Hi Everyone!

I was recently reminded of a great Buddhist proverb. A monk worked his whole life to achieve enlightenment. When he finally attained it he was asked how he did it. He replied, “Chop wood, carry water”. Then he was asked what he would do now that he had attained enlightenment. He replied, “Chop wood, carry water”.

Obviously I brought this back to running 😉 Let’s pretend what we’re seeking, instead of enlightenment, is a goal race or time. That’s fine – sometimes we have one and sometimes we don’t. But the point is, don’t expect anything to fundamentally change in you or what you do once you reach your goal. We’re not striving now so we can rest later. We’re doing what we love to do and if we get a great race time in the process, fantastic. It won’t change what we’re doing though. Now is a perfect time to find out how you love to run, without an external race goal influencing you.

I’m reminded of the summer of 1996 when I was 21 and living in a tent and working in a bookstore in Dawson City, Yukon. I ran pretty much every day and loved it so much. I could run at 10 or 11pm along remote northern highways and have as much sunlight as if I was running at 10 or 11am. I basically had two route options: one along the Top of the World Highway towards Alaska, and another 7km straight up a hill called The Midnight Dome. I’d alternate between these two routes and never got bored. I remember really falling in love with running there – there were no gps watches or strava or cell phones or even the internet – running was a very solitary and personal endeavour. On my runs up the Dome I had to stop often to rest my legs and catch my breath. I made it a personal goal to run all the way to the top without stopping by the end of the summer. I remember the joy and sense of achievement I felt when I first did it. I was so happy. There was not a soul to tell but it didn’t matter. I stopped at the top, took it all in, and jogged the 7km back to my tent.

Well, as fate would have it, I discovered that a few weeks after my first ascent they were holding the annual Midnight Dome Race. Runners came in from all around (well, mostly Whitehorse) to see who could make it to the top first. I quietly realized that I had been inadvertently “training” for this race for a couple of months. So I paid my $15 and entered the race. Imagine my surprise when about 2/3 of the way up a car with a CBC reporter from Whitehorse leaned out with a microphone to tell me I had a huge lead and how did it feel to be the likely women’s winner. I don’t think I said much since I was gasping for air, but I did make it to the top first. I won a meal in a restaurant, a night in a hotel and tickets to Diamond Tooth Gerty’s cabaret – all expensive tourist things which were huge luxuries for the “dirty hippies across the river”. I remember my main takeaway being that the race was a funny lark and a totally random coincidence. My hippie tent friends who saw me running all the time (and rarely showering) laughed about it with me. It was like we’d pulled one over on “the man” – winning the prizes for a race I didn’t really care about. That hadn’t been why I was trying to run up the Dome. And I don’t remember the experiences of the prizes as much as the feeling of when I first made it up without stopping. I also continued to run up the Dome (on tougher days still stopping for breaks) – and still relished the challenge and accomplishment every time.

I think I sometimes forget that feeling. Of being the outsider, and doing what I do because that’s just what I like to do. If you want to train hard, train hard. If you want to run up a hill, do that. If you want to run on trails, that’s what you should do. If a race pops up, sure, jump in. Maybe it’ll be what you were training for. Maybe not. But after it you’re going to go back to chopping wood and carrying water, because that’s the whole point.

Workout options for this week:

1. 5-8x 1K with 2 rest at 25 sec per K faster than tempo pace (if doing these on the Lakeshore path do 800’s instead – logistics work better)
2. Short Riverdale hills w push-ups at the bottom and squats at the top (can we sort of cheat and make these count for Kerry’s daily challenge??)
3. Tempo – 30 mins straight up – start of 5-10sec per km slower and if you can gradually increase pace

Don’t forget to adjust your pace and expectations as you adjust to the heat! It’s harder when it’s hot – especially at first. It’s ok – there’s a fitness boost that comes with that, but just expect it to feel harder for the paces you’re running.

Thanks guys – hope to see some of you out there at some point!!

Seanna

Hey Everyone!

Well, here we are – week 9-ish of isolation. What I’ve found with running is that I’ve found new routines and rhythms that work for me. I miss the social time, and I miss running with others who push me, and I’ll be honest: I miss having something to train for. But what is it that we like about having something to train for? It’s an external goal which can somehow justify our training and give us a purpose and reason to do what we know we already want to do. And it’s validated and lauded by other people. But I think it can mask and take away from much of what is beautiful and meaningful about running.

Now that I think about it, I think that would be the definition I’d have of someone as being a “runner”. You’re not a runner if you’ve gone out and run a certain distance in a certain time. You’re a runner if you “get it”. If you can find some sort of meaning and purpose in the act of running itself – no matter the distance or pace. And that is what we are doing and learning to do right now.

Some runs are hard and challenging, and we have to look inside ourselves and repeatedly answer the question “why”. I think continuing on is answer enough, and gives us a deeper understanding of ourselves. There is a lot of purpose and beauty to the inner dialogues and confrontations we have with ourselves.

Then there are those runs where it all just clicks and your legs start turning over easily, and you feel like you just want to lean into the pace and keep going for as long as you can. You are strong and in control and feel at one with your body and your surroundings. These runs only happen if you don’t have to think too much – you’re not holding yourself back so you can recover better or do a hard effort tomorrow, and you’re not trying to force a race pace that isn’t coming easily. You’re just floating. There is a lot of purpose and meaning in these runs. In fact, I think this is what many people are striving for much of the time.

Races stand in as “reasons or purpose” but it is these moments of self reflection and bliss, when it’s just us alone out there, that it actually all becomes clear and makes sense.

Anyway, I’m finding more of those moments these days and I hope a lot of you are too. Instead of looking for a reason or purpose to train, go out and run and let the purpose come to you.

A friend and fellow coach (Kate Gustafson) recently sent out this quote from and article written about Joan Benoit Samuelson, and I really love it:

“Precisely which one [marathon] is a question. She’ll train, reach racing fitness and then look around, in the same way that you try not to promise jars of jam to friends until you’ve picked the berries.”

Joanie trained hard (and 90% of the time solo) – because she loved it and that was what she did. If it fit with a race, the race would be the icing. There were many thousands of dollars of appearance fees she turned down because those races didn’t fit her rhythm. The purpose was never the race. Definitely resonates these days.

Workout options for this week:

1. Pottery Rd hills if you didn’t do them last week or the week before
2. Riverdale hill sprints – add 5-6 of them after a regular run
3. 4 x 3 mins w 1:30 rest, 4 min rest, 4-6 x 1:30 w 1 min rest – 4-5 strides
4. (if doing the virtual relay, option to just do the 1:30 sections)

And all this said, a bunch of us are doing a fun “virtual race” – obviously not as a race but more to feel together in something. These events are definitely more like hard solo efforts than races, but I for one love the camaraderie of knowing I’m not out there alone. Monica has put together an awesome schedule. Here are our rosters and the details:

Below are the teams, goal times, and rules for the inaugural LES team virtual relay!  Remember, the winning team isn’t the fastest team…it’s the team that comes closest to their team goal time. And be sure to wear your LES gear, encourage your teammates, and post to social media!

The rules:

• Review the teams below – make sure we have your goal time listed correctly
• All legs to be completed solo between May 14-17
• Runners must follow provincial regulations and social distancing guidelines
• Goal is to come as close as possible to your goal race time
• Record your run via Garmin or Strava (honour system will also be accepted).
• You are encouraged to post to social media and tag @lower_east_siders
• Send your results to black_monica@hotmail.com or tag @monicafaithblack on Instagram
• Once all times have been collected, we will add cumulative times together to get the times for each team
• The winning team will be the team that comes CLOSEST TO THEIR TEAM GOAL TIME   
• Team 7 & 8 each have an extra participant so it will be a little harder for them to hit their team goal time, because of that, they will have a 10 second advantage that can be applied to their cumulative team time.
• The prize for the winning team… pride and bragging rights (and lots of virtual high-fives)!

Good luck and have fun everyone – hope to see you out there!

Seanna

Hi Everyone!

Hope you’re all enjoying the ever so gradually warming weather and managing to avoid the midge clouds as well as you can.

What I’ve been thinking about this week is the importance of humour and laughter and being able to keep things light. Not all the time, obviously, but recently I’ve noticed that when I have the opportunity to laugh, I have found myself really appreciating and feeling rejuvenated by it. Also laughter has been proven to be good for you immune system.

What does this have to do with running? Not a ton, other than a reminder to keep it light and not to take ourselves too seriously. I thought this would be a good time to share funny running stories. I couldn’t think of a good one for me, so with my husband Dan’s blessing, I will share one of his.

Back when Dan was on the Queen’s track/x-country teams, it was a thing among the guys that when they went drinking someone might randomly yell “NAKED RUN!” and then they all had to strip down into nothing but their racing flats and race a pre-determined route. They just enjoyed running fast and naked in a pack – maybe it was something deeply rooted in their DNA that harkened back to chasing prey on the savannah. Or maybe they were just celebrating being fit and fast and in their 20’s – I’m not sure why the naked part had to be there – maybe it’s a guy thing. Also, everything always involved competition and bragging rights, so it was important to win these races.

One evening the event was announced, and they all enthusiastically stripped down and raced out the door along the “course”. Among the distance squad everyone had their specialties. Some were better on hilly cross-country courses, some were 800 meter runners, some were great with racing tactics and a finishing kick. So these races really could be anyone’s – depending on the course. But tonight was Dan’s night. He took the lead from the start and held on. He weaved through the student ghetto along the prescribed course, feeling the rest of the pack fall behind. But suddenly he felt a little too alone. He stopped and looked back. There was no pack behind him. He was standing all alone, naked except for racing shoes, in the middle of the student neighbourhood. That was when he heard a girl’s voice from a house right beside him: “Hey! That’s Dan Michaluk!” It was a house party. They all turned to take in the sight of the lone naked man in the middle of the street. He could do nothing but turn and run away into the night, mooning them the whole way.

To this day Dan swears that he got the course right and everyone else cheated because he was winning. The other guys say he took a wrong turn. I don’t think we’ll ever know. We’ll just have the memory of that image seared in our brains.

Maybe unsurprisingly there are many more Naked Run stories. I don’t think the guys ever really learned. Anyway, hopefully that’s a smile for the day for you. I’d love to hear other peoples’ funny running stories!

Here are some workout options for this week:

1. 2 sets of 5min-4min-3min with 1:30 rest and 4 btw sets             Plus 4-5 strides
2. Run w lots of hills. Instead of just doing hill repeats, find a hilly route and throw in as many hills as you can. A good one is “threading” your way east or west in the Beach between Queen St and Kingston Rd. No need to worry about pace or timing – just get lots of great strength building hills in
3. 2-3K w-up and c-dn with 8-10 x 100m strides (I think one or two ppl did this last week – if not it’s still on the menu for you)
4. Tempo: 3 x 8 min w 2 min easy

Have fun!

Seanna

Hey Guys!

Wow, I really do miss you all and running with a group. Or with anyone at all! But I’m so glad to remain connected to many of you, whether through chats, waving on the trails as we pass, social media, etc… And what I’ve been seeing really inspires me and makes me happy. What it is is this: we’re all doing what we’re doing for the pure love of it. There are no medals or rewards or even accolades. We’re just quietly setting our own goals and expectations and we alone are the judges as to whether we gave an honest effort.

I’m sure most of us started out running this way. I know I definitely did. Then someone threw a race in front of us, and people cheered, and people posted, and our times became official, and we saw others doing the same things, and we judged and were judged. It is very hard to get away from all of that. But now we’re back to plugging away for our own intrinsic reasons, and it feels so pure. We are answering that quiet voice in our heads that asks, “I wonder if I could … ” with “I want to try”.

I see people in this group going after their own personal challenges. We have people who are seeing how many days in a row they can run, we have people quietly setting out and racing their own private 30K’s, we have people who are challenging themselves to run an Ultra (100 miles) over 7 days, we have people doing up to 400 push-ups a day, and that’s just what I know of. None of these things are in lights and they’re for no-one but the person doing them. There will be no official times nor anyone to compare themselves to. They just want to challenge themselves to do something which they’re not sure they’re capable of – but they want to try.

Two of us have kids who independently decided they wanted to try to take 100,000 footsteps in a day. They set out, and tried, because it seemed hard and they wanted to see if it was possible. They both made it 60% of the way there. There were of course no big accolades or friends to tell or medals at the end. They weren’t expecting any of that. There was a satisfied feeling of exhaustion and of having tried their hardest at challenging themselves. It was, “I wonder if I could …  I want to try”.

I love that we’re all free to listen to that voice again. Whatever you do now won’t be documented and no one cares but you. But that’s the most important person. I think we should all remember this feeling once the flood gates of races and times and pb’s and views and accolades and training for all of that open up again. This is a unique moment in time. Let’s appreciate it.

Here are some workout options for this week (remember – pick and choose, or go rogue and do your own thing!)

• Pottery Road Hills (any combination of full and half hills)
• Riverdale Hills (I loved the workout with 10 x squats at the top and 10 x push-ups at the bottom)
• 4-6 x 4 min Hard w 2 min Easy
• 25-30 min progressive tempo (start 10-15 seconds slower per km than usual tempo and gradually pick it up towards the end)

Enjoy and hope to see you out there!

Seanna

Hey Guys,

First up, huge congrats to Ingrid Ambus and Steph Bannan who both ran their own versions of Around The Bay this weekend! That was so inspiring and uplifting to see. Honestly – you both put in so much work to get there and then to do it on your own with no crowds or nutrition and water support… Way to go guys!!! You both deserve medals. (did anyone else run their own secret race that I didn’t know about?)

Hope everyone else is finding some sort of adaptation to our new and ever changing “normal”. I don’t have a ton to say, except to add my own perceptions as I run through this to maybe make you feel ok about what you may be going through.

What I’ve noticed is that losing a pattern and regular routine means things take more energy. There are a lot of efficiencies to having patterns locked in. We’ve learned how to spend energy where we want to and conserve it where we can. That’s why routines work so well. Many of us had found something that sort of worked for us pre-isolation days. Whether that was early morning runs, certain workouts and long runs where we knew all we had to do was show up and the group would get us through, run-commutes which we didn’t have to think about too much, cross-training and strength classes which we could slot into certain days…

Now we have to put new thought, decisions and mental energy into what we’re going to do every day. Nothing is automatic. Don’t underestimate the amount of energy that takes. If you’re finding runs and workouts more of a struggle than usual (I am!) I think this is a very real reason. Do not panic about being “out of shape” or “not as fast” as during normal pattern times. It is actually taking more energy because you haven’t created those automatic pathways yet. If you were forcing the same results under these conditions it would be taking a lot more energy to do so – energy you probably don’t need to be spending right now. (much like your running, I’m sure many other things in your life are taking more energy these days too, and you need to hold onto some of it!)

So why not cling to your old routine as tightly as possible? If your day-to-day looks pretty similar as before, go for it.  But we’d set up our past routines to serve us for our “normal” times. Now we are needed in different ways at different times by different people, so I’m guessing that now a different pattern will probably serve you better. If you’re working from home you might find it works better for you to be able to get out of the house mid-day for a run or before dinner to clear your head instead of early in the morning. Or maybe you still like to wake up with a run, but prefer multiple shorter jaunts than one longer one. Maybe you need to do some runs with other people in your household in order to get them out the door. Very likely your day revolves around bigger issues than your running, and your run now holds a very different priority than it once did so you’ll fit it in whenever you feel like it.  Totally valid! Experiment and find what works. Your needs have changed so your routines will too – just give them some time to settle in and feel comfortable again – they will!

(and speaking of routines, thank-you to Kerry for keeping us together on Tuesday mornings for bootcamp – I’m holding onto that one!)

Here are some workouts to try this week if you want to add a little spice:

1. (shared by Amanda – thanks Amanda!) 6 rounds of Riverdale Hill sprints with 10 squats at the top and 10 push-ups at the bottom
2. 4-5 x 3 mins w 1:30 rest (10K pace), 4 min rest, 6-7 x 1 min w 1 min rest (5K pace)
3. Tempo option: 3 x 8 min (half marathon pace) w 3 min easy
4. Easy jog to a park – 20 mins of mobility and strides – easy jog back (hint: this is a great one to do with a kid of any age)

DO NOT DO ALL OF THESE! Pick the one you feel like doing.

Enjoy guys and hope to see you soon!

Seanna