Mind, Motion & Matter

Running, Essentially . . .

Tag Archives: Training


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Happy Birthday to Ed Whitlock

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.

Here is the Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon news flash about Diane’s marathon record attempt that year.

Diane Palmason to go after W65+ marathon mark on Toronto Waterfront this Sunday

Diane PalmasonTORONTO. 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.

Good wine, good company, good times, great times!


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Ottawa Marathon, Some Memories

I had planned to tie in my afternoon as a tourist in Ottawa with the Ottawa marathon race route. However we are making a mad dash out to Scarborough this afternoon to check into a hotel, using Aeroplan points, close to the location of a Valentine’s dinner we are attending. The dinner is hosted by the marriage enrichment group that we are a part of. Last year we attended with my parents, as they attended a retreat organized by this same group, a few decades ago.  Perhaps “the boys” will have a party in our absence. The boys being our son who is home most weekends, and his friend, Alain who lives with us 24/7.

I have run the Ottawa marathon four times. It is tied with the Boston marathon for repeat outings.My first running of this marathon was in 1982 and I was wearing a t-shirt that read, No Nukes are Good Nukes. Those were the days. Here are my Ottawa marathon times.

# Ottawa Marathon, May 1982 — 3:37
# Ottawa Marathon, May 2002 — 3:07:02 (personal best, age 46)
# Ottawa Marathon, May 2003 — 3:11
# Ottawa Marathon, May 2004 –3:10

Speaking at Ottawa Marathon Race Expo

In 2005 I was a co-presenter at the Ottawa marathon race expo with Steve Boyd. Steve holds umpteen Canadian masters records and also has a doctorate, I think it is in the history of political thought from Queen’s University. Shortly after, I wrote an article on Steve Boyd which is somewhere on the hard drive of an old computer. I hope to retrieve this one day (so many things to do, so little time) and post it on my blog. I’ve added some award-ceremony photos and a bit about Steve Boyd to my post on Dylan Wykes the winner of the California International Marathon, as Steve is Dylan Wyke’s mentor-coach.

Have a wonderful evening all!


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Weight training questions? Talk to the Blog

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 Coburn of Active Age Fitness for 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?


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Another Day, Another Run

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 Boles which 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



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To race or not to race . . .

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.


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About!

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 thumping activity 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.

All the best!

Lynn


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What I Think About WHEN I Think About Running

If you have been following my blog, you’ll know that most of the time, I don’t think about running, when I am running. I’ve forwarded the proposition that the more reasons you have to run, and the more that you have to think about while running, the easier it is to stick to running.  Does it follow then that since I run A LOT, a lot of what I think about is not about running?  Possibly.

Some of those thoughts and activities that occupy me or take place on the run include listening to music and audio books, watching television, list-making, photography, shopping, meal-planning and recently, I’ve become adept at checking my Blackberry while running on a treadmill.

The Pain Gain

However faster running, involving effort, discomfort and pain requires that thoughts be focused on running and it is helpful to develop positive mental strategies to deal with these more challenging physical sensations. At the moment, faster running is about 40 minutes out of the roughly 6-7 hours a week I run. A big part of what motivates me to push past the discomfort and pain is the knowledge of the health benefits of intense running. When you exercise at an intensity over the lactate threshold your body produces Exercise-Induced Growth Hormone Response (EIGR) the effect of which is double the benefit of aerobic exercise.

While running hard, I visually imagine EIGR secretions flowing through my body and soothing my joints.  I also think of my heart, pumping vigorously sending blood in strong gushes throughout  my circulatory system, massaging and cleansing my arteries.  While these images may not be sound biology, you get the picture, it is all about the importance of positive images.

Knee Joint Facsimile

My husband has been having knee trouble for nearly two years.   As a joke, I gave him a key chain with a replica of a knee joint.  As time passes, I’m thinking that this rattling, fragile looking knee joint may not inspire confidence in recovery and only lends fuel to the argument that the knee joint is poorly designed and engineered.  Not the best mindset for visual images of healing and health.

The simple practice described in this quote by Jean Houston strikes me as wise, at the gut level. 

“Try to spend a few moments each day holding a picture of your body and your mind in a state of splendid health.”

Hmm, I think this key chain has got to go!


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Run, Run, Rest . . . RUN

Way back in the mid-eighties, I discovered the benefits of the easy week.  I like to think of myself as one of the early adopters of this principle. The hard-easy day principle of training was well ingrained in anyone who had read articles from Runner’s World and Running Times but not so, the easy week.

One reason for experimenting with easy weeks was having spent half of the my first five years of running – injured. Out of necessity those first five years of running were all about trial and error and a lot of research into how the body works.

Fortunately, I was never prone to running through pain so I did not set myself up for chronic injuries. Just as the body carries the memory of hard-training and top fitness, making the road to achieving this easier, once traveled, my sense is that the body also remembers when the warning signal of pain has been ignored and the time for healing replaced by pushing through or masking the pain, a recipe for developing a lifetime chronic running injury.

The easy week, is all about distribution of effort. The hard weeks are more challenging and the easy weeks, well easier. Over the past decade or more, I was running similar weekly mileage to my peers, as an average, but thrown into the mix, would be some blockbuster weeks of say, over 100 miles and weeks with mileage lower than most “serious” marathoners would consider worthy. The concept of the easy week can be expanded to think of easy years. For example, I knew I wanted to be in the best shape of my life when I turned 50. Leading up to this key racing season, I mixed in an easy year just before. I was increasing fitness, however, I was banking all-out race efforts for when I changed age-groups.

Author - Dr. Jim Loehr

Maximizing performance through distribution of effort can be applied to how we manage our lives. I enjoyed The Power of Full Engagement written by Jim Loehr. He says, “Managing ënergy not time is the key to full engagement and optimal performance.” and I think this is relevant to marathon training as well as life management.

In spite of the faulty analogy Loehr uses to describe his insights, unflattering comparisons of marathoners with sprinters, the basics of what he says rings true for me. As for the analogy, Loehr is a tennis player and his sprinter versus marathoner metaphor demonstrates that he is unfamiliar with the training methods of high-performance distance runners who in fact, must draw on several energy systems  to perform optimally.

In running and in life, knowing when is the best time to do what, and the energy demands or complexity of those tasks is a step towards improving RESULTS.


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Top Tourist Attraction in Edmonton

Yes, at one time the West Edmonton Mall was a draw for a family with a young boy, who loved swimming with his dad in the wave pool.  But for a Torontonian who dislikes crowds and has never been to the Canadian National Exhibition for this reason, this white-elphantish mall is on my try-to-avoid list.  I do appreciate the sentiment involved in creating large winter-proof indoor venues for one-stop-everything as the weather here is a force.  Although, I just checked the temperature in Whitehorse to find -36C, twelve degrees colder than Edmonton at this time.

Servus Place at 8 a.m., Saturday, January 15, 2011

My Whitehorse brother has a friend who lives across the river from Dawson City in a log cabin with no running water and electricity.  I’m told that the traditional log cabin retains heat very well.  Some people are born with the gene for high adventure, the Call of the Wild. Apparently, the friend’s Blackberry works at her cabin.  Well that’s a comfort.

Marathoning is about as tame as it gets, with the risk of say, a stress fracture, incurred slowly over many months of running, an injury brought to fruition so gradually that it can take a lot of medical detective work to find out the wherefores and whys.

Ready to Prove Eligible for Seniors Discount

We arrived at Servus Place, our pick for Top Tourist Attraction in Edmonton just before sunrise to beat the rush.  It was snowing and the roads had worsened since yesterday, narrower still and more slippery.  Once again, my husband remarked that they did not ask him to prove he is eligible for the senior rate.

I ran on the treadmill while my husband ran on the indoor track.  Last month, my sister asked me if treadmills have a built in gradual-stop mechanism should the power go off.  Today I found out that on the model I was running on, no if the power goes off, the treadmill stops suddenly.  This happened twice, a loose wire I guess.  On the topic of danger and challenge, well this could be hazardous if running at high speed.

I was watching the Outdoor Life Network while running and was captivated by the travel show, Word Travels. When I say watch, while running it usually means literally watching with no sound as I prefer to listen to music. I tried to plug into the sound but unfortunately the earphone outlet did did not match my earphone plug.

There was coverage of what appeared to be a kind of urban-cross country racing, alley cat bike racing which has its roots in Toronto bike messenger culture and then unbelievably, the two hosts did a jump off the Macau Tower.  Unbelievable, to me at least, for whom the excitement of driving in Edmonton is all I need to make me feel like I’m living on the edge.

Let us journey to a lonely land I know.
There’s a whisper on the night-wind,
there’s a star agleam to guide us,
And the Wild is calling,
calling. . . let us go.

Robert Service


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Getting Things Done

I’ve already blogged about Dave Allen, guru of productivity and positioned the goal of the quest for finding more time, as finding time to run more miles. After some thought it dawned on me that in fact, it is not about finding time to run, or the time to run more miles because running is a part of my daily routine, like brushing my teeth. It is about finding the time to do all the other things I love to do.

Those “other” things don’t have the magnificent health benefits of running, which explains why they don’t fall into the “like brushing my teeth” category. For example, I love to garden and if gardening had the same health benefits of running, it would definitely give running some stiff competition for my time. That being said, I do believe  there are many mental and physical benefits to gardening but that’s a whole other discussion.

I have a voracious appetite for time management books and books on getting organized. I definitely have a bent towards systems and organization, scoring 21 out of 22 on my Meyers Briggs test on that count, referred to in the MB context as Judging (not to be confused with judgmental). Friends often laugh at me when I say, “I have a plan” . . .  so what else is new they chuckle.  This is a very clearly defined aspect of my personality and statements such as the ones below reflect this approach to the external world. I believe it makes me a good match psychologically with the demands of marathon training.

# I like to have things decided.
# I appear to be task oriented.
# I like to make lists of things to do.
# I like to get my work done before playing.
# I plan work to avoid rushing just before a deadline.

Lately, I’ve been listening to Dave Allen’s first book Getting Things Done on my IPod. Both this and his second book, Making It All Work are available on ITunes. I’ve read it before but it is definitely worth a reread.  One thing that struck me was his statement, “You can only feel good about what you are not doing when you know what it is that you are not doing.” He maintains that unless we unload all the things-to-do that are cluttering up our short term memory we cannot do the best thinking our minds are capable of.

Getting Things Done

Whatever your goals for 2011, I recommend that you consider Dave Allen in print or audio to Make It All Work!