Incorporating indigenous ways of knowing and being into my classroom

Friday was the first day of the new semester. While there was excitement in the air, it was a different kind of feeling than the first day of September. The grade nines are now settled into their routine and the grade twelves can see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. For me, it is an opportunity to restart, to try new ideas, and to engage with new faces and personalities.

One of the paths that I have been on for a long time, although it has become clearer in the last six months, is opening myself to becoming (more) comfortable with introducing indigenous ways of knowing and being into my classroom practice. I have had some strong guides in the journey in the last few months – Gail Higginbottom, Paul Lacerte,  Suzanne Wilkinson, Bradley Dick, Jarrett Martineau, and most recently Corrine Michel – all of whom have generously shared stories, space and time with me, while answering my honest questions honestly.

The turning point of my journey occurred this past November when I was able to travel to New York City and be a part of the Hip Hop Education Think Tank III at the Schomburg Center in Harlem. That weekend was profound in many ways, but the one way that has resided in my mind and soul the longest was that hip hop culture (note: commercial rap has nothing to do with true hip hop culture) is an indigenous culture. There is so much to be written about that statement, but suffice it for now to suggest that this concept should be intuitive when we trace the origins of hip hop back to the African diaspora and the spreading of indigenous west African cultures around the world. However, it was spending time with Jarrett that weekend, who continued to build upon much of what was being told to me by Nostic, my co-educator for the Contemporary English: Hip Hop class we teach, that this idea crystallized. Once I could recognize that hip hop culture was indigenous, and therefore it was human, everything seemed to make sense to me. The incorporation of indigenous ways of knowing and being into the classroom wasn't about trying to teach people about indigenous ways of being; it was about teaching people about human ways of being.

For too long, I have felt that the incorporation of indigenous ways of knowing and being into traditional classrooms has been through cut-aways in textbooks; a highlight of sorts about a certain ceremony with an accompanying picture (like the one below, portraying a Cree Sun Dance), to give our students insight into the way our indigenous people lived their life. In speaking about this image last semester with a student who is Cree, she shared with me how she felt alienated both by the textbook and by the (lack of) understanding people gained from it. Her experience is this reason that I have been looking to authentically incorporate indigenous practices, which is to say human practices, into my classroom; moving away from the hyperbolized and decontextualized ideas that are imparted in isolated photos like the one below.

I am fortunate to be currently enrolled in a course through Camosun College entitled TELTIN TTE WILNEW (Understanding Indigenous People), and it was after our orientation with Corrine Michel that I felt comfortable enough to begin the three high school courses I am teaching this semester with Circles. I had, up until Friday, shied away from using indigenous practices in my classroom out of respect for the cultures from whom I would be borrowing these practices; I was fearful I would not perform them correctly nor have the support of the indigenous community to use them. My guides on this journey have helped to allay those fears and so, I tried Circles to begin my semester, attempting to authentically incorporate indigenous practice into a classroom where the very high majority of students are non-aborginal.

It was wonderful. It was awkward. It was beautiful. It was slow. It was peaceful.

The students were very open to this way of beginning a semester. I did not hand out a syllabus. I did not hand out a list of rules. I did not try to scare, coerce, or intimidate them with threat of marks, calls home, or taking away their devices. I was as honest as I have ever been with students about my journey and my newness to this practice. And because of the sharing that occurred in our Circles, we spoke about community, equality, support, infinity, life, vulnerability, inclusion, beliefs, health, hierarchy, connection, and more. I posed the question to my students, "Would you like to be in a classroom that was described using those words?" I then asked them what they thought the purpose of school was before showing them the following video.

We only had an hour together on this day, so I left them with the question "What do you want your semester in English to look like?" I look forward to their answers...and uncovering my own.

Stop the press! Don't believe the hype-steria! Or, Let's think logically about PISA and math.

There has been much talk about education since the release of the PISA 2013 results in December of last year. In Canada, instead of celebrating our successes, there has been a lot of concern over our “dropping” in the rankings. The same consternation has been occurring in Finland, where no longer is Suomi number one (except in junior hockey).

It is with trepidation that I read that Canada’s ranking in the PISA 2012 had dropped as compared to its placing in previous rounds of the test (2009, 2006, 2003, 200). I worried that people would look at our drop in the rankings and think that we need to, as Nhung Tran-Davies writes in a Globe and Mail opinion piece, “stem the systematic breakdown of our children’s education.”

Tran-Davies opens her piece with:

Although I am neither a teacher nor a mathematician, as a mother of three young children who are entering the primary education system, I am calling our ministry of education in Alberta to task with a petition to urgently stem the systematic breakdown of our children’s education.
(http://m.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/a-mothers-petition-in-2014-lets-change-math-education/article16150193/?service=mobile&cmpid=rss1&click=dlvr.it)

Personally, from someone in the system who thinks about this all the time, Canada is doing amazingly well. We are a geographically enormous nation, with a diverse set of learners due to our multicultural population, while being a country without a centralized education system, and yet we are still among the top performers in the world. Historically, PISA 2012 has us lower than previous PISA tests, but we are not in free fall. We need to understand how the numbers (and thus rankings) are calculated before we call for massive reforms in the way that we have been teaching and how we quantify, according to this one measure, success. This is why headlines like “B.C.’s educational reforms are running into resistance“ from The Globe and Mail on January 9, 2013 are concerning to me. In it, reporter Andrea Woo references two people and their concerns as it relates directly to math. 

But critics say the proposed curriculum is filled with “edu-speak” and stress the importance of basic, common-sense approaches. 

Tara Houle, a mother of two in North Saanich, says she has seen firsthand the confusion so-called discovery-based teaching techniques can lead to.
…
Malgorzata Dubiel, a senior lecturer at Simon Fraser University’s Department of Mathematics, said creativity in teaching is valuable, but must not come at the expense of basic math skills, clear instructions and practice. As well, curriculum and teaching at one grade level must feed into those of the next level.(http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/bcs-educational-reforms-are-running-into-resistance/article16276583/)

I don’t discount either Houle’s nor  Dubiel’s experience, nor their concerns, but nowhere does it say in BC curriculum that we should be abandoning “the basics.” And the most concerning aspect of that article, and many others like it, is that it is again referencing opinions of people outside the system. Nowhere else in the article is there any reference to widespread resistance to the new draft curriculum changes in BC. In this particular instance, there are two people who are concerned about math. I hope that there every parent is involved in their child’s education, asking questions and, above all, finding out what works best for their child, because, unlike some math questions, there is no one answer for how every child will learn.

I also fear that the hysteria that we are seeing, in particular with this supposed math crisis, is more about opinion-based click-baiting headlines than actual research-based analysis. With more blog-style news sites competing for page views with older news publications, it seems that anything that has to do with concern over the well-being of our youth will drive click-throughs. I am not here to say that our educational system is perfect, but the hysteria over our results in a test that is, for simplicity’s sake, bell-curved, is very concerning to me as a teacher. Our strongest allies in education are our parents. If our parents perceive that the education system is in disarray because if disingenuous online articles, then that perception drives political agendas. The perception that our education system is in crisis is not true nor good. Of course we should always be looking to improve. Of course we should always want better for our children, regardless of how well we are doing. Of course I would ask for better working conditions for teachers in BC, but that is only relative to our previous working conditions in this province and to the current working conditions of colleagues in Canada, not those of colleagues around the world, because, frankly, in that comparison, we are doing very well. As is our education system. 

There have been some great articles written by people I believe to be global thinkers (both in worldy-terms and in big-picture terms). Both have provided a rebuttal to the ideas that many commentators in media have been projecting as truth (and who, by and large, are outside the system, who are writing for page-views because we do need to keep funding all forms of thoughtful journalism). The aspect of PISA that I feel most people are ignorant of is summed up beautifully by Pasi Sahlberg: 

First, because PISA is a standardized test, its data are analyzed so that the average performance score each year in mathematics, science and reading literacy is about 500 with a standard deviation of 100. The statistical nature of PISA test means, in practice, that if your 15-year-olds in Sweden maintain their level of knowledge and skills in these subjects compared to the past but others improve their learning (or teachers’ and students’ skills of PISA-type test-taking), your position in rankings will, as a result, decline. In the 2012 PISA study, the Asian countries did better than before, which made it harder for the others to look better compared to the average. In this way, PISA is like a marathon run: Your time of two hours and 20 minutes might make you one of the fastest five today, but you would drop from the top ten five years from now.
(http://pasisahlberg.com/is-pisa-dimming-the-northern-lights/)

And in reference to Finland’s decline, Sahlberg write this, which can also be applied to Canada’s “decline”:

Part of the stagnation and decline of educational performance measured in PISA can be explained by the nature of the metric of this assessment. A quick look at the new PISA results immediately reveals the notion that Asian countries – they now hold all top positions in mathematics, reading and science – have improved their performance from the previous study. Shanghai’s 613 points in mathematics is higher than any ‘country’ has ever scored in PISA. It is almost 100 points higher than Finland’s result that leaves Finnish students two school years behind their Chinese peers. In other words, when others do better it makes you look worse. We should keep in mind that many, if not all, of the Asian education systems get their stellar results in PISA with high social and financial cost for young people and their parents. American, Swedish and English schools are actually more efficient than Korean or Chinese schools because students there get higher PISA scores per time studying than do the Asian students.
(http://pasisahlberg.com/pisa-2012-reinforces-the-key-elements-of-the-finnish-way/)

I wanted to share this because it is important for us to realize that it is possible for Canadian kids to be doing just as well this year as in years past! Even though we may have stayed equal,  our mean score and ranking could have dropped because the PISA average has gone up (due to the higher scoring countries scoring even higher). As an example, the top score in PISA 2013 was Shanghai-China with 613 and the lowest was Peru at 368. In 2009, it was Shanghai-China with 600 and Kyrgyzstan with 331. In 2006, it was Taiwan at 549 and Kyrgyzstan at 311.

Further to this, Chris Kennedy, the superintendent of the West Vancouver School District in British Columbia, shares his perspective on the PISA results as it relates to BC in particular:

So, while acknowledging the limits of using the nation “rankings”,  let me share some of the insights I have gleaned from my first look at the results and some stories you may have not seen:

1)  British Columbia was the highest performing English-speaking jurisdiction in the world

British Columbia is not only the highest performing province in Canada, but ahead of all other English-speaking participating nations including Australia, United States, United Kingdom, and New Zealand (to name a few).  If you look at countries in general, Canada would be first in this category.  

2)  British Columbia was the highest performing multicultural jurisdiction in the world 

One characteristic that other countries at the top of the charts do not share with British Columbia and Canada is its diversity.  In language and cultural diversity, BC and Canada stand out as the highest performing on the assessments.

3)  British Columbia was the highest-performing province in Canada in science and reading and second to Quebec in Math

British Columbia has typically been among the strongest performing provinces in each area (typically with Alberta, Ontario and Quebec).  The most recent results show BC was first in science, ahead of Alberta and Ontario.  Reading on, the same three provinces performed at the top level in Canada, and again, all near the top of the International charts. In math, Quebec led the way with BC, Alberta and Ontario following.  It is worth noting, of those who completed the digital math assessment, BC was the highest performing province (more on digital below).

4)  There was both excellence and equity in British Columbia’s results

The difference between the high and low achievers in BC (those between the 90th and 10th percentile) is lower than in all of Canada, and the OECD, in all three disciplines. The gap is also lower than that in Finland (often cited for its high level of achievement and equity) in both Reading and Science.

 5)  British Columbia’s results have been steady for the last decade

In absolute terms, since 2006, British Columbia’s results have been fairly steady. It is true that in Mathematics in particular, in relative terms BC (and all of Canada) has declined — in part due to more countries participating, and also because of the improvements in several Asian countries.

(http://cultureofyes.ca/2013/12/08/some-pisa-thinking/)

My take away is this: please don’t over-react to over-zealous headline writers trying to make sure that they keep their website at the top of their own rankings. It is their job to make parents look; it is a parent’s job to make sure they read. And 15 year old Canadians are still doing quite well in that.

Reintroduction

I feel as though I need to contribute to the conversation in more than 140 characters.

@brad_cunningham

I considered starting this blog anew, archiving running posts and beginning with education. I haven't been running much lately, more daddy-ing and teaching these days. But when I think of my students and their digital footprint, their online persona, I need to consider mine. This blog as has been around for a long time and despite the name change (from Madly Running Around to Constantly Learning), this blog reflects me in different times and spaces. For these reasons, I have left all my previous writing up, free to be read by any and all visitors.

I have added some of links to the sidebar and would encourage you to find something that looks interesting and investigate.

The hope I have for the reintroduction of this blog is to provide a space where I can think visibly about issues I am confronted with, mostly education related with a sprinkling of parenting and running thrown in to keep things somewhat interesting. I have had chance to read many interesting blogs, tweets, and articles about education in the past couple of years and look forward to adding my $0.02. I encourage you, dear reader, to add comments and thoughts; this blog will hopefully elicit discussion and connection more than pontification (although the new pope has impressed me thus far).

I'll be back soon. I have PISA on my mind.

For your consideration...

I have a list of about 20 blogs and websites I read on a regular basis.  Of these, two of the ones I read this morning had posts about kids.  One good friend and one blog friend share beautiful, touching words about what it is like and what it means to be a parent.  You should probably read them.

Jasper Blake - On Parenting

Fitness Geek - 11 Months and growing

If one ever needed inspiration...

While Reid Coolsaet's blog is on my regular reading list, I wonder how many others have liked to his latest post (I know Liam is all over it).

 That extra 200m over 42km makes these calculations a bitch during a marathon. 


Truer words have never been spoken.

Thanks for the inspiration.

Hello Brad? This is the Universe calling...

So, tonight, I may have had my running plans laid out for me for the next year without my doing anything to facilitate it.

Ran into O'Cal tonight at Thrifty's. Actually, he found me (remember, I played no role in any of this). We chatted about teaching and coaching our cross country teams and then talk turned to our own running. I have been pretty consistent in the last eight weeks (except for a few days around the the madness that is the starting of school again) and I am starting to feel like I can move into the next phase of training. Paul's group, Aspire Running, is winding down their season and are about to start their base phase as of late October.  This is almost perfect timing for what I was thinking and with heroes like Little Nelson, Chester, Walker, and Ruljancich, how can a guy not want to join in?  So, while innocently looking for smoked turkey from the Thrifty's deli for my beautiful wife (they only had oven roasted, so I hope that works!), I may have somehow committed to running with the squad this winter.

Not to rest on its laurels, the Universe, via Chris Kelsall and the The Q's Victoria Track Series, drew my name out of 202 entries tonight to win a season's pass to the 2011 edition of the Victoria Track Series!  I got the email from Chris, the series director, as I was packing up for school tomorrow.  This is a great series which I was not able to participate in this past year because of both a nagging hamstring injury and the planning and travelling around our wedding.  I was disappointed about my absence from the event this year as I set my 5k/5000m PB at the inaugural event in 2009; however, I now get to make up for it as I have entries to every single race that is run next summer (except for the kids races - damn)!  I am very excited to be a part of this series as it is well run, well attended, and a lot of fun!

So, Universe? I think I get what you are saying.  I accept your planning on my behalf, but next time, some warning, please.  I am not prepared for this kind of intervention on a rainy Wednesday night in September.

The road back

The road back to feeling like a runner is 50 hours long.

The road back to feeling like a runner is 600km long.

The road back to feeling like a runner costs 46,000 calories.

It is not a long road, but it is one that requires patience, perseverance, and consistency.

And the road back to feeling like a runner just gets you to the start of the longer road to becoming a runner.

Next step.

Time to begin anew?

I am running again. More to follow...

7% improvement using 7systems!

Even though I have not updated this much recently, I am still around and ready to help out friends who are doing amazing things.  A few years ago a few friends of mine, over a few drinks, hatched a plan to develop the most comprehensive training supplement in the world. 

They did it.  And this is their contest.  I use and believe in the product.  Check out the stories of people who were able to improve themselves by 7%!

From http://www.7systems.ca/

It’s time to VOTE for the person you want to see as a finalist in the 7SYSTEMS DO MORE contest to see who can improve their race time by 7% over last year!


Eleven athletes believe they can DO MORE this season and are looking for a little help from 7SYSTEMS endurance sport supplement. All of the athlete stories are posted online and now it’s your job to vote for the athlete you believe can DO MORE. Simply log in at http://www.7systems.ca/?page_id=1746 and then read each athlete’s story, and VOTE.

7SYSTEMS endurance sport supplement contains over 60 key ingredients. Tested by high performance athletes, 7SYSTEMS is being credited by many athletes as a factor in their success. It simple terms, many athletes feel that 7SYSTEMS helps them DO MORE. Find our more at http://www.7systems.ca/

Free Stuff (if you are in Victoria)!!

This stuff works and I use it daily.  Don't take my word for it, though - ask Kyle Jones (or Whitfield, or Lauren Groves, or Jasper Blake....)

Tomorrow I’ll be spending the day with 7Systems at Frontrunners Victoria. We’ll have a booth set-up from 10-5. Come down to see us and you can sample 7Ssytems for FREE!

I’ve been taking 7Sytems for about 10 months and have noticed a significant difference in my recovery and overall energy throughout the day. I would strongly recommend it to anyone looking for that extra edge on their competition!

Come see us tomorrow and find out why 7Systems is the choice supplement of Olympic Champion Simon Whitfield, Olympians Lauren Groves, Erinne Willock, and Malcolm Howard, Ironman Champion Jasper Blake and many other notable endurance athletes. (from Kyle Jones' blog)

And great luck to Jasper in Kona and everyone racing (VFACers notably) in the Royal Victoria marathon races this weekend.  Not for me this year (slight hamstring pull and being careful about it, thus the lack of running updates, well, that and swamped teaching) but I will be thinking of all of you tomorrow morning!

MA

Having felt a little twinge in the hamstring nearing the end of Sunday's workout, I have tried to be the smart athlete and take some down time to allow it to heal.  My training has been solid for the past few weeks and a few days of rest and easy running is not going to affect the 8k in October.  So with that in mind, I have gone out for an easy run (where I ran into Gord and Sarah, in whose basement I used to reside) and gone to the mainland an back to watch Sonja's defense of her Masters thesis on internet usage in BC classrooms.  It is always amazing to watch people who excel at something, whether it is a pianist playing Beethoven, a swimmer slicing through a 400m freestyle, or an Ethiopian gliding effortlessly over the ground.  To watch Sonja in the academic environment was humbling and inspiring, as she was able to converse easily and with incredible depth about the work she had done, yielding no ground to the examiners and impressing them with her study and her understanding of the subject.  She is now a full fledged Masters of Arts (MA), and I am a proud future-husband.

Speaking of future husbands, congrats to Adamo and Lauren!   It has been a good couple of days around Victoria and and tomorrow I will ease back into things and see how the hammy is going.

A Sunday at the Lakes

It has been a long while since I showed my face at Elk/Beaver Lake, but Sunday felt like 6 years ago. I pulled up to the gravel parking lot, meeting Simon to help him out with a workout. What I didn't expect to see was the rest of the triathletes preparing for the Grand Final in Australia. Old training partners with new coaches and all of us, older and wiser(?). My schedule called for a long run of 18k or so, so I decided to run the 18k with some fast km's thrown in. Earlier in the week, I had mentioned to Simon that if he needed a running partner for some workouts, I would be happy to help however I could. He emailed back syaing "Great! 6 x 1 mile on Sunday. See you there!" What that ends up looking like is me running 1k repeats while Simon completes 1 mile repeats on 1 minute rest. This means I run less and get more rest which allows me to stay just ahead of him for the middle km of the mile repeat (and I give myself a 150m lead as well). I ran hard and to try to stay away, trying to stay with him as long as I could each time he caught me. It was fun to run with a purpose greater than just trying to get faster.

But, man, it was hard. And it was fun. The day definitely reminded me of why I used to love training at the NTC; working hard with friends in the pursuit of excellence. I know that sounds cliche, but after watching Jasper and Tereza (both old training partners) have great races at Ironman Canada this past weekend and seeing Jordan Rapp (who trained with Simon and Team BAMF last year) win it, there is definitely a way to find excellence. Knowing that I would never attain the highest echelons of sport, I relished the role of teammate, doing what I could to help my friends in their pursuit. And Sunday reminded me of those times as I was, once again, happy to be a teammate.

Guitar Hero World Championships (and a track workout)

It was too bad that Simon left early, because I am pretty sure he would have wanted to play the drums. We had a bunch of friends over last night to hang out with Craig during his short visit out to Victoria. We shared BBQ and guitar, and for the brave, some Guitar Hero World Tour. Good times were had by all - especially Mr. Dags who demonstrated some mad drumming skills.

Today's workout was on the track with a group of what appeared to be Bootcamp participants. I wasn't sure how this was going to play out as they were taking up all the lanes on the small Oak Bay track (only four lanes wide around the full 400m). As I performed my drills and strides, the group finished their warm up and began to line up for the 100m sprints, opening up the inside lane for me. This was a pleasing development as I didn't want to run anyone over, nor did I want to pull the track etiquette card out either - thankfully, neither occurred.

The workout today would have been a lot of fun with VFAC. Lots of fast running at different distances, with the boys, in the sun, on a good track, good times would have been had. As it was, I was on my own at Oak Bay and running the intervals, imagining what it would be like to be Usain Bolt.

The workout was a 400m warm up lap, followed by 200m all out, and then an 800m and then a 400m and ending with a 200m all out. I was excited about the workout as a chance to see where I was at on my own. I knew pretty quickly, on the warm up, that I would do alright when I split the first 200m of the 400m warm up in 29 seconds. A little fast for a warm up, so I settled down to run a 65s first 400m. The recovery between the intervals was anywhere from 400-800m, but sufficient to feel pretty recovered.

The first real interval was the 200m, which worked out well because the back stretch had a bit of a tailwind. I am not sure that it would have negated a world record had I come close, but it was nice to have the little push as it was getting difficult. I ran the curve with purpose and then imagined myself to be Bolt, and tried to accelerate along the back stretch. The interval was a self-timed 26s, which is pretty good for getting into the workout.

The 800m was interesting. After two good opening intervals, this was supposed to be run bewteen 2:13 - 2:17. I tried to go out controlled, but apparently it was a little too controlled because I split the 400m in 69s, which was a little slow for the 2:15 I was hoping for. I tried to push the pace in the final 400m, but pretty much held my split, finishing the second 400m in 70s for a 2:19 - a little off the goal time, but not too bad. This meant more motivation for the upcoming 400m.

Coach John had me down for a 59 if I was running with someone and a 61 if I was on my own. I knew I wanted a little bit of redemption for making the mistake of going out too slow in the 800m, so I really used the tailwind on the backstretch to push the pace and focussed on remaining relaxed and smooth as I came down the home stretch into the headwind. Breathlessly, I hit my watch, crossing the 400m in 58s. This was more pleasing and I cast my thoughts toward the final 200m.

Knowing that I had run 26 previously, I wanted to try to match that at the end of the workout. This is the part where it would be easier to let up, convincing myself that it is ok to be slower at the end of a workout. While many workouts are structured in such a way that times will become slower as you get toward the end, I had plenty of rest and this was all supposed to be fast stuff. So, once again, I ran the corner hard and focussed on being smooth down the back stretch, hitting 26s again in the process.

A good workout overall and nice to be done quickly. While I miss the VFAC crew on days like this, I much prefer my 12 minute run to the Oak Bay track vs my 40 minute drive to the Pt. Grey track. Based on the 5k of a few weeks ago, I have also turned my sights towards the Lands End Half Marathon and 10k. In past years, I have used Lands End as a tune up for the Royal Victoria Half and Full marathon and I will do so again this year; however, I will race the 10k this time as preparation for the 8k at RVM. I have not run the 10k here before, but I know that there have been some fast times run by friends, so I will definitely be looking for a PB here. As with every race on the island, you never know where you will place because if everyone shows up, I would be fortunate to be Top 20; with that in mind, I am only looking for my own time and hopefully there will be some people that I will be to work with on the course in order to achieve it.

I must now go practice Guitar Hero so that Scotty Dagnall doesn't get better than me in that as well.

The last week of summer

Unofficially, of course. But this will be my last full week of summer vacation and it has been a good one, to be sure.

1. New (old) town.
2. New house.
3. New kitten.
4. New 5k PB.
5. New job.

The last one occurred yesterday, when I received the long hoped for call from the Victoria School District offering me a position at Reynolds Secondary. I will once again be teaching English and Social Studies, but will have some Phys Ed thrown into the mix as well. I am very excited about getting to once again work in the Flex program at Reynolds and with the great staff there (although I will miss my crew from New Westminster Secondary).

We are currently in the midst of beginning to host a number of friends and family members over the coming months. Craig Taylor is the first to come out west to visit us as he helps prepare a couple of his athletes for the World Triathlon Championships. After that we have some cousins and parental units and more friends. Exciting times!


The Ogden Point stretch of Dallas Rd.

Yesterday was spent running along the Dallas Rd area of Victoria. Coach John had an 11k tempo on the schedule, so while Craig and Sonja spent time enjoying the sun on the banks of the Pacific Ocean, I warmed up out to Willows Beach, before turning back toward town for the tempo. It started well as I went 3:29 for the first km, but schedule called for 3:35/km, so I eased up a bit. The path I was following is the end of the Royal Victoria Marathon, the Times Colonist 10k and about every other race that Victoria puts on. It is scenic and devoid of stop lights, so it makes for perfect running. But is it not flat. It is not hilly, but it is not flat. So as the km's piled on, I was pleased to see that I was holding around 3:33/km on this pitchy terrain. I turned around once I reached the Inner Harbour and ran back out to Clover Point, where I ended my run and promptly soaked my legs in the ocean while Craig and Sonja worked on crosswords (which Sonja and I are getting better at - she better than me, but what is new?).

After that it was home before a walk back downtown for some food from the Market on Yates (yeah, big containers of Red Curry Paste) and another great meal prepared by Sonja before Guitar Hero - World Tour. We rocked!

Running is coming along and the summer is going well, and contrary to other years (and, I am sure, people), I have felt that this summer has been a perfect length. We have definitely been blessed with weather out here (sorry, Ontario) and that has made the summer feel complete.

Today is an off day before some fun track stuff tomorrow!

2 x 3k on Lochside (part deux)

I could regale you with stories of my 2 x 3k redux of last week's workout, but this is way cooler. I'll leave it at this - without Shawn I went 9:45 and 9:50 - not bad, but not amazing.

Anyway, listen to Adam Campbell!



Adam and Aaron also finished 2nd in today's stage and are now in 4th overall, up against some pretty amazing runners (which goes to show that they are pretty amazing runners!) Kind of wish I was there....

9 x 300m

The track. And soccer.

These are two places I spent much of my childhood. From my 5th year of existence until the end of high school I spent the Ontatio summers running up and down grass pitches across the province. I was ok, as good as someone might be spending 12 years playing a sport, but not ever did I have a chance of playing for the youth team of Moscow Dynamo or anything. Definitely, though, a love of the sport was developed and has stayed with me throughout my adult life. So, after a two year hiatus while on the mainland, I played my first organized soccer game last night with the Gordon Head Div 3 team. It was fun to be on the field and although all the finesse I may have one time had (and it wasn't much as I was more of a runner/hard worker than a subtle touch player), all of it was gone. I had some good plays and just as many poor choices and/or moments where I was undressed by the other team. The game was just a friendly as we go through try-outs, and the score ended 3-3, so the night ended with everyone feeling ok.

This morning I revisited Oak Bay track for a 9 x 300m workout. During my soccer years, I also spent a lot of time at the Oshawa Civic track, running with the Durham X-L's, working with the same hurdling coach that Perdita Felicien worked with in her youth. Durham was a hotbed of hurdlers (as you can see Priscilla Lopes-Schliep comes from Whitby) and again, I was ok. I was able to to do well when my clubmates weren't at races, but we would often sweep medals in many provincial competitions. I also ran the 400m and 400m hurdles, so my background on the track allows my to run workouts on the track that are not consistent with my other times in races. This has always been fun when I am with others, but alone on the track today, it did nothing for me. The workout, as Coach John had written out, was 3 sets of 3 x 300m with my jog recovery descending from 300m to 200m to 100m. I was also to hold 47s for the 300m's which is the pace of about a 63-64s 400m. Jeez. So, with a Radiohead concert on my iPod, I began the circling of the track.

The first interval is always about getting cobwebs out of the legs, and this was not different, unfortunately. I was hoping the second one would be better, and it was, but not much. And thus it continued. The lactic acid started accruing earlier and earlier into each 300m and thus I had to fight to relax more and more, but all the while I was hold between 45 and 47s. I was happy at the end of the workout, but running on my own, without Jay or Paul or Mike to push me was difficult.

After the cool down home and a great breakfast, Sonja and I met Rumon at Koffi for some catch up time and conversation. As we walked up, Rumon was dismounting his steed and all I could think was "I hope Sonja still comes back home with me, because that is pretty cool." I then had my hair chopped off at Uomo and then had a cat nap with Liev, who was pleased to sleep on my neck. Now hosting the neighbours for dinner and Fernwood has definitely shown itself off today. A most pleasing day.

Now, if only I could get a job teaching....

2 x 3k on Lochside

This workout, on the heels of the 5k last Friday, was going to be tough. It was always a hard run with the VFAC boys and now that I was without the group, it wasn't going to get any easier. Fortunately, Shawn Nelson, he of the faster 5k time than I, was up for the workout. So it was the two of us that met up at the base of Lochside Trail before making our way into the canopied stretch of crushed gravel that would be the place of our mutual hurt.

I worked with Shawn at Frontrunner a few years ago and a more subtly humourous person I have not met. Everyone was excited to work with him because we knew the time would be spent laughing. Not to say that he is all jokes, as he can be quite serious as well, but it is always good times hanging out with him. Shawn comes from a running family and he is very strong at this moment, although he claims his training has not been that structured of late and the 5k he kicked my butt at was a surprise for him. I was glad to have his company for this workout.

We caught up on life events and warmed up out to Lochside School before turning around. While Lochside is canopied for much of the length, there are definitely open spots, including a long boardwalk over a bog, that heat right up. The workout called for running 3k at about 3:10-3:13/km pace. Considering we had just ran 5k at a little under 3:10/km, we knew this was not going to be easy. No spikes, soft surface, hot night, and heavier shoes (I know, not that big a deal, unless you are tired), and lack of spectators, we were not looking forward to the hurt.

We started well and on pace. Lochside has km markers, but apparently my GPS disagrees with the markers as it said the marker wasn't long enough. As we passed the marker we were anxiously awaiting the beep of the watch, but alas, it did not arrive for another 12 seconds, making us feel badly about ourselves. But we kept on, pushing as we could, and the passed the second km marker, again, anxiously awaiting the beep. It was a little before this that I realized we should turn around after the 2nd km because we might run out of trail before 3k. So when the beep came - late - we turned right around and ran back for the last km. We finished the interval at 9:45, a little slow, but not too bad considering the turn and what we think was a long 3k.

We jogged back to the start and chatted, a little bit pleased with the effort and wondering what lay ahead. Shawn suggested not turning on the second 3k and I whole heartedly agreed. So when we began again, after a six minute recovery jog, things felt good. We knew that we were literally running to the cars. The first km was faster than the first interval and felt easier. But once we got out from under the canopy, things got harder. I started to slow down as the effort from the race on Friday and long run on Sunday started to creep back in the legs. Shawn held pace and pulled away a little and I fought to stay on his shoulder. This is why running with someone is so great. We passed over the boardwalk and hit the pavement a little bit further on, and what I was worried about previously, running out of room for the 3k, I now realized would actually occur. As we got close to the end, running through the Tim Horton's parking lot, Shawn made the brilliant suggestion of cutting the interval. I was going backwards at that point and the only place we could have continued would have been up a decent hill - not something I wanted at that moment. So, at 2.8k, we called it in. We were on pace for about 9:50 (I think), but with the hill I am sure it would have been a little slower than that.

So, the workout went well. These workouts are about effort more than time or distance. I was working hard with Shawn and we both agreed that we "banked" that workout - meaning, while it didn't feel spectacular, it would benefit us in the long run. I am excited about the chance to train with Shawn more often as we are running right around the same pace right now and he is a great training partner.

Yesterday was an easy 12k around Oak Bay and tonight I am going to join in with Paul O'Callaghan's group for their Thursday night tempo session, rather than doing it on my own. There are a bunch a very good runners there, so hopefully I won't get left behind!

Basking in the glow...

The Victoria sun has been shining brightly and strong in the past few days and I have had a good couple of days. Sonja and I have pretty much finished setting up the house, with mirrors and art being thoughtfully placed on the walls yesterday. One more bolt in a door and we are done.

Liev is getting increasingly confident and crazy. I think I can hear him trying to get out of the bathtub right now. I thought cats had an aversion to water. Wait - no he is playing with his ball with a bell. And now he has crashed into a wall. And now he is on his cat tree. And now he is eating something.

I had a good, but surprisingly long, 22k run with Hicham on Sunday. I realized that a lot of my long runs have been based on time in the trails, and the distance covered in those is about 2/3 of that which you would cover in the same time on the road. This means that while the time wasn't hard, the distance seemed long. Reminds me that I need to get the distance in this winter.

Tonight I am running with Shawn as we do 2 x 3k out at Lochside. I am glad that he making the trip in from Langford for the workout because holding the times that Coach John has set out would be difficult were I to be on my own. After that, it is right to soccer try-outs; the team is really good!

But in other news, I am going to redirect your eyes to some good web surfing...

www.delibleink.com - from the renaisance man of men, Mr. Carter
www.darrenbarefoot.com - interesting perspectives from another Victorian
www.twitter.com/campbelladam79 - watch as adam and fellow very fast runner aaron heidt tackle the six-day transrockies trail race - and you were just looking for a reason to start using twitter

Enjoy!

Race Report - Black Press 5000m

The last time I actually signed up for a race on the track was in Grade 11. I was a hurdler and a 400m runner, which explains my love of trail running (jumping over things) and track workouts (at least 400m workouts). So it was with a bit of trepidation that I made my way over to Oak Bay High for the Black Press 5000m. As people who graciously read this blog with some semblance of frequency, you will be aware that my race season has not met the heights of my workouts. While running the best times I have ever run in workouts, my races (in particular my half marathons) have been downright disastrous. So it was with hope that I looked for something shorter, something that mirrored more my workouts rather than longer endurance based races.

The Black Press 5000m was an event that arose of the desire of the Victoria running community to have a high level 5000m track event. The evening had three heat: Heat 1 - 18:00+, Heat 2 - 16:30-18:00, Heat 3 - sub 16:30. I was pleased to see that it was a sub 16:00 heat three because that would have caused me some trepidation. What if I didn't end up sub 16? What if I was last? Ultimately, neither of those thoughts would have stopped me from going in Heat 3, but they would have given me pause to think about it. So sub 16:30 was perfect because I knew I fit comfortably in that heat.

The evening began with a great 12 minute jog from house to track. I have to say that I do love our house and how central it is to pretty much everything in Victoria. The jog was dead flat and I arrived to find Marilyn sitting with her coach, Jon Brown, and her hubby, Joey, who would have a great run in Heat 1. It was great to catch up with her and chat about living in Victoria and running. I then went over to the entry table where I saw parents of two former students, one participating in the event and the other organizing it. When Sonja and I moved over to the island, we were excited about reconnecting with a community, and Victoria has yet to disappoint in that regard. Registered and with number and chips in hand, I went over to the bleacher, to realize that my belief that I would be racing at 6:30pm was wrong. It was 6:15 and there were very few people on hand. It was then I learned that Heat 3 would go at 7:30pm. This meant that I had over an hour to wait, and the sun was falling as the wind was picking up. This was going to be a cold hour for me. All me prep had been for a 6:30 start, so I sat on my butt on the grass in the sun and chatted with Richard and watched Karen race to a sub-20 minute 5k. This would be the first of many great races this evening.

Heat 2 was great to watch as both Marilyn and Lucy Smith ran strong behind the pacing of Jon Brown, both breaking 17 minutes and looking great doing it. I went for my workout during the middle part of this race. It was great get warmed up by running but it saddened me a little to leave all the friends that had come out to watch the event. As mentioned on the Prairie Inn Harriers chatline, there were just as many people watching the race that could have gone sub-16 as there were running it. Again, community was overflowing as people took time from there evening to come watch and encourage other people running in circles.

My warm up passed uneventfully and as I sat to spike up, Shawn Nelson and Nick Walker and I chatted about goals for the race. Turns out that Shawn and I were hoping for similar times, so we talked about working together. Nick, who is getting back to fitness but is still a fantastic runner when not completely fit, decided to have a go and see what would happen. Moving toward the start line for final strides, I felt good that I would have someone to key off of in Shawn.

The race started and quickly we fell into place. I wanted to start conservatively, and Coach John had suggested 75-76 for my first 400m; I hit 78. I was pleased with this as it reaffirmed that I hadn't gone out too fast. The pace felt good and quick, but still comfortable. Shawn, at this point, decided he was going to slowly and left me behind. I was left with a friend of his, Craig, who I was able to pace off for the next few laps. Running 12.5 laps can start to make your mind go numb, so I resolved to myself not to count laps, and I was surprisingly successful at it. I just focussed on Craig and turnover and pace and the time just seemed to pass. This was workout out well until two things happened in quick succession. First, Craig dropped at 2.2k as this was all he was going to be running. Damn. Pacer gone. About 300m later, at 2.5k, my time was called out and it 8:00 flat. This was also no good because it meant that I would have to negative split the second half of the race if I was to achieve my goal of sub-16. And I would have to do it alone, running into the wind on the homestretch.

I decided that it was time to go for it. 2.5k was a distance we had run often with VFAC and I had run it well in the past. I just thought of running a mile and 7/8ths and running with the boys and I picked up the pace. People started to come back to me. I eventually caught the person ahead of me and started to see Nick coming back to me as well. This definitely gave me motivation and I moved up to him. Once I caught Nick, I eased for a moment before moving on.

With three laps to go (I think, although it might have been two laps) I was lapped by the leaders, who were, well, a lap ahead. I didn't mind this as I came to the track to run my race and my time. But, by this time, I was counting laps and knowing that I had one more lap than the card said made me a little sad. My hip flexors were starting to tighten and I began to feel ploddish in my running. I started to look at the times and try to do the math. I had run the second half well enough to put myself in a position to break 16, but my math wasn't that strong at that point. I knew I had to run well to get it, but that I was back on pace. The problem was that the lactic acid was now in my forearms and it was everything I could do to hold form. The last 400m approached and I saw that I had about 90 seconds to get under 16 minutes. I knew I was going to do it, but I wanted to get as far under as I could. This meant lifting my heavy legs and arms with a synchronicity that was near impossible to hold. I watched as Shawn ran further and further away from me and Nick sped by me with a blazing fast final 400 (65 seconds!). I held on with a final 73 and finished in a now official 15:49.

It was amazing to have so many friends and Sonja there cheering me on. I heard them often but they seemed farther away as the laps piled on. I am happy to have run a race commiserate with my training and I think this definitely puts me in the 8k camp for the RVM. I want to thank all the volunteers at the race and special thanks to Chris Kelsall for all the arrangements and sponsors of the event. I hope that this takes on a life of its own, with different races at different distances over the course of the summer. It was definitely a welcome re-introduction to the Victoria running scene.

Round and Round

12.5 times to be exact. I was a little dizzy after 5k on the track.

More to follow, but thanks to the cheering of many good friends and a great evening, I was able to dip under 16:00 for the first time.

I think the official time will be 15:48, but we will have to wait and see.

More details to follow, but I am pleased and a little surprised.

In lieu of the race details, read this and this. Both good blog posts and worthy of 2.5 minutes of your time.

More in the morning...