Mid Month Update

Hola from Hong Kong folks!  I'm just getting set to race in my first 100km run of 2012.  I'm very excited to get on the course and experience some trail madness. I appreciate all the emails that are coming in to wish me luck, it feels great to know I have the CBC community behind me.

In the mean time, a few quick updates:

Feb 16th - would you believe it!  CBC has been opened for 1 year. Thankyou to all of you who have made it possible for us to be rocking and rolling as a first year business. We are stoked about the future of where things are going.  Being that I am away, we couldn't plan an official CBC Birthday party but we will look to do something soon!

Trail Clinics get underway in 2 weeks time. This is the only trail coaching that I will be doing this year so if you are keen to learn and train with purpose, I highly recommend you check it out. We are near capacity but I think there is always room to squeeze a few more in.

Dwaye and Rua ROCKING the race series

Coach Mike and I get so pumped up for the arrival of Wednesday evening results from the past week of the winter race series.   Race #5 (Plateau's and Climbs) had CBC athletes posting top scores in comparison to all the other ride facilities who are taking place. Congrats to Dwayne Kress who's super powers put him 2nd overall and to Rua Reid who finished 3rd amongst all the female riders.  We've also gotta say that its tonnes of fun watching the regular 6pm crew of Larry Klein, John Cameron, Stew Kerr, Mark Sutherland and Greg Pitt ride each week, we think they are in it for the beers that follow the hard work :)

Here is Peak Performance's re-cap of the week. We'll see how CBC riders stacked up this week in the King of the Mountains stage.

Stage 5 marked the first and only Plateaus and Climbs course for the Winter Series racing.  The course featured a series of steep climbs followed with prolonged sections of flats that offered very little opportunity for recovery. However riders were rewarded with a few downhill rest periods, and these were well deserved after negotiating the steepest gradients of the series so far.  Before we get into the results, we have added a new feature to our website so you guys can check out the course profiles before you race. Follow the link below and click “Read More” under the ‘Winter Racing Series’.  The course profiles are available by clicking on the Stage Descriptions.  http://www.peakcentrevancouver.ca/burnaby/burnaby-classes-clinics/

Grand 2 Grand Ultra

Holy Smokes! If you want to participate in what I think will be one of the coolest stage races ever, check out this new race that just launched a few days ago: the Grand 2 Grand Ultra!

Website:  www.g2gultra.com

Plenty of time to get trained up and ready. I'm sitting on the board of advisors for this event and will be down there during the competition. Check out the training side of the site soon too where I will be posting the need to know's about participating in this type of endurance event so that you enjoy your experience!

And........up until the end of February, they are offering 30% off registration which is a huge savings!  Give it some thought and if you are keen to go, let me know!  Note, the race will have a true international flavor with only 10 people per country allowed. There is a team category as well.

I will be down at the race but won't be able to run it this year! I'll be there cheering for everyone who takes on this epic!

8pm Cancellation Rule

New rule in effect folks as of February 1st. In order to ensure that we see 10 people at those 6am classes, the new time to withdraw is at 8pm the night prior. 
If you hold a 10x pass and withdraw post 8pm, your card will be debited as a visit.  If you are a monthly membership person, it's the 3 strikes and your out.

So please.......this is intended to help everyone one as a whole community!  We see constant wait lists of 3 deep for the 6am classes and we want to see 10 people there each morning of the week.  Please consider carefully when booking into classes if you are selecting a time that works with your lifestyle!

Cheers - happy training - thanks for your understanding.

CBC athletes all over the podium!

The winter race series continues up in the Lab.  CBC athletes are representing Squamish well, showing that crazy awesome athletes live and train here. As the weeks go on, Mike and I find ourselves so keen to see how the riders stacked up against North American competition. Dang...super impressive thus far.  Here is the report from Race Series #4 - Net downhill (sprint)

Final Results here!

Stage four of the Winter Racing Series took us to the first ‘Net Downhill’ course.  Although the finish was indeed lower than the start and there were long portions of downhill gradient, this stage was a tough one to keep up the high watts, bringing out the best in riders' physical and mental ability.  To cap off this stage, it was round two of the sprint points, where riders show us who has the most power with points awarded for the highest power to weight sprint (Watts/Kg).

The overall winner of the week was Tri Fitness Minnesota’s finest, and Stage 1 winner, Sam Janicki. After two stages without a win, Sam came back strong this week, laying down some huge watts and achieving the only sub-39 minute time with a zippy 38:35.2. Sam’s time was almost 40 seconds faster than SBR Coaching Wisconsin’s big gun, Kory Seder who was the second fastest rider this week. Kory used his tree trunk legs to secure the silver finishing in 39:13.4. Rounding off the podium, making it four in a row, was Peak Centre Ottawa’s superstar Alexandre Gagnon. Alexandre showed he has more than just climbing strings to his bow, taking 15 points to the overall standings after finishing in 39:16.2, a mere three seconds behind Kory. Alexandre remains the leader of the overall standings, whilst Sam’s stage win takes him back above Roger Lee from Peak Vancouver who occupy the second and third spots.

Fitness Testing

You've asked for it so we are going to make it happen.  Please note on the schedule that on Saturday, 11th we have cancelled the 9am C3 class and re-placed it with CBC Fitness Test session.

Waz going to happen you ask?  JF and I will take you through a standard of several short workouts that will identify where you are currently at today, looking at "fitness" as a whole (strength, power, flexibility, speed, endurance etc.)  We will record your scores, purely for your own analysis and 3 months down the road, we will run the same exact same series of test protocol.  Testing is a great way to set personal goals, see where your strengths and weaknesses are at and to identify where you might focus your efforts at in the months ahead. Testing provides a standard to measure against.

Fear not!  All the movements and tests that we will do are already everything that you do at CBC.  There is nothing to get stressed and worried about. For example - you all know how to do 1min worth of box jumping!  And no, I promise already no Beep Test :)

So, sign in online as normal!  Come have a great test session and/or just come get a great workout!  Set yourself some goals for the months ahead.

Winter Race Series Underway

We are entering week #3 here on the participation in the Winter Race Series upstairs in the lab.  Along with 6 other facilities from across North America, there is over 150 people riding the weekly courses, working hard to keep their fitness level up through the dreary winter months.  Coach Mike has the "race profile" of the week rolling on Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings. You can join in anytime with a valid compu trainer pass.

I've gotta mention that last week Dwayne Kress put the hammer down during last week's race, putting CBC on the board with a top 3 performance overall for men!  We are counting on him to be up there each week with a top standing.  While we are competing against the other facilities, we also have our own internal "fun" competition going with prizing at the end of the 12 week series.  Sign up now, it's a tonne of fun and you will work just a little harder then normal. March will be here soon and we will all be back out riding.

Re-cap below of what happened in the race stage last week as put together by Peak Performance Vancouver:

Peak Centre Winter Racing Series 2012
Winter Stage 3 Report – Original Time Trial  

Kongrats Kasper!

Late last Fall, we launched the C3 Young Guns program as an opportunity to provide some of the younger athletes in our community to take advantage of access to coaching via strength and conditioning. I must say, the talent has been impressive, not to mention the strong work ethic that these kids bring to training each week!

This past weekend, 2 of our athletes made their way for a ski competition at Mt. Washington. Super proud of both Kasper and Kai who had top results after some tough days of competition. I can't wait to be apart of their ongoing training and watch them continue to excel as athletes.  You guys rock! You inspire us all. Keep setting goals and chasing after them! AWESOME to see.
Results here:           http://bcalpine.com/news/article/?2296

2 Things U Need to Know

No wait, make that 4.

Firstly - CONGRATS - in exactly 1 week, we have met our goal for "Theo's Basecamp"!!! Incredible CBC folks - I'm very proud to announce that we will be donating $525 this week to the Lazaridis Family and 50 pairs of shoes are now on their way to Squamish Elementary Cross Country Running program - YEAH!!!!! Salomon got excited and are topping off shoe pile with the rest of their 2011 demo fleet of Crossmax shoe. Thankyou everyone who contributed and to those peeps who also made further financial contributions just because :) The below picture was taken only 3 days after the launch! It went on to take over the whole front entrance way!

Secondly - one of our CBC members just had this great article appear on the Doglotion website and I think its awesome! Jasmin Dobson has been training with us for a few months and she has some incredible goals! You gotta see the pics in this article - if that doesn't inspire you, I don't know what does. Awesome Jasmin - ROCKSTAR!


Thirdly - the sweet CBC toques have now arrived. All kinds of funky colors and super comfortable, take one home for $20 cash.

And lastly - come ride with us up in the lab - the fun WINTER RACE SERIES has now started! Join anytime!

Tofino Camp - Registration now OPEN

Don't miss out on the 3rd annual WOMAN'S Running, Conditioning & Wellness Camp on the stunning beaches of Tofino, BC. While I'm currently finalizing the details and looking at adding some new features to the camp, registration is now OPEN!
The maximum number of ladies that can attend is 16. This year we will be staying at the 4 star - Long Beach Lodge Resort on Cox Bay in cozy cabins. Yoga will be incorporated into our daily routine and SUP will once again be offered on the quiet inside waters. There will be 2 runs a day including a newly added beach headlamp run! You don't want to miss out on the evening beach campfires, the west coast salmon bbq and the opportunity to have a great weekend away with other awesome woman. The energy is positive, it's all about a great time, learning, playing, training and some get-away time. Take 10% off the price of registration if you sign up with a friend. To reserve your spot, email Jen and send in your $300 deposit made payable to "JLS Training Systems". This camp will once again sell out, don't delay! Visit the website under ROAD TRIPS for all the details.