Off to the Big Smoke

Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small people who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it.

HAPPY FRIDAY!
I am officially starting a weeks holiday tomorrow and OHSO looking forward to some unstructure in my life! I like to work hard but I love the reward of playing hard after.

Tomorrow I am off to the Big Smoke for all things biking - repeating a similar weekend a few months back.

Saturday I will be completing my Lactate Test on the bike with Peak Performance in Vancouver. It is time to see how all my training has shaped my fitness, specifically if I have managed to bump up my Z1 and Z3 thresholds on the bike. In addition we will check on my Z1 threshold on the run to check that it is also going the right direction (up!). This information will be extremely helpful in assessing the effectiveness of my training program and will provide input on how to shape the next block of my plan.

In order to find out all this fun-stuff I must endure some not-so-fun stuff. Going to complete exhaustion during a bike test is not pretty. Luckily there will be a few exercise physiologists and fellow kinesiologists there to catch me if I fall.

Sunday I am joining fellow NCCP Cycling Coach trainee's for the next phase in our certification process- skills and tactis on the Mt. Bike. Should be a fun day with great people.

Sunday night I return home on the boat...then reconfigure my gear...before heading over to Power River to start our Sunshine Coast adventure! 1 week camping on the coast and checking out everything it has to offer...can't wait!

SPRING PROGRAM REGISTRATION is on now! Don't wait too long to sign up for your favorite Fitness Adventure with ELM! Classes start up again April 12th, and you can find all of the clinic details on the ELM Website... check it out and see you soon!

Cheers,
Sarah.

Seriously Awesome

CORE Official Trailer from Chuck Fryberger on Vimeo.

Hartland Race Pics

Race pics and results are online in case you are curious...

Turns out I was in the presence of Olympians!


SS

Victoria Visit & Crash Tales

HELLO!

I finally sat down to spin my tales of daffodils, cherry blossoms and soft tissue trauma.

We had a wonderful weekend in Victoria- spring is in full force and the blossoms waited for our arrival which was kind of them.

Hi-lights were feasting at the Japanese Village with my family and 4 birthday peeps...early morning walks through the Village, along Dallas Road and through the Park...sharing a steaming pot of homemade seafood chowder with family at my sisters home. Ahhhh...there is nothing quite like spring in Victoria!

Saturday I had a chance to pre-ride the bike course out at the Hartland dump in Saanich. The guys were flagging the course so it gave me a great opportunity to check out the trails, try out some lines and get a feel for the flow of the course. This is key for me! I like surprises but not that kind.

Sunday the race started at 12pm for the 'intermediate' class. This just meant that we did 2 loops. Beginners did 1 loop and Experts did 3. You choose the length of your workout!

Gen was there also from Courtenay and we looked at the start line and each wondered aloud: "Where are all the girls?".

Not being experience bike racers we were surprised to see over 35 men and only 5 women on the line. Strange? Apparently not. Soon I learned that for some reason not many girls choose to race bikes. No sure why- it is a fun way to make yourself go faster!

The other weird thing (from a complete bike racing rookie) was they started the guys first. Then after about 5 minutes they started the girls. All 5 of us! Strange? I think so!

I have all sorts of ideas why they might think to do this...but don't want to make any unfair assumptions so I emailed the race organizer.

Apparently they do the split start to 'decrease the intimidation factor'. I didn't realize we were so scary for the boys! HA! I caught and passed a few boys within 5 or 10 minutes- I hope I didn't scare any of them...

I was suprised to find myself at the front of our little girl power pack...and then I crashed about half way through the first lap.

Long story medium- I endo'd because of a teeny wet root that I didn't see after a little drop....hands went out but somehow I managed to find a large sharp, hard rock in the middle of the dirt and my sternum and clavicles crushed into it. Not my face luckily! Wind knocked out...thought my ribs or collar bone were busted off for sure...rolling around in pain under my bike...

Friendly racers picked my bike up off me, helped me up and checked on me:) Such nice racers these bikers are! A fellow girl racer also stopped to help me before I sent her on her way. I could breathe, I could talk, I could move my arms...I would be ok.

I walked my bike through the next little steep downhill section then dusted myself off and hopped back on. The rest of the loop was a bit wild- with adrenaline pumping and nasty images replaying in my head every time I went down a tricky bit.

But by the time I started the second loop I had shaken it off and had a great second lap. I think it was about 30 minutes per lap - and a total of 1:06 ish? with time for crying and rolling around on the ground of course.

At least I got to race. Gen didn't even make it off the fire road before her derailer snapped in 2 places...so she had to walk back to the start without any bike riding at all:(

Today I feel like I survived a run in with a truck. TENDER to say the very least. Neck, shoulders, chest, and a few aching bruised bones...not much upper body activity this week.

BUT THE GOOD NEWS IS I can run again! My sprained ankle is nearly healed! Woohoo!

Onward and upward I say!
SS

ELM News

HAPPY FRIDAY!
I am soooo looking forward to this weekend! We are heading to Victoria for a mighty family celebration with 4 birthdays to clink glasses to! I am looking forward to many walks in the park, along the beach and into town from my sisters house. Yippppeeee!

ELM NEWS:
FYI We have switched to an 'opt in' newsletter system so you will need to take a quick moment to sign up on the ELM website. Don't miss out on our fantastic, informative and fun monthly E-News updates! Just go to www.elmhealth.com and add your name and email to the list on the right hand side of the page. And voila! You will receive an 'opt in' email and your first monthly update at the end of the month!

We have also added a new WHATS NEW WITH ELM? section on the ELM Website where you can find media stories, fitness & nutrition articles and archives of the ELM newsletter. Check back frequently as we are building up these resources for you on a weekly basis!

Cheers and have a fantabulous weekend filled with friends and family, wherever you may be...

Sarah.

Good Things...

Happy Wednesday!

I have been struggling to post photos on this blog for days now...random error messages are interfering! And so, I think the photos are finally working! And a blog about FOOD really does not taste the same without photos...

GOOD FOOD.

Last week I went crazy in the kitchen one afternoon and made a few of my favorite nutrient dense foods...

Sarah Bars: (like Lara Bars...but homemade:). These are the perfect travel snack, breakfast on the go, afternoon fuel, biking bar. Just nuts, dried fruit and your favorite flavors. I made the Apple Pie Bars loaded with dried apple, lemon and cinnamon. Mmmm. You can find this recipe in my cookbook: NRG. Cut into bars and store in the freezer for a quick and delicious boost when you need it most!

NRG BALLS. The best. Period. Well...Dodge Balls out at Tarbells in Cumberland are pretty darn good too... I played with this recipe for ages until I came up with a nice mix of soft, crunchy, chewy and sweet. This batch has cranberries, white chocolate and dried apricots along with the usual base of nuts, oats, pb etc. YUMMY. Roll, freeze, pop one in your mouth when you need it!

THAI RICE PUDDING. Not the type you remember from your childhood either. Whenever I have left over rice I jump at the chance to make rice pudding- it is the perfect breakfast or pre-workout fuel combining whole grain rice, with proteins (nuts and egg) and dried fruit. This batch was made with Red Thai Rice, Cocounut milk, raisins and walnuts. I added some Garam Masala spice mix to make it that much more exotic (Indias version of our apple pie spices). YUM.

GOOD TIMES!

I shared my NRG balls with my newest group of clients...ELM WOMEN PERU 2010 crew! We had our first official meeting this past Saturday including an introductory hike, training program review and Gear Talk at Valhalla Pure in Courtenay. The trip training is officially underway and in 6 months these 12 ladies will be heading to Peru for an amazing trek to Machu Picchu. So exciting!

ROCKING OUT

Progress is coming with the ankle/achilles issue! Sunday I could only walk to 15 minutes...but by Monday I could ROCK 4minutes to 1minute four times. I ran a total of 4 minutes! And the good news, things have loosened up even more since that ROCK. Today I am going to give it another go with the ROCK and see where I am at. Hopefully I will be back to running by the end of the week! In the mean time...ride on...

WEEKEND IN VIC!

We are heading to Vic this weekend for B-day festivities, family visits, spring greetings and coffee walks through the park. I am going to ride the first Island Cup XC Mountain bike race in the series too. It is at the Hartland dump trails on Sunday... Should be interesting to say the least! This will be my 3rd bike race ever and I am looking forward to getting my arse kicked. FUN to go into the unknown...

Happy Trails!

Sarah.

Thinking Happy Thoughts

Happy Sunday!

I am sporting my new outfit from Lotuswear- and my new favorite pants! They are crops but you can't tell cause I am a shorty:)

After my little ankle incident last Saturday I have been thinking happy thoughts all week.

No running...

No walking...

No lower body strength training...

But on the up side I have done loads of biking! 6 days on my bike this week (if you count commuting and coaching from the bike:). My bum is trained up for longer hours in the saddle now...

Tried to run a few steps today...managed about 50 before I decided it was a very bad idea. What started as an ankle sprain has evolved into an achilles strain now that the swelling has gone down.

I see myself riding my bike again this week...

Thinking happy thoughts,

Sarah.

Take Care of Your Feet

Happy...Wednesday!

Last week was full of mud and puddles. Even though we lost our sunshine and bluesky, the week was full of smiles and great adventures. It was a great week except for everything below my knees!

After an easy 2hour trail run last Monday I noticed the start of plantar fasciitis in both of my feet- especially the right. Whenever an injury comes on that suddenly my first thought goes to the date of my shoe purchase. Conveniently I had jiffy markered the date right onto the size label on the tongue of my shoes (I know I might as well jiffy Left and Right onto my hands while I am at it). Aha...time for new shoes. Even though I have 3 pairs on the go at any given time (one for distance trail, one for technical/race trail, and one for the road), they still wear out faster than I think.

RICE

Then on Saturday John and Liz and I met at the Lake for our highest climb yet. The first thing I noticed when I was tightening up my laces...was I was wearing my lawnmower shoes. You know the ones. When your runners are toast and you hold onto them for working in the garden and walking the dog because they just fit soooo well and are all broken in and you don't want to chuck them.

I ran anyways. My shoes were, um, floppy, to say the least.

After they dragged me up to the top of Jake the Snake from the lake (3500feet?) we celebrated in the snow of Forbidden Plateau ski hill (at the old lodge) before beginning our descent. We were flying!

At the top of 2 Sheiks I sprained my ankle. Pretty badly. I had to run back to the car downhill for 40 minutes.

Then I had to lead a 2.5hour mountain hike that afternoon. Oooops.

RICE

And so, I have a sprained ankle, shinsplints (from running downhill in the lawnmower shoes) and still some nagging fasciitis (from the old trail runners). Not a great week to be my feet.

Acupuncture today!
Traumeel everyday!
No running since last Saturday...
Come on baby...

Onto all the other wonderful things about last week!

Our Members Event at Coastal Trek Lodge was a blast! We were 15 happy hikers! Normally this is a snowshoeing event...but there is nearly zero snow at Forbidden this year. So, I had the pleasure of sharing some of my favorite running and biking trails with the gang.

We went back to the scene of the crime (ankle sprain) and I was thrilled to share these special spots with our members...cascading waterfall...glacial fed pools...raging creeks...log crossings...steep descents...leading back to steep ascents...snowy ridges...dense forest paths...



Man did I get thirsty after all that hiking!

And then it was back to the lodge at Coastal Trek for about 5 hours of relaxing, stretching, hot tub and steaming, massages, fireside sipping and of course a fabulous dinner with friends!

Thank you for a wonderful annual Members Event! Looking forward to the next one already!!

Sunday I rode my bike with my rat friends. The ankle was pretty good on the bike- better than walking anyways! These rats have been busy beavers in the Cumberland trails all winter. I finally had the pleasure of riding one of their latest construction projects...on their new trail: Thirsty Beaver. First time I have riden 15 - 20 feet off the deck...over a waterfall nonetheless! OK the bridge was about 3 feet wide!!

Stay tuned for the completion of this new trail...it is going to be the one to run and ride this summer!

The sun is shining! I need to go!

SS

A scandal of minuscule proportions

Another fantastic piece of journalism...thank you Mr. MacGregor. You said it all.

A scandal of minuscule proportions#macgregor%20a%20scandal%20minuscule%20proportions#macgregor%20a%20scandal%20minuscule%20proportions#macgregor%20a%20scandal%20minuscule%20proportions

SS

Goodbye Vancouver

Goodbye Vancouver from Simon Whitfields blog...
Read this one...you will enjoy it:)

Time to close up the hide-a-bed in the living room and come back down to earth. That was an amazing 17 days...thank you Canada!!!

SS