At the end of 2017 the nice folks at Strava sent over a beautiful video summary of my first year attempting the marathon. The video highlight reel is an amazing combination of actual user data and smooth motion graphics.
I love the 2017 highlight reel, but after taking a deeper look into my year’s worth of activities there was so much more to a “Year of Sport” than a highlight video could cover. Looking back at my Strava activities I started to see how many friendships and experiences I had thanks to a little orange app on my phone.
All Because of an Online Challenge
Early last year I had discovered a running group in my neighborhood called PDRR. When I saw PDRR promote a Lululemon+Strava challenge to kick off 2017, I decided to make the leap. I joined the evening group run and downloaded Strava.
For most of us, It’s really hard to join a new group, and it was even more intimidating when the only face you recognize at the group run is Canada’s marathon record holder and Olympian — Lanni Marchant .
I of course didn’t keep up with Lanni that night, but the 40|80 challenge did an amazing thing for me, it got me out of a rut and out of the house in the frigid January weather. It let me meet a new group of people, all with ambitious athletic goals which they were all pursuing in the early mornings and evenings.
Thanks to the challenge I gradually began to run again. At that time I also found an old bucket list item I had written a few years back to actually run the Boston Marathon in 2018. Who knows when or why I had written this, but after a bit of research I started to realize this goal was getting more and more unrealistic with every day that passed that I wasn’t training.
That left me with one big question — How do I pull together a BQ time in 8 weeks? The simple and short answer was just to start.
Let the Training Begin
By the time I rediscovered my bucket list item it was already March, so I frantically started Googling Marathon training plans, and I put together what I thought was a decent condensed plan that would help me mainly survive a May marathon race, and perhaps get me close to a Boston qualifying time.
For some context I’m a former college soccer player so I have some experience with endurance training, so I wasn’t coming in completely cold — but I had never run a marathon before.
Looking back at my training plan I definitely underestimated the training required. When I went to toe the line on May 8th, I had measly 400km of training in the bag.
The Goodlife Toronto Marathon
Overdressed and armed with 2 gels, I really had no idea what I was getting myself into. At the time I had no GPS watch, so I placed myself between two pacer bunnies who were targeting to finish the race at 3:20 and 3:30 — If I could stay in between the bunnies, I was almost guaranteed a BQ time.
It all started off fine, but after 30km the only thing I was concentrating on was not to get passed by the trailing bunny. Somehow I finished the race with a BQ time, but I wasn’t sure if I ever wanted to run another marathon.
The Post Marathon Blues
When the excitement of achieving a BQ passed, my body and mind were in a rough state. I couldn’t walk for the next couple days, and I was in a state of sadness. I started to question if I even liked running — it was nothing like my highs when playing soccer. I couldn’t figure out if it was an enjoyable experience. Did I really want to do this to myself again?
Three weeks had passed since the marathon and also since my last run. I had considered taking the entire summer off running, and picking up training again in the fall, hoping by then I’d feel more inspired. This mentality all changed when one person I had met through the Strava x Lululemon challenge reached out to me in the Strava comment section to congratulate me on the Marathon and encourage me to start running again.
Strava Comments to the Rescue
I started running again, all because of a friendly comment on my Strava activity. My new Strava friend and commenter — Mango was a seasoned and talented marathoner. Through Mango, I was introduced to a very vibrant, fast and hardworking running community.
One thing that became evident, was my on again off again training approach was making marathon running harder than it had to be. I soon learned that people put years of consistent training to slowly chip away at lifelong targets.
I also learned about how much easier it was to train with a friend or a group that were also setting ambitious targets, and how much more you could push yourself when you you had company for your tough workouts.
I started doing races for fun, and my mileage per week started to increase without much effort. Did I actually like running again?
Seeing the world in segments
I was in a really good place after discovering this passionate and supportive running community. After deciding I was going to do a fall marathon, I really wanted to take it seriously, this meant I couldn’t afford to stop running even while on vacation. I had an upcoming trip planned to Portugal and I was a little worried my training was going to suffer while I was abroad.
I couldn’t have been more wrong. I was able to increase my mileage and explore the coastal cities of Portugal through challenging Strava segments. When I came back home, I was in the best shape I’ve been since college, and also the proud QOM on a few segments throughout Europe.
New Towns = New Running Friends
Summer was an interesting time for me, one of our Startups at Bloom was accepted into an accelerator program in a emerging tech-hub called Waterloo. I decided instead of commuting to Waterloo from Toronto, I’d take up an offer to house sit for a friend who lived close to Waterloo.
Being away from home I knew I had to continue to train, but I wanted my time away from my usual run clubs and partners to be just as challenging, that meant I needed to run with other people that were faster than me.
Being in a new town and not being able to find much information on running groups, Strava segments and leaderboards became the perfect place to find people that might be willing to run with me. Was this a safe approach? Not entirely, but It was my only option after little success tracking down a running club online.
I started following local runners on Strava who were running in a similar area at a fast pace, and eventually I befriended Miguel. Luckily for me Miguel was happy to run with a “Strava Stranger” and he introduced me to his run coach, who I now work with today.
Overtraining and Strava Leaderboards
After I returned to Toronto, summer became an opportunity to see how much I could push myself. I continued to crush my weekly targets and averaged 60–80 miles/week and I was starting to run long runs at a pace that made me realize a 3 hour marathon could be within reach in the next year or so.
Strava leaderboards are incredibly inspiring, but I’ll have to admit I started to obsess over them a bit too much. I was constantly trying to keep up with experienced marathoners, without really listening to some clear signals that my body was giving me.
It was this ignorance that forced me to “Respect the Distance”, a phrase that is often repeated in the run community. Three weeks before my fall race, my back was bothering me to the point that I couldn’t even finish my warm-up. I decided to stop everything, and make a call on race day.
No Fall Race for You…
Unfortunately the only thing I could confirm on race day was that I shouldn’t run. My main goal had always been to run Boston in 2018, and running a full marathon with a bad back was not part of the plan.
With the fall marathon out of the picture, I faced another challenge, trying to heal and staying motivated for Boston. Taking time off was what my back needed, in fact, I didn’t run again until late November. Injuries are hard, and I found it even more difficult to deal with on Strava. When I didn’t have a run to upload, my activity on Strava decreased significantly. From time to time I’d check in to give Kudos, but I found it really hard to watch from the sidelines as my peers logged workouts and races.
After battling the lows that come with an injury, I came back a stronger runner. I’ve started to appreciate training, especially when I’m healthy. It made me realize that getting sloppy with my diet, warm-ups, mobility, recovery and sleep were not worth the pain of an injury and definitely not worth the mental disappointment of not being able to accomplish the goal I had set out for myself.
Learning to Comeback
After taking two long months off, I started running again. Knowing my tendency to overtrain, I decided to work with a coach, join a team and workout at a running specific gym that would force me to train less, but smarter.
The process of becoming a marathon runner has been such an adventure already, and I love having something to concentrate on outside of work. Startups and software products are filled with good and bad days, often triggered by things that are out of your control. With running, no matter what kind of day I have had at the office — nothing feels better than laying it all out on the track or to crush a long run workout.
2017 was an amazing “Year in Sport” and it started thanks to a challenge on Strava.
- I met amazing athletes who taught me how to train, and showed me what it takes to be a marathoner.
- I found amazing spots that I would never have found as a tourist because of Strava segments in Portugal.
- I met new people to train with in almost every city I ran in.
- I found a running coach and team, and I was introduced to many more running communites.
- I’ve started to really enjoy the process of training.
What are some of the things you accomplished with the help of Strava in 2017 that wasn’t covered on your highlight reel?
