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!

My little after-the-blizzard run!

Before I set out, tried to show
the wind whipping the snow off rooftops
but it's hard to see.

   We had another of those what- seems-like-an-every-other-day-occurrence kinds of snowstorms again last night and into this morning.
   When I went to bed last night, I took a quick peek out the front door and the wind was blowing hard but no snow. Well, sometime overnight the snow hooked up with the wind and turned into a blizzard and as I sat this morning with my coffee I wondered about going for a run and whether it was really a good idea. And then I remembered I'm a runner from Canada!! So I headed out!
   Of course, I thought about this for so long that by the time it came to actually get out there, the worst of the storm was over. Not to say that it had turned pleasant or anything but at least the sun was trying to make an appearance. Even with the sun, though, the temp was -12C (10F) and that's not counting the windchill, which dropped it down to about -19 (-2F).


Thank God for the sidewalk plow!!

   My biggest fear was having to run through drifts but I found that the sidewalk plow had been through just before I headed out so bonus! Actually, by the time I got down to the first side street the sidewalk plow was sitting right there so I gave him the thumbs up and he honked his little plow horn at me!
   When I set out, I had no really preconceived notion as to how far I was going to run or even which route I would follow. For lack of an actual plan, I set out on the 5K route I normally run but when it headed me directly into the wind, I changed plans and turned around.
   This was fine but I eventually found myself running where there were either no sidewalks or where the plow had not quite reached yet. This had me doing some pretty fancy footwork! At some point, I started to feel a strain on the outside of my right knee so I walked for a minute til it went away. I attributed this to all of the dipsy-doodle running I'd had to do to get through the unplowed sections.


My tracks, in one of the unplowed stretches.

   At one point I found myself running for a stretch along Commissioners Road, a pretty busy main street, and the road plow had been through and forced all the snow off the road and onto the sidewalk! I couldn't even really see where the road and sidewalk differentiated from each other and all I could think of were runners who'd lost their lives to traffic this past week and I simply went a different way.
   I had planned on doing a long run today but with the weather the way it was I decided to maybe wait til  Monday instead and hope for a little less wind, snow and cold (yeah, right...) As it was, I got in a 5K run and that was actually more than I figured I'd be able to do when I set out. So that was fine. Spring, you can't come soon enough!
   For your viewing pleasure, I have included a totally random pic of a pink Beemer I saw on Friday. Note the red and pink brakes!


Random pic of a pink Beemer, with
red and pink brakes!

   Thanks for reading! Happy and healthy (and warm) running to you all!
  
   



First Long Run Of The Year

   I set out this morning to do my first long run in almost a year. I had begun doing long runs on Saturdays about this time last year on my way to being able to say I could run for 10k without stopping.


Just a quiet, little wintery run...

   Now, a long run for me is anything over 5k and you need to understand this. For most runners, a long run constitutes anywhere from 10k to 50 miles and distances in between. Today, my long run was 6k.
   I was kind of glad it was my long run day because runners all over the world today were logging megsmiles in their runs, to honour Meg Menzies, a young mother of three who died  earlier on this week in Richmond, Virginia. She had been out on a morning run and was struck and killed by an alleged drunk driver. Although it seems appropriate to talk about this at length in this forum, I have reserved this for my other blog, "Neanderings", as it really doesn't feel like simply a running issue. At any rate, Meg and her surviving family members were definitely on my mind today as I ran.
   It was another one of those cold and snowy runs many of us have gotten used to over the last two months of deep chills and massive snowfalls. We had had a couple of inches overnight and the temp was -9C (16F) when I set out. Once again, I wanted to avoid dealing with traffic, so I headed to Springbank Park.


What a merry-go-round looks like in Canada in the winter

   Fortunately, the roadways in the park had all been plowed and this made for a more-than-acceptable running experience.
   The first part of the run was into a nasty little headwind but knowing that I was soon going to be making a long, sweeping turn and heading in the opposite direction made it a touch more bearable.
   Not only was it a long run, it was a long, slow run--I had no illusions of worrying about my time, all I wanted to do was to be able to handle the extra distance without stopping. Round about the second kilometer, I knew this would not be an issue.
   Regardless of the weather, Springbank Park always seems to be in use and I came across quite a few other runners and walkers. Part of my run took me past Storybook Gardens which, in the winter, puts in a meandering skating rink experience, sort of like a lazy river made out of ice. I could hear the skaters having a great time.
   I had planned another out-and-back route today so I simply ran until my Garmin told me I'd done 3k and then I turned around and headed back.
   At this point, I stopped for about five seconds each time while I took the odd pics you see here. At no time did I feel the need to wrestle with whether I should stop and take a walking break. This was likely due to the pace I was running at (about 7:30/k) but this was fine with me.
   At the end of the run, I definitely felt as though I could easily have just continued and this was a very gratifying sensation. Tomorrow, it's off to the gym for a little cross-training!
  
  
  
   


A "DNF" and then a better idea!

   I tried to take advantage of the almost spring-like temps we had a couple of days ago by heading out for another run yesterday. I did this in spite of the fact that it was raining and that I'd already been warned about all the puddles. Rain has never bothered me and puddles you just run around!
   Well, I blew it, big-time.
   There WERE tons of puddles and I COULD have just run around them except for the fact that there were two foot drifts of wet snow bordering every single one of them. I then decided to just run on the road. I had done this successfully a few days ago when the weather was much colder and the roads were snow packed, every time a car came along I would just run off to the side in the looser snow.
   Yesterday, however, that looser snow was now slush and not much fun to run in. This pretty well eliminated running on the road (from a safety standpoint, not my favourite thing to do anyway) so I ended up aborting the run altogether.
   This was kind of too bad because I felt like I had all this energy going for me. For the brief moments when I had good traction and no fear of cars, it was good!
   So today I came up with Plan B.
   I figured I could go to Springbank Park and run there. Big wide roadways and pretty well zero traffic. This would also offer a slightly less hilly 5k run than the one I'd been running lately in my neighbourhood. I got there in the late afternoon and the park was not particularly busy, a handful of walkers and runners and parents with kids and toboggans. As I'd suspected, the running was much better there. If I hadn't had my phone on the inside of my running jacket I would have posted some pics, particularly of the Thames River, which was very swift-flowing with masses of ice chunks barrelling along.
   I ran the same 5k route as I did in the summer, basically an out-and-back around the northern (?) end of the park. One thing I didn't allow for was the fact that, because I was running so close to sundown, the temperature would drop so dramatically. It was still comfortable to run in but the patches of wet pavement I encountered on the trip out turned to near-ice on the way back. Anything which looked wet had to be regarded as slippery now.
   All in all, though, a good run and I managed to shave another couple of minutes off the 5k times I've been running lately (albeit on a hillier route) and I managed to complete the run without stopping, as well, another bit of a bonus.
   At home later on, I checked in on the website for the London Honda Road Races. This is a series of six races pretty evenly spaced out from the spring to late October. I ran in one this past September and my plan for this year is to run in all of them. You get a pretty good choice of distances to run in and I now have my sights set on a 10k on June 22. Running a 10k is my primary running goal for 2014 and this will give me ample time to ratchet things up a bit. I also took a peek at a couple of 10k training plans which I plan on tailoring just a little to suit my current schedule and needs.
   Ratcheting things up will also mean an increase in mileage. It was about this time last year that I began to increase the mileage gradually one day a week (my long day) and had it up to 9k before the PF hit. In the interim (with some sports medicine, appropriate shoes and orthotics behind me), hopefully I've learned my lesson!
   Nice touching base again, happy and healthy running to you all!  

Getting there, little bit by little bit!

   I had a couple of "off" days earlier on this week, unplanned off days that occurred simply because we were either too tired to hit the gym or the weather was just too damned cold to get out and run (or even make the 5k trip to the gym, for that matter!)
   For the past two days, however, we are back into the swim of things, having been to the gym last night and me having run after work today.
   I was able to run 5k without stopping which, for me, is huge. There was a time back in early 2013 when I was doing this on a regular basis and throwing in the occasional longer run. After my bout with PF last spring, though, I kind of lost this ability.


Well...at least SORT of...

   Just before our off days, I managed to run a very slow 5k without stopping. I probably could have run it faster if I'd had one or two walk breaks but something inside of me desperately wanted to be able to say I ran the whole way. And I did! This felt so good! As I'm reading about other runners and the huge mileage they're able to log on a regular basis, it makes my little 5k seem pretty inconsequential but to me, like I said, it was huge.
   Today I was able to repeat the feat and managed to shave two and a half minutes off at the same time. I was running even more smoothly than the previous outing and at no time did I feel as though walking might be necessary.
   All of this seems a little wondrous to me. The times are achingly slow--in the 40plus minutes range--but I am also running against the elements. Today the temp was about 2F and I was running on packed snow. Not a bad running surface, actually, but you do find yourself running tentatively for the most part. The weather in these parts is about to take a huge turn for the better and soon we may find ourselves running in the forty degree range Fahrenheit. Snow may disappear from the sidewalks and roadways. Running may become more like...well...running--and less like simply surviving!
   So, as I mentioned, the running tonight felt good and I couldn't help but wonder if the last two weeks of cross-training might have had anything to do with that. If you had asked me beforehand what my expectations were of cross-training for two weeks, I would have said that I thought they were pretty minimal. Now I'm not so sure. I would really like to think that the gym work is paying off, if only in a small way so far!

Part of what motivates me

   Today marked the sixth day in a row I've either gone for a run or headed to the gym. Now, you need to understand that this is somewhat unheard of in my life. I've gone through periods where I've run on a pretty regular schedule but I've never really included any form of cross-training at the same time.
   New stuff always scares me a touch and when I decided on the run one day/cross-train the next schedule I was a little apprehensive as to my ability to keep at it. Most of the apprehension centred around the gym component--I've never been a gym-goer before and wasn't sure how I would like it.
   Well...I like it!
   Doralyn and I have been to the gym three days out of the last six and I have used her as a little bit of motivation to keep me going. There was once or twice when I looked over at her and asked, "So...we going to the gym today?" Her answer invariably was "Well, we really should, don't you think?" And then we go. If she had replied any differently, we might not have. So kudos to my cutie!
   At the Goodlife Fitness we attend, there is a double row of machines down the center of the gym floor which basically separates the cardio machines from the free weight area. These are the machines I use.
   They are part of what Goodlife calls its 20-Minute Fit Fix and are designed to very quickly run you through most of your major muscle groups. Right at the moment, this is what I'm mainly interested in. Particularly, I'm mostly interested in increasing my upper body strength. This has always been a bit of a weak point with me, especially when it comes to sports. My legs have always gotten me to where I needed to go with plenty of time to spare but, when I got there, I didn't have the upper body strength I needed to help complete the task at hand. Well, that's gonna change.


Me, on the ball hockey floor.

   One of my resolutions for the New Year is to get back to playing ball hockey, this along with a couple of other running ones. I've now gone a whole year without playing and I'm itching to get back at it. I haven't been playing primarily due to last year's bout of PF which has now healed forever (right?) and I can think of no reason not to play anymore. Part of the problem, though, is finding a team that's willing to take on a 61-year-old. I've been playing in a league of 20-and 30-year-olds and it's a bit of a hard sell; unless you have some history with a team, then its players kind of look at you and more or less write you off, at first glance. So I really need to be in better shape!
   As I mentioned above, I'm liking the gym. I'm liking it so much that I'm going to miss it tomorrow, due to it being a run day. Hmmm....could I possibly do both?

Chilly little run recap and all the holiday nasties!

   In an effort to get back into a "normal" running and cross-training routine now that the holidays have ended, I have now run or done a gym workout five days in a row.
   Getting back into that routine had its difficulties---we are in the middle of a cold snap, making the running part of it problematic and I realized once I had gotten back into the gym, just how much I'd forgotten!
   The machines at Goodlife Fitness all seemed pretty alien (though I'd been on them a couple of times before) and I found myself needing to take a quick peek at the instructions they post with each machine to remind myself just how to use it. I've been there twice this week, though, and thankfully I think I've got things figured out. There was one machine I was actually in the middle of climbing onto when I realized I was getting on to it backwards! Thank god no-one was looking (I hope....).
   In spite of doing my darnedest to get back in the saddle, I still have not dropped even a pound from what I put on over the holidays. Back at the beginning of December I was weighing in at 209. This morning I weighed in at 223! In one month! I think, though, that the weight will likely start to fall off quickly once I get back to work. I do front line work with people with developmental challenges and it's just not the kind of job where you can be sedentary for great stretches. The last two weeks I have actually been on holidays and have probably spent a little too much time sitting in a comfy chair with a laptop (and a snack...).


One of THESE dinners
was followed by...

...one of THESE kinds of dinners!

   Here are some of the culprits involved in my drastic weight gain this holiday season.
   And along the way there were (and still ARE) lots of bowls of THESE little culprits.
   And more bowls of THESE nasty little things.
  





All washed down by lots of THIS nasty stuff!



  
  
  
   This winter, the weather is much nastier than last. Huge amounts of snow and, lately, bone-chilling cold. I ran today and the temp was -15C, but felt like -25C. For you people in the States, this is 5F and -13F, respectively. And, as bad as that is, it's nowhere near some of the temps in the middle of the continent, regardless of nationality.
   A couple of days ago, I ran and the wind was so biting that less than a kilometer into the run I suddenly had tears streaming down my cheeks. Fortunately I was able to change direction and then decided to amend the route I'd chosen so that most of the wind would be at my back.
   Today was another run day and I managed to find some sort of balaclava thing I'd never seen before and this helped immensely. We'd had another couple of inches of snow overnight but the sidewalk had been plowed on our street (bonus) and on the other streets I simply avoided the sidewalks, waving cheerfully (and thankfully) to all the drivers who allowed me a little extra space on their roadway.
   About halfway through the run, though, I suddenly developed this pain in the back of my right knee which seemed to radiate around to the front. At this point I stopped and walked for slightly less than a kilometer and then, as suddenly as the pain arrived, it was gone again and I ran the last half K. It occurred to me that I have been hitting the gym on non-run days and doing a fair bit of legwork at the same time and may have just strained something. But, as I said, all was good at the end of today's run--no aches or pains and no frostbite! Off to the gym tomorrow!