I ran the Toronto Half-Marathon. Here's what I learned

I PB'd in the Toronto Half-Marathon last week, clocking in an official time of 1:44:14. That's roughly 15 minutes faster than my previous personal best. Here's what I learned.

1. The training for a race is harder than the race itself.

   
   

Managing two-hour runs in the middle of a work week and balancing family and running my business was much tougher than the race itself. There were many instances of doubt over the course of almost six months of preparation.

The amount of prep work from the nutrition, to the programming, to mentally staying focused over that length of time is a big commitment. As hard as moments of the race were, I knew that once I was done, I was done.

2. Week-to-week training load management is the key to injury prevention.

No amount of stretching, massage, or corrective exercise will save you if you simply do too much. The safest way to increase your distance or pace while running is to do no more than 10% of what you did last week. When you work backwards from running 21.2km, you can see why you need a long runway to train properly.

There were instances in my prep cycle where I was feeling some strain in my groin, my knee, and my calves, but I listened to my body and adjusted the overall intensity of my training to account for this. If you keep pushing through pain, you'll likely end up injured and forced to take off time from training or, at worst, have to pull out of a race.

The answer to these instances of pain, because they will show up, is not to stretch or rest them away, but to find ways to keep moving without aggravating things. That way, you prevent injury while still getting productive training in.

3. Strength training is an amazing complement to running.

Speaking of injury prevention, there's no better way to do it (besides managing your training load) than getting some lifting in. Especially with the number of hills that were present in this course, my hips, knees, and ankles needed to be able to withstand pounding for almost two hours.

While running on its own is a great way to do this, lifting covers your bases and encompasses movement that doesn't happen while running, which is very repetitive in one range of motion. Squats, lunges, deadlifts, laterals, and calf raises all help build up your strength, power, and resilience.

I don't think I could've done what I did if I didn't have a strong base of leg training. Throughout the race itself, I was never limited by joint or muscle pain, only my cardio ability. I'd much rather that be the case than be limited by a bum knee that stops me from expressing all the training prior.

4. Pace is everything.

When you know you're going to be running for almost two hours, you need to pace yourself and balance your energy use. I passed so many people who started walking within the first few kilometres and even more around kilometre 20 who just couldn't get over the hump.

Many others I passed who pushed too hard, too fast and had to pull over on the side of the road to rest, stretch, or throw up.

There's a reason you can't maintain a sprinting speed for more than 10-20 seconds at a time.

Knowing the course and not focusing on what other runners are doing is key. Understand your body, know when to push and when to back off. This is a key lesson that goes beyond running.

5. Social support can help us achieve maximum performance.

I was at kilometre 15 out of 21 and really gassing out. My wife, who was tracking me on an app, called me with some encouragement. She said, "Don't worry about talking. Just keep moving, you're almost there. You're on pace to reach your goal, just finish strong." That's all I needed.

I sped ahead and was able to maintain an above-target pace for the final 5k and even sprint lightly for the last 500 metres.

It's hard to do everything by yourself, with only your internal motivation. There are times when we need outside support to push us over the edge.

Training for a spring race means training through the winter, which means treadmill running, which is mind-numbingly boring. As I was building up to around two hours on a treadmill, one of my clients was doing the same. The camaraderie and support made it so much more palatable.

From the cheering spectators to kind words from my clients before and after the race, the social support made the whole experience far better than if I did it alone.

You don't need to be a lone wolf to achieve your goals. A strong support system amplifies your training to take you to new heights.

Overall, it was an amazing experience, and I appreciate running with my sister-in-law and cousin. You guys are the best, and I hope to run with you in the future.

To your good health,

Coach Stephen

Thanks for reading.

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