Feb 4, 2020 – Womens’ Moment
Hey Gang!
I thought I would just launch in by mentioning how cool it is that women are having a “moment” right now in running and it feels so great to be a part of it. At first I thought it was just Canadian women and then I thought it was Masters women, but really it seems that women of all ages and all nationalities are kind of killing it right now, and we all seem to be thriving with each new success and breakthrough.
A few recent notes: a new Canadian women’s marathon record was recently set by Malindi Elmore (39 and mother of two) in a time of 2:24:50. For the first time in a long time we have more women who have qualified for the Olympic marathon than we can send. The Canadian women’s half marathon record has been broken three times in the last seven weeks – the latest being set by Andrea Seccafian in 1:09:38. I’m still catching my breath from watching Gabriella Stafford rewrite the record books in Canadian running (7 records in one year), finishing with the 1500 (3:59:59) and 5000 (14:44), and then last weekend her younger sister Lucia just broke her U23 1500 record with a 4:10:22!
A similar scene is unfolding in the US where 511 women have qualified for the marathon Olympic trials up from 198 in 2016. (the number of men who qualified increased slightly from 211 to 260, so it’s not just the shoes).
A few in our group have shared this NYTimes opinion piece making the rounds and it really resonates.
A quote of note: “Athletes have connected with one another more than ever before, in teams or online, sharing our training and sweeping each other along with each successful race. It’s a new model of competitive female leadership: We’re seeing each other win and challenging ourselves to keep up.”
I love that we’re breaking down barriers of what we should or can do. I love being surrounded by successful (many definitions of this), confident, supportive women who make me want to be better. And I love that we all seem to be doing it in a way that says “come with me!”
Men, not to leave you out: Come with us! There is always room at our running table and we love running with you too😊
Ok, for tomorrow:
Some of us did speed on Monday (and last week was short and speedy) so for this one we’ll do a bit longer and tempo paced.
2miles, 1.5 miles, 1 mile
or if you prefer: 4 laps, 3 laps, 2 laps
all with 2 mins rest (can jog around easy here bc shouldn’t be grasping knees speed)
So yes, this is 7.2km of work. More than usual you’ll notice. What this means: Reign it in! This is to be your tempo pace. That’s somewhere between half marathon and 10K pace. If you can gradually pick it up as the intervals progress, try to do that.
Those of us tapering for a half marathon this weekend, this is the taper workout option (others can do this too if you prefer – do what feels like the most fun for you):
2 x 800 @ race pace w 90 sec rest
2 min rest
4 x 400 slightly faster w 90 sec rest
See you guys in the a.m.!
Seanna