Summer running

Now that the days are longer, and supposedly warmer, my training program will focus on morning runs to avoid the humidity and late day sun and heat… and even at 5am it is light enough that I don’t have to carry a light (but do to be safe).

My morning run consists of a simple 6+km loop down the hill, and through town, returning uphill to finish off… from here I can add a small paved path run to add on 2km or depending on time of day and add significantly more distance as required.  Ideally I like to run the loop 3x a week and then at least one long weekend run.

I have recently begun running around the lake on a trail and if running this as part of a loop I can significantly add both mileage and difficulty to a simple road run…and if I drop the boys off at the skate park I can do an “out and back” on the trail as part of a 15+km run in under 90min.

The addition of the trail run has been great as it has helped me to train for The North Face Endurance Challenge Half Marathon trail run in July. This race is taking place at Blue Mountain, near Collingwood ON, and I am so looking forward to the experience. This event sounds more fun than Warrior Dash and Tough Mudder, both of which I have previously run. I love the idea of trail runs and am looking at making them a staple in my annual running calendar.

The training plan has merely been a continuation of the half marathon training I did for Mississauga in May, with the trail runs added on to give me more of a feel for what is in store in a couple of weeks. The thought of running up the ski hill is still daunting, but having completed a few obstacle races I am sure it is something that I can handle…

This year my race calendar is full – 7 planned races with the gem being the Chicago Marathon in Oct, but the actual highlight has been my 13yr old son asking to run with me, and to date he has completed a 15k race and today we signed up to run the Oasis Zoo Run 10k at the Toronto Zoo in Sept. He has trained with me in Florida over the holidays and has run with me in evenings and on weekends and his desire to spend time with me and keep active is what is keeping me going.

Having a training buddy is great, it motivates me, and hopefully inspires both of us to remain active and healthy. We are working on healthy eating – gluten-free where possible and have eliminated most processed foods to keep clean. We also fuel our runs with ENERGYbits and PocketFuel as needed. I am beginning to think that Kris runs just so he can have a smoothie to recover when we get home… but I am not going to argue….

So as the summer begins and kids are out of school, I hope to keep going – I set a goal for 1500km in 2014 and am almost halfway there, so with the marathon training kicking into gear, it should be achievable and having my son there to run with me and cheer me on, I am looking forward to the next run….

13yr old training and race recap

This past Christmas while we were in Florida, my son decided that he wanted to start running with me, and began to come with me on my morning 5k runs. Once we got home, we signed him up for a local 10k clinic and began to find a goal race.

We ran in the cold and snow and over time managed to get his mileage up to the required distances for the 10k race, but his basketball season kept interfering with goal races.

He was flying through the weekly long runs and after consulting the coach we decided that we would extend the training and set the Mississauga Bread and Honey 15k as the goal race. Every week we added 1km to his distance and over the last few weeks added in multiple runs to improve his conditioning and push him to stretch in his running.

We found a local trail around the lake and began to add in variety to the traditional road training. As the mileage increased Kris began to ask about fuel for running and has taken to ENERGYbits as his energy source.

The increased running program paid off for him during the final weeks of basketball season as he had not only more stamina, but a shorter recovery period, and his desire to run with me made for more time together doing something we both like to do.

But now on to today’s race… 

  We met the Smooth Running team at 6:30am and drove to Mississauga for the 8am starting time, and he seemed a bit nervous but claimed he was fine. Right before the start he downed his 10 “bits” and we headed to the starting line. My goal was to pace him and encourage him through this his first race and to try to eliminate any fears or doubts…

The race started and the start line was very crowded which meant a slow start. I wanted to avoid jostling for position to ensure he had room to run, so we stayed back and found a comfortable pace and worked our way along. We ran without music and I kept checking in with him to make sure that he was in good shape.

The crowd was big and it wasn’t until the 4k mark when the 5k runners headed back to the finish line and we turned away to complete the longer portion of the course with a few small hills that we had more room to get into the groove. Kris cruised to the 6k mark and then had to stop to walk as he was struggling a bit but with a water break and gel he was fuelled for the rest of the way.

As the race went on he kept a solid pace and before we knew it, he was past the halfway point and about to hit the turnaround point. He also had a chance to cheer on our running partner who was cruising along ahead of us and his words of encouragement and high-five seemed to energize Kris.

Once we cleared the last overpass, he was encouraged by some race volunteers as the first youth runner they had seen, and it was as if he was re-energized and continued to run strong, with only one quick stop to retie his shoes and grab a water break, he powered along Mississauga Road and turned for home.

He was smiling and looked at ease, but I knew he was tired but because there was 1k to go meant that he was determined to finish strong, and once the finish line was in sight, he kicked it into high gear and pulled away with me cheering him on. The whole Smooth Running group and his big sister were there to cheer him on just before crossing the finish line and that helped even more.

The entire race was so well organized and the weather was perfect – a bit sunny early and cool by the time we finished which made for perfect running conditions.

His first race was complete and successful -15km done in under 1:30:00 with a bit of room to improve. The smile on his face means that he will be back and running as often as he can.