Daily Goals and Precious Medals

Thinking about medals doesn't help before a big race. Results-based goals don't mean anything when you're on the brink of a big competition. Those are the ones that get you out the door on cold, dark days in the winter. Brent and I talked about this a fair bit this summer leading into the Worlds - focus on what you can control and make goals accordingly. It worked well and at the end of the season, I could say that I met some big goals, even if my results-based goals weren't quite as good as I had aimed for.

At the AthletesCan conference last month, Deirdra told a good story about coming back from a crippling injury halfway through her career. She made goals, big and small, every day. She wrote them down and checked them off, every day. After weeks and months of little steps, she was able to compete again in Turin.

Make a goal, write it down! Then, as Jeff says, Dare, Dream and Do!

But...since it is the beginning of the season, I can dream about medals! And what better place for some inspiration than at the Hockey Hall of Fame - Olympic medals from 46 different games! Only until January 15, 2010. I hope I have a chance to check it out.

Urban Orienteering

Can you figure out where this is? Come try some urban orienteering on Wednesday at the Ultimate Fit Centre! Usual time for club run at 6pm - bring a headlamp and a pen.

Who is your team?

The first few weeks of 2010 have been great. I've settled into a good routine and am enjoying some long hours wandering new trails and taking in a wonderful fall in the mountains. One of my big goals this time of year is to recharge my motivation and find enjoyment in the process of working towards the big goals of 2010. I've also spent a lot of time reflecting on the past season. It is cool being in Canmore around so many top Canadian athletes. In a way, it's a bit artificial because it's probably the highest concentration of Olympians and wold class athletes in Canada. But at the same time, the atmosphere of hard work, enormous dedication and the pursuit of excellence is contagious in the community.

I came across this great clip by hero Simon Whitfield. Check it out. He really hits the nail on the head.

Especially at this time of year, I find myself thinking a lot of his thoughts. Mike commented on my training log with some good questions.

Think about it!

Who is your team?

What brings the best out of you?

What inspires you?

Fall in the mountains! It doesn't get much better than this. A dusting of snow to make the peaks as scenic as the come, but nice warm running trails below!

Then home to dive into some squash soup with goat cheese....mmm

On the road again

After a quick two weeks in Hungary, the 2009 World Champs are over, and I'm on my way home to Manitoba. The Canadian Champs start in a few days, but first I am looking forward to the annual National Junior Training Camp. The camp is always a great experience a great chance for the young athletes to get some excellent training, hang out together and have a ton of fun. Hopefully, I'll be able to post some photos and writeups from the camp over the next few days.

Now sitting in the Budapest airport, I have a bit of time to reflect over the whirlwind two weeks here. Right now, I'm mentally and physically drained, so will fully digest the races later. But most importantly, thanks again to my team mates, friends and family for all the support along the way. 349 days to go!

2009 WOC Done

With the relay over, WOC2009 is done for Team Canada. I am wiped! Running 3 hard races in 36h was tough. I knew it would be, so I was prepared for a fight in the 1st leg of the relay. But of course, it's a fairly ruthless race and didn't have a great race after losing time right off the start. When you lose the lead group, motivation suddenly drops and you realize how tired the legs are! This was my #2 goal of the year, so I was disappointed and angry at letting the opportunity go. That will fuel my training for the next 351 days.

The Long Final will be run tomorrow, and I definitely feel sad not to be running it. I had mentally and physically prepared to be running it, and it feels like the week shouldn't quite be over yet.

But the silver lining is that we get to enjoy the last 2 days here in Hungary fully in holiday mode. After the race, Louise and Carol greeted me with a kuruskalac (warm Hungarian cinnamon bun!) and beer. What could be better!

Top 40!

Yesterday was a big day here in Hungary! I broke into the top 40 in the Sprint for a new PB on the world stage. My qualification race in the morning went well as ran a safe race and placed 11th of 37 to make the top 15 cutoff. I was very motivated to perform to my capabilities, so was happy with the morning's run.

I was definitely tired for the afternoon's final, but ran another good race to finish up in 38 of 46. I ran technically well and pushed to my physical limits, so I am satisfied and content with the day. But of course already hungry for more next year :)

We're off to the relay soon, the final event of the week. Thanks for all the support from everyone watching from home and here in Hungary! I'm looking forward to sharing the stories when I get back to Canada.

A relay viewer's guide is up on the Team Canada Blog

Do it properly

This is the big one. Sprint time.

I was not happy with my Long Quali earlier in the week. Although I ran on pace with the best in the world for much of the race, my huge mistake at #1 destroyed my day. Not good enough and I know that is not up to my ability. I appreciate all the support and good wishes during and after the race - but now it is time to do it properly and make all the hard work worth it. Game on!

Finally

Finally. It's time to race! Morning of my Long Quali race and I am antsy to get going. I've thought a lot about today over the last year and looking forward to seeing what improvements I've made. I know I'm in great shape and technically sound. I try not to think of results, but I know that if I stick to my game plan, they will come.

Concentrate on what you can control. Nobody deserves to do well, you have to earn it.

At the end of the day, my #1 goal is to represent Canada to the best of my ability and cross the finish line proudly with a smile on my face!

WOC Training Camp

After the long travel day to Hungary, I am now settled into the Uni-Hotel Miscolc with the rest of the Canadian Team. The team is a bit small this year with only 5 men and 2 women, but everyone is in very good spirits and looking strong! Coach Magnus arrives tonight to complete the Team. I think it will be a good year!

Yesterday, we did two training sessions to get the body going and get used to the terrain and maps here. I felt surprisingly good after the travel! My legs are rested, so the main thing is to kick-start the body and brain, rest and relax before the races. My first race is the Long Qualifier on Monday, so that amounts to two more days of training, one rest day, and one easy day before the race.

Today, we are heading up to the Slovak border for Relay-specific training. The relay is my #2 goal this year as I plan to start off our Team well, arriving in the lead group...something that hasn't happened in years!

We are updating the Team Canada Blog very regularly, so check back often for updates! teamcanadaorienteering.blogspot.com

Recovery on the road

Under a week to go until the 2009 World Championships. I'm excited. I had a great 10 day training camp in Whitehorse with lots of quality time on maps and high intensity training. Some warm weather made for excellent heat training as well.

And then it was time to rest. Not total rest, because that only does so much good and drives me nuts. I always say that recovery is one of the most underestimated, but important aspects of a good training program. I won't share all my secrets, but one of the most important parts is eating good food. Compression socks and ice baths are a close 2 and 3! On the right, some of my fav's. Yam fries, killer salad, salmon, steak. Oh yea, and local wine :)

Now waiting for my first flight, my bag is fully stocked with good recovery food. The work has been done and just the last 1% matters now! So after all the hard work and attention to details over the last year, there's no way I'm leaving the next 36h of travel up to random chance airport food!

Two giant salads (one with chicken and local BC blue cheese...mmm), cucumbers, almonds, oatmeal with nuts and berries for breaky, hard boiled eggs.

Heli-Running

It doesn't really get much better than this! Only 50 miles away from home, as the helicopter flies, is Kushawa Lake. Sure, we've been there before. Last time, it was a drive and long uphill from the lake to get on top of a nice ridge. This time, it was by chopper with the sole purpose of finding pristine, remote, smooth ridge running! Our friend Kimball was in town and we joined up for an awesome day starting off with the spectacular run, then a swim and some sushi to top off the day!

I lifted this photo off Brent's blog. Check out his writeup for more photos of the epic day!

Pursuit of Excellence

...the title of a great Sport Psychology book by Canadian, Terry Orlick. But that's not really what this post is about! The line caught my eye when I was reading over a study done by AthletesCan in 2004 of Canada's High Performance Athletes.

The article is an interesting read and makes me reflect on some of the things I've been thinking about lately. Why do sport? Why be an athlete? Why do some people push harder and go further than others? Is it worth it? I won't answer these here, but I have a few different phrases posted around my room that I read every day and one of them happens to be Pursuit of Excellence.

I was perusing the publications over at AthletesCan and came across the really interesting study from 2004 - Status of the High Performance Athlete Survey.

It's long, but looks like it's worth a good read sometime. If you don't read it, here are two interesting questions to ponder:

1. What is your motivation for athletic involvement?
2. What is do you see as your role in society as a high performance athlete?

It's worth thinking about. And when you've answered for yourself, you can see what Canada's athletes say!

When the water falls

Canmore is a rainy place these days...which is weird, because it never rains in Canmore. But it is, so I am working inside and enjoying some training in toque and gloves. No big deal, it could be raining in Hungary! Otherwise, the mountains are amazing and I am enjoying my time here.

On the weekend, Liza and I headed off to Sundre for the 5Peaks race. The drive out was quite spectacular with the foothills in the their glory, but of course the day's highlight was taking a course record on the 10.6km race! I was hoping for a good workout from the race without gutting myself, so it worked out perfectly.

Sunday's event at the Canmore Nordic Centre went well with quite a few new people out to try the new permanent orienteering course. If you are ever in town, be sure to head to Trail Sports to try the course - either by foot or MTB - electronic timing and map for $5.

In other news, last month's Orienteering North America had an interview with me, talking about racing, training, and a few other things. In case you don't subscribe to ONA, you can check it out here!

Junior World Champs

The Junior World Orienteering Championships are taking place in the Dolomites of Italy right now. The Sprint and Long races have been run and only the Middle and Relay are left over the next few days. It is exciting to follow online and to check out the maps when you wake up in the morning!

The guys have shown improvements over last year in every race and today, Emily was an awesome 5th in her qualifying heat! Check out the Women's Map from the middle!

When you wake up to the promise of your dream world coming true...

The days are marching on and my recovery from the Blaze is finally complete. Some time in Van to recharge was much needed before the final countdown to the Worlds. There isn't an hour that goes by without thinking about Hungary now! But it's still many weeks away and just thinking isn't enough - every day counts, lots of hard work to do still!

To Canmore

Early tomorrow, I'm back in the air, this time off to Canmore for nearly two weeks of work in the mountains. On Sunday, I will be doing a talk at the Nordic Centre before the summer opening of the permanent orienteering course. Adrian and the local club undertook this massive project and you can now go to Trailsports, buy a map and run several electronic timed courses, anytime you want! Join us on Sunday at the Nordic Centre! My talk is at 10AM. More info on the Barebones Website.

Don't stop pushing now

After racing the Blaze, I jetted back to the west coast for 6 days of orienteering racing in the Cascades of Washington. The Blaze was an amazing week, but I was left pretty tired after not much sleep and 150km of trail racing in 92h!

One day off, one travel day and it was back into orienteering mode. The week started off well as I won the first two sprint races and a mass start 20km race. Fast and hot, it was my kind of racing. Great fun and awesome preparation for the Worlds! I started to go a bit downhill after that and the weekend wasn't too stellar. I took it as good training and a good mental test.

Now back in Van, it's time for a bit of rest before the final 7 weeks before the World Champs! Now is when details matter. Every day counts. Onto the razor's edge!

Thanks to the Blaze Crew

Mike's photo of the ceremonial final 10k. Felt a little short ;)

I am in serious post-race withdrawal right now. The racing bubble has burst and I think we're all left tired and wiped from the week, but still wishing we were back in the middle of it all! Tobermory feels like a long way away now, but it was less than a week ago that we started the epic run.

Our volunteers and support crew were amazing. They stayed up to all hours of the day or night to drive, make food, massage, listen to stories and help us along.

For my fellow racers, it was definitely my pleasure to run with you. It is unusual to meet such a great group of inspirational people. I'll remember this week as one of the best!

Day 4

The Blaze is over! We arrived in Queenston today at 1230pm.

Yesterday, after the fast 22km leg in the morning, I had another 25km evening run into Hamilton. It was a wonderful way to end up the day on old, familiar trails. I had pretty much run every trail there before in various races and training with a lot of my team mates , so it was a nice memory trip to keep my mind off my tired legs!

A Hamilton Spectator journalist was waiting at the top of Sydenham Rd in Hamilton and caught us in transition. Paul is blazing off with me sporting the stylish (and effective) compression socks in the background!

Today's run was a tired 20km, followed by a ceremonial group run of the last 10km. Now I'm tired, sleep deprived, and wiped. More updates, photos and a recap of the event over the next few days!

Oh yea, we officially broke the old record of 8 days, coming in an hour shy of 4 days for the 894km!

The race heats up!

We are scheduled to finish tomorrow at 1pm EST. After nearly 75 hours of racing, we are almost bang on schedule. The race is heating up and after a long time trailing, our team, Mitochondria has taken the lead! We are up by 14 minutes, 1/2 way through the 34th of 45 legs. I am getting ready to head out the door for a big 25km leg leading into Hamilton. It will be a great run on some old familiar trails. Jack is also running for Muscles, so it should be another solid fight! I am hoping to take a few more minutes for the team, but the night will likely prove to be decisive!

Be sure to follow the drama unfold on Attackpoint and on Adventure Science.

Friday Morning

The last 14 hours have seen a bit of controversy and panic. Our team missed the 830 dark zone cutoff last night by 5 minutes, so we were forced to send out extra runners on the first night leg. But, what was supposed to be our 4th night leg ended up being a morning leg, so Mike rolled off a great leg to keep the gap to 48minutes.

Gary and I headed out for our early 20km leg into Port Credit hills. The fast leg took 1:25 and we cut the gap another 12 minutes to 36. After about 10km into the leg, I realized I'd be really early for the transition, so I called back to base to let Paul know he had to hurry up! There was no way they could get there in time, so I ket on going for a bit and sent Paul off looking strong.

The teams are scrambling to make last minute alterations to the line-up for a strong last day as we lead into the last decisive evening. For our team, Martin, Al, Tarno, David and I lead into the night!

There is a bit of play-by-play on Attackpoint about the morning!

Photos!

We arrived in Caledon last night and Barb took some photos! A few action, a few lounging.

Day 3 ending

It was another awesome run this evening, a beautiful 15.5km run starting at the Pretty River. Jack rolled off a very fast previous leg for the Muscles team, so I was eager to get some time back. The leg started with a long climb and had a 200m net gain, 400m total ascent. I was gunning for sub-1h, but went 1:05 with the grass and rock slowing it down. Still, a great run and I'm happy how well I recovered from the morning!

The big goal of the evening was to get David finished before 830pm so that we didn't have to send two runners out in the 'dark zone.' If you start betweeen 830pm and 430am, two runners from each team have to run for safety reasons. David scorched his 20km leg in 95 minutes, but missed the cutoff by 5 minutes leaving us scrambling a bit and having to fill 4 night legs. That means 8 of our 10 runners at night and I lead off the morning with a 20km leg. To grab back a little more time, I'll be running another 25km leg in the evening, so hopefully we can bridge the gap!

Mid-day 3

Day 3 is well underway and we've passed the 1/2 way point and the highest point. It's all downhill.

This morning's run was a classic Ontario trail, nice and rolly with some rocky hills and a couple waterfalls. Some wildlife and fog made it a great way to start the day. I lost a chunk of time on my leg by following an old detour complete with white flagging and posts. Must have been at least 10 minutes down an old trail. But we bridged the gap and cut the 52 minute lead to 7 minutes. Al looked great going out on the next leg and cut another 5 minutes our of the lead! Now it is afternoon and I'm napped, fed and coffeed up for the afternoon's 15km leg!

Updates on the AS site! Injury reports and colour commentary.
http://adventurescience.ca/category/blaze/

Day 3 beginning

My run yesterday was a quick 17.3km along the escarpment and took 1:14. It feels like a long time ago now, the last 20h filled by napping, eating, traveling and shuttling runners. We are now stationed in Collingwood and the night runners are coming and going. Now, up at 3am and excited for my Leg 19 run! Over 20km near Lake Eugeneia with some good hills.

Yesterday, we pulled back the lead to to 15minutes going tonight's running. Unfortunately, it stretched back to 51minutes, so we have some time to make up today.

The night has been fairly eventful with runners starting to get tired! The course is wet with fog and rain and the hills are here. Ankles are rolling, knees are sore, but we are nearing the 1/2 way point!

Discovery Channel was here yesterday getting some footage and Robyn has taken thousands of photos. Still to be uploaded, so here are Mike's photos for now!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/waddsquad/

Day 2 breaking, off to leg 9

Base camp last night was our good friend Jake's house in Wiarton. Wakeup call 345am. The house is very quiet with only a few snores and the sound of the coffee pot going. When I went to bed last night, the first few night runners had pulled in a lot of time, so my morning leg could be earlier than expected. The headlamp batteries are charged just in case!

Wiarton to Colpoy's Range Road. Local boy and my old Hamilton training buddy, Jake, is on this leg for Team Muscles and is super fast. Should be a good one!

Blaze Day 1, Leg 2

My first run of the Blaze is done! 23km of racing under my belt, a massage and some dinner and now it's almost time for bed.

Simon Donato and Paul Trebilcock kicked off Leg 1 of the exciting day in Tobermory at 1pm with cameras and film crews documenting the big run. Simon of Team Muscles rolled into CP2 on the beach 5 minutes ahead of Paul to send off Scott Ford ahead of me. The first 10km were very technical and took 70 minutes! I took it easy since it's still the first day, but that is a slow run! The next 13km took 50!

There was a story in the WFP this morning about the run too. If you don't have the paper, you can check it out here!

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/amateur/winnipegs-goeres-runs-the-gamut-48144352.html

My next run starts around 630am ON time, leaving from the Wiarton Willie statue!

The SPOT is on and off, but you can check for updates below. BLUE = Mito, ORANGE = Muscles
http://adventurescience.ca/blaze/follow-the-team.html

Blaze the Bruce

On Monday, I will be jetting off to Ontario to Blaze the Bruce Trail. I'll be running on one of two 10 person teams to complete the fastest ever run of Canada's longest footpath (894km) through the Niagara Escarpment UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve.

The Blaze the Bruce race will be an enormous opportunity for us to raise awareness for conservation and recreation issues and participate in an innovative physiological study, organized by Dr. Mark Tarnopolsky of McMaster University.

The race will be documented by Parkland Media for the film festival circuit and Discovery Channel will be filming for a Daily Planet episode. Many local paper and radio stations will be following closely too!

Check out the race website adventurescience.ca/blaze

I am also excited to announce a new equipment sponsor! Salomon Canada is going to help me stay fast, cool and stylish as we break records and cruise through some of Canada's most spectacular wilderness. Help me thank my sponsors by supporting their great gear! I only partner up with a company if I truly think their stuff is 1st class. Salomon is no exception and I am looking forward to working with them over the next year!

W*A*R

One of the many reasons for my visit to the Yukon was for the Whitehorse Adventure Run. The races usually have slightly easier than normal nav, but around 25km, so it ends up being in the 3h range. My good friend, Chris Piller and I teamed up for the race, and we pulled off a narrow victory over the local Junior National team boys, Colin and Lee.

In the evening, Brent was at the meat station on the grill when the local paper called. "I happen to have the winners right here" might have been a bit unusual in some places...but I have the feeling our reporter didn't find it so surprising. Ah Whitehorse.

Brent's writeup of the race is an exciting account of the day.
Here's the article in the local paper.
Map and our route on RouteGadget

Above Lake Kushawa

It's been a busy few weeks with training camps and racing. My quick visit to Whitehorse for some work and training is almost over. We enjoyed a spectacular run to the alpine yesterday! Not much trail, almost 3h, 1200m up and down.
A little meltwater lake awaited us at the top. Perfect for a little chilling before the trip home!

US Team Trials

My first major races of the year were the US Team Trials, in Santa Rosa County, CA. I had been looking forward to these races for several weeks as the first chance to put my winter training to a very good test. The races were pretty much a who’s who of orienteering in North America and included some strong international runners - in particular, Kristaps Jaudzems, 4th at the 2004 Junior World Champs and Øystein Sorenson, gold medalist at the 2005 Junior World Champs.

Training Group Success!

Our Vancouver training group had some great results this weekend. Øystein and I had very good races in the Middle and Long. Louise had several strong races in the women’s class as well. I am very happy that the weekend went well for us. Hard work pays off.

Mental Preparation

I am in very good shape right now, faster and stronger than I have ever been, but to have a successful weekend, I knew that I had to navigate well. At this time of year, my foremost goal was to be smooth and in full control, making no mistakes. I was extremely successful at meeting these goals and I am very satisfied with my mental preparation so far. Now it’s time to move on and look towards the bigger goals.

Physical Preparation

My winter training has had its ups and downs, but I am in very good shape right now and looking forward to gaining some higher end fitness leading into the summer. I felt very comfortable physically during the races, so that is good feedback for now. I always had lots left at the end of the races, so there is definitely room to push harder. Especially at the end of the long, I was feeling very strong and gained a lot of confidence from the good race.

Next up

A few days at home in Van to recover will be followed by another big stint of travel. Several TCs, work and the Canadian Team Trials will take me to Kamloops, Canmore and Whitehorse over the next month. Stay tuned!

One Step Closer

After a nice rest on the flatlands, a brief training camp in Kamloops was on the agenda to kick off the spring. The terrain is very open, but not as rocketship fast as you remember, with some stony and uneven ground. Still, it was a great way to get some terrain legs back. I was well focused and met my goals of being safe and smooth through the weekend. In many ways, a perfect weekend of training and more than I had hoped for. Many thanks to the Vyses for a comfortable bed and great supper!

When it rains, it snows in this prairie town

Summer has most definitely arrived on the west coast. Warm, sunny days, cherry blossoms, the end of work and new found speed are all some of the things I get to enjoy with the new season. But to start it off, I visited home for a few days last week. The CBC stories of flooding and massive ice jams are no exaggeration, and it was quite a sight flying into the prairie town.

Relaxation, good food and visiting with family are the main reasons for a trip home, and I am now charged up for a very busy summer. I plan to keep regular updates as my exciting weeks of racing, training and travel unfold!

Next post – TC#1 in Kamloops!

Happy Earth Day! $7 Million for Land Conservation in Manitoba

The Manitoba Government announced a big Earth Day present to its citizens this morning. $7 million is being used to support to the efforts of the Manitoba Section of Nature Conservancy of Canada and various smaller projects around the province.

There's an informative and interesting press release here from NCC. And a bit of a fluff piece by the Winnipeg Free Press here.

Live through this and you won't look back

The winter is supposed to be a time of big, solid training adventures. The last month has been frustrating from a training perspective. My motivation for a great racing season is high, but I've been dealing with a nagging knee injury that is hanging on and refuses to heal. It is improving daily, but still very slowly. To keep the trend going the right way, today was a triple workout day - keeping them short so that it's not too tough on the knee. Progress!

There aren't a lot of places in Canada you can get a roller coaster snowy trail run in the morning and a sunny and a nice warm ride in the afternoon.

Espresso, Speed, Sun

Just three of the reasons Portugal is an ideal getaway for the orienteering athlete pining for great training. The terrain is amazing, technical and fast. The sun is warm. The coffee is strong and cheap.

February was a packed month and just flew by. It was filled with a few big, solid training weeks, two training camps, and one injury! I will be doing some updates about the past month, but for now, here's a peak into the month that was!