When Leonard runs, he runs
as a SickKids Warrior. It’s easy to do: you simply dedicate your challenge
event – 5ks to marathons – into a fundraiser for SickKids, by registering at https://www.sickkidsfoundation.com/events/sickkidswarriors. Leonard’s connection to SickKids is personal. “I
worked at the hospital for 14 years,” he says, “my mom’s been with SickKids 42
years, and my sister 13. My youngest sister is in the ER as a registration
clerk.”
But he was fairly new to
running when he decided to take on his biggest challenge so far – running the
half-marathon at the 2017 Scotiabank Marathon.
“Funnily enough,” he
says, “I didn’t consider myself a runner. That year, I decided to challenge
myself physically.” His first race was a 5k mud run. “I survived,” he says,
with a laugh, “so I thought, ‘OK, what’s next?’” He was on his way.
Today, Leonard works
with SickKids Foundation as a fundraiser, but the first part of his career was
spent with the hospital, working internationally in Doha, Qatar, and most
recently in South Africa, getting the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital up and
running. His international experience informs his decision to fundraise for
SickKids when he runs. “An institution of this calibre has developed so much
expertise in paediatric care, education and research – we need to share it with
the world. I strongly believe where you live shouldn’t determine if you live.
That’s our vision – healthier children, a better world.”
Leonard encourages
anyone who’s running to do it for SickKids as a SickKids Warrior. And he’s got
advice for those who are developing as runners: “If you’d asked me even a year
ago if I could run 5k without passing out, I would’ve said ‘no’. But you just
have to keep pushing yourself.”
You can run as a SickKids Warrior, too.
From start to finish of the Canada Army Run
is second to none, an American runner shares his experience. Then, Tori Wesszer,
registered dietitian shares what runners need to eat for their training and
race days. Plus, the debate on running with earphones, should runners be using
their devices or simply be listening to nature.
Clearly, the two brothers continue to crave competition post-NHL retirement. Not shockingly, the two finished with nearly identical career totals in points, and their alikeness is extending to the roads.
The Sedin brothers Daniel and Henrik continue to keep their competitive spirits alive well into retirement.
The pair of former Vancouver Canucks superstars have been all over Canada’s west coast running scene ever since they went into retirement. Following the 2017–18 NHL season, the duo traded in their hockey skates, sticks, and helmet for running shoes, a Garmin, and a race number from time to time.
This past weekend, the identical twin brothers finished six seconds apart at the Under Armour Eastside 10K, each clocking a low 37-minute time. Daniel finished in 37:04, while Henrik, the captain of the Canucks from 2010-2018, was a few steps behind in 37:10. In fact, the event was a family affair as Daniel’s wife Marinette also raced, stopping the clock at 52:54.
Running has always been part of the brothers’ regime, even while playing in the NHL. “I love running – that’s a big part of our training routine in the summertime and we’ll keep doing that,” Sedin said in 2018. Now, it seems, the Sedins are putting 100% focus into running, and it’s showing, as they’re putting up respectable times for someone who has run their entire life, let alone periodically in the off-season.
Since their retirements, the 38-year-old duo from Sweden has consistently popped up in results, and high up. Both competed in a 2018 trail race in Whistler hosted by Canadian ultrarunner Gary Robbins, a trail race in North Vancouver, and they even ticked off the marathon this past May. The two ran the BMO Vancouver Marathon finishing in 3:11:45 (Daniel) and 3:24:11 (Henrik), and their bibs were the same numbers as those they wore during their NHL careers.
Both seem to be on-trend with the latest in running too, having raced in the Nike Vaporfly 4% Flyknit, a racing flat known to shave valuable seconds off of your time, for the marathon. For the Eastside 10K, they again wore Nikes, with plain Dri-Fit tees and ball caps.
“Even though we’re not world-class marathon runners, it’s still a competition and it brings out a little bit of that competitor in both of us,” they said after their first marathon.
Their 10Ks this past weekend, in the rain no less, may well be their best result to date. To boot, they negative-split the race – meaning covering the second half of the race faster than the first – by about 20 seconds.
Saturday’s Eastside 10K is a Canada Running Series-hosted event, and their final west coast race before the circuit wraps up in Ontario with the Zoo Run and then the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon. Vancouver’s Evan Esselink (29:50) and Kelowna, B.C.’s Malinda Elmore (32:44) were the race winners with Elmore setting a new women’s course record.
In total, 2,900 participants raced through Vancouver’s eastside with a start/finish line in Gastown.
When protein and veggies are roasted alongside each
other dinner is full of flavor and comes together quickly.
Enjoy this combo on its own or serve it up with rice or rice noodles
alongside.
Prep
time: 10
minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Makes: 4 servings INGREDIENTS
2 tbsp (30 mL) each soy sauce and seasoned rice vinegar
1 tbsp (15 mL) sesame oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp (1 mL) hot pepper flakes
1/2 tsp (2 mL) each salt and pepper, divided
1 boneless skinless Ontario turkey breast (about 1 lb/454 g)
1 head (bunch) fresh broccoli
1 large red pepper, sliced
2 tbsp (30 mL) canola or vegetable oil
1 tbsp (15 mL) sesame seeds
DIRECTIONS:
ONE: In a shallow dish or bowl whisk together soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, garlic, hot pepper flakes and 1/4 tsp (1 mL) each of the salt and pepper; remove 2 tbsp (30 mL) of marinade.
TWO: Cut turkey crosswise into 4 equal pieces and add to dish; toss turkey to coat; set aside.
THREE: Cut broccoli top into 2 inch (5 cm) long florets and half lengthwise if too large. Peel stalk and cut into similar size pieces.
FOUR: Toss broccoli and red pepper with 2 tbsp (30 mL) of the marinade, canola oil, sesame seeds and remaining salt and pepper.
FIVE: Spread onto half of a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Place turkey pieces on remaining half of baking sheet.
Strengthening your core is the key to avoiding injury and you can protect your back with one simple exercise.
Low back pain can be a real nuisance, especially during race season. Often times your nagging low back pain can be attributed to poor posture and poor muscle activation. Typically low back pain is brought on when your pelvis is anteriorly tilted (your butt sticks out more than it should). This posture means your glutes and hamstrings are in a lengthened position and can’t be properly activated when you run. This is a problem because if your glutes are not activating properly, you won’t be able to fully extend your hips while maintaining a neutral spine, placing unnecessary stress on your back.
The best way to retrain your body to properly activate your glutes and avoid any low back pain this summer is by integrating glute bridges into your regular routine. Although the glute bridge is a simple exercise, don’t underestimate it’s power; it is a versatile exercise. It will help strength your mind-muscle connection while allowing you to strengthen your glutes. For optimal results you should perform 2-3 sets of 12-15 repetitions before you head out for your run. This is the best way to get your glute muscles firing for your run and to keep you pain free.
Glute Bridge
How to do it: Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor directly under your knees. Place your arms on the ground by your sides with your palms flat on the ground. Squeeze your glutes and lift your hips up towards the ceiling until your hips, knees and shoulders form a straight line. Hold for a second, then slowly lower your hips back down and repeat. If you have any pain in your low back then don’t lift your hips up as high.
On this week’s show, Mark speaks with Noel
Paine who will be taking part in next weekend’s Canada Army Run in Ottawa. Then,
runner Sarah Lazarovic shares her thoughts on making race day more environmentally
friendly. And in honour of the Terry Fox Run happening in cities and
communities around the world, Mark speak with Terry’s brother Fred Fox about
the impact of his brother’s legacy on this next generation.
It’s been a few months since writing any sort of update. In fact, it’s been about that long since regularly posting on social media. I haven’t retired nor am I injured. I just needed another solid break over the summer to enjoy time with family, and completely rest and recover from another full school year that included coaching hockey and running three marathons: October 2018 Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon (STWM), April 2019 Boston Marathon, and May 2019 Ottawa Marathon.
If there is one thing I have done well over the last few years, it has been to slow down to allow for a thorough recovery. Not just from one race or difficult workout, but from a season of them. With the increased amount of time and energy we invest in our screens and the busyness of life, we can easily waste opportunities to enjoy silence, absorb the downtime, be mentally and physically motionless, and just pause. Of course this is much easier now that our children are older (13, 11, 8 years old) and we have a simple cabin we retreat to for much of the summer. I look at the other marathon moms out there and wonder how I did it.
Once the school year was over we spent a week in Mexico with my husband’s family to celebrate his parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. It was an incredible week with eighteen of us and I was quite happy to run, swim, sit, read, and rest with wonderful people, food and housekeeping services. It was very generous of my in-laws and I can only hope for the same with our family someday. Prior to the trip, I had prepared for and raced in the heat and humidity at the Ottawa Marathon, but still found it very intense in Mexico. Morning runs were easy and outside with afternoon runs indoors on the treadmill. Upon our return, we had a week at our cabin, which is around the time I resumed workouts. It was important that I ease back into training after my second chance in Ottawa.
Throughout the summer I continued to routinely complete runs in the heat chamber because there was a slight chance I might run at the World Championships in Doha, which would include temperatures in the high 30’s to low 40’s. The team wouldn’t be named until late August so I wanted to be prepared again. I believe World Champs in Doha and the Olympics in Tokyo will be very similar races — they will be about survival. Because I was lowest on the list of those with the standard, I chose Berlin as my other marathon possibility. Both would be the last weekend of September and an early fall marathon was better for me because of my commitment to coaching my daughter’s rep hockey team. I found that I was pretty tired out last year after training in the morning and leading practices in the evenings. World Champs in Doha and Berlin were great marathon possibilities and if given the choice, I wasn’t sure which I would choose. Eventually, I knew my chances of World Champs remained slim. I’m thrilled that we have so many fast Canadian women in the marathon. And because I didn’t want to leave the logistics of Berlin so close to the race date, I decided on Germany over Qatar. I continued to run in the heat chamber for the other physiological benefits it would provide, but decreased the frequency as Berlin would be more about speed and not about hills or heat. For years I’ve know that if I ever did that race, speed would be my focus. Earlier this year when I was logging higher kilometres, including my first 200 km week in six days, I noticed an occasional slight shuffle. That was something I’d have to focus on, which I have in this build. I believe that more time on the track, and telling myself, “High knees, low arms, smile,” at the end of long runs has been beneficial.
At the end of July I tested my fitness at the Beaches Jazz 10 km in Toronto. I really enjoy the Beaches events with race director Dave Emilio. The date fit well with my calendar and I wouldn’t have far to travel. My goal was to run somewhere around 35 minutes, so I was quite pleased with 35:02. I continued with my training, which included a lot of rest with our relaxed summer schedule. And while at our cabin I found a good spot for workouts on a paved road with some slightly rolling hills.
Closer to the end of August I travelled to race the Edmonton Half Marathon. This was my third time travelling for this race and I was hoping for a much better outcome. In 2015, I did not start due to a stress fracture in my foot and in 2018 it was a grinder as I worked toward building fitness. Similar to my Ottawa Marathon experience earlier this spring, I was sandwiched between Dayna and Rachel during the race. One to chase. One chasing. We finished in the same order as Canadians with Dayna first, me second and Rachel third. It certainly helps to have good competition. During the race I remember thinking how much better it felt than the year before. My 1:15 proved I was in much better shape than my 1:18 in 2018.
Different than other marathon builds, I didn’t write much down this time. Normally I record workouts, mileage, fuelling and hydration. I enjoy comparing marathon training builds and seeing the progress from week to week. Often it’s fairly specific in terms of how I want to reach certain paces for certain distances. But this time, I went more by feel. The numbers could come to me. I approached it as more of an art, leaving the science to Coach DST as we continued to correspond each week. Over the course of my three years with him I’ve increased my mileage, trained in heat/humidity/altitude, slowed down my easy runs, and deepened my marathon paced workouts. But not all at once. In this build I think we’ve done well to bring it all together. Peak mileage weeks were 170-190 km (190, 190, 170, 180, 170 km), which seemed just right after a spring with higher than ever mileage. And I successfully built to a solid and best-ever workout of 90 minutes at marathon pace within a 42.3 km long run. I likely averaged 7 or 8 runs in 6 days, sticking to my one complete rest day each week.
I haven’t looked into the elite field for the Berlin Marathon. There will definitely be some strong runners and I would presume a group aiming for the Olympic Standard of 2:29:30. There has been much conversation about the new selection process for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but I haven’t spent excessive time thinking about or analyzing it. When I’m asked if I’m “going for another Olympics,” I basically say I’ll give it a shot and then explain that it’s much different than when I made the team four years ago. There are nearly a dozen capable women. In 2016, it was just Lanni Marchant and I. Dates and times of our incredible women’s marathon field can be found here: Athletics Canada Rankings and Marathon Canada. Additionally, I explain that the selection process has changed. It’s no longer simply running your country’s standard within the qualifying period. If you are interested in learning the specifics about the new Olympic qualifying standards, here are some links: Run the North, “There are new Olympic qualifying standards for track & field”. Athletics Canada’s Nomination Criteria and 2019 Canadian Marathon Championships. You can read two-time Olympian Reid Coolsaet’s perspective here. Lastly, Canada Running Series, “2019 Canadian Marathon Championships” explains their role as host for Athletics Canada’s Marathon Trials for the 2020 Olympic Games. While I’m sure I will miss racing this favourite marathon of mine, I am happy to once again be involved in the broadcast. There will certainly be much to discuss about our talented Canadians aiming to earn a spot for Tokyo.
Two weeks from now I’ll be in Berlin, resting in my hotel and getting my fill of carbs in preparation for my 19th marathon. And onward I go. Again.
While snowboarding this past January, I suffered a distal spiral tibia and fibula fracture — oooops for sure, but hey, at least I was having fun at the time! Two titanium plates and 15 screws later I was “fixed,” but only beginning my road to recovery. At six months post-op I was given the all-clear to start running, which was quite painful, as to be expected. Now, eight months post-op and after months of physio and rehabilitation exercises, I am officially running again. When I learned of what CBD might do for me, I had absolutely no hesitation trying it. I sampled Floyd’s of Leadville 25mg CBD bars in chocolate and peanut butter.
Bar #1: Friday PM, August 23, 2019
For my first bar test I decided to eat it 30 minutes prior to running, in hopes it would reduce the pain I’ve been experiencing, as opposed to a recovery method. I also decided to do it on an empty stomach before dinner, to reduce the metabolizing time.
Well, the verdict is in — I am an official fan of CBD! Seriously, wow! What a difference… I ran 3K, which is the farthest yet since my injury. In addition, the moderate pain I expected was still there, but became mild within the first 5-10 minutes of running. Followed by — and for the first time — a good solid 10 minutes of nothing but “heaven” and some bugs from hell. (Side note to self: apply bug spray prior to running especially in the forest.)
What an amazing feeling to temporarily run without any pain. I am actually looking forward to my next run instead of fearing it.
Now sitting here 45 minutes post-run I am admittedly pretty stiff, but that’s to be expected. However, I’m not in pain so you can safely assume I am one satisfied CBD user.
Bar #2: Saturday PM, August 24, 2019
Tonight I decided to eat my second bar 1-hour prior to running, mostly due to how I was feeling this morning and thought giving it more time to kick in would alleviate those symptoms. I think that was a wise decision as the pain I was experiencing did subside, resulting in feeling comfortable and confident to begin my workout.
The results were comparable to yesterday to a certain extent, in that my pain went from moderate to mild within 5 to 10 minutes once again. However the remaining 10 minutes weren’t completely pain free, unlike last night. Perhaps I was a bit too overzealous and wasn’t feeling as good going into the run. Despite that, I was impressed with the level of pain reduction I did receive. Overall I feel it was a successful test and one hour after finishing I still feel good — a bit stiff, but nothing major.
For my third and final bar test I really want to push myself a bit harder. So I’ll give myself one day off and continue on Monday. I look forward to feeling those results!
Bar #3: Monday, August 26, 2019
In hindsight I think giving myself yesterday off was the smart choice. Tonight’s run went almost as well as my first test/bar trial, in that again within the first 10 minutes my pain became very mild, almost non-existent. This paved the way to challenge myself even further by concentrating on my gait and finding that sweet “running zone” spot. I was able to increase my speed resulting in my new personal best, 3.5 kilometres in 20 minutes.
All I know is it feels absolutely wonderful to know what “normal” is again. My bounce is returning and getting stronger everyday. Soon enough I’ll have the confidence needed to compete. Before I know it I’ll be off to the races!
Overall I’m extremely impressed with the results CBD provided. I honestly didn’t believe I could have managed these runs the way I did without this assistance. Moving forward, I would love to try some of the other products available as well, and figure out what works best for me.
My road of recovery has been a long and winding one, as anyone will attest to who’s suffered an injury which literally stops you in your tracks. Using CBD has created an additional boost in not just my athletic performance, but given me the confidence to push myself and feel safe simultaneously.
Alex Hutchison, author of Endure shares more
on the science of the sport, plus more on the shoe that can actually make you
faster. Then, the Tara Arnone, the leader of the All Paces All Faces running
club, shares the individual sport of running can be a very social experience.
Plus, a very passionate run club leader inspired a group of newcomers to run
their first 5K in sixteen weeks!
The Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend is the largest Canadian road race and this morning they named Ian Fraser as the new race director, taking over the job from John Halvorsen. Fraser is a coach, athlete and entrepreneur behind the Somersault event series, Human Performance Triathlon Club and Cyclelogik Bike Shop. He hasn’t gone longer than ten days without running in the last 46 years.
“I’ve experienced every high and every low that the life of an entrepreneur could possibly offer and I’m at a time in my life where I feel the pull to participate in something profound,” says Fraser, adding that flourishes to Canada’s most popular race weekend will be felt on the course this May. He says, “I think Run Ottawa and I found each other at just the right time.”
Big city races like Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver, Winnipeg and increasingly Edmonton are making great efforts to put on a show along with their 5K, 10K, half marathon and marathon races. To that end, Fraser says increasingly activations around race weekend and extending both the runway and the event tail will be part of his initial planning.
“Races that are currently doing well — like the Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend — provide a journey to the event, not just the event,” Fraser says. “Big city races need something special for the supporting cast and crew that a large number of runners bring with them. Things to do, places to see that will make the experience memorable and that (in some ways) transcend the event itself.”
The event, commencing this year on May 24, is the leading light on the road running year in this country. Canada’s Boston, the Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend is an event that must be experienced by everybody that runs. With great crowd support, incredible elite competitors, activations for the kids and a thriving race expo, the weekend was left to Fraser in good hands by John Halvorsen. Fraser, for his part, says he’s chomping at the bit to begin. He’s ready for the ride of his life.
“I will be focusing on developing and implementing a long-term strategic plan for Run Ottawa that we can make operational. This will drive the “why” of what we do and equally important will be showcasing Run Ottawa as “the” brand and adding profile to the other great events we produce year-round for the community,” he says. “I want to see the Ottawa Marathon continue to test the fastest runners, showcase Canada’s capital and present a compelling reason to come here and participate at any ability level. When they leave, participants must go away with the impression that they’ve been part of something really special.”
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