Halfway Point

I'm currently at the halfway point in my training for the Boston Marathon.  I can suggest this is the halfway point as declared since milestones have been achieved.  I will review those milestones.  Once reviewed, then I will discuss then plan for the next half of training.

First Half Milestones

The following list is the milestones needed to be achieved for the first half of training for the Boston Marathon.  This is not the training program for anyone else but myself  (so all you people out there who have a hard time assimilating information, please don't worry, your way still is best for everyone else).

• Strength and Agility Foundation (November 2014)
  I kept it simple, I followed a set program that already when through Quality Assurance, leveraging the funding and trust of a well known established company.  As well, the program does reflect athletics and really helps to balance out the body.   With that, the program I followed was a month cycle of Insanity Asylum.... Step ladders are amazing!
• Aerobic Discipline (December 2015)
  I increased weekly mileage while at the same time monitoring my heart rate, making sure that I didn't go above 160 bpm.   Also, I made sure to keep a consistent pace throughout my runs, which is the discipline and not so easy to take it easy.
  
  The weekly goal was to progress above 100 km to 130 km per week.
• Mileage Possibilities (January 2015)
  keeping with the 60% effort of aerobic training, I just wanted to see how high I could go with the weekly mileage.  I mostly did this just to keep the training interesting while I couldn't work on speed nor time.   I hit up to 170 km for a single week.   The average was still above 100 km per week.
• Speed Turnovers (Throughout)
  The only speed turnover that I achieved for the first half of training was how fast I could eat foods directly after finishing a workout.  And how quickly I could turnover that food to be digested quickly enough for my body to keep from exhausting itself.   Which meant a lot of split pea soups, chicken noodle soups and a whole lot of vegetable smoothies.  
  
  For dinner, in order to keep my heart from attacking me and killing me, I made sure to eat cacao and carbs.  So, I always had a pot of Quinoa ready to eat, to which I would turnover throughout each evening.
• Hill Climbing (Throughout)
  I've been generally climbing hills almost every run.  Yup, I'm hill hungry.  On average, it's been about 300 m climbs per week.  The highest climb is over 500 m.  All of the climbs, while keeping my heart rate at 160 bpm, which meant that I was keeping my aerobic engine going, and running very slow.

Second Half Milestones

My running coach will be reviewing this section (and editing it), since this is the section of training where injuries can disrupt the entire training regime.

• Strength And Agility (February 2015)
  For the month of February I will be solidly completing the cross-training program provided by the same company, Beachbody, called Insanity Asylum Volume 2.  What I hope to achieve from this program is to flush out any glitches from the first half of Boston training, while at the same time giving me the foundation to build up on mile repeats, hill descending and other lactic threshold training.
• Anaerobic/Lactic Threshold (February - March 2015)
  I should start small doses of intervals.  Not so much mile repeats and if, slower than intended pace.   These workouts would be 1 or 2 days a week.
• Mileage Peaking (throughout)
  I need to train for tapering.  Most people taper once and then hope for all the magic.  I am planning to taper through the last half of the training several times.  There will be three tapers - all aligned with races:  First Harry Rosen 8k, then Slainte 5k, then ATB 30k.  All of them lowering mileage and then building back up again, much the same as tapering for real race day.
• Speed Turnovers (weeks before the race)
  Under the guide of my running coach, I will be engaged mile repeats.  I need to choose mile repeats over track workouts because I just don't have enough experience to handle track.  I require longer doses of pain so that I can better learn to pace.  Shorts spurts of speed forces me to use my fast twitch muscles which I find have no value in these longer distance races.
• Hill Descending (February - March)
  I am assuming there may be some injuries exposed with this training, so I need to get use to this quickly.  I will need to learn to run downhill quite a bit and take it on for a longer duration.

No Jumping in Winter Running

The winter runner, I am, no doubt.  I prefer to run in the freezing cold wind over any other outdoor element.  Why?  I don't need to stop for water, and I can go on for hours and hours.

The only thing that stops me is not layering properly.

So, I thought I'd share what I wear... Now, since I've made a lot of gear mistakes from cotton underwear to iTouch friendly gloves.   Now I'm quite quintessential in the art as the cold runnist.

How does she do it?

First of all, I'd share what I've seen as the best geared out there.  This is a runner from my running club.  What she has geared up with is pretty cool.  I haven't been able to match it.

With the Lululemon beanie to the adjustable convenient face scarf, almost as good as the gortex jacket.

Picture perfect...

Regardless, this picture is great, the look tells all, that winter running is a lot of fun if you are geared right.

Race Pace Equivalence Calculator

Welcome to the support page for the Race Pace Graded Equivalence Calculator.

The Race Pace Grade Calculator is a lightweight quick-loading application to provide measured running efforts in comparison to various acknowledged road racing and track distances. 

This mobile device application will enable you to enter your race distance and finishing time. The calculation will result in a measured prediction of your results in other road race distances. Each of the various road race distances will render the result predicted outcome time and required pace formatted in kilometers and miles.

You can also click any of the road race distance buttons and those values will automatically update the road race distance entry fields. Any distance you enter in the kilometer or mile entries will automatically convert the respective kilometer and mile values.

If your entered distance matches a world record, then this application will grade you on a score in comparison to the world record for your race category.

This application does not require any internet connection to operate - therefore will run only within your device.

Gloss Training

There is that appeal to do the fancy dancy cross training.  We all heard about it, we all know about it, some of us are fans, some are great at coordinating these training activities...

As for myself, I am a cross training advocate, no doubt.  I have some cross training advice to share with you.   You gotta explore some cross training on your own, with nobody else around, all by yourself, so that you get an opportunity to discover your hidden talents and skills.

Who would ever suggest lonesomeness...  Let me troll you through the various types of cross training that I know about so that you can understand where I am coming from.

Group Classes

This is where a whole bunch of people confine into a single place.  These are a lot of fun.  You need a trainer for these types of events who lead synchronously like a dance or asynchronous intervals.  You are motivated by your peers and press your competitive spirit.     If you are in the middle of the pack, then it is great.

One to One

A personal trainer is a great chance to explore functional ways to improve on all types of movements and demands.   You'll definitely be pushed to work hard and balance yourself out right.  You'll get a lot of feedback and learn tips and tricks you never knew possible.  There are just some things you want to do on your own, but then when the trainer is not around, would you ever do those workouts?  probably not.

Gloss Training

Gloss training is when you workout at home, all by yourself, and you get to gloss over those workout activities you just do not like to do.  Focusing only on those activities you enjoy.   It is a great trick because if you gloss well, then you will always ensure that you are doing all of the workouts you need to do, even if you don't want to do them.  

How to Gloss?

So, complimenting the basics of "Group Class" structure and "One to One", I usually go to the Insanity Asylum program.  I use to be a personal trainer, I use to try to train a lot of different programs, I did weight sets of increasing reps, Yoga, P90X, Insanity.  I really pushed through those programs... to the point of really not enjoying it so much more as I just wanted visual results.

The Asylum program, I feel compliments long distance running demands, prevents injury, builds confidence.  That allows me to care less about the visual and more so the functional (which if done right eventually attributes the visual).

When I am alone, in my own space, trying out these workouts, I really just take it easy.  Halfway through an interval, if I really don't feel like it, I grab some water, chill out, hop around and wait for the next block of activity.   When I hit an activity that I like, I go all out, then next, back again, to chilling out, taking it easy.   I'm glossing it.  

I find when I'm glossing it, I am more relaxed and I get a chance to figure out particular movements that keep me from doing it right for the workouts that I feel wrong.   When it doesn't feel right, it is just how I am balanced, or how I position myself thinking.  Adjustments simply find an easier way to do an exercise.  It does come with time as well because some of the workouts need a base that just is not prevalent day one.    I wouldn't get there if I was pushing myself to extreme exhaustion.

Gloss training, it is great, because I learn a lot about what I like to do, what I do well, and what I suck at.  I'm at home, who cares.   I find myself more viable to engage longer term building functional aptitude to handle myself out there in that demanding world.  At the same time, I am still engaged in a High Intensity Training program because when it feels right, I go for it!

yeah, so cross training... Try to gloss it!

Running Dimensions

An infinite array of universes, all mutually exclusive, yet aligned at simpler dimensions.  Each of these, you've been in, will be in, or are in now.  You slip in and out of each universe, unknowingly, sometimes at indication, jumping infinitely.

Ever wonder why the world behaves crazy, or all fits together like a summers breeze?   A course that wasn't relevant yesterday, may not be relevant on the next moment.   Each universe you slip into seems exactly the same, as the previous and the next.  The only difference are those things where a singular cannot be contained.

Sense of Dimensions

You could run and train, time over and again, only to find one day, all that was is not the same.  Your legs feel heavy, you are very tired, nothing you thought would do makes sense...  All of the running you've done before seems as there is no more.

At times, where you are, whether a new route or the same, seems separate from the rest of the world.  The world that you are acquainted with, everything in your past, that you've seen and heard, doesn't feel as real as the moment you are right now, this very moment, while you are running.

It doesn't matter that you feel out of place, that you cannot run well, like gravity itself has a force all new to you.  Regardless of all, this place, where you are running, is a sense of a place that is of itself and in it's own time.  Almost, in a way, as if time has stopped...   Telling you that all dimensions align the same at this very place, you can just tell there is something unique, this moment, this time, this pace.

If you push too much, if you worry and push your fitness, to try to pick up your pace, to feel like your running should add up to something else...  You just might jump away, to another universe.

That new place you have just ran through stays in your mind.  You visit that same place, time and time again, to find that same feeling, but it just doesn't come around.  Or quite the opposite, where there may be a single place where you always feel the same, which doesn't match anywhere else you run.

You slip into various universes, but cannot relate nor recreate, but only wait for that next chance to find yourself in the place you appeal best.

Triggers

Not one of us can trace what triggers us to move between universes.  Almost as if there is a recess bell that goes off we cannot hear.  Some of us spend our entire lives searching for the source of that bell.  Others, worry wholeheartedly that the next bell is going to go off at the wrong time, end up in a hostile place that seems to not end.

Everything is the same, within each universe, at the simpler dimensions.  The only difference are those things which cannot be controlled, cannot contain.   What are these elements that a Universe cannot trace?  The answer comes to you during your run.

There is something about running that gauges one particular place to be isolated from the rest of the world.  As if, those things, that the universe cannot contain is expressed.   While only for a moment, it is there, the next it is gone.

We cannot control it just as much as it cannot be contained.

Next time that you run, find that place that is special.  What you have found is what is most free.  It won't make you faster, nor lighter or heavier - you cannot control the Universe with it - nevertheless, you captured it's essence.

The Infinite Run

The basis of infinite, is that if you take a piece away, you are still left with infinite...  If one run is not like the rest, taking that away from the entirety of the experience is redundant.

Capture the essence of your run and do not measure how heavy or fast or slow you feel.  Find what cannot be contained and carry that with you wherever you may slip into.  Instead of taking away from your run what you feel is not working, find what is infinite in the moment.

Treat your run as if it was an infinite moment - find that which inspire you, motivate you, that keep you moving forward, without looking at the end result.

Imaginaining

Imaginaining

Imaginaining is a play with words out of the idea of drawing power out of imagination while training.  The beauty of our imagination reveals much unbounded energy that no plan could offer.  It is a world unreachable, never to be, always striving, just beyond.   Unlike the predominant message, that hard work brings dreams to reality, the age old tale, a righteous tale unattainable for my run today.

It is not dreams coming true that matters as much to stay as they are, dreams.  To live the dream like a child at play.

So, how does one imaginaine, and how do we unleash it's full potential?

Body

My body feels so relaxed when I run, even at times when it hurts, when I feel heavy, feel slow, though relaxed and easiness carries me along.  Nothing stops me when I go, the speed I run is my speed, nothing else compares, no matter how much faster others may seem, my body is the most relaxed, feels the best, feels so strong, so loose.   Any tired or lethargic feeling I had previous to my run is gone.  Any frustrations or elusiveness, not a worry, as I am fully in control with no vice holding me.  I am one with my body, fully and completely...

Spirit

Whenever I go outside for a run, I am one with the elements.   The wind and the sun and the temperature, aligned perfectly to challenge me.  I can feel the wind pushing towards me when I need the challenge and it pushes at my back to help me with a break.  The trees, to my sides, are feeding the air, and how fresh and inspiring it is to inhale.  

I am one with the world while I am running as if it is speaking to me, aligned with me along my adventure.   The world is most alive while I run, it is as if the world itself wakes up in all places I pass through.

The world, actually, is a dream itself just the same.  When I run, I am running wherever I want to feel that I am running.  Whether on the sandy beach or in a jungle...  Even if I am not exactly there, I feel it, I imagine it.   I could even feel I am running in the worlds best marathons, on the best courses, even if where I actually am may not be so.

Soul

Everytime I set my foot outside for a run, I am already setting many world records.  I am already a world champion before I am even halfway through my run.   Regardless who runs by me, they have no understanding that it is me, who is the best, most awesome runner that has ever set foot.

That is the art of Imaginaining.   It is to feel, with no respect to any feedback of time or comparison to others, that we are the best that can be.  There are so many other factors that play in my life and with all of the constraints and setbacks, everytime I set out for a run, I am beating anyone in the entire world history.  If anyone were to be able to align exactly the same factors and experiences that I have had, there is no way they could match me.  Nobody understands what it takes for me to go for a run.   I am the best in the world, I am the best runner ever and when I run, I feel so great, so wonderful.

I set records, I win, I am the best at what I do.  The advantage is that everytime I run, I keep getting better, breaking even more records, getting faster, lasting longer.

....

It is with imagination, where I run best.  I no longer am in pursuit of my dreams... I run in my dreams.

On race day, when it is me against others in a race, it does not matter to me who wins.   Most important to me, is doing my best and when I run I am the best regardless of anything else.

It is with imagination, how I run.  With imagination, how I train.   I do not need to care who is faster than me, who is way out of my physical reach...  They do not have what I have and if they did, I would definitely be way better than them.  

All that matters is what gets me out to run.

Soulignment

Soulignment

I question to myself numerous times what really got me into running.  Superficially, it seems simple to address: continual improvement, the pace stimulating, outdoor activity, races to engage, keeps health in check, the challenge, the list goes on.   Specific to the challenge of the road race, felt like a catch phrase, to assume that was in itself rewarding.    A city street or park pathway that can change utility for a staged event.  A stage that can be entertaining, social and supportive for the community.  The solace in supporting a charity demonstrates purpose of the social fabric.  I am in a whirlwind of accepting any potential advantage as my inspiration for running.

I nevertheless feel empty... I cannot come up with owning up to antiquity of a single road racing event.  My main interest over-arches the singularly point of time performance feedback.

Why the constant hunger for timed performance metrics used as a statistic feeding my growth?  The statistics elicited improvement expressed as a set of personal bests all congruent of my commitment.   The personal best milestones I achieve provides personal assessment, integrating into a lifestyle.

There are so many advantages to the lifestyle, but again, I find there is something even deeper which keeps me so interested, so engaged.  Beyond these entertaining stage performances, advantages to the life style and feedback loops ... ... ... ...

It dawned on me recently why I immersed myself into the running world.

I am in the dark.

Apart from celebrating racing performances to reinforce my current personae, in the end, it is only momentary, pressing forward to the next milestone, next achievement, next personal best.  Celebrating as if clarity of my persona has been achieved, how defined in the light.  Training plans, coaching, measured diets, disciplined workouts, all providing guidance, providing light, harnessing permanence.

Breath

There is a concept of a soul and a concept of a spirit.  Are they the same, twins or multi-faceted extensions to my persona.  When I run, I am sure my spirit, or a spirit is exclusive, reserved for separate exploration.  The steadfast and experience of everything, that is always dealing with the elements of the world, dealing with the day to day... I can potentially understand that as my soul to which my various persona come and go and change.

Some persona become irrelevant, such as the persona discovered and pushed into the consciousness of others, while other personae change priority with a changing aging world.  What if, that persona is impermanent, not part of this world, out of touch with reality.  What if, the soul is all that is real and all else are tools, even our own selves we use as our own tools.  So then, why would I even attempt to impose my personal bests to my persona that is fleeting...  Personal bests then are my feedback to teach me capability to move beyond my persona to something more tangible.

The word "Soul" has so many connotations with breath.   At all levels of running, whether a personal best or a regular tempo, in it's essence is my only opportunity of controlled breath.

It is only through running that I can align with my physical limitations and find boundaries, that do not readily align with my ego.   It is only through running that I can become more aware of what is my most comfortable pace to handle a strenuous activity.  I am able to maintain my engagement with the elements of this world as I keep aligned with my capabilities.

The reason why I feel I keep coming back to running over and over is because those moments I am aligned.  But that alignment is real and I only get to experience that reality those moments I am pacing with the elements and understanding there are places I am going that my persona is not in control.  There are places that my tools do not have the leverage and power that I assumed must have existed.

I learn from this to listen to my body more, to quieten my directed thinking to what is directing me, ultimately, to listen to something more real than the noise I am creating... to listen to my soul... through my breath.  

I align to what is most real and that answers my question why I am immersed in the running world.