Fitness

Hiking is one of the best things in the world!  Total sense of accomplishment, wonderful way to experience nature, great views...and most of the time its free.  I have the goal to scramble up the Grouse Grind in under 40min this year, but surely I'll be exploring other peaks too.  Plus I will be competing in some Triathlon as well as challenging P90X.  And I am geared towards doing all this on a monetary diet.


Summary of Fitness enteries:
1) Orthotics & Proper Runners
2) Pacific Populaire - 100km Bike
3) Quality over Quantity
4) Schedule and Challenges


Orthotics & Proper Runners

One good piece of advice is to fully understand how your benefits where you work...work for you.  For me its set up two fold, I have a Manulife oriented program where I only pay 80% for medical activities like Prescriptions and Dentist visitations.  This is pretty typical with the variable being the percentage.  However, at my workplace, I am also entitled to what is referred to as a 'Health Care Spending Account' which basically is an example of a common theme in the world of Human Resources called 'flexible benefits' - which basically translates to having choices.  For example, I am given a certain amount of money and I have a number of ways in which I choose to spend it, for me I am aiming for fitness targeted activities like Physio, Massages, and Orthotics...but next year I will have the option to actually 'buy' more time off.  

Kintec Pro

Groupon in Gmail...print & go!

So I combined two great things for this thrifty event.  First my 'Health Care Spending Account', of which I had to use the my final amount or else it would fall into a black hole by July 1, and Groupon.  It was a mere coincidence that these two things came together and it worked out great.  There is a very successful company in Vancouver called Kintec which hosts a large selection of top of the line running shoes and sandals and has certified people at each franchise location to do Orthotics.  So, wanting to maximize my company Benefits before July, and knowing that I have some troubled feet (when I was young I wore supinating shoes plus had special inserts under my skiing boots to balance out my stance from being bow-legged), I seized this opportunity to essentially provide preventive maintenance to my entire body as I begin to become more active. 

As mentioned above, it so happened that the online advertisement firm Groupon also conveniently had a coupon for Kintec...yes, the very company where I got my Orthotics.  Now, as you probably guessed, I was not able to combine the use of my Benefits with this coupon to purchase my Orthotics.  However, I was able to use the $40 discount(!!!) on proper running shoes.  I have a great pair of Salomon trail runners which will be wonderful once I insert the Orthotics but they are not as breathable and a little stiff for road running.  I ended up purchasing a pair of Bondi B Men Hoka One One shoes...quite the title hey!  Check out the link and you're going to have to sit back in your seat to fully absorb this shoe, haha.  They are quite unique. This link explains more about the technology of the shoe.  Its light, breathable, and feels amazing - it's literally like walking on a pillow.  From a physiological standpoint I view it as a form of 'training wheels' for me as I begin to run longer distances and with more power in my stroke.
  

Hoka One One...'Time to Fly'

It was so hilarious, I was in the store for about 2 hours being set up and selecting my shoes so I got to know the people there, and I was very frank with the person showing me shoes when he pulled out the Hoka's.  Up to this point I was totally accepting of each shoe the salesman was presenting to me and I took each respectfully to the treadmill.  But when the Hoka came out, I looked at him grinning at me, and straight away said, 'You might as well just put those back, they are quite honestly the most ridiculous things I have ever seen!'  He took a moment, set them down, said, 'Just give them a feel sitting, see what you think,' and walked away.  Well, I didn't want to take them off.  They are so stable feeling and there is a 'rolling' feature to them that naturally puts you onto your toes which was really cool feeling.  Nonetheless I was sold.

So I walked out of there with $550 Orthotics and $130 Hoka shoes for a total price of $90.  Not bad deal.  I'll do a post later in the Summer about how the Hoka's and Orthotics are marrying up...I hope they make a good team, and I'm sure each time I take them out I'll be doing my body a big favor. 



Pacific Populaire - 100km Bike 

What a great time!  It is way better riding in a group of people then by yourself, especially when the group is 433 participants strong as it was at this years 'Pacific Populaire'.  For those familiar with Vancouver we started at Nate Bailey Stadium by Queen Elizabeth Park in Mt. Pleasant, then we circled around UBC to the west and road the down south to around Richmond and out east to New Westminister and back.  I just checked the webpage, http://www.randonneurs.bc.ca/pacpop/index.html, and my time was 4hr 14min.  I am definitely please with that, it was not a race, but I really pushed myself.  Here is a map of the course for those who have a feel for the city.

Map of Pacific Populaire

This race was on budget.  I am not even a member of the organization, Randonneurs, and I still only had to pay a race day fee of $25.  Comparatively the other Sprint Triathlon I entered was over $60 and a larger more prestigious bike race, the Grand Fondo, is over $200.  Yes, people were more relaxed, and I was able to meet-up with some friends and people from the biking Meetup group I am a part of, but for the most part once the days starts you pretty much ride your own course.  I managed to hunker down with three separate groups throughout the day where I would draft and sparingly take my turn at lead.

At about km 65 my first wind was done.  I was full through tired...and the group I had been leading for the past 8km left me in the dust!  Low but still drawing off the well of resilience I formed earlier in the race when at only 10km in I realized my foot clip was stuck to my pedal hence leaving me with only one foot.  That was a surprise, but I thought of how somebody once told me how it doesn't matter what bike Lance Armstrong rode, with his determination he would win anyway, so I road on.  And that night after a beer with some fellow gents, I spent the afternoon in the hot tub resting my aching muscles.  Surprisingly the 100km races are only really an introduction, real Randonneurs actually start at 200km...I'll keep you posted.




Quality over Quantity 

A funny thing happened to me on Monday this week. After shopping for over an hour and a half in Value Village, one of my absolutely favorite stores, I came to the conclusion that I didn’t need anything.  Now this really surprised me.  Sure I didn’t find any amazing finds like an old Mec biking jacket for like $7 or some funky t-shirts with silly sayings on them for only $2...but I didn’t really give it the old college try either.  And this surprised me!  I love this store, have for years.  And it was 50% off day!!!  I had planned this day out for over a month and even changed around my work schedule to make it happen.  At least I could have opted for some sweet 80’s swag or pre-emptively got some St. Patricks Day things.  
I think there were many reasons for leaving empty handed that day, but there is one main reason and that is quality over quantity.  Yes, partly I just wasn’t in the mood for shopping, but moreso I just didn’t want to accumulate any more dresser fillers.  In the world of thrift ‘less is definitely more’.  Limiting things means a more Zen external environment and limiting desires and wants means having a calmer inner peace.
Plus, just recently I purchases something that was comparatively very expensive to all the wonder of things I could have acquired at VV on the 50% day.  This influenced my latter spending behavior in two ways.  First, and to a lesser extend, I literally had less money to spend afterwards, but more importantly, secondly I realized the value in having fewer but nicer, higher quality things.  I spent over 3 months looking for a bike and the one I ended up purchasing is awesome.

Specialized Allez 2002

It was 11:00am on a Wednesday that I emailed myself all the details from Craigslist to my own inbox, called an hour later on my lunch, and went straight from work to her house.  Test drove it, loved it.  Stopped once at a light pole to do a basic wear-and-tear inspection (kick the tires).  Then payed her every penny she was asking for it.  That’s right, even on a Craigslist purchase, I payed full price.  It was worth it and I had other people coming up behind me that night and more tomorrow.  The decision was then or never.  It was so light that I carried the bike on my shoulder as I pedalled my other bike some 5km back to my house.
Two brands stand out in entry level road racing, Trek and Specialized.  I purchased a Specialized.  Within a line of bikes there are entry, mid, upper, and professional bikes.  I purchased a entry level bike....fitting, as I am an entry level biker.  What do people tend to look for when purchasing a bike?  Low km use obviously, a bike that doesn’t go through parts, few owners tends to equal better care, and general condition.  My new Specialized Allez had one owner, a female in her late thirties, who for the last 3 years has only pedaled the bike in her living room on a roller.  The bike has all original parts including the addition of Triathlon Bars for racing.  Where most entry level bikes on the market start new at about $900-1100 and re-sell at about $650-900, I was able to get into this ride for only $400.  Reason for the low price?  Primarily the age, it was made in 2002.  However the bike has three components that come with every new style of bike: quick Shifters, 24sp, and clip pedals.  All crucial to speed and power.  What a find!

Garneau Clip-in Shoes

In the end.  I payed full price for a very good deal on something that I wanted for long time in return for giving up paying half price for a large number of cluttering, relatively useless, household and clothing items.   I will use this bike to go in at least 2 Triathlons, 2 bike races, and many bike trips just this Summer alone.  And I am very happy with my investment:)
And just a follow up note on this purchase overall.  As it has clip pedals, I needed some clip shoes.  Craigslist was all hovering around $60-120; this was surprising to me at first.  What I ended up doing is going to a great little consignment store called ‘Sports Junkies’.  Aside from the horrendous customer service and lack of knowledge of the staff, I walked away with a great deal on a pair of Garneau racing shoes.  How it works is over time the price for the product, the shoe is my case, decreases until somebody is willing to purchase it.  I was able to get in at a good time.  All and all....I am off to the races!




Schedule and Challenges

Today I spent an hour at the library printing the rest of the spreadsheets that I’ll be using to track my progress as I work my way through an exercises regiment over the next 4-6 months.  It was really liberating to complete this task actually because I am sick of planning, and formatting, now I just want to ‘do’!

P90x exercise in fitness room at work.

It was a massive task though, to map it all out that is.  Eventually I decided on the following three items: First, a 4 month, 5 days/week, triathlon training program out the book - (Triathlon Magazine’s Essential Week by Week Training Guide) from the Library.  Second, a 3 month, 6 days/week, that I will do twice (so 6 month) fitness program called P90x which I brought from somebody off Craigslist for $50.  And finally, a workout program for 4 months, 4 days/week, that I created from Googling ‘exercises’ which consists of a total of (30) exercises over the course of a week all focusing on max weight and short powerful repetitions.   The idea behind this was to strike a holistic balance between cardio, fitness, and speed/power.  


There are two main overarching motivations behind this, one to be beyond the healthy fitness level that I enjoyed from being an active kid, and the other to prevent injury in my 30’s as I plan on shredding at the ski hill and continuing to play rec league soccer.  Plus, of course, specific to this year, it just fits.  It keeps me busy, which means I am not spending, and it is clearing my mind and giving me a better outlook on the future.

Little frosty but good view.

But all of this is just training!  All of this is just the prep work for the challenges, the fun stuff.  It’s too early to get excited yet and I have lots of work to do to focus on, but I am amped for the summer where I’ll enter a few triathlon races, a swim race, do some large bike rides (80-140km), and many hikes.  And throughout all this I am looking forward to meeting other people in Vancity who enjoy the same things.  

That’s the nuts and bolds of my fitness routine.  Once summer hits I know I am going to have to revamp my routine to maintain a healthy fitness level as I shift my direction towards different competitions and adventures.  For now however I am just concentrating on what rest ahead of me. I’ll surely do a few posts on what thrifty lessons I learnt about working out on a budget.