Running and stuff

Those of you who have had to listen to me drone on about training plans, learning to swim, running injuries etc over the last couple of years might be slightly interested to find out what I'm doing exercise wise this side of the pond.  So just in case you are...


Running

November 13th

There are hundreds of kilometres of criss crossing trails in the mountains just behind our apartment.  We go trail running most weekends, normally separately but sometimes together (when Mark needs a nice slow run and I just about hang on...).  The trails are a mix of even gravelly dog walking friendly, to terrifying mountain bike route descents where I just try to stay on my feet.  I've got up to about 2hours of trail running now and hoping to increase this to be able to run a 20 mile ish trail race next year.  


Also joined a friendly downtown running club, run 11km every Thursday night with them, some of them are pretty quick ultra-runners so will hopefully speed me up!



Swimming
Just started back at this at my local pool.  Wasn't as terrible as thought might be and at least now, following my swim training last winter, I know what I'm doing wrong...

View from top of Cypress Mt, now open for skiing!

Cycling
My beloved racer bike has not seen as much of the area as she should have done.  Main obstacle being frequent heavy rain which makes for a) less enjoyable and b) less safe cycling.  Have had some great long outings, highlight was a couple of weeks ago, climbing the 1000m or so to the top of Cypress Mountain (where they hosted the least snowy bit of the Winter Olympics) in glorious sunshine.  And just about avoided hypothermia on the free ride down. 




Strength training

My city centre winter training hero

Mark is running a mini ski preparation strength training session every Wednesday.  Bit like BMF except I can take the piss out of the instructor more.  Three of us normally train on Wednesdays, but last week I did the session on my own with Mark's instructions.  Felt a bit Rocky-esque as my nearest park to work overlooks the harbour area with skyscrapers in the background.  Sadly not yet Rocky-esque in my abilities.


Skiing, snow shoeing, ski touring...
Have got ski passes to Seymour Mountain (any Vancouverite you mention that to says 'oh yeah, Seymour, I learnt to ski there at elementary school' so it's about our ability level) and it should open in about 10 days.  So watch this space!  (And the very beginner slope even has a magic walkway so don't have to get on a chairlift yet!)

Pumpkins, puppets and prints

Lesser snow geese

A month of weekends at home since my last blog hasn't yielded tales of grizzlies and mountain adventure, but thought I'd update you on life in Vancouver in 'fall'. 

Birding and Beetlegeuse

North Americans take Halloween pretty seriously: some houses have full miniature graveyards set up on their front lawns, together with life size zombies and witches on the porch; at least three types of Halloween snack in my office; and (slightly weirdly) lots of men dressed as women for the night itself.  

Our contribution was Mark carving some awesome pumpkins and our first ever drive-in movie in a empty parking lot in downtown to watch Beetlegeuse; skyscrapers were the backdrop and the sounds comes through your car radio which was awesome.  

Red winged blackbird

We'd spent the day at Reifel Bird Sanctuary, home to 30,000+ overwintering snow geese and tons of other birds (in fact the noise of the geese flying and honking overhead was a bit spooky after a couple of hours).  We spotted 50 (yes, 5 0) different species of bird including bald eagles, peregrine falcons, hawks and sandhill cranes.  Proper treat seeing an otter resting on a stone in the middle of a small lake and finally finding where all those geese were flying to; thousands feeding on fields on the way home. 

More naturey stuff 

Not yet seen, when I do, I'll probably phone everyone I know

Last weekend was spent at various Vancouver Parks activities:
- Learning that some plants get their nutrients not from the sun, through chlorophyll, but from funghi who, in turn, get in from the huge trees in the Pacific rainforest.  They're called 'mycorrhiza'.  
- Practised puppeteering as a way to engage kids in nature; my Albert the snail was a clear favourite.
- Hearing tales of how close the cougars and bears come into town; a cougar was found in a tree about 5 minutes' walk away from our front door last year; and wolves roam the mountains just north of Vancouver.  Obviously now aim to see both animals ASAP.


And piece de resistance:
- Meeting the staff at Lynn Valley Ecology Centre http://www.dnv.org/ecology/ where next weekend I start helping out at nature themed birthday parties!  I'm hoping it will be as fun as the end of term Brownies party, plus the chance to see a bear, and minus any organisation!


p.s. If you've noticed a sudden upscale in my photo ability, afraid to say it's not due to new talent or camera, but a new friend, Dan Grima, who is now official team photographer: http://dangrima.photoshelter.com/index