Hug a Race Director today

August 10, 2012

Part of this blog is my meeting with inspiring runners of all levels. In order to write about my races and those runners you compete against, I am introducing another related feature. The race director, those committed individuals who help us with our passion for running.
As a runner, you decide to enter a race so you,
-register for a race,
-pick up your kit,
-arrive at the race,
-run the race,
-get your medal,
-eat your food,
-talk about the race and go home and celebrate.
How did this race happen?
A Race Director has a vision.
He or she decides on the distance, course and then gets to work.
The following is a summary of the initial work required to allow you to have your fun.
After they decide on the route they
-speak with the city for road closures,
-arrange for police and transit for safety ,
-pay and arrange insurance,
-make arrangements for medics,
-hire an accurate timing company (cuz we know we need to know our time)
and then find volunteers, advertise the event, promote the race, design t-shirts and possible medals, determine and get food, hire massage staff, find and attract sponsors, find necessary portolets, arrange for water, food, did I mention volunteers.
The list becomes endless.
Combine the big city marathons and the RD has to meet with elite agents to bring in the elite men and women runners, arrange appearance fees and support staff to look after the elites needs.

Before I go off on a tangent to make you think of the work involved with the World Major Marathon events and the thousands or runners they attract , let’s think about the smaller local races and the dream of your Race Director (who loves running with a passion.)
Include your wife and family to become immersed in your passion and become a Race Director for 9 different races.
As part of your passion, you create a race or series of races that will involve road, trail and time trials for an event that you have embraced. Then your neighbours get involved with volunteering to help you out for 8 days in a row.
This is the ENDURrun, which is an 8 day 7 stage event covering 160 kilometers. Each event is The ‘Tour de France’ of Running Events
Not often is there a new event to the world’s stage of running. An event that will create and generate world-wide attention, excitement, interest, and competition. An event that will challenge you beyond your running goals and dreams. Join us 12-19 August 2012 for the 10th Annual ENDURrun International in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. held in a different location and are different distances.
http://www.endurrun.com/index.html

So this means, the Race Director has to mark out 7 different routes, arrange to have 7 different marshalled areas, time 7 different events, set up food and tents, not to mention preparing the food for at least 50 people, transporting it, feeding the 50 said participants, cleaning up, tearing down the course and transporting back to their house EVERY DAY from Saturday to Sunday.
Plus, the Race Directors have a social at their house on the Saturday for kit delivery and the following Saturday to socialize.

Enter Lloyd Schmidt, his wife Julie, their wonderful children (their husbands/girl/boyfriends as well as their neighbours and friends so that they become your family for the next 8 days. (This is only one of the 9 events they “run”)
One of these events will be my inspiration from August 11-August 19, 2012 as I participate in this my sixth year to become, once again, One Tough Runner.

I hope to report daily with my running with the winners at each stage.

Having trouble counting

August 9, 2012

As I have been catching bits of the coverage of the Olympic Games and hearing results and stories in the news, I have been considering all of the stories of great triumph, as well as the stories of bitter disappointment. While I am not going to pretend I know what it’s like to not finish an event at the Olympics, I do know a little bit about bitter disappointment – after all, I did DNF a marathon at the 30K mark. Well, that’s not entirely true – I stopped just short of the 30K timing mat.

I can honestly say that I am mostly over it – only one or two questions linger on, one of which is, how do you count it?

When talking with people and they ask, “how many marathons have you done?” I am left with a dilemma – and when you’re in this position, you notice people rarely say “how many marathons have you run,” it’s always, “how many have you done?”

Races covering the distance forty-two kilometres, one hundred ninety five metres, crossing a start line and a finish line and having the medal to prove it? Four. I have finished four marathons.

But races covering six months of dedication, training, rest, nutrition, injury, recovery, weird dreams, blisters, blood, sweat, tears, joy, GI discomfort, extreme heat, extreme cold, going to bed early, getting up early, being abstemious, being gluttonous, being completely and utterly absorbed with every fibre of my being? I’ve done that five times now.

Now don’t worry, I never answer the question “how many marathons have you done?” with five, because I haven’t finished five. Like earning a diploma or certification, you can’t say you’ve got it if you’re one credit short – either you’re certified or you’re not – and I don’t have a problem with that.

But at the same time, saying I have run four marathons seems to cheapen everything that went into that other marathon, which was every bit as much effort as the four I’ve finished. After all, I was 6 months and 30K into the race, with only 12.2K to go. But saying “I have finished four and dropped out of one” seems stupid – even as I type this it looks stupid. So suddenly that race is like Alan in the first “Hangover” movie – you can’t leave him behind, but you don’t really want him tagging along, either. Or the 4+1 bedrooms in the real estate listings – that +1 can’t be called a bedroom for some legal reason, but it’s there, by golly!

When I started writing this post, I was thinking, “The marathon I didn’t finish was my second, so I have completed three since then – get over it already.” But as the post unfolded, I realized, I am over it. I don’t feel the need to make it all complicated and awkward – after all, I can honestly say it isn’t so much an emotional hang up for me anymore. It was important to me at the time to mention that I had been through it all again; that crazy answer to a fairly simple question became more habit than logic.

So having said all that, I have a new answer: “I’ve finished four.” After all, I am not embarrassed to say I have a DNF in my history, and the story really comes in handy more than you might think. The people who need to will pick up on the strategic placement of the word “finished.”

When Mother Nature Floods Your Mizunos

Vicky and Grant

August 8, 2012

“Are you upset little friend? Have you been lying awake worrying? Well, don’t worry…I’m here. The flood waters will recede, the famine will end, the sun will shine tomorrow, and I will always be here to take care of you.” Charlie Brown to Snoopy

VICKY: I lost my Mizunos.

GRANT: And your treadmill.

VICKY: And my television, desk, bookshelf, workout mats and the list appears to go on and on at this point.

GRANT: That sucks Vickster. I’m really sorry to hear about the recent flooding in Binbrook, ON.

VICKY: Thanks G. Unfortunately, some of our neighbours were hit even harder than us. I know there are quite a few runners in my community. So, this got me thinking about what some runners do when a natural disaster strikes. How do they stay on track with their training program when in some cases, they don’t even have any running shoes left from the wreckage?

GRANT: What’s the verdict?

VICKY: Keep on running! Don’t let it stop you. Just use what you have at your disposal and keep moving.

GRANT: Yes but I’m sure it’s hard to do that when you are cleaning up and dealing with the insurance companies.

VICKY: Yes, it is. Fortunately, I have found some pretty inspiring runners out there who have helped me put it all into perspective. Do you remember that Chilean miner, Edison Peña?

GRANT: Yes, I do. He kept on running up to 6 miles each day while being trapped inside a mine for 69 days.

VICKY: Then, he went on to run and finish the New York City Marathon less than a month after being rescued from the mine! So many of us would have probably sunk into a deep depression after such a traumatizing ordeal but he kept on running and emerged as a true survivor.

GRANT: He’s amazing!

VICKY: Exactly. Then there’s Nadia MacLaren from Christchurch, New Zealand. She is a trail runner and triathlete who was training for the New Zealand Ironman when a 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck her community.

GRANT: Oh I remember this quake. They didn’t have any petrol, electricity, water, etc.

VICKY: Yes, but Nadia still went on to complete the New Zealand Ironman under 12 hours a mere 14 days after the earthquake!

GRANT: Are you kidding me?

VICKY: I am absolutely not kidding. Those are just two stories that have caught the attention of the media but I’m sure there are many more stories about runners surviving natural disasters.

GRANT: Running is such a great stress reliever and in some cases, it’s the best way of focusing on something other than the fact that you have lost everything.

VICKY: Of course the flood in my community was nothing compared to these disasters.

GRANT: No, it wasn’t but nonetheless, it doesn’t take much to sidetrack a runner’s training.

VICKY: Indeed. Ok, off I go to look for a new pair of Mizunos!

GRANT: You loved those Mizunos eh?

VICKY: I trained for and ran my first half marathon in those shoes 2 years ago in Ottawa. They were supposed to be a part of my running history…forever. They are what motivated me to start running again a few months ago on the treadmill. I would keep them at the bottom of the stairs in the basement and had this little routine going…until July 22, 2012 when they floated towards my treadmill to their poetic running death. I’m really upset about it.

GRANT: Well, if it’s any comfort, you were due for a new pair of shoes anyways. Two years is way beyond the lifespan of a running shoe for an avid runner such as yourself.

VICKY: Not helpful.

GRANT: Not even a little bit? Come on! You’re a woman, you love shopping!

VICKY: LOL. Still not helpful G but thanks anyways 🙂

Learning To Deal With Injury

Ben Kaplan

August 7, 2012

By: Magi Scallion

I’ve never had the dubious pleasure of Plantar Fasciitis… until now. I have to say that this style of injury – one that results from over-use or poor mechanics and require patience to heal – is absolutely the worst. Sitting, waiting, and re-habbing is not my forte!

However, since I am desk-bound, I’ve had a bit of time to think about why I should be more patient. The pain of running on a sore foot is nothing compared to the anxiety I get from not having daily exercise!

This little foot problem has been a bother since mid-July. I’ve found that the golf ball massage is quite helpful, as is the spacers I’ve been putting between my toes when I’m at home and in bare feet. Wearing high heel shoes has also ceased. The two key things that make my feet feel better is the afore-mentioned golf ball massage and not running.

Not running is not easy. I’ve been biking a few times and am also contemplating getting back into the pool. I did notice that running with the sore foot caused a few supplementary issues as I was favouring it a bit: very tight IT Band on the opposite side and also a very inflexible ankle on the injured side (due to running on the side of my foot).

The long and short of it is that you should probably just listen to what the doctor or therapists says and not train through injury. I just like to learn the hard way! Hopefully the lesson is learned and I’ll stick to re-hab exercise for the next couple weeks until I’m 100% again. Thank goodness work is really busy and I don’t have time to regret not being outside!

***

Born in Nova Scotia and emigrating to British Columbia via Ontario and Alberta, Magi has been running the entire way. Primarily defined as a cross country ski racer, Magi has competed nationally and internationally in that sport. The highlight of her career was competing in the World University Games and the World Cup races in Canada in 2007. Cross country skiers rely heavily on running for cross training and Magi has become an accomplished trail and mountain runner, representing Canada at the World Mountain Running Championships in 2005 and the winning numerous national championships medals.

Today Magi runs for fun… and it’s a lot of fun! Epic mountain runs, city cruises with friends, and more keep her happy and occupied outside of work and school.

Running Economy

PoweredbyPeak

August 3, 2012

Ed McNeely – Peak Centre for Human Performance

VO₂ max is one of the most commonly measured physiological variables. Endurance athletes spend countless hours discussing, comparing and worrying about their VO₂ max scores. Runners are always quoting VO2 max scores for one top athlete or another. Is all the attention that this physiological variable gets really worth all the effort?

VO₂ max is the maximum amount of oxygen that your body can take in and use. It is a function of both the body’s ability to deliver oxygen via the heart, lung and blood and the body’s ability to use oxygen in the working muscles and other tissues. While there are some exceptions, Elite runners typically have VO2 max scores in the 70-75 ml/kg/min range, similar to that seen in well trained amateur runners and some very fit age group runners. Your ability to have a high VO2 max is very dependent on your genetics. While other training variables like strength can improve by 100% or more VO2 max changes are limited to about 20% once you reach full physical maturity.

In aerobic sports oxygen consumption is tightly tied to energy expenditure and generally producing more energy means more power and work. The relationship between power and oxygen consumption is not perfect; efficiency or economy play an important role in determining how strong the relationship is in each person.

Running Economy, the ratio of power output to power input, is a key determinant of running performance. A higher efficiency allows a runner to work at lower percentages of the VO₂ max to accomplish the same or more work as a less efficient runner. In fact, a high economy rating can make up for lower VO₂ max scores. Some measures of East African runners have found world class running performances, running 1500m in 3:35 or better, despite VO2 max values of only 63 ml/kg/min. This is roughly the same VO2 max score as a good age group runner and about 20% lower than would be expected for a runner with this type of performance.

Improving economy can have a significant impact on your running performance. There are several ways to improve running economy:

Focus on technique – running stride and technique are key to running economy. Get a coach who will work on improving your running mechanics and who can do a proper gait analysis.
Strength training – strength and power training have been shown to increase running economy by as much as 7%
Altitude training – altitude training or intermittent hypoxic training, as outlined in a previous post, improves oxygen use in the body allowing more energy to be produced by the aerobic energy systems, which are more efficient.

Running economy is an area where many recreationally competitive runners can make a lot of progress when they think they have plateaued. Get your economy assessed and find out if it is limiting your performance and build a plan that will help make you the most efficient runner possible.

___________________________________________________________

PEAK Centre staff have the highest certifications available in Canada for Sport Science. With their combined experience and education, PEAK Centre is at the forefront of practical Sport Science application.

Training Update

RHellard

August 2, 2012

By now, most of our participants will have received their run programs aiming towards the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon. The journey is under way!

I am sending them a newsletter each week containing a Tuesday workout – for example, this week’s workout included intervals of varying lengths. One thing about these workouts (like most, really) is pacing. I suggest what pace to run the longer stuff (5k or 10k pace) but for anything shorter than 500m, if pace is not noted, faster than 5k is what I am looking for. If you can maintain the pace for the entire set, then I will generally be okay with it. If you blow up, well then, you will know better next time.

When it comes to the long runs, if not specified, the general rule is 30-40 seconds per kilometre slower than your marathon goal pace (if you have one) or a minute per kilometre slower than your half marathon pace. It is totally acceptable to go slower, but not much faster.

When a pace is suggested in a training plan, there are multiple reasons for the specificity, including the fact it will let you know if the pace is at least in the right range, as well as work on discipline to hold back when you feel good. Marathons do not get hard until 30k or so, and the payback for too rich a pace early on is exponential the further you run. So be vigilant in sticking to the recommended pace as it is really important to make sure you do these runs correctly.

What I Talk About When I Talk About Love (Part 2)

Vicky and Grant

July 29, 2012

“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.”
― Haruki Murakami

GRANT: I finished reading Haruki Murakami’s book “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running”. It is really great. The second half of the book deals more with his experience with ultramarathons and triathlons.

It was interesting to read that he titled his book based on a book of short stories written by Raymond Carver called, “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love”. He doesn’t explain why and Google did not reveal any clues, but he got special permission from Carver’s widow so it must hold some meaning to him.

I think it’s hard not to enjoy Murakami’s writing style. It is like a journal; so confident and with no pretention. A very easy, laid back writing style even though it’s really a deep book. He manages to talk about his difficulties with open water swimming mixing that with introspections on consciousness.

I had this book up at my family cottage over the weekend. On Sunday I swam back from an island in the middle of the lake. It’s about 3K. I didn’t time it, but it probably took around an hour. My dad paddled the canoe beside me. It brought back a lot of memories.

A couple of years ago I did the same thing with my girlfriend. She swims about 2 hours a day with a masters swimming club and finished about a half an hour in front of me. I was definetly a lot faster and smoother this time. I have to credit her with getting me into swimming and we’ve spent a lot of time in the pool over the past 3 years. In fact it’s probably a major reason we got together. In one of our first conversations she described how meditative it is to swim. There is so much sensory deprivation in a swimming pool. You can really focus in on your movements and she told me that she would chant Buddhist mantras while she swam. She’s so lovely.

When I was swimming I also thought about my mother. When I was about 15 (and so about 25 years ago) we had a terrible idea to swim out to the island and back. This was in September and the water was starting to get cold. About half way out we realized there was no chance of making it and turned to come back. I got to the beach a bit faster than she did and then the next thing I knew my dad and my uncle were carrying her limp body straight to the car. They jumped in and raced to the nearest hospital. With no phone it took several hours for the neighbour to come by with word that she was okay. That was a few hours where I was fairly sure that my mom had died and I will never forget it. She had some kind of hypothermy and was hospitalized for several weeks.

This time around, my mother was there to greet me when I got out of the water. A little tired, but otherwise okay and very thankful for my health and for the people around me.

I think the thing I enjoyed the most about this book is that Murakami has written it as an ode to running and to describe how much it means to him to be able to run. I feel like I haven’t read that many books like that. Here’s one final quote from this wonderful book:

“Long-distance running (more or less, for better or worse) has molded me into the person I am today, and I’m hoping it will remain a part of my life for as long as possible. I’ll be happy if running and I can grow old together. There may not seem to be much logic to it, but it’s the life I’ve chosen for myself. Not that, at this late date, I have other options.”

Monitoring Your Recovery

PoweredbyPeak

July 27, 2012

By Ed McNeely – Peak Centre for Human Performance

Training without monitoring your progress is like driving with your eyes closed, you will get somewhere but you can’t be sure where or what shape you’ll be in when you arrive. Through daily monitoring you will be able to make the fine adjustments to your program that allow you to continue to progress and recover at the fastest rate possible.

Although many people dislike math or the thought of math, numbers are your friends when it comes to developing rowing fitness. Recording time, rate, speed, bodyweight, and heart rate provides a basis for measuring and monitoring training sessions and the program as a whole. The numbers are not the whole story, they will tell you what is happening in a training session but don’t help explain why, you need to combine training data with recovery data that measures sleep, soreness and other physiological parameters that will show whether you are heading towards an overtraining state or not.

Over the years many physiological tests have been developed to try and measure recovery and guide training programs. Blood urea, creatine kinase, hormone levels and ratios, and blood amino acid profiles are just some of the tests that have been used. If you are an elite professional making millions of dollars per year and have access to top medical and physiology labs and consultants these tests are probably worth using. For everyone else there is a much simpler way that has been shown to be as effective as all the expensive blood work; the recovery questionnaire.

The Recovery Questionnaire

The recovery questionnaire is filled out every day of the week whether there is a workout scheduled or not, you want to be able to measure the effect of a day off as well as a training day. A 2-3 week baseline should be established in the off-season when you are doing little or no training. The baseline is used to measure how far from a fully recovered state you are moving as a result of training and will be referred back to every week so keep the baseline numbers handy.

Each of the items in table 1 are rated on a scale of 1-10, using half points as well as whole numbers. Low numbers are better ratings for example a rating of 1 on quality of sleep means you had a great nights sleep, a 10 might mean you were up most of the night. The ratings are based on how you fell when you first wake up and get out of bed in the morning. Be honest with yourself, as you will use this information to adjust your program. Body weight should be measured after voiding and before breakfast so that conditions for the weigh in are standardized. Morning heart rate is measured as soon as you wake up. Keep a watch by your bedside and take a 30 second heart rate count and multiply it by two to get the number of beats per minute.

Table 1. Recovery Questionnaire

Item	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat	Sun	Average	Baseline
Hours of Sleep
Sleep Quality
Muscle Soreness
Joint Soreness
General Fatigue
Desire to Train
Motivation
Morning HR
Bodyweight

Using the Data to Adjust The Program

All data is compared back to the baseline established in the off-season. No single variable can assess recovery; the power of the questionnaire comes from the use of multiple variables simultaneously. If you see an increase of two points on the unshaded variables, compared to the baseline, on three or more variables two days in a row you need to take a day off or cut both the volume and intensity of the day’s training in half. If the week average of three of the unshaded items increases by three or more points you need to schedule a recovery week, even if one is not planned in the program.

Morning heart rate and body weight are not included in the daily and weekly analysis because changes in these items are much more gradual than the other factors that are being monitored. Increases in morning heart rate of more than 10 beats per minute for a week or more should be looked at closely, if it is occurring without changes in any of the other variables it may signal a loss of aerobic fitness which may or may not affect your performance depending on the endurance demands of your sport. If the weekly average is increasing and morning heart rate is high you need to consider planning a recovery week.

Unintentional decreases in bodyweight are one of the early signs of overtraining. Body weight can fluctuate daily because of hydration levels and what you ate and drank the previous day. Very large athletes can see their weight change by several pounds from day to day; because of this it is better to use weekly percent changes in body weight to assess your long-term weight profile. If you see a weekly-unintended weight loss of more than two percent something needs to be adjusted in training or diet. First increase fluid intake to see if you are dehydrated because of the week’s training schedule and insufficient fluid intake. If the weekly average of other variables is increasing and bodyweight is decreasing there is a good chance that you are beginning to overtrain and need to schedule a recovery week.

Regular monitoring of recovery will help you adjust your training program and give you an idea of the effect that various workouts have on your body. Combining recovery measures with the information on boat speed, perceived intensity of a workout and work time will allow you to dial in your training program and ensure the fastest rate of progress.

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Some decisions are best made far in advance of the situation

Karen Karnis

July 25, 2012

There are some things that, despite sounding like common sense, you should make a conscious, explicit decision on when you are clear-headed and far removed from the situation where it might come up. For example, the decision to stick to the grocery list should be made before you get to the store, and the decision not to get on stage at a karaoke bar should be made before a single sip of anything stronger than water touches your lips.

The same is true in running; there are many things that seem obvious that you need to tell yourself while they still seem obvious, rather than in the middle of a run. This is particularly the case in any type of run that could impair your judgment – for me this includes long runs, very hot runs, and races, all of which put me in a situation where I am not thinking clearly.

These include:

Deciding not to pour water on my head during a hot run when I plan to clip my iPod to the back of my hat. “Duh!” right? But when it’s hot out there and I am desperate to cool down, I might forget that the iPod is there if I haven’t said to myself, “iPod! No water over the head.”

Conversely, deciding not to clip my iPod to my hat when I know I might not be able to resist dumping water on my head.

Deciding on a route before I leave for my long run. Once I am nicely warmed up and endorphins have begun to flood my brain, I risk deciding I could go forever or tackle the killer hill on 4^th Line – either of which is very likely to result in a death-march home.

Deciding on a nutrition plan. If I leave it up to how I feel, I know I won’t think to take in my carbs soon enough, and by the time I need them, I will feel lousy and won’t want to. If I decide ahead of time to eat a gel at kilometre X, Y and Z, I know I will do it and won’t leave it to chance.

Setting a firm race plan and sticking to it. When I am on the start line, another great chemical impairs my judgment – adrenaline. Without a plan I risk suddenly drastically revising my race goal – and the very logical sentence “yikes, 30 seconds per kilometre is big!” can easily become “it’s only 30 seconds per kilometre!” when you’re doped on stress-hormones.

Setting my mind to running all the way up the hill on County Road 29. I know I CAN run all the way up – I have done it loads of times. But unless I decide I WILL before I get there, “I know I can! Let’s do this!” can easily become “I know I can, so I have nothing to prove today.”

…and finally, deciding not to get on stage at a karaoke bar. Ever.

So how about you? What seemingly-common sense decisions do you need to remind yourself of before the various ups and downs of running impair your judgment?

Diana shows off her ECCO Biom Lites on the Soccer Field

TheBuzzonGear

July 24, 2012

So this week I decided to do something different and wear my ECCO Biom Lites to the soccer field to watch the girls play. They were so comfortable and I actally had to get up and help coach the game as one of the coaches wasn’t feeling well. I was surprised how well they held up to running and walking. They felt as light as a feather and gave me the support I needed. A few of the ladies watching came and commented on how cute they were and where did I get them??? I can’t tell all the secrets though. I really enjoyed wearing them to do something a little different other than walking.

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