Running Tips: Part 1

First off, sorry for disappearing - sometimes in life awesome experiences arise, and I find that it is often more enjoyable to dig in wholeheartedly, which tends to mean that there's not much time for the documentation process. That said, I will try to be more diligent in the coming months. I have tried to build a small buffer to keep updating, even if I don't have time to write, so we'll see how this goes.

This post breaks from the general form of this blog, but it is relevant to me right now, so I'm writing about it

Lately I've gotten into running - I've now finished two major races; the Montreal Half Marathon mid-April and the Sporting Life 10k in Toronto last Sunday. I beat my target times on both races and am officially hooked - running is great and the races are extremely addicting. I will try to pass on some of what I have learned.

As I ran, I developed some strategies and self-motivators to keep me going, so here they are:

1.Pick a target! Look ahead, find the girl with the best-looking butt, wearing the most unique colour possible, running slightly faster than you. Then, don't lose her! Follow doggedly throughout the race. If by chance she slows down or your pace increases and you find yourself running alongside her, look ahead, find a new butt and repeat. At the half-marathon I followed over two different girls, one with a complete pink ensemble and the other rocking green pants and a blue shirt.

During the 10k I eventually located an extremely fit girl with bright pink shoes and shirt, and some pretty awesome tattoos. I followed her from just after the 3k marker until the 9k marker, at which point I burned the last kilometer (and left her behind.)

2.Take advantage of the terrain.

a. During the 10k, anytime I reached an incline or a decline, I picked up the pace. Most people pick a pace and run it, conserving energy on the inclines and declines. I realized that the shorter run meant that I'd have more energy than during the half-marathon, and could afford to expend more of it to pass the other runners.

3.Heavy wind is what separates the men from the boys - when running into heavy wind, clump in with a group of runners, placing their bodies between yourself and the wind to minimize the wind resistance that you face. Proper etiquette suggests that you rotate with the leaders in the group, but the moment you realize that the group is slowing down, step up your pace and burn up to the next group of runners. I know it works because I used this to pass about 100 runners during an extremely windy 5km stretch of the half-marathon.

More to come later!!!!