HEAT

All are welcome to come out to try something new at Arrowhead Provincial Park on February 28th, March 14 and March 21.

Skijoring is a sport which has its roots in Scandinavia, and simply constitutes any energetic dog pulling a cross-country skier!
The skier wears a skijoring harness, the dog wears a sled dog harness, and the two are connected by a length of rope (with a built in bungee). There are no reins or other signaling devices to control the dog: The dog must be motivated by its own desire to run, and respond to the owner’s voice for direction.

Don’t have the equipment?  No problem! There will be some gear onsite to borrow and instruction on how to effectively ski and guide your dog.  This is your chance to try a new  emerging sport with your own dog (who should be more than 30 lbs) or one that is already trained.

Standard Park day rates will apply…
Questions?  Contact Matt or Kristi at The Bike Shop in Gravenhurst at (705) 687-7433 or Lowell at lowell@heatitup.ca

Ok.  So I am probably the worst person for stretching, and probably should do more of it as it reduces injuries, improves muscular performance.   So, why don’t I do it.  Well, probably the same reason that most people don’t do it.  It takes time, it doesn’t feel like I am getting a workout, nor do I really like it.  But you could argue (as I am arguing with myself about this) that it probably is just as beneficial to stretch and do yoga as it is to hop on the treadmill/bike at this time of the year for a long ride/run.

So, I asked my trainer Kyra Watters to give a little blurb about stretching and how to do it.  I found some good videos that follow each of the different kinds of stretching to give you a bit of a stretching routine for both dynamic and static stretching that she goes over in her post.  So, I will pass it over to her…

If you don’t stretch you can not call yourself an athlete.

Athlete’s stretch. They know that stretching is part of the training and racing program.  It’s as important as the km’s on the bike, the laps in the pool and the post race beer.  If you choose not to stretch you’ll NEVER reach your athletic potential, complete your best time or continue to race into your 90′s.  [Think how popular you would be with the ladies if you were still  racing at 90.]

Two SIMPLE rules to stretching.

RULE #1 DYNAMIC stretching pre race or pre workout. It works best to
aid in muscular readiness. It uses movement, momentum and active
muscular effort to bring on a stretch reflex.

RULE #2 STATIC stretching post race or post workout. It works best to
increase semi-permanent muscle flexibility.

Dynamic Stretching:
The best form of dynamic stretching to execute pre race and pre workouts would be Pilates and or Yoga.  If you’re not familiar with Pilates or Yoga, simply find a DVD, pick up a book or do a couple classes. You need not worry about advance style of either. The basic moments of yoga or Pilates would be enough for efficient warm ups.

The dynamic stretching video attached has great warm stretches. I would recommend a 5 min. jog, jumping, skipping prior to doing them.

The Exercise Ball can also be used. The following video clips demonstrate some Static stretches on the ball that can simply be turned into Dynamic stretches by using constant movement, and avoid holding the stretch.  Old school side bends, high kicks etc…also work well.

More DIY videos at 5min.com

Static Stretching :
This is when you’re allowed to sit your ass on the ground, go into a stretch and hold it for 30 – 45 seconds repeatedly. You can use a partner or some other form assistance such as a towel, band or ball to increase the intensity of the stretch. The following video clips are all about static stretching. The videos clips contain stretches that are to be done POST race and or POST workout. [As mentioned above, you may change the video's Static stretches into Dynamic]

Have a bendy day!
Kyra

If you’re considering training for an endurance sport this year, you’re sure to have questions. Even if you’ve trained and competed in endurance sports in the past, you will likely have questions about how to train this year.We’ve created a new Training Programs Forum to promote local training programs.  If you have questions to pose to the community about training – this is the place to ask them and get answers. If you’d like to share a endurance training program with the community, please do! Any questions about how to post to the Forum, feel free to contact us at iwantto@heatitup.ca

HEAT Community Event: TRX Training, Wednesday January 27th, 6:30-7:30pm, $6/each, Fitt Gym, 4-60 Centre Street North, Huntsville, Map, RSVP

I was introduced to TRX training about a year ago,  and discovered that it is a simple yet amazing tool for creating a great workout. It’s hard to explain, so I recommend that you check out the video below, or some of the exercise videos on the TRX website.  This is a great opportunity to give TRX a try, in a safe, instructor led class, just for the HEAT community. There are 8 TRX’s in the studio, so we can start with a class of 8, and if there is more interest we’ll host another session. The price for this event is $6 per person to cover the cost of the instructor. I hope you’ll join me in a fun evening of training at Fitt Gym!

Please RSVP to iwantto@heatitup.ca

This video shows a few of the exercises, the Atomic Pushup (my introduction to TRX) is in the middle…

Rob. (RSVP)

I spent Saturday and Sunday at Arrowhead Provincial Park on the ski and snowshoe trails. Lots of classic and skate skiing and snowshoe running and racers and race officials out training for upcoming races.

Neil Jefferson and I ran the Hardwood Hills 3km loop in snowshoes on Saturday afternoon. It was absolutely beautiful with temperature of -14 °C and sunny blue skies. His running snowshoes being much smaller than my more traditional snowshoes seemed to be of some advantage, not to mention is long Kiwi legs propelling him in huge leaps down the hills Looking forward to participating in the upcoming Snowshoe race on January 24th. Nothing like snowshoe running to pin your heart rate in the upper 90%.

I also got a short skate ski in and ran across a few racers getting ready for the local Muskoka Loppet and Canadian Ski Marathon in Quebec. Jimmy Brendish was out on his skate skis as well, and Dave Gibson put in a huge effort with 80km on his classic skis. Of course, the ever present Steve Jones was out instructing for the Arrowhead Nordic Ski Club Ski for Fitness class on Saturday.

Sunday morning, the Six Feet Under adventure racers got in a 11km run and crossed paths with the 9am Sunday morning running group that meets at the Tim Hortons on Hwy 60.

Sunday afternoon, the Ontario Winter Games crew were out doing a dry run for the games next weekend. The sprint races are on Saturday Jan 16th, while the distance races are on the morning of Sunday Jan 17th. (Draft Schedule) This had the Arrowhead Race Centre team out to race the new Sprint loop – an exciting, fast paced event to watch.

Register now for the Muskoka Loppet or the Snowshoe Races.

Hope you had a great weekend!

Rob Horton

Here’s an update from Neil Jefferson…

There are now three races. The course is the Lookout Trail (now known as Hardwood Hill Trail), which is a 3km loop. We will have: 3km individual, 9km individual, 9km relay

The relay is for two or three person teams. The rule is that each team can only use one pair of snowshoes. That should make for a fun race.

For the draw prizes: two pair of GV cat Trail running snowshoes ($180 pr), gaiters, poles, gift certificates, and lots more.

For place prizes : 3km- $25 gift certificates from Running Free (1st place male, 1st place female), 9km individual -$50 gift cert. from Running Free (1st male, 1st female), 9km relay – working on it.

So I encourage you to put together a team or race as an individual. Let me know if you need snowshoes. I have one pair that someone can borrow. Also, AO and Sharpley’s rent them.

Register Now

If you aren’t able to race, I do need some volunteers. Call me at 789-9716 or email – jumanji96@hotmail.com

One of the goals of HEAT is to encourage members of the community to train together. After many discussions about the best way to make this work, we decided to install a Forum module. The Forum module allows you to register and post information you want to share with the HEAT community.

Want to go cross-country skiing on Saturday afternoon, but don’t want to go alone? Post a note to the ‘Join Me…I’m going Cross-Country Skiing‘ Forum Group with the details: where, when, how far you plan to go and invite members to join you. Want to keep up to date with who’s doing what? Subscribe to the Join Me… Group RSS feed.

We’ll soon be adding other forum groups to help give you a voice and get the ball rolling on a number of new training groups.

To get started, all you need to do is register.

Let’s have a Resolution Snowshoe on Sunday January 3rd. We will meet at 9.00am at the Jug City on Highway 60, and carpool from there. At least one of us has a minivan that seats 7. The caretakers at the Limberlost Forest and Wildlife Reserve advise they don’t groom the bush trails, but both Buck Lake and Lake Solitaire Trails have had snowshoers on them already, so they should be somewhat packed. It shouldn’t matter whether they are groomed or not, as we can take turns breaking trail if there is fresh snow. It has been suggested that we use the Solitaire Trail. It is 5.4km around the lake, and is beautiful! There is one big hill of about 300m. Other than that it is flat to rolling. Everyone goes at their own pace.

If you don’t have snowshoes, ask around for some loaners. Other than that AO and the Muskoka Bicycle Pro Shop rent snowshoes.

Some clothing and fueling suggestions from Neil (one of our seasoned ultra athletes)… “Everyone should take a small snack and fluids. I just carry a few granola bars, and have warm water with electrolytes. I also dress in layers. For me that is neoprene socks, runners,  high gaiters, running pants, long sleeved running shirts, light fleecy,my cycling jacket, a toque and gloves. Like skiing, it doesn’t take long to get warm.”

After the ‘shoe’ we could go to Muskoka on the Rocks for a beverage!

Hope to see everyone on the 3rd!

Thanks to Don McCormick for publishing this article about HEAT in the November 2009 edition of What’s Up Huntsville/Lake of Bays Magazine.

On the same page, local endurance runner, Troy Cox was highlighted for placing 6th out of 4,930 runners in the Goodlife Fitness Toronto Half-Marathon with a time of 1:12:42 – an avg pace of 3:27/km. Way to go Troy!

Thanks to everyone who braved the terrible weather and participated in HEAT’s first event at the Deerhurst Resort on Sunday afternoon. With clear blue skies and +15C, all activities were a great success!

(Photos by Don McCormick)

Garmin Map: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/18379778

Rob, Rich and Lowell