Love Letters to My Crew

Your watch is not so smart

March 21, 2023/in Love Letters 2023/by RWadmin

Hi Gang!

Happy Valentine’s Day! Hope you all get to spend some time doing something you love with someone you love. If you really can’t manage that today, try to do it tomorrow or the next day. It’s a good habit to get into.

I’ve been thinking a lot about tech and how it influences our running. I came of age in running first without even a watch (I would check the clock in the kitchen, then head out for a run, and if I remembered I’d check it again when I came back), and then throughout most of my running development, with a regular digital watch which just captured the time. It was up to me to figure out effort and guess on distance. It’s funny what they say: you pay attention to what you can measure. I could only “measure” perceived effort, so that is what I paid attention to.

Now of course, most of us wear GPS watches to monitor exact pace and heart rate in real time, and we can see what training others are doing on shared training apps. Our watches tell us whether our run was “productive” or “unproductive” and whether we’re gaining or losing fitness. Our apps track us all the time and measure us constantly against our “best ever” day or week. We can also see what other people are doing and feel inspired or a little badly about ourselves in comparison.

There are definitely some benefits to be had by having this level of knowledge. But I think we have to constantly fight against relying too much on it for feelings of self worth or even for telling us what to do and how hard to push. I often think: “who designed these things? Some nerd who loves data and tech and knows nothing about training”. Seriously. The best coaches of the best athletes in the world are still constantly tinkering and experimenting and coming up with the best formulas. Do we actually think the dude or dudette who programmed our watches knows more than our coaches or even than we know ourselves? If so, we’re giving them way too much power over us. Similarly with the training apps. They are designed to be addictive because they are there for profit. They are not designed to make anyone into a healthy or particularly fast athlete. They feed on social status and insecurity and a desire for approval.

It’s interesting that the more confident and seasoned runners I coach rely noticeably less on their tech than most. They are in tune with their bodies and trust what their sensations are telling them. When they are tired, they take a rest day. They supplement with cross-training when they need to and don’t worry about counting mileage. I coach some very fast/experienced international class middle distance runners who have all trained and competed at a high level. The other day, we were doing a track workout, and they were supposed to do their last 200m “Fast”. They were flying. I asked them what they ran and they all looked at each other. Did anyone get it? No – no one got it. They weren’t fussed. “It felt like 31. Probably 31” they agreed. They’re all in tune enough with their bodies and abilities to not worry too much about the data. (especially at this point in the season when their races are in the summer). They got the effect they needed and were confident in that.

If as a coach I could leave you all with one gift, it would be the gift of self-knowledge and trust in self-appraisal. There is ultimate freedom in that. Get to know yourselves as athletes – you will always always be smarter than your watch or device. I remember seeing a tweet after Kipchoge ran his most recent marathon world record in Berlin. It was two days later. The tweet was: “somewhere, in Iten, Kenya, Eliud Kipchoge’s watch just buzzed at him and said: Unproductive”. It’s funny because it’s true.

Tomorrow we’re back to hills! Pottery Rd. I’ll aim to be there at 6:10/6:15.

The workout: 2-3 x hill followed by 1K tempo. Try to get into the tempo segment with minimal rest (like regroup, cross the street, and go). Repeat up to 3 x’s.

If training for Boston or Toronto, don’t go too hard up, especially in the first sets, but a bit quicker on the downhills. By the final tempo section you’ll be running with a fair bit of downhill stress on your legs. That’s the point. ATB people and ppl training for flat marathons, steady up, easy down (we don’t have to focus too much on downhill stress and it’s playing with fire there bc downhills are muscularly and mechanically stressful!)

Beach ppl meet at Glen Manor and Queen at 6 a.m.

That is all – see you in the am!

Seanna

Managing your mindset

March 21, 2023/in Love Letters 2023/by RWadmin

Hi Everyone!

Huge congrats to Amanda Bugatto who ran the Donna Half Marathon in Florida over the weekend in a “training through” time of 1:40 for first in her age group! Way to represent and help put a spotlight on breast cancer and celebrate its survivorship. Wohoo!

I have teenagers living in my house. They’re mine. What a whirlwind. Sometimes it’s just storms I know we have to weather. And I feel badly for them and the emotional volatility which they seem to be subjected to and haven’t yet learned to manage. When they’re in a bad mood, the world is obviously against them and they become the victims of their own stories. I often think “just work on changing your mindset and everything will be SO much easier!” It’s a real magic trick once you realize that reality exists in your mind and you have a hand in shaping it. But these are things we have to learn through experience and time.

But once we know how to manage our own mindets, do we always do it? Sometimes it just feels easier and indulgent to succumb to the weather of our minds. I was thinking about this as I had a long run to do on a Monday morning. I have enjoyed long runs, and often look forward to them. But I wasn’t particularly excited about this one. I wouldn’t say I was dreading it, but I was tentative and giving myself some soft goals and “outs”. It’s still cold and icy, it would be dark, I’m not feeling super peppy, I have other commitments I need to get to and it doesn’t fit in perfectly… Then I thought, ok, I have a day to work on getting myself into a positive mindset and excited about this. So I went to work on that. I had a physically relaxing day in preparation, I ate lots of carbs, I bought my favourite gels, I read stories from runners who had passion and were working towards goals (currently reading Good for a Girl by Lauren Fleshman – highly recommend). I replayed in my mind what I love about long runs, being alone with my thoughts and the physical challenge of doing something I’m completely in control of. Instead of working on my grit and ability to just tough it out, I worked on changing my perspective so that I would look forward to it and get into it. And it worked. By the time I stepped out the door I was in a good mood and excited for the experience.

I’m not saying we should have to do this for every run – sometimes it feels indulgent to act like a teenager and drag your bad mood along with you. I’ve shown up for runs with my grumpy bad mood for sure. But just know you can change it if you want. Your first reaction to a situation or workout or challenge is not a given. Instead of focusing only on training our bodies to do what we want them to, it might serve us better to work on what’s going on upstairs. You have the ability to make it enjoyable and fun. Really, you do. You really don’t have to struggle through anything. Unless you want to. I think my teenager actually seems to enjoy it sometimes so I’m like “have at it – keep hitting yourself over the head with a hammer”. It’s hard to watch, but I guess it’s just a rite of growing up and learning.

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

Sets of 600-400-200 with 30 seconds bw reps, 2 minutes between sets. Up to 5. I think 6 will feel like too much. Let’s see. The idea here is “broken 1200’s”. If we were to do 1200’s straight up it would just mimic our tempos. We want to encourage a little more speed and pace by taking small breaks, but not turn it into a V02 max wrkt. So don’t treat these like stand alone 600’s, 400’s or 200’s. They should start at around 10K pace.

If getting into it and trying to encourage a faster pace and faster turnover (ppl not training for longer Spring races), same workout but longer rests and not as many reps. So 600-400-200 w 1:15 between reps, 2 min bw sets, and do 3-4 sets. Focus on fast turnover and good form.

If doing this by time: 2:30-1:30-30s at 10K pace w 30 sec easy in between. 2 mins, then repeat up to 5 times.

That is all – see you in the am!

Seanna

My shadow companion

March 21, 2023/in Love Letters 2023/by RWadmin

Hey Gang!

Ooh, it’s cold again. I guess we knew it would finally come back. It is basically February. There’s just one month of this. We can do it.

I’m training for a longer race, so have been doing longer runs, and so have had more time with my wandering thoughts. The thought occurred to me on one of my more recent runs, about who I bring along with me, sitting on my shoulder throughout my runs. When I was a teenager and in my early 20’s, trying to prove myself in competitions, it was always my competitors shadowing me. I could picture them out training too (I knew they were – somewhere), and I was always trying to run a bit faster or do one more rep, which I thought would give me the leg up. I wanted to do more than them, faster than them, so I could beat them. That was the whole point back then.

As I got older, and was no longer running for a team or points, it became the shadow of my old self sitting on my shoulder, accompanying me on my runs. What did I used to do? Can I still do that? Surely I’m tougher now than I was then. I was always trying to outrun or at least keep up with the past me, fearing any signs that I might be “getting weak” or slowing down. I could literally picture my younger self running beside me and would constantly try to stay one step ahead of her.

I’ve recently updated who I bring along on my shoulder. Now it’s an unknown to me woman of similar age and life circumstances, doing the same thing. She’s a companion, not a competitor. She’s doing her best and wants me to do my best as well. I think about her when I’m doing an early morning long run in the cold, or a hard workout, trying to keep up. She’s not superhuman. I don’t have to beat her. She’s just out there doing the same thing somewhere. She’s getting older at the same rate, and also has good days and bad days. But she always seems to be out every time I have a run to do. I could easily bump into her on a race start line somewhere. And we’ll both try our hardest, and probably neither of us will get a PB, but we’ll both will wish the best for each other.

This is my favourite companion shadow. She motivates me in a good way. I’m not scared I won’t live up to her standard or achieve what she is. She wants me to come along with her and push her too. And maybe I’m even on her shoulder for her runs – I hope so.

On to tomorrow’s workout – bundle up – you can always shed some layers. Lakeshore and Leslie – 6:05 drills, 6:15 Go Time!

2 x 800 @ tempo w 1:15

2 x 800 @ 10K w 1:30

2 x 800 @ 5K w 1:45

2 x 800 @ tempo w 1:30

We are working on pacing here. This is a skill and something we can train our bodies to learn. Running faster as you fatigue is a good habit to wire into your body and brain. And then finishing with some tempo is just good for toughness and fitness. You can plug in your paces beforehand or go by feel, but take note of the times you run so you can record them and look at them later.

If training for shorter distances and/or trying to dial in faster paces:

2 x 800 @ tempo w 1:15

4 x 400 @5K w 1:15

1:30 rest

2 x 400 a little quicker w 1:30

If doing the workouts by time:

2 x 3 min @ Tempo w 1:15, 2 x 3 min @ 10K w 1:30, 2 x 3 min @ 5K w 1:45, 2 x 3 min @ tempo w 1:30

2 x 3 min @ Tempo w 1:15, 4 x 1:15 Fast w 1:15 rest, 2 x 1:15 a little faster w 1:30 rest

That’s all folks – see you in the am!

Seanna