“The Road goes ever on and on down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the Road has gone, and I must follow, if I can, pursuing it with eager feet, until it joins some larger way where many paths and errands meet. And whither then? I cannot say.”  J.R.R. Tolkien

GRANT: Wow.

VICKY: Wow.

GRANT: That is the elevation profile for the Leadville 100 Trail Ultramarathon.

VICKY: This is what the Tarahumara and Ann Trason ran. It’s to put some kind of visual to what is described in the book Born to Run.

GRANT: And of course at the end of that map they turned around and came back again.  Brutal.

VICKY: This is the kind of thing that mere mortals like ourselves just look at and marvel.  Afterall it’s one thing to run 100 miles (161 kilometers), but it’s another thing to do it up and down a mountain.

GRANT: Tell me about it.  On Tuesday I ran 7 K up and down the Gatineau Hills and it killed me.  My body aches all over.  It’s nothing like a leisurely long run on flat surface. This reminds me, what did you think about Leadville?

VICKY: I think the spirit of Leadville is captured by the quote from founder Ken Chlouber: “You’re better than you think you are and you can do more than you think you can!”.  Leadville has an amazing history to it that is explained quite well in the book.  It was basically a hard on it’s luck town before the trail race (and related races) brought increased attention and tourism to the area.

GRANT: And those related races are not all about running. Some are cycling races and one in particular is about to take the increased attention to a whole other level!

VICKY: Why is that?

GRANT: Well, Lance Armstong has been racing for the last couple of years at the Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race (a route which roughly mirrors the ultramarathon).  In 2008, Lance finished second behind 6 time winner  and MTB legend David Wiens.  Last August, 38 years old and fresh from an amazing 3rd place finish in the Tour de France Lance came back to try again.  They’ve made a documentary about it called Race Across the Sky.  It is getting rave reviews, not just for it’s telling of the Wiens-Armstrong duel, but for a great collection of human interest stories associated with other racers.  It hit DVD shelves last week.  Check out the trailer…

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUol4meP9H4

VICKY: Over the next couple of weeks we are going to be featuring profiles and stories from some of the World’s greatest ultramarathons including legendary races like Badwater, Comrades and the Canadian Death Race.

GRANT: So stay tuned!

I used to be big into training schedules. I would compare and debate the merits of Higdon vs. FIRST, Galloway vs. Pfitzinger, scouring each for the perfect alchemy of timing, time, pace, frequency, intensity and distance that would transform me into an flawlessly-conditioned racing machine. Would doing an easy run on Saturday before my long run Sunday (as per Higdon) help me by training me to run on tired legs, or hinder me by sapping the energy from such a key workout? Would ramping up my long run to race pace at the end (as per Pfitzinger) get me primed for race day, or burn me out before I toed the startline? How many days of running per week (a mere 3 for FIRST;  5-6 for the rest) were optimal for building endurance, but also allowing recovery? I asked and re-asked these questions over the course of training for six marathons and countless halfs in the span of four years. While I never settled on one plan that was an ideal fit, I was a firm believer that each was, for the right runner, a precise and foolproof recipe for success. And to train *without* such a schedule was to be without a safety net – to be ridiculously under-prepared for an endurance test that can’t be faked.

Then, baby Alexandra arrived, and precise training schedules were replaced by demand feedings, erratic sleeping, and a newfound fixation with diaper absorbency that has by far outstripped my old obsession with moisture-wicking running clothes. How, exactly, was I going to manage to follow a training schedule when I couldn’t predict what the next 15 minutes would hold, let alone the entire day or week? In the wise words of my training partner Sylvie, a multiple marathoner and mom of two, the new mom’s training schedule can only consist of “running whenever you can, sleeping whenever you must, and accepting that you will just always, always feel tired.”

And so it has been. I’ve ditched a tidy training calendar and its comfortingly boxed workouts to be crossed off week by week; instead, I’m training for the Ottawa Half-Marathon according to the following guidelines (since calling it a “schedule” is just too much of a stretch):

Run at least three times a week; although sometimes it’s more, sometimes it’s less.

Don’t let more than two days pile up between running days; although sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn’t.

When you have a chance to run…RUN! Even if it’s the day after a tough long run, or an especially sleepless night. If I waited for an ideal opportunity to get out the door, I just wouldn’t. Ever. Even to pick up the newspaper.

Give each run each week a purpose – short and zippy, long and easy, I try to change it up each time I go out in the vain hope that a bit of variety is at least sort of like having a training schedule.

Everything counts. I used to think anything under 5k wasn’t worth it; now I secretly count a brisk jog across the street to catch a traffic light towards my total weekly mileage.

No matter how many other runs I miss that week, the long run is sacred. And yes, there are weeks where the long run has been my only run.

Am I out of my comfort zone by taking such a relatively-unstructured approach to training? You betcha. But I also feel oddly liberated, like I’m truly setting my own course for the first time – one that fits me as both a runner, and a mother.

Hello iRun world – hope everyone’s training is going well!  Now that we’re getting into that last training push for our Spring races, it’s certainly time to start thinking about when to replace our running shoes.  How long should I keep my shoes?  How far in advance of the race should I replace my shoes?  Should I wear racing flats for my race?  These are a few questions I’ll try to cover in this blog.

How long should I keep my shoes?  All kinds of guidelines out there, but it is generally recommended to change shoes every 600 – 800km or 6-8 months.  I find that this is generally pretty accurate, but an even better guide is often how your knees, shins and feet are feeling.  If it’s been around 6-8 months or 600-800km and you’re a little more sore than normal, probably a good time to change shoes (a good little tip to keep track of the age of your shoes is to write the purchase date in permanent marker on the midsole of the shoe).  If in doubt, go try a new pair on.  Amazing how worn out your old shoes can feel when compared to something new.

How far in advance of the race should I change my shoes?  Rule number one (for many things -not just shoes) is ‘nothing new on race day’!  If you are switching into the exact same shoe, two weeks prior to the race should give you at least 3-6 runs to adapt to the new pair.  If switching into something different (even if it’s a newer version of the same shoe), try to give yourself about a month in the new shoes prior to the race.  This way, you’ll have one or two long runs in the new shoes to make sure that there will be no surprises on race day (blisters etc.).  As tempting as it can be to switch into a fancy new shoe from the race expo the day before the race (especially if they are a great deal!), it is rarely worth the risk.   I would also say the same for clothing – nothing worse than finding out that new shirt that you’ve been saving for race day has a nice logo that causes 42km of chafing!

Should I wear racing flats for the race?  Same as above in that you definitely don’t want to be trying anything new on race day.  If you’ve been using racing flats for training and are confident that they can get you through your race distance, than they certainly can save a few seconds.  That being said, saving a few seconds is certainly not worth losing minutes due to injury! 

Good luck at your races!

Ryan

Hey Folks, sorry it’s been a while since my last post!  I’ve been struggling to A) Come up with something really really interesting and B) Find the time!  I work at a cycling shop and as you can imagine this is a busy time of year!!

Anyhow I went to Hamilton this past weekend to do the Bay and Back 5k.  Now this is tough to tell people because they say oh wow that’s a long way to go for a 5k, yes well i’m working up to 30 okay, I plan to do one in 2050 when I have lost my sanity.  I have nothing against long races like half’s, 30 k or marathons I admire your patience but some of the folks that do these long races need to try and understand short races through my eyes, it can be very challenging!

For instance have you ever opened up a race with a 2:48 first km?  That can really make it challenging to do another 4 afterward.  Yes this really is what happened, let me go back and describe the lead up to the race.

Over the winter I did a lot of cross country skiing, running, and some spinning.  Most exercise sessions were a good hour to 3 hours long and really when I exercise by myself I can get carried away and I work pretty hard but at least I work hard for a long time so I work my base.  Thank god for these long workouts because that’s what saved me in the second half of that race, I was strong enough to power through a fast opening pace and hang on!

Obviously because this is a speed blog I also need to tell you the importance of my speed work.  I did probably 8 to 10 good solid sessions on the indoor track this winter, a fleury of different intervals ranging from 200m to 2000m all of which played an important factor in my fitness for this first race of the spring/summer season.

I’ve always done a really good race imitating workout 10 days out from an important race, now I felt this race was important since it would set the tone for the season so 10 days prior to this past sunday I hit the track for a 5km interval workout.  I opened the workout with a 1 km to set the tone and then move into 2 km interval working that middle section of a race where you need a strong rhythm.  After about 3km whether it’s mental or physical you tend to lose that rhythm so did an 800m focusing on staying strong and trying to run around or faster than my race pace.  The final km or so is always wild and that’s where speed endurance kicks in and you need to be sharp and ready to make a move so I finished the workout with 3x 400m.  I did this workout on an outdoor track and I had to steeple chase a large snowbank so the times were inaccurate and really all I needed was to make sure I felt like I was working hard!

Anyway the race went superb I was predicting a 15:50 given my workout times and past experiences with the distance.  I ended up running 15:02 for 5th place out of 2000 people.  A previous teammate of mine took the win with an impressive 14:10.  It was a great day and even though I am ecstatic and shocked with the time I now think of how sweet it would be to see 14.xx so my friends I continue on my speedwork journey and I will do my best to keep you posted.

P.s if I had run 15:00 I could have gained free entry to the Ottawa Race Weekend 10k! Dammit!!

Canadian runners at the Around The Bay Road Race won’t be the only ones braving messy conditions on a hilly course this weekend. The IAAF World Cross Country Championships go off this Sunday in Bydgoszcz, Poland.  This event is often considered the premier distance running event on the planet on account of the staggeringly loaded fields and who’s who on the winners’ list.    Winners in the past 15 years have included Gete Wami (2 time Berlin Marathon champ), Paula Radcliffe (current marathon world record holder), Paul Tergat (former marathon world record holder), Derartu Tulu (2 time Olympic 10000m champ), Zersenay Tadese (current half marathon world record holder), Tirunesh Dibaba (reigning Olympic 5000m and 10000m champ) and Kenenisa Bekele (greatest distance runner of all-time?).

This year however things are somewhat more uncertain, with Bekele and Tadese absent.  Speculation seems to have young Paul Tanui as a favourite after his convincing win at the Kenyan Championships.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMe05Elta-Y

On the distaff side, former champ Dibaba will vie for her fifth title.  Young Linet Masai will be gunning for her though, having already taken Dibaba’s 10000m World Championship last summer in a sick closeout on the final straight.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXbOBOuy5fA

Regina’s Simon Bairu carries Canada’s best hopes.

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