Tag: Workout Wednesday

2020 week nine

Book Read
4. Exquisite Mariposa – Fiona Alison Duncan

Kilometres Ran
week nine – 77.4

2020 to date: 517 KM

As you might have noticed if you read last week’s post on here (it’s not necessary, don’t worry) I was reading the current issue of The Believer and early in the issue there was an article called “Flight Risk” that’s a pretty great review of Fiona Alison Duncan’s debut novel Exquisite Mariposa so I picked up a copy. Better than anything I’m going to write here anyway, so go read it over there. A Canadian expat living in Los Angeles, Duncan’s novel tells the totally fictional story of Fiona, a Canadian expat living in Los Angeles, who sublets a room at La Mariposa. Fiona signs a deal to produce a reality TV show focusing on the cast of characters living at La Mariposa. The show never happens, and Fiona spends the rest of the book questioning everything about life, relationships, and how-did-I-end-up-here. Is it creative non-fiction? Who cares. It’s a pretty great insight into a creative millennial mind. I liked this book, in spite of not really caring much about the characters. It feels like an L.A. Sally Rooney. I think that’s a compliment.

Finish line shot from the First Half half marathon back on February 9. RunVan skipped the no-good-very-bad Marathon Photos cartel and hired local professionals (as you can see here) and then sold the photos for $5 each with all proceeds to Variety charity – a great move! I hope it’s the start of a trend.

One week out from WestVanRun 5K and 10K and I had a great Mile2Marathon workout on Wednesday that completely kicked my ass. The workout called the Virgin after some dude named Craig Virgin is 4x 400 with 200 breaks in between and then finishes with an 800, followed by a 400 break then do it all again. I did three. Strava was not impressed. For a 15.4 km workout Strava gave me an effort score of 125. For comparison, the 16 km hills workout that I wrote about here last week Strava scored 209. I felt way more beat up by Craig than by the Chapultepec hills. Anyway, with the suffer fest that I have lined up for next weekend in mind I opted to do more speed work this weekend. But no, instead I set out on a solo 30 KM death march with a bit of half marathon pace to get some lead into my legs and then finish with 10 KM at marathon pace because Berlin is just 30 short weeks away. Truth is, I was a bit intimidated by the prospect of today’s workout. I’ve mostly hung around 22 KM for my long runs, and only put in a 25 KM last week – my longest run since CIM back at the beginning of December. Today went very well and was a big confidence boost, and Strava agreed, giving me an effort score of Chapultepec hills +1 = 210. So, yeah, I do not understand some Strava stats at all. I am looking forward to throwing down at WestVanRun next weekend. I think I can go under 19:00 in the 5K (current PB is a 19:40 en route) and then I get to see how well I can recover in 24 hours and hammer the 10K. I believe a new PB is achievable (currently it’s 39:20) but I have a rather ridiculously lofty goal to run a Vancouver Sun Run seeded qualifying time, which is sub 38:00. I think on an exceptional day that’s just barely within reach, so I’m curious to find out what Sunday has in store for me. I feel ready to go hard.

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