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.

Track and Field Videos on Flotrack

VICKY: This is going to be AWESOME.

GRANT: Word Up!  This is going to rule.

VICKY: What are you talking about?   You’re not going to be at the Hamilton Around the Bay race this weekend with me and Karen Karnis right?

GRANT: No.  I thought you were talking about our appearance on the Runners’ Round Table on Wednesday?

VICKY: Oh yeah there’s that too.  What time is that at?

GRANT: Wednesday at 5 PM EST.  We should tell our readers that they can log in at that time and participate in a live chat with us and some pretty cool runners from the Runners’ Round Table.

VICKY: Yeah well either that or tune in to make fun at us trying to be cool while talking on live internet radio.

GRANT: Relax, it’ll be fine. We’ll be talking about Born To Run, barefoot running and your favourite topic: why women are better ultrarunners.

VICKY: Yeah, you’re right, I’m going to talk about how women kick ass.

GRANT: So, about this weekend, you and Karen are going to run the oldest race in North America?

VICKY: Well, like you, I’m training for the Ottawa Race Weekend  Half Marathon in May so I’m not ready for HaBay. However, Karen Karnis is running the 30K distance and I’ll be doing the 5K with a friend of mine. I’ll be at the finish line as well encouraging a few of my running friends. I’m so proud of them for running the grueling distance, battling the hill and plowing through when the famous Grim Reaper  runs beside them telling them they won’t finish the race.

GRANT: Holy smokes, that’s pretty intense!

VICKY: Hamilton folks are good like that 🙂 So, come join us even if you don’t run. It’ll be a great day and a great event. I’ll be the girl with the big smile and the red iRun t-shirt!

Grumbling gourmet Gordon Ramsay was forced to drop out of the LA Marathon this weekend due to a calf injury. A veteran of many marathons, Ramsay’s actually in pretty good condition and made it through 20K in 1:42… pretty sharp for a 43 year old with a crazy schedule.  He was on track for a chance at a PB.

Ramsay had planned to run April’s London Marathon, so hopefully he can get healthy in a hurry.  Persistent calf issues can be tricky in that they often lead to other problems (achilles injuries, plantar fasciitis, etc), but they can also be worked out pretty quickly.

Organizers of the Lisbon Half Marathon in Portugal were not disappointed by their aspirations of hosting a world record dash, as Eritrean Zersenay Tadese smashed his own PB by 36 seconds en route to both new half marathon (58:22) and 20km world records (55:21).

Take a moment to marvel at that math. He ran 20km at 2:46/km, then accelerated over the final 1.1km (2:45/km) to beat Samuel Wanjiru’s half marathon mark.

The Lisbon Half Marathon, which has arguably become one of the world’s foremost half marathons, has attracted an exciting field to this Sunday’s start. Six of the men have broken 60 minutes, most notably Jaouad Gharib who ran 59:59 in Lisbon last year… and lost by three seconds(to Kenyan great Martin Lel). However it will be Eritrean Zersenay Tadese, he of the 58:59 PB (seventh fastest all-time), who will be paced to a world record attempt.

Jaouad Gharib is probably best known to North Americans for his part in the most BONKERS marathon finish imaginable at Chicago ’07. Check it out: