Long may I run, but don't mind me because I have no mind. Wait, what?

So one day, while running with Tyler and Osty my buddies and resident shit disturbers through the Assiniboine forest, we were talking about how annoying this training cycle has been. I think I waxed annoyance enough of how awful this winter has been which in turn made it difficult to motivate our lazy assess into running. I mean it was cool at first being all macho (do people still use that word?) telling people who would listen how you ran out in -40C weather but in reality you're thinking to yourself...

Why the hell am I doing this?
Wouldn't it be better to be in the warm bed?
How come I have to pee again?

As we were running along at a 5:40 pace, which used to be tempo pacing to us just a couple of months ago, we talked about with this tough winter, it was hard to get in a run where we actually felt 'good.' Good in the sense where we didn't have to worry about layering or how your eye lashes are frozen together, or how the first couple of kilometers you can't feel your toes. Which in turn might make this Fargo marathon a bit of a wash personal best-wise. I was telling Tyler and Osty how I was having a hard time focusing or keeping myself motivated.

Then Tyler pipes in..."But Ruben, you've always looked so focused...you're all about the zen..." And I started chuckling inside thinking, if he only knew the storm of thoughts and emotions that are constantly swirling through the grey matter. But then I realized, it's the same with everyone. We are constantly holding conversations in our heads. That other 'us' is constantly nattering, or doing a constant play by play, the never ending self critiquing pundit of our ego, adding white noise in our heads. Holy shit, dude...you almost ran into that damn tree...

Tyler is right in the sense that I try my best to always look focused as I do spend some time meditating. That act of sitting down, closing my eyes and being mindful of breath does help calm all the voices and noise in my head. I only spend 10 minutes...at least I think I do...I don't really time it and I should but sitting down trying to clear the mind is an exhaustive exercise in itself. I've been practicing meditation since I was a teen and I've read books on Buddhism and meditation, but I don't think I've ever found enlightenment and I don't possess any esoteric knowledge of the practice.

Quite frankly, my mind is constantly saying something, it was so frustrating at first I didn't think I was doing it right. But after awhile and I think this was that enlightened point I reached...one day while sitting down meditating, pictures would constantly pop up. Just random pictures and with the pictures, thoughts. And I would get frustrated and bring myself back to my center by being mindful of breath. But them damn pictures kept popping up in my mind....and listening to my breathing helped but then I remembered something I read. I think it was by Richard Bach the guy who wrote Bridge Across Forever or his more famous work Jonathon Livingston Seagull but I could be wrong. But it was this phrase "Patience is practiced in the moment." And suddenly there was quiet...I opened my eyes and I felt good. I don't think I reached a dharma point where I became one with the universe...but I just stopped beating up myself for thinking. I learned that there will always be that inner noise in your head, that ego constantly berating you for trying to live up to an image you think you should impress upon the world. But just being patient with yourself and going back to being mindful of breath can help bring you back to center.

My daughter's Madeline and Mackenzie made this along the sea wall at Winnipeg Beach in the summer of 2011.

With running, there is ALWAYS that voice in your head that is telling you to stop, you're exhausted, why are your legs still moving? And at first it may start talking at the 1km mark, but running consistently a couple of times a week, quiets that voice and you may not hear it until the 5km, 10km , 20km, 100km marks. It just takes practice, like everything else in your life, we get better with practice and suddenly when you're running long mileage or lifting heavy or painting masterpieces or writing blogs...those voices become your cheering section willing you to go!

My CPR clinic is in week 10 and the Fargo marathon is on May 10. So we have a couple of more weeks of heavy mileage then the taper. Which brings a shitload of its own stresses and worries, which I will write about in another post.

I honestly don't know how to caption this. And not that there is anything wrong with it...

Week 8 CPR Marathon Training - Sometimes it's good NOT to run

There are so many things that happen throughout a training cycle, that no matter how much you try to control what you can control, there is always something that can set you back. Be it family life, work or injury, those things that just creep up and bite you in the ass can send you into a whirlwind of emotions.

I am half-way into my training cycle and I'm making great strides into my training regimen. My weekly mileage is steadily gaining, the Interval speed work training is tough and I look forward to that part of my week. My tempo runs, I've upped the pace to the 5:35-5:45min/km for 10k so I'm getting 'faster' and my LSDs are getting longer but what Tyler, Osty and I have started doing is what we did last year in the summer. And that was come in a bit earlier and break up our LSDs into 2 runs. Normally the 10km route we do on Thursdays and head back to CPR, warm up a bit then tackle 12-16-20km with the Saturday morning crew. 

This week I'm kind of feeling the strain of the hard workouts and my achilles are starting to get sore again, especially my problematic left one. It's got that sore burn feeling and it will subside once it 'warms' up and my leg turnover starts getting into the 85-90 steps per minute (SPM) mark. Yes, I've been stretching, and strengthening my body, but the key for me here is to be mindful of that kinetic chain moving. Getting my core engaged, starting from my hips and glutes to my quads and calves to the last part of the chain in my foot strike which again I'm mindful of landing on my forefoot. I'm not slamming my foot on the ground per se as more of a contact, compress and launch. Again, I know when I'm doing this right is when I'm actually not 'AWARE' that I'm doing it but I feel my leg turnover going fast. 

When I start to feel tightness in my knee or a sudden sense of exhaustion, I start taking inventory of what's going on and realize I'm not engaging my hips and glutes to get the kinetic chain moving again and I have to make adjustments. This is all training and I'm trying to be more consistent by keeping that kinetic chain moving farther for longer periods of time. I think this is one of the reasons why I'm finding 10-16km not so bad of a distance run anymore. I can keep that kinetic chain moving without thought for that distance. With more practice, my aim is to keep that chain moving at even longer distances eventually to that 42.2km and beyond. 

March 25, 2014

Week 8 - Ran with Osty and Rob thru The Gates

Wasn't feeling it this day due to the weather (-12 with windchill making it -24C) and I let the guys know I was grumpy. I sucked it up and troddled along and managed to run the best 3km distance in 14m:33s with the ground still very icy and temperature cold and I was actually over-dressed, but wow. It wasn't too hard of a run as we have clinic tonight.

Week 8 CPR Intervals

• 20 X 1 minute at 5km pace with a one minute recovery jog

Repeats...THIS was a tough speed session. The trick here was to keep the Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) or intensity steady and the recovery jog is just as important as the interval. RPE can be based on an intuitive measure of effort like 7 or 9. The key to this session is that you never completely recover before starting the next interval, and as the workout progresses you’ll be forced to work harder to maintain the same pace at which you started out. This is threshold training at its truest, simulates race surging and will teach your body to recover quickly while running fast.

All about leg turnover for me.

You can tell from the Cadence above where I had to run and where I had to recover. From 0 - 16:40 was during out warm ups and you can tell from the 240 SPM spike was our stride runs. The goal here for me was consistency throughout the workout and I feel I reached that from the graph.

But as I was saying...some things do bite you in the glutes and you find yourself in a spot with your training cycle. And this week it was my achilles. I was acutely aware of this after the speed workout and decided to take a rest day and NOT do the Thursday tempo run.

I'm becoming more aware of my body and its limitations, and after building a base over the past summer and early winter with a lot of LSD running with the CPR group, I'm not worried about the dreaded 'losing my fitness' mental battle that a lot of runners are constantly fighting. Taking a rest during my training cycle helps me heal and take that much needed mental break. And I don't try to cram that missed workout into the following week. I just let it go and move on.

March 29, 2014

Week 8 CPR LSD

Osty, Tyler and I broke this run up into 2 distances. We met at CPR for 6:45AM and did our Thursday tempo route for a 10km distance and headed back to the store. Met up with the Saturday group and ran another 16km to get in a nice 26km for our LSD.

Weather was -6 with a windchill to make it -12C. But it was that wind that just makes things difficult as one minute you're feeling over dressed and the very next, your teeth are chattering and your in the stages of hypothermia. What I was really happy was my cadence (leg turnover). And even though Osty and Tyler would surge ahead of me, I didn't worry about the distance that they had, as I was really gunning for consistent leg turnover and ensuring that kinetic chain was moving both legs smoothly. Once I have that nailed down, I'll get the speed up.

I did take a look around and enjoyed a little of the view while running....I found this oddly entrancing while we were heading back from Misercordia hospital and I was on Wellington:

Sean Ostermann...wait!