Give it a Tri

It's been a fun exercise week overall. Progress is a positive thing.

Over the last five weeks I can feel a major change in running endurance. Heart rates have stabilized and it's continuously getting easier to run faster and longer.

On Tuesday night I managed to break a goal I have been teetering with for the last week - running 5K in 30 minutes. (I actually had nearly 40 seconds to spare.)

Saturday saw me come close with a 30 minute 15 second completion of the 5 km distance. For a competitive person, coming that close brings a feeling of wanting to jump back on and try it again. Saturday's run came an hour or so after a 5K cross country ski with Charlene. When I got home the legs felt warmed up and ready to go. Was a great day of calorie burn.

On Sunday, Charlene and I returned to Dollar Lake Provincial Park for another ski adventure. This one was a little more strenuous. The trail system is not very well marked and I took a different route only to get caught in continuous loops. Google Maps on my iPhone (and some trailblazing) put me back on track, but it was an 8.5 km slog with some pretty intense elevations to climb.

Monday was a day of rest.

Tuesday was a good running day and I have since returned to slower pace to continue this training path to the May 18, 2014 Blue Nose Marathon 10K event.

I am really interested in taking the running outside and see if I can keep pace. Treadmills are one thing - Mother Nature may have a different plan. I'll keep you posted.

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I have really noticed the endurance change during my two weekly hockey games. It's great to feel less winded after some hard skating shifts. I hit the ice in another two and a half hours. Look out boys, the lungs are ready!!

The endurance will come in handy this coming weekend when I compete with two other team members in the Tri-the-Oval III event at the Emera Oval in Halifax.

Jeff Nearing, Tina Lum and I competed last year in this 5 km skate (me), 6 km bike (Tina) and 4.2 km run (Jeff) event. We had friendly competition from three other Chronicle Herald employees, who bailed on it this year. They say it was a scheduling issue - we know the real story! Another three have signed up to take us on. I'll report back on results next week.

There's still room for individuals and team to register. Click for the official website or e-mail Marie-Claude Gregoire if you're interested. Tri-the-Oval III is this Sunday, February 16 starting at 9 a.m.

I'll be counting down the 12.5 laps of the Oval to complete the 5K skate portion. I'm betting it will be a whole lot easier this year with this new found endurance. Tina and Jeff are in great physical shape so I'm glad to have them carrying the weight of the team.

It feels good to be active again. It's a lifestyle Charlene and I have embraced. Longevity and good health in our senior years is dependent on what we do today. I'd encourage everyone to start living life - it's a lot of fun.

The case for cadence

The more you read, the more you learn. Fact.

I've been nursing a cold since last week, but have maintained my running schedule. During the rest time, I've gotten to read a whole lot more about running and the fascinating physics behind the sport. If you haven't figured it out, I am one of those people that must understand the "why" behind all subjects and projects I take on. Research is vital and the multitude of information available on running efficiency is amazing.

Last weekend, on the advice of my mentor Jeff Nearing, I picked up a Garmin Forerunner 210 GPS running watch, complete with heart monitor and foot pod.

It's an incredible piece of technology and when you upload the data to the Garmin Connect website it unleashes a bunch of really cool charts and graphs. Being a bit of a data nerd, it has been fun to dissect every second of a run.

One of the measurements is cadence.

Have to say, I did not know a lot about cadence until I started diving deeper. It is an important measure of efficient running. By simple definition, cadence is the number of times your feet touch the ground in a minute. There is great debate of what the ideal cadence is, but the most common number used is 180 steps per minute.

I've been reading about the elite runners in the world and how cadence has helped them achieve the greatest feats. Interestingly, the cadence measures I have achieved in the last week (average of 170 steps per minute, hitting a maximum of 182) are around the same as many of the elite distance runners.

Usain Bolt, the fastest man on the planet, holds the 100 metre and 200 metre sprint world records completing these distances in 9.58 seconds and 19.19 seconds, respectively. In the 100 metre sprint his average speed was 37.58 km/h. His fastest pace in that world record run came through the 60 to 80 metre portion when he was travelling 44.72 km/h. Absolutely incredible! Watch this video for Bolt's 100 metre world record run.

The difference comes down to the power they are generating when their feet hit the ground. That separates the beginners from the elites. An article by Dave Munger on Science Based Running explains the difference very well. It's technical, but you'll learn a lot by reading it. It dissects an earlier article by Yahoo! Sports on the Bolt running phenomenon.

In any event, I still have a lot to learn as we approach the 10K race at the Blue Nose Marathon on May 18. So far, it's been a blast. I look forward to the next challenge.

DID YOU KNOW: The world record in the 10K distance on track is held by Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopa who ran it in 26:17.53 in 2005. The women's world record was set in 1993 by China's Wang Junxia finishing in 29:31.78.

By the way, Usain Bolt's cadence in that 100 metre world record run was 257. The record is safe with me!