Ahh...March in Ontario....

Yesterday's run was pleasant enough. I got a quick haircut and made my way down to the waterfront trail in Hamilton, an easy 55 minute jaunt. It was clear and a little cool, but nothing extraordinary. Checked out Mac's new athletic facility and wondered how I had survived four years there without it.

But today....

SNOW! Man, what a place. I am in London today and it snowed like nobody's business. Needless to say that I was not motivated to get out into the white stuff, thus giving myself a day off.

I was VERY happy to see that both Hicham and Mike had great races at the Comox Valley Half Marathon. Running 1:14:59 and 1:15:29, respectively, I am quite impressed (not to mention that both just crushed my PR for a half marathon). Now, you have to understand, that this is not out of some selfless pride that I write that I am pleased - no, not at all. I write this because these are two of my training partners and if they are running this well, well, that bodes well for me this weekend in my race. At least I hope so...

Seriously, and Rumon as well, congrats on a great day.

I am off to the races (of the horse variety).

Sunday
Duration - 55:32

Monday
Off

Running with a purpose

For those who don't know, Jim Finlayson, Mike Lord, and Rumon Carter have started a website called Three Roads to London. This site documents their training leading into the Flora London Marathon. For those who haven't visited the site, you really should. Not only is it aesthetically pleasing, but it is very well written and an interesting insight into the purpose behind running for three different, intriguing runners.

But further to that, they have melded their training with purpose. Read on to learn about what they are doing and how you can contribute....(from Rumon Carter)

The Flora London Marathon traces a single path through the streets of England’s capital. On April 22, 2007 Jim Finlayson, Michael Lord and Rumon Carter, along with 45 000 others, will race 26.2 miles through those historic streets.

The three lads will each race for different reasons. They’ll race the clock; they’ll race themselves. Perhaps most importantly, they’ll race to make a small difference for those less fortunate than themselves. They’ll race and harness their energy to raise money for Runners of Compassion’s Shoes for Youth program, a program that puts new shoes of the feet of marginalized and disadvantaged youth. So that those kids can know – as do each of the Three Roads to London crew – the simple freedom of a run in the woods, the wind in your face and sweat on your brow.

Because everyone – every kid – should have the means to run their own road.

To learn more about Jim, Michael and Rumon’s Three Roads to London project, please visit http://threeroadstolondon.com.

To donate to their Shoes for Youth initiative, please visit http://threeroads.givemeaning.com. (In fact, even if you don’t wish to or aren’t in a position to make a tax-deductible donation, please visit their Give Meaning site and show your support by simply clicking the VOTE button in the upper left of the page – you’ll be asked for your name and email address, but will be neither contacted nor committed to making a donation – you’ll be simply expressing a vote of support for what the Three Roads lads are doing.)

If you’re interested in Runners of Compassion (ROC) or Shoes for Youth more generally, check out http://www.runnersofcompassion.com/site/. If you like what you see, please consider harnessing the positive energy of runners in your own community and creating an ROC chapter in your home town (chapters already exist in Victoria, Nanaimo and Winnipeg) – all the necessary information is on the ROC site.

I'll tell you this....

If you get the chance, you should definitely hang out in the Maple Leaf Lounge at any airport you can. I am en route to Toronto to spend March Break in Hamilton, ultimately racing the Around the Bay on March 25th. However, I am too cheap to pay for a ticket and too lazy to book an aeroplan ticket early, so I ended using a few more points to get an Executive Class ticket, but there was a catch - a stop in Edmonton.

The flight leaving Edmonton was delayed, so I made my way to the Maple Leaf Lounge to plead my case to get in - delayed flight, executive class from Edmonton to Toronto, blah blah blah. But I didn't need to go that far as I was ALLOWED to come in. Me! Allowed!

After two bowls of Cream of Mushroom soup, an apple, apple juice, ginger ale, a dill pickle, three bags of vegetable chips, and some free internet, I am satiated. I am not sure how much more of the Lounge I can exhaust. I want to fax something just use their fax.

As for running, the past couple of days have been very much maintenance as allergies in Victoria hit me hard. I was worried about it being a cold, but Craig, after hearing one too many sneezing fits, made me take a Claritan, everything got better. However, I am still very tired, so the runs were "feel" runs - getting out the door for 30 minutes just to remember the motion of running.

Today is a travel day, so I won't be running (I mean, who could after lounging?).

A big shout out to my Club Mudders - it wasn't pretty when I left Victoria this morning - I hope that Caleb Pike went well. And to Mike and Hicham - have a great run tomorrow at Comox! I will be checking results.

Thursday
Duration - 30 minutes
Friday
Duration - 30 minutes

Chaos Abounds

Ok, this is even going to be quicker than the post I just wrote and lost when my browser crashed. I am going slightly crazy with everything that occurring in the few days before I leave for Ontario.....
So....

Bazan Bay was fun.

Sprint finish with Shane (again - see Cedar 12k)
http://www.pbase.com/autie/image/75501273

Pleased with result, especially leading into Around the Bay on the 25th.

1k -3:15
2k - 3:16
3k - 3:19
4k - 3:25
5k - 3:08 (see sprint finish)

Total 16:28.

Monday I felt strong on an hour run along the Waterfront. Low HR and surprisingly fresh.

Tuesday was a great workout with Hicham as he prepares for the Comox Half Marathon this weekend. 2 x 10 minute tempo with 5 minutes recovery between. Not fast or light, but strong the whole way. We both felt it tonight as we had heavy legs.

Tonight was fun with the two clinics. Almost two hours of very light running spread over two workouts. I am feeling good leading into my taper for Around the Bay, so we will see how things go over the next week. I fly back to Toronto on Saturday and then spend some time in London and Chatham before settling into Hamilton for the remainder of the week.

My favourite foods include cinnamon buns, dark chocolate, banana bread, all types of fruit (especially berries), Ben and Jerry's ice cream (especially Half Baked), Annie's Shells and Cheddar Cheese (purple box), french toast, and salmon. But I like other food as well.

Just in case anyone was ever wondering.

PS. I found an elevation chart for the Iceland race - exciting! It turns out that it is mostly downhill after an ugly first 10k. That is a good thing for me.

Bazan Bay 5k (World Championships) Tomorrow!

Tomorrow will be epic. Especially if there is rain. 1600 people moving in a figure eight route, trying to cover 5k as quickly as possible. This will make for an interesting post tomorrow.

As for the past couple of days...

Friday was a fun run with the kids - by kids I mean very fast 18-22 year olds training at the National Triathlon Centre. Another life ago I too trained at the NTC, but I am an old man now, trying to keep up with the whippersnappers. I followed Yoda out to the workout (more figuratively following as I rode beside him in the car after following him out the door) at Lochside trail, a venue I have not done a workout at in quite sometime. I do take my school kids out there for training, but my own training has not taking me to the tree lined trail in quite some time. After owning the kids in an Ultimate Frisbee-like game known as "Ball Game", we took the trail for 2x (4 x 40 seconds with 1:20 rest). I ran faster than I should have but had fun. It is fun to be around the energy of the young ones every so often, reminding of what it was like when Darren, Kate, Kevin, and I piled into my car and drove sleepily to swims 5 mornings a week.

Duration - 1:05

This morning saw the Club Mud group take on the 5k loop at Thetis Lake. I ran pretty conservatively, but was thoroughly impressed with the rest of the group. They are coming along very nicely, getting fitter, stronger, and faster.

Duration - 1:48



Weekly Totals

Duration - 8:06
Sessions - 7
Days off - 1

Called out again...

I will from now on await my anonymous conscience, calling me out to report on my training...

I have been pleased with my running of late. I have felt a little tired at the beginning of runs, but they have rounded out nicely, finding form as they progressed.

Sunday began early. Very early. I was scheduled to do a talk for a Times Colonist Clinic beginning at 9:00am, and wanting to get a Jasper-esque run in, I decided for the "before talk" rather than the "after talk". So it was with great regret that I awoke to my alarm at 5:30am. I had laid out my clothes the night before, I so rolled into them, grabbed some food for before and after the run, and headed out the door.

I pulled up to the Elk/Beaver Lake parking lot at 6:00am. The parking lot at the lakes always seems to have someone there, but it was this morning that I became that "someone". I am now privately proud of the fact that for one day, I was the first one to the lakes. However, my pride quickly dissipated when I realized my miscalculation. I had thought that I would start my run by 6:10am, thus allowing sufficient time to get to the talk for 8:45am. It was as I was exiting the car that I realized I had not accounted for the fact that it is still dark at 6:10am.

My warmup consisted of careful foot placement in the trails, trying to not go too slow, but not wanting to risk an injury of any kind. I made it to the main trail and was pleased to see that light was making its way through the cloud. It was less of the rising sun as it was the lightening of blackness to greyness. I finished my warm up and started the workout.

90 minutes of tempo (holding 3:50/km pace).

This was a workout that I had done with Jasper last summer. These sustained tempo runs had been very valuable to my training, having noticed marked improvements in the weeks following them. They are tough runs, but beneficial. I decided that 24km should be about the right distance, and in preparation for the Around the Bay run in a few weeks, this fit nicely.

I was alone when I started into this run. I was alone when I ended, although the number of people on the trails and the number of cars in the parking lot had increased exponentially during that 90 minutes. The first loop was good, finding my legs around 4km, but holding pace the whole time. I was starting to feel a little laboured around 12k, but surprisingly was not losing any time at all. In fact, I was going a tad faster for each of the kilometers as compared to the previous lap. Wondering how long this would last, I continued to push, until about 19k I saw the end. It was here that my HR started to dip and my times started to climb. I was running out of steam and motivation. Pushing through and convincing myself that I was tough enough to finish the workout, I ran through the Zero KM marker and ran our to the 2k marker (over the big hill for those in the know). Trying to recreate the ATB course, which has a killer hill at about 27k, I wanted to run the big hill twice in the last 4k. I dragged my sorry butt back up and over, finishing the workout a little ragged, but overall pleased with the past four days.

Monday was an easy run and Tuesday was off. Wednesday saw my playing with my clinics and tonight was a recovery run. I ran into Bruce Martel, a great massage therapist at the clinic in Cook St Village (near Starbucks), and we chatted, thus helping me get to an hour of running tonight. With the Bazan Bay World 5k Championships this weekend, I will not do too much work over the next couple of days. I also need to determine what I am going to do about my taper. Discussions with the likes of Jim, Rumon, and Mike have lead me to rethink dropping too much volume over the next two weeks. I don't think I am going to load up too much or anything crazy like that, but I may not do the complete unload thing that I have in the past. It is also supposed to be -4 degrees on race day, so nothing else may matter if that is the case.

Wow. Monday seems a long time ago....

Hey Sportsfans.

After dragging my butt for the first few days of the week, I am rounded into form on Thursday. This concept of running WITH people is interesting - I shall continue the experiment. This end of this week saw me join in on a couple of friends' workouts as they prepare for their big races.

Hicham is on his rest week as he gets ready for the Comox Half Marathon and Vancouver Sun Run, so we hooked up for a shorter fartlek run around Oak Bay. Throughout the run I felt heavy and lagging, never discovering the smoothness that I had felt on Sunday. My winter consisted of long runs with a HR under 155 bpm (see: Maffetone), so as my legs failed to find their form, I wondered about the effect that races are having on my recovery. I stayed on Hicham's shoulder throughout the run, as we covered ground between Oak Bay Marina, Willows beach and Cattle Point. The sun was gracing us with it's presence interrupting what feels like constant November Rain. We appreciated the views, the windless evening, and the many dogs running around on the beach. Hicham was good enough to run with me for another 40 minutes after the workout as I passed time before giving a talk to the TC 10k clinic at the Windsor Park Pavilion.

Duration - 1:20:00
AHR - 148
MHR - 165

Thursday was Mike day. He of the London Marathon program was in the midst of a big week, having completed three days of doubles in this week. His workout for Friday called for a 10 minute tempo followed by 6 x 800m at goal marathon time, which translates like this; if you want to run a 2 hours 36 minutes for your marathon, your 800 time should be 2 minutes 36 seconds. Modified Yasso's for those in the know. On 90 seconds rest. The sun had had enough of Victoria and returned to warmer climes, leaving us with the famous sitting Victoria rain. This is rain that never actually hits the ground - the fine mist just hovers in the air, so that as you move through it you slowly, almost imperceptibly, become soaked. We met with Sylvan and Chris, who joined us for this evening of masochism. Both Chris and Sylvan had been on 2+ hour runs earlier this week, and thus, understandably, ran on fatigued legs.

The workout went well enough. The tempo was alright, feeling better than the night before. And the 800s actually went well after the first one, after which I turned to Mike and conceded that I might not be able to finish the workout. The first 800 felt awful, but, like the track does, she draws you in. The interval in all track workouts feels awful, but then you find your form, your rhythm. The gentle bends lulling you into a trance like state. The stable footing allowing for form to carry you through. Mike and I worked together pulling through the workout, as Chris finished his six and Sylvan, courageously said no to completing the 800s - he was always the smart one.

Duration - 1:27:00
AHR - 146
MHR - 176

And today's 2:15 in the trails of Gowland Tod Provincial Park with the Club Mud crew was epic. A beautiful morning of mist in a rain forest as we ascended the hill on where from McKenzie Bight to Jocelyn Hill. I didn't get anyone lost this year, and everyone made it back, with big smiles and wet shoes. A great morning.

Duration - 2:15:00
AHR - 123
MHR - 176

Weekly Totals
Duration - 9:30:00(ish)
Sessions - 8


Rounding out the week with three big runs brought my running time to over nine hours - way more than I was expecting.