Hi All,

Hope you all had a relaxing long Family Day weekend. It actually felt like winter! Not sure about you guys, but I’ve actually been enjoying the cold and snow – it feels novel, unlike past Februarys where it’s had me beaten down by now.

What I’ve been thinking about this week is running as exploration. Not exploration in the geographic sense (which I guess it often is as well), but more in the sense of how it affects and changes our bodies and ourselves. I think having this sense of curiosity is in large part what keeps us engaged. If a coach or algorithm could tell you exactly where you would end up if you followed a certain protocol, I think you’d find it would take the excitement and fun out of what you’re doing. Part of the point is the exploration into what might lie ahead.

This past weekend, my co-coach and I were coaching some of our university athletes in meets. It is almost the end of the season, and they are keen to keep testing themselves and trying to reach certain marks. It was a busy weekend, with two meets in two different cities in two days. Then one athlete wanted to run a third race on the third day. We both knew this was not likely to lead to a strong performance. We’ve both had enough experience to make that call. But the athlete didn’t have that experience. He is young and he was eager. So, we let him do it, and it was not a strong performance. My point is, that now, he KNOWS. We could have told him endlessly about our experience, but until he experienced it himself, he wouldn’t really know. He had to go out and explore and discover. He is now that much more informed and wiser and he will carry that understanding with him.

This is why, as a coach, in most cases I feel I am more of a consultant. I can tell you what I think, but I want you to go out and learn for yourselves. I will never say “I told you so”. Because telling you so doesn’t really teach you. Failure is an experience through which you learn and grow. Probably even more than success. So keep exploring. Discover what makes you grow. Be curious. This is a pretty fun journey if you can maintain that sense of open minded wonder. You’ll never find the answers in a book, podcast or from an expert. So keep going out and answering your own questions!

I just want to leave you all with one more message for the week: You are doing a good job. Please repeat this to yourselves if no one has told you lately. Whether it’s in running, work, caring for others, or any other area where you’re devoting your energy: you are doing great and what you are doing matters.

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

1. Let’s do drills down to Carlaw so we can start at that end.

Then: 800 tempo, 1 min rest, 600 @ 5-10K, 1 min rest, 200 @ faster. 3 min rest.

Repeat for total of 3-4 sets.

I like the mix of paces here. Coming back to tempo after some speedier work helps to teach your body to process and use lactate as fuel. We also get to sprinkle in some faster work to work on running economy and speed. We have to keep those gears alive, even in the winter months!

That is all – see you in the am.

xo

Seanna

Hey Gang!

Happy “feels like Spring”! The best thing about this weather is the footing. Some of my usual routes that are off-limits in winter are still available to me. I’ve been caught before in both Taylor Creek Park and the Moore Park Ravine where I’ve stubbornly maintained my route despite the ice, and pushed too far in before getting caught in a spot of no return where I couldn’t go forwards or back and just had to shuffle/slide while grabbing trees for support for a few kilometers. Things you only have to learn once, or in my case, twice. But despite my rule of never doing these routes again in winter, I might try them out mid-Feb this year. Indulgence!

What I’ve been thinking about this week is Recovery. I know I’ve spoken about this before, but it’s worth reminding ourselves. It’s hard when you get in the groove of a training routine, to remember that it’s not the training that is making you stronger – it’s the response to the training. If you’re not recovering, you’re just hitting yourself over the head with a hammer. And unfortunately, we internalize the hitting ourselves part as being “good” and it can sometimes in an odd way be cathartic, but without a corresponding adaptation and response, it does not move us ahead at all. The tricky thing about this is, there is no universal formula to stress and recovery. And we have to view ourselves as a global system with mental, emotional and social factors as well as the physical.

Training is not just as simple as stimulating a muscle and watching it get stronger. It is a complicated mix of mechanical load, neuromuscular adaptations, hormonal responses, nutrient and chemical pathways in the body, … It makes sense then that recovery doesn’t just mean resting the body. Recovery involves hormonal response, stress response, mental state, nutrient and micro nutrient availability, … When we are stressed or overwhelmed or struggling emotionally, our recovery response can be compromised. That doesn’t mean we won’t recover, it just means it might take a little more time during these phases. I think it’s important to be honest about this. We often want to continue on our usual plan to prove to ourselves we’re tough and can fight through when other areas of life are throwing us curve balls. Which might help mentally, and I do believe our ability to work hard persists and can even be enhanced during these times. But we have to be very honest and clear eyed about our recovery. Two or three hard efforts a week might have to come down to one or two in order to make the same gains.

Many high end college coaches have learned this. During exams they have learned that their athletes tend to have high injury rates. So they back right off the intensity during these phases. Their athletes didn’t just suddenly become weak or unfit – they just can’t recover as well as usual because of additional life stresses. And once the stress has diminished, they can roll right back into where they were without having lost any ground.

It’s a bit naïve to think we’ll go through life without any additional external stresses and that we’ll always be able to maintain the same level of training with the same recovery response. We all enter our own “exam phase” at different times, and the best thing we can do is acknowledge it and adapt our training instead of white knuckling it. Whatever we’re going through shall pass, I promise, but let’s keep our bodies strong in the process. Train, then recover extra. Sleep, eat, meditate, walk, socialize, laugh, read, listen to music … this is all as important to your training as the work part, and probably even more so.

On to tomorrow’s workout – we’re back to hills! I think we’ve got some good base hills in, so let’s progress to hills + tempo. This is particularly helpful for those with hilly races on the sched.

Let’s try this cycle: 2 x full Pottery, 1-2 min easy (to cross the street or get somewhere flat-ish and traffic free) – 4 min tempo. Repeat 2-3 times.

That’s all – see you in the am!

Xo

Seanna

Hey Everyone!

Hey we survived our first big cold snap! And we had as many people out at hills as I’ve seen! Not out of the winter woods, but if we can do that, we can really get through this.

What I’ve been thinking about this week is the relationship between health and performance. Performance is obviously an indicator of health and vitality. I’ve often thought: if I can run fast (for me) times and perform well, everything must be chugging along smoothly in my body, so if I just focus on that I’ll be good.

Recently however, we’ve been reading and hearing a lot about strength and how important it is to longevity. We only hang onto a certain percentage of our muscle mass from age 30 to age 80, so if we want to have a functional amount at age 80, we’d better start bulking up after 30. And it’s not only for lifestyle – it’s also for life. Studies now show that muscle mass is a greater predictor of longevity than cardiovascular fitness. Now, some of the fastest runners in the world (Jakob Ingerbrigston for one), don’t do strength work. I’m quite sure many of the marathoners we admire don’t do much either. They are genetically blessed and they save their energy for doing one thing really well. They perform, and they perform well. We might even be fooled into thinking they represent the epitome of health. But performance and health – particularly long term health – don’t necessarily go hand in hand. And many of these top performers will leave the sport entirely once they retire and move onto other activities. We should not model our lifelong patterns off what they are doing for a moment.

And then there’s mobility and stretching. I have always poo-poo’d stretching. After I read a study which said that the only measurable difference in Paula Radcliffe between her 2:17 marathon to her then world record shattering 2:15 (pre-super shoes) was that her sit and reach test got worse. Meaning her hamstrings were more tight and less flexible. The common takeaway was (and still is) that efficient runners need to have tight springs in their bodies rather than loosey goosey muscles which need to be engaged all the time. A tight muscle will spring back with less effort. So I’ve always if not prided myself on, at least radically accepted my very tight hamstrings. Until recently when I threw my back out doing a strength movement because I couldn’t get into the proper position. My tight hamstrings are great for running. Not so great for every day ease in life – anyone who has trouble getting out of a car after a long ride can feel me there. So, I took a yoga class. And I noticed something. People in the class weren’t trying to get a good workout in. Can you imagine?? No, they were all trying to do good things for their bodies – unrelated to the realm of performance. There was wisdom and self-care in that room. I used to get antsy in yoga classes, thinking if I wasn’t sweating, I wasn’t achieving anything. This time I was just trying to let my body relax – possibly into a less fast but healthier version of itself. What is the point of performance if you’re in pain and/or not going to live as long?

As a coach this is something I have to navigate with athletes as well. There are seasons for sure where all we want is a running performance and we can narrow our focus and energy to that. When people are starting a marathon build, I don’t advise to also start heavy lifting and yoga programs. But hopefully there is a season after the performance where we can focus on bringing things, if not in balance, at least in harmony. My hamstrings and back have been the wakeup call of this for me. I’m still going to try to perform because I do still value and love a good effort and to see what my body can do, but I’m going to keep a solid eye on longterm health and functionality as well.

On to tomorrow’s workout – Back to Lakeshore and Leslie: 6:05 drills, 6:15 GO! (I’ll be there jogging – back on the mend but not 100%)

1. 2 x (1mile – 800 – 600 – 400). 2 min bw all reps, 3 min bw sets. There is some good volume built in here, but also good rest between the shorter stuff. The miles should be at Tempo pace, and we’re introducing going a little faster afterwards but with solid recovery time. 800’s should be 10K pace, 800’s 5K and 400’s faster.
2. If this is a lot from where you’re starting, start the second ladder at the 800. That is still a solid workout. Happy to chat in person tomorrow if you have questions about where you should be.

That is all – see you in the am!

xo

Seanna

Hey Gang!

Is it just me or did the return to “real life” after the Christmas break blast in at a pace we weren’t ready for? Wow. Well, hopefully our batteries are all recharged and it won’t take long to get back into the routine. And now we have lengthening days to look forward to. It’s all getting lighter and brighter…

About ten years ago I made a career change, and started a new job in a new industry. When I just started, I went in every day completely unsure of what I was supposed to be doing and what was going to come at me. I can remember very clearly one morning at 5 am on one of these days, charging up Pottery Rd hill as hard as I could, multiple times. There was something comforting about the knowledge that I would very likely encounter nothing harder than that all day. No one could give me anything harder than what I’d already given myself. It was a big confidence builder and what I needed to face the unknown.

There is much empowerment in knowing we can handle hard things. Athletics are a great way for us to practice doing this for our own growth and self-confidence. And it’s safe because we get to choose the “hard”. Sometimes however, life throws you “hard” that you don’t choose. And that is the real test. You have to decide: can you embrace this unwanted challenge with the same attitude and openness with which you approach Pottery Road hills? Was the point of those hills so that you could in fact be equipped to face this un-asked for ‘hard’? So you don’t quit or give up or succumb to self-pity or curl into the fetal position under a blanket in defeat? (that last one sounds so appealing sometimes). I think that is the point of all of our self-directed challenges. They are safe, controlled environments but they are training us for the unforeseen challenges that we call Life.

My daughter set off for swimming again this morning in the cold, dark early morning. Every morning I give her the choice: Do you want to go? I love that she is self-directed in this because it means that she is building the confidence to turn towards the hard things. I really hope she doesn’t get a lot of very hard things thrown at her, but this is life and she definitely will face her fair share. And when she does I hope she brings that confidence of turning towards them, facing them down, and moving through them. I am continuing to try to do the same.

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

1. Start with a 2 mile tempo. Yup, that’s long. 4 back and forths. Just keep it tempo – we can build into the pace as we go. Then 2-3 min rest (regroup) and 4-5 x 600 w 1:15 rest. These can be between 10K and 5K pace depending on how you’re feeling.

Reasoning behind this: it’s good volume and solid work, but we don’t want to do TOO much fast stuff at this point in the season. It’s good to go into our faster stuff a little pre-fatigued so we’re not tempted to go too fast yet and so we don’t do too much. Just little sprinkles of everything.

That is all – see you in the am!

xo

Seanna