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Hawaiian Cruise With NCL Pride of America – Part 1

Since our Disney Cruise 2 years ago, we wanted another Disney experience, and the intention was to visit the Aulani resort; unfortunately, it was entirely booked up for Christmastime by September so we decided to stick with Hawaii and try our luck with cruising again.

Shark Boy is a veteran traveller…

Arrival in Honolulu – Hilton Hawaiian Village

We flew into Honolulu with a pleasant, direct flight from Toronto and checked in to the Hilton Hawaiian Village. It’s a huge resort, and our room in the Rainbow tower had a lovely ocean view. There are several swimming pools and access to the beach as well as a sheltered lagoon where stand up paddleboards can be rented. I’m going to try and hold back from complaining about how expensive everything was throughout these stories, as this seemed to apply to Hawaii in general. Let me just say that Starbucks was the most reasonable breakfast option, and it wasn’t that reasonable.

Rainbow in Waikiki
So many rainbows in Hawaii… this one had the most intense colours I’ve ever seen.

Scuba Dive

The day after arriving I went on a 2 tank dive with Aloha Scuba. This was quite possibly the best dive I have ever been on, and while I always regret not being able to get good photos of my dives, this was the day that made me vow to get a GoPro before my next dive. The first dive was the Nautilus reef off Waikiki beach. The reef is beautiful, and I seemed to have a talent for spotting Moray eels, in fact, it was the first time I saw one swimming in the open rather than poking out from a hole in a reef. We had discussed the common hand signals for wildlife found in the area, and the one for dolphins struck me as weird – you point to your ear. During the dive, I found out why; you hear dolphins squeak before you see them. They were beautiful black and blue and seemed to fly across our field of vision like a flock of birds. This dive was about 45 minutes at a depth of approximately 54 feet.

The next dive site was a wreck known as the YO 257, though we managed to look at another called San Pedro on the same dive. Our dive group managed to co-star in the cellphone videos of passengers aboard an Atlantis Submarine tour – if you were on that vessel, the dork doing an underwater floss dance was me. In addition to getting a great up-close view of the vessel, I was within 15 feet of a white tip reef shark and I saw a trio of beautiful eagle rays. Apparently a tiger shark has been seen nearby, but I’ll tell you I was fine missing out on that. We spent 24 minutes at a depth of approximately 95 feet. The divemaster was very generous with advice on controlling my buoyancy and being more efficient with my energy which leads to less air use and longer dive times, but I was still the first one low on air. We snacked on fresh pineapple between dives and on the way back, and I’d recommend Aloha Scuba to anyone who is diving the Waikiki Beach area.

Last Night In a Hotel…

Once I got back to the hotel, I took the boys swimming in one of the hotel pools. We found the water cold, but we didn’t care too much since we’re Canadians just happy to be able to swim outdoors! I took Shark Boy to one of the little tuck shops and sprung for a little ball that we could play catch with; it served us well on every subsequent beach we visited. We had a long wait for service at our dinner restaurant and the jet lag was kicking in. The Lightning Kid fell asleep at the table while I waited for dessert, and my wife and Shark Boy went back to the hotel room to watch a fireworks display. I was still waiting for dessert when the fireworks went off and nearly scared me to death – hearing fireworks without seeing them isn’t really fun in my books. I still managed to enjoy a night-time walk on the beach with Shark Boy though.

Knocked out.

That same Jet Lag had us up early and to the beach after breakfast, but not for too long because we were checking out and boarding by noon. We tried to game the ideal boarding time – the sooner we arrive, the sooner we can take advantage of food we’ve already paid for, but by coming later, I wonder if we could have avoided the longer line-ups to clear security etc.

The overall route/itinerary

The mood on board was very friendly and festive, and it wasn’t long before we were enjoying the feeling of the seas rolling beneath our feet. We managed to book almost every excursion we had wanted on board that evening in spite of being shut-out of them when trying to book online.

Port of Kahului on Maui – Day 1

Our first excursion was to board a catamaran and snorkel the famous Molokini Crater and a site known as Turtle Arches. The cruise was operated by the Pacific Whale Foundation (which is apparently non-profit) and it made considerable effort to be environmentally friendly including providing reef-safe sunscreen and controlling/reducing garbage. The guides were fun and friendly (especially with kids). They provided extra floatation gear including pool noodles or vests or whatever you were comfortable with. At Molokini, the Black Triggerfish were the most friendly fish; even though you are not permitted to feed them, they live long enough to remember when they would get fed and swim right up to snorkelers. I think we also saw Yellow Tang and Parrotfish.

Turtle Arches was the second stop on the catamaran cruise. We were enjoying the snorkelling but weren’t seeing any turtles, and we were about to return to the boat when Shark Boy said he had seen one; I was skeptical because the last near-sighting turned out to be a rock. Sure enough, not 50 feet from the boat’s exit for snorkelers was a giant sea turtle – it must have been at least 5 feet in diameter. I was able to dive down and get a side view of it (from a respectable distance, we are not to disturb them), and while I was telling another family about where to find it, I noticed it coming to the surface for air! They are really magical creatures – those black eyes seem to exude this calm wisdom.

When we got back to the ship we had some downtime and put the kids into the onboard kids’ club called Splash Academy. Shark Boy was a little underwhelmed by it at first; as the week went on he found it improved because they had more ‘active’ activities, though I suspect it was also because he started making friends. He also expects to be given free rein instead of being roped into structured activities (on the Disney cruise of 2 years ago, the kids club had video games and screens if he didn’t want to participate). My wife and I enjoyed a date night at the onboard Churrascaria, where you are served select meats (usually from a skewer) until you turn a little card over from its green to the red side to say ‘No More!’. The kids club called us just as dinner started to let us know the Lightning Kid was falling asleep (again). I had asked if he could just lie down on one of their mats but they apparently reserve that space for active play and couldn’t accommodate that. Still, I refused to leave our date just as it was getting started and asked them to manage him till we could finish – what else are we paying for except for them to keep our kids safe for a little while?

Port of Kahului, Maui – Day 2

Our second excursion was a Rainforest and Waterfall Hike. I’m very happy that our family has evolved into hikers over the last year or so – all we needed was for the Lightning Kid’s legs to get strong and long enough! A bus took us on part of the Hana highway till we reached the trailhead – apparently, the trail is on a private farm property, but the owners allow hiking tours because they are “hippies”. We hiked through the rainforest and learned about the local ecology – Hawaii seems to be dominated by invasive species (at least when you look at it from an evolutionary timeframe – a few thousand years ago even the wildest parts would have looked entirely different). We saw the Bird of Paradise flower, bananas, and other plants.

The most amazing botanical sight was the Mimosa Pudica or ‘shy’ Mimosa. This plant actually shrinks and ‘shies’ away when touched.

Of course, we are a family of action! So the best parts weren’t plantlife, they were the waterfalls where we got to cool off with a swim! We visited 3 distinct locations with waterfalls and pools to swim in. On some, you could climb the rocks and jump in.

Back on board, we took time out to find out how to navigate the ship’s internet plan. Internet access is limited by time and not usage (megabytes) and you have to formally log on and off to stay within your time limit. There didn’t seem to be very flexible options to increase or adjust the access so for the most part, we stayed offline. Our date night dinner was in the Italian Restaurant – I think this was the best food of the entire cruise but somehow I got too full to finish. I must have filled up at lunch – overall the food was excellent and varied on the Pride of America.

Stay tuned for Part 2 where we visit the Big Island of Hawaii and Kauai.

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2020 Vision

This site hasn’t had a post since May of 2018; not a single post in 2019. What happened?

Short answer, this blog has generally been about the things I do for fun and exercise, and it feels like there hasn’t been as much of that to write about. Of course, the short answer leaves a fair bit out of the story.

I guess the long answer would have to be broken down a little. Let’s move from the outside in: We moved in August, and we love our new house (and pool!) and the neighbourhood seems to present all kinds of new adventures. I even wrote a list of things I want to try in the new neighbourhood.

My wife has launched her career as a mental health professional, and it’s one of the biggest joys in my life to see how she’s really in her element helping others. Mental health is becoming something we are starting to pay more and more attention to in our society, and I hope to use this blog platform to be part of that increased awareness and education… more on that in a bit.

One of the things I used to brag about in this space was how I would balance parenting and exercise/training, but I confess that had gotten harder. I used to find ways to train with the kids (perhaps by pushing/pulling them in the Chariot – we have since handed that down to family with younger children than ours). I found my time being monopolized by chauffeuring the kids to their own hobbies and activities. Mind you, I couldn’t be prouder of them – Shark Boy is a competitive gymnast with a top ten ranking in the province, and the Lightning Kid is currently participating in Hip Hop Dance and a ‘Ninjaz’ class that combines gymnastics, obstacle course work and martial arts. Earlier this year he played soccer and was a Beaver Scout while I was the ‘contact Scouter’ of that Beaver Colony.

My old injury, the herniated disc flared up in a really terrible way, probably due at least in part to my declining strength and fitness. It got so that I couldn’t ride a bike or even sleep on my side without painkillers, and when I finally started physio after trying chiropractic and massage for relief, I did start to see improvement in the pain, though I experience intermittent tingling in my left arm still. My exercise efforts are mostly about rehab, and those exercises aren’t terribly exciting. I’m reluctant to add much load to my upper body until I know things are stable and solid.

I haven’t mentioned my struggles with depression on the blog, but as I mentioned the increased awareness about mental health issues is something I want to take part in. The way depression robs you of motivation (both to exercise or create blog posts) has been a contributing factor in the decline of the Iron Rogue – lately, “lying down is my favourite” is practically a catch-phrase for me.

What is to come?

Moving forward, there will be some changes around here. The first thing will be less triathlon content – I haven’t lost the love of it, but I think my more immediate goals in endurance will be simpler – more running, possibly some trail running.

I’m going to look at that list of neighbourhood adventures I wrote and start ticking things off the list. I have already had some classes at Free Run Inc. (an obstacle course racing fitness club) including Boxing!

Family travel reviews will be a part of the blog; we have an upcoming cruise to Hawaii and I will post an incomplete memoir of our Disney Cruise from 2 years ago for contrast and comparison (last year’s vacation was a trip to Jay Peak Ski Resort – I doubt I have enough material recorded to do it justice, but we’ll see).

On the mental health front, I hope to discuss some treatments I have used to manage stress and depression, even if they are just productivity/motivation hacks and self-care methods.

I hope to have you as a reader of my next chapters.

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Disney Eastern Carribean Cruise on the Fantasy (2018) – Active Family Travel Review

This trip occurred in late April 2018.  I am posting the unfinished draft, with the knowledge that I’ll never finish it, and my memory of missing details isn’t good enough to fill them in.  Stay tuned for a post about our 2019-2020 Cruise of the Hawaiian Islands.

In my head, my ideal vacation involves adventure of some kind, like trekking through a rain forest, or surfing, but in reality, what a vacation destination is something to keep the kids out of adult hair for a portion of the day, which is how we ended up in all-inclusive resorts like the ones we visited in Jamaica, Mexico and Turks & Caicos.  If we can get the kids looked after and they don’t pull faces as a result, we generally call it a win.  The evolution of this trend was to go on a Disney Cruise – especially while our kids are young enough to get more out of character experiences.  So the decision was made.

Disney as a sub-culture is something that scares me frankly.  We joined a Facebook group that was devoted not to Disney, Disney Cruises, or our specific cruise route, but our actual cruise dates, and it was one of the busiest FB groups I have ever been a member of, which means too many notifications (until you turn them off) and way too much hype.  I’m not a big fan of overscheduling or “over-researching” vacations – I feel that it leads to second-guessing yourself and your decision and creates anxiety.  I don’t want to knock those that want to squeeze every last drop out of their vacation experience, it’s just that it’s antithetical to the kick-back-and-relax vibe I want running through my own vacation experience.  So I won’t break down all the craziness that seems to be part of this cult and I’ll stick to what we did, and what we experienced and what we learned.

Getting to and on the ship was quite painless; in the Orlando airport, there are Disney signs everywhere, and as long as you know that you’re going on a cruise as opposed to Disney World amusement park, you’ll end up on the right bus.  The staff are highly organized and friendly – this would become a theme throughout the trip.  We had our essentials packed in a daypack, since we knew our luggage would not be accessible till later, and wanted to get changed into swim gear and start enjoying the facilities.  Unfortunately, we took enough time getting oriented, including a tour of the kids’ club (known as the Oceaneer Club and Oceaneer Lab) that by the time we got to the pool deck, they had temporarily closed the pools.  Cue tantrums from over-tired kids.  We knew the first day and transition would be a taxing adjustment.  I think we did get settled into the onboard routine fairly well.

We had a late dining rotation (8:15PM, when the kids’ nominal bedtime is 7:30), that concerned us, but ultimately we got through our meals well and the kids were good and ready for bed.  Speaking of bed here was my first unexpected fact of cruise life:

1.) You sleep like a baby on a cruise ship.  We had fairly rough seas but the rocking of the boat and the sound-proofing of the stateroom really enhanced the ‘getting-away-from-it-all’ isolation and peacefulness.

The assigned dining rotation kept us with the same server and same table-mates every night.  Our server Jaithip (from Thailand) was wonderful – she learned the boys’ favourite drinks and had them ready by the time we sat down every night.  One time I wanted to order a lobster pasta and she steered me away from it.  I was a little irked because I figured I know what I like, but she brought me a small sample of the pasta alongside the alternate main course I ordered.  She was right – the pasta was garbage.  Now having said that, the food varied from good (the fast food on the pool deck) to very good (in the dining rooms) to excellent (in the paid restaurants).

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The Lightning Kid with Mickey Waffles

Our table mates were a nice family that was celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary (as we will be in July) with blond boys aged 8 and 5 (to our 8 and 6), and enjoy running and triathlon.  Thus was born our theory that Disney is spying on us at a level that would make Mark Zuckerberg blush.  It can’t be a coincidence that Mickey Mouse’s sign-off is “See ya real soon!”…

On our second day, we got to access the pools.  The kids really like just hanging around in the water, and they have movies playing on the big screen all the time so even when they aren’t splashing around, they can just hang out and watch the screen.  I liked that the lifeguards would periodically  clear everyone out of the pool for about 10 minutes at a time; it gave parents a chance to apply sunscreen to the kids or take them to the washrooms, or any other needed transition and we got to blame the staff/rules rather than be the bad guys ourselves.  There were splash pads (which I confess I used to wash melted ice-cream off of faces and chests) and a small warm-water pool that was flush with a window overlooking the ocean (a surreal view), the “Mickey” slide was useable for 4 year-olds and up (but no adults), but the ‘Aquaduck’ was the biggest and boldest water slide.  It actually hangs out over the edge of the ship and has some tunnels with lights, open-air sections, ups and downs, and generally traverses the entire perimeter of the ship.  The Lightning Kid was too small to go on it, and Shark Boy needed some-one 16 or over to accompany him on one of the 2 seated dinghies – usually my wife or myself, but on at least one occasion he managed to rope the older sister of a friend he made into the job.  The problem with the Aquaduck (beyond long line-ups) was it would be closed in high winds, which we had plenty of.  Speaking of wind and weather, we did have some rough seas, and though I can’t say I got seasick really, it leads to unexpected fact #2:

2.) Seasickness is like being drunk.  I’ve been seasick only once in my life (a tall-ship cruise on Lake Ontario – think pirate ship), and that was from continuous rocking.  The rocks on this voyage came fairly unexpectedly – not a constant rhythm – and I’d sway this way or that as if I’d had too much to drink.  At first, I thought it might make me throw up, but it was more like a flashback to having had that much to drink and expecting the next most obvious result than actual nausea.  Once I realized that, I was pretty much out of the woods.  I had some landsickness for a few days after returning.

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Pool Deck with the Aquaduck water slide

The pools were a little disappointing from an adult perspective.  The kids’ pools were too packed for an adult to swim, and in fact the only pool deeper than waist height was the ‘Donald’ pool right in front of the screen, and of course, that pool was the most full at any given time, which meant getting kicked and swum over by children.  There is an adults-only area, but the pools there are also about waist height only – though there is a swim-up bar.

When we wanted to get away from the pool and not have to worry about what the kids were getting up to, we took them to the Oceaneer’s Club/Lab.  This is two halves of their kids’ club; from what I could gather the lab had more autonomous time while the club had more structured activity – Shark Boy preferred the lab.  There were various alcoves that had different kinds of activities and themes like crafts, or superheroes, and computer terminals and tablets and screens for movies.  In some way I was hesitant about all the screen time, but between the pool deck and our excursions, the kids were probably getting enough activity and fresh air.  There was even a floor of screens that could run games, straddling the line between screens and physical activity.00100009

My kids seem to prefer free unstructured play to organized, scheduled activities, and this seemed to hold up in the time they spent in the kids’ club.  Still, we tried to find special activities onboard that we could book in advance.  One of these was the Royal Knight package which is like a Princess make-over for boys (traditional gender roles – whaddyagonnado?).  While I can neither confirm nor deny the existence of a photo of the Lightning Kid in an Elsa (from Frozen) gown and wig, I will say that  I wouldn’t consider my sons to be good candidates for make-over type activities like you find in the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique.  Yet the ‘fairy godmothers’ did such a great job staying in character and selling the whole concept (the hair gel was ‘dragon snot’ that would keep dragons from being able to smell the princes), and of course, the sword and shield part of the costume was very well received by the boys.

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Live shows are something that everyone raves about – I believe the Aladdin one was specifically recommended by everyone we spoke to.  We only made it to one, and that one took place on the pool deck rather than the indoor theatres.  Still, it was a fun spectacle with song and dance, Mickey, Goofy, Captain Hook and Smee as well as one stunt involving a rappel down the ship’s chimney stack!  It was part of a whole pirate theme night that everyone dressed up for – our room was provided with bandanas, but I had packed some with eye-patches and ear-rings.

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I should mention that I did go to the theatres to watch a couple of movies: I saw Black Panther once alone, then deemed it OK for Shark Boy to watch and saw it again with him.  I also got to see Avengers Infinity War on its opening weekend without standing in line!  It was too intense for younger kids, in my opinion.

We had 3 port stops, the first on the Dutch side of St. Maarten.  We were booked into a catamaran cruise with snorkelling and a beach visit.  We disembarked in Phillipsburg and with an hour or so before the Catamaran was leaving got a chance to get in the water a little bit, which I thought was a good opportunity to test out some full face mask snorkels that we had gotten at the Cottage Life show.

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While they worked well initially, it seems like Shark Boy struggled with his when it came time to snorkel from the catamaran at a wreck site.  I was dealing with the Lightning Kid and I hadn’t gotten a proper life vest for him; the normal vests that they hand out for snorkelling provide some floatation when inflated, but aren’t rated for non-swimmers.  In the ensuing chaos, nobody could really enjoy themselves and from what I could tell there was poor visibility anyway.  Luckily, the beach visit afterwards was a lot more pleasant and relaxed.

Our second port stop was in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands.  I went scuba diving at a wreck site that had a sordid history of drug smuggling, and the sunken ship being moved by human action and hurricanes.  I got within 5 feet of a sea turtle, and saw stingrays that were at least 5 feet in diameter.

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Race Recap: MNP 10K (Mississauga Marathon Weekend)

It’s been a long time since I ran a road race.  Running this one was actually my wife’s idea – I think she’s missed training or even just running in general.  We were both under-trained going into this one – our training wasn’t regular and the longest run we had done was 7 km for her and about 8 or 9 for me.  Still, the run promised to be scenic and not too hilly, and for our part, we promised to take it easy and walk when necessary, so we figured we’d be fine.

My biggest problem with this race based on past experience is that the starting and finish lines are not in the same place – they use shuttle buses to get people back to the starting line.  The 10k race takes place on Saturday evening (with the marathon and half-marathon on Sunday morning).  The start was further from our house than the finish line, and to avoid parking and line-ups for the bus we decided to take Uber to the start.  With the road closures and traffic conditions, we ended up sighting the start line with 3 minutes to spare.  We ended up being the last ones through the chute, though we got passed by some faster runners who must have come several minutes late.

 

The course starts on Lakeshore Boulevard and goes eastward.  We got spattered with rain on and off through the course, but only once did I think we might have to quit if it got any worse.  Just as I began to wonder about whether the course would take us through the main strip of Port Credit, the course turned South towards the water and through the residential neighbourhoods.

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Spectators were few and far between on a rainy Saturday night in a quiet suburb, but those that turned out were loud and positive enough to make up for the missing noise.  We even had a volunteer refer to us as the ‘blue and red tag team”!

 

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I think rain on the lens made many of my photos blurry/grainy.  Or maybe I need a new phone…

I didn’t feel comfortable taking pictures of people’s houses, but some of the architecture was beautiful (I’m a sucker for Scandinavian architecture).  Soon we linked onto a waterfront trail.

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We took plenty of walk breaks, but we couldn’t help but be pleased with the perception that the kilometre markers seemed to keep accumulating.  The waterfront trail gave us nice views of not only the lake itself but the downtown Toronto skyline.

 

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A little foggy, but you should be able to make out the CN Tower.

With less than 2 km we could hear the band and PA system of the finish line area.  We must have been close, but we discovered that there was still an out and back to be done.

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The path out towards a point into the little peninsula was narrow, and sharing it between out and back traffic meant being careful, but it eventually split off into a little loop.  The rain strengthened and our remaining endurance and pain tolerance was getting a little low.  It felt like we were the last ones to finish as we saw people exiting the race site by going back along the course; we knew we weren’t last, but with the lousy weather, no-one was sticking around and the exodus was in effect.

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The “blue and red tag-team” finished with a chip time of 1:29:21, and we were happy to finish in less than 90 minutes.  We helped ourselves to bananas and some yummy chocolate macaroon type snack (that I now can’t track down the name of), and it’s the first time in my memory that I’ve ever taken advantage of those emergency blankets they give out at finish lines.  Wrapping yourself in one of those when winds are heavy is an art unto itself!  We then had to walk around 2 km back out of the park (near the Port Credit Yacht Club) to be able to call an Uber.  We subjected this poor driver’s car to our damp bodies, and even made him hit a McDonald’s Drive-Thru on the way home – with the race start at 6:30, eating a meal beforehand didn’t seem prudent.  We ate at home, and never did fast food feel so well deserved as we had finished a race that was out of our comfort zone from an endurance perspective, under pretty bad weather conditions.

Does completing a race under less than perfect training and environmental conditions make for a sweeter victory?

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The Death of the Etobicoke Creek Trail (?)

I’ve sung the praises of the Etobicoke Creek Trail many times in this space.  I use it for running, burbathlon, mountain biking and access to Centennial Park.  It even figures largely into my route when I bike to work.  When it was announced last spring that they would be doing some major construction to pave it, I should have been happy.  I steered clear for the period of the construction, and like this blog, I wasn’t being that active anyway.

When I was reminded that the construction was scheduled to end in the spring of 2018, I decided to take an exploratory run.   Where the trail begins from Fleetwood Park it has become a paved trail, which I have mixed feelings about.  I guess it’ll be safer for bikes, and cleaner, but the gravel was appealing to give an off-road, in-forest experience very close to home.

 

I guess the good news is that this would give me a paved path to Centennial Park, and when I want to bike to work, I could connect to Eglinton Avenue, where they have expanded and improved a separate bike path.  That means I could take a road bike which is lighter and faster than the commuter bike I’ve been using to avoid flat tires caused by gravel on this path and in my traverse of Centennial Park.

A little further up (i.e. going North) the trail there used to be a part that was not traversable by bike; you’d have to dismount and walk your bike past roots and stumps, etc.  I always liked this part because it offered a great challenge to navigate and was good training for the coordination needed for off-road running.  It looks like this part has been made more accessible by creating a smooth path by the creek shoreline.

After that, it used to be a gravel path all the way to Eglinton Avenue.  It actually still is, but the construction seems to be intended to widen the trail, and its made a real ‘moonscape’ of the area.

The trail’s access to/from Eglinton is still closed due to construction, so I guess there may still be work to be done to improve the look of this stretch of the trail (photos were taken March 24th).   Still, I feel a sense of loss, because I know running or riding this trail won’t be like the way it used to be.  I have a lot of good memories from the trail the way it was – many of which have been captured in this space.   I can only be hopeful that the end result will continue to make this an enjoyable space; the best case scenario is that the changes make it more accessible to more people, and help people be active and even aid in ecologically friendly transportation.

 

Has ‘progress’ destroyed/altered one of your favourite green spaces?

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5 Peaks Heart Lake Trail Race Recap

After missing the Albion Hills event in July, and no events in August, everyone was glad to see the return of 5 Peaks to the Heart Lake Conservation Area in September.  And what a September!  The summer heat came in late, and everyone needed to prepare.

The kids 3k timed race starts first.  As a ‘Trail Crew Leader’ and slowpoke, it made sense for me to bring up the rear in case of stragglers.   I spoke with another volunteer who helped sweep and learned that not only was the race centred around a different site within the park but naturally the course had been altered from previous years.  That meant my favourite hill, which I always climbed like Spider-Man wouldn’t be there.  Oh well, the heat would make it plenty challenging.

Dig the hat.

Photo courtesy of Sue Sitki Photography

The Kids course was an out and back, and I encountered Shark Boy a little later than I expected.  He had the company of one of our Trail Crew Leaders, and I found out later that there were tears at the finish line due to an encroaching headache.  It seems his late nights in competitive gymnastics catch up with him.  A little more water and he was good to help his brother in the 1k fun run.

The Lightning Kid has been getting faster and faster on his feet but he also likes to use those feet to dance with Buffy.

As I had mentioned, Shark Boy got his second wind and wanted to keep his brother company.  The Lightning Kid didn’t mind a big brother chaperone but dismissed his mother from the job.  Apparently, he took a little spill but the community spirit at 5 Peaks is always huge, and he ended up picking up an adult guardian anyway.

 

For my part, the new Sport Course provided lots of shade, so I didn’t feel the heat too badly, and there were some nice views of Heart Lake along the way.  I’m pretty proud of the cruising pace I maintained, though I forgot to stop my Endomondo app for tracking.  My paces varied between 6:20/km to 7:16/km.

 

Courtesy of Sue Sitki Photography

 

The final race of the season is at the Kortright Conservation Area on October 28th.  If you live in the area, consider signing yourself, your friends and your little ones up! Use the code ‘IRONROGUE’ when registering.

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Welllness Renewal – Part 1

This post is sponsored by Swanson Vitamins.  I received free products for my consumption in exchange for a review.

I’m not the first person to propose the idea of New Years’ Resolution goal setting and renewal in September, but I’m surprised that it isn’t a more widely accepted theme.  After all, if you’re a parent or a student yourself, back-to-school season is a much bigger transition than one winter month into another (with all due respect to Christmas).

I’m more focused on fitness within this blog than most other facets of wellness like mental well-being or nutrition.  And while I have some new ideas about fitness activities I’ll be trying, I will save that for a future post.

I am not ‘Mr. Supplement’ and I never will be, but between trying to stay healthy, recover from workouts, raise two boys in a less than hermetically sealed environment, there are a few things I consider adding to my imperfect diet.

As a family, we’re on board with the idea that the microbiome in your gut aids not only digestion but your immune system.  The kids get a little pro-biotic powder in orange juice or applesauce (to combine it with Vitamin C), but I didn’t have my own till I started taking Rainbow Light Men’s One.  I had tried other Men’s Multivitamins but so many gave me heartburn.  This one doesn’t and the 25,000,000 CFU of Bacillus coagulans is a nice bonus.

My wife likes Magnesium supplementation to help combat insomnia and to aid with workout recovery, so if you have hard workouts (or like me lately, infrequent ones that feel hard). According to this article, people are generally not getting enough magnesium in their diet and not getting the anti-inflammatory benefits. Whether it’s workouts or stress, inflammation is something you want to keep at bay, and there are bone strengthening and blood pressure lowering benefits to taking magnesium that are of interest to those of us feeling the years add up.   We picked up this one, which has magnesium in more than one form.  I’ve been taking it in the mornings because that’s when I’m most likely to remember, but it’s easy to take and seems to go down easy any time of day.

 

I first became interested in Chromium as a mineral fat-burning aid; i.e. something that would help me burn fat without being some crazy hormonal drug or anything along that line.  It’s early days with this one and I haven’t been taking it regularly or long enough to judge its effects, but the Swanson website says chromium helps with appetite and feeling full between meals.

On the other side of the coin of probiotics are digestive enzymes.  I don’t really have that many complaints about my digestive system (and if I did, I think I’d hesitate to share gory details in this space), but I wanted to try and be completist about attempts at aiding the gut microbiome and have the best immune system I can.  Like the Chromax above, I’ve been struggling to take this one consistently, as they are recommended with the ‘biggest meal’ which is not the breakfast meal in my case, and during the later meals, I tend to forget about vitamins and supplements.

 

The Swanson Vitamins website is excellent.  The selection of any type of product you can think of is a bit boggling, honestly.  Each product is laid out with its ingredients, uses, reviews and even a size chart comparing the tablets to a penny – Canadians might need to use their memories (or find a supplement that aids memory to remember pennies.  Speaking of Canadians, some products you might be looking for might be subject to export restrictions and not available, so look for this sign on a product page before you commit it to your online shopping cart.

I’ll be continuing the Wellness Renewal series in the coming weeks.

Do you use September and back-to-school as a reset point for your health and fitness journey?  Are multivitamins, minerals, pro-biotics or other supplements part of your routine?

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5 Peaks Trail Race Recaps: Terra Cotta and Rattlesnake Point

Well, the summer is almost over, I guess I should break the radio silence.  I had previously recapped the 2 Kids’ Triathlons we did this summer, now it’s time to tackle our favourite trail races.

The season started at the Terra Cotta Conservation Area.  This April race tends to have cooler weather, but on this particular day, I think we’d had some of the nicer weather of the Spring season.  It was also my first race as an official Trail Crew Leader, so while I was nervous about fulfilling duties, it was exciting to deepen my connections with the 5 Peaks community, especially those excellent people who help make these races so fun.

Shark Boy did very well for himself and got himself all the way to the podium for the 3 km Kids Timed event; I think the concepts of pacing yourself and racing strategy (which at his age is mostly not looking behind yourself too much) might be getting through to him.

The Lightning Kid participated in the 1 km fun run, which he might think is some kind of parade considering how much he likes to ham it up for the crowds.

I hadn’t gotten a lot of running training in during the winter months so I limited myself to the Sport Course (5.4 km).  Not only did I have a lot of fun (with a back of the pack finish time) but I got the sweet convertible running gloves to take home.

The Rattlesnake Point race took place in June, and I have to say the highly technical clambering involved on that course makes it one of my favourites.  Of course, I did commit to the difficulty of the Enduro Course – at 12.7 km it is well over double the distance of the Sport Course on the same day (and most other races) – so I had plenty of time to rethink my decision on the trail…

But first, let me talk about the kids’ races.  I volunteered to ‘sweep’ the kids’ races to make sure no one was left behind… and I got to witness the sweetest little girl (who was no bigger than the Lightning Kid) and was tackling the timed Kids’ 3 km.   She was accompanied by her mom so my presence was mostly superfluous, but you know, safety first!  Anyway, she completed that course with nothing but smiles, and I heard her chirp “I love this because of the challenge!”, or something along those lines.  My heart nearly burst.

My own kids were no slouches either, of course.

Credit: Sue Sitki of Sue Sitki Photography

We had hot weather and plenty of exhausting climbs, but the scenery is gorgeous along the Niagara Escapement – don’t mind the Turkey Vultures… they won’t feed on you unless you run really slow.  I slowed down enough to take in (and photograph) some beautiful wood sculptures.

 

If some of this (fun for kids, beautiful scenery, hustling your butt along a trail…) looks like fun, the next race is at the Heart Lake Conservation Area in Brampton, ON on September 16th.  Please consider joining me by clicking on this link and using the code IRONROGUE for a 10% discount.  There’s even a free water bottle as take home swag!

And if you can’t make that one, the Kortright Centre Race is on October 28th.  Register here with the same IRONROGUE discount code.

 

Will I see you there?

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Guest Post: 3 Ways To Better Manage Sports Pain

Disclaimer: this post is sponsored content.

As an endurance athlete, you need to learn to manage pain. Pain is a normal part in the lives of people, who love sports.

However, as an athlete you need to practice the saying “Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional.” This is the primary reason why endurance athletes last long compared with other people who can’t even run a mile. Experts believe that it’s their ability to cope with pain, physically and psychologically.

So why do athletes have better tolerance for pain? A research by the University of Heidelberg in Germany found that athletes stand pain better than non-athletes. The researchers believed that it’s their commitment to regular physical activity that improved their ability to bear pain.

The study found that athletes can deal with chronic pain better. They can stand pain for longer duration because their training has helped them to develop the coping skills they need.

Athletes are often exposed in intense psychological and physical pain, especially before and during the competitions. They deal with pain better than the non-athletes because they know how to apply the pain coping mechanisms that would help them win in the competitions.

Aside from exercise to alleviate pain, the researchers are looking into the power of meditation. Later on, this may help people struggling with chronic pain.

Whether you are an athlete or not, practice these mental strategies that can help you bear pain better:

  • Do the self-talk.

“Mind over matter.” When you tell your brain to focus on the pain, you will surely stop during the game. The best way to fight the pain, especially when you feel that you want to give up in the middle of the competition is to use the rhythmic cognitive behavior. It’s easy to apply this because you just have to say a certain mantra or word that applies to you. For instance, you can say “power,” “fast,” “calm” repeatedly to encourage yourself to go on than to focus on the pain. You can also count from 1 to 10 and begin it again after every step, stride or ride you do. It’s one easy way to divert your mind from telling you that you need to stop because of the pain.

  • Believe that pain will pass.

When the pain starts to consume you during the competition or trainings, your emotions may begin to surface. Those emotions are sending messages telling you to either ask for help, slow down or you need to drink. Don’t ignore those emotions and try to understand what the important message it is telling you. The fastest way to manage this difficult emotion at the height of a competition is to stop your movements. During this time, you need to calm yourself to put an end to this emotion. You need to say a powerful mantra to remind yourself that you are in control of everything. Convince yourself that the pain is just temporary and it will not last.

  • Accept what’s there.

What you’re expecting on the day of your training or competition has something to do with how you will perceive pain. When you begin to think that you can handle the pain that you may be experiencing later during the race will change how you will handle it.

What you feed your brain is what you’re going to believe in. For instance, you will think that “It was the slippery road that caused my injury.” As an endurance athlete, it will help you if you will begin to have less expectations. You should be ready for whatever will happen later and believe that you can handle anything, even facing pain.

 

Frances Hamilton loves writing about developing mental skills as a way to enhance the physical strength. She is a devoted Christian, swimmer and speaker as well as resident counsellor at rehabcenters.com.

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Kids Triathlons

Since I last posted, we’ve been in two 5 Peaks trail runs, and two kids’ triathlons.  Rather than try to catch up with 4 distinct race recaps, I thought I’d pair them up by race type – that means you’re going to get an overview of the kids’ triathlons we’ve been involved in this time, and the 5 Peaks races next time.

Furthermore, I’m going to combine observations from both races on a per kid basis; they’re only 2 years apart, but in triathlon, their experiences are very, very different in terms of what the event expects of them, and what they expect of the event.  The races were the C3 Kinetico Kids of Steel and Nicola’s Triathlon (for MFM Research).

 

The Lightning Kid

Swim

The Lightning Kid is currently at the ‘Crocodile’ level in his swimming lessons; that means they’re teaching him to roll from back to front, and combining the front crawl arm stroke into the motion.  He makes forward progress for a bit, but he’s not really staying afloat or getting his head above water to breathe more than once, so for a triathlon he wears a life jacket (at the C3 Kinetico Kids of Steel) or water-wings (at Nicola’s tri) and I get in the water with him to coach and cheer.  For the C3 Kinetico KOS, it was 1 length of the pool for the 6-7 age group (groups are determined by the age on Dec 31st).  It would have been 2 lengths for Nicola’s Tri, but we asked them to bump him down to the lower age group, which aligns better with his physical size anyway.  At both events, he kicked and doggy paddled gamely, and was only slowed down by his need to take in the scenery and ham it up for the crowd – as usual.  I stayed a couple of meters ahead of him and tried to keep his eyes on the prize – or at least the end of the pool lane.

I heard reports that some parents were pushing or pulling their kids through the water, and obviously I’m not going to get bent out of shape about it at a young age like this, but I will say the point of these events is endurance and that getting the job done (i.e. making it to the end) is the bigger goal, not how fast you complete it.  I’d rather have my sons come in last, having earned every inch of the achievement themselves – who knew I was so hardcore about this stuff?

Nicola’s Tri took place 2 weeks after the C3 Kinetico KOS and I was blown away about how the Lightning Kid took to transition, running out of the pool area along the red carpet to his bike like a kid possessed.

Bike

While we have been getting him to practice on a pedal bike without training wheels, we haven’t been brave enough to let go of the handle yet, especially since he seems to steer pretty erratically, and we figured he’d be freaked out during the race if he had a fall shortly before the big day, so we selected the balance bike for both races.  And yes – it’s pink.  The bike leg has a lot of the same Lightning Kid hallmarks, good speed, big smile, hamming it up for the crowd.  Unlike adult races, I think the kids’ events could stand to have longer bike legs – if only because I think it would favour my kids (while longer bike legs in adult races only penalize me and my lack of bike fitness). They were both basically a lap around the parking lot with me running alongside.

I do help the Lightning Kid put on socks and shoes which is extra challenging with wet feet; he did not want to forgo socks, in spite of my advice.   I have to get my own shoes on during transition too so that I can run alongside (or ahead) and cheer and coach (again as usual).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Run

The Lightning Kid has improved his running the most in the last year – it surprises most people.  He’s also gotten familiar enough with triathlon that he knows when you get off the bike the race is nearly done and he gets what Germans call Endspurt – a final burst of speed to finish the race.  With only about 500 m to run, it’s over so fast, it’s hard for my wife to get caught up and grab a picture.  The best we can do for pictures is the finish line.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shark Boy

Swim

Every year, the swim length seems to double for Shark Boy.  We knew he’d have to manage 100 m this year, so we took to the pool for the 4-5 weeks before the race (on weekends) and tried to increase his skill and endurance.  Every week, he’d have to pass the swim test of 2 pool widths before venturing into the deep end for more practice.   I drilled him in breast stroke, as I feel it’s  a more endurance paced stroke; make no mistake, front crawl/freestyle is faster once you can manage it in a sustainable pace, but plenty of people starting out seem to prefer it, and I know it’s the stroke of choice for recreational swimming in Europe.  Too bad some lifeguards here don’t seem to feel it’s a valid way to swim – I had one lifeguard arbitrarily try to say he hadn’t passed the 2 width swim test for using breast stroke where his face wasn’t in the water enough, and during the Nicola’s tri he was forced to use a flutter board, which slowed him down more.  I know I have to defer to a trained volunteer when it comes to safety, but I do feel there is a bias there.

Being the slowest in his wave (though not the slowest swimmer in his age group, from what I could see) discouraged Shark Boy, even though I tried to explain before and after the race that the overall time is what counted, not when you crossed the finish line (he was in the last wave of the Kinetico Kids Of Steel).  I’m proud of his swims regardless, because through hard work, we took him from not being unable to finish 100 m of swimming to more than capable.

 

Bike

Shark Boy has gotten a hand-me-down mountain bike that has gears in anticipation of a bike camp he’ll be participating in this summer, but though he’s been warming up with it, he wanted his gearless one for the races.

For the Kids of Steel race, he seemed OK on the way out, but I noticed it was taking him a long time to complete.  As I had mentioned before, he was in last place in his own imagination, and I think he got discouraged and lacked motivation.  It was also very hot that day.

For the Nicola’s Tri event, we had a major problem or two.  The course is looped, and though Shark Boy must have listened to 4-5 briefings where the volunteer had the kids repeat back that the bike course had 3 loops, I’m not sure the info really took hold.  I couldn’t follow him through transition, so once he was out of the pool I raced to a spot on the bike course.  I saw him struggling to gain momentum while pedalling furiously, and I knew what the problem was: his chain had come off.  I ran over, had him dismount and showed him briefly how to fix it, then sent him on his way.

Of course this meant I was out of position to tell him to stay on course when he completed the first loop and went straight back into transition….

Run

…and furthermore, he somehow took a short cut on the run course and crossed the finish line after less than 200 m.  He knows how long a 1 km run should feel like (especially from 5 Peaks races of the past), so I can only surmise that he was discouraged to the point where he just wanted this thing over with.

Though he was given a medal, the official results showed ‘DQ’ as his time made no sense in relationship to his competitors who went much further.  It took some serious mother and father pep talk to cheer him up the rest of the day, as we’ve all had results that we weren’t happy with (including my own DNS) that weren’t always the results of bad performance.

For the Kinetico Kids of Steel event, there was no disaster, but he did walk segments of the run course, and I’m still attributing that to discouragement and heat.

He’s placed better in 5 Peaks trail races, than in triathlons so far.   I guess I’m a little discouraged myself to think that at age 7 (meaning he competes with 8 and 9 year-olds) he’s at a level where the training and mental game have to be already pretty high, but it’s actually a good thing for someone who’s had a lot of things come to him fairly naturally (e.g. riding a bike without training wheels by age 3) to learn about the benefits of practice and work ethic.  I just hope he’ll continue to view triathlons as fun.  In addition to being well versed in the technique of transition, he also knows how to blame his equipment in order to justify further spending – he’s been bugging me to get him a road bike which will ride faster than the mountain bike.

Miscellaneous Event Details

Both events are great days out for the family with bouncy castles, face painting and barbecue.

The volunteers do a lot to make the participants and their families feel welcomed, informed and safe.  I love doing triathlon, but I love it even more when the whole family can get involved!