Author: Iron Rogue

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December 12th: In Loving Memory

This is a tough time of year for me.  An introvert gets tired of the constant parties and gatherings that take place at the holidays, the lack of sunlight makes getting outside challenging and can bring on Seasonal Affective Disorder.  But more than anything else it’s when the emotional wound of losing my father to cancer (malignant melanoma specifically) is the most raw.


It was today 13 years ago that he passed, and in the time immediately following that day, I went through the obvious shock and grief and pain you might expect.  What I didn’t expect was that years later, I would have to fight back tears for no good reason in the weeks leading up to this date, even if I wasn’t consciously thinking about him.  The symptoms of depression would sneak up on me in late November/early December, and one of the best ways to cope was to acknowledge that I still felt pain, loss and grief – it’s easier to fight an enemy you can see coming.


Sometimes I wish I could know what he’d make of how my life turned out.  Scratch that, I always wish that.  When he passed I had just finished grad school and had taken my career in an exciting new direction.  In the next few years I’d fall in love then get dumped on the same day as being laid off from that job, and I got my own malignant melanoma for dessert a scant month later.  That last part I guess I’m glad he didn’t have to live through, nobody wants their kid to have cancer even if they’re 30 years old and hardly a kid.


Thanks to early detection and an aggressive excision, I’d beat cancer, and ultimately fall in love again (while being gainfully employed), get married and have two rambunctious boys who love to get outside and be active like their grandfather.  He’d have loved Shark Boy and the Lightning Kid for sure, and of course the other part of my life he didn’t get to see was my foray into endurance sport and triathlon.


When I did the Scotiabank Marathon in 2006, I thought of him throughout the course, but especially during the last quarter, as everything in my lower body started to hurt, and I found myself slowing to a walk more and more often.  He often preached for the ‘Endspurt’ – a German expression for the burst of speed and enthusiasm you get when you know you’re almost done.  I try to carry on the tradition by maintaining negative splits on runs, and finishing every race with a fast pace, even if the overall pace hasn’t been that fast.

I think he would have made a good triathlete, as he was strong in all three disciplines and would have had fun switching from sport to sport.  I have my doubts that he would be interested in following a highly structured, periodized training plan and would have done a lot of improvising – I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Every December 12th, my mother, my brother and I try to observe some of our values. We spend time with family; sometimes each other, sometimes apart with our own new respective families. We try to get outside and move our bodies. Today’s weather (and my work schedule) made that a little daunting, but this was important. I hit the Etobicoke Creek Trail for 5km worth of memorial running.


In trying to find some comfort with friends on Facebook who’s fathers had passed (on the same date in different years) I wrote:  Fatherhood might be the greatest gift a man can give and the greatest prize a man can claim.

Please make a little more time to cherish your families during this season, and as a favour to me, your Fathers especially.

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#YearOfRunning13

Miss Zippy did a great post inviting the audience to review their year of running.  I’m late to the game but here goes nothing!

———————————————————-
What was your:
  • Best race experience?
I would have to say the Bracebridge Triathlon.  The course was fun, the race was well organized, the weather was just about perfect, and I carried the Lightning Kid across the finish line.  Maybe it’s cheating to put a triathlon in a running post… but I’m a rogue, OK?!

  • Best run?
Maybe it’s too fresh in my memory, but we have a quarterly race for the run club organized by the corporate wellness centre.  I hadn’t joined the run club this season, and in fact, I hadn’t been doing much running overall, so I was reluctant to join the race at all.  While I normally do the 10k, I opted to do the 5k for lack of conditioning and general laziness… but at least I was getting out there right?  I ended up winning the race with a hard effort (only by 10-15 seconds).  It did a lot to boost my (running) self-esteem… maybe I gotten that bad!
  • Best new piece of gear?
I had to go back over my gear posts to see what I’d acquired this year… nothing really blew me away, so I’ll say the sweet technical jacket I got from the Chilly Half-Marathon.
  • Best piece of running advice you received?
Something along the lines of “Just Come Out!” to the aforementioned 5km.  A nice simple kick in the pants to get me outside and running again and not looking for other ways to train.
  • Most inspirational runner?
Krysten from Darwinian Fail.  Since I’ve started reading her blog, she’s conquered the marathon, and jumped into triathlon and now she’s about to overtake me (on my left! 😉 ) by doing a Half-Iron next year… did I mention she had surgery and lost her father all this year while this was going on?  She models the ideal character for the endurance athlete: strongest on the inside, with a warm and welcoming heart.

I have to give an honourable mention to the Pavement Runner.  He is “That Kind of Crazy” having done a half and full marathon in the same day along with many other accomplishments this year.  He’s also warm and welcoming and is all about the running community… I know he’ll be the first one to give me a thumbs up for nominating Krysten, in fact.
  • If you could sum up your year in a couple of words, what would they be?
I don’t know if I’m ready to confront this or not… I used to think my swim was strong, my bike weak, and my run fairly good, but I’m seeing more and more that my run is probably on a par with my bike.  I’ve found my old benchmarks for running have been slipping and slipping, and I think I know that following a real structured program would be the cure… I’m not sure if my life and current priorities are compatible with that.  Answers aren’t going to come to me magically just because it’s December, in fact, quite the opposite.  My running, along with the rest of my life is a work in progress of course.

How are you looking back on running in 2013?

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Iron Rogue’s Gift List

Sure, this is the time of year where you might be looking to shop for a triathlete.  If you want to shop for the Iron Rogue triathlete, look no further.

What To Buy To Be More Like the Iron Rogue

  1. A Salomon Hydration Pack: Even if you’re not going ultra distances, you need something that’s going to give you enough pockets for ID, smartphone, camera, tripod and other snacks/fuel and gadgets.  Furthermore, a water bottle belt isn’t sleek enough for the best Burbathlon has to offer, so you’re better off with something like this.  The XT Wings I use don’t seem to be available, but I’d recommend the Advanced Skin 12 Set as a substitute.
  2. Salomon XR Mission Shoes. Yup, Salomon again.   I love to run on trails, I find the challenge of varied terrain really gets my motor running mentally, and the softer landings are nice too.  I don’t have time to set aside a separate commute to some trail in a conservation area, so I have to find what I can running out the door from the sidewalks around my work or home.   And of course, many runs turn into Burbathlons… Salomon’s Door-to-Trail shoes are just what the doctor ordered.  I’m currently wearing last year’s XR Mission, and loving them.  In the door-to-trail series, there’s also the Crossmax 2 and the Crossmax 2 CS.

  3. Garmin Forerunner 910XT: A lot of runners love their Garmins, but the Forerunner 910XT is optimized for the triathlete.  It’s not only waterproof (real waterproof not GPS waterproof) so you can track your swim in open water (racing or training), but there’s an accelerometer that counts your strokes.  It can count pool lengths indoors, and by tracking your stroke count, you’ve got an idea of how efficient your stroke is getting so you can quantify the quality of your workouts and your progress.

What An Iron Rogue Would Wish For

  1. Stabilicers SportRunners. After my Yaktrax broke down after training for one measly Half-Marathon last off-season, I’m looking for a new brand of ice traction device for my shoes. Many have recommended adding hex screws to the soles of an older pair of shoes, but I’d prefer something removable so that when I’m running on local sidewalks that have been kindly cleared by good citizens, I don’t cause damage (to the surface, the shoes or my feet!). Stablicers were another recommended product and they look pretty good so far.

  2. Zephyr HxM Heart Rate Strap: After having some blues with a Polar Bluetooth enabled HR sensor strap. I’m a little wary of them; their Android compatible product does not list the Samsung Galaxy S3 so I’ve decided to look elsewhere. I’d love to be able to get HR data with my phone for when I don’t want to bother with the Garmin.

  3. Kreyos Meteor: Further reducing the need for the Garmin is the up-and-coming trend of Smart Watches that link to your phone via Bluetooth.  The idea is that you can check your wrist for the little things more easily than digging out a smart phone.  I think the Kreyos is the best one I’ve seen for the active individual.  It’s water resistant, and has ANT+ sensor capability to link to HR and other fitness accessories, not to mention its built-in accelerometer.  This one’s a bit of a reach financially, but SO SHINY!
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Watch Me Swim!

One of the things I’ve been itching to do since I have a waterproof (and idiot-proof) camera is get some underwater video of my swim stroke.  I managed to do this a couple of weeks ago, but it’s taken until now to get this thing uploaded and edited.

Compared to the other two disciplines, my swim is strong, but that doesn’t make me a coach or expert of any kind, but I figured I could eyeball my form and evaluate it on a few key measures that I know (or at least, I believe) to be important.  My information is partly from ‘Swim Bike Run’  by Hobson, Campbell and Vickers and the rest from informal chats both on-line and in real life with other triathletes. Key concepts are:

  • Hand Entry – ‘Always enter your hand into the water in a line directly in front of your shoulder… A common mistake among triathletes is “cross-over,” which occurs when the hand is place inside the shoulder line usually in line with the head.’ There’s an interesting parallel with running there, because your hands shouldn’t cross the mid-line of your body then either; it’s all wasted energy.
  • Catch – Once the hand is in the water, you actually complete the extension and reach the rest of the way forward underwater.
  • Body Roll – ‘… once the arm pull is ready to begin, your body has rolled to that side or your hips are facing away from your hand.’   Body roll is key to getting core muscle power involved in your stroke, but I confess I’ve gotten mixed messages on how much is enough. Swim Bike Run seems to indicate the whole body, while others seem to be saying that it should be mostly torso, with everything below the waist being more neutral in the water, which would result in a bit of a ‘twist’ motion.  That’s the ideal I thought I was working toward, but the video might reveal otherwise….




Whether or not my roll below the hips is excessive or not, the asymmetry is a problem.  Watching the video gives me some things to think about the next time I’m in the pool, and it’s cheaper than a coach.
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Where’s Your Head At?

I have been struggling, struggling, struggling with being able to focus lately –  in most areas of my life, but fitness and training especially.  I have had too much trouble deciding where and what I want to spend time on, so not only is my training all over the place, but I’m not in headspace to set goals, and as for blogging about it… well…

I’ll try to give you an illustration of the fitness/training part of my brain lately:

This probably plays fast and loose with the laws of the Venn diagram, but it’s the best I can do to sort through the jumble.  Let’s break this down some more:

  • Triathlon, comprised of Swim, Bike and Run.  This is still my biggest love, still a priority.  The temptation to let things slide due to the “off-season” is there, but there are also arguments that there shouldn’t be an off-season (Tridot calls it “Out-Season”) especially if you haven’t had a heavy “On-Season”.  On the other hand, maybe it’s the time of year to work on strength, like say through…

  • Crossfit.  Confessions first: with only a few months left in the year, I realized I’m in danger of the sessions I bought back in January expiring.  I’ve been even worse than sporadic up until that point, but I did manage to step it up in the last month or so, still falling short of the twice a week I wanted. What I like most is that I’m often addressing muscles in the posterior chain; easy to neglect, but very important muscles. 

    Big workouts have given me Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS), which for me always sets in 2 days after the workout, which really throws off the idea of getting back in there for a WOD (workout of the day) 2 days later.
Besides that, the other problem I have is that it’s time consuming, which is a weird thing to say given that I’ve seen WODs that are 10 minutes long.  Still, I have to drive there (it’s short, but that’s still more than using the in-house corporate gym or my basement or running.  There’s the warm-up and skills portion (which I’m grateful for), yet they start when everybody is ready and there, not just when I want to get things moving along.  There’s no shower at the box, so after I drive back, I still have to shower and change.  The truth is, where there’s a will there’s a way, so these kinds of excuses shouldn’t be an obstacle if I really love doing it, but I guess I don’t.  I’d love to improve in some of the skills (pull-ups, dead-lifts, pistol squats and handstand push-ups come to mind), but I don’t get to pick what comes up in the WOD.  I recently tried (again) snatches, but I didn’t do so great with them; it just feels like flirting with injury.  Forty-somethings need to play it safe sometimes, which brings us to…









  • Parkour*.  The asterisk is for the fact that I’m forty (did I mention that already) and I don’t have the tolerance for risk that doing head-over-heels flips would entail, but I do like working on jumps, balancing and climbing during Burbathlon. What I’d really like to achieve is the Kong Vault (or at least the Monkey Vault). I just think it might come in handy, especially if I ever try an Obstacle Course race again. What I’ve been working on is getting my legs through with my hands on the ground (or any surface really). It’s an exercise in flexibility and discipline, really.



  • Nordic Skiing. This one is marked as being outside the benefit zone of triathlon, but according to what I’ve written before, maybe it shouldn’t be. At any rate, Nordic skiing is one of my favourite forms of exercise, and as they say on Game of Thrones, Winter is Coming. I got lucky finding a pair of roller-skis at a ski swap, and knowing that the snow hasn’t been reliable in recent years, I snagged them. When I get a chance to practice with them for more than 10 minutes, I’ll write up a little review, but based on my current experience, I won’t feel safe using them to commute to work any time soon.





  • Martial Arts. For reasons I can’t quite understand that myself looking through local places that offer Kung Fu like Wing Chun, and/or San Shou. I also have nostalgia for Jiu-Jitsu. The problem is I’m still in position where I can’t leave the house in the evenings. Most things that I have seen after work are right during the time when I’m helping the kids to bed, and they’re still not really putting themselves to sleep so that stuff it’s probably going to have to wait.
If I take a look at my accomplishments in October (for example) the calendar looks like this:
The Little Standing man is for Circuit Training = Crossfit WOD or Tabata Bootcamp

That could be worse. Some swims, some bikes… too few runs. At the very least, I joined a Govember Bike Challenge hosted by Jamie at From Couch to Ironwoman, and it’s gotten me on the trainer.

Are you madly off in all directions like this? Do you have “Fitness ADD” too?
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Why I’m Not Stronger On the Bike

Yesterday: Set alarm for 5AM.  Go to bed at 8:30PM in guest room


Today, 4:47AM – Woken by the Lightning Kid, turn off alarm before it goes off while wife puts him back down


5:05AM – Lightning Kid asleep, head downstairs, grab water bottle, Garmin, iPad and change into bike shorts and tank top.


5:17AM – After taking and posting a pic (natch), hop on bike and start pedalling.  Bring up Netflix and continue watching Taken 2.  Use the car chase scene to motivate myself on more intense pedalling.


5:34AM – I notice the rear wheel keeps slipping, so I figure I might up the tension on the trainer a little.  I get off to make the adjustment but find it makes a funny noise when I pedal.  The tire pressure feels low.  My good pump is in the garage, but I figure I can use the portable one strapped to the frame.


5:44AM – The tire feels flatter than before.  Obviously I’m getting nowhere with the pump so I throw in the towel.  It’s near freezing outside, so I’m not going to the garage dressed as I am, and I don’t want to wake anyone trying to get dressed.  I opt for a little strength/home workout, and try some pull-ups on the bar, Russian twists with the medicine ball, and of course, Roguees.


6:01AM – I hear Shark Boy coughing, and stirring, and the cat seems like he’s using my activity as a an excuse to thump around.  I try moving the cat to the basement with me so he won’t wake the others; as a ‘thank-you’, he sinks his claws into my unprotected chest.  Shark Boy is definitely awake, and will wake the others shortly unless I intervene.  I head upstairs.

So, in conclusion, I got 25 interrupted minutes of workout for having gotten up an hour and a half early…. but at least it got me posting again.
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Introducing… Roguees!

As I mentioned back in June, I developed my own little body-weight strength exercise that can be done without equipment.  It targets the whole body like a burpee, but it gets more oblique core work and stabilizers, and it’s lower impact.  It probably won’t quite spike your heart rate as high either.  It’s taken me until now to get good video together, but without further ado, I give you… Roguees!


From standing, you do a forward bend.
Step 1

Walk your hands forward, keeping your core engaged until you’re in a plank position (on hands, not elbows).

Step 2
The next few steps involve isolating one leg for the exercise.  The Scorpion push-up has you lift the leg (my right leg, in this example) and lift it behind you toward your left hip, as best as you can.  Do this as you drop to a push-up; you’ll feel a bigger load on your left chest and shoulder than the right, but your right hip will get a nice opening stretch.  Your obliques will engage to keep the whole thing together.

Step 3
After you come back up from the push-up, your foot can either return back to the floor while you centre yourself, or immediately shoot it forward between your hands.  Either way, your next step is to come up into a lunge.
Step 4
Press up from the floor with the front foot (right foot in my case) – the same foot that was in the air during the Scorpion push-up phase.  Come up into standing on that foot and raise the opposite (left in my case) knee to complete a Runner’s lunge.  If you’re incline to extend the leg into a front snap kick… who am I to stop you?
Now do everything in reverse: the raised knee goes back so  you’re in a lunge position, the front foot joins it in a momentary plank, Scorpion push-up, then walk the hands back into the forward bend, and straighten into standing.  Now do it again on the other leg.

 If you’re still not clear, the video can show you it all in succession, once on each side.



I’d love to see people play with this, so if you do get a chance, please leave a comment here or on Youtube.  Better yet, get a picture or video of yourself doing Roguees and put it on Twitter or Instagram; tag me (@apkussma) and use the hashtag #Roguees.


(I’m submitting this to Drink and Dish’s Video Challenge!)
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Burbathlon and Matrix Workout Remixed

Remix (Broader Context): A remix may also refer to a non-linear re-interpretation of a given work or media other than audio. Such as a hybridizing process combining fragments of various works (from Wikipedia).

Whenever I go out to do a Burbathlon, I have to admit I usually improvise.  I have a few bags of tricks that I use with park benches, picnic tables and playground equipment, and the exercises number more than the slots I find to do them in, so no two Burbathlons are alike.  Still, variety is the spice of life, and Instagram has been great for finding new exercises to ‘Remix’ my workouts.  To wit,

 The horizontal pull-up from Shauna Harrison.



Dips…

Handstands like Running Rachel:





Box Jumps like Electra-Fi:



Matrix Workouts

I’ve also been remixing these (You do remember Matrix Workouts don’t you? Try those links if not).  The one sentence refresh: a workout comprised of exercises organized by muscle/movement groups (push, legs, pull) in the columns, and priorities (core/balance, power, endurance) in the rows.  I’d always noticed the overlap between exercises that help build core strength and balance while hitting a particular muscle group and those that build endurance in the same group, but I’ve decided to stop worrying about the dividing lines between the two. 

Here’s how I structured the latest incarnation:



Push (shoulder/chest)
Legs
Pull (Back/Biceps)
Core/Balance
Handstand hold (max time) – against a wall
Rolling Pistol Squats
Plank Rows – 1 minute
Power
Incline Chest Press (dumbbells)
Deadlifts
Seated Cable Row
Endurance
Push-ups – 1 minute
Jump lunges/split squats
Negative Phase Pull-ups


  • Handstands are making an appearance here too.  My biggest weakness is always anything with overhead work, so by sticking to bodyweight stuff like this, I hope to become stronger without compounding any problems.  Against a wall I find I can hold it less than a minute so far.
  • Pistol Squats are the ultimate one-legged squat and great for building a runner’s strength – I just can’t do a full range of motion on them though.  There’s lots of ways to scale them: holding on to something, reducing the range a little with a box under your butt, using a Swiss ball to do them against a wall).


I had the idea to use the latter half of a technique that practioners of Shorinji-Kan Jiu-Jitsu called a ‘Judo Roll’ (N.B. not an roll that would be used by someone who does Judo).  It’s a shoulder roll where one heel gets planted and you rise up into a fighting stance, and that rise has some similarity to a pistol squat – I apologize for not being able to find a video.  The momentum for the roll makes getting up from the bottom a little easier – in theory.  I started on my back and rolled backwards up to my shoulder and tried to complete the latter half, but I was only able to rise all the way up using a bar and occasionally touching a wall for balance; and even then I could only get 5 reps per leg.  I still believe that this exercise can pay dividends to strength and balance – especially for runners, so I want to keep working on it.

  • Plank rows – I’ve used these before… a.k,.a Renegade Rows.
  • Incline Chest Press with dumbbells – I struggle with any kind of overhead press due to shoulder stability issues.  This lets me approach that functionality in a controlled fashion.  When I think about it, what does a classic bench press simulate? Not too many situations where I have to lift things while lying flat on my back… this is more like it.
  • Deadlifts – You could argue that these don’t belong strictly under the leg category, but the first time I started incorporating them in workouts, I felt it in my hamstrings most the next day.

  • Seated Cable Row – this breaks my ‘No Machines’ rule and isn’t very functional, but in the Power row/category, I do want a little more targeting of my latissimus dorsi_and trapezius  muscles for now.
  • Push-ups – doing them for 1 minute straight.
  • Jump Lunges – still struggling to get 1 minute’s worth straight through.
  • Negative Phase Pull-ups – I can only do about 1.5 pull-ups, so making a workout out of that seems pointless, but by jumping/climbing to the top of the movement and lowering myself as slowly as possible, I can get more reps out and help my muscular endurance.  This is functional and makes up for the seated cable row.
After I get through a circuit or two of the 3×3 matrix, I’ve been adding a little capper or two that I find and haven’t been able to fit in otherwise like Shauna Harrison’s (her again?) one-legged jumping squat …



or Trainer Davey’s Pike-Jack Push-up

I need to wrap up this post… I haven’t had a workout in 2-3 days, and I’m going out for another Burbathlon… I might mix in Mom’s Little Running Buddy’s Focus for 5 while I’m out there.

When it comes to exercise, who do you beg, borrow and steal from lately?

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A September of Family Races Part 3: Shark Boy’s Second Duathlon

We closed off our September of Family Races with the Family Fun Fit Beaches Best KOS Duathlon for Shark Boy (with me acting as coach and chaperone).  We had a lot of fun doing this event last year, and for days afterwards, he was asking when he could do a ‘triaflon’ again (still working on swimming, and apparently the distinction between ‘tri-’ and ‘du-’).  The big step up this year was that he was riding a real bike rather than a glider; in fact, someone saw him riding his bike with skill that they referred to as ‘Amazing’ which happens to be the adjective used to describe Spider-Man, who adorns both his bike and helmet.


The race was to start at 8:30 AM.  Two bits of bad news this year were that 1.) it was pouring rain on Saturday and 2.) the Gardiner Expressway was closed.  The former meant getting wet, and the latter meant spending a lot of time in traffic, even that early in the morning.  We arrived with enough time to spare for race kit pickup, pinning the bib onto the jacket, and setting up the bike in the transition area as well as strap on the timing chip.  The event is sanctioned by Triathlon Canada, and though it’s a fun/kids event, it’s nice to see that they want the rules of transition (i.e. no riding your bike in transition area, helmets on before taking the bike) enforced, pay attention to safety (more in a bit), and start on time.  


The 3-5 age group was split into two heats/waves to avoid crowding on the trail and the first heat started at 8:30 sharp.  Spectators were ushered off the racecourse and  immediate vicinity well before the start, but athletes and their guardians were able to hang out near the starting line; Shark Boy and I took turns holding an umbrella, so I got a little more wet than I strictly needed to.  They didn’t start the second wave until the bike course was completely clear – while this meant waiting in the rain (and who likes that?) I have to appreciate them making safety the highest priority.

Quick side note: before we got to race I saw the first athlete to cross the finish line and it was a little girl (in fact the overall fastest in kids aged 3-5). I don’t know when the sexist notions about getting ‘chicked’ start, but it’s clearly more of an adult-invented concept. For the kids, fastest is fastest, and parents with daughters should take note – get your girls to shoot for the moon in sports.

We got into position in the starting line, a little behind the very first row.  While I did want Shark Boy to run fast, I know I have a little trouble coaxing him to really let loose when the distractions of other kids racing are around, plus I didn’t want him to get winded too soon like during the 5 Peaks race. I ran ahead of him and coaxed him to follow me, and I think he did a great job of pacing himself and staying pretty focused. The first run leg was 50 meters, and we completed the loop, rounded the corner into transition and found the bike. Before the race I tried to show him where we had parked it, looking from the angle of the transition area entrance. He almost got on the bike right away, but not only did I catch him as he was throwing his leg over the bike, but so did a volunteer! We jogged the bike toward the mount line, but he still got on a few feet too early. Oh well.

Once he started pedalling, I was very glad I wore running shoes and track pants, because I needed to run full-tilt to keep up with him. He blazed by every kid we saw for the first half of the course which felt good in two ways: one, I was proud of him, two, it was nice seeing the other side of the coin on the bike course – normally I’m the one getting passed.

At the top of the biggest downhill on the course (not much of a hill, but enough for kids to pick up a lot of speed) I could see a little girl had fallen near the bottom which also was a turn to the left. Shark Boy judiciously applied the brake and handled the bike beautifully to avoid any further accident. Unfortunately, this put him neck-and-neck with another girl and for a few seconds there, I feared a Ben-Hur chariot race type scenario, with the two kids potentially side-swiping each other. I coaxed a little more ‘oomph’ from him on the pedals, and we pulled ahead. There was an uphill climb just before transition and I’m proud to say he went up it without getting off the bike… he just pushed those pedals and up he went!


He dismounted and jogged his bike back to its spot. I asked him if he wanted to keep the helmet on.
“UMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM…” The clock was still ticking so I took it off and we started the run. He’d been looking forward to hearing cheers (especially ‘WOOO’) all morning, so I’m betting this was his favourite part. The final leg was a loop of 100 m. I kept him motivated not only by cheering but reminding him that snacks awaited. I tried to run far enough ahead to snap a picture of him crossing the finish line, but I wasn’t fast enough. Luckily my wife was able to grab the shots you see with her phone – as for the blurriness, Blame It On the Rain.


Normally I wouldn’t let my kids drink Gatorade, but I was so proud I had to make an exception. We all snacked on cookies and crackers (some from the race, some that we had packed) and decided to head home – the rain wasn’t making us any more comfortable. We were pretty sure that Shark Boy wouldn’t get an award (make the top 3 podium), so we were happy getting the finisher’s medal, certificate and most importantly to him, lollipop (in the race kit). When we looked up the results online, we found he got 8th in kids 3-5 (5th place Boys).

I’m super proud of my eldest son, and for next year, I’m hoping we can get him in a full Triathlon (with swimming) while the Lightning Kid tackles this event or one like it if he can manage a glider bike by then.

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A September of Family Races Part Twofer: 5 Peaks Trail Run & Terry Fox Run

The folks at 5 Peaks were nice enough to let me transfer my race entry for the cancelled Yeti Snowshoe race in February to a race much later in the season.  I picked the Heart Lake event (at the Heart Lake Conservation Area); this was the first year they had used this venue.


What turned out to be a beautiful day was a little tough to dress for, as the day started near single digit temperatures (in Celsius), but the sun ended up beating down to a degree that mid-way through the race I was wishing I had worn shorts.   More on my race later; first, we got both Shark Boy and the Lightning Kid to run the “Children’s Challenge” which was a 1 km fun run for the little ones which took place after a timed kids event (probably for slightly older children).

The boys are both #1!

The announcer explained the course and the parents held the kids back until it was time to ready, set, go!  I ran alongside Shark Boy to keep him motivated and running the best pace he could manage, and my wife ran with the Lightning Kid to keep him out of trouble.  The course went out under the start/finish arch, across a field for a bit, then down a big hill to a clearing they called ‘the bowl’, where we did a small loop and headed back the same way.

Shark Boy descends the hill into the bowl.

We’ve got a little more work to do about teaching Shark Boy how to pace himself for distance, and he’s a chip off the old block for not threatening the front runners for their podium positions, but he gave it a great effort and finished strong and out of breath and I couldn’t be prouder.

Shark Boy just before the finish line.

The Lightning Kid just before the finish line.

What can I say about the Lightning Kid? He got some help from his mom on the big hill, but I don’t think anyone had ever seen anyone that young and little finish a race like that, never mind with his gusto and enthusiasm.  We have Special Olympics aspirations for this one, but we’d also like him to attend as many sporting events for ‘typical’ kids as possible.

The brothers with their finishers’ medals.

There was about a half hour break between the end of the Children’s Challenge and the main race which was a Sport course (7.5 km) and an Enduro (15 km); the latter being two laps of the former.  Racers were asked to self seed themselves in waves, with the first wave being people who had a sincere chance of making top 3 overall.  From the numbers it was clear that some overestimated their abilities (or underestimated the competition), but the race announcers’ hinting and chiding had little effect on cutting down the size of that first wave.  In fact, with all the joking around I somehow got it into my head that there would only be two waves, and I would be fine in the back.  After the race was over, I chatted with a guy who was keeping a similar pace than me (and identified himself as more of a ‘hobby’ runner – like me – than a ‘serious’ runner – like most of the racers).  Luckily I stood at the back of the second wave so I wasn’t as big an impedance as I would have been in the front.

 After the first 50 m, the trail narrowed significantly for big downhill drop and the race turned into standing in line at the movies.  We had been forewarned of this and everyone was good-natured about it – it was too soon to have any real effect on anyone’s race.  Once the trail opened up a little bit, I started getting passed and as I checked my heart rate on my Garmin, I could see I needed to slow down the pace a bit.  The thing about trail races is they don’t give your heart rate much of a break unless you’re willing to slow down to a walk.

There were some fun ‘obstacles’ like logs to jump over including one you had to climb or vault (a hop would not suffice) especially early on – I loved it, but I think they still kept it within sane ranges unlike these obstacle course races that are practically masochistic in nature.  I kept getting passed though, and I began to wonder if I was in dead last when I stopped seeing people behind me for a bit.  It happens to me a little on the bike in triathlon so I don’t stress out about it too much.  In fact, I had passed one or two people too.  I took a little video of the trail, if you’d like to get a feel for what the race was like.


I had noticed that the kilometre markers came earlier than my Garmin was claiming, so when 6 km was done, I decided I could try and risk it a little more and really started pushing the pace; driving my heart rate well north of 90% of max.  I passed 3 people who had a similar pace than me, but were making it look easier.  I had a feeling they could and would catch me again before the finish line… and that was when I encountered a bit of funny luck.

The trail veered left and suddenly we were basically facing a wall of dirt.  Imagine the steepest hill you could theoretically climb on foot.  I think the others just stopped and laughed and resigned themselves to walking up carefully.  I, on the other hand, have daily conversations with Shark Boy about Spider-Man, so I hustled up using hands and feet like the wall-crawler himself, and you know what? I wasn’t passed again before the end of the race, even though there was another gut-busting climb out of that same bowl we used in the Children’s Challenge.  I crossed the finish line with lungs burning in just under 45 minutes.  I had projected an hour to my wife – I think both the course was a little easier than the last time I did a trail race, and maybe I’m in a little better shape.

5 Peaks always has great post-race snacks including bagels, bananas, apples, orange wedges, chunks of power bar (I think), cookies and kettle corn.  The Vega tent also gave out free samples of plant-based recovery drink – I’m glad turmeric has anti-inflammatory properties, but it’s not something I’d normally put in a drink… They also have Kicking Horse coffee, but I’m never ready to drink coffee immediately after a race, and by the time I get ready, it’s all gone. One of the costs of being a back of the pack (14/18 in Men 30-39 which I qualify as for another 3 days) athlete I guess.

And that was our Saturday… on to Sunday!
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 We got the kids packed up to do the Terry Fox Run at West Deane Park after a pancake breakfast.  I knew I was going to treat the day as ‘active recovery’ – nothing too strenuous, just jogging.  Unfortunately, I found I had tweaked a weird muscle the day before.  I don’t know which muscle it is, but let’s just say I’m not willing to put ice there.  It was going to be a little more challenging than I thought!

 The Terry Fox run is such a great event for families; there’s a bouncy castle, live music, a hot air balloon (that takes you only a little bit up and down, but still), fire engines for the kids to look at, a barbecue, and a great playground.  We were joined by my father-in-law and his wife.

They ended up taking the kids for the most part, while my wife and I did the run according to the planned route.  We did not break any speed records but proceeded north at a friendly pace while stopping to read Terry Fox quotes that were written in chalk on the path.

(I know that one’s not in chalk, I should have taken pics of the other ones as we encountered them).  The northern turn around point was only about 2 km out from the start, so I knew we’d end up with less than 5 km if we stopped at the start/finish line.  It turns out the kids and Opa and his wife had taken the southern arm of the route, so we went to meet them, but I confess we did a lot of walking as there was fatigue build up for both of us.


 By the time we met them, I had gotten a bit of a second wind, and I wanted to burn off a little extra energy, so I went ahead with Shark Boy to finish the route at a run (with him on his bike). He had wanted to get off the bike and run, but I convinced him to stay on it since it was a little far for him.  Keeping up with him on a bike is speed work (as I learned in Germany), and we had fun racing each other.  Before next week I have to teach him that filling his bike with pretend gas isn’t a great idea during a race, though.  With only a few hundred metres left, I could hear the band, and I said I’d carry the bike and helmet so he could cross the finish line on foot.  He doesn’t know it, but he did a brick workout!  Bring on next week’s duathlon.  

We all met again later and the kids had some good playground time and snacks.  I’m really happy to make this an annual tradition and we even raised a little money for cancer research.

Because we are crazy and insatiable, the kids had swimming lessons that afternoon too.  Our family is what my friend the Pavement Runner calls “That Kind of Crazy“.

Did you grow up in a crazy active family?  If not, do you wish you had?