June 16, 2020 – Resilience

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Hi Everyone!

 

Something I’ve been thinking about this week is resilience. Resilience: the capacity to recover from adversity and pursue your goals despite challenges. It helps you survive the worst day of your life and thrive every day of your life.

 

In running we can build resilience through strength work and base mileage. That way when we encounter a higher load, we can recover or “bounce-back” more easily. Or we can challenge ourselves to perform in challenging circumstances instead of only when our internal and external environments are perfect and in control. This allows us to become non-fragile athletes. We know how to train to become resilient athletes – this is nothing new.

 

But what about becoming resilient people? Why do some people seem to be more resilient to repetitive hardships, while others seem to be more fragile?  I did take a course on this a while ago, so I thought I’d share what I learned.

 

It is based on the premise that our brains are wired to remember negative  experiences more strongly than positive ones. This makes sense in terms of evolution: if we remember where the sweet berries were, it’s nice, but not necessary for our survival. If we remember where that family of hungry tigers lives, we’re more likely to survive. When we have a negative experience it makes a disproportionately bigger imprint on us than a positive experience. This is a good thing – it’s why we’re here even discussing it! (I’m sure there was an off-shoot of our ancestors who remembered where the sweet berries were, but those happy-go-lucky optimists were likely killed by the tigers so weren’t able to pass along their happy-go-lucky genes).

 

As a result, here is an example of how our brains function today. We wake up and go for a run, we smile and wave at a few people, someone yells at us for passing too closely on the sidewalk, we have a nice chat with our neighbour at the end. We then go to the grocery store, listen to a favourite song on the way there, enjoy the sunshine while waiting in line, get admonished by someone for walking the wrong way down the aisle, have a nice exchange with the cashier.

 

It’s now mid-morning and we think: what a bad morning – why are people such angry idiots – everyone is yelling at me. We’ve had at least 7 positive experiences and 2 negative ones, but we tend to only recall and emotionally attach to the negative ones.

 

So what does this have to do with resilience? Resilient people tend to have a bigger reservoir of positive experiences to offset the negative ones. Think of your positive experiences as your root system which grounds you and holds you in place when heavy winds or a tornado arrives. The more you have, the more anchored you are, and the more resilient you become.

How can we control our positive experiences and lay a greater foundation? By being aware of our negativity bias and really pausing and reflecting on the positive interactions. Remember: we have many more of these positive experiences daily than we remember. Our brains don’t naturally hold onto them though so they can easily become wasted moments and not add to our anchoring root system. It is up to us self-aware Big Brain people to download those moments. How? Notice them when they’re happening, replay them afterward, and think about them with gratitude. Then when the negative experiences come (and they will – that doesn’t stop!) it is experienced on top of a strong foundation of positive experiences. We are then able to bounce back from set-backs, failures and heart-aches much more quickly. It does take some effort and self-awareness to train our brains, but if we can consciously build up our resilience we have the opportunity to become both better athletes and happier, more productive humans.

 

Ok, onto workouts for this week:

 

  1. Pottery Rd Hills (some of us may have been leaving these a little on the back-burner so time to throw a few sets in for strength and resilience!)
  2. 3-4×1200 with 2:30 rest at 25 sec faster than tempo pace; 4 min rec;  4-6×200 with 1:30 rest (you’ll have to know about where the 400 mark is if doing these on Lakeshore but it’s 1 ½ lengths. So if you start wherever you finished they’ll even out).
  3. Short Riverdale hills (6-8) followed by 4-6 good strides. This one is a zinger which addresses all those fast twitch and power fibres some of us start to lose over time
  4. Tempo: 2×8 min with 2jog at tempo pace; 3 min rest, 2-4×2 min with 1 rest at 10 sec per K faster than tempo plus strides

 

Have fun!

 

Seanna

 

June 9, 2020 – Raising the Floor

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Hi Guys!

 

I thought I’d share a concept I heard which resonates and which I think can apply to a lot of our lives. There are two different ways we can try to improve: we can raise the ceiling, or we can raise the floor. What does this mean? Raising the ceiling is raising our high water mark. It is the best we can achieve. It is our “personal best”. It is a nice bar to know is there – everyone likes to know that they are capable of great things when they put their minds to it. Theoretically, if we keep raising our ceiling, we keep getting better. And in some ways we can become defined by our “ceilings”. But sometimes they can be “one-off’s” and they’re pretty rare and hard to achieve.

 

But there is another way to improve and that is raising our floor. That is our baseline consistent effort which we can go out and do on any given day. When our floor comes up, everything else shifts up as well. It’s just another way to measure progress and improvement in the absence of “personal bests”. Raising your floor in training is generally achieved by consistent, effortful, but non-“magical” runs and workouts. We can definitely continue to improve without setting new high water marks. Just inch our floors up a bit.

 

Of course I think of how this concept applies to other areas of life. How can we make a difference in changing the structures of the society we live in if we’re not running for politics or leading organized movements or giving life altering speeches which millions hear? I’d consider those actions raising the ceiling. Maybe we can raise our floors through our everyday actions, by how we treat people, by what we read and consume, by what we teach our kids. These aren’t life-altering revolutionary actions, but they will gradually pull us up.

 

Ok, onto workout options for this week:

  1. If it’s been a couple weeks since you’ve done hills, throw them back in! Pottery Rd – any combination of full and half hills.
  2. Riverdale Hill option – I tried this one and liked it (thanks Mike!) – Go to the West side of the park (towards the zoo) and run a stride along the grass towards the cement hill and up to the top. Take the stairs down and repeat 3-5 times.
  3. If you haven’t done the “strides” workout of 8-10 x 80-100m strides that’s a good one the throw in.
  4. Tempo: 20-25 minutes, then 5 x 1 min with 90 sec rest
  5. Workout: 6-8 x 600 with 1:30m rest 20 sec per K faster than tempo

Also don’t forget that it’s going to jump in heat and humidity again this week, so adjust times to effort accordingly.

 

Have a good one.

 

Seanna

 

June 2, 2020 – Reflections on Racism

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Hi Guys,

 

I’m not sure what to say. I’ve been experiencing feelings of extreme grief and sadness over the past week as I’m sure many of us are over the pain and suffering of our Black fellow humans. I was going to just say I’m going to be quiet and listen. But I think I have a greater responsibility than that. Racism is alive and surrounding us. Yes, it’s worse in the United States, but that doesn’t absolve us. We can’t say it’s not our problem.

 

Usually I sort my thoughts and emotions out on a run. Aren’t I lucky to be able to do that? There is so much that I am privileged with for being white and living in Canada. I have done nothing to earn this privilege. I am aware of it, but there are times, living in my bubble, that I can let myself forget. Even when we acknowledge at every public gathering that the land we are on rightfully belonged to the indigenous peoples who were here before us and who we stole from, mistreated, abused, murdered, and nearly destroyed their culture, we just say the words and then get on with the show. Sure, we work hard, so we can easily delude ourselves into thinking we’ve earned what we have. But we haven’t. It’s been passed down to us at the expense of others. And minorities continue to pay out of proportion for our privileges.

 

I’m still not sure what to say. Or do. But I do think and hope that a switch has been flipped and that we won’t or can’t go back to living in our bubbles. We have to force ourselves to overcome our ingrained ways of thinking – because the fact that I’m shocked and horrified over the events of the past week make me feel even more sick – why wasn’t I feeling this weeks, months, years ago when things like this were clearly still happening? How have we all been going “on with the show”?

 

When spiritual seekers reach enlightenment and the sense of “Nirvana”, it is usually described as a sense of everything being part of everything else. A total sense of “one-ness” and connectedness. Total equal love for all. This includes everything which contains atoms – trees, rocks, grasshoppers, fish. This is a huge ask for most people to seek, but we can start along our path of becoming an enlightened species if we can at least learn to feel “one-ness” with people of different skin colours. That is the very first teeny tiny step. Learn how to love, respect and really value Every. Single. Human. Being. And I will add, that includes the elderly, the mentally and physically sick, the addicted, the disadvantaged. Love them all. We are all humans and any one of us could end up in any situation. I think that’s my only answer right now. Equal love for all of humanity. Let’s try. #blacklivesmatter

 

 

Workout options for this week:

  1. 2x 1 mile with 2:30 rest at 15-20 per K faster than tempo; 4 min rest; 4×800 with 1:45 rest at 25 sec per K faster than tempo
  1. 2-3K w-up – 10 x 80m strides, 2-3K c-dn

 

  1. Tempo: 3 x 10 min w 3 min rec

 

Seanna

 

May 26, 2020 – Chop Wood, Carry Water

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Hi Everyone!

 

I was recently reminded of a great Buddhist proverb. A monk worked his whole life to achieve enlightenment. When he finally attained it he was asked how he did it. He replied, “Chop wood, carry water”. Then he was asked what he would do now that he had attained enlightenment. He replied, “Chop wood, carry water”.

 

Obviously I brought this back to running 😉 Let’s pretend what we’re seeking, instead of enlightenment, is a goal race or time. That’s fine – sometimes we have one and sometimes we don’t. But the point is, don’t expect anything to fundamentally change in you or what you do once you reach your goal. We’re not striving now so we can rest later. We’re doing what we love to do and if we get a great race time in the process, fantastic. It won’t change what we’re doing though. Now is a perfect time to find out how you love to run, without an external race goal influencing you.

 

I’m reminded of the summer of 1996 when I was 21 and living in a tent and working in a bookstore in Dawson City, Yukon. I ran pretty much every day and loved it so much. I could run at 10 or 11pm along remote northern highways and have as much sunlight as if I was running at 10 or 11am. I basically had two route options: one along the Top of the World Highway towards Alaska, and another 7km straight up a hill called The Midnight Dome. I’d alternate between these two routes and never got bored. I remember really falling in love with running there – there were no gps watches or strava or cell phones or even the internet – running was a very solitary and personal endeavour. On my runs up the Dome I had to stop often to rest my legs and catch my breath. I made it a personal goal to run all the way to the top without stopping by the end of the summer. I remember the joy and sense of achievement I felt when I first did it. I was so happy. There was not a soul to tell but it didn’t matter. I stopped at the top, took it all in, and jogged the 7km back to my tent.

 

Well, as fate would have it, I discovered that a few weeks after my first ascent they were holding the annual Midnight Dome Race. Runners came in from all around (well, mostly Whitehorse) to see who could make it to the top first. I quietly realized that I had been inadvertently “training” for this race for a couple of months. So I paid my $15 and entered the race. Imagine my surprise when about 2/3 of the way up a car with a CBC reporter from Whitehorse leaned out with a microphone to tell me I had a huge lead and how did it feel to be the likely women’s winner. I don’t think I said much since I was gasping for air, but I did make it to the top first. I won a meal in a restaurant, a night in a hotel and tickets to Diamond Tooth Gerty’s cabaret – all expensive tourist things which were huge luxuries for the “dirty hippies across the river”. I remember my main takeaway being that the race was a funny lark and a totally random coincidence. My hippie tent friends who saw me running all the time (and rarely showering) laughed about it with me. It was like we’d pulled one over on “the man” – winning the prizes for a race I didn’t really care about. That hadn’t been why I was trying to run up the Dome. And I don’t remember the experiences of the prizes as much as the feeling of when I first made it up without stopping. I also continued to run up the Dome (on tougher days still stopping for breaks) – and still relished the challenge and accomplishment every time.

 

I think I sometimes forget that feeling. Of being the outsider, and doing what I do because that’s just what I like to do. If you want to train hard, train hard. If you want to run up a hill, do that. If you want to run on trails, that’s what you should do. If a race pops up, sure, jump in. Maybe it’ll be what you were training for. Maybe not. But after it you’re going to go back to chopping wood and carrying water, because that’s the whole point.

 

Workout options for this week:

 

  1. 5-8x 1K with 2 rest at 25 sec per K faster than tempo pace (if doing these on the Lakeshore path do 800’s instead – logistics work better)
  2. Short Riverdale hills w push-ups at the bottom and squats at the top (can we sort of cheat and make these count for Kerry’s daily challenge??)
  3. Tempo – 30 mins straight up – start of 5-10sec per km slower and if you can gradually increase pace

Don’t forget to adjust your pace and expectations as you adjust to the heat! It’s harder when it’s hot – especially at first. It’s ok – there’s a fitness boost that comes with that, but just expect it to feel harder for the paces you’re running.

 

Thanks guys – hope to see some of you out there at some point!!

 

Seanna

 

May 19, 2020 – Bravery

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Hi Everyone!

 

Just a quickie here – huge thanks again to Monica for organizing the LES Virtual Relay 😊 I did promise a beer to the winners, so I will hold true to my word! Will message you guys separately.

 

What I was thinking about was how few of us really relished running as hard as we could solo without having had any specific focused training behind us. We all knew it was going to hurt. And it did. And we faced it and did it as well as we could.

 

I looked up the definition of “Brave”: “Bravery is the admirable quality of being able to confront frightening things. Being

ready to face and endure danger or pain; showing courage.”

 

Not to overplay the value of a virtual 5K or 6K, but I always love when running teaches us lessons about ourselves through experience, and those experiences become part of our character. I really do think you’re all brave – as runners and in life. So here’s to facing all our upcoming challenges head on with courage – we know we can do it!

 

Workout options for this week (again, pick and choose – don’t do all):

 

  •  Pottery Rd Hills (I’m doing them this week – it’s been too long for me!) – I like the option of mixing it up: 2 long, 1 short – repeat
  • 2 sets of 6-4-2 with 2 rest and 4 min btw sets (at 15 sec, 20 sec and 30sec faster than tempo pace) (or if doing these as distance, 2 x 1mile, 800, 600)
  • Warrior Challenge (suggested by Kerry K – of course!): 4km run with exercise at intervals.
    • 1km – 50 x jump squats
    • 2km – 40 x jumping lunges
    • 3km – 30 push-ups
    • 4km – 20 x burpees
  • Tempo: 16 min tempo, 3 min jog, 8 min at 5-6 seconds per K faster + strides

Have fun and see you soon!

 

xo

 

Seanna

 

May 12, 2020 – Find Purpose

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Hey Everyone!

 

Well, here we are – week 9-ish of isolation. What I’ve found with running is that I’ve found new routines and rhythms that work for me. I miss the social time, and I miss running with others who push me, and I’ll be honest: I miss having something to train for. But what is it that we like about having something to train for? It’s an external goal which can somehow justify our training and give us a purpose and reason to do what we know we already want to do. And it’s validated and lauded by other people. But I think it can mask and take away from much of what is beautiful and meaningful about running.

 

Now that I think about it, I think that would be the definition I’d have of someone as being a “runner”. You’re not a runner if you’ve gone out and run a certain distance in a certain time. You’re a runner if you “get it”. If you can find some sort of meaning and purpose in the act of running itself – no matter the distance or pace. And that is what we are doing and learning to do right now.

 

Some runs are hard and challenging, and we have to look inside ourselves and repeatedly answer the question “why”. I think continuing on is answer enough, and gives us a deeper understanding of ourselves. There is a lot of purpose and beauty to the inner dialogues and confrontations we have with ourselves.

 

Then there are those runs where it all just clicks and your legs start turning over easily, and you feel like you just want to lean into the pace and keep going for as long as you can. You are strong and in control and feel at one with your body and your surroundings. These runs only happen if you don’t have to think too much – you’re not holding yourself back so you can recover better or do a hard effort tomorrow, and you’re not trying to force a race pace that isn’t coming easily. You’re just floating. There is a lot of purpose and meaning in these runs. In fact, I think this is what many people are striving for much of the time.

 

Races stand in as “reasons or purpose” but it is these moments of self reflection and bliss, when it’s just us alone out there, that it actually all becomes clear and makes sense.

 

Anyway, I’m finding more of those moments these days and I hope a lot of you are too. Instead of looking for a reason or purpose to train, go out and run and let the purpose come to you.

 

A friend and fellow coach (Kate Gustafson) recently sent out this quote from and article written about Joan Benoit Samuelson, and I really love it:

 

“Precisely which one [marathon] is a question. She’ll train, reach racing fitness and then look around, in the same way that you try not to promise jars of jam to friends until you’ve picked the berries.”

 

Joanie trained hard (and 90% of the time solo) – because she loved it and that was what she did. If it fit with a race, the race would be the icing. There were many thousands of dollars of appearance fees she turned down because those races didn’t fit her rhythm. The purpose was never the race. Definitely resonates these days.

 

Workout options for this week:

  1. Pottery Rd hills if you didn’t do them last week or the week before
  2. Riverdale hill sprints – add 5-6 of them after a regular run
  3. 4 x 3 mins w 1:30 rest, 4 min rest, 4-6 x 1:30 w 1 min rest – 4-5 strides
  4. (if doing the virtual relay, option to just do the 1:30 sections)

 

And all this said, a bunch of us are doing a fun “virtual race” – obviously not as a race but more to feel together in something. These events are definitely more like hard solo efforts than races, but I for one love the camaraderie of knowing I’m not out there alone. Monica has put together an awesome schedule. Here are our rosters and the details:

 

Below are the teams, goal times, and rules for the inaugural LES team virtual relay!  Remember, the winning team isn’t the fastest team…it’s the team that comes closest to their team goal time. And be sure to wear your LES gear, encourage your teammates, and post to social media!

 

The rules:

  • Review the teams below – make sure we have your goal time listed correctly
  • All legs to be completed solo between May 14-17
  • Runners must follow provincial regulations and social distancing guidelines
  • Goal is to come as close as possible to your goal race time
  • Record your run via Garmin or Strava (honour system will also be accepted).
  • You are encouraged to post to social media and tag @lower_east_siders
  • Send your results to black_monica@hotmail.com or tag @monicafaithblack on Instagram
  • Once all times have been collected, we will add cumulative times together to get the times for each team
  • The winning team will be the team that comes CLOSEST TO THEIR TEAM GOAL TIME   
  • Team 7 & 8 each have an extra participant so it will be a little harder for them to hit their team goal time, because of that, they will have a 10 second advantage that can be applied to their cumulative team time.
  • The prize for the winning team… pride and bragging rights (and lots of virtual high-fives)!

Good luck and have fun everyone – hope to see you out there!

 

Seanna

 

May 5, 2020 – Virtual Races

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Hey Guys!

 

I love continuing to see your smiling faces out running. Something to look forward to on every run – trying to spot a friend!

 

I’ve been seeing a lot of virtual races out there on social media. Kind of fun for some – maybe stressful for others. I ran a virtual 5K the other weekend. I was glad to have done it, but it wasn’t the same as racing. It’s definitely harder to push yourself when you’re alone and that extra oomph is missing. However, I’ve come around to thinking that it might be a long time before we can do a real race, so maybe we should dip our toes into this virtual thing and see if we like it. One thing for sure: it will likely be a better effort than you’d get from a low-purpose workout, so you can think of it as a virtual race or a tempo on steroids.

 

Monica came up with this great idea and format. It’s just for us – no one has to go public with “results”. I’d think of this sort of like our oh so loved Ekidens and Ragnar Relays. It’s something we can do together as a team and it’s just a fun hard effort to do as a team. And something to sort of “wake us up” a bit. Details below. Winning team gets a celebratory beer or White Claw delivered by me. Oh, and I still have a few singlets and shirts so if you ordered and don’t have yours, please let me know!

 

What is the LES Team Virtual Relay?

 

  • Teams of 4
  • Relay total distance 21.1km
    • 3 members run 5km each
    • 1 (un)lucky member runs 6.1km
  • Each runner submits their goal race time when they are registering
  • Teams will be selected at random. Once selected, the individual goal time of each team member will be added together to create the TEAM GOAL TIME
  • All legs to be completed solo between May 14-17
  • Runners must follow provincial regulations and social distancing guidelines
  • Record your run via Garmin or Strava (honour system will also be accepted)
  • Goal is to come as close as possible to your goal race time
  • Add cumulative times together to get half marathon time per team
  • The winning team will be the team that comes CLOSEST TO THEIR TEAM GOAL TIME
  • And remember … wear your LES gear, post to social media, encourage your teammates!!

 

Next steps:

  1. People who are interested please email Monica before Sat May 9 with the following three items:
  • Name
  • Goal 5km race time
  • Goal 6.1km race time
  • (Challenge yourself with your goal time! It should be realistic …but it should also push you out of your comfort zone)
  1. Once all names are received, teams will be selected at random. Each team will consist of 4 people; (3) will be racing 5km and (1) will be racing 6.1km – for a total team distance of 21.1km.
  2. Teams and goal times will be announced in Seanna’s weekly email on Tues May 12
  3. You will have to run your leg between May 14-17
  4. Winning team will be announced on Tues May 19
  5. And remember, the winning team isn’t the fastest team…it’s the team that comes closest to their team goal time.  Team work and pacing is the key here 😊

 

Example:  Pre-race goals

  • Runner 1: 5km goal 20:00
  • Runner 2: 5km goal 25:00
  • Runner 3: 5km goal 18:00
  • Runner 4:  6.1km goal 25:00
  • TEAM GOAL TIME:  1:28

Example: Race results

  • Runner 1: 19:00
  • Runner 2: 26:00
  • Runner 3: 20:00
  • Runner 4: 25:00
  • ACTUAL TEAM TIME:  1:30 (2 minutes off of goal time)

Alright – let’s go!

 

Oh, also, workout options for this week (whether doing tempo/race or not – I think we can “train through” this one 😉):

 

1 – Pottery Rd Hills. Mix up the longs and shorts. How about 2 x full, 1 x short. Repeat 2-3 times

 

2- 4-5 x 5 min hard (faster than tempo), with 1:30 easy (OR 3-4 x 1 mile w 1:30 rec)

 

3 – Brick workout. I did this one day when I couldn’t wrap my head around going for a long run. Alternate shorter runs with something else. ie. 2K run, 5-10 mins of core/strength – repeat a few times OR 3K run, 15 mins on the bike trainer – repeat a few times

 

Have fun and see you soon!

 

Seanna

 

April 28, 2020 – Laughter

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Hi Everyone!

 

Hope you’re all enjoying the ever so gradually warming weather and managing to avoid the midge clouds as well as you can.

 

What I’ve been thinking about this week is the importance of humour and laughter and being able to keep things light. Not all the time, obviously, but recently I’ve noticed that when I have the opportunity to laugh, I have found myself really appreciating and feeling rejuvenated by it. Also laughter has been proven to be good for you immune system.

 

What does this have to do with running? Not a ton, other than a reminder to keep it light and not to take ourselves too seriously. I thought this would be a good time to share funny running stories. I couldn’t think of a good one for me, so with my husband Dan’s blessing, I will share one of his.

 

Back when Dan was on the Queen’s track/x-country teams, it was a thing among the guys that when they went drinking someone might randomly yell “NAKED RUN!” and then they all had to strip down into nothing but their racing flats and race a pre-determined route. They just enjoyed running fast and naked in a pack – maybe it was something deeply rooted in their DNA that harkened back to chasing prey on the savannah. Or maybe they were just celebrating being fit and fast and in their 20’s – I’m not sure why the naked part had to be there – maybe it’s a guy thing. Also, everything always involved competition and bragging rights, so it was important to win these races.

 

One evening the event was announced, and they all enthusiastically stripped down and raced out the door along the “course”. Among the distance squad everyone had their specialties. Some were better on hilly cross-country courses, some were 800 meter runners, some were great with racing tactics and a finishing kick. So these races really could be anyone’s – depending on the course. But tonight was Dan’s night. He took the lead from the start and held on. He weaved through the student ghetto along the prescribed course, feeling the rest of the pack fall behind. But suddenly he felt a little too alone. He stopped and looked back. There was no pack behind him. He was standing all alone, naked except for racing shoes, in the middle of the student neighbourhood. That was when he heard a girl’s voice from a house right beside him: “Hey! That’s Dan Michaluk!” It was a house party. They all turned to take in the sight of the lone naked man in the middle of the street. He could do nothing but turn and run away into the night, mooning them the whole way.

 

To this day Dan swears that he got the course right and everyone else cheated because he was winning. The other guys say he took a wrong turn. I don’t think we’ll ever know. We’ll just have the memory of that image seared in our brains.

 

Maybe unsurprisingly there are many more Naked Run stories. I don’t think the guys ever really learned. Anyway, hopefully that’s a smile for the day for you. I’d love to hear other peoples’ funny running stories!

Here are some workout options for this week:

 

  1. 2 sets of 5min-4min-3min with 1:30 rest and 4 btw sets             Plus 4-5 strides
  2. Run w lots of hills. Instead of just doing hill repeats, find a hilly route and throw in as many hills as you can. A good one is “threading” your way east or west in the Beach between Queen St and Kingston Rd. No need to worry about pace or timing – just get lots of great strength building hills in
  3. 2-3K w-up and c-dn with 8-10 x 100m strides (I think one or two ppl did this last week – if not it’s still on the menu for you)
  4. Tempo: 3 x 8 min w 2 min easy

 

Have fun!

 

Seanna

 

April 21, 2020 – Runners’ Mental Tricks

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Hi Everyone!

 

Hope you’re all doing well. First up a shout-out to those who had trained for Boston which would have been yesterday. It must have been hard to see the day come and go, but must have also felt good to be a part of a unique community making a sacrifice for the greater good. Also, we’re almost ready to start working towards early fall marathon goals, and if I know runners, one thing we’re good at is dusting ourselves off and heading after a new goal! Also shout out and congrats to Andrew McKay who ran 50km on Monday as part of his 100 mile week challenge – Go Andrew!

 

I’ve been thinking about how we as runners are actually quite mentally well-prepared for what we’re going through because of all the training we’ve done. Here are some things I feel we’re uniquely good at because we’re runners:

 

  • The ability to work and make sacrifices now for longterm goals months down the road. We’re used to doing a lot of schedule juggling, sleep-in sacrifices and hard efforts in uncomfortable conditions for goals that are months away. We’re ok with putting our heads down and working towards something even though we don’t see daily or even weekly results. We can keep getting up for something that is months away. I would say that is a superpower right now.

 

  •  The ability to deal with disappointments and setbacks when we don’t achieve the goals which we’d made those sacrifices and worked hard for. If you’ve trained for and raced two or more races in your life, I can guarantee you’ve had to face not achieving a goal. I know we’ve all been working towards various goals, professional, educational, athletic, whatever, and many of them have been put on hold, or we’ve slid backwards. But I know that as athletes this is not the first time we’ve experienced this, and we know we’ll bounce back.

 

  • Being able to put one foot in front of the other and have faith that we’ll lock into a rhythm that will get us were we’re trying to go – even when we can’t see the finish line. How many times have you set out on a long run or workout or race and thought “I can’t even imagine getting to where I want – it’s so far away”. But we’ve learned how to not let ourselves get overwhelmed, to run the mile we’re in and know that the little pieces will eventually get us there. This is one thing to read about and understand, but an entirely different lesson when you actually live and experience it. We KNOW we can do this because we’ve done it before.

 

  • The skill of talking to ourselves positively during rough patches, even when we’re not sure we believe the positivity. You know those cheesy mantras we say to ourselves when things get rough in a race? Like “you’re so strong”, “you can totally do this” – because we’re told they work (and I really think they do)? Am I the only one who says them to myself during other times, not just races now?  We’ve learned how to drown out our inner voices of doubt and negativity and that is a skill we can lean on now as well. Force it until it becomes true.

 

  • The ability to find joy and pleasure in hard things. I mean, this is what we DO. Not that we seek out every hard thing we have to deal with, but we are able to avoid self-pity and to dig in and find humour and even enjoyment in the struggle (I truly believe that anyone who survived Boston 2018 came away with a deep understanding of this – but really any long, hard workout or race will teach this). Things are more challenging now than usual, but that doesn’t mean we can’t laugh and seek out joy. We’re good at that.

 

So there – another reason to be grateful we’re runners and learning lessons we never set out to learn but which are serving us well in these uncertain times.

 

Workout options for this week:

 

  1. 2×6 min with 2 rest; 4 min rest; 3-4 x 3 min w 1:30 rest plus 4-5 strides
  2.  Just strides – 8-10 x 100m w full recovery – 2-3K w-up and c-dn. This is so you actually do your strides, in case you’re like me and leave them as an afterthought and then never do them.
  3. Tempo: 15-18min tempo
  4. Short Riverdale hills w push-ups at the bottom and squats at the top (unfortunately, from experience these never seem to get easier, but a great butt/strength/power workout!)

 

That’s all for now – see you out there!

 

Seanna

 

April 14, 2020 – I wonder if I could …

/in /by

Hey Guys!

 

Wow, I really do miss you all and running with a group. Or with anyone at all! But I’m so glad to remain connected to many of you, whether through chats, waving on the trails as we pass, social media, etc… And what I’ve been seeing really inspires me and makes me happy. What it is is this: we’re all doing what we’re doing for the pure love of it. There are no medals or rewards or even accolades. We’re just quietly setting our own goals and expectations and we alone are the judges as to whether we gave an honest effort.

 

I’m sure most of us started out running this way. I know I definitely did. Then someone threw a race in front of us, and people cheered, and people posted, and our times became official, and we saw others doing the same things, and we judged and were judged. It is very hard to get away from all of that. But now we’re back to plugging away for our own intrinsic reasons, and it feels so pure. We are answering that quiet voice in our heads that asks, “I wonder if I could … ” with “I want to try”.

 

I see people in this group going after their own personal challenges. We have people who are seeing how many days in a row they can run, we have people quietly setting out and racing their own private 30K’s, we have people who are challenging themselves to run an Ultra (100 miles) over 7 days, we have people doing up to 400 push-ups a day, and that’s just what I know of. None of these things are in lights and they’re for no-one but the person doing them. There will be no official times nor anyone to compare themselves to. They just want to challenge themselves to do something which they’re not sure they’re capable of – but they want to try.

 

Two of us have kids who independently decided they wanted to try to take 100,000 footsteps in a day. They set out, and tried, because it seemed hard and they wanted to see if it was possible. They both made it 60% of the way there. There were of course no big accolades or friends to tell or medals at the end. They weren’t expecting any of that. There was a satisfied feeling of exhaustion and of having tried their hardest at challenging themselves. It was, “I wonder if I could …  I want to try”.

 

I love that we’re all free to listen to that voice again. Whatever you do now won’t be documented and no one cares but you. But that’s the most important person. I think we should all remember this feeling once the flood gates of races and times and pb’s and views and accolades and training for all of that open up again. This is a unique moment in time. Let’s appreciate it.

 

Here are some workout options for this week (remember – pick and choose, or go rogue and do your own thing!)

 

  • Pottery Road Hills (any combination of full and half hills)
  • Riverdale Hills (I loved the workout with 10 x squats at the top and 10 x push-ups at the bottom)
  • 4-6 x 4 min Hard w 2 min Easy
  • 25-30 min progressive tempo (start 10-15 seconds slower per km than usual tempo and gradually pick it up towards the end)

 

Enjoy and hope to see you out there!

 

Seanna