Conrad Stoltz navigated the Belle Isle “Dryway” back in 2007. Credit: Conradstoltz.com

In a few minutes I’ll be heading down to Brown’s Island to watch a group of XTERRA pros face-off in a pre-race shoot-out — a kind of mini version of Sunday’s main event, only as a relay. This “shootout” is in lieu of the standard press conference.

It’s a first-of-its-kind event, where fifteen of the fastest professional XTERRA triathletes in the world will split into five, three-person relay teams to take each other on in a short swim in the James River, a mountain bike ride over the footbridge and through the pump track on Belle Isle, and a run past the murals along the Canal Walk before finishing on Brown’s Island.  The fastest team should conquer the challenge in about 15 minutes.

It should be a lot of fun, and you can follow along at home, because presenting sponsor Luck Stone will outfit each racer with GPS trackers and cameras that will live stream all the action for the mini-tri. It should be a lot of fun.

Among the racers participating today will be last year’s Richmond champ Dan Hugo and Conrad Stoltz, the greatest off-road triathlete of all time. There’s a great story by South African journalist Angus Powers in Red Bull’s Magazine The Red Bulletin on the burgeoning rivalry between the prodigy (Hugo) and the “Caveman” (Stoltz). It’s a must-read for XTERRA fans and anyone who’s followed these races over their 15 years in Richmond. Great writing. Great story.

Richmond is quickly becoming a hotbed for endurance athletes. In addition to the upcoming 2015 UCI World Cycling Championships, Richmond also boasts an international-caliber off-road triathlon (XTERRA, happening June 15^th), one of the nation’s largest 10k races, a top-notch junior elite triathlon event, the immensely popular Dominion Riverrock, and countless other running, cycling, and multi-sport events.

Fortunately for this great community, the Richmond area also boasts some great spots to train for the above races. Below are a few of my favorite training spots, and how I use them to build fitness. Whether you’re a cyclist, runner, adventure racer, or triathlete, you’ll likely find that one or more of these venues provides you with some worthwhile (and fun) training options.

A group ride can be a good way to up the intensity of a workout. Credit: Endorphin Fitness

Belle Isle

What/Where: Most Richmonders have been out to Belle Isle for one reason or another. It sits in the middle of the James within sight of downtown, making it a quick and easy getaway for city dwellers. The footbridge on Tredegar Street (near Brown’s Island) provides access.

How I Use It: One time around the main loop on Belle Isle is almost exactly a mile and features forgiving packed gravel and a small climb on each loop. When I’m training for a half marathon, I do a workout called “Belle Isle Miles,” which I structure as a fartlek workout. Fartlek IS a real word, and usually refers to any workout where a runner is alternating between faster and slower running in some kind of structured manner. I do my fartlek on Belle Isle by alternating one loop of the island at half marathon race pace (“tempo” effort) with a loop at steady, everyday running pace. This workout allows me to pile up a good chunk of mileage and practice race effort in manageable pieces.

Old Gun Road West

What/Where: On the south side of the river, Cherokee Road eventually turns into Old Gun road if you head west. The west side of Old Gun provides cyclists with a 2-3 mile climb of varying steepness.

How I Use It: Working against gravity allows many riders to reach an effort level that is difficult to achieve on the flats. To that end, I like to do 5-6 minute repeats up this stretch of Old Gun at a relatively high intensity, then spin easy back downhill as recovery. Start with 2-3 trips up the road for the duration of your choice. As you build fitness, increase the number and length of the repeats. Old Gun is relatively narrow and has a couple of sharp bends near its bottom, so ride heads-up and be considerate of other riders and drivers.

Robious Landing Park

What/Where: Robious Landing Park is just off Robious Road, near James River High School. The park hosts the popular I Love the Tavern Triathlon late in June each year. The park has river access and a network of shaded gravel running trails.

Credit: Endorphin Fitness

How I Use It: The park is one of the area’s most popular spots for open water swimming because the river is relatively wide and the current is usually weak. Nevertheless, swimming a certain distance upriver usually takes twice as long as the same trip downriver. I make this work for me by turning this into another “fartlek” effort: I swim hard upriver for an interval of 5-10 minutes (choose a time with which you are comfortable), swim back to my starting point, and repeat. This workout replicates the conditions I face in open water swim races, where I am often forced to go between hard efforts and recovery efforts. ALWAYS be safe when swimming in the river. Never swim alone. Ideally, have a friend alongside you on a kayak or paddleboard. Wear a brightly colored swim cap so you are visible to boats and from the shore. Avoid swimming after heavy rains or when river levels are too high for your swim ability.

The James River Park Trail System

What/Where: We all know it’s there, most of us have been on it, and you can access the James River Park trail system from anywhere between downtown and the Nickel Bridge, on both sides of the river.

How I Use It: Every time I run Northbank Trail, I reach the spot where you can see the Richmond skyline, and think how lucky we are to have such a beautiful and extensive trail system in Richmond. I’ve literally never had a bad run on the trails. If you’re tired of plodding through your neighborhood, make a trip to the trails, enjoy the peace and quiet, and explore. You can run as long as you want to run without having to see the same thing twice. Alternately, pick a route, make it your own, revisit it often, and test yourself. When I’m feeling my oats, I hammer my favorite loop of Buttermilk/North Bank and see how fast I can cover it. The feeling of running fast on your favorite stretch of trail is like nothing else.

These are just a few ideas to try. Explore on your own and see what your neck of the woods has to offer. Always be safe, and always be courteous of your fellow athletes, other vehicles, and your environment.

Brandon Montijo can do some really cool things with a drone. The local multimedia producer, and owner of Tijo Media, will, from time to time, put short, outdoors-focused videos he’s worked on up on our Facebook page so others can see our trails, waters, and what people are doing on them from a completely different angle. They’re all great, but Montijo just came out with one, Riverrock ’14 — From the Air, that I thought deserved a wider audience. It really captures the huge crowds, the athletes doing their thing, and power of the James River on a perfect weather weekend.

Bike Walk RVA announced this morning the launch of Connect RVA, a multi-year, regional campaign to make Richmond, Chesterfield, Henrico, and Hanover better places to walk and bike for everyday activities. Connect RVA is gaining traction in the city of Richmond and has recently become an official legacy project of the Richmond 2015 UCI Road World Championships.

The goal of Connect RVA is to help produce more of this in Richmond.

“The Connect RVA project is a perfect example of the kind of legacy that we had hoped would emerge as a result of hosting the World Championships and a benefit for the entire community for years to come,” said Tim Miller, COO of Richmond 2015, in a press release.

In the City of Richmond, Connect RVA is a targeted effort to build 20+ miles of new family-friendly bikeways – protected and buffered bike lanes through the heart of downtown, safe river crossings, paved trails, and comfortable connections to and through surrounding neighborhoods – by September of 2015, in time for the UCI Road World Championships. This effort will require dedicated funding at the local and federal level, as well as close coordination with the City of Richmond.

“We are pleased to be working closely with our local leaders to ensure that we show off a bike-friendly region to the rest of the world in 2015, and to create a network of bikeways that allow Richmond area residents to get where they need to go without requiring the use of a car – whether that’s to school, work, church, or the grocery store,” said Jon Lugbill, Executive Director of the Sports Backers, which runs Bike Walk RVA.

To further celebrate May as Bike Month, Bike Walk RVA is coordinating a month of grassroots, community bike events. Bike Walk RVA Director Max Hepp-Buchanan wrote a piece for RichmondOutside about those events. Click here to find it and a schedule.

“We wanted to do something unique for our region this year, and at the same time make sure our Bike Month was community-driven and inclusive,” said Hepp-Buchanan. “So, we pulled together our most active community volunteers and starting putting small-scale but fun events on the calendar, and came up with a packed month of activities for everyone to enjoy.”

Later this month the International Mountain Biking  Association Trail Care Crew will be making a visit to the Richmond area. In addition to a hands-on, trail-building class on Saturday, March 29th at Pocahontas State Park, they are hosting two seminars for land managers and community leaders. “Better Living Through Trails” and “Land Manager Training” will take place on Friday, March 28th at the Virginia War Memorial. These events are free anyone that might be interested. Please register in advance at https://www.imba.com/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&id=381

The International Mountain Bicycling Association Presents: Better Living Through Trails

This presentation explores the positive relationships between communities and their trail systems. Trails as community assets can improve quality of life and livability in a community for both the biking and non-biking members, and can attract significant tourism dollars in addition in increasing overall quality of life. With statistics and case studies, participants will learn how to turn a quality community trail system into a destination trail system, and how to effectively market a trail system.

March 28th 10 a.m. Virginia War Memorial 621 S Belvidere St., Richmond, VA 23220

Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew Land Manager Training

This presentation will educate land managers about IMBA and the practice of designing, building and maintaining sustainable purpose-built mountain bike trails as well as the importance of partnerships with local mountain biking organizations to achieve great trails. Topics of discussion will include:

March 28th 2 p.m. Virginia War Memorial 621 S Belvidere St., Richmond, VA 23220

This here is Post No. 2 in our new weekly trail update series. Every Monday we’ll report on a local trail project –past, present, or upcoming. Considering how many people use the trails in our fair city — dog walkers, runners, birders, mountain bikers, etc — we think there’s an appetite out there for trail knowledge.

The new bridge will span a drainage like this one.

This past week I spoke with a Richmond city employee who said the trail crew is waiting on the funding to come through for a new bridge in Powhite Park. (Some weeks its easier than others to get permission from the city parks department to quote their employees on the record. This was not an easy week. You’ll have to trust me that this source is qualified to comment on this. He’ll just have to remain nameless for this week.)

The area in question is where the trail runs through the northwest corner of the park, along the beaver-dammed, swampy section of Powhite Creek. It’s constantly muddy and has entrances and exits that don’t lend themselves to good.

The park employee said they’ll re-route the trail up the slope of the hill just a few feet, but that will mean putting it across a small drainage — thus the need for the bridge. He said thinks it’ll cost around $750 and hopes to have it done by the end of February.

Typical Powhite Park trail.

If you’ve been out to Powhite Park in past year or two, you’ve probably seen that some significant trail work has already taken place in the park. But it’s a big place — around 100 acres — so plenty more could  — and will — be done in the future.

Next Monday: A roundup of upgrades made to the James River Park System trails this winter.

Big news for Richmond and off-road triathletes nationwide came out of U.S.A. Triathlon today. The sport’s governing body in America announced that the Richmond XTERRA East Championships off-road triathlon will double as the USAT’s Off-Road Nationals as well.

Conrad Stoltz runs the “dry way” during XTERRA Richmond. Credit: Conrad Stoltz

“That means racers who win their division (in Richmond) will be named USAT Off-Road National Champ, XTERRA East Champ, and earn qualifying spots to both the 2014 XTERRA World Championship AND the 2015 ITU Cross Triathlon World Championship,” said Trey Garman, XTERRA’s vice president for marketing and media relations. “Big Haul! Expect a strong field in Richmond this year!”

According to the press release from the USAT: Off-Road Nationals will be held at XTERRA Richmond on June 15. The course has been part of the XTERRA circuit since 1998, and the River City is a premier destination for off-road racing adventures. Beginning at James River, the 1000-meter swim, 32-kilometer mountain bike, 10-kilometer trail run event also serves as the XTERRA East Championship.

In addition to chasing national titles in Richmond, athletes also will be competing for prized spots on Team USA for the 2015 International Triathlon Union (ITU) Cross Triathlon World Championships, the date and location of which will be announced later this year by ITU. The top 18 finishers (rolling down to 25th place) in each age group will qualify for a Team USA slot. Team USA is composed of amateur athletes who represent the U.S. at each ITU World Championship event.

Registration for 2014 USA Triathlon Off-Road Nationals is currently open, and an early-bird rate of $75 is available until Feb. 15. Click here to register for this event, and visit usatriathlon.org/offroadnationals for more information.

Richmond’s downtown trail system is one of the features that sets the city apart as an outdoors destination. I’d put it right up there with the rapids in the Falls of the James. They’re an amenity that very few cities have. So, with that in mind, we’re launching a weekly trail update on our news blog here.

Every Monday, we’ll bring you news from the trail: What’s being worked on? Where are re-routes planned? What park needs a trail makeover? What volunteer events are coming up? Etc. Whether you’re a hiker, mountain biker, birder, trail runner, dog walker, geocacher or just general trail lover, if you use Richmond’s trails, this will be the place and time to find out what’s going on.

The gravel piled up waiting to be spread. Credit: Enrichmond Foundation

This week I spoke with Mike Burton, Trails Manager for the city. I was out riding the mountain bike on Saturday and saw him loading gravel into a truck below the Manchester Bridge on the Floodwall. He said he was preparing for today’s volunteer event organized by the Enrichmond Foundation. Twenty-five volunteers from HandsOn Greater Richmond arrived to help spread the gravel that Burton was piling up over the weekend.

“As you get further down toward the Floodwall tower,” Burton said, “that always gets really muddy, so we’re adding more gravel and grading it out.”

It was all part of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, and the work looks great. If you’ve never been to the Floodwall, go check out one of the coolest views of downtown in the city.

Volunteers hard at work. Credit: Phil Riggan

Next week’s trail update:  A new bridge is in the works for Powhite Park. Where’s it going in, and when can we expect to see it?

Like so many Central Virginians we’ve followed the tragic story of Meg Menzies, the stay-at-home mom and avid runner who was killed by a drunk driver on the morning of January 13. Menzies was a member of the Richmond Road Runners and had run the Boston Marathon.

Now there’s an effort to honor Menzies that’s gaining national traction. The Meg’s Miles Facebook event page invites runners “to raise awareness of drunk driving, texting and driving, and overall safety of runners and cyclists everywhere,” by going on a run for Meg.

“This Saturday, January 18, 2014, no matter what your distance, no matter where you live, run for Meg. Take in the fresh air, be aware of your surroundings, keep your headphones on low, feel the heaviness in your lungs, the soreness in your legs, and be grateful for it — for all of it. The sweat, the pain, the wind, the cold…everything. Be grateful for that moment.

Menzies

Feel free to post pictures of yourself pre-run or post-run, post your distance, post your thoughts, prayers, condolences with the hashtag #megsmiles. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. Let all runners unite together and remember the loss of a beautiful spirit. It’s not a coincidence the hashtag reads either “Meg’s Miles” or “Meg Smiles.” She will be smiling on all of us forevermore.

As of this afternoon, almost 45,000 had committed to run in Menzies’ honor.

A week from tomorrow at 7 p.m. at the Virginia War Memorial, the Richmond Department of Planning & Development Review will meet to discuss elements of the Riverfront Plan. The Brown’s Island Dam Walk and Chapel Island Trail are on the docket, and the public is invited to make its voice heard.

The meeting will open with a short recap of the Riverfront Plan. The firm leading the design of both projects will make a presentation of the designs. The rest of the meeting will then be opened up to questions and comments from the audience. 

The Vepco Levy Bridge south toward Manchester.

On Brown’s Island the old Vepco Levy Bridge will be repurposed into a “Dam Walk,” a pedestrian and bicycle route that will connect Brown’s Island on the north bank to the Floodwall and Manchester neighborhood on the south bank. The Chapel Island Trail will run along the north bank of the river from the 14th St. boater’s takeout to Great Shiplock Park and Chapel Island.

In a recent piece on Richmond.com, Phil Riggan talked to city planner Tyler Potterfield about the projects: “(Potterfield) said the (Brown’s Island) bridge would also have outcropped overlooks with benches. The superstructure supporting the current deck would have to be supplemented with additional structures but the goal would be to “retain as much of the historical aspects as they can.”

Cool stuff in the works. And you’ve got a chance to impact the process next Tuesday.