Back from the Brink!

Holy moly. It has been quite the summer...of not running. I had come so close to deciding not to run anymore and get a life, ie go back to school, put my energies elsewhere but everything has come around and i'm back to training. I'm terribly out of shape and 10 pounds heavier than i was in May but my motivation is back to full. I am returning to SFU as a full time student to get my degree in Economics and i'm super excited about it. I had resolved to never go back to university but I started reading the newspaper for the first time in my life and got to reading the business section in the globe on a daily basis and have found an intense interest in the business world. So anyway my brain is working again from the 4 year hibernation and I can't wait to get into it. Running is painful since i'm a fatass but i'm sure that will come around soon enough, i'll be training with the SFU group on tuesdays then with another group on the weekend in stanley park which will provide me with some stability since I don't care to train solo anymore. So thats it, no races planned just yet other than BC Cross and hopefully Nationals, I want to finally put together a kick ass cross season so i'm really excited about that, gotta get light and strong again.

Ugh, ongoing theme...

Well I dropped out of the half on the weekend at 7k. I felt ok starting out but progressively felt worse and worse after about 3k. I don't really know what it is, a combination of being worn out mentally I suppose, and my lower legs just being beat up. The lower leg problems have been ongoing since training on the indoor track in Toronto, it started with some seemingly minor pains in my inside edge midway down my shin, and that and other minor pains were exacerbated by the brutal half marathon course in Gibsons in early April. After this showing and my general feelings towards running i've decided it would be prudent to take a step back and just relax for a while. So I wont be racing in the coming weeks and probably just try and maintain a basic level of fitness until the fire can build back up. It has always been difficult for me to train hard in the summer and I think this summer I will just try to maintain fitness and try to enjoy running again before I set another big goal, or even minor goal for that matter. I may look for a fun trail race to do this summer as a minor-just for fun goal and build up for a good cross season, which I have never had. So I suppose I have already set some minor goals, to have fun and stay fit. I'll keep writing with developments. I hope all your training is going well, happy trails.

Scotiabank Van. Half-Thon PREVIEW

Hey why not a preview(men), looks like a good race:
1 Kasime Adillo Roba Ethiopia
2 Moses Macharia Kenyan
3 Danny Kassap Toronto ON Canada
5 Ryan Day Richmond BC Canada
6 Amor Dehbi Montreal QC Canada
7 Jim Finlayson Victoria BC Canada
8 Josephat Ongeri Milton ON Canada
9 Todd Howard Victoria BC Canada
10 Paul Chafe Toronto ON Canada
11 Benard Onsare Calgary AB Canada
12 Steve Mureenbeeld Victoria BC Canada
16 Graeme Wilson Vancouver BC Canada
17 Mark Bomba Coquitlam BC Canada
20 Norman Tinkham Maple Ridge BC Canada
21 Louis-Philippe Garnier Montreal QC Canada
22 Kevin O'Connor Vancouver BC Canada
23 Art Boileau Vancouver BC Canada
24 Dave Stephens Burnaby BC Canada
25 Neil Holm Courtenay BC Canada

Thats the elite list, I don't know too much about the african guys or even the guys from out east(Ontario) but in my race it looks to be Jim Finn, Bomba, Todd Howard, Paul Chafe(not sure what he's done?), Amor Dehbi looks to be someone who will be in our pack, but perhaps go out faster and come back to us, I suppose if I'm going to mention Chafe, i'll mention Murenbeeld however I suspect he wont go out with our group but who knows, I don't know what kind of shape he is in, hopefully pulls out a big one.

So anyway, I know Finn is in good 10k/half shape, and I know Bomba is in good shape(if his mechanics are ok that day! hehe that ones for you Mark), Todd Howard is tough I think he'll be in there based on his Van half in may. Going on faint recollection I think Chafe ran around 69 in Montreal but a younger guy and came out all this way so hopefully he gets in it, like I said above hopefully Steve is ready for a good one, I think he too has run around 69. Anyway it looks to be a decent race, I could see Bomba, Myself and Fin battling it out but we'll have to wait and see, i'm feeling a bit on a roll here and i've got some brand spankin new T5s to race in not to mention a little redemption to back me up, and the weather looks pretty bon so hopefully I can 'git 'er dun.'

The Red Road

...continued from last post...

During this run to Alaska we would be hosted by many communities and do ceremony every morning and evening. I won't go into details but the entirety of the run was a very spiritual experience. Running with the Eagle staff was ceremony itself, suffering while carrying all of the prayers for World Peace, Healing of Sacred Mother Earth, Healing of all our brothers and sisters who are suffering, and many others, was an experience like no other and would change my life forever. From then on running for me has not been about beating other people, or becoming the best, or becoming an Olympian. These things are secondary. As a spiritual indigenous man I run because I have been blessed with the ability to suffer willingly and pray to the creator that that suffering eases that of those who cannot help themselves. And as a healthy indigenous man I run to be a strong role model for young men and women who are striving to be strong and healthy role models and leaders.

The reason I have told this story is because today I had a profound experience, a small one but profound, no less. Throughout my build up to Ottawa I had severe motivational problems, where I did not have the fire I have had in the past but for the most part I persevered because the goal of making the Olympics was so close. Although the outcome in Ottawa was poor I was more relieved that the race was over so that I could get on with life and since then have been reflective. With this Olympic cycle coming to a close I was starting to think about if I would continue to run competitively or throw in the towel and focus on other parts of my life and in the last couple of days was severely tormented. Even though I know better than to allow this torment to happen it came an there was nothing I could do, today being the worst of it. Lucky for me whenever I feel confused or frustrated with life and its big decisions I am guided or sent a message in one way or another that helps me make my decisions. On my evening run was one such occurrence. This morning I had come so close to quitting altogether after walking nearly 5km back to my house and the rest of the day was seriously considering quitting, but nevertheless headed out for an evening run hoping for something better out of my body. Not 3 minutes into my run I was feeling ok but also thinking that I really need to treat my body with more respect(as I have been enjoying the off season quite a bit) so that I can feel good running again. Not a moment later I looked down and sure enough at my feet lay an Eagle Feather! In native culture this is a very significant event as Eagles are revered and carry great wisdom, power, and strength. To be offered this great gift at this time is a great honour and is not to be taken lightly. Being a spiritual person I do not see this as a coincidence and accept the feather as symbol of guidance to continue with running, and strength to persevere through this time and continue to self actualize. I have truly been blessed in my life to be given such guidance so that I can continue my life's path along the Red Road.

All My Relations

The Journey Continues

I believe I have been a runner all my life. As a young boy I was very active and have memories of early school years in gym class playing roller derby(without rollerskates, just running in circles) and always being the last person on my team left with one other guy on the other team left who incidentally was a year older. Throughout my younger years and through to my university years I carried on with running because I enjoyed the direct benefits to working hard, the lack of reliance on team mates, and the competition within myself and against others, and as well the camaraderie between distance runners before, after and sometimes during races. As my training and career became more developed and running took up a vast majority of my time and energies I increasingly became weary of the one sided way my life had become which had cost me a wonderful companion, but had also brought me some great success in the first half of 2005. Following this success the scales tipped and I lost my motivation to train with as much vigor as I did before, not necessarily because I had burned myself out physically but because my life was extremely unbalanced. I virtually stopped running altogether and instead of balancing my life out I just tipped the balance to working very hard in the social services sector and taking an interest in my own spirituality and culture. Of course this imbalance eventually made me unhappy because I was too busy to train, and the intensity of the work burnt me out no less than twice in 6 months. At the end of this 6 months I was presented with the opportunity to join a group of native youth from South Dakota and Minnesota who were running from Vancouver to Anchorage Alaska. This group had organized a run called a Prayer Run for World Peace(details at www.wolakota.org) I joined the group near my hometown in Kitwanaga and ran with them to Anchorage to arrive for World Peace Prayer Day on the Summer Solstice June 21. The significance of this run for me was a complete change in my reasons for running. I had been tired of competing and training as an individual, I felt my life as a runner was very self centered and was helping no one but myself. From as far back as I can remember I have felt as though my life is meant to give to some greater good. Because of this belief and how I viewed my choice of being a runner I was ready to quit running altogether so that my energies could be expended on more honorable means. This Prayer Run would save me as a runner...

Ottawa Marathon(DNF), wk11

Well i'm just going to write a quick note here, I have made it a rule not to evaluate a bad race until 2 or 3 days has passed so I aim to do just that. But here is how it played out for me. I decided the morning of the race that I would go with the 2:17 pace group because I was still having breathing problems in Ottawa, so I thought it wise to go out conservatively. I also decided that since i was going out with the slower group(the other group was going at 2:15 pace, which is actually a big difference believe it or not) that I would get rolling at 10miles after we had gone through all the hills. I stuck to this plan and sped up at about 10 miles but after a couple of kms felt aweful and by 20k I realized it was not going to be my day and I would likely struggle in and run somewhere around 2:22-2:24 which to me is not acceptable. I mean no disrespect to the guys that ran in that range but at this point in my career it does not do me any good to run that kind of time. As I stated after the race "you've got to know when to fold 'em." Anyhow, that is the nature of marathoning, on race day, anything can happen, given the way training went, I felt there was an equal chance of me running well or running poorly, and unfortunately things didn't work out.

That special time of year, wk10

It only comes but once or twice a year, where you rest and your body starts to heal up and get ready for the big one. It is another one of those truths about marathon training. You are never fresh, you are always sore, tired, and beat up, at least in my experience. Until of course you back off for the marathon race, the taper. The purpose of the taper is to recover from the weeks of hard training, and I mean completely recover to the point where you are fully healed up and your body has time to supercompensate. Supercompensation is basically the result of the training effect. You tear your body down, and it rebuilds to a stronger state than it was before the teardown. Supercompensation, with regards to your marathon macrocycle is this rebuild to a stronger state on a massive scale. If your taper is designed perfectly race day will come when your supercompensation is at its highest point before it settles into your new baseline fitness level. As I say this I realize it is hard to picture without a graph. Basically you back off and you begin to feel like a wild caged animal and you hope that at the height of your caginess is when race day comes and you are ready to bust out a supreme effort.

Peaking is often called the 'art' in sport, I suppose if you were to do a great deal of scientific tests you could take the art and guessing out of it, but for the vast majority who don't have their own personal lab the ability to bring the body around to peak on just the right day is truly a work of art. To be perfectly honest I'm a crumby artist, however I am definitely feeling rested and healing up nicely so I feel like things should come around nicely for the race. I am on a daily basis, feeling better all around, psychologically I am feeling better than I have in weeks, months even, which is very exciting. Things are looking good, the excitement is mounting, here is how the week played out.

Early in the week I could still barely breathe and was very frustrated, but come Tuesday I woke up to pouring rain and was uplifted! I decided I would do along run if my breathing was improved and sure enough the rain must have knocked the pollen out of the air so I did a 22mile progression run but pretty relaxed and averaged just over six minute miles. The rain continued into Wednesday so I did a medium long run with a 5mile pick up at 5:20/mile pace which felt great. The rest of the week I just did easy 10mile runs with 1k pick ups to sub 3min pace to open up the legs and as a result I am feeling better every day, I will likely do one medium workout tomorrow morning.
Breakdown:
LR - 22mi @ 6:02/mi
MdL - 15mi w/ 5mi @ 5:20/mi
Supp - 1 - Strength Session
- 1 - Yoga Session
- 8 - 1k pick ups at <3:00/km
Volume - 80mi