THEN
I began running in high school after many successful years of recreational soccer.I left high school in Sudbury (Ontario) and travelled south to the University of Western Ontario (UWO) to begin my post secondary education.
While at UWO in the Engineering Undergraduate program I ran 2 years of Cross Country and never actually made it onto the track and field team (despite actually qualifying for the team in the 3k). After my first year of XC at UWO in 2001 I was mired with injuries, mostly related to the sudden spike in training I had just been put through. Throughout the season I ran well enough, crossing OUA champs as UWO's 5th guy in just over 36minutes for 10km (http://www.londonrunner.ca/view-results.php?id=13).
Then as I was beginning my down season after XC and starting to ramp things up for indoor track, I managed to sprain my ankle so badly that it had instantly turned massive and purple while out on a trail and for reasons I can no longer remember, didn't return to running for years. I had also just run a 9:14 for 3km (indoor and a PB), so it seems I may have just thrown in the towel for no good reason. Sigh.
I returned in 2003 to run with the team, but again, chronic sprained ankles kept me from training properly and I never returned to form, nor did I even get to race in the OUA Champs.
NOW
Fast forward to 2009 and Melanie (my partner) purchases the nike+ / ipod running system and I quickly realize that this gadget may very well be what I need in order to get back into running. So I purchase my own a few months later (Aug of 09) and I start running again. I instantly feel some tightness in my left knee brought on by an old injury (ITBFS) and I'm forced to try and tweak my stride so that I can minimize the effects of the injury all the while stretching my IT Band. Back then I was just getting back into it all, putting 2-3 runs per week, averaging about 3 to 4 km per run.
I struggled for months with the knee pain, eventually working my way up to 5km and then bam, I decided to do an 8km trail run behind King's (along the river) and my knee pain flared right back up, and me being who I was, sidelined running for some time.
The following winter (09-10) we decided to start xc skiing again and by golly, the bug bit me again. After 8 weeks of fantastic skiing and 6 months of weight loss (I lost 15lbs) I was ready to try this running bit again, for the umpteenth time.
Since then I've been slowly getting back into the best shape of my life, joined a competitive running team and brought my mileage up from the measly 10km/wk last august to 30-40km/wk as of August 2010. I'm doing quite a bit of cross training, physio and stretching, I'm hoping that I have learned from my mistakes, I damn well better have!
Fast forward a few months to November 2010 and I've just finished putting in a 3 month training period that has seen me make leaps and bounds in my speed and stamina. I've run a few races and it feels great to be back. Onto next year and my first season of track since 2001. Ack.
And now here we are, Spring 2011 and the track season is almost upon me. The days are getting warmer, my legs are getting faster and I'm itching to don my racing shorts and spikes to spin my head around the oval track. This is my first time back on the track in 10+ years, so I'm rather curious to see what kind of speed and stamina is left in my legs.
I've now had a few road races in 2011 and hit the track for a 1500m race. I've had great results and I continue to improve. I'll round out the end of my track season in July 2011 and then get ready for a fun season of XC training and competition.
It's now deep into 2012 and I've just come off a stellar track season that saw me set personal bests at 800m, 1500m and 5000m. I struggled most of the season with runner's knee, but I can safely say that is now behind me and I am beginning my first half marathon training block. Onwards and upwards!
Personal Bests
Pre 2003
800m: 1:59
1500m: 4:06
3000m: 9:14i
5000m: 16:42
10000m: 35:30xc
Post 2003
800m:
2:02.51 (May 12, 2012)2:00.84 (July 6, 2012)- 1:59.94 (July 15, 2012)
4:21.65 (June 18, 2011)4:07.39 (June 10, 2012)- 4:06.07 (June 22, 2012)
5000m:
18:02 (Oct 31, 2010)17:10 (Apr 22, 2011)16:48 (Jul 1, 2011)- 16:21 (May 23, 2012)
43:27 (Aug 29, 2010)38:39 (Feb 27, 2011)- 34:54 (Oct 30, 2011)
- 1:18:44 (Sep 9, 2012)
- 1:52:25 (Oct 14, 2012) *within STWM '12 Pacing duties
