--J
Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry device on the Bell network.
Envoyé sans fil par mon terminal mobile BlackBerry sur le réseau de Bell.
Run across Newfoundland (883 kim) via the Trans Canada Trail...the old NL railway!
Friday, April 29, 2011
A Morning Run in South Beach
--J
Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry device on the Bell network.
Envoyé sans fil par mon terminal mobile BlackBerry sur le réseau de Bell.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Great News...Clif is Now a Sponsor!
Well Clif has come through big time! They have generously offered to provide us with Clif bars for the journey. Having to run between 8-12 hours a day means a lot of calories need to be consumed and Clif bars are an efficient and healthy way to do it. Thanks Cliff!
-- J
Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry device on the Bell network.
Envoyé sans fil par mon terminal mobile BlackBerry sur le réseau de Bell.
-- J
Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry device on the Bell network.
Envoyé sans fil par mon terminal mobile BlackBerry sur le réseau de Bell.
Friday, April 22, 2011
First time!
Another athlete is born today: ISIK. First time I ran with my wife today. We ran together Cheema 6.8km in 1 hour 5 min. And this is the first time she's run this long. Two years ago, she couldn't run more than 50 metres. Now, she is very active in the GYM (she works with Isaac) and running. She'll run Bluenose for 5K with me. Entire day, she has a constant smile on her face. I am proud of her...
Saturday, April 9, 2011
NL Simulation - Take 1
The weather in Halifax is definitely showing signs of spring...cool to cold mornings and if sunny, warm enough to wear shorts running in afternoos. It's time to put the running tights away...not a minute too soon.
So I decided to take Friday off...well, I took a vacation day. My plan Friday and Saturday was to test out some different strategies for our run across NL. Friday my plan was to try 3 runs in 1 day to see how my body would respond.
I pulled into Cheema at about 6:15 am...I quickly realized I wasn't the only one getting an early start. The Cheema paddlers were already out for their early morning run.
So here is the breakdown...
Morning run @ Cheema - Cheema is a great 5 km trail loop with some great flat views along the water. There are frequent uphills, nothing longer than 100m but enough to lower your overall pace by 1:00-2:00 min/mile. Finished 32 km in 4:08 @ a pace of 12:17/mile.
Afternoon run (1:30pm) - ran again at Cheema and completed 15 km in just over 2 hours.
Evening Run (5:30pm) - did this run on the Bedford Highway. Was very pleasantly surprised that my legs felt really fresh. Did about 13km at just under 9 min/mile pace.
Saturday morning @ Cheema - to me this was the big test...how were my legs going to feel after 60km the day before. I was suprised...the legs felt pretty fresh. I started just before 6am and Gordon and Mary joined me at 7am. I can't say enough how good friends and good conversation makes the time fly by. My original plan was to do a marathon but by around 20 miles I noticed my legs getting a achy. So begins the conversation in my head...'should I keep going and get it done or listen to my body and take a break'. I think I realized that if this was NL, this was the time for me to take a break, eat some 'regular food' and nap. I had only slept 6 hours Thursday night and the same Friday night so I think fatigue was starting to set in. So...I pulled the plug! 20 miles @ 13:43 min/mile -> down almost 1 min/mile from day before. I grabbed a Booster Juice and went home and raked the lawn.
Here is the big question....do I run again in the afternoon or settle for 90km in 24 hours? After an afternoon nap my legs were a little sore but I definitely could have gone for a 15-20km run. I decided that I have learned enough about run strategy and nutrition and that I was dancing the fine line of doing too much too soon. So, no second run.
Now that this is done, it's time to focus on the Pineland Farms Trail 50 Miler on May 29th. Have a great weekend!
So I decided to take Friday off...well, I took a vacation day. My plan Friday and Saturday was to test out some different strategies for our run across NL. Friday my plan was to try 3 runs in 1 day to see how my body would respond.
I pulled into Cheema at about 6:15 am...I quickly realized I wasn't the only one getting an early start. The Cheema paddlers were already out for their early morning run.
So here is the breakdown...
Morning run @ Cheema - Cheema is a great 5 km trail loop with some great flat views along the water. There are frequent uphills, nothing longer than 100m but enough to lower your overall pace by 1:00-2:00 min/mile. Finished 32 km in 4:08 @ a pace of 12:17/mile.
Afternoon run (1:30pm) - ran again at Cheema and completed 15 km in just over 2 hours.
Evening Run (5:30pm) - did this run on the Bedford Highway. Was very pleasantly surprised that my legs felt really fresh. Did about 13km at just under 9 min/mile pace.
Saturday morning @ Cheema - to me this was the big test...how were my legs going to feel after 60km the day before. I was suprised...the legs felt pretty fresh. I started just before 6am and Gordon and Mary joined me at 7am. I can't say enough how good friends and good conversation makes the time fly by. My original plan was to do a marathon but by around 20 miles I noticed my legs getting a achy. So begins the conversation in my head...'should I keep going and get it done or listen to my body and take a break'. I think I realized that if this was NL, this was the time for me to take a break, eat some 'regular food' and nap. I had only slept 6 hours Thursday night and the same Friday night so I think fatigue was starting to set in. So...I pulled the plug! 20 miles @ 13:43 min/mile -> down almost 1 min/mile from day before. I grabbed a Booster Juice and went home and raked the lawn.
Here is the big question....do I run again in the afternoon or settle for 90km in 24 hours? After an afternoon nap my legs were a little sore but I definitely could have gone for a 15-20km run. I decided that I have learned enough about run strategy and nutrition and that I was dancing the fine line of doing too much too soon. So, no second run.
Now that this is done, it's time to focus on the Pineland Farms Trail 50 Miler on May 29th. Have a great weekend!
Sunday, April 3, 2011
What a Difference Friends Make
So it's Saturday again...time for another long run. Yigit and I show up at the Cheema trails at 5:45am. The plan is to do the ~ 5 km loop 8 times. The alternating trail will work our legs in a slightly different way and likely take us 45-60 min longer than the same distance on the road.
The headlamps are on and off we go into the dark. It's hard to explain but there is something very cool about running in the dark in the woods. Perhaps it is the adrenaline rush you get when you hear little sounds in the woods as you are running and when you flash your beam into the woods you are relieved to not see anything but at the same time wondering what the hell made that noise? Or was it just in my head?
After 2 loops we are back at the car to meet Mary and Gordon. We drop the headlamps at the car and head back in. Who knows what we talked about and how many different subjects. It's funny...how often other than a run with your family and friends do you get the time to have long talks like that...it is such a great way to catch up on the week. Not only that...before we know it we are back at the car and they have their 10km run completed. Time flies when you are chattin' with friends on the run!
Back in Yigit and I go...not gonna lie...this is the third week in a row of doing a marathon on Saturday and the legs are starting to get real achy at the start of the 5th loop. Yigit is struggling a bit as well but the idea of stopping early is never even mentioned...perhaps not even thought about? Yigit?-)
We are rounding the turn for the last trip to the car to restock nutrition and fluids to head back for loops 7 and 8 and I see a big golden retriever running towards me. "Hey, I know that dog!" As I look past the dog I see my friends Liam and Marcia who came out to join us for part of our run. It is amazing the difference seeing friends who you haven't seen in a while can make. I was getting to the point where my legs were getting really achy and after they joined us my achy legs went away. We chatted away and before I knew it we were giving our good buy hugs and Marcia, Liam and Egan headed back into the woods to finish their 15km run. Liam and Marica will never know how much of a difference joining us made to me in getting through that run. Thanks to you both...Egan too! :-)
Another marathon in the books. Hats off to Yigit...I know he was struggling towards the end but in some ways this was a bigger milestone than breaking his personal best marathon time 2 weeks earlier. A lot of distance running is mental...being able to continue on when your mind is telling you to stop can be critical to finishing. Today was more about training our mind to take one more stride even though our mind was saying stop. This will be key to getting across The Rock!
Thankfully I also have a very supportive wife. When I got home she had my lunch all ready...it doesn't get any better than that! :-) Not to mention she did this after completing a 20 mile (32 km) run herself that morning. She is not a big fan of the trails so she did her run on the roads.
All the best!
--J
The headlamps are on and off we go into the dark. It's hard to explain but there is something very cool about running in the dark in the woods. Perhaps it is the adrenaline rush you get when you hear little sounds in the woods as you are running and when you flash your beam into the woods you are relieved to not see anything but at the same time wondering what the hell made that noise? Or was it just in my head?
After 2 loops we are back at the car to meet Mary and Gordon. We drop the headlamps at the car and head back in. Who knows what we talked about and how many different subjects. It's funny...how often other than a run with your family and friends do you get the time to have long talks like that...it is such a great way to catch up on the week. Not only that...before we know it we are back at the car and they have their 10km run completed. Time flies when you are chattin' with friends on the run!
Back in Yigit and I go...not gonna lie...this is the third week in a row of doing a marathon on Saturday and the legs are starting to get real achy at the start of the 5th loop. Yigit is struggling a bit as well but the idea of stopping early is never even mentioned...perhaps not even thought about? Yigit?-)
We are rounding the turn for the last trip to the car to restock nutrition and fluids to head back for loops 7 and 8 and I see a big golden retriever running towards me. "Hey, I know that dog!" As I look past the dog I see my friends Liam and Marcia who came out to join us for part of our run. It is amazing the difference seeing friends who you haven't seen in a while can make. I was getting to the point where my legs were getting really achy and after they joined us my achy legs went away. We chatted away and before I knew it we were giving our good buy hugs and Marcia, Liam and Egan headed back into the woods to finish their 15km run. Liam and Marica will never know how much of a difference joining us made to me in getting through that run. Thanks to you both...Egan too! :-)
Another marathon in the books. Hats off to Yigit...I know he was struggling towards the end but in some ways this was a bigger milestone than breaking his personal best marathon time 2 weeks earlier. A lot of distance running is mental...being able to continue on when your mind is telling you to stop can be critical to finishing. Today was more about training our mind to take one more stride even though our mind was saying stop. This will be key to getting across The Rock!
Thankfully I also have a very supportive wife. When I got home she had my lunch all ready...it doesn't get any better than that! :-) Not to mention she did this after completing a 20 mile (32 km) run herself that morning. She is not a big fan of the trails so she did her run on the roads.
All the best!
--J
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