That’s how the day felt. I got to work early for a three-hour shift leaving before noon to head out to Scarborough via TTC for a funeral. I barely knew the deceased but was happy to be pay my respects to the family of my step-grandfather, the only grandfather, on my mother’s side, that we knew.
I got a ride back from my brother and he dropped me off on Queen Street West. I picked up a gift certificate from the Australian Boot Company where I bought my Blundstone boots, their contribution to the gala Silent Auction. Then I had a quick lunch at Sweet Lulu’s, a Pad Thai’ish, design-your-own noodle dish, had a peek at The Paper Place, formerly the Japanese Paper store and then home with a short stopover at Starbuck’s for a latte. I did some work and then got ready for my first outdoor track workout of the year at Varsity Stadium.
I checked the forecast before leaving, 17C with wind gusts up to 69K! The wind was very fierce at times, and I saw a large flat piece of wood fly onto the hood of a car. With this strong wind at my back, I was not looking forward to the post-workout jog home into the wind.
The workout consisted of 6 x 600 meters with a 90 second recovery. It was quite a huff and puff effort but it felt good to feel my legs turn over quickly. In spite of missing a speed session last week, I felt fairly sharp so perhaps my speed is on the rise. The circuits felt easier, due to the notable absence of the dreaded hopping up stairs from same leg to same leg. There is something refreshing and dreamy about lying on your back doing a stretch, looking at the great expanse of sky from a large field in the middle of downtown Toronto. However, there is something disgusting about lying on this same track and noticing that the there are numerous cigarette butts and matches littered about on the astroturf.
Thankfully, the wind had died down on the way home and it wasn’t half bad. Waiting for me was a meal of Osso Bucco prepare by our resident chef, Alain. I have a good life.
Yesterday, making all the pieces of my day fit together meant arriving at work super-early, running from work, along the lake, through High Park and a brief interlude at home followed by dashing off to a meeting at C-5 with the bandleader of Ethio Fidel Jazz band who will perform at our gala People4Kids.
The day got off to a sweet start as we got an early morning delivery of chocolate from CAMINO fair trade, organic chocolate destined for Gala goodie bags. We received this note from CAMINO. WooHoo!
Thank you for considering us as sponsors for your event. We are truly impressed with all your hard work and dedication towards orphaned children affected by AIDS in Ethiopia. We are happy to be able to contribute a small gift for your gala. We are able to offer you 300 chocolate minis (55% dark).
I just popped a chocolate into my mouth and yes, yum, it is superfine stuff. Thanks Camino chocolate, you are the best! I’ll also be seeking out their chocolate coconut bar.
Western Horizon seen from Sunnyside Beach
The foggy dew of the morning evolved into an atmospheric mistiness over the lake in the afternoon. I took the beach shots just before starting the 12 x 200 meter pick-ups with 75 second recovery. When I remarked to my coach that it was a fun workout, he confided that it is one of his favourites. My coach, a former Olympian also holds some world records for his age group in the 800 meters. I gather that one of his training secrets is circuit training which includes hopping up stairs on one foot.
On the heels of my workout I bounded breathlessly into our local Starbuck’s at College and Dovercourt to be greeted by the manager who told me that yes, Starbuck’s will donate a $75 gift basket to the Gala. This manager is very excited about the opportunity she will have next week to meet Howard Schultz of Starbuck’s.
C5 Charcuterie Plate
As for food I added shredded apple and orange juice to my carrot oatmeal to improve on the “fruitlessness” of Wednesday. Also consumed through the day was; 1 bottle YOP, Activa yogurt (2.9% MF), peanut butter and banana sandwich, portion of a large charcuterie platter and that is it. Not much really as my appetite is still a little curtailed and I’m feeling about 90%. A nurse who is part of the team looking into the illness incurred by me and many last Friday was quite interested to hear that I had previously been struck down by the Norwalk virus.
Apple, Carrot, Orange Juice Oatmeal
After returning from C5, I was inspired by the sight of 4 very ripe bananas to bake banana bread for a friend’s visit. Well, actually she will put to work, helping me to bake 30 dozen cookies. After baking I was completely out of gas. Time for bed – blog or no blog.
To Blog or To Bake Banana Bread
p.s. I just got off the phone with Dufflet pastry and they are donating a cake certificate to the silent auction. Life is sweet! But — will my friend feel the same way after helping me bake 30 dozen cookies?
Here are 10 of 20 tips from the guru of the first-wave boomer, running boom.CLICK HEREto see all George Sheehan’s Tips
1) Keep a record of your morning pulse. Lie in bed for a few minutes after you awaken and then take your pulse. As your training progresses, it will gradually become slower and after three months or so plateau out. From then on, if you awaken and find a rate of 10 or more beats higher, you have not recovered from your previous day’s runs, races or stresses. Take the day or more off until the pulse returns to normal.
2) Do your exercises daily. The more you run, the more muscle imbalance occurs. The calf, hamstrings (back thigh) and low back muscles become short, tight and inflexible. They have to be stretched. On the other hand the shins, the quads (front thigh) and the belly muscles become relatively weak. They must be strengthened. Learn the Magic Six: Three strengthening exercises, three stretching exercises.
3) Eat to run. Eat a good high-protein breakfast, then have a light lunch. Run on an empty stomach at least two, preferably three hours after your last meal. Save the carbohydrates for the meal after the run to replenish the muscle sugar.
4) Drink plenty of fluids. Take sugar-free drinks up to 15 minutes before running. Then take 12 to 16 ounces of easily tolerated juices, tea with honey or sugar, defizzed Coke, etc. before setting out. In winter that should be all you need.
5) Find your shoes and stick to them. High-arch feet do better with narrow heels. Morton’s Foot (short big toe, long second toe) may need an arch support in the shoe. If a shoe works, train in it, and wear it to work
6) The fitness equation is 30 minutes at a comfortable pace four times a week. Your body should be able to tell you that “comfortable” pace. If in doubt use the “talk test”. Run at a speed at which you can carry on a conversation with a companion.
7) Wait for your second wind. It takes six to 10 minutes and one degree in body temperature to shunt the blood to the working muscles. When that happens you will experience a light warm sweat and know what the “second wind” means. You must run quite slowly until this occurs. Then you can dial yourself to “comfortable,” put yourself on automatic pilot, and enjoy.
8) Do not cheat on your sleep. Add an extra hour when in heavy training. Also arrange for at least one or two naps a week and take a long one after your weekend run.
9) Most injuries result from a change in your training. A change in shoes, an increase in mileage (25 miles per week is the dividing line; at 50 miles per week the injury rate is doubled), hill or speed work, or a change in surface. Almost always there is some associated weakness of the foot, muscle strength/flexibility imbalance, or one leg shorter than the other. Use of heel lifts, arch supports, modification of shoes and corrective exercises may be necessary before you are able to return to pain-free running.
10) Training is a practical application of Hans Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome. Stress is applied, the organism reacts, a suitable time is given to reestablish equilibrium. Then stress is applied again. Each of us can stand different loads and need different amounts of time to adapt. You are an experiment of one. Establish your own schedule, do not follow anyone else’s.
Like last week, my Tuesday running plan was to take the long way home from work, i.e. the 7 mile route, rather than the 1 mile route. Just before noon I found out that I had to go to Avenue Road and Lawrence to do a presentation so I left earlier than planned and enjoyed the 7 miles with 5 X 5 minutes at marathon and tempo pace.
I had a couple of hours to regroup at home and then off to work, again. The trip there was super-speedy and I arrived 35 minutes early. I’m a person who likes to be on time. The meeting and presentation went well and then I had an extremely slow trip south. To compound the situation after getting off the Avenue Road bus I got on the northbound subway and went back to Lawrence station. Aargh! It was a good thing that I had the leftovers from my Japanese meal last night for breakfast. I was stuffed when I got to work but it staved off hunger until after my run. I had a very early dinner but on my long slow trip home resorted to eating chocolate eggs purchased for the annual Easter egg hunt for my 23 year old son. Will he be angry that I’ve gone public with this? He subscribes to my blog but claims to rarely read it.
I think I’m starting to feel a bit of perkiness from the two speed sessions over the past two weeks. I’m planning to hit the track on Thursday when we will be racing round the 200 meter oval in this way. Sprint the straights and walk the curve, this is called 50 hard, 50 easy. I thought this meant 50 seconds so I’m glad I asked for clarification from coach Paul and found out that the straights are roughly 50 meters. We are supposed to aim for 20-25 times around the track. I’ll likely aim for 15-20.
I may even wear my racing flats for this. Now where are they??! I’m getting excited about this.
My New Balance Racing Flats are very similar to these!
I haven’t felt really perky this last week following my speed workout at U of T. And in the last leg of my 14.5 miles on Saturday I stumbled while running down Christie street and pitched forward completely sliding on my hands along the sidewalk. I was able to pick myself up and continue running but I had a bit of stiffness afterwards from the jolt. Then yesterday I did a bit of gardening which I find very hard on the lower back so this morning I was feeling quite stiff. When I hit the cold morning air, I decided to head straight for the treadmill at the YMCA where I did a very slow five miler.
My thoughts are coming together on the marathon I’m supposed to be training for. I’ve been doing a lot of research but have been unable to come up with a stand-in for Boston. I considered the London marathon but that sold out ages ago. I’m pumped for Boston 2012, and New York 2011 so I’m on the verge of deciding that I’ll start my training for the fall NOW and skip the spring marathon. The next 7 weeks are going to be crazy with gala work, so I won’t be in great shape this spring anyhow so fall marathon here I come.
A part of the decision to skip a spring marathon will be committing to regular speedwork with the Masters group at U of T. For the first time in my life, I’m finding it hard to increase my mileage and increase the quality of my workouts in tandem. With the longer build-up I can take my time to get some speed back and then start building my mileage. So there you have it, my short-term goal. The medium term goal will be to run some shorter distance races once I get a bit of speed back. If things go well, maybe I’ll even do some outdoor track.
Yesterday was my first day off from running in 2011, which is a step towards getting faster. Today, I ran just over two miles and this short run confirmed that taking yesterday off was a wise move. My ligaments and muscles are definitely feeling the after-effects of the much-harder-than-usual workout with the U of T Masters group. The day of rest, and the very easy day will ensure that my body will come back stronger, rather than accumulate stress and break down.
So the blogging versus running count for 2011 now stands at:
Blogging = 64 days (65 posts) Running = 67 days (67 runs)
And this day off came just in time to avoid (ever so slightly) comparisons with the overworked rats with heart troubles mentioned in an article in today’s New York Times called . . .
When Exercise is Too Much of a Good Thing.
Recently, researchers in Britain set out to study the heart health of a group of dauntingly fit older athletes. Uninterested in sluggards, the scientists recruited only men who had been part of a British national or Olympic team in distance running or rowing, as well as members of the extremely selective 100 Marathon club, which admits runners who, as you might have guessed, have completed at least a hundred marathons.
All of the men had trained and competed throughout their adult lives and continued to work out strenuously. Twelve were age 50 or older, with the oldest age 67; another 17 were relative striplings, ages 26 to 40. The scientists also gathered a group of 20 healthy men over 50, none of them endurance athletes, for comparison. The different groups underwent a new type of magnetic resonance imaging of their hearts that identifies very early signs of fibrosis, or scarring, within the heart muscle. Fibrosis, if it becomes severe, can lead to stiffening or thickening of portions of the heart, which can contribute to irregular heart function and, eventually, heart failure.
The study was supposed to mimic marathon training as “. . . scientists prodded young, healthy male rats to run at an intense pace, day after day, for three months, which is the equivalent of about 10 years in human terms.” I have questions, serious questions. Were the rats given easy days? Did they wear heart rate monitors and were they able to vary their pace from very easy to very hard with interval breaks between the hardest run sections? Did they have sedentary time in front of computers, at work and at play? Were they encouraged to stretch? To me the training sounds more like a ten year tempo run. The study is published in the journal, Circulation.
My husband had questions as well. The one-hundred-marathon group is self-selected. How many of the rats were truly talented distance-running rats? Did they hold rat time trials to select their subjects? If you are naturally a sprinter will it be damaging to your heart to try distance running?
Due to the short supply of female marathoners available for an equivalent longitudinal study, I’m waiting for science to call.
Yes, our hometown hero Ed is 80 years old today. Holder of multiple world records, Ed’s best training advice is simple. He once told me, “Run as much as you can.” and the mileage he logged while in top form bears witness to this. His 2-3 hour daily runs in the Milton cemetery are much documented and would have put him at over 100 miles a week as an average. Read more about Ed and his accomplishments in this Running Times INTERVIEW.
Photo of Ed from Complete Running
I once interviewed Ed for a website and found myself quoted on the internet, and most recently in a book on masters runners called Fitter For Life by Ed Mayhew . Unfortunately, that interview is somewhere on the hard drive of an old computer. Those who have been following this blog will know this is the 3rd or 4th time that I’ve mentioned articles stored there. I’ve got that old computer set up on my dining room table but the operating system has disappeared so I may have to take it to a shop to access my mother lode of blog-worthy material.
In fall of 2005 I had Ed and Diane Palmason over for lunch the Friday before they were both to run the Toronto Waterfront marathon. At the age of 46, Diane Palmason set a Canadian age-group record of 2:46:21. When I commented to her that this time seemed even more remarkable given that she is the mother of four. Her reply was that it wasn’t so bad because some of her kids were teens at the time. She told me that she would get her miles in by running to and from work. So a working mother of four — a high bar — no?
Ed arrived for lunch with a bottle of red and a bottle of white wine, surprising both Diane and I, but we both had a glass. I told Ed that this was the first time in my life, I had ever had a drink before 5 p.m. Ed loves a good bottle of wine and he loves opera and has recommended a few choice performers, performances and vintages.
Diane Palmason to go after W65+ marathon mark on Toronto Waterfront this Sunday
TORONTO. 20 September 2005.
Diane Palmason has confirmed that she will be joining Ed Whitlock in this Sunday’s Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, and will be gunning for a new Canadian women’s 65+ marathon record on the flat, fast, Lakeshore course. The current mark is 3 hours 51 minutes 44 seconds.
Now a resident of Blaine, Washington, Palmason began her illustrious running career in 1976. She was one of the leading figures in Canadian marathoning, and in promoting women’s distance running in the first “running boom” of the 1980’s. Together with Kathleen Switzer, the first woman to complete the Boston Marathon, and Ken Parker of the Ottawa Lions, Palmason was instrumental in bringing the Avon Running Circuit for Women to Ottawa (then her hometown), with the Avon Women’s International Championship Marathon in 1981. Together, they were part of an international movement that culminated in the establishment of the women’s marathon in the Olympic Games, at Los Angeles in 1984.
Diane is currently holder of several Canadian Masters marathon records: 45+ (2:46:21) 55+ (3:14) and 60+ (3:16:29). In 2003, she also broke four World Records on the track—400m, 800m, 1500m, the mile, and set new Canadian marks for 100m, 200m and the marathon.
Diane will also be speaking at the Waterfront Marathon EXPO in the Metro Convention Centre, Exhibit Hall C, on Front Street, on Friday afternoon at 4:30pm. Her session is on “First Marathons”.
On the heels of this luncheon I ran 1:30:19 for the half-marathon, Diane ran 3:55:36.4 and Ed outpaced his Dutch rival Joop Ruter with a 3:02:37. This showdown was billed as the Battle of the Ageless Titans.
Sunday is when I tally up my total miles run for the week. When building towards a marathon, I take easy weeks on average, every three weeks. My total for this week is 40 miles. Prior to this I had run 52, 60 and 60 mile weeks. After taking an easy week, in addition to the physical break to rebuild, I find I am mentally recharged as while I look forward to the break, it doesn’t take much easing off before I begin to feel like a slacker.
Here are some of the things I did or did not do that lead to feeling this way.
Missed a weight work session
Missed a tempo run session
Ran 2 miles on a day I had planned to run 5 miles
Ran 10 miles instead of 12 miles on Saturday
Doubled my typical caloric intake for one day with three large meals while visiting Ottawa
SO that is the point of the easy week, paradoxical though it may be, easing off and experiencing a bit of remorse for not having made more spartan choices, makes me look forward to the next round of training . Ultimately, I love the results of being a super-fit, 55 year old and after one week of relative ease I am chomping at the bit to “get with the program”.
Skipping the tempo run and weight workout had a lot to do with being in a rush to visit the National Art Gallery which was a 10 minute walk from the hotel. I had a thoroughly relaxing time there and visited a number of shows, includingIt Is What It Is: Recent Acquisitions of New Canadian Art
One of the most memorable pieces was a very large pencil crayon drawing by Cape Dorset artist Shuvinai Ashoona. I’m happy to know that the National Art Gallery (NAG) has purchased that drawing for their permanent collection. I was unable to find a photo of the drawing in question but did find this example of Ashoona’s work.
The gallery has recently bought and installed a stunning sculpture, One Hundred Foot Line by Roxy Paine. I stepped out onto a terrace with a “Beware of Falling Ice” warning to take the photo below. And did I mention that I set off an alarm when I tried to step out to take another photo.
New Installation-Sculpture
In case you wonder what I consider overeating, my big day started with a large portion of eggs benedict with home fries and croissant at 7 a.m. followed by a lunch at the National Art Gallery of soup and a sandwich, then a three-course dinner with two glasses of Proseco ending with a fancy apple cake dessert.
National Art Gallery Cafeteria Lunch
Some may laugh at what I consider excess however the work of the easy week is done. I’m eager to run 60-65 miles this week, skip desserts and opt for less rich food, that is, until the next easy week.
A young American woman, 22 years old is training for her first marathon in Italy. She is using a plan which is very similar to what both my husband and I used to run our first marathons. You can find the 16 week plan at Rookie Marathon Training Plan
My husband started running in his early twenties and ran his first marathon a few years later, using a Runner’s World, Three-Months to a Marathon plan. I was in my mid-twenties and had been running a few weeks, when I decided to train for a marathon using the same plan which Runner’s World recycles yearly. So I feel some nostalgia in reading about this woman’s ambition to run a marathon when she returns to the U.S. She is calling it the SkinnyItaly Project. Go, go, young one, you CAN do it. YES, you can.
I’m going to be MADE. Into a Marathoner. My coach will be my own stubbornness and muscle tension from my daily lifestyle in Italy. Running a marathon has been on my BUCKET LIST (aka life goals), along with building orphanages in Uganda.
You can check out the full story of the SkinnyItaly project HERE.
I’m inspired by the marvelous energy and enthusiasm of the young. It is easy as one ages to view youth as a phase we passed through and thought better of it. I like to think that we can distill the essence of youth and reinvent ourselves as youth-full in spirit as we age, or at the very least, appreciate it vicariously. Although, like George Sheehan I’ve often thought that running has been, and still is my fountain of youth. Vigour is definitely a good foundation for optimism.
Dostoevsky said that “The second half of a man’s life is made up of nothing but the habits he has acquired during the first half.” However sobering this gloomy outlook may be, know truly that it is never too late to start exercising regularly, or too early.
February 2011 it turns out, will be a very social month for us, more so than the holiday season. With an outing tonight and tomorrow, I decided to do a solo long run this morning to avoid a weekend long run. For a moment, I considered doing my 14 miler on the treadmill, discouraged by the overcast sky but thought better of it.
Four miles into the run, I took part in an email exchange around a confusion about whether the racing, mentioned a few days ago, was happening today. I suppose having a BlackBerry is a bit of consolation, a kind of companion when you are slogging it out in the winter with no company. There are those days when it takes a lot of positive self-talk to get out there and train so if the promise of being able to check email every few miles makes it a bit easier, so be it.
I enjoyed the section in Murakami’s What I Talk About When I Talk About Running where he describes his interview with Toshiko Seko one of Japan’s great marathon runners. Murakami asks Seko if there are days when he doesn’t feel like running. Seko looked at him with a you-must-be-joking expression and answers that of course, there are those days, every day in fact! If one considers the difficulty of his training routine, it makes perfect sense. As we say in the business, the man is a “machine”.
In truth, for those who run every day, however humble our goals, we rely on all manner of mental gymnastics to get out the door. Discipline is a lot about becoming highly adept at finding the many reasons, why, why, why when so much of the mind and body says, no, no, no. Anyhow, today was such a day but as usual I reminded myself of how great I feel after a long run and how much I like the results of being highly fit and running fast times. Additionally, I remind myself of how much I dislike the results of less activity. When I started running, I was very motivated by the benefit of stress release and used to visualize that I was leaving stress behind like a trail of soot on the road.
My route in a nutshell was west to High Park with a short loop there, then back east through the CNE grounds, past Ontario Place and over to Harbourfront, with a northwest beeline for home.
View From Ontario Place
There was a very pretty pink hue hovering on the horizon which made for a pleasant sight while running past Ontario Place. East of there is the Tip Top Tailor building. I’ve run by the Tip Top Tailor building, now converted into lofts for decades, and often wondered about the interior. Today I’ll get the inside story, as that is where we are headed this evening.
I made a pit stop at Harbourfront Center and took a moment to enjoy a photography exhibit. A photo by Jesse Boleswhich is part of an exhibit called Piles caught my eye. The aesthetic is similar to art that I enjoyed in my younger days. And then I hit the road again, face to face with a very strong west wind. This is the first year that I’ve had a vented face protector and it is a big improvement over the muffler style face warmers which can get iced up in super-cold temperatures.
Photograph by Jesse Boles
My final stop was the dry cleaners, from there jogging the final stretch home, cleaning in hand. Finishing felt so good that I cheered out loud for myself!
As with the camping experience, food tastes better after a long run, so I eagerly dove right into breakfast by making my quickie version of Carrot Cake Oatmeal. If you haven’t tried it yet, you really must. It is super-fine stuff.
Breakfast of Champions
Recipe: In large microwavable bowl combine 1 cup grated carrots, 1 cup milk, 1/2 cup oats (not quick cooking oats), 1/4 teaspoon vanilla, a dash of cinnamon, raisins (optional), dried cranberries (optional) and cook on high for 5 minutes. Stir. Add chopped pecans, maple syrup and milk or cream. Make sure the bowl you cook the oatmeal in is at least twice the volume of the ingredients as it will boil and bubble vigorously.
YOU MUST TRY THIS!
There was some leftover whipping cream in the fridge so I indulged, and used that instead of milk. This is my third post about Carrot Cake Oatmeal, and I urge you to give it a try. It’s a real winner and will add excitement to your breakfast table this winter. And how virtuous one feels starting the day with a cup of grated carrot in your cereal, especially after a hardy workout!
“Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains after your bad habits are subtracted from your good ones.” Benjamin Franklin
TORONTO. 20 September 2005.
Mind, Motion & Matter 