West Coast Trail Speed Record Attempt – A Report from Gary Robbins
North Vancouver trail runner Gary Robbins is on a bit of a hot streak of late – including a win at the H.U.R.T 100 miler in January in Hawaii, a 6th place overall at the prestigious Western States 100 mile Endurance run, and speed records for two of Canada’s most popular and rugged trails, including our very own West Coast Trail. The two speed record attempts are a... Read More
The Yukon River Quest – The Incredible Journey
This article originally appeared in last Saturday’s Globe and Mail and follow’s this year’s Yukon River Quest, the longest paddle race in the world. This is a great read. =========== Written by Hayley Mick from Saturday’s Globe and Mail WHITE RIVER. HOUR 52. Ingrid Wilcox peers past the nose of her yellow kayak at a miraculous sight: someone waving from... Read More
Introducing the Vancouver Island “Spine” – A Trail from Victoria to Cape Scott
What is the Vancouver Island Spine? The Vancouver Island Spine is a proposed 700 kilometer trail that will stretch along the entire north/south length of Vancouver Island between Cape Scott and Victoria. The proposed hiking trail will be made up of a combination of established hiking trails through provincial parks, urban mixed-use trails, old railway right-of-ways and logging roads.... Read More
Got Chocolate Milk? Triathlon Team Happy to Recover and Party Drinking Cow Juice
By Jim Morris, The Canadian Press It used to be their guilty little secret. Who knew it was good for them? After a hard workout, Olympic champion Simon Whitfield and other top Canadian triathletes would sit around and pour back a few cartons of chocolate milk. “We have been doing it for years, thinking we were rebels,” Whitfield said with a chuckle during a recent telephone... Read More
An Interview with Simon Bairu, the Greatest Distance Runner in Canadian History
The following interview by Christopher Kelsall was originally published on Flotrack and re-produced here with permission. © Copyright – 2010 – Christopher Kelsall Simon Bairu of Regina, Saskatchewan is the greatest distance runner in Canadian history. Amongst the vast wealth of athletics prognosticators, it appears that it is a foregone conclusion that he will take... Read More
Opera Singer Training for Competitive Track Series this Spring
The following article, which features Trainharder blogger Marilyn Arsenault, was written by Travis Paterson and published in the Saanich News… ====================== There’s a lot more energy in opera singer Marilyn Arsenault’s voice this spring. There’s also a lot more spring in her step. A former varsity runner for the University of Victoria, Arsenault is in a year... Read More
Canadian Running 2010 Trail Running Shoe Review
Canadian Running Magazine’s 2010 Trail Running Shoe Review is now available for viewing on the magazine’s website here. 11 shoes are reviewed in total, including the ever popular Brooks Cascadia and the Soloman XT Wings. Enjoy! Read More
Are You Ready for a Cycling Stage Race?
Ken and Sheldon, two guys who chronicle their journey as they train for the TransRockies, have recently posted a great article on what it takes to train for and compete in a multi-day mountain bike stage race. The post can be found on their website, Bikeridr. The first part is included below… ================== I might be a little premature, but I hazard to proclaim that... Read More
8 Signs You Are Overtraining
For those of you in the midst of heavy training sometimes its easy to overlook the symptoms of over training. For some guidance on this Mark Sisson of the Mark’s Daily Apple blog has just posted an excellent article explaining these symptoms which range from losing leanness despite increased exercise to suddenly falling ill a lot more often. His post can be read here. Read More
Can You Be an Endurance Athlete and Primal?
Courtesy of Mark Sisson of Mark’s Daily Apple: By now you know I have a biased point of view that rigorous endurance training is antithetical to health. Yes, I competed and loved it for 20 years, so I get the appeal it has for so many, but these days my personal focus is on maintaining the highest level of fitness and health on the least amount of work and sacrifice. I want... Read More
Book Review: Marathon by Hal Higdon
The following book review is courtesy of Christopher Kelsall and originally published on the Flotrack website. Reproduced here with permission. ====================== We’ve all read John L. Parker Junior’s contribution to running culture, the quasi-fictional parable, Once a Runner – or inevitably you will. As far as running novels go, Parker set the benchmark with this story,... Read More
UBC Researchers Help Cyclists Avoid Olympic Road Closures
This article was written by Christie Hurrell and originally published in the UBC Report – Worried that getting around the city could be the toughest event of the 2010 Winter Games? Thousands of athletes and visitors, along with road and parking restrictions, will all contribute to increased congestion in Metro Vancouver. A UBC research team is encouraging people to use... Read More
Inflexible Runners Faster than Flexible Runners
A recent article in the New York Times outlines recent research which makes that case that flexibility should not be considered a cornerstone of health and fitness. In fact, the latest science suggests that “extremely loose muscles and tendons are generally unnecessary (unless you aspire to join a gymnastics squad), may be undesirable and are, for the most part, unachievable,... Read More
Athletics Canada’s Apparent Albatross
The following, written by Christopher Kelsall, was originally published in Flotrack and re-produced here with permission -> November 1, 2009 – There is a stirring of athletes and involved personalities, gently rustling the jib of the Canadian cross-country scene. This is happening right now at a well-known Canadian running forum. The parties appear to be organizing,... Read More
A Beer Before a Run? Some Serious Runners Say Yes
Written by Hayley Mick and originally published in the October 29, 2009 edition of the Globe and Mail; Competitive distance runners, unlike hockey or rugby players, are better known as boy scouts than party boys, but some say that’s just a stereotype. Jim Finlayson, one of Canada’s elite distance runners, gathered with 75 racers on the track, feeling confident after... Read More
99 Ways to Save Money on Food
Mark from the Mark’s Daily Apple Blog has recently written a great post on how to save money on feed. 99 ways to be exact. A selection of our favorite ones are listed below: Shop the perimeter. Don’t buy processed/branded food items. Don’t buy things just because they are cheap. If you don’t end up using it no matter how cheap it was it’s lost money. Don’t shop... Read More
The Road to Success, Paved With Bad Advice
As athletes we’ve all gotten bad advice before. So it seems fitting that endurance sports writer Gina Kolata of the New York Times has written about this phenomena in her most recent article… ================= THE talk, at the Expo Center at the Boston Marathon this year, had an intriguing title: Using Biomechanics to Predict Running Injuries. And the lecturer, Dr. Thomas... Read More
Running past hard times
CBC’s Scott Russell discusses on his blog the immunity of the running industry during the recession. An excerpt has been included below, to read his post in full please visit his blog. ====== The guy in the store where running shoes are sold had a simple message. “People run even when they’re stressed,” he said. Then he punched the cash register and rang up $169 for... Read More
Want to Go Faster? You Need a Trainer
A great article from New York Times writer Gina Kolata: ================ IF anyone ever wondered whether it was talent or sustained systematic training that makes athletes so good, they need only look at Joshua Gordon, a professional mediator in Boston. Mr. Gordon ran cross-country in college before stopping completely to take up baseball. Six years later, in 1999, he decided, almost... Read More
Did Humans Evolve to Be Long-Distance Runners?
Following is an excerpt from Mark Sisson’s blog (The Daily Apple) where he argues, contrary to the recent emerging popular belief, that humans have NOT evolved to be long distance runners… ================ Thanks to the several readers who have pointed out this recent article in SEED Magazine which once again dredges up the tired argument that humans evolved to be long-distance... Read More
