Friday Fun highlight from Berlin
The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Berlin wrap up this Sunday. What World Championship would be complete without a mascot?
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWtOlg3K4Ec
Blog Page 298
Wow!
I’ve known Ray Zahab for a few years. I’ve written about his expeditions, we’ve co-hosted the iRun radio show together and we’ve become friends. But believe it or not, until today, I had never run with Ray.
This is largely because of two principal reasons:
1. Ray runs faster than me.
2. Ray runs farther than me. Which is a bit like saying the sun is farther than the kitchen.
But a month or two ago, Ray announced he was planning to run from Montreal to Ottawa, a distance of about 200 kilometres. Yesterday at 6:00 a.m., he and his brother John (an accomplished athlete, ultramarathoner and strength and conditioning coach) along with a group of others, set off from Montreal city hall.
My plan was to join in for the final 25 to 30 kilometres and make that my Sunday long run. In other words, my long run was some 15 per cent of their journey. Joining me on this quest were iRun’s creative guru Lisa Georges and her chef-extraordinaire husband Jason.
That presented a few logistical challenges involving vehicles, timing a rendezvous, actually finding Ray on a deserted train track and purchasing a gallon or two of coffee for Ray, John and the team at Starbucks. But by 7:30 a.m. we found them at a pit stop at a country road in the far east end of Ottawa.
Ray and John, naturally, were exhausted. They had been running all night with almost no sleep, and they were both quite stiff. Nevertheless, they carried on, at a slower pace than their first 100k, but hey, what’s a fast or a slow pace when you’ve already run 165k on the hottest day and night of the summer?
We ran and walked and paused for hydration (and cookies). By the time we got to civilization again, or at least a part of Ottawa that I recognized (I’m a west-end guy), it was 12:00 noon and the sun was beating down on us. Ray and John decided they would walk the last few kilometres with the entire team, but before that they ramped up the pace to under 5:00 per k for a stretch of a few kilometres. The long, slow run got intense and quiet for a brief time.
I don’t know how you run at a tempo pace (for me, anyway) after having run 195k, but Ray and John are no mere running mortals. When we finally arrived at Ottawa city hall, Ray pulled off his shoe and revealed a disgusting purple blister on his right foot, the size of a giant grape.
Now I have a small glimpse into the world of Ray’s expeditions and all I can say about Ray, John and the entire crew that ran with them and supported them, is: Wow!
It’s not so rude to point!
When I showed up for a run with a new pair of socks the other day, my favourite running partner, Tanya, had a good laugh. It wasn’t because they were bright fuchsia either – it was because they were right foot and left foot specific. Unlike shoes which hold their shape, it is a little harder to tell them apart, so the manufacturer conveniently labelled the left sock “L” and the right sock (you guessed it!) “R”. 
This is only funny because both Tanya and I both believe we have left-right confusion. While I will admit I haven’t been able to find a study to prove this condition actually exists, there are plenty of surveys out there that estimate anywhere from 15-20% of the population experience this some or all of the time.
To those of you in the rest of the general population I’m sure that sounds crazy. You learn quite young that your left hand makes the L, right? I mean…correct? I know this! I know the hand with the wedding ring is my left, the hand I write with is my right; my passenger sits to my right in the car, and right is the direction I am allowed to turn on a red. Yet somehow, when someone says to go left or right, or when I am giving directions, I really have to think about it before I make the turn or give the instruction. (Does this happen to you? Try this little test!)
Back when Tanya and I first started running together, we used to verbalize the turns. An instruction of “Left here,” would invariably result in us banging into one another, followed by a “you said left!” “that is left!” “no it isn’t! It’s right! Right? No…” “wait…what?” This is only exacerbated as our brain cells go numb during a long run.
So when now we’ve developed a fool-proof system. The person who mapped the route just points when we get to a turn. This has multiple benefits – for example we don’t have to stop talking when it is time to turn, and we avoid that awkward banging into each other thing.
You’ll be glad to know that I get my lefts and rights…um…correct when given the time to think before reacting. This means I get my socks (and shoes!) on the correct feet, so I can pass on Tanya’s suggestion of getting a sock-matching “L” and “R” tattooed on my feet!
Cutting pace…
Just for kicks I wore my Garmin Forerunner 201 GPS to mow the lawn (I know for a fact I am not the only person to ever do this!). I hit start when I plugged it in, and didn’t stop it until I was completely finished. The stats were pretty funny:
1.66km in 51:23, for an agonizing 30:59 min/km pace.
Now when you consider that I went around two trees, then back to get the cord around, take a water break, get around the shed and stop to shoo away a toad, that’s not so bad, is it? I wonder how I’d do with a reel mower…
How to plan a run around a thunderstorm risk
Okay, okay, you’re right. I will concede one point about the weather: it is hard to plan runs when we’ve had so many thunderstorms. Running when there is lightning is dangerous; I won’t do it, and will boldly diagnose anyone as crazy who thinks it is a good idea.
It is a particular challenge to plan a long run when there’s a chance of thunderstorms. Keep in mind when I say this, I am not talking about taking stupid risks. I am talking about when you see on the Weather Network that there’s a chance of storms, but nothing is happening, the sky looks okay, and you’re debating whether to cancel when there’s just as good a chance that nothing will happen at all.
Here is how we handled it this past Saturday when that was the case:
- We assessed the risk: looked at the forecast, looked at the weather, and decided that it was safe to start out.
- I had a bail-out lined up: I had my husband on standby for a hasty pick up should I call from my cell phone. He has done this for us once so far this summer, and it saved our skins!
- We altered the route: I live in a small town and typically prefer long runs on country roads, but this time we went from one end of town to the other 4 times on 4 different streets. Then we turned around and retraced our steps. That’s right, we covered the town nearly end-to-end 8 times. I wouldn’t want to do it every week, but the advantage was that we always had a driveway to dart up should we find ourselves in an unsafe situation. No running in the middle of nowhere, being the tallest thing around with no safety net. Besides, we really got a good look at some people’s gardening handiwork!
- and if worse came to worse, of course, we would call it off.
So thanks to some careful planning and flexibility, we were able to get it done, and I was very happy with that.
In the end, however, if we hadn’t, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. It’s a lot better to get to the start line one long run short of a training plan than to be hit by lightning and not get there at all!
Congrats to all the Ironman athletes
I have always marveled at those folks who compete in Ironman triathlons. Each of the three events on its own is a challenge but to finish the 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride and 26.2 mile run on one day is amazing to me.
Yesterday was the Lake Placid Ironman and several of my running friends were competing in the big event. I was monitoring their progress online throughout the day and found it very inspirational to watch the finishers come across the line via the live streaming off the Ironman website. It’s great to hear the announcer calling each finisher by name and congratulating them….some sprint, some walk, some look great, some look beat, but all are victorious.
Special congrats to my running coach, Judy Andrew Piel of K2JFitness in Ottawa, who finished in 11:29:38. Judy even managed to come in 3rd place in her age category thus qualifying her for the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii. As a runner, what’s amazing to me about her time is that Judy was able to run a 4 hour marathon on top of the swim and the bike…..I will never complain about a long run or a track workout ever again!
Congrats to everyone who completed Ironman Lake Placid. You are all inspirational!
This Way to Change
In running, much like life, the smallest changes can lead to the biggest results. However, sometimes when all those little changes are no longer providing what you’re after, it’s time to make a BIGGER change. Now, I’m not talking ‘new $200 shoes’ big here, I’m talking: new perspective, new approach, new attitude BIG!
Because it’s rarely ever the first few steps or miles that really wear us down, it’s when we’re in it for the long haul – the last metres, the last mile … that’s when we find ourselves in the breakdown.
In running, much like life, we struggle. The moments when that voice is muttering the “just give up”, the “I’m tired”, and the “maybe I should just quit”. Fortunately, it is through the act of coming out on the other side that these struggles become tools to help us grow stronger. Think of them like little personal tests you provide yourself – and by now you know how to get the A+!
Remember what you stand for; remember why you do what you do!
Do not compromise when making that extra effort – because it could be that extra 1% that is going make the world of difference.
Whether you are entirely motivated, or finding every excuse in the book: in running, much like life, when you are willing to match your actions to your true feelings – anything is possible; you will achieve personal greatness!
Maybe this all sounds like just another grouping of random words that couldn’t possibly apply to your current situation.
Or maybe, it’s exactly what you’ve been needing to hear.
“There is nothing wrong with change, if it’s in the right direction.”
-Winston Churchill
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