Cats and dogs

Hi Everyone!

 

Wow, what a weekend in New York! We had a such a great crew down there running AND cheering! I love so much how this team goes and supports each other in these huge accomplishments. Racing and doing SO well on such a tough course we had: Elizabeth Gladney (BQ and 2nd Canadian in AG!), Madalyn Marcus (BQ and really sent it! 2nd Canadian in AG), Laura Gage (BQ and so flippin steady!!), Samantha Farrell (BQ and also steady eddy! Feel like you could’ve handled another few kms 😉 ), Amanda Bugatto (awesome run with a questionable hip – grittiest runner out there), Jordan Stewart (PB!! On that course!! And 3rd Canadian in AG), Carol McFarlane (BQ and SO strong! Winner of the happiest runner out there), Carolyn Steele Gray (BQ and 3rd Canadian in AG!)  Way to go all. That was huge. Take two weeks off and then listen to your bodies about coming back.

 

Speaking about bodies, that’s what I’ve been thinking about recently. Our bodies, how we inhabit them, and our relationships to them as we age. I love this passage by Ursula K Le Guin on how cats and dogs understand their bodies:

 

“Dogs don’t know what they look like. Dogs don’t even know what size they are. No doubt it’s our fault, for breeding them into such weird shapes and sizes. My brother’s dachshund, standing tall at eight inches, would attack a Great Dane in the full conviction that she could tear it apart. When a little dog is assaulting its ankles the big dog often stands there looking confused — “Should I eat it? Will it eat me? I am bigger than it, aren’t I?” But then the Great Dane will come and try to sit in your lap and mash you flat, under the impression that it is a Peke-a-poo.

 

Cats know exactly where they begin and end. When they walk slowly out the door that you are holding open for them, and pause, leaving their tail just an inch or two inside the door, they know it. They know you have to keep holding the door open. That is why their tail is there. It is a cat’s way of maintaining a relationship.

Housecats know that they are small, and that it matters. When a cat meets a threatening dog and can’t make either a horizontal or a vertical escape, it’ll suddenly triple its size, inflating itself into a sort of weird fur blowfish,and it may work, because the dog gets confused again — “I thought that was a cat. Aren’t I bigger than cats? Will it eat me?” “

Le Guin notes that many of us humans are like dogs – having no idea where our bodies begin and end in space and time. When we are children, we inhabit our bodies like cats – we ARE our bodies. But when we go through adolescence with so many changes, we can lose sense of who we are and there is a disconnect between what we see in the mirror and how we feel. Then she says this change happens again as we age.

When I think about this I think about how grateful I am that I am an athlete. Athletes inhabit our bodies like cats. We have learned to become aware of ourselves, and what we can do. We experience the world through the movement of our bodies. We are right there inhabiting them through all our changes and adaptations – as we grow and as we break down. Many people view their bodies as external casings – to be shaped and perfected and beautified and controlled.They are separate from their bodies and I think therefore can be pretty hard on them. As an athlete, my body is home. It is me. I really took this in the other day as I ran down a ravine path, navigating around all the walkers, feeling the heat being generated by my body juxtaposed against the cool air hitting my skin. That is when I feel like me – experiencing all the sensations that come with movement. My body looks the way it looks because it reflects the patterns of my life. Massage therapists can still tell which hip I carried my babies on when they were little because my body formed around them on one side. I’m not encouraging wrinkles, but I accept them as signs of “having been there”. I move differently now than I did in my 20’s – not always slower, but the patterns are different. It’s a different pace with the emphasis in different areas. I am working with my body and its needs – not fighting it. I don’t think you can intellectualize your way into thinking of yourself like this. I think you have to really experience inhabiting your body as an athlete does. That’s why I will continue to move and think and train like an athlete even as I age into an old lady. So I don’t suddenly feel like a stranger to myself, and like a large dog,one day try to curl up in a box that is half my size.

On to tomorrow’s workout! Back to hills! Pottery Rd for Western East-enders, Beaches  for Beachers.

 

These will be the bread and butter of our base season. Lots of great strength building and we can just go the pace that our bodies are feeling at the time. Tomorrow is going to be cold, so we should start out gently. Let’s do up to 6 long and 4 short. Up to = you can do less!

I will aim to be at Pottery around 6:15. Just a reminder – if you’re in the Beach you can meet up with that crew, and if Pottery is your closest hill just start doing them when you get there – we don’t have an official start time for these.

See you in the am!

 

xo

 

Seanna

Growth mindset

Hi Everyone!

 

As far as I know only one person raced this past weekend –Shauna C and her daughter Tegan raced the Day of the Dead 9K! (and I only found out bc of a random conversation – you guys need to tell me when you race so we can all celebrate you!!!) Racing is hard and we all want to feel part of each others efforts. Way to go!

 

Recently I’ve been revisiting Carol Dwek’s work on Mindset. I know we circulated this book and have talked about it before. I think this is one that is important to keep revisiting, because it is so easy to keep slipping into a fixed mindset even when we started with a growth mindset. In fact, most of us start things with a growth mindset. This is what is sometimes called “the beginner’s mind”. It is the belief that we have potential and abilities which are as yet unknown but to be discovered through challenge and exploration. And the discovering and uncovering of potential is enjoyable work, with failures along the way being just signals of learning. However, what happens to many of us is that we fall into a “fixed mindset”. This is the belief that our characteristics and abilities are innate and predetermined. We are who we are. With this mindset we feel compelled to prove ourselves over and over, and every challenge becomes a potentially fearful event where we might not live up to what we believe are our fixed qualities.

 

We take these beliefs to all areas of our lives: work,school, sports, and even relationships. In all of these areas, having a fixed mindset pushes us away from challenge and growth, and towards seeking out safe scenarios where we can reinforce our beliefs about ourselves. I think I’m in the majority of people for sometimes slipping back and forth between these two mindsets, and having to remind myself to remain in a growth mode. Success, particularly early or quick success, can nudge us towards a fixed mindset. I am “fast” or “talented”or “should be able to run … X”.  This is not to be confused with confidence. Confidence is a feeling that you are in control. It is looking forward to the experience and believing you can handle the challenge instead of trying to prove what you think you know about yourself.I’ve noticed that the races for which I’m the most nervous are the ones where I’m feeling insecure and feel I need to prove my version of myself as a runner. To whom I’m not sure, but that’s the feeling. Whereas other times I can show up with an open mind, ready for effort, and excited to see how I can challenge myself and what I can learn on the day. Failure is an option, and it doesn’t change how I view myself. It means maybe I tried something that didn’t work,and becomes information for the next time. This is the mindset that keeps us coming back, keeps us engaged and most importantly, keeps us happy.

 

Two classic sporting examples of fixed and growth mindset are John Mcenroe and Michael Jordan. Mcenroe exemplified the fixed mindset. He believed he was innately talented and expected himself to win. He famously hated playing though. Games were only opportunities for his belief about himself to be disproven, and so they were emotionally fraught and he could not handle orl earn from mistakes. He also did not want to look like he was working hard for his success. His identity hinged on the fact that he was a “natural” and any setback was a big threat to his identity.  Michael Jordan was an exemplar of the growth mindset. He truly believed that he was only good because of practice and a willingness to fail. He loved playing the game. Every game was an opportunity to take risks and learn something new.

 

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed.I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”– Michael Jordan

 

“I can’t speak for other people, but I still hate losing. When I did lose, I found it easier to yell than to cry. Guys aren’t supposed to cry, are they?” – John McEnroe

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

 

1.    NYC Marathoners!!! Taper time!!! 1 mile @ race pace, 2-3 min rest. 2 x 400 a lil quicker (w 60-90 seconds)

2.    Hamilton Half Marathoners: as above, but finish with 5 x 400

3.    Everyone else: Do the taper workout with marathoners to support them. Then a little social “finisher” into the beach.4-5 x 2 min On w 1 min Off.

 

That is all – see you in the am!

 

xo

 

Seanna

Experience!

Hey Gang!

 

Huge congrats to Mike Greenberg who ran the Niagara Marathon in a PB of 2:55! It was a windy day and not perfect conditions, so all the more impressive. Coming up, we have the Hamilton Half and the NYC Marathon in two weekends! This week is the last little push with some intensity, but taking the volume down. People who have done their fall races or are training to train,let’s bring our energy to get this crew to the start line ready to go!

 

What I’ve been thinking about recently is experience.Experience as it relates to aging in a way. There is really no way to go through life without accumulating experience, and there is no way to become experienced in things without the process of time. We eventually become a compilation of our experiences. I read this quote recently and it resonated: “a person is less like a star, whose very chemistry, the source of its light,changes profoundly over its life-cycle, and more like a planet, like this planet, whose landscape changes over the ages but is always shaped by the geologic strata layered beneath, encoding everything the planet has been since its birth.” – Maria Popova.

 

I like the dichotomy of this as it applies to getting older.Yes, as we age our muscles become less powerful, our tendons less springy, our joints more creaky. It takes us longer to recover from efforts which aren’t quite as fast as they once were. But we have behind us and are still laying down layers of experience. Marathons can really highlight this dichotomy. It is not always the fastest person in workouts nor the person with the highest VO2max or even the person who has strung together the most impressive training cycle who comes out on top. Often it is the person with more experience – whose mind and body know what to expect and how to react to it –who does well. This is not something you can read about to learn – it must be experienced.

 

I was chatting with a friend about the funny phenomenon that once someone breaks a certain barrier (a time barrier in running for example),it is much easier for them to do it again. It’s because their body and mind have carved the path. They’ve been there. They can’t intellectualize it, but they know how to do it. And often they can do it again, even when their training doesn’t indicate that they could.

 

I’ve mentioned this anecdote before but it’s worth mentioning again. When world renowned coach Renato Canova was asked why his world record athlete in the steeplechase wasn’t doing as high mileage as he once had, he responded that he had already developed that system as far as it could take him. He could now count on it, and focus on developing other areas. What I take from that is that the training that we are doing when we are building, is not the training we have to keep doing in order to maintain. And this applies over a life cycle of training. How we trained in our 20’s is not how we should be training in our50’s and beyond, and this does not mean we’re doing it worse. It means we are relying more on our experience and wisdom, and less on our ability to pile on more and more work. And guess what – we may land on very similar results for the effort. And you know what else? We deserve it. There are advantages to getting older and accumulating experience. So to those with a fair bit of experience: take confidence in that. You don’t have to replicate the training you did in order to get there. And to those still accumulating experience:accept the process. Every race becomes a data point and a foundational layer onto which the next ones will be built.

 

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

 

1.    1.5 miles @ Marathon pace (3 straightaways), 3min rest, 1 mile @ HMP, 2 min rest, 800m @ 10K pace, 1:45 rest, 600m @ 5K pace,1:30 rest, 400 @ a lil faster, 1:15 rest, 200 light and quick. Yes, this is not un-similar to what people training for Hamilton did last week – this week you’ll just do it with more company.

(So it looks like: 3 laps, 2 laps, 1 lap, 600, 400, 200. It will make sense when we get there.)

 

2.    If still recovering and coming back from having raced, feel it out. Start at Marathon Pace, and if your legs don’t want to go faster, stay there.

 

 

 

That is all – see you in the a.m.!

 

xo

 

Seanna

Inspiration

Hi Everyone!

 

Wow – where to begin. I’ll start with what I left out last week: Anna Dowse ran a 100 MILE race in just over 24 hours! Then on Sunday in the TCS races, in the 5K we had Pearce (4th in age-group and PB with a sub-17), Kerry (2nd in age-group), and Erin (1st in age-group!) In the Half Marathon we had Colette (PB!), Lyndsay (4th in age-group and PB!), Elese (PB!), Zoe (2nd in age-group) and Sean! In the marathon we had Roz Salter and Chris Fortin – both had tough days out there but went for it. We loved cheering for you and man … the marathon!!! And also in the marathon Andrew Higgs was guiding a visually impaired athlete through halfway to try to reach his sub-3goal (he just missed it but he went through halfway on target!)

 

We are in the thick of race season, and it is here that I become a superfan of others. Of people I know, people I don’t know, elites whose glory or heartbreak stories I read, of people going through hard times and running to prove something to themselves, of people supporting others through their training and races, of people smiling through the pain and tears as they continue on past the 39K mark to the finish … The word I keep coming back to is– Inspiration. Man, people inspire me.

 

The definition of Inspiration is “the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something”. What is so powerful about this is that we witness these struggles and accomplishments and we think – “that could be me”. I am currently coaching the York cross-country team. The thing about cross-country is that it is a team sport. Every finishing place gets added to the team score, and the lowest score wins. The top 5 count, and the 6th and 7th runners can pass runners on other teams to give them a higher score. So every effort counts. I have them practicing running together in workouts, so that in races they have the confidence to stick together. I tell them: when you are hurting but you push a little more, you are pulling up your teammate who knows s/he can run with you. And then, they might take a turn when you’re feeling weak. This is why you see some teams becoming dominant. They are not a group of individually strong athletes as much as they are mutually inspiring and pulling each other up. They have the confidence to stick with each other and the desire to pull each other forward. When they see a teammate make a breakthrough they don’t think “ugh, they’re better than me”, they think “I can do that too”.

 

As I said, I am drawing my own confidence and inspiration from those around me – many of whom I consider part of my team. Thank-you all for that – we are pulling each other forward, and in more ways than just in athletic pursuits. Y’all inspire me greatly.

 

 

On to tomorrow’s workout! Let’s do one last hill/tempo combo for our NYC friends. If you’re racing Hamilton I’ll give you something flat and different. Everyone else, Pottery Rd or a 400m similar hill:

 

1.    2 x Hill right into 4 min faster tempo. Repeat 3 times. I know no hills in NYC will be as big as that, but we’re callousing your legs to the feeling of turning over when they’re ‘hill-fatigued’. Again. And again.

2.    Hamilton racers: how about a nice cut-down wrkt. 2K, 1.5K, 1K, 800, 600, 400 – getting faster as you go. Start at HM race pace for the first 2 sets and then work down. Rests 3 mins, 2 mins, 90 sec, 90 sec,1:15

3.    Training to train: just Pottery hills, no tempo

 

xo

 

Seanna

Always learning

Hi Everyone!

 

Huge congrats to all who raced this weekend! Andrew Higgs in the Chicago 5K who raced into crazy winds and flying blind bc there is no gps signal there, and matched his time from the track. I think that’s worth about 10-15 seconds. And then in the marathon! We had myself (BQ), Steph (BQ), Miguel (BQ)and Clare (BQ and PB). We all ran super strong races. And I’m reminded once again that the marathon really is a celebration of all the training we’ve done and that getting to the starting line in one piece ready to go is a victory in itself.

 

Having just run my first marathon in 4 years, I thought I’d reflect on and share things I thought I did well, and things I could learn from and improve on in case they resonate for anyone else.

 

Things I could learn from and improve on:

 

·     My mindset in the weeks leading up to the race. I kept reminding myself that I was older and therefore should be slower than I had been in the past. I tell my athletes that fatigue during this period is what it’s all about and that work is work, but I had a hard time buying into that myself and talked myself out of going for an A goal. What I forgot is that older also means wiser. One time when I was in my 20’s I ran the Chicago marathon and PB’d through the half and broke down at 30K. I was faster then, but I am smarter now. Also, many women in my age group ran faster than me, and a handful in the group ahead of me did too! So I will try to keep looking ahead and getting smarter, and learning from those who are blazing the path.

·     The comparison trap. I kept looking at past workouts I’d done to map the times I was running currently on top of them,forgetting that every training cycle is unique, and I bring different strengths to each one. Also every training cycle we go through becomes a bedrock layer onto which the next ones are built. So you really can’t compare. Just do what you can in the moment.

 

Things I did well:

 

·     Taper. Tapering is one of my great strengths. Lol. It does feel hard to rest completely after running has become such a part of your every day existence, and it does actually take some will power and doesn’t always feel great. But man, does it make a difference to show up rested. Less is sometimes way more!

·     Nutrition. I took more gels than I ever have in a marathon (7) and sports drink at every station. Energy was never my problem in this race – I felt topped up right till the end.

·     My mindset on race day. My self talk throughout the race was entirely positive, engaged, and optimistic. Sometimes you have to work for that mindset, and sometimes it shows up. I credit surrounding myself with great, positive people before the race, and also the fact that there was no gps signal and I couldn’t find the pacers, so I just ran by feel. No pressure, and no constant reminders telling me my pace. So I just kept telling myself I was doing great and it worked out. I also really enjoyed it and had a lot of fun. Yes, it helped that conditions were perfect and the crowds all the way through were spectacular. So the mindset flowed more easily. But now, knowing what I want it to be, hopefully I’ll be able to get back there even when the external circumstances aren’t as ideal.

 

So that’s it. Sorry to make this one all about me. But I do think regardless of the times we run, we are always learning, and why learn something and not share it. We are all only getting older and wiser – a true gift.

 

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

 

1.    2 x 1 mile w 1 min rest. Start at marathon race pace, and move into half marathon race pace for the second one. 2 min rest.Then 4 x 800m w 1:15. Closer to 10K pace. If you can work down to 5K pace for the last one, amazing. If not, just keep a good rhythm.

2.    If racing the TCS Full or Half this weekend:Taper workout! I’ll give you what we did before Chicago bc it seemed to do the trick: 1 mile at race pace, 2 x 400 a lil quicker. If doing the half, you can do up to 4 x 400 if feeling good. (you don’t need quite as much rest as the full marathoners)

3.    If racing the TCS 5K: 4 x 400 w 1:15 rest @ race pace. 3 min rest. 4-6 x 200 faster w 1 min rest.

 

That is all – see you in the am! (I’ll be cheering – might have to ride my bike there lol)

 

xo

 

Seanna

Supporting

Hi Everyone!

 

Huge congrats to Jason who ran the Petit Train du Nord Marathon on Sunday! Sounds like it was a bit of a rough day as we know can very easily happen in races, but he persevered and toughed it out in tough conditions. Speaking of conditions, the Minnesota marathon on the same day was canceled due to high heat. In October! I think heat training should just become a staple part of marathon training going forward.

 

I watched an interview recently of a man who had survived an accident where he’d received 3rd degree burns to 90% of his body. Horrific, but he had come through it and had a very positive outlook. When asked why he thought he’d survived and recovered so well, he said it was because of the love and support he’d received from friends and family. His parents were by his side every single day for 4 months, his sister and brother in-law were there, his friends from all over had sent cards and signs that filled up his room. At one point he had a roommate with similar burns. That man’s mother came in once, berated him for bringing this upon himself, and left. That man didn’t survive. You might think: your body doesn’t know there is a loved one in the room and cards on the wall when it’s trying to heal. But the interviewee believed, and I agree,that there is a definite physical benefit to feeling loved and having a support system.

 

When we are training hard, doing what we love, but also challenging ourselves physically and mentally, we are not doing it in isolation. I think it’s important every now and then to recognize our support teams and thank them for their role in our journeys. I also recognize that we ourselves make up a significant part of other peoples’ support teams. I credit this crew with much of my ability to thrive in this sport. Again, support is not about physically assisting. It’s just being on your side – having your back and wanting the best for you. It could be making you a sandwich or smoothie after your run, but it could also show up as simply as asking “how was your run?” It’s caring. And it makes a difference. That’s why there is strength in teams, friend groups, family units, … we don’t thrive in isolation. If you’re wondering whether to make the time to send the note, make the phone call, or even send a facebook message to a loved one, know that it does make a difference. And remember to thank your support team at some point along this journey too – they may not know how important they are. I’ll go first: thank you all for caring, loving and supporting myself and each other. We are all stronger for it.

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

 

1.    Let’s do 3 sets of 4 x 400m. First set with 1 min rest. Second and Third sets with 90 sec rest (so they can be a second or two faster). 3 minutes between sets.

2.    Marathoners and Half Marathoners, finish with 1 mile (between tempo and marathon race pace depending how the legs feelafter the 400’s)

3.    Ppl running Chicago: 1 mile at race pace,2 x 400 a lil’ quicker.

 

 

That is all – see you in the am!

 

xo

Seanna

 

Choosing your chisel

Hey Gang!

 

Happy September and Back-to-School and X-Country! Yes, that’sall the same season and will represent those things for me forever whether Iparticipate in them or not. There is a bit of melancholy that sometimes comeswith change, but there is also an energy – particularly with this specificseason change. I often tend to get butterflies of excitement in the fall, evenwhen I can’t pinpoint the source. 

The summer generally represents fun, less structure, relaxing,playing it by ear… many people thrive on this. I think it’s a good mode to get into at times. I can definitely lean into sloppy, chill, go with the flow mode.But then September brings a vibe of “tightening up” and I don’t mind this transition either. More structure, more predictability. And yes, it’s often busier. So now is a great time to set up systems which can help us manage everything we want to get done.

Many of us are experiencing various changes this season,with kids in new routines, maybe some or all kids have left the house,workplace energy shifts, the starting of different roles at work, etc… And of COURSE we still have our training goals and objectives. Summertime is not a time for rigid schedules and routines – that defeats the purpose and we would be zero fun. But now that things need to get done and multiple objectives need to be met, it’s a good time to find some systems that work for us and which we can fall back on so we don’t lose our minds.

Some examples of systems that provide structure and help get shit done:

Run early in the mornings, show up to Wednesday workouts(whether you just get mileage in or join the workout), run commute two days a week, plan at least three dinners for the week on the weekends, have certain days that certain people in the house cook, pay a high school kid to pickup/drop off your younger kids from school/activities, share carpooling with other parents, join a gym that is close to you (I’ve learned that pretty much all that matters in a gym is proximity to you), hire someone to deep clean your house once a month so it isn’t constant background stress, pay your bills on every x day of the month, hire a tutor if homework is a nightmare, be set up to make a smoothie with protein every morning, pre-set your coffee machine the night before a morning run, meet the group for a weekend long run in the morning even though it’s the weekend, … you get the picture. Whatever your barriers tend to be, or whatever tends to get you running around like a chicken with its head cut off: create a system for that.

This might take some time because as most of us are in the midst of some sort of change, we may not yet know what we need or what our stumbling blocks will be. I’ve also noticed that many of the things on the list above require other people’s help and support. This is a key part of the system! Know when you can’t do it alone and ask for help or outsource the task completely.That is OK! Just set up the expectations and put the system in place. We got this team – good luck on a new season everyone!!!

 

(On this note, one of my new systems is this newsletter format. Turns out gmail had identified me as spam, so my emails weren’t getting through. Trying this out as a new system which should save me some time. Hope it works for y’all!)

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

1.    Let’s roll back to our standard 800’s. 6-8 of them with 1:30 rest. This is a good check in workout and gives options of leaning in or back depending on how you feel.

2.    If you are still working on developing multiple gears for different paces, do the 600 of the 800’s. You will build up to doing 800 at that same pace. But start here.

3.    At any time you can do a 600 of any of the 800’s if you need a tiny breather.

4.    People running the Georgina 10K, 5-6 x600 @ 10K pace.

5.    People running the Georgina 5K and the TrackSmith 5000: 4 x 400 w 1:15, 3 min set rest, then 4 x 200 w 1:00

 

That is all – see you in the am!

xo

Seanna

Regrouping

Hi Everyone!

 

For races this past weekend we had Carol McFarlane who did the Barrelman Half Ironman and crushed it as a “training through” for NYC effort! Way to go. I think everyone else is training hard and there were some solid long runs completed over the weekend. Excellent job everyone! For people training for fall marathons, we’re really in it right now and it’s ok if you feel tired and it feels hard. That means you’re doing it right and are on track.

 

Along that vein, the theme I’ve been thinking about this week is the concept of regrouping. I believe the term comes from a military definition of pulling troops together after they’ve been dispersed in an attack.It’s pulling them all back to start again from a place of strength. It’s a reset of sorts, with all your resources coming back together so you can push on.

 

I think of regrouping in running in a few ways. One is the obvious– pausing and finding the people you started with mid-run or mid-workout. It’s natural to get dispersed throughout an effort, and as we’ve discussed before,there is clear energy to be found in other peoples’ presence, so pausing and physically regrouping can help to reset that energy.

 

The other way I’ve lately been thinking about it, is in personally regrouping. Like sometimes in the middle of a hard training block, or a hard effort, we need to pause, take a deep breath, rally our mental, emotional and physical resources and reset. I recently just did this during one of my ‘peak’ training weeks. I just needed a little slack, so I paused the effort for a couple of days, pulled myself together, and then got back out there. Regrouping might take a little longer than a couple of days – depending on your situation.But most importantly, it doesn’t mean you’re stopping. You’re just rallying your resources and taking a breath so that you can keep going. In the middle of last spring’s London Marathon, Sifan Hassan stopped running and stretched out her quad. She lost the pack she’d been running with and then resumed on her own. Then she went on to win the whole thing.  She paused, regrouped, and continued on. It is clearly often in our own best interests to do this when we need to. Sometimes I regroup within a race or workout just by pausing the “pushing it” feeling, and allowing myself to relax for a few minutes. I often find I can take a few breaths and then resume the effort without noticeably losing much ground. So if you’re in the middle of a hard block and need a little pause to regroup, go for  it. You are not quitting or stopping – you’re rallying all of your resources so you can pull together your best effort. I think it’s a winning strategy.

 

On to tomorrow’s workout! We are dividing up here:

 

1.    People who are running the New York Marathon have hills on tap. I think a little mix of hills and tempo is good here. Let’s do sets of: 2 x Pottery (or 400m) hill, 3 min tempo. Not a super long tempo –just getting you in the habit of resuming your running post hill effort. Take 1min bw the hills and tempo, and just cruise easy back down the hill once you’re done the tempo. 3-4 sets is probably the number.

2.    People running Chicago or TCS (or other) full or half, we’ll do 600’s on Lakeshore. Many of us have longer work in our legs so this is a way to get a bit more pep and smoother rhythm back. 6-8 of them with 1:15 rest.

The purpose here is to run smooth, relaxed,and faster than race pace. But smooth and relaxed are the primary objectives. If that feeling isn’t there, slow them down. This is about a feel more than an objective time measure.

3.    If you’re running 5K’s, you can push a little harder in these (you have fresher legs than the rest of us). 5K effort/pace is a good target.

4.    If you’re not sure what you want to do, come out, do some drills, see how your body feels, and if it’s 2 reps or just a run and cheer, do that!

 

That is all – see you in the am!

 

Xo

 

Seanna

 

The power of self compassion

Hey Gang!

 

So many races this past weekend! Exciting stuff from our crew. Both Pearce and Andrew H ran the TrackSmith 5000 on Saturday in the fastest heat of the night! Both PB’s and both have more to come. As Pearce noted, racing is a skill, and it doesn’t just correlate automatically with workouts. You just have to learn it by doing it. At Georgina we had Kerry also doing a 5K, and Cindy who ran a PB and came 2nd overall in the 10K! In the Half Marathon we had a few of us doing it as training runs for our marathons, but still some solid runs! Myself, Clare, Carolyn, and Jason. Way to go crew – inspiring runs all around.

 

I’ve spoken about the topic of self-compassion before, but I’ve been learning a little more about it, and it’s been an idea that’s been resonating with me lately. Doesn’t it feel so good when you talk to a friend and they treat you and your problems with such compassion that you come away feeling better about yourself and more confident and like you can now bravely face everything? These friends are the best. Imagine the power and confidence you’d have if you could carry a voice like that around with you all the time.That’s what self-compassion is about. It’s about learning how to be that friend to yourself.

 

Old school mentality might say that self-compassion is soft,and what you actually need is some toughening up. David Doggins style: “Get out there loser!”, “No pain, no gain!”, “If you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse!” This may work for some people some of the time (although I don’t think it comes from a healthy place nor does it work longterm), but studies show that people who are more self-compassionate are actually higher performers in all areas. It turns out that having a friend in your corner is away bigger performance booster than having a bully. So what does self-compassion look like? It’s not letting yourself off the hook. It’s reminding yourself that you’re human, you have landed in a certain situation, and you are doing the best that you can. And that you will make mistakes because absolutely no one doesn’t, and that you’ll learn and grow from each one. It’s a voice that says “you’re doing great – keep going” instead of “you’ll never be good enough”. It says “you did your best and there were a lot of reasons why anyone would have struggled where you did” instead of “you’re a failure”. It doesn’t say “you don’t need this – go back to sleep”, it says “I love you and I believe in you and you will never fail in my eyes”. It’s what we try to give our friends and our kids to carry around with them because we believe with all our hearts it’s true. If we can give ourselves that same reflection, and the voice in our heads is truly our best friend, we can become tremendously powerful. I love you, and I believe in you.

On to tomorrow’s workout! Let’s do a fartlek on the spit.We’ll meet at Lakeshore and Leslie at 6:05 for drills, 6:15 GO, but run into the spit for the workout portion. Bring lights if you have them although it should be ok visibility by the time we start.

 

1.    5 min tempo, 2 min easy, 3-2-1 min ON, 1min OFF. 3 min easy and repeat. THEN finish with your choice of either 5, 3, 2or 1 min as the final “set”.

 

If you just raced a 5K or need a little less intensity,keep them all tempo pace. This is one of those workouts where you can tap into your current energy situation and go by feel.

 

That is all – see you in the am!

 

xo

 

Seanna

Setting up our systems

Hey Gang!

 

Happy September and Back-to-School and X-Country! Yes, that’sall the same season and will represent those things for me forever whether Iparticipate in them or not. There is a bit of melancholy that sometimes comeswith change, but there is also an energy – particularly with this specificseason change. I often tend to get butterflies of excitement in the fall, evenwhen I can’t pinpoint the source. 

The summer generally represents fun, less structure, relaxing,playing it by ear… many people thrive on this. I think it’s a good mode to get into at times. I can definitely lean into sloppy, chill, go with the flow mode.But then September brings a vibe of “tightening up” and I don’t mind this transition either. More structure, more predictability. And yes, it’s often busier. So now is a great time to set up systems which can help us manage everything we want to get done.

Many of us are experiencing various changes this season,with kids in new routines, maybe some or all kids have left the house,workplace energy shifts, the starting of different roles at work, etc… And of COURSE we still have our training goals and objectives. Summertime is not a time for rigid schedules and routines – that defeats the purpose and we would be zero fun. But now that things need to get done and multiple objectives need to be met, it’s a good time to find some systems that work for us and which we can fall back on so we don’t lose our minds.

Some examples of systems that provide structure and help get shit done:

Run early in the mornings, show up to Wednesday workouts(whether you just get mileage in or join the workout), run commute two days a week, plan at least three dinners for the week on the weekends, have certain days that certain people in the house cook, pay a high school kid to pickup/drop off your younger kids from school/activities, share carpooling with other parents, join a gym that is close to you (I’ve learned that pretty much all that matters in a gym is proximity to you), hire someone to deep clean your house once a month so it isn’t constant background stress, pay your bills on every x day of the month, hire a tutor if homework is a nightmare, be set up to make a smoothie with protein every morning, pre-set your coffee machine the night before a morning run, meet the group for a weekend long run in the morning even though it’s the weekend, … you get the picture. Whatever your barriers tend to be, or whatever tends to get you running around like a chicken with its head cut off: create a system for that.

This might take some time because as most of us are in the midst of some sort of change, we may not yet know what we need or what our stumbling blocks will be. I’ve also noticed that many of the things on the list above require other people’s help and support. This is a key part of the system! Know when you can’t do it alone and ask for help or outsource the task completely.That is OK! Just set up the expectations and put the system in place. We got this team – good luck on a new season everyone!!!

 

(On this note, one of my new systems is this newsletter format. Turns out gmail had identified me as spam, so my emails weren’t getting through. Trying this out as a new system which should save me some time. Hope it works for y’all!)

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

1.    Let’s roll back to our standard 800’s. 6-8 of them with 1:30 rest. This is a good check in workout and gives options of leaning in or back depending on how you feel.

2.    If you are still working on developing multiple gears for different paces, do the 600 of the 800’s. You will build up to doing 800 at that same pace. But start here.

3.    At any time you can do a 600 of any of the 800’s if you need a tiny breather.

4.    People running the Georgina 10K, 5-6 x600 @ 10K pace.

5.    People running the Georgina 5K and the TrackSmith 5000: 4 x 400 w 1:15, 3 min set rest, then 4 x 200 w 1:00

 

That is all – see you in the am!

xo

Seanna