Hypothermic Half Marathon Winnipeg (or the coldest Half Marathon I'll ever run)

To prove to myself how hardy I was and how much of a Canadian I'd become after moving from the "relatively" mild temparatures of the UK to Canada one and a half years ago, I decided to do some winter running. AND REGISTER FOR THE COLDEST HALF MARATHON IN CANADA.

During the winter months I'm one of those guys that tends to hibernate. I do as little as possible, when I say a little, I mean stretching over to pick up the remote from the side table and change the channel on the TV. Seriously though, i do as little as possible.

So when I moved to Canada, specifically Winnipeg and tried running outside a couple of times in -20C, I quickly gave up.
This year was different however, I had made huge strides in my training and I wasn't ready to sacrifice all the hardwork for winter idleness, so I joined a running group and signed up for a race. Little did I know what was in store for me.

Running in Winnipeg in winter means running in temps averaging -20C for 3-4 months. I only discovered this after joining the running group in November. So I'd been running consistently up till that point running up to 45 miles/week, suddenly the winter began and I rapidly cut down on my runs. I basically stopped all my solo runs and only ran with the group (Wednesdays and Sundays), this made me lose most of the gains I'd made in the preceding months (but at least I was not sitting on my ass).

The taste of the pudding as they say... It was time for the race, I had not done any proper training for this race, I was hoping to wing it and praying that my fitness I had barely maintained would  see me through.

D-day came and the weather as expected was atrocious. -33C and -45 if you took windchill into account. The route had to be changed hours prior to the race on account of the lives of our under-appreciated volunteers(who could stay out in those conditions without moving).

At the end of the day I completed it, it wasn't pretty though, one of my worst runs since I began running in Canada. I've run better slow sunday runs on my off day.

If you think I'm exaggerating about the conditions and would like to verify the story check out the news report: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/Fort-Whyte-runners-brave-the-deep-freeze-for-the-Hypothermic-Half-Marathon-293453111.html

also find the run below and check out the temps recorded.
 

Santa Shuffle 2014

It was a cold dark night ..., strike that. It was a chilly bright morning with the snow just beginning to melt. -15C was a pretty warm day, the warmest we've had in a while in Winnipeg.

I was at the Forks this morning and everywhere I looked I saw people with red hats, I was also in a red hat. It was the annual Santa Shuffle, a 5K race run that took you through the Forks in two loops.

Apparently this was one of the warmest Santa Shuffles in memory. It looked to be a lot of fun with families and dogs participating.

There was a hiccup at the start concerning the directions, after all the turning and modifications I found myself at the back of the crowd with my team-mates(fellow Newflyer employees). This meant that when the race started I had to run past the slow runners, over the snow(the path was packed).

At the end of the day it was a fun run and not a race, and I did have fun. Wasn't expecting to break any records, and I didn't.

Next stop Resolution Run.

Stretch and Kick - that's what he said

I have been talking about taking on a triathlon for a couple of years now, hell, the name of this blog says it all.

I have however been a little reluctant because of what i term "my subpar swimming skills", this has resulted in me procrastinating and putting off registering for any events.

No more, I say!! I have found the way out! I didn't want to pay a lot of money to get a swim coach, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. I discovered that the Y has swimming lessons for adults of all levels and I actually joined a class last tuesday. It was a lot of fun and I learnt a lot from the session.

I will definitely be back next week for more, hopefully this solves my swimming problem, if it does I will be registering for a sprint triathlon next year and probably an Iron Man the following year!

My next challenge would be saving enough money for a proper bike, and finding the time in my busy schedule to ride for hours every weekend.

At least the gauge is beginning to move forward with my running and swimming, that's all that matters.

So, until next time, keep crushing those goals.

The year of the PB crusher!!

I thought about multiple synonyms for the title of this post but decided to stick with this after 5 seconds of contemplation.

So I'm back after months, nay years of hiatus. I"m sorry if I haven't updated this blog in a while, but as the man said; life happens.

I've been training hard for the WPFS half and only completed it yesterday. It was a relatively flat and fast course that let me PR for the second time this year!! Yes you heard me I PR'd twice this year.

The first time was the Fort Garry Rotary Half, which I crushed in 1:56, not bad considering my blowouts from previous years. Read the post here, this was fantastic and a real morale booster considering the fact that it was only meant as a training run. Only for yesterday to happen and I shaved 6 minutes off that to run in 1:50.

Now although these don't sound like elite numbers, I never claimed to be elite. I'm happy with where I am at the moment and will work hard on joining the sub 1:45 club next year, for now I'm still basking in the euphoria of leaving those bad numbers behind me....

I'm not planning on racing anymore this year (except the santa dash), and I'm already looking forward to the new year and the following races:

1. Hypothermic Half
2. Manitoba Marathon
3. Investors group 10K, 10M
4. Maybe an Ironman if I can get the swimming checked off.

Meanwhile enjoy:

p.s. forgot to turn off my garmin at the end of the run #rookiemistake

The return of the runner, featuring runkeeper.

Yeah! So like I said earlier. I'm back!

And I really am trying this time. I run 4-5 times a week, an average of 40miles every week. I know sounds like a lot, but you've got to realize i'm in training to beat my PB in the 10k and Half marathon, and with two events coming up a month apart I really do have to ramp it up.

I just have to comment on an app I use: Runkeeper. In my opinion the best running app in the world. I'm currently using the free version but thinking of paying for the elite and not because of the features but just as a way of saying thanks to the team. Seriously guys check it out. It is amazing.

My posts will not be complete without a petty gripe. My gripe for the week is my lack of motivation to do strength training. Since I cancelled my gym membership for lack of use I've hardly done any strength exercise apart from the random push up. i really need to do something about that and my swimming.

Anyway, gotta run(yeah I know), but before i go just want to remind you to check out runkeeper especially the training plans they are amaze balls, especially for a stats nerd like me needing to see the improvement from week to week.


http://runkeeper.com/user/tommyspark/activity/184524485

back on the block(starting block)

Hello my fellow earthlings,

Following my stint in the injury netherworld, I've being out of shape, form and gained 10kg to boot.

So looking myself in the mirror and not liking what I saw I decided to take my running into my hands again and register for two events. See the links: Tough Mudder and The Great Scottish Run.

Tough mudder is one of the toughest half marathon races on the planet, it's basically an obstacle course designed by the british special forces, don't take my word for it, check it out at your own peril.

The great scottish run is a race I did last year just about the time I was developing (and ignoring) my injury. It's a fun race covering a lot of Glasgow, friendly people come out to watch you run and give you candy as you go by.

So I'm back on the treadmill(figuratively) and i'm on a training plan which sees me running approximately 40 miles per week. I'm slowly increasing my speed as well as my distance and hopefully will be injury free. Check out my profile: My Profile

In the long run (ha ha, runners pun), I see myself becoming a better runner and look forward to a triathlon next year.

In passing, I do have to mention that devoting time to run and raise a baby is difficult and I couldn't do it without the support of my lovely wife. Kudos TJ.

Resolutions: Exercise & Diet??

It's a new year!! Yippee, woohoo, Happy new year.....
Now that all the festivities have died down, all the food munched, the drinks gulped. You look in the mirror and wonder when you got pregnant, you climb the scale and scream, rapidly check your pockets for where the added weight is coming from, and slowly, very slowly come to the realization that in the last month and a half you've added 10kg.

Yes, that happened to me, the biggest advocate of keeping fit, Mr. runner, Mr. Marathon, Mr. Gym and all the other sobriquet and sometimes expletives that are associated with me. I became human, I fell to the wayside, became one of my own congregation. I am so disappointed with myself.

Now don't get me wrong, I have all the usual excuses and some unusual ones that people in my situation have i.e. I and my wife +Theresa Ewere are having a baby (YAY!!) and it's medically proven that expecting fathers put on as much weight during pregnancy as mothers, I'm currently in a province in Canada (Manitoba) where the average temperature is -30 degrees in winter (I tried running outside once and I saw people driving by with tears in their eyes, you could imagine them saying to their families another stupid stranger is planning to die today).

I even joined the Y (YMCA), went twice, once to workout and the other time to swim. Didn't work for me put on 1KG the next day.

So I'm starting the new year overweight and unmotivated, but I PLAN to kick myself into shape!

I've watched quite a  lot of TV and half of it has dealt with diets (it seems that TV, like google is being personalized for the viewer), so as much as I hate diets, I'm seriously considering the cave man diet and the wife doesn't look too pleased.

So new year get ready!! It's gonna be a hard training, lean eating Oti (I hope).

Happy new year y'all.