Over the past few weeks, my training schedule has been almost exclusively running as I gear up for the Royal Victoria Half Marathon on October 11. This running “intensive” has been great, but it has lead me to yet another realisation as to why I like triathlon so much – you don’t necessarily run every day – you get to break it up with some swimming and, you guessed it, biking. I find having the variety of 3 different sports to work on really does help keep things interesting for me.
That said, this post is about the run....
I always think of the run as my weakest sport, and while this may not necessarily be true, I think I feel this way because it has never been able to top the swim or the bike as my favourite. I sometimes wonder how many people out there are like me... at one point in time you would have heard me muttering under my breath ‘I hate running’ as I laboured through a 30 minute run. Now, a few short years down the road, I find myself craving a nice long outing, feeling antsy when I haven’t run in a few days, excited to read the latest slew of running magazines to hit the shelves, truly understanding the addictive qualities of ‘the run’.
This weekend Kirsten and I suited up for our last ‘long’ run before marathon weekend. We headed out on the race course on a beautiful sunny day and tackled the middle 16k of the route... and, you know, it felt good - really good. I'm ready for October 11th and excited to try and beat my PB. There was a time however that if you told me to run for 40 minutes, (let alone an hour and 40), I would have thought it impossible. In fact, one of my favourite quotes (I think I read it in a New Balance ad?) was “I love that my short runs used to be my long runs” – a statement that couldn’t be more true. Actually, come to think of it, New Balance has pretty much summed up my thoughts on running brilliantly with their love/hate campaign.
So, while I have moments of strong dislike (I won’t use the ‘H’ word anymore) toward the run, I’ve actually really enjoyed this period of running, running and more running. It has given me the time to focus on and hopefully better myself in a sport I’ve often viewed as my weak spot. Slowly but surely I am becoming more aware of pacing and cadence – counting strike rates on a daily basis. I think about my A’s, my B’s and even my C’s. I lunge, I stride and I even sprint up hills... and from time to time, I even turn off my brain and well, just run.
Oh the run, the glorious run.
That said, this post is about the run....
I always think of the run as my weakest sport, and while this may not necessarily be true, I think I feel this way because it has never been able to top the swim or the bike as my favourite. I sometimes wonder how many people out there are like me... at one point in time you would have heard me muttering under my breath ‘I hate running’ as I laboured through a 30 minute run. Now, a few short years down the road, I find myself craving a nice long outing, feeling antsy when I haven’t run in a few days, excited to read the latest slew of running magazines to hit the shelves, truly understanding the addictive qualities of ‘the run’.
This weekend Kirsten and I suited up for our last ‘long’ run before marathon weekend. We headed out on the race course on a beautiful sunny day and tackled the middle 16k of the route... and, you know, it felt good - really good. I'm ready for October 11th and excited to try and beat my PB. There was a time however that if you told me to run for 40 minutes, (let alone an hour and 40), I would have thought it impossible. In fact, one of my favourite quotes (I think I read it in a New Balance ad?) was “I love that my short runs used to be my long runs” – a statement that couldn’t be more true. Actually, come to think of it, New Balance has pretty much summed up my thoughts on running brilliantly with their love/hate campaign.
So, while I have moments of strong dislike (I won’t use the ‘H’ word anymore) toward the run, I’ve actually really enjoyed this period of running, running and more running. It has given me the time to focus on and hopefully better myself in a sport I’ve often viewed as my weak spot. Slowly but surely I am becoming more aware of pacing and cadence – counting strike rates on a daily basis. I think about my A’s, my B’s and even my C’s. I lunge, I stride and I even sprint up hills... and from time to time, I even turn off my brain and well, just run.
Oh the run, the glorious run.
Oh, and last but not least, another great thing about all this running is the extra time I get to spend with my favourite little run buddy – Rusty. His motivation never falters, as soon as he sees my running gear or a pair of ankle socks pulled out of the drawer, he’s fired up and ready to go... sometimes I wish I could harness his energy and excitement.
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