1st Official Winter-Lewd Triathlon

Well, this past weekend marked the official opening of Ottawa’s annual winter celebration, Winterlude. You know, ice sculptures, snow carving, skating on the canal, outdoor music events, etc. etc. But did you know that each year there is also an associated sporting event in the triathlon community? Yup, each year there is usually a Winterlude Triathlon, consisting of a skate, ski, then run. This event is put on by Zone 3 Sports, and is as much a part of Winterlude as the sculptures. Last year, I raced in it, although it was turned into a duathlon, with only running and skiing, due to ice conditions. And this year? Well, sadly, mother nature’s lack of direction on the weather front meant that this event was only an 8km run along the canal :-(. As such, I didn’t sign up this year. However, that didn’t mean I couldn’t take part in a new event, the Winter-Lewd Triathlon! Yup, this one was thought up by a few crazy racing friends of mine, and this little post will fill you in on the details of this little event. If you’d like, you can head over to flickr and check out the pictures from the day.

All in the Name of Science

Hey there sports fans. As a few of you have been peripherally aware, I recently volunteered my body for science! I’ve kept some people in the dark as to what that meant, in hopes of compiling some fun pictures and writing up a blog post. Well, the time has come to tell you my little story. Hope you enjoy it. You can also feel free to browse through my little folder of pictures that I convinced people to take for me during the whole process. Head over to flickr for that folder.

How did I end up as part of a study you ask? Well, one of the websites that I read quite regularly (actually, it’s a daily email as well) is TriRudy, which is a website for local triathletes. Essentially, people post all sorts of things there, like discussions on sports, announcements regarding races, race reports, items for sale, etc. Another thing that pops up now and again is Master’s and PhD students from Ottawa U that are looking for test subjects for their theses. That is how I was lured into it. The ad promised a free VO2 max test and DEXA scan as compensation for taking part in the study. These are things I’ve been keen to have done, but never felt like forking over the several hundred dollars to do so. They were looking for males, aged 18-35, and I fit the bill. So call it a bit of selfishness if you will, but I heeded the call. Now on with the story.

It’s Cold… Let’s Race!

Brrrr.. It sure was cold out there this weekend! To enjoy the cold weather just a little more, I had to take part in my third race in as many weeks. Yes, it was time for the second race in the 2007 Mad Trapper showshoe racing season. To make it extra fun, it was the dreaded ‘Hilly’ course. Two laps each consisting of 5 kilometers of hills, hills, and more hills. Luckily, with every up there comes a down, as you can see by the picture at the right. I’m a big fan of running downhill, not so much of running uphill. Of course, given the terrain, I didn’t really have much of a choice. Also sadly for me, I was having an off day. I’ve already accepted that, so to save you any great suspense… I didn’t win 🙁 In fact, I only came in 14th place. I believe that’s my worst finish yet in a Mad Trapper race. So, let’s go back to the start of the day and review the events of the day, shall we?

Success in the Hills of Mansfield

Welcome to another exciting chapter in the ongoing stories of Team Hyper-Active! How do you describe an event where you drive twice as long to get to it as you do participating in the actual race? Well, after leaving Friday afternoon, returning Sunday night, recuperating for almost a day, and now sitting here to write out my thoughts, I’d say it was awesome! I’m speaking of this past weekends’ convoy to the Mansfield Outdoor Centre for this year’s edition of the Salomon Adventure Challenge Winter Adventure Race. For this race, Team Hyper-Active consisted of me (naturally), James Galipeau and Sophia Tsouros. We were also joined for the trip by the threesome of Carl Buchmann, Steeve Lavoie and Anne-Marie Moisan, racing as Team NexxGen AR. Just to keep it extra fun, we also dragged along three other Ottawans (Pete, Melanie and Jill) to join in the fun. This was destined to be a grand adventure, and we figured the best way to kick it off would be to travel all together from Ottawa to Mansfield, a 5-6 hour trip depending on conditions. The following is our tale.

Climate Change Challenge

Welcome back to my first official post of the racing season. I’ve been putting off posting in any great detail lately because things have really been up and down for me the past few weeks. Since being told that I have a recurring injury, I’ve been doing my best to recover from it and strengthen my left leg. I thought things were going great, and was about to post to that effect last week when BAM! I relapsed quite badly and was told once again not to run. Not a good prognosis, given that I was slated to not only run, but race, in three days’ time. To remove any suspense, I did indeed race, but tried to go easy on myself. I grabbed 5th Place in the male category, and the rest of the details will follow below.

If you’ve been paying attention to my blog, you will have noticed that the Mad Trapper snowshoe race was actually not listed as my next upcoming event. As a result of my injury, I had removed it from my ‘official’ events stream. However, after a few good weeks of recovery, I registered anyway (actually, I registered for all 3 events!), hoping to go for it. Training runs with Grant and alone had been going well, with fairly little pain coming back. However, after a full training week, and seriously upped mileage on my feet, the pain eventually came back strong. The only way to lick it is to rest more. So, I’ll do more biking, swimming and weights, but less running for the remainder of January. But enough about that, what about the race, you ask?