Notes from Dan the Trail Guy #8

Trail Bits & Other Bits of News

1. The Bastion Running Club Cedar 12k is Sunday February 13th. Bastion is still in need of course marshals. Please contact Darrell Orosz at janddorosz@shaw.ca if you can volunteer?

2. Last Saturdays run in the snow: The group started out with 14 people but was quickly reduced to only 5 as we headed onto the less used Morell trails. Let’s just say that most of you missed an opportunity for a really good work out on the trails in Morell. Lateral movement was the motion of the day. Surprisingly when we ran through Morell though, we didn’t have to stop and do any debris removal. Nancy Grovum, who was venturing out on her first run in the snow can now proudly boast of now being a group leader. Nancy was the wise one who very easily persuaded 7 others of the group to follow her on a run on the snow covered trails around Westwood Lake. Way to go Nancy!

3. Strength Training Clinic for only $ 15.00 : Sean Lunny in partnership with Frontrunners is offering a core strength training work shop. Sean, who is a personal trainer, will focus on core strength and stretching for runners. The start date for the clinic is this Thursday January 20th and will run 6 weeks, ending on the start of the marathon run clinic (February 24th). Start time will be 6:30am at Frontrunners for one hour. The sessions will be limited to 20 people, and are now being offered on a first come first served basis. Sorry for the short notice, but it has just been put in place and we need to make sure we fill the 20 spots to cover costs. A commitment must be made for all six weeks, and will not be on a drop in basis. Cost will be $15.00 for the full six weeks and payment must be made prior to the first clinic to reserve a spot. Please bring a mat or a towel to lie down on and a band or belt to help make some of the stretches easier. You can email the store at canrun@islandnet.com , or please phone Frontrunners at 729-8200. If you have any questions please feel free to email Stefan (snjakobsen@hotmail.com) or Kari (macintyreka@hotmail.com)
There is still room in the marathon and half marathon training clinic that Kari, Stefan and John are putting on. It starts February 24th.

4. Pioneer 8k: was held on Sunday with a dozen or so hearty soles from Nanaimo venturing down to Victoria to run. Go to the Prairie Inn Harriers website http://pih.bc.ca for the full results.

5. How to split up the trail groups (without hurting feelings!) : one of the topics that came up for discussion at the AGM last week was how to break up the trail groups so that all people can come run the trails and go home satisfied with their run. A suggestion was also made at the AGM that the groups shouldn’t be labeled as the fast group, slow group, intermediate or elite group, but rather the groups should be designated and broken up, based on pace such as a 5:00 min and under pace group and a 6:00 min and over pace group. Some what like Frontrunners does with Group 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, & 6.

I know it works with Frontrunners, but I don’t think that it necessarily will work with us. The main reason being that Frontrunners has numerous leaders, which are paid to show up and are told to lead a particular group. Conversely, with our trail runs, all the Saturday morning leaders are volunteers and the number of leaders whom have the required trail knowledge is very, very small. Also, the wants/needs of the individual leaders in terms of the pace they want to run always has to be taken into consideration when we break the group up. Therefore it isn’t always possible to break the groups into the pace groups which makes everyone 100% happy. I/we (ROC) try and do the best to accommodate all of you that show up for the trail runs, but sadly I/we can’t guarantee that the pace of the group will always be at a pace that you will all be comfortable with. I do try and advise all of you in advance as to who the leaders will be and what sort of pace/time/distance they will be running.

My main concerns are dealing with the location of the runs, ensuring that I have enough competent leaders and that we have a sweeper for all groups…….speaking of which, don’t be shy about volunteering to hang at the back of the group. It seems like it is always the same people sweeping. Remember the rule, we never leave anyone to run on their own and I would like to ask all leaders to remember that. We recently had members get off course in Morell after the group left them on their own and didn’t leave a sweeper in place…Bad!

If you are interested in further developing your skills and knowledge to a point where you will feel confident leading one of the groups, the easiest way to do that is to run at the front of the group and let the leader know that you want to lead. The leader “should” allow you to take over the lead and will call directions to you if you are making the wrong turns. The only way to learn the routes is to actually be at the front and having to make the decisions of which way to turn.

6. This weeks run: if the weather cooperates for this Saturday’s run, it should be the first opportunity to get the whole group out for a run in almost a month. The run this week, as per the earlier schedule I sent out will be a run of the trails in the DUMONT RD area. We will meet at the YELLOW GATE as per out usual time of 7:30 am and will run for approximately 1:20. Two veterans of the Dumont area; Mr. Derek Riley and Mr. Owen Carr will be your leaders this week. Derek will take out the faster paced group and Owen and I will take out the not quite so fast of pace group (is that politically correct?). If you don’t know where I am talking about in regards to the location, please email me and I will send along directions to you.