I love training, and I love racing. There’s magic in putting in the work that nobody sees. The days, the weeks, the months. I was looking forward to putting some very special bibs this year. 2020 was going to be THE year. But just like in racing, we’re all just going to have to deal with adversity and adapt. Because with every struggle, there is growth. My Ironman training continues, but we’ve dialed back the duration. Training is now mostly to keep me healthy, physically, and mentally. And I’ve decided to keep up with my coach because I also like how the training routine and structure to our days.

My perspective for races is that the big day aka race day, it’s really a victory lap. There is so much work involved in getting to race day like balancing schedules, the training itself, staying healthy, and being able to show up to that start line in peak physical condition.. those are all nothing to scoff it. It’s a bit strange now to continue training even though there aren’t any races in the near future. So now we’re pivoting to training for life in general. Movement is medicine. It feels good to sweat, so we’re just going to keep it up. It’s easier to get back into a run if you slow down to a jog, compared to starting from a standstill. So that’s our M.O. for now. We’re going to keep our bodies moving, so when things pick back up again, we are ready.

How are you keeping yourself moving?

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Given what is happening around the world and in our communities, we saw a lot of race cancellations happen this week. Boston, Ironmans, and many other races got postponed or canceled. I had a sneaking suspicion that postponements/cancellations would be happening for races in May and beyond. So I started to think about how to deal with canceled races and began to temper my expectations with my own calendar. I think because we’ve raced for years now, our mental fortitude has helped. We also have an inclination for positivity and optimism. This post outlines how we’re trying to adapt in these uncertain times with race postponement and cancellations.

When I set up my race calendar for 2020, I was planning on hitting a half marathon personal best at the BMO Vancouver Marathon. It would’ve been perfect because it would have been the 10th anniversary of me running that race. The race means a lot to me for a variety of reasons, so the list goes on. It was my “A” race, and it got canceled this week. My “B” race in June just got canceled too. I’m a little sad about that one since it was further away and serving as my warmup triathlon race to Ironman Canada.

I will work through my feelings and get over it. I think because we’ve raced for years, that has helped with mental fortitude. We’ve trained ourselves to look on the bright side, and remain optimistic in the face of uncertainty. We’ve been forced to adapt when we didn’t want to. We also have had races where things have happened, like severe weather warnings or even threats of the swim leg in a triathlon being canceled at the 11th hour. Things just happen, so these are some things we do to work through it.

“We not me” mentality

This pandemic requires a “we not me” mentality. This is bigger than our races. And don’t get me wrong, I totally see you and the time you spent training, and all the sacrifices you’ve made. However, race postponements and cancellations are beyond your control. Race organizers have a responsibility to ensure the safety of their racers, and they’re looking out for our best interests. They are looking out for us, as we should be looking out for each other.

Acknowledge your emotions

I’ve had a lot of practice with “acknowledging emotions” lately, given that I’ve recently lost my mom to cancer. We are losing our opportunity to race. Acknowledge your feelings and work through the grief. I don’t think it’s cheesy to work through the 5 stages of grief, as it is absolutely fitting for this situation. The Kübler-Ross model is really popular and covers grief and loss through the stages of denial, anger, depression, bargaining, and acceptance. In my experience, my grief and loss process didn’t follow their exact order, but I did experience them all. Lean into your emotions. Just like how we take care of our physical selves, acknowledging our emotions can help with mental health and moving forward.

Adapt

This is why I love racing. Have you ever trained so long and so hard for something, and then come race day, everything goes sideways? Or maybe it was during a training cycle, and things come up that are outside of your control. If it hasn’t happened to you yet, consider yourself very lucky!

I was training for my second marathon. Marathon training cycles are typically 16-20 weeks. There were so many soggy and miserable long runs. I was always a basket case if there was a threat of me missing a key workout, like the 32km/20 mile long runs. Then came race day. I made it to the start line as healthy as I could be. Everything started off without a hitch, and then maybe 10km into the race my stomach started hurting and wouldn’t let up throughout the rest of the race. I was devastated. 30+ km is a long way to run upset about not having the race you planned and trained for.

There are some things in life we cannot control, no matter how hard we plan and try. Sometimes you can see it coming, some times you can’t and will get absolutely blindsided. The only thing we can control is our reaction. Everything that is happening right now is beyond your control. Practice letting it go.

Practice Gratitude

Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.

Oprah Winfrey

When things don’t go my way, I like to think about the things that have gone right. I like to look on the bright side of things and to adopt an attitude for gratitude. What does that look like when dealing with canceled races? I have been thinking about how I’ve been getting much stronger I’ve been getting with all this training. How I’m physically and mentally healthy. How much time I’ll get back into my calendar hehe.

We do have some experience with being trapped indoors for extended periods of time, given that we’ve lived in areas that get inundated with forest fire smoke in the summers. We usually stay inside when the air quality starts to deteriorate. Those experiences have served us well. But like physical fitness, we constantly have to train our mental fitness too. Everything that is happening right now is going to test us, and it’s a lot easier to cope when you flip your outlook and practice gratitude.

What are you doing to cope with your race cancellations? Let me know in the comments.

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The race started at 8:10am so we had a pretty laid back morning getting up and going. I’m trying to do way more carboloading before my races now, so I was able to hit almost 550g of carbs the day before the race. I woke up feeling too full for breakfast, so we just had oat milk lattes and I ate 2 wine gums.

It was easy finding parking, however, the lines at the portapotties were super long so we ended up starting the race 2 minutes late, and I made a decision to try and catch up to my desired pacers.

My GPS wasn’t turned for the first 5km because I had been fussing with settings the night before and never finished doing what I was doing, so ran by HR for that first bit.

In retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have done that because my heart rate got too high too early into the race. I finally turned on the GPS after 5km and then switched to running by pace, with my 8min run 30-second walks. My legs felt so awesome throughout. I cannot remember the last time I felt so strong.

My stomach felt really full throughout. I got most of 1 gel in near the beginning of the race, and then just had water throughout. I almost barfed once around the 12km mark so just dialed exertion back a bit for the rest of the race. There are a couple of lollipops on the course, where the course runs back on itself, so I was hoping to be able to sight Justin but wasn’t able to. I was able to spot my friend Jeannine as she was running the 10k.

Felt like I could’ve run faster if my stomach didn’t feel so full the entire time, but overall a good day! I will skip the oat milk with my coffee next time. I focused on my form a lot through the race. And maybe I could’ve breathed more deeply throughout.

The temperature was 3C at the race start, so I wore crops, a tshirt, long sleeve, vest, hydration vest, hat, gloves. Switched to buff to cover ears and took off vest and gloves during the race.

The post-race for runners was great. There were bananas, pastries, cookies, chips, juice, as well as hot coffee and hot chocolate. I couldn’t get over how wonderful it was to enjoy those hot drinks inside merchandise/gear pickup tents. Since it was also the 25th anniversary of this race, they had this super cute display of mini cupcakes.

We really enjoyed running this race, and we look forward to next year. The race bling might be hard to beat because the 2019 medal is so cool, it spins and it’s glittery!

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1. Go to your local running store and get fit for running shoes

Everyone is unique here. Everyone. Don’t ask your friends what they like or wear, because what works for them might not work for you.

Make sure you get shoes fit for your feet, your gait, and your comfort. I have struggled for years with shoes, because I’d buy “shoes that looked cute and fast”. I’d buy shoes because I liked the brand. You might prefer shopping online too. But for your first one (or few pairs) this is a good reason to support your local shop and community. And the staff at running stores are really knowledgeable.

The first you should try and do is make sure is that they feel immediately comfortable when you put them on and go for a spin. All the stores I’ve ever been to have a treadmill you can hop on, or take a quick run outside. Wiggle your feet, flex your toes and arch. You might be able to tell right away, or if you’re not super aware of your feet, you might have to earn a blister before you can tell where your potential hot spots will be in your shoes.

Something I would also recommend now is if you find a pair you really like, try to buy an extra pair. Brands are always shaking things up. If the brand wants to change up the model, make, or material, it will buy you some time to see if the newer model works for you, or if you have to find another pair or running shoes.

2. Do your squats, lunges, pre-run warm ups and post run stretches.   

We get it! It’s that amazing runner’s high, and you want to run all the time. We’ve been so guilty of this too. Maybe you hate squats and lunges because they’re boring. And the same can be said for warm ups and stretching. We’ve struggled with knee pain for years, and often see friends and colleagues get into the same pickle.

After many physio visits over the years, we’ve learned the long and hard way that you have to do all that extra boring work to keep all your muscles happy and in alignment, so that you can keep doing what you love, running!

In our experience, we always get into knee trouble when our training distances get longer. We always get patellar tendonitis, or have issues with our IT bands. Every time we go to physio, we get the same exercises. Lots of squats, lunges, and band work.

3. You might have to eat on your run (half marathon and longer)

When I started running, I was the only person in my social network that ran. I signed up for a half marathon on a whim. All I knew was that there was training involved, so I followed a Nike Run Club program on their app. And when I started running, I stopped ALL the time to take in the sights and sounds, I never really noticed how tired I would get.

I remember finally getting to the start line of my first half marathon, I purposely ate a very light breakfast because I didn’t want to throw up from stress, nerves, or exertion. That was a huge mistake number 1. I got so hungry on the course, by the 8-9 miles, when they were handing out food and gels, I took a fistful and must have sucked back at least 4-6 in one go! I had no idea what I was doing.

Fast forward to today (depending on your diet), we try to simulate race day conditions during training, and take a gels throughout our runs. We’ll take the first one 45 minutes into the run, and then every 15 minutes after. You don’t have to eat because your body will have energy stores, but to get better performance and avoiding hitting that “wall” you should probably eat when you will be running for anything over an hour. 

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