Mind, Motion & Matter

Running, Essentially . . .

Category Archives: Marathon


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Lonely girl at a noisy restaurant

Somehow, an email to organize a dinner date with a friend, never left my inbox.  That is how I ended up dining solo, at Fresh Restaurant at Bloor and Spadina.  I was really looking forward to seeing my former workmate, as we have not seen each other for the two months since I changed jobs.  We used to walk to North Toronto Memorial Park and lunch there.  Coincidentally, I invited a colleague at my new workplace to join me for a walk through Hogg’s Hollow.  She was charmed by the sights.

Small Buddha Bowl

I seem to dine at Fresh about once every two years.  Time enough to forget how crowded, cramped and noisy a place it is.  The waitress was very nice but the food took quite awhile to arrive.  My visit however did inspire me to revisit some of my vegetarian recipes, like tempeh, adzuki bean and hijiki seaweed salad. I ordered the small Buddha bowl and yam fries.  The yam fries were scrumptious, the Buddha bowl was tasty enough though uninspired.  I suppose that is why my mind started to wander back to my vegan days, as it occurred to me that I would rather be eating dishes I used to prepare.  Then there was Sri Wasano’s Infamous Indonesian Rice Salad from the classic, Moosewood Cookbook by Molly Katzen.  I’ve been meaning to make that salad for a couple of decades.  Maybe this will be the year.  Click HERE for the recipe.

Scumptious yam fries with garlic mayo dip

I had a very nice glass of carrot, orange and ginger juice, a reminder that I have not used my juicer in quite awhile.  My grandmother was ahead of her time in regards to nutrition.  I inherited her Acme juicer and brown rice cooker.  When I was 16 she gave me a book touting the benefits of raw juice therapy.  Naturally, I did not take much notice of this advice as a teenager.

Today was the start of my easy running week.  I ran 2 miles in the morning and that was it.  I’m feeling the time change however and will be heading to bed as soon as this is done.

I had promised more photos of Saturday evening but I can’t quite manage it.

Good night all!


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Forgetting is good for the soul, and the long run too

21 mile route - November 6, 2010

I’ve had a great month of training, with very solid long runs, of 19, 18.5, 21 last week and finally, 21 this week. I’m due for an easy week and will be heading off to New York state next weekend for an overnight getaway with my only sister, and one of four, sisters in-law. Both run, and due to the demands of parenthood, have treadmills. My sister has 4 kids age, 8, 6, 4 & 2 and my sister-in-law is mother to an 12, 9 & 6 year old. In addition to running, my sister, who is an excellent hockey player, plays a couple of times a week.

Queen Street, still sleeping

Early in the run I made a pit stop at Starbuck’s and recognizing the barista, formerly at our neighbourhood location, chatted briefly about running. I asked if I could take his photo for my blog however he said there are protocols in place regarding photos of staff. I quickly scribbled down my blog address for him.

Then east on Queen street, north on Spadina and over to R’s, where B & D were also waiting. We ran over to J’s and then an uphill trek up Russell Hill Road, and through Forest Hill to the beltline.

I felt the need to take charge of our route, as it is very hard to stay focused without a route to visualize.  Because of this, a few minor insults were bandied about, the way guys will do but everyone soldiered on, in spite of the more-challenging-than-usual-route. I have four younger brothers and I’m sure there’s a kind of familiarity and comfort in being the only female in our running group. A little sister, for which I prayed constantly, only arrived when I was 11 years old, and my role was more like that of a second mother.

I parted company from B and R at St. George and Dupont and ran south to the Lakeshore.  Once I hit the lakeshore I got a bit distracted with with the sights and picture taking on this chilly but fresh and sunny day.

Art on the run, outdoor photo exhibit, Harbourfront

I weave through the outdoor photo gallery on York Quay, the subjects are always Canadian content and enviroment and landscape related.   Then east to the Music Garden where a large team of teens were involved in dismantling the rigging for two tall ships.  Three miles to go, seems less so, when it is a well-worn route.

4 miles to go, time for a photo

Getting ready for winter?

On the home stretch I muse on mental strategies for marathoners.  While running a marathon it is helpful mentally, to practise a kind of forgetfulness and forget how far you have run, and try and relax as though you are out for a short run.  A useful life skill as well, the ability to willfully forget is closely tied to the ability to forgive and start anew.  So I imagine this as one  of my easy morning runs, and the end of my 21 miler does not feel quite as taxing.  As I run through the apple orchard near Ossington-Old Orchard School, Renee Fleming is on my IPod singing Leonard Cohen’s  Hallelujah.   I’m almost home, Hallelujah, Hallelujah!

To hear Renee sing CLICK HERE

There’s a blaze of light
In every word
It doesn’t matter which you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Leonard Cohen

Lake Ontario moment, November 6, 2010 10:30 a.m.


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Power gels or chocolate?

When running a marathon, a past pre-race routine has been to drink a lot of gatorade, a can or two of Boost and then down a powergel, shortly before the race starts. Later in the race I take a gel at the 15K and 30K marks and further on, if needed. Through the years, as my body became better at using fat as a fuel, I needed fewer carbohydrates.

Mounds Dark Chocolate - 2 mini-bars

Power gels are the yuckiest, things you can imagine, a sugary, gooey syrup that must be followed with water in order not to gag on the stuff. Years ago, I asked a friend, a PhD in nutrition to analyze the contents to see if there was anything other than glucose in the mix. The answer, NO. Since I sometimes would have a power gel near the end of long run, I decided why pay nearly $2 for this concoction when I could be eating chocolate.

Mocha Clif Shot

In addition to the improved taste, a chocolate bar purchased on the run, also buys you a ticket to a washroom. This is a real bonus in the winter when most of the washrooms in city parks are shut down.

The talk at the high school went well. And the thank-you gift, a box of Lindt chocolates, inspired my blog topic. Chocolate however, does take a bit more effort to ingest so the gels, while racing the marathon will still be required.

Peanut Butter Crunchy Bar

Picking my poison, my preferred gels are Clif Shots with Mocha, my favourite flavour.

The mocha flavour is special because it has caffeine in it. Although this is only available in the U.S. as Canadian Food and drug regulations do not allow caffeine to be present in gels. I don’t normally go for sports bars but while traveling find that they are handy (and economical) items to have on hand in while on-the-go, in transit. My husband and I like the Peanut Butter Crunchy bar.

The best box of chocolates I’ve ever had was a gift from our across-the-street neighbours, who really know “good things”.

Stubbe Chocolate

The chocolates were from Stubbe which has a location at Dupont and Christie. The other day I bought two Stubbe chocolate bars at the LIT Espresso bar for my son and our roommate.  I’ve become a Stubbe devotee.

Stubbe chocolate bars, one with almonds, the other with peppercorns

LIT is the only place in Canada, I’m told, that brews Stumptown coffee. Those of us who are addicted to Starbuck’s, do notice the Stumptown difference.

LIT espresso bar, College just east of Ossington

Stumptown Coffee

Well, I really must go but I hope to continue this discussion of chocolate very soon. Sweet dreams!

p.s.  I ran 7 miles on the treadmill this morning and made edits to my talk, while running.


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Run two miles in my shoes

The other week, I ran with a neighbour who had recently purchased a couple of pairs of running shoes.  She was not altogether pleased with early signs of wear and tear on the mesh toe box.  Turns out that we both have the same size foot so with two miles to go, I suggested that she take a test run in my shoes.  I have been wearing New Balance running shoes exclusively since 1995, ever since winning a pair at the Spring-Run Off 8K in High Park.

New Balance 758's

I had purchased only one pair of New Balance shoes prior to that and due to poor advice from a salesperson, ended up with a too-big pair of New Balance shoes back in the early 80’s.  Unfortunately, this bad fitting, deterred me from the brand, and highlights the importance of buying your shoes at a place with a reputation for knowledgeable staff, such as New Balance stores.

New Balance is known to long-time runners as being at the footwear-forefront of the first running boom of the 70′s and 80′s.  The Boston based company started out in 1906 as the New Balance Arch Support (NBAS) company and evolved into the New Balance Athletic Shoe (NBAS) company

Like many long-lived companies, the philosophy has been to avoid expensive advertising in favour of research and design excellence.  In spite of competition from larger athletic shoe companies  it has exceptional brand recognition for state-of-the-art shoe design and competitive pricing.  It sponsors world-class runners and local champions (a story for another day) with an emphasis on the community involvement of these athletes.  The price tag for New Balance shoes  is far less than companies who market their products by seeking endorsements of the Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan’s of the world.

The pair my neighbour test-ran were the NB760’s and she asked me to quote her, “good shoes, good shoes” as she ran along, and again, “good shoes, good shoes”.  She also commented that my shoes felt more cushioned than her new shoes in spite of the fact that my shoes were at the end of their life.  I also use the NB special insoles that you can buy for about $30, and last for a couple of years.  The other New Balance shoe I wear is the NB950.  This shoe is a bit lighter and streamlined so I wear this for my faster paced workouts.

As for my experience of wearing another brand, truthfully, I was surprised in my dissappointment.  Go New Balance!

“Yet if a woman never lets herself go, how will she ever know how far she might have got? If she never takes off her high-heeled shoes, how will she ever know how far she could walk or how fast she could run?”  Germaine Greer

New Balance 950


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First stop Sacramento

For someone who is used to running high-mileage in marathon training.  Running 50 miles a week hardly takes a thought.  I run about an hour a day with a 2 hour plus run on the weekend – this is the default.   However, with 15 weeks until my pre-Boston, marathon outing in Sacramento, the moment has come to either train seriously, forget about it or suffer in the final miles of the race.

2007, Sacramento 30K

So, I’m formulating my plan and the mileage build will go like this 57 miles this week, 61 miles next week and 57 miles the following week (including a rare day off for travel).  I like to do 2-3 solid weeks of building miles and then take an easier week.  Fortunately, this easy week will coincide with a trip to Germany.  My long run will increase from 12-15 miles to 17, 18 and up to 22 miles.

In addition to the increased mileage I have to start speedwork.  I’ve committed to hitting the track with a group.  For the past two years I’ve been taking evening courses, this year I will go to track school.  I’m excited about running on the new Varsity stadium track.  The very scene of my first marathon finish.  The coach, Paul Osland is a former Olympian who is now whipping a group of motivated masters into tip top shape.  I’m apprehensive about the return to the intensity of speed work.  My fast running for the past two years has gone something like this . . . run fast when I feel like it for 30 – 120 seconds.  Take as much rest as I need.

From what I can tell, the plan for Thursday is to run 150 meters at a very fast pace, 18 times and the do it again for a total of 36 fast repeats.  Then we are to bound up stairs, 2 steps at a time, 5 times and then repeat.  I’ve never done circuit training, of which we are to do 4 laps.  Hmm . . .

This could be painful.  Given that most of these runners will be peaking in the early fall, and my timing of a December marathon is unusual, I hope to get some sort of just-starting-out dispensation. I’m reminded of how once, when in top form I remarked to another runner as we readied ourselves for a grueling session a la Zeba Crook that his workouts were effective because they helped us to increase our pain threshold.  The runner turned to me and said, “but that is not what I signed up for”. No doubt . . . I’ll soon have a tale to tell.

Gulp . . .


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Blogging towards Boston

It has been over two years since I have run a marathon. The last, was Boston 2008 and my time of 3:22 fell a bit short of my hopes.  The year before I placed 3rd in my age group with a 3:17.

My claim to fame is having qualified for Boston at the age of 50, in 3:10, the qualifying time for Open Men (under 35).  As far as I know, 3:10 remains an Ontario age-group record for the marathon.  The qualifying time in my age-category is 4:05.  I’m planning to run Boston 2011 so it is time to start building mileage and inject more intensity into those miles.

Boston marathon 2008

Here I am in 2008, alongside some of those “Open Category”  men.

Currently, I’m running 45-50 miles a week with little high-intensity stuff.  Where am I going to find the time to run another 20-50 miles a week?  And, the motivation to run many of those miles at a very fast pace?

The key elements of marathon training are a long run, a tempo run and interval workouts.  I don’t mind the long run.  Strangely, there is nothing I find more satisfying than the depletion following a run of 18 miles or more.  You can get hooked on that feeling.

Intervals are another story.  It seems unlikely that I will find it in me, to do the 6 x 1 mile workouts at 6 minute pace with a 2 1/2 minute break, that I did a few years back under the tutelage of my coach, former elite steeplechaser and now professor of religion, Zeba Crook. And the tempo runs of 4 x 20 minutes at half-marathon race pace?  Who was that crazy woman?