Running in a new place

Hi Everyone!

First up, huge congrats to Cindy who raced the Gatineau Loppet 50K skate ski race and came third in her age group in 3:38! I only mention the time to appreciate how long she was racing for. It was fast too.

I am traveling this week, so I won’t see you guys for runs or workouts. When I’m traveling I think about how grateful I am that I’m a runner because it really allows you to explore and feel part of a place when you move through it under your own power and can observe everything at a very digestible pace. When I arrive at a new place I feel like an outsider (I am), but running through and around a new place allows me to feel comfortable and familiar. I can bring my confidence in my physical movement to my perspective and understanding of a place. Usually when I run, I’m not going to where the crowded tourists are, and I see everything at a different time and different perspective on my own. I am outside of the scenes and places I run by – people waking up and walking to a coffee shop, surfers out catching waves, shops and restaurants opening up, people going to work and doing chores – but within them. I’m not expected to interact with anything other than with a smile and a wave (thank goodness because no one where I am speaks English and I forgot to learn Spanish before I came!)

But also when I’m running and traveling, I bring all of my running buddies with me. I remember when I traveled solo after my second year of university, and every single run I did I pictured my teammates doing something similar elsewhere. I still do that. It’s comforting. So welcome to Chile everyone! Hope you enjoy your runs with me in my head ‘cause I’m bringing you along. Not sure how far we’ll make it on our “long” run, but we’ll get something in. And my goodness I’ll miss your energy tomorrow morning for workout, but I will be channeling as much of it as I can.

Here’s the workout for tomorrow – meet at Lakeshore and Leslie as usual: 6:05 Drills (Kerry, can you please lead those?) and 6:15 Go time. (Also can someone who knows pls mark the 400 mark? Or just guess – it all shakes out)

1 mile tempo. 2 min rest

4 x 400 w 1 min rest (5K pace)

2 min rest

4 x 400 w 1:15 rest (a touch faster)

2 min rest

1 mile tempo

If training for 5K’s, 10K’s and practicing running at a faster pace, do the same but without the last mile tempo.

If going by time: 6 min tempo, 2 min easy, 4 x 1:30 on, 1 min off, 2 min easy, 4 x 1:30 on, 1:15 off, 2 min easy, 6 min tempo

The reasoning behind this workout: many of us are in the thick of long runs and bigger tempos. It’s important to access other (faster) paces as well. This complements the other work we’re doing. Training for long races does not make you into a slower runner. Never doing faster stuff makes you into a slower runner.

Have fun all!

Seanna