The Getting-Run-Down-On-The-Homestretch Blues

   Just a brief little story I forgot to expound upon in my recent Really Chilly race recap.
   Prior to the race, I noticed this young guy walking around the annex building. He stood out because he wasn't really dressed as though he was prepared to run, he appeared to be wearing street clothes and just a cheap pair of sneakers.
   Well, he was a runner in the race. At some point during the run I saw him running back and forth, talking to some young female, possibly his sister. He looked like he was about 16. I remember thinking to myself that it was kind of cool, a young lad agreeing to run along with some family member on a race, just to keep them company. At this point, I kind of forgot about him.
   Near the end of the race, runners turned off the side streets around the Western Fair and on to the racetrack itself. The finish line was directly in front of the grandstand and as I hit this area, there was really no one ahead of me. There was a handful of spectators in the stands, cheering on the runners to the finish. I was looking forward to my moment in the sun as I headed down the home stretch when, all of the sudden, it happened.
   The young punk lad I'd noticed before passed me!
   I didn't really hear or sense him coming and was totally unprepared for this eventuality. He passed me with about eighty yards left in the race. At that point, I was faced with just exactly how to respond.
   I had had no plan whatsoever to apply a finishing kick of any kind. At the same time, I felt as though I had enough in reserve to catch this young upstart lad before we both got to the finish line. But I didn't. And I'm not quite sure why.
   I guess it's likely due to the fact that I don't really consider these things to be races.

   I know they have prizes, starting and finishing lines, stats, cheering and all the things you'd associate with a competition but I find it almost impossible to feel as though I'm competing with anyone other than myself.
   Last year, I posed this as a question to fellow running bloggers: Do you feel as though you are competing against the other runners in a race?
   I posed it because I had just finished watching the end of a 10K race in which several runners, when they realized that they were neck-and-neck with another runner coming down the homestretch, turned on the jets and became embroiled in full-out sprints to the finish. I wondered at the time about the etiquette of passing people right in front of what's usually the largest group of spectators.
   Quite a few bloggers responded to my question and the results were varied but the majority of people said a race is a race and that it was okay to go all out and pass people. Still, I have a hard time doing this.
   I'm too polite! I even feel guilty passing people during the first couple of kilometers, its almost as if I'm saying look at me, I'm faster (better) than you!
   At the same time, I expect to be passed by other people. Lots of other people! I know where I stand (all bent over and gasping) in the hierarchy of running ability and I have no qualms as faster runners move past me, more power to them.
   But I didn't enjoy being passed on the homestretch of a run in front of a grandstand with a bunch of onlookers, suffice to say.
   Part of the problem is that I was not expecting to be passed and therefore had no strategy around responding to it. Another part of the problem (and my ego really kicks in here) is that the ruffian youngster didn't even look like a runner or, for that matter, someone who had even ever seriously run in his life. I also imagine that he could have passed me anywhere else on the course but chose to do so right in front of the grandstand.
   On top of everything else, there is that "youth vs. age" dynamic I find myself dealing with more and more often these days.
   I appreciate youth. Part of me almost wanted to congratulate this young hooligan kid and pat him on the back for getting out there and competing, there's something to be admired in that.
   At the same time, he won't be passing me again!

Really Chilly Road Race Re-Cap



Time for The Game!

This morning, I ran in the Really Chilly Road Races in the 5K division.



   I was somewhat torn about running in this race because, as it happened, the race was being run right in the middle of the Canada-Sweden Olympic gold medal hockey game. I was able to watch the first two periods of the game before I had to leave. I was then able to catch a bit of it on the large screen TV at the race venue and by this time the score was 3-0 for Canada, so I was able to start the race with a light heart. Yay Canada!!




Yum!

   I started off the morning with a somewhat larger version of my typical breakfast--omelette and multigrain gluten-free bread with peanut butter. Topped off with a coffee in one of my favourite mugs.




Re-living past glories!

Thank goodness there was a T.V. there!

Bit of an expo.

   I had to leave after the second period of the game and, at the time, they were replaying some highlights from the '72 series against the Russians and we all know how THAT ended up. Good omen!


   The race was the first in the series of London Honda Road Races this year. It was held downtown in the area of London surrounding the Western Fair District. This is the new name of the whole area surrounding the Western Fair Raceway, a harness racing track. These days, it has become an entertainment area, with a casino, performing venues and a new hockey arena (with an Olympic-sized ice pad to go with the regular-sized one!)


On the race track, headed for the starting line!

   The race actually started (ironically) on the race track. This is where things started to unravel a touch for me---for some reason I couldn't get the right screen on the Garmin to come up. Not sure what the problem was but it meant basically running naked and depending on the mileage markers along the way. This kind of screwed me up because (I swear) I kept seeing the markers repeat themselves. Part of the problem was there was also going to be a 10K race that day and I'm not sure it was configured the same way as the 5K. Or I'm getting old, who knows??
   The race route had us running past buildings which once had been huge employers for London, businesses such as McCormick's (cookies) and Kellog's (cereal). These have either closed or are about to. Pretty sad, actually.
   Because of the Garmin issues, I have no idea what my time was and won't until the times are officially posted. I'm guessing somewhere around the 36-minute mark. I think the winner in my age group (60-65) was in the low twenties so this is now a bit of a goal (and possibly an unrealistic one) for me in the future. We'll see...


Leaving the finish line area.

   The races in this series are all fundraisers and today the beneficiary of our efforts was the London and Area Running Association. These races are pretty fun with lots of door prizes and camaraderie. The "swag" today consisted of a long-sleeved tech shirt which was pretty nice insofar as it actually fit me pretty well. Which means I actually might wear it someday!
   On the trip home I managed to get some pics of downtown London. If I can figure out how to get them captioned, I will (Blogger's been fussy lately). I took them on the main drag, Dundas Street, and there's a pic of London's tallest building, One London Place. At 24 stories, it is the tallest building in southwestern Ontario.
   The next race in the series is the Downtown 5K, on April 18th. It is, as the title suggests, yet another 5K. The race after that, however, is  the Go The Distance 10K on June 22. Currently, this is slated to be my first 10K race! Lots of work to do between now and then!


One London Place

  
  
      


Cute Story and Nasty Part Of Yesterday's Run

   First, the cute story part.
   In my last post, I forgot to mention a little thing that happened after the run, back at my car. Once I got back to the car after my "long" run I decided I would do a bit of a post-run stretch. I did a plantar fascia/heel stretch on the front tire of the car, all cozied up to the fender. I then did an extended calf stretch, with my hands pressed into where the driver's window meets the door frame. A couple of people in the parking lot gave me funny/suspicious (I thought) kinds of looks, but I ignored them. At the end of all the stretching, as I was digging my car key out, I looked down into my back seat and lo and behold there was a pet carrier. I hadn't brought a pet. Nor was this MY car I had just been draped all over!! It WAS a little blue Honda, it just wasn't MY little blue Honda! Needless to say, I didn't linger in the parking lot!

   The following day was a cross-training day so I headed to Goodlife and did the Fit Fix circuit. This essentially gives most of the major muscle groups a hardy workout, if you do it properly. It was the middle of a Sunday afternoon and there were hardly any people there which was cool, meant no waiting for machines.
   The next day was a run day and I had decided to explore a little more of the trail along the river, headed toward downtown. I had really enjoyed my earlier exploration of this trail a couple of days ago and was looking forward to seeing more.
   Well, if I been really thinking, I wouldn't have been looking forward to it so much.


The offending sewage treatment plant.

   I drove to the Wonderland Gardens parking lot and began my run there. This is just before my turnaround point from the previous run so I thought it would make a good start point for this one. About a kilometer into the run, the smell hits me. Sewage.


If you think about it too hard, kind of a creepy part of the river to run past.

   If I had been really on the ball, I would have realized that this portion of the run would take me right past the Greenway Park Sewage Treatment plant. Now, I guess it's cool that they can take all this sewage, treat it, and then dump it back into the river but the smell still has to go somewhere. There was an east wind today so the smell hit me before I got to the plant and then, thankfully, subsided after I ran past it. Unfortunately, I then had to run back through it to get to my car.
   In the same area as the plant is a stark reminder of what was surely the darkest day in London's history. I passed by the spot in the river where the "Victoria" boat disaster occurred, in 1881. There was a huge loss of life and it's been said that, given London's size at the time, pretty well every family in the city lost a member of one kind or another. Some of the back-in-the-day accounts are quite horrific.
   So, on this particular run, we have a smelly sewage plant and a marine disaster to contemplate. Not the best side of London to be describing, I'm sure, but it was part of the run. Hopefully future runs will be a little more scenic.
   The good part, though, is that I shaved about three minutes off the times I've been running lately for 5K so I'm pretty happy about that, with a race coming up next Sunday!
   In the meantime, happy and healthy running to you all! 
  

First Long Run In A Long Time!

   Later on, in June, I have a 1oK race planned. To date, I have really not run anything longer than 5K, so I'm thinking I maybe need to tack a little mileage on, occasionally.


The mighty Thames River.
The white area is snow-covered ice.

   With this in mind, today I decided to run 7K. I planned on running the same route I used for my previous run; I would start at Storybook Gardens, run east along the river for 3 and a half K and then turn around and run back.
   For whatever reason, today I felt good. I think it may have been a combination of a good night's sleep, proper fuelling and a couple of extra rest days since my last run or workout.
   In my last 5K outing, I had had to take a couple of walking breaks but I could tell today by the second kilometer or so that I would at least be able to finish 5K without stopping. After that, if I needed a couple of walking breaks for the last 2K then I had given myself permission for that---it was the distance I wanted, not so much the time.


The Guy Lombardo bridge. Guy was from London!

   Well, as it turned out, I was able to complete the whole 7K without stopping! A very minor victory, to be sure, but it is also the farthest I have run since the plantar fasciitis shelved me, almost a full year ago. Good for me and we'll see how the heel feels tomorrow!
   Running the extra 2K today also took me farther east along the river than I have ever run before. I am now SO looking forward to running this route when (and if) the nice weather (ever) hits.

Running under the Lombardo bridge
was pretty cool!

   The part of London on the other side of the river from where I was running today is the part I grew up in. This year marks my fiftieth year here and this is the first time I've ever found myself directly across the river from where I used to play as a kid. It was actually pretty cool and quite scenic at the same time, as you can see from the pics.
   I had also been looking forward to running in more seasonable temps. Yesterday, it was just a Celsius degree or two below freezing. Can't tell you how balmy this felt! Today, however, it was around -10, -12C, just about the same as it was for my last run. After the breeze died down, though, it was pretty nice.
   The one thing I forgot to do was apply Vaseline (lol spellcheck really wanted that capital "V" on vaseline, otherwise I'm sure it would have preferred if I'd written "petroleum jelly") to the exposed areas on my face and at the end of the run there was a little windburn there. It then occurred to me that part of it was actually sunburn. Stupid me!! Forty-five minutes out in the bright sun with even more bright sun reflecting up off the snow and I don't think to apply sunscreen?? I spent several weeks at the end of the summer doing a chemotherapy cream treatment on my face and now I'm running without sunscreen? Won't happen again!


My socks bright enough for you?!

   A week tomorrow, I'm running the 5K event in the Really Chilly Road Races here in London. London Honda sponsors a series of six races throughout the season and I only just found out about them towards the end of the series last year so this year my plan is to run in all six. I haven't been terribly impressed with my 5K training times lately and I have guarded hopes for next week but, at the same time, it's also nice just to have a goal and maybe I can springboard off that race just a little. Fingers crossed!  

Back To The Winter Wonderland

   After my near-death experience with treadmill running last week, I decided I would once more head for the great outdoors. In the past couple of days, there has been some fresh snow, the plows have been out and the sun has actually started to shine.
   I wanted to avoid a hilly run and traffic so I once again headed for Springbank Park with a view toward starting my run there and heading along the river.


Storybook Gardens, with looming monstrosity.

   I parked in the lot in front of Storybook Gardens and took a quick pic of the castle. What has changed over the last few months is that there is now a monstrosity of a high rise apartment building, still under construction, looming off in the background. Storybook Gardens has been around for likely fifty years or so and part of its charm was that it was always nestled away in the forest, storybook-style. Not so, anymore!
   It was beautifully sunny today, as you can see from the pics, and I started from the parking lot and headed east along the river. There was a bit of a breeze in my face which, any other time, would have been okay but today it was only -10C(14F) and even the tiniest breeze still cut into you so I was glad it would be at my back for the return trip.


Obviously I'm in good company.

   The plan was to run 2.5 out, turn around and then come back. Running 2.5K took me right to the Terry Fox Parkway before I turned around. Terry has always been a personal hero of mine and I actually got to see him when he made his stop in London so many years ago. For those of you who aren't familiar with Terry Fox, he was a young man from British Columbia who had lost one of his legs to cancer. He made the brave decision to try and run across Canada, all the while collecting donations for the fight against cancer. He made it all the way from the east coast and into northern Ontario before the cancer returned and he had to return to B.C. He died shortly after. Since then, his foundation has raised millions and Terry Fox runs are held every year all across Canada. So it's pretty cool that London has named a parkway after him! Actually London has an awesome series of parkways and bike paths, you literally can follow them from one end of the city to the other!


The old pump house, formerly a sulphur spring.
Was pretty darn sulphury today!

   The trip back had me a little winded and I took a couple of walk breaks along the way. One of these walk breaks afforded me the opportunity to take a pic of the old pump house. I guess back in the 1800's the pump house was a vital part of London's waterworks system. It was also the site of sulphur springs and there used to be a water fountain at one corner of the building which spewed forth almost undrinkable water, due to the rotten-egg smell. Generally, the smell around there isn't too bad but today it was nasty!


After-the-run selfie. Time for a new hat??

   By the time I got back, the run had taken about thirty-eight minutes (pretty bad, I know) and was still seven minutes or so faster than the last treadmill run I did. So the run was kind of meh but, all in all, still nice to be running outside again. I have a race coming up in slightly less than two weeks and it's outside, quite likely in weather very similar to today's so I better be a little more prepared!
   In the meantime, happy and healthy running to you all!














My Near-deathmill Experience!

   If you can believe it, I ran on a treadmill for the first time this week.
   Well. not the first time, the first time was last spring as I was getting a gait assessment done, but this past week was the first time I'd actually used a treadmill for a full-length training run.
   I am at risk of losing the "Canuck" portion of my Canuck Running Blogger status--I did an indoors training run when, to date, I have been happy (somewhat) to brave one of the fiercest Arctic Canadian winters we've had in a long time. My reason for switching my run indoors was that there had been a combination of weather conditions here in London lately which had created what I consider to be not only uncomfortable but unsafe running conditions.
   For a day or two last week, we had kind of a mini-thaw and then a re-freeze which left the sidewalks around here a sheet of ice. Couple that with a frosting of snow which then hid the ice and you were left with conditions that were, in my eyes, unsafe for running. I'm Canadian, I'm not stupid!
   I also have been reading a lot about peoples' adventures with the treadmill and I wanted to be able to experience a little of that myself. So I headed off to Goodlife last week!
   Most of my time spent at Goodlife is on the weight machines but I do spend five minutes walking on the treadmill, getting the heart rate up a little. This time I stayed on the treadmill and ratcheted up the speed until I got to what I thought was comfortable running speed and then just left it there, I think it 3.5, or something ridiculously slow like that.
   I don't usually wear headphones when I run so I had to content myself with just watching the little t.v. screen my machine had, think it was on CNN or some kind of newsy station. This was fine and I got onto a little routine there, feeling comfortable. At some point, though, I started paying too much attention to the screen and didn't realize I was slowing down.


My close call at Goodlife!

   Unfortunately, while I was slowing down the machine was maintaining the same pace I set it at. This meant that, when my feet started to clip the back edge of the 'mill, I was actually losing my little race with the machine and in mortal danger of falling off, right there in the middle of a very crowded Goodlife! So I picked up the pace and made sure  I maintained it, no probs.
   So I ran and I ran and I ran and finally the distance meter clicked to "1.00". I thought, crap, what the hell is going on here, it has never taken me this long to run one kilometer before! Then it dawned on me, the treadmill was calibrated in miles. Hooray, I wasn't doing as badly as I thought, I was just going to have to start thinking like an American, that's all! This will also give me the opportunity to work on my math skills too!
   What I also found was that I couldn't multi-task efficiently. I don't know whether it's because I'm just so freakin' old or not but I was so disoriented by the machine that I had a hard time doing anything other than run. It was hard to switch settings, it was hard to wipe sweat, it was hard to turn my head just to look at something! I can only imagine and hope that it will all become second nature sometime soon!
   My plan this past week was to run 5K's on the treadmill. This was fine but the first time I tried doing this, the 'mill stopped at 30 minutes. Well, it takes me longer than 30 minutes to run 5K. This meant I had to stop and the start all over again. Which meant I had to remember how far I'd run in the first session and then do the addition and subtraction so that I knew how far I had to run in the second session. And then I'd have to subtract the time I spent doing all that. Do I sound like a treadmill neophyte...??
   The stupid part is that I did all this twice last week! It wasn't until I finished my second run of the week that I took the time to figure out how to program the treadmill so that it wouldn't turn off at 30 minutes. The next time, there won't be the same issues!
   I was also left wondering if the 'mill was working properly in the first place. For the most part I was running pretty damn hard and, if my calculations were correct, I was about ten minutes slower on the treadmill! For five measly kilometers! My plan is to run outside tomorrow (weather be damned) and double-check that time...
   So those were my first true treadmill experiences. What I did enjoy was not having to worry about slipping on ice or having to vault drifts. Now all I have to do is not fall off...

Running Fast

   Here's the thing.
   As much as I enjoy lacing up and heading out for a long run, one of the things I find problematic is the feeling that I am constantly pacing myself. I find that I am necessarily holding bits of energy in reserve simply so that I can finish whatever run I happen to be on. Along the way, I do enjoy the feeling that I am slowly becoming stronger at what I do, that perhaps I seem less tired at the same point of a run than I was last week, at that same point. What I find I want to do, however, is run fast.
   I'm not talking fast in the sense that I might manage to whittle a couple of minutes off my 5K PR. No, I'm talking fast as in make-the-younger-guys-jaws-drop-as-I-run-past-them-on-the-the-football-field fast! I'm talking the 61-year-old version of Usain Bolt fast! I'm talking sprinter fast!
   Yeah, I kinda want to lace up some sprinting spikes, find a track somewhere and let it all out, occasionally. In the past, several other running bloggers have done posts about their track workouts and when you're mired in up to three feet of snow it's hard to resist the allure of a pristine running track in the warm sunshine.


How I would like one of my
races to start someday...

   I have never run track in my life, apart from the very rudimentary instruction I might have gotten in public school and then later on in high school. My impression of myself back in those days was that I was a chubby kid with no athletic talent. Long past my chubby days I was still unable to shake that mental image of myself (this a problem with anyone else?) and that's why the idea of participating in any kind of track and field event seemed unthinkable. It wasn't until I was in my twenties and started playing in a touch football league that I realized just how fast I was. Of course, that was almost forty years ago.
   In the meantime, the only benchmark I have is that I've played ball hockey for many years against much younger men (boys, some of them) and I have held my own quite handily. I have never competed against men my own age so I'm wondering how I might do out on a track.
   Unfortunately, this is not a situation where I can just head out to a track and start doing my thing. Like I said, everything here in London is covered in snow right at the moment and the only indoor track I can think of is at Western University. Not really sure I can just barge in on a bunch of Western track athletes and say "excuse me, I'm just gonna use this lane for a half hour or so"!
   I also would like to get a little bit of actual coaching. I would like someone to tell me how to train (as a man in my sixties who's never done it before) to run track, of all things! I think this would be cool!
   There are a couple of different track clubs here in London and my plan is to contact them and explain what I'd like to do. They might simply laugh at me (hopefully politely and in a non-condescending kind of way) and tell me to get lost realistic about the whole thing. It could well be that you continue to do track in your sixties, you don't start to do track in your sixties.
   At any rate, I will keep you posted!