It’s a marathon, not a sprint
One of the most challenging aspects of publishing a bimonthly magazine is that, despite advances in printing tech, we still operate with ridiculously long lead times. It means that, by the time we go to print, the track-and-field events in Tokyo will barely have started, but by the time you receive your copy, the Olympics will be over and the Paralympics about to begin. (And it explains why there are no Olympic results in these pages, but you can get all those stories on our website, canadianrunning.ca.)
The risk is that, if something major changes in a story we’re covering in the meantime, we might have egg on our faces when the magazine comes out. But it also liberates us, giving us a chance to delve into the deeper, more satisfying stories that aren’t making headlines, but that are every bit as timely and inspiring to runners: stories like that of Toronto runner Gabriel Jarquin, who, after long periods of darkness and disenchantment, now finds himself in a position to inspire others in lgbtq and running communities across Canada (p.30). Or trail runner Shannon Penway, whose terrifying bike crash on a Washington state highway could have had tragic consequences, but instead led to a warm friendship with her rescuer (a fellow trail runner) and his family (p. 42). Or Andrew McKay, who, over many years of trial and error, experimentation and hard experience, came to think of himself, not only as a runner, but a marathoner (p.38).
Training advice is timeless, and in this, our marathon issue, you’ll find it in abundance. We have a marathon training workout from new Canadian 50k record holder Chris Balestrini (p.22), some tips on slowing down your recovery runs and long runs (which has all kinds of benefits for endurance runners) from Alberta ultrarunner and coach Chantelle Erickson (p.23) and some outdoor, plyometric stair-climbing routines to benefit quad strength, power generation and running economy from our regular strength coach, Jon-Erik Kawamoto (p.16).
The federal government recently announced that fully-vaccinated people returning to Canada from elsewhere must still provide a negative covid test before f lying and upon arrival, but will no longer have to quarantine – good news for those brave enough to travel to fall marathons in Boston, Berlin, New York, Chicago or London. Hats off to all of you, and be sure to watch our website for those results.