Great Bear Rainforest SUP Expedition

3 days from now, the car will be packed and Norm, myself and Explore Magazine will be making the trip up to Northern BC to Prince Rupert to catch the ferry out to Hartley Bay, a remote Native Community on BC's west coast. We will then be embarking on the 1st ever exploratory expedition via Stand Up Paddlboard (SUP) for 5 days. Norm has been guiding in this year for many years and has a very well established relationship with the community of Hartley Bay. We have permission to travel and experience their native lands and traditional hunting/fishing grounds. The pictures that I have seen of the Great Bear are unbelievable. This magical place has ranked at the top of my list for places to visit for a long time now and I am so EXCITED and FORTUNATE to be apart of this lifetime journey.

We will be documenting, blogging and twittering as we go. The SUP's will be loaded up with gear as we tackle some big days on the water. It is going to be an amazing trip. And some BIG NEWS - Norm and I will be offering some guided SUP expedition trips to this area next August/September. This signals the return of the salmon to the Great Bear Rainforest. This is an incredible time to search for the Kermode Bear (aka - the Spirit Bear.) Let me know if you would like to be kept in the loop for these trips as space is already filling and numbers are very limited.

More to come. Follow this SUP expedition along on Twitter "JenSegger"

Adventure Onwards......

Riding & Falling

The last week has been really good. Excellent days of training on the bike as I prepare for the Intermontane Challenge which gets underway in just a little over 2 weeks. My friend AV was up from Seattle to cheer on some friends at BC Bike race so we got some play days in here. Naturally, I was stoked to take him around the Squamish network and show it off. I had a good bail too right near the end, over the handlebars onto my face (fall #1) because I lost focused from trying to talk and ride at the same time. I know I am a good multi-tasker but NOT on the bike. We also rode to Pemberton and back and despite a few flats, AV was blown away by the landscape. Warm sunny days in the saddle...oh so nice.

My running is coming along too. The annual Comfortably Numb race went well and I think that helped me crest over a fitness hill. I'm seeing now that I can comfortably handle a few hours of running at a time with my lungs, legs and achilles feeling good. I'm back to getting a few of these in a week. I would say things are improving. However, my dog did launch me over the barrier of the hwy the other morning and I took a good bail on the hard cement (fall #2). Thankfully no cars were around. Anyway, it's good to be back in the shoes and out there. The trails are in excellent shape right now. Baffin Island is quickly approaching with i2P so I am happy that my running is getting stronger. Please make sure you check out the website and if you are a teacher or educator, sign your class up to be able to follow the expedition live and take advantage of the amazing education modules that will be available. Our goal is 6000 students so PLEASE, help us spread the word!

And oh yes, fall #3. I did my favorite hill climb the other day from Brackendale up to Red Heather. On the way down, I somehow lost complete focus and before I knew what was happening, I was going to way toooooo fast on the logging road to make the left hand corner. It was either launch over the steep cliff into the trees or lay it out on the gravel. I opted for a full body-bike skid out and the nice picture of my elbow above!!!

They say things come in 3's so let's hope that its!

Adventure Onwards.....

Trail Running Gear - Top Picks

Thanks to everyone for all the questions as to what I am running and racing in this year. Here are my staple favorites that I wouldn't trade for anything:

SHOES

I have been trading off between the XT Wing and the XT Whisper. The XT Wing is once again my go-to shoe, great for long days, road approach, slippery and rooty conditions and for gripping rock. The XT Whisper is ultra light and I have been using this for shorter runs and in really wet terrain because they drain really fast. This shoe is extremely breathable.
SOCKS

Ever since Badwater, my feet fell in love with SOLE's Lightweight Sport Sock. This sock provided comfort, fit, breathability and support for 135miles of hell running in 55 degree heat to YES, I know it can meet all my needs. I use it on the bike too and it never fails. Happy feet will keep you going.

PACK

Salomon continues to look out for the chicks that run. Great fit for the female frame and enough volume to carry all the necessities for a longer run, the XA 10+3 has been getting the job done. I have been loving that I don't need to mess about and make adjustments all the time. I can run for hours with this pack on, no worries.

Running for Spuds

It was a great start to Canada Day on Wednesday morning when Jo agreed to join me for a roadtrip to Pemberton to take part in a really fun community race called the Spud Run. Hmmmm, run for 2lbs sack of potatoes, sure, why not! Pemberton sits in the valley surrounded by amazing peaks and mountains. I knew the course was going to be dead flat and oh how right I was. However, needing to bring some speed and leg turnover back into my life, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity for a good tempo run. I have been going hard since the weekends Comfortably Numb race, logging lots of runs and bike sessions.

Now, the coolest thing about the day for me was that Jo, my #1 support crew, my solid rock in life and my best friend wanted to come do this as her first race ever!!! I was so stoked for her although I cautioned her, say yes to racing with me once, and you will never hear the end of it!

Hot and muggy with an 8:30am start, the supposed 7km, low key event got under way. 42mins later, I crossed the finish line of what was actually a 10km race. This was good enough for 1st place for the woman and a yummy jar of Pemberton honey for winning!!! Jo finished in the top 20 - how AWESOME is that!!!! She is a racer at heart :) I also got to meet Thomsen D'Hont, one of our special youth members who will be joining i2P in Baffin Island this September! Thomsen took 1st overall - it's that lung capacity as a skier!!! Well done!!!

To finish it all off, I biked back to Whistler with super tired legs and Jo drove my car back! We concluded with breakfast at the Wildwood! What a great day!

Racing my way back into Run Fitness

I've had 3 weeks now back on my feet running. My right achilles which has been the main problem continues to feel better and better each day. The left one has been flaring up now (ahhhhh) so I will go back to Pat this week for another treatment of ART and get that under control ASAP.

Anyway, it's time to get run fit again so I thought what better way than to jump into a few races. Last weekend Norm and I headed over to the Kusan Klimb in Sayward, BC on Vancouver Island. Thought it would be nice to combine a bit of family time with a good kick in the ass. Dad has been asking me to come and do this race for several years now so I was pretty stoked to go and see what this run was all about. Well....to say it is a "trail race" isn't quite true. The race takes you vertical for about 7km. After 2km of runnable terrain, you are forced into a power hike, sky high heart rate and head down just grind it out. I would say this route is much harder than The Chief hike and about 4-5x the distance, climbing approx 4500ft elevation! It took me somewhere around 1hr50min to reach the summit!!!! Then it was a super technical descent, snow glisade, hang onto ropes and watch as your quads blow up! The last 12km of the race was purely downhill on open logging roads. Great that it was all down hill running but when you haven't been running at all....well....I had no leg turnover and only 1 pace. I settled into 2nd place for the females, letting Jo take the lead and put the hammer on me, and crossed the line at 2hrs57min. It was a great day of training for me but what was even better was hitting McIvor Lake later in the day for some water skiing and wakeboarding with my family!!!! I officially maxed out my legs and arms for the day! The Kusam is a good hard race that will test limits and make you hard work. However, I prefer running races - not hike hard for 2/3'rd's and then run logging roads out. Anyway, it's worth checking out and giving your legs and lungs a challenge!

Race #2 - yesterday was the annual Comfortably Numb race in Whistler - a 25km AWESOME trail that starts at Wedge parking lot and finishes at Spruce Grove. I love this trail and have run it for years but it never fit the calendar to be able to race it. I was supposed to be away in Alberta racing right now at Best of the West but with a last minute situation arising, I needed to be home here in Squamish. Friday night we decided to race so we headed to Whistler early the next morning. The trail was in perfect shape. Lots of good local runners out and people who do this race each year. Cheryl Beatty was up from Vancouver. She is a great runner (and all round ultra strong athlete) so I was pretty sure I would be chasing her down. I was just so happy to be back out running again. The legs were feeling good but I was sucking wind. My footwork on the technical running started to return as the race went on. My water hose wasn't working so I drank and ate nothing, leaving me with a good bonk for the last 3km. Luckily I knew the course well enough to rely on confidence that I could finish. At around 17km I turned back and saw Cheryl on some switch backs behind me. Well....that really kicked me to get going and somewhere deep down I found another gear to power up and over some rocky sections. I just wanted to reach the 6km technical downhill to the finish line before her. Thankfully, I picked up just enough speed to put me out of her site. I concentrated hard on the rocky terrain and opened up my stride a bit. I think I managed to cross about 2mins before Cherly but I tell ya, she definately forced the hurt on! Fellow Salomon Flight Crew member Adam Campbell won the men's race with a nice sub 2hr time. Norm put in a good performance toooo - I need a much longer race to beat him and his fast twitch fibers! Thanks to all the race organizers for putting on such a fun event on one of the best running routes out there!

The Intermontane Challenge is just around the corner now so I have a few weeks left of big rides and I will continue to get the runs in there and my distance, speed and power back!

PaddleFit and Get Stoked on SUP

This is a unique fun new way to get in the best shape of your life. Paddle Fit combines the traditional Hawaiian sport of stand-up paddle boarding (SUP) with cutting edge strength and conditioning fitness to give you a total mind body workout. Develop the core, train the body, relax the mind! Experience the future of functional fitness training!

Paddle Fit conditioning classes will get you comfortable with the new sport of Stand Up Paddleboarding (SUP) as you learn how to engage and utilize your entire body to power the board through the water. Dry land conditioning exercises will be integrated into each session, providing a total body, high calorie burning fitness class. PaddleFit redefines total body fitness.

Get Stoked On SUP: This is an introduction to stand up paddleboarding and you need to take this class before starting Paddlefit. Gain confidence and learn to paddle correctly for maximum efficiency and fitness.

Whistler Schedule
Edgewater @ Green Lake
Get Stoked SUP Class & PaddleFit

Friday 19th
Intro to SUP –7:30am, 9am, 10:30am
Mon 22nd
PaddleFit – 7pm
Get Stoked SUP Class – 5:30pm
Tues 23rd
PaddleFit – 9am, 7pm
Get Stoked SUP Class – 7:30am, 10:30am, 5:30pm
Wed 24th
PaddleFit – 7am
Get Stoked SUP Class – 9:00am, 10:30am
Thurs 25th – Sat 27th
Get Stoked SUP Class – 7:30am, 9am, 7pm

*$25/class for PaddleFit
*$45 for a Get Stoked SUP Class & PaddleFit combo
*all classes are 1hr
*everyone must take a Get Stoked SUP class before taking a PaddleFit
*more PaddleFits to be offered in July
*Get Stoked SUP classes available upon demand at other times
*to register, email norm@mountainsurfadventures.com and we will confirm
*minimum of 6 people needed for a PaddleFit Class
*contact us for custom groups & times

This is only our Whislter schedule. Plesae contact us for
Squamish Get Stoked SUP Classes and our next set of PaddleFit!

The Woman of Squamish

Happy feet means being able to play hard! These amazing ladies were stoked to get their new SOLE socks (after countless push-ups, squat jumps, crunches and sprints) and I was stoked to introduce them to world of comfort, performance, wicking, fitting and breathability. Check out SOLE Performance.
Adventure Onwards like these rippin woman do....

My adrenalin goes all night long...

...at the 24hrs of Adrenalin Mountain Bike Race! I survived the weekend and have not returned back to Squamish after probably the fastest fly-down, get-home trip ever.

Norm and I left Squamish at 5am on Friday, cleared the border, grabbed breakfast down in Alki in West Seattle and got a ride from Eric to the Seattle/Tacoma airport at 9;30am for our 12pm flight. Super sweet check in, aka - NO FEE FOR MY BIKE!!! Note to everyone, DON'T fly United, use Alaska instead!!! The flight to San Jose was 1hr38min, grabbed a rental car and drove the 1hr down to Monterey, CA. We had a wonderful place to stay with our friend Jackie. She lives about 10min from the race start at Laguna Seca so it was perfect (and coffee stop was on the way.) Cyril and Sylvie arrived later on in the evening and after a quick stop to Trader Joes (yes, I even know where it is Monterey as I was just there 3 weeks ago :) to get my race food I settled down to watch legendary racer Chris Etough's movie "24" just to get inspired. The guy is a serious bad-ass!!!

So, onto the race! It was a warm day when we got going at 12pm. No morning stress out, super smooth. I took it pretty easy at the Lemman's start (god I hate those) so that I wouldnt flare up my achilles. Then it was onto the bike and to where I would spend the next 24hrs doing as many laps of the 16km course as I could.

I rode well off the line, climbed and descended well, and just found my groove. By evening I had caught and lapped 2 of the woman despite suffering some intesive pain in my back and neck. Every lap I had to stop at the pit and get massaged out from my crew! Man, were they ever great. I was like a too tightly wound up knot waiting to explode and it felt like someone was stabbing a knife through my ribs!

So what do you think I do next?? Out comes the PAIN BOX and on I go!!!! Not sure at what point in the night it was that I caught and lapped the 2nd place female. Thanks to my Light & Motion "stella" system, I could ride fast and furious and rip the technical sections!!! The crew kept pumping me with my secret stash of coffee from Beans Around the World here in Squamish (I never leave home without it and my trusty coffee press). Happy with that, I just continued on riding, fueling well at the pit, chatting to other riders on the course, trying to keep warm! By morning I had put 2 laps on my nearest competitor but my knees were getting pretty sore so I decided that maintaining my 1st place was the most important thing.

I rode on until about 10:30am after completing my last lap with Cyril. We had a good time out there and it helped me finish up the race strong and motivated. We rolled across the finish line together shortly after 11am, both as winners of the men's and women's SOLO category!!

So there you have it. We have both earned our spots now at the World Championships in Canmore later this year but I have already committed to Intermontane and I am really looking forward to that.

Back here at the ranch, I am having a hard time keeping my eyes open still! I haven't caught up on sleep yet and Im not sure when I will. I saw my chiro today for another treatment of ART and hear ye, hear ye "I am good to start running again." Great news!!! He also fixed up my back and I ended the day with a great massage by Laura!! I am on the road to good recovery.

Huge thanks to my crew Jackie and Norm as without them, I would have died in pain! Congrats to Sylvie for winning the 8hr solo women's and Cyril for rocking the men's category. Thanks to all my sponsors who enable me to tackle these challenges.

Final thoughts. Here are the results from the weekend. So I guess I finished up 1st for women solo and 3rd overall against the men!!! With 300km of riding covered over the weekend, I am ready for Intermontane....almost!

Adventure Onwards......

Next up.....it's my Women's OFF ROAD Weekend here in Squamish!!! Really excited for this. There is still space. Email me for details. The more the better. It's your chance to try Stand Up Paddleboarding, outdoor yoga, a nutritional whole foods eating class, chief hiking, trail running and much more, all with a bunch of great gals!!!!!