Hi Everyone! 

 

Can’t say this often, but I feel like we’re looking at some perfect running weather ahead. Enjoy! 

I feel like a big part of my role as a coach is to keep people doing what they love so that it brings them happiness and self-fulfillment. Two things about that: 1 – that just seems like such a rewarding goal to help someone achieve in and of itself, and 2 – if all you really care about are times, feeling happy and self-fulfilled will cause you to be consistent and to keep showing up, so that’s the most important element to achieving your time goals. 

 

What I’ve been thinking about in all of this, is to remember that your own sense of pride and self-judgement is all you really need.  Of course it feels great to get kudos from others and to post your workouts on social media. I’m not anti-these things if you need a boost. Just try not to get too reliant on external validation for your own sense of achievement.  

 

I find it interesting watching my kids and my friends’ kids as they challenge themselves. They run consistently, they run far, they bike technical terrain, they work as hard as they can up a hill. And I can tell that the last thing on their minds is external feedback. They don’t think anyone is judging them, nor do they expect accolades. They have a very strong internal sense of whether they achieved what they set out to or not. And maybe I’m just not on their platforms, but I’ve never seen any of these kids beg for external praise from people they barely know. They don’t need that to make themselves feel good – they know whether they’re proud of themselves. 

 

So that is my word of caution to keep in check as we enter race seasons where our results can be judged by others. And as we load up our workouts for all to see. (and I’m not talking about sharing with our intimate training groups who are there with us and to support us). But maybe try keeping some efforts that you’re super proud of to yourself, so that you can bask in them and realize that that actually makes you happier and more self-fulfilled than thumbs-up from strangers. Then you can start learning the hard lessons, like being happy with your effort and what you had on the day, regardless of what your watch says. But it starts with turning down the external noise. This is just my thought to keep you all feeling good, happy, and running “successfully”! 

 

Ok, really quick Boston and Fall racing sched update: I’ll have new tabs up this week. If you need one more easy week so you can start with full batteries, please take it. We are not in a rush. You are not couch-to-marathoners so too long a build can be too much.  

 

Workouts for this week: 

1. 2K at HM pace, 3 mins, 4 x 800 at 10K pace w 1:30, 3 mins, 2K at HM pace 
2. As fartlek: 8 mins Hard, 3 mins easy, 4 x 3 min Hard, 1:30 easy, 3 min easy, 8 mins Hard 
3. Tempo: 2 x 12 w 3 min rest, 2 x 4 min w 1:30 (a bit faster) 

 

Enjoy!!!! 

 

Seanna 

 

Hey Everyone!

 

Don’t you just love those runs where you feel smooth, in control, strong and relaxed but fast? When your body is in-synch with what you’re trying to do, and responds when you expect and ask it to?

 

I will tell you something. Those runs aren’t free. They don’t come without some investment. Those runs are the payout. Yes, it’s what we’re all striving for, but we can’t expect them every time. Those are the runs we try to set up for race day, although sometimes we luck into them during a regular training run.

 

But what’s gone into them is that we’ve asked ourselves to run faster than that, up more hills, for longer periods, under worse conditions, while fatigued … These are our investments. When we lift weights during a strength phase and all our runs feel hard, we are putting money in the bank. When we do long runs on a hot day while fatigued, we are laying foundation. When we do speedwork that feels clunky and hard, we are setting ourselves up for a magical, free-flowing run down the road.

 

Of course we always want to feel how we remember feeling when it all clicks, but we can’t just continually withdraw. If we never stop to invest, those runs will become more and more rare until they all just flatline to the middle.

 

I’m reminding you all this as I remind myself as well. If you’ve just finished a “season” and are getting ready to rebuild for the next, then don’t expect to be feeling smooth and fast now. You shouldn’t be. You should be investing. They payout will come later. Trust the process.

 

 

That is my 2-cents for now! Onto workouts for this week:

 

1. 6×600 with 1:30 rest at 5K pace, 4 min rest, 4 x 400 w 2 Faster (if looking to pick up some speed for summer track)
2. If building strength vs. speed, 8-10 x 600 w 1:30 – just keep them nice n steady.
3. Tempo: 3-4 x 8 min w 2 min easy

 

Enjoy All!!!!

 

xo

 

Seanna

Oh man – who’s feeling tired these days? I definitely go through phases, but when the weather isn’t great and my motivation is low, I can really start to feel the low energy. But what does it actually mean when you say you’re feeling tired? Having experienced training for endurance events, being a new mother to a non-sleeping baby, being a working parent to young kids, living through a pandemic with teens, I consider myself a bit of a connoisseur of fatigue. And let me tell you – there is not one word which adequately covers all of these sensations! I think there should definitely be different words to describe each experience – especially when, as a coach, an athlete tells me they’re “tired”. Ok … that’s a very rough start. In case it might be helpful for you in deciphering how you’re feeling, here is a brief breakdown of my different sensations of “fatigue” (I’m sure there are more):

 

If I’ve just completed a hard workout, I may have the fatigued but “buzzing” feeling in my legs – a satisfying sensation because it means I’ve just worked hard and will hopefully reap the benefits – by becoming more fit, stronger, faster in my next outing. My legs are tired (that’s the point), but good tired.

 

If I’ve just finished a long run, I probably have more of an energy depleted feeling of fatigue. It’s also satisfying for similar reasons, but demands slower movement and less activity for the next 24 hours. It’s more in my whole body than just my legs.

 

In the day and sometimes days leading up to a race, I often self-check and find I’m feeling tired. I’ve done this enough that I know it’s a false cue from my mind. It’s either nerves, or my mind forcing me to conserve energy for a big upcoming effort, but I’m familiar enough with this routine that I now welcome it as part of the race experience. And as soon as I get close enough to the start for adrenaline to take over, the phantom fatigue vanishes.

 

Then there is the sensation of fatigue in a hard race or workout. I don’t even really categorize this as fatigue – it’s more like intensity (I try not to say pain, but it’s close). This sensation is so far removed from the sensation of early motherhood sleep deprivation fatigue, that I find it incredible that we give it the same name. But we do, so that is another type of fatigue I’m familiar with and am surprisingly comfortable with. If someone tells me they were “tired” at the end of a race, I interpret that to mean it is something that is trainable.

 

Sometimes, if I’m in the middle of heavy training for something I’m pushing my body to adapt to, like a marathon or Ironman, I will have an ever-present sensation of general body fatigue. It’s not a fatigue which necessarily requires more sleep – if I were sitting on a couch, I wouldn’t want to go to sleep. But nor would I want to get up and run around the block for fun. This is another type of fatigue I’m familiar with and comfortable with. I know it’s my body adapting to new demands.

 

Then there is the deep, achy fatigue, which I can only seem to categorize as “deep, or bone” tired. I associate this feeling with over-training. It’s when I get into a workout and there is no sharpness or desire to push. It’s just a generalized ache which feels like it could be adrenal or neuro-muscular. I’m familiar with this fatigue, but I’m not comfortable with it. I don’t like it. All I can do for this type of fatigue is to take some easy days and back off hard training. The amount of recovery and rest depends on how long I’ve ignored the feeling and pushed into it. Shockingly I’ve learned this lesson more than once, but I’m getting much better at recognizing it and backing off quickly.

 

When I was a new mother, my baby did not sleep at all. He preferred to be gently rocked all night. And during the day, he preferred motion next to my body. So I found myself cradling and rocking all night and walking all day. To say I was exhausted would be an understatement. This was pure sleep deprivation fatigue. I felt like I was existing on a different plane from everyone else – I could just function well enough to appear human, but I did not feel human. I did go for the odd run – there was nothing tired about my muscles or legs. I just needed sleep.

 

Then there was a phase when I had young kids and a corporate job and decided to train for a half marathon. The only time I could fit in my training was at 5 a.m. I did all of my runs and workouts at this time. I would wake up sometimes in the 4-somethings, run hard, get my kids to daycare and myself to work, pick them up, make dinner, read to them and absolutely crash. Similar to the new-mom tired, I was just sleep deprived and craved it all the time. I sometimes had to pull my car over to have an emergency nap. I could close my eyes and fall asleep anytime anywhere. I fantasized about being able to sleep. But my other goals were more important. Surprisingly, my body held up fine and I ran a solid race for me for the half marathon. My body could still respond well – I wasn’t deep, achy, bone tired – I was just sleep depravedly exhausted. It’s a different tired.

 

Sometimes I’m scrolling through headlines and I realize I just can’t click on one more thing to do with … *whatever crisis has been making headline news. I reach my limit on something, and I just find it too exhausting. Or if I’m feeling down or depressed, the smallest tasks can feel too overwhelming and exhausting. I can’t even bear answering the phone when I see a friend calling. I classify this as mentally exhausted. It’s under the umbrella of “overwhelm” but I think it’s what we mean when we say “I’m so tired of this!” It does actually seem to manifest as fatigue.

 

And then there’s the “blahs”. The no spark or excitement or motivation fatigue. It is true that not being engaged in something will sap your energy and actually make you feel tired. This could be what many of us are experiencing right now. I was listening to an interesting podcast with Reid Coolsaet who said he was training and doing marathon workouts with the hopes of qualifying for Tokyo, but his times in training were not there. Then he heard word of a race he was allowed to enter, and immediately his workouts and energy improved. He wasn’t “not trying” before – he just didn’t have the spark. You can’t fake the spark. It’s ok if you’re feeling a little tired because there are no sparks. You’ll be ready when one is lit.

 

So that’s my 2-cents on helping you decipher your fatigue if you’re feeling it. Most of these have a solution and might just take some patience and acceptance for where you are (except the new-mom thing – god help you if you have a colicky baby – but just know if you get through that you can get through anything!)

 

Race reports: Congratulations to Cullen who ran 1:19:22 in a solo effort Half Marathon this weekend! (sorry none of us could help pace you – I suppose if we’d used a bike…) Awesome job.

 

 

Onto workouts for this week!

 

1. I’m back on this one – I don’t know if anyone did it earlier, but I suspect not. Let’s try it this week. 200/200 run as Hard/Tempo continuous. Do two sets of 4-5 repeats with 3-4 mins b/w sets. I promise you’ll feel tired! (a good tired)
2. If doing it by time, 30 sec Hard/30 sec Tempo – same sets and reps
3. Tempo: 2 x 3K tempo w 1 K easy, then 1K faster

 

That’s all – enjoy!

 

xo

 

Seanna

“We have created a grotesque economy that grinds what is beautiful and unique into money, a currency that enables us to purchase things we don’t really need while destroying what we do.” – Charles Eisenstein

 

 

Hi All!

 

I’ve been doing quite a bit of thinking recently about the “gift economy.” Especially now, with new lockdown measures in place, it’s more important than ever to recognize the gifts we have and to embrace the feeling of community which comes from taking part in a gift economy. The gift economy is a concept which is shared eloquently by Robin Wall-Kimmerer (author of Braiding Sweetgrass). It is a system which many indigenous cultures have thrived on and some still do, to ensure strong community relationships. It is one of sharing all of what you have with your neighbour instead of hoarding and compiling ‘wealth’ or goods or knowledge. This sits in contrast to the type of economy we’re familiar with: the capital market economy which is built on the concept of scarcity, a never ending hunger for accumulation, and encourages individual success over that of the community.

 

Understanding the gift economy can become a way of seeing and living in the world. Wall-Kimmerer is a botanist, and sees gifts in nature all the time – fresh berries on a tree, a bird’s song in the morning which lifts your spirits, a tree’s canopy that brings shade on a hot day. These are not services which you can pay for – nor are they to be pilfered or hoarded. They are gifts of the earth. And when we recognize them as gifts, we respond with gratitude and reciprocity. We start acting in ways that honour and cherish where they came from and this encourages protection and regeneration.

 

I’m not naïve – I realize our society is too large and disconnected to function solely with a gift economy. However, Wall-Kimmerer notes that gift economies can function successfully in smaller communities along-side market economies. And that is the space where I see our Lower East Siders running crew.

 

This group of people are among the most generous people I know. And I also know that every time I am able to offer any piece of advice or support that will help someone, I benefit in many ways because I’m part of the whole. Maybe I’ve touched the artist who will make beautiful art for others to enjoy, or maybe the doctor who will pass it along in her care for someone else, or the volunteer who will make my community run more smoothly through their efforts. I understand that there is no truly selfless giving because we are all connected.

 

“Gratitude and reciprocity are the currency of a gift economy, and they have the remarkable property of multiplying with every exchange, their energy concentrating as they pass from hand to hand, a truly renewable resource.

 

To name the world as gift is to feel one’s membership in the web of reciprocity. It makes you happy—and it makes you accountable. Conceiving of something as a gift changes your relationship to it in a profound way…” – Robin Wall-Kimmerer

 

This crew does not exist as a service to get you to run fast. It might work well that way for many of us, but it only works because of the presence of all of the givers around us who hold it together. I love running with others and sharing that, and I know people in this group do too. We have created a real economy – I don’t feel I have to specifically reach out to everyone all the time – I know that when one of us is injured or down there are at least five sets of arms reaching out to help them up. What differentiates us from many other running clubs is that we are not consumers of a service – we are participants in a community.

 

So I just want to take this moment to say thank-you to all of you for your gifts – of your friendship, of sharing your cheers and energy with others when they run, of listening to/reading my thoughts, of reflecting whatever you gain from this back out into the community. And if you do feel like you’ve benefitted in any way from anything that the Lower East Siders have brought you, I only ask that you reciprocate it back to someone else in any way that is meaningful to you.

 

 

Oh, I also wanted to give a big shout out to Karen who ran a stealthy and solid ATB 30K this weekend in the midst of an absolutely crazy time at work! Way to go Karen! And her partner in crime Adam who snuck in a sub-19 min 5K PB last weekend (18:53!!) and then paced Karen this weekend! I guess if the only person you can run with is doing 30K, you do 30K! lol. Way to go team.

 

 

Onto workouts for this week:

 

1. Ladder: 1600 (@HM – 1:45 rec), 1200 (@slightly faster – 1:30 rec), 1000 (@10K – 1:30 rec), 800 (@5K – 1:30 rec), 600 (@5K – 1:30 rec), 400 (@3K – 1:30 rec), 2 x 200 (@1500 w 45 rec)

 

2. If doing this as fartlek: (6-5-4-3-2-1-30 sec-30 sec) Hard w Easy jogging as rest above
3. People coming back from ATB just start at 4 mins and work down IF you’re feeling like working out again (not if you just did it this weekend)
4. Tempo: Let’s give you a cut-down also – 10 mins, 8 mins, 6 mins, 4 mins – all w 2 min rec

 

That’s all! I think many of us are getting vaccinated this week (yay!) If there is one other person you feel comfortable running with, I’m not looking. I suggest the timed version vs path for stealth reasons.

 

Stay safe and see you soooooon!!!!

 

xo

 

Seanna

 

 

 

Hi Everyone!

 

Hope you all had an amazing and chocolatey weekend.

 

What I’ve been thinking about this week is confidence. But not confidence as it applies to “going out and getting it”, but confidence as it applies to being able to step back and slow down. And yes, that does take confidence – in yourself and your ability to be able to pick back up when you’re stronger and ready.

 

When this pandemic hit us all over a year ago, I was included among those who felt vulnerable and insecure. How would I keep going without all of my usual supports and structures and tethering events, people and places? Well, I could just put the pedal down and make sure I didn’t stop. Because who knows what would happen if I stopped?

 

Many of us apply the same strategy to other areas of life. Just don’t stop moving. Be busy. Keep getting stuff done.

 

I came across a quote a while ago: “Being busy isn’t the same thing as adding value.”

 

When we are feeling insecure and lacking in confidence, we can easily mistake the two things.

 

In running, there are times where you have to trust yourself and have the confidence to take a break. Whether that’s a day or two off a week or a week or two off every now and then, is up to you and your needs. But you have to KNOW it won’t make you slower or lazy or less of an athlete. In fact it’s the opposite. Running more doesn’t always add more value. The most confident and secure runners know this and live by it. The most successful runners are not the ones who do the most and the hardest workouts. And let me tell you – it takes a huge amount of confidence to watch someone else do more than you and yet stick to your plan. But I have seen it play out in race results time and again: very often what looks like less can actually give you better results.

 

Similarly, it takes confidence to slow down in life and take time for yourself without always having to “be busy”. We all know “busy people” who can’t sit down. They don’t exactly imbue a sense of confidence. They are being driven by perceived judgement – of themselves and others. Yes, there is always something to be done – just like you can always run more miles. But maybe pausing and thinking about what real value you are adding can help you more. Very often we are “adding value” without producing anything tangible. That takes confidence to see and be content with.

 

I think at this point in the pandemic, we should all stop clinging frantically to movement and forward motion and task completion, and remind ourselves that we’ll be ok – even better – if we embrace a pause. Take a week or two off running. Be the person who has time and presence to be available for others. Spend an hour or two on a contemplative walk. And don’t consider these things “cheating” or extravagances. Consider them investments in yourself and those around you. We won’t fall into a pit of inertia. We won’t stop and never start again. Try to find the confidence to pause, take a break, and come back recharged and stronger with the mental, physical and emotional energy that add real value where you want it.

 

Onto workouts for this week!

 

1. Hills if you haven’t done them in a while. I snuck in a few on the weekend and my butt is now reminding me that it had been a while. Just steady up and down and add some shorter power hills at the end if you have time!
2. If you did do hills on the weekend, let’s do a Lakeshore wrkt: 1 mile (2 mins), 4 x 800 w 1:30, (2 mins) 1 mile – miles at HM pace, 800’s at 10K. Let’s keep this one restrained pace-wise
3. If doing tempo style: 7 min, (2 min easy), 4 x 3:30 on, 1:30 off), (2 min easy), 7 min
4. If doing ATB this weekend! Taper workout: 2 x 800 @ race pace w 1:30 rest, 4 x 200 w full recovery – just relaxed and fast

 

Enjoy and see you on the roads!

 

xo

 

Seanna