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Clinics
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Hello Everyone,
March
30, 2006
In
this Issue:
- SUDBURYROCKS!!! Race,
Run or Walk for Diabetes - The
Best is Yet to Come - by Steve Matusch
- Rocks!! Run Hamilton's 112th "Around the Bay"
- Our Tennessee Rock!! Marathons in Knoxville
- Greetings from New Caledonia
- Wheel Chair Basketball and other Stuff
- Upcoming Events
- Running
Room Run Club Update
- Track North News - by Dick Moss
- Mike's Tri Adventure - by Mike Coughlin
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SUDBURYROCKS!!!
Race, Run or Walk for Diabetes
The
Best is Yet to Come - by Steve Matusch
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How do you describe in a reasonably short writing,
all of those things that have happened to create this event –
especially when it hasn’t happened yet? Six weeks out from
race day, I know that the most interesting stuff is yet to come.
I’m like a writer publishing a story without knowing how
it will end!
Actually, that’s not true. I know exactly how the story
will end. I’m comfortable in saying that this event will
be very very successful. It has to be because of the top-notch
team that’s making absolutely certain of it. The pitch has
been thrown, we’ve swung the bat and now we just have to
hang on, follow through and watch the ball sail.
So, that is how the story ends…. now for the beginning…
The roots of this event were planted right after the phenomenal
success of Sun Run 2005 – doubling participation and bringing
the event up a least a few solid notches in terms of event quality.
I still can’t thank (in no particular order) Vince, Amanda,
John, Mike, Jennifer, and Donna for all of their contributions
that made it possible.
Our 2005 success told me a few things….
People really, really want a top quality event up here –
something in the same league with the bigger events in the south.
I confess that I’m pretty proud of our hometown up here
in the north. One failing that we do have, though, is that we
don’t always give ourselves proper credit. I see absolutely
no reason why we can’t build something as good as anything
you get down south.
The community support is there to make it happen. We have a great
group of really interested and excited sponsors, an enthusiastic
charity willing to commit some resources, and a running community
willing to embrace it and make it happen.
So, still fresh (and a bit shell shocked) off of that success,
I started to think that just maybe our little group was up to
the task – maybe to take on a 5 year project to build a
really awesome event – to put Sudbury on the wider Canadian
running map! Think of the possibilities!! Someone, about 112 years
ago decided to create the “Around the Bay” in Hamilton!!
Maybe our little group could be doing the same thing here and
now!
I stayed awake the better part of a night thinking about it.
Thankfully, I had Vince Perdue to bring me back down to earth.
For those of you who don’t know Vince that well, Vince
is very intense and a true detail man – in the best sense
of the term. When I first suggested the idea of expanding the
Sun Run , to build a marquee event, with a full marathon in a
large venue, his facial expression pretty much said - “Steve,
have you got rocks in your head?”. And then Vince burst
forth with all of the very good and well considered reasons why
we could not possibly do this. I’m starting to learn that
when Vince does this, the appropriate response is not to argue
– just to shut my mouth, look appropriately apologetic and
agree that it can’t be done. But, as I was leaving, Vince
had this thoughtful look on his face which said that the gears
had already started to turn.
In the next month or so, I threw the idea at Jennifer and Amanda
at the Diabetes association. They were absolutely instrumental
in 2005 and they would need to be a key part of the team if we
going to do this. Their response was complete and total enthusiasm.
They loved the idea. I also threw the idea past a few others -
Brent, Donna and John all enthusiastically committed themselves
to helping make it happen.
So, in October, armed with the potential makings of a core group
I went back to Vince, and floated the idea again. I wanted to
know if he would be willing to be our course director –
the last key piece of the puzzle that would make this event possible.
I won’t say that Vince was completely enthusiastic. I will
say he was now interested, but a realist. He beat me loudly and
clearly. He wanted to make sure that we were on the same page
– that we were all aware that this was not an undertaking
for the timid, and that we would be looking at a level of resources
to put this together that we had never seen in any Sudbury race
– lots of volunteers, lots of police, some outside professional
services. I definitely felt like I was being grilled. But, at
then end of the day Vince signed on, and the train officially
left the station!!!
And then, after I left Vince’s house (despite my protestations
of “no problem”) I got scared and stayed awake all
night, alternately worrying and getting excited about the prospect.
First thing… We need a larger team. We advertised on the
Rocks site, and within a week had no less than 25 volunteers to
help organize this race. Holy crap!!! It was an embarrassment
of riches. And not just numbers – we had people with ALL
of the skill sets that we needed to make this happen. Amazing!!!!
And it was I that point that I really knew that this would happen.
There was no turning back. This response, more than anything,
else said that the time had come for this event to happen –
that we had a lot of work ahead of us, but that we were swimming
with the current. When you have that many people wanting to make
something succeed, it must.
This little article is starting to get wordy, so I will save
the rest of the details for a future article – possibly
for after the event. But I will say this…. It’s been
an exciting journey so far. It’s been a lot (and I mean
a lot) of work by some absolutely excellent people to bring it
this far.
We’ve had some fights for sure – but no actual fistfights
(quite). We’ll have some more for sure. Alternately, we’re
all grumpy and overstressed and p’d off at each other. Alternately
we all are feeling that we’ve bitten off more than we chew.
Alternately we’re all wondering why we signed on. And alternately
we’re all very, very excited by our successes.
And every day, when I look on-line and see our registration numbers
ticking up, I get excited. This event will absolutely happen,
and it will absolutely be a success. And it will be the best road
race that Sudbury has seen in a very,very long time (if not ever).
Stay tuned! The best is yet to come.
Steve Matusch, Race Director – Sudbury Rocks Marathon!!!
In the next few weeks our other Run Directors
will be providing their insights into the Event. Please stay tuned.
For Run information, please
go to "Upcoming Events"
on this page.
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Rocks!! Run Hamilton's
112th "Around the Bay"
Hamilton's 112th running
of the 30k Around the Bay Roadrace and Relays was so successful
this year (6800 participants) that the Organizers will be placing
limits on entries in 2007 for the first time in the Run's history.
Fair temperatures, a sunny
day and a unique finish inside Copps Coliseum made the Run a
very good experience. As I crossed the mats at centre ice it
looked like there were thousands of spectators in the stands
and the announcer was doing his best to mention most runners
names as they crossed the line. Lots of people, noise, clapping
and much enthusiasm were great final touches to a well organized
event. I believe this is one of the best roadraces anywhere.That's
probably why it's been around for 112 years.
Of course the Rocks!! and
friends were there to celebrate the day. One of us won our age
group (Melanie Muise 5k), one came very close to gold (Shawn
Schryer), one ran an absolute P.B. (Jesse Winters), one of us
was a successful official Pace bunny for the
3:30 group (Lise Edwards) and the rest of us had super runs
including our two Relay participants (Jennifer Kay and Leena
Sompi). Results
Here
We even had a booth this
year to promote our upcoming SUDBURYROCKS!!!
Race, Run or Walk for Diabetes. And it generated lots of
positive interest in the South about the North.
Next year will be the 113th
and my 10th in a row. I 'm already looking forward to the challenge.
Don't forget to sign up early. Remember that cap.
From Personal
Best to Personal Worst in Just Three ShortWeeks!
by Brent Walker
Yes, you read
that right. That's exactly what happened. I ran a personal
best when I ran the Burlington Chilly Half marathon
in 1:26:38. After
that, things just went down hill. I recovered okay from
the race but was
hit by a cold / flu bug that left me coughing and hacking
and shaking
like a leaf for a couple of days. I then tried to run
what was supposed
to be my last Saturday long run before Hamilton and
I just couldn't do
it - A virus had the best of me. The next day I was
supposed to swim a
mini meet with the Laurentian Masters swim team. Freakishly,
diving off
of the block for the start of the first race I injured
my back and was
unable to compete in the remainder of the events. This
was one week
before I was supposed to fly to Colorado for a week
of backcountry
skiing with some friends. Because of the cold virus
and an injured back,
I wasn't able to run at all for the week before flying
out. Regardless
of my condition I said that I was skiing.
I meet my friends
in Denver Colorado and headed for the mountains for
some backcountry skiing. We were skiing from hut to
hut in central
Colorado. We carried our food, sleeping bags and a bit
of extra gear in
a backpack as we went. The huts are at high elevation
and are run by the
10th Mountain Division Hut Association. (www.huts.org)
The huts we
stayed at were between 9700' and 11200'. Some of our
day ski trips were
above 12000' feet in elevation. I kept hearing from
people that when you
spend time at higher elevations, your body develops
more hemoglobin.
Hemoglobin is used to carry oxygen to working muscles.
The problem was,
I wasn't at a high elevation long enough. I was only
at high elevation
for a week before flying home.
Race day I wasn't
sure what I was capable of. I had already come to
terms with the fact that I had not trained and tapered
properly so was
not expecting a personal best. I found that I certainly
didn't have any
extra benefits from my previous week of skiing at high
elevation. The
first 20 km were okay but when I hit the hills of Burlington,
the lack
of training had caught up to me. The last big hill before
entering
Hamilton was harder then climbing some of the 12000
feet peaks I had
climbed the week before. The last 3 km to the finish
felt like I was
walking on a German autobahn with people flying by me
like I was
standing still. Earlier that day, Sheila Yaw-MacLean
had to return to
Sudbury because of a family funeral and had asked that
I return her race
chip. As a joke, I simply placed Sheila's chip on my
left foot and my
chip on my right shoe and ran the race. I laughed when
I heard her name
called crossing the finish line. As a matter of fact,
her name came
before of mine and the results are posted as such on
the official
results site (www.sportstats.ca/res2006/bay30.htm).
I posted a personal
worst time of 2:26:56 but I didn't let it bother me.
I saw it as a fair
trade for the great week of skiing and the fact that
I was, and still
am, recovering from a cold. We can't always have a personal
best - but
we can make the best of it while trying too.
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Our Tennessee Rock!!
Marathons in Knoxville
March 23, 2006 - from Karen Beaulieu:
Just thought I would
drop you a line and say hello.
I run the Knoxville marathon on Sun. and am hoping all things
go well. I would like to come in at 3:40 or so. I have been
plagued by problems since I left at Christmas so hopefully they
will stay away until the end... So I'm hoping everything falls
into place on Sun. and I can come in better than last year when
i was also injured...blah blah.
March 26, 2006 -
Karen Runs the Marathon (net 3:42:40.1)
And Karen came first in
the Female Masters Division. There's nothing like running injured
to keep you on winning form. Good going Karen.
Results here
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Greetings from New Caledonia
by Trevor Shamas
Hey, Coach and the rest of the Rocks! crew...
Greetings from New Caledonia, where it's overcast
and a little rainy today thanks to that cyclone sitting a couple
of hundred km's from here. Nonetheless it's about 30C, as usual.
Just a quick update from this side of the world...
I can't believe the volume of runners and bikers
over here! Hoards of bikers, mainly, but tons of runners, too.
Same thing over in Brisbane, where I'll be returning late next
week. Never seen so many road bikes in one place as I did in
Brisbane, actually. Must be some sort of world capital. Indicative
of the paved trails along the river, I think. Overall, there's
a real culture of fitness in this South Pacific region that
most North American's could take a lesson from.
Heat is a little hard to deal with here but I
shouldn't complain. Running past the beaches and marinas in
Noumea is a great way to start or end a day. There are lots
of hills so good workouts in that respect are easy to get in.
The heat really takes away from the output, though. Most days
it's mid-30's and humid. Seems as though running in the evening
is easier than the morning as the humidity and temperature are
lower in the former than the latter. It's taken quite a while
to adjust, too. Last night I had what I might call my first
decent long run since I left 2 weeks ago. Adjusting to the 16
hour time difference hasn't been the easiest challenge, either.
Hope all's well and that the snow is starting
to leave the pavement bare to accommodate all the training for
the upcoming marathon event over there.
Trev.
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Wheelchair Basketball
for Spinal Cord Research
(and other stuff...)
by Minna Mettinen
On Saturday March 25, 2006
the Rolling Thunder surprisingly out played the Laurentian
University Varsity basketball players, beating them 40/28 ,
what a sup rise that was for me.... although the LU players
eventually caught on to not trying to out-race us, but to pass
the ball from one end of the court to the other.... hoping someone
would catch it before it went out of bounds and the Rolling
Thunder had another chance to get the ball, and roll on by to
the LU net to get another point.
It was fun enough, and going to play, is only
going to help my balance, oxygen intake
(big concern for me, is breathing and swallowing problems) and
my ability to breath and swallow is greatly affected by the
amount of activity that I do...
If I miss going out for an few hours a day of some activity,
I end up with aspiration pneumonia quite often.
It is good for the spirit also, to do something
'fun' while one is still alive,
and able to have the chance to do so...
once this body is locked up inside its own prison of paralysis,
there is the memories,
and thoughts to keep one company - I will relish the memories
of my first marathon, and climbing heartbreak hill in Boston.
I intend to go there April 2008, because I think after that
my disability will take enough of me, that the 5 km course will
take me as long as a marathon will. Realizing that, I have embarked
upon this journey of trying to help my community (via sponsored
events such as the Diabetes, and MS 5km's that I am doing) and
help myself stay alive long enough for these kids to grow up
to be adults.
Then the journey can go down memory lane if need be.
I am contemplating entering the Helsinki Marathon
(or more seriously the half-marathon) in Mid August, by then
I will have a rented racing chair to use (OWSA rents for $20/month
to members-good deal on a 6,000 chair). If not the Helsinki
one, then probably the Scotia Bank Toronto Waterfront half marathon
in Oct.
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Upcoming Events
Sunday,
May 7, 2006
1
km – KIDS FIT ‘n’ FUN walk/run
5
km – SUN RUN walk/run
10Km
- SUN RUN walk/run
21.1
– SUN RUN half marathon walk/run
"NEW" 42.2 – SUDBURY ROCKS!!! MARATHON
run
"ATTENTION
RUNNERS"
Help us
Recruit Volunteers for our May Run
"Attention runners". We
are all looking forward to the upcoming
Sudbury Rocks!!! Race, Run
or Walk for Diabetes.
In order to make this a successful
event we are requesting your assistance to help
us to recruit volunteers. Our overall goal is
to recruit 250 volunteers for race day. Please
assist us by contacting fellow employees, friends
and family members who may be interested in providing
assistance to a very worthy cause.
Click on the following link to
view the Volunteer Info in the Volunteer
Section at Sudburyrocksmarathon.com
For more information, Please contact:
Paul Washchuk, Volunteer Director
at 566-9473 or washchuk-paul@unitz.ca
Carol Kirkwood at sudburymarathon@hotmail.com
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Saturday, June
3, 2006
DATE + TIME
Saturday, June 3, 2006 @ 9:00am.
Sudbury Running
Room
Cedar Pointe Plaza
117-1984 Regent St
Sudbury, ON
P3E 5S1
Phone: (705) 523-4664
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Sunday, June 11, 2006
5km
Walk/Run
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Visit our Events
Section for all the Details
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Run
Club Update - by Lise Edwards |
The
Running Room Club Update: March 30, 2006
Sudbury Store (Cedar Pointe Plaza)
Well I have to say that my first experience
as an official Pace Bunny for the Running Room was a great
one. I had a great group of runners tagging along and we
all finished strong... a little faster than what we set
out to run, and no complaints from the women that surpassed
their 3:30 goal coming in at 3:10 - 3:15. There was one
individual that should not have run due to a nagging injury
that turned up in Hamilton and ran the 30k, let me rephrase
that, ran 28k and hobbled the last two kilometres and finished
ahead of our 3:30 time so all in all, a good run. The Sudbury
Rocks crew had a fabulous running day with great times run
by all including a gold medal by Shawn Schryer...Way to
Go!!! It was great seeing our Sudbury Rocks Marathon booth
at the event expo getting a lot of attention.
We just received the Nordic walking poles in the store
and they come with an instructional video so if you've been
waiting for them...they have arrived!!!
Also, very exciting to see the new Pearl Izumi shoes come
in. We have a cushioned Syncro Float and Syncro Guide is
the stability shoe. These shoes have a seamless upper and
with no pressure point fit for the ultimate comfort ride.
Nice to see the sun shining out there! With the sunshine
and the longer days, we've seen a few more fair weather
runners and walkers make their way into our practice sessions.
Here's what we've got going this week:
PRACTICE TIMES
Wednesday's schedule:
LTR - Colin's Newbees - 2 minute run 1 minute
walk x 7 sets
FWO - 1 minute run : 1 minute walk x 10 sets
10k - Lindsey's pacers - Hills glorious hills (3)
1/2 Marathon Run Frank's speedsters - 7Hills
Marathon Run Lise's sun seekers - 8 Hills
**********************************
10k/5k - 5k steady walk
1/2 Marathon Walk Maureen's crew - Hills (7)
Sunday schedule:
LTR - Colin's Newbees - 2 minute run 1 minute
walk x 7 sets
FWO - 2 minute run : 1 minute walk x 7 sets
10k - Lindsey's pacers - 8k 10:1 (who are meeting at 9:30am
because the clocks are changing...)
1/2 marathon run - 16k 10:1
Marathon Run - 29k 10:1
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10k walk - 6k Steady Walk
1/2 Marathon Walk 16k Long Slow Distance
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Have a fabulous week!!!
Fall Back! Spring Forward! Remember to change the clocks
this Sunday morning!!!
Happy Trails,
Lise & Johanna Mae :)
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Track
North News - by Dick
Moss |
Welcome
to Mike's Tri Adventure
My name
is Mike Coughlin and I am a triathlete from Sudbury,
Ontario, Canada. In 2001 I started training for
triathlons for fun and fitness. I discovered that
the sport also provides great opportunities to learn
about yourself and meet fascinating people.
This
winter, I decided to follow my triathlon dreams
and train full time for 5 months, visiting several
triathlon hotbeds and training my body and mind
to be stronger than ever. Along the way I look forward
to meeting interesting people, seeing some new places
and taking the experiences as they come. I designed
this website to write about these experiences for
myself, friends and family. |
Wednesday,
March 15, 2006
"Ironman Compressed": New Zealand Race Report
2006
Standing at the waters edge on Lake Taupo the day before
Ironman New Zealand, it looked as though 2006 was going
to be a bit of an odd year for the race. IMNZ had been
at this location for 8 years now, and had yet to have
a significantly choppy day. Yet for the third day in a
row, there I was wading into the swells and crashing waves
of what was normally a calm piece of water. "No worries",
I thought - everyone says this is meant to pass. Besides,
I am ready for anything, and it can't possibly get worse
than this...
[
Read More... ]
Mike Coughlin
Coach/Mentor
The Discomfort Zone
'Where true potential is discovered'
mike@discomfortzone.com
www.mikestriadventure.ca
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For
information call me.
Vincent Perdue
341 Fourth Ave, Sudbury On. P3B-3R9
705-560-0424
vtperdue@cyberbeach.net
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