The North Face 100 Wrap

The North Face 100 Race Day

"Mix Up" Your Exercise

Health Panel #4 Detox

Health Panel #3 Gines turning Vegan...

Tune in every Wednesday:


Join the Health Panel - Sheridan Smith, Samantha Charlton and Gines. This weeks topic is Gines deciding to try being vegan. Join us every Wednesday!
Gines - Australian Mixed Martial Arts Champion 2009
Sheridan - Vegan, releasing a cookbook.
Samantha - Degree in Exercise Science, Diploma Journalism

North Face 100 Blog #11

Gines North Face 100 #10

Health Panel #2 Alkalinity

Gines North Face 100 #10

2 weeks 2 days to go until race day. The start of this saga feels so long ago. With such a short time to go before it is race time, the thoughts running through my head are up and down. Having Easter just passed I had to splurge out at least a few chocolate eggs. Last Sunday was suppose to be a long day, however, I felt pretty flat. So flat that I questioned, really why am I doing this?

I found that question gets frequently asked to me when I tell people what I am training for. I usually answer ‘why not?’ Running is not only good fitness, but it gives you ‘me time’ and time to think. Think about life, about work, about relationships pretty much about everything. I went and saw my physio last week, Michael at Head to Toe Healthcare in Hampton, I told him I have slight knee pain when after a while of running. I expressed to him, we only have 3 weeks to and we need to do what it takes to get rid of this pain, and this pain can not come up in the race. Michael replied with a laugh, “ You are going to hurt during the 100km race Gines, its only a matter of time when the pain will set in, our bodies are not made to run a 100k.”

Recently I finished the book, Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. It is about a hidden tribe full of super athletes. In this tribe there are ultra up to the age of 75 years old. Tonight I went down the track with a friend to do some sprint work, 180 second repeats. As we were training, a group of older runners were starting to warm up on the track. These runners would have been close to my parents age. In between our sets we asked them what group they were, they were the local ‘Masters running club,’ which is a 30+ club, that hold training and races of Wednesday nights. These runners for their ages were in very good shape.

Coming to our last set, we kindly asked what lanes there using for the rest of the races, in response we got, “Just the first 3 lanes, we have a one mile race in a few minutes, do you want in?” I was surprised they asked as they looked a closed knit group of runners that kept to themselves. I thought ‘why not’ and answered, ‘Sure, let’s race!” While lining up, thoughts were racing through my head, ‘just did 3min sprints x 4, wrecked, but I need to run hard to gain the respect of these old runners.” The only way to do that was to make sure they did not make a mistake by inviting me. The gun went out off, they set a pretty quick pace, with the leader breaker away within 400m. It came to the final lap, where I gave it all I had. I was currently sitting it second position, with the leader 80m in front. ‘You gotta love the chase,’ the final 100m I felt like my lungs were going to collapse, but I finished first.

After a friendly chat with the runners after the race, they invited to keep coming and racing with them, which I will take them up on. It got me thinking, ‘why am I running this crazy race?”  I like training hard and pushing myself to see what I can achieve. There it was, ‘I want to see what my body is physically capable of, lets find out what it can do.”  2 weeks 2 days to go. 

Health Panel #1- Tune in Every Wednesday Night

Gines North Face 100 Blog #9

North Face 100 Blog #8

Gines is now 4.5 weeks out of the North Face 100 through the Blue Mountains!

Check it out!

Training shirt Gines North Face 100

Gines Blog #8

Update via Facebook

Gines Satchithanandam

Some goodies from my sponsor Brooks running came in today! New runners, socks, night runner safety vest and a zip up running top, thanks guys

15 hours ago via iPhone ·  · 

Art is for Lovers

Dry Needling

This week our resident athlete, Gines went for a session of Dry Needling at Head to Toe Health Care in Hampton. For those of you that are unaware of dry needling please check out the video and description below:

What is Dry Needling?

Filament needles (similar to acupuncture) are inserted into the soft tissue to activate the healing process, resulting in pain relief and restoration of healthy physiology. Also known as a process of activating "trigger points."It mechanically disrupts the integrity of the dysfunctional endplates within the trigger area.

Gines thoughts on Dry Needling:

Tried dry needling this week at Head To Toe Healthcare, surprisingly they do not hurt. We worked on relaxing my glutes, 'honestly I didn't expect to having needles in my arse Wednesday morning, but it worked, my afternoon run was a dream.'

Diktion One aka Chris Kirby

We caught up with up and coming Aussie Hip Hop Artist Chris Kirby aka Diktion One. He has just released his first project "Drops of Ink" and is looking to release a studio album alongside DJ Rellik later in 2011.

La Bicyclette / st.mel gallery

Urban Pavement went out to lovely Daylesford to checkout the first opening of the st.mel Gallery titled
 'La Bicyclette' collection of works by artist Melanie Lambourn.
Melanie also the owner and creative director of st.mel clothing so she's quiet the handy lass!

The art is a blend of mixed media from photography to cool uber illustrative expressionist art with a undertone of sexiness, combined with a love for urban bike culture.

They also added some super fly singlespeeds & vintage bikes, their bright colors complimenting the art aswell as industrial lights that gave the show a real warmth as the night progressed.

Congrats to the team at st.mel for putting on a great show!

Made the team at UP want to buy one of their super cool bikes and join the revolution!

So here is the eye candy:

Too old to mosh?

It’s Monday morning and I just got off the phone to a friend, he asked about my weekend?

I told him I had spent the weekend in Tassie with a couple of friends where we attended the biggest music festival in the state, besides Falls, MSFest. I told him my muscles were extremely sore from moshing. He replied “Aren’t you a little old to be spending your time in the mosh pit?”

And, maybe after this past weekend I do think I am a little old…

Firstly, I need to say the line-up at the festival was amazing. I was able to see Horrorshow, Drapht, Bliss & Eso and The Presets. There were a couple of others amongst it but they were the main ones I was thrilled by. Whilst Horrorshow and Drapht were playing, Gyroscope and Birds of Tokyo were on the other stage, so you only had the true Aussie Hip Hop fans in the crowd.

Hands down, the Drapht mosh pit was the craziest I have ever been in. Back in July 2010 I spent time in London where I saw Horrorshow and Hilltop Hoods, and I thought the party was off the tap in that crowd, but MSFest put that the shame.

Let’s just say that if I had fake boobs that they would have burst because I was pressed so hard into the people in front of me. There were even times that I had to check if I was still breathing. I had a boy that was trying to crowd surf drop on my head, I went with the crowd and fell over twice and it make it worse I was wearing really loose jean shorts and by the time the set was over they had fallen a fair way down my legs, not that anyone was going to see anything in that crowd anyway.

I had carefully straightened my hair in the morning but this was a distant image after I left the Drapht mosh. My hair was dripping with sweat along with my singlet and my clean shoes and socks now supported a grey, brown tinge.

When the set was finished I shook the guys hand that I had gone into battle with (meaning we braced with each other to hopefully fend off being victim of the crowd) and I sat for a moment to gather my thoughts before heading into the Bliss & Eso audience.

And, here we go again… It was no nearly as bad as Drapht, but it still had some sting. Bliss & Eso put on a performance, they were quick to work the crowd, getting them jumping and yelling back phrases of their songs. It was almost a little too smooth if you ask me, but I guess it’s the same if you see the Hoods, the performances have become a second nature.

It was now time for the headline act, a band that has been hiding for a couple of years and have just decided to re-surface, an old favourite, The Presets. Considering I am a bit of a Aussie Hip Hop junkie it seems strange the deep love I have for The Presets, but they know how to rock a CD, and they know how to rock a stage. It was crazy good. I stayed out of the mosh this time around and opted to have some space to dance, and I am glad I did because the set was off the hook. I look forward to the up and coming CD and hopefully seeing The Presets a little more in public.

Then it was over. After 12 hours, alcohol and many toilet breaks it was time to leave. The wait was not long and awkward, rather a brisk walk out the gates and along the streets of Launceston. The local pubs were gearing up for the giant night ahead.

I have come to a verdict though when attending festivals. Drink less, therefor you spend less time lining up at the bar (30-45mins) and less time lining up for the toilet (30-45mins). I think my tally was 4 Smirnoff Blacks and 3 toilet stops. Not too bad I don’t think. And, if you are going to drink a lot, at least go sweat it out in the mosh pit!!!

You will only regret it when Monday rolls around and you have super sore stomach muscles and you can hardly lift your arms above your head because you were jumping with your hands in the air for so long.

Gines Blog #7

North Face 100 Blog #6

Thanks to Head to Toe Health Care, ZONE Fitness, St.Mel, Freedom Tiger for all their support!

Courtside at the Australian Open

The view from my seat at the tennis on Wednesday. Row A next to players seats, watching Andy Roddick!

Chris Anstey: Urban Pavement

North Face 100 Blog #5

Gines picks up a new sponsor, St. Mel. We head down to the flagship store to discuss the signing and find out a little more about the brand.

Enjoy!

The Scarecrows