Sunday, June 6, 2010
Friday, June 4, 2010
Sasquatch
Fantastic. Amazing. Breath taking. Outstanding. Brilliant. The list of words to description Sasquatch could go on and on. Overall Sasquatch did not disappoint and many of the bands completely blew me away. If you haven't been and love music & the outdoors. You. Must. Go. My weekend was full of sun, laughter, great friends and the BEST live music out there.
Top Performances:
The National
Band Of Horses
Temper Trap
LCD Soundsystem
MGMT
The New Pornographers
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
Mumford and sons
Nada Surf
Tegan and Sara
Caribou
Avi Buffalo
Jets Overhead
You can't possibly check out all the bands you'd like - my big misses:
Pkantogram
The XX
OK Go
Nurses
Miike Snow
Camera Obscura
Midlake
Fresh Expresso
Day 1 - Mumford and Sons
The girls
The National - My favorite performance
Sunset day 1
Temper Trap
Band of Horses
MGMT
Crowd for MGMT
There was no training - that begins again tonight!
Top Performances:
The National
Band Of Horses
Temper Trap
LCD Soundsystem
MGMT
The New Pornographers
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
Mumford and sons
Nada Surf
Tegan and Sara
Caribou
Avi Buffalo
Jets Overhead
You can't possibly check out all the bands you'd like - my big misses:
Pkantogram
The XX
OK Go
Nurses
Miike Snow
Camera Obscura
Midlake
Fresh Expresso
Day 1 - Mumford and Sons
The girls
The National - My favorite performance
Sunset day 1
Temper Trap
Band of Horses
MGMT
Crowd for MGMT
There was no training - that begins again tonight!
3 cities. 2 mountains. Tons of laughs.
I've been a bad blogger...trying to catch up. Wanted to share some pictures from two weeks ago. It was a long weekend in Canada and my brother was in town. So we planned a mini adventure to Joffre Lakes.
My friends Jules, Rich, Travis and I headed out first thing in the morning to hike Joffre Lakes (which is located just passed Whistler), its been on the top of my list for a while and Travis had been up to Whistler in years.
However we ended up being highly under prepared - as you can see from the picture below the area is still covered with snow (Vancouver was hot and sunny that day) and it was snowing when we reached the parking lot. We didn't bring jackets, Yaktrax, snowshoes or anything for the cold weather. We hiked out to the first lake (not far) and then turned back to head back to Whistler for lunch/shopping/site seeing.
My friends Jules, Rich, Travis and I headed out first thing in the morning to hike Joffre Lakes (which is located just passed Whistler), its been on the top of my list for a while and Travis had been up to Whistler in years.
However we ended up being highly under prepared - as you can see from the picture below the area is still covered with snow (Vancouver was hot and sunny that day) and it was snowing when we reached the parking lot. We didn't bring jackets, Yaktrax, snowshoes or anything for the cold weather. We hiked out to the first lake (not far) and then turned back to head back to Whistler for lunch/shopping/site seeing.
It was super cool
We stopping in Whistler for a bit and then came up with a brilliant idea. Let's hike the Chief on the way home.
But not before Travis purchased a shiny new orange jacket and found his jacket twin.
We drove to the Chief and suited back up into our hiking gear.
Our group before we decided to attempt the second hike of the day.
Vibram Five Fingers! A recent purchase of mine from Edmonton. I'm going to wear them to help build up some of the smaller muscles and joints in my feet and legs. Jules and I decided to break them out for our hike up the Chief. (They felt great by the way - my calves were super sore the next day)
Vibrams recommend wearing FiveFingers for exercise, play, and for fun. Stating that stimulating the muscles in your feet and lower legs will not only make you stronger and healthier, but saying it will help improve your balance, agility and proprioception.
The handsome boyz half way up.
The "Beauties" as Rich calls us;)
no sweat - its just a little hill
MOMAR (Mind Over Mountain Adventure Race) was happening so we passed a lot of the racers as they completed one of the last stages of the race. I had this on my list of races for the year however due to nagging injuries and not nearly enough time spent on my bike in the mountains I decided the best decision would be to skip it this year. And its a good thing - this course requires very technical riding and I saw a ton of competitors who had bailed with scarps, blood and bandages covers their arms and legs. At least I was able to cheer on all the racers who went by me. I'm already counting down the days until Momar Cumberland.
View from the top of the Chief
We capped off a fantastic day by taking my brother to my favorite restaurant Nuba for some tasty wine and delicious food!
Friday, May 21, 2010
E-town!!
Two weekends ago I had planned to run my second 50km trail race - The Tenderfoot Boogie. I went to a couple of the training runs in Squamish and really enjoined myself. However based on the way my knee was feeling following the Sun Run injury and upon learning that my little brother would be returning home from 9 months in Afghanistan, two days prior I made the executive decision not to run.
When I say little I mean little in age not size - he's 6'2 and solid like a rock - and I just learned that 9 months in the dessert has lead to major speed gains for him his 10km time decreased by 8 minutes he's 6 minutes faster then me now!
It was definitely a smart decision to skipped out on a goal race and head to Edmonton to surprise my bro at the airport. He was so happy to see us.
The decision to go to Edmonton coincided with a promised to myself to take a full two weeks off with absolutely no running or real psychical actively to allow my knee to heel and my body in general, I have not been feeling like myself for a while. I have been feeling completely exhausted and unmotivated to workout or even be social (returning friends phone calls or emails was feeling like WORK!) I am attributing this lack of energy to my busy life, recently deciding to leave a job I really enjoy for a new opportunity (scary!), moving, being sick for almost four weeks and just life in general. blah
Back to the fun stuff - here's some pics from my trip:
We ran into a bear outside of jasper
I bought Hawaiian outfits for my younger brothers to wear and made some signage so Travis wouldn't miss us in the crowd of families welcoming home the soldiers.
Minutes after our reunion at 4:00am on the base
Edmonton proved to be just what the doctor ordered. My weekend consistented of family time- Travis arrived home in prefect health, fitter then even, tanned and completely excited to be home. We are so grateful for his safe return. And he learnt a lot from the process.
I got to meet of a bunch of his friends - He really has a great support group there which puts me at ease with him living away from our family. We spent the weekend walking around the city - the weather was fantastic! Eating; at some lovely restaurants, BBQing, and of course we did some partying to celebrate Travs return. I took the time to enjoy, relax and even did a little shopping. More on my new purchase coming in my next post.
When I say little I mean little in age not size - he's 6'2 and solid like a rock - and I just learned that 9 months in the dessert has lead to major speed gains for him his 10km time decreased by 8 minutes he's 6 minutes faster then me now!
It was definitely a smart decision to skipped out on a goal race and head to Edmonton to surprise my bro at the airport. He was so happy to see us.
The decision to go to Edmonton coincided with a promised to myself to take a full two weeks off with absolutely no running or real psychical actively to allow my knee to heel and my body in general, I have not been feeling like myself for a while. I have been feeling completely exhausted and unmotivated to workout or even be social (returning friends phone calls or emails was feeling like WORK!) I am attributing this lack of energy to my busy life, recently deciding to leave a job I really enjoy for a new opportunity (scary!), moving, being sick for almost four weeks and just life in general. blah
Back to the fun stuff - here's some pics from my trip:
We ran into a bear outside of jasper
I bought Hawaiian outfits for my younger brothers to wear and made some signage so Travis wouldn't miss us in the crowd of families welcoming home the soldiers.
Minutes after our reunion at 4:00am on the base
Edmonton proved to be just what the doctor ordered. My weekend consistented of family time- Travis arrived home in prefect health, fitter then even, tanned and completely excited to be home. We are so grateful for his safe return. And he learnt a lot from the process.
I got to meet of a bunch of his friends - He really has a great support group there which puts me at ease with him living away from our family. We spent the weekend walking around the city - the weather was fantastic! Eating; at some lovely restaurants, BBQing, and of course we did some partying to celebrate Travs return. I took the time to enjoy, relax and even did a little shopping. More on my new purchase coming in my next post.
The Google Machine
I love Google! Or as I like to call it the google machine. It ranks up there with Apple, Lululemon, Whole Foods and a couple other companies as one of my favourites. Which leads me to two things I've recently stumpled across online.
The first is this video - I love love love this idea! If you really want something give it everything you've got to reach your goal.
This is the second thing is a simple image -
The first is this video - I love love love this idea! If you really want something give it everything you've got to reach your goal.
This is the second thing is a simple image -
Have you ever googled yourself? What does google say about your personal brand?
~k
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Sun Run
Better late then never ~ I hope.
I tweaked my knee during 5 Peaks Golden Ears so I took it really easy for the two weeks leading up to the Vancouver Sun Run. The Sun Run was my first dapple into road racing. It was my first 10km road race and takes place downtown Vancouver. It's a pretty cool event in my opinion - I know a lot of avid runners judge the event because there are so many people who come out for it; this year 51,419 runners took part in this years event.
May 9th was the race. I woke up, ate my normal pre race breakfast (oatmeal with blueberries and apples) and unlike most other races where I pack up a bag (I should say over pack my bag) and drive to the race I suited up in what I'd be running in; White Lululemon Racer Back-T, Lululemon shorts & my road runners and headed out my door to meet up with B-Rad. I jogged over to his apartment as part of my easy warm up. The 5 minute jog across the city was amazing! The energy was electric in the city eith hundreds upon hundreds of people gathering in the city to be active! I loved it. The weather was prefect sunny sky, cool light breeze and not too hot. I got to Brads and he informed me we had to go meet some humans that he works with at Blenz. They never showed so I proceed to bug him that he actually doesn't have friends...sorry. After a couple pee breaks we realised it was go time and we were late. So we bolted to the starting area.
The line up to start was out of control and we ended up in the very back of our time section which meant we would be on a mission to avoid the mad build up of humans. The advice Brad gave me prior to starting; run hard, the 1st km is a slight down hill, try to get on the side walk before everyone else to avoid as many people as possible. Keep in my zone 3 heart rate, try to hit the 5km mark in 20 minutes (Burrard Street Bridge) and then suffer the last 5km to hit a finishing time in the low 40s.
The race went to plan for the first 5km - I started down the road on a total mission to pass as many humans as possible I pretended I was playing a video game trying to avoid the turtles and using the sidewalk to get around people. I arrived at Burrard Street Bridge in 20 minutes - SWEET!(5km which was probably more like 7km because of the side to side human evading). Only 5km of pavement pounding left and I had made up enough ground that I wasn't having to evade nearly as many people.
The next 3km went pretty well I could feel the burn beginning to build up in my legs but I was still in a manageable amount of pain. At about the 8km mark the person in front of me came to a sudden stop and I had to quickly bound out of the way to avoid hitting him - it was during this sudden movement that I felt an extremely sharp pain shoot into my left knee right inside the knee joint. My next steps were extremely painful. Everything inside me told me to stop because this wasn't right. But there was no way I was going to stop with only 2km left in a 10km race. I know I can run this distance...I do it multiple times in a week (I would have been embarrassed to stop). So I kept running at a considerably slower speed. I think my pace time increased by over 1 minute & 30 seconds per km for the final 2 km. Each step was more painful then the last so I started to count down to myself how long I had left starting with 10 mins, 9 mins, 8 mins...this helped because I knew there have been long runs where I'm counting down the time left for hours not minutes;) Upon finishing I knew I did damage but was happy I finished. Here's where I netted out on my first "road race" - if you could call it that.
Total Time - 43:53
Age Group Place - 33/3507 (68.19%)
Overall Place - 953/51419
Chip Pace - 4:24
I'm not sure what my overall place was for all females but there were 22306 females in total. The website lists the Top 100 Women and the 100 place women run a 43:22 so I missed top 100 by 20 seconds.
Maybe next year.
Since the Sun Run I have take time off running to let my knee heal. I have major inflammation in the bursa's in surrounding my knee. So physio, ice, yoga and rest have been my remedy. Its been a week and a half and the pain when walking is gone but I still have pain when I sit so I have been sitting at work with my leg up on my desk to the dismay of my boss;) Hoping to be back running in another week! Woot
I tweaked my knee during 5 Peaks Golden Ears so I took it really easy for the two weeks leading up to the Vancouver Sun Run. The Sun Run was my first dapple into road racing. It was my first 10km road race and takes place downtown Vancouver. It's a pretty cool event in my opinion - I know a lot of avid runners judge the event because there are so many people who come out for it; this year 51,419 runners took part in this years event.
May 9th was the race. I woke up, ate my normal pre race breakfast (oatmeal with blueberries and apples) and unlike most other races where I pack up a bag (I should say over pack my bag) and drive to the race I suited up in what I'd be running in; White Lululemon Racer Back-T, Lululemon shorts & my road runners and headed out my door to meet up with B-Rad. I jogged over to his apartment as part of my easy warm up. The 5 minute jog across the city was amazing! The energy was electric in the city eith hundreds upon hundreds of people gathering in the city to be active! I loved it. The weather was prefect sunny sky, cool light breeze and not too hot. I got to Brads and he informed me we had to go meet some humans that he works with at Blenz. They never showed so I proceed to bug him that he actually doesn't have friends...sorry. After a couple pee breaks we realised it was go time and we were late. So we bolted to the starting area.
The line up to start was out of control and we ended up in the very back of our time section which meant we would be on a mission to avoid the mad build up of humans. The advice Brad gave me prior to starting; run hard, the 1st km is a slight down hill, try to get on the side walk before everyone else to avoid as many people as possible. Keep in my zone 3 heart rate, try to hit the 5km mark in 20 minutes (Burrard Street Bridge) and then suffer the last 5km to hit a finishing time in the low 40s.
The race went to plan for the first 5km - I started down the road on a total mission to pass as many humans as possible I pretended I was playing a video game trying to avoid the turtles and using the sidewalk to get around people. I arrived at Burrard Street Bridge in 20 minutes - SWEET!(5km which was probably more like 7km because of the side to side human evading). Only 5km of pavement pounding left and I had made up enough ground that I wasn't having to evade nearly as many people.
The next 3km went pretty well I could feel the burn beginning to build up in my legs but I was still in a manageable amount of pain. At about the 8km mark the person in front of me came to a sudden stop and I had to quickly bound out of the way to avoid hitting him - it was during this sudden movement that I felt an extremely sharp pain shoot into my left knee right inside the knee joint. My next steps were extremely painful. Everything inside me told me to stop because this wasn't right. But there was no way I was going to stop with only 2km left in a 10km race. I know I can run this distance...I do it multiple times in a week (I would have been embarrassed to stop). So I kept running at a considerably slower speed. I think my pace time increased by over 1 minute & 30 seconds per km for the final 2 km. Each step was more painful then the last so I started to count down to myself how long I had left starting with 10 mins, 9 mins, 8 mins...this helped because I knew there have been long runs where I'm counting down the time left for hours not minutes;) Upon finishing I knew I did damage but was happy I finished. Here's where I netted out on my first "road race" - if you could call it that.
Total Time - 43:53
Age Group Place - 33/3507 (68.19%)
Overall Place - 953/51419
Chip Pace - 4:24
I'm not sure what my overall place was for all females but there were 22306 females in total. The website lists the Top 100 Women and the 100 place women run a 43:22 so I missed top 100 by 20 seconds.
Maybe next year.
Since the Sun Run I have take time off running to let my knee heal. I have major inflammation in the bursa's in surrounding my knee. So physio, ice, yoga and rest have been my remedy. Its been a week and a half and the pain when walking is gone but I still have pain when I sit so I have been sitting at work with my leg up on my desk to the dismay of my boss;) Hoping to be back running in another week! Woot
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Sorry!!
I have been neglecting blogging. The last two weeks I have been fighting a nasty cold, coupled with busy times at work and trying to settle into my new apartment. Please forgive. I promise to bring some exciting new content over the coming weeks. I.E. finish the 5 draft posts I've started.
Hi to my friends who have recently learned about my blog...
OK - back to the training goods.
At 5 Peaks Golden Ears I did something to my left knee (same one that I consistently had issues with since my car accident). I have been trying to take it really easy.
Last week I did Yoga "for sports" on Monday, Zone 3 on Tuesday and took Wed-Fri completely off (mostly due to my cold but resting the knee helped comfort me in making this decision). Saturday I ran the Grouse to Deep Cove route with Duncan, Brad and Matt. I ended up losing them at power line and somehow found myself at the Seymour Grind alone with my ipod and heart rate monitor. I haven't run the trails alone in a while and I really took this time to run for me instead of trying to keep up with the speed demons I normally run with. I was probably alone for less then a hour but it was really nice. We finished off the ran with a fantastic ice bath in the ocean at Deep Cove. It felt so good, I think every run should end in the water surrounded by funny people (I'm not going to mention names but one of the dudes has been shaving his legs and he put me to shame with us smoothness). After the run my knee was pretty sore so I have taken Sunday/Monday/Tuesday off.
I'm going to head to the BCMC now and hope to get in a good strength training session after. Tomorrow and Friday I'm hoping to fit in some cross training at the gym by doing a couple spin classes. Saturday will be a rest day and then I'm running the Vancouver Sun Run on Sunday its going to be a quick and pounding run so I'm hoping this knee holds out for me. Post race Brad and I are heading for brunch with the Coo to celebrate...road running??? haha maybe not, we just like to eat! Looking for suggestions on a great place to go?
Hi to my friends who have recently learned about my blog...
OK - back to the training goods.
At 5 Peaks Golden Ears I did something to my left knee (same one that I consistently had issues with since my car accident). I have been trying to take it really easy.
Last week I did Yoga "for sports" on Monday, Zone 3 on Tuesday and took Wed-Fri completely off (mostly due to my cold but resting the knee helped comfort me in making this decision). Saturday I ran the Grouse to Deep Cove route with Duncan, Brad and Matt. I ended up losing them at power line and somehow found myself at the Seymour Grind alone with my ipod and heart rate monitor. I haven't run the trails alone in a while and I really took this time to run for me instead of trying to keep up with the speed demons I normally run with. I was probably alone for less then a hour but it was really nice. We finished off the ran with a fantastic ice bath in the ocean at Deep Cove. It felt so good, I think every run should end in the water surrounded by funny people (I'm not going to mention names but one of the dudes has been shaving his legs and he put me to shame with us smoothness). After the run my knee was pretty sore so I have taken Sunday/Monday/Tuesday off.
I'm going to head to the BCMC now and hope to get in a good strength training session after. Tomorrow and Friday I'm hoping to fit in some cross training at the gym by doing a couple spin classes. Saturday will be a rest day and then I'm running the Vancouver Sun Run on Sunday its going to be a quick and pounding run so I'm hoping this knee holds out for me. Post race Brad and I are heading for brunch with the Coo to celebrate...road running??? haha maybe not, we just like to eat! Looking for suggestions on a great place to go?
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