A Spring Hike on Mt. Seymour

Happy Mondaaaaaaaay! As I mentioned yesterday, we did a Sunday snowshoe hike up Mt. Seymour this weekend. Mt. Seymour is located just about 45 minutes away, in North Vancouver. Ten minutes of that drive is just getting up the winding mountain road to reach the parking lots at the ski resort and trailheads.

I've hiked Mt. Seymour more than any other mountain around here - I think about 5 times at this point? I like this hike because it's full of plenty of steep, climbing parts that really challenge you - but it's also nicely broken up by short flat stretches as well as less-steep grades that allow you to catch your breath a bit. It was a foggy and cloudy hike for us - not unusual around these parts. There were a few opportunities where the clouds broke and a view or two could be had... so I tried to snap as many pictures of those parts as possible.

There are three "pumps" to get up Mt. Seymour - essentially three different summits. Obviously the third and highest is the true summit, but the other two are both nice goals to aim for as well. I've actually never gotten past the first pump of Seymour - I guess we've always just been sufficiently spent after reaching that one that we've never felt the need to keep going. From what I'm told, the first pump has the best views anyway.

We reached the first pump on Sunday around noon, and then stopped to rest and eat our lunch of a Subway turkey sandwich, chips, and Snickers before heading back down the mountain.

Enjoy the pictures!

Look closely at the center of this picture... See those black dots in the top-middle?

They're people! And they are climbing up some STEEP shit:

This is a shot of the first pump, from below...

.  click for a larger view  .

This is at the top of the first pump - Dave took this photo of a hiker in the distance:

This next photo is tricking your eye... It looks like you're looking UP the mountain, but actually this is a shot from the very top of the first pump, looking DOWN the mountain: 

Same with this photo - it's looking down the mountain. 

And check out the dark, ominous clouds that rolled in!

We sat in that spot and enjoyed our lunch before deciding that that black cloud didn't look so good, and we were on our way. 
I hope you enjoyed the photos! Now... when are YOU coming to visit BC?
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Weekend Love & Workouts of the Week

Whoooooo I am exhausted! This morning we set off on a decently-paced hike up Mt. Seymour, and spent about 2.5 hours on the mountain total. I got to set the pace on the way up and did my damnedest to make it brisk and fairly unrelenting. My body is definitely tired now, and my feet are aching a bit - but in a totally good way. Check back here tomorrow for photos from today's hike!

It's been a good weekend around here. On Friday night we went down to the beach for a bit and threw our football around with Dave's friend Evan. It was the first football pass of the season! WHOO! From our beach, we could see a rain cloud across English Bay that was actively pouring rain down onto West Vancouver...

 

So that was pretty cool to see.

Yesterday I went to pick up a package at a Purolator, and in the process discovered an entirely new-to-me shopping center in Vancouver - the City Square Shopping Center. I swear I stumble upon a new mall every week. Of course I picked up a few things - a sage green fleece vest (on sale for $8.80!), a basic white long-sleeve tee with blue stripes, and a lavender bandana to use while hiking (which I immediately put to use today on Mt. Seymour).  Oh, and the package I was picking up at Purolator? THESE BAD BITCHES*, which you may have seen me post on Instagram:

.  you can find them here!  .

I'M OBSESSED. They're from Forever21 and they were on sale for $25, so it was kind of a no-brainer. And by that I mean, a total impulse purchase that I happened to not regret.

Last night we went out to dinner at The Sandbar, which I've been to (and written about) several times now. For Christmas this past year, David's brother's family gave us a gift certificate to the restaurant, and we were excited to finally get around to using it. I ordered some to-die-for salmon with citrus butter and jasmine rice, and Dave had a salad full of crab, shrimp, egg, avocado, and god knows what else. We also shared some oysters... and both wished that we had ordered way more. #SOGOOD.

We also watched a bunch of movies the last few days - one of my favorite things to do on the weekends. We watched The Fast & The Furious, 2 Fast, 2 Furious, and The Wolf of Wall Street. Have you seen Wolf yet? I really liked it!

Alright, now on to my workouts from the past week ~>

3/30 - 5 mile power walk to Stanley Park

3/31 (lower body and core)

10 mins elliptical

60 bridges

40 weighted v-sit twists holding 15 lbs

40 jump squats, alternating wide and close stance

30 lying overhead raise + double crunch, holding 5 lbs

60 calf raises, 15 lbs each hand

40 alternating weighted side bends, 15 lbs each hand

40 diamond clamshells each leg

50 Brazilian crunches

15 deadlifts, 15 lbs each hand

30 weighted crunches on exercise ball, holding 15 lbs

60 alternating forward lunges

50 plank knee to elbow

15 squats, 15 lbs

15 squats, 20 lbs

15 squats, 25 lbs

30 cobras

4/1 (upper body and core)

16 mins biking

12 chest press on exercise ball, 10 lbs each hand

30 weighted crunches on exercise ball, holding 15 lbs

12 deltoid flys, 5 lbs each hand

30 weighted v-sit twists, holding 15 lbs

12 close grip chest press on exercise ball, 10 lbs each hand

30 reverse crunch + leg raise

15 deltoid raises, 5 lbs each hand

40 plank knee to elbow

12 tricep extensions on exercise ball, 10 lbs each hand

30 lying overhead raise + double crunch, holding 5 lbs

12 upright row + lateral tricep extension, 5 lbs each hand

12 overhead press, 10 lbs each hand

30-second side planks each side

60 bridges

4/2 (cardio)

20 mins ellpitical

0:00 - 3:00 - warm-up

3:00 - 4:00 - all-out

4:00 - 6:00 - moderate

6:00 - 6:30 - sprint

6:30 - 8:00 - recover easy

8:00 - 9:00 - all out

9:00 - 11:00 - moderate

11:00 - 11:30 - sprint

11:30 - 13:00 - recover easy

13:00 - 14:00 - all out

14:00 - 16:00 - moderate

16:00 - 16:30 - sprint

16:30 - 18:00 - recover easy

18:00 - 19:00 - all out

19:00 - 20:00 recover  easy 

4/4 (lower body and core)

5 mins elliptical

40 side lunges + plyometric push-off (each side)

40 weighted v-sit twists, holding 15 lbs

40 calf raises, 15 lbs each hand

40 alternating weighted side bends, 15 lbs each hand

60 alternating forward lunges

50 Brazilian crunches

60 bridges

40 reverse crunch + leg raise

40 jump squats, alternating wide and close stance

40 Russian get ups, holding 5 lbs

20 deadlifts, 15 lbs each hand

50 plank knee to elbow

15 squats, 15 lbs

15 squats, 20 lbs

15 squats, 25 lbs

30 cobras

How are your workouts going?
Do we share any of the same common exercise moves?
Seen any good movies lately? Share with me!!

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Sweat Round Up of the Week

Man, what a raaaainy week we've had here in Vancouver. Get used to hearing me say that sentence for the next 7 months! Yesterday we took a mighty wet hike up Mt. Seymour in North Vancouver, with at times torrential rain fall. I'm not sure exactly what we were thinking, but at least it was a way to get some outdoor exercise!

Here's my workout round up of the past week... it's not lengthy.

9/23 (lower body and core)

20 mins elliptical

12 split squats each leg, 10 lbs each hand

30 Russian get ups, 5 lbs each hand

30 alternating lunges, 10 lbs each hand

30 weighted v-sit twist, holding 10 lbs

30 heel presses each leg

50 Brazilian crunches

- 10 bridges

- 10 "pretzel lifts"

- 10 single leg hip lifts each leg

- 10 bridges from toes

30 lying overhead raise + double crunch, holding 5 lbs

12 deadlifts, 10 lbs each hand

60 swimmers

9/26 (cardio)

25 mins biking

9/28 (cardio)
Hiked about 6km on Mt. Seymour

The hike yesterday was so wet that we couldn't really even take out our cameras to snap any pictures. Our friend Evan managed to snap this one picture of his 3 hiking companions - Lauren (Dave and Evan's colleague), me and David:

.  moisture  .
.  thanks for letting me steal your pic evan  .

What have you been up to exercise-wise this past week? What's your favorite exercise?

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Gorgeous, Quick Hike Up Dog Mountain

Glancing at the weekend weather forecast on Friday night, I saw that it was going to be in the 70s and sunny on both Saturday and Sunday. That kind of weather does not go uncelebrated around these parts, so you bet your ass I scouted out a hike for myself for Saturday.

Dog Mountain was a perfect choice - its trailhead is at the Mt. Seymour Ski Resort (which is only about 45 minutes out of the city) and the hike was described as both fun and moderate. At 2.75 miles, it was also a pretty short hike on a well-traveled trail - both of which were important to me since I'd be hiking alone. (Dave, by the way, is in Massachusetts right now!)

I arrived at the Ski Resort, strapped on my boots, packed up my backpack, familiarized myself a bit more with the trail, and started off.

.  not a bad day for a hike  .

I started at the "You Are Here" marker and took the yellow trail to the red trail. The summit of Dog Mountain is at the end of the red trail here:

.  trail to dog mountain  .

I expected the trail to be full of people - it was, after all, a stunnnnning day - but the trail was empty! It was indeed well-traveled, though - there were plenty of footprints in the snow. Just no people! It was a tiny bit eerie to be walking out there alone but I opted not to cry about it.

Since it was such a short hike and I was full of energy, I switched between hiking and jogging the whole way up. In the shaded areas, the snow was a little bit icier, but in the sunny spots it was really easy to jog through the slightly melted snow.

I was more than halfway through the hike before I finally saw a few other people on the trail. Ultimately there were about 7 of us on the summit together, where the views offered by this little mountain were spectacular. Thank goodness for the clear, sunny day.

I ate lunch at the top while enjoying the warmth and the beautiful views of Vancouver and Richmond:

.  relaxing and eating lunch  .

Before heading back down, I asked one of the other people on the summit to snap a picture of me:

Jogging about half of the time on the way back down, I definitely got in a decent cardio workout on this hike. I even got a little bit of a sunburn. Helllllllllo warm weather!

 

 

This was my second hike in the Mt. Seymour area, and there are tons of other trails around there to explore as well. It's a super convenient recreational destination for us and a great reason to get out of the city!

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Also, here's a cool picture of a halo around the sun while we were hiking on Mt. Seymour recently:

Not too shabs.

Oh and here is a good song for you to listen to:

Day Hike on Mt. Seymour

From Vancouver, the view of mountains in the not-so-distant distance is pretty alluring. Mt. Seymour is just one of the several mountains visible from Vancouver, and last Sunday we took advantage of the non-rainy weekend weather to head out of the city for a day hike.

Dave's friend-slash-colleague Evan had agreed to be our hiking buddy for the day, so we scooped him up around 11am and headed north to Mt. Seymour. The drive takes less than an hour - one of the many benefits of living in Vancouver is how quickly you can be in the mountains!

We parked in Mt. Seymour's lower parking lot, got ourselves booted up (plus I threw on some snowshoes for good measure), and began our hike!

.  trailhead  .

The Seymour Main Trail for winter hiking/snowshoeing goes up alongside the alpine ski trails of the mountain, so we could see/hear skiers and snowboarders along the way. Also - views on views on views:

.  view of the alpine ski trails  .

.  snow  .

.  where we stopped for lunch  .

Mt. Seymour supposedly has three different peaks to reach, the third being the true summit at 4,754 feet.  It's a bit confusing to tell where the first peak is, though, IF YOU ASK ME. For awhile we had ourselves convinced we'd already reached the first peak - in record time, mind you - but apparently we'd made that announcement a little prematurely. Or a lot prematurely. We hit the actual first peak about an hour and a half later. And then we called it quits, because although we could see both of the next two peaks from the first one... it was apparent that our views would be best from the first. 

.  finally at the first peak, behind me  .

.  view from the top of the first peak, looking northwest  .

.  top of the world  .

.  looking south from the first summit of mt. seymour  .
.  view of vancouver and english bay  .

Coming down a snowy mountain on a beautiful day is a lot more fun than climbing up it, because you can glissade down!! Glissade is mountain-lingo for "slide on ya bum." You can't slide down the entire mountain, obviously, but you can do it in certain parts. It saves time and #LetsBeHonest it's fun as shit. We even scooted off the trail to purposely climb up another trail... just so we could slide down it. Here's some of that happening:

.  glissading!!  .

.  whooooooo  .

Sidebar, this will make your ass hurt. I still have that "there should really be a bruise here" feeling in one large area of my bum/upper thigh. Worth it.

.  very approximated version of our trail - except ours was under snow  .
.  click for larger view  .

. the three ALLEGED summits  .

Hopefully I'll end up on Mt. Seymour again this summer to see what it's like sans snow. There are lots of other trails around the mountain to explore as well, so maybe we can even make it one of our go-to weekend hiking spots, since it's so close to Vancouver!