The Men-durance project. Revolution is in the air.
February 08, 2010 | 12:58 pm
I like to go off on tangents. You know, in case you hadn't noticed. So before I start rambling I'm going to get right into what my training week was like. I was on the track on Tuesday doing two sets of six 500s. I had 1:15 rest between reps and eight minutes between sets. Since it was my first real track workout, I went into it thinking I would try to run about 1:30. This would be 3 minute kilometer pace, which seemed realistic. Surprisingly, I had a bit more pop in my legs than I had anticipated and ended up running most of them between 1:24 and 1:27. The slowest one was actually the first one which was bang on 1:30. I walked away from the workout feeling tight, but pleased with the fact that I'm not in AS bad of shape as I had thought. Thursday was just a fifty minute run with twenty minutes of tempo; broken up into two sets of ten. Saturday was pretty much the same thing. All of the other days were forty minute runs except Friday, which I took off. I am a very firm believer in the importance of recovery. All of the athletes I coach take a day off a week, as do almost all of the elite athletes I have encountered. Not incorporating rest days into your training is the easiest way to get injured, and loading up on "junk mileage" will leave you feeling stale for the more important sessions. Read six-time CIS gold medalist and multiple National team member Geoff Martinson's blog for a great example of the benefits of quality over quantity. And subscribe to his blog. He is in an extremely intriguing part of his career where he is in the process of morphing his running from a University activity to a full-time career.
And now to the awesomeness that was this past week. One thing that has proven to be very difficult in the sport of running is keeping post collegiate athletes interested. The problem lies in how competitive and cut throat the sport is at the highest level. It's not like a team sport like hockey where there are players who are in the NHL because they're good hitters, faceoff men, defensive players, or even fighters. You only have one option on the track, and that is to run faster than everybody else. There are no enforcers, no energy or role players, no great leaders. Just fast and slow. That's it. So for those of us who were competitive at the collegiate level, but not ready to take the next step, retirement can appear to be the most appealing option. The problem there is that the physical peak for a distance runner comes in their late 20s. There are a few groups throughout the country trying to combat this; most notably in Guelph with the Speed River group. What these groups do is provide a team-like atmosphere for post collegiate runners. It provides a training group and a positive environment for athletes to continue trying to achieve personal bests at the highest level they can reach. And all the while, you get to still feel like you're part of something special; the same way you felt in University. Matt Sheffield and I had been talking, and we took the first step towards starting a group like that here. Man puns aside (men-durance, man-ifest, how much man-age can you manage?), we had an incredible turn out on Friday night to discuss this idea. Some of the notable guys who showed up are:
John Corbit- a 3:50 1500m runner who is completing his final year at StFX.
Russel Christie- a first team all Canadian in cross country and 8:19 3000m runner in his last year at Dal.
Rob Jewer- a former first team all Canadian in cross country.
Robert Winslow- a former Nova Scotia high school champion in track and cross country who ran 8:30 for 3K in high school! Spent his career at StFX riddled with injury, but is coming back around just in time to graduate.
Brent Addison- A member of Nova Scotia's Canada Games track team in his fourth year at StFX.
Toby Hennigar- A Nova Scotia provincial team member who competed at the National road 10K championships this year.
...and some guy named Rich.
Looks like exciting times ahead. I will keep you posted on the plans for this group and when our first race as a team will be (likely the Credit Union Atlantic Lung Run). But first, I suppose, I'd better get into shape. And my shoes are getting pretty beaten up. Next up for me is the Saucony Triumph 7.
