8 Clicks From Nowhere

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long run

The Taper Begins

Sunday, October 23, 02016

I marked the first day of the last month of my thirties with a not-so-long long run, officially beginning the taper to my marathon as the last two weeks of training time until race day officially begins.

Yeah… two weeks.

I celebrated by leading an enthusiastic group back down to the still-very-new footbridge that had opened a couple days previous, symbolically and coincidentally meeting up with the run club across the river who had made a similar trek to the new link to explore our trails.

After my reasonably successful looooooong run last weekend, and combined with the utter exhaustion of diving into a full-on home renovation two weeks before a marathon, I opted to start my taper on the early end of the spectrum. Some people say ten days, some people say longer: I went with a bit longer.

At this point, another super-long run is not going to change my finish time any measurable amount, and in fact might just leave me burnt out and slower. I’ve done three epic-distance runs leading into this short span of time, and now it’s kinda out of my hands, other than staying healthy and not doing something stupid, like twisting my ankle or stepping on a nail inside my partially-deconstructed living room.

Posted in: running trackable Tagged: bridge long run marathon marathon training nyc marathon taper terwillegar park

Goal Busting

Sunday, October 16, 02016

Ok, so I haven’t exactly been diligently posting on here about anything lately. Here’s the status of my life:

Work. Busy. And you don’t care about that.

Home. We’ve been ramping up a renovation of our main floor. Walls, flooring, kitchen, cabinets, and all the little doodads that connect it all into a livable space. Finally things seem like they are moving. We’ve got help, but because we’re cheap idiots, we’re doing a bunch of the work ourselves: demo, painting, flooring, etc. One guess how I spend every spare moment these days.

Violin. I try to hobble down to the basement, my music space, and get in at least –at least– thirty minutes of practice per day. Somehow, maybe because I’m making up for my sad lack of effort in my teens on the last instrument I learned to play, I’m actually putting in about twice that much time on an average day with the violin. Yeah, it’s more like an hour of squeaky music. I don’t sound amazing yet, but I can actually play songs. With notes. And it kinda, almost, sorta sounds like there might be some potential there.

And then Running. Yeah. That thing. I’m still training, of course, and with less than three weeks until race day, my panic mode has mellowed into a kind of resigned state of taper: there’s really not much more that can be done at this point.

Which leads me to this post:

I ran 32 klicks on Sunday morning.

Thirty-two. Three-quarters of the full marathon distance. Despite the fact we got hit by a premature winter. Despite the fact that the ground is white, in mid-October. Despite the fact that when I woke up at 6am there was freezing rain coming down in a direction I wasn’t entirely sure was vertical. I looked out the window, let out a sad little whimpering gasp (or I assume I did) and set to figuring out how to cope with the uncooperative climate.

I ran. I plodded through the local asphalt, never really more than three or four klicks radially from home. Those who remember their high school math would tell you now that a four klick radius from home would net just exactly the right amount of distance. Those who live in reality would tell you that streets don’t work out that way. In other words I covered some ground twice in that I pretty much did two lopsided laps of the neighbourhood, partly solo, partly with some motivational company.

goalbustingAnd then somewhere in that blur of cold, wind, distance, footsteps, ice, snow, convo, traffic, asphalt, sweat, tears, pain, and quiet perserverence, I crossed an invisible finish line. I’m going to say it was at roughly 24 klicks, though unnoted, somewhere plodding along the trails skirting the nearby creek. This was when my goal-setting odometer ticked over to that seemingly optimistic (and somewhat randomly set) goal I’d written herein, way back in January: I’d run 1390 km for the year. And then I just kept running.

Goal achieved, in mid-October no less, with still a whole full and a half marathon to run before the year ends. Granted, I hadn’t planned on training for or running a marathon this year, at least not back in January when I set my pragmatic target for 2016. But now that I’ve trained, now that I’ve crossed the invisible virtual finish line for 2016, a couple of the weights of the effort have been gently lifted from my shoulders.

After all, what’s a short little marathon when you’ve logged almost fourteen hundred klicks since New Years?

Posted in: running trackable Tagged: long run marathon marathon training running in snow winter running

Race Pace(ish)

Saturday, October 1, 02016

Another weekend, another long run.

My distance has been snowballing, building for the last few weeks …and with it my energy level has been falling in a corresponding correlation of epic exhaustion. I remember why I vowed never to (casually) attempt another marathon: the training itself is enough to kill any love of this damn sport. Race day: fine, I can cope. But it’s the twelve weeks of blurry vision and foggy spirits that descend upon you as you push towards that start line. I can’t seem to find any energy save when I’m wallowing in a eat-the-everything post-feast afterglow.

Saturday, technically, should have been another long, long run with another couple klicks tacked onto the end for that build. Life did not comply. My schedule called for a single roll-back week, an that week should have been next week, but I took it today: there were things to do, places to be, realities in which my participation would not have tolerated a post-long-run stupor.

There was no time for a nap.

I ran fifteen klicks, but feeling a little bit guilty, I cranked up the pace and pushed towards, well, not quite race pace, but faster than my LSD training pace. If you can’t do the quantity, at least go for quality I say.

Posted in: running trackable Tagged: long run marathon marathon training race pace

Three-Quarter Marathon

Saturday, September 24, 02016

To be clear, I haven’t run a full marathon in almost three years, and since then –or, at least since starting this crazy NYC Marathon training — I haven’t gone much further than a half marathon distance. Or, at all further than a half marathon distance.

So, every time I creep a little closer to forty-two, a little longer on a long run, I’m setting a new recent-memory distance threshold for myself.

I opted to run on Saturday. I had a lot of excuses that I told people, but really it was because I knew I’d want a nap after my long run. Sunday’s schedule was not compatible with that.

Almost thirty-two klicks is, roughly, mathematically, a half marathon plus another half of a half marathon: a three quarter marathon. Jenn joined me for the early first leg, a fifteen and a bit slog around the lower reaches of the southwest city burbs. And then I slogged on alone, running another sixteen and a bit in a long meandering loop closer to home.

The wind didn’t cooperate.

My fuel ran low for the last few klicks.

And my legs resumed their pain of that all-too-familiar memory of lead-filled calves.

But I over-hydrated back at home, ate some food, and yes, took a pleasant nap in the comfy chair.

Another quarter marathon would have nearly killed me, but I’ll creep a little further next time, slog out a few more klicks closer to that final epic distance, and probably make time for a NYC afternoon nap on some Sunday afternoon all too soon.

Posted in: running trackable Tagged: distance long run marathon nyc marathon training

Two Bandits, Four Races & Lots of Stairs

Saturday, September 17, 02016

It’s that time in the marathon training when I get to hit the highs and lows of training exhaustion meets epic distance bragging rights.

I met Leon in the river valley for a day-early, early morning long run.

Other obligations shifted the regular Sunday run to a more convenient time slot, and as a result the two guys for training for completely different marathon adventure runs in the coming months are stuck juggling their very different schedules around each other.

It was raining before we even started and the morning drizzle didn’t really loose energy until we were near about twenty klicks in.

We tried a new stretch of trail (the bit that leads from one bridge to a new bridge that is yet to be opened) and back, up and down a few sets of mighty stairs (not fun at any stage in a long run, but what are you gonna do?) and then dodged back into the river valley proper.

By 9am, and us about ten klicks into our run, we encountered the first course marshall.

We weren’t in the race, obviously, but apparently the last Saturday morning of summer-proper is a desirable weekend to hold a race. We passed through Laurier Park and there was a race in progress.

Then all was pretty quiet for a while.

Rounding the corner near Kinsen, however, another race was just kicking off as we played chicken with a pounding fury of fresh runners on a narrow little road.

Across the river, and starting our long trek back to the trucks, suddenly yet another race swung out of Victoria Park and meshed not only with our planned route, but overlapped with the race that was still pluckily trodding along from Kinsmen, catching the slower of that crew in a swarm of even fresher fun runners.

We waved off some course marshals: no, we’re not in the race, thanks… and thought we’d seen the end of it.

Nope. Back in Laurier as we passed through for our second swing through, an hour and a half later, yet another 5k was plodding around the paths of the off-leash park. We waved off some more marshals and even turned down a water station break, before dodging back into the trees for the last few klicks.

By the time we got back the rain had stopped, the sun was out, and I (at least) was completely spent. Twenty-nine klicks, and still so far away from my peak distance looming just a few short weeks away.

Posted in: running trackable Tagged: long run long slow marathon marathon training nyc marathon

Sharing the Adventure

Sunday, May 1, 02016

After my not-quite-lost but alternate-route of yesterday run, I had the idea of some fresh trails — and sharing my little discovery — with the crew.

So I suggested we check that out.

I took about seven people (I can’t say for sure because there was a couple people who peeled off part way for their own distance goals, and Miss H joined us for a while but bailed early because she is apparently becoming a YouTube celebrity and has other priorities besides running!) on a modified reverse version of the mysterious trail under the bridge, and then up through some of the new gravel that has opened up this spring leading into the dog park.

It got warm, quick. By the time we had passed the fifteen klick mark we were cooking in the heat, and I (scorned & shamed for not bringing water, tsk tsk) was actually a bit thirsty.

Lots of hill. Lots of scenery. Lots of fun.

Photo: Jenn B.

Posted in: running trackable Tagged: adventure long run new route pathfinding spring running warm water

Friday Night Commuter

Friday, April 15, 02016

If you think it’s tough to find the motivation to go out for a run after work, try finding the motivation to run home FROM work.

It helps when you don’t give yourself much choice: take the bus to work, pack your gear, make plans with a running partner who did the same thing, and then… well… you’re kinda stuck lacing up and just getting it done.

You start by running through downtown, weaving through the busy streets and sidewalks, crossing the river and thinking just how far away from home you are. Then you weave through the university grounds and, well, it’s still pretty far. After a bit the trails are more familiar, places where you’d run when you’re out for one of those really long Sunday runs. Suddenly you’re climbing that familiar hill, and honing in on roads you run weekly as you narrow in on your own neighbourhood, home creeping into sight in the distance.

And then you look down at your watch, stop it, take a big sigh of relief, and realize you’ve just run home. No big deal. Or maybe a little big deal.

Posted in: running trackable work & business Tagged: after work commute long run run home

East Ender Adventure

Saturday, April 9, 02016

Three things:

First, we decided to do a bit of a longer run on Saturday. Normally we would have run about ten klicks on a Saturday morning, but…

Second, Jenn & I drove half way across town to meet up with Erin & Leon. There are trails winding through the river valley all the way from downtown to the east edge of the city. I’ve always assumed they are there, but there are a lot trails I’ve never checked them out.

We parked in the Muttart lot, laced up, and ran fourteen klicks through some scenic (and hilly) paths, across the river a couple times over sketchy bridges, past golf courses, and up at least one muddy scramble.

Third, my new camera came along for the duration, and proved a roaring success. Easy to carry. Easy to use. I’m sure I’ll want to run a few more times with it before I write a full review but… screenshots from some of the video I shot follow:

eastend07
eastend14
eastend01
eastend10
eastend12
eastend04
Posted in: running trackable Tagged: adventure bridges east side hills long run muttart river valley trails

Nineteen to Build

Monday, October 19, 02015

In less than a week I’ll be running another half marathon. It’s been nearly five months since I’ve run even that distance, let alone a race despite my (as Leon jokingly pointed out “failed”) goal of running one per month for the duration of 2015. Injury has a way of crushing little things like that, but I suppose it’s more about how you decide to face the challenge of injury and turn around a setback. On Sunday morning we narrowed that distance gap a little further, setting out on what turned into an awesome fall run for nearly nineteen klicks, through trails and streets, from secret side paths to main roads. It wasn’t a run meant to train our physical fitness or make us stronger, so much as it was an outing to boost our confidence… that after five months a half is still within reach. And apparently it is.

Posted in: asides & shorts running Tagged: half-marathon injury long run running in autumn training

A Perfect Run Morning

Monday, July 27, 02015

…except for the injury. Epic weather, sunlight breaking through the trees, fog hanging gently on the creek and a light breeze to echo the perfect comfort of the morning. Too bad my leg didn’t cooperate.

Posted in: running Tagged: image leon long run lynda running sunday

Commuter Running (v.2015) Take 1

Friday, May 15, 02015

Call me crazy, but unless something goes terribly wrong between now and when the whistle blows, I’m running home tonight. Nineteen klicks of post-work slogging it home. I took the bus (instead of driving to the train station) and packed a gear bag. I’ll be leaving the clothes I’m wearing under my desk in the same bag, and minimizing my pack for the homeward trip: phones, keys, id card, and some light nutrition and hydration — it’s supposed to be a warm one out today. The route offers up quite an awesome variety of scenery: through the skyscraper valley, past the legislature, over the high level bridge, past the university, into the river valley, and through the creek towards my destination. Now, just to get through some real work before the fun begins!

Posted in: asides & shorts running work & business Tagged: commuter run long run post-work running man

Five Hundred

Monday, May 4, 02015

Two weekends in a row: thanks to some cooperative motivation in the sunshiny perfect weather of Sunday morning, a couple of us squeezed out the exact distance of a half marathon as a training run. It was my second half-distance (albeit not a race this time) inside of a week, and thanks to the company, distractions, and more leisurely pace, it felt pretty good all things considered. The extra distances between both Saturday and Sunday nudged me over my weekly goal giving me nearly 50 klicks on the week, and pushed me happily over the 500 klicks on the year mark, nearly 49 klicks ahead of schedule to meet my annual goal. It’s nice place to be sitting right now. Even compared to last year, pre-injury and post-marathon, I’m currently more than 60 klicks ahead of all that effort. It’s all feeling pretty solid right now.

Posted in: asides & shorts running Tagged: half-marathon long run running man stats training
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This is a personal website to which I've been posting for over sixteen years. It's neither news nor journalism; It is often trivial fluff, but occasionally perspective and opinion.

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