Yeah, we better turn up the base on this one

It’s been a month since the Rotterdam marathon. I took 11 days completely off after the race, and then spent the next 10 days doing easy runs. Last week I did a tempo and fartlek run. I’ll continue that formula for the next month as a base period.

I have to respect the recovery from the marathon and keep my eyes on the big goals. That is why I’m not ramping up too fast for the Canadian half marathon champs on May 31st in Calgary. If I want to run my best in Calgary I should be doing faster intervals right now but that would mean compromising marathon recovery. Luckily Calgary is situated at 1000m (3300 feet) above sea level which should slow the pace down and lessen the importance on speed right now.

The last two years I planned on racing a few competitive road races on the US circuit but both times the plan was foiled by injury. Once again I’m planning on racing over the summer (half, 15km, 10 miles) and focusing on speed (relatively speaking) before transitioning to marathon training.

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I’ve officially pulled my name out of the Pan-Am games this summer, which basically means I’ve stopped filling out forms for Pan-Ams as they get emailed to me. It was a hard decision to make because I would have loved to compete for team Canada in Toronto. Also, it might be a, relatively, easy shot at an international medal.

There are a few reasons why I took my name out of selection:

1) There are a few guys who really want to run Pan-Ams and it will be good for them to have a shot at international competition. There are only two spots on the team per event in athletics.

2) The course is from Ontario Place to High Park and back (not through the middle of Toronto). There’s a good hill on the course and it could be hot, there’s really no chance of running fast. My main goal this year is to run fast because next year the goal will be Rio (championship race) if all goes well.

3) If I’m going to run marathons at this level I want to do it full-time which means I need money to make that happen. There’s no monetary incentive at Pan-Ams except for people who tell me a medal will come with sponsors knocking on my door. In my opinion there will be so many medals at Pan-Ams from Canadian athletes that by the time the marathon comes around a medal won’t be such a big deal.

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It’s been so long since I wrote a blog I almost forgot that I haven’t mentioned Athletics Canada released the standards for the Rio Olympics. The men’s marathon standard is set at 2:12:50, which was slower than I anticipated. Had I known the standard going into Rotterdam it would not have changed the way I ran because I would have always aimed for time that I felt somewhat safe with. A time such as 2:12:20 would be vulnerable to be overtaken by 3 guys. There’s no guarantee with 2:11:24 but it’s a time which should stand up.

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This week I’m off to Halifax to attend an event to honour Cliff Mathews on Thursday night at Spatz Theatre. Abel Kirui (2-time World marathon champ) will also be there. The money raised from the event will go towards buying a defibrillator for Iten, Kenya.

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The marathon ages you.

Two days before marathon (Also to note, a beard makes you look older).

A few minutes after marathon.