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Running in Vancouver - Stanley Park
My favourite place to run in Vancouver has to be Stanley Park. The network of trails inside the park offers a great escape from urban life in the downtown west end, and you can find easy flat trails or plenty of steep inclines that help build muscle strength and endurance.
When I coach runners I always throw in a healthy dose of hills (they hate me first, but love me later)...and a great workout is running up to Prospect Point. There are a variety of options and you can use a fantastic free tool on the web, www.stanleyparkmap.com, to follow along.
I generally start from Lost Lagoon. There are several ways up to Prospect Point:
1) Along eastern seawall (with traffic) to Lumberman's Arch, go onto Park Drive and tackle the infamous Vancouver Half Marathon hill. You could go the other direction from Second Beach as well.
2) Head towards Beaver Lake and take the North Creek Trail, cross Park Drive, and left on Avison.
3) Take Bridle Trail all the way up. This has probably the steepest incline.
4) Take Rawlings all the way up. This is the LONG way, but flatter than the other options.
Prospect Point is a nice halfway point as you can grab water or pee/poo. A return trip will average 6K...but be creative and use the different trails to give a little variety in your runs.
One note of caution: the Vancouver Police has recommended that woman not run alone in the park. Unfortunately there were a couple of incidents of a man targeting woman runners in the park last summer, and while isolated (and perhaps blown out of proportion by the media), use your common sense if you decide to run alone. Also turn off your mp3 players, radios, or discmans if you are off a crowded trail.
Next Wednesday, I'll talk about some proven principles for building a good training program.
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