Interview with SNP. "Runners, Take your mark."

SNP: Start off by telling us how you got into running.
Allan: My first experience with running was during a field day in elementary. I remember running 'cross country' which was maybe 1km. I crossed the line out of breath, no where near first place. I sort of had asthma at the time and had a mini-attack. Despite a disappointing finish, it didn't leave a bad taste in my mouth. I continued running in Jr. High and also doing long and triple jump. In high school I began to focus on track only.

SNP: What's your favorite distance?
Allan: I know that 400m is my favorite because I remember my times for that race only. My PB was 54:55 which I ran in grade 9. I made it to provincials in High School but I was cocky. I thought I could coast through the heats and still make the finals. I ended up in 10th place. What bums me out the most is that it was a FAST track and i could have gotten a new PB.


SNP: How did you get into marathons?
Allan: There's a few reasons. In High school I made a "To Do" list for my life. Included on the list were to sky dive, ski in Whistler, run a marathon and a few other things that I've already accomplished. It's been a 3 year progression to get to where I am today. My first race was the Mother's Day Run in Calgary which is a 5km race. The next year I was in Fort McMurray for my internship and ran the 10km Terry Fox. That same summer I ran Calgary Half Marathon. A big reason why I got into the longer runs was truly because of boredom while I was in Fort McMurray.

SNP: Why did you choose to run Vancouver?
Allan: After running the Calgary Half I decided that I wanted to run in as many cities as possible. There's an excitement that comes with being in a new city which hopefully transfers into a better run. Running marathons or half marathons is a great way to see the city and is a great excuse to travel.
I convinced my friend to run a marathon and she choose Vancouver since it was the only race that she could run before tree planting. It fit with my schedule and so i signed up for it the next day.

SNP: Who have been some of your supporters during training?
Allan: My training group was Kensington RR. I trained with the 3:30 group led by John Potter. Physio included my chiropractor Dr. Yoon in Brentwood and also Dr. Kevin Aitken who loosened up my hips and fixed my left knee with two weeks remaining in training. He uses Active Release Techniques (ART) and is a runner/traithlete himself so he definitely understands the pain I was going through. My family has been great because they've changed their diet slightly to suit mine. They were also willing to fly out to watch the race in Vancouver, until a sweeter deal for tickets to Hawaii showed up! 10 days recovery in Hawaii will feel great. I've also had various running partners outside of RR and also cross training partners through climbing, snowboarding, weights etc.
Training is time consuming and I've sacrificed some friend time because of it. I'm sure they understand and continue to support me.

SNP: 42 km is a long distance and translates to a long time, what do you think about when you run?
Allan: The most random thoughts come to mind when I run. Sometimes I've got a life issue that I just need to chew on and think through. Other times I look around and am amazed at God's creation. But after a while, I run out of things to think about and I switch off the brain. I'm pretty good at doing that! I never ran with music until we hit 29km in our long runs. I got sick of thinking to myself and talking to others. But race day I don't plan on running with music.

SNP: How did you balance being a full time student with training?
Allan: My last year of engineering wasn't as stressful as I thought it would be. There were 2 classes with group projects which meant procrastinating until the final two weeks of school. The big difference between my life now and two years ago are the number of commitments outside of school, family, athletics and God. By simplifying my life I've made time for my goals and have also found greater joy.

SNP: Race day, what is your plan?
Allan: My goal is to run 32km strong, but also to feel good enough to run the last 10km hard. I've trained doing 10 minutes walking followed by 1 minute walking. Race day i'll do 15:1.

SNP: Any specific goal times for the race?
Allan: I've already improved my 5km time from 22minutes down to 20 minutes in the last 2 years. I'd like to hit the half way mark under 1:36:51 which is what I ran last year in the Calgary half.
For the marathon, my eventual goal is to qualify for Boston. I want to run faster than 3:30:00 which I'm pretty confident I can do. I'd be super happy with 3:15 to 3:25.

SNP: Are you superstitious or do you have certain pre-game rituals?
Allan: I will NOT drink milk or eat dairy the morning of the race. Usually I'll have a pump-up song that I'll listen to before the event. For this race 'steam machine' by daft punk will be my pump-up song.

SNP: SNP is a company owned by You and your brother. Are you ready for the world to realize that you've become crazy?
Allan: FOR SURE! In fact talking to myself is a skill that I've developed over the years. The first time I did it was when I went snowshoeing with the cougars. I realized alot of things when I asked myself some of the most basic questions in life like "who are you?", "why do you do the things you do?", "Who knows you?", "Do People REALLY know you?".
yup...I'm definitely crazy. It helps the time to pass when you're able to talk to yourself.

10 Fingers and 2 Toes Until Race Day

It's crazy how fast time flies! I remember doing 10km tempo runs thinking, "MAN! Vancouver is SO far away!". In twelve days I'll be taking on my first full marathon. On Sunday, the US Women's Olympic Qualifier occurred in Boston. I woke up late and only caught the 2nd half of the race. As alot of you know, Deena Kastor public stated that she wanted to WIN the qualifier. She was over 2 minutes off the lead at mile 16. She made her move at mile 20 and was able to take the lead at mile 24. I may have teared up a little, but C'Mon! it's so inspiring!

I started seeing a sport therapist to try to loosen up my hips and figure out why my knees been hurting. He loosened up my hips and also my shin muscle. The next day I went for a two hour run on the treadmill. I specifically chose the tready that faced the mirror so i could 'stare down the competition'. After a while I started analyzing my technique and noticed that:

1) my left arm doesn't swim as much as my right
2) neither arm swings 'back' enough. (elbow doesn't raise very high)
3) Left/Right Stride distance is the same, but the power definitely is lopsided to the right

I should be tapering now, but I might be climbing Heart Mountain (hopefully the snow melts) next week. If we go slow enough, the 800m elevation gain shouldn't make me TOO sore. I've had a great winter of hiking up the ski hills with snow up to my waist. I'll be okay...right???!!!

NEW PB in the 5km run

I'm in my last month of training for the Vancouver Marathon on May 4, 2008.
The first few months was 'base building' with high volume, low intensity.
Following, was Hill work outs to gain strength and finally we're into the speed sessions.

Last week's workout was 2km warm up followed by 1km intervals with 1km recovery.
The goal was to run each 1km inteval 15 seconds faster than the previous km.

Steve and Adam challenged me during the last to run the interval in 3:15. I was feeling REALLY strong for the first 700m. I went ahead of both of them to push the pace. Maybe it wasn't the greatest idea cuz 100m later I was going light headed. They caught up and we all ended up with a time of 3:14.

This week's work out was to run as far as we could in 24 mins, turn around and run the same distance in 22 mins. I stuck with the group on the run out which ended up being 5km. The run back I went as hard as I could because I wanted to see my improvement in the 5km. Here's my results since my first 5km race EVER:

May 14, 2006 - 22:16
Nov 25, 2007 - 20:50
Jan 8, 2008 - 21:17
April 9, 2008 - 20:00

Nick seems to think that I can run a 18:30 5km and Adam thinks I'll EASILY qualify for Boston (must run 42.2 km faster than 3:10:59). I'd like to test BOTH of these theories.

Have I mentioned that I LOVE training with people who are just as passionate (my word for obsessed) with running?