Love Letters to My Crew

Feb 23, 2021 – Dreams

March 2, 2021/in Love Letters 2021/by RWadmin

Hi Everyone!

This week I’ve been reflecting on this time of year in general. February usually brings some of the coldest days of the year, and by now the snow and slush and freezing winds might no longer a novel challenge that we might enjoy leaning into a little, but more of a steady chipping away at our good humour.

This happens around this time every year. But we know we’re just a few weeks away from that first unseasonably warm day which gets us all out and … what? That is my problem this year. Sure, I’m looking forward to warmer temps, but I don’t have glorious visions of big goals or fun vacations. I’m not being pulled along through February by dreams and plans. Don’t get me wrong – I enjoy my ‘process’ and I’m generally fine with taking one day at a time, but man … dreams are pretty fun.

One of the things that makes humans unique is our ability to project into the future and visualize and plan. (Of course this is a double-edged sword as it also sometimes comes with the side-effect of anxiety and dread.) We are constant story tellers. Our brains tell us a story about what is likely to happen, and then we are stuck with that version of events until reality proves us either right or wrong. As a side note, humans are phenomenally bad at predicting the actual future. So we are constantly living in a made-up world that we assume is going to happen. Very few of us live in the actual present unless you’re very good at mindfulness (a topic for another post!)

So back to February. I realize I’ve allowed my projected future reality to go gray. I’m not tethered to a dream. I’ve found myself not really excited about anything right now. But why can’t I make something up? Who cares how realistic these dreams are? It doesn’t matter whether they come true or not. At least my dreams can pull me through February and maybe even March. I think I just have to get a little more creative with my dreams. True, most races are not happening this spring (there are still always virtual options of course but I find those have a bit of a dimmer switch on compared to the real things). And “April Break” will not involve ski slopes or beaches. But I’m sure I can come up with something that makes me happy and excited to look forward to. And maybe it’s not even running related. Maybe it’s a multi-day staged cycling or hiking trip or paddling adventure. Or maybe it’s a long-term dream that I can really get behind – like a 2 year race goal project. Really, it can be anything, but I do believe it should be something.

I find when I’m buoyed and excited by one thing, it translates into other areas of my life. And maybe most importantly, a dream necessitates hope. The future you’re living in in your head regains colour and is no longer so gray.

So that’s my challenge to myself and all of you too. If you’ve found yourself with the “blahs”, come up with a dream that you can picture, and allow it to pull you along – and I am open to suggestions!!!

On that note, if your dream involves running some fast times this summer or learning to race different distances, the Achilles 5K or 10K could be a good stepping stone!

If you’d like to join us, please let Monica know.

Workouts for this week:

Hills! We’re back on this week. Pottery, Balsam or Glen Manor seem to be the hills of choice these days. Any hill, any combo of long/short
Workout/tempo option: (tempo a little shorter this week as many are on a recovery week for ATB unless otherwise prescribed) – 6 min, 4 min, 3 min, 3 min, 4 x 1 min (2 min bw everything except 90 sec between 4 x 1)

That is all – have a great one everyone!

Seanna

Feb 16, 2021 – Pacing

March 2, 2021/in Love Letters 2021/by RWadmin

Hi Gang!

What I’ve been thinking about this week is pacing. Just the art of pacing in general. It’s a tough thing to nail. And your best pacing strategy really depends on the length of the thing you’re undertaking. When you don’t know the length, finding the right pace can be very difficult. Here are a few different pacing strategies:

Positive Split. This means starting faster than you finish. (some of us also call it the “fly and die”, but I find that a little less positive). Positive splits can actually be the best strategy in some events. In the 800m, most races are won and the world records are held with positive splits. In a shorter-type event like that, it is advantageous to start hard and hold on as long as you can because there is not a lot of room to pick up the pace when you’re running at these effort levels and the price if you get it wrong isn’t too great.

Negative Split. This means finishing the second half faster than the first. This pacing strategy is advantageous in longer events. When you are not completely certain of your energy reserves, it is not smart to expend a huge amount at the start because the fallout if you get it wrong is way bigger (witness: the bonk in the marathon). Finishing faster also gives you a psychological boost and knowing the finish line is close allows you to go right to the end of your reserves as you finish – so finishing faster is how most longer races and hard efforts play out.

Even Split. This pacing strategy is what many people aim for, but is very hard to achieve – especially if you are aiming for your best effort. It’s easy to nail if you’re going easy, but if you’re really trying your hardest, pacing anything perfectly is almost impossible. It does however tend to lead to the best results in “fabricated or artificial” scenarios. On the track world records are now being broken by athletes using pace light technology. They follow the flashing lights on the track which are set perfectly and evenly to world record pace (world records which were not set using this strategy).

Variable Pacing. This pacing strategy is what most people use when trying their hardest and achieving their best results in real life scenarios. In the 5K, most world records are set with the first and last kilometer being the fastest, and the middle three being a little slower. In the marathon or ultra-endurance events, there are dips and surges in pace as athletes settle into a rhythm or feel good and push a bit. It is a pacing strategy that adapts to the environment and competitors around you.

I thought this was interesting when looking at how we’ve paced ourselves through this pandemic – now that we’re almost a year in. Some of us started at a furious pace that was hard to maintain – with things like colour coded daily schedules for our kids detailed down to 15 minute increments, or starting running streaks or mileage challenges. This was a good idea when we thought we might be running an 800m race. I think we’ve realized we’re beyond that. But it doesn’t have to be a total “fly and die”. We can vary up the pace as we see fit. This doesn’t mean we’re stopping – we’re still racing – it just means that sometimes we can settle in, catch our breath, find an easier rhythm, and then pick it up again when we’re feeling good. Maybe a day (or a week!) where everyone stays in pajamas and you eat more takeout and watch more Netflix than you’d planned is ok. Are you safe and healthy and doing your part? Yes. Then you’re still running the race. And maybe the next week you’ll nail all your workouts, bake bread and teach Italian to the kids. Good for you – you’re winning! But let’s hope you didn’t start your kick too far out. Rigging in the last 100m is a very painful way to go 😉

On that note! Everyone who is interested in doing the Achilles 5K or 10K Challenge – please let Monica know so that she can create teams. Chris, Monica and I have come up with a challenge for this.

Estimate your goal finish time.
Make your first kilometer and last kilometer as similar as possible.

The winning teams will be comprised of people who have the lowest spread between first and last kilometer within range of their goal time (so you can’t just dog it to make them perfect – thank Chris for that little addition!) – exact algorithm TBD.

From the website: “Registration fees go toward providing much needed support to athletes with various disabilities so that they have the opportunity to enjoy the physical, psychological, and communal benefits of running. Visit the Achilles web site to learn more about how we support these deserving athletes.”

Race day is March 14^th – 4 weeks away! (the team challenge is just for us – it’s not an official Achilles thing)

Workouts for this week: (and if the footing is bad, just go by effort and/or take a week off and save it for a tempo on the weekend – it won’t kill you!)

7-9 x 600 with 1:30 rest at about 20 sec per K faster than tempo
If doing it fartlek style (or on the bike or other x-training): 7-9 x 2 min Hard, 1:30 Easy
Tempo: 2 x 20 min w 3 min easy (this is getting longer for ATB peeps – temper the pace here – go around 5 sec per km slower than usual – it’s calousing you for being able to focus for that length of time and you’ve been building to it – you can do it!)

Have fun all – and pace yourselves accordingly!

Seanna

Feb 9, 2021 – Your Body

March 2, 2021/in Love Letters 2021/by RWadmin

Hi Everyone!

What I’ve been thinking about this week is about our bodies. And how amazing and incredible they are. I am reading a book called The Body, by Bill Bryson, so yes, this has influenced my thinking. But it is worth pausing to reflect on how amazing and awe inspiring our bodies are in all that they do for us.

I know it’s easy to get disappointed with our bodies when we feel they’re letting us down. They may not run as fast as we’d like, they get fatigued, they break down and get injured, they get sick. This is true. But don’t get down on your body – it is on your side and doing an incredible job and fighting for your well-being every single second.

Millions of years of evolution have led to some of the most complex processes some of which still aren’t fully understood by modern science. Here is an example of a wonderous design that we might take for granted: the circulatory system. Every single second of every single day for your entire life, your heart is hard at work moving blood around to every organ and muscle in your body. It moves over 6,500 litres of blood a day (!) and makes sure that every part of your body gets the required amount – whether you are sitting down or running hard intervals. One of the many things your heart pushes around is red blood cells. These are perfectly evolved cells which work tirelessly in service for you, transporting oxygen from your lungs to your working cells. Science has not been able to make artificial blood because no other system has been found with the precision of a red blood cell to pick up oxygen, and not drop any until it reaches its intended destination. Your red blood cells zoom around your body every second of every day (about 150, 000 round trips, or a life of 4 months) at which point they have served their purpose for you, become too battered to go on, and are scavenged up by other cells.

Another example of your awe inspiring body is your immune system. You come complete with a full army of different types of cells which are ready to jump into action and sacrifice themselves all in the name of keeping pathogens out and you healthy. They are often referred to as security guards and an attack force, and that is in fact how they function when they sense you are being invaded. They are also incredibly smart. This is why vaccines work. They learn from one encounter to the next, and can rally and mount an immediate defense against something they’ve seen before. These little guys are working for you all day and every day. There are thousands of microbes and pathogens constantly trying to attack our bodies. It is said that the wonder isn’t that we get sick, but that we don’t get sick more often.

This is not even to mention the structure of your body, and how you evolved a skeletal system and muscular system that allows you to do so many things that you take for granted. Every upright footstep is actually a wonder of balance, coordination, free-falling and landing, all formed to help support our brains and occupied hands. Not to mention, even though we don’t generally think of the human species as great athletes compared to other animals, we actually are the best equipped endurance land mammal around with highly perfected systems of movement, cooling and energy delivery.

Just reflect on a few of these amazing things about your body. It is such an ally and is constantly working to help you out. It was designed to keep you alive and it will do everything it can to that end. So if it’s a bit tired or sore or injured, and you start to feel yourself getting down on it, just remember that it is a remarkable intricate system and it’s doing a lot of hard work behind the scenes that you take for granted and should probably thank it for.

On that note, onto workouts for this week!

2×1600 at 10K pace with 2 rest, 2 x 800 at 5K pace w 1:30 rest, 2 x 400 faster w 1 rest (3 min bw sets) (I warned you this one might resurface)
Fartlek style: 2 x 6 min w 2 min easy, 2 x 3 min w 1:30 easy, 2 x 1:30 w 1 min easy, 3 min bw sets
If you did the above last week, Hills for you!
Tempo 1: (longer option) – 2 x 18 min, 1 x 4 min w 3 min rec
Tempo 2: (shorter option) – 2 x 10 min, 1 x 5 min w 3 min rec

Have a good one everyone!

Seanna