12 Weeks to go: Hawaii 5-0 (Scheduled is a total of 28-30 km or ~17-18 miles)

Monday, Jan 24: Warm run in Hawaii beckons – why not?
Ever stop to think, no; stop to pause and simply appreciate just how good life is? All too often we get caught up in the mundane minutiae of life that we attribute great importance to when in the great scheme of things the things that drive us to distraction are relatively meaningless? I try to stop regularly, just a small pause in the routine of daily activities to say “thank you”, because when you really think about it, things really are rather amazing! Sure, every now and then we get crapped upon by life and we typically all too easily descend into the spiral of “poor me”, but when you stop to put it in to perspective, life -- all ‘n ‘ all -- is rather amazing. Regular runs allow me that perspective; it’s while I’m out putting in the mileage on my pegs that I get the chance to put it all together...this was another splendiferous week!

Ahhhh yes, the marathon training? Things are progressing well even though there are times that the real reason for doing this seems elusive if not obtuse. Then I focus on the fact that it is something that appeals to me personally, that running and physical challenge has been a part of me ever since I can remember and the feeling I get from completing a strenuous run is non-replicable, that it fills me with a sense of accomplishment and general positive feelings. A positive spin on things is important when you’re out freezing your ‘keester’ off and that during the training session, you’re sure that your lungs are going to leak out your nose and it seems so much easier to just quit; it’s then that you want to appreciate all that is good about basic physical exertion.

Monday was a day off except that I was to be doing yoga as part of my flexibility conditioning. Flexibility?! Ahhhh, yes, do need to work on that one, at least physically; perhaps yoga is the answer? To my friends in western Canada I’m seen as a left leaning ‘red-neck’ so guess that makes me some-what politically flexible even though my hamstrings are as lithe as railway tracks in a Canadian January?

Here we are and another week beckons of three running workouts; cross-pollinated with a couple of other cross-training sessions to keep the physical stamina progressing rather than regressing, so it all seems good. And with a potential trip to the tropical island of Oahu, this promises to be a good week of training.



Tuesday, Jan 25: Speed or cruising pace?
Completing eight 400m repeats on snow covered streets seems challenging on paper but as most things in life, the thought is far more intimidation g than reality. Once I’ve had the 15 minute warm-up, things are feeling good and the sun settling over the Rocky Mountains provides a powerful backdrop to a bit of physical exertion. Drawing on the inspirational view to the west, I end up running nine rather than just eight 400m repeats. It could have been the +9C temp in the chinook city that had me lose count or was it because I forgot to confirm the exact number of repeats before I headed out the door?! In any case, they felt alright at sub-90 second pace for the distance and the strange looks of sub-urbanites dropping by the mail box to pick up their bills and junk-mail, added a sense of levity to the reasonably strenuous work-put. Although, not sure that sub-90 second repeat intervals constituted a speed work-out, actually more of a “cruise” pace. Then again, the much faster quarter mile repeats of my pre-Barcelona ’92 training days are a distant memory so the new standards are what they are, a reflection of time and place!

Wednesday, Jan 26: Spartacus intent.
If you’ve never heard of the ‘Spartacus’ routine, Google this work-out courtesy of ‘Men’s Health’. I first attempted this full-body workout in November, 2009 in an Ottawa hotel exercise room and have never actually finished the prescribed three sets. I have managed two sets but whether for mental or physical reasons, I have never completed an entire set which perhaps explains my absence of a news-stand worthy mid-section. Perhaps my sub-conscious fear is that I’ll end up with a hackneyed Scottish accent while pretending to be a Greek Spartan?!
For anyone that has seen the movie, I suppose the work-put is indeed named in honour of the rather impressive physiques (prosthetic abdominals?!), so prominent in the movie “300”. It’s one of the few films that I’ve seen where the ‘ooohs’ and ‘ahhs’ from the female gender of the audience proved extremely distracting; it’s usually guys that lack any sense of discretion when it comes to objectifying physical stature. When I saw the movie in Halifax with a friend, I actually had to ask her (repeatedly) to minimize the vocalizations as the noises, and her incessant drooling was detracting from my overall enjoyment of the movie, obviously not hers. Silly me; I chose this routine as an option for my cross-training! Once again I discovered my limit, that is regardless of locale, Westside Rec centre in Calgary or any given fitness room, two sets seems more than adequate.



Thursday, Jan 27: West Coast Sojourn
In my opinion, the concept of life balance is over-used and misunderstood; it’s far more about defining priorities than it is striving to achieve some form of mythical “life-balance”. Name me anyone who has achieved a significant accomplishment in life who has simply focused on balance rather than dedication to a priority; or even a great parent or partner who strived for balance rather than making others their priority? I think it’s far more about paying attention to priorities in your life than trying to balance the myriad of draws on your attention. Right now, training for an April marathon is a priority; one of several competing priorities mind you, but ahead of many others, so an early morning flight to the west coast and a late afternoon board meeting did not rule out a running engagement with the sea wall in Vancouver.

Vancouver Seawall

‘Eazy-peazy’: unpack in hotel room; strap on runners; a brisk 8km tempo run along sea wall in 36 minutes; cool-down walk; shower; 20 minute walk to board meeting. Don’t make excuses; just take care of the details. Another day in a 112 day training plan addressed....

Friday, Jan 28: Detour through Hawaii, why not?
After the early morning meeting, it was either straight home to Calgary or take-a-chance and fly stand-by to Honolulu. There were four seats open on the afternoon flight to Honolulu so I took a flyer and put my name on stand-by: no work out was scheduled other than a bit of stretching so a 7 hour flight to sand, sun and palm trees seemed like a great option. At the airport, luck prevailed and after a frantic search on the web for a hotel, I was on my way west to Honolulu for a reprieve from a prairie winter. Life is grand!

Sunday, Jan 30: Now that’s warm!
At the quarter mark, that is 4 weeks into the 16 week marathon program, the mileage is starting to climb more than imperceptibly! The weekend means LSD -- no, not what many of my delinquent friends and others may think as in a passé narcotic (it is, isn’t it?) – but LSD as in a Long-Slow-Distance run to build up endurance. What could be better after a night at ‘Duke’s’ on the beach than a 16km run in 23C heat?!

Heading out of the hotel on Kalakaua Avenue, I took a right turn and headed up to the canal to find a quieter path for the Sunday morning running adventure. It didn’t take long to open up the sweat taps and get into that rhythm of a distance run: take in the sights; sip some water; wipe the sweat off the brow; fantasize about breakfast; put one foot in front of the other, repeat and keep repeating until done. I basked in the warmth of the sunshine and focused on the moment rather than on the nagging doubt drifting in and out of my consciousness, “this is only 16km, what’s the 42km marathon going to feel like”!

Re-hydrating during my Sunday Run

At the half way point, 8km or 5 miles in old school language, I swung back past the hotel to meet Lisa and she joined me for the second half of run. Running with others is such a huge help energy wise and I was more than grateful to have the company and support. We headed up towards Diamond Head for a circular route around the base and back to the hotel archipelago of Waikiki. We were energized by the views of the surfers below the cliffs as we gradually climbed the ascent; and even though a mild grade, a mile or two of it seemed plentiful at this stage. The highlight of the day for me occurred just as I was decidedly wilting in the tropical sun – as we rounded a corner the feint sounds of distant taiko drums drifted down the hill and among the palm trees, the carefully cadenced drumming seemed to match the pounding in my chest and energizing our steps as we made our way along the road. A few minutes later, the sound of the drums was loud, powerful and rhythmic, more than warranting a short stop to step inside the Kapi’olani Community College Chapel where a large group of drummers were in the midst of a rehearsal. Only a few short moments to enjoy the Sunday morning spectacle then we were back on our way, the promise of a cool shower and big breakfast pulling us along. When you really get down to it, the magic of experience lies within the small things in life, like the feeling of activity, the joy of music and the comfort of a shower!