In the Arena: The Adventures of a Runner... his Dog and... her Monkey

Canadian running Conference....

2011-12-14T15:15:00.000-08:00

....I had the please of attending the Friday and Saturday nights of the recent Endurance Conference here in Vancouver. I've always been a believer in analyzing training methodologies first and foremost and this gave me an opportunity to tweak things are confirm some ideas.

The one area I hope people there did follow was how we need to leave some of our old training models on the back burner (actually go back more in time and keep those models...'old school'). The concept of the low mileage high intensity of the late 80s and 90s (and even into modern times) was pretty much destroyed by three of mid/dist coaches there (James Li, Alberto Salazar and Dave Scott-Thomas). I am still amazed that people havent' gone out of their way in this day and age of internet and freedom of information to find out what most successful coaches/athletes have done/are doing (not the genetic freaks, but rather the avergae athlete). The funniest presenter was Dave who when he said he first began recruiting for Guelph people used to comment that his was the school that ran too much/a lot. I highly doubt anyone is saying that anymore....

The first night was also a great way to begin with a Li Salazar showdown (kidding), but it was good to see both the similarities and differences between Li's slightly less volume (although still decent volume) and more athlete directed model vs Salazar's more higher mileage more coach controlled model. Where as Salazar was all about specifics Li offered the honest admission that he doesn't actually know how much actual volume Bernard Lagat runs per week. As wel Lagat does a lot of tempo style sessions to offset his lower volume mixed in with some really solid speed session. As well, he added that they do a lot of hills and more 'feel' workouts, whereas Salazar was very specific in his paces and on the track which reminds of Henry Rono's famous diatribe after a few beers where he said salazar was on the track all the time while he was out running 'any hill'....
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As always the key was in getting athlete to believe in their training and by and large that involved allowing athletes an ownership in their training. Although I don't disagree with this statemtn if I have learned anything over the last handful of years it's how little some athlete truly know about training paradigms. Maybe it's because they've been under coaches who 'controlled' them, but I am often amazed when some athletes don't have an idea of what they might do if a coach isn't around. If there's one area i have stressed to young athletes it's find out stuff for yourself and treat running as a form of enlightenment. The lesson learned are not mine....these are theirs.....

I am sure some more meandering things might hop into my head, but i realized that for right now I just need to keep this thing updated regularly.

On the wagon....

2011-12-04T22:06:00.001-08:00

...the body has finally been solid for the last 6 months and that's finally resulted in some decent running results. I took a really patient apporach since the summer and planned on a very short, but hopefully successful late season racing for crossy. it turned out I did just enough to win the BC masters in oct and about a month later the Canadian crossy champs.

Training lacked a ton of structure, but it was reletively consistent. I kept it simple with some classic sessions (egs 30-40min of hills, 8-10 x 3mins off 1min, 20-25 min hard tempos and 2 x 20mins off 5min good paced runs at just under threshold) mixed in with 100min and the odd 2 hr long runs. I was averaging about 120-130km, but only off 6 days per week of running.

I was pleasantly suprised with the BC cross results as I had run a low key XC race up at Whistler. I felt terrible there, but BCs felt really easy. At BCs I played it pretty patient and threw in a medium surge at around 5-6km (of an 8km race) and dropped Craig Odermatt. Considering how well Odie has been running this fall I was pleasantly happy.

At Canadians, I felt pretty confident. I'd done a few sessions with one of the athletes I've been coaching. He had no training partners after CIS champs and so we did a few session together. The key was I was running easy and I dropped him easily in the sessions. I knew he was in good shape so this was a nice confidence boost.

The day of the race it had been raining all night and morning and the course was pretty muddy. I've never been a mudder and figured my fitness might be offset by the mud.At Canadians there were a few questions marks (Grame Wilson and Steve Boyd), but after 1km I knew unless someone began to hammer early this was my race to lose. At around 2km Boyd threw in what felt like a pretty good surge and I answered it easily and then went past Steve. At that point things felt so easy that I just began to control the race in leading at times and follwoing when I wanted. By 6km it was just me and Odie once again and with about 1km to go I threw in one big surge up a hill and dropped Odie. From there it was just run relaxed to the end. It was some of the most fun I have had running in years...

I've been too busy too write here....(Flotrack Interview)

2011-08-25T21:57:00.001-07:00

.....becuase I've been writing here:

http://www.flotrack.org/article/7014-Mark-Bomba

Thanks for Chris for fixing all my typing and grammatical errors.....

FYI training is going well...achilles is good.....hmmmmmmm.......

It's been a long time coming....

2011-05-27T21:38:00.000-07:00

This post has been a long time coming. It was meant for months ago, but my ‘princess’ kinda got in the way...it's the idea that to experience the really good, you have to first experience the really bad and thatevery once in a while 'things click'...

In my own running I’ve had to overcome (as I have been quoted ‘stupidly’ refusing to quit) some major injuries in my career (two car accidents amongst many stupid injuries and even now still having an impact from getting hit on a run a few years ago) that when the good things happened they were extreme in their emotions. To have tried to run competitively well into my mid-late 30’s goes beyond any reasonable and rational thought, so why……well one has always been the challenge (see my philosophy ideas a few posts ago), but another has been a belief that I had more to give.

I knew that getting hit by a car in 1995 had seriously messed up my back (to the point where I didn’t seriously run for 4 years) and that I had lost the ‘prime’ years of training adaptations and experiences that could never be taken back. But I also knew that I had never come close to reaching my talent levels in the early 90s and that somehow kept me going.

As it would turn out I was right. Although I never came close to running my best race from a time perspective (read time trial race) I was able to race to levels where I knew I should be…. One such time was the year I shocked the Canadian running world in winning the XC champs. No one had even picked me in their top 10, nevermind winning I knew going in that the race was mine to win.

The odd fact (sounding arrogant, but not meant to) was when Paddy McCluskey (someone I have a great amount of respect for in regards to getting the most out his talent) asked me when I knew I was going to win. The answer that came quickly out my mouth was ‘July’. The people around Paddy looked shocked but Paddy got it.
The reason for my answer was simple I had told my future wife in July of that summer, I was going to win Canadian XC champs. I am sure she thought I was blowing smoke. I had placed 12th two years earlier, but knew I was on the cusp of taking it to a new level. To make such a statement might seem crazy, but I truly believed that I could achieve such a goal. I knew that there were only three guys I could not beat no matter what (Kevin Sullivan, Jeff Schiebler and Sean Kaley, but this was also the fall of 2000 and all three had just competed in the Sydney Olys) if I followed through on the training and could get back to the place I had been the previous spring.

What no one knew was that I had had a great spring of training and was on the verge of running some very good 5kms before I would suffer my first achilles injury. I also knew that fall that I had been much faster than when I had placed 12th (in a race I was disappoint in). So off I went putting in 3 x per week Grouse Grind tempo workouts, doing 2 x 2-3 hr bike ride per week along with other various training until could run. Even then I was only beginning to run in late August.
What would transpire over the next few months would quite simply be the model I would continue to follow for the many more years. Taking a patient and process oriented approach to training. I knew the goal and ignored everything else along the way, except as part of the process. All my eggs were in one basket.

Things started out relatively well. In early October, on a slowish course (I’ll assume because some good guys ran slowish times) and early in the season I ran a bit over 30mins for 10km. Not blistering, but I also split 15:15 through 5km and was off the back til I regrouped and moved up to 4th. The real key was that I had only just begun doing intervals (before that it was hills, fartleks and tempos) and knew that something special was happening in my training. Every week got better and every session felt solid. I was hitting my ‘magical spot.

Things got a bit better at the BC XC champs (I was 3rd), but once again the intervals were just beginning to take control. I knew that my timing was on track....until....the annual Haney to Harrison relay. I was training like a maniac and had the feeling of nothing could get in my way, til I bit off more than I could chew. I ran against a very fit Graeme fell at that time and after about 10mins i was done. I hung on for dear life as Graeme simply crushed me into the ground (I lost over 2mins to him over about 14km). I remember saying to Graeme how the leg of Haney had killed me, but even in getting killed I was still confident in where I was going. It was all part of the process.

What no one knew at the time was that I had done a hard 40min hill session on the Thurs night. Haney was nothing more than a training run and in looking at previous yr’s times (and even since then) I hadn’t run that poorly. Graeme had simply run that well (He went just over 42 mins that yr and only a few people have even gone just under 44mins). The result of Haney was once my legs recovered by our annual Tuesday night interval session I was absolutely rolling. Things had gone to a new level. A week later I knew that I was now going from nobodies top 10 pick to a chance to medal. I can remember it like it was yesterday as we did a session of 1km-2km-1km-2km-1km off 2mins. I knew this was my lat harder interval session I simply ran away from everyone at practice...and it felt easy. Everything was coming together as planned.

In talking to my coach at the time, about a week before the race he felt I could make the team. My response was simply ‘I know’. What he didn’t know was that I was thinking much bigger than that. I had 3 simple goals 1) make the team outright 2) top four 3) top two. The first goal was where i thought I’d be if I had a bad race (seriously) and goal 2 was where I thought I’d be if I simply ran okay...but goal was 1 was the real goal.

At that years Canadian XC champs everything played out like it was destiny. We got into -15 degrees weather, but by race day it was closer to + 10. The course was simply my kind of course. It was a three km route that mostly flat with a few smallish hills and firm (I hate the mud). Even the race went out as I had planned to focus on Paddy after one of his teammates told me he was going to take out around 8km (of the 12km race). I watched Paddy, knowing he was far more experienced than me at this stuff and when I saw him make a slight move at 5km I began to move up, but as I did so I went past Paddy and immediately caught up with the leaders (at this moment in time the two main players were Graham Cocksedge and Peter Cardle). I thought to myself....’well since you’re here you might as well hang out for a while’ (if you know my general tactics they are to wait as late as possible). But in hanging out with the lead guys I felt as though I was jogging. Once again I thought....’it can’t be this easy’. As it turned out it was. Graham through in a surge at around 7km and Peter countered. I was gapped a meter or so and responded by following Peter who soon went by Graham. As soon as Pete went by Graham I slowly went by Peter and what felt easy must have been pretty quick as I soon gapped Pete. A meter turned into two and then into 3, etc....With 4kms to go I was leading a race I had no business being in (at least according to the internet predictions where I was in no one’s top 10). My thoughts once again turned into ‘well you’ve taken the lead let’s put in a decent surge and see what happens. I was running scared but I was also getting stronger and stronger. With one lap to go I looked back and had put about 5 or so seconds on Peter. I surged again and was running absolutely petrified. By the time I was at 2kms to go I was probably upward of 10 seconds on Peter and knew that I was going to win. It was everything I had within me to hold my emotions inside. All I did was wait for the last counter, but what Pete and no one else in the field knew was that I had at least another 30 seconds in me over the last mile. I simply stayed around 10 seconds until the finals straightaway where every ounce of everything negative that had ever happened to me in running came out.

From now on there would be no questioning of what I was capable of doing. There was no coulda, shoulda, woulda of what ifs. I never understood how much of that pent up energy had been so completely controlled until that moment as I was simply a blubbering mess (thankfully Peter pulled me away from the crowds and to a quiet place). I was from that moment on I would be a much more relaxed runner. I no longer had a chip on my shoulder. I had proven to myself that belief did matter and that sometimes if you do stick around long enough good things can happen. I would never be the same runner and more importantly I would never be the same person....

A Slight Change in Direction

2011-05-19T21:37:00.000-07:00

Lo and behold a heck of a lot happened since I last posted. I now have a baby girl (the main reason for such a long time between posts), I have gone through my umpteenth achilles problem (not bad as I was getting really fit.... but I wasn't going to run through it, although thankfully I hooked up with a great physio out here in Langley who has really helped me with my reoccurring hip issues which were adding to my achilles 'whip'), the kids I've coached at HS have begun to finally make an impact and last but not least I have now entered the phase of focusing on actually coaching, as opposed to more mentoring.

I recently accepted a position as the endurance coordinator at Trinity Western University (a short run near my house thankfully). Coaching at a more serious level has been something I've been himming and hawing about for while (if it was up to Julie I would have done it a long ago as she has been my biggest supporter in that regards), and it pretty much fell into my lap.

An old friend (I realized in going through this process I've know him for almost 25 years)was recently hired as the head coach after coming back early from his position as the Scottish National team coach asked me to come on board. I had originally gotten hold of Laurier to give him some names of some kids who I thought would be a good fit for his program and to offer him any support to assist him when he asked me if I wanted to take the coaching gig on part time. As I told Laurier, " You really threw me for a loop", as it wasn't something I had even expected.

After some conversations with my wife and some more with Laurier I decided I would give it a try. It certainly is a new direction for me in that I am now willing to give up some of my own running (I will try to still training , but no more 100 mile weeks for me....not that I had been putting in many recently) to see if I can make a difference for some others. Hopefully, we'll be able to provide some new ideas and options for young runners.

Luck.....

2011-02-09T21:04:00.001-08:00

....quick update....

I haven't had much luck over the last 6 months and just as I thought things were coming along I got a bacterial sinus infection. I got sick just before we began moving in late December and I thought it was just a simple cold (maybe it was. But after it seemed to go away I got really sick to the point where I went to the Drs and got some antibiotics. I felt much better in just a couple of days but by the time I got going again I had missed 10 days. It's like starting from scratch, but things seem to be coming back quickly (although I am still having breathing problems (asthma has kicked into overdrive). What does this mean....simple no 'First half' marathon and even then things will go back to a real base building mode....

Believing.....

2010-12-18T20:42:00.000-08:00

“People can't understand why a man runs. They don't see any sport in it. Argue it lacks the sight and thrill of body contact. Yet, the conflict is there, more raw and challenging than any man versus man competition. For in running it is man against himself, the cruelest of opponents. The other runners are not the real enemies. His adversary lies within him, in his ability, with brain and heart to master himself and his emotions.”

I often get into this idea of ‘running is not fun’ so why the hell do it!!!! I know there are the running geaks and lifer who can’t see themselves doing anything but running, but I cannot say I follow that belief, at least not into regards to actually liking running for the sake of running.

So why the heck would I then go out day in day out and run some god awful 100 mile weeks (well maybe not right now, but at times in the past). One will always see me giving some idea from the ‘Once a Runner’ or as I call it ‘the bible’. Well the only real answer I’ve come across is the idea from Joe Vigil of ‘satisfaction’, but even then there have been many times when I have quite simply walked away from a workout/run literally blubbering because it was no longer positive in any way. But wait…not all is lost.

If I found out anything it’s that those times that are the darkest also have the greatest impact on one as a person. I’ve always viewed running as a concept where u really find out what happens ‘when the ‘#^%^ hits the fan’. That’s one of those things where I often feel I have huge advantage over many athletes/coaches and that is in experiencing that absolute lows in combination with those moments where things simply come together. The key to that ‘stickingitoutedness’, as I would come to realize was belief…. So here are my keys to the idea of belief and an inside story which no one has ever been told (if you’ve been around me on long runs you know I tell a lot of stories):

1)You need to believe in yourself (both mentally and physically): that you have the ability to achieve your full potential.

2) You need to have faith in your training (that you have properly prepared, coach, etc… the egs I I like to use is when Shorter and Prefontaine were training in Colorado in the winter and Pre was whining about a cold and snowy…apparently more like a blizzard…when Shorter simply said ‘we are training harder than anyone in the world right now’)

3) Understand what you can control and leave the things you cannot control alone. This is a tough one, but it’s also a future blog idea and that is that your first goal should be simple…..your goal is to pay attention to the process..in other words doing all the things you can do to be your best

4) Belief will carry you through difficult times…My story about belief is kinda long so it will have to wait…..

Kinda jumping ahead here.....

2010-12-13T19:16:00.000-08:00

I'd love to give some first hand current inspiration, but alas my current victories are small. I at least got in 7 sessions this week and even did a small hill workout with the kids last Thurs, but that tempered by my run on Sunday that was painful.

In my quest to provide some small insight to my fundamental beliefs on running I am going to jump ahead a few topics (specifically for a friend of mine who is currently 'winterly challenged'. I've always felt that coaches can be overrated. Not to say they aren't relevant as a bad coach can ruin you, but a good coach simply allows you find out what you need to do. My belief in that regards comes from arguably the most influential running coach of all time in Oregon's Bill Bowerman and from a lesser known runner by the name of Jack Bachelor.

If you've ever read anything on Bowerman (Kenny Moore's 'Men of Oregon' being the ultimate piece of literature), you know what Bowerman was a teacher first and coach second. Jack Bachelor )the man who the infamous Bruce Denton from 'Once a Runner' fame is based on) was also one of these types of coaches who understood that the athletes needed to make the decisions and not the coach (egs Denton's talk to Quenton Cassidy the night before the big race being a good example). Their idea that the most important running lessons learned were not in being told, but in being learned by the athlete have always stuck with me as the essential truths

Hence the topic for this post is how a good training partner/s are the best people to help you learn these lessons:

1) For those who know the legendary basketball coach john wooden's 'pry amid of success' you know that places an extreme emphasis on working as a unit. With team dynamics you can go beyond day to day sport and into the realm of life,
character, etc… as you help each other improve, go through the 'wars' and os on...

2) SUPPORT GROUP:
a) Coach: the ability to communicate to one's coach (needs, wants, concerns,). In this regards the coach acts as an authoritative facilitator, who is able to mee the needs of many. I've always felt the good coaches have a few things in common. They are kinda like a chameleon who have the ability to stay the same in basic principles/values, but also have the talent to deal with may typos of physical and mental abilities/talents. It's easy to teach one event, type of person, etc.... but it's entirely another to be able to understand how to relate to males/females, fast twitch/slow twitch and young/experienced.

3) TRAINING PARTNERS:
Training partners (as malmo put it 'Compete WITH your comrades in sweat - never AGAINST them') are of course required to get the most out training, but i also feel that some true gifts from training partners are overlooked (and IMHO more important in the grand scheme of things)

i) Quite simply they help one to enjoy the daily grind of training. Have a touhg time getting out the door...find someon who will meet you on X day at X time.

ii) When all on the same page they can help create both individual and team values, goals, purpose, accountability, security, etc....

iii) Team leader/s to galvanize a team, set expectations, goals, vision, etc... In this respects I've often seen the tone set by the main athlete/s who dictate how the group functions. For example... one of the best training partners I ever had was Jerry Ziak. Jerry, like myself, was often considered an 'independent' voice in running, but as training partners both myself and Jerry were on the exact same page. We were both competitive without letting our egos get involved, and therefore pushed each other, as opposed to killing each other off.

In the end a good loyal and dependable training partner can take one far beyond what they think they can and feed off each other. On the other side I've also seen how training partners who are venomous to each other can also destroy what should be a great training environment

So what now.....

2010-12-07T19:50:00.000-08:00

Oh Yeah .....Discipline.....eeeks not a strong point for me right now. Much like the infamous fictional character Quenton Cassidy who was so jealous of the obsessive complusive Bruce Denton and Jerry Mizner from 'Once a Runner' fame I too struggle with discipline. But that struggle is only in getting going.

Once I am in my routine I am set come hell of high water. this lack of routine would probably explain why my Fall/Winter running has been a mess. Probably why I also found this quote from the great Emil Zatopek to be so enoghtening:

"When a person trains once, nothing happens. When a person forces himself to do a thing a hundred or a thousand times, then he certainly has developed in more ways than physical. Is it raining? That doesn't matter. Am I tired? That doesn't matter, either. Then willpower will be no problem.“ (Emil Zatopek)

That's one thing I left out from my original idea to present these mental 'tricks' and that was in my philosophy. I also see running as (as corny and strange as this may sound) a from of 'enlightenment' (take your pick: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enlightenment). In this regards overcoming weaknesses is my form of enlightenment. I find that in this struggle I leanr far more about life than running and in that regards it's a neverending set of experiences that constantly evolve and grow (wow existential isn't it). it's also been an idea that I try to provide to young runners. that this sport is far more than running and competing....it's about learning and evolving. In that case you are constantly motivated.

So here are a few of my tricks to reach this form of enlightment:

1) Create a plan for training, school, etc… (time
management) and have the discipline to stick so that plan (yeah easier said than done sometimes.....and whene evr you think you have trained hard.....remember you could ahve done more)

2) Routine, routine, routine (consistency rule):

“to be good a running life must be boring” – Marty Liquori - former world #1 miler & US 2 mile record holder. This has been the key for my running or as the great Villanova coach (and Liqouri's coach) said: "Live like a clock.".

Every Monday I do this...every Tues, etc...... The greater the routine (not meant to be boring), the easier it is to deal with the monotony of training. For some it's not as relevant...for me it's key!

3) With consistency there is a feeling of empowerment. See my enlightenment beliefs

4) The more you do it the easier it becomes. See Zatopek's quote!!!!

In turn all of this creates mental toughness (‘there are no secrets’ and ‘miles of trials, trials of miles’). Sounds boring but it works....

Determination

2010-12-02T18:51:00.000-08:00

To enjoy training is not really the appropriate phrase; to gain satisfaction of fulfillment from training is more appropriate. ” (Joe Vigil)

A quote that I often use to describe running. If it was fun everyone would do it and often running is....well.....really not fun or enjoyable. But what it does do is offer (as Rudyard Kipling would say)a challenge if you wish to take on that '60 seconds' of pain.

But as I note (bringing out my own demons here) all too often is what a difficult sport this can be on a dialy basis. If you feel you haven't properly prepared seldom will you run to your potential (but then again if you don't know better ignorance is bliss). I try to reinforce to the HS I coach that at one time I thought I trained hard...I was wrong!!! It requires many things and the first attitude (or as i prefer to call it an underrated skill) is determination. Here then are my keys:

●One must have the ability to force their bodies in both training and racing (callusing). An idea I specifically took from Bill Dellinger (former oregon and Steve Prefontaine's coach) of how general training and more specific wokrouts can create a callusing effect on the physical and mental aspects of running. The key is not confusing single workouts callusing with consistency callusing (far better)

●Running is not glamorous and requires one to actually volunteer to feel pain/discomfort for a lengthy period of time. See if it was fun everyone would do it. i find it takes a certain type of personlity to run and it seems to revolve around two certifiable nutty traits...1)do you like pain and 2) do you like a challenge (see my previous post on Ron Daws)

●Pain threshold can be increased through pure hard work and effort (going the extra distance and doing the little things). It doesn't always have to be about pushing through pain. it can be as simple as running 5 mins longer, eating better, doing drills 15 secs longer, doing an extra set of weights, etc.... it's more about focussing on the process and then the rest just seems to happen)

● Find something to motivate you (egs Murray Halberg and his clock/withered arm). If there's one runner who I would say defined 'toughness' it would be 1960 5000m Oly champ Murray Halberg. he had an arm that was almost taken off by a horrific rugby accident, and IMHo ran arguably the gutsiest race of all time when he won hos Oly gold. But the best Halberg story comes from his race in Los Angeles. He had lost to former Canadian teen phenom Bruce Kidd and had placed 3rd. he hated losing to Kidd and received an alarm clock. He wanted to throw the clock out, but thought better of himself and instead used to motivate himself....for one whole year. Halberg used the clock as his every day alarm clock. Every morning it went off for him to do his morning run, but if he didn't feel like running he simply looked at the clock, got mad and out the door he went. The end result...he simply annihiliated Kidd and the rest of the competition one year later.

Okay I am back in the Game

2010-11-30T20:54:00.000-08:00

...or to quote Al Pacino... 'Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in'.

I thought I was in for good a couple of weeks ago. Got in 6 solid days of running 40-75 mins. The next week was on a roll again when an 'oops' started and I took 3 days off. I have been able to rectify that oops this week, but we'll see.

If it's any consolation we finally sold our house, bought one (final paperwork today) and begin moving in about 2 weeks, although we won't be living there til early Jan. That and Julie's impending pregnancy, Carter's endless energy, the rain and my own lack of discipline (This is the worst I have fallen off the wagon) have meant a lack of running, but when I do I feel great. My mechanics have felt good, my stride is more 'core' and powerful, but it's always a long road back. Thank god I had some semblance of 3-4 days of running before this or it would be ugly

When things go awry I often go back to the simple things and one of the reason for starting this blog was to share what I feel is a somewhat unique set of perspectives and experiences on someone who somehow made it through this sport in a very strange series of events. The sport has never been easy for me, but somehow I've landed on my feet (most of the time anyways).

In that regards 'getting it' and how difficult this sport can be goes hand in hand with my personality (hence why I have always seen the fictional Quenton Cassidy of Once a Runner fame as a soul mate). I have never been the OCD true blue distance runner and it's something I've had to work at (at times far more than most realize and definitely more than I sometimes understand).

This leads to the next series of posts (I will update regularly) rather than go on about training and my own self loathing.

I've had the opportunity to pass on some of my running perspectives at both the HS and Uni level. Over time I have had the chance to tweak a PowerPoint presentation to the point where I can do it at many levels and too many groups (not just running). Over the next while I figure I'll change gears and write about something that I already have a skeleton structure in place.

The idea behind said PowerPoint was to 1) remind me of where I've come from and what I need to do myself and 2) to give younger athletes a bit of idea on what I wish I could have told myself if I could go back in time. Nothing is that original (except my eccentric way of presentation) and instead is based upon more methodology of what I have gleamed in my own experiences and from those much greater at this sport than myself (egs Joe Vigil, Steve Ovett, Arthur lydiard, Peter Snell, etc...)...so here goes:

If could pinpoint one main place to begin in running and that is a philosophy of what the sport means to you. It's an idea I took from a man I would consider a great motivator and that is Joe Vigil. I've wrote about Joe before but his ability to connect with athletes is legendary and it left an indelible mark in my mind. One of the core ideas of Vigil was that each athlete should have a philosophy. In time of stress, concern or despair the philosophy is what you fall back on. I can be your own idea (my quote of the 'key to success is patience with a sense of urgency' has always stuck with me, but I've found a much more fluid philosophy from Ron Daws. Daws was a running eccentric and schmuck, but he also made himself into a "Self Made Olympian'. He began his training book 'Running Your Best: The Committed Runner's Guide to Training and Racing' with the infamous Teddy Roosevelt quote (and this blogs main name) 'In the Arena', but I found Daws quote even better. It really does get at the core and when I find myself struggling (as I do right now) it's my core vision of what the hell I am actually trying to do....

“Making a commitment to run comes down to how badly you want to explore your limits. It means honestly confronting your excuses. It means making time to train. Unless you go all out for something, you may conclude your life without actually having lived it. It doesn’t have to be running, but it should be a quest for excellence, and it need be for only that period of life that it takes to full explore it. That’s how you find out who you are. To live your life your way, to reach for the goals you have set for yourself, to be the way that you want to be, that is success”

(Ron Daws from ‘Running Your Best’ – 1968 Olympian)

There are really no excuses.....

2010-10-28T18:54:00.000-07:00

....I always knew I was like some big train when I stopped running/training. I just can't get moving easily......

My achilles has actually been very good, but my lack of any running routine and any sort of internal discipline to get with it has led to some nice runs, but also a complete lack of focus and consistency. The 'sense of urgency' as i call it has yet entered my realm of thought.

On the plus side I've been spending more time working with the HS kids. It's fun working with them, but it's also killing my time management as having top pick up Carter, try to sell our house (final stages hopefully) and general life has made it difficult to truly be focuses. If there was any proof of that my constant 8-8:30 fall asleep on the couch times can attest to that. It's simply one of those things that will come, but for me it's never been easy.

Hence why I empathize with the HS kids we've been coaching. They are still learning, but gosh some of them have talent. We have three pretty good junior kids who have never trained for XC before and their results attest to their talent and having done enough work to have some nice results. We have one very talented kid, but we have unearthed four others who could make our school team pretty decent next year and very good the year after that. It's just getting them out. The shocking thing is that two of them gave up soccer to focus on running. Hopefully on my current comeback they can motivate me to get out more consistently.

Yes I am still alive....

2010-10-07T22:07:00.000-07:00

...and no running is not going particularly well. If I ever thought there was such a thing as a minor achilles problem...shoot me. Although the achilles is okay to run it's still creaky. I just cannot figure out if it's simply old age creaky, injured creaky or simply just creaky and ok to run on consistently.

My runs are good (mechanics are much better even if they feel awkward), when I do run and it often feels better the next day, but I am also paranoid as hell tnat one step forward will be one step back, and I don't think my brain could take that....oh well for now I may have to take that step forward.....this is more stresssful than any race I have ever done....eeekkkkk....

I hope to post more consistently, in my typical tangent fashion, but things have been busy. Work, coaching the HS kids, and trying to sell a house(^%$*^%*^% chafer beetles) as julie is pregnant again means things are a little unpredictable these days and I more than most need predictability to run well (I find the more of a loose cannon you are the more routine one needs, at least in regards to place and time)

Wow!! Maybe I showed too much patience

2010-08-02T18:22:00.000-07:00

It's been a very interesting last 4-5 weeks. I figured I'd be running full time a long time ago, but this has not been the case. The achilles didn't respond to anything I did too it, so I ended up finally getting into physio (shoulda done that the first week). It's coming along, but still stiff at times (got a night splint) and tender, but my physio seems to think it's better that I think it is...

The good thing has been I purchased a hybrid road bike. it's more road bike than mtn bike and although it's a cheaper model, it's definitely smoother than anything I've been on before. if there's one thing I can actually handle when injured it's bike riding for 2-3 hours. I've only just got the bike, but I've had a couple 90min runs mixed in with some pool workouts at the Glen (where I have lived this summer) as they have two pools there and I was able to find a cheap pool running belt (BIG % is a plethora of cheap sports crap!!!). Mix that in with a few runs and things are coming along. Now, I just have to to get hold of my 'love handles' get in some SFU and Bellingham runs and hope that the Fall is not like last year (October meltdown).

At they very least it looks as though I may have a part time training partner this Fall. A young kid we've been working with at our school ran some great races to win the two distance events (1200 and 2000m) at this yrs BC Summer Games. He's still a work in progress but he shocked the hell out of us in running a very aggressive 1200m (we didn't think he'd win as the other kids have more pure speed and have been running 2:04/05 800m), but he simply bullied his way to the front with 2500-300m to go and then kicked like a mad man to win. Slow time, but he closed in 63.

In the 2000m he ran somewhat similar, but we also expected he had a good shot to win. The final times made his dominance in the race look close. The way he handled himself in the race (controlling the tactics and strategy and being patient and smart) shows he has come a long way. He simply took off with 100m to go, much like the change of pace work we had given him over the last few weeks of training (good 100m with 300 to go and then another hard surge with 100m to go), worked wonders. It was one of those things where we know he needs to get in good position with 200m to go, as he doesn't have the pure leg speed so we felt that he needed the mental routine of practice surging to run better races tactically.

Considering eh has done all his training on his own, doesn't belong to a club and is in hist first year of the sport shows the potential we felt he had...

The patience train...

2010-06-21T17:54:00.000-07:00

(some pics of tank)

...is beginning to leave the train station. My supposed minor achilles (it has never really been bad) simply won't go away. Having said that it's been no help from me. I figured it responded so well to initial ice, rest, etc...that I'd be completely rolling in 2-3 weeks.

Well it hasn't gotten bad, but it has also been stubborn. I tried running earlier this week (3 weeks off) and it flared up. Now this could simply be tightness and the buildup of scar tissue making things feel painful, but I am not willing to take that chance.

I figured this would simply be my down time, but that time is now getting antsy. I had originally figured I'd be rolling on the track by now, but alas I sit here and....and well sit here some more.

Once again I get to live vicariously through the high school kid we are coaching. Good story as he qualified for the BC Summer Games in the 1200 and 2000m, but his 2000m trails race was one for the ages. I should preface that this kid kinda drives us nuts becuase he can be scatterbrained (don't know anyone like that).

So at the trials he is running a great race (I wasn't there but heard all about it) and he is sitting on this kid on lap 4 when with he hits the 200m mark and takes off. Oh oh....he thought he was on lap 5. Apparently, he has this huge lead and hit the line and then realizes he has another lap to go. Right then and there the kid showed us what he is really made of as he retook the lead until 200m to go and then puts down another kick. He hangs on til the last few meters when he gets passed to place 2nd and confirm his spot on the team.

Now we just have to get him to the start line in a month of so and see what happens.... should be interesting.

I am still here....

2010-06-03T18:14:00.000-07:00

...but it's been a busy last few weeks (school yr ending and the high school track season being in full swing), and a tweaky achilles has put me in limbo mode. Initially I was get in the gym and hammer myself into the ground, but getting my rear to the gym has been...well...a challenge. Instead, I've taken the take a week off, get the achilles dealt with (it's not bad and I don't want it to get that way) and move on....

In the mean time it's living vicariously thru some of the HS athletes we've been working with and see if they can achieve some good results. And this is where this post begins....

We have a grade 12 student who had never gone out for a school team in her life. Over the past 18mths she began doing the school's Sun Run clinics and in the fall came out for XC. Now this is the sort of kid you root for because she has the guts, resiliency, attitude and determination to show up and train. She was our team leader in XC even though she was at best our 7th runner. Unfortunately, she lacks the 3rd main ingredient to being a successful distance runner and that is plain simple pure talent.

As this student began coming out for track we decided we would do everything possible to get her to meets (she never misses a practice and even took up the javelin). Early in the season we went to a meet in the states. We had a free entry in all events and the only way to get her into an event was the 400m. She ran as hard as she could and afterwards still had a smile on her face (once she recovered).

But alas just when one thinks that luck in life never comes into play things happen to those who have that sort of attitude that deserves recognition. We had one of our local HS teachers, and former national team walkers, agree to hold walking clinics.

Now I know what you are thinking...WALKS!!!!.....but I've had a great degree of respect for walkers since I was in grade 11 and had a walks guy show exactly how fast they are (I could barely keep up with him when running).

I realized then and there that this kids lack of pure talent was no factor (if she could learn walking technique, which is more relevant). The result has been a kid who qualified for the BCHS champs and will probably be our highest open individual placing.

Life can often be full of terrible things, but every once in a while ol lady luck smiles on you. I'd be lying to you if the lady luck was only for her because in watching her succeed (with more tangible results) I've been able to remember that often things do work out for those who deserve it.

I actually made to the start line, nevermidn the finish line...

2010-05-13T18:37:00.000-07:00

I am now officially mesmerized I actually made it to the Sun Run starting line. Because as of Sunday evening I had contracted Carter’s flu like symptoms, which apparently have turned out to be Norwalk (sp??). I originally thought I just felt kind of fatigued from the race, but as the day wore on I could feel there was something more to this uggghhh feeling.

I ended up calling in sick to work later Sunday, was being bed ridden for Mon and was only beginning to feel ‘human’ later Tues. By later in the day on Wed I was back to normal (a relative term I know), but of course with Julie being a nurse I also learned that Norwalk sticks around much longer (and is still catchy) up to two days after symptoms. So I finally went back to work on Thurs.

The worst part was Carter’s b-day party on Sat meant the sickie hit parade was on. By today’s count 16 of the 21 people at the party have also come down with said virus. Oh the fun that sick little kids create.

It might help to explain my hurting legs so early on in the Sun Run (maybe????) and my lack of energy over the latter parts of the race. It just felt hard from the get go. Oh well, maybe this is a needed rest.

What a week....

2010-05-09T17:54:00.000-07:00

It was exactly one year and one day ago that I found out what really matters. I have led an interesting life (a natural results of your father being in the RCMP and living in many different places), but last year changed everything. Why……simple…the birth of our first child. His birth (being as stressful as it was) caused both great hardship and great joy. The joy being how he has responded to his birth (we both believe he wouldn’t have made it through the weekend of his birth if my wife hadn’t had the feeling that something was wrong and had gone to the hospital), and turned into a tank of a child, who is eternally happy (even when he pukes you can still get a smile out of him).

It is when things go awry that I find myself with the simple concept that his life almost never began and that always bring me back into the real world. Today is such a day (being mothers day and all) when I can take a look back and realize that I cannot imagine much worse things than the birth of my child (I am still traumatized), but also how his resilient personality (yeah he has one) puts a constant smile on my face.

I've mentioned this before and if there's anything I've learned about myself (more so in recent times) is the requirement to become 'emotional' when I run. The past week has been a mess in regards to actually being able to focus on the Sun Run this week, and my performance showed as much. I cannot say it was terrible, but I also know it wasn't great. It was simply...'there'.

Back in high school when I played hockey I played my best when in an absolute emotional frenzy. I was one of those obnoxious (yeah imagine that!!!) player s that played on the edge and chirped away. Over the years I found that some people were able to get themselves up for any race. I was not one of those people. I could train at a high level, but I needed that extra little bit to race well.

What I also found was that getting ready to race for me was a buildup of events. I knew when and where I was going to run my best months in advance. But where problems sometimes arose (especially over the last two years has been in life getting in the way (not an entirely bad thing, but sometimes bad timing). Such was this past week.
Things began with our school track city championships on Monday. I enjoy the coaching, but the length of some of these days is exhausting. I got home around 8:30, never ran and went to sleep at 9:15. Not seeing Carter brings a great deal of stress and impatience on my part, so it was like a double whammy. Unfortunately, Tues was not much better. Because I hadn’t read any emails On Mon I messed up practice time and showed up at 5:30 (the time we had been showing up at). In turn I also had to cover our track practice as my coaching partner wasn’t there that day. Wed was another long day as I had to go to White Rock for another HS track race and didn’t get home til 6:30. Thurs was going fine til Carter was about to go to sleep and then proceeded to vomit all over Julie. That meant another late night as I was able to get in a short hill workout just it got dark around 9ish, go home and then had to go find a 24 hour drugstore to get fluids and Gravol for carter (who apparently had been puking non-stop since I had left). So another late night led to another early and long day as our final day of city championships took place. Now it was a beautiful day, but the sun and walking around are the last things I want to do before a bigger race. But wait…it gets better. I end up in bad traffic going home, get there late and can only put in a short run before I head downtown for a VIP shindig for the Sun Run. It was fine, but I would much rather have been relaxing at home. The adventures of this week don’t end there. Carter’s birthday was on Sat, s once again no down time and the to top it off I go out for a short run, come home and Julie now has what Carter had.

As always a moral…….Yeah!!!! I was totally ready to race on Sunday morning (insert sarcasm here)…. So after all this whining my Sun Run result is put in perspective (BTW I was top master and ran 30:57, but had a poor last km and was hoping for a much better time). …and that is some of our HS kids look as though they may be on their way to being successful in this sport, my wife had her first even Mothers day and most importantly Carter had his first ever birthday (or as I say to my wife, every day he is alive is a good day for me). I might be exhausted right now (not from the race), but I cannot complain.

Rolling with the punches...

2010-04-25T20:55:00.000-07:00

…well I ran just over 31:20 for 10km at the Times Colonist 10km in Victoria. I cannot say it was a great race, but then again I don’t think things seem as bad… ( back in the day this would have been an unmitigated disaster). It’s funny how (a good word choice???) I still need some reason (based on some semblance of pressure/emotion in my case) to be able to run well. No matter how hard I try I cannot get up for many of my races and instead only pick a few to focus on during the season.

I’ve said this before how jealous I am of guys who can run the same day in day out. I can training that way, but I have never really been able to race that way. I have always needed that extra nudge to get to my potential. In today’s race such a situation occurred. Well sorta….. I don’t think I am really physically ready to race well yet, but also being a masters means I can win a division (and hence some $$$) without really pressing myself. Yeah, I know an easy way out, but in the past I never would have run such a race unless it meant something emotionally. So in this case I simply get a chance to see what I need to do, where my fitness is and how things are progressing.

Today showed that in some respects I am much closer to where I want to be, but that I also need some things to work on. I think most of us from the mainland who train with Richard Lee were fatigued and this explains some things. In my case I could feel the fatigue, but more so I could also feel the lack of any real willingness to lay it on the line. But I also think much of this has to do with not having that emotional edge (too relaxed!!!) and also in my hips/back.

The early parts to the race were difficult til about a mile and then I really relaxed. I felt great, until we hit some longer hills and then I felt as though it was a real struggle and I slightly fell back. Unfortunately, I couldn’t gain on the gap although the pack never really opened it up on me til I really packed it in around 8km. But, as always I try to take the positive out of this (and the negatives). In this case I really need to work some mechanical issues (my right hip was killing me on the warm down and throughout the day), but I also split 24:50 through 8km and running around 3:05s for the first 5km felt pretty easy. 31:20 may not seem like much, but I can tell I am much closer to breaking one than this race indicates
Training since my last post
Sat: AM 42 mins good run with Kao PM: tempo planned 20min-60s-10min-60 sec-5min, but a couple of mins into the 10min I swallowed a bug and my asthma went into over drive. I ended up shortening things up a bit felt terrible after
Sunday: 1 hr 56 mins good run
Mon: 56 mins ..it’s a down week and I have essentially had three 90+ mile weeks in a row.
Tues: 6 x 800m off 3mins ….I avg’d 2:14, but began at 2:16 and the last there were 2:13s…felt like I had some jump
Wed: 72 mins…legs banged up from tues, but still a decent run
Thurs: monofartlek at Mundy park…..decent considering how my legs felt on Wed. Maybe a bit quick (15;40 for a loop) considering racing on Sunday
Fri: 58mins..felt much better
Sat: AM 30mins at Mundy with the dog PM 20mins plus drill, strides and even some core work
Sun: 31:23 (split 15:2?? High for 5km and 24:50ish for 8km…then packed it in the last km as I was in no mans land and my main goal had been achieved…..’collect a paycheque’…

....My 'Magical Place'...

2010-04-17T13:46:00.000-07:00

….the term I use when training finally hits a groove. I’ve always said (to anyone who would listen), be patient, put in the volume and let the workouts come to you, not the other way around. I am finally starting to see the results of said action over the last few weeks. Even with my ‘meltdown’ session a few Tuesdays ago I knew that training was coming around (especially my tempo run a couple of weekends ago where I was running longer and quicker and easier than at any time all year).

Due to an ‘experiment’ when I first moved up to 5 and 10km I knew I had to get in more volume, I decided to put any semblance of ego aside, take my lumps in training, not force things and see what happened. The end result was what I referred to as ‘magic’. Of course ‘magic’ is defined as when one gets to the point in training where training recovery days and workouts drop noticeably (and in my case the drop is very noticeable). Now if the patience isn’t there then that ‘magic’ can go backwards (read overtraining). Bit also going through that period where your workouts suck because you are simply gaining fatigue (or the ‘calm before the storm’), when finally recovery catches up fatigue and then training becomes a daily joy.

The ‘magical place’ is also when any mental issues are taken care of. There is no I am tired, there are no bad days on running (well maybe every 3-4 weeks, but those tend to be more medium days rather than the bad ones that may have occurred in the early stages). There is simply having gotten beyond the mental and physical fatigue of earlier training.

The ‘magic place’ doesn’t yet mean I am race ready, but it does mean I am close. It’s simply the one quick, yet huge step, to racing at one’s best. I love the ‘magical place’…..
Last week:
Mon: AM 43mins PM 55 mins
Tues: 5 x 1600m off 3mins (around 4:50 +/-)
Wed: 80mins
Thurs: 30mins of 45-50 sec hills
Fri: 65mins
Sat: AM 30mins, and then spent all day at a track meet in the US PM 25mins tempo. (Actually quite good considering the long day)
Sunday: 1 hr 45min (shockingly easy and quick)
Mon: 70mins
Tues: 2 x 1600-1200-800 (off 3mins) 1600s – 4:41/2; 1200s – 3:30/1 and 800s – 2:17/18 (I think…as I recall, but in every one I dropped it down on the last lap and to say this was a controlled session is an understatement. I just hope this is the trend and not the exception)
Wed: 85 mins...too easy of a run considering Tues session
Thurs: monofartlek plus 5mins hills…once again it felt too controlled considering the paces I was hitting)
Fri: 70mins cruisy, very relaxed, yet quick

Deja Vu....

2010-04-05T18:50:00.000-07:00

..so last week i talk about how emotion I am in my running (or at least need it) and then I go out and have an absolutely mess of a planned workout due to emotions (or better described as the wrong emotions or running on empty) of having a very long day and week mixed in with some bad sleep and probably lousy eating as well.

Tuesday was supposed to be 8 x 1000m off 2mins and after the way training has gone I was expecting a bit of a jump in workouts. Instead i went about 10 steps backwards. I did 2 at below goal pace and walked off the track less than half way through #3. I was spent from a long Monday at work, another even longer day with some long parent meeting, not eating and going directly from work to practice and even getting there late. Never mind my back felt terrible and I ran as tense as I possibly could. All in all a running mess. So off I went for an easy 40-50min run and about 20-30mins in I began to see 'black' spots, but I was on the other side of the river from the track and couldn't even cut it short.

Fortunately, by the end of the week I felt much better (had both Fri and Mon off, relaxed and running became substantially better. Even a tempo session I did two weeks ago (of 2 x 20mins off 90 sec, which i thought was pretty good) was surpassed by an even longer tempo style session of 20-15-10-5 off 1min in which i ran quite a bit faster (and the last 5mins i let it loose the last 2min and felt great).

So where to from here.....well back on the track for Rues with hopefully much better results...for now it's the final final four......

Mon: 66mins
Tues: arrrhhhh......
Wed: 82 mins...felt much better
Thurs: monfartlek
Fri: AM 38 mins PM 72 mins
Sat: AM 37 mins PM 20--15-10-5 at tempo effort off 1mins
Sun: 2hr 1 min in Bellingham

Chicken and egg......

2010-03-28T20:45:00.000-07:00

Those who know of my running history know of someone who is both inconsistent, yet also consistent as well. The inconsistent would be in consistent early season race results, while the consistent would be in usually meeting/exceeding expectations in important races (a topic for another day).

I've come to realize a few things about my mental makeup. One is that I am a serious 'type B', and the other is that it takes some sort of emotional situation to get me to run fast. It's like i become so focused on the process to achieve the goal that I ignore everything else along the way. In that regards what I've often done over the years is 'create a chip on my shoulder'. Back in the day i used to have a few guys i raced against who would become the 'enemy'. Ad I've gotten older creating that 'enemy' has gotten tougher.

This past weekend was such an example. Training has been coming along (probably too well as I think I bit off a bit more than I could chew in training the last two week where i ran around 210 miles with three pretty good runs and 2+ hr long runs when I had mostly been doing give or take - mostly take - 85 miles), But I was feeling the buildup of training (mostly from Tues session) and expected little beforehand. My legs felt beaten up early on (like 400m) In the end I had my typical bad spot, which happens to the extreme when I have little emotional buildup, and when I also typically come back later in the race. In this case I caught a younger guy (Tristan Simpson) who i felt had run a really gutty race. He had impressed me so much in his attitude towards the race, in sticking his neck out there, that I tried to help him get through the last km. In the end, he survived with a decent time and I knew I had a lot left (so a good sign with some more training, a little rest and focus things will be going well in about a month).

The week:
Mon: 66mins
Tues 16 x 400m off 1 mins ..banged out 66-67s on a fairly consistent basis and it felt very controlled.
Wed: I hr easy ...legs dead from everything I've been doing
Thurs: 3 loop acceleration run at Mundy with Dylan and Steve....legs felt okay, but once the pace picked up I was a dead man walking
Fri: 30min easy...uh oh....not quick considering I felt as though I was moving and instead i was slow...
sat: 5km 15:39......I felt as though I could run another one that fast almost immediately PM gym
Sun: 1 hr 40mins at Bby Lake....felt great which I kind expected...the rest over the last few days is finally starting to kick in.

Man o man.....

2010-02-28T16:55:00.000-08:00

I haven't updated in while. Sort of a thought about why would be one of two future topics I have in my head 1) perspective while the other topic in my head has been 2) running with a 'chip on your shoulder'.

It's been a busy month. I have actually kinda raced (poorly and the lesson of how when you aren't in great shape a long run can really mess you up), spent a weekend seeing the mortality of my parents (disheartening, but also got to see them at probably the happiest they've been when they spend time with their grandson), got a flat tire, saw one of my best friends (guy in my wedding party), spent a weekend in children's hospital with Carter( nice way to see the Oly opening ceremonies and stressful watching him suffer), started track practices at school (we have a distance runner ringer.....this could be great..I mean really great), been down to take in at least one day of the Oly gong show (another topic of living vicariously through others??...or better yet how people from the suburbs don't know how to act in the big city???), wrote report cards, met up with a good friend from New Zealand (Jono Wyatt) and now sit here all alone as Jules, Carter and my running pal Kao have meandered down to the US for a few days.

It's when i don't think I've done anything that I actually realize a lot has occurred.

In general training has been okay. Nothing major, some good days, some mediocre, but nothing too terrible. And if it's been mediocre that's been a product of training or choice (egs on Tues I did 5 x 1000m off around 2 and a bit mins..not fast, but then again I had an amazing long run on Sunday, my legs were still very tired, it was the first time on the track in eons).

The idea with training right now is to simply get into my old 5-10km routine. It's what I call the Storey/Bideau cycle (nicknamed after British coach Alan Story who is an advisor to Aussie Nic Bideau). It's quite simple get in a day of controlled longer reps, hills, shorter tempo and long run. Simple stuff really as you don't really alter much from week to week except the intensity and volume, but other than that every day is somewhat similar.

The old routine/consistency ethos coming into play. I've probably been averaging around 80miles per week, but that's also been with a day off so in some respects my overall training load is probably more like 85-90 mile week rather than 80

The best online articles....

2010-02-03T18:09:00.000-08:00

The emergence of the internet over the last 10-15 years has meant a plethora of material in regards to training. In no particular order are some of my favourites......have fun reading, but each of these is worth the time....I am sure there are many others I have left out, but these are always ones I found the ones that stuck with me over time! Most of these aren't scientific (you can find that easily) and to me represent the true blue components of my running philosophies.

Joe Rubio:
Rubio is the Aggies coach, and has produced many high calibre athletes, but I have always enjoyed his take in multi faceted training.

http://www.runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=4336

Jeff Johnson:
His internet famous speech at a high school border clash has gone down in the annals. Johnson was Nike's first employee and was a great coach with the Farm Team

http://www.dyestatnw.com//?pg=reg72008
CrossCountrySummeroftheRisingTidestoryJeffJohnsonspeechtext

Vin Lananna:
An absolutely fantastic article/presentation by Vin Lananna at the NCAC XC meet one year. IMHO the best firsthand stuff I've seen on the net by one of the most respected coaches.

http://www.nacactfca.org/articles/Lananna.pdf

Malmo's series of posts.....they are truly legendary and speak of an athlete who has been around the block enough times

http://2008olympictrialsakatommyleonard.shutterfly.com/filecabinet

Cruel Shoes:

http://2008olympictrialsakatommyleonard.shutterfly.com/236

Summer of malmo:

http://pih.bc.ca/summerofmalmo.html

Malmo's manifesto:
http://pih.bc.ca/malmosmanifesto.html

Joe Vigil:
The man, the myth the legend. This is his marathon training, but the guy is still motivational over the internet

http://peakrunningperformance.com/docs/THE_ANATOMY_OF_A_MEDAL.htm

Ovett:
I've always enjoyed Harry Wilson's training and since Ovett was his greatest athlete this is a really interesting read from Ovett's main training partner. I've always found it funny how some people have to write everything down in a log, while Ovett never wrote anything down.

http://www.britishmilersclub.com/bmcnews/1999spring.pdf

Bideau:
IMHO Bideau is absolutely spot on with training. He used to be Mottram's coach, but they had a falling out.

http://geoffmoore.blogspot.com/2007/07/article-by-nic-bideau.html

http://forums.glenhuntly-athletics.com/index.php?s=88b33ab2d299b1d2d6f5cb3a76657d3e&showtopic=253

Wardlaw:
Wardlaw's magic words on mileage, aerobic conditioning and not leaving your races in training are rules any coach and athlete need to follow. He used to coach Bideau and interesting enough now works wit Mottram.

http://forums.glenhuntly-athletics.com/index.php?s=88b33ab2d299b1d2d6f5cb3a76657d3e&showtopic=259

http://forums.glenhuntly-athletics.com/index.php?s=88b33ab2d299b1d2d6f5cb3a76657d3e&showtopic=259

The Greatest Workout of All Time????....!!!!

2010-01-27T17:47:00.000-08:00

As I have noted many times I have become an amateur historian of the sport of running/track and field over the years. As a result a combination of always trying to reach a synthesis of information, (isn’t that what most amateur historians do???) I’ve come across many variations of what one would term harder sessions. I’ve always viewed these as starting points on where training begins, but what how you analyze that training is where it ends.

All interpretations of training require critical analyzing a handful of information from 1) science 2) methodology and 3) personal experience. Having acted in a coaching manner at various times(with a variety of abilities and levels) in combination with observing personalities, physiology, strengths, weaknesses, etc…. I’ve come to various conclusions.

In this instance my conclusion would be if I could only do one workout and advise one workout what would it be…. The answer to the questions I often ask myself take time. I am always considering events specifics, mentality, reality, compatibility, etc…. But in this question the answer sticks out at me like the proverbial sore thumb, and that is the session I have determined one can 1) do all year round, 2) has variations and 3) is doable in any circumstance. I figured since my last post was on the Clohessy Creed that this post should pay homage to a component of the ‘complex system’ of training that Clohessy began. The workout should come as no surprise to anyone who knows me and that is the monafartlek.
Named after famed Australian Steve Moneghetti it originated when Mona’s coach Chris Wardlaw told him to do a 20min fartlek session. Mona apparently wanted to know more than a 20min session and Wardlaw told him 2 x 90, 4 x 60, 4 x 30 off equal med paced running. Mona worked that out to 18mins so Wardlaw added 4 x 15 sec and voila there was the 20mins.

The Monafartlek(sometimes spelled monofartlek) is one of those sessions Mona did/does all year around on each Tuesday. He did the fartlek around a 6km lake loop near his house. Of course success breeds imitation and many others who watched Mona’s success copied said workout. What Mona and everyone else who did the workout was that a 20min fartlek sounds easy but doing it properly is another different story. The information I’ve heard said that the hard parts were 4:30 mile pace or quicker pace, while the med parts were 5min/mile pace or quicker.

In my years of doing the monafartlek I’ve found it to be the single greatest workout, for the reasons that 1) anyone from a miler to a marathon runner can do it, 2) you can suit if to the time of the season (egs early in the season you can make the med paced the priority, while later in the season you can pay more attention to the harder sections and be more anaerobic) and 3) it can be suited to individual strengths and weaknesses while doing it ( egs a fast twitch athlete might pull away on the quicker paced, while the slow twitch athlete works the jogs, or even the opposite where the FT athlete makes the easier parts quicker and work on their weaknesses) .

The key to the monafartlek is simple and it’s what I call ‘focused variability’. If I am having a bad day I only need to get through 20mins…. If I am getting ready to race I might take it easy the for the first 10min and hammer the second half…if I am getting ready for a later season race I make the easier parts slower, but on the other side if I am training through I work the jogs…if I want more tempo I make the med paced sections hurt….I am sure you get the idea.

Even variations can be done like doing a ‘back half monafartlek’ if you are in taper mode (do 2 x 60, 40 x 30, 4 x 15). I’ve adder some sections to it when needing more speed (egs monafarltek-2min rest 6 x 30 sec hard-60 sec easy) or longer (egs 2 x 3mins off 2min and then a monafartlek for 30mins of running). Even my taper for 5-10km is based upon the monafartlek (a 9min fartlek of 3mins of 30sec hard-med, 3min of 20 sec hard med and 3min of 10 sec hard med). In the end you can get what you need out of it. Besides it may also be the most enjoyable hard workout out there….

Training:
Mon: 66mins
Tues: 5 x mile tempo (pick up a little over tempo the last 60 secs) plus 2 x 3 min 30 sec off 30 sec
Wed: 70mins
Thurs: 66mins
Fri: 68mins
Sat: AM 3 x 10mins tempo-5mins a little slower plus 4 x 60sec hard-60 sec easy-30 sec hard-30 sec easy PM 32mins
Sunday: 2hr 10 mins

The Legend of the Clohessy Creed

2010-01-18T18:46:00.000-08:00

In my last post I chatted about ‘the big workout’, but I also talked about the Clohessy Creed. Growing up as a little kid and teenager, I was fortunate to be around during a time of running craziness. By that I meant there seemed to be a lot more energy and focus on running when it was on the teevee. It was during that time I came across three runners who I ended up emulating. One was marathon record holder Steve Jones, another was Oly bronze medalist Rod Dixon and the last was Rob Decastella aka Deek.

Now Deek came into fruition due to winning the very first Wld championship marathon. I was able to see those championships on teevee, but knew little about him. As I’ve stated before getting a history degree meant I also approached the sport through a historical perspective viewpoint, which meant if I didn’t know something I went out of my way to research it. Deek became one of those projects. I was finally able to provide a full conclusion to Deek when I was able to obtain his autobiography. His autobio is okay, but if you pay attention there are snippets here and there which give you some insight into both his philosophy towards running, but in his case of his coach Pat Clohessy. The chapter that stuck out at me most was the ‘Clohessy Creed’.

Clohessy was Deek’s coach from beginning to end, but what one needs to know is that Clohessy was no slouch himself. I came into greater contact when I got my first Lydiard athlete autobios of Peter Snell and Muarry Halberg. Clohessy spent time travelling with the Kiwis in Europe after going to school at the Univ of Houston. It was Houston that Clohessy learned how over the top interval training could destroy a runner. It was after experimenting with some of Lydiard’s ideas he found that the buildup of mileage was kept to athlete development.

On his return to Australia Clohessy began working with young athletes and found that they didn’t need much anaerobic work to get fit or fast. His Clohessy creed was evolving.

What many don’t know is that it was Clohessy who was setting up the training for an unknown American native runner named Billy Mills. Mills of course would ironically go on to beat Clohessy’s countryman , the great Ron Clarke at the 64 Olys. The basis for Clohessy’s training was good constant aerobic conditioning mixed in with small aspects of anaerobic work (in Mill’s case a lot of Lydiard style 100 hard-100 float for 3-5km).

But Clohessy’s greatest pupil was still to come and that was of course Deek. In Deek’s autobio he goes into great detail how Clohessy helped him with progressive training from a teenager (50miles per week) and still had him progress as he became a Sr athlete. Of course deek wasn’t the only success story. The other one who has had a major impact was Chris ‘Rab’ Wardlaw, a 2:11 Oly marathoner training partner of Deeks.

Of course Rab would go on to many other successes as a coach that being Steve Moneghetti and a handful of other great Aussie distance runners (Shaun Creighton and now Craig Mottram). In the end the lineage of Lydiard lent itself to Clohessy’s interpretation,the shock of Billy Mills (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QaDQL0rMWw), the toughness of Deek, which turned into Wardlaw’s ‘complex’ system’ tweaking, and Mona’s championship pedigree, who also coached Lee Troop and on and on and on…..the ‘Clohessy Creed’ continues.

The Big Workout.....

2010-01-12T17:38:00.000-08:00

Sometimes topics for this blog come in waves. Others sit on a shelf for a while, until I actually get around to taking the time to really go into details. Others come naturally, while others sometimes don’t come at all. This one is probably one that has been in the back of my mind for about 15 years. Yeah 15 years…

In a previous life when I was a pure track runner I felt as though I was ready to go to the next level. I had learned my lessons, but had unfortunately, ran out of races to make the 94 Commonwealth Games. But, I also felt that I was ready to take the next step into international style running. My how things can change quickly.
I was in my car when these two young guys hit me. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but in retrospect I wished I had taken the rest of the year off. I had some minor pains, but not much. Instead I continued to go out and train hard. But the part that almost killed me was that I was getting to a point in the season where I was so mentally tough, that I had the ability to hurt myself.

And hurt myself I did. Part of the reason was the compensation of the accident…the other was approaching each workout as though it was ‘the big workout’ (now referred to as TBW). The end result was that by the end of the season I could barely walk. I could actually run races, but once I stopped I was a mess. For the next 2-3 years I spent my running career trying to train more than 2 months without my back going into spasm. It was easily the most frustrating time of my running.

I realized then that the concept of the TBW had to be tempered. In that respects I came to realize that TBW had to be planned. Rather than every week being TBW…the TBW would instead be used sparingly.

Now TBW can be defined in many ways. As a middle dist guy TBW was our peak session of 600-400-300 full out off 10+ mins rest. It was the sort of session I loved and had the fear of god put into me all at once. But I had used it sparingly as a younger athlete.

During my preparations for the Wld ½ marathon in 2005 I was also preparing for a possible Commonwealth Games marathon race. It was then that I also approached my TBW in an overzealous manner that summer. Once again my back flared up to the point where not only did I not run a marathon, but I was a barely able to complete the ½ marathon and then had a disappointing season after that time.

The lessons I learned from paying too much attention to TBW was that I had to approach it sparingly. By that I meant that the physical and mental toll from trying to do TBW too often was the kiss of death. In the end it meant approaching my training from a more casual approach until it was time to really race. In that respects I guess it means picking and choosing when you need to get ready to race. For example in my 10km preparations I always approached TBW as 5 x 1600m off 2-2 1/2mins and 5 x 1000m of alternating hard and easy 200s, a 9min fartlek run I do, and a 20min tempo run. I had done these sessions earlier in the preparation, but it wasn’t until mid and later in the season when these became TBW.

In that respects they became mental and physical workouts all at once. They became special and provided with my final mental focus I needed to race. Until that time I typically raced mediocre at best. But then again that was always my plan…race well when it counted

Although the physical toll of TBW can be tough I also find that the mental toll is just as detrimental. It’s one thing to be having some good sessions, but it’s another to do TBW week in and week out. I found that if I did this that I lost some mental edge to my racing. I needed a race to do my best, not TBW. Trying for too many BW meant I was not only physically fired, but mentally tired to really compete at my best. I might run okay, but certainly not my best.

In Bill Squire’s training book (former coach to Bill Rodgers among many other great runners) he really stresses this point in his workouts. His intervals seem reasonable in both distance and intensity.

On the other side of the world I have always taken into account the ‘complex’ system of the Aussies (Clohessy and Wardlaw) that advocated short sessions that left the athlete ready to be both physically and mentally refreshed (only 20-25 mins of total work in hard workouts). It’s not that they didn’t do TBW. They did, but it was only used sparingly and even then it was not too extreme (either ran in a race to prepare along with some 10milers for the marathon). Clohessy's rationale came from coaching young kids who didn't need a lot of hard work to get fast. He then used that same model for adults and found it worked in a progressive manner.

Either way I have always considered TBW as something one doesn’t use often and when in doubt be conservative.

The week (a planned down week so meant to take Wed-Sat easier with a sandwich of long runs and tempo intervals as bookends):
Mon: off....remind me not to take Mons off ever again. I am trying to take one day off every 3 weeks and taking Mon off is way to easy when i really need the day off later in the week.
Tues: BBY Lake 10 x 3mins @ tempo HR off 30 sec. Consistent and solid. best part was my HR stayed the same and i got faster. I call this a tweener workout. I run at tempo pace so i can in more volume without tearing myself down.
Wed: 66mins
thurs: 70mins
Fri: 67min
Sat: 37min hills (on avge 50-70 sec). Knew I needed some 'form/strength' work and had this planned far far in advance. PM 32 mins
Sun: 2 hr 2 mins at SFU trails. Nice run and felt from from the hill session

Throwing up all over oneself....

2010-01-08T23:11:00.000-08:00

Discussions on why one runs always come up. There's always the typical fitness, it makes me feel good, I like to compete, etc....arguments made, but alas I seldom like to fit myself into some running category. Hell I hate wearing running shorts.

But when this subject of why one runs comes up I have found no better way to explain it then by a section from a golf book. John Feinstein is easily my favourite sports non fiction writer. He's best know for his classic "A Season on the Brink' in which he followed Bobby Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers around for an entire season (Knight was not a happy when the book came out). Feinstein has put out many more books over the years (my personal favourite is the 'The Last Amateurs', but his next most famous book is a golf book entitled ' A Good Walk Spoiled' in which he once again followed a handful of PGA tour players around for an entire season. In his introduction he mentioned a story about Curtis Strange (2 x US Open winner), who had been playing poorly for a while. Strange had somehow positioned himself into a situation where he was one stroke away at a US Open, but over the last hole he hit a poor shot and missed a playoff.

Rather than be angry or even disappointed Strange had IMHO the best description of what competing really means....and the one I've always used to explain why I still run:

They all want to be there because they know the work that goes into getting there. Shortly after Curtis Strange had come up one stroke of making a playoff at last year’s US Open , I ran into him in the empty locker room at Oakmont.
I asked him if he would sleep that night.
“Probably not,” he said. “I’ll probably go through every shot and every thought.”
He smiled . “But you know what? That’s okay. It’s disappointing, but goddamn it, I was there. I hadn’t had that feeling in a long time. This is what you play the game for – to get yourself in a position on Sunday at the US Open so you can throw up all over yourself.”
He was glowing. “My God,” he said, “it felt great.”
He hadn’t won. But he had had a chance right to the very end. All the work was worth it, just to have that feeling. That’s what they all search for: the chance to be there on Sunday afternoon. They live to have the chance to choke. At Q-school; at Hartford or Memphis; at Augusta or Oakmont.

....so if you ever hear me talking about 'throwing up all over myself' it was probably not due to a long night......

uh oh.....

2010-01-04T18:24:00.000-08:00

...Carter has started crawling and that means load of fun.

One might assume (if they read this regularly) that training has been going poorly because I haven't been posting. Actually it is quite opposite. I was able to get back into some semblance of discipline after my November meltdown and even hit around 100 miles this week (having the week off was nice, but it really wasn't a week off). In fact I would even say I purposely backed off so that i wouldn't overdo things.

If anything I've gone back to my more traditional approach of 'secret training' (as Joseph Kibur used to put it when we didn't see him for a while). It's not any secret, but rather that I sometimes forget I need to struggle to get my behind in gear. If I have realized anything in my years of running it's that the athlete has to make the decision. Last year I made some poor decisons in rushing parts of my training that I have felt I always needed to race well. These things aren't always physical hence why I find I need more of the mental process. That's still one of the issues regarding group vs personalized training. You can caught up in the group atmosphere (where it can be much easier to train) and forget that sometimes (and some people) require different approaches tp get to where they need to go.

I used to say to my old coach Mike Lonergan that 'you can get me fit, but you can't make me fast'. By that I meant it was mine and mine only decison to make a choice on whether I was committed to the process of racing/training focus. There can always be legitimate reasons to not train (I've had a few over the past year or so), but most of the time one can work it out if they really want.

Topics for the future: 'why throwing up all over yourself and is a good thing' and 'the concept of the 'big workout'.

Last 4 weeks:
1) 77
2) 75
3) 85
and this week (4)

Mon: 68 mins
Tues: 30min plus 3min 20-30 sec hills fartlek PM 35 mins
Wed: 66 mins
thurs: AM just under 1 hr 40mins with Tina PM 30 mins plus drills
Fri: 51min
sat: 3 x 15 mins off 90sec easy jogs done in 5min pickups (5 below MP HR, 5 at MP HR and 5 at tmepo HR PM: 35mins
Sun: 2 hr 3mins at SFU. Good as felt decent from the start and got better as i went along

If there's one thing this sport has taught me.....

2009-12-08T18:58:00.000-08:00

....it's what people are now realizing about Tiger Woods and that is great athletes are not always what they seem to be. As a person one is always looking at having a role model/s or maybe more accurately someone they respect.

I fortunately/unfortunately realized early enough in my running experiences that great athletes could be the sort of people who, although you may respect their performances, you do not respect as people. But being a somewhat cynic and optimist all bound up in one I may complain about the ones who have disappointed me, but I've also come to appreciate those who are the 'good guys'.

So rather than focus on the negatives (the stories I could tell/have told) the post is on the positive people I've come across. This is not to say I put these people up on some pedestal (I am way to old, cynical and arrogant for that) I'd rather view these people as those who you know when the 'chips are down' they will be the ones still standing. In no particular order would be those I've come to respect as much for their athletic results as how they approach life and running....

Rob Lonergan...some people may even ask who is Rob ( I hope not), but being the inaugural winner of the Sun Run has to get you some bonus points. He was often the lesser known the great dist runners who came out of the Vancouver area, when the other great runners of the Kajaks dominated. Rob's ability to look beyond the sport (he's a lawyer now), yet still be able to give his all has always impressed on me. Knowing of Rob's career best results being destroyed by his elastic band achilles, yet his inability to also pack it in (I still say his 4th place at the 93 CWG trials as one of the most courageous races I've seen in person) and ability to run tough every time out are characteristics that any runner would be proud. Even now I say that any runner should be afraid if Rob Lonergan is right behind you with 200m to go. Ahhhhh..... if only the achilles had held out, but why do I think that Rob has no regrets.

Art Boileau...ahh the legend of Art. If I've learned anything about Art it's too always carry out the childlike attitude towards the sport. As a 2 x Olympian, Boston 2nd placer, and many other accomplishments, show that Arty has to go down as one of Canada's all time greats (he's still no 3 or 4 all time marathoner). The best Art stories have even come recently. Over the last two yrs Art has essentially been the first one my high school team has seen at BCHS XC champs. I always proceed to put Art on the spot with the younger athletes, as I introduce them to him and tell of his accomplishments. Art's response is typical of his attitude towards the sport as he deflects his standing in the sport, with his still evident American twang, and a response that is always to ask the kids questions about their races for the day (and then proceeds to help us setup our school tent and organize our gear).

Kevin Sullivan.....Kevin is more a peer than anything (actually I am older by a few yrs), but they way he has conducted himself, as a Junior and later as one of the wld's best, speaks volumes of his character. I had the pleasure of being on some teams with Kevin and he always handles himself with distinction and class (well okay except for some of the 'after' parties, but come on everyone needs to blow off a little steam after a big event). If I was a young athlete he'd be at the top of my list as someone you'd want to emulate.

Richard Lee will love this one but his wife Sue also falls into my list (of course he knows this story that was prefaced by my admission 'Dick, did I ever tell you the day I fell in love with our wife?') due to the singular reason that she knew who I was.... I should preface this by saying that Sue might go down as one of (if not the most) underrated runners of the great era of Can female dist runners (egs Lynn Williams/Kanuka, Brit McRoberts/Townsend, Angela Chalmers, etc...). She was a fantastic runner (18th in 85 WXC, the Can 10000m record and 2 x Olympian) and her results sometimes seem to get lost when great Canadian runners are mentioned. Being a student of the sport (even at a younger age) I knew who Sue (amongst many others of her time) was and what she had done, but I never expected she would know who I was... or at least know my name. As a young athlete I had one big breakthrough year, but then unfortunately had an injury (turned out it was stress fracture). As I was coming out of an appt with the Dr I bumped into Sue on her way in. Now recognize I had done nothing before that year, and when I saw Sue she actually knew my name. I was flabbergasted when she even took the time to ask me what I was doing there. Now I am no Sue Lee, but I also know that I have done enough in this sport that I at least some semblance of a positive (I hope) reputation in Canada. Forever, Sue knowing my name would have an indelible impact on how I approached young athletes and anyone who I ever came across....

All of the above have left an impression on me in some way. I doubt that any of the would see themselves in that way I may have mentioned, but to all of them I owe a debt of gratitude. There are many others who have impacted me (In fact those have inspired the most aren't even what one might call great athletes unless you call a 1:51 800m runner great....but that's for another post) in some way because of their athletics accomplishments, but mostly because of who they are as people.

Base Building....

2009-12-05T16:11:00.000-08:00

As I begin the process again (in earnest this week) I find myself thinking more about what type of training to do. It's not that i don't know what to do, but more along the lines of since I am in that sort of mode, it's what dominates my running thoughts. In this case base building.

If there's one area of training that I am most concerned about in training it's a good aerobic buildup. This of course would be more so due to my training according to a more intensity oriented model as a younger athlete vs what I did as an older athlete.

As a younger athlete the trend of the time was the Seb Coe/Joaquim Cruz model of base building (or at least that was how things were interpreted by many coaches and athletics bodies of the time). it's also the one thing that I still find some coaches doing (or not doing) that frustrates me today. It's do hard workouts and get fit fast, as opposed to taking more patient approach. I find that athletes certainly get fit fast, but they also lose their sharpness just as quick and also fail to show long term development as athletes.

Base building is the one area of Arthur Lydiard's training concepts that I firmly believe in (although as I'll explain I don't follow him to a tee). Lydiard was accused of just doing long slow runs, but this is untrue and unfair. After living in New Zealand for almost a year I can tell you that his annual Sunday long run was in fact more a long run fartlek, and if you have read enough about Lydiard's athletes and his books you'll also see that he did other types of training besides easier aerobic runs. In fact Lydiard advocated things like 10km runs at 3/4 pace, or as is better termed 'tempo' pace. In fact when I lived there we did a lot of the stuff that Arch Jelley (John Walker's coach...since i was often training with a guy who had been trained under Jelley this shouldn't have come as a surprise) such as 4-6 mile tempos and a fartlek style 9-10 miler called the X Games (so called because you ran it during Auckland's rush hour and had to dodge cars, take chances thru red lights, etc...) to get a fast time. In fact the X games had a Sat morning record, when the traffic was light vs a 5 o'clock X games record when the traffic was heavy.

But as with all things Lydiard's ideas have also been tweaked over time. Although the original idea of taking a specific amount of time to get in easier levels of aerobic runs in it has still taken on a more efficient level of base building. So what then does a base building week look like....well IMHO it depends on the strengths and weaknesses of the athlete. But this is also the reason why I don't believe in one specific model. In fact I take a handful of approaches to create a system that still stays true to Lydiard (see this great article by Lorraine Moeller http://www.runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=18121) and works in a little bit of everything so that 1) you never just work on your weakness or strengths and 2) still make an aerobic security blanket.

Anyone who has been around me for long runs knows that I base much of my training beliefs on the methodology of running and personal experiences vs science. Not to say I don't consider science, but that I use science to explain my experiences and methodology as opposed to the other way around. In that respects I tend to focus on a handful of approaches and that being a handful of great coaches and athletes. Those of course, as anyone who runs with me, are well known such as Marty Liquori, Harry Wilson, Ron Daws, Lydiard, Joe Vigil, Chris Wardlaw, Pat Clohessy, Alan Storey/Nic Bideau, Vin Lananna, among others. What I've done over the years is simply take out the 'individual' ideas of these people and instead focus on the 'consistencies' (that is also how I approach my training in general). In that respects I think I have come to understand 'what it takes' as well as anyone. In the end it really isn't rocket science.

So what does it look like...well here would be some ideas... (and recognize that one has to work up to some of this over time...and by time I don't mean days, weeks or months):
1) some semblance of speed needs to be done, although this doesn't mean hard intervals...to the contrary stay away from hard intervals with lots of recovery
2) high end aerobic work is very effective
3) lower order aerobic activity is key, but no the end all to be all
4) aerobic development occurs quicker than muscular development so don't be surprise if your fitness allows you to go long, but not fast......don't worry it will happen, just not quickly......give it a few months
5) two peaks, therefore two buildups, have been shown to be the best way to reach optimal results....IMHO trying to train all yr round without a proper buildup is running suicide

Mon: 50-70mins
Tues: easy longer interval reps done a at high order tempo pace (egs 4-5 x 2kms or 6min off 1-2mins), or aerobic fartlek (see def'n on the next Tues)
Wed: 50-70mins
Thurs: 90mins but pick it up the last 20-30mins or do it on hilly terrain to make it more fartlek oriented.....in other words harder than an easy run, but not like a real workout
Fri" 40-50min really easy
Sat: tempo run 20-50mins
Sunday Long run 90+min
Mon: 50-70min
Tues: Aerobic fartlek 15 up to 45 mins, but make sure that the hardest stuff is below tempo pace…or in other words is aerobic. In general I use a handful of concepts from 3min harder-2min easier, 1-2-3-2-1 mins off 1min, hill fartleks or some sort of longer tempo/fartlek
Wed: 80- 90mins
Thurs: short fartlek or hills (egs monofartlek 20min or less)..the only thing i would say to do more intense than aerobic
Fri: 40mins really easy
Sat: tempo run
Sunday: long run 90+ mins

Throw in some short sprint/form work to keep up the mechanics and voila there it is....

Repeat twice, but on the second week of the second repeat cycle tone it down with no mid week long run or throw out the short fartlek.

Now this doesn't mean this is exactly how you should do it. Some people like to do two slightly harder workouts than I might do (egs long slow intervals/tempo/hills and tempo and a long run).....then so be it. The only reason I put in the shorter fartlek is because I am more a 'speed runner' and like the feel and motivation of doing some slightly shorter/speedier stuff. The key is simply to not do much in the way of harder sessions (egs 3-5km pace) and longer easier sessions.

There many other way to go (I've always liked the 'complex system' of Clohessy/Wardlaw...see more at http://www.sport.monash.edu.au/assets/docs/chris-wardlaws-training-program.pdf, and Bill Squires of long run fartlek style runs mixed in with some hills and tempo runs), but in all honesty it really doesn't matter as long as you mix up a few concepts, don't be in a rush and don't do anything super intense (egs I find I sometimes do variations of long reps like 3mins off 1min one week and 6mins off 2mins the next later in my buildups).

Living the Life of a Luddite....

2009-11-29T11:25:00.001-08:00

....I (we) have been without a home computer for the last few weeks. The only Internet access i had was a at school and I try to use it minimally, therefore that meant really only checking emails. You don't realize how things have changed so much over the last 10 years with people (myself included) who don't know some one's ph number, and use emails a s their main form of communication (hell I've only been using a cell phone since early last year and even then I was forced with our waiting game of the little person who we now know as Carter)

In many respects much has happened during this time, but also very little. My running has been nothing more than maintenance. I don't think i realized how burnt out I was both mentally and physically. I have only been running 4-5 days per week, but it wasn't due to not wanting to get out. I simply kept on falling asleep at times from 6-7 o'clock.

I have had some nice runs (only a couple mellow fartlek workouts) including a great run in Belligham last week. For those who don't know I consider Bellingham to be one of the best places to go for runs anywhere. they have so many hilly trails that hook up with each other that you could go for hours and hours of running. I don't know the trails that well and got lost. I took Kao and only planned on 90 mins but alas we ended up at a wee over 1hr 45. It was nice and hilly so she had no problems keeping up (I only lose her when it's flat, but she gets a good break going up hill).

The day before i also had a dog run with me, but ti wasn't Kao. This friendly husky dog followed and I couldn't get it to go to where I thought it lived. In the end I took the dog back in my vehicle and took ti back to it's owners. It was kinda funny when i showed up and asked them if they owned a husky. they had been looking for it during the length of my run. Just another funny running story for the annals.

'Here it goes again'...

2009-11-09T18:13:00.000-08:00

....yeah a great video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv5zWaTEVkI&feature=fvst (IMHO the best video I've probably ever seen).....and the theme of my training.

I've gotten to the point where I can at least run again with some semblance of respectability, but I also know there are some big holes. Hence, taking into acct I've gotten some fitness back, along with some better mechanics, I am going to essentially begin from scratch.

Some people like to roll from one phase of training to the next. I've always found it better to view my training as beginning from scratch. I don't know if it's a goal thing, forgetting any previous training/racing (both good or bad) or what, but I've always viewed training as starting from 'ground zero'. It's like I have no stress attached to training and it seems to flow much easier. I also find that it allows me to fully clear my head and have no preconceived notion of expectations...it's simply rebuild and go at it again (although in this case) have the advantage of at least having gotten 2+ mths of reasonable training in play.

It's kinda funny as since 2003 I haven't had an major debilitating injuries, but in the last yr I've had 2 Achilles problems that put me out for quite a while. I can really feel the lack of continuity with the second injury.

For now it's back to the simple grind of some fartleks, tempos and long runs....

Highlights of the week:

BC HS XCs. We had a nice grp of young kids run (mostly gr 8 and 9s) in the BC Jr Invite. It's not an official race, but it sure is great to be able to get the younger athletes into a race that says provincial championship. We had some pleasant surprises with our two gr 8 girls destroy our Jr Girl who had actually qualified for the Open race. On the other side the kid who we think has exceptional talent (gr 9) finished 10th in the Jr Boys race...and he does this off no real training (only soccer). So if we can get them out, mixed in with a few other young athletes our school could have a nice program.

Got picked up by a running room group (Matt Norminton) to to do the infamous H2H. I knew I could only do leg 1, but I was also concerned as i had committed to them before my BC XC debacle. to make matters worse I got my H1N1 shot on Wed and it really messed me up. I could barely run on Wed and Thurs. I still felt bad on Fri night. In the end I ran poorly, but at least I didn't blow up. Better yet I was able to keep the guys in at least 'spitting distance' and they were able to have some other strong runners make up for my 'slowness'. I didn't do haney last yr and I couldn't do the full on follow the car experience as i had to go to BC HS's, but I was able to hook up with some of the guys at the after party.

20/20 hindsight is a beautiful thing

2009-11-02T20:09:00.000-08:00

....just when things seems to be coming along something (sometimes my own fault...sometimes not) have really bit me in the behind this fall. Such was the case this past weekend at BC XC.

My main focus for this fall was simple...stay uninjured, have fun and run Can XC. Except for the injury part I cannot honestly say that these three goals have been met. I find enjoying running is a byproduct of fitness and that will come, but for now it's a grind.

The shocking thing was not that I had an unexpectedly bad race at BC XC, but that I felt near death after about one lap. I ended up dropping out at just under 4km, as I had began feeling somewhat in a daze around 3km, but by the 4km mark I was literally feeling light headed. When I dropped out things even got worse and I felt like I was either going to pass out or be sick. In the end none of those two options occurred, but for the rest of the day I felt like my 'head was in the clouds'. I ended up going to sleep in the afternoon and then sleeping for over 12 hours that night. Even On Sunday I felt better, but when I went for a run I felt lousy again and decided to take the day off work. It was probably a good thing as I slept another 12 hrs and am still somewhat sleep even as I type this post.

One of the things I think I've done well is honestly assess why things have gone poorly in racing/training. In this scenario I can only think that everything over the fall came to a head on Saturday (bad timing). That being a whole lot of factors that I've been ignoring from training, work, coaching, parenting, marriage and just general life (any successful athlete has to have some semblance of selfishness and I have come to realize I have been trying to keep everyone happy, but me...in the end my first priority is only to keep three people and a dog happy). If I take any one of these out of the equation I think I am fine. The warning signs were there earlier in the last couple of weeks (I had to can my long run last Sunday when I woke up with dizzy spells and for some reason I had migraines this past week.... which I never have). I can see how those warning sign had shown themselves now, but at the time I was blind.

The only positive is that things are now much simpler for the rest of this fall (no focus races and HS XC ends this weekend). It's simply training with the odd race to keep me honest....a combination of this and recognizing how I have been spreading myself thin means some things will have to change. I've had life and training stresses impact me before, but I don't think I've ever had this much on my plate...something will have to change.

I swear it was Reider's fault.....

2009-10-18T15:03:00.000-07:00

It's been a week of ups and downs ...literally.

Just as i think that things seem to be slowing down something else comes into play. Such was this week. I had Monday off and did a nice easy dbl run, but I had a dep\t meeting On Tues, a XC meet on Wed (where I had to stay longer and get all the gear for the race we're hosting) and parent teacher conferences on Thurs. I swear this week will be better (fingers crossed), but it's not entirely good. Julie is taking a friend of hers down to Maple Falls, which means no Carter and no dug. It will be a quiet place....the only real positive being getting work done, training and a Pro D on Friday. I am still contemplating racing on Sunday, but I am also thinking just get through the season healthy and get ready for indoors (yes indoors).

Kamloops (3 hrs from here) is hosting the Wld Masters (that evil word) Indoors and since I want to get back into track this could be a good short term motivational goal for the next handful of mths (I think my last indoor race was 2003).

I mentioned that last week I had chatted with Albert Reimer who is the XC/distance coach at Western Wash Uni. I used to compete against WWU in the NAIA, but they are now D2. Over the last few years they have really improved and I am sure that is in large part due to Albert. He's one of those character guys that got the most out of his abilities through hard work. You alays knew that if you lined up against Albert that he was going to race as tough as he could, irrelevant of his shape. I also think that the team is beginning to take on some of his character. He said one of the things that has been his greatest bane with his team is pure simple aerobic endurance. Since Al was the consummate harrier it`s no surprise that he mentioned hitting hilly trails (ala Arthur Lydiard and running all year around. it was one of those conversations where many young athletes see the season as the end as opposed to part of the building process. It`s one of those things where some young athletes don`t realize that good optimal distance running is pretty much year round (although that doesn`t mean hammering all yr around). One just hopes that many young runners fall under the influence of Uni coaches like Albert.

My Week:
Mon: AM 68 mins at Silver lke PM 38mins easy
Tues: 3 sets of 6 x 400m off 200m jogs with a 3-3.5min set break. Normally I like grinding this sort of session out based on time with no set break (egs 15-20 x 60 sec hard-med), but the chance to train with the lads overrode `normàlcy`. But it was a nice relaxed session. I ran with Geoff, Jon and Trvor on the first 3 and then dropped it down the second half. It was consistent and solid.
Wed: 64 mins plus 6 mins transition drills
Thurs: Student teach conferences and I didn`t get hm til late (these days really destroy you mentally). I ended up not running til almost 9 and did a mini monfartlek (took out the 90s) just to keep things honest (but i felt terrible)
Fri: 66 mins with dug (it`s the first run she`s been with me since being on seizure meds) plus 4mins transition
Sat: At Stanley Park...The plan was alternating 1000s (flat) with 2 x 500 (hilly). But on the first set of 500s Geoff Reid almost went down and I was in behind. I tried to not run him over and went down. I didn`t think it was that hard but the rest of the workout was a real struggle. Later in the day I could really feel my lower back and assumed that I had jammed by back or that it had tightened up when i fell. Even this morning it was really stiff.
Sunday: 2 hr 12 mins....I read an email from Dick at 9:10 (I fell asleep early on Sat...I should have know better) that some people were running at 9....oops....I headed down to Bby Lake around 9:40 and eventually hooked up with Trevor, Steve and Jon. About 5mins into the run Steve took off and I ran with T and J for the rest of the lap, did a half lap and hit the SFU trails. I accidentally messed up my watch and ended up running about 10min longer than planned, but alas not an entirely bad thing...

...all i want now is a nice standard week of training with no ìssues`.....

Racing...we talkin bout racing.....

2009-10-15T20:00:00.000-07:00

Yep I actually raced on the weekend. I cannot say it was pretty, but it was fun...kinda. I felt after 2 weeks of doing some semblance of intervals that I'd jump in a race. Originally, I had planned on the Royal Victoria 8km, but we had plans to go down to Maple Falls for Thanksgiving.

I ended up running the western Washington Uni XC race. I've done the race before, but not for a while. It often interfered with some other races, but it was great to get down to Bellingham and see some people who I haven't seen for a while (WWU coaches Al Reimer, Bill Roe and Pee Wee). I had an interesting chat with Albert I'll post next time. I even bumped into (old guys will remember this name) the infamous Mike Lynes. Even UBC was there, so I knew I had to at least try and put in a honest effort against the young bucks. The final clincher was masters star Tony Young was there so I had to counter both old and Young (no pun intended).

I went out mellow and worked my way to the front after about a km. I felt great, but as soon as that happened I felt terrible. Although i had a planned down week I hadn't rested for the race (I did some hills on Thurs and out in a 7-8 miler on Friday night...I really hated that Friday run from 10-25mins of the race). In the end I hung on a couple of UBC guys (I still have some semblance of pride and ego in racing) and had a decent last mile with a good solid stride (although I had a 1:52 800m guys clipping at my heels). I ended up in 17th (I think) just over 33:20. The winner was 31:40ish (I think).

The race at least gave me an indication of where I am progressing. Two - three weeks ago i wouldn't have been lucky to go under 35mins on the course, so if I can get that sort of progression for BC XCs I'll be okay.

Mon: off...why...i just felt like not running..
Tues: 8 x 800m off 2 1/2 mins. Felt pretty good
Wed: legs felt a little beat up and simply put in a 70min run...easy
Thurs: Hills (20mins) of 4 x 20 sec -4 x 35 sec- 4 x 20 sec, etc....)
Fri: 53 mins easy
Sat: AM race 10km XC PM 38mins
Sun: AM 66 mins PM 35 mins

'Grind.....'

2009-10-04T21:33:00.000-07:00

..that's the sound of my training.....pure and simple it's a grind. But I can feel things happening (if slowly) so i hope that's a good sign.

It's been another busy week, but that's been more due to school cross country. We normally have races on Mondays, but the schedule has been all over the place. We had a Surrey race on Thurs, a pseudo club meet on Saturday and another race on Monday, but then we don't go again for two Wednesdays. We are even hosting our own race this year (apparently I get to create the course so beware....).

We have a nice grp of kids who come consistently and then of course the one who don't. Unfortunately, most of the really talented kids haven't been coming out. That drives me nuts when you can see a kid who would be a better runner than soccer, hockey, basketball player, but then again I would have rather been a hockey player (but 130lb hockey players don't exactly go far in this world).

But alas we seem to have possibly gained a star 8th grader. Kid won our Terry Fox run and we got him to come out for this weeks race. He placed 2nd, but it was to a club kid who trains consistently. Best part is he's a little guy who plays hockey (I don't know anyone like that), but obviously has some talent. We'll see.....

My week has been another simple week (how I like it) of long reps, hills, tempo and long run.

Mon: 68mins easy
Tues: 1600-1200-800-1600-1200-800 off 200m jogs (not pretty but i knew that was going to happen when I woke up that morning
Wed: 62min plus 8mins of 'transition/circuit'.
Thurs: Hills - We had a race that day so I ended up running in the dark on a road near my house Hills...the idea was to get in alternating circuits of 4 x 20 sec and 5 x 50+ sec hills and if felt good then add on a few mins for 30 sec hills)- 4 x 20 sec hill - 5 x 50+ sec hill - 4 x 20 sec hill - 5 x 50+sec hill - 3 x 30 sec hill - 4 x 20 sec hill
Fri: 60mins plus 5 min transition
sat: AM (whooohoo a double....)33min and then took some students down the Pre BC HS Xc race....
PM by the time I got home I was tired and ended up running down to a lit gravel trail near my house. The idea was to run out 15mins take 1min rest and then run back in a 10mins - 1min rest, take off from the exact spot and then 5mins. If i did it properly then I would be a exactly the same spot I started in....and I think I was 1meter short (seriously). The workout felt good, but the warm down felt like hell....
Sunday: me and Carta hung out all morning and I didn't get my run in til mid afternoon. A nice 2 hr and 8min around the SFU trails. Surprisingly the legs felt decent and the run was at an easy effort, but good clip.

In total around 90miles on 8 sessions...but in reality 85 off 7 sessions.

falling asleep on the couch....

2009-10-02T19:31:00.000-07:00

..is not conducive to getting things done at night. The last few weeks have been really busy and when they are not I am trying to spend every second with Carter before he goes to sleep. As a result I've been falling asleep on the couch, waking up in the middle of the night and then having a lousy sleep til I get up for work.....I am my own worst enemy.....

Things are settling into place, but then again when that seems to be happening something else seems to take it's place.

Training has been solid, although not spectacular. I do not get back into racing shape easily, but then again it's also some of the training choices I make. Some people gradually build up volume. I have found the opposite, at least in regards to hitting my 'sweet spot'. I tend to keep the volume at a decent level, and let the workouts fall where they may. It means some really ugly days at first, but some much much better days later on. The only issue is in having enough time to actually have the training adaptation to occur.

That's kinda where I am right now. I am supposed to be racing at a decent level in the next 2-4 weeks, but with my recent session things look well downright ugly....but as always there is hope that I am simply tired.

Last week was my first real week of intervals, but the greater stress was a hill session i did last Tues. Normally the hills would have been on Thurs or Sat, but the long intervals came down on a Thurs and I did my hills on a Tues. They felt great, but the next day I knew I had bit off a bit more than I could chew as my run was brutal and by Thurs I could feel my legs were pretty beaten up.

Then on Sat I did a nice tempo but we were at our new place and I couldn't find any dirt trails. Therefore I ended up doing it on the roads. Normally that would be a huge deal, except that I hadn't done any real run on the roads longer than 20 mins (as part of some longer run). My legs went from kinda beaten up to totally beaten up and by the next round of long reps I knew it was going to be messy. But at least things were consistent from beginning to end.

That's one thing I have come to accept...the process isn't always pretty, but ti's better to have crappy session and keep up the volume than have great workouts, but having backed off. Now it's simply hoping the legs come around in time.

I hate school....

2009-09-19T22:43:00.000-07:00

..well the first 2 weeks....well okay that a combination of life situations.

After a nice week of training (just under 90 miles) the 2nd week of school came about and with it came unexpected situations. On Monday we had our first real Xc school practice and I came home exhausted. I fell asleep for an hour and when I awoke I figured after hitting over 2 hrs the day before and not having taken a day off over the last few weeks I would take one off. This wouldn't have been a big issue except that i found out late Mon night that we had to do our paperwork for our new summer place onj Tuesday night or wait another week. I had planned on getting in some decent longer intervals with the lads, but that went out the window (I ended up doing my more traditional hills circuit buildup session).

In 20/20 that wasn't an entirely bad thing, but I forgot that Julie had bought us Keith Urban tickets for Wed night so that made a 3rd night of just getting some basic training. Once again not a big deal as I got in a 10 miler, but on Thurs we had our first school XC meet and I didn't get home til after 6 and fell asleep at 7 and woke at midnight....yeah so much for the planned short fartlek.

Another day off meant my already planned won week was simply going downhill. I rebounded today with a nice 18km run on Fri an 8km morning run and a nice 'tweener' fartlek session On Sat night. if the legs feel decent then I will try for another 2 hr easy run......if not then a shorter run and another session later Sunday (hopefully the gym)....

Here's to some more routine next week...no reason for it not to be back to normal.....at least this week was supposed to be easier......

Good news.....Sad news

2009-09-13T00:33:00.000-07:00

....funny news......

I was recently reading an online article from Greg McMillan (http://www.runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=17252) where he wrote about some of the differences between runners (FT vs ST) and how workouts need to both look at strengths and weaknesses. Although I don't really disagree with him from a physiological perspective I found my self looking at his arguments from a different view (me...no way...)

The one area I felt he failed to consider was how sometimes workouts need to be tailored to the mental strengths and weaknesses of the athlete. I know for me I need both mental and physical workouts rather tha simply one. Probably the best example for me was with threshold workouts. I do a variety of different styles of tempos from your most basic egs 20mins-30mins, etc.....to an old Harry Wilson/Steve Ovett classic of 6-10 x 3mins off 30 sec to change of pace tempos egs 2-3 x 15mins of accelerating every 5mins.

That's the one thing I have always disagreed with from the 'bible' (Once a Runner) and that was the idea of always running the same routes. It's not that I don't often do the same daily routes, but that's more for convenience, rather than want. I actually like variation (which probably explains my delight in fartlek style running of all sorts). Much like wanting different places to run I also find that doing different tempos keep me much more motivated (although when it comes to track intervals that is a completely different story).

The other area I had some concerns with in McMillan's article was how sometimes meeting the physical needs of the athlete can also be a recipe for problems if 1) the athlete isn't capable of doing the session properly or (and often overlooked) how the athlete can actually hurt themselves because they have the mental abilities to hammer themselves into the ground. For egs I am a terrible time trialer and need the excitement of races to run properly, but others have the ability to go hard by themselves and continually override the signs their body may be sending them. For a race that's great...for a workout...sometimes yes...sometimes no. It's just another consideration in the grand 'training soup'......

Here's my good news....bad news....

Good:

Some semblance of a running routine. Once I get into a full routine then things always seem to fall into place. i even did some decent structured workouts

Carter is a 'tank' . Not my words......

We bought a place down in the ol USA (may be a great training place with trails straight nearby and we have an outdoor pool for any pool running) near Mt Baker

Cross Country has started (both my own and the school season). We had 20-30 kids show up for our Xc meetings. Some talented kids too, but we'll see if they stay (even may have an Ethiopian ringer)

Got in a 2 hr run...not fast...but no problems doing it either

Carter generally sleeps through the night
Bad:

The school year has started....well that's kinda good, but we had a lousy (boring) summer....here's to a good fall (the new place should help that). I takes me at least 2-3 weeks to get back into a teaching rhythm, but my classes seem good right now.....(fingers crossed)

Kao possibly has seizures/epilepsy. Long story, but she showed some dizzy spells and we had a few tests. Not 100% sure it's seizures, but the Doc thinks it is. She's on meds now and may be up to full running again in a couple of weeks

Carter sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night (more impact on Julie rather than me)

sniffle...sniffle....

2009-08-27T19:40:00.001-07:00

How do you get a cold in August???? I somehow have and it has completely sapped me of energy. I was finally beginning to run pain free and get in some decent miles when I get a few sneezes and then all of a sudden my nose is like a hydrant.

Sometimes timing is everything and I cannot figure out whether this cold is good or bad. I only have another week and a half til school begins and my nephew is down at the coast (they went to the PNE today while i went to sleep. But it may be a bit of a sign as I figured I was in the 80 mile range last week (not workouts, just runs), which was a bit of a jump. I felt great all last week in every sense of the word (I got in an hr and 40 mins at the SFU trails) and was even planning my early season fartlek and tempo workouts.

Of the many things I've lean red as I've gotten older is not try and hammer thru sickness....back off yes, hammer no.... the worst part is that I was finally chomping at the bit to get in some harder stuff, but that will have to wait at least another day.

On a side not is a presentation I am doing at the UBC XC team camp this year. I realized when I sat down to think what is relevant to a young collegiate athlete I thought back to when I first began running and remembered what a complete idiot I was (in every sense of the word). I emailed a few of the guys who have gone thru the UBC system the last few years and asked them about direction. They were really helpful, but I also fear that I may go to the extreme of things.

Basically I've picked a few things from here and there to hopefully create a coherent presentation from their attitudes and the basics of training. Mostly I looked at the 'larger picture' items and tried to relate the to mistakes I made myself and often see other young athletes making. As always I worry that my bluntness will get me in trouble, but I hope they appreciate the honesty. It's one thing I can look at any things in 20/20 hindsight and I don't think a lot of younger athletes get a chance to always be fully conscious of how they need to approach running to achieve even a reasonable level of success.

Dirty Harry was a bad bad man....

2009-08-20T17:27:00.000-07:00

.....someone may wonder how can Dirty Harry and running have so much in common, but my obtuse mind works wonders when I am actually back and running. Now don’t me wrong I love the Dirty Harry movies. This is one of those times. In the various Dirty Harry movies he was always a guy who bucked the rules and system and ignored what ohers told him . He also had some of the best quote from his ‘Do I feel lucky’ punk (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daFb3J-cwLg&feature=related) to ‘Make my day’ (,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6-Snl4a1RI) .

The quote I want to focus on is his also famous, but one the character of Harry Callahan often contradicted in his actions, was ‘A man’s got to know his limitations’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZNlraF0xec). If anything I’ve come to realize as I got older was that one of the reasons I never stopped running was that I refused to set limits on what I was doing and what society said I should be doing. There was always that little thing in me that said you can somehow learn something from this situation. I think that’s what Brett Favre is going through in his various comebacks... he simply likes what he is doing.

It’s not that I expected to go out and win every race or set world records (to the contrary), but I always recognized that pushing limits and boundaries was something that really motivated me. So if that meant trying to run competitively at an age when most people have given up or coming back from an injury or simply seeing what sort of stresses I could put my body through then that was something that I saw as a challenge.

I was lucky in that even in the bad times I always was able to have some performance that kept me going and trying. It was then that the decision of what I was doing never really became a question. It had already been answered.

I can look back on things in 20/20 hindsight realized that some of my performances in my 30’s were a direct result of ignoring Dirty Harry’s famous words. If I had listened to him there is little doubt that I would not have achieved any tangible results or made any teams. But more relevant is that I would have lost out on so many great experiences. From such things as travelling, learning from winning/losing/trying/giving up, making friends and mostly the day to day enjoyment of grinding it out I learned many things about myself that I would have never found out if I had packed it in.

I remember a story from a few years back when Bob Kennedy was trying to overcome injuries and race successfully over 10km. He was being advised by famed miler Marcus O’Sullivan who told him to try and comeback because he had also done the same thing in his mid 30s and that it was during this time that he appreciated running and more importantly had learned the most about the sport and himself.

There are times when packing it in becomes a lifestyle choice or something that you forced into, but if you create those ‘limitations’ then remember that sometimes you may lose something that you can never get back. So don't listen to Dirty harry....instead do as he did and buck the system. You just might surprise yourself.

Science vs Nature

2009-08-11T18:10:00.000-07:00

I have been nitpicking at this one for over a week. getting a few sentences here and there and generally forgetting about it. But I also realized that in my own running this has been a central push and pull about the philosophy of how one should approach their running.

Over the years I have had enough revelations and tried enough things that you get down to the basics (more about that in the future) in running. One of those own questions and battles in myself have revolved around structure vs. running free or as I often see it Franz Stampfl vs. the “Stotan” or better described as Stampfl vs. Percy Cerutty. Although a debate that began in the 50s and 60s, this is a debate that is as relevant now as it was in the past.

For those who don’t know Franz Stampfl was an Austrian coach who had gained his fame while helping Roger Bannister get under 4mins for the mile, while Cerutty was an Australian coach, who had worked with John Landy (although before the Empire Games Landy had left him. Where these two would really come into conflict, hence the idea behind this post, was when Stampfl moved to Australia and came into direct conflict with both Cerutty and his most famous athlete Herb Elliott (the only undefeated major miler of all time and arguably the greatest 1500/miler runner of all time).

What makes their story so interesting if how each approached the sport and their athletes. Stampfl was by all accounts a very scientific and quiet coach. He advocated a very organized and structured training pattern that was dominated by interval work and hitting certain splits around the track.

Cerutty on the other side felt that humans were animals and as such needed to run ‘freely’. His philosophy was based upon his creation of the term ‘stotan’ or a combination being both stoic and leading Spartan lifestyle. He felt that if u ran like a natural animal and ran against pain (rather than in a structured manner like around a track) then you would achieve your greatest successes. He advocated sand running, fartlek style running (based upon the great Gustav Holmer and successes of the two Swede milers Arne Andersson and Gunder Hagg who had come so close to breaking the once impregnable 4 min mile). He believed that if one runs around the track in training then that took away some of one’s natural love for running. He also felt that you should hate your opponent as your main goal was to beat them in a race so why should you be nice to them off the track. He did wild things like waving a towel if Elliott was on wld record pace and often led philosophical discussion on famous philosophers such as Nietzsche who was famous for his ‘what doesn’t kill you will only make you stronger’).

Cerutty’s greatest athlete was the legendary Herb Elliott. Elliott went undefeated as a Sr athlete (he lost once in grade school to an older boy) in the mile/1500m. He set a time that IMHO is the single greatest race ever run, and is still considered wld class, at the 1960 Olympics when he ran 3:35 (closing in 1:52 on a cinder track) and won by the largest margin in Olympic history (still I think). Elliott’s ability to make himself puke and run himself into submission is legendary.

Where the Cerutty vs. Stampfl rivalry really began was with Elliott’s greatest Aussie rival Merv Lincoln. Lincoln was probably one of the top few milers in the world, but never could beat Elliott. But more relevant was that Lincoln was coached by....Stampfl, who had come to live in Australia after Bannister’s successes. Of course not only did Cerutty’s ‘them vs. us’ attitude cause problems, but his attitude of ‘natural running’ was in direct contrast to Stampfl’s scientific attitude. Hence the argument of who produced the better system of producing runners. In then end many saw Cerutty as a crackpot, but to this day Elliott still sees his basic attitude of challenging oneself and running through barriers as the key to success.

So the question is...are you a Stampfl (science and structure) or a Cerutty (free and natural)? I know for me I’ve gone through episodes of both over the years. And in both cases I got into trouble and learned much all at the same time. In the end I decided that at heart I was more like Cerutty, but that at times I need to fall back on the basics and force structure on myself. More relevant came when I ended up doing a bit more coaching/advising. Some want and need someone to be more Stampfl in their approach (structure, told what to do, science) while others want and need someone to treat them like Cerutty did to Elliott on a regular basis (challenge, philosophical, more ‘art’ in coaching). In then end you need to find out if you want and need one or the other more/less...... if you can then running is far more enjoyable.

I NEED A ROUTINE

2009-07-27T19:59:00.000-07:00

.....hence why this post is short and sweet....Since i've been out of school things have been hectic. I've done 2 trips up to the interior for fairly extended times (I am actually still up here). I didn't care too much at first as running was only just beginning, but as the achilles has gotten less and less tender (I've waken up in the morning for 3 straight days with no pain) I have been wanting to get more and more into a regular training pattern. I am not yet willing to do full on running workouts, but I am ready for more pool sessions and my weekly grouse grind tempo session.

Unfortunately, in the interior there is no grouse grind so I've been suplementing my daily 30-45mins of running with biking (I've pulled my mtn bike out of the mothballs) and inline skating (the closest thing to running) and hopefully tomorrow some pool running. All I know is that it's been fricking hot here (close to 40) and I hear that the coast hasn't been much cooler. Oh well it could be minus degrees.....

...I have decided on my next running topic as my training is way too boring which will be an old one, but a good one...I'll be sticking on the my current theme of mental approaches to running and coaching...the topic... "Are you a Stampfl or a Stotan?"...if it doesn't make sense now it will in the next few days....

Yes Billy there is a Santa Claus....

2009-07-15T20:03:00.000-07:00

....due to my own stupidity I've taken shall one say a 'long route to this sport.' Due to my relative late start into running I probably ended up with an attitude that was simply do as one is told. I even remember a past coach (not my coach) who would yell at us that what we were doing (at Uni) had legitimate research and such. If I was in that position again I would probably simply have walked away or questioned this person in private. Back then I said nothing.....simply because I didn't know any better.

If there are a few things I've come to realize it's first and foremost the responsibility of the athlete to... well.... 'Take responsibility for his/her own training'. There is enough information out there on the internet or over the counter books (egs Daniels running formula) to gain at least some semblance of discussion with other athletes or coaches. Not saying go out and train blindly, but rather find out why you are doing something. As Arthur Lydiard said if your coach cannot tell you why you are doing something then it's time to find a new coach.

As I've mentioned before my own 'responsibility' period began when I initially started coaching younger athletes. (I can actually lay claim to 'coaching' 2 Canadian record holders/Olympians....more about that later). I had considered quitting the sport in my last year of Uni and actually taking up duathalons (there were big then...give me a break) was lucky enough to have some good races that year (won the NAIA 1500m title and finished 4th at the Can championships in 93). But I had a good enough year that I felt I had a good shot at making the 94 Commonwealth Games in Victoria. I was getting close enough (and once again lucky timing) to the standard that let me take a shot at making the team. As I would find out later in life actually having the chance to represent your country on home soil is an experience that no amount of money can buy.

I decided that my best way to make the team was to save up some money by living at home (my parents had moved to Kamloops) for the Fall/Winter and then coming back down in the spring. I had done this the year before with good success. For a period of time when I first finished Uni I lived with my folks in Kamloops and I even coached with both Shane Niemi and Dylan Armstrong. Please don't get me wrong...I take no credit for anything they've did...ever seen me sprint out of blocks or throw...yikes.....but what I did do was simply fill a hole when they were looking for a new club head coach. One of those serendipity things I talk about (where by some fluke someoen fills in a gap in your life that hopefully doesn't allow one to fall through the cracks).

I ended up taking responsibility for the dist runners (no wanted to deal with them) and felt I needed to get some semblance of what to do with HS kids that I had missed out on. So began the journey of my evolution of training ideals.

I would hit every library, used/new book store I could find in my quest to find information (where I was initally introduuced to Harry Wilson). Shockingly, I found some good stuff (an old beat up copy of Marty Liquori's 'Real Runner' is a classic that I found in the running 'hotbed' of Penticton). Once again as luck would have it we had an actual sports book store here in town (it no longer exists due, I'll assume, in large part to the used bookstores online). I'd been in a few times, but the old lightning struck one day when I saw a book that somehow caught my eye.

I used to sell running shoes and I remembered this guy who used to come in tell me about this great book he had read. Some story about a miler, and since I was a miler I remembered the storyline. Now I should preface this by saying I had been in fantastic shape to make the Games team, but had run very poorly in the races setup to get the standard. I was pretty defeated about what I needed to do and almost seemed lost and really lacking in confidence. While I was browsing this book I realized it was the same book this fellow had told me about. The book seemed interesting and had a boring, but fitting title....'once A Runner'. It would impact not only my running, but as I would find out...my life.

I think I read the book in two days. I simply couldn't put it down. Every thought or feeling I had ever had was down on paper. Every thought that lacked focus came into focus and I felt as though someone had finally given me the answers I craved. It talked about the 'miles of trials', the isolation of the distance runner, the personalities of all the track and field events and mostly the preparation and steely resolve that was required to be a successful runner.

The immediate result was a new found intensity. I did a workout with a teammate (6 x 3mins off 2mins on trails). He was in very good shape, but after he wondered what had gotten into me. As he said I didn't think I was going to be able to finish the workout after the first set...but we both did. The next week the same thing happened, until we reached the trials. I was completely focussed on the race, and ran as tough as I could (at that time against an up and coming Kevin Sullivan and an emerging international star in Graham Hood) make the team, but alas I had left all my eggs in one basket and failed to achieve the required standard (although I did get the required placing -3rd). I felt I needed one more time trialed race, but alas my luck had run out. But my lucky new book find would create and fortify an attitude that had remained dormant. I now had a vision (I just didn't know it would continue to last so long), that would lead me to a quest to find new books and to find out more about the story behind what I have come to refer to as my 'bible'. Sometimes one thing can change your life...

'Coaching'...what does this word mean????

2009-07-12T22:43:00.000-07:00

The question of a ‘coach’ seems to be a good place for any athlete to begin. I cannot say I’ve gone through a traditional approach as an athlete (egs strong HS or club situation). I was able to do some stuff with the Kelowna Track and field Club on a seasonal basis (and learned a ton in many regards), but I never had that sort of ‘mentorship/leadership’ day to day coaching. As a result I ended up with two things 1) lacking much basic running knowledge and 2) being independent.

Many young athletes probably face #1 as they have no local club or have a ‘nice’ HS coach who supports them, but knows very little in regards to training concepts. It’s very different now with the internet and ease of trading or finding resources. # 2 on the other hand I have always found to be an intriguing concept.

I had a great university coach (Mike Lonergan) at SFU who has easily been the most influential single person in my running life and it is from him who I have often found I share my basic coaching philosophies. Mike was not a rah rah kinda guy, but instead was laid back. Sometimes to the extreme (especially as I have come to realize I need a kick in the butt and need someone to ‘shake’ me up), but his attitude that you needed to make the decisions for yourself have always stuck with me.

So what then to look for or expect from a coach....the answer is ‘I don’t specifically know.’ What one gets from a coach and what one wants vary from person to person. There is also the variability of what level of experience and the knowledge the athlete has gained over time. The great peter Snell had a fallout with his legendary coach Arthur Lydiard before the 1964 Olympics, but they were able to rectify their issues before the games. The dissension between the two.... Lydiard’s training beliefs versus Snell’s belief that he had a better understanding of how his body reacted to training.

Some athletes want to be told exactly what to do as the great Villanova coach Jumbo Elliot said to Eammon Coghlan, ’Act like a horse. Be dumb. Just run.’ For some they want to just simply show and not have to think about what they will do today, tomorrow, etc.... I’ve seen athletes who need nothing that involves the creation of an actual workout and instead need a coach to calm their nerves, pump them up, be a friend, order them, scare them, inspire and even make life decisions. In the end a good coach probably has to be able to do all these things, but each athlete needs different things at different times. In the end the athlete really needs one simple thing...to be able to believe in what their coach tells them. Having said that I also feel there are three main tenets to coaching:

1) Do not hurt the athlete (either physically or mentally)
2) Each athlete is unique/different from others (both physically and mentally)
3) Make the training program suit the athlete, not the other way around (both physically and mentally).

The famous coaches like Lydiard felt that if an athlete knew why he/she was doing something then that was motivation enough. Others like Percy Cerutty (to say he was eccentric is an understatement) felt you had to run in a natural manner like an animal and that ‘pain is the purifier’. The Franz Stampfls (Roger Bannister’s coach) and Peter Coe’s of the world were purely scientific, while others like Bill Bowerman were seen as mentors and father figures.

My personal philosophy of coaching is along the lines of Steve Ovett’s coach Harry Wilson. His idea was to make the athlete independent of him. Those who have some knowledge of Ovett know that in the later stages of his career Wilson was a ‘sounding board’. But early on he was instrumental in Ovett’s development.

As a young athlete I was pretty ignorant and it wasn’t until I began coaching some HS aged athletes that my own training took on its own evolution. Being a history major I was more interested in what previous athletes and coaches had done (rather than scientific research) and to say I’ve gone out of my to research these things is an understatement. I read books, asked coaches and athletes who I respected questions, paid attention to how other athletes interacted with their coaches and generally tried to be as open to the varying coaching relationships as possible. In the end I took all those things in combination with my own personal experiences and created my own version...or maybe better defined as versions of what constitutes a good coach. And in the end I realized there was no one answer... instead I came to the conclusion that a coach needs to be a chameleon to different people and different situations.

One of the more influential coaches I’ve had had the pleasure of dealing with wasn’t even a coach of mine, but rather was a coach whose athletes I competed against. His name... Joe Vigil. Many will recognize this name as the former coach of Deena Drossin/Kastor (the oly bronze medalist) and former Wld XC silver medalist Pat Porter, but he was also the coach of Adams State College (now a D 2 NCAA powerhouse who were in the NAIA). Coach V always had great teams, but his success and development rate was unbelievable. I would ask his athletes about him and they would do anything for him. Even when I saw Coach V recently he was able to fill me in on what many were doing as they still keep in touch with him. His ‘Vigilosophy’ of making running a simple, yet ‘satisfaction’ (he felt running wasn’t something you liked, but rather something you felt satisfied doing) oriented process has always struck me as a core running idea. The stories of how his guys would show up (and not know their workout) and ask what they were doing and he would say a 10 mile time trial...see you guys in an hour sort of approach was something that inspired me.

About 10 years or so ago I heard that coach V had written a training book. I was lucky enough to see him at the Mt Sac relays with a HS guy I was coaching at the time. I saw Coach V in the stands and he recognized me from my SFU days. I was fortunate enough to chat with him for a bit. Even luckier yet was when I asked him how I could get a copy of his book and he had a few in his backpack. It’s one of the prized possessions in my running library. Although one would assume Coach V’s book would be scientific (he has a PHD in exer physiology) it spends a significant amount of time on creating the proper training environment and the requirements of the athlete. This sort of attitude has always stuck with me as what really good coaches do....they create the training environment.

In my own short coaching resume, when I have been more hands on as opposed to an advisor, I learned early on that different people need to be treated in different ways. I was lucky enough to work with Bruno Mazzotta when he was in HS. Now he was a talented athlete (he won Can Jr 5000m as a HS aged athlete), but at the time he was easy to prepare for races. He simply was ‘ice cold’ (he didn’t need me around for his races) and we could do a proper theoretical taper. I also worked with his brother in his later HS years, but he was the opposite. I had to keep his mind off his racing and he required doing workouts till the last possible moment to make him relaxed (we didn’t do anything big in the days leading up to his races but we had to be on the track doing things like 100s and 200s and he needed a more hands on approach). What this meant is that the ‘art’ of coaching became relevant as both guys required different things both physically and more important mentally to race well.

I always felt that good training partners are as relevant or even more relevant as a good coach, but without the coach creating that environment for successful training partners, things can be difficult. And that is where my attitude that a coach cannot treat any athlete like the other. I was recently deemed ‘uncoachable’ in a conversation over some beers. I understood what was being said, but I couldn’t disagree more.... it’s just that my needs aren’t the same as other athletes. I have always been very concerned with the process of training ( I recently heard an online interview from US Wld championship marathoner Nate Jenkins and I realized I had found a soul mate in this regards) and finding things out on my own, therefore having someone devise a training plan/workouts for me is not what I need... in fact I find that almost demotivates me.

Unlike Jumbo Elliott’s ‘horse’ approach I’ve always enjoyed finding things out on my own. I realized a long time ago that I run my best when I have more control over my own running, and therefore am low maintenance in that regards. For anyone who wants more control I would bet I drive them nuts, but my needs have become more mental than anything over time, or may be a better way to describe it is that I need more ‘art’ to push my buttons. As I’ve grown older I’ve mellowed out and have found that I really don’t need someone creating a training program for me, but rather I need an adviser (ala Wilson/Ovett) who can 'tweak' my training and get me mentally prepared to run. My biggest running Achilles (besides the real Achilles) has been my inability to get ‘pumped up’ for less meaningful races. I’ve almost always performed well in championship races, but have run sub-par in non championship races. When I was younger I would create ‘enemies’ to get me focussed, but as I’ve grown older I have had more and more problems creating that tension that I need to race. In that regards it’s more about ‘pushing’ my buttons. But that is much more mental and takes time for a coach to find out.

As always my moral... if you’re a coach then find that way to ‘manipulate’ (I mean that in a positive way) the training environment to suit the needs of the athletes (in every way possible) and if you are an athlete you need to find a coach who understands what you need (or is willing to accommodate your needs in every way possible).

My 'kids'.....

2009-07-09T23:25:00.000-07:00

I've been out of town...so....

Serendipity or how I ended up being a runner by pure dumb luck - part 1

2009-06-26T21:00:00.000-07:00

I think I lost track of time.....well that and the school year is finally finished. Due to a combination of work, having to take care of the wee one and having to 'force' myself to get to a gym I haven't done anything. It’s been a while since I've done nothing. Even when I had my achilles problem in the fall I still got out enough to maintain my fitness.

With work coming to an end today I now have no excuses to get out a do my 'injured' workouts (the gym, grouse grind, mtn bike and roller blade). The good thing is that the achilles is almost back to normal....the bad is that this last little bit is being really stubborn.

I said previously that my training was going to be pretty boring, so I'd discuss aspects of what I think are things important to running. Some people say hard work and talent is the key, and while I don't disagree with that assessment sometimes there is something far more 'mystical' at play. So alas my topic of the day is pure good old fashioned dumb luck in running. If ever there was an underrated area of running it would be simply 'being in the right place at the right time`. If there is one thing I could ever say to a young runner is to appreciate the luck when it comes around...because it doesn't always happen.

I have been far too lucky (maybe it's simply destiny) that I ever ended up running. It's got to be luck when you cross paths with some coach, or some training partner ends up motivating you. I know for me these lucky incidents have occurred over and over again.

Back in high school (Vernon in the Okanagan) I was an okay runner (read good PE class runner, but not the best and ran a 4:52 1500m in PE class). In grade 9 I didn't even make it out of our district championships (I was 3rd and needed to be 2nd), but one of my schoolmates had to play hockey that weekend, so I was able to take his place at the Okanagan Valley championships. I can remember the race I ran (...800m) like it was yesterday. I got to wear a pair of spikes for the first time and split 61 sec (on a cinder track, which was 1 second faster than my PR at that time) and held on to run 2:13 and place 2nd to a grade 10 student. Not an indication of times to come.

I thought nothing much about the race, but a week later my HS coach came up to me and said that I had placed high enough to put in my name to make our Okanagan Zone for the BC Summer Games. So filled out the paperwork and a week or two later I got a phone call saying I had made the team. I was shocked...I had no idea what i was getting myself into...

I didn't know it at the time, but this lucky race I wasn't even supposed to run, would alter my life. I ended up going to a zone meeting/workout and meeting some of my coaches ....two guys named Don Bertoia and Mike Van Tighem. As I would find out later that summer this Don guy had actually represented Canada at the 64 Olympics. And Mike, who was one of the nicest guys I had ever met, would end up being a national team coach and end up coaching current Olympian Malindi Elmore (among many other great runners).

I also met a couple of teammates (some girl named Tania Jones and a guy who was Don's son named Dan). Dan would end up winning the Can 1500m title (and Pan Am bronze) being one of my best friends through university and my main training partner, while Tania would end up being one of Canada's top distance runner. But more about them later....

I ended up running and having a great time, but I never really thought too much about this running thing. In fact I ran X country in the fall, but it was terrible. I ran the BC HS championships, but ended up in 185th. I doubt anyone ever thought that the title of Can XC champion would ever end up beside my name if they knew of that result.

The next year in gr 10 I had the luckiest break of my life....literally. We were doing wrestling in PE class and I dislocated/broke my elbow. I wasn't allowed to do any contact sports for 6 mths. Now for a guy who lived in small town Canada and had played hockey since he was 4 yrs old this was a tragedy. That was until my HS coach came up to and told me I had no excuses to not run. Besides I wasn't allowed to do any other sports, so what the heck I thought. But still my concept of training was minuscule at best....but once again my old friend serendipity found its way into my life

I was fortunate enough to have a girl who had made the Juvenile provincial team from our school in the 400 and 800m. She would even become the eventual BC high school champion over 400m and NAIA ALL American (Alana Kripps - now married to former Can Jr 1500 rec holder Andrew Lenton). I also had another girl who was a 4:4? 1500m runner named Julie Cawkell. Both girls needed training partners and they'd find me in the hallways and ask me what I was doing after school. "Catching the bus home I guess," would be my reply. "Well maybe you could come pace us?", one or the other would ask. Of course I am kind of a stupid so I'd say 'ok', go in my tennis shoes and sometimes take Alana through some hard 400m sessions and on other days I'd help Julie in her 1500m sessions. I knew absolutely nothing except that I was helping these girls out.

But once again luck had an even greater impact. We had female teacher at our school, whose husband was on the sub list (Mr. Woods was his name) and he was trying to earn a contract position. In the meantime he helped coach our track team. But this guy knew his stuff (I think he was a sprinter so he gave us lotsa running drills and short workouts that didn't make you hate running).

When I first began training with Julie and Alana I thought they'd kick my butt, but I found that after a few workouts they couldn't keep up with me. I thought they were taking it easy, but as I was to find out later they simply couldn't keep up. I never even trusted my ability until a fateful practice, on a dirt track and done by myself.

The day in question was over our Spring Break and my head HS coach had me do a 1500m time trial with Julie. After a few steps Julie was nowhere to be seen and I ran around the oval my 3 and 3/4 laps. When I asked my coach how fast he said '4:24', I honestly didn't believe him (and I wouldn't until about 3-4 weeks later I ran an official race in 4:11).

But wait it gets better.... I got faster and faster until I ran a 2:03 and qualified for our provincial HS champs. I was shocked, that any of this happened. So off I go to the big city (the legendary Swangard stadium)... the stupid hick from Vernon in his royal blue and orange sprints spikes that were a size too big, a red pair of shorts and our school singlet of white and maroon (Oh yes I was a sight to behold to the big city club kids).

I ran the 2nd of 3 heats and about 150m in someone clips me from behind and down I go. My goal of simply running a PR goes out the window.....but my head coach makes a sympathy request to let me run in the 3rd heat. Some official (I would kiss him now if I knew who he was) says that I wasn't at fault and they paired me up with one of the favourites (a guy named Sasha Nagy who would alos impact my uni career). I somehow ended up running 2:01 and make the finals as the 8th and final guy. From there I run just under 2mins (1:59.9) and place 7th (may I add that I did this in borrowed spikes that now fit me).

My season was not yet over as I ran our legion camp (juvenile) trials and ran just over 2mins, but I had gotten my taste of what it took and what I was capable of.....the dream and the bug were now in my system.

So I finished year one of my 'real' running career. It's one of those things where I wish I could see some of those people (especially the ones who I have lost contact with like Julie, Mr Woods and my head coach Mr Kereliuk) and thank them for the gift they gave some dumbass gr 10 kid many years ago. Without them I have little doubt I would have ended my running career right then and there...or better yet it wouldn't have even started.

As I would find out the luck that had guided me was only just beginning....almost all of the people would have a major impact on me at various times in my life .....and that is another story...or maybe better described as stories for the next 15 years...yeah seriously at least 15....

The message here is hopefully obvious. Take advantage of those lucky situations. You may not realize it at the time, but when a situation presents itself in any way don’t close any doors. I didn’t deserve any of those chances, but somehow they kept presenting themselves to me until I took advantage. Who knows, you may find out that (to quote former wld champion boxer Rocky Graziano) ‘ somebody up there likes me’.

I really have nothing to say.....

2009-06-14T12:52:00.000-07:00

..except that I haven't posted in a while.

Well okay, just a smidgen. I have officially taken my yearly non running sabbatical. A combination of factors from life, work and my achilles have really pushed me to a complete lack of motivation to train.

I have gone out for a few runs last week, but the achilles was a little stiff the next day and the slight bit of swelling\nodules wasn't going away. I saw a physio on Thurs (with another appt on Tues) to put me over the final hurdle and get back on the road. Good time as school essentially ends this week (students only have final exams I hae to mark and then put in my final grades).

I've decided to essentially start from scratch, but more so mentally than physically. With no inclination to even consider a marathon seriously, I am simply going to enjoy a summer of training, get ready for cross and enjoy being a parent.

Rather than post any training I'll instead post some training concepts/ideas. People are sometimes curious with what I've done in the past and how I got there (that's a really long story). My training views are really nothing more than a hodge podge of ideas moulded from a unique perspective(I think in some regards) based upon my own interest in the sport from a young age and analyzing things more from historical/philosophical perspective, as opposed to a scientific view (more a chicken vs egg concept of what comes first).

Essentially it will revolve around athletes (both past and present) characters (cerutty, malmo), leaders(bowerman, vigil, lydiard) and mentors (wardlaw, clohessey, wilson, daws) and of course the scientists (daniels, gandy). Of course I couldn't leave my own opinions our so I'll mix in my philosophies (big picture as opposed to intricacies) of what works, how to approach things and the idea that there are basic principles that are never altered, but that in the grand scheme of things we are all 'experiments'.

Harry Wilson's 'race practice'

2009-06-01T18:42:00.000-07:00

I'll preface this by saying I have typically not done these sessions in general (instead staying to the change of pace 1000s mentioned below), but that was more so along the lines of not seeing the benefits, but having some of my own change of pace sessions. The area I found these really helped besides change of pace, was more neuromuscular, as it forces you to change your mechanics. As a result, I found that without specifically trying your overall mechanics automatically get better along with your lactic tolerance.

Some of Wilson's prefaces (which coincidentally happen to be the same as mine) and I'll also put in how Wilson sets up his training cycles vs. my own:

1) That session are based upon typical racing occurrences such as a) much faster start than expected
b) sudden race surges
c) gradual race increase

2) Start these just 'before the beginning of competition phase and to continue throughout the racing season'.

Wilson also tends to give splits for sometimes paces so you can use them accordingly

A) 'Split intervals':

the idea is to run relaxed and 'then change you action to gain speed over the second phase'. You need to 'hold back' to have good acceleration. You can even accelerate the harder sections as you move along the quicker part (egs a 400for the 10km runner of 36 and then 34)

800m (for a 2min runner); 3 x 400m of 200m steady (32-33), 200m fast (27-28) off 4-5min rest

1500m (4min runner); 4 x 600m of 300m steady (51-52) 300m fast (45-46) off 4-5mins

5km (14min runner); 6 x 800m of 500m steady (85-86) 300m fast (49-50) off 5-6 min

10km (31min); 5 x 1200m of 800m steady (2min 33 sec) and 400m fast (70-71) off 5-6mins

B) ‘Tired Surges’

The idea here is to ‘run at a fast pace. This is followed by a short jog, which only gives partial recovery.’ And then surge into a fast finish when you are tired.

800M; 4 x 400M slightly faster than race pace, 100m jog, 100m sprint off 6-8 mins

1500m; 3-4 x 800 fast, 100m jog, 200m fast

5 and 10km; 2-3 x 1200m fast, 200m jog, 400m fast off 6-8 mins

C) ‘Pace Injectors’:

You ‘cruise the first section at race pace, then surge hard... and easy back to race pace’

800m – 1500m; 4 x 600m of 200m at pace, 200m 2-3 sec faster and 200m back at pace with ‘a full recovery’ (which seems to be 6-8mins for Wilson)

5-10km; 4 x 1200m of 400m at pace, 400m 3-4 sec faster and 400m at pace off 5-6mins. Wilson noted that this was a session used extensively by Ovett when he moved up to 5000m

D) ‘Pace increasers’:

Wilson notes that these are more relevant to the upper mid dist runner, hence no 800m session

1500m; 6 x 600m (for a 4min runner) split into 200s of 34, 32 and 30 with complete recovery (under 120 HR)

5000m; (14min runner) 4 x 1200m of 400s done as 70, 67 and 64 with full recovery

For 5-10km runner Wilson doesn’t do too much change of pace work in his pre track competition phase for lower mileage runners (single session per day and around 50-60miles per week and around 15min and 31 mins), but advocates them for higher mileage runners (twice a day). Egs if looking to race in late June and July then he did it 3 weeks before his racing phase once per week on the weekend, with a race on the alternate weekend (for a 13:30 and 28min runner) in the late pre comp phase (he works on a 14 day cycle and does this twice before the comp phase):

15mins and 31 mins who trains once per day – COMP PHASE (14 day cycle):

Day 1: 4 x 1200m done as 74-70-74 off 400m walk jog rest
2: 6 miles
3: 12 x 400m off 200m jog in 68-69 plus 6 x 100m strides
4: 6 miles
5: rest
6: 2 x 3km with 4-5 mins rest 9sometimes put in a 1500-3km race)
7: 10 miles
8: 6 x 400m off 300m jog in 67-68
9: 6 miles
10: 6 miles
11: 3 miles
12: rest
13: 5000m race and alternate 2 weeks later with 10km
14: 8 miles

13:30 and 28min 10km - PRE COMP PHASE:

Mon: 5 and 8mile runs
Tues: 5miles and 15 x 400m done as 5 x 3 x 400 off 30 sec rest and 3min set break done at 62 pace
Wed: 10 miles
Thurs: 5miles and 6miles fartlek
Fri: 4 miles
Sat: 4 x 1200m of 400 at pace -400 4-5 sec faster and 400 at pace with a slow 400m recovery jog
Sunday: 10miles and 4 miles
Mon: 5 and 8mile runs
Tues: 5miles and 15 x 400m done as 5 x 3 x 400 off 30 sec rest and 3min set break done at 62 pace
Wed: 5miles
Thurs: 5miles and 6 x 200m off 200m walk/jog
Fri: rest
Sat: 3miles and 3km race
Sunday: 6miles and 4 miles fartlek

COMP PHASE (14 day cycle):
Day 1: 10 miles and in PM 8 x 200m relaxed off 200m
2: 3miles and 1200m 400m acceleration of 67, 65, 63; 7-8mins; 1200m of 65, 60, 65; 7-8min; 1200m of 62, 67, 62
3: 5 miles and 5 miles
4: 4 x 800m (2min and 6 sec) off 40m jog; 10min rest; 4 x 200m of 100m steady 100m fast
5: 8 miles
6: 5miles
7: 3 miles and 1500m race or 2 x 2km off 7-8 mins
8: 10 miles and 5 miles
9: 8 x 400m off 300m (60 sec) and after 4 x 150m of 100m stride and 50m fast
10: 5 miles and 6miles
11: 5 miles
12: rest
13: 3 miles
14: 3 miles and 3 or 5km race, if main goal is 10km then get in a race once every 4 weeks

I tend to follow a simpler format of simply replacing some of my longer reps with the change of pace 1000s in a 2-3 week cycle or fitting them in on a weekend

egs
Mon: recovery runs
tues: 1200-1600m and then change of pace 1000s
wed: recovery
thurs: tempo (although sometimes I may change the tempo and fartlek days if the tempo is longer)
fri: recovery
Sat: short speed fartlek
sun: long run

or

same except do the 1000s rather than the sat fartlek

Fried and frazzled....

2009-05-31T20:55:00.000-07:00

After Ottawa I had to go back to work on Wednesday, so I figured enjoy a few days off and then get back at it. Possibly wishful thinking, but when I went back I realized how much work had piled up while I was away. Originally I thought that our pregnancy would be a weekend and then I'd have tons of time to get some things done, go into school and such, but alas spending a week in a hospital didn't help the situation. In the end I simply needed some time off (bad timing may I add). I ran 32 mins this morning, but pretty mellow. The Achilles felt good, so hopefully can get back into the full swing of things later in the week (I am going to try and get in one short run and some X training when I get over the pile of papers and tests to mark).

After our race in Ottawa a handful of us went out for some refreshments. It was this hodge podge of young guys and old guys, but everyone was a running a geek. Part of the conversation got into a the concept of change of pace training and race preparations workouts. During my SFU days we did a weekend workout during the track season where you did 5 x 1000m off 3mins rest but you alternated hard 200s under or around 800m pace with 200m float. Back then it was a tough strength workout. The biggest thing I found was that you got very good speed development and great kicking abilties, without being totally beaten up the next day.

I think that since these sessions cannot be measured very well by science they often get overlooked in many modern day training ideas, but in the real world they can be the have a major impact. I am not saying ignore the shorter harder intervals, but rather that either doing more of these will help one's tactical abilties and also lead to less injuries and breakdown.

As I moved up to the 5-10km I kept on doing the session, but now it was more speed. We also shortened the interval break to 2mins, slowed down the hard 200s to mile or just under mile pace and sped up the floats to the 35-40 sec range.

I have also tended to ignore pure short intervals of higher intensity in favour of these types of sessions, or kept it simple and done a monofartlek (sometimes added with a few more 30 sec intervals), but slowed down the med paced jogs to simulate more 1500-3km pace work. Egs I used to do a monfartlek in about 6km, jog 2mins and then run hard, very easy 30 sec for 3mins take 3mins and then do 3mins of 15sec hard -30 sec.

When I first read my Harry Wilson (ovett's coach) training book aka the 'training bible' he had whole sections on an athlete's strengths and workouts that one could do. I don't have the time today, but next time out I'll post all of Wilson's change of pace workouts (from 800-10000m).

Too much pain for a time so slow

2009-05-25T11:24:00.000-07:00

(be aware this is going to be a rambling mess...)

Well my Ottawa trip just got worse and worse. 5-6 weeks ago I was thinking things were coming around for the marathon, then 3 weeks ago I was thinking that with everything going on the 10km was a much better option. By Saturday night at around 6:35 (the race started at 6:30) I was thinking this is going to hurt. I ended up at 31:48 and 2nd masters, but my expectations were much higher. Maybe wishful thinking, but alas no one ever accused me of being a cynic, at least not when it comes to running.

Thing about it is that I ran as hard as I could and that was still disappointing. But in the end I don't think I really cared too much. I was pretty spent and I ran on emotions more so than the average person. I realized after the fact I was running on fumes, but this is the main event put on by my sponsor Mizuno so I figured I should at least give it the ol 'college try'. It's kinda strange as people look at my age and think my time is pretty good, but my expectations haven't really dropped over the last few years.

But I was able to see some people who I haven't seen in a while, so at least there is some positive to come along. Funny thing as I haven't raced on the track much or even XC over the last 2 yrs so all of a sudden there are all these guys who I don't even know kicking my butt.

The good thing to come out of this weekend is that I am aware of how my emotions are impacting me physically. My achilles is 'tweaked' and I cannot go through being out 2+ months again and then coming back. I'd like to have a good fall and enjoy my running this summer, so I am going to x train for the rest of this week, get back to work (I am on a 2 week parental leave) and then re-evaluate where things are before I refocus.

If the achilles responds nicely we roll....if not then I have made the promise to myself that I will get rid of this achilles problem. I was able to see a massage therapist on Friday in Ottawa and he didn't think there was much damage, but I also know how quickly an achilles can do downhill.

On Sunday I was able to work my way down to the finish line and hoped to see Steve O make the Berlin team. I am not sure what happened entirely except that he dropped out around 23-24km. Unfortunately, it happens and I am sure he (and Dick) are crushed. I totally feel for the guy as he has worked so hard and looked so fit, but alas it's why we actually have to go out and run the race. To paraphrase Herb Elliott 'you have to be arrogant enough to think you can do it, but still humble enough to actually go out and do it'.

Some times we we get nothing from the outcomes, but we can sure learn a lot from the process. Yeah I know cheap words, but if there is one thing I've come to realize is that in the long run you learn far more from the process as a person than you would ever learn from some brilliant outcome....but that great outcome sure makes things feel a helluva lot better.....

What really matters...

2009-05-20T16:30:00.000-07:00

How to disrupt training.....there really is only one way....’life gets in the way’....

It’s been a while since I’ve posted due to one little, yet also very huge reason. That being the birth of my first child. Now in some instances this would be a huge deal no matter what, but in this situation it was magnified umpteen times. Over the years I’ve had the opportunity to meet many people, but very few actually know who I am. I can be quiet, obnoxious (a nice way of saying I can be an *%%^&%&^(), talkative, opinionated, supportive, etc... it’s one of those things where people see me on the outside, but very few really get at my core. I am conscious of what I give out (although at times it may not seem that way) and I know ...to paraphrase Sean Penn it can be difficult to like me at times, but this post gives you some insight into what makes me tick..... and why those who put up with me do so...

Our due date was two Mondays ago, but very little concern was expressed as all previous Dr visits were positive. On Thursday (the 7th) Julie was pretty sure this was the day, but her contractions subsided. Oh well, at the very least we go till Monday I thought (when the Dr would incur birth).
On Fri at work I get a call that Julie is having 3-4 min contractions....eeeekkk.....

I get someone to cover my class and head home around 1:30. Julie says that she is still getting contractions, but at her appt that morning the baby’s face is no longer head down, but instead face down, but that the Dr expressed no concerns as on Mon it was head down. But Julie’s paranoia (in this case we now refer to it as good instincts) says that something is wrong...she hasn’t felt much movement since late in the morning. We call our Dr and he sends us for an ordinary stress test on the baby.

This turns out to not be so ordinary as every contraction his HR goes from a normal 150 to half that for 30 secs. His appears to be hyper-extended with an ultra sound, and all of a sudden Dr after Dr comes in... Our initial ordinary stress test turns into people getting bumped out of their surgeries and us getting moved to the front of the Queue. As we would find out his umbilical cord has been wrapped around his neck 3 times and has pulled him into his hyper-extended position. Julie ends up with a C section, but we hear no scream to indicate a healthy child. All we hear is silence and see a limp little body being worked on by a team of medical staff. He eventually breathes, but he looks listless. Julie is beside herself, but I somehow remain intact emotionally.
He gets sent to the baby intensive care and although he is breathing fine his arms and legs have no tension. His oxygen levels are lowish and his sugar levels are off the charts low. It seems as though he’s been fighting for hours and is now simply exhausted.

I stay with him, while Julie goes to recovery. I have nothing to say, except will he be okay. This and my wife’s reaction are the only things that matter. I stay with him till they say I can see Julie. We are both devastated and the only things entering our minds are worst case scenarios, but I try to keep her positive and remind her what the Dr told me that what mattered most was how he reacted in the first 24 hours.

We barely sleep that night and are up to see our first born Carter Gordon Bomba early in the morning, but we can only touch him. There is no holding him and he is irritated when he is touched. Our attitudes can be only be described as ‘hanging on for dear life’, but I am able to hide how I feel on the inside and remind my wife to stay positive. It’s surreal and we both can’t believe where we are.

As the day goes on he improves and we become more positive. By the next day he is active and we can even hold him (although with tubes all over). Since he is now more alert and stable I go home to get some clothes and get in a run.
The run is more therapy than anything else, and the privacy or the run overrides the stoic attitude I’ve had the last few days. The first 30mins of the run is everything I can do to fall into a blubbering mess. I get though the run, but barely.

It is here that I realize how much this whole affair has impacted me. I do it with no one around and on my own terms, but I also know that right now I can show no weakness to my wife or my child. At this moment in time I am required to be the one who remains calm and the experiences of running help me to control those outward emotions that so want to come out. It is now that I remember that despite all my shortcomings there is one thing I’ve learned and that is when ‘push comes to shove’ I am one of those people who revel in those opportunities.

It is the perspective of the moment that allows me to realize what is important and what is secondary. Much like a race where one either takes a chance or decides to see what can happen. I’ve always known the answer, but now it is more action than words.....

When it goes really bad really early

2009-05-07T11:01:00.001-07:00

What went down on Sunday at the BMO 1/2 marathon was absolutely stunning. If ever there was a disappointing race I've run this was it. Looking back I can see what happened, but it still doesn't explain everything.

Every thing that could go wrong did, and in the end I could do nothing but laugh. I realized that I was trying to force too many things at once(emotionally, physically and mentally) and it coincided with an absolute gem of how things can go bad.

It all began with the fear of Julie's pregnancy and feeling the stress to get in any training I could. After my great session last Sunday I was feeling 'bulletproof'. I had been on a roll training wise and had no bad days. Every run felt great (even the day after Sunday), but I had also been following a nice consistent series of workouts, recovery, etc... Last Monday I made a decision to get in training when and where I could, but that meant pushing the envelope. I knew last Wed that I had pushed too much as I really felt my workouts from Tues. The run was okay pace wise but it was not the normal off day run I had been feeling over the last month plus of training. It was a grind

In 20/20 hindsight I should have bit the bullet and stayed in my normal routine, but alas my wife is very paranoid right now and that is having a big impact on my own mental state. I sometimes forget I am the 'yin to her yang' and that I need to balance her out, but in this case her fears overtook my own mellower behavior.

In the end I should have backed off after Wed, but I hoped/figured things would get better. They probably would have, but once again I was my own worst enemy. We had our HS city championships and as luck would have it it was the hottest day of the year. I ended up being stuck in the sun for most of the day and was absolutely destroyed by the time for my PM run. The idea was to put in an hour or so run with some short farltek mixed in the middle. The problem was that I couldn't run fast. My HR was low (120s), but honestly I couldn't get it any higher. I ended up doing a few hills, ran a bit and then did some more hills, but I never felt right.

The next day I felt great for my AM run and even my PM run, but the damage was done and I showed up to the starting line thinking I was okay, but once we got going....yikes.....I knew it was going to get ugly. Everything felt tight, beaten up and slow. I had nothing to give except for the concept of finishing. In then end that was all I had to give in every sense of the word.

Mon: 65mins
Tues: quick 38min warm up - monofartlek - quick 25 min warm down
Wed: 90mins
Thurs: 67mins
Fri: AM 35mins PM 60min with farltek in the middle
sat: AM 45min PM 30mins
Sun 1/2 marathon 1:13:?? (I jogged the last 4-5 km with Mark Cryderman when I caught him)

So Simple....

2009-04-30T17:47:00.000-07:00

..it's gotta be 'complex'. Due to the impending birth of that little alien creature that will soon be inhabiting various moments of my life I came to the decision earlier this week that I need to take every bit of training and not completely focus on the 'big workout'. So i am approaching everything day by day.

Not the optimal situation, but probably essential for now. Therefore, I've decided to pull the old Australian 'complex system' of training out of the bag. For those who aren't familiar with the 'system' it is (with some slight personal variations) a system of training that advises some very lydiard long run concepts mixed in with shorter fartlek, hill and tempo sessions. It has been used by many of the good Australian runners over the years (Deek, Moneghetti, Wardlaw, Troop, etc...) has produced many other great results. Even now Craig Mottram is being coached by Chris Wardlaw (Mona's coach), who has been one of the main instigators in ti's evolution (often seen as beginning with De Castella's coach Pat Clohessy). In essence it's the same pattern of workouts week after week, with some variations to 'specificity' in training.

In general it looks like:
Mon 16km run
Tues: monofartlek
Wed: 20-25 km run
Thurs: hill session or track session of 8 x 400m off a 200m float
Fri: 16km
Sat: 7-8 km hilly tempo run
Sunday: 2-2 1/2 hr long run

Chuck in some 4-6 mile morning runs and that's it. You can see it's evolution at:
http://glenhuntly-athletics.com/assets/wardlawtraining.pdf

I forgot to post last week's training. it's been busy this week.

Mon: 1 hr 67 min run (felt great considering the Sun Run the previous day)
Tues: 16 x 60 sec hard off 30 sec jog and then 6 x 30 sec hard -30sec jog
Wed: 90min
Thurs: 10 x 3mins off 1min. I did it on my 'Mundy Park 1km' outside trail. I am not sure how far it is as I created it last yr when it was dark and i needed a place to run, but it measure out to approx 3mins of running so good enough. Consistent too.
fri: 66min run plus Bikram Yoga
Sat: 65 min quick run (same loop as Mon and Fri) PM 38mins
Sunday: see previous post for 'long fartlek'

Considering the Sun Run, my recovery and the various sessions I put in a very good week and the best part is that I responded to the training and recovery very positively

'12 step program'...

2009-04-26T17:04:00.000-07:00

...my name is Mark and I have a problem. I am 'scatterbrained'. A combination of my personality, 'running brain' (as my wife calls it) and life in general (later with that story) I messed up this morning's planned big marathon session (10mile decent pace warm up, 10mile at MP pace and short warm down) as I failed to once again properly read the weekly email that Dick sends out.

Normally we do weekend workouts at 9:30 at Stanley Park on Sat, so I 'assumed' the same time again. Now having said that most Sunday runs begin at 9:00 so I should have known better. For some reason I read Dick's email just before I was about to leave and saw in red lettering 9:00....oops (as it takes me about 30mins to get to Stanley Park). As I wrote to Dick in an email I should have shown up and did a shorter warm up and ran 12-13 miles, but alas I was not a happy camper.

Maybe it was meant to be as I had originally planned a long marathon fartlek I did before both CIM and Ottawa (before Sacramento it went well, but before Ottawa I had been really sick). I had himmed and hawed about this and decided to do show up chat with Dick and go from there). So I had another cup of coffee and debated on where to do the session. I was going to run around the streets, but decided to do a combination of the outer Mundy Park loop, so I had some semblance of pace, and then headed out on the bike path around Mundy Park and then back into the park to see if things changed.

The session was a quicker 40+ min warm up and then get through 7 x 6mins at MP pace effort/HR and 3 mins a little slower using my HR monitor (so mid 160s for the MP effort and low/mid 150s for the easier part) and then 3mins off 2mins til I hit 1 hr 20mins. This is how it went:

1) warm up of approx 11km (single approx 5km loop at Mundy) with a 19min loop and then (with a slower HR and effort level) 18mins and then a little extra tagged on to hit 11km
2) get a gel,water, change shoes, etc....
3) head out on my first fartlek loop and was concerned as my HR was bang on, but my splits were quick the first half loop 8:05 (I toned it down and ended up at 16:30) so considering the easier parts decent
4) out on to the road I went and then came back for my nos. 6and 7 (had some fluid replacements as I practiced drinking, but i should have thrown a gel in there or probably earlier) and then back out. Ran a very controlled loop at 16:42 (but 8:15 first half so more even than nos 1 and 2), which was a pleasant surprise.. I was afraid I might have slowed down, but in fact it felt good
5) did 2 x 3mins off 2min same way, but after I hit 7 I lost my focus and my form faltered on the second 3 minuter. It was like last yr when I tried to run with my upper body and not my core.
6) my session was going from great to a mess, when I realized what I was doing and decided to do 60 sec off 30 sec, but was able o get the form back and finish strongly. I was amazing what a difference in the 'struggle' form versus the 'strong' form.
7) a combination of probably needing more nourishment and getting through the tough section made the last 10-15 mins a struggle

But wait it gets better (not the workout, but my idiocy). I check my cell phone whenever I am away from it and see I have 2 missed messages. 'Two' uh oh....I call Julie ASAP....no answer at home...call her cell...no answer....look at my who has called me section and see a phone call from home. 'Oh man, here it goes'. I call Julie's parents home...no answer....eeeekkkkk....call Julie's mom's cell...but she hasn't heard from Julie. Okay stress level goes down.

I pull into the driveway and her car is there...*deep breath*. All this time she'd been sleeping, and the message I saw about her calling from home was in fact my original call home to her. If that doesn't explain me right now then nothing will....funny thing is I've been pretty calm, but she is technically due in one week, so my high alert button has gone from cruise control to attentive.

Feeling flat...running decent....

2009-04-23T19:00:00.000-07:00

It's been a hectic week with too many later day runs. I hope they don't begin to catch up with me....hope being the operative word.

I haven't posted since my Sun Run due to leaving my computer at school and then simply not getting around to it....now the report.

I ended up at 30:39, which was okay considering things. It was an interesting race as (like many Sun Runs) there were two groups early on. I ended up in the second group, but was actually chomping at the bit to catch up around the 2km point, but decided that might be a tough go considering how I haven't really raced hard for a long time.

In the end I made the choice to simply hang out, but the aggression of wanting to catch up meant I surprisingly wanted to control the second pack. From about 2-3 km on I was at the front of the second pack (another Mizuno athlete Rajean Chiasson alo seemed to want to control the pack as well so we did quite a bit of the work and dictated the nature of the pack) and simply threw in some surges and countered when necessary.

I never felt as though I was in any real problems with the pace. In fact it felt quite easy, til the racing began around 2km, and then I realized I had no 'getty up and go'. I caught Eric Garner (sub 4 min miler) with about 600m to go, but he was able to come back and out kick me. I realized over the last 400m I have no speed right now. But I also realized I was fairly fatigued and couldn't get my body to run much faster, irrlevant of the earlier pace.

That's always an interesting situation. You are tired from training so you really cannot hurt yourself because you are fatigued, but you are fit enough to run decent. What's exactly where I was. After I finished I didn't even feel that banged up. It was almost too easy. Even th next day I was rolling again. I ended up as first masters and 4th place Canuck so a double payday. 'Sweet as....'

Mon: (day off) AM 62mins nice PM 38mins
Tues: 70mins
Wed: 16 x 1min hard-30 sec easy easy then jog 90 sec jog and then 6 x 30sec hard- 30 sec easy easy jog and then some 15 secs off 45 sec
Thurs: 85mins
Fri: actual back off 46mins quick
Sat: AM 45 mins at decent clip
PM 30mins plus 4 x 10-15 sec hill strides
Sunday: race 10km....had a later run planned but our neighbours invited us over for dinner and I couldn't resist a beer.

It’s racing...it’s racing time (sung to the tune of Flight of the Conchords ‘It’s Business Time’)

2009-04-18T10:41:00.000-07:00

...well the beginning of racing season begins in earnest this weekend with the Sun Run, and honestly I have no idea how it's going to go. Training has been going quite well recently, but I am also not in full focus yet, and haven't really backed off for this race. We'll know a bit more of my future plans around 9:30 Sunday morning.

It's been a hectic last two weeks, and training time hasn't been optimal, but it' been solid. I didn't really begin taking any back off time til yesterday (Fri) and even then I did a solid session of Bikram (hope I didn't leave it too late) last night. That's the sort of week it's been. I was at work til 5 last night, got home at 5:30, went for a run, ate and it was 7:45. But it has been the only time all week I have been able to go and my right hip (mostly IT band) has been acting up all week. I would have preferred t go Thurs or Wed, but both days were long and would have meant an even longer day. If my legs felt terrible or my runs had been sluggish I might be worried, but they’ve been strong. Now just get me through 10km and things will be peachy keen.

Timing aka...

2009-04-12T23:12:00.000-07:00

....what events will I be running in the next few weeks? Not due to any running issue, but rather some little living creature that is about to enter my/our life. Jules is officially expecting on May 3, but anything can happen and this one is out of our control (driving her nuts).

This world revolves around running (doesn't it???), but the issue of my racing schedule has popped up. So here are the rules of my current game (as explained to me):
1) I can race, but......
2 I must always be near my cell phone (first time I really had one)...and If I go for a run I must immediately check it after my run.
3) I am not allowed to go out of town to race if no little one has yet decided to arrive.
4) I m not allowed going for a run while Julie is in labour.... (What’s the deal with that one.....there are good trails around the hospital!!!!)

...other than that everything is normal as usual....well kind of...

Training this week was solid....I am trying to keep some semblance of my 'track' speed up as I decide to take on this bloody marathon one more time. I find if I don't, I tend to have more hip/back issues.

But this time I am enjoying the process (like my first one). As long as I am having fun (is that possible in running???!!!) than I run well. I sometimes forget that, even when I've been very fit I have run poorly, and been in good (not great) shape and run well. Even in regards training I am trying to keep things both simple and 'fun' (not that it is always fun).

The week as it was:
Mon: tired from Sat ad Sun, but still a nice 67 min run at a good clip
Tues: short track workout at Richmond. Once my Wed session went down the tubes (8 x mile) I decided on what I have come to term a 'Frank Shorter' week. In other words make it as simple as I possibly can. The UBC guys were doing 6 x 800m off 2min, so I ended up doing 6 x 1000m off a 200m (80-90 sec jog) , except for no. 3 where I ran with them and put my spikes on for the last 3. It was pretty (actually very) controlled as one of the UBC guys would go through 300 and would tow him through the next 500 and keep on going. I was probably more concerned about helping him get through the workout and toned down what I might normally do. In the end I managed low 2:50s and felt nice and consistent
Wed: 1 hr 12 min quick....felt easy though
Thurs: afternoon 52 mins at Mundy park trails, but a good clip PM 34mins
Fri: controlled fartlek style run 12 x 3min at just above threshold effort with 2min jogs, but altered easier sections with mid 150s HR and then mid 140s (at halfway I made sure to tone it down to mid/high 130s). On my last 2 I ran 2 'posts' at threshold HR and ran 3:17 and 3:18, so a good sign
Sat: 1 hr 6 mins good pace, but easy PM 30mins
Sunday: met Dick ad Steve in some messy conditions for a planned 22 miles on the POCO/Pitt Lake trails (wasn't it close to 20 degrees a few days go). My stomach was bugging me early on and when I took a gel at just before halfway I really began having issues (By the way I found out what happens to gels that go beyond expiry dates.....bleccchhh). Around halfway we met Norm and Dick hopped on his bike. I think he regretted this decision as he froze his behind off. I had originally planned on structured surging on the way back, but ended up going to the bathroom. I told the boys I would catch up and felt much better after my little break, so threw down 1 min surges every 5 mins. I felt great and made up the distance relatively quickly. I probably should have kept on going once I caught up, as once I slowed down my R hip progressively seized up, and my stomach kept on bugging me.

Why can't things ever be easy for me!!!!???

2009-04-10T11:18:00.000-07:00

....Just as I get back into a nice routine, things become difficult. Well no one ever said I like to make things easy for myself. Due to report cards this week, an altered coaching track meet I a forced back into solitary training once again.

The lads were meeting for a nice long session on Wed, and we had a HS track meet that meant I couldn't go with them. I ended down at the Kajaks practice, but it wasn't exactly what I wanted to do.

Then again this may not entirely be a problem, as it forces me to be a bit more mentally tougher. But it is also forcing me to alter facets of my training, which I am actually enjoying. Not the working out on my own part, but the part where I have to tweak things to get optimal results. Normally it would be tuck in and go for a ride with other, but now I need to play tricks on myself to get what I need. Not that I am drastically altering things. Instead I am just using the old quote of 'there's more than one way to skin a cat'.....

I guess we'll find out if it works.....

GRRRRRRRR.......

2009-04-05T16:45:00.000-07:00

......as Bill Squires used to say 'The long run is what puts the tiger in the cat'...

.....and that is what my long run today seemed to do. I normally wouldn't post a second update, except something is going on with my running. I don't know whether it's my fitness coming along to a new level, my renewed ability to relax or what, but as I often say who cares as long as I get there on time.

I did my standard 'SFU run', and figured I might feel a little flat from yesterday, but the opposite occurred. Anyone who has done the loop with me knows that 48-49 mins is standard (heck even some days 50) anything below that is cruising pretty good, but today I did it in just over 44 without really trying (I dn't think I've ever gone under 46 and that was trying). The idea was to see how I felt and then either make it a steady run or do a long run hill fartlek style (run the uphills harder after 30-4mins). When I checked out my watch at various sections I knew I was moving, but it was so easy. The strange part were all the surges I ended throwing in on various hills (some as little as 5-10 secs and others 4-5 mins).

The trails are also windy and I was moving so quickly on the flatter sections and the later stages of the run that I kept on running off the trails at various twisty corners. It was entirely new territory for me and something to consider as a staple of training. Runs like this are what most runners want to feel like and I can honestly say I haven't had this sort of run.....well ever. Now the question is what does his meaan how does my body respond over the next week or so....

I write this as I....

2009-04-05T11:49:00.000-07:00

..head out the door for a long run....mostly because I am procrastinating and enjoying a lazy morning.

It was an interesting week, mostly because I haven't done a double yet, and am going to end up well over 100 miles....how does this happen???? I honestly have no real idea...except I am an idiot at times.

I was really looking froward to a session with Steve and Ryan on Wednesday, but I only quickly looked over an email Dick had sent out. I swear it said Burnaby Lake....and then when I showed up and no one was there I wondered what had I done. I called my wife and she said Bear Creek (about a 5-10min drive from where I work, as opposed the good 45-60mins from where I had gone from work and was now stuck). It was a horrible day, so I simply told myself this is a 'character' session. A good thing was there was only disappointment in not being able to workout with other people, but the question of what was going to happen never wavered.

So off I went around Bby lake doing 3mins hard-1 min walk/jog. It wasn't have bad considering how cold and wet it was outside and how wet and flooded the trails were. I was able to time a few 'posts' (took a few where I could run full post and then took 60 secs) and ended up at 3:10-3:13 so good times considering the conditions. The 3:13 was literally running through puddles in wet shoes and freezing my behind off).

Sat was interesting. I misunderstood the workout as it was a 10 mile continuous (for Steve and Ryan), and I thought it was 2 x 5 mile. Due to a session in my long run from Monday I was only really interested in a traditional tempo style run. I ended up doing 5 miles in a single loop and stopped and did a bit more after a short break because I didn't want to end up in 'non man's land'(in 20/20 I forgot that the 6-7 mile mark ended up near where we started and I should have done that). I had one goal.....RUN RELAXED....and that was achieved. In fact I felt better and better as we went along and got in a nice rhythm that I haven't had in a while. My fitness level is fine...it's the inability to correlate that fitness to some tempo style workouts that have been frustrating. It was a workout I felt would have been quite easy to finish. Considering how much training I had done for the week and how my legs felt this was very encouraging as a 'break through' week that I have been looking for in this type of training.

Monday: 2 hr 5mins, but done as run from my house, around the POCO trail and back home, but I took a marathon style long run from Bill Squires, so after a good 40mins I did 3 x 1 min surges in a 10min set, then threw down a solid 15min surge took 5 mins, then 3 more 1 min surges and then ran hard, but controlled the rest of the way home (a good split considering everything). I was absolutely flying til I hit the last 15 mins (makes sense as it was the 1 hr 50-55 mark)
Tues: 70 mins with dug
Wed: 10 x 3mins (mostly) with 60 sec walk/jog
Thurs: 69mins
Friday: 76 mins good solid run.....had to slow myself down
Saturday: 6 mile warm up 5mile below tempo-2min rest 2 x 3mins off 30 sec jog at tempo Pace HR -6 mile warm down
Sunday:hmmmmmmmm some sort of long run....just gonna enjoy it and then try to get in another short run tonight....I got to have at least one dbl.....

The week that was

The week that was....

2009-03-31T16:19:00.000-07:00

..it was an interesting week. I probably didn't do some things I should not have, but in the end I learned a lot. this week was a down week, and i really wanted to focus on making my weekdays easy. We've started our school track practices in earnest, which is great but it can be a constraint on time.

The highlight of the week was an interesting one. and One I hope works. I did a 3 x 3km tempo session with Ryan on Saturday, and felt really tight. Even Dick made a sarcastic comment on my lack of upper body movement. It was a strange workout as I didn't feel beat up in any way, but I felt like I was beat up while I was doing the workout. The good part was in chatting with the guys about the Stanford races. I didn't know that the races were on Flotrack and I sat down when I got home and watched Steve and Dickie's race.

The thing about it is that I took little (no offence) from their races, but I took a ton from watching soIeone who never even finished the race. A few years ago i went to world cross with Kurt Benninger. People kept on saying how he ran very similar to me. I had forgotten about that time, until I saw Kurt take the lead (apparently he had shoelace come untied and ended up dropping out with less than a mile to go). As I watched Kurt I studied his stride and saw all the things I had somehow forgotten to do in my own running stride.

In my attempts to become more efficient in road racing I have forgotten what made my stride so good for the shorter distances, and that was simply getting up on my toes and staying there as long as I could. I saw the slightly loping and bouncy stride of Kurt and remembered when I ran the same way as opposed to this so called marathon stride I've been trying to perfect. I remembered all the times I felt lousy in a race, got back up on my toes and all of a sudden was rolling again. In other words 'just run dumby'. The result has been 3 days of great and absolutely rolling runs on my toes, with my hips out forward . back slightly pulled back and more power and fluidity than I've felt in a long time. Hopefully this isn't a short term solution.

Mon: off
Tues:1600-1200-800-400 alternating hard and medium 200s
Wed: 70mins
Thurs: 75mins
Friday: 68mins
Saturday: 3 x 3km (I think I was 9:38, 9:29 and 9:28)
PM 50mins
Sunday: 67 mins PM 42 mins

You cannot go wrong.....

2009-03-29T17:25:00.000-07:00

Everyone has their favourite/standard workouts they like to do. Some people like tempos, other interval session and so on. Over the years I've found some that really work. The one big issue with these is that they somewhat mimic (although still great sessions) my personality. Often when one has done these sessions they do em and go that was 'great'. "I know..." is of course my usual response...."...why do you think I told you to do them!"

In no particular order:

1) Monfartlek 2 x 90 sec-4 x 60 sec-4 x 30 sec 4 x 15 sec with same medium paced jog recoveries. You cannot go wrong with a session named after one of the great all time marathoners.
2) Hills....any hills, but in general 45-50 sec for me. Just up and down for 20-45mins
3) 10 x 3mins off 30 sec easy easy jog at threshold pace
4) 5 x 1600m off 2mins. I actually don't like this workout, but when I can roll it I am ready. Typically the beginning of my taper for a 10km
5)20min threshold/tempo-2min rest - 10min back at tempo
6) 4-6 x 1000m of alternating 200m at mile pace with 200m slightly slower than 10km pace off 2-3 mins. A great session from the old days and gets you ready to race a 5-10km without breaking you down
7) 4-5 x 2km at tempo (or slightly slower) and 1km at 30 secs slower. A session I created purely by accident that i later found out the great British marathoner Richard Nerukar likes (excpet he does it 2km at marathon pace). I hate doing pure steady tempos on my own and this one fits the bill of a long sub threshold tempo with the easier section, while also keeping you focussed the entire 15km. Another good long tempo would be 2-3 x 15mins but done as 5min below threshold-5mins at and 5 mins a bit over. The take 60-90 sec rest and roll again!

Equilibrium

2009-03-28T14:57:00.000-07:00

....I've always felt that in training one needs to do what works and that when you are getting ready to race don't do anything out of the ordianry, but every once in a while you need to throw something in there to mess things up. I did one of those things this week. On Tues I wanted to hop on the track as Steve and Dickie were doing a session to set them up for their 10kms on Fri at Stanford.

I ended up down at the Kajaks practice and was expecting to do some repeat 1600s. My legs still felt pretty banged up from the previous training, but I was still in for a 'grinder'. But alas the pups were getting ready for a 5km on Sat.

Hmmmmmmmm.....run with them.......do something on my own....do part of it with them......Ahhhhh what the hell I'll hop with these guys, but I'll shake things up.

I figured that since was supposed to be a down week anyways I'd do their shorter session (1600-1200-800 and 400), but I also knew that if I did it this way I would end up being on my own, so I decided to do a variation of one of my favourite sessions and that is alternating hard and medium paced 200s. I haven't done much change of pace work or fartleks over the last while (I think I really need too though as I respond to them very well).

In the end I ended up doing the session and hitting some okay splits when you consider how I did it. I would let the guys get a lead, chase em down, give up another lead, chase em down and so on. My splits were decent (4:40, 3:29, 2:10 and 62) and the session felt easy, but the next day my legs were really beaten up. It's amazing how doing something just a little bit out of the ordinary really impacted me and for such a long time. My legs still hurt (Sat) today and I could feel the fatigue in my tempo session (although that's another story). I am hoping that once I fully recover this session will really help my running. I am still seeing progress, but not at the pace I would like or am used too.

|On a side note big kudoes to Steve....a big literal PR (although I would argue it really wasn't that big as he was capable of running much faster than his old PR before this race).

It was the Best of Times...It was....

2009-03-22T20:41:00.001-07:00

...how much training I can get in when I do not have to work. It was Spring Break week and unfortunately I was sick for the first half, but I was still able to have a solid week. Monday was the only real day that suffered due to my cold and the rest of the week went well. The clincher was my long run today that felt like I was loping along, yet my geographical splits were off the charts. A good sign I hope.

The idea this week was simply to well have a good week and that it was. I wanted to get in some good hill sessions, and I did and not feel absolutely shattered on the weekend, which I did not.

The key for the week was the two hill session. I felt very strong on them and I think that's why my run today was so good. I felt stronger and more efficient than at any time over the last months.

Mon: 54 min easy
Tues: afternoon: 52 min hill circuit, plus 3min short hills
PM: 34mins
Wed: AM 69mins good run
PM: 40mins
Thurs: AM 33min of just hills done as 60sec - 45 sec - 30 sec plus 5 mins of short hills
PM: 40min easy run
Friday: AM 45 min very easy
PM: 42 mins
Saturday: Planned 6 'posts' at sub threshold pace and then 6 at threshold. Legs a little banged up and behind schedule for a day with my wife and dog so did 3 at well below threshold (HR at 155), 6 at a slightly below threshold (HR at 165-167) and 1 well below. It was actually a decent session as I was bit slower than last week, but my HR was also around 3-5 beats slower, which is actually a huge difference in pace at that intensity (6 posts plus the parking lot at Bby Lake in 20:48, but my sub LT pace was in the 3:35-3:40 range so solid).
PM: 34 mins
Sunday: 2hr 27 mins...good from top to bottom....from solid and strong the whole way....

Timing is Everything...

2009-03-18T17:00:00.000-07:00

...and mine was bad this past week. I could feel a cold coming on last Monday and by Tues it was getting quite a bit worse. By Sunday I thought things were coming along, but I'll assume my Sunday run and hockey put me back (although Julie was telling me that this current cold also seems to be following a feel better and then feel worse cycle), as on Monday I was totally congested.

By Tues I was feeling completely congested again and also feeling sleepy. I decided that the drive down to Minoru was better put off for next week and that it was better I push myself than someone pushing me into further oblivion.

Since I've been in a hill phase it wasn't a bad idea. In the end it was probably a good decision. I had a nice hill session and actually ran quite a bit faster than last week. I figure 2 solid weeks of hills (along with the more minor hill sessions I've had) will suit me well for my next phase of training. the best part is that I seem to be handling the volume of the hills well. When i can be consistent with my longer volume hill session I know I am getting fit. i also find that hills really sets me up well for intervals on the track.

That's one thing I forgot this year was how I really periodize my training. In my build up I made the mistake of getting a little jumpy and not ignoring what everyone else was doing. Typically I disappear for 2 or so months before I even consider doing intervals. It's always been a series of tempo runs, aerobic fartleks and some harder hills/fartleks that are my mainstay in my buildups. I try to never do anything really structured (egs pace) although my workouts tend to be quite structured in regards to time.

Now some other parts of my training need to come together and things will be okey dokey. I find hills fill in those holes. even last year I had done no real intervals and stepped on the track for a series of very controlled 1600s and avg'd 4:40s. I expect my next time out to be in that range

SICK.....

2009-03-15T22:51:00.000-07:00

On Monday I started to feel lousy, and by Tuesday afternoon I felt terrible. The mornings are the worst, but the good thing is that once I get going I feel much better. Unfortunately, a combination of the time change and my cold has meant no AM runs. Shockingly my overall volume hasn't really dropped and I've actually had some good sessions.

This week I decided to pay special attention to hills. I have done some hill sessions up to this point but nothing back to back. I had originally planned on hitting the track on Tuesday night, but I felt terrible after work and decided it was better to do some hills on my own accord, rather than get sucked into doing intense intervals. In 20/20 hindsight it was a great decision. I felt good and ended up doing a 48min hill circuit (a combination of bounding hills, running hills and short sprints at the top and bottom). I also did another hill circuit on Thursday, but only for 40mins.

I also made a decision to can my midweek longer run. I looked back at my old training logs and I really didn't begin doing these on a consistent basis til 2005/2006. And that is also the time when I began having some greater degrees of inconsistency.

The other killer for the week was playing hockey. When we lived in New Zealand my hockey gear was stolen, and I haven't played in full gear since last night. A guy I used to work with emailed me and we were supposed to play for an hour. Fun I thought until we ended up playing for 3 hrs. Needless to say I didn't count it as a workout, but I probably should have. The good part was my Sunday long run of 2:20, which wasn't stellar, but considering the hockey it was outstanding. In the past I've actually found that hockey helps my running. Hopefully, this will also show some benefits. I'd rather play hockey and work on my power, core, etc....than hit the gym any day.

Monday: 70mins
Tues: 48min hill circuit
Wed: 70mins
Thurs: 40min hill circuit
Fri:70mins
Sat: 4mile tempo run in 20:45 on gravel trails (actually faster than last weeks 8km tempo pace and run easier), plus 4 x a 'post' (1040-1050 meters run in 3:10-3:18) in a 4min set
Sunday: 2hr 20mins

That felt tough

2009-03-09T16:34:00.000-07:00

...and slow....for a supposed tempo run.

Raced an 8km on Sunday as a tempo run, but it still felt terrible. My hips have been bugging me all week and my legs seemed beaten up after Tuesday's track session (much more than the ease of the workout itself).

My Wed run was not good, and I felt flat on my Thurs hill session, but I was back in the groove on Fri and maybe that was the problem. I think my Fri and Sat runs may been a bit quick.

I knew when I ran up a hill to my car to put my racing flats on that it was going to be a 'grinder' sort of day. I felt that based upon my recent tempos and Tues sessions that I could go in the 3:10/km range for the 8km. The previous week I had run below threshold and hit 3:15 km's. But alas everything felt tight. I went out around 3:10 pace and felt okay, but also knew I wasn't smooth and could feel myself getting tight. I ran a decent 7km, almost went after Ollie Utting and then jogged in the last km (I was 5 sec behind Ollie at 7km and ended up around 20 back at the finish) in 26something.

I feel as though I am much better shape than that for a tempo pace, but I also know how sluggish I felt before and how tight my hamstrings were after. The legs were fine, but my hamstrings were so tight that it felt like someone had been playing music on them.

The only good news was I was able to stay ahead of Norm Tinkham and claim the masters prize givings, which was really my first goal. Normally, I would never race at this sort of competitive event (Jon Brown won) without being prepared to race, but it's hard to pass up a few hundred dollars to do a workout.

The Week:
Mon: afternoon 54 mins PM 31 mins
Tues: 5 x 1600m off 2 + mins rest avg'd 4:49s, but ran them by going out slow and then closing in low 70 and high 60s for the last 2 laps.
Wed: 86 mins
Thurs: 3 mins short hill (20 sec), 20 min 45 sec hill, 3 mins short hill.
Fri: 10+ miles in 62 mins...yeah maybe this might explain my fatigue
Saturday: 30mins (as it turned out fast, but i had no idea at the time) PM 44 mins
Sunday: 8km 26.0?

Running Gear

2009-03-05T21:56:00.000-08:00

Check out my racers. Very nice and suit many different types of runners.

The Musha is a slightly heaver racer for those who need a bit more support:

The Ronin 2 will be my main racer for more important races as it's designed to go fast. Not much too it, but it sure feels smooth:

THE TRACK.....

2009-03-03T23:09:00.000-08:00

..some people like cross country....others the roads, but when I am in at least decent shape I love the track. At least doing workouts. I figured out a long time ago that as much as I love racing, I also want to know exactly what is going on when I am running. It's one of those things where me, my watch and various track splits somehow mean something to me.

It's kinda ironic as I generally don't like controlled long runs and instead enjoy the mtn trails, and even some of my favourite workouts are fartleks, but having the opportunity to run in a completely controlled environment that also has the unpredictability of what others are going to do inspires me. I've really noticed this over the last few years where I've given road running more focus, but I cannot say that I actually enjoy the racing. It's kinda boring in all honesty (yeah like running round and round a track isn't), but I love the strategies and tactics that come only on the track.

Tonight was such a day. I went down to Richmond for some mile repeats (actually 1600m) with the UBC pups. I wasn't looking for a ball buster session, but was hoping to get in 5 sets that were a little quicker than the last time I was down there (and only did 4). But this time I was also hoping to make it tougher to go faster because I wanted to simply hang out for 2 laps and then make a little push over the last 2 laps. Shane Carlos was there and wanted to apparently hit 4:30's.....far too rich for what I wanted, but the UBC guys were only planning for high 4:50 range and so I hung out with them, but the only problem was I was getting boxed in and ended up running some strange intervals.

In the end things actually went quite well. I typically split high 2:28-2:30ish and then dropped it down to low 70 and then high 60 range and averaged around 4:49 for the 5. In every one I was at least 2:20 for the last 800. Not massive times, but considering how I ran them, how I felt (very very relaxed), what I've been doing to myself (I could still feel the weekend in my legs) and the improvements I am seeing I was quite content.

Finally....

2009-03-01T15:50:00.000-08:00

I am at the point where taking in over 100 miles was not forced, but rather just happened. It wasn't a stellar week in regards to any one day, but rather was simply a solid week of nothing great....nothing bad.

I actually feel those weeks are of the utmost importance. It means no blowups, but results in very solid and consistent training. But once you get there the concept is simply maintaining that level until things really begin to take off. The workouts really take off while the volume and off days stay the same.

Once you get there then it also means not hammering the easier days, but just keeping them honest. Even then some days with the good workouts can result in some really slow runs as you now have the ability to beat yourself up, without fear of injury or not recovering. You can now get away with some more intense work without fear of falling apart......at least that's the way it's supposed to work.

Mon: Easy day 54 min run, plus a little bit of core work
Tues: My wife took me to the Brad Paisley concert...yippee kay yay!!! So I ended up on my own (as opposed the scheduled 1200s on the track) and decided to do some hills. If I felt good 30ish mins...if i felt good then 40....and I ended up doing 40
Wed: snowed here...freaky stuff, but still got in 1 hr 45 at the SFU trails
Thurs: 30min run, 8 mins tempo uphill and then 5 more mins flat plus 20 mins of very controlled hills
Fri: afternoon 54mins PM 34 mins
Sat: Ran with the pups but only for part of the workouts. They were doing something more intense than I need right now so I did 20min below tempo pace (I followed them as they did a 3km tempo and then I kept going) - 3min rest and threw the flats on - 10:30 at tempo pace HR - 60 sec rest - and then 3 x 1km off 30 sec. felt a little flat, but that was much fatigue as form PM: at gym 45 mins elliptical trainer plus 30 mins weights
Sunday: Hoping for somewhere around a nice 2 hrs, but felt really good so ended up at 2hr 18mins on hilly trails

I can feel it coming along!

2009-02-27T18:42:00.000-08:00

...I hope...

It's been some nice proegression in training since my 1/2 marathon mess. It could have been the rest, the not not beating myself up in the race or simply progression. Honestly, I don't care why....I just care what.

I am finally feeling at the point where training is no longer a grind (well it`s always a grind), but rather I am taking it in as opposed to fighting it. I think a lot has had to do with simply time, but I also think a lot has too do with a few changes I made to my training.

One, is finally being able to get in some consistent 2 hr runs and the other was yesterday`s post on hills. Rather than crank out some reps on the track I ended up doing 40mins of hills. even yesterday I did a 13min tempo run uphill & then did another 20 mins of hills. This was a variation of an old Rob Decastella workout where his thursday session was a 2-3 mile tmepo run followed by a series of hills (typically 8 x 60 sec, but this was also due to where he was at the time. For egs when he was in Melbourne he would run around the ``Tan` - http://www.coolrunning.com.au/runningguide/arg.php?pagename=Main.TheTanTrack - and then jog over to this park where he simply ran around trees and the hills were anywhere from 10-60 secs).

I`ve always been a big fan of Chris Wardlaw (Steve Moneghetti`s coach and now Craig Mottram`s coach who used a system of training based upon his old coach Pat Clohessy called the `complex system``, but in fact it should have been called the `simple system` as the training seldom changed from week to week and involved shorter workouts in between longer runs. The concept is very Lydiard focussed and Clohessy had learned it while he training with Snell and Halberg one summer in Europe.

When in doubt I like to back to basics and Wardlaw`s ideas are as basic as they come. the system has produced a ton of very good times from various distances, from many an athlete. In other words it`s not a hit and miss program, but one that develops athletes over the long haul.

Check out Wardlaw`s ideas here at the Glenhuntly page 9also the club of the legendary Ron Clarke). When I was in Melbourne I ran with a bunch of the `pack`guys and it was a blast.

http://glenhuntly-athletics.com/assets/wardlawtraining.pdf

and

http://z12.invisionfree.com/Hunter_Reports/index.php?showtopic=259

..and a great interview...

2009-02-26T20:17:00.000-08:00

...from 2:11 guy back in the 70's Steve Hoag. FYI his coach was arguably one of the most underrated people in regards to impacting serious runners back in the day.....the one and only Ron Daws. If you want to fill in the holes about Lydiard his books fill in all the holes and more. Funny as so few people know of Daws, but he is in my top 5 list of people I'd like to go for arun. If you can get a copy of any of his books (they can be very pricey) do so....they are golden

http://runningminnesota.blogspot.com/2007/01/steve-hoag.html

and just for the sake of Daw's books...I gloat that I own both and got them for around 30 bucks....check out what I saw on Aamazon...read em and weep...

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?%5Fencoding=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=books&field-author=Ron%20Daws

hills hills hills...

2009-02-26T19:37:00.000-08:00

...if there is a single better session than hills someone needs to let me know. Arthur Lydiard swore by them but the best hills story is still a Malmo story about Henry Rono:

Henry, here is the story that The Dina (Steve) tells about his bartending days at Guido's, and the day that you revealed the secret of running to him.

The Dina started a converstion with Henry about Salazar and training, and he kept the beers flowing freely, figuring it was truth serum, so that he could extract the secrets of running from Henry. Finally, Henry opened up, and the conversation went something like this:

"Tooooz-day... Sal-luh-zahhh.... trrraack," Rono said, shaking his head "no."

"Tourrrz-day.... Sal-luh-zahhh.... trrraack," again shaking his head no.

"Sat-tuhh-day.... Sal-luh-zahhh.... trrraack," emphatically shaking his head no.

Dina listened intently.

"Dee Heeeeel!" Shouted Rono, with his arm extended straight and pointing uphill.

Then, the Dina leaned forward to the bar to finally coax out "the secret" from the legend.

"Henry, what hill?" he asked, earnestly.

"Steve," waving his arms maniacally, Rono shouted, "ANY HEEEEEEEL!"

I used to hate hills, but also knew the power of hills. When I went to Uni it was our transition workout to the track and I dreaded them. They just hurt too much, but I persisted and over time hills went from the enemy to my saviour.

The key was one winter when I first began teaching and couldn't make it to do any workouts on trails. I had a history of stress fractures and hated running on the roads, but there was this gravel hill (about 45 sec) near my old place so would warm up and then simply run up and down. At first 20mins was tough and then 30 and eventually and I even got up to 40+. It was boring, but 'magical' things happened....I was stronger, ran faster and more importantly I had no injury problems. I found that it really helped my running form and decreased the various hip/back ailments I always have when I run on flat surfaces too much.

As I moved up to the longer distances I spent less and less time on the track and more time on hills. All by big races nowadays have some hill work the week of as I know exactly how I react to them and they provide me with great running mechanics. So throw the science out the window when in doubt ...go find some 30-60 sec hill and simply run up and down.

At least I am finally seeing some progress

2009-02-22T14:58:00.000-08:00

I know that in running progress is almost always happening, but I really hate waiting for it too happen. After my immediate recovery from the 1/2 marathon, Saturday's workout, and today's long run I am hopeful that things are finally beginning to shift.

It's always a learning process and even yesterday's fartlek session at Stanley Park was one of those. My back/hips have been tender and not fluid since Sunday (I need an appt with chiro extraordinaire Rob Nielsen). On Sat we did a 1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1 mins fartlek with 1-2 mins recoveries. I was decent the first half (even hung within a decent distance from Steve and Ryan up that nasty hill), but hit a bad patch on the second 3 mins. I realized how I was tightening up in the arms and not letting the power come from my legs. Once I was able to work this out on the 2min section I felt much better and felt much better form wise on the final 1min.

The best part of Saturday was actually Sunday. I ended up going solo at the SFU trails and despite the previous day's workout, the mud and snow I hit some very quick splits (but still very relaxed) and the run even got better as I went along and my hips/back really loosened up.

Mon: gym 35 mins eliptical trainer plus lgith weights
Tues: 91 mins and felt really good
Wed: 68 mins, a quick pace from the start and ran my 'mundy park electrical hill' which was just under 9mins despite the snowy and muddy sections I went thru...probably closer to a sub 8:30 hil, plus a series of 60 and 30 sec fartlek intervals for another 15mins
Thurs: SFU trails 1 hour 38 and felt great but almost got stuck in the trails as it got dark
Fri: AM 31 mins PM a fantastic run with splits and ease. Probably not a good idea, but it felt good to roll
Sat: AM fartlek PM 40mins
Sunday: SFU trails 2 hr 17 mins but the last 30mins was like a hill fartlek as I felt so good. If things feel decent tonight then I may either hit the gym or do a short run with drills in the middle.

To Be Expected

2009-02-20T20:37:00.000-08:00

....well my foray into racing before I am ready might work over 10km, but I paid for it over the 1/2 marathon distance this weekend. I had relatively low expectations and had decided long in advance I would run my own race. Training had gone well the last 2 weeks with some okay sessions, good long runs and just a more positive attitude to process of running.

I was hoping for something in the area of mid 1:08 to lowish 1:09 (around 5:15 mile/3:15 km pace). I went thru the first mile in just under 5:15 pace and simply stayed there. In the end that was a big mistake as I let the pack go, but they never really pulled away substantially for quite a while. I ended up running with Todd Howard, but the whole time was chomping at the bit to go after the lead pack. There were simply staying the same distance after about the 1.5 mile mark.

Unfortunately for both myself and Todd (moreso Todd), he was having a bad day. I didn't get all my splits, but knew I was band on 5:15 pace at 2 miles and a few seconds over at 5 mile. But once again I felt constrained by the pace and ended up leaving Todd and going solo.

For those who know boith my personality and racing style I am the worst time trialer in the world. I've never been able to really push myself when I am alone, but for the next 4-5 miles I was doing okay.

Then things went from okay to absoutely messy. I could feel my form and mind getting a little unfocussed. I knew that some huge time was out of the question, but thru 9-10 miles I figured I could throw down a good last mile and run around 1:09. I went thru 10 miles in 53 minutes and the guy at the mile marker told me I was only about 30 seconds down. For about 10 miles things went very smoothly. Even to the point where I was questioning why I hadn't gone with the lead pack.......and then......

...everything fell apart. The good thing is that it wasn't my legs (maybe even my mind I hope) that went down, but rather my hip/back/core. I went from a consistent pace/stride to shooting pains down my leg. Not as bad as my first marathon when it was like someone taking a hammer to my hip/IT bands, but more sharp shooting pains that took away power from my right leg. I have a back condition that has hindered me since I've been running. Over the 10km and down distances I have some issues with it, but anything longer and when it flares up it's deblilitating. It generally occurs when I get tired, my form falters a bit and then my back tightens up (nerve pressure).

I ran as tough as I could and at mile 12 I almost stopped because the pain was so bad, but I trudged along as I was in no mans land, but that was about to stop as my slow pace allowed Jay Macdonald and Paul Krochak to catch up to me (about 2 miles earlier I had a minute plus lead on them).

I was lucky as I had regained some form, but was still struggling. Jay caught me at the bottom of a hill, which one might think is bad, but in this case it was good, as running uphills takes pressure off my back and hills always gives me good form. I was able to relax and somehow hang on Jay where I used my tactical experiences to ake sure I had the lead going around the last corner and then 50 meters to the finish. I ran just hard enough to stay ahead of Jay. Afterwards my hip was so bad I could barely walk, but I somehow managed the slowest warmdown of all time....

Thought for the day.....

2009-02-15T16:01:00.000-08:00

....I've figured i will try to update my blog a little more with a combination of my own meandering ideas and ones that I see as truths for running and more importantly life....from my running hero Emil Zatopek:

"When a person trains once, nothing happens. When a person forces himself to do a thing a hundred or a thousand times, then he certainly has developed in more ways than physical.
Is it raining? That doesn't matter. Am I tired? That doesn't matter, either. Then willpower will be no problem."

Kao Runs

2009-02-11T19:58:00.000-08:00

Over the last couple of weeks while the snow has disappeaed I've been able to get the 'dug' out for runs. If you know my dog then you know is hyper. Normally in the winter months I take her out for my before work runs at the school up the street from (round and round the fields I go), but with recovery from my achilles I never really got many morning runs and then when it snowed I couldn't take her anywhere.

With the trails almost fully cleared I have been able to taker her out on many of my easier afternoon runs. I only run her on trails, but she is getting fitter and fitter. Tonight was one of those runs that not only do I like (the SFU trails), but she loves. There's still some snow on the trails, but only in spots. Besides she loves the snow so when we hit it not only do I end up slowing down, but she picks it up.

Since we got freakshow I have been wrapped around her little paws (yeah a warm and fuzzy moment) and when she doesn't get out for any activity I honestly feel guilty. So getting her out now is not only fun for her, but I really enjoy having her on my runs.

some days....some weeks....

2009-02-09T21:20:00.000-08:00

....are just putting training in the tank. This was a strange week of good bad and somewhat unpredictable.

I was looking forward to some longer reps on Wed night (5 x 1600m on the track nonetheless...one of my favourite sessions when I am fit) and the original plan was to simply hang out for 3 laps, expect the fit guys to roll the last 400 and I simply maintained. I was hoping to also get through 3 x 1600m and then do 2 x 1200m but keep everything under control. My all time best doing a session like this was high 4:26 avg (even last yr I did a relaxed 6 x 1600m with jizzy in about 4:40 avg), but in present times I was simply hoping for a solid set around 4:50 avg.

For almost 4km things went like clockwork, then everything good and bad about where I am at right now occurred. I wore flats for the first 2 and then switched to spikes, but was rushed to get them one and tied (big mistake). About 500m in no. three one of shoelaces came untied......fine I thought...not a big deal....then at 900m my other shoelace came undone......

I can't type what was really going thru my head, but decided I had to stop or else I was going to go down flat on my face. I tied my shoes quick at 1000m ran back to the 300m to go spot and then met up with the guys the last 300 (so like 1400m), but it really set me off. I was having some stomach/bowel pains in my gut and my mind completely off base I simply lost all focus.

This just really shows where I am mentally right now. If I am in a bit off a bubble by myself I am fine, but as soon as something upsets that bubble I really lose focus and toughness.

The more positive note was my tempo session on Sat. My back/hips were tweaked by the track and my IT band was bothering. The guys were doing their tempo on a hillier loop and the downhill can really aggravate my back. Besides I also realized I needed to hurt on my own. I did some 'beaver' loops (the legit 1km ones)and hit 3:15 avg (5km, 2min rest, 3 km, 90 sec rest, 2km, 60 sec rest, 1km 60 sec rest, 1km, (which was a relaxed 3:04) so decent enough.

Best part of the week was my long run on Sunday. The SFU trails are finally clear enough to run on and decided to enjoy the run and went a bit over 2 hrs. I am supposed to race this weekend, but since i am really in buildup mode for a bit more I decided to bite the bullet.

Mon: AM easy 70 mins PM 32 mins
Tues: off
Wed: my messed up session ended up at 2 x 1600m, 1000m (plus a short break and 400m), 1200m, 1200m
thurs: 1 hr 43 mins easy
Fri: 70mins
Sat: AM Tempo 5 x 1km loops (2min rest), 3 x km loops (90 sec rest), 2 x 1km loops (60 sec) 1km loop (60 sec rest) 1km loop. Very consistent per loop
PM gym 40min eliptical trainer, plus weights
Sun: AM 2 hr 5mins at SFU trails
PM 30mins

Back to Basics

2009-02-01T21:09:00.000-08:00

Ok so my unofficial stalker Paddy told me all I do is write about running, but who the heck would read this if it wasn’t???!!! Well besides him of course...... Hmmmmmmm ....... maybe next time I'll go on a rant.....uh oh...

I got my new racing kit from Mizuno today and it is extremely nice. Apparently they ordered it from Japan for us and I really like the design. It’s the same concept that official Mizuno international Jon Brown has been wearing in his most recent races.

Training wise has been pretty decent this week. Last week’s rest really seemed to help as I didn’t have any bad days. That’s one thing I like at this time of the year and that is to be consistent over going high and low. I stayed away from the group dynamics this week. That’s one thing I forget when I get caught up in what other’s do and forget that the reason I have essentially been self coached over the last 10 yrs and that part of that is knowing how I respond to things both physically and mentally.

Every once in a while I need to remind myself that no matter how hard I try I am still a flaky middle distance runner at heart and that my training tends to be quite unique in some respects. I realize that even more in training with guys like Richard Mosley and especially Steve Osaduik and Ryan Day. Ryan and Steve are true blue slow twitch distance guys and seem to revel in the long tempo runs that tend to be one’s meat and potatoes at this time of the year.

I on the other hand really need to work at the monotony of doing certain types of training. I tend to lose my focus easily in these types of sessions and found that it is essential for me to do certain things before I can have the focus that is needed for those longer steady sessions.

Saturday was a good example as those guys were doing a 5mile tempo. The week before they had done a 10 mile tempo, that I hadn’t done and felt I needed a longer style session so I went out on my own I. But there was no way I could focus for 10 miles....heck even 5 right now so I went back to an old standard that evolved over the years and that is what I have come to term ‘tempo fartleks’. It’s a session where I use my HR monitor and have variations of paces. In this instance it was doing 2km at around tempo pace and 1km 30-40 sec slower.
I find if I do that I have much better focus and more important I like training in this manner.

That’s one huge advantage I think I have over others and that is I have the chance to have really experimented with training at a relatively high level. You learn that there are certain principles that are never altered, but you also learn that there are many ways to do the same thing to suit your personality. Much Like the infamous Quenton Cassidy of ‘Once a Runner’ I am not a true blue obsessive compulsive distance guy and really need to go through a lengthy process to get myself to a point (more mental) where the grind doesn’t wear me down. Physiologically I get the same impact but the mental impact is more relevant to me. Some might be concerned that this might cause some issues when racing, but I find the opposite. When I have a race and need to focus (the flaky middle distance runner in me) I tend to be fine. Eventually I’ll get to those pure steady state runs, but for now I need to do what has essentially worked for the last 10 yrs.

Mon: 70 mins
Tues: 9 x 3mins off 30 sec at LT HR effort
Wed: I hr 39mins solid but comfortable
Thurs: 10min tempo by HR and 8 x 45 sec hills very controlled
Fri: afternoon 45min easy PM 28 mins easy
Sat: AM 4 x 2km at HR tempo 1km about 30-40 sec slower plus 2 x 3mins at tempo off 60 sec PM: gym 28min elliptical trainer plus 30 min weights
Sunday: 2 hr 8mins nice run....figured around 32 km effort pace based upon some splits I hit on the run. Even the last 20 min that I timed from some geographical markers I use were solid

Remembering the Past

2009-01-25T21:22:00.000-08:00

*** warning: this post revels in 'glory days'***

We had dinner with a handful of running knobs on Sat night. Jeff Schiebler had a few people over at his place and cooked us dinner. It was funny as my old teammate and long time friend Dan Bertoia was also there. Jeff's running pedigree is without question, but guys like myself and Dan have known him since he was a high school schmuck and thus we still see him in that light. Whereas guys around his age and younger put him on the 'running pedestal' we tend to tell stories about how we got Jeff served his first beer and other memories when he was...'gulp'.... a young guy. He is now in his mid thirties and I forget how long ago it was when Dan, myself and Warren Barker roomed with Jeff when he was till in high school at a meet. It brings back some memories of a time when life seemed quite difficult, but in reality was pretty simple....

As far as this week and training I have taken the 'Harry Wilson' approach. Wilson was Steve Ovett's advisor/coach and I often refer to his training book as the gospel on how I also view what is important to running. he took an old school approach where you had good buildups and didn't really 'cycle; training, but the one thing I always took away (and use more as I've gotten older) is that from time to time you need a full training break in every sense of the word. This was one of those weeks where I took his belief and used up some rest time.

The good thing is that it really helped me to re-evaluate my training, how it's gone and what I've been doing versus what I have often done in the past. I have gotten somewhat caught up in group dynamics and forcing things at the expense of my own concept of 'what's worked for me'. It's funny how my first real injury and forced break made me forget some my own learned running lessons. In my attempt to add to the group dynamics of our emerging training group I got caught up in the 'hoopla' and realized I need to get back to my basics.

Wall????!!!!!

2009-01-23T19:23:00.000-08:00

As I Type I can look at my last post as an omen, and not a good one. I knew I was taking my training to another level training wise, but I think I bit off way more than I could chew.

I took Monday off on purpose, and hit an nice 70min run. But I could tell during the run that taking monday off didn't have much of an impact. Ever since Monday i have been falling asleep early, but simply figured it was just catanps.

On Wednesday I absolutely hit a wall. I was supposed to do some longer reps, but I could tell on the warmup that this might be a tough one. Even it felt tough. I did an 800 then a 1200 and everything felt terrible. I dumped the workout and figured I might tempo the next day. I didn't full realize what I had done until I came home and fell asleep again. To top it off I came home on Thurs and fell asleep again. The worst part is that I am still exhausted when I wake up. Hopfeully it's just a bit of overtraining and I'll be fine by the end of the weekend. I am getting some bloodwork On Sat morning (so I can't make sat's tempo workout, which I'll do on my own, which isn't a bad thing).

I know over the last few months I haven't really been taking my Iron pills and with the pounding of the roads there may be some 'issues' Hopefully just over training, as I've had low Iron before and it can take quite a while to get back into the system. Either way a rest was obviously needed.

OH THE PAIN....

2009-01-19T17:30:00.000-08:00

....aka as in ‘getting back in shape’. Another week down and a very different week from the previous ones. I think my legs hurt all week and it really showed on Saturday morning. I was able to get in some good training. I define good training as different things at different periods of time. Right now good training is simply getting in around 90-100 miles on my up weeks, and in that sense this was a good week of training.

If there’s one thing I have learned in general and about myself more specifically is to simply let the workouts come to you as opposed to forcing the issue. When I first committed to altering my training to a 5-10km runner I took the view that I would ‘throw my ego out the window’ and my butt clobbered in workouts. Rather than get overly concerned about keeping up to people in workouts, I simply kept up the training volume, paid the price in workouts and then one day things just began working. It was hard to take at first and with my lack of real injuries over the last few yrs I have never had to really buildup...til now....

On Wed I did a decent session with Steve and Ryan. I was hurting from Sunday’s race and my 85 min run on Monday, so my first goal (as it always is right now) was to simply finish the prescribed 10 x 1km off 1min. I ended up running most of the workout on my own after about 30 secs (I started taking a slight head start on the last 5 so it wasn’t as bad). Even on Sat I knew I was in big trouble before I began. I ended up running around 24 kms on Thurs and never really recovered from the Wed/Thurs combo. I knew this was probably going to happen, but once again I stay by the plan. The original workout as a near 12km tempo run at Stanley park, but I was messed early on so broke up the workout into 20mins-60 sec off-10min-6 min tempo. Although I’ll bet I was going pretty damn slow by the end.

In the old days my ego would've gotten the better of me and I would have rested up for these sessions. At certain times of the year i do this, but right now it's simply about getting out there and building up the base

The roads have really taken their toll on me as I’ve been running more and running on some trails on Sunday seemed to really help as my legs felt good today. I hope the snow disappears even more to the point where I can get in some good trail runs and stop the round and round of Riverview.

Mon: 85 mins (quick run, but legs hurting from Sunday’s race)
Tues: afternoon 55mins PM 32 mins
Wed: 10 x 1km off 60 sec (we were slightly short of 1km by a handful of metres)
Thurs: 1 hr 38 mins
Fri: legs really hurt but did 48 easy in the afternoon and Bikram Yoga at night (for the first time in months and I hurt like hell....especially the next day)
Sat: AM tempo run 20min-60 sec off-10min-60 sec off and 6 mins PM: 45 mins but felt much better
Sunday: relaxed, yet also difficult 2 hr run (maybe a min or so more) as ran relaxed form wise, but legs still in rough shape

SCALPS.....

2009-01-11T19:58:00.000-08:00

Dickie took down a big one today in Jon Brown. There aren’t many 4th place oly runners in this world and to take one down irrelevant of distance and conditions is huge for Dickie. I hope it becomes a springboard for future successes. No runner will admit it but when they take down a really big named scalp it creates a sense of both confidence and uneasiness. It's kinda like you won the lottery, but what are u going to do with all the money.

I hate running races when I am not in really good shape. It’s one of those things over the years I have seldom done and that is run a race when I am not really ready. Some guys have the ability to simply go out and roll. I often wish I was one of those people, but I am not. It’s always taken me a while to really get going and then when I do things really ‘click’. Today wasn't one of those days.

I can’t say I was disappointed with my time today, as I had no real expectations except to run a ‘masters race’....in other words I had no real goal of being competitive in the open race, and it showed in every sense of the word. I knew I wasn’t physically ready to have a good one, but I also knew my lack of racing focus and having really not hurt in practice was more of an issue. I simply ran with little focus except to get out there and see what happened.

I sometimes wonder if I need more of these types of races to just get ou there and get motivated, but I also know that I don’t like to race at a higher level unless I am in somewhat decent shape.

I also ran as it was my club that was putting on the event and it is heavily influenced by Bob Reid. If there is anyone who is owed to in this sport it is Bob and since this was my first official masters race I figured why not open it up with a race that he helps to organize.

Race review: simple...... to simply finish in one piece. In the end I ended up pulling former training mate Sean Chester around the course and then letting him go. I have no idea if I could’ve even outkicked Sean, but in the end it didn’t matter. I had done what I had set out to do around 25 mins earlier and that was simply beat every other ‘old guy’. It may be the only time all year I think like that this year, so why not get it out of the way early.

Training week: I accidently fell asleep on tues and didn’t run so that meant i really trained thru this moreso than planned...oh well right now it;s all training...

Monday: 66mins...nice and cruisy
Tues: sleep...
Wed: a really nice run....82 mins
Thurs: I ran over to Riverview but there was black ice and I was went down on my warm up so i changed things to hills I did a sort of monfartlek on hills so 3 x 90sec, 4 x 60 sec, 4 x 30 sec and 4 x 15 sec hills off jog back down. I ended up taking 28mins to do this when if i did a traditional monfartlek I would have done just under 26mins
Fri: afternoon 70mins
Evening 35mins
Sat: AM 45 mins nice run
PM 28mins
Sunday: AM race 8km 25: 42
PM 30min run

Oh Yeah....

2009-01-05T19:33:00.000-08:00

check out Canadian Running (http://www.runningmagazine.ca/and my impending entrance into the masters competition) as I officially turned 40 on Friday....but that's another completely other story

Despite the snow...

2009-01-04T21:19:00.001-08:00

..it was a decent week, but of course that may be because I wasn't back home til Wed.....hmmmmm......

Had planned on going to Stanley park on sat morning for my first group session, but the snow was a coming and I had a physio appt at 11:30. Even before I knew it would be a tight schedule, but with the snow I knew it was impossible.

I will say this the snow hasn't yet gotten to me, but it certainly is trying my patience. Mostly the lack of dug out sidewalks which makes getting to Riverview a bit more difficult and somewhat dangerous. Oh well it could be worse.

Mon: AM 35 min pool run. After my 2+ hr run on Sun this was fantastic. My legs were dea before, but the lack of pounding and movement made them feel great
PM We switched from our suburban hotel to one one the beaches of SD (near seaworld). I ended up running for a really nice 70mins on the compact parts of the beach and then did some drills
Tues: We got tickets to the Holiday Bowl between Oregon vs Oklahoma St.(a great experience for many reasons, but mostly the intensity of the fans...gosh they love their football). We were lucky and got great tickets at a great price. As a result there was no time for doubles and I ended up doing a 'classic' Kenyan fartlek of 20 x 60 sec hard-med. By the end the sun had me and I was feeling trashed, but in a good way. It was a very controlled session for this time of the yr and was true blue fartlek (read the med parts were of good quality and the hard stuff wasn't insane)
Wed: were heading back to Van so i knew a dbl was out of the question and planned my training as a result with a 94 min nice run around the beaches/parks. I felt really relaxed
Thurs: AM 65 min run that was very smooth and quick despite the previous 2 days..heck previous 5 as i hit some super quick splits despite the road conditions. I hope a good sign
PM: 35 min run with drills in the middle
Fri: decided that the previous week and a half needed a real recovery day, so I did a very easy 55mins and nothing else.
Sat: AM looked outside...saw snow and well went out for y short dbl run of 35 mins
PM: THE SNOW WON'T STOP!!!!!!. I ran over to Riverview and even it was not that good. I found one of their long hills and simply went up and down for 30mins ( a 2+min hill with a 30 sec flatter section on the way down that i went hard), plus 6mins of a 30 sec hill and 4 mins of a 15 sec hill.
Sunday: decided to sleep in and do an afternoon run, but once again the snow wouldn't stop and i ended up doing an evening run around Riverview for 93 mins. but at a good clip.

In the end this was my highest mileage since I began running again. Over the last few weeks things have progressed nicely (SD helped) and i ended at 75, 80 miles (with one full day off) and mid 90's this week.

2 feet of snow......15+ degrees and sun...hmmmmm....

2009-01-01T13:12:00.000-08:00

....I don't know what's better the sun of San Diego or the snow of Vancouver......yeah right. Tough choice.

We just got back last night to 0 and snow. Considering it was around 20 degrees when we left SD it was quite the change. But alas at least I got in some decent training in nice conditions. Things didn't go perfect (the day after we got there I took the day off as I think I slept through the day, as there were delays everyhwere and we were simply lucky to get out of the airport). But once I got into the training routine things went well. Last week I ended up at around 80 miles but that was with a day off so really not that bad.

I was somewhat fortunate that where we stayed the first week was a 20 min run to some great dirt and hilly trails (the ones I like best) so I even had the ability to get in a nice fartlek and my first 2+ hr run in about 4mths.

Over the last few days we stayed at this very nice resort style hotel on the beach (near seaworld) and I was able to get in some nice runs on the pathways that went around the beaches. Considering I started all my runs in a t shirt and often ended up taking if off part way through the run you could say I liked the weather. The funny part was all the locals with long sleeve shirts, long tights and even gloves on as I whizzed around in a pair of shorts.

I am supposed to race in a week, but have no idea on my fitness. I know I can get in some longer runs, but have no idea on whether I am capable of running quickly.....I guess we'll see....

Golly gee whiz....

2008-12-20T10:16:00.000-08:00

I must be somewhat motivated to get out in this cold stuff. With the exception of Wed, when it snowed, I have been out for a min mum 65 mins or more all week. Not the greatest, but not bad considering I will hopefully end up around the 75-80 mile mark for the week.

Wed was a complete write-off as I was more fearful of getting hit by traffic than the actual conditions (and it took me almost 2 1/2 hrs to travel 5 miles from work).

I even ran at Colony Farms last night and I swear it was about 5 degrees colder than the posted temperature. I hit the entrance and it was like a cold snap hit me, but I wanted to see if the pond out there was frozen. Since the snow is still fluffy it wasn't a bad run as I stayed off the more compact snow. It was kinda fun running in complete silence in the snow at night. I forget how when i lived in the interior how easily one can see at night with the light reflection off the snow.

Once I head back home and crossed Lougheed highway it was like a massive heat stroke ( well in relative terms) and I really picked it up. Now for a bit of fartlek today and then a decent run tomorrow, and then only 1 more sleep til the hopeful sun of San Diego. At least it won't be minus 10.

Let it Snow...

2008-12-16T19:32:00.000-08:00

.....since I was up in the interior on the weekend this wimpy Lower Mainland snow means nuttin.....

.....I was in like -25 with the windchill and did a nice run/workout in anywhere from 6-12 inches of snow around some trails by my parent’s house in Vernon. Actually once I warmed up it was kinda fun. Running uphill in a foot of snow is brutal and the scenery was beautiful. I didn’t see a soul except for Kao who had a blast running in the snow. She wouldn’t even let me lead and instead broke the snow ahead of me. By the end though she was messed up and slept solid for the rest of the day and the next one as well.
I knew it was going to be a rough week as we visited my Mom and Pops. My Mon has been taking chemo treatments since the Fall and we haven’t been up to see her since just after she had her operation in the summer. Since we are going to San Diego for Xmas we knew we had to get up some time and this was the weekend come snow or whatever....and snow it did. I hopeful 5 hr drive turned into 6+ and I was exhausted on Fri night.
On Sunday it was so cold I just did a 40min run and hoped to get to in another 90 when we got in. Once again plans went awry as the drive was long and worse exhausting. Jules won’t drive in the snow and that means I ended up driving 4 ½ hrs and was destroyed by the time we got home. Fortunately my Monday run was a very solid 90 mins. The good part is how smooth I am feeling these days despite not being in superb shape. Hopefully once I get in some workouts and long runs I’ll lose some of my baby fat and get rolling for real.

HEY PADDY......

2008-12-08T18:19:00.000-08:00

...stop stalking me.....(don't worry if you don't get it....inside joke)

sweet spot????

2008-12-07T17:19:00.000-08:00

I am finally getting to the point where both my brain and fitness level are showing some progress. I don’t know if it’s that my running is feeling smoother, my fitness is getting better or I am simply more motivated. It’s one of those things where at some moment in time you have to bite the bullet and see if you can truly get out for another run, even if you really don’t want too, and test the body.

In general my Achilles has held up well. It’s tend and tight in some spots, but nothing like when things became bad in August. It almost seems like a good massage to tear the daylights out of the Achilles and things will be good. That and continually making sure to stretch and do my heel drops.
Nothing fancy here, but easily the best week I’ve had on the comeback trail and I really felt it this morning.

Mon: 59mins
Tues: fell asleep, but planning on taking one day off this week so ok
Wed: went to the junio hockey game and got stuck in traffic, but still got in 53 mins at a good clip with the dog
Thurs: ok I have to show I really mean it so I pushed myself out the door for an AM run (30mins) and then hit Mundy Park after school. Dick, Dickie and Oz were doing a 10-11 miler and I got there about 10mins late and hooked up with them, but when I jumped in there were hammering. I was like uh oh the first 5mins and then got into a real nice stride to the point where it felt easy. In the end i ended up at just over an hr, but we were well under 6mins miles pace (although i had a pit stop at around the 40min mark)
Fri: up and at em again on the AM (geez I must have been motivated) and again after school for an hr.
Sat: Had a slight inkling to hit Stanley Park, but we had our PE/Coach Xmas party and a late night. No big deal as I would have probably been out on my own anyways. I ended up doing a 26min fartlek of anywhere from 2mins to 30 sec. I began my PM bit could feel I was hypo-glycemic before I began and pacjed it in after 20mins
Sunday: I woke up at 4 AM and watched teevee til 5:30 and then fell back to sleep. When my alarm went off at 8:15 I wasn’t coherent and woke up a bit late for a 9am run, but the group was doing Mundy Park loops so i got there about 10mins late and hooked up part way through. I felt terrible and ended up running the latter stages with Dick and Kirsty (Dickie and Gant had begun to push the pace. Worst part is that running slower hurt more form wise, but at least I could keep up the whole way. I guess with Sat’s workout and the overall mileage increase I should have expected just as much....

routine routine...sleep sleep....

2008-11-23T11:31:00.000-08:00

...these two things seem to be killing my running. I haven\t been sleeping well and it's been killing my running. I end up falling asleep on the couch (and my wife is not happy!!!) and then wake up at 1 or 2 in the AM and can't fall asleep for another hr. It's killing any chance of an AM run and in fact I sometimes end up falling asleep in the PM before I get a run out of the way.

It's almost a bad timing thing. I was a nice routine last week, and then had parent teacher interviews and it killed me. I took last Monday off and that turned out to be a mess. I forget that I like to front end load my training weeks so that if something out of the ordinary happens it's not a big deal because I've done what I need to do. That way if things go 'perfect' then it's a bonus.

I almost feel like I am a complete neo-phyte again in running. Everything is new, but not as exciting. The good thing is that my runs seem to be getting easier and quicker. Hopefully an easy tempo or fartlek this week will really push things into a smoother direction. I’ve always found that I need a good kick in the butt and doing a workout (even an easy one) has always motivated me.

A huge congrats to Dickie Mosely for making his first official national team (Chiba Ekiden). Ryan Mckenzie has had his first kid and Dickie was the first alternate. It’s really the 2nd team he’s made a team, as he qualified for Wld XC, but hurt himself and couldn’t go. Considering all the stuff Dickie’s gone through over hte years it’s a huge achievement in his steps towards his ultimate goals. It's also the first national team person that Dick Lee has had make national team in his second incarnation as a high end coach....in the end it's a team effort.....

Just What I Needed

2008-11-11T12:15:00.000-08:00

......over the summer we had 2 Pro D days so that we may have some days off during the school year.....Yesterday was one of those days and it came at a perfect time. I really needed the time off and for my running some time to actually get in a routine.

It's simply nice to be able to run again, even if it means I still feel rough at times. I figure I may even do an 'aerobic fartlek' this week...then again a longer run may also be key.....it's one of thise things I did when we lived in New Zealand....they simply met for a lot of grp runs and did the odd long or short tempo runs.....nothing intense, but fefinitely very Lydiard style based training in a fun enviornment....if only we had the Auckland Domain as a central meeting point....

I was able to get Norm Tinkham and Richard Lee on a good day for me to meet them for a run. it was the day after haney so they were either a little errr....under the weather or simply tired from the day before. I was able to get in a decent 1 hr 19 min by the time all was said and done. The best part was i was then able to get in two runs on Monday of 31mins and then again for 45 later in the day. It's been a while since i did a 'double' and although my legs felt a little tired the pace was respectable.....

...now I may try for two more short runs today and then a longer one tomorrow.....

....alas things are boring running wise at this time of the year. Even for those racing it's one of the later stages to get in some good workouts for national XC and then a little break so I figure if I can get in a decent November (read motivation level) then I may not be far off for getting in some good sessions with the group in Dec/Jan....

I hate the winter months

2008-11-09T12:10:00.000-08:00

...especially after I haven't really been able to run in the somewhat light moments.....arrrggghhhh.....

I like to say that sometimes 'life gets in the way of running' (really just an excuse) and this time of coming back has been a good example of this idea. My Achilles is very good, but not yet at a level to do workouts (at til this week when I will do a small and easy fartlek run and see how it goes).

What does this mean.....hmmmmm....that I haven't gotten my sorry butt out running enough. I had report cards this week, which may I add are a joke compared to elementary school, but having said that the marking is much more intense) and we also had BC HS XC champs this weekend, so I've been absolutely destroyed mentally more so than physically.

But getting out to BC HS's was fun, although with miserable weather. I haven't been to this race since i worked with Mazzotta over 10 yrs ago and it was interesting to watch the 'young uns' go at it. Some very impressive performances from the 2 Oak Bay kids. We had a so so Jr boys team and some very motivated gr 8 girls running so we (myself and Svelander) had no real work to do once the two Junior races ended. The course was muddy when our kids ran and a mess for the Sr Girls/Boys races.

We had one exceptional performance with one of our gr 8 girls who placed 11th overall. Along with her two teammates, who show up for all the practices, we seem to have a 'ringer' and supporting cast to build a team around. We'll see what happens.

On a side note should be two special notes 1) For those who don't know Richard Lee has taken over the coaching reins for the rag tag group of lower mainland dist runners and 2) Julie is preggy.....yep you heard it here in public first....there may a little freak running around soon causing havoc....oh wait that's what the dog does...ok a second freak running around

Boy am I ever glad I am not 100% in running yet...

2008-10-20T21:30:00.000-07:00

..it's not what you think. I have been a terrible email checker the last while so Richard Lee sent out an email for a 9:30 Sunday morning run by my house at Colony Farms an I didn't read it til a bit past 10. Normally I might have driven down there...

So I throw my gear on and head down the street hoping to maybe hook up with someone for maybe even a handful of minutes. I end up running around Colony Farms (kinda boring) for about 40 mins and as i am heading back home Richard honks at me in his car. I turn back to try and catch up to him (down a one way street) but go down a parallel trail.

I end up missing him and email him later in the day asking where he went. His reply was classic. Both himself and Steve Osaduik had hooked up and Steve's SUV had a window break and bag grab and the reason Richard even saw me was because he was looking for the guy who broke into Steve's vehicle...and it gets better...Richard realized when he got home that someone had also broken into his car but didn't have to break the window....maybe not running isn't all that bad.....

...actually I rather be running and have my car broken in too....

On a more positive note I got up to one whole hr of running relatively pain free. Physio says i am at 90% and my body is imply fixing itself up. The good thing has been some altered mechanics that will hopefully help to fix up my sub par results over the last yr or so...

Another big congrats to Tim for winning the pre Fraser Valley meet this afternoon on the BC HS XC course....this time though he ran kinda boring and actually led going into the last 400m....how unexciting can one get ......

....and another step up for Richard Mosley....he ran what looked to be a decent race at the Trans Canada 10km as he was looking at going under 30mins and went well under that to place 4th....on the come back trail after some hard times.....ohhh...I wish i was there too.....

It can't be.....

2008-10-13T13:08:00.000-07:00

...I've run 3 consecutive days without any problems...and 4 of the last 5....most of those runs have been with 'dug'...

I ran with Mosley this morning after doing a loop round Burnaby Lake on Sunday. Thankfully, Dickie knew I was going to go slow, but it was nice to run with someone who talks back...in English..instead of a bark or whine

I was going to continue the running adventures with my dog, as she is now my main training partner, but I took her out for a very long day after my physio on Sat and then took her out on Sunday around the Lake. She was either lazy or tired on Sunday and since neither of us have been running a ton I figured better to leave her behind today.

That's the one nice thing I don't think I sometimes realize, but how important it can be to have some simple motivation to get out the door when you aren't in a routine. Simply having my dog needing some sort of activity gets me out the door. Of course she does rule the roost in our family. At least when it comes to her doe eyes and look of excitement when she can get out the door for something different. Right now I need all the help I can get...

whooo hoo.....

2008-10-09T20:54:00.000-07:00

....I am actually running again....and pain free. My achilles is still a little stiff, but I have been running anywhere from 20-40+ mins every second day over the last week.

Even a small victory such as this gives me some sembalnce of hope that I'll be back in the swing of things before long. At the very least I can look forward to just getting out the door and not the stinking gym. It certianly puts me a in a better mood (my wife will attest to that).

Unfortunately, it means little in trying to race this Fall, but then again I guess i get to live vicariously through the kids we are coaching. If he's reading this a big 'shout out' to a former student of mine Tim Delcourt who has been tearing it up in the Surrey league Gr 8 races. Some people say he has similar form to mine, but he certainly has my kanck for the dramatic in races. He is err.... shall we say a bit of a kicker and appears to revel (as i do) in simply hanging round long enough to use his speed. Although now I seem to have lost my speed....but then again that's kinda predictable....

Well since my running is pathetic....

2008-10-05T20:56:00.001-07:00

..I'll write about the kids we are working with at school.

Due a combination of factors (mostly my introduction to HS and general lack of organization) our school XC team has only raced twice. Like i said before we have small team, but they are getting more kean as they start to race and also see their fitness getting better. it's tough with the HS kids as they have no real idea of training. Hopefully next year the kean we'll get the kean kids at least jogging 20-30 mins before they come back to school.

Of special note are our ultra kean grade 8 girls. We have two pretty talented ones and the best part are their attitudes. They are both turning into tough lil ones. They never miss practices and it's showing in the results and improvement levels. it's not that myself ansd Scott are doing much with them, but we are doing just enough to bring out their talents.

This past Sat was their second race of the seson at the pre-BC HS championships race. One of the girls was 27th in the junior race while the other was a very impressive 9th. Considering they were running against many 'club' and older kids I was very impressed with how they raced and handled themsleves. We've already decided that these two girls (along another gr 8 who didn't run and a gr 9 'sprinter' who hasn't yet ralized she is actually a middle distance runner) are the basis of our grand plan to build some teams that will be able to compete at BC HS XC's in the next few years. If we can simply get them to the BC HS XC Jr race and also have a full gr 8 girls team at Fraser Valley XC's we'll be ecsatic. Right now it looks as though we might get them qualifed for HS's, but we need to pick up one more girls for a full gr 8 team. As I say 'we'll see'....

I officially fell off the wagon

2008-09-30T17:43:00.000-07:00

The timing of my Achilles injury and the short nature of XC season has meant my short term goals have officially died in a heap of shame. What I thought might be a week or so off has now hit almost a month. Trying to get ready to race might normally work if it was simply say an IT band injury or something that was more predictable, but I've learned that the ol Achilles is a nasty piece of work.

So I am hopefully going to try running tomorrow for 20 mins and actually get some motivation back. My goals are now to try and have a short peak in Feb and if that goes as planned then try Ottawa again. We'll see.....

The one positive in all this has been my re-introduction into coaching. I've moved up to the HS level (North Surrey...the great Marty 'the party' Cluff's alma mater). We have a small and young team (we are a big soccer school so we lose some of those kids who we might get at other schools), but both myself and Scott Svelander (yes a name from the past for some) have tried to build upon what Jenn Schuts got going last year (and she'll be back later in the school year and back full time for XC next yr). We've got some pretty decent gr 8-9 girls, but XC being as I say a 'different' sport we lack some full teams in the other grades.

We're trying to get some other gr 8s involved but so many are playing other sports. Unfortunately, they have a minimum race (2 races)qualification standard for Fraser Valley championships, and therefore BCHS XCs, so my fear is that we get some kids late in the season but they won't be allowed to run. At the very least we seem to have the basis for a team that may grow over the next few years.