Mid-Summer Update

It’s been a good spring and summer of training, the first time in a few years that I’m not working within the limits of any injuries. It feels good to be able to gradually build up my long runs and overall mileage to where I want. Having lots of fun with that, and running has never felt better.

Some other training notes:

  

- Just finished Scott Jurek’s book Eat & Run and highly recommend it. A very entertaining and inspiring story. One of the best running books I’ve read.

- In June I was involved in organizing a local initiative called Active Commute to Work Week, where we encouraged people to use active transportation to get to and from work. We piggybacked our local efforts onto the Commuter Challenge website to record our data and participate in the nationwide challenge. It was fun, and we built some good momentum to launch from next year. It also helped motivate me to do chunks of my own commute by bike, which I’ve wanted to do for a few years. I’m lucky to able to ride on rail trail for most of the way now that two new bridges have been installed on the K&P Trail. Without these bridges I would never do this ride, which shows me how important infrastructure is.

- Derrick and I had the opportunity to be part of an episode of Canadian Made (which runs on History Television Canada). The episode is called Snow Crossing and can be viewed online. (The snowshoe segment, where we appear, is up first.) Our footage was shot in late winter of 2011 at Batawa Ski Hill north of Trenton. They took a lot of footage over an entire day, so it’s funny to see how little they end up actually using (trust me, this isn't a complaint). They do a good job editing the stories together in a fun way (except the cow hide bit is really gross). As far as our ‘acting’, well, I think we’ll stick to running!

Vertical K. Yummy.

- My new favourite shoe is the Vertical K. Awesome on the trails, and I even did a track workout in them. (I brought road flats in case they didn't work out, but they were amazing.) They feel like a slipper and are light as air, but are durable and cushioned. The 4 mm heel-drop had me easing into them for longer stuff, but now I wear them a ton. They are great for sockless runs too; no seams, very comfy.

- Another huge new fav is my UltrAspire Surge pack. My trusty old UD Wink pack was on another planet from any other I'd previously used, but this one is in an entirely different universe. It makes wearing a hydration pack go from cumbersome necessity to non-issue.


- Enjoyed Don Kardong's Letter to US Olympic Marathoners. Throw no bottles.

- Getting excited to do a few races again soon. I never expected it to be this long, but all of my winter and spring plans fell through for various reasons. I couldn't be accused of over-racing lately, that is for sure. I don’t know if I’ll ever race as much as I did in the mid-2000’s but definitely want to do a lot more than the past few years. And of course the stuff from back then doesn't even count because I didn’t blog about it. ;)