Discussion: Safe solo training?

In the news today around here is about a runner east of Toronto who went out for his regular solitary 6 am (road? trail?) run Monday morning and hasn't been seen since. Now, we are all still hoping for a happy ending to this story, but it got me wondering about what steps we take or should take to stay safe. I do the bulk of my solo trail running in the Don Valley & Taylor Creek near my house. I have a number of set loops I do, but generally my only specifics to my family is that I'm "heading into the valley" and my loop depends on my mood. It's in the heart of a large city, but there are areas I get to that get very little traffic, especially at this time of year. I don't have a dedicated GPS, but generally run the Endomondo app on my iPhone and I've set up my wife with an account solely so she can track me if she chose to. I'm pretty comfortable being out day or night, as I know many of us are, but the reality is we're all but a misstep and hitting our heads away from being in trouble. We are not going to stop going out there alone, but are we doing enough to stay safe? Should I print a map of my regular areas and mark my regular loops? Should I be more specific when I head out the door? Training is all about routine - do we need to add a step to our routines to reduce the risk? My solo training volume pales compared to most on here, so curious about others thoughts on this.

I think this is a topic many people think about, and generally do the minimum to mitigate the risks involved. A good majority of outdoor recreational athletes likely have well established routines for themselves but sometimes in the haste to get to our "my time" part of the day, they probably don't give enough info to be found if something should happen. Personally, in the last 3 yrs or so, I've taken more definitive steps to improve my "safety" and my whereabouts known. I purchased a SPOT and my wife has the ability to track me; I tell her when I'll have it with me and have it on. On the bike I frequently wear one of those nerdy high vis vests, especially when riding on my own (I'm over the nerdy part, hahha ); When doing long workouts or going somewhere off the grid, I'll let her know when to expect to hear from me, and I stick to it. I also will wear a road ID ankle bracelet should really bad things happen.
Unless there are other things one can do, I believe that short of a violent crime, I would be found in a reasonable amount of time by someone at some time under most circumstances. If I'm ever worried about violent crime, or I'm somewhere new to me, and sometimes just randomly, I'll even carry a firearm for personal protection purposes (have a concealed carry permit for this), keeping in mind it's also a great signaling device that attracts attention if you're near people in general.
I believe that ultimately, its me that is responsible for me. How far or what I want to do to give myself a better chance of steering clear or helping myself out of a bad situation is up to me. Hope this gives you some ideas....

I normally provide someone with a generally route or a trail that I plan to train on. For extended days I have a loose check-in time. I am I feeling insecure I keep a folding knife handy but in reality this is more of a security blanket. When in a secluded area I won't wear full headphones so I can be aware of my surroundings.

Most of my training is either at lunch time or early evening, I rarely train at night.

This is really hard for single people! Who am I going to tell? I don't think about it and it seems like it would be hassling someone (and I ALWAYS forget to check back in when someone says "call me when you get home.")

On the other hand, this story should have been enough to make me tell someone where I'm going… I still remember crying while reading it in Runner's World in the doctor's office waiting room. http://www.runnersworld.com/running-with-dogs/dogg...

I've done plenty of training, riding, running and when I had my Enduro (KTM 450) a lot of riding and pre-riding 200km routes in the wilderness on my own. I ended up getting a SPOT as well and used it (no longer have it). I had a pretty scary experience to me having started a pre-ride outside of Norland and being 4hrs into the bush in the rain realizing I was at ~ 1/4 tank of gas, out of water, out of food and exhausted due to how hard the trail was with the rain. The trail was re-routed but my map and GPS route went the old way. I ended up gingerly riding 2km on a closed trail as I had no idea where I would have ended up much to my chagrin.

My 3hr ride back to the car in the rain was far from pleasant and I vowed then to make sure Bossy Goat always knew where I would be and what time to expect me and I would check in frequently.

Now-a-days, Bossy always knows where I am headed and roughly how long I will be, but as you Wilberto, my routes are something I make up on the fly depending on how I feel. She knows who I often run with and if I am solo who to know to contact as the reality is, my training buddies would probably find me faster than emergency services would.

Danelle Ballengee's experience (the story Runninghils linked to) affected me deeply. If that could happen to one of the best adventure racers in the world, anything could happen to me or to anyone else. However, as the people above have reminded me, I could be doing more.

Living in a rural area, I'm not too worried about cars or criminals - mostly just the possibility of injury, hypo/hyperthermia or illness in places that are relatively untravelled. People in urban areas have a few extra things to think about but they're likely to be found fairly quickly if they pass out. I passed out once on a solo trail run so my concern is not entirely hypothetical.

I always carry a cell phone when I leave our property, and the ringer is turned on so that someone could call me and hear the phone ringing in the forest if I were unconscious.

If I wear an earphone, it is only in one ear so I can hear what's happening around me.

I sometimes run with dogs but I don't feel that makes me safer. In an urban area, I'd feel differently since I have observed some tough-looking people who fear - or love - dogs.

I often leave a note or send 'Bent a message to give him a general idea of where I'll be, although I seldom do that if I'll just be in the forest behind our house and plan to be back before he gets home. There are only a few people who know those trails but if anything happened, we would be out there looking for anyone missing. As Osteo says, we'd find someone in there faster than any search and rescue team.

When I'm involved in adventure race course testing up north (which I never do alone), I usually carry a SPOT device as well as a cell phone. I have sometimes put our planned route in a sealed envelope that 'Bent is not allowed to open except in case of emergency. Last year when I was testing a course for an event 'Bent wouldn't be doing, I gave him the planned route and also the link to the SPOT tracker so he could follow our progress. I always call or text him after we get back to the car.

'Bent and I have been talking about using "Find my iPhone" to locate one another in an emergency. Sounds like Wilberto and his wife are already doing something similar. I could also take the SPOT tracker along more often than I do. It's good to be reminded to think harder about this important subject.

I'm heartbroken for the family of the missing runner from Whitby, Jeff Boucher. He looked quite familiar, and I thought I might have remembered him from 5 Peaks but I learned today that he had come to the Salomon Store Solstice runs a couple of times, which explains it. He is a good runner, and he likes to vary his route and include trails. He is one of us. I hope he gets home safely soon.

As for the lost Whitby runner, our run tomorrow night was to be elsewhere, but we've changed our plans and will run in the trails up the road from me (Heber Downs/Cullen Gardens) and keep our eyes open and see if maybe knowing all the nooks, crannies, and side trails we may come across something. I read that the helicopter was out looking and the police have also done a search with their volunteer search party (they haven't asked for public search parties as yet) with no luck. Here's hoping...

That's great, Osteo. The police have discouraged the public from going into the woods to look but people like you have skills, gear and knowledge that could help you locate a runner - like the runners who found Micah True.

Interesting topic.

I turned on my iphone's "find a friend" app at my wife's request after her coworker's husband went missing for a few days in the woods (unfortunately found dead, but the time to find was not a contributor). I only regularly ensure I have the phone with for off trail or bike. Jogs around town....sometimes it's nice to go minimal and free. Although statistics might suggest that is the most important time. Toronto, eg., had 50 odd traffic fatalities in 2013 and roughly half were pedestrians. It might be safer to be way out in the woods!

I generally wear high vis day or night, biking or jogging. I want to be as obvious as possible when I interrupt a driver's texting or facebooking.

I was thrown off a bit by a thread tangent where it was considered "unsafe" for solos to rogaine above four hours. How far we have gone from our frontier roots where people would go out for weeks/months/years into the wilderness. But then I also think a solo 24 hour AR would be interesting.

As for runninghils, if she doesn't log two hours a day, I'm ready to contact her area's S&R - something must be wrong!

As a female that tends to train solo a lot (due to lack of proximity to other fellow racers), I take it upon myself to be as "safe" as possible within reason. I carry a cell phone at all times. I always use a rear flasher on my bike, and even have side flashers on my wheels for dusk or night riding. I wear bright clothing when I run during the day and a high-vis vest in the evening. I'm also very fortunate that I have a few friends/family that don't mind when text them often about where I'll be that day or weekend. I just try to be aware of my surrounds at all times. I don't use earbuds anymore for any activity, especially in the woods or on the trails. If i'm out in the boonies I wear a backpack with basic survival stuff (looks a lot like the required AR gear list!).

It's horrible every time I hear about people just going out for their daily run/bike/hike and they end up missing due to a freak accident or malicious act. It always makes me re-evaluate what I'm doing and if it's still relevant or sufficient. Great thread :)

We can't control everything in life, and accidents do happen. It's a personal responsibility to be as safe as we can, but unfortunately the rest is not up to us.

Good point about carrying some safety/survival gear with you. Some people hate carrying anything when they train, but as adventure race world champion Ian Adamson used to say, "Race light but train with your heavy sh*t." It's safer and makes you stronger.

I made the mistake of reading some of the comments on a newspaper article about the missing Whitby runner, and I saw how judgmental some members of the public would be if something happened to one of us.

How could his wife not know what he was wearing on that run? Surely, she could just look to see which clothing and shoes were missing from the house.

Add me to the list of wives who could not possibly figure out what my husband might be wearing if I had not seen him before he left in the morning.

...After all, it's not as if a guy would have 20 different running outfits!

Oh really? When you have to figure out which shirt, bottoms, shoes, jacket, hat...? I hope 'Bent is never asked to look at my closet and figure out what I might have worn for a run.

His daughter said he went out for a run on Sunday night and came back later than she was expecting. No runner would run on Sunday night and again on Monday morning.

Seriously?!

Truly ignorant....hope there will be a happy ending to this.

Living all of 5min from where he lives/d, between people I have treated today and other runners I run with, there are a million and one scenario's, the one we all seem to like the most is he is down the street somewhere with his mistress, hopefully time will tell.

Our run this evening into Heber Downs/Cullen Gardens was uneventful as far as finding Mr. Boucher. We were in the woods for just shy of 2hrs and ran/hiked on trails and sections of woods few people have been on or in, (as far as footprints are concerned) with no luck.

Ironically pulling into the parking lot we saw 4 police Suburbans and came across the guys in one of the fields. A little ways later we came across one of their guys with his police dog in the woods, alone... unfortunately it seemed he got separated from his group and was unsure of where he was. He had radio contact with the others, and was 10min away in the woods. I took him to the main trail and gave very clear instructions how to get back to them (it wasn't difficult once on the double track). When we got back the parking lot all trucks were gone, so I;m sure he made it back.

But myself being separated from my group had its own small adventure (a long story). The lesson that we learned once we all got re-acquainted was that directions must be very specific and clear and truly understood by everyone. ASSUMING that someone understands does not mean that they do or will do as agreed upon.

I think we as Adv Racers / Orienteers see the land differently than people that do not, we are more aware of the features and detail of the terrain which is a bonus. Some of the people I run with, run blind, following my shoes the entire time. Trying to describe to them a location or area is near impossible, having them attempt to describe an area in the dark is pointless.

Back to Mr. Boucher - hopefully he is shacked up somewhere with his mistress and not in the woods, Heber Downs has a good pack of coyotes and we think a couple wolves or coyowolves.

Osteo I hope you are right about Mr. Boucher. Apparently, he is a former High School teacher of mine. I seem not to remember him, but all my girlfriends do and they keep talking about how they abused him as a young, new teacher (as high school kids will) and he kept saying he was going to quit teaching and become a ski instructor. Maybe he finally did.

Police say they will continue looking for Mr. Boucher today but expect to scale down their search by sunset. If he really did go for a 45 minute run, they should have found some sign of him by now. Apparently, some neighbourhood security cameras did show a man running by at the right time but it was too blurry/dark to recognize him. At this point, it no longer looks like a simple running accident, which is what got us talking about safety in this discussion thread. My thoughts are with his family.

Osteo, I think you're absolutely right about how navigators see the land. Some friends recently realized the same thing when they were backcountry skiing and allowed a tired skier to return to the lodge alone, and she went the wrong way and became lost. I also remember a winter adventure race where another team was (ahem!) cheating by allowing a slower teammate to turn around before reaching the checkpoints since he was a less experienced skier. He ended up making a wrong turn while they were separated, and we were all freaking out at the post-race meal when darkness fell, and he still hadn't come back, and he wouldn't have had a light because it was a daytime race. (Safety note. Always have a light - even if it's just a well-charged cell phone.) He returned under his own steam, just as a snowmobile was getting ready to head out to search.

Reminder for all of us: Be overly cautious about separating in the outdoors. Heck, be cautious about *everything* in the outdoors. There's a reason why even top surgeons go through a checklist that includes someone marking the correct leg to work on. It's easy to make mistakes.

All, great points, and hopefully things end well. Bash- ditto for me on D.B. story...also had a friend get hit bicycling, at 55 mph on a rural country road in broad daylight, with no visual obstructions. Put a lil' scare in me.

Because of the increase in distracted driving, I think road biking is more dangerous than it was. We should take all the usual precautions - high visibility clothing, flashing lights, safe riding habits, etc. - but unfortunately, there's nothing you can do to avoid a texting driver. :(

"Morell contacted, among others, the chairman of Hedestad's Orienteering Club and appealed for help in summoning volunteers for the search party."

While that quote is fiction written by Larsson in the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, orienteering clubs are valued in Sweden for their search and rescue skills.

But frustratingly not here in Canada.

Many years ago a young woman was last seen leaving for a walk in the Dundas Valley. She was reported missing the next morning and so several of us in Dontgetlost Adventure Running volunteered to search. A group us with our AR and O skills could cover a very large area quickly - not to mention some are MDs. Our request was denied since the Police had several dozen officers searching. We were told we would affect their search. ie., 1m apart and cover a few hectares in a day. The woman was found dead several days later a mere 25m from the largest trail in the Dundas Valley and over 2.5km from where the police were searching.

Following that sad incident we developed the search and rescue map for the conservation authority. All posts have an ID marker on them which reflects a grid over the conservation lands to make search and rescue easier. Happily it has never had to be used. We are close to revising this map for the HCA.

I participated in a police organized search many years ago. It was a complete waste of time.... Unless you think people spreading out side by side on one side of a stand of trees and then walking into the forest and coming out the other side in single file is a good use of time. Difficult to understand why they wouldn't take advantage of the skill and other resources that are available? Sad really.

If you ask - it will be no. They can't vet and have now introduced further risk to the scenario. I repeat, if you ask. H. would laugh at me right now. I'm always "of course they said no. It was the way you asked. Don't give them that option". But that is me vs. bureaucracy.

So it has to be sorted out ahead of time. Or phrased in the active tense - "six of us 'wilderness runners' are in the area. What number do we contact if we find something?"

Hammer - that is a sad story... we didn't ask if they wanted any help, and even if they said no, or asked us not to proceed into the woods we would have just gone in from some there place. The other thing I found strange was that they were all dressed in black, more their tactical gear, no bright 3M reflective POLICE, nothing (or at least that I saw).

Yeah urthbuoy and osteo that is the approach I use now. about two years after that incident in the Dundas Valley, the local radio announced that an elderly person had wandered away from a home adjacent to the Valley around 9pm and it was snowing hard. It was 11pm and I just threw my running stuff on grabbed a headlamp and ran for 2.5 hours looking. No luck. Fortunately the person was found safe (but cold).

A little aside- road riders, a really bright daylight-visible flash could save your life.
Studies show they work better than high-vis clothing.

Check out the Niterider Solas tail-light. It's 2w, rechargeable and daylight-visible for under $50. It got top ratings in a recent shoot-out for overall visibility and value.

Cygolite hotshot has a brighter but narrower beam.

The Serfas Shield USL-TL60 was even brighter, but with shorter burn times, and is too bright for night group rides. Ideal for shorter daytime rides.

Planet Bike Superflash is 0.5w for comparison, and it was considered bright for its day.

Review is here http://bicycles.blogoverflow.com/2013/09/best-bike...

.. so shocked 'Bent has all that great light info! :-)

I had the displeasure of driving across the local university town last night. I think all of the cyclists were headed to an art heist in their finest light-absorbing ninja clothing.

I have been considering upgrading the old superflash to a Magicshine type light swapped to a red lens. I have spare batteries for AR, so I'd only need the lighthead and it would be in that price range.

I do a TON of solo training/exploring, sometimes nonstop for a day or longer in the bush, and I used to only rarely communicate my plans other than when family might expect next to hear from me (SMS/email/call). I have had some rough situations, sometimes due to weather, bear family on a trail, running out of food, etc -- the dodgiest were run-ins with people like hunters laughing and cautioning the "crazy backpacking guy" about how there are a lot of guys with guns in these woods. There was even one incident near the US/Canadian border that I'm pretty sure was a drug smuggler covertly lugging a bunch of stuff.

In the last year I've started using an Iridium text messaging tool (shameless plug for PinnacleTracking.com's gps tracking and communication devices -- and I am a partner in that venture for full disclosure). It has revolutionized this communication for me and I have setup a "quick OK" button that lets me send an email to a variety of people that shows my precise Lat/Lon, time, along with a note that I'm OK. There's a number of preset messages I can configure.

The Pinnacle product is a licensed version of http://www.inreachdelorme.com and individuals can purchase their own from Delorme.

25 years ago I would spend 8-10 hours alone in the James Bay lowlands doing hydrology fieldwork with two other researchers somewhere within 10km of me. We would return to a hut that had no communication to the outside World (a days freight canoe ride away). Spent 11 weeks there with no outside contact. No phone, no GPS. Just aerial photographs and stupidity.

Thanks untamed...your suggestion could be very helpful for longer run arounds.

untamed, A nice looking setup (inreach). I could see a bunch of our whitewater gang picking that up.

The inreach reviews look more positive than when I last checked out spot trackers.

The Delorme units were great at WT last year. There were several situations when racers or volunteers texted me at HQ, and I was able to check their location and provide an appropriate response. Much better than just getting an "OK" or "Help" signal.

Inreach is a new generation, vastly superior to Spot. Inreach uses Iridium satellites, true coverage vs Spot's Globalstar satellites with intermittent updates-- score 1 for Inreach. Inreach supports true two-way messaging, and can be calibrated to update location every 30 seconds or every 6 hours (or anywhere in between); Spot allows for just the 20 minute update interval and there's no two-way messaging in Spot. Inreach antenna is stronger than Spot, and the updates are like clockwork. I own a couple Spots but they're just paperweights, now.

Thanks for the info, shameless plug or not, a useful one. I've had Spot's, the original and got the 2nd version and never activated it as the first one sucked and even with the improvements I just couldn't bring myself to activate it so sold it for a song + 2 bars. Using the Delorme's at WT last year I was super impressed particularly when I was communicating with HQ. I give them 2 thumbs up!
D

A new clue on the missing runner from Whitby:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/police...

Very sad, they found the shoe in an area BiT and I were training on Wednesday night.

It appears that they have found him in the general area where his shoe was found. Sad but a relief to his family I am sure.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/body-f...

This was far from where he usually ran but only 8 km from home. The police do not suspect foul play at this time. Really sad.

in case anyone has an android phone that they run with, this can be done without installing anything (so long as you can get into your google account):

http://www.google.com/android/devicemanager
https://maps.google.com/locationhistory/b/0


For Location settings:
(settings -> Location [Location Reporting, Location History])