I think I'm going to need my own personal travel agent soon...
Another (extended) weekend trip just wrapped up, this one to Mon-Tre-Al...and no, it wasn't to catch the hockey game, but rather the 'Festival Plein Air', and outdoor expo where Salomon was teaming up with the 5 Peaks Trail Running Series to pump their expansion into La Belle Province!
The 5 Peaks Trail Running Series has seen great participation in most of English-Canada, up to 600+ runners at some events! But (there's always a 'but'!), expanding into Quebec's budding trail running market is not as easy as it may seem...
To get the job done, 5 Peaks recruited the crew at Origin Design to build and translate some key promo pieces in order to help spread the trail running wor(l)d in QC. Add a few bilingual trail runners (JD and me!) et voila! The corridor between Ottawa and Quebec city encompasses a very active target group - so the task to get them psyched on the concept of running off-road wasn't all that hard, at least once we got past the "is it going to be too hard for me" scenario! Lucky for them, 5 Peaks' event directors have done a great job to ease runners into the sport with courses that will challenge runners of all abilities. Overall, it turned out to be a great weekend, with strong interest on the part of the Festival attendees.
Expo 67 - Situated on Ile Ste Helene in Montreal, it has been the host site of the Festival Plein Air for a few years now...
My running companion these days...Suunto T6c (on wrist) and Suunto Foot pod (on shoe)! I've also been playing with a fun site called http://www.movescount.com/ where you can download all your training beta and compare against other Suunto users - interesting to see what others around the world are doing...
Upon arrival, a few Salomon Flight Crew team members were waiting - anxious to get out. I quickly pulled on my shoes, and strapped on my new Suunto T6c + Foot Pod , eager to gather a bit of beta on the trail...(this info will come in handy in my specific training efforts for this race). After a short warmup loop, we reached the trailhead, marked by a series of rock 'stairs' that take you up, up and up for the next 30min! With a busy weekend on the forecast, I wanted to use this run as an intensity workout so once we hit the stairs, I pushed the pedal down up the first major climb...
Video: Sentier des Cretes (editor: Marco Lebel) - Two days after I ran it with the Flight Crew guys, a few of the 'boys' ran it again, and took along a video...You'll know you're hooked on trail running if this video makes you envious that you missed out!
You can't go to Montreal without having a Montreal style smoked meat sandwich - It may not be the best post-run fuel, but it's fuel nonetheless - and what an impressive stack job!
It's not even June and I'm already looking forward to doing XTRAIL again. That said, I suppose I should start by tackling another beast first...10 weeks left - yikes!
Another (extended) weekend trip just wrapped up, this one to Mon-Tre-Al...and no, it wasn't to catch the hockey game, but rather the 'Festival Plein Air', and outdoor expo where Salomon was teaming up with the 5 Peaks Trail Running Series to pump their expansion into La Belle Province!
The 5 Peaks Trail Running Series has seen great participation in most of English-Canada, up to 600+ runners at some events! But (there's always a 'but'!), expanding into Quebec's budding trail running market is not as easy as it may seem...To get the job done, 5 Peaks recruited the crew at Origin Design to build and translate some key promo pieces in order to help spread the trail running wor(l)d in QC. Add a few bilingual trail runners (JD and me!) et voila! The corridor between Ottawa and Quebec city encompasses a very active target group - so the task to get them psyched on the concept of running off-road wasn't all that hard, at least once we got past the "is it going to be too hard for me" scenario! Lucky for them, 5 Peaks' event directors have done a great job to ease runners into the sport with courses that will challenge runners of all abilities. Overall, it turned out to be a great weekend, with strong interest on the part of the Festival attendees.
Expo 67 - Situated on Ile Ste Helene in Montreal, it has been the host site of the Festival Plein Air for a few years now...In typical fashion, no work-related-trip would pass without another planned adventure on local dirt! My destination this time around: Mt Orford, a small alpine ski resort near Magog, just East of Sherbrooke (QC). Last fall, I took part in the XTRAIL Orford trail race (21k) which was showcased by a 10km section called 'Sentier des Cretes', a super fun technical section with lots of rock-hopping, a bit of scrambling, some mud and...oh yeah, about 1,000m of elev gain! The trail was both an amazing and humbling experience (I got fully worked by the trail and competitors alike), and I vowed to return this coming fall to race it again, but with a few more practice runs under my belt!
Mt Orford in the distance - It doesn't seem like that big of a bump, but it packs a good punch!
Mt Orford in the distance - It doesn't seem like that big of a bump, but it packs a good punch!My running companion these days...Suunto T6c (on wrist) and Suunto Foot pod (on shoe)! I've also been playing with a fun site called http://www.movescount.com/ where you can download all your training beta and compare against other Suunto users - interesting to see what others around the world are doing...Upon arrival, a few Salomon Flight Crew team members were waiting - anxious to get out. I quickly pulled on my shoes, and strapped on my new Suunto T6c + Foot Pod , eager to gather a bit of beta on the trail...(this info will come in handy in my specific training efforts for this race). After a short warmup loop, we reached the trailhead, marked by a series of rock 'stairs' that take you up, up and up for the next 30min! With a busy weekend on the forecast, I wanted to use this run as an intensity workout so once we hit the stairs, I pushed the pedal down up the first major climb...
Video: Sentier des Cretes (editor: Marco Lebel) - Two days after I ran it with the Flight Crew guys, a few of the 'boys' ran it again, and took along a video...You'll know you're hooked on trail running if this video makes you envious that you missed out!So what makes this trail so technical? After your legs are turned to mush from the steady climb to the ridge, you continue on the singletrack trail dodging trees, roots, rocks and other brushy debris...add in some rock to rock, to rock hopping sections, some mud bogs, some 1m+ drops, jumps and leaps, all while trying to follow painted markers on the rock ridges sections, and you've got yourself a challenge - This is one of those courses where locals' knowledge pays, and can literally save you minutes. After a solid hour of running, you pop out onto a 'blue' run midway up Mt Orford's ski hill, and are left with a grueling grunt of a climb to the summit. Check it out...
Bird's eye view - That white strip is the last climb of the XTRAIL Orford 21km race...(photo: Marco Latendresse)
Bird's eye view - That white strip is the last climb of the XTRAIL Orford 21km race...(photo: Marco Latendresse)
You can't go to Montreal without having a Montreal style smoked meat sandwich - It may not be the best post-run fuel, but it's fuel nonetheless - and what an impressive stack job!It's not even June and I'm already looking forward to doing XTRAIL again. That said, I suppose I should start by tackling another beast first...10 weeks left - yikes!
4 comments:
Seems like the timing is good for a 5Peaks push in Quebec. We had good interest with a lot of preregistration from Quebec for the Kingston 5Peaks race and even more race day entries. It was great seeing the MEC Montreal crew get behind the event and make the trip for the race.
Good luck in the upcoming races Phil.
Wow, impressed that MEC Montreal went up - Most of the races in QC like xtrail and ultimate xc are raking up ~500 participants so there's definitely interest. Now it's just a matter of getting the word out!
can't believe you loaded up on Schwartz !
Sooooo goood...
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