It comes as no surprise my two races in 2020 – Powderface Marathon and Lost Souls – have been cancelled and rescheduled for next year.
So now what?
No doubt I am not alone in thinking about what I should do to take place of the races. A bevy of virtual races have popped up stemming from the cancelled races or new ones to fill the racing gap. Participants pick a distance, sign up and pay the registration fee online. Participants are usually assigned a bib (or you can print it off) and a medal.
I’m still scratching my head about virtual races. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great that race organizers are getting creative and runners are finding new ways to challenge themselves without the whole race experience. There’s the added bonus of being able to run “the race” on your time too. Often the race provides a time frame to complete the race.
And hey, there’s no line ups at the porta potty.
I just don’t want to pay to run at home. There I said it. But I am loving seeing all these OTHER running challenges such as vertical races, run around the clock races and distance challenges. Some of that stuff is pretty epic. I have my eye on a couple that will no doubt challenge my resolve. I will keep you posted.
Training for life
With my races cancelled, I have a lot of time on my hands. Should I keep up my training with the hopes that something that piques my interest in the fall or winter? Should I say screw it and just turn into a couch?
In recent years, I have scaled down on my races because of the rising cost of races, which doesn’t fit into my tight budget. Believe me I would love to do them all. It feels weird not planning my training or the race logistics.
Anyway I don’t want to turn into a couch. I am still trying to take off the five pounds that I gained during the first three weeks of the lockdown. I am not going to stop running because I don’t have any races to train for. I love running so why stop?
I want to keep my mileage up around the 50K to 65K mark. For the last month or so I have averaged 55K/week. I haven’t been running terribly long so I have to start adding longer routes on the weekend. It helps now that the weather is seasonal and the parks are once again accessible to vehicles.
I can’t wait to start getting some quality time on the trails.
I set an elevation goal of 75,000 metres in 2020. Last year, I think I did about 60,000 metres. Despite a slow start, I think I should be able to meet this goal. Right now I’m sitting at about 17,000 metres over 1,030 kilometres. Most of this running has been in Calgary so the vertical gain is not significant. Once I get back to my mountain groove, the numbers should start to look promising. I have seven months to go so if I about 10,400 metres a month, I will smash my goal.
Cross your fingers but also send me your positive goals.
Now is also I perfect time to explore. I can’t wait to climb all the mountains. There’s so many amazing places that I have never been. I want to take advantage of the good weather and cross a bunch of mountains off my 2020 bucket list.
Have you signed up for virtual races? What do you like about the races? Are you training just as hard? I would love to hear from you in the comments below.
Why yes, I have signed up for virtual races – then my actual races became virtual and now I’m doing way more than anticipated lol. I’ve enjoyed it so far, especially being part of the Pittsburgh Marathon since we weren’t going to be able to do it in person anyway. It’s a way to stay structured and have goals. I’m not sure I’d want to repeat all this, but for this year it’s good. Lemons, lemonade, something.
Susan recently posted…Cat Creek Falls – May 2020