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.
My husband and I were discussing what stages of weight training each of us is in. I am in the Maximum Transition (MT) phase and he is in the Maximum Strength (MS) phase. He asked a few questions about how many repetitions he should be doing and how many weeks. My answer; um, you could check my blog. Said he, “So now you won’t talk to me, I have to talk to the blog?”. I chortled but I think he was hoping for some sympathy.
There is a certain convenience in having some of my thoughts about training collected and recorded. With 30 years of running experience, I get asked the same questions with some regularity.
A recent question in response to my post on weight training was a recommendation for a current book on the subject that is easily available. I asked my weight training consultant, champion triathlete Beverley Coburnof Active Age Fitnessfor her thoughts.
Here they are:
“Really like the book, Encyclopedia of Muscle & Strength by Jim Stoppani (Human Kinetics). This book has everything in it for building programs for beginners up to bodybuilders. I especially like the details. Stoppani describes the muscles and exercises for each muscle group i.e. shoulders with isolation and compound exercises for the front, rear and medial deltoids – great for developing muscle balance. Another book that has great pics is Strength Training Anatomy by Frederic Delavier.
I’ve seen Strength Training Anatomy in bookstores for around $25. Encyclopedia of Muscle and Strength, I purchased on-line through Human Kinetics – possibly in bookstores too (somewhere around $25-$35).”
Would someone you love, like to receive this as a Valentine’s gift?
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
Having been born and raised in Montreal, childhood memories involve what seemed like mini-mountain ranges lining the streets providing great climbing opportunities for the agile and fleet of foot. I recall going to a school in a neighbouring suburb almost two miles away however, there was a short cut through the woods that was just a mile and I would sometimes hike home, even when I had to trudge through thigh-high snow. I had a propensity then to push myself physically, a little further, a little faster.
From the age of 12 to 16 I playedRingette, mainly on outdoor rinks and it did get cold. I don’t remember any game cancellations due to cold, rather the opposite, when the temperature was too high to produce a reasonable ice surface. After a couple of years, neighbouring municipalities started Ringette leagues on indoor rinks and my best ringette buddy and I joined another league. The fun came when we ended up on the all-star teams for both towns. We chose to play for the weaker team although I had a ball because I got to play forward, rather than my usual defence position.
In those days there was no such thing as a girls hockey league, Ringette was the adapted ice sport, suitable for girls. The only girls who wore hockey skates then were a couple of girls who had serious hockey playing dads, the daughter of professional hockey player, Fleming McKellfor instance. The rest of us wore figure skates and we filed the toe picks off.
I started out as a goalie but did not particularly shine or enjoy the position. My brothers used to chant this, “Lynn, Lynn she’s so thin, she always lets the ring go in”. I was quite a fast skater and because of this my coaches always put me on defence because I had a knack for being in the right place, and could usually put on a burst of speed to get in the way of an opponent. In ringette at that time there was a weird rule that defence players could not go into the offensive zone. Very dull, to say the least. I hope they’ve changed that rule. Did you know that Canada has the highest number of ringette players, over 50,000!
Look ma, no gloves!
I enjoyed today’s marvelous sun. I left the house in full winter gear, and ended up feeling quite overdressed. At least one can exercise some temperature control by removing a layer on a day like this. Which reminds me of when my son was in grade school and I would run by the school yard to make sure he was dressed properly on the really cold days, finding him at times playing in the schoolyard, having ditched his jacket.
I dread those stifling hot, muggy days of summer. Down by the lake, sun shining, winter white seems . . . quite alright.
Something funny happened on our Saturday run. Four of us decided that we may take part in an informal race. To those unfamiliar with our running group ethic, this may not seem strange or funny however one characteristic of this running group is that I am the only one who races these days and we don’t talk about running a whole lot.
The idea started when I joined forces with “D” to convince “R” that as the youngster in the group, a bit of fast running might be good for his character. “R” was reticent and said he would agree, only if all five of us were to race. “D” and I, knowing full well that convincing “B” who has recently come down with a case of knee-moania was a non-starter, suggested this was a bad faith approach. He then offered that if “B” agreed to watch the race, he would do it. A funny idea that. Again, “D” and I persisted and finally got “R” to agree that if “J” was willing, he was in. This discussion took place as the three of us were headed towards “J”s house.
Smart Men & One Fast Woman
Barely passed the hellos, we quizzed “J” who immediately said, “Sure, I guess this is my chance to be humiliated.” Anyhow, sometime this winter at a indoor track, at an informal race, that has been going on every Friday for over three decades, four of us may take the plunge and race two miles alongside (or against) each other. Stay tuned.
I am curious to see what “B” who was out of town on Saturday, thinks of this. Given the learned background of my running mates, perhaps I will be privy to a discussion of whether Plato or Aristotle would condone or condemn our planned course of action. As for the bets, I’m told they are on ME — but I’m not as fit as past years, and I’m not sure if I would put my money on an aging filly over a two mile sprint.
Snow, snow, snow . . . will this storm materialize as predicted? I thought this might be a good time to list the different indoor venues where I have done long runs when poor conditions prevailed. In days of yore, treadmills were not available at fitness facilities, so most runners slogged it out on the roads. I’ve always been finicky about poor footing due to chronic ankle troubles stemming from having severely sprained my ankle at age 13 on a trampoline. Consequently, I’m usually the first to head indoors to find relief from slipping and sliding outdoors.
I once ran 18 miles on this track, a total of 4955.5 laps in the early-eighties. David Suzuki used to be a regular on this teeny track.
Former Central YMCA on College Street
The West End YMCA
15.5 laps to the mile.
I ran a full marathon, 26.2 miles here in the mid-eighties, a total of 380 laps.
Hart House Track at the University of Toronto
About 11.3 laps to the mile
I’ve run 12 miles on this track. Although it is bigger than the old Central YMCA track the banking is horrible and I would not recommend doing a long run here.
The Athletic Centre at the University of Toronto
8 laps to the mile
About 6-7 years ago I ran 23 miles on the outside track and ran by time rather than counting laps. Who says we don’t get smarter with age.
The York University Track
8 laps to the mile
I’ve run a number of track races on the indoor track, which has excellent banking and run on the outer warm-up track before and after workouts or races. I’ve never done a long run there but I imagine it would be fairly entertaining with all the high-performance activity on the inside track. My husband and I used to see the infamous Ben Johnson work out on the sprint lanes.
The Eaton Centre
One New Years Day in the eighties I ran a few miles here, having started outside during a snowstorm, I ducked inside and logged some miles in the mall.
Treadmill
The most miles I’ve run on a treadmill is 18 miles which I did a few years back.
If you think this sounds crazy consider this, legendary marathoner Emil Zapotek’ssolution to training in harsh weather. Zapotek would fill his bathtub with water and then his laundry and run in place for hours. Zapotek is remembered for winning triple gold in the 5K, 10K and marathon at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.
My total miles run for last week was 60 and about 48-50 of those miles were run outside. While there were some cold days, the wind has been relatively tame making runs by Lake Ontario quite pleasant.
I was pleased to find the Empire Sandy, a tall ship landmark at Spadina Quay in spring, summer and fall, docked nearby at Queen’s Quay. I also enjoyed the outdoor art near the pond, now skating rink, just outside Queen’s Quay.
The Empire Sandy, Docked for the Winter
Today I was drawn to run outside because of the wonderful blue sky. It was however necessary to get into full winter gear to stay warm, a key item is the facewarmer. These items are described in two previous posts, Winter Running Gear Accessories and Winter Running Gear: Base, Middle & Outer Layers. It’s hard to pick out in the photo below but I am wearing a vented-bandana-style face protector made by Seiruswhich was bought at Dick’s in the U.S. You may find one of this particular style at a store specializing in snowboarding gear but specialty running stores like New Balance Toronto and Mountain Equipment Co-op usually have the plain black styles in stock.
Cold, but too blue to stay inside.
Just East of Ontario Place
Here are photos from the outdoor art display near the Power Plantby Harbourfront Centre east of Queen’s Quay.
Harbourfront Outdoor Photo Exhibit
More Outdoor Art
Now that I am taking a photography course, I’ve become acutely aware of the limitations of my mini-camera. However, I just can’t see myself running with the Nikon SLR camera lent to me by my son. Even if I did not mind the weight, I’m sure the movement would not be good for the camera. The instructor will be showing us how to take shots of fast moving objects. I asked her whether that would apply to the opposite situation, when the photographer is the fast moving object. She said we will cover that later. Here is a photo I took for my course with a few painterly touches courtesy of PhotoShop, which I am learning to use. I think I’ll call it Alley Series: #1 🙂
Planning our Saturday route and its timing took a fair bit of communicating with emails flying between four parties well into Friday evening. “R” wanted to run 8-9 miles and had to be home by 8:15 a.m. while “D” was to be out late Friday and requested a not-too-early start time. I questioned a plan that had the four of us running separately along routes which in an ideal world would see us converge. Four moving objects running along icy sidewalks in -9C seemed to me a formula for confusion and missed rendezvous points. Been there, done that and it is far too cold to risk the possibility of standing on a street corner, wondering if so and so is late or has already gone by and should we wait. I asserted that I would only go along with this plan if we were all running with cell phones.
With the help of Google’s Pedometer I drew up a new plan and thanks to a couple of Blackberries and an IPhone, consensus was achieved for this new route. “R” ran by my place, we ran to “D”s and then we ran to “J”s. From there we went to “R”‘s arriving at 8:15 a.m. on the dot, our most important mission accomplished, and so on, all done with all the waiting done, in the warmth our homes. One day, there will be an APP to figure out how to organize a group run minimizing time spent running alone, coming from disparate points and all with different mileage targets. Here is what each of us got out of this group run.
Lynn = 14 miles, 2 miles solo
R = 8.75 miles, 1.5 miles solo
D = 7 miles, company all the way
J = 6.75 miles, 0.9 miles solo
Recently, I was showing our roommate how to use Google Maps Pedometer and he immediately noticed a function that I had never used. Once you have calculated a route, you can turn on the calorie counter, input your weight and voila,1165 calories burned for 14 miles. Time to eat!
Following my post about weight training, a reader asked for recommended reading. I was reminded of this groundbreaking book from the early 80’s by Gayle Olinekova which inspired me to begin my weight training routine. Gayle was ahead of her time in that she incorporated weight training into her marathon training schedule. This former Torontonian ran world-class marathon times and yet felt a little embarrassed about her very muscular legs, which did not fit the typical marathon runner mold or the prevailing feminine ideal. Eventually, she was discovered by Sports Illustrated and covered in an article called The Greatest Legs to Ever Stride the Earth.
Photo by Helmut Newton
Sadly, Gayle died in 2003 at the age of 50. Gayle’s book Go For It! was written at a time when books on athletics written by women were almost non-existent. It may be out-of-print but available used.
Go for it!
I can claim a shared experience, as she was at one time a member of the Toronto Olympic Club which I belonged to for a few years. From wanting to hide her legs to inclusion in Helmut Newton’s “Strong Women: A Portfolio of California’s Super Athletes” Gayle can be given credit for blazing a trail. Here is part of an obituary from the Los Angeles Times.
Gayle Olinekova, a marathon runner and fitness guru whose chiseled, muscular legs helped change cultural views about beauty in female athletes in the 1980s, has died. She was 50.
I’ve finally gotten round to writing an ABOUT tab for this blog. Here it is.
Detroit, Ford Field Finish
The choice to return to very active life I experienced while growing up, has brought many good things into my life. This journey began with a few runs, while still a smoker, fitness classes at the YMCA which led to quitting smoking, cold turkey. With all the excess energy of being more fit and tobacco-free I began to run regularly, first a mile and then a few months later, a marathon in 4 hours and 11 minutes. Recently, I celebrated 30 years of running for fitness, friendship with my 20th marathon, surpassing the Boston qualifying standard by 33 minutes. One of the good things was meeting my husband over 25 years ago when he introduced himself in a YMCA cafeteria after the 1985 Peterborough Half-Marathon. He remains, my favourite running partner. We have a 23 year old son, 17 nieces and nephews and 4 grandnephews and grandnieces.
Highlights of my racing career came later in life; 1st place finish in the 50-54 category at the Chicago Marathon, 3rd place (50-54) at the Boston marathon and a time of 3 hours & 10 minutes at the Detroit Marathon, run at age 50. I like to refer (or brag) of having qualified for the Boston Marathon in the Open Men’s category at age 50. This time also qualified as an Ontario 50-54 age group record for the marathon. The time I am most proud of from my younger days is having run my 4th half-marathon in 1 hour & 23 minute after less than 3 years of running and with low-mileage training due to chronic ankle injuries.
Over the years I have learned that advising people about how to train is tricky business AND that there is no formula. We are, as George Sheehan put it, “An experiment of one.” I’ve run while pregnant, run good times on low mileage, run great times on high mileage and run purely for fitness for the first 9 years of my son’s life, returning with a vengeance by logging more than 100 miles a week at times, with high-intensity workouts thrown into the mix.
Along the way, I’ve had to learn and abide by the “laws of the body”, George Sheehan again. I hope that providing some insight into how running fits into my daily routine might encourage you to commit to habits that will enhance your quality of life. I find the benefits to be as much (if not a little more) about mental well-being as physical.
There is an abundance of information available on fitness and training for the motivated and curious, and it is not my goal to spend a lot of time on the details of which others have expertly written. I would caution however that discernment is required as there are obvious paralells between “getting fit quick” and “getting rich quick”. I hope my observations about what has worked for me, while running close to 60,000 miles or more in my lifetime, might arouse your curiosity and point you in the direction of finding out what routines work for you, be it running or your heart thumpingactivity of choice.
As for all the non-running chit chat, I think of it as my side of a conversation, were we to share each others company while on a run — that being the most companionable of spaces. Consider this your invitation to comment and question.
Mind, Motion & Matter 