Sauce and pickle.

This weeks workouts...

THURSDAY
Climbed with Dave and felt pretty good on the 10's.
Yoga at St Clair noon hour with Yvonne.

WEDNESDAY
Taught Body Combat class.

TUESDAY
Yoga at Noon with Frances at Mount Pleasant.
Back doing Pump. Went to the Eaton Centre South club for the first time. Shoulders were definitely feeling it. Weights were relatively light until I can build it up.

MONDAY
Taught my Body Combat Class at Parkview. I felt it went really well.

SUNDAY
Dryland practice at Scooters in the morning followed by one lap of Hamilton Beach afterwards. Felt good to be back outside on Skates.

IKEA BREAKFAST SKATE 2007

2007-10-22T00:08:00.001-04:00

I think there was a funny story involving these packets of dressing and my double Ikea breakfast. Not sure what it was. Anyone recall?

Toronto Zombie Walk 2007

2007-10-22T00:01:00.000-04:00

A2A Route

2007-10-21T11:15:00.000-04:00

Montreal Defi 2007

2007-10-21T10:41:00.000-04:00

Photos courtesy Peter D of speedskateworld.com

Montreal 24 Hour Inline Video

2007-10-18T10:04:00.001-04:00

Advice from Morgan...

2007-10-09T11:23:00.000-04:00

"You are working way too hard. You need to relax and conserve your energy when chasing them down, otherwise you burn out."

Lost in Translation

2007-10-08T16:04:00.000-04:00

I get a couple of humourous shout-outs from Peter over getting lost for about an hour during A2A last year...
http://www.inlineplanet.com/2007-10/a2a_guide.html
http://www.speedskateworld.com/2007/10/off-to-a2a-my-thoughts-during-new-york.html

Also my Podium (which should have been shared with Joel Stitt)...
http://www.speedskateworld.com/2007/09/berlin-new-york-100k.html

My love of all things Spiderman gets noted...
http://www.speedskateworld.com/2007/09/festival-western-in-st-tite.html

Montreal Race eating a sandwich and drinking a Juice Box...
http://www.speedskateworld.com/2007/09/montreal-rollerblade-marathon-report.html

NEW YORK 100KM in Prospect Park

2007-10-04T11:30:00.000-04:00

Lap times...
http://www.mylaps.com/results/newLapResult.jsp?id=674140&pos=22
Overall results comparison...
http://www.mylaps.com/results/newResults.jsp?id=674140

My Podium should have been shared by Joel Stitt since we had agreed to tie together having skated the whole thing sharing the work and encouraging each other.

Inline To-do List

2007-09-13T11:15:00.000-04:00

Toe Knee Shoulder alignment. Should help the set-down problem.

Keep the recovery Toe-low.
Don't toe-out.

Try not to bob the upper body back and forth.

WHAT THE DICKENS?

2007-09-13T09:28:00.000-04:00

This feels like the story of My Life so Far...

Montreal Rollerblade Marathon 2007

2007-09-09T21:23:00.000-04:00

Ottawa Inline Festival 2007

2007-09-05T14:04:00.000-04:00

Photo from Ottawa Inline.

Photos from Peter.

Tired and Wet

2007-08-21T23:17:00.000-04:00

I just realized that it's been a while since I've had a full rest day. I was really tired and had a hard time in Yoga class today, despite the fact that it's mostly easy poses and gentle stretching.

TISC Practice was called off due to rain and I decided I'd try and spin out the lactic acid. Unfortunately the same benefits that kicking tunes and group energy have for getting you motivated to work harder still apply when your intentions are to take it easy. It's not easy to take a break and just cruise when the instructor is yelling at you to work harder and sweat more.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Nature's Path cereal in Soy Milk. Strawberries and Yogurt. Salmon Sandwich with light Miracle Whip and pickles on flax bread. Gazpatcho Soup with hot sauce and olives. Nectarine. Frozen Fruit Smoothie with banana, greens, vitamin d, eccincea, soy milk, orange juice and peach yogurt. Mixed Green and Veggie "beef" stif fry. strawberries.

One Week

2007-08-20T15:14:00.000-04:00

Time to get some discipline and set some goals as to how to best make use of this week in terms of training and just getting stuff done that I need to get done around the house and for work.

After indulging myself all weekend, I'll have to start eating smarter. I went grocery shopping today and picked up some good healthy food. Now I just have to make sure that I don't eat out so much! My buddy Jason's wedding party is on the 25th, so that can be the one day I indulge (there is going to be an ice cream truck!!!).

Some of they guys went out to skate this afternoon, but I couldn't go because of my kickboxing class. Hopefully they beat the rain!

Kickboxing class this afternoon was good. We had a few more people show up and that energized me. I tried my best to stick to some of the low impact options in order to accomodate them.

I'm supposed to go climbing tonight with some friends, we'll see if I have it in me. I should take a nap first.

I just started using this new Citris Splash Crest Toothpaste. It's like brushing my teeth with Tang drink crystals.

WHAT I ATE TODAY.
Peanut butter and banana sandwich on flax. Peach. fresh Salmon and dill. Gazpatcho soup with hot sauce and olives. Pickle. Whole Wheat Pasta with veggies. Orange Juice. Low Fat ice Cream Sandwich.

Get Inline!

2007-08-19T14:51:00.000-04:00

After hitting the snooze button too many time last year, I vowed to Richard "The Mayor" A that I would make it out and support the Get Inline event this year. I enlisted Jen's help in this and we made it down there with a bit of time to spare. It's not a race, just a fun 10km skate along Ashbridge Bay and the East Beaches portion of the MGT.

Candy handed me some stickers and I went to work promoting TISC and the inline community and events in general like the Ride for Heart. It was supposed to be a casual event, so I intended it to be an easy rest day on this 10K. Of course in my fumbling attempts to be a good "Skate Ambassador", I ended up doing portions of the course a few more times as I scootched around to bring water to the slower folks who might need it on the earlier part of the course. It was generally a very well organized event, but I think the water stop on the back stretch made it a bit harder for the younger kids and older folks doing the event in this warm weather. Had a good time chatting with folks about inline skating and all the clubs and events that they might not be aware of in and around the GTA. Even if they never show up for practice or race, at least it helps to put on the friendly face for when they see us on the MGT or other fun events like The Ride for Heart. I stopped by the massage tent and it was evident that the toll of the week's training was starting to have a big impact. I keep telling myself that I have one more week of training left before I have to start tapering for the fall races starting with the Ottawa Inline Festival, so I shouldn't be slacking too much.

In the afternoon was so tired that I couldn't keep my eyes open. I lay down and next thing you know it's three hours later! I seem to be getting by with plenty of naps these days when I can.

I should give props to my friend Mike G from Ottawa Inline who broke his collarbone a couple of weeks ago after a remarkable jump in performance this season. Chatting with him via email, it seems he has a great deal of motivation to stay fit and is ready to skate again as soon as he's able to in the upcoming indoor season despite this set-back. He's got a stationary bike in his place for spinning and it looks like he's keeping himself busy putting together video from various inline events and races. If it were me, I'd take it as an excuse to eat Cheetohs and ice cream, play Resident Evil and Spiderman on the Wii, and milk as much sympathy as I could from Jen.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Whole Grain Bagel with light cream cheese. 2 small yogurt with banana and strawberries. Hamburger. Hot Dog. Gatorade. Whole Wheat Pasta and veggies.

Chicks Ahoy Attack!

2007-08-18T23:49:00.000-04:00

I thought i gave myself plenty of time today to get to the TBN Monthly Marathon out in Hamilton Beach, but with all the road closures in Toronto on the weekends, needing to get gas and then getting stuck at the Lift Bridge, we still had to rush a little bit. Although it's such a casual event that folks were good about waiting for us.

Given the fact that it's August and people are generally away at the cottage or on holiday or off to the cottage, there was a smaller turnout, particularly for those doing the full marathon. I figured rather than have everyone skating alone, it might be better to try and pack up and see if we could do some prep work for the upcoming races in Ottawa and Montreal.

As the TBN Marathons are generally friendly and not hugely competitive events when you have so few people spread across abilities, the challenge is to try and keep everyone together for as long as possible but make sure that the faster guys can be sufficiently challenged as well. Typically, you try and stay in the pack as the faster guys do most of the work and slowly over three laps the speed picks up and people drop out of the pack. Once dropped, you tend to skate alone, and I know I find it a bit harder to get motivated skating by myself... the Garmin helps if you are fighting for time, but I don't think there is anything better to push you to work harder than the energy that comes with group skating, not just for the drafting in a pack, but that infectious energy of enthusiastic skaters that are having a good time.

I've heard a great deal of discussion and debate around the "value" of keeping slower skaters in with you, particularly in competitive racing situations. Certainly is is a social sport. I think the situations will always vary. On the one hand, I think we've all encountered a racing scenario where you have someone who tells you that they can't pull uphill or into the wind, only to show you that they have enough sprint at the end to beat you to the line. LIve and Learn. I certainly found it helpful at the Montreal 24 hr to allow skaters I was passing to jump on board if they could hold the pace once in my draft. Even if I was doing the Lion's Share of the pulling, I could occassionally pull off and get in their draft. We'd certainly slow down a little bit but even a short break to stretch my back out and take a quick drink is appreciated and energizing for me. I've also heard arguments on both side of the fence about the "wind tunnel" effect. I think the great thing about skating within a small community of folks is that you do know what each person can contribute and in a fun and social situation, everyone gives what they can.

Today, it was evident that Kevin would probably be doing a great deal of pulling as the fastest guy there. I'd probably put in my fair share as well since I was feeling pretty strong and there was plenty of opportunity to rest. The others could put in whatever they had in them, but we were setting a goal to try and hold the pack together as much as we could.

The first lap tends to be a warmup lap anyways, so we decided to try and keep Carolyn in for as long as possible in order to give her the experience trying to stay in with a slightly faster pack and to adjust for the surges in speed that are experienced in a racing environment. We lost her on an uphill as we approached the turnaround on the first lap, but it was evident that she still had some fight in her as we saw her coming up behind us on the turnaround. She managed to stay with us for a good part of that first return lap before another uphill took her out. I'm proud of the fact that she managed to stay in for so long given the speed and endurance of the guys in our pack today. Carolyn also managed to shatter her pervious PB for a 42km run on Hamilton Beach Trail today as a result!

With Kevin, Jacky, Jay and myself in the pack, I suggested a good training excercise for us to do as a group would be to simulate attacks that the rest of us would have to chase down. Someone would sprint off the pack and the everyone else would have to give chase to the best of our ability and then we would regroup. It appeared that the first round was just Kevin and I attacking (although I know I tried my best to make sure everyone got back into the pack and rested), and that was fun, but for part of the next lap we made sure that it was just Kevin and I pulling and we would give Jacky and Jay a chance to experience what it was like to attack. I know that for most of their marathon and racing experiences they are generally used to hanging on, so I imagine it was fun for them to see what it was like to take control of the pack. Of course I didn't anticipate the sheer joy and madness that they took to this... attacking at every opportunity they could, including when they have just caught back up to the pack when they should have been resting! I was a bit worried that they were burning themselves out, but the beginning of the third lap proved to be a good opportunity for them to take a bit of a break as Kevin had to adjust something that was loose on his skate. Kevin hammered it out to catch back up and I caught a ride behind him. Once we were back together we opened it up so anyone could attack, and once more some fast and fun chaos ensued which unfortunately left Jacky behind us as we headed for the final turnaround. We slowed the pace down and rolled slow for a few minutes, but it was obvious that he was done for the day as the gap opened up wider despite our efforts to allow him to catch back up. Jacky put in 100% effort as we were attacking and chasing, so I give him huge slap on the back for sticking with us for as long as he did.

At that point we decided to try and keep Jay in with us and just do speed work on the final half lap back to the start. I'm always in awe of just how strong a skater Kevin really is when he's given the right amount of challenge. He took long pulls into the wind and still managed to pass me like I was standing still as we sprinted for the finish. Jay also finished quite strongly given the fact that he had done an extra lap earlier in the day to sweep the coarse for major debris, as well as all the insane sprint intervals we were doing. All together, I think everyone had a great morning out at Hamilton Beach.

I ate too much again afterwards at the Buffet at Emma's BackPorch. Jen made a nice healthy dinner that night, but I also couldn't resist getting a hot dog at Gillian's Roller Derby Game that evening. I'll have to eat better in the next two weeks.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Flax Bread. Banana. Apple. Cliff Bar. 2 Croissants. Eggs. hash browns. Pile of Bacon and Sausage. Cantelope. Pineapple. Ice Tea. Icee. 4 Chocolate Cupcakes. Pasta. Salad. Hot Dog. Slushee.

Daddy-O's

2007-08-17T10:48:00.000-04:00

Today was supposed to be a Full Rest-Day, but Kevin talked me into going skating on the west MGT with him and Benji. I probably would have ended up sneaking out to do spinning anyways.

Despite what we generally seem to do when we train around here, which is chase faster skaters, it's also a good benefit to skate with slower skaters. I know my technique just falls apart horribly when I'm maxing out, red lining and fighting to hang on. Today, I tried to focus on slow skating today and think about technique. I could follow Kevin's rythm well when I was drafting him, but kind of lost it when I pulled. It's so easy to slack off at a slower pace, particularly when you are tired from the week's cumulative workouts. I focused on trying to keep my upper body still, not toe-out on the recovery and bring the knee behind. Easier said then done and I think I often mess myself up more when I'm thinking about it too much. Eric mentioned that the rec/fitness group is doing video assessment this week, so I'll have a look to see what I'm doing wrong.

I finally tried out Morgan's killer hill sprint with Kevin on lookout, and it actually wasn't as scary as it looks. With the new pavement, there is plenty of rollout and space to do the merge as well as a good view of the trail on both sides. So as long as we're careful, there should be no mishaps. However, we had Benji with us, and given the "curse" of the past week with Carolyn and Jay going down while skating with Kev and I on the MGT, I figured it would be wiser to just do the Legion Hill today. I'll do more of the other hill later. The Legion Hill might better simulate the long slow climb I'm expecting to encounter in New York.

It gave me a chance to play with my stride as Kevin and I took turns pulling up the Legion Hill. Kevin makes it look so easy with his long slow strides. I find I can follow that stride up to a point and then I have to revert to shorter choppy strides in order to keep up. I know my cadence was definitely quicker and shorter when I was up front. This is going to be a problem... it might keep you in and in fact give you an edge if it's just a short burst like at the end of Duluth, but as I discovered in A2A, it's going to just burn you out in an endurance event with sustained and continuous climbing. Long. Slow. Use the arms.

I can't remember if we did six or seven of them, but that pretty much wiped me out for the day. Looking at my Garmin, I was suprised to see we actually did do a little over 20km today... almost a half marathon.

As luck would have it, we got a little turned around and ended up on Roncesvale, which is where my old friend Cristian has opened up a 50's style theme diner called Daddy-O's. We had a nice post-skate lunch there. Ate too much again, and then followed that up with a lobster dinner with my parents up in Markham.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Apple. Banana. Granola Bar. Gatorade. Crepe with asparagus, ham and cheese. Panini with Prosciutto cheese and other stuff. Chocolate Waffle with Brownies, ice cream, marshmellows and chocolate syrup. Broiled Lobster. Lobster Bisque. Mango Mousse Cake.

Can't keep my eyes open. Allergy Season.

2007-08-16T15:50:00.000-04:00

It's official Allergy Season has begun. I have itchy, watery eyes, and my throats been pretty scratchy. Jen asked what was up with my voice last night. It might have been from all the yelling I've been doing in my Body Combat classes lately... there is no mike at Parkview.

Checking into my body at Yvonne's Yoga class noon hour, things are a bit tight and I had shaky legs doing the simplest poses. Definitely a rest day for me tomorrow.

Practice tonight felt similar to Tuesdays. The gas tank felt empty, but I suprised myself by sticking it out all the way through the drills. Got there in time for warmup this time. Focused on skating behind better skaters tonight and trying to match different strides and not let a gap open up (it inevitably would). We did 10-on/30-off, and then the points race. At dinner afterwards, Morgan mentioned again how my crossovers slow me down in the corners. I need to commit to stepping one foot over the other.

Kevin comitted us to skate on the MGT with Benji tomorrow, so not quite a rest day. I don't know what "Benji speed" is, but hopefully it won't be too strenuous. We'll once again see if we can do those elusive hill intervals.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
2 peanut butter sandwiches on flax bread. apple. orange juice. Gazpatcho with hot sauce. pickle. Spinich salad with soy dressing and grape tomato. whole wheat pasta with veggies, soy "ground beef", mushrooms in salsa and pasta sauce. orange juice. Banana. pita. miso soup. white rice. sashimi. bul golgi beef. salad with ginger dressing. nestea.

Jay Brown Goes Down. Ethiopian Dinner. The Dream in High Park.

2007-08-15T15:13:00.000-04:00

I really need a way to build more rest into my regimen. Since I've started teaching two kickboxing classes a week, it leaves only one or two rest days if I am training inline a minimum of three days a week. and often I will want to do something on those days as well. I don't know if it's better to load some of the extra workouts on one day and then have the next day completely off. Yoga helps the recovery, but I think I would be recovering quicker from the 106km this weekend if I didn't push myself as hard on the other activities immediately following something like that. So many people have different opinions on rest... I guess it comes down to what works for you and knowing your limits and what your body can endure (and we know that the mind leads the body!).

Given the intensity of the previous days practice for me, I pushed through the morning kickboxing class at Victoria Park with relative ease given the fatigue. I had told Kevin and Jay that I would hook up with them for a skate on the MGT West immediately afterwards

I got myself a Strawberry/Mango Smoothie with a Ginseng boost and headed out to meet up with them. As we started out, I began feeling the cumulative impact from the week as I struggled to move my legs on our warm-up lap! I pressed through because I knew we had planned to do the hill intervals that we missed on Saturday and maybe even some of the 30/30 intervals that everyone was saying is so good for you. It genearlly takes me quite a long time to warm up, and just as I was finally getting into the groove and really focusing on matching rythm with Kevin in front of me, disaster once again struck!

In front of the Pizza Pizza stand on the way back from Ontario place on what was just our warm-up lap, Kevin gave out a yelp in from of me. I was tucked in pretty low and tight behind him and I just barely managed to hop over a propane house from a propane truck that was strung out across the trail into the Pizza Pizza stand. Behind me I heard Jay going down and I also caught the sound of his helmet hitting pavement. I turned around to see him sprawled down and not moving. Kevin and I quickly slowed down enough to turn around to see if Jay was okay. We were generally very good as a group at calling out all the obstacles, but in this case, I can understand why Kevin had not really seen it until the very last minue... for one it had not been there a few minutes perviously when we skated by on the way out to Ontario Place, and as we approached it he apparently thought it was just a road-snake. I know he was feeling really badly about Jay's spill.

I know that spills are in inevitable part of inline skating, but I have to admit that I'm also overly squeamish in these kinds of situations, and his fore-arm had road rash and looked like it had started swelling pretty badly and in my mind I was thinking it might have been broken. From the state of his TISC jersey it also looked like his shoulder had taken some impact as well. We determined he was well enough to get him to move off of the train, and a quick look at the front of the helmet showed he had taken enough of an impact to crack it. Jay was a bit upset at the fact that he now had to throw away his relatively new $200 helmet, but upon reflection, we all agreed that it was $200 well spent if you were to put a price on avoiding having your skull cracked versus the helmet. We skated back to his car and I offered to drive to the clinic/hospital, but Jay told me he was well enough to drive. Kevin and I finished off our lap out to the lighthouse and decided we were pretty much done after the second mishap on the MGT this week and that we were better off going to get a couple of Turkey Burgers at Lick's. Something tells me that these hill intervals are just not meant to be this week.

Jay called me later to let me know he was okay and nothing was broken. I was releived. There seems to be an unusualy high amount of spills this year compared to other years. This one just reinforces the fact that you should ALWAYS WEAR YOUR HELMET.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Nature's Path Synergy and Rebound Cereal. Sour Gummies. Mango/Strawberry Smoothie with Ginseng. Banana. Apple. Nectarine. Lick's Gobbler with all the fixin's. Booster Juice with Warrior. Ethiopian flat bread, spicy lentils, green salad with tomato, beans and carrots, turnips, cabbage, beats, and other vegetarian delicacies from Ethiopia. Mango Juice. Ethiopian Coffee with lots of sugar. Creamsicle. Reese Peanut Butter cups.

Gray

2007-08-14T11:39:00.000-04:00

I felt a bit shakey in some poses at Frances noon hour Yoga class at Mount Pleasant today. I'm glad I took the opportunity to stretch things out. Even if I think I feel fine, I think Yoga is an excellent way to tell where your body is truly at in terms of fatigue, the ability to relax, flexibility, and any subtle injuries or strains you might have which you normally wouldn't notice.

I arrived at TISC practice tonight with tired legs. We got there just as the race group was winding down their warm-up. I was happy to see that one of my former Camaleon Inline Club coaches, Camilo was there! I had not seen him since he took off for Europe to skate ice last year. I'm glad to see him back on inline skates. I owe a great deal to Camilo (and his brother Leo and coach Andreas) for taking me to the next level as I transitioned into speed skating from the world of rec/fitness. He's a very supportive guy and very generous with his time and coaching in the two seasons previous that I trained with him. Hopefully we will be seeing more of him at TISC!

I suprised myself at practice tonight by sticking with the drils almost all the way through. Usually when you are tired and dropped by the pack, it can be a bit demoralizing and it's easy to slow down and stop. I tried my best to push through the fatigue and finish the drills... it's probably good training to do so given the fact that I often experience this partway through races. I'm going to try my best to not give up and see the drill through to completion in terms of the time on the track that the rest of the group is doing it. It's often hard to determine which is best for the intention of the drill and what we are working on... to stand up for a lap once you are dropped and wait for the pack to come around and jump right back in, or to continue sloughing it out solo. More often than not today, I'd try my best to latch onto a faster skater like Scott or Sarah and hang on for dear life by trying to match their strides.

We did 3 off/1 on as the first drill, with the powering out of the corner. Not sure if this quite works with the slower folks in the back of the pack however. Then we did the points race for a couple of dozen laps. I found it worked better if I tried to stay near the front each time... I was inevitably overtaken by all the faster people, but it forced them to go around me and allowed me to keep up with them in this format rather than hang in the back and constantly have the gap open up and inevitably get dropped. I managed to stay in for way longer than anticipated.

Kevin bought me dinner for the wheels I gave him, so I ended up overeating again after practice and before bedtime. The Thai food was really really tasty though.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Nature's Path Synergy and Zen Cereal in Soy Milk. Strawberries, bananas and omega 3 Yogurt. pita. Gazpatcho with hot sauce. banana, nectarine. Pad Thai. Hot and Sour Soup. green mango salad. white rice. Fish in spicy sauce. green curry chicken. mango juice.

Chicago Marathon 2006

2007-08-14T02:06:00.000-04:00

After getting rejected from the New York Marathon Lottery system, Jen decided that we should do the Chicago Marathon instead. I have never participated in a race like this before, where there were cheering crowds and entertainers almost the entire time we were on course. I would say that it was a good way to tour Chicago on foot. This would be the Marathon that I recommend for people after Disney.

We managed to run Jen's Godmother Donna in for a new Personal Best.

1st Friday Night Skate. 2005

2007-08-14T01:38:00.000-04:00

My first ever Friday Night Skate was in 2005 when I participated in the kickoff to the 2005 season in early June.

My buddy Jason Strimas did it with me. You can see various TISC/TBN friends like Kevin M, Randy, Richard A, and Mike L in attendance as well.

I can't believe in all my years in Toronto as a Rec Skater I had never heard about this weekly fun skate through the downtown core. I wish I could do this skate more often.

I feel pretty good!

2007-08-13T23:17:00.000-04:00

I actually feel suprisingly good today given the 106km skate yesterday! A bit tired, but none of the muscle soreness I normally feel after most Ultra Distance. It was a bit tougher teaching my Kickboxing class at noon from an endurance standpoint, but I could perform all my moves with no difficulty.

Again, I should not have had such a big meal tonight for dinner before bedtime.

I should consume a majority of my calories in the morning and afternoon.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Strawberries and Yogurt. Vector and Nature's Path Rebound Cereal in Soy Milk. Gazpatcho Soup with hot sauce and pickles. Whole Wheat Pasta with zuccini, onion, mushroom, spinich, veggie soy "ground beef", in pasta sauce and salsa. hot veggie pickles. Frozen Berry, Soy Milk, Greens Eccinicea, vitimin D, banana smoothie. Fish and Flax Oil.

Hamilton Boxing Day 10 Miler 2005

2007-08-13T01:18:00.000-04:00

One would think there is a scarcity of running events in December given the holidays, but there were actually quite a few fun runs out there during the holidays that kept us running in anticipation of the Disney Goofy Challenge in mid January of 2006. The Hamilton Boxing Day 10 Miler was yet another winter run in cold, wet conditions, but it was made pleasant by the running into our good natured friend Martini, who worked with Jen at Texas Instruments. I ended up doing the run with him, and there were some challenging hills on this course! Despite the freezing rain, it turned out to be a much better experience than the New Years 5km we did less than a week later that had Jen and I sliding around in a heavy snow-storm. I found it next to impossible to run in a foot of snow on top of ice.

What I love most about athletic events is the swag, particularly when it departs from the usual t-shirt (my walk-in closet is drowning in race t-shirts). Registering for the Boxing Day 10 Miler earned us those snazzy red quick dry running vests complete with pockets for water bottle and an embroidered snowman.

Montreal Inline Marathon (Festival de la Sante) 2004

2007-08-13T00:47:00.000-04:00

The Montreal Inline Marathon was part of the larger Festival de la Sante Montreal Marathon event at the beginning of September that is geared mostly for runners, but also included cyclists and an inline race. The course was simply wild. Starting on the bridge overlooking the Expo site, down hairpin off-ramps and on-ramps, taking us around the Formula 1 track, over the bridge, along the shore and all around Montreal, including the old city where we skated over cobblestones at one point. For an experienced street skater like me on my old Nike 78mm rec skates, it was a blast.

They cancelled the inline portion of the Festival de la Sante in 2006, which was dissappointing given the fact that this had become my second favourite race after the NCM which kicked off inline season in Ottawa (the NCM cancelled their inline race in 2007). The good news is that this year they are holding an inline race the same weekend out on the Formula 1 track on the same course where Nationals were held last year. Jen and I have tentative plans for her to be running the same time I am skating.

My race finished much earlier than Jen's, so I jumped on coarse to run her in as she approached the end. The photos below are pretty funny because it looks like I am running in the Marathon in my flip flops carrying a huge knapsack containing all my skate gear. I got some strange looks from the folks on the sidelines cheering people into the finish.

Jen and I turned this into an active vacation by bringing our bikes and cycling around Montreal a couple of days later, before heading for Vermont for some hardcore hiking in the mountains. We then returned to Montreal the following weekend to participate in her Uncle Danny's Montreal Triathlon.

The Wellend Canal Trail Mission Report

2007-08-12T22:37:00.000-04:00

A group of us went out to The Welland Canal today in search of a Mythic Trail based around rumour, inuendo, and various cave-drawings that Jay had stumbled across.

Jen got me up after I hit the snooze button. Luckily she had set the alarm on both her watch and her phone as well. We were in bed by 11:00, so I got a pretty decend night's sleep for a change. I met up with Jay in Etobicoke, and we headed for Joel's in Burlington.

The Scooby Gang consisting of Jay, Joel, Stephen, Carla and myself piled into "The Mystery Machine" (Joel's Van) and headed off to the unexplored wilds of the Niagara Wine Region.

I'm happy to report back that there is 42km of skatable trail that is mostly wonderful to skate. However, there are a few portions that are a bit more technical, including sections where gravel is scattered intermittently on otherwise smooth prestine asphalt. There are also quite a few hills including some that require an extra bit of maneuverability. The descent down the escarpment might give some folks trouble. Gates, Railway Tracks, bridges, heavily trafficked intersections, small children, convenience store domestic disputes, and Tourists were all obstacles we encountered along the way. Street Skating skills are highly recommended if you are to undertake the entire trail, however there are smaller sections that are ideal for those who are looking for a skate similar to the Toronto MGT.

The best part of the Welland Canal Trail is the fact that it links up with the Friendship Trail, which adds another 24km of smooth paved surface to skate on.

As for the skate itself, what a wonderful experience it was. According to my GPS, we managed to log in about 106km today. A bit more than our anticipated 84km due to the fact that we decided to add on a portion of The Friendship Trail to the skate at Joel's suggestion to up our mileage to 100km. It turned out to be an excellent idea given how nice the Friendship Trail is. It is built on on old railway bed and is a pleasure to skate given how smooth it is. The only drawback is that there is generally a road cutting across every km or two. I seem to recall most of the Wellend Trail being quite flat other than a few sections, including a steep climb up the escarpment, which led to a quick descent on the way down. We opted to take the road which had a good roll out.

There were a variety of technical challenges which kept it interesting, but you can't beat the scenary on a skate like this. There was suprisingly little traffic along most of our journey given how nice a Trail it was. Luckily we are all skaters of similar ability, so the pack stayed together quite well for the most part. The Gravel was a bit of an issue as well, but no luckily no one fell despite some stumbles. As a group of experienced skaters, I think we were all pretty good about calling the obstacles, and luckily Joel was familiar with the sections along Port Colburn.

We found a couple of nice places to stop... Port Colburn had a Food Basic and 7-11 that we used to fill up our water supply and eat some bananas. We also had a quick break in Thorold for the best Freezie Pop I've ever eaten, just before fun descent down the escarpment.

We were caught out in the rain for the final 10km or so, but it wasn't really that bad. Most of us are experienced at skating in the rain, and it wasn't too heavy.

Upon examination of the Bicycle Map we picked up at the Information Centre, we think it might be possible to do a 130+km loop that would take us down from the start of the Welland Canal to Niagara on the lake, through Niagara Falls, out to Fort Erie (a route I skated back in the days before they cancelled the Casino Niagara Marathon), up the Friendship trail and the final leg would be the 42km of the Wellend Canal.

Again, we'd be undertaking this with the same degree of exploration and wonder that Chris Columbus set out with to discover an Eastern Shipping route to the Orient. I'd imagine the roughest stretch would be the Niagara Parkway between the Falls and Fort Erie, although the short route between Welland and Niagara on the Lake is the major X-Factor at this point.

I'm very much looking forward to our next adventure as we undertake the Niagara Circle Skate!

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Vector and Nature's Path Zen Cereal in Soy Milk. Strawberries and Yogurt. Vanilla Cliff Shot. Cliff Blocks. Freezie Pop. Banana. Apple. Coke. Brownies. half a banana. 2 Lick's Gobbler's with all the fixin's. Frozen Mango/Peach/Pineapple, Greens, Soy Milk, ecchinacia, vitimin D, Soy Milk Smoothie.

Paintball. 1992

2007-08-12T03:19:00.000-04:00

I used to love playing paintball back in the day. I can think of no greater incentive to run than the threat of bruising. I'm sure many more people could be incentivized to join The Cult of Running if they were chased by people brandishing paintball guns. So many people would run their PB's in races while fleeing their coaches brandishing paintball projectile firearms.

With my friend Adam back in 1992 at a fantastic outdoor paintball facility close to Waterloo.

More recent photos from a few weeks ago when we went to play paintball at Sgt Splatters as part of my frined Jason's Stag. Jason is the gentleman below being chased by the woman we hired to (un)dress as a police officer.

Missauga Half Marathon 2005

2007-08-12T00:45:00.000-04:00

This day was memorable because Jen posted a new PB at close to the two hour mark in the half marathon.

Falling Rampage 10km Inline 2005

2007-08-12T00:11:00.000-04:00

The Rolling Rampage earned the nickname "Falling Rampage" as the quality of the pavement had greatly deteriorated from the previous year. It is primarily a wheelchair race, who's participants could easily roll over the rough pavement, potholes and tar snakes that typified the pavement on the stretch of University Ave surrounding Queen's Park. However, for the Inline racers, it was a disaster. My friend and fellow Marathon Dynamics Inline Group member Kevin Mount (in the green below) took a spill on the timing mat around the finish area during the second lap, and I had to leap over him rather than dodge around in order to ensure my timing chip registerered my lap. Kevin only suffered a bit of road rash and finished the race. I later learned from Jen that another friend, Andrew T wasn't so lucky and dislocated his shoulder.

Photos courtesy of Peter and Kevin Noh.

Poor Andrew T!

In the photo below, I know it appears that Dave, Jen and I are cruel and heartless people laughing at Marathon Dynamics Coach Stephen's mishap. He actually was among the few who did not fall, but was simply resting on the comfy comfy concrete immediately following the race.

Despite the conditions of the road, I have to admit that I mourned the loss of this race the following year when there were no Road Races organized at all in the Greater Toronto Area in 2006, let alone a venue in the downtown core! I'm hoping that Queen's Park circle gets paved so that we can return to racing in downtown Toronto in the Rolling Rampage.

Friday Night Skate 2005

2007-08-11T23:55:00.000-04:00

Friday Night Skate happens every Friday night departing at Yonge and Bloor at 10pm sharp, and is run by a gentleman by the name of Anthony who also runs the Toronto Blading Yahoo Group.

Anthony has been leading these skates for a number of years and I started doing it on occassion at the urging of friends like Angela, Richard, Randy (seen in the pic below) and Mike L.

Photos Courtesy of Peter.

There is an entire subculture of urban street skaters that you only see at Friday Night Skate. They are certainly a colourful group of characters.

Angus Glen Half Marathon 2006

2007-08-11T23:08:00.000-04:00

Our second year running this race which takes place in my hometown of Unionville, ON.

Saturday: Stardust, Parties, and Carolyn versus The Fence

2007-08-11T21:28:00.000-04:00

I only got about three hours sleep, but managed to drag myself out of bed just before Kevin arrived at my place around 9:00ish. I quickly scarfed down my breakfast and we headed down to pick up Carolyn. Luckily I remembered to call her enroute... I was greeted with a sleepy voice. All three of us aren't really morning people, and this is a late start compared to the ungodly hours we get up for certain events or group skates.

We parked out at the Etobicoke Bridge and headed out to the Lighthouse as the start of our warm-up. Carolyn had to do six-on and one-off (x6) @ 10% above Marathon pace. Kevin and I were there to push her a little harder than she would normally go when she's solo. My main goal today was to do the hill intervals that Morgan was suggesting, so that I could be better prepared for the climb that everyone is talking about at the New York 100.

The good thing about skating with someone slower than you is that instead of constantly chasing and losing form, I could try and think about technique as opposed to trying to hang on. Kevin once again pointed out that I need to focus more on glide recovery. He suggested I touch my knee to my calf as an excercise. I tried to focus on not bobbing up and down, as well as not toeing out on my recovery.

As we were just finishing off the sixth six-on/one-off, disaster struck. We reached Ontario Place and the end of the new smooth asphalt on the West Portion of the MGT, and I performed the move that I had been doing previously... scootching through the grassy divide which slowed me down a bit before taking the 180 degree sharp turn. This time around, Carolyn was following directly behind me. I realized I was taking the corner a bit too sharply and did an extra crossover to avoid a cement base... I heard a crash behind me as Carolyn slid into the big metal fencing. I turned to see her with her skate stuck underneath the fence and she had also suffered a bit of road rash on the knee. She had to remove her foot from her boot and Kevin managed to pull the skate free. Unfortunately, she soon discovered that the collision (or getting the skate out from under the fence) had loosened her frame, and we did not have the proper skate-tool on us to fix it. As she started to scooter back with us, we asked a few people if they had a skate-tool. Fortunately one pair did... Unfortunately by this time we discovered the frame bolt had fallen off of her boot! I thought it was going to be an impossible task, however after searching up and down the path, Kevin somehow managed to find it closer to the crash site. As Kevin set to work on the frame, I decided it was time for something cold in this sweltering heat and quickly stumbled across the Dicky Dee guy cycling nearby and got us some creamsicles and some paper napkins to help clean out Carolyn's road rash.

It turns out that even with the bolt, the tool the friendly rec-skaters supplied us was also the incorrect one. At that point Morgan and Sarah skated by us. They did not have any skate tool either. So we set about scootering all the way back to the car. I worked on my glide-recovery a little bit more.

We passed Morgan and Sarah again as they were bombing up and down the hill that led to the pedestrian bridge... it turned out that Morgan's suggestion wasn't to do the regular hill leading up to the Tennis Courts, but that crazy-ass hill that has you bombing down into a merge with the MGT. I think I'll bring my kneepads when we go try this next time. Carolyn's run-in with the fence was enough adventure for today and we had to get her back home in time for her lunch-date.

I stopped to get a Slushie and was really enjoying it when Morgan and Sarah whizzed by me once again at what looked to be a pretty reasonable pace. I decided to latch on and enjoyed the ride back to the car with them, although I'm hoping I was not spilling my Slushie all over Sarah's legs as I was tucked in behind them.

Today's lesson #1:
Slow down for those 180 degree turns.

Today's lesson #2:
Always bring the proper skate-tool.

Today's lesson #3:
Always make sure you have some Looneys and Tooneys with you in case the Ice Cream guy rides past you.

It ended up being a pretty casual skate for me, although it was probably good that I didn't wear out my legs too much given our tentative plans for 84km the next day. Hopefully I can get some proper hill work in this week.

With a birthday party and a house-warming that evening, I made the mistake again of overeating at night before I was going to go to sleep. Despite the fact that we were having a pretty good time at the parties, I'm glad Jen got us out of there and into bed snuggly by 11:00pm given the 5:45 wake-up to get me to my rendezvous with Jay in Etobicoke, out to Joel's and then off the our adventure exploring the Wellend Canal Trail.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Strawberries and Omega 3 Yogurt. Vector and Power Cereal in Soy Milk. Burger King French Fries and hamburger. Ice tea. 1/2 flask of Strawberry, Banana and Orange Juice. Rosti with Sausage. Salmon Fillet with rice pilaf. peach and tomato brusheta, strawberries. Sushi.

On a Patio after Body Combat Class!

2007-08-11T03:04:00.000-04:00

Here I am with some of the participants of a noon hour kickboxing class I had just taught at Manulife. It was one of those rare occassions we had decided to go out afterwards to hang out on a patio to get some lunch and enjoy the nice weather.

With Shimamura, Kanako, and Melanya (who has become a Goodlife instructor).

DISNEY HALF MARATHON 2005

2007-08-10T23:43:00.000-04:00

The very first running Marathon I did without Jen. She was doing the Full Marathon, and at that point I had not yet done one of those and opted for the half instead of waiting on the sidelines to cheer her on. What a fun race this was. I generally don't like running, but this event is so entertaining and everyone seems to be in such great spirits, despite the crowded conditions of the Course.

My friend Scott from the Marathon Dynamics Inline Group who also ran the half (while his wife was doing the full) dropped me an email commenting that I probably would have come in at a better time if I didn't stop so often to get my picture taken with all the Disney characters. I figured what's the point in doing this race if you don't keep stopping to have your picture taken with the Disney characters?

Little did I know at the time I would be returning to this event the following year for the Goofy Challenge!

Montreal Defi 2004

2007-08-10T22:49:00.000-04:00

128km around the Island of Montreal in the cold and the wet. My first Ultra-Distance Marathon. The Defi was ultimately a very challenging and positive experience for me. It was the first time I skated an event in the rain. I actually wore that shell in the picture below for the entire race... not exactly the most aerodynamic setup. If my TISC teammates find all the gear I have strapped to me in races these days funny, they should have seen all the stuff I used to lug around with me back then.

I remember that many Toronto area skaters that had been planning on doing the event bailed when the rain reports came in and it was only Randy D, Paul Ho and myself the headed down to do it that year. I was hoping to skate with them, but in the darkness of the start line, they were no where to be found! Luckily as skidded our way through the darkness of the recreational trail, I managed to find a familiar face. Rod Willmot, a native of Montreal whom I had met and skated with earlier that year at the Toronto Inline Race Weekend.

You can read Rod Willmot's excellent report of the race at the Defi site. It was really nice of him to give me a shout out in there. I have not seen him in the past couple of years at races and wonder how he's doing.

Being completely unfamiliar with the course, particularly in the utter blackness and illuminated with the occassional road flare, Rod tucked in behind me and talked me through every obstacle that flew at me in the darkness. He knew that the wooden bridge would be slippery, where to avoid the crotch-level posts around La Chine, which turns to take. We skated into the brilliant sunrise. We slipped in and out of packs made up of various skaters up until the third section when disaster struck and a few skaters went down and Rod and I were seperated.

From there is was pretty lonely for me, and I even got lost at the far tip of the Island when I didn't turn where I should have! Luckily I ran into another duo, a man and a woman who only spoke french and were as lost as I was, and I followed them back onto the course. We picked up and lost the occassional skater, and in the final stretch from downtown onwards, only the french woman and I were left. She was incredibly strong for a small female and did the Lion's Share of the pulling in that tough back end into the wind. I later found out from the results her name was Laurence Leraitre from France, and if I ever run into her again, I owe her a drink.

I got my taste for the Ultra-Distance races at this point, and I am hoping to get back there this year after missing the 2006 Defi. Although it looks like support for these kind of events is dwindling as fewer people register in them. I have been hoping to eventually be able to get the bragging rights to completing the triple-crown of the three major Fall Ultra-Distance events in one year... A2A, New York 100 and the Defi, but the logistics have thus far eluded me. Hopefully these events will continue long enough for me to accomplish that goal!

I believe the photo is courtesy of Peter once again.

I'm always amazed at how happy I look in pictures following Ultra Distance Inline Events. I wonder what I look like when I'm 3/4 of the way through them?

Gazpatcho Day

2007-08-10T14:26:00.000-04:00

I stopped by Pasta Pantry to stock up on Gazpatcho. Carlo finally asked what I did with all those jars of Soup. I told him that I eat it for lunch every day. I'm working under the assumption of course that it's pretty healthy stuff, particularly the Black Bean Gazpatcho. Although there is no ingrediant list so who knows how much salt and oil is really in stuff this tasty. I'm always sad when Winter comes around and they no longer make it. Maybe I should special order a batch this year. I wonder how many jars I'd have to buy and if it would keep all Winter.

The common denominator in everyone's cross-training program at TISC these days seems to be cycling on their "off" days. I'm going to try to fit in some spinning during the week. I went to St Clair at noon hour today and kept the resistance pretty low and tried to keep my legs moving to "spin out the lactic acid" as Jen puts it (I'm still not sure what that means). I'm always amazed that I can build up a sweat this way when it doesn't feel like I'm hardly working at all, although perhaps this is what they mean by a recovery workout on your "off day".

I wish I could go to Yoga tonight in anticipation of the mileage I'm putting on this weekend, but I promised a friend who's a complete newbie to rec-skating that I'd take him out on the trail to show him how to stop.

I've been thinking of the concept of "grazing" lately and I don't think I'm doing it properly. It goes back to my problems with portion control. If it is in front of me, then I'm going to eat it. So instead of light snacking throughout the afternoon, I think I'm actually eating a whole bunch of lunches.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
apple. banana. Gatpatcho with hot sauce. Popcorn.

Circus School 1997-1999

2007-08-10T14:21:00.000-04:00

What kid doesn't want to runaway and join the Circus?

I went to Circus School. I invite you to invent your own punchline.

I'd always been lean throughout most of high school and University. Imagine my dismay at discovering I had gained twenty pounds during the first year of my first sedentary desk job in "The Real World" following my year as a starving artist/filmmaker.

I always hated the gym... doing weights and machines was not my idea of fun, but the Jewish Community Centre down the street had a discount rate for students, so I joined by using my old Queen's University Student ID. While I was there one evening, I spotted a poster for Circus oriented classes that they held at the JCC. The next day I had coffee at the Second Cup patio with Susan, one of my former room-mates at Queen's, and I mentioned this to her. In one of the many many sets of bizarre coincidences in my life, Susan mentioned that her friend and current room-mate Elliot was an instructor at the Circus School. Even more of a coincidence was the fact that Elliot happened to be walking down the street at that very moment, and Susan called him over and introduced him to me. He invited me out to check out a class that week. At that point, I figured I was riding on the synchronicity highway as usual and decided to see where it would take me.

A couple of days later, I wandered into the gymnasium at the JCC, and was astounded to see all manner of Circus contraptions set up. It was like a playground for grown-ups! A trapeze hung from the ceiling, as well as ropes and hoops and silks and harnesses, trampolines, springboards, lines for tightrope walking, large metal wheels for people to ride around in, juggling balls and pins, and tumbling mats set up. I was hooked. Not that I was very co-ordinated or naturally talented, but I was persistant and didn't mind doing a hundred face-plants off the springboard into the large crash mat. I learned to juggle, walk the wire, a little bit of trapeze, tricks on the trampoline, how to ride the large metal wheel, some tumbling and finally figured out how to do a cartwheel.

I slowly got more fit, flexible and gained some skills along the way, and had the time of my life doing it.

It also helped me form my basic philosophy around fitness... that you should seek out the activities you love doing and have fun doing in order to create an active lifestyle that you can maintain and will want to pursue. No amount of gym memberships or jogging will be sustainable if you are not enjoying yourself. When you are no longer having fun, it's time to move on to better things.

My passion for Martial Arts and Rock Climbing eventually overtook the time I could commit to Circus School, although I did go back a few years ago with Jen to the new facility in the Globe and Mail building and did a class. I learned that I've lost most of the flexibility and that you do lose your skills and ability if you don't keep practicing at it. I did manage to make it all the way across the wire after some initial awkwardness. I doubt I could still do a proper flip on the trampoline or springboard, although I might still be able to do a cart-wheel.

I joined Florida Jack's Boxing Gym around the same time, and two in tandem really got me in the best shape of my life at that time, and on the road to athletic activity that I still maintain today. I'm still not a gym-person, but the discovery of fitness classes keeps me going... i barely ever touch the machines in the six years I've been a member/instructor at the Goodlife.

I wish I had photos or video from that period at the Circus School.

This photo was taken in 1998 in the Annex by my filmmaking partner and room-mate Emily.

The suit was the one I wore to work at that time.

Wish I could Sleep In

2007-08-09T15:09:00.000-04:00

The threat of rain loomed over practice once again, but it turned out to be nice and dry.

A very large group tonight at TISC which was encouraging given the fact that it's the middle of August. Nice and easy warm-up today even though I started to feel it in my back. I wish I had gone to Yoga today to stretch things out. At the tail end of warm-up, Peter went over the drill again where we block everyone going into the corner and then power out.

We did what was called an Elimination Race, which I confused with a points race (although I could have sworn they initially said we were doing a points race). Not having done much racing on the track and not understanding the different variations, I spent much of the time confused and wasting my energy, also not knowing when to go and not to go, but that could have been more of a communication issue with the group I was skating with. It appears the best strategy for an elimination race is to hang back... the only person you need to beat is the person in the back of the pack until you are down to two and then you sprint it out in the final lap. However it becomes even more confusing when it's a double elimination race. You have to keep track of who has been eliminated once, and then once the other two (of the four) have been eliminated, the final two immediately have one lap to race it out. Since I tried to keep myself at the front of the pack, it's hard to keep track of who's getting eliminated behind you. There were times when I could have sworn someone got eliminated, but there they were skating in the group. There is also no benefit to being first in the elimination rounds it seems (unless you are wanting to get a good workout) because you are immediately sent to the back and need to fight to get back to the front. I don't think I am strategic enough for these kind of races. It would have been interesting to go one group at a time so that the guys at the back end of the racing group could observe what the two faster packs were doing and what kind of strategy was going on, and even the mechanics of how a double elimination race works. What Peter described Jesse did in their group (I believe a variation on the jamming that Jesse was describing to me the previous week) would have been interesting to watch in action.

We did a drill focused solely on powering out at the corner. I tried to keep in mind how you can try and anticipate when the person at the front tends to make their move.

The final drill we were given a choice as to do 1 1/2 laps on 2 1/2 off, or more of a "Marathon" style. Since I'm on the track to work on my sprinting, I opted for the first option. I managed to hang in for the first few, but got dropped on the final two.

The final cooldown was a good excercise for me. I found myself behind Travis who was behind Peter. I tried to focus on following Peter's stride. It's always been hard for me to be more aware of what's going on further up the pack instead of focusing on just the stride of the person in front of me.

The top TISC skaters are off to World's once again. I wish them the best of luck. Morgan says he's going to focus on Marathon strategy over the next few weeks when he steps in to coach. I'm looking forward to that given the Fall events are coming up in just a few weeks.

Of course after a hard workout, I undid all the good by stuffing myself full of butter chicken!

I really need to start upping the ante on my training. I've been feeling pretty lazy lately. I have no where near the volume of skating in previous years that I generally use to build up my endurance... particularly when it comes to the Ultra-Distance events. I'm still trying to decide about the New York 100, but I'd like to at least do the Defi again since it's within driving distance. Morgan had some suggestions for hill training for the NY100 that I should try out.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Vector and Nature's Path Zen and Rebound Cereal in Soy Milk. Orange Juice. Pickle. 2 sandwiches on Flax bread with veggie salami and veggie cheese. popcorn. apple. pita. butter chicken, garlic naan. saag lamb. rice. mango lassi.

Taiko Performance. 2002.

2007-08-09T00:34:00.000-04:00

I spent a couple of years playing Taiko, which involved hitting large Japanese drums with thick wooden sticks.
I found it an incredibly physically demanding activity.

As I become more involved in inline skating, I found I had less time for other fun activities like this. Although I would often skate from my apartment in the Annex down to the Yakudo studio at Lakeshore and Islington.

This performance took place at the Japanese Cultural Centre near Don Mills and Eglinton on June 22nd in 2002 as part of the Caravan Multicultural festival.

Friends who came out to watch me perform.

Toronto 2 Hamilton Inline. 2001

2007-08-09T00:22:00.000-04:00

Flashback to a time when I didn't even know there were inline skating marathons or even people who raced on inline skates! In 2001 I had been recreational road-skating for about ten years.

For many years, I had been making Rollerblade trips from Toronto to Hamilton (and beyond) along the waterfront trail as a rec-skater.

In October of 2001 I made the trek out with my buddy Kisoo Lee who still rec-skates these days.

PORT CREDIT. Phoning Jen!

BURLINGTON.

Hamilton.

Check out my old-school Nike Rec Skates! (missing a wheel of course)

Angus Glen 1/2 Marathon 2005

2007-08-09T00:14:00.000-04:00

Angus Glen is a Golf Course in my home-town of Unionville.

Another wet race. Things are starting to dry off as we approach the finish.