A number of running retreats are being offered this year throughout BC. All are great options for runners looking to take the next step. Check these out…

Strength
 &
 Technique
 Running
 Camp

• When: February 5 to 7
• Location: Victoria
• Organizer/Coachs: Noa Deutsch & Scott Simpson
• Cost: $250
• Features: Personal video analysis (including CD and Dartfish analysis), 4 coached running sessions, 1 strength & conditioning session, 3 education workshops and more
• For more information click here

Tofino Running Retreat

• When: February 26 to 27
• Location: Middle Beach Lodge, Tofino
• Organizer/Coaches: Frontrunners
• Cost: $375 incl. GST (Single Occupancy) and $325 incl. GST (Double Occupancy)
• Features: 2 nights accomodations at Middle Beach Lodge, all meals, 3 guided runs, 1 core/stretching class, 3hr surf lesson or spa treatment/gallery tour, technical run session, t-shirt and $40 gift bag
• For more information registration is available at Frontrunners in Langford (250) 391-7373 or online at www.raceonline.ca

Endurance Trail & Mountain Running Camp with Ray Zahab & Jen Segger

• When: July 15th to 18th
• Location: Garibaldi Executive Suites, Squamish
• Organizers/Coaches: Ray Zahab & Jen Segger
• Cost: varys from $850 to $1400 per person
• Features: 3 nights of accommodations, 4 days of run coaching, 4 days of sport specific strength training, core development and classes and a take home goody bag
• For more information click here.

Local Victoria athlete Chris Callendar, who is also a web developer, has developed an application which creates an elevation map (using Yahoo Maps) from any entered route.

A number of applications such as MapMyRun.com have been able to do this for some time. However this is the first time such an app have been developed locally. For this reason alone Chris’s app deserves a look.

The application can be accessed on Chris’s blog here.

Want to get fit? Really fit? Following is some information on boot camps currently being offered by Access Boot Camp at David Lam Park in Vancouver. Class are held every Monday to Friday at 6am, 7am, 5pm and 6pm. If this sounds like something you’d be interested visit the company’s website at www.accessbootcamp.com or call 604.638.6996 for more information. Thanks to Melissa for the following post:

================ 

Access Boot Camp has revolutionized the boot camp experience by providing unlimited access and certified trainers. It’s like a gym membership. You work out with certified trainers; your schedule, your choice and your results.

We offer one-hour classes, starting at 6am, 7am, 5pm and 6pm from Monday to Friday. That’s four classes a day, five days a week. Come to any class anywhere you choose, and come as often as you want to!

(more…)

Follow these tips for happy trails wherever you run.

1. Run tall. Running, especially uphill, can be exhausting, but if you bend under the effort it’s more difficult for the lungs to do their thing. On the uphill, keep an eye at the crest or a few yards ahead, not at your feet. If you’re gasping, slow down and pump your arms a little, or if you need to, walk, while keeping your posture tall. Even elite runners will walk a steep hill.

2. Shorten your stride on the way up. And plant your entire foot; climbing on your toes kills your calf muscles. Jump over obstacles. Stepping up on unsteady rocks and roots is not only tiring, it can be hazardous.

3. Be loose on the downhill. Stop braking and allow yourself to fly a little, throwing your arms to the side. But don’t flail. If you lose control, slalom from side to side like a skier. Don’t lean back or dig in your heels to brake (a guaranteed butt slide). Instead, land quickly and lightly.

4. Plot your moves. View the trail like a chessboard. Plan your steps around bumps, dips, soft sand and fallen trees yards before you reach them.

5. Focus on time, not distance. Don’t expect to match your road PR.

6. Diminish your risks. Run in pairs or let someone know where you’re going and when you’ll be back. Take plenty of fuel and fluid, a lightweight jacket and a cell phone, which won’t always get a signal in the mountains, but might. Uphill runners yield to downhill runners. Yell “trail” well in advance of passing another runner or hiker.

7. Find your balance. Slippery downhills let you know what your legs are made of. Build them up between trail runs with weighted squats and lunges, and build your balance using wobble boards.

8. Keep your bearings. Things look different coming back than going. Pause to look around when two or more paths diverge from the one you’re on. Look at trail signs and identify rocks, trees or landmarks on the horizon.

9. Leave no trace. Even in races, trail runners stow empty wrappers and wouldn’t dream of dropping cups like road racers. Stay on marked trails, don’t cut switchbacks and go through, not around, puddles to prevent erosion.

10. Feel like a kid again. Crank it on the downhill, hoot and holler, jump into a stream.

Have FUN!

Jen Segger-Gigg, one of BC’s top adventure racers, is offering a number of upcoming clinics and camps through her coaching company, Challenge By Choice Coaching. Classes and clinics include:

• Early Bird Ladies Circuit Class
• Mid Morning Ladies Circuit Class
• Evening CO-ED Circuit Class
• Outdoor Conditioning @ The Lake – CO-ED
• Spring Trail Running Clinic – BEGINNER
• Spring Trail Running Clinic – INTERMEDIATE
• Women’s “Healthy” OFF ROAD SCHOOL Camp – Squamish
• The OFF ROAD SCHOOL Trail Running Camp – WHISTLER, BC
• The OFF ROAD SCHOOL Mountain Running Camp – WHISTLER/SQUAMISH, BC

For more information visit Jen’s website here.

Chris Kelsall recently reviewed legendary running coach Bart Yasso’s latest book “My Life on the Run”. Bart invented the Yasso 800s, a marathon-training schedule used by thousands around the world. Although originally posted on the Flotrack website, this article has been re-produced here with permission from Chris…   

==================

I read the book “My Life on the Run” by Bart Yasso, the Mayor of Running, for clues to its relevance to his public image as defacto race ambassador at Runner’s World Magazine. I am happy I did, because, in many ways, the memoirs are a constant reminder echoing his life’s transition from misdirected youth to sub-elite runner and adventurer, to the present in how far he has come as a person. According to Bart, life’s journey is about how far we have come, not in how fast we run through it.

For those who haven’t read My Life on the Run here is a truncated synopsis:

Bart begins with his childhood set in the small town of Fountain Hill, Pennsylvania, just outside of Bethlehem. In the Yasso’s small family home his existence was crowded by a set of six other siblings who over-shadowed any accomplishments Bart may have managed if he wasn’t too misdirected and under-appreciated by his sport-loving father. A possible manifestation of the emotional chasm between them is demonstrated in one backyard photo where the senior Yasso and Bart stand apart from each other. The distance between them was perhaps too great a gap even when Bart began to accomplish in running, what he clearly lacked as a stick and ball athlete during his teens.

(more…)

The Healthy Bride , a fitness and lifestyles advocate and trainer from Washington State, offers tips for maintaining health and fitness during the holiday season in one of her recent blog postings…

======

Here we are again, ready to begin another holiday season. The holiday season is a marathon of activity, and maintaining your exercise habits can prove difficult.

Outside commitments at this time of year often interfere with scheduling workouts. Missing workouts can be discouraging and you might even feel like you are failing in your effort to become fit and healthy. Some people give up and stop exercising entirely. Don’t do it!  There IS a solution. Here are some suggestions to help you maintain your sanity and your exercise program during this hectic time of year.

Continue reading …

For many runners, keeping a running log is an excellent way to keep track of their progress. In a running log you enter basic information about your runs. For example: distance, time and type of workout. You can also be more comprehensive and regularly put in your weight and pulse.

(more…)

By Sandra Mcculloch and published in the Victoria Times Colonist

Combine technology with a treasure hunt, set the venue in a B.C. provincial park and you have a new venture announced yesterday by the province, the B.C. 150 Secretariat and the B.C. Geocaching Association.

Geocaching is a recreational activity that’s growing in popularity, with hundreds — perhaps thousands — of geocachers on the Island. The sport involves the use of a handheld global positioning system receiver to locate hidden caches, typically small objects stored in watertight containers.

Clues are posted on a website so others can go out and hunt for items. Anyone finding a cache is supposed to log the find in a notebook, exchange a new item for the found one, and report the find on a website.

To celebrate B.C.’s 150th anniversary, members of the BCGA have placed limited-edition commemorative coins in 100 provincial parks.

(more…)

Another great Flotrack article written by Christopher Kelsall

Zach Whitmarsh toils on the Jack Wallace Memorial, Oak Bay High School track. Marley, his dog canters back and forth from the infield to the start area and back, taking splits.

“What breed mix is Marley?”

Zach writes: ”Marley is a pound dog. As far as we can tell he is a Shepherd-Collie cross. There may also be a bit of Burmese in him, he’s a big-pawed dawg and he’d probably weigh another 20 pounds if he didn’t get in the 50 miles per-week he’s gotten used to.”

Meanwhile some local, longer distance ectomorphs gut out a low-key invitational race, looking smooth in their attempt at sub 30 for 10, 000m (others drop at halfway or at 3,000 – they are here just to check fitness), they appear fluent, until Zach starts his sprint workout.

Whitmarsh re-defines the everyday runner’s paradigm of what is fluid motion.

(more…)

You know spring is in the air when the local trail running scene begins to heat up. In fact two North Vancouver trail running groups are just beginning this week. Details below:

(more…)

Written by MATTHEW SEKERES, published December 14, 2007 in the Globe and Mail

The next Maria Sharapova or Sidney Crosby could soon be training at an elite sports academy on Vancouver Island. A British Columbia developer has teamed with sports-business giant IMG World to construct the latter’s second full-service sports academy, and its first in Canada, on land formerly owned by a timber company about 10 kilometres south of Courtenay. This morning, Ted Meekma, IMG Academies senior vice-president and director, will join politicians and officials from Sage Hills Developments for a news conference announcing the proposed creation of an academy that, based on IMG’s track record, should produce professional athletes and, for students, scholarship opportunities to U.S. universities.

“They’re the best in the world,” Shannon Price, director of marketing for Sage Hills, said about IMG. “They have the best methodology, the longest history and they have the experience to do it. There is nothing like this in Canada and the Pacific Northwest.”

(more…)

by Matt Fitzgerald
For Active.com

Every marathon runner dreads “hitting the wall,” or being overwhelmed by fatigue before the finish line is within reach, forcing you to slow way down or even stop. Different things cause this in different runners and most runners assume they know what hitting the wall is.

Muscles run out of glycogen–their favorite fuel–and as a result, there is no longer enough energy available to hold pace. Or perhaps muscles produce too much lactic acid, which builds up to the point where the muscles stop working properly. Or maybe the runner becomes too dehydrated and fatigue results from heat accumulation in the muscles.

Whatever the specific cause, hitting the wall in a marathon–or any other run–is the result of some type of functional breakdown within the muscles that impairs their ability to function at the desired level. Right?

(more…)

By Neil L. Cook, BS, MS, Med

Marathons are the “ultimate” goal for many runners. But there’s a core group of runners that believe the marathon isn’t long enough; not enough of a challenge. They feel the need to go longer, sometimes A LOT LONGER! These are different runners, not your average 10 K weekend racer. And although they are fiercely competitive, the camaraderie of ultra-marathoners is legendary. The support for fellow runners during an ultra extends further than any other running event.

What Is An Ultra Marathon?
A marathon is 26 miles 385 yards long. An ultra-marathon is any event longer. Typically, 30 miles, 50 miles, and 100 miles. There are other distances, but those are the most popular. There are also timed events: 12 hours, 24 hours, 48 hours, and even multi day-races. Some are run on roads, some on trails, and some (mainly timed events) on a track.

(more…)

A few tips from Anton Krupicka:

First, I honestly believe every single runner is an ongoing experiment of one. What has seemed to work for me, may not-in fact, probably won’t-work the same way for someone else.

Run more! Whenever people ask me for training advice, I feel somewhat frustrated because I like to think that running is fairly uncomplicated. In a generalized, simplified nutshell-especially in the world of ultrarunning-the more you run, the better you will become at running. It’s certainly not the sexy answer and isn’t always super-exciting, but sheer time and pure hard work can go a long ways.

Have fun! This is a necessary corollary to the first paragraph! If I’m not enjoying my running, then I’m not going to run. Therefore, most of my running I really, truly enjoy, i.e. long runs in beautiful locations.

Slow down! I come from a background of training and racing on a college cross-country and track team and the number one training fallacy that I can identify now (other than maybe not running enough, but slowing down is correlated to that) is that some people would try to run way too fast on supposed easy or recovery days and runs. If the pace doesn’t feel easy, then it’s not. By slowing down to 8 minute pace I can go running comfortably for 3 hours, and by saving the hard efforts for the occasional race and speed workout, I’ve been able to go to the next level. However, getting out there and grunting and hurting at least once a week is still needed for improvement in this sport.

Keep it simple! Training to run 100 miles is not hard: get out there and run. A lot. Whether you’re tired or not. And savor the opportunity to access the simplified, primitive existence that running through the woods offers. Don’t get caught up in all the stopwatches and split times and GPS devices and heart rate monitors and gel packets and Camelbaks-just throw on some shoes (or not!) and let running remain the unfettered activity that it has always been.

We are pleased to provide an update on Barefoot Bill. As you may or may not recall several months ago we posted pictures of Bill’s feet after he had ran a half marathon barefoot without any training. It wasn’t pretty (see Potential Pitfalls to Barefoot Running, October 3rd, 2007). We are happy to report however that his feet are healing nicely and he’s back to training full-time (barefoot of course).

Train on Bill.

Check out Fried Quads, a new online forum dedicated to the endurance athlete. Categories include cycling, bike lust, ultras, marathons, sane distances and triathlons & adventure racing.

From the Vancouver Sun, published Thursday, November 15, 2007

Lifting, crunching, straining and sweating are okay, but some people draw the line at grunting while lifting weights at the gym.

“I just don’t think it’s necessary,” says Kelvin Smith, who is a regular at his local gym. “I don’t think it makes a difference with being able to lift more. I think people do it for effect, and I find it very annoying, absolutely, because it’s phoney.”

Bodybuilder Ryan Cherwoniak is a grunter and says it’s a natural thing to do when you’re exerting yourself to the max.

(more…)

Originally posted on February 22, 2007 at EliteRunning.com

Interview conducted February 15, 2007 by Duncan Larkin

Scott Jurek, 33, is arguably one of the best ultramarathoners in the world. Raised in a home on a three-acre lot outside Duluth, Minnesota, Jurek took up running in junior high school as a natural extension of his innate desire to be outdoors. He ran track his sophomore year of high school in order to prepare for his passion at the time: Nordic skiing. At the age of 20, he was talked into running his first ultra, the Minnesota Voyager 50 Mile, where he placed second. After that, he was hooked on ultras. In 1999, at the age of 25, he was the youngest runner ever to win the Western States 100-Mile Endurance run—an event that he went on to win six more times consecutively. He set the course record of 15:36 there in 2004. Jurek’s other notable ultra victories include winning the grueling Badwater Ultramarathon twice (2005, 2006) and establishing a new course record of 24:36, winning the Leona Divide 50-Mile Run four times (2000-2002 and 2004), winning the Miwok 100k three times (2002-2004), and winning the Montrail Ultra Cup series twice (2002, 2003).

(more…)

A steady caloric intake is very important in running ultras, even more so as events get longer (100 miles and beyond). Over the period of a few months you should be able to find a number of foods and/or beverages that you handle well (no or little stomach discomfort), that taste good to you, and that are “packable” while doing your long training runs.

(more…)