Liesbeth's exam. Liesbeth's examen.

Donderdag 17 juli, 1 dagje voor we naar Nederland vertrokken voor vakantie, heb ik exmane gedaan voor de basiscursus Microsoft .NET Framework. Ik had in mei het cursusboek "uit" maar scoorde slecht 40% voor de testexamens die aan de cursus toegevoegd waren (80% is nodig om te slagen). Oftwel: nog niet klaar voor het examen toen. Ik heb daarom het hele boek nog maar eens een keer doorgenomen, ik begreep er meteen een stuk meer van. Het gaat er bij die Microsoft examens niet zozeer om dat je iets begrijpt en kan toepassen maar men wil echt blinde feitenkennis en eigenlijk ook jarenlange ervaring testen. Dus het betere stampwerk ..., brrr. Dus ik heb het cursusboek zo goed mogelijk uit mijn hoofd geleerd (ongeveer 1200 paginas) en alle testvragen geoefend die bij het boek zitten. Het was in ieder geval perfect dat ik uit 5 locaties kon kiezen in Calgary waar het examen zo ongeveer dagelijks afgenomen wordt, heel luxe. Ik heb ook pas op woensdag ochtend, 1 dag voor de werkelijke test, mezelf ingeschreven. Ik reed nog een beetje kwijt op de weg er naar toe maar had gelukkig ruim de tijd genomen. Na wat formulierwerk (je tekent dat je niet zal spieken) zat ik voor een schermpje met een totaal geautomatiseerd examen. Ik begon rustig aan, het was multiple choice waarbij je soms ook meerdere antwoorden aan moest vinken, en iedere vraag waar je over twijfelde kon je markeren zodat je later die vragen nog eens kon bekijken. Na 35 minuten, ongeveer een kwart van de tijd was ik bij vraag 10 van de 40 dus het rustige tempo moest wel omhoog anders zou ik de vragen niet af kunnen krijgen. Het lukte me inderdaad precies om alles in te vullen, en gelijk krijg je dan je resultaat op het scherm te zien: Pass! Check, done!
' Avonds hadden we club night met de Calgary Road Runners, dus na het rennen heb ik het behalen van mijn examen gevierd met een extra biertje en goed pub food!
En was gelijk totaal in vakantiestemming, Nederland here we come!

Thursday July 17th, one day before our vacation to the Netherlands, I did my Microsoft .NET Framework course test. I had finished the course book in May but scored only 40% in the test exams provided with the book (80% is needed to pass). So it was clear I was not totally ready yet to take the test. I went through the book a second time and that made a big difference. The Microsoft exames are known not testing general understanding and development skills but they test a humongous amount of tini tiny facts that are way too many to learn by heart but must be learned by years of experience using the specific tool. Besides learning the whole book (about 1200 pages) by heart I focussed on the 600 or so test questions provided with the book.
I had the luxury of choosing my test location out of 5 locations in Calgary, with tests being taken almost daily. I didn't sign up until wednesday morning, one day before the test. I got a little bit lost driving there, but luckily I had taken a lot of time to get there plenty ahead of time. After some forms to fill in (and signing to promise you would not cheat) they sat me in front of a PC with a totally automated test, 40 questions, 2 hours and 15 minutes time. I started out in a quit pace, it is a multiple choice exam where you sometimes have to choose more than 1 answer out of all the possibilities, and you could mark questions for review if you wanted. Arriving at question 10 I has already spent more than 30 minutes, so I stepped up the pace a bit. I finished all the questions just in time and then immediately the test result is projected on your PC screen: Pass! Check, done!
That evening we had Road Runners club night, so I celebrated passing my exam with nice beer and good pub grub. Immediately, I was in the perfect vacation mood. The Netherlands, here we come!

5K race day report

Hier Sanders race verslag van Facebook. Knap gedaan hoor lieffie!

Here is Sanders race report from Facebook. God job sweetie!
5K race day report
Sunday, July 5, 2009 at 1:35pm
Last night I got to bed at 9.30pm in order to be able to get out again at 5 am and feel alive at the start of the race (8.30 am). Last week I started doubting my abilities after having run some 1 and 2K sprint which felt hard but then Alan as a good mentor put me back on the right track by having declare that I was going to run my PB which I did and that is who I was today. There were moments prior to race though that I was off again and it occured after I shared with Phil that I was doing the 5K race and told him I was going to run my PB. He then made a remark like "but do you know there is a hill around 3K?" Prior to me talking to Phil, my love had told me as well that "I know this course and I recall that it is hilly!". I could see myself going into the direction of "ok, this then is really going nowherer, especially if somebody so experienced as Phil is making this statement". Fortunately, I remembered what Alan had said to me last week and I declared to myself that I was going to run my PB no matter the circumstances.
After the go ahead for the start was given I immediately stared following Janice of the ARR as I overhead her saying that she was going to run 4.05 kilometers. I did the 1st K in 4.01 the second in 4.02 and the third in 4.03. It meant that I broke my unofficial 3K time by 9 seconds. I was extremely satisfied because I only had to do 8.44 over the last 2K to break my PB. I expected to slow down in the kilometer pace a little due to upcoming hill, say some 15 seconds. Actually, it was a little bit more (4.24K) so that I had to do the last kilometer in 4.20 to beat the PB. I failed to do so. I was completely worn down when entering the track for the last 400 meters. While going up hill I left Janice behind me but she was going to put in a final push for the last 400. I could not match up to her and she finished 7 seconds in front of here. After crossing the finished I wanted to vomit (did not happen fortunately -> empty stomach) so I knew I had given it all. The disappointment did not last long. I realized that I did not run a sub 21 for 20 years, I did broke a PB on the 3K, the course was 5038 meters according to race website which would mean that a scaled down time would be just below 20.50 which would be a PB, and also that I realize that I have to put in more 1 and 2K sprint in between doing the 200 meter intervals to get comfortable at running at 4.06 kilometers.
Thanks for all the support that I received from all of you out there during the last few weeks as well as during the race.
And Carla, way to go, for taking 45 seconds of your PB!
Sander

Yellowstone National Park

Voor Sander ook daadwerkelijk zijn 5km wedstrijd zou gaan lopen hebben we de laatste 6 dagen van juni nog vakantie genomen. We zijn met de auto en tent de grens over gegaan naar de Verenigde Staten en hebben Yellowstone National Park bezocht. Voor wie het nog weet van vroeger: het land van Yogi Bear, en natuurlijk van de geijsers. Het is zo'n duizend kilometer van Calgary af, dwars door Zuid-Alberta en Montana heen. In Helena (Mo) hebben we de eerste nacht doorgebracht. De volgende morgen rond het middaguur rijden we al het park binnen. Vooral opvallend veel kale bomen, dennen hebben niet zo'n lange levensduur en bosbranden en pine beetle doet de rest. Er is zoveel dood hout dat je als kampeerder zelfs al het dode hout dat op de grond ligt mag sprokkelen en verbranden (normaal toch ten strengste verboden in andere nationale parken). Maar verder een prachtige omgeving, we zien al snel bisons (ook buffalo genoemd) in het wild. En we denken een bosbrandje te zien in de verte, witte rook. Maar nee, dat is het eerste stoomgat. Door het hele park heen zie je op allerlei plaatsen gaten in de grond waar stoom, water of een modderprutje uit komt. Old Faithfull, de bekendste geyser van het park op dit moment, is inderdaad (de naam zegt het al) uitermate betrouwbaar en spuit zo ongeveer iedere anderhalf uur. Echt heel indrukwekkend als je daar bij staat te kijken! Er zijn in de informatiecentra echt lijstjes met namen van geijsers en data/tijd waarop men verwacht dat de geijser gaat spuiten. Het hele vulkanische gebied is continu aan verandering onderhevig. Stoomgaten of geijsers die vroeger enorm actief waren zijn nu stil, anderen zijn er weer voor in de plaats gekomen. Op veel plekken mag je ook niet buiten de paden wandelen, bang dat je op een zwakke plek in de bodem trapt en opeens je enkels verbrand door ontsnappende stoom. We hebben ook enorm genoten van Yellowstone Canyon, prachtige kleuren in de canyon en op de terugweg in het achterland langs prachtige mysterieuze mudpots gelopen. Het park is hartstikke groot en eigenlijk hadden we nog wel een paar dagen extra nodig, het is aan te raden om op meerdere plekken te kamperen/overnachten om niet al te veel tijd te verdoen met autorijden. Alhoewel het autorijden ook niet zo erg is hoor, altijd mooi uitzicht! Wij hebben bij de noordingang gekanpeerd op de terugweg en de Mammoth Hot Springs bezocht, enorme witavhtige travertin/kalkterrassen die gevormd worden door het hete water dat omhoog borrelt en mineralen oplost en afzet aan de oppervlakte.
Op weg naar huis nog overnacht in Fort Macleod, een klein historisch "stadje", een en al vergane glorie. We hebben de enige lokale taverne bezocht 's avonds, en het is goed dat men probeert het stadje en zijn geschiedenis te behouden voor de toekomst. Als laatste activiteit hebben we Head-Smashed-In-Buffalo-Jump bezocht, een historisch landmark dat gebruikt werd door de indianen in de tijd dat de bisons nog niet uitgestorven waren (die bizons in Yellowstone zijn hel bijzonder namelijk!). Als je deze site nog niet gezine hebt: bezoeken! Echt de moeite waard.






Before Sander would actually run his 5k "PR" race we took a vacation the last 6 days of June. We took our car and tent and travelled to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, USA. I know this park as the land of Yogi Bear and of course geysers. It's about one thousand km from Calgary, travelling through South-Alberta and Montana. We spend our first night in a motel in Helena (Mo) so we arrived in the park the next day around noon already. The large amount of dead pine trees was striking, since pines do not live that long plus pine beetles and fires do their share of the work. The amount of wood is so abundant that campers are allowed to gather their own dead fire wood from the ground, something striclty forbidden in every other park where we have ever been to! APart from the dead trees the park is magnificent, beautiful views, abundant wild life, large herds of bisons (also called buffalo) are present. Driving into the park we think we see a small bush fire as we see white smoke. But no, not a fire, this is our first steam vent. Through the whole park you see steam vetns, geysers and mudpots. Old Faithfull, the most well known geyser in the park right now, is indeed, as the name says, very predictable and goes off about every ninety minutes. Very impressive wathching it as it goes off! The information centres really have lists up with the names and predicted times for the geysers to go off. The whole vulcanic area is constantly changing, steam vents or geysers that used to be very active are silent nowadays, and new active ones "replacing" them. Hiking away from the dedicated trails is forbidden in most areas, since they don;t want you to step on a weak spot in the ground and get your ankles burnt.
We also enjoyed our hike in the Yellowstone Canyon enormously, beautiful colours in the canyon and really great and mysterious mudpots along the trail on our way back. The park is pretty big, we could have easily spend more days over there! I think you should camp in several different spots so you don't waist too much time driving everywhere. But then again: driving isn't too bad with all the gorgeous views. On our slow way back we camped at Mammot Hot Springs, huge whiteish travertin/limestone terrasses formed by the dissolved minerals in the hot water coming up and being deposited on the surface.
On our way back we also stayed in Fort Macleod, a small historic town. We visited the only local tavern there, it's good they try to preserve some history over there! We ended our vacation by visiting Head-Smashed-In-Buffalo-Jump, a historic site of the native people used in the early days when bisons were not extinct yet (the bisons in Yellowstone are very rare!). If you haven't seen it yet: visit!

Sander's "Training to break my PR of 20.50 on the 5K" - Part 1

Sander heeft op Facebook gepost over zijn trainingen om een 5km PR (persoonlijk record) te lopen. Zijn vorige beste tijd stamt uit zijn prille jaren, jeugdig enthousiasme zeg maar. Aangezien jullie in NL nog niet enmasse vertegenwoordigd zijn op Facebook heb ik de stukjes even gekopieerd. We alleen maar in het Engels te lezen hieronder.

Sander posted on Facebook how he trained to run a 5 km PR. His PR dates back to his early years, let's say full of youthfull enthousiasm. I copied the posts to this blog for whoever is not on Facebook (yet).

Training to break my PR of 20.50 on the 5K: Week 1
Tuesday, May 26, 2009 at 9:16pm
Last week I congratulated Alan on his success with his training exercises and in I mentioned to him that I was training to break my 5K personal record which is 20 minutes and 50 seconds. Alan was so kind to send me a reaction containing a training schedule for finishing a 5K in 20 minutes and 30 seconds. It is a challenge schedule and I guess Alan figured out that I was pretending training hard but not hard enough or for sure not keeping to any schedule. He was right. I did not made any declaration on my ambitions and nobody could say that I was not doing what I am supposed to do. So here it is. I am declaring to do the training as presented to me by Alan. Every week I have to do 200 meter intervals with 90 seconds rest periods in between. The target time for the 200 meters is 38-40 seconds. The first week calls for 6 times 200 meters to be extended by one every week and you have to do this for 6-8 weeks.
My goal is to break that pr during the Stampede 5K on July 5th (Alan is running to break his pr on that date as well).
So tonight was my first training. I ran with Bob and Wendy (who also did 200 meter repeats). Bob was a good inspiration for me and my interval times were: 36.7, 38.7, 36.8, 36.1, 39.1, 39.7. So 3 out of the first four I did too fast (we had the wind in the back) and the last two against the wind helped me slow down enough to hit the mark. It felt relatively easy up to the point where we were finishing our 10-12 minute cool down jog and prepared to do some serious stretching and core exercises. My right quads felt stiff something I have not experienced often. Alan did warn me about the toughness of this training and that I had to do a good warm-up and cool-down. I now fully understand. After the stretching and core exercises the stifness was gone. I take that as a good sign.
While pleased with this first training I am wondering how or what I have to do for the rest of the week in terms of training? Alan any suggestions?

Training to break my PR of 20.50 on the 5K: Week 2
Saturday, June 6, 2009 at 2:19pm
This week I did my intervals again on Tuesday night. I made sure I did an even longer warm up (3k + drills) and I added one interval compared to last week. I set my two timers on my watch. The first one at 40 seconds and the second at 90 seconds so that I can make sure I do not take any longer rest than the scheduled 90 seconds one. Of the seven 200 meters I did the first too slow (40.5 seconds) and the last to fast (37.5) but the others were all around 39 seconds. Hence much more balanced than last week. I did a good cool down as well: I jogged with the rest of the CRR 10K group back to Edworthy for approximately 2k and did some 8 minute stretching.
The next day I felt way less stiff than last week and I contribute that to the better warmup and cool down. I have to make sure I keep on doing that.
On thursday I ran with the CRR 10k group and we did a slow long run along the Bow river path way. Me and Dave extened the run a bit so that we ended up doing a little more thatn 11K.
This morning I run in a little rain on my own. I did the same course as thursday but now at 85% race pace (4.35 minutes/k) and that when remarkebly easy. Do not if training is starting the work or that it was just me being in a good spirit (despite the dismal wheather, it snowed overnight in Calgary and not all snow had melted everywhere, although the paths were clear). In total I did somewhat more than 29K this week. Alan told me to raise it by 10% each week up to 40K. So next week it will be more than 31K.

Training to break my PR of 20.50 on the 5K: Week 3
Monday, June 15, 2009 at 8:01pm
Did my intervals last tuesday night. I added one interval so that I did 8 times 200 meter sprints (between 38 and 40 seconds) and 90 seconds rest in between. Like week 2, I did 40.5 seconds on the first interval. The next 4 I did in 39 seconds but the last three I did a bit too fast: 37.5 seconds. The good warm-up and cool-downs make it feel pretty confortable. Total distance covered ~8K
On thursday night I did the Douglas Fur trail with the CRR 10K group. Going up the stairs and hils did not feel so hard as usual, maybe because I did not push it, or maybe my VO2 levels start increasing! Total distance covered 8.4K.
I completed the week by running around the Glenmore reservoir on Sunday. Originally, I intended to run in the morning, but then Liesbeth asked it would be a good idea to go together at a somewhat later time so that I did not have to get up so early and it would give her the opportunity to walk a bit while I was running (woh, too long a sentence). Anyway I agreed and so I started running at around 1pm in 25 degrees Celcius. I brought myself a bottle of water to fight the thirst and the heat and it worked rather ok. I wanted to run the 16K in approximately 1h18 but in the end did 1.20. Total distance covered 16K.
So in total I run 32K as Alan suggested. Now I have to increase it to 36K this week.

Training to break my PR of 20.50 on the 5K: Week 4
Tuesday, June 23, 2009 at 11:40am
Started the week with doing 9 200m intervals on tuesday. As usual did a long slow warmup (drills + 3k slow paced run) before starting the first interval. Out of the 9, I did 3 too fast (again) at 37 seconds. The other 6 were around 38.5 seconds. I get the impression that it is easier for me to do those intervals and that speed is picking up since I had to put the break on most of the time to make sure I did not go to fast. Still, three intervals were too fast as mentioned before but I can live with that. After the intervals I did a longer cool down to add up some kilometers to make it easier to get to the 36k for this week. I ended up doing 8.8k in total.
On thursday I went to the CRR club night to run the Jack Rabbit trail with other members. We tried to do the same course as during the cross-country trail run of this winter but at the end we got lost somewhat. I did not ming because it is beautifull on the trails overthere and any additional kilometers that we put in came in handy anyway. Initially Liesbeth and I hesitated a bit whether or not we would go to the club night at all because it was pooring rain when I came home for work. Fortunately, we have learned over those years in Calgary that one should have oneself hold back by the wheather since it can change in an instance, as well as vary strongly from place to place. So it did. When we arrived at the trail head and met the other CRR members there was no rain, skies were clearing, and the sun tried to break through to spoil us with some warmth. The run was beautifull and so was the social afterwards.
Total distance covered: 10.5k.
Liesbeth and I planned to go on a short camping trip for the weekend so I had to put in my long run on Saturday morning. However, I also wanted to finish some business at work. How to combine all of that? Well, I did the unusual thing (for me at least) to get up at 7am on Saturday, take in a decent breakfast and headed out running to work (8k), put in 2 hours of work, and headed back home (another 8k). I made sure I eat well again, with Liesbeth packed our camping stuff, and drove of to Banff. Cool weekend :-)
Total distance for the week: 35.3k