SUGOi Warehouse Sale

Great deals on technical gear:
Friday November 13th 1-8pm
Saturday November 14th 9-3pm

Think Pink

My friend Nicole recently surprised me with one of the best birthday gifts.  Bright pink running compression socks by CEP; they are prefect and match my other bright pink running gear.



















I already own a pair of Sugoi Race and Recovery compression socks which I love, they are grey in color.  The Sugoi socks are great, I wear them for running and recovery; they help to increase blood circulation and oxygen flow for musculature which helps to enhanced your performance.  Plus I really like to run in shorts and the knee high socks help prolong my short wearing season.  My new CEP socks have become my designated recovery socks because I think they are just too pretty to wear in the trails, I will sport them around home and town to help speed up my recovery time.  Thanks Napster:) 

Burke Mountain

Long run Sundays can be wonderful but adjusting to the pouring rain in Vancouver can be challenging when you've been spoiled with months (and months) of beautiful weather. The rain is not all bad; it's giving me the chance to test out my two new running jackets. Yes, I made a mistake and bought two new running jackets this year - don't ask.

Seeing that I live in one of the best places on earth I've been trying to ensure I'm running in new places. Living close to the wickly awesome North Shore means I sometimes forget to venture out to the other amazing places in the local area. Today Stefan and I met early and drove out to Coquitlam, he’d researched a new run for us on Mount Burke.

The mountain is a popular destination for hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, and winter snowmobile trips. On the drive out Stefan also mentioned that it was the site of an old ski resort, this was evident from a couple of the signs we passed on the way up the mountain. I forgot my camera so no pictures until next time.

I loved the signage for the old ski resort so I did a bit of research and found out in the 1970s, the mountain was the site of a minor ski development, including a lodge at the top of the mountain (we saw the sign for the lodge), a rope tow and a ski village lower on the mountain. The ski area was abandoned when a fire burned down the lodge.

The run was great, super wet but overall very good terrain. We've received a ton of rain in the past few days so the rivers were raging and pretty difficult to cross. Today’s river crossing was definitely the most rugged river crossing I've been through to date; Stefan actually had to pull me across a couple of times.

On the way up we passed four lakes which will be spectacular in the summer. The route is pretty well marked but due to all the rain some of the paths were flooded so there were parts that were difficult to navigate.

Upon reaching the summit Stefan found this small container which I abruptly told him to put down (we didn't know what it was). He proceeded to make fun of me – and rightly so - asking me if I honestly believed that people were planting bombs in the middle of a deserted mountain top? I laughed and he opened it… relieved to find he was correct – no bombs! It contained a notebook from 2002 filled with notes from people who have reached the summit. I would have liked to read more of the entries but we were freezing cold so we quickly wrote our note, grabbed a gel and started our descend back to the car.

The way down was easier to navigate and we popped into some of the mountain biking trails. I'll definitely be coming back here to run and ride again. The trails are prefect for mountain bike training as they are less technical then the ones I normally ride on the North Shore.

 

Poker Run 400

Tuesday nights I normally run but this week I tried a new workout called Poker Run 400. I heard about it from my friend Chris and my brother Travis so I knew I had to give it a try.

What is Poker Run 400?
Each suit represents a different exercise and the number on the card is the number of reps you do. Face cards are worth 10 reps and aces are 16 reps. I recommend doing the exercise with a partner who flips through the entire deck while you perform the exercises while being timed. In the end you end up completing 400 reps.

Spades = Sit-ups
Hearts = Burpees
Diamonds = Squats (with the dumbbells if you like)
Clubs = Pushups


What you need?
One full deck of cards, a stopwatch, a mat, dumb bells and a partner.

Chris and I planned to meet at his gym after work but on my walk over I noticed how beautiful it was outside I suggested we find a park to work out in - I love being outside, gyms make me claustrophobic. We picked a park in Coal Harbor with a fantastic view of the ocean and North Shore Mountains.

The workout was hard but actually really fun, a great variation to the typical gym workout. I managed to complete my set before the rain came and just as the sun was setting. Then it was my turn to torture Chris just as the rain started. He ended up with a really tough set of cards in the beginning of his workout. I haven't decided if it's better to get the high reps done at the beginning or end...

I finished in 18:02 (without weights) and Chris finished in 21:05 (with weights).  A great workout we will definitely do again followed by our favorite post workout drink Avalon Chocolate Milk .

Rubble Creek

Since Monday was a holiday I decided to plan a long run.  I've been wanting to run Rubble Creek since I missed this race because I was in Cumberland for Momar on September 27th and with it already beginning to snow I knew it would only be runnable for a couple more weeks.

With the route selected I emailed a few friends to see who was interested in joining Chris and I, within no time there were 10 people committed to our Epic Holiday Monday run. Our meeting time was 7:30am at Park Royal so I wasn'tt sure how many people would actually turn out. We ended up having a fantastic turn out - 14 amazing runners.

The day was spectacular; the sun was out and the sky was clear so we got to enjoy views along the way. The run was about 24km and took us around 3 hours at an easy pace.

My friend Chris made a wicked video check it out.

400m Distance Burpees

I am consistently looking for new activities to do outside to challenge myself.  Introducing 400m distance burpees. The workout is equipment free and insanely hard. All you need is a track, a pair of runners and someone else just as nuts as you to keep you movitivated to complete burpees the entire way around the track.

Burpees use your own bodyweight as resistance for a total body workout works your stamina and fat loss.  A lot of my friends have been asking what a burpee is.  Burpees condition your entire body - Chris calls them the great equalizer. They develop strength, power, and anaerobic endurance.

To perform a Burpee:
Begin in a squat position with hands on the floor in front of you.
Kick your feet back to a pushup position (pushup if you can).
Immediately return your feet to the squat position.
Leap up as high as possible from the squat position (up is normal but this purpose we jumped forward.)
Strive for maximum height with each jump.

Chris and I rocked this workout especially considering it was our first time - I did feel like I might be sick immedately after finishing but that passed as soon as we started our cool down run laps.  The workout was followed by me introducing Chris to one of my favorite restaurants Nuba - which is so tatsy!

MOMAR 2009!

My road to Momar started in April 2008, I was at a press check speaking with to Bob Faulkner a senior partner with Metropolitan Fine Printers.  Proud of myself (ok - thinking I was hard core), I began telling Bob about how I recently started trail running on the North Shore.  I knew he was an athlete however I didn't realise at the time is he is a champion long distance runner, the former captain of Canada’s premier expedition racing squad, has completed every Eco-Challenge (by Mark Burnett) covering 500+ km, he has completed many Ironmans and people refer to him as the King of Canadian Adventure racing. 

So Bob tells me its cool that I'm trail running but "Do you want to see something really hardcore? Come with me."  He proceeds to lead me to his office which is actually more a shrine to extreme sports, racing and pushing your personal limits.  After about an hour of listening to unreal stories on adventure racing he suggests I do Momar, a local adventure race.

Sold!  I began my hunt for an awesome partner.  After a long search (and a couple flaky partners) I thought I'd found the one she just needed to confirm her school schedule.  I was stoked! *fingers cross* the timing would work for Momar Cumberland 2009.  That weekend I had an epic Saturday; 5 Peaks Seymour Race followed by skydiving in the afternoon with my brother and some friends.  While at the Seymour Race a local runner who I'd met through Mountain Madness running group asked me and my friend Helen Tilley if we wanted to join him the following day for a long run.  He was training for the Stormy 80km race and wanted to check out one of the legs called 9 Mile Hill just outside of Squamish.  Helen and I were totally in.  It was on this training run I told him all about Momar, he seemed super into it and was really excited for me.  A couple days later my partner sent me a note to say she had to bail on Momar.  I was sad but determined to race this race.  Immedately I sent Chris a message to ask if he wanted to be my Momar partner - and he accepted!!  YES!  finally a partner, Chris Price.  This all happen six weeks out from the race so we decided to get together for a coffee and game planning session.  Team She'll be Right was born,  we registered that night and never looked back.

Our six weeks of training were utlized by getting out in a kayak twice including racing in one of the MEC Big Chop races followed by a tempo run on the seawall, getting out on our mountain bikes around twice a week on the North shore, continuing our running and we took a navigation course.  Another really important thing we did was speak alot about our goals and exceptations for the race.

To be entirely trueful a big part of what made this race so much fun was the training we did for it and that we became great friends in the process. A few of our rules going into the race:

1. Have fun
2. No fighting
3. Laugh
4. Never talk about fight club (ok this is my lame joke)
5. No expectations
6. No panic-ing
7. Never leave a crasher behind (again me being lame)

Race weekend began on Friday afternoon we boarded the ferry to Vancouver Island it was a beautiful clear September day.  The drive was beautiful, scenic and hilarious as we played the "their going to momar" game.

Once we arrived in Cumberland we headed to the Riding Fool hostel to check in.  I ran into Bob in line (still makes me smile to type this); this is the point I knew game on! I'm doing MOMAR!  and I'm racing against BOB!!

After we received our race packages, picked up a quick dinner and then headed to the hotel to prepare for our first adventure race.

Saturday September 26, 2009 one of the best days of 2009 for me.  After six weeks of training and laughter (because our training was alway fun) we were ready.  We woke up early made breakfast; eggs, fruit and yogurt, and got our gear on.  My Momar outfit was:
CEP Compression Socks -Pink
Sugoi Bike Shorts - Black
Lululemon Running Shorts - Black
Lululemon Sports Bra - Pink
Lululemon Running Shirt - Grey with pink
Sugoi Arm Warmers - Black
Specialized Bike Gloves - Pink and BlackSalmon Pack - Green and Grey
Lululemon Running Jacket - Black

The first stop of the day was the bike drop.  We met four girls from the lower mainland who were also racing their first Momar (I started talked to them because we shared a love of pink) we chatted with them for a bit and then headed to the start line.  Surprislingly I wasn't nervous which is extremely strange for me I am normally alway nervous before racing.  I felt different though, like this is what I should be doing and where I belonged - full of happiness and anticipation.  When we parked the car at the start area we realised we were parked beside a guy from our navigation course - We found our kayak and checked in to receive our map, Chris was studying the map and our route.  I was studying our competititors and checking out their gear - most importantly what were other teams were going to wear on their feet for the kayak stage.  Chris and I had thus been indecisive about whether we should or should not wear our runners in the kayak, wearing them would mean walking into the water in them which would result in wet shoes for a major part of the running stage.  In a last minute decision I confidently looked at Chris and said "forget it I'm not wearing my shoes in the water and then racing 6 hours in them" it was like sanity click on for us and we both removed our shoes.  One of the best decisions of the day for us.  Speaking of the day we could not have asked for a more picture prefect day.  Hardly a cloud in the sky, sun shinning but not too hot I can imagine my race report being a bit different if it had been raining cold.  We began the race with a couple goals; have fun and finish - there was no expectations of how well to finish and we hoped to still remain friends in the end.  I grabbed a quick photo with Bob and then got into race mode.

Kayak Stage:

The first stage of the race was a 10km kayak stage.  Chris and I are by no means good paddlers but we aren't terrible either.  This stage was neutral for us in terms of placement in the race we just needed to hold on to the middle of the pack.  During the kayaking stage we were able to chat to some of the other racers and ran into a couple of the people we had met at our navigation course.  The highlight of this stage for me was our first corner, we entered it in a big cluster of boats and did such a great job we came out of it ahead of at least 7(ish) boats.  I will admit I find kayaking a bit boring but thats probably because I'm not super skilled or fast at it but once we reached the point we know we were almost done this stage we both dig deep and gave an extra hard effort to reach dry land faster.

Trail Running Stage:
Upon reaching solid ground we jumped out of the boat (barefoot) and jogged up the shore to put on our shoes.  We were pretty quick at this transition and immediately started into the 15km trail run.  The first 0.5km was on paved road we passed a bunch of people on this leg and really started to enjoy the race knowing the kayak leg (our least favorite part) was complete.  During this leg Chris really showed his strength as a trail runner literally blowing by most other competitors.  The run was beautiful, the trails were amazing, the sky was clear, the trees were just beginning to turn colour for fall.  I had asked Chris at some point on the way to the race why he thought Byran the race director picked Cumberland for the location of the race...was he from their?  did he have family there?  I was just curious, but after completing the run I know exactly why he selected Cumberland.  It was the prefect setting for Momar.

During this leg of the race we made up time on other competitors and Chris made some fantastic nav choices which help us climb the ranks - at one point a bunch of other teams ran right by a right hand turn and without even second guessing himself he said nope this is the way, I fearless followed because this is how a great team works together - trusting your navigator is a major key to success.  We even stopped for some photos.  As we were coming to the end of the trail and nearing the road to the bike check we decided to take our time at the transition area, refuel and hydrate - that was until we found out we were in second place.  At that point we decided lets get moving and try keep our position.

Bike Stage:

The mountain biking in Cumberland was so much fun!  Great trails.  I'm used to riding (or trying to ride) the trails of the North Shore which are some of the most technical mountain biking trails in the world.  The trails in Cumberland were still technical but they were much more rideable.  There were so pretty steep climbs which kicked my butt.  Bob had warned me about making sure I trained enough for the biking legs because he said they were pretty hard.  I definitely had thoughts of this while I hiked my bike up a couple of the steep climbs.  I've learned that hill climbing training is necessary on your bike and your feet.  We managed to get through this section quicker then I thought but we were still passed by a number of co-ed mixed teams of two.  One of the hardest things for me on the race was not having the map, the race was six hours of not knowing where I was going or how much further there was to go.  Simply trusting your partner was going to get you to the end.  I never doubted where we were its just weird not knowing.

The bike stage was followed by an Urban nav stages which we ripped through.  Once you complete this stage you umped back on your bike for another 5 km (or so) some trail and some road riding which ended up taking us back to where we had begun the race.  During this section where we were on the road I asked Chris how long we had left - he said not far maybe 2 or 3 km's and there was a couple teams within sight.  So we gave'er, caught and passed the other teams.  Once we reached the next check point we realised we still had one leg left the orienteering leg.  Again in this leg Chris made some great decisions about our navigation decisions and we completed this section really quick.

In the end we finished in just over 6 hours and in 4th place.  I am insanely proud of us for completing the race and for having such a great team doing it.  I believe everything happens for a reason and I'm so glad now that all my other partners bailed because I definitely ended up with a fantastic adventure racing partner and truly great friend.  Life should be filled with laughter, great friends and people with you truly have fun with it's to short not to - Momar was this for me and I will for sure be back.  Thanks to Chris for a fabulous time; for always being encouraging and making me laugh. And thanks to Bryan, all the Momar staff and all the other teams for making my first Momar such a fantastic experience.