Tag: Marathon

2019 week twelve

Book Read
12. Lullaby – Leïla Slimani

Kilometres Ran
week twelve – 62.6

2019 to date: 541 KM

Lullaby also know as The Perfect Nanny depending on whether the Sam Taylor translation of the original French novel Chanson Douce is from the UK or North America (respectively) tells the story of a well-to-do family who hire Louise—a seemingly perfect nanny to their two children. I’m not giving anything away revealing that she murders the children; it says so right on the book’s cover. I’m not sure what I expected exactly, but given that the death of the children is on the cover of the book I did not expect the death of the children to not happen until the end of the book. What started out as a book I was enjoying about as much as I enjoyed Motherhood gradually began to spiral downward into what could become the next Gaspar Noé film. The reader knows what’s going to happen but Slimani masterfully makes you work for it. I couldn’t look away until the end, and once I got there I wanted a bit more. I liked this book a lot.

Mile2Marathon Wednesday workout at the Point Grey track, Vancouver, March 20, 2019. Photo by Jody Bailey*

About seven weeks ago I made a pretty significant change that I’ve been alluding to on here for the past few posts and I think that maybe I’m sort of ready to write a bit about it. I’d recovered (mostly) from my knee issue from the fall and was really looking forward to taking a healthy second shot at the BMO Marathon in May, and then I overloaded and blew up my achilles. Frustrated is an understatement. Stephanie suggested I hire a coach, an idea that I’d been toying with for some time. I’d covertly explored a few options and had pretty much narrowed it down to a couple camps, one being Mile2Marathon. Still noncommittal, I completed the online questionnaire and hit submit.

Coach Kevin Coffey telling me what to do, and me taking it. Mile2Marathon at the Point Grey track, Vancouver, March 20, 2019. Photo by Jody Bailey*

I really don’t like being told what to do (or what not to do…). So that’s a problem. I received an email reply to my questionnaire from Dylan Wykes where he talked about next steps and getting me matched up with a coach. But I was still rather hesitant and skeptical. Dylan suggested a telephone call. Over the phone I explained that I was currently injured, that I was really tired of constantly getting injured, and that I was hoping that having some structure would help. I also explained that I feel like I have accomplished a lot on my own and I don’t think I’ve reached my full potential without any help. Asking for help is a pretty big deal for me, and I was still rather skeptical of the process. Dylan said he understood, and I believed him.

Kevin and me. Mile2Marathon at the Point Grey track, Vancouver, March 20, 2019. Photo by Jody Bailey*

I matched up with Kevin Coffey, whom I’d decided I wanted to work with after having put a lot of forethought. He started running “late” (not as late as me…), has a few full marathons completed, and has had his own share of injury setbacks so I figured that he has some insights grounded in personal experience. I’ve been following him on Strava for a while, and I recently remembered that he showed up briefly in a post on here a couple years ago, which in retrospect is rather entertaining. So far I feel like it’s going okay. It’s frustrating at times, mostly because he’s doing his job (i.e., telling me what to do) which means I’ve been running a lot less than I probably would on my own. But the time I am running feels more challenging, and I’ve been spending a lot less time in physio. I never imagined looking forward to running around a track once a week, so there’s that (I’m pretty sure in my questionnaire I answered nope to group workouts). I can’t say it has all been perfect (singlet? anyone? Bueller?), but I can say that the whole Mile2Marathon coaching team seems to really, genuinely care about their athletes. Six weeks until BMO Marathon and still lots of work to do, but I (cautiously) believe I made the right decision.

*I am very grateful to Jody Bailey for these photographs. You can check out the complete set from the Mile2Marathon track workout on March 20 here: gallery.jodybailey.ca/g/mile2marathon/oldblueinspring/
You can also find Jody on Instagram @3oh6 and @run.photography

2018 week thirty two

Book Read:
40. The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle — Stuart Turton

Kilometres Ran:
week thirty two — 76.7

To date: 1,660 KM

I received a review copy of this book back in June, which was followed by a note a bit later in a Fight Club like tone that I was not to talk about the book until a month before publication. Which is in about a month from now. More or less. Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life is one of my favourite novels. Nietzsche and Kierkegaard are two favourite philosophers. Groundhog Day is one of my favourite films. But enough about me. In 7½ Deaths Aiden Bishop is stuck in a loop he cannot escape until he solves the murder of Evelyn Hardcastle. The twist is that he lives the same day seven times from seven points of view and if he cannot solve the murder then he has to start all over again, with no memory of the previous attempt. It’s a new twist on an old idea. Why 7½ deaths? It seems the half was added due to some confusion in the US around this and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo because I know how simple it is to confuse husband with death…. I liked this book’s gothic elements and its relatively fresh take on the repetition concept. Unfortunately, I just did not like Aiden Bishop very much for no particular reasons I can give without spoilers, and I found the conclusion a bit dissatisfying. That said, it a pretty great debut novel from Stuart Turton, and I will look forward to more work from him.

There’s this park in Hastings Sunrise that has, I think, one of the nicest views in the city. This photo doesn’t do it justice obviously.

Yesterday was long run number three on the road to my BQ at the Victoria Marathon in October. I set out to run 32KM and decided to mix it up a bit; rather than a long, slow, slog I would run 5KM easy and then 5KM at race pace and repeat that three times, then finish with a 1KM sprint and a 1KM jog home. But by 30KM there was nothing left to sprint 1KM so the final jog ended up being a little less under a mile. Afterwards analysis and all in all it went pretty well. My goal race pace for Victoria is 4:37/KM. My first five at race pace I managed to average 4:38/KM, second at 4:31, and the third was right on 4:37. I had no idea at the time; I felt like my pacing was all over the place. And it was to a degree, but it all averaged out in the end. So that felt good, even if not much else did. I spent a few hours afterwards thinking about my long runs last year while training for my first marathon and trying to remember if at the end of them I wanted to die then, too. If that’s the case, and I’m sure [hopeful] that it is, I seem to have blocked that part out. Eight weeks to go.