Today I got to try on the newest Ahead Of The Curve Jacket in both size 8 and 10 in the Rocksteady/Royalty Shale Stripe and Coal Shale Stripe. I’m really glad I have the Hustle Jacket already because other wise I would have been seriously tempted by this jacket. The fit is quite similar to the Hustle Jacket of last year with a generous, relaxed fit. I wouldn’t call this a size down jacket but if your between two sizes you could go with either your lower size or your upper size. I liked the fit of this in the size 8 on me (same as my Hustle) but I don’t tend to layer anything super bulky under neath and I don’t have wide shoulders. I can wear running luon, Swiftly Tech LS, Cabin LS and Chai Pullover underneath the 8 in this and in fact I tried this on with my Full Tilt LS underneath. The back pleats where what initially bugged me about this jacket but it’s not really poofy since it’s just one layer of fabric. Yes I would prefer a more slightly streamlined look at the back but thats not usually what lululemon does. 

Ahead Of The Class Jacket

Coal Shale Stripe/Size 10

 Royalty Rocksteady Shale Stripe/Size 8

 My temptation today was this Rocksteady Swiftly Tech LS. I may want this come Thursday Upload. Worn here with the Astro Wunder Unders…see? No muffin top!

 Comparison of newest Heathered Lavender Grey CRB (bottom/Left) and Pear Luxtreme Pigeon CRB. 

The Heathered Lavender Grey is not as soft as other colors of heathered luon have been in the past and it has a more purple undertone. Also, you don’t have that pearlized look that the Pigeon CRB has. This was an easy pass for me since I have the Pigeon CRB on the right and they are too close in tone and color to justify both. If you passed on the Pigeon because you hated pearl luxtreme you may want to get this one.

Super bummed about todays product drop! First of all, a few stores haven’t gotten a product drop today due to having to do store inventory. My store was one of them and sadly I made the voyage out there prior to going to parent participation preschool (StrongStart BC) and my trip was fruitless. Ah well, at least I got to go armed to preschool with a Starbucks this time. Secondly, nothing from todays product drop from other stores is really grabbing me. I’m sort of interested in the newest Get Down Vest in Ghost/Magnum and am considering selling my Ivory Huff N Puff Vest. I’m not sure though, I really have to try this one on again but I think the quilt design in this one is a but too busy for my figure. I do love it in Ghost though. 

This Clear Sky Swiftly Tech is so pretty, I wish it came in a V-neck. I’d love either a Clear Sky V-Neck or Rocksteady. Somehow I’m using my Raspberry V Neck Swiftly a lot casually even though I never liked wearing my crewneck lolo swiftly casualy.

 Heathered Lavender Grey Cool Racerback Tank. I really like this color but I have a Heathered Pigeon one so I wont be getting this one. I’m anxiously awaiting a CRB in Raspberry which was why I made sure to squeeze a trip in to the store today. 

I also wanted to try this Ahead Of The Curve Jacket today. I have two Hustle Jackets which I love dearly so I wont be truly tempted by this one. I really poo-pooed the pleated back on this jacket but thinking back, a lot of people poo-pooed the Hustle Jacket last year for the ruffled back and bubbled hem and later changed their minds so this is definitely worth a shot. It’s worth noting that this is a too/from jacket and not a specifically made for running jacket. It lacks the details that the run jackets have such as reflectivity so if you want to use it for running make sure to check it out thoroughly and make sure it will suit your needs. 

 The very important rear view

Dear Lulu, why did you have to go and ruin something with such potential. Twice now. I loved Coal Shale Stripe and ended up returning the Speed Skirt in Coal Shale Stripe because it was stupidly made with 2 way (actually, it’s no way) Stretch instead of 4 way. And now a new running jacket in Coal Shale Stripe which looks lovely and reasonable in the front. And the back…is just redonkulous. Bahumbug!! Maybe I need to just try this on and see, perhaps it needs to be a bit more fitted in order to loose the volume in the back. 

I’ve been wanting to try Crossfit for a very long time now and finally decided to do the free intro session about 3 weeks ago at Rocky Point Crossfit. I was pretty intimidated to try it out since most people I know that do Crossfit are in amazing physical shape and honestly I expected it to be a lot like the typical bodybuilding gym culture but it was not at all like that.  The gym, although predominantly male, has a good number of members that are female, moms and mature adults. This makes it much more approachable for me, especially since the coaches are so encouraging and expect you to be able to succeed at the workouts. You definitely don’t feel out of place or like your getting in anybodies way of having a serious workout by being the newbie. 

I though this was a really good time to start Crossfit since my running seems to be lacking in motivation lately and I’ve been doing 3-4 mile runs 2 days a week. I want to do the BMO Half Marathon again in the Spring but I just can’t seem to get out of this running funk so I thought it would be good to try something very different that would build strength as well as stamina.

My intro session involved a lot of squats. I did about 100 squats in an exercise called Tabata, pullups using bands, pushups and sit ups as well as a 400 meter run with a medicine ball. When I got home I was sweating, my muscles where shaking and my heart was racing. When I come home from a run I’m usually sweating but my muscles aren’t so tired they’re shaking and my heart isn’t usually racing throughout the entire workout. This was exciting. I was so very sore for the next several days and sore from neck down, not just my legs. It made me a bit worried about how I’d be able to manage going to a next class with such sore muscles but I’ve been told that the first 3 weeks are the hardest. 

My first day of the 12 foundation classes was on Monday and it was brutal. The first lesson was deadlifts and I started with 110lbs, did a few reps at that and the bar felt too wobbly and light so we moved up to 125lbs and that felt comfortably heavy and my technique improved. After about 2 sets of 10 The Coach bumped me up to 135lbs and 5 reps and that gave me ‘the look of consternation’ that Coach was looking for and then he popped on an     extra10lbs and I pushed out 3 lifts which nearly killed me. From their we moved on to Kettlebell Swings  and I sucked so badly at those. I couldn’t get the coordination down and do the movements properly and out of 30 I probably got 10 right. After that I did a few pullups using the highest resistant band and I hopped down in the middle of my required reps because I felt my arms where going to give out on me and I would get propelled like a sling shot. My next task was something called little Helen which was a 200 meter dash, 12 Kettlebell Swings  and 6 Pullups and then repeated. I was so glad when the class was over but I felt so empowered that I was able to lift so much with the dead lift and that I could get thru such a challenging workout. Today, I am pretty sore but not as sore as I was after my intro session. My inner upper thighs and below my butt are currently what is hurting me the most which is good because thats an area that is hard to target in a workout. My back and shoulders and tummy are also sore but not nearly as bad. My next class is on Thursday and then I think i’ll start going every other day during the weekdays with maybe a weekend class thrown in. 

I’ll try to keep you guys posted with weekly posts. I’ve also added a ‘Before’ picture and I hope to be able to update it with a significantly improved ‘After’ picture at some point. My goals aren’t really scale related but I’d love to see some changes in definition and strength. 

It’s been a hectic and stressful week guys, posting product links is super relaxing right about now. Also, I had my first foundations class at Rocky Point CrossFit last night so I will be posting about that shortly. And… today is the season premier to a few shows I watch so now I have a pretty good way to waist time when I need to. I love PVRing shows to watch after the kids go to bed and I get a chance to do nothing for a while.

I’m a little disappointed that this weeks product drop has been mostly focused on the jackets, Get Down and the See Me Ride Items as well as the Silverscent Luon items. I did like the Get Down Jacket enough to try it on again for serious consideration at a later date, but for now I’m wanting tanks, wraps and things in Raspberry and Rocksteady. I really liked the Rocksteady Run For Your Life Tank from last week so I may get another one on Thursday if no surprises get uploaded.  I’m anxiously awaiting a pretty Raspberry Cool Racerback Tank though so that takes priority.

Get Down Jacket

See Me Ride Poncho

See Me Ride Commuting Pants

Fresh Manifesto Long Sleeve

Dash Tank

Harem Crop

Dance Studio Jacket

Define Jacket

Scuba Hoodie Ghost Ground Nesting Black Bird

Silverscent luon items:

Wunder Under Crop Silverescent

Groove Pants

Power Y

Flow Y Bra

I squeezed a trip in to the closest lululemon between Dr.’s appointments this afternoon in hopes that I would find a Raspberry Cool Racerback Tank but sadly there was nothing in store for me today. I also wanted a second pair of Astro WU Crops and they were totally sold and the educator suggested they wouldn’t be back till next year. I was momentarily tempted by the Get Down Jacket in black but wasn’t sure about how flattering such a puffy jacket is on me and at $248 I really needed a second opinion. The fit is TTS and super, super warm. It’s really light but I just felt bulky in it, especially since I was wearing my mom crops. Last years puffy jacket was initially priced at $220 and then marked down to $178 so I think I’m going to wait for the price to get re assessed back down to reason before I buy. Honestly I’d rather pay the big bucks for a North Face puffy jacket.

Get Down Jacket $248

650 count/fill

See Me Ride Poncho – $198

I didn’t try this jacket on today because for something so..shal we say ‘trendy’ I prefer a much lower price point. I do see how this See Me Ride line was designed with Vancouverites in mind. There is a great number of people that ride to work here year round in various inclement conditions from far away suburbs to downtown. We have great bike lanes and it’s part of the culture here. My husband was thinking of starting to ride to work from Coquitlam to Downtown Vancouver this fall so he’ll be interested to see if the mens line also has an equivalent, sans poncho. 

Dash Tank 

My sister got the Dash Tank this past weekend in Dewberry and it looked super pretty on her. I’m tempted by the Rocksteady and Clear Blue Sky Dash Tanks that I saw today but didn’t bite the bullet. Maybe next week. 

Manifesto Long Sleeve

 Oy!!! These harem pants were bad enough in luon last year but luxtreme harem pants are awful. saggy, baggy and shiny to boot. 

 Scuba Hoodie Nesting Bird Print 

TORONTO – Lululemon Athletica Inc. said on Friday its quarterly profit rose 76 per cent, on the back of strong online and in-store sales of its yoga wear.
Net income rose to $38.4 million, or 26 cents a share, in the Vancouver-based company’s fiscal second quarter ended July 31. That’s up from a year-earlier profit of $21.8 million, or 15 cents.
“Our business remained very healthy through the second quarter, as strong sales productivity and operating margins grew pre-tax income by more than 60 per cent,” said chief executive Christine Day in a statement.
Lululemon’s sales rose nearly 40 per cent to $212.3 million. Comparable store sales – for stores opened at least a year – rose 20 per cent.
The company also raised its outlook for the current fiscal year, after adjusting for a two-for-one stock split announced in March this year. It now expects earnings per share of $1.10 to $1.14 for the 12 months to the end of January. Before the split, it had forecast fiscal 2012 earnings of $2.10 to $2.16.

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Lululemon+profit+lifted+robust+sales/5376741/story.html#ixzz1XTETIlzv

Sneaky Lemons posted a groups shot of some new Lululemon Coats but didn’t provide descriptions. It looks like there are two puffy style jackets (one podium like jacket and one Puffy style jacket) in Ghost and the Lavender Haze jacket seems to be a rain coat  with a kimono style sleeve. It’s hard to tell what the two black coats are. 

**Update: Thanks to a commenter the name of the puffy jacket is called the Get Down Jacket (Jacket version of the Get Down Vest), Kimono Cape is called the See Me Ride (Jacket)**

I’m really sorry about the quality of the photos today but I had a spare child with me today (my 3 year old nephew, OMG I had two 3 year olds and a 1 year old with me!!) and so I was in constant motion in the fitting room keeping the three kids from tearing the place apart. I am a dedicated blogger after all and in the end I was able to capture a few shots for you guys. 

I decided to try on the Run Essential Jacket that was uploaded today since I hadn’t seen it in store prior to the upload and a lot of you where wondering on the fit. I tried it on in my usual size 10 and was warned by one of the educators that some have sized up in this due to snugness in the hips. I can see sizing up in this jacket for sure, especially if you have wider hips and you like to layer thicker things underneath such as a scuba or a thick sweater. I have wide hips and the 10 was fine (disregard the crooked zipper, I didn’t pay attention to properly styling it and was rushed) but I’m looking at this from the perspective of a running jacket and I would not layer anything more then a running pullover under this. The upper body and shoulders was quite roomy and the only area that felt like I might want more room was in the hips…but I have large hips and their was still some wiggle room in it enough that I could comfortably run in this. For reference, my Hustle Jacket is a size 8 and roomy, the Inspire Jacket I take in a size 10. Another thing to note about this jacket is that it’s a thin windbreaker style and will not serve as a fall casual jacket unless you layer underneath. The Hustle Jacket from last year and the Inspire Jacket have more of a lining inside so that is why this jacket is $118 vs. $168 for the Inspire Jacket. 

Run Essential Jacket

Bad side view photo but you can see it’s quite loose fitting in the shoulders and arms and in the chest. 

Dash Tank, Heathered Clear Sky

Photo courtesy of Lulu This Just In Group

Dance Studio Jacket, Lavender Grey