How has December Been?

So it has been awhile since the Movember Run. I've taken this month off from putting on events and from competing. That doesn't mean I haven't been busy in the world of athletics though.

I started the month with some clear fitness goals, as December is usually the start of my base training for next season. Knowing that the Holidays will likely get in the way (oh what fun!) of a strict schedule, I opt instead of overall numbers.

My swimming for the month has been about increased effort in the pool. I still don't have a ton of time to get to the pool often, but I can get there twice a week. Last month I work on building up some distance again and got back to 2000m swims, which work for my available time. I have also opted for 2 different workouts with, as I mentioned, increased effort.

Swim set one if a classic Swim, Kick, Pull. I do 100m intervals of each with 10 seconds rest until I hit 2000m. The swim is obvious, the kick is designed to help work on body position and proper kick technique of using those glutes. I also use fins to help strengthen my ankles somewhat and get some flexibility in them. The pull is done using a pull buoy and is designed to help me work on a better arm movement, while not worrying as much on body position. Set two is a 1000m warmup with pull buoy and about just below race pace effort followed by 10x100 on 10 second rest of swim. This is my speed work and has been showing a lot of promise with my average pace hanging well below 2:00min/100m. For me that is a great improvement.

My cycling has been mostly commuting, though I have hit the trainer for a few basement sessions of 1.5 hours. Perfect for Olympic distance training. My focus has been on heart rate training but for Christmas I got a nice Wahoo Fitness sensor which also allows me to track my cadence as well. Since switching to time trialing   I have found my cadence to be a lot lower than when I used to just race bikes. This is probably holding me back a little, so a winter of high cadence work may just be what the doctor ordered!

Running, I set a goal of 4 runs a week with a minimum of 30 km a week. That doesn't seem like much, but again, getting out around the Holidays isn't always easy. My local running group has, however, pout out a Christmas Marathon challenge. Run a marathon's worth of distance from Christmas Eve until New Years Eve. So I took up the change and currently have about 3 km to go. I even managed a nice long run in shorts on Boxing Day for 19 km.

Otherwise, I have been doing some great things in physio and while seeing my new Chiropractor Alan. My shoulder is coming along great and hasn't been hurt yet with my swimming (I am very cautious of that).

With the new year will also come speed skating. Oh where to fit it all in! I'll do my yearly, By the Numbers post soon but there is still some year left, so it will have to wait. I hope you all have been enjoying this great month.

The 4th Annual Halifax Movember Run

So wow, Movember, I mean November went by really fast it seems. As usual I was busy not racing and preparing to host the 4th Halifax Movember Run. Yup, 4 years in already!

As usual race day morning was rainy.  I think last year's super cold race was the only time we have had sun. But the temperatures were not too bad this year and as it turns out the race was held during the nicest moment of the weekend, with torrential rains pouring down during the rest of the time. Whew.

This year's race was new in that we had two start times. Over the last few years we had allowed people to run with dogs, just asking for them to be mindful of leashes and careful at the start. This year the good folks at Dogrunnin asked for a separate start time as they wanted to make sure some of the dog people could really start fast and get the best time possible. That was not a problem at all. We started the dogs 3 minutes after the people only runners and then adjusted the times after the race. It all worked incredibly well.

Getting volunteers for these events can be tricky. Over the years we have always had a core group of friends turn out, but as usually happens some people commit and can't show up. Well this year we had volunteers organized by OnPoint Volunteers and we couldn't have been happier. They took control of their jobs with very little prompting and set up in the park to help guide the runners. Add to them Nancy from Run NS, who volunteered her time to help with the event timing and wow. What a  great crew.

Thanks to Cyclone Fitness we kept the racers warmed up prior to the start with a little fun as well.

The first race took off with some blazing fast people, including our own Joggler!

Then off zoomed the people and dogs, Canicross style!

And as always we had some great crews show up in costumes!

It was another great year for Movember, as we raised over $3200 for the Charity which helps support men's health in the areas of Prostate Cancer, testicular Cancer, Mental Health, and Physical Inactivity.  The racers all did great with some setting personal bests and other enjoying the day. It was awesome to see many familiar faces pop down for their 4th run, and new faces their for their first (for some it was their actual first event ever!). 

The help and support from our many sponsors always makes this event fun and worth doing. Jav Blend Coffee Roasters, Freemans Little Italy, Auction House, Sportwheels, Ideal Bikes, MEC, Run NS, Kinesic Sport Lab, Seaside Chiropractic, Jollytails, Blue Frog Creations, Cyclone Fitness,  RoadID, Moksha Yoga, Sailor Bups Barbershop and of course two huge supporters in Aerobics First and DogRunnin'.

Towards next year, bigger and better! from Mike Milloy and I, thanks.