Storm the Fort OCR June 11, 2016

This was my first Storm the Fort. Very organized, awesome obstacles, and great competitors. This obstacle race was located in Fort Saskatchewan and was a sponsored event by Johnny B Fitt. It was a tight competition for the money prizes. Some of the new obstacles were the Destroyer (a tall wall out of wood with some blocks for your feet) and Tip of the Spear (4 tarzan ropes, and finger blocks all along an angled wall). There was also Axe throwing, a big Slip and Slide, and an Ice Dunk Wall! I really enjoyed it. I passed some competitors on the obstacles :) I was 4th for the first half of the 5km race, and ended up finishing 8th!

Cerro Amigos Hike

While in Costa Rica I also did the Cerro Amigos hike. Located in Monteverde near the cloud Rainforest! The Hike took apx 1 hour, it was a constant uphill hike of over 400 meters in elevation and just under 4km from the base to the peak. It was really hike as it drizzled rain in the hot weather! Who thought we would get sunburnt, but we did. The views at the top were great.

Cerro Chato Hike

Cerro Chato, located near La Fortuna in Costa Rica. It is beside the Arenal Volcano. Total length to the top of the mountain from the base was 3km and an elevation of 872 meters. Very steep hike and rewarding! We took a swim at the top. No need for a guide/tour as the trails are very clear. The hike can be done in just under an hour, but usually takes 2 hours to hike up. It is also a steep downhill from the top of the mountain on the way to the crater pool. It was pouring really hard when we started to head back and the trails had some heavy flow! Good thing i had my Salomon Speedcross 3 shoes :)

Spartan Race: Montana Beast and Sprint May 7 & 8, 2016

This was my first spartan race of the season. Great weather, not as cold as last year. I was racing in the competitive heat for the beast which I ended up being 26th overall and 5th in my age group. I ran with my Suunto Ambit2 watch and recorded the trek being 20.7km with an elevation gain of 1205 meters. I completed this beast in 3hours 36min which qualified me for the OCRWC 2016! :) There was a total of 30 obstacles with 1 multi-rig right before the fire jump. I did 0 burpees that day!
Next day was the Spartan Sprint. This race was the first out of 5 being broadcast on NBC so many of the pros just raced today. I entered the elite heat as well to see how my time would compare. I finished 69th with a time of 1hr 34min. This was a very long sprint; my suunto recorded 8.9km and 534 meters in elevation. My javelin throw was short this day.
Overall a great weekend. Pretty happy with the results from my training. Next to come are some hikes in Costa Rica, and then some more races in June!

100 Burpees for 100 Days Challenge

Started the 100 burpee challenge on February 14, 2016. Today is day 36! When I started the challenge, my initial time for 100 burpees was around 7.30min. Up to date my record for 100 burpees is 5.55min! A good way for me to keep track is 10 burpees every 30 seconds. The end goal will be to get a good consistent pace and reach 100 burpees in under 5.30min!

BattleFrogs: Los Angeles Feb 6, 2016

My First Battle Frogs Race. I was registered for Elite, which means 2 loops of the regular course. The course was 5 miles long. The neat thing about being in Elite was that the completion of each obstacle was mandatory! That means if you failed at an obstacle you get multiple attempts to overcome them! If someone was unable to complete any of the obstacles, their Elite band was taken away and would have given them a DNF status. After that you can just do the burpee option and continue on your way. Some were really tough. The whole course had 30 obstacles in 5 miles. This included 2 platinum rigs, one with just rings and the other with ropes, horizontal and vertical bars. On my first lap, i was stuck on the 2nd platinum rig for over 5 hours! I did not wanna finish the race with any regrets. I stayed the longest on that platinum rig until i finally got it! Then I was on my second lap, when i approached the same rig again I got it on my first attempt and sprinted towards the finish! I was really happy, great motivation overall throughout the course from racers and staff. There was a total of 3 elite female finishers and 50 elite male finishers. Will train and do more! :)

Lost City Trek - Colombia

So me and my friend did a 4 day trek to the lost city, located near Santa Marta region in the Sierra Nevada mountains in Colombia. Total roundtrip hike is about 46km. On this trek tour we had a group of 15 people, there was also 3 other groups with other guides. We slept at 3 different camps throughout the journey in either bed nets or hammocks. The first few people at each campsite were rewarded the beds, so we always made it a competition to get to the top first. Here I met an ultra runner, his endurance was outstanding! On the first night we played some drinking games and everyone went to bed at 8 except for me and my friend. We stayed up drinking this bottle of run which should have lasted the whole trip but it was done by the first night. Same with the beers, we were hydrating ourselves while hiking and people were in shock. We also were hiking with our backpacks containing all our belongings on the south american trip - all 8kg worth. Anyways we woke up at 05:00 every morning and headed for the trais. Each day we hiked from 4km-8km with a fruit filled lunch break. The trails varied from white sand minerals in the sun, to trails in the forest through some creeks and rivers. Just before entering the lost city, there was about 1200 natural steps / stairs to get to the top. We did a whole lot of elevation on this trek. Very rewarding with amazing scenery.