Life stress. It’s an important factor in racing performance that is often overlooked. Since December I have been working on my application for physiotherapy school which included having to retake a course because mine didn’t “count.” After a few stressful weeks in December emailing and calling multiple schools trying to find the correct course I ended up with my back up option of taking one through athabasca, twice as long, twice as much. This meant that now I got to spend my spring cramming a full year course into 5 months. Well this week I realized I was supposed to have it done for end of April… and I will have it done end of May. Oops. Big oversight. Whether this will be a factor, I will know by May 18th. Until then, this meant all of last week and the next 3 weeks will be spent cramming trying to finish my course work so I can book my final test to show I have completed the course. Continue reading
Thank you Krista!
History has been made today at the Boston Marathon! I like to think of this as the year where the grinders won! Desi Linden won the Marathon so amazing! She is always the runner-up so it’s great to see her stick it out all these years to finally come out on top! Continue reading
Spring Run-Off Race Recap
I’m going to keep this week short and just recap last week’s race!
Last week I ran the Spring Run-off 8k at High Park in Toronto. Being a Canadian Running Series event, I was especially looking forward to this one. CRS events are the best organized and bring out the best competition! I really appreciate all the work Alan Brookes, Ian Cater, and all of the CRS staff do to make these races top notch!
Now coming off of a so-so race at Around the Bay I was excited to do something much much shorter, 22km shorter to be exact. This was the third time racing this course so I had a really good idea where to go hard and where to back off. Josh, Rob, Adam, Walt and I did a 4km warm-up around the course and tried to stay warm on this cold “spring” day. It was about -1 at race start but I still managed shorts on the day. Luckily it was sunny which made it feel quite a bit warmer. Continue reading
The Story of T
Where does resilience come from? Is it a part of who we are at birth? Is it something we learn that is shaped by our experiences in life? It’s hard to say for certain, but here’s a short story of my life and where I believe my passion has come from. Continue reading
Spring Race Recap
I hope everyone is recovering well from ATB 30k this weekend! I don’t know what hurts more my calves or my ego but I will get over both of those ;).
I haven’t done any race recaps yet this year so I’ll post about my last 4 races for this post.
The Grind: How to Get Through Tough Workouts
I’m known for my grind. I often get complements after races about how much grit I showed during a tough race. I myself think of grinding on a bigger picture. This goes 
back to my years of running in high school, working my ass off, wanting so badly to be up at the front and yet always falling short. I told myself that I would not quit, I would continue to work harder until I was fast enough to run the times that I knew I could in my heart. To that, I say thank you little T. That story in itself is for another day, another blog. This blog I wanted to go through some tips and tricks that can help YOU push your body to get the most out of yourself!
Whether you are lifting weights in the gym or running hard intervals on the road, you need to be able to focus yourself when things get tough and you start to become tired. I have several tricks that I use to keep myself focused and I try to add to these constantly to improve my mental game. Continue reading
Shoe Review Skechers Performance 2018
Hey Everyone! Happy St. Patty’s Day!
For today’s post I have some exciting news! I have decided to commit to weekly posts so check back every Friday or Saturday and check them out! I’ve switched things up a bit today – a gear review. Check it out below- 5 SHOES IN 4MINUTES!
*Disclaimer: These shoes are provided to me free by Skechers Performance Canada, though these opinions are truly my own.
Click Play on this video below:
THE STATS:
- GORUN 6: 4-8mm drop (removable insert to “pick your fit”, 5.3oz W/ 6.7oz M
- GOMEB SPEED 5 [1:24-2:12]: 4mm drop, 4.5oz W/ 5.8oz M
- GO MEB RAZOR 2 [2:13-3:00]: 4-8mm drop (insert or not), 5.2oz W/ 6.8oz M
- GORUN ULTRA ROAD 2 [3:01-3:48]: 4mm drop, 2″ heel, 6.4oz W/8oz M (will be the Ultra Max later this year):
- GORUN Ride 7 [3:48-4:27]: 6mm drop, 7.3oz W/9.3oz M
- NOT PICTURED >> GORUN FORZA 3 – Creating it’s own category as a lightweight stability shoe. Kara Goucher’s go to shoe! This is for all you PRONATORS out there! If you need more support this is your shoe. 6mm drop, 7.3oz W/9.2oz M
- NOT PICTURED >> GOTRAIL ULTRA 4 – Ultra-style shoe very similar to the GORUN ULTRA ROAD but with a more aggressive grip on the sole of the shoe. 4mm drop, 8.4oz W/ 10.7oz M
WHERE TO BUY:
Fit is true to size aka same as most other brands. *You’re looking for their “Performance Line”
Online:
https://www.skechers.com/en-ca/styles/shoes/performance
*Right now they are a bit low in stock so keep checking back to find your shoe!
In person:
*Best to call ahead
- Running Free Ajax now “The Runner’s Core”
- Running Factory Windsor (also has online option)
- Currently looks like they are carrying the original RAZOR in stock
- https://www.runningfactory.com/apps/search_reactor?q=skechers
Expos:
- Most Major USA Marathons
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May 17-19 –Blue Nose Marathon: Halifax
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May 18-19 -Des Chênes-Toi 2018- Drummondville, Qb
- May 26-27 Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend
- June 21-23– IRONMAN Mont Tremblant 70.3- Mont Tremblant
- July 24-29– IRONMAN Canada– Whistler
- Aug 10-11– Mont Tremblant Demi-Marathon – Mont Tremblant
- Aug 15-19– IRONMAN Mont Tremblant– Mont Tremblant
- Sept. 7-9– Triathlon Esprit De Montreal- Montreal
- Oct. 12-14: Marathon SSQ- Quebec- Quebec City
- Oct. 18-20 Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Race Weekend
- CP Women’s Open for our Golf side
- A couple of the MultiSport events as well
Catch you at Achilles 5k this weekend in Toronto! Happy St. Patty’s day everyone!
Be sure to hit subscribe at the bottom of the page so you don’t miss next week’s blog!
Be Present
In my last blog I spoke about my learnings from Peak Performance, more specifically about living with purpose. I wanted to come back to another important aspect of life that I’ve been inspired to work on (because of that book as well). Mindfulness. Have you noticed the “trend” lately from many of the top athletes of practicing meditation? I was like you, “yeah yeah meditation, yeah I know it’s good for you, but I don’t know if I’d like it,” I thought. I read it over and over in many tweets and blogs and still didn’t give it much real thought. Now, I am science-based. I need to see things scientifically proven before I’ll fully get behind them. Cue Peak Performance. Continue reading
The Anatomy of One’s Purpose
Have you ever stopped to think truly about your purpose in life? Why are you doing the things you are doing? What gets you up in the morning? If you haven’t tried to define it, you likely feel lost or struggle with consistently being motivated. I hope that by the end of this blog, you too will feel motivated to find yours.
As of late, I’ve been exploring meditation and the mental aspects of performance in
Matt Fitzgerald and Nataki
running and in life. It started with reading my new friend’s book, How Bad Do You Want It by Matt Fitzgerald. I read this book leading into my fall marathon, while I was in the best shape of my life. Unfortunately, an injury didn’t allow me to use these new techniques, I continued to ponder them.
I was longing to read another book and continue with my “growth mindset” but with a busy schedule wasn’t sure where I could fit this is. Audiobooks! Ding! The alarm went off in my head, “audiobooks, yeah, perfect,” I thought. “I can read while running my easy mileage and likely absorb the material better anyways since I am exercising and fully engaged.” My very first listen, would turn out to be the best possible choice. Peak Performance by Steve Magness and Brad Stulberg, is a book about achieving peak performance and avoiding burnout not only in athletics, but in all aspects of life. I’d highly recommend this read; they analyze ideas and back them with proven scientific study but yet are able to keep it interesting with real world examples reaching across many domains. This post is inspired by them. I’ve only decided to talk about the very last chapter here but there are so many other things I learned including sleep, controlling stress, optimizing recovery and many more things. I will likely talk about these things in future post. Continue reading
STWM Recap
It has been a few days since the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon and I’m ready to reflect and celebrate my fall season. This fall season was short and concise in order to put everything I had into the marathon. Continue reading
Tanis Bolton 