An Ouchy River Park Cross Country!

Having being self coached and gone it alone for the past few years, the beginning of October finally marked the start of a new training regime for me with the introduction of more intense speed sessions, back to back long runs, and the addition of strength and mobility work. Whilst I figured I'd done ok just doing my own thing and had some pretty average race results, I was getting to the stage where I wanted to start improving again and get back some of the speed and form that I had about 5 years ago.  I'd somehow plateaued with my training - no matter how much further or faster I tried to run in training, no matter how many rest days I took for fear of over training, I just didn't seem to be improving and I was finding myself once again losing that confidence in what I think and know I'm capable of. 

Over the years, I've always found having the right coach extremely useful. They are somebody that can look at things more objectively, somebody to guide you and advise you, to push and motivate you when you need it most, and to help you to once again believe in yourself and what you can do. I'm very good at trying to build confidence in fellow runners, but trying to take my own advice has always been extremely difficult.

A few weeks ago, I somehow became friends with Laura via social media. I have no idea how we stumbled across each other but from what I could gather, she appeared to be heavily involved with ultra running and triathlons and offered a coaching service to those that required it. It took a couple of weeks before I finally plucked up the courage to send the email asking if she would be willing to help me out, and from that very first response, I found her enthusiasm and motivation contagious. A telephone conversation a few days later confirmed that I had done the right thing and I was already feeling more confident and very excited about working towards and achieving my goals for the next 12 months.

I'm now 5 days in to my first month's training program, and boy oh boy, is my body telling me that it is already working harder than it has done for a long while. The only time I've done strength training was way back in the 1980's when I was a junior member of Stoke AC under the guidance of Harry Harvey, Arthur Shaw and Alan Morris. As a 41 year old, the old body isn't as supple or strong as it used to be, and doing a variety of weight bearing movements and exercises seriously sent my muscles into spasms. I'd never gritted my teeth quite so much as I did on Friday evening when doing the  first planned strength session, and yet I did it and was feeling pretty pleased with myself.

I went to bed that night already noticing muscles that I knew I had but had been hidden away due to my "lazy runner" approach to things, but despite the inevitable muscle soreness that I would no doubt face in the morning, it felt good that I had pushed myself beyond what I thought my body could do.

The next day was the first race of the cross country season and having missed the River Park Classic Race last year due to being in St Paul competing in my first 100 miler, I was really looking forward to racing it again this year. As with last time I raced here, it was a beautiful, warm autumn day and the trees looked spectacular in their fall colours. Since living in Calgary, the city has been hit by a couple of weather events that have impacted on many of the local parks including this one - the floods of 2013 meant that some of the pathways and bridges were still being repaired and therefore there would be no full river crossing this year, whilst last month's snowstorm had brought down hundreds of huge tree branches across the city and although a cleanup is in progress, River Park still had some fallen trees blocking the pathways that would be used on the course.

The turnout for the first race is always impressive and this year was no exception. It was fantastic to see so many familiar faces from last season, as well as meet up with friends that I hadn't seen for weeks or even months, and it was also great to see some new friends that are regulars at the Mahogany Running Club that were competing in cross country for the very first time.

Friends at the River Park Classic Cross Country Race

For me, the race went pretty much as expected. There were a couple of good hills on each lap and we even got to wade through a short stretch of the river. I was feeling strong and was running well, but I also struggled with heavy quads and achy glutes from the previous day's session. It did me good running a race whilst feeling heavy legged and I was holding my own and managing to gain places, only to lose them as ever by my appalling lack of strength on the uphills.

I finished 5th lady in the end which I was happy enough with for the first event and at least it gives me some idea as to where I'm at at this stage in the season. In previous years I would have been frustrated, but my focus is more on next year when the changes in my training will have had the opportunity to take effect, and I'm looking forward to seeing where it takes me.

The cross country really didn't take that much out of me, and with the Sunday session being a 32km run with the last 6k at race pace, I was really looking forward to getting outside in the fall sunshine and heading over to Cranston and Fish Creek, before returning via McKenzie.

Another sunny day in Calgary - and enjoying a 32km run :-)

Oddly enough, even though I was still feeling it in my muscles from Friday, I felt pretty good on the long Sunday run and despite what it looked like, I felt like I was bouncing along. Even the uphills didn't trouble me too much and I although trying to hold back, I was managing a decent pace for pretty much most of the run. With Andy accompanying me on the bike, it was a super run again, and with Toronto Marathon in just 2 weeks time, I'm getting pretty excited about things. I'm realistic enough to say that I won't meet my original goal in Toronto, but if Sunday's run is anything to go by, I'm feeling pretty confident that I will still have a decent run.

For now though, I have another strength session this week and I'm prepared for yet more pain and discomfort - if it gets me back to where I want to be, then it really has to be worth it :-)