Tuesday, July 1, 2025: Training and studying

Hey Gang!

Happy Canada Day! Hope everyone is taking a little breather somewhere at some point to just sit back and relax, enjoy, and celebrate – in whatever way works for you. It’s just good sometimes to pause and move away from your routine – even if your routine is great and works for you! And Happy Pride! Congrats to all who ran the Pride 5K this weekend – Anna Dowse, Rob Dunn and Bob Gazzle. And I believe Jeff Smith is running a Canada Day 5K today but I don’t have the results yet. Great job all!

Last week I went on a trip with some high school friends to celebrate our 50^th year. It was not a running trip. In fact, running was very difficult. I did it as much as I could, but I was forced to let go of any compulsions or goals or expectations. It was hot, hilly, and traffic was not very accommodative to runners. So I did what I could. A few days I ran 10K, then I ran shorter, and then I ran even shorter.  No workouts – just running was hard enough. And it seemed to get harder and harder. Every time out my watch lowered my V02max. It was getting harder, and I was getting worse. But I just told myself – work is work. If it feels hard, it’s giving me a stimulus, and that for the most part is what training is supposed to be.

Also last week my son wrote his last high school exam. He had studied hard, and although it wouldn’t make a big difference in the whole scheme of things, he was hoping it would bring one of his marks up a bit. He dedicated hours to studying, and just as he was looking over the exam before handing it in, a bomb threat was called to the school, the classroom was cleared, and the exam was voided. Frustrating and disappointing, yes. But as I said to him, the whole point was to learn the material. The mark was just a proxy for what had been learned. He is still going into first year university with the knowledge that he needs. That was the point.

It’s the same with training. What our watches are telling us are only valuable if we can keep in mind the bigger picture of what we are actually trying to achieve. Trying to “please” our watches is not the point, and workouts, like exams, are not the point. It doesn’t matter what you “achieve” in those if they are not leading you to acquire fitness or knowledge – whatever the case may be. When I got back from my trip, my runs suddenly felt easier, and it turned out I hadn’t lost, but possibly gained fitness, despite the bigger efforts for lesser outputs, and negative watch evaluations. I had known this would happen which was why I was accepting of the many difficult “bad” runs.  I try to tell people this before workouts where they might be getting anxious or keyed up: it’s just work. We are not trying to “achieve” anything here, other than to get some work in. This is the studying. If it’s hard, and you can complete it within the parameters, you’re doing it right. You know how you’re feeling, what conditions are like, what baggage you’re carrying into workouts – your watch knows none of that. So just remember that you’re always smarter than your watch, and pleasing it is not the point!!

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

Let’s do In and Out 400’s. These are continuous 400’s with the paces varying from medium hard to tempo. We have done these with 200’s before, but not with 400’s yet.

I’m thinking 6-8 of them (for a total of 12-16 400’s). 8-10K pace right into tempo and repeat. As always, this is a great strength builder that will creep up on us! Should be fun.

I am racing this evening so will be there to cheer in the a.m.

That is all – see you in the a.m.!

xo

Seanna