Love Letters to My Crew – Page 2

Tuesday, November 5, 2024 – Look up!

November 26, 2024/in Love Letters 2024/by RWadmin

Hi Everyone!

Happy Daylight Savings. This really works in the favour of morning runners. I for one really appreciate the earlier sunlight! Congrats to Meagan who came 3^rd in a 25K trail run! Way to take advantage of the season.

Speaking of which, I’m putting on my “mom” hat now and telling you all to LOOK AT THE TREES – THEY’RE BEAUTIFUL!!! Runners are very good at adapting and making the best of our conditions. We run through intense heat and humidity, and in the icy, cold arctic blasting wind and snow. We shed layers and buy hydration flasks and slow our paces, or learn to wear many layers and cover our faces with Vaseline and wrap ourselves with lights and fluorescent clothing so we can be seen in the dark. This is just part of what we do and after one or two grumbles we are usually able to cheerfully get on with it. But right now. THIS weather is made for running. The trees are at their peak (maybe just past, but there are still some stunning colours), the weather is perfect (it does keep see-sawing, but passes by perfect every few days), and we have the sun and light and visibility to enjoy it all.

We can sometimes take our training very seriously and our runs are all business, or life and other stresses fill our brains and we get into automatic pilot mode and just want to check the run off our lists. This is just a reminder to look up. Enjoy this. We love this. We get to do this. I’ve mentioned this before, but I think what defines us as athletes is that we experience the world by physically interacting with it. We don’t just look at it, we go and BE in it. And if there is ever a time to enjoy and appreciate breathing and moving and sweating and seeing and hearing and smelling all at once – it is now. Go have fun!!!

On to tomorrow’s workout: Lakeshore and Leslie – 6:05 drills, 6:15 GO!

Cut-downs! 1.5 mile tempo (2-3 min rest), 1 mile faster (2 min rest), 800 faster (1:30 rest), 600 faster (1:15 rest), 400 faster

2-3 min rest, then 1 mile @ choice (MP, tempo or 10K pace – depends who you are and how you’re feeling – I’ll be there to talk it out)

See you in the a.m.!

xo

Seanna

Tuesday, October 29, 2024 – Belief

November 26, 2024/in Love Letters 2024/by RWadmin

Hi Everyone!

Huge congrats to Mike Greenberg who competed at the Ironman World Championships in Kona Hawaii!!! Mike had an awesome swim and bike but was hampered in the run by an injury. So awesome to be there and go for it! And congrats to Cheryl, Karen and Adam (and Seb) who all ran the Day of the Dead 9K (Cheryl in full costume) and came 6^th, 3^rd and 2^nd in their age groups respectively! Way to go crew.

I had an experience this past weekend which made me appreciate the value of belief. I had written an ambitious workout for myself and a crew I’m training. I’d never done this workout before, and wasn’t sure how it would feel or whether it was possible. So I gave us a range. It turned out I had to do it later than most because of other commitments, but I could see their updates coming in, and could see that they’d all nailed it. So when it was my turn, I knew it was possible. Halfway through the workout I had serious doubts, and wondered if it was too much, but then I thought about my teammates and that gave me not only the confidence, but the belief that it was do-able.

I had the realization that if no one had gone before me, I would have had way more questions and doubts. I think this is one key as to why performances and records keep getting broken. So much of what we are capable of doing is limited or unblocked by what we believe we are capable of. I think this is the reason we see teams or training partners getting faster together. I also think it’s a super power for twins (I know a large number of twins who mostly happen to be very good athletes). You see one doing something and you KNOW you are capable of the same. And each person is pulled up to the other one’s best day.

We have witnessed a large number of running world records go down in the last little while. The women’s marathon record was shattered in Chicago, and the men’s half marathon record was just broken this past weekend in Valencia. There might be a number of reasons as to why and how these athletes are running so fast now, but one big one is that they believe they can. And every time a mark is set, everyone else learns that it is possible.

This doesn’t mean we should expect ourselves to be able to replicate other peoples’ marks or feats. That is not how to train or to live. But when someone leads the way or breaks a barrier, it can help remove the barrier in front of us as well. I am so grateful for all those who go before me and show me what is possible. It is risky, and doesn’t always pan out, but when it does, we all win.

On to tomorrow’s workout! Lakeshore and Leslie – 6:05 Drills, 6:15 GO!

Let’s do some straight up miles. 4-5 of them with 90 sec rest. Let’s start at tempo for the first one and work them down if feeling good.

If your pace for these is over 5 min/km, consider doing 1200’s instead. Otherwise you will be running a lot more time at that effort. I will bring a cone.

That is all – see you in the am!

xo

Seanna

Tuesday, October 22, 2024 – The Marathon

November 26, 2024/in Love Letters 2024/by RWadmin

Hi Everyone!

Wow, what a weekend. Such a whirlwind and so much to say. I’ll start with kudos. On Saturday there was the TCS 5K where Monica crushed the 19 minute barrier coming through in 18:45! Then on Sunday was the Half Marathon and Marathon. In the half, Graeme Ozburn came 4^th in his age group and Nir also ran a very quick race. In the Marathon we had Colette, Michelle, Jason (BQ!) and Chris (BQ and PB!) who all made us so proud through their own battles and victories.

I came across a beautiful piece of writing by writer and runner Peter Bromka. I will share an excerpt here as he puts it better than I could and captures it perfectly:

Welcome to the unraveling

The culmination of a marathon is fast paced protracted distress.

If done correctly you’ll arrive at the final miles barely able to face the harsh task that you’ve assigned yourself.

But there is beauty in your breakdown.

The feeling that something is terribly wrong? It means you’re doing it right. This is your moment of full extension. Pushing this hard for this long is what makes marathoning memorable. These intense solo efforts bind us together.

The sport is self-imposed suffering. Seeking discomfort to illuminate our humanity.

Even the Finish doesn’t owe you anything

Why do we do this?

To feel something. To move ourselves, to ensure that we don’t get stuck.

And most of all, we do this to be a part of something.

To insert our individual effort into a sea of human energy and force out the other side, hopeful that somehow we’ll be different. Changed in some way.

The point is the inconvenience. The delay without the guarantee of gratification. It’s structuring your weeks, months and years around something beyond daily life.

Racing 26.2 miles will break you. And that’s the point. To see where you stand when you are exposed.

This is you today.

And just like that, it’s over.

Turns out it wasn’t the distance, or the time. The two were simply tools you used to find something in yourself.

On the Richter scale of life there may not be many quakes as large as weddings, births or deaths, but we endeavor to feel something so indelibly that it won’t wash away as the waves of time crash against our memory.

Maybe that’s why we cry at marathon finish lines. Not for good or for bad, but for the honesty of the moment as we stand on that day.

The marathon doesn’t owe you anything, which makes it the perfect vessel in which to pour your everything.

To read the entire piece, click here:

https://bromka.medium.com/the-marathon-doesnt-owe-you-anything-904b4ae73993

On to tomorrow’s workout!

Hills! Let’s repeat what we did last week w the 2 x full (400m) and 6 min @ MRP. 3 sets sounds about right. CIM people, this might be the last true hill wrkt. TBD. Still good to get the hill strength in there for now though and it complements the tempo/ long we’re doing this weekend. Boston people – there are never enough hills for you. Haha.

That is all – have a great one everyone and see some of you in the am!

xo

Seanna