Races and the outdoors
Hey, sorry I've been so out of touch lately. Been up to a lot of stuff and just haven't had time for anything more than browsing my Friends page. But here's what I've been up to the past couple weeks.
Last weekend, a friend and I did the City Chase. There were over 300 teams this year, and we came in at around 2.5 hours (out of an allowable 6) to get 27th place. That puts us easily in the top 10%, which we were crazy happy with. By the way, we were jogging or even sprinting almost the entire race, so we were both totally worn out by the end.
Just a few hours after that, we joined up with another two friends to rent kayaks and headed out to a campground in Porteau Cove. We camped there for the night and got up bright and early Sunday morning to do the 6km paddle to Anvil Island. Once there, we did the VERY steep hike up to its peak and had amazing 360 degree views of Howe Sound. It was a great (and very tiring) weekend!
I'm getting out hiking and climbing every week, which makes me very happy. That's one of the big reasons I moved out here, and I've finally hooked up with a few friends who are just as into it as I am. In fact, I'm taking a mountaineering course in mid-June where we'll camp out on a mountain (above the snow line) for 4 days and learn crevasse rescue and other safety issues with glacier travel. And then -- hopefully -- I'll be going down to Ecuador with a buddy to climb the tallest mountain down there. It'll take us to over 20,000 feet, meaning we'll be way above everything else in the area and be able to see for miles. Even though it's only a 2-day climb, though, we'll have to make it a 2-week trip because going to that altitude requires a long period to get acclimated to low oxygen levels. But hey, I'm sure there are worse ways to spend two weeks than the mountains of Ecuador. :)
My paddling is also going amazing. A few weeks ago, my canoe club Vancouver Ocean Sports had its first time trials. I was a little nervous because I was used to the 6-man boats and wasn't at all used to the solo boats. I'm also still a newbie at this sport, so I wasn't sure how well I'd do. But I did awesome! There were 12 people in the time trials (3 women and 9 men) and with my time of 25:08, I came in second place by only about 20 seconds! The next person behind me was a full 2.5 minutes behind me, and the average time was around 30 minutes. Considering the guy who beat me has been padding outrigger for a long time (he's been coaching for 6 years!), I'm pretty darn happy with my performance.
The coach had the video cameras out during the time trial and a few days later, we got to see ourselves paddling and get critiqued. Actually seeing myself paddling made me realize that my technique was way different than I'd thought it was, and I got some really good 1-on-1 advice, which I'm trying to apply right now. I think I'll be able to really get my speed and endurance up.
My canoe club also just recently started a 10-race paddling series, with a different race every second Thursday. The race allows solo and tandem outriggers, solo and tandem kayaks, canoes, and surf-skis (like an outrigger without the pontoon), and includes men, women, and co-ed. Last night was the first one and I entered to paddle a solo outrigger. While I'd had my time trial, this was my first actual solo race, and my first race of any type this season. There were 7 competitors in the men's solo outrigger class and I came in 4th with a time of 43:45. I'm super happy with my performance. For one, I was stuck behind one boat for most of the race but then I decided to make a big push for the last leg of the race and managed to pull ahead and beat him by about 15 seconds. Also, I was only about 1 minute behind the 2nd and 3rd boats, and the #1 boat only beat me by about 4.5 minutes. Considering he's the 2nd or 3rd best outrigger paddler in all of Canada AND he's an ex-Olympian, I think I did pretty well. And the #7 boat was a full 15 minutes behind me, so I think I kept up pretty well. Considering this was my first solo race, it was a pretty good start. I'm also getting a better idea of my endurance level, and I think I'll be able to push myself a little harder in the next race -- I was pacing myself a bit too much. My team was really impressed with how I did -- I'm the least experienced member on the team, and I'm already one of the strongest paddlers. You have no idea how happy I am about that. :)
Last weekend, a friend and I did the City Chase. There were over 300 teams this year, and we came in at around 2.5 hours (out of an allowable 6) to get 27th place. That puts us easily in the top 10%, which we were crazy happy with. By the way, we were jogging or even sprinting almost the entire race, so we were both totally worn out by the end.
Just a few hours after that, we joined up with another two friends to rent kayaks and headed out to a campground in Porteau Cove. We camped there for the night and got up bright and early Sunday morning to do the 6km paddle to Anvil Island. Once there, we did the VERY steep hike up to its peak and had amazing 360 degree views of Howe Sound. It was a great (and very tiring) weekend!
I'm getting out hiking and climbing every week, which makes me very happy. That's one of the big reasons I moved out here, and I've finally hooked up with a few friends who are just as into it as I am. In fact, I'm taking a mountaineering course in mid-June where we'll camp out on a mountain (above the snow line) for 4 days and learn crevasse rescue and other safety issues with glacier travel. And then -- hopefully -- I'll be going down to Ecuador with a buddy to climb the tallest mountain down there. It'll take us to over 20,000 feet, meaning we'll be way above everything else in the area and be able to see for miles. Even though it's only a 2-day climb, though, we'll have to make it a 2-week trip because going to that altitude requires a long period to get acclimated to low oxygen levels. But hey, I'm sure there are worse ways to spend two weeks than the mountains of Ecuador. :)
My paddling is also going amazing. A few weeks ago, my canoe club Vancouver Ocean Sports had its first time trials. I was a little nervous because I was used to the 6-man boats and wasn't at all used to the solo boats. I'm also still a newbie at this sport, so I wasn't sure how well I'd do. But I did awesome! There were 12 people in the time trials (3 women and 9 men) and with my time of 25:08, I came in second place by only about 20 seconds! The next person behind me was a full 2.5 minutes behind me, and the average time was around 30 minutes. Considering the guy who beat me has been padding outrigger for a long time (he's been coaching for 6 years!), I'm pretty darn happy with my performance.
The coach had the video cameras out during the time trial and a few days later, we got to see ourselves paddling and get critiqued. Actually seeing myself paddling made me realize that my technique was way different than I'd thought it was, and I got some really good 1-on-1 advice, which I'm trying to apply right now. I think I'll be able to really get my speed and endurance up.
My canoe club also just recently started a 10-race paddling series, with a different race every second Thursday. The race allows solo and tandem outriggers, solo and tandem kayaks, canoes, and surf-skis (like an outrigger without the pontoon), and includes men, women, and co-ed. Last night was the first one and I entered to paddle a solo outrigger. While I'd had my time trial, this was my first actual solo race, and my first race of any type this season. There were 7 competitors in the men's solo outrigger class and I came in 4th with a time of 43:45. I'm super happy with my performance. For one, I was stuck behind one boat for most of the race but then I decided to make a big push for the last leg of the race and managed to pull ahead and beat him by about 15 seconds. Also, I was only about 1 minute behind the 2nd and 3rd boats, and the #1 boat only beat me by about 4.5 minutes. Considering he's the 2nd or 3rd best outrigger paddler in all of Canada AND he's an ex-Olympian, I think I did pretty well. And the #7 boat was a full 15 minutes behind me, so I think I kept up pretty well. Considering this was my first solo race, it was a pretty good start. I'm also getting a better idea of my endurance level, and I think I'll be able to push myself a little harder in the next race -- I was pacing myself a bit too much. My team was really impressed with how I did -- I'm the least experienced member on the team, and I'm already one of the strongest paddlers. You have no idea how happy I am about that. :)