The Clean and Jerk

So I made it through the Olympic Weightlifting course!!! I learned a ton and definitely will be using the knowledge I gained. The body was a little sore, but nothing compared to the pain I endured on Monday. I ventured out on a 6 hour hike with Tim, Denise and Denise's boyfriend, Jamie. We decided to hike up Buntzen because we thought it would have less snow than Golden Ears, and yeah we were very very wrong. There was a ridiculous amount of snow after the first lookout and we were literally cutting fresh tracks for hours in runners and hikers. The snow was coming up to my hips and at one point I decided that crawling across the top of it would be easier. The four of us took turns cutting the tracks, but we were all pretty cooked at about 4 hours in and decided we needed to turn around and abort out initial intentions of doing a loop. It was a great day, but I am feeling a wee bit tired today!!

Olympic Weightlifting

So all weekend I am taking a coaching course on Olympic Weightlifting. I came into the course thinking the majority of the day would be spent on theory and taking notes etc., and this was SOOOOO not the case. We literally did the lifts and parts of the lifts for the entire day. When I say lifts, I am referring to the Clean and Jerk and The Snatch. We also did some front and back squats, which I have a short video of. My thumbs are raw from the "hooked" grip which is when the thumb is hooked between the bar and the last joint of the forefinger and middle finger. Tomorrow I am going to be evaluated on my lifts and I will also be doing some evaluating of my fellow classmates. Wish me luck!!!

Snowshoeing!!!!

It may only be November, but there is snow and when there is snow, there is snowshoeing. Some friends and I decided to venture to the top of the third peak on Seymour and we couldn't have lucked out with a better day. The sun was shining and the snow was abundant which made for some soft landings. Heading into the third peak there was one section that I was not too fond of. The fact that I could see some rocks and a rock ledge/dropoff didn't appeal to me so much, call me crazy haha. Unfortunately, Denise went down like it was a slip and slide having the time of her life, damn 20 year olds, and there were several strangers watching at the bottom telling me to "go, come on just do it," so I really had no choice. It actually wasn't bad, but it looked freaking scary!!!! I am excited for more snowshoeing and skate skiing ahead. I will need to work on my skate skiing skills because I am pretty sure it is supposed to be a lower body workout and not an upper body one ha. Along with some fun weekend adventures, I also got certified in FMS which is Functional Movement Screening. It is basically a screening process that enables the trainer to asses ones body movements in some basic functional movements and determine whether or not they have any mobility or stability problems. I would love to screen a handful of cyclists because I can almost guarantee the majority are one step away from a serious injury, whether it be lower back, hip, shoulder, or knee issues. My plan is to take this knowledge I have gained and continue learning in hopes of helping my fellow athletes out. I will keep you posted on this!!!!

More Hiking and Adventures

This past weekend I decided to go exploring a little further into my backyard. I went on a great hike with my roomie Tim and cycling buddy, Denise and it was good times. We had set out to do no more than 6 hours because Denise had a school assignment and we would have had to wake up a lot earlier than 8am if we wanted to get in the 10 hour option hike. We ended up doing the Lindsay Lake loop at Buntzen Lake and it would have had some amazing views had it not been so misty and foggy- oh well looks like we will have to do it again :). There was actually a fair amount of snow at the top too which made for some slipping and sketchy descents, but it was much better than all of the wet puddles we had to truck through prior to the snow. Good thing I have gortex runners, Tim and Denise are not so lucky :) Surprisingly we ran into a fair amount of people on our hike, I thought I was the only crazy one, but no there are others like my kind. We met a couple that drove in from Vancouver and once again I was reminded that I love where I live. We didn't run into any wild life which is good, I would like to think this is because I kept the noise levels up the ENTIRE hike since my friends were in a state of lethargy haha. Okay I must admit my quads were burning as we began our descent and I was struggling to not fall into the mindless trance where you can't even remember how you made it down the mountain. I am determined to go back up there, but this time I want to do the longer loop. I am really hoping the rain stops soon, some sun would be ideal, but as we like to say Harden the F**** Up Princess. Tomorrow is gym day and that means deadlifts and squats and DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness). I am wondering if the DOMS will ever go away? My plan is to get stronger than my sister, you know the olympic rower haha. Just because she is almost 6 ft tall and has about 30lbs more of muscle mass doesn't mean she can beat me in the gym right? By the way, my sister just won Silver at the World Championships in the women's 8, not too shabby if I do say so myself. I told her I am thinking of becoming a lightweight rower again :) Focus Leah, Focus. And while me and big sis are working on our quads, little sis is singing up a storm. She is going to be doing a concert I believe in December so I will keep you posted on the date and venue. She is killing it right now and is on her way to some big success. So much excitement in my family, I love it!!!!

Having some FUN

So my goal is to get back to blogging and start sharing all of my amazing experiences with my friends and family. I have been thoroughly enjoying the off season. It was a rough start, as my body was only capable of sitting on a road bike and turning the cranks around for hours on end. My first gym workout led to some very unpleasant pain the next day, as did my first 4 hour hike. As a Kinesiologist and personal trainer, I would highly recommend not doing what I do haha. After a couple of weeks, my body has been adjusting to the new stresses I have put upon it. My weights are increasing in the gym and I just got back from a weekend of hiking for 12 hours. I went and hiked Black Tusk and Wedgemount Lake in the Squamish and Whistler area. The snow is starting to accumulate now on the top of the mountains so I think I need to dust off the snowshoes. It is so nice to be home in Port Moody and I am loving training for fun and purely because I want to. Although, I must admit I did go for a road ride yesterday and it felt like home. Well that's all for now, I need to run some errands and get ready for my appointment this afternoon with a man specializing in structural integration, should be interesting.

Lots of chamois time

Since the cleanse has been over, I have been feeling much better!!! I am continuing to watch what I eat and I am hoping to get some food allergy testing done soon. However, in the meantime I will just be careful and take note if certain foods affect the way I feel. This week has been a solid week of training with my good old Dad. The week started with some 20 minute efforts where I left my Dad in the dust :) The winds were super strong and being the little pip squeak he is, he couldn't hang. Sadly, our next interval session involved 10 second efforts. My coach, Dan Proux, gave me 5 to 7 efforts; however, due to a battle between father and daughter it turned into 9 efforts. My Dad annihilated me 6 to 3, although I don't really count the 9th one. The next couple of rides were long hours in the beautiful Palm Springs sun. It has been super hot here lately and my tan is starting to get very interesting to say the least, but I promise (FAMILY) I am wearing sunscreen every ride. I think I need to purchase SPF 70 or something like that. My Dad and I did a 4 hour ride through Box Canyon which is now all cleaned up after all of the flooding which created heaps of sand dispersed throughout the roads. We rode to the top of the Canyon where it meets HWY 10 and tried to continue on this remote road to where I thought was a look-out, but clearly I was wrong and we were just paralleling HWY 10 oops. The ride went quite smoothly until we were about 30 minutes from the car and boom, my rear ZIPP blew. Yeah I know you are all thinking who trains on a freaking ZIPP, but my power tap is in the shop getting fixed and that was all I had to ride on. Good thing I was carrying a spare tubular; however, that doesn't do one much good if you can't get the super-glued tire off the WHEEL. So my Dad had to leave me stranded on HWY 111 and go retrieve the car. By the time he got back I had the tire off and the first and second layer of skin off of both of my thumbs :) The next day we both signed up for the Tour de Palm Springs which is quite the big event. There were thousands of riders of all different levels and from all over the place, I definitely met my fair share of Canucks- GO CANADA GO!!! I also got the opportunity to talk with Kristin Armstrong (2008 Olympic Gold Medalist in the Individual Time Trial) who is in Palm Springs with a group of guys from Boise, Idaho doing some training. The Tour de Palm Springs is a casual, fun, family event for some and for others it is an opportunity to get in a solid workout with some hard efforts. Naturally, my Dad and I chose the solid workout group and we were both pretty cooked at the end of the day. Aside from feeling like I had heat stroke it was a super fun event that I would recommend to anyone. Today I had another 4 hour ride with the Tram climb in the middle of my ride. The Tram road is a very steep climb that takes you to the bottom of the Tramway which takes you to the top of the mountain. I am not sure of the stats of this climb, but all I can say is that it is very steep (over 2000ft elevation gain in a short??? distance) and very hard. I started the climb feeling OK and then I started delivering mail as Ben Travis from Palm Springs would say. I couldn't understand why my cadence was so slow and I could barely turn the cranks around and then it dawned on me. I was using a spare wheel from the bike shop with a 23 on the back, I actually stopped and counted the rear cog cassette to confirm that I wasn't going crazy. Yep it was a 23. I made it to the top, barely, and I was pretty much standing and doing the full body bob to the top, but hey I made it!!! Well that is all I got for now. GO CANADA!!!

THE CLEANSE

So Dr. Mom and Dr. Dad have arrived and they are determined to make me feel better, as my stomach has still been giving me grief. They brought with them this book called "The Ultra Simple Diet" written by Mark Hyman which is basically a book about eating very clean and kick-starting your metabolism. It entails no sugar, no caffeine, no alcohol, no wheat, no gluten, no dairy, no eggs and um oh wait no fun. Since I have to endure this wonderful cleanse for 7 days, I have convinced my parents that it is only fair that they endure this week long cleanse with me. While my mom, a non-coffee drinker is quite happy to be on this cleanse, my father and I are suffering from some serious caffeine withdrawals. Everywhere I look all I see is a Starbuck's logo, it is insane, no wonder I am an addict. Coffee is everywhere you go and I think this cleanse will either prove to me how much I don't need coffee or how much I will never want to let it go ever again. It is kind of like a relationship, but we don't need to get into that right now :) So I have 4 more days left of this cleanse and I will definitely continue to practice a lot of the healthy habits I have learned along this journey. I am enjoying the process of optimizing my health, as it plays a huge role in being a professional athlete. Wish me luck over the next four very long, caffeine-free days!!!

Sad News, Fish Hatchery Ride

So first off, I just read a horrible email about "Lino Gastaldello, the man behind the relaunch of the historic Italian racing bike marque Wilier Triestina, was killed this morning after being hit head-on by a car while he was out on his customary Saturday morning cycle ride (road.cc pedal powered)." I am sure a lot of people I know were out today on their customary Saturday ride, so this hits very close to home. Next year I will be riding a Wilier bike and I will ride and remember this man. I thought this was important to mention, so please be careful when you are out on your bikes and remember to enjoy each day and be happy with living in the moment.

After reading this email, I feel guilty to even think about complaining. Things have been a bit rough for me over the last few days with some serious stomach issues that have really yet to be explained. All I know is that I am continuing to take an absurd amount of natural healing aids and over the counter medicines in hopes that this pain in my stomach will go away!!!! I managed to get a good sleep last night, so I woke up on the right foot and was ready to get out on the bike. Being the typical athlete, I was to make up for lost times, so I told Sandra to be prepared for a long day in the saddle. I should have said a long day in her chamois because things seemed to keep happening on our ride that were preventing us from riding continuously. It all began with me having two flats, which left us with no tubes. So we decided to do a quick patch work and head to the nearest bike shop. I chose to take Sandra and Ann down Ramon which is probably the sketchiest road in Palm Springs, but it seemed like the most direct route and I knew there was a bike shop at the end of it. So I proceeded down Ramon road with the girls on my wheel trying to go as fast as I could and get this horrible section over with. I was drafting off of some cars and it seemed OK, until eventually I had no car in front of me and I was continuing to try and pull at 36km/hr with a head wind, that didn't work so well. In the end, we got a new tire, new tubes and Sandra and I were set to head out west on Hwy 111 towards the Fish Hatchery. Ann decided to turn back and head toward home, I think she had enough and wasn't feeling on top of her game today. So smooth sailing, Sandra and I got headed in the right direction and we were stoked to be riding again until boom, we were hit with some SERIOUS head winds. Lets just say we rode out for about 1.5 hr at 18km/hr and came back in 20min at 56 km/hr hahahaha It was insane!!!! The best part was Sandra getting sand in her eye and saying we have to turn back. Good thing I was riding with just water in my bottles today and was able to flush it out! Oh man, I am sitting here laughing just thinking about what people passing us at 120km/hr were thinking. "What are those idiots doing on the side of the road, and why would they be out when there are wind warnings in effect, oh and what is that blonde girl doing to the red head????" So the ride ended up being awesome after all of that. The fish hatchery had such a beautiful scenic backdrop that looked like it was out of a movie. The mountains were covered in SNOW, which is just insane to see here. The weather in Palm Springs has been so unbelievably strange this past week, so much rain and apparently so much snow. I thought I was in the desert???? The ride ended up being 4.5 hours long and we ended having to get Ann to pick us up an hour away from my house, because I might have got Sandra and I lost and it might have taken us an extra 30 minutes to get ourselves back on track and it might have been getting late and dark, so we might have been kinda screwed :) Good thing Ann saved the day! Well I might be feeling a little tired right now, so I think it is best to say Good night.

BOX CANYON BABY

Great ride today with the girls, more sun and good times!!! We were able to avoid all rabid dogs which is always a plus. Sandra had a close call with a white pick up and she had a tendency to keep going off the shoulder into the sand, one might wonder why??? We were also able to find some mud to ride through to get our pretty little bikes DIRTY, where is my Dad when I need him hehe All for now, enjoy the pics!!

My Wolf Pack Has Now Grown

I started out as one wolf riding alone on my bike and then Sandra Walter and Ann Yew came along and my wolf pack increased by two, so now there is three in my wolf pack- if you haven't seen the movie "Hangover," then you are just going to think I am strange. Yesterday, I picked up the girls from the airport, and they both couldn't stop smiling. They both looked so happy to see me, ok, really to see the SUN. It has been so beautiful in Palm Springs and I appreciate it even more when I hear that the weather has been so miserable back at home. So back to picking up the girls... We made our first stop at Target, because Sandra clearly NEEDED a bikini ASAP because she is going to be doing a lot of tanning, oh wait I mean training. Stop number two was at Ralphs where we stocked up on more food, all healthy food though :) We then had a nice relaxing hot tub and went to an intermediate yoga class. I would like to emphasize the word "intermediate" because this class was serious bizness. I didn't think I was going to be able to do one more tricep pushup or a "chataranga thingy." In the end though, my body did feel better and it was a wake up call that I need to start working on my hamstring flexibility because I am pretty sure I was the worst in the class. Today is going to be another beautiful day and we are heading out for a 3 hour ride, I can't wait!!!!

Back to Business

So a lot of changes have been taking place lately and I decided it was time that I start sharing my journey, whether it be for my own personal sanity or for my parents to keep track of me :) No, in all seriousness, I recently left my job working as a personal trainer/coach at Innovative Fitness and I met a lot of great people that took interest to my cycling endeavours, so I thought why not provide a BLOG so everyone can follow me on my adventures. Cycling has been a huge part of my life over the past several years and I have had to overcome a lot of challenging obstacles that have prevented me from being able to ride my bike, and yet I still keep coming back for more. I have recently arrived in beautiful, sunny Palm Springs to escape the pouring rain I wasn't taking a liking to at home :) When I first got off of the plane and felt the warm sun, I knew I had made the right decision and I couldn't wait to get to my parent's place to hit up the "birdie" room to have a well deserved nap. By the way, the "birdie" room is a bed in my parents master bedroom closet and it has no windows, thus making a very dark, snuggly little room. It was the best nap ever. After that I hit up the Raplhs and filled the buggy with lots of good, healthy foods because it is time to eat clean and drop some weight. P.S. Christmas makes you FAT blah I then put the bike together and made sure it was good and ready to start getting the miles in wooo hoooo. Lets get this part started!!!! Not much more for now, time to ride. Leah