I awoke at 6:20am this morning to climb the Grouse Grind - Nature’s staircase. The 2.9km trail from the base to the top of Grouse Mountain consists of over 2,830 steps, which makes for one tough, sweaty hour of bounding around roots & rocks and staggering up steps to the glorious view at the top.

"The remainder of the trail is extremely steep & difficult"

The climb this morning seemed like a selfish act when my partner had to get up at the same time just to go to work, but I’ve dedicated 10 climbs between June 12 & Sept 15 to BC Children’s Hospital, Grind for Kids campaign, and your donations will make my act less selfish all the more

“In about the same degree as you are helpful, you will be happy.”

~Karl Reiland

The Grouse Grind also provided an apt physical metaphor for my life at this moment:  I’m one month away from completing a professional Masters of Human Kinetics (MHK) degree at the University of British Columbia and right now, finishing my final papers feels something like attacking this mountain; a epic climb that requires me to focus all my energy on putting one-foot-after-another, eyes to the ground with only a few quick glances at the sun-dappled ceiling – my mountain-topped glory.

I entered the MHK program last September to advance my fitness expertise to further my personal training business, Lightfooted. I’m exiting with much more than a few courses and good marks under my belt: I’ve took a career turn to dive into the realm of social media**, a home of my own overlooking Gastown, and great friends, inspiring colleagues & mentors to help guide my way.

And with these thoughts, I will return to the grindstone of tackling this very, last step of my academic mountain. See you at the top!

** For Dr. Rob VanWynsberghe‘s Sustainability and Citizen Transformation & the 2010 Olympic Games seminar class,  I studied how Vancouver citizens used Twitter to leverag the #vo2010 vibe as a tool for place promotion and regeneration of their city. This was the beginning of my fascination with social networking tools as a way to bring people/ideas/communities together.

While cruising the ‘net for information on the ‘criminalized’ athlete whose doping activity has either harmed or advanced their careers, I came across a CTV article (April, 2009) Banned sledder helps combat inadvertent doping. I was floored to read that Canadian bobsleigh pilot Serge Despres was banned from competing until August, 2009 due to the consumption of a single contaminated supplement in 2007.

Unfortunately, this case is not an anomaly. In 2001, the IOC lab tested 634 supplements from around the world and found that some were incomplete or inaccurately labelled. For instance, more than 25 per cent of the supplements collected in The Netherlands yielded positive tests for banned substances undisclosed on the packaging. An yet, in light of these findings, Despres’ ban for an infinitely small positive – less than a single nanogram of steroids – was not revoked.

What can an athlete do to ensure that the supplements they require to support an intensely active, rigorous and demanding training program are contaminate-free?

Currently, a company called NSF International provides a Safe for Sport Certification analysis program, whereby manufacturers submit nutritional supplements to be tested up to 130 banned substances on the World Anti-Doping Association’s drug list before they are consumed by athletes.

NSF Certified for Sport Product list available here, and includes such Canadian-made products as:

• COLD-FX® Daily Defense
• Myoplex® Advanced Protein Ready to Drink (Vanilla)
• Activ-X Multivitamin for Active Men and Women by Platinum Naturals

Even though Despres’ 2010 Winter Olympic podium dreams have been publicly and humiliatingly crushed, he has used the situation to become part of the solution.  In April he helped launch the Clean Sport Initiative sponsored by Platinum Naturals, to campaign for increased knowledge and information on supplements approved by the NSF. Help support Despres’ cause and join the Facebook group: Clean Sport Initiative.

Bill Graveland/The Canadian Press

This past summer Ali Howard, a former water polo player for Queen’s University,  donned a wetsuit and swam the entire length of British Columbia’s Skeena River in 28 days. Ali’s Spirit of the Skeena Swim adventure brought residents and communities together around a common vision for one of the world’s most celebrated wild salon ecosystem, and earning her a position in  the Top 10 Most Intriguing Environmentalists of 2009.

Spirit of the Skeena Swim 2009

Join Ali and her swim team for a spirited evening of stories, film and photography next Thursday, December 3 at 7:00 PM,  UBC Robson Square, 800 Robson St.  Vancouver.

With the New Balance Fall Classic Half-marathon tomorrow, I thought I would share some of my insights into race-day preparation, beyond what you could find in the standard Race Event email (i.e. as in the Fall Classic “Important Race Information” email below):

To have a great experience, follow these tips:

Days before race

• Check the race-day weather forecast
• Pack your things the night before – set race gear aside and pack a bag with a change of clothes
• Stay well-hydrated
• Think about taking a bicycle (free secured parking) or public transit, or arrange for carpooling with friends. Our parking map has the location and price of parking options.

Race morning

• Get up with plenty of time for breakfast and travel
• Arrive 1 hour before race start
• Grab a pair of raceday gloves if it’s chilly
• Drop off your bag with the bag check

Over the last two years, I’ve participated in six half-marathons and have learned a few things that aren’t often written about in these letters:

[Warning: Some photos are a little gross.]

Blisters and bruised nail beds from baaad shoes

Shoes

• Don’t  wear any new shoes (that’s heels, pumps or loafers) in the days before a race – new hot spots on heels or toes can quickly turn to angry blisters in the race and ruin your fun
• Same goes for new running shoes  – carefully consider the downsides of running 21km in a pair of old, worn-out ‘no-shock-left’ shoes and a pair of ‘fresh out of the box’ shoes. The three times I’ve bought shoes in the advent of a race, I wore them every day for a week before they fit comfortably.

Accessories

• This one I learned from a seasoned marathon runner: if you’re racing for the first time with a new watch, wear your old one as well! Last month, at the Okanagan Marathon, she was standing at the start line, acquiring the satellites on her new Garmin Forerunner 405 (in order for the Garmin to calculate an accurate distance/pace/speed), when it suddenly went dead (it showed a full charge). Luckily she had her Ironman on her other wrist so was able to keep a 4-hrs 15-min pace and come in first in her age category – 60 years old! The problem with the Garmin, it turned out, was a deposit of sunscreen/sweat which clogged the charging points. A little alcohol on a q-tip and it was as good as new.

Apparel

• Don’t wear a pair of short-shorts or racing skorts if you’ve not run in them before, or if you’ve gained/lost a little weight and your clothes are too tight or too loose – creating friction. I have scars on my inner thighs from a race in May where they rubbed together for an hour and forty minutes and running in the hot weather, mixed with the sweat… it. was. just. painful.
• 

  Body Glide - For a smooth run

  Do use Body Glide or Vaseline on those tender, bouncy bits and where the seams of clothes can up (under arms, under the bra, thighs…)

• Consider running with a little tub of Sportslick or Vaseline to apply to any area along the way. Some races even supply it at aid-stations en-route, but don’t depend on it.
• Do reschedule any body-waxes for after the race and minimize any freshly shaved/waxed surfaces, as fresh skin irritates easily.
• Same goes for the pedicure – save it for after the race. Cut toenails short, and file rough edges so the nails are less likely to catch on your shoes and with the constant pressure, causing them to lift off the nail bed.
• Guys – do wear nip guards to avoid the “Bloody Elevens” which will freak out the runners around you. It’s the repetitive friction of the fabric against the nipples, which will cause them to ache or even bleed.
  

  Bloody Elevens - ouch!

• More on the prevention of thigh chaffing here.

Other random stuff

• Don’t dye your hair the day before a race, unless you want coloured-splatters all over your racing jersey – even if it does say ‘permanent’ on the package

Nutrition stuff: Gel energy shots

• 

  Cliff Shot Mocha - Energy Gel

  Do pack enough gel shots to get you through a race. For a half, I pack five: one I take 15min before the race, and three along the race (every half-hr) and that last one to hold in my hand for the last 20min to bring me comfort – as if holding it alone will give me that extra energy surge!  My personal favourite are Clif Shots because I can read & understand the nutrition contents – which are mostly organic, natural ingredients. (You can read a review of them here.)  I remember reading that Lance Armstrong reportedly ran a 2:50 marathon on 15 gel shots…

• Oh, dang – I just realized, I don’t have any gels left for tomorrow’s race! Ack! So, um… do remember to BUY your gels before the race - preferably in bulk, in all the flavours you enjoy.
• Do grab an aid station water if you’re going to be sucking back the gel shots. It can be tough on the stomach if you’re not diluting them.

Motivation

• At the start line, squeeze in there amongst the other runners – being surrounded by all that nervous, excited energy will get you pumped!
• If you run with an an mp3 player put some time into creating a motivating playlist. Mine contains little messages from my bf that I play at particularly tough spots (for me – around the 9km, 13km and 19km mark). I also have a track on gratitude play around 14km, so I can forget for a moment that I’m racing for myself, and reflect in appreciation for the opportunity to be running with all these healthy, fit people instead of running from war or terror or from some predator, like my ancestors would have had to do.

Biomechancis

• Don’t blow it all in the first 2 minutes. It’ll feel amazing, like you could run forever, but once your muscles run out of the stored ATP (energy) for this short/intense anaerobic start and the lactic acid hits a threshold, your body will have to begin to make more ATP – which means, for most of us, we slow down (i.e. find our pace) to allow for ATP to be produced oxidatively (aerobically). That’s why we find ourselves breathing heavily.
• Breath naturally – but try to find a calm, deep rhythm – that’s one thing you’ll notice as you become more aerobically trained – your breathing will become deep, full, slow and powerful.

Race Etiquette

• Really do say “Thank you!” as you run past the race volunteers, especially when they’re standing by themselves, in the chilly morning. They got up even earlier than you to be there! The mere act of showing gratitude will make you feel happier, your step lighter and everyone’s day better.
• Pin your race number to the front of your shirt, not the back  if you want to find any of the professional pictures of yourself on the route.
• SMILE when you cross the finish line! I’ve always be the serious ‘sprint-to-the-finish-line’ kinda runner, with devastating photo results. Take the last 4 or 5 steps before the line to raise your arms and smile. It seriously won’t affect your time that much

Cherish that Feeling!

Road to Gavarnie

November, 2005

It’s early November when author and ESL teacher, Jeremy Taylor and I head off on another cycling adventure through southern France. It was a last-minute decision – I threw a random collection if winter-weather gear together (ski gloves, layers of sweaters and hiking boots) and hopped a flight from London to Pau on Ryanair for about 20quid. This time, our journey is a short 3-day bike ride up to the Cirque de Gavarnie, a 3,000 metre amphitheatre-like mountain about 100km south of Pau, France.

I’ve been steadily cycling uphill (or, rather, up mountain) for two hours when I experience the psychedelic effect of cycling under so much exertion: the beginnings of a bonk. I’m no longer grinding up through the Pyrenees range between France and Spain, but rather, floating through an old crushed-velvet picture. The landscape pops out like a giant 3-D miniature, all carefully crafted and delicately placed, but certainly not real. The colours appear florescent, tinted with autumn’s black brush. The art teacher in me wrestles with the cyclist and it isn’t for another half an hour that I realize I’ve been looping this thought, repeating with awed realization, that I am cycling through a black, fluorescently crushed-velvet painting. After that, I pull over to give my over-stimulated brain a break  and my body some much-needed nourishment – baguette, brie and saucisses.

Brain aside, it’s my body that takes the biggest beating that day. We covered roughly 60 kilometres from our journey’s start in Lourdes to the only hotel open at Gavine. 60-km is nothing miraculous or particularly tough. That is, unless it’s the “8-hrs of climing up a mountain” kind of 60 kilometres. In altitude we gained nearly a kilometre. Picture taking a straight stretch of road and yank one end so it dangles from the clouds. Then imagine cycling up that for a whole kilometre. Of course, in reality, it’s not straight-up, it’s a much more gradual accent, so move the cloud in your imagination 60 km away and you get the idea: a giant, twisty ramp.

Of course, it’s not really like that or else I might as well stayed home and cycle at the gym. The rewards, besides the physical exercise of cycling, are the breath-taking view of the Cirque at the top, the delightful little village to explore, and the ability to experience something I’ll vividly recall for the rest of my life.

I came across this quote while researching the effects of active video games and immediately leapt up from my desk in fear. It appeared in the NSCA’s Strength & Conditioning Journal entitled: Nothing Bad Can Happen Sitting in Front of the TV. Right? (1)

[R]ecent evidence (2) suggests that ‘‘sedentary time’’ may be an independent factor in predicting health outcomes. Active individuals (defined as those engaging in at least 2.5 hours of moderate to vigorous exercise a week), who spend long periods of time being sedentary, exhibit increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease, a higher incidence of type 2 diabetes and obesity, and abnormal glucose tolerance when compared with individuals who do not exhibit less sedentary behavior.

Now that it’s common for me to sit for three-hour stretches at a time in my classes, and for these inactive stretches to continue well into the night as I work on assignments, it’s vital that I break up my school/study/relaxation time with moments of intense, active living. Off the top of my head, here are some strategies I can use to counteract the negative affects of ‘sedentary time’:

• Bike to/from school regularly and use between-class time to swim, run and workout at the gym
• Sit upright, engaging core muscles and practice dynamic sitting – that is, wiggle, shift, flex & relax muscles (quads, glutes – even toes!) while sitting
• Whenever you can, sit on a Swiss ball – great for posture and strengthening core
• Drink lots of water while sitting and refrain from grazing
• Take short, frequent breaks to get up and move – try my favourite ‘wake-me-up’ exercise: the Frog Squat

(1) Nothing Bad Can Happen Sitting in Front of the TV. Right? Strength & Conditioning Journal. 31(3):75-76, June 2009.

(2) Genevieve NH, Dunstan DW, Salmon J, Shaw JE, Zimmet PZ, and Owen N. Television time and continuous metabolic risk in physically active adults. Med Sci Sports Exerc 40: 639–645, 2008.

Instead of analysing its effectiveness as an exercise tool, I am more interesting to find out how it behaves as a motivational tool. To think – as of June 30, 2009, 21.82 million copies of Wii Fit have been sold worldwide^[1].

The big question on my mind is [how] has it impacted the fitness behaviour of these millions of people?

This overarching question leads to several sub-questions, each asking to be investigated.

Wii Fit - helping to achieve your Fitness Goals

• Does owning a Wii Fit exercise board enhance motivation and propensity to exercise daily?
• Which audience would most benefit from including Wii Fit into their exercise prescription plan?
• (How) does using Wii Fit increase an individual’s commitment to their fitness goals?

With these questions in mind, I started playing around with my Wii Fit board this evening, getting friends involved and generally enjoying the whole process. Here is the first, little glimpse into the fun that is Wii Fit.

A quirky, new iPhone App just released from i-labo, inc. Japan (September 10, 2009) does the impossible: it makes boring ol’ sit-ups entertaining.

i-fukkin, which translates to “abdominal muscles” is funny in more than just a ‘lost in translation’ sort of way. It’s built upon a simple premise: perform crunches while holding the iPhone horizontal so you can see the screen, and a Japanese ‘cheer girl’ (complete with pig-tails and pom-poms) counts aloud the number of sit-ups you do, offering words of encouragement when you slow down.

Everyone does theres Best!

Hey! Don’t be lazy!

Too much isn’t good for you.

Definitely worth the 99 cents, as I pumped out 5 sets of the “20 times” and two 1-min tests  tonight, waiting to see all what Alanya the ‘cheer girl’ would say and trying to beat my 1 min record. Besides, laughing tightens your abs even more. Switch the language setting to Japanese and count along with Alanya.

I forsee this little app being brought out at a party or two in the near future, but I’m doubtful it’ll become a regular feature of my training program. I prefer to do crunches, rather than sit-ups, which reduces the risk of straining my back. Since the counting mechanism in the i-fukkin app doesn’t register the small movement of a crunch, only the horizontal-to-vertical motion that a sit-up produces, at this time, I would say it’s more of a novelty than a viable training tool. Also, holding the iPhone out in front of you while you sit-up is not exactly proper form and could put an unnecessary strain on your neck if used repetitively to excess.

For the proper way to perform a crunch, watch the little clip below:

FoodScanner Demo from Andy Smith on Vimeo.

Before the promo video for the FoodScanner iPhone App even ended, I had my iPhone in my hand, ready to install this ingenious little app – but where was it? First, it appears I have to download the DailyBurn app – not the FoodScanner. Alright done. Create a profile. Check. Now what? App crash.

Scan, baby, scan

Hmm… my patience is wearing thin. But I want to scan food! I want instant, scanable proof of my daily noshes.

(Come to think of it, I first felt this ‘need to scan’ earlier this week while in Cost-co and fell in love with the NeatReceipt concept. Which I didn’t buy, btw – but I digress…)

Then it dawns – I first need to complete a profile* online at the Daily Burn. So I do, which takes a surprisingly short time to fill in my stats and create a diet goal. Easy to manoeuvre, gender-neutral theme, fun graphics. I’m drawn in with the jockey layout – the locker room, the gym, challenges, motivation, the calendars with their cute little legend.

DailyBurn calendar legend

Before this look-around, I hadn’t considered using a website to help monitor my fitness progress, even though I’ve seen quite a few in my day; I’m just a pen-and-paper, carry it around with me kinda gal when it comes to private stuff. But I was nearly sold when I remember it has a free iPhone app I can carry around with me! And it links into twitter. Tempting…

So, I’m inspired – I head to the bathroom, grab a flash card, my ‘tells me all’ scale, my tape measurer and fill out my anthropometric stats – I haven’t filled out a new flashcard since June 23, 2009.  My scale beeps out the first 6 measurements:

• Weight:
• % Body Fat:
• % Water:
• Bone Density:
• Daily Calorie Requirement:
• Metabolic Age:

My tape measure tells me the rest ~

• Bust:
• Waist:
• Hips:
• Glutes:
• R thigh:
• R biceps:

I’m happy to see there’s only a 0.6lb weight gain (lunch) and I’ve actually increased my biceps by 1 inch – must be the gym sessions at school. Body fat% is a percent higher, and my thighs & butt have another half inch on them each – must be the increased in all the sitting and highlighting journal after journal, article after article I’ve been doing since my Grad program started in Sept .

So, it’s nearly an hour later that I once again return to my iPhone to download the much-awaited FoodScanner App. $0.99 – a sale. Nice. Download now.

Not yet available in Canada.

Why  didn’t you tell me that before, DailyBurn, oh, why? You’ve foiled me for now, but I’ll be back in a couple of weeks when you’ve got the CDN version up and running. I’ll be back then…

Link shared with Lightfoot by Wade Kelly @wadekelly

On August 12 at 8:47 pm PST a friend I’ll call Liz posted on her FaceBook profile on a little YouTube video called Performance by MC SpandX, otherwise known as YouTube user Robin Moore. How Liz stumbled upon it, I don’t know, but this discovery initiated a chain of events that help pushed the video to ‘viral’ status.

At 10:20 pm that evening, Liz sent a ‘tweet’ to Lance Armstrong, who is a very active member of the Twittercommunity, having 2,051,935 followers (today’s count) and tweeting several times a day.

@lancearmstrong Hey Lance, you might want to check out this video: Performance http://bit.ly/s3XnP

The next afternoon, at 4:44 PM, Lance posted this simple tweet on his profile:

It’s all about performance. http://bit.ly/s3XnP

When tweeting, it’s common practice to shorten website address links (URLs) in order to get the most from the 140 character count maximum, so most likely Liz used a program called Tiny URL to reduce the video’s address from its original 43-character URL – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn29DvMITu4 to a unique 19-characters URL – http://bit.ly/s3XnP.

Since each Tiny URL is a one-shot deal, meaning that a new unique Tiny URL is generated if you were use shorten the original URL again, we can see that the Tiny URL in Liz’s tweet is the same one Lance used – a simple cut & paste job. Someone over at @lancearmstrong had indeed watched & retweeted Liz’s Performance link. Since then, Twitter has been responsible for generating 45,364 views (on last count), many, if not most, originating from Lance Armstrong’s August 12th post, according to the video’s statistics. Performance has now been viewed 897,822 times – by far the most popular cycling-related music video of our time.

It’s all about Performance, that’s the name of the game….

I pump up my tires and I oil my chain…