MOMAR Squamish - a great weekend!

I awoke Sunday morning with just an amazing feeling of "ahhh, it's over, I can relax." This past Saturday was the 4th annual Mind Over Mountain Adventure Race here in Squamish. After 6 months of preparation (including my tasks of race course design and vetting, permits, liasing with land holders and the community) it has all come to an end for another year. Gotta say, I'm exhausted!

However, what a great weekend. I love my involvement with MOMAR each year, it's my way to give back to an amazing sport that has provided me with so much enjoyment over the past decade. There was well over 200 racers on the start line, all coming here to push themselves and experience the great Squamish playground. This year, the course featured some of the classic trails as well as the most incredible brand new trail of 1/2 Nelson. Ted and Steve (the best trail builders ever) have been working non-stop over the winter to put this 3.5km burmy, twisty, smooth and flowy trail in! It's been the talk of Squamish for the past month and I couldn't wait to have the MOMAR racers experience it. The trail got rave reviews from everyone at the after party on Saturday night as well. Steve (owner of Bean Brackendale where I spend way toooo much time each day) was my course consultant. He helped me piece everything together, including a brand new O course made up of trails that no-one had seen before. And of course, I had to put the rappel off the top of Peak #1 in once again. Thanks to Squamish Rock Guides for doing a great job of getting everyone down the ropes!

Congrats to all the racers who came out and took on a solid day of racing! The smiles that I see out there and the "stoke factor" of when you've crossed the line is what it's all about. That makes me excited to start planning for 2011 and providing you with another fun and challenging race course. Race results and pictures are now up on the MOMAR website.

Also, no MOMAR could happen without the MANY volunteers. Thank you to everyone who contributed in some way, shape or form. Deron, Mike and Jamie did an amazing job managing their sections and making sure everything ran nice and smoothly. As always, it's a pleasure for me to work with Bryan (owner and founder of MOMAR) each year!

It was amazing that 2 of my team mates from nuun-Multisport made the trip up from Seattle to race with Dan and Jill on Team Trioba. They stayed around on Sunday to play - we hit the lake for some SUP ing and salmon BBQ ing! Oh, and if you are looking for another sprint race to tackle, the boys put on a great race south of the border at the beginning of June. Check out Trioba!

See you all back for 2011 - you can bet I'm already scouting!

AVOID!!

Today's random thought that I wanted to share relates to the evils of High Fructose Corn Syrup. If you can avoid eating foods with this ingredient, your body will thank you in SO MANY WAYS!! Have a read here on a recent article that came out the NY Times. Interesting and humorous!

Now...while you spend the next few days going through your cupboards and throwing out any foods that have this nasty ingredient in it, I'm off to prep the race course - it's MOMAR Squamish this weekend. Good luck to all races. See you out there! I hope you enjoy what I've put together.

3, 6, 9

I'm STOKED to welcome onboard Flora Health, an amazing company that makes a product called Udo's Oil. I've been religiously using Udo's daily since December and I firmly believe that it has played a major role in my recovery of tendons and joints (since the achilles issues) and now daily with my vigorous training schedule. My thoughts on this were further confirmed back in March when I went to France. Being that I was traveling on an airplane and only gone for 1 week, I didn't take my Udo's with me. It's hard to explain but something was "just missing." It was a hard week of training and racing (as Salomon's Advanced Week always is) and there just felt to be a missing link in my body. As soon as I returned home, I was back on the Udo's, putting it into my smoothies daily. Ahhhh......something had returned to "normal."

So Udo's, wondering what it is? Be sure to visit OIL THE MACHINE for all the details but here is a good explanation to get you thinking......

Udo’s Oil is a certified organic, sustainable, and fish-free blend of plant-sourced oils designed to supply the ideal 2:1 ratio of Omega-3 & -6 fatty acids. It contains all the good fats you need, without any of the bad fats you should avoid.

The key to health from fats lies in taking the essential ones in the proper ratio. This isn’t usually achieved because the average western diet is too high in omega-6 and dangerously low in Omega-3.

Udo’s research indicates the best results come consistently from plant oils blended to be richer in omega -3 than omega -6, and in a 2:1 ratio. Udo’s Oil Blends contain the proper 2:1 ratio; fish and flax oils do not.

I know how much my body LOVES and NEEDS this oil and I have been recommending it to all my athletes for quite some time now. I can't encourage you enough to explore Udo's and give it a try. After 1-2 weeks of taking it daily, I am almost positive that you are going to feel that something is "different." Out of all the supplements and extra's that athletes and people need to take, I would for sure put this at the top of your list.

I'm looking forward to the future with this amazing company because I 100% believe in the health benefits of their products. Feel free to contact me if you want more info. Another good place is to head to your local Health Food Store where I'm sure you will be able to track it down :) Oil Up........

STANDUP4GREATBEAR

Norm's 385km is underway! As many of you know, the STANDUP4GREATBEAR paddle is about bringing awareness to STOP the proposed oil tanker route through BC's northern coastal waters. Several months ago, Norm decided to take a stand for something that he is very passionate about - protecting the Great Bear Rainforest, an area that he has worked and lived in for over 10 years now. The goal is to prevent Enbridge from being allowed to move the oil via massive tankers through the GBR. As Norm says, it's not IF there is an oil spill, it's WHEN and HOW MUCH damage will be done (prime example - the oil spill in the Gulf right now. )

Thank you to everyone for showing their support for this cause in one way or another. While I wasn't able to accompany him on his adventure and expedition, I am doing my best to keep things updated from back here in Squamish. There are a few places you can go to keep up with everything and show your support!

WEBSITE: www.mountainsurfadventures.com

BLOG: click here

Facebook: click here

Norm has an amazing crew with him out there. His sister Shannon is on board the support boat, Brian Huntington from the Skeena Watershed is paddling a kayak alongside Norm and MANY people from the various Native villages that he will paddle through are providing support both on and off the water, welcoming him with open arms and helping the team move through this large body of water.

Goodluck Norm and team! We are so proud of you and wishing you a safe journey as you make your way from Kitimat to Bella Bella.

42km the Paved Way

Well it's official, I finally lined up and gave my 1st true marathon a go (apparently Badwater doesn't count - ha :) We have really been working on my flat leg speed, something that proves over and over again to be my limiting factor when I race. So, finally time to address that issue and begin the road to fixing it! However my coach has been away (yes Ray, leading the i2P group in Tunisia) so I wasn't able to chat with him about this "change/addition" to this week's training schedule! We hadn't planned for it and therefor, no taper was going to happen. I tackled this week full on, deciding that the marathon might not be pretty but it would give me a good tempo workout and force me to stay focused the entire time to my leg turnover. With that said, I continued onwards this week and logged 12hrs of training, including a hard run on Friday morning that ended with blasting up the chief. Obviously not ideal when one wants fresh legs to run on!

However, I lined up at 7:30am this morning amongst all the elite runners, humbled by the field surrounding me. Fast and I mean lighting fast Kenyans who would go on to dominate the race! Needless to say they were out of my sights by about 500m into the run! As the race got going, I was feeling good. It was raining and I was in a tank top so I actually managed to regulate body temperature well. I ran with no music so that I could focus entirely on what I was doing. This sucks for me because in the mountains, I just run and find my zen state and that is how I like to be. Anyways....at the 1/2 way point, I was bang on - 1hr30mins. This was my goal if I was going to attempt for a 3hr time. The best part of the race for me was both times over the Burrard St Bridge - ahhh yes, a slight hill and I could change up the working muscles in my stride (oh yes, and I even passed a few people here.) However, 32km to the 36km was no fun at all. I suffered through, angry that my legs were slowing down despite how much I focused on them. I had a hard time maintaining a good foot strike (got sloppy, heal hitting down) and I could see my sub 3hr slipping away from me. Then, I got some encouragement from the hundreds of cheering people and snapped out of it. I shifted into another gear, cleaned up my foot stride and passed another elite runner. Just as I tell my early morning crew "you can do anything for 6mins" well....I had to tell myself that I can do anything for 6km. With that thought in my head, I tackled the rest of the race and decided to just do the best that I could.

Greeted at the finish line by Norm, Brea and Todd (who also raced the 1/2 and is one of Canada's best) I was just relieved to be finished although my stomach quickly turned to knots. I put down a 3:06 and am happy with that. My average pace was 4:25/km which is not a pace that I usually run ultra's at. I have to respect where I am at and the background that I come from.

I think most of my encouragement today came from the 13,500 other runners out there!!! It was amazing to see so many people who had trained so hard, all go after it and give it their best! Very impressive, very cool. I saw lots of familiar faces out there and that was awesome! Congrats to every single person who raced today, be proud of the journey you have been on (and I hope there is more in the roads ahead.)

And I can't end this weekend without saying that several of my clients had fantastic races as well over the past 2 days. My Jude Ultra won the women's 50 miler at Elk Lake this weekend WAHOOOOOOOO!!!! Kyle Peter took on Miwok and killed it! This was a B race for him seeing as he likes to race every single weekend so we could never do a full taper! Look out Western States! Tammy VH had a great run at the marathon today too and she is ready for Stormy 50miler - her endurance system is taking great form!! And lots of other clients have reported in with solid weekends of training. I'm fortunate to get to be apart of their journeys as well!

As for me.......back to the mountains and trails please and thanks :) Oh, wait, nope, still more flats and speedwork ahead! Right now I am trying to get my Udo's Oil into my system to aid in recovery. My salomon compression calves were amazing while I ran and I think they have aided in my legs feeling good now.

Power and Weight

As many of you know, I am fan of the coaching methodology of Joe Friel. As such, I follow his blog religiously. Because I have had this conversation with several people recently, I thought it appropriate to share Joe's latest on power vs weight ratio when it comes to running and biking. It's a tricky subject.....do I drop weight and if so, will my performance suffer? Hmmmm....read on!

When riding a bike uphill or running you are working to overcome gravity. For the bike I’m sure that’s obvious. Riding up a hill means that gravity is trying to pull you back down. That’s what makes climbing on a bike so challenging. Running probably doesn’t seem as difficult because when running there is only a little bit of vertical movement occurring with each stride. While it’s not great it’s happening about 170 times per minute. That’s a lot of times. If the vertical displacement with each stride is only one inch (many age group runners bounce up and down much more than an inch with each step) that means you are lifting your body’s center of gravity 170 inches – 14 feet (425cm) – every minute. If running for an hour you’ve produced 283 yards (257m) of vertical displacement. That’s an 85-story skyscraper you’ve climbed. Huge!

Now imagine that you are riding your bike up a steep hill or running along a flat road as usual, only this time you’re wearing a backpack filled with 10 pounds (4.5kg) of rocks. It’s obviously far more difficult when wearing the backpack. But why is that? It’s because as the mass of an object (you, your equipment and the backpack with rocks) increases, the pull of gravity also increases. That’s why you have bathroom scales – to measure the pull of gravity on your body. We refer to that as your weight. So increases in weight result in your having to use more energy to lift it while riding uphill or running. Notice that there was no change in your power when you put on the weighted backpack; only a change in weight.

Now imagine the opposite. You’ve got a new bike that weighs 10 pounds less than your old clunker. It’s easier to ride up the hill, isn’t it? Or imagine that you’ve been losing excess body fat and your bathroom scales now say you are 10 pounds lighter. What will happen to your running? You’ll run faster at the same energy rate. Again, no change in power; only a change in weight.

Every extra pound (450mg) added to your body and equipment “costs” you about one-and-a-half watts of power on a steep hill climb on your bike and about two seconds per mile when running. A few extra pounds one way or the other directly impacts how fast your race times are.

There’s no doubt that what your body and equipment combined weigh has a lot to do with how well you perform in triathlon. If we can reduce your weight without changing your power you will go faster. Or, conversely, if we can increase your muscular power with weight remaining the same you will also go faster. The best combination is to increase power and reduce weight. Much faster!

Here’s a simple guide for determining what your body weight means to performance. Divide your weight in pounds (kilograms) by your height in inches (centimeters). The typical, high-performance, male triathlete is in the range of 2.1 to 2.3 pounds per inch (0.38-0.41 kg/cm) with high-performance female triathletes generally being 1.9 to 2.1 pounds per inch (0.34-0.38 kg/cm). In road racing the best male climbers are typically 2.0 pounds per inch (0.36 kg/cm) or less. Top female climbers are under 1.8 (0.32 kg/cm). Of course, there are always exceptions such as Lance Armstrong who is about 2.1 pounds per inch (0.38 kg/cm). He overcomes his greater weight by having even greater power.

This doesn’t mean that you can’t excel if above these common ranges. It simply means that you must also have a higher-than-normal power output per pound (kilogram) to overcome the greater weight as Lance does.

Reducing your excess body weight and the weight of your bike and running shoes will potentially pay off with faster race times. But there’s risk associated with such weight reductions. If you lose muscle, especially the muscles that are used for swimming, biking or running, you are likely to be slower. Replacing heavy components on your bike with the lightest (and most expensive) equipment available raises the risk of that component failing during a race. For example, lightweight tires are one of the most effective weight reducing changes you can make since they lower rotating weight. The downside is that they are more likely to have a puncture. A super-lightweight saddle is more likely to break when you hit a pothole. Featherweight handlebars have been known to snap with a powerful rider is climbing out of the saddle. Running in racing flats may increase your risk of injury. Lowering your racing weight provides both reward and risk.

Of course, for riding a bike on a flat road or indoor trainer (regardless if the front wheel is raised or not) and for swimming, mass is not critical. The tug of gravity on your body and equipment is not as great. In fact, a big triathlete riding a bike on a flat course is generally faster than a small triathlete since being big usually means having more power. That’s why if your weight is above the pounds-per-inch ranges suggested above it’s best to select flat race courses when possible.