March 17, 2020 – One foot in front of the other

Hey Gang!

 

Let me begin by saying how grateful I am to have this group during these somewhat disorienting times. As runners, we all “get” each other in ways others may not, and it’s so awesome to be surrounded by such a supportive crew.

 

Virtual ‘race’ results: This Sunday Carolyn Steele-Gray mapped out a 5K and 10K route for those of us who were missing out on race opportunities. Congratulations and thank-you to all who ran and cheered and photographed!

 

I don’t have official results, but know that Carolyn ran a 10K PB! (41:low?) and Andrew McKay ran a 5K PB – 19:44! Please feel free pass along any ‘results’ I’m missing for others who ran. Nice job everyone.

 

As many of you know, I actually started this group for selfish reasons, as I knew I’d be better if I surrounded myself with other people who were into the same things. I used to have this thinking that I would be viewed as crazy and weird if I went out running in a snowstorm, when it’s below -20, in a hurricane, in an ice storm… So when those conditions arose, as they have over the years, I would always tentatively put it out there that workout was still on. And what do you know – you guys would show up! I’m NOT the only crazy one! If I say workout is on, I know you’ll be there – and that is such an amazing feeling.

 

But unfortunately today I have to tell you that we won’t be holding formal workouts for the next little while. We’re just too big and awesome a group. Let’s do what we can to heed the guidelines of not gathering in big groups, but let’s definitely continue to support each other! I will continue to send out workouts and I suggest buddy-ing up in groups of 2-5-ish if you can. We also have people wanting to do some sort of virtual accountability for boot-camp/strength stuff, which I would love too – so let’s stay posted on whether we can get that going.

 

I would suggest keeping to your routines as well as possible. I know it’s tough when the wind is out of your sails, but one foot in front of the other is something you CAN do, and it will still move you forward.

 

For tomorrow, let’s do a fartlek. 4 x 6 minutes @ 10K pace (or effort) w 2 min rest. Go when and where and with whom it works for you.

 

Thanks guys – chat soon!

 

Seanna

 

March 10, 2020 – Perfectionism and Grit

Hi Everyone!

 

Something I’ve been thinking about this past week is Perfectionism and it’s opposite, Being Messy. As kids we’re usually open to being messy because it’s fun and that’s how we learn. But as we get older and are given expectations and rules, we begin to learn how to achieve ‘success’ by not breaking rules and by being ‘perfect’ – not Mmessy. Some of us are more stringent on this than others – these people are sometimes known as “perfectionists”. This tend​ency can move us far towards achieving goals, but it’s a good idea to be aware of it and stay on top of it and not let it start to control us because it can turn against us quickly. Here is something I read this weekend that resonated with me:

 

“Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life. […] Perfectionism is a mean, frozen form of idealism, while messes are the artist’s true friend.” – Anne Lamott, writer.

 

Perhaps a bit extreme, but I think we could replace ‘artist’ with ‘runner’ and find similar meaning.

 

Every once in a blue moon I perform a workout or race exactly as I’d planned. Most of the time though they veer wildly off plan and are very messy. Maybe it’s the weather, maybe I’m tired, maybe I didn’t plan for such a hilly course, maybe I went out too fast, maybe I bit off more than I could chew. Whatever the reason, I tell myself I have to be ok with that and open minded and ready to adapt to the “mess”. When we’re in the middle of​ a workout or run or race and not hitting our paces, we have to decide whether to call it quits or be ok with not being perfect.

 

I was thinking of this as I read Des Linden’s account of her US Olympic Marathon trials race the other weekend. Des was among the favourites predicted to make the team (top 3). She did not make the team. She missed it by one place, coming in fourth. However, she was one of the few favourites who actually finished the race. Many of the others, when they realized (or thought) they weren’t going to make the team, simply stopped. But Des was ok with not being perfect. She wasn’t having a good race but she kept fighting. And she actually started making up places near the end and was very close to catching third place to make the team.

 

“The one guarantee in the marathon is that it’s going to get hard. I don’t think I had a fantastic day or really closed down well or did anything special, I think I was just a person who didn’t quit, you know? Every time it got hard, it was like, no, keep chasing, because you never know. Other people either sandbagged it home or stepped off the course. A lot can change in the last three miles, you just have to commit to it.” – Des Linden, US Olympian

 

I love how she was able to keep working hard even though she knew it wasn’t her day. I’m sure she was very far off her ideal “perfect” race plan. But she was ok with messy, not perfect, where others let it get to them. And that very almost worked out for her.

 

So have goals. Have a plan. Know what “perfect” looks like for you. But be ok being messy and not perfect. In a lot of ways for many of us, that is even harder than being perfect.

 

For tomorrow, here is our plan – may we execute it perfectly or messily:

 

2 x 1 mile @ 10K pace w 2:30 rest

4 min rest

3-4 x 800 @ 4-5 sec faster w 2:00 rest

 

See you guys in the am!

 

Seanna

 

March 3, 2020 – Trust Yourself

 

What I’ve been thinking about this week is the concept of trying things out for yourself. Trusting yourself. What you see written down or what other people are telling you might not always be what works best for you. Sometimes you can only really learn and become wise by trying things out for yourself.

 

This past weekend my 12-year old asked me to take him to a park to try “street snowboarding”. In his head he had an idea of launching himself and his board off snow jumps he’d build in connection with man-made obstacles. I did not really understand it and I did not want to endorse it. In my head I had a vision of total failure. But I knew he wouldn’t accept my telling him it was a bad idea as the truth. He had to try it or he would never be satisfied. So I spent a fair bit of time in the cold, watching him shovel piles of snow to build a jump so he could launch himself down a hill and off a brick wall. To my surprise, it actually kind of worked. Way better than I’d imagined anyway. It was way less glorious than he’d imagined, but his curiosity was satisfied and he learned what would and wouldn’t work in a way he wouldn’t have if I had just told him. And to be honest, he actually has a better grasp of it now than I do.

 

It’s very similar to running plans. Sometimes you just want to try something, despite cautious people advising you not to. No one really has a glass ball and can tell you exactly what will or won’t work out. Even if it doesn’t work out perfectly, you will learn. I have a coach who has known me for 30 years and I still feel I know my body better and will add or miss workouts as I feel. Only I know my sleep, energy levels, cumulative fatigue and motivation. Sometimes I have extra, sometimes less. I use it as it’s available and slow down when it isn’t. This isn’t a formula. It’s life.

 

If you have the drive and motivation of an adventurous 12 year-old, you’re likely to need to just try things for yourself, despite what the cautious people in your life are telling you. That’s ok. The fact is you will learn more about yourself by doing it. Sometimes it will work out, and sometimes it won’t, but you’ll have discovered this for yourself. And that is deep learning! As a coach (and parent) I would rather see people learn than to have a specific outcome. And I do think the culture of our group is that we’re doing that, so that makes me happy!

 

Onto our results at the Chilly Half Marathon where there were PB’s galore – what a day!

 

Karen Chien Nicklin – 1:44:16 – PB!

Adam Nicklin – 1:34:38 – PB!

Jason Jacobs – 1:26:47 – PB!

Nir Meltzer – 1:28:59

Chris Robinson – 1:36

Jon McRea – (I know you were in there but can’t find your result!)

Roz Morton – 1:23:55 – PB!

Emily Ryan – 1:24:29 – PB!

 

Awesome job guys. Chilly racers, no hills for you. Can ease into pick-ups in the latter half of the week if feeling good.

 

The rest of us: Pottery Road!

Let’s do a bunch of long hills followed by a shorter number of half hills to finish. I’ll leave the number up to you, but I like the long hills for the aerobic and strength efforts they build. Don’t do your max # though because let’s leave ourselves 4-5 half hills to finish. These fine tune your power and they’re way more fun 😉

 

Don’t think I can bring shirts all the way to Pottery Rd so will bring the remainder to Lakeshore next week.

 

Thanks guys – see ya in the a.m.!

 

Seanna

 

Feb 25, 2020 – Teammates

Hey Guys!

What I’ve been thinking about this week is teammates. I like that term. Running buddy is another good one, but teammate gives me more the sense of people working together to pull each other up. And that’s what I’ve been seeing and feeling. I know a number of you guys have paired up for tougher workouts or tempos or long runs, and I’ve heard comments like “I never would have been able to do that without them” or “thank god for *teammate* because I couldn’t have done that alone”. You aren’t out there running together just to benefit yourselves, but rather to pull each other along. It’s a great vibe when you’re being pulled along by someone who does not want you to let go. They’re not trying to drop you or beat you – they’re trying to run hard together.

I’ve this experience recently as well. I was struggling in a tempo and getting dropped by the frontrunners. They both turned to me and said “come on – this is too long to do alone – stay with us”. So I did, for a bit longer, and then slipped back and called it quits a bit early. Then another teammate ran by and said “come with me! I need you for this!” So I joined back up again until the last couple of minutes. No one “dropped” me in this workout. Yes, in the end I did let go, but it wasn’t without other people trying to get me to hold on.

I’ve also been in competitive type workout situations where the vibe is more about establishing dominance and actively dropping people. There are many group dynamics which are very competitive, and they can work for getting results too. I like the ones that are supportive though. That’s why it made me so happy to hear about many of your experiences. You’re doing this instinctively – you want to see each other do well. But we’re not coddling or going easy on each other. We’re getting each other to step up. We’re comfortable enough with each other that when someone wants to pack it in we can say “oh no you don’t! You can do more”.  Sometimes it helps to hear this from a friend. That is a true teammate. We’re not saying “ya, you’ve had enough, you should slow down”. We legitimately want to see each other do their best and succeed. And I know this translates to our achievements and milestones in other areas of life too.

Speaking of teams, I have all of our shirts and singlets. Please let me know who would like me to bring them to Weds practice and I’ll bring those. Anyone else, feel free to message me and come by anytime to pick them up.

 

For tomorrow, one more Lakeshore before heading back to hills:

6-8 x 800 with 90 sec rest

Just a good solid meat ‘n potatoes workout. A lot of us are right in the sweet fitness building spot for Spring marathons and this one is just a stable good one at this point. Tough, but you’re ready.

People running Chilly, you get a taper workout – wohoo!!! (Karen, Adam, Nir, Jason, … who am I missing?)

2 x 800 @ race pace w 90 sec

2 x 400 a bit quicker w 90 sec

4-5 strides

See ya in the am!

 

Seanna

 

Feb 18, 2020 – Fun!

Hey Guys!

 

Hope everyone had a great Family Day long weekend. This Family Day weekend got me to thinking about “fun” and what we do for “fun”. My kids’ idea of fun is to ski downhills fast, preferably over various obstacles. My idea of fun is to ski along flat surfaces, propelled by my own power, with some up and downhills thrown in for good measure. My husband’s idea of fun is to do that times 10. We’ve all found our things which bring us enjoyment and we do that, and we respect each others’ own versions of fun, even though we don’t personally get it.

 

I like to take the same approach to running. I really do do this because I find it fun, and I think most of us are the same. But what’s fun for someone might not always be fun for someone else and what’s fun at one point might not be another time. Racing is fun for me when I’m feeling fit and not stressed out. It’s not fun when I’m not ready or feel like I’m being judged.  Running hard is fun when I feel well rested and in control and ready to challenge myself. It’s not fun when I feel pressured to hit goals I’m not sure I can do, or if I’m tired and not mentally into it. Going for easy runs is fun with good friends and good company. It’s not always fun when it’s cold and I’m tired and alone.

 

Running is never fun when it hurts. If you’re injured or in pain, it is not fun. It is also not fun when it’s stressful – if you are constantly judging or criticizing yourself. Zero fun.

 

Working hard towards a goal is usually fun for most of us. But it can be a fine line. If we realize we’ve bitten off more than we can chew or if it’s taking away too much from the rest of our lives or if we’re simply exhausted or in pain it becomes not fun at all.

 

No easy answers here. Like most things, self awareness helps. Ask yourself now and then whether you are having fun. If not, try tweaking something here or there. Change a goal, change a routine, take a break. Remember – this is what we do for FUN. Not every aspect will always be fun, obviously, but let’s try to keep the scales tipped mostly that way.

 

For tomorrow:

2 x 1200 w 2 min rest (so that’s one straightaway and a half – I’ll have a cone at the 400m mark)

4 min rest

3-4 x 800 w 90 sec rest

So FUN!

 

I just looked and it looks like rain until this evening and then freezing temps. Let’s hope our path has ok footing. As always, we’ll play it by ear and be flexible if it’s dodgy.

 

See ya in the a.m.!

 

Seanna

 

Feb 11, 2020 – Congrats Donna Half Marathoners!

Hi Everyone!

 

No longer format email today. I’ll just update us all with results from the Donna Half Marathon in Jacksonville Florida this weekend where a crew from LES showed up in force!

 

I won’t rhyme out all time results – some of us were using this as a fun long training run, others as a “training through” hard effort, and others as a launching point to start training. But we did take up quite a lot of space on the podium!

 

Of note:

2nd overall – Seanna Robinson

2nd Master – Elizabeth Gladney

3rd Master – Amanda Bugatto

1st in age group – Laura Gage

3rd in age group – Tanis Feasby

4th in age group – Erin Smyth

 

Awesome job everyone and thanks for all our team mates at home for your cheers and support – we felt it!!!

 

Also, shirts and singlets ARE IN! I will send out a separate note on how to get them to you.

 

Ok, for tomorrow, we’re back to hills. Let’s go back to repeats of one long, one short. Aim for maybe one more set than you did last time.

 

People who raced, no hills. I will jog up to say hi and cheer you on.

 

See you guys in the a.m.!

 

Seanna

 

Feb 4, 2020 – Womens’ Moment

Hey Gang!

 

I thought I would just launch in by mentioning how cool it is that women are having a “moment” right now in running and it feels so great to be a part of it. At first I thought it was just Canadian women and then I thought it was Masters women, but really it seems that women of all ages and all nationalities are kind of killing it right now, and we all seem to be thriving with each new success and breakthrough.

 

A few recent notes: a new Canadian women’s marathon record was recently set by Malindi Elmore (39 and mother of two) in a time of 2:24:50. For the first time in a long time we have more women who have qualified for the Olympic marathon than we can send. The Canadian women’s half marathon record has been broken three times in the last seven weeks – the latest being set by Andrea Seccafian in 1:09:38. I’m still catching my breath from watching Gabriella Stafford rewrite the record books in Canadian running (7 records in one year), finishing with the 1500 (3:59:59) and 5000 (14:44), and then last weekend her younger sister Lucia just broke her U23 1500 record with a 4:10:22!

 

A similar scene is unfolding in the US where 511 women have qualified for the marathon Olympic trials up from 198 in 2016. (the number of men who qualified increased slightly from 211 to 260, so it’s not just the shoes).

 

A few in our group have shared this NYTimes opinion piece making the rounds and it really resonates.

 

A quote of note: “Athletes have connected with one another more than ever before, in teams or online, sharing our training and sweeping each other along with each successful race. It’s a new model of competitive female leadership: We’re seeing each other win and challenging ourselves to keep up.”

 

I love that we’re breaking down barriers of what we should or can do. I love being surrounded by successful (many definitions of this), confident, supportive women who make me want to be better. And I love that we all seem to be doing it in a way that says “come with me!”

 

Men, not to leave you out: Come with us! There is always room at our running table and we love running with you too😊

 

Ok, for tomorrow:

 

Some of us did speed on Monday (and last week was short and speedy) so for this one we’ll do a bit longer and tempo paced.

 

2miles, 1.5 miles, 1 mile

or if you prefer: 4 laps, 3 laps, 2 laps

all with 2 mins rest (can jog around easy here bc shouldn’t be grasping knees speed)

 

So yes, this is 7.2km of work. More than usual you’ll notice. What this means: Reign it in! This is to be your tempo pace. That’s somewhere between half marathon and 10K pace. If you can gradually pick it up as the intervals progress, try to do that.

 

Those of us tapering for a half marathon this weekend, this is the taper workout option (others can do this too if you prefer – do what feels like the most fun for you):

 

2 x 800 @ race pace w 90 sec rest

2 min rest

4 x 400 slightly faster w 90 sec rest

 

See you guys in the a.m.!

 

Seanna

Jan 28, 2020 – Good to Go

Hey Gang!

 

I don’t have a ton of deep thoughts this week – but just some key takeaways from a book I just finished: Good to Go by Christie Aschwanden. It’s a scientific take on recovery methods and fads. What I liked is that Christie is an ex-elite endurance athlete who is now in her 40’s and clearly still charges. She’s a runner, cross-country skier and cyclist who loves to push herself hard for the enjoyment of it but still wants to get the best out of herself. Sounds like a lot of people I know 😉

 

Christie looks at the science behind everything from icing, massages, foam rollers, Tom Brady infrared pyjamas (I won’t out who in this group uses those ;)), recovery shakes and supplements, cryo-chambers, saunas, compression boots, drinking beer, float tanks and more. Her biggest takeaway: by FAR the biggest and most useful and scientifically significant method for recovery is sleep. Most of the other methods probably don’t delay recovery (some do though), and if they feel good and provide a comforting ritual for you then continue to do them because the placebo effect can help, but almost everything else is either a fad, lore, marketing, or not scientifically proven.

 

Another big takeaway was how much stress can impede our recovery and even stunt our improvement. We all know the formula that Stress + Rest = Growth. Unfortunately, Stress + more Stress = No Growth or even Breakdown. If the first Stress is training induced and the second Stress in the formula is work or home related, your body doesn’t care about the difference. Christie looked at a study where they gave a group of volunteers a new exercise program and asked them to rate their mental stress. Those who reported low mental stress made significant improvements in aerobic capacity and maximum strength, but those who reported high mental stress showed little to no gains. For the SAME exercise program! This is interesting to me as I had always known there was a group of people who were “low exercise responders” but I didn’t know why. It turns out that these people might just be not recovering and adapting because of compounded stress.

 

So guys, for performance improvements, two of the best things we can do is to sleep enough and manage our stress. Stress is not an objective thing – what’s stressful to one person might not be to someone else. It’s how you perceive and manage it that matters. And luckily, running helps most of us manage it better! Christie also notes that since everyone is unique in how they perceive and manage stress, it is extremely hard to find a scientific solution for recovery. For some people their best recovery method might be to go out for drinks with friends, for others it could be a solo walk in the forest, and for others it could be watching shows with their family. But whatever it is for you, take that shit as seriously as you take your training – that’s my two cents!

 

For tomorrow:

Let’s focus on the process. Your goal for this workout is to do it within your comfort zone – nothing sexy. Don’t worry – there is time for sexy and outside your comfort zone, but the biggest gains are made from boring consistency. So your objective will not be your times, but how relaxed you can get yourself to feel while running fast.

 

The workout:

600 focused on being relaxed/fast; 45 seconds rest; 200 faster w quicker turnover

2 minutes rest (jog to 200m)

Repeat 5-7 times

(I will create a 200m mark from the east side so we can do these both ways)

I’ll be jogging/cheering this one and will try to make sure you’re all looking relaxed and not straining 😉

 

See y’all in the a.m.!

 

Seanna

 

Jan 21, 2020 – Panic

Hey Everyone!

 

I guess real winter weather was bound to arrive at some point. So bundle up and here we go!

 

What I was thinking about this week: a new take on the mind/body connection. I was doing a tempo workout with some ladiess last weekend. The workout was 30-35 minutes. A few of the ladies are considerably faster than me. However, I held on to them until 32 minutes. Then it was all too intense and I just let go. I had made it into the prescribed window and did not hold on for the last three minutes. One of the lead runners and I were chatting afterwards on our cool down. She is not only faster than me but also much younger, however she is way more experienced with running and racing hard at a high level. She said to me “You just have to convince yourself not to panic. You have to tell yourself you’re fine and just keep going”.  Had I panicked? Is that why I let go?

 

Here’s another interesting fact which I learned from The Passion Paradox. (I’d heard about it before but had forgotten it). We have not one, but two brains: a left brain and a right brain. The left side is rational, analytical and data driven. The right side is creative, emotional and a story teller. These two essentially different parts of ourselves are communicating all the time via the corpus callosum (a thick band of neurons). However, when it is severed, our two brains stop communicating. Researchers have experimented with patients in these circumstances and found remarkable things. If only the left eye (which communicates with the right brain) is shown a card with a command (for example, walk, draw, drink water), the person will do that thing. However, their right brain can’t explain or rationalize, it can only direct actions and create stories. So when asked why they are doing the action written on the card, the patients  come up with a plausible reason. “I need to stretch my legs, I feel like doodling, I’m thirsty”. They are unaware that they are following a command. The same pattern holds when they are shown a traumatic image to their left eye. They suddenly become sad, but make up all kinds of stories as to why they are sad. They do not rationally know that their brain has picked up on the sad image. This is much of what makes us human: our brains are always making up narratives to make sense of our world and our feelings – whether they are “true” or not.

 

So back to me and “panicking” while running hard. Maybe my wise young friend was onto something. Was my brain interpreting my current state like this: “You’re running basically at the brink of your capacity, you’re breathing hard, your muscles are straining, you’re moving fast … you must be in danger!” Was my story telling brain trying to make sense of my situation and giving me a narrative which I then followed? Panic! Pull the chute! Emergency brake! What I needed to do was pull my left brain online to talk down my emotional brain. “You’re fine. You’re running hard but you’re not in danger. Your heart, lungs and muscles are completely fine and it’s good for them to work this hard”.  My two brains are connected and I should be able to get the message of rationality across.

 

So I will work on this. Apparently self-awareness is the first step. First, understand what’s happening, then you can start trying to address it.

 

Let’s try this tomorrow on hills!

Here’s an idea: let’s do the long and short ones, but in a different sequence. So we’ll do as many full hills as we think we can do while leaving some space/energy at the end for some short (half) hills. I won’t tell you how many of each to do – read yourselves. I’m thinking I’ll aim for something like 6 and 4. If you under-shoot your long hills, do more short hills. If you over-spend on the long hills don’t do as many short.

 

Sound good?

 

See you guys in the a.m.!

 

Seanna

Jan 14, 2020 – Passion Paradox

Hey Guys!

 

Since I promised some thoughts on this platform, I thought I’d share a take-away from a book I just finished: The Passion Paradox by Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness. They’re the guys who wrote Peak Performance which I know some in this group have read. This one is about how Passion can be both a blessing and a curse and how we can work towards keeping our passions healthy.

 

What I found interesting was when they were explaining how we evolved as a species to be drawn to the pursuit of goals. Our brains release dopamine when we are working towards a goal. We do not get a great dose of feel good chemicals when we achieve a goal though. Only in the pursuit. We evolved this way because probably those humans whose brains were wired the opposite way sat and were happy with their one achievement for the rest of their lives and then starved to death and never passed on their genes. Only those who were never satisfied and kept pursuing the next thing kept achieving things like getting food, building tools and shelters, etc… Since our brains are wired to release dopamine when we’re pursuing goals, we keep working towards things because it feels good. (An interesting aside: some of us have lower dopamine sensitivity than others – for example, people with ADD or ADHD. These people have to do MORE to get the same feeling of satisfaction. These types of people tend to be the ones who pursue things to extremes. They are just looking for the same good feelings as everyone else, but they need to do MORE to get it. )

 

But whether we pursue things to extremes or not, it’s helpful to know that we are only “programmed” to feel happy while in pursuit. That is not to say we shouldn’t value our goals – obviously all the amazing feats we’ve accomplished as a species are because of this brain setting. And reaching new levels of physical fitness and performance are amazing things! But we need to remember that the goals themselves won’t bring us happiness. This is a hard one to get your head around but it’s true. Lottery winners never become happier. And shaving a few minutes off your PB won’t actually make you a happier person either. (I struggle with fully believing this as well. Surely I’d be happier if I kept getting faster? Apparently not though. Even Olympic gold medalists look around afterwards and say … what’s next? And if they have nothing can easily fall in to purposelessness and depression).

 

So keep this in mind while pursuing your running goals this spring. If you’re not finding any joy or purpose in the pursuit, maybe you need to try a different approach (there are many – ask me!) But the point is, whether you reach your time/place goal or not, the feeling of achievement or disappointment will be fleeting. And whether you make your goal or not, you will likely start your training process all over again within a week or two, and THAT is what will bring you joy. Sorry – it’s just how we’re wired!

 

For tomorrow’s pursuit, back to Lakeshore.

2 x 1 mile w 2 min rest

3 min rest

2 x 800 w 90 sec rest

3 min rest

2 x 400 w 90 sec rest

 

This is a bit longer because it’s cold out so we can’t start out fast. Really ease into those miles – tempo or half marathon pace. Then we’ll work our way down.

 

See ya in the a.m.!

 

Seanna