Featured

BIG NEWS THIS WEEK

SOOO super excited about last week because I got some good workouts in and also found some new routes around my area. This week I tried to include a bit more incline because I realized my runs did not have much elevation gain. Although it was not a ton of incline it was still a decent increase from my usual runs. Also have some big news that I will talk about at the end. For this weeks runs we hit a solid 30.33km.

  • Tue – 5.47km at a 5.12min/km
  • Thur – 8.67km at a 5.14min/km
  • fri – 4.69km at a 5.08min/km
  • Sat – interval
    • 1.02km – 4.38min/km
    • 1.01km – 4.46min/km
    • 1.02km – 4.37min/km
    • 1.01km – 4.27min/km
    • 1.02km – 4.43min/km
    • 1.02km – 4.27min.km
  • Sun – 5.22km at a 5.50min/km

The runs were solid and the hip is feeling much stronger and less painful than it was about 3 months ago. Very happy with the progress I have made and I am just learning to trust the process. The ice baths and the exercises have been extremely helpful. One thing that I did this week that was quite interesting was scraping with the backend of a butter knife. I grab some moisturizer and just went to town on my legs. The area that bruised up the most and the easiest with minimum pressure was my right hip. It blew up like a blueberry and just got a ton of bruises and red spots. It was quite satisfying to see kind of like popping a blackhead I guess. To anyone that does not want to buy specific tools for scraping try out the backend of a butter knife. It was actually recommended by a physiotherapist I knew who I talked to and mention how sidekick has scraping tools. Her exact words were “why waste your money on that just use a butter knife and some lube”. That is my little piece of advice.

Also super stocked to let you guys know that I am changing my rotation of shoes. I got the Forever Floatride Energy 2.0 and the saucony guide 13. I will be using the floatride for my interval runs and maybe some tempo work. Then the saucony will be for my easy and long runs because of the extra support in them. I will give you guys my thoughts on them once I get a few more miles in but so far they feel pretty smooth both feel very different that is for sure.

Thank you for reading I hope everyone is enjoying their runs.

Stay happy, Stay healthy, Keep breathing

Creeping up on my first TT

Hey everyone hope you are all killing it on your runs. I have been tapering for a 5K time trial just so I can gauge my fitness level and see if I can beat my last years 5k time which was 23.43. This year I am going to do my time trial on a track while last year was a semi flat trail. Since I did not get to do to many races this year I’ll be trying out some short virtual runs to see my progress.

Overall the training has been going well. I did just finish up on my long run yesterday in 15km with 5.09 pace. Felt pretty relaxed I did end up going alittle hard in the beginning and then easing off at the end as I wanted to run on tired legs for the second half of the run. Felt good though, One thing that I did not mention to you guys was I have joined a run club! They are called the North York run club they host runs on Wednesday and Saturday. We actually had a really good hill session on Wednesday where some of the members really pushed me. It is a very humbling experience to be out there with such strong and experienced runners.

I have definitely have a new found love for doing group runs. Doing solo runs has become a bit harder now as I fine them a little lonely. Even if the person I am running with is not talking to me it is still nice to have their presence because I know they are going through the pain with me. Have you guys experienced this feeling? If so any tips for me?

Also, this has never happened to me before so I am very excited to announce that I have won a FREE FITBIT!! after joining a running contest. I did not run the fastest time but it was a random draw if you submitted a run of 5k or more. The group on IG that is hosting this is torontopcoswalk. This has never happened to me so I was extremely excited and I just wanted to share that with you guys.

That is all from me. I hope you are all killing it on the runs and as always, thank you for reading.

Stay happy, Stay healthy, Keep breathing

Feels like a Rollercoaster

This week I am back after alittle break due to some ankle issues. I had to take a step back from running because about 2 weeks ago I completed a trail run and the next day my ankle was swollen. Not being able to put pressure on it I thought it may be a good idea to take some time off to let it recover. I spent the first week not running at all. The week after that I ran about 15km just to see how my ankle felt. There was still pain but no where near as bad. the next week I went back into it and finished the week off with 44km.

I have been trying to go to a few more trails now because I would like to get through as many as I can before we get hit by the good old Canadian winter. This summer has definitely been a roller coaster in terms of me running. Going from having issues with my hip/IT band to have ankle issues on my left foot. It never ends but that is the fun in all of what we do. I definitely do not want to say I am getting a better understanding of my body but I will say I am more aware of when I can push myself and when I need to pull back. The past 2 days I completed 2 longer runs. Both about 14km each. The first one was more flat with not much elevation then the next day we did a trail with a bit of elevation about 161m. After the first 14km this much elevation felt like alot. I struggled alot and the pace was pulled back because I could feel some pain in the knees and I was just going off on tired legs.

That is what I think alot of people need to remember is that during this time when we are not racing there is no need to push yourself to the point of breaking if you are only running for the enjoyment of it. For me I wont be racing until May 2021 (maybe) so pushing yourself to your threshold may not be the best idea. Its all about the effort levels and getting the mileage in. Personally I just wanted to put in about 40km this week because I knew I could get through it. Even though it was tough I knew I could hold an easy pace during this long run. But now I know I do need to let the legs rest so I will be taking it easy for a day or two because I know running tomorrow will be to much for me. That is about it for me, I hope that everyone is enjoying their summer running and getting in those good quality runs.

Stay happy, Stay healthy, Keep breathing

recovery/recharge gone wrong

To start I had a very low mileage week. I finished off the week at 28km it was not much and that is exactly what I was aiming for. I did 3 short 5ks and then 13k at a reasonable pace of 5:47min per km. I was feeling good, legs were feeling refreshed. I focused a lot of my time on stretching, strengthening work and rolling.

The day after my easy long run, I started to feel some pain on the bottom of my foot that carried up towards my Achilles. NOWWWWW it hurts to walk, so a little worried but I am hoping it is just a strain that will get better with time off. Going to take it easy again this week and probably not run for now. Just going to leave it to feeling for now. If things do not improve I will have to head over to the doctor to get it checked out.

Sometime it can definitely feel as if I am prone to injuries no matter what I do. Not sure anymore because I definitely do not feel like I am over working myself for the most part. I am alittle frustrated but I just have to go with the flow and keep looking forward to what is next. Definitely anxious to see how things go after this week but I will keep you guys updated.

For now I will leave you guys with that. As always, thank you for reading and I hope that everyone is getting their mileage in.

Stay happy, Stay healthy, Keep breathing

Tougher Week than Expected

This week unfortunately I was not able to hit the average distance I was hoping for. At the same time I am happy that I was listening to my body and giving it the rest it needs. Luckily this coming week is a down week for me so I will hopefully let the legs rest up and recover up from the last 3 weeks.

So here is the break down for this week. I hit a total mileage of 38.3km with 264m of elevation. I did need to take some days off because my legs were feeling quite tired. So i took 3 days off throughout the week. One was Monday, Thursday and Sunday. I took Sunday off mainly because it was raining all day so seemed like a sign for me to just relax the legs.

Most of the runs this week were averaging around low 5min paces but on Friday I did run a trail in Niagara called Bruce trail with some elevation that took me on a ride. I am not use to doing much elevation on my runs now a days so I have been trying to add that in a bit more. On that day, it was quite hilly with 191 meters of elevation. For that run, I actually averaged a 6 min pace. I definitely struggled but also I am not as use to hiking up rocky and uneven trails. I felt like I was nervous on the uphill as I was worried about slipping or rolling my ankle (which almost happened a few times).

Another thing I started looking into anaerobic and aerobic workouts to understand it more during my runs. I learned that anaerobic workouts are when their is a lack of oxygen in the body that leads to more lactic acid build up and for long distance runners the main focus should be aerobic workouts where the body is comfortable and able to get the right amount of oxygen while working out. I have started to turn my focus to more aerobic work and expanding that area looking to be more comfortable at faster paces with proper breathes. So I am not going to be doing sprint intervals anymore and the for thresholds I will not be looking to go all out where I am basically gasping for air.

Anyways, thank you for reading guys if you have any tips about anaerobic and aerobic workouts for long distance runners I would love to hear about it. Thanks for reading and I hope you all are doing amazing.

Stay happy, Stay healthy, Keep breathing

Making big changes

HEELLOOO EVERYONE!

There has been some big changes in my training plans and my new training platform. So first of all I will be completing all my runs on STRAVA now. SOOO if you would like to add me by searching up – Bilal Mahmood. I will actually stop posting all my runs on these weekly posts and just start talking about what is going on and how I am feeling with all the training.

Secondly, the training blocks have been updated. So I am trying to commit to 3 weeks of higher mileage and then a tapering weak to let the legs cool off. During those 3 weeks I have been looking to put in only about 45-55km a week just because races are not happening right now. So I will looking to just maintain my fitness levels hoping not to peak to early or end up with any injuries. So far for the past 3 weeks I have been following along this process. First week, I tapered down and put in about 24km. it felt really good to hit some lighter runs and just let the legs cool off.

The next week though things picked up pretty quickly and we ended up finishing up the week at 53km. I have been running everyday but the efforts have decreased so many of the runs now are me going at a moderate pace which has definitely been working. My legs are not sore the next day and I can still hit certain distances. during the 2nd week from July 13-July 19th the longest run was 12km. I was extremely proud because it was the furthest I have gone since the hip pain.

During the 3rd week we went ahead and beat that 12km run with a whomping 15km. I was so happy with it plus there was very minimal hip pain. Ended the week off at 50km with a 50km bike ride as well which was a good change of pace. In addition, I ended up finding a hidden trail that was so close to my place and it leads to such a beautiful path. I am so excited to add that into my routes. That is one thing that I love about running; you really learn about the area you live in. I never would have found so many trails if I were not running because I would never walk 8km because its just to slow for me unless I am exploring a city or going hiking.

So that is the end of my rant but there are so many things I want to talk about with you guys, but I will save it for next time. I do not want to overwhelm you guys. I hope to be posting at least once a week. I have definitely been a little bit busier with work and running everyday while trying to make sure I focus on recovery and allowing some me time at the end of the day. SO VERY SORRY for falling off a bit on the posts. I really want to share my journey.

Remember to trust the process because even though things may seem hopeless give it time and you will get there. It gets hard but have faith and be patience. I hope everyone is enjoying their runs and staying safe. Thank you so much for reading and add me up on STRAVA if you would like to see the runs I am doing and the paces I am hitting.

Stay happy, Stay healthy, Keep breathing

SLOWLY but SURELY~

This week was probably one of the best weeks yet! slight pain during the runs and I was able to complete all the workouts. With weather like this I am happy that the runs have been flowing well.

  • Monday (unplanned run) – 4.13km at 5.36min/km. I was suppose to take the date off but a friend showed up at my house for a run so I just could not resist.
  • Tuesday – 5.16km at a 4.55min/km pace
  • Thursday – 8.03km at a 5.02min per km
  • Saturday – interval workout
    • 1.6×2 at a 4.21 + 4.37 min/km
    • 1.2×2 at a 4.27 + 4.30 min/km
    • 0.8×2 at a 4.27 + 4.26 min/km
    • 0.4×1 at a 4.23 min/km
  • Sunday – Shakeout run 7.01km at a 5.42min/km

I definitely have been running better and I do want to try pacing my runs better. Right now my fast run is Tuesday, long run is Thursday and sprint work is Saturday with an easy run Sunday. I think I can definitely pull the pace back on my long run and hit a slightly higher pace on the easy runs. I do not want to get to carried away with the paces to try to avoid over working the legs to much.

SADLY! I am going to have to take out 2 shoes from my rotation. The Clifton 6 and the adidas pureboost have been worn out and I had to replace them with some new gear. I did decide to not get the Clifton again because they just do not have the lifespan to be used as trainers so I went and ordered some new puppies from Asics the Keyano 26. I also really wanted to try them out because I thought it might be a good idea to get a trainer with more support. To help with the speed work I have gone and picked a company I have never run with yet. That company is Reebok with the forever floatride energy 2. Very excited to try these out based on the reviews I have seen they are good for under pronators and they are supposedly very under rated for their price. I realized based on the shoes I have been using that I supinate alot so the floatrides are suppose to help support that. I will give you guys an update once I go on a few runs with them.

As always thanks for listening and I hope that everyone is having amazing runs.

What shoes do you guys train in? I’d love to hear about it.

Stay happy, Stay healthy, Keep breathing.

Softer Workout Week

Hey guys! just wanted to give everyone an update about my runs last week. I personally felt like I had pushed my hip a little to much in my previous week as I tried to get to 30miles. So this week I wanted to bring it back and focus more on smoother runs with better pacing.

So here is the breakdown:

  • Tuesday – 8km at a 4.57min/km pace
  • Thursday – 4.51 at a 5.03min/km pace
  • Saturday interval workout :
    • 15min warmup
    • 1.6km – 4.22min/km
    • 1.2km – 4.32min/km
    • 800m – 4.31min/km
    • 1.2km – 4.27min/km
    • 1.6km – NA had to let that one go because of some hip pain
    • 15min cooldown
  • Sunday – 8km at a 5.13min/km pace

For these workouts I was hoping to keep it at a faster pace. I found myself being a bit more comfortable with the 5min pace so I was happy with that. Unfortunately, I did start to feel a bit of pain in my left foot around the mid section. Feels like a light bruise fingers crossed it is not a stress fracture. I am still planning on running and if the pain gets to unbearable I will have to go see a doctor and get some tests. My body is just falling apart on me right now and i am quite disappointed with it. BUT thats ok I am hoping for the best.

Thanks for listening I hope that everybody is enjoying their runs and staying safe at the same time.

Stay happy, Stay healthy, Keep breathing

WE DID IT!

Last week I had a goal of running 30 miles in a week. It was definitely taxing on the hip but with alot of rolling an some extra ice baths we got there. So to sum it up I had done a run almost everyday last week from tuesday – sunday to meet my goal. I did post about my previous runs in my last journal update in case you wanted to see that. Here is the breakdown for the rest of the runs

Friday – 9.01km at a 5.22min/km pace

Saturday – speed interval and I had left the tracking on the whole workout so it included the warm up, cool down and the light jogs in between sets. TOTAL – 10.03km

  • 5x1km – 4.05/4.07/4.16/4.19/4.13
  • 4x400m – 1.00 (all out) explanation below/ 1.10/1.19/1.24

Sunday – shakeout run from Sunday 3.54km at a 5.17min/km pace

So on Saturday we met an Olympic candidate’s father who was biking by and saw us doing sprints on the trail and had asked us to race him. At first we were a little skeptical but he explained that he would race his son who did a 800m in 1.48 min (link of his times below). So it all made sense and because of that we did an all out sprint with him which to be honest made the rest of the workout so much harder. Especially after doing the 1km sprints. I also spent a very good portion of Saturday morning just rolling out my hip to make sure it was prepared for the sprint and it actually worked out pretty well. There was no pain during the workout but i did feel it later in the day. Overall the I am happy I made my goal and was able to help out the current movement going on.

Thanks for reading I hope that everyone is enjoying their runs!

Stay happy, Stay healthy, Keep breathing

https://www.worldathletics.org/athletes/canada/elijah-silva-14549426?fbclid=IwAR3KB8A5xKOubBKlO_Xz9Ikc5i1B-yPKk0rN5jJU5tgvpVItbHpu_RjHyD0

Raising Money For BLM By Running

Hey guys this week I have been motivated by something that I saw on my Instagram feed and they were going to donate 1$ for every mile that was run this week (will leave their information below). The funds were going to go to helping the people in Chicago that were being arrested for protesting for what they believe in. Since I was running already I decided that there was no reason for me not to participate in this. So I decided to try and run 30miles/48km by the end of this week.

So far with today’s run I am at a solid 26km.

Tuesday – 5.03km – 4.55min/km

Wednesday – 5.08 km – 5.08min/km

Thursday – 6.01km – 5.28min/km + 10.01km – 5.54min/km

I am actually very happy that I was even able to put in that many km today. This was also the first time I completed 10km since I took the month off. It was pretty painful for the last 3 km but luckily I had a friend running with me to help keep me motivated and push through the pain. Something that came to mind while doing this was:

I only have to be in pain for a little bit which is nothing compared to the pain that people have been facing for centuries.

the mindful monk

So how join in on this?

Go to their page on instagram type : runwiththewinners

DM them with your runs for the week and boom you’ve helped out in a small way that will sum up to something big.

As always thank you for reading and I hope everyone will participate in this great initiative. Happy running everyone!

Stay happy, Stay healthy, Keep breathing