Marilyn Arsenault blog post

Wishing my Saucony teammate Marilyn Arsenault a speedy recovery;

http://trainharder.com/blogs/divamar/2010/10/05/curve-ball/comment-page-1/#comment-1200

Stratford 10km Results

 

 Last year I entered the Stratford Festival 10km not knowing too much about it. I discovered that the course was quite hilly and challenging, the prize money was excellent, and it is an all around fun event close to home. This year was the same with all but one exception; the level of competition had increased in both the womans and mens fields (prize money seems to have that effect).

This year the top three Stratford Festival 10km finishers were as such; in 1st was Derek Snider who was coming off an impressive victory a couple of weeks back at the Vic Mathews Cross Country race in Guelph where he finished well ahead of fellow Guelph runners Kyle Boorsma and Alex Genest. In 2nd place was yours truly, just 3 seconds back,which resulted from a fast last km by Snider. In 3rd place was the 2008 Canadian Marathon Champion and World Championship Marathon Competitor Gitah Macharia.

This year’s race unfolded as such. Snider and Macharia took out the first km with confidence in 2:56, After which Snider joked ” anyone up for 29mins today?” I responded with “arg” haha. Up until 6km Snider and Macharia led the race with myself floating about 5 metres behind. At around 6km, I felt the pace settle and this allowed me catch up and briefly pass my competitors. at 7km we faced a rather large hill, which proved to be a bit much on the day for Macharia as he fell off the pace soon after.

Now, Snider and I were left together and running on cruise control expecting a fast and hilly finish. As a side note, I believe an earlier injection of pace (7-8km) would have been the wisest tactic on my part. That said though, Snider made the first move at 9km. I caught up again after this move, but at 9.5km he made his final decisive move to cross the finish line in 30:54 (3 secs off course record and $250 bonus). I crossed the line in 30:57 (6 secs off course record & 21 secs faster than last year).

I was pleased with this, my first race in 3 months, and know that this race paves the way for an impressive run in my upcoming races. My next race will be the Canadian 10km Championships/Toronto Zoo Run on October 16th. I hope to improve on last year’s 7th place finish.

2010 Stratford Festival Results will be posted here http://www.chiptimeresults.com/resultsreader.php?y=2010&r=festivalcityL.htm or http://www.festivalcityrun.ca/festival-city-10k-run/finish-line.html

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE: http://www.stratfordbeaconherald.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2785085

*Congratulations goes out to the following individuals*

 Jason Smith in the 3.5km race and Stephaney Fay in the 10km who both seem to be getting into fine form.

Derek Nakluski who won the Waterloo Open in decisive fashion. 

 

 

more  fantastic race pics by Mark Dewan:  http://picasaweb.google.com/warrior.nordic/20101003FestivalCityRoadRun#

Training Update

So the injury is not a big issue any longer (hooray), and I have entered my fourth week of  base training.  My base training  includes approx 6-8 weeks of slight increases in mileage before maintaining. I started my first week at 40 miles, and now in my fourth week I am at 75 miles (gradual build up). I would feel comfortable running approx 90 consistently.

I have also started to throw in 2 workouts each week. These workouts are hill sessions and tempo runs. Hills range from 60 seconds to 90 seconds with 10-12 intervals. Tempo runs will build from 3 to 10 miles (ideally). In October, God willing, I will run a couple of races, and interval workouts to complete the final pieces of the fitness puzzle. Interval workouts would range from 800m-3000m and mostly on grass.

The injury may turn out to be a good thing, in that, I will be gaining fitness later on in the season.  Anywho…I would love to hear what others are doing for training, and if anyone has any suggestions throw them my way.

What a pain in the…..Meniscus!?

Whoa, long time no blog post! Could it be that for the first time in my opinionated life, I had nothing to say? haha not likely. Truth is, I have been nursing a strained meniscus. If anyone is unfamiliar with what in the world that is, in basic terms, it’s a strain in the ligament by my knee. At first the doctor thought it was a torn ligament because I lacked flexibility in my knee. I thought with this professional uncertainty, I should get an x-ray to put my mind at ease. I will receive the results tomorrow, but am now feeling pretty confident it will only be a strain. A strain would mean 5-6 weeks recovery, but a tear could mean surgery. 

An injury can sometimes be a blessing though, as it allowed me to put more of a focus on other matters in my life such as work, my lady, and family. It has also made me miss the beauty of the trails in Waterloo and my random/pointless conversations with Derek.

In the mean time I will keep doing my intermediate yoga and advanced eating haha. I always did tempt fate, so I may even begin light running after the x-rays if the pain is minimal.

I will keep everyone updated on my progress. I can’t wait to break in my Saucony Fast Twitch 4 this upcoming cross-country/road racing season 🙂

Steven Drew National Marathon Champion

 A “brave” run by my training partner and friend Steven Drew this weekend to become the Canadian Marathon Champion. Steve battled the unusually hot weather, self-doubt, and the emotion of competing in his first race after suddenly losing our mentor, coach, and friend Terry Goodenough.

I can relate to  racing with a heavy heart, lungs and mind, and I think it would be fair to say Steve ran 2 marathons today; the first in Ottawa and the second in his heart/mind. Steve finished in a  fast time of 2:21.47, but it wouldn’t be a stretch to say  it was one of the longest races of his life. 

 I am so proud of Steve and I know Coach Terry would be to. If there is a runner to emulate because of their work ethic and heart….Steven Drew is the guy. Congratulations Steve!

Tis the Season to be….Fast!

 Thought I would give you all a cheeky little update on mine and Derek’s workouts the last couple weeks. It has certainly been an adjustment moving to the track once a week, but it has been crucial in improving my non-existent leg speed.

Here was our first track workout on May 12th:

4 200’s in 38,38,34,34 (15 secs recovery) This was mainly warmup

12 400’s in 67-68 (3o secs recovery). This felt brutal.

Here was our most recent track workout on May 26th:

Weather: 28 degrees!!!!

1 by 1000m in 2:45 (2:00 recovery) Surprised with the time, felt like 2:55.

2 by 800m in 2:17 & 2:14 (1:30 recovery) Felt comfortable.

2 by 600m in 1:41 & 1:41 (1:15 recovery) Heat was getting pretty nasty.

4 by 400m in 67, 65,64,60 (1:00 recovery) Needed water & shade after

= 5400m total

This weekend Derek is racing in Calgary (1okm) and I will be racing a 3k in London on June 2nd. Both of us are training with a fast 5k in mind come July when we race in Belgium with the Toronto Olympic Club.

* I also want to wish our training partner Steven Drew best of luck in the Ottawa Marathon this weekend….wear a hat haha.

Hill Session #1 (Saturday May 15)

Today(Saturday, May 15th) Derek and I had our fastest cumulative hill session ever.  We usually do this hill during our base building phase and therefore our fastest average for 10 hills was 63 seconds. Today; we averaged 56 seconds and did our 10th hill in 53!  Below are some videos of our session today. The hill is approximately 380 metres in length. The workout started at 9am after a 3 mile warm up, strides, and drills. The weather was about 8 degrees, but felt more like 3 with the wind. Enjoy!

Workouts

Many of my readers may be wondering….what is Derek and Adam doing for training now?!

Good news is, despite Terry’s sudden passing, we weren’t left totally unequipped. Terry has left  us with 10 years worth of workouts, advice, and confidence. Derek, Steve, and I have been collaborating to create workouts which we think were indicative of what Terry would have us doing this time of year. What this means is 1 workout on the track and one workout on the hill or on the grass each week.

Derek and I did our first track session on a cold and windy Wednesday morning this week. We started with 4 200’s w/ 15 seconds recovery for warm up in 34-35secs. We proceeded to do 12 400’s in 67-68secs w/ 30 sec recovery. 67-68secs wasn’t a stretch pace wise, but the limited recovery certainly simulated that pain you’ll feel when pushing for that 5k pb. The 400’s equated to 3 miles at 14:00-10 5k pace.

It seems like a good time to hit the track because we are both strong, but lack turnover to stay the least. We plan to do a hill session on Saturday that will involve 12-14 60-65 hills. Recovery will be to jog down and 15 seconds at the bottom.

*I will take pictures of the hill and add it to this post on the day of.

Terry Goodenough Gallery

Here are a couple of Terry’s photos , if anyone has more feel free to comment  with a link or email me them so I can put them up. Thanks.

ahortian@gmail.com

Visitation & Funeral Information

Funeral arrangements have been made for Terry and will appear in the Toronto Star and the Globe tomorrow.

The visition and funeral will be held at Turner and Porter.

Address is 1981 Dundas St W, Miss, Ont L5K 1R2 905-828-8000

Visitation will be Friday 2-4 and 6-9. Funeral will be Saturday at 11:00am.