Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Running lessons: Pay attention to the signs


It's funny how people can ignore things they don't want to see. I guess that's why we need signs in odd places - like these two on the quiet laneway that leads into Peace Park. When I noticed them on Sunday, I wondered why on earth they were there. There's never much traffic in the park and it's mostly used by families with kids and dogs. Is it really necessary to tell drivers to slow down?

Of course, even when there are signs, people sometimes choose to ignore them. A couple of weeks ago, Husband and I were at the beach and noticed a large family scale a fence and clamber across the dunes to the beach - despite a huge sign attached to the fence admonishing them to stay off the dunes. I found it astonishing that parents would set such a poor example for their kids but I guess the extra two minutes it would have taken to walk to the boardwalk was too great an inconvenience.  :-(

Monday, July 22, 2013

Running lessons: Decision time

LaHave River

Here it is less than 8 weeks until Maritime Race Weekend so I guess it's time to decide. Am I marathon training or am I not?  And what about Cape to Cabot in St. John's, NL, in October?  Am I really going to try running the "toughest race in eastern North America"? Here's the elevation chart for C2C:


Yeah, it's ugly. Lots of steep hills, ending with a nasty climb to the top of Signal Hill.

I've been trying to run more hills recently and plan to start serious hill training this coming Thursday but the chart is sobering all the same. In order to complete C2C, I'm obviously going to have to train a lot more seriously than I have been.

In an effort to make up my mind last week, I took a look at an elevation chart for the San Francisco Nike Women's Marathon, which I ran in 2011.


San Francisco is where I achieved a "personal best" marathon time of 4:36, despite some impressive elevations and issues with my right leg. The hills in SF weren't nearly as high as those I'll face in Newfoundland, but they were tough and, of course, the race was twice as long. Given that I ran San Francisco so strongly, surely I can finish Cape to Cabot. Right? I'm not sure but the time has come to "piss or get off the pot", as they say.

Fortunately, I had two excellent runs this past weekend - a relaxed 9k run by the ocean Saturday afternoon, followed by a 16k to LaHave first thing Sunday morning. The weather was perfect (see photo above) and, despite a busy week at home and at work, I felt strong and relaxed throughout - which makes me think that I may (just barely) be able to pull off preparing for two tough races this fall.

Here's the training schedule I drew up this morning:

Marathon and C2C Training Schedule  2013
Week #
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thur
Fri
Sat
Sun
Weekly Total
1.  
July 15-21
7k tempo
5k easy
9k easy
16k
37k
2.  
July 22-28
6k tempo
6k
(3 hills)
19k
8k
easy
39k
3.  
July 29-Aug4
6k tempo
6k
(4 hills)
23k
8k
easy
43k
4.  
Aug 5-11
6k tempo
7k
(5 hills)
26k
8k
easy
47k
5.  
Aug 12-18
8k tempo
7k
(6 hills)
29k
8k
easy
52k
6.  
Aug 19-25
8k tempo
8k
(7 hills)
32k
10k easy
58k
7.  
Aug 26-Sept 1
8k tempo
8k
(8 hills)
23k
10k easy
49k
8.  
Sept 2-8
8k tempo
8k
easy
16k
10k easy
42k
9.
Sept 9-15
5k
easy
5k
42.2k
race
52.2k
10.
Sept 16-22
5k
easy

8k
easy

12k
8k
33k
11.
Sept 23-29
6k
tempo

7k
(6 hills)

16k
10k
easy
39k
12.
Sept 30-Oct6
7k
tempo

8k
(7 hills)

18k
10k
easy
43k
13.
Oct 7-13

8k tempo

8k
(8 hills)

12k
9k
easy
37k
14.
Oct 14-20

6k
easy

6k
easy


20k
C2C
32k
Total distance
603.2k

In addition to hill training on Thursdays, I'll need to run hillier routes throughout the week so that my legs are ready to pound up and down all those Newfoundland hills. I may also need to resign myself to running a relatively slow marathon so that I can recover more quickly afterwards.

So friends, what do you think? Am I crazy to attempt this? After all, I'm 51 years old and haven't trained all that seriously since my last marathon attempt in May. What would you do in my shoes?  Any and all thoughts and suggestions welcome.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Weekly Update: Back in the Groove!

DSC_0207

Okay, I still haven't totally committed to attempting a marathon in September but I'm getting closer. When I finally recovered from jetlag last week, running started to feel more natural again and, this past weekend, I ran two strong training runs - 13.5k on Saturday and 8k on Sunday. If my runs continue to feel good in the next week or so, I'll knuckle down and make a plan to train for 42.2k.

I got back into other grooves this week too. I hadn't been on my motorcycle ("Patti") for about six weeks so I got her out of the shed and went for a quick tour of Easter Passage and Cow Bay last evening. Since the weather was so perfect, I decided to take my camera along and stopped a couple of time to take photos along the way.

DSC_0190

DSC_0205

I'm still struggling to learn how to use my new camera. I almost invariably end up editing more than I'd like because I haven't got the exposure quite right or didn't frame the subject improperly. On the other hand, I find the process of taking and editing photographs incredibly relaxing. As I stood on the shoreline last evening trying to get a clear shot of this paddler, I suddenly realized I was completely "in the moment". I wasn't thinking or worrying about anything - just savouring the beauty of what I was seeing and trying to capture some representation of it.

DSC_0222

Which makes me think I should spend more time riding Patti and taking photographs this summer. Hmmm. I wonder how I'm going to do that and train for two big races in the fall.

Thursday, July 11, 2013

European Adventures 2013: Malta

Untitled

Husband and I spent two weeks in Europe last year. I wrote about our first few days in Paris but, for one reason or another, never got around to writing about the other places we visited (England and the Netherlands.) This year, we were in Europe three weeks and I'm determined to document our adventures in a series of four posts briefly describing our time in Malta, Provence, Normandy and Paris. This is the first in that series.

We'd been wanting to visit Malta for years because several old friends live there and we'd heard it's a lovely place. We weren't disappointed. During our eight day visit, we spent time with dear friends and their families, saw heaps of interesting stuff, ate great food, and savoured the natural beauty of the landscape. In fact, we did and saw so much, there's a serious risk this post will be far too long so I'll try to focus on the things we liked best.

Seeing old friends
Despite leading very busy lives, our Maltese friends offered incredibly warm hospitality. They put us up, treated us to delicious meals (both in their homes and at local restaurants), took us sightseeing and offered helpful information and advice at every turn. We sincerely hope we have the opportunity to return their generosity in the not-too-distant future. (Thank you again, Catherine, Charles, Joseph, Pier and Matina!)




The History
Malta has been at the crossroads of human civilization for thousands of years and is doing a great job of uncovering and preserving its history so we had no trouble filling our free time.  Before going, I'd read a number of books highlighting the country's role in WWII (extraordinary!) and the Siege of Malta (even more extraordinary!) so especially looked forward to seeing Valletta and the Three Cities.

Untitled

Untitled

Untitled

Something yellow #4 - yellow wall, Mdina, Malta

Untitled

Untitled

Untitled

There were also heaps of archaeological sites to visit. Unfortunately, because we had so little time, we didn't make it to many of the  "must see" sites, but we did have the pleasure of touring the excellent Museum of Archaeology and exploring the ancient walled city of Mdina, a UNESCO heritage site.

Untitled

Untitled

Untitled

Untitled

And did I mention the churches? Malta has lots of them and all that we visited were elaborately decorated and lovingly cared for.

Untitled

Untitled

Untitled

Untitled

The Scenery
Malta is a tiny country that boasts some truly stunning landscape. One of our favourite outings was the walk we took to Dingli Cliffs. The cliffs aren't quite as impressive as the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland which we visited a decade ago (they're much less steep), but they're breathtaking nonetheless - especially for a person as afraid of heights as I am.

Untitled

Untitled

We also had the pleasure of spending time on the island of Gozo. Gozo is much less densely populated than the main island of Malta so there was more open countryside to admire and people moved at a noticeably slower pace. We'd love to spend more time there one day.

Untitled

Untitled

We enjoyed the ferry ride to Gozo as well.

Untitled

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the beaches. Although we didn't spend much time on them, we managed visits to two and very much enjoyed our brief swims in Mediterranean waters.

Untitled

Fireworks
The Maltese LOVE fireworks - the noisier, the better - which is surprising given the intense bombing the population endured during WWII.  In fact, despite its small population, the country has apparently won a number of international competitions. Our last night in Malta, friends took us to one of the many local festivals (known as "festas") that take place in the country each summer. Mqabba's festa is reputed to be one of the best, and I can certainly understand why. The town and its main church were elaborately decorated and the fireworks were seriously impressive. The show started with aerial fireworks choreographed to music which were followed by "ground fireworks". Ground fireworks are fireworks attached to a series of complicated wood and metal structures set up on the town's main street. As the fireworks burn, the structures bob, spin, and gyrate in stunning displays of creativity and engineering!

Untitled

Untitled

Untitled

Check out this video on YouTube to get a better sense of how they work.



Cat Lovers
Maltese people seem to love cats almost as much as I do. Everywhere we went, we saw "street cats" fed and cared for by local residents.

Untitled

Cats are even welcome in shops and restaurants. We met this little guy when we stopped for a glass of wine and pastry in Mdina.

Untitled

In summary, we had a fantastic time in Malta and would certainly recommend it to anyone looking for a new place to visit.  It's got pretty much everything - beautiful scenery, great food and wine, friendly people, and a fascinating history. Once again, our sincere thanks to old and new friends who made our time there so special.  For more photos from Malta, check out my Flickr set here.

Monday, July 8, 2013

Running lessons: Imperfection might be good enough


After three weeks of European adventures, I feel a lot like my elder cat looks in this picture. I'm disinclined to be overly ambitious, shall we say. Nevertheless, it was back to real life last week and I did my best to return to regular training as well. I have to admit it felt hard. I didn't run as much as I should have while we were traveling and the weather was brutally hot and humid during much of last week so it was challenging to complete even short runs - let alone a longish 8k yesterday.  

Given that it felt so hard, I found myself wondering if it was realistic to plan on running a full marathon at Maritime Race Weekend in September. When I signed up a couple of months ago, I was expecting to run a lot while I was in Europe but, since that didn't happen, I've lost much of the fitness I gained through the spring. With race day just 11 weeks away and a busy summer planned, it's hard to imagine I'll be ready to run a "personal best" time - which was my main reason for signing up in the first place.

After much discussion with Husband yesterday, I decided it would probably be better to run the half marathon instead - particularly since I still hope to run Cape to Cabot in October - but that decision isn't sitting well. Once I set a goal, I find it almost impossible to give it up. It's the perfectionist in me. No matter what the circumstances, it's difficult for me to accept that real life has a way of interfering with the best laid plans - even when I know that no one except me really cares whether I run a full or a half marathon.

That's the trouble, of course. I care. No matter how irrational or self-destructive, I care. Which means it's back to thinking a little more about whether imperfection is good enough in these circumstances. Will I be content to finish my running season without attempting another marathon? And how will I feel if I try but fail to run sub-4:30 again?

I'll keep you posted on what I finally decide. I suspect much will depend on how my runs feel this week and next. If they start to feel a bit easier - or more natural, at least - perhaps I'll still decide to go for it. In the meantime, here are a few quotations I'll be pondering:
“At its root, perfectionism isn’t really about a deep love of being meticulous. It’s about fear. Fear of making a mistake. Fear of disappointing others. Fear of failure. Fear of success.” ― Michael Law
“The grandest seduction of all is the myth that DOING EVERYTHING BETTER gets us where we want to be. It gets us somewhere, certainly, but not anywhere worth being.” ― Shauna NiequistBittersweet: Thoughts on Change, Grace, and Learning the Hard Way
“I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence, I can reach for; perfection is God's business.” 
― Michael J. Fox
"Perfectionism is not a quest for the best. It is a pursuit of the worst in ourselves, the part that tells us that nothing we do will ever be good enough - that we should try again." ― Julia Cameron
Happy running and writing friends!