2nd Summit in two weeks!!

This time Tammy, Baby and I hiked to the summit of Mount Albert Edward by Mount Washington up island. This is also supposed to be a two day hike done by hiking your gear up to a camp sight 2 hours in and tackling the summit on day 2 by starting early. This is not how Tammy and I work. We decided last minute and left Victoria at 6:00am. We arrived at the ski lodge at Mount W. at 9:00am where the hike begins and took almost 40min to find the trail head. It was not a great start; apparently the trail head was supposed to be obvious? We eventually found it and yes it was obvious (thanks to Tammy). We weren't sure if we would make the summit because we left so late and when we came across a couple of serious hikers they looked at us sideways when we told them we were going for the summit and back today. They let us know in a gentle way that we might make it to this lake 3/4 of the way, if we hurried! I don't think they knew who they were talking to. In that same conversation they noticed that Tammy was carrying the pack filled with food, water, clothes, a flashlight and other hiking necessities, where as I was carrying the camera. They were jealous that I had my own Sherpa and it was a hot girl. Tammy always wants to do her part and would not let me brag that I had to carry the pack the whole way so we split the time with the gear, almost. The next section was done by hike/running through stunning alpine meadows where we got hassled by these birds (Gray Jays) that demanded food. They ate right out of our hands. Tammy was in her glory!

We stopped for an 8min lunch. Drinking was done on the fly and by 3/4 of the way Baby was showing signs of fatigue. There was one section that was south facing on the rocks that was blistering hot and Baby does not do well in the heat. Luckily there were little pools of cold water from snow melt that gave her some reprieve. You know your high when your above permanent snow pack.

We got our hopes up when we hit a pseudo peak and thought we had made record time, only to look over and see another peak that seemed higher. It looked unreachable and at least 1.5 hours of hiking one way. Unfortunately it was the peak. We did the math and we would need a speedy descent if we where going to make it. At this point we almost turned back before realizing that we would regret it after coming so far, and after all it was a clear sky with a near full moon and we had flashlights so really there was no reason to not go for it. I think this is what they refer to as summit fever. Only there was a lot less risk involved.

There was a lot of lava rock mixed in with the next section made up of sharp rock and unstable ground. Something I think Baby felt more than us. We found some reprieve along these overhanging snow banks that looked like they could give out at anytime. The rest of the way up was steep and at a brisk walk we had our heart rates through the roof trying to make good time.

We reached the top!! As Donny had said "reaching the summit is optional, getting back to the bottom is mandatory". We had 30min at the summit before having to hurry down. Baby was fried and took a small Nap in the shade of a rock while we admired the view. It was stunning!! I had no idea Vancouver Island was so mountainous. You really have to be there to appreciate the pictures. Obviously we made it down but we had 30min of hiking in the dark through the bushes alone. FREAKY!!!! On another note, Mount Washington is going to be a gold mine for real estate. The prices are still reasonable and there should be some good growth with the Olympics coming.

Chow for now.

Golden Ears.

My trip to the 'Ears' was absolutely fantastic. This is the time of year when our athletic training becomes unstructured and in some ways more fun. Our training year ends a little earlier than others. We have a few friends doing Ironman Hawaii in Kona that are still training their butts off. I feel like I just did an Ironman, I can hardly walk from the soreness in my legs and shoulders from carrying the 70lb pack filled with camping gear up 1706m. O.k. maybe it wasn't quit 70lbs but we don't have an official weigh-in so I can say what I want. I don't think 1700m is high in the mountaineering world but for a couple of weekend warriors with full packs it was formidable.

Located in Maple Ridge (the town I was born in), the 'Ears' are a set of mountains that are visible from pretty much anywhere in the lower mainland. They have rocky peaks because not much lives up that high. Donny has climbed this thing so many times he can't remember the exact number but it's something like 9 times and he's made it to the summit most times. Apparently the weather can change rapidly and he was telling a story about getting caught in a white out that forced him and a friend to stay in the emergency shelter over night. My Parents house in Surrey has a window in the kitchen that has a perfect view of the Ears and Mom still has vivid memories of that night because she could see the clouds rolling in and knew they where going to get caught in a storm of shit. Donny survived cause he's tough and Mom still worries cause she's Mom.
Our adventure went like clock work. We arrived at the gates to the park at 6:35am, just before they opened and hiked for 5 hours to our camp site close to the top. We set up camp and made it to the summit in the early evening for a total of 7 hours of up hill. Some people do it as a day trip by packing light and leaving early. I must admit I had thoughts of tossing all my gear in the bush and just staying in the emergency shelter due to the pain that was developing in my legs and the fear building in my gut about the descent with all that weight. It turns out once you know how to descend it's not so bad, you just need to take your time and go backwards down the tricky spots.
I had a great time with Donny and next time he's going to come my way to Mount Albert Edward on the island for a very similar hike. I wish I could put more pictures on but this is the extent of my blogging capabilities.
Bye for now.

Midnight Snack?

This is 'Part II' of the last post (named Bad!!!). We cleaned up the wrappers and all was well. Every time one of us pointed towards the spare room and wrappers, Baby slinkered away. She looks so pathetic when she gets into trouble (which has only happened maybe 3-4 times in the 2 years we have had her), that you feel badly for her. We forgave her and she was in our good books again.

Baby has a pillow inside our bedroom that she likes to sleep on. It is in a convenient location, except it blocks a drawer to my dresser. When going to bed, I had to lift an edge of her pillow up to open the drawer. Lo and behold - one more uneaten, unwrapped energy bar was stashed there! Shocked, I quickly retrieved the bar before Baby could see. I showed Allan the bar and we had a good laugh. I went to bed like nothing happened and out of the corner of my eye, watched our sweet innocent dog. When she approached the pillow, she immediately sniffed the exact location I found the bar. She looked around, then pawed the pillow up and sniffed underneath. This went on for a little bit when finally, confused and disheartened, she sighed and laid down for the night - duped out of her anticipated midnight snack.

Bad!!!!!

We came home because we forgot something on a short trip to the store and it looks like Baby (our dog) got into the bag of left over food I had taken with me on my hike to Golden ears mountain. My first reaction was "Bad baby!!!" and then I realized that there was a small 70% pure chocolate bar that was, and I do mean 'was' as it did not exist any more, in the bag of goodies. My next reaction was fear because dogs are allergic to chocolate and can die. We frantically searched the internet to find out the toxicity levels and symptoms to watch for. The bar was about 1.5oz and it apparently takes 6oz to be toxic for her weight, so it seems she will be o.k. The weird thing was that she ate all the wrappers!? There were powerbars, granola bars, power gel!, chocolate, fruit bars, and a protein bar. Not a stitch of evidence! Poor thing digesting the wrappers:(

When we gave her shit she peed herself; good thing for hardwood floors for an easy clean-up. She is such a Baby.

We left to go to the store and 1/2 way down the street the light came on. (In our head!)

What do dogs do when they have a nice treat like a bone? They bury it or take it to a quite location for consumption without interference. Where does Baby like to go? The Spare bedroom! Turn the car around again! I could just see her watching us leave and laughing as she headed back to her stash of 1/2 eaten treats. Sure enough....

Let me present the evidence. Take a note of the perfectly opened wrapper down the seam on the protein bar in the bottom photo at the top.

Fatter than Allan

In Allan's recent post, he keeps my bodyfat % a secret. I don't mind saying it: 17.7%. That's 10% more than the brat, and even though I weight 50lbs less, I have more pounds of fat! No wonder he kicks my butt on the hills! The good news is that I am leaner than this time last year. Women need 12% essential fat (for their female hormones to be working properly). Men, on the other hand, only need 4-5% bodyfat to function properly. So hopefully with weight training and being diligent with a good diet, I will hit my goal of 13% next year. The problem with long distance training, especially for females, is that overtime you can actually gain bodyfat, as the Type II muscle fibres (strength fibres) get smaller and your Type I (endurance fibres) get larger. So weight training is particularly important. Especially for people like me, who are all endurance but no speed.

How fat am I?

Fatter than 10 years ago. When I was 25 I did my body fat % and it was 6% give or take. Today I am 8% fat. I used the same method of pinching fat in all the right places and using a fairly reliable calculation. The scales that tell you your % of body fat are horribly inaccurate. They really depend on your hydration levels and can be off by up to 17%! Pinching fat doesn't lie and the numbers are comparable as long as you pinch in the same spot. Based on my weight of 170lbs I have 13.7lbs of fat. During race season I am usually 167lbs. My goal in April is to be 165lbs at 6% body fat. which is 10lbs of fat. I could get a lower % of body fat but there is an inaccuracy to the calculation so really the % is less important than the actual pinch measurement. Fat is fat, if I can pinch it it's there. A 4mm measurement is considered nothing because the skin has a thickness to it, so my goal is to have a few measurement of 4mm.
Interestingly, I am by far more fit than I was when I was 25. It's a different type of fitness though because I used to do more explosive exercise and now I do more long aerobic work. Endurance sports naturally chew up muscle and if you're not smart about your training you will lose a lot of muscle tone. I won't tell you what Tammy's % is, she can tell you if she wants.
This brings me to THE PROGRAM. I am putting together a weight training program for endurance athletes specifically. I have always known weights were important but never really put a whole lot of thought about how important they are for endurance athletes. We do weights but we can make huge improvements on THE PROGRAM design. Who knows, maybe one day I'll write a book. In the mean time I'm pulling out all my textbooks and enjoying the research. There is a lot of guidelines for people but unless you know how to interpret it, and apply it, there can be a lot of confusion.