Archives

The Pulse March 2008

Only two months to go!

Register before April 30 and save!

Planning to participate in the Ottawa Race Weekend? Don’t wait, register now and save! All registrations before April 30 will benefit with savings of up to 25% (if you sign up at the expo). There is a race for everyone! Register here!

Already registered and want to change your event? You can do so until May 16. Please note there is an administrative fee. Change your registration here.

Get your kids moving with the Nortel Kids Marathon

Organizers of the Ottawa Race Weekend, in partnership with Nortel, recently launched the Nortel Kids Marathon – a new event designed to give young people the chance to experience running a marathon and learn the benefits of an active daily routine.

Children in grades between 3 and 8 will get the full 42.2 km marathon experience by completing 41 km worth of exercise in the weeks leading up to the Ottawa Race Weekend. On race day, these young athletes will complete the last leg of their marathon journey – a 1.195 km stretch ending at the finish line of the ING Ottawa Marathon where, minutes later, the world’s top athletes will compete for the marathon title.

You can register your young marathoners here and track your experience by logging your kids’ daily run or other recognized exercise – such as hockey, gymnastics or a 30 minute walk – and watching the “kilometres” add up towards their marathon goal.

ING Ottawa Marathon Tops Boston Qualifier in Canada

According to Marathonguide.com, the ING Ottawa Marathon had the highest Canadian percentage of Boston qualifying finishers in 2007 with 22.8%. The site, a key reference for marathoning in North America, says that the courses on its 2007 list “will undoubtedly be among those ranked the fastest of all courses”.

For more information on marathonguide.com’s list: http://www.marathonguide.com/races/BostonMarathonQualifyingRaces.cfm

Ottawa Race Weekend and ING Canada reach the finish line of a successful partnership

The 2008 edition of the ING Ottawa Marathon will mark the end of a five-year partnership between ING and the Ottawa Race Weekend (ORW), one of the most successful affiliations in the history of the 34-year-old event. Having grown significantly and reached the goals set five years ago, event organizers are looking forward to continuing this trend with a new title sponsor for 2009.

ING Ottawa Marathon is contributing to send a national team to the 2009 World Cup

Organizers of the ING Ottawa Marathon and the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon have teamed up with Athletics Canada to help send Canadian marathoners to the 2009 World Cup in Berlin. Canadian athletes (five males, five females) reaching the criteria will be part of the first team in eight years to represent Canada at a world championship. It is the first time such action has been undertaken by organizers of road races in Canada.

Elite Athlete Update

Strong Canadian men’s field expected for National Championships

The Canadian men’s competition could see a field that will rival results from 1984 when Ottawa was the site of the Olympic trials. Confirmed entrants include Matthew McInnis (2007 National Champion), Charles Bedley (2006 National Champion & fastest Cdn marathoner in '07), Jerry Ziak (#2 Cdn Marathoner in '07), Steve Osadiuk (top Canadian in '06), Andrew Smith (debut, #2 in half marathon in '08), Robert Krar (debut, #3 in half in '08), Bernard Onsare (new Canadian), Oukid Fethi (new Canadian), Steve McIntyre (2:20 marathoner), James Nielsen (2:21), James Gosselin (debut).

On the Canadian women’s side, we will welcome Lioudmila Kortchaguina ('05, '06, '07 National Champion), Nicole Stevenson (2:32), Tara Quinn-Smith (1:13 half), Lauren King (1:15 half), Suzanne Evans (2:45), Lucy Smith (2:38) and Isabelle Ledroit (2:38).

David Cheriuyot returns to defend title

The competition will be fierce this year as David Cheriuyot will return to defend his record-setting title (2:10:35) at the ING Ottawa Marathon. Other athletes confirmed so far include Peter Bor (2:09), Joel Rono (2:09), Simon Njoroge (2:09), Vincent Kiplagat (2:10), Evgeni Bozhko (2:13).

Kortchaguina also returns to defend title

Canadian champion, Lioudmilla Kortchaguina is also expected to return to defend her title at the 2008 ING Ottawa Marathon. It will be a rematch with 2005 winner Lidia Vasilevskaya who has also confirmed her attendance at this year’s event.

Run for a Reason

Did you know that the MDS Nordion Ottawa Hospital Race Weekend Challenge is the official charity partner of Ottawa Race Weekend? And that every year thousands of people in our community run for a reason by raising pledges for The Ottawa Hospital. In fact, in 2007 just over $600,000 was raised by people running for a variety of reasons ranging from honouring a loved one to making an investment in better patient care at the hospital.

Why not join them and find your reason to run for The Ottawa Hospital. After all, you already run – why not put your effort behind supporting excellent health care in our community while you are at it?

Raise Funds, Run for Free! The Ottawa Hospital Foundation will reimburse your Race registration fee. It’s easy to qualify:

Register to raise pledges for The Ottawa Hospital at www.ohfoundation.ca

Raise more than $150 in pledges – you can even raise funds online

Visit the Foundation booth at the Pfizer Health and Fitness Expo to drop off your pledges and be reimbursed

Find your reason to run for The Ottawa Hospital. For more information and to register for the MDS Nordion Ottawa Hospital Race Weekend Challenge, call 613-798-5555 ext. 19820 or visit www.ohfoundation.ca

John Stanton Tips

Building the Base

My marathon and half marathon programs become progressively more difficult each week. Successful adaptation comes as a result of intelligent progressive overload. This progressive overload combined with rest days improves your muscular skeletal and cardiovascular systems as you become a marathoner. The hard days challenge you, the easy days provide you rest and allows for regeneration. Hard days are the hill runs, tempo runs, and speed and long run days. The balance of the schedule is either an off day or recovery run day. Recovery runs are completed with a relaxed recovery pace. The long run is run about a 1 – 1 ½ per mile slower than your planned marathon goal pace. Scheduling in rest days is every bit as important as the tougher stuff.

Specificity, the principle that permits the adaptations your body makes is based on the nature of the exercise you do. My program specifically trains you for running endurance, strength and speed.

Periodization is a build up in total mileage and in the long run distance, followed by a cutback week. Following this easy week, we build up the long run and the total distance. These periods of build up in mileage followed by a recovery week, rejuvenate you and prepare you for the next build up.

The Long Run

The long run adapts the runner’s endurance fitness to exercising for an extended period of time. The major advantages of the long run is prolonged running burns a lot of calories, improves your endurance in the working muscles, and strengthens the connective tissue such as, the ligaments, tendons and cartilage. The most common error in distance running is running the long run too fast. By inserting, running for 10 minutes and walking for 1 minute combinations, during the long run, you run longer, at a faster pace and improve your recovery. Call them intervals, sets, or wind sprints, with them you are able to greatly extend the distance of your long run. Combining additional stress, through an increase of about 10% per week to the long run will result in a great improvement in your endurance capabilities. This gentle and yet progressive approach will prepare you for the marathon distance and minimize your injury risk. As you build up your long run and total weekly mileage you will become stronger fitter and more confident. The half marathon peaks at a long run of 20K and the marathon at 32K.

Breathing and Running Form

Run tall and run relaxed will improve your running form. A relaxed, upright posture is the best running position. Your head, shoulders and hips up over your feet make it easier to move the whole body improving your breathing. With shoulders back, body relaxed imagine a string attached to the centre of your chest leading you up a hill pulling you up the hill. Shift your hips forwards to keep your alignment and posture correct. Strong abdominal muscles maintain form - the very reason for those sit ups. Lead with your knees to keep your alignment correct and prevent over striding. Concentrate on the correct push off from the ankle with short fast steps, more of a shuffle.

Rather than breathing from your chest area, focus on belly breathing. Master your breathing techniques will make you faster and efficient. As you pace increases there is a tendency to over breath, you feel as if you’re gasping. Focus on exhaling rather than inhaling – the in breath will happen on its own involuntary. Breath in a manner that feels comfortable to you.

Run- Walk combinations of 10: 1 Work

Stress and rest is the foundation of all training programs. Stress makes us stronger. Rest provides recovery and a rebuilding improvement phase. A 1-minute brisk walk after 10 minutes of running provides a phase of active rest. Active rest keeps the runner moving forward. This active rest helps flush lactic acid out of system. As we approach our anaerobic threshold (85% of our maximum heart rate) our body starts producing lactic acid. This leaves us heavy- legged with a queasy stomach. Walk/run combinations will help dissipate this lactic acid build up. Walk/run distributes the workload to various muscles, potentially helping to delay fatigue. Sports medicine professionals all encourage stretching. Stretching yields supple muscles with improved range of motion. A fast, brisk walk break provides a gentle and specific stretch to the leg muscles. Walk breaks prevent a slow down in the long run, keeps the pace consistent and minimize injuries. Walk -run combinations both on the long run day and on race day.

Hill Training

Hills add resistance and strength to your training. Runners have used hills for decades as a way to increase endurance, strength and speed.

Find a hill about 400 metres in length, with an incline of 8-10 percent. Prior to starting the hill session, include a warm up with of easy running and light stretching.

Maintain a consistent effort rather than pace on the hill. Shortening your stride, as the hill gets steeper. Keep your chest up and out, with your breathing relaxed. Your arm movements, in rhythm with that of your leg turn over rate. Keep your eyes focused on the top of the hill, just as they would be focused in front of you on a flat stretch.

Hill sessions build lower leg strength and improve your running form. Think about maintaining effort not pace. You will learn the art of pacing from the hills. You build strength and character both useful on race day. Think of you hills, as speed work in disguise.

Hill training improves your running technique and makes you mentally tougher for race day.