Toronto Running Chiro

Since my last blog (which I realize has been a long time now) I have built up my mileage quite a bit!

The second half of January started off with an intense tempo workout.  It was 18km worth of tempo and total of 27km.  It was a great workout!  I was able to complete it at my goal race pace with some faster pick up km in the mix.  That week finished with mileage of 95.9km.

First week of February brought me over the 100k mark and things have continued to go well.  I have been very conservative with how much mileage I am adding each week as I plan to build to a higher mileage than I ever have.  I have still been in the gym lifting as well which has been a huge help. I know a lot of runners get intimidated or do not want to spend the precious workout time in the gym and I have been guilty of this as well.  But it makes a huge difference and it does not need to be anything that requires a lot of equipment (ie. you can do it at home)!  Check out @TheRunnersAcad on social media for some great at home exercises!

Another thing I have been doing that has been helpful is using the alter G treadmill at The Runner’s Academy.  I used it when I hit 112k the day before my long run and it made a world of difference!  I had been dragging my butt the previous day so decided to offload my legs a bit and I felt like a rockstar the next day on my long run!  I highly recommend getting on an alter G treadmill if you have access to one.*

I hit my highest week of mileage ever last week at 120.5km.  Long run was 36km that unfortunately had to be split up over two runs due to work.  But it felt good regardless.  It was a shorter tempo this past week that had to be postponed due to snow but the 10km flew by and my goal pace is feeling easier and easier all the time.

This week I am headed into my first race of the season.  The chilly half marathon in Burlington.  So far I am not loving the weather forecast but as Bill Bowerman said “there is no such thing as bad weather just soft people”.  So I am using this as a mental challenge to stay positive in what could be less then ideal conditions because no matter how fit my cardiovascular and muscular systems are if my brain is not on the same page I will never be able to reach my full potential..  My goal is to run a smart race and see what happens.  A smart race for me means not going out too fast and paying for it later in the race.

This week I am easing off of the mileage because of the upcoming race but will build back up one more time once I am recovered.

I cannot believe Boston is less then 8 weeks away.  For a long time it seemed like something that was far off in the future.  My only hope is that Boston is no longer snow covered when we get there for race day… but if not this winter has made me prepared to run through the snow!

Also just a reminder I am fund raising for the Alzheimer’s Society research department for my efforts of training and racing the Boston Marathon.  My dad has early onset Alzheimer’s and it sucks!  So I wanted to try and do something to make a difference. The fund raising site is https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/FundraisingPage.aspx?registrationID=2677043&langPref=en-CA&Referrer=%26Referrer%3dhttp%253a%252f%252fwww.memorymakersforalzheimers.ca%252f#&panel1-2   There is more information about my dad’s story on the fundraising site.
Please feel free to pass this on to any of your contacts and donate if you would like!

I hope to see many of you on the chilly half marathon start line on Sunday!
Happy training and good luck to all the racers!

-Brittany

*www.therunnersacademy.com 918 St Clair W Toronto ON 437 889 5440 has an alter G treadmill if you are in the Toronto area
**http://www.alterg.com/ check out the alter G treadmill