Stacy M. Rhea
 

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Discover Trail Running

by Mark Shelton

Trail running is one of the fastest growing segments of the running industry. Specialty retail running stores offer an increasing array of trail running shoes, clothing and accessories.

Are aging baby boomers searching for a softer surface for running? Or could trail running just be a brilliant marketing strategy by the shoe companies to entice us onto the trails so we'll purchase new trail shoes? Maybe there is little bit of truth in both. To really understand and discover the joys of trail running, we went to four local trail running advocates and asked them about trail running.

Jack Kluznick is part of the planning team for the Towpath Marathon. By his own admission, "I don't run ultra's, but I do run the trails, including Cuyahoga Valley, Cleveland Metroparks, Metro Parks servicing Summit County, Lake Metroparks, Dances with Dirt and the Tecumseh Trail Marathon."

Suzanne Pokorny is a local ultra-distance runner and is part of the organizational committee for the new Burning River 100 Mile Trail Run in August.

Mark Godale may be a familiar name. Mark is one of our area's top trail and ultra-distance runners and recently was one of the members of the U.S. Olympic 100K team.

Roy Heger also is a familiar face at many local races and spends a lot of his time on the trails. He is the course architect for the Burning River 100 Mile Trail Run.

Q: Can you define trail running?

Suzanne: When we speak of trail running, we mean a technical trail, not a bike path in the park that road runners call a "trail." Road running requires less thinking: throw on some random running shoes and run out your front door vs. weighing the possible conditions given the recent weather and then having to drive to a trail after calculating how much time you have to run that day.

Roy: Running on a technical trail offers many challenges not often seen by road runners. Trail running requires flexibility and balance, as well as the ability to adapt a running style to changing trail conditions. Time spent training on a trail is most important to help make good decisions when racing on a trail. The ability to judge when to step on an obstacle or over it takes experience as well as practice. Knowing when to slow down to avoid falls is especially hard for road runners who run "all out" all of the time. Passing on a trail also requires timing and finesse not seen in road racing. An improperly timed pass can mean a bad fall, injury to both runners involved and include others in close proximity.

Mark: I don't think there is one thing you should be doing differently, running is running. One difference: The roads are usually a constant even pace. On trails, pace usually varies because of the terrain.

Q: What shoes should be worn?

Jack: I have been running in the same pair of Montrail shoes for about 6 years. They are built like a tank.

Suzanne: Shoe choices are based more on the weather conditions and terrain than a road runner's shoe. Sometimes it's safe to bring three pairs and decide at the trail head. Shoes for trail running don't have to be "trail shoes," but "road shoes" can only handle dry, hard trails and ensure your safety. Icy or muddy conditions dictate a shoe with more tread. Ankle stability is an important consideration. Trust your local running store to help your decision. You also will notice that trail shoes do not come in white for a reason. It's probably a safe bet to buy tan or brown socks for that matter.

Roy: Shoe selection for trail running depends on conditions you expect to face during your run. There are many types of specialized trail shoes designed to match different types of conditions. Buy shoes from a store with staff knowledgeable about trail running and match shoe choice to the type of trail conditions you expect to experience. Train in the shoes you expect to race in. Find the shoe that works for you, not the shoe others say will work for you. Allow plenty of room in a trail shoe to give your foot room to do the work it needs to do to keep you vertical while running a trail. The best way to develop blisters is to fit shoes too tight. Road runners like the tight 5K fit, but that won't work on trail where flexibility is key.

Mark: Trail shoes are overrated. Wear what is comfortable.

Q: What is your best advice?

Suzanne: Consider this: Road running is more about the miles you run, while trail running is more about time on your feet. It is much more difficult to know for sure you have run 10 miles on the trail; in fact, many trail races or ultras are "around" 50k or "about" 50 miles. GPS signals can be lost in the woods, and even with the best custom measuring wheel out there, true distance is an educated guess. Most road runners don't carry water bottles, whereas trail runners are often seen with hand-held water bottles and waist belts with food and emergency items.

Jack: Subscribe to Trail Runner Magazine to enjoy the photography and stories about trails throughout the U.S. Run with a friend/friends whose company and conversation you enjoy and who share the passion for trail running. Carry toilet paper and water. Watch your step for roots, rocks and obstructions (sightseeing during a trail run will lead to a faceplant and likely injury). Stop periodically to appreciate a nice view and memorize it for those ugly winter weather days when the trails are impassible. Recall those idyllic moments on the trail during periods of high stress or when you are laying in bed and unable to fall asleep. Take a small camera in a fanny pack to memorialize some of those amazing visual moments on the trail. Walk up the steep hills.

Roy: On the subject of feet, you must know that in trail running you will get wet feet. Don't be afraid, you will live through it. Your feet will get wet while running even if you are not in water. With the right socks, it will be OK. When it comes to socks, cotton kills. On a wet course, use shoes you know will drain well. Do not make the rookie mistake of leaping to injury to avoid wet feet at a stream crossing. I run through water even in winter; it is cold only for a little while. Wear clothing selected for function and not style. Looks do not equal function, especially in ultra trail events.

Mark: If you can afford a wicking shirt and shorts, you are ready to go. You cross streams the same way you cross a road except you are going to get your feet wet. In an ultra over 50 miles, I recommend eating real food. It's easy to get down. I use peanut butter and mashed potatoes, also a PowerGel for quick energy.

Q: What are some final thoughts?

Jack: Have a cooler with ice-cold Gatorade in the car for after the run and a towel to cover your car seat from the mud and sweat. Stop at a bakery/coffee shop for your breakfast reward after the run with mud up to your thighs, and enjoy the looks of confusion on people's faces. Apply bug spray and sun screen before the run. Wear a thick, long-sleeve shirt during deerfly season. Wear a hat and consider a mosquito net for your head and face during bug season or expect to swallow bugs if you don't breathe through your nose. Carry a sweat rag to wipe your brow and to shoo away deerflies. Don't try to keep your feet dry during a trail run; enjoy the wet and slop because it is part of the experience.

Suzanne: Watching the scenery may be a great time passer in road running, helping you to dissociate possible pain or boredom. In trail running, however, you must pay attention to the terrain. A sea of roots can come upon you quickly, and falling is a rude awakening. Mapping a strategy in your head for the five feet in front of you is a learned ability and will come with time and practice. Will you negotiate crossing a stream by jumping rocks, or is it worth it just to cross and be done with it? The shortest distance may be straight through, but there are days where checking out long-cuts around may be worth the time. Weigh your options, but weigh them quickly, because the competition may splash on by with little thought of wet feet.

Many say a trail is better for your body: less impact than cement and softer and easier on your joints. Just remember that falling happens much more often on a trail (and sometimes multiple falls in a day) and can quickly make this sort of running hurt the body more than a safe road day. Mud is not often a challenge of road running (there are cars to challenge you instead), but on trails you will almost always have mud. Make peace with that idea before you head out the door. Mud for cars is a good trade.

Save the trails for when you can invest some time, planning and thought ... and savor those moments. You will be truly rewarded.

Maybe aging baby boomers are searching for a softer surface for running, or perhaps trail running is just a brilliant marketing strategy. But the fun, excitement and enjoyment of trail running appear to be more important and more significant to the growth of this sport.

Mark Shelton started running in 1982. He ran his first marathon in Columbus in 1988. He has completed 14  marathons and six ultra-distance events. Mark was the supply coordinator for the Mohican Trail 100 for 10 years, was a board member of the Ohio Canal Corridor and a past executive director of the Towpath Marathon. He is a volunteer trail maintainer for the Buckeye Trail Association. He primarily runs and walks on the trails in the Brecksville Reservation of the Cleveland Metroparks with his dog Genevieve.

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Adventure Sport Basics

by Kevin Madzia

As a reader of this magazine, you've probably done at least one competitive event in your preferred activity. Are you looking for a new challenge? Then adventure racing may be just the ticket for you.

An adventure race is loosely defined as an event combining two or more athletic disciplines, which may include running, cycling, paddling, swimming, climbing or orienteering. You may think of an adventure race as a triathlon with a "twist." In addition to testing your physical abilities, it often is designed to test your problem-solving abilities.

There is no standard for the length or duration of an adventure race. It can range from "sprint" events that last a few hours, to day-long endurance events, to multi-day tests of survival. The rules of the event can vary greatly from one to another; some adventure races permit no outside assistance during the competition, others allow support at designated checkpoints or staging areas. Some adventure races permit competitors to assist one another during the event. There usually are no designated "rest" periods during an adventure race; even during multi-day events, it is up to the competitors to decide when (or if) to rest or sleep.

No one is certain when adventure racing was "invented." There were a few events beginning in the late 1960s that had some of the features of what we consider adventure racing today. The sport, however, probably first came into the awareness of the couch-surfing public in the mid-1990s, when television producer Mark Burnett promoted the first Eco-Challenge race. This multi-day survival test became a TV ratings hit and arguably was the origin of the "reality TV" craze, which continues to this day with Burnett's more well-known creation, "Survivor."

Adventure racing is enticing to many athletes because of the unpredictable nature of the events. The order of the main events often is not announced until the start of the competition. Racers may be required to successfully complete several "special tests," such as climbing vertical ropes and/or ladders, swings, rappelling, log traverses, obstacle courses or whatever the race organizers" devious minds can come up with.

Another part of the appeal of adventure racing is that they usually are team events.  Completing the physical and mental challenges with a team provides a great sense of accomplishment, as well as being a fun source of stories to share with friends for years. Some races allow teams to compete relay-style, but the more common rule is that team members must start and finish together.

Check the course description to know whether to choose road or trail running shoes and a road or mountain bike. Most races that include a paddling event make some arrangements for people who do not have a canoe or a kayak.

Participants may be permitted to store and change clothes in a staging area or may be forced to make do with whatever can be worn or carried on the back. Often, the choice of clothing and gear will involve many gambles and compromises.

Sprint races usually do not include an orienteering event; for those that do, it may just involve following a small, hand-drawn map. For some longer adventure races, the orienteering event is the major focus of the race, and finishing the race, not to mention survival, may depend on being able to navigate through many miles of open wilderness.

For multi-day adventure races, pack all of the basic gear to accommodate day-to-day needs, similar to what one would take on a typical backpacking excursion. Don't forget to think about any first aid or special medications, even for short races.

Cross-training takes on even more importance compared to single-sport races. Work on building the whole body strength and flexibility needed to handle the demands of the events. If help is needed with training, consult a certified personal trainer.

Getting a group of friends together to form a team can be a huge advantage and provide the motivation for each other to train. By the time of the race, members will be accustomed to communicating and working together as a team. If no team is formed, search online racing forums to hook up with other teams looking to fill a spot.

Kevin Madzia is the information systems manager for Century Cycles, Peninsula. Kevin's cycling experience, which spans more than seven years, includes adventure racing, mountain biking and road cycling. Century Cycles is a full-service bicycle shop with additional locations in Medina and Rocky River. For more information, visit www.centurycycles.com.

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Adventure Weekend Part 1: Carter County Crawlathon

by Bill Plessinger

In Jan. 27, I left the biting winds of Cleveland for the gentle breezes and 50- degree weather of Carter County, Ky. I was headed to the annual Carter County Crawlathon. This spelunker's paradise brought men, women and children from across the country to converge at Carter Caves State Park for a three-day weekend of crawling, caving and rappelling events.

Carter Caves State Park is an hour and a half south of Portsmouth, Ohio. Twisting roads and shotgun-blasted road signs are part of the scenic drive. As I approached the registration area, I took notice of the unique vanity plates and bumper stickers that adorned various cars and trucks: "OHIO KAVR," "cavers do it underground" and "live vertically, die horizontally."

A record number of people, more than 700, showed up for the 26th annual Crawlathon. The diversified group included first-timers to hardcore cavers. More than 100 outings were scheduled, including trips to dozens of caves in the limestone-rich area. Outings included a 7/70, which is a 70-foot drop down a 7-foot-diameter hole. Some of the passages, known as a birth canal, are only physically possible if the caver exhales all the air in his or her lungs and patiently squeezes through, centimeter by centimeter.

Other offerings included skills classes, lectures and more eclectic fare, such as the corrugated cave. This imaginative indoor cave was made up entirely of cardboard boxes. Cardboard stalactites, stalagmites and dead ends made the cardboard cave quite a challenge. Webcams were placed on the outside so other spelunkers could watch the progress of others.

The squeezebox, an annual staple, is a diabolical, giant, wooden vice where challengers see how small an opening they can squeeze through. Eleven-year-old Erin Thacker squeezed through a 6-1/2-inch opening (a dollar bill is only 6 inches wide). More impressive was Jamie Dzierzak, whose 6-foot, 5-inch, 201-pound body fit through a 7-1/2-inch opening. Another offering was a remake of the board game "Clue" done in a cave with the cavers as characters in the game.

My first program was "down for dummies," a clinic on cave rappelling. "Cave Cricket," our rappel instructor (she never gave her real name), gave pointers and described the differences between rappelling and rock climbing equipment. On this day, we only rappelled 75 feet, but the thrill and dangers still were present. It is easy to break fingers, peel off flesh or die.

My next two outings consisted of trips into the Cascade cave system. Our tour guide, Terry, started the underworld excursion with a light and equipment checks.   Jumpsuits, pads and helmets were a necessity. Headlamps were secured onto the helmet with large amounts of duct tape.

Terry's easygoing nature was matched by a serious attitude toward safety. He explained how a 10-minute trip into a cave could be a four-hour trip out on a stretcher. Terry supported his safety concerns with a story about Floyd Collins, a local boy and experienced caver from the 1920s. On Floyd's last foray into the nearby Sand Caves, he made the fatal mistake of going alone and died of exposure after being trapped in a tight passage. Cave crickets had eaten his nose off when they found his body four days later.

After a journey deep into the belly of one of the caves, we turned off our lights to experience absolute blackness, which is hard to come by in day-to-day affairs.  The beautiful caves were a study in contrast: light and dark, smooth and jagged, dry and dank. We saw underground rivers, a stalagmite that resembled a church organ, crickets and bats, and a 50-foot underground waterfall. Walking above ground, you would never know what treasures lay underneath your strides.

At the end of the day, I reflected on the various ages, experience levels and abilities of the cavers. The question I had on my mind was finally answered.

Why would anyone want to spend a day crawling through dirt and dark tunnels, and squeezing through tight crevasses, all the while risking their lives? The answer: Humans need to explore their world, to see what no one else has seen before.

For more information on Crawlathon, go to www.crawlathon.org or www.parks.ky.gov/resortparks/cc/. 

Bill Plessinger is a recreation manager with Lake Metroparks. He can be reached at bplessinger@lakemetroparks.com.

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by Bill Plessinger

I left the caves and carabiners behind in Kentucky and made my way back to Ohio for the second day of my adventure weekend. Beer and steak from the local Char Bar kept my belly full as I replaced my muddy climbing and caving apparatus at the hotel with a compass and cold-weather gear.

I awoke the next morning to the return of Old Man Winter, who in the night had recaptured Hocking Hills in his icy grip. The icy, snowy roads and 16-degree weather would make the day's special event a challenge. I was headed to Tar Hollow State Park in Laurelville to try and capture the Golden Machete, the prize for winning Ambush Adventure Sports' Annual Groundhog's Revenge Winter Rogaine.

For those not familiar, a "rogaine" is more than a male hair-growth supplement. Rogaining is the sport of long-distance, cross-country navigation in which solo competitors or teams visit as many checkpoints as possible within a fixed time period.

The Groundhogs Revenge is a relatively short rogaine at six hours (some go 12 or 24 hours).  Competitors travel on foot, navigating by map and compass between checkpoints in any order they want. The key is to plan out a route that will take you to as many points as possible and still have enough time to get back to base before time is up. If you are over the time allotted, you generally lose one checkpoint for every minute that you are late. The challenge lies in that the more distant checkpoints usually have greater point value, but you lose more time.

Some competitors stick only to trails, while others take compass readings and bushwhack between points. Other checkpoints might be on top of hills or down in the bottom of steep river valleys. The fun part is that the direction you go is entirely up to you. If there is another team close to you on the course, they could be in first place or in last place, depending on how many checkpoints they've been to (or how lost they are).

Map and Compass Rogaine competitions have a long and colorful history. They began in the 1930s in the Czechoslovakian Army, which used them for training. In 1940s Europe, they were banned by Adolph Hitler, who knew of the sport's practical applications for underground resistance groups. After the war, it saw a resurgence among British and American Boy Scouts, who gave it a recreational spin.  Today, it flourishes around the country and includes events for all skill levels.

The Jan. 28 race included about 75 hearty souls of all shapes and sizes braving the cold. Some came to win and some to gain experience plotting out a short course on the map to see if they could navigate it correctly.

When Brad Hunt, the Ambush Adventure Sports race director, announced the start of the race, it looked nothing like a traditional 5K or triathlon. Racers scattered in all directions, using whatever strategy they thought would bring them the most points. On the maps we had been handed out 30 minutes prior to the race, I plotted a counter-clockwise loop that would take me north through a valley, up to a park trail and out to Bull Creek Road on the parks' northern border. I would then sweep west and south, getting all the northern checkpoints. After three checkpoints in 30 minutes, I was alone in my route and wouldn't see another competitor for more than an hour.

After punching my card at checkpoint 42 in the northwest section of the course, I encountered my first roadblock: The trail I was following on the map and underfoot disappeared under the snow. I would have to use natural landmarks to determine my location and find my way to checkpoint 70, the highest value checkpoint on the northern tier. I found the park boundary, marked by yellow dots of paint on a row of trees, and followed it until I came to a ridge that overlooked the valley the checkpoint was in. After reaching the checkpoint, I made my way south, stopping at checkpoints along the way. Then I made my first mistake.

One of the unspoken rules of rogaining is to not follow the path of the person in front of you. I followed a group of about eight people down a trail toward what I thought was checkpoint 21. It wasn't until a mile into that walk that I finally stopped to check my compass. I had been going in the wrong direction. Some bushwhacking and route correction took me to another trail and back on course, but I had lost more than 30 minutes and smarted from the mistake.

At the lookout tower closer to the southern end of the park, I snatched another 23 points and stopped to refuel. My traditional mid-race sushi lunch had always gone down smooth and given me a boost when I needed to keep moving. Today, however, it was near frozen from the sub-zero temperatures, and I only managed to choke down four pieces before the sweat started to cool and my body started to shiver. It had only been three minutes since I stopped, and I was off again.

I checked in at 5 hours, 52 minutes and had managed to visit 13 of the 24 checkpoints.  My route had taken me close to 17 miles and I bore two cuts across my face and one that ran along the side of my neck from angry thorn bushes. It looked like I had been in a knife fight.

My adventure weekend was over as I now drove home to continue the day-to-day life of keeping up with the Joneses.

For more information on the rogaines or orienteering, go to www.ambushadventuresports.com or www.americanbushwhackingclub.org. For orienteering clinics and local events, go to the North Eastern Ohio Orienteering Club's Web site at www.neooc.home.att.net.