Changing Gears
I will not be training with a clinic this summer. It's a decision I initially made last summer, after the low turnout made it impossible for me to train with anyone. I further developed the idea this spring, when I could see that the clinic system was no longer helping me improve all that much. My next step was going to be to personalize my training program to fit my fitness zones, begining with lactate threshold testing to determine what my zones are and where I need to focus my training in the coming months. I also made an appointment with an orthotics specialist to have my gait analyzed before I began training again to determine what actually went wrong with my shoes this past spring.
The lactate threshold testing is tomorrow, but I got my first taste of a treadmill at Solefit Orthotics. I found the treadmill to be very confining such that I could not stretch my legs into my full stride, and it made my footfalls feel so heavy because I could feel the softness of the belt with each step. But it wasn't too bad, and I learned a great deal about how I run. Turns out, the support in the Mizunos was too strong for me. My arches weren't falling after all, they were getting hurt by having too much force pushing up from underneath them. They want to see me back in a few weeks with several pairs of new shoes to try out on the treadmill, and then they'll tell me which ones to stick with. My Axioms were spot on perfect for me, too bad they're discontinued, and my Infinitis are good, but I probably broke them in too quickly given they had three weeks with me before a marathon. I have a list of shoes to try on in the store, and over half of them are neutral cushioned rather than supportive, because I don't appear to overpronate much at all. Apparently the Axioms didn't have much support to them at all, and with the Infinitis I'm paying for a whole lot of bells and whistles I don't really need. So, I'm looking forward to shoe shopping again soon, but I'm really rueing the purchase of the Mizunos. I'm not going to be able to get my money's worth from them.
But the biggest adjustment my summer plans will be making has nothing to do with running at all. When I returned to work after my week off recovering from National Capital, I took one of my periodic peeks into the housing market. I've been living in the same apartment for nine years, and it has gotten to the point where a move was inevitable. There was a part of me that was hoping to wait until next year, so that I could get in another year's worth of racing before having to shake up my life so much. But there was another part of me that knew that if the opportunity presented itself, we had to pursue it. The opportunity presented itself in the form of a whole bunch of listings blossoming when I ran a search on MLS at the start of the month, so I started investigating in earnest.
The whirlwind that followed has resulted in the purchase of a lovely end-unit townhouse in Kanata, which we will move into in mid-August. It's perfect, and the details have fallen into place so wonderfully, in a very short time. Within a week of getting pre-approval of our mortgage, we'd made a conditional offer to purchase a newly listed home, slipping in our bid before someone else could snag it. Just under a week later the home inspection passed and everything is confirmed. Now it's just a matter of paperwork and packing. That's going to take a good chunk of my free time, time I would have been training. Furthermore, this is going to tie up our finances, making a trip to PEI in the fall just not feasible. So, no PEI, no marathon, this fall.
But I have signed up for the inaugural Canada Army Half-Marathon in September, so I will be training when I can this summer. The training schedule for a half-marathon is not nearly as time-consuming as that of a full one, and I am now very comfortable with racing at that distance. So, running will become a relaxing de-stressor this summer, and I will effectively reset my training in a highly personalized fashion. Good thing I didn't commit to a clinic.
The lactate threshold testing is tomorrow, but I got my first taste of a treadmill at Solefit Orthotics. I found the treadmill to be very confining such that I could not stretch my legs into my full stride, and it made my footfalls feel so heavy because I could feel the softness of the belt with each step. But it wasn't too bad, and I learned a great deal about how I run. Turns out, the support in the Mizunos was too strong for me. My arches weren't falling after all, they were getting hurt by having too much force pushing up from underneath them. They want to see me back in a few weeks with several pairs of new shoes to try out on the treadmill, and then they'll tell me which ones to stick with. My Axioms were spot on perfect for me, too bad they're discontinued, and my Infinitis are good, but I probably broke them in too quickly given they had three weeks with me before a marathon. I have a list of shoes to try on in the store, and over half of them are neutral cushioned rather than supportive, because I don't appear to overpronate much at all. Apparently the Axioms didn't have much support to them at all, and with the Infinitis I'm paying for a whole lot of bells and whistles I don't really need. So, I'm looking forward to shoe shopping again soon, but I'm really rueing the purchase of the Mizunos. I'm not going to be able to get my money's worth from them.
But the biggest adjustment my summer plans will be making has nothing to do with running at all. When I returned to work after my week off recovering from National Capital, I took one of my periodic peeks into the housing market. I've been living in the same apartment for nine years, and it has gotten to the point where a move was inevitable. There was a part of me that was hoping to wait until next year, so that I could get in another year's worth of racing before having to shake up my life so much. But there was another part of me that knew that if the opportunity presented itself, we had to pursue it. The opportunity presented itself in the form of a whole bunch of listings blossoming when I ran a search on MLS at the start of the month, so I started investigating in earnest.
The whirlwind that followed has resulted in the purchase of a lovely end-unit townhouse in Kanata, which we will move into in mid-August. It's perfect, and the details have fallen into place so wonderfully, in a very short time. Within a week of getting pre-approval of our mortgage, we'd made a conditional offer to purchase a newly listed home, slipping in our bid before someone else could snag it. Just under a week later the home inspection passed and everything is confirmed. Now it's just a matter of paperwork and packing. That's going to take a good chunk of my free time, time I would have been training. Furthermore, this is going to tie up our finances, making a trip to PEI in the fall just not feasible. So, no PEI, no marathon, this fall.
But I have signed up for the inaugural Canada Army Half-Marathon in September, so I will be training when I can this summer. The training schedule for a half-marathon is not nearly as time-consuming as that of a full one, and I am now very comfortable with racing at that distance. So, running will become a relaxing de-stressor this summer, and I will effectively reset my training in a highly personalized fashion. Good thing I didn't commit to a clinic.