It's twelve years to the day since I first started this blog.
That's a lot of driveling
It used to be like clockwork - a new post published every Friday. Race reports, product reviews, and general prattling on about what I was doing: running, camping, paddling, backpacking, whatever was getting me outside and/or sweaty.
Believe me when I say I'm still doing rather a lot of those things
Heck, I'm even still racing occasionally...but as for writing?
Not so much.
Here's the thing: between working absolutely ridiculous hours, running, lifting, plus playing hockey, I barely have time to sleep. I've fallen more than a month behind in my workout logs: the first of two 100 runs in 100 days challenge has just finished yesterday, but I've only got up to Jan 7th recorded, so it looks like I only ran 54 times right now when I actually finished with 101.
So with all of this, I find myself still with a race report half-written from October, another one from a few weeks ago that I haven't started yet, and no real hope of having more time to write in future. We laid off one of only 3 employees in my department last month, so there is definitely no help coming with my workload, and I'm having to take time away from work to seek some healthcare for some ongoing issues that are making things kind of miserable.
But at least I got out for a ski with my honey on Family Day
So here it is - 1:45am - and I'm borrowing from tomorrow once again. While I'm not willing to give up on the blog completely, I do know that there's very little chance I'll have time to write in the foreseeable future.
So we'll call it au revoir - not quite goodbye
I hope you all are out there enjoying your lives, reaching your goals, and showing yourself kindness. I wish you the best, and I'll hope to see you soon..
It all began Saturday, December 16th - we frequently play pickup hockey on Saturday nights, and this was no exception. It was our first game at RIM Park in quite awhile, and my bottle ended up spilling most of its contents just as it began (leaving me with barely any water for an 80min game - keeping in mind the average temperature inside my equipment is about 32c/90f), but it was pretty fun!
Sunday we played our last league game of the year - the season continues after a 2-week holiday break - and I tried to make it a bit fun with an addition to my usual kit, but I played like trash and it resulted in a pretty nasty loss.
I didn't play Monday, but come Tuesday a goalie friend of mine needed someone to cover two games as his knee was bothering him, in a rather unique league at The Zone in Guelph: 2 on 2, on a 95' x 45' rink - basically a quarter of an NHL-size rink, with no markings on the ice around the net for me to use and landmarks for angles.
Thursday was a night off, but we'd signed up to go to stick & puck - basically an open skills and drills practice session - on Friday night. We also had a pickup game booked for Saturday, and I knew if I played in goal at stick & puck (which basically turns into non-stop breakaways and hundreds of shots in the hour of ice time) I would be too beat up to play well on Saturday. So, I improvised.
The first time I'd played out since August!
Come Saturday, it looked like we might not have enough people for the pickup game to happen - the cancel if not enough folks sign up - but there was another stick & puck at the same rink in the timeslot before that, so I decided to register for that to make sure I'd get a skate in.
Tank came along, too
Now here's the thing: at the last minute, a bunch of people signed up for the pickup game...but it was too late for us to cancel out of either the stick & puck or the game without losing our registration fees, so we ended up playing both. I took it a little easy for the first hour in the stick & puck session, but didn't have that luxury in the 80min shinny that followed, as I faced no less than 80 shots!
Rinks were closed for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day (Sun-Tue), so I got a reprieve, but come Wednesday the 27th BLHP was in need of a goalie again, so back to the net I went. I couldn't get myself together out there, though: it almost felt like my legs weren't even my own, and I was trying to control them like some sort of weird sofa-cushion-clad marionette.
We'd signed up for an 80min pickup game on Thursday as well, and I even went to the trouble of re-taping one of my goal sticks in hopes of playing a bit better. I also took the Santa hat off my mask - can you believe that it stayed on for 7 skates with just a few bits of sock tape? - to see if maybe that might help.
It was time
It was probably my worst game yet: just couldn't stop a bloody beach ball. Seriously, I've seen dollar store coupons save more.
I was definitely feeling a bit weary by the time Saturday's pickup game in Baden rolled around: not only was it a lot of hockey, the game didn't start until 10pm, and it had been a long day. It was only a 50min game, but with a bunch of hotshot kids on the ice - whose speed and skill were a pleasure to watch, but a little difficult to defend against - I got lit up pretty badly again, and tweaked my groin a little in the process.
I did some stretching and massage when I got off the ice, hoping I'd feel better in the morning. We rolled straight out of bed on New Year's Eve and into the car with bags full of still-wet gear for one last skate with less than 12hrs remaining in 2023.
When all was said and done, I'd played 13 times in 16 days - 12 of those in goal, and two of the days had multiple skates - ending with 5 straight games in 5 days.
I'd survived!
It was a total of 13h3m on the ice - 12h13m in goal - with 5h40m of that in the final 5-day stretch. Oh, and did I mention I ended up in a run streak while all this was happening? I ran every day from Saturday, December 22nd until yesterday: Thursday, January 4th, with double runs on December 24th and 27th.
I forgot that the 29th was a Friday, so just went out for a run as usual
Distance wasn't much - only a total of 70.5km from Dec 22-31, and another 23.6km since, so less than 100km total - but still a fair bit of stress on my poor, beat-up body. The longest run was only 12.75km, but it was right before the back-to-back stick & puck and pickup game!
There may also have been some shenanigans on the trails
So I've taken this week off of hockey to let things heal - though I did keep running - and will be back to regular league play on Sunday. Will I be able to channel all of this work into better performance on the ice for my team? I have my doubts - I'm kind of awful, as the linked videos amply demonstrate - but at least I can have some fun!
..and have the world's cutest bodyguard for my gear
Happy new year, friends! Hope the holidays were kind to you, and 2024 brings you all that you desire!
I big part of it is that I've been crazy busy at work, but even once I get away from my desk I'm still pretty swamped. The 100 runs in 100 days challenge started in mid-November and will go through late February, except also starts December 1st and will go to mid-March.
So the double run days will continue for awhile
Add in that I now seem to end up playing hockey 3 times every weekend, and it's a little bit exhausting.
Though it's quite a lot of fun
So in order to relax, what do I do? Of course I hit the climbing gym for the first time in 4 years after work on Wednesday with a couple of my colleagues.
Fortunately, I could still move the next day!
Between end of fiscal quarter yesterday and a really aggressive month-end close target that started today, I've had no time to write the race reports that have now been hanging for more than a month.
I've barely even had time to make snow angels!
I will get to them - I really will - but I need a little breathing space.
At least I'll have plenty of material to write about over the winter!
Hope you all have a relaxing weekend, and I'll see what I can crank out next week..
First, some silliness. I've been a hockey goalie for almost 30 years, and still have the equipment I used when I was back in highschool. Having spent the last few months acquiring and trying to learn to use the schmancy new technology - like pads designed to rotate on your leg and slide across the ice, and new skates with narrower blades and taller runners - I decided to see what it would be like to go back to my old kit for our weekly Wednesday night game.
Here's one of my new pads, with a big knee guard under my hockey sock, and just a few velcro straps. You can just barely see my skate, with it's 3mm replaceable blade.
..and here are the old pillows and skates, from 1994 and 1995 respectively. About 800 leather straps on each pad, and big plastic cowlings on the skates with 4mm non-replaceable blades.
I fully committed to the bit, pulling out as much vintage kit as I still had. My old jill was gone, as were my old hockey pants, but everything else was going to be oldschool!
My ancient Bauer one-piece base layer, elderly velcro shorts, and knitted hockey socks with stirrups. I even dredged up an old stick from the garage and gave it a (mostly) fresh tape job - that thing is a serious piece of lumber!
Fortunately we got to the rink early enough that I had time to think through & remember how it all goes together; the leather straps also luckily still have their kinks in them to remind me where I liked to buckle them. I couldn't believe how heavy the old pads felt, even though empirical testing shows me that my new gear is only about a 1lb total weight savings versus my old kit!
I wore my old chest protector (which is actually lighter than my new one, but not nearly as protective) and even the jersey from the goalie school I attended in both 1994 and 1995
I wasn't at all sure how it was going to turn out, but since we don't even really keep score in our games - it's basically just pickup hockey, but with the same folks each week for 10 weeks - I didn't have much to lose, unless I managed to hurt myself.
Which - after stepping out on the ice in my old skates - felt like a very real possibility!
Nothing else for it, though - I had punched my ticket and would take my ride, with my little action camera suction cupped to the glass behind me to record the carnage.
Highlights (and low lights) from which you can watch right here
I will say I actually played better than the final score would suggest: a goalie has to rely on their defensemen to tie up players in front of the net and take away cross-ice passes, but since it's pickup hockey with a group who are mostly there to learn and develop their skills, things can be a bit chaotic. I do totally own a couple of those goals, though! I couldn't believe how awkward and clumsy I felt, despite this being the kit that I have played 99% of my hockey in lifetime.
Still a hilariously good time all round, though! (and I don't actually seem to have hurt myself!)
I don't think it's an experiment I'll repeat any time soon, though: maybe pull it all out again next year for a skate, which would be the 30th anniversary for the pads, chest protector and gloves (I had a pair of goal skates I bought used for $10 from the late 70s until my dad bought those Bauer Supremes for me in 1995). While I may not be very good at butterfly style goaltending, the practice I've put in to work on the new techniques has changed the way I move such that I'm not really compatible with the old gear anymore: I truly hated the way my old skates felt (even apart from them making my feet hurt by being too narrow), and despite the pads not being built for it I was trying to slide anyway. That goal that went in over my glove as I tried to slide across? If I'd had the big, flat landing spot for my knee that my new pads have, I would have been able to keep my balance instead of falling forward, which would have kept my glove up and given me a much better chance to make the save.
I won't say I'm a good goalie in my new kit, but I'm better when the equipment isn't getting in my way
Someone in a vintage goalie gear group to which I belong commented that "it's just like riding a bike, right", to which I agreed - in that it can be a little painful if you haven't done it for awhile!
While that reunion was amusing but less than enchanting, I've just had the chance to get together with another old friend today that has been much more exciting.
SHE LIVES!
It's been almost 2 years - July 14th, 2021 - since the last time I got to ride my motorcycle. She'd fallen victim to a number of electrical issues, and wouldn't start at all. I had difficulty finding time to work on her, and eventually realized that her issues were beyond my meagre mechanical knowledge to fix. Then it became a matter of money: I figured it would probably be around a thousand dollars to have a shop work out the issues, so she sat in the garage like an accusation until I finally managed to get her in to a local dealer in mid May. They messaged yesterday to say that - after a stator & regulator replacement - she was ready to go, so I did the 90min bus trip from home up to Waterloo with a bag full of leathers to pick her up.
There's my girl! All naked without her saddlebags, windshield, or backrest..
I won't say she's running perfectly, because she's a little old and worn - I've had her since new in September 2005, and have put almost every single one of the 71,500km/44,430mi on her - but she's definitely running strong, and it felt so good to be back in the saddle!
WHEEEEEEEE!
I've only got a quick ride down to the office in Kitchener in so far, but she behaved herself well, and I sincerely hope this is just the first few of thousands of more miles together.
I brought the backrest with me so I could be more comfortable for the ride home
Now, if you'll excuse me....BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP awaits!
On the same trails I usually run down to the market every Saturday
I know I should be getting some big hours of training in with some of the lofty goals I have for later this year, but there's a caveat here: just because I'm not running a ton doesn't mean I'm not doing a lot of aerobic work. Consider these two heart rate records:
Each about 90mins, averaging 144bpm and 142bpm respectively
We see some spikes and drops in each, indicative of periods of high output with short recoveries in between. The top one was actually from a 12.5km run down to the market on Saturday morning, on a mix of paved paths and singletrack trail.
I didn't get quite as much work in at stick & puck on Sunday - it's only 50mins as opposed to 90mins - but my average heart rate was even higher, with much less recovery as I faced breakaway after breakaway.
Avg 146bpm: Garmin classes this as a "tempo workout"
The grey graph at the bottom there shows the other aspect of goaltending that had previously escaped my notice: temperature. While hockey is played on ice, the massive amount of equipment I need to wear to keep me (mostly) impervious to injury by pucks - when added to the hard work of actually trying to stop them - means I cruise around 30c/86f while I'm in net.
I checked the video - you can't actually see my hand steaming when I take my glove off to grab a drink, but it happens. Instead, you get this screencap of Tanker trying to score on me.
So basically I'm not only getting and extra hour or more aerobic work in while playing hockey once or twice a week, I'm also getting some heat acclimation...maybe?
Not to mention some extra strength training from lugging all my gear around
So I guess I'll find out quite soon whether or not this actually translates into any running resilience: the Rugged Raccoon 50k starts tomorrow afternoon, and I haven't run for more than 90mins since early March. With rain most of this week, the course is likely to be a giant mud pit, so I'll just go wallow around, eat some cookies, and see how she goes!
Time to ride - or at least run - off into the sunset
.jpg)
