Calais rd and Wicks rd

Going to Sharon Cryslers Hill training on Saturday morning, coming to a bunch of mail boxes on Calais Rd  I parked,Besides the  mail boxes the  trails start.  Its amazing how many little parks there are that nobody really sees.  Half a  dozen people showed up , Ceevacs running club had a different run going on in Maple  bay , we started  with a slow warm  up run and coming to the top of a hill we stopped and looking down this hill and Sharon says here's wear we are doing our repeats, It was a good spot with a trail going   around the side to the bottom again , there was no speed involved just make it to the top , recover when you go down hill and start over again using a short stride, landing on the front of your feet and jog up swinging your arms to keep your legs moving we did this for an hour , then it was back to our cars, and to Maple bay tennis court were we parked our cars and chanced into biking gear  I had taken out Kristels road bike pumped up the tires rode the bike to Chemainus and back the night before , So I  knew the bike was in good form it was only me that had to get used to switching gears, braking and being    clipped in your foot-pedals ,being able to get your foot loose when something happens our when you have to stop, then there was the cloud of dust that had collected on the bike by not  being ridden for some time, The bike seat was set up perfect and feels better then my Mt bike seat and I didn't get saddle sore at all.  We did  around 30 k.m a round trip to westholme and back to Maple bay,--- Good I keep up to Sharon?? No- Not having  ridden in 10 years or so , She even felt sorry and slowed down a bit and I  still had to stand on the pedals  to keep up although I should learn how to use the gears so I can stay seated and let the bike do more of the work.

Parksville Beach

 

  Riley Being chased by an other bumper boat

Dodging an other round of fire

Riley firing away with water cannon

 Minny golf  waiting for Simon to catch up

 Riley rushing to see were his shot ends

Back on the beech with endless channels and streams to play in

 Making a channel to help the tide get up the beech faster

Tide coming up faster on a  flat  beach then you can run.

Nanaimo Paddle Fest

Waiting in between heats took most of the day.

Our out rigger paddlers decided to take on the Dragon boat paddlers , having to paddle 500 m ,for some of us it was the first time in a dragon boat paddling to the starting line , waiting for some one to tell us to paddle on the other side but it never happened , we had to paddle on one side the whole way.  We won the first heat by 23 seconds, After a couple of heats our nearest rival was Save On Foods Dragon Slayers. The third heat we had 3 boats in it we ended up in the centre lane, the wind had picked up the tide had gone down and the water was a bit choppier . We  had a slight lead over the Save on foods boat , till we  hit shallow water and the boat slowed down and you could see  Save on pulling ahead , we pulled harder and cut out of the sucky water and slowly pulled even again, steering  towards the Save on foods boat seeing they had the deeper water  and the advantage, At the finish we didnt know who won till we got to the score keeper and we won in a time of 2.28.78 and save on time was 2.29.89. So it was an exciting  finish. and a good paddle.

 Waiting for the rain that never appeared

Okay how many people can we get on the dock
 Start of a new heat.

22 people per boat
 20 paddling 1 steering,and 1-cracking the whip or calling the time.

Campbell river boat trip

Results of one race-- And pictures from this weekend Island iron race

Chocolate, medal and watch 

Part of the Nanaimo outrigger  team

 Close to twenty  teams from  the island and main land took part in the-- Island Iron race . which was se-posed to be 17 k.m but because of the strong winds and rough ocean was cut back to 12k.m  starting  in Cadboro bay.

Woman team getting the outrigger to the water

Teams getting warmed up for the race

6 people per outrigger

The start of the race , push out rigger from beach into water and paddle

The start, with winds gusting up to 25 knots

It didn't take long , before some of these hats would be blown of and
and left to drift .

It looks nice and calm , But further out the waves were coming from all directions

the end of the Island Iron-- race

Snow To Surf race.

Eric and me after his stage
he is still holding me up.

Me clowning around at the start of the race

        
Driving up the Mt Washington rd it got foggier and foggier and talking to the skiers later it was no  problem for them the ski trails seemed to be okay although they had to look out for the ice under the snow. meanwhile the
runners were waiting in a fog belt which kept our visibility to a  minimum and wearing my classes it was more foggier seeing my classes were fogging up, Getting the arm band from the skier went okay having to run up a bank through snow and other runners that were waiting for their skier. The adrenalin had kicked in and it was no problem getting to the first incline before a 7 k.m down hill run. I had no problem here my cadence was good lots of push of to get my stride extended a bit, and it seemed I was motering along at a good speed  I stayed away from the edge of the road were all the gravel was scatered and was running close by the white line, after a couple of k.m I realized that my turn over was way to fast for what I had trained for but I couldnt seem to slow down, the road seemed a lot steeper going down then it did on the way up and my legs  seemed like they were ready to get ahead  of me. I hadnt trained for this the most down hill running I had done was sitting on a stationary bike  doing speed work ,  which only lasted a couple of minutes not 25 min of hard nose to the stone running down hill with no stops or water breaks and  the odd time I would run down the lagoon which only takes a few minutes , no there is nothing like running down a hill staying upright and keeping your arms swinging in time with your feet turn over not trying to step in a pot hole  as you flay your arms-from side to side to  side, ah-hah missed an other dip in the pavement or a small rock which looks like a huge boulder as you come roaring up to it,  By this time my arms- hands were  getting cold and trying to flex my fingers to get some  blood pumping in them instead of just my legs  that were screaming at me to slow down, and I was starting to think how the heck am I going to get the arm band off my arm to pass on to the next runner if I couldn't even open or close my hands to tug at the arm band on my arm.  I slowed down walked a few steps I think, and passing  a corner I saw the pylons of the finishing chute   and started to  run a bit   Only to be met by Eric  asking me if I was okay ",Of course you-re going to say Hey I feel great even though you're ready to drop" He took the arm band of my arm and started to run his stage. I dont think I knew were the heck I was I just Know my guardian angel Gail took me to the finish and walked me around drinking some fluids  and I  warmed up , got the blood flowing through my body and I was okay again although the  next day I was pretty stiff.  I  Had a good run my lack of proper training and thinking it wouldn't be a tough run seeing it was down hill .. How hard could it be.. ------  was my fault, Sticking to a low impact training schedule and not putting in the proper miles and running a lot faster in a race then I ever do training, After all my running I should know by now that there is nothing better then training for your race  running the hills and trails If its a down hill race do your down hill running so that your  legs and body know how it's going to feel and you dont feel knackered at the end of your race. Our team did great, we finished 9 th out of 180 teams and first in our age group  and beat our closest rival  by a good 6 min  We Had our laughs and shared memories with friends  drank our beer and went home.

Did a nice run this  past  weekend

in Lynn valley were there is a beautiful park with all kind of trails

Graham and me taking a breather 

We ran along a trail besides the river and after a couple of k.m turned  turned right and ended on steep climb you could almost call this part a miniature grouse grind It was steep ,and at spots rocky and rooty, board walks to run over , all leading up to a good work out and a good sweat. the bottom trails were full of runners but getting to the peak the trails were  not busy and on the way down we were on a different trail which was well groomed so it didnt take long to get back down .  this is a great park with lots of trails and just to enjoy Lynn creek that runs through-the Park. has lots of pick nick areas to enjoy.

Crazy 8 Race

This is an outrigger race around Newcastle and Protection Is , its around 11 1/2 km the fastest time is around one hr and eight min. that would mean you would do around 10 000 strokes for each paddler in the  boat for the race, so at the end of the race your arms are either going to feel like a wind mill or they are ready to fall off, so it takes a bit of training to keep these boats moving in the water the wind- waves and currents you have to paddle through , then the bow person not only sets the pace the speed at which you paddle they also  keep their eyes open to look for debris that is in the water

 

The course

O-kay were Is my boat.

Warming up

Always time for" how I would have done it"

The captain -- controller-  starter and time keeper

Nanaimo boat 

Yellow flag 5 minute warning to start

Checking out the competition

 free for all , trying to get clear 

Nanaimo outrigger  coming first by a mile in mixed division

How many people does it take to load a outrigger on a trailer --- many

The last race

Snow to Surf

I committed myself to running for { Ace of Pace}A  team from Comox who wants to move up from twelfth overall to be in the top ten off all the teams. So nothing like a little bit of pressure  to stay healthy and in running shape I have picked up my training  trying to get my speed back on track although this is  harder then I thought , I havent picked up my mileage but am working on a faster turnover,  concentrating on pushing off with my feet as soon as they land on the ground , making sure that I land more on the ball off my feet, this helps me to lean slightly forward and  move forward sooner. My running stage is about 8 1/2 K.M Its after  the skier  and the xcountry skier finish their stages then I run down the Strathcona Parkway  it starts with a slight up hill  then a 6k.m down hill and finishes with a k.m or so undulating , which in running means its not easy, Down hill running sounds ok although you have to stay relaxed not do long strides by hurting your quads although they will be a bit sore any way,  not lean back and dig in with your heals ,   I think when running down the Parkway it,s best to stay relaxed and This way I hope to find my own form- pace -and stride. I'm also working on pushing down with my elbows to slow down , Its like pretending I'm having weights on my elbows  to slow me down when I go to fast down hill. This way I  dont place to much pressure on my knees and quads as I run down hill. I have started taking spin classes which help me a lot with turnover and having a faster pace and no sore legs  which is a bonus , I'm only the third stage of the relay  there are six more after me so  its a lot off organizing and planning to get every one on board , I'm glad Im only doing the first running stage.

My Hike

It seems I never  get tired of this scene , Its along  the old water line from Stocking Lake
The clear field is Porters Farm

Here sections of the old water line break through the surface and when riding your
Mt bike down the trail  this can get slippery.

Getting close to where the trail turns in to an old logging road I decided to
 bushwhack down the Mt only to be  untop of a bluff which I had to manoeuvre around
to get down the Mt..

I wonder how many people are still doing their New Years resolutions our have forgotten about them realizing its a lot easier not to bother with them, I started out slow  with my running and have kept my running to a minimum although I did do the Holland creek trail on one side and along the power line and back home again, its about a fourteen k.m run half on the road and the other half on trails.   Gail has also convinced me to go to spin classes, were we spent half an hour on stationery bikes doing   different speed  exercises  and different  road scenarios, some of the times we have to go and stand on the peddles   to  peddle this you do to different counts then you sit down for a  few counts  all the while peddling and then up again the first time I sat down I did it with out thinking  only to  be reminded-that I  had more then my legs below my waist, after that I just pretended to lean back and sit especially if the count was short. After an half an hour we do core and upper body strength, sometime I'm sure that the instructor must get a good laugh  looking my way seeing  she mentioned that sometime she tries  not to look at people  this throws her of her rhythm , no wonder my arm and legs are   going every but the right way Oh well I get just as good a laugh out of this. Yesterday I went for a hike going over some of the trails   I  used to do but are getting over crown with salel and are hard to find at spots so I placed some new ribbon along the trail It was nice hiking through the woods and I'm sure Buddy thought the same.