Do You Want to Run Faster?

Leave a comment November 19, 2013 drworobec

This past weekend, I attended the RCCSS’s (Royal College of Chiropractic Sports Sciences) Run Faster Conference. It was full of learning, thinking, and engaging presentations, with a line-up of presenters at the top of their fields. It made me want to ‘Run Faster’, and it certainly made me want to help you to ‘Run Faster’. I can’t possibly summarize a weekend of knowledge in one blog post, but here are some quotes that resonated with me, and perhaps they’ll do the same for you:

Dr. Mike Young, “The Science of Speed” and running biomechanics:

“We don’t innately run perfectly.”

Wes Moerman, “Integration for Performance” from a coach’s perspective:

“Athlete health is a key to sustained development. Missed sessions are better than missed periods of time.”

Dr. Jeff Cubos, “Integration of Treatment for Performance” from a therapist’s perspective:

“Treatment is any type of intervention that creates adaptation.”

Dr. Judy Goss, “Sports Psychology for Performance and Injury Recovery”:

“You have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.”

Dr. Reed Ferber, “Biomechanics for Injury Prevention and Performance”:

You need to have “daily positive stress”; do something every day that’s positive that stresses your body.

Dr. John Berardi, “Nutrition for Performance and Injury Recovery”:

“Resting metabolic rate (RMR) can increase 15-50% during injury”; don’t under-eat when you are injured.

Blaise Dubois, “Running Shoes: The Science and the Controversy”:

“Comfort is key.”

Dr. Alex Hutchinson, “The Science of Performance” and “The New Recovery”:

“Prevention works better than cure.”

Jason Dunkerley, “Motivation and Performance”:

“We need to re-define challenges.”

I’ve included links to all of the speakers above, so if you’re interested in a particular topic, I encourage you to click and read more about them. As always, if you have a question about something I’ve written, please let me know; you can find me here, or on Facebook and Twitter.

Happy running!

i-love-running

Running Scared?

2 Comments April 16, 2013 drworobec

We can put metal detectors inside stadiums. We can put security guards inside schools. We can put security screening inside airports. But we cannot run a marathon without feeling vulnerable. Not after yesterday. Not after the carnage, the panic, the awfulness, the violence, the terror, the evil that happened in Boston.

I ran the Boston Marathon in 2003…

Race	Last Name, First Name (Sex/Age)	Time	OverAll Place	Sex Place / Div Place	DIV	Net Time	City, State, Country
Boston Marathon 4/21/03	Swelin, Ashley J. (F23)	3:45:56	6251	1124 / 889	FOpen	3:38:40	Toronto, ON, Canada

It’s been ten years since I high-fived the students cheering at Wellesley College, willed myself up Heartbreak Hill, and cried tears of pride and joy along the finishing stretch on Boylston Street.

I originally wrote today’s blog post last week, and titled it ‘Boston’- I was going to share with you all of the things that running Boston taught me. Silly things, like how sunburned you can get over the course of 26.2 miles in Boston in April. Inspiring things, like “you cannot run fast if you do not put in the training. The same goes for anything in life. Work hard”. Special things, like how your parents will do anything for you- even come to Boston and stand five-people-deep for four hours for the chance to watch you cross the finish line. It’s been ten years since my parents stood right where yesterday’s second bomb went off.

But you know what, fellow runners? We must unite. We must be strong. We must not be scared to go to a movie, or send our kids to school and ourselves to work, or go to Boston and run a marathon. I can’t make sense of this tragedy because it’s senseless. I can’t explain this tragedy because it’s inexplicable. I can’t imagine this tragedy because it’s unimaginable. But when these senseless, inexplicable, unimaginable tragedies happen, we must cope.

And the way most runners cope is to run. We cope and we run and we run and we cope… and the miles tick by.

I’m going for a run.

21.1 Kms of Friendship

6 Comments March 5, 2013 drworobec

This is a story of friendship:

Setting:
Lakeshore Road in Burlington, Ontario. A cold Sunday morning in March, 10:05am.

Characters:
A and M are two 30-something females who have been friends for a decade through Chiropractic College, weddings, babies, businesses, tears, and laughter. This is their first Half Marathon together in 9 years. With 1:23 and 1:20 Personal Bests under their belts in 2004, the two friends are aiming for a 1:45 today. However, their unspoken competitive natures are evident in their quiet demeanors and anxious pre-race preparations.

Dialogue:

Starting Line (Brant/Caroline Streets)
A: Here we go!
M: Woohoo!

KM 1
A: So we’ll head out on this stretch for a 5km out-and-back, and then we run East all the way to the turnaround at Burloak. (Nervously) So we’ll be able to see a long ways ahead of us once we’re on that straightaway.
M: Okay, thanks for the heads-up. (Checks watch)

KM 2-8
A and M talk about their day-to-day lives, family vacations, and what their kids eat for breakfast.

KM 9
A: (Pulls out energy gel) Okay, so this is Walker’s Line. Then it’s Appleby Line, then Burloak. That’s the turnaround.
M: Okay. (Checks watch)

KM 10
A: (Excitedly) I see a police car up ahead with its flashers on, that must be the turnaround already!
M: No, I think that’s just the leaders coming back onto the homestretch.
A: (Defeated) Oh. (A is starting to play mind games with herself, worrying that they’ve gone out too fast.)

KM 11-12
A and M excitedly cheer on the leaders coming back West along Lakeshore Road.

KM 13 (Turnaround at Burloak Drive)
M: (Checks watch) Okay, now I don’t want to get you too excited, but if we keep up this pace, we’re going to break 1:40!
A: (Huge smile) I’m going to apologize for my bad mood now. Let’s do it!

KM 14-17
(M tells various stories about other races and reminisces about her and A’s racing history. A is silent, focusing on putting one foot in front of the other.)
A: M, please go on ahead. You look strong. I’ll meet you at the finish line. Go ahead. I don’t mind. Go kick some butt. I’m hurting.
M: You’re doing great! (Checks watch)

KM 18 (Church volunteers at water station.)
Volunteer: Oranges and bananas! Oranges and bananas!
(A finds that this phrase matches the cadence of her stride. She continues to repeat a silent mantra- oranges and bananas, oranges and bananas, oranges and bananas). M continues to stay beside her, half a stride ahead.
M: Let’s use this downhill (Accelerates).

KM 19
M: Two kilometres to go. C’mon. (Checks watch)
A: Ten minutes. Less than ten minutes. I can do that.
M: Yep, less than a WOD at Crossfit. Let’s go.

KM 20 (Fans line the streets, holding signs and ringing cowbells. A and M can hear the music from the approaching Finish Line.)
M: (Checks watch) Okay, now it’s time to think of your sweet little Drew and Casey meeting you at the finish line. Picture their faces. Let’s chase 1:40!
A: (Holding back tears, overwhelmed with emotion and exhaustion.) Okay.

KM 21 (Heading North on Brant Street, the Finish Line is in sight.)
M: There they are! (Points to A and M’s husbands and children cheering and waving at them) Look at that clock! (M’s watch reads 1:38)
A: Almost there! Go!

KM 21.1 (Inside the finishing chute; A and M step across the timing mat and embrace. Tears of joy run down A’s face.)
A: Thank you so much for sticking with me and pulling me through when I was clearly dying. I could not have done that without you.
M: We were in it together, every step, because I wouldn’t have even made it to the Start Line without you. I’m so proud of us!

~The End