Training today - warm up (15 minutes) then ten times two minutes fast, jogging one minute between each.  Jog back home.

Thankfully the rain just about held off today, for which I am grateful.  It has been a hard week this week.  Apart from the miserable weather I have been nursing a slight cold.  Not bad enough to stop me from training but bad enough to leave me feeling tired and headachey.  At least I was feeling better today.

Oooh, I've just read this quote on the latest VLM newsletter.

There's no such thing as bad weather, just soft people.

Bill Bowerman

I've been rummaging through my running magazines again.  When my parents go away on one of their cruises they usually bring me back  a running magazine from one of the countries they have visited.  Thus I have quite a collection of mags in various languages - French, Spanish, Portuguese, whatever.  This is how I came to be perusing the latest copy of "Canadian Running".  I'm not quite sure what information a Canadian magazine could offer readers, that other nations couldn't.  Advice on what to do in case of a moose attack perhaps?  The latest designs in lumberjack shirts?  Treatment for ice hockey injuries?

I shouldn't make fun of Canada because all international surveys of the quality of life in recent years have placed Canada at or very nearly at the top of the list.  It is a country with a buoyant economy, high living standards, low crime rates, good levels of public health and education.  Anybody who had any sense would be heading straight down to Canada House to fill out an application to emigrate.  If it weren't just for one thing......

It's bloody freezing over there!

There is an old gag based on the Canadian scale of temperatures.  It has many variations but it runs something like this.

The temperature is fifty degrees fahrenheit.  Californians turn on the central heating.  Canadians dash outdoors to sunbathe.

The temperature hits freezing.  Californians declare a national emergency.  Canadians think about pulling on a sweater.

Hell freezes over.  Canadians say "Cold enough for ya!"

You can read a longer version at this link. (Click)

Anyway, back to "Canadian Running".  I enjoyed it quite a bit and found it rather better than its British equivalents.  For one thing it is not swamped with adverts and charity appeals.  For another it tends to stick to just running.  Some British mags want to bring triathletes into the fold so there is lots of stuff about cycling and swimming which doesn't really interest me.

In this month's issue there is a long feature on Ed Whitlock, the 78 year old super veteran, who is arguably the best runner in the world, in terms of age graded achievement.

There are guides to running in the major cities and in the great Canadian outdoors.  There are menus and product reviews.  There is also a guide to winter running gear (surprise, surprise!)   You don't have to travel to Canada if you want a glimpse of the magazine as you can always take a look at the website at this link.  http://runningmagazine.ca/

Right, that'll do from me.  I'm off to watch "I'm a celebrity"!

Tags: Canadian running

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