The gun went off at 9 am. I am used to standing around waiting to start. But at 9:30 my wave was nowhere near ready to go.

I had a little conversation with myself:
Grouchy me: “Why are you standing here shivering?”

Runner me: “Because I like to run races.”

“But you can’t run. You’re injured,”

“I’m walk/running it. Taking it slow.”

“Christ it’s cold..why didn’t you wear something warmer? Why are you wearing a cotton t shirt? You NEVER wear cotton shirts when you run.”

“I thought it would be sunny & warm. I thought this would be fun. It will be, once I get going.”

“Your wave is nowhere near starting and 10k is a long way wearing cotton and going slow.”

“I know. Maybe I’ll run it for real. To keep warm. Get done faster.”

“Uh huh.”

“Yeah, my foot is feeling better lately.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because I’ve been laying off running. I’ve been stretching and massaging every day.”

“And how will running 10k today help you toward that goal?”

“Uh….”

At that point I got knocked around again, someone’s elbow jabbed into me. “Look, I think I see his hat over there!” said Elbows as all her jabbing victims around me gave her the stinkeye.

“Is that our wave starting yet?” someone said in my ear. He didn’t mean to say it in my ear, he was just helplessly standing that close. Good thing we all smelled clean. Except for that drunk guy in the hula skirt, but he had come and gone a few minutes ago.

Grumpy me piped up again, perilously close to my Outside Voice: “Why am I standing here again?”

Then it was Caballo Blanco’s voice (or what I imagine it to have been) inside my head:

“RUNNING SHOULD BE FREE, MAN!”

Elbows out, I lurched through the crowd, went to the Y and had a long, hot shower, daydreaming about muddy trails, steep climbs, picturesque meadows, majestic mountain vistas, and races of hundreds, maybe thousands, but not tens of thousands of fellow runners.

That’s right, I’m running slower, it’s hard work, and I’m doing it alone and I’m doing it so I can get faster.

Say what?

It’s all about heart rate zones, and lactate thresholds. I’m wearing a heart rate monitor and paying attention to my body – it’s the most personalized training I’ve ever had.

Also the first heart rate monitor chafing I’ve ever had, but I can deal.

Warning: I’m about to blind you with science.

A couple of Saturdays ago I gave myself a birthday present: a trip to the Peak Centre in Burnaby so they could put me on a treadmill and run me ragged while taking a drop or two of blood from my pricked finger every three minutes.

Yeah, I know, bling would have been nice, or a weekend getaway, but there was no one around to spoil me so I got myself something I could really use. Something that would give me back my running, get me back to training and return me to sanity.

Alex at Peak Centre explained that my heart rate is an indication of the lactate in my blood produced by exercise. The harder you work, the more lactate is produced. A lower intensity – about 70% of maximum heart rate, your body is able to get rid of all the lactate it’s producing. Go faster, and lactate builds up, it fills up like a sink and eventually overwhelms the body’s ability to deal with it, producing lactic acid and the attendant cramping, fatigue, and inability to continue running (or biking, or whatever).

The goal of training is to “widen the drain” at the bottom of the sink – to train the body to handle increasing amounts of lactate. Translation: if you’re training based on your lactate threshold profile, you don’t get tired as easily and can perform better.

It also has to do with fast twitch and slow twitch muscles. the faster you go, the more you’re using fast twitch. The slower you go, the more you’re using slow twitch.

My training heart rate is now determined by five zones the Peak Centre guys figured out for me using data from my lactate threshold test.

BUT here’s where my eyes opened wide: there are “intermediary” fast twitch muscles that can act as slow twitch, and handle all that lactate for longer periods. It’s really important for endurance athletes to “recruit” those intermediary fast twitch to act more like slow twitch. By continually pushing my “easy” pace into Zone 2 all those years, I was encouraging my intermediary fast-twitchers to stay fast twitch, I wasn’t increasing my aerobic treshhold or my lactate threshold and I was hitting a wall in terms of performance. I got frustrated and started to lack motivation.

(Those extra ten pounds I gained since the last fall haven’t helped either, but that’s another matter.)

As it turns out, my 6:30/km (or faster) pace - the pace at which I did all my long and “recovery” runs for the last three years, was probably in Zone 2, “junk mile” territory. Also, I’m not doing enough training in zone 3 – lactate threshold pace, and therefore not training my body enough to handle faster running.

(Yes, I missed nearly every Wednesday night track workout while I was training last summer and fall).

Alex explained that 10-15% of my training should be at lactate threshold, Zone 3, between 6:23 and 5:56 per kilometre; but the other 85-90% should be under aerobic threshold, Zone 1, under 150 bpm – or about 8 minutes per kilometre. When I first started doing it I had to stop and walk frequently to keep my heart rate down. It’s getting ever so slightly better, but I really need to concentrate on running at these paces.

What’s the upshot of all this for me? By running slower according to my own body chemistry, I can train my body to run faster at the same heart rate.

So today my 70% HR is 8:00 per km, but in a few months it might be 7:00, and my race pace will be faster yet.

I won’t be hitting my goal of a 2-hour half marathon this May during the Vancouver Half Marathon. I’ll be lucky to break 2:17 – close to a personal worst. However, if I keep at it, consistently training in my correct zones, I can expect to push my Zone 1 to faster paces and set a personal record in the fall.

I keep reading about people’s running: someone’s training for Boston, or an ultra, or an Ironman, and I think “I want to do all those things, but here I am signed up for a puny little Half Marathon again this spring.”

I can’t get excited training for it. I haven’t been interested in training since my SI joint injury just after the marathon last May. It still doesn’t feel quite right, and I can’t even get excited about running most of the time. I haven’t adjusted to running life in Vancouver very well.

I miss running in Victoria. I miss having kilometres of beautiful coastline within minutes of my home.

I miss having trails an easy 20 minute drive (or less) away.

I miss having a challenging tree-lined hill workout in my own neighbourhood.

I miss having training buddies who run at my training pace.

I miss daylight. Maybe it will get better in spring. Maybe I should bring running gear to work and run the seawall at lunchtime.

I know I need to exercise every day, and I manage to get a few workouts in per week. Maybe that’s enough for now. After all, I just moved. Chris just moved in with me. I just want to sit in my cosy apartment with my fireplace going and have a glass of wine with my new neghbours and friends.

Maybe I should just give myself a break. Lean into it, and see what happens.

This too shall pass.

Photo by robswatski used under Creative Commons license

But then things just kind of went to hell.

I stopped doing my bootcamp class, I went on vacation for a month. I started to get weak. My injuries just don’t heal like they used to. In October, I put in my worst Half Marathon performance ever. Then I moved to Vancouver,

I’ve seen a PT here, but my last “treatment” consisted of showing me exercises that I won’t do every day like I’m supposed to. I can’t pay $70 per session for that.

I’m starting to wonder if my goal of putting in a sub 2-hour half marathon this year is doable. Getting faster means putting in some consistent fast mileage. Consistent fast mileage means injury. Injury means more time and money to PT and massage, neither of which I can afford right now.

So why can’t I be satisfied with a modest 25-30k of running per week at a moderate pace? Why do I have to set an ambitious goal? (Hey – I KNOW I’m slow. For me, 2 hours is an ambitious goal. I’m not you. Deal with it.) Why can’t I sign up for a race without a goal in mind? Why sign up for a race at all?

Well, because the best part about racing is the experience of the day itself: lining up with hundreds, if not thousands, of other runners excited about their performance. Race day is a victory lap, a reward for training, for putting in the miles no one sees. Half the fun is cheering for the other runners on the course, especially team mates you’ve been training with for months.

In racing, my time does not count. I’m just another mid-to-back-of-the-pack runner in a sea of spandex. I’m not even going to place in my age group. Ever.

It’s the journey, not the tape. Hell I won’t even see the tape.

Training hard also takes away from other things I want to do: writing, cooking spending time with my man (who just moved in), maybe even performing slam poetry again.

Someone with ultra-stamina could probably do all that and more. Not me, not any more. I know my energy levels and my priorities.

So, just as I’m reflecting on my priorities for 2012, I’m taking a good hard look at what I really want to accomplish this year, and I’m adjusting accordingly.

I remember a question from a participant at the start of training for my first marathon in 2009: “Will we still be running if the weather is cold, windy and rainy?” to which the run leader replied with a question of her own:

“Will they cancel the race because of rain or wind?”

“Uh – no.”

“Well then, we won’t be calling off any training runs either.”

There’s a sign outside the Mountain Equipment Co-op store in Vancouver that says something like “There’s no bad weather, only bad gear.”

So I’ll be packing dry socks and an extra sweater to change into after tonight’s run, expecting my windbreaker to be soaked through to my bones after tonight’s run. I’ll also be lit up like a Christmas tree with blinking lights front and back. Dark, cold and rainy indeed.

I don’t mind the wind and the rain once I drag my ass out there. If the rain pelts down and the wind tries to knock me over I persevere by envisioning the crossing the finish line with the clock well under my goal time.

I have also been known to laugh in the face of a storm in my own version of Lieutenant Dan from Forrest Gump, shouting: “Is that all you got? C’mon, gimme more!”

After all, I know a hot shower and a dry warm bed await me tonight. It’s all a matter of perspective, passion and perseverance.

BRING IT!!

I am just fine with that – it was my goal in fact, because I am feeling uninjured and wonderful and I have a medal to mark another accomplishment. I know I can go out there undertrained and in the midst of a major life change and finish a challenging distance race with a smile on my face.

That’s huge.

I know my limits and my abilities and I’m so damn thankful that I have my health. Any day above ground is a supreme gift.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

I want to wish you a happy thanksgiving, and I also have a request. Admit it, I don’t do this very often, and I promise I won’t do it again for at least another year

I also can’t help but think of the bigger picture during holidays like this. Where are we going to go if or when we can’t run anymore? Or cook for ourselves, or dress ourselves, or go for a walk in the park?

Someplace like Mount St Mary’s hospital perhaps.

Maybe you and I will be felled by old age, a terrible accident or disease like cancer. Chances are it will be a process, not an event. Many of us will need long term care at some point.

That care does not come cheap. There are people at Mount St Mary’s now who need some extra help. The Cancer Society needs funds to search for a cure.

This year I vowed running was not going to be all about me. Now here it is, two days away from my next race – the Victoria Marathon (I’m running the half – 21.1 km) and I need to put my mouth where the money is. On this Thanksgiving weekend, please think about giving back to the community, and supporting my efforts to make my running about giving back and paying it forward.

My goals are modest:

Raise $200 for Mount St Mary’s hospital in Victoria. Make your donation online here.

Sell some YYJRuns 2012 calendars (in which I appear, running with wild abandon along a trail at the Royal Roads University grounds) to raise funds for cancer research. You can pre-order yours here.

Please visit one or both of those links today and give what you can. A $15 donation to Mount St Mary’s, and a $15 calendar. I’d be thrilled, but more importantly so many others will be able to live a better life. And for that, we can all be grateful.

Happy Thanksgiving, and much love to you and yours.

David and me at the start of the Grouse Grind

David is a Boston-qualified marathon runner (that means he’s fast) who came to Canada as a teenager with the thickest British accent you could imagine (think Coronation Street) and only decades later can we all understand him.

Ok I’m joking. A little.

He is just one of those guys who is interested in everyone, genuinely and without reservation.

We met at Frontrunners in downtown Victoria almost three years ago when I started running again. I believe that’s when David started running for the first time. Now we’re both run leaders and the running friendship has continued.

While David runs, his wife Marion is usually out on a boat. So if David misses a run on a weekend, it’s most likely because he is meeting her at some marina or other around Vancouver Island. I did finally get to meet her at my birthday celebration last February, it was nice to put a face to the name!

Even though he’s so much faster than I, when David invites me to go for a run with him (or hike up Grouse Mountain) he makes sure to stay at the back with me so I don’t feel bad lagging behind. It’s all about fun, fellowship and love of the sport; running is a social activity for David (and for me too). That’s the best kind of sport for me, where is nothing to prove. Unless it’s race day of course.

He always has a warm hug for all his friends. I’m not the most touchy-feely of people, but friends like David are turning me around on that score. It’s really nice to get an authentic embrace from a friend, especially when you live alone.

The greatest thing about being David’s friend is: I can tell him anything and he’ll always have some good advice for me. He’s my straight go-to guy for man-advice (Jim and Roger being my gay go-to guys on that score). I trust his instincts, and his insights have proven to be spot-on so far.

David’s running the Victoria Marathon this October – I’ll be sure to cheer him on along with the rest of the Frontrunners gang, after I finish the Half Marathon division.

It sneaks up on you literally at night. You wake up in the morning with a twinge of heel pain. It goes away after you walk around a bit and you think “Huh. That was nothing.”

Send help immediately.

But then it happens a couple of days later. And another after that. Soon it’s every morning when you get up.

But it feels better when you go for a run, so you don’t think much about it. Except, slowly, it gets worse. Soon, your foot starts hurting after you’ve been sitting at your desk for a couple of hours.

Then, if you still do nothing about it, you’ll end up having foot pain while out for a run. When you get up from bed or from sitting more than an hour you are hobbled. Then you’re in real trouble. Don’t believe me? Read this.

I know all this because I’ve been there, several years ago. It took six months or so to heal completely and get back running: physiotherapy, massage, ice baths for my feet, no-impact cardio (I couldn’t even push off the wall when swimming laps, or do hills during spin class). For a time, my only real workout was daily stretching. It was demoralizing. It sucked.

So, this morning when I got out of bed for the third morning and the niggling little twinge in my left foot was worse, I knew I couldn’t ignore it. Different foot this time, I caught it earlier, and I know what to do. Here’s hoping I won’t have to be off for long. I’m signed up for two half marathons in the next six weeks and I’m determined to finish both of them.

My first massage appointment is tomorrow. Wish me luck…

Photo: Aches and pains by quinn.anya used under Creative Commons license.

Thanks to @FootSourceMD for the link to information about plantar fasciitis.

I upgraded to Mac OS X Lion last week. All was well, until I took my Garmin Forerunner 405: a runner’s watch equipped with GPS and heart rate monitoring technology. After each run I upload the data to my computer, then upload it to my profile on DailyMile. It’s a great way of keeping track of my progress.

After the Lion installation, everything else worked like a charm. I like the updated OS, especially the new dashboard and 4-fingered swipe between full-screen apps.

However, when I got back from my first run and turned on my laptop, the ANT agent (software contained on a stick that detects my Forerunner wirelessly and uploads the data) could not activate.

So I searched the forums, found nothing, and finally send a note to Garmin support. This was the reply:

Dear Tori Klassen,

Thank you for contacting Garmin International.

I will be more than happy to assist you in this issue today.

Recent operating updates can affect programs; since Lion OS X is a new update, customers have been encountering some issues at this time with the Ant Agent software and we are sorry to hear that this is occurring.

Please note that our engineers are aware of this issue and are currently working on correcting the issue; we appreciate your patience during this time and understanding.

Have a great day and thank you for being a Garmin customer.

Tragedy! Now I have to manually enter my workout into Daily Mile, then delete the data manually from the Garmin so I can use it again for the next run. Gone (for now) are the lap-by-lap analysis, the mapping, the elevation gained and lost …

Wait, what was I using all that data for anyway? I can’t even run a Half Marathon in less than two hours.

Who exactly am I fooling that I really NEED all this data?

I think I can wait patiently for the software update from Garmin. No panic required.

(I do wish Garmin would update their support page though. It would save them some emails from frustrated customers.)