This article was originally posted in BC Living Magazine and is written by Vancouver based strength and conditioning coach Curb Ivanic. To find out more about Curb visit www.corerunning.com and www.ultrafitness.net -

Having a support network of people who like exercising together is the best way to get fit and healthy

It’s hard to live a healthy lifestyle if all your friends smoke and their idea of a workout is walking from the barstool to the washroom.

Playing on a sports team or belonging to a club such as Club Fat Ass makes getting fit fun and challenging.

Club Fat Ass Organizes Unique Fitness Challenges

I confess I’m a Fat Ass and proud of it. The club puts on some very unique events and get togethers.

One event involves getting together for a Saturday night party. What’s so healthy about that? Before the party starts you have to do a 90-minute run in the dark through the trails of the Capilano Canyon.

Another, more extreme, event is the Bagger Challenge, which takes place between June and October.

This event was the brainchild of David Crear and has caught on with many of the members. It involves reaching the peak or “bagging” as many of the 44 North Shore mountains as possible during the dates of the competition. The challenge includes only peaks you can reach without climbing or ropes, though some of the trails can be hazardous.

While the Bagger Challenge is one of the tougher events, the club puts on many other beginner-friendly events, and you don’t have to be an elite athlete to participate in most of them.

What you do need is a sense of adventure, a love of the outdoors and a good attitude. And while there is an element of competition, the events are not races. Camaraderie is emphasized as much as competition, as is environmental stewardship.

Fitness Groups Make You Accountable

Becoming part of a group makes you accountable to reach your fitness goals. Every January 1 many CFA members publicly list their fitness goals for the year.

Having some social pressure isn’t always bad thing. We can often rationalize to ourselves if we get off track with our goals, but it’s much harder having to explain it to our peers.

Come out to a Club Fat Ass event and see for yourself how much fun you can have while pushing your limits. I’ll bet you’ll end up a Fat Ass yourself.

Our very own beloved blogger Marilyn Arsenault has made the cover of the latest issue of Canadian Running Magazine. This comes after a stellar year in which she competed and excelled in a variety of events. We think big things are in store for Marilyn as she attempts her first marathon this fall. What’s next? Cover of Time Magazine??

Visit Marilyn’s blog here.

For those that are not aware the West Coast Trail is a rugged former-rescue trail along the west coast of Vancouver Island. The trail is 75 kilometers long and typically takes hikers 7 days to hike. However the trail has seen a number of trail runners attempt to set speed records over the last few decades, with the most recent record standing at 10 hours, 14 minutes.  Following is Gary’s account of his attempt to break this record.

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Written by Gary Robbins

The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same. Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination.”
Don Williams, Jr. (American Novelist and Poet, b.1968)

Just organizing this one proved to be a bit of a nightmare that somehow turned into a dream come true. I come from a big extended family in Newfoundland and though the years have passed the bond still remains tight. My Mother is the only remaining sibling, of eighteen born (yes you read that right) that still resides in Nfld. For years when I went on BC road trips and relayed the stories to my parents it would be followed up by, you missed aunt and uncle a-b-c-d and cousins e-f-g-h-i-j-k-l-m-n-o-p, in towns q-r-s-t.

A few years back a wedding reunited me with this long lost side of my family tree and it has been an absolute pleasure getting to know them all over again. In the end, I could not have pulled this one off without their direct assistance and it would simply be unfair of me not to start by specifically thanking everyone who made this possible for me.

Dean Neville, Nanaimo ferry terminal to Port Alberni, and morning drop off at Frances Barkley boat ride from Port Alberni to Bamfield

Aunt Karen, Uncle Bob, place to crash and great conversation on Monday night

Sarah Logan, friend of this side of family. Place to crash in Bamfield on Tuesday night and drive to trailhead at 5:20am Wednesday

Randy and Roxanne Neville. Pick up in Victoria, dinner, change of clothes for journey home, drive to ferry in Tsawassen.

Ryne Melcher (Montrail family) and his GF Kristin Ohm-Pedersen, drop off at ferry on Monday evening and pick up from ferry on Wednesday night.

As mentioned, just getting to the trail head was a journey in and of itself. Thankfully the scenery upon BC Ferries is second to none, and by the time I arrived in Bamfield itself, on Tuesday afternoon, I felt like I’d been off of work for days, even though it was but 18hrs since I had clocked out.

On the running side of things the weather could not have been better, and given that it rained just 36hr after I came off the trail I’d wager to say that I had the best day of the year for my speed attempt. In hindsight I’m fully relieved I was not able to attempt the trail in May, as was originally planned, because it would have been a complete waste of my time, money, and energy, with a definitive do-over necessary. In the end it most certainly all worked out for the best!

After a relaxing afternoon in the tiny hamlet of Bamfield I’d felt like I’d stepped back in time, though not having phone reception for a day was actually kinda nice. After packing my gear I headed out for a quick test run, as I’d never actually run with this new pack before (”do as I say, not as I do!”) Ahem, don’t try anything new in a race! Speed attempts are different don’t ya know!

At 9:30pm I downed a couple of melatonin, as I would never be able to sleep otherwise, and I was out within minutes.

4:30am is early, no matter how you slice it and no matter what time you may have crawled into bed the night before.

5:15am Sarah and I depart for the trail. It’s a ten minute drive and for the first five minutes I find myself making jokes and trying to wake us both up. As we approach our destination though, I go noticeably silent. It’s almost go time. The gravity of the situation is starting to sink in.

It’s still completely dark outside, and there won’t be anyone else around when I arrive at my starting point. There will not be any other runners to share this experience with, or to create that wonderful nervous excitement that inevitably precludes daunting tasks such as these. I won’t have a Race Director there to send me off, and there won’t be any well stocked aid stations along the way. I’m completely on my own, and competing against nothing but a clock and thirteen years of history. I can’t help but notice that I’m more nervous than I was while lining up for the Western States 100 miler back in June. This attempt is so black and white it’s scary.

10h12m or better, success…10h14m or longer, failure.

I have no one to pace off of, no idea of what my ‘splits’ along the trail should be, no way of knowing at any point in time if I’m genuinely going fast enough to pull this thing off. Due to this fact there will not be a single mental break for the entire duration of the run. I have to get my mind locked in, for as much as some of this might prove to be enjoyable, it’s about time to get down to business.

I didn’t pack a headlamp so as to save on weight and we had to wait a few extra minutes until I could sufficiently make out the obstacles of the trail. At 5:34am, I asked Sarah to give me a ten second countdown…

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-GO!!

To continue reading the rest of this story visit Gary’s blog here….

This year wrapped up a decade of GutBuster Trail Runs on Vancouver Island.  What started as a single race at Mt Tzouhalem in 2001 with 40 participants has grown into a 5 race series with nearly 750 participants this season!  Our Westwood Lake GutBuster was featured in Canadian Running Magazine as one of “Canada’s Top Ten Trail Races” and we saw our GutBuster Ascent Race at Mt Washington grow to almost 100 crazy runners taking on the 6km uphill race!

Shawn Nelson continued his strong running this season comfortably winning the last 4 races by a combined time of 5min52 seconds.  This was Shawns first ever season victory at the GutBuster Series and he looks like he will be hard to beat in the coming years.  Other strong performances this year were put in by Shelby Drope of the Westwood Running Club for winning the first race of the season, Shaun-Stephens Whale of Vancouver for giving Shawn Nelson a good battle at Westwood Lake and Andrew Pape-Salmon who showed his strength lies in the mountains with his 3rd OA showing at Mt Washington.

Claire Morgan showed a strong return to form this year by winning the overall womens title in close

race with Antonia Grady.  Claire has represented Canada at the World Mountain Running Championships and Antonia was this year’s women’s winner at the challenging Kusam Klimb.  It came down to 2 points at the end of the year to cap off an exciting season for these two.  Last year’s overall champion, Care Wakely, won the last three races of the year after missing Westwood Lake and running the short course at Mt Tzouhalem.  Care showed great form in her 3 showings though with a combined winning margin of 14min53 seconds! Next up for Care is the Gore-Tex Trans Rockies Run in Colorado later this month.  Care and GutBuster Race Director (also boyfriend), Mark Nelson, are racing the 195km 6 day stage race together and you can follow along with their progress by adding Frontrunners Westshore on Facebook or at www.transrockies.com.

We look forward to seeing you all out on the trails again next year and wish you the best of luck with your fall running goals!

Victor Zyemtsev of the Ukraine and Meredith Kessler of the USA were winners of the 28th Annual Subaru Ironman Canada. This victory was the seventh for Zyemtsev and the first for Kessler. Zyemtsev finished ahead of Christian Brader and Stephan Vuckovic of Germany. Zyemtsev’s winning time was 8:32:28.

Kiwi Kieran Doe and Canadian Tom Evans were within seconds of each over the first 120km of the ride before Evans dropped off the pace. Doe went on to finish the bike with a 3:58 lead over Canadian Scott Curry and 4:02 over German Christian Bader. Doe’s lead off the bike started to erode 10km into the run as Brader took over the lead with Zyemtsev in the chase. Zyemtsev stayed within a minute of Brader until the 25 km mark, when they came together. The two ran shoulder to shoulder until the final turnaround on Lakeshore Drive where Zyemtsev put in a strong surge propelling him into a small lead over Brader. Brader was not able to match this acceleration and Zyemtsev went on to win the race with Brader finishing just 13 seconds back. Stephan Vuckovic from Germany had a solid run to finish the race in third.
Top five men’s results are below:
1.     Viktor Zyemtsev, Ukraine     8:32:28
2.     Christian Brader, GER          8:32:41
3.     Stephan Vuckovic, GER          8:38:31
4.     Petr Vabrousek, CZE          8:39:16
5.     Kyle Marcotte, CAN          8:40:45
On the women’s side, defending champion Tereza Macel had a strong swim coming out of the water in first place followed by American Meredith Kessler and Swiss Simone Benz who were just over a minute back. On the bike Macel went on to build a substantial lead over Canadian Heather Wurtele and Kessler coming into the out and back section of the course. It was at this point that Macel’s lead began to evaporate as she struggled to keep up the pace. Over the next 10km the chase pair passed Macel and went to complete the bike portion of the event with Kessler holding a slim 39 second lead over Wurtele. On the run the duo of Kessler and Wurtele stayed close to each other until Kessler put in a surge to open up a 2:13 second lead. Kessler extended her lead to win the event with Wurtele finishing second and a hard charging Mackenzie Madison finishing a distant third.
Top five women’s results are below:
1.     Meredith Kessler, USA          9:13:46
2.     Heather Wurtele, CAN          9:17:17
3.     Mackenzie Madison, USA     9:34:51
4.     Gillian Moody, CAN          9:40:10
5.     Christie Sym, AUS          9:41:30
Today’s event saw a record 2,780 athletes start in the waters of Okanagan Lake with a 2.4 mile swim, followed by a scenic 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2 mile marathon finishing on Lakeshore Drive in downtown Penticton.
For more information on Subaru Ironman Canada and to view race results, visit http://www.ironman.ca. For media-related inquiries and imagery from today’s event, contact Helen Manning at Helen@nasports.com or 416-806-5273.

The Q’s Victoria Track Series wrapped-up its final meet Saturday with an exciting main event finish, which featured two of Canada’s top runners, two-time Canadian Marathon Champion and two time IAAF World Cross-Country Championships representative for Canada, Jim Finlayson of Victoria and 2:18 marathon runner and training partner, James Landon.

Final Meet – Saturday, Aug. 21, 2010:

The meet also saw 19-time Canadian Champion, Lucy Smith take on an earlier 5000m race during the meet besting all competitors both men and women with a near Canadian Master’s record time (40+) with her outstanding solo finish in 16:59.6 — photo by David Nicholls (http://pbase.com/nicintime)

The main event – the Elite Men’s 5000m, included Ryan McKenzie who has one of the fastest 5000m times in Canadian history (13:30) as a personal best, although he is currently working his way back into fitness, post-injury.
Pacer Trevor O’Brien led the field for 2000m of the first 5000m (12.5 laps). O’Brien is well known for his 800m speed and pacing Steve Osaduik for 20 of the 26.2 miles of the record-setting Royal Victoria Marathon that happened in 2006 with Osaduik’s 2:16:49.

With a large, early lead it appeared Finlayson had the race in his back pocket, before Landon managed to hunt Finlayson down in the final 20 metres of the race – a sprint ensued and Landon pipped Finlayson for the win, breasting the tape in a Series record time of, 14:45’4 to Finlayson’s 14:45’9.

Maurice Tarrant:

The evening also featured Maurice Tarrant who put aside his own Canadian age-group record smashing behavior by pacing a training partner for a few laps before taking off to set a provincial record as a consolation record.
Tarrant, who has owned as many as 58 Canadian age-group records, set four Canadian age-group records in four series races before succumbing to the heat of the Saturday Aug. 14 race – where the temperature at race time was 34 degrees Celsius.

The provincial record (on the Aug. 21) was doubly a consolation record. Tarrant’s training partners who also took on the 5000m race, Marcia Stromsmoe and Les McNeil will be competing in the BC Seniors Games later this summer in the 60-69 age-category.

The meet also saw 19-time Canadian Champion, Lucy Smith take on an earlier 5000m race during the meet besting all competitors both men and women with a near Canadian Master’s record time (40+) with her outstanding solo finish in 16:59.6.

Series seven records in eight meets:

During the series’ eight meets there were seven records set, David Guss of Edmonton raced an (Alberta) Provincial one-mile record time during the July 31 meet. Herb Phillips of Vancouver set the Canadian 70 age-category mile record that same night. Maurice Tarrant took four Canadian age-group records and one British Columbian, Provincial age-group record.

Last Sunday, during the Q’s Victoria Track Series Awards and Silent Auction night, Maurice Tarrant was, for the second time in his career, presented with the inaugural Maurice Tarrant award.

The Q’s Victoria Track Series Annual Maurice Tarrant Performance Award is presented to the athlete who gains the most votes by his contemporaries during the series Tarrant received 83 votes, second place received 29. The other Maurice Tarrant Award, which he won is a club award presented to him by the Prairie Inn Harriers Running Club.
Tarrant will be taking on the 80-plus Canadian age-group record for the half marathon at the Good Life Fitness Marathon Oct. 10, 2010.

Canada’s Catharine Pendrel capped her Mountain Bike World Cup campaign in stunning fashion Saturday in Windham, N.Y., racing to victory in the final round to capture the overall title.

The cyclist from Kamloops, B.C., became the third Canadian woman to achieve the lofty feat, following in the footsteps of Marie-Helene Premont, who won the World Cup title in 2008, and Alison Sydor, who won it multiple times in the 1990s.

Premont raced to silver Saturday, while American Georgia Gould finished third.

“This is amazing, to win my second World Cup of the season and the World Cup title, all a week before the world championships take place in Canada [in Mont-Saint-Anne, Que.],” Pendrel said.

“To win a World Cup race is always special, but to be consistent right through the season and win the title is hard. The race for the title was so tight all season, that it is extra special to win it.”

Pendrel attacked on the first of five laps, opening a 25-second gap on Premont. The Canadians rode away from the rest of the field, with the gap between the two remaining steady until the final lap, when Premont managed to close it and catch her rival at the top of the last climb.

Pendrel was able to pull away on the last descent en route to her second World Cup victory this season, and beat American Willow Koerber for the title. Premont was eighth in the overall World Cup standings.

“I know that I am stronger in the first half of the race, so I wanted to go out hard and establish a gap,” Pendrel said. “Marie was coming behind me, but I was able to get into the final descent ahead of her and it was enough to keep me in the lead.”

“MOMAR Cumberland is always a great race, and it’s so good to see local racers strengthening in both number and talent,” says MOMAR race director, Bryan Tasaka. Cumberland’s Jeremy Grasby, last year’s MOMAR Cumberland champion, will be defending his title against the 2010 MOMAR Squamish champ, John Markez of Vancouver, and the 2009 MOMAR Squamish winner, Bart Jarmula of Revelstoke.  Courtenay’s Genevieve Burdett will also be returning to defend her spot at the top as the 2009 MOMAR Cumberland’s top solo female racer. Locals will be joined by racers from Alberta, Newfoundland, Washington State, and all over BC.

MOMAR organizers are currently in the process of planning the race course.  “We like to keep the course fresh and unexpected,” says Tasaka. “We keep some of the best of old, but are really excited about the new terrain we’ll be including this year.” In addition to their typical sprint race, MOMAR offers a short course that will provide less seasoned racers with an opportunity to participate in a world-class adventure race.  Both the enduro (50km) course and short (30km) course will include mountain biking, kayaking, trail running, orienteering, and bushwhacking.

MOMAR organizers are still looking for some volunteers to assist with the coordination of this event. All volunteers receive a MOMAR T-shirt, entry to the infamous post-race dinner and party and the thrill of experiencing adventure racing up close.  For information on volunteering, contact lisa@mindovermountain.com.

Participating in a MOMAR, either as a racer or volunteer, also means you’ll be supporting MOMAR’s official charity, the Make-a-Wish Foundation. More information on racing, volunteering, MOMAR training clinics and their official charity is available at www.mindovermountain.com/momar or call 1.866.912.3331.

To say the previous record of 24:22 – set by New Zealand champion mountain runner Jonathan Wyatt - was “beaten” is an understatement. Shaving 32 seconds off a world-class, 6-year record is better described with superlatives such as “annihilated” or “destroyed”.

Says Salas of his astounding performance: “I was just trying for another fast time today. The last quarter was very fast for me; I didn’t really know how fast I could go. It’s kind of nice that the record for the Grind is back inVancouver.”

Salas is now the current titleholder for both the “official” and “recreational” Grouse Grind times. Official times are set during the annual BMO Grouse Grind Mountain Run, where the start and finish lines are set a ways back from the trail entrance and trail head. Undertaking the Grouse Grind outside of the race sets the recreational time, in the same way the daily traffic of hikers would. Electronic devices known as “Grind Timers” record times.

Sebastian has been quietly attempting to beat Jonathan Wyatt’s recreational time by training on the Grind this season, building up to today’s mind-boggling climb.

The Grouse Grind is a 2.9km hike up the side of Grouse Mountain. It is a grueling workout that has earned the nickname “Mother Nature’s Stairmaster” and has become a cultural phenomenon in Vancouver. Having a good “Grind Time” is cause for bragging rights for locals.

© Copyright – 2010 – Christopher Kelsall – Originally published on Flotrack -

Note: I wrote this interview with Bruce Deacon during March of 2010, for the May issue of Canadian Running Magazine. As the print business goes, the Canadian Running Magazine version was truncated down to 794 words. That is plenty of truncating! But a thank you must go out to Michal Kapral, Editor-in-Chief, as he let me be the one to shorten the conversation, giving me authority over the delete button (and the backspace button too). Thus I chose what words would remain for the print product; for this I am appreciative. Thanks Michal! I have seen a few too many articles shredded by someone else, where the end result may as well have been conducted by a rhesus monkey over-dosed on pseudoephedrine, trapped and swing-dancing in a carton of razor blades.

A very similar version of this interview also ran on Canadian Running Magazine’s website, shortly after the May issue had run its course on the newsstands – it sells quickly. For those not in Canada, CRM is dressed like Runner’s World Magazine, but performs a little more like Running Times Magazine or somehwere in between the two.

Since this interview, Bruce has continued his comeback from surgery of Haglund’s Deformity; it’s a heel-thing that is more common than you may think. You may follow his comeback by visiting his blog: The Long Road.

Here is the interview in its entirety:

Bruce Deacon caught and held the attention of the Canadian distance running community for nearly a decade, as he qualified and competed internationally during much of the country’s marathon-distance dry spell. The lone torch bearer – sort of speak – of Canadian distance running, Deacon competed admirably for Canada, placing a very respectable 11th and 16th at the IAAF World Track and Field Championships, winning silver at the Pan American Games, twice winning the California International Marathon, once in a storm, besting Kenyan, Elly Rono (who has a personal best time of 2:10:57) and he won the other CIM in oppressive heat. 

Now retired from competing internationally, Bruce works with the Canadian Olympic Committee in delivering education programs to Canadian schools. He kindly took the time from his busy work schedule to talk with me regarding his running career.

Christopher Kelsall: Most Canadians, who fancy themselves fans of the sport of running, are familiar with your story of competing in two marathons when you were 12-years of age. I understand that for typical stick and ball games you weren’t normally a high, schoolyard pick. Were you experimenting with marathons then because you weren’t playing on teams?
 
Bruce Deacon: I was one of the shortest kids in my school and really uncoordinated. I was the kid who rushed for the outfield in gym class because I knew that no one could hit the ball that far and so I wouldn’t embarrass myself. I was not an athlete. In fact, if they had a vote in my school for the least likely to ever be an Olympian, I would have voted for myself. 
 
It wasn’t until the Montreal 1976 Olympic Games that I really wanted to be an athlete. I prayed: “God if you find me a sport at which I can beat the big kids (pretty much all the other kids), then I would work really hard at it.” I went away to a summer camp and discovered I could run long distances. I just figured that God expected that I live up to my end of the deal and train at it.

I wasn’t last in my first races, but I was close enough to last to convince myself that longer distances, like the marathon, might be where I could best achieve a bit of sporting success. So, I did two marathons when I was 12. I would have done more, but for Bill Rodgers. I was a HUGE fan, and wrote him to tell him that I was running marathons. He was kind enough to write back, and wise enough to steer me towards track.

CK: You were around 9-years of age during the Montreal Games, which seems young to recognize you were probably not going to be a stick and ball athlete and that you wanted to be an Olympian.

BD: I was 10 during the games and didn’t really see much of them until we were herded into the gym in the fall to watch the films. I spent most of my summers at our cottage and at camp, so I didn’t watch much TV during the Montreal Games. I do think that there was divine direction during my teen years. I believe that as you use the abilities God gives you, that you are given more opportunities. I look back and see lots of great opportunities that opened up and how they encouraged me to persevere.

CK: You were one of a few to represent Canada internationally in distance running during the 1990s and early 2000s. You managed a couple 2:13 marathon results. It appears that even though Canadian distance running has been improving over recent years, your times would still be top-level as a Canadian today. How far away do you think we are from seeing someone pop a sub-2:10?

BD: Well, I would preface my remarks by saying that there were some great Canadian marathoners in the 1990s, including Peter Maher, Peter Fonseca, Carey Nelson and Art Boileau. All of these runners ran faster than I did. I guess the difference is that I outlasted them and kept at it. I think that Canada will get its sub-2:10, but you never know by who and when. I am confident that Coolsaet, Bairu or Gillis can run really fast, but you just can’t guarantee anything in the marathon. It is a strange event and luck plays a bigger role in it than in most others. There were many times I was ready for a 2:11 or 2:12, but arrived at the race to find howling winds or something small going wrong. I thought for sure that Jeff Schiebler would get a 2:08, or that Jon Brown would run 2:07, but so many little things can derail you. It isn’t like a shorter distance where you can try again the next week. In the marathon, your whole season comes down to one race.

CK: How is recovery from surgery on your Haglund’s Deformity progressing?

BD: It is getting better each day. It will still be a while until I can start a run-walk program, but I am running in the pool. I am just glad that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I battled with chronic Achilles tendinosis for more than a year and simply couldn’t run. I had all kinds of treatments that in the end proved to be very frustrating. Half the battle is learning the cause of the pain. The other half is getting rid of the pain and recovering.

CK: Seems like you have a high tolerance for boredom and pain. I am sure I read that you ran on a treadmill in a sauna in advance of a potential hot-weather marathon for the purpose of heat acclimatization.

BD: Yes, and it works like a charm. Prior to some of my hot-weather races I also used a heat chamber built around a treadmill. I was running in 40C heat and let me tell you how tough that makes you.

CK: You and I had a conversation once about base building. You seemed to indicate that after all of your years of running, you questioned how much of a base phase you really needed to repeat every cycle. Also I remember you once mentioning that your anaerobic phase is or was 8 – 12 weeks before you stop seeing improvements, which seems like a fairly long stretch. Looking at your 5k, 10k and half-marathon times in comparison to your marathon results, do you think you needed a lot more quality than a typical marathoner – that as a distance guy your stamina was easily improved?

BD: I found the long runs relatively easier than many people. I am more of an endurance guy and lack the leg speed of a lot of others. I mean on a downhill track with a running start and a tailwind, I might have been able to run a 54 second quarter. I would have a 10-13 week marathon build-up that would include a mix of aerobic and anaerobic threshold running. However, the anaerobic running would be more 5,000m or 10, 000m pace work. I would always include some 5-10K work in my typical week of marathon training, and would very rarely do a full week of nothing other than aerobic running unless I was in a recovery period after a marathon. I guess I never really felt that this was sound training practice. 
 
When you are training, you want to create a sufficient training stimulus to cause your body to adapt to a higher level of fitness. If you keep the same types of training for much more than 4-5 weeks, then your body will begin to experience a diminishing return on your training. For instance, if I run a 20-mile long run week in and week out, I sooner or later get into diminishing returns. My body has adapted to the stimulus, and I no longer gain any additional fitness. I need to either increase the stimulus or detrain and then return to the 20-mile long runs later. Many runners feel that if they bump up their long runs from 20 to 22 it will create a much greater stimulus. I don’t buy that. I don’t think that your body will differentiate between another 12-15 minutes of running. I would usually get my longest runs in the first 5 weeks of a marathon build-up. I would then reduce the volume and focus on more quality. I might do a 24-26 mile long run at week 5-6 of the build up, and then do a 20 mile run with 10-13 miles at pace (or faster) at week 8.

CK: Any leg speed in your weeks – alactic strides?

BD: Well, over the span of my career, I tried tons of things. I used to do a lot of diagonal strides on a soccer field. I would do these on easy days in my second session. I also did these really short activation sprints of maybe 4-6 strides as fast a possible. These were to activate the central nervous system and I would do them when I was fully warmed up in a morning easy run. 

CK: Can you tell me about your role with the Vancouver Winter Olympics?

BD: I lead the Western office of the Canadian Olympic Committee. The COC has offices in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver (until the end of March). In the Vancouver office we take care of all of the COC’s education program and community relations West of Toronto. My primary responsibility is the Canadian Olympic School Program, which provides Olympic themed classroom activities for close to 1 million students.

CK: Was the delivery of the classroom activities successful? Was it well embraced by the schools and administration?

BD: Over the last two years, we have grown from a membership of 14,000 to over 52,000. We are now one of the best and most respected Olympic Education programs in the world.

Ed note: Bruce wrote in an August 16, 2010 message, “you may adjust the Canadian School Program numbers from 52, 000 to 65, 000. When we spoke, we were gaining upwards of 1500 new members/day…no kidding, it was crazy.”

CK: How was such a great level of success achieved?

BD: I think it helps having a home Games, but a lot of it is the result of the work that my team has done to elevate the program to a whole new level. We had a really successful execution of a solid plan and vision. I approached this with the same intensity that I did marathon running, and it paid off.  

CK: What are your thoughts on the IAAF versus the Canadian Olympic Committee’s standards for the marathon? You had run your fastest marathon time of 2:13:18, well inside the international A standard and even faster than Jon Brown had (for the UK at the time) and you were left off the team. Jon ended up within seconds of a bronze medal for Great Britain.

BD: It was a decision by the COC to have top-12 as the standard for 2004. It hurt, because I thought I should have been on the team. I was less than a second per kilometre from qualifying, but in the end I wasn’t fast enough. Each country determines its standards and then the athletes have to make them. It is really that simple. I had raced well on the Athens course (16th at WC in ‘97), but that didn’t seem to matter.

CK: If you were in the position to change the particular criteria, would you and what changes would you make?

BD: Now the COC lets the NSOs (National Sports Organizations) determine their selection standards based on IAAF standards. That is the way it should be.

I think that the IAAF standard should be sufficient to qualify. We focus way too much on qualifying and it sends all the wrong messages. By the time the athlete has qualified, he is so exhausted by all of the process, that he has had little time to focus on the purpose of the exercise – performing well when it counts. Prior to being selected for my first World Championships, I had to write a letter explaining how I intended to come top-16. The expectations were clear: perform or don’t go. We need to spend more time focusing our athletes on performance at the event and less time trying to keep them off the team.
We waste our efforts keeping people off the team. We need to focus on getting marathoners to perform at the event and not trying to set the bar so high that making the team becomes the big accomplishment. It is counter-productive.  We want people to race well when it counts, not chase standards for a team uniform. We should take more risks, but hold people more accountable at the Championships.

CK: Currently reading?
 
BD: Recently read: Playing the Enemy, Trade Like the Little Guy, and When the Heart Waits.
 
CK: Favourite running oriented book?

BD: Once a Runner

CK: Currently on your iPod?

BD: U2, CCR, Lifehouse, David Gray, Chris Tomlin, Delirious, Guess Who and a bunch more.

CK: I assume you don’t have any vices, but if you did, what would it be?

BD: I do have vices…Starbucks Coffee for starters.

CK: Are you a lifetime runner? Are you going to run marathons as long as you are physically able?

BD: I would say that these are two very different questions. I hope to always run. I would like to race again, but I am not sure if this will be at the marathon distance.

CK: Your eldest son must be ready for a marathon, is he 11 or 12 now?

BD: You are a cheeky one, Kelsall. My oldest is 10 and has no interest in running. My youngest is more interested in running than the oldest. I am just fine with this. 

I would not advise them to run marathons before they are in their 20s (if they are ever so inclined). However, I believe that there are development windows for endurance where aerobic exercise can yield high returns. From 11-13 is one of these windows. You don’t have to get kids running marathons to benefit from this window, but you can introduce them to longer easy running, tough hiking, cross country skiing, long bike rides, swimming lengths, etc. In western countries we are so scared that we will over do things, that we discourage kids from working on their aerobic endurance until they are older. Africans don’t have this hang up.

In September 2010, a group of dedicated White Rock Fire Fighters from Local 2407 will be cycling from Halifax, Nova Scotia to White Rock, BC to raise funds for Variety! They will ride in a relay format and plan to complete the tour in less than two weeks.

From now until their ride, the fire fighters from Local 2407 will be raising money by collecting pledges for their ride. “Raising money for charity has always been a big part of what we do. This event will be our biggest charity event to date!” says team leader, Eric Kameka.

Now you can be a part of the ride and Hop on in Hope! The Shore2Shore team is looking for other cyclists to ride the last leg of the trek with them, a 140km ride from Hope to White Rock. The Hope to White Rock ride will be on the final day of riding, Tuesday, September 21^st. Start time will be 10am and is expected to finish by 4pm. A celebration in White Rock waits all the cyclists, friends, family and other members of the community.

Participants should be experienced cyclists and able to maintain a pace of 25 km an hour. There will be brief stops every hour as well as a police escort the entire way to ensure the safety of all riders.  There are several options to get involved and join the ride. All levels of donors starting at $1,000, will receive a custom jersey and the opportunity to ride with the team. Donors of $2,500 and up qualify for the following women’s or men’s road bike: $2,500 – Allez X3/Dolce X3, $5,000 – Allez Sport/Dolce Sport V, $7,500 – Ruby Elite/Roubaix C2, $10,000 – Amira Comp /Tarmac, $50,000+ – Amira/Tarmac SL3 DA.Interested cyclists must register by September 6^th by contacting Tara Kurtz, Variety Special Events Coordinator at 604.320.0505 or tara.kurtz@variety.bc.ca. All proceeds go directly to Variety. The ride from Hope is supported by Specialized and Peninsula Cycles in White Rock.

To support this group of amazing guys click here.Visit the Shore2Shore Blog for great updates from the team!For more information, contact Tara Kurtz at tara.kurtz@variety.bc.ca or call 604.320.0505.

http://clubfatass.com/blog/ean-jackson/jacksons-last-minute-100-miler-checklist

St.Louis Ultra-Runner Jason Eads’ race report from the Squamish Stormy 100:

“What are you, a meteorologist????” It began with rain…

It’s amazing what I’ll let friends talk me in to. That’s how I think of STORMY 100 miler many months after I signed up earlier this year. My friend, Ean “Action” Jackson, exudes the type of persuasiveness that is just the sort to make me wonder: “should I REALLY do this???”, but then he makes it sound like it would be the best thing in the world and I’d feel like a fool to turn down such an awesome opportunity.

So, I put my name in for the race and decided I’d stack up a heavy duty Spring racing schedule so I’d have no excuses not to train. Not that I was taking those events early in the year lightly, but my “big” race for the year was UNDOUBTEDLY going to be STORMY. I really wanted to “show up” for this one!

Continue reading more on Clubfatass.com

North Vancouver’s Gary Robbins has run the 80km West Coast Trail in a record breaking time of 10 hours and 8 minutes, beating the previous record by 5 minutes. Gary will be posting a full account of his run on his blog shortly, in the meantime check out the video above which was taken as he finished. Congrats Gary!

The following report and photos come courtesy of TR’s Okanagan interior reporter Dirk Handke. Thanks as always Dirk!

WHO WAS WILLIS GREENAWAY?

Willis lost his three-year battle with Alzheimer’s three days after his 86th birthday in 2008. Willis’ running achievements include age category Canadian records in the 1500m, 5000m, 10mile and 50km distances. His 1992, 3:29:00 Portland Marathon clocking still ranks as a ‘BC Best’ for the 70-74 age category. At the age of 81/82 he ran four marathons in the calendar year, including Boston. But those who knew Willis will remember him best, not for his running, but for the personable, easy-going, gentle man that he was. (Ron Sherk)

About the WILLIS GREENAWAY HALF: As well as honoring Willis, the WILLIS GREENAWAY HALF will help support Alzheimer research. Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia now affects one in eleven Canadians over the age of 65. Donations can be made at the B.C. Alzheimer Society website with this link http://my.e2rm.com/personalPage.aspx?registrationID=904174 (Ron Sherk)

To continue reading Dirk’s report and to view the many photos from the event please click here…

The Canadian Death Race was this past weekend and we wanted to bring attention to two excellent race reports by racers Ellie Greenwood and Phil Villeneuve. Both are elite athletes but only one managed to finish the 125km race . We highly recommend checking out both…

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Ellie Greenwood – A Date with Death. 125kms of Mountain Magic
Eight short weeks ago I was kindly offered a spot in the Canadian Death Race in Grande Cache by the Alberta North Face rep (TNF sponsor the event). I ummed and ahhed, took the plunge and then began haring madly up any hill in sight in my quest to become a mountain ultra runner in less than 2 months. This would be my longest race to date and with 17, 000ft of elevation change it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park, but more a hike up a mountain (or two). Continue reading…

Phil Villeneuve – Canadian Death Race…Afterthougths
And that’s that – The Canadian Death Race has come and gone… If you’ve followed along, you know that things didn’t exactly go as planned – forced to pull the plug after only 2 legs (or 46km). Disappointing to say to least… So where did I go wrong? It’s always easier to look at things after-the-fact, and although it’s still not a clear case of ‘this is what I did wrong’, I think I have a pretty good idea…That said, it’s unfortunate that my first CDR experience was tainted because aside from my own issues, this year’s event provided some fantastic entertainment, and I’m glad (in a weird kind of way) that I was able to witness such amazing athletes at work! Continue reading…

From the Globe and Mail – Kate Hammer

The records keep on falling for Ellie Greenwood. The Banff resident’s latest accomplishment saw her lower the Canadian Death Race women’s course records by 50 minutes this past weekend, racing the 125 mile distance in 13 hours and 30 minutes. The next fastest female, Denise McHale of Whitehorse finished third overall and almost one hour and a half later.

A new men’s course records was also set by American ultrarunner Hal Koerner who finished in 12:47:21.

This year’s event saw almost 1,500 participants including those who took part in the popular relay division. For solo results click here, for relay results click here.

Victoria ultrarunners Rob MacKay and Donald Peterson recently travelled south to race in the Tahoe Rim Trail 100 Mile Endurance Race. The race is legendary and takes place on high elevation alpine and sub-alpine forest trails and dirt roads in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Unfortunately Rob and Donald both dropped at 80 miles but their respective reports are still very interesting. We highly recommend reading both…

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Donald – Tahoe Rim Trail 100-Mile

After reading Packman’s incredible TRT100 race report I’m feeling less then motivated to write a detailed report of my own but I’ve given it a try… here it is broken down into stages from aid station to aid station

Pre-Race
We completed the race package pick-up, medical check-in, drop bag drop-off, and race brief on Friday afternoon in Carson City after doing a little scout of the safety runner check-in aid stations that morning. There were two stations for safety runners to check-in, the 50-Mile aid station of the race by Spooner Lake and the aid station at the Diamond Peak Ski Resort which we would hit at 30 and 80 miles. We spent the rest of Friday afternoon and evening relaxing at my parents place which was about 45 minutes from the race start.

Krista drove Packman and I out to Spooner Lake early Saturday morning dropping us off about 40-45 minutes before the race start. I was feeling a little nervous but nothing that wasn’t expected. As we were walking down to the start I noticed a familiar face walking in front of us, Scott Dunlap, so just had to say “Hi”.

We both decided to take the run to the first aid station, Hobart, really easy and thought we should run it together and then let things play out as they would.

Continue reading on Donald’s blog…

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Rob – DNF’ing the Tahoe Rim 100 miler

The Tahoe Rim 100 is probably the best race I have ever been to combining incredible scenery, a demanding course and fantastic volunteers. Other than a slightly bruised (actually ‘pounded’ is probably a better word) ego, the race was outstanding.

A huge thank you first off to John and Lorrie for their hospitality in Reno, my running Bro JH for getting me through the dark point and Krista and Tori from bringing me back from the dead.

2010 has been a strange year so far. I had a decent 6 months of racing (H2H and Dirty Duo) then in April my Dad passed away and I reevaluated my race plans and then put them on hold. My first goal was the National 100k team and I thought that the training I would have done would give me the base to meet my second goal of completing a 100 mile race. The qualifier for the National team was the FastTrax 100k and I made it my goal race (to try for a sub-8:15). After a few honest conversations with friends and family I decided against it – I have no regrets. Mentally, I just wasn’t focused enough.

Continue reading on Rob’s blog…

From the Victoria Times Colonist -

In the shadow of the Arc de Triomphe came personal triumph on Sunday for Canadian Ryder Hesjedal.

The 29-year-old cyclist placed seventh overall and delivered the best result by a Canadian in the Tour de France since Steve Bauer of Fenwick, Ont., finished fourth in 1988.

After 3,641.9-kilometres of heavy spinning over three weeks, it was all done for the Victoria product in 92 hours nine minutes and three seconds — 10:15 behind champion Alberto Contador of Spain.

“I hope this result does positive things for Canadian cycling and motivates the next generation of Canadian cyclists. I hope that’s the biggest thing that comes out of this,” said Hesjedal, heading into Sunday’s 20th and final stage, a 102.5-kilometre ride into Paris from Longjumeau that was largely ceremonial.

“This placing will be there (in the books) forever.”

Contador finished 39 seconds ahead of runner-up Andy Schleck of Luxembourg and 2:01 up on third-place Denis Menchov of Russia to win his third overall title to go with previous championships in 2007 and 2009.

Michael Barry of Toronto — along with Hesjedal, Bauer, Alex Stieda and Gord Fraser one of only five Canadians ever to race in the Tour de France — finished 99th overall, 3:01:34 off the pace as he rode in support for other Sky team racers.

Mark Cavendish of the Isle of Man, who will face Barry in October at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games, won the 20th leg Sunday into Paris for his fifth stage victory of this year’s Tour and an astounding 15th in three years.

For Garmin Transitions team rider Hesjedal, it wasn’t about spurts but well-rounded and well-paced strength in all aspects of the Tour.

“If this makes more Canadians aware of cycling, and want to cycle, then it will have been worth it for that alone,” he said.

© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Ryder+Hesjedal+proud+seventh+place+finish+Tour+France/3321346/story.html#ixzz0uittF9kT