1st Run Workout

Well I am off to a slow start. Tonight I decided (stupidly) to go run with the Cardio Core workout group at the track. When Amber said track, I should have clued in, but no. When we got to the track there was only one other person from the group there. So we did about three or four warm up walks around the track. Then the leader showed up, and announced that tonight workout was going to be a "speed" workout, I thought I was going to die.

We did four warm up laps and then 100m on, 100m off for two laps. Then 200m on, 200m off for three laps. Then for "fun" we did two 100m sprints. (can you so ouch!) Thank God it was over. Now it was just one cool down lap and stretching.

The first run workout was a hard but a rewarding one. Since I started running I might as well continue. Now it will be three times a week.

Starting Over

Well the past year has been a bit of a bust, as far as paddling and running is concerned. After getting back from Australia, and suffering from "I don't want to paddle in the cold any more", I managed to little or no training what so ever.

On top of that, I managed to be "un-gainfully employed", which did not help my lack of enthusiasm.

During the past year I managed to do exactly one running race and one paddle race. (Hey at least I was consistent. lol)

Now things have started to come around, and I am looking forward to start training again for next year. I have "spruced" up my blog a little and I am coming up with a list of races I want to go in next year.

Since I am basically starting from scratch, I am going back to my previous training logs, to see what worked and what did not. What can I say, if you don't look at previous logs, then they are basically useless. Well maybe not useless.

So it is time to start on basic endurance training first. This will be a long process of running, weights, and yes paddling. I am also going to start blogging about my progress, as I work myself back into shape.

1st Training Race of 2010

Today was the Running Room Resolution 5K race in Burnaby.

It was a training race for me, and Amber. The start time was later than normal, to let those people you had late nights to get some sleep.

When we arrived, the rain had slowed down from a complete downpour to just raining. It was going to be a cold and wet race. Burrr.

We waited in the store until just before the start. Since this was going to be a training race for me, I decided to start closer to the back of the pack. It was a mass start with no chips. As we headed towards the road from the parking lot, I start getting into an easy pace, but this required weaving around some slower runners in front.

Since I did not warm up at all before the race, I was gong to take it real easy until I felt comfortable. I have been dealing with some strained muscles the past three months, and I did not want to aggravate them.

After about 750 meters, I started to practise some techniques. First was forcing my shoulders down. I seem to run with scrunched shoulders which after awhile makes for a uncomfortable run.

Next up was drafting. So I moved up to the guy in front of me, and used him as a wind break. By doing this I was able to ease up on my strides, and just cruise behind him. Then it was time to "bridge the gap" up to the girl about 30 meters in front of us. So I upped the pace and caught her fairly quickly. I drafted her for about a minute, and set my sights on the group of three about 50-60 meters ahead.

I kept my cadence the same but increased my stride length. It did not take long before a caught the guy in the back of the group. From there I picked them off one by one, and decided to go for the kid 100 meters ahead.

This was a long slog to catch up to him, but I managed ok. Since this was suppose to be a training race, I decided to back off, and cruise for the rest of the race. By this time I had reached the turn around point and was heading back to the store.

Things were going good, so I just kept my pace the same. I had noticed that I was catching the woman in front of me, so I just used that as my next goal. Once I caught her, I decided to catch just one more before the end of the race. So off to catch the next woman who was about 75 meters in front of me.

During this time there was a guy about my age catching me. Just after I past the woman in front, the guy passed me. He wasn't going too much quicker than I was, so I just matched his pace and stayed about 10 meters behind him.

As we turned the last corner before the parking lot, I decided to mess with the guy. I watched to see where he would go after the last corner before the finish straight. I closed the gap to about 5 meters before the corner, and watched him go wide. This gave me a perfect line to the finish. So I cranked it up, and when he was able to see me on his right hand side it was too late. I crossed the line about 2 to 3 seconds a head of him.

Just goes to show you it is not over until you are over the finish line. Be aware of where people are around you, and be prepared to hammer at the end. Amber who was sick, didn't get much sleep, still raced a good race. At the end she tried passing the guy she had been following for quite a while, but her acceleration was not quick enough, and he saw what she was doing, and held her off at the end.

After the race there was plenty of food, and coffee. (thank God) There was a lot of draw prizes, and the volunteers and staff of the Running Room did a great job. They managed to double the number of runners from last year.