Salomon Adventure Challenge
Albion Hills Conservation Area
Albion Hills, Ontario

January 24, 2004

Mike Coughlin and Team "OrienTIRED" tackle Albion Hills

Following in fellow Rock!! Dave Gallant's footsteps, I convinced my adventure running teammates from OrienTIRED to try the Solomon Adventure Challenge Albion Hills Winter Adventure race this past weekend down south. Rather than simply running through the bush, this event was designed to have us mountain biking, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing through the snow, navigating on the way. While none of us really TRAINED for these specific events, we reasoned that as fit individuals we could figure it out.

The event was held in the Caledon Hills, which I had heard of but never visited. The terrain was both visually stunning and VERY tough on the legs and heart. I can see why Lisa Bentley is such a strong triathlete (this is her home training ground). We got to sample some snow covered roads as well as deep snow on the Bruce Trail. I had done a little snowshoeing before, but I never realized how much fun it is to run down a powdery slope in them. A great way to take the impact out of winter running!

With the recent frigid temperatures in Sudbury, I also figured anything southern Ontario could throw our way would seem balmy. I was wrong. While we did not need to contend with the all-out blizzard that Dave dealt with last year, the Sudbury-like temperatures and wind-chill made continuous forward progress more than just a luxury. I paid special attention to Dave's tip about avoiding letting the hose freeze on my hydration pack, opting to use the awkward but effective approach of wearing it under several layers of clothing with the bite valve sticking out in front of my mouth (and even that froze if I didn't chew on it every few minutes).

In the end, our fearless team pushed hard in all sports to a respectable mid-pack finish in just over 6.5 hours. At the end of the race, there was a "bonus" event where we had to toboggan across the finish line - a perfect end to a wonderful winter's day.

I would recommend this event to anyone who likes outdoor activities and wants to test themselves a bit more than just a ski or snowshoe around the golf course. The event was well organized and with 50 teams of all levels competing, there was a great group atmosphere.


Mike

PS - Details about the event can be found at

http://www.far.on.ca/2004/sac/winter/albionhills.html

Click here for all the Results

 

Speed Conversions...or The Joys and Agonies of the 200m Track

by Trevor Shamas

Dear Coach,

Geez, what a pain it is running on the track down here. I mean, it's a nice 200 meter layout here at U of T, but it's so much better when all you have to do is go run 30's, 31's, 32's...whatever, on the good old Cambrian track. It's such an easy translation to 1 km or 1 mile times.

Last night, I was trying to do the 3 x 1 mile repeats per the schedule. I thought I'd try running 6:27 per mile on the outside lane. (I got in trouble last week because the slow guys (I mean ssssllllloooooowwwww guys) run on the inside and I was knocking them over.) It's quite a translation, but I worked it out as follows:

Inside lap = 200 meters;
Every lap adds 6 meters, so in the outside lane (4 over) the distance is 224 meters;
A 6:27 mile = 387.43 seconds;
That translates to 4:01 per kilometer, or 241.07 seconds;
Each lap on the inside is therefore 48.21 seconds, or 0.24 seconds per meter;
At 0.24 seconds per meter it takes 54 seconds to run around the outside lane;
8.5 laps at 224 meters x 3.3 feet per meter = roughly 6,280 feet, or 1 mile.

That's a hellofalotta work to figure out that I've got to run 8.5 laps at 54 seconds each to cover 1 mile.

After completing the mechanics of this translation, I figured that U of T must graduate some great mathematicians from its track team. To test the theory, I asked a fellow from the track team how many meters each lane adds. He told me 1.2. (That, of course, doesn't make sense as the additional radius alone is a few times that. You can see that just by looking at it.) However, the fine young lady who works at the front desk of the gym knew the answer. She overheard our conversation and corrected him. There's a message here but I'm scared to think about what it is.

Bottom line is, not only am I disgusted that I'm running even slower than I used to, but now it's almost painful trying to figure out just how slow I'm going. And I think the U of T track team are probably all drama majors.

Oh, well, we'll try to work that speed up from here amongst all the artsies on the track... except for tonight since the gym is closed due to the 20 cm of snow we got. Let's see, that's 9 inches over 5 hours, or...

Trev.

Older Adult Centre, Sudbury Ontario

January 29, 2004 @ 7:00 pm

Admission is Free!

Click here to download PDF

Come Join Us January 29, 2004 @ 7:00 pm

Everyone is welcome to Kick off to Fitness with John Stanton.

Meet John Stanton! President and Founder of Running Room and innovator of the 10 & 1 training programs. John is a best selling author of two books Running Start to Finish and the Runners Lifestyle Log. John will be giving a motivational talk as well as answering any questions you may have on walking or running – from fitness walking to marathon running. Join us for a walk and run after the talk followed by light refreshments.

Older Adult Centre
140 Durham Street
Sudbury, ON
Ph: (705) 522-5251

Read John Stanton's Biography

www.runningroom.com