I travelled to Spokane, WA last Friday to race the Bloomsday 12K. Much like the Vancouver Sun Run, this event has become a mega-race featuring upwards of 50,000 participants. The large prize purse attracts elite runners from all over the world. The course has a roller coaster elevation profile and includes a ‘fun-filled’ 1200m climb up the aptly named Doomsday Hill. If you have your wits about you at the summit, you’ll notice there’s a guy dressed in a vulture’s suit, waiting for you to drop dead.

After reviewing the start list for the Masters division, I knew I’d have to run aggressively to win the top prize. I wasn’t timid, and got into a quick pace right off the start. A mile in, I noticed three women had moved up and were running at my heels. Now we had a race! The four of us ran in a tight group. These gals were hard-core competitors, not prepared to concede. I held with them until we neared the top of Doomsday Hill, about five miles into the course. I lost some ground, but on the flat, tucked back in behind. I passed through the 10km mark in about 35:50; unfortunately at this point, I had allowed a 40 to 50m gap. I noticed one of the women getting dropped from the lead group, so I made a push to close in and managed to pass her about 200m from the finish. Allowing myself to lose contact with the pack so late in the race was mentally tough. Still, I was happy to get my head back into the game in time to take third place.

The minute I got back to my hotel, I was on my computer checking for results from the BMO Vancouver Marathon and Half-marathon. Two of the runners I coach were racing and both turned in PBs. I’m thrilled and only wish I could have been there to cheer them on. Way to go Joe and Terry!

It was my first time running the Times Colonist 10km course since the route change a couple of years ago. I preferred the old course; the uphill right off the top isn’t ideal, but the last 5km is still run along scenic Dallas Road- hard to complain about that!

The weather was near perfect, so I knew it could be a fast race. I felt very strong right off the start despite the initial uphill), and was running on pace and feeling in control. When I turned onto Dallas soon after the 5km split however, I got a side stitch, which is really rare for me. As I tried to work it out, I lost some ground to Lucy Smith and Lisa Harvey. The stitch let up after a km or so, but by that time, I was a good 100m behind. I made a few valiant attempts to get myself back up with them but it wasn’t enough. A shame I didn’t get the chance to run to the end with my two ‘rivals’ (looks like it was a good battle between Lucy and Lisa). Coach Trent and I were hoping to run under 35’ so running 35:33 wasn’t a complete disaster. Still, something to aim for and I am confident it’s now possible given these past two races. All I need to do now is run faster!

What really made my day was the number of email and Facebook messages I received from runners who took the time to say that Mindful Strides helped them to achieve personal bests and enjoy the race. The feedback was overwhelming. Equally uplifting was finding out that the athletes I have been training also ran PBs. Coach Mar was very happy for them!

Thank you to all of the race organizers and volunteers for making this a wonderful community event year after year.

Stay tuned! In just a few days I will have some exciting Mindful Strides news for you.

The training since coming back from Flagstaff has been fairly easy. I have been feeling the effects of my body adjusting to coming down from altitude and a big training camp. Feeling sleepy and foggy is not usual for me. I am giving myself as much rest as possible, getting my feet up between clients and clinics when possible. I am on my feet a lot giving clinics and coaching so I try and give my legs a break as often as I can.

I ran a good workout a few days after I came down on the track: 2km/mile/800/mile/2km. This got my legs moving a bit-so much of the running in Flagstaff was on the slow side so it was good to feel some shorter contact off the ground. I wouldn’t say I felt terrific in the wo but I hit the times without too much stress – my legs just felt a bit dull.

I did two moderate wos last week before the Sun Run, 30′worth of tempo on the Tuesday and Thursday I ran 12′ @4:00/6′ @3:25/3′ @3:15 with 3 and 2′ breaks . This is more running than I usually do before a race. I have another couple of races coming up over the next few weeks so Trent didn’t bring the volume down too much for this first race.

The Sun Run was a great start to the next series of road races I have coming up. My lungs felt open and tanked up-all that rib cage action in Flag was a good thing! The past couple of months of workouts from Trent gave me the courage and speed to make strong moves allowing me to work my way up through placings. I look forward to these next few races and to what Trent has up his sleeve for marathon preparation.

I ran 35:03 which is where I would say I was at before I got sick and was a PB from four years ago. So it took me a year to get back-it was a long haul and I hope I never go through anything like what I went through again but the experience has made me profoundly appreciate running, my energy and my health.

I know everyone is talking about Dylan’s amazing race in Rotterdam but I too have to say how happy I am for him to have made the Olympic standard for the marathon….2:10:47! Canada now has three guys that are world-class.

If that isn’t impressive enough, how about Lanni Marchant ‘s 2:31:51 and Krista DuChene‘s 2:32:05 also run in Rotterdam!

This last training camp was pretty amazing.  Having members of Speed River at most of the runs and workouts added energy and motivation to each training day. Dave fosters a very positive group dynamic with the athletes supporting one another-a very powerful training stimulus.

I could have easily stayed another month exploring the trails in and around Flagstaff and would like to back if I can to do some more trail cruising. Still, I have to say, nothing beats the rugged West Coast for me…not yet anyway.

Malindi and Graham

The group drove down to Sedona for a workout on the track mid-week on my second week into the camp.  Trent and Dave worked it so that Malindi, Hilary and I could run together. Malindi and I did 3 sets of 2 x 1km with 3′ rests and longer recovery for the set breaks. I got a 15-20″ head start while Hilary did a cut-down, jumping in and out of our kms with shorter and faster reps. Trent came out and was just excellent at keeping us all in line helping us stay motivated to nail every interval.  I kept my splits very even -3:22/km – yea, sounds like I was farting around but trust me I was working! Running fast at 4500ft is ridiculous. Meanwhile Malindi and Hilary were tearing it up. It’s pretty obvious what world-class running is all about when you see these women ripping through a workout - especially obvious as they sail by you. Really beautiful to watch!

Malindi, Mar and Hilary

A few days later the group met at Buffalo Park . On tap was  a 90′ run with some light fartlek mixed in. The girls did 3 sets of 2′-4′-2′ (1′) to be run at tempo effort with 4′ set breaks while Trent had me substitute the middle set with a 10′ segment.  Another good workout for me-felt strong and quick straight through. The paces were right, effort was right-basically wasn’t an idiot trying to run too hard which was the goal.

My last workout on Monday morning was a 90′ run which I was expecting to do as a solo effort.  Trent wanted me to do a 60′ progression in the middle starting at 4:20/km, increasing the pace by 10″ every 20′.  Facing this on a  windy morning had me scheming how I could finish the quickest bit of running with the wind.  As I headed down Walnut Canyon Road, I saw Reid, Eric and Dylan who were doing an easy run that morning  so I got a first class ticket on the wind-blocking pace-train! Thanks to Eric I was able to keep the quality going against the wind.

Walnut Canyon Road

It wasn’t all hard training for us. We slept a lot and ate a lot of chocolate…ok well I did. We also had a few team outings, my favorite being dinner at Diablo’s. This is a high-calibre burger joint in downtown Flagstaff and Mar-approved!

I had a great training camp and felt I adjusted better this time around compared to my first go at altitude in Albuquerque back in November. I think I went into this camp fitter which helped. I feel very fortunate to have had this fabulous opportunity to train and hang out with some wonderful people and talented runners. I soaked up as much information on training, adapting etc listening to Trent, Dave, Brenda and and of course, Hilary and Malindi. Lucky me!

The camp ended on a postive note with Hilary and Malindi running great opening races at the Sun Angel Track Classic.

Next up for me is the Sun Run in Vancouver this coming Sunday, followed by the TC 10km on April 29th. I just received an invite to run the women’s elite division in the Bloomsday 12km in Spokane, WA the first weekend in May. Time to get into race mode!

Training has been going well these past couple of months.  I began moving into some faster paced workouts at the end of January after working mainly on getting stronger aerobically this past year. I have been working with Trent Stellingwerff, Hilary’s husband who is a coach and sports physiologist. It took just a handful of some quicker paced sessions before my legs caught up to my aerobic fitness. It came together nicely a few weekends ago, when I ran a 5km road race (Synergy Bazan Bay) in a PB time of 16:54. Trent has been switching a few things up in my schedule and I have already felt some positive improvements. The short-term goal is to get my shorter distance times down with a long-term goal of a fall marathon. I am very excited to workwith him and see how things progress now that I am getting into more specific training.

I am currently in Flagstaff Arizona. I am here on my second altitude training camp with Hilary Stellingwerff and Malindi Elmore. These girls are fast and I am out of their league but they treat me as if I was “one of them” and make me feel right at home-thanks guys! Training and hanging out with them has been such a fantastic experience for me. The SpeedRiver gang is here as well so we have been getting in some group training.

Our camp started off with a little bad luck. We flew into Phoenix last week to unseasonably cold weather. A dump of snow in Flagstaff prevented us from continuing on to our destination so we camped out at a friend’s place for the night and drove up to Flagstaff the next day. It was disappointing to find out that all the trails were covered in snow so we were limited to running on roads for the first few days here. Wanting to get up a little higher for a hike (9-10000ft), we decided to rent snowshoes and check out the trails at the Snowbowl ski resort. It proved to be quite a challenging trek since we had to forge new trails through the forest, trudging through fresh snow. It was hard work but it was pretty beautiful.

Rachel and Kyle

So far I am feeling pretty good. We are are at around 7000 feet here, which is 2000ft higher than Albuquerque. The snow has melted and we have already run on some amazing trails and dirt roads here. Flagstaff is a mecca for endurance athletes wanting to reap the benefits of high-altitude training. Now that I have run on just a small handful of trails here, I can see why.

Training here has been great so far. I always run with my HR monitor on, keeping my HR as close as possible to where it would be at sea-level. The pace is slower but I am still getting the volume in. We have been here just over a week now. The majority of our runs have been easy to moderate, giving our bodies time to adjust to the stress of living and working hard with less oxygen. We’ll be driving down to Sedona (4500ft) tomorrow where we’ll run our first harder workout since being here.

An excursion to the Grand Canyon last weekend has already been a highlight of the trip.

Buddies

More updates to follow soon!

Andrew Hallam is the author of the book best-selling book, Millionaire Teacher. If you haven’t heard of the book, just google it and you’ll find countless rave reviews and endorsements from all the financial world big-hitters.  As soon as you start reading, you’ll know why. Andrew’s fitness blog is pretty inspiring as well. His battle with cancer is chronicled here. He is also a very great athlete and runner so have a read and learn how to invest wisely.

Guest Post:  By Andrew Hallam

Author of Millionaire Teacher

You’ve just met a shoe salesman trying to convince you to buy a pair of hiking boots for your next 10K race. HaileGebrselassie just wore a similar pair in a Prince George 10k, he claims: 29:34, breaking the local course record.

Do you go for it?  Do you buy these boots for your next 10K?

Currently, you race in Saucony’s feather light Grid Fastwitch 5.

You know that a four pound pair of hiking boots is a dumb alternative. As convincing as the salesperson sounds, you’re not going to fall for it. And you shouldn’t.

There are a few things–when combined–that inarguably improve our racing times:

1. At least one reasonably long run in each week.

2. A weekly anaerobic threshold workout (15-20km race pace)

3. Aerobic power intervals (3-5km race pace)

4. A mindful posture/technique

5. A lightweight pair of shoes No slick talking salesman could really convince us to trade the lightweight racing flats for boots. We know better than that.

And no study that we could ever find would support a salesperson’s claim that a beefy set of boots will make us faster.

Simple enough, right?

But here’s something baffling

The average person who saves and invests money is like a runner in Arctic Tundras.

If we bothered to read a book about mutual fund investing, we would learn that the investment funds that get sold to us by Canadian banks and other financial institutions are weighed down: not by rubber and leather, but by hidden fees that the banks profit from.

Conspiracy theory? Nope. It’s as conspiratorial as the fact that heavy boots make you slow.

Pick up any book you want that compares actively managed mutual funds (which are sold by the average financial advisor) to another type of fund called an “Index Fund” and you’ll see, without a doubt, that the most efficient investment funds you can buy aren’t hyped by financial advisors.

They get compensated well if you buy the boots, not the racing flats.

The excess fees charged by Canada’s financial institutions amount to a cost of roughly 2.3 percent each year. That might sound like chicken feed, but it makes the difference between making, say, 7 percent on our money versus 9.3 percent on our money. Still sound like peanuts?

Check this out over a savings lifetime:

$10,000 invested at 7% per year over 40 years = $149,744

$10,000 invested at 9.3% per year over 40 years= $350,545

The bottom line is this. If you invested half your money in the Canadian stock market and half of it in the Canadian bond markets, ten years ago, you would have a profit of roughly 80 percent. If you invested $10,000 back in 2002, it would be worth roughly $18,000 today.

That’s what the Canadian stock market and Canadian bond markets dished out. There’s nothing fancy about that.

But you probably didn’t do that well.  You probably didn’t get close to that.

The reason?

Investment fees.

Buy ANY BOOK YOU CAN FIND on actively managed mutual funds. Read the academic studies comparing actively managed funds with low cost index funds.

You won’t find a study suggesting that actively managed funds (what the banks sell you) give you a higher statistical chance of investment success, compared to index funds.

And you can’t run your PR in army boots either—no matter what a boot salesperson might try telling you.

For a series of books to choose from, you could start with the following list.

Be mindful with your running–and your money.

I didn’t get around to writing a post after the training camp. I gave it a go back in December, but never managed to get a post done…so here I am once again playing catch up from November.

The training camp with Hil finished off well. We did our final Sunday long run; a 2 hour run on the undulating trails along the base of the foothills. We ran at a good steady clip, both of us feeling much stronger than the first day we ran these trails. The extra 1500-2000 feet can be felt in your lungs especially noticeable on any hill climbs. I ran an alternating pace workout two days later and made the typical altitude error of running a bit too hard at the start of a workout. The plan was to run 30′ alternating between 3′ at marathon pace, 3′ at 10km. I goofed up and ran an overly frisky first 3′ and began to feel the payback shortly after I moved into 10km effort. 12 minutes into the workout and my HR was not dropping fast enough in the marathon efforts for me to be recovered enough to hit the quality effort. I slowed right up at that point so my HR could get down enough for me start again. I managed to salvage it somewhat but gave my forehead a few smacks for being such a twit and messing things up right off the top of the session. The workout on Friday went much better; 2 sets of 4′ @ 5km (3′) 8′ @ 10km (3′).  Hil led the the 5km efforts and I led the 10km and this time the paces were spot on. The last 10km effort was tough but I managed to hold it together. We were both pretty happy with that one. So the three weeks ended with a final week of good volume (about 135km) and a great workout.

Tramway Trail Hike

Atalaya Mountain Trail - Santa Fe

Hilary Floating

Long Hike Rewarded with a Sunset

The Mindful Strides clinics started up the week I returned and I found myself quite busy with teaching private lessons and doing admin work. I was feeling pretty bagged after the time at altitude. My legs felt heavy but was told that was pretty normal as you adjust back to sea-level. I ran the National X-Country Championships in Vancouver, still feeling a bit off.  What a mucky race that was! The course was greasy and the mud in places. ankle deep.  My brother Al came out to cheer and stood in the miserable rain. He sure must love me! haha!  Every time I ran by him, he was laughing and cheering. My race was lousy but I doubt too many felt great that day as the conditions were a bit wild.

National X-Country Champs-Jericho Beach

I took a down week not long after that race as I was feeling a need for some rest. Since the middle of last month I have been gradually adding a few faster-paced workouts into the mix which has included some sessions on the track. It took the third workout last week to really feel some spin my legs. Unfortunately, Victoria got hit with some snow which has made it impossible to run any real quality so I am itching to get back at it.

I am keeping very busy with Mindful Strides. The past year’s success has been due to the terrific support from people in the community who want to see people fit and feeling good about running. Rob Reid at Frontrunners Footwear has been encouraging me from day one. Thanks to Rob and his staff! I am also lucky to have amazing feedback from local practitioners Rob Pearce at Structural Dynamic Therapy and Paul McIntyre at Broadmead Orthopaedic Physiotherapy Clinic. Rob and Paul have helped me fine-tune what I do in the clinics and their encouragement and their willingness to share their knowledge has meant a lot.  It’s wonderful getting to see such amazing improvements with so many runners.  I get great satisfaction hearing from participants who have had chronic running injuries that are now running without pain. Runners are also noticing their race times improve and are feeling encouraged and motivated to train, race and stay active.

Training in Albuquerque has been a great experience so far. I feel very fortunate to be here with Hilary.  We’ve been here now for about two weeks and we’ve been training hard but have also had a lot of fun. Hilary is a very knowledgeable athlete and it’s incredibly inspiring to see the discipline she pours into her training. I am learning a lot! We get along really well-good thing too as we spend nearly every waking minute together-no hair pulling cat fights to report yet! We are also very lucky to have wonderful hosts both of whom are running coaches with the University of New Mexico. ‘A Havahla and Austin have made us feel so welcome in their home-thanks guys!

The second week here has gone very well. We spent the first week getting our bearings and figuring out the best locations to run the various runs we need to get in. We have a choice of hilly trails at a slightly higher elevation in the foothills, the use of the Uni’s track, smooth grass field next to the track and use of the gym thanks to Have and Austin. The school’s golf course has a great dirt trail route with a mix of flat and hills and the path that runs alongside the Rio Grande River (slightly lower elevation) is endless and flat-great for tempo runs.

Start of the Foothills Trails

I ran my first quality wo on Tuesday: 10 x 3′@ 10km (90″). I was apprehensive at first. I didn’t want to blow it by running too hard-easy to do at altitude -you have to ignore how slow your pace is here compared to sea-level. Once the wo got rolling, I knew I would be fine. The last couple of intervals had my lungs working hard! I averaged 3:38/km so was pleased with that. Friday’s wo had me running at 5km effort: 10 x 90″ (90″). The first few were in the 3:25-30/km range and then moved to 3:20-22/km without a problem. So far I seem to be responding well and hitting the paces I should be. There is no denying that we have been more tired in general here. A daily nap is a must!

Hilary

Sunday Run

Tramway Trail Hike

Hil and I have supplemented our training with some vigorous hiking at higher elevation. We drove to Santa Fe the first weekend we were here and did a 2.5 hour hike on the Atalaya Mountain Trail which got us up just over 9000 feet. Last week we ran 75′ in the morning, then did a 2.5 hour hike in the afternoon here near town on the west face of the Sandia Mountains on  La Luz Trail. Both hikes were incredible with breathtaking views. The dessert mountains here are so different from anything I have ever seen.

I am looking forward to our last week of training here and will post another entry after next week.

La Luz Trail Hike

More Trails

Yep, we hit a patch of snow!

Stay tuned. More pics to come!

I raced the BC X-Country Championships last weekend. I stood at the start-line, knowing I was going to hurt. I hadn’t done enough harder, faster training to feel prepared to run this challenging course but this excited me to no end. I decided I would go for it and hope that my aerobic strength would prop me up. The course ate me up and I hurt like I haven’t hurt in a long while.  I didn’t wuss out and not push even though I wanted to stop many, many times. Hilary Stellingwerff won the Senior women’s race in a gutsy way! Lucy Smith too ran a great and inspiring race!

I’m now in Albuquerque New Mexico with my new training buddy Hilary Stellingwerff. Hilary recently moved from Switzerland to Victoria and we have been meeting regularly to run. She invited me to join her on her three-week training camp and I jumped at the opportunity. I have wanted to train at altitude for a couple of years now so this was a perfect opportunity for me. Hil is gearing up to qulaify for the 2012 Olympics in the 1500m and has been a pro athlete for years. She has trained at altitude many times so I knew her knowledge and advice would be incredible…and it has been! I also knew we would get along well and be a good support for one another while there. Lucky me!

The first couple of days of running here were pretty funny. Albuquerque in 5300 feet above sea level making even easy running a gasp-fest. I kept looking down at my Garmin on my first run in amazemnt seeing my HR up at where I am usually on a steady run and I was only at 5:30/km pace! Hil assured me that this was completely normal and that in a few days, things should settle down as we adapt. We have been here just over a week now and patience and being smart not to push things this first week has paid off. We are feeling much better and have been gradually increasing the volume throughout the week without any trouble.

We ran our first long run on Sunday of 90′ with a bit of light effort thrown in: 30′ steady/45′ @4:00/km effort/15′ easy. We ran along the Rio Grande River. The Paseo del Bosque trail is a perfect spot for a tempo run. There is a dirt trail on either side of the bike path so the footing is good and on a softer surface. The wo went really well for both of us. I averaged 4:05 for the 45′  which is about 10″ slower than what I run this wo at sea-level with the same HR average. This coming week we will be starting to add some faster running so I am preparing myself to feel some lung burn!

I did start this post a few days after my race but I didn’t have time to finish and after all the excitement on the amazing accomplishments by Reid Coolsaet and Eric Gillis both of whom qualified for the 2012 Olympics weekend…well, my boring run didn’t seem even worth mentioning!

Well, here’s my boring run anyway. This was my first real race back and I am so glad it went as well as it did. My thought back in March was that I would be lucky to get back to 1:20 shape by fall so I am very pleased with how far I have come.  Training had gone well over the summer so I was lucky to have that trust in my back pocket.

Race morning after my usual toast and strong coffee (yes, I brought my toaster and Bodum to the hotel), I threw on a shiny new pair of Saucony Kinvaras and headed out for my warm-up to the start-line. The weather was absolutely perfect; clear, cool with hardly any wind.

I was very excited and happy to be racing again. It had been a tough year regaining my health and getting back into shape so standing on the start-line that Sunday morning was pretty special for me.

My plan was to run the first 10km in 36:30-37′. A small group of women went out at 75-76 pace right off the gun while another small group of us hung back. I stayed at an effort I knew I could handle. I went through 10km just under 37′ and was feeling very relaxed. Just before the turn-around I saw I was catching up to a couple of women which encouraged me to focus in and catch them.  I moved from 5th to 3rd female by the time I ran past Cook St. on Dallas Rd. I had a go at trying to snag second place in the last couple kms but Kathy hung in there right to the finish.  Great first race back for her too after having a baby. Natasha had an amazing run taking down my course record! Nice job Tasha!  Shauna ran a PB too which was great to see and so many others ran so well and were thrilled with their race so a pretty good day!  I was amazed at the amount of support I got from so many runners in the race. Thank you so much for your “Go Mare’s!”. Even though it didn’t look like it, I heard all the cheers of support and it certainly helped!

I was so proud of the Mindful Strides runners and thrilled to hear of so many breakthroughs and PBs! Yes!!

Thank you to the race organizers for treating us so well and to all the volunteers for all your hard work!

Next up is cross-country season, my absolute favorite!