I’m suddenly feeling insecure about my ability to reach my racing goal in four weeks (1:21 in the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Half Marathon). Normally I’m pretty confident with my training and the effort I’ve put in, but I’ve had a few set-backs which have made me start to doubt myself.

The first was a required change of “tempo” pace from what was prescribed by my coach. My tempo pace turned out to be my flat out 5 km racing pace, so once the runs got longer than that distance it was not a pretty sight. We ended up revising my tempo pace to something more manageable, but they still feel tough – I guess they’re supposed to.

The second confidence buster was a completely failed attempt at a quality long run the other week. I was supposed to run a portion of my long run at my revised tempo pace and then move onto race pace. Then I was supposed to go “hard”. I made it two-thirds of the way through the tempo before bonking and calling it quits. I barely made it home and just managed to limp into a Starbucks at the bottom of my street where the barista took one look at me and immediately said “Water?” I could have kissed him. Refueled with ice water I was able to drag myself the final two blocks home.

Thank-you Starbucks!

Because of that fiasco, I decided I needed to run a race to see where I really was fitness-wise. I found a local 10K for the next weekend and registered. The race felt good. I ran almost solo the whole way and finished in 37:29 – a time I was very happy with given the effort I felt I’d put in. Then, after noticing a discrepancy between the 10 km distance and what my GPS watch said I’d run, and after speaking with some other top finishers, it was generally agreed upon that the course was about 400 m short. Ack! One time in my life I’ve run a 400 m in about 65 seconds, but I think it’s safe to assume I should add a little more than that to my 10 km time. Suddenly my “time” was a confidence buster.

10K Results
Place – 1 Top Fin
Name – Seanna Robinson
Gender – F
Bib No – 12
Chip Time – 37:29.6
Gun Time – 37:29.6
Actual 10K time – sub-39???

Then, in my last two workouts I made slight modifications at the end because I was physically incapable of keeping up the pace. I turned longer intervals into a few shorter ones at the same pace in order to continue putting one foot in front of the other. Good enough? I doubt it.

Finally, I’ve been advised by my coach that my mileage is too low. Granted, I haven’t been focusing on overall weekly mileage as I’ve been trying (and failing) to hit my times. I wonder if I can count running 800 m to my kids’ school three days a week (average number of days I’m late) dragging along a bike on training wheels as extra mileage? Probably not.

Now for the good news: I still have four weeks to pull it all together. Time to pull up the bootstraps and get down to business. No more wimping out part-way through workouts, no more excuses, and no more making up my own workouts on the fly. This is why I have a coach! Time to trust her, put my head down and get ‘er done. I will not modify my goal or listen to my self-doubts. Time to see what I can do!

Every now and then in my running and training, I like to compare myself to elite athletes. I like to see how far and fast they run in training, just to put my little regime in perspective. I’m fascinated by the amount of running some of them can do and I love looking at weekly or monthly training schedules. Usually I find inspiration in their mileage and running work-load. However, there are a few stories which I’ve come across which inspire me for other reasons and make me believe that my lifestyle habits are no excuse for poor performances. Here are some of my favourites:

Toshihiko Seko.

Toshihiko Seko

Between 1978 and 1986, Toshihiko Seko won the Fukuoka, Boston, London and Chicago marathons, and set records in the 25 km and 30 km distances which stood for 30 years. He was renowned for running high mileage, averaging a marathon distance a day and getting as high as 50 miles in a day. However, what I find fascinating about Seko was his beer drinking. According to the book Running with the Legends, he often ran so much in a day that his stomach would be upset so he couldn’t eat. Instead he would drink up to 10 beers for dinner! Are you kidding me? He didn’t one time drink 10 beers – he often did it in the middle of his heavy training weeks! No longer will I feel guilty when I have an extra pint when out with friends. Nor will I feel sorry for myself when doing a long run the next day!

Bill Rogers.

Bill Rogers – 1980 New York Marathon

Rogers was a dominant marathoner in the 1970’s. He won the New York Marathon and Boston Marathon four times each. He ran 59 marathons in his career, 28 of them in a time under 2:15. And according to an article from People from 1978, his diet was atrocious. His diet was “made up of large amounts of milk, soda and fruit juice, plus such junk foods as chocolate-chip cookies, olives, pickles, Fritos, ketchup, horseradish, tartar sauce, potato chips and various dips involving quarts of mayonnaise.” I’m no purist when it comes to eating, but I think I would have a very hard time trying to eat that badly. No longer will I feel guilty about the odd chips and cookies in my diet!

Priscilla Welch.

Priscilla Welch

Priscilla Welch was a 35 year-old out of shape pack-a-day smoker in 1979. That was when she met her husband who wanted to coach her to run a marathon. She took on the challenge and four years later made the British Olympic team. She went on to run many masters’ world record times for the marathon including a 2:26 in London. What I take from this story is that I can never let myself feel like I’ve wasted potential or gotten left behind with missing some years of training. Obviously you can start from pretty much anywhere and become great!

Roger Bannister.

Roger Bannister

Roger Bannister was the first person to run under 4 minutes for the mile, which he did in 1954. What I love about Bannister’s story is that although he placed a big importance on running, it never consumed his life. He fit his training into his lunch hours while studying at medical school. Often he only had 30 minutes to train. This makes me believe that I can fit my best efforts into my life which has other priorities. If Bannister was able to break through what was believed to be the limits of human achievement during his lunch breaks, I’m sure I can find time in my busy days to make my own small improvements.

My take-away from all of these stories is there is no perfect model and there are no excuses. And that runners are some pretty crazy characters.

I love running. I know, it sounds so nerdy and cliche, but I really, really do. And like most things that I love, I want to share it with everyone who I care about. Actually, I even like sharing it with absolute strangers. However, I am aware that what works for me does not necessarily work for everyone, and that it can be annoying to have someone preaching to you all the time that you just HAVE to try something. So I wait for my moments.

About ten years ago, a perfect moment presented itself with my mother who was then in her early sixties. Although my mother is genetically athletic (and I believe has a lot of potential as a runner), running for the sake of running had never been her thing. She did sports “for fun”. In fact, this was one of her main sports throughout her university years:

(not an actual picture of my mother, but a picture of what she actually did)

My theory is that my mother never thought running sounded challenging enough. If it didn’t involve adrenaline and wasn’t a bit crazy, she wasn’t into it. Oh, and she had also been a pack-a-day smoker for decades, although she had recently given it up.

That summer ten years ago, a group of her colleagues said they were getting together to do the Run for the Cure 5K , and not being one to turn down an invitation in the moment, my mother signed on. It then dawned on her that she would likely have to train to complete this since she had never really run before. Luckily, she knew ME, a lifetime runner who is always trying to get people to join me in my passion. So she asked me for a training program to get her through the event. Oh, and as an added bonus, she signed my father up as well – also a newbie runner in his sixties.

I was SO excited to get them running I nearly burst. I think I even screamed: “This is going to be so much FUN! FUN, FUN, FUN!” in a high-pitched voice. I may have looked like this:

I wonder if they found that annoying?

Anyway, I went on to write them both a program which got them from walking to progressively more running. My dad did well, but I got the feeling he was just taking his medicine. My mother on the other hand seemed to get more out of it. She got a renewed sense of energy and well-being. Running seemed to “fit” her. I was so excited that I’d had a hand in creating a new runner in the world.

Both of my parents ended up running the 5K in under thirty minutes. It was a very rewarding accomplishment for all of us.

Then we all got busy, I had kids, jobs got demanding, and we forgot to set new goals. Now, it’s ten years later, and I’m making the hard pitch on my mother, now in her seventies, to do the event again (I’m leaving my dad alone for now – he’s gotten into bicycling so I’ll let him do that). I brought it up softly a few weeks ago, but have been following up consistently. Her responses have gone from vague “maybe’s” to more and more positive commitments. I’ve now presented her with a program which starts in a week and a half. My final strategy is my most brilliant: I’ve enlisted both of my sisters to run the event so she can run with all three of her daughters. Now THAT is a pitch no mother could turn down. Wish us luck and fun!

I recently traveled back to Maui – a special place for my husband and me as we’ve visited and lived there for various lengths of time starting back in 1999. My trips to Maui have occurred during various life stages – from aimless, wandering free spirit to responsible business person, wife and mom. However, one thing has remained constant throughout the years, and that is the 7 mile loop that I run when I’m there.

When I head out on that loop it is always like re-visiting my past with all of the memories of the runs I’ve done there over the years. Regardless of which way you run it, it’s about a 3 mile ascent with a 3 mile descent and one mile of rolling hills. The scenery varies constantly throughout the run, but the fascinating part is that none of it has changed one bit in fourteen years.

I start out by running a short stretch along the highway overlooking the surf before heading up a quiet road lined with trees.

This the most shaded part of the run. Although it’s uphill, it’s a nice way to ease into it. The wind is often at my back going up here as well.

Then I pass the old abandoned high school.

This marks the end of the shade and the paved road but that’s ok as it also signifies that I’m about two-thirds of the way to the mid-point. I can keep pushing as the the mid-point marks the beginning of a long downhill section.

As I run out of the cover of the trees onto a dirt road through the cane fields I now have a great view of the ocean.

I can recall times when I would stop to check the swell here to give an accurate report to my husband and his friends for the surf that day.

Then I make it to the end of the dirt road and the top of my climb and turn to let my legs cruise for three miles into town.

As I relax and run downhill, I’m reminded of my earlier visits here when I was in my early twenties. I now imagine myself running beside my younger self from then and try to compete against her. I wonder if I’m also racing myself from 10 years in the future doing the same loop?

I know I’m getting close to the bottom when I reach the sign for the town limits.

Signs of human activity become more abundant as I pass chickens and cats wandering through the streets.

Then I start to smell the familiar smells of breakfast cooking and I know I’m almost in the heart of the town.

It only takes about a minute to run through the town. Then it’s the final hilly mile home – not my favourite part, I’ll admit, but it’s only a mile.

THEN, my favourite part: the jump in the tide pool to relax and cool my legs.

It’s hard to top this run. I can and do run the exact same route every day without boredom. And when I return, whenever that may be, I’ll do it all again.

I know I’m supposed to do core work in order to prevent injury, maintain good running form and to help me to run longer and faster.  Sometimes more importantly to me (especially in the summer) I know I need to do it to look good.  A little can go a long way when it comes to ab strength and definition.  As my friends Andrea and Kate demonstrate in the video below, core work can be a very simple, yet powerful addition to a training program.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsGDYQyrnPY#at=11]

So why oh why can I not seem to consistently get it done??  I am so well disciplined in so many other areas (ok, maybe just one area –  getting my runs in, but I’m REALLY disciplined about that).  It should be so simple to add 5 minutes at the end of at least two or three runs a week to help out my poor core.  That’s two or three out of six runs I can choose from!  But somehow even though I completely buy into the concept and ease of doing it, core work remains to me like flossing – (another big confession) – I’ll do it when the mood strikes, and enough to kind of get by, but not nearly to the extent that I could or should.

Since I can offer no explanation as to why I don’t consistently do my core exercises, I will break-down my potential barriers and come up with solutions to overcome them.

Barrier:  Not enough time planned in after runs.  I run within very specific windows and tend to use the entire window to run and only run.

Solution:  Fight the urge to think that 5 extra minutes will kill me – or take it from somewhere else like blow-drying my hair.

Barrier:  Not invested enough in the outcome.  I believe in the benefits of core work, but it doesn’t seem to bring me any visibly closer to my goals.

Solution:  Convince myself that all my niggly injuries will disappear and that I have a big looming injury which I can prevent if I’m consistent with my exercises.

Barrier:  I have to think about doing it and make a conscious decision to do it every time.

Solution:  Create a pattern which will become as natural and automatic as running itself.  For example, 5 minutes at the end of Tuesday and Thursday easy runs.  No question.

Barrier:  Sheer laziness.

Solution:  Make rules for myself, such as I’m not allowed an evening beer unless I’ve done core work that day.

Okay, this is good!  I think I can do this.  Abs of steel, here I come …